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

Chapter 249 A Visitor
What chilled Xu Shu to the bone was that Cao Pi had clearly already been tempted by this plan.

They even began making plans in secret.

Chen Qun had just adopted a deliberately tough stance when Sima Yi began to speak eloquently.

He clearly had a thorough understanding of the details of this strategy.

Even Budugen's envoy had heard of "Lord Su's proposal," which shows that the plan was no longer a top secret among the Hu people's high-ranking officials.

It was only today that I, the newly favored Commandant of the Capital Region who seemed to be involved in confidential matters, had the opportunity to listen in after undergoing Cao Pi's "test".

High-ranking officials like Zhong Yao are probably still in the dark.

Xu Shu's gaze swept over Cao Pi, who sat smugly in the main seat.

Then it swept across Chen Qun's rigid, square face.

The final image focuses on Sima Yi's seemingly humble yet unfathomable smile.

A tremendous chill and a sense of powerlessness gripped him.

Whether Jia Xu actually offered such a vicious plan is now impossible to verify.

There's no need to get certified anymore.

Aren't dead people just used as scapegoats?
The important thing is that the situation has come to this point.

In order to save his empire, Cao Pi and his trusted advisors had no choice but to take a risky gamble and use one enemy against another.

Even if it comes at a high price in the future.

if not?
Are they waiting for the Han army to come and wipe out his entire family?
There always have to be some desperate measures!

Now that things had come to this, Xu Shu knew he could no longer stop Cao Wei from implementing its strategy of "allying with the Hu to control the Han".

Perhaps the various Xianbei tribes had already been preparing for war, just waiting for Cao Pi's order to march straight towards Guanzhong and Qin Chuan.

All he could do was send the message south as quickly as possible.

Although the Sili Xiaowei was called "Xiaowei" (commander), he had long since lost all connection with military affairs.

His authority was not even comparable to that of a governor of a foreign prefecture today, and he had no real power.

After all, those who are appointed as governors outside the capital often still have the authority to supervise the military affairs of a region and control the power of local military commanders.

No matter how prestigious the position of the Commandant of the Capital Region was, he was still just an inspector.

As he pondered, Cao Pi's gaze finally returned to him, and he said with a smile:

"Minister Xu has recently been clearing up the court for me, even at the cost of offending powerful figures in Luoyang. His loyalty is commendable."

"I am not a cruel ruler who discards his bow after the birds are all gone."

"Right now, I need a loyal and reliable person to keep an eye on the southward-bound barbarian cavalry. You could use this opportunity to leave Luoyang and lay low for a while... Would you be willing?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Shu's heart sank even further.

Cao Pi's words sounded nice, but if he were to suddenly be transferred away when he was locked in a fierce power struggle with the powerful figures in Luoyang, wouldn't that be tantamount to surrendering and admitting defeat?
The claim that he was sent away to avoid trouble is probably a way for Cao Pi to ease the pressure and ease his relationship with the nobles and officials in Luoyang by transferring him away.

Xu Shu sneered inwardly.

But his face already showed tears of gratitude:

"Your Majesty's kindness is something I will repay with my life!"

……

In the blink of an eye, the autumn harvest is coming to an end.

This year, Jingzhou has been free from floods and droughts, resulting in a rare good harvest.

However, compared to Yizhou, which has enjoyed peace for a long time, this harvest is only enough to make ends meet.

It is said that the official grain purchases in Sichuan this year alone reached five million bushels.

Including the accumulation of the past few years, and after deducting the consumption in between, the official granaries in various places have accumulated a total of 20 million bushels of grain.

It's enough to feed 100,000 soldiers and civilians for more than three years.

Not to mention the continuous flow of commercial profits from the Western Regions and the South, including salt, iron, copper, horses, cattle, sheep, and more.

By mid-year, Liu Bei's central cavalry force had exceeded five thousand.

The other foreign armies also had around two thousand knights each.

The forces of Huang Quan and Wu Yi in Hexi were said to number in the tens of thousands.

Although most of these were Qiang cavalry recruited from Liangzhou, it is clear that warhorses and cavalry were no longer a weakness of the Shu Han.

If there had been such a number of knights in the Battle of Longyou back then, why would Mi Wei have needed to play hide-and-seek with Guo Huai, Zhang Ji, and others?

They simply swept through with a single cavalry charge.

Of course, this is just some idle thought when I'm bored. It should be said that it is precisely because of the hard work and struggle of those years that we have achieved such wealth and prosperity today.

Moreover, no matter how many cavalrymen Yizhou had, they were only meant to be used to attack Guanzhong.

Even though Mi Wei was thousands of miles away in Fangcheng, he still diligently built city walls and passageways.

Incidentally, they also trained the rebels to become qualified mountain infantry.

In order to defend against the next offensive by Jia Kui and Cao Hong.

Fortunately, the battle in the spring dealt a severe blow to the Wei army's logistical supply capabilities.

For the next six months, Fangcheng's defensive pressure was greatly reduced.

The entire Jianghan Plain, along with the Nanyang Basin, was able to recover and thrive.

After the autumn harvest, the military food supply was sufficient to cope with the high-intensity war in the following year.

Meanwhile, Mi Wei's Fangcheng army, after absorbing a large number of rebel troops, quickly expanded to 20,000.

Miwei was now confident enough to proceed with the defensive battle.

With military support, the implementation of various systems was able to proceed smoothly.

Although it is still far from the anticipated "epochal change".

But at least within Jingzhou, the scholar-official class has gradually won over the hearts of the people.

As the year draws to a close, various methods of selecting officials, such as the recommendation system and the regular examinations, are proceeding in an orderly manner. It has become quite common for scholars from Jingzhou to go to other prefectures to take up official positions, and for scholars from other prefectures to come to Jingzhou to serve as officials.

For example, Mi Wei's subordinates in Yuzhou Prefecture took this opportunity to expand their ranks by a large number of middle and lower-level officials.

Among them, grammar and arithmetic are the most frequently selected subjects.

According to the practice of the Han Dynasty, or rather the Three Han Dynasties, these scholars who served as officials in prefectures and counties had the opportunity to enter the imperial court as officials if they performed well, and then be transferred to local areas as prefectural and county officials.

This is a significant difference from the clear-cut separation between officials and clerks in later dynasties.

It can only be said that Mi Wei, as a transmigrator, although a complete failure in engineering, still knew the importance of mastering mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

They did indeed hide some personal agenda in there.

In short, after being busy for more than half a year, Miwei finally received two pieces of good news, one big and one small.

The great news is that the Northern Expedition of Yizhou is progressing smoothly. It is said that Zhang Fei's main force has broken through the blockade of Dasanguan and is besieging Wei general Yang Qiu in Chencang City.

With Zhang Fei's breakthrough, the resistance faced by Wei Yan, Zhao Yun, and other units will be greatly reduced.

Once those two points are also breached, and the forces join forces with Zhang Fei, the Wei army in Guanzhong will have no defensible terrain and will only be able to fight the Han army on flat ground.

This will undoubtedly prompt Luoyang to increase its support for Guanzhong.

This will further alleviate the pressure on Miwei in Fangcheng.

The small piece of good news, however, concerns Mi Wei personally.

After a year of recuperation in Sichuan, his wife Guan Linghui came to Wancheng with their eldest son, Mi Qian.

Mi Wei had been away fighting for a long time and missed his wife terribly. He was also very curious about his eldest son, whom he had never met.

He then entrusted the affairs of the mansion to his subordinates and returned to Wancheng to have a good reunion with his wife, children, and father-in-law, Guan Yu.

There's no need to go into details about his private life, such as his tender moments with his wife and being re-educated by his eldest son who suddenly started crying in the middle of the night.

In short, as the season approaches the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.

Apart from war, all activities in the agricultural era gradually came to a standstill.

Even in war, only Guanzhong, the place that attracts worldwide attention, can be considered to be of high intensity at present.

In other areas, including Fangcheng, where fierce fighting raged for nearly half a year from last winter to this spring, large areas of battlefield blanks have now appeared.

Clearly, all parties are waiting for the outcome of the Battle of Guanzhong.

……

On this day, Li Hong, an official in charge of clerks, suddenly arrived from Ye County and delivered an invitation letter to Mi Wei.

Mi Wei glanced up once and immediately entrusted his eldest son to Guan Yu's care, then returned to Ye County with only his wife.

Upon arriving in Ye County, Mi Wei quickly gathered his trusted subordinates and discussed the inviter's intentions. He then immediately decided to meet him.

The meeting place was at Ye Gong Temple in the southeast of Ye County.

That area was within the range of the Han army's forces, so Mi Wei did not need to mobilize a large force.

Besides his wife Guan Linghui, the only people accompanying him were Zhuge Qiao, the chief clerk, and Yang Xi, a man from Jianwei, Yizhou, who had recently been recruited into his household as the chief clerk.

(End of this chapter)