Luoyang.

The hall was filled with the smell of medicine, and the eunuchs and palace maids were on tiptoe, holding their breath, shuttling back and forth, but they did not make a sound. The atmosphere was very depressing, and the people who wanted to speak made eye contact most of the time, and if they really wanted to speak, they had to retreat outside the main hall, and said in a low voice.

Cao Rui, the son of heaven, was seriously ill, his temper was very bad, and if something went wrong, he ordered someone to pull out the rod and blame him, and in the past few days, he had killed three eunuchs and two palace maids. No one dared to make him angry at this time, and he lost his life in vain.

Cao Rui was lying on the hospital bed, his head was dizzy, and the sound of the wind that those people walked away was like a howling wind, which made him have a splitting headache. This time the illness came so ferociously that he couldn't parry it at all, and there were signs of collapse both physically and psychologically.

He felt like he couldn't hold on.

"King Yan...... Where? Cao Rui exerted all his strength and groaned.

There was a dead silence in the hall, no one answered, only heavy breathing could be heard. I don't know if it's the eunuch waiting next to me, or my own. Immediately, Cao Rui realized that he had said something wrong. The current King of Yan is Gongsun Yuan, not the Cao Yu he wants. Cao Yu has changed his title to King Lu.

Thinking of Gongsun Yuan, Cao Rui was a little dizzy. He now feels that it was a mistake to crown Gongsun Yuan as the king of Yan, he was simply unable to compete with Wei Ba for Liaodong, he sealed Gongsun Yuan, but he could not perform the functions of the suzerain, once Liaodong was lost, it would only bring him shame.

When Gongsun Yuan thought of Wei Ba again, Cao Rui felt a panic in his chest, as if something was blocking there, making him unable to breathe.

Wei Ba was stationed in Pengcheng, just to make him unable to breathe. He did not leave Pengcheng. Zhang He couldn't leave, otherwise Wei Ba would send grain, grass and ordnance to Pengcheng, and Zhang He's hard work for several months of besieging the city would be in vain. Lu Xun retreated to Qianjun, forcing Sima Yi and Xiahou Ba to divide his troops, Xiahou Ba fought with Lu Xun many times in Qiaojun, although he was undefeated, but he did not take any advantage, he hoped to reverse the situation with all his full force seemed to fall into the void, no effect at all.

If it drags on like this, how can Dawei afford it? But now withdraw the troops. Wei Ba and Lu Xun will follow again. They want Yanzhou, they want Luoyang, and Zuihou wants to do his life.

"Where is King Lu?" Cao Rui hissed again, and with the word zuihou came out. He felt a hint of sweetness.

A voice sounded softly in his ear: "Bixia." Someone has already been sent to deliver the edict. It's coming soon. ”

"Yes...... Concubine Guo? ”

"Bixia, it's a concubine."

"Where's the Queen?"

“…… The concubine didn't know. ”

Cao Rui closed his eyes tightly, even more angry. Empress Mao is now getting more and more excessive. He was so sick that she didn't even come to see him, did she think that he was about to die and didn't need to be so careless?

"Empress Xuan is here."

Concubine Guo hesitated for a moment: "Bixia, King Lu is coming soon, let's deal with state affairs first." ”

Cao Rui exhaled, nodded weakly, and reached out to hold Concubine Guo's hand. It would be nice if Queen Mao was as empathetic as Concubine Guo.

Outside the hall, Cao Yu and Cao Shuang were talking in the corridor, Cao Yu's face was sad, and Cao Shuang was silent. Huan Fan stood aside, still chattering and analyzing the war in Yanzhou.

"Your Highness, Captain, you can't delay any longer. If you miss a hit, there is no reason to strike again. The longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for our army. There was a pile of white foam at the corner of Huan Fan's mouth, his mouth was dry, and his throat and eyes were smoking. He was a little annoyed, such a simple truth, he had been talking for a long time, why couldn't these two people understand? "Your Highness, after half a year of confrontation, countless money and food have been consumed, but the results of the battle are not visible at all. Do you really think that Wei Ba and Lu Xun don't have the strength to fight back? They don't want to fight back, if Jingzhou's army goes north to Luoyang, how will our army deal with it? Now the king of Wu is called a minister, the top and bottom of the river are all one, Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Jiaozhou are all rich places, and what my Great Wei can rely on is only Jizhou, which is strong and weak, and cannot ......be confronted for a long time."

Cao Yu interrupted Huan Fan: "Yuan Ze, we all understand the truths you said, but the matter has come to this, what should we do now?" ”

"Withdraw troops, negotiate."

"Negotiations?" Cao Shuang sneered: "To put it lightly, the root of the lamp grass." Bixia wanted to fight this battle, originally wanted to achieve a little victory, so that she could negotiate with Wei Ba, but now that it has become a stalemate, how can she reopen negotiations? ”

"Don't talk about it now, do you want to talk about it when you defeat it?" Huan Fan retorted: "Captain, Bixia can't afford to be sick because of overwork. If Bixia is unabashed, my Great Wei will be chaotic, and when the time comes, how to deal with the attacks of Wei Ba and Lu Xun? Besides, do you really think they can't get in? They probably also knew that Bixia was sick, and they probably just wanted to wait for Bixia......"

Before Huan Fan finished speaking, Cao Yu glared at him. Huan Fan is indeed smart, but this mouth is too inattentive.

Huan Fan hurriedly closed his mouth, took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth, and continued: "Also, Wei Ba may be waiting for Zhuge Liang to die. ”

"Wait for Zhuge Liang to die?" Cao Yu was stunned for a moment, and exchanged a look with Cao Shuang.

"Well, Zhuge Liang, that person, everything must be done personally, today's game, in fact, was laid out by him at the beginning, but it was broken by Wei Ba, and another game was laid out on his backhand. Will he be able to sit still at this point? If he loses, he is not reconciled, and if he wins, it will not benefit him either. He had to find a way to make this battle unwinnable. Others are in Chengdu, and they can't control the battlefield at all, but they have to work hard, how can they not get sick? If he dies, who else in the Chengdu court can restrain Wei Ba? ”

Listening to Huan Fan's analysis again, Cao Yu's eyes gradually lit up. He waved his hand and interrupted Huan Fan: "Okay, Yuan Ze, you prepare, if Bixia's health improves and he wants to see you, you can make these things clear to him." ”

"Whoa." Huan Fan is happy, with his current status, he has no chance to see the driver, if he can perform before driving, it will be of great help to his career.

Cao Yu turned around and entered the palace, and when he saw Cao Rui's dying appearance, his heart couldn't help but tighten. When he thought of Huan Fan's words, Wei Ba probably wanted not only to consume Zhuge Liang, but also to consume Cao Rui. So far, Cao Rui's sons have died one after another, and there is no official prince, if he dies suddenly, Cao Wei will inevitably fall into a struggle for power. Looking at the Cao family clan, there is really no powerful figure who can be compared with Cao Rui. If he died of illness because of this, it would really not be a good thing for Cao Wei.

Alas, several talents in the Cao family either died in internal strife or died young, which is probably fate.

"Bixia, are you feeling better?" Cao Yu rushed to the side of the sickbed, saluted, and held Cao Rui's hand. Cao Rui's hands were wet and cold, which made Cao Yu feel uneasy for a while.

"Is there a solution?" Cao Rui barely opened his eyes.

"Bixia, there is a countermeasure." Cao Yu restated Huan Fan's opinion, especially emphasizing the elements of discord within the Shu Han court. Cao Rui listened and nodded silently. Cao Yu took advantage of the situation and suggested that Cao Rui Xuanhuan Fan go to the palace. Cao Rui thought about it and didn't agree. He was really tired, and he didn't have the energy to listen to Huan Fan anymore. He asked Cao Yu to go down, and asked Huan Fan to write a note and let him read it slowly.

Cao Yu responded, glanced at Cao Rui, and stopped talking. He went out of the palace and conveyed Cao Rui's edict, Huan Fan was silent for a long time, and Zuihou said: "Your Highness, in my opinion, the most important thing now is not to negotiate, but to establish a prince and appoint auxiliary ministers in case of accidents." ”

Cao Yu's brain buzzed, and he didn't speak for a long time.

……

Chengdu, Prime Minister's Mansion.

Zhuge Liang gently pushed away the ginseng soup and closed his eyes tiredly.

Huang Yueying looked at the ginseng soup, then looked at Zhuge Liang's withered face, and put the ginseng soup aside. Zhuge Liang fell ill again, which was different from before, even if he drank the ginseng soup as water, he couldn't see any effect.

He was too weak to bear the tonic of ginseng soup.

Huang Yueying sat on the edge of the couch, held Zhuge Liang's hand, and said softly: "Let you have a good rest, you just don't listen, do you have to disappoint the first emperor, disappoint Bixia, and disappoint Wei Ba?" ”

Zhuge Liang was silent, and after a long time, he said in a hoarse voice like a gnat: "To the first emperor, I will do my best; For Bixia, I treat me as if I was my own child, and I have nothing to be ashamed of. If a big thing fails, it is the will of God, and it is not human. ”

"What about Wei Ba?"

"This is also providential." Zhuge Liang slowly opened his eyes, his eyes were full of bloodshots, and his eyes were weak. "I was born thirty years earlier than him, this is fate, even if I am proficient in the way of health preservation, how can I live thirty years longer than him?"

"It doesn't take thirty years." Huang Yueying's voice was still steady and soft, like a gust of autumn wind, which made Zhuge Liang's boring heart feel refreshed. "He's on the battlefield and can have an accident at any time. Guanzhong was escaped by him, Wuling was escaped by him, and White Wolf Mountain was escaped by him, it was just his luck. People can't always be lucky, there will always be a time when they run out of good luck. ”

"Madam, you don't understand, he's not lucky, he's vigilant." Zhuge Liang sighed softly, a little disappointed, and a little self-blame: "Everything can not be done again, it is the danger again and again that tempers his vigilance, avoid these three times, he will not give you a fourth chance." ”

"At the beginning, you shouldn't have let him worship Zhao Yun as a teacher." Huang Yueying lowered her head, "Zhao Yun is undefeated in his life, and he is the most cautious. Wei Ba followed him to practice martial arts on the cliff, and I am afraid that he learned the most from this prudence. If it weren't for that, ten of them would have died long ago. ”

"I think so too, but unfortunately, it's too late to regret it." Zhuge Liang closed his eyes again: "The war in Yanzhou is deadlocked, how is it good?" ”

"Let's talk." Huang Yueying said: "If Wei Ba wants to be crowned king, then make him a king." Since it is not capable of turning the tide, it is better to push the boat and add fuel to the fire, and see the reaction of the government and the opposition, maybe it will have a miraculous effect. ”

"Do you want to get away with it?" Zhuge Liang pondered for a long time: "I'm only afraid that I will be abused and I will be ashamed of the emperor in the future." ”

"If the first emperor really had a spirit, he would understand your painstaking efforts."

"Really?" …… (To be continued......)

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