The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 428 Volume Is Sun Ce crazy?

"I...accept the decree."

What could Zhuge Liang do? Of course he just obeyed the order and went home to rest!

Not long after Zhuge Liang left, Zhongshu Ling Jia Xu and Shangshu Ling Xun Yu came to the palace together.

When he saw the two people, the laziness in Liu Xie's eyes was no longer there.

"Have all the things in the east been confirmed?"

"Your Majesty, everything has been confirmed!"

Xun Yu presented a document.

"Jiangdong had always blocked the road, and no one could get out alive."

"It was Li Ru who brought back a piece of intelligence from Jiaozhou earlier this year, which allowed the court to know the situation in Jiangdong."

Jiangdong...

Ever since the imperial court launched the war in Hebei, Sun Ce had been silent since he was assassinated by Xu Gong's followers.

If Li Ru had not sent a piece of intelligence from Jiaozhou, the court would probably still not have been able to find out the internal situation in Jiangdong.

"Sun Ce is crazy!"

When Liu Xie first saw Li Ru's intelligence, he thought Li Ru was exaggerating.

But after watching the whole thing, he frowned solemnly.

Because it is no exaggeration to describe the current Jiangdong as "Sun Ce has gone crazy".

After Sun Ce was assassinated, although he survived, his face was disfigured.

From then on, Sun Ce dared not show his true face to anyone, and he always wore a mask whenever he went out.

Every time Sun Ce traveled, he only did one thing——

kill!
The four surnames of Jiangdong, Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang, were almost all killed by Sun Ce!
It is said that there was a time when even the East China Sea was dyed red by the blood of the noble families!
"This job is...tsk tsk!"

Sun Ce did something that even Emperor Liu Xie and Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo did not dare to do!
He actually picked up the butcher knife and killed everyone in Jiangdong!
You know, even Liu Xie didn't dare to easily turn the table against the aristocratic families.

In the past, when he was weak, Liu Xie had no choice but to cling to Dong Zhuo and train the Xiliang soldiers. Then he slowly weakened the power of the aristocratic families by abolishing the system of recommendation, establishing imperial examinations, and establishing laws.

Although he became more confident and killed the gentry in the Central Plains and Hebei, he still paid a price in the end.

For example, in the fifth year of Jian'an, the three places held imperial examinations at the same time and there was a decision to "expand recruitment" of officials. This would definitely lead to some good and bad people sneaking in to become officials and corrupting the Han Dynasty's administration.

But the situation was critical at the time, so he could only chew the half-cooked rice and swallow it.

Sun Ce, on the other hand, actually went straight to kill each family one by one with a knife in hand!
It feels great, it’s really great!

But the disaster will definitely be outrageously big!

Sun Ce has closed the roads over the years, making Jiangdong an isolated island, and he is busy dealing with the mess in Jiangdong!
"According to Li Ru's intelligence, Sun Ce is really a ruthless person."

"He followed the old methods of the imperial court, taught soldiers to read and write, and distributed land to the landless people... Because there were few people in Jiangdong, he captured Shanyue from the deep mountains and old forests, used them as slaves, and distributed them to the people of Jiangdong to help them farm."

"But it is precisely because of this profound change that Jiangdong is no longer the same as it was before! According to Li Ru, Sun Ce is likely to start a war in the near future!"

Liu Xie closed his eyes and thought, roughly sketching out the situation in the east in his mind.

"The only uncertainty now is whether Sun Ce is going to attack Jingzhou or go north to attack Cao Cao."

"But no matter who he attacks, it will be a huge opportunity for the court!"

This is the real reason why Liu Xie chose to launch the war at the end of this year.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

"In war, the art of deception is to be cunning. So when you are capable, pretend to be incapable; when you are using something, pretend not to use it; when you are near, pretend to be far away; when you are far away, pretend to be near; lure the enemy when it is profitable; take it when it is in disorder; prepare for it when it is strong; avoid it when it is strong; frustrate it when it is angry; make it arrogant when it is humble; tire it out when it is idle; separate it when it is close. Attack when it is least prepared; surprise it when it is least expected. This is the way to win in war, and it cannot be announced in advance."

To employ military tactics in war is to use deception and unconventional strategies to defeat the enemy.

Now that Sun Ce dares to make a move, the imperial court must naturally cooperate with Sun Ce and make the move together!
Whether Sun Ce chooses to attack Jingzhou or Xuzhou.

As long as he took action, the imperial court could take advantage of the situation and recover the homeland with the least cost.

If Sun Ce attacks Xuzhou, the imperial court will also attack Qing and Xu at the same time, and completely kill Yuan Tan and Cao Cao!

If Sun Ce attacks Jingzhou, it means that Sun Ce will not be able to join forces with Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others in Xuzhou. The imperial court will still choose to attack the east and recover Qingxu!
What the imperial court fears most now... or hates most is that Cao Cao, Yuan Tan, and Sun Ce will join forces and make the imperial court spend a huge price to complete the war of unification.

But Sun Ce now obviously wants to fight alone, so the court obviously has no need to be cautious.

"In addition, General Xu Rong's spies reported that Gongsun Du respects the Han Dynasty on the surface, but in fact he is still doing business with Yuan Tan and Cao Cao, selling a large number of Liaodong war horses to Yuan Tan and Cao Cao."

"The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry under Cao Cao's command played a great role in the Battle of Yingshui, so we cannot let his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry become powerful."

"Therefore, the end of this year is the best opportunity for the court!"

Since the opportunity has appeared, Liu Xie naturally cannot turn a blind eye to it.

"But in order to avoid alerting the enemy, try not to mobilize troops on a large scale, and arrange other matters as usual."

Anyway, the imperial court now holds an absolute advantage and can completely strike back.

What Liu Xie needed to consider was not "how to defeat the enemy" but "how to defeat the enemy at the lowest cost."

Yuan Tan and Cao Cao are easier to deal with.

But as for Gongsun Du, due to geographical factors, if it is not handled properly, it may take up a lot of the court's energy.

So this battle is different from the battle in Hebei.

Because the size of the imperial court and Hebei was similar before, the battle of Hebei was a "quick battle". But now that the imperial court has opened up a gap with the opponent, it is necessary to take steady steps, gradually force the opponent into a dead end, and then win with one blow! Let the opponent not even have the qualifications to struggle!

"Have Xu Rong put pressure on Gongsun Du, strongly condemning his trade with Yuan Tan, Cao Cao and others, and build ships in Ji County to create the illusion of attacking Liaodong. It would be best if this could cause Gongsun Du to lose his mind."

"After that, Zhang Fei was transferred to Bohai. On the surface, he was asked to cooperate with Xu Rong, but in fact, he was controlling the north of Qingzhou so that he could take action against Yuan Tan at any time."

Neither of the two arrangements posed any substantial threat.

Such an arrangement would most likely make Gongsun Du and Yuan Tan think that the imperial court would not send troops this year.

After all, after so many years, they have gained a preliminary understanding of the emperor's way of using troops.

Or don't move.

Or it could be a direct thunder strike!
So this time, Liu Xie did the exact opposite.

The orders given by both hands were completely relying on the powerful foundation of the man to create an illusion.

If Gongsun Du and Yuan Tan were really fooled and thought that the imperial court would not send troops this year, then it would be a good thing for the imperial court!
After hearing this, Xun Yu couldn't help but exclaimed: "True and false, if Gongsun Du and Yuan Tan really believed that the court would not send troops this year, they would really be doomed."

And Jia Xu also helped to supplement the emperor's tactics——

"In Qingzhou, you can use the method of using the virtual to transform the real; in the south, Your Majesty may also use the method of using the real to transform the virtual."

"Your Majesty can mobilize the Guanzhong cavalry to Nanyang on the pretext of sending reinforcements to Jingzhou."

"After this, these troops will remain stationary for the time being and be ready to support the east at any time."

"This way, we can not only make Sun Ce afraid and dispel his desire for Jingzhou, but also deploy troops to the battlefield in Xuzhou, thus making the real thing look fake."

Liu Xie’s eyes lit up!
"That's not bad!"

"Let Zhang Liao lead the cavalry to Nanyang in the name of supporting Jingzhou and test Sun Ce's reaction."

Speaking of this, Liu Xie suddenly thought of something funny.

"If Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others knew that I was being so cautious in dealing with them, I wonder how they would feel."

This emperor is obviously too powerful, yet he is still very cautious?
Xun Yu couldn't help but sigh when he heard the emperor's words.

"If Lord Cao knew, he would probably feel honored, right?"

Even now, Xun Yu still maintains respect for Cao Cao.

After hearing what Xun Yu said, Liu Xie nodded thoughtfully.

If the enemy in the east now was only Yuan Tan, Liu Xie might not have to spend so much energy.

But when he thought that his opponent was Cao Cao... Liu Xie did not dare to be careless at all.

Battle of Guandu.

Battle of Red Cliffs.

The lessons these two failures taught Liu Xie were too profound. Liu Xie did not want to fail again and delay the plan of unification.

For a moment, the atmosphere became vaguely serious.

……

“Don’t worry.”

Liu Xie reacted and smiled, comforting the two of them.

"No matter how difficult the days are, they are over. Why should we be like this?"

"Let's take a step back and say, even if we can't win this war, can't we still live on?"

Liu Xie stood up and stretched his muscles.

"The imperial examination is about to begin again. This is the top priority for the court right now!"

For various reasons, the imperial examination in the fifth year of Jian'an was actually conducted quite hastily.

But the imperial examination in the seventh year of Jian'an could not continue to be sloppy.

"This time, there will definitely be a large number of scholars from Hebei and Central China going to Beijing to take the exam."

"Fortunately, the new city of Chang'an has been built. Otherwise, if these scholars came to Chang'an and found that they didn't even have a place to live, wouldn't there be a big mess?"

Liu Xie didn't want to discuss military affairs and Cao Cao, so he changed his topic to something lighter.

"Wen Ruo, who do you think are the best candidates in this year's imperial examinations and are qualified to compete for the top spot?"

In the fifth year of Jian'an, the imperial examination was carried out according to the land, so the value of the three top scorers has always been questioned, and the only two people recognized as top scorers are still Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang.

This year's unified imperial examination has aroused a lot of discussion in Chang'an about who will become the third well-deserved number one scholar after Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. Even in the market, some people have already opened betting to guess who will be the chosen one.

When Xun Yu heard the emperor asking him about the candidate for the top scholar, he shook his head repeatedly.

"I haven't even taken the imperial examination, how can I predict who will win the top prize?"

"Just chatting!"

Xun Yu had no choice but to propose three candidates:

"Lord Cao's two sons, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, are both popular candidates."

"There is another person, your majesty is also familiar with him. It is Lu Xun, Lu Boyan, whom your majesty personally asked Sun Ce for."

(End of this chapter)