When Liu Bei woke up again, it was already the fifth day after conquering Linzi. Although the war has come to an end, the emperor was injured and it was not appropriate to move lightly, so the army was still resting in place.
It was early February in the fourth year of Yanxing. As soon as Liu Bei opened his eyes, he heard the cry of orioles outside the tent, so the first thing he said was: "Are the mulberry trees blooming?" The serving maid was stunned when she heard this. But when she saw that the emperor was awake, he was happy and confused at the same time, so she replied: "It's cold this year, so it will take a few days for the flowers to bloom." After that, she quickly exited and reported the good news to the generals who had been waiting outside the tent.
Soon, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other generals from the DPRK crowded into the tent and paid their respects to him. But Liu Bei had just woken up, and his body and consciousness were weak. He soon felt that it was noisy, so he reluctantly encouraged everyone and ordered most of them to retreat, leaving only Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Fazheng, Xun You, and Yuan Tan to stay. In the tent, Fa Zheng was then ordered to describe the events of the past few days when he was unconscious. He closed his eyes and listened quietly on the couch, occasionally interrupting to ask for details.
When it was said that Cao Cao had been captured, he asked: "Where is Cao Cao being imprisoned?" Fazheng replied: "I am imprisoned in His Majesty's stable." Liu Bei frowned slightly and asked: "Is there anything strange about him? Fazheng said: "Although his legs are broken, his complexion remains unchanged and he eats and drinks freely. He just borrowed pen, ink and paper from someone and writes on the ground every day. I don't know what he writes."
He also talked about Zhang Fei's killing of prisoners in Linzi. After Liu Bei learned about Guan Yu's remarks about the blockade, he glanced at Zhang Fei who bowed his head and said to Guan Yu: "It is better to block it than to block it. Such a big thing cannot be kept secret, so it is better to make it public. Announce it." Then he said to Xun You: "Gongda, please draft a self-incriminating edict for me, saying that this matter is all my fault, and that I have used the troops rashly and failed to restrain myself. For this reason, I have exempted Qijun from taxes for three years. The people of Qingzhou are considerate."
Finally, when talking about matters related to the aftermath, Liu Bei said: "I'm afraid I have to rest for a while, but it is not suitable for the army to stay here anymore. Xiaozhi, please explain first, and order the Xifu and Shanglin tribes to return to their bases. Hebei Now that the situation is peaceful, there is no need for the Dongfu to be stationed in Puyang, so if Xian wants to be stationed in Linzi instead."
"Then what should Cao Cao do?"
"Let me rest for two days and talk to him before we talk."
Having said that, Liu Bei couldn't hide the tired look on his face. He waved slightly to a few people, then turned to his side and fell asleep, and soon fell asleep again.
Two days passed in a blink of an eye. At this time, Liu Bei was feeling a little better, so he summoned Cao Cao in the camp as promised. Liu Bei rarely wore black clothes and a twelve-point white jade crown. These were the clothes worn by the emperor when he participated in major sacrificial events. Cao Cao, on the other hand, was in rags and had been living in a stable for a few days. His hair was disheveled and his body smelled sour. Because his legs were broken by Zhang Fei, he was dragged to the main tent by the soldiers. In addition, Cao Cao was short in stature. People couldn't help laughing when they saw his appearance. Some people laughed and said: "What an old dog with a broken leg."
In fact, there were many old officials of the Eastern Dynasty who had surrendered to the Western Dynasty, such as Sima Yi, Li Dian, Ju Hu, Tian Chou, etc. in the tent. Seeing the marshal in such a state of embarrassment, he even had to hold himself up with his hands and knees. Everyone felt sad and couldn't help but say goodbye. It’s too much and I can’t bear to look at it anymore. But although Cao Cao's face turned a little gloomy, his expression remained unchanged.
At this time, a full eighteen years have passed since the last time the two met. Liu Bei and Cao Cao were in a daze. They all recalled the first time they met when they were young. It was in Luoyang, and Liu Bei was just a famous man. He was a commoner knight with an ordinary sword, while Cao Cao was a rising star among the scholars who promoted filial piety and integrity. But times have changed and things are unpredictable. Now the status of the two parties has been reversed. One is the emperor of the Han Dynasty, while the other is a prisoner of the rank. The two of them just looked at each other, and a lot of their words were self-explanatory.
Liu Bei leaned slightly against Hu's bed and smiled at Cao Cao: "Is Meng De okay?" His body was still weak, so that his voice was quite erratic, but his tone also seemed relaxed and relaxed, as if he and Cao Cao were still old friends for many years.
Cao Cao also smiled and said: "Xiao Chao, Xiao Chao, I'm sorry Xuande is worried."
Liu Bei asked: "I heard that you have been busy with your sword and pen recently. Could it be that you are composing poetry?"
Cao Cao nodded and shook his head, and replied: "I made a poem, but it was basically an article, and I wanted to leave some political experience." After that, he took out a stack of paper from his arms, which was full of words. It was handed over to Liu Bei by the palace maid. When Liu Bei received it, he found that there were more than 20 pieces of paper with more than ten thousand words in them. The contents were just as Cao Cao said. Most of them were Cao Cao's summary of the gains and losses of his governance over the past few decades. He also said that the reason why he failed so far was because of ten major shortcomings.
One disadvantage is that he pretended to be noble in his early years and refused to rely on Yuan Shao, which actually made Heishan and Gengcang join forces, forcing him to flee to Yanzhou and have to rely on the imperial court, so that his reputation was greatly reduced.
The second disadvantage is that after the victory in Bohai, he did not dare to raid Luoyang. Instead, he sought stability and restored Yan and Qingzhou first. As a result, Liu Bei and others received reinforcements and it was difficult for him to break through the Hulao.
The three disadvantages are to send troops to surround Dingtao City for a long time, losing troops and generals, and losing an inch of territory. In fact, we should attack Yuzhou and Xuzhou first, which can also establish the advantage of national strength.
The four disadvantages are that he is incompatible with Liu He, and furthermore he is at odds with the celebrities in Youzhou, and many capable ministers cannot be reused.
The five disadvantages were that Chen Chong mistakenly followed Chen Chong's plan and sent troops to try to attack Xiangxian County. They suffered a disastrous defeat, causing the tiger and leopard cavalry to be exhausted, and Cao Ang and others were killed in the army.
The six shortcomings are that after Qu Yi surrendered, he stormed Pingcheng. With no chance of fighting, he insisted on a decisive battle and mistakenly trusted Xianbei. As a result, he was defeated miserably in the first battle and his backbone was shattered. He has not been able to recover to this day.
The seven shortcomings were that Qu Yi could not be killed early, which caused the morale of the army to be shaken after consecutive defeats, and even made the entire Youzhou rebel.
The eight disadvantages are pampering scholars and granting too many officials, which leads to insufficient state resources and poor governance.
The ninth disadvantage was that he could not go to Liaodong early. He was trapped by his reputation and stuck to Xindu. As a result, he had no choice but to flee Qingzhou when he was defeated.
The ten disadvantages are that the courtiers form local cliques and attack each other, which cannot be stopped so far.
By the end of the article, Cao Cao believed that the root cause of the bad government was "the moral conduct of scholars is difficult to correct and the state system has been lost." The Yan Han Dynasty lasted for four hundred years and the country was in Zuo. It was based on military merit and made prophecies as its career. Nowadays, prophecies often talk about the demise of the Han Dynasty, and scholars are more valuable. Literary and martial arts are disdainful, they love chaos and rejoice in misfortunes, and their reputation and reality are so slight that those with knowledge should be worried about them. He also reminded Liu Bei that the Western Dynasty now mostly uses Xianbei, Xiongnu and other barbarians as soldiers. Although it can achieve temporary power, in the long run, it may be a legacy of raising tigers and must be dealt with early.
After Liu Bei read it, he felt quite the same. He finished reading the article and asked the palace servants to put it away. Then he said to Cao Cao at the foot of the stairs: "I will keep Meng De's words in mind." Then he paused and asked Cao Cao again. : "Can Meng De write a letter for me and send it to Liaodong?"
Cao Cao knew that Liu Bei asked him to persuade Cao Pi and others to surrender, but he shook his head and said: "I am not free, and there is no use writing it." Liu Bei thought for a while, and did not continue to be embarrassed, and finally said: "In this case, Meng De still has Whatever you want to say, you might as well just talk about it, I probably won’t have another chance in the future.”
As soon as the words fell, the tent suddenly fell silent, and everyone understood that the emperor was asking Cao Cao to give his last words. Cao Cao sighed and couldn't help but touch his brow, a rare look of regret in his eyes. But he quickly smiled calmly. He raised his head and asked Liu Bei: "Xuande, from the first moment I met you, I felt that you and I are the same kind of people. If the world is always peaceful, you and I must be best friends." . But it’s a pity that we were born at the wrong time and our fight has reached this point. I don’t have any last words. I just want to ask you, why are you and me different?”
As soon as these words came out, the generals in the Western Dynasty suddenly became excited. Someone immediately stood up, pointed at Cao Cao and cursed: "The traitor is arrogant, your majesty is so powerful, how can he be the same as you? You only have the talents of Shen and Bai, no one else." How can the Lord's spirit be compared to His Majesty's saintly virtue, kindness, and heroic weapon?!" Everyone also followed the trend and sang praises to Liu Bei loudly.
Unexpectedly, Liu Bei actually spoke to stop everyone. After the tent was quiet, he slowly replied to Cao Cao: "You are right. I was always surprised when I met you. In the past, I accompanied you to Luoyang Market. What did you say? Dogs, horses, and beauties that I like are my favorites. You also hate the celebrities and heroes that I dislike. In terms of our likes and dislikes, there is really no difference between you and me."
Liu Bei paused here, leaning his upper body forward slightly, which accidentally pulled his wound, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. At this time, everyone was watching him calmly. Liu Bei took a sip of water before continuing: "But when it comes to dealing with the world, Meng De is really like a young man. His impulses, whether good or evil, are often out of control. And I was born He is poor and knows the suffering of the world, so he takes care of himself three times a day and does not dare to act based on his personal likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, he still often makes mistakes, and to this day, he still cannot bring peace to the world."
After hearing this, Cao Cao was quite emotional. He patted the ground and sighed: "In this way, I am indeed not as good as Xuande, and it is natural to end up like this." Liu Bei then gave him another pot of Huadiao wine, and both parties were in court. Drink up and say goodbye. Both of them also knew that the next time they met, it would probably be on the execution ground.
Seeing Cao Cao being dragged away again, Liu Bei's pale face gradually turned red. He pressed his lower abdomen with one hand and said with a smile to everyone: "I'm tired after drinking some wine. You all should go your own way." The generals also said goodbye to each other. When only Liu Bei and Guan Yu were left in the tent, Liu Bei finally couldn't bear the severe pain in his abdomen and vomited blood on the ground. Everyone around was shocked when they saw this, and they all came forward to say hello, and then went out to call the imperial doctor. But they were all quickly stopped by Liu Bei.
This majestic emperor was famous among his courtiers for his dark and unpredictable face, but at this moment he showed a smile of satisfaction and relief. He turned to the few friends who stayed behind and said: "Everyone has his own destiny, and there is no need to pass it on to the imperial doctor. I understand my body myself. I will probably live for a while, but it won't be too long. But I have no regrets. Right now, I probably only have one thing I want to do.”
He asked people to open the tent, looked at the sky outside the curtain and said: "The wild geese have begun to return north, and I will go with them."
