"What? Five times?"
After hearing this appalling price, Yuan Shang could not close his mouth for a long time. After being detained for three months, Xin Pi was summoned by Shang Chengge of Jingguo and conveyed Zhang Xiu's two requests for help: first, to cut off Xihe County, and second, to pay five times the price of grain.
Not to mention Yuan Shang, even Xin Pi was horrified when he heard the conditions.
Zhang Xiu is too dark.
Xin Pi felt that this condition was too much, so he tried to fight with Jia Xu, Li Ru, and Liu Ye. At least the price of food would be reduced to three times and the land of three counties would be ceded. This was acceptable.
As a result, the reply was: Either Prince Jing would come to pick it up in person or send it over on his own initiative.
Xin Pi had no choice but to return home and bring the unfortunate news to Yuan Shang.
If it were placed in the previous Jin State, let alone five times, even ten times, they could get it. After Yuan Shao's troubles, the Jin gentry had lost confidence in the Yuan family and no longer provided strong help. In addition, after the famine in Jin, countless people were displaced and starved to death on the road. The national power declined seriously, and the treasury had two banks of silver. Already seriously insufficient.
"no!"
Yuan Shang said with a ferocious face, "Zhang Xiu is just adding insult to injury. How can my father's foundation be lost in my hands!"
Xinpi lowered his head and said nothing.
Shen Pei and Feng Ji also lowered their heads and stopped talking.
Whether it succeeds or fails, they cannot persuade him, otherwise he will be stigmatized as a traitor. This decision can only be made by Yuan Shang, and he will naturally bear the stigma.
Yuan Shang didn't understand so many twists and turns, and when he saw that they were silent, he became even more angry: "Prince Jing is so shameless, why are you so silent?"
Feng Ji then said as a reminder: "Your Majesty, Yuan Tan seems to be moving around with Cao Wei."
Yuan Shang was startled.
Immediately, he became furious: "How dare you, Shuzi! When brothers are fighting, he dares to collude with foreign forces. It's... really shameful! Yuan Tan is the number one sinner of our Jin country!"
Shen Pei said: "Your Majesty, Yuan Tan colludes with Cao Wei, which may be detrimental to our army. We should prepare early."
"How to prepare?" Yuan Shang stared at the judge, "You asked Gu Gu to unite with Jingguo, but what happened? King Jing was so open-minded that he only had five times the food and grass, but he actually wanted to cede the country to Gu Gu? It's really hateful!"
Feng Ji thought for a while and said, "If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood."
For counselors like Feng Ji, Shen Pei and Xin Pi, after Yuan Shao's death, the Jin Kingdom was divided into three parts, and they had accurately predicted the Jin Kingdom's current situation. Shen Pei knew very well what Zhang Xiu's intention was in stationing troops in Hexi, but the Jin State was riddled with holes and could only treat a dead horse as a living horse.
The cession of Xihe County was already anticipated by the judge.
But this is not the worst. If Zhang Xiu disagrees and directly takes the opportunity to launch an attack, the 50,000 hungry soldiers defending Bingzhou will not be able to stop the Jingguo cavalry at all. Fortunately, Zhang Xiu agreed. It was much better to cede the land than to lose the entire state and to destroy the country.
At least there is a chance.
In this case, what he can do about the Jin State is to delay the Jin State's demise as long as possible, waiting for the general trend of the world to change, and then try to rise again.
This is also the best way right now.
Yuan Shang, who was sitting directly above him, was breathing heavily. Seeing that they were silent, he was disturbed by Zhang Xiu's conditions and Yuan Tan's scandal of colluding with Cao Wei. His second brother Yuan Xi could not be summoned, and food and grass were not provided. Do his brothers hate each other and fight like this?
His is his father's will, why don't they obey him?
Yuan Shang couldn't figure it out, but the Wei army was ready to move on the other side of the Yellow River. The army had run out of food. If they could no longer get food support, they would probably be defeated before the Wei army came.
After thinking again and again, Yuan Shangxin said: "In that case, then... agree to King Jing's request, order Gao Gan and Han Meng to withdraw their troops from Xihe County, and the grain price will be paid according to King Jing's request!" As he said this, he felt These words took away all his strength, and his face turned as pale as paper.
"Here!"
When Shen Pei, Feng Ji, and Xin Pi saw Yuan Shang like this, their hearts twitched.
After all, he is the king of Jin.
They went so far as to protect their own reputation and asked Yuan Shang to bear such a huge infamy alone. The judge felt uneasy and said, "Your Majesty, let me handle this matter."
Yuan Shang stared at the judge for a while, then waved his hand: "Go!"
…
After all the Jin troops in Xihe County evacuated, Xu Shu immediately led his army across the Yellow River and occupied the entire county. At the same time, he also sent a steady stream of grain and grass to the Jin army's positions, and cut off Cao Wei's supply of grain and grass.
Xihe County connects Wuyuan County, Yunzhong County, and Yanmen County to the north, and occupies one-half of Bingzhou's land. Getting Xihe County is equivalent to getting half of Bingzhou, and it borders Taiyuan County and Yanmen County to the east.
In other words, the entire upper reaches of the Yellow River is within Zhang Xiu's territory.
As long as you occupy Li, the strategic significance here is very important. You can threaten Yanmen County from the north, threaten Sili from the south, and capture the entire Bingzhou area from the east.
Originally, Shangjun, Yunzhong County, and Wuyuan County were counties in Bingzhou. However, Yuan Shao was busy with Gongsun Zan of Youzhou and did not pay attention to the north and the west of the Yellow River. After Zhang Xiu entered Guanzhong, he immediately ordered people to capture these places. In the subsequent Battle of Hetao, he occupied the Hetao and included the Bingzhou counties west of the Yellow River into his territory.
With the addition of Xihe County to Jingguo and the annexation of nine counties, there are already five counties in Zhang Xiu's hands.
After Xu Shu took control of Xihe County, Lebat of Yunzhong County immediately led his troops southward and entered Liangcheng, threatening Yanmen County. In response to Xu Shu, they formed a pincer offensive.
Faced with Jingguo's attitude, Gao Gan immediately ordered Han Meng to lead 20,000 troops to defend Yanmen Pass. Yanmen Pass was the northern gateway to Bingzhou. If Yanmen Pass fell, Taiyuan County would be threatened.
at the same time.
Cao Cao was not idle either.
Just when Yuan Shang was in contact with Zhang Xiu, Yuan Tan surrendered to Cao Cao on Guo Tu's suggestion. Yes, it's not asking for help, it's directly surrendering.
However, Yuan Tan did not surrender sincerely.
Guo Tu gave Yuan Tan a plan: "Young Master, the territory of Qingzhou is now small and there are few soldiers. The morale of the Wei army is as high as a rainbow. Neither Yuan Shang nor us are invincible. I heard that Shang sent people to Chang'an for help, but I didn't expect him to be able to do it. The meaning is good. Send people to surrender to Cao Cao and lead the Wei army to attack Liyang, then Yuan Shang will have no choice but to resist the enemy. We can then take the opportunity to march north to attack Jizhou. The Wei army is far away and will not be able to sustain food and grass, so it will retreat."
Yuan Tan thought it was a clever plan and immediately ordered people to go to Wei camp.
Unfortunately, Yuan Tan and Guo Tu's calculations were wrong. In the Wei camp, Guo Jia, Xun You and others immediately saw through their plan, and then they followed it and accepted Yuan Tan's surrender.
Subsequently, Cao Cao ordered his army to move out and cross the Yellow River.
Yuan Tan led 30,000 troops and joined forces with Cao Cao to attack Yuan Shang.
Although Yuan Shang got Zhang Xiu's food and grass, because Yuan Shaoxin died not long ago, the army was too weak to resist Cao Cao, so he ordered Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to cut off the rear, and he led the rest of the troops back to Yecheng, and then returned to Yecheng after regrouping. Fight against Cao Wei.
