Three Kingdoms: Cao Ying's mastermind, from nine to five

Chapter 266 Let me be the big brother
"Cai's people?"

Xu Zhen asked with a serious face, then thought for a moment, and then said: "I remember that Cai Mao and the lord were old acquaintances, and they were officials in the same place. Later, their paths diverged in two directions. Now Cai Mao is also a general in Jingzhou. .”

"That's right." Xu Zhen really has great powers. He actually knows these things. He and Cai Mao are old acquaintances. Never looked down upon this person.

There has been no contact since then.

But in the middle of this year, Jingzhou sent someone to send a letter, which was written by Cai Mao. The letter did not say too much about collaborating with the enemy, nor did it leak information about Jingzhou's city defense. At first glance, it looked like a letter Ordinary call letter.

However, he still mentioned the news that Liu Biao was getting old and seriously ill, which gave Cao Cao a general idea of ​​the current situation in Jingzhou. Combined with the letters from Xinye, the news can almost be read together.

Liu Biao is seriously ill, and the forces in Jingzhou are complicated. In the next one or two years, they will gradually fight among themselves and fall apart.

And Cao Cao never believed it, and had to send many spies to gradually infiltrate Jingzhou to find out, but because he trusted the person recommended by Xu Zhen, he believed it for the time being.

I replied to Cai Mao, and sent someone to send it to the post envoy. It was also an ordinary letter reminiscing about the past, but Cai Mao did not plan to send the letter to the prime minister's residence in Xudu.

As a result, after a few months, I received a gift secretly given by Cai Mao, and some anecdotes about Jingzhou, and a kind of reciprocal conversation has slowly begun between each other, so Cao Cao wrote in the letter. , you can get a lot of news.

"You still know Cai Mao? Do you know how capable this person is?"

Cao Cao really wanted to know Xu Zhen's evaluation of him. At least in the past ten years of working under his command, the talents that Xu Zhen valued or recommended were all very good in ability and character.

The people he chose by himself were all great talents in civil and military affairs, which is enough to show that Xu Zhen has a vision that ordinary people don't have.

Xu Zhen was speechless, but still nodded and said: "This person is good. Although he is incompetent, he has always led troops these years, and fought against Jiangdong. He used the navy to counter Sun Ce's revenge, so he has rich experience in the navy. It is invincible to defeat Jiangdong, but he knows how to fight against them without losing the wind, even if he loses, he will not be completely defeated."

That being said, he was talking again, Xu Zhen dare not say a word about the Jiangdong water war in the future, if the lord is to be careful and pay attention to the water army in advance, it is inevitable that he will be charged with disturbing the morale of the army in the future.

And even if he said it now, in Boss Cao's state, he really felt that he didn't know how he lost, and he might not necessarily listen, so he said it was nothing more than a conclusion.

It's okay if you can't say what you said, but it's just a few words that are naturally cautious after being laughed at.

But if the words are true, Boss Cao's prestige will be damaged in the future, and he will still resent him sooner or later. Xu Zhen doesn't want to do such a thankless thing.

Then, the so-called exhortation can only be a careful fire attack when it gathers into a chain of boats, and it is only at that time that it is possible for him to pay attention to it.

"Well, what you said is to the point. It seems that you know the generals in the south, civil servants and advisers quite well. Over the years, you have collected information about Jingzhou early, right?"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, since it is no longer possible to chat about ambitions, you should ask clearly. Xu Zhen obviously paid attention to this place in Jingzhou early, and it should be expected that after many years, he will go south to fight with them sooner or later.

Xu Zhen smiled lightly, and said: "Your Majesty, you may have forgotten that my general, Huang Hansheng, is from Jingzhou. He served as a general in Jingzhou for many years, and served as a general in many cities, but he was never reused."

"However, even so, it does not prevent him from being well aware of the famous generals and hermits from all over Jingzhou. Among them, Wenpin, Liu Pan, Huang Zu and others are all extremely brave warriors."

"There are also Xing Daorong, Huo Jun, and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun in the navy."

"The civil servants also have many famous Confucian scholars from Jiangzuo. Their literary talents and constant strategies can stabilize millions of them and make Jingzhou prosperous. What's more, there are still Liu Bei and Guan Zhang. My lord should know .”

"That's right, Yun Chang is an enemy of ten thousand people, but it's a pity that he couldn't be attached to me at the beginning. He values ​​righteousness. It's a pity that this general is talented. He can lead at least 20 soldiers, which is a rare general."

Xu Zhen glanced at him, "Don't love him too much, he won't surrender."

"I know that."

Cao Cao sighed.

"Among the civil servants, there are Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, the Ma brothers, and many hermits in Jingzhou. Among Jingxiang, there is a man who is very resourceful and knows strategy. He was taught by others, and gained fame, named Fengchu."

"Once this person leads the army for a few years, what he has learned can be put to good use, and he will gradually integrate theory with practice and take it to the next level."

"Contact what?"

Cao Cao asked with a blink of an eye, and was taken aback for a moment by hearing this sentence.

"Tsk," Xu Zhen thought for a while, then changed his words: "The unity of knowledge and action will make what you learn more profound."

"Oh..." Cao Cao suddenly realized, "Knowledge and action are one..."

He pondered for a moment, and looked at Xu Zhen with a lot of surprise. How could this kid say such profound words?
It’s a good saying that knowledge and action are one. In the future, you must use this as the standard for teaching future generations. After all, what you learn in the book is only the knowledge of the predecessors. You have to practice it yourself to learn all kinds of difficulties, and then summarize what the book said, so all you get Own.

This is not as simple as a strategy, but the principle learned, which is powerful.

Cao Cao found out that he could still learn something from Xu Bowen during this one-night discussion?The best in the world is the first, and the old and the young are not respected.

So talking with Xu Zhen suddenly made Cao Cao feel extremely useful, and he was a little bit reluctant to leave so early. There was a lot of truth in what this kid said casually.

Hmm... No, he must have said it casually.

I am the one who really understands the truth. In this way, I am a person of profound wisdom.

Xu Zhen went on to say: "My lord, if you want to rule Jingzhou, you should not fight these families outside, but let Cai Mao do it."

"It can be promised to him in the letter that if the Cai family can win the lord of Jingzhou, support Liu Biao's son Liu Cong to the throne, and expel Liu Qi, it will be like Liaodong. Please ask the emperor to issue an edict to let the Liu family stay in Jingzhou forever. .”

"There is a precedent in Liaodong, and they will definitely have trust."

Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up, here we come, this is what I want to hear!
"Oh?" Cao Cao showed a sinister smile, and moved a little closer to Xu Zhen, "Bowen thinks that Cai Mao will definitely seize power because of this?"

"They were going to seize power in the first place!" Xu Zhen immediately corrected, "And at this time, a letter from the lord, there is no need to make a sincere guarantee, just say something casually, and say that if Jingzhou can be settled with one step, I can also protect the Liu family. up and down."

"Let them fight. If Cai Mao can get this letter, he will definitely work harder and harder to fight the big families. When he is in power, the many generals in Jingzhou will all belong to the lord, no matter how brave they are! "

"If it fails, there will be no harm at all, and we will attack anyway."

Xu Zhen said sincerely.

If this plan is regarded as a business, then Cao Cao's capital is a letter.

Even the emperor's edict can't be counted, after all, it depends on his mood whether to give it or not.

Cai Mao had no choice but to curse in the bed in the dead of night, and when he came out of the mansion to see the sky, he had to be happy with Cao Cao, and he didn't dare to say a serious word casually.

Cao Cao thought about it for a long time, and naturally he was already grateful for this plan in his heart. It happened that Dian Wei stepped into the door and stopped him, "A Wei, go and ask Feng Xiao to come over for me."

Xu Zhen pulled back immediately, "Forget it, let's go directly to his house."

"Alright."

Cao Cao nodded immediately.

Dian Wei was stunned for a moment, "What about the food prepared by the chef?"

Xu Zhen blinked at him, and said, "Go and pack the boxes, and take them all to Brother Fengxiao's house."

"Eh."

"Bowen, why are you so picky now? Why don't you just break the precepts, and I'll give you some private rewards, tens of thousands of gold?" Cao Cao teased with a half-smile.

Xu Zhen's heart moved a bit, the ten-year period has come, why don't he give up his incorruptibility?
Self-discipline is less than this item, and rewards can be issued.

Ten years of upholding integrity and never being greedy for ink, how many rewards do you get, this is a character that you will pursue throughout your life!

But at this moment, I suddenly remembered the story of Peng Zu.

In the mythology, Peng Zu lived to be 800 years old, how many rewards were missing for breaking the precepts, and I can't learn from Peng Zu by name, [-] years is not enough at all.

If you relapse once every ten years, you have to save it for another ten years. If in the reward mechanism, you can reward life in multiples of that number for as many years of incorruptibility as possible, wouldn’t that be a big loss?
"Don't, don't..." Xu Zhen shook his head like a rattle, closed his eyes and said purely: "Don't pollute my body, money is something outside of the body, Bowen doesn't want it, Bowen doesn't want it."

"Tsk," Cao Cao stood up with his hands behind his back, and leaned back a bit.

It's like chanting.

When Dian Wei heard this not far away, he immediately shook his head helplessly, he was too stubborn, so what if he got some.

"The dog shook its head when it heard what you said." Cao Cao said with a smile.

Turning around, he exchanged a glance with Dian Wei who was shaking his head, and the scene fell silent for a while.

Dian Wei: "Tsk..."

……

At night, inside Guo Jia's mansion.

Cao Cao wrote his reply letter to Cai Mao here, still embellishing it with words, as if he told some common things in Xudu now as usual, and said some words of lamenting the separation of the world.

In the end, I added a few words of expectations for Cai Mao to the words that expressed my feelings back then.

It is a great achievement to say that if he can take charge of Jingzhou, he will be rich and honored.

"It's a pity that each of them is their master now, and all of them have Liu's master."

Cao Cao added this sentence on purpose.

After Guo Jia finished writing, he immediately exclaimed, "This sentence is the most important thing."

"Well, there are all the lords of the Liu family, but the lord is the emperor. What he has done is nothing more than a mere royal relative. If Cai Mao himself compares it, he can tell that after he surrendered to the Han, he is also a subject of the emperor. How dare Liu Biao Hate him, even if Liu Biao hates him, the ancestors of the Liu family will never blame him, this is not a betrayal of the Lord."

"After all, the Son of Heaven is still Liu Biao's nephew."

"Liu Biao's heirs scolded too much, so they can publicize Liu Biao's family's conspiracy and control the mouths of the people."

Cao Cao smiled and said nothing, there are not many outsiders in Guo Jia's house at the moment, so it's okay to say these words, it's harmless.

"Delivery."

Cao Cao gave the order in a simple and clear manner, and a guard sent the letter out.

And this night, he drank heavily with Dian Wei, Guo Jia and others, and then discussed the general situation of the world and talked heart-to-heart.

After eating, Xu Zhen went to Guo Jia's study to read, and then fell asleep early.

……

Today is the ninth year of Jian'an.

Just after the spring farming, the Central Plains will be settled, and there will be no more chaos.

In the north, Liaodong firmly guarded the frontier, Youzhou returned to peace, Jizhou and Bingzhou traded and transported food, stationed heavy troops, and rebuilt many cities in Bingzhou, so that the princes outside the pass, especially the Xiliang cavalry, had no chance to peep.

Everything is pretty solid.

Even, Cao Cao didn't need to use too many Xu Zhen's soldiers and horses to go south, it was enough to garrison heavy troops at various passes to prevent surprise attacks from the rear.

Fully owning the capital of fighting on two fronts, he is the well-deserved No. [-] prince in the world.

As a result, Cao's soldiers and horses began to gradually move closer to the south, close to the development of Anding County, and gradually implemented it based on Wancheng.

At this time, Jingzhou showed some internal troubles.

Liu Biao was getting older and often lying on the hospital bed. Although he was not yet terminally ill, many medical officials could not cure his old illness.

It is said that it can be as short as one or two years, and as long as three to five years.

Although the number of years of life does not end when, but the pain should follow year after year.

So Liu Biao knew that the end was approaching, and he also started to prepare for heirs.

His eldest son, Liu Qi, has a similar appearance to him, good conduct, and solid talents and learning. Liu Biao has always been very optimistic about him.

But his wife, Cai, didn't like Liu Qi because she gave birth to her son Liu Cong. To Liu Cong.

Liu Cong is only a few years old, so handing it over to him is equivalent to handing it over to the Cai family, letting them grow up in the Jingzhou family.

Liu Biao had long expected this situation to turn out like this. He had tried to balance the powers of the various factions before, but Jiang Dong had repeatedly attacked, and Cai Mao and others made a lot of military exploits.

And don't blatantly weaken the military power. In your later years, you will be unable to do what you want.

Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

In the general's mansion in the inner city, Cai Mao received the letter in his private room, and opened it happily. After reading it for a long time, a smile slowly appeared on his face.

Said to his younger brother Cai He: "The prime minister is really interested."

There was also Kuai Yue present, who, like Cai Mao, belonged to the noble family of Jingzhou, and his family was well-known, so he must not make a mistake. Now that Liu Biao died of illness, they dare not make enemies with Cao Cao at will.

Therefore, after the discussion, it is necessary to support Liu Cong to the top, so that he can control it. In the future, Jingzhou can be used to exchange Cao Cao for the prosperity of the family, and the name will go down in history.

These days, when Cai Mao wrote these letters, he also wrote them in his private room, discussing with Cai's clan brothers and Kuai Yue.

The two of them are the pro-Cao faction that has been united among Jingzhou officials. They secretly intend to get along with each other, and when the time is right, they will lead the crowd to vote to ensure the survival of the famous family.

Now that Cao Cao's power is growing, it should be an opportunity. He cannot fight with strength, otherwise he will be attacked back and forth by the North and Jiangdong.

Of course they knew that Jingzhou and Jiangdong were feuds, and Sun Ce would never let these Jingzhou generals and the world go.

Therefore, there is no uniting Jiangdong to resist Cao Cao, the best way is to surrender.

"Look, everyone, this is the prime minister's handwritten letter. Now it is not easy for me to discuss the friendship with the prime minister."

"The prime minister praised me. I have been in the battle of the navy for a long time. I have the style of the commander of the navy and the pillar of the big man. With such a vision, how can I not be the master?" Cai Mao sat upright, with a serious face.

The people next to him fell into a deathly silence.

(End of this chapter)