Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 211 205. Return to Han
"His Majesty."

After half an hour, Jia Xu finally arrived. After all, the old man is now old, over 70 years old, and he values ​​his life and health even more. Even when Cao Pi summoned him, the old man was still slow.

"General Jia, please take a seat. Xu Yuanzhi is missing."

Cao Pi was too lazy to argue with Jia Xu and spoke directly.

"Oh."

Jia Xu slowly adjusted the mat on the ground to make sure he would not catch a cold, and then sat on it as if in slow motion. He also looked confused when he heard Cao Pi's words, as if he was really old and confused.

"General, if Xu Yuanzhi returns to the pseudo-Han, it would be like letting a tiger return to the mountains. It would be a huge threat to our Great Wei!"

Cao Pi got angry when he saw Jia Xu's dying attitude. He said, "Old man, I have given you a high position and generous salary, so don't pretend to be dead here."

"Your Majesty, have you found out the reason?"

Seeing that Cao Pi seemed a little anxious, Jia Xu spoke slowly and calmly, which appropriately calmed Cao Pi's anger a lot.

"I checked. According to the prison... ahem, the servants of Xu's house said that someone came to see him last night and said he was an old friend from Jingzhou. I suspect he was a spy from the pseudo-Han side. This morning, Xu Shu left and never came back. I have asked the city gate captain and others to track down their whereabouts."

When Cao Pi saw that Jia Xu was willing to speak, he quickly told him all the information he knew.

"Yes. I'm afraid that this matter will not make any progress until the city gate captain and Luoyang magistrate have investigated it. Your Majesty can order the messengers to spread the message to all counties in Nanyang as fast as possible, to pay attention to the movements of Xu Shu and that person, and prevent them from going directly to Jingzhou."

Finally, Jia Xu gave a method that seemed useful but also seemed to mean nothing. Cao Pi had no choice but to nod, comfort Jia Xu with a few words, and then send him away.

When Jia Xu left, he looked nonchalant. This matter was not his fault in the first place. In the final analysis, it was because of your Cao family's negligence that this happened.

Jia Xu could see that Cao Pi was so angry that he was trying every possible means to escape. If Xu Shu really wanted to escape, he would be like a fish returning to the sea or a tiger returning to the forest, and it would be impossible to catch him.

Didn't Cao Pi know? Of course he knew, but Cao Pi still had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

To use an example from two thousand years in the future, Cao Pi is like a patient with a terminal illness who asks Jia Xu, the doctor, to prescribe a prescription to save him. Jia Xu prescribes some vitamins for him, and tells him to get more rest, eat healthily, and stay in a good mood. Cao Pi then goes home happily.

Cao Pi sought psychological comfort from Jia Xu, and Jia Xu also gave Cao Pi some targeted "placebo" suggestions. In fact, Cao Pi knew that Jia Xu could not do anything. After all, Jia Xu could not travel 800 miles a day to capture Xu Shu, right?

So in the end, Cao Pi had no choice but to give up and follow the normal process.

"But with Xu Yuanzhi gone, Shu Han's strength will probably increase greatly... Dongwu will probably not have many good years left. Well, but this has nothing to do with me..."

Jia Xu sat in the carriage of his own mansion. His rusty brain worked a little and he analyzed the situation. He thought that it would not affect him much.

Jia Xu was already in his seventies. In this era when the average age was in his thirties or forties, living one more day was a blessing, so he naturally would not re-enter the game and put himself in danger. The general trend of the world seemed to have changed, which Jia Xu realized after hearing that the Han army had defeated the Wu army twice and had taken back Jingzhou.

In the past, the two families had their own ulterior motives, but they had to come together in order to fight against the power of Cao Wei. Lu Meng's sneak attack on Jingzhou fully illustrates this point.

However, the Han army's counterattack was so strong and the fighting was so intense that it was obvious that they were determined to kill each other and completely broke off relations with the Eastern Wu. After that, whether the Han destroyed the Wu or the Wu destroyed the Han, the two families could never be reconciled again.

But no matter who destroys whom, it will take some time for the war to spread to Wei. After destroying each other, both families need time to settle the newly acquired territory and stabilize the local situation before they have the time and energy to look north.

These things would take at least a few years to complete, which was not something Jia Xu, who lived day by day, should consider.

The Luoyang magistrate was quite quick and found clues about Yuelai Inn within a day. He successfully learned about Xu Shu's whereabouts from the waiter. He and the captain of the city gate immediately sent out more than a hundred elite cavalry to chase him, and at the same time petitioned Cao Pi to send people to inform the counties along the way in Nanyang to pay attention to Xu Shu's movements.

Cao Pi did not delay and ordered several postmen to ride at full speed to inform Cao Ren, asking Cao Ren to be sure to pay attention to suspicious people along the way.

When Cao Ren heard that Xu Shu had escaped, he did not dare to delay and immediately began to search everywhere. However, after searching for several days, he could not find any clues. There was no such person passing through Nanyang area.

"Huh... It's just as you said, the Wei army didn't check us along the way."

In the Jingzhao area, Wang Yi and others left Hongnong and headed south to the Wugu Pass area, preparing to return to Jingzhou via Shangyong.

Xu Shu would naturally not be stupid enough to go straight to Nanyang and fall into the trap. Instead, he asked Wang Yi and his men to go west through Hongnong first, then go south to Shangyong and take a detour back to Jingzhou.

In his haste, Cao Pi had totally failed to think of this, but the old fox Jia Xu might have thought of it, but he just didn't say anything. As a result, Xu Shu and his gang seemed to have evaporated into thin air, and Cao Ren's work in Nanyang was in vain.

However, the mountain roads in Shangyong area were rugged, and it took Wang Yi and his group more than ten days to return to Jingzhou safely, just in time to arrive a few days before Ma Su and his group returned to Jiangling.

"Grand Commander, the people sent to Luoyang are back."

After Wang Yi came back, he naturally met his superior, the military commander Wang Fu, first, and told Wang Fu that he had successfully brought Xu Shu back.

As Guan Yu's confidant, Wang Fu had naturally heard Guan Yu mention Xu Shu's deeds many times after dinner. Now, when he saw this weathered middle-aged man appear in front of him in person, he couldn't help but be surprised.

"Go and arrange for Mr. Xu to stay in an inn. Mr. Xu must be exhausted from the journey. You should rest for a few days. I will personally report this to the Grand Commander."

"Thank you, Sir."

Xu Shu was naturally not idle on the way here. He also learned from Wang Yi what had happened in Jingzhou in the past two years. He sighed and hated Mi Fang's rebellion, applauded Feng Xi for defeating the Eastern Wu and capturing Lu Xun alive, and was amazed at Zhao Lei for contacting Hu Ban to capture Jiangling.

In Xu Shu's view, the fact that loyal and righteous people rushed to respond to the Han army's counterattack on Jingzhou, offering food and drink and opening the city to welcome them was enough to show which side was better, the Han or the Eastern Wu. This also strengthened Xu Shu's confidence in his decision to abandon Wei and return to Han, and he felt that he had made the right choice.

(End of this chapter)