Holding the letter, Yuan Xi paced back and forth in the room. He now very much wanted to meet with Guo Jia and Ju Shou, because Liu Xie's appointment was filled with extremely complex thoughts, which didn't seem like something someone his age could come up with.
Yuan Xi thought to himself that Liu Xie had finally grown up after experiencing so many things, and had begun to try to jump out of the chessboard, from a chess piece to a chess player. Although there must be others offering advice, it already showed that he was quite scheming.
Overall, this appointment was a mixed bag for Yuan Xi, possibly more beneficial than harmful, but it placed Yuan Xi in a very awkward position.
As for Lu Bu's appointment, Yuan Xi saw it as extremely dangerous. It could be said that a slight carelessness would lead to big problems.
As for Cao Cao's appointment, it made Yuan Xi smell a hint of bad omen.
He could see that in this three-way contest of strength, Cao Cao overwhelmed his and Lu Bu's combined efforts, and got the biggest piece of the pie.
Although this was within Yuan Xi's expectations, he still felt a sense of frustration, realizing that the power Cao Cao had planted around Liu Xie had become a force to be reckoned with, and could not be shaken by him in a short period of time.
However, the only two things that Yuan Xi was satisfied with in this matter were Zhao Yun's appointment, which was almost better than he had previously expected.
But this result was also beyond most people's expectations.
The imperial edict clearly stated that Zhao Yun had killed Li Jue, Li Xie, and Hu Feng in battle, and thus made the greatest contribution.
Zhao Yun was appointed General Who Conquers the North, Marquis of Guangyang, with a fief of one thousand households, and concurrently serving as the Governor of You Province!
The General Who Conquers the North and the Governor of You Province were originally the official positions of Li Le of the White Wave Army, but he inexplicably left the emperor's convoy and returned his seal of office at the same time.
So Li Le's official position was replaced by Zhao Yun. Honestly, this appointment was a bit low for Zhao Yun's achievements, after all, Li Le only helped a little at the beginning.
Therefore, on the basis of the official appointment, Liu Xie added the title of marquis. The Marquis of Guangyang was a rural marquis, and had a fief!
This meant that Zhao Yun had entered the ranks of the upper-class gentry, and not a low one at that. After all, the highest rank of marquis was a noble marquis, which was divided into county, township, and pavilion levels. Zhao Yun became a rural marquis all at once!
The highest-ranking county marquis were extremely rare, with only Lu Bu's Marquis of Wen and Gongsun Zan's Marquis of Ji being among the few in the world.
The title that Yuan Xi inherited from Yuan Ji was only the lowest pavilion marquis among the noble marquises, and he had not received a formal appointment from the imperial court.
This highlighted the brilliance of this appointment. Zhao Yun, as Yuan Xi's subordinate general, actually had a higher marquisate than Yuan Xi, who was the lord!
Ordinary lords would find it difficult to deal with this situation, and would definitely be suspicious and wary of their subordinates. At this time, the best choice would be to drive the subordinates away and let them establish their own households, or simply to put the subordinates on the shelf.
In this way, the subordinates would have a huge psychological gap, and would almost certainly feel dissatisfied. The two sides would become estranged and turn against each other sooner or later.
Not to mention that Zhao Yun was also granted the title of Governor of You Province. This decree was simply a direct hint that Yuan Xi's title of Governor of You Province was not justified, and the fiefdom of Guangyang was located west of Ji City, and the fief would naturally be in Guangyang. This was not even digging a corner in person, but a blatant provocation!
This reward directly forced Zhao Yun to stand on the opposite side of the Yuan clan of Ji Province. It should be known that although Yuan Xi controlled You Province, behind him was Yuan Shao. Even if Yuan Xi didn't care, Yuan Shao would not be able to sit still.
Ju Shou said in the letter that Zhao Yun had not received the edict after seeing the appointment, and Ju Shou couldn't make up his mind, so he sent a letter to Yuan Xi.
Although this appointment seemed a bit childish, it must be said that Liu Xie had placed an extremely difficult choice in front of Yuan Xi.
Yuan Xi wanted to laugh out loud.
He thought Liu Xie was too cute. Yuan Xi had spent so much effort to let Zhao Yun lead the army to rescue him, just for this day!
In Liu Xie's view, Zhao Yun was more promising than Lu Bu because he was loyal and righteous, and had high martial arts skills. Therefore, Liu Xie did not hesitate to use this divisive tactic to turn Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun against each other, wanting Zhao Yun to be suspected and defect to the Han court.
However, this was exactly what Yuan Xi wanted. The current situation was exactly what he hoped for.
He could use this appointment to negotiate terms with Yuan Shao!
Yuan Xi guessed that Cao Cao might have manipulated this appointment, but he shouldn't know Yuan Xi's true purpose, so it could be said that he had helped Yuan Xi a lot.
As for Dong Zhao, he must have guessed something, and might have also contributed to it. As for what purpose, it's hard to say.
Yuan Xi immediately wrote an urgent document, ordering Zhao Yun to accept the appointment immediately.
The second result that satisfied him was that Liu Xie personally posthumously conferred a posthumous title on Qu Yi and granted him the title of marquis.
Although if Qu Yi was alive, he might have sneered at these empty titles, but now, for Yuan Xi, these were the only things he could do for Qu Yi.
The emperor's name was still very useful. With this title, Yuan Xi could hold a grand funeral for Qu Yi after returning to Beixin City.
Qu Yi was a person who liked excitement, he shouldn't blame himself for being meddlesome, right?
In this regard, Yuan Xi was still very grateful to Liu Xie. No matter what, Liu Xie was very generous to those who had been kind to him. It was a pity that he encountered a chaotic world, otherwise he would have become a good ruler, right?
However, in comparison, Liu Xie's reward to Yuan Xi was a malicious test.
Yuan Xi was very sure that this was the result of Cao Cao and his forces secretly operating.
Yuan Xi, the Governor of You Province, was rewarded for sending people to rescue him, and was appointed General Who Pacifies the East, inherited the title of Marquis of Anguo Pavilion, and concurrently served as the Governor of Xu Province.
When Yuan Xi saw this appointment just now, he was shocked. This was putting himself on the fire to be roasted!
Originally, he had spent a lot of effort in Xu Province to achieve a balance between himself, Liu Bei, and Yuan Tan. As soon as this appointment came out, what would the other two parties think?
I'm afraid Xu Province will fall into chaos again!
Yuan Xi hesitated. Xu Province was a hot potato, and he couldn't control it with his own strength at the moment. This appointment was made with this in mind, making him dilemma!
Accept or not?
Yuan Xi thought about it, but after a long time, he really couldn't make a decision.
The fat meat of Xu Province was too tempting, so that whoever got the title would immediately become greedy.
He knew that this piece of fat meat might choke him to death, but the temptation was so great that Yuan Xi subconsciously kept urging him to accept!
No!
He slapped his face fiercely, and woke up slightly.
Accepting the appointment directly would kill him. If he really wanted to get this title, he would have to do something!
Yuan Xi wanted to transfer Guo Jia over to discuss, but at this time he was still guarding the Black Mountain, so he suppressed the anxiety in his heart, copied Ju Shou's letter, and ordered someone to send it to Guo Jia immediately, and asked him how to deal with it.
Yuan Xi thought to himself that he didn't want to meet Liu Xie, but now it seemed that he had to have a good talk with Liu Xie.
If Guo Jia couldn't reply in time, Yuan Xi could only ask Ju Shou, but Ju Shou was good at military formations and political strategies, and was not as good at human hearts as Guo Jia.
If this edict is not handled properly, there will be big trouble!
Yuan Xi was very anxious, hoping that Guo Jia could reply in time, otherwise, when Liu Xie arrived in Huaicheng, he would not have made up his mind, and it would be easy to be caught off guard.
That's right, Liu Xie is coming to Huaicheng.
He didn't choose Xuchang, but Lu Bu's Huaicheng!
But Yuan Xi couldn't be happy at all.
Because the reward for Cao Cao in this edict was very intriguing.
Cao Cao was appointed Colonel of Sili and recorded Shangshu.
Henan is in Sili, and Huaicheng is the seat of Henan. This shows that Lu Bu's hometown is actually under Cao Cao's jurisdiction!
Although Lu Bu has a detached status, and Huaicheng is controlled by Lu Bu as a temporary new capital, Cao Cao's status allows him to openly station troops in any place in Sili, including any place outside Huaicheng!
What's the point of playing this?
Yuan Xi understood that Liu Xie wanted Cao Cao and Lu Bu to check and balance each other, but this tendency was too obvious, right?
However, if he were Liu Xie, he would probably doubt the ability of Lu Bu, who had rebelled against his subordinates several times, especially when there might still be Yuan Shu's spies in Huaicheng. Liu Xie's appointment was also a wonderful move.
Yuan Shu's intention to claim the title of emperor is now very obvious, and the relationship with Liu Xie can no longer be repaired, and he is completely unable to win over.
Therefore, Liu Xie simply extinguished the idea of reconciliation with Yuan Shu, and planned how to fight against the powerful Yuan Shu.
Lu Bu alone may not be able to stop Yuan Shu's army, but Cao Cao can. Allowing Cao Cao to station troops in the south of Huaicheng is undoubtedly to protect Liu Xie's safety.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but admire Liu Xie. Although he didn't say that he did everything perfectly and comprehensively, he had tried his best to consider all the factors.
But another piece of news revealed in Ju Shou's letter made Yuan Xi's face gloomy again.
Liu Xie wanted to mediate the conflict between Yuan Shao and the Black Mountain Army, and wanted to give the Black Mountain Army a new title.
From Liu Xie's point of view, this idea was very normal, even extremely correct, because the Black Mountain Nan'ai Pass was only a hundred miles north. If the Black Mountain Army could be recruited, it would undoubtedly add a layer of barrier and protection to Huaicheng.
But this was unacceptable to Yuan Xi.
Because he wanted to kill Yang Feng.
Liu Xie's actions were completely contrary to his ideas.
Yuan Xi clenched his fists. Liu Xie wanted to mediate the relationship between the Black Mountain Army and the Yuan clan. In fact, the Yuan clan here did not refer to himself, but to Yuan Shao.
If the price offered by Liu Xie was high enough, Yuan Shao might not agree, but at present, Yuan Shao was likely to be extremely angry, which lies in the reward given to him by the Han court.
The emperor's edict appointed Yuan Shao as Taiwei and appointed him as Marquis of Ye.
Although Taiwei is respected, he is under Lu Bu's General. Yuan Shao was not very magnanimous in the first place, how could he endure that Lu Bu, who was born in poverty and had been his subordinate, would suppress him?
Therefore, in all likelihood, Yuan Shao will refuse to report.
In later generations, Cao Cao took the position of General himself, which led to Yuan Shao's anger and refusal. In this world, Lu Bu was the first to bear the brunt and became the target of Yuan Shao.
Yuan Xi had a headache. Cao Cao pushed Lu Bu in front to block arrows. Why did he feel that the situation was worse than in later generations?
But the most urgent task was to solve the problem of the Black Mountain Army. If the problem of the Black Mountain Pass was not solved, You Province would face threats at all times.
If that's the case, he would rather Yuan Shang destroy the Black Mountain Army. It's better for the Black Mountain to be in the hands of the Yuan clan than in the hands of outsiders.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi sighed. It seemed that meeting Liu Xie was imperative.
And he must remind Lu Bu that this General is not so easy to be.
If virtue does not match the position, there will be a disaster!