"Did he go to Zhuya?" Cao Ying twisted a lock of beard on his lips, looked at the sparkling Xuanwu Pond noodles, and asked casually.

Cao Pi arched his hands and stood aside, and just as he was about to speak, Cao Zhang had already taken the lead and grinned happily: "Yes, after he pacified Yizhou, he went directly to Zhuya." ”

Cao Ying's eyelids raised, and he glanced at Cao Zhang angrily and funny: "He pacified Yizhou, what are you happy about?" ”

Cao Zhanghan laughed twice, smacked his lips, rubbed his big hands and didn't say a word, but his expression had already expressed his thoughts directly. Cao Ying smiled, glanced at Cao Pi and the silent Cao Zhi on the other side, raised the corners of his mouth, retracted his gaze to the lake, and asked lightly: "What, are you greedy?" Want to be a general of Fuyi too? ”

"Erchen...... Erchen didn't dare. Cao Zhang's cheeks twitched, and he hurriedly said: "Erchen just thinks that now there are four kings in the Han Dynasty, and King Yue is the worst, but in the past two years, he has been in the limelight the most, and if this trend continues, I am afraid that Wu Shu will be overshadowed by him in two or three years, and in a few years, my Wei State may not be able to ......."

"Lao Tzu's limelight will also be overshadowed by him?" Cao Ying interrupted Cao Zhang's words, the corners of his eyes twitched, and he spat out two puffs of rough air.

"Yes, Erchen is worried."

"Hmph......" Cao Ying snorted noncommittally twice, and raised his hand: "Zihuan, what do you say?" ”

Cao Pi said respectfully: "Erchen doesn't think that King Yue can overshadow his father's limelight, my father fought for the Han Dynasty for 30 years, supported the building to fall in generals, and pacified most of the world. The Son of Heaven crossed the grid and added the seal, and the sons thought that his intentions were not good, and he was suspected of indiscriminately rewarding. Erchen thought that he should go to the table to remind His Majesty. ”

"Remind Your Majesty of what?" Cao Ying sneered: "Can you make Your Majesty take back your fate?" ”

Cao Pi listened to Cao Ying's bad voice, licked his lips, and swallowed back the words that came to his mouth.

"Zijian, what do you think?" Cao Ying turned his gaze to Cao Zhi.

Cao Zhi had just returned from Hanzhong, and before he had time to enter Yecheng to rest, he was summoned to Xuanwu Pond, where Cao Zhang and Cao Pi had already arrived, and Cao Ying showed him the news on the Han Gazette that had just arrived about Sun Shao's request to the Son of Heaven to turn Yizhou into the Yizhou County of Yue, and the Son of Heaven issued an edict to crown Sun Shao as the general of Fuyi. He could see that Cao Ying attached great importance to this matter, and summoning him and Cao Zhang to Yecheng might also have something to do with it.

Cao Zhang expressed the same desire to conquer the barbarians, and Cao Pi seemed to be indifferent, but Cao Zhi knew that Cao Pi was jointly pitted by Sun Shao and Yang Biao once, and stated in the Han Gazette that he wanted to conquer the barbarians, he must have such thoughts, but he was not as direct as Cao Zhang, and he had to test Cao Ying's meaning before speaking.

"Erchen thinks that the king of Yue is committed to foreign conquest, both public and private, and we should emulate it, even if we can't follow suit, we shouldn't obstruct it, giving people the impression of jealousy and jealousy." Cao Zhi said quietly: "Although the four kings have different surnames, they are all the people of my Han Dynasty, and they are the four pillars who help the Han Dynasty. ”

Cao Pi's face was a little ugly, Cao Zhi's words were obviously aimed at him, he just wanted to say something, but he saw Cao Ying nodding silently, as if agreeing with Cao Zhi's opinion, and then closed his mouth again, and explained after a while: "Erchen is not jealous of King Yue's merits, Erchen just thinks that His Majesty is a little too hasty." Only then did he take a Yizhou, and he was promoted to the general of Fuyi, so why should he be promoted if he took another Yizhou? Besides, the barbarians don't know the etiquette, it's easy to move and it's hard to be safe, today it's said to be obedient, it's clear to say rebellion, and today's big reward is considered to be beautiful, what if the Yi people rebel again? Is it necessary to deprive him, the general of Fuyi, again? Reputation is an important weapon of the state, how can it be such a child's play? ”

"Zihuan, if Sun Shao takes another Yizhou, how will His Majesty seal him?" Cao Ying pondered for a moment, and suddenly interjected.

Cao Pi was silent for a moment, making people feel that he was not speaking casually. "Erchen thinks that it may be a general, but there seems to be no more suitable position besides that."

"General?" Cao Ying muttered to himself: "Could it be that my Han wants to produce a general who is not a relative?" ”

Cao Pi suddenly had a flash of inspiration, understood Cao Ying's intentions, and couldn't help but be furious. The Cao family is a relative, and his sister Cao Jie is now the queen, it stands to reason that his father Cao Ying should be a general, but the Son of Heaven has never had this thought, but instead took advantage of the opportunity of Sun Shao's conquest of Yizhou to make Sun Shao the general of Fuyi, revealing that he might make Sun Shao a general, wouldn't that be a big slap in the face of the Cao family? Father Cao Ying has been commanding in the Han Dynasty for more than ten years, is it possible that when he is old, he will suffer such humiliation? Cao Ying wanted to fight back, he wanted to compete for the position of the general, so he mobilized the army to summon Cao Zhang, who was the pastor of Youzhou, and Cao Zhi, the Taishou of Hanzhong, back.

In other words, Cao Ying was not satisfied with him, and he did not want to give him this task.

The corners of Cao Pi's eyes twitched a few times, and then he became casual again, and he couldn't see anything unusual on his face, but the rest of his eyes were staring at Cao Pi's face tightly. Looking at it from his angle, he could only see Cao Ying's side face, and a brown old age spot with the size of a fingernail in the corner of his eye was particularly eye-catching. Cao Pi suddenly thought that his father was sixty-eight years old this year, and in two years, he would enter the age of ancient rarity.

Life is seventy years old, although my father has been taking fish oil equivalent to gold for the past two years, and his body looks very good, but at this age, who knows when he sleeps and won't wake up again? The more Cao Pi thought about it, the more he remembered that in the past six months, his father had more time to ponder and less time to speak, he often called his children and grandchildren to Xuanwu Pond, and his eyes always seemed to wander on those children intentionally or unintentionally.

Thinking of this, Cao Pi held his breath and his brain began to run rapidly. He suddenly regretted Mo Die, he only cared about handling government affairs in Yecheng for the past two years, and mistakenly thought that his father was going to make him the crown prince soon, but now it seems that his father has no such mind at all, and he has always been dissatisfied with him. He seems to occupy Yecheng, but he does not occupy his father's heart.

He's disappointed, he's angry, he's anxious.

Although the temperature in Xuanwu Pond was already very low, Cao Pi still felt that his palms were sweaty.

"From the perspective of Erchen, there is such a possibility, but ......" Cao Zhi said lightly: "This is more like a hint from Luoyang, Your Majesty or the Prime Minister may be reminding me that the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu are fulfilling the oath they made when they were in Wancheng." He paused, and then said: "Wu has Shanyue, Shu has Nanban, and I Wei has Beidi and Xiqiang, if everyone uses their troops to conquer foreign countries, the pressure on Luoyang will be much less." ”

Cao Ying squinted his eyes, didn't say a word, seemed to be asleep, and after listening to Cao Zhi's words, it took a long time for him to hum out of nowhere, and he didn't know whether to agree or disagree. Cao Zhang nodded and said, "Why don't we also send troops to fight, expel the Xianbei people and Karasuma people, and expel them from the borders of my Han Dynasty, so that my Wei State can also get a general Fudi or something." He rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "King Yue once told me that if we conquer the Xianbei people, he can sell us those sharp war knives, why don't we take this opportunity to increase our strength, so that every time we buy knives from him, he always pushes back." ”

"You have such an agreement with him?" Cao Ying suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Cao Zhang in surprise. Cao Zhang smiled and nodded: "Exactly, this is still the agreement when I was in Bohai, but later he returned to Qiantang after he assisted me in taking Xiangping City, and we have not moved, and I have not contacted him again." ”

"I'm a little weird." Cao Ying sat up, turned around and looked at the three Cao Pi brothers: "Why is it that the same iron in Xiapi can be turned into a sharp war knife in his hands, but we can't refine it, so we can only buy it from him at a large price?" ”

Cao Pi and the others were stunned, and no one knew how to answer Cao Ying for a while. Cao Ying looked at them and asked, "The ship is easy to capsize when it enters the sea, but have you heard of his ship capsizing?" Ziwen, every month, there are a large number of Yue merchant ships between Youzhou and Yueguo, have you heard that they have capsized? ”

Cao Zhang said in a snort: "I've heard of some, but it's definitely not much, the merchant ships of the Yue Kingdom are not only large, but also safe, and even those Yi merchants like to take the ships of the Yue Kingdom." He thought for a while, and then said: "I remember, when I was in Daliaokou, I once went to see the drills of the Jiangdong Naval Division and the Yueguo Naval Division, although the Jiangdong Naval Division has many boats, but it is mainly small boats, and the total number of ships of the Aurora Naval Division is not as good as the Jiangdong Naval Division, but there are many large ships, and there is basically no need for small boats, and the Jiangdong Naval Division is powerless." ”

"The boat is stable and the knife is sharp, no wonder he is like a fish in water at sea and beats Sun Quan to the ground." Cao Ying groaned: "Zihuan, who helped him transform the warship?" ”

"I heard Zidan say that it seems to be a person named Ge Heng, who has something to do with Ge Xuan, by the way, Ge Xuan is also under Sun Shao, and he also wrote a letter to invite Zuo Ci and others to Zhuya." Cao Pi suddenly stopped, and after a moment, he exclaimed, "I understand, Dao Academy!" ”

Cao Ying was stunned, and after a while, he smiled bitterly: "Zihuan, we understand too late, those people, I'm afraid they won't come back." ”

Cao Pi also smiled bitterly, and was a little embarrassed. Cooperate with Sun Shao and send people to participate in the research of the Taoist Academy, it was he who followed Cao Zhen's advice and tried his best to encourage Cao Shao to approve, but he did Sun Shao a great favor inadvertently.

"Hehe, this vertical man has taken advantage of the old man again." Cao Ying laughed twice, fell down on the table dejectedly, and patted his leg lightly with his big hand: "We all want land and farmers, and we don't take craftsmen seriously, only he sees the wonderful use of craftsmen, and when we don't pay attention, a large number of craftsmen will leave, and when we understand, it's too late." ”

"Those craftsmen can only make useless things, who would have thought in the first place...... Who would have thought that it would be like this. Cao Pi felt bitter in his mouth, and his face was a little hot. He has never taken these craftsmen in his eyes, what he wants to catch is the family, not to mention that what he gave to Sun Shao is the craftsmen who are still working in the original palace, those people will only make some extravagant and useless things, they also build weapons, but they are mainly gorgeous, and the sharpness is not better than that of ordinary craftsmen, so they were generously sent to Sun Shao.

"So, he dared to leave only a few thousand soldiers in Qiantang, but he was prepared for an expedition to Yizhou?" Cao Zhi raised his eyelids, which had been drooping, and said with some surprise: "What kind of weapon does he have to ensure that Qian Tang is enough to resist Sun Quan's army?" ”

"Sun Quan is in civil strife, what does he use to beat Qian Tang?" Cao Pi laughed, a little disdainful.

"I don't think so." Cao Zhang replied: "Judging from my contact with him, he is not the kind of person who pins his hopes on others, the art of war, he does not rely on the enemy and does not attack me, and he cannot attack me, Sun Shao is the kind of person who thinks about the back road in everything, he seems to be risky in fighting, but in fact he is not considered to win, he is defeated first, and he will never take risks." ”

"Ziwen, do you mean that King Yue, who is known for his audacity, is actually a cautious person?"

"If you have to say that, it's not wrong." Cao Zhang retorted unceremoniously: "If he hadn't been prepared, he would have been so calm when he was in Wancheng?" Can you conjure up 2,000 manuscripts overnight? We don't seem to have figured out how these Han communiqués came about, right? ”

Cao Pi was a little annoyed, Cao Zhang was reminding him of the affairs of Wancheng intentionally or unintentionally, and the affairs of Wancheng were played by Sun Shao. He really wanted to ask Cao Zhang if Sun Shao had thought about how to use him to fight Xiangping when he was in Qingzhou, but considering that these words that were purely a battle of will were useless, he smiled faintly and avoided answering.

"Any conspiracy is not worth mentioning in the face of great strength." Cao Ying suddenly waved his hand and said lightly: "Since we have fallen behind, then don't think too much, Zihuan, you immediately start to contact Sun Shao, just say that my Wei State is going to conquer Xiqiang, and I hope he can support us with some weapons." ”

"Xiqiang?" The three brothers of the Cao family pricked up their ears at the same time.

"Yes, Xiqiang." Cao Ying nodded, and said, "If he doesn't agree, then it's not too late to change it to Northern Xinjiang." However, I still hope that it is Xiqiang, the north is bitter cold, and it is useless to take it down, but Xiqiang is different, pacify Xiqiang, we can reopen the Silk Road, Qingxu's silk business, can not let Sun Shao do it alone. ”

Cao Pi suddenly realized, and immediately asked: "Father, who will go to Xiqiang?" ”

Cao Ying scratched the corners of his mouth: "I haven't thought about it yet, the three of you will each consider the strategy of the western expedition, and when the time comes, I will see who is better." Maybe...... The old man wants to recruit in person. ”

Cao Pi and the others glanced at each other, and they all saw enthusiasm in each other's eyes. Cao Ying said that it was just an excuse to go to the expedition in person, he took this opportunity to test their level, if anyone has the ability to pacify Xiqiang, who may be the general of Fuqiang, may be the next general, that is, the next king of Wei.

Cao Pi saw Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi glancing at each other, showing a hearty smile, and couldn't help but sneer secretly, they probably thought that with the friendship between Cao Zhang and Sun Shao, they would definitely be able to get better conditions, but they forgot that Xiahou Shang's daughter Xiahou Hui is now Sun Shao's concubine, as long as he sends Xiahou Shang, he can fight for better conditions, and it is really unknown who can have the last laugh.

"I'm going to Zhuya?" When Xiahou Shang heard this, he frowned: "This is not very good, right?" ”

"What's so bad?" Cao Pi glanced at Xiahou Shang: "Boren, are you willing to stay at home?" If Xiqiang goes to war, half of the strength of my Wei State will be transferred to Guanzhong, and you should know that if these strengths fall into the hands of Ziwen or Zijian, we will no longer have a chance to turn over. And if it can fall into our hands, Beren, who else can afford this heavy responsibility except you and Zidan? ”

"I'm ......" Xiahou Shang hesitated for a moment, and said nothing with a bitter face.

"Boren, didn't I say you, a manly man, beware of the world, infatuated with a woman all day long, isn't it too heroic and short-breathed? Du Xian doesn't look down on you, and he really didn't wronged you. ”

Xiahou Shang's black face suddenly swollen red, he glared at Cao Pi unhappily, and he didn't speak for a long time. He was an important minister in the Wei State, not only because he was Xiahou Yuan's nephew and Cao Pi's cronies, but also because he was both civil and military, and had outstanding merits, many people did not dare to despise him, but Du Xi never refused to pretend to be a color to him, and even told people that he was small. Xiahou Shang was very annoyed by this, but Du Xian was also an important minister of Wei and a famous man in Yingchuan, so although he was unhappy, he didn't dare to do anything to Du Xian. Now Cao Pi mentioned this matter in person, which made him very unhappy.

"You and Zidan are my right-hand men, if you don't get along, who else can I rely on?" Cao Pi slowed down his breath again, and patiently persuaded him: "Zijian recommended Yang Xiu to go to Zhuya, obviously wanting to use Yang Xiu's old friendship with Sun Shao to obtain preferential conditions, but no matter how good the relationship between Yang Xiu and Sun Shao is, can it be better than the relationship between you?" Boren, you've helped me so many times before, won't you help me again? ”

Xiahou Shang looked at Cao Pi's pleading face, and sighed helplessly: "Okay, I'll go to Zhuya, but it's up to people to make things happen, and it's up to heaven to make things happen, and I'm not sure if it can be done in the end." ”

"Don't worry, as long as you go, you will definitely be able to do it." Cao Pi breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smug smile: "Sun Shao, don't look at him as scheming, but he is affectionate, and he has such a stupid spirit of taking the world as his responsibility." As long as it is said to be a conquest of the barbarians, he will definitely support it, and what you have to do is to try to get him to agree to support the expedition to Xiqiang, not to the north. ”

Xiahou Shang nodded, if he conquered the north, it was likely that Cao Zhang would lead the troops, and it had nothing to do with Cao Pi, only Cao Pi would have a chance if he conquered Xiqiang.

"You bring more gold and silver, I heard that there are a lot of strange things in Zhuya, you go there and buy more, so as not to enter the treasure mountain and return empty." Cao Pi breathed a sigh of relief, patted his leg and said: "Sun Shao's vertical son is really good eyesight, he actually robbed such a good place, those Yi merchants don't know how many strange things they brought him, making him a windfall." ”

Xiahou Shang glanced at Cao Pi, who was envious, and did not answer. Cao Pi felt Xiahou Shang's unhappiness, and said with a smile: "Okay, Boren, don't be sad, don't you like beauties, don't you like beauties, I can tell you, there are many Xiyi women in Zhuya, and compared with my Central Plains women, there is another flavor, when you arrive in Zhuya, do you know that your son-in-law will not send you some kabuki?" You can see how generous he is to Guan Yu, right? One shot is two thousand war horses. Alas, this kid is really a loser, two thousand war horses, how much does it cost, Guan Yu got these horses, do you think he lives freely in Shu Kingdom? is also a father-in-law, why don't you know how to be close to him? He is the richest man in the Han Dynasty today. The more Cao Pi spoke, the more excited he became, he moved forward, half of his body was on the desk, and he leaned in front of Xiahou Shang and said, "Boren, do you know it, those Yi girls ......"

Xiahou Shang was stunned for a moment, looking at Cao Pi with a greedy look on his face, he suddenly came to his senses, and his originally dull eyebrows and eyes became vivid. He and Cao Pi can talk, largely because they have the same hobbies, they like rare things, like beauties, and like to try all kinds of new and exciting and even perverted enjoyment. He has money, but in front of the endless novelty goods in Zhuya and the South China Sea, no one feels that the wallet cannot be emptied, especially the Yi girl, Xiahou Shang has long been moved, but the price of the Yi girl is too high, he hesitated for a long time, and he has not started, so I still don't know what are the differences between these Yi girls in addition to their different appearances.

Cao Pi muttered in front of Xiahou Shang for a while, Xiahou Shang looked at Cao Pi dumbfounded, Cao Pi chattered and laughed, laughing very obscenely, and Xiahou Shang immediately laughed, laughing very obscenely, judging from the smiles on their faces, no one dared to believe that one of them was the prince of Wei who could write and martial arts, and the other was a general who could fight well.

"I'll go!" Xiahou Shang slapped his thigh, then frowned, and reminded: "Zihuan, I think the king is a little unpredictable, you recommend me to go, Zijian pushes Jianyang Xiu to go, this is obviously each with his own thoughts, with the wisdom of the king, can't he see the problem here?" ”

Cao Pi sank his face and sighed: "Boren, I won't tell you, I can't understand what he is thinking." Don't look like he's in good spirits, but I know he wouldn't have died if it weren't for the fish oil. Sometimes, I really hate your son-in-law, if he hadn't offered all that kind of chasing wind and fish oil, how could things be so complicated? ”

These words are full of rebellion, but Xiahou Shang knows Cao Pi very well, and he was not surprised at all when he heard this, he opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything, but Cao Pi saw it, and he stared at Xiahou Shang's eyes: "Boren, what do you want to say?" ”

Xiahou Shang hesitated for a moment, and said slowly: "Who is handling those fish oils that King Wei takes every day?" ”

Cao Pi rolled his eyes, thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head and said, "No, no." ”

(To be continued)