Chapter 21 20. Prelude to Feng Tianzi's Westward Advance

When besieging Yongqiu, Cao Cao's main force was not idle. He divided his troops into several groups, marched eastward and southward, and recovered the rebellious cities. Caozhou Mu is different from the past: he is no longer an official hired by the local government or appointed by himself, but a Yanzhou Mu officially appointed by the imperial court. After a year of war in Yanzhou, natural disasters and man-made disasters have seriously injured the vitality. The business of counties and counties has withered, the land is barren, and the rest of the Yellow Turbans took advantage of the situation to make a big move.

It is said that Cao Cao should take advantage of the time when his name is right and sound, and run Yanzhou with all his heart, and consolidate this only base, so that he can fight for the world if he advances, and he can protect himself if he retreats.The most urgent work at present is undoubtedly post-war reconstruction. But everyone knows that this way of life is not easy to do. Even if the military and financial resources of the United States are as strong as the United States, they still feel powerless against a shattered Iraq.Like Americans, Cao Zhoumu is now only interested in suppressing bandits: this kind of battle is easy to fight, and it is a matter of fame and fortune: bandits rob the people, I recruited bandits, and the captured ones will naturally be returned to the public. Get benefits.

Soon, all the yellow turbans in the territory were surrendered, the law and order improved greatly, and Cao Cao's Qingzhou army became fat again.But now Cao Cao has lost interest in governing Yanzhou. Yanzhou's rebellion made him too chilled. Cao Cao couldn't trust the officials, scholars, tyrants, and even the people of Yanzhou who surrendered again. The knife slashed at my back? Cao Cao wants to find another safe place to be his base. As for Yanzhou?Although it can be regarded as an old base, but after all, you have betrayed yourself, can those who have betrayed you still believe it?

He set his sights on Chen Guo in Yuzhou (ruled in Chen County, now Huaiyang County, Henan Province).Chen Guo did not suffer from military disasters when he was in trouble with the Yellow Turbans. According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty Chen Wangchong Biography": "The Yellow Turbans rebelled, and all the counties and counties abandoned the city... The people of the country have heard that the king is good at shooting, and they dare not rebel. More than 100,000 people returned to him. In the early days of Emperor Xiandi, when the world was famine, many people from neighboring counties returned to him.”

What Cao Cao fancy is that Chen Guo has not been killed by soldiers and can provide him with supplies, so as to stabilize the army's morale, preserve his strength, and establish a rear base to replace Yanzhou.Especially to facilitate the implementation of Mao Jie's previous political strategy of "serving the emperor so as not to be ministers", but there are still Yuan Shu's forces and the rest of the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou. Now go to "greeting the emperor"? "Three Kingdoms · Emperor Wu Ji" said: "The generals may be suspicious." Cao Cao has his own ideas: the backbone of the generals of the Qingzhou Army is composed of relatives from Qiaopei, Yuzhou; the important counselor around him, Xun Yu, who is called "My Zifang", comes from Yingchuan in Yuzhou, and the Xun family in Yingchuan is a scholar Famous ethnic groups have a strong appeal to Yuzhou scholars.For Cao Cao, it is particularly important to be able to gain the trust of scholar-bureaucrats through Xun Yu.

And Chen State is bordered by Chenliu County in Yanzhou, Pei State and Yingchuan County in Yuzhou, so it is inevitable for Cao Cao to choose Chen State as the first stop to enter Yuzhou.Regarding the doubts of the generals, Xun Yu said: "Jin Wen Na Zhou Xiang Wang is the king of the princes, the ancestor is the righteous emperor, and the world returns to his heart. If he wants to become a hegemony, history is a lesson for the present. There are three benefits to serving the emperor: first, to win the hearts of the people; second, to be a hero; third, to be handsome. To win the hearts of the people is Standing on the foundation, serving Junjie is superior to other heroes, and Zhiying is recruiting all talents. Today, the child is in urgent need of help, and the community is looking forward to iron pillars. How can we abandon righteousness because of small profits, and lose good opportunities for temporary safety? If the opportunity is missed, it will never come back If you want to pursue it, it is hard to return, if you do not make a decision, it will be too late to regret!"

Xun Yu elaborated Mao Jie's political program of "Serving the Son of Heaven so as not to be a minister". Unlike Yuan Shao, Cao Cao has always been unambiguous about major events. The beautiful prospect after "Serving the Son of Heaven" described by Xun Yu is indeed fascinating. Cao Cao made a decisive decision: the army marched westward and took control of the emperor. In other words, before the emperor returned to Luoyang, someone was plotting against him, and it was not only Cao Cao who plotted against him, Yuan Shao of Jizhou was also plotting against him. Yuan Shao was also paying close attention to the emperor's return to the east, and his envoy Guo Tu had already appeared in Hedong.The emperor's successful return to the east made Yuan Shao and Cao Cao agree that the time was ripe to control the central government.

Yuan Shao held a debate on the topic of "Welcome to drive", and there were two opinions: pros and cons: Zhengfang, represented by Jushou, a counselor who originally suggested "welcome the emperor to Xijing and restore the Zong Temple to Luoyi", has now developed to "welcome" the emperor to Yecheng, build the capital here, and then "bring the emperor to make the princes , Animals and horses to discuss the court." On the other side, represented by Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong, the reasons are quite sufficient: the Han Dynasty will be replaced sooner or later, if the emperor is ushered in, the gain will not be worth the loss - listen to him, and say nothing; don't listen to him , will be infamous, isn't this self-inflicted?

The judge Yuan Shao couldn't make up his mind: You guys can tell the winner or loser, why does it sound reasonable to me? Jushou made the last effort, and directly sent a message to the judge Yuan Shao: "If you can place the imperial court in Yecheng, not only will the imperial court listen to you, but the people of the world will also appreciate your benevolence and righteousness. You should not play this move sooner." , There will definitely be masters who will go first. Don't hesitate to do big things." Yuan Shao pondered over and over again, but it was still difficult to make a decision. The main reason was that he himself had a "secret knot" that he was too embarrassed to say, that is: he wanted to be the emperor himself.It is really uncomfortable to install the emperor's throne in one's own home, invite others to sit on it, and kowtow to him every day.

People who are familiar with Yuan Shao have an evaluation of him: "Late decision, less opportunity, lost opportunity." ("Three Kingdoms Xun Yu Biography") During his painful days of weighing and pondering, Ju Shou's prophecy appeared: the new Yanzhou Mu Cao Cao started a decisive action to snatch the emperor! However, Cao Cao can't do it with his current strength if he insists on grabbing it. Cao Cao uses the crooked trick of cheating and stealing. Two thousand years later, Jin Yong asked Wei Xiaobao to steal the emperor once in the Qingliang Temple in Wutai Mountain. He also used the abusive means of Xiasanlu, but Xiaobao stole it from Kangxi's father, a retired emperor who resigned. Compared with Cao Cao In other words, it is much more difficult to survive by deceiving a large group of civil and military courtiers and stealing away a current emperor.