The carriage carrying the ambitious Wu Shuo drove from the east gate into Longkou City at sunset. Although the curfew is approaching at the moment, the East Market in Longkou is still full of pedestrians, and the shops on both sides are even more blazing, and every household is brightly lit. From the merchants who came from across the sea to the fruit sellers, they were busy making their last business before curfew. Finally passing through the bustling street market, the carriage finally stopped in front of the Zhu Gate of Qihou Mansion. However, to Wu Shuo's deep surprise, the person who greeted him in front of the Hou Mansion on behalf of Cai Ji turned out to be an extremely special old acquaintance.

"Akihime has seen the doctor."

Looking at Cai Yan, who was standing in front of him, Wu Shuo couldn't help but blurt out with his eyes wide, "How can Madame be here?" ”

"The Marquis of Qi redeemed the concubine from Hudi, and ordered the concubine to serve here as the governor of the Hou Mansion." Cai Yan blessed the body and explained.

Speaking of Cai Yan's father, Cai Yong, is Wu Shuo's old acquaintance. I think that Cai Yong was first framed by the eunuchs for his outspokenness, exiled to Shuofang, and after several twists and turns, he took refuge in Jiangnan for 12 years. When Dong Zhuo took power, Cai Yong was forcibly recruited into Beijing as an official. However, after Dong Zhuo was killed, Cai Yong was imprisoned for lamenting on Wang Yun's throne, and died in prison soon after, at the age of 60. At this moment, although Cai Yan only used an understatement to bring about her previous experience, Wu Shuo knew that the short words "Hu Di redemption" were soaked in blood and tears.

Thinking of Cai Yong's father and daughter's history, good words, and fine music, but it was ill-fated, Wu Shuo sighed and was jealous of the talent, but also sincerely admired Cai Ji's righteous act of redeeming Cai Yan from the bottom of his heart, "Qi Hou is really the world's Meng taste." ”

Perhaps, in Wu Shuo's view, Cai Ji's move of spending a lot of money to redeem Cai Yan to the Han land is comparable to that of Meng Weijun, who was hospitable and a monk in the past, and it is a kind of expression of thirst for talent. But in Cai Yan's heart, he has long regarded Cai Ji as a benefactor of recreation. Self-paying, only in the second half of his life to assist Cai Ji can he repay this kindness.

So in the face of Wu Shuo's exclamation, Cai Yan did not echo it, but slightly owed himself as his guide. "The doctor came from afar, and he worked hard all the way, please go into the house with the concubine to rest."

Cai Yan is courteous and polite, with a charm that is difficult to refuse. So much so that Wu Shuo temporarily put away his desire to see Cai Ji under her influence, and turned his hand back and said, "Then there is Mrs. Lao." ”

And at the same time as Cai Yan stabilized Wu Shuo. Cai Ji was learning Wu Shuo's general meaning from Li Da's mouth. In fact, the reason why Wu Shuo would talk to Li Da alone before was not only to listen to Qi Ying's reality, but also to ask Li Da to pass on a message to Cai Ji for him. After all, the situation is urgent. There is no room for both sides to expend energy and time to test each other.

After listening to what Li Da said at this moment, he saw Cai Ji holding a folding fan and gently knocking on the tiger's mouth, and asked playfully, "Oh? Dr. Wu came to visit with the Holy Decree. Fate of the lonely king? ”

"Exactly. Please also ask the Lord to keep his promise. sent troops to save the Son of Heaven from fire and water. After saying that, Li Da knocked his head heavily towards Cai Ji.

Cai Ji did not doubt Li Da's sincerity, but she vaguely felt that Li Da's words might be biased. Because with Cai Ji's understanding of Wu Shuo, this old gentleman would never put the Son of Heaven in a dangerous situation. And sending troops to Xu Du clearly violated this principle. Thinking of this, Cai Ji involuntarily raised his head and exchanged glances with Guo Jia and Jia Xu. But seeing Guo Jia's frowns, he obviously had reservations about Li Da's statement. As for Jia Xu, who had previously proposed the policy of "responding to the edict of King Qin", he was even more indifferent, and he did not have the joy of dozing off and receiving the pillow.

Seeing that the two masterminds under his command reacted like this, Cai Ji thought about it for a while, and then said to Li Dazhen, "Zhishen." Thou shalt go down first. After discussing with Mr. Wenhe and Mr. Fengxiao, he will give an explanation to the Son of Heaven. ”

But who knew that Li Da suddenly raised his head excitedly and asked. "Why should the matter of King Qin be discussed?"

Cai Ji was slightly unhappy and said, "The major affairs of the country of soldiers are also!" Without planning, how can you save the Son of Heaven? ”

"Really?" Li Da stared at Cai Ji closely, as if he wanted to see through whether the woman in front of him was still the "little master" he knew.

Looking at Li Da's bloodshot eyes, Cai Ji only felt a sudden pain in his chest. In fact, not long after Li Da returned from sending his relatives, Cai Ji had already noticed that Li Da had formed a deep friendship with the young son of heaven Liu Xie, and also realized that this friendship would be transformed into loyalty to the Han family. It's just that she never thought that she would one day be antagonistic to Li Da because of this. You must know that Li Dake was the first follower after she traveled to this era. If it weren't for the protection of Zhang Qing and Li Da, Cai Ji might have died on the first day of the crossing.

In a trance, Cai Ji seemed to feel the pain when Cao Cao and Xun Yu parted ways. However, she still calmly met Li Da's questioning gaze, and asked in a deep voice, "Don't you believe in loneliness?" ”

After confronting Cai Ji for a while, Li Da finally lowered his head and bowed to Cai Ji, and then exited the study without saying a word.

The contradictions between Cai Ji and Li Da were all seen by Guo Jia and Jia Xu. Guo Jia knew that Cai Ji was a person who cared about old love. But Li Da was not the only one who respected the Han in the Qi camp. Once the Son of Heaven is welcomed into Qingzhou, there will only be more and more confrontations like today in the future, and how should Cai Ji deal with himself at that time?

At this moment, Guo Jia strongly realized that the route of "serving the Son of Heaven to order the princes" was not suitable for the woman in front of him. So he asked Cai Ji with concern, "Is the Lord really determined to welcome the Son of Heaven?" ”

As Guo Jia spoke, Jia Xu also set his eyes on Cai Ji. To be honest, Cai Ji's way of dealing with Li Da just now made Jia Xu quite disappointed. In his opinion, Cai Ji can learn from Cao Cao to "serve the Son of Heaven to order the princes", but the premise is that her descendants must be loyal to her alone. Otherwise, the day when the Son of Heaven arrives in Qingzhou will be the time when the camp is divided. In fact, Jia Xu had always opposed Cai Ji's dispatch of troops to King Qin, because he saw that she could not suppress the Han family. But Cai Ji always had the spirit of competing with Cao Cao. And Guo Jia also believes that his lord can take on this great responsibility. Jia Xu knew that he couldn't convince the two, so he put forward the strategy of "serving the king of Qin". Now Guo Jia seems to have recognized the problem. But I don't know if the female princes on the other side also know this.

"Lone will not welcome the Son of Heaven into Qingzhou." Cai Ji shook his head and said his decision. It is not necessary for Guo Jia and Jia Xu to remind them, and Cai Ji also knows that her identity is flawed. It is not suitable to welcome the Son of Heaven. What's more, Liu Xie is already an adult, and if she engages in the trick of "serving the Son of Heaven to order the princes", she will only become the target of public criticism.

As soon as Cai Ji said this, he said. Jia Xu suddenly secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But another problem was placed in front of them, that is, how to place the Son of Heaven. At present, Liu Bei and Sun Ce both covet Xu Du's son of heaven, but the strength of these two is not as good as Cai Ji. Let's ask Cao Cao, the strongest of the princes, who still can't handle the relationship with the Son of Heaven, how can he suppress the Han family with the prestige of Liu Bei and Sun Ce?

Therefore, according to Jia Xu's idea, the safest way for Cai Ji is to send troops to rescue Cao Cao, let the Son of Heaven continue to stay in Xu Capital as a puppet, and exchange it for the title of King of Qi. The territory is divided into territories, and one party is hegemonic. Of course, there is a more "poisonous" way, that is, to mediate the melee between Cao, Liu, and Sun. Let Cao Ang exchange the Son of Heaven for Cao Cao. And no matter whether Liu Bei or Sun Ce gets the Son of Heaven, in order to win over Cai Ji's support, she will meet her requirements for dividing the territory into territories. And the side that successfully welcomes the Son of Heaven will not be long before there will be a conflict with the imperial court. At that time, Cai Ji will be able to order the princes of the world to go south to the side of the Qing monarch in the name of King Qin.

Considering the previous unhappiness between the Cao and Cai families, as well as the reputation of the Cao family's father and son. Jia Xu decided to test Cai Ji's bottom line with a poisonous way first. "But the Lord wants to come forward to mediate the dispute between the three families and help the Son of Heaven choose another Wangji?"

Wangji refers to the area of thousands of miles around the imperial capital. Jia Xu's original intention was to ask Cai Ji who he planned to throw the hot potato of Emperor Han to. But Cai Ji has another opinion on the word "Wang Ji". But I saw her bow slowly and methodically

"Wen and Gong are reasonable. The Son of Heaven has been an adult for a long time, and it is time to choose another Wang Ji pro-government. ”

Jia Xu obviously didn't expect Cai Ji to follow his words and propose to let the Son of Heaven be in charge. At first glance, this sounds ridiculous. Because after many years of Cao Cao's overhead, Liu Xie has already become a clay wood carving. Even if Cao Ang at this time let Liu Xie go to the government, I am afraid that the decree of the Emperor of Han will not be able to come out of Wang Ji. Wait! Wang Ji... Pro-governmental... Could it be...

"The lord wants the Son of Heaven to follow the Zhou system, divide the princes, and use the feudal Han to screen the Han?" The quick-thinking Guo Jia took a step forward to express Cai Ji's intentions.

And Cai Ji listened to what Guo Jia said, and smiled in return, "Those who know the orphan are filial piety!" ”

Although Jia Xu had built a feudal feud to consolidate his rule. Unexpectedly, the woman in front of him was even more daring than him, a poisoner. It should be known that Jia Xu's so-called sub-feudal refers to the "feudal system", the purpose of which is to seek the inheritance right of Cai Ji's descendants to the feudal state. Thus consolidating the rule of Cai Ji. And Cai Ji's recognition at the moment of "dividing the princes and vassals and ping the Han" is "dividing the relatives and seizing the Zhou", which refers to the fact that King Wu of Zhou divided his relatives with the same surname and meritorious strategists into various places and established vassal states. Under this system, the vassal states became the strongholds of ruling over one side of the land, and they also played a role in defending the Zhou royal family.

Although both are called "separation", there is an essential difference. The relationship between the feudal emperor and the vassals in the Han Dynasty was "monarch and minister". The relationship between the Zhou kings and the princes was the "co-master", that is, the relationship between the leader and the allies. In addition, since Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, there is no co-lord on the Central Plains. Because the emperor will not tolerate vassals on an equal footing, and vassals will take their place if they have the opportunity to get their hands on the imperial power.

At this moment, seeing that Cai Ji intended to restore the co-ownership system of the pre-Qin period, Jia Xu and Guo Jia had no bottom in their hearts. Because they don't know what kind of changes will happen to the world once they go back to the world. Is it to maintain the superficial unity as it did in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty? Or the Warring States Period, which plunged the world into even more chaos?

Facing the girl in front of him who had no bottom line than himself, Jia Xu simply stopped covering it up, and directly picked it out, "Since there is no Han family in the lord's heart, why not send Liu Xie to Liu Bei and Sun Ce, and then use the name of King Qin to fight against him?" ”

Hearing Jia Xu's plan to bring disaster to the south, Cai Ji couldn't help frowning slightly. As a traverser, Cai Ji has a stronger sense of unity than Jia Xu and Guo Jia. But she also knows that with her current strength, she cannot stop the trend of division in the world for the time being, and only by continuing to accumulate strength can she turn the tide and change the course of history in the future. Therefore, since the fight of Jia Xutiyì separation, Cai Ji began to seriously ponder the advantages and disadvantages of the separation, and how to achieve the separation. But according to Jia Xu's plan at this moment, it is undoubtedly to put Liu Xie in the fire pit. Because Cao Cao has already done the trick of "coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes" to the extreme, unless Sun Ce and Liu Bei sincerely plan to be the Duke of Zhou, they cannot do better than Cao Cao. And once he turns against Sun, Liu and other southern princes, it is difficult to say whether Liu Xie can save his life again. After all, the atmosphere in the south in this era was far more barbaric than in the north.

Liu Xie may not be able to take on the heavy responsibility of the Zhongxing Han Dynasty due to his limited ability, but Cai Ji is unwilling to watch the historical Shanyang Duke die. This is not only because Cai Ji still has a trace of longing for the "One Family of All Generations" in his heart, but also because of Cai Ji's commitment to Li Da and others. So he saw Cai Ji sitting precariously and replied awe-inspiringly, "Lone once promised Zhishen to save the Son of Heaven, and he must not let the Son of Heaven come out of the tiger's mouth and be like a wolf's den." ”

Jia Xu was so topped by Cai Ji that he couldn't help but be speechless for a while. Seeing that Cai Ji was discussing with him how to divide the Han family without any burden one moment ago, but the next moment he would give up the most effective strategy for the sake of a promise, Jia Xu was really a little unpredictable about the woman in front of him. It is said that Jia Xu has assisted many warlords and princes, no matter how violent and cruel the other party is, he can always deal with it calmly. Because Jia Xu knew very well what these warlords and princes wanted. But only in front of Cai Ji, he was never able to grasp Cai Ji's thoughts.

And just when Jia Xu felt powerless, Guo Jia on the side was very relieved. Because in his eyes, Cai Ji is not only keeping his promise to Li Da, but also fulfilling his oath of "living up to the world and living up to the Qing" in the past. You must know that it was because of Cai Ji's courage to shoulder the ideals of his subordinates that Guo Jia turned down Xun Yu's invitation and stayed in Donglai. Now that Cai Ji has not forgotten the original concept of jì, Guo Jia has nothing to worry about paying for himself. Seeing him stretch out his long sleeves, he bowed down to Cai Ji and said, "The Lord has made a decision, and Jia Zi should do his best to assist." ”

As Guo Jia took the initiative to express his position, Jia Xu also restrained his tangled thoughts. In the final analysis, he also took the initiative to propose this method of separation, and Cai Ji was just adjusting it on the basis of his words. What's more, Jia Xu is not a diehard loyalist of the Han family. Now that Cai Ji has already identified her goal, Jia Xu adjusted the situation and planned a specific implementation plan for his own master, "Well, the lord has the intention to urge the Son of Heaven to divide the princes, but what is the key to success?" (To be continued......)