Chapter 339: The death of the Pretender Emperor, no more honey water to drink

Runan.

Inside the imperial palace.

Yuan Shu listened quietly to the report from his subordinate general, Liu Xun.

Because Ji Ling and Qiao Rui had already led troops to the front lines,

Yuan Shu could only entrust the slaughter of the aristocratic families to Liu Xun.

At this moment,

within the Yizhou territory, except for a very small number of families who luckily escaped, the rest had basically been slaughtered to the last.

Through the slaughter of the families, Yuan Shu obtained a large sum of money and grain.

But this money was merely killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

As one of the former representatives of the Guandong aristocratic families, now that there was no support from any families within his territory, Yuan Shu did not even know what he should do next.

"Your Majesty..."

"This humble official has performed poorly; the Chen family, under the leadership of their new head, Chen Qun, has fled to Yanzhou to join Cao Mengde."

"I beg Your Majesty to punish this humble official."

Liu Xun said, cupping his hands in shame.

The Chen family was one of the top ten great aristocratic families in the Yizhou region.

Previously, they had been wavering between investing in Yuan Shu and investing in Cao Cao.

The former family head, Chen Ji, was once the Minister of Ceremonies during the era of Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, ranking among the Nine Ministers.

However, last year, Chen Ji passed away due to illness.

The person who succeeded to the position of family head was precisely Chen Ji's son, Chen Qun.

He was also the founder of the Nine-Rank System under the Cao Wei regime in the future.

In fact, Chen Qun's age was not much younger than people like Seeing Xun Yu.

But in original history, Chen Qun eventually became Seeing Xun Yu's son-in-law.

He became the second-generation leader of the Yingchuan aristocratic group after Seeing Xun Yu passed away.

Why did Chen Qun not rise to prominence during Cao Cao's era, but only truly gain favor during Cao Pi's era?

The root cause was that the person he chose to invest in at the beginning was not Cao Cao, but Liu Bei.

Yes, Chen Qun had once followed Liu Bei.

Before Liu Bei officially became the Inspector of Xuzhou, Chen Qun had wanted Liu Bei to station himself in Yizhou.

But ultimately, Liu Bei was pulled away by Mi Zhu, Chen Deng, and others of Xuzhou, becoming Tao Qian's successor.

Competition also existed between aristocratic families of different factions.

It was naturally impossible for Xuzhou aristocratic families like Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and Cao Bao to live in peace with Chen Qun's Yingchuan aristocratic family.

Liu Bei was tricked by Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and others to go to Xuzhou, and Chen Qun was unwilling to leave with him.

After the two bid each other farewell, Chen Qun once again lived in seclusion in Yingchuan, entering a dormant state.

It was not until the eve of the Battle of Guandu that Chen Qun joined Cao Cao's camp under the recommendation of Seeing Xun Yu.

But by this time, the talent under Cao Cao's command was already relatively saturated.

Chen Qun was not a military general but a pure civil official, so naturally, he could not achieve success on the battlefield.

He could only wait for his turn based on seniority and climb up layer by layer.

But such a speed of promotion was truly too slow.

Consequently, Chen Qun set his sights on Cao Pi, invested in Cao Pi, and eventually became one of Cao Pi's "Four Friends of the Crown Prince."

(PS: The term "Four Friends of the Crown Prince" is a record from the *Wei Lue*; although Cao Pi never served as Crown Prince, the *Wei Lue* indeed says so. Don't nitpick; if you nitpick, you're right.)

At present,

because Liu Bei had not been to Xuzhou,

but had instead taken his troops directly to Huainan,

he naturally lost the opportunity to come into contact with Chen Qun.

This indirectly led to Chen Qun still not having entered official service to this day.

Sensing the stirrings in Runan City, Chen Qun immediately led his clansmen to migrate toward Yanzhou, thus escaping a disaster.

Regarding the escape of Chen Qun and the Chen family, Yuan Shu was extremely furious.

He immediately berated Liu Xun:

"As a General of the Front, you cannot even handle such a small matter; you truly disappoint Me!"

"Sure enough, someone born like you is ultimately just mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall."

Liu Xun hurriedly lowered his head, allowing Yuan Shu to scold him.

After Yuan Shu established the Zhong Dynasty, Ji Ling was naturally appointed as Grand General.

Qiao Rui was the General of the Flying Cavalry.

Liu Xun, under these two, became the General of the Front of the Zhong Dynasty.

However,

Liu Xun was originally a mountain bandit roaming Lujiang Commandery.

A few years ago, he accepted reorganization and joined Yuan Shu's camp.

In terms of loyalty, Liu Xun was far inferior to Ji Ling, Le Jiu, and others.

As Yuan Shu's scolding words became increasingly excessive,

a trace of hidden resentment flashed across Liu Xun's brow.

Finally, perhaps Yuan Shu was tired of talking,

or perhaps Yuan Shu himself felt that this matter could not be blamed on Liu Xun.

After nearly an hour of scolding, Yuan Shu finally managed to move past this matter.

However,

matters that worried him even more arrived quickly.

Several anxious messengers rushed in from outside, reporting to Yuan Shu with panicked expressions:

"Your Majesty! Cao Mengde has dispatched Xia Houyuan as the vanguard, leading fifty thousand troops to kill their way toward our Runan!"

"What!?"

Yuan Shu was furious.

But a careful observation would reveal that rather than saying he was angry, it would be more accurate to say he was roaring in impotence.

Ji Ling and Qiao Rui, in order to resist Gu Yi, Sun Ce, and others, had already taken away most of the troops of Yizhou.

At present, even in the Zhong Dynasty's imperial palace, Runan City, there were fewer than forty thousand troops left.

Moreover, these forty thousand were mostly newly recruited soldiers who could not form an effective combat force.

Xia Houyuan leading fifty thousand troops from the direction of Yanzhou to kill toward Runan was equivalent to a heavy blow to Yuan Shu.

"No!"

"We must block the fifty thousand troops sent by Cao Mengde, otherwise Runan is in danger."

Yuan Shu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

These fifty thousand troops under Xia Houyuan were only the vanguard.

This meant that Cao Cao would certainly send more troops to attack Yizhou later.

If he could not even block these fifty thousand troops... ===== CHAPTER 340 =====