Soldiers come to the world

Zhong Yao's carriage was driving fast on the street, followed by more than a dozen servants on horseback with swords on both sides. Now the situation in Yedu is not stable, and ministers must be guarded by servants when they go out. no longer exists.

Inside the carriage, Zhong Yao frowned, thinking about countermeasures. He really didn't expect that Cui Lin would also be impacted. Cui Lin is the patriarch of the Qinghe Cui family and one of the leaders of the world's gentry. His daughter is Cao Zhi's wife. Cao Pi treats him Let's start, the intention to eradicate Cao Zhi's remaining party is very obvious.

Zhong Yao was also worried about his own fate. Two days ago, it was revealed that he had been in close contact with Zhang, the current prefect of Jingzhao of the Han Dynasty.

You must know that Zhang was his most capable staff member and deputy when he was the captain of Sili, and now that Zhang is reused by Liu Jing, it is very normal for him to write letters to himself, but some people will try to frame him. If you really want to add a crime, why don't you have excuses?

What worried Zhong Yao even more was that if Cao Cao hadn't nodded his head, Cao Pi wouldn't dare to act recklessly if soldiers surrounded Cui's mansion and searched Cui Lin. alien?Is it to maintain the stability of the Wei state, or to hand over power smoothly?

Of course, Zhong Yao also admitted that Cao Pi lacked qualifications. In the past, he issued government orders in the name of Cao Cao, and some people listened to his orders. Now he issues orders as the supervisor of the country. The order could not go out of Yedu, and the Ding Order was issued last year, which can be described as aggressive, but in the end it was defeated and no one paid attention to it, which dealt a heavy blow to Cao Pi's prestige.

But this does not mean that Cao Pi can launch political purges. On the contrary, what he does will only make people more contemptuous of him. He doesn't even have the capacity to accommodate people. How can he accommodate people in the world in the future?

Zhong Yao thought all the way, and after a while, the carriage drove into the Tongque Palace and stopped in front of the steps. Zhong Yao got off the carriage and happened to meet the military commander Cheng Yu. The two greeted each other with a smile. Zhong Yao asked: "Did Master Cheng come to see Duke Wei?"

Cheng Yu nodded, and said in a calm tone: "Yuan Chang doesn't know yet! Jianye has been breached by the Han army, and Sun Quan and Jiangdong military officials have all surrendered to Liu Jing."

Zhong Yao was taken aback. Although they all knew that Jiangdong was doomed, he was still shocked when he heard the news that Jianye had been breached, which meant that Jiangdong no longer existed.

"When is this news?" Zhong Yao asked anxiously again.

"Yesterday! I heard that Wei Gong stayed up all night for this."

Cheng Yu smiled wryly, "I can understand, if I had heard the news last night, I would have stayed up all night."

Zhong Yao nodded silently. At this moment, the matter of Cui Lin suddenly became unimportant. Jiangdong's demise cast a heavy shadow on his heart. At this time, a guard came out in a hurry, bowed and said: "Wei Gong invites two military advisers I will meet you in the study outside."

Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao looked at each other, and they walked towards the inner palace together. In the outer study, Cao Cao sat calmly at the table and looked through some important documents. Basically, he transferred all military and political affairs to Shi Cao Pi. , but he is not idle. For example, the power to appoint and dismiss senior officials and mobilize the army is still firmly in his hands. He will take a look at some important military and political affairs.

Although Cao Cao was not as sickly as he was at the beginning of the year, his energy and physical strength had seriously declined, his bones shrank, and he became a rickety and thin old man. He also knew that he was in his dying years and could not live for a few more years. How to continue Cao Wei ?It became a heart disease that he couldn't get rid of.

Last night, he received an urgent report from Cao Zhen in Huaibei. The Han army captured Jianye City. Sun Quan led all the officials to surrender to Liu Jing. Jiangdong was finally destroyed. This news made Cao Cao extremely depressed and made him feel an inexplicable panic. It was as if the death knell of Jiangdong's demise was ringing for Cao Wei at the same time.

What should he do?If we maintain the status quo and maintain this state of immortality, Liu Jing will break the situation sooner or later. Cao Cao has discovered a terrible reality. The Chibi War has ended for nearly ten years, but the strength of the north has never been able to return to the level before the war, and it is getting worse. , until the last two years he realized the root of the problem.

In the 13th year of Jian'an, the fundamental reason why he was able to launch a war against the south was that he had strong financial, material and human resources, and these strengths were not accumulated by him little by little, but more because of the war dividends after he wiped out Yuan Shao .

In fact, land mergers in the north are intensifying, the number of self-cultivated farmers is decreasing year by year, and the registered population has dropped sharply, which naturally leads to a sharp drop in government taxes and a decrease in the number of soldiers. Things are getting worse and worse. Last year, a fat war exhausted the country's strength and almost caused the entire regime to collapse.

Ask yourself, the Hefei War is far inferior to the scale of the Chibi War, and it has caused such serious consequences. This shows how weak Cao Wei's strength has been, and even a battle of the same scale can hardly bear it.

It wasn't until last year that he finally understood the root cause of the crisis, which was the sharp decline in self-cultivated farmers, a large reduction in taxes, and the rich and powerful occupying too much land and hiding a large number of people, which directly led to the decline of Cao Wei. This is an inextricable knot. To untie this knot, one must force the powerful to give up the land and release the population. Last year he issued a decree, but nothing happened.

Cao Cao also knew that he didn't have the ability to break the situation, but if he didn't untie this knot, once he died, the interests of the rich and powerful would be fixed, and it would be difficult for Cao Pi to change anything, and the final result could only be the destruction of Cao Wei.

It was Jiangdong's demise that deeply stimulated Cao Cao. He knew that he could not drag on any longer and had to break the game as soon as possible. But even if he wanted to break the game, he still faced two major challenges. Where can he break the game?How much time does he have?

Even if everything goes well, it will take at least two or three years to transition, and another five years to recover. Is it possible for Liu Jing to give them so much time?He has wasted nearly ten years of time, and every time he thinks of this, Cao Cao is heartbroken and regretful.

Although Cao Cao was looking at the ultimatum, he was thinking about issuing the Ding Ling. Although the order had become a joke in the eyes of most people and it was nothing, Cao Cao still wanted to carry it out for the rest of his life.

"Wei Gong, Cheng Junshi and Zhong Junshi are here." A guard whispered at the door.

Cao Cao put down the ultimatum and said with a smile, "Please come in!"

After a while, Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao walked in, and they saluted together, "See Duke Wei!"

"You are welcome, please sit down, two military advisers!"

Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao sat down on guest seats, one on the left and the other on the right. A maid came in and served them tea. Cao Cao said indifferently: "Zhong De already knew about it, and Yuan Chang must have heard about it too. Liu Jing finally broke through. Jianye City, Jiangdong is destroyed."

Although Cao Cao said it lightly, he couldn't hide the melancholy in his eyes. Cheng Yu sighed secretly. Cao Jun still refused to send troops to rescue. There was no suspense about Jiangdong's demise.

Although he thought so, he couldn't say the same thing, Cheng Yu bowed his body and said: "Without benevolence and righteousness, heavy taxation and exploitation, Jiangdong has long lost the hearts of the people. His demise is God's will. The prime minister does not need to lament. Maybe this may not be a bad thing for us."

Zhong Yao next to him also continued: "Master Cheng is right. Jiangdong was originally a rich place. It has been ruined many times in the past few years and has already been ruined. Liu Jing's occupation of Jiangdong is not necessarily to obtain resources, but to increase the burden. To reduce burdens and taxes , to help the common people, to restore the economy, at least for two or three years, Liu Jing's main energy will be on restoring Jiangdong,"

Cao Cao nodded, "This is also the main topic I want to discuss with the two of you. When Liu Jing regained Jiangdong, when will he attack Yuan? In fact, I don't think Jiangdong is a burden. As long as the salary is low and the tax is low, Jiangdong will be governed by doing nothing." It will recover slowly, after all, it is a rich land of fish and rice, and it only needs a navy to guard the Yangtze River, the safety of Jiangdong can be guaranteed, and the Han army can completely turn around and attack the original, I am afraid it will be next year."

Cao Cao did not agree with Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao's comforting words to him. He knew very well that Jiangdong would never become a stumbling block or a burden for the Han army to attack Yuan. Although they signed a two-year settlement agreement, they Everyone knows that this so-called agreement is meaningless. How many armistice agreements have they signed before, and which one has they complied with?

Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and said: "I feel that Liu Jing's next move should be to fight Jiaozhou, not to deal with Yuan. Only when the south is unified and there is no worries, he will go all out to seek Yuan. If the prime minister wishes to delay the war with the Han army Time, you might as well make a fuss in Jiaozhou, maybe it can be delayed for three to five years."

Cao Cao nodded, then turned around and asked Zhong Yao, "What about Yuan Chang's opinion?"

"Weichen also thinks that Jiaozhou is more likely. I heard that Jiaozhou's strength is recovering quickly. More importantly, Liu Bei's heart is not dead. Once the Han army fights in Yuanyuan, there will be opportunities in the south. How can Liu Bei miss this opportunity? Weichen I believe Liu Jing also knows this very well, so if he wants to attack Yuan, he will definitely clear the way. But Jiaozhou is not Jiangdong, and the battle is extremely difficult. When the first emperor sent Tu Sui and Zhao Tuo to lead an army of 50 to conquer Jiaozhou in the south, it would take four years Time, and Liu Jing sent [-] troops south to Jiaozhou, how can the war be ended in two or three years, once the Han army is trapped in Jiaozhou, maybe it will be our chance to counterattack Han."

Zhong Yao's analysis was so thorough that Cao Cao nodded again and again. He happily stroked his beard and said, "Yuan Chang's words really make sense. It would be our great fortune if the Han army really spent four or five years to conquer Jiaozhou."

Cheng Yu smiled and added: "Actually, Liu Jing also made a strategic mistake. At the beginning, Jiaozhou poured troops to the north, but almost the whole army was wiped out. At that time, capturing Jiaozhou was within easy reach, but Liu Jing gave up that opportunity. Now he wants to seize it again. Jiaozhou will cost ten times as much, I suggest Duke Wei and Liu Bei to get in touch, maybe we can help Liu Bei."

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