Hearing that Zhen Mi was also going to go, Yuan Xi said with a smile: "Tancheng is not that dangerous, but what if Liu Bei really turns hostile and arrests the two of us?"
After hearing this, Zhen Mi said, "My husband has been detained. What does it matter whether I am in Guangling or Tancheng?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "That's true, but we should be careful. Tancheng has been in turmoil, so there may be remnants of Yuan Shu."
"If they want to destroy the relationship between me and Liu Bei, they might target you."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi showed a trace of worry on her face: "I didn't think about these things. I was thinking about going to vent my husband's anger."
Yuan Xi asked in confusion: "What are you venting?"
Zhen Mi said angrily, "I heard that there are rumors that my husband is extremely lustful. I don't know who has ulterior motives and wants to ruin my husband's reputation."
"I have been married to you for quite some time. Apart from Sister Zhaoji, I'm afraid you haven't had any contact with other women, right?"
"This rumor is too abominable!"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, you are wrong, I am just too busy and don't have the time to do it.
Zhen Mi continued, "I want to follow my husband to Tancheng and let the Xuzhou nobles see that my husband is not a casual person who can be favored by all women."
"If you want to seduce your husband, you have to be at least as qualified as a concubine, right?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, my standards are not that high, I'm really not picky about food.
He naturally wouldn't dare to speak out his true feelings, so he said, "If you want to go, go ahead. Anyway, I won't be staying in Tancheng for long, so you might as well go and take a look."
"It's almost the end of the year. Once we have settled things over there, we will return to Guangling, make arrangements, and then take a ship north. Whether we return to Yecheng or Beixincheng, we should be able to catch up with the New Year."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi nodded slightly.
At this time in Danyang County, Yangzhou, Sun Ce looked towards the north of the Yangtze River, holding tightly onto the thick wooden railing in front of him. The railing, which was as thick as a bowl, actually had cracks on it.
Zhou Yu's voice came from behind: "Bofu, we need to be patient and conquer our own territory at the moment."
"When the situation changes in the future, we will be able to occupy a corner of Jiangdong, and then we can march north and capture Xuzhou."
Sun Ce turned around suddenly, a fierce look flashed in his eyes, "Gongjin, do you think there will be such a day?"
Zhou Yu said in a deep voice: "I will definitely do it."
Sun Ce's eyes were filled with a cold light, "Then Gongjin, do you think that we are under Yuan Gonglu's command, and how can we accomplish anything if he is so cautious?"
This time he occupied Xia Pi, but was ordered by Yuan Shu to give it up, resulting in failure. He was extremely dissatisfied.
Seeing that no one was around, Zhou Yu whispered, "Bofu, Yuan Gonglu has great ambitions but little talent, and is not a wise leader."
"Nowadays, there are millions of households in Nanyang, but the governor is extravagant and lustful, and collects taxes without limit. The people suffer from this. He has hundreds of concubines, all of whom wear silk and silk and eat rice and meat. How can such a person achieve hegemony?"
Sun Ce heard this and said angrily, "This man doesn't know how to reward or punish. I have already done so much for him. He promised me the position of prefect twice before, but he broke his promise each time. Now he uses the excuse that I lost Guangling to give the position of prefect of Lujiang to his cronies again!"
Zhou Yu whispered: "Bofu, only by enduring the humiliation for a moment can you be brave enough to fight for the rest of your life."
"Yuan Gonglu has long had a rebellious heart, and he will definitely cause trouble. As long as Bofu waits quietly for the opportunity, he will be able to soar to the sky!"
After hearing this, the cold light in Sun Ce's eyes turned into a blazing flame. He tightly grasped Zhou Yu's hand and said, "My future great undertakings all depend on Gongjin!"
Zhou Yu was also full of enthusiasm: "Bofu, if you give us twenty years, no one in the world will be our rival!"
Sun Ce laughed out loud: "Gongjin is still modest!"
"In just ten years, I can dominate Jiangdong and look north to the Central Plains!"
Zhou Yu also looked towards Jiangbei, thinking that what Sun Ce said was not impossible.
The world is in chaos now, and many heroes have emerged. Although Yuan Shu occupies Jiangdong, he is not a good person and is not to be feared. On the contrary, Liu Bei's residence in Xuzhou is like raising a tiger, and he may pose a much greater threat in the future.
Not to mention Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, neither of them is easy to deal with. Now that Bofu is far away from the Central Plains, a place of trouble, it may not be a bad thing.
Especially Xuzhou, whoever eats it will choke, and that fierce tiger of the Yuan family
Thinking of this, Zhou Yu became alert. He heard that Yuan Xi was only in his early twenties, the same age as Sun Ce and himself, and did not have many soldiers under his command. However, after a fight, he actually used a trick to make Sun Ce and himself suffer a great loss. Even Mrs. Wu's whereabouts were unknown.
This great humiliation must be repaid with interest!
In Tancheng, Xuzhou, Yuan Xi, who was recorded in Zhou Yu's little notebook, was unaware of the resentment coming from hundreds of miles away, but even if he knew, he would not care.
There are many people who dislike him, such as the one at the city gate, Zhang Fei, who was obviously dragged here by Liu Bei to greet him unwillingly.
Yuan Xi dismounted from his horse, clasped his fists towards Liu, Guan, and Zhang, and said, "Greetings to all of you."
Liu Bei hurriedly returned the greeting and said, "My lord, I will never forget your kindness in helping me."
The two men walked into the city gate hand in hand. Zhang Fei blew his beard and glared at them from behind. Seeing this, Guan Yu whispered, "Third brother, what are you doing?"
"Then how did Yuan Xi offend you?"
Zhang Fei said sullenly: "I don't know why, but I feel that he is not a good person!"
"Look, he has no beard at all, just like a piece of meat with only lean meat, tasteless!"
Guan Yu was helpless, thinking that his third brother was using the pork theory to judge people again, so he said: "Yuan Xi persuaded Yuan Tan to help my eldest brother take back Xuzhou, so we must owe him a favor."
Zhang Fei heard this and became even more angry, "What love?"
"The last time he came to Xuzhou to negotiate terms with Big Brother, we didn't get much advantage!"
"Moreover, the alliance between Yuan and Liu, mutual assistance, was originally a condition for currying favor. As a result, Yuan sent troops, which seemed to be a great favor to us. I heard that Big Brother also wants to cede Xuzhou?"
"I don't accept it!"
Guan Yu thought to himself that his third brother was not stupid. He had changed his mind. If he thought about it carefully, Zhang Fei's words were indeed correct.
But the eldest brother had no other choice at that time and could only offer to divide Xuzhou equally. Moreover, if Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi did not take action, no matter whether Xuzhou fell into the hands of Cao Cao or Yuan Shu, the three brothers would no longer have a place to stand.
Thinking of this, Guan Yu said to Zhang Fei: "Brother, how can you not understand these words?"
"Now is the best time to make friends with the Yuan family. We can't make enemies everywhere. Have you forgotten how you lost Tancheng?"
Zhang Fei was immediately discouraged when he heard this, and could only say sullenly: "I'll listen to my second brother this time."
Yuan Xi walked into Liu Bei's residence and saw that Yuan Tan had already arrived. He hurried over and bowed, "Greetings, brother."
Yuan Tan returned the greeting and said, "This time, thanks to my second brother's planning and personal visit to the dangerous place, we were able to seize Guangling from the fierce tiger of Jiangdong. It can be said that we snatched food from the tiger's mouth."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "My brother was the one who made the final decision. My one or two thousand men are just the icing on the cake."
The two brothers were flattering each other, but Liu Bei knew very well that these two Yuan brothers were actually hinting at how to put forward the conditions.
That day, Liu Bei asked Yuan for help and promised to divide Xuzhou equally with whoever could lift the siege of Xuzhou. Now, there are three parties sitting at the table. How to divide it equally?
Moreover, Yuan Tan had hinted the day before that he was busy with affairs in Qingzhou, and would immediately start three-party negotiations as soon as Yuan Xi arrived. This clearly meant that he would not give himself the opportunity to delay and bargain.
Liu Bei gritted his teeth and thought to himself, just give it up, I can't defend it anyway!
The three parties sat down, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then got straight to the point. Liu Bei said straight to the point: "I promised at the time that whoever could save Xuzhou would share the governance with him equally."
"Now that we have been saved by the two of you, I have decided to give two counties from each of the six counties of Xuzhou to the two envoys."
"The two counties of Langya and Donghai are given to Master Xiansi."
"The two counties of Xia Pi and Guang Ling are given to Master Xian Yi."
"I will stay in Pengcheng and Dongguan counties for my own residence."
"What do you two gentlemen think?"
When Liu Bei made this statement, Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi had not yet expressed their opinions, and all the officials under Liu Bei looked at each other in dismay.
Isn't this the worst case scenario they had imagined?
How can we talk when Liu Bei has lowered the bottom line so low right from the start?
Moreover, among the six counties, Pengcheng and Dongguan have the smallest territories. This is not just giving up half of Xuzhou, it is almost giving up all of it!
Yuan Xi glanced at Yuan Tan and thought that no matter whether Liu Bei's words were true or false, at least he had made a gesture, and there was a sense of cutting one's own flesh to entertain the guests.
This sugar is sweet, but poisonous.
Especially since Xia Pi County was the seat of Xuzhou. On the surface, Liu Bei even gave the title of the lord of Xuzhou to Yuan Xi. The sacrifice was indeed huge.
But Yuan Xi knew very well that there was Cao Cao to the west of Xia Pi and Yuan Shu to the south. No matter how many troops he had, they were not enough. Why would he take over Pi when he had nothing better to do?
Yuan Xi made a gesture to Yuan Tan, but the other party shook his head, indicating that Yuan Xi should speak first.
Yuan Xi thought for a moment and said, "Lord Xuande's words really embarrass me."
"Even if Lord Xuande dares to give, I dare not accept it."
"If you really do this, wouldn't you be taking advantage of others' misfortune?"
He paused, "Since Lord Xuande has legitimately obtained Xuzhou, of course Lord Xuande is still the lord of Xuzhou, so I dare not take Xiapi."
After hearing this, Liu Bei's subordinates immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
If Yuan Xi really had the audacity to ask for the two counties, they would have nothing to say. After all, Liu Bei had already spoken, so how could they oppose their lord?
Yuan Xi added: "As for Guangling, to be honest with you, I would like to take charge of it on behalf of Lord Xuande."
"Xuzhou is a place that has been through many battles and is coveted by others, especially Yuan Shu in the south, who may attack from the navy at any time. It is difficult to defend it by land alone."
"It just so happens that I have merchant ships in Youzhou that can serve as navy to assist in the defense of Youzhou. It will also be convenient to transfer troops from Youzhou when the time comes."
Liu Bei felt ashamed when he heard this and said, "Your Excellency only took one county. This is a noble and upright person. I feel ashamed of this."
When Liu Bei's subordinates heard this, they all praised him: "Master Xianyi is so virtuous that we bow down to him!"
For a while, the hall was filled with flattering praises.
Yuan Xi smiled, thinking that these officials were not fools, they were flattering him so that he would not regret it.
He raised his hand slightly and said to everyone: "Xi occupies Guangling, but he is not familiar with the people's customs. He is afraid that there will be chaos in the local area."
"So I dare to borrow someone from Lord Xuande."