Chapter 509 Unexpected Changes
When Ju Hu arrived near Fan Yang, he immediately noticed that the atmosphere was wrong.

But the gates of Fanyang were open, and he drove closer despite being suspicious.

Just as I passed the city gate corridor, the city gate closed quickly with a friction sound.

Ju Hu looked back with a look of shock on his face, and when he looked back again, he saw soldiers with spears pouring out from both sides, and on both sides of the city wall behind him, faces of people holding bows and crossbows appeared.

He wanted to draw his sword, but the spearmen who were rushing towards him were already close to him, with seven or eight spear blades pressed against his chest. The driver was violently pulled away from the carriage.

The accompanying knights were also held close to their bodies by spear blades, and none of them dared to make any unnecessary movements.

When Ju Hu saw Han Heng, the deputy governor of Youzhou, he immediately shouted, "I am the general's envoy, how dare you rebel!"

"We are not rebelling, we are just following orders!"

Han Heng raised his hand and pointed to the street: "Ju Gongshi, the envoy is waiting for you in the palace."

Seeing his pointing, the spearmen made way for him.

Ju Hu looked at Han Heng a few more times and drove to the provincial government office himself.

Yuan Xi's Youzhou province is currently the only province in Youzhou, but due to the suppression of Liu Bei, it still only occupies the southern part of Zhuo County.

But a state department is a state department, and state officials are recruited from various counties in Youzhou.

Being able to respond to Yuan Xi's call for appointment means that one is naturally loyal to the Yuan family.

When Ju Hu arrived, he saw that the state officials were already wearing armor. Even in Youzhou, which advocates strength, the state officials were still equipped with light sleeveless leather armor.

Only a small number of senior officials and military-related officials wore loose armor or leather armor.

Ju Hu was led to the inner hall, where he saw Yuan Xi, also wearing gilded armor, sitting at the main seat: "The general has already issued an order here, please read it first before talking about other things."

"Yes."

Ju Hu agreed, picked up the letter handed to him by the guard, carefully checked the anti-counterfeiting before starting to read.

In the letter, Yuan Shang stated that he had received a secret report that the Cui family of Boling was plotting a rebellion and wanted to invite the Grand Marshal to attack Yecheng.

But the evil plot had been discovered, so the general naturally had to fight back.

Ju Hu was stunned. How could the Cui family of Boling have such strength?
However, the Qinghe Cui family had influence in this regard. Cui Yan was the governor of Shangdang County, and Cui Lin was responsible for the operation of the Chang'an trading house.

Including Cui's followers and fellow villagers, there were at least several thousand people, if not ten thousand.

Yuan Xi waited until Ju Hu put down the letter before saying, "The general has sent troops north. You should go to see him immediately. I think the general will ask a lot of questions. Be prepared."

"Well, I'll take my leave."

Ju Hu bowed, and Yuan Xi did not try to keep him, but watched him leave.

Han Heng came up at this time and said, "Sir, why don't you ask this man about the military situation of the Grand Marshal?"

"It's no use asking."

Yuan Xi said calmly, "According to the general's actions, the people of Youzhou will definitely be hostile to us. We only have more than 30,000 people. With the strength of the Grand Marshal, it is far from possible for us to intercept and kill them."

Even if he was lucky enough to take off the head of the Grand Marshal, what benefit would it be to him, Yuan Xi?
The number of regular soldiers and horses on hand is less than 10,000 all year round, and the maximum mobilization is just over 30,000.

Xianyu Fu, Tian Yu and others were also mobilized to the maximum, with a force of nearly 100,000. With the addition of the Hu volunteers, Xianyu Fu could mobilize an army of 100,000 if pressed to the extreme. This has always been Youzhou's war potential.

The key is that these people are mobilized on a large scale and no one can easily trust them.

If the Grand Marshal was defeated, based on Yuan Xi's understanding of Yuan Shang, Yuan Shang would definitely chase Xianyu Fu and Tian Yu and beat them to death next.

The Grand Marshal wants a clean Youzhou, and the General will have similar ideas.

If the small number of troops under his command were crippled in advance, he would have to passively accept the arrangements made by Yecheng and would lose the right to bargain.

Since you are not planning to start a fight first, why are you asking for such detailed intelligence?
The less you know, the more suitable it is for you to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Anyway, whoever wants to take the lead can go ahead. Yuan Xi doesn’t have that hobby.

Fighting with the opponent in a sharp state, Yuan Xi really couldn't imagine how brutal the first round of confrontation would be.

Without the dispatch of elite core forces, ordinary peripheral troops would not dare or be willing to go forward to fight.

Even if such an army charged forward, it would soon be defeated by the elite cavalry of the Grand Marshal, and would be in vain.

He can let his core forces take the lead. This is the foundation of his survival. Without absolute certainty, he really doesn't want to take any risks.

Seeing Yuan Xi's mentality, Han Heng had nothing to say.

To be fair, although he had the idea of ​​following Yuan Xi to build a career, after Yuan Shao's death, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang did not die together, and there was no opportunity for Yuan Xi to become stronger.

Now, when all parties are calculating, Yuan Xi’s capital is not as good as Xian Yu Fu’s.

If you take action first... not only will you get injured, but there will also be a terrible consequence.

That is the victory of the Grand Marshal, when both Jizhou and Youzhou stopped fighting. Then the blame for starting the war would be firmly placed on Yuan Xi's head.

This is the case with Yuan Xi, not to mention other people with different surnames.

If Yuan Shang had not come to the front line in person, this battle would hardly have broken out.

Another day passed and the black bear arrived in Ji County.

Mi Fang, the defender of Ji County, actually took the initiative to open the city gates and went out ten miles to welcome them.

He was not only the younger brother of Yuyang County Magistrate Mi Zhu, but also the elder brother of Liu Bei's concubine, Mrs. Mi, and the uncle of Liu Bei's twin daughters.

As an uncle who is usually not doing his job properly, Mi Fang has a good relationship with Mrs. Mi and also has a good relationship with his two nieces.

The two nieces did not suffer any grievances while staying in Guanzhong. At this critical moment, Mi Fang persuaded his former colleagues to open the city gates and decided to sell out all the people in Youzhou.

Ten miles outside the city, Mi Fang, fully armed with helmet and armor, reined in his horse and waited by the roadside.

After passing Liangxiang, Black Bear marched thirty miles a day, which was quite slow.

They purchased and collected food, fodder and supplies along the way, and even hired an auxiliary force of a thousand men.

The entire army began to recover in this slow-paced march, and even the spare robes were washed by the river.

So what appeared before Mi Fang and his men was an elite force with bright flags, clean robes, and sophisticated equipment.

Especially the Black Bear Guard, with more than a hundred golden-armored heavy knights marching in a team, which would greatly shock the onlookers.

In Liangxiang, Black Bear's unique chariot was "assembled" overnight. At this moment, he was sitting under the green umbrella on the top of the carriage, looking at the Mi battle flag that was getting closer and closer.

The chariot slowly stopped, Black Bear stood up and walked down the stairs inside the carriage. Wearing heavy armor, his steps were heavy and firm.

Mi Fang also quickly dismounted and stepped forward to salute: "I, the humble officer Mi Fang of Fengjie, pay my respects to the Grand Marshal!"

"No need to be so polite. I really didn't expect things to end up like this."

Black Bear stepped forward to help him, pointing his arm towards the carriage: "Let's talk inside the car."

"Yes."

Mi Fang readily agreed and followed Black Bear into the carriage. After they sat down, Black Bear raised his hand and took off his mask. He also handed Mi Fang a stack of letters that he had prepared: "This is the family letter they asked me to bring. I'll trouble you, General, to forward it for me."

Mi Fang was still observing the layout inside the carriage, feeling itchy in his heart and also wanting to get himself such a big carriage.

He immediately thought of the advantages of this kind of car. It would be very convenient to play in the car when going out for a trip.

Mi Fang took the letters and saw that two were for himself, and the others were for his sister, brother and Liu Bei. The two sisters even wrote to Mrs. Gan.

At present, Liu Bei did not re-establish a new principal wife, and Madam Gan and Madam Mi were listed as concubines.

Life was stable this year. After a winter of hard work, Madam Gan, Madam Mi and a concubine all became pregnant.

But Mi Fang was not worried about this. There was still a lot of time in the future, and with two nieces to take care of her, her sister's position would only become more and more stable.

Besides, the situation is clear now, and my sister doesn’t want to be bullied, so it’s not bad for her to go to Guanzhong with me.

The ban on business in Guanzhong shows that business is easy to do and can be big.

Mi Fang read the two letters from home anxiously. After finishing, she smiled foolishly and looked at the beautiful golden words on them again and again: "Good, their mother misses them very much, and now she will be happy to see the letters from home."

After carefully putting away the family letter, Mi Fang said, "Grand Marshal, as far as I know, there are traitors in Youzhou who want to assassinate us during the meeting. Lord Xuande has noticed it, but he can't bear to punish them severely. That's why he went west through Juyongkou to Daidi. He wants to gather Yunchang and Yide to check and balance them and give them advice."

Seeing that Black Bear was calm, Mi Fang laughed to himself: "Ji County is the capital of a state, and I cannot control it arbitrarily. I also ask the Grand Marshal to dispatch elite cavalry into the city to help me control the garrison."

"I have some guesses too. Let's go into the city without further delay."

Black Bear thought about it and smiled: "Perhaps Lord Xuande sent an envoy to me, but he might have been killed by the traitorous ministers. Ji County is the foundation of his career. With me here, there will be no accidents."

Mi Fang then said: "We must be elite and vigilant."

"How is Taishi Wengong?"

"Then this is naturally the best!"

Mi Fang immediately opened her mouth and smiled, and all her worries disappeared immediately.

He didn't dare stay in the city to welcome the black bear, for he was really afraid that he would be hacked to death by his colleagues on the city wall.

Ji County is very large, and the Zhenbei General's Mansion is relatively strong, with more elite veteran soldiers guarding it. The rebels have no reason to attack the Zhenbei General's Mansion in the city.

As long as they could quickly seize the city gates and control the military camps, the wealthy and powerful people in the city would be like fish on the chopping board.

As long as Taishi Wengong appeared, Mi Fang was also very curious whether the people of Youzhou would dare to take the initiative to attack.

(End of this chapter)