Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1367 Trust
After hearing this, Jia Xu laughed dryly and said, "For hundreds of years during the Han Dynasty, people believed that the heavens were connected with the people. They said that the great epidemics that struck and the people who died were the fault of the emperor. It was a punishment from heaven that was beyond human control."

Kobe snorted coldly: "According to what you said, the fault of this epidemic is mine?"

Jia Xu hurriedly said, "I dare not. Your Excellency, please listen to me."

"At that time, the whole world was one, and the emperor ruled the world and was the ruler of all people. When disasters came from heaven, they naturally fell on the emperor's territory, and they naturally came from the emperor's mistakes."

"Now the world is falling apart, and there is no unified leader. When natural disasters occur, it is impossible to identify the source."

"Perhaps the sins of these dead people did not originate from the fault of the Chanyu as the heaven thought, but from someone else. We don't know."

Jia Xu's words were so roundabout that even Kobe could not react for a moment, but Sun Quan heard them. He was already upset because Jia Xu was secretly undermining him, so he sneered coldly, "Mr. Wenhe is indeed implying something."

"God has brought disaster upon the people under his rule because of his faults, which shows that the people are under his rule."

"And now hundreds of thousands of Xianbei people have been infected with the disease. Mr. Wenhe means that the punishment from heaven is not attributed to Lord Chanyu, but to someone else. Doesn't this mean that in the eyes of heaven, Lord Chanyu is not the master of these people?"

When Kobe heard this, his face changed. He was about to speak but was held back because no matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem right.
If he admits that he is destined to be the ruler, then this epidemic is his fault. Otherwise, if he does not admit his fault, doesn't that mean he is not the ruler destined by heaven for these Xianbei people?
Jia Xu laughed and said, "Don't worry, Lord Sun. The world is so big that disasters are bound to affect some people. Maybe this time the gods originally sent punishment to Jin, but ended up affecting the Xianbei?"

"You should know that Youzhou was originally part of the Jin State. The disease was only spread when the Xianbei entered the country. There has never been an epidemic of this magnitude on the grassland before, right?"

Now Kobinen's close ministers reacted and shouted, "How dare you!"

"Are you saying that we, the Xianbei, should not rule the Central Plains?"

Jia Xu said leisurely: "Of course that's not what I meant."

"If you want to rule the Central Plains, you can't do it without paying a price. If you want to take the throne, you must first bear the burden. If you can't bear the punishment from heaven brought by being the co-lord of the Central Plains, how can the people of the Central Plains recognize your title as king?"

The clan leaders under Kobe Neng shouted, "Bullshit!"

"Why do we need these deceptive tricks of yours to make the Han people recognize us as Xianbei people?"

"What makes us Xianbei people bow down to us is the bows, arrows and long swords in our hands, not these twisted things!"

After hearing this, Jia Xu stopped answering and just looked at Kobineng with a smile.

Kobe could see that his men were excited and knew that they were just taking advantage of the situation. After all, for the past few months, everyone had been looking forward to the bright prospect of robbing money and women after entering the customs. However, this pandemic shattered most of their hopes. So many people died before they could even take over Dai County. Was there any hope afterwards?

So these clan leaders turned around and hated Jia Xu who encouraged Kobe to send troops. Some even suspected that Jia Xu was a spy from the Jin State and was sent to deceive the Xianbei people!

But only Kirby knew that he appointed Jia Xu only as a strategist to give advice. Jia Xu did come up with some useful ideas, but Jia Xu had never participated in any real military affairs.

This means that Jia Xu could not have anticipated the current situation of the war, and this is not a military intelligence leak, but a large-scale epidemic. Who could have predicted this?

So facing the noise in the tent, Kobe shouted coldly: "Okay, stop making noise!"

"The current plan is how to change the current situation!"

"Now that we are blaming each other, will this change the current situation?"

He pointed at Sun Quan and said, "There are many epidemics in Jiangdong. Do you have any solution?"

Sun Quan thought for a moment and said, "I once had the famous doctor Hua Tuo work for me. He has excellent medical skills and has cured many people. He also has a lot of experience in preventing and treating malaria in Jiangdong."

"I have seen its methods and prescriptions before, maybe it will be useful in the current situation."

Kirby could hear it, so he said, "Oh, then tell me about it?"

After hearing this, Sun Quan told Kobe about Hua Tuo's method of treating malaria. Kobe could find that except for the herbs which were difficult to find, all the other things could be tried, such as drinking clean water, isolating patients, cooking porridge and rice mixed with wild vegetables, and opening up a special place far away from water sources to collect feces and corpses, etc.

After hearing this, Kirby ordered his men to open up a place outside the city for experiments. After a few days, news came that the results were evident and the mortality and infection rates in the Xianbei camp began to decline significantly.

After hearing this, Kobe was overjoyed and said to Sun Quan: "Lord Sun is indeed powerful. If the Xianbei can survive this disaster, the Xianbei and Wu will be friends for generations and will never be enemies!"

After Sun Quan returned, Yan Jun and Sun Shao privately advised him, "My Lord, is it too hasty to hand over the method of preventing and treating the epidemic to the Xianbei people?"

"If the Xianbei people recover and harm the Central Plains, then wouldn't we be sinners for all eternity?"

Sun Quan heard this and snorted, "If not, how can we gain Kirby's trust?"

"He is now heavily guarded, and we can't find a chance to attack him. We can only gain his trust and wait for an opportunity to strike!"

Yan Jun hesitated and said, "But I don't know how long this process will take. If the Xianbei people defeat the Jin State because of us, then everything will be meaningless, right?"

Sun Quan's expression changed. "Meaning, what's the meaning?"

"I'm already giving face to Xionghu by doing this!"

"What I want is to revive Wu. How many people died in Jin is none of my business."

"I only have my own way of doing things, so you don't need to say anything more!"

Yan Jun and Sun Shao were speechless and had to withdraw. They thought that Sun Quan's assassination of Kirby might be true, but his hatred for the King of Jin could not be concealed. If this continued, could the assassination really succeed?

When Youzhou was plunged into a full-scale war, inside the Chang'an Palace, Cao Pi summoned Sima Yi alone.

Over the past year, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang had been fighting to a standstill, but neither side had the desire to go all out, especially after the Xianbei entered the Pass. To be on the safe side, Zhuge Liang withdrew the battle line back to the Xu Du area, giving the Wei State some breathing space.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wei State changed its defense and transferred Sima Yi back to Chang'an.

Sima Yi didn't know what Cao Pi's intention was, so when he rushed back, he didn't even go home, but hurried to see Cao Pi and confessed his guilt for not fighting well.

Cao Pi laughed and said, "Military Advisor, you are overthinking. In my Wei Dynasty, no one can do a better job than the Military Advisor."

"I summoned the military advisor back because I felt there was no need to fight the State of Jin at this time."

Sima Yi said: "I don't understand. With millions of Xianbei invaders, Jin will surely be at a loss. Isn't this a good opportunity to launch a massive counterattack?"

Cao Pi did not answer, but said: "Zhongda, you know that Master Zhong has been in poor health since he came back from Liangzhou, right?"

Sima Yi said in a deep voice: "The Grand Tutor is the backbone of the Wei Dynasty. If he falls, the court will be worried."

Zhong Yao had been in good health originally, but his health had not been very good in recent years. Especially after he moved the capital to Chang'an and went to Liangzhou to mediate between Han Sui and Ma Chao, he fell ill several times in a row and his health deteriorated.

Cao Pi sighed, "I am also quite sad and worried. Gongda is in the front, Yuanchang is in the middle, and Zhongda is in the back. They are the three most capable fighters in Wei."

"Except for being defeated by the fierce tiger, Gongda Yuanchang can be said to have supported the Great Wei when the previous emperor was alive. But now one is sick and the other is dead. From now on, everything in the Great Wei will be handed over to Zhongda."

Sima Yi said quickly: "Your Majesty appreciates me so much, I am really terrified, I am afraid that my talent is mediocre and I cannot bear your Majesty's kindness."

Cao Pi laughed and said, "Zhongda, there is no need to say such things. Who in Wei can compare with you in fighting wars now?"

"Zhongda, do you know why I have such an inexplicable trust in you?"

Sima Yi lowered his head and said, "I don't know."

Cao Pi looked down at the platform and said, "Sometimes I feel like there are several people hidden inside of me."

"There are some ministers, some people I should have won over and made close to me, but I don't know why, when I talk to them in a friendly manner, I want to kill them in my heart."

"This thought often pops up, making me feel as if I were split in two, tormenting me day and night."

"I was the same when dealing with the State of Jin. On the one hand, I wished the ferocious tiger would die quickly, but on the other hand, I didn't want the Xianbei people to take advantage of me, the Han people."

"I am very conflicted and struggling. I have been living in pain all this time. Zhongda, I always feel that you and I are very similar."

Sima Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said respectfully: "Your Majesty, you are joking. I am in this position today entirely because of Your Majesty. I am not being hypocritical."

Cao Pi shook his head regretfully, "Forget it."

"But Zhongda, you are such a talented person, but you have no ambition at all, and even seem a little humble. This is not like the style of a child from a noble family like us."

"Without arrogance, can you still be considered a normal person?"

“Zhongda, don’t let me get it wrong.”

Sima Yi lowered his head deeply. He could not even understand the real meaning of Cao Pi’s last words!
For the first time, he realized that the situation was out of control, and a sense of inexplicable fear surged from his body.

Your Majesty, how great it would be if you could die now?
The feeling of having your thoughts guessed, even just a little bit, is really bad.

Inside the city, Zhong Yao was visiting his sick friend Liu Shao. He held Liu Shao's hand and sighed, "Kong Cai, how come you are walking ahead of me?"

Liu Shao was a writer of the same generation as Zhong Yao. He wrote essays and biographies and was an important figure in the creation of the literary style of the Wei and Jin dynasties. He had previously contracted an epidemic disease and had finally recovered, but his health deteriorated again when the capital was moved. Now he is terminally ill.

He said to Zhong Yao: "Yuan Chang, you are also ill. We are the same age, so it is normal for me to die first."

"But I still have a son, so please Yuan Chang take care of him."

Seeing Zhong Yao's agreement, he sighed and said, "Sometimes I wonder if I did a lot of evil things when I was with the late emperor, and that's why I am being punished like this."

"But when fighting for the world, one cannot seek benevolence or justice. I just hope that he will follow you and not stand on the wrong side in the future, and be able to protect himself."

Zhong Yao nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will do my best."

Liu Shao smiled and said, "I still don't understand why Yuan Chang admires Sima Yi so much."

"He has little literary talent. He is not a writer like us."

Zhong Yao hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not appreciation, it's fear."

(End of this chapter)