In the twenty-second year of Jian'an, the war waged by Cao Cao and Sun Quan against Li Sheng was not fought for a year or two in one go, as everyone thought. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoThey declared war in April, but by July they couldn't do it anymore. The outcome of the war was greatly beyond the expectations of those so-called people of insight in the world: Li Sheng faced the strong men from the north and the east at the same time, and instead of being defeated, he withstood their attacks and sealed the victory of the war.

In terms of fighting against Cao Cao, Li Sheng used the cooperation of the navy and the army to surround the remaining 50,000 regiments of Cao's southern expeditionary troops on the Dati area of Xiangyang, so that they could spend miserable days after day in the lack of food and clothing.

In terms of dealing with Sun Quan, a naval army that appeared out of nowhere actually approached Jianye when the main force of the Jiangdong naval army was besieging Jiangling, and reached Sun Quan's lair. Although they didn't really attack Jianye City for a while, they kept hanging there, but they completely blocked the waterway of the Yangtze River, which gave Sun Quan a headache in Jianye City. Under the blockade of Li Sheng's army, prices soared and order was chaotic, and Sun Quan actually had the idea of moving the capital to avoid Li Sheng.

Of course, such an idea did not materialize. Because Lü Meng's navy rushed over in time and "repelled" Li Sheng's navy - this is Sun Quan's claim on the surface.

In fact, such a repulsion was just Li Shengjun's own retreat. After Lü Meng's sailors arrived, Li Shengjun's sailors did fight a battle with Lü Meng's sailors on the mouth of the Changjian River outside Jianye. The final result was that more than 100 of the 400 warships that Lü Meng came to help were defeated, while only 12 of Li Sheng's ships were slightly damaged. Li Shengjun can be described as a complete victory.

As for the reason why Li Shengjun retreated on his own after the victory, it will be called Jiangdong Army, and it is entirely the result of Li Shengjun's rapid dispatch of people to negotiate with Sun Quan after winning the battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River. In the face of such an obvious fact that his own navy is inferior to Li Sheng's navy, Sun Quan, who has always been arrogant, had to bow his head and admit his "mistake". Immediately, under Li Shengjun's seemingly not harsh conditions, he recognized the fact that Jingzhou belonged to Li Sheng, and announced the order to stop the war with Li Sheng.

All of this was carried out under the strong combat power of Li Sheng's army, and Sun Quan was of course dissatisfied with this. But the naval army he can rely on the most can't beat the other party, what can he do? The foundation of Jiangdong lies in the navy, not even the navy, and the Jiangdong army is obviously a fool's act if it refuses to accept softness, and Li Sheng did not make any territorial claims, in addition to asking the territory that has been defended by them to be recognized by Jiangdong, they only ask the two sides to cease fighting and re-establish the Jiangnan Alliance. This was done in secret, as Sun Quan had hoped to see, and he was able to retain his rule in Jiangdong and have the result of claiming that Li Shengjun had been repelled by himself.

Of course, these superficial claims have always been used to confuse ordinary people. The result of the battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River was well known to both Sun Quan and Li Sheng, and even Cao Cao, who was far away in the north, received reliable information after a long time. Knowing that Li Sheng's navy and army had such a strong combat power, Cao Cao, who had always regarded himself as a strongman, sighed helplessly: "We must have a further understanding of Li Shengjun." After that, he had to face another problem: "How to solve the problem of Xiangyang." ”

To solve the problem of Xiangyang, it is not a question of whether to attack Xiangyang, but a question of how to let the 50,000 Cao troops led by Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xiahou Dun, Zhang Jaw and others return to Jiangbei safely. Although Cao Cao himself was reluctant to admit it, Li Shengjun's victory in the Battle of Xiangyang had become a very clear fact in front of him. Of course, Cao Cao can still mobilize the army and Li Sheng to continue fighting until the battle is defeated, but is there any objection to that? For Cao Cao, who had just fought with Liu Bei for four years, his strength was not strengthened but weakened. Under the years of war, his army has increased a lot, but the veterans of the army are much less, and the generals who can recruit are also more damaged, and the resulting result, coupled with the fact that the economy in his territory has been affected by the war, makes Cao Cao a little overstretched at present. What he needs is not war, but recuperation. This should have been done a year ago, but ......

“…… If it weren't for Li Sheng guarding Xiangyang, I would have put everything down a long time ago. Damn ......, maybe I shouldn't have fought Li Sheng in the first place. When the news of the erosion of the Xiangyang battle came, Cao Cao couldn't help but regret it. It's just that this regret can only be put in his heart, not on the table. He is a monarch, and he cannot show regret. And as far as the current situation is concerned, regret is also a completely useless thing.

"What should we do now!" Cao Cao gathered all his generals and asked such a question openly. This is a gathering of Cao Cao's generals and staff, except for Xiahou Yuan, who couldn't leave Chang'an in Guanzhong, and Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others who were besieged in Xiangyang by Li Shengjun, Cao Cao's generals were all summoned by Cao Cao. They stayed together in the main hall of the Duke of Wei's mansion, quietly listening to Cao Cao's questions.

"Father, I think we should devote all the troops of the whole country to attack Li Sheng." Cao Zhi, who was standing under Cao Cao's right hand, shook his seemingly weak body and made such an impassioned suggestion. Of course, this is not what he Cao Zhi himself thinks, he is a man of letters, and he is not so belligerent. The reason why he said this was nothing more than the result of the advice of the staff behind him. They speculated on Cao Cao's thoughts, and according to Cao Cao's consistent personality, they came to the conclusion that Cao Cao would definitely treat Li Sheng with a tough attitude. "What could be tougher than to go to war in such a situation?" They thought so and immediately suggested to Cao Zhi, who was now fighting with his brother Cao Pi for his father's attention.

"I'm stupid. That's not good advice. Zijiandi, are you going to exhaust all your father's hard work? As soon as Cao Zhi's words fell, Cao Cao was still thinking about it, and Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Pi spoke out against it. Seeing that he was very heroic, he took a step forward and said to Cao Cao: "Father, the child thinks that we should negotiate with Li Sheng and use another way to let our soldiers and generals go home." ”

"Negotiations? Another way? Cao Cao raised his eyebrows with interest when he heard this: "In what way?" What we can't get on the battlefield, will Li Sheng send things to us with a blank eye? You'll have to explain it to me carefully. ”

"Yes, Father." Seeing that his suggestion aroused Cao Cao's interest, Cao Pi couldn't help but feel a little proud, and he wanted to take a demonstration to look at his brother Cao Zhi, but in the end he held back. He knew that Cao Cao was his father, but he knew even more about what kind of person his father was. If you do these small actions by yourself, no matter how hidden the actions are, you will be discovered by your father. "Let's be honest and put these things away first." Thinking like this, Cao Pi immediately cleared his throat and began to speak: "Actually, I think that judging from Li Shengjun's actions, Li Shengjun doesn't seem to have the idea of wanting to eat our troops. They seem intent on keeping our team alive, as if they want to use our people as a bargaining chip. ”

"Chips?" The eyebrows on Cao Cao's face raised even higher: "Are you saying that Li Shengjun surrounded our soldiers and did not fight, and he used them as bargaining chips?" ”

"Yes." Cao Pi nodded heavily: "The probability of this is the highest." Of course, they are also guarding against us while using us as bargaining chips. If we send troops to rescue Uncle Zixiao, I'm afraid that something else bad will happen—I'm afraid that Li Sheng's side also has the intention of eating up our reinforcements if anything happens. Judging from Pang Tong's clever performance in this battle, such a possibility is not impossible. ”

"Then we are going to send someone to find Li Sheng and seek a way to negotiate and reconcile?" Cao Cao asked Cao Pi again, and stared at him with his eyes.

"We don't have to send someone over, because Li Sheng's side will send someone over himself." Cao Pi met the sharp gaze of his father, smiled slightly, but said with a little confidence.

"How?" Cao Cao looked a little curious again. In fact, such thoughts have long existed in his own heart, and the reason why he is asking so much now is nothing more than to test his son's level.

It can be seen from Li Sheng's actions towards Sun Quan this time. Although I don't know why Li Sheng would be so low-key after obviously winning the war, the result of such a low-key is that it is normal for the war to not happen again. Maybe Li Sheng, like us, doesn't want to see the coming of war. So they don't want to push our people too hard. They know the importance of Zixiao, Uncle and others to us. Cao Pi said this, paused slightly, and after seeing that his father's gaze at him contained a little appreciation, he secretly continued with some pride: "From Li Sheng's methods to Sun Quan, it can be seen that Li Sheng has the idea of quelling the war, and from Li Sheng's methods to Sun Quan, we can also see Li Sheng's meticulousness. He must have known that Sun Quan was a person who valued face very much, so he would leave room for Sun Quan everywhere. He treats Sun Quan like this, and his father's status and strength are clearly in front of him, how can he not give his father face. I think the envoy from Li Sheng's side should have already hit the road. In the end, Cao Pi was very bold to say the guess in his heart.

"The messenger is already on his way? Is this possible? Everyone in the hall suddenly heard Cao Pi say this, and most of them felt a little incredible: "The victory in the battle was achieved in Jingzhou, and Li Sheng was in Hanzhong. Although generally speaking, the distance from Hanzhong to Jingzhou is not far, and it is roughly the same as the distance from Jingzhou to Xuchang, but most of them are difficult to walk. How could Li Shengjun's side know the news of Xiangyang's victory so quickly and quickly send his own envoys? Is it really weird enough? Could it be that Li Sheng's side has far superior means of information dissemination to ours? Looking at their lord suspiciously, they inadvertently said this question.

"They also have the means to disseminate information that are better than us, otherwise they would not have been able to plan such a large-scale strategy of dividing and attacking. But now they are not relying on that means to send messengers. They may have sent the envoy at the last moment of the Battle of Jingzhou. Jia Xu on the side suddenly said like this.

"...... at that time? Aren't they worried that they're going to lose? The crowd was a little puzzled by this.

"Worried, of course they are worried. After all, the final result has not come out. Jia Xu said with a smile, and then straightened his face: "It is precisely because of worry, so their envoy is burdened with two sets of rhetoric. If we win, they will do their best to quell the flames of our war. And if it is they who win as they have now, then their task will be to consult with us on how to deal with the prisoners. Don't look at Li Shengjun didn't really catch Cao Ren and them, in fact, that's just the face that Li Sheng's side gave us. In fact, Cao Ren and them are already prisoners of war on Li Sheng's side - as long as Li Sheng is willing, they can destroy Cao Ren and them at any time. As harsh as it is, that's what it is. Jia Xu said coldly. As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the entire hall suddenly became cold. Yes, that's the case. With Cao Ren's current situation of lack of food and clothing, if Li Sheng's side really wants to do something to them, I am afraid that as long as he sends 20,000 soldiers, he can take them in one go. This could have been done the day after the battle that night, knowing that Li Sheng had a naval army on his side that they couldn't resist.

"Alas...... So we'll just have to wait now? I'm really unwilling. Cao Cao let out a long sigh and said a little dejectedly. It was a defeat, and although he never said it, he thought so in his heart. He believes that the losses he suffered in this defeat are much greater than those of the former Chibi. At that time, although he was defeated, most of the losses were the recruits who surrendered from Hebei and the local naval army in Jingzhou, and there was no loss as for the tiger and leopard cavalry and Qingzhou soldiers that he relied on. And this time it seems to be different, in the team led by Cao Ren, the tiger and leopard cavalry, and the Qingzhou soldiers are all brought, it can be said that Cao Cao handed over the most elite troops in his hands to Cao Ren but only got such a result, which is really unacceptable to Cao Cao. Heart...... Headache ah......! Cao Cao sat in his place heavily, and all kinds of fatigue suddenly came to his heart for a while.

"Li Sheng, it's really a tough enemy." Cao Cao didn't want to be old, which can be seen from his poems a few years ago, but after encountering such a setback now, he wanted to ask himself what he thought: "Am I really unable to beat Li Sheng?" In his opinion, the hand that Li Sheng is playing with right now is beautifully tight, and it is simply putting himself in a situation of weakness. Alas...... I suffered a loss, but I couldn't start to take revenge right away. "It's really uncomfortable, but Cao Cao can't do anything about it.

Cao Cao said such a helpless "frustrated" sentence lightly, and the ministers over there suddenly couldn't stand it. The so-called "the lord is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the lord humiliates the ministers to death", seeing that his lord actually showed such an expression, most of the people in the hall immediately panicked, and they all felt that this was their own problem.

Of course, there will be such a performance is just the work of some insignificant people, they are just creating such an atmosphere. As for Jia Xu, Xun You and others, who are really Cao Cao's ministers, they have never been like this. I saw that Xun Yu took a step forward but said, "Please also ask the lord to relax your mood for the time being." The so-called 'gentleman's revenge, ten years is not too late', not to mention that with our strength, it may not take ten years? The power of our Central Plains is not comparable to that of the South. ”

"That's true." Cao Cao's heart moved when he was said, and his face suddenly relaxed a lot.

Since his eldest son and his staff all have such speculations, and he almost thinks so, then Cao Cao naturally began to arrange the reception of Li Shengjun's envoy. Of course, this is an arrangement, but there are other things that need to be done. On the one hand, Cao Cao made Xu Huang the general of the rescue, Xun You set up a posture of going south again for the army division to lead 100,000 troops into Wancheng, and on the other hand, let Xiahou Yuan try to attack Hanzhong as the general of the Western Route Army. These are all actions, a declaration, all for Li Sheng, to let the people of the world see his determination - if the people sent by Li Shengjun put forward any very excessive conditions, then he Cao Cao will not hesitate to fight. It was August 10, the 22nd year of Jian'an, and Cao Cao made his first arrangement after receiving this series of defeats.

Five days later, on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival reunion on August 15, a carriage procession escorted by more than 500 Cao soldiers drove into the west gate of Xuchang. The soldiers defending the city inquired as usual, but were told that this was a team from Chang'an, Xijing, and it was the men and horses under the seat of General Xiahou Yuan, and it was now to escort Li Shengjun's envoy to negotiate. As soon as these words were spoken, the defenders of the city did not dare to slack off at that time, and hurriedly sent people to report to the governor of the city. It didn't take long for Cao Cao to get the news.

"Sure enough, at the beginning of the operation, they sent messengers." Cao Cao sighed, but his face was a little uncertain, and no one knew what he was thinking at the moment.

At that time, Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Pi, followed Cao Cao's changes, and when he heard Cao Cao sigh like this, he immediately asked, "Father, should I meet them immediately?" ”

"Well! Or don't want it? I think the more anxious we are to meet them, the more passive we become. I'm afraid that if we show eagerness, they'll raise the price of the negotiation even higher. Cao Cao thought for a while and said, he immediately instructed Cao Pi: "Arrange for them to be received in the post house." But give me a lot of attention to their every move, just pay attention, and don't interfere with them too much. Well, if they ask about me, say I went to Yecheng. ”

"Oh!" Cao Pi responded from this, but suddenly remembered: "Father, is this going to put them aside first, and rub their momentum first?" ”

"Exactly. The more anxious we are, but on the surface we should be more steady. Remember, this is a quality that a human monarch should have. Cao Cao nodded with a smile, and admonished Cao Pi in a deep voice.

"I see. I'll do what my father ordered. Cao Pi agreed at once.

"Good!" Cao Cao laughed. He still knows more clearly about his eldest son. He knew he was ambitious, and he knew he was very practical. It should be comforting to put this in his hands, that's almost certain. Cao Cao thought that his next step was to clean up for a few days.

This is indeed a good idea, but Cao Cao also did it with peace of mind. The first day, everything was fine. The next day, nothing happened, except that I heard that the envoy from Li Sheng's side suddenly put forward the idea of visiting Xuchang City. Forget it, just visit. Just be careful and keep certain people out of contact with them, especially those in the palace. Thinking so, Cao Cao did not stop their request. On the third day, Li Sheng's envoys wandered around, and they seemed to be very interested in the restaurants and restaurants in Xuchang, and always lingered in those places, but there was nothing too out of the ordinary...... It was a quiet few days. On the eighth day when Li Sheng's envoy came, Jia Xu suddenly came to Cao Cao with slightly panicked steps.

"What's wrong? Wenhe! It's hard to see you still so nervous. When Jia Xu came in, Cao Cao's mood was still calm and tight, and he looked at Jia Xu with a smile on his face. As he spoke, he weighed the tea in front of him, and casually pointed to the dough garden opposite, and made a gesture of please: "You sit down." Something is slowly coming. ”

Seeing that Cao Cao was so suitable, Jia Xu laughed slightly, he nodded, cleaned up the rare panic on his face, but returned to his original calm appearance, and sat opposite Cao Cao very naturally, and after tasting Cao Cao and brewing himself good tea without distinction of dignity and humility, Shi Shiran opened his mouth: "Lord, there are rumors in the city that are not very beneficial to us." ”

"Rumors? Since you've already said it's a rumor. Then we should not rush to clarify, the rumors stop at the wise, as long as it is over for a while. Cao Cao smiled and waved his hand, but he didn't take it to heart.

"That's not going to work." Jia Xu smiled and shook his head: "Lord, this matter has already alarmed the above, and now the palace and officials are all talking about it except for our people." ”

"Discussion? What to discuss? Cao Cao asked curiously.

"Discussion, whether the lord wants to continue to fight this battle. Li Sheng used a conspiracy, and it was very clever, but he deceived me and my subordinates. There will be such a situation, I, Jia Wenhe, have to review it well. Jia Xu said in a low tone. However, despite his tone, Cao Cao did not hear much of a review from his tone. This is a question that is not worth reviewing, because Jia Xu reported everything to Cao Cao, which did contain many clues and strangeness, but Cao Cao vetoed them. This is not Jia Xu's slackness, but Cao Cao's own slackness, it seems that Cao Cao thinks that Xuchang is his own territory, so he can be so relieved. Of course, these are all words that criticize Cao Cao, and they are hidden in the front machine in their hearts, and when these two people are alone, it is enough to say them euphemistically. Jia Xu understands this way of advancing and retreating very well. That's why he was in charge of confidential affairs under Cao Cao for so long.

Hearing Jia Xu say this, Cao Cao's white skin couldn't help but rise a little red tide, of course he knew that this was Jia Xu admonishing himself like this. After thinking about it carefully and finding that this was indeed his big mistake, Cao Cao suddenly put away the smile on his face and became solemn: "Wenhe, what is this matter, please tell me in detail." ”

"Li Shengjun's envoy came west, and after the first day, he didn't see him and waited for us, but I was afraid that we already understood our idea of leaving him aside. Originally, they could have forced us to meet him. But they did not do this, but passed quietly for another day, which calmed our nervous and defensive hearts a little, and only then did they make such a reasonable request on the third day. Since there was no special action for two days, our supervision of them, although strict on the surface, was somewhat lax on the inside. When the lord heard this, he naturally allowed them to act and let them go out into the streets. This gives them the opportunity to meet outsiders. In the following days, they appeared to be peaceful, but in reality, consciously or unconsciously, they frequented the complex liquor stores. I think the rumors that have reached the palace have been spread by them from these taverns where everyone has them. You must know that after what happened to Dong Cheng and Fu Hou, the lord entrusted those who opposed us to idle positions as much as possible. Those people have nothing to do, so it is naturally easy to go in and out of these places, and naturally they have heard all kinds of criticism. Li Shengjun's people are playing with rumors, but they are very strong. Jia Xu said this and sighed, but explained the matter clearly.

"In other words, Li Sheng used the two tactics of 'pretending to be crazy and selling stupid' and 'rumors attacking' to deal with us here?" Cao Cao nodded slightly after listening to Jia Xu's explanation, and then asked, "In that case, what is the current situation?" ”

"Others don't know the fact that we're weak, but those who stay with us don't know what kind of predicament we've fallen into. This is also due to Li Sheng's surname Li, not Liu, otherwise the ambitious and talented guy in the palace is afraid that he will make a farce again, instead of asking us to solve this burden as soon as possible. Jia Xu smiled coldly, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the person who was nominally the supreme leader of the entire empire in his own words. In his opinion, the very miserable master who tactfully interacted with several princes was simply a powerless character, and let him be a nominal master, he already looked up to him. As for what he has always wanted to get and achieve, Jia Xu can only shake his head helplessly: "It's not good to measure your own means and see the strength of your enemies." Are you people the opponents of Lord Cao Cao? After someone else has completely controlled Xuchang City, you really don't know whether to live or die. Jia Xu felt that they had no chance of success at all, so he naturally refused to help them at all, on the contrary, he also sent his own people to watch them closely, so that they did not dare to have the idea of acting rashly.

"It's for their good, too." Jia Xu thinks so, and Cao Cao understands this too.

For the current Cao Cao, the titular emperor is not only a banner for himself, but also a burden and a trouble for himself. But fortunately, this trouble only started when there were princes surnamed Liu and those relatives, and now that none of the princes surnamed Liu are gone, and most of those relatives have been cut off by themselves, in the face of the princes with foreign surnames like himself, the emperor who is afraid that it will become worse is still more dependent on himself. Cao Cao knew the emperor's thoughts: he wanted to get rid of himself, but he was unwilling to re-enter the war. Therefore, at least for the time being, the emperor and himself are still of the same mind - he is as eager as himself to solve the current problem by peaceful means.

"Hmm...... Is this something that can be used? Cao Cao thought so, but his eyes were aimed at Jia Xu: "Wenhe, look ......"

"I already understand what my lord means. I think we can use these conditions. We can ask the emperor to issue an edict to urge the lord. Jia Xu smiled faintly, after Cao Cao said something, he immediately understood what Cao Cao meant.

"Haha, Wen Heye, who knows me." Cao Cao laughed and said, looking at Jia Xu with appreciation: "Wenhe, I'm not moving here." It's up to you to do the stuff over there. ”

"Wen He understands." Jia Xu nodded heavily and agreed.