Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 223 Difficulties in Governance
Tai Shici and Tian Yu entered the room. Yuan Xizheng and Guo Jia were talking inside, when they saw Yuan Xizheng and Guo Jia got up and said, "You two have worked hard, please sit down."

The two met each other, sat down one by one, and began to report on the things in the city in the past few days.

Although Guangling City was defeated, the aftermath was not as smooth as Yuan Xi thought. Whether it was the common people or the gentry, they were far less cooperative than the people of Youzhou.

Most of the gentry officials ran home and hid. The city was in urgent need of officials. Tai Shici and Tian Yu led troops to patrol the city these days, but they could barely maintain law and order.

When Yuan Xi dared to attack the gentry in Youzhou, firstly, he had the support of the people, and secondly, he was backed by the Yuan family. However, this kind of experience is not easy to use in Xuzhou.

The local gentry in Xuzhou was originally a self-contained family and was inextricably linked with the gentry in Yangzhou, but they were far away from the gentry in Jizhou, so they didn't have much interest in the Yuan family.

In addition, since the failure of the Yellow Turban Army in Xuzhou, many people have turned from worshiping the celestial master to worshiping Buddhism. The prophecy about Yuan Xi has a lot less influence here.

So now in Guangling City, many people are also obedient, and Guangling is located at the junction of three water systems, the shipping is developed, the people's livelihood is rich, and most people are not short of food, so Yuan Xi wants to buy people's hearts, but he also feels a little helpless.

In the past few days, Yuan Xi gradually understood a truth, the more affluent a place is, the less he wants to fight.

He wondered, from a historical point of view, the southern regime had very little desire for the Northern Expedition. Why did they fight when they could have enough to eat?

Therefore, Sun Quan of later generations was defeated every time the Northern Expedition, and it cannot be said that the responsibility was entirely on him. The Jiangdong gentry was very resistant to the Northern Expedition. Sun Quan spent 30 years, but he did not completely settle the Jiangdong gentry. The gentry tried their best to get money out of their pockets.

The gentry are unwilling to fight, and the soldiers are also obedient and obedient, so it is strange to win if they can fight.

On the contrary, the poor and white frontier people in the north had nothing at all, so they would naturally respond enthusiastically when they saw that they could have land to grow and food to eat during the war.

Yuan Xi had a headache. It was really not that easy to govern Xuzhou. He had to find a way to leverage the gap of Xuzhou's gentry and common people.

And the most troublesome point is that the people of Xuzhou have some natural hatred for Yuan Shi.

This is going to be blamed on Cao Cao.

Cao Cao’s two massacres in Xuzhou offended Xuzhou from top to bottom. Almost every household had relatives killed by Cao Cao. Therefore, whenever Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, Xuzhou would defend the city desperately. As Cao Cao’s ally, the Yuan family was also hated. up.

Yuan Xi cursed inwardly, he was here to wipe Cao Cao's ass!
After listening to Tai Shici and Tian Yu talking about the situation in the city, he said, "What do you two think is the next step?"

Tai Shici and Tian Yu looked at each other. Now Tai Shici is in charge of city defense and Tian Yu is in charge of internal affairs. Seeing Tai Shici signaled him to speak first, Tian Yu said, "Guangling City should not be in chaos, but the most urgent thing is to talk about it." The gentry who are familiar with the local conditions participate in the affairs of the city."

Yuan Xixin said that it is indeed the case. Guangling is much larger than Beixin City, with nearly 10 residents in the city, and the surrounding villages and towns are dotted with tens of thousands of people.

In ancient times, places close to big rivers and developed water systems had similarly developed agriculture and commerce. They were places where populations gathered, and cities would naturally form.

There are so many things involved in this, it is difficult to sort out the relationship if it is not a family that has lived here for tens or hundreds of years, especially for an outsider like Yuan Xi, if you want Guangling to get on the right track, you really need the help of the gentry. Do things yourself.

He thought for a while, and said to Tian Yu: "Send someone to check the list of local gentry for me, and tomorrow I will visit one by one to see if there is any turning point."

"I'll send a merchant ship back to Youzhou now to see if I can transfer some officials and generals. If the Xuzhou nobles are really unreliable, then we can't just wait."

Seeing that Tian Yu had finished speaking, Tai Shici said, "I have been patrolling outside the city for the past few days, and the furthest I have traveled is fifty or sixty miles away, and I always feel that something is wrong."

Yuan Xi's eyes narrowed, "What did Brother Ziyi discover?"

Tai Shici bowed his head and said, "I can't explain it either, I always feel that it's too quiet outside the city."

"I've heard that Sun Ce is a fierce man, and he will take revenge. He lost Guangling City, so he wants to investigate anyway. But I haven't even seen a single spies, which is not in line with his character."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi became thoughtful, and said to Guo Jia, "What do you think, sir?"

Guo Jia said, "What Ziyi said makes sense."

"If Sun Ce raises all his troops and attacks the city regardless of casualties, the city will be really difficult to defend."

"Young Master has sent a letter to Liu Bei earlier. If he wants to welcome his wife and daughter back, he should send someone over in a few days."

"It would be best if we could bring troops over here. If our army joins forces with him, maybe we can even defeat Xiapi."

"But after all, this is all wishful thinking. In the end, the initiative must be in the hands of the young master."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "What you said is very true, that's right." He picked up a silk script, "Liu He sent a letter from the north."

"During the time we set off from Piaoyuyi Wharf, they conquered Quanzhou in the north, captured the large salt and iron mine between the two cities, and approached Yongnu."

When everyone heard this, they all looked happy. The salt industry made money, and the iron industry raised troops. Both of these are extremely important to Youzhou at the moment.

Yuan Xi said again: "But this letter said another thing."

"Liu He has a very high prestige among the Wuhuan Xianbei people in Youzhou, and people keep defecting to him."

"One of the Wuhuan people brought a message."

"Shan Yu Tadun of Liaoxi County sent an envoy to see Lord Benchu. The envoy entered Jizhou via Yuyang and met Liu He, and asked him to introduce him on his behalf."

During the Chuping period, Qiu Liju Shanyu died, and his son Louban was young, and Zitadun was brave and wise, so he was appointed as Shanyu on his behalf, and he was in charge of the Karasuma tribe in the three counties of Youbeiping, Yuyang, and Shanggu. , all the tribes obeyed his orders and were deeply supported and convinced by the tribe.

When Yuan Shao broke Yijing, although Taton did not directly participate in the battle, he made a lot of contributions in harassing and resisting Gongsun Zan's reinforcements in Youzhou, so he became more and more friendly with Yuan.

Seeing Yuan Xi's strange expression, Tian Yu said, "My lord is worried about Liu He?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "That's not it, it's because Shan Yu Tadun wants to marry the Yuan family."

Guo Jia had read the letter a long time ago and explained a few words before Tai Shici and Tian Yu understood it.

Among the daughters of the current Yuan clan, Yuan Xing is the oldest. Will Yuan Shao marry his daughter in order to make friends?
But at the beginning Yuan Xi mentioned that he wanted Yuan Xing to marry Zhao Yun. Wouldn't this be a little troublesome?

Tai Shici said: "Zilong should be able to distinguish the overall situation, and will not abolish the public because of personal interests."

Yuan Xi sighed, "It's because I know Zilong's personality that I find this difficult."

Guo Jia said: "It's extremely cold in the north, Ben Chugong won't let his own daughter suffer in the past, will he?"

Different from others, Yuan Xi knew that Yuan Shao, the later generation, really married the daughter of his family. As for who, there is no record in history.

He thought that if he cared about it, he would be in chaos. The Wuhuan tribe is not a place to worry about.

After the death of Yuan Shao in the later generations, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were defeated by Cao Cao successively. Yuan Shang fled to Wuhuan.

The fate of Yuan's daughter is probably not much better.

However, thinking that Guo Jia, who proposed the strategy of conquering Wuhuan in later generations, is now his own adviser, Yuan Xi couldn't help but glance at Guo Jia, with a strange expression on his face.

Guo Jia noticed his eyes and looked at his body. What does Mr. Xindao think of him?
Yuan Xi finally said: "I will think about these things again. After Sun Cejun is driven out of Xuzhou, we will rush back to Youzhou as soon as possible."

"Brother Ziyi and I will go out to the city tomorrow to have a look, and then decide how to deploy troops for defense in the next step."

After the crowd dispersed, Yuan Xi walked out the door. This was a rather large mansion, which was temporarily vacated when Sun Ce invaded Guangling and killed a few gentry who did not deal with him.

The City Lord's Mansion had been burned down and was unusable, so Yuan Xi used this mansion in a daze, and settled Zhen Mi, Cai Zhaoji, Cao Xian, Kong Rong's family, Liu Bei's wife and daughter, etc. in.

In this way, as long as people are sent to guard this place, everyone will be safe.

As soon as he arrived in the backyard, he heard a woman's laughter.

Yuan Xi turned the corner and saw Zhen Mi and Kong Rong's daughter, Kong Shi, leading a three or four year old girl for a walk.

Yuan Xi took a closer look, isn't this Mrs. Cai's daughter?

At this time, Mrs. Wu was standing aside with a face full of embarrassment, not knowing what to do.

She was very nervous now, thinking of staying for two days casually, and finding an opportunity to slip away, but after Zhen Mi heard about him, she felt quite sympathetic and insisted that she live with her in the house.

Madam Wu was afraid that if she refused, she would be suspected, so she had to agree, thinking that Zhen's family is far away in Jizhou, and she has no friendship with the Sun family, so she shouldn't be found out, right?

As a result, this decision made her regret it. After Kong Rong's wife and daughter, and Liu Bei's wife and daughter moved in, she still gritted her teeth and insisted.

But when she learned that Yuan Xi's two personal concubines were Cai Zhaoji, the daughter of the great Confucian Cai Yong, and Cao Xian, the daughter of Bian Rang, a famous scholar in Yanzhou, Mrs. Wu almost fell to the ground.

They are all the women of the noble family, so I am afraid that if I am not careful, I will show my feet, right?
However, Zhen Mi loves her daughter very much, and she comes to play with her all day long, which makes Mrs. Wu's days feel like years.

When the girls heard the footsteps, they raised their heads and saw that Yuan Xi was coming, and they all stepped forward to pay their respects.

Zhen Mi supported the girl, and said with a smile: "Look, husband, this child is very well-behaved."

Seeing this, Yuan Xi said: "Don't cause trouble for Madam and Miss Kong's family."

Mrs. Wu didn't even dare to speak. The girl from the Kong family blushed a little when she heard this, and said to Yuan Xi: "Madam is kind-hearted and takes good care of me."

She felt slightly sour in her heart, Mr. Xindao's wife is indeed outstanding in talent and appearance, compared to herself, it is indeed a world of difference.

And forget about the first wife, why are those two concubines so powerful!
When the Kong family learned of the identities of Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian, they were so shocked that they could not speak. They thought that Mr. Yuan Xi was too courageous to use the daughter of a famous scholar as a concubine!
Moreover, Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian are only taller than herself, no wonder the young master only treats herself as a younger sister!

(End of this chapter)