After Cao Hong's incident, the atmosphere in the palace became more serious. Everyone had a new understanding of Cao Pi and thought that his majesty would not even spare the clan if he became ruthless.
"Zi Yang, I know that you have many good ideas. Now that Yongliang has been lost, we can't let Liu Bei continue to be powerful. Do you have any good ideas?" Cao Pi directly named Liu Ye.
Liu Ye was about to turn around and return to his original position when he was called by Cao Pi and answered: "What Wang Situ said is indeed true. Liu Bei took over a large area of Yongliang land rashly. There will not be too many soldiers and horses left in Chang'an. I suggest General Wenbo (Zhu Ling) ) out of Tongguan to test, if the Huayin defenders shrink their defense line and return to Chang'an, Your Majesty can mobilize elite troops to march westward immediately."
"Huh? Didn't Ziyang hear what I just said? The troops around Luoyang are limited. Where will I mobilize the elite to fight in the pass? Does Guan Yu in Jingzhou not care?" Cao Pi and everyone showed surprised expressions.
Unexpectedly, Liu Ye replied firmly: "Just ignore Guan Yu and attack Chang'an with all your strength. Wancheng and Luoyang will do their best to defend. The field battles in Jingzhou are okay, but the siege battle is not enough."
"Sir, this plan is too risky. It will easily cause panic among the people of Luoyang, and the defense will be much more difficult." Zhu Shuo was in charge of Luoyang's garrison, so he was the first to speak out against it.
Liu Ye smiled contemptuously: "The Jingbei War has been fought on and off for a year. Guan Yu can only mobilize 20,000 to 30,000 troops now. Not to mention relying on these people to break into Luoyang City, even attacking Wancheng is very difficult. The Wei Dynasty has 100,000 troops." Elite soldiers have appeared under Chang'an City. Do you think the people of Chang'an are panicked? Liu Bei might recruit Jingzhou soldiers to join King Guan Qin."
"Zi Yang means to use offense as defense? Han and Wei both changed their capitals at the same time. Who is stronger in the competition?" Cao Pi frowned and stroked his beard.
"Of course, has your Majesty noticed that since the beginning of the Battle of Hanzhong, the battle rhythm of our Kingdom of Wei has been led by Liu Bei? The Battle of Hanzhong was like this, the Battle of Jingbei was like this, the battlefield of Yongliang is still like this, what? Is it time to hand over the initiative to the other party?”
Liu Ye's barrage of questions made the officials in the palace clear up the clouds. It seemed that he had found the reason for his failure over the years. Did he lose the initiative at the end of Cao Cao's life?
Cao Pi stood up from his seat and paced around, thinking that Liu Ziyang was really smart, but he thought too much about doing things for others. If you had warned the late emperor earlier, I wouldn't be so passive now.
"What do you think, sir?"
Facing Cao Pi's inquiry, no one in the palace spoke to him. Finally, Cao Xiu stood up and said, "The situation is like a fog at the moment. Doctor Taizhong's plan may be tried. However, Generals Tongguan, Zhu and Hao are good at defending and not attacking. Your Majesty." We can send a strong general to help."
"General Zhang He is familiar with Yongliang and was originally the best candidate. However, he caught wind and cold on the way to retreat to the state. Now he is staying at Liang Ziyu to recuperate. I wonder which general is willing to share my worries?" Cao Pi looked around at everyone.
Xu Huang knew that Cao Xiu and Xia Houshang were both clan generals, and that Zhu Shuo and Wu Zhi were Cao Pi's confidants, so he and Wang Zhong had to choose.
"The last general is willing to go." Xu Huang came out of the queue and clasped his fists to ask for a tassel.
"I almost forgot that Gongming once regained Guanzhong with the late emperor, and now the general is allowed to revisit his old place, hoping to continue his efforts." Cao Pi nodded happily.
"I will do my best in the end." Xu Huang's eyes were firm.
Cao Pi was overjoyed and pointed to the general Wang Zhong and ordered: "General Qingche, please go with Gong Ming. You can take the initiative in the war back from Liu Bei's hands."
"Wei." Wang Zhong and Xu Huang replied in unison.
Cao Pi selected the candidates for the expedition and asked Cao Xiu to allocate 10,000 elite troops to Xu Huang. The next day, he went to Tongguan to attack Huayin. After the court was dismissed, he returned to the harem humming a ditty.
Due to the great pressure during this period, Cao Pi had no interest in visiting his concubines at night. Just now at the court meeting, Liu Ye seemed to have found the crux of Wei's situation, and the extinguished flame in his heart was rekindled.
Gao Miao was good at observing words and expressions, and Cao Pi almost had his desire written on his face, so he took Sima Zhao to choose a beauty, and told him to remember the emperor's preferences and be particular about when and what kind of person you choose.
Although Sima Zhao was young, he was smart and learned quickly. What Gao Miao taught him could basically be remembered after learning it once, but what the emperor was about to do now aroused the pain in his young heart.
There is some happiness that Sima Zhao will never experience.
When Gao Miao saw Sima Zhao's expression, he guessed what he was thinking, and comforted him like a father: "You have to learn to be more open-minded. Although you lose some happiness, you will save more worries at the same time. You know How many heroes in the world have died at the hands of women? Beauty is a disaster."
"You are right, I have written it down." Sima Zhao wiped away his tears and nodded sincerely in response.
"Good boy, come with me." Gao Miao patted Sima Zhao on the shoulder and continued to comfort and explain: "Although the eunuch is physically disabled, he can feast his eyes just like your majesty. The emperor's servants like us are concubines. You must also be in awe, there are countless beauties that you will see in this life, except for Your Majesty himself, none of the princes and kings can compare to this."
"Uh, okay." Sima Zhao was speechless after hearing this. He thought to himself that after all, Gao Miao was from a humble background and his horizons were only so small. As a close official of the emperor, how could it be enough to feast his eyes on everything? Even if you can't be like Zhao Gao, you must try your best to become the next Cao Teng.
In mid-March, Xu Huang entered Tongguan under the imperial edict and led more than 10,000 elite troops to Huayin the next day.
Before leaving, Xu Huang asked Zhu Ling: "Huayin was originally guarded by Zhao Yun. Now that he has gone to Anding, who did Liu Bei send?"
"It's his adopted son Liu Feng." Zhu Ling answered simply.
"Is it this person again?" Xu Huang frowned.
Wang Zhong scratched his head and asked curiously: "General, have you ever fought against him?"
Xu Huang nodded in affirmation, "In the battle for Nanxiang last year, this guy often led troops to attack our food routes. He was as annoying as a mouse."
"How is this man's martial arts?" Wang Zhong asked Zhu Ling again.
Zhu Ling waved his hand and said: "I haven't fought before, so I think it's not that good."
"I've never heard of his achievements." Xu Huang denied.
Wang Zhong was very excited when he heard this. He thought that he had been defeated by Liu Bei in Xiaopei in the past, but now he could take back his father's debt to Liu Feng. So he clasped his fists and asked Xu Huang for his tassel, saying: "General Xu, how can you kill a chicken with a bull's knife? I will be willing to do it for you." Pioneer, let me find out the truth for you."
Xu Huang and Zhu Ling looked at each other and thought that it would be good to hide themselves first. If Liu Bei couldn't even deal with Wang Zhong and then invited reinforcements from Luoyang, the city of Chang'an would probably change hands.
"That's fine, be careful." Xu Huang solemnly warned.
"General, don't worry, we will definitely live up to our orders." Wang Zhong then left with his fists clasped, heading straight to Huayin with his three thousand men.
Under the influence of the Lantian Reconnaissance Battalion, each of Liu Bei's troops set up their own intelligence battalions. Therefore, as soon as Xu Huang's troops left Tongguan, Liu Feng organized and deployed defense while sending people to Chang'an for help, and Zhang It took less than ten days to fly back to Chang'an.
(End of chapter)
