Three Kingdoms King of the North

Guo Jia nodded, and replied: "It's been arranged, I plan to let Jiang Jackal be in charge of this matter."

"Jiang Jackal?!" Hearing this strange name, Han Zhan frowned and asked, "It seems that he has never heard of this person before. Can he do it?"

"This person is a secret agent under Xun Youruo." Seeing that Han Zhan knew nothing about Jiang Jackal, Guo Jia explained to him: "In the past, the two adults Gengwu and Minchun were imprisoned, and the Jizhou officials who were close to the Han family The news that Yuan Shao ransacked his family and exterminated his family was sent out by him risking his life. More importantly, the news that Yuan Shao led his troops to Jieqiao to meet the enemy and that the city of Jizhou was empty was also the news that he rushed to the Guangping newspaper."

Knowing that Jiang Jackal had made such a great contribution, Han Zhan raised his eyebrows and asked, "What kind of military position does he hold in the army?"

"He used to be a corps leader in the army," Guo Jia said with a smile, "When he was in Wu'an City, Xun Youruo took a fancy to him and sent him to Jizhou to serve as a spy."

"The official position of Wuchang is too small." Han Zhan thought for a while, and then said to Guo Jia: "Since he has made so many contributions, he should be promoted to be the governor first. After this time he successfully rescued Ju For the sake of the public, this Marquis will discuss meritorious deeds and reward."

Guo Jia nodded, keeping Han Zhan's words in his heart.He paused for a moment, then continued, "Jia went to meet Ju Gongyu's brother and son yesterday."

"Ju Shou's brother and son?" Hearing what Guo Jia said, Han Zhan was taken aback for a moment, and then asked back, "Does Feng Xiao mean Ju Zong and Ju Hu?"

"That's right, it's them." Guo Jia introduced to Han Zhan: "According to Jia's observations, it's not surprising that Juzong's aptitude is mediocre; on the contrary, Gongyu's son Juhu is quite talented. Serving for the lord, you can give him an official position."

Guo Jia's words reminded Han Zhan, and he quickly asked, "Feng Xiao, if Jiang Jackal can have a letter written by Ju's family, it will be easier for him to gain his trust when he meets Ju Shou in Yecheng."

"My lord, Jia has already considered this matter. Here is Juhu's letter, please read it, my lord." He took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Han Zhan respectfully.

Han Zhan took the letter, looked at it briefly, found that it was some family chores written by Juhu to Jushou, and handed it back to Guo Jia.Thinking of later generations evaluating Jushou, saying that his talent is not inferior to Zhuge Liang and Guo Jia, but because he met Yuan Shao, a master who refused to accept the goods, he lost his life in vain before he had time to use what he had learned in his life.Han Zhan sighed and said, "Father and son of the Ju family have great talents. If they can be used by me, it will be a blessing to the people of Jizhou."

Hearing what Han Zhan said, Guo Jia asked tentatively, "Does my lord intend to talk to Juhu and ask him to come out as an official?"

"Wait a little longer," Han Zhan said, shaking his head. "As long as we don't rescue Ju Gongyu, he won't be an official for a day, so as not to hurt his father."

"My lord is worried," Guo Jia agreed with Han Zhan's statement: "With Yuan Shao's heart, once he knows that Ju Gonghe's son is serving us in Jizhou, he will definitely kill Ju Gonghe to vent his anger. of."

"Yuan Shao is currently hiding in Yecheng. Are the family members of those military officials who follow him in Jizhou?"

"Except for the original military officials in Jizhou, the family members of the other officials are all in Nanpi City." Guo Jia didn't know the purpose of Han Zhan's sudden question, and asked specifically: "Is the lord planning to make a mark on these family members?" ?”

"That's right, that's what this Marquis thinks about." Han Zhan said with a smile: "Feng Xiao, think about it, if the overlord of Chu was not besieged at Gaixia, would he have killed himself in Wujiang so soon? Since we If we want to send people to Yecheng, we might as well contact the family members of the former Jizhou officials who followed Yuan Shao to Yecheng to see if they can help us persuade their relatives to submit to us."

Regarding Han Zhan's suggestion, Guo Jia frowned and thought for a while, and then said: "Except for Ju Gong and his brother, only the family members of Xin Zhongzhi have weight, but these two are loyal to Yuan Shao, even if we try to persuade him , there is no effect, on the contrary, those messengers will still be dangerous."

Han Zhan knew that the two brothers Xin Ping and Xin Pi had been trusted by Yuan Shao after they were loyal to Yuan Shao. It was almost impossible for them to change their course and follow him, so he never considered persuading them to surrender.Seeing that Guo Jia misunderstood what he meant, he quickly explained to him: "Feng Xiao, you have misunderstood. The brothers of the Xin family are loyal to Yuan Shao and cannot persuade him to succeed at all. I am talking about the other military officials who followed Yuan Shao to Jizhou. Even if they are low-ranking and low-ranking, as long as they can bring over a few of them, they can weaken Yuan Shao's strength. It's better to draw fire from the bottom of the pot."

After Guo Jia left the State Shepherd's Mansion, he returned to his official residence, recruited Jiang Jackal, and assigned him the task arranged by Han Zhan.After listening to Guo Jia's arrangement, Jiang Jackal asked with a confused face: "Mr. Guo, most of these people you mentioned are just small officials who have not entered the ranks of the team. Even if they are persuaded to surrender, what good will they do?" ?”

"Accumulate sand to form hills, and accumulate water to form abyss." Guo Jia smiled and said to Jiang Jie: "You brought letters from family members to those Jizhou officials who stayed in Yecheng. We will not fight against us openly. If one goes up and down the other, Yuan Shao's strength will be greatly weakened."

After Guo Jia finished speaking, he suddenly remembered an important matter, and quickly asked, "By the way, have you found out who was responsible for the assassination of Lieutenant Gao Gao?"

Jiang Jack shook his head and said, "No one was left alive, and the dead assassins didn't have anything to prove their identities, so until now, there is no clue."

"You still need to continue to investigate this matter," Guo Jia told Jiang Jackal, "If it is too late to find out the identity of the other party, I worry that we will be hard-pressed when he assassinates the lord in the future." He paused for a moment, and then He added, "One more thing, the lord has appointed you as Du Bo. I hope you will not disappoint the lord's expectations during this trip to Yecheng."

Hearing that he was promoted by Han Zhan to Dubo, Jiang Jack hesitated for a moment, and quickly knelt on the ground to express his determination to Guo Jia: "Mr. Guo and my lord, don't worry, I will go to Yecheng this time, if I don't succeed, I will be benevolent. If I can't save you Mr. Ju, he will never return to Jizhou City alive."

Chapter 0159 The family letter is worth ten thousand gold

It has been more than half a month since Jiang Jackal was sent to Yecheng, but no news came back.On the contrary, the people Xun Yu sent to Chang'an heard back.In addition to presenting gifts to Li Jue and Guo Si and gaining their favor, he also brought back a letter from Cai Yong.

After finishing the discussion, Han Zhan hurried back to the backyard with the letter worth ten thousand gold, and walked towards Cai Yan's room.

When it was more than ten meters away from Cai Yan's house, Han Zhan heard the melodious sound of the piano coming from the house, so he stopped and stood in the yard to listen.

A maid that Han Zhan gave to Cai Yan walked out of the house after opening the curtain. Seeing Han Zhan standing in the yard, she quickly came over and bowed to him: "See Tinghou!"

Han Zhan put his index finger to his lips, made a gesture of silence, and then asked the maid in a low voice, "What is Miss Cai sitting in the room?"

"Returning to Tinghou," the maid felt strange when she heard Han Zhan's question, and said to herself that you didn't hear her playing the piano, so why did you ask more?But she still replied truthfully: "Miss Cai is playing the piano. The maidservant is going to the kitchen to help Miss get the boiled lotus seed soup."

"Oh, Ben Hou knows." Han Zhan waved at her, "Go down first!"

After the maid left, Han Zhan walked to the door, stood there for a while, and then coughed heavily.Hearing the cough at the door, the sound of the piano in the room stopped abruptly.

Seeing that the sound of the piano in the room had stopped, Han Zhan did not immediately lift the curtain to go in, but asked with a smile, "Miss Cai, can I go in?"

"Tinghou, please come in!" As soon as he finished speaking, Cai Yan's sweet voice came from the room.

Han Zhan opened the curtain and walked into the room, only to see Cai Yan sitting kneeling in front of a low table with a piano on it.Seeing Han Zhan coming in, she quickly got up and saluted Han Zhan: "My family has seen Tinghou!"

"Zhao Ji doesn't need to be so polite." Han Zhan came to Cai Yan with his hands behind his back, and said to her with a smile, "Zhao Ji, this Marquis brought you a gift today, I think you will like it very much."

Cai Yan just smiled lightly after hearing this, and said in his mouth: "Thank you Tinghou for your kindness, I have everything you can eat and use here, so Tinghou doesn't have to spend any more."

"The beacon fire lasts for three months, and the letter from the family is worth ten thousand gold." Du Fu's poem, Han Zhan couldn't help blurting out under pride, and he handed Cai Yong's letter in front of Cai Yan, "This is a letter sent by your father from Chang'an. , are you sure you don't want it?"

"What, father's letter?" Hearing Han Zhan say this, Cai Yan's eyes lit up, she snatched the letter, and sat next to the desk to read it intently.

Han Zhan stood beside him, looking at Cai Yan with a smile.Unexpectedly, Cai Yan wiped away tears after reading Cai Yong's letter.Han Zhan hurriedly sat down beside her, put his arms around her shoulders, and asked with concern, "Zhao Ji, why are you crying?"

Cai Yan wiped away tears and said to Han Zhan: "Tinghou, the slave family is very happy. I haven't seen my father for several years, and I haven't received a letter from my father. Thank you Tinghou for sending it to the slave family. Father's letter." After finishing speaking, she rested her head on Han Zhan's shoulder.

Seeing Cai Yan bursting into tears, Han Zhan took out a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and said lovingly, "Zhaoji, wipe the tears off your face."

Unexpectedly, Cai Yan looked at Han Zhan with bright eyes, a blush flew up on his face, he twisted his body, and said softly, "Tinghou, I want you to wipe it for me."

Looking at Cai Yan's beautiful face, Han Zhan stretched out his hand and gently wiped her face.Cai Yan closed her eyes slightly, leaned her head on Han Zhan's shoulder, her body trembling slightly.Han Zhan was shocked by a strange feeling that he had never experienced before. He threw the silk handkerchief on the table, opened his arms and held Cai Yan tightly in his arms, and involuntarily pressed his lips against Cai Yan's. forehead.Cai Yan let out a low snort, then limply fell to the side.

The maid who went to the kitchen to fetch lotus seed soup for Cai Yan walked to the door with a tray when she heard a strange sound coming from inside.Curiously, she opened a corner of the curtain and looked inside, but she saw a scene that made her blush and her heart beat. She was so frightened that she hurriedly put down the curtain and left as if fleeing.

After a long time, the two people in the room finally sat up again.Cai Yan leaned her head on Han Zhan's shoulder, "Tinghou, I miss my father, I don't know when I will see him again."

Han Zhan put his arms around Cai Yan's shoulders and said to her, "Zhaoji, don't worry, when the spring is warm and the flowers bloom next year, I will accompany you to Chang'an to visit Mr. Cai."

The two were talking, when suddenly there was a heavy coughing sound outside.Both Han Zhan and Cai Yan could tell that the coughing person was Patch, but Han Zhan didn't care, but Cai Yan blushed with shame. She broke free from Han Zhan's arms, got up and walked towards the back bedroom.

Han Zhan looked at her back and smiled, then got up and walked to the door, and said to the outside: "Patch, come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Patch opened the door curtain and walked in.Perhaps because he was afraid of seeing an embarrassing scene, after Patch came in, his eyes were tightly closed.Seeing him like this, Han Zhan was really angry and funny. After raising his hand and slapping him on the head, he asked with a smile, "What's the matter with you?"

Although Patch was slapped, he still didn't dare to open his eyes. He closed his eyes and reported to Han Zhan, "My lord, Mr. Guo is waiting for you in the meeting hall. He said there is news from Ye City."

"Oh, there's news from Yecheng." Hearing that Yecheng was the city he was most concerned about, Han Zhan immediately lifted the curtain, and said to Patch who was standing there stupidly, "Follow me to the conference hall."

When they arrived at the chamber, Guo Jia was already waiting there.Seeing Han Zhan's arrival, Guo Jia hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and reported: "My lord, Jiang Jack, who was sent to Yecheng, sent a letter back." Give it to Han Zhan.

Han Zhan waved his hand and said to him: "What is said in the letter, Feng Xiao can just tell Ben Hou directly."

"The letter said two things," Guo Jia reported quickly: "The first thing is that they have been mixed into the prison and met with Jugong. But it is regrettable that Jugong and even After reading my son's letter, he was determined not to leave the prison with our people."

"If Jushou doesn't want to leave the prison, order Jiang Jackal to stun him, and then try to transport him out of Yecheng." After Han Zhan gave Guo Jia the order, he asked casually, "What's the second thing?"

"Jiang Xie heard that Yuan Shao has sent someone to the Zhen family to propose a marriage." Guo Jia looked at Han Zhan and said cautiously, "We will employ Zhen Mi, the fifth daughter of the Zhen family, as Yuan Xi's wife.