Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, Only Seek Death

With the recovery of Yangzhou, Ma Su, as the general of Ji Han, began a large-scale purge of the Yangzhou tycoons. All the forces that had previously flirted with him were purged on a large scale by Ma Su.

All the three dukes and nine ministers, civil and military officials in the Eastern Wu period were killed. And the counties of Yangzhou were personally deployed by Ma Su to guard the troops to prevent the resurgence of the separatist intentions in the southeast.

In addition, Ma Su also moved a large number of soldiers from the Lianghuai Prefecture into Yangzhou. The entire Yangzhou navy was uniformly moved to Jiangling by Ma Su, and almost all the armed forces in Yangzhou were dismembered.

There was no way, the separatism in the southeast caused by the Southern and Northern Dynasties in later generations was too scary for hundreds of years. Ma Su didn't want to see that the southeast would be divided again and cause trouble to the court before his body was cold in the future.

Of course, while dismembering the big families in the southeast, Ma Su and Zhuge Liang also helped the local small tyrants to rise again. The confiscated lands of the southeastern clans were uniformly distributed to local tenants and self-cultivating farmers, and military settlements were set up in Yangzhou to maintain the court's influence here.

Lianghuai and Yangzhou will become the Han Dynasty's reliance on the north in the future, and they cannot be neglected at all.

When Ji Han was fully integrating Yangzhou, the news of the fall of Dongwu also spread to the north. When he heard about this, Sima Shi seemed to be a little tired.

"Dongwu is gone, Ma Su is coming..." Sima Shi looked at his staff and Yang Hu, who had just been transferred back from Liaodong, and said calmly.

"I understand, we are afraid that we will face the head-on impact of the entire West Shu." Yang Hu nodded and replied with a wry smile.

"To be honest, I don't see any hope of defending Hebei now. Instead of continuing to insist in Jizhou, we might as well withdraw to Liaodong and wait for the right time..."

"It's useless, Ma Su will not let us go." Sima Shi shook his head and said bluntly.

"Ma Su has always been a man who pursues relentlessly and never gives his opponents a chance to survive. If we hand over Jizhou, he will certainly take advantage of the situation to conquer Hebei, and then chase us all the way to Liaodong."

"By then, we will have no way to retreat, and we will have no power to resist the pursuit of the Shu army."

"But now it is just a waste of manpower, and Jizhou cannot be defended." Yang Hu said helplessly.

"We can't even suppress Xiahou Xuan now, and Hebei is not stable. And the Shu army is coming soon, and it may be too late if we don't leave."

"And brother, I think you know that we actually have no hope. Instead of continuing to insist here, it is even better to abandon the army and run away to the mountains to live."

Yang Hu was only sixteen years old when he was accepted as a confidant by Sima Yi. At that time, because of Yang Hu's reputation and ability, Sima Shi became brothers with him in Pingxiang, so Yang Hu always called Sima Shi "brother".

And although what Yang Hu said was unpleasant, it was also true. After Xiahou Ba returned to Hebei to fight side by side with Xiahou Xuan, Xiahou Xian, who was about to be wiped out, suddenly became powerful.

A lone army resisted for a long time in Qinghe County, and even forced Sima Shi to transfer Yang Hu.

Now the Shu army has knocked down the last nail in the southeast, and there is no force to resist the West Shu from the south of the Yellow River. And because Sun Quan did not cause much loss to the Shu army, the Shu army obviously still has spare strength, and the northern expedition to Hebei is imminent.

In this case, it is obviously irrational to continue to defend Hebei.

But Sima Shi did not say anything about Yang Hu's words, but shook his head firmly and rejected Yang Hu's suggestion to withdraw troops from Liaodong.

Hebei is his last reliance. As long as he can occupy it for one more day, he can add a little more hope. If he retreats to Liaodong in a hurry, it will be all over.

As for becoming a bandit... Based on what he did and Ma Su's obsession with him, it is basically impossible to avoid it even if he becomes a bandit. Sima Shi even suspected that if he really ran away, Ma Su would dig three feet deep to hunt them down.

Yang Hu was helpless against Sima Shi's insistence. After a period of silence, Yang Hu chose to settle for the second best and suggested to Sima Shi,

"Brother, if you don't want to give up Hebei, you should move your majesty and brother Zhao to Yijing. Otherwise, if Ma Su goes north from Qingzhou, it will be easy to cut off our way back."

Sima Shi nodded at this suggestion. He thought for a while, and then ordered Yang Hu to lead his troops back to Yecheng, preparing to take the emperor and the remaining clan members of the Cao family to Yijing.

However, Sima Shi didn't know that Yecheng was no longer peaceful.

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The seat of Jizhou, now the capital of Cao Wei, Yecheng.

At this time, the Cao Wei court was generally better than nothing.

Although Sima Zhao was not very capable, he was able to gain power with the support of Sima Shi. All the important officials in the court who were unwilling to cooperate were purged, and most of the remaining officials remained silent.

In addition, Sima Zhao had a few trusted confidants to assist him. Under Sima Zhao's operation, the entire Yecheng was basically controlled by the Sima family.

The young emperor Cao Fang was basically unable to move under such a blockade. No matter what he tried to do, he would be restricted by Sima Zhao.

Although Cao Fang was young, it did not mean that he could not understand the situation. Especially before he was captured alive by Ma Su, he witnessed the combat effectiveness of the Shu army with his own eyes.

So he never thought that the Sima family would be able to stop the Shu army. Even if they could, the world would not belong to their Cao family. So now the best choice for their Cao family is to escape as soon as possible and surrender to Ji Han.

However, although Cao Fang saw it clearly, he could not exert any subjective initiative. He could only be under house arrest in the palace every day and play chess with several brothers from the clan.

On this day, Cao Fang asked someone to come and play chess to kill time as usual. The close ministers did not refuse his face and soon called one of his cousins ​​for Cao Fang.

"Meet your majesty!"

"Sit down." Cao Fang saw that this cousin was a little young and felt very bored. He just nodded lightly.

"Cao Mao, right? Can you play chess?"

"Yes, my father taught me." The five-year-old cousin nodded and did not look nervous.

"That's fine, play two games with me to relieve my boredom." Cao Fang immediately ordered people to put on the chessboard and start playing chess with Cao Mao.

The two of them played several games like this, and Cao Fang won almost every time. Cao Mao on the other side was obviously nervous, and he was a little anxious and at a loss. Cao Fang even reached out to regret his move while he was still playing chess.

Fortunately, Cao Fang was not Liu Qi. After touching Cao Mao's sweaty little hand, he was slightly stunned, then smiled and retracted his hand, allowing Cao Mao to regret his move.

After such a playful play, Cao Fang had enough fun, so he waved goodbye to Cao Mao.

"Your Majesty! Can I come to see you in the future?"

"Of course, I will not turn away my clansmen." Cao Fang replied with a smile.

After sending Cao Mao and others away, Cao Fang's face sank slightly when he returned to the palace.

Spreading out the palm of his hand, a piece of silk soaked in sweat came into view.