Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1254 Chess Pieces
Inside Yuan Xi's residence in Jicheng, Ju Shou and Yang Xiu were shivering in the cold study. After listening to Yuan Xi's speculation, they said in disbelief: "Could Kirby really have sent these people to die?"

"Hundreds of thousands of people. Is he crazy?"

Yuan Xi said, "I didn't dare to believe it at first, but as intelligence from the north continued to come in, I analyzed it carefully and found that there were many possibilities."

"From a common sense point of view, this is indeed a little unbelievable. For the Xianbei, hundreds of thousands of people are not a small number."

"But I want to ask you two, how many people are there in the various tribes under Kobinen's Zhongxianbei now?"

Ju Su said, "The Central Xianbei have the largest force, and conservative estimates put their number at no less than one million."

"In comparison, Budugen of the Western Xianbei and Suli of the Eastern Xianbei only have slightly more than Kobe combined."

Yuan Xi said, "That's right, so Kobe is the strongest and can suppress both the East and West Xianbei at the same time."

"But he is not without hidden dangers. It is not easy to rule a million people. I now rule a state. A million people need thousands of officials. The Xianbei do not have such conditions. They just rely on restraining the clan leader and hierarchical rule."

"Under such circumstances, no matter how fair Kobe can be, it is still difficult to please everyone. After all, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, and if the person is too strict, there will be no followers. If the king wants to give some benefits to the people around him, the people under him will also be dissatisfied, right?"

Ju Shou and Yang Xiu laughed awkwardly. They knew that although the salaries of officials under Yuan Xi were not low, the upper-level officials were far from being as wasteful and luxurious as the officials of Cao Wei. This made many officials who came to join Yuan Xi uncomfortable at first.

Most of the compensation Yuan Xi made to the officials was in the form of appliances made with new technologies that would facilitate their lives. Apart from that, Yuan Xi himself lived an extremely simple life.

The most typical point is the distribution of firewood and charcoal. When the two entered the house, they found that there was almost no fire in Yuan Xi's house, and the charcoal rationing was strictly enforced. The two even found two women dressed as ladies squatting in the kitchen to keep warm.

After hearing this, Ni Heng once asked Yang Xiu in private whether the king was seeking fame and reputation. Yang Xiu replied: "As a king, it is not easy to pretend to be fake. Can you do it?"

Ni Heng was speechless. Yang Xiu thought that he could guess Cao Cao's thoughts, but he still couldn't see through the Prince of Jin. He must have great motives by doing this, but Yang Xiu still couldn't figure it out, if he wanted to conquer the world, was it necessary to go to such lengths?
I’m afraid that Wang Mang was not so shabby back then?
Yang Xiu couldn't think of an answer for the time being, so he could only open his eyes and wait for the day when he would understand Yuan Xi.

Now, Yuan Xi's words made Yang Xiu understand that at least Yuan Xi himself was very opposed to the luxurious life among the gentry, and did not want such a trend among officials. This actually made Yang Xiu a little uncomfortable. After all, the Yang family he belonged to was a famous and prestigious family, and their life was naturally much better than that of ordinary scholars.

Yang Xiu thought that if all the officials in Jin State were like this, it would be like being in prison. No wonder many of the officials recruited by the King of Jin were selected from among the common people and good families.

But what puzzled him was that among the officials of Jin State, there were also many children of aristocratic families. Why did they choose to live a poor life and gather under the command of the King of Jin?
Is it because of saving your life, or being recognized, or some other reason?

Yuan Xi's words brought Yang Xiu back to reality. "Although the Zhong Xianbei have the largest number of people, sometimes their large numbers can also be a burden."

"After all, everyone has their own selfish desires, and it's hard to please everyone, especially when they are united in going to war. Many tribes will put the survival of the tribe first, which is bound to conflict with Kobinen's goal."

"If I were him, facing this increasingly severe cold weather that will last for who knows how many years, I would only have two choices: one is to gather everyone's strength to overcome the difficulties, and the other is to plunder outside."

"But no matter which approach is adopted, a unified voice is needed. Any divisive and dissatisfied remarks at this time will affect Kobe's grand plan."

"If we just stand there and fight, we will just leave it to fate. The resources for survival will only become less and less. In the end, if the tribe runs out of food, they will inevitably fall into a situation of killing each other."

"However, there are only so many resources outside the Great Wall. Even if Kobe can unify the Eastern and Western Xianbei and eliminate the Northern Xiongnu outside the Great Wall, it will only make the territory larger and the population larger, but the plight of people outside the Great Wall who rely on the weather for food will not change at all."

"It's impossible for someone like him not to see this, so he will definitely seek help from outside."

"So entering the country, and only entering the country, became Kobe's best option."

"Inside the Great Wall are fertile fields covering thousands of miles, and the land is fertile everywhere, which is much better than outside the Great Wall. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been no foreign tribe that does not want to move south."

Yang Xiu sneered after hearing this and said, "It's not that easy to conquer the Central Plains. How many times have foreign races won in the past few hundred years?"

"And even if they take it down, with their brains, can they really do what the Central Plains officials need to do?"

Yuan Xi said calmly: "They only need to win once."

"As for how to govern, the world is so big that there will naturally be people who will change their minds according to the situation."

"But we can't afford to lose. If we lose once, hundreds of millions of people may be displaced and suffer."

"So you two must pay attention to what Kobinen did this time. He must have abandoned the tribes that were not loyal enough or had too many elderly, children, women and children as the vanguard."

"This is the best option for him. By discarding these burdens, he can go into battle with a lighter load. The proportion of young and strong people among the remaining people will increase, and food resources can be saved to supply them."

Ju Su suddenly realized: "No wonder their offensive is not as strong as I thought, that's because..."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I also guessed based on the intelligence. They didn't bring all the livestock with them. I guess they were ordered to travel light and rush to the interior as soon as possible."

"I guess what Kirby promised them was that those who entered the pass first would get the most land and women. Driven by greed, many tribes came here with the minimum amount of food." "But they didn't expect that what they saw in front of them was Youzhou, which was well prepared for clearing the countryside. Not only were there no women, but there were also no houses or food."

"Now I'm afraid some people have come to their senses, but it's too late. They can't go back."

Ju Su said in a deep voice: "They will not sit still and wait for death. They will definitely go south to Jizhou."

Yuan Xi nodded, "That's right, when they make a desperate move, it will be difficult for us to deal with them.

"And if they rush into Jizhou or even Qingzhou, the Central Plains will be in chaos, and Kobe, who has been watching from behind, will be able to take action."

"When the time comes, he will take advantage of our busy schedule to invade us. That will be the real deal."

"This time should be in the early spring of next year, when the snow on the grassland melts."

"We must first eliminate the hidden dangers of these hundreds of thousands of Xianbei vanguard troops and be well prepared, so that we can deal with the possible offensive of the Xianbei, or achieve a complete victory and prevent them from acting rashly."

"If I get entangled with these Xianbei people, Kobe will have enough time to make plans. He may even take the opportunity to unify the Eastern and Western Xianbei and join forces with Goguryeo and the Xiongnu to deal with us."

"This is how these hundreds of thousands of Xianbei people use it. Kobe is indeed a once-in-a-century hero on the grassland. If he was born in the Central Plains, he would also be able to dominate one side, right?"

Yang Xiu said, "Then how should we deal with it?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Of course, we have to listen to Dezu's opinion first."

Yang Xiu did not expect Yuan Xi to throw the question directly to him, but he already had a plan in mind and immediately spoke of several countermeasures.

Yuan Xi turned to Ju Su first, "What do you think of what Dezu said?"

Ju Su exclaimed: "De Zu obviously did a lot of homework."

"Every detail has been taken into consideration. Even if it were me, I probably wouldn't have thought of more."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Indeed, I will add a few points. You can discuss it after you go back and make it roughly perfect."

He added a few more thoughts and finally said, "It is too unrealistic to try to wipe out hundreds of thousands of people head-on."

"So we must find a way to divide them and make them kill themselves, or get them together so that it will be easier for us to act."

"Kibbineng is too threatening. I have already tried to find someone to deal with him. A divided grassland is a good grassland. After all, nomadic peoples and plunder are inseparable. They are the biggest and final enemy of the Central Plains."

"I hope you two can help me do what Wei Huo has done before, or even surpass them."

"I know this is wishful thinking, but at this critical moment of life and death, we are the last line of defense for the Han territory. Whether for the sake of the people of the world or for ourselves, we cannot take a step back in Youzhou!"

"If I don't drive the Xianbei out of the pass, I will stay in Jicheng forever, no matter how many years it takes!"

When Jushou Yang Xiu heard this, he immediately bowed his head and said, "I am willing to serve my lord!"

The two said goodbye to Yuan Xi and left the house. Yang Xiu stamped his feet, which were almost numb from the cold, and said, "The king is really an interesting person, and he is completely different from Cao Cao."

“But there is one thing that is very similar.”

Ju Su subconsciously asked: "Which point?"

His first reaction was that she was a good wife, but Yang Xiu said seriously, "Confidence."

"That kind of character that looks down on the world and has everything under control, Xiu has seen many people, and he has also met a third person."

"They seemed to be certain that things would succeed, as if God had shown them the way."

Ju Su laughed and said, "De Zu actually believes this, but on this point, De Zu may have heard the rumors about the king and Cao Cao in the Taiping Dao, right?"

Yang Xiu said, "I don't know whether he is a real person or not, but we will find out in the next year."

In the following days, Jicheng continuously sent troops to harass the Xianbei tribe outside the city, making the Xianbei people, who were already suffering from the severe cold, miserable. People kept fleeing, but it was difficult to travel in the ice and snow, and there was news that these small escaped troops were all found and annihilated by the Youzhou cavalry.

When Suonu found Zhu Luohou and persuaded him to go south immediately, he found that he was holding a letter and reading it with a happy look on his face.

(End of this chapter)