The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 479 Cao Pi's Ambition

Sure enough, when Zhang Wu found out about Cao Jun's movement, he ran away without hesitation, and without looking back, he led his troops on board the warship and returned to Xiangyang and Fancheng along the Fei River.Although Zhang Wu is invincible in the world, and the Wuwei Battalion is also the most elite in the world, they can't consume the opponent's 10,000+ army, and the materials such as kerosene bombs and arrows are almost consumed.

Although Cao Pi did not defeat Zhang Wu head-on, Zhang Wu's attack was repelled by tricking Zhang Wu's retreat.
In the next few days, Cao Pi received good news one after another.

First of all, Jincheng prefect Su Ze sent someone to send the battle report.After receiving Cao Pi's edict, Su Ze, Hao Zhao, and Wei Ping quickly led the army to rescue Wuwei, and all the rebels surrendered.Later, Su Ze and Wuwei prefect Wu Qiuxing attacked Zhang Jin in Zhangye County. When Qu Yan heard about it, he led [-] cavalry to greet Su Ze in a false manner.

Then Su Ze and his troops besieged Zhang Jin, defeated him, beheaded Zhang Jin and his followers, and the rest surrendered.Seeing that the general situation was over, Huang Hua released the detained hostages to beg for surrender, and Hexi was leveled.

Cao Pi was overjoyed, and made Su Ze the Duke of Tinghou with three hundred households based on Su Ze's achievements in pacifying Liangzhou.

Yu Jin and Sima Yi of Wudu also sent people to send news that Xu Shu led his army to besiege Wudu for nearly two months, but under the firm support of Sima Yi, Zhang Xi, Xu Huang, Yang Fu and others, several attacks by the Chu army were repelled.After Yu Jin led the reinforcements to arrive, Xu Shu saw that there was no chance, so he withdrew to Hanzhong.

Of course, Xu Shu did not attack with all his strength. This time he still focused on probing, and at the same time tested the gap between the cavalry of the Chu army and the cavalry of the Cao army.

Sima Yi was awarded the title of Marquis of Hejin Ting for his meritorious service, and was transferred to the prime minister.

Finally, there was the battle report sent by Yuzhou and Xuzhou. The Chu army navy led by Gan Ning and Ding Feng only dared to be arrogant on the water, but did not dare to land too far away from the warship. After harassing for a period of time, they withdrew one after another.

The Chu army at sea harassed the Xuzhou coast for a period of time, and then went north to Qingzhou, but did not land and harass, but stayed for more than ten days and then headed north.Cao Jun's scouts were watching secretly in the dense forest by the sea. The huge sea ship was riding the wind and waves on the rough sea, which was very spectacular.

Cao Pi was very happy when all the four armies of the Chu army retreated. Although everyone knew that Zhang Wu did not intend to be serious this time, in any case, winning such a victory when he had just inherited the throne would greatly improve his strength. prestige.

At the eighteenth day of Jian'an, Zhang Wu attacked from east to west, and with Cao Cao's talent, he lost two battles in a row. Not only did he lose Huainan and Hanzhong one after another, but he also lost a general like Xia Houyuan.

This time Zhang Wubing divided into four northern expeditions, but did not make any progress, and the Liangzhou Rebellion was also put down, which made Cao Pi very satisfied.Cao Pi, who personally led troops to meet the enemy, also had a record that can be described. Under his wise leadership, he defeated Zhang Wu's attack, and the two sides were considered a tie!
Since the rise of Zhang Wu, how many people in the world can equal Zhang Wu?Zhou Yu, Sun Quan, Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao and others were all defeated by Zhang Wu one after another.

So Cao Pi left Cao Hong and Cao Xiu to guard Nanyang, and led his army and civil and military officials to return to Xudu happily.

After returning to Xudu, Cao Pi thanked the emperor Liu Xie. After all, he, the king of Wei, was also appointed by the emperor. He could also take the opportunity to show Liu Xie his military exploits in repelling Zhang Wu, so that the emperor would be obedient.

In fact, there is another reason why Zhang Wu mobilized so many troops to send troops to the Northern Expedition, but it ended hastily, and that was to give Cao Pi a credit and make him proud and complacent.

Sure enough, Cao Pi felt that Zhang Wu was nothing more than that. In addition to the stronger navy, if the two sides had a decisive battle on land, Cao Pi was very sure that he would win.

However, Cao Pi received bad news in Xudu, that is, the general Xiahou Dun died of illness in Chang'an.Xiahou Dun was frightened when Cao Cao died and became ill. Later, he led his troops to support Wudu. When he arrived in Chang'an, his condition suddenly worsened and he could not move forward. So he stayed in Chang'an to recuperate and ordered Yu Jin to lead his troops to Wudu.

Later, Xiahou Dun's condition worsened, and he died of illness in Chang'an soon after. His eldest son Xia Houchong came to Xudu to report the funeral. Cao Pi put on plain clothes and went to the east gate of Xudu to mourn.

Xiahouchong was left by Cao Pi to serve in the central government. Xiahoudun's second son, Xiahoumao, married Cao Cao's daughter, and was appointed by Cao Pi as General Anxi and Chijie.

Since Cao Pi inherited the throne and repelled Zhang Wu's attack, he was full of ambition, so he had further plans.He is already a vassal king now, and if he goes one step further, he will become the emperor.

However, if you want to counterattack as an emperor as a courtier, you generally need to do the following preparations.

The first is to hold great power, and the most important thing is military power, otherwise even if you sit in that seat, you will not be able to sit firmly and not last long.

The second is to gain the support of the ministers. After you seize the throne, someone has to work for you so that the country can continue to operate as usual. Otherwise, as soon as you seize the throne, the country will be in chaos and rebels will break out. not long.

The third is to have the name of the past, such as letting the current emperor take the throne, or the current emperor is licentious and unworthy of being an emperor, etc.

Now Cao Pi's conditions are basically mature. After many years of management by Cao Cao, everyone in the Han Dynasty is basically loyal to the Cao family, and military power is firmly in the hands of the Cao family.

But there is a very special situation in this era, that is, if you want to finally sit on that seat, you must get the support of the aristocratic family, because the power structure of the entire country is built on the basis of the aristocratic family.

Although Cao Cao began to promote people from poor families very early, it is undeniable that most of the current civil and military officials are from aristocratic families, and there is a very shameless thing about aristocratic families, that is, between the interests of the country and the interests of the family , tend to choose family interests.

So, it’s not impossible for you to replace the emperor as emperor, but what can you give us?If you can protect our interests, and even give up some interests, we will support you as emperor.

Otherwise, although you can use force to force us to agree, we will make trouble secretly, and even collude with foreign enemies to bring you down!

Zhang Wu's policy towards the aristocratic family is not bad. Although there are not many preferential policies in politics, it is very economical. As long as you hang out with him wholeheartedly, you will get the benefits of real money.

Therefore, in order to gain the support of the aristocratic family, Cao Pi adopted the advice of Shang Shuling Chen Qun and implemented the "nine-rank Zhongzheng system".

(End of this chapter)