Guo Jia was by Cao Zhi's side, but Xun You was missing at this time. Xun You had returned to Xudu and succeeded Xun Yu as the minister. This restored the status and respect of the Xun family in the government and the public, and many people also saw it.
The arrival of Cao Zhi was a signal to continue to appoint and trust the Xun family.
What Guo Jia means is that although the Yuan family is no longer a concern, they still have tens of thousands of soldiers and many generals. The scholar-bureaucrats will not watch the Yuan family fall apart. In this way,
If they forcefully capture Yecheng, they will surely suffer heavy casualties.
Why don't we wait a moment. Yuan brothers: Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang are at odds with each other. If we add some more ingredients, they will definitely become like water and fire. When the two Yuans fight with each other, we will fight again.
It is never too late to send troops.
After careful consideration, Cao Zhi felt that Guo Jia's suggestion was correct. So he adopted Guo Jia's opinion and ordered the troops to withdraw slightly south, relaxed the siege of Yecheng, and allowed the three armies to rest and recuperate in the middle area from Liyang to Yecheng.
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#######This is a quiet and beautiful night. The bright moon in the sky seems to be clearly visible, and even the beautiful patterns of light and dark concavities on it can be seen clearly. The moonlight and the icy cold air sprinkle a shallow light on the earth, like
The ground must be covered with a layer of silver frost.
Yecheng General's Mansion, with its palace-like carved beams and painted buildings, is extremely beautiful with ancient charm. The garden architecture is especially based on the original ecology as much as possible, and the traces of artificial carvings are not obvious. The ponds, flowers, roads, and trees look pleasing to the eye and full of wild interest.
In the back garden.
One pavilion, one tree, one stage, one piano, one beauty.
A gentle breeze blows down a yellow flower from a tree. The petals flutter and fall into the pond that has not yet frozen. The woman in the pavilion is sitting in front of the stage, stroking a Yao Qin with her slender fingers. The sound of the Qin tinkles melodiously, like the wind.
Entering the pine, it is like a spring falling into a stream, like a flower falling, it is elegant and pleasing to the heart.
Looking in from the courtyard gate, a woman is sitting with her back turned, and her appearance cannot be clearly seen. At a glance, she can only feel that she is as slim as the moon, with long hair, her clothes are flowing in the wind, and her waist is as light as a fold. She looks extremely weak.
The timid appearance of the clothes.
Yuan Shaozheng's wife, Mrs. Liu, and Liu Youchong, were sitting on their knees behind a jade table in the middle of the pavilion, with their backs straight and their necks straight, with two willow eyebrows and a pair of phoenix eyes implying sadness, looking at the scenery outside the pavilion in trance.
At this time, the ministers, who were sweating profusely and seemed to be in a hurry, walked gently into the pavilion. When they saw Liu Youchong, he bowed his head to the ground and said respectfully: "The judge, please come to me, Madam!" Liu Youchong was shocked at first, and then relaxed.
She came down, her beautiful eyebrows were raised, and her lonely face showed a look of anticipation. The corners of her tightly pressed pretty lips occasionally pulled up slightly, bringing out a hint of a smile but not a smile. All she could see was the hem of the phoenix skirt.
, a faint wisp of fragrant wind floated by, floating out from the middle of the dress when she turned around.
She was wearing a dark green robe with dark gold patterns embroidered on the collar and sleeves. She had a jade-embellished belt tied around her slender waist, and her glossy black hair was pulled into a casual bun. Many of her hair strands were still in place.
Winding down, there is a pure white jade hairpin stuck in the bun. The shoulders are cut, the waist is plain, the neck is long and elegant, and the movement is elegant. When the beautiful eyes flash, it is like light clouds covering the moon, and the fragrance is not added.
.
At this time, Liu Youchong turned his face and people looked at him, and a delicate figure immediately jumped into his eyes. Liu Youchong was a beautiful woman. In terms of appearance, she was similar to the late He Jingxiang. Except that she was a few years older, maybe
In terms of looks alone, she is slightly better than Chen Ling and Yang Wan. The difference between Liu Youchong and Ren Hongchang and Du's mature charm is that her beauty has an arrogant coldness, that kind of aloof and inviolable noble charm, which is more likely to arouse
Men's aggressiveness and desire to conquer.
"He's here?" Liu Youchong asked Shen Pei. This "him" was a tacit figure in both her and Shen Pei's minds.
But this obviously touched Shen Pei's sensitive nerve. He did not raise his head, but his tone became obviously angry and said: "I have insulted the trust of my lord and my mistress. I failed to assist the young master in opening up and expanding the territory. Now I am taking advantage of the villain."
, Invasion of our territory!" The trial partner replied nonchalantly, kowtowing in apology, and bowed his hands to present the latest battle report.
Liu Youchong's eyes slightly glanced at Shen Ming who was lying on the ground. He didn't say anything. He just stretched out a plain hand with slender fingers, took a roll of paper from the case, and gently unfolded it in front of him. He kept his waist, neck, back and hips steady.
He was as motionless as a mountain, with his two dark eyebrows slightly raised as he looked attentively.
Liu Youchong quickly glanced at the paper for a moment, then sighed quietly: "Chaoge, Liyang and other places have all fallen into the hands of Cao's army. Qingzhou and Bingzhou have also been occupied by Cao's army, and some of them drove straight in, and finally surrounded Yecheng.
The power! Yecheng is ultimately his goal..."
"Yes, our losses are indeed not small, but we have reduced our defense line and gathered 100,000 troops in Yecheng. Even if we give up other places, as long as we hold Yecheng, we will hold Jizhou and Youzhou behind. As long as we keep
There is still hope for these areas to overturn the Cao family in the future..."
"Well, he is very powerful now. If we can't defend him, you can tell these two boys that we can rely on him..."
"No!" Shen Pei couldn't help but interrupt Liu Youchong's words anymore, straightened up and said angrily: "Attachment is surrender. Shen Pei has decided to coexist with his wife, the son, Yecheng, and the Yuan family. As long as
As long as Shenpei is still alive, Yecheng and the Yuan family will not let anyone else get involved... Shenpei swears here that if Yecheng is alive and Yecheng dies, Shenpei will never live alone..."
Shen Pei's words were so decisive that Liu Youchong didn't know what to say for a moment. She knew that her inappropriate semantics had seriously touched and hurt Shen Pei's deepest pain as a man.
Facing a woman whom you have admired for a long time, you have to acquiesce to the power that you have worked so hard to support, give up your family fortune to your mortal enemy, love rival, and even give up the woman you like to her. This is judgment.
It matches the deepest scar in my heart that I don’t want others to reveal.
Even if this woman doesn't like him, he knows that he has no chance of getting close to her. But the matchmaker still cannot tolerate such a thing happening, at least not in his lifetime.
"Oh! I hope the two of them can live in harmony..." After a helpless sigh, Liu Youchong waved his hand to signal that the interviewer's conversation was over. After the interviewer waved to Liu Youchong, he turned around and left with a firm look on his face.
Liu Youchong, who continued to turn his back, continued to stare at the early winter scene in the garden and continued to be in a daze.
####### As expected and worried by Guo Jia and Liu Youchong, as soon as Cao Zhi withdrew his troops south, the Yuan brothers turned against each other and started attacking each other.
After Yuan Tan first retreated from Yecheng, he attempted to turn around and catch Yuan Shang off guard. However, Yuan Shang, with the help of Shen Pei, was well prepared and killed Yuan Shang. He was defeated and fled to Nanpi.
Yuan Shang pursued Yuan Tan all the way, forcing Yuan Tan to be unable to stay in Nanpi any longer, so he fled to Pingyuan. Yuan Shang pursued Yuan Tan and surrounded Pingyuan.
At this time, Yuan Tan had to propose "dependence" to Cao Zhi, the only foreign aid now.
"Attachment" at this time is equivalent to surrender. Yuan Tan also struggled a lot when Guo Tu proposed this opinion. But now that Yuan Tan's other subordinates are in danger, his only way out is to rely on Cao Tu.
Zhi, use Cao Zhi to deal with Yuan Shang who is pressing every step of the way.
Yuan Tan sent Xin Ping's younger brother Xin Pi as an envoy to meet Cao Zhi to discuss the specific matters and conditions of "dependence".
Xinpi met Cao Zhi in Cao's camp when the base camp retreated to Xiping, but Cao Zhi did not show enough attention and interest in the visiting Xinpi. After accepting Yuan Tan's attachment statement, he arranged for Xinpi to be sent to Chuanzhi.
He rested in his house and was not summoned for two days.
On the third day, Xinpi could no longer sit still and went directly to Guo Jia, a fellow villager, to explain his intention and express his sincere intention to "attach" Cao Zhi.
Cao Zhi's indifferent attitude towards Xin Pi and his actions of pretending to withdraw his troops were actually Guo Jia's secret strategies. Guo Jia's intention was very obvious, that is, he had to make Yuan Tan and Xin Pi anxious before he could start a good fight.
Price code.
As expected, Xin Pi was first forced into a dead end by them. This time Xin Pi went to Cao Ying as an envoy and successfully promoted the alliance between Yuan Tan and Cao Zhi. It would be best, but if it failed, it would be difficult to explain to Yuan Tan when he returned, and it would be difficult to save his life.
In the end, Xinpi had no choice but to sell himself first and attach himself to Cao Zhi. Anyway, some of the former civil servants and generals of the Yuan Group are betraying and attaching themselves to Cao every day. After Xinpi came to Cao Zhi,
Only then did the camp discover that the brothers Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang, whom they had always thought were wiped out by Cao's army, had already attached themselves to Cao's army and surrendered to Cao Zhi.
As soon as Xin Pi sold himself to Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi was very realistic and received him warmly. However, the two questions he asked were rather pointed.
Cao Zhi asked Xin Pi: First, is Yuan Tan sincere in his attachment to me? Second, is Yuan Shang easy to fight?
Xinpi was obviously a little unprepared for Cao Zhi's two questions. But since he sold himself, he had to sell it in a certain way. After a while, Xinpi lowered his head and blushed, he relaxed and spoke freely.
Xin Pi believed that Yuan Tan's "attachment" was dishonest. He believed that Yuan Tan had no choice but to be forced by Yuan Shang to become anxious, so he attached to Cao Zhi. In fact, how could he sincerely submit to Cao Zhi, the leader of the Yuan family?
enemy.
Second, Yuan Shang's current situation. Although Yuan Shang was able to encircle Yuan Tan one after another, he was never able to capture any of the cities occupied by Yuan Tan with force. Yuan Tan's two defeats were all because he knew he was invincible.
Under such circumstances, he took the initiative to withdraw his troops. Why? It is obvious that his military strength is insufficient.
Xin Pi said frankly that the Yuan family and Cao Zhi had fought successive battles, and now they were at war with each other. Due to the repeated battles, and the constant drought of locusts in various parts of the territory, the people had already been in dire straits. There were not many follow-up soldiers at all, and even food, grass, and baggage were difficult to add during the meeting.
Xin Pi reminded Cao Zhi that this was actually a great opportunity for Duke Ming to annihilate the Yuan family. If Cao Zhi led troops to attack Yecheng at this time, Yuan Shang would definitely come back to rescue him, and if he did, Yuan Tan would definitely pursue Yuan Shang from behind.