Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Liu Ye looked at Yuan Shu's army slowly advancing forward, then at Liu Xun, whose face was gloomy in front of him, and hesitated to speak.

In the end, I couldn't resist.

"My lord, you really shouldn't have agreed to that young master Yuan's request to let their army enter the country!"

Liu Ye genuinely felt he couldn't carry the team.

Yuan Shu's army came with great force, claiming they were going to cross the Yangtze River to attack Sun Ce, but Liu Ye saw through their true intentions at a glance—they were definitely after Lujiang.

Therefore, he immediately advised Liu Xun to lead the entire army out to seize advantageous positions in advance and intercept the ill-intentioned Yuan Shu's army.

At this point, things should be a sure thing.

In terms of raw power, Lujiang is no match for Zhong, but the latter isn't much stronger either. If they really fought, it would at least be a lose-lose situation.

Moreover, Liu Ye clearly saw that Yuan Shu's army was on the verge of collapse and this was just a desperate struggle. As long as they held on and delayed, the enemy would most likely collapse without a fight.

But despite this favorable situation, Liu Xun listened to Liu Xie's slander and chose to surrender.

This result made Liu Ye want to roar to the heavens: "Liu Ziyang, a beautiful woman, has met you brothers, you scoundrels!"

However, Liu Xun did not think he had done anything wrong, and even blamed Liu Ye instead.

"Ziyang, you don't understand my difficulties!"

Liu Xun also had something to say.

To others, Liu Xun was a high-ranking prefect, and everyone had to respectfully address him as "Lord Prefect." He was the undisputed boss of Lujiang.

But only he himself knew that the boss was often just an empty shell. Every day, as soon as he opened his eyes, he had to serve the eating, drinking, defecating and urinating needs of hundreds of thousands of people. How much of it actually ended up in his mouth?

And just as Yan Xiang analyzed, Lujiang County was a place of constant warfare, surrounded by hostile neighbors, and it was absolutely impossible for it to remain in a state of partial peace. Sooner or later, it would fall.

Therefore, Liu Xun had long been prepared to step down and never had the idea of ​​sharing the fate of Lujiang.

Furthermore, Yuan Shu's army had always stated that they wanted to launch a southern campaign against Sun Ce, and they only requested passage through Lujiang.

In this way, Liu Xun had no motivation to fight Yuan Shu to the death. Even if he won, it would be a pointless battle. It would be better for him to take the initiative to retreat and gain some reputation.

The only thing that worried him was that Yuan Shu was too unpredictable and might try to eliminate him.

However, Yuan Yao has now patched up this loophole.

Liu Xun coldly retorted to Liu Ye, "I am, after all, a former official of the Yuan family. Now that Young Master Yuan has gone so far as to swear an oath to me, how can I possibly make excuses? Does Ziyang want me to become a laughingstock for the world?"

"I was overthinking it." Liu Ye was too lazy to waste words with Liu Xun. After this incident, he had seen through Liu Xun and realized that he was no good leader. There was no need to waste his energy on him anymore.

However... just as Liu Xun was troubled by his status as a disciple of the Yuan family, Liu Ye was now forced onto Liu Xun's pirate ship. Given the current climate, he could not forcibly abandon Liu Xun and Kairun. He could only wait until the other party lost power before choosing another wise ruler.

Fortunately, given the current situation, that day won't be too far off.

As Liu Ye had predicted, what happened next was exactly what he expected.

After Yuan Shu's army, which claimed they were merely passing through, successfully entered Lujiang, they began to cause all sorts of trouble and refused to leave.

First, they naturally moved into Liu Xun's base in Wan County, indicating that fighting across the river was no small matter and that they needed to rest for a few days, which was a legitimate reason.

Then, citing a shortage of military supplies, he borrowed tens of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain from Liu Xun. As for when it would be repaid? No rush, let's deal with that after we finish conquering Jiangdong.

Even after their supplies were plentiful and their condition had improved, Yuan Shu's army still hesitated to set off, and found a new excuse:

Suppressing bandits.

Ji Ling: "You audacious Chen Ce, how dare you offend our army! I will raze his stronghold to the ground and slaughter you all!"

Chen Ce, who was angrily rebuked by Ji Ling, was a band of mountain bandits entrenched in Lujiang, with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Ji Ling declared that Chen Ce had offended his troops and even attempted to plunder Yuan Shu's army's supply train. Such evil deeds could not be tolerated and had to be eradicated.

Liu Xun quickly advised against it, saying that Chen Ce was hiding deep in the mountains, where the terrain was treacherous and easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it would be hard to conquer in a short time. He suggested that they should focus their efforts on the southern campaign. As for the possibility that Chen Ce might threaten Yuan Shu's army's logistics, they could entrust that to the Lujiang army to guard, ensuring its safety.

Upon hearing that it would be difficult to defeat Chen Ce in the short term, Ji Ling was overjoyed—no, furious—and declared that he was determined to take down Chen Ce, and that even the heavens could not stop him.

The reason is that Chen Ce's name also contains the character "Ce," so it's a good omen for attacking Sun Ce, and we'll use him as a practice target first.

Liu Xun was greatly alarmed, only then remembering Liu Ye's previous advice.

So this was truly a case of using a pretext to attack Guo!

Well, although Liu Xun had considered this possibility before, and even pretended to say that his position as the Prefect of Lujiang was originally appointed by Yuan Shu and could be returned at any time, he was still very angry when this actually happened.

Since Liu Ye remained silent, Liu Xun had no other choice but to go and find Yuan Yao in person to get to the bottom of things.

The promise of a bountiful harvest can't just be empty words, can it?

result--

"What? Yuan Shaojun has already left?"

It turned out that Yuan Yao had left Wancheng a few days earlier and returned to Shouchun with the registrar Yan Xiang.

This news left Liu Xun stunned, and he finally realized that he had likely been tricked.

Unfortunately, the situation reversed at this moment, and Liu Xun dared not complain openly. In the end, he could only suppress his anger and choose to feign illness and stay in the prefect's mansion to avoid seeing or hearing anything.

He also left a message.

"I know about the matter of the red tuna!"

On the other hand, let's return to Yuan Yao.

Yuan Yaozhen did not return to Shouchun to avoid Liu Xun.

The main reason is that there's no point in him staying in Lujiang any longer.

These days, Yuan Shu's army's salami-slicing tactics have been very successful, and the trend of annexing Lujiang is already set, which even Liu Ye cannot reverse.

Incidentally, upon arriving in Lujiang, Yuan Yao immediately visited Liu Ye, displaying utmost respect and humility, hoping to recruit this top strategist for his own use.

Unfortunately, reality is cruel.

Liu Ye made excuses and refused to see him. Yuan Yao had a hard time even seeing him once. When he finally did see him, he only exchanged a few polite words before making an excuse to leave early.

Yuan Yao naturally understood why.

There was no other reason than that he was dragged down by the Zhong family, whose future was bleak.

In the eyes of a clever person like Liu Ye, the current Zhong family is like a rabbit's tail, which can't grow any longer; an autumn grasshopper, which can't jump around for many more days; a mudfish in a urinal, which can't make much of a splash; and a lump on a rat's tail, which doesn't have much pus left.

Even if they successfully captured Lujiang, they would only go from starving to dying of exhaustion; the situation wouldn't have improved much.

Realizing this, Yuan Yao was disheartened and had no choice but to give up his idea of ​​winning over Liu Ye.

He then turned his attention to winning over Yan Xiang, a talent he had recently discovered.

It must be said that Yan Xiang did indeed give Yuan Yao many surprises; among the corrupt officials of the Zhong clan, he was a breath of fresh air.

When Yuan Yao was trying to persuade Liu Xun, Liu Xun's logical analysis had impressed him. After arriving in Lujiang, Liu Xun demonstrated remarkable administrative skills and a strong strategic awareness.

For example, the reason Yan Xiang wanted to return to Shouchun was that he discovered an opportunity to pacify Chen Ce's band of mountain bandits, thereby strengthening the Zhong clan. So he went back to Yuan Shu to discuss this matter.

Yuan Yao figured he had nothing better to do, so he decided to go with Yan Xiang, which would be a good opportunity to deepen their relationship.

Perhaps Yuan Yao's intention to curry favor was too obvious, for Yan Xiang was somewhat flattered: "Your Highness's special treatment is too much for this old minister to bear."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Yuan Yao said with emotion. "Right now, the only person our army can rely on is you, sir."

"Your Highness flatters me," Yan Xiang said modestly. "Yang Gong's talent surpasses mine tenfold; he is the true pillar of strength."

Yang Hong… Yuan Yao curled his lips: “You can’t say that. Yang Gong may be very talented, but you are ultimately different from him.”

As for how they are different?

Yan Xiangren was honest and didn't talk much.

Yang Hong is old and doesn't speak the truth much.