The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 204 Last Plan
When Jia Xu denounced him as a treacherous official in court, Xu Shu stepped forward without changing his expression, bowed deeply to the ground, but did not utter a word in defense.

Seeing this, Cao Pi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Feigning solemnity, he said to Jia Xu:

"Xu Yuanzhi was meritorious on his mission last year, but instead of rewarding him, the Grand Commandant criticized him harshly. There must be a reason for that, right?"

Jia Xu coldly retorted:

"Not long after Xu Yuanzhi returned from his mission, Guan Yu marched his troops toward Wancheng, which shows that Xu Yuanzhi failed to achieve his strategy of pacifying Liu Bei. What merit did he have?"

Cao Pi then turned to Xu Shu:

What do you have to say?

Xu Shu bowed again and said:
"Grand Commandant, you are right! I have returned empty-handed, receiving the king's salary in vain. I am indeed a worthless and insignificant person!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu's eyelids twitched.

Cao Pi, however, burst into laughter and pointed at several generals in the court, saying:
"If you could stop the Shu bandits from raiding with just your silver tongue, then what would be the point of me keeping these generals? What need would I have for the central and outer armies, or hundreds of thousands of troops?"

He then said to Jia Xu:
"Lord Jia, I wish to treat scholars well. You are my Grand Commandant and a role model for all my officials. Do not let me incur the wrath of the people!"

Jia Xu repeatedly said he dared not.

But his gaze remained subtly fixed on Xu Shu, filled with doubt.

It seems that only today is the first time I'm truly taking this idle official from Yingchuan seriously.

Xu Shu naturally noticed the other person's gaze and took the initiative to step forward, saying:
“I am but a commoner, and my death is not a pity. Today, the Grand Commandant wants to use my head to advise His Majesty, and I have nothing to say.”

"However, although Lord Jia's intentions were good, he should not have criticized the emperor in court, thus damaging the emperor's prestige!"

"Can't you just report it privately?"

"Even if it's a covert execution, that would be fine!"

Jia Xu's cloudy yellow eyes suddenly flashed.

Before Cao Pi could speak, Jia Xu suddenly turned around and said:

"Your Majesty is right; it is I who am old and senile!"

After speaking, he lowered his hands, stepped down, sat back down, and closed his eyes without saying a word.

The topic of begging for alms was no longer mentioned.

Seeing this, Cao Pi completely relaxed and immediately turned the topic to military matters.

The court's strategists and wise men, including Hua Xin, Dong Zhao, Liu Ye, Sima Yi, Chen Qun, and Xin Pi, offered their advice and strategies.

After a round of discussions, two main consensuses emerged.

Firstly, the Sun family of Jiangdong is fickle. Although it is not necessary to destroy the country, at least it is necessary to drive them south of the Yangtze River to ensure that they will not be able to harass the Huai River area in the future, and to use the Yangtze River waterway to help Jingzhou.

Based on this, a more conciliatory approach could be taken, retaining his title of King of Wu.

Secondly, we should try our best to rescue Xiahou Shang in Wancheng to prevent the complete collapse of the Nanyang battle situation.

However, there was some disagreement on who should be sent to the rescue.

Some advocated sending Jia Kui's Yuzhou army back to rescue them.

Some advocated that a different general be dispatched from Luoyang to lead troops.

The former reasoned that the overall situation in Huainan was fixed, and that having one more or one less Jia Kui would not make a difference.

On the contrary, if Wancheng is lost, the direction of Luoyang will be directly facing Guan Yu's army, and the central army should not move lightly.

The latter, while not denying the achievements in Huainan, believed that Jia Kui's army was old and exhausted, and that their constant back-and-forth travel would make them vulnerable to enemy attacks.

It would be more efficient and have a better chance of winning if we sent troops from Luoyang.

The two sides argued without reaching an agreement, and Cao Pi grew irritated, turning his gaze back to Jia Xu.

However, Jia Xu's eyes were narrowed to slits, as if he were asleep.

Cao Pi called out to him several times before he responded.

He took out a pre-written memorial from his sleeve and said:

"Your Majesty, I am old and no longer capable of handling state affairs. I can only leave this plan to help Your Majesty defeat the enemy."

Immediately, a palace attendant stepped forward and handed the memorial to Cao Pi.

Cao Pi unfolded it and examined it closely, his expression shifting between light and dark once more.

After a long while, he looked up and said:
"Master Jia...why did it come to this?"

Jia Xu squinted, bowed, and remained silent.

It looks like she's asleep again.

However, this time Cao Pi did not urge him.

He then addressed the group below:
"Rescuing Wancheng is of utmost urgency. My ministers, we must devise a strategy today!"

Then he went to the back of the hall to change his clothes.

Although the ministers were curious about what Jia Xu had written to Cao Pi, none of them dared to ask and could only continue to discuss who to send to rescue Wancheng.

Only Jia Xu excused himself and went home, citing illness.

Several intelligent ministers seemed to understand that the emperor and his ministers should speak privately, but they all remained silent.

Half a day later, the military strategy was finally finalized.

The army was led by General Cao Hong, with General Xiahou Ba as his deputy, and Attendant-in-Ordinary Xin Pi as its military advisor.

He dispatched 30,000 troops from Luoyang and 100,000 laborers to march south to relieve the siege of Wancheng.

However, just as everyone was catching their breath...

Suddenly, a palace eunuch came from behind the palace, conveying Cao Pi's edict:

"Xu Shu, the Right General of the Palace Guard, has previously served as an envoy to Shu and now has rendered meritorious service by directly remonstrating with the Three Dukes before the Emperor. He is truly qualified to be an Imperial Censor. He is hereby removed from his post as General of the Palace Guard and appointed as Vice Imperial Censor!" Upon hearing this edict, the hall erupted in cheers, and everyone congratulated Xu Shu.

Although the rank of the Imperial Censor was equivalent to that of Xu Shu's previous Right General of the Palace Guard.

However, as the de facto head of the Taiwan authorities, he possessed the supreme power to impeach all officials.

In the past, he was known as one of the "Three Solo Officials" along with the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and the Commandant of the Capital Region.

It may seem like a mediocre transfer, but it's actually a promotion.

However, upon hearing this imperial edict, Xu Shu immediately showed a look of deep gratitude and tears.

But the hands hidden in the sleeves clenched tightly.

The position of Imperial Censor is indeed prestigious and virtuous.

But essentially.

Isn't it just a conspicuous bag that offends everyone?

……

At the end of June in the fourth year of the Huangchu era, Jia Xu, the Grand Commandant of Cao Wei and a renowned minister, passed away.

In an instant, the emperor was filled with grief, and renowned scholars wept in mourning.

The imperial court bestowed upon him the posthumous title of Marquis Su, and his sons either inherited the title or received imperial favor.

However, while this Mr. Jia in Luoyang was enjoying posthumous honors, another Mr. Jia in Huainan was finding each day unbearable.

It could even be described as agonizing.

As the governor of Yuzhou, he traveled a long way to rescue Yangzhou.

As a result, Yangzhou was saved, but their own Yuzhou suddenly caught fire.

Zhu Ling disagreed, saying, "Let's go back and rescue them; we have too many soldiers."

If there are too few soldiers, they might be lost for nothing...

Jia Kui couldn't help but wonder if his sacrifice was worth it.

Why did they launch such an excellent surprise attack that successfully thwarted Sun Quan's offensive?

They clearly won a great victory.

Instead, they found themselves in an even more embarrassing situation?

After much thought, it was probably when Wen Ping was sent south to block Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

No one expected that they would be so quickly defeated by a mysterious figure named Miwei.

They even turned around and invaded Yuzhou.

The whole process took no more than two months.

Where on earth did that eccentric genius Mi Wei come from?!

Jia Kui rubbed his swollen forehead.

Never before have I felt so worried.

But distant water can no longer quench an immediate fire.

For now, the only hope is that the results of my governance of Yuzhou over the years can be transformed into local potential to resist the Han army.

With the emperor in Luoyang, he would certainly not allow Guan Yu and his ilk to wreak havoc in Henan.

As long as we resist until reinforcements arrive from the south, the crisis can be resolved.

As for the immediate future.

Although Jia Kui was unwilling to admit it.

However, the glorious victory in Huainan was somewhat overshadowed by the internal strife and the impending collapse of Nanyang.

……

Fire in July.

Ma Zhong, following the orders of Mi Wei Army, led 2,000 regular soldiers, over 5,000 volunteer soldiers, and sufficient auxiliary troops and supplies northward to assemble at Fangcheng Fortress.

When the army passed by Duyang City, Wei general Xiahou Ru fled in terror.

They didn't even bother to burn down the military camp, letting the Han army benefit from it.

This greatly encouraged the newly returned rebel army.

They all praised the illustrious name of "Mi Zhaohan".

In the past, when they encountered the Wei army, they could only flee.

Who would have thought that one day, the Heavenly Gang would be overthrown?

Sun Lang, the strongest among the rebels, even asked Li Hong to request permission from Mi Wei to lead an expedition to conquer the surrounding counties.

After all, including Sun Lang's troops in Duyang City, Mi Wei's current regular soldiers and militia number over 13,000.

This completely surpassed the total number of Wei troops in Kunyang.

However, Miwei himself remained calm.

He still instructed Ma Zhong to proceed north safely and set up camp, and then summoned his subordinates, including the newly arrived military advisor Li Hong, to discuss the next steps in the advance.

From the outset, Miwei got straight to the point:
“The enemy forces in Kunyang already know that our troops are in Ye County. I expect that Cao Wei reinforcements, whether from Luoyang or Huainan, will arrive no later than next month.”

"Prior to this, our army still had a numerical advantage in Yingchuan."

"I intend to capture the counties south of the Zhi River before Cao Wei's reinforcements arrive, in order to prepare for resisting a large number of enemy troops in the future."

"Jun Zhan, have you investigated the enemy's troop deployment and arrangements?"

(End of this chapter)