Taishi Ci and Tian Yu entered the room. Yuan Xi was talking to Guo Jia inside. When they saw them, he stood up and said, "You two have worked hard. Please take a seat."
The two men bowed to each other, sat down one by one, and began to report what had happened in the city in the past few days.
Although Guangling City was taken, the aftermath was not as smooth as Yuan Xi had expected. Both the common people and the gentry were far less cooperative than the people of Youzhou.
Most of the officials from the aristocratic families ran back home and hid. The city was in urgent need of officials. Taishi Ci and Tian Yu had been patrolling the city with troops in the past few days, but they could only barely maintain public order.
The reason why Yuan Xi dared to take action against the gentry in Youzhou was, firstly, that he had the support of the people, and secondly, that he had the support of the Yuan family. However, this experience was not useful in Xuzhou.
The local gentry in Xuzhou originally formed a separate system and had close ties with the gentry in Yangzhou. However, they were far away from the gentry in Jizhou and were not very fond of the Yuan family.
In addition, after the defeat of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, many people in Xuzhou turned from respecting Tianshi Dao to worshipping Buddhism, and the influence of Yuan Xi's prophecy here was much weaker.
Therefore, many people in Guangling city are pretending to obey but actually disobeying the order. Moreover, Guangling is located at the junction of three water systems, with developed shipping and prosperous people's livelihood. Most people are not short of food, which makes Yuan Xi feel a little at a loss when he wants to win the hearts of the people.
In the past few days, Yuan Xi gradually understood a truth: the richer the place, the less people want to fight. They just want to stay out of trouble and live their own lives.
He thought to himself, no wonder, historically, the southern regimes have had little desire for the Northern Expedition. Why fight a war if they can have enough food to eat?
Therefore, every time Sun Quan launched a northern expedition in later generations, he would return with a disastrous defeat. It cannot be said that the responsibility lies entirely with him. The Jiangdong gentry were very resistant to the northern expedition. It took Sun Quan 30 years to completely appease the Jiangdong gentry. Every time Sun Quan launched a northern expedition, he had to find ways to take money out of the gentry's pockets.
The nobles are unwilling to fight, and the soldiers are also hypocritical, so it would be strange if they could win.
On the contrary, the impoverished northern border residents had nothing to begin with, so when they saw that fighting would provide them with land to farm and food to eat, they would naturally respond enthusiastically.
Yuan Xi was in a headache. Governing Xuzhou was indeed not an easy task. He had to find a way to pry open the gap left by the Xuzhou gentry and people.
And the most troublesome thing is that the people of Xuzhou have a natural hatred towards the Yuan family.
This is all Cao Cao's fault.
Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou twice, which offended everyone in Xuzhou. Almost every household had relatives killed by Cao Cao. So whenever Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, the people of Xuzhou would fight to the death to defend the city. As Cao Cao's ally, the Yuan family was also hated.
Yuan Xi cursed in his heart, thinking that he was here to clean up Cao Cao's mess!
After listening to Taishi Ci and Tian Yu's description of the situation in the city, he asked, "What do you two think of the next step?"
Taishi Ci and Tian Yu looked at each other. Taishi Ci was now in charge of the city defense, while Tian Yu was in charge of internal affairs. Seeing Taishi Ci signaling him to speak first, Tian Yu said, "Guangling City should not be in chaos yet, but the most urgent task is to persuade the nobles who are familiar with the local situation to participate in the city affairs."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that it was indeed true. Guangling was much larger than Beixin City. There were nearly 100,000 residents in the city, and there were numerous villages and towns around it, with a population of hundreds of thousands.
In ancient times, places near large rivers with developed water systems also had developed agriculture and commerce. These were places where people gathered and cities would naturally form.
There are so many complicated things involved here that it is difficult to sort out the relationships unless you are from a family that has lived here for dozens or hundreds of years. Especially for an outsider like Yuan Xi, if he wants to get Guangling back on the right track, he really needs the gentry to work for him.
He thought for a while, then said to Tian Yu: "Send someone to look up the list of local nobles for me, and I will visit them one by one tomorrow to see if there is any chance of a turnaround."
"I will send a merchant ship back to Youzhou right now to see if we can transfer some officials and generals here. If the Xuzhou nobles are really unreliable, then we can't just sit there and wait."
When Taishi Ci saw that Tian Yu had finished speaking, he said, "I have been patrolling outside the city these days, and the farthest I have been is fifty or sixty miles away. I always feel that something is wrong."
Yuan Xi's eyes narrowed, "Brother Ziyi, what did you find?"
Taishi Ci lowered his head and said, "I can't explain it either. I always feel that it's too quiet outside the city."
"I heard that Sun Ce is a man of fiery temper, and he will never let go of any grievance. After he lost Guangling City, he must come to investigate. But I didn't even see a spy, which is not in line with his character."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi fell into deep thought and asked Guo Jia, "What do you think, sir?"
Guo Jia said, "Ziyi's words make sense."
"If Sun Ce mobilizes all his troops and attacks the city regardless of casualties, this city will be difficult to defend."
"The young master has already sent a letter to Liu Bei. If he wants to bring his wife and daughter back, he should send someone over in the next few days."
"It would be great if you could bring troops here. If our army joins forces with them, we might even be able to take down Xia Pi."
"But after all, this is all wishful thinking. In the end, the initiative still lies in your hands."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Sir, you are right. By the way," he picked up a piece of silk book, "Liu He sent a letter from the north."
"During the time we were on our way from Piaoyuyi Wharf, they conquered Quanzhou to the north, seized the large salt and iron mines between the two cities, and approached Yongnu."
When everyone heard this, they all looked happy. The salt industry made money, and the iron industry raised troops. These two were extremely important to Youzhou at the moment.
Yuan Xi added: "But this letter mentioned another thing."
"Liu He has a very high prestige among the Wuhuan and Xianbei people in Youzhou, and people keep coming to him for help."
"Among them, there is a Wuhuan who brought a message."
"The Chanyu Tadun of Liaoxi Prefecture sent an envoy to see Lord Benchu. The envoy entered Jizhou via Yuyang and met Liu He, who he wanted to introduce to him."
During the Chuping period, Chanyu Qiuliju died. His son Louban was young, and his nephew Tadun was brave and intelligent, so he was made Chanyu and led the Wuhuan tribes in the three counties of Youbeiping, Yuyang and Shanggu. All the people obeyed his orders and he was deeply supported and convinced by the tribes.
When Yuan Shao captured Yijing, although Tadun did not directly participate in the battle, he harassed Youzhou and resisted Gongsun Zan's reinforcements, and made many contributions, so he became more and more friendly with Yuan.
Tian Yu saw Yuan Xi's strange expression and asked, "Sir, are you worried about Liu He?"
Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "That's not the case. It's because Chanyu Tatun wants to form an alliance with the Yuan family."
Guo Jia had already read the letter and explained a few words. Taishi Ci and Tian Yu finally understood after hearing it.
Among the women in the Yuan clan, the oldest is Yuan Xing. Will Yuan Shao marry his daughter to her in order to make friends with Tadun?
But Yuan Xi had mentioned before that he wanted Yuan Xing to marry Zhao Yun. Wouldn't this cause some trouble?
Taishi Ci said: "Zilong should be able to see the overall situation and not sacrifice public interests for personal gain."
Yuan Xi sighed, "I know Zilong's character, so I think this matter is difficult to handle."
Guo Jia said, "The north is extremely cold. Lord Benchu will not let his own daughter suffer there, right?"
Unlike others, Yuan Xi knew that Yuan Shao in later life actually married a clan member's daughter to him, but there was no record in history about who it was.
He thought that if he worried too much, he would become confused. The Wuhuan tribe was not a place that could be troubled.
After Yuan Shao's death, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were successively defeated by Cao Cao. Yuan Shang fled to Wuhuan. Cao Cao personally led the army and, using Guo Jia's strategy, launched a surprise attack at Bailang Mountain and defeated the coalition forces of Yuan Shang and Wuhuan. Tadun was also killed by Zhang Liao.
The fate of the Yuan girl is probably not going to be any better.
However, thinking that Guo Jia, the person who proposed the strategy of conquering Wuhuan in later generations, is now his own adviser, Yuan Xi could not help but glance at Guo Jia with a strange expression.
Guo Jia noticed the gaze, looked at himself, and wondered what the young master thought of him?
Yuan Xi finally said: "I will think about these things carefully. After driving Sun Ce's army out of Xuzhou, we will rush back to Youzhou as soon as possible."
"Tomorrow, Brother Ziyi and I will go out of the city to take a look, and then decide how to deploy troops for defense next."
After everyone left, Yuan Xi walked out of the door. It was a rather large mansion, which was temporarily vacant after Sun Ce killed several troubled nobles when he entered Guangling.
The city lord's mansion had been burned down and could not be used, so Yuan Xi used this mansion and settled Zhen Mi, Cai Zhaoji, Cao Xian, Kong Rong's family, Liu Bei's wife and daughter, etc. in it.
In this way, as long as we send someone to guard this place, we can ensure everyone's safety.
As soon as he arrived in the backyard, he heard a woman's laughter.
When Yuan Xi turned the corner, he saw Zhen Mi and Kong Rong's daughter, Kong, walking with a girl of three or four years old.
Yuan Xi looked carefully and found that this was Mrs. Cai's daughter.
At this time, Mrs. Wu was standing aside with an awkward look on her face, not knowing what to do.
She was very nervous now. She thought about staying for two days and then finding a chance to slip away. However, after Zhen Mi heard about his situation, she felt quite sympathetic and insisted that she live in the same house with her.
Mrs. Wu was afraid that she would be suspected if she refused, so she had to agree. She thought that the Zhen family was far away in Jizhou and had no friendship with the Sun family, so there shouldn't be any flaws discovered, right?
As a result, she regretted this decision deeply. Later, Kong Rong's wife and daughter, and Liu Bei's wife and daughter moved in, but she still gritted her teeth and persisted.
But when she learned that Yuan Xi had two personal concubines, one was Cai Zhaoji, the daughter of the great Confucian scholar Cai Yong, and the other was Cao Xian, the daughter of the famous Yanzhou scholar Bian Rang, Mrs. Wu almost fell to the ground.
They are all women from noble families. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful I'll reveal my true identity, right?
But Zhen Mi was quite fond of her daughter and came to play with her all day long, making Mrs. Wu's life even more miserable.
When the women heard the footsteps, they looked up and saw that it was Yuan Xi coming, and they all came forward to greet him.
Zhen Mi supported the little girl and said with a smile, "Look, my husband, this child is very well behaved."
Seeing this, Yuan Xi said, "Don't cause trouble for the Madam and the girl from the Kong family."
Mrs. Wu even said she dared not. The young lady from the Kong family blushed when she heard this and said to Yuan Xi, "Madam is beautiful and kind-hearted. She takes good care of me."
She felt a little sad in her heart, thinking that the young master's wife was indeed outstanding in talent and appearance. Compared with herself, there was indeed a world of difference.
And it's okay for the wife, but why are those two concubines so powerful?
When Kong learned of the identities of Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian, she was so shocked that she was speechless. She thought that Master Yuan Xi was so bold that he dared to use the daughter of a famous scholar from an aristocratic family as his concubine!
Moreover, Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian are only higher than me, no wonder the young master only treats me as his sister!