Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 697 Misfortunes never come singly
November, Luoyang.

"How dare Sun Quan deceive me?"

Inside the palace, Cao Rui's face was gloomy, his eyes were filled with anger. If Sun Quan was in front of him, Cao Rui could kill him with his eyes.

"Snapped!"

Another exquisite porcelain was broken by Cao Rui. The servants did not dare to look up, for fear of becoming the target of Cao Rui's anger.

After a while, after smashing and looting, looking at the mess in the palace, Cao Rui's gloom and anger were relieved.

Cao Rui took a deep breath, slowly sat back on the couch, and said in a cold tone: "Someone come and clean it up!"

"promise!"

Hearing this, the servants felt relieved and hurried to clean up the mess in the hall.

Seeing Cao Rui's anger gradually subsided, Sun Zi said cautiously, "Your Majesty, Sun Quan has submitted a petition to be appointed governor of Pingzhou. Will it be approved?"

Cao Rui looked bitter and said, "What can I do if I am not allowed to do so now? How can I have the energy to take care of Pingzhou?"

It was said before that Sun Quan wanted to lead his troops to escape to Liaodong and establish his own regime. He led his troops to the seaside and boarded the ship under the pretext of going to Anle to fight the rebels.

After tricking his soldiers into boarding the ship, Sun Quan looted coastal cities and captured women along the way to appease them. Then, Sun Quan pretended that his way back was cut off by the Han army, and took a boat to the islands. With the help of his cousin Sun Huan, he led his troops to Liaodong County and took control of the governor of Pingzhou.

After arriving in Liaodong County, Sun Quan immediately took action, using money to appease the people while sending Rui Xuan to raid Changli County.

Changli County is now Jinzhou, with two counties and 900 households, and is the gateway to Liaodong. If Changli County can be locked down, the road traffic between the Central Plains and Liaodong can be cut off. The governor of Changli County did not expect the enemy to come from Liaodong, and his troops were unprepared and surrendered to Rui Xuan.

After taking control of Changli County, Sun Quan used the title of Pingzhou Governor and his reputation in Wei to forge an imperial edict from Cao Rui. He replaced the governors of Xuantu, Lelang and Daifang counties on the pretext of promoting them to Liaodong County Governor, and lured them to Liaodong and imprisoned them.

The three governors did not suspect that it was a lie, so they handed over the positions to the governors sent by Sun Quan. When they arrived in Liaodong County, the three governors and the governor of Pingzhou were imprisoned by Sun Quan.

Within three months, Sun Quan led the remnants of his army to Liaodong and quickly took control of the five counties of Pingzhou. In order to ensure his rule in Liaodong, he appointed himself as the governor of Pingzhou, sent envoys to make friends with the Liaodong barbarians, and appointed his old subordinates as county governors.

Not only that, in order to obtain legitimate ruling rights, Sun Quan sent people to submit a petition to Cao Rui.

He pretended that he was defeated by pirates and had to flee to Pingzhou because his retreat was cut off. Now Qingqi was in turmoil, and many counties and cities were occupied by pirates. Sun Quan said that in order to support the battlefield in the Central Plains, he asked to be appointed as the governor of Pingzhou, so that he could lead the Liao and Yan soldiers to cross the sea to attack Qi.

When Sun Quan's report was delivered to Cao Rui, Cao Rui was extremely furious and deeply hated himself for being blind. But what could he do with his anger?
Now Cao Wei was deeply involved in the chaos in the Central Plains and had no energy to care about the affairs of Pingzhou. Instead, Cao Rui was more worried that Sun Quan would surrender to Southern Han and invade Hebei from the northeast.

Sun Zi asked tentatively, "Then I shall draft an imperial edict to appoint Sun Quan as governor of Pingzhou and commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Qingzhou and Pingzhou?"

"Issue an imperial decree. Because Sun Quan's army lost many cities, he was demoted to General Zhendong and appointed as the governor of Pingzhou." Cao Rui would not miss the opportunity to flatter him, and said, "Wang Ling is the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yanzhou, and is now the General of Chariots and Cavalry. Xiahou Ba is appointed as the governor of Qingzhou and ordered to defend Linzi."

"promise!"

As he was speaking, Cao Rui noticed that the attendants were slow to clean up, so he rebuked them and said, "If you fail to clean up before you pay your respects, you will be handed over to the officials for punishment."

Under Cao Rui's rebuke, the servants moved faster and did not dare to be negligent.

In recent months, the Southern Han's successive victories in the Northern Expedition have put Cao Rui under great pressure. Not to mention that Qingzhou and Xuzhou were almost lost, and Huo Jun pushed the battlefield to Yanzhou.

Under tremendous pressure, Cao Rui became irritable and often punished maids and eunuchs, which made the palace attendants begin to fear Cao Rui.

After a while, when the attendants had hurriedly finished cleaning, Chen Qun, Chen Jiao, Dong Zhao, Sima Fu, Wu Zhi and other high-ranking officials of Cao Wei walked into the hall.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty!"

"Please excuse me, gentlemen!"

Cao Rui motioned for everyone to take a seat and said, "According to reports from Bingzhou, Ke Bineng killed Putou and subjugated the Xianbei tribes in Hexi. He intends to attack us from the south. Moreover, Guo Huai was defeated at Fengyi Mountain, and the rebel general Wei Yan crossed the Jing River and invaded Chang'an. The general had no choice but to divide his troops to resist them."

"The current situation is not favorable to our dynasty. I wonder what you gentlemen have to say?"

In order to keep people's hearts stable, Cao Rui did not want to tell anyone about Sun Quan's request to be appointed governor of Pingzhou. Instead, he chose to ignore Liaodong and deal with it coldly, so as not to cause people's worries. After all, Sun Quan did not rebel, but fled to Liaodong after his defeat.

Chen Qun thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, in the past, Your Majesty was worried about the invasion of the Xianbei, so you made an alliance with Putou. Now Putou's army has been defeated, and its tribe has been annexed by Kebi Neng. From my point of view, it is not appropriate to make enemies with Kebi Neng now. You should send officials to seek peace first, so as to prevent Kebi Neng from invading Hebei and disrupting the heavily taxed areas."

"Xu Ke is better at promoting trade, but I wonder if he can also stop the border war?" Cao Rui asked.

"Disaster!"

Yang Ji shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Kebi Neng has been hostile to Wei for many years. When Deng Zhi killed Yan Zhong, Kebi Neng watched without stopping. This shows that Kebi Neng has no intention of stopping the war with Wei. Now that Kebi Neng has annexed Hexi and his power has increased greatly, how could he stop at the south of the desert!"

"No matter whether it succeeds or not, Your Majesty might as well send an envoy to try to make peace with the Xianbei. Under the current situation, it is not appropriate for our army to fight between the north and the south. If we can stop fighting with Ke Bi, it will be beneficial to Wei; if we cannot stop fighting with the Xianbei..." Chen Qun said.

Before Chen Qun finished speaking, his attendant quickly stepped into the palace and presented urgent military information, saying, "Your Majesty, urgent news from the border: Ke Bineng led his cavalry to invade Bing and You states, and plundered Yanmen, Taiyuan, Dai, Shan Gu and other counties." Wu Zhi shrugged slightly and said in a gloomy tone, "It seems that Minister Chen's plan is useless. Now Ke Bineng has led his elite cavalry to invade and plunder various states in Hebei."

Chen Qun glanced at Wu Zhi and asked in dissatisfaction, "I would like to hear Mr. Wu's advice on how to solve the problem of the Xianbei invasion and how to repel the pirates from the Central Plains?"

"This~"

Wu Zhi was stumped by Chen Qun's question. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Your Majesty once had a plan to sow discord. If this plan succeeds, the pirates will be hard to stop!"

Chen Qun sneered a few times and said, "It seems that Lord Wu has not yet known that Liu Chan appointed Huo Jun as the King of Qi, but Huo Jun refused to accept it. In order to show the sincerity of the monarch and his subjects, Liu Chan gave Huo Jun the nine flags of the emperor and allowed him to manage the affairs of the Central Plains on his own."

Wu Zhi blushed when he heard Chen Qun's words, and dared not speak. Cao Rui secretly showed envy, jealous of Liu Chan's possession of the three generals Huo, Ge, and Lu.

Cao Rui really didn't understand why Huo and Ge could work together to govern the country, and why Liu and Huo could trust each other. Cao Rui even blamed his father and grandfather for not leaving him trustworthy ministers.

Sima Yi and Cao Zhen may be useful, but they are not strong enough!

"Your Majesty, now that Ke Bi is able to attack Hebei, we need to send troops north to prevent unrest in Hebei and endanger national affairs." Yang Ji said.

Hearing this, Cao Rui sighed and said, "Looking at the distribution of troops now, the troops in Jing and Wan cannot be moved. The Grand Marshal is stationed in Lixia with new soldiers, and there are still some troops in the capital. If you want to transfer troops to the north, you can only transfer troops from the capital."

After a pause, Cao Rui said worriedly: "Now we are moving troops from the capital to the north. If the capital is in turmoil, Luoyang may be lost."

"Oh no!"

Cao Rui hadn't said a few words when he saw an official who looked like a minister hurried into the palace and said in a panic, "Your Majesty, pirates are knocking on the gate!"

"The pirates are far away in Yu River and Taishan. Why would they knock on the gate now?" Cao Rui said with a frown.

"I dare not deceive your majesty!"

The Wei official knelt on the ground and said in fear: "The rebel general Zhao Yun led his troops down the Yi River. Luhun and Xincheng counties had not seen a battle for a long time, and Zhao Yun easily surrendered. Now Zhao Yun is leading his troops straight ahead and is heading for Yique Pass!"

"Once Yique Pass is breached, Zhao Yun will march to the city of Luoyang. I ask your Majesty and the other officials to temporarily leave the capital and seek refuge."

"what?"

Wei Li's words stunned everyone in the court.

If Ke Bi could invade the border counties, the Cao Wei rulers and ministers could discuss the matter peacefully because of the long distance. But now Zhao Yun had come out of Xiong'er Mountain and his troops were heading straight for Yique Pass. All of the Cao Wei rulers and ministers were moved, some were surprised, some were shocked, and some were panicked.

"Your Majesty, the troops in the capital cannot move!"

Wu Zhi said hurriedly: "We should mobilize the troops in the capital and head to Yique Pass to resist Zhao Yun's troops. Your Majesty should temporarily avoid the war and go north to Heyang with the other officials to prepare for any unexpected events."

"Your Majesty, do not move lightly!"

The old minister Dong Zhao coughed a few times and said, "Zhao Yun has come from a long way, his troops are exhausted, and it is difficult for him to accomplish anything great. Your Majesty is the emperor of Wei, how can you leave Luoyang because of a little panic. Now, in order to appease the people, Your Majesty should stay in Luoyang, order the troops in the capital to go out to defend, and order Sima Yi to divide his troops to plunder Luhun."

"Although what Lord Dong said makes sense, in case something unexpected happens, we should have Your Majesty move to Heyang." Sun Zi said worriedly.

Hearing the panicked voices of the crowd, Cao Rui stood up and slammed the table, saying loudly: "Zhao Yun is still one or two hundred miles away from Luoyang. Why are you so panicked?"

Cao Rui then glared at the officials who advised him to leave the capital, and said, "Zhao Yun has come a long way to attack Luoyang. His soldiers are tired and his army is old. He has no siege equipment. How can he easily break through the dangerous Yique Pass? Besides, there are still 20,000 soldiers and horses in Luoyang. Zhao Yun's old soldiers are nothing to be afraid of!"

"Send an order, order generals Xu Chu and Qin Lang to lead the troops in the capital to rush to Yique Pass, defend the pass, and do not leave easily. Also order Sima Yi to divide his troops into Luyang, take advantage of the situation to raid Luhun, and cut off Zhao Yun's way back."

"If I move my throne, the people of Luoyang will be in chaos. From today on, the gates of Luoyang will be closed tightly, and no one is allowed to enter or leave. No one is allowed to mention that I will temporarily move my throne to Heyang." Cao Rui said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Seeing that Cao Rui acted so decisively, all the ministers bowed and spoke with admiration.

"If the Xianbei invade, how should our country respond?" asked Chen Qun.

Cao Rui paced and thought, then sighed and said, "Order the Grand Marshal to lead the troops to withdraw from Lixia, divide the troops to guard the dangerous and steep places, return to Hebei, and command the military affairs of the three states in Hebei to prevent Ke Bineng from raiding the border."

Wu Zhi remembered something and reminded him, "Your Majesty, I heard that Sun Quan fled to Pingzhou. You need to issue an imperial decree to hold him accountable for the defeat."

Cao Rui glared at Wu Zhi and said, "I have my own plans for Sun Quan's affairs, so you don't need to say more!"

"Yes!" Wu Zhi said as he stepped back.

(End of this chapter)