noffsinger Chapter 288 Who is Yuan Shao's successor? He is not Yuan Shao's son?
Chapter 288 Who is Yuan Shao's successor? He is not Yuan Shao's son?
"Wasn't Yuan Shao's second wife, Lady Liu, a native of Ji Province?"
"I heard that she also gave birth to a third son for Yuan Shao, named Yuan Shang."
"Everyone says that Yuan Shao dotes on Yuan Shang the most, spoils him rotten, and keeps him by his side all the time."
"Ha ha……"
"People all have two faces."
"One is for external use, for outsiders to see."
"One is internal, corresponding to one's true inner thoughts."
"Yuan Shao must be on good terms with Yuan Shang when dealing with foreign enemies."
"Because he had to maintain a public harmony with people like Ju Shou."
"But only he knows what he's really thinking."
Jia Xu made a pointed remark.
Su Yu then connected this to a classic scene in the novel.
Liu Bei killed Che Zhou, preparing to launch a pincer attack on Cao Cao with the help of Yuan Shao from within and without!
Initially, Yuan Shao responded very quickly.
But Liu Bei waited for nearly two and a half months, and instead of receiving Yuan Shao's army, he received news that Yuan Shao had stopped sending troops because his third son, Yuan Shang, was sick!
This incident led to Yuan Shao being severely criticized in later generations!
"Good at planning but indecisive, hesitant and indecisive, and overly sentimental"—these are all used to describe Yuan Shao.
But is this really the case?
How could a powerful figure like Yuan Shao not see that joining forces with Liu Bei to attack Cao Cao was an excellent opportunity?
Why did he stand up to Liu Bei and not send out a single soldier, knowing all this?
Because the very next day after Liu Bei asked for help, Ju Shou formally proposed the "three-year exhaustion of Cao Cao" strategy!
The powerful families of Jizhou went on strike.
You, Yuan Shao, want to march south? No way!
The excuse that Ju Shou and the aristocratic families of Ji Province gave was also very simple.
The third young master, Yuan Shang, is ill.
My lord, this is your favorite son. You can't just stand by and watch him fall ill and do nothing, can you?
Whether Yuan Shao liked Yuan Shang or not was irrelevant.
Anyway, Ju Shou likes Yuan Shang the most!
Because as long as Yuan Shao is alive, he cannot completely sideline Yuan Shao or replace him.
But Yuan Shang was different.
Yuan Shang's birth mother, Lady Liu, was originally from a prominent family in Ji Province.
Yuan Shang's abilities were far inferior to Yuan Shao's.
At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao was already fifty-one years old, while Ju Shou was only in his early thirties.
It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Yuan Shao can't outlast Ju Shou!
after all.
Ju Shou was not only young, but also had a wealth of work experience. He was appointed as the Prefect of Ji Province as soon as he entered officialdom.
He was only eighteen when he entered officialdom.
As the only Heavenly Dragon among the people at the end of the Han Dynasty, he naturally had to have a certain air of superiority.
For three years I toiled in Cao Cao's camp, all for your sake, my lord!
My dear lord, you are getting old, shouldn't you be thinking about the matter of succession?
He appointed his eldest son Yuan Tan as governor of Qingzhou, his second son Yuan Xi as governor of Youzhou, and his nephew Gao Gan as governor of Bingzhou.
Why not appoint Yuan Shang, the third son, as the governor of Ji Province?
Everyone says you like the Third Young Master the most and want to keep him by your side to groom him as your successor.
but……
Ju was a little confused.
Whose heir, without official position, power, or authority, has always been treated like a caged bird?
(If you don't understand, you can compare him with Zhu Biao, Cao Ang, Sun Deng, Zhu Zhanji, and other heirs who had relatively stable positions. Without exception, they were all cultivated in advance and given positions and power.)
They want to march south to attack Cao Cao and strengthen their forces to fight against me, Ju Shou?
Sure, no problem!
If you appoint Yuan Shang as the governor of Ji Province and formally establish him as your successor, I will immediately change "three years to exhaust Cao" to "lightning attack on Cao".
I, Ju Shou, am just that reliable in my words and deeds!
however.
This time, Yuan Shao did not compromise and refused to establish Yuan Shang as his successor, thus dragging things out with Ju Shou.
As a result, Liu Bei could not withstand the pressure, his army was small and his generals were few, he was defeated, and he slunk north to seek refuge with Yuan Shao.
But there is one detail to note here.
After Liu Bei's defeat and escape, from where did he head north?
The rest of the Central Plains region was Cao Cao's territory, so Liu Bei could not risk going north through Cao Cao's territory.
The only option left for him was Qingzhou.
In reality, Yuan Shao did not completely abandon Liu Bei.
The powerful families of Ji Province put pressure on him, preventing him from sending troops and forcing him to follow the principle of "wearing out Cao Cao in three years".
However, Yuan Ying also had two other forces.
One force was Yuan Shao's veteran faction, represented by Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Chunyu Qiong, Xu You, and Chen Lin.
Another branch was the Yuan family of Yuzhou, represented by Guo Tu, Xun Chen, Xin Ping, and others.
Although these two forces combined cannot compare to the power of the Ji Province aristocratic families led by Ju Shou.
However, the reason why Yuan Shao was not sidelined by Ju Shou was precisely because he still had the support of these two forces.
Yuan Shao entrusted the power of the powerful families of Yuzhou to his eldest son, Yuan Tan, on whom he placed high hopes, and deployed this force in Qingzhou, north of Xuzhou.
Rumors circulated that Yuan Shao favored his youngest son, Yuan Shang, and disliked his eldest son, Yuan Tan.
But if you really don't like it.
Why did he hand over one of his two most supportive factions entirely to Yuan Tan?
Just like the First Emperor and Fusu.
If you don't like Fusu, why have the powerful military families of Qin, represented by Meng Tian, assist him?
Isn't this just plain insane?!
True and false, false and true.
You can't just look at what rumors say; you have to look at what a person actually does to get a general idea of their true thoughts.
Yuan Tan set out from Qingzhou.
But it's a pity.
Cao Cao saw through Yuan Shao's camp's deployment and knew that, with Ju Shou's delaying tactics, Yuan Shao would not be able to launch a direct attack from the main battlefield of Guandu in the short term.
Therefore, he entrusted the elite troops to Cao Ren and Yu Jin, ordering them to block Yuan Tan from the direction of Qingzhou.
At the same time, he also bribed Zang Ba, who was once one of Lu Bu's eight generals and was actually the strongest local bully in the Taishan area!
Let Zang Ba also assist Cao Ren and Yu Jin in fighting against Yuan Tan.
He himself, in coordination with the inside agent planted in Xuzhou, quickly defeated Liu Bei.
Cao Cao's strategy succeeded.
Liu Bei was defeated, and Yuan Tan had no choice but to retreat.
Before leaving, he still met up with Liu Bei at the border of Qing and Xu and sent people to escort Liu Bei to Ye City.
What happened next became pretty clear.
Liu Bei was sent by Yuan Shao to Liu Biao to cooperate with Liu Biao in launching a surprise attack on Xuchang.
Unexpectedly, Cao Ren was once again urgently transferred by Cao Cao to block the surprise attack by Liu Biao and Liu Bei.
Yuan Shao continued his battle of wits with Ju Shou, and the battles of Baima, Yanjin, Guandu, and Wuchao were all masterpieces.
The demise of Gongsun Zan not only heralded the beginning of the confrontation between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, but also marked the culmination of the internal strife between Yuan Shao and Ju Shou.
……
At this moment.
Upon hearing Jia Xu mention the relationship between Yuan Shao, Yuan Shang, Ju Shou, and Lady Liu...
Su Yu blurted out:
"Old Jia, you wouldn't be thinking of sending someone to spread rumors that Yuan Shang isn't Yuan Shao's biological son, would you?"
"That's so unethical of you!"
Jia Xu waved his hands repeatedly and said:
"Ziyi, why have you become so conservative?"
"Yuan Shang was clearly born to Lady Liu and Qu Yi!"
"Someone witnessed it back then!"
"That madman Qu Yi and Madam Liu went into the bushes in broad daylight and did who knows what."
"You bastard!"
Upon hearing Jia Xu's words, Su Yu instantly understood his intention.
If this matter were directly attributed to Ju Shou, Yuan Shao would certainly not believe it and would think it was a scheme by Cao Cao's camp.
But if we get involved with Qu Yi, Yuan Shao might not be able to deal with Ju Shou, but he could surely deal with Qu Yi!
With Qu Yi dead, Ju Shou's side could not remain silent.
Didn't this raging fire of internal strife within Yuan Ying ignite?
……
P.S.: I don't know how many brain cells I lost writing this chapter, and I might still get criticized for writing poorly. Sigh, life is tough, a small author sighs.
Actually, writing these supplementary settings is the most time-consuming and brain-draining part. But if I don't write them, I can't fully develop the climax of the Battle of Guandu later on. After all, the setting of the Battle of Guandu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is completely opposite to that in the more historical version, so I'm destined to have to add a lot of settings myself.
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