Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 940 Be prepared for danger in times of peace
After hearing Xun Yu's words, all the counselors were stunned for a moment. Xun You and Xun Chen all looked at Xun Yu in surprise.

In their eyes, Xun Yu was quite low-key and did not express his opinions easily. But now that he is discussing the matter of heir in public, isn't it too disrespectful of the occasion?
Even if you want to talk about such a sensitive matter, it would be better to tell Cao Cao in private, right?

A person like Xun Yu would never act without aim. What exactly did he want to do, or what did he want to express to Cao Cao?
Or is he overthinking it? Is Xun Yu really just talking about the matter, just about Liu Biao's two sons?

But no matter what, everyone felt that Xun Yu's words were inappropriate and too sensitive at this time, so they all lowered their heads.

Cao Cao spoke up: "Does Wen Ruo think that Liu Jingsheng's current betrayal and separation are all because he has not decided on his successor?"

Xun Yu cupped his hands and said, "Dear Ming Gong, there are many factors responsible for Liu Jingsheng's decline, and this is just one of them."

"He occupied Jingzhou, but he didn't think about making progress, so that his subordinates couldn't see the future. Naturally, people's hearts were wandering. This is one of them."

"Although Jingzhou is rich in natural resources, it has not been fully utilized. It has been a waste of time and energy and can only barely maintain its status. This is the second reason."

"The heir has not been established for a long time, which has led to several parties competing for power, endless internal fighting, and hidden dangers. This is the third reason."

"With these three things, we can draw lessons from the past."

The subordinates below were even more confused. Xun Yu mentioned everything about Liu Biao, but in fact these reasons were untenable. The most fundamental reason was that it was not because of Cao Cao's attack that Jingzhou became what it is today. ?
But how dare these people stand up and say such things, so they became even more confused. What did Xun Yu mean by saying this nonsense?
However, Cao Cao knew it well. Xun Yu clearly meant that he was talking about Liu Biao, but in fact, he was really talking about himself!
Liu Biao's factors of people's betrayal are all superficial excuses, because these internal troubles were not triggered by external troubles. In fact, they are not problems at all. In the final analysis, they are internal problems and external crises, so they broke out.

He tried his best to calm his voice and replied: "Exactly."

Everyone looked at each other, but Xun You was the first to speak up: "With our current accumulation, we cannot fight on both sides at the same time."

Cao Cao understood clearly what Xun Yu meant, that is, the same problem Liu Biao encountered, he would encounter sooner or later.

Cao Cao turned to everyone, "Does everyone understand what Wen Ruo means?"

After Cao Cao put forward the slogan of recruiting talents that emphasizes talent rather than virtue, many celebrities did come to join him, but their intention was also very obvious. They were just for fame and fortune. If Cao Cao could not satisfy them, it would naturally be difficult to get their full attention. Fully devoted service!
Thinking of this, Cao Cao said: "What Wen Ruo means is that I should find a way to suppress the fierce tiger before he has fully recovered. If things don't work out, I should be prepared for a long-term confrontation?"

Cao Cao's strength lies in the large number of talents under his command, and he has formed a civil and military core composed of Cao's Xiahou family and Yingchuan counselors. He can recruit troops quickly and mobilize a large number of troops, but his weakness is the lack of stamina in the territory.

Now they come here to join Cao Cao because they want to plan their official career so that they can go further in the future. Otherwise, when Cao Cao takes over Jingzhou, the positions may be filled. At that time, even if the Jingzhou scholars join him, they will not get their ideals. official position.

But precisely because of this, Xun Yu regretted it even more, because the two people's political opinions were fundamentally different. Xun Yu could foresee that sooner or later, he and Cao Cao would have more intense differences in the future, which made Xun Yu uncomfortable.

To be fair, Liu Biao's treatment of his subordinates was not bad, but why Jingzhou scholars are defecting to Cao Cao one after another is not because they see no hope in following Liu Biao.

"Tell me, is there any way to completely defeat the fierce tiger in just one or two years?"

A look of relief appeared on Xun Yu's face, and then a trace of regret appeared. Although his words were very obscure, Cao Cao could understand. How many people in this world can understand him so well, like Cao Cao?

Xun Yu came up with this idea in response to this weakness. His meaning was clear. It would be unfavorable for Cao Cao to have a protracted war with Yuan Xi. If things go on like this and the two sides confront each other, if Cao Cao cannot win, it is likely that people will be upset because of the issue of his heir. , his subordinates became disengaged, just like Liu Biao.

"The most important decision to make is whether it is more important to defeat Liu Zhang first and obtain the safe and prosperous rear area of ​​Yizhou, or is it more important to defeat the fierce tiger first and unify the Central Plains?"

Because the general trend of the world now has become Cao Cao and Yuan Xi fighting for the Central Plains. There is no absolute gap in strength between the two sides, and it is possible for either one to win and the other to lose.

"If we focus on attacking the ferocious tiger, it will definitely affect the subsequent strategy of taking Xichuan directly and defeating Liu Zhang."

Yuan Xi's strength is that he has abundant troops and abundant supplies, and has great advantages on the battlefield, but his disadvantage is that his territory is scattered and he has enemies everywhere. Whether it is Waihu or Cao Cao Jiangdong, they can pose a threat to him at any time. However, as Yuan Xi began to pacify the hidden dangers on the border, The hidden dangers of these problems are gradually decreasing.

"Judging from the results, defeating Fierce Tiger does have more benefits, but the problem is that the chance of success is much smaller than that of defeating Nishikawa."

Someone muttered: "Xichuan is not easy to fight either."

Someone immediately said: "Without the products of Xichuan, it would be difficult for us to gather the food and supplies to launch a full-scale war against the fierce tiger, right?" Everyone started discussing, and the biggest disagreement was here. No one was sure whether the fierce tiger could be defeated. I have no idea.

But everyone also felt what Xun Yu said just now, because the fierce tiger is getting stronger all the time, Cao Cao is fighting for territory, and he is not idle either. Maybe in a few years, he will be more difficult to deal with than now!

Thinking of this, everyone admired them in their hearts. Although Xun Yu usually didn't speak much, but in today's great situation, when everyone was praising his virtues, he stood up and pointed out the hidden dangers of Cao Ying. This is a qualified counselor!

Now that Xun Yu had taken the lead, everyone started making suggestions. Some suggested joining forces with Jiangdong to carve up the Xuzhou and Jianghuai areas. Some suggested asking Ma Teng and Han Sui to send troops to Bingzhou to attack the fierce tiger.

This suggestion was met with refutation and ridicule from the counselors. The counselor who proposed this suggestion blushed and quickly sat down and covered his face with his sleeves.

Because this suggestion is too outrageous, because it was Cao Cao who sent Cao Ren and others to attack Hanzhong a while ago and forced Zhang Lu to surrender. Once the Hanzhong passage is opened, you can go straight into the hinterland of Liangzhou. This will obviously arouse the vigilance of the Xiliang generals. .

The current situation in Xiliang is very complicated. Although Ma Teng and Han Sui are named the leaders of the Xiliang coalition, they are only the two largest forces. In addition to them, there are more than a dozen separatist forces, large and small. They unite, The goal is to be a local emperor.

These people are extremely sensitive to border threats. Zhong Yao had previously written a letter to remind Cao Cao that if he took Hanzhong, he must pay attention to the movements of these people.

The letter also said that Ma Teng and Han Sui were also very dissatisfied with Cao Cao's decision to let him attack the coalition forces of Gao Gan Yuan Xi in Sili, because the Xiliang cavalry used were all under Ma Teng and Han Sui's own men, and other Liangzhou cavalrymen The princes are all watching the excitement. If the fight continues like this, if Ma Teng and Han Sui's strength is damaged, their control over the Xiliang coalition will inevitably weaken.

The subsequent development of events was indeed as Zhong Yao expected. After the news of Cao's army's capture of Hanzhong reached Xiliang, the Xiliang princes began to mobilize their troops. There were obviously internal differences at the Chenbing border.

As everyone talked, they suddenly discovered that the problems and hidden dangers on their side were no less than those of the fierce tigers. Even if they did not fight the fierce tigers, there would still be a lot of problems!

After much discussion in the end, no one came to a conclusion as to how certain it was to attack Fierce Tiger at this time. They could only reach a consensus, which was to assemble several high-powered troops on the long border with Fierce Tiger. The mobile troops waited for the opportunity to enter Yuan Xi's territory to harass and destroy, which caused the people's sentiments under Yuan Xi's rule to fluctuate and the situation to be unstable, thereby slowly encroaching on Yuan Xi's territory.

In addition, the current focus of the strategy must be on capturing Xichuan and appeasing Xiliang. After all, if Xiliang is in chaos, it will affect Sili. This is a loss that Cao Cao cannot afford at the moment.

After discussing these matters, to everyone's surprise, Cao Cao finally proposed to consider naming an heir.

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Xun Yu didn't mean what he said. Why did Cao Cao pay attention to it instead?
Is this to see how everyone takes sides?
With an uneasy mood, everyone went home after the banquet, but in private, they began to communicate secretly to discuss how to make a decision.

For this kind of thing, once you stand in the wrong team, you will be completely unable to turn back, but you have to stand still. Otherwise, after Cao Cao comes and the heir takes over, how can you still have your own position?

Therefore, everyone must have formed a wide range of cliques. Among them, the Yingchuan faction reached a consensus in a short period of time and supported Cao Pi.

They also released this information intentionally or unintentionally, obviously hinting to other factions not to think about going against the Yingchuan faction.

Chen Qun and Xinpi are the core. Their ideas are very simple, with only two main points.

First, Cao Pi is the leader, and establishing the leader is just and logical, and no one can find fault with it.

The second point is difficult to make public. At present, it seems that Cao Pi is not as talented as Cao Zhi, but is easier to control.

If he wants to ascend to power, he must fully rely on the Yingchuan gentry, including his future governance and policies towards the gentry, and he will reciprocate the favor of the Yingchuan gentry who supported him.

Chen Qun believes that this is the best opportunity for the major families to rise!
Of course, Chen Qun's idea was not explicitly mentioned to others because it was very taboo, especially after Cao Cao found out about it, he didn't know what would happen to him. You must know that Cao Cao hates others interfering with his ideas.

So Chen Qun just promoted the long-sounding theory and put pressure on other forces at the same time, causing many factions to defect to the Yingchuan faction after hearing the news.

But even so, there are also those who openly oppose Cao Zhi. There are many people in Xudu who support Cao Zhi, and the one who openly opposes Chen Qun is Yang Xiu.

Yang Xiu secretly criticized Cao Pi for his misbehavior several times in public or private, and even hinted at Cao Pi's secret intrusion into the palace several times, which had a very bad impact on the nobles of Xu County.

This made many people in the Yingchuan faction itch with hatred and wanted to complain to Cao Cao privately, but the news that was immediately exposed shocked them.

The Xun family, which had not expressed much of its stance, and was always thought to support Cao Pi, actually had great internal differences. Several important figures actually tended to support Cao Zhi!
(End of this chapter)