Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 582: Marriage Policy
After the marriage between Yuan and Cao, Cao Cao went east to Jieshi.

After observing the vastness of Bohai Sea, Cao Cao left Cao Ren to guard the plain and led the army south.

He rode side by side with Cao Zhang and asked Cao Zhang: "Sun Ben's daughter has been sent to Jinan. Now the situation has changed quite badly. Why don't you marry the daughter of King Pingyuan to help my son communicate with Guanzhong through King Pingyuan in the future?"

Cao Zhang, wearing a golden helmet and armor, riding a black horse, thought for a moment: "Father, the Grand Marshal calls himself the Black family, and will not recognize the kings of the Han Dynasty in the future. If he is interested, the princes of various places will also send their children to Guanzhong to serve as officials."

The states and counties under the rule of the Grand Marshal are very interesting. Currently, there is only one king, Liu Dun, the King of Ba in Guanzhong, who requested to be enthroned. He is still a new king.

There was not a single traditional Han vassal king.

There was no king in Guanzhong, and Liangzhou and Bingzhou were border counties without any vassal kings of the Han Dynasty.

After the Liu family of Changsha in southern Jing restored the Kingdom of Changsha, they also broke away from Guanzhong and merged with the southeastern court.

If Guanzhong had shown a little sincerity in retaining the Kingdom of Changsha, the Kingdom of Changsha would not have sided with the Southeastern Court.

As Cao Zhang grew older, he gradually came to his own understanding: "I have been in frequent correspondence with Sun. Although we have never met, we still have a kind of friendship. If I abandon her for good or bad, how can I still call myself a real man?"

"Since my son is sentimental, the wedding will be held after the troops are withdrawn."

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, the cold wind blew on his face, and his beard trembled: "I will send an invitation to the Grand Marshal. The world should be peaceful for a while."

"Father, do you mean there will be no war next year?"

"Well, Yuan Shang has lost his fighting spirit, just like Yuan Shu in the past."

Cao Cao laughed as he spoke. Before this, among all the people in the world, only Yuan Shang was close in age to Black Bear and was of noble birth. He also fought back against Cao's army in the Battle of Liyang and defeated the strong with the weak. He was very powerful for a while and was regarded by all parties as a strong rival of the same age as Black Bear in the future.

As for the older generation's Cao Cao and Liu Bei, they were already looked down upon by traditional scholars.

The reason is that I am old and can’t hold on for many more years.

Time will allow them to resolve themselves. If the successors are not capable, the internal conflicts will be shattered, not to mention gathering manpower to compete with Guanzhong.

Cao Cao was lucky enough to have many descendants. Except for Cao Pi and Cao Xiong who died young due to illness, Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi both performed well.

As for Liu Bei, unfortunately, as soon as Liu Bei was in trouble, his power would immediately dissipate and fall apart due to the crisis of his successor.

Only Yuan Shang, in all aspects, was a strong enemy of Guanzhong.

Unfortunately, in the battle of Chanhebi, the backbone of Hebei's powerful people were captured by Guanzhong.

If they can hold out for five years, new powerful forces will be formed and will be highly compatible with Yuan Shang and will still be strong... but Guanzhong by then will inevitably grow even larger.

In five years, if Guanzhong launches military operations against Hebei, with the captured powerful men serving as the vanguard, Hebei will collapse without a fight.

In order to curb this terrible situation in Hebei, Cao's army has an obligation to help the court solve this hidden danger.

The marriage with Yuan Shang is a temporary means of truce in the short term, and in the long run, it will also help to undermine Yuan Shang's resistance.

Cao Cao had some plans in mind, such as sending a daughter to Guanzhong.

But there are only a limited number of women of marriageable age, and now that we are marrying Yuan Shang, it will take time for the other daughters.

So there is no need to be too anxious. Think of a way to form an alliance with Guanzhong in a few years, and quickly swallow up Jizhou while the alliance is in its early stages.

Cao Cao, who has touched the bottom line of the black bear, still has this confidence.

There will definitely be a war between the two sides. He will not be willing to migrate overseas without fighting, and neither will so many civil and military officials under his command.

Only by fighting a decisive battle can he win the hearts of the people under his rule and seek and expand the scale of going out to sea.

Cao Cao thought a lot, but Cao Zhang’s ideas were much simpler.

He will definitely have to fight with the Guanzhong soldiers, otherwise he will not be willing to give up.

As the main force of Cao's army retreated to Qi, Hebei could only wait quietly for Black Bear to leave.

Black Bear stayed in Dai County. Although he only had 20,000 to 30,000 troops left, no one from Yuan Shang onwards dared to do anything provocative. Only after Black Bear withdrew his troops and returned to Guanzhong did they dare to hold the ceremony of becoming king.

But they couldn't just sit there and wait. In order to make life easier for their captured father and brothers, powerful people in Hebei gathered together during this period and provided feedback on public opinion through Ju Hu and Li Fu.

A new group of powerful women from Hebei was formed. In addition to the daughters and sisters of the captured powerful women, some young widows were also selected.

A female team of 500 people, not counting the accompanying maids, gradually took shape.

This was the common wish of the powerful people in Hebei, including several daughters and granddaughters of Shen Pei.

Soon the matter was brought to the Shogun's office and began to be discussed in public.

This does not seem to be humiliating. It is a righteous act of a strong woman who fed herself to the tiger in order to rescue her father and brother. It should not be belittled or humiliated.

The tradition of women marrying off foreigners has a long history. Competition among powerful people is real, but marriage as a show of goodwill is also a common means of communication.

Even a powerful man like Yuan Shao married more than a dozen women from his clan to the leaders of the various Hu tribes. It is not surprising that he is now organizing a slightly larger group of women for marriage. It is not surprising at all.

If it succeeds, the benefits will be too numerous to count.

If you achieve great success, that will be the turning point for you to turn defeat into victory.

Anyway, those who were meeting in the shogunate hall would not lack wives, and many of them had close relatives joining them, so they were all very anxious.

I just regret that the initial 200 people were too few. Although a few of them were pregnant, it was still too few.

What made Yuan Shang feel embarrassed were the royal families in Hebei. There were many princes in Hebei. Although they were now just empty shells and could barely live a decent life, they were unable to withstand the huge branches and large numbers of people.

Especially the Pingyuan royal family, from which Yuan Shang’s ex-wife came, not only has noble bloodline, but is also very fertile.

If we comply with the requests of various royal families and force dozens of princesses over, it would be a bit unreasonable.

This was equivalent to testing Black Bear's royal identity. The last person who tested it with his own body, Liu Ba, disappeared very cleanly. He was the first person to be secretly executed in Guanzhong.

Liu Ba was a famous scholar in southern Jing and a member of the royal family. He had a very noble status, but he was secretly killed by Black Bear. It would have been fine if he had died a quick death, but if he had been locked up in a dungeon, how much suffering would he have endured?
Another concern is what if these dozens of princesses make Guanzhong unhappy and ruin Hebei’s grand plan?
The royal families in Hebei are also desperate. As long as Black Bear gives in, there will be countless people who can prove his identity and he can immediately become the master of the country.

But Hei Xiong just didn't want to bear the burden of the royal family of the Han Dynasty. Although this ruthless and unrighteous behavior was in line with the Liu family's instinct to pursue interests, it also made the Liu family in Hebei very uncomfortable.

Since we can't start from trying to get Black Bear to return to his original surname, let's change our thinking and start from the in-laws.

Anyway, as members of the Liu family, they are very clear about the moral character of their family members, and they believe that the Grand Marshal will not refuse.

Even the legitimate daughter of a powerful family can never be as interesting as the daughter of a clan leader.
Yuan Shang also knew the background of the Liu family. He flipped through the rolls of names and couldn't help but sneer, "Nine years old? Is the King of Changshan crazy, or am I crazy?"

Li Fu, sitting at the bottom, explained: "According to him, there is a precedent of Empress Xiaohui."

Yuan Shang frowned and pointed at another string of words on the bamboo slips with his finger: "What about this one, seven years old?"

Ju Hu replied in a low voice: "My lord, the various branches of the Changshan King have suffered a lot from the Yellow Turban bandits' looting, and each branch is poor and difficult to raise. According to the Changshan King's prince, the Grand Marshal is alone and has few relatives to accompany him. If we send him, he can accompany the Grand Marshal."

"They are quite thoughtful."

Yuan Shang's anger subsided a little, and he rolled up the bamboo slips and continued reading: "Humph, there is indeed a five-year-old."

Now there was no one to explain, so Yuan Shang pushed the bamboo slips aside and sneered, "It was only when the prince of Liang Hou was born, otherwise, would they have sent many more babies over?"

Li Fu and Ju Hu looked at each other, both felt each other's eyes shining, and then they lowered their heads tacitly.

At this time, Shen Pei coughed twice and said, "I know this is difficult, but the Grand Marshal has been alone since childhood and values ​​friendship very much, which will inevitably make the kings have ideas. This marriage cannot be delayed. He withdraws his troops as soon as possible, so that the lord can be crowned king as soon as possible and unify the counties. If it is delayed and something unexpected happens, it will be too late for us to regret it."

"Since the Liu clan are not afraid, why should I be afraid?"

Yuan Shang turned to look at Ju Hu and said, "Go to Dai County next time and give him my regards. Tell him that the winter at the border is very harsh and ask him to return to Guanzhong as soon as possible to recuperate. There are many things to do in the world, so there is no need to rush."

"Here."

(End of this chapter)