The camp of the Han army in Baimapo

The Yuan army in Hebei has been engaged in war for nearly a month, and the Han army has won more and lost less, but what puzzled Kuai Liang, who came from Wancheng to serve his life, was that there were many times when it was clear that the Han army could defeat the Yuan army as long as they worked harder, but the Han army withdrew its troops at this time, leaving a respite for the Yuan army. At first, Kuai Liang felt that he was wrong, but after seeing this situation several times in a row, Kuai Liang finally couldn't help but ask Liu Xie his questions.

Although Kuai Liang is a famous man in Jingzhou, and he has always been conceited about his intelligence, he is not arrogant enough to think that he is the best in the world. It is impossible for Sima Yi, Fa Zheng, and Xun You not to see the mystery in this, why don't they remind Liu Xie?

"What did Mr. Kuai mean about this? …… It's no wonder that Mr. Kuai is puzzled, this was discussed before Mr. Kuai came here, and it is understandable that Mr. Kuai did not know. Liu Xie was stunned for a moment after listening to Kuai Liang's reminder, and then suddenly explained to Kuai Liang with a smile.

"Please also make it clear to the lord." Kuai Liang was confused when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

"Mr. Kuai, please take a look." Liu Xie said and pointed to the map of the territory of the Han Dynasty hanging on the left side of the tent and explained to Kuai Liang: "For example, there are eight forces today, five of them have the strength to win the Ninth Five-Year Plan, and the remaining three are in a corner of peace, so there is no need to worry. We and the Yuan clan in Hebei belong to the forces that have the opportunity to win the championship, and behind the Yuan clan is the Gongsun Du of Liaodong. ”

"Doesn't Lord Mo want to unite with Liaodong to conspire with Hebei?" Kuai Liang frowned and asked.

"No, Gongsun Du of Liaodong is quite ambitious, conspiring with him is tantamount to conspiring with a tiger, and even if Gongsun Du is stupid, he should still know the truth of his cold lips and teeth."

"Then why does the lord think that this person can be wooed?" Kuai Liang asked puzzled.

"Gongsun Du monopolizes Liaodong and is adjacent to the Yuan family, if there is no restrain from our army, I am afraid that Yuan Xi will not let Gongsun Du continue to be powerful in Liaodong. Therefore, from the perspective of short-term interests, we have the possibility of cooperation with Gongsun Du. But Gongsun Du will not cooperate with us completely in order to deal with the Yuan clan, he just wants to use our hand to weaken the Yuan clan, so that the Yuan clan is unable to deal with his Liaodong, once we send troops to Hebei, he may not join forces with the Yuan clan in order to protect himself. ”

“…… Is this possible? ”

"When it comes to the life and death of your family, you can let go of any grudge. I think that Cao Cao and Yuan Xi were still fighting for Qingzhou not long ago, and they didn't join forces after we sent our troops. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Gongsun Du supported the Yuan clan against us in order to protect himself. ”

"Then the lord still plans to win over Gongsun Du?"

"This time, the Yuan clan of Hebei sent troops to relieve the siege for Cao Cao and avoid Cao Cao being annexed by our army. And at the moment our main target is Cao Cao, not Hebei. First, the imperial court is not ready to settle the people of Hebei, and second, in my opinion, Cao Cao is much more difficult to deal with than Yuan Xi. Now that Cao Cao is weak, if he doesn't take this opportunity to solve this big problem, he doesn't know how many times the price will have to be paid in the future. ”

"Since the lord thinks so, why did he bring troops here in the first place, he directly ordered Xu Gongming to lead his troops to stop Yuan Xi, and the lord led his troops to concentrate on Cao Cao first."

"It's certainly not that simple. This time, in order to fight against the imperial court, Cao Cao joined forces with Hebei and Jiangdong, but the three families were not of the same mind, each with a ghost and a small abacus in his heart. If Cao Cao is taken first, I am confident that I can defeat Cao Cao, but this will also give Hebei and Jiangdong the opportunity to carve up Cao Cao's forces together. ”

"My subordinates understood." Hearing this, Kuai Liang nodded and said: "It's like eating bread, originally a cake was fought for by us and Cao Cao, but Cao Cao found two helpers in order to be able to fight us." If we directly beat Cao Cao away, then there will be two people who were found by Cao Cao to share this cake. ”

"Huh...... Sir, this analogy is really easy to understand. Liu Xie smiled and nodded: "That's right, this cake is the Central Plains, which is in the hands of us and Cao Cao, Hebei and Jiangdong want to intervene, but they haven't found a place to reach out and grab the cake." If we want to monopolize the Central Plains, of course, we must first chop off the two claws that are trying to reach out to the Central Plains, so that when Cao Cao is solved, Hebei and Jiangdong will first weigh the consequences if they want to stretch their claws again. ”

"In that case, why is the lord still stalling here?"

"This time, we just want to take away the hands of Hebei and Jiangdong that are not very peaceful, and we don't plan to fight them to the end, so Cao Cao will snicker behind his back. So as long as we can get them out of the army, our goal will be achieved. Calculating the time, the news from Liaodong will arrive in these two days, and at that time, we will give Yuan Xi a big gift to see him off, and then we can turn around and say hello to Sun Ce in Jiangdong. ”

“…… Lord, what if Yuan Xi goes and returns? Kuai Liang asked another question.

"Then he will be shameless, and when the time comes, don't blame me for not leaving him a way to live."

Just as Liu Xie said to Kuai Liang, Yuan Xi received two urgent reports, one was from Youzhou, and Wei Yu wrote that Gongsun Du of Liaodong was plotting against him and entered Youzhou on the grounds that the scouts were missing. The other is from Qingzhou, and the letter from the trial said that Yuan Tan has been very active recently, actively contacting the old department, and his intentions are unknown.

After losing Yan Liangwen and Chou's two generals early, Yuan Xi had already begun to regret that he shouldn't have come to this troubled water at this time, but he had already entered the water, and it was not so easy to go ashore again. And the many confrontations with the Han army after that also made Yuan Xi clearly aware of the gap between the combat power of Hebei and the imperial court. Hebei has many generals, but there are few generals who can be called generals. As the old saying goes, a thousand armies are easy to obtain, but a general is hard to find, and an excellent general can even determine the victory or defeat of a war. Zhang Jaw, Gao Lan, Zhu Ling, and Zhao Zhao, this is Yuan Xi's newly appointed Hebei Siting Zhu, Zhu Ling and Zhao are newcomers, although their ability to lead troops is stronger than Yan Liangwen Chou, but their prestige in the army is far inferior to Yan Liangwen Chou, who has already died.

The soldiers had no heart to fight, and the lord thought of retreating, and the news sent by Wei Yu in Youzhou happened to be a good reason for Yuan Xi to announce the withdrawal of troops in a high-sounding manner. As for Yuan Tan in Qingzhou, speaking from his heart, Yuan Xi really didn't take it to heart. Today's Yuan Xi is already not what it used to be, with the return of the high cadres and the departure of Yuan Shang, there is only one Yuan Xi family left in Hebei, although Yuan Tan is the eldest son, but he is now scattered, with the old bottom that the city defense is not enough under his hands, he is not qualified to compete with Yuan Xi for the position of the lord of Hebei at all.

But as the old saying goes, a toad lies on the surface of its feet, and it can't bite a dead person. Even if Yuan Xi has a lot of dissatisfaction with Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan is Yuan Xi's eldest brother after all, and Yuan Xi can't do anything about it. And Yuan Tan seems to have decided that Yuan Xi can't do anything to him, so he will blatantly try to regroup in Qingzhou.

"Sir, do you have time?" Yuan Xi, who was depressed, found Tian Feng. This has almost become a habit, when he was appointed as the pastor of Youzhou, whenever he felt depressed, Yuan Xi would go to Tian Feng, and then Tian Feng would enlighten him.

"Lord, but are you bored about the affairs of the eldest prince?" Tian Feng didn't need Yuan Xi to open his mouth to guess the reason why Yuan Xi was bored.

Facing Tian Feng, Yuan Xi didn't have anything to hide, and nodded slightly when he heard this, "Well, it's really a little boring." I really don't know how to arrange my big brother. ”

"If the lord doesn't mind, the subordinate has a suggestion."

"Sir, please." Yuan Xi came to Tian Feng to ask about the plan, and when he saw Tian Feng say this, he hurriedly said.

"The lord is worried about nothing more than that the disposal of the eldest prince will provoke criticism from others and damage his reputation. In fact, this is not difficult to do, as long as the eldest prince is sick, and then use this as an excuse to take care of him in Yecheng, naturally no one will gossip. ”

"Sir, mean house arrest for my eldest brother?" Yuan Xi frowned and asked.

"Lord, I don't want the eldest prince's life, I just want him to break that thought, and after three or five years, the situation in Hebei will stabilize and then return him to freedom. What's more, keeping him in Yecheng is not to abuse him, there is no shortage of beauty in the field, I believe this is something that many people dream of. Tian Feng smiled when he saw this.

“…… Thank you for your advice, and I'll have someone do it when I get back. Sir, there is one more thing ......" Yuan Xi pondered for a moment, and finally decided to adopt Tian Feng's suggestion, and then talked about another thing. And Tian Feng frowned without waiting for Yuan Xi to speak.

Seeing this, Yuan Xi didn't continue, just looked at Tian Feng. Until Tian Feng was silent for a long time, sighed and said: "Lord, my lips are dead and my teeth are cold, although this dispatch of troops will not be of much benefit to my Hebei, but for the sake of the future, we can't watch Cao Cao fall." ”

"I naturally have what Mr. is worried about, but at the moment, the imperial court is attacking me in Hebei, and Cao Cao and Sun Ce's two guys are almost sitting on the side watching the tiger fight, and there is no sign of sending troops to help. Sir, I'm just afraid that my Hebei will run out of money and make people laugh. ”

"My lord, it's not that Cao Cao and Sun Ce refused to send troops to help, but that they had no time to separate at this time. For this expedition against Cao Cao, the imperial court has been preparing for a long time, and almost the elite is exhausted. The lord might as well change his mind, if Sun Ce didn't drag down the imperial court's Tabai army, and Cao Cao dragged the imperial court's Youyi army, what we need to face now is not only the imperial court's annoying army and tens of thousands of Tianzi pro-army. Now we have to deal with it too hard, if we face the imperial army independently, I Hebei may resist alone? ”

"But now we are almost unable to hold on, and just now, I received a letter from Wei Yu in Youzhou, saying that it was the Gongsun of Liaodong who had violated the border. Sir, now that our backyard in Hebei has caught fire, how can we still have the energy to care about the lives of our neighbors. Yuan Xi was also a little anxious and said to Tian Feng.

"Liaodong Gongsun Du sent troops? When is the news? Tian Feng was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

"Just now, the news from my eldest brother in Qingzhou was almost delivered at the same time." Yuan Xi said and took out Wei You's letter from his arms.

“…… It's a real nuisance. Although Wei You can be a good shepherd, he is not familiar with military affairs, and he is the only one in Youzhou, so he is afraid that it will be difficult to support alone. Lord, it is better to send someone to the Han camp to test the tone of the Han army. Tian Feng put down the letter and suggested to Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi couldn't help but be happy when he heard this, and finally waited for Tian Feng's nod, and hurriedly nodded: "Although I intend to withdraw my troops, I also know that I can't retreat in a hurry, so as not to leave an opportunity for the Han army." Shall I leave this matter to Mr. ”

"Tian Feng thanks the lord for his trust, and asks the lord to allow him to come to help." Tian Feng didn't shirk either, but just made a personal request to Yuan Xi. And Yuan Xi heard Tian Feng mention frustration, and he didn't want to agree, but after thinking about it, he still needed Tian Feng's help, so he nodded and agreed to Tian Feng's request.

Life in Hebei is not very easy now. In the past, one of the six masterminds around Yuan Shao, that status was unparalleled for a while, and no one knew it, and no one knew it. But with the capture of Fu Zhu by the Han army, the aura that was put on Fu Zhu in the past has faded. Later, Fu Zhu returned to Hebei as a court envoy, and the name of Erchen fell to Fu Zhu's head.

Yuan Xi did not trust Fu Zhi as much as Tian Feng, although he left Fu Zhu as his staff in front of Tian Feng, but he never adopted Fu Zhu's suggestion once. Staying and not needing, he asked himself that he couldn't accept Yuan Xi's attitude when he was loyal to the Yuan family, but he couldn't go away from the master, so he could only borrow wine all day long to drown his sorrows, which made his friend Tian Feng feel distressed and anxious when he saw it.

Thinking that at the beginning, Fu Zhu was a subordinate of Jizhou Mu Han Fu, and when Tian Feng plotted Jizhou for Yuan Shao, the first thing that came to mind was Fu Zhu, but at that time, Fu Zhu not only refused Tian Feng's request for help, but reminded Han Fu to be careful of Yuan Shao. It's a pity that Han Fu has a weak temperament, not only did he not follow the advice of Fu Zhu, but instead listened to the opinions of Xun Zhan and other surrenderers, so that Jizhou would be handed over. If Han Fu had listened to Fu Zhu's opinion at that time, it would not have been easy for Yuan Shao to take Jizhou without blood. At that time, Han Fu was a state pastor and held the power of military and political affairs, if he refused to give up with an iron heart, Yuan Shao at that time would have nothing to do with him. Don't look at the two tigers in the river by Yuan Shao's side at that time, but Han Fu's Jizhou is also not short of people, Ju Yi, Zhang Jaw, Gao Ran, these generals are enough to give Yuan Shao a headache.

Later, Jizhou returned to Yuan Shao, and Fu Zhu also listened to Tian Feng's persuasion to vote for Yuan Shao. But Yuan Shao's personality has always been wide on the outside and jealous on the inside, and when he learned that the frustration had almost ruined his big event, although he didn't say anything on the surface, he had a pimple in his heart, and he naturally looked down on the frustration. Yuan Xi is Yuan Shao's son, although he is not loved by Yuan Shao, but only a few words reached Yuan Xi's ears, and Yuan Xi remembered it.

In Yuan Xi's impression, Fu Zhu was not a trustworthy person like Tian Feng, and Fu Zhu had been a special envoy of the imperial court, so Yuan Xi naturally became more and more estranged from Fu Zhu. And if he didn't get Yuan Xi's trust, if he wasn't unwilling to go into hiding without knowing it, he would have left a long time ago.

"Gong and, Gong and." After sending Yuan Xi away, Tian Feng personally went to Fu Zhu to tell Fu Zhu the good news, but before he could enter the account, a wave of alcohol almost smoked Tian Feng to the end.

"Go get some decanting soup." Tian Feng commanded his subordinates, stepped forward to help him up, put him flat on the couch, and called softly, "Gong and wake up, Gong and wake up." ”

At this time, he turned a deaf ear.

When a bowl of sobering soup was poured down, Tian Feng sent someone out, while he stayed in the tent to look through the books on the table, and waited for the sobering up by the way.

After waiting for about a stick of incense, Fu Zhu finally woke up slowly, and when he saw that it was his friend Tian Feng who was serving beside him, Fu Zhu couldn't help but ask, "Yuan Hao, why are you here?" ”

"I'll talk to you when you wake up."

"What?"

"Now the lord intends to withdraw from the army, but he is worried that the Han army will not let him go, so I want you and me to think of a proper way to get out."

“…… Yuan Hao, why did the lord withdraw at this time? Fu Zhu didn't seem very happy, just looked at Tian Feng in confusion and asked.

"Gonghe, it's not that I'm fickle, but now I have to retreat from Hebei, and there is an urgent report from Youzhou, saying that it is the Liaodong Gongsun Duxing soldiers who have invaded the territory, and with Wei You alone, I am afraid it will be difficult to protect Youzhou."

“…… Why did Gongsun Du choose to raise troops at this time? Frustrated after hearing this, he frowned and asked.

Tian Feng speculated uncertainly when he heard this: "Maybe he saw that my rear in Hebei was empty, so he sent troops to bargain, right?" ”

"No, I'm afraid there is another reason for Gongsun Du to send troops this time. Yuan Hao, when today's son often acts unexpectedly, although I have no evidence now, I always feel that Gongsun Du's dispatch of troops this time has something to do with him. Frustrated Professor said to Tian Feng with a serious face. Tian Feng frowned after hearing this: "I also had this suspicion before, but no matter what, Gongsun Du has sent troops, if we want to keep Youzhou safe, then we can only withdraw our troops now." ”

“…… If you want to withdraw your troops, you first need to figure out the intentions of the Han army. Yuan Hao, is there anyone who can be selected to envoy to the Han camp? ”

"Hmm...... What does Gonghe think of Chen Gong? Tian Feng heard the words and thought about it, and then mentioned one person to Fu Zhi. When he heard Tian Feng mention Chen Gong, his expression couldn't help but show a trace of contempt. This Chen Gong was originally a subordinate of Cao Cao, and later took refuge in Lu Bu, and defected to Yuan Tan when Lu Bu was in danger, and now seeing that Yuan Tan was weak, he threw himself into Yuan Xi's account. If Lu Bu is a house slave with three surnames, then this Chen Gong is better than blue out of blue, and house slaves with four surnames.

For those who frequently change jobs, he is despised by frustration, although he also changed jobs for a short time, but he is a plan to return to Hebei to continue to work for the Yuan family, and naturally cannot be compared with Chen Gong.

"Chen Gongtai forgets his righteousness for the sake of profit, and he is not a suitable candidate for the envoy." Said to Tian Feng in a deep voice.

"Who do you think is suitable?"

“…… Chen Lin, Chen Kongzhang. ”

Hearing the recommendation of the frustrated professor, Tian Feng couldn't help frowning, he originally wanted to let the envoy from the Han camp take the opportunity to explore the reality of the Han army, but if Chen Lin, a nerd, was allowed to go, then all the plans would be in vain.

"Yuan Hao, if you want to take the opportunity of the Han camp to find out the truth of the Han camp, then I advise you to die as soon as possible. Let's not mention that the emperor of the Han family in the Han camp is not a good person, and Sima Yi and Fa Zheng under him are also not good things, do you think they will give you a chance? ”

“…… Okay, that's Chen Lin. But in case Chen Lin is taken advantage of......"

"Let Chen Lin go just to test the attitude of the Han army towards our withdrawal of troops, as for what he saw in the Han camp, he didn't take it seriously."