Cao Cao originally planned to repair the embankment of Shaobi and let Xu Chu wave his army south to help Hefei. However, he learned that the tens of thousands of refugees who fled from Hefei one after another became a thorny problem for him, forcing him to abandon Hefei City.

Cao Cao was of course aware of Zhou Yu's insidious intentions in doing so, and in the face of these tens of thousands of refugees like a time bomb, Cao Cao did not hesitate for long, and he quickly made a cruel decision. All the refugees were driven into quarantine camps in the wilderness far from the cities, where they were provided with limited food rations and left to fend for themselves.

In order to prevent these refugees from escaping, Cao Cao also ordered several deep trenches to be dug near the isolation camps, and Xu Chu's 10,000 troops, who originally planned to go south to fight Jiangdong, were strictly guarded around the isolation camps, and if anyone dared to escape, they would be shot to death.

Of course, Cao Cao knew that his actions would inevitably cause complaints from the people, and he would even be attacked by those opponents of him, using those words of benevolence and morality. But he also knows that those ignorant surnames are the best at "healing the scars and forgetting the pain". Today, they can complain about their cruel practices, and after complaining, as long as they give a little sweetness, they will be grateful to themselves again in the blink of an eye. So, based on this consideration, he ordered in the name of the imperial court to reduce the tax of fifty percent of the surnames of the people in the war-torn areas of Huainan.

Sure enough, after the tax reduction order, the people of Huainan were happy, and the originally drowning public opinion gradually depressed because of this.

However, Huainan suffered a series of disasters, and Cao Cao's painstaking management of the Tuntian District suffered heavy losses, under this unfavorable factor, Cao Cao could only temporarily abandon the plan to go south to Hefei, and focus on restoring the economy of Huainan and solving the confrontation in Kunyang Liu Yong, as well as the Xiahou brothers and the 50,000 army trapped in Hanzhong.

Winter is coming, the weather is getting colder, the first snow has fallen in the north, the land south of the Yangtze River is also cold and windy, even the noon sun does not seem to have much temperature, people are huddled in their houses and do not want to go out. Under the fear of the major forces, the war became sparse, and the rare north and south gradually became peaceful.

Sun Quan, who was bathed in the great joy of seizing Hefei, was happy to ask the ministers to promote Zhou Yu and other generals who participated in the war in Hefei.

Zhou Yu was originally the governor of the capital, and he was already a very popular minister, and it was difficult to rise again, so he was the marquis of the county, rewarded 100 acres of fertile land, and had a number of money, grain, and cloth.

Taishi Ci was promoted to General Yingyang, Zhou Tai was promoted to General Pingyu, Feng Xianghou, He Qi was promoted to General Yangwu, and Feng Shanyin Marquis. Han Dang was promoted to General Zhaowu, Zhu Ran was promoted to General Hengjiang, Xu Sheng was promoted to General Jianwu, Feng Wuhu Marquis, and Zhu Heng was promoted to General Dangkou.

For a time, everyone in Jiangdong celebrated, and the people praised it, and it was lively everywhere.

Within a few days, the Huangmen of the imperial court arrived at Moling with a holy decree in his hand, and the announcement was completed, which made Sun Quan overjoyed, which can be described as a great gift from Cao Cao.

The holy decree was to seal Sun Quan as the Marquis of Wu, and Zhou Yu as the Taishou of Yangzhou, and give the seal ribbon together; The Anhui County and other places occupied by Cao's army were transferred to Jiangdong under the rule of Sun Quan.

Sun Quan was stunned!

Did Cao Cao have a headache and give himself such a big gift?

The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty came to congratulate each other, and even the civil and military personnel stationed outside congratulated each other, and everyone was pleased.

But none of the three of them have expressed their position, one is Zhou Yu, the second is Zhang Zhao, and the third is Zhang Hong.

Zhou Yu put the above table on Sun Quan's desk, first of all, he simply congratulated him, which made Sun Quan calm down a lot, and pointed out that this was Cao Cao's treacherous plan, the purpose was just to make Sun and Liu's two families fight!

"Ask Gong Jin if you don't know about foreign affairs, and ask Zhang Zhao if you don't know about internal affairs!" The last words of the eldest brother Sun Ce are still vivid, and Sun Quan immediately invited this important minister who did not express his position to ask, but he did not expect the "two zhangs" to arrive at the same time.

Zhang Zhao said: "Lord, this is Cao Cao's trick. Cao Cao controlled the government and coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the Han Emperor was just a puppet, but he just conveyed his meaning under the pretense of this holy decree. The lord is wise and martial, but after all, he is young, and he has little experience in distinguishing some people's hearts, and it is normal to be unknown for a while. ”

This is not a direct slap in the face, Sun Quan is very displeased, but these two are not only the old ministers of Jiangdong, but also represent the two wealthy families in Jiangdong, Sun Quan had no choice but to suppress the unhappiness in his heart and ask: "Can Zibu elaborate, what is the treacherous scheme?" ”

Unexpectedly, Zhang Hong spoke first: "Lord, what Zibu said just now is good, this is indeed Cao Cao's treacherous plan." Cao Cao was the lord of the throne, once the lord received the holy decree, then it was equivalent to owing him a favor, and it was not good to immediately turn his face and start a war with him. What's more, he directly named Gongjin as the Taishou of Yangzhou, and also sent the Anhui County seized from Liu Yong's hands to the lord, mainly because Hefei was occupied by Jiangdong, and it was difficult to recapture it for a while. There is another meaning, that is, to move the trouble of Jiangdong! ”

Zhang Zhao said: "Cao Cao's move is vicious, no less than Gong Jin's exorcism to the north!" Imagine it, if you were Liu Yong, what would you think? ”

Although Sun Quan was young, he was not stupid, but very smart, and he understood it immediately, and scolded: "Cao Cao, an old thief, is so vicious!" Jiangdong's strength is not as good as Jingzhou's, and it is oppressed in many places, but Jiangdong has frequent wars, insufficient warehouses, sparse population, and insufficient soldiers, so he can only endure it first. However, Liu Yong had just made peace with Jiangdong, and Cao Cao came to sow discord again, provoking a war between us and Jingzhou, making it difficult for Jiangdong to cultivate, which is really sinister! ”

Zhang Zhao nodded: "Lord Mingjian!" Jiangdong needs to cultivate, Cao Cao is afraid that we will grow stronger with Jingzhou, and it will be difficult to deal with it in the future, so he simply provoked an incident in Anhui County, so that we can fight between the two sides of the snipe and the clam on both sides, so he can free his hands to pacify the north in one fell swoop, and then watch the fire from the other side, and the fisherman will benefit! ”

Sun Quan sneered: "Yes, I just got the news today that Cao Cao has left Xuchang and went to the camp of Ye County, preparing to conquer Yecheng in one fell swoop and pacify Yuan Shang!" It seems that Cao Cao's withdrawal was to let the Yuan brothers kill each other! ”

Zhang Zhao nodded in agreement with what Sun Quan said: "This plan must have been made by Guo Fengxiao, a subordinate of Cao Cao. This person is known as a "ghost scheme", and only he can make Cao Cao adopt such a strategy! ”

"It seems that the Yuan brothers have reached the limit, and the lord needs to prepare early, if he waits until Cao Cao pacifies the land of Hebei and raises troops south, I am afraid it will be too late."

Sun Quan nodded in agreement, but he still had doubts: "Liu Yong is personally stationed in Kunyang, which is close to Xuchang, and there are 50,000 horses of the Xiahou brothers trapped in Hanzhong, isn't he worried?" ”

Zhang Zhao said with a smile: "In terms of warfare, I am not what we are good at, so I think Gong Jin must see it more clearly." However, judging from Cao Cao's actions, he can leave Xuchang with confidence, and there must be a countermeasure. Moreover, it is said that Xiangcheng has Cao Hong's 20,000 troops and Jingzhou's rebel general Wen's 5,000 men, and the weather is getting colder, and Liu Yong estimates that it will be difficult to achieve his goal even if he wants to attack Xuchang. ”