On this day at the end of autumn, Yan Liang, who was so powerful in China, led his victorious army down the river and returned to Yingtian in a mighty manner.
On the day of his return, all the soldiers and people of Yingtian came to welcome their great lord in triumph.
Fully occupying the Yangtze River was Sun Quan's slogan back then. He had been shouting it for many years, but he couldn't even stand up to Liu Biao.
But now, both Sun and Liu Biao were wiped out, but their new masters captured Yizhou and included the entire Yangtze River Basin from west to east.
Such great achievements are enough to make the people of Yingtian worship him to the point of madness.
Not long after Yan Liang returned to Yingtian, officials under his command began to write letters one after another, urging Yan Liang to ascend the throne and become king.
In fact, ever since Yan Liang attacked and destroyed Jiangdong in the previous period, the voices urging Yan Liang to proclaim himself king, or even proclaim himself emperor directly, have never stopped.
It's no wonder, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Yan Liangruo ascended the throne from Grand Sima to the king, and the official status of his ministers also increased accordingly. Who wouldn't do such a beneficial and harmless thing?
Furthermore, Yan Liangjin owns the four states of Jingyang, Yuyi, and controls half of the rivers and mountains. He is powerful in China and has the power to become king.
In the previous episode, adhering to the principle of "accumulating grain widely and becoming king slowly", Yan Liang suppressed the public outcry from his ministers to persuade him to advance, and took a step forward by calling himself Grand Sima.
But this time, Yan Liang did not express his position in response to his ministers' renewed persuasion.
Not taking a stand is the default.
Those smart ministers soon realized Yan Liang's intention, so the trend of the ministers' persuasion to advance became more and more intense, and soon developed to the point where all the officials from the four states were urging him to advance.
At the same time, various "superstitious" rumors quickly spread from state to state.
The yellow dragon was discovered in Jingzhou, the unicorn appeared in Yizhou, the bronze sparrow was dug up in Yangzhou, and all kinds of auspiciousness appeared on the horizon, which meant that God was hinting that Yan Liang would become king.
Of course Yan Liang knows that those so-called auspicious things are all stories made up by people below, just to build momentum for Yan Liang.
Yan Liang knew that he was superstitious, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He only accepted these auspicious rumors, which quickly spread in his ruling area.
Because Yan Liang knew that people in this era still had a very serious fear of gods. The rulers of the past dynasties all needed to rely on God's protection to show their so-called legitimacy.
Facing the ministers' requests, Yan Liang could not remain silent.
Not long after returning to Yingtian, Yan Liang expressed his attitude to the ministers with a written order.
Yan Liang wanted to build a Bronze Bird Tower in the east of Yingtian.
The purpose of building the Bronze Bird Tower is also very simple. The primary purpose is of course self-enjoyment.
Nowadays, Yan Liang controls four states, and the territory is quite large. However, over the years, Yan Liang has conquered east and west, and has not had much time to truly enjoy himself.
Yan Liang has always believed that if he does not know how to enjoy himself after working hard to conquer the world, then this hero cannot be considered a qualified hero.
I, Yan Liang, have worked so hard to conquer half of my country, not so much for the so-called fame and history, but more for real enjoyment.
Therefore, Yan Liang wanted to build the Tongque Terrace, and after it was completed, he planned to place all the beauties he had collected over the years in the Tongque Terrace. This would make it easier for him to have fun.
The second reason is to demonstrate one's own achievements.
In past history, after Cao Cao destroyed the Yuan family, he built the Tongque Tower in Hebei, not just to show off his achievements in pacifying the world.
Celebrities like Xiu Gongshi in later generations like to prove their worth by writing autobiographies.
The third reason is naturally to create public opinion for his proclaimed king. By building a high platform and palace, he can have the so-called communication between heaven and man to show that he is favored by heaven.
As soon as Yan Liang's order to build the Tongque Tower was issued, the discerning people among the soldiers and people in the four states immediately realized what Yan Liang meant. They knew that their persuasion had been successful and that their lord was ready to become king.
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As a result, the show of support flew to the sky like snowflakes.
Of course, if there are supporters, there will naturally be opponents.
For example, Tian Feng, who had always been strong-willed, persuaded Yan Liang to give up his intention of building the Tongque Tower on the grounds that the world was not at peace and there were many wastes waiting to be renovated, so it was not appropriate to carry out large-scale construction projects that would waste people and waste money.
Yan Liang was already prepared for Tian Feng's appearance, and he was not unhappy about it.
Although a great hero has a dictatorial character in everything, he can always tolerate some people under his command who like to give advice and give advice.
Moreover, Tian Feng's advice was sincerely for his own good. Of course, Yan Liang was not as narrow-minded as Yuan Shao, so he vented his anger on Tian Feng.
Of course, Yan Liang would not listen to Tian Feng. If he, who owned half of the country, did not even have the power to repair a palace, then what would be the use of conquering half of the country.
You lords and ministers are enjoying the glory and wealth in private. As your lord, it doesn't matter if I build a platform.
Therefore, Yan Liang first wrote a letter praising Tian Feng's advice and admonishment, and also gave him a food estate.
Then, Yan Liang put aside Tian Feng's advice. If you give your advice, I will still build my bronze bird tower.
With a single order, tens of thousands of Dingfu were immediately recruited in the land of Sanwu and began to build the Tongque Tower in preparation for Yan Liang to become king.
When Yan Liangfeng returned to heaven with glory, built a lot of construction projects, and paved the way for becoming king with great ambition, thousands of miles away, in Chang'an City, Cao Cao was licking his wounds.
Hanzhong was defeated twice, with losses of forty to fifty thousand soldiers. Hanzhong was won and lost again. General Xia Houyuan was seriously injured. He was also hit by an arrow and lost two front teeth. All these things were enough for Cao Cao.
A heavy blow.
The only thing that made Cao Cao feel gratified was that he successfully moved more than 200,000 Dingkou from Hanzhong, which slightly made up for some of Cao Cao's losses.
But that mere 200,000 people was really nothing compared to the millions of people in Yizhou that Yan Liang received.
At this time, news came from Hebei that Liu Bei's army had captured Yuyang County, and the Yuan Tan brothers fled to Liaodong and joined Gongsun Kang. This meant that the entire Youzhou was basically under Liu Bei's control.
The current power of the world is that Liu Bei holds Youji Qingyanxu, plus half of Sizhou, and now he has seized the horse-producing land of Yanyun. His strength is unprecedentedly strong.
Yan Liang in the south controls the four prefectures of Jingyang, Yuyi, and it can be expected that before long, Jiaozhou in the far south will also be included in Yan Liang's territory.
Purely in terms of vast territory and large population, Yan Liang is undoubtedly the largest prince in the world.
As for Cao Cao, although he controlled Yongliang and three prefectures, plus several counties in Sizhou, except for Yongzhou, which was slightly rich, the two prefectures of Liang and Liang were extremely barren. Although they produced good horses, their population was sparse.
Among the three major princes, Cao Cao is undoubtedly the weakest.
One was a mat weaver and shoe seller, and the other was a traitor to the Yuan family back then, but now they were all burdened with him. As the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, how could Cao Cao not feel depressed.
In the Prime Minister's Mansion, the depressed Cao Cao gathered his officials to discuss countermeasures.
"News came from Xizuo in Yangzhou that the Yan thief was building some kind of Bronze Bird Tower day and night. He was clearly preparing to rebel and become king. And after reporting the spies from Yecheng, Liu Bei's subordinates were also trying to persuade Liu Bei to ascend the throne recently.
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Liu Ye, who was in charge of intelligence, quietly revealed the unfavorable news.
The ministers below were talking a lot, but Cao Cao had a solemn look on his face.
Once upon a time, Cao Cao, who controlled the Han Emperor, always boasted of holding the emperor hostage to control the princes. This was also the political capital for his rise.
But the Han Emperor's sign was useful when the heroes of the world were fighting. Cao Cao could conquer everywhere in the name of the emperor.
But now, all the princes, big and small, have been killed, and only Liu Bei and Yan Liang are left. The influence of the Han Emperor is very minimal.
If Yan Liang and Liu Bei become kings again, it will be equivalent to them openly kicking the Han Emperor away and no longer even nominally obeying the Han Emperor. Then, the influence of Han Emperor Liu Xie will also disappear.
At that time, the emperor, once his political capital, will become a piece of useless material and hinder Cao Cao.
"These two cowardly traitors, it turns out that sooner or later they will be defeated," Cao Cao said angrily, snapping the case.
The people in the group remained silent, their expressions showing lack of confidence.
To bring peace to others, what should we use to bring peace to others?
There was silence among all the ministers. Their silence made Cao Cao feel very sad.
In the silence, someone stood up and walked slowly to the front steps.
"Prime Minister, Liu Bei and Yan Liang are strong today, and our strength is weak. Yu thinks it's time for us to adjust our strategy."
Cao Cao raised his eyes and saw that the person who spoke was none other than his chief strategist Xun Yu.
"What adjustment method, Wen Ruo, tell me quickly." Cao Cao saw some hope in his disappointment.
"It's very simple, unite Liu and resist Yan." Xun Yu replied without thinking.
Join Liu Kangyan?
Cao Cao's expression was shocked, and he was as resourceful as he was, and he immediately understood what Xun Yu meant by this.
It's just that Liu Bei, the mat weaver and shoe seller, was killed several times by Cao Cao and fled. Now, is it possible for him to surrender his status and join forces with Liu Bei?
Obviously, this was a blow to Cao Cao's self-esteem, and he couldn't afford to lose face.
"Today's world has three pillars. If Liu Bei and Yan Liang join forces to deal with us, we will be absolutely invincible. For this plan, we can only use Liu Bei to contain Yan Liang first and take advantage of the opportunity to destroy Yan Liang. Then we can profit from it. The opportunity is
If you succeed, then attack Liu Bei again. This is the art of the Qin Dynasty in the past, and the prime minister is wise, how can he not notice it?"
The art of connecting horizontally?
Cao Cao was shocked. Xun Yu's words seemed to make him realize the reality.
Although Lian Liu is a little humiliated, there is still a chance to turn defeat into victory. Otherwise, with the current strength, they will only be destroyed by the two traitors.
With Cao Cao's knowledge, he quickly figured out the pros and cons.
After weighing for a long time, Cao Cao sighed. That sound was full of helplessness and awareness of him, and he reluctantly accepted Xun Yu's advice.
"I wonder who among you is willing to send an envoy to Yecheng to promote an alliance with Liu Bei?" Cao Cao asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, one of his subordinates came out and said: "Since the Prime Minister has this intention, I would like to go to Yecheng."
Cao Cao took a quick look and saw that the man coming out was none other than Chen Qun.