Spring is full of green grass in the garden, and red flowers and green leaves are shining together.

Dancing colorful butterflies wander among the flowers, buzzing bees hide in the stamens, and two chubby and pink children chase and play in the garden. They enjoy the gifts of nature with the flowers and plants in the garden, enjoy the warm sunshine of spring, and the tranquility behind the war.

In the corner sheltering from the east of the courtyard, a canopy covered the warm sunshine. Dozens of people on both sides supported themselves to block the breeze and the smell of blood blowing in the wind. Surrounded by everyone, Yuan Shao, with white beard and cubby head, leaned on a wide and comfortable soft chair. Through the gaps deliberately left by everyone in front, he looked at the two grandchildren who were chasing and fighting not far away, with his eyes particularly loving and peaceful.

"Cough cough cough!" Just as he was immersed in his sight, his throat felt uncomfortable, and a strange flush appeared on his pale and stiff cheeks. At this time, the eunuch who was serving the side wanted to step forward to help him massage his back, but Yuan Shao waved his hand to stop him. Then, he saw him covering his mouth and coughing lightly, trying his best to suppress the sound, as if he was afraid that the cough would alarm the two playful children and affect their mood of playing.

In fact, the two children are only three years old, and they often laugh and cry. They don’t realize the huge pain their grandfather has suffered at this moment. Even if they hear the cough, it will not affect their mood of playing. It is completely forgiven for their young and ignorant children, but Yuan Shao understands these things, so he doesn’t want the children to see what they look like at this moment, so as not to scare the children, and don’t want to disturb the children’s jokes because they are sick and coughing. Spring should belong to them.

In addition, Yuan Shao has been leaving his two grandchildren in the back garden recently. Although he never shows up in front of the children, he always wants to hear their crisp and loud voices. Whether it is crying or laughing, it is so pleasant and intoxicating. Another purpose of keeping the children in the backyard is to not let them hear the sound of siege outside the city and the smell of blood in the air. No matter what happens outside the city, these have nothing to do with the children.

This is Yuan Shao's last wish and a beautiful expectation for his two grandchildren. He does not expect that he can enjoy the family happiness of playing with his grandchildren in the last time of his life. However, he hopes that his two grandchildren can grow up healthily and happily, not suffer from the pain of war, and not be implicated by himself and their father. He hopes that the upcoming fights and disputes will not affect them. Because they are still two or three years old, they are truly innocent and should not bear the disasters brought by their ancestors and their parents.

However, Yuan Shao knew very well that these two children would be harmed innocently after all. Because they were born in the Yuan family of the three generations of the four generations and three kings, they are now descendants of the princes of the Yuan Dynasty. This is fate. When they are born rich, they have to bear all the disputes after wealth. Just like Yuan Shao himself, he was born into a prominent family and once had ambitions and tried to get involved in the country. Now all this has come true, but it is a passing yellow flower. Behind the rule of the world is the bottomless abyss.

Now, the Yuan clan of Jizhou has been forced to the edge of a cliff. If you take a step forward, you will hand over the foundation that your ancestors have created for generations to others; if you take a step back, you will fall into the bottomless abyss, causing disaster to the whole family. None of the more than a thousand people in the clan are spared, and they all turn into dust.

At present, whether to retreat or advance is in the hands of Yuan Shao, who is about to quit. Faced with a dilemma, it is really difficult to take this step. His inner struggle and torture are beyond the reach of others. However, Yuan Shao has been enduring this unspeakable pain for nearly a year, and it is this unscathing bond that supports him to live until now.

Obsessions are endless and vitality is endless. How can you keep your eyes closed if you have not yet fulfilled your wish?

The footsteps of "bang" came into Yuan Shao's ears, who was closing his eyes and resting. Although the person who came was not approaching, Yuan Shao heard the identity of a person from the sound, his steps were hurrying and messy, showing that he was restless and anxious.

Suddenly, Yuan Shao sighed secretly: "When encountering trouble, you are in a panic, and your heart is mixed. How can you achieve something with such a mind? Tan'er is still not calm enough after all, and I, Yuan Shao, have no successor!"

"Father, oh, no, my son, see my father!" As Yuan Shao expected, the one who rushed over was his eldest son Yuan Tan and Yuan Xiansi. Perhaps it was because his father Yuan Shao was too short to be the emperor, which made him not used to changing his words for a while.

Yuan Shao slowly opened his eyes, glanced at Yuan Tan lightly, and said in a low voice: "No need to change his words, I will not be the emperor if I am a father tomorrow."

"Why did the father say this? The child is stupid and will change it in the future. Please forgive me." Yuan Tan was shocked when he heard the sound. He mistakenly thought that his father was angry because of his clumsy mouth, so he immediately knelt down and accused him of the crime. But he did not notice that there was anything in Yuan Shao's words. His intention was simply a donkey's lips that didn't match the horse's mouth, and it had nothing to do with what Yuan Tan said.

After hearing this, Yuan Shao's eyes were filled with indescribable disappointment, so he slowly closed his eyes, leaned on the soft chair and opened his mouth to inhale, as if he was chest tightness and shortness of breath, and needed to calm down and calm himself down.

Yuan Tan didn't know what his father was thinking, so he felt uncomfortable again, so he immediately reported respectfully: "Today, Cao's army lost more than 2,000 soldiers, and our army suffered more than 1,000 casualties. Just now, General Zhang He sent people to report that as of today, Cao's army has sieged the city for 16 consecutive days, and most of the 50,000 troops were lost, and now only more than 8,000 people are left. However, Cao's army has not yet retreated. After the truce in the evening, the enemy general Cao Ren still ordered the soldiers to repair the siege weapons, and it seems that he would continue to attack the city tomorrow." This is what Yuan Tan has to do every day since Li Li led his army to besiege Yecheng. He has to report the battle situation to his father Yuan Shao every evening, and the more detailed the words, the better.

At first, Yuan Tan had to go to the city tower to inspect the battle situation every day, and then come back to report it. But as time went on and over, he stopped doing it himself, but ordered the guard general Zhang He to send someone back to report the battle situation every day, and then he would repost it to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao knew this very well, but did not accuse him of it, and did not seem to mind the matter. This was Yuan Tan's idea.

After saying that, Yuan Tan walked gently to Yuan Shao, rubbed his hands warmed and began to rub his father's shoulders. He was very skillful in his movements. He seemed to have done it many times before, and it seemed that it was difficult to make perfect. This may be the main reason why Yuan Shao has kept him by his side in recent years.

Perhaps Yuan Tan is indeed not a smart and wise person, his mind is not mature enough, and his work is not steady enough, but he is a filial son who values ​​filial piety. This is particularly important for parents. After entering old age, parents value whether their children are filial, not how smart their children are. Filial piety has nothing to do with being smart.

"After half a month of siege, there were only 8,000 troops left for 50,000. Perhaps only Cao Mengde could do such a thing." After a while of silence, Yuan Shao finally spoke. However, this sentence fell into Yuan Tan's ears, which made him feel confused, with a confused look on his face, and he was completely unaware of the so-called.

After a pause, Yuan Shao did not look back, but guessed that his son must have not understood. In the past, Yuan Shao would not explain even if he knew he didn't understand, but today is different from the past. Some things should be told Yuan Tan, otherwise if he didn't say it now, he would probably not have the chance to say it in a few days.

"Xian Si should know that I have known Cao Mengde for more than 30 years. Before Dong Zhuo led his army to Luoyang, I was in love with his father and his brothers, and he did many ridiculous things together when he was young. Because of Mengde's character, I'm afraid there is no one in the world who knows him better than Cao Father. He is tough, cunning, decisive, and ruthless. For a long time, I have not thought that he was inferior to him, and even, I have despised him for a long time. This is not only because he was a descendant of a eunuch, but also because he was a person who did all means to achieve his goals, which made him feel very ashamed of.

Just like the scene you see now, in order to win the trust of Li Zhe (Li Li), he did not hesitate to save the lives of 50,000 elite soldiers, but he himself did not even blink. He stayed by Li Zhe all day long and flattered and chatted and laughed. This move was definitely not done by his father, but Cao Mengde could do it, and he did not reveal any flaws. Therefore, to this day, I have to admit that I am not as good as Cao Mengde in the chaotic times!”

After hearing this, Yuan Tan's face turned pale, his cheeks were extremely twisted, and his expression was ferocious, so that his hands, which had rubbed Yuan Shao's shoulders, were clenched tightly, and the joints clattered. He thought that all he heard were rumors, and how could he hand over his foundation to others in the world? Unfortunately, the wind was not coming, and the thing he was most worried about finally happened.

After struggling violently for a while, Yuan Tan took a deep breath, finally calmed down and forced himself to calm down. Then he pretended to be ignorant and stammered: "This kid is stupid, don't know what his father meant?"

After hearing the sound, Yuan Shao grabbed the handle of the soft chair with his arms, turned his head to look at Yuan Tan with great difficulty, and said earnestly: "Actually, you have known it for a long time, but you have always been lucky, unwilling to admit it, and even more wanting to face it. My son understands what he is thinking in his heart, but you still don't know why he does this for his father until now."

Speaking of this, Yuan Shao was a little excited, so his breath was so rapid that he once again showed a strange flush on his face. After he breathed a sigh of relief, Yuan Shao tried his best to make his tone gentler. His long-term illness also forced him not to be too excited, otherwise he could still speak at this time and he might completely close his eyes in the next moment.

"Just as my son thought, my father didn't want to hand over the Yuan family's foundation to others. As long as there was a glimmer of opportunity, my father would not do this. But what is the current situation of my Yuan family and the situation in the world? Do you know nothing? Compared with the lives of more than a thousand tribes of my Yuan family, what is the size of a Jizhou? No matter how good the foundation or the great country is, it is not as important as the life of my Yuan family. I can't even save my life, so what is the country?"

Forced to pause again, Yuan Shao let out a long sigh and sighed to the sky: "A fool, you, my father and son can still sit in the mansion and talk, all relying on Cao Mengde to hold Li Zhe, and these are all priced. Everything I did for my father is to enable you to live well, not to ask you to be generals and prime ministers, but I just hope you can live a peaceful life. If this is the case, the wish for your father is enough!"

————To be continued————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

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Chapter completed!