Chapter 186: Internal and external troubles, Cao Cao dispatches troops In fact, Liu Ye's worries were not unreasonable. In fact, when they were resisting Yuan Shu, the news of Liu Chong's assassination had already spread to Xuchang City. Ever since he learned that Liu Bei and Liu Chong had a deal, Guo Jia has never diminished his attention to the State of Chen. Therefore, long before Liu Ye returned to the State of Chen, Guo Jia had already paid attention to Liu Ye. Seeing that Liu Ye was still not leaving, he reported to Cao Cao: "Mingsir, our spies have reported that Liu Ye, a soldier under Liu Bei, stayed in the territory of Chen State after leaving Xu County!" "It seems that he has no intention of returning to Shouchun to report!" At that time, Lao Cao was wrestling with a group of old officials over the matter of dealing with Yang Biao. When he heard this, he frowned and said: "I heard that Liu Ye is also a relative of the Han Dynasty. Since he stayed in Chen State, it might be a move by Liu Bei to befriend Liu Chong!" However, when Guo Jia heard this, he shook his head and said: "If it was just a friendly gesture, Liu Ye would have met Liu Chong when he came and would have met him again when he left, which would have been a sign of friendship." "Why do you stay in Chen State now and don't want to return? There must be something wrong!" When Cao Cao heard this inference, he said in a deep voice: "I also know that Liu Ye is not an ordinary person, but he is still young after all. What is the point of him staying in Chen State?"

"Could it be that Liu Bei is planning to use this to take over the State of Chen?" His question naturally made Guo Jia think for a while. He just felt that Liu Bei's move of letting Liu Ye stay made sense, but he didn't think clearly about what the purpose was. After all, Liu Bei is now carrying the banner of reviving the Han Dynasty. Even though Liu Xie considered him a relative of the Han royal family and he was in charge of the military affairs of three states, he would never take action against Liu Chong. Because once Liu Bei really sent troops to attack Liu Chong, he would certainly lose the hope of the scholars. But if Liu Bei did not take action against Liu Chong, then what was the purpose of this move? Guo Jia's intuition told him that Liu Ye's staying in Chen State was most likely not Liu Ye's intention, but Qin Zhen's. Having dealt with Qin Zhen for many years, he knew one thing very well. When Qin Zhen plays a chess move that you don’t understand, big problems will arise! With this in mind, Guo Jia said to Cao Cao: "Mingsir, from what I see, Liu Bei's actions are not aimed at the State of Chen, but at something outside of it." "The State of Chen is now located at the junction of three states, and the terrain is extremely important. Liu Bei may be plotting against Yuan Shu or our army!" When Cao Cao heard this, he became even more impatient and said: "The old officials in the court are secretly hating me for imprisoning Yang Biao, and Kong Wenju has repeatedly made trouble. If I don't deal with him, he will become a problem in the future!" "Liu Bei is far away in Huainan now, and he can't do anything about Chen State. So what can we do if we leave a child here?" "If Fengxiao senses something is going on, then watch closely and report back to me when you discover something." Guo Jia saw that Lao Cao looked exhausted and knew that Lao Cao was having a hard time. In fact, with the departure of Qin Zhen, Lao Cao's life became more and more difficult. Not to mention the enormous pressure brought by Qin Zhen's assistance in Liu Bei's rise, Cao Cao's internal situation was also a mess. Because he was eager to establish prestige in the court, he led to backlash from a large number of Han officials. Among them, Dong Cheng, Fu Wan and others at least only used shady tactics in secret. As for other ministers, they made various discussions. Among all the ministers, Kong Rong was the most opinionated.

Kong Rong was also a legendary figure. He was the 20th generation grandson of Confucius and became well-known to later generations for the story of Kong Rong giving away his pears. He was a man of rare talent, diligent and studious, and was as famous as Tao Qiuhong from Pingyuan and Bian Rang from Chenliu. He served successively as the Marquis of the Northern Army, the General of the Huben Army, and the Prime Minister of Beihai, and was known as Kong Beihai at the time. However, although this person had served in the military, he was ambitious but lacked talent. He was a first-rate writer, but he was only third-rate in fighting wars and governing the people. Because of Liu Bei's recommendation, Kong Rong was appointed as the governor of Qingzhou. As a result, when Yuan Tan attacked, he only resisted for a few months before fleeing to Shandong. He only escaped with his life, while his family was captured by Yuan Tan. But after all, he is the descendant of Confucius, so he won't do too badly anywhere. When Cao Cao first welcomed Emperor Xian back to the east, he respected Kong Rong's talent and recruited him into the court, appointing him as the chief architect. At the beginning, when he saw Cao Cao welcoming the emperor, he started to flatter him and directly compared Cao Cao to Zhou Gong, and they spent a honeymoon period together. But after Qin Zhen left, watching Liu Bei rise, as Liu Bei's old friend, he often praised Liu Bei as a hero and said that Qin Zhen's assistance to Liu Bei was a heroic act. These words made Cao Cao quite unhappy, but since he was a descendant of Confucius, it was difficult to blame him. When Yang Biao was imprisoned, Kong Rong was the first to speak out in opposition. By talking about the Book of Zhou and the Book of Changes, Cao Cao was persuaded to release Yang Biao. And this is where the problem lies, because this time Cao deliberately killed Yang Biao to establish his authority and asked the cruel official Man Chong to conduct the interrogation. Before Yang Biao was imprisoned, Kong Rong and Xun Yu repeatedly advised Man Chong to only interrogate him and not torture him. As a result, when Yang Biao was released, he was already in his sixties, but he was half dead after being released from prison, and nothing was obtained through torture. This made Kong Rong very angry, and he said in public many times that Qin Zhen's words were correct. After you, Cao, welcomed the emperor, you became more and more like Dong Zhongying! According to his original words, "Yang Gong has been a man of integrity for four generations, admired by scholars all over the country. Now he is innocent but still framed. How is this different from Dong Zhuo's murder of Yuan Taifu?" "Fortunately, Mr. Yang has a good reputation and has not succumbed to the torture. If not, a loyal minister would have been killed in vain!" "Qin Zixuan had foresight in the past, and he would not leave until he saw the results of today!" The departure of Qin Zhen was a pain that Cao Cao could not bear to mention. Kong Rong's mockery made Cao Cao very angry. In a fit of rage, he almost framed Kong Rong like he did Yang Biao and put him in jail as well. Fortunately, Xun Yu, Xun You and other ministers pleaded with him and finally stopped Cao. But Kong Rong was a man who would not tolerate toughness, and when he heard that Cao Cao wanted to attack him, he took off his clothes in the middle of winter, put on white clothes, and walked barefoot to the gate of Sikong Mansion, shouting: "Now I hear that you want to punish me, but you don't need to arrest me, I will come here on my own!" He just had one attitude: I heard you want to do something to me, come on if you can, I'll be waiting outside the door! This made Lao Cao so angry that he had a headache for three days and couldn't even get off the bed. Perhaps Kong Rong was afraid of angering Cao to death, so after this incident, he stopped for a while. But after this incident, the conflict between Cao Cao and this group of old ministers of the Han Dynasty became increasingly serious. Even Xun Yu couldn't stand it and advised Cao Cao to take a step back and stop causing so much trouble! The more Xun Yu acted like this, the more Cao Cao felt that Qin Zhen must have instilled some ideas in Xun Yu in the past, and he became more and more wary of him. So for the entire winter, Lao Cao did nothing else but fight with this group of people.

Guo Jia knew all these things, but there was nothing he could do. Seeing that Cao Cao didn't care much about the affairs of the State of Chen, he had to secretly send more spies to closely investigate the movements of the State of Chen. From this, they discovered that Yuan Shu had asked Liu Chong for food but was refused! After receiving this news, Guo Jia immediately understood Qin Zhen’s intention! It turns out that Qin Zhen kept Liu Ye in the State of Chen not as a casual move, but to guard against Yuan Shu! He immediately came to Cao Cao again with the news and said: "Mingsir, I know Qin Zixuan's plan. He left Liu Ye in Chen State to prevent Yuan Shu from attacking Chen State's Liu Chong!" As he said this, he told Cao Cao his speculation, the gist of which was similar to what Qin Zhen told Liu Bei! Now Liu Chong is their barrier, and Liu Bei must protect the State of Chen at all costs. But Chen State was a strategic location, and Liu Bei was extremely uneasy about leaving it in Liu Chong's hands, so he sent Liu Ye to stay in Chen State. After hearing Guo Jia's speculation, Cao Cao began to take it seriously. But when he thought about it carefully, he found that the logic was not right and said in a deep voice: "Although the territory of Chen State is important, Yuan Shu may not take action against Chen State!" "Even if Yuan Shu wants to move, Liu Bei has troops stationed in Peiguo and Runan. Once Yuan Shu moves, Liu Bei can move!" "In this case, what is the point of just letting Liu Ye stay in Chen State?" "Is it just to let Liu Ye pass on the message to the State of Chen?" When Guo Jia heard this, he buried his head in thought, unable to figure out where the problem lay! Just as Cao Cao said, if Yuan Shu wanted to take action against Liu Chong, Liu Bei would have his own troops stationed there. As long as Liu Bei learned that Yuan Shu had sent troops, he could naturally react in time. In this case, what's the point of keeping Liu Ye? After all, Liu Ye is not an ordinary person, but one of Liu Bei's advisers. Even though his status was not as high as Qin Zhen's, he was still very important to Liu Bei who lacked advisers. If it was just for warning and passing on the message, there was no reason to keep Liu Ye! What reason would make Liu Bei keep such an important person in Chen State for several months? After thinking for a long time, Guo Jia's heart suddenly trembled, and he hurriedly said to Cao Cao: "My lord, Liu Bei's move may be intended to seize the State of Chen!" "You must know that the land of Chen State is a place that military strategists must fight for. If Yuan Shu really wants to mobilize troops against Liu Chong, then our army will definitely send troops!" "Liu Bei left Liu Ye in Chen State not to guard against Yuan Shu, but to guard against our army!" "Because Yuan Shu is no match for Liu Bei, and our army is Liu Bei's great enemy. If he leaves Liu Ye in Chen, he will be able to stabilize Chen's situation when Yuan Shu takes action." "In this way, Liu Bei only needs to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy Yuan Shu and stabilize the situation of the State of Chen!" As he said this, he was naturally frightened by the insidiousness of Qin Zhen. If they had not conducted a thorough investigation, who would have known that Qin Zhen had already extended a hand into the territory of Chen State in advance. If they wait for Yuan Shu to send troops before taking action, they will really have no chance! If he was more sinister and planned to harm Liu Chong again, the land of Chen would most likely be taken by Liu Bei, and they would have no way to stop it. When Cao Cao heard what Guo Jia said, he suddenly understood, and then he said with fear: "If it weren't for Feng Xiao's words, our army would have fallen into Liu Bei's trap!" You must know that Chen State is very close to Xu County. If Chen State is taken by Liu Bei, Liu Bei's troops can directly threaten Xuchang! If Liu Bei succeeds, Cao Cao will never be able to sleep well again! But thinking of this, Cao Cao frowned at Guo Jia again and said: "But Yuan Shu has not yet taken action against Liu Chong. Even if our army knew about this, what could we do?"

After hearing this, Guo Jia said with a serious face: "My Lord, you must know that Qin Zhen's plans always come before the people do!" "It would be fine if we didn't know about this, but if we knew about this, how could we let Liu Bei do what he wanted?" "I think Yuan Shu will definitely feel resentful now that he has been rejected, and he may resort to some sinister tactics!" "Our army should mobilize troops before anything happens. Once we receive the news, we will send out troops in the name of reinforcements!" "Otherwise, if Liu Bei takes over Chen State, Xu County will no longer be a capital!" In the current situation, if Cao does not want to move the capital, he must seize the State of Chen as a barrier! Otherwise, with Liu Bei guarding behind them, they would never be able to lead the army on an expedition! After hearing these words, Cao Cao said no more and quietly mobilized his troops. As Liu Ye was fighting against Yuan Shu, Cao Cao no longer hesitated and led an army of 30,000, with Xun You and Guo Jia as counselors, and Xiahou Dun, Le Jin, Li Dian and Yu Jin as generals, and directly attacked the territory of Chen State. As a result, when they arrived in Xinji, they heard from spies that Yuan Shu had been defeated in Chen County and Guan Yu was leading his troops to Pingyu. Upon hearing this, Cao Cao laughed and said: "As Fengxiao said, Liu Bei really intends to swallow up the State of Chen!" "Letting Guan Yu advance now, isn't that a feint to the east and attack in the west?" Upon hearing this, Guo Jia felt relieved. Qin Zhen had always taken the initiative before, and this time it was finally their turn! After thinking for a moment, he suggested to Lao Cao: "Now that Yuan Shu has just been defeated and Liu Bei has not yet arrived, we can first take Changping and Fule, and then tangle with Liu Bei!" When Cao Cao heard this, he happily followed his advice and led his army towards Changping. At this time, Liu Bei's troops were also approaching the direction of the State of Song. At one time, in the Central Plains, the four families moved together and the scene gradually became chaotic. (End of this chapter)