Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1467 Asking for Marriage
Xin Xianying said: "According to my father's description, His Majesty obviously doesn't trust anyone now, including Wu Zhi, whom he trusted the most before. Because of Zhu Suo's death, His Majesty is also dissatisfied."

"Otherwise, if he and my father quarreled in court, Your Majesty would have to say a few words. After all, Your Majesty does not completely trust Xiahou Dun. The soldiers in Wu Zhi's hands are his last resort. If Your Majesty does not express his position at this time, either Your Majesty is too careless or has other ideas."

Xin Pi's eyes flashed, "What's the idea?"

Xin Xianying thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid your majesty will call Sima Yi back to suppress the situation in Chengdu."

Xin Pi was relieved after hearing this and said, "That's good. I have a good relationship with him and I can rely on him in the future. Otherwise, if your majesty is ill, I may not be able to stay safe given the behavior of the Cao clan."

"No," Xin Xianying said, "If Sima Yi comes back, it will be really dangerous."

Xin Pi couldn't figure it out again and asked in confusion: "Why?"

Xin Xianying said: "Because then my father will have to take sides."

"Sima Yi's actions are definitely planned. My daughter believes that there is a high chance of chaos in Chengdu in the future."

"When the time comes, he will definitely bind the entire Yingchuan faction and suppress Xiahou Dun. My father will definitely not stay out of it. When the Cao clan counterattacks, the Yingchuan faction will be the first to bear the brunt. Although there are Zhong Yao and Chen Qun in front of them, my father will definitely be at the forefront."

"If the struggle between the two sides intensifies, the situation may develop in an unpredictable direction, and someone may even die."

Xin Pi was completely confused and said, "You have predicted several things before, but you may not be right this time. You should know that in the court, even if everyone fights openly or secretly, they all maintain a basic bottom line. Moreover, there is the enemy Jin State watching closely. How could it be possible to get to this point?"

"If you say so, there is no need to wait for Jin to attack, Wei would have cut off its own arm and waited for destruction. This kind of thing has never happened before and it is impossible!"

Xin Xianying lowered her eyes slightly, "My daughter's idea is just a guess, it doesn't count."

"But father, you should understand that the situation is different now. The methods used by Jin are very vicious. That fierce tiger has tried every means to block all the retreat routes of Wei. His intention is to make the court of Wei increasingly crazy under the huge pressure."

"Under this kind of life-or-death pressure, didn't Father see that the entire government was not normal?"

Xin Pi was silent. He said, "Of course I can feel it."

"The Wei Dynasty is in turmoil right now. Although Xiahou Dun is good at domestic affairs, his military strategy is really poor. In this situation of dealing with a large-scale attack by foreign enemies, his prestige is insufficient and it is difficult to convince people."

"So I urgently hope that someone will come out to take charge of the overall situation. As a surrendered general, it is not easy for me to participate in core affairs, so naturally I look to the young and promising Sima Yi the most."

Xin Xianying said, "Yes, Sima Yi is indeed the best candidate."

"But has Father ever thought about how many competitors he has lost along the way?"

"Is this just a coincidence, or is there some other reason? Is he really as selfless as he appears to be?"

Xin Pi's body was shaken. "But since His Majesty has transferred him back, he must have great trust in him."

Xin Xianying said, "My daughter heard that His Majesty is not in good health."

"Moreover, he has always been at odds with the Cao clan, and now he has given the Marquis of Anxiang to the State of Jin. So, is Your Majesty really someone who would care about what happens after his death?"

After hearing this, Xin Pi lost all appetite. He stood up and walked towards the study, saying, "I need to think about it carefully. You guys eat first."

Xin Chang was less than ten years old at the time. When he saw Xin Pi leaving, he timidly said to Xin Xianying, "Sister, if the Jin army enters Chengdu, what should we do?"

Xin Xianying said helplessly: "What else can we do? At that time, we can only leave it to fate."

"If the commander of the Jin army is a bloodthirsty person, I'm afraid there will be many deaths in the city, and even our family will not be spared."

Xin Chang was so frightened that his face turned pale. "Should I ask my father to think of a solution?"

Xin Xianying reached out her hand and hit Xin Chang on the head, "Why are you so timid? I was just trying to scare you."

"Our uncle is an official in Jin State, and my father has always had a good relationship with him. I think he should have smoothed over the relationship in advance."

"As long as there is no chaos in the city, our family should be safe."

Xin Chang finally felt relieved and said, "Sister is really amazing. She knows all this." "But if this happens, will our family be accused of collaborating with the enemy?"

Xin Xianying said calmly: "In troubled times, the way to survive is to be prudent and protect yourself, to seek benefits and avoid harm. As for which side you stand on, it is secondary."

"If I can survive, I'll be on the side of the rebellion. That's not a bad idea."

"Besides, the current Majesty is not a long-term ruler, he..."

When she said this, she suddenly came to her senses and stopped talking immediately.

When Cao Pi became the crown prince, he once lost his composure and became ecstatic in front of Xin Pi. At that time, Xin Xianying judged that Cao Pi's mentality had become unbalanced under the heavy pressure, and this mentality would lead to double revenge once he ascended the throne.

The fact turned out to be just as Xin Xianying had expected. Cao Pi was now mobilizing the whole country to fight to the death with the State of Jin. Rather than saying that he was inheriting Cao Cao's will, it would be better to say that he was dragging the Cao clan and the entire State of Wei to be buried with him.

Xin Xianying had already seen this, so she had been hinting to Xin Pi to change boats as soon as possible, but Xin Xianying didn't know whether Xin Pi understood it or not.

At a young age, Xin Xianying learned a lot of strategies for self-preservation through what he saw and heard, which was inseparable from the situation in the Wei court.

Ever since the Cao Wei court fled all the way from Chang'an to Yizhou, the people in the entire court have never been at peace. After all, the overall situation is there. No matter how well Cao Pi does, at least in terms of military achievements, he is far inferior to Cao Cao. This is already a consensus among Cao Wei officials, especially the Cao clan.

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In fact, many people in the Cao Zhi faction headed by Xiahou Dun did not want to fight anymore. On the one hand, it was because Yuan Xi was not the kind of person who wanted to kill all his enemies. On the other hand, Qiao County, Yuzhou, the hometown of the Cao and Xiahou families, had already been controlled by the Jin State.

Many members of the Cao and Xiahou clans who had settled in Chengdu were also worried that if they continued to resist, their clansmen in their hometown would be implicated.

Therefore, when Cao Pi fell ill and was bedridden, many members of the Cao clan were secretly happy, because if Cao Pi died, Cao Xun would obviously not be qualified to be the crown prince, and everyone would be able to re-support the peace-loving Cao Zhi to take the throne.

However, what they did not expect was that Cao Zhi was sent away on the spot today by an imperial edict of Cao Pi, and the delegation left the city directly at noon, which immediately shattered the fantasy of Cao Zhi's faction.

Now the Cao Zhi faction was completely at a loss, and when they heard that Cao Pi had transferred Sima Yi back, they all understood that it was used to suppress Xiahou Dun, so Cao Ren and others privately found Xiahou Dun to ask for countermeasures.

Xiahou Dun had no time to care about this, because Cao Pi had ordered him to send troops to Baidi City immediately to serve as the vanguard to open the road to Jingzhou, which meant that he would most likely meet Guan Yu again.

Xiahou Dun was also unsure about this. He held Cao Ren's hand and said, "Zixiao, let's talk privately. Your Majesty does have a prejudice against people from the clan, but he is the son of the late emperor after all. We can't just ignore the Wei Kingdom."

"I am not sure whether I will live or die. I will leave Chengdu to you. If I can come back, I hope you can take care of the Xiahou clan members for me."

Cao Ren felt mixed emotions. He had been suppressed all along, and none of the five generals had a place for him, which made him feel down for a while. But now that Xiahou Dun entrusted him with the task, he could only say, "Don't worry, Yuan Rang. I'll just do my best."

After a few days, the State of Wei gathered all its ships and sent 20,000 troops from the Minjiang River outside Chengdu. They then sailed to Baidi City via the river, trying again to tear open the defense line of Hannan.

When Hannan received this news, it was more than a month later. The Cao army, led by Xiahou Dun, had crossed Baidi City and began to attack the Hannan defense line.

When Liu Chan in Changsha learned about it, he quickly ordered Guan Yu to prepare warships and navy to go fight Xiahou Dun.

At this time, a letter from the State of Jin was sent to Hannan, which caused a great shock.

This letter was ostensibly written to Liu Chan, but in fact it involved Zhang Fei. It can be said that it was both a public and private matter.

When Xiahou, who was urgently summoned to the palace, heard the contents of the letter, she couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment.

What on earth was this fierce tiger thinking? Didn’t he know how much trouble this letter would cause?
The content of the letter was very simple. The State of Jin had made Yuan Rui the crown prince and wanted to find a suitable candidate for a crown princess. Now, seeing that Miss Zhang was talented and intelligent, and of a virtuous character, she was a good match for him. Therefore, he sent a letter to the state to seek a good wife for the crown prince and hoped that the State of Hannan and the Zhang family would agree.

Lady Xiahou was overwhelmed. She secretly glanced at Liu Chan, who had a complicated expression on his face, and thought to herself, wouldn't it embarrass Liu Chan if such a thing was written in the letter?

Everyone knows that Liu Chan was quite fond of Zhang at first, but he wanted to make her a concubine because he needed to win over the Guan family more. Xiahou was naturally unwilling to do so, so she sent her daughter away temporarily in the name of escorting a coffin.

Since it was a matter of filial piety, Liu Chan couldn't say anything. Xiahou thought that after a few years Liu Chan would naturally no longer have any thoughts about her and the matter would have been over. However, less than a year after her daughter passed away, the State of Jin played such a big trick!
What exactly happened in the State of Jin? Why did the fierce tiger fall for his daughter?
To be fair, although Xiahou felt that her daughter's appearance was also excellent, it was far from the point of bringing disaster to the country and the people. Compared with Sun, the previously rumored candidate for the Crown Princess of Jin, she had no advantage at all.

Xiahou had met Sun in Shouchun. Her appearance and wealth were both top-notch. Especially since she was from the Sun and Wu families in Jiangdong, she should be the target of Jin's efforts to win over. In comparison, what value would there be for a marriage between her and the Zhang family, who were in an enemy country with only orphans and widows?
Xiahou was just daydreaming when Liu Chan asked from above, "What do you think, aunt?"

(End of this chapter)