When Yuan Tan heard what Yuan Xi said, he always felt strange in his heart.
Is this kid secretly mocking his father?
Yuan Shao escaped from Luoyang and launched an army to rebel against Dong, indirectly killing more than 50 members of the Yuan clan, Yuan Wei and Yuan Ji. This has always been a worry for the Yuan family, and they always felt that everyone in the world was criticizing them.
However, it is impossible to silence people. Even if Yuan Shao did not intend this at the beginning, things just happened and can only be commented upon by others.
Now Yuan Tan understood what Yuan Xi meant. Even if Tao Qian threatened Cao Cao with the life of Cao Cao's father, he was afraid that Cao Cao would not retreat.
It sounds a bit similar to what happened to his father, Yuan Shao, right?
And at this time, filial piety rules the world. Does Cao Cao really dare to risk the disapproval of the world and kill his clan members, including his father Cao Song?
Yuan Tan pondered and said: "If my second brother can rescue the Cao clan and return them to Cao Cao, he will have no excuse to attack Xuzhou openly."
"Although it is impossible to prevent him from attacking Xuzhou, at least he will lose his reputation in justice, and the second brother can also gain fame. It is indeed a plan to kill two birds with one stone."
"But the point is, it might make my father unhappy."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Isn't that better?"
Yuan Tan was startled, but then he realized that in this way, Yuan Shao might be even more anxious to adopt Yuan Xi!
He laughed heartily: "Yes, yes, my second brother is really talented as a counselor!"
"In this case, eldest brother should also show some sincerity."
"What does second brother need from me?"
Seeing that Yuan Tan had been persuaded, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "In that case, I won't be polite, brother."
"First of all, I have to do this myself, so I have to leave Beixin City. Can you please help me keep an eye on it during this time?"
"I will leave General Zhao Yun behind and have full authority to perform the duties of city guard on my behalf without being under the control of my elder brother, is that okay?"
Yuan Tan said without hesitation: "No problem."
"I came here this time with a message from my father asking you to return to Yecheng. You can just take this opportunity to make plans."
He immediately asked in confusion: "Then Zhao Yun is just a surrendered general. How can he be worthy of your attention and be able to entrust the entire city to him?"
"Aren't you afraid that he is a spy sent by Gongsun Zan and will rebel again?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "I don't think so."
"If he really does this, I will give Youzhou to my eldest brother."
Seeing that Yuan Xi was so determined, Yuan Tan didn't know what to say, so he nodded in agreement.
"Secondly, in the future, when I run Youzhou, I will need a large number of craftsmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, cobblers, etc., at least thousands of people."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan was speechless and said: "Second brother, you also know that in this era of chaos, craftsmen are extremely valuable. Even if my eldest brother conquers Qingzhou in the future, I'm afraid I won't be able to give you much."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said: "It doesn't matter, half is fine, but just let them bring more apprentices."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan felt that even five hundred craftsmen could produce it, so he nodded in agreement.
Yuan Xi was secretly happy. Generally speaking, it would take several years or even more than ten years for an apprentice to become a craftsman.
But that is a normal situation. Yuan Xi plans to follow the example of Liu Biaoguang in Jingzhou who opened a free school and let skilled craftsmen pass on their skills on a large scale.
Of course, apprentices must first learn to read and broaden people's wisdom. In this way, learning skills will get twice the result with half the effort.
This was also the reason why he asked Wu Zhao to teach women how to read a while ago. He wanted to see if his idea was feasible.
The result surprised him. Those women could read quickly, which was beyond his expectation.
This shows that as long as you teach well, you can significantly speed up learning, which is a great improvement.
Yuan Xi knew that this was all Wu Zhao's credit. He had seen Wu Zhao teach women to read, and his explanations were easy to understand and explained in a simple way, as if he had rich experience in how to teach others.
Yuan Xi's idea is to set up free schools extensively in the future, using the experience and knowledge of previous lives, gathering the knowledge of this life, compiling a set of simple and easy-to-learn teaching materials, and teaching basic knowledge to children and apprentices, so as to cultivate officials and officials from poor people. artisan.
Only in this way can Youzhou's potential be unleashed.
However, this method has high returns in the later stage but slow results in the early stage, so investment is essential, so he teamed up with Yuan Tan to seek help in manpower and material resources.
So far, except for the telescope, Yuan Xi has not designed any other inventions. He only farms step by step. In other words, he is hiding his secrets.
Because he knows very well that with his current strength and territory, if he invents some useful things in advance but cannot keep them, he may instead help potential enemies.
Just like the stirrup, he only had a few dozen cavalrymen while others had hundreds and thousands of cavalry. If he invented the stirrup in advance and then let an enemy like Gongsun Zan learn from it, wouldn't he be making himself uncomfortable?
Only if he has enough power can he keep the fruits of his invention, otherwise, he can only make wedding clothes for others.
Yuan Xi stretched out a third finger: "Thirdly, I need weapons, food, grass and property, and I also need support from my eldest brother."
Yuan Tan was confused: "I will help you defend the city, that is, during the New Year months, and then I will go to Qingzhou."
"This kind of thing is what I urgently need."
Yuan Xi said decisively: "I will find a way to help my brother capture Qingzhou in the shortest time."
"When the time comes, big brother will reward me based on my merits."
"Okay!" Yuan Tan slapped the table: "If my second brother can really help me a lot, a certain county in Qingzhou will not be able to help my second brother in the future!"
What Yuan Tan lacks most now is time.
The sooner he captures Qingzhou and manages it, the sooner he can plan southward!
This is so important to him!
As for Youzhou, it was a place of four wars, with Bingzhou and the Xiongnu in the west, Wuhuan and Xianbei in the north, and the Gongsun family in the east of Liaodong, so Yuan Tan had little interest.
Yuan Xi wanted Youzhou, and Yuan Tan also wanted Yuan Xi to help him guard the northern border and ensure the stability around Qingzhou.
The two brothers had their own thoughts, laughed and high-fived each other, forming a temporary alliance.
Yuan Tan drank a few more drinks, excused himself as he was too drunk, and left, taking four maids with him before leaving.
When Yuan Xi sent Yuan Tan away, he felt more tired than after fighting a battle. He understood that the two of them seemed to be enjoying each other's lives, but in fact, neither of them would completely tell the truth and expose their trump cards.
Moreover, the relationship between Yuan Tan and Xun Chen is definitely not as cold as it seems on the surface. After Yuan Tan returns, it is very likely that he will tell Xun Chen what happened tonight and ask him to help make plans.
Because according to the knowledge of Yuan Xi's later generations, Yuan Tan was supported by the Yingchuan nobles.
But it doesn't matter anymore, because what Yuan Xi said to Yuan Tan was originally false and true, just like the plan to rescue Cao Song, he hid a lot.