Soldiers come to the world

The time is gradually approaching December, less than a month away from the 21st day of Jian'an. This year, the New Year atmosphere in Yedu is stronger than in previous years. The price of food is stable, and the price of meat is falling. Almost every household can kill sheep for the New Year. This is mainly because Cao Jun attacked the Xiongnu in Bingzhou and won a big victory, and seized a large amount of supplies, including millions of cattle and sheep.

Although Cao Cao used a large number of fat sheep to reward the army, millions of sheep still flowed into the market, and the price was low, and they became delicacies on the tables and tables of people in Yedu.

Cao Jun also seized nearly a million sheepskins, but Cao Cao did not benefit every household in the Han Kingdom like Liu Jing did. Instead, he gave all the sheepskins to soldiers and the families of the fallen soldiers, and bought the hearts of the soldiers. It really improved the morale of Cao Jun's generals and increased Cao Cao's reputation in the army.

But for Cao Cao, the most important thing is not to reward the army, but to set a son and marry Han Wang Liu Jing. After Cao Cao suffered a serious illness at the beginning of last year, his body began to decline, he became thinner and more energetic Not as good as before, he is 63 years old, already an old man.

This made Cao Cao feel the threat of time. He felt that his time was not long. He had to make arrangements for his funeral within these two years, stabilize the overall situation of Wei State, try his best to develop the economy, strengthen the military power, and bring a country that is still relatively strong. Wei Guo handed over to his son.

In the early morning, Cao Cao's carriage drove into the north gate of Yedu and drove towards Anyang Palace not far away. Today, he was going to face the saint, so that Liu Xie was going to formally canonize his eldest son Cao Pi as the son of Duke Wei.

This was Cao Cao's final decision to establish his eldest son, Cao Pi, as his son, and the source of his determination was the case of Yang Xiu. It was in the case of Yang Xiu that Cao Cao finally learned about the political thoughts of his third son, Cao Zhi. Respect Confucianism and restrain law, let Liu Xie return to the throne.

This fundamentally runs counter to Cao Cao's thought of governing the country. Cao Cao believes that this is not his son's momentary confusion, but his deep-rooted thinking. Because of this, Cao Cao finally decided to make his eldest son Cao Pi the eldest son, although the eldest son Cao Pi did not satisfy him. Darkness, hypocrisy, eagerness for quick success, and lack of great talent and general plan, but compared with Cao Zhi's thought of respecting the emperor and Confucianism, these shortcomings of Cao Pi are not a cause for concern.

The carriage was speeding on the street, Cao Cao silently looked at both sides of the street, the pedestrians walked in a hurry, most of them were smiling, the tavern was full of guests, and the noise spread to the street, the streets were full of refugees and beggars in previous years, but this year they are no longer seen.

However, Cao Cao knew that it was not that the refugees and beggars were starved to death, nor did they become rich, but that they all went to Guanzhong one after another, preparing to take land and immigrate to Guanzhong. Perhaps land, who would still beg for food on the streets of Yedu?

Thinking of this, Cao Cao couldn't help sighing. Although he also adopted measures to reduce taxes and grant land to encourage people to migrate to the north of Bingzhou, the effect was not satisfactory. The key is that he can't announce a ten-year tax exemption like Liu Jing, which will seriously impact Farmers in the southern part of Bingzhou caused riots. Another reason was that the people didn't believe him very much. They would rather go to Han to grant land than accept Wei's grant.

This is the judgment of the people all over the world. They think that Han will defeat Wei sooner or later, and Han's promise will be more reliable. It is this judgment that made Cao Cao completely defeated in the war with Liu Jing for population.

Cao Cao couldn't help but sighed. It was not a day's cold to freeze three feet. The people in the Central Plains had no confidence in Cao Cao, which had begun since the Battle of Chibi many years ago.

When they were less than one mile away from the imperial palace, a cavalry rushed to catch up from behind and shouted: "Report to Duke Wei, I have something important to report!"

"parking!"

Cao Cao stopped the carriage, opened the window and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Report to Duke Wei, Chen Zhongcheng has returned from his mission to Han, and he has brought Sima Yi, Minister of Han, with him. He is now waiting in Tongque Palace."

Cao Cao was immediately refreshed. He had been waiting for news from Chen Qun, and now it finally came, including Sima Yi. He pondered for a moment, and immediately ordered, "Go back to Tongque Palace!"

The Son of Heaven is far less important than Liu Jing in his heart. He is eager to know the result of Chen Qun's mission, so the carriage speeds up, and under the protection of hundreds of guards, it drives towards the outside of the North City.

In the VIP hall of Tongque Palace, Prime Minister Xu Yi is chatting with Sima Yi. Xu Yi is about 50 years old, smart and capable, knowledgeable, has been prime minister for many years, and is Cao Cao's most trusted confidant.

Before Cao Pi was in charge of government affairs, every time Cao Cao went on an expedition, he stayed in Xuchang to handle various government affairs, which gave him great power. When Cao Pi took over the government affairs, he took the initiative to cooperate and completely handed over the power to Cao Pi. He won the trust of Cao Pi again.

Now Xu Yi is a bridge between Cao Pi and Cao Cao. When Cao Pi encounters important military and state affairs that he cannot decide, he always writes his own opinions first, and then transfers them to Xu Yi, who will review Cao Pi's opinions in detail. Explain that the result of doing so is often that Cao Cao finally agrees with Cao Pi's plan, reducing the contradictions between father and son and making the government order smooth.

Xu Yi and Sima Yi have a very good personal relationship. When Sima Yi was Cao Cao's boss, Xu Yi strongly recommended him. When Sima Yi was sent to Taiyuan a few months ago, Xu Yi stayed behind in Yedu, and the two sides could not meet. Very affectionate, like reuniting with best friends who haven't seen for many years.

"I haven't seen you for ten years. Zhong Da is over forty years old, and I am over fifty. We are both old."

Sima Yi also smiled and said: "Brother Ji Cai is well maintained, he looks like he is only in his early forties, unlike me, who fought in the South and the North, and became dark and thin. When I was staying in a shop on the road, the shopkeeper called me an old man. "

What Sima Yi said was interesting, both of them burst into laughter. After exchanging pleasantries, the topic turned to the serious business. Xu Yi pondered for a while and said, "This time Zhongda is going to Wei Guo, besides discussing the specific details of the personal welcome, there are other things. thing?"

Sima Yi also knew that Xu Yi was actually here on behalf of Cao Cao, and what he asked was what Cao Cao wanted to ask, so Sima Yi smiled and said, "In addition to discussing the details of welcoming the bride, there are actually two things that I need to discuss with Duke Wei. Important, but not insignificant."

"Can you tell me what it is?"

"of course can!"

Sima Yi said slowly: "The first thing is about the disposal of the Xiongnu prisoners of war in Bingzhou. The king of Han wants Duke Wei to hand over the captured women, children and their families to Han. Of course, we will also give you some compensation. If Wei Gong can agree, we will continue to discuss the specific conditions. This is the first thing, and the second thing is actually a trivial matter."

"Zhong Da, please clarify!"

Xu Yi's expression was very dignified. He knew that Sima Yi's bringing Yedu negotiations would definitely not be an insignificant matter. The more Sima Yi said this, the more important it was. The 'little things' to be talked about are probably the real highlight.

Sima Yi's smile restrained, and the tone of understatement just now was gone. He spoke slowly, but every word was articulated clearly, "His Royal Highness wants to go to Luoyang to pay homage to the ancestral temple. For safety, His Highness will bring some troops there. , I hope that Wei Gong can agree to his trip to the temple."

"I wonder how many troops His Royal Highness the King of Han intends to bring to Luoyang?" Xu Yi almost gritted his teeth and asked,

"For security reasons, at least [-] troops."

While Xu Yi and Sima Yi were reminiscing about the past, in Cao Cao's official room in the Tongque Palace, Chen Qun was also reporting to Cao Cao the gains and losses of his mission. Needless to say, Liu Jing agreed to welcome his relatives in April next year , this is actually not very meaningful, welcoming relatives and starting a war are two different things after all.

As for Liu Jing's refusal to release the Hun prisoners of war in Bingzhou, this was also expected by Cao Cao. Both sides needed population, and no one would easily give population to the other without benefit. This required continued negotiations to reach an agreement.

What Cao Cao was concerned about was Liu Jing's refusal to implement the Cao-Liu alliance that he had reached orally in writing. Of course, the Han-Hungarian War has ended, and the alliance between the two sides has also ended, so there is no need to sign any more written agreements. The terms are not over, but the two parties have reached a consensus to maintain the status quo in Hefei within one year.

But Liu Jing refused to turn the oral consensus into a written agreement, which meant that he would definitely launch the battle against Hefei before August, which made Cao Cao feel agitated.

Cao Cao was not afraid of fighting at this time. He had also accumulated a large amount of food and materials over the years, especially the extermination of the Xiongnu in Bingzhou, and gained a lot of wealth, which was enough to support him in launching a big war, but Cao Cao needed time to prepare.

He has ordered Cao Ren and Zhang Liao to heighten and strengthen the walls of the two cities of Hefei and Shouchun respectively, especially to seal off the access to Xiaoyaojin and build a complete city wall. This is a huge project, and it will take six at the earliest It will be completed in July.

Cao Cao paced the room with his hands behind his back, how could he delay Liu Jing's attack time?It was Chen Qun who said cautiously again: "Sima Yi visited me later, and he said that the battle of Hefei is not inevitable, but we need to make concessions."

"What concession?" Cao Cao asked anxiously.

"He didn't say it clearly, he just said that Duke Wei understood it in his heart."

Cao Cao frowned, how could he understand?At this time, Cao Pi, the eldest son who had been standing beside him without speaking, said, "Could it be that Liu Jing wants us to give up Bingzhou?"

"nonsense!"

Cao Cao scolded angrily: "How is this possible? It's better to fight in Hefei. Liu Jing will not make such a request."

"My boy is not talking about all of Bingzhou, but a county in the east of Bingzhou. In this way, Liu Jing will have a springboard to attack Bingzhou. Of course, he doesn't have to launch the Battle of Hefei, but directly launches the Battle of Bingzhou."

Cao Cao's heart moved, maybe there is a possibility, at this time, Xu Yi hurried into the room, bowed and saluted, "See Wei Gong!"

"Ji Cai doesn't need to be too polite. Tell me about the meeting with Sima Yi. What did he say?"

"Reporting to Duke Wei, Sima Yi said two things. One is that he hopes that we will give the captured Bingzhou Xiongnu women and children to Han, and he is willing to make compensation."

Cao Cao couldn't help laughing, "As I expected, they also want this group of people. If they are willing to give compensation, they can consider it. I wonder how much compensation they are willing to give?"

"Sima Yi said he would like to discuss it in detail."

Cao Cao nodded and said to Cao Pi, "Pi'er, you are responsible for discussing this matter with them."

"My son obeys!"

At this time, Xu Yi said again: "Your Highness, Sima Yi also said one more thing, which I think is the real big deal."

Cao Cao's expression suddenly became solemn, he stared at Xu Yi and said, "What's the matter?"

"Liu Jing plans to go to Luoyang to pay homage to the ancestral temple on Danri, and he hopes that Duke Wei will agree."

"To Luoyang?"

Cao Cao sneered repeatedly, "Why is he going to Luoyang with five hundred guards, or is he planning to bring five thousand cavalry?"

"Dr. Wei, Sima Yi said that Liu Jing plans to take [-] troops to Luoyang."

Cao Cao's expression froze immediately, [-] troops, this is not going to Luoyang to worship the temple, this clearly wants to occupy Luoyang, Cao Cao couldn't help snorting heavily, "He is dreaming!"

Cao Pi next to him said in a low voice, "Father, I'm afraid this is what Liu Jing said to avoid the Hefei battle."