After hearing Yuan Xi's words, Yuan Shao said: "Not to mention whether Zhao Zilong is qualified to be compared with those people, the current Yuan family will never marry a lowly military general."
"Unlike a military commander who relies on a wealthy family to support his advisors, how much can a military commander achieve on his own?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi argued: "Given time, I won't be able to become famous all over the world."
Yuan Shao said flatly: "That has nothing to do with Yuan Xing. Now that she is older, I will marry her off in a year and a half at most."
"If Zhao Yun can achieve something as you said, he must at least conquer a state,"
Yuan Xi said silently, this is obviously impossible. No local force in Youzhou can solve it in three or two years.
But when it came to this, he could only say: "I will try my best."
After hearing this, Yuan Shao showed a trace of ridicule on his face, "I would like to see what kind of trouble the Yuan family's fierce tiger can cause in Youzhou."
Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "Xi should do his best."
Yuan Shao seemed not to want to talk about this topic anymore and said: "Let's not talk about Youzhou, what do you think about Liu Bei's abandonment of Xiapi?"
"What!" Yuan Xi was shocked, "I haven't heard of it yet!"
Zhen Mi knelt down in front of Yuan Xing and said respectfully, "I have met my sister."
A smile appeared on Yuan Xing's originally melancholy face, "Did that heartless person ask you to say that?"
"The name is still affectionate. I originally thought that after he adopted her, he would forget about my sister."
Zhen Mi quickly said: "How could it be possible? My husband talks about my sister every day."
After hearing this, Yuan Xing felt even more happy. She held up Zhen Mi's face and looked at it carefully, and said: "I don't know what blessings my second brother accumulated in his previous life to marry such a beautiful and sensible woman like you. I don't know.
I’m a little envious.”
"Now that I'm older, I still can't get married, so I've become a laughing stock in Yecheng."
Zhen Mi hurriedly said: "How could it be possible? My sister's appearance and identity are all chosen by the best. Is it because you love your sister so much that you are too picky?"
Yuan Xing shook her head and said: "Don't mention it. You may not know that I have a very bad reputation among the Yecheng nobles."
Zhen Mi became curious and did not dare to ask again.
It was Yuan Xing who answered her doubts, "In the past, two families proposed marriage to the Yuan family."
"As a result, when we asked for names, something happened to the two young scholars."
"One fell into the water from the bridge and became seriously ill, and the other fell from the mountain and broke his leg."
"Since then, all the big families in the century have said that I am an unlucky person, and no one has come to propose marriage to the Yuan family."
Zhen Mi was stunned, is there such a thing?
In Yuan Shao's study, Yuan Xi learned that Liu Bei had lost Xia Pi and learned the cause and effect of the matter.
Yuan Xi thought that the pace of history began to accelerate. Just like Gongsun Zan's fall, Liu Bei's loss of Xiapi also happened earlier.
He couldn't help but sigh that things in the world are unpredictable. He had tried his best to keep Lu Bu away from him, but he didn't expect that this extremely important historical event would still happen.
But it was not left in Lu Bu's hands, but Sun Ce did it!
He pondered for a while and said: "Xuzhou is a very important place. Would you like Mr. Yuan to help Liu Yuzhou?"
Yuan Shao said: "Xuzhou is a quagmire."
"Not to mention that most of Xuzhou is plain, the cavalry can move quickly, the city is difficult to defend, and the local soldiers are many unruly and unruly, which is far less easy to control than the Jizhou soldiers."
"Even if Xuzhou is captured, a large number of troops must be allocated to defend it. The best option now is to rest and recuperate in Jizhou for a while, leaving the front to Cao Mengde of Yanzhou."
Yuan Xi was anxious, Xuzhou was gone, and Yuan Shao might not care, but his sea route was cut off, which meant that most of his previous plans were in vain.
He said aloud: "Cao Cao is no longer strong. He is slowly getting stronger through each battle!"
"Now he has captured Chen State and occupied almost half of Yuzhou, forcing Yuan Shu to settle in Yangzhou and attack Liu Yao."
"If he is allowed to capture Xuzhou and connect with Lu Bu in Hanoi, he will become the Yuan family's biggest enemy."
"The Cao family led troops to sneak across the Yellow River the day before yesterday. This is clear evidence that they are suspicious and covet the city of Ye!"
Yuan Shao said: "These are all baseless speculations. Give Mengde a few more years and he won't be able to compete with my Yuan family. By then, the Yuan family will have already conquered Bingzhou and occupied Sili."
"Then go south and connect with Liu Biao's territory in Jingzhou. Who else in the world can be Yuan's opponent?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself that this was what Yuan Shao had in mind, so he said: "Liu Biao can only maintain success, and he cannot be relied on to conquer the world."
"And the Montenegrin army and the Huns in Bingzhou are not weak."
"What Xi is most worried about is Cao Cao's army. It has been almost undefeated for more than a year, which shows that it has strong combat power and must be guarded against."
Yuan Shao didn't take it to heart, "Cao Cao is just relying on his family's power. Our Jizhou soldiers may not be weaker than them."
"Moreover, the number of troops mobilized by Jizhou is several times, ten times that of Jizhou. How can he fight against me?"
Yuan Xi saw that Yuan Shao was hard to persuade, so he had to think of another way. After all, Cao Cao was fighting miserably in every battle now, and he really couldn't see that he had any domineering power to compete for the world.
But it may be in these desperate battles that Cao Cao's generals grew up rapidly.
At this time in later generations, Cao Cao was already a first-rate military strategist, and ordinary princes could not defeat him. Fierce men like Liu Guan and Zhang were beaten by Cao Cao in the early days.
But at this point in time, Liu Bei cannot be destroyed. If Liu Bei collapses, Cao Cao's power will expand rapidly.
Yuan Xi said: "But Liu Bei and the Yuan family are both allies, and they are in trouble now. If the Yuan family ignores it, will it be criticized by the world?"
After hearing this, Yuan Shao thought for a long time and then said: "I will gather the counselors first and ask them what they think."
In the next few days, as Yuan Xi expected, Yuan Shao's advisers began to argue about whether to send troops to rescue Liu Bei.
Yuan Xi felt that the possibility of Yuan sending troops was very slim.
It was Yuan Xi who went to negotiate the alliance between Yuan and Liu that day, but by then he had adopted the family, which meant that Yuan's guarantor was gone.
After Yuan Xi adopted him, Yuan Tan had achieved his goal and would not do anything unnecessary. As for Yuan Shang, he would not help him anymore and was eager to tear himself down.
Moreover, there is no benefit in rescuing Xuzhou. Instead, a large number of troops will be trapped, and the counselors of the two factions will naturally not be active.
On this day, Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi returned from visiting the nobles in Yecheng and heard even worse news from Guo Jia.
After Liu Bei lost Xia Pi, he successively joined forces with Zhang Fei and Guan Yu to attack Guangling City, the seat of Guangling County. However, the attack on the city was blocked and could not be captured for a long time. Sun Ce took the opportunity to return troops, defeated Liu Bei and fled to Haixi.
.
Yuan Xi sighed, it was really difficult to recover this time, Xuzhou lost most of it, and he didn't know how to break the situation.
If this were to happen, almost all of his previous plans in Xuzhou would come to nothing, including the Mi family trade route.
He suddenly remembered that once Xiapi City was lost, Liu Bei's family members were all trapped in the city, right?
Could it be that the next step is for Mi Zhu to devote all his wealth to support Liu Bei and marry Mi Zhen to Liu Bei?
In Guangling City, in the palace of the city lord, Sun Ce's face was full of joy, he laughed and said to everyone in the hall: "Today's victory is all thanks to your help!"
The people in the hall are the counselors and generals of this battle, and there are many famous people in Jiangdong. After hearing this, they all laughed and said: "All generals are brave!"
A middle-aged man dressed as a general, with a look of admiration on his face, said: "Bo Fu is a fierce general in this world, so you have a general to help you, so there is no need to worry about the failure of great things!"
"If Bo Fu hadn't already been married, I would have wanted to marry my daughter to Bo Fu."
After hearing this, Sun Ce smiled and said, "Mr. Qiao is so kind to me, and I regret marrying him so early."
Everyone laughed knowingly after hearing this.
A middle-aged man named Qiao Rui has two daughters. According to him, both of them were born with great beauty and beauty, but they are hidden in a boudoir and no one has seen them. Everyone just thinks he is bragging and doesn't take it seriously.
Qiao Rui said again: "Bo Fu is indeed brave, but Gong Jin's talent is also hard to match in the world."
"If it weren't for his clever tricks, it would be difficult for me and Brother Zhang to resist Guan Yunchang."
Another person heard this and said with lingering fear: "That Guan Yu is indeed a fierce general in this world. I almost died under his sword with one careless move."
This man's name was Zhang Xun, and he and Qiao Rui were both generals of Yuan Shu, and were sent to assist Sun Ce in his attack on Xuzhou.
Originally, Sun Ce went to conquer Pi, leaving Qiao Rui, Zhang Xun and Zhang Xun to fight against Guan Yu. They were defeated and were at a disadvantage for a while, and then there was a wise and resourceful counselor to help him.
After listening to Zhang Xun's words, everyone looked at the handsome and elegant counselor in white who was sitting upright.
Zhou Yu, Zhou Gongjin!
He is just over 20 this year, the same age as Sun Ce, and has known Sun Ce since childhood.
A few years ago, the two got acquainted while living together in Shucheng. Since then, they have had similar interests and have regarded each other as close friends.
Zhou Yu came from a wealthy family, while Sun Ce came from a humble background, but Zhou Yu didn't take it seriously. Not only did he free up his own residence for Sun Ce to live in, but he also helped him get to know the nobles. It can be said that the relationship between the two is better than that of brothers.
This time Sun Ce attacked Guangling and asked Yuan Shu for help. After Zhou Yu learned about it, he came to help with troops, horses and food.
At that time, Zhang Xunqiaorui also came to help. Although he knew Zhou Yu's special status, he still looked down upon him at first.
What can a young man from an aristocratic family do? Don’t just rely on your familiarity with Sun Ce and think that fighting is just playing house!
However, the two of them suffered a lot at Guan Yu's hands and saw that they could no longer defend the city, so they had no choice but to follow Zhou Yu's plan.
Unexpectedly, the two men took turns leading troops to contain Guan Yu, and Guan Yu was unable to defeat each other. Even if Liu Bei and Zhang Fei led their troops to join forces, they could not defeat Guangling.
Only then did they realize that Zhou Yu was a genius in military warfare!
The two of them persisted until Sun Ce led his troops to return for reinforcements. They attacked from both sides and defeated the demoralized Liu Guan and Zhang, and fled north to Haixi.
Zhou Yuqian said: "Gong Jin is not talented, but it is all because of the trust of Mrs. Tai that he is able to achieve what he is today."
Zhang Xunqiao Rui's face turned red after hearing this. When they refused to accept Zhou Yu's orders, it was Sun Ce's mother, Mrs. Wu, who persuaded them so that Zhou Yu's plan could be implemented.
It can be said that in addition to Sun Ce, Mrs. Wu, who is Sun Jian's widow, is the backbone of the Sun family. She has the ability to discern people with a keen eye and make the final decision.