In the general's palace, Yuan Shao was lying on his side on his seat and taking a nap.
His face now looks extremely haggard, and his beard and hair have turned gray, as if he has stepped from middle age to old age overnight...
In a trance, Yuan Shao seemed to dream of the light and shadow of swords, and he woke up from half-dream and half-awake in an instant.
Yuan Shao, who was still in shock, suddenly saw Guo Tu, Shen Pei, Feng Ji, and Xin Ping waiting in the room.
Yuan Shao rubbed his forehead, and after he calmed down, he said: "They are all here..."
Hearing Yuan Shao's voice, the four counselors got up from their seats and came to the center of the room.
"I have met my lord!" the four of them saluted.
After the salute was completed, Guo Tu and Feng Ji spoke first: "My lord, victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers... Although we were defeated, we were not injured. Please take care of yourself, lord!"
"I understand..." Yuan Shao nodded slightly and sighed in his heart: "These two are still considerate and are always the first to ask about my health... unlike Jushou Tian Feng, who only creates trouble for me."
After thinking for a moment, Yuan Shao continued: "Guandu was defeated for the first time, and banditry troubles occurred again and again... I am currently ill, so I want to determine the successor first, so as to control the overall situation and stabilize people's hearts... What do you think?"
"That's what my lord is thinking about! Determining the heir as soon as possible will be of great benefit to our current situation!" Shen Pei and Xin Ping praised him.
After receiving the affirmation, Yuan Shao sat up slightly and put his hands on his knees, which seemed to be a bit laborious.
After a while, Yuan Shao spoke again: "As the saying goes, there is no better person than a father who knows his son...
In my opinion, my eldest son Yuan Tan has a strong temperament and is eager to kill, but his talents are mediocre... He can't even defend his own small Jinan County. Can I still expect him to protect the foundation and even expand the territory?
The second son, Yuan Xi, has a weak character and will never become a great person.
Only the third son, Yuan Shang, is the most similar to me. He not only has a heroic appearance but also has excellent talents. He is also a polite and virtuous corporal and is supported by many people in the world...
Therefore, I intend to appoint Yuan Shang as my successor, what do you think?"
After hearing what Yuan Shao said, the judge who supported Yuan Tan became a little anxious.
He quickly stepped forward, stood up and said, "My lord, the eldest son is facing Lu Bu! How many people in the world can rival him?"
Moreover, logically speaking, the eldest son should be your successor. If you do not distinguish between elder and younger, you may be bringing disaster upon yourself!"
But Guo Tu also stood up and said: "My lord, the world is in chaos now. In troubled times, only by establishing virtuous people can we maintain our foundation and expand our territory. I feel that the third young master has the style of his father, and he is a wise master!"
"
As soon as Guo Tu finished speaking, Xin Ping continued: "My lord, if the eldest son refuses to accept the appointment of a younger son, the second son will definitely not accept it either... I am afraid that brothers will attack each other and fratricide will happen!"
Xin Ping's words were not alarmist. After hearing this, Yuan Shao couldn't help but start to hesitate again.
Maybe he felt that what these people said made sense, but Yuan Shao couldn't make up his mind in the end, so he had to wave his hands and said: "That's it, let me think about it carefully..."
At this moment, a servant suddenly reported outside the door: "The general and the governor of Bingzhou have led an army of 50,000 to help. We are still fifty miles away from Yecheng. We have sent someone to ask for instructions!"
When Yuan Shao heard this, he was overjoyed and said: "Okay! The arrival of Yuan Cai has made the thieves dare not act rashly... I will also pass on my general order to order Gao Gan, the governor of Bingzhou, and Yuan Shang, the governor of Jizhou, to lead 50,000 troops to recover Hanoi County!"
"Young man, go and give the order!"
The arrival of the senior cadre refreshed Yuan Shao's spirits, and Yuan Shao's mental outlook seemed better at the moment.
After the servants left, he said to the four counselors: "Although our army is defeated, Cao Cao is almost crippled. After regaining Hanoi County, we will reorganize our troops and destroy Cao Cao!"
"My lord is wise!"
"General, I feel tired...you can go down first."
"Here!"
After the four people left, Yuan Shao suddenly coughed violently, and the maids hiding in the other room hurried out to serve him.
After a long time, Yuan Shao's cough slowly subsided. He sighed sadly in his heart: "My body is getting worse day by day... I'm afraid I won't be able to see the day of annihilating Cao Cao in my lifetime. I just hope that I can do it as soon as possible."
Clear the obstacles for Shang'er, alas..."
Xuchang.
Cao Cao heard that Yuan Shao, a senior official, was leading troops to attack Hanoi County, so he quickly sent Cao Ren and Xu Huang, leading 30,000 people to reinforce Wei Zhong and Shi Huan in Hanoi County.
Originally, there were still 30,000 defenders in Hanoi County. If they held on to the city and did not leave, Yuan's army would have no choice but to retreat without a fight when Cao Ren's army arrived.
However, Shi Huan relied on his own bravery, and after setting up a battle formation at the foot of the city, he wanted to fight with Yuan Shao's son Yuan Shang in front of the battle line.
Yuan Shang and Shi Huan fought for less than three rounds. After deliberately showing off a weakness, he drew his horse and headed back.
Shi Huan didn't know what the plan was. When he saw Yuan Shang retreating, he thought he was defeated and wanted to escape, so he rashly pursued him.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Shang secretly drew the bow string, and when the sound of horse hooves came closer behind him, he suddenly turned around and shot an arrow towards Shi Huan's door!
Because the arrow was too close, Shi Huan couldn't avoid it and was shot right in the face. He fell off his horse and died tragically on the spot.
When Gao Gan saw Yuan Shang's victory, he immediately waved his hand and the whole army rushed towards the panicked Cao army.
Fortunately, after a melee, the remnants of Cao's army successfully escaped back to the city. Yuan's army failed to gain anything after attacking the city, so they could only temporarily withdraw their troops and return to camp.
...
The half-month holiday passed quickly.
Lu Yan and Lu Lingqi returned from their trip and returned to General Hussar's mansion hand in hand.
Guo Jia was about to go out when he happened to meet Lu Yan at the gate, "Hey! Changsheng, you are back!"
After saying hello, Guo Jia immediately turned around and wanted to slip away.
But unexpectedly, Lu Yan's cold voice sounded: "Fengxiao! In half an hour, you and Zhicai will come to the study to find me!"
Guo Jia was stopped by Lu Yan. Seeing that the other person's tone was not kind, he felt helpless and had no choice but to agree: "Ah! Okay..."
Lu Lingqi felt a little unbearable when she saw Guo Dajijiu walking towards Xi Zhicai's room with his head hanging down. She advised Lu Yan: "Did Guo Jijiu and Xijijiu drink secretly again? In fact, it's okay to drink a little occasionally.
of..."
After Lu Lingqi spoke, a warm smile appeared on Lu Yan's cold face, and he said: "Drinking is a trivial matter... It's just that when I was away a few days ago, the two of them almost had an affair...
Don't try to persuade me this time, I will definitely teach them a profound lesson!"
"Yes." Lu Lingqi nodded obediently in agreement, but she was very curious in her heart, "What bad things did they do to make sir hate them so much?"
Half a quarter of an hour later, Cao Cao, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, and Jia Xu heard that Lu Yan had returned, so they came together to visit.
After finding out that Lu Yan, Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai were all in the study, they went straight to Lu Yan's study.
As he approached the study, Lu Yan's slightly angry questioning voice suddenly came from inside the study.
"I, Guo Jia, never accept my fate, huh?"
"Come with me and charge to kill the enemy, huh?"
"You two can't lift your shoulders, you can't even breathe after running a few steps, and you actually learned how to charge with a sword? Could it be that you feel uncomfortable with your head resting on your neck for too long, and you want to change your position?