The sky was dark, and it had been a long time since Xia Huai and Sima Yi entered the tent, and inside the tent, after Cao Mengde listened to Xia Huai's words, he kept twisting his beard and thinking about something, but he didn't speak.

Sima Yi was also full of sadness, and after a while, he said: "Lord, with the current situation, we can't stay here for a long time, let's hurry up and return to the court to discuss the long-term plan." ”

Cao Mengde still didn't move, just kept thinking. After another half-ring, he said, "Master Sima, you take this little brother back to rest first, and let me think about it again." ”

Sima Yi wanted to say something more, but he only saw Cao Mengde wave his hand, turned his head, didn't speak again, and took Xia Huai out of the camp tent and walked in the direction of the barracks.

On the way, Sima Yi asked Xia Huai, "Does your master have anything else to tell me besides asking you to write to me?"

Xia Huai thought for a while and replied: "The family teacher didn't say anything else, only said that if you see the uncle, just hand over the letter to you, if you can't see you, quickly let the soldiers of the land country retreat." ”

Sima Yi looked up at the sky and whispered, "Senior brother, what do you mean?"

At night, after Sima Yi settled Xia Huai, he climbed the Thorn City Tower, and looked from afar to see that there was a flickering fire several miles away from the city, it should be the barracks of the Dragon Kingdom, the Thorn City has been completely surrounded, sighed, he went down the city, and walked to Cao Mengde's camp tent, shouted a few times to hear the response, his right eyelid jumped several times in confusion, and hurriedly opened the door tent in a panic, only to see that it was pitch black inside, and Cao Mengde was no longer in the tent.

Sima Yi withdrew from the camp and hurriedly ordered all the warriors to search for Cao Mengde's traces throughout the city, but no trace of him was found until dawn.

Sima Yi thought about it and didn't know where the lord of the country went, so he came to the camp where Xia Huai lived, woke up Xia Huai and asked him if he could do a fortune calculation, and look at the location of the lord of the country. ”

Sima Yi thought for a while when he heard this, and then instructed the guards next to him: "Pass my order, everyone will change into people's clothes, and take advantage of the night to go out of the city from the west gate and return to the court." ”

The guards were puzzled: "Master of the Army, if we don't find the lord of the country, we won't be able to return to the court." ”

Sima Yi said angrily: "Now that the soldiers are coming to the city, we have to preserve our strength, you hurry back to the court, I will find the lord of the country." ”

The guards had no choice but to obey, after Sima Yi finished the order, he also found a set of people's clothes, and after changing into it, he brought a white horse and said to Xia Huai: "Huai'er, the two of us set off to Suchuanzhou to see your master, you take me a shortcut, the sooner the better." ”

Xia Huai nodded when he heard this, got on his horse, and rushed to Suchuanzhou with Sima Yi.

Without saying anything all the way, the two of them returned to Zhuge Liang's mansion in Su Chuanzhou, and as soon as they walked into the courtyard, Zhuge Liang greeted him, bowed deeply and said, "Senior brother, you are here." ”

Sima Yi helped Zhuge Liang up and said, "Senior brother, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

After speaking, the two of them walked hand in hand to the courtyard, came to Zhuge Liang's study, the two sat down, Huang Yueying sent fragrant tea, Zhuge Liang recommended: "Senior brother, this is the insider Huang Yueying, Yueying, this is what I always tell you, my senior brother." ”

Huang Yueying saluted, and Sima Yi said: "The wife of the junior brother is really extraordinary, please get up quickly." ”

After a moment of greeting, Sima Yi pulled the topic back and asked, "Senior brother, what do you mean by asking Huai'er to send me an empty letter?" After speaking, he took out the letter, only to see that nothing was written on the letter, only a few erases.

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "I know that Senior Brother will definitely arrange for evacuation after hearing what Huai'er said, and he will definitely come back to me after seeing the letter. ”

Sima Yi nodded and asked, "Senior brother, now we can't control this form." ”

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan lightly and said: "Senior brother, I originally thought that you would be the first to come, but I didn't expect that I would welcome the lord of your family first. ”

As soon as the words fell, Cao Mengde walked out from behind the screen, and when he saw Sima Yi, he smiled and said, "I didn't expect Sima Junshi's junior brother to be the prime minister of the Dragon Kingdom." ”

Sima Yi was taken aback, and hurriedly knelt down and said: "Lord, Weichen can be regarded as having found you, and I have ordered all the brothers to return to the court in disguise when you leave." ”

Cao Mengde did not pursue and waved his hand and said: "It's good that you do this, at least you can preserve your strength, alas, I originally wanted to attack the palace at night and slaughter Liu Xuande's miscellaneous pieces, but I was stopped by Prime Minister Zhuge as soon as I arrived at the establishment, and he told me the cause and effect, so I came back with him and waited for you." ”

The three of them sat down again, and Zhuge Liang first said: "The current form is very unfavorable to us, I have calculated a hexagram before, and there are still three years left in Lu Guoqi's number at most." ”

Cao Mengde said: "Prime Minister Zhuge , according to what you said, how can we avoid this catastrophe." ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head with a self-deprecating smile and said, "There is no way to avoid it, I also wanted to change the luck of the Wind Country before, but I failed." After saying that, he let out a long sigh.

Sima Yi said: "Senior brother, tell us about the process, I want to understand the specific reasons for the failure." ”

Zhuge Liang slowly told the previous story, Cao Mengde and Sima Yi were embarrassed after listening to it, if there is a calculation error, there is still a solution, but it is obvious that he has rewritten the way of life, and he was forcibly pulled back on track by fate, so there is no solution.

The three of them were silent for a while, and Zhuge Liang said slowly: "Actually, there is another way, but I have never tried it, and I dare not guarantee whether it will be effective." ”

The other two looked up at him, and Sima Yi said, "Senior brother has something to say, let's calculate it together." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Since it can't be modified, let it continue, but as long as the fire is still there, it may be able to make a comeback." ”

Cao Mengde stroked his beard and said: "Does Prime Minister Zhuge mean to let me give up the foundation of the land country and wait for Liu Xuande to succeed before making a comeback?"

Zhuge Liang nodded, and Sima Yi said: "I'm afraid this is not feasible, if Liu Xuande dominates the world, if he wants to revolt at that time, it will inevitably be more powerful than the sky." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "Only in this way can there be hope, according to the hexagram, Liu Xuande will inevitably kill the old ministers after he dominates the world, behead all the loyal ministers and righteous people, and have protected his own peace and security, as long as the lord of Cao is still there, he will definitely be able to win over these people who have lost power, and take this opportunity to succeed in the uprising in one fell swoop." ”

Cao Mengde didn't speak, and Sima Yi was silently calculating the chances of success, and the room fell silent again for a while.

Zhuge Liang is not in a hurry, after all, it is a big event, and it is not so easy for anyone to agree to exchange the strength of a country for an opportunity.

Time passed quickly, and it was about to fall into the night in a blink of an eye, Cao Mengde slowly asked: "Prime Minister Zhuge Cheng, if I give up the land country, the people will not have to suffer?"

Zhuge Liang said: "If the lord of Cao is willing to give up, then Liu Xuande will definitely not kill innocents indiscriminately, after all, he still has to maintain his loyal image." ”

Sima Yi had already guessed Cao Mengde's thoughts, and asked in a low voice, "Lord, do you want to surrender to Liu Xuande?"

Cao Mengde nodded and said, "If my life alone can change the peace of the world, then why not?"

Sima Yi also wanted to persuade Cao Mengde again, but Zhuge Liang said on the side: "Lord Cao can't surrender. ”

Cao Mengde asked suspiciously, "Why can't you surrender?"

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan and said: "If you surrender, although Liu Xuande wins, he will definitely kill you, and then the last hope will be gone, so you can only retreat in defeat, and you must not surrender." ”

Cao Mengde was stunned for a moment and then said: "Prime Minister Zhuge is really prescient, I am reckless, what does the Prime Minister think should be done?"

Zhuge Liang said: "There are still some necessary sacrifices that need to be made by the lord of Cao. ”

Cao Mengde asked, "Sacrifice what?"

Zhuge Liang stood up, walked to the door and said, "The lord of the Cao Kingdom needs to lead his troops to attack Suchuan Continent, and when the time comes, he will flee because he is defeated by the Dragon Kingdom." ”

Cao Mengde hesitated, and Sima Yi said: "Isn't that just to sacrifice all the soldiers? Moreover, if this is the case, how can the lord of the country gain a foothold in the future, let alone revolt." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "The lord of Cao used to narrow the princes of heaven, did he care about his foothold at that time?"

Cao Mengde suddenly said: "What Prime Minister Zhuge said is reasonable, back then, I only thought about saving the people in this world from fire and water, and never thought about my own honor and disgrace, so I have today's foundation, Sima Junshi, you are narrow-minded." ”

Sima Yi bowed his head and said: "That's true, but after considering the uprising in the future, if the lord of the country does this unrighteous person, the uprising will inevitably be more difficult in the future." ”

Cao Mengde said: "I'm afraid of something, if it doesn't work once, let's do it again, stay in the green mountains without worrying about no firewood, Cao Mou was born in a reckless way, and he doesn't mind the false name in this world." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "I really read it right, if this Jiangshan Sheji is handed over to the lord of Cao, it will definitely be carried forward, but unfortunately this fate is unfair." ”

Cao Mengde walked out of the house, came to the courtyard, looked up at the sky and said: "Then I will be a man who would rather teach me to bear the world, and let the world bear my hero............ ”