Chapter 515: Face

The Taoist priest of Taiping Dao led Yang Feng through many twists and turns and finally arrived at a courtyard. When Yang Feng entered, he saw several guards at the door. They all looked like they had martial arts skills, so he couldn't help but look at them a few more times.

The Taoist priest saw this and explained, "These people were all from the Qingzhou Army. They are all our people."

He asked Yang Feng to sit down, and then had someone bring wine, food and meals. Yang Feng picked up a piece of bread, put it in front of his nose unnoticeably and smelled it. He found that there was a fragrance of rice flour in it, and there was no other strange smell. After taking a bite and carefully examining it, he determined that it was an ordinary bread, so he felt at ease to eat it.

The Taoist priest of the Taiping Dao saw this and raised his wine cup and said with a smile: "I didn't arrive in time, so Master Fang had to eat those unclean things. I came here to offer you wine to apologize for my sin."

Yang Feng waved his hand and said, "I don't drink. What's going on in this city?"

The Taoist priest put down his wine cup and asked, "Master Fang, you are not from Yanzhou, right?"

Yang Feng admitted generously, "I have been in Qingxu before."

The Taoist priest said happily, "Many of the fellow Taoist priests in the city are from Qingzhou now. Master Fang will come to Pengcheng, which is not a good place. I wonder if Master Fang is good at refining pills, refining qi, or preaching?"

Yang Feng knew that the other party was testing him, so he said, "I know some superficial things. Since we meet a fellow practitioner, we should exchange what we have learned."

The Taoist priest was not polite and asked some questions about the secrets of the Taiping Dao and its preaching. Yang Feng answered them one by one.

At last, the Taoist priest was impressed and bowed, "You are indeed a good teacher. I respect you."

Seeing the other party's trust, Yang Feng asked, "Why do you say Pengcheng is not allowed to come?"

"And when I entered the city, I found that the population was dwindling. Where did these people go?"

"Did they all go to the battlefield to fight?"

The Taoist priest looked around and then smiled bitterly and said, "Master, be careful with your words. This is something that cannot be discussed."

He lowered his voice and asked, "Master Fang, do you know where the west of Lu County is?"

Seeing Yang Feng shaking his head, he continued: "It's Dong'e!"

Yang Feng didn't react for a moment, and asked in confusion: "What happened to Dong'e?"

The Taoist priest sighed and said, "Master Fang has probably been living in seclusion all this time, right?"

"Years ago, the envoy and the Marquis of Wen were at war, and Yanzhou was full of flames. Finally, the food supply was exhausted. The envoy had a counselor named Cheng from Dong'e under his command, so he went back to Dong'e."

"I can't say what happened, but Dong'e City became a dead city afterwards."

"After this incident, people from Lu County fled one after another. Those who stayed behind were those who couldn't even leave and were just barely trying to survive."

Yang Feng picked up the half dog leg on the plate and said, "It seems like you guys are living well in the city?"

The Taoist priest smiled and said, "Of course we are different, because we work for the city defenders, so we can have enough food to eat."

"But apart from the people of the Taiping Dao, the others who have no one to rely on can only barely survive."

"Most people can't even eat the stale bread they had before."

"Under the current situation, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until the autumn harvest before the city dwellers can have a few full meals."

Yang Feng suddenly felt that the bread she was chewing was no longer fragrant. She chewed it hard a few times, swallowed it, and asked aloud, "How could this be?"

The Taoist priest shook his head and said, "It's all because of the war."

"All the food that can be requisitioned has been sent to the front line, so naturally there is a food shortage in the city."

Yang Feng was puzzled: "But when I was in Xuzhou, I didn't see the people living in such a difficult situation."

The Taoist priest groaned, "Master Fang, don't compare Xuzhou with here. Even I envy my fellow Taoists over there."

"If the city guards here hadn't been able to take care of us, I would have gone over there to be a spy."

Yang Feng's mind moved, "Are there a lot of spies over there?"

The Taoist priest said proudly, "Of course, we can eat double portions over there. With the money from here, we can have some extra money to preach over there."

He immediately reacted and forced a smile, saying, "These are not convenient to talk about."

"Master Fang is very knowledgeable. Would you like me to introduce him to the city guard?"

Yang Feng hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. She wanted to understand more about how Yanzhou became like this.

In Qingzhou, which borders Yanzhou, Yuan Tan was discussing with his advisers how to make an argument to Yuan Xi.

Yuan Tan said, "I did not inform Xianyi in advance of this expedition, which made me look like I was adding insult to injury. Now he has sent several letters asking me to help him attack Cao Cao. What do you think?"

Xin Ping asked curiously, "Master Xianyi didn't mention the envoy's occupation of the East Sea?"

Yuan Tan shook his head and said, "That was not mentioned."

Xin Ping was even more surprised: "Is this giving away the East China Sea? What a big deal!"

Guo Tu laughed and said, "He has a good plan. I'm afraid he wants to use this to make the envoy lose face and refuse to send troops, right?"

"Besides, the East Sea was conquered by the envoy. What does it have to do with him?"

He turned to Yuan Tan and said, "Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. There is no benefit in helping to send troops. We should not act rashly."

"Even if we send troops, we have to wait until Yuan Shu and Cao Cao are both defeated before we can take advantage of the situation and reap the benefits."

"Yuan Shu's army is now strong, and Cao Cao's army still has some strength left. It would be unwise to enter the battlefield at this time."

Yuan Tan pondered for a moment and said to a young scholar sitting beside him, "What do you think?"

The man bowed quickly and said, "I dare not interfere in your family affairs."

Yuan Tan waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

He then smiled and said, "After all, you are related to Xianyi, so you are not an outsider."

The man smiled bitterly and said, "Your Excellency's words really frighten me."

Guo Tu looked over and was secretly alert, wondering if the envoy's words were unintentional or if he had some hidden meaning?

Because the scholar who spoke was born into the Yang clan of Taishan, and was the second son of Yang Xu, the former prefect of Nanyang, named Yang Xun.

In order to win over the Yang family of Taishan, Yuan Tan recommended their sons to serve in officialdom. The current head of the family is Yang Mi, the eldest son of Yang Xu. He knew that if he did not take sides and offended Yuan Tan, the governor of Qingzhou, he would not have a good ending, so he pushed his second brother Yang Xun out to be Yuan Tan's subordinate.

Yang Xun had originally been engaged to Kong Rong's daughter, but because Kong Rong's wife and daughter were abducted twice and later rescued by Yuan Xi, rumors spread widely. As a big family, the Yang family was embarrassed, so they asked Hua Tuo to be a shield and wanted to cancel the engagement.

As a result, Hua Tuo unexpectedly found out that Kong Rong's daughter was suffering from a chronic illness. Kong Rong was straightforward and immediately agreed to cancel the engagement.

This incident became a hot topic among the gentry for a while, because the Yang family obviously did not do things in a very authentic way, so some people took the opportunity to ridicule the Yang family, causing the Yang family's reputation to be greatly damaged.

In order to calm the situation, the head of the family, Yang Mi, decided to marry Cai Zhenji, who was adopted by the Yang family, to Yang Xun, and the two got married some time ago.

This matter was actually a bit unfair. Cai Zhenji was fostered in the Yang family because Cai Yong and the Yang family were good friends. Now, marrying off their daughter without informing the elders of the Cai family seemed a bit unreasonable.

But the Yang family also had their own reasons. Cai Yong was killed, and Cai Zhenji's elder sister Cai Zhaoji was said to have been abducted by the Huns and her whereabouts were unknown. Since Cai Zhenji's family was no longer around, it seemed nothing wrong for the Yang family, who adopted her, to make the decision.

Almost at the same time, the rumor that one of Yuan Xi's concubines was actually Cai Zhaoji gradually spread among the nobles in Yecheng.

The story is very detailed and is said to have been acknowledged by Yuan Xi himself. It was spread by Yuan's descendants and is therefore highly credible.

This made the Yang family very embarrassed, because not only did this put them in the spotlight again, but it also involved another marriage.

The daughter of Xin Pi was once engaged to Yang Dan, the youngest son of the Yang family and the third brother of Yang Xu and Yang Xin. It would have been fine if it was just the matter of Cai Zhaoji and Cai Zhenji, but the marriage with the Xin family alone involved the question of taking sides.

Because Xin Pi is on Yuan Tan's side!

Now the Yang family is in a difficult situation. They had already sided with Yuan Tan, but then the incident with Cai Zhaoji happened. The key point is that they don't know what Yuan Tan is thinking!

If Yuan Tan wanted to use his relationship to win over Yuan Xi, the situation would be much simpler for the Yang family. However, Yuan Tan's relationship with Yuan Xi became strained in order to take over Donghai, which made the Yang family even more uneasy.

Not only did Yang feel guilty, but Xin Pi was even more nervous. He hinted several times that he wanted to cancel the engagement with Yang. It seemed that the retribution for Yang's previous breach of contract with the Kong family had returned to the Yang family.

The Yang family can only delay one day at a time to see if the situation will improve. After all, Xin Pi's daughter is only six years old now. Maybe the situation will change in a few years.

Yang Xin was also feeling very nervous at this time, and he did not dare to take Yuan Tan's seemingly intimate words lightly, because after spending some time together, Yang Xin had already realized that Yuan Tan was not a generous person at all!

He considered it for a while before saying, "Since Yuan Xianyi was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou by the emperor and was recognized by Yuan Jizhou, it would be best to give him an explanation for the matter of Xuzhou."

"The Yuan family's most important enemy at the moment is still Yuan Gonglu. If the two envoys quarrel now, it will only give outsiders the opportunity to take advantage."

Yuan Tan didn't know whether to accept the proposal, so he turned to Guo Tu and Xin Ping and asked, "What do you two think?"

Guo Tu smiled and said, "I think it's great."

Xin Ping heard some sarcasm in his words and thought that Yang Xin was still too naive. He did not want to smooth things over, so he answered carefully: "Whether the envoy sends troops or not, the most urgent thing is to explain it clearly to Master Xianyi."

After hearing this, Yuan Tan nodded and said, "Okay!"

He pointed at Yang Xun and said, "You will go to Guangling on my behalf and meet Xian Yi to explain this misunderstanding."

Yang Xun was a little confused, "Sir, I am a nobody and my words have no weight, I am afraid..."

Yuan Tan waved his hand and said, "I believe you will live up to your mission."

Seeing Yang Xun agree with a bitter face, Yuan Tan said: "Bring your wife along when the time comes."

"I will send a letter to Xianyi first, asking him to bring my concubine Cai Zhenji here. It will be a wonderful thing for the sisters to meet each other then."

After hearing this, Yang Xun felt uncomfortable. His wife was the sister of the other party's concubine. If this happened in the past, not only would he be inferior to the other party, but it would also affect the reputation of the Yang family!

But he was now in a difficult situation and had no choice but to obey the order.

Guo Tu saw it clearly and thought that if one does things dishonorably just to save face, he will end up losing face in the end.

Yuan Tan's move was to use the identities of Cai Zhaoji's sisters to explicitly say that Yang Xun was inferior to Yuan Xi, but in fact he was implying that Yang was just a concubine in front of Yuan Shi.