Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 460 Throwing the Bait
Most of the Great Wall of later generations was dominated by the Ming Great Wall, but since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall has never stopped in order to defend against foreign enemies.

Except that the Ming Dynasty spent hundreds of years building the Liaodong Great Wall from Shanhaiguan to the Yalu River, which was demolished after the Qing soldiers entered the customs. of the Great Wall.

The Great Wall at the end of the Han Dynasty was not completely connected. Not only was Liaodong undefended, but there were also many cut-off places between Youzhou and Bingzhou. Even many fortresses of later generations have not started to be built.

Especially the inner three passes, including Juyongguan, Zijingguan, and Daomaguan, are all near or within the newly conquered Montenegro.

As for the front line of the Outer Three Passes, because of the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, not only the city walls were mostly incomplete, but the garrison also relied on the local Han and Hu border people. With the Han court no longer paying, the defense was useless.

Repairing the Great Wall costs a lot, and Yuan Xi currently has no extra manpower and material resources to fill the vacancy, but as the Lord of Youzhou, he is also responsible for guarding the border and protecting the people, so he can only find a way to mobilize troops to defend the border and prevent foreign infiltration .

However, Yuan Xi was not confident about the current Great Wall defense line that was riddled with holes. Until news came from Yuyang and Youbeiping frontier fortresses, Zhao Yun and Xianyufu defeated the Xianbei rogues that had infiltrated. After running to western Liaoning, I felt relieved.

As for the attitude towards the Gongsundu family in Liaodong, Yuan Xi was a little hesitant.

The Gongsundu family ran for three generations and ruled the Liaodong Peninsula for more than [-] years until it was wiped out by the Sima Yi clan. It can be said to be very famous.

But in this world, the Gongsun family is still in the development stage, because it only started to control Liaodong in the sixth year of Zhongping (189), which is only seven or eight years ago.

Therefore, in Yuan Xi's view, the power of the Gongsundu family is not stable, and it is only a few years earlier than his own in Youzhou, and there is no absolute advantage.

Gongsun Du, styled Shengji, was originally from Xiangping, Eastern Liaodong.Xu Rong of the same county was the general of Dong Zhuo Zhonglang, and was recommended as the governor of Liaodong. -- "Biography of Wei Shu Gongsun Du"

Because of the existence of the Three Mutual Laws, it was unreasonable for Gongsun Du to serve as the prefect of Liaodong. Even Gongsun Zan, who was in full swing at the time, did not dare to lead Youzhou Shepherd himself, but Biao Duanxun was the governor of Youzhou.

And Gongsun Du was able to do this because his real place of origin was that his family did not come from Liaodong, but came from Yiwang.

Du Fu (Gongsun) Yan, avoiding officials and living in Xuantu. -- "Biography of Wei Shu Gongsun Du"

Therefore, Gongsun Du's situation is somewhat similar to that of Gongsun Zan. They are not welcomed by the local nobles, so after he came to power, he got close to the poor people and used severe punishments to suppress the local nobles.

But because the gentry controlled the land and could not eradicate it, there were always hidden dangers in this method. Just like Gongsun Zan's rear was on fire and the whole state rebelled before his defeat, Gongsun Du actually had weaknesses to find.

This was also the focus of debate among Yuan Xi's advisers. Whether to take advantage of Gongsun Zan's unstable foothold and gradually nibble and destroy him, or to appease him first and let him be used by Youzhou, Guo Jiajushou, and even Tian Yu and Lu Xun all had different opinions.

The reason why Yuan Xi was so cautious was that he could see that if he mobilized all his strength and went all out, he might not be able to defeat the Gongsundu family within three years.

But it's hard to say what the gains and losses are.

Putting all our efforts into the attack on Liaodong means giving up the encirclement and suppression of Yuan Shu and watching Cao Cao succeed.

Of course, the rewards for defeating the Gongsun family are also very rich. They can control Liaodong, go south from Lelang to the Korean Peninsula, and bring the vassal states including Goguryeo under their rule.

But the ideal is very good, but the reality is not so easy. Even if he defeats Gongsundu, Yuan Xi will be seriously injured. He will have to recuperate for at least a few years, and he will miss the most crucial battles for the Central Plains.

And when it comes to Liaodong, there are Xianbei in the north and Korean countries in the south. They are not soft persimmons that can be easily dealt with. It is easy to fall into the quagmire of endless wars and be gradually dragged down.

So in the end, after Yuan Xi revealed that he did not want to participate in the struggle for hegemony in Liaodong within five years, everyone agreed, and Guo Jia finally said: "Since we can't be enemies, we must find ways to make friends."

"Gongsun Du probably won't reject the young master's kindness, but if he is allowed to grow up, it will take a lot of effort in the future until his foundation in Liaodong is solid."

Ju Shou also nodded in agreement, "So how to make friends with him and how to give him a certain degree of support need to be carefully considered."

"Originally, the best way for the two sides to get along well is to marry. Now that the son has no female relatives, it is not easy to go this way."

"But there is still a deep hidden relationship, which may not be unusable."

Everyone knew that Ju Shou had a very good understanding of the relationship between the gentry in the world, which was far better than Guo Jia, who had a relatively low background in this point, so they couldn't help but listen attentively.

Ju Shou said: "The late Zhonglang general Xu Rong who recommended Gongsun Du was Dong Zhuo's Zhonglang general."

"Dong Zhuo's subordinate Zhong Lang is powerful and powerful, and there are not many people. Apart from Xu Rong, there are also a few people such as Duan Yan Niu Fu, all of whom are Dong Zhuo's most capable confidantes."

"Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou, Zhang Ji, and Jia Xu were only school lieutenants at the time, ranking below Xu Rong and the others."

Yuan Xi thought that this was the case, no wonder Duan Yao despised Li Jue and Guo Si very much. It turned out that Duan Yan and Xu Rong, who was famous all over the world, were of similar status, so naturally they looked down on others.

At that time, Xu Rong was famous all over the world.Once surpassed the three heroes of the late Han Dynasty.He fought bravely and defeated Cao Cao and Sun Jian successively, almost driving the two to a dead end.

In the battle of defeating Cao Cao, brothers Bao Xin, Cao Cao's subordinates, were killed in battle. Cao Cao was hit by an arrow and barely escaped by riding Cao Hong's horse.

Sun Jian was even more miserable, he was beaten down to dozens of riders, and he escaped only by exchanging turbans with Zu Mao.

After the two wars, Xu Rong became famous all over the world.

However, it was such a fierce man who took refuge in Wang Yun after Dong Zhuo's death, but because of suspicion, he controlled a small number of soldiers, but was sent to resist the army of Li Jue and Guo Si, which was several times his own, and died in the first battle.

Seeing that Xu Rong is a typical iron-blooded soldier, he completely obeys the orders of his superiors and respects every order.

For this era, Xu Rong is the general who best represents the spirit of the Han Dynasty.

He couldn't help being a little dazed, the notorious Dong Zhuo had two confidantes who were extremely loyal to the big man, what was this?
The upper beam is not upright and the lower beam is crooked. It is not surprising that Dong Zhuo has Li Jue and Guo Si under his command, but why do people like Xu Rong and Duan Yan serve him?
Ju Shou's words brought Yuan Xi's thoughts back to reality, "Xu Rong is the master of Gongsun Du."

"Both generals of Zhonglang, Xu Rong and Duan Yan have a close relationship. Now the son and Duan Yan are both named by the emperor, so they can be called peers."

"Furthermore, Duan Yan and the Son of Heaven are connected by Young Master Wenhou. On this point, Duan Yan should accept Young Master's affection no matter what."

"The young master took out this relationship and negotiated with Gongsun Du, and he gained a moral advantage."

After listening to Ju Shou's analysis, Yuan Xi praised: "Sir, what you say is reasonable. Please, sir, write a book for me, consider the words and sentences, and invite Gongsun Du to send an envoy to talk."

Jushou took the order, and everyone was shocked. The situation in Liaodong was like a mess. Now Jushou pulled out one of the threads, and let everyone see the dawn of a step-by-step solution to the problem.

Ju Shou said again: "If you want it to be used by the young master, friendship is not enough, there must be real benefits. What does the young master plan to promise Gongsun Du?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi thought for a while, and said, "I can't present anything practical now, I can only make a verbal promise."

"I want to join forces with him and send troops to deal with Northern Xianbei, Donghu and Goguryeo."

"If he can eat these places, they are all his. I only want the southern half of the peninsula."

"If the matter can be claimed, I will show up and fully support him in making him a duke and a king."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and Ju Shou said, "Wang with a different surname?"

"This is a bit of a taboo, as long as Gongsun Du is not in a daze, I'm afraid he won't dare to agree?"

Guo Jia said with a smile: "But it's not like it didn't happen. Now that the Han Dynasty is in ruins, who knows what will happen. Gongsun Du is very courageous, but the young master has a good grasp of his ideas."

Yuan Xi thought that Guo Jia was indeed higher than Ju Shou in terms of people's hearts, and he also saw from the history of later generations that Gongsun Du had the heart to be king, so he threw out this bait.

In the later period of the Three Kingdoms period, strictly speaking, the status of the Gongsun family was very detached. Just like the existence of the fourth country, it often jumped back and forth between Wei Guo and Wu Guo to reap the benefits.

Moreover, if he dared to make peace with Fuyu, it was even more presumptuous. To be able to make peace with the country, both of them should be the lord of the country.

The sky is high and the emperor is far away. It is not normal for Gongsun Du to have no idea in this geographical location.

In fact, Yuan Xi was very depraved. He knew that the method used by the Gongsundu family to rule Liaodong was to implement a reign of terror. Under his rule, they almost slaughtered the local clans. According to history books, "more than a hundred families were wiped out."

What Yuan Xi was really afraid of was actually the kind of princes like Liu who practiced benevolent government and won the hearts of the people. This kind of people's territory is extremely difficult to conquer because the monarch and the people are united.

But Gongsun Du is different. He can maintain his rule in normal times, but once there is an external aggression, it is easy to be unstable internally. This is the reason why Yuan Xi is relieved to join forces with him.

The more unpopular he is, the more opportunities Yuan Xi will find to play tricks in the future.

Ju Shou couldn't understand Yuan Xi's thoughts for a while, but Guo Jia, who had been with Yuan Xi for a long time, was very clear in his heart, so he spoke in agreement.

Everyone's plan has been decided, and it's almost noon, they will go back to each house, Yuan Xi saw Guo Jia hurried out, said curiously: "Mr. Feng Xiao, is there something urgent?"

Guo Jia boarded the carriage, and sighed: "Guo Yi has recently gone to a free school, which saved me a lot of work, but I often have to pick him up for dinner at noon, so I'm not in a hurry to pick him up."

Seeing Guo Jia turned into a social animal, Yuan Xi couldn't help laughing and said, "Mr. Feng Xiao has worked hard, but as a sacrificial wine, Mr. is also in charge of voluntary school affairs, why don't you think about having the lunch meal taken from the public warehouse?"

"Anyway, it doesn't cost much, and it can save everyone's manpower and material resources."

Guo Jia said with a smile: "Just wait for the son's words, then I will send someone to do it."

Yuan Xi was startled, then laughed and said, "Sir, you're plotting against me."

Guo Jia laughed and drove the carriage.

Yuan Xi shook his head, walked out of the front yard, and went back to his mansion in the backyard. As soon as he entered, he heard a very melodious and beautiful piano sound coming from the hall.

(End of this chapter)