Since Xun Chen entered Beixin City, he began to pay attention to the scene in the city.
He could tell roughly what a city was like just by looking at it.
Speaking of Yuan Xi, Xun Chen remembered that when he took refuge with Yuan Shao, his reputation was not outstanding. On the contrary, it was said that his character was somewhat cowardly.
Three years ago, it was said that Yuan Xi and Yuan Shao had serious differences over certain matters. Yuan Xi rarely contradicted Yuan Shao, which made Yuan Shao very unhappy.
Later, whether out of anger or because he wanted to prove himself, Yuan Xi actually proposed to lead troops to the front line of Youzhou to confront Gongsun Zan!
This is no joke. You must know that although Gongsun Zan was defeated in the Battle of Jieqiao, he still retained most of his strength and was still the overlord of the North.
When dealing with Gongsun Zan and his White Horse Yi Cong, even a famous general will be resentful if he is slightly careless, let alone a son of aristocratic family who has never led an army before?
However, what everyone expected was that Yuan Shao finally agreed.
At first, the officials who supported Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were shocked when they heard the news. Did Yuan Shao intend to support his second son Yuan Xi?
However, after the appointment was made, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Yuan Xi was given the position of city guard of Beixin City, which was similar to the post of county captain, with a salary of only 200 dan.
In addition, thirty cavalry troops and three hundred infantry troops were allocated to defend the city.
When Yuan Shao's subordinates learned the news, they once doubted whether Yuan Xi was his biological child.
Otherwise, by giving Yuan Xi these troops, are you really trying to kill him?
After Xun Chen heard about it, he just smiled slightly. As Yuan Shao's chief counselor, he knew Yuan Shao's character quite well.
Yuan Shao's personality is different from that of ordinary people. In critical moments of adversity, he can often act resolutely and decisively, but in ordinary trivial matters, he seems a bit indecisive.
This is the case with Yuan Xi.
Yuan Shao actually doted on his sons, but he also wanted to save face, so Xun Chen could tell at a glance that Yuan Shao didn't really want to let Yuan Xi defend the city.
After all, facing Gongsun Zan's army, the danger is too great.
In the Battle of Jieqiao, even Yuan Shao himself was almost killed by a scattered cavalry of Gongsun Zan's army.
According to Xun Chen's idea, Yuan Shao wanted Yuan Xi to retreat and stay in Yecheng.
Later, it turned out that Xun Chen had guessed correctly. Yuan Shao once drank too much and had a private conversation with Xun Chen. In his words, he revealed that he had indeed thought so at the beginning.
But to Yuan Shao's surprise, Yuan Xi, a young man with a rough head, actually agreed very simply and took the seal with him on the road the next day!
Yuan Shaola couldn't help but watch Yuan Xi leave Yecheng for three years.
Later, when Xun Chen and Yuan Shao met in private several times, Yuan Shao also regretted this matter. After all, Yuan Shao only had a few sons. If any of them had shortcomings, it would be Yuan's loss.
Xun Chen remained silent on this. He just listened and never expressed a word of his opinion.
Because he later learned that the quarrel between Yuan Shao and Yuan Xi and his son was actually due to their attitude towards Cao Cao.
At that time, Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's partial general and contributed a lot. Because he was defeated by Du, Bai Rao, Sui Gu, Yu Fuluo, etc. in Dongjun, he was appointed as the prefect of Dongjun by Yuan Shao. It can be said that at this time, Yuan and Cao's family The relationship is excellent.
But it was also at this time that Xun Yu left Yuan Shao and defected to Cao Cao.
Xun Yu didn't communicate much with Xun Chen about this matter beforehand, which put Xun Chen in an embarrassing situation.
Fortunately, Yuan Shao did not pursue Xun Chen's case. After all, at the latest, Yuan Shao was just a nominal Bohai governor, but he had no territory of his own and was in urgent need of a place to raise troops.
But Xun Chen just opened his mouth and persuaded Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, to hand over Jizhou, allowing Yuan Shao to reach the rich and prosperous land of Jizhou without using any troops. He thus made great achievements and became Yuan Shao's leader.
After Jizhou was gained, its gentry and counselors joined Yuan Shao one after another, and Yuan Shao was in the limelight for a time.
However, these counselors and generals under Yuan Shao were not monolithic, and began to form factions with various motives.
Unlike ordinary nobles, these counselors who came from wealthy families had high self-esteem and great appetites. Moreover, the wealthy families they originally belonged to were large landowners in various states and were quite powerful.
Their goal will not be limited to one city, one county, or one place at all, but to the governor, governor, and ministers!
Therefore, Yuan Shao had to offer a very high price to make them loyal. Fortunately, many counselors were optimistic about Yuan Shao at that time and believed that he had the potential to dominate the world, so there were no major problems for the time being.
But Yuan Shao's current territory cannot satisfy these wealthy scholars.
Xun Chen guessed that Xun Yu also saw that Yuan Shao had too many talented people and it was difficult to get ahead, so he defected to Cao Cao.
At that time, Cao Cao was in a much worse situation, because most of the gentry disciples had defected to Yuan Shao, so he could only vigorously use the Han gentry and commoners.
But there is also an advantage. These people are from humble backgrounds and don't have much appetite. A small official position of 100 dan can make them loyal to death. In terms of cost performance, Yuan Shao's group of people is much higher.
After Xun Yu defected to Cao Cao, he was immediately treated like a distinguished guest. It can be said that he would rather be the mouth of a chicken than the queen of an ox.
Xun Chen knew Yuan Shao's character very well. He hated those who betrayed him extremely and would kill them quickly.
Therefore, after Xun Yu defected to Cao Cao, Xun Chen began to be cautious in his words and deeds, deliberately keeping a low profile to avoid being angered by Yuan Shao.
Therefore, in the past few years, Xun Chen's original limelight has been overshadowed by Tian Feng Jushou and others.
Xun Chen spent three years in a low profile like this.
Until news came from Beixin City again that Yuan Xi had caused several major events!
One was to kill Liu Bao, the son of Yu Fuluo of Nandan, and the other was to defeat hundreds of white horse Yi Cong.
Yuan Shao found several counselors to analyze this, and everyone found it extremely incredible after talking about it.
If it's fake, that's trouble.
If true, the trouble is even greater.
At that time, due to the rebellion in Yecheng last year, Yuan Shao carried out internal purges and attacked the Black Mountain Army Zhang Yan externally. He finally stabilized the situation in Bingzhou. The next step was to start from Qingzhou and attack Gongsun Zan's ally Tian Kai.
But there is a problem in nearby Youzhou, and it will be difficult to send troops unless we find out.
Regardless of whether Yuan Xi lied about the military situation or was suspected of colluding with Gongsun Zan, there had to be an explanation. Yuan Shao finally decided to send Yuan Tan and Xun Chen Gaolan to lead troops to Beixin City to investigate this case on the grounds of guarding against the Southern Huns and Gongsun Zan's army. thing.
This appointment is very intriguing. Xun Chen is a centrist and has not expressed his support so far, but Gao Lan secretly prefers Yuan Shang!
When these three people get together, no one can guess what Yuan Shao's idea is.
So now Xun Chen can only focus on Beixin City, trying to find out the authenticity of the matter first, so that he can have an explanation when he goes back.
He didn't expect that Yuan Xi was also secretly observing him while he was observing the streets of Beixin City.
While Yuan Xi was talking to Yuan Tan, he was also thinking about Xun Chen.
Xun Chen did not do anything in the nine years from the time he persuaded Han Fu to leave Jizhou in 191 AD until he became the mastermind of the Guandu Battle in 200 AD.
After the Battle of Guandu, Xun Chen disappeared without a trace in the history books.
What happened to this person?
