Three Kingdoms: Fusion of Entries, Change of Destiny

Chapter 87 Yuan Paopao

Yuan Shu had only rested for one day in Xiangyi when he was surrounded by Cao Cao's army again.

At this time, Yuan Shu had fled many times, and his supplies were almost all lost. His soldiers had scattered everywhere, and there were less than 5,000 people left.

In desperation, Yuan Shu had no choice but to flee again, directly from Chenliu County in Yanzhou to Ningling County in the north of Liang State.

At first, Yuan Shu still had a glimmer of hope in his heart to gain a foothold in Liang State.

However, Cao Cao kept chasing after him, as if he was determined to kill Yuan Shu.

After all, this place belongs to his sphere of influence, and it has not been affected by the war and is relatively prosperous.

Liang State was the ancient territory of Song Dynasty. It was the fiefdom of Liu Wu, King Xiao of Liang in the Western Han Dynasty and was nominally under the rule of Yuan Shu.

However, Yuan Shu's control over Yuzhou was mainly concentrated in the west, and his influence on Liang State was relatively weak. Therefore, there was no one in Liang State who was loyal to Yuan Shu to help him turn the tide.

Therefore, when Cao Cao and Cao Yan led their troops to attack again, Yuan Shu also realized that as long as he was still in Liang State, he would inevitably continue to be pursued by Cao Cao and would not be able to gain a foothold at all.

So, he could only continue to escape, fleeing to a safe place far away from Yanzhou.

Looking around, the only person he could rely on nearby was Yuan Zhong, the prime minister of Pei, who was Yuan Shu's cousin.

So Yuan Shu continued to flee and ran to Pei State with all his might.

After Yuan Shu left Yuzhou, a power vacuum appeared in Yuzhou.

Li Jue, who controlled the imperial court, cunningly sent the new Yuzhou governor Guo Gong to take advantage of the situation.

Guo Gong chose Liang State as his garrison, which was not severely damaged.

Yingchuan County in the western part of Yuzhou had long been destroyed by Li Jue's army. "No roosters crowing for a thousand miles, and bones exposed in the wild" is the most true portrayal of Yingchuan County at present.

In addition, Cao Cao's forces were separated from Yingchuan County by Chenliu County, so Cao Cao did not send anyone to occupy Yingchuan.

……

Then return to Pei State.

Yuan Peng, the grandfather of Yuan Zhong, the Prime Minister of Pei, was the elder brother of Yuan Tang, the grandfather of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

Therefore, Yuan Zhong had a good relationship with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Yuan Yi.

As an official of Yuzhou and a subordinate of Yuan Shu, Yuan Zhong would definitely accept Yuan Shu.

During the Party and Factions Persecution, the young Yuan Zhong was a "party member" who resisted the eunuchs.

At that time, the imperial court arrested a group of "progressive youths".

Due to continuous torture, many of the inmates became ill and could no longer withstand the torture.

Yuan Zhong and Fan Pang, who were both from Runan, vied with each other to be executed first in order to protect the patients.

The original text of the Biography of Fan Pang in the Book of the Later Han records: "Pang, as many of his fellow prisoners were ill, asked to be released first, and thus competed with his fellow countyman Yuan Zhong for the punishment of the Chu poison."

This incident also became a typical symbol of the spiritual integrity of the Eastern Han scholars at that time.

When he took office as the Prime Minister of Pei, this young man from the aristocratic Yuan family, which had three generations of officials in the family, only rode in an undecorated carriage, and therefore had a good reputation for being honest.

Moreover, Yuan Zhong's son Yuan Mi died in battle to protect his superior, Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and was named one of the "Seven Sages" by Emperor Ling.

To sum up, Yuan Zhong was very famous and had a good reputation among the literati and the people.

So although Cao Cao dared to show off his power in front of him, he did not dare to attack him without reason.

If a local politician or celebrity is attacked without any reason, the consequences that may arise are really hard to predict.

However, when Cao Cao suffered a defeat in Xingyang and fled back to his hometown, Qiao County, Pei State, Yuan Zhong, as the local official, wanted to punish him.

Therefore, the relationship between Cao Cao and Yuan Zhong was actually very bad.

Historically,
The court in Xudu summoned Yuan Zhong, who had taken refuge in Jiaozhou, to be the Weiwei. However, Cao Cao instructed Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhi, to kill him on the way.

From this point of view, the two brothers Cao Cao and Cao Yan have a similar quality - holding grudges!
So it is understandable why Cao Cao did not stop Cao Yan when he wanted to cause trouble for Zhang Miao.

The beginning of October on the third day of Chuping (192 AD).

Yuan Shu fled to the State of Pei and was taken in by Yuan Zhong, the Prime Minister of Pei. Yuan Zhong had joined the anti-Li Jue and Yuan Shao alliance formed by Tao Qian, so apart from his bad relationship with Cao Cao, he had good relations with other surrounding forces.

Yuan Shu fled to Yuan Zhong and finally got a chance to breathe and think about the future.

Later, he took a fancy to Huainan, a land of fish and rice, and thought it was a good place to make a comeback, so he left Pei State and continued to head south to Huainan.

At this time, Cao Cao also passed through Liang State and deployed his troops on the border of Pei State.

Pei Xiang Yuan Zhong was no longer calm.

It is easy to invite gods, but difficult to send them away!

You, Yuan Shu, just patted your butt and ran away, but what about this killer Cao Cao now?
You have to know that Cao Cao defeated a million-strong Yellow Turban Army just a few months ago and even drove the Yellow Turbans to Pei State, where they caused trouble for Yuan Zhong for a while.

Now Cao Cao has defeated Yuan Shu, who had an army of 200,000, and now he has come to Pei State with his eyes wide open!
Yuan Zhong was really scared.

He was really afraid that Cao Cao would not abide by the moral code of war and would really send troops to deal with him.

So, not long after Yuan Shu went south to Huainan, Yuan Zhong actually gave up his official position and ran to Kuaiji County in Yangzhou to seek refuge with Wang Lang, the prefect of Kuaiji.

Once Yuan Zhong left, Cao Cao had even less excuse.

However, Tao Qian took advantage of the situation and invited Chen Gui from the Chen family of Xia Pi to be the prime minister of Pei and occupied the state of Pei.

At the same time, Xu Qiu, the prefect of Runan, had a very good relationship with Tao Qian.

In addition, Chen Gui, who occupied Pei State,
This is equivalent to connecting the area to the southeast of Cao Cao, making Cao Cao dare not continue to move south.

Cao Cao had just gone through a bloody battle and had no energy to provoke Tao Qian.

Seeing that Tao Qian took the opportunity to occupy Pei State, he withdrew his troops and returned to Juancheng.

After returning to Juancheng, Cao Cao immediately summoned everyone to the meeting hall.

The atmosphere in the hall was solemn. Everyone held their breath, their eyes focused on Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's expression was solemn as he spoke slowly, "In the battle with Yuan Shu, over half of our fifty thousand soldiers were killed. Nearly three thousand were left with lifelong disabilities, and I'm afraid they won't be able to support themselves in the future..."

Cao Cao's face was filled with sorrow as he spoke in a heavier tone, "I was the one who brought them out. I still remember the faces and names of many of them, but now..."

Cao Cao's acting was pretty good, but his tears were a little exaggerated...

This was something the two brothers Cao Yan and Cao Cao had discussed on the way. They were to give the soldiers the honor, pensions and benefits they deserved in accordance with their previous agreements and promises.

At this moment, Wang Bi, a member of the staff, stepped forward and offered his condolences to Cao Cao, saying, "My lord, on the battlefield, swords are merciless, and casualties are inevitable. You have no need to grieve, and there is no need to blame yourself!"

"Yes, if it weren't for you, my lord, bravely fighting and fighting the enemy, how could we have defeated Yuan Shu so quickly?"

"Yes! If it weren't for you, my lord, stepping forward, the people of Yanzhou would have suffered so much!"

"Without the lord and his soldiers fighting bravely, Yanzhou might become the next Yingchuan!"

“Ahem…don’t mention Yingchuan!!”

"..."

Everyone spoke one after another to comfort Cao Cao.

What's more, they have begun to sing praises of Cao Cao.

Cao Yan was sitting aside, watching this scene, and secretly sighed in his heart: Today I have finally seen the ability of these "intellectuals" to flatter, they are really eloquent and eloquent.

Lao Cao seemed to be enjoying it as well. After everyone had taken turns praising him, he slowly raised his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet.

"No matter what policies are implemented in other places, at least under my rule, Cao Mengde, no soldier will be treated unfairly, especially those brothers who died on the battlefield!"

Listening to what Lao Cao said, it's clear that he wants everyone to pay money!

The people who were just talking so eloquently,

At this moment, everything became quiet.

There was silence in the hall.

(End of this chapter)