Vol 2 Chapter 2632: The pessimistic Cao Mengde and Guo Jia’s alienation plan

Chapter 2632 The pessimistic Cao Mengde and Guo Jia’s alienation plan

Chapter 2628: The pessimistic Cao Mengde, Guo Jia’s alienation plan

 Wei State, Xuchang.

After Cao Cao, the king of Wei, learned that Hanzhong had been captured by the Qin army, he immediately summoned his counselors to discuss the situation.

“The Qin Dynasty has captured Hanzhong, and no matter whether it is marching eastward or westward, it will have no worries.”

After Cao Cao sighed, he asked his advisers: "Do you think the next target of the Qin army is the Central Plains or Xiliang?"

As soon as these words came out, the counselors of Wei State fell into deep thought.

 After a while, Cheng Yu stood up and replied: "My lord, I think it is more likely that the Qin army will conquer the west.

 There are still three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming in the Central Plains, but only the Sui Kingdom is powerful in Xiliang.

Once the Qin army invades the Central Plains, the three countries of the Central Plains will definitely join forces, and Shu and Chu will not ignore it. It will be more difficult for the Qin army to win.

On the contrary, if it is a Western Expedition, with the power of the Qin State, even if the six countries of ours join forces to intervene, even if the mountains are high and the roads are far away, they will not be able to prevent the Qin from destroying the Sui Dynasty. "

As soon as Cheng Yu finished speaking, Xun You immediately stood up and retorted: "Zhongde, if it is just to destroy the Sui Dynasty, is it necessary for the Qin Dynasty to conduct a nationwide conscription?"

Cao Cao nodded unconsciously. After all, if it was just to destroy the Sui Dynasty, there was really no need for Da Qin to expand its army. It could only rely on the troops of the three states of Yongliang River.

Xun You continued his analysis: "Although I don't know the specific number of Qin's military expansion this time, since it is recruiting troops across the country and has made such a big movement, I think the number will definitely not be small, and its target must be our Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains.

The Sui State was weak and did not pose a threat to the Qin Dynasty. Although it would be easy for the Qin Dynasty to destroy the Sui Dynasty, once the war started, it would at least directly go to war with the four countries.

On the other hand, if they attack the Central Plains, the Sui Kingdom may not intervene. "

Xun You deliberately did not mention the three kingdoms of Shu, Chu and Wu because these three kingdoms now have their own problems.

Shu suffered heavy losses this time. Not only did they lose Hanzhong, but even southern Shu has not yet been recovered. There is a high probability that they will not intervene before the issue of southern Shu is resolved.

Furthermore, even if Shu intervenes, it probably won't be of much use. After all, if Hanzhong is not recaptured, Shu will not be able to threaten Great Qin at all, and this is obviously much more difficult than recapturing southern Shu.

The State of Chu was constrained by the State of Wu. Even if it sent troops to support, it could only send part of its troops and could not invest all its troops.

As for the state of Wu, it is really difficult to describe it in words.

 Cheng Yu believed that the Qin Dynasty would conquer the west first, and then conquer the central plains eastward after destroying the Sui Dynasty.

Xun You believes that Da Qin must attack the Central Plains first.

 For these two views, most people, including Cao Cao, believe that what Xun You said is more likely.

Da Qin already had the ability to challenge the princes of the world, and judging from its various methods of destroying the Tang Dynasty and marching out of the fortress, it solved the most difficult problems first, and then the rest was naturally much simpler, so Da Qin The probability is that the soft persimmon of the Sui Kingdom will not be picked first.

After Chen Gong hesitated for a while, he couldn't help but said: "Is it possible that Great Qin will send troops to Xiliang and the Central Plains at the same time?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone, including Cao Cao, couldn't help but fall into deep thought. In the end, he came to the conclusion that this possibility was indeed possible, but it was not big. After all, Da Qin, which could seek stability, did not need to take this risk.

After the meeting, all the counselors left, except Xun You who was stopped by a chamberlain.

“Mr. Gongda, my lord invites you to meet me in the inner courtyard.”

After Xun You came to the inner courtyard of the palace, Cao Cao looked at his mastermind and said straight to the point without saying anything else: "Gongda, tell me the truth. If the Qin Dynasty invades, can our Wei Kingdom be able to defend it?"

When Xun You heard this, he thought that Cao Cao was suspicious again. After all, the current leader of Confucianism, Confucius, had made it clear that he sided with the Qin Dynasty, and most of the Xun family members also served in the Qin Dynasty.

Xun You is both a descendant of the Xun family and a disciple of the Confucian family. The people closest to him are all on the side of Da Qin. It is difficult for people not to doubt his position.

Xun You knelt down decisively, expressed his loyalty first, and then said righteously: "As long as the officers and men of the army work together as one, and the three countries of the Central Plains put aside their past grievances and combine the strength of a million troops, they will be able to defend the Central Plains and the Wei State."

Cao Cao quickly helped Xun You up and asked, "What if we can't defend it like this?"

Xun You was stunned for a moment. Apparently he didn't expect Cao Cao to be so pessimistic, so he asked, "My lord, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

 “What about lies? What about truth?”

"The lie is to fight to the last soldier. I would rather die than surrender to Qin."

Even if his men were willing, Cao Cao would not be willing to rather die than surrender and fight to the last soldier.

 After all, he is not alone. There are a large family of Cao family, Xiahou family and others behind him. Even if it is for the sake of future generations, it is impossible for him to do such a childish thing as to die without surrender.

Although Cao Cao agreed with this point, he continued to ask: "What about the truth?"

 "Do your best, obey the destiny, obey the orders if you can, and surrender if you can't."

Hearing this, Cao Cao's expression suddenly changed and he said calmly: "Isn't Gongda optimistic about this battle too?"

Xun You did not answer the question and said: "My lord, the general trend of the world is that if it unites for a long time, it will divide, and if it divides for a long time, it will unite. The current situation is indeed the most likely to unify the Qin Dynasty.

But even if all the countries joined forces to defeat Qin and Qin lost the opportunity to unify, it would not be Wei who would finally complete the great cause of unification. Wei's foundation is too weak. "

When Cao Cao heard this, he wanted to refute, but he was speechless and felt sad in his heart, because he knew that what Xun You said was right. Wei's weakest point was not only its national strength and population, but its geographical location.

It is really difficult for Yanzhou, which is surrounded by enemies on all sides, to develop. In fact, Cao Cao also knew that for Wei, there was nothing wrong with surrendering to Qin. On the contrary, it was still a way out.

The Qin and Wei families are related by marriage. Ying Hao is Cao Cao's son-in-law. Cao Cao and the late Qin Emperor are also sworn brothers. The relationship between the two countries is already close, and they will definitely be treated well after surrendering.

On the other hand, if the unification is not Qin but other countries, they may not be as kind to Wei as Qin.

Since the world will be unified sooner or later, given Wei's embarrassing position, even if he does not surrender to Qin, he will surrender to other countries in the future. So why not surrender to Qin to maximize the benefits of surrender?

Cao Cao knew this very well, but after tasting the sweetness of power, he was not willing to surrender like this.

 Cao Cao was the most difficult one among the princes. He tried every means to develop the Wei State, which was surrounded by enemies on all sides and was almost impossible to develop.

After the current maximum expansion of the Wei State's army, there are 330,000 troops in total, and the money and food are enough to last a year and a half. The army needs troops, money and food have money and food, and there is no shortage of famous ministers, good generals, and fierce generals, but there is no direction to continue to expand. .

Cao Cao spent half his life to achieve all this. If he surrendered, it would be an advantage for others. He would not be willing to surrender without a fight.

 So, even Cao Cao himself was very pessimistic about starting a war with Qin, but he still decided to fight for his ambition and the foundation he had worked for half his life.

Of course, if he really couldn't defeat Da Qin, Cao Cao would have to accept the surrender even if he was unwilling. After all, he had a large family behind him, and it was impossible to ruin the entire Cao family just for his own selfishness.

Xun You has assisted Cao Cao for more than ten years. When he saw Cao Cao's expression, he knew what Cao Cao was thinking, and he couldn't help but lament that his lord was born at the wrong time and had bad luck.

If he had not lived with Ying Hao, Li Shimin, Liu Xiu, Liu Yu and others, and if the foundation of Yanzhou where he started was not too weak, Cao Cao might not have been able to achieve great things with his ambition and ability.

“All we can do now is to do our best and obey fate, but I will not accept my fate until the last moment.”

　　Cao Cao gritted his teeth and said, his eyes full of determination.

When Xun You heard this, he quickly knelt down and expressed his stance: "Until the outcome is decided, everything is still unknown. Duke Xun will definitely assist my lord in repelling the powerful Qin."

“It’s fair to say that you have assisted me for more than ten years and worked hard without complaining. How can I not know your loyalty?”

Cao Cao patted Xun You on the shoulder and said, "You can't refuse the important task of forming an alliance with Song and Ming to fight against Qin together."

When Xun You heard this, he was extremely moved. He knew that many people in Wei now suspected that he was connected to Qin, but his lord still trusted him and entrusted him with important tasks, and this was enough.

 Wait, an alliance?

Xun You was shocked after he reacted. His lord just wanted to show his resistance to Qin from secret, so he quickly advised: "My lord, no, the anti-Qin alliance can only be carried out secretly, and the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains can only do it tacitly.

Whoever dares to bring this matter to light will inevitably become the one who stands out and suffer severe retaliation from Great Qin..."

 After some hard persuasion from Xun You, Cao Cao finally gave up his plan to form a formal alliance.

After Xun You left, Cao Cao's expression changed instantly. Could he not have known that putting the anti-Qin alliance on the map would make him stand out? The reason why he said this was just to test Xun You.

Xun You's reaction also made him very satisfied. Even though he had been ostracized and slandered, he was still planning for Wei. Cao Cao believed that he would never pass through Qin.

 Since it’s not Xun You, then who is it?

The figures of Fan Li, Chen Qun, Cheng Yu, Bigan, Mao Jie, Chen Gong, Yin Shou and others appeared in Cao Cao's mind one by one, but except for Yin Shou, who was dissatisfied with him, no one else noticed it. any problem.

But Yin Shou had a grudge against Ying Hao for taking away his wife, and he was also a staunch anti-Qin faction. Before Wei surrendered, it was unlikely that he would pass through Qin.

Is this really just a rift between Great Qin?

 impossible, the information from the school affairs office cannot be wrong.

Cao Cao naturally did not want to doubt his subordinates, but all aspects of the Wei State were infiltrated by Great Qin. Even with Cao Cao's timely cuts, the Wei State had basically got rid of its dependence on Great Qin, but it still could not completely eradicate Great Qin's influence.

It is precisely because of this that even if Great Qin has not launched troops against the Central Plains, Wei still has a large number of surrender factions, and some people have even secretly defected to Great Qin.

Cao Cao did not intend to kill all the surrendering factions. After all, this was unrealistic and would also cause Wei to fall into civil strife, which would outweigh the gains and losses.

He just wanted to find out the identity of the other party so that he could make targeted arrangements to prevent the military power from slipping away and being deceived by the other party. Unfortunately, he still found nothing after testing.

 Damn Guo Jia. Cao Cao couldn't help but curse in his heart.

 He thought that after Jia Xu left Heibingtai, the situation faced by the Wei State would be easier, but he did not expect that the newly appointed Guo Jia's methods were not as ruthless as Jia Xu's, but they were equally difficult to guard against.

 Guo Jia just used a divorce tactic to create a crisis of trust in the Wei State and made Cao Cao doubt everyone in the Wei State. This method was not much worse than Jia Xu.

Now in Cao Cao's heart, except for clan members such as Cao Ren, Cao Bin, and Xia Houyuan, as well as veterans such as Xun You, Fan Li, and Chen Gong, who can be trusted 100%, his doubts about most people have not been eliminated.

Su Hu, although Cao Cao was loyal, after all, his daughter married Ying Hao, so he had to deprive him of military power even to avoid suspicion.

Xue Ju, although he was born as a rebel general of Zhu Ming Dynasty, after all, Emperor Ming was the empress of Qin Dynasty, so he would definitely be deprived of his military power.

On the contrary, it is Yin Shou and Tan Tai Yu. One has a hatred of Ying Hao for taking away his wife, and the other has participated in the siege and killing of Ran Min. They can be fully trusted before Wei's defeat.

 Luoyang, Heibingtai Yamen.

After receiving the summons from domestic spies, Guo Jia couldn't help but curl up the corner of his mouth. He had accurately calculated Cao Cao's suspicious character and implemented a plan to alienate him. The result was unexpectedly good.

Although Cao Cao only tested Xun You now, he failed to achieve his goal. With his suspicious and unscrupulous personality, he naturally would not give up.

Cao Cao will definitely test further, which will only make Wei's top officials more panic-stricken and give Da Qin an opportunity to take advantage of it.

"The battle between Qin and Wei has not yet started, and Cao Wei has already lost." Guo Jia smiled and shook his head.