Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 725 Banquet in Huaicheng

Wei Cang, courtesy name Bo Cang, was the head of the Wei family in Hedong. After Cao Cao occupied Sili, he recruited him as an official of Sikong Mansion. He is now responsible for Guanzhong affairs following Zhong Yao.

He also had a younger brother, Wei Yu, named Zhongdao, who was Cai Zhaoji's first husband who died young.

After the death of Wei Zhongdao, Cai Zhaoji was regarded as an ominous person. She suffered some cynicism from the Wei family. Cai Zhaoji also had a strong temper, so she packed up her bed and returned to Luoyang to live with Cai Yong.

After Dong Zhuo moved the capital, Cai Yong followed him to Chang'an. He was worried that Chang'an was not safe, but he let Cai Zhaoji stay in her old residence in Luoyang.

Not long after the capital was moved to Chang'an, the situation suddenly changed. Dong Zhuo was killed and Cai Yong was implicated in his death. Cai Zhaoji in Luoyang was spared. However, the good times did not last long. The capital area was turbulent. The Southern Huns took the opportunity to go south and plundered Luoyang. The Cai family's residence was destroyed. During the looting, Cai Zhaoji was also taken away.

When this news reached the Wei family, it actually caused quite a stir, because although Cai Zhaoji left the Wei family, she was still a member of the Wei family in name. If the Southern Huns abducted her, and some scandal spread, the Wei family would The reputation is not good either.

With the ability of the Wei family, if the people in charge of the Southern Huns were found to find a way, they might not be able to rescue Cai Zhaoji. However, there was a debate within the Wei family because no one knew what happened to Cai Zhaoji after she was kidnapped.

If it had become a plaything of the Southern Huns, and this was very likely to happen, even if the Wei family spent a great deal of money to redeem it, rumors would spread among the gentry and damage the reputation of the Wei family.

So the idea of ​​the Wei family at that time was that if Cai Zhaoji died, it would be over once and for all, which was almost the best situation. But even if Cai Zhaoji did not die, she would almost be kidnapped to the north, and there would be no news at all. In this way, there would be no Will it affect the Wei family?
  So the Wei family pretended not to know about Cai Zhaoji's abduction and just brushed it off.

Who would have known that two years later, rumors gradually spread in Youzhou, Xuzhou, that Cai Zhaoji was rescued and was not kidnapped to the north.

This was originally good news, but the Wei family was not happy because the rumor also said that Cai Zhaoji had become the concubine of Yuan Xi, the governor of Youzhou, the fierce tiger!

With Cai Zhaoji's status, even if she remarries, she is still the official wife of others. As a result, now she has become a concubine. Although the Cai family has lost face, what is even more embarrassing is the Wei family.

The widow of the family head's younger brother became someone else's concubine, which caused great damage to the reputation of the Wei family. However, the Wei family was helpless against the fierce tiger, so they had to pretend to be deaf and mute, while trying their best to deny the rumor.

It wasn't until Yang Xi and his wife Cai Zhenji went on a mission to Xuzhou and met Cai Zhaoji that the news was completely concealed, making the Wei family a laughing stock among the gentry.

In fact, Wei Ji had secretly contacted Yuan Xi and asked him to return Cai Zhaoji, but Yuan Xi naturally ignored it. Until the news of Cai Zhaoji's life was finally confirmed, the Wei family could no longer pretend to be stupid, so they held a grudge against Yuan Xi.

But at that time, Yuan Xi relied on the Yuan family and could not afford to offend him. Moreover, the Wei family heard that Yuan Xi would definitely be punished, so they did not dare to ask Yuan Xi to release him, so they could only tolerate it for the time being.

So when Cao Cao entered Sili, welcomed the emperor, and completely broke up with the Yuan family, the Wei family couldn't wait to respond to the conquest, defected to Cao Cao, and swore to be Yuan Xi's enemy.

Now that Wei Jing was speaking, Cao Cao's subordinates all understood and waited for a good show. Sure enough, Wei Jing said: "The fierce tiger is in the Black Mountain. It has been deploying troops and may attack Huaicheng at any time."

"The Black Mountain Pass is an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place, and we cannot easily mobilize troops to encircle and suppress it. However, it is better to solve this kind of serious problem as soon as possible than to delay it later."

"The direction of its breakthrough is Bingzhou!"

"The ones instigated by Gao Gan were just a few tribes of the Southern Xiongnu in Taiyuan County, and most of the Southern Xiongnu tribes would not be willing to be used by them."

"If we can defeat Gao Gan, occupy Taiyuan, and join forces with the northern and southern Xiongnu tribes in the Hetao area, we can invade Heishan and even Youzhou from all over Bingzhou at any time!"

"Now that he has taken the initiative and left his back to the Southern Xiongnu tribes in the Hetao area, which are eyeing him, it can be said that he is exposing his shortcomings!"

"Nowadays, Gao Gan seems to be coming with great force, but in fact, it has only been a year since he took over Taiyuan. How many troops can he raise?"

"As long as Ma Teng, Han Sui and Yuan Shu are ordered to march to the east of Hedong to block the high cadres, Huaicheng sends troops to cut off their retreat, and at the same time instigates the Southern Huns from Yanmen and Xihe counties to attack Taiyuan, the high cadres will have nowhere to escape and will fall sooner or later. defeat!"

After Wei Zhu finished speaking, the other subordinates all exclaimed in admiration, "Bo Zhu, this plan is very clever!"

Zhong Yao also nodded slightly, and just as he was about to speak, someone said: "Although this plan is wonderful, it is too risky."

"Gong Cao's original intention was for us to build a defense line in Hanoi and Henan Yin to prevent the Youzhou Army from moving south from Heishan. Now that all the troops have been mobilized to Hedong, Hanoi must be empty. If this is the enemy's plan to attack the east and attack the west, wouldn't this be a target for the enemy? What’s your intention?”

Everyone was startled after hearing this, thinking that it really makes sense!
  Wei Jian's face felt a little hot. He looked closely and found that the person who spoke was Sima Fang, who was born in Hanoi. He couldn't help but said: "Isn't Jiangong's words afraid that the war in Hanoi will affect the Sima family?"

In fact, what he said was a bit heart-wrenching. After hearing this, all the subordinates looked sideways to see if Sima Fang was angry. Sima Qufang said calmly: "Bo Xiang guessed it somewhat. I really don't want to fight in Hanoi. But why?" This is not something I can decide.”

"What's more, the Sima family will certainly suffer some damage in the Hanoi war, but if the enemy's plan falls into the trap and the entire Sili family is lost, the Sima family's losses will only be greater."

"Moreover, Gao Gan is fighting in the east of Hedong. According to what Bo Xi said, isn't he also afraid of a war in the east of Hedong?"

After hearing this, everyone secretly lamented that Jiang was still too old, and Wei Jian was too young and could not hold his temper, thus humiliating himself.

Moreover, the Sima family and the Cao family have a close relationship. Why would you, Wei Qiang, mess with him?
  Sima Fang, courtesy name Jiangong, was the son of Sima Jun, the prefect of Yingchuan. When he was young, he started as a county official and served successively as the Luoyang magistrate and the Jing Zhaoyin. He praised and recommended Cao Cao many times. When he got old, he turned to the cavalry captain, but he was still the core of Cao Cao. people in the circle.

His father, Sima Junju, was born as a filial and honest man. He once served as the prefect of Yingchuan. He was a contemporary of Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, and the two had a close friendship. However, Sima Jun lived much longer than Cao Teng. He did not die until last year (197) at the age of eighty-four, which is comparable to the centenarians of later generations.

Sima Jun has only one recorded son, Sima Fang, but Sima Fang had many sons, eight in total, including the famous Sima Bada, among whom was the famous Sima Yi.

In later generations, Sima Fang lived for seventy-one years, and Sima Yi lived for seventy-three years. It can only be said that the Sima family knew how to maintain health.

Now Sima Fang was calm and composed when faced with Wei Xi's ridicule. He only said a few words and silenced the other party.

Seeing this, Zhong Yao said: "Okay, we are all working for Duke Cao. Don't hurt your harmony."

"What both of you said makes sense. Senior officials cannot let it go, but Montenegro's defense cannot be relaxed either."

"It's enough for Ma Teng and Han Sui to block the high officials. Yuan Shu is in Yin, Henan. He can't move there. Let him continue to be stationed."

"Now we can send people to go north immediately, contact the Southern Xiongnu tribe in Yanmenxi River, and attack Taiyuan directly."

"At the same time, let the Southern Xiongnu in Yanmen guard the direction of Daijun in Youzhou to prevent the Youzhou army from taking the opportunity to attack."

"We should provide support from the center and block the southern exit of Montenegro. If the Youzhou Army wants to go south, they can only take this route. As long as we don't cause trouble, they will not be able to take an inch further."

"They are the ones who are anxious now, not us. Now that Duke Cao has occupied Yuzhou, when the time is right, he will definitely be able to send troops northward to attack the Yuan family in one fell swoop!"

After hearing this, everyone bowed and said: "The Lord is wise!"

Seeing that everything was arranged properly, Zhong Yao said: "You have been very tired recently, and Yao feels very sorry. He has specially prepared a banquet for everyone to have a good drink."

Everyone gave in, and Zhong Yao said with a smile: "But you don't know that Youzhou's trade routes have developed recently, and a lot of fine wine and preserves have been shipped. The quality is very high, which is really rare."

Ding Chong frowned and said, "Youzhou?"

"That's a ferocious tiger over there. It can't poison it, can it?"

Zhong Yao laughed and said, "Youyang is overthinking. Countless people have eaten the goods sold along the way. If they had been poisoned, countless people would have died."

Ding Chong asked in confusion: "This kind of thing is loved by the nobles. The fierce tiger doesn't keep it for himself, but sells it?"

Zhong Yao smiled and said: "In the past few years, a large number of the nobles in Youzhou have been killed by fierce tigers under various excuses. The rest are small forces. How can they afford such good things?"

"We are different. The Sili area is very wealthy."

After everyone heard this, they all laughed tacitly.

At that time, at the end of the Han Dynasty, although the monetary system collapsed and most people were bartering, rare, valuable and luxury items were still very popular.

However, Cao Ying's forces are not lacking in these things.

Because they have the gold captain.

In "An Appeal to Yuzhou for Yuan Shao" written by Chen Lin, she denounced Cao Cao for setting up military ranks such as Faqiu Zhonglang General and Mojin Xiaowei to make up for the lack of military pay, specializing in robbing tombs and making money.

The Sili area is a prosperous place in Guanzhong. Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, there have been almost all tombs and graves everywhere near Luoyang, Chang'an. Therefore, tomb robbing has been banned repeatedly, especially in troubled times, and no one is taking care of it, so Rather than taking advantage of outsiders, it is better not to let the wealth flow to outsiders. So after Cao Cao obtained Sili, he vigorously dug tombs and accumulated a large amount of money.

Although all parties are at war, except for the sale of salt and iron tools, the goods on the Youzhou Trade Road are not strictly prohibited from selling alcohol, preserves, and other items. After all, those who can afford these things are either rich or noble, and common people The common people have nothing to do with it.

Even the nobles could not eat this fine wine and preserves casually, so when all the officials heard what Zhong Yao said, they were all happy and agreed one after another.

Zhong Yao asked people to bring more than a dozen jars of fine wine and seven or eight baskets of candied fruits. The maids served delicacies, and a banquet was held immediately, and everyone was enjoying themselves.

The banquet lasted from night to late at night, and everyone was a little drunk. At that moment, someone opened the mud seal of a jar of wine and asked the maid to pour wine for everyone.

At this time, many people couldn't drink anymore and put the wine outside. Only two people immediately raised their heads and drank. Unknowingly, a quarter of an hour later, their faces became more and more ugly, until one of them banged his head and drank. He fell to the ground and began to twitch.

Everyone thought he had drunk too much, but there was another noise, and another person was frothing at the mouth and rolling on the ground.

This time, everyone was so frightened that they were mostly drunk.

(End of this chapter)