The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 405 How are you going to deal with it?

Just as the turmoil was breaking out in the imperial court, the war in Huainan was also coming to an end.

Sun Jun's original idea was to provide Qingzhou with support in terms of momentum. He did not want to actually fight a battle with Guanqiu Jian, but just wanted to make his position clear, support the rebels remotely, and see if he could get some refugees and reinforcements.

He was very confident about this, after all, Jiang Wei had been plundering the Wei population and attacking Wei's reinforcements for years.

If Jiang Wei can do it, why can't I, a great general of the Wu Kingdom, do it?
But the facts told him that he really couldn't do it.

He was not Jiang Wei and had no combat experience, and his opponent was not the seriously ill Guo Huai, who had no intention of attacking.

He originally thought that Guanqiu Jian would pay attention to the rebellion in Qingzhou. Even if he knew that he would have to recruit a large army, it would take at least ten days for the other side to attack.

But he never expected that Guanqiu Jian had already made preparations and was waiting for him to come up and deliver him.

On the third day after he arrived in Huainan, he encountered the Cao Wei army that was ready for battle.

It was even a coalition force composed of the armies of Guanqiu Jian, Wen Qin, and Hu Zun.

This caught Sun Jun off guard. Fortunately, Sun Jun ran fast enough. Just when he was hesitating whether to rescue Liu Zan, Liu Zan's nephew came and told him that the other party was determined to fight to the death.

On the one hand, Sun Jun cried out for General Liu's bravery, and on the other hand, he fled with his men without looking back.

However, Guanqiu Jian had no intention of letting him go. He chased and intercepted him everywhere, and did not treat Sun Jun as a human being at all. The morale of the Wu army was completely destroyed. In several pursuit battles, they were beaten terribly by cavalry that were far smaller in number than their own.

Sun Jun almost ran back to Jiangdong with his tail between his legs.

During this expedition, the Eastern Wu lost one Liu Zan, and nearly 8,000 soldiers died in Huainan and were unable to return.

Standing on the bow of the boat, Sun Jun lowered his head and said nothing.

Lu Ju standing beside him also had a stern and sad face.

Liu Zan was a fierce general of the Wu State and also his good friend. Unexpectedly, he would die at the hands of the thief Cao.

Sun Jun glanced at Lu Ju beside him and felt even more fearful.

This time, it was because I insisted on sending troops that this happened. Could it be that this guy is planning to replace me?

When Sun Jun thought about this, he became even more frightened and uneasy.

After Sun Yi committed suicide, Sun Jun's health was not very good. Because of various domestic affairs, the current failure, and his fear of Lu Ju, his condition began to deteriorate rapidly and he became restless.

When Sun Jun returned to Wu, Quan Shang personally brought ministers to greet him.

They obviously already knew about the situation of this battle.

However, they did not intend to blame Sun Jun. As Zhong Hui said, once a person dies and has no benefits, no one will care.

If one day the ministers need to deal with Sun Jun, perhaps Liu Zan will be mentioned by them with tears.

But at the moment, Sun Jun was still the great general who had a good relationship with them. Liu Zan, who died fighting for his country, could only be thrown aside so as not to affect the harmony in the temple.

Quan Shang took Sun Jun's hand and said, "General, your expedition has been a great service to the nation. We have come to greet you personally!"

The ministers were also very respectful and bowed to him.

This was not Quan Shang's attempt to humiliate Sun Jun. This was a normal greeting, but for some reason, Sun Jun felt so ashamed and angry that he was speechless.

Perhaps they could see that the general was not in good condition, so Quan Shang and others hurriedly ended the welcoming ceremony, and Sun Jun led everyone into Jianye.

After entering the General's Mansion, Sun Jun did not greet everyone. He changed his clothes and ran directly to Princess Quan's mansion.

In front of Sun Luban, Sun Jun seemed like a different person.

"Princess, I am incompetent. This defeat is all because of me."

Sun Jun lowered his head, tears in his eyes.

Sun Luban frowned, looking very solemn.

"Liu Zan was a long-time veteran. When my father was still alive, he was a general I could rely on. Now, he's dead at your hands!!"

Sun Jun lowered his head and apologized again.

Sun Luban wanted to get angry, but when she saw Sun Jun's pitiful appearance, she had no choice but to give up.

"Forget it. I won't pursue this matter this time. But don't act arbitrarily in the future."

Sun Jun hurriedly said, "Princess Quan, the situation has deteriorated to the point where we must be on guard."

"Although I have never served as a commander in the past, I have some understanding of Cao Cao's army. This time, the morale of Cao Cao's army was extremely high, and the generals were fully cooperating. We were unable to stop them at all. The Qingzhou uprising was quelled within a month, and no refugees appeared."

"The little emperor of Cao Cao really should not be underestimated."

"After he took power, he first defeated Jiang Wei, and now he's defeated us. In just a short period of time, Cao Wei has undergone such a huge change. The soldiers are fearless and brave, and the local officials know how to appease the people. Even though a state is in rebellion, there haven't been any refugees. This is truly unbelievable."

"Now I understand why Jiang Wei took the initiative to send his ministers to find us."

"I think the current emperor of Cao is definitely not comparable to Cao Fang. He is a figure like Cao Cao and Cao Pi!" "If our two countries cannot form an alliance and fight against this powerful enemy together, I am afraid they will divide us and defeat us, and we will be annihilated!"

Sun Luban was very surprised to hear what Sun Jun said.

"I heard that the young emperor of Wei was supported by Sima Shi and others. He's only a little over ten years old. How could he possibly have such ability?"

Sun Jun couldn't help cursing at this moment.

"That Sima Shi is a very secretive person. I used to think he was a traitor like Cao Cao, but now it seems that he is a man who is foolishly loyal to Cao Cao. Otherwise, why would he support such an emperor? I heard that Sima Shi's subordinates are all working hard to assist that emperor."

Princess Quan was silent for a moment, "Then what should we do?"

"We should form an alliance with Shu. We can no longer send troops to attack Cao Cao. We can only form an alliance with each other and use more troops to guard against Cao Cao. Then the young emperor will definitely send troops to attack him. When the time comes, we will help each other and make sure they return empty-handed."

Sun Jun talked about the many benefits of the alliance.

But Sun Luban just thought that Sun Jun was dreaming. Even if Shu and Wu could put aside their prejudices, it would be difficult for them to form an alliance again.

However, if Sun Jun insisted on trying it, Sun Luban would not say much.

Sun Jun, who suffered a crushing defeat in Huainan, began to find a way to contact Jiang Wei, who had suffered the same fate.

Without Cao Mao realizing it himself, the course of history had already undergone tremendous changes.

"His Majesty!!"

He Zeng was brought to the West Hall, where he bowed to the emperor in a very serious manner.

Cao Mao narrowed his eyes and looked at him. "Mr. He, I heard that the chef in your family is very good. All kinds of delicacies are the best in the world. They are better than the chefs in my palace."

He Zeng's forehead suddenly broke out in sweat.

"Your Majesty! This is absolutely not true! I usually eat wheat rice, and the cooks in my home are all old men who served my father."

Obviously, in front of Cao Mao, He Zeng did not dare to shout that the emperor's food was hard to swallow as he did in history.

After all, Cao Mao dared to kill people.

Listening to He Zeng explaining his situation, Cao Mao reached out and interrupted him.

"Mr. He, there is no need to do this."

"I didn't ask you to come here to question these things. You have been in contact with the traitors in the court all these days."

"What's the situation now?"

He Zeng said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, these traitors are truly hateful!"

"They spend all day thinking about how to harm Your Majesty. This time Your Majesty wants to eliminate the thieves, and they have already begun colluding with the ministers and preparing to launch a rebellion."

"Rebellion?"

Cao Mao didn't seem panicked at all. If it were a local situation, he would have been slightly worried, but in Luoyang, do you think the hundreds of thousands of central troops were vegetarians? A single Wen Xiaoniao could kill all of you bastards, and yet you still dared to rebel?
Cao Mao asked, "How are they planning to rebel?"

He Zeng said truthfully, "It is like this. The Imperial Household Minister Tao Qiuyi has suggested that they could fabricate an auspicious sign in Xudu and have Your Majesty go there to witness it. On the way, he will lead the local officials to attack you, and then support Prince Cao Fang of Qi to be re-elected as emperor."

"They haven't told me the specifics yet. The task they've given me is to use the power of my hometown to gather my slaves and old subordinates to help them."

Hearing what He Zeng said, Cao Mao couldn't help laughing.

"When did they start plotting?"

"On the day Your Majesty left the Censorate, word of His Majesty's plan to rule the empire with harsh laws spread like wildfire. The ministers were terrified. They said Your Majesty was not a benevolent ruler and that action must be taken quickly to prevent Your Majesty from destroying the Wei Dynasty."

"Destroy it?"

Cao Mao was still very calm. This behavior of tricking the emperor into coming out to see auspicious signs and then supporting someone else halfway was also a common tactic used by ministers. This was not the first time such a thing happened during the late Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

However, Cao Mao did not expect that the Grand Coachman Tao Qiuyi, who looked honest and did not participate in the struggles in the court, would actually have such an idea.

It seems that they are all starting to get scared.

Cao Mao looked at He Zeng and said, "Mr. He, if I hadn't asked, would you not have said anything about this?"

"Your Majesty! I am wronged! Please read this memorial I wrote overnight. I originally intended to wait until I knew their specific plan before telling you. They haven't finished planning yet, so I didn't dare to come to you rashly, fearing that they would arouse their suspicion. I absolutely don't dare to even think of getting involved. How dare I do anything against your Majesty!"

He Zeng shouted hurriedly.

Cao Mao nodded. "Alright, I trust Mr. He. Mr. He, since Zheng Chong became the Minister of Works, the Censorate has never been at peace. Your qualifications are sufficient to be one of the Three Dukes. If I were to appoint you as the Minister of Works, replacing Zheng Chong and taking charge of the Censorate, how would you deal with these ministers?"

He Zeng raised his head suddenly, and he felt like a dog smelling meat.

"Your Majesty, I will exterminate their entire clan, leaving no one alive. Anyone who dares to murder Your Majesty, no matter who they are, will never be spared!"

(End of this chapter)