Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 809 Heading North to Qingzhou

Yecheng, Jizhou.

After learning that Yuan Xi had raided Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang summoned his subordinates and asked everyone for their opinions and responses to the matter.

To his surprise, this time the counselors headed by Xu You expressed that this matter represented Yuan Xi's official exposure of his ambitions.

Yuan Shang was puzzled, "Why do you say that?"

"He sent troops to attack Brother. Isn't this to relieve the siege of Jizhou?"

Xu You said: "Having said that, if Fierce Tiger takes this step, have you ever thought about what you will face in the future?"

Yuan Shang was stunned, "You mean?"

Xu You shook his head and sighed: "Although Yuan Qingzhou is always against the envoy, he only occupied one Qingzhou."

"But if Fierce Tiger takes Jingzhou, his territory will be connected into one area. Youzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Jianghuai. These places either have strong soldiers and horses, or are rich and abundant. If you take out a single state, it will have a huge impact. Flaws, but together, they will become a huge threat to the world!"

"If he wants to plot against Jizhou, may I ask what your envoy will do to fight him?"

"Only Jizhou alone, or Bingzhou where Gao Jishi is located?"

"Let me tell you, the envoy should not have agreed to persuade senior officials to send troops to Hedong to assist the fierce tiger!"

"Now Gao Gan and Ma Teng and Han Sui are fighting, and their vitality is severely damaged. If the fierce tiger turns around to deal with the envoy after finishing Yuan Qingzhou, how will the envoy respond?"

"How much can the high-ranking cadre who was greatly weakened at that time help the envoy?"

Yuan Shang was dumbfounded, "Second brother, he didn't have such thoughts when he helped me obtain the position of head of Yecheng and the Yuan family, regardless of past grievances, right?"

"Second brother gave up my position when he had it at his fingertips. Why does he go in a big circle now?"

"Because if he does that, he will become the target of public criticism!" Xu You said decisively: "The ferocious tiger is extremely cunning. He cannot bear the backlash of seizing Ye City, so he is reluctant to hand it over to the envoy!"

"Now he is using this favor to coerce and deceive you. Under his intentional actions, he attacks Cao Cao in the south, Ma Teng in the west, and blocks Yuan Tan in the east. Jizhou is like his vassal!"

"I dare to ask the envoy, is it possible that the land of the four states captured by Duke Benchu ​​was only guarding one Jizhou, not wanting to make progress, and giving away the other states to others?"

"Do you want to guard Jizhou until you grow old?"

"Is this the right thing to do to honor the deceased Lord Prime Minister?"

"How do people in the world view your envoy?"

After hearing this, Yuan Shang looked hesitant and said to the other counselors, "What do you think?"

Xun Chen hesitated for a moment and then said: "I think that although some of Xu Ziyuan's things are based on speculation, his starting point is good and they are all for the sake of the Lord."

Xin Pi said: "I think what Xu Ziyuan said makes sense and explains a lot of the inside story clearly. Fierce Tiger is a man with great ambitions. Now he is sweeping the world. No one can defeat him at the moment. We must guard against him."

Tian Feng sighed: "Although in my heart, Master Xian Yi is regarded as a hero of the world, I have to admit that if he defeats Yuan Tan and unifies several states, his strength will inevitably skyrocket. It’s hard to be equal.”

Seeing this, Shen Pei also spoke up: "The top priority is to increase our strength as soon as possible and expand our territory. In this battle of Qingzhou, you must participate, and you must get benefits from it, so that you cannot be pulled by the fierce tiger. Don’t bet too much, otherwise the Yuan family head’s momentum will be suppressed, and it will be difficult to take the lead.”

Yuan Shang said: "The battlefield on the Wuchao side of Guandu."

Shen Pei said in a deep voice: "Unless you can defeat Cao Cao, achieve great success in one fell swoop, and capture Yanzhou and Yuzhou, otherwise you will just waste your strength in vain."

After hearing this, Yuan Shang knew that the counselors were not optimistic about attacking Guandu. Did he really want to withdraw his defense line and attack Yuan Tan with all his strength?

He said aloud: "If I withdraw my army and attack Yuan Tan, will he be forced to turn around and fight to the death with me?"

Shen Pei's face showed admiration, "Your eyes are indeed as bright as a torch. Given time, you will definitely be no worse than Lord Benchu."

"If Yuan Tan does this, we will wait for the hard work, just as he wants. When the time comes, we will work together to help the lord achieve great things!"

Yuan Shang was excited after hearing this, so he stood up and bowed to you, "I'll help you all!" Everyone hurriedly returned the courtesy, including Xu You. He felt proud that his suggestions, which he could not deal with other counselors, were adopted. Or it was because Xu You accurately grasped the psychology of Yuan Shang and all his advisers.

For Yuan Shang, because he is still young and has no lofty ambitions, he needs someone to push him from behind, and this push must be strong.

Ever since Yuan Shang took over Yecheng from Yuan Xi, he became somewhat dependent on Yuan Xi out of gratitude. This was an extremely fatal weakness for him as the lord, and could easily be exploited by the other party. So what Xu You has to do is to expose this illusion without mercy.

To be honest, Xu You did not do this out of selfishness, but because he wanted to save Yuan Shao's face and pointed out some truths to Yuan Shang that he could not yet understand, so that he could grow up as soon as possible.

If you want to fight for the world, your loved ones will betray you, and the only one you can trust is yourself.

Although Xu You was a little disappointed with Yuan Shang, he now had a large family and it was hard for him to defect to Cao Cao rashly, so he also wanted to work hard to see if Yuan Shang could help him.

Then there is the mentality of the counselors. Xu You is also considered to have a good reputation.

Xun Chen is now protecting his own safety and desperately trying to distance himself from Cao Ying, so he naturally puts Jizhou's position first on this matter.

Xin Pi's thoughts were a little complicated. His brother Xin Ping was on Yuan Tan's side, so he could not avoid suspicion anyway, so what he wanted to do was to oppose Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi together to show his loyalty to Yuan Shang.

Tian Feng was too loyal and straightforward, and his admiration for Yuan Xi became a major evidence that Yuan Xi was a threat to Yuan Shang.

Not to mention the trial match. As the mastermind of Yuan Shang, he is also very conceited. If he tends to ask Yuan Xi for help too much, he will only be suspected of not being able to take charge of the overall situation and turn the tide. Therefore, he will definitely insist on fighting for Jizhou. Profit is the starting point.

Xu You may not be the best in terms of military battles or internal affairs, but he is not bad at any of them, especially when it comes to understanding people's hearts, and he has his own unique insights. After all, many people have done it over the years. There are few people with more experience than him.

It has to be said that none of the counselors Yuan Shao recruited at the beginning was a fuel-efficient lamp. Simply because each one had unique strengths, no one could convince the others. There was no one mastermind with absolute say, so internal fighting broke out. The disaster would be so great.

Yuan Shao did not solve these problems because these counselors were all based in Jizhou, and their interests were so intertwined that it was difficult to distinguish them from each other, so it became a confusing account.

Moreover, when Yuan Xi started his army, he intentionally or unintentionally avoided such a situation and took some measures at the same time.

It is to let his counselors work in places as far away from the family as possible, and at the same time, the counselors' responsibilities will not conflict, so that they can manage their own place, and they will meet as little as possible until the time of war.

Just like Jushu was left in Jicheng, Guo Jia was in charge of Heishan, Lu Xun was in Jianghuai, and Zhuge Liang followed Yuan Xi in charge of internal affairs, there was almost no conflict.

In fact, Cao Cao did the same thing. He relied on the Cao family and Xiahou family for foreign affairs, and relied on Yingchuan counselors for domestic affairs. When a conflict arose, he would choose a few confidants to discuss the matter overnight and settle the matter. In this regard, Cao Cao was more skillful than Yuan Shao is a lot smarter, but on the other hand, the composition of his men is simpler than Yuan Shao's men.

Yuan Xi learned this method from Cao Cao. Of course there may be flaws in its operation, but with the knowledge of later generations, the counselors Yuan Xi selected are all talented people who can stand alone and find ways to solve complex situations on their own, so Yuan Xi can rest assured to entrust the heavy responsibility to him. give them.

Now, with the help of Zang Ba, Yuan Xi fully occupied Langya in an extremely short period of time. At the same time, Lu Xun led the navy to the north along the coast, encircled Tian Yu's navy from Yuyang south, and blocked and attacked Qingzhou's coastal ports.

Now the Chinese army led by Yuan Xi has once again joined forces with Zhang Liao and Xu Huang and is approaching the border of Qingzhou. The only trouble is that Zhang Xun, who is the vanguard, is fighting Lei Bo and Chen Lan near Qi State and Taishan County.

When Yuan Shu was defeated previously, Lei Bo Chen Lan took the opportunity to break away from Yuan Shu, fled north with his soldiers, and then took refuge with Cao Cao and was placed on the border of Qingzhou. This is what Zhao Yun sent when Yuan Xi rescued Yecheng saw. That scene.

Lei Bo and Chen Lan were sandwiched between Yanzhou and Qingzhou, playing both sides of Cao Cao and Yuan Tan, and living like a fish in water. Yuan Xi wanted to occupy Qingzhou and had to face them, so he sent Zhang Xun to negotiate.

At first, he thought that even if he couldn't surrender, at least he couldn't let the two of them interfere with him. But what Yuan Xi didn't expect was that Lei Bo and Chen Lan had different intentions for Yuan Shu, but were very loyal to Cao Cao, and wanted to devise a plan to come and fight with him. Zhang Xun was negotiating, so he invited Zhang Xun to negotiate and waited for an opportunity to make a move.

As a result, the news leaked out, and Zhang Xun was shocked when he learned about it. He led his troops to question the two men. When the two men saw that the conspiracy was exposed, they stopped pretending and immediately led their troops to attack Zhang Xun, and a fight broke out between the two sides.

Lei Bo and Chen Lan had many soldiers. He originally fled Jiujiang with more than 10,000 people. After defecting to Cao Cao, the Taishan Army gathered tens of thousands of people. It was known as an army of 30,000 people. It was like a separate army in the local area. It is said that It caused great trouble to many people.

Zhang Xun's men were all surrendered troops from the Luoyang Battle, and they could only defeat more than 10,000 people. Yuan Xi did not let him serve as a vanguard, but as a partial army to pacify the surrounding area. As a result, Chen Lan came up to fight without respecting martial ethics. Because Zhang Xun was outnumbered and the situation was slightly unfavorable, he took a defensive position.

It took Yuan Xi more than half a month to occupy Langya, and almost all the cities along the way fell into the wind. When he got to the vicinity of Taishan County, he realized that Zhang Xun was fighting Lei Bo and Chen Lan. The generals asked for orders one after another. After Yuan Xi thought about it, he realized Zang Ba, who had just surrendered, was used as the vanguard.

Of course, there was a reason why he wanted to see Zang Ba's performance, but on the other hand, it was also what Zang Ba strongly requested.

Because Zang Ba was from Taishan County, Lei Bo and Chen Lan were poisoning the local people, which made Zang Ba very dissatisfied. However, due to the fact that Cao Cao and Yuan Tan were in a joint relationship, he could only stare at it. Now that the opportunity had come, how could he miss it?

(End of this chapter)