Yuan Xi didn't expect it to be this family, and was a little shocked at the moment. He couldn't help pointing to the infant girl inside and said, "Then her name is Cao Hua?"
Huanshi was surprised: "Young master, you actually know this?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself: No wonder Cao Cao later married all three sisters to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. The relationship was not with his own daughter, but with his adopted daughter.
But after all, Cao Cao treated his adopted sons and daughters well, at least not as cruelly as Cao Pi. Of course, the price he paid was a pretty mother.
Seeing the expectant looks in the eyes of Huan's mother and daughter, he felt a little headache.
The identities of these mother and son are sensitive, but they know a lot of things. How to arrange them properly is also a troublesome matter.
He simply got out of the carriage, found a horse, and rode side by side with Zhao Yun. Perhaps because it was too comfortable to stay in the carriage, the cold wind blew, and he sneezed several times in succession.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Yun said: "Young master, you should go back to the carriage. There are clouds outside."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "It's okay to freeze it, I'm not that spoiled yet."
"I have troubled my brother again this time. I gave birth to Ziyi (Tai Shici), and my mother followed her back to Yecheng. She fell ill during the long journey. I asked him to stay and take care of my mother, but I didn't let him come."
Zhao Yun said softly: "Young master, being kind to others and practicing filial piety is a virtuous behavior."
Yuan Xidao: "Brother's parents have passed away?"
Zhao Yun nodded, "Yun has been raised by his eldest brother since he was a child. Recently, he received a letter from his family saying that his health is not very good."
Yuan Xi suddenly remembered that Zhao Yun had been away for several years because of his brother's mourning, and thought that he would be in trouble now, and said: "If Gongsun Zan is defeated in the coming year and Youzhou is stabilized, brother Zilong can bring his eldest brother to live in Beixin City, which is also convenient.
Be filial."
After hearing this, Zhao Yun showed a trace of gratitude on his face, "This is how Yun will thank you, Master."
He was in a relaxed mood and got acquainted with Yuan Xi again, and said: "My brother always urges me to get married. I have made excuses for the fact that the Huns have not been destroyed several times. Why should I use my family as a pretext? I am afraid that when we meet, I will be scolded by my brother again."
Seeing the opportunity coming, Yuan Xi said, "What do you think of my sister?"
After hearing this, Zhao Yun was shocked and said: "Young Master is joking. Yun is a commoner. It's enough to find a virtuous woman from a good family. How can you dream of marrying into a wealthy family?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "The Yuan family was not a family of four generations from the beginning, and it has not been run from generation to generation."
"Nowadays, the general trend is surging, and there is an opportunity to transform into a dragon at any time. It just depends on how to seize it."
"The Chinese New Year will be celebrated in just over a month, and the coming year will be a crucial one."
"Whether we can occupy a place and open up a way forward depends on this."
Zhao Yun seemed to understand, and said, "Master, are you talking about attacking Gongsun Zan next year?"
Yuan Xi thought for a while and said: "There is still one step left."
"Everything is ready, but there is still one party that is not stable."
Zhao Yun blurted out: "Xuzhou?"
Yuan Xi nodded: "Yes, Xuzhou."
"Now Qingzhou has just been pacified and the situation is unstable. Although Xuzhou is also the same, its background is much better."
"If Duke Xuande attacks Qingzhou again when he attacks Gongsun Zan in the north, I'm afraid everything will fall short."
Seeing that Zhao Yun was hesitant to speak, he smiled and said, "Did you face Liu Bei in the last battle at Qingzhou, which made your brother very embarrassed?"
Zhao Yun said in a deep voice: "If there is no hesitation at all, then Yun is lying."
"But Zhang Fei is indeed difficult to defeat. Yun Na has a clear conscience in this battle."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "I know."
"There is really no one available for me, which is why I put my brother in a dilemma."
"To be honest, I also admire Mr. Xuande as a person, and I don't want to fight to the death with him. This will only hurt both sides in the end."
"So when I returned to Yecheng this time, I wanted to tell my father to go to Xuzhou and see if the two sides could turn their differences into friendship."
Zhao Yun's eyes narrowed, "It is unwise to go to the enemy camp and take risks in person, not to mention that the young master has fought bloody battles with Liu Yuzhou several times, so this step is a bit risky."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, Mr. Xuande is not that kind of person."
Zhao Yun saw Yuan Xi's confident look, and for some reason, a stone fell to the ground in his heart.
For him, this was the best. If Yuan Xi and Liu Bei were killed in the end and only one of them survived, I'm afraid it would be difficult for him to accept it.
Yuan Xi changed the subject and said, "Brother Zilong, let me ask a question."
"Do you think the current Han Dynasty is controlled by Li Jue and Guo Si? If it continues like this, what will happen to the world?"
Zhao Yun was startled, thought for a long time, and said, "Yun can't think of it at the moment."
Yuan Xi nodded. The world today is indeed in chaos and it is difficult to see the way forward clearly.
The reason why he worked so hard to plan for the Yuan family was ultimately for himself.
If you don't defeat Gongsun Zan, you won't be able to occupy Youzhou, and it will be useless no matter how much money you have.
Only by gaining the governance power of Youzhou can we tap its potential.
It doesn't matter if most of the nobles are unreliable, there will always be poor families who are willing to take refuge.
It doesn't matter if we can't recruit more soldiers if the people are well-educated. There is still a group with great potential, but its potential has not been fully explored.
Good family son.
The so-called good family, also called a good family, refers to the children of those who are not in the seven disciplines or who are not doctors, witches, merchants, or workers.
Most of these people came from wealthy farming and studying families who owned land. They were slightly less wealthy than the gentry, but they were definitely not poor.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Yulin Army was established to specifically recruit sons from good families to join the army. After becoming members of the Yulin Army, those with "material ability" among them could be selected as officials.
The so-called "material strength" mostly refers to military ability, or being good at using force, or being good at using the art of war, etc. Literacy is the basic among the basics.
Once they established their merits, they were easily promoted, and eventually spread throughout the Han army and became the backbone of the generals.
Because their family was wealthy, they were from a clean background, and they aimed to make meritorious deeds and be granted the title of marquis immediately. Therefore, the greatest advantage of the Han army, which was composed of sons from good families, was that they had a bottom line.
However, the threshold is also extremely high.
expensive.
A good member of the Imperial Guard needs to prepare two war horses, a halberd or spear, a long sword, a bow, two pots of arrows, half a piece of iron armor or a set of leather armor, and rations for a month's march.
With such equipment, Yuan Xi could only support dozens of people when he was in Beixin City.
Therefore, if Yuan Xi wants to expand his power, he must obtain military power in a place so that he can give Liangjiazi enough military positions.
But without soldiers, he could not expand quickly, and the two restricted each other. Therefore, Yuan Xi was seizing every day and night in Yecheng, and worked hard just to truly take Youzhou into his hands as soon as possible.
In the eyes of other members of the Yuan family, Youzhou is a hot potato. Although it has salt and iron resources, a strong army, and a rich horse farm, it also has many problems.
There are too many forces.
In addition to Gongsun Zan, there are Wuhuan Xianbei and Liaodong Gongsun clan, all of whom are not easy to deal with. Therefore, no one competes with Yuan Xi for Youzhou because no one is confident that they can do better than Gongsun Zan.
Yuan Xi secretly thought that it was a pity. Gongsun Zan was also a hero in the world, but now he and the Yuan family were fighting to the death, and there was no room for change.
Xiapi, the administrative office of Xuzhou.
Liu Bei held a letter in his hand and read it over and over.
Zhang Fei was curious and said: "Brother, whose letter is this?"
Liu Bei sighed: "It's the master who sent me the message last time, Mr. Yinhu."
After hearing this, Zhang Fei shook his head and said disdainfully: "What a hidden tiger. We were almost attacked by Yuan Shao's army and Cao Cao's army and couldn't get back. I think he is a liar."
Guan Yu spoke up: "Didn't everything he said in the letter that day come true?"
Zhang Fei snorted a few times: "Anyway, I think there is something wrong with this person and I can't believe it!"
Liu Bei sighed: "This man must be very talented. It was because he foresaw the locust plague in Yanzhou that Lü Bu and Zhang Miao took the opportunity to rise up and attack Cao Cao in the rear. Only then can we save Xuzhou."
"What's even more amazing is that he also foresaw that Tao Zhoumu would die within three months."
"What!" Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were shocked, their expressions flashing.
Liu Bei sighed: "It's a pity. If such an expert helps me, I will definitely be able to develop a lot of business."
Seeing that Liu Bei was still reading the letter, Guan Yu said, "In that case, what did Yinhu say in the letter?"
Liu Bei handed the letter to Guan Yu and said: "He said that Xuzhou seems to be calm now, but in fact it is in danger of overthrow. If we continue to fight against the Yuan family, Xuzhou will not be safe."
"He watched the stars at night and said that the Yuan family might send someone to come for secret talks in the near future. He must seize this opportunity."
After hearing this, Guan Yu wondered: "Why do I think this Hidden Tiger was created by the Yuan family to deceive people?"
The three of them looked at each other, and Liu Bei finally hesitated and said: "Isn't it?"
"He has no reason to support Lu Bu and deal with his ally Cao Cao."
After hearing this, Guan Yu thought for a while before nodding and said: "That's true. What I said makes sense."
"Unless that Yuan is crazy."
Liu Bei said: "Second brother and third brother, what should we do if the Yuan family comes?"
Zhang Fei hummed: "The soldiers will block it, the water will block it, and the water will cover it. They are the ones coming to Xuzhou anyway. We will just wait and see what happens."
Now Guan Yu also nodded slightly: "Yes, the third brother finally said something reasonable."
Zhang Fei:.
Yecheng, Yuan Shao's official residence.
There were two rows of people sitting at the bottom, one row of counselors and the other row of only three people.
Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan, and Yuan Xi sat down one after another.
Judging from the order, we can already see the status of the three people. Now Yuan Shang's momentum has completely surpassed Yuan Tan.
However, most of the gazes of the counselors were focused on Yuan Xi, and the meaning contained in it was completely different from when Yuan Xi first arrived in Yecheng a few months ago.
Yuan Xi's success in Yecheng in the past few months is unparalleled, especially this time, when he exchanged hostages with Cao Cao, he even brought Cao Cao's father back!
Although everyone knew what was going on, in the eyes of the people in Yecheng, it meant that Cao Cao had temporarily surrendered to the Yuan family.
Yuan Shao said: "Xianyi did a good job this time."
Yuan Xi secretly glanced at Yuan Shang out of the corner of his eye, and found that the other person had no expression on his face, thinking that this boy was definitely having some bad ideas.
Yuan Shao added: "And as Xianyi expected, Liu Bei, who stole Xuzhou, also agreed to a temporary ceasefire between the two sides."
"Since Xianyi wants to go there, he will leave in the next few days. Feel free to talk about whatever you want. Liu Bei won't dare to do anything to my Yuan family."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi bowed down and said, "I will obey my lord's order."
When he stood up to leave, he found that Yuan Shang had pulled Yuan Tan and left first, thinking that his third brother was really good at it.
He left the official residence, got on the carriage and left. Now he had a small courtyard by himself and moved out from the Yuan family's mansion, so that Yuan Shang would not have bad ideas all day long.
He returned to the mansion and entered the house, but found that Wu Zhao was not inside. Cao Xian and Cao Jie knelt at the door to welcome him back.