Wu Zhao saw Yuan Xi carefully pushing a small box under the seat and asked curiously: "What is this?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "The betrothal gift for the Zhen family, this time I went back to adopt, and by the way, I got married."
Cao Xian opened his eyes wide after hearing this, "Is this part of it, or all of it?"
Yuan Xi scratched his head: "That should be all I can bring out, right?"
Cao Xian was stunned, a box?
How can there be such a thing?
Wu Zhao felt a little envious at the same time. She naturally knew that Yuan Xi had already given the majority of the betrothal gift to the Zhen family in advance.
She became more and more curious about what was at the bottom of Yuan Xi's box, but the box was locked, which stopped her thoughts.
But looking at Yuan Xi's cautious look, it must be a very valuable thing, right?
When the weather turned to early winter, Yuan Xi and his party finally saw Yecheng again.
The first to greet everyone this time was Yuan Tan and a few of his subordinates, who had left Yecheng for twenty miles and were waiting by the roadside with their horses.
Yuan Xi jumped off the carriage and said with a smile: "I've met my brother."
Yuan Tan was obviously in a good mood and came up to him with a big smile, "Second brother!"
Yuan Xi asked for a horse, and he and Yuan Tan got on the horse and walked in front. Yuan Tan said, "I really want to thank my second brother for helping me so much this time."
"My father has announced that when the second brother returns to Yecheng, the adoption ceremony will be held at the Yuan Family Ancestral Hall."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "This should be my thanks to brother."
"And this time in the battle of Yijing, my brother's 10,000 troops blocked the Black Mountain Army's tens of thousands. It can be said that he became famous in the north."
Yuan Tan shook his head and said: "We brothers don't play tricks. Anyone with a discerning eye knows what's going on. If the second brother hadn't hidden his edge and denied the credit for the battle of Yijing, how could I have gotten this reputation?"
"Speaking of which, if the second brother is adopted, we can't call him brothers. As the eldest brother, I always feel regretful in my heart."
"But thinking that my second brother will be like a fierce tiger from now on, I am happy for you again."
When Yuan Xi heard this, he solemnly said: "Xi Hui will always remember what I did during this period."
"If brother is willing, we will still treat each other as brothers from now on."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan showed an expression of relief on his face: "With the words of my second brother, my visit is worth it."
"You know, the third brother planned to suppress you a few days ago. As the elder brother, I cannot openly quarrel with him. I can only pretend to be submissive. After all, we are both my father's sons."
He lowered his voice, "But I heard that he opposed the adoption of his second brother a few days ago. After seeing his father come back from Yi Jing, his mind was made up and it was difficult to change, so he was secretly mysterious and didn't know what to do."
Yuan Xi's voice was extremely soft at this time, "The informant reported that the third brother had sent someone to visit Wuji County, Zhongshan County."
Yuan Xi was stunned. He was extremely sensitive to matters related to Zhen Mi. After hearing what Yuan Tan said, he vaguely understood and said, "The Zhen family has a branch in Wuji County?"
Yuan Tan said a few words in a low voice, and Yuan Xi's expression changed slightly. After a while, he said to Yuan Tan: "Brother helped me a lot this time, Xi Jinping will keep it in mind."
Yuan Tan waved his hand and said, "It's just a little effort."
"It's my second brother who took care of the adoption for me, otherwise I might never be able to turn over again."
"Now that my reputation has increased, I still have the leverage to compete with my third brother to see who can have the last laugh!"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said: "Then I wish you success."
It's actually difficult for him to understand, because sometimes his parents' partiality is actually very unreasonable.
Even though Yuan Shang's ability is slightly worse than Yuan Tan's, due to Yuan Shao's and Liu's preference, they are not on the same starting line at all.
Moreover, although Yuan Tan was powerful in fighting, his internal affairs were actually not as good as Yuan Shang's. As a lord, the bonus points for internal affairs were higher than those of force.
But if it were Yuan Tan, he wouldn't be willing to fight until the end. After all, as the eldest son who has worked hard for the Yuan family for so many years, his position as heir would be gone.
He spoke out: "I heard that my brother has excessively collected grain in Qingzhou, and the local people are dissatisfied."
Yuan Tan listened and sighed, "You also know that Qingzhou has been plagued by bandits and military disasters for many years. It is far worse than Jizhou. There are hundreds of thousands of Taishan bandits who often come out to harass people in the mountains."
"It is very difficult to feed the soldiers with local taxes alone. However, during the Battle of Yijing, I had to collect more military rations."
"The officials below took advantage of the opportunity to recruit and extort excessive amounts. Several counties showed signs of instability. I know that it was not completely pacified until I led my troops to Qingzhou."
"My third brother used this to criticize me, which makes it difficult for me to defend myself."
Yuan Xi said: "Brother needs officials who are good at governing. With so many people under his command, can't we find any available ones?"
Yuan Tan smiled bitterly and said: "The counselors in Jizhou are not willing to go to Qingzhou. The nobles in Qingzhou have their own plans and are willing to obey me."
Yuan Xi suddenly thought of Cai Zhaoji's younger sister, Cai Zhenji, and said: "The Taiyang clan is a prominent family in Qingzhou. Brother, I can think of something here."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan said with an ugly face: "Don't mention it. Although Yang Mi, the current head of the Yang family, is young, he is very stubborn. I have been rejected several times."
Yuan Xi became interested and asked: "What's going on?"
"You are now the governor of Qingzhou, how dare he offend you?"
Yuan Tan said helplessly: "So he has a very tough temper. He obviously has something to do with me, but he is still waiting and watching. I don't know what he thinks."
Yuan Xi wondered: "What's the relationship?"
Yuan Tan explained: "Although Yang Mi's father, Yang Xu, died young, he made a marriage arrangement for his young son, Yang Dan, and he will marry the daughter of George (Xinbi) in the future."
Xin Ping and Xin Pi were from the Yingchuan noble clan, so they naturally sided with Yuan Tan.
Yuan Xi nodded, then frowned and said, "Xin Pi's daughter?"
"How old are you?"
Yuan Tan had a strange look on his face: "I heard he's only four or five years old. Do you think it's funny or not?"
"I heard that Yangxu and Xinpi had a good relationship many years ago, and the two families agreed that if they gave birth to a boy and a girl, they would be in-laws."
"Not long after Yang Dan was born, Yang Xu passed away. It was ten years before Xin Pi had a daughter, but he kept thinking about it."
"That Yangdan also remembered his father's last words, and after discussing it with each other, the two families agreed to the marriage."
"But considering the age of Xinpi's daughter, this Yang Dan will have to wait at least seven or eight years before she can get married."
Only then did Yuan Xi realize that this Xin Pi's daughter was Xin Xianying!
He said aloud: "Does Yang Dan have an older brother, Yang Di?"
Yuan Tan nodded, "My second brother knows the Yang family very well. This Yang Di is the second oldest and is about to get married. I heard that Kong Rong's daughter has been chosen and she is expected to marry him after the new year."
Yuan Xi was startled, and then heard the scene in the carriage at that time. A cute and innocent girl was holding a candy cake and chewing on it, while secretly looking at herself.
He was a little sad, because before he knew it, the girl was getting married, and maybe the wedding day would be earlier than him.
This Yang Di is quite famous in history. After marrying Kong's daughter, Yang Di died young. Yang Di married Cai Zhenji and gave birth to Yang Hu and Yang Huiyu. She was considered a winner in life.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi said: "It seems that Kong Rong still feels resentful about brother driving him out of Beihai."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan suddenly realized, "I was only thinking about my relationship with George, but I didn't think about this part!"
"Kong Beihai, that smelly and hard old thing!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "I'm afraid that brother will have to think of a way to start from here. I think the Yang family can't continue to be stubborn. After all, the Yuan family occupies Qingzhou, and they can't go to Xuzhou."
When he said this, he felt something wrong in his heart, but he couldn't express it.
His thoughts were interrupted by Yuan Tan's words, "Speaking of which, I am also grateful to my second brother. My second brother went to Xuzhou last time and opened up the trade route from Jizhou to Xuzhou. More than a dozen ports along the Qingzhou coast also benefited a lot."
"If this development continues, Qingzhou will be rich in wealth and will be able to recover sooner."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that this was all a trivial matter, and Yuan Tan could only drink some soup at most. The ones who really made the big bucks were the Zhen family and the Mi family at both ends of the trade route.
Standing behind the Zhen family was himself, but behind the Mi family was Liu Bei. Yuan Xi felt a little heartbroken at the thought of giving away so much of the benefits.
It would be great if I could own the entire trade route!
When Yuan Xi returned to Yecheng, Liu Bei, who was in Xiapi Tancheng, felt that he would not be able to live a good year.
He just got the news that Yuan Shu sent more troops to Guangling County!
It is said that his general Zhang Xunqiaowei led thousands of troops and horses into Guangling City.
After Liu Bei heard this, he felt quite uneasy. Guan Yu left Xiapi with thousands of Xuzhou soldiers a few days ago, and wanted to go to Guangling to defeat Sun Ce. Originally, the forces on both sides were evenly matched, but including Yuan Shu's reinforcements, Guan Yu's situation was quite bad.
.
He said to everyone: "I am going to personally lead the troops to rescue Yunchang. What do you think?"
The officials in the hall were all startled, and Chen Qun said, "My lord, why do you need to be in danger yourself? Why don't you let General Yide lead the troops?"
Zhang Fei heard this and praised Chen Qun: "Sir, you still understand me!"
Chen Qun smiled bitterly. In fact, he didn't want Zhang Fei to take control of Tancheng.
Zhang Fei is reckless, has an irritable personality, and speaks irritably, which often makes everyone lose face. Chen Qun actually doesn't want to work with Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei sighed. He also knew Zhang Fei's shortcomings. He easily offended others when he led troops. Especially the last time he led troops alone to rescue Kong Rong in Beihai, he offended Tai Shici and made himself lose a general in vain.
Moreover, rescuing Guan Yu this time was very important. If Zhang Fei could not convince the soldiers that there was a problem, wouldn't it mean that both of them would be trapped?
In contrast, it is more appropriate to lead your own troops.
If Zhang Fei is placed in charge of Tancheng and supported by a group of officials, there should be no trouble, right?
Mi Zhu said: "Why not let Yuan Long lead the troops and try it?"
He was one of the few people who knew that Chen Deng had studied the art of war, and he once recommended him to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei did not agree.
Liu Bei hesitated for a moment and said, "I'd better go."
Not to mention whether Chen Deng was a man of war on paper, the Chen family had a deep foundation in Guangling. If Chen Deng was allowed to lead troops to garrison in Guangling, would it be a big mistake?
When the officials saw that Liu Bei had made up his mind, they stopped talking.
Liu Bei thought that if things went well, he and Guan Yu could join forces to defeat Sun Ce in Guangling City. At worst, they would consume Sun Ce's main force and prevent him from posing a threat to Xiapi for a year and a half.
What Liu Bei can't figure out now is what's going on in Yanzhou. The Cao family over there has been watching with cold eyes. What exactly do they want to do?