Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 218 My word is as weighty as nine tripods; how could I go back on my word?

Fancheng.

The autumn rain falls incessantly, and dark clouds loom over the city.

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, and the Wei envoy returned with his report despite the rain.

"Grand Marshal, something terrible has happened! Shangyong... Shangyong has been captured by Shu!"

"What did you say?!" Cao Xiu, who had been calm and collected, suddenly changed his expression.

Upon hearing this report, Jia Kui, who had kept a certain distance from Cao Xiu, Cao Shuang, Qin Lang, and other generals, suddenly changed his solemn expression and unconsciously turned his head to look in the direction of the three eastern commanderies.

"How could it be so fast?!" General Cao Shuang gritted his teeth, then looked at Cao Xiu's strategist, Grand Marshal's military advisor Huan Fan.

Huan Fan stroked his beard without speaking, his face grim.

Twenty days ago, as soon as he received news that Shu and Wu had already started a war and that Xicheng had already fallen to Shu, this strategist had already offered Cao Xiu a plan.

He advised Cao Xiu to send an envoy to Shangyong immediately to reassure the people there.

He also told the garrison commander of Shangyong that Wu and Shu had broken their alliance and started a war, and that Shu had already defeated Wu. He ordered the garrison commander of Shangyong to be on guard against Shu using Wu's surrendered people for their own purposes.

"Shangyong City is high and its moat is deep, and to its west there is the Baima Pass, which can be relied upon, so it cannot be taken in a short time."

"However, after Shu captured Xicheng, it took only ten days to capture Shangyong."

"It is not that its strength is great, but rather that it is as I predicted."

"It was Zhao Yun's old trick, using surrendered Wu generals and soldiers to intimidate Liu Zhang, just like Liu Bei divided his troops to Ma Chao to take Chengdu."

After Huan Fan finished speaking, Cao Xiu clenched his fist and slammed it hard against the city wall:
"All the generals and officers under Sun Quan are idiots!"

"If you were unwilling to let Shu gain the three commanderies, why didn't you send someone to bring the news of the Wu-Shu alliance breaking to Shangyong when you withdrew your troops from the Han River?!"

"Now that Shangyong has been plundered by the Shu bandits, is Sun Quan truly delighted?!"

Cao Xiu's rebuke can be said to have expressed what many people were thinking.

The Wu people have already been defeated and will certainly not want Shu to regain power.

Now, Shu has seized Shangyong by taking advantage of Wu's defeat, and the people of Wu are not only filled with hatred for Wei, but also for Wu.

This could have been avoided.

Jia Kui, who had always been at odds with Cao Xiu, snorted coldly.

What obligation did the people of Wu have to defend Shangyong for Wei?
Without Sun Quan's authorization, which Wu general would dare to easily communicate with Wei?

It can only be said to be fate.

Or perhaps it could be said that the Shu army's speed was crucial, and they were destined for this victory.

Cao Shuang frowned at Huan Fan, as if about to scold him:

"Strategist, things have come to this point, what use is it for you to say that things will be as you predicted?"
"Since Shu has already captured Shangyong, why don't we think about what to do next for the Grand Marshal?! Are we going to cede Fangling to the Shu bandits as well?"

While in Luoyang, Cao Shuang was already quite displeased with Huan Fan, a man of strong character who considered himself highly talented and intelligent.

He was initially the Commander of the Central Army, Yang Ji, and later promoted to General Who Conquers the Barbarians, holding the imperial insignia to oversee the military affairs of Qing and Xu provinces, with his capital at Xiapi.

However, he ended up arguing with the governor of Xuzhou over property. Enraged, he brandished the emperor's staff and threatened to kill the governor. In the end, the governor impeached him, and he was dismissed from office and sent back to Luoyang.

Before heading to Fancheng, Cao Shuang had a banquet with Huan Fan at a feast hosted by Jiang Ji, where several other high-ranking officials were also present.

Huan Fan carried his own writings with him, wanting Jiang Ji to see his great talent and strategy. So he first handed them to He Yan, Ding Mi, Bi Gui and others who were nearby, asking them to read them and then pass them on to Jiang Ji.

Everyone praised his talent, and he thought Jiang Ji would humbly study his work. However, Jiang Ji showed no respect and didn't even glance at it.

Huan Fan was furious. Under the pretext of discussing other matters, he suddenly flew into a rage and berated everyone present: "My ancestors were of meager virtue, so how much better are you people?!"
The Huan family of Longkang interpreted the Ouyang Shangshu for generations, which was one of the fourteen schools of interpretation of the Five Classics in official tradition. They had the right to interpret the classics and had a great influence in Qiao and Pei. Huan Fan was therefore arrogant. He was a typical person who was talented but lacked virtue and was not popular.

However, this man was a senior official from Qiao and Pei, and was known as a strategist in Luoyang. Therefore, Cao Xiu respected him greatly. When the Luo River dried up and Cao Xiu returned to Luoyang, he asked the emperor to appoint him as his Grand Marshal's military advisor.

Gazing absently at the southwestern mountains that obscured the three eastern prefectures for a long time, Jia Kui, the governor of Yuzhou, walked slowly to Huan Fan's side with his hands behind his back and said:

“Military Advisor Huan, if Fangling also falls into Shu’s hands, and our Great Wei continues to advance on Jiangling after driving out the Wu people according to the previous strategy, then we will have no protection behind us and may be in danger of our retreat being cut off by the Shu people.”

Cao Xiu, Cao Shuang, Qin Lang, and several other members of the Cao Wei imperial family frowned upon hearing this, and quickly realized the crux of the problem.

With the three eastern prefectures in the rear, the Great Wei could advance or retreat south to Jiangling with ease.

If the three eastern commanderies fall into Shu's hands, and if Wei encounters any mishaps on the Jiangling front, or if Wu and Shu join forces again, it would be extremely dangerous. Wei's last elite force would likely be annihilated by a pincer attack from Wu and Shu.

Huan Fan shook his head, then looked at the messenger who had been sent to deliver the message to Shangyong and asked, "Did you pass through Fangling on your way back?"

The messenger from Shangyong shook his head: "Reporting to the strategist, I took the old mountain road and did not pass through Fangling."

Huan Fan frowned slightly, his gaze also turning towards the southwestern mountains that covered the three eastern prefectures:

"Once Shu gains control of the three commanderies, Wu's Jiangling will be exposed to Shu."

"If I am not mistaken, the Wu Kingdom has already sent troops from Yiling and Jiangling to Fangling to provide support for our Great Wei."

"Unless the Shu Kingdom dares to cross Fangling City and fight Wu right under the nose of the Fangling garrison commander, the Shu Kingdom will not be able to capture Fangling."

"Wu Jun is Zhang Yi of my Great Wei?" Cao Shuang was momentarily stunned.

The situation is too chaotic now. The alliance between Wu and Shu has broken down, and the three kingdoms are fighting their own battles, each with their own agendas.

While Wu was confronting Wei at the Han River, it also sent troops to Fangling to prevent Shu from seizing Wei's border pass.

This is too bizarre.

Cao Xiu suddenly thought of something:
"According to the strategist, once we pursue Wu to Jiangling, Wu's army at Fangling will inevitably retreat to the cities of Yiling and Jiangling."

"Then we'll split into two groups, one heading towards Fangling and the other towards Jiangling?"

There are countless mountain paths leading to Fangling, but the army only has two routes to take if it wants to enter Fangling.

One route was to go against the flow of the Han River to the Du River, then south through Shangyong, and then east to Fangling. However, Shangyong has now been captured by Shu, so this route is no longer feasible.

Another route is from the Ju River into Fangling.

However, the Jushui Pass was in the hands of the Wu people, and the exit of the pass was Maicheng in Dangyang.

Yiling lies to the west of Maicheng.

To the southeast lies Jiangling.

If they fail to defeat the Wu Kingdom, they will send troops to Fangling. If something unexpected happens, they will most likely be trapped in the mountains by the Wu and Shu Kingdoms.

This is vastly different from Cao Xiu's initial plan.

At that time, although Cao Xiu wanted to take Jiangling, he had Shangyong and Fangling in his hands and had no worries about the rear. If the battle of Jiangling was not successful, he could still go back to Shangyong by going against the Han River.

Now that Shangyong has been suddenly seized, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, regardless of whether it is Wei or Wu.

In the end, the likely outcome would be that both Wei and Wu would withdraw from Fangling, leaving it to be controlled by the Shu Kingdom.

"No matter what, as long as Wu does not make peace and cease hostilities with Wei, Shu will definitely be the one to benefit in the end."

Cao Xiu frowned and looked at the warships on the Han River.

"His Majesty's envoy has gone and will never return. Sun Quan has already suffered a defeat at Xicheng, and his generals Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin have both been captured by Shu. With such a deteriorating situation, why does he still refuse to ally with our Great Wei to attack Shu? What is on his mind?"

The emperor sent an envoy to persuade Sun Quan, and Cao Xiu, as a member of the Wei imperial family and the Grand Marshal with the greatest military power, naturally knew the inside story.

The Great Wei is now waiting for an opportunity.

An opportunity for Sun Quan to seize power and declare himself emperor.

Once Sun Quan declares himself emperor, Shu will regard Wu as a traitor and will certainly not form an alliance with Wu again. The only option left for Wu and Shu is to fight each other.

Sending envoys to Sun Quan now is merely a pretense of negotiating peace with him and attacking Shu. Once Sun Quan declares himself emperor and Shu and Wu go to war, Wei will then choose an opportune moment to act.

The campaigns against Wu and Shu were entirely within Wei's control, not Wu or Shu's.

But the point that Cao Xiu questioned the most was: on what basis did Sun Quan claim the title of emperor?
Huan Fan, with an arrogant expression, said, "If Sun Quan wants to become emperor, he must win one battle."

Cao Shuang looked at Huan Fan, slightly surprised, then sneered, "Is the strategist joking? Sun Quan has suffered such a great defeat, yet he still wants to declare himself emperor? Doesn't he fear becoming a laughingstock to the world?"

Huan Fan ignored Cao Shuang's childish question, merely glancing sideways at Cao Xiu with a blank expression:

"Grand Marshal, in my opinion, Sun Quan has achieved nothing in his confrontation with our Great Wei, yet he refuses to retreat."

"We must wait for Hu Zhi to lead the Jiangxia navy out of the river and cut off their rear."

"The several thousand infantry and cavalry under the command of Lü Zhao and Yin Damu have probably already been discovered by the Wu people."

Jia Kui glanced at Huan Fan without making a sound.

Although this person is arrogant and conceited, he does indeed possess some real skills.

Although lacking in virtue, he possesses talent, which perfectly aligns with the original intention of the "Edict for Seeking Talented Individuals" to attract talented people from all over the world.

Now that the virtuous and talented ministers of the Great Wei have passed away one after another, finding a virtuous and talented person to assist the Wei is as difficult as climbing to heaven.

And right now, there is no sign that this era of great strife is about to end.

Shu's northern expedition caused the situation of Wei to deteriorate rapidly, getting worse and worse.

In this situation, those with talent but no virtue are more needed by the Great Wei than those with virtue but no talent.

Cao Xiu was initially puzzled by Huan Fan's words, but after a moment of thought, he finally understood:
"Does the strategist mean that Sun Quan intends to feign defeat to lure our Great Wei into a deeper trap?!"

Huan Fan nodded arrogantly.

After Huan Fan, Cao Xiu, and Jia Kui finished their plan, Cao Shuang stepped forward and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Cao Xiu, saying, "Grand Marshal, please allow me to guard Fangling!"

Cao Xiu immediately frowned and rejected the idea: "Nonsense, His Majesty sent you to train by my side, not to take risks."

...

Han River.

Tower ship.

Having finally calmed down, Sun Quan summoned Lu Xun, Xu Sheng, Liu Zan, and other generals, and told them that Shangyong had been captured by Shu.

Sun Quan sighed, "If someone had been able to send an envoy to communicate with the Wei general in Shangyong at that time, Shu would not have been able to act so arrogantly and gain power."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zan was stunned. He immediately knelt on one knee and begged Sun Quan for forgiveness: "Your Majesty... it is this humble general's incompetence! This humble general..."

Sun Quan waved his hand and sighed.

Though I sighed, there was nothing I could do.

Pan Zhang lacked the brains to do so, and Liu Zan, without the supreme authority, dared not make decisions on his own to contact and communicate with the Wei people.

Before long, a scout suddenly arrived.

"Your Majesty, Hu Zhi, the Prefect of Jiangxia, has emerged from the river and cut off our supply lines!"

"Several thousand Wei infantry and cavalry have already reached the Green Forest Mountains east of Qingni!"

Sun Quan nodded: "Let's withdraw."

Wu Jun feigned a retreat.

...

Hanzhong.

Yangping Pass.

When Li Fu, the clerk of the Prime Minister's Office, heard the sound of horses approaching from behind, he knew that it was someone delivering a message to Chengdu. He then ordered his men to move the carriage to the side of the road to make way for the messenger on horseback.

"When the courier arrives, stop him for a moment and ask about the progress of the battle at Shangyong."

The messengers who sent messages to Jiangzhou and Baidi did not need to leave Yangping Pass and take the Jinniu Road. Instead, they turned south directly in Nanzheng and took the Micang Road to enter Hanchang and Dangqu in Bazhou.

He had just left Nanzheng yesterday, and he had already taken care of all the messages that Nanzheng was sending to Chengdu.

Having spent the entire night talking with Xiang Lang, the Prefect of Hanzhong, Li Fu was truly exhausted. He closed his eyes in the carriage, and only when the sound of hooves grew closer and then completely subsided, and he heard the horses' snorting, did he open his eyes and turn his head to look at the courier.
"Excuse me………"

"!!!" The words had barely left his throat when Li Fu was shocked. His heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly jumped off the carriage, hastily bowing to the emperor on horseback.

However, due to his panic, he choked on his own saliva and coughed incessantly. He couldn't utter a coherent sentence while bowing, which amused Liu Shan, who laughed incessantly on horseback. Finally, he dismounted, patted Li Fu on the back, and helped him catch his breath: "I'm sorry, Minister Li, I shouldn't have startled you."

Seeing the smile in His Majesty's eyes, Li Fu exclaimed with delight, "Your Majesty... could it be... could it be that Shangyong has truly been captured?!"

Liu Shan immediately feigned displeasure:

"What do you mean by that, Minister Li? Do you think I lied to you when I told you that we could capture Shangyong in five days at most?"

Li Fu hurriedly shook his head, then bowed his head in alarm:

"Your Majesty, I would never dare to presume to know Your Majesty's thoughts or doubt a single word you utter!"

After speaking, he secretly glanced at the emperor:
"So... His Majesty has truly promoted Shangyong?"

"How dare Li Fu be so rude!" The Imperial Censor Meng Guang had just reined in his horse and arrived when he saw this scene. He immediately started cursing at Li Fu.

Upon seeing Meng Guang arrive, Liu Shan and Li Fu almost instinctively became serious, their earlier ease completely gone.

“It has already been uprooted,” Liu Shan said solemnly.

Meng Guang was sometimes really useful, but he couldn't stand it when he kept nagging. Whenever Liu Shan acted in a way that lacked the dignity of an emperor or failed to fulfill the duties of a subject, Meng Guang would step in and exercise his authority as the Imperial Censor.

Liu Shan wasn't afraid of him, but sometimes pretending to be afraid of him or annoyed by him could be somewhat beneficial to him as the emperor.

After Liu Shan explained to Li Fu in detail the plan devised by General Zhao and the various matters concerning the clever seizure of Shangyong by the late emperor, Li Fu and his staff were all overjoyed and full of admiration.

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. If the Wu envoy had arrived a day or two earlier, Shangyong would have been difficult to capture quickly. Moreover... I never expected that Pan Zhang, Liu Zan, and even Zhu Ji, the Wu people, did not communicate with the Wei people when they withdrew. This is the will of Heaven in Han!"

Liu Shan continued to discuss matters concerning Shangyong with him.

After a moment, Li Fu sighed again from the bottom of his heart:
"Unexpectedly, these two traitors, Zheng Ta and Yao Jing, would willingly confess their crimes and accept their execution."

"Your Majesty's divine might is awe-inspiring, and your wisdom and martial prowess truly captivate me."

Liu Shan neither agreed nor disagreed, but solemnly stated:
"The wives and children of Generals Zheng and Yao will soon return to Chengdu."

"Please ask Minister Li to instruct Chief Secretary Jiang to take good care of the two generals' children, to use their talents appropriately, and not to let their family be bullied."

"Your Majesty is benevolent!" Li Fu accepted the order.

However, he immediately paused, then said, "Your Majesty... Now that Your Majesty has arrived at Yangping Pass, won't you come back to Chengdu with me?"

Liu Shan shook his head and smiled: "I came all this way just to find you."

As he spoke, Liu Shan asked for back the letter he had written to the Empress.

He obtained pen and ink from Xi Zheng and began writing while on horseback, adding many interesting anecdotes and stories to the letter, and boasting to the Empress about how wise and powerful he was.

He handed the letter to Li Fu and said with a smile:
"Previously, Minister Li advised me to go to Jiangzhou and Baidi to visit Li Zhengfang and Chen Shuzhi."

"My word carries the weight of nine tripods. Now that I have agreed, how can I not go?"

Upon hearing this, Li Fu said nothing more, but solemnly accepted the emperor's letter and then respectfully bowed deeply to the emperor.

(End of this chapter)