Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 593 The Messenger
Yuan Shao slowly opened his eyes and felt as if a big stone was pressing down on his chest. He gasped a few times with difficulty. Yuan Xing and Hong saw him and hurriedly brought a basin and tea.

With the help of the two women, Yuan Shao struggled to stand up, and with trembling hands, he went to pick up the soaked linen in the basin. Yuan Xing wanted to help pick it up, but Yuan Shao stopped him.

He supported his elbow with his other hand, and his trembling hand had just stabilized. Then he put his hand into the lukewarm water, turned his fingers vigorously, pinched the linen cloth, and then slowly lifted it out of the water.

The linen cloth left the water, and Yuan Shao moved his palms that didn't seem to belong to him, pinching out the water. The linen cloth gradually shriveled up like lungs exhaling air.

He retracted his hand, covered his face with linen, and then rubbed it vigorously. This action was a bit violent and seemed to cause pain in Yuan Shao's body. He covered his mouth with the linen and coughed violently.

The two women looked at each other and saw the uneasiness in each other's eyes.

After a while, Yuan Shao stopped coughing. He rolled the linen into a ball and threw it back into the water. Immediately, there were traces of faint blood soaking in the water.

He seemed to turn a blind eye to this, but sat upright by the couch, reached out to take the tea in Hong's hand, and slowly raised it to his mouth. His actions contained a full sense of noble style, making it impossible for anyone to find fault.

If the two women hadn't seen Yuan Shao vomiting blood these past few days, at this moment, they would have thought that Yuan Shao was an extremely healthy person.

Yuan Shao poured the tea into his mouth, swallowed it slowly, and asked, "What time is it now?"

Yuan Xing replied: "It's just half past midnight."

Yuan Shao was a little surprised when he heard this, "It's been so long?"

He was feeling unwell, so he ate something hastily and wanted to take a nap, but as soon as he closed his eyes and opened them, several hours passed.

Over the past few days, his health has been deteriorating, and he vomits blood several times each time. It is obvious that there is a serious problem with his body. He had a cough before, which was left behind when he was adopted by Yuan Pang when he was young. Down the bug.

After Yuan Shao was adopted, Yuan Pang was dead at that time, but he still announced to the world that he would observe mourning for three years. After that, he also announced that Yuan Pang's wife would observe mourning for three years.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the custom of the gentry had already deteriorated. The formal obligation to observe filial piety was three years, a total of 27 months. However, in order to avoid observing filial piety, the gentry came up with the idea of ​​one day for one year, and one day for one month.

Moreover, during the period of observing filial piety, one is supposed to live in front of the grave, cut off the life of a couple, have simple meals every day, and have necessary daily etiquette. The life is extremely poor and difficult. How many nobles in the world can do this?
But Yuan Shao did it.

He lived in front of the tomb for six years in accordance with the strictest etiquette. No one, including those who deliberately targeted him, found any fault, and Yuan Shao became famous all over the world.

Therefore, Yuan Shao's later sons were all born late, and their bodies also suffered from the root causes of the disease. They not only had coughs, but also had gastrointestinal problems. Few people knew about these problems. But at that time, Yuan Shao saw a doctor, and the doctor thought it was just coldness and pain in the lungs. It's not tuberculosis, there's no reason why he would vomit blood.

What he didn't understand was how could his condition deteriorate so quickly?
He had also thought that it was a problem with the Five Stone Powder, but two medical doctors had tested it and found no problem. Yuan Shao was not only thinking, could it really be that his lifespan had expired?
Yuan Shao thought for a while and said to the two women: "You have been working very hard these past few days. There is no need to stay on duty tonight. You should all go back and rest first."

Hong said uneasily: "Jun Gu said that I must take care of my concubine day and night. If something goes wrong, I'm afraid..."

Yuan Shao waved his hands and said: "Making a fuss out of a molehill. Besides, you are just wasting your energy here. Can you still cure my disease?"

Yuan Xing felt uncomfortable after hearing this, and said sadly: "My father has always been in good health, how could it suddenly become like this? Can't even the doctors in Yecheng see it?"

Just as Yuan Shao was about to speak, he heard some sounds coming into the wing. It seemed that there was a commotion in the courtyard. At first, there were just shouts and the sound of falling tiles, but then it turned into chaotic noises, mixed with intensive fighting sounds.

Yuan Shao shouted: "Come, what's going on?"

Immediately, two guards heard the sound and came in. They knelt down to Yuan Shao and said, "Your Majesty, there are assassins outside!"

After hearing this, the two women's faces turned pale. Yuan Shao sneered: "I'm not dead yet, and someone can't help it anymore?"

"Go, no matter life or death, be sure to keep it!"

After hearing this, the two guards quickly followed the order and came out. A group of guards outside had already surrounded the assassin who had sneaked in.

In the center of the courtyard, the assassin who broke in was wearing linen clothes, but was not masked. His appearance was ordinary, and he was the kind who would not be noticed on the street.

He was holding a bamboo tube in his mouth and was holding a ring-headed sword. He was just slashing forward with the sword. The guard of Yuan Shao's mansion struck him with the sword. The sound of gold and iron was heard from under the linen clothes. Obviously, He wears armor.

This made Yuan Shao's guards shocked and angry. How could this man secretly hide armor in Yecheng? Whose person did he belong to?

However, these guards were all elite Jizhou soldiers with rich combat experience. When they saw that cutting with their swords was not enough, they immediately switched to thrusting. More than a dozen knives were stabbed down with a continuous thud. When several of the knives were pulled back, they were already stained with blood.

The man was injured, his brows were furrowed, and his teeth rattled the bamboo tube. He rolled over on the spot, trying to get through the gap between the people!
The two guards subconsciously struck back with a knife, stabbing several inches into the assassin's vest. The assassin rolled several times on the ground, and there were specks of blood on the ground.Several guards saw it and were convinced that the assassin was not wearing military-style armor. He might have improvised it himself, which is why there was such an obvious wound on the vest.

But the next moment, the assassin used his hands and feet to run quickly on the ground. In just a blink of an eye, he ran a distance of seven or eight feet.

All the guards were shocked because the direction the assassin was running towards was Yuan Shao's bedroom!

They hurriedly chased after him, but the man seemed to know that his life was not long, so he ran faster. He rushed to the door and slashed the wooden door with a knife.

With just this force, the blood from the wound on his vest spurted out like a stream, staining the linen clothes on his body red. However, he did not hesitate at all and went in. However, he only took one step, and two long knives at the door rushed out. The thorn came out and pierced deeply into his side.

When the two guards who drew the sword saw that the blow was successful, they were about to pull the knife out. The assassin also knew that once the knife was drawn out, he would immediately bleed to death. He actually threw away the knife in his hand and held it between his arms. He grabbed two long knives, then let out a low shout in his throat, and ran inside with the long knives!
The two guards were shocked. They had never seen such a person before. Inadvertently, they dropped the long knife and watched the assassin go inside. The assassin kicked open the door, and the next moment there was another A long knife appeared and pierced his abdomen.

The assassin mustered up his last bit of strength and kicked out the guard who had drawn the knife. The knife inserted into his lower abdomen was also brought out. A fountain of blood spurted out and splashed onto the room along with the tumbling force of the knife. Top.

The woman's scream sounded, and the assassin reluctantly raised his head and saw a middle-aged man sitting on the bed seven or eight feet away from him, with two women with pale faces standing beside him.

When he saw that the middle-aged man had a slender appearance, very similar to the figure in the portrait, he couldn't help but stumble forward two steps, and then he was stabbed in the vest again.

He finally ran out of energy and slowly sat down on his knees.

At this time, Yuan Shao's guards rushed into the room one after another. They all secretly wiped their sweat as they looked at the assassin who was kneeling motionless on the ground.

It's really a shame that so many people didn't block such a person. Fortunately, this person is about to die!

Yuan Shao stopped the guard who was about to cut off the assassin's head and said to the dying assassin, "You are very brave. Who sent you here?"

The man shook his body, and he slowly raised his hand. Yuan Shao's guard, as if facing a formidable enemy, saw him slowly put his hand on the bamboo tube at hand.

One of the guards lost his voice and said, "Be careful, will this bamboo tube explode?"

After hearing this, all the guards became nervous. They all heard that the Youzhou Army had a secret weapon like a bamboo tube, which could cause great damage and make a loud noise when released.

Could this man be from the Youzhou Army?

The man wanted to pull the bamboo tube out of his mouth, but because of the pain, his teeth had already been embedded in the bamboo tube and he couldn't pull it out for a while.

One of the guards was extremely nervous and subconsciously swung his knife out, slashing the assassin's arm. The assassin's arm was cut off and hung down. Only then did the guard realize that there was no flint in his hand, so he calmly put away the knife.

The man's chest rose and fell, he gasped a few times, and he raised his hand with difficulty. Yuan Shao heard that the sound coming from the other man's lungs was somewhat similar to his own, as if he was struggling to death. He couldn't help but feel something in his heart and stopped the guard.

The man grabbed the bamboo tube with his hand, shook it a few times, and finally released his jaw and pulled out the bamboo tube.

The blood that flowed from more than a dozen wounds on his body had completely stained his linen clothes and formed a puddle underneath him, but he was completely unaware of it. He bit the cork on the bamboo tube and turned his head vigorously.

With a sound of ripples, the cork was pulled out. The man tipped the bamboo tube and poured a roll of silk into his hand. His hand was already full of blood, and the silk was stained with a lot of blood in an instant. He tremblingly said to Yuan Shao Stretching out his hand, "I have been ordered to deliver a message."

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other in shock. Yuan Shao was surprised and asked: "Why don't you find someone to pass it on?"

The man's breath was weak, "The order is very urgent. I must see the envoy in person."

Yuan Shao saw the man's eyes slowly closing and said, "What's your name?"

The man's arms dropped and he died.

Yuan Shao stood up and walked towards the assassin's body. Several guards quickly held down the shoulders of the assassin's body to prevent him from pretending to be dead.

Yuan Shao took a few steps and then started coughing, but he still tried to steady his steps, walked to the man, slowly leaned over, and took out the silk from his hand.

He unfolded the silk and took a look, only to realize that the letter was written by Yuan Xi. He had already led his troops to arrive, but was blocked outside the city!
Yuan Xi said in the letter that if Yuan Shao did not want him to enter the city, he would leave Jizhou immediately, but he needed an accurate letter.

After Yuan Shao read the letter, his anger welled up and he said coldly: "Ask Xu You to come over for review."

(End of this chapter)