Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1247 Bad News

Yuan Xi got out of the car and glanced at the women present. He had a bad feeling in his heart. He tried to remain calm and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's cold, go home first. I'll find you when I'm done."

After hearing this, everyone didn't dare to say anything and went back separately, leaving only Zhen Mi behind.

Yuan Xi waited for the girls to leave and asked, "What happened?"

Zhen Mi whispered: "Kong she..."

"After her husband left, she became pregnant, but I asked a few doctors to come over, and they all said that she had a serious illness and was not suitable for childbirth."

"But she insisted on giving birth to the baby. I also advised her that there was still a lot of time left, but she said she knew it was her only chance."

"Mrs. Huan and Mrs. Kong couldn't persuade her, and finally they couldn't persuade her, so they had to let her do what she wanted."

"After she gave birth to a son last month, she became weak and her condition worsened. She eventually died half a month ago."

Yuan Xi felt empty inside. He hissed, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Zhen Mi whispered, "She insisted, saying that her husband is out there pacifying the empire and cannot be distracted, so."

Yuan Xi felt a pang of pain in his heart and whispered, "Where is the person?"

Zhen Mi whispered, "She is still in the hall. She said she wanted to see her husband for the last time. The Hu people outside the city were besieging the city, so it was difficult to bury her. Fortunately, her husband came back in time."

Yuan Xi's steps paused for a moment, then he quickened his pace, stumbling a bit on the road, and followed Zhen Mi drowsily. Zhen Mi did not dare to persuade him, so she could only silently support Yuan Xi and lead the way. The corridor turned and there was a quiet side hall in front of them with a coffin in the middle.

Yuan Xi stumbled forward and saw that the coffin lid was not nailed shut, so he reached out and pushed the lid most of the way open.

In the coffin lay Kong's cold body. Due to the extremely cold weather, the body had not yet decayed, but corpse spots inevitably appeared on her face.

However, it was obvious that someone had carefully made up her before she was buried. Under the cover of rouge and powder, Kong's face looked clean and peaceful, as if she had fallen asleep.

Yuan Xi only felt his eyes blurry, and he felt a string of coldness running down his cheek and landing on Kong's face, leaving a dark red mark.

Yuan Xi's mind flashed back to the time when he first met Kong. She was still a naive little girl, snuggling beside him with big eyes. There was uneasiness in her eyes, but also a bit of curiosity, and she exuded an air of innocence.

Several years passed before the two got together, but because Yuan Xi was busy fighting all over the country, they were rarely together. Most of the time, they could only see each other for a few days in the winter. But Kong had no complaints about this. Every time she met Yuan Xi, she had a happy and satisfied smile on her face.

Although Yuan Xi knew that she was in poor health, he always held on to a lucky mentality, thinking that if he could pacify the world, he would have more time to accompany her, and her condition seemed to be relatively stable, so she should be able to last seven to eight years or even more than ten years without any problem.

At that time, he did not expect that Kong was willing to sacrifice her life to give birth to two children. Now it was too late to do anything.

The face of Kong in Yuan Xi's memory and the face in front of him slowly overlapped. He suppressed his grief and whispered, "Why did you die like this, so early?"

"We've only met a few times in the past few years. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Sobbing sounds came from behind. Yuan Xi turned around and saw Mrs. Kong Rong standing there blankly, covering her face with her sleeves and crying softly.

Yuan Xi turned around and was about to say a few words when he felt dizzy and fell to the ground. Zhen Mi and Madam Kong Rong were horrified and quickly ordered people to carry Yuan Xi into the room and find a doctor to treat him.

Several of Hua Tuo's disciples in Jicheng rushed over and after checking Yuan Xi's pulse, they all said that Yuan Xi was overworked, caught a cold, and fainted due to excitement. They prescribed medicine and said that Yuan Xi must rest for ten days or half a month while taking the medicine.

After hearing this, Zhen Mi quickly ordered people to find the herbs and boiled them herself. She then fed the herbs to Yuan Xi and watched him fall into a deep sleep.

She looked at Yuan Xi's quiet profile, and a complex feeling surged in her heart.

Counting the time, she has been married to Yuan Xi for ten years. During these ten years, the time they have spent together does not exceed two years. Although she sometimes feels lonely, she knows that Yuan Xi has to do so in order to conquer the world. As long as the world is pacified, the two of them will be able to stay together forever.

But Kong did not wait for this day. She was much younger than himself, but also much more courageous. Why?

The news of Yuan Xi's illness soon reached Ju Shou's ears. After Ju Shou learned about it, he said to Yuan Yin beside him: "You have a special relationship with the lord. You can advise the lord when you have time. There is no need to do everything yourself."

"Now Jin has occupied most of the world, and its strongest enemy Cao Cao has been defeated. Wei has been severely damaged and has almost no hope of turning the tables. If you were forced to conquer the world before, now you are trying to rule the world."

"Although Jin State seems to be thriving, there are also hidden worries inside. The Lord's son is still young, and the Lord will need to sit in the court for the next ten years. If his health continues like this, how can we unify the world?"

After hearing this, Yuan Yin smiled bitterly and said, "I think so too. When I meet the lord, I will try to persuade him."

"But the lord is also stubborn. He personally goes to the battlefield, which is quite similar to Emperor Gaozu. I'm afraid it will be difficult to persuade him." Ju Su said in a deep voice: "Emperor Gaozu died at the age of 60, but Wei and Huo were not given a long life by God."

"We can't go on like this anyway. Besides, the bitter cold in the north is not good for our health. What worries me even more is that the area around Jicheng is flat and there is no place to defend. The Xianbei army in the north will surely come back within half a month. By then, the number of soldiers will not be 20,000 or 30,000, but 70,000 or 80,000, or even 100,000."

"I am old now, and I am sometimes confused. Normally, I am fine. But if there is a problem in defending Jicheng and it affects the king, then I will be blamed."

"Gather your subordinates and think about how to deal with the Xianbei army next. Come up with some ideas for me first."

Yuan Yin said, "I am not good at military affairs, and Zhuge is in charge of Yecheng, but I do think there is someone who might be suitable."

Ju Su asked, "Who is it?"

Yuan Yin said: "Yang Xiu, Yang Dezu."

"I met him several times when I was in Luoyang. He is a very intelligent man with extraordinary insight."

"I heard that he was Cao Cao's chief clerk before, and later joined the king during the battle of Jicheng. He is also a military advisor to the king, so he is obviously very important. Why don't you go find him to discuss the matter?"

Ju Su thought for a moment and said, "Well, since the king is ill, I will summon the officials on his behalf and discuss a solution first."

"Go and inform the officials to come to the official residence to discuss matters early tomorrow morning."

The next morning, all the middle and upper-level officials in the city arrived at Ju Shou's official residence. Ju Shou only told everyone that Yuan Xi had been too tired in the past few days, so he asked Ju Shou to gather everyone on his behalf to discuss strategies to repel the enemy, allowing everyone to brainstorm and speak enthusiastically.

When everyone heard that the Xianbei might send hundreds of thousands of cavalry this time, they were all very worried. In a place like Youzhou, even a small group of horse thieves with a dozen people can often cause considerable trouble, let alone hundreds of thousands of people!
If these bandits had no intention of attacking the city, but instead formed thousands of forces and headed directly south to the Central Plains to engage in robbery and banditry, how could Youzhou be able to stop them?

So when an official raised this question, all the officials present echoed him, saying: "If this really happened, the disaster would be far greater than the Yellow Turban Rebellion."

Someone said, "Why not try to negotiate with them and let them return safely? That would be the best."

After hearing this, someone sneered and said, "How can it be that easy? They can't even get food outside the pass, how can they go back empty-handed? How much will it cost us to make them turn around?"

"I think they are determined to take over our territory this time. Only by fighting them to the death and completely destroying them can we save the Central Plains from suffering!"

Someone sneered, "If it were that easy, would the lord still need our advice?"

"What methods do you have to annihilate hundreds of thousands of people in one fell swoop? It seems that in the past thousands of years, only Bai Qi can do it?"

"By then they will be defeated and scatter in panic. Will we be able to catch them one by one?"

The man in front of him blushed, "But if these people reach the Central Plains, how many people will die?"

"The damage done by the barbarians is no less severe than that caused by the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The Han court sent so many troops and spent so much effort to wipe out the bandits. Although you have occupied the north now, your military strength cannot be compared with that of the Han court back then, right?"

A sinister voice sounded, "Let them go, then let them go. Aren't the soldiers and generals from all over the country prepared to resist foreign enemies? You won't let Youzhou hold off so many people alone, right?"

As soon as this was said, many people immediately echoed it. Ju Su looked carefully and saw that it was Yuan Xi's chief clerk Ni Heng, so he asked, "What is the chief clerk's plan?"

Ni Heng said: "In my opinion, if you can stop it, then stop it. If you can't stop it, then just let it go."

"They want to settle down in the south, and I'm afraid they will bring their relatives, young and old, with them. We should conserve our forces and kill all their wives and parents directly."

"Their next generation will be gone, and they will surely gradually die out. Then we will just have to fight against the bandits everywhere."

Some people cheered loudly, but others frowned and said, "They kidnapped Han women, isn't that the same?"

"And this may actually arouse their ferocity, turning them into beasts that kill without hesitation. Then the people of the Central Plains will suffer."

Ni Heng squinted his eyes and said, "Just kill him like a thief."

"The number of people killed is huge. No matter how many there are, can they be as many as the Han people?"

"It's no use trying to reason with the barbarians. Only when their numbers are reduced to a level where they can no longer cause any trouble, will they behave themselves!"

Ni Heng's words were agreed by many people, especially the border nobles in Youzhou. They had dealt with the Hu people for hundreds of years and knew very well that foreigners were fickle and would break any agreement when it came to survival. Now that the Xianbei were clearly going to break off relations, why should they still tolerate them?
Seeing that Yang Xiu had remained silent, Ju Shou asked, "What do you think, military advisor?"

(End of this chapter)