Chapter 80: Cutting off the firewood
After a while, Jia Xu arrived.
"Does the military advisor have any plan to resolve the current predicament?" In addition to being worried about the players, Qin Mo was also concerned about another very important point: the new army had not yet been reorganized.
Otherwise, what else does he have?
For Qin Mo now, time has become his biggest enemy. There are still smart people among the players, and they probably calculated this.
"In that case, let's find a way to delay time," said Jia Xu.
"How to delay?" Qin Mo asked.
Jia Xu seemed to have thought about this a long time ago, and said: "To break up the alliance between the local princes and the foreigners, the first thing is still the princes. Without the princes taking the lead, the foreigners will be unable to do anything and will not be able to stir up any trouble."
"That's right." Qin Mo nodded.
Players may be strong, but without the support of food and supplies, they are destined to find it difficult to form an army on their own.
Otherwise, he would not have cooperated with Yuan Shao and his ilk.
Jia Xu added: "The alliance of princes is centered around Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. If we can dissolve their alliance, the alliance will fall apart and we won't be able to start a rebellion."
Another hit on the mark.
"Then how can we break up the alliance between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao?" Qin Mo said.
Jia Xu said: "During the war against Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had already developed a rift. After the war, Yuan Shao's strength was intact and he returned to Bohai County safely. Now he is eyeing the entire Jizhou.
"Cao Cao was in a miserable state. He lost many soldiers and generals and fled to the East County of Yanzhou to seek refuge."
Historically, Cao Cao had to wait until the second Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in Qingzhou before he became the governor of Yanzhou with the support of Jibei Xiang Bao Xin and others, and then defeated the Yellow Turbans and formed the Qingzhou army.
After that, he stepped onto the big stage of the war among the princes.
Because of Qin Mo's existence, the possibility of the Yellow Turban Rebellion breaking out in Qingzhou has become extremely low, which is equivalent to cutting off Cao Cao's luck again. It is unknown whether he will ever be able to make a comeback.
"The most important thing is that Yuan Shao is the governor of Bohai, so there is no problem for him to garrison in Bohai. But Cao Cao is still the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, so he should stay in Luoyang to serve. Why is he hiding in Dongjun?" Jia Xu went straight to the crux of the problem.
Qin Mo understood immediately, "Military Advisor, do you want to summon Cao Cao back to the capital?"
This is to remove the firewood from under the cauldron.
"That's right." Jia Xu nodded. "Luoyang is now your territory. If Cao Cao comes back, he will have to lie down like a dragon or a tiger. How can we join forces with Yuan Shao and send troops to attack you?"
"What if Cao Cao doesn't obey the imperial edict?" Qin Mo asked.
"Not following the emperor's edict and staying in local counties without reason is treason," Jia Xu said coldly.
Given the current situation in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was still far from the turbulent times of the princes in later generations. If Cao Cao was accused of treason at this time, his future would be difficult.
In all likelihood, they will come back.
"After the uprising, Cao Cao was surrounded by generals such as Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and soldiers. Even if we call them back to Luoyang, I'm afraid it will be difficult to settle them." Qin Mo frowned.
No matter how history evaluates him, Cao Cao was definitely a very resilient person.
Among all the princes, in terms of starting conditions, Cao Cao was not only inferior to the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, but was even inferior to Gongsun Zan and Bao Xin.
But in the end, it was Cao Cao who unified the Central Plains.
This shows its ability.
"Since you are worried that they will cause chaos, just send someone to kill them and let Cao Cao return to the capital alone." Jia Xu said calmly.
"Killed?"
“Kill him!”
"Why not kill Cao Cao as well?" Qin Mo asked tentatively.
"Cao Cao cannot be killed." Jia Xu shook his head.
"Why?"
"Once Cao Cao dies, regardless of whether there is evidence or not, Yuan Shao and others will blame you for killing loyal officials. Wouldn't that be an excuse for sending troops?" Jia Xu said.
It is equivalent to handing the knife handle to Yuan Shao.
Qin Mo suddenly realized and looked at Li Bingyun: "Did you hear everything?"
"What do you want me to do?"
Li Bingyun was eager to try, and it always felt exciting to be able to participate in such a conspiracy...
"Make an appointment with the leader of the Mou Hu Mercenary Group for me and let them handle this matter." Qin Mo was not in a position to show up.
The Mou Hu Mercenary Group is the most powerful mercenary group in Taishan County, Yanzhou. The group leader Zheng Hu had visited Qin Mo some time ago and sought the position of prefect of Taishan County, but was rejected by Qin Mo.
It is said that they are still stranded in Luoyang.
With Qin Mo's current status, it is not convenient for him to kill and rob people, as he does not want to be criticized. It is most appropriate to let the mercenary group do it.
Taishan County and Dongjun where Cao Cao was located belonged to the same state, but were not adjacent to each other, so the suspicion would be much smaller. If Li Bingyun was more cautious, he could even contact Zheng Hu offline without anyone noticing.
Li Bingyun asked: "What conditions do you want to promise?"
"If he succeeds, the position of Taishan County Governor will be his." Qin Mo was generous. "Tell Zheng Hu that no matter whether this succeeds or not, if any information is leaked, I guarantee that the Mouhu Mercenary Group will be doomed."
He has the confidence to say this.
"Understood. I'll do it right away." Li Bingyun acted decisively.
Looking at Li Bingyun's leaving back, Qin Mo sighed. This kind of violent means has already fallen behind and should not be encouraged. Otherwise, the players would be happy to kill all the governors in the world.
At that time, the world will be in chaos.
"It's not safe to just deal with Cao Cao," Qin Mo said.
Given the nature of the players, coupled with the stupid brains of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, they might do something stupid and earth-shattering on impulse.
"Why not invite Yuan Shao to the capital as well?" Jia Xu suggested.
"Don't!" Qin Mo waved his hand. Once Yuan Shao and Cao Cao got together, they would be a disaster.
Who knows what will happen to Luoyang.
"Although the Yuan family was massacred by Dong Zhuo, there are still many students and former officials in Luoyang." Qin Mo was impatient to see Luoyang turned into a battlefield of intrigue.
"Do you think this will work?" Qin Mo had an idea. "Aren't the two veteran generals Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun still idle at home? Why not send them to other provinces to be governors and use this to suppress the Yuan brothers?"
Historically, the reason why Yuan Shao was able to gain power was that he seized Jizhou from the cowardly and incompetent Jizhou Mu Han Fu, and from then on laid the foundation for his hegemony.
If Huangfu Song were to be in charge of Jizhou, Yuan Shao would probably be very uncomfortable.
Together with Hejian prefect Du Shihao who was also in Jizhou, the three forces were entangled and hindered by each other, and it was estimated that they no longer had the energy to think about the crusade.
By the same token, having Zhu Jun stationed in Yuzhou where Yuan Shu was located could limit the development of Yuan Shu in Runan.
Yuzhou Runan County is the base of the Yuan family and must be watched closely.
I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but at this time, whether it was Jizhou or Yuzhou, the position of governor was vacant for a short period of time, and no one was in charge.
Once the Yuan brothers are restricted, the remaining princes will no longer be a concern.
Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du had already been pinned down by Qin Mo, and they probably couldn't even get up in Wei Tianli's hands. Chu Zhongliu was busy fighting with the Sun family in Jiangdong, so he probably had no time to look outside.
Liu Biao of Jingzhou and Liu Zhang of Yizhou had not yet appeared on the historical stage.
The various princes have not yet become powerful.
"Your Excellency's brilliant plan!" Jia Xu was greatly inspired and full of praise. "This way, not only can we limit the development of the Yuan brothers and disintegrate the alliance of princes, but it can also earn you a good reputation for valuing meritorious officials."
"Let's do it this way." Qin Mo said.
Different positions lead to different ideas.
When he was the governor of Liaodong, Qin Mo hoped that the world would be in chaos so that he could take advantage of the situation; now, as the prime minister of the empire, he is thinking about how to maintain stability in the world.
Otherwise, how can we fulfill our previous commitments and achieve our ambitions?
Because of this, Qin Mo not only did not exclude and suppress the court heroes like Dong Zhuo did, but he greatly valued them, making them the pillars of the empire and intimidating the crowd.
The best thing would be that there would be no more princes in the world.
