The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 573 What's the plan?
Cao Mao hosted a banquet for Lu Kai.

Lu Kai sat on Cao Mao's left, and opposite him was Anle Gong Liu Chan.

Lu Kai understood Cao Mao's idea. This was to demonstrate the destiny of the Wei Dynasty to his subordinates and make them more confident in the great unification.

The native big families of Wu State sent their children to Wei State to a greater or lesser extent, just to preserve the incense.

Sitting here, Lu Kai saw many of the great families in Wuzhong. As former colleagues, it was somewhat awkward for them to meet here at this moment, so he could only nod and greet them.

Cao Mao attached great importance to Lu Kai.

After showing off his subordinates to him, he asked about the situation in Wu.

"I heard that the King of Wu built lakes and farmlands in the south, causing great hardship for the people there. The local people have risen up in arms to oppose his tyranny. Is this true?"

Lu Kai subconsciously wanted to defend his family, but after thinking about it, he could only nod bitterly, "Yes, there is such a thing."

Cao Mao then spoke seriously, "I know that Lord Lu is a loyal and righteous man with the world at heart. You have never been persecuted in Wu and, despite holding a high position, you have taken the initiative to submit. This is precisely because of your kindness!"

"The ruler of Wu is causing misery for the people of the south. Loyal and righteous people are being persecuted, and treacherous officials are in power. Lord Lu has surrendered because he cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people of Jiangdong and wants to uphold justice for them!"

Cao Mao looked at everyone seriously.

"Sacrificing one's own reputation to uphold justice for the people of Jiangdong, isn't this a true hero?!"

Many ministers also cooperated quite well and stood up one after another, saying, "Your Majesty, what you said is absolutely right."

"Mr. Lu is truly a righteous man!"

All the ministers praised him.

Lu Kai was a little confused at this moment. If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known that there was such a thing.

There were three reasons why Lu Kai surrendered this time. The first was that he was completely desperate about the Wu Kingdom, the second was that he wanted to save his clan, and the third was that he wanted to drag down Lu Kang.

Almost all those who held high positions at a young age in Wu Guotai had no good ending.

Especially someone like Lu Kang, who has the character of an ancient gentleman, is unrestrained and uninhibited, and will not give in whether facing the emperor or the powerful ministers.

But Cao Mao now gave him a bigger reason.

Lu Kai felt a little ashamed.

Cao Mao then said, "The world is now peaceful, except for the people of Jiangdong who are not under my guidance. I cannot bear to see them suffer such humiliation, and I have decided to fulfill the ambition of my ancestors and achieve great unification!"

He looked at Lu Kai standing beside him and said, "Lord Lu, I would like to appoint you as the general who will conquer Wu!"

"This isn't about asking you to raise your sword against your former master. This is for the sake of Jiangdong."

"The Sun family is not a prominent family in Jiangdong. They invaded Jiangdong and murdered its people. Lord Lu is a prominent family in Jiangdong. How could he watch them exploit Jiangdong like this?"

"I asked you to take this position so that the people of Jiangdong would know that I'm not dealing with them, but with the heartless bandit Sun family! Or rather, it's Sun Xiu, the one who's killing the people!"

"If Lord Lu still cares about his hometown, don't reject me!"

Cao Mao said some terrifying words with great righteousness.

Lu Kai pursed his lips and bowed lightly to Cao Mao, "I obey your command."

Cao Mao immediately talked about other rewards. In addition to appointing Lu Kai as the general to conquer Wu, Cao Mao also appointed him as the Marquis of Quxiang, appointed him as the Grand Protector, and appointed him as the Imperial Envoy.

The reward was very generous, but considering Lu Kai's identity and the significance of his surrender, this was certainly understandable.

In this way, Lu Kai became Cao Mao's general in the expedition against Wu.

After the banquet, Cao Mao took his hand and led him back to the West Hall.

When he returned here, the solemnity on Cao Mao's face finally disappeared and was replaced by a peaceful smile.

"Mr. Lu, there are no outsiders here, please sit down."

Looking at the emperor who suddenly became gentle, Lu Kai was a little at a loss.

"Lord Lu, this war has gone on for too long. There's no crowing of cocks in a thousand miles. I want to unify the land, end this chaos, and allow the people of the world to live a stable life. I can't say I can guarantee them food and clothing, but at least I can make sure they don't have to worry about war anymore."

As Cao Mao spoke, he asked Yang Zong to bring some tea.

He sipped his tea and said slowly, "Just now, in front of everyone, I couldn't ask. Lord Lu, the current Wu State has concentrated its forces at the checkpoints and even used iron chains and spikes to stop us at the riverside."

"I would like to ask you for advice on how to defeat the Wu Kingdom."

Lu Kai frowned and said nothing.

Cao Mao glanced at him and said, "Don't worry. It's not that I don't trust you. Earlier, Minister Zhong suggested that we attack the Wu State through a psychological attack. I felt that since you are from Wu after all, you should be the most familiar with the situation there."

"If the war can be ended quickly, not too many people will be implicated. Not only your clan, but also the people of Jiangdong as a whole may be saved."

Lu Kai just said at this moment: "Your Majesty, although I served as the General of the Guarding Army in Wu, I did not participate in the military affairs. I really don't know how to defeat Wu."

Cao Mao laughed and said, "General, why are you hiding something?"

"Sun Xiu may not know your talents, but I do." "How could the general not know how to defeat the enemy? Since you have surrendered, you should do your best. If you can defeat the enemy, you will be a hero of great unification. As long as you can establish a prosperous era, even future generations will not care about your betrayal."

"Besides, there are only you and me here. What else can't you say?"

Lu Kai hesitated for a moment before replying, "Your Majesty, Lord Wu is in very poor health."

Cao Mao paused while pouring tea and slowly looked at Lu Kai.

Lu Kai continued, "Zhang Bu, Puyang Xing and other villains have the idea of creating a puppet young ruler and controlling the government."

"And many major clans are preparing to take this opportunity to eliminate these two thieves."

When talking about these things, Lu Kai's face became sad.

The situation has reached its current point, but the Wu Kingdom is still in internal strife, Cao Wei continues to build warships and is ambitious, and the ministers of the Wu Kingdom are still brewing a huge conspiracy.

When Lu Kai talked about these things, he felt ashamed.

"Your Majesty, this is the situation."

Lu Kai recounted the domestic situation and then said, "If Your Majesty wants to defeat the Wu Kingdom, you can use this incident as an opportunity."

The news brought by Lu Kai was truly unknown to Cao Wei.

Sun Xiu's physical condition would naturally not be leaked easily, and only people of Lu Kai's level would know something about the thoughts of those senior executives.

Cao Mao was also a little uneasy at this moment.

Cao Mao dreamed of unification.

Since the First Emperor, after the baptism of Gongyang Literature in the Western Han Dynasty, great unification has become the common understanding of the Chinese people, and Cao Mao was also looking forward to the great unification.

Only by completing the great unification could Cao Mao wash away the adverse effects brought about by his family's abdication.

Why were the Sima family criticized? In Cao Mao's opinion, if they could govern the Central Plains well and, after retaking power by any means necessary, turn the Jin Dynasty into an extremely powerful regime like the Han and Tang dynasties, no one would criticize them.

There are many people who have gained power through improper means, and it still depends on their actions.

Lu Kai's words now made Cao Mao extremely excited. Although Sun Xiu liked to play a balancing act, he was not a very, very good emperor.

But they are not stupid. They know who to use and who to delegate power to.

If Sun Xiu were still alive, the war of unification could still proceed, but it would come at a great cost.

But if he died, Cao Mao suddenly became excited.

The person who succeeded him in history was called the first tyrant.

Under that man's wise governance, the generals of the Western Jin Dynasty who firmly opposed the attack on the Wu State were forced to destroy the Wu State.

Sun Xiu was considered an above-average emperor, but Sun Hao, well, comparing him with An Shi was disrespectful to An Shi. He had nothing but a bit of backbone.

However, speaking of it, I haven't seen Anshi for a long time.

Cao Mao looked at Lu Kai standing aside and said with a chuckle, "You're right. This is a good opportunity."

If civil strife breaks out in Wu State because of this, it will be the best opportunity to completely seize Jingnan.

No matter how good Lu Kang was at fighting, he was definitely no match for the Wei State.

The gap between the two countries nowadays, especially in terms of talents, is very obvious. If it were put in the game, Cao Mao's side would be a group of tough guys with ability values of 980, while the Wu side would be a man in his early 90s leading a group of people in their 60s and 70s.

Cao Mao then asked about the many generals in Wu. Lu Kai no longer kept any information to himself and answered them one by one.

The two chatted for a long time. After Cao Mao had obtained all the information he needed, he sent someone to send Lu Kai back to his mansion.

Yang Zong watched the man leave calmly, "Your Majesty, this man has suddenly surrendered, so we can't trust him too much. We still need to send someone to keep an eye on him."

Cao Mao smiled and motioned Yang Zong to sit down.

"Lord Yang, it's true that the Wu people love to feign surrender, but they wouldn't be so treacherous as to force General Zhengbei to come and feign surrender. You don't have to worry too much. What I'm thinking about now is how to reward General Hu."

Speaking of this matter, Cao Mao couldn't help but have a headache.

He knew that Hu Zun was in poor health, so he promised him the title of general. Cao Mao thought that since the man would not live long anyway, he could just posthumously confer the title.

But who would have thought that the old general's health is getting better and better, and he is still in good health now.

Not only that, he also made great achievements many times, and he has already been promoted to General of Cavalry. The highest rank he can be promoted to is General.

Yang Zong said at this moment: "Your Majesty, General Hu should be promoted to a higher rank. As for the position of Grand General, there is no rush. There will be the matter of destroying a country in the future. If you don't destroy a country, how can you become a Grand General?"

Cao Mao nodded. This was the only way for now.

Instead, we can promote more of Hu Zun's sons and grandsons. Now is the time for the border to make achievements, so let them play a greater role.

Well, it’s just right next to Wen Yang.

(End of this chapter)