As soon as Sima Yi's matter was settled, an urgent and secret message from the Central Plains came from eight hundred miles away.
When Zhang Xiu saw the message in the secret letter, he was so shocked and surprised that he couldn't help but half-open his mouth. Cao Cao actually died of illness. According to later records, Cao Cao could live for at least fifteen years. Unexpectedly, due to the huge failure in this battle, Cao Cao was unable to withstand such great pressure and died of illness.
What was even more unexpected was that after Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, he first killed his younger brother Cao Zhi.
According to the course of history, Cao Zhi composed the poem within seven steps, and had the protection of his biological mother Bian. He should not have been killed by Cao Pi so quickly. It seems that his time travel has caused some things to happen in another form. , some things are completely out of the historical trajectory.
What Zhang Xiu values is not who succeeds, but this golden opportunity.
Once Cao Cao dies, Cao Wei will inevitably set off a period of chaos. Cao Pi's succession will not have the same deterrent power as Cao Cao, and the control of the army will definitely be loose. Moreover, Cao Zhi's death will also cause some generals to be wary of Cao Pi. Such a situation can be said to be This is a good opportunity to destroy Wei.
Unfortunately, the war has just ended, and another war will inevitably lead to tightness for the country.
After the war ended, various expenditures were huge. The payment of pensions alone consumed one-fifth of the treasury. Adding in the rewards for soldiers and officers, the treasury already had three thousand taels of silver left. Jizhou and Youzhou have just been pacified, and the national policy has not yet been fully implemented. If war breaks out again at this moment, will it affect the stability of the two places?
Moreover, Liu Bei and Sun Ce will not stand idly by and will definitely find ways to get a share of the pie. But it is a pity to waste such a great opportunity in vain.
So he called Minister Shang Chengge to discuss.
Jia Xu, Li Ru, Liu Ye, Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Pang Tong and others came to the study pavilion. After reading the secret letter, the study pavilion fell into a brief silence, and everyone quickly thought about countermeasures. The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and the crisp chirping of birds slowly came in from the window.
Zhang Xiu drank tea, waited quietly, and thought at the same time. If war starts again, we have to carefully consider the consequences of starting a war.
Not long after, Jia Xu spoke slowly. He first looked at Li Ru and asked, "Wen You, after the Yellow River burst its banks, it flooded the Central Plains. Cao Wei should be unable to provide relief. Thousands of victims are like locusts. How is the disaster situation in the Central Plains now?"
Li Ru looked at Jia Xu first, and then said to Zhang Xiu: "Your Majesty! Mr. Ge! After the Yellow River burst, millions of victims appeared in the Central Plains. At that time, Dajing and Cao Wei were at war. Cao Wei's own food and grass were tight and he was unable to help the victims. Later, after the war, Cao Wei lost the land of Jizhou and Youzhou, and was even less able to provide disaster relief. Sun Wu took the opportunity to set up porridge shacks on the border of Xuzhou and lured Yanzhou and people into Xuzhou. This reduced the pressure on Cao Wei's victims a lot, but also caused losses. A huge population.”
Liu Ye smiled calmly and said: "Sun Wu added insult to injury, but it can be regarded as easing the pressure on Cao Wei's victims. But if the loss of people continues like this, I am afraid that Cao Wei's overall strength will decline rapidly in a few years."
Li Ru: "It's not that Cao Wei didn't stop it, but the victims were hungry and they didn't care about Wu and Wei. It almost triggered a civil uprising, but later they didn't dare to stop it. In addition, they were unable to help the victims. Leave it to the victims."
Zhang Xiu asked: "Have we set up a porridge shed here?"
Jia Xu said slowly: "Back to the emperor, the south bank is strictly controlled by the Wei army. Even if we set up porridge sheds, the people will not be able to come. We set up porridge sheds in Luoyang County, but the number of people who came over was not as many as those who went to Sun Wu."
Zhang Xiu nodded.
The distance was quite far, and the hungry people could not walk that far. Only victims who are slightly closer to Luoyang can come.
Liu Ye said: "Your Majesty, now Cao Wei is not trapped by the disaster victims, and Cao Pi succeeded to the throne in compliance with Cao Cao's edict. The nobles in Jizhou and Youzhou are opposed to our Dajing national policy. There are still many people who are close to Wei. The two states are not equal. If we launch an attack rashly, I'm afraid it will cause a backlash."
"What I mean is, how can we make Cao Pi's succession less smooth without sending troops and horses." Zhang Xiu said, "Maybe we can start with the death of Cao Zhi."
Zhuge Liang responded and said: "Then create pressure from public opinion. Cao Zhi was famous for his articles and talents, but he died tragically at the hands of Cao Pi. We will use this as an article to publicize that Cao Pi is cruel, the tyrant of the world, and his virtue is not worthy of the throne."
Jia Xu looked at Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming means to use the power of Dajing Residence Bao?"
Zhuge Liang: "The influence of the Dajing Residence Newspaper is limited to our territory of Dajing. If we want to expand this public opinion, it must be spread throughout the world. Your Majesty, you can spread the Dajing Residence Newspaper all over the world so that everyone can read it and everyone can read it." People can see it, and in this way, we can achieve the greatest pressure of public opinion and let literary people all over the world denounce it."
Zhang Xiu thought for a while and realized that Zhuge Liang's method was really brilliant.
Because this paper was only available in Dajing, Zhang Xiu had absolute control. They created this public pressure and could print it overwhelmingly and spread it all over the world. If Cao Wei wanted to fight back, he had to buy paper from Dajing at a high price and then print it before it could be spread. But the problem is, the printing technology is also in the hands of Dajing. How can Zhang Xiu agree to their printing?
If it can't be printed, it can only be written by hand. According to legend, it spreads all over the world. Why can't Cao Wei hire thousands of writers to write day and night? By the time they finish writing, public opinion has probably reached an unstoppable climax.
This battle can be regarded as a real achievement of success.
Cao Wei was unable to resist.
As soon as this battle started, Cao Pi would probably have a bad reputation even before he resisted. An emperor with a bad reputation was equivalent to being nailed to a pillar of shame in the late Han Dynasty and was reviled by thousands of people.
Zhang Xiu immediately clapped his hands and finalized: "Kong Ming's plan is very clever. I have decided to publish another newspaper. The name of this newspaper is 'Tianxia News'. It will spread the story of Cao Pi's defeated army and his evil deeds of assassinating his brothers in order to succeed to the throne." Go all over the world and let people in the world know the newly ascended Emperor Cao Wei."
Everyone agreed immediately.
As a result, the entire Dajing began to operate quickly again.
Under Zhang Xiu's personal supervision, the Ministry of Revenue allocated the money, and the Ministry of Industry immediately took action. The craftsmen worked overtime overnight to carve the relevant text on the wooden boards and print them out quickly. Under the promotion of Beizhen Fusi, newspapers of the world's most important news were continuously sent from Chang'an to Liu Chu, Sun Wu, and Cao Wei.
In order to achieve the desired effect, newspapers are delivered free of charge.
Every high-ranking noble family in the three countries has a world-news newspaper at their door. There are even newspapers of world news posted on the streets and walls of some cities.
Almost every household among the gentry in the world has a newspaper that contains the world's most important news.
Newspapers were posted in the larger city, attracting people passing by to stop and watch.
