The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 432 Volume Two Big Men
Qiao County originally belonged to Yuzhou and was the seat of Yuzhou County. Later, it was transferred to Pei State and became a channel connecting Huainan and Xuzhou.

Since Cao Cao lost Yuzhou and Yanzhou, he has been staying in Qiao County and has not gone to Xuzhou Xia Pi or Huainan Shouchun.

Because Cao Cao knew that given his disastrous defeat at the time, if he really fled to these two places, he would completely lose control of the situation and be swept up by local forces.

Only by staying in Qiao County, where the Cao and Xiahou clans are the most powerful, can he buy himself a chance to breathe.

As it turned out, Cao Cao made the right bet.

Although he suffered a great defeat at the Battle of Yingshui, Cao Cao still suppressed the two places of Xuzhou and Huainan.

The only problem is...

As soon as Cao Cao finished reading Cao Pi's letter, he suddenly screamed, and then veins bulged on his face, which looked like he was looking down on the world, and he looked in great pain.

"Father!"

"Lord!"

Cao Ang and Xu Chu outside heard the noise inside the house and immediately ran in anxiously, causing the candlelight in the house to flicker.

When Cao Cao saw Cao Ang coming in, although he was still in great pain, he still struggled to turn Cao Pi's letter over to him so that Cao Ang could not see it.

"Why is Dad's migraine getting worse? It used to only occur once a year, but now it occurs every month or so?"

Cao Ang came in and wanted to help Cao Cao lie down, but was pushed away by Cao Cao!

"Have you finished arranging your affairs?"

Cao Ang was concerned about Cao Cao's illness, but when Cao Cao asked, he could only answer truthfully.

"The new batch of war horses from Liaodong has been delivered... We now have 5,000 war horses under our command, all of which have been sent to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry."

Cao Ang wanted to say something but stopped.

"Just say whatever you want to say! How can you achieve anything if you are timid?"

After hearing this, Cao Ang gritted his teeth and knelt on the spot.

"Father!"

"Five thousand war horses are actually the limit for Xuzhou and Huainan!"

"But these five thousand war horses can only form a Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of a thousand men!"

"But facing the current imperial court, what can we do with Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of 1,000 or 10,000 people?"

"Plus, now that my mother, brothers and sisters are all in the hands of the imperial court, they must be extremely frightened. Can't father surrender to the imperial court for their sake?"

Cao Ang, the eldest son who accompanied Cao Cao day and night, has also been worried recently.

That emperor is so terrifying.

The terror of the emperor does not only lie in his invincibility on the battlefield, but also in his way of governing the country, which is as brutal as an antelope hanging its horns.

Defeating Kebinen is actually nothing.

But being able to establish an effective management method on the grassland is truly beyond the cognition of many people.

The bannerman system, which was tailor-made for the grassland tribes, enabled the grassland to re-establish order after endless wars. It not only saved a large amount of military expenditure on the northern border, but also made the grassland the rear base of the Han Dynasty, able to provide the people of the Han Dynasty with a steady supply of war horses and meat.

By the way, workshops were also established in Hebei, which led to a rapid recovery of the people's livelihood in Hebei. For the first time, the trade deficit with the grassland was turned into a surplus. In this way, monthly wages were given to the people, allowing them to have enough savings to withstand natural disasters and avoid falling into the trap of "agricultural loans."

At the core, there was no drastic reform, but many things were allowed to proceed naturally.

The planning of the three provinces and six ministries system has made the distribution of powers among departments more clear, and has greatly improved the administrative efficiency of the central government compared to before!

The establishment of scattered officials met the needs of those wealthy families, while also leaving the last bit of face between the emperor and the Hebei gentry, easing the regional conflicts between Guanzhong and Hebei.

The money from buying and selling scattered officials was used to build a new Chang'an, which made the merchants and travelers praise the new city of Chang'an! At the same time, it also greatly promoted the trade in Guanzhong, increased the tax revenue of the court, and enriched the life in Chang'an.

Not to mention the academic changes.

As scholars led by Liu Biao, Yang Biao and Zhuge Liang picked up Wang Chong's "Lun Heng" again and used "Kongming Lantern" and "Kongming Mirror" to prove the essence of some things, "The Correspondence between Heaven and Man" was abandoned by mainstream academia without making any splash and was swept into the garbage dump of history!
Even so, the imperial court still found time to solve the problem of the southern barbarians, established Ningzhou and Annan Protectorate, and expanded the territory of the southwest by thousands of miles...

Cao Ang now no longer believed that he and Cao Cao were against the emperor or the Han Dynasty.

What they are fighting against is already an unstoppable wheel!

If they continued to stand in front of him, Cao Ang felt that he and Cao Cao would be crushed to pieces sooner or later!
The key is!

It doesn't matter if I die.

Cao Ang was once named "Xiaolian" because of his deep affection for his mother, Ding!
Even though Ding was not Cao Ang's biological mother, Cao Ang still loved his mother very much.

When Cao Ang thought about how he and his father continued to do such dangerous things, while his mother and his brothers were left in Chang'an, he couldn't help but feel annoyed. He wanted to dissuade Cao Cao and just surrender!
"Rebel!"

But just after Cao Ang said these words, Cao Cao became furious and pretended to drive Cao Ang away.

"If father doesn't want to hear what I have to say, I won't say anything. I just hope that father can rest and recuperate, and stop working so hard!"

After saying this, Cao Ang bowed and left Cao Cao's house.

After walking a few steps outside, he ran into Guo Jia, who had just heard the noise.

"My lord, is your headache coming on again?"

"Exactly."

"Tsk."

Guo Jia curled his lips.

"I heard that the famous doctor Hua Tuo went to the southwest, otherwise we could ask him to help heal the lord." Cao Ang sighed.

"How can you easily meet people like Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing? And in their eyes... I guess we are all traitors, right? Anyone with a clean family background probably doesn't want to have anything to do with us."

Guo Jia: ...

Looking closely at Cao Ang's brows, I found that there was a sense of depression hidden in them.

Anyway, Cao Cao would be helpless if he went over there, so Guo Jia simply accompanied Cao Ang for a walk in the courtyard.

"Having another quarrel with the lord? No..."

Guo Jia laughed and said, "Young Master would never quarrel with the Lord, so he must have been scolded by the Lord?"

"Ah."

Facing Guo Jia, Cao Ang had nothing to hide.

"Because I was worried about my mother, Zihuan, Zijian and others, I advised my father to surrender to the court as soon as possible, but he drove me out."

"Fengxiao, you have been with the emperor for a while. Do you think your father can defeat the emperor?"

……

Defeat the Emperor...

When Guo Jia thought about how he had only gone to investigate Luoyang but was kidnapped by the emperor and kept in Chang'an for several years, his heart trembled slightly.

He thought more than once whether he could have helped Cao Cao defeat the imperial court if he had not been caught by the emperor at that time, or if he had not gone to Luoyang to investigate.

However, the answer to this conjecture is always no.

Even if Guo Jia could help Cao Cao resist the imperial court once or twice, could he really do it three or four times?
Wu has Niu Fu, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Liu Bei, Guan Yu...

The writers include Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Xun You, Zhong Yao, Yang Xiu, Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang...

Moreover, the equal-field distribution and the imperial examination system greatly improved the production of the people under the rule of the court... It can be said that Guandong had been completely crushed by the court because of its entanglement with the aristocratic families.

What disheartened Guo Jia the most was that the court's decision to launch the war in Hebei was the product of the emperor's hasty preparation.

As time goes by, the gap between the imperial court and Guandong will not get smaller, but will only get bigger.

Therefore, Guo Jia could not say the words "capable of defeating the imperial court" before, and he could not say it now.

However, he still comforted Cao Ang: "The emperor is not a narrow-minded person. It is impossible for him to target the lord's family. Just rest assured, young master."

But these words made Cao Ang even more uncomfortable.

"Since the emperor is benevolent and virtuous, and my father had great ambitions to support the Han Dynasty when he was young, why is he unwilling to surrender to the court and the emperor now?"

"..."

"Because the great man the emperor pursues and the great man the lord pursues are never the same great man."

Guo Jia shook his head.

"Some things have nothing to do with right or wrong."

"Even until now, there are still a large number of people supporting the Lord, which proves that the Lord is not completely wrong."

"If you want to make the great man in your lord's mind collapse, I'm afraid there is only one way."

Cao Ang did not ask any further questions.

He knew very well that the only way was for the emperor to defeat his father head-on and prove that the Han Dynasty under the emperor's rule was indeed superior to the Han Dynasty in Cao Cao's mind. Only then would Cao Cao abandon his ideals, his dignity, and surrender to the emperor.

If he didn't surrender now, it would be too late in Cao Ang's eyes, but too early in Cao Cao's eyes.

You must know that the powerful Red Eyebrows and Green Forest Army at that time were not the final winners.

The final winner is Emperor Guangwu, who represents the big landlords and powerful families!
"Ugh."

Cao Ang looked up to the sky and sighed.

"Not only do I miss my mother and Zihuan and the others, but I also miss my father and me on their behalf."

"Fengxiao, you may not know that my younger brother Zihuan is the most sensible one. He is extremely respectful to both me and my father. It is obvious that he is extremely eager for my and my father's approval. He must miss me and my father to the point of being heartbroken."

"And my other brother, Zijian, is very well-behaved. He is the kind of kid who has elegance written into his bones and will never do anything bad in his life."

"And my sister Cao Jie, although she is smart, she is a bit stubborn. I guess she doesn't have many friends... Alas."

At the end, Cao Ang could not help but sigh again, and his voice sounded even more resentful and sad.

This man, who had never shed tears even when he was shot by arrows and cut by swords on the battlefield, shed tears at this moment.

After Guo Jia comforted Cao Ang, he came to Cao Cao's house.

Cao Cao's headache had eased a little at this moment, but he was unable to think, so he handed Cao Pi's letter to Guo Jia.

But Guo Jia began to doubt his life after just one look.

Does Cao Pi want to sever his father-son relationship with Cao Cao?

Is Cao Zhi living a life of debauchery and pleasure outside?

Cao Jie, the Queen, and Sun Shangxiang caused chaos in the palace?
Are these three guys really the brothers and sisters that Cao Ang mentioned?

(End of this chapter)