Ji Han Liu Zhang

The fifth year of Jian'an, mid-July.

The hot summer had passed, but Yuan Shao, who was pacing back and forth in the central army tent, felt a hot air rising from the soles of his feet. This hot air rose to his chest and abdomen, making his internal organs extremely restless. He couldn't help but breathe slightly to dissipate the hot air in his stomach.

As for the origin of this hot and dry air, it was probably because the Yubi City on the banks of the Fen River had not been under attack for months, like a rock blocking Yuan Shao's way to Guanzhong, blocking Yuan Shao here and preventing him from realizing his ambitions. Naturally, he was depressed and irritable.

Just when Yuan Shao was feeling uncertain and having complicated thoughts, he heard footsteps outside the tent. In an instant, Yuan Shao suppressed the anger running in his chest and returned to the main seat in the central army tent and sat down. Then he picked up a bamboo slip of Zuo Zhuan on the table and put on an appearance of reading calmly.

Just as Yuan Shao was ready to take his stance, the curtain of the central army tent was lifted, and his trusted advisers including Xu You, Ju Shou, Feng Ji, and Guo Tu walked in.

Seeing Yuan Shao's demeanor, Guo Tu did not salute him first, but praised him and said, "The military situation is tense, but you are so leisurely and calm, reading in the tent, you are indeed a gentleman with a graceful demeanor."

Yuan Shao seemed to have just paid attention to Feng Ji, Guo Tu and the others at this time. He casually put down the bamboo slips in his hand, sighed softly and said, "The Yubi City is strong and has not been taken down for months. But reading a volume of Zuo Zhuan can help you forget your worries."

After that, Yuan Shao invited all the counselors to take their seats, and then he asked: "How are Wen Chou and Gao Lan doing? Can Jiangyi and Dongyuan be taken and the passage to Anyi be opened?"

Hearing this, Xu You, Ju Shou, Feng Ji, Guo Tu and others all looked depressed and fell silent. After a moment, Ju Shou came forward and said, "My Lord, Wen Chou and Gao Lan have sent us news that the Shu generals Wen Pin and Yin Pu are defending very strictly. General Wen Chou even tried to climb the city wall himself, but still failed to take Jiangyi and Dongyuan."

Yuan Shao lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. After a few breaths, he said, "Write to Wen Chou. As the commander-in-chief of the three armies, you should not take risks and serve as the first to climb the mountain. You should protect yourself and serve me as much as possible."

"Your Excellency's heart of caring for the officers and soldiers is truly benevolent. When General Wen Chou receives your letter, he will surely be grateful and devote himself to serving you until his death." Guo Tu sang respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao, who was at the top, looked somewhat pleased, but Xu You, Ju Shou and others near Guo Tu looked at Guo Tu with some contempt.

There was no other reason. It was because Guo Tu's advice was always sweet and he flattered too much. Most of the people were wise men, so how could they waste their words like that?

It was precisely because Guo Tu's tone was the most humble and flattering that he was the most favored by Yuan Shao. Although his advisers did not say it out loud, they were quite jealous in their hearts.

With no progress on Yubi, Jiangyi and Dongyuan, Yuan Shao wanted to do something to distract himself, so he said to Qu Yi, who was lying in bed with an arrow in his wound: "There is nothing to do now, why don't you follow me to see Qu Yi."

"Yes." All the counselors bowed in agreement.

Yuan Shao took a step and led the way out of the central army tent and walked towards the camp where Qu Yi was. The army was not stationed in one camp, but in separate camps with passages and barriers between them. This was to prevent the enemy from making a night attack and causing chaos in the camp, leading to a complete defeat.

Soon, Yuan Shao arrived at Qu Yi's camp without any hindrance. He stopped the soldiers who were about to report to Qu Yi's tent, intending to give Qu Yi a surprise.

At this moment, inside the tent, Qu Yi seemed to be changing the dressing. The arrow wound on his arm was a penetrating wound. After pulling out the arrow, he had to change the dressing frequently and rest for a hundred days before he could recover.

During the process of changing the dressing, the bandage was torn off, the old dressing was scraped off, and the new dressing was applied, which inevitably pulled the wound and caused a burst of pain, causing Qu Yi to curse endlessly. He cursed at the doctor: "You bastard, you are such a famous doctor, but you are so careless when changing the dressing. Hiss... You bastard, you pulled the wound of the master."

"General, please calm down. Scraping off the old medicine will inevitably tear the wound. Please be patient for a while." The doctor said respectfully. He did not dare to anger Qu Yi, a general, otherwise his life would be in danger.

But even though the doctor lowered himself to the ground, Qu Yi still looked angry: "Quack, you still dare to quibble, I will reward you twenty...hiss...ah...don't say anything, quickly change the new medicine for me."

"Yes, yes, yes." The doctor was sweating. Under Qu Yi's threat, he was at a loss and pulled Qu Yi's wound again.

After scolding the doctor, Qu Yi started scolding Lou Fa, the defender of Yubi City: "Lou Zichu, when you recover from your injury, we will capture Yubi City and cut you into pieces. Otherwise, it will not be enough to vent your anger."

As for the person who caused the arrow wound on his arm, Qu Yi remembered the appearance of the archer that day. Later, he confirmed it with the envoy who had been to Yubi City in the camp and learned that the person who shot him was Yubi City's main general Lou Fa. So in the past few days, when he changed the dressing every day, he always cursed Lou Fa to vent his anger and divert the pain.

After scolding the doctor and Lou Fa, Qu Yi suddenly sighed and complained, "My Lord, you should have listened to my advice earlier and left more than 10,000 soldiers to guard Yubi City, and the rest of the people continued to travel west. Who knows, we might have reached Puyang by now, and we would not be blocked by Yubi City like we are now, and you would not have been hit by this arrow."

Yuan Shao, who stopped the soldiers from reporting and walked to the outside of Qu Yi's tent, heard these words clearly. At the same time, Xu You, Ju Su and other counselors also heard these words. Among them, Guo Tu looked displeased. He was about to step forward, lift the curtain, step into the tent, and reprimand Qu Yi for Yuan Shao.

But at this moment, a hand reached out in front of Guo Tu and stopped him. If it was someone else, Guo Tu would have pushed the hand away regardless and continued to move forward, but the owner of this hand was Yuan Shao, so Guo Tu stopped.

Yuan Shao looked at Guo Tu, shook his head, and stood still, waiting for a moment or two. After the voice in Qu Yi's tent died down, a smile appeared on his face, and then he stepped forward and entered Qu Yi's tent.

Inside the tent, Qu Yi, who had just changed the medicine, was about to dismiss the doctor, but he saw the curtain was suddenly opened. He looked up and said in an obscene way, "That bastard..."

"Which bastard dared to enter my tent without notification?" Qu Yi only said three words, and after seeing the man's face, he immediately swallowed the rest of his words. Because his left arm was injured by an arrow and could not bend, Qu Yi just stood up straight, saluted with one arm and said, "I didn't know you were coming, I'm sorry for not coming to greet you."

"General, please sit down." Yuan Shao smiled warmly, like the rising sun that cast warm morning light. He stretched out his hand and pushed Qu Yi, who had stood up, back to his seat.

Then Yuan Shao looked at Qu Yi's injured left arm with a worried and concerned look on his face. He sighed softly and said, "The general's arrow wound has healed a little now. It's all my fault. It's not my mismanagement. How could the general be wounded by this arrow?"

"Mingsir," Qu Yi called out sincerely, with a touching expression on his face. "Mingsir, you made the right arrangements and used the right strategies. There is nothing wrong with that. It is just that I, Qu Yi, am incompetent and failed to get the jade disk for you. That should be my fault."

"General, your words make me ashamed." Yuan Shao seemed to be moved by Qu Yi's words, and he sighed.

The conversation between Yuan Shao and Qu Yi appeared to be a harmonious scene between the ruler and his subjects, and they were in love with each other, in the eyes of counselors such as Xu You and Ju Shou behind them. Everyone should be moved by it, but those counselors who knew that Yuan Shao had heard Qu Yi's resentful words felt a chill in their hearts.

After comforting Qu Yi, before leaving, Yuan Shao asked the doctor to take good care of Qu Yi and let Qu Yi have a good rest. Only then did he step out and left with Qu Yi watching him.

On the way back, Ju Su said to Yuan Shao, "Mingsir, Qu Yi was complaining in private, which shows that he was not sincere in serving his master. Why didn't you go into the tent and scold him to teach him a lesson? Instead, you stopped outside the tent, skipped his words, and then went into the tent to comfort him without saying a word of blame."

Yuan Shao explained gently, "I shot Qu Yi with an arrow, and his arm was pierced. I should have comforted him, and Qu Yi's angry words were just caused by the unbearable pain when changing the bandages. They were not intentional... Besides, don't you think I am a narrow-minded person who can't tolerate a few criticisms?"

"I dare not." Upon hearing this, Ju Su hurriedly apologized, and then he praised Yuan Shao: "Your Excellency is kind and forgiving, and does not remember words of sorrow and anger. You are truly a rare wise ruler in the world."

Returning to the central army tent, Yuan Shao discussed with his advisers how to capture Yubi City. However, all the advisers had already offered their strategies for attacking the city, but the discussion still did not produce any results. In the end, they could only attack the city day and night, hoping that the Shu army would reveal one or two flaws under the attack.

After the meeting, Yuan Shao kept Guo Tu and dismissed the others. When everyone left, Yuan Shao's originally graceful face changed in an instant. He half-squinted his eyes, cast a knife-like gaze, and a murderous intent emerged. At the same time, he gritted his teeth and said, "Sooner or later, I will kill this old man."

"Old Ge." As Yuan Shao's confidant, Guo Tu knew Yuan Shao's meaning immediately. Ge means soldier, and the old Ge actually means old soldier, referring to Qu Yi.

Therefore, sooner or later, Yuan Shao wanted to kill Qu Yi, and the reason why Yuan Shao wanted to kill Qu Yi was that Guo Tu could only sigh in his heart: "Qu Yi really brought this upon himself!"

First, Qu Yi helped Yuan Shao defeat the White Horse Volunteers in the Battle of Jie Bridge and made great contributions. At that time, Qu Yi was very much favored and loved by Yuan Shao. Perhaps it was precisely because of Yuan Shao's favor that Qu Yi's true nature was exposed. He often did not distinguish between superiors and subordinates when gathering people to discuss matters, which offended Yuan Shao's majesty.

At first, Yuan Shao might have considered Qu Yi's military achievements at Jie Bridge and did not pursue the matter, nor paid any attention to it. However, as time went on and resentment accumulated, coupled with Qu Yi's rebellious words in the tent today, no matter how great the friendship and contributions were, Yuan Shao had somewhat lost his patience and tolerance towards Qu Yi.

Guo Tu knew clearly that in Yuan Shao's mind, Qu Yi and Tian Feng were both people whom Yuan Shao wanted to kill. However, as Tian Feng was a famous figure in Jizhou and had helped Yuan Shao, it was inconvenient for Yuan Shao to kill him, so he just threw him into prison.

Guo Tu probably guessed Yuan Shao's intention as to why Qu Yi was not executed. He said indirectly, "My lord, although Qu Yi is a fool and said something offensive, he is brave and good at fighting. He is helpful to the military and the country. I hope you can calm down and tolerate him."

"Humph." Yuan Shao snorted heavily, and gnashed his teeth and said, "If it weren't for the merits that Qu Yi had made in the past, and the fact that he was brave and good at training soldiers, I would have killed him immediately and exterminated his three clans based on what he said today."

"Please calm down, my lord." Seeing that Yuan Shao was following his words, Guo Tu continued to comfort Yuan Shao, saying, "In the past, Han Xin destroyed Qi and killed Li Qishi, the counselor of Emperor Gao. He also asked Emperor Gao to be the fake King of Qi. Emperor Gao, thinking of Xiang Yu's rampant behavior, tolerated it and finally destroyed Xiang Yu and killed Han Xin. This is exactly what happened today."

Hearing Guo Tu compare him to Emperor Gao, Yuan Shao's anger faded a little. He nodded and said, "The country is in turmoil, and the four seas are boiling. Liu Zhang in Guanzhong and Cao Cao in the Central Plains have not been eliminated. Qu Yi is brave and capable, so let's keep him in office."

Next, Yuan Shao, who was blocked in Yubi City, continued to attack Yubi City day and night for more than ten days. By the end of July, Yubi City was still firmly controlled by the Shu army.

During this period, Yuan Shao ignored the humiliation of the previous envoy being beaten with a stick by Lou Fa, and sent envoys into Yubi City again, promising high positions and generous salaries in the hope of luring Lou Fa to surrender.

However, Lou Fa was not tempted. He whipped Yuan Shao's envoy once or twice and then drove him out of the city in order to humiliate Yuan Shao and make Yuan Shao angry. He stayed in Yubi City and continued the attack.

On the last day of July, Yuan Shao came to the battlefield again. He looked at the Yubi City that had been devastated by war. Although it was damaged in many places, it was still like a natural moat blocking his way to Guanzhong. He suddenly felt tired and powerless in his heart.

It has been almost two months. He led an army of 100,000 and wanted to conquer Hedong and Guanlong areas in one fell swoop, but he failed to capture even a mere Yubi City and is still wandering outside the city.

Yuan Shao originally planned that even if he could not take Guanlong in one go, at least he would take Hedong and block Liu Zhang's way out of Guanzhong to the east. However, he could not take down the jade disk and could not get Hedong either. This time, he gained almost nothing and accomplished nothing.

At night, Yuan Shao felt bored, so he left the tent and marched among the troops. At the same time, he also cared about his soldiers. After all, they had been attacking Yubi City day and night, and most of them were tired, so they needed to be comforted.

Along the way, Yuan Shao heard the soldiers crying and complaining at night, most of them wanted to return home, and finally he returned to the central army tent with a slightly depressed look. (End of this chapter)