Chapter 289: Liu Xiao's combination has the potential to swallow up the world! If we don't start a full-scale war, we will die without a burial place!
At night, inside the inner hall.

Medical officers were coming in and out, treating Yuan Shao, who had fainted from anger.

Ju Su, Guo Tu, Feng Ji and other counselors were waiting outside with frowns on their faces, looking anxious.

"How could this happen? The eldest master had 70,000 soldiers under his command. How could he be defeated so miserably and even captured by the big-eared thief?"

"What does Xu You do for a living? How could he let the eldest son fail to such an extent?"

Guo Tu paced in the hall, muttering to himself, and was so anxious that he could not sit still and was in a state of panic.

There was no way out; he had no choice but to lose his composure.

This group of Ruying advisers were staunch supporters of Yuan Tan, and they were just waiting to help Yuan Tan succeed the Yuan family's foundation in the future so that the Ruying faction could hold sole power.

Now, Yuan Tan has been captured alive by Liu Bei!
The object they wanted to support collapsed overnight. Their Ruying faction is now leaderless, which is equivalent to losing its backbone!
Even if Yuan Tan could escape and come back alive, what would that matter?

How could a son who lost 70,000 troops, lost Xuzhou, became a prisoner of Liu Bei, and brought shame to Yuan Shao be qualified to compete with Yuan Shang for the throne?

In this case, isn't Yuan Shang's position as crown prince a foregone conclusion?

When Yuan Shao dies in the future, Yuan Shang will inherit the Yuan family's foundation. Wouldn't he have to settle accounts with these Ruying scholars?

The future is worrying...

Compared to Guo Tu's anxiety, Ju Su was much calmer, and his focus was entirely on the battle report in his hand.

After examining it for a long time, Ju Su finally sorted out the whole process of the Battle of Xuzhou clearly.

"This Xiao Jinglue is truly a master of strategy. People say he is the reincarnation of the Saint of Strategy. His reputation is well-deserved."

"And this Chen Deng, at such a critical moment, dared to lead his entire clan to join Liu Bei!"

"This Liu Bei really has extraordinary luck."

"It seems that the eldest son is indeed no match for him. Only the lord can personally lead the army to compete with him!"

Ju Su stroked his thin beard and sighed with emotion.

To Guo Tu at this moment, these words of emotion were extremely harsh, and his sensitive nerves were immediately pricked.

"Ju Gongyu, what do you mean by this?"

"The eldest son was captured by that big-eared thief, and you are here praising that big-eared thief?"

"Could it be that you are still gloating over his misfortune and secretly thanking that big-eared thief?"

Guo Tu glared at Ju Su and started to make sarcastic remarks.

Ju Su's face darkened, and he turned back and glared at Guo Tu:

"I am a minister of the Yuan family. How could I possibly gloat over the capture of the eldest son?"

"I am only speaking the truth, Guo Tu, please stop making wild guesses and slandering me!"

Guo Tu was so angry that he had no place to vent it. When he saw Ju Shou taking up the thread, he immediately became excited. He swallowed his saliva and wanted to have a verbal attack on Ju Shou.

"Xiansi, Xiansi——"

Before Guo Tu could finish his words, he heard Yuan Shao's voice coming from the inner hall.

Yuan Shao woke up!

The two looked at each other, and immediately stopped bickering and rushed into the inner room.

On the couch, Yuan Shao had already woken up, and despite the doctor's dissuasion, he shouted and tried to get up.

Ju Su and others hurried forward and supported Yuan Shao, and they all advised Yuan Shao not to move rashly and to take care of his health.

"Gong Yu, tell me that the military intelligence is wrong and Xiansi was not captured by Liu Bei?"

Yuan Shao grabbed Guo Tu's hand and asked excitedly.

Guo Tu had a bitter face and was hesitant to speak, for fear of shattering Yuan Shao's last glimmer of fantasy.

"My lord, the intelligence is correct. The eldest son was indeed captured by Liu Bei!"

"Not only that, Xuzhou has also been lost, and the tens of thousands of troops that the lord gave to the eldest son were almost completely wiped out!"

"Xu You, Jiang Qi and the rest of the Qingxu Army all died in Xuzhou!"

Feng Ji, who was from Yuan Shang's faction, rushed to speak and shattered Yuan Shao's fantasy.

Guo Tu gritted his teeth secretly, turned around and glared at Feng Ji.

Feng Ji pretended not to see it.

Yuan Shao's body swayed, and his spirit was stimulated again, and the qi and blood in his internal organs surged again.

"Gong Yu, is it really so?"

Yuan Shao suppressed his surging blood and looked at Ju Su with the last bit of regret.

Ju Su did not dare to hide it, and could only sigh helplessly:
"The eldest son fell into Liu Bei's trap and indeed lost Xuzhou, and was captured by Liu Bei north of Pengcheng."

Yuan Shao felt a tightness in his chest, his eyes widened, and his blood rushed to his throat with anger.

Ju Su hurried forward to support him, and said in a hurry:
"Now that things have come to this, my lord, you must not get angry again. You will get yourself in trouble if you get anxious!"

Guo Tu rolled his eyes and hurriedly comforted him:
"My lord, you have millions of soldiers. The loss of a few tens of thousands of soldiers is nothing. We can always take Xuzhou back if we lose it."

"As for the eldest son, although he was captured by Liu Bei, I think that the big-eared thief would not dare to harm the eldest son out of concern for the power of the lord. The eldest son's life is definitely safe."

After the two of them comforted him, Yuan Shao's turbulent blood and anger were finally suppressed.

After taking a few deep breaths, he finally regained some composure, and anger immediately ignited in his eyes.

"You all say he looks like me, but how does he look like me?"

"This useless bastard, losing to Liu Bei is fine, losing Xuzhou is fine, but he actually became Liu Bei's prisoner?"

"He has completely disgraced me!"

Yuan Shao suppressed his anger and immediately slammed the table and started cursing Yuan Tan.

Ju Su remained silent. Although he was also a member of Yuan Shang's faction, he did not add insult to injury to Yuan Tan. Feng Ji, however, was secretly delighted and took the opportunity to exaggerate the situation, hinting that Yuan Tan was frivolous and arrogant, mediocre in military strategy, and unworthy of the task, which was why he was defeated by Liu Bei.

The more Yuan Shao listened, the more disappointed he looked.

"My Lord, the defeat in Xuzhou cannot be blamed entirely on the eldest son."

"Xu Ziyuan is known as the best strategist in our army. The eldest master naturally trusts him very much and follows his orders."

"Who would have thought that his several suggestions were all seen through by Xiao Fang, which led to the loss of Xuzhou, the capture of the eldest son, and his own death."

"The responsibility for the loss of Xuzhou can only be blamed on Xu You."

Guo Tu had to stand up to defend Yuan Tan and could only put all the blame on Xu You.

The annoyance in Yuan Shao's eyes turned into confusion, so he asked:
"What tricks did that country bumpkin use to make Xu You miscalculate so many times?"

Several people's eyes were focused on Ju Su.

Only Ju Shou had read the report from Xuzhou in detail and was familiar with the course of the war.

Ju Su then presented the information in the silk book and told the whole story of the battle of Xia Pi.

Yuan Shao looked at the silk book and listened to Ju Su's description. His eyes gradually widened and an expression of disbelief flashed across his face.

"This thief is so cunning and cunning. Even Xu You is so smart, but he treats him like a three-year-old child?"

"This country bumpkin, he, he..."

Yuan Shao raised his head and looked at Ju Su with shock and anger.

Ju Su sighed softly, but said solemnly:

"Now it seems that Xiao Fang is indeed a rare genius, worthy of the title of strategist."

"Although Liu Bei was born into a family of weavers and shoe sellers, and Xiao Fang was also a country bumpkin, when these two joined forces, they had the potential to swallow up the world."

"My Lord, from today on, we can no longer look down on them."

Ju Su's words seemed to ring an alarm bell in Yuan Shao's ears, making him shudder and suddenly wake up.

Feng Ji rolled his eyes, but said disapprovingly:

"Lord Ju and Wei Yan were shocked to hear that Xia Pi was lost because of Xiao Fang's cunning schemes, but the key was Chen Deng's defection!"

"Ji believes that the lord should immediately mobilize all the troops in the country and launch a full-scale attack on Nanyang, Huainan, and Xuzhou!"

"In this way, we can use our overwhelming military strength to force Liu Bei to release the eldest son and force him to give up all the prefectures in the Central Plains, including Xuzhou, that he had stolen!"

Feng Ji advocates war.

As soon as he took the lead, generals such as Yan Liang in the hall angrily requested to fight, clamoring for an all-out war against Liu Bei.

Yuan Shao suddenly sat up straight, clenched his fists, and a fighting spirit gradually burned in his eyes.

Guo Tu was surprised and glared at Feng Ji anxiously, seeing through his selfish intentions at a glance.

Yuan Shao's all-out war against Liu Bei was tantamount to forcing Liu Bei to death. Wasn't this forcing him to kill Yuan Tan in revenge?
Feng Ji's instigation was ostensibly to rescue Yuan Tan, but in reality he wanted to use Liu Bei to get rid of Yuan Tan and eliminate the threat of succession disputes for Yuan Shang forever.

"Lord, you must not do this."

"Let's not talk about the fact that we have just defeated Cao Cao, the soldiers have not yet finished their rest, and the newly acquired Yanyu counties have not yet been pacified. It is not appropriate to fight again at this time."

"If Liu Bei is cornered and kills the eldest son to vent his anger, then this action of yours will not only fail to rescue the eldest son, but will harm him instead?"

Yuan Shao's heart trembled, and the fighting spirit that had just been ignited during the battle was immediately extinguished by three points.

After all, Yuan Tan is his son, and he is still a kind father.

When he decided to march south to attack Cao Cao, he was worried about his youngest son's illness, so he delayed for a whole month and only sent troops south after his youngest son Yuan Mai recovered.

If he loves his youngest son, how much more should he love his eldest son?

He loved his third son, Yuan Shang, the most, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his eldest son, Yuan Tan.

No matter how much he cursed and how disappointed he was, he really couldn't care less about Yuan Tan's life or death.

When Feng Ji saw Yuan Shao hesitating, he secretly signaled to Ju Su.

After hesitating for a moment, Ju Su coughed a few times, and bowed his hands, saying:

"If we consider your love for your son, a full-scale attack on Liu Bei now may indeed anger Liu Bei and force him to kill the eldest son."

"But if we consider the overall situation, I think we must not allow Liu Bei to pacify Xuzhou and gain a firm foothold in the Central Plains. We should immediately mobilize all our troops to attack him and at least force him to retreat south of the Huai River!"

"Although we have not yet pacified Yanyu, Liu Bei has just taken Xuzhou. He has also not yet pacified the people's hearts, and his soldiers are also exhausted."

"My Lord, whether to fight or not, both for public and private reasons, please make a careful decision."

Ju Su did not express his attitude directly, but his words, both in public and in private, were naturally a reminder to Yuan Shao that it would be best to put the overall interests of the Yuan family first.

Feng Ji secretly glared at Ju Su, feeling unhappy with his beating around the bush, and directly advised Yuan Shao to go to war against Liu Bei. Wouldn't it be better to kill Yuan Tan with a borrowed knife?

Yuan Shao stood up and paced in the hall, feeling indecisive.

After hesitating for a long time, Yuan Shao let out a light breath, his eyes full of determination.

"I control the two rivers and have millions of soldiers. It is never too late to defeat Liu Bei. There is no need to rush."

"Pass the order down, order Zhang He and other troops to withdraw immediately and stop all attacks on Liu Bei."

"Immediately order Xun Chen to go to Xuzhou and ask Liu Bei to return Xiansi!"

After this series of orders were passed down, Guo Tu breathed a sigh of relief and was secretly delighted in his heart.

Feng Ji was greatly disappointed and gritted his teeth secretly.

Ju Su sighed, looked towards Xuzhou, and secretly sighed in his heart:
"If we miss this opportunity, it's still unknown who will win the world in the future."

"My Lord, my Lord, if you make such a decision today, I'm afraid that in the future, all of us will die without a burial place..."

(End of this chapter)