Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1150 Deploying Troops
When Xiahou Dun arrived at Cao Cao's bedroom, he saw Cao Pi and Cao Zhi standing guard at the gate of the courtyard. When Xiahou Dun explained his intention, Cao Pi said, "Please wait a moment, General."

He took two steps inside and told Madam Liu, who was guarding the door, about Xiahou Dun. After listening, Madam Liu turned around and walked towards the door.

Cao Pi lowered his head and glanced at Madam Liu's waist a few times out of the corner of his eye. Then he turned his head sideways, still maintaining a respectful look.

Madam Liu walked to the door and said, "Madam, General Xiahou wants to see the king."

The door opened, and Madam Bian came out and asked, "Which General Xiahou?"

Madam Liu quickly said, "It's General Fubo, Marquis of Gao'an."

Madam Bian nodded: "I understand, you go out first."

After saying that, the door creaked shut in front of Mrs. Liu, and there was no more movement from inside.

Mrs. Liu was stunned. Was this an agreement or a disagreement?
How do you explain this to yourself?
She had no choice but to turn around and walk out, gritting her teeth secretly. What was so arrogant about a whore like her?
Madam Bian was born in a brothel. With such an identity, if Madam Liu were in charge of Yuan’s rear residence, I’m afraid she would not even be allowed to work as a fire-making maid. This would simply bring disgrace to the family!

After Yuan Shao's death, the concubines who were beaten to death by Madam Liu were all from aristocratic landlord families and had much higher status than Madam Bian. Madam Liu dared to kill them, so naturally she would not take Madam Bian seriously.

But the actual situation is that although Lady Bian was of humble origin, she was highly appreciated by Cao Cao and gave birth to two sons, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. These two were the only two candidates competing for the position of crown prince. What could Lady Liu have to compare with Lady Bian?
Some time ago, after receiving the order from Cao Cao, Madam Bian escorted Cao Pi and Cao Zhi from Xudu to Yecheng. At that time, Madam Liu was quite favored in Cao Cao's arms. As a result, as soon as Madam Bian arrived, Madam Liu was quietly asked to leave the inner house and sent to the outer courtyard to guard the gate.

Mrs. Liu was naturally full of grievances and even cried to Cao Cao. However, Cao Cao was worried about the issue of appointing a crown prince, so he immediately had Mrs. Liu beaten.

Now that Mrs. Liu saw the situation clearly, she became completely obedient. She had to swallow her anger and guard the door outside. Until Cao Cao's condition worsened, she could not go near the inner house.

So when Mrs. Liu saw how Mrs. Bian was treated, her heart was filled with envy, jealousy and hatred. Whenever she thought of her own glory in Yuan's inner residence, she felt tormented.

What made Madam Liu even more uncomfortable was that the ground under her feet was exactly Yuan Shao’s inner residence back then, and the room where Madam Bian was serving Cao Cao now was exactly where Madam Liu and Yuan Shao lived back then.

Madam Liu walked out mumbling and cursing, and unknowingly returned to the door. As a result, Cao Pi's voice brought her back to reality, "Did you pass on the message?"

Madam Liu met Cao Pi's gaze, and for some reason she shuddered in her heart, and hurriedly said, "I've sent the message, and Madam Bian asked her to wait outside."

Cao Pi sneered and said, "Let your uncle wait?"

"Did mother really say that?"

Madam Liu opened her mouth. She always felt that the fat black man in front of her was trying to trip her up, but she couldn't help but reply, so she said, "Madam did say she knew, and then asked me to come out first."

Xiahou Dun heard this and started to wonder in his heart. When he came a few days ago, he didn't see Cao Cao. Was there really something wrong with Cao Cao's health?

Logically speaking, it is a good idea for Cao Cao to pretend to be sick to confuse the enemy. It can make the enemy suspicious and not know the true situation of Yecheng. But the key point is that the people in Yecheng are also unstable now, right?

My Lord, do you know that if you continue like this, the enemy will not be scared away yet, and Yecheng will be in chaos first!
After a long while, a maid came out with a letter and a warrant, saying, "The king said that he already knows what General Xiahou said."

"The king has already made arrangements. General Xiahou will act according to the letter."

When Xiahou Dun took the letter, he saw that Cao Cao had already asked Le Jin of Yizhou to lead the troops directly to Yuzhou to support Cao Zhen.

After Xiahou Yuan conquered Yizhou, he ordered the surrendered Liu Zhang and his family to be moved north to the Guanzhong area and live in Chang'an. This was to allow him to leave his sphere of influence to prevent his subordinates from reviving.

At the same time, Xiahou moved a large number of Cao Wei's trusted officials from Jingzhou and Guanzhong to Yizhou in order to dilute the influence of local officials in Yizhou. Some conflicts inevitably arose in the process, and some Yizhou officials took the opportunity to leave Xichuan and flee to Jingzhou.

But overall, Xiahou Yuan broke up the power of Yizhou officials and completely eliminated the possibility of them forming a group to cause trouble. After all this was on track, Xiahou Yuan received a letter from Cao Cao, ordering Sima Yi and Le Jin to leave for Xu Du one after another, with Sima Yi returning to Yecheng and Le Jin going to Yuzhou.

After receiving the order, Xiahou Yuan ordered the two men to set off. They walked to the shortest Baoxiade Road. Calculating the time, they were almost reaching Xu Du.

Now that Cao Cao has let Le Jin defend Yuzhou, it is the best choice at the moment. As the commanders of an army, the others are more or less inferior to Qi Yuan.

The ink on the warrant was still wet, and it was obvious that it had just been written. The order inside was to transfer Xiahou Yuan out of Sichuan and lead his troops to Yecheng!

Xiahou Dun murmured in his heart, there is no problem with Le Jin himself, the combination of Yuzhou is Xionghu and Lu Xun, can Le Jin and Cao Zhen really hold out?

Moreover, Xiahou Dun did not quite agree with Cao Cao's eagerness to transfer Xiahou Yuan out of Yizhou. After all, Xichuan had just been pacified, and the people in Yizhou were not stable. After Xiahou Yuan left, could he really guarantee that these people would be loyal to Wei?

Moreover, the transfer of Xiahou Yuan has already announced to the outside world that Cao's camp is short of manpower in Jizhou. Will the Jin army take the opportunity to intensify its offensive?
But Xiahou Dun had no choice but to follow orders. He said hello to Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, and was about to leave. Cao Pi took the opportunity to say, "I'm here to see you off, uncle."

Xiahou Dun said a few humble words, and the two of them walked out one after the other, chatting casually. When they were far away, Cao Pi took the opportunity to whisper, "My nephew will have to rely on my uncle from now on."

"I hope that uncle will lend me a hand for the sake of our past friendship."

Xiahou Dun paused, but did not turn around. Instead, he lowered his voice and said, "My lord, you are too kind. I work diligently only for the sake of the Cao family, and I will never let you down."

"But there is one thing I want to tell you, my loyalty to the Cao family is my loyalty to you, my lord."

"I will do whatever you say, and I hope you will remember it."

After hearing this, Cao Pi quickly said, "I will take note of what you said, uncle."

He sent Xiahou Dun out the door, watched him get on the carriage and leave, then he went back inside and walked slowly back.

At this moment, Cao Pi's face was uncertain, and he secretly cursed Xiahou Dun as an old fox. This clearly meant that he only listened to Cao Cao's orders. As for whether he tended to support Cao Pi or Cao Zhi, he did not express his position at all.

He returned to the previous place and saw that Cao Zhi was still standing there obediently without saying a word the whole time. He couldn't help feeling annoyed. This Cao Zhi was too pretentious. He was afraid that he would be inferior to him!

After the two men arrived in Yecheng, they only met Cao Cao once and were then sent to guard the door. They ate and slept there day and night and never left the mansion. This completely thwarted Cao Pi's original plan to personally win over the forces from all sides.

He really couldn't bear it any longer, so he secretly contacted Wu Zhi and others and told them about his anxiety. As a result, after being reminded by Wu Zhi and others, Cao Pi finally realized that any action at this time might be unnecessary!

If Cao Cao deliberately tested Cao Pi and Cao Zhi in order to establish the crown prince, he must have been keeping a close eye on their every move. Whoever lost his temper first would be at a disadvantage. Cao Cao might have known about Cao Pi's risky move, and the situation would have become unfavorable!
As for Cao Zhi, he had Yang Xiu and others giving him advice. I'm afraid he had already received instructions, so he pretended to be harmless!

After hearing the reminder, Cao Pi was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly slipped back and continued to guard the door obediently.

But even so, he couldn't help it, so he used an excuse to get close to Xiahou Dun today, but found that the other party did not make a clear statement, which made him even more anxious.

It was no wonder that Cao Pi was nervous, because he had just heard that Cao Cao wanted Xiahou Yuan to come back, and he completely lost his composure.

Xiahou Yuan's attitude had a great influence on Cao's scholars, but Xiahou Yuan was an extremely unstable factor for Cao Pi.

Although Xiahou Yuan did not take a clear stand, his son Xiahou Ba once expressed his support for Cao Zhi!
This made Cao Pi even more uncertain. The Xiahou family was very powerful, but it mainly relied on Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan.

Now that Xiahou Yuan has made the great contribution of conquering Yizhou, he will surely go one step further in the future, and his prestige and voice within the Cao family will be further enhanced.

This time, Xiahou Yuan was transferred back from Yizhou to fight the fierce tiger. If he can lift the siege of Yuzhou, his reputation will rise even more. If he returns to Yecheng with such power, it will inevitably affect the competition for the crown prince and may even play an extremely crucial role.

Judging from Xiahou Ba's attitude, Xiahou Yuan might have supported Cao Zhi. If Xiahou Dun also supported Cao Zhi, what would the Crown Prince and Cao Pi have to do with each other?
Cao Pi stood on the ground, a hint of ruthlessness revealed between his brows. He had suffered too much injustice, and the position of the crown prince was something he was determined to obtain. No one could snatch it away from him, including his own brothers!
He glanced at Cao Zhi beside him and thought to himself, it would be nice to have a chessboard at hand!
But then he thought of what Wu Zhi, Zhu Shuo and others had warned him about: a lack of patience can ruin great plans. What Cao Pi had to do now was to do nothing and leave it to Wu Zhi and the others.

Thinking of this, Cao Pi calmed down and thought to himself that he must endure it. Even if there were undercurrents, it would not shake his determination to fight for the throne!
Then, the news that came a few days later made both Cao Pi and Cao Zhi unable to remain calm.

Although the inside story of Yuan Xi's conquest of Baekje and the people involved were concealed, they were eventually reported back by Cao Wei's spies.

When the officials in Yecheng heard the news that Yuan Xi was in Cao County, the fief of Baekje, and that Cao Ang was very likely alive and had been granted a title of nobility, they could no longer remain calm. The two sides, which had been clearly divided, fell into complete chaos.

(End of this chapter)