Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1483 The End and the Beginning (Final Chapter)

Sima Yi couldn't stop coughing again. He felt dizzy and fell to the ground. At this time, Du Xi came in with his guards. Seeing Sima Yi fall to the ground, he was shocked and hurried over to help Sima Yi up.

Sima Yi waved his hands, then stretched out his hands to support the ground, sat on the ground and slowly straightened his body. He leaned his back against the tent, and after a long while, the dark eyes slowly regained light.

He slowly turned his head towards Du Xi and saw that the other party was opening his mouth to say something, but Sima Yi's ears began to buzz and his eyes began to blur. Du Xi realized that something was wrong and hurried out to find a doctor.

Sima Yi turned his head with difficulty and directed his gaze towards the blankly standing guard. He saw a wooden tray in the guard's hand, on which was the hideous head of Xu Yi.

Sima Yi suddenly had an epiphany and he figured it out.

He had always hated Xu Yi and could have had countless excuses to kill him long ago, but until today, he still used Xu Yi to do a lot of dirty things to take the blame for himself, because he was too easy to use.

Aren't the way I see myself in Cao Pi's eyes the same as Xu Yi in my own eyes?

Cao Pi was such a suspicious person that he killed everyone he could in the few years he was in power. Why would he keep himself, who posed the greatest threat, alive?

Either Cao Pi was worried that he would seize power in Wei after his death, or Cao Pi didn't want to struggle anymore and wanted to kill himself. Even if Cao Zhi and other members of the Cao clan seized power, Wei would still perish.

It is not impossible that Cao Pi, who has such a self-destructive tendency, wanted the State of Wei to be buried with him, right?
Of course, maybe Cao Pi had other ideas. He could no longer seek confirmation from the dead. But it was ironic. He had been smart all his life and was always on guard. Who would have thought that Cao Pi would poison him in a way that would result in both of them dying?

I and Cao Pi had my own ulterior motives. I thought that after I outlasted him, I would have all the power and be able to move freely. But it turned out that I was too confident. I deserved it.

The irony is that Cao Pi died and he was about to die. As long as he remained silent, he could leave behind a story of mutual understanding between a monarch and his minister in history.

How many future generations will know that even though I was trusted by the king, I still betrayed him in private and attempted to usurp the throne, but the king poisoned me just because of groundless suspicion?

The father and son of the Cao family are indeed unreasonable lunatics. They pretended to be fine from beginning to end, and there was no problem at all, just like a normal person.

But in the eyes of a madman, how can a normal person like me be normal?

After figuring this out, Sima Yi couldn't help but laugh bitterly. He was too confident, which led to his current fate. He deserved it.

His vision began to blur, blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, and his chest was filled with resentment.

I still have a lot of things to do and a long way to go. I still have to go to India to establish a country. For this, I even abandoned the State of Wei and my family. I just want to live a life without being bound by anyone. But why did I fall here?
Not willing to give in
When Du Xi rushed over with the doctors, Sima Yi had already stopped breathing.

Several doctors tried their best, but they could only helplessly watch Sima Yi's body gradually become cold. After confirming that Sima Yi was dead, everyone present fell into panic.

Everyone looked at Du Xi, "Military Advisor, the general has passed away, what should we do?"

With a loud bang, the guard holding the wooden tray loosened his grip in anxiety, and Xu Yi's head fell to the ground. The head rolled to Du Xi's feet, bounced on Du Xi's legs, jumped twice, turned around on the ground, and then stopped.

Du Xi lowered his head, looked at the empty eyes in the head, couldn't help but curse, and kicked Xu Yi's head away.

"What else can be done?"

“Go back to Chengdu!

When Lu Xun arrived in Chengdu, Zhuge Liang had already entered the city for several days. This made Lu Xun somewhat depressed, because he had been rushing and thought he could catch up with the siege, but unexpectedly, the dust had already settled.

This was because after some negotiations between Zhuge Liang and the Wei delegation, Chengdu did not put up any resistance at all and immediately opened the city gates and surrendered. No one died in the whole process.

This also made Chengdu one of the few large cities in the world that had not been affected by war in the decades since the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty. This was all thanks to the three attacks on Yizhou by Liu Yan, Wei and Jin, and Chengdu's peaceful surrender each time, which saved the people from the suffering of war. It is truly cause for celebration.

But few people know how many hidden stories are behind all this, which are buried in the torrent of history.

At this time, a carriage was quietly leaving Chengdu City. Dong Zhao leaned his head out of the carriage and looked at the outline of the city behind him, feeling extremely complicated.

My mission is finally over.

No matter how Zhong Yao provoked and targeted him, he endured it, because his target had never been Zhong Yao and others.

Dong Zhao had only one target from beginning to end, and that was Sima Yi.

Dong Zhao could not predict what Sima Yi's fate would be, but he did what he should do. After twenty years of undercover work, everything has finally settled.

The carriage drove over the muddy mountain road and headed north into the vast mountains. Dong Zhao first went from Jizhou to Youzhou, from Youzhou to Yanzhou, then to Sili, Jingzhou, and Yizhou. He traveled around the world and spent half of his life. Finally, he would return to the starting point to see the lord to whom he was first loyal and to whom he had always been loyal.

At another gate, Lu Xun rode into the city, only to see Zhuge Liang standing at the gate to greet him. He quickly dismounted and bowed, saying, "Xun greets the Prime Minister."

"It rained heavily on the road. Although I didn't miss the deadline, I still failed to catch up. I hope the Prime Minister will forgive me."

Zhuge Liang laughed and said, "What are you talking about, Commander? I never thought that your majesty's prestige would make Wei so frightened that it surrendered. This is really a pleasant surprise."

"It will save us from the disaster of siege and reduce many hidden dangers. Otherwise, if the people of Chengdu were killed or injured, they would be resentful and it would be detrimental to the future governance of Jin."

Lu Xun said, "Indeed, has Wei's surrender letter been sent out?"

Zhuge Liang said, "Not yet. I know the governor will be here soon, so I am waiting for him to sign the letter and send it to Jicheng together with the letter of surrender from Wei."

Lu Xun declined, saying, "How can I sign with the Prime Minister when I have not done anything?"

Zhuge Liang said, "Your Majesty ordered the two of us to attack Wei from two directions. Without the commander-in-chief of this direction, Wei will have a way to retreat and resist stubbornly. We are all for Jin to pacify the world. This is not the agreement made by our great ancestor Xiang Yu to destroy Qin. Why should we differentiate between us?"

After hearing this, Lu Xun was slightly startled and immediately said, "I will do as the Prime Minister says."

The two entered the city hand in hand. Lu Xun saw that although there were soldiers in Chengdu, the people looked peaceful. It didn't look like a war had just ended. He couldn't help but praise: "The Prime Minister did a very thorough job after entering the city."

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "It's normal, because they are all the lowest class of people. If they were to defend the city, they would naturally go up to the city wall to resist. At that time, their lives would be in danger." "It was some Yizhou officials who wanted to resist. When they surrendered, they were obviously unwilling to do so."

Lu Xun was puzzled and asked, "Aren't all the officials in Yizhou surrenderists?"

Zhuge Liang said: "People's thoughts are based on their own standpoints. Simply dividing into factions cannot accurately judge everyone's attitude."

"The Yizhou faction that tends to surrender are all those who are frustrated and forced to guard the border, while those who want to resist are usually those who have a lot of industries and things that are not visible to the public in Chengdu. That's roughly it."

Lu Xun said: "I understand, but according to this, the resistance faction should not want to surrender, so why?"

Zhuge Liang said: "Because Sima Yi abandoned them, the Cao clan is disappointed with the officials from other clans, including the Yizhou faction."

"Empress Dowager Guo used the power of the Cao family to control the city gates. She also knew that the longer the night, the more trouble there would be. The so-called negotiation delegation did not even discuss any conditions. She just opened the city gates and led the Jin army into the city."

"He's a smart guy. If we delay for a day or two, and let the resistance faction in Yizhou react, Chengdu might be doomed to war."

After hearing this, Lu Xun couldn't help but shook his head and said, "I see. I thought we would have a fierce battle with Sima Yi, but I didn't expect him to avoid the battle. Could it be that he is going to run to India as Your Majesty guessed?"

Zhuge Liang said: "I can't guess it either, but since he has opened up most of the Shu-Shendu Road, we can take the opportunity to push forward to Nanzhong next."

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"I may have to stay here for another two years and transfer all the road diggers from Hanzhong to build roads in Nanzhong."

"As for our memorials, Wei's surrender letter, and the Cao clan's clan members, I would like to ask the governor to personally deliver them to Jicheng."

"From Chengdu, follow the river to Jiangling downstream, and then take the coastal waterway. It will take at most two months to reach Jicheng in the fall."

Lu Xun knew that this was a military order and also a favor from Zhuge Liang, so he immediately accepted the order and agreed.

A few days later, Lu Xun led a fleet, escorting hundreds of Cao Wei royal family members, and set off from the Chengdu wharf. They traveled along the Yangtze River by water, changed to a steamship in Guangling, and headed north to Jicheng.

On a boat, the former Empress Dowager Guo, now Mrs. Guo, was standing on the side of the boat, staring in a daze at the scene along the coast.

Over the years, she has been wandering with Cao Wei. Although she has not suffered any hardship, her memory is still stuck on the pastoral life in Cao Wei's territory where men farmed and women weaved.

However, as she followed the fleet along the way, she saw a scene in the territory of Jin that was completely different from that of Wei.

The smooth roads along the river, the prosperous docks, the rumbling steamships, the water conservancy facilities throughout the rivers and ditches, and the workshops and docks densely spread on both sides of the river all had a significant impact on the Guo family.

She thought to herself that she had been looking at the world from a narrow perspective. Before His Majesty passed away, could he have thought that they would be fighting against such a terrible State of Jin?
When footsteps were heard, Guo looked back and saw Cao Zhi walking with Madam Bian. The three of them were quite embarrassed when they met. Finally, Madam Bian spoke up:
"Although I used to be dissatisfied with Pi'er, I have to admit that he is really good at judging people."

"You have done a great job and saved my Cao family from disaster. I would like to thank you for this."

When Guo saw that Madam Bian was about to express her gratitude, she hurried forward to help her and said, "Mother, what are you talking about? Now everything is over."

"Just like Prime Minister Zhuge Liang said, from now on, we just need to live our lives in peace."

A whistle sounded, and the three of them looked towards the river at the same time. In the distance, a steamship fleet was cutting through the waves and speeding along. Dozens of porpoises were chasing and jumping on both sides of the fleet. From a distance, the fleet looked like a giant dragon leaping out of the water, ready to fly into the sky at any time.

As summer was coming to an end and autumn was approaching, inside the courtyard of the Jicheng Imperial Palace, Yuan Xi took dozens of seeds from Zhen Mi and carefully placed them in the dug pits. Female relatives including Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, and Lu Lingqi watched curiously from the side.

The seeds are flat and yellow in color. Although they are very different from those in later generations, Yuan Xi naturally knows that this should be the corn of later generations. However, without improvement and hybridization, the yield will never be high, and it is still unknown whether it can be successfully planted in this season.

This was two years after Xiahou Yuan went to sea and arrived in North America. He found a farming community on the coast and exchanged cotton cloth for seeds from the other side.

At that time, Xiahou Yuan wanted to go to South America as Yuan Xi mentioned and bring the seeds back together, but there was a ship in the fleet that was not suitable for continuing the voyage. After thinking about it, Xiahou Yuan let the ship return with the seeds along the original route. After more than half a year, they finally returned to the Korean Peninsula. The local authorities immediately sent a speedboat to send both people and seeds to Jicheng.

Yuan Xi was naturally very happy. Although the seeds of later generations were grown and cultivated in Southeast Asia for hundreds of years before being introduced to China, if they were planted directly now, it was not known how many generations would be needed to be optimized before they were suitable for planting and consumption. But no matter what, this was already a very good start.

However, the reason why the voyage was so smooth was also due to the fact that the fleet sent by Yuan Xi at this time was steam-powered. Although it was only used in emergencies, it was already much more advanced than the ships of the great navigators of later generations, and naturally better able to deal with risks.

He was just covering the pit with soil when Bu Lianshi came over with a letter in his hand: "Your Majesty, there is a letter from the dock at Piaoyuyi."

Yuan Xi straightened up, took the letter and read it, and found out that it was Lu Xun's fleet carrying the royal family of Wei, and would arrive in Jicheng in the next two days.

He couldn't help but laugh and said, "The world is finally at peace."

"According to the news from the day before yesterday, Sima Yi died of illness in Dali, and Du Xi returned to Chengdu with the remaining Wei army to surrender."

Zhen Mi asked, "What about Hannan?"

Yuan Xi pointed to the sun and smiled and said, "As long as the sun is shining, the moon will not appear during the day."

"We don't need to worry about Hannan's road. We just need to walk our own road and let the light and heat of the sun shine on everyone in the world."

"What we have done will be remembered by people, just like when I met you, your most brilliant moment will always be in my heart."

After hearing this, all the ladies laughed like silver bells. The sound spread beyond the palace walls. The busy people of Jicheng seemed to sense something. They looked in the direction of the imperial palace and felt that something was quietly taking root and growing in their hearts.

After only a moment's pause, they continued to work with their heads down. They sowed seeds, forged iron, wove cloth, and carved. The countless sounds of their work gathered together, transmitted to the sky, and fell to the earth, bringing hope for the future to the golden fields that were about to usher in the harvest season.

A new era has arrived.

(End of the book)

(End of this chapter)