Chapter 363: Getting Something for Nothing

Lu Bu regarded Lu Lingqi as the apple of his eye. When he first wanted to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, he hesitated for a long time. But now he heard that Yuan Xi was targeting his daughter and did not even give her the status of his legal wife. How could he not be angry?

Lu Bu's face was gloomy, "So this is your purpose!"

"You want to take my daughter away?"

He clenched his huge fist suddenly, exuding murderous aura, causing Yuan Xi, who had been beaten by masters in recent days, to suddenly suffer cardiac arrest. He subconsciously pressed down on the hilt of the knife.

Ju Shou's expression remained unchanged, and he laughed, "Marquis Wen, please listen to what I have to say."

Lu Bu glanced at the Fang Tian Huaji placed beside him. As long as he wanted, he could just raise his hand and wield the halberd to kill Ju Shou and Yuan Xi.

But the other party did not show any fear, and dared to say such words in front of him, which meant that he did not want to deceive him. He snorted coldly: "Then let me hear what excuses you have!"

"If you can't justify yourself, you'll only be afraid of the two of you today, and don't even think about leaving this tent!"

Ju Su smiled and said, "May I ask, Lord Wen, how many people can you completely trust now?"

After hearing this, Lu Bu looked embarrassed. To be honest, he really didn't!

Ju Su said, "Marquis Wen has been framed and deceived many times, so it is reasonable for him to be suspicious. However, when two parties join forces, they should avoid suspicion of each other."

"Now if Marquis Wen doesn't trust you, and you are afraid that Marquis Wen will go back on his word, and both sides are suspicious of each other, how can you achieve your goal when surrounded by powerful enemies?"

Lu Bu thought to himself that it was indeed so. He also had some self-knowledge. Having betrayed his sponsor twice, his reputation was as bad as it could be. It was impossible for Yuan Xi to not be on guard against him.

Ju Su said: "If we want long-term cooperation and mutual trust between the two sides, we must first do something to prove it to each other, but most of these things take a long time, and it is obviously too late now."

"Among the remaining options, the quickest way is naturally a marriage between the two families."

"Besides this, can Wen Hou think of any other good ideas?"

Seeing that Lu Bu was silent in deep thought, Yuan Xi also spoke up: "Wen Hou should understand that everything I did for Wen Hou was to help him succeed, and I had no intention of harming him."

"Now, the most effective way to prove my sincerity is to marry the two families together."

"If I didn't have the name of the Yuan family, I could have acknowledged Marquis Wen as my adoptive father. But if I really did that, Lord Benchu ​​would definitely suspect that I had ulterior motives."

Lu Bu thought to himself, if the two sides get married, Yuan Shao won't be suspicious of him?

But he absolutely could not accept Lu Lingqi as his concubine!

He slammed the table and said, "No matter how much you say, I won't agree to it!"

"If my daughter were to be my principal wife, I could still consider it, but making her a concubine is absolutely impossible!"

Ju Su looked at Yuan Xi, who understood and said, "Lord Wen, calm down and listen to me."

"If I divorce my wife, I will lose my credibility with the world. If I really do it, I will definitely become notorious and affect your daughter's reputation."

"But I can guarantee that the girl will receive the highest treatment after she marries him, except for the legal wife."

Lu Bu thought about it and realized that if it was really as Yuan Xi said, if Yuan Xi's wife died, Lu Lingqi would be able to become his wife legitimately, provided that Yuan Xi was telling the truth.

Seeing that Lu Bu seemed to believe it a little, Ju Shou thought that since Yuan Xi had betrayed others before, he cared more about his reputation. But in fact, there were some loopholes in what Yuan Xi said.

If Yuan Xi was really determined to divorce his wife, he could just give her a bad reputation or make her propose a divorce on her own initiative. There were countless dirty tricks used by the aristocratic families in private, and it was not as serious as Yuan Xi said.

The fact that Lu Bu believed what Yuan Xi said might have something to do with his personality, right?

Yuan Xi added: "Even if I can't give Wen Hou's daughter the status of his legal wife, compared to Wen Hou's daughter becoming someone else's legal wife, I can give Wen Hou something that no one else can give."

After hearing this, Lu Bu sneered and said, "This is so difficult to say, but in the end, what else can you give me?"

Yuan Xi said calmly: "I can adopt my offspring to carry on the Lu family's legacy."

However, Lu Bu had never thought of such a suggestion and was stunned.

Because the infant mortality rate in this world is extremely high, not to mention the common people, even many aristocratic families do not have male heirs to inherit their family businesses. This is the problem that Lu Bu is facing now.

In order to continue the family line, a family head without children would either adopt a son from a relative or take one in.

All of Lu Bu's relatives had died, but he was reluctant to adopt a son. However, he was not young anymore, and if this continued, the Lu family would have no successor.

Of course, Lu Lingqi is also of the Lu family bloodline. If she has children to inherit the Lu family business, it would naturally be the best choice. However, offspring are extremely precious to aristocratic families and will not be easily given to others for adoption. When Lu Bu married Yuan Shu, he never thought of making such a request to the other party.

Yuan Xi's promise at this time was quite attractive to Lu Bu. He hesitated for a long time, and finally said, "Who can tell the truth about this matter?"

"Not to mention the fact that it's not certain whether the baby is a boy or a girl, even if it's a boy, if my daughter becomes the legal wife in the future and wants to inherit the Yuan family business, how can I let her give up the child?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Don't worry about this, Lord Wen. I can make a promise."

"In the future, when the girl and I have children, it is up to you and the girl to decide which family they will go to."

"Even if there is no male offspring, at worst I can ask another concubine to give birth to another one and adopt him to the Lu family. How do you think?"

Ju Su thought that the young master had a good plan. His words sounded high-sounding, but were actually very cunning.

If the child was really born to a concubine, he would not be eligible to inherit Yuan Xi's property. If he was adopted by Lu Bu, he would become the head of the Lu family and inherit the property and title together. It can be said that he made a big profit.

Lu Bu usually didn't think much about these complicated things, but now when he heard it, he felt that getting an heir for free seemed to be a real bargain?

More importantly, it was too difficult for Lu Bu to find a good family for Lu Lingqi.

In this chaotic world, only the princes have the ability to protect their families. Other ordinary nobles, and even generals like Lu Bu who came from a poor family, are helpless and may die at any time.

If the lord just opens his mouth, they will lose their heads.

When the head of a family dies, his family members will inevitably suffer a miserable fate. Cao Cao killed Bian Rang and took his wife, which greatly shocked the gentry throughout the world.

When the local lords disregarded the dignity of the gentry and started killing people, the gentry were powerless to resist!

This is also why Lu Bu was so persistent in forming an alliance with Yuan Shu. After all, in his opinion, only by marrying into a prominent family like the Yuan family could Lu Lingqi be protected for life.

Now that Yuan Shu and Lu Bu had fallen out, and Lu Bu was worrying about Lu Lingqi's marriage, Yuan Xi dozed off and handed him a pillow, giving Lu Bu an unexpected choice.

Lu Bu thought that Yuan Xi was able to protect his family's safety both in terms of status and ability, and there were only a handful of people in the world who were more capable of protecting Lu Lingqi than him.

Apart from not being able to become Lu Lingqi's legal wife, he really couldn't think of a better choice at the moment!

Not only did Yuan Xi come from a prominent family, but he also demonstrated his military prowess at a young age. As the governor of a state, he successively defeated powerful enemies that even Lu Bu did not dare to claim victory over.

It can be said that Yuan Xi is already a leader among his peers, far ahead of other young scholars, and his future achievements are limitless.

Lu Bu was already somewhat tempted, but he still felt that marrying Lu Lingqi off was too hasty, so he asked, "Are you going to trick my daughter away with nothing?"

Yuan Xi understood and smiled, "In order to marry the girl, I must show my sincerity."

"After joining hands with Wen Hou to conquer Bingzhou, we all gave way to Wen Hou."

"The Gongsun family in Liaodong and the Wuhuan Chanyu Tadun are entrenched. If we can destroy them, half of Youzhou can be given to Wenhou."

"After welcoming the emperor, the two factions attacked Yuan Shu together and divided his territory equally."

"How about the above three as a betrothal gift?"

Ju Su thought that his young master was really shameless. Isn't this clearly a case of getting something for nothing?

Jizhou is now attacking the Black Mountain Army, and it is not yet known how much territory Bingzhou will be left after welcoming the emperor.

Yuan Shu is at the peak of his power, and now we are discussing dividing his territory?

Finally, let's not talk about how difficult it is to fight in Liaodong. That place is different from the fertile land in the western part of Youzhou today. It is full of swamps and mires. It may take hundreds of years to reclaim the land before it is suitable for farming. Now it is definitely a rotten land.

Sir, you really dare to say that.

Lu Bu hesitated for a rare moment. Yuan Xi had already shown enough sincerity. Although the previous wealth and food might have been a prelude to this, Lu Bu was not too disgusted after Yuan Xi's real purpose was revealed.

There is no other reason. To survive in this chaotic world, those who don't know how to plan will not be able to protect themselves and their families.

It can be said that the more thoughtful Yuan Xi is, the more likely he is to survive to the end. In comparison, Lu Bu would not let his daughter marry a simple-minded warrior who is at the mercy of others.

Why does it sound like it's talking about myself?

Seeing that Yuan Xi was confident, Lu Bu thought that this fierce tiger was indeed far superior to his peers among the younger generation, both in courage and intelligence.

He said aloud, "Let me think about it."

While Yuan Xi and Lu Bu were negotiating, a fierce battle was breaking out at the central pass of Black Mountain hundreds of miles to the north.

Yuan Shang led his troops to attack Black Mountain, and Zhang Yan sent a large army to resist. The two sides fought on the mountain roads, on the hillsides, and even in the valleys.

The terrain of Montenegro is complex and the mountain roads are narrow, which is not suitable for large-scale cavalry conflicts, so both sides in the battle are mainly composed of infantry.

This made several generals who were used to leading elite cavalry quite uncomfortable, because they had to dismount and fight on foot, and the heavy armor prevented them from playing to their strengths as military generals leading the army.

Wen Chou held up a big axe, wiped the blood off his face, and said to Zhang He beside him: "Damn it, what's the difference between us and infantry now!"

He was a strong type with a fat body, and it was much more difficult for him to walk than the agile Zhang He. After killing a few people, he felt his strength was rapidly draining away, so he had to step back and rest, which made him feel very frustrated and angry.