Chapter 309 Preparation for Departure

Yuan Xi was surprised by Yuan Shu's decision to send troops to Henei.

This made him smell something unusual, and he intuitively felt that Hanoi County was about to be caught in the vortex of the storm. This made the previous plan unable to keep up with the pace, and Yuan Xi became anxious.

Now that spring plowing is over, Jicheng is back on track and starting to operate as the center of Youzhou. However, if something unexpected happens, we can't just wait for the summer harvest and we must take action against the Black Mountain Army early.

Yuan Xi and Guo Jia discussed it and decided to attack the bridgehead of the Black Mountain Army, which was still located in Beixincheng.

Beixincheng and Jicheng are more than 200 miles apart. A lot of food has been stored in advance. Going south, you can enter Zhending, Changshan, Jizhou, which is an important pass for the Black Mountain Army to go out of the mountains to the north.

After several years of construction, the city defense of Beixin City is much more stable than that of Jicheng. By stationing troops there, they can prevent the Black Mountain Army from leaving the mountains.

At Guo Jia's suggestion, the families of the soldiers were moved to Jicheng. This was to imitate the practice of Yecheng. Placing the families in a large city in the rear, especially a county seat, could help stabilize the morale of the army.

Because the families of the governors and provincial governors were mostly located within the government seat, the soldiers' idea was simple: the city where the family of the governor of a state lived would certainly be defended and protected with all their heart, so that their own families in the same city would also be safer.

Of course, the premise is that Yecheng will not be ambushed by Black Mountain bandits.

So who to find to take charge is also a big problem.

Yuan Xi thought about it again and again, and directly told Guo Jia a name.

Liu He.

Guo Jia listened and nodded, "I can't think of anyone more suitable than him."

"He is the only one in Guangyang who can suppress the forces in several counties including Yuyang and Shanggu."

"But this is a big gamble, sir. If he has other intentions, won't your family be in danger?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "If that's the case, I'll accept it."

"Besides, what I have to do right now is to welcome the emperor. If Liu He tries to trip me up at this time, it means he covets the throne. If he really had the guts to do it, his father would have done it long ago."

Guo Jia nodded slightly: "At the same time, we must guard against Chanyu Tadun. Although you sent someone to send him a letter to talk, he has not replied yet, which shows that he has a lot of ideas."

"I'm afraid he has already surrendered to Yuan Shang wholeheartedly and thinks you are useless."

"It doesn't matter," Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "My original intention was just to delay him."

"Once the matter in Hanoi is resolved, I will have a good talk with him."

"He's not stupid. There's no benefit in sending troops to attack me at this time, but we still have to take precautions."

"I will send a letter to Xian Yufu of Fox Slave, asking him to station troops near Shanhaiguan in Youbeiping to block the enemy's route into the pass."

After hearing this, Guo Jia showed approval on his face. In his opinion, Yuan Xi had made great progress in the past two years.

At the beginning, Yuan Xi always asked Guo Jia some strange questions, which made Guo Jia very annoyed.

But gradually, Guo Jia discovered that Yuan Xi's strategy and tactics had made obvious progress. Even without Guo Jia's reminders, there were fewer loopholes in his considerations.

Guo Jia felt a little regretful. Yuan Xi was destined to be the lord. Otherwise, if he had learned from him since childhood, he would have become a qualified strategist.

Thinking of this, Guo Jia thought that he was too greedy. How could it be so easy to find a disciple who could inherit all he had learned throughout his life?

Seeing that the discussion had almost reached noon, Yuan Xi asked Guo Jia to go back and rest. At the same time, he ordered all the subordinates to gather in the afternoon to discuss and prepare for war by sending troops to Montenegro.

He left the official residence and returned home with Sun Li. On the way, he saw refugees wearing Black Mountain costumes walking on the street in groups of three or four.

The attire of the Montenegrin refugees and the local residents is quite different, and they can be recognized almost at a glance. The local residents mostly wear sheepskin coats for winter, but there are fewer livestock in the Montenegrin area, so they mostly use hemp and hemp. The holes between the clothes are very large, and when the cold wind blows, people shiver.

Yuan Xi saw this and said to Sun Li, "Jicheng is in urgent need of manpower, and the refugees need to have their clothes guaranteed. If they cannot afford to buy them, we can give them credit like we did with food."

After hearing this, Sun Li took out a charcoal pencil from his bosom and wrote down Yuan Xi's words on a piece of silk.

Yuan Xi saw that Sun Li was writing very seriously even on horseback, so he couldn't help but smile and said, "You have made great progress, have you practiced calligraphy regularly?"

Sun Li touched his head and laughed embarrassedly, "Some time ago, when I was writing, it might be because my handwriting was too bad. Madam Zhao Ji saw it and taught me the tricks of writing. After I went back and practiced for a few months, I found that it was indeed much better."

As the two were talking, a group of students in uniform walked by on the street. They were talking loudly and arguing with each other until their ears turned red, refusing to give in.

Seeing their high-spirited appearance, Yuan Xi felt as if he had returned to his college days in his previous life, but those days would never come back.

He recalled that after graduation, his lofty ideals were shattered by cruel reality, and he lived in a daze for a while.

When he was feeling most depressed, he would run back to the school where he used to study during his rare holidays, sit on the curb, hug his knees, and watch people coming and going.

Looking at the younger classmates who were dressed brightly and beautifully, full of youthful vitality, and had not yet faced the troubles of society and life, walking by with smiles on their faces, Yuan Xi felt as if he had stolen a bit of youthful breath and moistened his dry heart a little.

The noisy voices of the students brought him back to reality from his memories. Yuan Xi heard that they were not only arguing about classics, but also talking about farming, medicine, and even forging, with some complaints in between.

The reason for this is that if they want to achieve something from the charity school and get qualified evaluation, they must write three essays. If they are in different fields, they will get extra points.

At first the students did not take it seriously, but when the assessment officials took out the standards of the 100,000 Whys that Yuan Xi had compiled earlier, they were dumbfounded.

Only then did they realize that blindly studying was not enough, as many answers could not be found in books. They needed to get involved and do it themselves in order to find the answers.

Therefore, scholars with bitter faces often appeared in the fields in the mountains, mills and blacksmith shops. They would farm and hammer the crops while writing something in books.

Of course, whether one can finally graduate from the charity school and be awarded an official position that satisfies him depends on both the evaluation of his literary criticism and actual performance.

This kind of assessment, which is full of malice and resentment from future generations, was naturally thought up by the conscienceless Yuan Xi.

Thinking of being able to inflict the mental torture that condensed the wisdom of future generations thousands of years later on his ancestors, Yuan Xi felt extremely proud and couldn't help laughing.

Sun Li looked at Yuan Xi, whose face was filled with evil, and thought that the young master seemed to have encountered a lot of difficulties recently. Could it be that he was driven crazy?

When Yuan Xi returned home, Zhen Mi and others had already asked someone to prepare food for him.

The two of them sat down side by side in tacit understanding. Zhen Mi scooped a bowl of wheat rice from the copper dish and handed it to Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi was also hungry, so he took the rice and took a bite. He said curiously, "Hey, the taste of this rice seems to be different from before."

Zhen Mi pursed her lips and smiled: "I added something to the rice."

Yuan Xi asked further and found out that when Zhen Mi was leaving the city, she encountered a sour wild fruit. Later, she tried to add it to the rice, and it turned out to be quite compatible with the sweet aroma of the rice.

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Madam was a girl from a rich family before, so I'm afraid she never thought about these things. But after marrying me, she did a lot of things by herself, so I'm afraid she suffered a lot."

Zhen Mi glanced at Yuan Xi and said, "Isn't this what my husband likes?"

"My husband has told others many times that those who are lazy, do not know the difference between grains, and can do things themselves but force others to do things are all parasites."

Yuan Xi was sweating, "Did you hear that? This is not about you."

Zhen Mi's eyes curved again, "It's all the same, didn't my husband do the same thing?"

She lowered her voice and said, "Let's not talk about anything else. Many of the wives of the princes who are ambitious for the world are quite simple."

"I heard that Cao Mengde's wives and concubines all lived a simple life, wearing coarse linen clothes and eating mixed grains, and rarely had meat."

Yuan Xi said indifferently: "That may be a lifestyle habit. Cao Cao himself did not live such a simple life. The food he ate was..."

He suddenly realized, "Where did you hear that, madam?"

Zhen Mi was startled: "There are some Taiping Dao women in the city who often come to the mansion to help with needlework. They are all from poor families and have a hard life. I let them do some work to help them."

"I heard about Cao Mengde from them."

Yuan Xi fell into deep thought, wondering if the Taiping Dao was still promoting Cao Cao's deeds?

Right under your nose?

This should not be intentional, otherwise he would not be so blatant. However, the more this is the case, the more it shows that Cao Cao's reputation in Taoism has spread to Youzhou.

He shook his head and thought that he would have to investigate the affairs of Taiping Dao carefully later. He was really worried about the fact that this thing was in the hands of other people.

Seeing Yuan Xi looking out the window with a heavy heart, Zhen Mi misunderstood what he meant and said softly, "Mrs. Wu needs to nourish her body these days. I have asked the kitchen staff to prepare some nourishing food for her. Do you want to ask her to come over and eat with us?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "It's okay. After we finish eating, I will go see her alone."

Yuan Xi thought that he would be leading his troops out soon and he didn't know when he would be able to come back, so he cherished the time he spent alone with Zhen Mi.

Zhen Mi asked, "When will my husband leave?"

Yuan Xi replied: "In the next few days, I will lead the troops to Beixin City to deploy defenses."

"Just live here peacefully. After all, Jicheng is the rear area and is much safer than Beixincheng."

After hearing this, Zhen Mi said softly, "Then I will wait for my husband to return victoriously."

She suddenly remembered something and raised her lips, "I remember that my husband promised the people of Beixin City that he would show them his bride, right?"

"My husband has broken his promise."

Yuan Xi was very angry. How could he have forgotten about this?

Now that the war is about to begin, we can only wait until the Black Mountain Army is defeated and the area around Zhuo County where Pingding Beixin City is located.

Seeing Yuan Xi's embarrassment, Zhen Mi added another critical strike, "My husband has arrived at Beixin City. Please give my regards to the Marquis' wife on my behalf."

"I heard that your husband bravely rescued General Gongsun's wife from a high tower, but then left her alone in Beixin City for more than half a year. I'm afraid this is not the right way to treat a guest."

Yuan Xi almost spit out the food in his mouth, "How do you know so much?"

Then he suddenly realized, "Tian Yu and the others are not that boring. It must be that kid Sun Li. I'm going to settle the score with him!"

Zhen Mi cried out in regret, "I was wrong. If my husband had taught him a lesson, he would never have dared to tell me anything in the future!"

The two looked at each other and laughed happily at the same time.