While she was talking, Zhen Mi came in. When she saw the armor piled on the ground, her expression was a little complicated. Mrs. Du saw it and knew that Zhen Mi had something to say, so she stood up and got out of the way.
Lu Lingqi pulled Zha Jia aside, asked Zhen Mi to sit down, and said carelessly: "I know what Madam wants to say, Madam, don't worry, I will protect him."
Zhen Mi sighed softly, "I feel deeply sorry for what Madam said."
"As a female member of the Yuan family, she should be protected by her husband, but if it is the other way around, my wife will be put in danger."
"I am here to thank you on my husband's behalf. I also hope that my wife will take care of you and that you and your husband will come back safely."
Lu Lingqi didn't take it seriously and said: "Don't worry, I have seen a lot of life and death on the battlefield. Unless I encounter an enemy general, it is more than enough for me to save the lives of two people."
Zhen Mi nodded lightly, "I actually envy my wife for being able to be by my husband's side all the time."
"After I married my husband, I couldn't help him much. I'm really ashamed."
"If you need anything from me, madam, just ask and I will do my best."
As Lu Lingqi sent Zhen Mi away, she wondered, are women who have given birth to children so hesitant?
It's better to be free on your own, at least you don't have to stay in this mansion for who knows how many years.
Thinking of this, she felt a little bit about Mrs. Du's mood.
She casually picked up the twin halberds that shone with cold light and danced them in a circle on her fingertips, and then the clear and sharp sound of wind sounded.
Lu Lingqi carefully wrapped the two halberds, thinking that she had embarked on a different path from other noble women. She didn't know how many battles she could fight in the future. Although it might be dangerous, she would never regret it.
Soon the day came for Yuan Xi to lead his army. This time he not only brought soldiers who were proficient in water and land warfare, but also many students who had left school as volunteers.
Although Guangling County has appointed many local nobles, it cannot allow all important official positions to be filled by locals. This will only accelerate the growth of local nobles.
Therefore, transferring a group of students from Youzhou Free School to serve in Guangling, and then transferring officials from Guangling to Youzhou for exchanges, can effectively prevent local gangsters from forming groups, and can also avoid the restrictions of the Three Mutual Laws.
It was out of this consideration that Chen Deng, who was born in Xiapi, was appointed as the prefect of Guangling. Yuan Xi thought that there was Zang Hong who had not yet been settled in Guangling, and thought that his territory in Xuzhou was indeed a bit small.
This is also the first time Yuan Xi has returned to Xuzhou after being granted the title of Xuzhou Shepherd. Compared with the last time he left, the situation in Xuzhou has changed greatly.
The three parties that were originally relatively balanced in strength were waxing and waning. After Yuan Tan incorporated most of the Taishan thieves, he became a powerful prince with a hundred thousand soldiers. And this power is looking for opportunities to vent out.
Of course, this number must be reasonable, and most of them are mountain bandits armed with bamboo spears and wearing linen clothes. Such people have no power to resist in front of Yuan Xi's elite soldiers.
During this period, Liu Bei also raised a team of 20,000 people. Under the leadership of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he repelled Yuan Shu's army that invaded the border several times. It can be said that his combat power was quite impressive.
As for Yuan Xi, he is the only one among the three parties who has not massively increased his troops.
He just asked Guangling City to train the navy step by step, and at the same time maintained a certain number of standing troops. He used a recruitment system to recruit thousands of reserve troops, trained them on weekdays, and let them go back to farming when the farming season was busy.
The reason why Yuan Xi carefully controlled the number of soldiers under his command was because even if there were a large number of soldiers, if they were not trained well, they would not be converted into combat power and would become just a mob.
Later, when Sun Quan's army of 100,000 troops attacked Hefei, they also fled in panic. What's the use of having more soldiers at this time?
Guangling added a small amount of troops, and the remaining expenses were used by Yuan Xi to build a granary to store grain. There was an important reason for this.
Huaisi had a good harvest today, which gave Yuan Shu the confidence to proclaim himself emperor. At the same time, he vigorously prepared for war and expanded his army, increasing his standing troops to more than hundreds of thousands.
It seemed that Yuan Shu was at the top of his game, but only Yuan Xi understood that there was a huge hidden danger.
During the second year of Jian'an, the Huaisi area will suffer from continuous disasters.
Locust plagues, floods, and earthquakes occurred frequently, which caused large-scale grain harvest failures. Soldiers and people were short of food, and Yuan Shu lived a luxurious life. By the time he realized it, the situation was irreversible.
Therefore, Yuan Shu seems to be extremely powerful at this time. In fact, when he blindly expands his troops and encounters a shortage of food, it will quickly detonate, forming a chain reaction. Then the situation will collapse.
So this time Yuan Xi went to Xuzhou to discuss with Liu Bei how to build a defense line and survive Yuan Shu's attack first. As long as he persisted for more than half a year, Yuan Shu's internal dangers would be exposed.
He didn't know what the other princes who accepted the Han court's edict thought, but Yuan Xi was very self-aware. Even if he had several times more troops, he would not be suitable to confront the rising Yuan Shu. Who would be willing to take the lead at this time?
Bird, let him do it.
What Yuan Xi needs to do now is to hold on to Guangling County, maintain good relations with Yuan, Tan, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce, and maintain stability in the surrounding areas until Yuan Shu shows his decline.
So this time he personally went to Guangling to sit on the front line, and most of the time he was acting for the Han court. After all, he had accepted the imperial edict, and it seemed too perfunctory for him to stay in Youzhou.
And counting the time, some of the merchant ships that went out to sea for trade in Haixi should have returned. He wanted to ask Zhen Yao what useful things the Zhen family caravan brought.
A few days later, Yuan Xi took his soldiers and students on board a ship bound for Guangling Haixi.
North of Haixi is the estuary of the Huaihe River, which has a branch, the Han River, which leads directly to the north of Guangling. When Yuan Xi goes to Guangling City, he no longer needs to enter the Yangtze River from the outer sea and then arrive at the South Pier of Guangling.
The students who first boarded the ship were fine at first, but when the sea became rough, some people staggered on the deck and became unsteady, as if they were drunk. Some even lay down on the side of the ship and vomited, and were laughed at by others.
Rivers are no better than the sea. Seas and mountains are always windy and waveless, and ships are rocking far more violently than inland rivers.
This is also the reason why the Qingzhou pirates fought fierce water battles in the past. Many of them grew up at sea and were good at shipboard operations, so merchant ships were unable to fight back under their attacks.
The navy trained by Taishi Ci not only trained on the Neijiang River, but also often practiced at sea, so they were able to suppress the Qingzhou pirates and achieve great success in one fell swoop.
In the cabin, Mrs. Du looked pale, with a piece of wet linen on her forehead, and said to Lu Lingqi: "I was supposed to take care of the girl, but now I am so embarrassed."
As soon as she said something, she felt like vomiting again and quickly covered her mouth.
Lu Lingqi patted Mrs. Du on the shoulder and said: "It doesn't matter. When I first boarded the ship, I was not much better than Mrs. Du. You should have a good rest first."
After saying that, Lu Lingqi got up and left the cabin, walked around in a circle, and met Yuan Xi and Jushou Lu Xun who were talking at the bow of the ship. She knew that they were busy, so she didn't say anything, so she stood aside.
Yuan Xizheng said to Jushu: "Mr. Gongyu, you think there is something wrong with Cao Cao's recent actions?"
Jushou nodded and said: "Although these military reports did not clearly indicate Cao Cao's troop mobilization, I am sure that he did not concentrate his troops at the junction of Yanzhou and Yuzhou."
Yuan Xi suddenly remembered that in the second year of Jian'an, wasn't it the time when Cao Cao conquered Zhang Xiu?
Thinking of this, he laughed and said: "I'm afraid the Duke and Sir are overly worried. No one is willing to attack Yuan Shu first at the moment. Is Cao Cao going to expand his territory elsewhere?"
Jushou's eyes narrowed and he said, "What do you mean, Master?"
Yuan Xi replied: "I think it is very likely that Cao Cao went to occupy Jingzhou."
Jushou was stunned for a moment, then he began to think deeply, and after a long time he said: "It's not impossible."
"If you occupy Jingzhou, it will be equivalent to occupying the key point of conquering the world. With his character of coveting Xuzhou's territory, he is really very persistent in conquering the city."
"But Jingzhou is not easy to fight. Especially Zhang Xiu is guarding Nanyang, the gateway to Jingzhou. It will be difficult for Cao's army to capture it."
Yuan Xidao: "What if he colluded with Zhang Xiu in advance?"
After Jushou heard this, he immediately came to his senses and nodded: "It's really possible!"
"But how did the young master expect this?"
Yuan Xizheng felt proud that it would be best for Cao Cao to attack Nanyang. This way he would suffer a huge loss and it would be difficult for him to gain much benefit from attacking Yuan Shu.
He was about to speak when he saw Lu Xun's brows furrowed and couldn't help but ask, "What do you think Boyan has to say?"
Lu Xun hesitated for a moment and said, "Xun feels that there is really no reason for Cao Cao to attack Jingzhou at the moment."
Yuan Xi was startled and bowed to Lu Xun: "Please give me some advice."
After hearing this, Lu Xun was so busy that he said, "Xun said a few nonsense words, sir, please listen to them."
He cleared his throat, "Because Xun feels that now is not the time for Cao's army to send troops to Jingzhou."
"Although it now occupies Sili Yanzhou, its foundation is not stable."
"First of all, he cannot control the situation in Huaicheng. Whether it is Marquis Wen or Dong Cheng, there is a possibility of launching an attack."
"But the emperor ordered him to attack Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu must have accumulated heavy troops on the border of Yuzhou for defense."
"Under such circumstances, how could the Cao family sell the two huge flaws in their back to the enemy and attack Jingzhou to the west of Yuzhou and south of Sili?"
"Even if he takes Nanyang, he is not afraid that if Liu Biao is added to the south and the three parties suddenly attack and include him, where can he escape as a lone army?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi turned to Jushu and said, "Sir, what do you think of Boyan's words?"
Jushu smiled and said, "What Boyan said is what I want to say."
"Just now I saw that the young master was speaking resolutely, but in fact I don't think that Cao Mengde will attack Jingzhou as the most urgent choice at the moment."
Yuan Xi had been convinced, and he found that he had made the biggest mistake.
First impression.
If natural disasters such as locust plagues and floods occur as usual, those events that are controlled by human decision-making cannot be exactly the same in future generations.
After all, the trend of history and the general trend of the world are completely different now. If you still have this kind of thinking, you will suffer a big loss sooner or later!
Thinking of this, he was horrified and bowed to the two of them: "I have been taught."
"Let's go to Haixi to collect intelligence first, and then make a decision."