Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1309 Exchange
All the officials in the court looked at the person who had spoken and found that it was the military advisor Chen Lin.

A thought came to their minds: No way, Chen Lin is from Jin State?
Isn't it courting death to say such things at this time?
One of the duties of the military advisor is to manage the record room, that is, to organize and report foreign official documents. The letters from the State of Jin and the State of Hannan are naturally included in this list, so Chen Lin's remarks are also part of his job. But the key is why report it at this time if not earlier or later?

Moreover, the officials noticed that Cao Pi looked surprised, obviously he was unaware of the situation. Although it was impossible for Cao Pi to know every detail in advance, Chen Lin's report was extremely sensitive, and it was obvious that he had not discussed it with Cao Pi beforehand.

Chen Lin was also gritting his teeth at this time, secretly groaning in his heart. He naturally understood the officials' thoughts. He was now forced to do something he wanted to repay Yuan's favor.

He was from Xuzhou, and his ancestral home was in Sheyang, Guangling. In a sense, he had some relationship with the Chen family to which Chen Deng belonged. However, Chen Lin did better than Chen Deng at the beginning, because he initially depended on Yuan Shao.

After Yuan Shao died, the two sons of the Yuan family fought with each other, and Yecheng was captured by Cao Cao. Chen Lin did not have time to escape, and under the threat of death, he was forced to surrender to Cao Cao. This is also a common problem for many literati. Although they have great literary talent, they are not strong-willed.

At that time, his family was all in Guangling, which was under the rule of Yuan Xi. However, Yuan Xi did not make things difficult for Chen Lin's family. Instead, he treated them as usual. In particular, Chen Lin's mother also received a lot of care in Guangling, which made Chen Lin owe Yuan Xi a favor.

In addition, Chen Lin's surrender was also a loss to the Yuan family, so he lived quite uncomfortably in these years. Fortunately, Cao Cao appreciated his literary talent and allowed him to live well in Cao's camp.

When Cao Pi later competed with Cao Zhi, Chen Lin privately polished many of Cao Pi's articles, allowing Cao Pi to compete with Cao Zhi on equal terms. Therefore, after Cao Pi came to power, Chen Lin also received corresponding rewards.

However, when the letter from Jin State was delivered to the record office, Chen Lin also received a secret letter from Yuan Xi. There were only a few numbers in the letter, asking Chen Lin to discuss the prisoner exchange in the court.

Chen Lin thought it over again and again, and finally he gritted his teeth and did what was said in the letter. He naturally had his own considerations. If this action would cost him his head, Chen Lin would definitely not do it.

But Chen Lin had some ability to adapt to the situation. His relationship with the Yuan family was known to everyone. The more openly he raised his ideas, the less people would doubt him. Moreover, he had been a prisoner and spoke for the captured Yu Jin, which showed that he could empathize with Yu Jin and could also gain the sympathy of Cao Wei officials.

Of course, the most important point is that now Jin is much stronger than Wei, and Chen Lin must plan a way out for himself in advance, so as not to sink with the big ship of Wei.

After some thought, Chen Lin reported the contents of the joint petition between Jin and Hannan, saying, "The two countries requested that more than 20 Wei generals, including General Yu, be exchanged for the emperor of the former Han Dynasty and the Liu clan and their families to leave Xudu in the war next year."

"The other party also added a clause. If Your Majesty can agree, the two countries will promise not to attack Xudu this year."

When this was said, many people's first reaction was to just agree. Not to mention that Liu Xie was already useless, if Cao Wei could survive this year, it would have a precious opportunity to catch its breath. Maybe it could build a defense line next year and force the two countries to retreat. Cao Wei wouldn't have to move its capital, wouldn't that be great?

Just when many people were thinking this, someone stood up and shouted, "How can we agree to this naked threat? Isn't this a humiliating treaty?"

"I am willing to follow the army to defeat the two countries' ruffians and put an end to their arrogance!"

Everyone looked closely and found that it was Du Xi, the most famous troll among the Four Heroes of Yingchuan. However, he was qualified to speak out. After all, among the civil servants, except Sima Yi, he had fought against the State of Jin the most times, was injured in the process, and was praised by Cao Cao.

When he said this at this time, he might not really mean to go to war, but he said it to remove the pressure from the two countries on Wei. Because if he directly agreed to the demands of the two countries, Wei would lose face and all officials would become disunited.

At that moment, someone reacted. Chen Qun stood up and said, "Du Yilang's words make sense. Those two countries are very likely to use this as bait to destroy the prestige and ambition of our Wei State. They will take advantage of our internal disagreements to attack Xudu. We must be on guard."

"Moreover, the status of the former Han emperor is sensitive. How can we hand him over easily? If he is used by the two countries to publish remarks that are unfavorable to our Great Wei, it may cause extremely bad effects."

Everyone nodded, but someone stepped out and said, "But General Yu and the royal family generals also fought to the death for Wei, but were defeated and captured. If we can exchange them back, Wei will have more talents to use."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone started talking about it. Not to mention the generals with the surname Cao, the generals with other surnames were also an important force for Cao Wei to resist the two countries. Le Jin had already died in the battle of Yecheng, and Yu Jin was defeated and captured. If they did nothing about it, it would probably chill the hearts of the generals in the army.

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but secretly curse the Jin State, which was behind the scenes and had deep thoughts. It was obvious that it would take advantage of the situation and make it difficult for the Wei State to make a decision, and no matter what it did, it would be inappropriate.

Cao Pi looked at everyone coldly with anger flashing in his heart. His rise to power was actually beyond the expectations of most of the Cao and Xiahou families. Many important figures of the royal family had initially stood on Cao Zhi's side.

This includes Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong and others. Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun are all considered centrists. At first, Cao Pi could only rely on officials from other families who he recruited privately, most of whom were civil servants.

Among the generals from other families, including Le Jin, Yu Jin and other generals, they all actually stood on Cao Cao's side. So Cao Pi didn't care much about Le Jin's death and Yu Jin's capture. What did their life and death have to do with him?
But Yu Jin's arrest made Cao Pi feel quite embarrassed. You are loyal, why don't you commit suicide?
Now the other party is using you to negotiate terms, which is just adding to my problems!
But Cao Pi did not intend to reject the proposals of the two countries directly. What he lacked most now was time. Negotiations could be used as a delaying tactic to allow him to make plans calmly. Otherwise, if the capital was moved now, it would obviously tell the world that Wei was scared away by the two countries. Where would Cao Wei's face be? The important officials in the court began to discuss it. At this time, Hua Xin stood up and said, "The other party is so arrogant. Even if we want to negotiate, maybe we can put down their arrogance first."

"Why not take a few people first, such as Liu He who is obviously in collusion with Xinghu Yu? We suggest executing him to deter the two countries, so that they dare not act rashly during the negotiations and the conditions they put forward will be lower."

When everyone heard this, their faces froze. They thought to themselves, "Aren't you afraid of the tiger's revenge? How can you be at a disadvantage?"
Cao Pi listened and smiled, "That's great. I'll let Situ do it."

Hua Xin's face froze. He couldn't tell for a moment whether Cao Pi was joking or not, but when he raised his head and looked at Cao Pi's expression, his heart tightened. The other party was serious!

Now Hua Xin was in a difficult situation and had to kneel down to accept the imperial edict amid the gloating gazes of everyone.

Sima Yi had been watching the whole process coldly. He thought that Hua Xin, now one of the three ministers, was suppressed by Zhong Yao and was eager to show his loyalty and turn the tables. However, he did not expect that he had fallen into the trap he had set. Now he was in a dilemma.

Zhong Yao remained silent throughout the entire process because he had already gained the advantage and would not create any more complications. This is the advantage of the party that has the upper hand.

Just like the relationship between Jin and Wei, it does not need any complicated conspiracies or intrigues now. It only needs to be upright and gradually exert military and diplomatic pressure on the Wei army step by step, which will make it very difficult for Wei to deal with, so that people's morale will be unstable and they will be at a loss on the issue of exchanging prisoners.

However, Cao Pi's performance was far beyond Sima Yi's expectations. From inheriting the title of King of Wei to ascending the throne as emperor, he had grown extremely fast in a short period of time, so fast that a number of Cao Wei officials were unable to adapt.

Sima Yi thought to himself that the wise lord had a sharp eye and had not made a mistake in choosing the right person. If it were not for the evil monster Xionghu that appeared in Jin State, if Your Majesty could be given twenty years, I'm afraid that Wei State would be able to unify the world, right?

At this time, Cao Pi came out of the court and Sima Yi followed the officials to walk out. What he was thinking about at this time was not only the future of Wei State, but also a little confusion and fear about the unknown prospect of leading the troops to war.

If he fails this time, it is hard to say whether Wei State has a future, and it is hard to say what will happen to Sima family and even himself.

At the same time, Yuan Xi had arrived in Yecheng for a few days. He was discussing with Zhuge Liang about jointly issuing a book with the Hannan Kingdom. Before coming, Yuan Xi went from the Huai River to Fancheng and met Guan Yu, so he was late when he arrived in Yecheng, but he did so in order to unite with Guan Yu to put pressure on the Wei Kingdom.

Guan Yu also knew that Wei was still strong and it would be almost impossible for him to capture Xu Du on his own. So after some thought, he wrote a letter on behalf of Liu Bei in the name of a fake general, asking Wei to hand over Liu Xie.

After all, the task Liu Bei gave him at the beginning was to welcome the emperor, which was the ultimate goal. As for taking Xu Du, it was just a means. Yuan Xi had just destroyed the Wu Kingdom and did not want to launch a large-scale attack on Wei in a short period of time, so the two sides hit it off.

Before leaving, Yuan Xi asked Guan Yu, "General, do you know that Lord Xuande is not well?"

Guan Yu gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "I know, of course, the love between brothers is deep. I can't wait to go to Changsha immediately."

"But Yu cannot retreat, because my elder brother has told me that no matter what happens, rescuing the emperor must be the first priority!"

"Now is Yu's best chance, and maybe the only chance. If I miss it, how can I face my brother when I go back empty-handed?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi sighed and said, "I am moved by the brotherhood between the general and his three companions. I will do my best to help the general."

Guan Yu bowed and said, "My third brother's revenge was also largely due to the help of King Jin. I am grateful for your kindness, and I will remember it in my heart."

Yuan Xi stood up and said goodbye, "I will go back to Yecheng to deploy defenses. The two sides will cooperate. General, you can act according to the situation, but if it is not an emergency, do not provoke Cao Wei, lest they become desperate."

Guan Yu knew that Liu Xie had lost his usefulness to Cao Wei and his life was in danger at any time, so he said, "Yu, I'll wait for news from the King of Jin."

After Guan Yu left, Zhuge Liang said, "There are many uncertainties in Wei."

(End of this chapter)