Everything happened just as Shen Pei had expected. Within half a day, outside the sealed-off Beijia Mansion, news came that Han Fu had successfully seized the throne and returned to Jizhou.

There is no doubt that this news was released deliberately with the purpose of undermining the fighting spirit of Shen Pei and others.

The imperial edict from Luoyang, although without the seal of the imperial seal, was attached with the fire dragon aura of the Yanhan Dynasty, so it was undoubtedly authentic!

Shen Pei's face turned pale, and a faint sense of bitterness lingered in his heart.

It is so ironic. The world is clearly in a state of chaos, and the imperial edict is difficult to pass outside the capital. However, Jizhou was still completely overturned by a piece of light waste paper.

Could it be that the foundation of my lord is so fragile that it can be easily blown down and cannot withstand a single blow?

Outside the residence of the deputy driver, Han Fu, along with his subordinate Cheng Huan and several thousand armored soldiers, made a high-profile appearance and began to persuade the people inside loudly: "Shen Zhengnan, surrender. Yuan Benchu ​​is doomed. You should stop resisting stubbornly."

A creaking sound was heard, and the tightly closed door of the Beijia Mansion slowly opened.

Shen Pei, knowing that he was powerless, opened the gate and surrendered, but his face remained expressionless as he looked at Han Fu coldly: "Han Wenjie, do you think you have a sure win?"

This look and this attitude made Han Fu secretly frightened and extremely unhappy: "Shen Zhengnan, your life and death now depends on my thoughts. You'd better pay attention to your tone when you speak."

Cheng Huan had long been unhappy with Shen Pei, and when he saw him addressing his master by his name, he angrily shouted, "Shen Zhengnan, you are so arrogant even when you are about to die. Do you really think we dare not kill you?"

Shen Pei was upright and incorruptible. Although he was already a prisoner, he remained loyal and generous, and did not change his expression: "You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you, but if you want me to bow my head and beg for mercy, that's a dream."

Han Fu knew that Shen Pei was a famous scholar in Jizhou. When he served under the Grand Commandant Chen Qiu, he was famous for his tough attitude towards eunuchs. Moreover, the Shen family was also a prominent family in Jizhou. Such a famous scholar often had a complicated background, so killing him was unlucky.

Therefore, Han Fu did not dare to punish the gentry in Jizhou too much and could only let Shen Pei go.

But before letting him go, Han Fu warned Shen Pei, "Shen Zhengnan, after you leave, you must not become my enemy again. Otherwise, I will kill you the next time we meet!"

Zhao Fu and Cheng Huan both objected: "My lord, this cannot be done. Shen Zhengnan is a die-hard fan of Yuan Shao. Letting him go is like letting a tiger go back to the mountain!"

"I have made up my mind, no need to say more."

Although he regained the position of Governor of Jizhou, Han Fu's cowardly nature remained unchanged. He was timid and cautious, and played both sides.

Based on this point alone, he is far inferior to Yuan Shao.

Shen Pei was released, and the generals in the mansion who had surrendered to Yuan Shao were also safe and sound, and now they pledged allegiance to Han Fu again.

There is only one exception.

Han Fu's eyes were cold, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, already filled with murderous intent: "Zhu Han, you never thought that we would meet again so soon."

Zhu Han was shaking like a sieve, and cold sweat had soaked his back. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Han Fu: "Han Wenjie... No, Hanzhou Mu, I beg you to be magnanimous and spare my life!"

He knocked his head very hard, and it hit the stone tiles on the ground with a loud bang. His forehead was bruised and even the skin was broken, bleeding.

But Han Fu remained indifferent, and the murderous intent on his face did not diminish at all: "Come here, capture him for me!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers, as ferocious as wolves and tigers, immediately took the order and stepped forward, grabbing Zhu Han like a chicken.

"Mercy, Governor, please spare my life!"

Zhu Han begged desperately, just wanting Han Fu to spare his life.

However, Han Fu recalled the feeling of helplessness when he watched his son's legs being broken at home that day, and it was as if a fire was burning in his chest: "Spare my life? Haha, if I don't confiscate your property and exterminate your clan, how can I relieve the hatred in my heart?"

Just like that, Zhu Han was taken away with despair on his face.

Handan, the former capital of Zhao State, was known as "the richest city in the country and the most famous capital in the world" during the Western Han Dynasty. In addition to the capital Chang'an, it was one of the five major metropolises along with Luoyang, Linzi, Chengdu and Wanqi.

Even though it has been surpassed by Yecheng in population size and commercial prosperity, it is still one of the famous cities in the world. Its prosperity and wealth are enough to make everyone who comes here sigh in amazement.

After returning victorious from the Battle of Jie Bridge, Yuan Shao passed through Handan City again. He could not help but feel full of confidence, thinking that the road ahead of him was a smooth one.

When seeing the prosperity of Handan City, Yuan Shao seemed to see his bright future as the ruler of Jizhou.

With the prosperity of Hebei, he occupied the destiny of Jizhou and refined the "incense of all the people" to make his spiritual cultivation reach a higher level!

The martial arts practiced by Yuan Shao was the Meng's Yi, a unique Confucian inheritance of the Yuan family of Runan, and the path he chose was the Five-Heart Spirit Refining Method, one of the three major schools of prophecy and divination. He was particularly good at the "Five Things to Respect". He emulated the wise monarchs of ancient times, responded to the will of heaven with virtue, followed the will of the people, respected heaven and followed ancestors, and used the "incense and worship of all the people" to strengthen himself.

As long as he occupies Jizhou, his magical power will be fully developed. Then he can march south with all his strength. Even someone as strong as Wang Jing will be able to resist him.
Yuan Shao was thinking happily in his heart, wondering what kind of expression would be revealed on Wang Jing's once arrogant face after he achieved the final victory and became the defeated general.

He had already begun to look forward to this scene a little.

However, the good mood soon came to an abrupt end.

Shen Pei personally delivered an urgent report about Yecheng, shattering Yuan Shao's dream: "My lord, Yecheng has fallen! General Han Fu has instigated the defenders to rebel, claiming that he has received an imperial decree and has been officially appointed as the governor of Jizhou again."

"what!"

Yuan Shao's immediate reaction was that it was false news deliberately spread by the enemy.

After all, Han Fu was the biggest coward in the Han Dynasty. When he first raised an army to fight against Dong Zhuo, he was a coward who only dared to shout slogans and was afraid to personally participate in the alliance.

Later, even his number one general, Qu Yi, wanted to rebel against him, and he was unable to suppress him even with the full force of Jizhou. After suffering a series of defeats, he even wanted to seek peace with Qu Yi.

How could such a piece of rubbish actually take back Yecheng from me?
Simply ridiculous!
Yuan Shao looked at Shen Pei in disbelief and said, "Zhengnan, don't joke."

Shen Pei said anxiously, "My lord, I dare not say a word of falsehood! If you don't believe me, ask General Yan!"

Soon, Yan Liang, who felt ashamed to face others with his head down, took the initiative to step forward and apologize to Yuan Shao: "My lord, this battle is all my fault. I was wrong for not listening to the order of Shen Biejia and had to go out of the city to chase Zhang Fei and Lu Bu, but I didn't expect to fall into the enemy's trap, which led to the loss of Yecheng."

After Shen Pei and Yan Liang's detailed explanation, Yuan Shao finally understood the specific reasons and process, and he immediately felt terrible.

Having just defeated the powerful enemy Gongsun Zan who had invaded Jizhou, he was planning to take advantage of the victory to invade Jizhou. However, when he returned halfway, he found that someone had stolen the tower and his base was gone!
"A piece of paper has taken away my Jizhou foundation! Wang Yuanxu, I will never forgive you!"

Yuan Shao's blood was ignited by anger, and his whole mood was boiling.

After listening to Shen Pei's story, the counselor Xun Zhan was also stunned, and then said angrily: "When I was in Bohai City, Wang Jing threatened me with words. It seems that it was also his calculation!"

Yuan Shao was also upset and angry: "I never thought that I took every precaution and left 20,000 soldiers to defend Yecheng, but Wang Jing took advantage of it and used a mere imperial edict to incite my 20,000 troops to rebel."

The imperial court today has lost its authority, but its influence on the grassroots is still enormous.

Especially since Yuan Shao had just recruited ordinary soldiers, they still retained their awe of the emperor and the imperial edict. Because of the long-term brainwashing education of prophecies and Confucian classics, the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty often represented the Mandate of Heaven.

Apart from the Yellow Turban Army, who among the ordinary people dares to go against the will of heaven?
Most of the troops Yuan Shao left behind in Ye City were either Han Fu's former subordinates who had surrendered, or newly recruited men. The only personal soldiers he had complete control over were the several thousand soldiers under Yan Liang.

But Yan Liang was tricked out of Yecheng!
It was with Guo Jia's wisdom and insight into people's hearts that he devised such a brilliant series of schemes, which cut off Yuan Shao's financial resources and took away his entire family.

Yanzhou, Changyi City.

In the governor's mansion, Wang Jing received Ding San's secret letter and immediately called everyone to discuss: "Feng Xiao, you should be credited with the first merit in this battle."

Guo Jia was arrogant. He was a confident person. Therefore, he gladly accepted Wang Jing's praise. Then he smiled and complimented him: "My lord, your plan is clever. You have arranged hidden players early on. If not, even if I have a brilliant plan, it will be difficult to implement it."

Wang Jing shook his head upon hearing this: "Although I have already made arrangements, the original plan was to gather troops to help Han Fu recover. If it weren't for your advice, this matter would have been much more complicated."

Guo Jia then made another suggestion, saying, "My lord, although Han Fu has risen again, the aristocratic families of Jizhou may still prefer Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao has just defeated the overlord of Liaoxi, Gongsun Zan, and is now in the limelight. He has tens of thousands of strong soldiers at his disposal and is on guard. I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to use the same old tricks again, so he can only fight a tough battle."

Wang Jing understood what Guo Jia meant: "So Feng Xiao wants to ask me, should our army help Han Fu and take the risk of fighting Yuan Shao, or should we sit still and watch Han Fu be destroyed by Yuan Shao?"

Guo Jia smiled and bowed: "My lord is wise. He saw the crux of the situation at a glance." Wang Jing first looked at Guo Jia, and then looked at Xun You: "Fengxiao, Gongda, do you think I should fight now, or wait and see?"

Xun You had a plan in mind, and said immediately: "My lord, Yuan Shao has the support of the noble families, and he has counselors who are familiar with military strategies such as Shen Pei and Feng Ji, as well as fierce generals such as Qu Yi, Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Han Fu will definitely be defeated. If our army intervenes, it will only waste our strength in vain."

Jizhou was too large and Wang Jing's troops were insufficient.

Now we have to defend Luoyang, defend Yanzhou, and support Zhang Liao who is far away in Bingzhou.

Throughout the northern border, although the Southern Xiongnu suffered a blow, their strength remained. The Donghu tribes such as the Wuhuan and Xianbei were also very restless and posed a constant threat to the safety of the north.

Not to mention that the northern part of Yuzhou was still under constant threat from Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others.

With such a large territory and so many places to defend, the military force has long been stretched to its limits.

If we try to seize Jizhou again, the whole situation may collapse.

As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you deploy troops to guard everywhere, you will end up not being able to guard any place.

Therefore, no matter whether it was Xun You or Guo Jia, no one with a brain would recommend Wang Jing to seize Jizhou now.

Apart from wasting troops, there will be no benefit at all.

Wang Jing felt that Guo Jia's suggestion was very pertinent: "It is indeed not appropriate to directly intervene in this civil war in Jizhou, but we can use other methods to help Han Fu delay it for a longer time and cause greater damage to Yuan Shao."

Xun You smiled and said, "It seems that the lord has a plan in mind."

"The one who understands me is Gongda."

Wang Jing was very happy: "Weapons, food, and even help to promote the alliance between Han Fu and Gongsun Zan. If Yuan Shao wants to seize Jizhou, it depends on his ability."

Guo Jia shook his head and sighed: "If Yuan Shao knew that the lord gave such a big gift, what would he think? I am really curious."

Wang Jing smiled and teased: "If Fengxiao is really interested, he can borrow my name to go to Jizhou and take a look in person."

"No thanks. I'm afraid that I'll never come back after this trip."

"Hahahaha~"

The three of them looked at each other and laughed heartily at the same time, all feeling somewhat gloating over Yuan Shao's misfortune.

A few days later, at the governor's mansion in Yecheng, Jizhou.

Han Fu had been traveling around for many days to appease the troops. He had just returned to the city, moved out of the old house of the eunuch Zhao Zhong, and moved into the official residence again.

His eyes swept across the familiar scene before him. Every time he saw a place that was different from his memory, Han Fu felt a little unhappy, because that was the trace left by Yuan Shao here.

"Somebody come!"

Han Fu snorted and called his servants to adjust all the places that he didn't like until all traces left by Yuan Shao were erased. Then he nodded with satisfaction.

Before Han Fu could be happy for long, a guard came to report: "My lord, there are people outside the city claiming to be envoys sent by Marquis Qi, and they want to enter the city."

Han Fu thought that reinforcements had arrived, so he rushed to the scene to take a look.

My goodness, there are only about 700 envoys in total.

Although these cavalrymen are tall and equipped with sharp armor, they exude a spirit of bravery all the time.

But with just such a small number of people, what can they do?
Seeing that he had returned, Guo Jia smiled and went forward to greet him: "I am Guo Fengxiao from Yingchuan, and I am here to meet the governor of Hanzhou."

Han Fu did not know Guo Jia, and he was not seeing the reinforcements he was expecting, so he was very unhappy and treated Guo Jia even worse: "Let's save the polite words. The military situation is urgent now. I just want to know where the reinforcements are."

Guo Jia didn't care about Han Fu's contemptuous attitude, and still smiled: "You are joking, Governor. The reinforcements you asked for have already arrived. Aren't they right in front of you?"

Han Fu looked around, obviously not seeing any reinforcements. He frowned and looked at Guo Jia with an even more unhappy expression than before: "Are you kidding me? Are these hundreds of cavalry you brought the so-called reinforcements you mentioned?"

"The governor made a mistake."

Guo Jia shook his head, pointing out Han Fu's blind spot, and then pointed at himself: "I am the reinforcement, these knights are here to protect Jiazhi's safety."

The more you say it, the more outrageous it becomes!

Han Fu glared at Guo Jia with a bad look on his face. If those hundreds of cavalrymen and the black-faced general leading them seemed to be very powerful, they would still be of some use.

In Han Fu's opinion, Guo Jia had no other ability except wasting food.

"Are you reinforcements?"

Han Fu was angered by this statement. Yuan Shao was now gathering strength and connecting with the gentry from all over Jizhou in order to gain their support.

Once Yuan Shao successfully integrated the power of the local gentry in Jizhou, Han Fu knew that he would have no chance of defending Yecheng. For the time being, he could only seek strong support.

But now, Wang Jing, who he had placed high hopes on, made him feel greatly disappointed: "Didn't Marquis Qi promise to help me defend Ye City? You said you were sent by him, can you alone be against a hundred thousand troops?"

"Of course not."

Guo Jia pretended to be surprised, and then responded very elegantly: "The most important thing for a person is to be humble. One hundred thousand people are too many. Fifty thousand is just right."

"You call this modesty?"

Han Fu was defeated by Guo Jia's shamelessness. In his entire life, he had never seen anyone more arrogant and presumptuous than Guo Jia.

However, Guo Jia was not finished yet. After evaluating himself, he pointed at Zhang Fei behind him and said to Han Fu: "Let me introduce him to you. He is General Zhang Fei Zhang Yide, known as the enemy of ten thousand people, so he can at least defeat ten thousand people."

Guo Jia then counted on his fingers and said in front of Han Fu: "Look, if I add him, we will have 60,000 troops. With the two of us helping us, Yecheng will be as strong as a rock."

Before Han Fu could object, Zhang Fei was already unhappy: "Fengxiao, why can you fight against 50,000 people, but I can only fight against 10,000? This is not fair!"

“Don’t get too hung up on the details.”

"I don't care. I'll pay 50,000 and you'll pay 10,000. That's a deal."

Knowing that he was no match for Guo Jia in terms of "reason", Zhang Fei simply started to act like a rogue.

The two men asked and answered each other, and neither of them took Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, seriously.

Han Fu was furious, his fury rising from his eyebrows upwards to a height of nearly three feet. He immediately stopped the two people's argument with a shout: "Enough, both of you! The governor's mansion is not a place for you to fool around!"

At this moment, Han Fu had lost his patience.

He even began to regret why he had gotten on board Wang Jing's pirate ship in such a rush!

Now that we are on the pirate ship, it is too late to get off.

Guo Jia ignored Han Fu's mood and interest, and directly took out a contract and handed it to Han Fu: "Governor, this is my main request. As long as you sign and seal it, I will naturally help you get the reinforcements you want."

He had read the contents of the contract before, and most of it was still about the requirements for Jizhou to open up trade. Wang Jing had not shown any ambition or demands for Jizhou's territory for the time being.

Therefore, Han Fu just took a quick look at it, and after confirming that there was no problem, he accepted all the terms in the contract.

At this time, Jizhou had not yet truly experienced the horror of the industrialized production system. By the time Han Fu realized what the industrial scissors gap was, it would probably be too late.

"The treaty has been signed, but where are the promised reinforcements? When will they be dispatched?" (End of this chapter)