Han officials

Chapter 202: Character Determines Destiny [12]

Since Gongsun Zan died in battle, Wei Zhe can be said to be Yuan Shao's number one enemy.

As early as when he was fighting against Dong Zhuo, he revealed his plan to his confidants:

It controlled the Yellow River in the south, guarded Yan and Dai in the north, and had the Wuhuan and Xianbei peoples, and fought for the world in the south.

If this strategy is implemented, Wei Zhe, the northern lord, will naturally have to be eliminated.

Therefore, after the Black Mountain Army attacked Zhuojun and the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou invaded Beihai, Yuan Shao also made preparations.

He knew that Wei Zhe would retaliate, so he sent a large army to the border of Anping State early on to be on high alert.

Therefore, when Taishi Ci led the light cavalry to attack all directions, he failed to repeat the achievements of Gongsun Zan. Although the border troops suffered some losses, no city in Anping State fell.

In the lobby of Yecheng, when Yuan Shao heard the news, he couldn't help but stroke his beard and laugh.

Seeing this, Guo Tu immediately chimed in, "In the absence of heroes, this young man has become famous. The Duke of Wei's power is nothing more than this!"

Before he finished speaking, news arrived from Qingzhou and Bingzhou.

After all, the correspondence between the nobles was intended to exchange information with each other.

In this regard, Yuan Shao, who came from a family of three generations of officials, naturally had an information advantage.

But after reading the letter, Yuan Shao's face turned dark and gloomy.

After the letter was circulated around, Guo Tu suddenly felt embarrassed.

Xun Chen couldn't bear to see this, so he took the initiative to speak up and said, "Why worry, my lord? If Duke Wei of Wei can fight for Qingzhou and Bingzhou, then we can fight for them too. But if an enemy comes, we will fight him. If water comes, we will block it with earth. There's nothing to fear!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Pei nodded and agreed with it deeply.

But he still warned: "Anping State Office must not let down its guard to prevent fraud."

Hearing this, Yuan Shao couldn't help but nodded slightly.

Indeed, Wei Zhe is a master of military strategy and is best at distinguishing the real from the fake. Who knows which of his strategies are real and which are fake?

It seems that Taishi Ci gained nothing from this expedition, but this might be a deliberate illusion.

You should know that among all the generals under Wei Zhe, Taishi Ci had the most outstanding military achievements and the greatest reputation.

The danger of such a general leading a large army to the border is no less than that of Gongsun Zan before.

We must be on guard against the real and the fake, the true and the false!

Thinking of this, Yuan Shao immediately glanced around the hall, thinking about who to use.

Upon seeing this, all the civil and military officials could not help but look forward to it, hoping to be entrusted with important tasks.

However, to everyone's disappointment, Yuan Shao left without naming his generals on the spot. Only his trusted aides such as Shen Pei and Xu You followed him, apparently preparing for a small meeting.

……

In the study, Guo Tu recommended his own younger brother.
"Ganling Xiang Guo Yuan may be appointed as the governor of Qingzhou."

After all, in addition to his talent in leading troops, Guo Yuan was also Zhong Yao's nephew and a core figure of the Yingchuan gentry.

The Ruying gentry was able to occupy the mainstream of the court for many years, so they naturally had a certain foundation.

Xin Ping, who was also from Yangdi, Yingchuan, wanted to recommend his younger brother Xin Pi, but after thinking about it, he gave up the idea.

There was no way. His brother knew very well that he could be a counselor or an envoy, but it was difficult for him to take on the responsibility of governing the country.

So after looking at Guo Tu, Xin Pi immediately agreed with his proposal.

Although Xun Chen's expression remained calm upon hearing this, he felt a little regretful in his heart.

If Xun Yu had not defected to Cao Cao a while ago, he would really like to recommend Xun Yu to take the position.

He was not bragging. In Xun Chen's opinion, Xun Yu was qualified for both the governor of Bingzhou and the governor of Qingzhou.

But now there is no candidate, Xun Chen can only choose to support Guo Tu.

However, the Yingchuan gentry's banding together caused dissatisfaction among the Hebei scholars under Yuan Shao.

Especially Shen Pei, who considered Guo Yuan to be just an average talent. If he had not been from the Yangdi Guo family and Zhong Yao's nephew, he would have struggled to become a prefect, let alone a 2,000-stone official, and even a county magistrate.

Perhaps Shen Pei was indeed better than Guo Tu and others in strategy, but he also had his shortcomings.

Taking prefectures and counties as the country is Shen Pei's limitation, and his vision in this regard is not broad.

He always criticized Yingchuan scholars such as Guo Tu for forming cliques for personal gain, but Shen Pei himself was also a clique and xenophobic.

So Shen Pei immediately recommended Geng Bao of Julu, Zhang He of Hejian, Zhu Ling of Ganling and others.

Although Feng Ji was from Beihai, he had always been friendly with Shen Pei and was at odds with Guo Tu and Xin Ping, so he also agreed.

Xu You, who came from a noble family in Nanyang, did not help either side, but just watched them arguing with a smile.

However, Xu You was relieved, but Yuan Shao had a headache. In this regard, Cao Cao's evaluation of him as "good at making plans but lacking decisiveness" can be said to be appropriate.

In fact, everyone around Yuan Shao knew that he was a bit indecisive, but they never pointed it out.

Seeing that his old problem had come back again, Xu You walked forward leisurely with a slight smile on his face.

It has to be said that Xu You still has some strength, at least he knows Yuan Shao well enough.

He only said two names, and Yuan Shao looked pleased.

Yuan Shao stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "I have Ziyuan, so I have nothing to worry about!"

Seeing Yuan Shao say this, Shen Pei, Guo Tu and others knew that he had made a decision. Although they felt a little regretful, they had no choice but to give up.

However, when Xu You was feeling proud of his own final decision, he was unaware that Guo Tu and Shen Pei were somewhat dissatisfied with him.

……

Not to mention the undercurrents within Yuan Shao's court.

The next day, with the transfer order from Yecheng, the situation in the north changed again.

First, Yuan Shao followed Xu You's advice and appointed Gao Gan as the governor of Bingzhou.

Because the Gao family of Chenliu was a famous family in Yanzhou, they had no connection with the scholars in Hebei or the gentry in Yingchuan.

The most important thing is that Gao Gan himself is not only talented and ambitious, but also outstanding in both civil and military affairs, and he is also Yuan Shao’s nephew.

It can be said that Xu You’s nomination really made Yuan Shao very satisfied.

As for the candidate for Qingzhou Governor recommended by Xu You, Yuan Shao also nodded repeatedly.

Therefore, when Gao Gan was appointed as the governor of Bingzhou, Zhou Yu was also appointed as the governor of Qingzhou.

Although the name Zhou Yu may seem unfamiliar, nothing he does is simple.

For example, in the first year of Chuping, after 4,000 newly recruited Danyang soldiers under Cao Cao's command fled, he invited Zhou Xin, the younger brother of Danyang prefect Zhou Xin, to be his military advisor to help command the remaining soldiers.

Zhou was indeed extraordinary. He quickly gathered 2,000 fleeing soldiers and assisted Cao Cao in the battle.

From this perspective, Zhou was Cao Cao's first military advisor.

However, the Zhou brothers could only be described as being righteous towards Cao Cao, but they were loyal towards Yuan Shao.

Between Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, the Zhou family of Kuaiji can be said to have always stood firmly on Yuan Shao's side.

The three brothers Zhou Xin, Zhou Ang and Zhou Wei always responded to Yuan Shao's requests and could be considered the mortal enemies of Yuan Shu and Sun Jian.

It was precisely because of this that Yuan Shao was able to appoint Zhou as the governor of Qingzhou with confidence.

In addition to the loyalty of the three Zhou brothers, this was also due to the fact that Zhou Xin was the prefect of Danyang.

You should know that when Cao Cao raised an army in Chenliu to fight against Dong Zhuo, Zhou Xin sent more than 10,000 elite soldiers to help Cao Cao.

Now that Zhou is the governor of Qingzhou, Zhou Xin, the prefect of Danyang, will naturally give his all to help.

The Danyang soldiers were the strongest army in the world, and Yuan Shao had to admit this.

However, Yuan Shao did not favor one over the other. He immediately ordered Zhang He, Zhu Ling and others to take charge of the Anping troops, giving the Hebei gentry a chance to make merit.

As for Guo Yuan, forget it. He is already the prime minister of Ganling, so there is really no need to promote him.

For a time, it seemed that Yuan Shao took care of all parties in Jizhou.

However, when everyone was full of confidence, there was one person who was full of complaints.

Late at night, Yecheng.

In the backyard of Qu's house, Qu Yi was seen drinking alone with a grim look on his face.

You must know that he has always claimed to be the greatest contributor to the Battle of Fushui. He believed that without his desperate fight, Yuan Shao would not have been able to hold on to the position of Governor of Jizhou.

But Qu Yi did not expect that Yuan Shao was so heartless and ignored him.

It seemed that he had rewarded him with wealth and mansions, but he was still unwilling to entrust him with important tasks.

After the Battle of Fushui, he did not receive any promotion except for wealth, beauties and mansions.

His subordinates were still those private soldiers, and his official position was still a mere captain.

This time, Qu Yi thought that there would be a position for him among the governors of Bingzhou and Qingzhou, but he did not expect that throughout the whole process, his name had never appeared on the candidate list.

This made Qu Yi increasingly dissatisfied, and he even regarded it as a great shame and humiliation.

For a moment, the more Qu Yi drank, the more resentful he became.

Just when Qu Yi was considering whether to show some displeasure to Yuan Shao, an unexpected guest suddenly arrived...

(End of this chapter)