Let's say that Cao Cao lost the two important towns of Yecheng and Handan one after another, and also learned the news that the Western Dynasty had defeated the Shu Dynasty. For a moment, people's hearts were floating, thinking that the Western Dynasty had won successively, and its national power had completely overwhelmed the Eastern Dynasty, and then clashed head-on with it. I'm afraid there's no chance of winning. However, the generals of the Eastern Dynasty were not willing to surrender. The two armies had been fighting each other for more than ten years. They had already accumulated heavy blood debts and there was no possibility of reconciliation. At this point, the Hebei Caoyuan Group, which had been rampant in Heluo for seven years since Yanxing, was on the road of making a decision about where to go.
According to the decree of Shangshu Ling Xun or, this situation had actually been predicted for a long time. After all, the Eastern Army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Pingcheng, and all its elite troops had been lost for many years. It was also foreseeable that the Western Dynasty would take advantage of the victory to expand. Therefore, he hoped that Cao Cao would "secure the west and expand the east, unite with Wu and occupy Yan, and wait for the opportunity." Cao Cao did the same thing. He built forts in Hebei and defended them step by step. Then he moved people to Liaodong on a large scale. He also ordered Xiahou Yuan to conquer Goguryeo, Fuyu and other countries several times, and was prepared to wait for change. However, the deterioration of the situation far exceeded his expectations, and Cao Cao had to put the move of the capital on the agenda.
After all, Xinyang, the capital of the Eastern Dynasty, has actually become the front line of the battlefield. Once it falls, the negative impact on the Eastern Dynasty will be immeasurable. It would be better to move it to Xiangping, Liaodong, so that Yanshan, Liaoze, and Bohai will be the main battlefield. The screen protection is bound to be worry-free, and it will also help Cao Cao stabilize Pingzhou's rule.
Cao Cao planned to consult people close to him about this intention, and gradually the courtiers heard about it. Unexpectedly, Marshal Shi Tianfeng, Shangshu Mao Jie, Shaofu Juhu, Imperial Servant Wang Can and others all came to advise him.
Tian Feng said: "The country was defeated one after another, and the king's power was almost exhausted, and the people were moved to the bitter and cold places outside the Great Wall. It was the moment when people's hearts were unstable. If the marshal wanted to move the capital, he could just go to Yijing like Gongsun Zan. If he went to Liaodong, he would go to Liaodong. It will definitely make the people of Hebei panic. Where will we place the Qingxu County? This will definitely lead to great chaos! In the future, the counties and counties will be like clouds in the east, and I will regret it!"
Wang Can also advised: "The marshal doesn't want to go to Yijing, but he can also establish his capital in Ji County. Xiangping is too far away. You must know that once the soldiers and Gu family are far away, they will lose their souls!"
How could Cao Cao not know about their worries, but he also had his own considerations: what he called moving the capital was just moving the imperial court to Xiangping, and the tyrant he built still stayed in Hebei to assess the situation, and there was not much damage, while the emperor of the DPRK Liu He was deeply dissatisfied with himself. Once it breaks out during a war, it may lead to the overthrow of the whole situation, so he must be in a safe place.
However, Tian Feng and others had a dangerous position in the Eastern Dynasty, and Cao Cao could not ignore them, so he ordered the ministers to discuss the matter. He greeted most people in private, so during the court discussion, most people agreed with Cao Cao.
Tian Chou, the prefect of Guangyang, was dissatisfied. He said: "Since ancient times, it has never been heard of anyone who can save the territory from the emperor by escaping outside the Great Wall. Even if Lu Wan and Lu Fang were lucky enough to survive [1], it is still not possible. We have the Xiongnu to rely on, but now Xianbei has surrendered to the Western bandits, how can we be reasonable? Marshal, please don't listen to these deceptive words, and fight to the death with the Western bandits under the capital city of Xindu!" What he said was very true. Heavy, there was a hint of comparing Cao Cao to a traitor and Liu Bei to an orthodox person. Cao Cao's face froze when he heard this.
Someone saw Cao Cao's dissatisfied look and immediately said, "Tian Chou is from Youyan. I'm afraid he doesn't want to leave his family behind and doesn't want to take care of the overall situation!"
Tian Chou became angry and immediately sneered at the man: "If I don't care about the overall situation, could it be that I am abandoning the people of the counties in Hebei and that is the overall situation for you?"
When everyone heard this, they burst into laughter. Cao Cao also smiled and said: "Since it is a court discussion, it doesn't matter if you just say it."
Seeing that he could not make a decision, Cao Cao invited his internal and external officials to gather in the back hall. There were about 500 people in attendance.
Cao Cao said to everyone: "Today we need to make a big plan. Please express your opinions, but you must make sure your words are reasonable."
In fact, everyone already knew what Cao Cao was thinking, but in such a situation, the opponent was Tian Fangchou, who had a high reputation in Hebei. It was not easy for anyone to be the first to come forward, so they watched each other and did not dare to speak out.
Seeing this, Cao Cao frowned and simply said: "There are so many people that I can't ask them one by one. Otherwise, those who don't want to go to Xiangping will be left behind."
So Tian Chou, Tian Feng, Wang Can and others all rolled up their left sleeves. The chamberlain made a rough calculation and found that about one-third were left-handed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the overall situation had been decided. Although the opponents were unwilling to do so, they put down their sleeves and reluctantly followed Cao Cao's decision.
But when Cao Cao saw that there were still so many opponents, he still felt vaguely uneasy, so he sent an envoy to guard the door of the mansion in advance. After the meeting was dismissed, he could observe the attitude of the officials and subordinates and what they said, while he himself was in the hall. Sit back and wait.
About half an hour later, everyone in the mansion had dispersed, and Cao Cao called an envoy to ask, "What are the statements of Tian Feng and Tian Chou?"
The messenger replied: "Although the second prince frowned, he did not speak to the others. He just sighed."
Cao Cao asked again: "What about Mao Jie and Ju Hu?"
The messenger said: "The two of them looked sad, but Sima Zhongda was comforting them, and the conversation between them was normal, and there was nothing unusual."
After hearing this, Cao Cao thought to himself that these people were still scholars after all and knew how to take care of everyone, so he felt relieved. Just as he waved the envoy to go down, he noticed that the envoy was hesitant and seemed to have something to say, so he asked: "Is there anything else that can't be done? It doesn't matter if you just say it."
The messenger thought about it for a long time and finally said: "Although there is nothing unusual about those people, Da Sima Qu complained loudly when he came out, saying that the matter was decided by the marshal, but he pretended to let the big family discuss it. It was really unnecessary."
When he said this, he raised his eyes and glanced at Cao Cao, and found that the marshal's face was as dense as a cloud, and he couldn't tell the depth at all. He continued: "Then Grand Sima Hou said that the court has become like this because it is really incompetent. The marshal Use troops to defend the capital. If he comes to Shouxin Capital, he will fight to the death with the Western thieves to ensure that the Western thieves never come back."
Cao Cao was silent for a moment and asked, "How did the people around me react?"
The messenger replied: "Most of the people around smiled and passed by. One of the waiters said to the side that Da Sima was complaining again, but there were also many people talking about it, and they dispersed quickly."
After saying that, the envoy bowed down and hurriedly left the room, leaving Cao Cao alone in the room to meditate. Cao Cao held his forehead for a moment, then sent someone to summon Jiang Ji and told him: "Qu Yi is a fickle man. He betrayed Ben Chu and defected to the Western bandits. Later, he was dissatisfied with Liu Bei because of his fame and fortune, and returned to me. I thought he had received a lesson from this and should restrain himself a little, but unexpectedly he was so domineering and dependent on others, and he dared to confuse the public with his wild words! If we don't kill this person, how can the country be safe?" In his words, it was obvious that he wanted to accuse Jiang Jiluo. Qu Yi was captured and imprisoned.
How could Jiang Ji not know what Cao Cao was thinking, but he showed hesitation and said slowly: "Marshal, Grand Sima Qu usually behaves inappropriately and makes many random remarks. It is indeed not difficult to arrest him and imprison him for speech crimes." . However, Da Sima Qu was originally a traitor in the Western Dynasty, and he was on the same level as Liu Bei. He would never surrender to the Western thieves. Everyone in the court regarded him as the vanguard to attack the thieves. If the marshal captured and killed him, he would probably damage the marshal's hope of dominating the government. ah!"
After hearing this, Cao Cao felt that it was reasonable. He hesitated for a while, so he planned to wait and see for a while. While moving the capital, he sent people to ambush around Quyi's mansion and monitor it day and night to decide whether to stay or go.
Unexpectedly, within two days, Cao Cao received another reward. It turned out that Qu Yi was drinking with his entourage at home, boasting that he was invincible in the army. Cao Cao and Chen Chong were just ordinary people. If the emperor of the Eastern Dynasty took him as his commander, he would be able to mix things up and revive the great cause. He also said that the marshal suffered from a headache and was now in his mid-fifties. His body was not as strong as his. Who else would be able to serve as the pillar of the country in a hundred years?
Cao Cao was furious after reading this and immediately summoned Jiang Ji and said: "The country has advisers like clouds and generals like rain. Without him, we can't fight? He is still greedy for the power of the country. If we don't kill these thieves, how can we inspire the morale of the army?" "
Jiang Ji was also shocked when he saw the letter, knowing that Qu Yi was seeking death and could not be pulled back no matter how hard he tried. He did not dare to refuse to Cao Cao anymore, and immediately led his troops to surround Da Sima's mansion. It was late at night. Qu Yi was sleeping soundly on the couch because he had drunk some wine at night. Mi Mi Hu Hu was tied up by the sergeants and taken to prison.
When he woke up and understood the situation, he immediately cursed in prison, calling Cao Cao "pig intestines", and asked himself what his crime was. Jiang Ji had already collected the charges at this time and sent someone to reply saying that it was the crime of telling lies.
Naturally, it was difficult to say the original remarks directly, so Jiang Ji used another thing. It was around the late autumn of last year when Hebei was suffering from drought and no rain for more than a month. When Qu Yi was going out, he happened to encounter a prisoner with a tattoo on his face on the road. His wife and daughters had all been expropriated as slaves of the official family. He joked to people: "The old man of the country has recently been It’s not raining, maybe that’s why.”
Jiang Ji used this to claim that Grand Sima Quyi was dissatisfied with the imperial court, and found twenty armored stomachs in his residence. Quyi could not refute it, and he was finally beheaded on Renwu in the fifth month. Dozens of people in the family died, and none of his wives and daughters were official slaves.
After the news of Qu Yi's death came out, everyone was shocked. Qu Yi, as a veteran general with many years of experience, had made great achievements both in the East and the West, and once almost killed Chen Chong in formation. Even though there were many people in the two dynasties who had bad moral character, we have to admit that there are very few contemporary generals who can compare with them. Who would have expected that Cao Cao would be so decisive and capture and execute him so simply and quickly.
However, what is even more unexpected is that because the Eastern Dynasty officials did not know the reason, everyone was in danger for a while, thinking that Cao Cao was going to go on a killing spree. Although Cao Cao tried his best to appease, he was still able to control the situation in Xindu. But for the Youzhou counties in the north, it is somewhat beyond their capabilities.
On Dingyou in June, Gao Lan, the general at Juyong Pass in the Eastern Dynasty, had an old friendship with Qu Yi. He was afraid of being implicated by Cao Cao, so he simply killed the governor of the Bafu in Guanzhong and sent an envoy to Pingcheng for help, hoping to surrender to the Western Dynasty and bring order to the chaos.
[1]: Lu Wan, Lu Fang and the Xiongnu: Lu Wan was Liu Bang's child. He made many military exploits with Liu Bang and was named King of Yan by Liu Bang. Later, seeing Liu Bang aging, Peng Yue and Han Xin were killed by Empress Lu one after another, so they were very popular. Fearful, they secretly colluded with the Xiongnu. After Liu Bang died, he fled to the Huns, who named him King of Donghulu. After that, Lu Wan was invaded and plundered by barbarians. He often thought of returning to the Han family. After living in the north for more than a year, he died of illness in the land of the barbarians.
Lu Fang was the leader of Shuofang in the late Xinmang years. He claimed to be Liu Wenbo, the great-grandson of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He also said that his great-grandmother was the sister of King Hunxie of Guli of the Xiongnu, so he was promoted by Liu Xuan, the Gengshi Emperor. After Liu Xuan died, he established himself as King of Xiping. He communicated with the Huns, and the Huns supported him as Emperor of the Han Dynasty. Then he established his capital in Jiuyuan County, captured the five counties of Wuyuan, Shuofang, Yunzhong, Dingxiang, and Yanmen, and set up county guards and magistrates to invade and plunder the northern border areas with the Huns. Later, he and Liu Xiu fought against each other for many years, but Liu Xiu could not win. However, because most of Lu Fang's subordinates were Han Chinese and missed their hometown, the people gradually dispersed after a few years. Lu Fang lived in the Xiongnu for more than ten years and died.
