Chapter 2628: The pessimistic Cao Mengde Guo Jia's alienation plan
Chapter 2628: The pessimistic Cao Mengde and Guo Jia’s alienation plan
Wei State, Xuchang.
After Wei King Cao Cao learned that Hanzhong was occupied by the Qin army, he immediately summoned all his counselors to discuss the situation.
"The Qin Dynasty has captured Hanzhong. No matter whether it is marching eastward or westward, it will no longer have any 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. Shu and Chu will not ignore it, and 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 join forces to intervene, even if the mountains are high and the roads are far away, they will still be unable 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 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 be large, and its target must be our Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains.
The Sui Kingdom was weak and could 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 kingdoms.
On the contrary, 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.
The Shu Kingdom suffered heavy losses this time. Not only did they lose Hanzhong, but even southern Shu has not yet been recovered. Before the issue of southern Shu is resolved, there is a high probability that they will not intervene.
Moreover, even if the Shu Kingdom intervenes, it will probably not be of much use. After all, if Hanzhong is not recaptured, the Shu Kingdom will not be able to threaten the Qin Dynasty 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 in the east after destroying the Sui Dynasty.
Xun You believed that the Qin Dynasty must attack the Central Plains first.
Regarding these two views, most people, including Cao Cao, believe that what Xun You said is more likely.
The Qin Dynasty already had the ability to challenge the princes of the world, and judging from its methods of destroying the Tang Dynasty and marching out of the fortress, it solved the most difficult problems first, and the rest would naturally be much simpler, so the Qin Dynasty
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 this statement 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, there was no need for Great Qin, which could seek stability, 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 him 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: "Gongda, tell me the truth. If Da Qin comes to invade, can our Wei country 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, first expressed his loyalty, and then said righteously: "As long as the officers and men in the army work together as one, the three countries of the Central Plains put aside their past grievances, and with 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. He obviously 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 naturally 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 die rather than surrender and fight to the last soldier.
After all, he is not alone. There are Cao family, Xiahou family and other big family members behind him. Even if it is for the sake of future generations, it is impossible for him to do such a childish thing.
Although Cao Cao agreed with this point, he continued to ask: "What about the truth?"
"Do your best, obey the destiny, obey the rules if you can, and surrender if you can't."
Hearing this, Cao Cao's expression suddenly changed and he said calmly: "Isn't Gongda not optimistic about this battle either?"
Xun You answered 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 join forces to defeat Qin and Qin loses the opportunity to unify, it will not be Wei who finally completes the great cause of unification, because Wei's foundation is too weak."
When Cao Cao heard this, he wanted to refute, but he was speechless. He felt dark 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 also its geographical location.
With Yanzhou surrounded by enemies on all sides, it is really difficult to develop.
In fact, Cao Cao also knew that for Wei, there was nothing wrong with surrendering to Qin, but it was actually a way out.
The Qin and Wei families were related by marriage, Ying Hao was Cao Cao's son-in-law, and Cao Cao and the late Qin Emperor were sworn brothers. The relationship between the two countries was already close, and they would definitely be treated well after surrendering.
On the contrary, if the unification is not Qin but other countries, they may not treat Wei as kindly 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.
Now that the Wei State has expanded its army to its maximum, it has a total of 330,000 troops, and enough money and food to last a year and a half. It requires an army, money and food to have money and food. There is no shortage of famous ministers, good generals and mighty generals, but there is no shortage of them to continue to expand.
direction.
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.
Therefore, even though Cao Cao himself was very pessimistic about starting a war with Qin, he still decided to fight for his own 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 no choice but to accept 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 assisted Cao Cao for more than ten years. When he saw Cao Cao's expression, he knew what Cao Cao was thinking, and he could not 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 accept 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 position: "Until the victory is decided, everything is still unknown. Duke Xun will assist Lord Zuo to repel the powerful Qin."
"Okay Gongda, you have assisted Zuo Gu for more than ten years and worked hard without complaint. 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 jointly resist Qin."
When Xun You heard this, he was extremely moved. He knew that many people in Wei State now suspected that he had connections with Qin, but his lord still trusted him and entrusted him with important tasks, and this was enough.
Wait, an alliance?
Xun You was shocked when he realized what he was doing. 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.
Anyone who dares to bring this matter to light will inevitably become the leader and suffer heavy retaliation from Great Qin..."
After Xun You's hard persuasion, Cao Cao finally gave up his plan to form a formal alliance.
After Xun You left, Cao Cao's expression changed instantly. Didn't he know 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.
If it’s not Xun You, then who is it?
The figures of Fan Li, Chen Qun, Cheng Yu, Bigan, Mao Jie, Chen Gong, Yin Zhou and others appeared in Cao Cao's mind one by one, but except for Yin Zhou who was dissatisfied with him, no one else noticed it.
Any questions.
However, Yin Zhou and Ying Hao had a grudge against their wives, 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 Da Qin's plan to alienate people?
Impossible, the information from the school affairs office cannot be wrong.
Naturally, Cao Cao 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 cutting, 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 though Great Qin has not launched troops against the Central Plains, Wei still has a large number of surrender factions, and some have even secretly defected to Great Qin.
Cao Cao did not intend to wipe out all the surrendering factions. After all, this was unrealistic and would plunge the Wei state 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 his 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 cursing in his heart.
He originally 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 cause 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 his 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, his daughter married Ying Hao after all, so he had to deprive him of his military power even to avoid suspicion.
Although Xue Ju was born as a rebel general of Zhu Ming, after all, Emperor Ming was the Empress of Qin, so he would definitely be deprived of his military power.
On the contrary, it was Yin Zhou and Tantai Yu. One had a grudge against Ying Hao for seizing his wife, and the other had participated in the siege and killing of Ran Min, so they could 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 has only tested Xun You now, he has not been able to achieve his goal. With his suspicious and unscrupulous personality, he will naturally not give up a few times, and the next step will definitely be further testing, which will only make the top brass of the Wei state even more...
People's hearts were in panic, which gave Great Qin an opportunity.
"The battle between Qin and Wei has not yet started, and Cao Wei has already lost." Guo Jia smiled and shook his head.