The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 191 Set Sail, One Fox Plays Three Tigers
"Sun Liu's coalition army has arrived in Xiangyang." Liu Ye sent the military report he had just received to Cao Cao. Cao Cao stopped the pen in his hand, took the military report, but did not open it immediately, but glanced at Liu Ye, There was both surprise and disappointment in the eyes: "Is it really here?"

Liu Ye nodded: "According to the information received, Jiang Dong had a great opinion on Sun Quan's refusal to save him, saying that he used the prime minister's sword to kill Sun Ce's son."

Cao Cao's mouth twisted, and he smiled disdainfully: "This is probably the wind released by Sun Shao, right?"

"It should be." Liu Ye smiled, and just about to speak, Xin Pi walked in with a happy face, and said out of breath: "Prime Minister, good news!"

"Success?" Cao Cao and Liu Ye were stunned. Sun Liu's army was about to arrive. Even if they didn't work hard, they would at least fight a dozen. What good news could there be at this time? Could it be that Cao Pi caught the fine work?
Simpi stopped, panted twice, and then said in one breath: "Su Chu of the Zhendan Navy's legs turned against the water and fled before the battle. The Qingxu Navy wiped out Jiang Qin's troops in the Jiangdong Navy, and Zang Ba killed Jiang Qin. Taking advantage of the victory, we went straight to Jianye, and Jiangdong was shaken, turning defeat into victory."

Before Simpi could finish his sentence, Cao Cao stood up with a groan, opened his eyes and shouted, "What did you say? Zang Ba counterattacked Jianye?"

Simpi was startled, nodded repeatedly, and handed over the urgent report in his hand.Without further ado, Cao Cao took it over as if snatching it up, inspected the mud seal on it, took the book knife from the case, cut the bundled string at once, unfolded the brief strategy with a "wow", and quickly browsed through it. over again.This is Zang Ba's application letter, which is of course more detailed than what Xin Pi heard from the messenger. Cao Cao's brows danced, and a smile bloomed from the corners of his eyes full of crow's feet.After a long time, he slowly put down the bamboo slip in his hand, raised his head and let out a long sigh:
"Shuzi is a good trick!"

Liu Ye was baffled, he vaguely heard what Cao Cao meant, as if this matter had something to do with Sun Shao—because they often talked about Sun Shao recently, Cao Cao always called Sun Shao a vertical son——Su Chugao, the Aurora sailor It is understandable that Buyuan was Sun Shao's subordinate, but since Sun Quan separated them, it is impossible that he did not have the means to win over Su Chugui. Judging from Su Chugui's performance a while ago, he seems to have taken refuge in him. Sun Quan suddenly rebelled now, is it only because of Sun Shao?

Cao Cao can't tell. This kind of situation will happen, but it doesn't happen often, especially when Sun Shao is now on the verge of defeat. If Su Chugui was really that kind of loyal subordinate, he shouldn't have betrayed Sun Shao in the first place. Shao, accept Sun Quan's official position, but if he really betrayed Sun Shao, now is definitely not the time for him to be loyal to Sun Shao again, because Sun Shao is trapped in Wancheng and is in danger, even if he betrays and makes Sun Quan's rear unstable, he will Can't save Sun Shao.

Then there is only one possibility, that Su thick legs did not betray Sun Shao, he was a foreshadowing that Sun Shao had planted long ago, and he was one of the many measures Sun Shao took to solve his difficulties. Moreover, Su thick legs had enough confidence in Sun Shao, So much so that he could abandon his existing interests and follow Sun Shao wholeheartedly.

Because of this, Cao Cao thought that Sun Shao's methods were brilliant, he had been forbearing, and then at the most critical moment, he gave Sun Quan a severe blow.From this point of view, Sun Shao must have another move, he must make it impossible for Sun Quan to counterattack.

So what is the solution?Cao Cao was very curious, and so were Liu Ye and Simpi.

"Will Sun Shao surrender?" Cao Cao repeated the old saying. In his opinion, the best way for Sun Shao to get rid of Sun Quan's control is to surrender to him.If this is the case, then Cao Cao would not have any kindness. He just used Sun Shao to attack Sun Quan and reaped the benefits himself.

"In Yichen's opinion, it's not very possible." Liu Ye shook his head, although his tone was mild, but the meaning was very clear. "Anyway, Sun Quan and Liu Bei led the army to arrive. Sun Shao's situation has improved. He didn't surrender before, and he shouldn't surrender now."

Cao Cao looked at Liu Ye: "Even if Sun Quan came, would he really launch an attack? Su's thick-legged rebellion will only increase Sun Quan's murderous intent. How could he help Sun Shao?"

"Killing is one thing, helping is another." Liu Ye shook his head again and again: "Even if Sun Quan wanted to kill Sun Shao, he would not take this opportunity. If he really wanted to force Sun Shao to surrender, what good would it do him? ?”

Cao Cao stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and suddenly gave a wry smile: "I understand, this Zhuzi is playing the trick of pretending to be a tiger, and now none of us has an absolute advantage. Whoever he joins will have the upper hand, so No one can offend him, plus the emperor's edict, this...anxiety is a bit difficult to deal with, and we three tigers were all tricked by him and one fox."

Liu Ye just nodded and didn't speak. Cao Cao had already said what he wanted to say, so it would be pointless to show his intelligence.Although Cao Cao is very magnanimous and has a heart to accept advice, but now he is no longer the open-minded Lord Sikong before, it is better to keep a low profile.Simpi thought the same thing. He twirled his beard and echoed Cao Cao's words: "The Prime Minister is still wise, and saw through this son's trick at one point. The minister is stupid, and he didn't realize his sinister intentions until now. Now it seems that he is very good at getting married. I have been unclear about the matter, probably waiting for Sun Quan and Liu Bei's army to arrive. Now that he has Tianxian in his mouth, I really can't treat it recklessly."

Cao Cao shook his head with a wry smile, and walked slowly in the tent with his hands behind his back.He has been taking advantage of people all his life, and suddenly he was taken advantage of by others. He really didn't know it. He thought hard, hoping to find a loophole to prevent Sun Shao from taking advantage of them, but after much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons, it seemed It is better to unite with Sun Shao than to unite with Sun Quan and Liu Bei.

Politics, in the final analysis, is still about interests. How to do it to maximize the interests is the best strategy.Cao Cao hesitated, frowned for a while, and shook his head for a while and smiled secretly.Liu Ye and Xin Pi didn't dare to say a word, they watched with bated breath.

"Prime Minister, the envoy of the Son of Heaven is here." Xu Xuan opened the tent door and said softly.Although his voice is very soft, the words are clearly sent to everyone's ears, as if he is speaking in your ear.

Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and the hand twirling his beard stopped. He looked at Xu Xuan for a moment, then turned his head, looked at Liu Ye, and then at Xin Pi. Smile a little.

Liu Ye and Xin Pi glanced at each other and smiled helplessly.Things were just as they had expected, the edict of the Son of Heaven did not come too late, it was too late, this time came, obviously, there must be Sun Shao's shadow behind it.

Cao Cao was in a dilemma, should he accept the imperial edict or not?If you accept the edict, then it is unreasonable to besiege the city by yourself. You can only unite with Sun Shao and become the tiger behind the fox, Sun Shao. Take this opportunity to hit him.Of course, he can also declare that this edict is not the emperor's original intention, just like Sun Quan and Liu Bei did not accept his edict, but there is a premise that he must ensure that Sun Quan and Liu Bei can't do anything to him.

But now, he doesn't have this confidence. His military strength is not far from the total military strength of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. Will there be no more accidents?

Just when Cao Cao was in trouble, Xu Yu said again: "Along with the emperor's edict, there is also the empress's edict."

Cao Cao was startled, but immediately understood.In Xu County, not only the Son of Heaven, but also his four daughters, and many of his cronies, were all his eyes and ears around the Son of Heaven.These people must be under the control of Sun Shao now, if he refuses to accept the edict, then his daughter and these cronies will all die.Even if he could abandon these people, what about Cao Ren?What about full pets?Did he abandon them all too?
Cao Cao only hesitated for a short time, then made up his mind, and without a moment's delay, he waved his hand and said, "Accept the imperial edict."

Sun Quan and Liu Bei received the emperor's edict almost at the same time. Although they were separated by tens of miles, their expressions were very similar, stunned, and then smiled wryly.

Sun Quan was so angry that he gritted his teeth. Su's thick legs accidentally turned against him. Not only did he lose Jiang Qin, a general, but he also lost thousands of sailors, and Jianye was in crisis. Became a bubble.Although he has no evidence that this matter is related to Sun Shao, he can be sure that Sun Shao played a decisive role in it.Originally, he didn't understand why Su thick legs would rather give up the real interests, make such a self-destructive move, and follow Sun Shao wholeheartedly. Now that he received the edict, he understood that Sun Shao had planned to be independent from him a long time ago. But have been waiting for the opportunity.

If you take a closer look, Sun Shao was ready when he wanted to dismantle the Sinian navy, so he kept Su's thick legs, not for anything else, just because Su's thick legs had Enough strength to cause trouble behind him, if it was Cui Qian or Yuehai, they would not have the strength even if they wanted to.The ridiculous thing is that at that time he thought it was Sun Shao's kindness and loyalty, so he happily accepted Sun Shao's proposal, only to find out in the end that it was Sun Shao who had dug a hole for him.And he thought he had a plan, and jumped in with great interest.

He wanted to deal with Sun Shao, but before he could think of a good idea, he found that he was unable to deal with Sun Shao at all. Sun Shao hid behind the emperor, taking advantage of the emperor's moral advantage, and leaned on Cao Cao behind him With his strong strength, as long as he shows a mentality that is not good for Sun Shao, Sun Shao may vote for Cao Cao and become Cao Cao's vanguard-of course, there is an edict from the emperor.

I'm afraid that at that time, everyone will stand on Sun Shao's side, thinking that Sun Quan forced Sun Shao to take this road. The reason is very simple. All the generals will sympathize with Sun Shao.

For Sun Quan, the emperor issued an order to stop the army and truce. If he resisted, he would be a traitor. Not only would he have to face Cao Cao's army, but he would also face the attack of Sun Shao. With the edict, he can justifiably replace him as the lord of Jiangdong. With the foreshadowing in front, I believe many people will sympathize with Sun Shao, and then support Sun Shao and accept Sun Shao.

After weighing the pros and cons, Sun Quan discussed with Gu Yong and others and decided to accept the imperial edict.

For Liu Bei, the situation is similar. He could not accept the edict of the emperor before because the emperor was in the hands of Cao Cao. Now the emperor is in the hands of Guan Yu. Guan Yu is his confidant, his brother, and his brawn. Minister of stock, does he want to say that Guan Yu is a traitor?He can't do it.More importantly, now that the three parties are confronting each other, no one can eat the other. Although Cao Cao is a giant, Sun Quan, an ally, is not a trustworthy object.Sun Shao and Guan Yu coerced the emperor to order the princes, and they have become the key pawns in the battle. You can ignore the imperial edict, but you must have the strength to deal with the attacks of the other two parties.

But now no one has this strength, Cao Cao does not, Sun Quan does not, and Liu Bei does not.

What's more, the imperial edict of the emperor also wears a big hat, thinking of the people of the world, and it comes with an unspoken benefit. As long as everyone sits down and talks, then the three of them can justifiably separate the existing territory.

It is only necessary to respect the emperor in name.

Cao Cao can not want the emperor, and Sun Quan can also not want the emperor, but Liu Bei can't. He has always regarded himself as a royal family, knowing that the emperor has become a decoration, and he can't ignore it. One day can not express this meaning.

Everyone in the world can know it, but no one can say it.

So Liu Bei could only reluctantly accept the edict.

Things went smoothly beyond the emperor's imagination. Less than half a month after the edict was issued, Cao Sun and Liu Sanfang successively responded, accepting the emperor's edict and sending envoys to Wancheng to participate in the talks.Although the emperor who received the reward was already mentally prepared, when the exact news reached his ears, he still couldn't believe it.While feeling emotional, he said to Liu Ruo: "General Sun has a clever plan."

When Sun Shao heard the compliment conveyed by Liu Ruo, he just laughed, and then said insincerely: "Where, this is due to the 400 years of kindness of my great man, it is your majesty's wisdom, and it is General Guan and the pillars of the country. I just happened to come up with an idea at the right time.”

Liu Ruo smiled all over his face, and he asked tentatively: "General, how should we arrange the next meeting?"

Sun Shao spread his hands: "I'm not good at such things. There are many sages in the court. Why don't you invite one or two to preside over them?" Improper speaking."

"Who?" Liu Ruo said hastily, "General, please speak frankly."

"The former Taiwei Yang Gong."

Liu Ruo thought for a moment, suddenly realized, and excitedly slapped his thigh: "Oh, how could I have forgotten him, yes, there is no one more suitable than him to host this military elimination meeting."

Yang Biao comes from the Yang family of the Hong family. Like the Yuan family, the Yang family is also a heir to Confucian classics. It has four generations and three generations, and it pays more attention to morality than the Yuan family. The family is thriving.Whether you like Yang Biao or not, you cannot ignore the existence of such a family, nor the existence of a person like Yang Biao. Although he has been unable to recover from his illness since the first year of Jian'an, his reputation has not diminished in the slightest.

If such a person presides over the General Assembly, no matter whether it is Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, or the Son of Heaven, they will not have any opinions.

Liu Ruo was overjoyed, and bowed his hands repeatedly to Sun Shao: "If this meeting of eliminating troops succeeds, the general will be the first to do it."

But Sun Shao waved his hand disapprovingly: "Your Majesty, don't think too easily. Even if the envoy arrives in Wancheng, it won't be a good deal for a while. Now Wancheng has become the actual capital of the country, and there are too many people talking about it. Those people who came to Wancheng are all intrigues, and there are too many shady things in private. As the close ministers of His Majesty, you must guard against it."

Liu Ruo immediately understood what Sun Shao meant.Now that the three parties send envoys to the talks, it is because of the situation, it is a last resort, and it is not their sincerity. As long as there is something wrong at this time, they may withdraw from the joint talks at any time.To ensure the success of the joint talks, the safety of Wancheng is the top priority, and no mistakes can be made.

"General Guan and General Sun are here, so there shouldn't be anything wrong?" Liu Ruo said tentatively.

"Us?" Sun Shao's mouth twisted: "The name is not right, the words are not right."

Liu Ruo smiled knowingly and understood.After saying a few gossips, he stood up and said goodbye. After a short time, the emperor's edict arrived, and Guan Yu was named General of Hussars, and he was in charge of the prefect of Nanyang to ensure the safety of Nanyang.Sun Shao was granted the title of General of the Guard, leading the order of Wan, responsible for the security of Wancheng and the picket officials; Liu Ruo was named Guang Luxun, responsible for the security of the city outside the palace;At the same time, an imperial edict was issued, ordering the former Taiwei Yang Biao to rush to Wancheng to preside over the military elimination meeting in Wancheng.

After the edict was issued, the emperor issued another edict that Wancheng was short of food, and asked the three officials of the frontier to bring food quickly.After receiving the edict, Cao Cao and others saw that the overall situation was settled, so they had no choice but to write a letter to send food. They can't respect the emperor while starving the emperor.The most anxious one was Cao Cao. Sun Shao sent someone to send him a letter privately. First, he thanked him for being the first to respond to the General Assembly of Elimination of Soldiers, and set an example for Sun Quan and Liu Bei. When the food comes, I will cut off the food of your Cao family first.Cao Cao knew that he was being used by Sun Shao, but at this point, he could only hold his nose and admit that it was bad luck. He retreated twenty miles, withdrew the siege of Wancheng, and sent food at the same time.

When the long grain trucks drove into the city gate, the people who had been besieged for several months were all excited, and when they heard the news that the emperor issued an order to stop the army and truce, they all felt that the good days were coming, and they ran to meet each other. According to the report, Wancheng soon became a sea of ​​joy.Although many people think that this matter is still a long way from the final peace, ordinary people and soldiers don't think so much. They don't want to fight for a long time and just want to go home early. With this news, they decided that decades of wars were finally coming to an end.

As a matter of course, Guan Yu and Sun Shao became great benefactors second only to the emperor, and gradually people came to the mansion to kowtow every day.Sun Shao was afraid of trouble, so he hid in the mansion and did not go out. Guan Yu was not the same. He enjoyed this feeling very much. He liked to see countless people he did not know pay homage to him and shouted long live. He liked to patrol the city with his personal guards. , enjoy the grateful eyes of the people wherever the love goes.

Wancheng, which had been restless, gradually calmed down. Sun Shao suggested that Guan Yu release those rebels who were not strong in combat power out of the city. It is also good to relieve some of the food supply pressure and security management pressure in Wancheng.Guan Yu is now obedient to Sun Shao, and immediately asked the emperor for instructions, leaving a small part of the more than 3 rebels, and sending the rest to farm outside the city.Nanyang is cooked, but it has been fighting for the past few years, and there is a serious shortage of manpower, so many lands have been abandoned. Tens of thousands of laborers came in at once. Great relief.

At the end of March, Yang Biao hurried to Wancheng.As soon as he got off the carriage, regardless of his exhaustion, he immediately went into the palace to meet the emperor. As soon as the emperor and his ministers met, before Yang Biao could speak, the emperor got up from the throne, rushed to Yang Biao in three steps at a time, and grabbed Yang Biao. Biao's hand wept bitterly.He ascended the throne at the age of nine, and the next few years were spent in a bloody storm. Dong Zhuo first massacred Luoyang, and then forced him to move to Chang'an. Wang Yun finally planned to kill Dong Zhuo, and Li Jue and Guo Si were in trouble again. Chang'an, until he escaped from Chang'an in the second year of Zhongping, these years were his lingering nightmare.During these most difficult days, Yang Biao was always by his side, supporting him like a father.After arriving in Xu County in the first year of Jian'an, Yang Biao was not angry with Cao Cao's behavior, and planned to kill Cao Cao when he came to see him. As a result, the emperor was timid and refused to agree, but Cao Cao heard the news, and later found another excuse to kill Yang Biao. Biao was imprisoned, and the cruel official Man Chong beat Yang Biao to death, almost losing his life.After this, Yang Biao was disheartened and Du didn't come out. After all, the emperor hadn't seen him for more than 20 years.

Yang Biao is old, with gray hair, wrinkled face, brown age spots all over his face and hands, but his waist is still straight, standing there, he is still majestic and inviolable.When the Son of Heaven saw him, it was as if he had seen the backbone, and all the burdens on his body were relieved, and all the grievances and pressure seemed to be vented with tears.

For more than 20 years, the Son of Heaven has become numb. He didn't even cry when Empress Fu was dragged out, but when he saw Yang Biao today, he suddenly couldn't restrain his feelings, as if he had suffered a lot of grievances The children finally saw their loved ones.

Yang Biao was also in tears. He knelt down in front of the emperor and looked up at the emperor: "Your Majesty, I was ecstatic when I received the edict. I wish I could fly to His Majesty's side in one step. Your Majesty, I didn't expect that when this In the dying year, there is another chance to serve the great man."

The Son of Heaven was filled with grief and joy. He lifted Yang Biao vigorously, helped him to the next seat, then dragged his own mat to Yang Biao, and sat down next to Yang Biao, with his knees touching his knees, crying softly with tears. Asked: "Mr. Yang, look at the big man...does he still have a chance to be revived?"

"Yes, and no." Yang Biao's voice was tired, but calm.

The emperor was at a loss.

(End of this chapter)