Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 936 The human heart is full of ghosts
Yuan Xi and Pang Tong are thousands of miles apart, but their judgments coincide. This comes from his later knowledge and previous deductions with Zhuge Liang.

The current situation in the Sili area is very delicate. Cao Cao's capture of Hanzhong not only threatened Liu Zhang, but also opened up a passage to Liangzhou intentionally or unintentionally.

Liangzhou has been in chaos for decades, and Ma Teng and Han Sui have done too many things that cannot be undone. As a result, even though Cao Cao has no murderous intention towards the two of them, they have been living together for most of their lives and are both selfish and cunning. It is absolutely impossible for people like him to completely entrust their lives to Cao Cao's hands.

Therefore, by capturing Hanzhong, Cao Cao could send troops to the rear of Liangzhou, which Han Sui and Ma Teng did not want to see anyway.

It's not that they want to doubt Cao Cao, but that Cao Cao has done too many backstabbings before, especially since Cao Cao, as a guest general of Yuan Shao, in turn destroyed the Yuan family and seized Yuan Shao's territory. Everyone in the world saw it, and for How could someone not be on guard against someone who committed such a betrayal?
What Yuan Xi has to do now is to amplify this suspicion as much as possible to make Ma Teng and Han Sui suspicious. On the contrary, if he opens Bingzhou now, it will directly threaten the Sili Sanfu area, which will in turn inspire Ma Teng and Han Sui to continue to unite with Cao Cao. Determination,

Yuan Xi actually made a miscalculation. He calculated that Cao Cao would attack Jingzhou, but he did not expect that Cao Cao would take Hanzhong first. As a result, his current strategy also deviated and he had to make corresponding adjustments.

He discussed with Tian Yu and others and decided to continue to adopt the strategy of besieging Jinyang without attacking, and at the same time concentrated the remaining troops to sweep away the large and small cities in the northern plain of Jinyang.

After cutting off the supplies of each city, Yuan Xi's army captured the cities in the Taiyuan Basin one by one like pulling out nails.

During this period, various cities also sent troops to support, hoping to take the opportunity to attack Yuan Xi's rear army. However, the besieged city was at an absolute disadvantage of being suppressed in terms of intelligence, so their whereabouts outside the city were clearly traced by Yuan Xi's army's spies. Then they were surrounded by Yuan Xi's troops who were ambushing for reinforcements, and they were all defeated.

King Guli, who was in Jinyang City, heard the news that the city was constantly being destroyed, and his teeth were itching with hatred. However, Yuan Xijun outside blocked all their marching routes, so that they did not dare to leave the city at all.

Someone was the first to say: "Continuing like this is not an option. I'm afraid we will be finished before the city is broken."

In an underground secret room somewhere in the city, the secret talkers of five or six families were discussing things under dim lights. They all arrived through various secret ways, and they all covered their heads and faces, ready to prepare at any time. Preparations for evacuation.

Yuan Xijun's siege was not one of blocking the outside of the city gate and surrounding it airtight. Instead, he deployed his soldiers at various fortresses and kept in contact with each other. No matter which direction Jinyang broke through, he would encounter a surprise attack. .

They did not choose to open a warehouse to loose grain, but took the opportunity to start hoarding and push up the price of grain. As a result, the situation in the city became more tense. King Gu Li of the left and right naturally saw this hidden danger. They were extremely dissatisfied and asked each merchant clan to donate Food comes.

This does not mean that the left and right kings of Guli swallowed their anger and waited for death, so they took advantage of the weak period when some Bingzhou merchants lost their families during several assassinations, and came to threaten them to hand over food.

Naturally, King Guli knew not to open this hole. If the city gate was really opened, most of the people in the city would escape within half a day, so they could only close the city gate tightly for those who wanted to sneak out of the city. Severe punishments were adopted to deter the floating people in the city.

Because of the siege, many people began to suffer from food shortages. At this time, the profit-seeking nature of the merchants in the Bingzhou Shang clan made them unable to see the overall situation.

This defensive circle is placed in a circle with a range of more than 100 miles. Within this circle, people from Jinyang can even occasionally enter and leave the city gate, but this practice is extremely disgusting in the eyes of King Guli. of.

Some families, including the branch of the Wei family, were seriously injured in the assassination, so they obediently handed over a lot of supplies in an attitude of calming down the trouble. After all, King Guli had soldiers in his hands, and they did not want to anger each other.

This is also a variant of the siege three and one short tactic, but the scope is larger, and this move obviously disturbs the people in the city. After all, in this situation, seeing that there is such a large escape route outside the city, the people in the city are up in arms. The thought of running away.

This was actually a normal requirement during wartime, but firstly, the attitude of the two kings was too blunt, and secondly, the Bingzhou Shang clan did not buy much from the Southern Xiongnu. After all, the slave trade of the Southern Xiongnu was usually handled by the Bingzhou Shang clan. In the eyes of these Shang clan, King Guli and his left and right kings are just two slave leaders. What's so impressive about them?
King Gu Li knew this very well. They were naturally angry, but they couldn't openly fall out with the Bingzhou Shang clan. Otherwise, if the two sides clashed, wouldn't they be advantageous to Yuan Xijun outside?

Because if the supplies are sufficient, they are calculated based on the total amount, but in fact, most of the supplies, especially food, are controlled by the major merchant families in Bingzhou, and the Southern Huns and ordinary people who took refuge in the city did not have so many reserves. Of grain.

Since the Wei family and other big families took the lead, other families couldn't say anything, so they followed suit. Of course, they obviously withheld a lot of the things handed over.

This indeed shocked some people, including most of the Bingzhou Shang clan, but it also aroused dissatisfaction among other families. They believed that King Guli had broken the tacit understanding with the Bingzhou Shang clan. Since they could take action against small families, Sooner or later, one day he will cut his own family's head with a knife!

King Guli was extremely angry when he learned about it. They knew that if they didn't use thunderous means to stop this trend, sooner or later there would be chaos in the city. In order to scare the monkeys, they specially captured the participating small families, killed all the masterminds in public, and hung their heads on top of the city. , to serve as a warning to others.

Therefore, after a period of silence, the private collusion among the Bingzhou Shang clan stirred up again, but this time it was more secretive. They used many means to cover up their tracks and meet secretly.

Moreover, King Guli took advantage of the stalls between searches to confiscate the property of the small family involved and use it for military purposes, which triggered what other families were most afraid of. If they couldn't protect their property, why would they still work with the Southern Huns? ?

In this way, the supplies in the city can only be solved internally, because as the siege time prolongs, sooner or later the city will be in a dilemma of insufficient supplies.

However, as the siege lasted longer, even if the Bingzhou Shang clan concealed their food reserves, the amount they handed over every day gradually became unbearable. After all, most of the families' hoarding of supplies was not to cope with such difficult times, let alone What's more, the family has a large population. What if we hand over some more and there are so many mouths left?
So people's minds changed. Seeing that the city was already in a dead end, the business clan in the city began to use their brains. So, despite King Guli's prohibition, more and more families met in private to discuss matters. However, people became confused when they talked too much, and soon the news It was leaked.

Someone agreed: "Indeed, it is better to find a way to contact outside the city and secretly seek refuge with Fierce Tiger."

Someone said coldly: "You think better, the fierce tiger must be reliable?"

"He is obviously very hostile to the Bingzhou Shang people. Even if we risk our lives with him, aren't you afraid that he will kill the donkey after the city is broken?" Someone heard this and snorted: "What, you still have your heart for King Guli?" ?”

"Is it possible that you are their spy?"

"Then why do you need to attend the party?"

The man before was also annoyed and said coldly: "Why, you still won't let others reason?"

"I'm here to discuss a possible way to survive, rather than being used to death. Can you guarantee that the fierce tiger will be trustworthy?"

Someone tried to smooth things over and said, "Stop arguing. In emergencies, we need to brainstorm ideas urgently."

"Not to mention who is trustworthy on both sides, the key is whether we can survive this siege, so we must make a decision as soon as possible. If it is late, it will be too late to vote!"

Someone said: "Now things are clear. We cannot wait for reinforcements. The city will be broken sooner or later."

"If you don't show sincerity to Fierce Tiger at this time, are you afraid that with this person's mind, there will be no way for us to survive after the city is broken?"

Someone asked: "But what if this person, Fierce Tiger, betrays his trust?"

"We are basically dispensable to him, and he is eager to take our property as his own, right?"

"Think about it, how did he ever take us, the Bingzhou Shang clan, seriously? If he really wanted to value us, why didn't he come and give us our support before the war started?"

Someone wondered: "Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case. This man's main wife is from the Zhen family in Jizhou, and his side wife is from the Mi family in Donghai. These are extremely wealthy businessmen. Why do you think he is hostile to us?"

The person in front sneered: "Is the Qin family better than the Zhen family and the Mi family?"

"Can your girl's beauty spread throughout the county?"

"If not, why do you compare with others?"

The person who spoke behind blushed and said forcefully: "Is it possible that besides the Zhen family and the Mi family, he can also wipe out all of us?"

The man in front sneered: "Of course not, he is not a murderous person, but think about it, what value do you have that can be used?"

"You must be of some use, right? Are you helping to break the city, or are you passing on information?"

Everyone heard the implication, and someone said: "You mean, hand over the certificate first?"

As soon as these words came out, several others fell silent.

Not only because what this person said is what other people are thinking, but also because the words "voting a petition of name" should not appear on this occasion.

Because this is a slang term, it means that the loyalty certificate paid when joining a gang is mostly used among Bingzhou horse thieves. It is either a few lives or a robbery of a batch of goods. Only by handing over the evidence can they gain the trust of the horse thieves.

As a speaker from the Shang clan, the speaker is so familiar with the incision, so he is obviously colluding with the horse thieves. He may even be secretly raising horse thieves, or even the leader of the horse thieves.

It is very common among many Shang clans for the Shang clan to collude with horse thieves. This is also a method used to crack down on other Shang clans for not showing up. The border Shang clan is the local emperor who dominates one side, and there is no essential difference between them and bandits. However, Being exposed so openly makes the situation a little embarrassing.

The person in front also knew that he had made a mistake and quickly stopped. The scene was silent for a while before someone asked: "What should we do?"

This matter is so sensitive that no one is willing to speak first. After all, on this occasion and period, the petition will most likely fall on those Southern Huns nobles.

Although the merchants and residents in Bingzhou were ruthless and it was okay to deal with the lone merchants during the catastrophe, but to deal with the nobles of the Southern Huns royal court who had a large army, I am afraid they were overestimating their capabilities.

(End of this chapter)