After both sides calmed down, Yang Xiu finally had the opportunity to offer the conditions he really wanted.

Although Yuan Shang himself was still a little unacceptable when he saw these conditions in person, at least he would not be directly furious.

"Cao Cao allowed me to no longer have to plead guilty on behalf of my father, but I still have to plead in my own name, saying that during the period before my father's death, he was bewitched by Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Xin Bi, Cui Yan, Ying Shao and other five thieves, which led to all kinds of subsequent causes and effects?

The wording allows me to be a little more euphemistic and vague, but there is no room for concession in direction? Mr. Yuan Tu and Mr. Zhengnan thought that Cao Cao's request could be agreed? What is he trying to achieve? ”

When Yuan Shang personally read these conditions, Feng Ji had been waiting cautiously on the side, with a bitter face of "the lord is worried about the humiliation of the minister", as soon as Yuan Shang spoke, he hurriedly threw away the analysis that had been prepared long ago:

"Lord Mingjian, Cao Thief's previous condition was to discredit the original prince, but also to make the lord fall into unfilial piety, and cut himself off from all the old intimacy of the Yuan family, so we naturally can't agree.

This time, the conditions are to retreat in two directions, one is to blur the name of the first duke, and the other is to avoid the unfilial piety of the father with the son, only to say that there are traitors around the original duke, and corrupt the major affairs of the court.

The ultimate goal of the Cao thief is only to make those traitors who have left Yecheng completely fight with the lord and lose the possibility of reconciliation. Considering that most of those traitors would go to the eldest prince, Cao Cao wanted to promote the war between the lord and the eldest prince.

The difference is that this time the Cao thief did not expect to completely shake the prestige of the lord, and most of the old Yuan family who stayed in Yecheng would not be humiliated and centrifuged because of the lord's appearance this time. ”

After Feng Ji finished speaking, the judge next to him also snorted coldly: "In my opinion, maybe Cao Cao asked for a sky-high price for the first time, humiliated us first, and suppressed our expectations and confidence." And then under the pretense of condolences and the deceased, he said what he really wanted. But I also have to say that the conditions this time are indeed a lot more reasonable. ”

After listening to the analysis of the main important ministers around him, Yuan Shang fell into contemplation again.

Although he was young, he had already seen that Cao Cao was allowed to be flexible in the wording of "how the Yuan family will make peace with the court in the future".

Therefore, the problem of insulting the father can certainly be avoided. Even if some decisions were made by Yuan Shao, he could avoid the serious and say lightly that "during the period when his father was seriously ill and in a coma, he was falsely told by a traitor" and so on, excuses are always easy to find.

As long as Cao Cao doesn't worry about this, the problem of reputation has the possibility of both.

As for making him and his eldest brother make an enmity, and beat all those strategists who defected to the eldest brother into thieves, Yuan Shang was not very resistant. Anyway, if he didn't do this, it would be impossible for Guo Tu and Xin Ping Xin Bi brothers to change their minds.

It's just that people like Cui Yan, who were originally just riding the wall and left because they couldn't get used to seeing themselves and their mothers doing things, might be forced to the eldest brother, or even to Liu Bei, and there was no way.

If this didn't happen, Cui Yan and the others might have chosen to go into seclusion and neutrality, and the two would not help each other.

In the end, although the father's posthumous name can avoid damage, and he himself can avoid the notoriety of unfilial piety, his own reputation for weakness is inevitable.

In any case, being soft on the court's superiors would damage Yuan Shang's prestige.

"What do you think the two gentlemen should do to reply to Cao Cao?"

The scene was silent for a while, and Feng Ji saw that he didn't speak, so he took this responsibility, and said tentatively:

"Since the lord is not particularly opposed, it is better to let Kong Zhang make a statement on his behalf first, as a defense of the reconciliation of the imperial court, and try to be as tactful as possible, so as to clean up the responsibility of the original duke. After writing it, the lord first looked at it, felt that it was no problem, and then took it to Yang Xiu to look at.

If Yang Xiu can replace Cao Cao, then this point can be negotiated. The rest is a question of land exchange and how it will be delivered.

Cao Cao's previous offer was to withdraw our troops from the four counties in central Jizhou in exchange for our withdrawal from the entire territory of Hedong and Hanoi, and in my opinion, in this territory, we can still bargain a little more.

And Cao Cao now has made it clear that he wants to provoke the contradiction between our army and the eldest prince, so there is no need for us to hide it, we can generously tell us the losses we expect to suffer, and let Yang Xiu make further concessions.

Didn't Cao Cao want to show sincerity, whether the negotiations were reached or not, he would retreat from Hejian County first, and let us accept it? Then Hejian County should not be included in the negotiations. If Cao Cao only took the remaining three counties to exchange with us, it would be too much to exchange the entire territory of Hedong and Hanoi.

In my opinion, it is okay for the entire territory of Hedong County to be given to Cao Cao, but Hedong is now in danger, a lonely corner, and geographically relatively isolated from other counties, which can be regarded as the surplus of our army.

Hanoi County, geographically, is actually divided into two parts. The first is the Qinshui basin in the southwest, close to the Yellow River and facing the opposite bank of Luoyang. Cao Cao was anxious to get it back, but also to give Mengjin and other places a little depth, to ensure that the surroundings of Yiluo were safe, and maybe he would rebuild Luoyang in the future.

The northeastern half of Hanoi County has penetrated deep into the Hebei Plain, located in the remaining veins of Taihang and the east of Montenegro. If this is also done, the threat to Wei County and Yecheng will be too great, which means that there is still a gap in our army's Yellow River-Taihang defense line.

Therefore, we should reply to Yang Xiu and cede only the eight counties of Hanoi between the river and Qin, accounting for half of the entire county of Hanoi. And the mountainous areas of Montenegro and the seven counties east of Montenegro must not be given. ”

When Feng Ji said this, Yuan Shang was still a little foggy when he heard it, so he immediately ordered his attendants to bring a map and compare it.

Hanoi is a large county with a total of fifteen counties.

There are three counties on the opposite bank of Luoyang and the north bank of the Yellow River, namely Heyang, Wenxian (Lü Bu's original fiefdom), and Pinggao.

Further north, along Qinshui, a tributary of the Yellow River, there are four counties: Qinshui, Yewang, Huaixian, and Wude.

These seven, plus the mountainous pass county town of Hanoi bordering Hedong (the county where Yiguan is located, one of the eight passes of Taihang), a total of eight, is the part that Feng Ji felt could exchange territory with Cao Cao.

There are seven left, there are two counties of Shanyang and Xiuwu in the mountainous area of Montenegro, and on the Hebei Plain east of Montenegro, there are five counties of Linxi, Chaoge, Gongxian, Ji and Huojia. Adding up to seven, Yuan Shang had to defend.

After completing this deal, Yuan Shang could re-establish the Yellow River defense line in the central part of Jizhou, and the southern section of the west would rely on the danger of Taihang Mountain-Montenegro.

Of course, he conceded only the part west of Montenegro and north of the Yellow River in the Sili region. Further north, there was the annexed state controlled by Yuan Shang through his cousin Gao Gan.

In terms of geographical integrity, reconciling with Cao Cao and exchanging land would certainly alleviate Yuan Shang's current imminent military threat.

At least he doesn't have to worry about Yecheng being besieged anymore, and the Yellow River and Taihang geographical defense lines around Yecheng can be restored to integrity, which is actually more important than simple land and population calculations.

No one wants their roots to be exposed to the threat of someone else's army every day.

After Yuan Shang smoothed out these truths, he asked the judge on the side: "Does Mr. Zhengnan have any objections?" ”

The judge shook his head, and also felt that if it was such a condition, then it would be acceptable, so he might as well let Chen Lin write the defense form first, and show it to Yang Xiu with the conditions to test Yang Xiu's reaction.

……

After five or six days, until Yuan Shao's funeral, the two sides briefly exchanged bargains.

Regarding the defense statement written by Chen Lingang, Yang Xiu personally read it and admitted the account.

83 Chinese network latest address

As for the other party's desire to give less land to Hanoi in half of the county, Yang Xiu also pretended to send another "six hundred miles expedited" to Xudu to ask Cao Cao if he agreed to the latest conditions.

In fact, all this was within the scope of Yang Xiu's authorization, and did not exceed the bottom limit of Cao Caokai.

In the end, Yang Xiu also pretended to be reluctant to agree, and only slightly bargained to adjust a county - Yang Xiu argued against the topographic map, saying that Fengji listed Shanyang and Xiuwu counties as the "remaining veins of the Black Mountain Mountains", and asked the Yuan family to keep it, which had no basis.

Because Shanyang County is west of the remaining vein of Montenegro, while Xiuwu County is east of the remaining vein of Montenegro. Therefore, for the sake of the geographical security concerns of both sides, Shanyang County should also be returned to the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court, and the Yuan family in Xiuwu County could stay, and the geographical separation of "the two sides should be bounded by the remaining veins of Montenegro" should be strictly implemented.

Although he lost one more county, Yang Xiu's serious and solemn bargaining made the Yuan family feel that Cao Cao was still quite sincere. If Cao Cao didn't plan to execute the contract at all, then why did he talk so seriously?

Moreover, the demarcation in strict accordance with the geographical demarcation line is indeed the most suitable for the division of the princes.

When the Han Dynasty originally demarcated the border, the reason why the Hanoi County of Sili was extended to six or seven counties into the Hebei Plain was to prevent the division of princes in Jizhou. Now Cao Cao's side took the initiative to break this demand, which is tantamount to acquiescing to the hint of long-term separation, and the Yuan family will admit it.

……

The time soon came to April 18, that is, the day when Yuan Shao stopped breaking the spirit.

Yuan Shang did not stop the various condolences messengers, including Yang Xiu, not only Yang Xiu condoled, but even Yuan Tan also sent people from Qingzhou to cry, and Liu Bei also sent people.

It's a pity that Yuan Tan himself knew that he couldn't come in person, otherwise he would definitely be harmed by the trial of Feng Ji, so he couldn't personally give his father a funeral.

It is said that Yuan Tan cried and fainted for several days in Linzi City, scolded the thieves for isolating the father and son, and then said that he was sick and ignored government affairs.

These hypocritical links are not mentioned for the time being, and with Yang Xiu's successful completion of the condolences, the deal between Yuan Shang and Cao Cao is almost the day when it is officially reached.

Of course, at this last moment, there were also some marginal strategists who got the news who came to offer advice and obstruction, and that person was Tian Feng.

Tian Feng is not very good at being a person, but he still speaks very thoroughly.

He has figured out that a considerable part of the reason why Yuan Shang wants to accept it is that he feels that "if he doesn't accept it, the eldest brother may accept it".

So after he heard that Yuan Shang was going to accept it, he hurried over and analyzed it to Yuan Shang:

"The lord doesn't have to worry that the eldest prince will accept Cao Cao's conditions! The eldest prince has a deep collusion with Liu Bei, and if he reconciles with Cao Cao, his capricious backlash will inevitably be several times heavier than that of the lord! The accusations of unfilial piety and injustice of the eldest prince by the people of the world will be several times heavier than the accusations against the lord!

Cao Cao can't afford such expensive conditions! The subordinates are not preventing the lord from negotiating peace with Cao Cao, the subordinates just think that we can still ask for more lenient conditions, so that Cao Thief will ask for less! ”

However, when Tian Feng met him, he was also there, and they had been deeply involved in this matter for a long time, and they knew Cao Cao's determination.

Yuan Shang only hesitated slightly, then turned to Feng Ji to review the match, and asked them to debate with Tian Feng.

Feng Ji thought for a while, sighed, and said to Tian Feng: "Brother Yuan Hao, do you know how Kong Zhang's argument written by the lord's father-in-law was written?" ”

Tian Feng was at a loss, he really didn't know this, he had been marginalized, except for military decision-making, Yuan Shang had not discussed him at all in other diplomacy.

Feng Ji said Chen Lin's euphemistic pen, and then asked rhetorically: "In Kong Zhang's defense, almost all the accusations against Ben Chugong were resolved, and Cao Cao accepted it." If Cao Cao can accept such a defense, then when he wants to accept the defense of the eldest prince, what scale can he accept?

If the eldest prince also wrote a defense that did not mention the fault of the original duke at all, and only attributed all the sins to you and me, would Cao Cao push the boat with the flow? And I remember that half a year before the Battle of Guandu, before even the edict of clothes and clothes had happened, Brother Yuan Hao persuaded the lord to attack Cao Cao in an all-out way, right?

If the eldest prince puts all the war charges on you along with the Battle of Guandu and even the previous Battle of Hanoi, will Cao Cao accept it? If the eldest prince can get these lands without bearing the name of unfilial piety of his son and father, then does he still care about the alliance with Liu Bei?

What Cao Cao wants is just our brothers fighting, this has been exposed, Cao Cao didn't plan to hide it at all, but he also put on a posture, in order to promote this, he can actually do without anything else. ”

Tian Feng was also speechless by these words.

Indeed, because before the battle of Guandu, he was the first to persuade Yuan Shao not to care about any righteous name, as soon as Gongsun Chan was destroyed, the army returned from the north to the south, and after a little rest, he immediately took action against Cao Cao.

To say that Tian Feng is the No. 1 "warmonger" in Hebei, this is definitely not running.

Cao Cao wanted to find the bottom of the stairs for Yuan Tan's suit, it was too easy, it just depended on whether Cao Cao wanted to or not, whether he was willing or not.

And now it seems that Cao Cao has expressed his attitude through Yang Xiu: he has a very flexible moral bottom line and reputation bottom line.

Such a flexible negotiation opponent would be terrible.

Yuan Shang still don't ride a donkey to find a horse.

Tian Feng thought about it, but he didn't know how to refute it, so he had to retreat with a long sigh.

It's not that the strategists in Hebei don't need to die, but the situation has reached this point, and it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

In the end, more than ten days after Yuan Shao's burial, Chen Lin, the envoy sent by Yuan Shang, also followed Yang Xiu back to Xudu and signed an alliance with Cao Cao.

Cao's army withdrew its troops from the four counties in central Jizhou to ensure that all these lands were handed over to Yuan Shang and not to Yuan Tan. Cao Cao first handed over a Hejian County as a "deposit", which also showed the sincerity of the imperial court.

Then the two sides gradually withdrew their troops, and Cao Cao exchanged the four counties of Jizhou for the entire territory of Hedong County and the western half of Hanoi County in the Qinshui Valley.

Considering that Hedong and Hanoi are relatively large, one and a half counties should be at least the area of two and a half counties on this side of Jizhou.

Therefore, Cao Cao actually used the difference in the area and population of one and a half counties in exchange for striking Yuan Shang's reputation, making Yuan Shang nominally subordinate to the imperial court, and forcing Yuan Shang to stand in line and tear his brother's face.

As for the question of Yuan Shao's posthumous name, he was finally raised high and gently put down, which was covered up by Chen Lin's Spring and Autumn brushwork.

This is just Cao Cao's negotiation skills, and what is put forward to see and threaten is not really implemented.

And Yuan Tan of Linzi, of course, finally rejected Cao Cao's persuasion, but in this life he hardened - in history, but Yuan Tan chose to temporarily surrender to Cao and surrender to the court.

It can only be said that the changes in the situation in this life forced Yuan Tan to choose to always stand with Uncle Liu and continue to hold high the banner of the edict.

83 Chinese network latest address