In the evening of the same day, Yuan Tan Gongzi couldn't wait to convene all the Yuan Shaojun civil and military forces in Xuchang City, and showed the succession documents of the Great Yuan Sangong in public, announcing that in view of the serious illness of the Great Yuan Sangong and the inability to govern, he asked his father's permission to immediately take over all the power of his father and become the lord of Jizhou!

Because this document is genuine, and there are Cui Yan, Chen Lin and Tao Sheng and other absolute confidants of the three princes of Yuan as evidence, so even if they are unwilling, the civil and military officials in Jizhou, including some of Yuan Shang's henchmen, still gave a big salute to Yuan Tan Gongzi and recognized Yuan Tan Gongzi as the new lord.

There are also some cool-headed Jizhou civil and military forces, at least Su You and Yuan Shaojun's little veteran Tian Chou, who has few left, said in front of Yuan Tan: "Although the lord was passed on by the lord, the lord's brothers are adults, and each has his own lineage in charge of the army, but I am afraid that he may not be convinced, and the lord still needs to comfort Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang, and deal with them properly, so as not to cause future disasters." ”

Yuan Tan was still very alert to this matter, first nodded, and then said: "I am also thinking about this, how to solve the problem of the younger brothers in charge of the army, I don't know if the princes have a clever plan to teach me?" ”

"The key is still the third son." Su You replied: "The second prince has not many soldiers and horses in his hands, and he has always been loyal and low-key, it is unlikely that he will not obey the lord, and it is also very easy to deal with, General Gao Gan is just the nephew of the old lord, and the old lord is located in the lord, and General Gao will not have any dissenting intentions, only the third prince is the most troublesome, he not only controls the soldiers and horses of the two states of Jiqing in his hands, but also judges and assists in discipline, and holds the land of Jizhou with abundant money and grain, if he does not accept the succession of the lord, things will be difficult to do." ”

"The third prince also has a strong foreign aid Xuzhou Tao Ying." Tian Chou also said: "Xuzhou has a lot of money and grain, and there are many strong soldiers and strong horses, if the third prince and Tao Ying join forces to make trouble, the overall strength will completely overwhelm our army, so the last general thinks that it is best for the lord to take a gentle policy towards the third prince, and it is impossible to solve the problem by force, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

"Then what do you think I should be gentle with my third brother?" Yuan Tan Gongzi is indeed stronger than Yuan Sangong in listening to the advice of his subordinates, and he did not raise his eyebrows because Tian Chou's words were not listened to, but humbly asked for advice on how to deal with it - but this is not surprising, the army currently in the hands of Yuan Tan Gongzi is actually the remnants of Jizhou after the defeat in Xuchang, even if you add the team in Yuan Xi's hands and the army in Hanoi, the total number is only fifty or sixty thousand people, and the strength is not as good as Yuan Shang who returned to Jizhou to assemble the rear army, let alone fight against Yuan Shang and Deputy Director Tao.

"The minister thinks that the third prince should be stabilized first." Su You suggested: "The lord might as well let the third prince take over as the Jizhou pastor, and then seal General Jiang Qi as the assassin of Youzhou, the second prince as the Yanzhou pastor, and the general Gao Gan as the state pastor, and appease the hearts of these four important ministers with great power, and take the opportunity to transfer the trial and match that has been ordered by the Shangshu to be transferred back to Xuchang to listen to the use, so as to disperse the arms of the third prince, and at the same time, the lord will then seal Tao Ying as the governor of Qingxuyang Sanzhou, in order to show that he is enveloped, as long as the four important ministers and allies Tao Ying are temporarily stabilized, and when the lord sits firmly in the throne and stabilizes the hearts of the army and the people, it is not too late to slowly weaken the military power in the hands of the third prince." ”

Yuan Tan's face was a little ugly, and he said angrily: "It's nothing to seal the second brother, Jiang Qi and Gao Gan as the state pastor, but after sealing the third brother as the Jizhou pastor, what should he do if he takes the opportunity to sit big?" There is also Tao Ying's official position of destroying thieves, Qingzhou is the land of our army, but most of it was taken away by Tao thieves, and then he was named the governor of Qingxu Yang Sanzhou, wouldn't it recognize that Qingzhou was owned by him? ”

"Lord, the situation is not as good as people, this is something that cannot be helped." Cui Yan interjected next to him and said: "Eighty percent of the land in Qingzhou has been occupied by Tao Ying, if you want Tao Ying to spit it out, he must not do it, and if you want to recapture it, you can only speak by force, and now is not the time to start a war with Xuzhou, so you can only temporarily give the title to Tao Ying, temporarily stabilize this strong enemy, and wait until our army reorganizes its troops and horses." ”

Yuan Tan's face was even more gloomy, and it wasn't until Guo Tu and Xin Lian showed that it was acceptable, and Yuan Tan Gongzi reluctantly nodded and said: "Okay, you can give this title to the pottery thief, but the remaining Qingzhou land must not be given, that is the bridgehead for us to counterattack and recapture Qingzhou!" And Jizhou! ”

Speaking of this, Yuan Tan paused and said viciously: "Jizhou is where my Yuan family's foundation is located, and I must not let the third brother serve as the state pastor, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable!" Therefore, the third brother and the trial must be transferred out of Jizhou and come to Xuchang to serve in the court, and the Jizhou pastor must be concurrently served by me personally, and then appoint a capable person to manage it! ”

Cui Yan was taken aback, and when he was about to open his mouth to object, Mr. Guo Tu couldn't wait to jump out, and said: "What the lord said is very true, the minister's brother Guo Suo and Mr. Xin Ping's brother Xin Bi are rare capable officials, and his subordinates do not avoid relatives, and want to recommend Guo to serve as Jizhou's other driver, Xin Bi is the ruler of Jizhou, and work together to govern Jizhou for the lord, supply money, food, soldiers and horses, and hope that the lord will adopt it." ”

"Exactly." Yuan Tan Gongzi agreed, and then instructed: "Kong Zhang can quickly make an official document, inform the third brother and the trial of his father's succession, and let Yuan Shang and the trial quickly come to Xuchang to accept the reward, and the military power and government affairs of Jizhou can be temporarily managed by Meng Dai, Guan Tong and Wang Xiu." ”

"Lord, do you think the third prince will listen to this order?" Cui Yan asked with a wry smile.

Yuan Tan was silent for a while before he asked, "Mr. Ji Qi, if I don't give it a try, how can I know the true mind of the third brother?" I also know that you want to persuade me to make the third brother the pastor of Jizhou, but if I don't try to see if the third brother recognizes that I inherit my father's throne, how dare I rest assured that the third brother will be the pastor of Jizhou? Sir, don't worry, as long as the third brother is willing to surrender to me, I will definitely be willing to do it. ”

Yuan Tan Gongzi's words are quite clear, if you don't figure out what Yuan Shanggongzi's attitude is, he will directly seal Yuan Shang as the pastor of Jizhou, and it will not be possible to avoid Yuan Shang's rebellion and contention. And Cui Yan heard that Yuan Tangongzi's words made sense, so he also relieved himself a little, and said: "In this case, Your Majesty wants to write a letter to the third prince and Mr. Judge, and send it to Jizhou with the lord's order, hoping that the lord will approve it." ”

Yuan Tan Gongzi smiled, knowing that Cui Yan wanted to try his best to persuade Yuan Shang and the trial to surrender to him, so he smiled and said: "Yes, if I can succeed, I will naturally reward Mr. again." ”

Cui Yan thanked him, and sighed in his heart: "It doesn't matter if you give a reward or something, I just hope that the third prince can listen to the persuasion, and don't kill each other and cheapen outsiders." ”

The next morning, Yuan Tan Gongzi led hundreds of civil and military officials into the pilgrimage to see, and let his subordinates come forward to force Emperor Han Xian to canonize himself as prime minister, Ji Marquis and general, Emperor Han Xian did not dare to disobey, had no choice but to issue an order to canonize, Yuan Tan Gongzi was overjoyed, and immediately rewarded the hundred officials again, and vigorously promoted his confidants. What made Yuan Tan Gongzi even happier was that after a few days, after Yuan Xi returned to Xuchang from Runan, he also happily recognized the new lord of the eldest brother, and handed over the military power in his hand without hesitation.

Gao Gan's side also soon came with good news, Gao Gan, who is currently stationed in Puyang, sent his henchman Guo Yuan into the court, expressing his recognition of Yuan Tan Gongzi as the new lord and accepting Yuan Tan's direct command, so that the total number of soldiers and horses under Yuan Tan Gongzi's command exceeded 100,000 at once, and he also successfully took over the command of Bingzhou, with a rear that is not too good but is barely stable, and there are follow-up troops from Hanoi and Bingzhou. Yuan Tan Gongzi was even more happy, and he was busy adding Gao Gan as the second marquis of Mu Jiayu in Bingzhou, and ordered Gao Gan to temporarily guard Yanzhou and cut off the direct connection with the rear of Jizhou and Xuzhou.

Yuan Xi's surname is gentle, gentle and glutinous, neither the eldest son nor the beloved son, Gao Gan is a foreign surname who has no right to compete for the throne, and he is loyal to the third prince of Yuan, it is very normal for them to surrender to Yuan Tan Gongzi, so what worries Yuan Tan Gongzi and Yuan Shaojun Wenwu the most is Yuan Shanggongzi, who has always regarded himself as Yuan's son-in-law. However, the more worried he was, the more problems went wrong, Feng Ji and Li Fu, who escaped from Xuchang without permission, never heard from him, and the envoys sent to Jizhou to contact Yuan Shang and the trial were not heard back, and even Jiang Yiqu, who was stationed in Liyang, lost contact with Yecheng and did not know what happened to Yecheng.

After waiting for a while, the bad news finally came, and Yuan Shanggongzi also showed a will of the Great Yuan Sangong in Jizhou City, claiming that it was the will of the Great Yuan Sangong that was secretly made earlier and had been kept by the current wife of the Great Yuan Sangong, Liu! In this will that fell from the sky, the third prince of Yuan was of course passed on to the son of Yuan Shang and ordered the son of Yuan Shang to inherit the inheritance! Therefore, Yuan Shanggongzi resolutely refused to recognize Yuan Tan as the master, established himself as the lord of the five states of Ji You and Qingyan, proclaimed himself a general and the marquis of Ji, and issued a document to spread the world, condemning his brother Yuan Tan for forging a will to kill his father and stand on his own, asking Yuan's soldiers and horses to obey his command, and also inviting the princes of the world to send troops to fight against the traitor Yuan Tan who killed his father and usurped the throne!

By the way, on the day when Yuan Shanggongzi resolutely decided to raise an army against his brother, Deputy Director Tao's mother-in-law also unceremoniously killed the five most favored concubines of the third prince of Yuan, as in history, and also killed their families cleanly!

When the news of Yuan Shanggongzi's self-reliance spread, Yuan Tan Gongzi was of course furious and immediately prepared for war with his younger brother! Boss Cao, who has reached the end of the mountain, of course, laughed wildly, even the heavens will not destroy me, and he has given himself a chance to make a comeback! Uncle Liu Huang sighed with joy in his mouth, and quietly prepared to send troops to Xuchang, Uncle Liu Huang simply sent a messenger to try to get in touch with Yuan Tan Gongzi, ready to use this opportunity to fish in troubled waters again, and try to make a comeback again - in fact, this sentence does not need to be introduced, Uncle Liu Huang has always done this.

Yuan Shanggongzi gathered an army of more than 100,000 in Jizhou and prepared to go to war with his brother; Yuan Tan Gongzi, who had appeased Gao Gan and Jiang Yiqu, in addition to ordering the two generals to join forces of more than 40,000 troops in Liyang and Puyang, desperately mobilized troops and horses from Hanoi and Bingzhou to rush to Puyang, and was also ready to personally lead the army north to crusade against his brothers; Boss Cao is also desperately regrouping his troops and horses, ready to make a comeback, and Liu Biao and Uncle Liu Huang are also quietly deploying troops and preparing to fish in troubled waters. But the sabre-rattling was done, but no one fired the first shot and the first shot, because everyone was waiting for one person's reaction - Deputy Director Tao's reaction! Look at what Deputy Director Tao is going to do and stand on that side!

What is our Deputy Director Tao doing? is crying, is accompanying the virtuous wife to cry that the old father-in-law is seriously ill and dying, and is also crying about the brother-in-law and the third brother-in-law fratricidal, so Yuan Tan Gongzi and Yuan Shanggongzi sent to Xuzhou did not get a word of truth from Deputy Director Tao who to help, all they saw was the hugging and crying of Deputy Director Tao and Yuan Fang's husband and wife, and what they heard was only Deputy Director Tao's angry scolding of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang's brothers for killing each other, and they couldn't understand Deputy Director Tao's thoughts and attitudes for a while.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao didn't want to make a statement, but this would not be the time to make a statement, until he figured out the approximate strength of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, as well as the alliance between Yuan Tan and Liu Biao, and Yuan Tan's grasp of Yuan Shaojun's various departments, Deputy Director Tao, who had been secretly preparing to send troops, summoned Chen Deng, Jia Lao Poison, Shi Yi and Liu Ye and other strategists to discuss the matter of sending troops to express their position.

In this top-secret meeting, Deputy Director Tao, who was crying and his eyes were red and swollen not long ago, first wiped his face, and then said to the strategists: "The situation is almost understood, it seems that in addition to Yuan Shang's sworn friends such as Trial and Feng Ji, the rest of Jizhou Wenwu still support Yuan Tan's eldest son to succeed to the throne, although Youzhou Jiang Qi has not yet expressed his position, but it is very likely that he will fall to Yuan Tan, at least he will not help Yuan Shang to do Yuan Tan." Although my third brother-in-law Yuan Shang claims to have an army of 100,000, in fact, the number of troops will not exceed 80,000 at most, and most of them are second-tier teams, and their combat effectiveness is not very strong. ”

"The Lord is right." Xun Chen nodded and said: "Chen is quite familiar with Jiang Qi, and he knows that he has always been loyal to Yuan Shao, even if he does not send troops to fight against Yuan Shang this time, he will definitely not stand on Yuan Shang's side, so our army must help Yuan Shang as soon as possible, otherwise Yuan Shang will not be able to support it for long." ”

"I'm against it!"

Hearing this, the Xuzhou strategists and Deputy Director Tao present were inevitably a little stammered, and they really couldn't understand Chen Deng's foresight, how could they oppose seizing this God-given opportunity? Even Chen Deng's own brother Chen Ying couldn't help but ask, "Brother, are you joking?" Such a good opportunity to fish in troubled waters, you actually oppose it? ”

"Brother Xian misunderstood, and the princes also misunderstood." Chen Deng shook his head and said: "I am not against the lord sending troops to fish in troubled waters, but I am against the lord sending troops at this time, and sending troops at this time has three disadvantages for our army." ”

"Yuanlong, please try to speak." Deputy Director Tao said busily.

"The first disadvantage is, of course, the reputation of the lord." Chen Deng replied: "Our army has already found out the details, and Yuan Jun's civil and military forces have also testified, proving that Yuan Shao did agree to pass on the throne to Yuan Tan, and the so-called will in Yuan Shang's hand is just a forgery. ”

"The second disadvantage is the army, our army has just expanded to 300,000, although each team is to bring the old with the new, the formation of combat power is relatively fast, but after all, the army has just been expanded, the new recruits have not yet matured, at this time the army is not conducive to the training and growth of the recruits, but also increases unnecessary casualties."

"The third disadvantage is food." Chen Deng said in a deep voice: "Since the first year of Xingping, it has been seven years now, our army is either fighting in the south and the north, or assisting the allies, although there is always no shortage of grain and grass, but the inventory is never very abundant. Therefore, I support the lord to send troops to fish in troubled waters, but I do not support sending troops to help Yuan Shang now, and the most ideal time to send troops should be three months after the wheat is ripe, when our soldiers and soldiers will not only get enough training time, but also ensure that there is enough food and grass, which is conducive to the rapid annexation of the north by our army. ”

"I have also considered the situations that Yuanlong said." Deputy Director Tao nodded, and said embarrassedly: "But if you send troops in three months, what if Yuan Shang can't hold out at that time?" ”

"If the lord wants the Yuan brothers not to surrender for the time being, he has a plan to stabilize the Yuan brothers temporarily." Jia Lao Poison smiled and said: "And if it goes well, maybe it can help Yuan Shang increase his strength a little bit, and more effectively consume Yuan Tan's strength for our army." ”

"What is Mr. Wenhe's plan? Come on, please. Deputy Director Tao hurriedly asked.

"It's simple, persuasion and peace, whoever doesn't accept persuasion will be beaten." Jia Lao Poison said with a smile: "This plan is not Xu's own creation, but to imitate Zhang Ji's position in the Li Guo Great Confrontation back then, let General Zang Ba and General Sun Guan station troops on the border of Jizhou, and then make General Chen Zhi lead his troops to Dingtao to station, and then the lord came forward to persuade peace, asking the Yuan brothers to negotiate an armistice, and directly inform the Yuan brothers, whoever dares not to accept the reconciliation, our army will immediately send troops to attack whom!" In this way, the Yuan brothers will definitely not dare to use their swords and soldiers, and our army can also take the opportunity to win time to prepare for war. ”

"Wonderful!" Chen Deng applauded and smiled: "Mr. Wenhe is really good at scheming, whoever dares not to accept reconciliation will attack whom, Yuan Shanghe will inevitably accept our army to reconcile in order to gain time to prepare for war, Yuan Tan is afraid that our army and Yuan Shang will join forces to attack him, and he can only accept the mediation of our army, so that our army has not only won the reputation of benevolence and righteousness to stop fratricide, but also can get a pretext for war, if Yuan Tan refuses to accept mediation, our army will send part of the troops to share the pressure for Yuan Shang, it is also justified." ”

Deputy Director Tao was also overjoyed, and then hurriedly asked, "Mr. Wenhe, what did you just say about helping Yuan Shang increase his strength a little?" ”

"It seems that the lord is worried that the Yuan brothers are not fighting fiercely enough." Jia Lao Poison smiled and said: "It's also very simple, that is, in the negotiation, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were asked to divide the land of the Yuan family equally, so that Yuan Tan would show Yuan Shang as the pastor of Jiyouzhou, and also manage the two states of Jiyou, in exchange for Yuan Shang's honorary submission to Yuan Tan, and also in exchange for our army never sending troops to assist Yuan Shang's reading, and send troops to mutiny when Yuan Shang launched a rebellion." If he succeeds, with Youzhou soldiers and a stable northern front, and Jizhou's money and food, with the ability to judge and match, Yuan Shang may not be Yuan Tan's opponent. ”

"I have a problem." Chen Ying hurriedly interjected and said: "If Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang really accept our reconciliation, and our army promises to send troops to help Yuan Tan quell the rebellion when Yuan Shang rebels, then if Yuan Shang really rebels, won't our army be forced to fight Yuan Shang?" ”

The decision-makers of the bad species in Xuzhou who were present all laughed, and Chen Deng also smiled and reproached: "Brother Ying, you are too stupid to ask, if our army is friendly with Yuan Shang for a lifetime, what chance will it take to annex the entire north?" Eminence? Besides, if Yuan Shang destroyed Yuan Tan and took over the Yuan family's business, how could Yuan Shang not have plans to annex our Xuzhou? ”

Chen Ying smiled shyly, and blamed himself for being ignorant, while Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "Then let's do it, bother Yuanlong and Mr. Wenhe to meet with the two Yuan envoys separately, and ask them to strike the army and negotiate, if anyone dares not listen, I will send troops to beat whoever I want, and teach this unfilial son who mutilates himself for Lord Yuezhang!" As for the terms of reconciliation that we are preparing, let's not mention it yet."

(To be continued)