When Yuan Xi came to Xuzhou this time, he really came with his own plans.
Leaving aside the south of the Yangtze River, if he wants to develop maritime trade, the Youzhou, Qingzhou and Xuzhou lines must be opened first, especially Xuzhou.
In the future, half of the Zhen family will belong to Yuan Xi, so he took advantage of Xuzhou's opportunity to settle this trade route in advance.
As for avoiding taboos, he didn't care. Mi Zhu was an official under Liu Bei, and he would definitely inform Liu Bei of the content of the negotiations between the two parties without any secret. Therefore, he raised it openly, but he was helping Mi Zhu avoid suspicion.
Otherwise, if he goes to contact Mi Zhu privately, the other party will most likely not dare to agree, otherwise, he will not be able to explain clearly in front of Liu Bei.
Now that Yuan Xi proposed it openly and honestly, it made it difficult for Liu Bei to refuse.
Sure enough, Mi Zhu secretly glanced at Liu Bei and nodded slightly to himself. Then she felt relieved and hurriedly replied: "Thanks to the young master, if you don't mind the humble abode, Zhu will sweep the couch to welcome you."
Yuan Xi laughed and said: "This will trouble you, sir. I have long heard that Xuzhou's Kabuki and dancers are very famous. Now Xi is lucky."
Liu Bei and others thought about the rumors about Yuan Xi, and thought to themselves that it was good that this boy had a weakness!
Previously, a group of counselors in Xuzhou carefully studied Yuan Xi's past experience, and finally discovered that Yuan Xi was not invulnerable.
Lustful!
He had dozens of concubines in Beixin City. Later, after returning to Yecheng, he was said to have close contacts with several women.
What's even more outrageous is that after he brought Cao Cao's family to Yecheng, he actually robbed Cao Cao's concubine and daughter and openly raised them in his inner house.
What's even more outrageous is that according to the news brought by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Yuan Xi came to Tancheng in a carriage with Kong Rong's wife and daughter!
Kong Rongbi did not attend the luncheon at noon because he could not stand steadily after hearing the news, so he had to be carried home.
In this era, being lustful among the nobles was not a big problem. On the contrary, it was a good thing to talk about. However, it was rare for someone like Yuan Xi to be so lustful as to be unrestrained.
Could this kid be dealt with using a honey trap?
Yuan Xi got on the carriage and saw that Tai Shici was still following him on horseback. He finally relaxed. At the end of the day, his energy and physical strength had reached the limit, and now he just wanted to take a good rest.
He rubbed his temples and felt that it was really inconvenient for Wu Zhao not to be around.
When he visited Wu Zhao before leaving, he saw that she was probably infected with cold, but she didn't feel better after taking medicine, so he had to let her take good care of herself.
I wonder what medical skills are like in this era, whether Hua Tuo is really that powerful, and whether Zuo Ci really knows magic?
But according to previous rumors, although the Zhang Jiao brothers were praised for their miraculous powers, most of them were limited to prophecies and prophecies, and they should not be able to call wind and rain.
Mi Zhu's carriage led the way, and soon it arrived in front of Mi's house.
The door opened, and Yuan Xi looked out of the car. He saw tall buildings everywhere inside, which were extremely grand and even surpassed the Zhen family by a few points.
When he got off the carriage, he saw carved beams and painted buildings, cornices and brackets everywhere, which were no less impressive than the palaces he had seen in his previous life.
It was already dark at this time, but red lanterns were hung under the eaves of each house. Going far away, the lights were brightly lit everywhere, like a paradise on earth.
Damn you, no wonder the scholars, farmers, industry and merchants will let you bloodletting sooner or later.
He exclaimed: "The Mi family's wealth is so rich. I saw it with my own eyes today, and now I know that the rumors are true. I'm afraid the legendary palace is far from this, right?"
Mi Zhu was heading here to meet him. When he heard Yuan Xi's words, his feet mixed with garlic and he almost fell down.
His face turned bitter. This second young master couldn't get along with him. He had to kill him, right?
He quickly came up and grabbed Yuan Xi's sleeve, saying with a smile on his face: "Go in and talk, go in and talk."
Mi Zhu led Yuan Xi and Tai Shici in. A maid had already prepared a banquet. Mi Zhu smiled and said, "I have prepared a small amount of wine. I hope you will forgive me."
Yuan Xi saw the luxurious utensils and exquisite dishes served by the maid, which were far better than Yuan's house. He thought to himself that if this was considered a small amount of wine, could he have been begging for food before?
He smiled slightly and sat down after being polite.
For a while, the guests and hosts started chatting. On one side, Yuan Xi was talking nonsense, on the other hand, Mi Zhu dealt with it carefully. On the other hand, Yuan Xi was testing everything, and on the other hand, Mi Zhu was resisting hard. After a few rounds, Mi Zhu, an honest man, had sweat on his forehead.
He thought to himself that this time he had really lured a wolf into the house, so he quickly called for the karaoke and dancers to come up. For a while, the room was full of warblers, and many of them snuggled up to Yuan Xi to persuade him to drink.
Yuan Xi smiled at Mi Zhu and said, "I will vomit when I drink. I hope Brother Zizhong won't blame me."
Mi Zhu quickly apologized and said with a smile: "No, no."
Seeing that the exquisite fish dumplings in front of Yuan Xi were not touched at all, he couldn't help but asked curiously: "Young Master doesn't seem to like fish dumplings?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I'm a little afraid of death."
Mi Zhu blushed: "Master, do you suspect that I poisoned the fish?"
Yuan Xi laughed: "Brother Zizhong has misunderstood. What I mean is that there is something bad in this raw fish, and it has nothing to do with sir."
Mi Zhu was confused. She thought of what Yuan Xi said to Chen Deng during the day, and vaguely thought of something, but she had not yet connected the two.
He saw that Yuan Xi didn't seem to be interested in the maid next to him, which made him even more headache. Why did this woman's behavior seem to be different from the rumors?
Yuan Xi was a little regretful. Originally, he came to Mi's house to discuss business opportunities and to lure out Chen Deng. Unexpectedly, Chen Deng was quite calm and didn't show up.
However, Yuan Xi was not in a hurry. He had plenty of time and did not believe that Chen Deng could endure it forever.
During the dinner, Yuan Xi talked about the trade route again, and Mi Zhu sighed: "This matter cannot be decided by me alone. It needs to be discussed by many people in the Mi family. Can you please wait for two days for Zhu to give a reply?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, you are the head of the family, why can't you decide? You are obviously going to ask Liu Bei for instructions.
But he also knew that he shouldn't push too hard, so he nodded in agreement immediately.
After dinner, Yuan Xi didn't wait for Chen Deng, so he got up and went back to rest.
Mi Zhu quickly hinted that Yuan Xi could choose a concubine. After hearing this, Yuan Xi turned to Taishi Ci and said, "Are Ziyi interested?"
Taishi Ci hurriedly said: "Ci already has a wife. Please go to the young master to forgive me."
Yuan Xi nodded and said to Mi Zhu: "Although these women are good, they are still not as good as the people in my house. That will be it for today."
Mi Zhu and Yuan Xi's tone clearly indicated that they were dissatisfied with themselves, but they did not dare to show it on their faces, so they had no choice but to send Yuan Xi and Tai Shi Ci to sleep separately.
He left the house overnight, found Liu Bei, and told Liu Bei exactly what they had said during the conversation.
After hearing this, Liu Bei pondered for a long time, but didn't notice anything was wrong, so he had to say: "In that case, please ask Zizhong to take the trouble to deal with it."
Mi Zhu wiped her sweat and hurried back.
As a result, Mi Zhu went to invite Yuan Xi to discuss with Liu Bei the next day. Tai Shici came out and said that Yuan Xi was not feeling well and would not go today.
Mi Zhu didn't know what kind of medicine Yuan Xi was selling in his gourd, so he went to report to Liu Bei in confusion. Liu Bei was waiting to continue the negotiation, but he had no choice but to give up.
Liu Bei did not expect that Yuan Xi was ill for three days, so he was spared for three days!
Liu Bei was depressed, so he summoned his counselors and said, "What do the Yuan family want to do?"
Jian Yong thought for a while and said, "Why don't you wait and see what happens?"
Sun Qian also nodded in agreement: "Now he wants to compete with us for patience to see who gives in first. If we go to invite him, we will be at a disadvantage."
Everyone agreed.
Guan Yu waited for everyone to disperse and said to Liu Bei: "Brother, there was something that concerned me very much the day before yesterday, so I went to check it out."
He told Liu Bei about the crowd being driven away by Tao Qian at the city gate. Liu Bei listened and said: "I know this. They should be the family members of some Yangzhou generals who are friends with Yuan Shu. There may be spies among them. I originally asked people to send them away properly." When I went to the city, I didn’t expect the soldiers to be so rough.”
Guan Yu shook his head and said, "That's not what I'm talking about, but that after Sun Polu was ambushed and killed by Huang Zu, his family members lived in Xuzhou, and they may be among that group of people."
Liu Bei listened and sighed: "Sun Polu, that is the fierce general who killed Hua Xiong. What a pity. It is my fault that I did not treat his family well."
Guan Yu thought of the woman who could ride a horse, and felt that something was wrong. He heard that Sun Jian's family had been in Guangling County before, so what were they doing in Xiapi?
But he has already left, and Sun Jian is dead. It is said that his heir is still young, what kind of waves can be caused?
He shook his head and put the matter behind him.
Taishi Ci saw Yuan Xi finding a green bamboo pole and fishing in front of the big pond in the Mi family mansion. He thought to himself that his lord was really unconstrained in his actions.
Yuan Xi watched the thread tremble and sink. Then he shook his hand and caught a fat koi.
He took the fish off, threw it back into the water, sighed, and said to Tai Shici: "This fish has been in the pond for a long time, and it just eats the bait. It's really stupid, and it makes fishing boring for me."
Taishi Ci heard this and said: "When I was a child, I lived by the sea. The sea fish are much more agile and don't bite the bait very much. It's better to go straight and stab them directly."
"But with this method, you often need to wait for a long time to find the flaw in an instant before you can achieve success in one fell swoop."
Yuan Xi nodded and said: "The truth behind what Brother Ziyi said is actually the same between people."
"Both sides are now competing for patience, and the variable is the third party."
Taishi Ci vaguely realized something.
Yuan Xi thought to himself that Liu Bei wanted to bargain with him, which was correct, but he still didn't fully understand the situation.
He originally thought that the situation in Xuzhou should be softened, but seeing that Liu Bei was still secretive and the officials' attitude was ambiguous, he knew that the internal officials in Xuzhou were still resistant to the peace talks.
Since they won't shed tears until they see the coffin, they can just wait and see who rushes first.
Yuan Xi did this with confidence.
Historically, after Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei actually did not dare to lead Xuzhou as a herdsman immediately, because he knew that although the fat meat in Xuzhou was very fragrant, it was also very likely to choke him to death.
Even though he had the support of most of the nobles in Xuzhou, he was still hesitant. Even at this time, Tian Yu, whom he admired very much, left.
Until he asked Chen Deng to write a letter to Yuan Shao.
Pei Songzhi's annotation "Three Kingdoms Shu Shu II Biography of the First Master" quoted "Xiandi Chunqiu" and has the following record.
Chen Deng and others sent an envoy to Yuan Shao and said: "Heaven has sent disasters, and disasters have reached the state. The state will be destroyed, and the people will have no owner. They are afraid that if the traitorous hero takes over, the leader of the alliance will be worried about the future, and they all serve as the Prime Minister of Pingyuan." Lord Liu Bei regards him as the sect master, and he will always let the people know that they have someone to fall back on. Now that the bandits are in trouble, I will not forget to release my armor, so I would like to send my subordinates to report to the deacon."
Shao replied: "Liu Xuande is elegant and faithful. Today Xuzhou welcomes him. He is sincere and lives up to expectations."
This was the decisive factor. Not long after Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei secretly sought refuge with Yuan Shao, saying that he could help Yuan Shao deal with Yuan Shu.
After receiving the letter, Yuan Shao directly agreed, so at this time, Yuan and Liu had already joined forces in private, much earlier than the official alliance a few years later.
This is where Yuan Xi's confidence lies. He clearly knows that Liu Bei has already turned to Yuan Shao in his heart, so he dares to send an envoy to Xuzhou carelessly.
Now Liu Bei is happy in his heart, but he doesn't dare to show it to his subordinates yet, so what Yuan Xi has to do is to wait for an opportunity that will make Liu Bei's subordinates speechless.
He was fishing leisurely in the rain. On the small building in the distance, a maid turned to Mi Zhen and said, "That young man has been fishing for several days, and the girl has to stay in the small building these days. .”
(End of chapter)
