There were thick clouds piled up in the sky, and the icy cold wind had stopped howling, but there was an indescribable oppression, and the sounds between heaven and earth seemed to disappear at this moment.

When Guo Tu left Wuyi, it was this kind of weather, a heavy snow was about to fall, originally this kind of weather was not suitable for hurrying, but now for him or Yuan Tan, time is very important, he is running around these days, or openly or secretly recruiting some people, Xu You's strategy is too risky, in Guo Tu's opinion, the so-called next policy is the real best policy, but it needs to be modified, especially Xu You's sudden disappearance, which makes Guo Tu feel a little uneasy in his heart.

Yuan Xi doesn't need to pay attention to it, as long as the situation in Jizhou is stable, Yuan Xi can't make any waves, but Xu You's words are not all wrong, this battle must be resolved quickly, if it is delayed for too long, it will inevitably be taken advantage of by Cao Cao and Chen Mo, and Jizhou's foundation will not be guaranteed.

If Cao Cao sends troops, he will unite with Chen Mo to contain Cao Cao, and then cede the Daijun and Shanggu areas to Chen Mo, although the land is lost, but the foundation of Jizhou can be preserved.

As long as Jizhou is taken, the eldest prince will work hard for a few years, and sit and watch the two tigers in the Central Plains fight, and he will not be able to regain the lost territory.

There was a cold touch on his cheeks, and Guo Tu looked up, and snowflakes had begun to fall in the sky.

"Good snow!" Guo Tu seemed to think of something, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately returned to the carriage and urged the coachman to drive away.

The carriage slowly disappeared into the snow curtain that gradually filled the heavens and the earth.

The atmosphere in Jizhou was also like this weather, which became depressing with Xu You's departure.

Yecheng, Xiangfu.

"Lord, it has been found that Xu Ziyuan crossed the Yellow River before the tenth day, and his family members crossed the Yellow River, and they are missing." Feng Ji looked at Yuan Shang, who had a somewhat gloomy face, sighed in his heart, and bowed down.

"What a master!" Yuan Shang snorted angrily, quite annoyed by Xu You's willful departure, to say that he didn't do anything wrong, the Xu family has become more and more rampant this year, he punished Xu You's son, and he also acted in accordance with the law, but Xu You just turned his face and left, which made Yuan Shang feel very unhappy.

Feng Ji was also a little embarrassed, he didn't expect Xu You to leave so simply, how important Xu You was, but he was the key person to maintain the balance of Yingchuan and Jizhou officials, with him, he could also persuade Yingchuan scholars not to mess around, but without Xu You, the eldest prince has been secretly transferring troops recently, which has made the situation in Jizhou, which has been stabilized fall into chaos again.

Guo Tu has been lobbying around recently, and they are not blind, how can they not know? Although Yuan Tan promised to surrender, he did not remove the military power, so that there is today's disaster.

Woe to you!

Feng Ji and Xian Pei now regret that they had gone too far with Xu You, even if they cleaned up his son, but their attitude should be gentle, and in the end, Xu You walked away like a betrayal, which made them become a little passive now.

Feng Ji looked at Xun Chen, Xu You left, on his side, Xun Chen was the only one who could have a relationship with the Yingchuan scholars, and couldn't help but speak: "Youruo, I don't know what the situation should be now?" ”

Yuan Shang's side, now it is basically the Jizhou scholars who are in charge, as the Yingchuan scholars, although Yuan Shang is quite respectful to Xun Chen, but the Jizhou scholars, intentionally or unintentionally, still exclude him from the circle, and Xun Chen rarely speaks on weekdays, and now he asks each other, which is somewhat embarrassing.

Xun Chen was a little speechless when he heard this, you forced people away, now ask me what to do? How to do it.

Yuan Shang also looked at it expectantly, Xun Chen naturally couldn't really say that, after a moment of silence, he looked at Yuan Shang and said: "Prime Minister, now is not the time to pursue the past, Ziyuan persuaded the eldest prince at the beginning, and now Ziyuan is leaving, the intention of the eldest prince to move troops is already clear, at this time, Mo said that it is below, even if Ziyuan comes back, it may not be able to persuade, between the ministers, at this time, can only use thunderous means to quickly extinguish the trouble of the eldest prince is the best policy, the longer the day drags on, Chen Mo and Cao Cao will inevitably raise troops to get involved in Jizhou, Then the situation will be out of control. ”

Yuan Tan is brave, Yuan Shang is steady, if the two brothers can join forces, it will be difficult for Chen Mo and Cao Cao to get involved in Jizhou, but now that the two brothers are fighting, the result is ......

Losing both sides may be a luxury.

Of course, if Yuan Shang can completely destroy Yuan Tan in a short period of time, the Yuan family still has hope to continue to sit in Jizhou, as for how short this short time is, it depends on how fast Chen Mo and Cao Cao react, Xun Chen can be sure that although these two people seem to be busy with their own things now, in fact, they are staring at Jizhou like two hungry wolves, and there is not much time left for Yuan Shang.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Xu You is the culprit who caused the decline of the Yuan family, as soon as he left, the situation of the previous business completely collapsed, but if you trace back to the source, it is still the problem of the second son of the Yuan family and even Yuan Shao, since he wants to pass on the throne to Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan should not have so much power in his hands, and he has gathered so many people around him.

Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Xin Bi, none of these Yingchuan scholars are good-looking and easy to talk.

Yuan Shang nodded, this seemed to be the only way at the moment.

Tian Feng on the side frowned and said, "Why don't you try to follow Xu You's example to persuade the eldest prince?" Now Jizhou can't withstand civil strife. ”

Xun Chen shook his head, didn't speak, what did he do earlier? Xu You has a problem, but as soon as the situation improved, the Jizhou Shi clan united and began to exclude them, Tian Feng and Fu Zhu were also auxiliary ministers, but they didn't speak at the time, and now Xu You is gone, the situation is chaotic, let me follow Xu You's example and lobby again? Yuan Tan's arrows are all on the string, what do I say?

"Now we have to fight." Frustrated with a sigh, breaking the somewhat embarrassing atmosphere, this matter is not considered, and I didn't expect that as Yuan Shao's assistant, he would be so easy to pick and choose.

Yuan Shang was a little helpless, and seeing that Tian Feng no longer spoke, he nodded and said: "Then he ordered the second general Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead the army to capture Yuan Tan with a thunderous force, what do you think?" ”

Tian Feng thought for a while and said: "You can order Gao Ran to be a general, and lead Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to sweep Yuan Tan, as for Zhang He, he should guard Muye, while Chen Mo took advantage of the weakness to enter, and at the same time transferred Han Meng to the south to assist Gao Lan, after the success, he went south and defended the border areas. ”

Now the biggest problem is not Yuan Tan, but Chen Mo and Cao Cao, Xu You voted for Cao Cao, then many things in Jizhou are no longer confidential to Cao Cao, and now it is a little late to redeploy, but it is still necessary to make some changes.

"According to the words of the gentleman." Yuan Shang nodded, and immediately ordered someone to go and pass the order.

Although Yuan Tan's mobilization of soldiers and horses is secret, it can't be concealed after all, and similarly, Yuan Shang's dispatch of troops and horses can't hide from Yuan Tan, Guo Tu just came back, and he received news that Yuan Shang transferred Gao Lan to lead Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to gather troops and horses to attack, and Yuan Shang transferred troops, but he was not as careful as Yuan Tan, so it was also more rapid.

"Sir, what should I do now?" Yuan Tan saw Guo Tu coming back, and hurriedly asked.

"Hit!" Guo Tu said in a deep voice: "So far, there is no other way, the lord should gather troops and horses to fight against him as soon as possible, and there is no need to hide it anymore." ”

Yuan Shang's thoughts, Guo Tu can guess somewhat, since the other party is no longer ready to settle down, they have no second way to choose except to fight.

At that moment, Yuan Tan stopped Guo Tu's suggestion, gathered troops, took Yecheng directly, and Gao Ran led his troops to intercept it, and the two sides met in Wei County and Yangping, set up camps, and attacked each other.

Gao Ran is known as one of the four court pillars of Hebei, since Yan Liang and Wen Chou died in Hanoi, Zhang He and Gao Ran's status in the army has risen, and their own ability is not bad, although Yuan Tan has many soldiers and horses, but he is not Gao Lan's opponent, three battles in a row, Gao Ran's defeated soldiers and generals, and had to retreat to Yangping.

"Sir, how is this to be?" Yuan Tan was a little annoyed, and the fierce generals left by his father all chose to support Yuan Shang, which made him quite uncomfortable.

"Don't panic, lord!" The first battle was unfavorable, Guo Tu was also a little panicked, after all, in terms of troops, Yuan Tan was much higher than Gao Lan, just like that, he was still pressed and beaten by Gao Lan, which made Guo Tu very puzzled, after all, the art of war was not his forte.

After a few steps back and forth, Guo Tu's eyes flashed with a gleam, and he looked at Yuan Tan and said, "Since Gao Ran can't be defeated, why don't you take it for your own use?" ”

"Huh?" Yuan Tan looked at Guo Tu and frowned: "If you can get Gao Ran's help, it will naturally be the best, but Gao Ran is the third brother's favorite general, how can he betray?" ”

Guo Tu said with a smile: "Yuan Shang is suspicious, the lord can temporarily suspend the truce and contact Gao Ran by letter." ”

"A few letters, can you make Gao Ran surrender?" Yuan Tan was puzzled.

"Naturally not, but the third prince must be suspicious, the lord can write more irrelevant things, narrate the old feelings, and also talk about admiration, in short, don't talk about the war, and don't mention half of the things with solicitation." Guo Tu smiled.

"Why is that?" Yuan Tan was even more dazed.

"Let the third son think about it." Guo Tu said with a smile: "The third prince will help us think of it, but there is one point, no matter how Gao Ran calls the battle in the future, the prince only needs to defend the city and not go out, and Gao Ran will not dare to attack if he is outnumbered." ”

Yuan Tan nodded, a little confused, but he believed in Guo Tu, and immediately ordered people to guard the city gate and no longer fight with the enemy, and at the same time, under the guidance of Guo Tu, he began to write letters to Gao Lan.

On the other side, Gao Ran Daying, looking at the letter written by Yuan Tan, Gao Ran was a little dazed, he had such a deep friendship with the eldest prince? Why don't you know?

"What does this letter mean, eldest prince?" Gao Ran handed the letter to Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to read, and asked with a frown.

Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang didn't know even more, Gao Ran simply ignored it, and the next morning, he went to call the battle again, but Yuan Tan didn't pay attention to it at all, just closed the door, and after Gao Ran collected the troops, he sent someone to send letters, many times, even three times a day, and all of them were reminiscences or admiration, so that Gao Ran didn't know why, he simply ignored it, only threw the letters sent aside, and discussed the siege with Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang.