The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 308 Departure
Cao Mao sneezed several times in a row.

He touched his nose and looked at Yang Hu not far away.

At this moment, Cao Mao was standing outside the Taiji Hall, watching the soldiers coming and going, and Yang Hu was giving orders.

The originally silent palace was now filled with the sound of armor clashing.

Man Changwu stood aside, looking at the scene in front of him seriously.

Cao Mao looked at the big man who looked very much like his father and grandfather. Man Changwu did not have the talent of Man Chong, but in terms of fulfilling his duties, it seemed that few people under Cao Mao's command could match him.

Cao Mao still trusted this person very much.

"Man Jun, from today on, you will stay here and don't let anyone enter the palace."

"You must not allow anyone in this palace to reveal my whereabouts."

Cao Mao began to give orders, and Man Changwu naturally obeyed them immediately.

This time Cao Mao was going to leave the palace and even leave Luoyang. Sima Zhao's army was now deployed in Wude, Huaixian, Yewang and other counties in Henei County.

He was in the prefecture and county at the junction of Yewang and Huaixian, and the place Cao Mao was going to at the moment was Wen County, southwest of the prefecture and county.

Because of Cheng's false information, Sima Zhao kept adjusting his position and moving closer and closer to the front.

Zhong Hui once analyzed Sima Zhao's idea. He probably wanted to use Yewang's army as the main attack and march straight to Yinping, while he himself wanted to cut off the gateway between Henan Yin and the Central Plains, so he made such a deployment.

Sima Zhao's current deployment has the best chance.

If the ambitious army moves south, there will be many more obstacles on the road to Sima Zhao. If Sima Zhao moves south, it will become difficult to get him to Luoyang again.

After careful consideration, Zhong Hui decided to take action.

While the three armies had not yet taken action, he deployed his troops in Wen County, directly beheaded the Hebei army, and captured the prefectures and counties.

After the people sent by Zhong Hui arrived at the palace, Cao Mao did not hesitate at all and chose to set off immediately.

This time Cao Mao had to arrive at the scene in person.

This is not to say that Cao Mao did not trust Zhong Hui, but the main reason was that in order to subdue the army, the emperor had to step in person.

He Zeng and Chen Ben have both been captured by Zhong Hui, but their own positions are unclear, and it is hard to say what actions they will take after they have subdued the army. Only the emperor's presence will be the safest.

Of course, this also carries certain risks.

After all, it was a battle between two armies, and Sima Zhao had nearly 100,000 troops stationed in Hanoi. Once the plan went wrong and the two sides started fighting, it would become the most brutal battlefield in the Wei Dynasty.

But Cao Mao was not afraid of this so-called risk.

He had taken far greater risks than this.

However, Cao Mao could not go to Wen County in a high-profile manner, so he made preparations in the temple in advance.

Tonight, he plans to leave the palace with Yang Hu.

Cao Mao did not take away too many guards from the palace. After all, he had to be on guard against the situation in Luoyang, and it would not be easy to conceal the situation when a large army was on the march.

During these days, the central army often marched in Luoyang at night according to the emperor's orders. Today, the emperor went out with his guards, and there was a curfew policy in place, so it was difficult for anyone to find anything wrong.

Even if someone discovered it, it would be difficult to intervene and stop it.

Taking advantage of the night, Cao Mao got on the carriage, Zhang Hua and Cheng Ji followed behind him respectively, and Yang Hu personally led the way. The group left Luoyang and headed towards Wen County.

Cao Mao sat in the carriage, ate a few fruits, and then looked at Zhang Hua who was sitting opposite him.

"Zhang Jun, why do you look a little uneasy?"

Zhang Hua sighed deeply, "Your Majesty, if we leave Luoyang like this, we're afraid something might happen in the imperial court."

Cao Mao smiled and said, "With General Xiahou in charge, there shouldn't be any problems. Besides, starting tomorrow, the ministers probably won't have the energy to take care of other things."

"If something else happens in this situation, we will just fight back."

Zhang Hua was one of the few people who knew the ins and outs of this operation. At this moment, he still felt that the emperor's plan was too risky.

Zhang Hua was not against the "beheading" routine, he was against the emperor going there in person.

He was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhong Hui.

Zhang Hua believed that Zhong Hui's plan should be used by the emperor, but in Zhong Hui's case, the emperor was used by his plan instead.

Now the number of central troops gathered at the temple was no more than 20,000. In order not to alert the rest of Sima Zhao's men, there were only less than a thousand soldiers closest to them.

Sima Zhao had an army of 100,000 men.

If Zhong Hui took action on his own and failed, the court would still be able to resist. However, if the emperor was also present, the consequences of failure would be unimaginable.

Zhang Hua was very angry at Zhong Hui's behavior of making the emperor take risks to complete his plan.

He wanted to persuade the emperor to go back by threatening the safety of the court, but Cao Mao had made up his mind and fully cooperated with Zhong Hui to complete the operation. He was unwilling to stay in Luoyang no matter what.

Cheng Ji was also in the carriage. The emperor's carriage was very large. If Cao Mao was willing, he could even ask five beauties to accompany him to rest in the carriage.

Cheng Ji looked at Zhang Hua's worried face and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhang, don't worry about the situation in Luoyang. I have already spread the wrong news to the ministers!"

Cheng Ji said very proudly: "They must have been unable to sleep tonight, thinking that the emperor would take action tomorrow to take away their authority over the classics. The court officials and the censorate were fighting each other, and the ministers dared not be distracted!"

Zhang Hua remained silent. Cao Mao said, "Mr. Mao isn't worried about Luoyang; he's worried about my safety."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Ji waved his hand again, "There's even less need to worry. When we get to Wen County, His Majesty will have General Wen and I by his side. With the two of us here, who would dare to harm His Majesty?"

Ever since Cheng Ji suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Wen Yang, he had become much more polite towards Wen Yang. He no longer dared to call him a playboy, but always called him General Wen.

Cao Mao thought that Cheng Ji would be jealous of Wen Yang and would be at odds with him, but unexpectedly, Cheng Ji had no such idea at all. After he got up, he went to pay a visit to Wen Yang and even brought gifts.

From then on, Cheng Ji regarded Wen Yang as his best friend, and he didn't know whether Wen Yang recognized him or not.

Anyway, in Cheng Ji's eyes, the two most powerful generals around His Majesty are him, Cheng Ji, and Wen Yang.

They traveled for a long time, and the next day, Yang Hu came to report the situation.

Cao Mao asked Zhang Hua and Cheng Ji to get off the car and guard it, and asked Yang Hu to sit in front of him.

"uncle."

Yang Hu sat in front of the emperor respectfully.

Speaking of which, Yang Hu's position at the moment is quite complicated.

He never explicitly expressed his loyalty to the emperor, but he stood on Cao Mao's side during the previous coup. At the same time, he had deep relationships with aristocratic families and even Sima Zhao.

In this coup, all those who followed Cao Mao were rewarded.

Even Cheng Ji, who had done nothing, was promoted because of his inspection and was given money and a house.

But only Yang Hu did not receive any reward.

This seems to indicate that in the emperor's heart, Yang Hu was not one of his own.

Yang Hu was very conflicted at this moment, and he didn't know who he should belong to.

Cao Mao once approached him and asked him to help him, but Yang Hu chose to refuse.

Of course, Yang Hu knew in his heart that if he went to the emperor at this moment and expressed his loyalty, he could legitimately become the emperor's own man. However, because of his past choices, Yang Hu really couldn't bring himself to do so.

He is one of the few ministers who has a sense of dignity.

At this moment, Cao Mao was also staring at Yang Hu in front of him.

There are not many ministers that Cao Mao can fully trust now. Even for Zhong Hui, Cao Mao does not dare to say that he fully trusts him. He can only say that he can trust him on the premise that he can still be regarded as a sage king by him.

Once Zhong Hui thinks that he is the Holy King, trouble will arise.

But Yang Hu was different. If Cao Mao could gain his loyalty, he could completely trust him and make use of him.

Cao Mao pondered for a moment before speaking: "Uncle, I think that after this matter is accomplished, the court will be pacified, and you will no longer need to continue serving as the Protector General."

Yang Hu was a little stunned, but quickly nodded, without any anger or dissatisfaction on his face.

"only."

He was a pure latecomer, and Cao Mao could not fully trust him. The position of this close associate had to be given to someone else, and Yang Hu had no objection.

Cao Mao then said, "Please serve as the General Guarding the North."

"what??"

Yang Hu raised his head. Yang Hu was a very calm person, but here, he was also a little distracted.

General Zhenbei? ?
That’s four towns.

Among the many ministers, Yang Hu's age was definitely not considered old, and his military achievements and qualifications were even more so.

For a moment, Yang Hu actually felt that the emperor was making fun of him.

What ability do I have to be the general of the four towns?

But he saw that the emperor in front of him had a very solemn expression on his face, and he had no intention of joking at all.

"Your Majesty! I am terrified!"

"How dare I take on such an important task?"

Yang Hu quickly refused.

It cannot be said that Yang Hu knew nothing about military affairs. After all, he had read many books and had a relatively good understanding of military tactics. However, he had no experience in leading troops, nor any qualifications or military achievements.

Cao Mao was very serious.

"Uncle, please don't refuse. You are my most trusted general. Hebei is far away from Shu and Wu. I have you here for two reasons: firstly, to hone your abilities and enable you to lead a large army, and secondly, because of the situation outside Hebei."

"Outside Hebei, there are many Hu people. Back then, Duke Xuanwen slaughtered so many people in Liaodong and other places that these places were filled with Hu people."

"General Zhenbei, what we need to do is to solve the difficult problems on this frontier."

"If this position is handed over to a tyrannical and warlike general, it might be even worse than Duke Xuanwen's."

"You will not take the initiative to stir up trouble for the sake of military merit. You also have the morality to comfort the people on the border, and you have the ability to govern to divide the Hu people."

"As of now, you are the most suitable for this position."

(End of this chapter)