Gongsun Zan's face twitched slightly upon hearing Tian Kai's words, and he said indifferently, "If they dare to attack, let them come."
"There are three million Hu of grain here. I want to see which side runs out of food first."
Tian Kai was dumbfounded. "General, how can you turn defeat into victory by being trapped here?"
"If the Yuan army bypasses Yi Jing and occupies Youzhou, what can the General do by staying here?"
"I-"
Gongsun Zan suddenly roared, "Enough!"
"Did you come to see me just to say these things?"
"Do you know that only you are allowed to enter my tower!"
Tian Kai's face was bitter. "General, how have you become like this!"
"Are you still the White Horse General who dominated the northern lands?"
Gongsun Zan was furious. "Silence! Do you really think I wouldn't dare to do anything to you?"
"Get out!"
Tian Kai gritted his teeth and kowtowed. "General!"
"If you don't explain yourself to me, I'll jump from here!"
"How can you face the people who once followed you like this!"
Gongsun Zan stood up abruptly, grabbed the front of Tian Kai's clothes, and dragged him to the window. "Look, look at the land below!"
"It's gone, everything is gone!"
"You say I abandoned you, but haven't I been abandoned too!"
"I did so much for the Han court, but how did they treat me after I killed Liu Yu?"
"I've done all sorts of dirty and broken things, but what about now?"
"They gave me a few empty titles and then sat back and watched the tigers fight!"
"Damn Li Jue and Guo Si, damn the Han Emperor!"
Tian Kai was a little at a loss. "The Emperor is being held hostage-"
"What's the difference!" Gongsun Zan roared. "Everything is irreversible!"
"How can it be irreversible!" Tian Kai shouted. "As long as we defeat Yuan Shao, General, you will be invincible!"
"As long as you occupy the northern lands, General, you can lead the army to Chang'an to rescue the Emperor!"
"Then General, you will be the Grand General! You will be granted the title of Duke!"
Gongsun Zan pushed Tian Kai away violently. "You're wrong, I can't do it!"
"Now the whole world has betrayed me!"
"Look, besides you, what kind of people have I trusted!"
"Zhang Yan only cares about robbing, Liu Bei has established his own power, Tao Qian is a madman, and Yuan Shu is a bastard who stabs people in the back!"
"And look at Yuan Shao!"
"No matter how I fight, I can't kill him!"
"Even my teacher ended up siding with him!"
"The White Horse Cavalry now only has a thousand riders left. What can this little force do!"
Tian Kai stood up straight and said coldly, "General, you have disappointed me too much."
"Although there are not many White Horse Cavalry left, Zhang Yan still has hundreds of thousands of men, and Liu Bei occupies Xu Prefecture and has not broken with the General."
"General's teacher, Lu Zhi, although he eventually defected to Yuan Shao, does not mean he is necessarily right."
"In the Battle of Qingzhou, I, Tian Kai, lost, but the General did not send troops, which chilled the hearts of many people."
"I heard that when the generals fighting abroad are trapped, the General orders that no rescue is allowed, in case Yi Jing is attacked?"
"Forgive me for speaking frankly, General, you have brought this upon yourself."
"If we're talking about being let down by others, I, Tian Kai, haven't said anything, it's not the General's turn."
Gongsun Zan's face turned purple, and he couldn't speak.
Tian Kai stood up and walked downstairs. "Forget it, I, Tian Kai, have chosen this path myself."
"Whether it's right or wrong doesn't matter anymore. I'll accompany the General to the end."
Gongsun Zan listened to Tian Kai's footsteps going downstairs, farther and farther away, and stood blankly by the window.
He came from a noble family, but because of his mother's low status, he suffered a lot of ridicule since childhood. After growing up, perhaps because of some shadows in his childhood, he disdained associating with aristocratic children, and instead preferred to associate with some merchants.
"Therefore, those he favored were mostly merchants and mediocre people." One of his favorite sayings was, "My clothes and crowns are all from my own wealth and position, and I don't thank people for their kindness."
Because of his poor background, Gongsun Zan could only serve as a minor official in the county, but like Tian Kai, he had loyalty and righteousness, and was appreciated by the Prefect of Zhuo County, who married his daughter to him. Later, he became a student of Lu Zhi, gained status among the gentry, and rose from then on.
So when Gongsun Zan received the order from the Han court to attack Yuan Shao, the fourth generation of the Yuan family, he felt a strange sense of relief.
If he defeated this top-level aristocratic family and trampled them under his feet, wouldn't all the aristocratic families in the world kneel and submit to him like dogs?
However, things went beyond Gongsun Zan's expectations. Although the two sides had won and lost in several battles, many aristocratic families in the world began to turn to Yuan Shao, not him!
Sure enough, they are all birds of a feather!
Gradually, Gongsun Zan found that he could no longer beat Yuan Shao on the battlefield, as if he had lost his spirit. After retreating to Yi Jing, he suddenly felt that he was tired.
The people who depended on him all wanted to get more from him, but he could no longer give it.
He lost his goal, deeply hated the helplessness of being coerced by his subordinates, and he couldn't figure out where he would end up.
He stood blankly by the window, picked up the wine pot, and began to numb himself again.
If Yuan Xi, who was far away in Ye City, knew what Gongsun Zan was thinking, he would definitely laugh at Gongsun Zan for making trouble for himself.
Yuan Xi felt that since he traveled here, although there were intrigues, he felt a sense of accomplishment in everything he did every day, because it was all free.
Moreover, he was born well, which was much more advantageous than Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Zhu Jun, Sun Jian, Lu Meng, Deng Ai, and others who came from humble backgrounds. Otherwise, as an ordinary person, he really didn't know how to start.
Being able to travel to different times and spaces thousands of years ago, inadvertently influencing the course of history, and falling in love with different women thousands of years ago, isn't that very interesting?
Hmm, thinking about it that way, it feels a bit strange?
He turned his head and saw that Zhen Mi beside him had a red face, and slowly retracted her hand.
People say that a man's upper body and lower body are completely separate, and physiology and psychology can be completely separated, which is indeed true.
Zhen Mi said in a low voice, "I thought you were a gentleman, Master."
Yuan Xi embarrassedly touched his nose, "Isn't this to reassure you and prove that I am wholeheartedly devoted to you?"
Zhen Mi glanced at Yuan Xi: "Come on, I asked Sister Wu Zhao, have you touched Fourth Sister like this too?"
Yuan Xi was taken aback and quickly whispered: "That was because I was drugged, it doesn't count!"
Then he said hatefully: "Wu Zhao actually told you this!"
"What exactly did you promise her?"
Zhen Mi said triumphantly: "I won't tell you, Master."
Yuan Xi shook his head helplessly. Zhen Mi's personality was quirky. Don't look at her young age now, in a few years, he might not be able to fool her.
He smiled and said, "The purpose of my coming here today has also been achieved. I'm afraid many people have seen us together."
"If that's the case, the Zhen family can proceed with the next step of the plan."
"But it will be a grievance for you."
Zhen Mi chuckled: "I have a secret between me and Master, what's there to be aggrieved about?"
"However, Master's ideas are wild and unrestrained, which surprises me."
"Master, just go ahead and do it, I will be waiting."
Yuan Xi stood up: "Just rest assured, remember to protect yourself."
"I have already sent my confidants to sneak into the mansion as servants. If something happens to the Zhen family, he can help you send a message to my mansion and directly inform General Zi Long."
He said the contact method, and Zhen Mi carefully wrote it down. Finally, the two parted ways.
Yuan Xi sat in the carriage back and thought that all the precautions that should be taken had been taken. Yuan Shang might also stop here, but it's always good to have an extra layer of insurance.
If someone really wants to cause trouble again, his backup plans will come in handy.
Now only the last step remains. Whether the attack on Gongsun Zan can be three years earlier than in later generations depends on this trip to Xu Province.
Although he had fought several battles with Liu Bei, there were no irreconcilable contradictions between the two sides, and Liu Bei held a very important position in Yuan Xi's plan for the next few years.
Whether he can successfully defeat Gongsun Zan and occupy You Province depends on how well he negotiates with Liu Bei on this trip to Xu Province.
In Tan County, the governing seat of Xiapi in Xu Province, Liu Bei sat in the city lord's mansion, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei still behind him. Chen Deng and Mi Zhu were in the hall, and even Kong Rong was present.
Of the remaining seats, there were only a few officials.
Those few officials included Sun Gan, Jian Yong, Chen Qun, and Yuan Huan, all of whom Liu Bei had recruited using his identity as the Inspector of Yu Province. They were now Liu Bei's inner circle.
The officials left behind by Tao Qian, except for Chen Deng and Mi Zhu, were all excluded, because most of those people were from the Yellow Turban generals and had extremely low moral standards.
Currently, what everyone is discussing is a former confidant general of Tao Qian, who is now causing trouble in Xu Province, causing Liu Bei a lot of trouble.
Someone said hatefully: "That Ze Rong has put us in a terrible situation!"
Chen Deng said: "Changwen, now that Ze Rong has fled to Yang Province, we can only try to make amends after the fact."
Chen Qun, courtesy name Changwen, was recruited by Liu Bei as the Assistant Officer of Yu Province and then followed Liu Bei.
But recently Chen Qun has not been in a good mood, because he has always opposed Liu Bei's leadership of Xu Province. As a result, Liu Bei secretly started an incident with Chen Deng and Mi Zhu some time ago and took Xu Province from Tao Qian without bloodshed, which made Chen Qun very uncomfortable.
In Chen Qun's view, Liu Bei currently does not have the ability to protect Xu Province!
Everyone wants to take a bite of Xu Province, because this place is too important!
Cao Cao has already attacked twice, and Yuan Shu is also eager to make a move. In the short term, Liu Bei cannot digest the Danyang soldiers faction left by Tao Qian.
Especially since Liu Bei went to Qing Province to rescue Tian Kai and was defeated by the Yuan army, with more than half of his soldiers killed or wounded. As a result, his control over Xu Province is even weaker!
To make matters worse, Ze Rong, who was left behind by Tao Qian, began to cause trouble, causing a lot of problems for Xu Province.
Ze Rong once served as the Chancellor of Xiapi State, responsible for the collection of money and grain in the three commanderies of Guangling, Xiapi, and Pengcheng, which is equivalent to controlling half of Xu Province's financial income.
Originally, these incomes were to be sent to Tan County, the governing seat of Xu Province, for the use of the people of Xu Province, but Ze Rong embezzled them and used the money to build temples and hold bathing Buddha ceremonies. The cost of setting up banquets by the roadside alone was calculated in units of hundreds of millions.
Previously, Xu Province was prosperous in Taoism due to the Yellow Turbans, but since Ze Rong, Buddhism has flourished. It can be said that Ze Rong played an extremely important role in promoting the prosperity of Buddhism in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
As a result, the atmosphere of worshiping Buddha in Xu Province became more and more important, and Ze Rong won an excellent reputation among the gentry and the people.
The wool comes from the sheep. Ze Rong's money came quickly and was spent quickly, so he came up with crooked ideas.
When Cao Cao attacked Xu Province, Ze Rong led more than 10,000 soldiers and subordinates of both genders to flee, and went south to Guangling Commandery. Zhao Yu, the Administrator of Guangling Commandery, heard of Ze Rong's reputation and treated him as a distinguished guest.
However, Ze Rong saw that Guangling Commandery was rich in resources and people, so at a banquet, he took the opportunity to offer a toast and beheaded Zhao Yu, leading his soldiers to kill, burn, plunder, and then went south to Moling to join Xue Li.
Xue Li was originally the Chancellor of Pengcheng State under Tao Qian. Knowing that Ze Rong had a good reputation, he also treated Ze Rong with the courtesy of a distinguished guest.
But now news came that Ze Rong used the same method to kill Xue Li as well!