The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 454: The Sixth Chapter
"father……"

Just when Cao Pi was moved, Cao Cao suddenly slapped him in the face again.

"As a son, you dare to talk to your father like that, you deserve to be beaten!"

Cao Pi covered his face in a daze, but Cao Cao ignored Cao Pi's reaction and went to the emperor's camp.

Generals such as Lu Bu and Wei Yan were observing Cao Cao outside the tent.

Yonghua, Bie and a group of envoys from small countries were also looking at Cao Cao, obviously curious about what the person who had the courage to disobey the emperor looked like, and whether he had three heads and six arms, or a green face and fangs? Otherwise, how could they dare to go against the sacred emperor of the Han Dynasty?
Cao Cao took a deep breath, came to the emperor's tent, bowed and saluted: "Your humble servant Cao Cao, begs to see the emperor!"

After a while.

A slightly shy young man walked out of the emperor's tent and bowed to Cao Cao: "The emperor invites you in."

But Cao Cao frowned when he saw the young man.

This person... is not simple!
Although he didn't look as high-spirited as Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, Cao Cao couldn't take his eyes off them!

"May I ask your name?"

"It's just a small reputation, not worth mentioning."

When the young man heard Cao Cao asking his name, he immediately became even more shy.

"Lu Xun, Lu Boyan."

Lu Xun brought Cao Cao into the tent, and Cao Cao finally saw the emperor.

The emperor was standing in front of a map, looking at something, with his back to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was about to salute, but was interrupted by the emperor.

"Now that Sun Ce has sent troops to the north, he has surrounded Hefei and Shouchun. Sooner or later, these two cities will be conquered by Sun Ce."

"There is also Guangling. If Sun Ce captures it, he can take advantage of the Huai River and build a complete defense system."

"The imperial court's national strength is far superior to Jiangdong's, but to be honest, its navy is still inferior."

"If Sun Ce really takes over Huainan completely, it will be extremely disadvantageous to the court. You must think of a way to make the court repel Sun Ce as soon as possible."

Your Majesty...are you talking to me?
Cao Cao looked at the emperor's back in surprise, then looked at Lu Xun beside him.

When Cao Cao saw Lu Xun shaking his head slightly, he realized that the emperor was probably really asking him how to fight this battle.

"His Majesty……"

Although it was a bit baffling, Cao Cao quickly demonstrated his qualities as a first-class commander.

"Sun Ce is coming with great force this time, but after all, his reputation is not right and his words are not in line with reality. In addition, he has previously massacred noble families in Jiangdong, so the local soldiers in Huainan do not welcome Sun Ce. Sun Ce's presence in Huainan is just a temporary show of strength."

"The commander of Shouchun is Cao Ang, Zixiu has always been a strong-willed person, and Shouchun has sufficient troops to defend it, so there is no need to worry for the time being."

"The land of Guangling was built as impregnable as a rock by the former governor Chen Deng. The current garrison commander Cao Ren is also a capable general. With him defending Guangling, Guangling will definitely not fall."

"Only Hefei... After all, it is newly built and is the closest to Sun Ce's forces. The soldiers and civilians in the city are inevitably panicked. Even if there are sufficient supplies, we must rescue them as soon as possible."

"In addition, Sun Ce attacked Huainan under the banner of the imperial court, but he would never submit to the Han Dynasty in his heart. It is very likely that he has already prepared to attack Jingzhou in Jiangxia, and the imperial court must be on guard!"

The south seems to be in chaos now, but in fact the key node is just the city of Hefei.

As long as Hefei can be defended, Sun Ce will naturally not be a concern!

Liu Xie turned his back to Cao Cao and stared at the map in front of him for a long time.

"it is good."

The sudden turn made Cao Cao's heart beat slower.

"Boyan, tell Zhongda and Kongming what Cao Cao said. If they think there is no problem, have Zhongda draft an imperial edict and send it to Zhang Liao. By the way, have Wei Yan lead 3,000 elite soldiers to the south immediately to support Zhang Liao."

"Here."

Lu Xun turned and went out. At this moment, only Liu Xie and Cao Cao were left in the tent.

Cao Cao kept his waist bent, but did not dare to look up at the emperor.

Because he could feel that the emperor was looking at him carefully.

"Cao Cao, do you know what Yuan Shao did when I last met him?"

Cao Cao: "I don't know."

"He put on the emperor's crown in front of me... yes, it was Liu He's crown. The size and other things were exactly the same as Yuan Shao's. I guess Yuan Shao had already prepared to wear that emperor's crown."

Cao Cao was stunned, but ultimately he couldn't help but look at the emperor.

These secrets had never been leaked, so he really didn't know about them.

"So I was thinking at that time, when you meet me, will you wear a crown of the emperor or just a crown of respect?"

"After seeing you today, I realized that I was wrong."

On Cao Cao's head, there was not a Wei-mao crown shaped like an inverted cup, but a double-hen-tail military crown with a tassel and no fringe!
"Cao Cao, I will ask you a few questions today. You must answer them carefully... If you can't answer them well, then from today on, even if you are alive, I'm afraid it will be no different from being dead."

Cao Cao bowed again to show his submission.

"Why did you respond to Yuan Shao's call to attack Luoyang and the imperial capital? Don't you know that this is an act of treason?"

Although it was under the name of clearing out the emperor's entourage and punishing traitors.

But this cannot conceal the fact that the essence of the princes' attack on Dong was a war of rebellion in which local forces besieged the core of the Han Dynasty!
Cao Cao heard the emperor's question and answered truthfully: "Because the general trend is like this."

"What is the general trend?"

"The princes of Guandong are dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo and have been resentful for a long time..."

But at this moment, the emperor suddenly sneered. This sound was like a broken string, which made Cao Cao feel dazed.

Cao Cao gritted his teeth and finally told the truth.

"At that time, the princes of Guandong, especially the Guandong families... had actually seen the weakness of the Han Dynasty, so they all had their own plans and wanted to replace it!"

Liu Xie asked again: "As far as I know, when the Grand Master first entered Luoyang, he was actually willing to rule the world together with the Guandong nobles, just like Liang Ji and He Jin did back then."

"Why can you tolerate Liang Ji and He Jin, but cannot tolerate the Grand Tutor?"

Cao Cao answered truthfully again:

"Dong Zhuo is different from Liang Ji and He Jin after all!"

"What's the difference?"

"Although Liang Ji and He Jin were from the families of relatives of the emperor, they did not have much power in their hands. They could only control the government by relying on the power of their aristocratic families."

"But Dong Zhuo led his troops into Luoyang. Even if he didn't rely on the power of the aristocratic family, he could still monopolize power."

"Liang Ji and He Jin tried to win over the aristocratic families because they had to rely on them."

"Dong Zhuo tried to win over the noble families, but he didn't have to rely on them."

"So, it was probably for this reason that Benchu ​​chose to flee Jizhou and call on the princes of Guandong to commit treason!"

Liu Xie remained expressionless after hearing what Cao Cao said.

"Then I ask you again, from today's perspective, what kind of war was the princes' war against Dong?"

At this moment, Cao Cao felt a huge pressure on his shoulders, his tongue became heavy, and he didn't know how to speak.

Obviously, the emperor wanted Cao Cao, who had witnessed the war personally, to personally give the final verdict on the war that happened ten years ago!
"That battle..."

Even though Cao Cao was reluctant to admit it, he had no choice but to say it out loud.

"That battle was an act of treason!"

"First, He Jin and Empress He tampered with the will of Emperor Xiaoling and falsely appointed Liu Bian, the King of Hongnong, to succeed the throne. Later, He Jin and Empress He turned against each other under the instigation of Yuan Shao. Fortunately, Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo led his troops into the capital, put order out of chaos, and welcomed the emperor. Yuan Shao saw that he could not accomplish what Wang Mang had done, so he called on the princes in Guandong to besiege the imperial capital, forcing the Han Dynasty to move its capital and take refuge in Guanzhong!"

As Cao Cao personally described the matter, Liu Xie suddenly sighed, then fell back in his chair, feeling lost.

"Cao Cao, I want to ask you the second to last question."

Liu Xie asked Cao Cao:

"If it wasn't the Grand Master who came to rescue me, but I fell into your hands, and you conquered the world yourself, would you depose me and make yourself emperor, or would you continue to support the Han Dynasty?"

Beads of sweat the size of beans suddenly appeared on Cao Cao's forehead.

He didn't expect that the emperor would ask such a question!

Isn’t it true that this kind of problem has only one solution?
Naturally, I support...

But Cao Cao suddenly felt a chill for no apparent reason.

He suddenly thought of one thing that was mentioned in the letters from Madam Ding and Madam Bian, as well as from Xun Yu and Cao Pi.

That is, the emperor today does not like to hear lies and always likes to treat others with sincerity.

Discuss the deeds but not the heart.

To the emperor, one word of truth may be more important than a hundred thousand lies.

Cao Cao swallowed the answer that was about to come out of his mouth, and then straightened his back.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what you are asking."

"My heart is naturally to support the Han Dynasty, but my actions may not necessarily be in line with that."

"After taking charge of my own affairs, I realized that there are too many things in this world that I cannot help but do."

"If it is really as Your Majesty said, and I can conquer the world by myself, then my prestige must be extremely high by then! My military force must be extremely strong! Even Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo is far inferior to me, not to mention that I have children, and I must have the support of aristocratic families behind me..."

Cao Cao still decided to be honest with the emperor.

Even though he might be killed by the emperor after saying this, he no longer cared about that.

"The emperor should know that there are many things that cannot be done just as one pleases."

"Your Majesty asked me what to do, but I would also like to ask you, if Your Majesty is not the monarch, but a minister who assists the government, if you really reach that position, can you still rely on your heart to continue to support the monarch?"

The answer was very cunning.

But it's reality.

The reason why we “judge by actions rather than by heart”.

It is because “it is difficult to follow one’s heart”.

Liu Xie looked at Cao Cao opposite him and asked his last question.

"What do you want to do now?"

Cao Cao was puzzled.

"I'll make it clearer."

Liu Xie picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup, and then took out another cup and filled it up.

"Let me ask you, do you still want to go to the Western Regions?"

When Cao Cao heard this, his originally dim eyes suddenly burst into a brilliance that had never appeared before!

(End of this chapter)