Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 616
When Liu Xie heard Dong Cheng's words, he couldn't help but feel excited, because although he had been welcomed to Huaicheng before, he was actually unwilling to do so.

In Liu Xie's view, Yuan Xi and Cao Cao rescued him from Li Jue and Guo Si. Although it was a good thing from the perspective of the result, from the perspective of motivation, both of them were not very pure.

To be fair, Liu Xie is not an ungrateful person, but as the emperor, he must think about issues from the emperor's standpoint and face his responsibilities.

In Liu Xie's view, the current situation is better than when Li Jue and Guo Si were there, but not much better. It will affect the re-emergence of the Han Dynasty in the future. Huaicheng is still too far away from the sphere of influence of Yuan Xi and Cao Cao. Close.

Therefore, he must break through this situation before he can freely exercise his rights as emperor.

Liu Xie knew that Cao Cao and Yuan Xi must have close followers around him, influencing his decisions all the time. He hated this feeling, but he had no way to resist.

So Liu Xie has been thinking about how to eliminate the influence of the two people. He thought about it and finally made a decision.

Leave Huaicheng.

Not only to leave, but to stay away, preferably to a place where the two people's power is completely beyond their control.

The reason Liu Xie wanted to do this was because he felt more and more that he was almost being held hostage by Cao Cao.

Whether it was the officials around him or the forces around Huaicheng, they all wrapped around Liu Xie like a net, preventing him from acting according to his own ideas.

Especially when Cao Cao in Huai City arbitrarily advocated killing and expelling all the Baibo generals, Liu Xie was very unhappy, because although Liu Xie had hinted before, his original intention was just to suppress the Baibo army to prevent them from attacking. Just one big family.

But Liu Xie didn't think about wiping out the White Wave Army. After all, it was of great use to Liu Xie. However, what Cao Cao did far exceeded Liu Xie's expectations. He actually completely eradicated the White Wave Army and at the same time incorporated it. White Wave Soldier!

For this reason alone, Liu Xie believed that Cao Cao would never take orders from him, and sooner or later he would turn against him.

Moreover, although Yuan Xi on the other side did not show any ambition to control the emperor's power, Liu Xie did not trust Yuan Shao behind Yuan Xi, so he began to think about how to get rid of their control in the future?
So from the moment Liu Xie came to Huaicheng, he was planning a way out and secretly contacted more reliable people.

The so-called reliability means being loyal and loyal to the Han Dynasty and having the strength to confront Cao Cao and Yuan. However, the strength should not be too strong to avoid overestimating the host. Moreover, its sphere of influence should be far away from the two Yuan and Cao Cao. Keep it out of reach.

There were not many places and princes that could meet these conditions, but with Yuan Shu's failure, a suitable place appeared.

Jiangdong.

Liu Xie chose Yuzhang County first because Sili's route south to Yangzhou was vacated with Yuan Shu's failure.

Secondly, because Yuzhang County is located in the east of Jiangdong, and Liu Biao in the west is also a clan member of the Han Dynasty, Sun Ce needs Liu Xie's name to stabilize the situation in Jiangdong. What's even better is that Liu Biao and Sun Ce have conflicts over Jingzhou, but neither side can take it. who.

In this case, Liu Xie could play a mediating role and use the power of several parties at the same time, instead of being a puppet in Huaicheng and numbly stamping his seal on the princes' memorials without a say.

Liu Xie understood that only by putting himself first could he slowly rebuild the prestige of the Han Dynasty, regain his own power, and restore the Han Dynasty!

Moreover, Yuzhang County is far away from the Central Plains, and the situation in the north is chaotic. The three forces of Yuan Xi, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce are intertwined. Cao Cao must defeat these three parties if he wants to go south.

As for Yuan Xi's strength in the two counties of Jiujiang and Lujiang, he is not strong. If he wants to blackmail Liu Xie, Liu Xie can completely rely on the power of Sun Ce and Liu Bei to contain Yuan Xi.

Although Liu Xie didn't have a bad impression of Yuan Xi, he had completely lost confidence in the Yuan family. The Yuan family was now so powerful that no one would believe that he had no ambition to conquer the world. Yuan Shu was a clear proof.

Therefore, Liu Xie not only wanted to get rid of Cao Cao's control, but also to get rid of Yuan Xi. He endured it for more than a year, secretly sent envoys to Liu Bei and Sun Ce to negotiate and persuade, and finally got the blood letter of allegiance from the two men.

At this time, the situation around Huaicheng also changed greatly with Yuan Shu's defeat.

First, the Liangzhou army lost control. Ma Teng and Han Sui began to show their ambition to control the emperor and began to approach Sili.

But after Yuan Shu, who fled, failed to attack Zhang Xiu in Nanyang, he suddenly headed north and marched towards Huaicheng.

These two forces each had tens of thousands of troops, neither of which Huaicheng could fight against. Liu Xie even suspected that someone was planning all of this behind them.

Therefore, he must break the situation as soon as possible, escape from the land of right and wrong, and go south to seek help from Liu Bei and Sun Ce.

What Liu Xie had to do was to first find a way to clean up all the informants and die-hard elements in Huaicheng, and then take advantage of the chaos to avoid foreign enemies, escape from Huaicheng, go south to Yuzhang, and then issue an edict to impeach Cao Cao, and sit back and watch the forces in the Central Plains Fight to the death.

This was Liu Xie's entire plan. He had only planned it with a few of his closest confidants. The reason why he chose Dong Cheng was also due to Liu Xie's own considerations.

Although Dong Cheng was ambitious, at most he only wanted his daughter, Concubine Dong Guifei, to ascend to the throne and not be a second wife. Although he was unfaithful to Queen Fu Shou, his loyalty to Liu Xie was no problem. After all, Liu Xie died. No, it won’t be of any benefit to Dong Cheng.

Liu Xie also knew that his plan might be somewhat flawed, but there was no such thing as a perfect strategy. Now he could only count on Dong Cheng, Wang Zifu and others to act more reliably.

Dong Cheng was about to get up and go out. He hesitated for a moment and said to Liu Xie, "This is a serious matter. Do we really need to hide it from Marquis Wen?"

"If we let him know, wouldn't the plan go smoother?"

After hearing this, Liu Xie hesitated for a long time, and finally shook his head and said: "No, you can't tell him."

"Although he is related to the Yuan family, I have never doubted his loyalty. But the biggest problem with Marquis Wen is that he cannot restrain his subordinates."

"Before I came to Huaicheng, Huaicheng under his rule rebelled several times, and even half of his generals betrayed him. You said that with such ability in controlling his subordinates, how can I safely discuss such confidential matters with him? ?" Liu Xie picked up the belt with names written all over it. He bit his finger, wrote his name at the end, and handed it to Dong Cheng.

"After leaving Huaicheng, you only need to use my belt edict to mobilize Marquis Wen's troops and horses to block Yuan Shu's army. Marquis Wen will naturally understand my painstaking efforts."

Dong Cheng also quite agreed with Liu Xie's words. Lu Bu was indeed too unreliable!
He hid the imperial edict, said goodbye to Liu Xie, and hurried to the mansion, where he ordered Zhong Ji, Wang Zifu and others to be summoned.

After everyone arrived, Dong Cheng told Liu Xie his next plan and showed him the imperial edict. When Zhong Ji and others saw it, they all showed excitement. As close ministers of the emperor, being able to participate in such a major event was a big deal. When they came, it was an incomparable glory!

Finally, Dong Cheng gave instructions: "This matter is extremely confidential. I hope you will keep it secret. Otherwise, if the matter is leaked, we will all be in danger of annihilation."

Everyone quickly agreed and dispersed, not mentioning any plans.

Dong Cheng carefully tied the belt with his name on it to his waist, walked to the atrium, looked at the sky for a while, and then went back to his room to sleep.

That night, Ding Chong hurried to Zhong Yao's mansion, holding a secret report in his hand.

There is information about the Yidaizhao!
Ding Chong sighed: "As expected by Mr. Cao, the emperor is going to take action against us."

Zhong Yao sneered and said: "It's a pity that we worked hard for the emperor, but in the end we got nothing in return, but instead we suffered suspicion, and the emperor even threatened our lives!"

"Will Youyang continue to live like this?"

Ding Chong hesitated: "But he is the emperor after all."

Zhong Yao sneered: "If you don't rule, you don't rule. The knife is already on your neck. Do you want to wait for death?"

Ding Chong's expression changed several times, and finally he whispered: "Then what else can we do?"

"Not to mention that we don't have any soldiers. Even if we have soldiers, how can we fight against Marquis Wen?"

After hearing this, Zhong Yao said with a mysterious expression: "Youyang doesn't need to worry about this. We can't cure Wen Hou, so of course someone can cure him."

"But his troops are indeed a problem, so what we have to do is open the city gate and leave the rest to others."

Ding Chong was startled, "Open the city gate? What to do?"

Zhong Yao smiled and said: "Of course we are welcoming Duke Cao's troops into the city."

Ding Chong's body trembled, and then his face began to turn pale, "Has Mr. Cao already known about the emperor's actions?"

"No, didn't this clothing and belt edict thing just leak out?"

Zhong Yao said leisurely: "Youyang, do you know why I am optimistic about Mr. Cao?"

"Because all those who oppose Duke Cao are like shadow figures on wooden poles, arrogant and stupid without realizing it."

"Only Duke Cao has the foresight to predict the movements of Huaicheng. At this time, what does it matter whether there is a clothing edict or not?"

"But this belt is the icing on the cake. It becomes a noose that strangles many people's necks."

Ding Chong felt a sense of fear in his heart. He felt that Zhong Yao in front of him was so strange.

Zhong Yao patted Ding Chong on the shoulder, "Youyang, there is no turning back."

Ding Chong's lips trembled slightly, "Then what do you need me to do?"

Zhong Yao said leisurely: "It's very simple. I just personally clear away some obstacles for Duke Cao to disobey."

"If it comes to fruition, Youyang's future will be limitless. How can it be compared to a vacant position now? Don't let Mr. Cao live up to his hard work."

After sending away the distraught Ding Chong, Zhong Yao showed a trace of sternness on his face. Ding Chong was really an embroidered pillow, and his ability to do things was really beyond his ability. If it weren't for the fact that he needed to borrow his hands to do some things that Mr. Cao was not suitable to do with his own hands. , I really don’t want him to get involved.

But after all the dirty work is done, this person will be useless.

A hundred miles east of Huaicheng, near the Black Mountain Pass, a group of troops and horses were marching under the cover of night.

Leading the way were the remnants of the Black Mountain bandits under Zhang Yan. They bypassed Yuan Shangjun and secretly brought an army of horses over from the Black Mountain Pass.

The man leading this army was riding a horse. He was short in stature, but his eyes were filled with a sinister look.

Cao Cao!

(End of this chapter)