Chapter 331 Cat and Mouse

Yuan Xi always felt that Lu Bu was simply stupid and lacked ambition, which was why he killed his sponsor twice.

If Lu Bu had any ambition, he would have been more careful about his reputation. Even if he wanted to kill his sponsor, he would not do it himself for fear of being criticized by the world.

Just like when Sima Zhao usurped the Wei Dynasty, he also looked for Cheng Ji to be a scapegoat. How could it be reasonable for Sima Zhao to personally go into battle and kill the emperor?

The reason why the Sima family was criticized in later generations was not because they killed the emperor, but because they made the matter of killing the emperor public, which severely tore off the last fig leaf of the aristocratic families who coveted the throne and wanted to be both the emperor and the emperor.

There were so many cases of emperors being killed during the Han Dynasty. Empress Lü deposed and killed Liu Gong, Li Song killed Liu Ying, Liang Ji poisoned Emperor Zhi Liu Zhan, and Dong Zhuo poisoned Emperor Shao Liu Bian. Who of those who were ordered to do the killing died?

If the people who obey orders are killed, who will serve the master loyally in the future?

It is said that Cheng Ji's crime of killing the emperor was unforgivable, but the main cause of his death was stupidity.

It was okay to kill the emperor, but he would just be locked up in the deep palace and given a cup of poisoned wine, and there would be no evidence against him after he died.

However, Cheng Ji, as the prince's attendant, should have been the most loyal to the emperor, but he risked the world's condemnation and murdered the emperor, who was his student, in the street, completely exposing the Sima family's intentions behind the scenes. He became the only person in the Han Dynasty who was ordered to kill the emperor and was punished, and he will be infamous for all eternity.

Of course, the consequence of this incident was that people all over the world no longer believed Sima's words, so that the credibility of the imperial power in the Two Jin Dynasties was the weakest.

As I said, there are many people who do bad things, but at least they should hide their tracks and not do them openly.

The problem with Lu Bu is that he is the same as Cheng Ji. He is the one who should not do the task personally, but he did it in public and was seen by everyone in the world.

Lu Bu is in an extremely embarrassing situation now. His reputation has reached rock bottom and few people are willing to join forces with him, so he actually has very few paths to choose from.

Therefore, the reason why Yuan Xi took the risk of sending troops directly to Henei was to bet that Lu Bu would eventually have to rely on Emperor Liu Xie.

Only Liu Xie, the emperor, could help Lu Bu clear his name. As long as Liu Xie took back power, he could issue an edict to the world, saying that Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo were both traitors, and that Lu Bu acted in accordance with the emperor's orders. Only in this way could Lu Bu clear his name.

Apart from this, no other princes in the world could do it. Even if Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor and took over the world, Lu Bu would still bear the reputation of lord-killing.

So Yuan Xi bet that Lu Bu could use his brain, face the reality, and make the best choice for himself.

Of course, there is a variable, that is Chen Gong.

Chen Gong had his own ideas. He assisted Lu Bu from a different standpoint and did not actually care about Lu Bu's reputation.

In Chen Gong's opinion, since Lu Bu had betrayed his master twice, he should not feel any psychological pressure to follow the traitor Yuan Shu.

But Chen Gong overlooked one point. Lu Bu also had his face to protect. Especially when someone did something wrong, he would care more about his reputation.

After Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun finished talking about Lü Bu's psychology, Zhao Yun wanted to understand the cause and background of the whole thing. He pondered for a while and said, "I roughly understand Lü Bu's thoughts, but there is another force that may cause variables."

"Yanzhou Cao Cao should have similar thoughts. Will he join forces with Lu Bu to exclude us?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Brother, this is a good question."

"This is actually the most troublesome thing."

"But Cao Cao will monopolize power sooner or later, and then Lu Bu will be a thorn in his side."

"Before this, our forces were the weakest. We could only compromise and could not fight Cao Cao head-on. After all, we were too far away from Henei, and Cao Cao was only one Chenliu County away from Henei."

"We have to welcome the emperor before Cao Cao captures Chenliu, and then use the emperor's edict to make Cao Cao stop. This is the best way I can think of."

"In this way, there will be Chenliu as a buffer between Cao Cao and Lu Bu's territories, and it will be inconvenient for Cao Cao to directly control the emperor."

Zhao Yun heard this and said, "There is another question. Why should we welcome the emperor to Henei instead of Youzhou?"

Yuan Xi replied: "Because we can't eat it, just like Xuzhou."

"Whoever gets something that everyone in the world must fight for will inevitably face the covetousness of others. With our current strength, we can only share it with others and check and balance each other."

"Besides, we have the support of the Yuan family, so we naturally cannot get the full trust of the emperor. We can only do it in another way."

"It would be best if Lu Bu could protect the emperor alone in Hanoi, and we could get a share of the spoils, but in all likelihood, Cao Cao would not let Lu Bu do what he wants."

"So the situation I can accept is that Lu Bu, Cao Cao and us will work together to check and balance each other and serve the emperor for a few years. As for what everyone can gain from it, it depends on their own abilities."

"This is beneficial to everyone. The emperor can have a stable government, and the parties can rely on the emperor's edict to legitimately gain territory and achieve their own goals."

"Of course, this situation will definitely not be achieved through negotiations. I am sure that Zilong and Gongyu will face several extremely difficult battles. Only those who survive will be qualified to sit down and negotiate."

"The Baibo Army has become the target of public criticism for its monopoly on the emperor, and the bargaining chips each party gets will depend on how much they can snatch from the Baibo Army."

Zhao Yun listened and stared at Yuan Xi with a strange expression: "Yun still underestimated you, young master."

"Sir, this plan is not inferior to most of the strategists in the world."

"I'm afraid that when Yun and Master first met, Master was already plotting against Yun, right?"

Yuan Xi said embarrassedly: "Brother, you are going too far. You know what I mean."

After hearing this, Zhao Yun couldn't help laughing.

The two talked about dressing up for the night, and then they roughly predicted the movements of various forces that wanted to please the emperor. Finally, Zhao Yun felt relieved and clasped his fists and said, "No matter what the outcome is, Yun will do things worthy of you, worthy of my conscience, and worthy of the people of the world."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi patted Zhao Yun on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Brother Zilong, I trust you to do your job."

"I'm waiting for you to come back victorious. Then you can be my brother-in-law."

Zhao Yun didn't expect Yuan Xi to mention Yuan Xing's matter. He was stunned, but he just thought it was just a casual remark and didn't take it to heart.

At this point, the troops of Beixincheng were divided into three routes. On the upper route, Yuan Xi and Tian Yu led troops to feint and attack to lure the enemy, while in the middle route, Yan Rou led light cavalry to harass the enemy and wait for an opportunity to attack the enemy's food supply route.

Zhao Yun and Ju Su led the most elite troops in the lower lane. They seemed to attack Heishan from the south, but actually headed straight for Henei. They joined forces with Lu Bu to deal with the Baibo Army and welcome the emperor.

As for Lu Bu's idea, it depends on Qu Yi's performance.

This was a big gamble, and Yuan Xi hadn't gambled for a long time.

But the situation before him did not allow him to make a better choice. No matter how bad the Black Mountain Army was, it could only hold out for a few months. By then, Cao Cao might have already captured Chenliu and seized the emperor's carriage, leaving not even a scrap of food for Yuan Xi.

Before a war breaks out, all parties may not be prepared. It's not because they don't want to prepare, but because everyone in the world is constantly planning, and the world's situation is changing all the time. How can there be time for people to be fully prepared?

This is the case now. It is safer for Yuan Xi to wipe out the Black Mountain Army and then go to Hanoi. However, none of the parties coveting the emperor will leave Yuan Xi this window of opportunity, so Yuan Xi can only take the risk.

Since it is a risky undertaking, there are naturally risks. Not to mention Zhao Yun, Yuan Xi, who personally lured the Black Mountain Army, encountered an unexpected full-scale counterattack from the Black Mountain Army in his first battle.

He didn't expect that the entire Black Mountain Army would arrive so quickly, with so many people, and among them there was a master named Yang Feng who wanted to kill him!

Her shooting skills were extremely tricky, and Tian Yu commented that he was not as good as her. If Sun Li and Tian Yu had not tried their best to intercept her, Yuan Xi might have died!

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi sneered in his heart, you want me to die, and I want you to die too!

You give me one shot, I'll shoot you ten times, let's see who survives in the end!

He called Sun Li over and whispered something to him. Sun Li was surprised and asked, "Master, are you crazy?"

"I can't protect you alone!"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "Although we are bait, if the other side doesn't take the bait, the pressure on the middle and bottom lanes will increase greatly, which is equivalent to harming them."

"So if we have a chance, we should try to attack the Black Mountain Army's hinterland. This will attract their main force and lure Yuan Shang to take action. Only then will I have the energy to do other things."

He pointed to the distant forest, where there was faint smoke rising from the chimneys, and said, "The prerequisite for us to act with peace of mind is to get rid of this dog-skin plaster that is targeting me!"

Sun Li looked into the distance, feeling quite helpless.

The enemy is fearless.

For several days now, the Black Mountain Army on the opposite side seemed to be at odds with this side. At first, they followed us secretly, but now they simply stopped pretending and just made a fire and cooked in a swagger across a hill.

The leading female general in red often came out and pointed her gun at this side, provoking us fearlessly.

Sun Li knew that this was to put psychological pressure on his soldiers, causing them to collapse without a fight.

During the initial encounter, the female general in red fought in and out of her own army and finally escaped unscathed. Afterwards, soldiers who surrendered from the Black Mountain Army identified her as Yang Feng, one of the most powerful soldiers in the Black Mountain Army!

This puts a lot of psychological pressure on Yuan Xi's soldiers, and the opponent is taking advantage of this to slowly wear down Yuan Xi's fighting spirit!

If this continues for a few more days, I'm afraid the soldiers' morale will be worn out!

So Yuan Xi made a prompt decision and told Sun Li that he would not leave!

Right here, we had a fight with each other!

Yang Feng was sitting in the woods with his eyes closed, but a spy came to report: "Chief, they have started to cut down trees and build a camp on the other side!"

After hearing this, Yang Feng's eyes flashed with surprise. You're not running away?

Her original intention was to play like a cat teasing a mouse, chasing the enemy around, and waiting until the opponent was exhausted and had lost all fighting spirit, and then she would kill the opponent with one blow.

The situation had been developing as she had expected over the past two days. Both sides had climbed over several hills in the Taihang Mountains and were already somewhat tired. However, the elite soldiers led by Yang Feng were from the local area and were familiar with the nearby terrain, and they were obviously in better condition than the other side.

The opponent has realized that he will be dragged to death by me, so he wants to fight to the death with me?

Thinking of this, Yang Feng's eyes flashed with fighting spirit. Was he being looked down upon?

She had already learned that Tian Yu, the most skilled martial artist in the Youzhou army, did not come with her. How could the remaining young man from an aristocratic family with only mediocre martial arts skills be able to stop her?

In that case, don't blame me for being rude. I will leave your life in this black mountain!