Chapter 881

In the early morning, the sea was covered in morning mist, the morning sun rose, and the rosy light penetrated the thick fog, hazy and beautiful. Seagulls competed to chirp and fly, welcoming the people who had gone out to sea to fish in the dark and were now returning.

Because of the proximity to the sea, a morning market naturally formed next to the civilian wharf by the sea. Here, they sold seafood, and there were also some other vegetables, fruits, etc., which were quite rich. They mainly supplied the people in the city. Many of them had no land, but their treatment was good, and they were willing to eat and drink.

Of course, there were also factories by the sea that specifically purchased newly caught seafood and then froze it to transport it to other inland areas. And there were people making ice at the post stations along the way, specifically adding ice to the transported seafood to keep it fresh.

In addition, there were fishing grounds specifically for farming seafood; after all, they couldn't always just catch it, and having a fixed harvest was naturally quite important.

Just on such an ordinary morning, suddenly, a low and desolate sound of a horn came, breaking the noise of the morning. The people by the sea subconsciously looked at the place where the horn came from; it was the lighthouse standing in the sea, which was also an observation tower, guarded by navy soldiers.

As people looked over, they saw two small dots that looked like warships appearing on the further sea. Immediately after, there was another sound of gongs, and in a short while, navy soldiers were seen wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, standing around the military wharf. At the same time, fast horses flew out, running straight toward the city.

The knight on the horse shouted: "The warriors of the navy who went to sea to find immortal seeds have returned! The warriors of the navy who went to sea to find immortal seeds have returned!"

People listened to the knight's shouting and suddenly remembered this major event. Of course, it was not their fault; every one or two years, more than two thousand people would be sent out, and it had now lasted for nine years, sending out five fleets, and no news had ever been sent back.

Although every time the fleet went to sea, the Grand General would personally come to preside over the ceremony, but after so many years without results, people had subconsciously ignored it. Only when Grand General Wang came back to preside over the ceremony and send the navy soldiers to sea would people be lively.

But today, someone had finally returned.

Some people had already approached the blockaded military wharf, their eyes filled with tears, longing to see their children in a while...

The warships were already crowded with people. They all had rough, dark skin, and all had shaved heads. They grinned as they looked at the wharf in the distance, looking at the familiar green mountains.

"Finally returned..."

"Yes, it's been eight years..."

"Tuhe has changed greatly, I don't recognize it now..."

"I don't know if the Grand General has become emperor..."

Drifting outside for a long time and fighting with nature, they all missed home very much. But when they truly returned to their homeland, their hearts were also empty, feeling timid as they approached home.

Before this, they had already laughed and scolded, but now, only complex feelings of home remained...

Zhending was 1,500 li away from Tuhe. Wang Yan did not reach Zhending until the evening of the seventh day.

Without stopping, not even drinking a mouthful of water, he went straight to the quarantined military camp. He saw the team that had recovered a lot, with less than 768 people left.

Wang Yan's gaze swept across everyone's face, and he nodded heavily: "You have drifted all the way, braved death to break the waves, and found the immortal seeds. Your achievements are immense..."

He said many things, mainly to affirm the historical achievements of these people, give them corresponding honors, and at the same time soothe their emotions, letting these soldiers know the importance attached to them.

Drinking a lively glass of wine together like this, and then doing a good job of settlement work afterward so that these warriors would not pay in vain, that would be a happy ending for everyone.

While drinking with these soldiers and listening to them talk in a jumble, Wang Yan also understood the whole process.

It was not very strange, just a bunch of thrilling events. If it weren't for this, how could two-thirds of the people have died? However, when these people spoke, they were completely without sadness. People always smiled when talking about dangerous and sad things; this itself was a sad thing.

It was mainly because people in this era were already accustomed to death and had seen many ways to die. Although they were all brothers who had shared life and death, what could be done? No matter how sad or difficult it was, there had to be an end. They couldn't just cry every time they mentioned it. Life always had to go on, and they always had to look forward.

Their route was to walk along the continental shelf, cross the Pacific Ocean, and finally reach the North American region. This was not slow. Although they went to the Arctic in the Bering Strait region later, after discovering something was wrong, they adjusted in time and began to explore the American continent along the land there, finally finding the seeds for which Wang Yan had drawn maps and written descriptions.

After that, they followed North America to South America, circled a big circle, and finally returned along the land from the East China Sea, which could be considered circling the Pacific Ocean. For the sake of insurance, they did not land just anywhere, but went all the way to the Bohai Sea and returned to Tuhe before going ashore. They even specifically waited outside for one night and only entered the next morning.

Along the way, they did not encounter other fleets. In the middle, they killed a large batch of indigenous people and admitted their mistakes to Wang Yan, saying that they really couldn't hold back and violated the military discipline of adultery, and also said that there were really no supplies, so they did a lot of looting and slaughtering.

Soldiers who dare to admit their mistakes are of course good soldiers.

Furthermore, they were all men, and the journey was quite dangerous and boring. The people around them were decreasing one by one, and more or less everyone had been ill. These people had no one to rely on behind them, their mental states were all very unstable, and they did it outside. How could Wang Yan manage so much? It was just a verbal criticism and education, and he personally gave a political lesson, and it passed.

Although Wang Yan is not extreme, it is still the same sentence: he is a nationalist, and he must add prefixes such as left-wing, hawkish, and radical. This is a stance he has not changed after dominating for thousands of years.

Although he is equally ruthless when killing his own people...

The second team took more than eight years, which is a normal time. Their sailing speed was very slow, and at the same time, they had to explore the land, and they were looking for crops with a purpose, so naturally, it slowed down.

No matter what, the goal was achieved, and Wang Yan was very satisfied.

He stayed in Tuhe for another week, arranged for the cultivation and improvement of the seeds, and the settlement of the navy soldiers who returned alive. Furthermore, he personally checked the health of these people to ensure there were no major problems and that they would not bring epidemics from elsewhere. He also handled some matters in the Northeast nearby before riding his horse, taking more than a hundred personal guards, and leisurely inspecting Youzhou along the way, looking at Qingzhou across the Yellow River, comforting the garrison there, and crossing the Yellow River...

It was also at this time that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, who had been fighting fiercely for two years, finally decided the winner.

The main battlefield of both sides was in Chen Liu, Jiyin, and Yingchuan commanderies. Yuan Shao wanted to fight to Xu Chang, and Cao Cao also wanted to fight to Luoyang.

Yuan Shao didn't care at all that Wang Yan in the north would take the opportunity to move south, and all his troops were invested in the decisive battle with Cao Cao, pressing across the board. Because they unanimously believed that Wang Yan would not cross the Yellow River, and even if he crossed the river, it would be to gather the common people. As long as they did not take the initiative to attack, then Wang Yan would not send troops to fight them.

Furthermore, even if Wang Yan crossed the river to fight them, they couldn't beat him, and resistance was only a matter of time. So they simply gave up struggling and went all out to fight Cao Cao.

Old Cao's situation was relatively dangerous. After all, he only had Liu Bei as an ally, but he was being attacked by both Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. Originally, Yuan Shu was also attacking him, but now Liu Bei was powerful and was suppressing Yuan Shu, which saved Cao Cao a lot of energy.

But dealing with it was not easy either.

This time was not the time of Guandu. Yuan Shao had 700,000 or 800,000 troops, and Cao Cao only had more than 100,000. Yuan Shao pressed Cao Cao to fight, and Cao Cao could only barely resist. He won the victory by a surprise attack on Wuchao. Now, although both sides had more than 100,000 troops, it didn't mean that Cao Cao fought more simply. Old Cao was indeed capable, but he was not that strong, not to mention that he was the one being surrounded and beaten.

The main reason lay in the difference in Yuan Shao. Precisely because there were no 700,000 or 800,000 troops, and Wang Yan was eyeing him covetously in the north, once the grain and fodder were sufficient, he would send troops south. His mentality was absolutely different.

The mentality at the time of Guandu was that he didn't take Cao Cao seriously, and even if he failed, he had a way out, so naturally, there was a feeling of sitting firmly on the fishing platform. Now, the one with hundreds of thousands of troops is Wang Yan, and they had already fought once before, finally ending in a miserable defeat. He was stationed with a large army on the other side of the Yellow River, peeping at Luoyang.

The army stationed by Lu Bu in the west had already entered Youfufeng, which was proper Sili land, only 200 li away from Chang'an. Zhao Yun had already ended the battle in Bingzhou, encircling and suppressing the Baibo Army. To the east was the sea, and Wang Yan had warships capable of sailing the ocean. Yuan Shao had no way out. If he failed again this time, there would truly be nowhere to go.

It was also because the external environment was different now. In times of life and death, his subordinates were unprecedentedly united and no longer talked about political struggles such as the succession. This also made Yuan Shao have strategies but not enough decisiveness. After all, the will of his subordinates was unified, and he also thought it was good, so naturally, there was no excessive hesitation.

Added to this, the strategists under him were not bad. Although the generals were a bit worse, they were enough to use. Not to mention that he had also gathered the warlords of all sizes in the Guanzhong region. Ma Teng was also under Yuan Shao, and Ma Teng's son, Ma Chao, was even more courageous than the three armies. At this time, he had also come of age and could be considered a supplement to the peak combat power. With civil and military personnel ready and equivalent troops, they had fought Cao Cao for a full two years.

In the recent battle, Ma Teng rebelled and defected to Cao Cao, affecting the strategy of Yuan Shao's side. During the battle in Chen Liu, they suffered heavy losses, and Chunyu Qiong was killed by Xu Chu in a one-on-one fight, and Wen Chou was trapped and finally surrendered. Yuan Shao's general trend was gone.

Luoyang, inside the newly repaired imperial city, in the main hall.

The atmosphere was very oppressive, filled with a dead air, because the general trend was truly gone, and there was truly nowhere to escape; they had been trapped to death here.

Liu Xie, sitting on the dragon chair, suppressed his breathing and tried hard to lower his sense of existence. He looked at the entrance of the main hall, at the old figure standing with his back to him, with disheveled clothes and drunken eyes.

Not only Liu Xie was looking, but the hundred officials in the hall and Yuan Shao's subordinates were all looking at the back that showed all signs of old age. Many of them knew how high-spirited this person used to be. Of course, the difference was that many people were watching a joke, and the same was that everyone was worried about their subsequent fate.

I don't know how long he watched, but Yuan Shao slowly turned back, looking at Liu Xie and the hundred officials who were looking at their noses and hearts in an instant, and then looking at his subordinates with different expressions and his panicked sons.

He let out a long breath, tidied up his disheveled clothes, straightened his crown, held his precious sword, and walked step by step toward Liu Xie, who was sitting high on the dragon chair.

Liu Xie trembled; he didn't understand what Yuan Shao wanted to do.

Yuan Shao walked to Liu Xie like this, without saying a word, just looking at the trembling Liu Xie.

Finally, Liu Xie could not bear the powerful pressure, stood up in panic, called out not to kill him, and ran to the side and collapsed on the ground. After discovering that Yuan Shao had no next move, he honestly closed his mouth and sat there without a sound.

Yuan Shao climbed the footstool, turned around, looked at the people below who were all staring at him, as well as the small movements of many people, stretched out his arms, flicked his sleeves, and sat on the dragon chair just like that. He sat very upright.

Before, he had always sat alone in the position one level lower and had never sat on the dragon chair. Today, he sat on it to feel it, and it was nothing more than that.

The Son of Heaven is for those with strong soldiers and sturdy horses. With nothing in his hands, sitting here was just as trembling as Liu Xie, and he was even scared to the point of wetting his pants.

After feeling it for himself, he opened his mouth with a hoarse voice: "Ma Teng rebelled, Chunyu Qiong died in battle, Wen Chou was captured, and the 100,000-strong army collapsed in one morning. The general trend is gone. You have followed me for many years and have not abandoned me until now. I deeply feel your great kindness. Now the crisis is unsolvable, and there is no way to retreat. Fighting to the death is also a futile act. I am about to die, you can go on your own."

He waved his hand, not letting his subordinates speak, and then arranged: "My sons can flee in all directions, change their names, or surrender to Cao Cao. I must leave my bloodline."

"Left and right, take a pot of poisonous wine and a jar of fine wine for me. I will die by poison and leave a whole corpse. I hope you will bury me in the earth. You don't need to say more. Cao Cao will lead his army here in a few days. At that time, there will be nowhere to go."

After speaking, Yuan Shao suddenly drew his sword from its sheath and glared at his subordinates who were not moving: "Why don't you go quickly?"

The armored soldiers were helpless, arched their hands, took the order, and in a short while, as Yuan Shao said, took a pot of poisonous wine and a jar of top-grade strong liquor produced from Wang Yan's side, which tasted very soft but was very strong.

Yuan Shao watched the armored soldiers pour a cup of strong liquor and a cup of poisonous wine. He smiled and picked up the strong liquor, drank it in one gulp, and drank three cups in a row like this.

Waiting for that burning sensation to dissipate, Yuan Shao let out a long sigh of relief and laughed: "The rebel Wang is a barbarian, and the common people under his rule are fierce and good at drinking this strong liquor. It is indeed not bad."

After certifying the liquor produced under Wang Yan's rule, he raised the cup of poisonous wine and said to the pile of people below: "Gentlemen, have a good journey."

After speaking, he raised his head and drank the poisonous wine. It wasn't enough, so he drank another cup before it took effect.

He threw the wine cup in his hand and laughed wildly.

The main hall was empty, echoing with his laughter.

Suddenly, the laughter stopped. Yuan Shao felt a sudden pain in his abdomen, his eyes widened in anger, blood overflowed from his mouth, and his whole body leaned backward, twitched twice, and he was already dead...