Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1471: Change of Mind
Du Xi was Sima Yi's military advisor at this time, and he said, "Okay."

"But this person can only be used for a while, not for a lifetime. Once used, you must abandon him in time to avoid being dragged down by him."

Sima Yi showed appreciation, "I thought so too."

"In that case, I'll leave this person to you. Find a way to send someone to befriend him. He may be of great use in the future."

Du Xi said, "Pardon me for being blunt, but if we really want to do something big, we'll naturally send someone close to the general. If someone like Xu Yi is indecisive and ruthless, what if he's not used well?"

Sima Yi showed a mocking look on his face, "It is precisely because everyone knows this that no one dares to use him, so it is convenient for me to use him."

"If he wants to climb up now, he has to find a big tree to hold on to, so as long as I just stretch out my hand a little, he will naturally lick me up like a dog."

"As for how much we can use it, we will have to act according to the situation. After all, what we are going to do in the future is like walking on the edge of an abyss. If we are not careful, we will be crushed to pieces."

Du Xi said in a deep voice: "No matter what happens in the future, Xi is willing to follow the general till death!"

Sima Yi patted Du Xi on the shoulder and said, "I am very optimistic about Zixu. If you work hard, you will be the leader of the Yingchuan faction in the future."

In the court of Cao Wei, few people knew that Du Xi had secretly defected to Sima Yi. As the backbone of the new generation of the Yingchuan faction, the two had begun to plan a new path.

At that time, Sima Yi rushed straight to Baidi City from Nanzhong. After more than half a month of forced march, he finally met Xiahou Dun at the front line.

When Xiahou Dun saw the imperial edict that Sima Yi brought out, he did not say much, because Wei State had mobilized the entire country to attack Hannan, but had been unable to take this area. Xiahou Dun and Guan Yu were in a stalemate, which was not conducive to the advancement. It was normal for Cao Wei to send Sima Yi over.

Xiahou Dun knew that whether or not this road could be opened up was related to the future of the Wei State, so without giving it much thought, he handed over his subordinates and returned to Chengdu with only thousands of wounded soldiers.

He was also assured that the tens of thousands of his remaining soldiers were all generals loyal to Cao Wei. Among them were Wen Qin, the son of Wen Ji, a general under Cao Cao, Wang Shuang and Niu Jin, former subordinates of Cao Ren, Fei Yao, former subordinate of Cao Zhen, and Wei Ping, a direct descendant of Cao Pi, all of whom were extremely reliable people.

These candidates were carefully selected by Xiahou Dun before he went on the expedition, to ensure that they all had clean backgrounds and belonged to the Cao clan faction. Although Xiahou Dun handed over the position of commander-in-chief, Sima Yi could only be responsible for mobilizing and commanding, and could not deprive these people of their military power.

The generals Sima Yi brought with him were only less famous generals such as Niu Jin and Hu Zun, so Xiahou Dun did not think much about it when he left. It was not until he entered Chengdu and heard that Cao Pi had fallen ill again, which prevented him from attacking and meeting him, that he vaguely realized that something was wrong.

It was not until Cao Ren came to tell Xiahou Dun about Jin's appointment of a crown princess that Xiahou Dun became even more surprised. He asked suspiciously, "Is what Zixiao said true?"

"The Crown Princess of Jin is the daughter of Zhang Fei?"

Cao Ren nodded and said, "That's right, the story was spread in a very detailed manner. Jin would never spread false information on such a matter."

"This shows that Hannan is ready to stand completely with Jin."

Xiahou Dun said depressedly: "I thought Ji Han and his gang were tough, but they surrendered to Jin so quickly!"

"You keep talking about restoring the Han Dynasty, but in the end you are relying on the traitor Jin. Aren't you afraid that Liu Bei will be angry again?"

Cao Ren complained in his heart that the Wei Kingdom was actually a rebel, let alone the eldest brother and the second brother. Who cares about the name of the Han Dynasty now? How to survive is the most important thing!
He said, "Zhang Fei's daughter has a complicated identity. She is also Miao Cai's niece, so this matter also involves Xia Houshi."

Xiahou Dun was puzzled and asked, "Miao Cai was killed by the Jin army, so Jin is the enemy of the Xiahou family. What is there to be involved?"

Cao Ren asked, "Yuan Rang still doesn't know?"

"There is news that Miaocai is not dead and has defected to the State of Jin!"

Xiahou Dun stood up suddenly, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"I'm afraid that Jin State has released false information to alienate the Xiahou family and Wei State!"

Cao Ren said, "But has Yuan Rang ever thought about this: if Miao Cai was really killed by Jin, why would Xiong Hu make his niece the Crown Princess?"

"There are so many women from noble families in the world. What strengths does Zhang have that make Jin keep this hidden danger? You have to know that this is the future queen. Isn't Jin afraid that she will cause chaos in the government in order to avenge Miaocai?"

Xiahou Dun calmed down, thought for a while, and then nodded and said, "Zixiao's words make sense."

"This kind of national event is obviously not a joke. The meaning that Jin State has released through this incident is quite intriguing."

"What's even more troublesome is that the key to this matter is not what Xiahou does, but what Your Majesty thinks. Yuan Rang doesn't even think about why Your Majesty wants Yuan Rang to hand over power. Is it really just because the war is not going well?"

"Sima Yi is indeed good at fighting, but now that he controls almost all of Wei's military forces and holds great power, will his ideas change, or did he already have an idea before?"

Xiahou Dun's face became more serious after hearing this. He said, "It's bad. When I handed over the power, I thought that Your Majesty was unhappy, but I didn't expect so many changes to happen in the court." "Sima Yi is indeed the pillar of Cao Wei's army, but it is difficult to keep a normal mind when you have power. I must meet Your Majesty and explain the pros and cons to prepare for any unexpected events."

But the two waited for two days, and Cao Pi was still in bed recovering from his illness, and he would not see anyone. Cao Ren came to see Xiahou Dun again and said, "This is not a solution. If something unexpected happens, you and I only have a few thousand soldiers, and Chengdu will not be able to be defended at all!"

"Now we must find a way to take the initiative!"

Xiahou Dun asked, "What do you think, Zixiao?"

Cao Ren said, "If Your Majesty is still unable to see anyone, we must find a way to control Sima Yi's followers and his family as bargaining chips!"

"In addition, the Jin army is now advancing towards the Jinniu Road. Although Your Majesty has given up on this route, he has still arranged troops at the three passes of Jiameng to temporarily block the Jin army. Now we must deploy our troops along this route and the Migang Road to prepare for a retreat in case of changes!"

Xiahou Dun was surprised and asked, "A way out?"

"Does Zixiao mean surrendering to the State of Jin?"

Cao Ren said solemnly: "This is just a choice when there is no other way."

"If the news about Jin State appointing a crown princess is true, it means that Jin State has no intention of annihilating the Cao clan, and we can also protect our clan members."

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Xiahou Dun hesitated and said: "But this is equivalent to betraying Your Majesty."

Cao Ren laughed bitterly and said, "Yuan Rang, is the Wei Kingdom today still the same as it was when you were alive?"

"Since Lord Ming's death, hasn't Your Majesty suppressed our Cao clan enough?"

"It's fine that I've been targeted several times, but Your Majesty has chosen to establish a crown prince and even went out of his way to find Cao Zhen's child to adopt. This is already very obvious. Your Majesty has not taken into account the past friendship between us Cao clan members at all!"

"Six months before Ming Gong's death, he often had attacks of madness and often did extremely absurd things. Now, although Your Majesty is young, he often goes crazy and faints. If he really does something evil, how can we save our lives?"

Xiahou Dun heard this and gritted his teeth and said, "But no matter what, this Wei Kingdom was left by you. If we were to betray the country, it would only bring shame to the Cao clan."

Cao Ren said, "You and I are not good at doing these things, but we should at least leave some fire for the young men in our clan, right?"

"If we all place our bets on one side and lose everything, can we be worthy of our people?"

Xiahou Dun thought for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "That's it. You and I will each select a few young men from our clans to garrison Jinniu Road and Micang Road respectively. If Your Majesty is really ruthless to our clans, then let them surrender to the State of Jin."

While Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren were discussing a retreat, Sima Yi in Baidi City launched an all-out attack on Guan Yu's army at all costs.

Since Sima Yi arrived in secret and then stopped for half a month to paralyze the Hannan Army, there was no sign of this attack, so when the Wei army raided the downstream water city by boat, the Hannan Army had not yet reacted.

After the vanguard of the Hannan Army suffered extremely heavy losses, the urgent news reached Guan Yu. He hurriedly gathered troops and warships to meet the enemy, but as soon as he left the city, he was ambushed by the Wei army on three fronts.

Although Guan Yu was brave, he was old. The Wei army sent seven or eight generals to target him. He was outnumbered and soon was hit by arrows in the arms and shoulders and had to retreat.

When the Wei soldiers saw this, their morale was greatly boosted. Under the leadership of the Wei generals, they advanced both by land and sea, and defeated the Hannan army. The water strongholds along the coast were lost one after another.

Chen Dao, who was escorting Guan Yu back to the city, saw that his army had collapsed, so he had to send a signal to let the remaining troops retreat into the city. At the same time, he said to Guan Yu, who was treating his wounds, "It's really strange. How come the Wei army is completely different from before? This is trouble!"

It's no wonder that Chen Dao was depressed. His Bai Li Army fought desperately to block the Wei Army's offensive in this surprise attack, and the price they paid was that more than half of them were killed or wounded. These were the elite troops that Chen Dao had spent a lot of effort to train over the years. Now that they have suffered such a loss, anyone would be heartbroken.

Guan Yu glanced at the wound from the arrow and said coldly, "The commander must have changed over there. With Xiahou Dun's ability, he can't command so many troops at the same time."

"I'm afraid the only one in Wei who has this ability is Sima Yi."

When Chen Dao heard this name, he immediately got a headache. Although Hannan was weaker than Wei, it could deal with most of the Wei generals by virtue of its geographical advantages. However, he was helpless against Sima Yi.

He was able to escape unscathed several times when facing the State of Jin, and inflicted losses on Hannan several times. He had previously defeated Guan Ping and now he could injure Guan Yu. It was obvious that he was indeed capable.

Moreover, the Hannan Army suffered heavy losses in this sudden attack, and now there are only more than 10,000 people left. The Wei Army has a three-fold advantage in terms of manpower. Even if Guan Yu was not injured, it would be difficult to stop them.

Guan Yu listened to the shouting and killing outside the city and said, "It's getting difficult to fight. Now we can only retreat by land to preserve the remaining troops."

(End of this chapter)