After Cao Pi sat down, Cao Pi had a questioning look on his face.

"Jia Gong, how are you doing with Marquis Wu De?"

The Marquis of Wu De mentioned by Cao Pi was his eldest son Cao Rui.

When Cao Pi asked what he thought of Cao Rui, Jia Xu, who was opposite Cao Pi, looked groggy and seemed unable to hear what Cao Pi said.

But Cao Pi knew very well what kind of person Jia Xu was, so he continued to say: "In those days, Duke Jia helped me ascend to the throne of the crown prince, so after I succeeded to the throne, I immediately worshiped Duke Jia as the Taiwei as a reward."

"If Mr. Jia can appoint the king of the Wei Dynasty for three generations now, I guarantee that the future kings of the Wei Dynasty will definitely take care of the descendants of Mr. Jia."

After hearing Cao Pi make such a promise, Jia Xu immediately opened his cloudy eyes and said to Cao Pi:

"Marquis Wu De is talented and far-sighted, and his achievements in the future will surely be limitless!"

Cao Pi was a little surprised by Jia Xu's words. He didn't expect Cao Rui to have such a high opinion in Jia Xu's heart.

But he was well aware of Jia Xu's intelligence, and of course he trusted Jia Xu's judgment.

After getting the answer he wanted, Cao Pi was speechless for a while.

Then he asked Jia Xu to leave.

When Jia Xu stood up and walked tremblingly to the door, Cao Pi's words suddenly reached Jia Xu's ears.

"Tomorrow I will ask Yanlong to draw up an edict and confer the title of Duke of Qi on the Marquis of Pingyuan. I will worship you as the Duke of Qi, Duke Jia."

Cao Pi's words stopped Jia Xu in his tracks.

Although Jia Xu was old, he heard Cao Pi's words very clearly in the silent hall.

But Jia Xu only hesitated for a moment, then took up heavy steps and walked out again.

Jia Xu understood the deep meaning of Cao Pi's words.

This was Cao Pi's new reward for him, and it was also a task given to him by Cao Pi.

Perhaps it was the consecutive defeats that made the emperor, who had just ascended the throne, realize something.

After Jia Xu left, Cao Pi stood up alone in the empty hall, his expression already indifferent.

Cao Pi rubbed the hilt of the sword at his waist with his fingers. His sword was the Yitian Sword that had been with Cao Cao for decades.

The Yitian Sword followed Cao Cao for decades. As Cao Cao's status and power continued to increase, the Yitian Sword gradually became regarded as a symbol of Cao Cao.

In Cao Cao's later years, he once tested the scholars at a banquet. The test question was based on the word "Yitian" on his sword to express his own ambition.

All the ministers were also present at that time, and among Cao Cao's sons, two of them gave the most gratifying answers.

Cao Pi, who was still the prince of Wei at the time, replied: "The long sword is leaning against the sky. I am willing to use the square land as a chariot and the round sky as a cover to attack the four directions with the sword."

Even though Cao Pi's answer was already amazing at the time, Cao Zhi's answer, whose literary talent was even better than Cao Pi's, was even more amazing.

"Conquering all the barbarians, drinking dry rivers and seas; traveling across the nine states, there is no place to stop;

The ambition is great, and the sorrow cannot last long. If you rely on the sky in your hand, the whole world will worship you."

Cao Pi still can't forget the satisfaction and appreciation in Cao Cao's eyes after hearing Cao Zhi's answer.

He knew that he had never been Cao Cao's most ideal successor.

Because he knew this, after he succeeded to the throne, he always wanted to prove that he was the best among the sons of Emperor Wu of Wei by establishing great achievements.

But two big defeats undoubtedly made him realize some things, and at the same time made him more mentally exhausted.

Cao Pi's fingers rubbed the hilt of the Yitian sword faster and faster. Cao Pi, who was lost in thought about the past, seemed to see that stalwart figure standing in front of him, with a look of disappointment on his face.

Is the person entrusted by Yitian Sword to someone else?

If Cao Pi had this kind of hallucination in the past, he would be panicked because of the fear of Cao Cao in his heart, but now that Cao Pi has become the emperor, his mentality has changed a lot.

His awe of Cao Cao has gradually dissipated, replaced by the urge to prove himself more and more.

In the end, Cao Pi just said firmly in his heart:

Father and clan are no longer of much use.

Next, the son will lead Wei to a new path according to his own ideas.

Now he, Cao Pi, is the helmsman of the Wei Dynasty!

...

After proclaiming himself emperor and establishing the country, Cao Pi, who suffered two consecutive defeats, attached great importance to Zhang Liao's expedition.

Because he valued him, Cao Pi could hand over the command of the 30,000-strong Chinese army to Zhang Liao without hesitation.

Because he valued Zhang Liao so much, on the day of Zhang Liao's expedition, Cao Pi, the emperor, personally came outside Wancheng to see him off.

Before Zhang Liao led his army to leave, Cao Pi held his hand tightly many times and gave Zhang Liao royal robes in public, constantly showing favor to Zhang Liao.

The current Wei Dynasty needs a victory so much.

Even if victory cannot be achieved, as long as Zhang Liao's reinforcements can help prevent Guan Yu from taking Fancheng, the result will still be beneficial to the Wei Dynasty.

So now Cao Pi can be said to be responsive to Zhang Liao's requests.

When Zhang Liao faced Cao Pi's favor towards him, he naturally burst into tears of gratitude.

After all, although Cao Cao valued his talents when he was still alive, he had never been so kind to him.

As for why Cao Pi favored him so much, the smart Zhang Liao certainly knew it, so Cao Pi's performance undoubtedly increased his emphasis on the upcoming journey.

When the time for the expedition arrived, Cao Pi let Zhang Liao leave with great expectation.

As Zhang Liao led the army farther and farther away from Wancheng, Cao Pi's eyes gradually became fleeting.

If destiny is in the Wei Dynasty, I hope God will help the Wei Dynasty again in this battle.

Cao Pi, who had never believed in ghosts and gods in the past, became more and more superstitious after usurping the Han Dynasty and proclaiming himself emperor.

When Zhang Liao's tens of thousands of troops completely disappeared on the horizon, several messengers quickly left Wancheng and headed towards Yizhou.

...

Tens of thousands of infantry troops cannot move as quickly as cavalry troops, so when Zhang Liao led tens of thousands of Cao Wei's central army to the south, Han spies immediately learned the news.

They then quickly headed south and reported the news to Guan Yu outside Fancheng.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! When Guan Yu learned the news, even though he had never been excited about his victory over Queyue before, he suddenly burst out excitedly in the tent.

Clap your hands.

It's a big deal.

Everything went as he expected. In addition to the defeat of tens of thousands of Wei cavalry, Cao Pi would definitely send the backbone of the Wei army to support Fancheng again.

The foreign troops in Nanyang had been defeated in the previous Battle of Xicheng and had not yet recovered their strength.

As for the state and county soldiers, the garrison soldiers are fine if they can defend the city, but it is a bit unrealistic to rely on them to resist the current morale-rich Han army.

Of course, the only backbone force that Cao Pi can currently use is the Central Army of Wei, which Cao Wei has always been proud of.

Although it is known from the intelligence that the Central Army of Cao Wei brought by Zhang Liao is only thirty thousand at most, which is still far behind the overall number of the Central Army of Cao Wei, this has already made Guan Yu excited.

But why was Guan Yu excited about Zhang Liao leading his army south instead of feeling troubled?

It was because all Guan Yu's previous actions were to lure Cao Wei's central army to go south.

As long as Cao Wei's central army moves south, no matter who the general is, Guan Yu will not find it difficult.

The moment he learned that Cao Pi was personally going south, Guan Yu found out that most of the tens of thousands of troops led by Cao Pi were from Cao Wei's army.

After knowing this news, Guan Yu had a plan in his mind.

The plan was that he would try his best to capture the tens of thousands of Cao Wei's troops brought by Cao Pi.

As early as the moment Liu Bei captured Yizhou, the entire Liu Bei group was preparing for the Northern Expedition.

Among the generals under Liu Bei, everyone had different ideas about the strategy of the Northern Expedition.

Some people say that they should try to seize strategic locations and gradually encroach on Cao Wei's territory.

Some people proposed that the main direction of the Northern Expedition should be in Jingzhou, and there were various ideas.

But Guan Yu had his own idea, that is, instead of seizing the land, it would be better to kill Cao Wei's effective forces as much as possible.

Because in Guan Yu's view, Cao Wei's area was too vast.

If all the national power is used up to capture one or two cities, even if those one or two cities are strategically important, what is the use?

Take today's Fancheng as an example. After taking Fancheng, Nanyang County still has more than 30 cities, large and small.

The geographical location of Fancheng is very critical.

But the reason why Fancheng could become a bridgehead against the Han army was because Cao Wei used the national power of the entire Nanyang County to build a complete defense system with Fancheng as the bridgehead.

A single Fancheng was not enough to withstand the pace of tens of thousands of Han troops. It was this perfect defense system that prevented tens of thousands of Han troops from directly crossing Fancheng and going deep into Nanyang County.

Taking Fan City can certainly destroy this defense system, but with Cao Wei's national power, they can select another city as a new "Fan City" in a short period of time, and then rebuild a complete defense system.

Even with Cao Wei's national power, they could build a new city out of thin air.

The key to Nanyang lies in Wancheng, and there are many cities in front of Wancheng. Do we have to pull out each of the cities to reach Wancheng?
To be continued...