History is sometimes quite absurd, because history is woven by people, and each of them has a very limited vision, everyone's ** is not the same, warp and weft are intertwined, coupled with the influence of many occasional factors, so that later generations of readers of history are at a loss, I don't know why. So in the end, the blame has to be attributed to the person who did it, or someone is crazy, or someone is less intelligent than the middle person - in fact, the winner may not really be wise, and the loser is often not so bad.

That is, with the theory of the coup d'état in the Chengdu court, even if he participated in it, if he did not go deep into the core, and verified it in many ways, and understood every detail, I am afraid it would be difficult to figure out its context. Just like Xun thousands of miles away, in a sense, he has more experience with coups on paper than others, and he is still confused about it, and he is almost suspicious of being in a dream.

Thinking that Li Yan planned for Wu Yi at the beginning, he clearly pointed out two points, saying that as long as you grasp these two points, general, great things will definitely be accomplished. First of all, the first point is to control the Praetorian Guard, so that once the incident happens, all the important ministers can be safely controlled, and the power will radiate, and the entire city of Chengdu can be stabilized.

The Shu Han Forbidden Army was originally in the hands of two people, one was Zhao Yun, who had served as Liu Bei's "main horseman" for many years, and the other was his brother-in-law Wu Yi. For this reason, Wu Yi instructed the king of Shaofu to play, saying that he had recently recruited 7,000 soldiers, and he should be a heavy general to follow and train - who is suitable for this position, who will give up Zhao Zilong? At that time, Liu Bei was sick and lying in the inner court, still waiting for Liu Feng to return, entrusting major affairs, the state affairs were all in charge of the new general Guan Yu, and Guan Yunchang really lacked experience in political struggle, so he let Zhao Yun out.

The forbidden army completely fell into the hands of Wu Yi. When Liu Bei was dying, he thought of Zhao Yun. Urgently ordered Guan Yu to summon him to return to the capital. It is difficult for the edict to get out of the palace.

The second point pointed out by Li Yan. It was to separate Guan Yu from his personal guards. Wu Yi retreated as an advance, and according to the practice of the previous dynasty, the general opened the shogunate, and his brother was in charge of the garrison of the capital - Yun Chang, you have no brothers, but you can order your sons Guan Ping and Guan Xingye. Guan Yu accepted it happily at first, but as soon as he went down to court, he ran into Shangshu Feiguan and said to him: "Your Majesty is still sick. And the general is anxious to defend the city, and he is his own son, and he has the power of private soldiers, so as to coerce the Son of Heaven. Wu Ziyuan loves the general, but the general should not accept it. ”

Guan Yu's head was a little rigid when he read the Spring and Autumn Period, and he was shocked at the time, and asked what should I do? Should I take it back immediately? Fei Guan shook his head: "If the order is changed, it will definitely damage the prestige of the general." In order to observe, the old department can be temporarily stationed outside the city, and the second son can enter the city to take charge of the army. Familiarize yourself with it. It will take some time, and he will be reinstated in January and February. but to avoid ridicule. ”

——Fei Guanzi Bingbo, a native of Yan County, Jiangxia County, is Liu Zhang's son-in-law and Li Yan's friend. Later history once contained: "Du Hu Li is strict and self-conscious, and the age of the military assistant Kuang is second to Yan, and Yan is not profane; Looking at the young Yan in his twenties, and Yan Tongyun is like a cloud of the times. ”

Guan Yu listened to Fei Guan's words, acted according to the plan, and arranged all the subordinates who followed him on the southern expedition outside the city, and only the second son entered the city and served as the captain of the city gate - but as Fei Guan said: "It will take time to familiarize the soldiers." "In a short period of time, the Guan family will not be able to really control the city defense of Chengdu at all.

Liu Bei appointed six auxiliary ministers in his edict, namely Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Wu Yi, Li Yan, Shooting Yuan, and Xu Shu. Among them, the shooting aid originally belonged to the Dongzhou faction, and it has always been weak, and was forced by Wu and Li, and soon got on the thief ship; Zhang Fei is still in Hanzhong, and there is only one Xu Shu who is unstable. Therefore, Liu Bei summoned these five ministers to meet before his death, and wanted to ask for the future, but at that time he was speechless, and could only point to the edict that had just been written. Immediately, Queen Wu lay down on the corpse and wept bitterly, Guan Yu took the edict, came out with the other four people, and ordered the ministers to gather in the hall.

During this time, there was a time difference, and at that moment, a eunuch came out and called Xu Shu and said: "The queen urgently summoned Dr. Xu to meet him." Xu Shu was quite puzzled, and said that Queen Wu didn't look for his brother Wu Yi if she had something, why did she look for me? It's sad and confused. Hurriedly returned to the dormitory, and through the curtain, I heard Queen Wu ask: "Your Majesty's funeral, what should I do?" I am a woman, I don't know this ceremony, Dr. Xu taught me ......" babbled for a long time, and did not let Xu Shu leave. Xu Yuanzhi finally got rid of Empress Wu, but when he arrived at the front hall, the dust had already fallen, and Guan Yunchang was lying in a pool of blood......

The key is that the Yuan Cong faction is mostly in charge of the military, and when they go out of the town, their influence in the court is very limited. The scribe who belonged, at this time, Xiahou Su was dead, Sun Qian was also terminally ill, and there was only one Jian Yong left, who had already been sent by Wu Yi to supervise Ma Chaojun. As a result, the court was in turmoil, there was no Yuan subordinate faction, most of the Dongzhou faction were on the side of Li and Wu, and the Jingzhou faction did not see Xu Yuanzhi, and the six gods had no master - no one dared to stand up and support Guan Yu.

Besides, even if you want to help Guan Yu, Tai is just a half-civil servant, and the other party's knife is drawn, even if you risk death and rush forward, what can you do?

Of course, there is another faction that cannot be underestimated, which has played a certain role in fueling the troubles, and even aiding the abuse, that is, the Bashu aborigines. After returning from Guanzhong, Du Qiong, Qian Zhou and others privately spread defeatist sentiments, causing Shu officials to be generally discouraged and lose their vitality. Now that Liu Bei is dead, under the instant horror and grief, no one can regain the desire to die for the country......

Of course, all this was not clear until Xun entered Shu later, and gradually found out the context of the incident through multiple investigations. At first, I suspected that it was a trick of the Shu people, but after thinking about it again, Cao Zhen also checked it, and it was indeed Zhang Fei's head - did he deliberately kill a general in order to lure the enemy? Liu Bei Xu is not Prince Yan Dan, and Zhang Fei is not comparable to the deceased Fan Yuzhi......

The news that Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei are dead is estimated to be true, but the details are not known at the moment.

Looking at the group again, they were first shocked, and then they were all happy. Cao Cao said: "The opportunity must not be lost, and it will not come again, and now it should be cut down according to the destiny of heaven." If Liu Bei's two sons are divided into winners and losers, it may be difficult to take them. ”

Sima Lang, the new secretary of the Ministry of Justice, said: "Last year, Liu Bei entered the customs, the counties and acres were trampled, and His Majesty Xuan personally conquered the rescue, and there were no less than 200,000 enemies in the pass, and the warehouse was exhausted. It's still summer, and the new valley has not been harvested, how to send troops to fight? Your Majesty thinks twice. ”

Cao Cao said no. When food is scarce, it is shipped from elsewhere. No matter how expensive it is. I also have to take advantage of this great opportunity to knock down Xishu - "I am blessed with this talent, and it is ominous against the sky!" That is, he asked Jiang Ji, the new secretary of the Ministry of War: "How many soldiers are there in the Guan?" ”

Jiang Ji said that the soldiers and horses originally gathered in Guanzhong, because of the shortage of food, have gone to other states and counties to eat, and at present, Chang'an and its surrounding areas can mobilize about 30,000 mobile troops. Cao Cao asked again: "What about Liangzhou?" What about Jingzhou? Jiang Ji said that Liangzhou can also use 20,000 people, and if the gold beads are used to feed the Qiang Hu Department, it may pull 20,000 more to ride out; As for Jingzhou. Including Fangling County, which has just been taken, about 50,000 soldiers and horses can be mobilized.

Cao Cao said that it was enough, and his eyes rolled slightly, and suddenly he looked at Xun: "That is, with Hongfu as the governor of the capital, the president of Yong, Liang, and Jingzhou, the soldiers and horses, and the soldiers and horses of the three states, will cut down Shu!" ”

Shi Xun was stupid on the spot, and said in his heart, why did you think of sending me to Shu? was originally a hasty dispatch of troops, and this guy who ordered one of the two knives to fight was the commander, and the chance of success was even smaller - Lao Cao, you are sick and confused, what are you thinking?

Since Cao Cao named Xun, he led the army to attack Shu. Naturally, he had his considerations in mind, so he wrenched his fingers. Explain to the ministers one by one.

First, this time it was a hasty dispatch of troops, with a total of only 100,000 soldiers and horses, less than half of last year's improvement plan, and there was nothing to be done. First, the army is divided into various places, and it is difficult to mobilize quickly, and second, there is a shortage of food and straw, which cannot support larger-scale military operations. It was only because of the civil strife in Shuzhong that the opportunity could not be lost, so it had to take advantage of the gap.

Therefore, the focus of this expedition to Shu is the coordination of logistics and the actions of various armies - the real main force is only the soldiers of Yong and Liang in Hanzhong, and although there are many soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, at least the first stage can only play a role in countermeasures - and this is Xun's strength. Cao Cao said that unless he went on the expedition again, whether it was his ability or prestige, Hongfu was the only candidate for the commander-but with my appearance, he really couldn't go to the battlefield.

Second, this battle focuses on attacking the heart, and the second is attacking the city. There is civil strife in Shuzhong, and the two sons of the Liu family are fighting endlessly, if the Wei army can give up the past suspicions and unite with the outside world after pressing the border, then we have no chance at all. How to continue to separate the relationship between the two, find a gap into Hanzhong, forge ahead in Bashu, and strategize is more important than the front-line command - in this regard, it is Hongfu who is good at observing people's hearts and can understand the general trend, and this Bingfu is difficult to even protect the country Cao Zixiao.

Third, since there are many factions in Shuzhong and they are fighting each other, they may be able to defeat them in one fell swoop, but it will be more difficult to stabilize the situation and rule them for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to appoint an important minister who is good at government affairs as the commander, and this is not a must.

After finishing speaking, he paid attention to Xun: "The world is one and the country is prosperous, in this move, I have great hopes, and Hongfu should not resign." ”

When the ministers heard this, they all bowed their heads - Cao Cao's three articles all made sense, and there were only two people in the dynasty who could meet the requirements, one was Jia Xu Jia Wenhe in the imperial history, and the other was Taiwei Shixun is Hongfu. But Jia Xu's prestige is much worse than that of Xun after all, and he is not as trusted by the emperor as Xun, and he is a relative. In addition, Jia Wenhe is in his sixties, and Hongfu is only in his early forties, and he is in the prime of life, so he will go on the expedition on behalf of the Son of Heaven, who will he arrange if he is not arranged?

Only Shi Xun himself has no bottom in his heart, and since he returned from Liaodong, he has no intention of going into battle again - if he commands the army and enters and destroys the human country, he is majestic enough, but I am afraid that he will be a meritorious town lord! At the moment, he repeatedly excused himself, but Cao Cao insisted that it was you-"The military situation is like fire, and it cannot be delayed, so I will issue an edict immediately, so that Cao Zidan will lead the division first, and Hongfu will go to Chang'an on the same day." If I am worried about the shortage of soldiers and food, I should also send troops and departments to supply them in a steady stream, and I will not make Hongfu embarrassed! ”

Shi Xun peeked at Cao Cao, carefully figured out the bottom line of Cao Mengde's psychology, and waited until he saw that the other party's eyebrows were also erected, his eyes widened, and he seemed to be about to get angry immediately, so he quickly knelt down: "Your Majesty is a strong minister, and the minister will do everything to kill Shu Kou and repay Your Majesty." "You can't push it anymore, if you push it again, something will happen.

The discussion was established, and after the ministers retired, only Cao Cao and Cao Chao's ancestors and grandsons were left in the palace. Cao Cao greeted and asked Cao Chao to help himself to the front of the stairs and lay a mat on the ground, so that he could breathe a few breaths of fresh air and look at the clear blue summer sky. Immediately retreated left and right, and asked Cao Chao, saying that my life today is Hongfu to lead the division to destroy Shu, do you understand the intention?

Cao Chao replied: "Although my grandmother-in-law is not good at fighting, he has the ability to know people and the situation, and he is my Cao family's in-law, so His Majesty ordered him to be handsome." ”

Cao Cao shook his head and said, "This is one thing, and there are still two things." He beckoned to Cao Chao and asked his grandson to sit beside him, and then he whispered: "I know that my fate will not be long, and after a thousand years, I am afraid that you will be too young to control it, so I will temporarily remove this person's ear for you." (To be continued.) )