In fact, Cao Pi's initiative at this time is still very large, if he is not willing to fight, he can retreat to Runan City to join his father, after all, Cao Cao was defeated with an army of two million before, and now he only commands 500,000 troops and himself, and others can't say anything about retreating.

It's just that Cao Pi didn't do this, maybe because he was young and vigorous, or maybe because he also wanted to make a difference. And he also believes that it may be possible to do it with his own efforts, because at this moment there are still some capable ministers around him, such as the wise man Sima Yi, it is because of this person that they withdrew safely after Yanzhou was occupied, and with the suspicious tactics of the soldiers when he left, the four legions in front did not dare to take the initiative to attack him. In addition, there are also Cao Zhen, Sun Li, Han Meng, Zhang Hu and other military generals with good combat power.

In the previous battle with the Celestial Empire, Cao Pi lost Wang Shuang and Chen Tai, two generals, this time he led the army to the battle, and his father Cao Cao gave him Zhang Hu such a fierce general, which also made him have his own self-confidence, and he wanted to make meritorious contributions.

Now, Cao Pi just wanted to hear what Zhichen Sima Yi meant, and after going through all kinds of things, he paid more and more attention to the Zhichen recruited by his subordinates.

Hearing Sima Yi say that it was not realistic to recapture Gunzhou now, Cao Pi's face became ugly, "Zhongda? Do you also want to persuade me to retreat to Runan? ”

Seeing the displeasure in Cao Pi's heart, Sima Yi hurriedly said: "Second son, Your Majesty just said that the opportunity to recapture Gunzhou is wrong, but this does not mean that we should go back." ”

In the history of the Three Kingdoms, the real winner in the end was the Sima family, and Sima Yi himself played a crucial role. It can be said that this person is very capable, but he is very cautious in doing things before he becomes famous, otherwise, in the face of Cao Cao, who has a suspicious personality, I am afraid that his life will be long gone. It seems that the master Bo Yang Xiu is not much weaker than him in terms of ability, but because he doesn't know how to restrain the light, he was finally killed by Cao Cao.

At this moment, Sima Yi still has a word to say, that is, it is okay to go back, but it is definitely not now, the 500,000 army has done nothing and goes back, it will only make people laugh, and with these people, they can make a difference in Qingzhou.

Sima Yi replied cautiously, and when he heard Cao Pi's ears, his face was happy, "Zhongda, let's talk about it, if we don't go back, what can we do?" ”

Knowing and understanding the second prince's mood of wanting to make a contribution, Sima Yi took a small step forward and said: "Your Majesty thinks that Gunzhou cannot be recaptured, but we can rely on the foundation of Qingzhou to deal a head-on blow to the Celestial Empire army that wants to enter here." ”

"Tell me about it." Cao Pi said as he nodded.

"Second son, for various reasons, the king was defeated, the Celestial Empire captured Gunzhou, now is the time to be triumphant, presumably they will definitely take advantage of this momentum to attack again, and it is likely that Qingzhou will become this battlefield, if we leave here now and return to Runan, maybe it won't be long before this place may become the second in Gunzhou. On the contrary, if we are here, although there are some dangers, it is not that there is no chance, and once we can seize a good opportunity, it will be when the Celestial Empire army is severely damaged, as long as we can destroy their living forces well, it is not impossible to recapture Gunzhou. ”

Sima Yi said while carefully observing Cao Pi's face.

In history, Cao Pi once competed with his brother Cao Zhi for the position of prince, and because of Zhang Chao's unexpected appearance, his eldest brother Cao Ang did not die early, which made it even more difficult for Cao Pi, who has great talent, to ascend to the throne.

It is precisely because of this that Cao Pi needs to make more contributions, otherwise it will not be enough to compete for the throne of Wei.

For all this, Sima Yi has long been insightful, he is an ambitious person, and naturally likes Cao Pi's ambition, in his opinion, if he can help the second prince seize the throne, it will be a great achievement.

Of course, Sima Yi has no choice now, everyone knows that he is the second son, if one day, Cao Pi loses power, he will inevitably be implicated as a vassal, at that time the entire Sima clan is also likely to be wiped out, don't talk about it, even if it is for the safety of his family, he must do his best.

It is important to say here that the current Sima Yi has no ambition to subvert the Wei State, not to mention that Cao Cao is still alive, just to say that the great enemy of the Celestial Empire still exists, and this is not the time for him to think nonsense. So at this time, he was still very loyal to Cao Pi.

Now that he wants to be based in Qingzhou, he really wants to help Cao Pi gain a firm foothold. Think about it, even Cao Cao was defeated, if Cao Pi could make a difference, wouldn't it show that he was different?

To say that Cao Cao is a person, although he is more suspicious, but he is still very talented, once he sees the ability of his second son, it must be the time to reuse, and at that time to win the position of the prince will naturally have a few more chances of winning. In the meantime, the Sima clan will also rise with the identity meeting.

Hearing Sima Yi say that he was based in Qingzhou, Cao Pi agreed without the slightest hesitation. With an army of 500,000 in this way, he rushed back in disgrace, which was not what he wanted. "Okay, everything depends on Zhongda's plan, but what are we going to do now?"

Cao Pi wanted to ask if he could take the initiative, but he was afraid of being blocked by Sima Yi, so he couldn't help but not speak.

Sure enough, the first thing Sima Yi said next was not to send troops, but to solve internal problems. "Second son, the minister believes that the first thing to do now is to stabilize the morale of the army. Although we now have 500,000 soldiers, there are indeed more than 300,000 recruits among them, none of whom have ever been on the battlefield, and they even lack basic training. ”

What Sima Yi said was not alarmist, didn't his father lead two million troops to be defeated because of this? If the recruits did not flee, how could the Heavenly Dynasty army dare to take the initiative to attack with only three legions?

"Okay, according to Zhongda's words, the first thing to stabilize the morale of the army is, in this way, how about I hold a pledge meeting now?" Cao Pi is also a thoughtful person, and he quickly made a decision.

"That's very good." Sima Yi knew that the second son had listened to his words, so it was fine, but what he was most worried about was that the second son would not listen to the dissuasion, so even if he had a good plan, it would not be possible.

Following Sima Yi's advice, Cao Pi convened a pledge meeting, which could not be said to be attended by all 500,000 troops, but there were indeed 30,000 people attending the meeting, and many of them were representatives of new recruits, all of whom belonged to people with a certain degree of influence.

After bringing these people together, Cao Pi's ability was also revealed. He inherited his father Cao Cao's Aixian side very well, and said to these representatives in his demagogic language, he is willing to share the joys and sorrows with everyone, and he is also willing to take out all his personal property to share with everyone, and he also promised that once he can win the battle, all people can be promoted to the third level, and he also promised that as long as he is rich and noble in the future, these people, including their families, will become glorious because of this.

Not just talking, since the meeting, Cao Pi has been constantly walking around the barracks, taking the initiative to talk with some recruits, and even sometimes catching up with the meal and eating coarse vegetables and light meals with ordinary soldiers, such a move quickly won him the hearts of the army, and no one in the 500,000 army proposed to leave the army.

Don't underestimate Cao Pi's move, it may be a normal thing today. When the leader came, he held a symposium with the following to solve some practical problems, and then he had a meal together to get close to the people, and he could get a good public opinion, as if a similar approach was very ordinary. But in that environment at that time, there were very few people who could do such a thing.

At that time, it was about background and identity. Just like scholars, they are very high, and it is difficult for ordinary people to enter their eyes. Even the status of wealthy merchants at that time was very low, and sometimes even the peasants were inferior.

It is precisely because of this custom that people of Cao Pi's status do not bother to come into contact with ordinary people at all, which is a self-losing thing. But he can do it, or dare to do it, and with this one, it is normal to capture the hearts of the military.

Sima Yi naturally agrees with Cao Pi's approach, and he thinks that this is a manifestation of a person who does great things. People who really have the ability should be like this, they can bend and stretch, others have to work for you, you just come forward to say a few words to them, or even have a meal together, no matter how you look at it, it's worth it.

It's just that there are still many people who oppose this, such as Cao Zhen is an obvious opponent.

He wanted to see Cao Pi get together with some mud-legged people who had no identity, and he was still eating at the same table, he expressed his displeasure, and also reminded Cao Pi more than once as the second son of Wei to pay attention to his identity, and not to tarnish the surname Cao.

In this regard, Cao Pi just smiled, did not reprimand, but still went his own way, which made Cao Zhen very angry, but he had nothing to do with this brother, so he sprinkled his resentment on Sima Yi, because if it weren't for this person, how could the second son of a dignified country do such a disgraceful thing that made people spread out?

Usually Cao Pi relies on Sima Yi very much, which makes Cao Zhen feel that he has fallen out of favor, and now that there is such a thing, the contradiction between the two has long been unable to be reconciled.