Yuan Xi felt uncomfortable when he saw Guo Jia seemed to be giving his last words, so he asked, "Do you have a candidate in mind, sir?"
Guo Jia shook his head and said, "It's not that easy to find someone with a high level of understanding."
"When I have time, I'll go to the charity school to see if I can find any good seedlings."
Yuan Xi sighed, "Sir, you should take care of your health. After all, your wife and children are still waiting for you in Yecheng."
"If the gentleman is not in good health, their future will not be easy."
Guo Jia smiled and said, "We still have the young master. Didn't the young master always say that I will take care of your wife and children?"
Seeing that Guo Jia was still in the mood to make fun of his family and looked as if he didn't care, Yuan Xi and Hua Tuo were speechless. After comforting him with a few words, they said goodbye and left together.
Seeing that everyone had left, Guo Jia sat up and pulled a few concubines to his side, saying with a smile: "I'm afraid no one will bother me these days, so let's continue to have fun."
The concubines timidly asked, "Master, why don't you take care of your health first?"
"Otherwise, if the master is ill, I will be blamed."
Guo Jia listened and said disapprovingly: "Aren't you just worried that I'll die and have no place to live for the rest of my life?"
"Life is so boring."
As the days passed, the charity school, the blacksmith shop, the trade routes, the city repairs, etc. were all on the right track. Jicheng was in good order and thriving.
However, the Yellow River ferry in Hexi County, thousands of miles away, was in chaos.
Liu Xie sometimes wondered if he was doing things too hastily.
Some time ago, the Baibo Army of Hedong and the Xiongnu soldiers marched south to Caoyang, protected the emperor and defeated Li Jue and Guo Si. In view of the fact that Zhang Ji defected to Li Jue in the battle, causing the death and injury of ministers, Liu Xie issued an edict to reprimand him.
But it can only be a rebuke.
Afterwards, the emperor's carriage continued to head east, with Dong Cheng and Li Le guarding him, and Hu Cai, Yang Feng and others following him. Li Jue reorganized his army and pursued him as far as Shan County, where the royal army was defeated.
In this battle, the emperor's army suffered heavy casualties. Guanglu Xun Deng Yuan, Tingwei Xuan Fan, Shaofu Tian Bin, Da Si Nong Zhang Yi, and Shi Yushi Deng Pin all died in this battle. The number of Huben and Yulin guards was less than a hundred.
The Yu Lin Lang was the most elite troop of the Han Dynasty. There were more than 700 people who followed Liu Xie out of Chang'an, led by the Shesheng School Lieutenant Ju Jun. However, in the last defeat at Dongjian, Ju Jun was captured by Li Jue, and was killed after he cursed and refused to surrender. More than half of the Yu Lin Lang were killed.
In this second great defeat, almost one in ten of the Yulin Army was killed. Liu Xie was terrified and angry about the heavy casualties among his close associates. He felt that he had tried his best, but he still could not stop himself from losing control and falling into a deep quagmire!
At the most critical moment, Li Jue's army had already begun to attack the emperor's carriage. Li Le shouted for Liu Xie to mount his horse and flee. Liu Xie shouted: "I cannot abandon the officials!"
Liu Xie thought very clearly that these people in front of him were his last team. If he escaped at this moment, no one in the world would follow him. It would be better to die.
Li Le then suggested taking a boat to cross Dizhu, but this was also rejected by Liu Xie on the pretext that the emperor would not take dangerous roads.
"Yuan Ji, Volume 28": Li Le was afraid and wanted to order his chariot and boat to pass Dizhu and leave Mengjin. The emperor said: "A son of a thousand gold coins should not sit in the hall. Confucius was cautious about the danger of Fenghe River. Is this the way to live in peace?"
Taiwei Yang Biao said, "I am from Hongnong. There are thirty-six rapids to the east from here, which are not suitable for a chariot." The chief of the imperial clan Liu Ai said, "I was the governor of Shaanxi before, and I know the danger. In the past, we had the river army, but it was still dangerous, let alone now that we have no army. This is what the Taiwei is worried about."
The Dizhu is the thirty-six dangerous rapids of Sanmenxia. Crossing the river under the current circumstances is a life-threatening situation. Not only did Liu Xie disagree, but all the officials also saw Li Le's intention and therefore opposed it together.
Since Li Le came to rescue him, Liu Xie had been with him for some time and had already figured out this man's temper.
Li Le did save him in times of danger, but he was not completely selfless. In fact, like Yang Feng and Dong Cheng, he was secretly excluding dissidents.
If Liu Xie abandoned everyone and crossed the river into the Baibo Army's territory, Li Le would be able to take the opportunity to get rid of other competitors and control Liu Xie alone.
Liu Xie certainly didn't want to give him this opportunity. He needed to keep Yang Feng, Dong Cheng and others to check and balance the generals of the Baibo Army. Otherwise, they would be controlled and marginalized by a certain force, and it would be difficult for them to turn things around!
Liu Xie secretly hated the fact that if the forces under his command worked together, they might be able to fight. The previous victory over Li Jue and Guo Si proved this point.
However, in most cases, the various forces fought and argued with each other for power and profit, resulting in the inability to use their strength.
On the other hand, although Li Jue and Guo Si had internal conflicts before, the threat they posed had increased dramatically after they had reconciled. Even if they had been temporarily defeated before, they could quickly regroup and counterattack.
What made Liu Xie even more angry was that the reason why Li Jue and Guo Si's army was so troublesome was, on the one hand, because the two of them were brave in fighting, and on the other hand, there was someone who had been mediating between the two of them, which allowed the two of them to work together to force the emperor's convoy into such an embarrassing state.
In Liu Xie's opinion, this person is the most hateful because this is not the first time!
Under his planning, he knocked me down from great heights several times, as if he were his natural enemy.
Liu Xie wished he could tear this man into pieces!
Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe from Liangzhou!
Liu Xie secretly hated the situation in his heart. Without this person, he might still be able to stay in Chang'an. With Wang Yun and Lu Bu protecting him, he wouldn't have ended up like this!
Liu Xie didn't know that Jia Xu was also struggling within himself at this moment.
At first, he just wanted to survive, so he struggled hard a few times in the rolling waves that were carrying him.
However, he was horrified to find that his unintentional actions had an unexpected effect, and the direction of the world had actually changed with his unintentional actions!
In the ninth year of Yonghan, Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao Liu Bian and established Chenliu King Liu Xie as emperor. Jia Xu was promoted from the position of Taiwei's assistant to Pingjin Duwei, and later to Taolu Xiaowei. At that time, Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, General Niu Fu, stationed troops in Shaanxi, and Jia Xu assisted him in the army.
At that time, the Guandong coalition forces were attacking Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian was unstoppable and attacked Liangdong. Under Jia Xu's strategy, Sun Ce was defeated and fled in a hurry, suffering one of the few defeats in his life.
In the third year of Chuping, Dong Zhuo was killed. Wang Yun wanted to liquidate Dong Zhuo's remnants, and Jia Xu was among them.
When he saw Li Jue and Guo Si preparing to flee, he knew that this was a dead end, so he encouraged them, saying, "You two have abandoned your followers and are going alone. A village chief can catch you. It is better for you to lead your troops westward, recruit soldiers from Xiliang along the way, and attack Chang'an to avenge Dong Gong. If you succeed, you can use the emperor's power to conquer the world. If you fail, it will not be too late to escape."
But Jia Xu did not expect that his idea would go so smoothly. Li Jue and Guo Si attacked Chang'an within a few days, and Lu Bu escaped.
Then things got out of control.
Li Jue and Guo Si allowed their troops to plunder and loot, killing more than 10,000 officials and civilians, with corpses filling the streets. Afterwards, Wang Yun was killed, and the government was completely in the hands of the two of them.
After that, there was constant bloodshed in the court, and Jia Xu did not expect that his strategy would cause such chaos, so he refused the rewards of being granted a title and a high position.
In fact, in Jia Xu's heart, he was still somewhat biased towards Liu Xie. He was disappointed with Li Jue and Guo Si who had already lost control, but he was trapped in it and unable to escape.
It's not that he had never helped Liu Xie before. For example, in the previous battle of Shan County, Si Tu Zhao Wen, Tai Chang Wang Jiang, Wei Wei Zhou Zhong, and Si Li Xiao Wei Guan He were captured. Li Jue was about to kill them, but Jia Xu stopped him.
"Yuan Ji, Volume 28": At that time, Minister of the Interior Zhao Wen, Minister of Rites Wang Jiang, Minister of Defense Zhou Zhong, and Minister of Capital Guan He were blocked by Li Jue, who wanted to kill them. Jia Xu said, "They are all high officials, why do you want to harm them?" Li Jue stopped.
But Jia Xu understood that he could not turn back now. He had done too many things that hurt the Han Dynasty and even Liu Xie. The other party probably wanted to tear him apart and skin him alive, right?
I just want to survive.
Inside the camp near the Yellow River ferry, a group of ministers and generals were arguing in front of Liu Xie.
His heart was chilled, and finally he had no way out.
Now that the convoy was forced to the Yellow River ferry, Dong Cheng and Yang Feng finally sided with Li Le in the face of a life-and-death decision. They discussed crossing the river to Hedong County on the north bank and using the natural barrier of the Yellow River to block Li Jue's pursuit.
Liu Xie had no choice but to agree: "Since things have come to this, I will follow your wishes."
Dong Cheng was overjoyed, so he asked Liu Xuan, the prefect of Hexi County, and Li Le to be responsible for finding the boat. They agreed to raise a fire as a signal after finding the boat. Now the fire appeared by the river, indicating that the boat had been found!
When Liu Xie saw that all the officials were excited after hearing the news, he knew that there was no way out. He felt secretly resentful. This was clearly a case of executing first and reporting later. The fire signal must have been seen by Li Jue and Guo Si, and they must have taken action. What else could he do?
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and shouted: "It has come to this, everyone, follow me to break through!"
After hearing this, everyone hurriedly followed Liu Xie out of the tent and headed towards the ferry.
Liu Xie held Fu Shou, feeling that something was not right, so he waved over the eunuch Fu De, pointed at Fu Shou and said, "Take good care of her later."
After hearing this, Fu De immediately obeyed the order. He was Fu Shou's brother and would not harm Fu Shou for either public or private reasons.
Everyone ran all the way to the bank of the Yellow River, were all stunned, and started to riot.
Liu Xie's face also darkened. He had been fooled again!
The river bank was more than ten feet above the water surface. Everyone was on the high river bank and couldn't get on the boat at all!
This is not the location of the ferry at all. It is obvious that this was premeditated!
When someone in the crowd suggested tying him up with horse bridles, Liu Xie immediately understood the intention of the boat hoisted into the river.
This is to let him cross the river alone and let all the officials die here!
But at this time, the armies of Li Jue and Guo Si had already caught up and there was no way back!
At this time, everyone was in chaos. Liu Xie wanted to speak, but someone in the crowd shouted, "Please let the emperor go first!"
Liu Xie bit his lip, turned around and shouted, "I will go down first, and you all follow me!"
But in a hurry he couldn't find a rope, so Dong Cheng asked someone to take out a few horse bridles, disassemble them, tie them together again, and wanted to tie it around Liu Xie's waist, and then find someone to pull him down.
When Liu Xie saw this, he felt humiliated and asked, "Is there nothing else?"
Dong Cheng heard this and immediately shouted, "Whoever has something suitable for the emperor, bring it out now! Do not keep it privately, or you will be severely punished!"
Liu Xie was stunned when he heard this, and instinctively felt that something was wrong. He was about to speak when he saw Fu De standing aside with Fu Shou, who was holding a few pieces of silk cloth in her arms.
At this moment, a long knife was raised high in the crowd and chopped towards Fu Shou's head!