newbobooks Chapter 295 Stirring Up Trouble! Drawing Yuan Shao and Ju Shou Deep into the Quagmire of the Wuhuan
Chapter 295 Stirring Up Trouble! Drawing Yuan Shao and Ju Shou Deep into the Quagmire of the Wuhuan
After he finished speaking, the guards behind Ju Shou carried the congratulatory gifts off several carriages.
It was filled with gold and silver jewelry and rare trinkets.
Not to mention the civil and military officials in Yuan's camp, there were many things that even Yuan Shao had never seen before.
There's nothing we can do about it; even though the Ju family temporarily bowed to the Yuan family during the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
However, most of the Yuan family's property was inherited by Yuan Shu.
What Yuan Shao inherited was quite limited.
Compared to a true aristocrat like Ju Shou, Yuan Shao seemed like a country bumpkin.
"My lord, are you satisfied with the birthday gift I presented to you?"
Ju Shou wore an innocent smile, as if he had truly come to celebrate Yuan Shao's birthday.
However, none of the people present were fools; they could all see that this was Ju Shou deliberately trying to intimidate Yuan Shao.
It's better to give a gift at the right time than to give it early.
Clearly, Ju Shou understood the meaning of this sentence deeply, and deliberately chose to bring the gift when Yuan Shao was at his most distressed.
His gift was a double entendre; it was both the gold and silver jewelry before him and the grand gift from the Wuhuan!
In any case, whether it was Tadun or Nengchen Dizhi who became the new Wuhuan king, they nominally continued to support Yuan's camp.
The only difference was whether they supported Yuan Shao or Ju Shou.
"Hahaha, Gongyu, I, the Great General, am very pleased with your gift. It is truly exquisite!"
Yuan Shao said through gritted teeth.
"I am honored that my lord is pleased."
Ju Shou smiled back at Yuan Shao.
"Hehe, I'm sure you've heard that King Tadun of Wuhuan has sent someone to ask for help, hoping that our army can send troops to help him defeat the traitor Nengchen Dizhi."
"What is your opinion on this matter?"
Ju Shou did not answer Yuan Shao's question directly. Instead, he walked past Yuan Shao's group of civil and military officials and sat down in the second seat next to Yuan Shao.
Then, he sighed slowly:
"My lord, it's not that I'm criticizing you."
"Our soldiers have been fighting for years and have endured great hardship."
"Is it really worth sending troops to help with the Wuhuan's petty affairs?"
“Tadun can be the king of Wuhuan, and so can the capable minister Dizhi.”
"It's just a matter of replacing the Wuhuan king; it won't affect our army. Why bother with such a complicated matter?"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao felt a chill run down his spine.
Ju Shou's subtext seemed to be saying:
If one day you, my lord, are not obedient enough, the third prince can take over. To us, it's just a change of lord, nothing serious!
Did Ju Shou have the ability to replace Yuan Shao?
There's definitely no such thing for now, otherwise he would have taken action immediately.
However, if Yuan Shao loses even the Wuhuan as an external ally, he will undoubtedly have fewer cards to play.
It should be noted that among the many foreign tribes at the end of the Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan were second only to the Xianbei in strength.
They have even surpassed their former godfather, the Southern Xiongnu!
(The Xiongnu split into northern and southern branches. The northern Xiongnu expanded westward to the regions west of the Western Regions, while only the southern Xiongnu remained north of Bingzhou.)
Even in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, when the Yuan family was in such a state of decline, Tadun was still able to send over 100,000 troops south to help Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi.
Yuan Shao absolutely cannot afford to lose this support.
Otherwise, if Ju Shou grows stronger, it will be the time when Yuan Shao will be further weakened!
Think about this.
Yuan Shao was extremely annoyed.
Ji Province was his core base; the strength of Ji Province alone was something that the other three provinces combined might not be able to match.
But Jizhou is facing the most awkward situation.
Because a significant portion of the 60% of Yuan Shao's troops under Ju Shou's command were located in Ji Province.
Right now, Ju Shou is creating obstacles for Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao simply cannot muster enough soldiers to send from Ji Province to support Tadun.
Of the remaining three provinces, Bing Province is located west of Ji Province. Although Gao Gan, the nephew, has troops under his command, they are too far away to be of immediate use.
Qingzhou is on the front line against Cao Cao, and it borders Xuzhou, which is under Cao Cao's control, so it cannot be mobilized at will.
Youzhou is the closest to Wuhuan.
However, Youzhou had only been pacified a few months prior, and remnants of Gongsun Zan's forces were scattered throughout the region.
Yuan Xi, the second son of Yuan Shang, who was stationed in Youzhou, only had 20,000 men under his command.
Even stabilizing the situation isn't guaranteed, let alone providing support to Tatun.
Suddenly, Yuan Shao found himself in a desperate situation.
Frustrated, he dismissed the impromptu meeting and locked himself in his study.
Ju Shou strode away from the General's Mansion with the stride of a victor, beaming with joy.
Following behind Ju Shou were naturally his cronies, including Shen Pei.
"Zhengnan, you did a good job just now."
"As long as you manage the accounts of Jizhou well, Jizhou will be ruled by the people of Jizhou."
“He’s an outsider, so we’re giving him face by supporting him.”
"Without support, he won't even be able to stand on his own two feet!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Pei looked at Ju Shou with a face full of admiration:
"Mr. Ju, what do we need to do next?"
Should we continue to provide support to Nengchen?
After a moment's thought, Ju Shou replied:
“Continue to support him until he becomes the King of Wuhuan.”
"But he also needs to know who is supporting him, so he doesn't end up like some people who don't know their place!"
"Yes!"
The approval process immediately gained new momentum.
Although Yuan Shao wanted to remove Shen Pei from his position as magistrate of Ye City, he simply couldn't do so.
Just like the general ledger accountant of a super-large enterprise, if they are suddenly fired, the entire company will face a bottom-up upheaval!
Ju Shou failed to protect Qu Yi's wing and suffered in silence.
But he still has a lot of wings to fly.
People like Shen Pei, Feng Ji, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Han Meng, Jiang Qi, Jiao Chu, and Zhang Nan all held important positions in Yuan Shao's army.
Besides, the heads of the major clans in Ji Province were all on Ju Shou's side.
Yuan Shao, the false ruler of Ji Province.
The true ruler of Ji Province was Ju Shou.
……
Guo Tu Mansion
Guo Jia has successfully made contact with Cao Cao's intelligence agents who are lurking in Ye City.
At the same time, he also conveyed to Su Yu that he was not in immediate danger.
Su Yu wrote a reply to Guo Jia, which Guo Jia managed to retrieve through his intelligence guards.
Guo Jia carefully opened the letter, his pupils gradually dilating.
Good guy!
I never knew you could play like this!
It has to be Su Ziyi, that scoundrel, he's really wicked!
According to intelligence gathered by Cao Cao's spies in Wuhuan, Nengchen suddenly received a large amount of material support.
Su Yu concluded that among the four prefectures of Hebei, only Ju Shou possessed the skill to write such a work.
In other words, Ju Shou wanted to help the capable minister Di Zhi obtain the throne of the Wuhuan king.
This is undoubtedly contrary to Yuan Shao's strategy of supporting Tadun.
Moreover, Ju Shou's chances of success are extremely high!
Because Yuan Shao himself would be held hostage by Ju Shou in Ji Province, unable to move.
With Youzhou just pacified and Qingzhou and Bingzhou unable to support the Wuhuan, Yuan Shao had no troops or supplies to continue helping Tadun.
If Ju Shou were to make good progress, it wouldn't be a good thing for Cao Cao's camp.
So, what kind of situation would be most advantageous for Cao Cao's camp?
Of course, the goal is to keep Yuan Shao and Ju Shou mired in the quagmire of the "Wuhuan conflict" and turn the duel between Tadun and the capable minister Dizhi into a protracted war!
……