Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 866 A new situation

The autumn of the fourth year of Jian'an has arrived.

It has only been half a year, but for many people it feels like years have passed because so much has happened.

Enough things happened last year. Cao Cao welcomed the emperor, Yuan Shao died, Lu Bu died in battle, and a series of major events that shocked the world. The situation in the world has undergone earth-shaking changes. Many people think that in the coming year, a number of princes may be affected by this. Due to the shuffling situation, I will choose to wait and see temporarily, recharge my batteries and wait for the opportunity to come.

However, this expectation was soon shattered by a series of battles, starting with Yuan Xi's surprise attack southward.

Yuan Xi first defeated Yuan Shu in Luoyang, then defeated Cao Cao in Nanyang, and then defeated the Jiangdong navy in Chaohu. Then he went north to Qingzhou to attack Yuan Tan without a moment's leisure, and finally fought a decisive battle with Cao's army.

In just over half a year, five battles were fought. Although it is not unprecedented, such intensive decisive battles are indeed rare in history.

What is surprising is that in these five battles, except for the last one where the advantage against Cao Cao was not obvious, the other four were all major victories.

What's even more surprising is the depth Yuan Xi showed in this series of battles.

Logically speaking, the cost and loss of each battle would require others to recuperate for a long time, but Yuan Xi fought one battle after another, as if he did not know how tired he was, making others understand that Yuan Xi must have been hiding his clumsiness before, and his talents Secretly accumulated the capital to launch these wars.

The illness came on so quickly and was so severe that his subordinates even wanted to prepare for the funeral and support an heir at the same time.

This series of wars was of extremely far-reaching significance. The forces in the world were reshuffled. With the death of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi became the backbone of the Yuan family and became the third largest force after Cao Cao and Jiangdong.

But he didn't know that Cao Cao was also ill.

It is not easy to cultivate a qualified heir, and Cao Ang is the leader among this generation of young people. Although Cao Cao did not show it on the surface, only Xu Chu, a guard, knew that Cao Cao would often cry silently when he was alone.

Zhang Xiu had no choice but to train his troops while harvesting in autumn, waiting for Cao's army to emerge on an unknown day.

The reason why Yuan Xi is ranked third by many people in the world, behind Jiangdong, is because Yuan Xi's current territory is unstable. The Qingzhou he occupies has been destroyed by military disasters several times, and it will be difficult to recover within a few years. His Jianghuai area is in Cao Cao was surrounded by Jiangdong, and strictly speaking, Youzhou only occupied half of it.

However, Cao Cao managed to survive the most intense heat and was gradually recovering. The doctors speculated that the reason why Cao Cao contracted the disease was firstly because of the fatigue caused by years of fighting, and the other was because he was in a bad mood, because although he had gained Yecheng, he was still in a bad mood. I felt quite depressed, and the main reason was Cao Ang's death.

In addition, after Mrs. Ding broke up with Cao Cao, she took Cao Qing back to her hometown in Qiao County, Yuzhou. That place was not far from the fierce tiger territory. Xu Chu could also see that Cao Cao was actually quite worried about Mrs. Ding's safety. .

The first one to bear the brunt is Jingzhou.

Of course, this heir may not be Cao Pi, or even Cao's family. For this reason, Cao Cao's subordinates were very intrigued, and Xu You, who had just arrived, felt a warm atmosphere similar to that in Yecheng years ago.

When Yuan Xi fell ill in the previous episode, Cao Cao was quite gloating about his misfortune, but when it was his turn, his performance was even worse.

But no one knows whether Yuan Xi still has any trump cards, so it is unlikely that Cao Cao will provoke Yuan Xi for a while, but it does not mean that he will not fight others.

Cao Cao had a smooth ride in the past few years and was almost invincible. However, his decline in the two battles with Yuan Xi made others see that Cao Cao also had many problems. His farming methods were not a panacea for all diseases. The negative consequences of overdraft potential will gradually appear in the future.

His method of accumulating elite soldiers also made many princes begin to think about the reality that more troops are not always better, and began to imitate them purposefully.

From the perspective of outsiders, Yuan Xi's biggest gain this time was Qingzhou and the three counties of Jizhou he captured this time. The territory almost doubled in size. Although Cao Cao was defeated twice, in the eyes of many people, he was actually the largest winner.

After all, it seems to Zhang Xiu that Cao Cao's desire for Jingzhou is even much higher than that of Jiangdong!

In this uneasy mood, Zhang Xiu lived every day like a year. However, one month after the Jizhou War, it is said that after Cao Cao returned to Xuchang, there was no movement and no one knew what he was doing.

Moreover, Yuan Xi's weak performance in the last battle also showed that he has used up all his savings and will be recuperating for a long time.

This is because Cao Cao occupied the most important city of Ye and gained most of Jizhou. Among the three Yuan clan sons, Yuan Xi was the only one left. In addition, Cao Cao held the emperor hostage. There were few people in the world who could stand up to Cao Cao.

Even he knew that this was definitely a great opportunity for Cao Cao. He heard that Yuan Xi fell ill due to the epidemic, and it was unpredictable. Even if Cao Cao didn't fight Yuan Xi, he would take this opportunity to fight himself!

Zhang Xiu has been very worried recently. He sent letters to Liu Biao and Liu Bei one after another, asking them to provide food and fodder for the soldiers, and at the same time pay close attention to the movements of Cao's army in the direction of Xuchang.

And in the end, Yuan Xi did something that made Cao Cao quite disgusting.

When Jizhou broke through the siege in Yecheng, he also brought a hostage who had been detained for a long time.

Cao Song. No one expected that Cao Song would survive in Yecheng in the past few years. He was tied up and followed Yuan Shang to break out. Maybe Yuan Shang wanted to use him to negotiate terms with Cao Cao at the critical moment. Unfortunately, Yuan Shang was injured before he could reach this step. He fell ill and died.

When Yuan Xi took over Yuan Shang's subordinates, he had not yet decided how to deal with Cao Song. However, after hearing that Yuan Tan's wish before his death was to get his daughter back, he did not negotiate with Cao Cao first, but chose to directly send someone to give Cao Song to Cao Cao. I sent it over and stated my conditions.

Cao Cao looked at the father he had sent out, and Yuan Xi beat gongs and drums, and sent him back in public in a grand manner. He felt as uncomfortable as eating shit, but he still had to smile to welcome him. After all, filial piety is something that is not visible on the surface. It still takes a lot of effort.

After hearing the request from Yuan Xi's messenger, who was obviously a dead soldier, and as if it didn't matter if you kill me, Cao Cao pinched his nose and immediately agreed to send back Yuan Tan's daughter and Yuan Tan's body who had not yet passed the door. Anyway, Yuan Tan He is dead and his daughter is useless.

But with Yuan Tan's corpse and the orphaned girl, he didn't know whether the deal was a loss or a profit.

Xu Chu pledged his loyalty to Cao Cao and vowed to cut Yuan Xi into eight pieces to avenge Cao Cao, but Cao Cao said calmly: "To become a king or lose a bandit, you can use any means, but you must learn to respect your opponent before you can go all out. "

"Fierce Tiger also taught me a lot. Although I want to kill him quickly, I have to admit that without his pressure, I would not have reached this point so quickly."

"To deal with him, you can't rush, you need to simmer slowly. Now that the emperor is in my hands, his base is not as big as mine, his subordinates are not as united as mine, and he does not have the title of emperor. It is only a matter of time before he is defeated in my hands."

After Xu Chu heard this, he was sincerely convinced and said: "Ming Gong has a wise eye like a torch, and he will surely be able to bring peace to the world!"

Cao Cao nodded slightly, thinking that it would be so easy.

I don’t have any confidence in my heart either.

He thought of Cao Ang who died in the battle again, and regret filled his heart. If only he hadn't been so carried away!

When Cao Cao fell ill, his plans for Nanyang in Jingzhou were temporarily suspended. Until Cao Cao's condition improved slightly, he immediately sent someone to deliver a message to his counselors, saying: "Before winter, we must attack Nanyang no matter what."

"Even if it doesn't work this time, we will have to use troops again next spring, otherwise it will be troublesome waiting for the fierce tiger to intervene."

"You two go back to discuss the troop dispatch plan and bring it to me as soon as possible."

Cao Cao's advisers listened and talked all night long, but this time there were many more people joining than before.

The mastermind was naturally Xun Yu. Only he could have the prestige to convince everyone. But when he sat at the top and looked around, he did feel quite strange, because the people at the bottom, in addition to the familiar faces from before, included Xun You, Chen Qun, Cheng Yu and others. In addition, several unfamiliar or familiar faces have been added.

The largest group among them is Xun Chen, Xu Yousinpi and others who came over from Yuan Shao.

Seeing Xun Chen, Xun Yu felt strange in his heart. However, during these discussions, Xun Chen almost didn't speak, which saved Xun Yu a lot of trouble.

Xin Pi is also quite low-key, but the rest of Xu You is different. I don't know whether it is his personality or the habits brought by Jizhou. He often sings the opposite tune, causing the entire discussion process to often time out.

Another group is the ministers who previously served as officials under Liu Xie, but now openly defected to Cao Cao.

Among these people, Dong Zhao is vaguely headed, and it is said that he is highly regarded by Cao Cao.

With Xun Yu's status, he didn't even know what Dong Zhao had done that would be appreciated by Cao Cao, but he heard that Zhong Yao and Ding Yi had suspected him of being a vicious insider, and Dong Zhao was almost imprisoned for this.

But he should have cleared the suspicion and gained Cao Cao's appreciation. Xun Yu cursed in his heart. In all likelihood, this was a leak of the emperor's secrets, and it was even related to the clothing edict!

Thinking of this, Xun Yu despised Dong Zhao even more, and Dong Zhao often had different ideas from everyone else, but he could still find a lot of high-sounding reasons. With the efforts of him, Xu You and other thorns, he made decisions The time was extended several times longer than before.

Xun Yu felt quite unhappy. In the past, when Cao Cao discussed matters, he would just ask Xun Yu or Xun You to come over and ask for a few words, and then the matter would be settled. However, the way everyone is now trying to blame each other is similar to the rumored way in which the eight great counselors in Jizhou were arguing. !

While Xun Yu was struggling to deal with this problem, Yuan Xi, who was recuperating in Haixi, also had his own scene.

When his condition did not improve previously, Hua Tuo finally returned from Jiangdong. After referring to the treatment methods of the Jiangdong epidemic, Yuan Xi finally got rid of the epidemic and got better day by day after a series of measures.

At this time, he was in a rare moment of leisure in a year, and most of his counselors and generals were sent to various places by Yuan Xi.

Now, the ones accompanying him in Haixi are Mi Zhen and Mrs. Du, apart from Tai Shi Ci, who is also recuperating, and Lu Lingqi, who has been following him.

(End of this chapter)