Maybe it was Cao Miao and Cao Zhi's wishes that played a role.
Of course, the greater possibility is that the Wei State has been too unsatisfactory in recent years, so it finally began to bottom out.
The good news first came from Bingzhou.
The imperial guards led by Qin Lang defeated the combined forces of Kebineng and Budugen in one fell swoop.
This is not a surprise.
The imperial guards stationed in Luoyang were the most elite troops in the Wei state.
Although it is not as good as the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry set up by Emperor Wu himself.
But to be honest, before the Battle of Longyou, except for the imperial guards of Wei who were not used to water warfare, no one north of the river could compete with them.
If Feng Thief hadn't been too cunning, the thousands of Chinese troops led by Zhang He might not have been able to reverse Longyou's situation at Jieting.
After the Battle of Longyou, Cao Rui often thought about how great it would be if the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were still there.
Especially after the Battle of Xiaoguan, King Feng Gui sent Zhao Sanqian to drill through the camp of a hundred thousand troops and became famous all over the world.
Cao Rui felt even more regretful:
The Wei Dynasty disbanded the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Now it seems that it may have been a mistake?
However, if the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are not disbanded, there will be no way to establish a central guard army.
the reason is simple.
The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry spent too much money and food.
There are simply too many.
When the number of Tiger and Leopard Riders was at its highest, there were only about five thousand people.
Because of this, no one could have imagined that in the battle of Xiaoguan, the Shu people could actually produce three thousand armored cavalry that were even more terrifying than the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
With the power of eight states, Wei State found it difficult to support five thousand tiger and leopard cavalry.
How did the Shu people, who only had one state, raise these three thousand armored cavalry?
Did their money and food fall from the sky?
This is not only one of the biggest mysteries in Cao Rui's heart, but also one of the biggest confusions for the generals and ministers of Wei.
In the past few years, he had fought with the Shu people and suffered successive defeats, which made Cao Rui self-doubt about the combat effectiveness of the Wei army.
Fortunately, last year, Tian Yu first attacked and killed Zhou He, and then Man Chong repelled Lu Sun's sneak attack.
Now Qin Lang led the Chinese army again and decisively defeated the combined forces of Ke Bineng and Bu Dugen.
Cao Rui finally found some confidence.
Thief Ge is called Wolong, and Thief Feng is called the King of Ghosts, which indeed makes sense.
It's not that I, the Wei Dynasty, can't do it, it's that the Shu people have these two thieves who are too cunning.
As soon as this thought came to mind, another message came from Qin Lang in Bingzhou:
Because Kebineng suffered heavy losses, he wanted to annex the Budugen tribe, and the two had internal strife.
In the end, Ke Bi Neng killed Bu Dugen. Bu Dugen's nephew Xie Guini was so frightened that he led his tribe to escape again and surrendered to the Wei Dynasty again.
A minister in the court wrote:
The Hu people are unrighteous, shameless, and capricious. When they lose power and are at the end of their road, destroy their tribes to avoid future troubles.
After thinking about it, Cao Rui refused:
"Xie Guini and Ke Bineng originally had a grudge against killing their father. Later, they escaped from Ke Bineng and joined Bu Dugen."
"Now Bu Dugen has been killed by Ke Bineng again. Between Xie Guini and Ke Bineng, there is another person who wanted to kill his uncle."
"Xie Guini fled from Kebineng many times, which shows that this person is indeed not the same type of person as Kebineng."
"At the same time, the other party is in a desperate situation and wants to surrender. If the Wei Dynasty takes the opportunity to destroy it, it will only damage its reputation. How will it gain the trust of the barbarians in the future?"
So he ordered that Xie Guini be worshiped as the King of Guiyi, and be given banners, qugai, and drums, so that the tribe of Xie Guini could live in the place where the Budugen tribe used to be.
After this defeat, Kebi Neng was severely injured and led his tribe to flee to Mobei.
Coupled with the appeasement policies of Cao Rui and Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou, towards the Hu people, Youzhou finally gained temporary peace after merging the two states.
In November, Gongsun Yuan of Liaodong sent another big gift:
Wu State Taichang Zhang Mi, Zhi Jinwu Xu Yan and others' heads were presented to them, and they reiterated that they were ministers of the Wei State.
Cao Rui got the heads of Zhang Mi, Xu Yan and others. Overjoyed, he made Gong Sun Yuan the Grand Sima and promoted him to Duke Lelang.
Cao Rui's happy event was a funeral for Sun Quan.
I learned that most of the soldiers sent to Liaodong were killed by Gongsun Yuan, and that all the rare treasures brought by the fleet were swallowed up by Gongsun Yuan.
Sun Quan's eyes were filled with darkness!
Thinking back to when he decided to send a fleet to Liaodong, almost all the ministers in the imperial court opposed it, and Emperor Sun's face was burning.
Gongsun the thief, would you rather accept the title of Duke of Wei thief than the title of King of Wu? !
As soon as he thought of this, Sun Quan felt that his chest was churning, and blood almost rushed to his throat.
In a rage, Sun Quan drew his sword in his hand and said angrily:
"I have passed the age of knowing my destiny, and I have never experienced difficult and easy things in the world. I didn't expect that a rat would take advantage of me. It is really an insult to me!"
"I swear that I will personally lead the army, flatten Liaodong, chop off the heads of rats, and throw them into the sea. Otherwise, I will face all the nations with such shamelessness!"
The ministers below, from Prime Minister Gu Yong on down, were all trembling when they heard His Majesty swearing this oath in public in the court hall!
Before the change, when people like Liu Bei and Cao Cao were still there, it was most normal for them to say that they wanted to personally lead the army on an expedition.
After all, they are all emperors on horseback, fighting on the battlefield throughout their lives.
It's different now. The world is divided into three parts, and the potential of a tripod has been established.
The emperor had better stay behind and not go to war easily.
Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it will easily cause turmoil in the country, and even risk overturning.
Even Liu Bei, who had fought all his life, almost caused the Shu Kingdom to fall because of the Battle of Yiling?
That is to say, relying on the obstacles of the mountains and rocks, and the fact that there was Zhuge Liang, who was one of the top three in the world in terms of political power, he managed to get through.
If it hadn't been for Feng Yong, who was top notch in military affairs, people's livelihood, and wealth accumulation.
Is the Kingdom of Shu afraid that it will be trapped in Shu forever?
Zhuge Liang and Feng Yong worked together for more than ten years, which led to the current situation of Shu.
Otherwise, it’s hard to say what the world would be like if Feng Yong were to come out ten years earlier and serve Liu Bei.
Closer to home, look at Cao Rui's imperial authority over the years.
Although the main reason is that since he ascended the throne, Wei State has suffered successive defeats.
But the earliest reason was that during the Battle of Longyou, he softly promised to personally conquer and supervise the battle in Chang'an, and was finally forced to run back to Luoyang in despair?
They said they were holding Zhang He's coffin back, but people in the world are not fools and they all know what the real facts are.
At that time, there were people in Luoyang who encouraged the Queen Mother to make Cao Zhi the new king!
It can be seen how bad Cao Rui's situation was at that time.
Zhang Zhao, the most important minister of Wu State, is still at home and refuses to go to court.
As the Prime Minister, Gu Yong was obliged to be the first to object:
"Your Majesty, with his body of ten thousand chariots, is at the moment when China is about to be conquered and a great harvest is coming, yet he can't bear to be angry and gets angry. This goes against the principle of 'a son of a rich man cannot sit down in the hall'."
"Now that the powerful invaders are in the country and they are still in the wilderness, your majesty is lightening the weight of thousands of vehicles and going on an expedition. How is it any different from traveling thousands of miles to the middle road and then stopping to stop, and to have a small plan to do harm to the whole world?"
Shangshu Pushe Xue Zong came out second:
"In the past, when Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty wanted to control a ship, Xue Guangde asked him to cut his neck and stain the chariot with blood. Why? The dangers of water and fire are extremely dangerous, and it is not suitable for an emperor to get involved!"
"Now Your Majesty wants to take a boat to conquer thousands of miles away, but the mountainous difficulties are still in front of you. Your Majesty's move, although it is a pity to lose the soldiers of Liaodong, is it the basis for abandoning Jiangdong for eternity?"
Cao Shangshu and Lu Mao were selected as the third candidates:
"The Wei thieves are connected to the country and the land. Once there is a gap in the country, they will definitely wait for the opportunity to move. The reason why your majesty crossed the sea to seek horses and turned to Gongsun Yuan is precisely to eliminate the immediate troubles of his confidants."
"Today, if we want to personally conquer Liaodong, we are abandoning our roots in pursuit of the end, focusing on the near and distant, changing the rules in anger, and stirring up the masses. The cunning captives will be delighted when they hear this. This is not the plan of the Great Wu!"
The important ministers of Wu State came out to dissuade him one after another, which was in sharp contrast to the previous ministers who persuaded them not to send a fleet to Liaodong with great fanfare.
Sun Quan was furious. Although he knew that what the officials said was reasonable, he felt more and more shameless and couldn't stand up.
"But the rats bully me and humiliate me like this. If I tolerate it, won't I make the world laugh at me?"
Lu Mao was good at understanding people's hearts, so he came out again:
"Your Majesty, you are the one who rebelled, so you punished the rioters and threatened the barbarians. Now that the riots in the Mid-Xia Dynasty have not ended, your Majesty has launched a counter-conquest in Liaodong. In fact, you are sacrificing the near and far away."
"In the past, Zhao Tuo was rebellious and arrogantly proclaimed himself emperor. At that time, the world was stable and the people were prosperous. However, the Chinese text just said that the expedition was not easy. Today, China's ferocious Jie has not died, so it is not appropriate to put the Yuan first."
"I hope your Majesty will suppress your authority and let your plans be in control, temporarily calm down the Sixth Division, and hide your mind and ambition for the future. Just wait for your Majesty to achieve great success in time, and the rats will not surrender."
These words, taking Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty as an example of a generation of Ming emperors, and also intending to compare Sun Quan with Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, finally made Sun Quan's face look a little better.
In his excitement, someone finally gave him a step, and Sun Quan naturally walked down the slope:
"My anger is not for myself, but for the many soldiers in Liaodong! Since we want to punish Yuan, we must first pacify Zhongxia. I heard that the Wei thieves built a new city in Hefei, and it is the right time to conquer..."
The ministers were relieved when they heard that the emperor no longer wanted to attack Liaodong and wanted to attack Hefei.
It's good to play in Hefei, but as long as we don't play in Liaodong, everything is easy to say.
Hefei is close to the river and has Chaohu Lake. If you can't defeat it, you can always run back...
"Your Majesty is wise! If the Wu Dynasty wants to advance northward to the Central Plains, it must attack Hefei. It is the right time to attack."
Gu Yong was afraid that Sun Quan would change his mind, so he quickly decided.
Although Hefei is not easy to fight, it is still much better than crossing the sea to fight Liaodong.
The most important thing is that with the current situation in Dawu, both the east and south are surrounded by the sea.
The only breakthrough directions are west and north.
To the west is Yongan.
Regardless of the fact that Shu is an ally of Wu, even if the two sides are still enemies, Yong'an is the most difficult to fight.
Otherwise, when Liu Bei defeated Yiling, wouldn't the general want to take the opportunity to invade Shu?
If there were no internal changes in the Shu Kingdom, with the current national strength of the Shu Kingdom, if Wu wanted to invade Shu from Yong'an, it would be difficult to do so even with the strength of the whole country.
Not to mention that to the northeast of Yong'an, there is Xiangyang where the Wei thieves are heavily deployed.
If they raise their troops to attack Yong'an, who knows what the Wei thieves in Xiangyang will do?
On the contrary, if we go north to Xiangyang, who can guarantee that the Shu people in Yong'an have no other ideas?
This is the reason why when the Shu people promised the benefits of sugar cane, Wu Yi was just showing off, casually beating Xiangyang and then immediately withdrew his troops.
If the world is divided into three pillars, then Nanjun Yong'an Xiangyang is also a smaller version of the three pillars.
Therefore, Yong'an cannot be attacked and Xiangyang cannot be defeated. The best breakthrough for Dawu is in Hefei.
This is also the reason why Wu has to conquer Hefei every year.
Some aristocratic families in Jiangdong may be content to segregate the land south of the Yangtze River.
But Sun Quan was an emperor after all, and he certainly didn't want to do nothing and die trapped in the south of the Yangtze River.
It’s just that the Han Dynasty Prime Minister saw it clearly:
"His intelligence is not strong, so he limits himself to the river to protect himself. The powerful can't cross the river, just like the Wei thieves can't cross the Han. Unless they have more strength, they can't gain benefits."
Wu Guo doesn’t mean that no one sees this reality.
But so what if you can see it?
Emperor Sun said, since you Shu people can break through Qishan, why do you say that I "can't cross the river"?
If I don’t accept it, I will definitely defeat Hefei!
Now that he had the support of his ministers, Emperor Sun became proud and said:
"I have repeatedly failed to attack Hefei, which shows that the Wei thieves have really secured the city. Now the thieves have abandoned the city. This can be said to have been captured without attacking!"
"When I lead the army to the city, the thieves will definitely be timid. How can they not be defeated?"
So in December of the 11th year of Jianxing, Emperor Sun once again personally led an army of 100,000 people and marched north.
Although Lu Xun's attack on Lu'an City in Lujiang County failed last year, it also revealed that it was not easy for Lu'an City, Shouchun City, and Hefei City to rescue each other.
So Sun Quan followed suit and sent another guard general Quan Cong to supervise 50,000 troops to attack Lu'an.
And he took 50,000 yuan and marched into Hefei.
Entering Chao Lake from Chao County, you will reach Xiaoyaojin on the north bank of Chao Lake.
Sun Quanli watched from the boat and saw that the old city of Hefei, which was built near the lake in the past, had been destroyed.
The city gates have long been demolished and the moat has been filled in.
Only the city wall covered with various scars is still there, but many dangerous places have been deliberately demolished and become dilapidated.
Many places are completely like a barren wasteland of loess. Because no one has maintained it, dry weeds and withered vines can be seen everywhere on the city walls.
Seeing that the fortified city that could not be attacked in the past was now allowed to enter and exit without any defense, Sun Quan couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion.
"Your Majesty, the army has been here for more than twenty days. Do you want to go ashore?"
Someone asked in a low voice.
"Ashore?"
When Sun Quan heard this, the expression on his face froze.
For some reason, he looked at the shore in front of him, and there seemed to be a general wearing armor and holding a halberd, shouting: "I am Zhang Liao, and Zhang Wenyuan is also!"
While taking the lead in the battle.
Behind him, there were only a few hundred sergeants, but they dared to charge towards the camp of a hundred thousand troops.
Before they arrived at the camp, the soldiers were already out to welcome the general, but the general beheaded two generals and killed dozens of people...
This is a nightmare!
It was after this battle that Sun Quan knew that he was really afraid in his heart.
From then on, even though he led troops to attack Hefei many times, he never set foot on the shore easily.
But in order to eliminate this nightmare in his heart, he always thought of leading the army to conquer Hefei himself.
But when the Wei people gave up Hefei and the Wu army could enter Hefei city without spending a single soldier, Sun Quan began to hesitate again.
Or maybe he suddenly realized that he didn't have enough courage to face the nightmare in his heart.
When the general reminded him that he had been wandering here for more than twenty days, Sun Quan's face became hot, he gritted his teeth, held his whip and shouted at the old city of Hefei:
"Ashore!"
As an emperor, if you don't dare to face the nightmare in your heart, how can you bring peace to the world?
Today, he not only wants to enter the old city of Hefei, but also attack the new city of Hefei!
When he learned that Sun Quan had led his army to abandon the ship and land ashore, Man Chong, who was standing in Hefei New City, laughed:
"When Sun Quan learned that we were moving the city, he came with a large army. He must have wanted to gain some temporary success. However, those who have stayed there for more than twenty days without daring to land are probably out of fear?"
"Now that we are reluctant to go ashore to show off our force, it is just to show that we have enough strength, and our intention to attack the city may not be firm. Moreover, the Wu people are good at water warfare, but they are insufficient in land warfare, so they will be defeated at the right time!"
