Zhong Yao's carriage was driving rapidly on the street, followed by more than a dozen servants riding horses and knives on both sides. The situation in Yedu is not very stable now. Ministers must have servants to guard when they go out. The days of traveling in a condom and riding donkeys no longer exist.

In the carriage, Zhong Yao frowned and thought about countermeasures. He did not expect Cui Lin to be affected. Cui Lin was the head of the Cui family in Qinghe and one of the leaders of the gentry in the world. His daughter was Cao Zhi's wife. Cao Pi's intention to attack him and eradicate Cao Zhi's remaining party was very obvious.

Zhong Yao was also worried about his fate. Two days ago, someone revealed that he had a close relationship with Zhang Ji, the current prefect of Jingzhao in the Han Dynasty, which was also acquiring evidence that Zhong Yao colluded with the enemy.

You should know that when he was appointed as the Sili Captain, Zhang was his most capable aide and deputy. Now that Zhang is valued by Liu Jing, it is very normal for him to write letters to him, but someone will stumble on him. Is it really a crime to be punished?

What made Zhong Yao even more worried was that if the soldiers surrounded Cui Mansion and searched Cui Lin, if Cao Cao had nodded, even if Cao Pi had a thousand courage, then the question would arise. Why did Cao Cao indulge Cao Pi to eradicate dissidents? Is it to maintain the stability of the Wei State or to smoothly transfer power?

Of course, Zhong Yao also admitted that Cao Pi was not qualified. In the past, he issued government orders in the name of Cao Cao, and some people obeyed his orders. Now he issued orders as the chief of the state. Both the court and the local government were obscene and disobeyed his orders. His orders could not be issued to Yedu. Last year, he issued the Ding Order, which was very aggressive, but in the end he returned in disgrace and no one paid any attention, which caused Cao Pi's prestige to suffer a heavy blow.

But this does not mean that Cao Pi can launch a political purge. On the contrary, his actions will only make people even more despise him. He doesn't even have the ability to tolerate people. How can he tolerate people in the world in the future?

Zhong Yao thought about it all the way, and soon the carriage drove into the Tongque Palace and stopped in front of the steps. Zhong Yao got off the carriage and happened to meet the military advisor Cheng Yu. The two of them smiled and saw the courtesy. Zhong Yao asked, "Is Military Advisor Cheng coming to find Duke Wei?"

Cheng Yu nodded and spoke in a tone, "Yuan Chang doesn't know yet! Jianye has been captured by the Han army, and all the civil and military officials in Jiangdong surrendered to Liu Jing."

Zhong Yao was shocked. Although they all knew that Jiangdong was doomed, he was still shocked when he heard the news that Jianye was broken, which meant that Jiangdong no longer existed.

"When is this news?" Zhong Yao asked anxiously again.

"Yesterday! I heard that Mr. Wei didn't sleep all night because of this."

Cheng Yu smiled bitterly, "I can understand that if I heard this news last night, I would have not been asleep all night."

Zhong Yao nodded silently. At this moment, Cui Lin's affairs suddenly became unimportant. The demise of Jiangdong cast a heavy shadow in his heart. At this time, a guard hurried out and bowed to salute, "Duke Wei asked the two military advisors to meet in the study outside."

Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao looked at each other, and they walked towards the inner palace together. In the outer study, Cao Cao sat calmly at the table and looked through some important local documents. Basically, he transferred all military and political affairs to the crown prince Cao Pi, but he was not nothing to do. For example, the power to appoint and remove high-ranking officials and the power to mobilize military forces was still firmly in his hands. He would take a look at some important military and political affairs.

Although Cao Cao was not as morbid as he was at the beginning of the year, his energy and physical strength had declined severely, his bones contracted, and he became a hunched and thin old man. He also knew that he had reached the twilight years and could not live for a few years. How could he continue Cao Wei? It became a heart disease that he could not get rid of.

Last night, he received an urgent report from Cao Zhen, Huaibei. The Han army conquered Jianye City, Sun Quan led all officials to surrender to Liu Jing, and Jiangdong was finally destroyed. This news made Cao Cao extremely depressed and made him feel an inexplicable panic, as if the death knives of Jiangdong's demise were ringing for Cao Wei at the same time.

What should he do? If he maintains the status quo and maintains this state of immortality, he will sooner or later be broken by Liu Jing. Cao Cao has discovered a terrible reality. The Battle of Red Cliff has ended for nearly ten years, but the strength of the north has never been able to recover to the level before the war, and the situation is getting worse. It was not until the last two years that he realized the root of the problem.

In the 13th year of Jian'an, the fundamental reason why he was able to launch a war against the south was that he had strong financial, material and manpower. These strengths were not achieved by him little by little, but more because of the war dividends he had after destroying Yuan Shao.

In fact, the land annexation in the north is becoming more and more intense, self-cultivated farmers are decreasing year by year, and registered population is declining, which naturally leads to a sharp decline in government taxes and a decrease in the source of troops. It is precisely because of the deteriorating land conditions that the north has never recovered from the devastating defeat in the Red Cliff in recent years, but has deteriorated. Last year, a great war in Hefei exhausted national strength and almost collapsed the entire regime.

Ask yourself, the Hefei War is far inferior to the scale of the Red Cliff War, which has caused such serious consequences. This shows how weak Cao Wei's strength has almost been, and he can't afford even a medium-sized battle.

It was not until last year that he finally understood the root cause of the crisis, which was that self-cultivated farmers had sharply reduced their taxes, and the powerful occupied too much land and hid a large number of people, which directly led to the decline of Cao Wei. This was an unsolvable knot. To untie this knot, it was necessary to force the powerful and nobles to give up their land and release their population. Last year, he issued a decree, but it ended up in nothing.

Cao Cao also knew that his son did not have the ability to break the deadlock, but if he did not untie the knot, once he died, the interests of the powerful would be fixed, and it would be difficult for Cao Pi to change anything else, and the end result would be the destruction of Cao Wei.

It was the demise of Jiangdong that deeply stimulated Cao Cao. He knew that he could not delay and had to break the deadlock as soon as possible. But even if he wanted to break the deadlock, he still faced two major challenges. Where did he break the deadlock? How much time did he have?

Even if everything goes well, it will take at least two or three years to transition. If you take another five years to recover, can Liu Jing give them so much time? He has wasted nearly ten years. Whenever he thinks of this, Cao Cao feels heartbroken and regrets.

Although Cao Cao was looking through the document, he was thinking about the matter of Ding Ling. Although in the eyes of most people, this order has become a joke and has been left alone, Cao Cao still wanted to implement it for the rest of his life.

"Mr. Wei, Military Commander Cheng and Military Commander Zhong are here." A guard whispered at the door.

Cao Cao put down the document in his hand and smiled and said, "Please come in!"

After a moment, Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao walked in, and they saluted together, "See Duke Wei!"

"You don't have to be polite, please sit down, two military advisors!"

Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao sat down on the guest seat, and a maid came in to serve them tea. Cao Cao said lightly: "Zhongde already knows it, probably Yuan Chang also heard it. Liu Jing finally captured Jianye City and Jiangdong was destroyed."

Although Cao Cao said it lightly, he could not hide the melancholy in his eyes. Cheng Yu sighed in his heart that Cao's army has never been willing to send troops to rescue him. There is no suspense about the demise of Jiangdong. What regrets are there now?

Even though he thought so, he could not say this. Cheng Yu bowed and said, "If you don't give good deeds, you will exploit taxes. Jiangdong has long lost people's hearts. His demise is the will of heaven. The Prime Minister does not need to sigh. Perhaps this may not be a bad thing for us."

Zhong Yao next to him also continued: "Mr. Cheng is right. Jiangdong was originally a wealthy place. It has been repeatedly damaged in recent years and has long been destroyed. Liu Jing's occupation of Jiangdong may not be due to obtaining resources, but to increase the burden. He needs to reduce the burden and taxes, to provide relief to civilians, and to restore the economy. Within at least two or three years, Liu Jing's main energy is to restore Jiangdong."

Cao Cao nodded, "This is also the main issue I want to discuss with the two. When will Liu Jing attack the Central Plains after he recovered Jiangdong? In fact, I think Jiangdong is not a burden. As long as he is low in taxes and taxes and governs without doing anything, Jiangdong will slowly recover. After all, it is a rich land of fish and rice, and only a navy army needs to defend the Yangtze River. The safety of Jiangdong can be guaranteed. The Han army can turn around and attack the Central Plains. I am worried that it will be next year."

Cao Cao did not agree with Cheng Yu and Zhong Yao's words of comfort to him. He knew very well that Jiangdong would never become a stumbling block for the Han army to attack the Central Plains or a burden. Although they signed a two-year settlement agreement, they all knew that such a so-called agreement was meaningless. They had signed a ceasefire agreement before, and when did they comply with it?

Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and said, "I think Liu Jing's next move should be to fight Jiaozhou, not to deal with the Central Plains. Only by unifying the south and without worries can he strive for the Central Plains. If the Prime Minister hopes to delay the war with the Han army, he might as well make a fuss in Jiaozhou, which may be delayed for three or five years."

Cao Cao nodded and turned around and asked Zhong Yao, "What about Yuan Chang's opinion?"

"Wei Jing also believes that the possibility of Jiaozhou is relatively high. Wei Jing heard that Jiaozhou's strength has recovered rapidly. More importantly, Liu Bei's intention to go north is not dead. Once the Han army fights in the Central Plains, there will be opportunities in the south. How could Liu Bei miss the opportunity? Wei Jing believes that Liu Jing also knows this well, so if he wants to attack the Central Plains, he will definitely sweep the retreat. However, Jiaozhou is not Jiangdong, and it is extremely difficult to conquer. When the First Emperor sent Tu Sui and Zhao Tuo to lead a 500,000 army to Jiaozhou, it would take four years for Liu Jing to send a 100,000 army south to Jiaozhou. How could Liu Jing end the war in two or three years? Once the Han army is trapped in Jiaozhou, it might be our chance to counterattack the Han State."

Zhong Yao's analysis was very thorough, which made Cao Cao nodded repeatedly. He happily stroked his beard and said, "Yuan Chang's words really make sense. If the Han army really took four or five years to conquer Jiaozhou, it would be our great blessing."

Cheng Yu smiled and added: "In fact, Liu Jing also made a strategic mistake. When Jiaozhou went north, it was almost wiped out. At that time, it was within reach of the capture of Jiaozhou, but Liu Jing gave up that opportunity. Now that he wanted to seize Jiaozhou, it would cost ten times the price. I suggest that Duke Wei contact Liu Bei, maybe we can help Liu Bei with his help."
Chapter completed!