Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3271: A knife on the head of the word “forbearance”

Cao Ping looked at Puban County in front of him with some disbelief.

The four gates of Puban County were wide open, and the city was empty.

The empty city strategies in history may not be true or false. Because Sima Yi in history did need a defeat to balance his excessive "high achievements", so it doesn't matter whether it is Zhuge Liang's empty city.

But now when Cao Ping encountered the empty city, he was more happy than worried.

"Captain Cao, this county..." Xie Xuan whispered, "I'm afraid there's a scam!" 』

"A fraud?" ” Cao Ping looked around, “Where is the fraud? 』

Xie Xuan said: "I heard before that in... um, um, the bandit army planted some traps, as well as kerosene, thunder and other things..."

In the middle of speaking, Xie Xuan suddenly remembered that the unlucky general before was named Cao, so he blocked some words, leaving only a few words.

But the meaning is still clear.

Cao Ping nodded and sent a dozen people into the city to check.

Maybe it was only a moment, but in Cao Ping's mind it felt like years had passed. After the soldiers who advanced into the city indicated that it was safe, Cao Ping couldn't wait to enter the city.

Even if Xie Xuan called him from behind, Cao Ping had no intention of listening.

Is this really taken down?

Immediately, a kind of ecstasy surged from within.

This is really...

Cao Ping could hardly close his legs.

You know how much effort Cao Hong put in before, but he still couldn't win Puban County, but when it was his turn, it was so easy?

Could it be...

It’s my luck that has arrived!

Many people have a lottery dream. Even if others say that the lottery is just that, they still cannot wake up the person who pretends to be asleep, or the person who is willing to immerse himself in false happiness.

At that moment, Cao Ping's happiness was overwhelming.

"Someone is coming!" ” Cao Ping shouted loudly, his voice revealing an indescribable pride and excitement, “Report the message to the Lord quickly! Someone has conquered Puban! 』

"only! 』

The soldiers of Cao's army responded loudly, and immediately rode away.

As for Xie Xuan, who was busy all the way, coordinating the troops and recruiting soldiers...

Who is that?

…

…

Is Cao Jun strong?

Is Cao's army weak?

In fact, strength and weakness are the opposition and unity of contradictions, but many people subconsciously think like children that people are only divided into good and bad people. Good people are absolutely good, and bad people are definitely bad.

It's like the identity change between friend and enemy, also in the blink of an eye.

Cao Ping doesn't know how to behave.

If he knew how to behave, he wouldn't have driven away Qianzhao.

And now Cao Ping and Xie Xuan have conflicts again.

In Cao Ping's view, everything is in compliance with the rules.

After all, glory belongs to the leader, doesn’t it?

And he happens to be the "leader" of this unit, so naturally it's all his merit.

After he gets the reward for his meritorious service, he will reward Xie Xuan with a few bones to chew on, and it will be considered settled.

But Xie Xuan didn’t think so.

Don’t worry about scarcity but inequality.

Cao Ping took all the credit on himself, which naturally made Xie Xuan very dissatisfied.

If it were normal times, Xie Xuan would have endured it.

It is an unspoken rule in Shandong that all the credit goes to the leader, and all the blame belongs to the subordinates. But now Xie Xuan is in urgent need of some merit to relieve his guilt of being a subordinate and a general. The result is better now. All the meritorious deeds were taken by Cao Ping, and Xie Xuan was not mentioned even half a word when he reported it.

Will Xie Xuan be happy with this?

Cao Ping was quite surprised that Xie Xuan was not happy and found it unreasonable, so he slapped the table on the spot.

Aren’t all the Han people surnamed Cao?

What else wouldn’t you be happy to do to contribute to Cao’s organization?

If Cao Ping hadn't personally tried his best to persuade Xie Xuan, how could there have been the current "great victory" in Puban?

Well, regardless of how many hussars were killed, or what is left in the county, anyway, Puban County is now in the hands of Cao Ping, is this correct?

Of course Cao Ping doesn't want to share this "big victory" with "others"!

Therefore, in the face of difficulties, the two cooperate, and then in the face of interests, the two part ways.

The two had a big quarrel and broke up.

Cao Ping once pulled out the sword "gifted" by Cao Cao, and Xie Xuan also angrily turned the table over.

Xie Xun led his men to Pubanjin, but Cao Ping did not dare to lead his troops to directly attack Emei Mountain without the support of Xie Xuan's infantry. He could only send people to Cao Cao to deliver letters, reports, and complaints. .

…

…

Puban County and Pubanjin have undergone certain changes over time.

As the war continues, most of the people in Puban County have evacuated, leaving only some old and weak people who are unwilling to leave.

Shops and other shops have long been closed and vacated. After all, the caravans here have been cut off since the war began. The same is true for Pubanjin. During the month when the river melts, the northern crossings of the river will lose their function. Only by going all the way downstream to Shaanxi and Jin can a stable crossing be considered.

Therefore, Sima Yi judged that in this time window, there was no need to compete with Cao Jun for Puban County.

Put steel to good use.

Going north from Puban County, passing through the folds of loess, and then passing through the Jiashan Road, you can reach the Emei Mountains.

"Cao Jun didn't come?" ”Honu was a little disappointed. He thought that Cao Jun would continue to pursue northward along the tracks they deliberately left, but unexpectedly, Cao Jun stationed himself in Puban County.

Sima Yi was also a little confused.

Even with Sima Yi's intelligence, he could not have imagined that the reason why Cao Jun stopped was that there were serious differences among Cao Jun.

But these are not the focus of Sima Yi's current concern.

Perhaps because Sima Yi also failed once, Huonu's attitude towards Sima Yi has become more friendly now. The two people also discussed with each other, rather than just giving orders from above and below.

Sima Yi asked people to recruit some Qiang people, and planned to take these Qiang people to invade Cao's rear line.

There are a large number of scattered Qiang people in the Shangjun area of ​​Hedong, Beidi.

They were also called Rong or Di.

For a long time, these people were regarded as barbaric and animal-like people by the Central Plains Dynasty and were not recognized as members of China. However, in fact, these people had a huge influence on China. The Zhou Dynasty that Confucius admired the most was also admired by Confucian disciples of all generations. However, few people know that without the influence of Quan Rong, the Zhou people would not have moved eastward to Qishan, and there would have been no future demise of the Shang Dynasty. and the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.

There is another saying that the Quanrong people are not only brave and good at fighting, but also good at making chariots. The Quanrong man-made chariots were made earlier than the Zhou Dynasty, and then the Zhou Dynasty introduced the Quanrong chariot technology and defeated the merchants. From then on, the chariot became the main military tool of the Central Plains army. This was a huge leap in its impact on the military technology of the Central Plains dynasty.

These Rong and Di gradually differentiated and evolved, including the Qiang.

The Qiang people attach great importance to sheep and raise sheep as their main production mode. Until later generations, in the northwest area, many people still like to use white belly scarves to tie two small horns on their heads, which are actually similar to sheep. horn.

The gathering places of the Qiang people are generally not marked on the map, because these Qiang people are actually in a semi-nomadic state many times and will migrate due to changes in water and grass. However, there are also some relatively fixed areas. For example, there is a mountain col at the foot of Emei Mountain where the Qiang people have settled, which is called Sanjia Ao. It is said that there were only three families of Qiang people who originally settled here.

Sanjia'ao is located between Emei Mountain and Pubanjin, so merchants who came before would occasionally stop here to trade goods with the Qiang people.

Huonu was puzzled by Sima Yi's decision. "Didn't you say before that the Qiang people don't know the orders and are not trained enough to be useful?" 』

Sima Yi nodded, "That's right. But now there is no need to use it, only to intrude... You have to know that in the land east of Hedong, those who were damaged by this war were not only the Han people, but also the Qiang people. Especially Baishi Qiang. 』

"Bai Shiqiang?" ’ Honu thought.

"good. Sima Yi said, "Although the Baishi Qiang have not received much training, they are more familiar with the terrain in this area than we are." When the lord arrived in Hedong at the beginning of that year, Bai Shiqiang often traveled through Guanzhong in the north to transship and sell supplies. 』

Sima Yi did not want to use the Qiang people to fight on a large scale, but to use the Qiang people as guides.

Huo Nu nodded, but then shook his head and said, "Qiang people don't know benevolence, justice and morality, what if..."

Sima Yi laughed and said, "How can Lieutenant Huo talk like those sour scholars?" 』

Huo Nu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Hi!" I heard those guys say this every day before, so... According to you, joining the army, this Qiang people are actually reliable? 』

Sima Yi shook his head again, "Wrong, wrong!" The Han people themselves may not be reliable, let alone the Qiang people? 』

"ah? ”Honu was completely confused.

Sima Yi said: "This good is not good, and the evil is not evil. How can it be said that good and evil in one moment are good and evil in the whole life?" Forget it, you don’t need to think too much about this, just use it first. Although the Qiang people's battle was unfavorable, the information was still available. 』

Huonu nodded.

Sima Yi glanced at Huo Nu, "My failure this time made me understand something..."

Huonu looked straight and handed over his hand, "Please tell me." 』

"Common use." ” Sima Yi spit out two words, paused for a moment before explaining, and made imaginary gestures with his hands in the air, “I once thought that by ordering the cavalry to carry bows and arrows, they would be invincible, but I never wanted to encounter a big defeat... After thinking about it, I forgot the word "suitable". 』

"Suitable?" ” Honu repeated with a frown.

Sima Yi nodded, "It's natural to use bows and cavalry to control infantry, but you need to be careful when using sudden cavalry." The same is true for Puban, and the same is true for the Qiang people. Don't seek to be perfect, just use them together. 』

Huo Nu nodded, somewhat understanding, but still somewhat unclear. However, he also understood that Sima Yi's decision to find the Qiang people was indeed made after some thinking, rather than just seeking medical treatment in a hurry.

Sima Yi did not explain any more.

Only the Qiang people are more familiar with this land, and can Sima Yi avoid Cao Jun's queue and find Hao Zhao's branch faster...

Of course, Sima Yi could take most of the troops away, but Sima Yi chose to leave them with Huonu. On the one hand, it was to prevent Cao's army from marching north to Emei Ridge, and on the other hand, it was a chance to counterattack Puban.

And Sima Yi himself was prepared to stand up again wherever he fell.

…

…

The victory or defeat of Hedong still seems far away to the people of Shandong.

With the end of the late spring cold, the Central Plains seems to be full of vitality again, and various counties and counties are starting to get busy again. But this time it's not for Prime Minister Cao's military rations, but for his own farmland.

But as time went by, another problem began to emerge.

No rain.

Ever since the bone-chilling winter snow, or spring snow, there has been little rain, and in some places there has been no rain at all for a long time.

Drought seems inevitable.

The prefects and county magistrates in various counties hurriedly sent people to repair water conservancy, dig ditches, and dig out dry wells. They seemed to have done a lot of things, and they seemed to be proving to someone that as officials, they did not eat for free. There are people doing things, but after most of these things are done, these officials still say that their manpower has been exhausted, and the rest can only depend on God...

Then these officials sighed and returned home. As soon as they closed the door, they started singing and dancing as usual.

After all, God is the best person to take the blame.

After passing the responsibility to God, officials naturally feel relaxed.

Those who drank flower wine drank flower wine, hugged Mei Ji and sighed that spring is coming.

I completely forgot about various water conservancy matters. I should have done them in advance instead of digging wells when there was no water to drink.

However, behind the "optimism" and "enron" of these officials, there seems to be some gloom spreading.

As the drought intensified, various places began to report disasters to Xu County.

There is a vague feeling that something is wrong in Xu County.

The recent period of time has been a relatively complicated and stagnant state for Liu Xie.

On the one hand, he tried to hook up... ahem, hook up with local squires and court officials, but the effect was not good. On the other hand, he also noticed that there was indeed an undercurrent surging under the peaceful Xu County.

Perhaps this was an undercurrent that pleased him.

But he had to pretend that he didn't know anything, wasn't clear, and didn't participate.

Liu, the great actor in the Han Dynasty, still diligently dealt with every trivial memorial at hand every day, and then showed a studious and inquisitive attitude. He constantly summoned Confucian classics scholars to teach him, and expressed his gratitude to him from time to time. Worry about the drought in various places, and then lamented that as an emperor, he has no virtue...

Then all the officials bowed down in unison, saying that if the emperor is virtuous, there must be no danger, and the world will be at peace.

After this kind of drama is repeated, many people will have a taste of it.

If the law of heaven is permanent, then the current drought is naturally a "warning" given by the law of heaven.

"Warning" to whom?

For Liu Xie?

But the question is, as the emperor, what did Liu Gong do? In this world of Han Dynasty, is it Liu Xie who calls the shots, or someone else?

The more Liu Xie took care of himself, the more others understood that this matter should actually be blamed on that person's head.

Everything seems to be changing in the direction Liu Xie wants.

Of course, as to whether this direction can ultimately achieve the results Liu Xie expected...

After Liu Xie left the court meeting, his usual habit was to go to the ancestral temple.

This is the "tree cave" that belongs to Liu Xie alone.

"finally……"

Liu Xie prostrated himself under the spiritual tablet, hiding all the expressions on his face in the shadows.

He knew in his heart that the only problem now was that if Cao Cao won, all his plans would be in vain.

As for whether the hussar general Fei Qian won, it would naturally turn into a very thorny issue. It's just that Fei Qian's problem is far away in Guanzhong, and there is still some distance from Xu County. After all, if Liu Xie couldn't get through it right now, how could he think about Guanzhong, which was farther away?

"Return to power," Liu Xie muttered in a low voice, "Return to power... my ancestors have blessed me..."

As long as Cao Cao is willing to return power, everything will be easy to talk about.

He is the emperor of the Han Dynasty, not a display of the Han Dynasty!

When the imperial power and the prime minister's power cannot live in harmony, there must be a bow.

Liu Xie had lowered his head for too long, so this time he really wanted to raise his head high and make his voice heard.

He believes that the starting point of all the chaos in the world today is because "the name is not right and the words are not right"!

Therefore, Liu Xie must push everything back to its original track.

I don't know if he gained a certain amount of strength and emotional blessing in the ancestral temple. Liu Xie felt much more relaxed and relaxed, and he was also interested in wandering in the back garden...

Inadvertently, Liu Xie walked to the remote place of the abandoned Empress Fu's family in the backyard.

Originally, Liu Xie would never come to this place.

In the Han Dynasty, there was no rule that the queen must be killed when she was deposed. Unless the queen was involved in some serious matters, such as witchcraft or rebellion, it was possible to kill the queen when she was deposed.

The reason why Liu Xie deposed Queen Fu Shou was that Queen Fu had no children. This was of course a very correct reason in the Han Dynasty, but it was actually because Liu Xie needed to make room for Empress Cao. In Liu Xie's mind at that time, perhaps he was the incarnation of Liu Xiu, and Fu Shou was the template of Yin Lihua.

Of course, Yin Lihua was the queen, not the queen.

However, Liu Xie felt that there was not much difference, but unfortunately, Liu Xie was not as successful as Liu Xiu, exchanging the queen for Guanzhong...

In the cold palace, figures swayed.

Liu Xie subconsciously wanted to turn around and avoid it, but he heard a call from behind, "Your Majesty..."

Liu Xie stopped, hesitated for a moment, turned around, but couldn't help being surprised.

Today, Fu Shou has completely lost his previous charm. He is as old as an old woman. His hair is already a little gray, and his face has a lot of wrinkles. If it weren't for the vague look between his eyebrows and eyes, Liu Xie would not be able to change him. They think they are two different people.

"You...you..." Liu Xie wanted to ask how this could happen, but when he thought about it, wasn't he himself the one who caused this? So when the words came to my lips, there was no follow-up.

Fu Shou bowed tremblingly to Liu Xie, "Your Majesty... I live here in seclusion, I don't know how many years have passed... Dare I ask... Dare I ask how my family is doing?" 』

Liu Xie was silent and swallowed.

Fu Shou's eyes, which were originally slightly bright, turned completely gloomy.

"This..." Liu Xie was speechless. After all, when Fu Shou entrusted her brother to him, Liu Xie also promised to treat him well, but in the end Liu Xie failed to do so. "You... have a good rest..."

After saying that, Liu Xie turned around and left.

After taking two steps, he paused, lowered his head, and said in a low voice, "I'm just holding on for a while... I'm gonna hold on for a while..."

However, Liu Xie didn't know who this sentence was meant for.