Wancheng, the residence of the rear general.

Yuan Shu, who was discussing the war situation with his advisers, suddenly felt a chill on the back of his forehead for some reason and shuddered subconsciously.

When Yang Hong saw this, he stepped forward and pretended to be concerned: "My lord, are you feeling cold? Do you want someone to add some charcoal?"

In the brazier, the charcoal was crackling, and it took a lot of effort to dispel the coldness in my body.

Yuan Shu was worrying about military and political affairs, so he waved his hand and said, "No need, I just suddenly felt a chill in my heart, as if something bad was about to happen."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone came in and reported: "General, an envoy from Yanzhou came to see you."

"Yanzhou! Isn't that Wang Yuanxu's territory?"

Yuan Shu was surprised at first, then his face turned cold, and he asked through gritted teeth, "Do you know who this person is?"

"He calls himself Yingchuan Guo Fengxiao."

"It's him? Please come in quickly!"

Although he was in Nanyang, Yuan Shu had still heard of Guo Jia's name, and it could even be said that he had heard it like thunder in his ears.

With just one imperial edict, Guo Jia defeated Yuan Shao in Jizhou. Who in the world didn't know that one man could defeat 100,000 soldiers?
Yuan Shu looked excited. Although he and Yuan Shao were half brothers, he was so happy to see Yuan Shao being humiliated that he wanted to hold Guo Jia's hand and have a long talk with him.

However, Yuan Shu's advisers strongly objected: "My lord, this cannot be done! Guo Fengxiao is a cunning man, and he must have come here with ulterior motives."

These words frightened Yuan Shu, and he almost forgot that Guo Jia was a counselor under Wang Jing.

Although Yuan Shu was secretly happy about Yuan Shao's defeat, he was also wary of Guo Jia's ability. If he was not even more afraid of Wang Jing's attack, he would have thought about detaining Guo Jia or simply killing him to be done with it.

But Yuan Shu is having a really hard time right now.

Huainan is a place with fertile land and a large population. It is also geographically advantageous. It is surrounded by mountains, so it only needs to defend Wuguan Pass. The people are assured because it is close to Runan and the Yuan family has great influence, which allows Yuan Shu to gain the support of local noble families and powerful families.

But even so, the successive defeats in the wars still made Yuan Shu feel depressed. What made him most uneasy was the situation in the north of Nanyang City. The defending general Wei Yan was not even an adult, but this young boy was able to abuse Yuan Shu's army so much that they had no temper at all.

Wei Yan!

This name has recently replaced Yuan Shao and ranked first on Yuan Shu's list of the people he hates the most.

Just one man, leading several thousand new soldiers, caused Yuan Shu to suffer huge setbacks in several military operations. He was defeated so badly that he began to doubt his life.

Yuan Shu had no choice but to lose to Wang Jing. After all, it was understandable that he would be defeated in a head-on battle against a tough guy like Wang Jing who had cheats.

But when facing Wei Yan, Yuan Shu felt frustrated as if he was being crushed by someone with lower IQ.

This is more unacceptable than losing a battle!

In addition, the surrounding princes, such as Tao Qian, Kong Rong, Cao Cao and the like, were all allies of Yuan Shao and did not listen to his orders at all.

This made Yuan Shu, who always regarded himself as the legitimate heir of the Yuan family, very unacceptable. He angrily scolded him in public several times: "You bastards don't follow me, but follow my slaves instead?"

Not long ago, upon learning that the war in Hebei had broken out, Yuan Shu specially wrote a letter to Gongsun Zan, saying that Yuan Shao was not a descendant of the Yuan family.

Because of this matter, Yuan Shao wrote a letter to Liu Biao to form an alliance with the north and the south, regardless of the fact that the civil war in Jizhou had not yet ended, hoping to contain Yuan Shu together. After Sun Jian died in the battle, Yuan Shu no longer had any capable generals, so he returned empty-handed after several attacks on Liu Biao. Yuan Shu was so anxious that he was jumping up and down but could do nothing about it.

At this time, Yuan Shu's army had only soldiers and food, but could only be trapped in the southern Henan area.

Expand northward, but you will be defeated by Wei Yan and lose your way.

Let's march south. Xiangfan was an extremely strong city in the Southern Song Dynasty that even resisted the Mongols for ten years. It had the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and was guarded by Liu Biao, who was at the peak of his power. The generals under Yuan Shu took turns to fight in front of the powerful city defense system, but they were all defeated by Huang Zu.

As for expanding eastward, they would have to face Cao Cao and Tao Qian, who were equally difficult to deal with.

As for going west, it is even more impossible. Crossing mountains and rivers to attack Hanzhong?
If Yuan Shu had this ability, wouldn’t it be great to just attack Luoyang directly?
All in all, Yuan Shu is now stuck in Nanyang and cannot move, which is extremely frustrating.

Yang Hong, the traitor who had already defected to Wang Jing, immediately came up with an idea and said to Yuan Shu, "My lord, Cao Mengde is now in Xu County. He failed in his attempt to capture Yanzhou and is now like a trapped beast. Why don't you win him over to deal with Liu Biao?"

Yuan Shu thought about it and immediately felt that this was a good idea: "This is a brilliant plan. Cao Aman used to be attached to Yuan Benchu. Now Jizhou is in turmoil and Yuan Benchu ​​is too busy to deal with it. If I can win him over, wouldn't it be a good opportunity to gain a strong ally and cut off Yuan Benchu's arm?"

Cao Cao was a good warrior. Although Yuan Shu was unhappy that Cao Cao chose to rely on Yuan Shao instead of himself after the Suanzao Alliance.

But it’s the same thing to attract people now. After all, it feels so good to poach people.

At this moment, someone suddenly came outside the door asking to see him, claiming to be an envoy from Youzhou.

Obviously, after Yuan Shu sent someone to contact Gongsun Zan, he got a reply from there.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and we arrived at the General's Mansion.

Yuan Shu was seen smiling, obviously in a good mood.

He had been living a very comfortable life these past two days. All the worries of the past had gone away. It could be said that he had finally gotten good luck after bad times. He even had a good night's sleep at night.

First it was Wang Jing, and then Cao Cao. Envoys came to Nanyang one after another to pay him a visit, Yuan Shu and Yuan Gonglu.

The envoys sent by various princes are now staying in the post station in Nanyang, eagerly waiting for his summons. Yuan Shu just feels that he is so honored.

Because of this incident, no one knows how much money the servants around Yuan Shu alone received.

Part of it had already filled up most of Yuan Shu's private treasury, but according to reports from the spies around him, the money these envoys brought was far more than a hundred times what he had now.

Of course, Yuan Shu also summoned several people these days. According to the advice of his advisers, the first person Yuan Shu chose to summon was the envoy of Gongsun Zan from Liaoxi who arrived in Nanyang last.

Yuan Shu was so happy at this moment, he seemed as if Qin Shi Huang was possessed by him, and he felt a strong desire to wield a sword to cut through the clouds and bring all the princes to the west.

I never expected that I, Yuan Shu, Yuan Gonglu, would be so successful today!

In particular, among the visiting envoys there was Guo Jia, the angel who nominally represented the emperor who was far away in Luoyang and came to Nanyang to announce the decree. He even brought a copy of the imperial edict, giving Yuan Shu enough face.

Yuan Shu no longer needs to rush to meet the angel, but instead waits for the angel to come to Nanyang and be summoned by a rear general.

Such power and status simply intoxicated him.

After all, Yuan Shu had lived in the capital. When he was in Luoyang, in order to meet Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Liu Hong, he stuffed handfuls of cultural relics into the hands of the hermaphrodites whose balls had been cut off around the emperor.

And what is the situation now?
It is completely different now. I sit down and receive gifts while the other party comes to ask for a meeting.

The envoy from Youzhou this time was named Zou Dan, a dark-faced strong man with a slightly hunched back. When he saw Yuan Shu, he quickly stepped forward and kowtowed three times and nine times, saying loudly, "Greetings, General. Dan sends his regards to you on behalf of my master!"

"Haha, Lord Zou, go back and tell your General Gongsun that I am doing fine, and also give my regards to your general!"

"Dan would like to thank the rear general for his greetings on behalf of my general. This is the gift list my general is giving to the rear general. I hope the rear general will not despise it!" Zou Dan was very sensible. After he finished speaking, he handed the note in his hand to Yuan Shu's housekeeper.

The butler quickly walked to Yuan Shu and handed it to him.

Yuan Shu was so happy when he saw the Liaodong ginseng, gold, silver and other treasures written on it that he quickly handed the note in his hand to Yuan Gui beside him and said to Gongsun Zan's envoy: "General Gongsun is a disciple of General Lu Zhi of the imperial court. He is extraordinary in both civil and military affairs. It's just that he has been living in this bitter and cold place of Youzhou. General Gongsun has worked hard these years."

This is quite sensible. Over the years, Gongsun Zan has always guarded the northern gateway and prevented the Xianbei, Wuhuan and other grassland barbarians from entering the Central Plains. He has indeed made a great contribution and has done a great job in guarding the border for the country.

Regardless of other things, Gongsun Zan's achievements alone are admirable.

Yuan Shu praised Gongsun Zan highly in front of Zou Dan, and even made a blank check to Gongsun Zan's envoy, but he did not take any actual action, which made Zou Dan, the envoy representing Liaoxi to Nanyang, anxious.

Seeing that Yuan Shu did not offer any suggestions, Zou Dan's heart was pounding, so he said to Yuan Shu's son Yuan Yao, "My lord's army just returned from the battle in Youzhou, but was ambushed by Liu Yu. Now they have suffered heavy casualties. I hope the general can help us!"

This was actually an attempt to win over Yuan Shu and fight against Yuan Shao together.

After hearing Yu Qian's words, Yuan Shu thought quietly in the room for a long time, and then said to Yu Qian, Gongsun Zan's envoy: "Now our army is trapped in Nanyang, and I am afraid we are unable to move north."

As Yuan Shu spoke, he picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and continued to say to Zou Dan: "But I should be able to ask the court for an imperial edict, an imperial edict that will allow your general to lead the northern troops to resist foreign enemies. How to operate at that time will depend on your own ability."

Zou Dan's call for help was in vain. While he sighed in his heart, he was helpless and could only take Yuan Shu's words back to Gongsun Zan intact and let him make the decision.

At this time, there were two other places that were as lively as the General's Mansion.

That is the residence of Li Feng and Chen Ji. There are no capable people around Yuan Shu now. In the sequence of military generals, except for the number one general Ji Ling, only the two brothers Li Feng and Chen Ji are still the number one figures.

Ji Ling is a low-key person, and now he is even more closed to visitors. Therefore, naturally more and more people have come to visit Li Feng and Chen Ji in the past few days, so that their mansions are crowded with people.

Li Feng and Chen Ji were Yuan Shu's right-hand men and were trusted by him. In order to get first-hand information about Yuan Shu's preferences, the envoys of the princes had no choice but to visit the two of them with generous gifts in order to find out what he was thinking.

At this moment, Cao Cao, who had just finished a banquet at Li Feng's house, sent an envoy, who was none other than Chen Gong.

Li Feng was still looking at the gift list presented by Chen Gong. He saw that there were eight treasures on it, such as the ground red mushroom, which was listed as one of the eight rare treasures. This thing is a specialty of Yuzhou. It only grows near the dragon veins of mountains and rivers. It is rich in spiritual energy. Eating it can strengthen qi and blood, strengthen muscles and bones, and is quite effective for warriors to strengthen their bones.

In addition, there is the Xuzhou yellow jade pipa, which is listed among the five fruits, and the Yanzhou cloud-patterned purple pear. Any of them is a priceless treasure. There is even a box of gold bars, which Chen Ji can't put down. The more he looks at it, the more he likes it.

"Please rest assured, sir. I will do my best to fulfill Cao Gong's orders!"

After Li Feng received the money, he patted his chest and promised Chen Gong.

Li Feng served as an official under Yuan Shu, who was extremely greedy. Naturally, Li Feng followed suit and carefully took out a gold bar from the box in front of Chen Gong.

Then Li Feng put down his teeth and bit down. When he saw the clear tooth marks on the gold, he was overjoyed and said to Chen Gong: "When Cao Gong was young, he and my master were good friends in Luoyang City. We have a deep friendship. He will definitely send troops to help us when necessary."

"But..."

Li Feng glanced at Chen Gong's face for a few times, and then said something with a hint of meaning: "But Sir, you still want to meet the three young ladies, which is probably difficult to do. Now the mansion is guarded inside and outside by Qiao Rui. Although I can pass on a few words to the young masters, it can only be indirect at best."

The Yuan family had deep roots in Nanyang, and in order to gain the support of the local aristocratic families, Yuan Shu not only married many wives and concubines himself, he also arranged the marriage of his son Yuan Yao and took in three concubines.

This time when Chen Gong came to ask for an audience with Yuan Shu, he might have to pay to get through the back door with Yuan Yao, starting with his three "young wives".

Chen Gong looked at Li Feng's greedy face and cursed him in his heart, but he still had to pretend to be happy on his face: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Lieutenant Li, to mediate. It's just a small token of my appreciation, not a sign of respect."

In front of Li Feng, Chen Gong took out another top-grade jade from his clothes as if by magic. The translucent light and exquisite workmanship made Li Feng's heart beat fast. It seemed as if his eyes were glued to it and he couldn't move them away.

Li Feng wanted to snatch the jade from Chen Gong immediately, but he still pretended to be reserved and refused: "Such a valuable thing cannot be used. Sir, you are too polite."

"Hey, Captain Li, you must accept this jade, otherwise you don't consider me, Chen, as your friend."

Chen Gong suppressed his nausea and got close to Li Feng, calling them brothers.

After receiving such a benefit, Li Feng finally agreed to help Chen Gong find Yuan Yao and convey a few words.

When leaving, Chen Gong's face was gloomy, because he learned from Li Feng that Guo Jia had arrived in Wancheng early, and he felt uneasy.

As for Guo Jia, he was in the inn, watching the various forces coming and going, but he was very calm.

Although Yuan Shu had never met him and had left him in the inn, Guo Jia was not in a hurry at all. He even had the mood to go out for a drink and stroll around every day, partly to appreciate the bustling street scenery of Wancheng and partly to get a glimpse of the reality of Yuan Shu's rule.

Until Yang Hong came to visit. When they met, Yang Hong saw that there was no one else around, so he put on a flattering face and said in a very humble manner: "Greetings, Master Guo."

Guo Jia is the same age as Wang Jing and has just turned twenty-one this year. He is young, handsome, and his look of elegance and composure shows through.

Yang Hong was already middle-aged and held a high position of power in Yuan Shu's camp, but when he stood in front of Guo Jia, he felt like he was a head shorter than him.

As the newly appointed military advisor, Guo Jia was naturally one of the people who knew about Yang Hong's identity as a traitor. At this moment, he put on a half-smile and looked at Yang Hong: "Uncle Yang, aren't you afraid of arousing Yuan Gonglu's suspicion by coming to see me like this?"

Yang Hong bowed and then explained: "I said I came to test the opinion of the chief minister Guo, and the general did not doubt it."

"It's dark under the lamp, which is a good strategy."

Guo Jia complimented casually, but it was obvious that his expression was perfunctory, and he obviously didn't care much about Yang Hong's cleverness: "Tell me, you took the risk to come to see me, you can't be here to flatter me, right?"

Ever since he became a traitor, Yang Hong has had trouble sleeping every day.

In front of Guo Jia, Yang Hong didn't have to hide his identity as a traitor, so he felt much more relaxed. He took a long breath and then said, "In the past few days, many lobbyists have come to Wancheng. Cao Mengde from Xu County, Gongsun Bogui from Liaoxi, Huangfu Yizhen from Chang'an, and Liu Jingsheng from Jingzhou have all sent people here. The details are as follows..."

As Yuan Shu's confidant, Yang Hong naturally had access to secrets far beyond the imagination of outsiders. He even told Guo Jia the expression and mentality of Yuan Shu after he met the envoy. It can be said that he had betrayed Yuan Shu's secrets.

Yuan Shu probably doesn't know yet that his intelligence is already completely transparent to Wang Jing.

There are even some things that he may not know, but Guo Jia already knows them well.

When Guo Jia heard that Yuan Shu was so pleased with the words of praise from the emissaries, he shook his head and sighed, "Yuan Gonglu is so arrogant and extravagant, and he is obsessed with fame and strangeness. He is indeed not a leader who can bring order to chaos. He is too stupid."

Seeing that Yuan Shu had no chance of being a leader, close ministers like Yang Hong began to become disloyal and secretly looked for other ways out.

However, Guo Jia didn't really care how Yuan Shu was courting death. What he cared about was the matter of the envoy, so he asked Yang Hong for more details: "Do you know who the envoy sent by Cao Mengde is?"

"Chen Gong."

"It's actually him!?"

Guo Jia was startled at first, but then he saw through what Chen Gong was looking for and smiled knowingly: "Interesting."

Then Guo Jia changed the subject and asked Yang Hong another question: "Who are the people sent by Xuzhou Tao Qian and Chen Wang Liu Chong?" (End of this chapter)