In the fleet bound for Haixi, Yuan Xi stood on the bow of the flagship, looking into the distance and lost in thought.
What he is most worried about now is not Yecheng or Cao Jun, but Yuan Tan.
With the lessons of future generations, Yuan Xi knew that Yuan Tan had been holding his breath in order to compete for the position of heir to the Yuan family in recent years, and he also did some things that could not be put on the table.
This kind of sibling rivalry is an extremely turbulent factor even in a unified dynasty, let alone the current time when the Yuan family is facing internal and external troubles.
But not everyone can see this dangerous situation. On the surface, Yuan Shao has basically unified the Central Plains, and the situation is excellent.
Yuan Xi secretly scolded Cao Cao for finding the right time, because Yuan Shu was basically no longer able to pose a threat. In the fight between the two Yuans, Jizhou's Yuan family had already won a certain victory, but at this time, Jizhou's vigilance was at its lowest.
Cao Cao chose this time to attack, just like later generations when he attacked Sili first and attacked Yecheng secretly, catching everyone by surprise.
What's even more troublesome is how Yuan Tan views the current situation.
If he feels that the Yuan family's situation is critical now, he can suppress all thoughts to deal with Cao Cao. But if he feels that the Yuan family in Jizhou is now in charge and can seek benefits for himself when attacking Cao Cao, then he will definitely make some small moves and let go. It's okay in normal times, but if it's a key battle, this may be Yuan's decisive loophole!
But Yuan Xi thought about countless possibilities, and did not think that Yuan Tan would openly rebel. It was also after Yuan Shao's death that Yuan Shang was unable to suppress Yuan Tan. He then stood on his own with the support of his own forces and broke up with Yuan Shang.
Although Yuan Tan now has more troops than Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi combined, Yuan Shaoshang is still here. If you give Yuan Tan ten courages, he will not dare to rebel openly, right?
Yuan Xi thought to himself that because of Yuan Shao's indulgence, the Yuan family was actually undercurrents and scattered. This is the fundamental reason why Cao Cao has not been eliminated so far. Otherwise, if the Yuan family worked together and attacked Cao Cao first, the world would have been at peace.
When he came back to his senses, he saw the silent Lu Lingqi with a look of pain on her face. Knowing that the sound above the river was a torture to Lu Lingqi's ears, he said: "You haven't had a good rest these past two days. Go back to your room first." Go ahead."
Lu Lingqi shook her head, "I can't sleep even if I go back, so why not stay here with you."
Yuan Xi felt even more apologetic, "I originally promised to conquer Shouchun, so I would accompany you back to Jicheng, but something like this happened."
After hearing this, Lu Lingqi showed a hint of joy in her eyes, "I understand your husband's intentions very well, and I am very happy."
"But husband, you should know that there are still so many enemies in the world. If they are not defeated in time, there will be hidden dangers, right?"
"Even if Cao Cao is defeated this time, there are still Yuan's children, so how can we just stop?"
Yuan Xi smiled bitterly, "What you said is too explicit, but Cao Mengde is not so easy to defeat."
"This person is really difficult to deal with."
Lu Lingqi said: "My husband, have you ever felt that the rumors about Ma Teng and Han Sui plotting against Sili were also spread by Cao Cao's side, with the intention of diverting my father away so that he could not notice what was going on in Yecheng. Turning Yecheng into an isolated city?"
Yuan Xi was seriously surprised, "You can actually think of this?"
"However, Ma Teng and Han Sui have attacked Chang'an before. They are by no means as honest as they appear. There is a high possibility that they will come this time."
"Which is the second best thing if Marquis Wen is transferred away? What I'm most afraid of is that at this time, problems will arise in Huaicheng."
"I have written a secret letter to Marquis Wen before, asking him to prepare for a rainy day. Especially for Zhang Yan's group of people, he must be on strict guard. When the situation becomes corrupt, he should strike first."
"But Marquis Wen probably thought this would harm his reputation, so he probably didn't take my suggestion."
Lu Lingqi was silent. She naturally knew that Lu Bu had killed his adoptive father twice in a row, but it was not that Lu Bu didn't care about his reputation, he just didn't have a better choice at the time.
Now that he is in a high position, he cherishes his reputation even more. In Lu Lingqi's view, this undoubtedly brings a set of shackles, but he does not act as unscrupulously as before, which makes people fear him.
Just like Yuan Xi, the head wife of Zhou Mu, there are actually many restrictions. For example, the head wife's family and herself are also subject to the three mutual laws. The head wife cannot accompany the army and is also responsible for managing internal affairs. Although she has a lot of power, she There are also many shackles, but in fact, I am not living a free life.
Lu Lingqi was very open-minded. She didn't want to live with these shackles at all, so she didn't fight for the legal wife. Instead, she followed Yuan Xi everywhere with the title of county monarch that Lu Bu won for her. She was relatively freer.
Yuan Xi thought for a long time and said decisively: "It is impossible for Cao Cao to make such a big move in Jizhou without laying out the layout in Huaicheng."
"I will send another urgent letter to Marquis Wen, asking him to be careful."
Yuan Xi's guess has actually happened.
Now Yuan Shang encountered many obstacles on his way back.
This time he led troops from Yecheng to attack Shouchun, but it actually didn't go well. He encountered several unexpected things along the way. Although he brought Wen Chou and Zhang He with him, he was still in a dilemma.
In the final analysis, in order to avoid Cao Cao's Yanzhou in order to send troops to Yuzhou, he could only take the southern passage of Heishan. Although he had previously conquered and occupied it, the road was not easy to walk.
Especially when Yuan Shang led an expedition of more than 20,000 people, he still took the land route, and the supplies required tens of thousands of people. It was far less convenient and faster than Yuan Xi's water route, and he would encounter the enemy unexpectedly.
The last time I was walking in the dense forest, I encountered Yuan Shu's army led by Chang Nu. The two sides had a confused fight, and each retreated to repair. As a result, after fighting, they found that there was no trace of the enemy.
Then a few days later, the two sides encountered each other in confusion and fought again. In Yuan Shang's view, this kind of war of attrition was simply meaningless, but he had no other choice but to build a camp and advance slowly.
As a result, when the news of Yuan Xi's capture of Shouchun came, Yuan Shang had just entered Yingchuan County and did not even see the border of Runan County!
When Yuan Shang heard the news, he almost vomited out blood. He worked hard to lead tens of thousands of people and ate hundreds of thousands of shi of food, but he got nothing!
Damn Yuan Xi, ruined my good deeds again!
The news reached Changnu at the same time. He was afraid that Yuan Xi in Shouchun would cut off his retreat and attack Yuan Shang from both sides, so he quickly fled westward and chased Yuan Shu's army.
Yuan Shang looked at the empty camp of the other party, feeling unspeakably uncomfortable in his heart. What on earth was he doing here this time?
But he understood that there was no point in fighting further south. He could only occupy some territory in Yingchuan, but then the bad news came that Cao Cao had used troops against Yecheng!
After Yuan Shang heard this, he almost fainted on the spot. He took away most of the troops in Yecheng. Now there is not much defensive force in Yecheng!
So he didn't care about occupying the territory, and quickly led his army back, all the way into the southern pass of Heishan Mountain, preparing to avoid Cao Cao's territory from the Taihang Mountains and return to Wei County.
As a result, after he entered Montenegro, he realized that something was wrong. Small groups of bandits were harassing him from time to time. Later, the scale became larger and larger, seriously slowing down his pace.
Yuan Shang looked at the corpses of several killed bandits and looked very ugly. These bandits were actually wearing good armor. They didn't look like bandits, but more like regular troops!
The only people who could sneak into Montenegro quietly were locals who were familiar with some remote roads. Yuan Shang’s first reaction was that he was the original Montenegrin bandit, and then he immediately began to wonder if it was Yuan Xi who instigated it. After all, Yuan Shang was the only one who had Montenegrin prisoners of war in his hands. There is only Yuan Xi.
Thinking that Yuan Xi's father-in-law Lu Bu also had troops stationed near Heishan, Yuan Shang became even more unsure. He was afraid that Lu Bu would rush out and intercept him. In this panic and uneasy mood, Yuan Shang marched more cautiously, but at this time Cao Cao's approach The army is now approaching Yecheng rapidly. Counting the time, he will not be able to catch up anyway!
In Ye City, the atmosphere in Yuan Shao's official residence was extremely solemn, and the counselors present had ugly expressions.
Cao Jun did not choose to attack Dongwuyang where Gao Lan was stationed. Instead, he bypassed it and rushed directly to Yecheng!
Tian Feng sighed and said: "Sure enough, Mr. Xianyi has a sharp eye. He has long seen that Cao Cao has evil intentions. It is a pity that Mr. Xianyi captured Shouchun. Although he made great contributions to the Yuan family, he was afraid that he would not be able to come back in time. ”
Hearing what Tian Feng said, the other counselors secretly rolled their eyes. If you praise Yuan Xi, aren't you just praising yourself? Who doesn't know that you and Jushu are the only ones who can't get along with Cao Cao?
But everyone was also very ashamed, because not only did they fail to see Cao Cao's true face, but they were also given the upper hand by Cao Cao in choosing the location for the decisive battle!
A group of counselors had previously spoken for Cao Cao on the surface, but most of the reason was due to internal fighting. In fact, they had privately presented strategies to Yuan Shao on how to deal with Cao Cao.
In everyone's plan, Wei Jun where Yecheng is located and Cao Cao's Dongjun are too close to each other. If the war goes unfavorably, the opponent will hit Yecheng if they make the slightest mistake. Therefore, everyone agrees that when the time is right, they will take the initiative to attack. It would be ideal to advance the battlefield into Dongjun.
This strategy relied on Jizhou's army in Dongwuyang, crossed the Yellow River from Liyang on the north bank of the Yellow River, and established a stronghold at Baima on the opposite bank, and then deployed defenses along the Yellow River, especially the Shedog occupying the upper reaches of Hanoi, to prevent Cao Cao from crossing north to counterattack. , then the Jizhou army divided into two groups, captured Yuanwu and Wuchao, then joined forces at Guandu on the south bank of Jishui River, and then moved south to capture Xu County, Cao Cao's base camp.
The reason for this is that the cities above are the key to guarding the Yellow River and Jishui. As long as Guandu is captured, Cao Cao will have no danger to defend and can only fight a war of attrition with Jizhou.
Cao Cao's logistics and food supplies were obviously not as good as Jizhou's, and they could only be slowly exhausted by the Jizhou army.
When a group of counselors proposed this plan, they were quite proud. In their view, Jizhou would be invincible if it adopted this steady strategy, advancing step by step, building strongholds layer by layer, and relying on strong logistical supplies. place.
I have to say that even if Yuan Xi saw it, he couldn't fault it. It was already the most upright strategy with the fewest surprises. After all, there were many accidental factors involved in the final outcome of the battle in later generations.
Yuan Xi could only do what he could to supplement the possible outbreak of the Battle of Guandu, which was to occupy Shouchun and threaten Cao Cao's rear.
However, what no one expected was that Cao Cao did not choose to defend, but took the initiative to invade Jizhou, which frustrated all the counselors' ideas.
Several counselors were depressed, why was Cao Cao so bold, and why was he able to avoid the disadvantageous situation of defending Guandu?
Did he know something in advance?
(End of chapter)
