After hearing what Yuan Xi said, Yuan Shao said, "Let's not talk about whether Zhao Zilong is qualified to be compared with those people. The Yuan family today will never marry a military commander of low status."
"Military generals are not like counselors who have the support of aristocratic families. How many of them can achieve anything alone?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi defended himself by saying, "Given time, I'm sure he won't become famous all over the world."
Yuan Shao said decisively: "That has nothing to do with Yuan Xing. She is old now. I will marry her off in a year or two at most."
"If the Zhao Yun you mentioned can achieve something, at least he can conquer a state."
Yuan Xi was silent. This was obviously impossible. Any local force in Youzhou could not be dealt with in just three or two years.
But now that it had come to this, he could only say, "I'll try my best."
After hearing this, Yuan Shao showed a hint of sarcasm on his face, "I'd like to see what kind of trouble the fierce tiger of the Yuan family can stir up in Youzhou."
Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "Xi will do his best."
Yuan Shao seemed to not want to talk about this topic anymore, and said, "Let's not talk about Youzhou, what do you think about Liu Bei losing Xiapi?"
"What!" Yuan Xi was shocked, "I haven't heard of it yet!"
Zhen Mi knelt in front of Yuan Xing and bowed respectfully, "Greetings, sister."
Yuan Xing's originally melancholy face also showed a hint of smile, "Did that heartless person tell you to say that?"
"This name is more intimate. I thought he forgot about me as his sister after he was adopted."
Zhen Mi quickly said, "How could that be? My husband talks about my sister every day."
After hearing this, Yuan Xing was even happier. She held up Zhen Mi's face and looked at it carefully, saying, "I don't know what good fortune my second brother had accumulated in his previous life to marry a beautiful and sensible woman like you. I am a little envious."
"I am old now and still can't get married. I have become a laughing stock in Yecheng."
Zhen Mi said quickly, "How could that be? Sister's appearance and status are both top-notch. Could it be that the envoy loves her so much that he is too picky?"
Yuan Xing shook her head and said, "Don't mention it. You may not know that I have a very bad reputation among the nobles in Yecheng."
Zhen Mi became curious, but did not dare to ask any more questions.
It was Yuan Xing who answered her doubts, "In the past, two families proposed marriage to the Yuan family."
"As a result, when they were asking for their names, the two young scholars both got into trouble."
"One fell from a bridge into the water and became seriously ill, and the other fell down a mountain and broke his leg."
"Since then, all the great families of the century have spread the rumor that I am an unlucky person, and no one has come to propose marriage to the Yuan family."
Zhen Mi was dumbfounded. Is there such a thing?
In Yuan Shao's study, Yuan Xi learned the news that Liu Bei had lost Xia Pi and understood the cause and effect of the matter.
Yuan Xi thought that the pace of history was beginning to accelerate. Just like the downfall of Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei's loss of Xia Pi also happened earlier.
He couldn't help but sigh that the world is unpredictable. He had tried his best to keep Lu Bu away, but he didn't expect that this extremely important historical event would still happen.
But it was not lost to Lu Bu, but to Sun Ce!
He pondered for a while and said, "Xuzhou is a very important place. Would Yuan want to help Liu Yuzhou?"
Yuan Shao said, "Xuzhou is a quagmire."
"Not to mention that most of Xuzhou is plains, cavalry travels quickly, and the city is difficult to defend. Moreover, the local soldiers are mostly unruly and far less easy to control than the soldiers of Jizhou."
"Even if we take Xuzhou, we will have to allocate a large number of troops to defend it. The best option now is to rest and recuperate in Jizhou for a while, and leave the front to Cao Mengde in Yanzhou."
Yuan Xi was anxious because he had lost Xuzhou. Yuan Shao might not care, but his sea route was cut off, which meant that most of his previous plans had failed.
He said: "Cao Cao has become too powerful to be eliminated. He is slowly becoming stronger through one war after another!"
"Now he has conquered the State of Chen and occupied almost half of Yu Province, forcing Yuan Shu to settle in Yang Province and fight against Liu Yao."
"If we allow him to take Xuzhou and ally with Lu Bu in Hanoi, he will become Yuan's biggest enemy."
"The day before yesterday, Cao led his troops to sneak across the Yellow River, which was a clear proof that he was suspicious and coveted Yecheng!"
Yuan Shao said: "You are just making unfounded guesses. If Meng De is given a few more years, he will not be able to compete with our Yuan family. By then, the Yuan family will have conquered Bingzhou and occupied Sili."
"Then go south and connect with Liu Biao's territory in Jingzhou. Who else in the world can rival the Yuan family?"
Yuan Xi thought that Yuan Shao had this in mind, so he said, "Liu Biao is only good at defending the status quo, and he cannot be trusted to conquer the world."
"And the Black Mountain Army and the Xiongnu in Bingzhou are not weak."
"Xi is most worried about Cao Cao's army. They have hardly been defeated in the past year or so, which shows how strong they are. We have to be on guard against them."
Yuan Shao didn't take it seriously. "Cao Cao only relies on his family's power. My Jizhou soldiers may not be weaker than them."
"Besides, I, Jizhou, have mobilized several times, ten times as many troops as him. How can he fight against me?"
Seeing that it was difficult to persuade Yuan Shao, Yuan Xi thought that he had to think of another way. After all, Cao Cao was fighting miserably in every battle now, and it was hard to see that he had the ambition to dominate the world.
But it was probably during these desperate battles that Cao Cao's generals grew rapidly.
At this time in later generations, Cao Cao had already become a first-class military strategist. Ordinary princes could not defeat him at all. Even powerful men like Liu, Guan, and Zhang were badly beaten by Cao Cao in the early days.
But at this point in time, Liu Bei cannot be destroyed. If Liu Bei collapses, Cao Cao's power will expand rapidly.
Yuan Xi said, "But Liu Bei and the Yuan family are allies. Liu Bei is in trouble now. If the Yuan family ignores it, will it be criticized by the world?"
After hearing this, Yuan Shao thought for a while before saying, "I will first call together my advisers and ask them what they think."
In the next few days, just as Yuan Xi had expected, Yuan Shao's advisers began to argue and could not reach a consensus on whether to send troops to rescue Liu Bei.
Yuan Xi felt that the possibility of the Yuan family sending troops was very small.
It was Yuan Xi who negotiated the Yuan-Liu alliance that day. At that time, he had already been adopted, which meant that the Yuan family had no guarantor.
After Yuan Xi was adopted, Yuan Tan had achieved his goal and would not do anything extra. As for Yuan Shang, he would not help him at all and was just waiting to sabotage him.
Moreover, there is no benefit in rescuing Xuzhou. Instead, a large number of troops will be trapped in it, so naturally the advisers of both factions will not be enthusiastic.
That day, Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi returned from visiting the gentry in Yecheng and heard even more bad news from Guo Jia.
After Liu Bei lost Xia Pi, he successively joined forces with Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, intending to launch a surprise attack on Guangling City, the capital of Guangling County. However, their siege was obstructed and they could not take the city after a long time. Sun Ce took the opportunity to return his troops and defeated Liu Bei, forcing him to flee to Haixi.
Yuan Xi sighed. This time it was really hard to recover. More than half of Xuzhou was lost. If it were him, he wouldn't know how to break the deadlock.
If this were to happen, almost all of his previous plans in Xuzhou would be in vain, including the Mi family's business route.
He suddenly remembered that once Xia Pi City was lost, Liu Bei's family must have been trapped in the city, right?
Is it possible that the next step is for Mi Zhu to use all his wealth to support Liu Bei and marry Mi Zhen to Liu Bei?
In Guangling City, in the City Lord's Mansion, Sun Ce was beaming with joy, laughing loudly and saying to everyone in the hall: "Today's great victory is all thanks to your help!"
The people in the hall were the counselors and generals of this battle, and there were many famous people in Jiangdong. After hearing this, they all laughed and said, "It's all thanks to the general's bravery!"
A middle-aged man dressed as a general, with a look of admiration on his face, said: "Bofu is a fierce general of the time. With the general's help, you don't have to worry about not accomplishing great things!"
"If Bofu hadn't already been married, I would have wanted to marry my daughter to him."
After hearing this, Sun Ce smiled and said, "Mr. Qiao is so kind to me. I regret marrying so early."
Everyone laughed knowingly after hearing this.
The middle-aged man was named Qiao Rui. He had two daughters. According to him, both of them were extremely beautiful, but they were kept in seclusion and no one had ever seen them. Everyone thought he was bragging and did not take it seriously.
Qiao Rui added: "Bo Fu is indeed brave, but Gong Jin's talent is unmatched in the world."
"If it weren't for his cleverness, it would be hard for me and Brother Zhang to resist Guan Yu."
Another person heard this and said with lingering fear: "Guan Yu is indeed a fierce general of the time. I was careless and almost died under his sword."
This man's name was Zhang Xun. He and Qiao Rui were both generals of Yuan Shu. They were sent to assist Sun Ce in attacking Xuzhou.
Originally, Sun Ce went to attack Xia Pi, leaving Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun to fight against Guan Yu. The two were defeated and were at a disadvantage for a while, but then they were helped by a wise counselor.
After hearing Zhang Xun's words, everyone looked at the handsome and elegant strategist in white who was sitting upright.
Zhou Yu, Zhou Gongjin!
He is just over twenty years old this year, the same age as Sun Ce, and has known Sun Ce since childhood.
A few years ago, the two lived together in Shucheng and got to know each other. Since then, they have shared similar interests and regarded each other as confidants.
Zhou Yu came from a prominent family, while Sun Ce came from a humble background. However, Zhou Yu did not care. He not only vacated his own residence for Sun Ce to live in, but also helped him make friends with the gentry. It can be said that the relationship between the two was even better than that of brothers.
This time, Sun Ce attacked Guangling and sought help from Yuan Shu. When Zhou Yu learned about it, he came to the rescue with troops and food.
Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui also came to help at that time. Although they knew that Zhou Yu had a special status, they still looked down on him at first.
What can a young man from a noble family who has just come of age do? Don't think that fighting is just a game just because he is familiar with Sun Ce!
However, the two suffered heavy losses at the hands of Guan Yu and were on the verge of losing the city, so they had no choice but to follow Zhou Yu's strategy.
Unexpectedly, the two of them took turns to lead troops to contain the enemy, which made Guan Yu unable to defeat the enemy one by one. Even if Liu Bei and Zhang Fei led troops to join them, they were unable to capture Guangling.
Only then did they realize that Zhou Yu was a genius in military operations!
The two men persisted like this until Sun Ce led his troops back to support them. They attacked Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei from both sides and defeated the demoralized Liu Bei, forcing them to flee north to Haixi.
Zhou Yu said modestly: "Gong Jin is not talented, it is all thanks to the trust of Madam Tai that I have achieved what I have today."
Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui blushed when they heard this. When they were dissatisfied with Zhou Yu's orders, it was Sun Ce's mother, Madam Wu, who persuaded them so that Zhou Yu's plan could be implemented.
It can be said that apart from Sun Ce, Mrs. Wu, the widow of Sun Jian, is the backbone of the Sun family. She has a keen eye for talent and the ability to make final decisions.