After entering Wei County, they first passed by She County, where the officials greeted them.
Bai Xiaowen asked the county magistrate about the situation in Ji Zhou.
The county magistrate replied, "After the Great Sima passed away, the third young master, Yuan Shang, and the military advisor, Fengji, came to Liyang and passed down the Great Sima's will to make the third young master the heir and inherit the throne. All the officials in Ji Zhou received the will, but most of them were hesitant and didn't know if it was true or false. "
Bai Xiaowen's face showed a hint of mockery, "Does my third brother really think he's popular? Passing down a fake will and trying to steal my father's position, what a joke. "
The current situation was different from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Originally, Yuan Shang had relied on his good looks and his strength as a second-rate general to inherit Yuan Shao's legacy with the title of "Establishing a Virtuous Man".
But now, with Yuan Xi's sudden appearance, Yuan Shang wouldn't have a chance to become a sage.
The officials in Ji Zhou hesitated and didn't dare to accept the order, mainly because they doubted the authenticity of the will.
Dong Zhao, who was beside him, scolded the county magistrate, "The second young master has received the Emperor's imperial edict to be the Great Sima and the Governor of Ji Zhou, inheriting the throne! Since you are the county magistrate of this city, quickly greet him. "
The county magistrate hurriedly bowed again.
Bai Xiaowen said gently, "You may dispense with the formalities. Did my third brother make any other moves? "
The county magistrate said, "I don't know how, but he managed to persuade Liyang's general, General Jiang Yiqu, and gathered many of the defeated soldiers from the Battle of Guandu. It's said that there are a hundred thousand of them, and they're heading towards Ye City."
Dong Zhao immediately said, "My lord, Yuan Shang's lack of reputation makes up for it with military force. Everywhere he goes, the officials in Ji Zhou fear his military might and can only listen to his orders. Who's in charge of Ye City now? "
The county magistrate said, "There's another person in charge of investigating."
Bai Xiaowen nodded and said, "I know about the interrogation of this person. He and Fengji have always assisted the third brother, Yuan Shang. My late father had two strategists, Xin Ping and Guo Tu, who assisted my brother, Yuan Tan. "
Dong Zhao said, "It seems that Ye City is almost defenseless against Yuan Shang. My lord should make a decision early! "
Bai Xiaowen said, "I have my own plans."
While they were talking, a group of ten cavalrymen suddenly appeared. They were all wearing excellent iron armor, and they galloped over on their horses.
Bai Xiaowen recognized them as the winged cavalry he had sent out. He smiled and said, "There's a messenger from Ye City."
The sound of horse hooves stopped abruptly. Ten winged cavalrymen got off their horses and knelt down, presenting a secret letter.
Bai Xiaowen directly opened the letter. After reading it, he smiled and said,
"When we first arrived in Bing Province, I sent my subordinates Qiao Rui, Han Yang, and Bai Sanniang to lead the winged cavalry to Ye City. My goal was to report to my father and clear out a residence for the Emperor.
"Although Qiao Rui is a female general, she is decisive and has the demeanor of a general. When she received the bad news of her father's death, she immediately led the winged cavalry to Ji Zhou's prison to rescue Tian Feng. With Tian Feng's call, all the soldiers and civilians in Ye City submitted wholeheartedly. Even though he had the intention to mobilize troops, no one responded. Currently, he was under house arrest. Ye City is already in my hands. "
Tian Feng's reputation was much higher than Xuan Rui's.
The officials and generals beside him were both surprised and delighted.
Some praised General Qiao for her decisiveness, while some congratulated Yuan Xi for his good fortune.
Only Xun squinted his eyes and looked at Bai Xiaowen for a while, deep in thought.
Bai Xiaowen knew that he could not hide it from Xun. All of this planning, including using the Emperor's name to enter Ye City, releasing Tian Feng after the news of Yuan Shao's death, and putting him under house arrest for interrogation … were all his plans.
However, there was nothing weird about this. From the Sizhou army trying their best to stop them, a smart person would be able to guess that the Battle of Guandu was not good for the Yuan army.
If the Yuan army lost, would Yuan Shao be able to survive? It was hard to say who would do it.
Hence, from Xun's point of view, Bai Xiaowen sent the winged cavalry into Ye City to set things up in advance.
If Yuan Shao was still alive, then the winged cavalry's mission was to clear out a residence for the Emperor.
If Yuan Shao was dead, then the winged cavalry's mission would naturally change.
No matter what, it was difficult for Xun to guess that Bai Xiaowen had foreseen Yuan Shao's death because he did not know about the existence of awakeners or the Divine Court. This was a limitation caused by the asymmetry of information, not because Xun was not wise enough.
However … in Xun's eyes, it seemed that Yuan Xi was wise enough to communicate with ghosts and gods. Was this person really only in his twenties?
Aside from Xun's shock, there was another piece of news in Qiao Rui's letter, which was about his eldest son, Yuan Tan.
After the Battle of Guandu, Guo Tu originally wanted to join Yuan Shao, but he did not expect Yuan Shao to be defeated. After thinking about it, he decided to go east to Qingzhou and continue to assist Yuan Tan.
With the support of Xin Ping and Guo Tu, Yuan Tan called himself the Great General and led 30,000 soldiers into Qinghe County (or Qinghe Country) in the east of Jizhou.
Yuan Tan also rushed forward and did not stop in Qinghe County. Instead, he went west. According to Qiao Rui's calculations, Yuan Tan's Qingzhou Army would enter Julu County tomorrow at the latest. Their next target would naturally be Ye City in Wei County.
"The three sons split up …" Thinking back to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Bai Xiaowen felt a little emotional. Actually, after the Battle of Guandu, Hebei's foundation was not damaged. After all, Jizhou was too rich and had a large population.
Apart from that, about 100,000 of the Yuan Army died in Guandu. The rest followed the generals and fled.
According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when the news of Yuan Shao being alive spread out, the scattered soldiers gathered together. Together with the reinforcements from Youzhou, Qingzhou, and Bingzhou, there were still two to three hundred thousand soldiers. In terms of military strength, it was enough to compete with Cao Cao.
Moreover, Cao Cao needed to go back to stabilize the situation and could not chase after them.
Of course, in Cao Cao's eyes, since Yuan Shao was dead, the three sons would definitely fight for the family business. As the saying goes, "If you attack with troops, you have to face the enemy together. If you are anxious, you can't rush; if you slow down, you have to plan."
Once the Yuan Family fought and their strength was depleted, Cao Cao would stabilize Henan. Then, he would cross the Yellow River to attack. This would save him a lot of effort.
Bai Xiaowen knew that now was not the time to be stingy with items. He once again used Mengde's new book's strategy to speed up the troops and rush to Ye City. When the sun was about to set, they arrived at the Ye City gates.
Qiao Rui led the troops to guard Ye City. After checking, he opened the city gates.
Tian Feng led the Ye City civil servants and generals to kneel on the side. Actually, this time, they did not kneel purely for Bai Xiaowen. Instead, they kneeled to welcome the emperor.
When the emperor Liu Xie saw this on the carriage, he was delighted.
The messenger read out the edict and gave Yuan Xi the title of Commander-In-Chief and Jizhou Magistrate, inheriting his father's position.
The Jizhou civil servants and generals were all rewarded. The negative impact of Yuan Shao's death on the hearts of the people was reduced by half. Moreover, they were all happy that they were promoted.
After the edict was read, Bai Xiaowen saw Tian Feng and said emotionally, "Without your help, how could I easily take down Xudu and welcome back the emperor? If we did not take down Xudu and stabilize Cao Cao's rear, he would definitely attack Jizhou. My entire family would not be able to keep their lives. "
Tian Feng did not take the credit and said, "This is the genius of the young master. I am just doing my best."
Bai Xiaowen immediately asked for the emperor's permission. He told him that when Tian Feng was in prison, his entire family gave up everything to help him sneak attack Xudu. He asked the emperor to reward him with land.
Tian Feng firmly refused, "At this time, Jizhou is not settled. You don't have to rush to reward me. This is to prevent the officials outside from being jealous."
Bai Xiaowen said, "You have a noble character. However, those who have done well have to be rewarded." Hence, he ordered Qiao Rui to inspect the treasury and gave the Julu Tian family a hundred gold (two thousand four hundred silver). When Hebei was settled, they would discuss the matter of promoting him.
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