Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3895 A Friend Comes from Afar
The Grand Chancellor's Residence of the Han Dynasty.

Upon hearing the messenger's servant utter a few words in a low voice, Cao Cao's expression immediately changed. He rebuked him, "What a flustered scene! How can this be proper?! Come in and we'll talk!"

Cao Cao said no more and turned to leave.

Seeing this, the guards half-dragged and half-carried the messenger into the front hall.

Cao Cao waved his hand.

The guards threw the messenger down, bowed, and retreated, surrounding the front hall.

The messenger, catching his breath on the ground for a moment, looked up and saw Cao Cao sitting upright in the main seat with a furrowed brow. Perhaps having regained some strength, he rolled a few steps and fell to the ground at Cao Cao's feet. Before he could even speak, tears streamed down his face, and he sobbed uncontrollably.

Cao Cao looked down, his heart growing increasingly uneasy.

The messenger's hoarse, broken cries, like a broken bellows tearing at something in despair, cried out, "My lord! My lord! Something terrible has happened! Ye City... Ye City is gone! Gone! It's all over! Everything is over, my lord—!!"

The name "Ye City" was like two thunderbolts from the heavens, exploding loudly in Cao Cao's ears!

Cao Cao's facial muscles tensed instantly, his pupils contracted sharply, and he abruptly stood up from his seat. His sleeve knocked over the pen holder on the table, which fell to the floor with a 'clatter'.

The haphazardly placed calligraphy brushes resembled corpses on a battlefield.

Cao Cao glared with his beady eyes. "Stop spouting nonsense and disrupting morale! Ye City is fortified and heavily fortified, defended by tens of thousands of troops. How could they… Get up! Come in and explain!"

Cao Cao's voice suddenly turned stern, trembling uncontrollably, but he quickly suppressed his turbulent emotions, stopped his servants from wailing, and looked around.

The servant seemed to be startled by Cao Cao's low shout, realizing that the matter was top secret, and tried his best to control his emotions, suppressing his sobs.

Cao Cao took a deep breath, outwardly maintaining a calm demeanor, but his heart was pounding wildly. His trembling hands, hidden in his sleeves, betrayed the turmoil within. He stared intently at his retainer, who lay prostrate on the ground, still sobbing. His voice was low, yet each word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a chilling killing intent and a last shred of hope: "Ye City… what has become of it? You… recount the entire story in detail, without omitting a single word!"

The general pounded his head on the ground with a loud thud, his face smeared with tears, snot, dust, and blood. His voice was hoarse and broken as he recounted in broken sentences how Ye City was attacked by the cavalry detachment, how the fierce battle took place on the outskirts, and how the city walls were breached.

The narrative naturally includes embellishments of the Cao family's defenders' "desperate resistance," glorification of "days of bloody fighting," and emphasis on the "overwhelming strength" and "cunning" of the Flying Cavalry. But the final outcome remains unchanged...

"...Although our army fought valiantly, the enemy was fierce and well-equipped, and there were spies within the city providing cover... After several days of fierce fighting, the streets were filled with corpses and rivers of blood... In the end, they could not hold out any longer, all four gates were breached, and the city... the city fell! The Second Young Master personally led his guards in a desperate battle against the enemy before the Ba Mansion, but he was exhausted... exhausted and captured by the enemy! The ladies and other noblewomen and their families in the city... due to the sudden turn of events, were unable to evacuate in time and all... all fell into the hands of the enemy! The Ba Mansion's treasury, the city's granary, the armory, and all the confidential documents, maps, and correspondence accumulated by our benefactor over the years... all have been lost! All have been seized by the enemy! I... I was ordered by the Second Young Master to fight my way out of the encirclement with my own courage and blood to bring you this news! My benefactor! The banners of Ye City... Ye City has changed hands! The heartland of Hebei is no longer mine!!"

Every word was like a heavy hammer, carrying the chill of despair, slamming into Cao Cao's chest!

Every word was like a black lightning bolt tearing through the sky, striking Cao Cao's already overburdened skull repeatedly!
It made a loud clanging sound!

"Ye City...has fallen?! Pi'er captured?! His entire family captured?! All the documents in the treasury lost?!"

Cao Cao could barely control his trembling, and he kept repeating those nightmarish words.

The messenger's family would then bang their heads on the ground.

In the Shandong and Central Plains region, the problem of prioritizing results over process is very serious. Even though there is constant emphasis on process management, the focus remains on results. Therefore, the messenger and his family did not mention that they were afraid of being blocked by the Flying Cavalry and deliberately disguised themselves as refugees fleeing the war, taking a long detour to reach Cao Cao.

I was worried I'd be scolded for being late, but I didn't expect him to be the first to bring the news...

As for why he was the first to return with the news, the reasons are quite remarkable.

However, for Cao Cao, this news was like a sudden blow to the head, causing his vision to go black, countless stars to flash, his ears to ring, and the world to seem to be spinning and turning upside down!
A chilling aura that seemed to penetrate straight to the soul surged up from the soles of Cao Cao's feet, rapidly spreading along his spine to every inch of his skin and every hair on his body!
Cao Cao seemed to want to reach out and press down on the table in front of him to steady his swaying body, but his arm trembled violently on its own. Instead of pressing down on the table, he swept all the remaining writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, command tokens, documents and other miscellaneous items on the table to the ground with a 'clatter'!
The ear-piercing sounds of various objects shattering were particularly alarming in the deathly silent hall.

Cao Cao struggled to stand up, trying to hold onto the table, but he had been overworked for days and was suddenly shocked by the news. Under the intense stimulation, he staggered and could no longer support his body, and was about to fall backward!
"My lord!!!"

Dian Wei, who had been standing outside the door, did not hear the entire conversation, but when he heard the sound of objects falling inside the hall, he knew something was wrong, so he immediately came in to check. Seeing Cao Cao swaying, he rushed forward and firmly supported Cao Cao!

"Huff... huff..."

Cao Cao was breathing heavily, gripping Dian Wei's arm tightly, like a drowning man grabbing a log.

On Cao Cao's forehead and neck, the veins throbbed violently like twisted earthworms. His face was distorted almost out of shape in the dim, flickering candlelight. Gone was any trace of his usual domineering demeanor; only boundless horror, rage, and despair remained.

In an instant, Cao Cao felt his blood turn completely cold, solidify, and then shatter in the solidification, turning into countless cold fragments that pierced his internal organs!

Cao Cao stared intently at the messenger and his retainer on the ground, who was sobbing uncontrollably. A low, wounded growl escaped his throat. "You…you dare utter a single falsehood?! Ye City is my stronghold, with ample troops and provisions. How could…how could it fall so easily?! Pi'er…family…if you…dare to deceive me, I swear I will tear you to pieces and exterminate your entire clan!!!"

"It's absolutely true, my benefactor!!" The messenger's retainer nearly kowtowed until his head bled, his cries filled with despair and anguish. "If there's even a sliver of falsehood, may I be torn to pieces, struck down by heaven and earth, my ancestors disgraced, and never to be reincarnated! My benefactor! Ye City... it's truly gone!!"

Cao Cao now desperately hoped that all of this was just a nightmare, or that this retainer was talking nonsense and was a spy bribed by the enemy to disturb his mind!
However, Cao Cao knew in his heart that this was not something to be taken lightly, nor could it be faked.

But Cao Cao still harbored a glimmer of hope...

Or perhaps they find it unbelievable.

Ye City!

That was not only the location of Cao Mengde's hegemonic residence, but also the core symbol of his political power of "holding the emperor hostage to command the princes"!

It is not only the hall of honor of Cao Cao's conquests, but also the foundation that his Cao family group has built and reinforced many times over the years, regarding it as the strongest foundation!
Cao Cao had received a letter from Cao Pi and Chen Qun, but he was not too worried. On the one hand, he felt that the main force of the Flying Cavalry was definitely not in Ji Province, and on the other hand, he had enough confidence in the city walls and fortifications of Ye City.

But now, that 'confidence' has collapsed!
The city fell, my son was captured, my family was lost, and the treasury was seized by the enemy…

what does this mean? !

This means that Cao Cao not only suffered repeated defeats, losses of soldiers and generals, and loss of territory in the Hedong and Heluo battlefields, but now even his old base, which he had built up over many years and regarded as an important support, along with his entire grand strategy, has been uprooted and turned upside down!

This means that even if he managed to defeat the vanguard of the Flying Cavalry once or twice at Sishui Pass, he still lost half of the country and the Cao family's base north of the Yellow River!

This is undoubtedly a devastating blow to the prestige of Cao Cao's political group. Those prefectural and county forces that are still observing or forced to submit are likely to become disloyal and even turn against him!

Cao Ren's reinforcements are still on their way, nowhere to be seen; the assassins sent to attack the cavalry's supply lines have just been dispatched, their fate unknown; the trap to lure the cavalry into a night raid has just been set, and its outcome is still uncertain...

All his procrastination, all his planning, all his struggles and hopes seemed so pale, powerless, laughable, and pathetic in the face of this sudden and devastating blow!
Like a drowning person, still desperately waving their arms, calculating the direction of each current, struggling to survive, only to suddenly realize that what they have grabbed is not a piece of driftwood that can help them, but a rotten straw!

"Ye City...has fallen...family members...all captured..."

Cao Cao collapsed back down, almost without any regard for his image, as if all the bones in his body had been pulled out at that moment, and all his energy and spirit had been shattered in an instant!

He no longer cared about the demeanor of a powerful leader, the dignity of a prime minister, the calm calculations, or the composed aura...

He raised a withered, trembling hand and pressed it against his throbbing forehead, digging his fingers deep into his disheveled, graying hair, gripping it tightly, as if this could alleviate the boundless despair and pain emanating from the depths of his soul.

He sat there, hunched over, silent for a long time.

The body, trembling uncontrollably, silhouetted against the dim, flickering candlelight, depicting a desolate figure at the end of a hero's life, his grand ambitions shattered.

A moment later, Cao Cao slowly raised his hand and pointed at the messenger's retainer, 'Guards... this traitor is spreading false information and disrupting our army's morale... drag him out and execute him!'

……

……

In the camp of the General of the Cavalry.

Inside the simple marching tent, the oil lamp flickered dimly.

Sima Yi was having a simple evening meal: a bowl of millet rice topped with a piece of cured meat that had been steamed along with the rice.

A dish of salted broad beans.

In addition, a small jar of fermented vegetable soup.

The meal was hardly luxurious; in fact, it was quite simple and coarse. Yet Sima Yi ate with composure, chewing slowly and deliberately, as if savoring some delicacy.

A trusted aide standing nearby carefully added soup to Sima Yi's bowl while lowering his voice and reporting with a hint of flattery: "My lord, these past few days, while moving around the camp, I've heard some rumors... quite different from before."

"Oh?" Sima Yi picked up a piece of broad bean sprout without looking up.

"Since General Huang achieved his merit at Gongxian, many of the military officers who used to gossip have changed their tune." His trusted aide observed Sima Yi's expression, carefully choosing his words. "They no longer talk about the lord… uh, only caring about their own merits… Now they're saying that the officer was reckless and didn't listen to the lord's good advice, which led to the disaster… Look at General Huang now, he listens to the lord's every word, and he easily captured Gongxian and achieved great merit! Everyone says… everyone says the lord truly has ability, and the officer's actions can't be entirely blamed on the lord…"

Sima Yi put the patchouli into his mouth and chewed slowly, his face showing no surprise. He merely nodded slightly, as if this shift in public opinion was something he had anticipated, or even the result he had guided or expected. He was adept at leveraging power; assisting Huang Cheng in capturing Gong County was both fulfilling his duty as an assistant and re-establishing an example in the army that "listening to Sima Yi leads to victory," thus offsetting the negative impact of the "Conglai" incident.

Now it seems that the effects are beginning to show.

Seeing Sima Yi's indifferent reaction, the attendant hesitated for a moment, then finally couldn't help but ask tentatively and with some confusion, "However... besides the discussion about joining the army, there are some other whispers in the camp... I've heard them, and I'm also a little puzzled."

"Speak," Sima Yi uttered between bites.

"It's...it's about the General..." The attendant's voice was even lower, as if afraid of touching on some taboo. "Some military officers are gossiping, saying that our army is strong and well-equipped, and that Cao Cao's army at Sishui Pass is already at its end. Why doesn't the General immediately launch a fierce attack and finish them off in one battle? Instead...why wait for some kind of meeting, giving that Cao traitor a chance to breathe? Is it...is it that the General has some concerns, or is there...some difficulty within Chang'an Pass that they don't know about?"

Sima Yi listened but did not answer immediately. He picked up the bowl of fermented vegetable soup, slowly sipped it, his gaze lingering for a moment on the flickering lamplight, then suddenly turned to his attendant, his tone calm and emotionless: "In your opinion, why doesn't the General immediately attack the pass?"

The attendant was taken aback by Sima Yi's question and hesitated for a moment before letting out a flustered "Ah." Seeing Sima Yi looking at him calmly, he knew he was being tested and immediately became nervous, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Sima Yi did not expect his trusted attendants to answer immediately. He continued eating slowly until they finished. After his attendants cleared the dishes and wiped the table, he finally turned his gaze to his trusted attendants.

A trusted aide handed Sima Yi a warm towel, and while helping him wash his face, spoke cautiously, his voice tinged with uncertainty, "My humble opinion... perhaps... the General doesn't want to push too hard? Although that Cao Cao has been defeated, he has cultivated his influence in Shandong for many years, with many marriage alliances and old friends. If our army launches a hasty attack, it might force him to fight like a cornered beast, and instead compel the powerful families of Shandong to band together and resist Cao Cao to the death? Now that the General has adopted a peace-seeking stance, showing the world leniency and not rushing to seize the pass... those opportunists, seeing that Cao Cao's power is waning and that I am not simply bloodthirsty, perhaps... they will turn against Cao and join me? Just like... just like Liu Liang?"

After the confidant finished speaking, he stole a glance at Sima Yi, trying to discern the correctness of the answer from Sima Yi's face.

Sima Yi dried his hands, handed the towel back, and a half-smile appeared on his face. "This is what you came to this conclusion after seeing Liu Liang and his companion arrive. But strategists should think ahead… Do you have any foresight regarding the enemy beforehand?"

A bead of sweat appeared on the confidant's forehead. After a moment's hesitation, under Sima Yi's gaze, he said tentatively, "That's true... yes, I have a question..."

Sima Yi nodded.

The confidant said, "So now that the General is holding back his troops and only offering peace talks... will they truly be at ease and not entertain the idea of ​​a second alliance at Suanzao?"

"A second alliance of sour dates?" Sima Yi raised his eyebrows.

The attendant nodded repeatedly, "This... if Cao Cao were to summon the feudal lords again in the name of the emperor..."

"Haha!" Sima Yi suddenly chuckled, interrupting his attendant. He waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to say anything more. "You can ponder this question yourself. You may leave."

Sima Yi's laughter contained little joy, but rather a hint of mockery for the questioner's failure to see through him.

The attendant knew he must have asked a stupid question that touched a nerve with the military advisor, but he couldn't figure out exactly what was so stupid about it. He could only awkwardly reply "Yes," pack his things, and leave the tent with his head down.

The curtains were drawn, shutting out the cold wind and noise from outside.

Sima Yi sat alone under the lamp, the smile on his face long gone, replaced by his usual calm. His opinion of his trusted attendant had dropped even further.

This person may be loyal enough, but lacks resourcefulness. He can only do trivial things like running errands, relaying messages, and taking care of daily needs. His vision for the big picture is ultimately shallow.

but……

On the other hand, it's actually better to be a little foolish, at least you're easier to control and won't have any inappropriate thoughts.

His thoughts quickly drifted away from his confidant and went higher.

General Fei Qian of the Flying Cavalry...

In the past few days, apart from handling daily military affairs, he did not seem to summon his generals and advisors as frequently as before to discuss the strategy for advancing the army.

Is the situation already settled and there's no need for further discussion?

still is……

A thought flashed through Sima Yi's mind like a bolt of lightning...

Could it be that the Great General is still alive...?

To test the masses?

Just as he had just tested his trusted confidants, was the Grand General also observing the reactions and insights of his civil and military officials during this seemingly calm "waiting period"?
Who is eager for quick success, who is calm and measured, who can see the deeper meaning behind "not attacking", and who only knows how to rush headlong?
At this crucial moment that will determine the fate of the Central Plains and even the entire world, the ruler's eye for examining his subjects will inevitably be even sharper.

If that's the case, what should Sima Yi do right now?
Is he once again taking the initiative to offer advice, demonstrating his insight into the situation, and further consolidating his position as a "think tank"?

still is……

For the time being, he concealed his sharpness, revealing a sense of composure and dedication, and even slightly "clumsy" in some inconsequential places, to show that he had no intention of eagerly vying for credit.

Both options clearly have their advantages and disadvantages.

Offering another suggestion, if it hits the general's sweet spot, will naturally increase the odds. However, if the suggestion deviates slightly from the general's established strategy, or seems too radical, it may arouse suspicion, appearing as eager for quick success, or even...

It is suspected of interfering with the head coach's decision-making.

After all, the general's thoughts are as deep as the sea, how much of them can I see through?
Choosing to remain silent and observe is certainly a safer option, avoiding potential confrontation, but it may also mean missing the opportunity to further enter the core decision-making circle. Especially when figures like Jia Qu and Du Ji are present, silence sometimes implies incompetence or alienation.

Sima Yi quickly weighed the options in his mind.

Perhaps, at this moment, remaining calm and observing carefully, making prudent judgments, is the best course of action?

But how do we grasp the appropriate degree of 'stillness'?

Complete silence risks being ignored, while excessive observation risks missing opportunities.

Sima Yi pondered the matter, several possibilities clashing in his mind, but he could not make a decision that would maximize his own interests.

The flickering lamplight cast Sima Yi's shadow on the tent wall, making it appear longer and shorter.

In the end, he could only decide that when he went to the central command tent the next day to assist with official business, he should pay even closer attention to the general's every word and action...

Even some of Fei Qian's subtle actions...

Furthermore, it is necessary to prepare several different countermeasures so that one can react in a way that best serves one's own interests in response to changes in the situation...

In the stillness before this massive storm that will sweep the world, lying low and observing may be more important than any rash action.

However, this period of "lying low and observing" was not pleasant for the ambitious Sima Yi, who longed to occupy a higher position in this turbulent tide...