Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 259 Treating guests to behead or accepting as a dog, Yuan Shao's choice
Liu Xie's tone was light, but it sounded like thunder to Yuan Shao's ears, causing him to lose his concentration for a moment and even lose control of the wine jar in his hand, which fell to the ground.

The wine soaked his clothes, but he didn't care about it now. He just stared at Liu Xie with deep shock in his eyes.

"W-what did you say?"

Yuan Shao even raised his voice unconsciously.

Because he was really shocked. The impact of that sentence just now was even greater than Liu Xie's attempt to turn the false into the true.

Seeing Yuan Shao's incredulous expression, Liu Xie smiled and said, "I have kept it from you for so long. It is time to tell you the truth."

"Today I will tell you something from my heart."

Liu Xie fiddled with the charcoal fire to make it burn more vigorously, and said, "Gong Yu has always felt that I am not like a refugee. I believe he has mentioned this to you more than once, but you never paid attention to it."

"His intuition is correct. I am indeed not a refugee, because I am the real emperor. It's just that I disguised myself so well that you dare not believe me."

Yuan Shao was so shocked that he could hardly control himself.

Liu Xie...is he really the emperor?
Suddenly, Yuan Shao recalled the suicide letter sent by Ju Su, which mentioned this matter, but he thought the letter was forged at that time.

Could it be that the letter was really written by Ju Shou?
"wrong!"

Yuan Shao suddenly thought of something, his eyes suddenly changed, and he said in a deep voice: "If you are the real emperor, then what is that in Xu County?"

"If the emperor of Xu County was a fake, how could Yang Biao, Fu Wan, Dong Cheng and other close ministers of the emperor support him? Can't they tell the difference?"

"You are not the real emperor! You just fooled everyone because of your good acting skills. How could I be fooled by you so easily?!"

Yuan Shao had a sneer on his face.

When Liu Xie first said that he was the true emperor, he was indeed shocked, but after he came to his senses, he felt that there were many loopholes in his words!
He won't be fooled by this guy again!

"I know that Xu You's betrayal must have something to do with you. Otherwise, given his character, he would never have killed Shen Pei and then joined Cao Cao!"

"Moreover, not long after Xu You surrendered to Cao Cao, Yang Biao committed suicide by hitting his head against a wall to show his loyalty, and Yang Xiu even ran to Yecheng to surrender to you. How could this be such a coincidence?"

"Xu You is your chess piece planted in Xu County!"

"Yes and no!"

Yuan Shao asked with a stern look.

Now that the doubts in his heart were answered, his thoughts became extremely clear, and he realized that there was something seriously wrong with Xu You's betrayal.

It was a familiar smell of conspiracy.

In addition, after Xu You went to Xu County, Yang Biao's loyalty incident occurred, which made it difficult for him not to connect the two.

Because if there are too many coincidences, they are no longer coincidences.

"Can you guess this?"

Liu Xie was a little surprised when he heard this. He had never revealed anything about Xu You, but Yuan Shao actually guessed it himself?

Although he was shocked in his heart, he remained calm on the surface and said calmly: "Xu You is indeed my man. He betrayed you and joined Cao Cao with my instructions."

"But you guessed one thing wrong."

"The fake emperor in Xu County was just my substitute. Yang Biao, Fu Wan, and Dong Cheng were all my men from beginning to end. I was able to escape only under their protection."

"They supported the fake emperor only to protect me and make you think I was fake. But when I hold the power and there is no danger, how can they continue to support the fake emperor?"

"Have you seen that Yang Biao and Fu Wan have already arrived in Yecheng? Even the Queen has returned to my side."

"As for Dong Cheng, it's a pity that he wanted to launch a mutiny to kill Cao Cao, but failed and fled. In the end, when he was escorting the false emperor to lure Yuan Tan to take action, he unfortunately died in the chaos of the army."

"What a pity for such a loyal minister!"

Liu Xie said with a look of regret.

After hearing this, Yuan Shao was shocked and confused, because Liu Xie's words contained too much information - the emperor of Xu County was just a substitute!
If this is the case, it can fully explain why those three people supported the Emperor of Xu County, and why Yang Biao and Fu Wan later defected to Liu Xie.

Even the queen returned to Yecheng!

Yang Biao is an old minister of the Han Dynasty, and his loyalty to the Han Dynasty goes without saying; Fu Wan is the father-in-law of the emperor, and his daughter is the queen. These two are the least likely people to support a false emperor!
No matter how capable Liu Xie was or how good his acting skills were, there was no way he could deceive Yang Biao, Fu Wan, and Empress Fu, who was his partner.

Yuan Shao's face was pale and his thoughts were in a mess.

After a long time, he finally let out a long sigh.

"I was fooled by you... Gong Yu and I were both fooled by you. You really have a good trick. You won."

Even though he was an enemy, Yuan Shao had to admire Liu Xie's audacity, for he dared to risk his throne and himself to fight for a chance of survival.

Such cunning, scheming and courage are unique even in the 400-year history of the Han Dynasty!
Even great rulers with outstanding political skills like Emperor Jing, Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan were far inferior to Liu Xie in this respect.

The most important thing is that Liu Xie is still so young.

Not even crowned!
He couldn't imagine how far Liu Xie would go in the future if he was allowed to grow. The Three Restorations of the Yan and Han Dynasties would not be just empty talk. He could even create an unprecedentedly powerful Han Empire!

"How could God send down such a monster?"

"Is it true that the great man has endless luck?"

Yuan Shao's mood was complicated and hard to understand. After a moment, he looked up at Liu Xie and said, "Why are you telling me all this? Are you trying to persuade me to surrender?"

Liu Xie captured him but did not kill him. Instead, he met with him in private and talked to him so much. It is impossible that he did it just to make him die clearly.

After much thought, he could only think of persuading the enemy to surrender.

"Benchu, stop joking."

Liu Xie smiled and shook his head. "You and I both know that you will never surrender, and I will never keep a traitor like you who has such obvious ambitions."

"And if you were alive, Yuan Xi, Ju Yi, Cui Yan, Xu You, and those who once served you but later served me would all feel uneasy."

Indeed, it is beneficial for Yuan Shao to be alive.

Due to the huge power and influence of the Yuan family, Yuan Xi's prestige was not enough to inherit the Yuan family, and only Yuan Shao could do it.

But the harm of his being alive is even greater.

Not to mention what those who betrayed Yuan Shao and joined him would think, the mere fact that such a big traitor was recruited to live and even continue to enjoy wealth and glory would make the majesty of imperial power a joke.

From then on, everyone dared to rebel.

After all, the cost of rebellion is so small.

Moreover, Yuan Shao's ambition has already swelled. Human desires are like rolling stones on a mountain. Once they start, they will not stop unless they fall into the abyss.

If you keep it, there is a high probability that it will rebel in the future.

"The reason I'm telling you this is to let you know that I'm not a fake emperor. I'm the true emperor of the Han Dynasty, and I can lead the Han Dynasty towards revival."

"So I hope that you will surrender the remaining troops in Youzhou and Bingzhou for the sake of the people of the world and my reputation."

Liu Xie slowly stated his purpose.

Yuan Shao still had a large number of remnant troops in various counties of Youzhou. In addition, he had Gao Gan's troops in Yizhou and Guo Yuan's army in Bingzhou.

If we resort to force to recapture the territory, war is inevitable, and we don't know how many people will be killed or injured. More importantly, a lot of time will be wasted.

But if Yuan Shao came forward to persuade them to surrender, they could completely recapture You and Bing states without spending a single soldier and in a short time. They could also directly increase the number of elite soldiers by tens of thousands and greatly increase their strength.

"If you are willing to help me recruit those soldiers, I will still kill you, but I will not harm the Yuan family. I will also use Yuan Xi and make him one of the three highest officials." "This is my greatest sincerity to you."

Liu Xie's expression was very sincere.

After hearing this, Yuan Shao remained silent.

There was no longer any doubt about Liu Xie's identity.

If Liu Xie really intended to persuade him to surrender, he would definitely sneer at it, because he could tell it was a lie with just a little thought.

He committed such a heinous crime that he even said, without knowing Liu Xie's identity, that he would let Liu Xie abdicate to him after he unified the world.

How could a true emperor tolerate this?

He will definitely be killed!

But it's worth considering if you want to make a deal.

He was going to die anyway, so exchanging one person's death for the prosperity of the Yuan family was a very good deal.

There's just one problem.

Yuan Xi's face appeared in Yuan Shao's mind, and he suddenly felt an uncontrollable disgust and murderous intent in his heart.

"Why did it have to be that evil beast!"

Yuan Shao had a look of disgust on his face.

If it were any other son, whether it was Yuan Tan or Yuan Shang, he would have agreed to the deal proposed by Liu Xie without hesitation.

But when he thought that the ultimate beneficiary would be Yuan Xi, the beast who killed his brother and imprisoned his father, he felt sick and unwilling - he had long ceased to regard Yuan Xi as his son.

"Don't be anxious, think it over carefully."

Liu Xie also saw Yuan Shao's dilemma and knew that what Yuan Xi had done was too much, which made Yuan Shao extremely disgusted.

As he spoke, he filled Yuan Shao's glass with wine.

After Yuan Shao drank the wine from the jar, he suppressed his anger. He glanced at Liu Xie and asked calmly, "Now that you have taken over my foundation, what are you going to do next?"

What he asked about was naturally Liu Xie's future plans.

Although he was the most powerful prince in the world, his strength would inevitably increase dramatically after Liu Xie defeated him and annexed his power, but it would not be so easy to regain the Han Dynasty.

In troubled times, everyone has ambitions.

For example, Yuan Benchu ​​originally just wanted to be a powerful official to support the Han Dynasty, but as his power continued to grow, he also began to think about interfering in the throne.

He did not believe that other princes had no ambition to become emperor. They were all loyal, wise and good ministers, and would surrender obediently at the emperor's command.

"I suddenly remembered an interesting thing."

Liu Xie smiled faintly and did not directly answer Yuan Shao's question. Instead, he talked about other things.

"I once watched a group of cranes dancing gracefully under the command of a bird trainer while watching a waterfowl performance. I was quite amazed at the time. I wondered why the cranes were so obedient."

"So I summoned the bird trainer and asked him how he managed to train the arrogant crane to be so obedient. I guess what the bird trainer answered me?"

Yuan Shao frowned and said, "I can't guess."

Liu Xie smiled and did not continue to keep the secret. He answered directly: "The bird trainer told me that he has a total of six cranes."

"Two of them were weak, and they were subdued with just a few tricks. The other two were stronger and had tough personalities, but no matter how tough they were, they still surrendered after a few ruthless tricks."

"As for the remaining two cranes that were neither strong nor weak, after seeing the other four cranes were obedient, they also followed suit."

As Liu Xie spoke, he turned his gaze towards Yuan Shao.

The gleam in his eyes is hard to conceal.

"The bird trainer said that we should conquer the weak first, then subdue the strong. As for those who are neither strong nor weak, they will naturally be under our control!"

“This is the way to tame birds!”

Liu Xie's seemingly plain but meaningful words shocked Yuan Shao's heart. He looked at Liu Xie, who was showing his edge, with horror in his eyes.

"The way to tame birds... what a good way to tame birds."

"He wants to be the best bird trainer in the world!"

Yuan Shao had a complicated expression. Liu Xie's ambition and skills were evident from his recent remarks, which really shocked him.

When it is called a crane, it actually refers to the princes of the world!
Liu Xie's plan was to conquer the weak princes one by one first, and then defeat the powerful ones. As for those with average strength, they would surrender at the sight of him.

At this time, the charcoal fire in the furnace went out.

All the drinks have been finished.

Liu Xie's eyes were piercing as he asked, "What do you think, Benchu? Are you willing to lend me a helping hand to recover Youzhou and Bingzhou?"

Faced with Liu Xie's problem, Yuan Shao still felt hesitant and found it difficult to make a decision, or rather... there was still a trace of unwillingness.

Is this really the end for him?

After a long while, Yuan Shao said quietly, "Give me some time to think about it. I can't answer you now."

"It's okay, take your time to think about it."

Liu Xie agreed readily. The fact that a man as arrogant as Yuan Shao did not directly refuse showed that there was hope. He just found it difficult to accept the outcome of failure for a while.

He didn't mind waiting a few more days.

"The dungeon is cold and bitter, so you will live in this room from now on. You gave me fine clothes and delicious food in the past, and I will not treat you unfairly in this regard."

"But Benchu, you'd better not think about running away. This mansion is full of people and spies planted by me. I will not be as careless as you."

"I won't give you any chance."

After Liu Xie said these words which were like a warning or a reminder, he looked at Yuan Shao deeply, then stood up and left.

Yuan Shao was the only one left in the side room.

After a long time, a faint sigh was heard.

……

Outside the yard, Zhang He was guarding it with his men.

After Liu Xie walked out of the yard, he ordered him: "Guard Yuan Shao well. Do not let anyone get close without my order. If he tries to escape, kill him on the spot."

"promise!"

Zhang He was startled and agreed respectfully.

Liu Xie then continued to walk away. He felt the cold wind blowing in his face, but his heart was extremely relaxed, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

"This world finally belongs to me!"

"Benchu, I hope you can be smarter and cooperate with me, and don't be ungrateful."

(End of this chapter)