After listening to Mrs. Du's talk about Yuan Xi's absurd behavior of taking wives and concubines, Lu Lingqi remembered that her father was the same, and wondered if all men were like this?
She said bitterly: "This man is so lustful, he and that Hidden Tiger are a perfect match!"
After hearing this, Du Shi asked curiously, "Hidden Tiger?"
"Why would the girl think of him?"
Lu Lingqi's face froze, and she said hurriedly, "Who would think of that rude person!"
"I wish I could kill him!"
Mrs. Du thought of how embarrassed Lü Lingqi was that day, so she quickly changed the subject and said, "In fact, the rumors may not be true. At that time, everyone thought that Yuan Xi had raped the mother and daughter of the Huan family. The rumors were all over the place among the nobles, saying that he had ruined the reputation of the Yuan family."
"Who knew that he would actually let the girl from the Zhen family recognize Huan as her adoptive mother? This changed the public's reputation. This shows that this fierce tiger is very scheming. He is quite different from the hidden tiger."
Lu Lingqi thought to herself what a hidden tiger, his hands and feet are so dishonest, he is almost a lewd tiger!
Lu Lingqi was not wrong in her guess, Yuan Xi was indeed very lustful, because now in his carriage, there was not only Zhen Mi, but also Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian.
Yuan Xi dozed off with his head resting on Cai Zhaoji's shoulder while Cao Xian hammered his legs.
Cai Zhaoji looked up and saw Zhen Mi looking at her curiously. She said awkwardly, "Don't blame me, Madam. The young master is just conserving his energy."
Zhen Mi saw that even when Yuan Xi was asleep, his hands were still inside Cai Zhaoji's shirt and skirt, and thought to herself that it was obvious that he had developed a habit.
She smiled and said, "I don't understand why my husband fell asleep in broad daylight."
Cai Zhaoji said: "I estimate that we have passed Nanpi of Bohai Sea now, and in another day, we will reach Piaoyuyi, which is at the junction of You and Ji."
"The troops that you sent from Zhuo County earlier are probably already attacking the city. You should be leading the troops when the time comes."
"My lord, you need to conserve your energy before going to the battlefield."
"After all, more physical strength on the battlefield means a greater chance of survival."
Zhen Mi's face slightly changed after hearing this. "Sister, have you ever seen a battlefield? Is it scary?"
Cai Zhaoji said: "When I was in Beixin City, I saw the scene after the war."
Zhen Mi asked curiously, "What does it look like?"
Cai Zhaoji heard this and sighed:
"That kind of scene, once you see it, you will never forget it."
"I hope the lady never sees that sight."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi felt a little uneasy, but when she saw that Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian seemed to be accustomed to it, she gained courage again.
They can do it, but there is no reason why I can't!
The caravan traveled for another day when spies came to report that Yuan Xi's army camp was just ahead.
Soon, Zhen Mi and the other two daughters followed Yuan Xi down from the carriage and saw dozens of riders hurrying towards them from afar.
Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci rode up on horseback, exchanged a few words, and then came over together.
When Yuan Xi saw them, he greeted them with a smile: "Brother Qu, Brother Tian!"
The ones who led the troops this time were Qu Yi and Tian Yu. They dismounted from their horses, clasped their fists and said, "Greetings, Your Excellency!"
Now that Yuan Xi is nominally the ruler of a state, both of them changed their titles.
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I think it sounds better to you, young master."
He pulled Zhen Mi over and said, "This is my new wife, Zhen."
Zhen Mi bowed to the two men and said, "Greetings, my two brothers."
The two of them hurriedly returned the greeting, and Qu Yi said with a click of the tongue: "The news of the young master's marriage has spread throughout the North. As expected, no matter what the young master does, it always makes a big fuss."
Yuan Xi laughed and said, "I don't want to do that either, but someone is bullying me too much."
He asked Zhen Mi and the other two girls to return to the carriage, and he, Qu Yi, and Tian Yu got on the horse and asked, "What was the situation in Beixin City like when you two came?"
Qu Yi said, "We assembled our troops quickly, but we stayed a few more days to wait for Ju Shou and Xu You. When they arrived to take over the affairs of Beixin City, Tian Yuji and I led the troops to join you, young master."
After Ju Shou and Xu You were granted the post of Youzhou Beijia by Yuan Shao, they set out for Beixin City to take up their posts. Without the two of them, especially Ju Shou, Yuan Xi did not dare to let Qu Yi and Tian Yu leave.
However, since Ju Shou was leading the troops in Beixin City, it should be easy for him to defend the city even if the Black Mountain Army came to attack the city again.
Yuan Xi asked again: "How is Beixincheng doing now?"
Tian Yu said, "Everything is fine, except that the remnants of Gongsun Zan once sneaked into the City Lord's Mansion."
He told her that some of Gongsun Zan's generals wanted to kidnap Hou, and said, "My lord, you are as good as a god. It turns out that the remnants of Gongsun Zan have ulterior motives."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi sneered, "They are very courageous, but they won't be able to keep going for many days."
"Once we attack from Yuyang and take over Guangyang County, we will be able to connect with Zhuo County. If we then move eastward and take over Liaoxi County, their foothold will become smaller and smaller, and they will not be able to escape."
After hearing this, Qu Yi and Tian Yu showed expressions of approval.
Gongsun Zan's army pursued a tough policy towards the Wuhuan and Xianbei in Youzhou, looting indiscriminately, which made Youzhou very unstable.
Although there were indeed many people among the Wuhuan and Xianbei who had evil intentions and robbed the Han people, most of these evildoers were in the purely nomadic tribes outside the Great Wall.
The Wuhuan and Xianbei people inside the pass still obeyed the orders of the Han court. They had lived in Youzhou for hundreds of years, leading a semi-pastoral and semi-farming life. In fact, there was not much difference between them and the local Han people.
But after Gongsun Zan occupied Youzhou, he was extremely harsh towards the people under his rule, whether they were Han people or Wuhuan and Xianbei, which led to resentment among the people.
Moreover, Gongsun Zan was on good terms with the Southern Xiongnu, while the Southern Xiongnu and the Wuhuan and Xianbei were sworn enemies. Gongsun Zan's actions favored the Southern Xiongnu, which greatly caused dissatisfaction among the Wuhuan and Xianbei.
Later, after Liu Yu came to power, he pursued a relaxed policy towards the people, allowing the country to recuperate and restore the economy. For a time, his prestige far exceeded that of Gongsun Zan, causing Gongsun Zan to be very suspicious of him, which was the source of their future split.
Therefore, in Yuan Xi's opinion, although Gongsun Zan was very capable in some aspects, he was terrible at uniting the people and made enemies everywhere, which led to the fact that in the end, except for his soldiers, everyone in the world was his enemy. In this respect, he was somewhat similar to Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo also loved his soldiers like his own sons, and even allowed his soldiers to plunder civilians, kill men, and abduct women.
But the question is, the soldiers are satisfied, but what about the people who were harmed by them?
Therefore, Yuan Xi was very vigilant. He could not indulge soldiers without principles just because he needed to rely on them to fight. Soldiers without bottom line and principles were just large-scale bandits.
Yuan Xi said to the two men, "I may not be able to wait until Piaoyu is conquered. I have other plans."
After hearing this, Qu Yi and Tian Yu's expressions became serious. They knew that Yuan Xi would not do meaningless things for no reason.
Yuan Xi came closer and whispered a few words. After listening, Qu Yi and Tian Yu thought that the young master's ideas were really wild and unconventional.
Yuan Xi finally said, "But we can't delay in Yuyang. I remember Brother Guo Rang took a boat before?"
Tian Yu nodded and said, "I trained the navy in Qingzhou and have some knowledge of water."
Yuan Xi was delighted to hear this. Taishi Ci and Tian Yu were both good at naval battles, so they were considered to be compound talents. Things became much more stable afterwards.
He said decisively: "I will call Zilong and Ziyi to rearrange the next action."
After a cup of tea, all the generals gathered in the tent.
Yuan Xi ordered Sun Li to take out the map of Youzhou and hang it up. He pointed at the city of Piaoyu and said, "I want to know how long it will take to capture this city and how many troops are needed?"
The generals discussed for a while and looked at Guo Jia at the same time.
Guo Jia was not polite either. He stood up and said, "Although Piaoyu is a small city, the city wall is about ten feet high. We must use weapons, and the defenders in the city don't have to sit and wait for death."
"If we attack by force, the situation will be hard to predict and there will definitely be a lot of casualties."
"But if there is some variation, it will be much easier."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi asked, "What is the variable?"
Guo Jia looked at Liu He, "The variable is Bo'an (Liu He) Beijia."
"If Brother Bo'an persuades the city to surrender in the name of Marquis Liu, the morale of the remnants of Gongsun Zan in the city will surely be greatly reduced."
"And you have protected Gongsun Zan's family. If you promise to forgive them if they surrender, I believe they will be uneasy."
"Of course, these alone may not be enough to convince those die-hards."
"So our army must put forward conditions while using fighting as a substitute for negotiation, and set a time limit for the city."
"If the defenders surrender within three days, they can save their lives, and even the generals can keep their official positions."
"But if it exceeds three days, the leading general must be executed, and whoever obtains the general's head, whether a soldier or a civilian, can obtain his official position or a reward equivalent to it."
"In this way, even if we can't take down Piaoyuyi within three days, it won't take more than ten days."
After hearing this, everyone nodded. Guo Jia's plan was extremely vicious. In addition, Yuan Xi came with the victory over the Black Mountain Army and Gongsun Zan, so the defenders in the city could not remain at ease.
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "What if we take over Piaoyu?"
Guo Jia said: "We can use the same strategy to attack Quanzhou City and Yongnu in the north of Piaoyu. As long as we take down these three cities, the southern part of Yuyang County can be firmly controlled by us."
"After that, we will be able to form a pincer attack on Ji County in Guangyang County, and the food supply route from Beixin City to here will also be guaranteed."
"If we take Ji County, the adjacent Yuyang County seat, Yuyang City, will become an isolated city."
"Even if we can't take it down, as long as we block it in the southwest of Yuyang and take down the two cities of Le'an and Hunu, the remnants of Gongsun Zan inside will have no choice but to flee to Liaoxi."
"Of course, things may not go so smoothly. If we can't finish the harvest in the months before and after the Chinese New Year, and it is delayed until the spring ploughing next year, it will be a bit troublesome."
Yuan Xi did not answer, but turned to Liu He and said, "Brother Bo'an, what do you think?"
Liu He said: "Mr. Fengxiao's idea is very good, and I already understand it."
Yuan Xi said decisively: "Okay, please ask Brother Bo'an to take over the position of military supervisor temporarily. I will send Dezhou and Zilong with 4,000 soldiers to help you. Follow Mr. Fengxiao's idea just now to attack the city."
"But I will take the most elite 1,000 soldiers and horses with me and go to the port east of Piaoyu in the next two days."
Those who had not yet reacted were all stunned. The eastern seaport had been captured by Zhao Yun and his men earlier. The Zhen family fleet, which had dozens of large ships, had transported a large amount of food and fodder from Jizhou and was anchored at the dock.
What are you doing at the harbor at this time?
Only Guo Jia showed a smile on his face.
Yuan Xi said, "I will not only take all my family members with me, but also Fengxiao, Ziyi, and Guorang."
"Except for those of us present here, no one else may be informed of this matter!"