"The steward of the Hu family pays homage to General Chariot..."
Bohai County, the seat is Nanpi.
Yuan Shao was sitting on the main seat, with a majestic posture, and his eyes seemed to be open and closed as he looked at a person prostrate under the hall.
Around him, there were dozens of civil and military generals gathered together. The scholars were elegant and the military generals were tough. They looked like they were at the peak of their talents, and the people in the hall did not dare to take a breath.
Yuan Shao enjoyed being looked up to by others. He was the fourth and third prince of the Yuan family. In his generation, Yuan Shao gathered many civil and military officials through Dong Zhuo's chaos. Now he dominates Jizhou, worships the general of chariots and cavalry, and becomes the leader of the heroes of Guandong. Overlord, defeated the Youzhou cavalry in two more battles, and drove the arrogant Gongsun Zan out of Jizhou before his eyes. Such an achievement is something that only a few of our ancestors can achieve.
After feeling very proud for a while, Yuan Shaocai said slowly: "Why did you come to see me from Julu?"
The steward of the Hu family knelt down and bowed in the tunnel: "Reporting to General Chariot and Cavalry, I have come here to deliver a secret message to Duke Ming on the order of my master. Zhang Liao, the prefect of Julu, is accumulating grains, stocking grain, and training the army, in order to harm Duke Ming."
"Humph," Yuan Shao snorted coldly and said disdainfully: "Zhang Liao is just a mere prefect of a county, what can he do?"
Seeing Yuan Shao's disapproval, the manager of the Hu family said anxiously: "My lord, you must not underestimate that Zhang Liao son. He has many soldiers and generals under his command, and a lot of money and food."
"There are many soldiers and generals, how can they compare with me," Yuan Shao interrupted displeasedly and glanced at the generals around him proudly. He had Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Qu Yi, Gao Lan and others under his command, all of whom were famous generals in Hebei. , a mere prefect dared to call himself a general with many soldiers.
"Hahaha," when his eyes glanced at him, all the generals in the hall raised their heads and laughed proudly.
The steward of the Hu family touched the sweat on his forehead. All the generals in the hall were tough-looking and tall. If he said that he was not as good as the Julu Prefect, he would be skinned on the spot. He smiled politely and said: " The Ming Dynasty ruled Jizhou, with hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of generals under its command. It was hard for Zhang Liao's son to catch up with him. However, Zhang Liao's son always had ambitions to annex Shangdang and join Zhang Yan's carving up the land of Bingzhou. If this becomes the case in the future, , it will definitely be a source of worry to Duke Ming,"
After winning two battles, Yuan Shao's morale was now at a high level. However, when he saw that the head of a small county's Cheng family repeatedly reminded him to be careful, he immediately slapped the case angrily and said: "Humph, are you here to promote the prestige of your family?" If there is nothing else to do, you can retreat quickly,"
The steward of the Hu family kowtowed repeatedly and apologized: "Ming Gong, please calm down. My master wants to offer a giant deer to Ming Gong. Here is a letter from my master. Ming Gong will know it at a glance." After that, he took out a letter.
Yuan Shao took the letter and originally just glanced at it casually, but just this glance made Yuan Shao stunned for a long time. After a while, he waved his hand and said: "You can step back and rest, and wait for my reply."
After sending away the steward of the Hu family, Yuan Shao took the letter and read it carefully again, and the civil and military officials in the account said:
"Hu Kui, the Prime Minister of Julu County, said in his letter that the imperial court has just issued an edict to appoint him as the governor of Jizhou and put him in charge of a county in Jizhou. What does the Lord think of this?" As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked. Xin commented He even blurted out: "This is happening,"
After calming down, everyone looked solemn. This Zhang Liao was really an unexpected existence. Three years ago, he was a little-known officer under Han Fu. However, in the past three years, he has been extremely active. I don’t know. Unexpectedly, he has now been worshiped by the imperial court as the governor of Jizhou, and is compared with Yuan Shao, the fourth generation and the third prince, who dominated Hebei.
The counselor Feng Ji looked disdainful and said: "My lord, this is the imperial court's plan to drive away tigers and devour wolves. I think I don't need to pay attention to it. Even if the imperial court appoints him as the governor of Jizhou, what kind of tricks can he create with just one county and two counties?"
Yuan Shao looked at Feng Ji with a smile and wondered if he could say, "Let a certain person lead an army to attack Julu by surprise. He and Quzhou Commander Xia Yang are willing to serve as internal collaborators. What do you think?"
"My lord was dismissive of the giant deer just now, why is he suddenly interested in the giant deer now," the counselor Shen Pei asked in confusion.
Counselor Xu You also added: "I also think that the most important thing now is to drive Gongsun Zan out of Jizhou. Although our army has won two battles, it is only a small victory. In fact, Gongsun Zan's main force has not suffered much losses. Currently, he has stationed 50,000 troops. Yu Juma Shui’s strength cannot be underestimated.”
Yuan Shao laughed and said, "I don't know what you think, but this time I am reluctant to refuse the great gift from Hu Kui, the county magistrate. Please read this letter first." After that, he handed over Hu Kui's letter. For everyone to see.
"The giant deer has millions of dendrobium grains stored in it. How is that possible?"
"Julu has 40,000 soldiers and horses. How can we feed so many sergeants?"
"..." After each counselor reads the letter, there will be exclamations and gasps one after another.
Seeing everyone's surprised look, Yuan Shao calmly said: "What do you think of Zhang Liao?"
"Ping has long said that Julu has many soldiers and supplies. Zhang Liao is an extraordinary person. You didn't believe it at first. What, I am not wrong," counselor Xin Ping was the first to complain. At first, he advised Yuan Shao to be careful of giants. Lu, Shen Pei Feng Ji and others all disapproved of it, which made him very unhappy under Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao had many advisers, including Shen Pei, Feng Ji, Xin Ping, Xun Chen, Xu You, Guo Tu and others. Although it had only been three years since Yuan Shao's rebellion, these people had begun to show signs of forming cliques.
Among them, Xin Ping and Xun Chen were the counselors who joined later. There was a gap between them and Shen Ping, who had been with Yuan Shao since Bohai. These colleagues took Yuan Shao seriously, so the staff in Yuan Shao's account was extremely poor. Because Yuan Tan was Yuan Shao's eldest son, Guo Tu usually only flattered Yuan Shao and got very close to the eldest son Yuan Tan.
Since Xin Ping joined Yuan Shao's tent, he has been subject to scrutiny and punishment, and he is not trusted by Yuan Shao. At this moment, Zhang Liao's strength verified what he said that day, and Xin Ping felt that he was speaking more forcefully than before.
Seeing that Yuan Shao's intention was so obvious, these counselors would naturally not disobey Yuan Shao's wishes, not to mention that they had internal support. It was indeed a good opportunity to take advantage of Julu to expand their strength. They all said:
"From this point of view, this giant deer Zhang Liao is indeed a talented person in politics. How can a mere county have such a force of food, grass and troops? If it cannot be used, it will become a nuisance to me in the future."
"Yes, one county has accumulated so many troops. I dare to say that this person must have different intentions."
"There is a severe drought this year. Our army now only has two months of food. Julu Tun has a lot of food. If it is true as Hu Man said in his letter, this is a good opportunity given to the lord by God."
"Haha, my lord, what are you thinking about? There is so much food and grass, how can we not take it? Yan Liang is willing to be the pioneer and dedicate the giant deer to the lord."
"..."
Seeing that Zhang Wenwu was so confident and determined to win, Yuan Shao was quite satisfied and nodded immediately:
"I have made up my mind. The army will rest for three days and set out to prepare for a surprise attack on Julu."