Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1449 Intimidation
When Guan Yu heard what Mrs. Zou said, he frowned slightly, and his first reaction was that people's hearts were scattered.

If we talk about the most die-hard supporters of the Hannan Kingdom, the Guan and Zhang families are definitely the ones to be chosen. So no matter what Liu Chan does, even if Guan Yu is dissatisfied, he will never go against him.

Therefore, the Zhang family's attitude of rejecting the marriage seemed particularly abrupt. Guan Yu frowned and said, "When the two families chose a queen, the Zhang family's attitude was not very positive. Although the current king is not as good as my eldest brother in both civil and military affairs, he is also a descendant of the Liu family. Why don't the Zhang family look down on him?"

Madam Zou's eyes flickered, and she hesitated to speak, and said softly: "I heard that the king preferred our daughter and wanted to make the Zhang family's daughter a concubine. Maybe because of this reason, the Zhang family is dissatisfied."

Guan Yu nodded and said, "It is indeed inappropriate to do so. If our daughter were to become a concubine, I would not feel comfortable either."

"Since the Zhang family thinks so, we can't say anything. But at this moment, the Jin Emperor is heading south, and the king sending me there is completely a waste of effort."

"It's ridiculous to waste my time on such trivial matters when Xiahou Dun has not been defeated yet."

Madam Zou thought of her experience in Wancheng with a complicated expression, and said, "I never expected that the young fierce tiger would become the emperor of Jin and would soon unify the world and become the final winner."

Guan Yu glared and said, "What do you mean by unifying the world? Aren't there still three kingdoms now?"

Mrs. Zou realized that she had said something wrong and quickly kept silent. Seeing this, Guan Yu softened his tone a little, "Women should not talk about state affairs, so as not to be involved in meaningless things."

"But now is indeed the most difficult time for Hannan. Even if the eldest brother is resurrected, it will be difficult to break the situation."

"Prime Minister Xu and I have different political views, but his efforts to continue Hannan cannot be fake, so even though I am dissatisfied, I will not go against him."

"The only thing is that the peace talks with Wei are contrary to my elder brother's original intention of establishing the country. He also understands this, so he sent me away."

"During the time I am away on a diplomatic mission to Nanchang, you should stay indoors and send people to spy on the situation in the city at any time. If there is any change, you should stay at the house and wait for my return."

Mrs. Zou was shocked. "Will there be any changes in Changsha?"

"My husband said it so seriously, is there going to be any chaos?"

Guan Yu shook his head and said, "Normally it wouldn't be like this, but I don't know why, but I always feel a little uneasy."

"So I am also hesitating. Although our daughter is not yet of marriageable age, is it safer to send her to the palace while the situation is going on?"

Mrs. Zou did not interrupt. Guan Yu thought for a moment and said, "Forget it. I'll talk to you when I come back."

In the following days, Xu Shu managed Liu Chan's ascension to the throne while strictly investigating the attendants around Liu Chan. Among the eunuchs, he caught several spies who had accepted bribes from the Wei State.

Although the harvest was not small, what frustrated Xu Shu was that he didn't find any of the Jin State spies he wanted to catch the most. This made him wonder whether the Jin State spies were hiding too well, or whether Jin State did not place any spies around Liu Chan at all?

Xu Shu was actually not wrong in his guess. Yuan Xi did not place any spies from the Imperial Household Department around Liu Chan. Firstly, all the servants around Liu Chan were eunuchs, and it was difficult to place well-trained spies there. Secondly, if the matter was exposed, it would give the other party an excuse.

Of course, the most important reason is that Hannan State does not have any news that it wants to find out through Jin State, and general intelligence gathering can be accomplished through caravans and businesses, as well as officials who secretly lean towards Jin State.

As for Xu Shu's desire to have private peace talks with the State of Wei, even if it was not done through secret channels, it could be concluded through intelligence analysis. The basis for the Changsha spy chief to make this judgment was the exposure of Xu Shu's private contact with the Wei envoy and the recall of Guan Yu. These were enough to make the correct judgment, and naturally there was no need to work hard among the eunuchs.

When Yuan Xi set out from Yecheng and arrived in Shouchun by boat, news came from Hannan that Liu Chan had proclaimed himself emperor and named his country Ji Han.

It is said that Xu Shu suggested to call it Han directly at first, but some officials advised against it in the end, saying that since Han abdicated the throne to Wei and Jin, it was no longer appropriate to call it Han directly. So after careful consideration, they compromised and changed the name to Ji Han.

Liu Chan's declaration of emperorship also brought temporary prosperity to the Hannan court. Many nobles from Jing, Yi, and even Jianghuai rushed to Changsha to support him.

When Lu Xun, who came to greet them at that time, reported the news to Yuan Xi, he thought Yuan Xi would be angry, but unexpectedly, Yuan Xi just smiled faintly and said, "Hannan Kingdom is quite courageous. In this way, it seems that my trip south this time is a bit redundant."

Lu Xun said, "There are also many scholars in Jin who have gone to Hannan. Should their families be held accountable?"

Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "No need. They are also betting on both sides. Besides, some of them are indeed grateful to the Han Dynasty. If we treat them harshly, there will be voices of dissatisfaction in the world."

"They can't influence the overall situation, so just let them go. The unification of the world is only a matter of time."

Lu Xun said: "But if Liu Shi proclaimed himself emperor, it would be like the Wei Kingdom, and he would be equal to Your Majesty in title. It would be difficult for him to make concessions to the Jin Dynasty in the peace talks."

Yuan Xi thought for a moment and nodded, "Bo Yan is right. I overestimated the role of negotiation."

"If you can't get it on the battlefield, you can't get it at the negotiation table. In the final analysis, it's still not easy for me to use military force against Ji Han for the time being. The other party saw this and made all these efforts."

"In this case, let's put the matter of Ji Han aside for now and start with Wei." Lu Xun was startled, then he understood: "Jingzhou?"

Yuan Xi smiled, "Bo Yan is indeed smart. Ji Han's logistics are weak, so he gave up Fangling Shangyong. If that's the case, then it's our turn."

"Wei wanted to break through this line to enter the heart of Jingzhou and cause trouble for me, but they didn't expect that Pang Shiyuan's counterattack before his death was so fierce that Cao Zhen and half of the main force of the Wei army were trapped."

"Right now, Xiahou Shang of Shangyong has only about 10,000 soldiers and horses. It is impossible to send troops due to the coming winter, but this leaves us with a good opportunity."

"Otherwise, if they take Fangling in spring and summer, Jianghuai will be in trouble."

Lu Xun responded, "Your Majesty wants to send troops from Jianghuai to block all the Wei army's routes in the winter?"

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Yes, I had this idea before. Now that I heard that Liu Chan had proclaimed himself emperor, this idea has completely taken shape."

"Although it is winter now, we still need steamboats to go to the upper reaches of the Huai River. In winter, the cylinders are not easy to overheat, which is more conducive to marching. It just consumes more coal."

"Given Shouchun's level of preparedness, it shouldn't be a problem to mobilize 20,000 troops and baggage within half a month, right?"

Lu Xun said hurriedly: "I am always prepared. It only takes ten days, no, five days to gather 20,000 trained soldiers and a hundred steamships to transport them!"

Yuan Xi nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. I'll assign Jiang Qin and Xu Sheng to you, and Gan Ning will go to guard against any changes along the way from Ji Han."

"We don't have to defeat Wei this winter. We just need to blockade Xinye and Wancheng and force the Wei army to stay in Fangling."

"Wei's current national strength is completely inferior to ours. Even if Xiahou Shang's military rations can barely sustain the winter, they will definitely not be enough next year. Sooner or later, he will hand over Shangyong to us."

"When the time comes, the Prime Minister will attack Hanzhong, and you will hold them back in Fangling. Unless the Wei army can summon 100,000 elite soldiers on the spot, they will be dragged to death in Hanzhong."

"As for Guan Ping in Xiangyang, although I don't think he will stab me in the back, it's good to be on guard against him."

Lu Xun quickly took the order and left to mobilize soldiers and supplies. Yuan Xi, accompanied by Liu Ye and others, roughly understood Shouchun's policies and said, "You have done a good job in Shouchun in the past two years. Today, you all go to assist Governor Lu in collecting supplies. When he sends out the troops, I will call you all to discuss matters."

Everyone knew that if Yuan Xi wanted to know about the situation in Shouchun in recent years, the fastest way would be to go to Madam Da Qiao. So they all took the order and left. Yuan Xi left the official residence and went all the way to Shouchun's mansion.

When Da Qiao heard that Yuan Xi had arrived, she quickly led her youngest son out and said to Yuan Xi who was getting off the carriage, "Yuan Qian is currently processing paperwork at the government office and has not yet returned."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi took Da Qiao's hand and said, "It's okay, let him do his work first. Madam, you have worked hard these past two years."

Da Qiao shook her head and said, "It is better than anything else that His Majesty has come."

Yuan Xi squatted down, picked up the child, and teased him, "Cer, do you still recognize your father?"

Out of some kind of bad taste, Yuan Xi named the son he had with Da Qiao Yuan Ce. Although Da Qiao knew some of the reasons, she didn't think much of it. After all, Sun Ce was very famous in Jiangdong at that time, and it would be a very high expectation if her child could have Sun Ce's ability.

Yuan Ce was already five or six years old at this time, so he said, "Of course I recognize my father."

"But when my father passed away two years ago, his beard and hair were not so white."

Yuan Xi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The wind and frost in the north do make people age faster."

Da Qiao said distressedly: "The emperor is very tired guarding the country, but I can't always follow him. On the contrary, the climate here in Shouchun is suitable, which makes me feel uneasy."

Yuan Xi took Da Qiao's hand and walked inside. "I know you have suffered a lot in the past two years taking care of Qian'er. He is almost grown up, and it is time for him to start a family and be independent."

After hearing this, Da Qiao was delighted. Is Yuan Xi planning to take her back?
She said, "But Ji Han and Hannan have not submitted to Your Majesty. If I leave..."

Yuan Xi said: "The time is almost right, let's hand it over to the civil and military officials. We can't let a woman like you always be in the front."

"Liu Chan is quite courageous in declaring himself emperor this time. I will naturally let them know that I also have a bottom line."

"So I changed my mind temporarily and decided to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, starting with Wei."

"Qian'er is already over fourteen years old and has reached the age to get married. I will confer the title of king on him in a few days. In the future, he will take my place in ruling Jianghuai."

(End of this chapter)