In a delicate and elegant public room in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Yang Qing and Ma Su sat opposite each other, sipping fragrant tea and talking about interesting things.
Ma Su looked around at the layout of the room and said with a smile: "Mingzhi, your public room is a bit crude. Do you want me to have some more utensils brought over?"
"Is it simple? I think it's okay. It's a public house. It doesn't need to be so fancy. It just needs to be more elegant." Yang Qing said nonchalantly.
After resting for three or four days, he finally sorted out the trivial matters. As soon as he heard that he was officially back on duty at the Prime Minister's Mansion today, Ma Su immediately ran over, and the two discussed military strategies again.
Currently, there are six soldiers in the Prime Minister's Office: Zhang Yi, Yang Yi, Liao Hua, Yang Qing, Jiang Wan and Ma Su. However, in Ma Su's opinion, Zhang Yi is too old, Yang Yi is too proud, Liao Hua is too Yong, and Jiang Wan is too strict. Among the soldiers, only Yang Qing likes him. , only Yang Qing's military attainments can rival him, and the rest are all mediocre and inactive.
So after Yang Qing was transferred to Nanzhong, Ma Su felt depressed for a while. Now that Yang Qing is back, there is someone in the prime minister's mansion who can talk to him again.
Ma Su nodded and said: "By the way, Mingzhi, you will join the army when you come back. Has the Prime Minister told you which affairs you will be responsible for?"
"Not yet. I guess the Prime Minister hasn't made arrangements with me since he just came back after seeing me." Yang Qing shook his head.
He still has some understanding of the current division of labor among the several people who have joined the army. Zhang Yi and Yang Yi are currently assisting Chang Shi Xianglang in handling government affairs, Ma Di and Liao Hua are responsible for military counselors on the Wei side, and Jiang Wan is in charge of the military affairs on the Wu side. .
Yang Qing expected that Zhuge Liang would arrange for him to deal with Wei's military situation when he came back. After all, Nanzhong was at peace, and now it was time for the court to turn its attention to the formidable enemy of the puppet Wei.
However, this was just his speculation. The actual arrangement would not be finalized until he met Zhuge Liang later.
"I guess the Prime Minister will also arrange for you to be responsible for the movements of the Wei army together with me and Liao Yuanjian." Ma Di also speculated the same as Yang Qing.
Yang Qing smiled and said: "That's good, then you and I can go together..."
Before he finished speaking, an officer suddenly came in and reported: "Yang Canjun and Ma Canjun, the Prime Minister has ordered the two Canjuns to go to the public hall to discuss matters."
"I know." Yang Qing waved his hand to Shi Shi to retreat, and then said to Ma Su: "It seems that something big has happened. You Chang and I will come over quickly."
Yang Qing and Ma Su rushed to the public hall and saw that Zhuge Liang, Xiang Lang, Yang Yong and Zhang Yi were all there. They did not dare to neglect and took their seats quickly.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zhuge Liang coughed slightly, and then said: "Everyone, please come over quickly. An important piece of information has been sent back from the Wei State, so I have summoned you and others to discuss it." After a pause, he looked at Yang Yong said: "Zizhao, please tell me the specific situation."
Yang Yong obeyed the order and stood up and said: "Everyone, I, the great man, sent back information from the secret service in Luoyang, saying that the pseudo-Wei Emperor Cao Pi suddenly fell ill after returning to Luoyang from Xuchang this spring. At first, he was fine and could still attend court, but His condition seems to have taken a turn for the worse recently, and he has not been to court for many days."
"Is the intelligence report reliable?" After listening, Chang Shi Xianglang was the first to ask.
Yang Yong replied: "It should be reliable. We have detailed operations inside and outside Luoyang Palace. Although we have not sneaked into the vicinity of the puppet emperor, it is certain that Cao Pi is ill and absent from court."
Xiang Lang nodded, raised his hands to Zhuge Liang and said: "Prime Minister, in this case, the false emperor Cao Pi may be seriously ill this time. Lang thought that we should be prepared for Cao Pi's death."
"It's a little premature to say this to Mr. Cao Pi. Cao Pi has suffered from serious illness several times before, and he recovered in the end. How could he know that it would be the same this time? If we were to prepare for Cao Pi's death in this way, we would be a little too nervous. Alright." Before Zhuge Liang could speak, Yang Yi objected.
"No, Wei Gong's words are a bit far-fetched." Ma Di objected: "I have recovered from illness before, how could I know that Cao Pi can also recover this time? Besides, if what Wei Gong said is an ordinary person, it would be fine, but this is the false emperor Cao Pi. The relationship is so important, how can we not take it seriously? I think that no matter whether Cao Pi will die this time, we must deal with it as if he will die."
"This..." Yang Yi was momentarily stopped by the question and lowered her head in silence.
Upon seeing this, Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Yi, "What do you think, Lord Jun Sigong?"
"In October last year, Cao Wei raised an army of more than 100,000 people and marched to Guangling. Cao Pi watched the troops along the river, with banners flying hundreds of miles away. The momentum was not small, but Cao Pi's attack on Wu this time ended in vain.
In November, the prince Cao Jian, king of Dongwuyang, passed away. In the first month of this year, Cao Pi was preparing to drive to Xuchang. Unexpectedly, the south gate of Xuchang City collapsed for no reason. Cao Pi was disgusted and refused to enter the city. "Zhang Yi looked up at the sky outside the door and said calmly.
Everyone looked puzzled when they heard this. This was talking about Cao Pi's illness. Why was it related to the defeat of Wu?
"Jun Sigong, what do you mean by this?" Liao Hua asked.
Before Zhang Yi spoke, Jiang Wan said: "The attack on Wu was in vain, the young son died, and the city gate collapsed. These are all unfavorable and ominous things. The intention of Jun Si Gong is..."
"The energy is almost exhausted." Zhang Yi glanced at Jiang Wan and said word by word.
Running out of energy? Everyone was shocked. Cao Pi was only forty years old this year and in his prime. Could it be that he really couldn't survive this time?
Zhuge Liang took in everyone's expressions, smiled slightly, looked at Yang Qing and said, "What do you think, Ming?"
Yang Qing said: "Qing thinks what Jun Sigong said is very reasonable."
"Oh? Do you also think that Cao Pi is in danger this time and is running out of energy?"
"Exactly." Yang Qing nodded: "I looked at the sky last night and saw that the Northern Emperor Star was dim. I was surprised and suspicious. Now that I know that Cao Pi is seriously ill, I must be responsible for this."
"Mingzhi, you can still watch stars?" Ma Di asked curiously, sitting next to him.
Yang Qing said calmly: "I have learned it before, and I understand it a little bit."
In fact, he knew nothing about celestial phenomena. Just because he remembered that Cao Pi only reigned for six or seven years, and calculated that the time was almost up to now, he was sure that Cao Pi was seriously ill and would not survive this time.
Everyone had heard that Yang Qing studied with a master in the mountains, and thought it was common for him to learn the art of observing celestial phenomena, so they couldn't help but believe it.
Zhuge Liang glanced at Yang Qing with slightly squinted eyes, and then hummed and said: "It seems that Cao Pi is in danger this time. We will prepare for his death. Of course, there is no need to make a big fanfare. Now it is limited to this Just let everyone know about it.”
After a pause, he continued: "After Cao Pi dies, who do you think should succeed him?"
It turned out that Cao Pi had been in power for several years and had not yet established a crown prince. Among the sons, although Cao Rui, the eldest son, might be the most likely to succeed to the throne, his father-son relationship with Cao Pi was not good, especially after Mrs. Zhen was killed.
Moreover, Cao Pi even had the idea of making King Jingzhao the crown prince before. At this time, Cao Rui had been demoted from Pingyuan King to Pingyuan Marquis because of his mother's conviction. The situation was not very good until his relationship with Cao Pi in the past year or two. Only then did things improve.
Everyone present was aware of these circumstances, but they were all capable officials and did not look down on Cao Rui because of the poor relationship between Cao Pi and Cao Rui. They all said in unison that Cao Rui should be the successor.
Xiang Lang said: "Cao Rui is the eldest son, and he was raised under Guo Hou's knees. One has no children, and the other has no mother, so they can help each other, and the other sons are all young. Cao Pi is a wise master, so he shouldn't know how to do it. Unwise move.”
"What Mr. Xiang said is true." Everyone agreed.
Zhuge Liang also agreed with everyone's opinions and said: "Cao Rui may be the most likely to succeed to the throne. I heard that he is talented, intelligent and agile. He was very popular with Cao Cao in his early years. Although he is young, he may be a powerful enemy of our great Han Dynasty in the future. You all should pay more attention to this person from now on."
"I sincerely follow the instructions of the Prime Minister."
Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded, and then said: "If Cao Pi dies of illness soon, there will definitely be a turmoil in the Wei State. This is a rare opportunity. What do you think I, a big man, should do?"
