Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 933 The situation worsens
News that assassinations occurred one after another in Jinyang City and people's hearts were unstable reached Yuan Xi's military camp outside the city. When Yuan Xi saw it, he just smiled, put the information aside, and continued to concentrate on military affairs.

Lu Lingqi had already begun to have trouble moving at this time. She lay on her side on the felt and said, "My husband doesn't seem to be in a hurry at all."

"Besieging the city in winter, what should we do if we encounter a cold wave?"

Yuan Xi thought for a while and said: "It doesn't matter. Jinyang won't be captured in time, but the surrounding cities are still OK."

"Right now, these big cities have been deprived of supplies. Except for Jinyang, which can survive for a year, the other two months have been deprived of food. As long as pressure is exerted, they should surrender."

"Jinyang wants to spend it slowly, so I will accompany them. At worst, we will spend the winter in the surrounding cities to see if they dare to come out."

Lu Lingqi chuckled, "My husband is having bad ideas again. I don't think I can allow them to escape out of the city. Is the ambush route planned long ago?"

"But what I don't understand is that my husband rarely behaves like this. It seems that this hatred is not only against the Southern Huns, but also against these Bingzhou merchants?"

Yuan Xi nodded and said: "You are right. Regardless of the Southern Xiongnu, the Shang clan in Bingzhou will die."

"Exploiting the local area, being unkind for the sake of wealth, and collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country are unpardonable crimes."

"Actually, no matter how corrupt the imperial court is, part of its wealth will be used on the people. After all, the emperor regards the people of the world as his subjects, but businessmen are different. They regard everyone outside the family as just slaves and pigs."

"I'm lucky. Fortunately, they couldn't see the situation clearly and still resisted, giving me an excuse. Otherwise, they would have surrendered when they came up, and I would have been in trouble."

Yuan Xi sighed: "Because they have separated themselves from the people."

"I still say the same thing, you can do business, but you can't control the lifeblood of the people in the world. It will be corrupted and completely deteriorated, and it will interfere with key industries such as iron and salt that affect the national economy and people's livelihood, thus threatening the world."

"Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and even the Qin and Han Dynasties, which king's teacher when he was a child was not a learned man?"

Yuan Xi sighed: "Who knows?"

"So this time I have to go through all kinds of twists and turns to find a way to eradicate the Bingzhou Shang clan. Since this hidden danger can be solved now, there is no reason to leave it to future generations."

"So we can only eradicate them by the roots while they are still in power."

"After they have tasted the sweetness, they will only think of ways to grow their family, become a wealthy noble family, obtain the privileges of court officials, and then use money to build the family into an indestructible interest group, and then lie on the court and even the people of the world to suck blood ”

"There are a few people who can become Mingjun, but most of the others are either doing nothing or becoming Foolish Lords. Even the number of Foolish Lords is much higher than Mingjun. What does this mean?"

"When my husband was in Youzhou, wasn't he very kind to ordinary people and merchants?"

"When this kind of cancer develops to the end, it will symbiosis with the imperial bloodline. Even if the flesh is cut to mend the sore, it will not help, because the root of the disease has penetrated deep into the body."

He spoke in a very simple way. Lu Lingqi understood a lot this time and said loudly: "A husband who strives to dominate the world will always have a place in his heart for the people of the world."

"Power is poison, and supreme power makes it easy for people to get lost. Many people who could have become good people cannot keep their true intentions under this temptation."

"Choosing the lesser of two evils, preventing the private use of public assets, and trying to prevent the country's income from being wasted by some people, should be a more reliable method than indulging businessmen."

Lu Lingqi moved her waist and legs, "Why can't they surrender?"

"There are so many knowledgeable people around my husband and children, and even their biological mothers are talented. If they can't teach them well, who else in the world can teach them well?"

"Since they have such ideas, they should be prepared to bury Jinyang with their whole family."

"But the husband doesn't seem to have much confidence in his own heir."

"Once they enjoy the privileges and benefits that money brings them, they can never go back."

"These people are opportunists. Previously, they were planning to flee Bingzhou with their wealth and join other people. Cao Cao was fine, but some of them even wanted to run away to the frontier to set up their own faction, or join the Xianbei."

"The Second Emperor of Qin died, and Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty overturned all the decrees of Emperor Gaozu. He was obviously starving to death, and he was still whitewashing the history books. If Emperor Qin and Emperor Gaozu knew about it, would he be so angry that he would survive?"

"I can't guarantee whether my heir will become a wise king now. Let me ask you a question, what should you do if he becomes a ignorant king?"

Lu Lingqi didn't expect Yuan Xi to ask this question, so she subconsciously said: "Huh?"

"What can I do?"

"Is it possible that we can still raise troops to serve the king?"

Yuan Xi burst out laughing immediately, "Lingqi, you still speak so carelessly."

"Do you know that if Zhen Mi were someone like Empress Lu, your words would already be a recipe for death. I'm afraid that the day after I die, you would be nailed into the coffin board and buried with me."

Lu Lingqi pouted, "But I really don't know, and I never thought about quarreling with Mrs. Zhen."

Yuan Xi sighed: "Although he is guarding the border, a king with a different surname who supports troops is a huge threat in itself." "Some matters in the court are inherently unsolvable."

"So no matter if you withdraw from the competition, the choices Zhen Mi and the others will face in the future may be extremely difficult. This kind of thing will not make people happy. This is the so-called high place and the cold."

"So it's good that you can live happily."

Lu Lingqi said softly: "I know that I am very satisfied to be able to accompany my husband."

Yuan Xi said softly: "But one day I will no longer be there. There are some things you still need to figure out on your own."

"In your current position, if you cannot properly handle these issues, you cannot protect yourself and your children."

Lu Linggu said with a grimace: "I understand, I will study more when I have time."

Seeing Lu Lingqi's miserable appearance, Yuan Xi suddenly thought that some people really don't like reading. For example, Sun Li will fall into a sluggish state after reading for a long time. Therefore, God is sometimes unfair and gives everyone The talents are not the same.

And the tiny differences may make a world of difference in the same situation, and only those who outperform others in everything can make it to the end.

And those who are just a little bit worse are always in a very unbearable situation and become a stepping stone for others. However, among these people, there are many people with lofty ambitions who grit their teeth and persevere, and then encounter greater setbacks.

A typical example of this is Liu Bei, who repeatedly confronted Cao Cao, but was always a little inferior in terms of strength and strategy. So when he was put on the battlefield, he missed every opportunity and was always suppressed.

If Liu Bei faced anyone other than Cao Cao, it wouldn't be so miserable, but this world is unreasonable.

Yuan Xi had previously persuaded Liu Bei to abandon Nanyang, because in Yuan Xi's view, the direction of this world was completely different from that of later generations. Cao Cao's main attack direction had become Jingzhou, and Liu Bei alone could not stop Cao Cao.

But Yuan Xi knew that Liu Bei was very ambitious and would not give up easily, which made him very likely to be trapped in Nanyang. He could only hope that Liu Bei would find a way out soon, otherwise Cao Cao would have put more pressure on Nanyang in the past six months, but There has been no big move for a long time, so there is obviously a big problem!

Yuan Xi's speculation has actually become a reality, but the news has not yet reached Bingzhou. Now Liu Bei is being attacked from both sides, and the situation is precarious.

With the fall of Xinye, he and Guan Yu were defeated and retreated to the front line of Fancheng and Xiangyang. Cao Cao thus occupied most of Nanyang and began to suck the blood of this largest county in the world.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were incorporated into military and civilian villages, and Nanyang's rich properties were used as military supplies. These turned into a steady stream of pressure, impacting Liu Bei's hard-working defense line.

Liu Biao also moved the Jingzhou administrative office to Nanjun and handed over Xiangyang to Liu Bei, but he finally had a clear mind and has been trying his best to mobilize the Jingzhou nobles and continuously provide logistics for Liu Bei's soldiers to resist Cao Cao's attack.

Now that's all he can do, because he still has another place to take care of, which is Jiangxia, which Huang Zu is defending.

Because when autumn came, Jiangdong seemed to have a tacit understanding with Cao Cao, and once again increased his troops to attack Jiangxia. At that time, Jiangdong sent many fierce generals, and Huang Zu was defeated. He was forced to retreat and give up the easternmost city along the river in Jiangxia. , allowing Jiangdong Army to completely gain a foothold.

Anyone with a discerning eye can understand at a glance that even if Jiangdong did not secretly collude with Cao Cao, he was determined to break up with Jingzhou. The fragile tripartite alliance chaired by Yuan Xi had actually completely broken down.

Lu Xun, who was in Shouchun at this time, did not take the opportunity to attack Jiangdong, because his main goal now was to support Liu Bei, and he really had no time to do other things.

Thanks to Shouchun's support, Guan Yu's navy and Zhang Fei's infantry were able to take turns attacking to harass Cao's army, which delayed the capture of Fancheng and wasted several months.

Just when Liu Bei thought that as long as he persisted a little longer, he would be able to wait until winter and Cao's army would be withdrawn, a piece of bad news came.

Zhang Lu of Hanzhong betrayed Liu Zhang and surrendered to Cao Cao!

Once Hanzhong was lost, Nanyang's western defense line collapsed completely. Cao Jun could even pass through Hanzhong, go down the Han River, and directly attack the rear of Fancheng and Xiangyang!

Hanzhong's geographical location is extremely important. It is the gateway to Yizhou, and its status is equivalent to Nanyang, Jingzhou. Now that both gateways have fallen into Cao Cao's hands, the situation is suddenly extremely critical.

When Liu Bei heard this, he was like thunder. He quickly found Xu Shu and said, "Sir, what should I do now?"

After hearing this, Xu Shu shook his head and sighed: "As expected of Cao Cao, it turns out that he has endured this far because he came to Bo Da to give us a fatal blow."

"With all due respect, the current situation has become extremely dangerous. I am a humble person with low talents, but Cao Cao has so many advisers. It is hard for me to defeat four people with just two fists. I am really ashamed."

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Sir, there is no need to belittle yourself. If it hadn't been for your help, Bei would have been defeated and died."

Xu Shu sighed: "I am telling the truth. Sometimes manpower is exhausted, and sometimes if you want to defeat God's will, you need to be able to predict God's will."

"If Yuan Shijun were here, he might be able to find a way. He is good at stargazing. If he hadn't sent a letter earlier to remind me to protect my mother, he might have been captured by Cao Cao, and I would have been forced to leave. "

In the letter Yuan Xi wrote to Liu Bei, he specifically asked Xu Shu to protect his mother. Although Xu Shu was suspicious of the letter, he still sent someone to send her to Jingzhou for resettlement. The result was that Cao Jun went to arrest her, but in vain.

Xu Shu said: "In the current situation, I alone can't do anything, but one person may be able to."

Liu Bei subconsciously said: "Who?"

(End of this chapter)