Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1457 Plot
When Empress Guo heard the news of Zhu Shao's death, she immediately realized that the situation might be unstable. The most dangerous group in Chengdu now was the Cao clan, and the most troublesome among them was naturally Cao Zhi, who might be succeeded by his younger brother at any time.

If Cao Pi died or remained in a coma, would the Cao faction supporting Cao Zhi take any action?

Not to mention the route to Hanzhong, Xiahou Dun was at a disadvantage in the war years ago, and he had already submitted a petition requesting to abandon Baidi City and retreat to Yizhou to set up defenses. If he rushed back to Chengdu and joined forces with the Cao and Xiahou families, then what chance would I have of winning in the palace with only Wu Zhi?
Thinking of this, an idea suddenly flashed through Queen Guo's mind. Why not just get rid of Cao Zhi? In this way, the other party would have no hope, and the situation would be resolved, right?
Then she was shocked. Was it because it was the first time she had such great power in her hands that she had such thoughts?
Empress Guo's face was gloomy and she was conflicted, but at this moment she heard a groan behind her. She quickly turned around and found that Cao Pi had slowly opened his eyes.

Several doctors who were busy were overjoyed. They saw Cao Pi moving his hands and feet a few more times, his throat making a gurgling sound, and his face gradually turning purple. One doctor was shocked and said, "Oh no, there is phlegm stuck!"

A doctor immediately inserted a thin bamboo tube into Cao Pi's mouth, and then sucked hard at the other end. After a lot of effort, he finally sucked out the phlegm. Cao Pi coughed a few times and finally opened his eyes completely.

Empress Guo was surprised and delighted. She quickly brought some sugar water and fed Cao Pi a few mouthfuls. Cao Pi slowly recovered his strength and asked Empress Guo, "How many days have I been lying down?"

Empress Guo said, "Today is the fourth day."

Cao Pi said weakly, "Tell me what happened in the past few days."

Empress Guo quickly started talking about Empress Dowager Bian, and went on to talk about Zhu Shao's sudden death yesterday and her worries. When she finished, Cao Pi had recovered some of his strength, so he turned to the doctors who were feeling his pulse and asked, "What disease do I have?"

The doctor considered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty's illness is similar to that of the previous emperor. It should be caused by eating too much sugar. This time it is safe, but it is uncertain when it will occur next time."

Cao Pi asked: "How to treat it?"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally said in unison: "There is no record in the medical books. Your Majesty, please control your diet and keep a regular schedule. There is no other way."

Cao Pi listened, nodded and said, "I understand."

"After you die, I will promote you three levels, so go ahead and rest assured."

Everyone was shocked and immediately kowtowed to beg for mercy, but Cao Pi remained unmoved and said, "I will treat your family well and support them, but if you are not honest, you will not be the only ones to lose your lives."

After hearing this, several doctors collapsed to the ground. Cao Pi asked Empress Guo to call the guards to drag the doctors to the back hall and hang them. Then he slowly stood up and said to Empress Guo: "You have done a good job these days."

"Even if it was me, I might not be able to handle it so well. It's a pity for Zhu Suo."

When he saw the sackcloth wrapped around Empress Guo's head, he felt a little apologetic and said, "I never expected that the Wei Dynasty would become like this after only a few years since I ascended the throne."

"You heard what the doctor said just now. I'm afraid I won't live long."

Empress Guo's eyes turned red, "No, Your Majesty will definitely live a long life."

Cao Pi waved his hand and said, "Don't hold on to unrealistic fantasies about this kind of thing. How to keep Wei alive is what I need to do now."

"My fourth brother is weak and unfit to be the leader of a country, but there must be forces with ill intentions who want to use him."

"I can't kill her. I have to save some face for my mother."

"But in order to give you and your son a chance to survive, I may have to do something."

"Help me up. I want to write an imperial edict to let Xiahou Dun guard Baidi City and summon Sima Yi back to Chengdu!"

Empress Guo was startled and quickly took out the previous memorial and said, "Your Majesty, Fangling and Shangyong have been lost. The Jin army will attack Hanzhong from two directions in the spring of next year. Let Sima Military Advisor return. There will only be one general, Xiahou Shang, to deal with the two directions."

Cao Pi's face was gloomy. "If the Jin army really wants to attack, Hanzhong will not be able to be defended. I will order Xiahou Shang to destroy Hanzhong if he fails to defend it."

Empress Guo asked, "What if the Jin army reaches Chengdu? What should we do?"

Cao Pi felt irritated for no reason. He wanted to say that he would have died by then, but he finally said, "Since Hannan does not agree to the marriage and truce, it means that they want to fight to the death with Wei. They are really a bunch of lunatics."

"If Hanzhong is lost and Xiahou Dun can't defend it, we will definitely be suffocated to death in Yizhou."

"The only way to survive is to occupy Nanzhong and then go south."

Empress Guo cried out in amazement: "Southern barbarians?"

Cao Pi said, "That's right. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the large-scale military deployment, the taxation was tight. Yuye County was set up in Dali, and efforts were made to open up the Shu-Shendu Road to India, but this required passing through the three kingdoms of Yelang, Dian, and Ailao."

"He used his troops against the three kingdoms one after another, defeating the Yelang and Dian kingdoms one after another, but when he attacked Ailao (now Myanmar), he failed because the terrain was too difficult to navigate."

"But the military operations over the past decade have not been without gain. The Han army has beheaded hundreds of thousands of people, opened up a trade route from Chengdu to Erhai Lake in Dali, and established a trade route with Ailao, through which they traded with India."

"It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the Ailao people surrendered and the Eastern Han trade route directly entered India, and the Shu-Shendu Road was opened up." "After the Wei Dynasty conquered Yizhou, trade with India continued uninterrupted, especially Shu brocade, which was an expensive commodity that India highly sought after."

"But this road is, firstly, extremely difficult to travel, and it is impossible to deploy troops on a large scale. Secondly, it is controlled by the local southern barbarians, so many benefits have been taken away by them."

"Due to the turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty and the continuous rebellion by the southern barbarians, the profits of this trade route are really useless to the Wei Dynasty. However, now that the Jin State is so aggressive, I have an idea."

He spoke so anxiously that he could not help coughing. Empress Guo quickly brought some sugar water. Cao Pi took it and drank several mouthfuls. Only then did he feel better. Empress Guo said worriedly, "The doctor said that Your Majesty should eat less sugar."

Cao Pi sneered and said, "I know this is like drinking poison to quench thirst, but what else can I do now?"

"When Sima Yi returns, I will have him lead all the elite troops of Yizhou to attack southwards and open up the road to Tianzhu as the last retreat for Wei."

"I feel that I will not live long. When the time comes, the remaining glory of the Wei Dynasty will depend on you."

After hearing this, Queen Guo knelt on the ground, hugged Cao Pi's legs and started crying.

The new year soon arrived. After listening to Master Bu Lian read the news from the spy in the capital, Yuan Xi in Nanchang finally breathed a sigh of relief and said to Master Bu Lian: "This is the best result."

"Only someone as stubborn as Cao Pi would have the guts to do such a thing. If it were someone as spineless as Cao Zhi, he would have surrendered to the State of Jin long ago."

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Bu Lianshi did not respond and said, "Cao Zhi led the Wei Kingdom to surrender to Your Majesty, and the world was unified. Isn't this good?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "That's good, but after Jin obtains Yizhou, it will eventually have to pacify the southern barbarians, completely control the Shu-Shendu Road, and then enter Tianzhu."

"The manpower and material resources spent here are also quite huge. After the Jin State unifies the world, it will reduce taxes and cannot treat the local people of Yizhou too harshly, so the speed of expansion may not be satisfactory."

"But if this matter were done by the State of Wei, it would be different."

"The passage they are taking out has been completely blocked. Since they can't fight their way out, they can only desperately flee south."

"Jin wants to make money, while Wei wants to survive. The desires of the two sides are incomparable. Wei will definitely mobilize all the laborers in Yizhou, squeeze the money of the local nobles, open up the road as quickly as possible, and then enter Tianzhu to revitalize Wei."

"During this process, the power of the local nobles in Yizhou will be weakened to the extreme. This place is already a disaster area for the accumulation of domestic slaves. If they surrender, it will be difficult for Jin to find an excuse to liberate these hundreds of thousands of domestic slaves. Now Wei has become the bad guy for Jin."

"It's like a rabbit being chased by a hunter. It will smooth the road ahead by itself, saving me a lot of trouble."

Bu Lianshi covered her mouth and laughed, "This is just like driving a tiger to devour a wolf. It turns out that Your Majesty forced Wei into Yizhou instead of destroying the Wei court when besieging Chang'an. It turns out that Your Majesty had already started planning."

"This idea is somewhat..."

Yuan Xi laughed, "Some of them are not so aboveboard, right?"

"If it happens again, I will still choose to do this. After all, we are all Chinese. Instead of fighting internally, it is more meaningful to fight externally."

"I've already said that I'm not a good person. Do you regret following me?"

Bu Lianshi couldn't help but laugh again, her eyes became crescents, "It's true that your Majesty doesn't have much majesty of an emperor. I've always been very happy following your Majesty."

Yuan Xi sighed, "I am lucky to have met you. In this age without mobile phones, being with a few more women is the only pastime besides conquering the world."

Bu Lianshi asked curiously, "What cell phone?"

Yuan Xi realized that he had let the cat out of the bag, and laughed it off, "These are things we won't be able to see in our lifetime, but our descendants will definitely follow this path and do better than us."

"Now that the important matter is settled, let's pack up and leave in a few days."

Bu Lianshi thought for a moment and said, "Madam Lu has a letter. Has His Majesty not sent it out yet?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi remembered the letter that Lu Lingqi had asked him to pass on to Xia Houshi. He slapped his head and said with a headache, "I was so busy a few days ago that I forgot about it. Now I'm in trouble."

"Although we can send someone to deliver it, Hannan's attitude towards Jin is quite sensitive now, and Zhang's side must be under surveillance. If we rashly send the letter, I'm afraid it will cause trouble for Madam Xiahou."

Master Bu Lian thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I have an idea."

(End of this chapter)