Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2948 Cao Cao, You Have to Accept Me as Your Son-in-Law

  Chapter 2944 Cao Cao, You Have to Accept Me as Your Son-in-Law

Before this incident happened, Liu Xiu was generally grateful to Liu Yu. After all, compared to Liu Ji, who could not bear any loss and was always harboring evil thoughts in his heart, Liu Yu, as the second generation leader of Shu Han, was already quite kind and the most reliable teammate he had ever met.

Although Liu Yu did not seem to do much after coming to power, in fact, everything he did was a big thing.

Take the fact that he proclaimed himself emperor as an example. This alone attracted a large part of the attention of the Qin State. This was a huge event for the Chu State, as it was equivalent to attracting the hatred of the Qin State for the Chu State.

Before, between the two countries of Shu and Chu, the Qin Dynasty was most wary of Chu, because the Qin Dynasty's top leaders had always known that Shu was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the losses from a forced attack would be too great.

Even if we can break through Yangping Pass, there is still Nanzheng, Jiange, and...

Therefore, the Shu Kingdom, which has multiple natural defense lines, will definitely be the last one to be dealt with by the Qin Dynasty.

However, Liu Yu's brazen declaration of himself as emperor was tantamount to removing the last fig leaf, forcing the Qin Dynasty to toughen up and concentrate all its efforts on launching the Battle of Hanzhong, in order to weaken Shu Han while intimidating the other countries in the Central Plains, so as to maintain the majesty of the Qin Dynasty as the overlord of the Central Plains.

Liu Xiu still feels scared when he thinks of this incident. After all, since the Qin Dynasty was ready to draw its sword, it must have a target. And if Liu Yu had not become emperor, where would the Qin Dynasty's sword be directed?

That must be Jiangling of the Chu State. It was only because of Liu Yu's act of proclaiming himself emperor that Shu Han took the blame for the Chu State.

Although Jiangling was the strongest city of Chu State, it was unlikely to withstand the full-scale attack of Qin State. Once Jiangling was breached, the Yangtze River alone would obviously not be able to protect Chu State. At that time, no matter how brave Liu Xiu was, he would not dare to use all his national troops to destroy Wu.

Although the battle to destroy Wu was going smoothly, it was also because Liu Xiu had made proper plans and sufficient preparations, and most importantly, because he had dispatched enough troops.

If the whole country's strength could not be mobilized, even if Sun and Wu were divided, Chu would not only be unable to easily destroy Wu, but might even suffer serious losses.

Therefore, although Liu Yu's various actions were not intentional, in Liu Xiu's view they were indeed of great help to him.

After all, if it weren't for Liu Yu, he would have probably missed the last chance to unify the south of the Yangtze River, and the fastest period of development of the Chu State was after Liu Yu came to power.

  Such teammates are beyond description, they are simply great people who sacrifice themselves to illuminate others. Liu Xiu is not a beast, and even if he cannot repay this kindness in the next life, how can he not be grateful?

Therefore, in the following period of the Shu-Chu alliance, Liu Xiu seemed to follow Liu Yu's lead.

The Battle of Yinan had nothing to do with the State of Chu, but with just one word from Liu Yu, Liu Xiu mobilized the southern army to attack the Nanman, just to make Liu Yu's banner stand out.

After all, only by letting Liu Yu come to the front to attract Ying Hao's firepower can Liu Xiu stay behind and make a fortune in silence. Even making some sacrifices for this is worth it.

Liu Yu was seeking justice, while Liu Xiu was seeking practical benefits. The two of them got what they needed, so they cooperated closely.

Liu Xiu thought it would be fine if they could continue to cooperate like this, but he didn't expect Liu Yu to be so timid and actually stabbed him in the back at the most critical moment, so he was naturally curious about what was written in his letter.

Before opening the letter, Liu Xiu thought a lot and felt that Liu Yu was just confused for a moment. Seeing that he was about to take over Jiangdong, he was jealous and came up with a plan to disgust him. However, he did not expect that Liu Yu was not doing this to disgust him, but was very shrewd and set up a plan that was beneficial to both parties.

  Although Liu Yu had plotted against Liu Xiu this time, he also painted a big pie for him. If he didn't eat it, there would be no harm except that his reputation would be slightly damaged. If he ate it, he would have to pay a heavy price, but there might be greater benefits in the future. But who can predict what will happen in the future?

Liu Xiu was unable to make a decision for a while and could only summon his advisers to brainstorm and see if they could come up with a solution that would satisfy both parties.

"Seconds, great."

After reading Liu Yu's letter, even Pang Tong couldn't help but admire it. He also understood why his lord was so entangled, because Liu Yu's plan this time was not a conspiracy, but a naked open conspiracy.

What is an open conspiracy? Even if one knows it is a conspiracy, he will still jump into it. This is the situation Liu Xiu is facing now, and all this has to start with Yingzhou.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi planned to bring down Shu and Chu, and in order to win the trust of Liu Yu, Cao Pi sent his sister Cao Ying as an envoy. After all, Cao Ying's identity as a concubine's princess was easy to check.

In the end, Cao Pi was too young and did not consider the issue comprehensively. He only thought about how to gain Liu Yu's trust, but ignored the huge benefits brought by Cao Ying's identity. But how could Liu Yu's military advisor Su Qin not see it?

Just as Liu Yu said, if Cao Wei was still strong, Cao Ying would be worthless because there was no profit at all. However, it was precisely because Cao Wei was on the verge of destruction by the Qin Dynasty that the value of Cao Ying's identity as a princess of a fallen country was reflected.

If the man who will become Cao Ying's husband in the future is just an ordinary person, then it will be equally unprofitable. But if he is a powerful prince, then he can openly receive and recruit the remnants of Cao Wei's old generals under the identity of Cao Cao's son-in-law. This benefit cannot be measured by money.

  Then the question arises again, with such great benefits, why didn't Liu Yu eat it himself? And why did he give it to Liu Xiu?

The reason is very simple. Liu Yu simply couldn't take it. Shu Han did not border the Central Plains, and there were two states, Si and Jing, in between. The remnants of Cao Wei could not fly to Chengdu, right?

On the other hand, after Liu Xiu defeated Sun Wu, although he still did not border Cao Wei, he could use his navy to take in the remnants of Cao Wei. As for how much he could take in, it depended on his own ability.

Therefore, Cao Ying is of no value to Liu Yu, but will be of great use to Liu Xiu.

If Liu Yu really married Cao Ying, he would not be able to bring out her value. Instead of wasting this good card on himself, it would be better to use her to blackmail Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu might make a fortune because of Cao Ying in the future, but he, Liu Yu, can make quick money because of Cao Ying now.

In order to maximize the benefits, Liu Yu's conditions were extremely harsh, and he even asked for most of Chu's profits in Yingzhou. This really shocked and angered Liu Xiu. What shocked him was that before the Chu-Wa negotiations were over, Liu Yu had already calculated that he would join the colonization, and he used this as a pretext to show that he had won.

  What makes people angry is Liu Yu's greed. He even extorts money from his own allies. Are you crazy because of poverty?

Liu Yu's unscrupulous approach to making money reminded Liu Xiu of himself when he only had the four counties in southern Jing.

The Chu State at that time was really poor and weak. Not only was it worried every day, fearing that the Qin army would cross the Yangtze River one day, but in order to develop and regain its territory, it was frugal to the extreme. Liu Xiu even didn't want to buy a new set of clothes for several years, so he was also unscrupulous when it came to making money.

People only know that Cao Cao set up a tomb-robbing squad to earn funds for development, but they don’t know that other princes also did it, including Liu Xiu, but he did it more covertly and no one discovered it.

There are a large number of burial objects in the tomb of Marquis Haihun in Yuzhang County. People all thought that this tomb was robbed by Cao Wei's tomb robbers, but in fact it was Liu Xiu who sent people to rob it. He just put the blame on Cao Wei afterwards. And because Yuzhang was not in the territory of Chu, no one suspected Liu Xiu.

At that time, Liu Xiu was so poor that he would do anything to make money. Now Liu Yu gives Liu Xiu the same feeling, but he has a clearer bottom line. He will give you a pie in the sky after a beating, but whether you can get it depends on yourself.

If it were according to Liu Xiu's personality, he would definitely disdain such invisible and intangible benefits, but the temptation to accept the remnants of the fallen Cao Wei was too great.

Cao Wei was so big in size and had so many talented people that even if Liu Xiu only took in a small part of them after the fall of the country, it would be enough for him to live a full life.

Liu Xiu and his advisers discussed for a long time but failed to come up with a solution that would satisfy both parties. After fully weighing the pros and cons, Liu Xiu finally decided to cooperate with Liu Xiu and marry Cao Ying.

The State of Chu was not as short of money as the Shu Han. On the contrary, it had too much money to spend. Therefore, compared to the temptation of money in Yingzhou, Liu Xiu still valued the talents and old subordinates after the fall of Cao Wei more.

"Where are Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue?"

Hearing Liu Xiu's call, the two brothers immediately stood up and responded, "Subordinates are here."

"Kuai Liang went as an envoy to Shu Han to negotiate with Liu Yu, and Kuai Yue went as an envoy to Cao Wei to propose marriage to Cao Cao..."

Cao Ying is in Liu Yu's hands. If Liu Xiu wants to raise the banner of Cao Cao's son-in-law, he must first deal with Liu Yu. Although Liu Yu asked for a huge price this time, it is a deal and there is no reason not to bargain.

As for Cao Cao, it became secondary because neither Liu Xiu nor Liu Yu took Cao Cao, whose country was about to be destroyed, seriously. Liu Yu even detained the Wei envoy without giving Cao Cao an explanation, which was really a slap in Cao Cao's face.

Liu Xiu would go to the trouble of sending someone to propose marriage to Cao Cao, not only because he coveted the legacy after the fall of Cao Wei, but also to save face for both parties. After all, the two of them would still be nominally father-in-law and son-in-law in the future. Otherwise, he would not bother to pay attention to Cao Cao, after all, Cao Cao's reputation was indeed not very good.

Liu Xiu felt uncomfortable when he thought that Liu Yu had plotted against him this time, but Liu Yu was able to completely recover the losses in the Battle of Yinan by sucking blood from the State of Chu.

But then he changed his mind and thought that Shu Han was an ally in the fight against Qin. The strengthening of Shu Han would be beneficial to the cause of fighting against Qin. Liu Xiu suddenly felt much better.

"Oh, I never thought that one day I would become a relative of Ying Hao." Liu Xiu couldn't help but sigh.

Cao Xian, Cao Jie and Cao Ying were all daughters of Cao Cao. Ying Hao married Cao Xian and Cao Jie, and he married Cao Ying. Doesn't that mean that he and Ying Hao became brothers-in-law?

Liu Xiu was not very interested in being Cao Cao's son-in-law, but he was quite interested in being Ying Zheng's brother-in-law. After all, this would make them indirectly relatives.

Liu Xiu was very curious about Ying Hao's reaction after he knew about this, and couldn't help but sneered: "Cao Cao, Cao Cao, you have to accept me as your son-in-law even if you don't want to."

At the same time, Yizhou, Chengdu.

Although Liu Xiu's envoy had not arrived yet, Liu Yu had already received Liu Xiu's letter via carrier pigeon.

Although Liu Xiu scolded Liu Yu in the letter, accusing him of having no martial ethics and even plotting against his allies, he finally agreed to trade with him. However, the specific share still needed to be carefully discussed after Kuai Liang arrived, that is, bargaining.

Liu Yu was naturally quite satisfied with this. After all, he got real benefits this time.

Although the negotiations had not yet begun, Liu Yu could already guess the outcome.

No matter how many benefits Japan promised to Shu, at least half of them would belong to Shu Han. Chu's colonization this time was equivalent to working for Shu Han. The feeling of getting money without doing any work was simply too good to be true.

"Haha, with the accumulated benefits of this colonization and trade with the State of Chu, our Han Dynasty will not only be able to completely recover from the losses in the Yinan War, but our national strength will also be further enhanced. Then we will be more confident in dealing with the southern barbarians."

After saying this, Liu Yu looked at Su Qin below and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the military advisor's plan for me, my Han Dynasty wouldn't have been able to gain such a great benefit. The success of this plan is all due to the military advisor's credit."

Su Qin smiled calmly upon hearing this and said, "Your Majesty, planning overseas colonization and restoring the damage in Yinan is only the first step. The next step is to conquer the southern barbarians, which is the top priority."

Hearing Su Qin's words, Liu Yu also looked solemn. After all, the Southern Barbarians were really difficult to defeat, and Chi You was also really difficult to deal with. However, referring to how smoothly Liu Xiu conquered Wu, he felt that as long as he made sufficient preparations before the war, he would be able to destroy the Southern Barbarians just like Liu Xiu did to Wu.