With such a boss in front of him, what could Huan Fan say? !
If Huan Fan hadn't still cherished his old friendship and was grateful to Cao Shuang for his kindness, he would have long ago found a way to drag his family out of the north and go south to join the Han Dynasty. In fact, it would be better to join Sima Yi than to join him. Continue to stay in Jixian County.
This really cannot be blamed on Huan Fan. After all, Cao Shuang was the person who had "fired" him. Strictly speaking, there is no longer the so-called "righteousness between monarch and minister" between Huan Fan and Cao Shuang.
Under this circumstance, Huan Fan still agreed to Cao Shuang's mission to Soochow. Huan Fan could be said to have done his best to Cao Shuang.
In fact, even Huanfan himself had thought about it. After brokering the alliance between Wei and Wu, and completing his mission, he would not return to Youzhou again, but would choose to abandon his official position, whether he stayed in Wu or went to Wu. It is much better to defect to Ji Han than to continue serving in the Wei Dynasty.
However, this mission was not so easy to complete.
The mission goal given by Cao Shuang was to use 3,000 war horses in exchange for Soochow to launch another attack on Yanzhou or Jingzhou next spring to attract the Shu thief Chen Bing to the east.
To put it bluntly, even if Huan Fan looked at this condition from a neutral standpoint, he would not find it attractive enough.
Yes, there is indeed a serious lack of war horses in Soochow. Once they go to Yanzhou and other plains to fight, without cavalry, they are indeed not as powerful as the Shu Han.
But the problem is, Soochow is not a fool.
Three thousand war horses are certainly very attractive, but the attack on Yanzhou next spring, between these two things, people can figure out which one is more valuable.
The war between the two countries just ended in the early winter of this year. Although the casualties of soldiers on both sides were not too many, the consumption of food and grass was huge. For an army of hundreds of thousands of people, fighting fiercely for half a year, the consumption of food and grass was astronomical.
If you ask Soochow to send troops again in less than half a year, the consumption of food and grass will be much higher than the value of three thousand war horses.
From top to bottom in Soochow, who can't settle this account? !
Besides, what kind of trouble do you really think Soochow has? They are notorious for not having a high reputation when it comes to covenants. They agreed on the spot, but turned around and hid your three thousand horses and sent a Thousands of people go to Liang State for a walk, what can you do to them? !
Today's Cao Wei is thousands of miles away from Soochow, and its national power and influence are inferior to others. Even if they want to fall out with Soochow, there is nothing they can do against them.
So, according to Huan Fan's thinking, this mission was actually unnecessary, but... forget it, it was his destiny, so he just did it.
After wandering at sea for about two months, Huan Fan finally went to Jianye before the last court meeting in winter, met Sun Quan, and offered Cao Shuang's terms.
Afterwards, regardless of Soochow's answer, Huan Fan will celebrate the New Year in Soochow and stay until the spring of next year.
However, Sun Quan really doesn't have much time to respond to Huan Fan and Cao Wei's requests.
On the one hand, Cao Wei has now become a small court that is far away from Soochow. It is even thousands of miles away from Soochow and cannot even communicate with Soochow. There is only a nominal alliance left to help Soochow. Not big.
The most direct proof is that during the last battle of Yanzhou, Soochow sent troops to attack Yanzhou in early summer. It was not until the late autumn of September that Cao Wei deployed troops on the border of Youzhou and Yizhou and made a posture of counterattack. This time difference is too big If it gets too big, any good fighter opportunities will be wasted.
Another thing is that Cao Wei's life is really not as good as the previous one. Not only has his power been greatly reduced, but his courage has also become smaller and smaller. Cao Xun led his troops to the border of Fanyang County, but in the end he only heard that Zhuge Liang was coming to You. Zhou was so frightened that he immediately retreated to defend himself.
This kind of courage can stand up to nothing.
On the other hand, there is also a lot of trouble inside Soochow.
Sun Quan was somewhat unable to make up his mind on the issue of establishing a prince.
Yes, the issue of the dispute between the two palaces finally broke out within Soochow.
Well, in the final analysis, Sun Quan himself has to be blamed for this matter.
The dispute between the two palaces was actually done deliberately by Sun Quan. This was a process by which Sun Quan tried to screen and balance the government as much as possible and gain power.
It's just that, as this matter has developed so far, even Sun Quan himself can't control it.
The Soochow regime in this time and space is still different from the one in history.
Historically, Soochow's control over Huainan was always very weak. Therefore, in the later stages, as the talents of the Huaisi Military Group withered, Sun Quan had to suppress the Huaisi in order to ensure the stability of the regime and continue the Sun family's legacy in Soochow. Si Group, wooing the Jiangdong family, realized the process of gradual localization of the Soochow regime.
This process is promoted through the event of the dispute between the two palaces.
Sun Quan used the contradiction between the Huaisi Group and the Jiangdong local group to mediate and gradually weakened the Huaisi Group's influence within Soochow. At the same time, through the dispute between the two palaces, he resolved some influential families in Jiangdong's local families. Characters, such as Gu Yong, Lu Xun and others, have achieved the goal of controlling political power within the Sun clan.
Therefore, the dispute between the two palaces in history was actually not out of Sun Quan's control from beginning to end. It was all intentional by Sun Quan.
But now, because Soochow has always controlled the Huainan area, and even the land of Qingxu, and Zhou Yu has lived for too long and has controlled the military power of Soochow for a long time, the power of the Huaisi Group is much stronger than in history. .
Therefore, it would be much more difficult for Sun Quan in this time and space to provoke a dispute between the two palaces and achieve his goal of centralizing power.
Although the talents of the Huaisi Military Group were withering, it was not yet in its prime. Whether it was Zhu Ran, Bu Zhi, Zhuge Jin and others, they all occupied considerable power in the court.
After years of continuous development of the local aristocratic families in Jiangdong, and with the intentional support of Sun Quan, people led by Gu Yong, Lu Xun, and Quan Cong also appeared, occupying half of Soochow.
In fact, the strength of the two major groups is not much different. Sun Quan rashly provoked a dispute between the two palaces, which was to provoke a confrontation between two different political groups. If one of them did not play well, Sun Quan himself might not be able to stay out of the matter.
Sun Quan originally thought that with his ability to check and balance, he would not have to worry about these two political interest groups losing control. But in fact, when Sun Quan started to actually operate it, he discovered that this matter was far more complicated than he imagined.
Lu Yi, who should have been reduced to a tool in history, is still not easily abandoned by Sun Quan, because it is the most important sword in Sun Quan's hand. If Lu Yi is abandoned, Sun Quan really doesn't know what method he should use. to balance the power between the two groups.
Now even Sun Quan himself was vaguely aware that things might be out of control. He wanted to stop and control the fire, but he could not find a suitable way.
Even the last counterattack against Yanzhou was actually initiated by Sun Quan, trying to use external pressure to deflect internal conflicts.
But unfortunately, Lu Xun was delayed in attacking Yanzhou, and Jiangxia suffered another setback. As a result, Sun Quan himself could not withstand the pressure and had to order a withdrawal, hastily ending the war.
The foreign war failed to win, and half of Runan County was even lost as a result. Not only the Huaisi Group was dissatisfied with the outcome of this war, but the Jiangdong Family was also dissatisfied with such a war.
The Jiangdong Group believed that the attack on Yanzhou was solely for the benefit of the Huaisi Group and had little to do with the Jiangdong Group. Therefore, from the beginning of the war, the Jiangdong Group leaders headed by Gu Yong and Quan Cong strongly opposed the war. In the end, they also said Sun Quan was moved and chose to withdraw his troops and make a truce.
However, the Huaisi Group believes that if the Jiangdong Group had not held back at the critical moment and not sent troops from Jiangdong to support Jiangxia, but had withdrawn troops from Huainan to return reinforcements, even if Yanzhou could not be captured, at least it would have been able to capture one or two areas. County, the results are better than the current results.
After the war ended, it intensified the split between the two interest groups. Representatives of the two interest groups argued for several months on the issue of who should be responsible for the war, and even once again involved who should be crowned prince. Sun Quan was really troubled by this issue.
If this continues, Sun Quan has a hunch that it may be difficult for him to control the situation and scale of the dispute between the two palaces.
Even now, Sun Quan is beginning to wonder if it's time to end these disputes and simply appoint a prince.
However, this matter was obviously not as simple as Sun Quan imagined.
It is easy to provoke party strife, but it is not so easy to end party strife. No one wants their investment and interests to be wasted because of someone's words.
Even if this person is the emperor.
So, this matter is no longer a question of who Sun Quan wants to make the prince, but who is the prince. It is that Sun Quan can only choose one person to become the prince between the two palaces.
If you want to break up the relationship, choose a third person to become the prince. Sun Quan agreed, but the two major interest groups did not agree.
(End of chapter)
