The next day arrived.
God was kind to Yuan Xi for a long time, with the weather still sunny in the morning, but he turned against him later.
Lu Lingqi, who was in the sedan chair, was almost drenched by the rain. The top of the sedan chair first became wet, and then began to drip. Sun Li hurriedly directed everyone to lift the sedan chair into the hall first, and then everyone rushed to rescue the dowry boxes that were piled high on the ground.
When Lu Lingqi heard the chaotic noise outside, she began to shake in the sedan chair in frustration. The whole sedan chair was about to fall down, which scared the maids beside her.
Yuan Xi saw this nearby, and he suppressed his laughter and whispered, "Just bear with it for now, it will be fine in a while."
Lu Lingqi said sullenly, "It's so boring."
Yuan Xi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He found that Lu Lingqi didn't have much desire for marriage. Instead, her relationship with him was like that of partners fighting side by side.
But this seems pretty good?
Guests arrived one after another. This time Yuan Xi was not marrying a wife, so the etiquette was a little lower. The visits and gifts from the noble families were not as ostentatious as last time. However, considering that Lu Bu was a general of the Han court, almost all families sent people.
After some trouble, the two finished their wedding ceremony, the guests dispersed, and Yuan Xi led Lu Lingqi into the bridal chamber on the top floor of the small building.
Under Yuan Xi's familiar guidance, the two drank the wedding wine, cut their hair and tied it together, and the ceremony was completed.
Seeing Lu Lingqi lying on the windowsill, gazing into the distance with a gloomy look, Yuan Xi smiled and asked, "Why, are you feeling so wronged?"
Lu Lingqi groaned and said, "It's been a while since I came to Yecheng. Everything has gone wrong."
Yuan Xi laughed and held Lv Lingqi in his arms. The two of them looked at the lights below Yecheng side by side. "There is a long way to go."
"Besides, we will be away from Yecheng for a long time this time, and we won't be coming back. It would be nice to see the night view together tonight."
Lu Lingqi felt that Yuan Xi's hands were beginning to become dishonest, her face flushed, and she said angrily: "I wanted to teach you a lesson tonight, but I let you escape."
Yuan Xi was very happy. Who was teaching whom a lesson?
He said, "We will set out back to Youzhou tomorrow."
"Do you want to go back to Jicheng first, or Beixincheng?"
Lu Lingqi hesitated for a moment, "According to etiquette, I should go see the first wife first, but I haven't adjusted to it yet. How about I go back to Beixin City to pay homage to Master's tomb first?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Okay, let's go together."
Lu Lingqi whispered, "You don't have to be like this. I heard that Madam Zhen is pregnant. Why don't you go back and take a look first?"
Yuan Xi sighed, "It's impossible to say I don't want to, but even if I go back, I can't help much."
"Besides, now that the Black Mountain Passage has been opened, Beixin City's position in Zhuo County has become increasingly important, and the defense must be adjusted accordingly. I'll go over and take a look to make myself feel at ease."
"Let's pay our respects to Dezhou together, and then go back to Jicheng."
Lu Lingqi whispered, "Am I very willful?"
"Actually, I'm not willing to be your concubine."
Yuan Xi sighed, "I know, if we have to divide people into noble and humble, who would be willing to accept that?"
"Before, Cai Zhaoji followed me and never mentioned the matter of status. I know she is also a proud person, so she simply doesn't want any status at all."
Lu Lingqi blinked and said, "Cai Zhonglang's daughter?"
"My husband is really amazing. How did all these women get deceived?"
"You dare to take action against Gongsun Zan's widow. Even I admire your courage."
Yuan Xi was so angry that he thought he couldn't clear himself of the blame for the Marquis's affair. The key point was that he didn't do anything.
But Sun Jian's widow did exist. Thinking that he was stepping on this landmine that could explode at any time, Yuan Xi felt a chill on his back.
Lu Lingqi sighed, "There is no woman in the world who doesn't value status. I'm afraid she just doesn't want to embarrass her husband."
Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "I know, so when I become a duke or a king in the future, I will naturally be able to secure the title of my wife for you."
Lu Lingqi was surprised and asked, "Be crowned king?"
"Since Emperor Gaozu, there haven't been many Han kings with different surnames, right?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "If you dare to think, you can't retreat when you have come to this point in the world."
"Even if I want to retreat, others won't let me go, so I can only move forward."
After hearing this, Lu Lingqi smiled and said, "That sounds very interesting."
Yuan Xi asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid?"
"If we fail, we will all die."
Lu Lingqi sneered: "I have been to the battlefield and witnessed life and death."
"I am the daughter of Marquis Wen!"
She suddenly lowered her voice, "I'm afraid if something serious happens to my father, it will be very dangerous, right?"
"Is this why Father entrusted me to you?"
Yuan Xi was silent. Lu Lingqi was very smart and had already figured it out. It was not easy for Lu Bu to be a general. How many generals in history had a good ending?
He said in a deep voice: "Things may not be that bad. I have prepared a way out. As long as Wen Hou does what he is told, even if something goes wrong, his life should be safe."
Lu Lingqi leaned closer to Yuan Xi's arms, "I'm very curious, did you trick other women into coming here in the same way?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself that all the other women around him had lost their fathers.
He thought for a moment and said, "That's a long story."
"When I was surrounded in Beixin City, Zilong was still my enemy, and the Southern Xiongnu were heading north through the Black Mountain."
The two were talking in low voices, and before they knew it the moon was at its zenith, drawing an arc in the night sky and pulling up the rising sun. With the crowing of cocks a few times, the early morning light once again filled Yecheng and shone into the red windows of the small building.
Yuan Xi opened his eyes and found Lu Lingqi still lying in his arms. The two of them talked until midnight and fell asleep in front of the window without realizing it.
He looked at Lu Lingqi's rosy cheeks, reached out his hand to scratch her straight nose, and smiled.
A new day begins, and a new journey begins.
Although he is always busy, he has become a trend-setter in the world's general trend. No matter what the final result is, he believes that the world will become better and better.
Tian Yu and Gao Shun looked at the mountain road in front of them, where endless camps were set up one after another, and thought that the matter was finally over.
Heishan was divided into two parts, the south and the north, by Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang. The two sides opened up several passages to Bingzhou and built city gates at the dangerous passes as quickly as possible.
In this way, Montenegro became a relatively closed barrier of its own. It was difficult for nomadic peoples outside to enter, but the people inside could attack at any time.
This move caused great psychological pressure on the Southern Xiongnu in Bingzhou. They could no longer rely on cavalry to plunder through Heishan, but they could station cavalry inside Heishan and harass the Southern Xiongnu base camp at any time.
As a result, the Southern Xiongnu will have to consider the consequences of being an enemy of Jizhou, and they will probably send envoys to negotiate in the near future.
This was a strategy that Yuan Xi, Guo Jia and Ju Su had decided on earlier. After conquering Black Mountain, Youzhou mobilized the civilians to build fortifications and level roads inside Black Mountain day and night, with the aim of building Black Mountain into a huge military fortress.
The only flaw was that Yuan Shang shamelessly copied Yuan Xi's approach and built fortifications and camps in the southern part of Heishan, near Weijun, in the same way.
In this case, Yuan Xi would have to think carefully when sending troops south to Huaicheng in Henei in the future. After all, who knows what might happen if the troops pass through Yuan Shang's territory? What if they are blocked inside?
However, in Yuan Shang's view, the same was true for Yuan Xi, and he did not dare to leave Yuan Xi's territory easily. Now the two of them disgusted each other, but neither of them could do anything to the other.
However, this is what Yuan Xi wanted to see. In addition to Bingzhou, Yuan Shang could only go to Sili to look for opportunities. He would inevitably conflict with Cao Cao. Although Yuan Xi suspected that the two were colluding, from the perspective of later generations, Yuan Shang's position was at least on the side of the Yuan family.
Yuan Shang and Cao Cao had conflicting fundamental interests, so they were destined to not be able to continue cooperating and would fall out sooner or later. Yuan Xi took this opportunity to make arrangements in advance and eliminate some hidden dangers.
He also sent a letter to Tian Yu and Gao Shun, asking them to complete the construction of the fortress and pacify the local people, and then return to Beixincheng to train troops. At the same time, he would completely pacify Dai County to the north of Zhuo County, and then wait for an opportunity to expand the territory from Yanmen in Bingzhou, and then plot to take over the Hetao Plain.
Gao Shun and Tian Yu now followed Yuan Xi's instructions. On one hand, they had people set up camps, and on the other hand, they had officials sent from Youzhou lead the local people in farming and production in order to recover as quickly as possible.
After the battle of Montenegro, Yuan Xi had a population of over 100,000, but most of them were the elderly, children, women and children, with only tens of thousands of young and strong laborers.
What surprised the local people in Heishan was that Youzhou did not conscript these young and strong men into the army, but allowed them to engage in local production.
Yuan Xi understood very well that if he continued to conscript young and strong laborers and neglected farming, the remaining old, weak and sick would surely starve to death. So he mobilized grain seeds from Beixincheng and let the people of Montenegro first become self-reliant and recover.
This method may bring great rewards in the future, but it currently puts a lot of pressure on Youzhou. The stored grain is in short supply, and Xu You, who is in charge of the allocation of grain in Beixin City, is having a headache.
He once suspected that Yuan Xi was deliberately looking for an excuse to mess with him. Thinking of the other party's behavior, Xu You was trembling with fear all day, fearing that he would be pulled out of bed and chopped with a knife in the middle of the night.
During these fearful days, Xu You had become a frightened bird, living in a state of panic all day long. However, today he received a letter from Yuan Shang, and when he opened it, tears immediately flowed down his face.
Yuan Shang summoned him back to Yecheng and reassigned his official position.
He doesn't have to stay in Youzhou anymore!
Xu You's eyes were filled with tears. He quickly took out the seal and went to find Chen Gui, who was temporarily guarding the city. He placed the seal in front of Chen Gui, laughed and jumped away, going straight out of the city, leaving Chen Gui confused.
The next day, after Chen Gui learned the whole story, he couldn't help but sigh that the young master was really powerful. Look at what he had forced the other person into!
He picked up the letter from Yuan Xi and had it delivered to Yuan Xi's residence. He thought that if he calculated the days, Yuan Xi would return to Beixin City in more than half a month.
Before that, he had to find someone to take up the responsibility left by Xu You. But it was also good this way. Keeping Xu You in Beixincheng was always a hidden danger. Now that he had taken the initiative to leave, it saved him a lot of trouble.
Cao Xian lay pitifully at the window of the small hut behind the door, receiving the people who came to tell him about their difficulties and writing down their opinions one by one on bamboo slips.
Finally, it was lunchtime and people were leaving. Cao Xian saw Madam Du bringing food over from afar, so he stood up and said with a smile, "Thank you for your help, Madam."
Madam Du hurriedly said, "Madam, you have worked hard. Since this mansion is so short of people, why don't you ask the young master for some people?"
Cao Xian sighed: "Don't mention it"
As the two were talking, a letter from Chen Gui arrived. Cao Xian unfolded it and said happily, "The young master is coming back!"
Mrs. Du was shocked. Is the ferocious tiger who was rumored to be very lustful coming back?
We can't stay here anymore!