Cao Cao was shocked when he heard about this in Dingtao, the governor's residence in Yanzhou.
Guo Jia said in a deep voice: "Sun Ce wrote a letter saying that he is willing to give up the land of Yuzhou to Duke Ming. He only wants his hometown of Jiangdong."
Cao Cao suddenly fell into deep thought and murmured to himself: "How is it possible that Sun has been running Yuzhou for more than ten years and has deep roots, so he gave up so easily?"
"This boy from the Sun family is quite courageous!"
Guo Jia admired him and said: "Yuzhou is a sacred land second only to Jizhou and Qingzhou. It has rich land and a large population, but he gave up when he said he wanted to. Sun Ce has great wisdom that ordinary people do not have!"
Cao Cao then said: "It is better to talk about filial piety. What does Sun Ce mean by this move?"
"It's very simple."
Guo Jia said: "Two meanings, one is that we and the Sun family do not trust each other, and they gave up Yuzhou with the intention of forming an alliance with us. As long as he goes to Jiangdong, he will be behind us and can fully support us."
Cao Cao sneered and said: "Sun Ce, son, wouldn't be so naive as to think that I would trust him so much. Even if he gives up Yuzhou, will I really believe that he will not attack me?"
Guo Jia then said: "The lips are dead and the teeth are cold. This is what Sun Ce said in the letter. He said that if he wins Jiangdong, he will never attack Duke Ming from behind."
"What about the second meaning?"
Cao Cao asked.
"Naturally let us be the front line against the imperial court."
Guo Jia's face was not very good and he said: "The land of Henan is one of the most fertile lands in the Han Dynasty. Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou combined are not much worse than Qingzhou and Jizhou. If it is managed well, it will even be better than Jizhou and Qingzhou. We have taken so much
A large piece of land will naturally help him withstand the pressure."
Cao Cao thought deeply: "If he really wants to form an alliance with me, it is not impossible to do so. I am afraid that he will just use me, just like we used Liu Biao, and use us as a shield so that he can seize Jiangdong."
"I'm not worried about that."
Guo Jia said: "Ming Gong thought that he would use us and use us as a shield. He would go to Jiangdong and ignore us. When we are wiped out by the imperial court, who will be next? He himself understands this truth and has already told us in his letter.
Explain that if the imperial court comes to attack, they will definitely rescue you."
"What if this is Sun Ce's plan?"
Cao Cao became suspicious, always feeling that pie in the sky would not fall into the sky, and said suspiciously: "His father was already serving as a guard in the imperial court, how could he abandon his father and ignore him? If he pretended to go to Jiangdong, he was actually helping the imperial court regain Yangzhou.
After our battle with the imperial court, if we are suddenly attacked from behind, wouldn't our army be in danger?"
Guo Jia suddenly laughed and said: "If he went to Jiangdong on false pretenses, why bother? He directly cooperated with the imperial court to attack Yanzhou, and we had no power to fight back. Now give us Yuzhou and give us such a large piece of land for nothing.
Replenish food and military strength?"
"Forehead......."
When Cao Cao was asked, he thought so.
If Sun Ce really surrenders to the imperial court, he can just attack him directly with the imperial court.
There are no natural dangers in Yanzhou, and his troops are not many. Once the imperial court and Sun Ce unite to attack him together, they will definitely die.
Because there are so many places where you can attack Yanzhou, you can attack Chenliu from Henan County and Yingchuan County, you can attack Dongjun from Wei County, Qinghe Kingdom, and Pingyuan Kingdom, you can attack Jibei Kingdom from Pingyuan Kingdom, and you can attack Jibei Kingdom from Xuzhou.
County, Xiapi State, Guangling County.
Now with Sun Ce's power, even Jiyin County and Shanyang County in the hinterland cannot be saved.
The imperial court's 200,000 troops can directly surround him from all directions. Together with the Sun family's army, any party can defeat Cao Cao's main force. The battle is not expected to last more than a month before he leaves the city and surrenders.
Therefore, there is no need for Sun Ce to make unnecessary moves. He first gives up Yuzhou to support the enemy, then runs all the way to Jiangdong, and then all the way back to counterattack.
What's the point of doing this?
Not only was it a waste of time, but it also made it more difficult for the imperial court to regain Yanzhou and Yuzhou.
Therefore, there is indeed nothing wrong with Cao Cao's suspicion, but as long as the decision-makers of the imperial court and Sun Ce have no problem with their minds, there is a high probability that they will not do this.
Cao Cao stood up and walked slowly into the hall. It was midsummer in June outside, the weather was hot, the trees in the courtyard were lush and green, and the cicadas were chirping endlessly. It was very noisy, making people irritable and unbearable, making it difficult to concentrate and think about problems.
He walked back and forth in the hall twice, then turned to look at Guo Jia, frowned and said: "Sun Ce wants Jiangdong, but if I get Yuzhou, I have to go to war with the imperial court. With my strength, I can win."
The imperial court?”
Guo Jia said bitterly: "It's difficult. This is actually what I'm worried about. The imperial court is not stupid and will not give us time to digest Yuzhou. If nothing goes wrong, the imperial court will send troops soon."
"Then why should I help Sun Ce become his scapegoat?"
Cao Cao snorted coldly.
Sun Ce made it clear that he wanted to use Yuzhou as a bait to lure him into taking the bait. Once he was greedy and tried to take Yuzhou, what was waiting for him would be a thunderous blow from the court. Why should he fall into this evil trap?
"Ming Gong means to reject him?"
Guo Jia hesitated and said: "But Chen Mu transferred Sun Jian to Yuzhou just to make us snipe and clam compete for profit. If this is the case, the final result will be that no one will be able to grow stronger, and then be defeated one by one by the imperial court. Now Sun Ce is going to Jiangdong,
He enriched himself with the land east of the Yangtze River. We have the land of Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou. As long as we rest for two years, we can have an army of hundreds of thousands."
"Didn't you say so yourself? Liu Bei won't give us time to digest."
Cao Cao said: "He left here, leaving me alone to carry Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of troops. When the time comes, his troops don't know when they will come to help. Why should I agree to him? If he thinks this condition is good, then just
I gave Yanzhou to him and went to Jiangdong."
Guo Jia shook his head and said: "It is too difficult for us to go to Jiangdong. The Sun family is originally a powerful person in Wu County, and has the support of many wealthy families in Jiangdong. This means that they have control over people and people. If we go, they will not support us at all. For the sake of the overall situation
For your own sake, Ming Gong should think twice and carefully consider Sun Ce’s proposal.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cao Cao pondered: "Feng Xiao thinks we should agree? But what about the imperial court?"
Guo Jia smiled and said: "There is nothing the imperial court can do. Don't forget, Ming Gong, we have other allies. People like Han Sui, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu, Liu Biao, Sun Ce and even Lu Bu can't be used. If we can
By convincing them to send troops together, the imperial court will have to deal with enemies from all directions, and we can take the opportunity to digest Yuzhou and strengthen our own strength."
"Well......."
Cao Cao stroked his beard and thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Come, call Zhicai, Zhongde, Gongtai to discuss matters."
This matter was a big deal after all, and he had to listen to the opinions of all his counselors.
...
...
In fact, Sun Ce's main forces have all withdrawn from Yuzhou and arrived in Jiujiang. They are currently preparing ships in Shouchun and plan to cross the Yangtze River eastward.
Regardless of whether Cao Cao agrees with it or not, he has decided to accept Lu Yi's suggestion and leave Yuzhou, a place of right and wrong.
It would be best if Cao Cao agrees, and everyone can hand over the situation peacefully, so that there will be no internal fighting and fighting.
If he didn't agree, he fought all the way to Danyang and occupied Yangzhou by force.
Lu Yi was right. The Sun family had the right time, place and people in Jiangdong. With the natural dangers of the Yangtze River outside and the help of wealthy families such as Zhou Lulu and others inside, the Sun family had a century-old foundation in Jiangdong.
This is indeed the first choice place for Sun Ce, who has ambitions in the world.
On the contrary, Cao Cao lacked people and people in Jiangdong, and without the support of aristocratic families, without people and people, it would be difficult to govern even if he occupied Jiangdong.
Therefore, according to the speculations of Lu Yi, Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others, they all believed that it was best for Cao Cao to agree, and he had to agree if he disagreed.
And just when Sun Ce led the army to withdraw from Yuzhou, preparing to force Cao Cao to give up Danyang County.
In the West Palace of Luoyang, after Chen Mu got the information, he immediately went to find Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was currently reviewing the documents sent by the cabinet today in the middle hall room of the West Palace.
Since the cabinet completely replaced the chancellery, his workload has been much smaller.
Because in the past, the Shangshu Desk only had the qualifications to submit submissions but not to give instructions, so it had to be done by the third official who recorded the Shangshu.
But now the chief minister of the cabinet and several first-class ministers have the power to review. They basically make the decision on small matters, while Liu Bei makes the decision on major matters.
Therefore, some trivial matters will naturally not appear on Liu Bei's desk, and a lot of messy things will be reduced invisibly.
When he heard Chen Mu coming, Liu Bei asked Wang Zhi to greet him.
When Chen Mu entered the door of the inner hall of the West Palace, Liu Bei said with a smile: "Fourth brother, what's wrong?"
Chen Mu raised the official document in his hand and said, "Brother, Ma Chao and Sun Ce have rebelled."
Liu Bei's face suddenly darkened, and he frowned and said, "Do these two people really not take the lives of their parents and clan members seriously?"
There are more than 200 members of the Ma family and more than 100 members of the Sun family. Now they have all moved to Luoyang, and their wealth and life are in Liu Bei's hands.
When Chen Mu said it, Liu Bei still didn't believe it, but now he didn't expect that Chen Mu's words had come true again.
Chen Mu sat on a mat under Liu Bei's hands, handed the official document to Wang Zhi and told him to submit it, and said with a smile: "The Ma family is popular in Xiliang. The people of Xiliang are tough, advocating force, and have weak ideas of loyalty to the emperor.
, it is natural for you to want to be an independent warlord."
Liu Bei became interested and asked: "Fourth brother has always advocated observing the essence through details. It seems that this matter has already been analyzed. Why don't you tell me why Ma Chao still wants to rebel while Ma Teng is in Luoyang?"
"the reason is simple."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Ma Teng wants to support himself with troops."
"Support the troops and consolidate yourself?"
"good."
"Back then, the First Emperor sent Tu Sui to lead an army of 500,000 to conquer Baiyue. Tu Sui died in an ambush. Zhao Tuo took over Ren Xiao and unified Lingnan. Later, the world was in chaos. The two separated themselves and established their own country. Ma Teng, Han Sui, Sun Ce and others
That’s what I thought too.”
"Just because they want to establish their own country?"
Liu Bei was furious.
Now is not the time when there were many princes during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
After the Qin Dynasty defeated the six kingdoms, a unified pattern had initially been formed. After 400 years of laying the foundation by the Han Dynasty, the consensus of unification had already been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
After hundreds of years, except for Zhang Fei who often claimed that Zhang Yide from Yan was here, the other old places of the Seven Kingdoms rarely called themselves so.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Han people at that time, unification was the trend and division was undesirable.
However, Chen Mu knows that the general trend of the world is that if it is divided for a long time, it will be united, and if it is united for a long time, it will be divided. Let’s not talk about before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, but after the unification, it will be divided into more and less together.
Except for the 400-year-old Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were divided for more than a hundred years, and the Jin Dynasty was briefly unified. It didn't take long before the Five Hunans invaded China and moved southward.
Then came the Northern and Southern Dynasties for hundreds of years. The Tang Dynasty seemed to be unified, but it was only unified in the early stage. After the An-Shi Rebellion, the governors of various regions separated themselves and established their own regimes, and the central government decrees were empty words.
Needless to say, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and the Two Song Dynasties were never unified. It was not until the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties that three unified dynasties appeared, and there were no longer long-term separatist regimes.
Therefore, once the military strength of the central court is insufficient, it is difficult for the court to control local areas, and warlords are divided everywhere, then the split is naturally a matter of course.
Therefore, in the face of Liu Bei's dissatisfaction, Chen Mu did not need to follow his dissatisfaction. He just said: "Brother, there is no need to be angry about this. I recruited Ma Teng and Sun Jian to the capital because I already knew their thoughts and had countermeasures."
Liu Bei turned his anger into joy and said: "I know that my fourth brother has a plan for a long time. Please tell me quickly."
Chen Mu then said: "Sun Ce abandoned Yuzhou and went south to Jiangdong. On the surface, this was a good move. Because he escaped the shackles of mutual distrust with Cao Cao, the two sides could unite together calmly, but
In fact, he still fell into my trap."
"What kind of plan is this?"
Liu Bei was surprised.
Chen Mu said: "It's very simple. Sun Ce went south and went straight to Jiangdong, but Cao Cao finally captured Danyang County. Under normal circumstances, Cao Cao would never give up Danyang, so Sun Ce could only trade Yuzhou with Cao Cao."
"Um."
Liu Bei nodded, he naturally knew about this.
Chen Mu added: "But the problem is that the Sun family has been running Yuzhou for more than ten years and is deeply rooted. Sun Jian has always been loyal to the imperial court, and many county magistrates are appointed by the imperial court. Cao Cao wanted to capture Yuzhou in a short time, so he immediately made all counties surrender.
, it’s not that simple either.”
Liu Bei said thoughtfully: "What the fourth brother means is that even if Cao Cao captures Yuzhou, it will be difficult for him to recruit a large number of troops, collect taxes, and pay food in Yuzhou?"
"Exactly."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "It is not easy for Cao Cao to gain benefits in Yuzhou. There are people loyal to the imperial court in every county and county, and there are even some bandits hiding in the mountains who are willing to serve the imperial court. If he gets Yuzhou, he will not be able to do anything for at least half a year.
There is no gain, and there are still troops to garrison. This is actually a trap for Cao Cao, like walking through fire and water."
Liu Bei was so happy that he suddenly said: "And if Cao Cao wins Yuzhou, the imperial court will officially have an excuse to attack him."
"The elder brother is right, and the younger brother admires it!"
Chen Mu boasted about Dharma conch.
Liu Bei pointed at him and smiled: "Fourth brother, fourth brother, I don't know you yet, I'm afraid you have already thought about it."
Chen Mu said hurriedly: "Absolutely not. This is all the thought of the elder brother himself and has nothing to do with me."
"okay."
Liu Bei waved his hand: "I'll leave this matter to you. The cabinet meeting tomorrow will discuss sending troops."
Chen Mu said: "The specific matter of sending troops will naturally be discussed by the cabinet tomorrow. However, we still have to prevent Cao Cao from joining forces with Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu, Han Sui, Ma Chao, Lu Bu and others to cause chaos, so as to buy him time to digest Yuzhou."
Liu Bei was so shocked that he almost forgot about this, and said hurriedly: "Fourth brother, do you have any countermeasures?"
Chen Mu smiled and said: "Han Sui's side, I will ask the Duke to contact Yan Xing. The last time this man came to Luoyang, I saw how respectful he was to the court and even sent his parents to Luoyang. I'm afraid he had already made the decision to surrender.
, when the time comes, let him secretly act as an internal response, and we will be able to defeat Han Sui and Ma Chao."
"What about Liu Zhang?"
"Liu Zhang is a guard dog. Even the Hanzhong gate is occupied by his father's former generals. There is no need to worry about him."
"Zhang Lu?"
"Zhang Lu is not a good person. He himself has to be careful when Liu Zhang goes north to seize Hanzhong. He will never send out all his troops. Even if he sends out troops, they will not be too many. He can just let his second brother deal with them."
"Lu Bu?"
"Isn't Third Brother watching from Hedong?"
"So the only enemies we actually have to deal with are Liu Biao, Cao Cao and Sun Ce?"
Liu Bei came to his senses.
In Guanzhong, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were guarding, Han Sui, Ma Chao, Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang, and Lu Bu were all looked down upon, and there was no way they could advance eastward.
Then his biggest enemies are Cao Cao in Henan, Sun Ce in Jiangdong, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou.
Chen Mu smiled and nodded: "Yes, these are the last three enemies of eldest brother. As long as they are dealt with, the rats in the lands of Sichuan and Sichuan in Guanxi and Guanzhong will be insignificant. Within a year or two, they can all be calmed down."
Liu Bei thought about it and said with deep understanding: "Shan, fourth brother, how do we think we should fight?"
Chen Mu said without hesitation: "Don't worry about Liu Biao for now. Just send people to guard Nanyang. Make friends at a distance and attack at home. Attack Cao Cao first and then Sun Ce. As long as Cao Cao is eliminated in one battle, Jiangdong and Jingzhou will not be able to hold on for long!"
The current situation is somewhat like the eve of the Battle of Guandu.
After Sun Ce surrendered Yuzhou, just like before the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao gathered more than 200,000 troops in Hebei, Cao Cao only had tens of thousands of troops in Henan, Sun Ce was in Jiangdong, and Liu Biao was in Jingzhou. It can be said that he was surrounded by enemies.
But the difference is that in history, Cao Cao made himself the target of public criticism for holding Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty hostage. Sun Ce threatened to attack Xudu, Liu Biao also bluffed and went north, and Yuan Shao even sent his army south. The entire Cao Cao regime was in a precarious stage and was about to collapse.
At this time, Liu Bei became the emperor, and all the princes used Liu Bei to steal the emperor's seat, making Liu Bei the target of public criticism.
Therefore, princes like Sun Ce and Liu Biao who wanted to separate their kingdoms could only be forced to form an alliance with Cao Cao to fight against the powerful court, so as not to make Cao Cao's life as difficult as it was in history.
The only problem is that Liu Bei is not Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao's army of more than 100,000 people marched south in a mighty manner, but his organizational skills and strategies were very poor. Cao Cao found an opportunity in Guandu and burned all the food on fire, leading to his defeat.
Liu Bei had Chen Mu to help him and was alert in advance, so he would naturally not make such a mistake. Therefore, in this case, the battle between the two sides must be a decisive battle. The only difference is that this time Cao Cao has Liu Biao and Sun Ce as his gang leaders.
It will just be a little stronger.
More importantly, after the Battle of Guandu in history, it took Cao Cao seven or eight years to annex the north. This time allowed the Sun family to stabilize Jiangdong and gradually become stronger, which gave Sun Quan the courage to fight in the Battle of Chibi.
But at this time, Sun Ce had just gone to Jiangdong and his footing was not yet stable. If Cao Cao was eliminated in a short period of time, it would be impossible for Sun Ce to withstand the attack of the imperial army.
Even Chen Mu had already thought about conquering Jiangdong personally and taking Sun Jian there to see what Sun Ce said.
It is not uncommon for Chen Mu to see his father as a patriotic and loyal minister and his son to be a rebellious one.
Isn’t this the case with the King of Yunnan who later presented maps for our army?
The success of the king and the defeat of the bandits will be decided by oneself!