The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 438 Volume Practical
After reading Li Ru's letter, the originally chaotic situation has gradually become clear.

Everyone knew that Emperor Liu Xie would launch a war of unification.

And everyone knows that if they fail this time, there will be no chance of survival.

Even though Jiangdong has the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, Jingzhou...especially Jiangling, will not be able to hold out for a few years if it is not in the hands of Jiangdong.

The only thing they could rely on was to defeat Liu Xie in this battle and keep the chaotic times going.

But it is really too difficult to defeat the current emperor and the current court.

Therefore, Yuan Tan planned to use the "harmony between heaven and man" to win over some of the insignificant Confucian scholars as his support.

But by doing so, he made himself the biggest target of the imperial court.

Cao Cao would most likely take advantage of this and choose to send Yuan Tan out as a meat shield to attract the court's attention, and then send troops to the Central Plains.

Although Sun Ce, the last one, is the youngest, he has the biggest appetite. He wants to take Jingzhou, Huainan, and even Xuzhou in one fell swoop while the imperial court is fighting in the east.

But the premise of all this is that the imperial court chooses to attack Yuan Tan.

After all, Yuan Tan is Yuan Shao's eldest son, and has a natural antagonistic relationship with the current Han court.

Then Yuan Tan chose to borrow the "words of prophecy" to become king, breaking the political taboo that "only members of the Liu family can be king."

It has basically become a consensus among all parties that the imperial court should attack Yuan Tan first.

Even Liu Xie's initial plan was to mobilize the Hebei army to recover Qingzhou, and then march north from Qingzhou to attack and destroy Cao Cao and drink from the Yangtze River.

But Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang are undoubtedly geniuses!

A true genius!
Since the enemy is making arrangements according to the actions of the court, why not simply change the strategy and disrupt all the enemy's arrangements!

The troops marched into Pengcheng and headed straight for Xuzhou!
In this way, Cao Cao's plan to use Yuan Tan as a shield for him would inevitably fail.

And this sudden attack will inevitably cause Sun Ce to fall into confusion.

In Sun Ce's expectation, Yuan Tan and Cao Cao would confront the imperial court in the north respectively, and then he would first sneak attack Xuzhou and Huainan, pretending to be friendly with the imperial court, and then suddenly attack Jingzhou.

But if the imperial court had gathered its military forces in the Central Plains from the beginning to confront Cao Cao, it would mean that the imperial court would be able to support Jingzhou at any time instead of watching Sun Ce jump around.

Zhuge Liang's move may be called "cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron" or "cutting the Gordian knot", but it was just the right move to hit the snake's weak spot and activate all battlefields.

But now there is one last question -

That is, Yuan Tan had committed a political taboo after all. From the perspective of the court and the emperor, they had to choose to kill Yuan Tan first and then deal with Cao Cao and Sun Ce.

Yang Xiu, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang all looked at the emperor, waiting for his final decision.

"Why are you looking at me? This is a war, not a game of house. There are enemies on both sides, do we have to sort them out?"

Liu Xie is still so "pragmatic".

Winning is the bottom line!
After we conquer Qi, there will be great scholars to debate the scriptures for me!

Moreover, Liu Xie was actually very clear about who posed the greatest threat among Yuan Tan, Cao Cao and Sun Ce.

"Attack Cao Cao first!"

"Yuan Tan, like his uncle Yuan Shu, is nothing more than a pile of dry bones in a tomb."

"Although Sun Ce has the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, he is good at defense but not good at offense."

"Wen Pin has always been steady, and with Gan Ning's sharp blade, he won't be pierced by Sun Ce in an instant... In addition, Wu Yi can lead the Yizhou troops out of Yong'an to help Wen Pin defend."

"So the most difficult one to defeat is still Cao Cao!"

The emperor's response undoubtedly gave Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang a powerful sedative.

What they feared most was that the emperor was now eager for glory and wanted to attack and destroy Yuan Tan in Qingzhou first.

But now it seems that the emperor does not seem to be "floating" at all, and is completely pragmatic.

"The emperor is like this, he really has the style of Emperor Gaozu!"

Compared to Yang Xiu's flattery, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang looked at each other, and then lost sight of each other. Logically speaking, once this war was over, the war to pacify the world would be completely resolved.

But the emperor did not show any joy at all, instead he just treated it as an ordinary battle and made casual arrangements.

Does this mean that even pacifying the world is no longer what the emperor pursues now?
The two of them exchanged glances silently, and then stopped thinking about what happened next.

Even the emperor was not arrogant, so it was naturally impossible for them to treat Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others as small shrimps that could be bullied at will.

After all, we still need to plan carefully for this battle!
……

Cao Pi has been worried since he learned that Yuan Tan had proclaimed himself king.

Although he did not understand the reason, he could guess that the court would definitely send troops against Yuan Tan.

And since troops have been sent against Yuan Tan, can Cao Cao, who controls Xuzhou and Huainan, survive alone?

"Father, I'm afraid there's really no way to escape this time!"

Cao Pi bit his fingernails and asked his little follower Cao Zhang behind him, "Where is Zijian?"

"Go to the bridal chamber!"

"..."

Cao Pi's eyes widened: "Hasn't Zijian been home for three days? Where did he get so much money to visit brothels?"

"I don't know, but last time I heard Zijian say that he didn't need to spend any money to go to the Nülu, all he had to do was write some poems and songs!"

"..."

Cao Pi bit his nails even harder...

"Are you ashamed? You are talking about brothels in broad daylight! Do you believe me, I will tell mother and let her punish you?"

Although Cao Pi ranked second in the imperial examination, it is well known that all his brother's achievements are not worth mentioning in the eyes of his sister.

Cao Jie walked over and stared at Cao Pi with disdain: "Don't lead Brother Ziwen and Brother Zijian astray!"

"Zijian still needs me to take him?"

Cao Pi was in an irritable mood and waved his hand to drive Cao Ji away: "Go play somewhere else!"

If Cao Pi asked Cao Jie to stay, there was a chance that Cao Jie would run away.

But when Cao Jie heard Cao Pi wanted her to leave, she sat down on the stone pier next to Cao Pi and said, "You look so sad, are you rejected by some girl?"

"how is this possible?"

But Cao Pi seemed unwilling to say more to Cao Jie. He just left with a frown.

"cut!"

Cao Jie grabbed Cao Zhang and said, "Brother! What on earth was Cao Pi worried about just now?"

Cao Zhang was not one to hide things, and he quickly told Cao Jie about Cao Pi's concerns.

Cao Jie was silent for a long time after hearing this, and suddenly asked Cao Zhang: "Could father die this time?"

Cao Zhang closed his eyes, and Cao Jie's eyes also showed gloom.

"Brother, what if I..."

"what?"

Cao Jie hesitated to speak, but finally forced a smile and said, "Nothing, I'll go back to the palace first!"

But not long after he left, Cao Jie came back and solemnly assured Cao Zhang: "Tell my brother that he doesn't need to worry about this matter."

"Tell him that I am still here for father's sake."

(End of this chapter)