On July 20 of the ninth year of Jian'an, after nearly five months of war, Yuan and Cao finally took a step back.

Yuan Xi ordered the abandonment of Yecheng to Cao Cao, and Cao's army divided Wei County in Jizhou and most of Yangping County, leaving only two counties north of the Qinghe River to Yuan Xi.

The three counties of Pingyuan County and Liaocheng were also ceded to Cao Cao, and Cao's army withdrew from Bohai County, Leling State, and Le'an County in Qingzhou, and the north bank of Jinan Guoji Water was returned to Yuan Tan.

In exchange for Gao Gan's withdrawal from Hedong County, Cao Xiu was put back, Cao Cao paid 20,000 loads of grain and grass, and the two sides boycotted.

Bohai County originally belonged to Jizhou, and was under the jurisdiction of Yuan Shao's Qingzhou Thorn History Department assigned to Yuan Tan, and the attached Leling State was also.

In this way, Yuan Tan is still the history of Qingzhou, and Yuan Shang was deprived of the position of Jizhou pastor, and Yuan Xi served as it, which confirmed the truth of the two brothers.

And Yuan Shang appeared in Bingzhou, along with the equally dissatisfied senior cadres, claiming that he was not obeying Jizhou's orders, because Yuan Xi forced him to give up Hedong County.

In general, Hebei suffered a lot of losses in this battle, but it was much stronger than being annexed by Cao Cao in history, at least most of Jizhou was saved, and the three brothers did not become lost dogs.

But behind the scenes, Yuan Xi made a lot of money this time, not only did the three brothers secretly reconcile, but even the senior cadres chose not to stand on their own, and Hebei finally reached a consensus from top to bottom to take Yuan Xi as the new lord.

More importantly, after Yuan Xi became famous, He Kui and Tian Yu, who were in Jicheng, both recognized the lord and no longer lived idlely against death.

Bing Yuan, who returned from Liaodong, did not return to his hometown Beihai County, and chose Yuan Xi as his assistant, and brought the news that Gongsun Du died and his son Gongsun Kang succeeded to the throne, which was completely unexpected.

"Appoint Zhao as the Taishou of Guangping County, Tian Yu as the Taishou of Youbeiping, take charge of Yuyang County, and choose the time to expel Yan Rou and ambush the Wuhuan Wuyan Department."

Yuan Xi appointed two of the most important positions, although they were only the positions of Taishou, but they had great power.

Half of Jizhou's army was arranged in Guangping County, which was tantamount to taking control of the military and political power in Jizhou, and Tianyu's side was even more important, which was related to the overall situation of Hebei.

The northern part of the right Beiping was occupied by the Wuhuan people very early, the Wuhuan of this part is not strong, but it is not weak, the herdsmen of 800 tents can also gather thousands of troops, plus the Han people in the territory, there are still nearly 10,000 troops.

More importantly, they are located between the two strongest forces in Wuhuan, with Nanlou to the west and Badun to the east, also called Qiu Liju.

And there is still Yan Rou's power in Youbeiping, although it is not big, but the family is the authentic captain of the Imperial Court who is appointed by the imperial court, but he is just Cao Cao's person behind his back.

Yuan Xi naturally wants to pull out this thorn in the flesh, and even several people loyal to the Han family think that it must be pulled out, this is not a question of loyalty or disloyalty, but secretly a knife that may stab you at any time.

The reason is very simple, Yan Rou is not Liu Xie's person, but Cao Cao's, no matter how authentic the title is, he is also a traitor.

"Zijing remember, you must not let people know that you are appointed by me, or you must say that you are the third brother's person, and then Youzhou will fight a war with Bingzhou, and then negotiate an alliance......"

The night before he was about to leave, Yuan Xi quietly came to him and explained the matter, which was planned by several important ministers in Hebei.

If you want Cao Cao to stop and don't keep the target in Hebei, the only way at present is to reassure him.

But Yuan Xi's excellence is already known to the world, how to remove his vigilance, then there is only internal disagreement in Hebei, and there is no strength to threaten Cao Cao after restraining each other.

But it can't really be split, it really shows splitting, Cao Cao will definitely want to swallow Hebei in one bite, so the degree of this must be grasped.

A month later, the internal war in Hebei began, and the senior cadres of Bingzhou united with Yuan Shang and the Southern Xiongnu to attack Yuan Xi in Youzhou.

Yuan Xi had the support of Yuan Tan on his side, plus the Wuhuan people, and the two sides fought in Yanmen County and Dai County, and the wonderful thing was that the biggest casualties in this battle were the Southern Xiongnu and Wuhuan.

The armies of Bingzhou and Youzhou seem to be as fierce as tigers, but in fact, there are not even many injured people, and the real ones who are fighting are the Southern Xiongnu who helped Gao Gan and the Wuhuan people who helped Yuan Xi.

The two sides fought back and forth, and finally ceased the war under the persuasion of the old ministers of Hebei.

A few days later, an alliance statement was released, which said that Gao Gan would be independent, most of Jizhou would be returned to Yuan Shang, and the four states would support each other and jointly defend against foreign enemies, but no one should try to order the other.

Sure enough, as soon as this statement came out, Cao Cao pointed his attention to Jingzhou, of course, it was not that he was easy to deceive, but that his strategic goal was originally Jingzhou.

The richest in the Eastern Han Dynasty has always been Nanyang County, not the capital Luoyang.

This is because Liu Xiu came from there, and there were twenty-eight generals in Yuntai, and eleven of them came from there.

Therefore, since the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Nanyang County has received the greatest attention from the empire, and the strategic location of Nanyang County is extremely high.

To the west to control Hanzhong, to the east is Xuzhou, to the north is Henan Yuzhou, but also the first gateway of Luoyang, the Han River and the Yangtze River run through the territory.

Controlling Nanyang County is equivalent to seizing half of Jingzhou's economic income, and it is the key to unifying the south in the future.

In fact, as soon as the battle of Guandu ended, Cao Cao's eyes had already turned to Jingzhou, if it weren't for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang killing each other, Cao Cao might not have made a move against Hebei.

To put it bluntly, it is because Cao Cao is too poor, and if you want to grow, you need a lot of materials, and the fattest is of course Jingzhou.

As for the Yuan Shao era, there was no way, the old Yuan was too powerful, and if he didn't fight, Cao Cao was afraid that he would be annexed.

But the three Xiao Yuan are different, as long as they don't make trouble, and when Cao Cao himself is strong enough, it is the best choice to clean up.

Any force, the solid foundation is the most important, Yanzhou is poor, Yuzhou and Sili Lieutenant Department were scourged by Dong Zhuo into nothing.

The Guanzhong area was also robbed by the Xiliang people, and Xuzhou was originally rich, but Cao Cao himself gave Huo Huo a poor egg.

It is equivalent to Cao Cao seizing a large amount of land, but it is still unable to support the finances, which is a fatal weakness for Cao Cao's group, so Cao Cao urgently needs a large amount of material replenishment.

Instead of spending time and energy to fight with Sanxiao Yuan, it is better to bully the old Liu Biaolai, and Wancheng, which is strategically located first in Nanyang County, has already become his bag.

This is also an important reason why Cao Cao Group's grand strategic goals are consistent in Jingzhou.

At this time, Yuan Xi finally freed his hands, and the filial piety had exceeded the time, October 12, the ninth year of Jian'an, the auspicious day of the zodiac.

The three brothers who had just finished the war gathered in Jicheng, kowtowed to their mother Liu, and changed into bright clothes.

Zhen Mi, who was dressed up that night, was shy, and Yuan Xi, who was replaced in soul, finally tasted the stunning taste of the Three Kingdoms for the first time, and three days later, Mulan and Zhen Jiang put on their wedding dresses.

"Hey, hey! My little Feifei, brother is here......"