Chapter 64: Reality and Falsehood

Yuan Shang's eyes darted around, and he chuckled, "If Second Brother wants to be an official in Ji Province and marry a woman from the Zhen family, it might have some impact."

At that time, the Han court's official appointments had a system of avoiding local places of origin; from the Inspector and Prefect down to the County Commandant and Chief Clerk, none could be local people.

By the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was the "Three Mutual System."

Its clauses were extremely cumbersome, but simply put, there were two main points.

First, an official's registered residence could not be local, and even their wife's family being local was not allowed.

Just like Cao Cao was from Pei State, Yu Province, but his place of rising and early activities was Yan Province, and Yuan Shao was from Runan, Yu Province, but went to Ji Province.

Second, there was inter-regional avoidance; if a Jing Province person became the Inspector of Yang Province, and a Yang Province person became the Inspector of Yi Province, then the Yi Province person could not be the Inspector of either Yang Province or Jing Province, with the three provinces mutually avoiding each other in a cycle.

Especially the second point, combined with the first, made it very difficult to find officials for many provinces.

This certainly had the advantage of preventing the formation of local cliques, but it also led to many drawbacks.

The important horse-producing and armor-producing regions of You Province and Ji Province in the north had long-vacant official positions that were not filled because there were too few qualified people, to the extent that only people from these two provinces could be selected.

But now that the world is in great chaos, and the Han Dynasty is declining, after the lords occupied various provinces, they also promoted some local gentry to take office; anyway, the heavens are high and the emperor is far away, and no one has time to care about these things.

However, for the Yuan family, as a model of the gentry, they still had to put on a show on the surface.

Yuan Shang's implied meaning was extremely vicious; if Yuan Xi wanted to marry Zhen Mi, he would inevitably have to give up his official position in Ji Province and quickly leave Ji Province after the marriage.

If Yuan Xi didn't marry Zhen Mi, it would show that he had other ideas; you just said you agreed, are you going to go back on your word in public?

Here, Yuan Shang played a clever trick, turning the extremely normal matter of Yuan Xi marrying under Yuan Shao's orders into a dilemma for Yuan Xi, where whatever he said would be inappropriate.

After Yuan Xi understood Yuan Shang's intentions, he thought to himself that this third brother of his could often achieve several goals with one plan, no wonder Yuan Tan would have a headache.

However, what Yuan Shang didn't know was that Yuan Xi had no interest in Ji Province at all.

At least, that's how it was at the moment.

Yuan Xi smiled slightly and said to Yuan Shang, "What Third Brother said is true, after I get married this time according to Father's orders, I will leave Ji Province and return to You Province."

"After all, Gongsun Zan's strength is still there in You Province."

"I came back this time to ask Father to borrow five thousand soldiers and horses to attack Gongsun Zan with all my strength."

Yuan Shang's expression froze, and he rarely remained silent.

After listening, Yuan Shao said to Madam Liu, "You go out first."

After only the three of them, father and sons, were left in the room, Yuan Shao slowly opened his mouth.

"Now it's already September, the weather is getting colder, if we want to send troops, we have to wait until next year."

"Moreover, after the Rebellion of Ye City, our Yuan family has been attacking the Black Mountain Army, and the conditions for sending troops are not yet ripe."

He said to Yuan Shang, "Xianyi has been away from Ji Province for three years and doesn't understand the situation here, you explain it to him."

Yuan Shang hurriedly said, "Yes."

He turned to Yuan Xi and said solemnly, "Now is not the best time to destroy Gongsun Zan."

"First, Qing Province is not settled, if we send troops north from Ji Province, the grain supply lines will be close to Qing Province, making it extremely easy for Tian Kai, Kong Rong, and others to send troops to harass us."

"Second, the rear is not stable; Cao Cao of Yan Province is confronting Yuan Shu of Yu Province and Tao Qian of Xu Province; if they can't hold on, the situation in our Ji Province will also be greatly affected."

"Third, Gongsun Zan is trapped in Yijing; Liu Yu's 100,000-strong army was still defeated by him; if our Yuan family wants to destroy him, we must mobilize all the troops of Ji Province; if we can't conquer him after a long siege, it will inevitably damage our army's vitality and slow down our Yuan family's process of dominating the world."

"Therefore, to destroy Gongsun Zan, we must first pacify Qing Province and stabilize Xu Province; these are several things that must be managed, and Second Brother can't accomplish it with just a few thousand soldiers and horses."

After listening, Yuan Shao nodded slightly and said, "Xianyi has done a good job in Beixin City these three years, but in terms of the overall situation, he is still somewhat lacking compared to Xianfu."

Yuan Xi had to admit that Yuan Shang was not an idiot; with so many strategists behind him offering advice, the words he spoke could hit the nail on the head.

However, his goal was not You Province in the first place; now he was just bargaining, retreating in order to advance.

He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Please enlighten me, Third Brother, if You Province is not easy to conquer in one battle, where is the best breakthrough point next?"

Yuan Shang smiled and said, "Naturally, it's Qing Province."

"This place is not peaceful, and You Province and Xu Province are difficult to attack."

"But now is not the right time to send troops either; Tao Qian of Xu Province is on good terms with Tian Kai and Kong Rong of Qing Province; now that Xu Province's strength is not weak, it will not be easy to conquer if we rashly send troops."

After listening, Yuan Shao also nodded slightly.

However, what Yuan Xi said next shocked both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shang.

"This condition will soon be met."

"That's why I came back."

He cleared his throat, "Some time ago, I met an extraordinary person who told me that there should be changes in Xu Province and Yan Province soon."

After listening, Yuan Shang sneered, "How could Second Brother believe the lies of such wandering fortune-tellers!"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Rather believe it exists than believe it doesn't."

"Anyway, mobilizing troops in advance is easy for Ji Province, why not try it?"

Yuan Shang frowned and said, "Although Second Brother has fought battles in Beixin City, mobilizing a few hundred soldiers and a few thousand or tens of thousands of soldiers and horses is completely different!"

Yuan Shang was very puzzled and a little guilty.

His elder brother Yuan Tan went to Beixin City, and looking at Yuan Xi's appearance, he was probably already aware that he had tampered with the grain and provisions in Beixin City.

Why didn't he complain in front of his father?

Although Yuan Shang had already thought of countermeasures, he was not completely sure; it was naturally best if Yuan Xi didn't say it.

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Beixin City does have only a few hundred soldiers, but when defending the city, the whole city was mobilized, and there were also several thousand people on the city walls."

He turned to Yuan Shao, "Father, your son has a request."

"If there are changes in Xu Province, please lend me a great general and five hundred soldiers and horses to stir up the situation in Xu Province."

"If, in the end, Xu Province and Yan Province are really unable to take care of themselves, then how about Father give me two thousand soldiers and horses?"

This was a gamble within a gamble, Yuan Xi's favorite game of getting something for nothing.

Yuan Shang thought to himself that his second brother was really naive; speaking without any evidence, how could his father agree to this extremely absurd proposal?

To Yuan Shang's shock, Yuan Shao actually nodded and said, "Yes."

Yuan Xi smiled.

Going around and around with Yuan Shang, wasting so much breath, was actually all for Yuan Shao's benefit.

His reliance was the bet he made privately with Yuan Shao when he left Ye City that day.

Yuan Xi said one sentence at the time, which Yuan Shao didn't believe at all.

"Within two years, there will be a rebellion in Ye City, and the person behind it is Cao Cao."

After Yuan Xi finished speaking, he said that if this sentence did not come true, he would never return to Ye City.

However, if it did come true, Yuan Shao would have to agree to one of his conditions.

Yuan Shao only thought that Yuan Xi was saying this out of spite; he didn't expect that the Rebellion of Ye City would really happen!

While Yuan Shao was shocked, his trust in Yuan Xi invisibly increased a lot.

The more Yuan Shao thought about it, the more likely it seemed; when the two were young, Cao Cao had tricked him when they were vying for a bride, and although this matter had passed for many years, Yuan Shao still had lingering shadows in his heart.

Cao Mengde, this person, is just a pitfall!

However, Yuan Xi had never seen a conclusion in later generations as to who the mastermind behind the Rebellion of Ye City was.

He simply wanted to put this pot of excrement on Cao Cao's head.