Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1202 Undercurrent
Yuan Xi called Lu Xun over. After listening to Yuan Xi's arrangements, Lu Xun hesitated and asked, "Send the spies from Jianghuai to Jizhou as well?"

"They are not on the same line as the spies in the north. Will they conflict with each other?"

Yuan Xi said, "It is indeed possible, but if it is too late, we may miss this good opportunity."

"Although the risk is great, the benefits are also high. If we can use this to cause internal strife in the Cao family, perhaps the cost of conquering Jizhou may be reduced a lot."

"Although their lives are in danger, they are also soldiers. It takes a thousand days to train soldiers and only a moment to use them. Now that they are needed, they must do what only they can do."

When Lu Xun thought of Yuan Xi's previous evaluation of the Xuzhou gentry, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart and quickly accepted the order.

Not long after, spies from all over Jianghuai entered Jizhou under the cover of various identities, looking for an opportunity to enter Yecheng.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang also received an urgent order from Yuan Xi, and mobilized his spies who had been lurking in Yecheng to make arrangements to add fuel to the internal strife within the Cao family.

At the same time, the news that Cao Ang was confirmed to be alive and accepted the title conferred by Yuan Xi on the Korean Peninsula was also spread into the city openly, causing considerable unrest.

The ambush of Cao Zhi's faction by Cao Pi's faction that night was also exposed and widely publicized, and for a time the voices of dissatisfaction among the gentry were rampant.

Although the Yingchuan faction had an absolute advantage, Cao Zhi was still a highly popular candidate. Moreover, Zhong Yao, Sima Yi and others accused Cao Zhi's faction of treason. It would have been fine if they had arrested the four friends, the backbone of Cao Zhi's faction. However, after that night, the four friends seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth and never appeared again.

This made the rumors spread more and more mysterious, and there were even reports that the Four Friends were secretly executed by Cao Pi's faction, which put Cao Pi's faction in an extremely passive position.

They had originally intended to frame the four friends, capture them and fabricate charges against them, then kill them off in prison as if they were an accident. But now the result made it seem as if the four friends had been silenced on the spot!
Moreover, when the news that Cao Ang was alive came, some of the nobles who had a very strong relationship with Cao Ang but had no choice but to surrender to Cao Pi began to secretly have ideas.

After all, there are many people who have surrendered to Cao Pi, and the piece of cake they get is not much. If they can establish a relationship with Cao Ang in the future, even if Cao's army fails, they may be able to get a piece of the pie because of their relationship with Cao Ang!

The reason why these people had this idea was actually the same as the Battle of Guandu in later generations. It all came down to it because Cao's camp was now showing signs of decline, leaving the gentry with no hope of winning, so they began to consider retreating.

Moreover, among the rumors circulating at the same time, there were accusations that Cao Pi was impatient and wanted to assassinate Cao Cao and directly ascend to the throne of King of Wei.

These rumors were vivid and detailed. It was impossible for someone who was not close to Cao Cao to know certain details. When these words reached the ears of Cao Pi's faction, they all agreed that this was most likely done by Cao Zhi's faction, because only Cao Zhi could know it so clearly!
This indicated that Cao Zhi's faction had revealed its true intentions, and this was revenge for Cao Pi's faction's earlier actions!

There was chaos in Ye City, and Cao Cao was urgently needed to calm the situation. Unfortunately, Cao Cao's health was not getting better, which made many people have an idea.

If this continues, will Yecheng be undefendable?

In a secret mansion somewhere, three people gathered together to discuss.

Xun You was furious and said, "The rumors about the Second Young Master are really outrageous!"

"This is a critical period for the fight for Jizhou. How could the Second Young Master ignore the overall situation and poison the medicine to assassinate the King of Wei?"

He looked at Sima Yi opposite him and saw that he had his head down, as if he was in a trance.

Xun You was quite surprised that Zhong Yao asked Sima Yi to participate in this secret meeting. Most of the time before, it was Zhong Yao and Xun You who discussed things together, but now this situation was broken. Xun You was wondering in his heart, what was the reason why Zhong Yao valued and trusted Sima Yi so much?
At this time, Zhong Yao's voice sounded, "The problem is, this rumor is true."

"What!" Xun You was shocked. He had no idea about the inside story!
He lost his voice and asked, "Is Duke Wei's medicine really poisonous?"

"Is it related to the Second Young Master?"

Zhong Yao's face was solemn. "Although it may not be poison, it is definitely problematic."

"And it was Madam Bian who tasted the medicine and found that it tasted wrong, so she ordered people to investigate, and that's when the discovery was made."

"But during that time, we consulted several doctors, but none of them could identify what was added to it. Later, we asked people to drink the medicine, and there seemed to be nothing abnormal."

"But Xionghu's subordinates already have some people with extremely superb medical skills. We cannot rule out the possibility that he hired someone to poison him."

Xun Youqi asked, "Then how is it related to the Second Young Master?"

Zhong Yao said: "Because someone witnessed the Second Young Master appearing in the pharmacy."

Xun You had a headache. This was too much of a coincidence. However, it was discovered by Madam Bian. Could it be that she framed her own son?

He looked at Sima Yi and found that there was no surprise on his face. He couldn't help but wonder, "Has Zhongda heard about it a long time ago?"

Sima Yi shook his head, "I just heard it from the Prime Minister as well."

Xun You was even more surprised, "You seem to have guessed it a long time ago?"

Sima Yi explained: "Since it is a rumor, it must have been spread by someone with ulterior motives."

"At this time, false rumors are easily debunked. If they are repeated too many times, people will refuse to believe them, making the rumors ineffective."

"So at this time, the best approach is to use nine true and one false. The false one should be paved with nine true ones."

"This rumor will obviously not have the final say, it is definitely used to build momentum."

Xun You suddenly thought of something, "Have the four friends already..."

Sima Yi said, "It's possible. If we were facing the fierce military advisor Guo Jia, the four friends might have died and then thrown out to frame us." "But I heard that the people in charge of Jizhou now are Zhuge Liang, Ju Shou, and Tian Feng. These three people are not the type to kill everyone."

"So Yi guessed that the four of them were probably protected and would only appear at the critical moment to deal us the greatest blow."

At this time, Zhong Yao's voice sounded, "Now Gongda knows why I called Zhongda over."

"In terms of battle strategy, you are the best after Duke Wei, but in the court, Zhongda is the genius."

"I hope that you can cooperate sincerely and help the King of Wei continue his reign."

"To do this, we need to do something that the king is not convenient to do, such as the current fight for the crown prince."

"With a powerful enemy in front of us, if we still fight for power, we will surely let the enemy sit back and watch us laugh at us, and repeat the mistakes of the Yuan family!"

"The Third Prince is kind-hearted, but he is not strong enough to fight against the fierce tiger. Only someone like the Second Prince can fulfill Duke Wei's wish. I believe that if Duke Wei is sober, he will make the same choice!"

"If the Cao family were to engage in internal strife right now, not only would Yecheng not be able to be defended, but Guandong would also be completely lost. Later, even Guanzhong and Guanlong would be in tatters!"

"This meaningless dispute is now pushing the Cao family's foundation into the abyss. What we have to do is to turn the tide even if it means bearing the stigma!"

Xun You agreed, "What Yuan Chang said is correct, but there is one thing I don't understand. The rumor is so detailed, there must be a spy in the inner house. Why don't you investigate this matter thoroughly?"

Zhong Yao glanced at Sima Yi, who understood and said, "Some time ago, the King of Wei wanted to marry the eldest princess to Ding Yi, but the second son stopped him because of Ding Yi's unbearable appearance."

Xun You said in a lost voice: "Zhongda means that the spy is related to the princess?"

Zhong Yao said in a deep voice: "Gongda, don't forget that the princess and Madam Ding were once prisoners of the fierce tiger."

"What happened during this period of time is unknown."

“But what happens next is very interesting.”

"You all know the news that the eldest son is still alive, right?"

The two of them nodded in unison. This matter was extremely troublesome, and it happened at this time!
Zhong Yao said in a deep voice: "If the eldest master is really working for Xionghu now, then it reveals a lot of problems."

"That's the king's own flesh and blood. It's a great act of filial piety to surrender to the enemy. What could have made him do this?"

Xun You came to his senses and asked, "Mrs. Ding?"

Zhong Yao nodded, "Yes, this is what I am most worried about."

"You have not yet realized how powerful the fierce tiger is. It is only natural that he can join forces with the enemy of the Lord, but it is too terrifying that he can use the person closest to the Lord for his own benefit!"

"The ministers only felt the horror of the fierce tiger on the battlefield, but they were completely unaware of the threat of the fierce tiger in deceiving people and gathering intelligence."

"Over the years, I have been studying Xiong Hu and found that he is indeed an extremely difficult and terrifying opponent."

"It seems that he can always anticipate the enemy's moves and easily resolve the strategies I have carefully thought of."

"I suspected Dong Zhao was Xiong Hu's man before, and I have been trying to find evidence against him, but for some reason, I always fail at the last step."

"There were a few times when I felt that the outcome was certain, but for some reason, Dong Zhao escaped again!"

Xun You knew Zhong Yao's resentment about this matter, and smiled bitterly: "Is it possible that Yuan Chang really overthinks it?"

"Maybe Dong Zhao is indeed fine."

"Impossible!" Zhong Yao waved his hand, "I have carefully studied everything Xiong Hu has done through various means!"

"Everyone who has anything to do with him will be used by him in the end!"

"Dong Zhao is like this, Xu You is like this, Xun Chen is like this, and the eldest princess is like this too!"

"This person seems to have some magic that can bewitch those he wants to use. We must deal with this kind of enemy with all our strength to find a chance to defeat him!"

Xun You didn't expect Zhong Yao to speak so highly of Xiong Hu, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Could it be that, as the rumors say, he really knows the art of stargazing?"

Sima Yi spoke slowly, "For hundreds of years in the Han Dynasty, the Grand Historian (the government office that observes celestial phenomena) has been observing celestial phenomena without stopping, but it has not prevented the decline of the Han Dynasty."

"Emperor Gaozu was also a human being. It took him seven years to conquer the world, but the fierce tiger has already surpassed that time."

"This shows that he is just a powerful person. As long as he is human, he has weaknesses."

"Yi really wants to fight him in person to see what's so powerful about him!"

(End of this chapter)