Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 421 Puyang Siege
In all fairness, Yuan Shao first kept his filial piety in his early years, and later secretly made friends with famous people all over the world, until he became the captain of Xiyuan, and he didn't meet Yuan Xing and his daughter many times.

After Yuan Shao and his family fled Chang'an and came to Jizhou to settle down, he met his family more often, but it was only a little better than before.

During several years of war, even the city of Ye was not spared from the flames of war. Under such circumstances, everyone in the world, no matter the gentry or the common people, was in danger.

No one knows when this troubled world will end, and no one knows what will happen to the family that is still safe today, and Yuan Shao is no exception.

Under this kind of mentality, Yuan Shao actually has no expectations for Yuan Xing's marriage. As for the family marriage, a single woman will not play any role in turning the tide for the current Yuan family.

After all, the gentry who wanted to seek refuge with Yuan Shao valued the strength of the Yuan family itself, not the daughters of the Yuan family.

Therefore, as Yuan Xing got older, Yuan Shao's expectations for Yuan Xing's marriage were gradually lowering. Two years ago, he scoffed at Yuan Xi's proposal, but after two years, he found that his mentality had gradually changed. .

Yuan Shao couldn't help wondering, is it because of his old age?
After all, he is now fifty-one.

These days, Yuan Shao felt that his health was not as good as before. After adopting Yuan Cheng, who passed away long ago, he kept filial piety for Yuan Cheng and his wife for six years, so when they gave birth to the next few children, they were already too old.

Calculated now that I am already at the age of knowing my destiny, if Yuan Xing never gets married again, I am afraid it will be unreasonable.

So when he called Yuan Xing over, he found that Yuan Xing was quite anxious, so he comforted him a few words, and asked Yuan Xing's opinion on the marriage, Yuan Xing bowed his head and said, "My daughter is willing to serve my father by my side to fulfill my filial piety."

Yuan Shao shook his head and laughed and said, "Don't talk about such nonsense, your marriage is also filial piety."

Yuan Xing could only say: "But according to my father's orders."

Yuan Shao said bluntly: "What do you think of the new Youzhou Shepherd, Zhao Zilong?"

Yuan Xing's heart skipped a beat, "I met once before, but I didn't speak, so I really don't understand."

Yuan Shao knew that there was nothing to ask in this way, so he changed the subject and said, "Who is closer, you or Xianyi Xianfu?"

Yuan Xing said in a low voice: "Xian Yi and his daughter grew up together."

Yuan Shao listened, nodded slightly, and said: "You step back."

Marrying a daughter is considered a family matter, and he originally wanted to call Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang separately, but Yuan Xi had already met, and Yuan Shang was still fighting in Montenegro, so he couldn't get away for a while.

Yuan Shao had some doubts, did Yuan Xi deliberately take this opportunity to propose marriage?
But Yuan Shang also let himself down. Although the Black Mountain Army was difficult to fight, Yuan Xi led thousands of people before, and it was not very impressive. Why did Yuan Shang lead several times more soldiers, but it couldn't work?

Thinking of this, Yuan Shao couldn't help feeling a little anxious. In two months, the autumn planting will start. If the soldiers' supplies are still delayed in the Black Mountains, the situation in Jizhou in the coming year will not be optimistic. How can they plan to merge the prefectures?

He sighed inwardly, Yuan Xi was right, the Montenegro problem was the opening of a series of problems, and only by solving each problem step by step, could the impasse be resolved.

At this time, in Puyang, where Chenliu ruled, two hundred miles away, south of Yecheng, Kong Rong, surrounded by soldiers of Cao Jun, boarded a small boat, oared by two guards, and headed for Puyang City.

The reason for this is that Cao Jun broke the river and flooded Puyang. Now the water is more than ten feet deep, and the only way to get close to the city wall is by boat.

The boat sailed for a quarter of an hour before it gradually approached the city wall of Puyang. When it was almost at the point of shooting, a dozen soldiers came out with all their hair shouting. It's provocative!"

Kong Rong saw these soldiers were yellow and thin, held up the edict in his hand, and shouted: "I am not Cao Jun!"

"By the order of the emperor, send an edict to Zhang Mengzhuo (Zhang Miao), the prefect of Chenliu!"

The soldiers on the top of the city saw each other and shouted, "Who knows your truth!"

"I'm afraid it's not a trick to deceive us?"

Kong Rong patted his body and shouted: "I am Kong Rong, a craftsman personally appointed by the imperial court, and an envoy personally appointed by the Son of Heaven. How can there be deception?"

"You see, I am unarmed now, are you even afraid of me?"

The soldiers looked at each other for a while, and found a general who came up, and the general asked, "What is the superior here for?"

Kong Rong said in a deep voice: "By the order of the emperor, mediate the dispute between Chen and Liu, and stop fighting!"

The general listened, showing a tinge of joy, after all Puyang is already in danger, now that things have turned around, how can he not be happy?

He immediately shouted: "Shangguan, come closer!"

Kong Rong ordered the two guards to approach the wall. When they reached the wall, they saw that the city gate had already been submerged in water, and the bottom of the water was blocked by silt and gravel. The boat was still more than ten feet away from the wall, so he asked, "How to get in?"

The man ordered someone to drop a rope and said, "Tie it around your waist, and then pull you up."

Kong Rong shook his head and had to let two guards tie him up. The soldiers at the top of the wall pulled Kong Rong up with all their strength.

Kong Rong's waist almost flashed from being strangled, and he lay on the wall for a long time before he stood up and complained, "Where is Meng Zhuo?"

The general said: "The eunuch is in the mansion, wait for me to transfer a boat and send the Shangguan there."

Kong Rong couldn't help but said, "The city is also flooded? How deep is it?"

Unconsciously, he took two steps towards the opposite side of the city wall, and looked into the city. Before he reached the city wall, a foul smell came to his nostrils.

Kong Rong quickly covered his sleeves, looked down, and found that the city had been completely submerged by water, and the turbid water was several feet deep, covering the entire city of Puyang.

Scattered human and animal corpses floated on the water, all swollen and festered, and the stench came from this.

Seeing that there were many babies among the corpses, Kong Rong felt nauseous and almost retched.

Na Pianjiang sighed: "If the angel comes a few days later, I'm afraid we will become like this."

"This month, we have come here like this. There are no clean wells in the city, and this is the water we drink."

Kong Rong felt nauseous again. Before he left, Hua Tuo talked about the flooding of the city, saying that if there was water soaked in rotten dead animals, drinking it would easily cause disease, so Kong Rong must be careful.

Kong Rong's face was heavy, and he said to the general: "Take me to see Meng Zhuo quickly."

Not long after, a small boat came over, picked up Kong Rong, and headed for Zhang Miao's mansion. Along the way, he saw soldiers resting on the roof, and he couldn't help but said to the general, "How can we fight like this?"

"Don't you think of giving up on Chen Liu and running away?"

The general smiled wryly and said: "The angel should understand that this flood attacking the city clearly means that no one will be left alive."

"Even if we escaped from the city, the other side is waiting for us, where else can we escape?"

"We can't get out, and the other side can't come in. In the end, the people in the city slowly die, and the other side wins."

Kong Rong was quite upset when he heard this, and sighed: "If I knew this, if Meng Zhuo hadn't rebelled against Duke Cao that day, how could there be such a tragedy?"

The general listened, with a sneer on his face, "Speaking of what angels don't like to hear, those who stay in the city now will never die with Cao Jun."

"The thief Cao moved into Yanzhou that day. We thought we could live a good life, but he brought hundreds of thousands of refugees and soldiers from Qingzhou."

"We can't get enough to eat, and Cao Jun even indulged these people to rob us, and we can't survive, so naturally follow the prefect to rebel!"

Kong Rong gradually understood that the reason why Yanzhou supported Lv Bu and opposed Cao Cao that day was not just a dispute between the gentry, not only sighed, but it is no accident that it has today's results.

Not long after, the boat arrived at Zhang Miao's mansion, and saw that the gate was open. Although Zhang Miao's mansion was located on a high ground, there was water about a foot deep inside. guard.

The general said to the soldiers on the steps: "This is the envoy of the emperor, and I have an edict to bring to the prefect."

After hearing this, the soldiers went in to report. After a while, Kong Rong saw Zhang Miao wading through the water, wearing clogs and holding up the hem of his clothes.

Kong Rong saw that Zhang Miao's face was sunken, Yintang was black, and his complexion was extremely bad, so he couldn't help but sighed, "Meng Zhuo, why did you become like this!"

After Zhang Miao carefully identified it for a while, he lost his voice and said, "Wenju, why are you here?"

Zhang Miao is one of the eight cooks, he is not well-known, and he is also friends with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Naturally, he also has friendship with Kong Rong. At the end of the road, dying.

Kong Rong said: "Now that the son is staying in Huaicheng, I will be an envoy to bring an edict to Meng Zhuo and Meng Gao (Zhang Chao)."

"Where is Meng Gao?"

Zhang Miao sighed, "He is sick in bed, let's go in and talk about it."

Kong blended in, let Zhang Miao read the imperial edict, and said: "Cao Cao has gained power by welcoming the emperor, and now the emperor will mediate the dispute between the two parties, let Meng Zhuo give up Chen Liu, and meet the emperor."

Zhang Miao heard this, frowned and said, "Isn't this a bias?"

"Will I be executed if I go?"

Kong Rong hurriedly said: "It's absolutely impossible. Now that the Han court has Marquis Wen and others, Cao Cao can't be the only one."

"What's more, with me here, when I am in front of the emperor, I will definitely report Cao Cao's crimes in Chenliu, and try my best to keep Meng Zhuo and Meng Gao safe."

Zhang Miao read the edict carefully again, and sighed: "Anyway, in a few days, we will all die here."

"I believe in Wenju, no matter what, I will go out of the city and surrender, and follow Wenju to meet the emperor."

Within half a day, the soldiers and commoners in Huaicheng heard the news that Kaesong was about to surrender, and they couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief, after all, the city really couldn't hold on anymore.

Zhang Miao and Kong Rong got into the boat, followed by Zhang Chao who was lying sick. Several boats were lowered from a gap in the collapsed city wall and rowed to the shore. The family members of the Zhang family also helped the old and the young, followed behind. several ships.

When the Huaicheng soldiers and people saw it, they also took out the door panels and bamboo mats, and the mallards followed. For a moment, there was a commotion in the city. Although they surrendered, they survived anyway, so everyone looked happy.

Kong Rong and the others went ashore. Cao Chun had been waiting on it with his soldiers. Kong Rong saw him and said, "Meng Zhuo and the others have received an order. Come with me to meet the emperor. You can get out of the way and let the family members go." The people pass."

Unexpectedly, when Cao Chun gave an order, Cao Jun drew out their knives one after another. Kong Rong was shocked when he saw it, and shouted: "Why, are you going to resist the order?"

Cao Chun sneered and said, "The Son of Heaven issued an edict to Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao, but not others!"

"The rest, including the two family members, will be executed!"

As soon as he gave an order, Cao Jun immediately rushed to the soldiers and civilians who were still on the shore, blood was splashed everywhere, and screams resounded through the river bank.

　Today is still four changes, tomorrow will return to normal
　　
　
(End of this chapter)