three kings

Chapter 241 The strategy of mastering the Central Plains (End)

For Cao Cao's request, Emperor Xian always agreed unconditionally, but this time he was very impatient, eager to know whether Yuan Shao was loyal or traitor.

Just because of his ardent loyalty to imperial power, he was unwilling to be a puppet emperor.A few years ago, after his brother Liu Bian was killed by an unintentional mistake, he vowed to be like Liu Bian, work hard, and let the big man reproduce the glory of Hanwu.

It's a pity that he was first treated as nothing by Dong Zhuo, and then made a puppet by Cao Cao. There was no hope of recovering the Han Dynasty.

Not long ago, Chang Kun, the official who defended the capital and Miyagi, suddenly told him: "Yuan Shao in the north is loyal and patriotic. He has an army of 50 and is strong. He can defeat Cao Cao's side and help His Majesty seize the throne again."

At that time, he was overjoyed, and immediately secretly asked his uncle Dong Cheng to discuss the matter.

Dong admitted that he was the third prince of the four clans of the Yuan family, with a prominent position and servants all over the world, so he did have the strength to fight against Cao Cao.

After discussing with each other, they decided to invite Yuan Shao to the court.However, before the edict was issued, Cao Cao sued Yuan Shao in the court for "intending rebellion and setting up a new monarch privately".

This is a crime that implicates the nine clans, whether it is a frame-up or the truth, Emperor Xian can't tell, but he knows that if it is true, then his act of inviting Yuan Shao to the imperial court will be like driving tigers at the front door and wolves at the back door, and a group of tigers. More hateful wolf.

In order to distinguish Yuan Shao's loyalty and treachery, he hurriedly said: "Come here, quickly bring all the memorials of the general."

In less than a moment, all the memorials played by Yuan Shao arrived at the main hall under the handling of the eunuchs.

A sneer appeared on the corner of Cao Cao's mouth, and he said, "Then please ask Uncle Guo to compare."

Dong Cheng took the silk handkerchief from Cao Cao, and compared it with Yuan Shao's memorial in one hand and Yuan Shao's memorial in the other. Finally, Dong Cheng gave up the comparison and sighed: "It is indeed Yuan Shao's handwriting."

As soon as this remark came out, it was undoubtedly the death sentence for Chang Kun and Wei Ming.

The two of them immediately knelt down and begged: "Your Majesty, please forgive me...Your Majesty, please forgive me..." Later, they felt that it was useless to ask Emperor Xian, because Emperor Xian himself was a puppet, and the power of life and death was in Cao Cao's hands, so they hurriedly knelt and walked to Cao Cao In front of him, he kowtowed and begged: "Lord Sikong, please forgive me. If there are so many, please spare the villain. All of this is because Yuan Shao forced us..."

Cao Cao showed a trace of disgust on his face, and shouted: "Drag them down and wait for them to be punished."

The two strong guards dragged the howling Chang Kun and Wei Ming away gradually.

Seeing that he had everything in his hands, Cao Cao couldn't help showing a look of relief on his face. He looked at Dong Cheng and said sarcastically, "Uncle Guo, please read the letter in your hand now?"

Dong Cheng opened the letter and read: "I worked together with the Hanwen Festival to build the way of eternity, and I hope to see the rejuvenated master in the sea. Now there is a young king in the west, and there is no blood pile..." Dong Chengnian's expression changed drastically when he heard this, and the court People in the middle class also changed their colors for it.

"Everyone below Gongqing is admirable, and you can trust me! But when you send soldiers to Tunguan, they all die in the west. The holy king in the east, peace can be hoped, how can there be doubts! The family sees the slaughter, and they don't want to think about their children. Xu, is it possible to return to the north? It’s an ominous omen, I wish to think about it.” Dong Cheng finished reading all the content in one breath.

There was silence in the court, only the gasps of anger from individual loyal ministers could be heard.

The content of Yuan Shao's letter is roughly like this: "I previously conspired with Han Wenjie (Han Fu) for a long-term plan to make the Lord of Zhongxing reappear in the country. Now Chang'an has a young monarch in name, but it is not of the blood of the Han family. The following officials are all flattering Dong Zhuo, how can you trust them? At present, we should only send soldiers to garrison the Guanjin Fortress, and let him die of exhaustion. Immediately, the sage will be established in the east, and the day of peace is just around the corner. Is there any doubt! When it comes to the massacre, you must never learn from Wu Zixu and be loyal to the Wu Kingdom. It is the destiny of heaven to establish a sage in the east. Brother Shu must not violate the will of heaven. Those who disobey the sky will be ominous, and they will be sent by heaven in the future. I hope that my brother will think twice before acting."

Emperor Xian was furious, he slammed the table and shouted loudly: "Yuan Shao, the thief, you should punish the Nine Clans!"

Emperor Xian, who had always been submissive, couldn't bear it anymore, the blood of the Han family was supreme and extremely solemn.And he is the son of Emperor Ling, with the purest blood of the Han family, but Yuan Shao said that he is not of the blood of the Han family. Isn't this tantamount to calling him a bastard?That's not bad.

Different from Emperor Xian's anger, Uncle Dong Cheng acted very rationally, he asked Emperor Xian aloud and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance, you should not make a decision lightly, you must think twice before acting."

Then, he looked at Cao Cao and asked, "Lord Sikong, this letter is obviously a letter from Yuan Shao to his younger brother Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu disregarded the laws of the Han Dynasty and sent troops to attack General Zhennan. He executed him. I don’t know how it ended up in Lord Sikong’s hands?”

Cao Cao sneered and said, "Uncle Guo is suspecting Cao's falsification of evidence?"

"Don't dare!" Dong Cheng said calmly: "Dong just has doubts in his heart."

Cao Cao said with a smile: "It's okay to tell you. This letter was found by General Zhennan from Yuan Shu's mansion after he defeated Shouchun. General Zhennan felt that the trouble was serious, so he submitted this letter. Cao looked at it. Later, fearing that the government and the people would be shaken, he didn't dare to make a conclusion easily, so he suppressed it for the time being, and now Cao has confirmed that Yuan Shao did this, so naturally he has to report it to the court."

"May I ask the prime minister how he was sure?" Dong Cheng believed Cao Cao's words when he mentioned Sun Can, but he still wanted to make the final decision, because he had already put the treasure on Yuan Shao, and he didn't want to waste all his previous efforts like this. .

Cao Cao's face was calm, obviously he had made sufficient preparations, and he said loudly, "I invite Dong Zhao, Dong Yilang."

A scribe with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a straight nose and a wide mouth came in, and gave Emperor Xian an imperial gift.

Dong Cheng asked: "Dong Yilang, how do you prove that Yuan Shao has the intention of treason?"

Dong Zhao returned the gift and said calmly: "Uncle Hui, Zhao Yuan was Yuan Shao's confidant, and was successively appointed as a member of the military, the prefect of Julu, and the prefect of Wei County. His meritorious deeds were quite outstanding, at least at that time no one was more meritorious than me. He was also regarded by Yuan Shao as his own, and he had participated in this matter with him. However, later, Zhao Chu made three battles and three victories in two days, smashing Montenegro, arousing the jealousy of his colleagues, and slandering his subordinates for collaborating with the enemy.

Dong Zhao had no choice but to flee to Zhang Yang's place. Later, he had an audience with His Majesty and was worshiped as Yilang.Originally, this secret had always been hidden in Dong Zhao's mind, but not long ago, Lord Sikong found his servant, and the fact was there, and the servant could not deny it.I just ask His Majesty to take it easy. "

Dong Cheng took two steps back. At this moment, there was no room for him to disbelieve. Cao Cao's crime was only a power minister, but Yuan Shao wanted to abolish the emperor, establish a puppet emperor, and then abolish the emperor to stand on his own.If his strategy of attracting Yuan Shao to Beijing is successful, it means that he personally ruined the country of the great Han and became a sinner through the ages.

At this moment, he didn't know whether he should thank Cao Cao or be hostile to Cao Cao.

Seeing that Dong Cheng was silent, Cao Cao knew that he had believed his words, and continued, "Yuan Shao's second crime is a crime of disrespect. Since Yuan Shao became powerful, in recent years, he has never been invited for a cent of food, tax and money. His Majesty was not taken seriously.

Yuan Shao's three crimes are crimes of non-violence.Yuan Shao has a vast land and many soldiers, and he specially established a private party; unfortunately, His Majesty was in trouble, and he was not seen as an army to serve the king, but he was seen sending troops to attack the loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty, which shows that this man has great ambitions.Here are the three crimes, please Your Majesty decide. "Cao Cao saluted Emperor Xian and withdrew.

In fact, accusing Yuan Shao of the first crime is enough, but Cao Cao separated the charges, first talking about big things, and using small things to prove the truth of his words.

For example, if a person hears that Yuan Shao has objections, then he just doubts and is not sure that Yuan Shao has objections, but later, he hears that Yuan Shao did not take His Majesty seriously and committed the crime of disrespect. So combined, Yuan Shao's whereabouts are indeed suspicious.If one heard that Yuan Shao was sacking cities and plundering land everywhere regardless of the emperor's safety, then this person would definitely turn Yuan Shao into a traitor and a traitor.

Looking at the courtiers who scolded repeatedly in the court, it is obvious that Cao Cao's little trick has achieved very good results.

Emperor Xian was full of anger towards Yuan Shao, and asked Cao Cao, "Lord Sikong, what do you think should be done at this moment."

Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "Yuan Shao, as the fourth generation and the third prince, has a high status and is favored by my great man, but Yuan Shao is not grateful for the repayment. He only wants to usurp the Han and establish a new king. It is an unforgivable crime. We should order the people all over the world to condemn Yuan Shao, the traitor. .”

Emperor Xian glanced at Dong Cheng.

Dong Cheng knew that he had to act according to Cao Cao's method at this moment, so he nodded silently.

Emperor Xian immediately issued an edict to crusade against Yuan Shao.

Seeing that the matter had been completed, Cao Cao nodded in satisfaction, then stood aside and closed his eyes in silence until the morning was over.

After the morning court, Cao Cao returned to the mansion, sat in the lobby and waited quietly.

One hour...two hours...three hours.

This waited for three full hours.Finally, the outside came in to report, and the mastermind, Xi Zhi, arrived.

"Please hurry up!" Cao Cao's eyes flashed a trace of excitement and sharpness.

Xi Zhicai strode into the hall and sat down in front of Cao Cao.

Cao Cao has long known that Xi Zhicai does not stick to trifles, so he doesn't care about it/
Xi Zhicai leaned forward and said in a low voice: "My lord, everything is going as planned In the mansion, a letter secretly communicating with Yuan Shao was found, and General Xuanwei and General Wuwei were executed by his subordinates. At this moment, all the ministers loyal to Yuan Shao in the court have been eliminated by the subordinates."

A stern look flashed in Cao Cao's eyes, and he said, "You should be killed for colluding with Yuan Shao under Cao's nose." After a pause, Cao Cao asked again, "What happened to those stubborn old men in court?"

Xi Zhicai said in admiration: "My lord is lucky, those old stubborn people have temporarily put aside their prejudice against the lord, and are united against Yuan Shao."

Cao Cao smiled disdainfully, and said: "These people are not worth mentioning. If you have to deal with Ziyu, Cao will not bother to deal with them. If you cause trouble, you will kill them with one knife."

(End of this chapter)