In the palace of the deputy prime minister, Cao Pi listened to the report of Cheng Zhou Yuan in the imperial history with a stern expression, something happened to the intelligence points in Chang'an, several intelligence points were wiped out by the Han army, more than half of the spies were arrested, and even the dozens of spies they had just sent to Chang'an were all arrested by the Han army.

This news made Cao Pi very worried, he didn't know how to explain to his father, not long after Zhou Yuan was in charge of intelligence, this kind of thing happened, which would definitely make his father angry, especially when the two countries were preparing for war, Chang'an's intelligence was very important.

Of course, Cao Pi also knew that Zhou Yuan could not be blamed for this matter, only that the Chang'an spies were not secretive enough and were discovered by the Han army, but could he say this to his father?

Helpless, Cao Pi had no choice but to say to Zhou Yuan: "Now the top priority is to build another intelligence point, and all the spies who have not been arrested must be recalled to prevent any of them from being rebelled by the Han army, and then send new spies to Chang'an. ”

Zhou Yuan nodded silently, and asked again: "How can Weichen report to Duke Wei?" ”

"This matter will be reported by me, and I will bear the responsibility, you just need to do the follow-up things well, and don't worry about other things."

Zhou Yuan was grateful in his heart, bowed down and said: "Thank you for the prince's care for Weichen, Weichen will definitely do his best to complete the follow-up things." ”

"Go ahead!"

Zhou Yuan saluted, slowly retreated, only Cao Pi was left in the room, Cao Pi paced back and forth in the room with his hands, he was really a little upset, in the past two months, the Han army began to prepare for war on a large scale, and he also got his father's order to prepare for war, so he issued an order to the counties, asking the counties to prepare supplies.

But the list of materials for each county he got today surprised him, the quantity of various materials was less than half of his previous estimate, and he realized that they had suffered a big loss in the nearly half a year of liberalization of trade, and a large number of materials were bought by the Han State with money and gold ingots.

This problem is his responsibility, he found out too late, he was worried that he couldn't report the matter to his father, but the news that the Chang'an intelligence point was wiped out came immediately, it can be said that the disaster is not alone, he simply did not dare to face his father.

Cao Pi is in a dilemma, he knows that the situation is very critical now, and his father is also very nervous, if he conceals it, he is afraid that it will cause trouble, but if he says it, it will also make his father angry.

After hesitating for a long time, Cao Pi decided to report to his father, but he had to hide it in the key links, and he couldn't let his father be disappointed in his ability. ”

Cao Pi got into the carriage, and the carriage sped up and drove towards the Tongque Palace outside the northern city.

Cao Pi entered the Tongque Palace, in front of his father's official room, but unexpectedly met his brother Cao Zhang, he seemed to be waiting for his father's reception, Cao Zhang, like the third brother Cao Zhi, also fought for the position of the son, but he had no support in Ye, and soon lost the battle and withdrew from the battle of the son, but Cao Zhang got his father's trust in the military, and let him command the 50,000 Youzhou army to defend the northern border.

In the past two years, Cao Pi basically didn't have any entanglements with his brothers, and he didn't correspond, Cao Pi didn't want to meet Cao Zhang at this time, but since there was nothing to hide, he had to step forward and smile reluctantly: "When will the second brother return to Yedu, I don't know?" ”

Cao Zhang glanced at him and said coldly: "My brother is busy investigating the case of Jian'an's seven sons, how can he have time to think of me?" ”

Cao Zhang's words were thorny, which made Cao Pi suddenly wake up, Cao Zhang and the Xiahou family have a deep friendship, and he transferred Xiahou Tang away, Cao Zhangyan can have a good face for himself, Cao Pi had to laugh dryly, "The second brother really knows how to tell jokes." ”

Cao Zhang turned his head and no longer paid attention to him, Cao Pi was secretly annoyed, and he also sank his face and stopped talking, and the two brothers looked a little embarrassed, at this time, a guard walked out of it, bowed down and said: "Duke Wei invites the prince and the prince to enter the house!" ”

Cao Zhang snorted heavily, and walked into his father's study quickly, but Cao Pi deliberately slowed down and walked into the room slowly and leisurely, sure enough, his father had already talked to his second brother, Cao Pi saluted his father and stood aside.

The reason why Cao Cao recalled his second son to Yedu was to plan to withdraw the 50,000 Youzhou army to the Central Plains for defense, but he was a little worried about the frontier, so he asked: "What is the situation on the Xianbei side?" ”

Cao Zhang bowed and said: "Back to my father, Xianbei has been at war with the Huns since the beginning of the year, the two sides have won and lost each other, the Huns have a slight advantage, last month the child got the news, Xianbei has been actively preparing for the war, preparing for a decisive battle with the Huns next spring." ”

Now it is nearly November, the grassland has snowed for the first time, at this time the grassland nomads will certainly not invade the Central Plains, Cao Cao is also considering the beginning of spring next year, once Cao Zhang's Youzhou army is transferred back to the Central Plains, Youzhou is empty, Xianbei will not take the opportunity to invade, which makes Cao Cao dilemma.

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "Is your information reliable?" Next spring, Xianbei will fight the Xiongnu. ”

Cao Zhang understood what his father meant, bowed down and said: "Father, the information should be reliable, it is the fur merchant who returned to the south to sue the child, and the child can be sure that the Xianbei people will not take advantage of the situation to attack the Central Plains." ”

Cao Cao's mind turned, and he suddenly understood, and said with a smile: "I'm really confused, if the Xianbei people invade the Central Plains, who will defend his homeland, it seems that before the Huns are destroyed, the Xianbei people will not go south for the time being." ”

Cao Cao was relieved, and then said to his son: "Now the situation is critical, the decisive battle between us and the Han army is about to break out, we are short of troops, I want to transfer the Youzhou army back to Yedu, you have no opinion!" ”

"The child obeys his father's command!"

Cao Cao was very satisfied with the attitude of his second son, and nodded, turned his eyes to Cao Pi again, and asked with a smile, "What's the matter with Pi'er?" ”

At this time, Cao Zhang bowed and said, "If the father has nothing else, the child will retire first." ”

"There you go! Rest for two days before returning to Youzhou to transfer troops. ”

Cao Zhang slowly retreated, Cao Cao saw that the two brothers didn't say hello, he was really a little unhappy in his heart, and asked, "Did you two brothers quarrel?" ”

"The child and the second brother didn't quarrel, but they haven't seen each other for a long time, and they are a little rusty with each other."

"This is not good, brothers must be sincere and united, if I die, Cao Wei will rely on the support of the three of you brothers, I have decided to let your third brother return to Yedu, in charge of Wei Guolile, you don't have to embarrass him anymore."

Cao Pi's heart jumped, his father actually wanted the third brother to return to Yedu, and let the director of Lile, although this is just a false position, but it is a signal, his father began to prepare to use the third brother again, and the second brother, his 50,000 troops are stationed in Yedu, who will be in command, this is a big problem, otherwise the second brother will launch a coup d'état very lightly.

Cao Pi became more and more nervous, but forgot that his father was waiting for him to answer the truth, Cao Cao saw that he was distracted, and asked, "Do you have any urgent things to report to your father?" ”

Cao Pi reacted at this time, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "Father, the child got the news that the Han army is conducting a comprehensive inventory of our spies in Chang'an, I am worried that some of the spies have betrayed and the Yang Gong incident will happen again, so the child will build yì and withdraw all the Chang'an spies and replace them with a group of new people." ”

Cao Cao frowned slightly, "But if there are new people, they have to start again, isn't it a little inappropriate at this critical juncture?" ”

Cao Pi didn't dare to tell the truth, so he had to bite the bullet and say: "Father, if the Chang'an spies are controlled by the Han army and send back false news, I am afraid that we will suffer even more losses. ”

Cao Cao felt that what his son said also made some sense, so he nodded and said, "Since you think it's okay, go and arrange it!" You don't have to report this to me anymore. ”

Cao Pi was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly agreed, and then Cao Cao asked again: "I asked the counties to prepare materials for war last time, how is it going now?" ”

Cao Pi's heart that he had just put down suddenly hung again, he was very nervous in his heart, and said according to the countermeasures he had thought of in advance: "The report is being summarized in various places, and the child has not yet arrived here, but the child is a little worried." ”

"Worried about what?" Cao Cao asked puzzled.

"The child is worried that the real situation will be concealed in various places and the amount of materials will be underreported, because in the battle of Hefei, the child found that more than half of the local government underreported the grain in the government treasury, leaving room for it, and finally made us very passive, and the child was worried that this time it was the same."

Cao Cao knew that his son was telling the truth, and this was indeed possible, so he pondered for a moment and said, "That's it! Sending five imperial historians to inspect various places and urge the counties to truly check the materials is a very important matter and must not be ambiguous. ”

Cao Pi sighed secretly in his heart, although the level in front of him has passed, the fact that the materials are insufficient will come out sooner or later, and he really doesn't know how to face his father's reprimand at that time.

Cao Pi left the Tongque Palace with a heavy heart, but at this time Cao Cao's mind was on the defense of the Central Plains, he slowly walked to the sand table with his hands behind his back and looked at the sand table for a long time.

Early this morning, he got a report from Yu Ban, Liu Jin appeared in Shouchun, which made Cao Cao a little confused, Liu Jing inspected the combat readiness of various places It is a normal thing, but he did not go to Nanyang Wancheng to inspect, but came directly to Shouchun, what does this mean, did Liu Jing decide to break through from Shouchun?

Think about it carefully, there is indeed this possibility, Shouchun is close to the Huai River in the north, Xuzhou in the northeast, and Qian County in the northwest, just because of a strategic position that can be attacked and defended, and the Han army is strong, and it is completely possible to go north to Qiao County, as long as Qian County is captured, the entire hinterland of the Central Plains will be in no danger to defend.

What's more, he deployed 100,000 troops on the front line of Xuzhou and Qiaojun, and once these 100,000 troops were defeated, Cao Wei's entire battle situation would fall into passivity on all fronts.

Cao Cao secretly made up his mind in his heart that he must consolidate the defenses of Qiaojun and Huaibei, and never allow the Han army to break through from here.

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