Cao Cao finally breathed a sigh of relief after annihilating all the assassins who came to the palace to assassinate him, but this incident reminded him what if someone came to assassinate the Son of Heaven again and was succeeded by him? Then Sun Quan and Liu Bei will definitely make a fuss and think that I instructed it. Thinking of this, he was a little worried, after all, this puppet Son of Heaven is still the trump card in his own hands, and it is also justified for the future people to crusade against other princes in the name of the Son of Heaven, so I have to make good use of this resource and must protect his safety.

Although the security forces and measures in the palace have been strengthened, and there are eyeliners placed by Emperor Xian's side, he still feels that he is still not at ease, and he always feels that something is missing.

Judging from the fact that people in the future can wipe out these assassins, these people are indeed powerful and very admirable, and it seems that they are still needed to help defend the palace in order to protect the safety of Emperor Xian.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao hurriedly sent someone to invite Li Yong and talked to him about his worries and thoughts, hoping that they could leave someone to assist Zhang Tao, the chief of the palace guard, in his security work.

Time flies, it's been nearly five months since I came here, and now it's almost past the Lunar New Year, and the weather has warmed up.

Li Yong thought of the time before the time crossing, and the leader told them to travel to this era for a maximum of one year, and if they couldn't complete the task within the specified time, they would either give up; Otherwise, we can't travel back, so we need to speed up the pace of action.

They have now trained Zhang He's men almost, and the entire army has a new mental outlook, and it has also gained a fairly high combat effectiveness, and it is completely ready to go on the battlefield.

That night, Li Yong convened everyone to have another meeting in the "Crossing", mainly to discuss the next course of action.

First of all, Li Yong said: "The Spring Festival has passed, and now we have been here for almost half a year, and there is not much time left for us to travel back." According to Cao Cao, there is still no response to his revision of the book to Sun Quan and Liu Bei asking them for peaceful reunification, and it is estimated that they will not be sincere, the purpose is to delay, it seems that military unification can only be our last resort, so we must be ready to join forces with the Wei army to start a crusade, what do you think? ”

"In my opinion," said the sea, "the time has come when we must use force. Now that the weather has begun to warm up, it is also suitable for the march and combat of the army, and the logistics are relatively easy, but in order to show our sincerity, whether or not to tell Sun and Liu again in our name that an agreement to return to the imperial court should be reached within one month, otherwise we will start attacking and make them give up all illusions.

In addition, I think Cao Cao, the king of Wei, is a majestic strategist, if he defeats the forces of Sun and Liu in the future, can he let Cao Cao sit in the country, so that he will fully cooperate with us, and he will not worry that he will calculate us in the future.

If we defeat the forces of Sun and Liu, he will be worried that if we are trying to restore the Han Dynasty, he will definitely turn his sword against us, then we will be very dangerous, after all, we are on other people's territory, and we are only a few people, even if we have three heads and six arms, we are not their opponents, in that case, we are in a very dangerous situation; Besides, as long as the world is unified, the war will be eliminated, and the people will be able to live and work in peace and contentment. ”

At this time, Wang Yan continued: "What the sea said is also reasonable, but I think it is still necessary to act under the banner of restoring the Han Dynasty, only in this way can the people of the world be convinced, otherwise Sun Quan and Liu Bei will definitely resist desperately."

We will be able to defeat them in the end, but that will drag on for a long time, and it may be time for us to return before the conquest is over.

If Sun and Liu resist desperately, it will also cause a lot of casualties, which is also contrary to our original intention when we came, so if we can reach a deal with Cao Cao in private, let him let out the news that he has returned to the imperial court, and crusade against them under the banner of restoring the Han Dynasty, and after the situation is calmed down, then let Cao Cao choose by himself, if we insist on letting Emperor Xian take power now, it will hurt him, because all the power is in Cao Cao's hands, and we can't have too much time to intervene, and it will affect us if we don't do it. ”

Everyone felt that what Wang Yan said was reasonable, and there was no objection. So Li Yong said: "I also think that this is more feasible, so we must first reach an agreement with Cao Cao in private, and everything will be done in the name of restoring the Great Han, so that we can justifiably conquer all forces."

I also think that we must act immediately, first tell Cao Cao what we think, and let him hurry up and prepare supplies and grain and grass, and be ready for battle at any time; Then write letters to Liu Bei and Sun Quan respectively in our name, ordering them to make a decision within a month, because Dongwu is close to us, and a month of going back and forth is enough, but it is very far to go to Liu Bei's Chengdu, and the road is difficult, and it is estimated that it will take nearly two months to go back and forth, so we will solve Dongwu first; In addition, I think that one of the great advantages of attacking Sun Quan first is that Eastern Wu is a rich land, and taking this place is equivalent to taking the money and rice warehouse in Jiangnan into the pocket, with these capitals, and then attacking Liu Bei, it will be twice the result with half the effort. ”

Everyone unanimously agreed to Li Yong's plan. According to the calculation, if the decision of Dongwu goes well, it should be about the same time for more than a month, and at this time, most of the world has been unified, and there is only this Liu Bei force left, and he has no capital to resist.

Then Li Yong added: "Although this plan is very good, we still have to be cautious to prevent Sun and Liu from joining forces to confront us again with the Yangtze River natural danger, so it will be much more difficult for us to act."

Because the Wei army now lacked warships and did not have a strong sailor, Cao Cao should be allowed to prepare earlier, at least dozens of large ships should be prepared, which can cross the Yangtze River with an army of 10,000 people.

I also agreed to Cao Cao's request to leave one person to assist Zhang Tao in guarding the palace and ensuring the safety of Emperor Han Xian; The person left behind can also secretly spy on the King of Wei and them to prevent accidents. ”

Early the next morning, Li Yong went to Cao Cao's house and told him what he thought. After hearing this, Cao Cao said very happily: "The prime minister has been waiting for the arrival of this day for a long time, with your help, this crusade will definitely be a complete victory!"

You hurriedly gave Sun and Liu Xiushu, which was an ultimatum, and the words should be fierce and non-negotiable, so that they could surrender as soon as possible. The prime minister will go to the Son of Heaven, report our thoughts, and ask the Son of Heaven to promulgate a document on Sun Quan and Liu Bei's recruitment tomorrow morning; Appoint a commander and be ready to go out at any time. Tomorrow afternoon, I will send the Son of Heaven's inscription and your ultimatum to Sun Quan and Liu Bei respectively. ”

After listening to Cao Cao's words, Li Yong nodded and said, "Prime Minister is wise, I will wait for this to write an ultimatum and formulate a plan of action for the next step." ”

On February 22, 216 A.D., the 19th day of the first lunar month, the weather was very sunny today. It has been more than three months since the last time the Son of Heaven convened everyone to discuss the matter, and today the solemn palace once again played ancient music and fluttered flags.

At this moment, the ministers of the court came to the hall early and lined up in turn, each of them held the court board in their hands, waiting for the arrival of the emperor of heaven, and Cao Cao also came to the east in front of the dragon chair in the court and sat down.

After the personnel of the previous dynasty arrived, the Son of Heaven wore a crown on his head, wore a black dragon robe, and wore double-pointed square shoes on his feet, and came to the court. Then he sat down on the dragon chair.

Today's Emperor Xian is very happy, because yesterday morning Cao Cao came to tell him that he was about to prepare to attack Sun and Liu, and told him that this time he was going to join forces with the future people, and after exterminating Sun and Liu, he would return to the Son of Heaven, and he would truly exercise the rights of the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty.

The prime minister also said that before this action, he would draft a crusade against Sun and Liu, and then send it to Sun and Liu after it was promulgated by the court the next day. After hearing Cao Cao's words, Liu Xie was very excited, and in the afternoon he summoned his former subordinates to listen to their opinions.

In fact, after Emperor Xian's current former henchmen and former ministers seized power through the "Jade Belt Edict" and another attempt to get rid of Cao Cao's control, there are few people who have been cleaned up by Cao Cao, and the few so-called ministers around him now are basically arranged by Cao Cao later, and they are all nominal idle, in fact, they are secretly spying on him.

After Emperor Xian told them that the future people came here to assist the Wei army to clear out the forces of Sun and Liu, and to restore the affairs of the Han Dynasty, these so-called ministers knew what was going on in their hearts, but they couldn't say it clearly, they just pleased him and said: "Congratulations to the Son of Heaven for finally waiting for such a good time!" With the help of the future, it is not far off for the Son of Heaven to return to power. After listening to the discussions of these "ministers", the Son of Heaven was a little flustered, and immediately after the meeting ended, he asked the only old minister, Zhang Daoting, to stay, and asked him to help draft a document against Sun and Liu.

This Daoting was originally a former waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and he was also the father of his concubine, and he was still his father-in-law. This person is timid and afraid of things, and he is very cautious in doing things, and he tried his best to stop Emperor Xian's first two attempts to seize power, but they couldn't listen to Emperor Xian, and as a result, both actions were foiled by Cao Cao, and it also led to Emperor Xian's side, including Guozhang and others, who were purged by Cao Cao.

It was precisely because he knew that this Daoting had stopped these two actions of Emperor Xian, so Cao Cao did not pursue him, but just asked him to continue to stay by Liu Xie's side and do some errands in terms of etiquette and copywriting.

Emperor Xian said to this Daoting: "You and I have stepped up the drafting of the crusade text, and the text must be capable and passionate!" This Daoting nodded and said: "The old minister knows, but he still has the courage to remind His Majesty: "After the Wei army and the future man join forces to defeat Sun and Liu, can the prime minister really return to power to the emperor of the Han Dynasty?" Your Majesty should think twice! ”

Perhaps he was carried away by longing, and this emperor couldn't listen to the advice at all, so he said: "No matter what happens to him in the future, defeat Sun and Liu first, and then say, I have my own way after the unification of the country." In this way, the emperor was excited and almost sleepless all night, waiting for tomorrow's court meeting.

After seeing the Son of Heaven sitting on the dragon chair, Cao Cao quickly got up and took a step up with both hands on the board and said, "Report to Your Majesty the Son of Heaven, the old minister has something important to play today!" ”

Emperor Xian stood up and waved his hand: "What is the prime minister's important thing to do?" Please report it in court. ”

Cao Cao hurriedly said: "Since the Zhangjiao Yellow Turban Thief Incident, the world has been in turmoil, and the Han Dynasty has been in danger. In order to protect the Han River, Shansheji, Lao Chen led the army and people of Wei to protect the Son of Heaven, clear out the forces in various places, and successively destroyed Yuan Shao, Lu Bu and other forces; Later, he subdued Zhang Lu and others, and kept the rivers and mountains of the Great Han Dynasty north of the Yangtze River. However, Jiangnan is still occupied by Liu Bei and Sun Quan's forces, and the country is still in a state of division, and the war will not be extinguished in the long run, and the people will not be able to live in peace; It is a blessing that people from the future come here to help the Son of Heaven exterminate the forces of Sun and Liu. Now the Wei army is well-trained, morale is greatly boosted, fighting spirit is high, and wants to join forces with the future people to conquer Sun and Liu, so the old minister asked the Son of Heaven to issue an order to conquer and complete the great cause of reunification as soon as possible. ”

Those ministers heard Cao Cao's admonition to play the Son of Heaven, so everyone knelt down together and echoed in unison: "Sun Quan and Liu Bei are traitors, I implore the Son of Heaven to send troops to clear up and suppress them as soon as possible, and restore the Han Dynasty as soon as possible!" ”

Seeing the indignation of these ministers, Emperor Xian, the Son of Heaven, stood up, took out the text he drafted with Zhang Daoting last night from his sleeve and read it aloud: "Since the Yellow Turban Uprising, the princes have been divided, the heroes have been in turmoil, and the world has been in chaos; Years of war have led to poor livelihood and starvation, and the country and society are in danger; Fortunately, Cao Mengde, the king of Wei, was loyal and courageous, and supported half of the Han Dynasty alone, so that the Han court had the current momentum. Liu Bei Xuande, although he is the emperor's uncle, does not think about the society, and vainly tries to stand on his own, and now he is supporting troops and self-respecting in Xishu to resist the imperial court, which is really a big rebellion. The prime minister also asked Yu Er to return to the court as soon as possible, but he ignored it. In order to complete the unification of the country as soon as possible, I want to send troops to recruit it! ”

The content of another letter against Sun Quan was similar to this one, and Emperor Xian also read it aloud to the ministers present. In unison among the ministers, "The Son of Heaven is Shengming!" In the loud shout, Emperor Xian passed these two letters to the eunuch Shao Gonggong to Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao accepted these two letters, he took out a brocade silk with words written on it from his sleeve and asked Shao Gonggong to transfer it to Emperor Xian, and then he said loudly: "The emperor's invitation to ask for the text is also the voice of our ministers, and now the time is ripe to send troops, please ask the Son of Heaven to immediately issue a conquest order." ”

Emperor Xian carefully looked at the brocade silk written by Cao Cao from Gonggong Shao, so he read aloud: "I have decided that the prime minister will be the general of the expedition and personally lead this crusade." ”

So Cao Cao immediately turned around and read: "Thanks to the love of the Son of Heaven, let the old man serve as the general of this operation, now it is almost the rainy season, and the flood season of the Yangtze River is approaching, we must speed up the pace of conquest in order to unify the country as soon as possible."

Ben Shuai then read out the action plan. It was scheduled to prepare for the expedition in early February, and the Cao Wei coalition army was formed by the future people and the Wei army to attack Eastern Wu.

Cao Ren was ordered to be the general of the southern hussars, Cao Hong was the deputy general, and the commanders were Zhang He, Xu Chu, Xu Huang and other generals, leading 100,000 troops to step up training and preparation, and always prepare to go south to attack Wu.

Zhang Liao was ordered to be the general of Wei, and immediately led his troops to build or collect 100 warships in Jiangbei for the purpose of crossing the river.

ordered Xiahou Yuan to be the general of the Western Cavalry and Sima Yi to be the deputy general, and immediately commanded 100,000 elite soldiers in Hanzhong, and closely monitored the soldiers and horses of Western Shu to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation to sneak attack; If the Shu army attacks, you can't take the initiative to attack and fight, you just need to stick to the city. In this way, Cao Cao completed the military deployment in the court.

This is exactly what the time has come: when the time is ripe, a plan is made, and a plan is in full swing to implement it

The Son of Heaven issued a crusade order, and the prime minister commanded the rebels