Taishi Ci and Tian Yu entered the house. Yuan Xizheng and Guo Jia were talking inside. When they saw them, they stood up and said, "Thank you for your hard work, please take a seat."
The two met each other, sat down one after another, and began to report on the events in the city in the past few days.
Although Guangling City was captured, the aftermath was not as smooth as Yuan Xi imagined. Both the common people and the nobles were far less cooperative than the people of Youzhou.
Most of the noble officials ran home and hid. There was an urgent shortage of officials in the city. Taishi Ci and Tian Yu led troops to patrol the city in the past few days, but they could only barely maintain law and order.
When Yuan Xi dared to attack the nobles in Youzhou, he had the support of the people and the Yuan family, but this experience would not be useful in Xuzhou.
The local gentry in Xuzhou were originally of their own lineage and were inextricably linked to the gentry in Yangzhou. However, they were far away from the gentry in Jizhou and were not very interested in the Yuan family.
In addition, since the defeat of the Yellow Turban Army in Xuzhou, many people have switched from respecting the Taoism of the Celestial Master to worshiping Buddhism. The influence of Yuan Xi's prophecy here has also been much weaker.
So now, many people in Guangling City are doing it in a positive and negative way. Moreover, Guangling is located at the junction of three river systems, with developed shipping and prosperous people's livelihood. Most people are not short of food. This makes Yuan Xi feel that he has no way to win over the people.
In the past few days, Yuan Xi gradually understood a truth. The richer the place, the less he wanted to fight. He wanted to be alone and live his own life.
No wonder, he thought, historically, the southern regimes had very little desire for the Northern Expedition. Why would they want to fight when they could have enough to eat?
Therefore, every time Sun Quan returned from the Northern Expedition in later generations, it cannot be said that the responsibility lies solely with him. The Jiangdong nobles were already very resistant to the Northern Expedition. Sun Quan spent thirty years, but he still could not completely settle the Jiangdong nobles. Every time he went to the Northern Expedition, he
He tried his best to take money out of the pockets of the nobles.
The nobles are unwilling to fight, and the soldiers are obedient and submissive. It is strange that they can win.
On the contrary, the poor northern border residents had nothing, so when they saw that the war would provide them with land and food, they would naturally respond enthusiastically.
Yuan Xi had a headache. It was indeed not that easy to govern Xuzhou. He had to find a way to exploit the gap between the gentry and common people in Xuzhou.
And the most troublesome thing is that the people of Xuzhou are naturally hostile to the Yuan family.
This must be blamed on Cao Cao.
Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou twice and offended Xuzhou from top to bottom. Almost every household had relatives killed by Cao Cao. Therefore, whenever Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, everyone in Xuzhou would defend the city to the death. As an ally of Cao Cao, the Yuan family was also resented.
Up.
Yuan Xi cursed in his heart, thinking that he was wiping Cao Cao's butt!
After listening to Taishi Ci and Tian Yu talking about the situation in the city, he said, "What do you two think of the next step?"
Taishi Ci and Tian Yu looked at each other. Now Taishi Ci was in charge of city defense and Tian Yu was in charge of internal affairs. Seeing Taishi Ci indicating that he should speak first, Tian Yu said: "Guangling City should not be in chaos yet, but the most urgent thing is to take action."
The nobles who are familiar with the local situation participate in the affairs of the city."
Yuan Xi thought that was indeed the case. Guangling was much larger than Beixin City, with nearly 100,000 residents in the city. The surrounding villages and towns were dotted with hundreds of thousands of people.
In ancient times, in places close to large rivers and with developed water systems, agriculture and commerce were also developed. They were places where populations gathered, and cities naturally formed.
There are so many things involved here. It is difficult to sort out the relationship if it is not a family that has lived here for tens or hundreds of years. Especially for outsiders like Yuan Xi, if you want Guangling to get on the right track, you really need the help of the gentry.
Do things yourself.
He thought for a while and said to Tian Yu: "Send someone to check the list of local nobles for me. I will visit them one by one tomorrow to see if there is any improvement."
"I will send a merchant ship back to Youzhou now to see if we can bring over some officials and generals. If the Xuzhou nobles are really unreliable, then we can't just wait."
Seeing that Tian Yu had finished speaking, Taishi Ci said, "I have been patrolling outside the city these days, and I have been as far as fifty or sixty miles away, and I always feel that something is wrong."
Yuan Xi's eyes narrowed, "What did Brother Ziyi find?"
Taishi Ci lowered his head and said, "I can't explain it either. I always feel that it's too quiet outside the city."
"I heard that Sun Ce is a man of fiery nature and will seek vengeance. He lost Guangling City and wanted to investigate it no matter what. But I didn't even see a single spy. This is very inconsistent with his character."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi became thoughtful and said to Guo Jiada: "What do you think, sir?"
Guo Jia said: "What Ziyi said makes sense."
"If Sun Ce mobilizes all his troops and attacks the city regardless of casualties, this city will be really difficult to defend."
"Young Master has sent a letter to Liu Bei earlier. If he wants to bring back his wife and daughter, he should send someone over in the next few days."
"It would be best if we could bring troops here. If our army joins forces with them, we might even be able to defeat Xiapi."
"But after all, this is all wishful thinking. In the end, the initiative still lies in the hands of the young master."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "What you said is absolutely true. You are right." He picked up a silk letter and said, "Liu He has written from the north."
"During the time when we set off from Piaoyuyi Wharf, they captured Quanzhou to the north, captured the large salt and iron mines between the two cities, and approached Yongnu."
Everyone looked happy after hearing this. The salt industry makes money and the iron industry builds troops. Both of these are extremely important to Youzhou right now.
Yuan Xi added: "But this letter said something else."
"Liu He has a very high prestige among the Xianbei people in Wuhuan, Youzhou, and people continue to defect to him."
"One of the Wuhuan people brought a message."
"Chanyu Taton of Liaoxi County sent an envoy to see Duke Benchu. The envoy entered Jizhou via Yuyang, met Liu He, and wanted him to introduce him on his behalf."
During the Chuping period, Qiu Liju Chanyu passed away, and his son Louban was young. His son Tadun was brave and wise, so he was appointed as Chanyu on his behalf and took over the Wuwan tribe in the three counties of Youbeiping, Yuyang and Shanggu.
, all tribes obeyed his orders, and were deeply supported and convinced by the tribes.
When Yuan Shao conquered Yijing, although Taodun did not directly participate in the battle, he made a lot of achievements in harassing and resisting Gongsun Zan's reinforcements in Youzhou, so he became more and more friendly with the Yuan family.
Tian Yu saw Yuan Xi's strange expression and said, "Master, are you worried about Liu He?"
Yuan Xi shook his head and said: "That's not true, it's because Shanyu Tadun wants to marry the Yuan family."
Guo Jia had already read the letter and explained a few words. Taishi Ci and Tian Yu only understood it after hearing it.
Among the girls in the Yuan family, the oldest one is Yuan Xing. Will Yuan Shao marry his daughter to Tadun?
But at the beginning, Yuan Xi mentioned that he wanted Yuan Xing to marry Zhao Yun. Wouldn't this be a bit troublesome?
Taishi Ci said: "Zilong should be able to understand the overall situation clearly and will not abandon public affairs for personal reasons."
Yuan Xi sighed: "I think this matter is difficult to handle just because I know Zilong's character."
Guo Jia spoke up and said: "It's extremely cold in the north. Lord Ben Chu won't let his own daughter suffer in the past, right?"
Unlike everyone else, Yuan Xi knew that later Yuan Shao really married his clan's daughter. As for who, there is no record in history.
He thought that caring would lead to chaos, and the Wuhuan tribe was not a place to worry about.
After Yuan Shao's death in later generations, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were defeated by Cao Cao. Yuan Shang fled to Wuhuan. Cao Cao personally marched and used Guo Jia's plan to secretly attack Yuan Shang and Wuhuan's coalition forces at Bailang Mountain. Taodun was also beheaded by Zhang Liao.
The end of the Yuan family's daughter is probably not much better.
However, thinking that Guo Jia, who proposed the strategy to conquer Wuhuan in later generations, was now his own adviser, Yuan Xi could not help but glance at Guo Jia with a strange look on his face.
Guo Jia noticed the gaze and looked at himself. What did Mr. Dao think of him?
Yuan Xi finally said: "I will think about these things carefully. Once Sun Cejun is driven out of Xuzhou, we will rush back to Youzhou as soon as possible."
"Tomorrow, my sworn brother and I will go out to the city to have a look, and then decide how to deploy our troops for defense in the next step."
After everyone dispersed, Yuan Xi walked out of the door. This was a rather large mansion. It was temporarily vacated when Sun Ce killed a few unruly nobles when he invaded Guangling.
The city lord's mansion had been burned down and could no longer be used, so Yuan Xi took advantage of this mansion and moved in Zhen Mi, Cai Zhaoji, Cao Xian, Kong Rong's family, Liu Bei's wife and daughter, etc.
In this way, as long as we send people to guard this place, we can keep everyone safe.
As soon as he arrived in the backyard, he heard the woman's laughter.
Yuan Xi turned the corner and saw Zhen Mi and Kong Rong's daughter Kong, leading a three or four year old girl to walk.
Yuan Xi took a closer look, wasn't this Mrs. Cai's daughter?
At this time, Mrs. Wu was standing aside with a embarrassed look on her face, not knowing what to do.
She was very nervous now. She thought that she would just stay for two days and find an opportunity to escape. However, after Zhen Mi heard about his story, she felt quite sympathetic and insisted that she also live in the same house.
Mrs. Wu was afraid that if she refused, she would be suspected, so she had to agree, thinking that the Zhen family was far away in Jizhou and had no friendship with the Sun family, so the flaw would not be discovered, right?
As a result, she regretted this decision. Later, Kong Rong's wife and daughter, and Liu Bei's wife and daughter all moved in, but she still gritted her teeth and persisted.
But when she learned that Yuan Xi's two personal concubines were Cai Zhaoji, the daughter of the great scholar Cai Yong, and Cao Xian, the daughter of Bian Rang, a famous scholar in Yanzhou, Mrs. Wu almost fell to the ground.
They are all ladies from the noble family, so I am afraid that my fault will be exposed if I am not careful, right?
However, Zhen Mi liked her daughter very much and came to play with her all day long, making Mrs. Wu's life even more enjoyable.
When the girls heard the footsteps, they looked up and saw that Yuan Xi was coming, and they all came forward to pay their respects.
Zhen Mi supported the girl and said with a smile: "Husband, look, this child is very well-behaved."
Upon seeing this, Yuan Xi said: "Don't cause trouble to Madam and the girls of the Kong family."
Mrs. Wu didn't even dare to say it. After hearing this, the Kong girl blushed a little and said to Yuan Xi: "Madam, she is kind-hearted and takes good care of me."
She felt a little sad in her heart, thinking that the young master's wife was really talented and beautiful, and when she compared her, she was really very different.
And forget about the head wife, why are the two concubines so well-connected!
When Kong learned the identities of Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian, he was so shocked that he could not speak. He thought that Master Yuan Xi was too courageous and dared to use the daughter of a noble family as a concubine!
Moreover, Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian are neither higher nor lower than me. No wonder the young master only treats her as his younger sister!