Chapter 505 Dilemma

The content of the Han court's edict did not surprise Ju Su and Lu Xun. It did not mention the conflict in Xuzhou at all. It only vaguely said that all parties should put the overall situation first and make sure to defeat Yuan Shu.

Yuan Xi threw the imperial edict on the table with a sneer, and paced back and forth in the room in annoyance. Although this was the most comprehensive approach for the Han court, if Yuan Xi was in Liu Xie's position, he would probably also choose this kind of compromise approach.

But for Yuan Xi today, this is unacceptable.

Since the court gave him the position of Governor of Xuzhou, he was forced to take on the responsibility of protecting the people of Xuzhou. There must be an explanation for Cao Cao's surprise attack on Xuzhou.

Moreover, given the current situation, no matter how stupid Yuan Xi is, he will not take action against Yuan Shu first.

Cao Cao occupied Xia Pi, and according to his style, he would most likely lead Yuan Shu's army towards Guangling, so Yuan Xi had already asked Taishi Ci to return to Guangling to prepare to deal with Yuan Shu's army.

Now Tangyi, located on the southwestern border of Guangling County, directly borders Jiujiang County of Yangzhou and is directly exposed to the attack range of Yuan Shu's army. The local soldiers of Xuzhou are poorly trained and the soldiers defending the city have been rotated several times.

With Yuan Xi's current strength, he can only adopt a defensive posture until the issue of Xia Pi is completely resolved.

Liu Bei's whereabouts were unknown, Cao Cao and Yuan Xi were at odds, and Sun Ce kept his troops on hold. As a result, the anti-Yuan coalition forces each had their own ulterior motives, and the initiative returned to Yuan Shu's army.

As a result, the pressure on Lu Bu as he traveled south from Sili increased sharply. It was said that Yuan Shu intended to transfer troops to Yingchuan. If Lu Bu was defeated, the coalition forces against Yuan would probably never have another chance.

Yuan Xi, Ju Shou and Lu Xun discussed for a long time but could not think of any good way to break the impasse, so they could only wait and see.

But doing so would be tantamount to selling out Lu Bu, and Yuan Xi did not dare to tell Lu Lingqi too much, because now he had to be responsible for the millions of people and soldiers under his rule, and it was no longer the time when he could act casually with just a few hundred soldiers.

Yuan Xi considered several methods, including using Cao Song in Yecheng to threaten Cao Cao, or abandoning Guangling and returning to Jizhou to directly attack Yanzhou, or sending people to assassinate Cao Cao, but either the feasibility was too low or the risk was too high, and he was persuaded by Ju Shou and Lu Xun.

Yuan Xi discovered that deep down, he was still inclined to take risks, but the higher his position became, the more he felt the helplessness of the heavy burden on his shoulders.

Now he has to take all aspects into consideration and act more conservatively, otherwise a wrong decision may cause disaster to hundreds of thousands of people under his rule.

Yuan Xi sighed and looked at the gloomy weather outside the window. He felt increasingly unhappy as he thought about how he couldn't find his direction and was stuck with a bunch of things in Haixi City.

The situation in Haixi City was far more troublesome than Yuan Xi had imagined.

One reason is that a large number of people fled here, and the city was unable to accommodate so many people, so they could only disperse the people to the surrounding villages and towns as much as possible.

The second reason is that the people of Xia Pi fled to Guangling, and the sudden increase in population put a lot of pressure on the food supply. This is equivalent to using the food reserves of Guangling County to feed the population of Xia Pi and Guangling counties. This is not a good thing for the upcoming spring plowing and summer planting.

In addition, Yuan Xi also had to give priority to supplying rations to the soldiers to deal with foreign enemies. This would increase the food gap, forcing him to only mobilize food from Youzhou for emergency response.

On the contrary, Cao Cao, who occupied Xia Pi, had an easier life than Yuan Xi. Many of his people had already fled, and Cao's army adopted some extremely drastic means to collect grain, which not only ensured the food supply for his own soldiers, but also forced a large number of people to flee to Guangling for refuge, adding more pressure to Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi suspected that Cao Cao might have done it on purpose, but Yuan Xi couldn't use this trick on the people under his rule. He couldn't just drive the people under his rule to Xia Pi, right?

He suddenly thought of a saying: If a person has no shame, he will be invincible.

The fight for the world is a life-and-death process. Yuan Xi chose a more difficult path and had no choice but to move forward.

Third, many of the fleeing people collapsed due to their weak bodies, which aggravated the consumption of the cities in Guangling.

In ancient times, migration was a very dangerous thing for people.

Because this not only means that food rations cannot be guaranteed during the journey, but the harsh environment of sleeping in the open air also makes it very easy for people to fall ill. They will also encounter various unpredictable dangers, such as wild beasts, bandits, and robbers, which will take the lives of the people.

During the several major migrations during the Three Kingdoms period in later generations, it was normal for more than half of the people to die. If they were not forced to do so, who would be willing to leave their homeland?

This is the case now. Xia Pi was captured, and the people had to trek for more than half a month to reach Guangling. Countless people died along the way, and because of this, they were weak and suffered from many diseases. Yuan Xi had to recruit doctors and do his best to treat them.

Cao Cao launched a surprise attack on Guangling, and Liu Bei, who could have been a strong aid, disappeared. Both of these completely disrupted Yuan Xi's plan.

Yuan Xi's original plan was to join forces with Liu Bei, advance on two fronts to penetrate into Yuan Shu's heartland, and then let Liu Bei occupy Yuzhou.

In this way, he and Liu Bei could form a cornerstone to threaten Cao Cao's rear. Even if the Battle of Guandu broke out, Yuan Xi and Liu Bei could attack Cao Cao's hometown at any time.

However, it is not known whether Cao Cao keenly sensed the danger or had other purposes, but he did not choose to attack Yuan Shu via Yingchuan, but secretly passed through Chencang and mobilized the main force to Taishan County. He successfully launched a surprise attack in one fell swoop, not only driving away Liu Bei, but also occupying Xia Pi, thus thwarting Yuan Xi's plan in advance.

Yuan Xi let out a long sigh. He had to admire Cao Cao. He was indeed an extremely difficult and most dangerous opponent!

The last problem he had to face was to stabilize the cities in Guangling, especially the situation in big cities like Haixi.

Previously, because of Zuo Rong, Buddhism rose in Xuzhou and competed with Taoism. Several battles broke out between the two sides, both openly and secretly, and both sides suffered heavy losses.

There was an element of Yuan Xi's deliberate indulgence in this, but as the situation evolved, Yuan Xi learned from Chen Deng's letter that he actually did not have control over the situation underneath the undercurrent.

Some forces are hidden very deeply, just like the night in Qucheng when the Mi family merchant ship was destroyed. Yuan Xi couldn't imagine what he would do if he encountered such a situation?

He was certain that Reese's forces were also hidden in Haixi, and it was most likely the Taiping Dao forces that Cao Cao had intervened in!

Yuan Xi became uneasy when he thought that Cao Cao had planted such a group of people under his nose, but it was difficult to find these people because the Taiping Dao was a secret society and it was difficult to infiltrate it.

Taishi Ci did know some of the secrets of the Taiping Dao many years ago, but with the passage of time, these secret codes had long been changed.

But this problem must be faced. Either control it or eliminate it. Otherwise, who knows when these people will suddenly appear and stab you in the back?

In order to thoroughly understand the details of Xuzhou Taiping Dao, Yuan Xi first thought of Yang Feng. Only she, as the saint of Taiping Dao, could catch these hidden people.

But the problem is that Yang Feng will never help Yuan Xi deal with the Taiping Dao.

Until a few days ago, a Taiping Dao alchemist was caught in the city by chance. After interrogation, he confessed that he was indeed planning some plans that were detrimental to Yuan Xi's subordinates and family.

The cause was the rumor that Yuan Xi had killed the Holy Maiden of Taiping Dao, which made him the enemy of Taiping Dao throughout the world.

Yuan Xi naturally knew that this was referring to Yang Feng, so Yuan Xi immediately sent a letter to bring Yang Feng, who was still undergoing labor education in Youzhou, to Haixi, in an attempt to clear up this misunderstanding.

For this reason, he could only make a deal with Yang Feng. As for whether the other party would agree or not, Yuan Xi had no idea.

He turned his head and looked at the couch. Lu Lingqi was still sleeping soundly, and he couldn't help feeling apologetic.

Now that there were no generals in the city, he and Lu Lingqi had to patrol the camp separately, one during the day and the other at night. As a result, when they came back these days, they always saw the other sleeping.

He walked to the couch and gently tucked the quilt into Lu Lingqi's arms. Lu Lingqi's current performance was already beyond Yuan Xi's expectations.

When Lu Lingqi first said that she wanted to join the war, Yuan Xi didn't take it seriously. No matter how good a woman is at fighting, can she face endless fighting all day long and persist like a man?

But in the past few months, Lu Lingqi has impressed Yuan Xi. Whether it is killing enemies on the battlefield or daily patrols, she has done an excellent job.

I'm afraid that Lu Lingqi has the positive and negative pressures from a father like Lu Bu, which forces her to perform her best in order to restore the family's reputation?

Thinking of his troublesome father-in-law, Yuan Xi sighed. Lu Bu was really not suitable for such a high position, but they were family after all, and he could only try his best to help him.

He tiptoed downstairs and into a room on the first floor. Mrs. Du, wearing a very slim-fitting long gown with curved hems, was sitting at the door doing needlework.

She heard some noise on the stairs and subconsciously raised her head. She was startled by Yuan Xi coming down and the needle in her hand pierced her finger.

Seeing Mrs. Du putting her slender white fingers on the corners of her lips and pursing them, looking at him with a hint of resentment, shame, and helplessness in her eyes, coupled with her extremely charming face, Yuan Xi began to feel eager.

He stared at Mrs. Du's waist, which was slender and slim, but also had extremely dazzling curves in the upper and lower directions.

Among the women Yuan Xi met, the one with the perfect figure, besides Zhen Mi, was Madam Du.

He and Lu Lingqi had been busy with their own things for the past half month and had hardly seen each other, so the fire in Yuan Xi's body had long been unable to be suppressed. He was also depressed by the tedious chores and just wanted to vent, so he tiptoed into the house and closed the door.

Mrs. Du's eyes showed a little panic. She picked up the half-embroidered undershirt in her hand and covered her chest with it. Her face was hot. She lowered her head and said, "Sir, please respect yourself. Madam is still upstairs."

Yuan Xi looked down from above. Madam Du's swan-like slender neck was faintly emitting a white sheen. He said softly, "She is soundly asleep."

As soon as these words were spoken, Mrs. Du's hand on her chest began to tremble slightly, and the fingers that were pinching half of the clothes looked a little white because of the force.

After a moment, she slowly put her hand down as if she had made up her mind.

With her slender and delicate hands, she gently placed the inner garment on the table at the side, then slowly lifted it up, stretched out a finger, reached into the high collar, and slowly opened a tiny gap.