Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 373: Internal Struggle among the Evil Spirits
"First, Yan Gongxuan defeated Zhang Yan, and then Zhang Junyi defeated Li Song. Father, the army has not yet been deployed, but the victory report has arrived. I congratulate you, father!"

In the big tent, Yuan Shang bowed to Yuan Shao who was sitting on the stool and said, "Now my father is leading a large army to attack Zhang Yu. We will surely defeat the Bing army and conquer the two states of Shanxi."

"Third brother, we are now in the army, and father is the commander-in-chief. You and I need to address father according to his position, so you can call him Ming Gong or Jun Shuai." Yuan Tan was dissatisfied with Yuan Shang's flattery, so he scolded him.

"Yes!" Yuan Shang responded aggrievedly.

Seeing this, Yuan Shao, who favored his youngest son, said, "There is no idle person in the tent now. You, me, father and son are here. Why should we follow the etiquette in everything?"

"promise!"

Yuan Shao's words instantly upset Yuan Tan. When he was young, he followed Yuan Shao, who educated him strictly. But now he favored his younger brother and ignored his old advice, which made Yuan Tan feel unbalanced.

While the father and son were talking, Feng Ji and Xu You were chatting in the camp.

"Xin Ping has always been on good terms with the eldest son, and now that Xin Ping has made meritorious contributions in the army, I'm afraid the eldest son will be proud!" Feng Ji said.

Xu You shook his head and said, "The eldest son is in charge of Qingzhou. He has many civil and military officials under his command, and everyone in the army thinks he is the best. If you want to make the third son the heir, it will be decided by you, not Xin Ping."

Xu You said meaningfully, "Tian Feng is resourceful and wise. In the past, when we defeated Gongsun Zan, you used a lot of Tian Feng's strategies. Now Zhang He defeated Li Song and Yan Liang defeated Zhang Yan, which was actually Tian Feng's strategy. If your strategy to take Youzhou fails, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. In the future, you may be close to Tian Feng and despise Yuan Tu."

There were many conflicts among Yuan Shao's advisers. Xu You and Feng Ji followed Yuan Shao to Bohai to start an uprising, and they were his loyal and old ministers. However, Xu You was proud of having known Yuan Shao for many years and having a close relationship with him, so he was often arrogant towards others.

Previously, Xu You had a high opinion of himself and he and Feng Ji were just colleagues. But as Tian Feng, Ju Su, Shen Pei and other Jizhou native scholars were valued by Yuan Shao, such as Ju Su holding military power, or Tian Feng's meritorious service in offering advice to defeat Gongsun Zan, Xu You's voice was reduced again and again, and he had to huddle with Feng Ji for warmth.

Feng Ji had provided Yuan Shao with a plan to take over Jizhou, and thought he would be rewarded by Yuan Shao. However, he was outshined by the Jizhou scholars who surrendered. Ju Shou was the commander of the three armies, and Tian Feng was the second in command of Jizhou. This made Feng Ji resent the Jizhou scholars who took his position. So in order to show himself, Feng Ji opposed Ju Shou and Tian Feng everywhere to prove that he was better than the two.

Therefore, Tian Feng suggested that Youzhou should not be attacked, and Feng Ji formulated a strategy to attack Youzhou. Ju Su preferred to win by defending for a long time, so Feng Ji suggested not to retreat. Therefore, many of the grievances among Yuan Shao's advisers came from the political interest conflicts between the new and the old, which evolved from political interest conflicts to personal grievances, and then to the so-called political conflicts.

Zhang Yu had been cautious about the political conflict between the old and the new, so he tended to distribute political benefits to the old people. Even if they could not hold high positions due to lack of talent, Zhang Yu would use money or titles to win them over and try to avoid bad factional disputes.

For example, Yu Yi, a veteran who had followed Zhang Yu for many years, no longer possessed the talent to be a national hero, so Zhang Yu simply put him in charge of the state-run salt and iron business, making him the head of an independent department.

Feng Ji frowned and said, "Tian Feng made great contributions, what can we do about it?"

Xu You said with a smile: "Gongtu boasts that he is as resourceful as Tian Feng. If you cannot defeat him with your achievements, why not start with Minggong? Minggong favors the third son and adopts the eldest son to his deceased brother."

Yuan Shao's good reputation was not only due to the praises from scholars, but also due to his actions. For example, when Yuan Shao's elder brother died without a son, he adopted his eldest son Yuan Tan directly to his deceased brother, which won praise from many people.

Of course, although being adopted as the eldest son by his deceased brother helped Yuan Shao gain fame, it made Yuan Tan psychologically unbalanced since childhood. He felt that he was not valued by Yuan Shao, which laid the risk of seizing the throne.

Feng Ji seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "Now I know what Ziyuan meant!"

"good!"

Feng and Xu communicated with each other and then went to the big tent to pay a visit to Yuan Shao.

"Mingsir, Feng Ji and Xu You are outside seeking to see you!"

"pass!"

"Your servants greet you, sir, and congratulate you on your victory in the first battle!" the two said in unison.

"Ha ha!"

Yuan Shao waved his hand and said with a smile: "This is just a small victory for the vanguard, not worth mentioning. We can celebrate after we defeat Puwu and cut off the connection between Bing and You states."

As he was speaking, Yuan Shao saw that Tian Feng had not arrived yet, so he jokingly asked, "Where is the meritorious official who offered advice?"

Feng Ji was touched, and said calmly: "My Lord, when Tian Jun learned that General Zhang had defeated Li Song and General Yan had surrounded Pu Wu, he clapped his hands and laughed, happy that my Lord had used his strategy to defeat the enemy. At the same time, the soldiers were also happy for my Lord's victory and laughed at Tian Jun's meritorious service for his strategy."

Having followed Yuan Shao for nearly ten years, Feng Ji knew that Yuan Shao was a cautious person who was generous on the outside. Now Feng Ji did not need to slander Tian Feng. He only needed to grasp Yuan Shao's mood and use simple and unadorned words to poke Yuan Shao's heart and make him dissatisfied.

As Feng Ji expected, Yuan Shao knew that Tian Feng boasted to everyone about his meritorious service in making the plan, and he became dissatisfied and irritated, feeling that Tian Feng had taken away the limelight. However, because it was a small matter and it was also a fact, Yuan Shao could only keep it in his heart and could not express it to everyone.

Feng Ji observed Yuan Shao's expression and knew that his words had worked when he saw that Yuan Shao suddenly stopped talking. Xu You glanced at Feng Ji and secretly sighed that Feng Ji was indeed very smart and that the means he used to frame Tian Feng were indeed extraordinary. "There is urgent military information here. Let Ju Shou and Tian Feng come to the tent to discuss the matter!" Yuan Shao said.

"promise!"

After a while, Ju Shou in armor walked into the tent, and Tian Feng followed him in with a smile.

"Yuan Hao offered a plan to defeat Zhang Yan. Are you proud of it now?" Yuan Shao asked casually.

Tian Feng was slightly stunned, not knowing the reason for Yuan Shao's question, but knowing Yuan Shao's cautious character, he said, "I am happy that you can defeat Zhang Yu. If you can conquer the two states of Shanxi and establish a foundation for unifying the Central Plains, how can I not be proud?"

These words made Yuan Shao feel a little better.

Yuan Shao coughed, passed the general report to everyone to read, and said: "According to Zhang He's report, after Li Song was defeated, he retreated to Qingshankou. Now he has received reinforcements from Zhang Yu, who led his troops to camp 20 miles outside Qingshankou. At present, Zhang He only has a few thousand soldiers, and he wrote a letter to ask for help from the army. I wonder what you think?"

"Yuan Hao offered a plan to attack Zhang Yan. Do you have any other strategy to teach me?" Yuan Shao asked.

Tian Feng hesitated for a moment and asked, "Where is Zhang Yu's army?"

"According to the scouts' report, there are soldiers gathering at Fukou Xing, and General Zhang Yu may lead a large army out of Fukou," said Yuan Shao.

"Zhang Yu's troops are coming out of Fukou, and you need to lead a large army to resist them, so only Yan Liang and Zhang He are in the north!" Tian Feng stroked his beard and analyzed the situation, saying, "The two are in the north to attack Puwu, but now Zhang Yu does not send troops to help Puwu, but sends troops to help Qingshan, which may be inappropriate."

Feng Ji was about to speak when Xu You winked at him. Considering that Tian Feng recommended to Yuan Shao to capture Zhang Yan first, he remained silent and was unwilling to get involved too much.

Yuan Shao didn't know what everyone in the tent was thinking, so he asked, "Does Yuan Hao think Zhang Yu is cheating?"

Tian Feng said: "After the initial defeat of the enemy at Qingshan, we should know that it is difficult to defeat Yuanshi. Now, instead of supporting Jingxing first, we are sending more troops to Qingshan, which is really unexpected. Therefore, in my opinion, you can lead the troops to personally resist Zhang Yu, send generals to reinforce Yuanshi, and pay attention to Puwu's movements. If there are any enemy traces in Puwu, you can send troops to support General Yan."

"good!"

Yuan Shao thought for a long time and said, "Tomorrow the army will march westward and set up camp near Handan and Jize to wait for Zhang Yu to attack from Handan. Now let Jiang Qi lead his troops north to support Zhang He and Yan Liang."

"promise!"

After the plan was decided, Yuan Shao looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think of Yuan Hao's plan?"

Ju Su said: "The main armies have not yet engaged, so the situation is now in Puwu. If we can win this battle, it will be of great benefit to our army!"

"good!"

Yuan Shao thought about the situation in Youzhou and asked, "How is Youzhou? Are there any movements from Wuhuan? Where are Gongsun's troops?"

"My lord, Gongsun led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to the north, and has now reached the territory of Zhuo County. Many counties have surrendered. Tadun led various tribes to rise up in arms, gathered tens of thousands of cavalry, and claimed to have a hundred thousand troops. He will soon plunder Guangyang and Yuyang counties in the south." Xu You said.

"it is good!"

Yuan Shao was overjoyed and said, "Gongsun Zan is no match for Xianyu Fu, and now with Tadun coming south to help, he will surely make the counties in Youzhou fear him."

Tian Feng said worriedly: "Although Gongsun Zan is attached to you, he still has some big plans. If you let him attack Youzhou now, if you let him plunder the people and enrich his minions, I am afraid you will not be able to control him. So in my opinion, let Tadun plunder Youzhou, and let Gongsun Zan go south to Puwu, and join forces to attack Zhang Yan."

"Why do you say that, Mr. Tian?"

Seeing that Tian Feng was trying to ruin his plan, Feng Ji immediately refuted him, saying, "Gongsun Zan's troops are in trouble, and he is able to survive only because of our Jizhou military supplies. If Gongsun Zan plots something bad, if you cut off his military supplies, it will be like drowning a baby, and Gongsun Zan will perish. Moreover, with Tadun as an ally, how dare Gongsun Zan rebel?"

"As for the march south to Puwu, Gongsun Zan is the commander of an army and has been ordered by you to command all the counties in Youzhou. Now that he has joined forces with Yan Liang, who will lead them?"

Yuan Shao nodded slightly, his mind was moved by Feng Ji's persuasion. If Gongsun Zan went south, Yan Liang would not be able to control him. It would be better to let Gongsun Zan stay in Youzhou and appoint him as the governor of Youzhou when necessary, so that Gongsun Zan would have difficulty in making a difference.

"What Gongtu said makes sense. Gongsun Zan is well aware of the situation in Youzhou. Now let him go north to attack Liu He. And Puwu has Yan Liang to attack it personally. You can rest assured!" Yuan Shao said.

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)