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

Chapter 220 Governor of Yuzhou
"I've heard that Yuanzhi intends to submit another memorial criticizing Cao Zilian for delaying military operations?"

Upon hearing Zhong Yao's call, Xu Shu stepped forward and said:

"I dare not hide it from you, Lord Zhong, it is indeed true."

Zhong Yao said:
"One should be lenient when possible; why insist on dwelling on this matter?"

"The loss of Nanyang was entirely expected."

"After careful calculation, Cao Zilian's march was actually very steady and he did not deliberately slow down."

"I just didn't expect Guan Yu to win so quickly."

Xu Shu countered:

"Then, Master Zhong, whose fault is it that Nanyang suffered such a crushing defeat?"

"General Xiahou Boren, who conquers the south? General Xu Gongming, who is on the right? Prefect Man Boning, who is in charge of Runan?"

"It couldn't possibly be Grand Commandant Zhong, who's only been in office for less than a month, could it?"

Zhong Yao narrowed his eyes upon hearing this.

He finally understood.

Xu Shu was actually looking for a scapegoat for the defeat in Nanyang.

Cao Hong simply happened to be in that position and unfortunately became a perfect scapegoat.

Who told him to be the commander of the reinforcements?

Who could have been the one to be disliked by the emperor?
Who told him that besides being good at fighting, he had all sorts of weaknesses that could be criticized?

At that moment, Zhong Yao thought it over and over and was suddenly amazed by Xu Shu's insight.

The enemy had already begun their preparations long before the battle situation became clear, and had started attacking Cao Hong's private moral character.

With this groundwork laid, any further criticism at this point would no longer be seen as an attempt to shift blame.

On the contrary, one can claim to have had foresight.

Or was this exactly what the emperor intended?
Having experienced great ups and downs, Zhong Yao cherishes his current position.

He was unwilling to make too many enemies, and even more unwilling to lose the emperor's favor.

Thinking of this, he decided to show more goodwill towards Xu Shu, saying:

"The Grand Commandant is in charge of military affairs and missions in all directions."

"Now that the imperial army has suffered a defeat, it is my duty to personally step forward and clarify the faults of the generals on behalf of the Emperor. Yuanzhi, if you have any thoughts, please speak frankly with me."

Xu Shu, recognizing the talent in the music, presented the memorial he had prepared beforehand.

"In addition, I privately gathered evidence of Cao Zilian's crimes, but the censor's words were ultimately not as convincing as those of the Grand Commandant."

"If the Grand Commandant is willing to take the lead in this matter, I will fully cooperate!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yao did not comment but instead opened the memorial.

With just one glance, his brows furrowed:
"Guan Yu wanted to exchange the corpses of Xiahou Boren, Man Boning, and Xu Gongming for the royal army to retreat thirty li, but Cao Zilian concealed this fact and did not report it?"

"Exactly!" Xu Shu said confidently.

"It's fine for the living. General Xu died fighting for the country, so his body should be retrieved and given a proper burial to honor his loyalty."

"Cao Zilian concealed the truth for his own selfish desires, which chilled the hearts of the soldiers and disturbed their spirits. How can I tolerate such a crime of deceiving the emperor?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Zhong Yao quickly stopped him as he became more and more agitated.

"Why would Cao Zilian act solely out of personal desire? Perhaps he believed Guan Yu was using trickery?"

Xu Shu shook his head and said, "Even if Guan Yu used a trick, he shouldn't have taken it upon himself to conceal it!"

"In my opinion, he is clearly afraid that Xiahou will also criticize him for the slow rescue after returning from the southern campaign, and thus lose public support!"

"Yes, is that so..."

Zhong Yao glanced hesitantly at Xu Shu, then looked down at the memorial.

To be honest, he always felt that Xu Shu was being somewhat unreasonable.

But to be fair, Cao Hong's personal morality was indeed lacking.

It wouldn't be surprising if he were to actually do something like that.

Since Zhong Yao intended to befriend Xu Shu, or rather, to show goodwill to the emperor's close advisors behind him.

There's naturally no need to seek justice for Cao Hong.

Besides, someone has to take the blame for the loss of Nanyang, right?

After careful consideration, Zhong Yao said:
“Yuan Zhi’s words make sense.”

“That’s settled then. I will submit a memorial to His Majesty tomorrow to inform him of this matter.”

"As for you, continue to gather evidence of Cao Zilian's crimes. Make sure the evidence is conclusive and do not wrongly accuse an innocent person!"

Xu Shu quickly agreed.

The following day, Zhong Yao submitted a memorial as promised, criticizing Cao Hong.

After the memorial was forwarded to the two officials in the central government, a memorial was also sent from Xuchang.

It came from Cao Hong himself. In his memorial, he said that Guan Yu wanted to exchange Xiahou Shang and Man Chong for a truce until the following autumn.

Since the matter concerned a high-ranking general, Cao Hong said he dared not make a decision on his own and requested permission from the imperial court.

But by this time, memorials accusing him of deceiving the emperor had already flooded the imperial court.

This request for permission, however, seems more like an attempt to cover up the mistake after the fact.

For a time, calls for the generals to be dismissed were rampant.

……

"Cao Pi is not a fool; he would not dismiss Cao Hong so easily."

Mi Wei looked at the intelligence report handed to him by Li Hong and spoke with absolute certainty.

"However, after this incident, Cao Hong lost his prestige in the army, and his 30,000 central troops could no longer be commanded as easily as his own limbs."

"In this way, the pressure on our defense will be greatly reduced, and we can at least hold out until winter."

"This is time that Master Xu bought for us; we must not waste it."

Li Hong made a promise.

He then reported on some of the results of Sun Lang's recruitment efforts in the mountains.

They were all the various rebel armies that had been scattered and fled into the mountains by Man Chong.

Now that they have heard that Guan Yu has recaptured the entire territory of Nanyang, they have all come down from the mountain to join him again.

Miwei did not intend to recruit everyone into the army.

Instead, a portion was allocated to military settlements so that the fertile land of Nanyang could be utilized as quickly as possible.

After all, with Guan Yu's reinforcements arriving one after another, the Han and Wei generals on the Fangcheng front line had reached a state of evenly matched strength.

Both sides have troop strength in the hundreds of thousands.

During this period, the cost of feeding people and horses was enormous.

Without sufficient supplies, one will ruin oneself.

After giving Li Hong some instructions, Mi Wei summoned Zhuge Qiao and Deng Ai to inquire about the progress of the two Tians' work.

He then personally inspected the military camps and fortified villages throughout Fangcheng.

Afterwards, he led reinforcements out of Ye County and took the opportunity to lift the siege of Kunyang. However, he did not rush to recapture Dingling and other cities, but continued to maintain a tug-of-war with Xiahou Ba to ensure that the other party did not suffer any obvious "defeat" for the time being.

As for how to exploit this point to further suppress Cao Hong and disrupt the Wei army's command system.

Mi Wei had no choice but to trust Xu Shu.

In short, after a busy month, as the weather gradually turned cooler, the situation in Fangcheng finally stabilized.

Just as autumn was ending, an envoy from Chengdu arrived in Nanyang to deliver gifts to the troops and formally announce the post-war rewards.

As the commander-in-chief of this battle, Guan Yu deserves the most credit.

However, he had already reached the pinnacle of power, so he only increased the number of households in his fiefdom.

The lion's share of the reward went to his two sons.

Guan Ping, the General Who Pacifies Bandits, was promoted to General Who Assists the Han (a higher rank) and appointed Prefect of Nanxiang.

Guan Xing, the Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant who was far away in Chengdu, was given the additional title of Attendant-in-Ordinary as a sign of imperial favor.

As for Pan Jun, the former prefect of Nanxiang, he was directly transferred to Chengdu and promoted to the position of Tingwei, one of the Nine Ministers.

Upon hearing this, Mi Wei couldn't help but sigh that Lao Deng's official career was indeed going very well.

Even without joining Sun Quan, he eventually rose to the high position of a middle-ranking official with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain).

Also.

Deputy General Kou Feng was brave and daring in battle, and had achieved many victories. He was specially promoted to the rank of Marquis of Xiang, and continued to serve as the Prefect of Nanyang.

Since Nanyang had been completely recovered, he was now a true prefect.

Although Deng Zhi suffered a minor defeat in his first battle, he made meritorious contributions in subsequent command and was transferred to the position of Prefect of Xiangyang.

Liao Hua was transferred from Nan Commandery to Jiangxia Prefecture, enfeoffed as Marquis of Ting, and concurrently appointed as the Governor of Yiyang, responsible for guarding the three passes and preventing the Wei army from advancing south.

For his successful planning, Zhang Yi was transferred to the position of Prefect of Nan Commandery, returning to the ranks of officials with a salary of two thousand piculs of grain.

Yang Yi remained the Chief Secretary of the General's Office, but he was also credited with planning and was enfeoffed as a Marquis of Ting.

Subsequently, he received numerous rewards and promotions.

But compared to these rewards that were more or less expected or predictable.

The most remarkable figure is Miwei, who participated in the battle by chance and repeatedly created miracles.

If we consider Guan Yu as the commander-in-chief, he should naturally be ranked first in terms of merit.

Below Guan Yu, Mi Wei was ranked first.

The rewards bestowed upon him were second only to those given to Guan Yu's family.

Mi Wei, the Attendant-in-Ordinary and General of Zhaohan, was removed from his post as Left Commander of the Army and appointed Governor of Yuzhou, granted the authority to act on behalf of the emperor, and given command of the military affairs of Wan, Ru, and Ying provinces.

(End of this chapter)