Wu Zhao saw Yuan Xi carefully push a small box under the seat and asked curiously, "What is this?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "It's a betrothal gift to the Zhen family. This time when I go back to adopt the adopted son, I'll also get married at the same time."
Cao Xian listened and opened his eyes wide, "Is this part, or all?"
Yuan Xi scratched his head: "This should be all I can give, right?"
Cao Xian was stunned. A box?
How can this be possible?
At the same time, Wu Zhao felt a little envious. She naturally knew that Yuan Xi had already given the bulk of the betrothal gifts to the Zhen family in advance.
She became more and more curious about what Yuan Xi had hidden in the bottom of the box, but the box was locked, which stopped her from thinking about it.
But looking at Yuan Xi's cautious attitude, it must be something very valuable, right?
When the weather turned into early winter, Yuan Xi and his party finally saw Yecheng again.
The first to greet the crowd this time were Yuan Tan and several of his subordinates. They were waiting by the roadside, leading their horses, twenty miles outside of Ye City.
Yuan Xi jumped off the carriage and said with a smile, "Hello, brother."
Yuan Tan was obviously in a good mood, and greeted him with a big laugh, "Second brother!"
Yuan Xi asked for a horse, and he and Yuan Tan rode in front. Yuan Tan said, "I really want to thank my second brother for helping me so much this time."
"My father has announced that when my second brother returns to Yecheng, he will hold the adoption ceremony at the Yuan Clan Ancestral Hall."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I should be the one thanking you, brother."
"And in this battle of Yijing, my brother's 10,000 troops blocked the Black Mountain Army of tens of thousands of people. It can be said that he became famous in the north."
Yuan Tan shook his head and said, "We brothers don't play tricks. Anyone with a discerning eye knows what's going on. If it weren't for my second brother hiding his edge and turning down the credit for the battle of Yijing, I wouldn't have gotten all this fame."
"If my second brother is adopted, we can no longer be brothers. As the eldest brother, I always feel regretful."
"But when I think about how my second brother is now free from the cage, I am happy for you."
Upon hearing this, Yuan Xi said solemnly: "I will always remember what you did in this."
"If you wish, we can still call each other brothers from now on."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan showed a relieved expression on his face: "With your words, my trip is worth it."
"You know, my third brother was planning to suppress you a few days ago. As his elder brother, I can't openly break up with him. I can only pretend to be nice to him. After all, we are both sons of my father."
He lowered his voice, "But I heard that he opposed my second brother's adoption a few days ago. Seeing that my father had made up his mind after returning from Yijing, and it was difficult to change it, he did something mysterious in private."
Yuan Xi's voice was very soft at this time, "My spy reported that my third brother sent someone to visit Wuji County in Zhongshan County."
Yuan Xi was stunned. He was extremely sensitive to things related to Zhen Mi. After hearing what Yuan Tan said, he vaguely understood and asked, "Does the Zhen family have a branch in Wuji County?"
Yuan Tan said a few words in a low voice, and Yuan Xi's face changed slightly. After a while, he said to Yuan Tan: "Brother, you helped a lot this time. Xi will keep it in mind."
Yuan Tan waved his hand and said, "It's just a small favor."
"It was my second brother who took over the adoption for me, otherwise I might never have been able to turn things around."
"Now that my reputation has risen, I still have the strength to fight with my third brother. Let's see who will have the last laugh!"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "Then I wish you success in your endeavor."
He thought it was actually very difficult, because sometimes parents' partiality was actually very unreasonable.
Even though Yuan Shang was slightly less capable than Yuan Tan, with the favor of Yuan Shao and Liu, the two were not on the same starting line at all.
Moreover, although Yuan Tan was good at fighting, he was actually not as good as Yuan Shang in domestic affairs. As a lord, his domestic affairs were more important than his military prowess.
But if he were Yuan Tan, he would not be willing to give up unless he fought to the end. After all, as the eldest son, he had worked hard for the Yuan family for so many years, and now his position as heir was gone just like that.
He said, "I heard that you collected too much grain in Qingzhou, and the local people are dissatisfied."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan sighed, "You also know that Qingzhou has been plagued by banditry and war for years, which is much worse than Jizhou. There are also hundreds of thousands of Taishan bandits who often come out to harass us."
"It's difficult to feed the soldiers just by collecting local taxes, and I have to collect more military rations because of the battle of Yijing."
"The officials below took the opportunity to collect taxes and embezzle excessively. Several counties showed signs of instability. Even when I led the troops to Qingzhou, the situation was not completely pacified."
"My third brother used this to attack me, and it was hard for me to refute."
Yuan Xi said: "Brother, you need officials who are good at governing. You have so many people under you, can't you find someone who can be used?"
Yuan Tan smiled bitterly and said, "The counselors of Jizhou are unwilling to go to Qingzhou. The nobles of Qingzhou have their own plans and are pretending to obey me but secretly disobeying me."
Yuan Xi suddenly thought of Cai Zhaoji's sister Cai Zhenji, and said, "The Taiyang family is a prominent family in Qingzhou. Brother, you can think of a solution here."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan said with an unpleasant expression, "Don't mention it. Although the current head of the Yang family, Yang Mi, is young, he is very stubborn. I have been turned down several times."
Yuan Xi became interested and asked, "What's going on?"
"You are now the governor of Qingzhou. How dare he offend you?"
Yuan Tan said helplessly: "So he has a very stubborn temper. He obviously has some relationship with me, but he is still waiting and watching. I don't know what he is thinking."
Yuan Xi asked in confusion: "What's the relationship?"
Yuan Tan explained: "Although Yang Mi's father Yang Xu died young, he arranged a marriage for his youngest son Yang Dan, who will marry the daughter of Zuo Zhi (Xin Pi) in the future."
Xin Ping: Xin Pi was from Yingchuan aristocratic family, so he naturally stood on Yuan Tan's side.
Yuan Xi nodded, then frowned and asked, "Xin Pi's daughter?"
"How old?"
Yuan Tan had a strange look on his face: "I heard that he is only four or five years old. Tell me, is that ridiculous?"
"I heard that many years ago, Yang Xu and Xin Pi had a very good relationship, so the two families agreed that if they each gave birth to a boy or a girl, they would become in-laws."
"Soon after Yang Dan gave birth, Yang Xu died. Ten years later, Xin Pi finally had a daughter, but he kept thinking about it."
"Yang Tan also remembered his father's last words, and after the two families discussed it, they agreed to the marriage."
"But considering the age of Xinpi's daughter, Yang Tan will have to wait at least seven or eight years before he can get married."
Only then did Yuan Xi realize that this Xin Pi's daughter was Xin Xianying!
He asked aloud: "Does Yang Tan have a brother named Yang Xun?"
Yuan Tan nodded, "Second brother, you know the Yang family very well. Yang Xun is the second child and is about to get married. I heard that he has already chosen Kong Rong's daughter. I think he will marry her after the new year."
Yuan Xi was startled, and then the scene in the carriage at that time came to his mind: a cute and naive girl was foolishly holding a candy cake and eating it, while secretly looking at him.
He felt a little sad. Unknowingly, the girl was going to get married, and maybe her wedding day would be even earlier than his.
This Yang Xin is quite famous in history. The daughter of the Kong family died early after he married her, so Yang Xin married Cai Zhenji as his second wife and gave birth to Yang Hu and Yang Huiyu. He can be considered a winner in life.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi said, "It seems that Kong Rong still feels resentful about my brother driving him out of Beihai."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan suddenly realized, "I was only thinking about my relationship with George, but I didn't think about this!"
"Kong Beihai, this stinky and stubborn old thing!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I'm afraid you have to think of a way to start from here. I don't think the Yang family can continue to be stubborn. After all, the Yuan family occupies Qingzhou, and they can't just run to Xuzhou."
When he said this, he felt something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
His thoughts were interrupted by Yuan Tan's words, "I am grateful to my second brother. The last time I went to Xuzhou, he opened up the trade route from Jizhou to Xuzhou, and more than a dozen ports along the coast of Qingzhou also benefited a lot."
"If things continue like this, Qingzhou will be rich in wealth and will be able to recover sooner."
Yuan Xi thought that these were all small matters, and Yuan Tan could only get a small share at most. The ones who really made the most money were the Zhen family and the Mi family at both ends of the trade route.
He was behind the Zhen family, but Liu Bei was behind the Mi family. Yuan Xi felt a little distressed when he thought about giving away a large part of the benefits.
It would be great if the entire trade route belonged to us!
When Yuan Xi returned to Yecheng, Liu Bei, who was in Xia Pi and Tancheng, felt that he would not have a good new year.
He just received news that Yuan Shu had sent reinforcements to Guangling County!
It was said that it was his general Zhang Xunqiao Wei who led thousands of soldiers and horses into Guangling City.
After hearing this, Liu Bei felt quite uneasy. Guan Yu had left Xia Pi with thousands of Xuzhou soldiers some time ago, intending to go to Guangling to repel Sun Ce. Originally, the two sides had equal strength, but with the reinforcements from Yuan Shu, Guan Yu's situation became quite bad.
He said to everyone: "I am going to lead the troops to rescue Yun Chang myself. What do you think?"
The officials in the hall were all stunned. Chen Qun said, "My lord, why do you have to take the risk yourself? Why not let General Yide lead the troops?"
After hearing this, Zhang Fei praised Chen Qun: "Sir, you really understand me!"
Chen Qun smiled bitterly. In fact, he didn't want Zhang Fei to stay in Tancheng.
Zhang Fei was rash, impatient, and harsh in his words, which often made everyone lose face. Chen Qun actually didn't want to work with Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei sighed. He also knew Zhang Fei's shortcomings. He was prone to offending people when leading troops. Especially last time when he led troops alone to Beihai to rescue Kong Rong, he offended Taishi Ci, causing him to lose a great general in vain.
Moreover, this time rescuing Guan Yu is very important. If Zhang Fei fails to convince the soldiers and something goes wrong, wouldn't both of them be trapped?
In comparison, it is more appropriate to lead the troops yourself.
Let Zhang Fei be in charge of Tancheng, with a group of officials assisting him, there shouldn't be any trouble, right?
Mi Zhu said, "Why not let Yuanlong lead the troops and give it a try?"
He was one of the few people who knew that Chen Deng had learned military tactics, and he had recommended him to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei did not agree.
Liu Bei hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll go."
Regardless of whether Chen Deng is just talking big on paper, the Chen family has a deep foundation in Guangling. If Chen Deng is allowed to lead his troops to station in Guangling, will it be too difficult to control?
Seeing that Liu Bei had made up his mind, the officials stopped talking.
Liu Bei thought that if everything went well, he and Guan Yu would join forces to defeat Sun Ce in Guangling City. At the very least, they would have to consume Sun Ce's main force so that he would no longer be able to pose a threat to Xia Pi within a year or so.
What Liu Bei couldn't figure out now was what was happening in Yanzhou. Cao had been watching coldly from the sidelines. What on earth did he want to do?