Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1399 The way out
Zhang Chunhua saw Sima Yi finish his drink and quickly poured another glass. Sima Yi said, "After you finish this glass, you don't need it anymore."

"Although fine wine is wonderful, excessive drinking is harmful to the body. Three cups a day will not shorten your life."

Zhang Chunhua knew that her husband was actually very afraid of death, so she couldn't help but sigh: "Since my husband wants to live in peace, why don't you ask His Majesty to take a leisurely civil service position?"

Sima Yi laughed and said, "It's not up to me to decide."

"Now I am like a boat sailing against the current, with countless people behind me pushing me forward. If I want to turn around, I am afraid that the boat will overturn me first."

"Going into battle is to save your life, and to save your life you have to master your strength, it's all the same."

"As a subject, there are many things that I cannot help but do."

"Sometimes, I..."

At this point, he suddenly stopped talking and said, "Forget it, let's pack our bags in the next few days. I'm afraid we'll have to move the capital again around the New Year."

Zhang Chunhua asked in surprise: "Around the New Year?"

"It's freezing cold. The big families are fine, but ordinary people have a hard time getting through the winter. How many people will freeze to death?"

Sima Yi said nonchalantly: "In the snow and ice, the civilians must have fallen behind. At this time, they are the backstop to stop the Jin army. Otherwise, how can they retreat safely under the pursuit of the Jin army?"

"It's enough for us to save our lives. Anyway, we have arrived in Yizhou. There has been no major war for 20 years. There are plenty of people. Let's do whatever we want."

Zhang Chunhua was even more surprised, "Yizhou?"

"Don't you want Liangzhou or Jingzhou anymore?"

Sima Yi sneered and said, "At this time, if you still want to protect Liangzhou and Jingzhou, I'm afraid you won't be able to escape."

Zhang Chunhua's face turned unhappy after hearing this. "Who would have thought that the Wei Kingdom, which occupied half of the country a few years ago, would become like this? Is Your Majesty so different from the late emperor?"

Sima Yi said, "It is indeed much worse, but the current situation would not be much better even if the previous emperor was in power."

"In the past few years, Jin State has been relaxed on the outside and tight on the inside, and has not missed any opportunities at all. I expected Wei State to reach this point today."

"In fact, the cause of this defeat was already planted two years before the late emperor passed away."

"Jin has sufficient supplies, excellent weapons, and strong soldiers. It is superior to Wei in every way. No matter who takes over, I'm afraid it will be difficult to reverse this decline."

"The result of Wei today is due to the cause ten years ago."

Zhang Chunhua heard this and muttered, "This is great. We have lost our ancestral land and are now going to Yizhou to deal with those local nobles. We don't know what the Wei Kingdom will become in the future..."

Sima Yi finished the wine in his glass and looked at the sky outside. "That is something your majesty should consider. If we want, we can always find a way out."

"In fact, His Majesty does have a way out, but he just can't bring himself to do it."

Just as Sima Yi said, a few days later Cao Pi received a letter of surrender from the State of Jin.

The letter was written on newly made bamboo and rattan paper in the State of Jin. It did not irritate Cao Pi in any way, nor did it mention the issue of how he came to the throne. It only said that the disaster of the State of Wei was entirely due to Cao Cao holding the emperor hostage, which led to the current situation.

Now Cao Pi is on this sinking ship and has no future. It is better for the whole country to surrender. Jin can keep Cao Pi safe, just like Cao Ang in Cao County.

Cao Pi looked at it, crumpled the paper into a ball, threw it down, then kicked it out the door.

Empress Guo, who was waiting to copy the text, had to walk out and pick up the paper ball. She carefully unfolded it and began to write on the bamboo slips.

Cao Pi said angrily: "Don't copy it. If I copy it and let future generations see it, will I be laughed at?"

Empress Guo smiled and said, "Your Majesty always says that we should get drunk today and not worry about tomorrow's troubles, right?"

"These are written for future generations to read. Your Majesty will no longer be bothered by them by then, so why should you care?"

Cao Pi laughed when he heard this and said, "Only the Queen would dare to say such a thing. If it were anyone else, I would have been beaten to death in the imperial court."

Several concubines waiting around could not help but tremble. Empress Guo looked calm and said, "Your Majesty, why bother scaring them? They are all pitiful people." "By the way, the handwriting on this letter is jagged, but the turns are well-formed. It is quite different from the people of the time. It looks quite interesting."

Cao Pi sneered and said, "You have good vision. This letter should be written by the fierce tiger himself."

Empress Guo was surprised when she heard this and said, "I heard that Xiong Hu wrote The Peacock Flies Southeast. I didn't expect that calligraphy could also be so innovative."

Cao Pi said, "He has a wife named Cai Zhaoji, the daughter of Cai Zhonglang, who is a leader in calligraphy. It is reasonable that she can integrate the exquisiteness of Cai Zhonglang's calligraphy."

"What a pity! The late emperor originally studied under Cai Zhonglang, and there are many famous scholars in the world, but in the end, all these connections were taken away by Xionghu."

Queen Guo thought to herself that this statement was simply saying that the late emperor had offended too many people, so she didn't have much help?
She consoled him, "Your Majesty, with just your essay, is enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with any great scholar in the world today. You don't need the help of famous scholars to leave your name in history."

Cao Pi said self-deprecatingly: "You just said that after a hundred years, everything will be gone. What's the point of a name after death?"

"But I really don't want to die now. I still have a lot of ideas in my mind. At least I can write them down while I am still alive so that I won't have any regrets."

"As for the war with Jin, the other side is very aggressive, and I don't want to surrender. After all, wasting my life in a fiefdom is no different from death."

"If Jin wants to fight, I will fight with him. Even if he destroys the whole world, what does it have to do with me?"

"I have decided that within a month, I will leave for Xichuan and take a look at the scenery of Yizhou."

Empress Guo was surprised and said, "It's almost autumn now. If we set off in another month, it will take at least two or three months to reach Yizhou. Isn't that winter?"

Cao Pi said calmly: "It is precisely because of the onset of winter that the Jin army is difficult to pursue."

"I can only say that I misjudged the people. Cao Zhang and Sima Yi were defeated so quickly. Otherwise, I could have celebrated the New Year in Chang'an this year, but now it is impossible."

Empress Guo whispered, "General Xiahou is still stationed at Tongguan to resist the fierce tiger's personal expedition. What should we do over there?"

Cao Pi thought for a while and said, "Send him a letter and ask him to find a way to hold on for a month."

Several days had passed when Xiahou Shang received the letter. After reading it, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, because he felt that he could not even last ten days, let alone a month.

The Wei army's logistics are now tight, and Tongguan is already short of military supplies. In addition, in order to resist the Jin army's breakthroughs in Liangzhou and Huashan, Cao Ren and Cao Zhen have already led troops out from Chang'an to meet the attack, which has taken away a lot of food and supplies.

Now in Tongguan, military equipment and food are beginning to run out. Under such circumstances, how can we face the well-equipped Jin army?
He told Ma Chao the contents of the letter, and Ma Chao looked unhappy after hearing it. He thought for a while before speaking: "General, have you ever thought that even if Tongguan can be defended, if we lose the two routes behind us, we will not be able to retreat?"

Ma Chao was in a panic. He had initially come to Tongguan to help in the battle to give Cao Zhang a favor. He was somewhat reluctant at first, but after hearing the news that Cao Zhang was defeated and Han Sui was killed in the battle, he was very happy for a while. He thought he had escaped a disaster by accident!
And as long as he helps to resist the Jin army this time, he will be rewarded for his meritorious service in the future, and Liangzhou will be his!
But Ma Chao did not expect that not only Cao Zhang's army, but also Sima Yi's army collapsed. If this continued, Wei's Chang'an would not be able to be defended. By then, even if he returned to Liang Province, would he be able to fight against the Jin army?
Facing Ma Chao's question, Xiahou Shang was silent for a long time before he said, "To be honest, the Wei Kingdom is indeed doomed."

"But we are blessed by the late emperor and have come to this day. A man will die for his friend. No matter what, we must do our best to stop the decline and wait for things to turn around."

Ma Chao cursed in his heart, he acknowledged Cao Cao as his adoptive father, but in the end he got nothing in return except an ancestral marquisate and the nominal title of general. Why should he risk his life for him at this time?
When he heard that Cao Zhang was defeated, Han Sui was killed in battle, and the powerful people in Xiliang were almost wiped out, he had already begun to think about escaping, because the opportunity was really too good for him.

Now that most of the powerful men in Liang Province have been killed in the battle and they are leaderless, it is the best opportunity for Ma Chao to go back and recruit the scattered remnants of the Western Liang Army and take the opportunity to strengthen himself.

This kind of opportunity to pick up a bargain may never come again. Ma Chao is now the most prestigious among the remaining powerful people in Xiliang. As long as he gathers the remnants of these dozen families, he can become the only powerful family in Liangzhou!
Ma Chao had already seen clearly that Wei was about to give up Liang Province, and would sooner or later retreat to Yi Province. Yi Province was full of powerful people, and the Cao clan could still stick together, but where would there be a place for a lone outsider like him to settle down?

Only Liangzhou, from beginning to end, was his place of settlement. Although Anding and Tianshui had fallen, these counties were only a small half of Liangzhou's territory.

Xiliang is Ma Chao's ancestral home. The counties of Jincheng, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang are the real birthplace of the Xiliang cavalry. It leads directly to the Western Regions and is surrounded by Qiang people. Unlike the Eastern Qiang who were driven away by Xiliang, the Western Qiang respect Ma Chao. That is where Ma Chao's base is.

No, we can’t continue to waste time here with the Wei army. Even if we can stop the Jin army for a while, can we do it forever?

But if the Jin army took the opportunity to capture Xiliang at this time, he would lose everything. He must rush back to Xiliang as soon as possible to integrate and build up his own forces. If he is lucky, he can even become the third force besides Jin and Wei!
As long as I become strong and make the State of Jin pay too high a price, it will definitely come to negotiate and win me over, and then I can glorify the Ma family!
Ma Chao had an idea in mind when he thought of this. He said, "The Yaohan Pass is too narrow for the cavalry to maneuver. Besides, this is an offensive and defensive battle, so my role is really limited."

"After crossing the Yellow River, Xu Huang in the north has been coveting the northern part of Tongguan. I want to lead the army to defeat him. If I withdraw in the future, I will have another way to retreat."

Xiahou Shang listened, thought for a while, and said, "General, what you said makes sense. Thank you very much."

After Ma Chao left, Xiahou Shang sighed. He had already understood what Ma Chao was thinking, but there was nothing he could do.

People's hearts have already been scattered, it is only a matter of time.

(End of this chapter)