Yuan Xi didn't really care where Mrs. Du was, after all, they had only met once.
Although Qin Yilu's idea came from Yuan Xi, without Yuan Xi, Qin Yilu and Mrs. Du would not have made it.
What he was worried about now was what was going on in Anyi. Lu Bu was not very reliable, so he could only place his hopes on the combination of Ju Shou and Zhao Yun.
But Yuan Xi really didn't know whether he could get an advantage from Cao Cao. After all, Cao Cao himself was outstanding in culture, Taoism and military strategy. The chance of completely defeating him was very slim.
Because according to the intelligence sent back from Anyi, Liu Xie's trust in Cao Cao and the support of the ministers for Cao Cao far exceeded Yuan Xi's previous expectations.
Yuan Xi's bottom line is that at least he cannot let Cao Cao take Liu Xie to Xuchang. That would be too passive.
The ideal situation would be to let Liu Xie go to Huaicheng and put it under the control of various forces, but it may not be possible to completely get rid of Cao Cao's forces for the time being.
With Yuan Xi's current strength, he cannot be aggressive, otherwise he will only be attacked by other people.
Even Cao Cao can't do it, so now the parties can only plot secretly.
According to Yuan Xi's calculation, in order to check and balance, Liu Xie would let Lu Bu and Cao Cao intervene in court affairs. At the same time, Liu Xie could check and balance each other and gain greater room for maneuver.
As for Yuan Xi, the first priority is to prevent Cao Cao's family from becoming dominant. The rest of the nominal rewards are just to add to his head. After all, in this troubled world, money, food, soldiers and horses are the real deal.
Of course, for Yuan Xi, Zhao Yun needs this false reputation, which is related to his commitment to Zhao Yun and his next expansion direction.
Because according to the historical process of later generations, after welcoming the emperor, the world will usher in another major event.
Yuan Shu stood on his own feet.
Today, the mainstream of the world is still the two Yuan Dynasties fighting for hegemony. The two separate the north and the south. Not only do they occupy most of the world, they also have the two largest separatist forces.
In this situation, Yuan Shu was like a brainless donkey, driving everyone to his opposite side with his stupid act of proclaiming himself emperor.
The princes of the world are like hungry wolves. Seeing such fat meat, who wouldn't want to take a bite?
Of course Yuan Xi is one of them.
Yuan Shu was bound to be unable to withstand the siege of all the heroes in the world, and his defeat was only a matter of time.
After his defeat, the territory, soldiers, horses, and connections he left behind are all the objects of competition among heroes. In order to divide the legacy he left behind, the world will usher in a new round of reshuffle.
At this time, the closer you are to Yuan Shu, the more likely you are to participate as quickly as possible and get the biggest piece of cake.
Yuan Xi tried his best to occupy Guangling in Xuzhou, which borders Yuan Shu's territory, just like occupying the front row seat at a play, so that he could see clearly.
Because Yuan Shu occupied most of Yuzhou and Yangzhou, if he wanted to attack his territory, he would have to go south from Sili or Xuzhou.
Sili's route south to Yuzhou was blocked by Yanzhou, which had already been occupied by Cao Cao, so Yuan Xi could only start from Xuzhou.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi was also in a mess. His idea was very clear, but this idea was linked to each other, affecting the whole body. Any problem in any link may affect the subsequent layout.
The key to the matter is to return to the present, when will the dust settle in Anyi.
In order to please the emperor this time, Yuan Xi paid too much price. If he accomplished nothing in the end, I'm afraid Qu Yi would laugh at him, right?
Seeing Yuan Xi's worried look, Lu Lingqi was in a bad mood, but after thinking about it she said, "When my father comes back, I will go visit Master's grave."
Yuan Xi seemed not to have expected Lu Lingqi to say such words, and raised her head in surprise.
Summer has now entered, and the weather is slowly getting hotter. Lu Lingqi is not wearing the leather robe from before, but a rather comfortable hemp suit over a close-fitting silk jacket. Her waist is tied with a twisted silk rubber band belt.
She looks particularly graceful in stature.
Seeing Yuan Xi staring at her, Lu Lingqi couldn't help but subconsciously protect her chest and said angrily: "What are you looking at?"
Yuan Xi's eyes swept across her body and looked at the sky. In the clear sky, there were a few white clouds floating extremely slowly on the sky.
He turned his attention back to Lu Lingqi and said, "He is a very strange person."
"My personality is quite gloomy, which is almost incompatible with his cheerfulness."
"He must have something on his mind, but he never told anyone else."
"He was also the first person to follow me. I remember that at that time, he was chopped into pieces by an axe-hand and was cut into a human shape. He even lost his breath and heartbeat."
Lu Lingqi also heard about Qu Yi being ambushed and killed by Yuan Shao's men, and she said coldly: "You Yuan family doesn't have many good people."
Yuan Xi did not answer the conversation and continued on by himself, "It would be disgraceful to attack and kill him, so I left it to me to dispose of his body."
"I took advantage of the darkness and ordered people to put him on a carriage, hoping to pull him out of the city and bury him."
"As the carriage jolted, he opened his eyes, uttered a sentence, and then passed out again."
Lu Lingqi asked curiously: "What did Master say?"
Yuan Xi said carefully one word at a time: "It's really a shame that he didn't die on the battlefield."
"I called for medical treatment, and thanks to his physical strength and some luck, he survived."
"For several months after that, he had several fevers and went through hell several times. He finally recovered, although he was not as good as before."
"I told him he could leave."
"But if he stays, I will give him a chance to die on the battlefield."
"He stayed without a second thought."
"I remember that day, it was also in this kind of weather. He laughed and said to me, this life saved is equivalent to living a new life. One more day of living is earned, so what are you afraid of?"
"I remember that day, it was also such a sunny day. This was the first master I met since I was born. In fact, now that I think about it, he influenced me a lot."
Lu Lingqi was silent for a while before speaking out: "You and Master do look a bit alike."
"I've never heard of a kid from a wealthy family going to fight someone face to face."
Yuan Xi was startled, then laughed at himself, "Really?"
"Maybe it's true."
He wondered, could it be that Qu Yi's words really affected him?
Otherwise, from Beixin City to Montenegro, how could I have the courage to fight face to face with a master like Yang Feng?
Do you subconsciously feel that every day you pick it up is a profit?
He suddenly laughed.
"It's true."
Lu Lingqi bit her lip and whispered: "Master died to save me."
"If he didn't die on the battlefield, Master must hate me as his disciple, right?"
Yuan Xi shook his head and said: "Nonsense, why wasn't it considered a battlefield at that time?"
"The place where people are killed is a battlefield, and the place where people are rescued is also a battlefield. Wherever there are enemies, it is a battlefield."
"He went there with a smile."
"Don't look down on him."
Lu Lingqi felt the corners of her eyes were wet and nodded fiercely.
After chirping several times, the two of them looked up at the sky at the same time, and saw a line of egrets rising up into the blue clouds high in the sky.
When Qu Yi died in the battle, the two of them suppressed their feelings. Now more than a month has passed, but at the same time, the egret's call opened the floodgates in their hearts, and sadness rushed out, drowning the two of them.
Yuan Xi clenched his fists, "Brother Qu is just taking the first step."
"After a hundred years of life, sooner or later the song will come to an end."
"When you are dead, you are dead. You can't hear anything anymore."
"What we can do now is to let go of our sorrow and let go of our remaining sorrow, and sing songs as loud as we can to send farewell to our old friends."
Lu Lingqi raised her hand to wipe the corners of her eyes, raised the two halberds stuck on the ground beside her, and said, "Lianlian?"
Yuan Xi subconsciously wanted to refuse, but for some reason, there was a breath in his heart that he wanted to vent.
He held the hilt of the knife around his waist, slowly pulled the knife out of the leather sheath, and said with a smile, "He also taught me this sword technique."
"Be careful, don't let me defeat you accidentally. That would be embarrassing."
Lu Lingqi smiled: "Just you?"
"Come!"
The two halberds and the long sword clashed together, bursting out large sparks, and the dense clashing sounds continued to sound, as if they were in harmony with each other, playing a sad and deep rhythm, like a funeral elegy.
Outside Anyi City, Li Jue and Guo Si heard good news and bad news in their tent.
The good news is that Duan Yan came with troops from Huayin to help the two of them.
After Guo Si heard the news, he laughed and said: "It seems that Duan Xuan can't swallow the feeling of being framed by Yang Ding."
"Yes, why bother? This Yang Ding is also a piece of shit. He is obviously our general in Liangzhou, but he wants to eat alone. It's really shameless."
"When we take back the emperor, won't Yang Ding, a waste like him, be at our mercy?"
"Now we are waiting for Zhang Ji!"
But the bad news that followed left the two of them dumbfounded.
Zhang Ji is dead!
Previously, Zhang Ji betrayed his promise, betrayed the Emperor's convoy, turned against Li Jue and Guo Si, and sent troops to chase the convoy, causing numerous casualties among the convoy soldiers, generals and ministers.
Later, Liu Xie issued a statement to reprimand Zhang Ji, so Zhang Ji led his troops to leave and went south to Jingzhou to seize territory.
Later, due to the lack of food in the army, Zhang Ji led his troops to plunder Jingzhou and attacked Rangcheng in Nanyang County, but died in the middle of nowhere.
He also became another general who died in a cold arrow from Jingzhou after Sun Jian.
Li Jue frowned and said, "I originally thought that Zhang Ji would be the most reliable. Once he arrives and we join forces, the local chickens and dogs in Anyi City will be vulnerable."
"I didn't expect that he would die like this. As a result, our confidence in winning will be reduced a lot."
Guo Bang also nodded and said: "There are some evil sects in that place in Jingzhou. We warriors should stay away from that place."
"I heard that Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji's nephew, took over his troops and actually reconciled with Liu Biao!"
"Now he is stationing troops in Wancheng and has refused our request to send troops. He is really ungrateful."
Li Jue sneered and said: "Who knows what this guy is thinking, maybe he has fallen in love with Zhang Ji's widow and can't move his legs?"
The two looked at each other tacitly and laughed lustfully at the same time.
Li Jue waved his hand, "Ignore him!"
"Let's take action as soon as Duan Xuan arrives!"
"There are our people in Anyi City. When the time comes, we should cooperate with each other inside and outside to attack the city!"
Guo Si reminded: "Don't fall into other people's schemes."
Li Jue sneered, "It doesn't matter, if we can't beat him, we will go back to Liangzhou!"