Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 480
While talking, Zhen Mi came in. Seeing the armor piled on the ground, she had a complicated expression on her face. Seeing this, Mrs. Du knew that Zhen Mi had something to say, so she got up and moved out of the way.

Lu Lingqi pulled Zha Jia aside, asked Zhen Mi to sit down, and said carelessly, "I know what madam wants to say, don't worry, madam, I will protect him well."

Zhen Mi sighed lightly, "My wife really feels very sorry for what Madam said."

"As a female family member of the Yuan family, she should be protected by her husband, but if it is reversed, she will be in danger."

"I'm here to thank you on behalf of my husband, and I hope my wife will take care of you and come back safely with my husband."

Lu Lingqi said indifferently: "Don't worry, I have seen a lot of life and death on the battlefield. Unless I meet an enemy general, I can save the lives of two people, which is more than enough."

Zhen Mi nodded slightly, "I'm actually very envious of Madam, who can always be by my husband's side."

"After my concubine married my husband, I couldn't help him much. I'm really ashamed."

"Madam needs me to do something, just ask me, I will do my best."

As Lu Lingqi sent Zhen Mi away, she thought to herself, are all women who have given birth so cautious?

It's better to come here freely, at least you don't have to stay in this mansion for many years.

Thinking of this, she somewhat understood Madam Du's mood.

She casually picked up the twin halberds that were shining with cold light, and waved them around on her fingertips casually, followed by the clear and sharp sound of the wind.

Lu Lingqi wrapped up the double halberds carefully, and said in her heart that she had embarked on a different path from other gentry women, and she didn't know how many battles she would have to fight in the future. Although it might be dangerous, she would never regret it.

Soon it was the day when Yuan Xi led the army to set off. This time he brought not only soldiers who were proficient in water and land warfare, but also many students who had graduated from volunteer schools.

In Guangling County, although many local gentry were appointed, it was not possible to allow all important official positions to be held by local people, which would only accelerate the growth of the local gentry.

Therefore, recruiting a group of students from Youzhou Free School to work in Guangling, and then transferring officials from Guangling to Youzhou for exchange, can effectively prevent local snakes from forming groups, and can also avoid the restrictions of the Three Mutual Law.

It was out of this consideration that Chen Deng, who was born in Xiapi, was appointed as the prefect of Guangling. Yuan Xi thought that there was Zang Hong who had not been settled in Guangling, and thought that his territory in Xuzhou was indeed a bit small.

This is also Yuan Xi's first return to Xuzhou after he was granted the title of Xuzhou Shepherd. Compared with the last time he left, the situation in Xuzhou has undergone great changes.

The strengths of the three parties that were originally relatively balanced in power have ebbed and flowed. After Yuan Tan took over most of the Taishan bandits, he had leapt into a powerful prince with hundreds of thousands of troops, and this power was looking for opportunities to vent out.

Of course, there must be something in this number, most of them are bandits in sackcloth with bamboo spears in their hands, such people have no power to resist in front of Yuan Xi's elite soldiers.

During this period of time, Liu Bei also pulled up a team of 2 people. Under the leadership of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he repelled the Yuan Shu army who violated the border several times. It can be said that his combat power is quite impressive.

As for Yuan Xi's side, it was the only one among the three parties that did not increase its troops massively.

He just asked Guangling City to train the water army step by step, and at the same time maintain a certain number of standing troops. He recruited thousands of reserve troops through the recruitment system, trained them on weekdays, and let them go back to farm when the farming season was busy.

The reason why Yuan Xi carefully controlled the number of soldiers under his command was because even if there were a large number of soldiers, if the training was not good, it would not be transformed into combat power, it was just a mob.

Later generations, Sun Quan's [-] troops attacked Hefei, and they also fled in embarrassment. What's the use of having more soldiers at this time?

Guangling had a small increase in troops, and Yuan Xi built a granary to store grain for the excess of the remaining expenses. There was an important reason for this.

Today's grain harvest in Huaisi was bumper, which gave Yuan Shu the confidence to proclaim himself emperor. At the same time, he vigorously prepared for war and expanded his army, increasing his standing troops to 10,000+.

It seems that Yuan Shu is in full swing, but only Yuan Xi understands that there is a huge hidden danger in it.

In the second year of Jian'an, the Huaisi area will encounter continuous disasters.

Frequent locust plagues, floods and earthquakes caused large-scale food harvest failures, soldiers and people lacked food, and Yuan Shu lived extravagantly. By the time he realized it, the situation was irreversible.

Therefore, Yuan Shu looked extremely powerful at this time, but in fact, when the blind expansion of troops encountered food shortages, it would quickly detonate, forming a chain reaction.Then the situation collapsed.

So this time when Yuan Xi went to Xuzhou, he discussed with Liu Bei how to build a defense line and survive Yuan Shu's attack first. As long as he persisted for more than half a year, Yuan Shu's internal hidden dangers would be exposed.

He didn't know what the other princes who accepted the imperial edict of the Han court thought, but Yuan Xi was very self-aware. Even if he had several times more troops, it would not be suitable for him to confront Yuan Shu head-on. Bird, let him do it.

What Yuan Xi has to do now is to stick to Guangling County, establish a good relationship with Yuan Tan, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce, and maintain the stability of the surrounding areas. It will be fine if Yuan Shu shows his decline.

So this time he came to the front line of Guangling to sit in town, mostly acting for the Han court. After all, the imperial edicts have been accepted, and he is still staying in Youzhou, which seems too perfunctory.

And counting the time, some of the merchant ships that Haixi went out to sea for trade should have returned. He was going to ask Zhen Yao what useful things the Zhen family caravan had brought.

A few days later, Yuan Xi took his soldiers and students and boarded a ship bound for Guangling Haixi.

To the north of Haixi is the estuary of the Huaihe River. There is a branch of the Hanjiang River, which leads directly to the north of Guangling. Now that Yuan Xi arrives in Guangling City, he no longer needs to enter the Yangtze River from the outer sea, and then arrive at the Guangling South Wharf.

The students who had just boarded the ship were fine at first, but when the sea was stormy, some people staggered on the deck, as if they were drunk, and some simply lay on the side of the ship and vomited, and were laughed at by others.

Rivers and rivers are not like seas, seas and mountains are always stormy and never stop, and ships shake far more than inland rivers.

This is also the reason why the Qingzhou pirates fought fiercely in the water. Many of them grew up at sea and were good at operations on ships, so merchant ships were helpless under their attacks.

The naval army trained by Tai Shici not only trained troops on the Neijiang River, but also often practiced at sea, so they were able to suppress the Qingzhou pirates and made great achievements in one fell swoop.

Inside the cabin, Madam Du's face was pale, with a wet sackcloth on her forehead, she said to Lu Lingqi: "I was supposed to take care of the girl, but now I am so shameful."

As soon as she said a word, she wanted to vomit again, so she quickly covered her mouth.

Lu Lingqi patted Madam Du on the shoulder, and said: "It's okay, I boarded the ship for the first time, and it was not much better than Madam, you should rest first."

After speaking, Lu Lingqi got up and went out of the cabin, and after a circle, she met Yuan Xi and Jushou Lu Xun who were talking at the bow of the boat. She knew that they had something to do, so she stood aside without making a sound.

Yuan Xizheng said to Jushou: "Mr. Gong and you feel that something is wrong with Cao Cao's recent actions?"

Ju Shou nodded and said: "Although these few military reports did not clearly point out the mobilization of Cao Cao's troops, I am sure that he did not concentrate his troops at the junction of Yanzhou and Yuzhou."

Yuan Xi suddenly remembered, the second year of Jian'an, wasn't it the time when Cao Cao conquered Zhang Xiu?
Thinking of this, he laughed and said, "I'm afraid that Mr. and Mrs. are worrying too much. Right now, no one is willing to attack Yuan Shu first. Maybe Cao Cao is going to expand his territory elsewhere?"

Ju Shou's eyes were fixed, and he said, "What do you mean, young master?"

Yuan Xi replied: "I think Cao Cao is very likely to occupy Jingzhou."

Ju Shou was taken aback for a moment, then he thought for a long time before he said, "It's not impossible."

"Occupying Jingzhou is equivalent to occupying the key point to seize the world. With his character of coveting Xuzhou's territory, he is really obsessed with attacking the city."

"But Jingzhou is not easy to fight, especially Zhang Xiu is guarding Nanyang, the gateway to Jingzhou. It may be difficult for Cao Jun to attack."

Yuan Xidao: "What if he colluded with Zhang Xiu in advance?"

After hearing this, Ju Shou immediately came to his senses, nodded and said, "It's really possible!"

"But how did the young master expect this?"

Yuan Xizheng was proud that it would be best for Cao Cao to attack Nanyang, so that he would suffer a huge loss, and it would be difficult for him to gain great benefits in attacking Yuan Shu in the future.

He was about to speak, but saw Lu Xun's brows furrowed tightly, and he couldn't help asking, "What's Bo Yan's opinion?"

Lu Xun hesitated for a moment and said, "Xun feels that Cao Cao has no reason to attack Jingzhou at present."

Yuan Xi was stunned, and bowed to Lu Xun, "Please also ask Bo Yan for advice."

After hearing this, Lu Xun hurriedly said, "I'm going to listen to a few nonsense words from you."

He cleared his throat, "Because I feel that now is not the time for Cao Jun to send troops to Jingzhou."

"Although it now occupies Sili Yanzhou, its foundation is not stable."

"First of all, he cannot control the situation in Huaicheng. Whether it is Marquis Wen or Dong Cheng, there is a possibility of trouble."

"And the emperor ordered him to crusade against Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu must hoard heavy troops on the border of Yuzhou for defense."

"Under such circumstances, how could the Cao family sell the two huge flaws in their backs to the enemy, so that they can attack Jingzhou to the west of Yuzhou and south of Sili without worry?"

"Even if he takes Nanyang, he is not afraid to add Liu Biao to the south. The three parties suddenly attack and enclose him. Where can he escape as a lone army?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi turned to Jushou and said, "What do you think of Bo Yan's words, sir?"

Ju Shou smiled and said, "What Bo Yan said is also what the old man wants to say."

"Just now, the old man saw what the young master said with certainty, but in fact, he didn't think that Cao Mengde regarded attacking Jingzhou as the most urgent choice at present."

Yuan Xi had been convinced, and he realized that he had made the biggest mistake.

Preconceived.

If natural disasters other than manpower, such as locust plagues and floods, still occur as usual, those events that are under the control of human decision-making cannot be exactly the same in future generations.

After all, the trend of history and the general trend of the world are completely different now. If I still have this kind of thinking pattern, I will suffer a big loss sooner or later!

Thinking of this, he was terrified, and bowed to the two: "I have been taught."

"Let's go to Haixi to collect information first, and then make a decision."

(End of this chapter)