The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

"As soon as the ambush came out, Yun and Qin and Tian Ergong, the overseers, marched into the battle, and Yuan Tan was defeated. Sima Yanmeng of the other divisions took the lead, galloping horses to fight, beheading Sima and Marquis of Qu Jun under Yuan Tan's tent; Tan, and Tan desperately rescued Runan Jiang Qi, and Tan was able to escape.

"Yun and Qin and Tian Ergong took advantage of the victory to go south and recapture Pingyuan County. They captured and captured more than 400 heads, more than 1,000 prisoners, and piled up the mountains. Yun and Qin and Tian Ergong, a total of hundreds of soldiers casualties. Yun County Hua Yan, the chief clerk of the prefecture, who bribery and abused the people and sneaked in with the thieves, was chased by Yun; the former Yuan Tan arrived, and Yan went to cast him. Now that Yan has been obtained, how to deal with it, waiting for the public order."

After reading Zhao Yun's good news, Xun Zhen smiled and said: "Zilong is steady and strange, and he is also brave!"

He asked the servants to take Zhao Yun's good news to the servants in the hall to watch.

One of the officials, with five short statures and an ugly appearance, was Cheng Jia, who had just returned from the Zhongshan Kingdom in Jizhou after Zhang Feiyan's mission.

After all the officials looked at it, Xun Zhen smiled and said, "Jun Chang has just returned from Jizhou and was telling me what he had seen along the way. Zilong sent a good news, saying that he almost captured Yuan Tan, which is also a coincidence. pile."

Cheng Jia said with a smile: "Zilong defeated Yuan Tan and almost captured him alive. It was a big victory. Congratulations! Jia Gong Xi Ming Gong."

Xun Zhen waved her hand and said, "It's just the younger generation, what's the use of capturing them alive."

Xun Zhen was ten years older than Yuan Tan. In terms of age alone, he called Yuan Tan a "little boy", which seemed to be a bit big, but Xun Zhen and Yuan Tan were really two generations. , Xun Zhen was the same generation as Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, so from this point of view, he called Yuan Shao's son "the younger generation", which is actually not wrong.

As for saying that even if Yuan Tan was captured, it would be of no use.

Not to mention that Xun Zhen and Yuan Shao have not yet torn apart their faces, they have truly become enemies. Even if the two become enemies of life and death, then even if Yuan Tan is captured, it is really a matter for Xun Zhen. Not much use. ——Yuan Shao would definitely not make any concessions to Xun Zhen because of Yuan Tan. Among the heroes who can achieve great things, which one from ancient times to the present will make concessions to the enemy because his wife and son have fallen into the enemy's hands? Not to mention his wife and son, Liu Bang, the great ancestor, he didn't even want his father. Despite Yuan Shao's shortcomings in one way or another, no one has any shortcomings. Yuan Shao can also be called a hero of a generation.

It was a big event for Cheng Jia to return from his mission. Xi Zhicai, Xun Yu, Zhang Zhao, Guo Jia and others were all present in the hall.

Zhang Zhao said: "Capturing Yuan Tan is as stated by Duke Ming, and it is of no use. However, Yuan Tan attacked Pingyuan County twice, but they all returned with nothing. This time, he was only spared. At least for a long period of time, I have Qingzhou doesn't have to worry about Yuan Shao's foreign troubles anymore."

Xun Zhen nodded and said with a smile: "What Zhang Gong said is very true. Looking at it now, Yuan Benchu ​​sent Yuan Tan back to attack me in Pingyuan County, but there was really no backup. It seems that it should be just to harass me in Qingzhou. If his foot hits a stone, it is estimated that he will be a lot more honest. Zhongren is in Qingzhou, and since then he can take care of the hearts and minds of the people and place the Yellow Turbans to surrender."

Zhang Zhao asked: "Ming Gong, General Zhao asked Hua Yan about this in the good news. I don't know what Ming Gong plans to do with him?"

Zhao Yun specifically asked Hua Yan for two reasons.

As the prefect of the prefecture leading the army, although Zhao Yun can be said to be in charge of the army by riding a horse and managing the people by dismounting, he has no right to commit suicide without authorization. According to Hua Yan's crime, the death penalty is sufficient, so he had to ask Xun Zhen to decide.

Secondly, it is also because Hua Yan and Hua Xin are of the same clan, and the blood relationship between the two of them is not far away, so how should we deal with him? The decision-making power can only be left to Xun Zhen to decide.

Xun Zhen had already made a decision, but without saying anything, she asked Zhang Zhao, "What is your opinion?"

Zhang Zhao said: "Pingyuan is adjacent to Jizhou and is on the front line. Huayan's surrender to the enemy should not be taken lightly and should be severely punished! Only in this way can we set an example and ensure the stability of Pingyuan County."

This is exactly what Xun Zhen meant.

Xun Zhen said: "The public announcement is very true!" Then he ordered the chief clerk Chen Yi to say, "Return to the book Zilong, and the Xiaoshou will show it to the public."

The disposal of Hua Yan was not an emergency military situation, so there was no need to draft it on the spot. Chen Yi promised to write it down.

A simple two-sentence dialogue with Zhang Zhao decided Hua Yan's life and death.

Xun Zhen looked at Cheng Jia and said with a smile, "Jun Chang, you go on to say, ... where did you just say?"

Cheng Jia said: "Yes. Duke Ming. Jia just said that on his trip back and forth to Jizhou, what he saw along the way, the counties and counties were withered, and many fields were deserted. The common people, Thai half-faced with starvation, were found dying in ditches on the roadside. Compared with our territory in Xuzhou, there are two completely different types of people! Moreover, there are many thieves. On the way Jia went back and forth, he encountered three waves of thieves before and after! Jia's more than ten guards are all tigers, so there is no danger!

"In addition to this, Feng Ji, Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Xu You, Chunyu Qiong, etc., who were highly valued by Yuan Shao, all occupied the civilian fields in Julu, Anping, Ganling and other counties. I haven’t passed by the county and Changshan county, but I think the situation in these three counties should be similar to that of Julu and other counties.

In fact, to go to Zhongshan, the only two counties Cheng Jia had to pass were Ganling and Anping.

After leaving Dongjun, going north to Ganling, passing Ganling, and then going north to Anping, it is the border of Zhongshan.

But in order to observe the situation in Jizhou more and more comprehensively, when he went, Cheng Jia took the road of Ganling and Anping; when he came back, he risked being discovered by Yuan Shao's men.

After detouring for a while, they headed south to Julu, and then turned eastward not too far from Wei County, then passed Ganling, returned to Dong County, and then went back to Tan County without stopping.

Having said that, Cheng Jia paused.

He stroked his sparse beard, looked around the officials in the hall, then looked back at Xun Zhen respectfully, and said with a smile: "Ming Gong, to be honest, I still envy them!"

Xun Zhen asked, "Who do you envy?"

"Naturally, the scholars of Fengji and Guo Tu."

Xun Zhen said, "What do you envy?"

Cheng Jia said seemingly solemnly: "I regret why I followed Duke Ming? Why didn't I vote for Yuan Benchu? If I were under Yuan Benchu's account, now my family is like Fengji and Guo Tu, with thousands of acres of fertile land!"

When Xun Zhen heard this, she burst out laughing.

All the officials in the hall laughed.

But it is said that these people under Yuan Shao have seized the land so much. Could it be that Yuan Shao did not know about it, or that he was not afraid of making Jizhou people angry? First, he knew; second, he was really not afraid.

What can the untouchables of Qianshou do? If someone really dares to rebel, then destroy it!

Then again, even if he is not afraid of the people's rebellion, Yuan Shao was born in a noble family, doesn't he want to give himself a good reputation among the people? At least for this purpose, should he also stop Feng Ji, Guo Tu and others?

Of course Yuan Shao wanted to have a good reputation among the people.

But in fact, he has difficulties, he can't do it, or in other words, at least now he can't stop Fengji, Guo Tu, etc.

Yuan Shao's separatist occupation of Jizhou is the same as Xun Zhen, but different.

The same is that both of them were the prefects of a county in the state, and finally seized Ji and Xu respectively.

The difference is that Yuan Shao's income from Jizhou was supported by some scholars in Jizhou, and Han Fu had to give it to him; Xun Zhen's income from Xuzhou was captured by himself.

This difference resulted in Xun Zhen being able to restrain his vassals after acquiring Xu and Ji respectively; while after Yuan Shao acquired Jizhou, in order to stabilize his ruling foundation, he had to take care to win over the group of scholars in Jizhou under his command. , At the same time, in order to check and balance the group of scholars in Jizhou, he had to pay more attention to the group of scholars in Yuzhou under his account. In this case, what restrictions are there?

The crowd laughed for a while.

Cheng Jia said: "Ming Gong, I have a guess, I don't know if I should say it or not."

Xun Zhen said: "What guess? There is nothing wrong to say, just say it."

Cheng Jia smiled, turned serious, and said: "Ming Gong, Jia has already reported to Ming Gong just now, this time Jia saw Hu Shou at Zhang Feiyan's place. Hu Shou is from Liangzhou, and I heard that he is related to Qu Yi. When Bing Jia was in Feiyan Camp, he once met a stranger with a Liangzhou accent... Duke Ming, Jia suspects that Zhang Feiyan and Qu Yi might have a connection!"

Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia looked at each other and then looked at Xun Zhen.

Xun Zhen smiled calmly and said, "Qi Yi is also from Liangzhou. He threaded a needle in the middle through Hushou. It is not surprising that he and Zhang Feiyan colluded."

Cheng Jia saw something different, asked Xun Zhen, and said, "Dare to ask Duke Ming, but Duke Ming has already guessed about it?"

——Hushou, who belonged to Li Jue and others in the prefecture. In order to eliminate Yuan Shao, a powerful enemy, Li Jue and others manipulated the Chang’an court and appointed him as the prefect of Jizhou a long time ago, but Jizhou had been stolen by Yuan Shao. He brought some soldiers and horses, but when many scholars in Jizhou supported Yuan Shao, of course he would not be able to take office, so he went to Zhang Feiyan's place.

Xun Zhen said: "If there is real evidence, there is no real evidence, but Junchang, think about it, although Quyi is now being reused by Yuan Benchu, he is an old general of Han Fu, not a party of the original; , He is a native of Liangzhou, neither a native of Jizhou nor a scholar of Yuzhou. Therefore, he was reused at the beginning and now, but it is expected that it is because of the merits of the bounded bridge, and this person is indeed brave and good at fighting, so I want to use him. Just use it to fight Gongsun Zan. Speaking of trust, I don't think there is much trust in him in the beginning, and as the beginning of the year gradually gained a firm foothold in Jizhou, ... Quyi's palm is heavily armed, how can it be in the beginning? Allow him?

"Even if Primordial can tolerate it, Feng Ji, Guo Tu, Chunyu Qiong, etc. under Primordial's account will definitely not be compatible with him!

"Qi Yi must be aware of his own situation in Jizhou, so he just got in touch with Zhang Feiyan through Hushou, thinking that he will protect himself. This is to be expected."

Cheng Jia admired it very much and said, "Ming Gong is truly a visionary!"

Facing Cheng Jia's flattery, Xun Zhen waved her hand again and said with a smile: "No, no. This is not something I figured out by myself, this is when I have nothing to do with Zhicai and Fengxiao. Conjectures that can be made by chatting together.”

Cheng Jia said, "So it is!" asked Xunzhen, and said, "Ming Gong, can we use it here?"

Xun Zhen shook her head and said, "For the time being, I'm afraid it's useless."

Cheng Jia asked, "Dare to ask Duke Ming, why is this?"

Xun Zhen said: "On the surface, Yuan Shao still has a lot of trust in Qu Yi, showing his responsibilities and giving heavy troops. Qu Yi always asks for anything, and he does not refuse, and he keeps giving gifts; in this case, Qu Yi and Zhang Feiyan , or he communicated with Hushou, or Li Jue, etc., it is estimated that he should not betray Yuan Shao, but purely to increase his weight in Jizhou.

Well, if you send someone to contact Kou Yi now, nine times out of ten, he won't take care of him. "

Cheng Jia thought for a while and said, "Ming Gong said yes!"

Xun Zhen said: "Junchang, you have successfully completed your mission this time as an envoy and reached an alliance with Zhang Feiyan. I will give you a credit. There are ten thousand acres of fertile land, I can't reward you, but you can do other things." Well, what do you want?"

First, he defeated Cao Cao again, stabilized Yanzhou, then won the whole of Yanzhou, and then gained the entire territory of Qingzhou. Zhao Yunfu defeated Yuan Tan not long ago, and Qingzhou could get a temporary stability. Xun Zhen was in a very good mood. Just kidding.

Cheng Jia said: "I don't ask for a reward, I heard that Sun Yuzhou sent a carefully selected female music to Duke Ming, all of them are beautiful, can sing and dance, and are brave, and I ask Duke Ming to reward this group of female music. to Jia."

Xun Zhen was stunned for a moment, then laughed, pointed at Cheng Jia, and said, "Jun Chang, you are well-informed! But you are also greedy! I can't give you this group of female musicians."

Cheng Jia asked, "If you dare to be Duke Ming, why can't you give it to you?"

Xun Zhen said sternly, "Your Majesty, you have 'Jun' in your word. Don't you hear that gentlemen don't take people's favor? I also like this group of female music, how can I give it to you?"

After speaking, Xun Zhen laughed.

Cheng Jia knew that Xun Zhen was still joking with him.

After laughing with Xun Zhen for a while, Cheng Jia said, "Ming Gong, Jia has something to report to Ming Gong this time."

Xun Zhen asked, "What's the matter?"

Cheng Jia said: "There are quite a few friends in Jiaxi's township who were appointed by Yuan Benchu ​​to Ye County as officials. Although Jia did not enter Wei County this time, when he reached the junction of Julu and Wei County, he sent a clerk from The officials went to Ye County to see Jia's friends. From them, Jia heard a piece of news."

"what news?"

"Cao Mengde went to write Yuan Benchu ​​a few days ago."

Xun Zhen concentrated and said, "Meng De is going to write Yuan Benchu? What are the words in the book?"

Cheng Jia said: "At that time, Ma Teng and Han Sui had not yet fought with Li Jue and others, but Ma Teng had already fallen out with Li Jue. Cao Mengde heard about this, so he went to Yuan Benchu ​​and suggested that Yuan Benchu ​​might as well make some preparations. If there is chaos in Chang'an, the emperor will be diligent."

Cao Cao's current Taiyuan is not far from Chang'an, and there is only one county in Hedong in the middle. It is hundreds of miles away, so he is far more informed about the news from Chang'an than when he was in Yanzhou.

When Xun Zhen heard the words, she thought to herself, "Although I was driven away from Dongjun and went to Taiyuan, Meng De still has great ambitions!" The determination to change in Chang'an.

Since Cheng Jia mentioned Cao Cao, Xun Zhen asked, "Jun Chang, did you hear about Meng De when you were in Zhongshan?"

Zhongshan Country and Taiyuan County are not very far apart, separated by Changshan Country and Taihang Mountain, and the two counties are about 200 miles apart.

When Cheng Jia was in Zhang Feiyan's camp in Zhongshan, he really heard some news about Cao Cao and high officials.

He replied: "After Cao Mengde and Gao Yuancai arrived in Taiyuan, they attacked the Hu Hu in the north, attacked Baibo in the west, and defended Zhang Feiyan in the east. Cao Mengde personally led the army to attack Baibo and the Yellow Turbans, and fought two battles, winning one and losing one. ."

Xun Zhen keenly grasped the three key words in Cheng Jia's words, namely "pass", "attack" and "defense", and said: "You said that Meng De was in Taiyuan to connect the Hu Hu in the north, attack Baibo in the west, and attack Baibo in the east. To prevent Zhang Feiyan?"

Cheng Jia replied, "Exactly."

Xun Zhen pondered for a while, then said: "The strategy Meng De adopted in Taiyuan, according to this~www.wuxiamtl.com~, should be to appease the Hu Hu in the north, defend Zhang Feiyan in the east, and expand westward.  … For him , this is the best policy.”

The north side is now the territory of the Wuhuan and other Hus. There are many grasslands and few Han people. It is thankless to attack the north side, so I choose to appease. If Zhang Feiyan in the east, even if he wiped out all of Zhang Feiyan's troops, he would only be making wedding gowns for Yuan Shao, which would not benefit Cao Cao. Therefore, the only choice before Cao Cao was the best choice.

In this way, the places laid down can be regarded as his territory.

Xun Zhen asked, "Meng De is only defensive to Zhang Feiyan, does Gao Gan have any objection?"

Cheng Jia said: "I have never heard of this." Guess said, "Gao Yuancai was described by Yuan Benchu ​​as the governor of Bingzhou. Zhongshan, where Zhang Feiyan is entrenched, belongs to Jizhou, and it is none of his business. As long as Zhang Feiyan no longer enters the hinterland of Jizhou, there is no need for him to come. Fight Zhang Feiyan."

Bingzhou and Xuzhou were separated by Jizhou, and Xunzhen had no energy to pay attention to Bingzhou.

Talk about it, before you know it, it's getting dark.

Cheng Jia only came back today and was tired from the journey, so he came to see Xun Zhen without a break. After talking for a while, he was already exhausted, so Xun Zhen told him to go back to rest first, and agreed to wash the dust for him tomorrow.

After Cheng Jia resigned and resigned, Xun Zhen and Xi Zhicai, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Zhang Zhao, etc., had to have some more discussions on the sightings and news that Cheng Jia said. Zhang Zhao also mentioned that Cheng Jia had already been sent as an ambassador. Returning, but I don't know where is Liu Ru, who was sent to Chang'an as an envoy? Is it in Chang'an, or is it already on the way back to Xuzhou? Just as he was talking, someone outside the hall came in, and everyone saw that it was Xuan Kang.

Xuankang saluted and said, "Ming Gong, I just received a military report from Li Gan, saying that he will have to wait a few more days before his troops can leave the camp."