Chapter 228

"At the same time, my Lord, you must also go to Xinye to negotiate with General Su Xuan."

Yan Xiang said decisively.

"Why?"

Lord Yuan Shu looked at Yan Xiang curiously, then said irritably: "That is a million shi of grain and 300, 00 gold;"

"Does he, Su Xuan, really dare to open his mouth like a lion? Why doesn't he just go rob someone?"

He had money, and the Lord Yuan clan had money.

But that didn't mean it should be squandered like this.

Yan Xiang said speechlessly: "Where else can you get money as fast as this?"

Lord Yuan Shu: "..."

Are you doing this on purpose to annoy me?

Yan Xiang ignored Lord Yuan Shu's speechlessness and resentment, and immediately analyzed: "Judging by the fact that General Su Xuan is still willing to negotiate and is willing to let you redeem the surrendered troops;"

"It is clear that he is not prepared to truly attack you or Nanyang for the time being;"

"Perhaps it is because he does not want to bear the stigma of colluding with Dong Zhuo and destroying the alliance."

"If we do not redeem those troops, it will be completely impossible to participate in the campaign against Dong Zhuo and achieve sufficient results later!"

"Don't look at the fact that we still have tens of thousands of troops in our hands, and given time, we can continue to recruit young men;"

"But all of this takes time;"

"The army also needs time to grow!"

"Furthermore, if we refuse General Su Xuan, he likely will not stop the war; he will inevitably lead his army to attack Wancheng and completely take Nanyang, driving us out;"

"This is not in your interest, my Lord;"

"Therefore, this time we can only concede and choose to redeem the people and negotiate!"

Clearly, Su Xuan had not left them many choices.

How did it come to this?

Yan Xiang sighed in his heart.

He remembered that Ji Ling's ability to command troops was actually quite good; how could he have made such a big mistake this time?

Lord Yuan Shu had been completely ruined by him.

"This..."

Lord Yuan Shu hesitated immediately.

Seeing this, Yan Xiang struck while the iron was hot: "My Lord, you wouldn't want to be driven out of Nanyang because of a lack of troops and power, and then be looked down upon by Lord Yuan Shao during the warlord alliance, would you?"

Lord Yuan Shu: "..."

That was something he absolutely did not want.

Immediately, Lord Yuan Shu's expression became stern: "Fine! I'll listen to you. We'll redeem the people and negotiate!"

No matter what, he could not lose to Lord Yuan Shao, and he could not be looked down upon by him.

The heir to the Lord Yuan clan could only be him.

As for Lord Yuan Kui and Lord Yuan Ji?

Sorry, Lord Yuan Shu felt that they would likely not be able to escape Dong Zhuo's clutches.

He was indeed not smart enough, but he knew that what they were about to do would likely thoroughly anger Dong Zhuo.

Even if Dong Zhuo didn't dare to kill them, he would definitely not make things easy for them.

Fortunately, Lord Yuan Shu didn't feel sad or upset about this at all.

Because, for the past month or so, he had enjoyed the comfort of not having his uncle and Lord Yuan Ji over his head.

The entire Lord Yuan clan, except for those who supported Lord Yuan Shao, had begun to fully support him and listen to him.

This would have been impossible in the past.

Admittedly, he was the second son of the legal wife in the past.

But in the eyes of those old fogies in the family, this second son was not even as promising or useful as Lord Yuan Shao.

"However, I cannot raise this much money in such a short time! What should I do?"

Lord Yuan Shu said, looking at Yan Xiang for a solution.

Yan Xiang pondered for a moment and said: "My Lord, we can pay a portion ourselves, and the rest can be forcibly collected from the noble clans and powerful families in Nanyang... hmm! No, I mean borrowed!"

"Borrowed? Do I have to pay it back?"

Lord Yuan Shu asked blankly.

"No!"

Yan Xiang narrowed his eyes and said: "Why should my Lord pay back money and grain borrowed based on his own ability?"

"Eh?"

Lord Yuan Shu was somewhat surprised to hear this rare rogue-like remark from Yan Xiang: "This doesn't sound like something you would say, Yan Xiang?"

"Tell me, what exactly are you planning?"

"I don't believe you don't know how these noble clans and powerful families will explode and cause me trouble if I borrow without returning."

Although he said that, Lord Yuan Shu admitted he was tempted.

Yan Xiang had spoken to his heart.

He even felt that Yan Xiang sounded incredibly pleasant today, completely different from his usual habit of only knowing how to retort.

For a moment, he even suspected that the Yan Xiang in front of him was a fake.

Or at the very least, an impostor, like a twin brother.

Yan Xiang had no idea that Lord Yuan Shu's mind had already conjured up such a scenario, so he immediately replied: "My lord! Through this engagement with General Su Xuan, I feel that it is very likely we will not be able to overcome Su Xuan for the time being, and we will not be able to hold Nanyang firmly."

"Regardless of whether we compromise this time, in the end, Nanyang will likely be lost;"

Hearing this, Lord Yuan Shu frowned, and a look of displeasure appeared on his face.

Was Yan Xiang saying he was inferior to Su Xuan?

He had just thought Yan Xiang had changed and was speaking pleasantly.

Now it seemed that was just an illusion, an accident.

But unfortunately, through this war, he had to admit that what Yan Xiang said was the truth.

This made it even more uncomfortable.

Yan Xiang ignored Lord Yuan Shu's ugly expression and continued: "In that case, what difference does it make whether we offend these local Nanyang noble clans or not, or whether we pay back the borrowed money?"

"Anyway, even if Nanyang is not lost in the future, we will likely have to abandon it under Su Xuan's constant pressure and attacks;"

"It is highly probable that for a long time to come, we will have no interaction with these local Nanyang noble clans!"

"Naturally, the borrowed money and grain do not need to be paid back!"

"What does my Lord think?"

As for reputation?

Whether it is worth anything, or how much it is worth, depends on the timing.

Anyway, not paying back the money owed to the Nanyang noble clans would not affect Lord Yuan Shu's reputation outside of Nanyang.

"Wonderful!"

Lord Yuan Shu's eyes lit up: "This is a good method!"

"I will immediately summon all the noble clans and powerful families of Nanyang to Wancheng in the name of the Lord Yuan clan to discuss the borrowing of money and grain;"

"Also, since we are preparing to borrow money and grain;"

"Since we plan not to pay it back in the future, we should naturally borrow a bit more;"

"A mere million shi of grain and 300, 00 gold is not enough;"

"Let's try to borrow two million shi of grain and 600, 00 gold, what do you think, Yan Xiang?"

Since Yan Xiang said he wouldn't be able to hold Nanyang in the future.

He himself thought so too!

Then naturally, he had to scrape together a large sum before leaving.

He had to recover his investment costs in Nanyang as much as possible, otherwise, wouldn't he be at a loss?

Of course, Lord Yuan Shu would not abandon Nanyang directly for the time being.

Even if he were to abandon Nanyang in the future, he planned to demand a return fee from Su Xuan.

At the very least, he had to earn back the money he was cheated out of this time.

Otherwise, he wouldn't do it.