Can I get to the other side?

"The traitor Cao had supported the false emperor before, and now the false emperor is in Jingzhou. This time Cao's army went there to make an alliance with Liu Cong to fight against the imperial court."

Zhuge Liang replied after thinking for a moment.

Sun Quan was defeated so quickly. Not even Cao Cao had expected this situation.

Without Sun Quan fighting for time and resisting the imperial army, Cao Cao would not be able to integrate his forces in time, so he had to find new allies.

Liu Cong, who supported the false emperor, was undoubtedly the best choice.

Both sides are enemies of the imperial court and stand on a united front.

"But I personally thought that Cao Cao might not just want to make an alliance. He had previously formed an alliance with Sun Quan to fight against the imperial court, but secretly sent troops to seize Jiangdong."

"So the troops sent to Jingzhou this time may be ostensibly for the alliance, but secretly with the intention of seizing Jingzhou."

"The traitor Cao is capricious and extremely cunning. He is truly a formidable enemy."

Zhuge Liang still attaches great importance to Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao is not as powerful as Yuan Shao, he is better than Yuan Shao in terms of character and means.

From the abandonment of Yanzhou and Yuzhou and the capture of Jiangdong, we can see Cao Cao's courage and cunning.

There is no doubt that this is a formidable opponent.

He is worthy of the title of "treacherous hero"!

After hearing this, Sima Yi couldn't help frowning and said: "Jingzhou is an important place that military strategists must fight for. If Cao's thieves are allowed to capture Jingzhou, it will be even more difficult to conquer it in the future."

"Why don't you ask your Majesty to send troops to Jingzhou?"

Jingzhou's geographical location is unique, far better than Yuzhou, Yanzhou and Yangzhou, so it must be won.

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "We have just entered Yuzhou and have not fully grasped the territory of these two states. It is too hasty to send troops now."

"Although Liu Biao is dead, his power cannot be underestimated. If we are not fully prepared, we may not get much benefit from sending troops to attack."

"It's better to wait until your Majesty returns to Yecheng to decide on this matter."

Sending troops to Jingzhou is no small matter, at least we have to wait until Yanzhou and Yuzhou are under control and the people are pacified.

It will not be easy to deal with the mess Cao Cao left behind.

Sima Yi hesitated for a moment and finally nodded.

…

Jingzhou, Xiangyang City.

In the prefect's mansion.

After Liu Congzai carefully read the letter from Yangzhou in his hand, a look of hesitation appeared on his face, and then he turned his attention to Cai Mao, Kuai Liang and others in the study.

"Cao Cao wants to form an alliance with me. Do you think I will agree or not?"

This letter was sent by Cao Cao.

The content of the letter is roughly that the false emperor is arrogant and the Han Dynasty is in danger, so he hopes to join forces with him to fight against the false emperor in Yecheng and repeat the glory of the Han Dynasty.

However, the alliance was no small matter, and he couldn't make up his mind, so he still had to listen to the opinions of Cai Mao and others before making a decision.

"Of course I can't agree!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Pang Ji stood up and said with a solemn expression: "My lord, why don't you go out to see Sun Zhongmou?"

"Not long ago, Cao Cao and Sun Quan formed an alliance and agreed to fight against the imperial court together. As a result, Cao Cao secretly captured Jiangdong while Sun Zhongmou was fighting the imperial troops."

"Can An be able to ally with such a capricious and treacherous villain?"

Cao Cao's treacherous behavior is so bad. If you don't make an alliance with him, he might stab you in the back.

Who can bear this?

Liu Xian also nodded and said: "Yes, I think Cao Mengde's alliance with us is fake, and he wants to use this as an excuse to seize Jingzhou."

"Some time ago, Cao Cao's troops entered Nanyang County from Yuzhou and took root in Wancheng. It can be seen that he must be interested in Jingzhou."

After Cao Ren's troops withdrew from Guandu, they entered Nanyang County and occupied Wancheng.

Wancheng had already been captured when Cao Cao attacked Zhang Xiu. Liu Biao never sent troops to take it back, and now it has become a safe haven for Cao's army.

Nanyang County is the largest county in Jingzhou. Cao's army settled in Nanyang County and took root, which made everyone feel like a light on their backs.

Seven thousand soldiers and horses, not too many but definitely not many.

Liu Cong said with some uncertainty: "In that case, should I directly write a letter rejecting his request for an alliance?"

"No need to refuse."

Cai Mao suddenly said, attracting everyone's attention, "No matter what Cao Cao's plan is, we don't want to get too serious with him right now."

"We might as well promise him first and stabilize him. After we end the war in Yizhou, we can then find a way to take back Wancheng and Nanyang County."

When the Yizhou war was mentioned, everyone's expressions became slightly stiff.

Because the war in Yizhou was not optimistic, they thought that by joining forces with Liu Zhang, they could easily eradicate Liu Bei, but Liu Bei was stronger than they expected.

Not to mention that the equipment of the army under his command is very sophisticated, even his two sworn brothers fought with extraordinary bravery.

After such a long period of time, not only did they fail to get any benefits, but they also lost their own troops and generals.

"I think it's better to withdraw troops from Yizhou?"

Kuai Liang sighed slightly and suggested: "At first we wanted to take this as an opportunity to enter Yizhou, but now it seems that this is simply impossible."

"Even if we can finally eradicate Liu Bei's forces and take advantage of the situation to occupy Bajun, our own losses will definitely be considerable."

"It should be noted that the puppet emperor's troops have already recovered Yanzhou and Yuzhou. The next step may be to attack Cao Cao or send troops to Jingzhou. We have to guard against it."

"Not to mention the threat from Cao Cao?"

The situation changed too fast, and two threats suddenly appeared. They had to change their original ideas and plans.

Liu Cong did not dare to make a decision and looked at Cai Mao.

Cai Mao frowned and pondered for a long time, then slowly said: "I will think about this matter when I go back...but I can agree to Cao Cao's alliance first."

"We just need to be more careful about him."

Sun Quan was stolen by Cao Cao without any defense. They would definitely not make such a mistake and would definitely guard against Cao Cao.

Liu Cong nodded and agreed.

The crowd dispersed quickly, and Cai Mao did not go home after leaving the governor's mansion, but went all the way to the mansion where Emperor Xian of Han lived.

After learning from the people in the mansion that Emperor Xian of Han was having fun in the garden, he went to look for him, and before he entered the garden, he heard a burst of laughter coming from inside.

"I'm here, Your Majesty, come here~"

"Here, here! Your Majesty didn't catch it again, hahahaha..."

"Your Majesty, come here~"

...

In the garden, Emperor Xian of Han was blindfolded and chasing and playing with five or six beauties. His clumsy movements made the beauties laugh continuously.

"I caught you!"

Emperor Xian of Han suddenly felt that he had bumped into something, so he hugged her and said with a smile: "Beauty, I wonder where you can run now..."

He took off the veil covering his eyes and looked at the beauty in his arms with great interest.

But what caught his eyes was not the beauty's beautiful face, but Cai Maoyin's extremely gloomy face.

Emperor Xian of Han was shocked and quickly let go of Cai Mao, stammering: "My dear, when did you come?"

Cai Mao remained silent and glanced at the people around him.

Emperor Xian of Han immediately understood what he meant and said to the beauties around him: "You should leave first. I have something to discuss with you."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The beauties followed the order and left. Only Cai Mao and Emperor Xian of Han were left in the huge garden.

Cai Mao said coldly: "You are living comfortably in this mansion. Do you want me to arrange a few more beauties for you?"

Emperor Xian of Han smiled awkwardly and dared not answer.

He was very afraid of Cai Mao in his heart. After all, he saw Liu Biao and his son being poisoned to death last time, so he behaved very honestly in front of Cai Mao.

Now he doesn't care about the dignity of the emperor. It is a blessing to be able to live well.

Cai Mao did not continue to mock him, and said calmly: "I will ask you a question, and you should answer me truthfully."

When Emperor Xian of Han heard that Cai Mao was only here to ask him something, he was relieved and said, "What is it? My dear, you can ask me anything, and I will tell you everything I know."

Cai Mao said directly: "Does Cao Cao know your true identity as the fake emperor? Have you ever exposed yourself in front of him?"

Emperor Xian of Han had escaped from Xu County and had been in Cao Cao's hands before. What he wanted to ask was how much Cao Cao knew about Emperor Xian of Han's identity.

Hearing this, Emperor Xian of Han looked a little stiff.

For a moment, he did not know how to answer.

What does it mean to expose the identity of the fake emperor in front of Cao Cao?

He was originally the real emperor!

However, Emperor Xian of Han also knew that Cai Mao and others thought he was a fake. If he answered that he was the real emperor, the other party would definitely not believe it.

So after a moment of silence, he said solemnly: "Lord Cao has always believed that I am the true dragon emperor, and he treats me with great respect."

"In fact, it was Dong Cheng who kidnapped me and fled Xu County. He saw that the false emperor in Yecheng was powerful, so he had a bad idea and wanted to kidnap me to seek credit from the false emperor."

"Lord Cao is a true loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. He has been fighting against the false emperor in Yecheng and working hard to restore the Han Dynasty."

Emperor Xian of Han still did not say that he was a false emperor.

He just answered tactfully, saying that Cao Cao always believed that he was the true dragon emperor. It seemed that he answered, but in fact he did not answer.

And this was his last stubbornness.

As for the latter words, they were indeed from his heart, because before the false emperor appeared, Cao Cao did treat him with great respect, and at most he was just a powerful minister.

Even if the false emperor appeared, Cao Cao always believed that he was real, but he was deceived after a series of things happened later.

But Emperor Xian of Han could understand Cao Cao.

After all, even Dong Cheng, Fu Wan, Yang Biao and other close ministers who accompanied him every day believed in the fake emperor, let alone Cao Cao?

"Cao Mengde? A loyal minister of the Han Dynasty?"

Cai Mao was stunned when he heard this. It was obvious that the answer of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty was beyond his expectation. A strange look flashed across his face.

These two words sounded abrupt.

Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty nodded vigorously and said, "That's right! Cao Aiqing has trusted me from beginning to end. His loyalty is no less than that of my uncle!"

When mentioning Liu Biao, Emperor Xian of Han felt a little sad.

Liu Biao was one of the few people who treated him well in this chaotic world. Unfortunately, both father and son were poisoned to death by Cai Mao.

Cai Mao frowned deeply upon hearing this, and said to himself: "Cao Mengde didn't know that this was a fake emperor... Could it be that what he said in the letter about supporting the emperor to fight against the fake emperor in Yecheng was true?"

"Is Cao Mengde really loyal to the Han Dynasty?"

The reason why he came to ask Emperor Xian of Han about this matter this time was to verify whether Cao Cao's words about supporting the emperor to fight against the fake emperor in Yecheng were true or false.

If he knew that the emperor in Xiangyang City was a fake, and still said that he wanted to fight against the fake emperor in Yecheng, then he was purely using this matter as an excuse, but in fact he had other intentions.

But I didn't expect that Cao Cao didn't know that he was a false emperor.

"Is there a letter from Cao Aiqing?"

After Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty heard what Cai Mao said, his eyes suddenly lit up and he asked excitedly: "Is Cao Aiqing planning to come to welcome me back?!"

This news made Emperor Xian of Han extremely happy.

He was worried day and night in Xiangyang City. He dreamed of returning to Cao Cao and never leaving again.

Seeing Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty look so excited, Cai Mao believed a little more what he had just said, and then said calmly: "The emperor of Yecheng sent his troops south to fight against the thieves. Cao Mengde lost Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and now he is hiding in the east of the Yangtze River. Keep.”

"He wrote a letter not long ago, saying that he wanted to join forces with us to fight against the emperor...Huh, your acting skills are really good, you have actually deceived him until now."

"If he had known that you were a false emperor, he would have surrendered to the real emperor long ago. How could he have resisted until now?"

Cao Cao has been fighting against the imperial court.

He still couldn't figure out the reason.

They only needed this title to support the false emperor. After all, Liu Biao and Liu Cong were both orthodox Han dynasty bloodlines. As long as they had the title of "Emperor Zen", they could ascend the throne and proclaim themselves emperor.

And Cao Cao had no reason to support a false emperor.

If in order to become emperor, even direct descendants of the Yuan family like Yuan Shu failed, the family background of Cao Cao's eunuchs would be even more impossible.

If you are afraid of being punished because you supported a false emperor, as long as you claim that you cannot tell the truth from falsehood, I believe the emperor will not pursue it too much.

Fortunately, today he finally got the answer.

Cao Cao turned out to be a loyal minister to the Han Dynasty. He did all this because he believed that this false emperor was the real emperor!

"It's ridiculous, it's pitiful."

Cai Mao couldn't help but feel a trace of sarcasm in his heart.

Cao Cao was treacherous by nature, but he didn't expect to be deceived by a false emperor. To fight against the real emperor, it can only be said that fate plays tricks on people.

Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was very excited and said in an excited tone: "Meng De is really a loyal minister! Aiqing, you can trust him completely and join hands with him to fight against the false emperor of Yecheng!"

Hearing this, Cai Hao glanced at him coldly and said, "How do I act, do you need to tell me what to do? You can fool Cao Mengde, but you can't fool me!"

"Don't forget that you are the real false emperor!"

After saying this, Cai Mao turned around and strode away, not even bothering to look at Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty again.

Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty looked a little ugly, and finally sighed and turned his gaze to the sky.

"Sikong, when can I see you again?"

"I miss you."

…

At the same time, Wei County in Jizhou.

Zhang Liao escorted Sun Quan and many prisoners and finally arrived at Yecheng.