Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 840: Unknown Person

By the time Yuan Xi arrived at the battlefield, everything had settled.

Nearly half of Yuan Tan's army was destroyed. Only 20,000 of the 50,000 men escaped. The rest were either dead or captured. This was his main elite force. Many of those who escaped were also injured. It can be said that their vitality was seriously damaged in the first battle, and they will be very vulnerable in the future. It is difficult to pose a threat to Yuan Xi again.

Naturally, Yan Jing Cen Bi's team, which had been cut off, could not escape. After being heavily surrounded by Yuan Xi's soldiers, he still wanted to delay. Zhang Liao and Xu Huang ordered people to fire arrows. Qingzhou soldiers were shot down one after another, but the two of them wanted to give them a chance. Yuan Tan fought for time but still gritted his teeth and persisted.

When Yuan Xi saw it, he saw that he was leading thousands of remnant troops to block the passage into the mountain and resist. Then he came to the front of the formation and said, "I am Yuan Xi, which general is in charge?"

After a while, Yan Jing helped Cen Bi out and walked out. The two of them held knives in their hands. After saying their names, they looked at Yuan Xi in silence.

When Yuan Xi saw them, he knew what was going on and knew that the two of them had no intention of dying, so he said, "I understand what you two are thinking, but on the battlefield, I must also be responsible for my soldiers."

"Now let your men abandon their weapons and surrender, and you can still save your lives. Otherwise, I will order the whole army to attack, and the rest of you will not survive."

"And there's no point in blocking the road into the mountain from the north. I don't know one way into the mountain. I know of at least three ways."

"I wanted to pursue him and went there a long time ago, but I also wanted to talk to Xiansi, so I didn't send troops to pursue him this time."

"In this case, there is no point in blocking here now."

When Yuan Xi saw the soldiers going up to tie the two of them up, he raised his hand to stop them and said, "No, you two take good care of yourself. I'll have someone bring my letter to have a good talk with Xiansi in a few days."

Third, Yuan Xi's army also needed to be repaired. This battle saved food and grain to the maximum extent, but the supplies, bows and arrows and other consumables were more than in a normal battle for half a month, and they also needed to be replenished from other places.

The second is to leave a way for the opponent to retreat. If Yuan Xi refuses to give up, it is easy for him to jump over the wall and completely fall to Cao Cao.

The first person to learn about it was Cao Cao, who was marching in Jibei County and was about to enter the state of Lu. When he learned about it, his face became gloomy and he immediately summoned his advisers and generals to discuss the matter.

Cao Ren spoke up: "If the fierce tiger takes the opportunity to invade Qingzhou, can we save Yuan Tan?"

But at this point, the sneak attack on the East China Sea is completely unfeasible. They did not hide their tracks before. As long as the fierce tiger is restrained by Yuan Tan, Cao Jun can naturally enter the East China Sea with great arrogance.

The two of them then prostrated themselves on the ground and said, "Thank you, envoy, for your great kindness."

"Now we have two choices. One is to return to Yanzhou, and the other is to go to Qingzhou to help Yuan Tan."

Moreover, Yuan Xi did not mobilize many troops this time because a considerable part of the Youzhou Army was divided into small groups in Qingzhou to harass and attack the grain roads. Yuan Tan should have been shaken by the dilemma of food shortage after returning, right?

Cao Hong said: "If this is really the case, wouldn't Xuzhou be empty?"

Everyone learned that Yuan Tan was defeated on the first day he entered Langya, and they all looked unhappy. They thought that even if Yuan Tan lost, he would be able to last for at least half a month, but it turned out to be so useless!

Cao Cao said: "Now that Yuan Tan has returned to Qingzhou, the fierce tiger has lost its threat and can return to the East China Sea to stop us at any time. Now our detour this time has completely lost its meaning before."

But now that the fierce tiger has freed its hands, if Cao Jun goes again, he will fall into a trap.

"How about we take the opportunity to knock down all Guangling in the East China Sea?"

When the generals heard this, they were all very depressed. Cao Cao had made three attacks in the past, which made everyone circle around. They didn't expect that this time they would be led away by the nose!

Yuan Xi nodded and went to arrange the aftermath. The reason for this was because he did not want to kill Yuan Tan.

Xun You said: "It's too risky."

First, the price is too high. Yuan Tan is extremely difficult to deal with. Today's stop is so difficult, but he can still escape and still has more than half of his strength. These are not things Yuan Xi can easily defeat.

Everyone is thinking hard. If this is the case, it is still a question whether Cao Jun can rush to Qingzhou in time to help!

If Yuan Tan collapses too quickly, Cao Jun may have no choice but to return without success.

"You are already loyal, why do you still want your subordinates to follow you and die?"

Yan Jing and Cen Bi looked at each other and looked at the soldiers behind them whose morale was shaken and who immediately wanted to throw away their weapons, so they had no choice but to throw down their weapons and surrender.

The inside story of the Battle of Qingzhou spread quickly, and both Cao Ying and Jizhou learned the news.

"Not to mention that the big cities in Xuzhou are not easy to fight. Even if we occupy Guangling, the main force is too far away from Yanzhou. If Jizhou takes the opportunity to send troops to attack, we will not have time to go back and rescue them."

Everyone was silent. Although this was true, Cao Jun's current situation was biased toward defense, which was not a very good momentum in itself.

The key is that Yuan Shang of Jizhou is far less of a threat than the fierce tiger, but it makes Cao Ying very uncomfortable. If you don't care about him, he will fight out. If you want to hit him, he will shrink back. It is really disgusting.

Cao Cao thought for a long time, and finally decided: "Go back to Taishan County first."

"We'll wait and see where the tension is in Yanzhou and Qingzhou before making a decision."

After hearing this, everyone had no choice but to return to the original route with their heads down. At the same time, they secretly cursed in their hearts, this Yuan Tan is too incompetent!

Cao Cao was also depressed. Now it was him who walked over the cliff. If things didn't turn around, Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang would join forces, but he would be in big trouble! He thought of Cheng Yu, who was in command in Dongjun, and wondered if Zhongde had made a mistake. Why hadn't any news come yet?

Cheng Yu, who was in Dongjun at this time, fell into great ecstasy.

It's done!

Yuan Shang was assassinated!

Although the situation is unknown, the news coming out from Yecheng is that Yuan Shang must have been seriously injured, and he may have died!

He was not worried that the news was false, because the contents of these extremely reliable messages were very consistent. After Yuan Shang was assassinated, martial law began in Yecheng. A large number of doctors entered Yuan Shang's mansion, and the Jizhou Army issued a martial law order. There was no sign of any troop movements.

In this way, it is almost impossible for Jizhou to send troops to attack Yanzhou and Qingzhou. Cao Cao can avoid worries and join forces with Yuan Tan to attack the fierce tiger in one fell swoop!

Thinking of this, Cheng Yu didn't have time to find out the details. Instead, he immediately wrote a letter telling him about the incident in Yecheng, and asked someone to send it to Cao Cao on the border of Yanzhou.

After he sent the messenger away, he still couldn't hide his happiness. He didn't expect that that waste alone could actually get the thing done!

He hurriedly found Xiahou Dun who was in Puyang and talked about the matter. He said: "General, this is a great opportunity, but in order to cooperate with Ming Gong and contain Yecheng, we'd better make a show."

Xiahou Dun understood and said: "What Zhongde means is for us to send troops across the Yellow River now and pretend to attack Yecheng so that Jizhou cannot free up our hands to intervene in Qingzhou?"

Cheng Yu said: "Exactly!"

"As long as we contain Yecheng for a month, the situation in Qingzhou will be decided!"

After Xiahou Dun heard this, he immediately said: "Sir, what you said is good, I will lead the troops across the river now and attack Yecheng!"

On that day, he, Xia Houyuan, Cao Xiu and others mobilized almost all the troops and horses left behind in Puyang, accumulating tens of thousands of people, and even pulled out 20,000 civilians, known as a hundred thousand army, and marched north to attack the Yellow River ferry in Jizhou.

The news reached Yecheng. The judge took the urgent report and frowned. Finally, he went to Yuan Shang's mansion to ask for an audience.

He waited in the courtyard for a long time, but no news came from inside. When he was getting impatient, a maid came over and whispered: "Sir, please come in."

Shen Pei followed the maid through three doors before entering Yuan Shang's bedroom. There were only a few people inside. As soon as he entered the threshold, the door was closed behind him.

Shen Pei knelt on the ground and saw Yuan Shang lying on the couch far away. He tried to lift himself up, but failed several times. He quickly said: "You don't have to work, please pay attention to your health."

Yuan Shang spoke with an extremely hoarse voice, "The thief Cao did it in a cruel way. I made a mistake this time."

"Although Xianyi reminded me several times, I didn't take it seriously, but it's my own fault."

Shen Pei hurriedly said: "Please don't say that, your subordinates are negligent."

"No one expected that this animal would be so ungrateful and so heartless!"

Yuan Shang sighed. He really didn't expect that the person who almost killed him was Yuan Yao, whom he single-handedly promoted and promoted!

Things went back to a few days ago. When Yuan Yao received the secret message from Yanzhou, he felt anxious and uneasy, but at the same time he was shocked by the generous terms offered by the other party.

As long as he can assassinate Yuan Shang, Cao Cao will promise him the land of the two states, and submit a petition to Yuan Yao to retain Yuan Shu's imperial title of Zhong!

Of course, this is based on the premise that the Han court is the orthodoxy, which is equivalent to being granted the title of king. With the addition of the two states, it is much more beneficial than being granted the title of king!

Yuan Yao doubted whether Cao Cao was lying to himself, because the conditions were too good to be true, but in his heart Cao Cao swore that as soon as Yuan Shang died, Yuan Yao could return to Yuzhou and lead the Yuzhou herding first.

At this time, Yuan Yao's heart had begun to become active, because although Yuan Shang allowed him to re-enter the official position, the relationship between the two was not very good due to differences in views. Yuan Yao noticed that Yuan Shang began to alienate him, and he had developed dissatisfaction. Now, in the Under the conditions offered by Cao Cao, he finally wavered.

But after all, Yuan Yao had other thoughts.

Without Cao Cao's letter, he would have been ready to betray Yuan Shang. The first person he wanted to join was Yuan Tan.

Because Guo Tu, a subordinate of Yuan Tan, had also contacted Yuan Yao, thinking that he was an internal agent. Yuan Yao was actually not very confident about Cao Cao. What if he did it, but the other party killed him?

So now Yuan Yao decided to take advantage of both sides. He took advantage of the opportunity to assassinate Yuan Shang. Instead of joining Cao Cao, he went to Yuan Tan to avoid the limelight and express his merits.

After all, the Yuan family is more trustworthy than Cao Cao, and if he kills Yuan Shang and then helps Yuan Tan seize Jizhou, Yuan Tan will definitely give him a lot of benefits. When the time comes, he will first ask Yuan Tan to protect himself with troops, and then he can negotiate terms with Cao Cao. .

Otherwise, if a lonely man goes to Cao Ying to ask for benefits, who knows what will happen?

It has to be said that Yuan Yao's mind is still very active at this point, and he is also very lucky. With the help of Cao Ying's spies, he planned his escape route in advance, and then found an opportunity for Yuan Shang to leave the house. Go and meet.

Then he pretended to report something important to Yuan Shang, asked for a private meeting, and then unexpectedly stabbed Yuan Shang.

He saw that the one-foot dagger in his hand was almost completely inserted into Yuan Shang's lower abdomen. He wanted to pull it out and continue stabbing, but Yuan Shang grabbed his wrist tightly. Yuan Yao was so panicked that he quickly jumped out of the window and escaped.

Cao Cao's spies were kind enough to escort Yuan Yao out of the city, but Yuan Yao did not follow him south to Yanzhou. Instead, with the help of several confidants, he fled east to Qingzhou.

(End of this chapter)