Guo Xiu nodded appreciatively.
The old King of Hedong died suddenly, but fortunately he left behind a wise leader. Although Yuan Jing was young, he was mature and a very capable person.
A gentleman will die for his confidant, and all he seeks is a wise ruler.
In time, Your Highness will be able to settle the Hedong Kingdom.
Guo Xiudao said, "The Fan family of Yiyang is stationed in Hongnong County, and the counties on both sides, Huayin County, are guarded by the Huayin Dou family, and Lu County is guarded by the Qichuan Gong family."
It is not difficult to guess that the Fan family of Yi Yang and the Gong family of Qichuan even abandoned their clan land and migrated here in order to guard the granary.
Yuan Jing had heard a little about these aristocratic families.
He said, "Mr. Guo, what's the situation in the county town?"
Guo Xiu bowed and said, "Your Highness, everything is normal in the county. The three great families should have reached an agreement long ago, 'one person, one city', to reduce conflicts. The people living in Hongnong County are all the descendants of the Fan family and the people under their jurisdiction."
The situation is probably the same in the other two cities.
"However... scouts have discovered that Gong went to Huayin County. They must be discussing our arrival with Dou," Guo Xiu said. "I delayed leaving the city because I wanted to wait for the arrival of Gong and Dou."
Yuan Jing and his sister remained silent, waiting for what would happen next.
"The three great families must have suffered heavy casualties. Of the Fan family, several appeared, but only two of their sons were from the direct lineage. They are still young and unable to take on responsibilities. As for the people sent by the Gong and Dou families, I have not heard of them..."
The implication is that they are of low birth and have never heard of the name, so it is not ruled out that the two families deliberately confuse them.
"On the day I received the letter, Fan offered to give me 100,000 dan of grain. Since my lord was away, I didn't dare to accept the offer and hurried out of the city."
Guo Xiu said with a hint of deep meaning, "But I speculate that the three great families' move is probably an attempt to attack Wei and save Zhao."
Yuan Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze stern, "What do you mean, sir?"
Guo Xiu replied calmly, "They are stubbornly defending the granary and refusing to go to Kyoto to rescue it. Kyoto's fall is a foregone conclusion."
"Prince Cheng'an and I have both dispatched troops to Sizhou under the pretext of 'coming to the capital to rescue the emperor.' They will surely take advantage of the situation and use food to force us into entering the capital..."
Guo Xiu hadn't finished speaking yet.
Yuan Jing understood immediately, "So there are only 100,000 dan of grain, no more, no less. If we think it's not enough, we will either have a falling out with the uncle over the grain, or we will be punished by him and have to go to Kyoto for the grain."
It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Yuan Jin didn't understand what his brother and Mr. Guo were talking about.
Guo Xiu smiled and explained to her, "The 100,000 dan of grain is the bait."
You said you were short of food to go to Beijing to rescue the emperor. Look, I’ve given you the food, why don’t you go?
What! Not enough?
One hundred thousand shi of grain is enough to feed the army for the entire winter. We'll talk about it after you come back to rescue me.
How to divide the food between the two armies is a big problem. The Cheng'an army has more soldiers and may not agree to share it equally.
If you say the food is too little, it is enough to feed the army. If you say it is too much, it is not enough to feed all the survivors in the fiefdom.
They were certain that they could not break camp and return in winter. If they went to war, others would provide them with food, and their morale was affected by these 100,000 dan of food.
"If we accidentally fall into their trap, we will be forced to go to Kyoto. Once we withdraw our troops, they will have enough time to move their granaries."
It was difficult to transfer the millions of dan of grain, so all the original three major families had to migrate to the nearby county to settle down.
But now, they have the final say on how much food is left in the granary.
Unfortunately, he overestimated himself and underestimated the young King of Hedong and his counselor Guo Xiu, as well as the two counselors of King Cheng'an.
Yuan Jin understood now and snorted, "It's a pity they used the wrong strategy. We decided from the beginning not to go to Kyoto."
If the two feudal lords were truly curious about the situation in Kyoto, they would naturally take the opportunity to make the trip after obtaining food and supplies.
There was an information asymmetry between the two sides. After the King of Hedong died, the nobles had no idea about the brother and sister.
People all over the world pay attention to the theory of multi-factor victory with "Tao" as the primary factor.
It is okay to lose a war, but one must follow the "etiquette of a gentleman", just like two countries at war do not kill envoys.
Yuan Jin: "I'm not a gentleman. Just accept the 100,000 dan of grain first. We won't leave and will continue to ask for more grain."
Yuan Jing nodded. His sister's words were blunt but true. "You can't go to Kyoto."
He picked up his pen to write a letter, called his personal guards, and ordered them to send the letter to King Cheng'an across the street.
After reading it, King Cheng'an had exactly the same idea.
The two young men from Hedong State were so sensible that King Cheng'an was very satisfied.
Yuan Jing even stated in the letter that Cheng'an had many soldiers and the 100,000 dan of grain should be divided into 40% and 60%.
The two counselors also strongly agreed.
When they set out, they left almost all the food in their fiefdom and carried very little food and fodder. It would be better for them to pretend to agree and get the 100,000 dan of food.
The world is in such a state now, why bother about gentleman's agreements? Many people in all dynasties have gone back on their words. As long as they can get food back, it doesn't matter if they act like a villain.
The result is.
After receiving the food, both armies continued to stay outside the city, using the excuse that "monsters have grown stronger in winter and it is impossible to go to the capital at this time."
This reason is completely valid.
Although Hongnong County had been cleared out before, scattered monsters have appeared nearby in the past few days.
Those monsters ran extremely fast, and the wind and snow blocked their vision. The patrolling soldiers could not see that far, and often the monsters were not discovered until they were very close.
The army had to increase patrols.
Huayin County.
"How can this be! Two great princes are actually acting like scoundrels!"
The Dou clan members slammed the table and stood up, shouting angrily, "If one hundred thousand dan isn't enough, how much more do they want? I said we'd fight, so how could we just give them food for nothing? Now they're using our food to support their army. If a fight really breaks out, they'll still have enough food and fodder to sustain them, and it's all our food!"
The Dou family is sarcastic.
"I thought it was a good plan, but it turned out to be a waste of food. As expected, without the direct lineage, there will always be no one to carry on the family line."
The Gong clan member sitting on the right stood up and shouted angrily, "What do you mean? How dare you look down on our Gong family?"
The Dou family's leaders sneered, "Look down on me? Oh, Brother Zifan, what are you talking about? As long as the legitimate descendants are at home, how dare we look down on the Qichuan Gong family?"
Gong Zong had a gloomy face and sat at the bottom without saying a word.
Aristocratic families value face the most. He underestimated the shamelessness of King Hedong and King Cheng'an, and his open conspiracy was useless and was even directly ignored.
As for the Dou family, some people play the good guy and some people play the bad guy.
Several older people stood up to smooth things over.
"Okay, what's the point of arguing now? Now let's think about how to resolve this matter. I think we should send people into Hongnong County."
Because of the distance between us, the message transmission is too slow.
Anyway, the messenger has already encountered the envoy of Hedong State, so it would be better to enter Hongnong County openly. The three major families will sit together and think of a foolproof plan to deal with it.
Gong Zong immediately stood up and recommended himself, "I'll go."
He wanted to see how powerful those kings were.
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