He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

If even someone as honest as Wu Jing started causing trouble, it goes without saying that those who already harbored ulterior motives were even more likely to do so.

After hearing that Ji Ling's troops had been wiped out, Lei Bolifeng's troops retreated back to their starting point.

This unit was Liu Xun's main force. From the beginning, Liu Xun did not want to send his troops to the Guangling battlefield. In order to win people's hearts, Liu Xun really spent a lot of money on the troops. They had good food every day and were given rewards from time to time.

Finally, he argued with Yang Hong, Yan Xiang and others for a long time, sometimes saying that the soldiers were still tired after finishing the autumn harvest, and sometimes saying that the roads in Lujiang had not been repaired and needed to be repaired first. In the end, it was only after Yuan Shu personally issued an order that Liu Xun reluctantly sent troops.

When Liu Xun learned of the disastrous defeat at the front, he immediately withdrew his troops, saying: "The most urgent task now is to establish a new defensive line, and I must regroup my troops."

After get off work, Liu Xun was drinking with Chen Lan and Liu Ye. Liu Ye initially looked down on these people, but since their knives were tougher than his own, he reluctantly offered Liu Xun some advice. This time, they discussed Yuan Shu's large-scale conscription and the criticisms leveled against Liu Xun among the higher-ups.

"What kind of criticism?" Chen Lan poured drinks for the two of them and couldn't help but ask. Liu Xun immediately replied, clearly displeased:

"They call me 'ambitious'!"

"This is very inappropriate."

However, Chen Lan only made a light, almost dismissive, remark. Even Liu Xun looked up at his subordinate, asking in surprise, "You just think this is inappropriate?"

"Of course, cheers." Liu Ye quickly intervened, not intending to delve deeper into this dangerous topic. However, Chen Lan, completely oblivious to the danger, continued to chime in:

"Completely lacking in confidentiality!"

Liu Xun could have excused himself for the previous slip of the tongue, but not this time. He looked at Chen Lan with a "you're asking for trouble" expression and retorted, "Confidentiality?"

"Oh, that's inappropriate too..." Chen Lan immediately changed her tune, and Liu Xun's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, softened slightly as he muttered, "How can the officials of the court slander me like this?"

"What slander? Ah, I see!" Chen Lan, determined not to fall into the same trap twice, quickly fled and stopped pursuing the topic.

However, Liu Xun's attention was no longer on Chen Lan's words; he was even more disgusted with those who constantly found fault with him.

They intercepted taxes, kept assassins, and privately appointed officials.

These were the accusations that Yang Hong and others had leveled against him, but Liu Xun denied them all. He claimed that intercepting tax revenue was to quickly invest funds in market production, that keeping assassins was for security, and that the private appointment of officials was utter nonsense. He said, "I have neither money nor grain here. If I need someone to do something, I have to give them an official position."

However, a guard suddenly ran into the room and handed the three of them an urgent message. Chen Lan casually picked it up and glanced at it, but her eyes widened in shock the next moment.

"...Something bad has happened?" Liu Xun asked.

"Yes and no," Chen Lan said slowly. "Your Majesty... Yuan Shu passed away three days ago."

"--Hahaha!"

Upon hearing the news, Liu Xun was stunned for a moment, then immediately broke into a ecstatic smile.

However, this ecstatic smile did not last long. Almost at the same time the smile appeared, Liu Xun, relying on his rich experience, forcibly twisted the expression on his face into a grimace. The uncontrollable smile turned into the suffocating expression of someone having a heart attack, and then into a furrowed brow.

All of this was accomplished in just three or four seconds; in later generations, that would be enough to win an Oscar.

Liu Xunqiang put on a sorrowful expression and said in a trembling voice:

"We had hoped to achieve great things alongside Your Majesty, but alas, Heaven has not granted us a long life! How could Your Majesty abandon us like this? It is truly heartbreaking!"

"It hurts so much!" Liu Ye and Chen Lan echoed Liu Xun almost immediately. After watching their general's "heartbreaking" performance, they knew what to do.

"He's a good person."

"A good person." "A good person."

"He will live forever."

"Eternal glory." "Eternal glory."

Regarding Yuan Shu's funeral, Chen Lan said, "What about His Majesty's funeral? General, you don't have a good relationship with Lord Yang and Lord Yan, so you don't need to attend...?"

"No, no, no, Chen Lan, how could I bear not to see my lord one last time? Even if I have grudges against the officials in the court, I cannot let this delay important matters."

Liu Xun, his initial indignation gone, continued, "I believe many will attend our lord's funeral."

"Let us pay our respects to an outstanding lord," Liu Ye promptly picked up where Liu Xun left off.

Liu Xun immediately agreed, but as his emotions gradually calmed down, he suddenly added:

"...Just to confirm that he's really dead."

--------

As the frontline fighters against Yuan Shu, Chen Deng and Guan Yu were certainly quite sensitive to what was happening within Yuan Shu's territory. The day after Yuan Shu's death, Chen Deng's spy in Shouchun sent back news.

Under repeated blows, Yuan Shu fainted several times, and each time he woke up, he was weaker and lost control of a certain part of his body. Each time it was more serious than the last, and in the last few times he was even unable to speak and could only blink to signal.

Guan Yu and Chen Shu had witnessed everything that had happened in Huainan during this period. Yuan Shu's death seemed like a declaration that Huainan was heading into complete chaos.

Both men were knowledgeable in military affairs, but neither took the opportunity to attack Huainan. The reasons were simple: firstly, they lacked sufficient troops; secondly, the prisoners they had previously gathered had not yet been fully reorganized, and they were more likely to cause trouble on the battlefield than to achieve merit.

Secondly, the previous strategy has been determined, and the focus of the work next should be on the two counties of Taishan and Langya in the north. As for the south, Lu Wan's opinion is to leave it for now and let these people fight each other first. Entering the field rashly now could easily cause the divided Huainan to reunite.

Thirdly, both of them are now in trouble. The destructive plundering by Zheng Bao and Lü Bu's troops in Huainan has caused a large number of refugees. Now the two of them are the first to be affected, and a large number of refugees have poured into their territory. The security environment has deteriorated rapidly. It was Guan Yu who made a decisive move and adopted military control to prevent a popular uprising.

The two were initially overwhelmed by various problems, but upon receiving the news of Yuan Shu's death, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Yuan Shu was bad-tempered and immoral, he was still the eldest son of the Yuan family and had immense influence in official circles.

Now Yuan Shu is dead in a flash. His influence has vanished completely. Looking ahead, perhaps only Yuan Shao will still possess the ability to command the unanimous support of powerful families and officials.

This even led a gentleman like Chen Deng to say some things that weren't so gentlemanly:

"Yuan Shu's death was a greater contribution to the Han Dynasty than his entire life."