Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 12 Serving Young Master Yuan

Frankly speaking, if Yuan Yao simply wanted a coup, he now basically has the necessary conditions.

Compared to Yuan Shu, he hardly needed to do anything; he only needed to be a normal person to become a recognized wise ruler.

Moreover, Yuan Yao is a master of pretense, and he often steps forward to put on a show, giving motivational speeches that have no practical use, urging everyone to persevere and overcome the difficulties together.

In this way, a considerable portion of the people's dissatisfaction with Yuan Shu was transformed into expectations for Yuan Yao, and in less than half a month, Yuan Yao's prestige rose sharply.

Several ministers have already hinted to Yuan Yao that they hope he can lead everyone, as the prospective crown prince, to risk their lives to persuade Yuan Shu to repent and reform.

Clearly, this behavior constitutes a full-blown coup attempt, and is only one step away from a coup.

Yuan Yao only needs to agree on the surface, and then deliberately cause some mistakes in the actual operation to carry out a de facto coup. Even if others want to jump ship, it will be too late.

But Yuan Yao refused.

A secondary reason is that he feels his foundation is still insufficient, and many people are just reacting to the pressure, not genuinely supporting him.

The real reason, however, was that after this period of procrastination, the sword of Damocles hanging over Zhong's head had finally fallen.

According to intelligence from Xuchang, Cao Cao has officially ordered an army of 50,000 to attack Huainan.

Given that Cao Cao was certain to attack, this was actually good news for the Zhong family.

Because Cao Cao had no respect for Yuan Shu, he launched a two-front war, personally leading the main force to quell Sui Gu in Hanoi Commandery, while sending only a detachment to Huainan.

The Zhong family, possessing the two prefectures of Lujiang and Jiujiang, and having recruited and pacified many bandit soldiers, could potentially muster 30,000 to 40,000 men under extreme circumstances. Coupled with the advantage of fighting on home ground, they had every chance of winning this battle.

The Zhong family's ministers were all overjoyed, never expecting that being weak had its advantages. They thought they should have been even weaker.

When they learned who the commander of Cao Cao's detachment was, their smiles vanished.

Because this person is also familiar to everyone; they are old acquaintances who have dealt with each other for many years (in physics).

Liu Bei, the Left General of the Han Dynasty, Marquis of Yicheng, Governor of Yuzhou, and Imperial Uncle.

The question is, if the Zhong family couldn't defeat Cao Cao, could they possibly defeat Liu Bei?

Not to mention that Liu Bei also had two ferocious, self-propelled killing machines under his command: the Guan Yu and Zhang Fei duo!

As a result, defeatist sentiments immediately filled Wancheng. Even Yuan Shu, who was the most outspoken, could do nothing more than curse "those who weave mats and sell shoes, those who slaughter pigs and sell wine."

At this critical moment, only Yuan Yaoliang saw his opportunity.

It is well known that war is the fastest way for a person to stand out.

If Yuan Yao could achieve extraordinary feats during Liu Bei's life-or-death crisis, he would naturally rise rapidly and establish his personal prestige.

What's even better is that Yuan Yao knows how to deal with Liu Bei. He is very confident that he can resolve this war, and if he's lucky, he can even get Liu Bei to his side.

Soon, in May of the fourth year of Jian'an, the Huainan War between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao officially broke out.

Liu Bei's army marched at an extremely fast pace. After a brief rest in Xuzhou, they headed straight for the Huai River and began to fight against Yuan Shu's army.

At this time, the person in charge of defending Shouchun was Chen Ji, the governor of Jiujiang appointed by Yuan Shu. This man naturally knew that he was no match for Liu Bei, but he was placed in this position and had no choice but to go out and fight.

Then they suffered a crushing defeat at the Huai River defense line. Yuan Shu's army abandoned their armor and fled for more than ninety miles before retreating to Shouchun City.

Chen Ji was terrified and immediately sought help from Yuan Shu, stating that Shouchun City could not hold out for more than ten days.

When the news reached Wancheng, faced with this precarious situation, no one had the confidence to say they could defeat Liu Bei and rescue Shouchun at the emergency court meeting.

After much discussion, they eventually put the battle of Shouchun aside and started talking about the old topic again: whether or not to go to Hebei to join Yuan Shao!

Seeing this, Yuan Yao knew it was time for him to make his appearance.

"Gentlemen, I have something to say."

Yuan Yao volunteered to lead the troops to relieve the crisis in Shouchun.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look.

Many people wanted to ask Yuan Yao, trying to find out how he planned to defeat Liu Bei.

But neither of them dared to speak, fearing that Yuan Yao would reply, "Why don't you do it?"

Yuan Shu hesitated for a long time. At this moment, perhaps it was the father-son relationship between the two that made him hesitant, and he was somewhat unwilling to let Yuan Yao go into danger personally.

However, this hesitation only lasted for three seconds.

Yuan Shu officially ordered Yuan Yao to lead 5,000 elite troops to immediately set off to support Shouchun, which was besieged by Liu Bei.

That afternoon, Yuan Yao, along with Cao Xing and the trembling Huang Yi, embarked on the road to Shouchun.

Seeing that the troops were indeed heading north and getting further and further away from Wancheng, Huang Yi suddenly realized something and asked Yuan Yao with a surprised expression, "Your Highness, are you really going to fight Liu Bei?"

Yuan Yao asked, somewhat puzzled, "What else could it be?"

Huang Yi lowered his head and said, "I thought that after you took command of the troops you would..."

It was obvious that Huang Yi felt that Yuan Yao was not genuinely supporting Shouchun, but more likely wanted to trick Yuan Shu into handing over military power so that he could then cause trouble.

It has to be said, he guessed right.

If it weren't Liu Bei who was attacking Huainan this time, this would be Yuan Yao's backup plan.

But now that Liu Bei has actually come, things have changed, and there's no need to take this route again.

Incidentally, Yuan Yao was somewhat curious about how Huang Yi could guess his thoughts.

Yuan Yao narrowed his eyes: "Brother-in-law, it seems like you have some issues with me now?"

"Yes, I do have an opinion, but I don't agree with my opinion!" Huang Yi quickly replied.

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During the march, Cao Xing, as Yuan Yao's deputy and the most senior veteran in the entire army, accompanied Yuan Yao to inspect the condition of the five thousand Zhong clan soldiers.

"The overall situation is very bad," Cao Xing bluntly stated. "We have numbers, but we're only slightly better off than bandits and refugees."

Yuan Yao was prepared for this: "It's okay, it's good enough to have an empty shell."

Just a few months ago, Yuan Shu's army almost collapsed due to food shortages. At that time, their average combat strength was equivalent to that of an average disabled person. It is quite optimistic that they have recovered to this state.

Cao Xing, however, still looked constipated. He used to follow Lü Bu and had seen elite troops like the Trapped Camp, which were among the best in the world. Now, seeing Yuan Shu's army so weak, he was indeed finding it hard to adapt.

A moment later, a force of three hundred men caught his eye. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was the Imperial Guard that Yuan Yao trained every day.

Cao Xing immediately clicked his tongue in amazement.

He had seen Yuan Yao train his troops before, but... how should I put it, his assessment was: "It is the young lord's prerogative to punish his soldiers."

He didn't practice weapons drills or physical training much each day, but he was particularly fond of formations and marching drills, especially the standing at attention drills that Cao Xing considered to be of little use.

Unexpectedly, upon closer inspection today, these three hundred men, though not as formidable as the Lü family army he had brought, were far more disciplined than other miscellaneous troops, even displaying a degree of discipline and obedience.

Cao Xing was greatly surprised: "Young Master, how did you do that? Are those drill training exercises really that effective?"

Unexpectedly, Yuan Yao said, "No, I must admit that I did not respect the objective reality of the late Han Dynasty. These methods of training troops were inefficient and not very effective."

Cao Xing: "Then how could they...?"

Yuan Yao: "Oh, you're asking about that? It's simple."

Yuan Yao led Cao Xing to approach the three hundred imperial guards.

When Qu Chang, who was leading the team, saw Yuan Yao coming over, he immediately tensed up and shouted loudly to the soldiers.

Qu Chang demanded, "Whose food are we eating?"

The soldiers shouted in response, "We'll eat Young Master Yuan's food!"

The band leader demanded again, "Whose clothes are we wearing?"

The soldiers shouted in response, "Wear Young Master Yuan's clothes!"

The band leader concluded by asking, "For whom do we serve?"

The soldiers answered in unison, with resolute determination: "We will serve Young Master Yuan!"