Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1278 Resistance
The confidant went in and arrived at the hall, only to see a beautiful woman who was no more than thirty years old. She was wearing a linen dress and a wooden hairpin on her head. Her dress was extremely plain, but there was a lingering hint of depression between her brows.

The confidant bowed his head and said, "I am here to greet you, Madam. I am here to deliver a letter on the orders of Marquis Anle."

Marquis of Anle was the title Liu Zhang was given after his surrender, and the woman in front of him was Wu, the wife of Liu Mao, Liu Zhang's deceased brother.

Liu Mao was the third son of Liu Yan. He followed Liu Yan to Shu. When Liu Yan died, for various reasons, his youngest son Liu Zhang inherited the position of Governor of Yizhou.

For a period of time thereafter, although Liu Mao had no real power in Jingzhou, he lived in peace with Liu Zhang. Until the Wei army invaded Yizhou, the situation began to change.

At that time, Xiahou Yuan led the Wei army to approach Chengdu. Liu Zhang saw that the situation was hopeless and was ready to surrender Yizhou, but Liu Mao openly opposed it, saying that Yizhou was left by Liu Yan and should not be easily given to outsiders.

Liu Mao's remarks were supported by some members of the Dongzhou faction who were unwilling to surrender, and they created conflicts with the Yizhou faction who were inclined to surrender. The two sides were arguing with each other, and as the Wei army approached Chengdu, the struggle between officials on both sides intensified, and there was even a tendency for lower-level generals to mobilize troops privately.

This was a precursor to civil strife. Both sides believed that the other side wanted to be their opponent, so the situation became increasingly tense and civil strife was on the verge of breaking out. However, one day, Liu Mao suddenly fell ill and died. How could the Yizhou faction miss this opportunity and immediately began to eliminate dissidents on a large scale.

The Dongzhou faction, which advocated resistance, had lost its backbone and was completely unable to resist, and was soon suppressed by the Yizhou faction. Therefore, the Yizhou faction unified itself internally before Cao's army attacked the city, and instigated Liu Yan to surrender Chengdu, allowing Cao's army to enter the city without bloodshed.

After this incident, Liu Yan's family was praised by Cao Cao, but they could not stay in Yizhou, so this branch of Liu's family moved to Xudu. Wu became a widow, and could not return to the Wu family, so she had to follow him to Chengdu, where she has been a widow ever since.

She opened Liu Zhang's letter, glanced at it for a few seconds, then closed it without making a sound. She said to her confidant, "I understand. Go back and tell Marquis Anle that I will find an opportunity in the next few days."

The confidant bowed and said, "Marquis Anle said this matter is urgent, please do it as soon as possible, Madam."

Wu asked someone to send her confidant away, then picked up the letter and looked at it for a few seconds, then suddenly slammed the letter on the table.

Her chest was heaving with anger. In the letter, Liu Zhang said that due to some misunderstandings, his son-in-law Fei Guan might be punished. Liu Zhang had wanted to go to the palace in person to ask King Wei for leniency, but now he was under house arrest and could not leave the palace.

However, Mrs. Wu was able to move freely, so Liu Zhang begged Mrs. Wu to go to see King Wei to plead for Fei Guan, expressing his gratitude.

After reading the letter, Mrs. Wu was furious. She was a woman, and Liu Zhang had the nerve to let her do such a thing in public!

Moreover, Mrs. Wu was not stupid. She vaguely guessed what Liu Zhang was planning. It was said that the new King of Wei was extremely lustful and psychologically twisted, as evidenced by the fact that he took his father Cao Cao's concubines.

Liu Zhang was probably taking this opportunity to trick Wu into meeting Cao Pi so that he would be attracted by Wu's beauty and then show mercy to Fei Guan. He purely wanted to offer Wu to please Cao Pi and save Fei Guan's life!

Mrs. Wu was so angry that she choked with sobs. She had always suspected that Liu Mao's death was related to Liu Zhang, but she had no evidence. Now Liu Mao wanted to exploit her and squeeze her dry. His conscience was really eaten by a dog!
But she also knew that it was not a good idea to openly turn against Liu Zhang. If she refused in person, Liu Zhang might directly send someone to Cao Pi to betray her, and her fate might be even more miserable.

Although Wu was a widow, some of the nobles in Xudu had been on good terms with Liu Yan, so many ladies came to visit Wu and talked about the rumors about Cao Pi in private.

From these groundless rumors, Mrs. Wu heard that the women in Cao Pi's harem did not have a good life. The King of Wei seemed to be a sadist. Many concubines had scars on their faces and bodies, especially Yuan Shao's wife Liu, who served Cao Cao and his son successively. It was said that her arm was broken for some reason recently, which was obviously not normal.

Wu felt even more uneasy. She lived alone now and was not disturbed by anyone, but who knew if she would be betrayed to Cao Pi in the future?
And this letter from Liu Zhang deepened her worries. Her situation was already very dangerous. If she were in Yizhou, she could still ask for help from her clansmen, but she was alone in Xudu and had no close friendship with other families. Who would be willing to help her?

She fell into deep thought and sat on the edge of the bed for a long time without any clue. Just when she felt she was at her wit's end, she suddenly thought of someone.

This person was also from the Liu clan. When his wife came over, she told Wu that if there were any problems that were difficult to solve, she could come for help.

When Mrs. Wu thought of this, she became hesitant and wondered if she could trust the other party.
You have to know that even Liu Zhang would harm himself, let alone those who are more distantly related to him?

She thought about it several times, and finally made up her mind. She called a carriage and went directly to a mansion in the city. After walking for a while, she arrived at the place. When the carriage entered the mansion, a woman came out and greeted her, "Is Madam Wu okay?"

Wu quickly replied, "Madam Yuan is fine. I came here this time because I have some difficulties. I want to see the Minister."

The lady said in embarrassment: "It's unfortunate that my husband is out. Why don't you wait for a while? I'm afraid he will be back soon." After hearing this, Mrs. Wu had to be patient and went in with Mrs. Yuan to reminisce about the past.

The mansion she came to was that of the Minister Liu He. The Madam Yuan in front of her was a woman from the Yuan clan whom Liu He married when he was in Youzhou. She belonged to a branch of Yuan Shao's family.

Liu He was the son of Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou. Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zan. Liu He returned to Youzhou to avenge his father and took refuge with Yuan Xi. Later, after Gongsun Zan was defeated in the battle, Liu He worked as a subordinate under Yuan Xi for a period of time.

Liu Yu and Yuan Shao had a very special relationship. During this period, Yuan Shao decided to marry a woman from the Yuan clan to Liu He. For a period of time thereafter, Liu He helped Yuan Xi manage the affairs of Youzhou. But after the Huaicheng Incident, Cao Cao killed many ministers including Kong Rong and Zhang Miao, and took Liu Xie hostage to Xu Du.

After hearing this, Liu He said goodbye to Yuan Xi and rushed to Xudu to help Liu Xie. This was a life-or-death situation, so he wanted to go alone, but Yuan Xi insisted on following him, saying, "Since I have married you, we will live and die together. If anything happens to you, how can I live alone?"

Seeing that Yuan was so persistent, Liu He and Yuan set out together and rushed to Xu Du. He originally thought that Cao Cao wanted to use him as a scapegoat, but he underestimated his own influence.

When Liu Yu was in Youzhou, he sent Liu He to report to Liu Xie. Because the states were at war at that time, Liu He could only go through the Yinshan outside the Great Wall. He went from Youzhou through Bingzhou and arrived in Liangzhou. He traveled more than 2,000 miles and experienced war before arriving in Chang'an to meet Liu Xie, and thus became famous throughout the world.

But this was not the end. Later, Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan attacked each other, and Liu He was ordered by Liu Xie to mediate. This time the northern passage was blocked due to the rebellion of the Huns, so he first went to Nanyang, Jingzhou, and then took the Yuzhou passage to Jizhou. However, he encountered a battle between the two Yuans. He was detained by Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao successively. When he arrived in Youzhou, Liu Yu had already been killed by Gongsun Zan.

After Liu He avenged his father, he left Yuan Xi and returned to Liu Xie again. He politely declined Liu Xie's offer of promotion and remained as a Shizhong.

What he did made him famous all over the world. It can be said that among the Han royal family members, his reputation for supporting the Han Dynasty was on par with Liu Bei, or even higher.

Under such circumstances, even though Cao Cao knew that Liu He was most likely a spy planted by Yuan Xi, he could not easily touch Liu He. After all, killing Liu He would be equivalent to openly breaking Liu Xie's arm and making the Cao family and the emperor completely hostile to each other.

This would be detrimental to Cao Cao's idea of ​​forcing the emperor to abdicate. The more peaceful the abdication, the more it would demonstrate that Cao Wei was the Mandate of Heaven. Therefore, even if Cao Cao secretly weakened and suppressed Liu Xie, it would not be good for him to openly take action against Liu Xie and those close to him.

The reason why Empress Fu was killed was because she violated Cao Cao's bottom line. She was accused of seducing the emperor and was publicly executed. Later, Cao Cao married a woman from his clan to Liu Xie as the queen, which also showed his attitude that he wanted to hold Fu Shou accountable alone.

As for Liu He himself, he acted very cautiously and was never caught by Cao Cao. In addition, his reputation was so great that he was able to live until now. This was also the reason why Wu came to Liu He for help when she encountered difficulties.

While Wu and Liu He's wife Yuan were waiting, Liu He stayed with Liu Xie, talking about what happened in the Wei court that day.

Although Liu He did not see it with his own eyes, he had his own informants. After Liu Xie finished telling him about the conversation between Cao Pi and the ministers, Liu Xie angrily slammed his palm on the table and whispered, "Cao's pigs and dogs actually covet the Han Dynasty. Do you really think I dare not fight to the death?"

Liu He said: "If your majesty dies, we, the ministers, will die with you."

"But please think about it, Your Majesty. Will this deal a blow to the State of Wei?"

Liu Xie calmed down and sighed, "Brother, you risked your life for me. I am not afraid of death, but I don't want you to die with me."

"Now, the throne of the emperor has become a curse to my Liu family. Otherwise, why not pass the throne to you?"

Liu He said in a deep voice: "In today's world, the Han Dynasty is on the decline. It is not a bad thing to obey the will of heaven, but if it is handed over to the Cao family who openly steals the country, it is indeed unacceptable."

Liu Xie smiled slightly, "Brother, what do you mean by that? It would be better if I give it to someone else?"

Liu He shook his head and said, "He will only stand on the side of His Majesty in this matter and will not speak for anyone else."

"The key to everything is your majesty's intention."

"I hope that Your Majesty can be safe, but everything you do has a price to pay. In the final analysis, it depends on whether Your Majesty is prepared to pay the price and what you want to achieve."

Liu Xie was silent. He recalled what Dong Zhao had said to him before. Has he finally come to this point?
(End of this chapter)