Chapter 376: Stretched to the limit

In Anyi, Hedong, Liu Xie racked his brains, thinking about how to make the most of the power in his hands to achieve his goals, and constantly learned lessons and grew from setbacks.

In Henei, adjacent to Hedong, Yuan Xi had similar troubles. He felt that his current situation was not much better than Liu Xie's.

Because of his insufficient strength, he has almost played all the cards in his hand.

He placed Tian Yu and Guo Jia on the northern route of the Black Mountain Army to block Zhang Yan's entry into Youzhou.

He placed Yan Rou's cavalry near Changshan County to prevent the Black Mountain cavalry from moving north from Jizhou and cutting off his food supply route to Youzhou.

Zhao Yun and Ju Su led their most elite troops to welcome the emperor, hoping to seize the opportunity to seize this piece of fat meat from the surveillance of Cao Cao, Li Jue, Baibo Army and other forces.

All the external forces that could be used were used. In order to gain merit, Yuan Shang was leading Wen Chou, Zhang He, and Zhang Yan to fight to the death, and the situation was stuck in a stalemate.

Yuan Xi himself stayed alone in Huaicheng to help stop the approaching army of Yuan Shu to prevent Lu Bu's hometown from being raided.

Oh, I'm not alone, I have a subordinate, Hua Tuo.

Yuan Xi almost wanted to throw the tea bowl in his hand. Isn't this the same as not having it?

Hua Tuo, who was doing the Five Animal Exercises, sneezed and wondered why he caught a cold, as he had always been in good health.

Thinking of this, he quickly took out a small pill from the gourd at his waist and swallowed it.

Yuan Xi was a little annoyed, Gao Shun didn't drink, and Zhang Liao, who was the most sociable, followed him out of the city. Judging from later history, the remaining eight generals of Lu Bu might have already defected to Cao Cao.

Although Yuan Xi didn't know whether these generals had secretly betrayed Lu Bu, he obviously couldn't trust them.

The only breakthrough is still Gao Shun!

Without Gao Shun, even if Yan agreed to kill Wei Xu, it would be useless, because the military power of the Xianzhen Camp is now in the hands of Wei Xu. Even though Yan is the mistress of the Lu family, she cannot make the Xianzhen Camp defect with just a few words.

The main reason why Yuan Xi went to persuade Yan was to find someone to endorse him afterwards.

If the problem of Wei Xu is not resolved, it will be impossible to obtain the military power of the Xianzhen Camp. Without the Xianzhen Camp, there is a high probability that something will go wrong when facing Yuan Shu.

After all, if Wei Xu really wanted to side with Cao Cao, he could simply order the Xianzhen Camp to go into battle and kill him. In this way, regardless of whether he was defeated by Yuan Shu or not, Lu Bu would be seriously injured, and Cao Cao could easily turn around and seize Huaicheng.

Yuan Xi calculated in his mind that according to the report from the spies, in another five or six days, Yuan Shu's army would be able to approach to within a few hundred miles south of Huaicheng.

He still had hundreds of soldiers, and Lu Bu's troops in Huaicheng still had thousands of them after the rebellion. It was impossible to defeat Yuan Shu's tens of thousands of troops relying on these people, so in the end he would probably have to wait for Lu Bu to come back for help.

Since he has no cards in his hand, he can only create cards out of thin air. To this end, Yuan Xi has to try his best to persuade all those who may send troops, but no one knows whether he can succeed.

The situation in the world changed too quickly. Cao Cao's sudden move to welcome the emperor in advance did not leave Yuan Xi much time. When things came one after another, he could only take advantage of the situation. If he was left behind, he would get nothing.

Yuan Xi thought about it, then took Sun Li out and headed towards Gao Shun's mansion.

Yecheng.

Yuan Shao summoned his advisers and said to them, "I have summoned you all today because Xianyi has received a letter requesting Jizhou to send troops to help."

Although they were said to be many counselors, they were not all present. Ju Su went to Youzhou, Guo Tu, Xin Pi and Yuan Tan went to Qingzhou, Pang Ji and Yuan Shang went to Heishan, and Shen Pei came back to mobilize troops, so only Xun Chen, Tian Feng and Shen Pei were present, less than half of the eight counselors.

Xun Chen heard Yuan Xi's letter and laughed, "Master Xianyi is probably trying to compete with Master Xianfu for the first credit for attacking the Black Mountain Army?"

"He doesn't think he can out-compete Master Xianfu, does he?"

Yuan Shao shook his head and said, "No, he said in the letter that he was responsible for resisting the Black Mountain Army's northward advance. As for the credit for defeating the Black Mountain Army, he had no intention of competing for it."

All the counselors were stunned.

There is no other reason. Although Yuan Xi appears to be quite respectful to the Yuan family, he has shown a strong expansionist nature in recent years. Can such a person easily give up the key territory of Heishan?

Tian Feng heard this and laughed, "Isn't it possible that Xu Ziyuan was holding Master Xianyi back in Youzhou?"

Shen Pei looked at him sideways. Tian Feng had a bad temper and was dissatisfied with Xu You's family who often took advantage of the situation, so he often disparaged Xu You openly or secretly.

Shen Pei actually had the same idea. He attached great importance to laws and regulations, so he disliked Xu You even more. However, he and Xu You were now on Yuan Shang's side, so he would never say bad things about Xu You in such an occasion.

What's more important is that Xu You and Yuan Shao have been friends for many years. Tian Feng's actions were intended to disgust Yuan Shao intentionally or unintentionally. How could Yuan Shao be happy?

Shen Pei knew that Tian Feng was determined to go against Yuan Shao. The main reason was that Tian Feng had previously tended to establish the eldest son as the heir. Now that Yuan Shang was in power, Tian Feng's mentality was unbalanced, so he often acted in a weird way, both openly and secretly.

He was also sure that Yuan Shao valued his reputation among the gentry and felt that Yuan Shao would not do anything to him, so he was so fearless.

Shen Pei sneered in his heart. Tian Feng still didn't understand. If it were him, he would never go against the trend. There was a reason why Yuan Shao chose Yuan Shang!

He had seen the signs long ago and had lined up in advance. In his opinion, if those who supported Yuan Tan did not turn back soon, no one knew what would happen to them in the future!

Shen Pei actually looked down on several counselors who were more famous than him. In his opinion, those people, including Tian Feng, only saw that Yuan Tan was good at fighting and was the eldest son, so he was more qualified than Yuan Shang. Yuan Shao's decision to depose the eldest son and enthronize the youngest son was really a way to bring disaster.

Only Shen Pei guessed 70% of Yuan Shao's thoughts. Yuan Shao chose Yuan Shang because Yuan Shang was the person most like Yuan Shao, from appearance to personality!

The most important thing is that although Yuan Shang targeted his two brothers everywhere and they were engaged in internal fighting all day long, which big family doesn't have internal fighting?

It was Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi who also did a lot of similar things, right?

As the heir to a family, especially one like Yuan who has ambitions to rule the world, the heir must be good at maintaining the status quo rather than expanding territory.

Matters like conquering territory can be left to counselors and generals. As for the lord, it is always necessary to be generous and tolerant, at least that is what Yuan Shao thought.

Regardless of whether Yuan Shao's idea was right or wrong, after all, Yuan Shao himself was too lenient in governing his subordinates. However, this idea was also to prevent family infighting from becoming uncontrollable.

In this regard, although Yuan Shang did some shameful things against his two brothers, in Shen Pei's opinion, he did not touch Yuan Shao's bottom line.

Threatening the lives of family members.

In this regard, Yuan Shang did not cross the line. He did everything he should do. Although he did not do it well and was mixed with some ulterior motives, it was still within the allowable bottom line.

But Yuan Tan was different.

Many of the things he did in private were actually excessive, and these things had long been heard by Yuan Shao through his spies, which was why he became more and more inclined towards Yuan Shang.

As Yuan Shang's counselor, Shen Pei naturally knew the inside story of these matters, but he would never tell Tian Feng. The two of them were not close friends, and Tian Feng was stubborn and often did not give Shen Pei face. He was even happy to see Tian Feng suffer a setback.

As Shen Pei had expected, after hearing what Tian Feng said, Yuan Shao looked displeased and said, "You have done a great job in Youzhou. You have dispatched money, food, and troops without any mistakes. Xianyi praised him several times in his letter to me."

Tian Feng choked. He was a little confused. Didn't Yuan Xi kill Xu You's nephews?

Why, from what Yuan Shao said, it seemed like the two had reconciled?

What's going on?

Xun Chen smiled and said, "Master Xianyi, are you asking Jizhou to send more troops to wipe out the Black Mountain Army as soon as possible?"

Yuan Shao shook his head and said, "Not really."

He picked up a secret letter and said, "This was sent by Xianyi in Hanoi more than ten days ago."

When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. Hanoi?

Wasn't Yuan Xi fighting Zhang Yan in Heishan?

Yuan Shao said slowly: "The letter said that Cao Cao has secretly passed through Jizhou and went to Henei to seize the emperor!"

"If he gets the emperor, he will gradually get out of Yuan's control, so we can't let him succeed!"

Tian Feng laughed and said, "I knew Cao Cao had bad intentions!"

"When Jizhou provided Cao Cao with money, food, and troops, he refused to obey orders. It was obvious that he had other intentions!"

"Master Xianyi's suggestion is very good. We should send troops to cut off their retreat and force them to hand over the emperor!"

Yuan Shao ignored Tian Feng's words and continued, "The letter also said that Yuan Shu is also approaching Hanoi and is very likely to join forces with Cao Cao!"

When these words came out, everyone was shocked, and Xun Chen blurted out: "Impossible!"

"There is no way Cao Mengde and Yuan Gonglu will end up together!"

"What's more, if it's really as you said, Cao Mengde went to welcome the emperor, while Yuan Gonglu wanted to establish himself. Their goals are completely different!"

Tian Feng also looked surprised. He actually agreed with Xun Chen's words. How could Cao Cao and Yuan Shu get together?

It's as ridiculous as two male ducks laying eggs together!

Seeing this, Yuan Shao continued to throw out the third piece of news that shocked everyone.

"Xian Yi said that he has joined forces with Lu Bu to stop Yuan Shu!"

As soon as these words came out, Xun Chen's face changed drastically, and he said in a lost voice: "Isn't this a betrayal of the Yuan family?"

"You know, Lu Bu is Yuan's mortal enemy!"

Tian Feng listened and said slowly: "I don't believe that Master Xianyi would betray you."

"He certainly has his reasons for doing this."

Shen Pei shook his head and said, "Lü Bu is a fickle villain. If we join forces with him, aren't you afraid of being killed?"

Yuan Shao added: "Xianyi said in his letter that he is willing to guarantee with his life and property that Lü Bu is reliable this time."

"Xian Yi is currently in Huaicheng trying to stop Yuan Shu's army of tens of thousands, and he said his life is in danger."

"But this time, Yuan Shu's army only has a few generals including Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui, and the most troublesome Sun Ce did not come."

"Xianyi said that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If these tens of thousands of people are annihilated, Yuan Shu will be seriously injured and will not be able to compete with Jizhou for several years!"

After hearing this, everyone was quite moved. They were all counselors, so they naturally knew that what Yuan Xi said was true.

As long as we send troops to defeat Yuan Shu, we can also cut off Cao Cao's retreat. In this way, no matter whether the opponent joins forces or not, they will not be able to achieve their goal!

And if that is true, we can also open up a passage to Sili and connect with the territory of Liu Biao, our ally in Jingzhou!

Tian Feng was the first to say, "This is indeed a rare opportunity. I agree to send troops!"

Everyone was complaining in their hearts, everyone knew that you disliked Cao Cao, so of course they would agree to anything that could strike a blow against Cao Cao!

Several counselors discussed the matter, and except for Xun Chen who was hesitant to speak, most of them agreed with Tian Feng's opinion.

Yuan Shao said: "Xianyi specifically pointed out in his letter that he had worked with Zhang He in the past and admired him very much, so he wanted Zhang He to lead his troops to help him this time."

Everyone thought that Yuan Xi's move was really disgusting. Putting it forward so openly, would Zhang He still be able to work under Yuan Shang in the future?

How vicious!