To be fair, Yuan Shao first observed mourning in his early years, and later secretly made friends with famous people all over the world, until he was promoted to the rank of Xiyuan Captain, and he did not meet Yuan Xing and his daughter very often.
After Yuan Shao and his family fled Chang'an and settled in Jizhou, he met with his family more often, but the situation was only slightly better than before.
During this period, there were several years of military campaigns and even Yecheng was not spared from the flames of war. Under such circumstances, everyone in the world, whether they were nobles or common people, felt insecure. Even the governors and provincial governors found it difficult to protect their families.
No one knows when this chaotic world will end, and no one knows what will happen to a family that is safe today tomorrow, and Yuan Shao is no exception.
With this mentality, Yuan Shao actually no longer had any expectations for Yuan Xing's marriage. As for family marriage, a single woman would not be able to play any role in turning the tide for the current Yuan family.
After all, the nobles who wanted to surrender to Yuan Shao valued the strength of the Yuan family itself, not the women of the Yuan family.
So as Yuan Xing grew older, Yuan Shao's expectations for Yuan Xing's marriage were slowly decreasing. Two years ago, he scoffed at Yuan Xi's proposal, but two years later, he found that his mentality had slowly changed.
Yuan Shao couldn't help but wonder if it was because he was getting old?
After all, he is already fifty-one years old now.
These days, Yuan Shao felt that his health was not as good as before. After he was adopted by Yuan Cheng, who had passed away long ago, he mourned for Yuan Cheng and his wife for six years. As a result, when his next few children were born, they were already older.
Now that I am at the age of knowing my destiny, it would be unreasonable if Yuan Xing didn't get married.
So when he called Yuan Xing over, he found that Yuan Xing was quite uneasy, so he comforted her and asked her what she thought about marriage. Yuan Xing bowed her head and said, "My daughter is willing to stay by my father's side to fulfill her filial duty."
Yuan Shao shook his head and laughed, "Don't say such empty words. Getting married is also a filial piety."
Yuan Xing could only say, "It's up to you, father."
Yuan Shao asked directly: "What do you think of the new governor of Youzhou, Zhao Zilong?"
Yuan Xing's heart skipped a beat. "I've met him once, but we never spoke. I don't really know him."
Yuan Shao knew that he would not get anything out of asking this question, so he changed the subject and asked, "Who is closer between you and Xianyi Xianfu?"
Yuan Xing whispered, "Xian Yi and my daughter grew up together."
After hearing this, Yuan Shao nodded slightly and said, "You can leave now."
Marrying a daughter is a family matter, and he originally wanted to summon Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang separately to ask about it, but he had already met Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang was still fighting in Montenegro and could not get away for the time being.
Yuan Shao was somewhat suspicious, wondering if Yuan Xi was deliberately taking this opportunity to propose marriage?
But Yuan Shang also disappointed him. Although the Black Mountain Army was difficult to defeat, Yuan Xi had previously led a few thousand people and had not fought well. Why was it that when Yuan Shang came with several times more soldiers, he failed?
Thinking of this, Yuan Shao couldn't help but feel a little anxious. In two months, the autumn planting would begin. If the soldiers and supplies were still delayed in the Black Mountains, the situation in Jizhou for the coming year would not be optimistic. How could he plan to take over Bingzhou?
He sighed in his heart. Yuan Xi was right. The Montenegro issue was the beginning of a series of problems. Only by solving each problem step by step could the deadlock be resolved.
At this time, in Puyang, the capital of Chenliu, 200 miles south of Yecheng, Kong Rong boarded a small boat, rowed by two guards, and headed for Puyang City, surrounded by Cao's soldiers.
The reason for this is that Cao's army broke the river and flooded Puyang. The water is now more than ten feet deep, and the only way to get close to the city wall is to take a boat.
The boat sailed for a full quarter of an hour before gradually approaching the Puyang city wall. When it was almost within a shot's reach, a dozen soldiers appeared from the top of the city wall, drawing their bows and arrows, and shouted at Kong Rong, "How dare you, you thief, to challenge me!"
Seeing these soldiers were pale and thin, Kong Rong raised the imperial edict in his hand and shouted, "I am not Cao's army!"
"By order of the Emperor, deliver the imperial edict to Chenliu Governor Zhang Mengzhuo (Zhang Miao)!"
The soldiers on the top of the city looked at each other in bewilderment, and one of them shouted, "Who knows whether you are real or fake?"
"I'm afraid you're trying to trick us?"
Kong Rong patted himself and shouted, "I am Kong Rong, the general of the imperial court and the envoy appointed by the emperor. How can I be accused of deceiving you?"
"You see, I am unarmed now. Are you afraid of me?"
The soldiers looked at each other for a while, and then asked a lieutenant general to come up. The lieutenant general asked, "What are you here for, sir?"
Kong Rong said in a deep voice: "According to the order of the emperor, we will mediate the dispute in Chenliu and put an end to the war!"
The lieutenant general showed a hint of joy when he heard this. After all, Puyang was already in danger. How could he not be happy when he heard that things had taken a turn for the better?
He immediately shouted, "Shangguan, come closer!"
Kong Rong ordered two guards to row the boat closer to the wall. When they reached the city gate, they saw that it had been submerged by water and blocked by mud and gravel. The boat was still more than ten feet away from the top of the wall, so he asked, "How can we get in?"
The lieutenant ordered his men to throw down a rope and said, "Tie it around your waist and I'll pull you up."
Kong Rong shook his head and had to let the two guards tie him up tightly. The soldiers on the city wall worked together to pull Kong Rong up.
Kong Rong's waist was almost sprained by the tightening. He lay on the wall for a while before he stood up and complained, "Where is Meng Zhuo?"
The lieutenant general said, "The governor is in the palace. Wait for me to send a boat to take the official there."
Kong Rong couldn't help but ask: "The city is flooded too? How deep is it?"
He unconsciously took two steps towards the other side of the city wall and looked into the city. Before he arrived, a foul odor hit his nose.
Kong Rong quickly covered his sleeves and looked down, and found that the city had been completely submerged in water. The dirty water was several feet deep, covering the entire Puyang City.
There were scattered human and animal corpses floating on the water, all of which were swollen and rotten, and the foul smell came from them.
When Kong Rong saw that there were many babies among the corpses, he felt nauseous and almost retched.
The lieutenant sighed and said, "If the angel had come a few days later, I'm afraid we would have become like this."
"This is how we have been getting by for the past month. There are no clean wells in the city, so this is the water we drink."
Kong Rong felt nauseous again. Before he left, Hua Tuo had told him about the flooded city. He said that if the water had been soaked with rotten dead people and animals, drinking it would easily cause epidemics, so Kong Rong must be careful.
Kong Rong looked serious and said to the lieutenant, "Take me to see Meng Zhuo quickly."
Soon, a small boat came and took Kong Rong to Zhang Miao's residence. Along the way, he saw the soldiers lying on the roof to rest. He couldn't help but ask the lieutenant general, "How can we fight like this?"
"Didn't you ever think of abandoning Chenliu and escaping?"
The lieutenant general smiled bitterly and said, "The angel should understand that this attack on the city with water is clearly a way of leaving no one alive."
"Even if we escape from the city, the other side is waiting for us. Where else can we escape to?"
"We can't get out, and the enemy can't get in. In the end, everyone in the city will slowly die, and the enemy will win."
Kong Rong was upset after hearing this and sighed, "If I had known this earlier, Meng Zhuo would not have rebelled against Cao Gong. How could this tragic situation have happened?"
The lieutenant general heard this and showed a sarcastic look on his face, "Let me tell you something that the angels don't like to hear. Those who remain in the city are determined to fight to the death with Cao's army."
"When Cao Cao moved into Yanzhou, we thought we could live a good life, but he brought hundreds of thousands of refugees and Qingzhou soldiers with him."
"We already don't have enough to eat, and Cao's army even allowed these people to rob us. We can't even survive, so naturally we followed the governor and rebelled!"
Kong Rong gradually understood that the reason why Yanzhou supported Lu Bu and fought against Cao Cao was not just a dispute among the nobles. He could not help but sigh, thinking that the result today was by no means accidental.
Soon, the boat arrived at Zhang Miao's residence, and saw that the gate was wide open. Although Zhang Miao's residence was located on a higher ground, there was about a foot of water inside. The boat sailed directly in and docked beside the steps. There were two soldiers guarding it.
The lieutenant general said to the soldiers on the steps, "This is the emperor's envoy, with an imperial edict to bring to the governor."
After hearing this, the soldier went in to report. After a while, Kong Rong saw Zhang Miao wearing wooden clogs, holding up the hem of his clothes, wading towards him with difficulty.
Kong Rong saw Zhang Miao's face was sunken, his forehead was black, and his complexion was very bad. He couldn't help but sighed, "Meng Zhuo, how did you become like this!"
Zhang Miao carefully identified him for a while before he asked in a lost voice, "Wen Ju, why are you here?"
Zhang Miao was one of the Eight Chefs and was relatively unknown. He was friends with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and naturally had a friendship with Kong Rong as well. However, compared to the high-spirited Zhang Miao that Kong Rong had seen several years ago, Zhang Miao was now at the end of his rope and was waiting to die.
Kong Rong said, "Now that the emperor has settled in Huaicheng, I will be the envoy to bring the imperial edict to Meng Zhuo and Meng Gao (Zhang Chao)."
"Where is Meng Gao?"
Zhang Miao sighed and said, "He is ill in bed. Let's go in and talk."
Kong Rong went inside and showed Zhang Miao the imperial edict, saying, "Cao Cao has already gained power by welcoming the emperor. Now the emperor should mediate the dispute between the two parties and let Meng Zhuo give up Chenliu and meet the emperor."
Zhang Miao frowned and asked, "Isn't this taking sides?"
"Will I not be executed if I go?"
Kong Rong hurriedly said, "That's impossible. The Han court now has Wen Hou and others, and Cao Cao can't dominate alone."
"Besides, I am here with you. When the time comes, I will certainly explain Cao Cao's crimes in Chenliu to the emperor and do my best to ensure that Meng Zhuo and Meng Gao are safe."
Zhang Miao read the imperial edict carefully again and sighed, "Anyway, we will all die here in a few days."
"I believe in Wen Ju. Well, I will leave the city and surrender, and follow Wen Ju to see the emperor."
Within half a day, the soldiers and civilians in Huaicheng heard the news that the city would be opened and surrendered, and they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the city really couldn't hold on any longer.
Zhang Miao and Kong Rong got on a small boat, followed by Zhang Chao who was lying sick. Several small boats were lowered from a gap in the collapsed city wall and rowed towards the shore. The Zhang family's family members, both the elderly and children, also followed on the boats behind.
When the soldiers and civilians in Huaicheng saw this, they also took out door panels and bamboo mats, and followed suit. In an instant, the city was in an uproar. Although they were surrendering, at least they were able to survive, so everyone had a happy look on their faces.
When Kong Rong and his companions got ashore, Cao Chun and his soldiers were already waiting there. Kong Rong saw them and said, "Meng Zhuo and his companions have received the imperial edict and are going to meet the emperor with me. You may make way and let the family members and common people pass."
Unexpectedly, Cao Chun gave an order and Cao's soldiers drew their swords. Kong Rong was shocked and shouted, "What? Are you going to disobey my order?"
Cao Chun sneered: "The emperor issued an edict to Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao, but not to others!"
"The rest of the people, including the families of the two, will be executed!"
At his command, Cao's army immediately pounced on the soldiers and civilians who were still on the shore. Blood splattered everywhere and screams echoed throughout the river bank.
Today is still four updates, tomorrow will return to normal