My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 689: Memorial to Guo Yu and Discussion on Moving the Capital

The 13th year of Jian'an, the 24th day of the 12th lunar month, Wancheng.

It was the seventh day after the fall of Fancheng and also the third day after the "fall" of Xiangyang.

Cao Ren, looking dusty and embarrassed, rode back to Wancheng from Xinye with hundreds of his followers, looking exhausted and tired.

The straight-line distance from Xinye to Wancheng is also more than 100 li. But if you go along the Baihe River, you need to take a detour, and the whole journey is about 140 to 150 li.

Cao Ren and his party traveled on horseback. Some sections of the road could be straightened, so they only rode for a whole day. They set out from Xinye early in the morning and arrived in Wancheng after dark.

It is wartime now, and Wancheng's defense is very tight. Under normal circumstances, the city gates will never be opened after dark.

However, Cao Ren's identity was important and extraordinary, and he had military intelligence to report, so his identity was repeatedly confirmed in the dark. After the gatekeeper asked for instructions, the city gate was opened and all the escorting cavalry were allowed to enter the city.

However, because Cao Ren returned in the middle of the night and needed to ask for instructions, Cao Cao, who was about to go to bed, received a notice saying that Zixiao had returned after being defeated and came to apologize.

Although Cao Cao was not very clear about the latest situation on the front line before, he roughly guessed that the situation in Xiang and Fan had deteriorated again.

However, he had no other choice. He knew that the situation was not favorable but he could not make any changes. After the defeat at Yuliangzhou and the heavy casualties of Cao's main forces, he could only hold on and wait for changes. This was a strategic arrangement that Cao Cao had personally approved.

The subordinates strictly followed this arrangement, and if they still couldn't win, it was not their fault. The people under them were also very desperate.

When Cao Cao heard that Cao Ren came to apologize, he was not too surprised. He got up in the winter night wearing his robe and met Cao Ren in a casual manner.

Cao Ren walked into Cao Cao's bedroom with a gloomy face. As soon as he entered the room, he knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "Prime Minister! I am incompetent. Guan Yu and Lu Yi used a trick to cut off the water support of Fancheng. I can only divide my troops to break through and try to open up the support again.

I originally thought that leaving Fengxiao to guard Fancheng would help him hold out for a while longer, given his prudence and resourcefulness, and the fact that there were fewer soldiers eating food. He would definitely be able to hold out for another two months without any problem.

Who would have thought that Guan Yu would be so decisive? After discovering my breakout, he took advantage of Feng Xiao's lack of time to stabilize the army and launched a full-scale attack that day. He broke through the west gate of Fancheng within a day...

I should have reported the defeat immediately, but because I had not received any follow-up military reports from Fengxiao, I did not know whether Fengxiao was alive or dead, so I delayed and waited for three or four more days. Finally, when I confirmed that Fengxiao was dead, I came in person and reported in detail.

Who would have thought... just as we were waiting for confirmation of Feng Xiao's death, bad news came from the enemy in the south. It was said that Zhuge Jin had sent an envoy to persuade Yu Wen to surrender, saying that Fancheng had been lost, and asked Yu Wen to submit to Liu Bei.

Wen Ze tried to calm the army at first, saying that the news that Fancheng had been lost was false, and asked the generals not to believe it recklessly. But Zhuge Jin, the thief, actually sent an envoy to take Guo Fengxiao's head and gave it to Wen Ze and other generals as a gift.

Wen Ze was caught off guard and opened the gift box in public. As a result, all the generals in the city learned that Feng Xiao was dead and believed that Fancheng had been breached. That night, Huang Zhong led his men to launch another surprise attack. Several former generals of Liu Biao in the city actually surrendered to the enemy and opened the city gates to help Huang Zhong capture Xiangyang!

"In the past three days, our army has lost Fancheng and Xiangyang. It is all my fault! Please punish me, Prime Minister!"

Cao Ren did not dare to just report the defeat. He was afraid of making Cao Cao angry and was also afraid that he would be punished more severely for his crimes.

So his words were a little rambling, and he said a lot in a rapid pace.

Before reporting the defeat, the reasons were given in detail to make it appear that "although it was a defeat, it was understandable."

So although Cao Cao felt a headache after hearing this, he did not immediately get angry. From this narrative structure, Cao Cao can also feel Cao Ren's concern and pity for his colleagues.

The reason why they didn't report it immediately was because they didn't know Feng Xiao's whereabouts! Who knew that in the end, they still couldn't wait for a miracle, but were instead used by the vicious Zhuge Jin Liansuo.

Cao Cao was in a daze for a long time, then sat back on the couch dejectedly.

As he fell backwards, he instinctively tried to hold on to a stool, but his arms went limp and he couldn't hold on at all.

"Fengxiao! Wenze! Fengxiao! Wenze!" Cao Cao pounded the table with his arms in sorrow, his palms turning red.

In the end, the small and thin wooden board could not withstand the heavy blow and Cao Cao broke a piece of it before he stopped.

Cao Cao panted and vented for a while before he accepted these realities.

He also knew about Guo Jia's physical condition. He was seriously ill and didn't have much time left. Guo Jia had said goodbye to him when he went south to Fancheng to help defend the city, so after thinking it through, it was easy for him to accept it.

Upon learning that Guo Jia had used a trick before his death and severely injured Guan Yu and Gao Shun, Cao Cao also felt that Feng Xiao had finally died heroically.

He estimated that given the injuries of Guan Yu and Gao Shun, it was unlikely that Liu Bei would continue his pursuit northward any time soon.

Liu Bei had too many messes to clean up, and it was also the New Year during the freezing cold weather, so he would definitely let his trusted generals take the opportunity to recuperate first.

Although Guo Jia died, he was able to buy Cao Cao a few months.

Thinking of the past events when he made friends with Feng Xiao, Cao Cao's eyes became red and tears streamed down his face.

After expressing his regret for Guo Jia, Cao Cao naturally thought of Yu Jin, who had also followed him for twenty years.

"Although Wen Ze underestimated the enemy and suffered heavy defeats in the battles of Dangyang and Yuliangzhou, he should have defended Xiangyang to the death and consumed the enemy to wait for changes. However, he eventually lost Xiangyang suddenly due to such an unexpected change and died for his country. He can be regarded as a model of loyalty and righteousness.

At this time of national crisis, loyal ministers and good generals are hard to come by. I will personally pay tribute to them and ask the emperor to posthumously confer official titles on them."

After Cao Cao calmed down, he couldn't help but sigh and ordered arrangements for the funeral of Guo Jia and Yu Jin.

Cao Ren listened to everything and agreed to it without any doubt. He also felt that any posthumous honors given to Guo Jia and Yu Jin were justified.

Otherwise, with the situation so difficult, who would be willing to risk their lives for the court?

After Cao Cao set the tone for how to deal with the opinions, he quickly remembered some details.

He was always suspicious, and he went over Cao Ren's words in his mind, and asked again, "By the way, you just described the situation before Xiangyang was captured as if you had seen it with your own eyes. Where did you get this information from?
Xiangyang was isolated from the outside world. When the city was finally captured, the entire army must have been destroyed. Those who were not killed in the battle should have surrendered and been captured. How could such detailed information about how Wen Ze fell into the trap set by Zhuge Jin's envoys be passed out? Those who saw that scene at the time must have died or surrendered, right? "

When Cao Ren was asked by Cao Cao, he suddenly felt embarrassed. He had never noticed this suspicious point before.

Maybe he didn't care about these details. He just wanted to show in his report that "everyone in our army has done their best."

Cao Ren recalled and quickly explained: "It is impossible for me to see these details in person. But some deserters who broke out of Xiangyang during the chaos gradually returned to the team and brought back these news from the enemy camp.

When Huang Zhong finally captured Xiangyang City, there were still 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. In addition, Huang Zhong took advantage of the chaos to attack the city instead of breaking it by force. Some soldiers at the north gate secretly broke out by boats. Although the enemy's navy patrolled and intercepted on the Han River, some of them slipped through.

I have verified that these soldiers who fled back are indeed our soldiers, and they are all from the north. There are almost no former soldiers under Liu Biao. "

Cao Ren explained all the details in detail. It was normal for the northern soldiers under Cao Cao's command to miss their hometown, so even if they were defeated, they would flee north and want to return home.

As for the surrendered soldiers from Jingzhou, they were originally local people. It was reasonable for them to fight against whoever occupied Jingzhou.

Cao Cao would not believe everything Cao Ren said directly, so he gave another instruction: let Cao Ren reorganize the soldiers who escaped back to report the news and withdraw them to Wancheng. The court would reward these loyal and righteous men.

In fact, Cao Cao just wanted to send his trusted aides to check carefully and confirm whether the information provided by these people was true or false. …

The confessions of the soldiers who had "broken through" sporadically on the Xiangyang front would definitely have to be re-interrogated in detail.

However, this did not prevent Cao Cao from immediately starting to prepare for the commendation of Guo Jia and Yu Jin.

Both Guo Jia and Yu Jin died heroically for their country. At a time when the imperial army was suffering a series of defeats, such examples highlighting loyalty and righteousness were most needed to inspire people.

It is just like when Chongzhen of later generations, in the Battle of Songshan, when 130,000 Ming troops were wiped out, he still held seven memorial ceremonies for Hong Chengchou who "died heroically for his country" and personally attended the memorial service.

What a defeat Hong Chengchou fought? Is there any merit to it? But as long as he dies, he can still be said to have made contributions.

The emperor should divert people's attention to his steadfastness and perseverance, let the people of the world see how good your majesty is to loyal ministers and righteous men, and inspire others to be loyal ministers and righteous men in adversity.

Cao Cao's mentality at this moment was quite similar to that of Cao Ren. However, Cao Cao was much smarter and he also saw that Cao Ren's report might be untrue.

But as long as these untruths are not too outrageous, Cao Cao does not want to expose the details. Why bother?

Now we need to turn a blind eye and set up a model of loyalty and righteousness first, and other minor issues can be put aside for the time being.

In addition, with the fall of Fancheng and Xiangyang, Cao's army lost about 40,000 troops in the Jingbei battlefield. Such a loss of strength has made Cao Cao unable to defend.

Moreover, the news of Guo Jia's death had a great impact on Cao Cao mentally. When he first heard it that day, although he did not immediately have a headache, he at least suppressed his emotions.

But in the next few days, he couldn't help but feel restless whenever he thought of Guo Jia.

Once a patient with headache suffers from insomnia, it is absolutely very painful. In order to recover from his illness, Cao Cao had to return to Xudu in person and handed over the defense of Wancheng to Cao Ren.

Before leaving, he also hinted to Cao Ren that if they could not win and the enemy was indeed pressing forward, they could retreat step by step and give up part of the land in Nanyang County.

After Xiang and Fan changed hands, most of Nanyang County's territory was indeed undefensible. As long as the Baihe River system extended, it would be threatened by Liu Bei's army.

The next decisive geographical defense line of Cao Cao's camp has retreated to the Funiu Mountains on the border between Si and Jing, and the Tongbai Mountains on the border between Yu and Jing. It is only a matter of time before the land south of these two mountain ranges is lost.

Cao Cao was aware of this, so he did not issue the order to "hold on firmly and do not retreat". He only hoped to preserve more manpower, allow space to be traded for time appropriately, and avoid the situation where his army was surrounded by the enemy for a long time like in Xiangyang and Fancheng.

……

After Cao Cao returned to Xu Du, just a few days later, the ceremony to commemorate Guo Jia and Yu Jin was ready.

Cao Cao dragged his sick body to personally attend the sacrifice. He also asked Xi Lu, the white glove, to come forward and ask Emperor Liu Xie to come forward to praise these civil and military loyalists who "died for the country".

Of course Liu Xie didn't want to attend, but there was no way. He was completely out of his control now. If Xi Lu told him to, he had to move.

Throughout the ceremony, Liu Xie felt sick every time he spoke a line, but he had no choice but to endure it.

Only when he returned to the harem and confirmed that there was no one around could Liu Xie relax a little and quietly complain to his most trusted concubine.

The content is nothing more than "Even the old villain's confidants such as Guo Jia and Yu Jin were killed in the battle. It seems that there is a great hope for Zong Bo to suppress the rebellion this time."

After hearing her husband's complaints, Empress Fu Shou could only secretly advise him not to talk nonsense outside. After Liu Xie heard this, he just sighed and showed more resentment than before, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The ceremony to commemorate Guo Jia and Yu Jin ended quickly. In Xudu, there were indeed some civil and military officials who were loyal to Cao, and they became more dedicated because of Cao Cao's show of generous treatment of the civil and military officials who died for the country.

But at the same time, because of the deaths of Guo Jia and Yu Jin, those Han officials who had lost hope in Cao Cao's camp, or who were originally loyal to the Han Dynasty but had to work for Cao Cao only because Cao Cao controlled the Han Dynasty, also had more ideas.

Previously, Cao Cao, relying on the merits of his newly recruited Liu Cong, proclaimed himself Duke of Wei and eliminated a number of dissidents, thereby strengthening the centralization of the Xudu court and enhancing his own prestige.

The deaths of Guo and Yu also meant that Cao Cao's whitewashing and propaganda of the situation on the front line over the past six months had been completely exposed.

No matter how much Cao Cao boasted about his battle with Liu Bei, and how great his victory in annihilating the enemy was, at this moment, everyone knew that Xiangyang and Fancheng were lost, and the territory left by Liu Biao was basically taken over by Liu Bei, and Cao Cao's martial arts prerequisite for being named a duke almost no longer existed.

In the city of Xudu, a new undercurrent began to surge.

At first, no one dared to say it too bluntly, but just hinted in various ways, "Since the Duke of Wei was granted the title of Duke for his merit in subduing Liu Cong. Now all the land, soldiers, horses, money and food left by Liu Biao have been given to Liu Bei, then why does the Duke of Wei continue to be a duke?"
Most of these words were spread in secret. Once discovered by the secret police system in Xudu, they would definitely be severely punished. For this reason, Cao Cao did kill several people through the cruel official Man Chong.

After killing someone, Cao Cao still felt uneasy because he knew that Liu Bei would probably make new moves after the New Year.

If there are still so many people with doubtful stances lurking inside Xudu by then, I am afraid the situation in the whole world will be bad.

Therefore, during the New Year period, Cao Cao did not dare to rest and relax for too long.

Just after the fifth day of the New Year, he summoned his main staff and officials in Xudu to discuss an important matter.

The civil officials summoned included Xun Yu, Zhong Yao, Mao Jie, Sima Lang and Sima Yi.

After everyone arrived, Cao Cao did not play tricks with his own people, nor was he afraid of damaging people's morale. He directly raised his concerns:

"Zixiao was defeated, Fengxiao and Wenze died for their country, Xiangyang and Fancheng were both lost. After the spring ploughing, Liu Bei will probably attack Wancheng in the north soon. By then, Liu Bei's troops will be separated from Xudu by only Tongbai Mountain.

Although the imperial court can still gather 200,000 troops in Henan, it is afraid that the people in Xudu are unstable and there is internal strife, so it will be difficult to defend for long. I want to move the capital to avoid the sharp edge and take the opportunity to clean up the imperial court. What do you think? "

When Cao Cao heard this idea, his trusted civil servants, led by Xun Yu, were slightly surprised, but soon found it understandable.

Originally in history, when Cao Cao was facing Guan Yu's attack on Xiang and Fan, Guan Yu had not yet broken through Fancheng, but only flooded the seven armies and captured Yu Jin. Cao Cao considered moving the capital to avoid his attack.

The original words in "The Three Kingdoms" clearly state "Cao Gong proposed to move to Xu Du to avoid the enemy's attack."

In this life, Guan Yu actually conquered Xiangyang and Fancheng. Liu Bei's military force was even stronger than in the same period in history, and he owned the entire south. The world had been divided into two, and there were no other princes to interfere.

Given the current military progress of Liu Bei's camp, it is only natural that Cao Cao is worried about internal instability and considering moving away from Xu Du.

Besides, Cao Cao's move of the capital did not mean giving up Xudu. He just wanted to get rid of the emperor and those mascot court officials first, so that he could continue to defend Xudu with his elite troops.

In this way, there will be fewer constraints in subsequent operations, and internal hidden dangers can be removed first to avoid internal and external collaboration.

Therefore, whether it was Xun Yu or Sima Yi, these two types of civil servants, after a brief consideration, felt that the proposal to move the capital was not hasty.

The only difference in the issue is how to relocate, how urgent the time is, where to relocate, and what excuse to use.

Xun Yu and Sima Yi quickly gave diametrically opposed opinions on these details.

(End of this chapter)