In the Yuan family mansion in Yecheng, Yuan Shao and Liu were sitting together, followed by Yuan Shang, his wife Hong, and Yuan Xing.
Yuan Shao suddenly realized something and sighed, "It will be much quieter this year."
Liu heard this and laughed, "My husband, what you said is just that there were more people last year."
"Speaking of the past few years, Yuan Xi was only here last year, but now that he's been adopted, he's no longer considered a member of our family."
"It's Tan'er who said he couldn't get away, but I don't believe it. Isn't there no war in Qingzhou?"
After hearing this, Yuan Shang smiled and explained, "Mother, you may not know that this time, my brother has taken Xuzhou and Langya into his possession, which is a great achievement for the Yuan family."
After hearing this, Liu was surprised and asked, "Is this true?"
"Tan'er has made such progress?"
How could she not know what Yuan Tan did in Xuzhou? She was just echoing Yuan Shang and trying to please Yuan Tan.
Yuan Shang said with a smile: "Speaking of which, the cooperation between Xianyi and my brother this time was simply wonderful. They actually took half of Xuzhou in one fell swoop. With them, the Yuan family will have no worries about prosperity."
"I would like to ask you, father, with such a great opportunity, can the Yuan family annex Xuzhou?"
Yuan Shao heard this and frowned, saying, "Xuzhou is good, but it is also difficult to defend."
"Moreover, the transfer of Qingzhou troops to Xuzhou is inconsistent with Yuan's plan to seize Bingzhou. Now the counselors are also arguing about it."
Yuan Shang smiled secretly. He had figured out Yuan Shao's idea. Although Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi seemed to have done a great job this time, it was contrary to Yuan Shao's idea.
Although Xuzhou is rich, it requires a large number of troops to defend, and the Yangtze River is to the south. Unless one has a strong navy, it is impossible to cross the river and occupy Yangzhou.
Therefore, Yuan Shao's original idea was to occupy only half of Xuzhou in the near future and give up Xia Pi and Guangling in the south as a buffer.
In this way, even if Yuan Shu sent Sun Ce to attack the two counties, Yuan Shao would let Cao Cao fight with him continuously and consume his energy, resulting in both sides suffering losses.
This would not only deplete Cao Cao's strength, but also drag Yuan Shu to the north of the Yangtze River, rendering his navy useless.
The most urgent task was for the Yuan family to gain a foothold in Youzhou after defeating Gongsun Zan, and then take the opportunity to expand to Bingzhou, thereby fully occupying the north and Hetao regions.
There is a reason for doing this. Youzhou and Bingzhou have a large number of horse farms and Hu and Han herdsmen. As long as Yuan Shao controls these two states, he can obtain a large number of cavalry.
Although these two states cannot afford so many cavalry, the wealthy Jizhou can.
With Jizhou as the backing, a large amount of food and grass can be provided to support tens of thousands of cavalry, so as to sweep across the north, occupy Guanzhong, and thus the Central Plains can be stabilized and half of the country can be occupied.
Then the army swept southward. Who in the world could resist?
Yuan Shang had been with Yuan Shao for a long time, so he naturally knew Yuan Shao's thoughts. Moreover, this idea was the consensus of most of Yuan Shao's advisers.
Now Yuan Xi was clever enough to occupy Guangling in the south of Xuzhou. Although the move of transporting troops from Youzhou by merchant ships for a surprise attack was highly praised by a few Jizhou advisers, in Yuan Shang's view, this move was obviously a loss of the greater for the less.
Yuan Shao's expectation for Yuan Xi was to have him occupy Youzhou as soon as possible so as to prepare for advancing to Bingzhou. Now Yuan Xi ran to Xuzhou without a word, occupying a lonely county. Not only did he waste his military strength, but he also slowed down Yuan's plan, which seemed particularly short-sighted.
Moreover, Guangling is always under the covetousness of Yuan Shu. Can Yuan Xi keep it?
In Yuan Shang's view, as long as Yuan Shu defeated Liu Yao and occupied Yangzhou, he would sooner or later mobilize his entire army to attack Guangling in the north. By then, Yuan Xi's county would be unable to resist and would have to abandon the city. Isn't this like asking for trouble?
So the more Yuan Shang thought about it, the more proud he became. Although Yuan Xi seemed to have gained an advantage, he would suffer a great loss in Xuzhou sooner or later!
Moreover, in order to defeat the Taishan bandits this time, Yuan Tan invested all the troops of Qingzhou. However, it is not so easy to subdue hundreds of thousands of Taishan bandits. It can be said that Yuan Tan will not be able to do anything else in the next few years!
Yuan Shang was very proud and thought, since you have given me the opportunity, in the next three years, I will let you see how I can conquer the world!
He was about to make some sarcastic remarks when Yuan Xing said to Hong: "My sister-in-law seems to be unwell?"
Hong forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Si, I just caught a cold."
When Liu heard this, she said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? What if the news got to your uncle?"
Hong bowed her head and apologized. Yuan Shao said, "It's okay. People who are marching and fighting don't need to be afraid of these things."
He said to Yuan Shang, "Go back and find a doctor to see if it's just a cold or not. Don't let other things delay it."
After hearing this, Yuan Shang suddenly lost interest and had to agree. Liu's face also became uncertain.
The two understood Yuan Shao's hint, which was to ask Yuan Shang to find someone to see if Hong was pregnant.
It was said that Yuan Shang had been married for three years, but Mrs. Hong had not been pregnant. Since Yuan Shao regarded Yuan Shang as his successor, he was naturally very concerned about the issue of offspring.
Only Yuan Shang and his mother knew why Yuan Shang and Hong had not had sex until now. If the doctor they sent for found out about this, wouldn't the truth be exposed if they traced back to the past?
In this way, Yuan Shang's status as heir will be destroyed, and Yuan Tan will definitely become the heir!
Yuan Shang was horrified. This kind of thing cannot be covered up forever. He must find a way to solve it!
Yuan Shang also tried many methods, but none of them worked. If the disease could not be cured for the time being, he would have to find another way.
To put it bluntly, the key to this matter is Yuan Shao, and everything else is empty talk.
A terrible thought suddenly occurred to Yuan Shang: What if my father died earlier?
He was suddenly shocked. Why would he think like that?
My father is dead. Can I really dominate the world with my current self?
But the only way for her to keep her position as heir was to give birth to a child.
We must find a way to deal with it!
If he can't do it himself, changing wives or taking concubines will be of no use. The most convincing thing is to find a way to make Hong pregnant, even if the child is not his own!
Since she couldn't have children for the time being, the worst that could happen was that she could borrow someone else's sperm, and then kill Hong and the child after Yuan Shao died.
As for the matter of borrowing sperm, Hong is cowardly by nature and would certainly not dare to resist me. After all, the lives of her family members depend on my thoughts.
Thinking of this, Yuan Shang stared at Yuan Xing who was talking to Hong. He felt that his elder sister was an eyesore and he had to find a way to get rid of her!
Although he had warned Hong not to tell Yuan Xing about his secret, the matter of borrowing sperm was extremely sensitive. Once Hong lost control of his emotions and his words revealed flaws, Yuan Xing would probably see through it!
Thinking of this, he raised his glass to Yuan Xing from a distance, "I want to toast you, elder sister."
"Speaking of which, my eldest sister is not young anymore. I feel sad when I think about where and when she will get married."
"I heard that Wuhuan Chanyu Tatun sent an envoy to seek an alliance with the Yuan family."
After hearing this, Yuan Xing felt a little upset. She couldn't drink the wine that was at her lips, so she could only say, "I will follow my father's orders."
Liu smiled and said, "Chanyu Tatun has 100,000 soldiers and is considered the overlord of the North. If Xing'er marries him, he can become an arm of the Yuan family. In this way, most of the world will belong to our Yuan family."
Yuan Shao waved his hand and said, "Be careful with your words. We are still subjects of the Han Dynasty."
"Whoever first dares to offend the world will be attacked by all the princes."
After hearing this, Liu felt embarrassed. She thought to herself that the Han Dynasty had already fallen to this point, so why should she keep pretending?
I'm still waiting to become the queen!
While holding Hong's hand and talking, Yuan Xing looked at the people in the hall who had their own thoughts, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
Now that she is a daughter of the Yuan family, she can only focus on her family. She can see some abnormalities of the Hong family, but she can do nothing.
Thinking about how Yuan Shang was so eager to get her to marry far away, Yuan Xing became even more suspicious. How did she offend Yuan Shang? Was it just because she was closer to Yuan Xi?
In Guangling City, Yuan Xi stood on the dock, watching batch after batch of Youzhou soldiers getting off the boat, and thought that it was almost time here.
After Liu He and Qu Yi and Zhao Yun captured several cities in Yuyang and Guangyang, they recruited some soldiers locally, transported them from the port of Piaoyuyi, and then garrisoned in Guangling.
The composition of these soldiers is extremely complex. There are not only Han people, but also Wuhuan and Xianbei people. But strictly speaking, Youzhou is a multi-ethnic gathering place. After hundreds of years of intermarriage, they have long been unable to recognize each other. The only way to distinguish them is based on the customs of each ethnic group.
National integration has always been a major trend. In the Tang Dynasty, the intermarriage became even more intense. In order to bring people together, there must be a unified cultural identity.
In fact, in this regard, the Qin Dynasty only made a start and then collapsed, which was far inferior to the Han Dynasty, which was a link between the previous and the next dynasties.
The Tang Dynasty inherited the cultural heritage of the Han Dynasty, which is why its brilliant cultural customs were born. In fact, in terms of openness, some aspects of the Tang Dynasty could be said to be less open-minded than those of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, it is not without reason that the Chinese nation in later generations was named Han.
The families of the soldiers brought from Youzhou were all in Youzhou, so after arriving in Guangling, they were much more reliable than the soldiers from Jiangdong who would rebel and flee at any time.
On the other hand, compared to the bitterly cold Youzhou, Guangling was relatively much richer, and many of the soldiers composed of border residents of Youzhou were also willing to come and defend the city.
Youzhou had many soldiers while Guangling lacked them, so the two sides hit it off immediately. So in the past few months, Youzhou had transported thousands of soldiers intermittently. Together with the local soldiers recruited by Chen Deng, Guangling would be able to deal with it calmly even if Yuan Shu's army attacked again.
He said to Chen Deng and Taishi Ci, "I'll leave this place to you two."
"I hope you two can work together sincerely. If you have any difficulties, please send me a letter."
After hearing this, the two of them bowed and said, "We will definitely fulfill your orders, young master!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "The only thing I feel sorry for, Brother Yuanlong, is that I have to trouble Mr. Han Yu to travel a long distance to Youzhou."
Chen Deng smiled and said, "You are too polite, my father volunteered to come here. He said he also wanted to see if the land in Youzhou is as fertile as you said."
"Besides, the other children of the Chen family do not have enough prestige to convince the public, and most of them are young and hot-tempered. With the pressure from my father, they will be more honest."
Yuan Xi had previously planned to return to Youzhou before the spring plowing season to experiment with improved farming methods, but Chen Deng was the governor of Guangling and could not leave. The abilities of the other Chen family members were too far behind, and no one was able to take charge of the overall farming affairs.
After searching for a long time, Cheng Deng's father Chen Gui finally decided to go to Youzhou himself.
Yuan Xi thought that Chen Gui was very smart. He used this opportunity to pass the position of the head of the family to Chen Deng, and he personally went to Youzhou to find a way out for the Chen family.
However, this can be regarded as the Chen family placing a heavy bet on me. If I fail, the Chen family will probably suffer a serious loss.
After everything was arranged, Yuan Xi returned to the mansion and announced to everyone that he would leave for Youzhou in the near future.
Mrs. Wu was holding her daughter and standing behind the crowd. After hearing the news, she felt unusually calm.