Great Han Empire

Chapter 741: A Storm of Troubled Heroes

In mid-February, Yanzhou Shanyang County, Xiaqiu City.

The spring is cold and the dead trees are blooming. Occasionally, you can see a touch of green dotted on the endless fields.

Cao Cao and Tian Kai walked side by side, followed by a group of cavalry guards.A few scouts came from a distance, "Lord Liu is rushing over at full speed."

"Let's go, let's go up quickly." Cao Cao turned his head to look at Tian Kai, raised his whip and smiled, "It's all thanks to you that Liu Bei gave up his past suspicions and shook hands with me this time."

"Where..." Tian Kai shook his hand, "Although I have a deep relationship with Liu Bei, he came to Yanzhou to discuss important issues with us not because of my face, but because today's situation forced him to come. "

Cao Cao smiled noncommittally, with deep worry on his face.

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Since Cao Cao drove Lv Bu away and stabilized Yanzhou, he faced a severe survival crisis.Yanzhou has experienced the flames of war and is on the verge of collapse, while Hebei is thriving and its strength is getting stronger and stronger. Although Tian Kai and Yuan Shao are supporting each other on the east and west sides of Yanzhou, but under the attack of Li Hong in the north and Liu Bei in the south, life is very sad.

Fortunately, at the most difficult time for Cao Cao, Li Hong took the main force of the Northern Frontier Army to King Qin of Guanzhong, and fought fiercely with Yuan Shao in Guanzhong and Kanxi.In order to compete for territory, Liu Bei and Yuan Shu also fought in Guangling and Xiapi.Cao Cao thus got the most precious breathing time.

Afterwards, the weather was not good, and it rained continuously, and the Yellow River flooded the dikes. Yanzhou and Qingzhou were about to suffer severe disasters. At this moment of life and death, Cao Cao did not hesitate to order the excavation of the North Yellow River Levee, and let the floods ravage Hebei.Almost at the same time, Tian Kai also ordered the digging of the north embankment of the Qingzhou section of the Yellow River.On the point of harming others and benefiting oneself, he and Cao Cao not only have a tacit understanding, but even come up with the same method.

The disaster of the flood was temporarily avoided, but the feud with Hebei was also deepened.At this time, the strength of the two is not too strong, both of them are facing the attack of Hebei, and the two of them have many common interests, so they quickly come together to form an alliance and help each other.At the end of the previous year, they heard that King Li Hongqin had succeeded, and the pressure to survive suddenly increased.

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When Yuan Shao was working hard in Guanzhong, Cao Cao also began to fully implement garrison and large-scale military expansion in Yanzhou. Tian Kai also risked being attacked by the Northern Xinjiang Army, and couldn't wait to attack Kong Rong in Southern Qingzhou, trying to expand his own. living space.In order to help Tian Kai, Cao Cao once sent troops to the border to contain Liu Bei's troops.Liu Bei was Tian Kai's subordinate in the past, and together with Tian Kai captured Qingzhou, no matter what his reasons were, Liu Bei could not send troops to help Kong Rong, so Cao Cao's threat was just a chance for him to stand on the sidelines.

Tian Kai drove away Kong Rong, captured the entire Qingzhou, and completely turned against Hebei. The next thing was to further deepen the cooperation with Cao Cao, because at this time the prophecy that the Yuan family was about to replace the Han was circulating everywhere in the Central Plains. In other words, Yuan Shao, whose power has soared, also seems to have this ambition, so the future situation has become complicated and confusing, and it is difficult to say clearly.Once Yuan Shao usurped the Han Dynasty and became self-reliant, he would definitely become Hebei's first target of attack, and because people like himself lacked Yuan Shao's favorable assistance, it became more difficult for them to survive.

Last autumn, Cao Cao and Tian Kai met several times, and both felt that they were weak.Qingzhou and Yanzhou are on the south bank of the Yellow River. If the northern army crosses the river, the two prefectures will bear the brunt, and it will be difficult to block the attack of the northern army.The two were helpless and worried.

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Tian Kai once considered forming an alliance with Liu Bei in Xuzhou, and the three states formed a group, but Liu Bei and Hebei have always maintained a friendly relationship. In addition, Cao Cao and the people of Xuzhou have blood feuds. Even if Liu Bei wanted to form an alliance, he could not persuade the officials of Xuzhou.But Cao Cao thought this idea was very good, and he was confident that he could persuade Liu Bei's three families to form an alliance.

Cao Cao believes that firstly, he and Tian Kai respect the current emperor, which is consistent with Liu Bei.Second, Li Hong held the emperor hostage and tried to usurp him. He is the enemy of the world. Liu Bei will turn against Li Hong sooner or later.As for the enmity between himself and the people of Xuzhou, Cao Cao thought it was not worth mentioning. He and Tao Qian had a grudge against his father. Now that Tao Qian is dead, he has also killed hundreds of thousands of remnants of the Yellow Turbans. The enmity between them has been resolved. What hatred is there?Now everyone's goal is to kill the rebels, to be diligent and rejuvenate the country. Under this premise, what is this little personal grievance?
Tian Kai thought about it too. Cao Cao's words made sense, so he came forward to invite Liu Bei to discuss the alliance.

Under Liu Bei's careful governance in the past two years, Xuzhou's strength has recovered somewhat. However, because Xuzhou has been hit repeatedly in the past few years, first the Yellow Turban Army ravaged, and then Cao Cao continued to massacre the city. As a result, Xuzhou has become riddled with holes. return to previous levels.In fact, Liu Bei's life is very difficult now. Before him, he had Cao Cao who was eyeing him, and then he had Yuan Shu who was lingering. When he was fighting Cao Cao, he was worried about Yuan Shu, and when he was fighting Yuan Shu, he was worried about Cao Cao. Hearing that Cao Cao was willing to reconcile with himself, he was very moved.

Liu Bei discussed with his subordinates, and Jian Yong, Sun Qian and others all supported the reconciliation with Cao Cao.After forming an alliance with Cao Cao and Tian Kai, Yuan Shu did not dare to attack Xuzhou. Xuzhou has no worries and can quickly recover its strength.Mi Zhu, Chen Deng and other former Xuzhou borrowers and officials also agreed to reconcile, because this kind of reconciliation will not only allow Xuzhou to gain time for development, but also benefit Xuzhou's powerful families.The military generals borrowed from Xuzhou were opposed, especially Zang Ba, who was stationed in Langya County, firmly opposed it.

Liu Bei was hesitant, because once the news spread, it would be tantamount to turning against Hebei. The result is hard to predict.After thinking about it again and again, Liu Bei immediately adopted an intermediate strategy. He did not openly form an alliance with Cao Cao and Tian Kai, but kept close contact in private, and the three states communicated with each other.

Liu Bei immediately sent Jian Yong and Mi Zhu, Tian Kai sent Guan Jing, and Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu and Mao Jie. After frequent contacts in Yanzhou, Qingzhou and Xuzhou, the officials of the three parties basically reached an alliance and mutual assistance.

At this time, shocking news came from Hebei, the emperor passed away, and the youngest son who was still in his infancy inherited the throne.This news, coupled with Yuan's prophecy on behalf of the Han Dynasty, and the deduction of "Five Virtues Always Say", immediately plunged all states and counties into panic.

Li Hong became fierce, first he killed the ministers, and later he even got the emperor into the sky. His intention of usurping has been clearly revealed, and it is estimated that he will sweep the world in the next step.Yuan Shao was originally the backbone against Li Hong and the hope of revitalizing the great Han, but at this time he, like Li Hong, wanted to stand on his own in place of the Han.It has become an indisputable fact that Han Zuo was cut off and the country changed hands.

Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Bei had a premonition that the situation in the world was about to change, and the three immediately met to discuss a plan to eliminate traitors and rejuvenate the Han Dynasty.

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Liu Bei saw Cao Cao and Tian Kai coming to greet him from a distance, and hurriedly got off his horse to meet him.

Cao Cao was a minister in the court very early on, and Tian Kai used to be a high official in Youzhou. Compared with them, Liu Bei's qualifications are far behind, so naturally he should be more respectful in etiquette.

The three greeted each other affectionately, and then they took a car together.

Cao Cao talked about Luoyang.Yuan Shao was impatient and wanted to usurp the Han and stand on his own. He secretly instructed his confidant official Geng Bao to write a letter, using the words of prophecy and the five virtues to build momentum for his ascension to the throne. The Yellow River forced Yuan Shao to give up his idea of ​​usurping the Han and killed Geng Bao.

This move of Yuan Shao exposed his original intentions, and many officials in Luoyang were dissatisfied with him, and many even resigned from office in fear of getting killed.Recently, a native of Yingchuan named Guo Jia came to Yanzhou, and this is what he said.After Yuan Shao's plot failed, he continued to follow the old path of rebuilding the Huangtong, but he was obviously unwilling to reconcile and hesitated in rebuilding the Huangtong.

Now there is one issue that deserves attention.Yuan Shao tried his best to spread the news that the Yuan family replaced the Han, which shows that he is quite determined to change the dynasty. If Hebei suddenly fell into chaos at this time, and there was a mutiny like Chang'an, and the threat was eliminated, would he try to usurp the Han again?Once Yuan Shao usurps the Han, we will be in trouble.

He got into a fight with Li Hong, who shall we help?If we help Yuan Shao, we are big men rebelling, and the three of us obviously don't know how to do it.What about helping Li Hong?Li Hong's killing of ministers in Jinyang is suspected of killing the monarch, which is a worse rebellion than Dong Zhuo, and even if we help him, who can guarantee that he will not usurp the state in the future?won't kill us?If we neither help Yuan Shao nor Li Hong, and sit on the sidelines, then once the two decide the winner, disaster will come for us.

At present, the combined strength of the three of us can compete with Hebei, or compete with Yuan Shao, but Hebei has an emperor and a court, which invisibly multiplies the strength of Hebei. Yuan Shao has the power of the Yuan Clan and is easy to defend. Guanzhong is difficult to attack. On the other hand, we are in the Central Plains, the land of the Four Wars, and we have nothing to rely on.In addition, we have a fatal flaw. We are an alliance of three companies, which is prone to various problems. Therefore, although we have the strength to compete with them, we do not have the capital to compete with them.That is to say, we want to form a tripartite confrontation with Li Hong in Hebei and Yuan Shao in Luoyang, but it is not yet possible, and the alliance of the three has not yet reached this level of strength.

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With a heavy heart, Liu Bei looked up to the sky and sighed, "How can we save the big man? Is the big man really going to be overthrown?"

"No..." Cao Cao stroked his beard and smiled, "Xuande, don't be discouraged, we still have time, and we still have a way."

"What way?" Liu Bei asked dejectedly.

"Rebuild the imperial lineage, rebuild the imperial lineage immediately." Cao Cao waved his hand vigorously, and said vigorously, "As long as the imperial lineage is rebuilt, Han Zuo will not be cut off, and we can rejuvenate the great Han like Emperor Guangwu."

"Rebuild the imperial line?" Liu Bei immediately understood Cao Cao's intentions, and asked in great surprise, "Master Cao has already decided?"

"Yes, Mr. Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry are welcoming Chen King Liu Chong at the junction of Chenliu County and Chen State." Tian Kai stretched out his hand and patted Liu Bei's shoulder, and said with a smile, "As soon as King Chen arrives, we will immediately rebuild the imperial line and rebuild Court."

Liu Bei frowned slightly, "King Chen Liu Chong? He is over 50 years old, if..."

"He has a seven-year-old grandson named Liu Mao, who is very intelligent and is especially interested in calendars and arithmetic. I heard that he has a superb memory and a photographic memory. He is a genius." You, Xuande, please don't blame me."

"Where... where..." Liu Bei waved his hands again and again, "It's just that, if we rebuild the imperial system, how will Hebei react? Will the northern army take advantage of the momentum and let it go? In addition, we are the first to rebuild the imperial system, which means we have seized the opportunity , is a heavy blow to Yuan Shao, will he turn against us because of this?"

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"Whether the northern army will cross the river or not depends on Yuan Shao," Cao Cao said.

Now Yuan Shao hides his desire to usurp the establishment, and he has been reluctant to rebuild the imperial line. If we cannot make a decisive decision and gather the power of the world to resist Li Hong, the extinction of Han Zuo will be a foregone conclusion.

After we quickly rebuilt the imperial system, we can strengthen our own strength and gather all the forces to attack Li Hong. One of the most important functions is to deprive Yuan Shao of the so-called "inheritance" edict and deprive him of commanding the various states. County eligibility.Yuan Shao became very passive because of this, and he could only bury his desire to usurp power in his heart, otherwise he would be cast aside by the people of the world, and he would be flanked by us and Li Hong, and he would soon be betrayed by everyone , Defeat and die.

If there were no prophecies that have been widely circulated today, even if we took the lead in rebuilding the imperial line, Yuan Shao could still use his power to monopolize power. Unfortunately, he bound himself in a cocoon and tied his own hands and feet, causing no one in the world to believe that he is right. Loyalty of a big man.Losing prestige and without our support, Yuan Shao can't control the authority, but in order to win over Yuan Shao and unite Yuan Shao's strength, we must give Yuan Shao some authority.In order to avoid the disaster of defeat, Yuan Shao could only swallow his anger.

Judging from the current world situation, Li Hong in Hebei is an absolute enemy, and Yuan Shao in Luoyang is a force that can be allied.Li Hong is the most powerful, he can defeat Yuan Shao, and he can also defeat us. If Yuan Shao and we want to survive, there is only one way to fight Li Hong together.In this way, a tripartite confrontation can be achieved.

If you want to rejuvenate the big man, you must first eliminate Li Hong. If you want to eliminate Li Hong, now is the opportunity.In the past few years, Li Hong's battles in the north and south have reached their limits, whether it is military strength or wealth, if they wait any longer, it will be even more difficult for Li Hong to fight.

With Yuan Shao's strength, he must be the greatest hero in defeating Li Hong. If he wants to usurp the throne at this time, we will fight him together. If he is willing to give up the usurpation and work together with us to rejuvenate the big man, then he will be the generation of the big man. Minister.

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After listening to Cao Cao's analysis, Liu Bei pondered for a long time.

"Lord Cao, with Yuan Shao's talent and his current strength, he can fully manage Kanto and wait for the opportunity to seize the world." Liu Bei said worriedly, "He may not be as passive as you said, and he will continue to be passive. We will drive him to attack Hebei."

"Yes, you are right." Cao Cao nodded appreciatively, "This is exactly the three-legged dynasties I mentioned just now, Yuan Shao must want to be one of the legs of the three-legged dynasties, in order to get rid of his passive situation, and make the big man completely dragged into the abyss of defeat, but the question is, what does Li Hong think? Is he willing to own this tripod, or is he willing to be a foot of this tripod? Obviously, Li Hong, like us, wants to own this tripod. Since everyone is so Think, then Yuan Shao himself wanted to become a leg of this tripod, what would be the consequence? It was just self-defeating. If he uses this stupid way to deal with us, he is not trying to get rid of the passive situation, but to make the passive situation become It's even worse. Yuan Shao is a smart man, he knows what he should do to get the best benefit."

Liu Bei felt that what Cao Cao said was very reasonable, and he couldn't find the words to refute it for a while, but he was vaguely very disturbed.Is it really as Cao Cao said?
"It is impossible to rebuild the imperial system by relying on my own strength. I need the help of two adults." Cao Cao said earnestly.

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After the three of them entered Xiaqiu City, they rested for a while, and immediately called the relatives and relatives of the three states to discuss the rebuilding of the imperial line and the imperial court.

There is no objection to the imperial line being inherited by Liu Mao, the grandson of King Chen Liu Chong.

The capital was set at Changyi City in Shanyang County, Yanzhou.

There were some disputes among the three parties on how to set up the official system, but Cao Cao, Xun Yu and others strongly advocated the adoption of the "Three Dukes and Nine Ministers" system headed by "Prime Minister, Taiwei, and Yushi Dafu" to completely deprive Shangshutai of power, because it is easier distribute power.According to Cao Cao's vision, he himself served as prime minister.Tian Kai became Taiwei.Liu Bei became the doctor of imperial history.Let Yuan Shao be the general.Liu Biao became the general of Hussars.

But his plan was immediately questioned by Guan Jing.Yuan Shao would not agree to this method of power distribution, and he would not agree to put the capital in Changyi City in Yanzhou.Luoyang is in his hands. As long as he strongly demands that the emperor be moved to Luoyang, the three alliances will have nothing.

Cao Cao laughed, first, the emperor dared not go to Luoyang, Yuan Shao was about to usurp the Han and stand on his own, yet the emperor dared to go to Luoyang to seek death.Second, Yuan Shao will indeed not agree to this method, but we don't expect him to agree. We only need to restore the fifth-class title system to meet Yuan Shao's needs.

Cao Cao's words surprised everyone.Restoring the fifth-class title system, wouldn't that mean that land should be feuded and princes established?

Liu Bei looked at the smiling Tian Kai, and finally understood why he had been vaguely uneasy.Cao Cao has ulterior motives. He is not trying to rebuild the imperial lineage, let alone rejuvenate the great man, but to carve up the great man with everyone.

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(End of this chapter)