Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1242 Goodbye
Yang Feng struggled for a while, but failed to pull her hand out, so she turned her head to the window and said, "No, I'm fine."

Yuan Xi said, "I can ask Mr. Yuan Hua directly and find out."

Yang Feng suddenly became irritated when he heard the sound of the wheels. He pulled his hand back abruptly and raised his voice, "Don't worry about it. I won't die!"

Her voice was so loud that the guards outside were startled. The carriage stopped, and Sun Li came up, opened the window, and shouted, "My lord, is there something wrong?"

Yuan Xi waved his hand, "No, keep going."

Sun Li said "oh", turned around and asked the driver to continue on his way. However, his voice was too loud and the soldiers and civilians nearby all looked over. Immediately, a soldier recognized from the armor of Sun Li and others that this was the carriage of the King of Jin. He immediately stopped what he was doing, stood still and bowed.

The people nearby didn't understand at first, but after finding out the truth, they knelt down one after another, kowtowed and praised Yuan Xi's carriage. When the news spread, people along the street knelt down one after another, forming two long rows beside the avenue, stretching out all the way.

When Yuan Xi saw this, he called Sun Li over and said, "Tell them not to kneel. It's freezing cold, what's the point of kneeling on the ground?"

After hearing this, Sun Li immediately led his men to the roadside to persuade them to stop, but the people could not hold out. Someone shouted, "My lord, please save our lives. Please kneel down to me!"

Voices rang out one after another, "Your Majesty, saving me is like saving water and fire. Please accept my greeting!"

"My king, drive away the Wei thieves and return my home to me. Please accept our kindness!"

Voices came one after another, the carriage moved forward slowly, more and more people knelt down, Yang Feng sighed softly, "Your great power has been established, the hearts of the people of the world belong to you, there is no point for me to stay anymore."

Yuan Xi suddenly sneered.

After hearing this, Yang Feng angrily asked, "Why, do you think I'm mocking you?"

"We've been fighting for so many years, and you can't even tell the difference between good words and bad words?"

Yuan Xi sneered: "No, I was laughing because I misjudged you."

"You are no longer the same Yang Feng!"

Yang Feng became even more furious after hearing this, "You bastard, you opened a dyeing factory just because I gave you a little color, do you think you are good enough?"

Yuan Xi stopped laughing, "Yang Feng, you disappoint me."

"Do you remember what you said at the beginning?"

Yang Feng said subconsciously: "If you do something that is unfair to the people of the world in the future, I will come to take your life."

Yuan Xi straightened up suddenly and pointed at the people kneeling outside the window. "So you think they should kneel like this?"

Yang Feng reacted, "You mean"

Yuan Xi sneered and said, "The way they are now is indeed very good to me. If I ask them to join the army and pay taxes, they will definitely obey my orders."

"But what if I want to go against the grain and use them to kill people and commit evil?"

"They will obey without hesitation, right?"

"They are still one step away from our ideal people. It is the last step, the longest and final correct step."

"I have my own judgment of good and evil, and I am not swayed by false words. I just follow the path of rectifying my mind and true self!"

“When they stop kneeling and can truly stand up straight, then they are considered to have completed the journey!”

"But now they don't even dare to ask me not to kneel!"

"At this time, you are thinking of quitting?"

"Do you really think you've finished everything you wanted to do?"

Yang Feng subconsciously asked: "Why, you don't even believe in yourself?"

"Your original intention is so easily shaken, do you need someone to keep an eye on you?"

Yuan Xi opened his arms, "Yes, I don't believe it."

"What I don't believe in is not myself, but human nature itself."

"People will change, and they will grow old and incompetent. When the time comes, as the common ruler of the world, the consequences of acting on one's own will will be the Huan-Ling Rebellion, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and the time for the people of the world to speak out."

"If hundreds of thousands of people had not spoken out with their lives during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, how could the world return to the path of clearing away chaos and promoting good?"

"After any event, power without limits is extremely terrifying. The first thing the emperor should do is to hang a knife above the throne to remind himself that power is not a weapon for doing whatever he wants, but a weapon that can lead to his own destruction!"

"At this time, you say you want to quit?"

Yang Feng clenched her fists in her sleeves. For all these years, she had never really understood Yuan Xi. It was not until this moment that she understood what the other person was really thinking.

She felt a surge of joy in her heart, as the person in front of her was the true successor to her father's legacy.

But then this joy was overwhelmed by deep regret, because I couldn't hold on any longer.

A trace of unwillingness flashed in her eyes, then she raised her head, a proud look on her face, and looked directly at Yuan Xi and said, "Who said I quit?" "I, Zhang Ning, the Saint of the Taiping Dao, swear here that if you ever do something against your will and hurt the people of the world, I will come and take your head!"

Only then did Yuan Xi show a smile on his face, "This is you."

"You must remember what you said and don't break your promise."

Yang Feng stared at Yuan Xi's eyes, unconsciously shifting a little, "Even if I don't come in person, there will be my apprentices, and there will be people who inherit my ideas and come to you."

"The aspirations of the Taiping Dao will never die. When the Yellow Emperor is established, the world will be blessed. When the emperor is unjust, peace will prevail!"

Yuan Xi stretched out his hand, "Okay, I will remember this."

"I am waiting for you."

Yang Feng hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand, and the two hands were finally tightly clasped together.

The carriage stopped outside the city. Sun Li led the horse over. Yang Feng climbed on the horse and said to Yuan Xi, "I'm going."

She shook the reins and the horse galloped away, soon disappearing at the end of the ancient road, leaving only a tiny outline extending into the distance.

Yuan Xi did not ask Yang Feng where he was going, because he knew that Yang Feng would not tell him even if he asked.

Yang Feng will probably never come back.

But as Yuan Xi looked at Yang Feng's receding back, he always had an illusion that at some point in the future, the other person would suddenly appear in front of him.

A feeling of loneliness suddenly surged in his heart.

All the people I know are leaving me one by one. I wonder if I will be alone again after many years?

Yuan Xi stood there for a long time. The sky gradually darkened and a cold wind blew. Seeing Yuan Xi still staring blankly into the distance, Sun Li could not help but ask, "If the lord is reluctant to let her go, why don't you ask her to stay?"

"I don't think she has no feelings for the king, does she?"

Yuan Xi came back to his senses and said calmly: "It's not about friendship, it's about ideals."

"That's fine too. The ideal is far away. If it were within reach, then life would be too boring."

"Go back to the city, there are still many things waiting for us."

Sun Li seemed to understand, but not quite. He thought to himself that his lord was really a weirdo. Only a weirdo like Yang Feng could understand his thoughts, right?
A few days later, news came from both the north and the south.

There were unusual movements among the Xianbei outside the Great Wall. They colluded with Goguryeo and even part of the Wuhuan tribe, and had begun to move south.

As for the State of Wu, it openly expanded the war. It divided itself into two groups. One group invaded Liu Bei's Changsha County, and the other group went north to the south bank of the Yangtze River with the intention of occupying Jiangxia and Rushu River.

But according to information from spies, Wu's main attack direction was Liu Bei's territory. Xu Shu, who was stationed in Changsha, took over the government and sent Zhang Fei to lead the army to stop the enemy. The two sides had already started a fierce battle in Jiaozhou.

Under the influence of Xu Shu and Pang Tong in recent years, Zhang Fei has become quite good at military strategy. In the first battle between him and the Wu army, he used a strategy to defeat the Wu army and killed the Wu army's vanguard Ling Tong. The Wu Kingdom was defeated and had to hold out against Zhang Fei's army. For a time, the offensive in the north slowed down.

After Yuan Xi learned the news, he felt that the Wu Kingdom was in a state of last-ditch struggle, and it seemed that Sun Quan was still unwilling to withdraw.

However, in this world, one cannot succeed just by having ambition. In the early stage, Yuan Xi's efforts against Sun Quan were no less than Cao Cao's. He worked hard to dig out many of Sun Quan's people. If Sun Quan could still stir up trouble, it would be a shame for all the efforts Yuan Xi had made.

The defeat of the Wu army also made Yuan Xi's originally hesitant choice become clearer. With the help of Lu Xun and Lu Su, the defense of Jianghuai would definitely be no problem. What Yuan Xi had to do next was to return to Jicheng to take charge of the overall situation and fight back against the invading Xianbei outside the Guan Pass.

But before that, he had to discuss with Zhuge Liang the person to be in charge of Yecheng.

This matter had been pending for several days, because a key place like Yecheng, which had just been captured, required a very capable and trusted confidant. After searching around, Yuan Xi found that the most suitable candidate was none other than Zhuge Liang.

After all, even if Cao Cao is no longer powerful, Wei still has Sima Yi, who is growing very fast. Among the counselors in the north, the only one who can suppress Sima Yi is Zhuge Liang.

However, Yuan Xi was a little lacking in confidence when it came to defending against the invasion of the Xianbei outside the Great Wall. After all, the other side had a large number of people entering the country this time. He knew very well that if he did not have Zhuge Liang's help, a slight mistake might lead to a huge error, and he did not know how much the number of casualties among his soldiers would increase.

Now the Xianbei outside the Great Wall are moving southward very quickly, and with all the true and false news, the people far away in Yecheng are unable to judge the truth. However, there is a high possibility that Jicheng will be besieged next, and returning to Youzhou for support can no longer be delayed.

Yuan Xi had sent Lu Xun away the day before, and now he and Zhuge Liang were the only ones staring at each other. Thinking of this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but said, "I will leave tomorrow, and the military advisor will stay in Yecheng to stabilize the situation."

"I will leave Gao Lan, Chun Yu Qiong to you, and I will take Zilong with me and leave first."

Zhuge Liang thought about it and found that he could not find anyone more suitable than himself to be in charge of Yecheng. After all, there were still many Wei troops left in Weijun, and there were a large number of Wei soldiers stationed in Yanzhou to the south, which all required him to be in charge to deal with.

The Battle of Yecheng ended so quickly that most of the Wei soldiers in Yanzhou had not yet been mobilized before the dust settled. However, before Cao Cao left, he still sent Cao Hong to take charge. If Yecheng was empty, he might take the opportunity to attack.

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "Although you and Mr. Gong have returned to Youzhou, the lord still needs a counselor who can gather intelligence."

"Liang thought about it and found that the most suitable one was Yang Xiu and Yang Dezu."

Yuan Xi was surprised and asked, "Yang Xiu? Can he be trusted?"

Zhuge Liang said leisurely: "Although this man's political views may not be consistent with the lord, he at least stands on the side of the Han Dynasty. He can be trusted to resist the Hu people."

(End of this chapter)