Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 983 Cultivating Nails
When Yuan Xi walked in, he couldn't help but be startled when he saw Cao Qing's appearance. He thought that among Cao Cao's biological daughters, some of them were outstanding.

When the maids saw Yuan Xi coming in, they saluted quickly. Yuan Xi waved his hand and asked them to go out. The maids understood this and hurriedly lowered their heads and left. They all looked at each other and smiled when they went out.

When Cao Qing saw it, her face became hot and she became more and more embarrassed, not knowing where to put her hands and feet.

But then her stomach growled, and Cao Qing finally realized that it was noon and she hadn't eaten yet. She was even more worried and wanted to get up and run away, but she didn't have the courage.

When Yuan Xi saw it, he said to the maid outside the door: "Go to the kitchen and ask someone to cook some food."

Seeing the maid leave, Yuan Xi turned to Cao Qing and asked, "How are you and Mrs. Ding living these days?"

After hearing this, Cao Qing mustered up the courage to reply: "It's naturally not good to be in jail."

After she finished speaking, she felt even more uneasy. When she was in Cao Cao's inner house, everyone favored her. As a result, except for Cao Ang, Cao Qing even ignored Cao Pi and others. Therefore, her temperament was Quite proud.

But this doesn't mean that she can't watch his words. In fact, she is very honest in front of Cao Cao, because she knows that the only person in the inner house who cannot be messed with is her father.

The same thing happened after she and Mrs. Ding were captured. Mrs. Ding would risk her life and death to assassinate Yuan Xi for the revenge of Cao Ang. But Cao Qing is not stupid. As a woman, it is hard to say whether she can meet Yuan Xi, let alone Even if he could hurt Yuan Xi, he would still be dead.

Cao Qing is obviously afraid of death. Unlike Mrs. Ding, who is heartbroken and can ignore life and death, she still wants to continue living!

So when Yuan Xi asked questions, Cao Qing thought of Mrs. Ding's screams in the house, and became more careful to restrain her arrogance and answer Yuan Xi's questions honestly.

Yuan Xi saw Cao Qing's appearance and said, "You should know that the hatred between Cao Cao and me is difficult to resolve."

"Although I once said that no harm will come to my family, now that you are in my hands, if you don't do something, I have no reason to help you."

Cao Qingqiang calmly said: "What do you want me to do with you?"

Yuan Xi looked Cao Qing up and down, making her feel hairy in her heart. Just when Cao Qing thought that Yuan Xi was going to make some unreasonable request, and her heart was at war, Yuan Xi said: "I want to know about Cao Cao's inner chamber. , you said you know all the inside information, including Cao Cao’s situation.”

Cao Qing relaxed a little and said, "If your Majesty knew about it, he would definitely be detrimental to my father, right?"

"If Qie told him, wouldn't he become an unfaithful and unjust person?"

"You kill me, I'm sorry I can't agree."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi sneered and said, "You are quite brave."

"But now it seems that you don't have the ability to bargain with me."

"If you are of no use, I will send you to the military camp. I believe you will not be able to imagine what will happen next."

Cao Qing turned pale in an instant. She had just heard about the military prostitutes in Cao Cao's military camp. Those women suffered quite a miserable life and usually did not survive more than a year or two. If it were her...

She felt dizzy before her eyes, and she quickly begged: "I am willing to be your maid, but I hope you will not force me to tell you about my father!"

Yuan Xi sneered and said, "I have no shortage of maids."

He paused for a moment and said, "I am not short of concubines, so don't think about it. You can't compare to any girl I randomly pull out of my house."

Cao Qing naturally didn't believe it. She was quite proud of her appearance, and thought that this fierce tiger could deceive others. Didn't he just want to suppress herself?

When Yuan Xi saw it, he smiled slightly and said to the maid outside the door: "Go and invite Mrs. Feng and the two girls to come."

The maid agreed and went out to invite the three of them. At this time, the food from the kitchen was also delivered.

Cao Qing looked at the food box grid in front of her. There was a piece of mutton, a piece of fish, a ball of green vegetables, a scrambled egg, and finally a bowl of fragrant rice.

To be fair, Cao Cao likes to eat some expensive ingredients, so Cao Qing has seen a lot of good things in the inner house. The food in front of her seems a bit simple, but it is better because of the careful cooking and the perfect control of the sauce and heat. Very little, especially now that she was very hungry and moved her index finger.

But although Cao Qing was hungry, she still remained somewhat reserved. It wasn't until Yuan Xi signaled that she picked up the bowl, made a dignified look, and started eating slowly.

She picked up a piece of scrambled egg and then her eyes lit up. Not only did the egg contain a moderate amount of oil and salt, but the green onions and leeks inside were fresh. What's even more rare was that the heat was just right. It was obviously done with care. At this moment, laughter came from the door, "I thought the emperor was eating by himself, so Baba went to the kitchen to cook in person, but I was wrong."

As soon as Cao Qing looked up, she saw a slender and attractive woman standing at the door. She wore light makeup on her face, but she still couldn't hide her beautiful face. She was smiling and talking.

At this moment, Cao Qing couldn't open her eyes. The other party's graceful behavior was simply dazzling. She had never seen a woman with such an outstanding appearance in her life!

When she saw Yuan Xi waving for him to come in, she said to Cao Qing, "This is Mrs. Feng."

"She's very good at cooking. You're lucky to be able to eat the food she cooks. I wouldn't let her cook for others on weekdays."

Mrs. Feng came over and said with a smile: "I am willing to do whatever the young master asks me to do."

"Young master asked me to come here, but something happened?"

Yuan Xi smiled at Mrs. Feng and said, "There's nothing wrong. I want you to come and see Cao Cao's daughter."

Feng didn't know Yuan Xi's purpose, so she came up to see the gift. Cao Qing quickly got up to see the gift. She didn't know Feng's identity, so she heard Feng say: "I am just an ordinary concubine of the young master. No big gifts from girls.”

Cao Qing was stunned, an ordinary concubine?
Yuan Xi was a little apologetic, "It turns out that I refused to be granted the title of Duke by the imperial court, so I can't give you a title for the time being. I may have to wait for some time."

Mrs. Feng smiled and said: "Young master, what are you talking about? Now I have no worries about food and clothing, and I am already satisfied."

While they were talking, Xiao Qiao felt confused that Cao Qing was blinded again. The Feng family just now was amazing enough, but how could these two sisters be even worse? This fierce tiger really wasn't. Lie to yourself!
Yuan Xi saw this and felt quite satisfied. Cao Qing was still too young and didn't know that the three women in front of him might be regarded as the most outstanding people in Jianghuai.

Seeing that Cao Qing was stunned by him, Yuan Xi took the opportunity to say: "Although I am at war with Cao Cao, I am not very interested in her family."

"But Miss Cao Cao is feeling depressed and wants to tell you some things about the inner house to relieve her worries."

"You guys talk first, I'll go for a walk."

The three women were all very smart people. Until this matter was not that simple, they came up to chat with Cao Qing. Cao Qing was still quite sober at first, but after repeated setbacks, she had already let down a lot of her guard. And seeing that the three women were friendly in their words and deeds, they put down their guard and responded.

All Cao Qing's everyday words had already been clearly heard by Yuan Xi in the yard.

The things she said about the inner house rarely involved the layout of the house and the military information she knew. However, as everyone knew, Yuan Xi did not expect to hear any military information from her. In Yuan Xi's view, the information Cao Qing had access to was not as good as Your own informants know a lot.

What he really wanted to know was the healthy diet and mental state of Cao Cao, Cao Pi and others.

Because only by understanding the situation of Cao Cao and others can he make some unconfirmed speculations.

With the details revealed by Cao Qing inadvertently, Yuan Xi finally became convinced that Cao Cao's health was not very good. This could explain why he was so anxious to become a prince!
Cao Cao's actions now are ten years earlier than those of later generations. Although this is due to changes in the world situation, it is too abnormal to act in such a hasty manner.

But when Cao Qing mentioned that Cao Cao often suffered from headaches, suffered from poor sleep, and even killed a concubine because of this, and that he liked sweets very much, Yuan Xi was finally able to roughly confirm that Cao Cao was probably aware that his physical condition was worrying. So I have already started preparing for the future life!
He was not sure what caused Cao Cao's health to deteriorate. Although he had been selling molasses to Xu Du at low prices, it had only been a few years. This thing was not poison, so how could it have such an immediate effect?

But in this way, Yuan Xi can have a deeper understanding of Cao Cao's mentality. The other party must have felt that he couldn't afford it, so he did things so radically!
Because from Cao Cao's perspective, his biggest enemy is Yuan Xi, who is young and strong and is less than thirty years old. Yuan Xi will be in his prime for the next twenty years. Cao Cao is doing well when he is alive. If he dies, the Cao family will How to fight against Yuan Xi?
Therefore, if Cao Cao feels that his life is not long, he will definitely accelerate the pace of expansion externally, clean up hidden dangers internally, arrange for successors, and at the same time try to use risky methods to try to defeat himself as soon as possible!
Yuan Xi thought to himself that if he guessed Cao Cao's mentality correctly, he would be able to predict what Cao Cao might do next and make a targeted counterattack!

He smiled slightly. He felt no pressure at all for a little girl like Cao Qing to use such methods. After all, he was not afraid of being a villain in order to bring peace to the world as soon as possible.

In the days that followed, Yuan Xi arranged for Cao Qing to live alone, and at the same time, he tried to drive a wedge between him and Mrs. Ding, who had already had a rift. Yuan Xi already had some ideas on how to use Cao Qing, and was just waiting to be released to cause chaos in the future. Cao family.

At the same time, Yuan Xi asked Zhuge Liang to step up his army preparations and prepare to send troops to Cao Cao and Jiangdong at any time. However, when he heard Zhuge Liang talking about some bad signs in the army, Yuan Xi became vigilant.

As the proportion of Youzhou soldiers among soldiers dropped significantly, and the proportion of Jianghuai soldiers and Xuzhou soldiers increased, the common shortcomings of soldiers in this era began to be highlighted.

Generally speaking, most Jianghuai soldiers cannot understand some of the military discipline of Yuan Xijun. When Zhang He and Xu Huang led troops to fight in Jiangxia, Yuzhou, bad phenomena occurred.

That is to say, the soldiers were very dissatisfied with the ban on massacre of the city, and even violated the military orders.

(End of this chapter)