Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 199 Protons and Review
Cao Pi felt desperate - I just wanted to put on a show, why did my father agree to let me go to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion when I came to my senses? In fact, I think Xiao Zhi will definitely like the climate in Jiangdong...
"Zihuan, you spoke out loud again." Xiahou Juan reminded from the side.
"Xiao Juan, you are so nice... You know how to care for your brother and even sent him here." Cao Pi said with emotion.
At this time, Cao Pi and his guard of honor were already in Ruyang County. They would go from Runan to Yiyang and enter the area controlled by Bai Tu.
No matter how Cao Cao felt, the reason why he sent Cao Pi here should be... also out of some "face" factors.
At this time, Cao Cao had already proclaimed himself "Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty" and restored the prime minister system that had been abolished long ago after the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to nominally overshadow Yuan Shao's "General".
Cao Pi's reputation was that he was the representative of the Prime Minister's Office and the court, and he communicated with Bai Tu on the matter of suppressing Yuan Shu's traitors. In other words... as long as the matter of Yuan Shu's remaining troops was not settled, Cao Pi would stay in Jiangdong, and he was actually a "hostage".
But this way, it sounds much better.
As for other sons besides Cao Pi, even the eldest one, Cao Zhang, is only ten years old this year, and the other legitimate son, Cao Zhi, is only eight years old. It is unreasonable to insist that they represented the Prime Minister's Office and the court to discuss the matter of suppressing the traitor Yuan.
Therefore, after Cao Pi acted out his trick, Cao Cao was really moved and accepted his suggestion...
In fact, Cao Pi was so accustomed to it that he knelt down and cried without even thinking!
Cao Cao had thought clearly about the issue of "young ruler brings doubts on the country" - although his other sons were not very old, there were five or six of them. Even if something happened to Cao Pi, it would not be easy for his family line to be extinct.
As for being young...
Cao Cao felt that if he really could not live for more than ten years, even Cao Pi would not be capable enough to stabilize the current situation!
If they had lived ten more years, Cao Zhi and the others would have grown up, so it wouldn't matter if they had less or more.
Of course, since they were going to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion with a clear purpose, they were naturally equipped with ceremonial guards, and at this time there were hundreds of people... However, Cao Pi understood that in the end, only twenty or thirty guards and servants, as well as Sima Lang, his assistant, would be able to enter Yiyang County.
Sima Lang, whose courtesy name was Boda, is not yet thirty years old this year. He was well-known in his village when he was young. His father was also a court official. During the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, his father Sima Fang ordered him to take his brothers back to his hometown to avoid disaster. Later, when Cao Cao just welcomed back the emperor, he joined Cao Cao.
He first worked in the Sikong Mansion, then was sent out to be a county magistrate, and then was transferred back to the Sikong Mansion. Judging from his resume, although he could not be compared with Xun Yu, Guo Jia and other aides and advisers, he was obviously also a talented person trained by Cao Cao.
However, before taking up the post of Tangyang County Magistrate, he was specially met by Cao Cao, and then... he was appointed as the Prime Minister's Historian, and also an official of the Prime Minister's Office, responsible for being Cao Pi's think tank, and went to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion together.
Sima Lang had seven younger brothers, but they had not yet entered officialdom at that time. The most famous one in later generations was naturally his second brother, Sima Yi.
At the same time, Xiahou Yuan's niece Xiahou Juan also came all the way from Cao Pi to Runan, which moved Cao Pi very much.
However... this feeling of being touched quickly turned into fear.
Xiahou Juan actually smiled and said to him: "Actually, not all of this is for you. I am also planning to visit Huainan and Jiangdong."
"Uncle, does uncle know?" Cao Pi asked in a hoarse voice.
"I know." Xiahou Juan said firmly.
"You know?" Cao Pi looked a little unconvinced.
"That's right, I told my uncle that I would go out for a walk and would be careful about safety. My uncle just told me to listen to Xiaolan's advice." Xiahou Juan said as a matter of course.
Xiaolan is Xiahou Juan's maid. The two grew up together and occasionally... she would tell tales to Xiahou Yuan.
"I think going to Jiangdong is definitely not within the scope of 'going out for a walk'!" Cao Pi held his forehead and said.
"It's all the territory of the Han Dynasty. Why can't we go there? Xiaolan didn't say much." Xiahou Juan said.
"Where is Xiaolan?" Cao Pi asked puzzledly.
"He's tied up in the car." said Xiahou Juan.
"Tied?"
"Well, I can sleep more soundly this way." Xiahou Juan said calmly.
Cao Pi: ...
"Do you think I'm going there for fun? The General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion may rebel at any time, why are you going there to cause trouble?" Cao Pi asked helplessly.
Among Cao Cao's sons, the one they feared the most was not Cao Cao, but two uncles of the Xiahou clan - Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun. In fact, their blood relationship with Cao Cao was within the fifth degree of mourning.
If Xiahou Dun is the "legendary" super scary uncle, then Xiahou Yuan is the uncle who actually and often teaches them a lesson!
"I am Xiahou Juan now, not Cao Juan. What do I have to be afraid of?" Xiahou Juan did not seem worried, but his eyes were a little complicated.
The reason why she is here is actually... there is another hidden reason.
Cao Pi thought to himself that he would find someone to send Xiahou Juan back soon and not let her do whatever she wanted. However, at this moment, Xiahou Juan reminded him, "If I were to go back now and I secretly escaped halfway, got lost, or was kidnapped by bandits, who should I blame?"
Of course it’s your own fault!
Cao Pi roared in his heart, but on the surface he had to say: "Okay... I can allow you to follow me temporarily, but you must hide your identity first, and go back immediately after you have had enough fun!" Cao Pi estimated that whether it was Bai Tu and Liu Biao, or his father and Yuan Shao, the battle would not be able to end in one or two years.
Xiahou Juan curled her lips and said, "Why should I hide my identity? My identity...isn't it just a daughter of the Xiahou clan? Compared to you, the son of the prime minister, what's so remarkable about me? If even I were to vent my anger on you, you would have been sliced into pieces by now, right?"
"You don't understand! It's not good to have a clan girl... So, before we get to Yiyang..." Cao Pi, with his head full of complicated thoughts, gave his sister a "good idea".
…
At the same time, Bai Tu was inspecting the Pingman Army in Yuzhang County.
The most rampant area of the Shanyue was the Zhangling County, which had been separated out to the north of Yuzhang. At this time, Gao Shun was in charge of pacifying the Shanyue.
However, in Yuzhang County, there are also many so-called Shanyue people - there are no barbarian soldiers or generals who can "transform into barbarians" , their combat effectiveness is only at the level of ordinary mountain people, and... most of them are ordinary Han people who have gone up the mountain.
In dealing with this part of the "Shanyue", Bai Tu initially encouraged them to move down the mountain, and he was also willing to send troops to deal with those mountain strongholds that caused chaos from time to time.
And in recent months, they have begun to build cities in the mountains in a planned manner - in fact, they are just camps and fortresses.
Referring to the methods used by Shen Qingzhi, a famous general of Liu Song in the Southern Dynasties, to subdue the mountain people, he used the strategy of advancing step by step and attacking from multiple directions to compress the living space of the wild people in the mountains.
At the same time, it was promised that those who came down the mountain would be granted land and exempted from taxes for one year. Those who did not want to come down the mountain did not resort to violence, but... camps and fortresses in the mountains had to continue to be built, and the mountain people who farmed, fished and hunted in the mountains could stay put for the time being, but Bai Tu had been gradually closing down the mountain strongholds that occupied copper and iron minerals.
Bai Tu will certainly gradually take back the two major benefits of Jiangdong, namely, boiling the sea for salt and casting the mountains for copper.
Although some mountain residents were upset, the situation was still under control.
Bai Tu was in Jinling at the time, meeting with representatives of frontline officers and soldiers from Yuzhang and Pingyue. The Chinese New Year was approaching, and Bai Tu had an unwritten rule that every year during the Chinese New Year, representatives from all major garrisons would return to Jinling.
And this time when Bai Tu was looking at the list, he also found a person... Deng Dang!
Deng Dang is not very famous. Although he was one of the earliest generals to follow Sun Yat-sen and was responsible for pacifying Vietnam in history, his military achievements were few and far between.
However, Deng Dang had a brother-in-law who was very famous - Lu Meng!
Judging from his age, Lu Meng should have reached adulthood this year. He followed his brother-in-law when he was young, hoping to achieve great things.
As for Lu Meng, Lu Su, Zhang Zhao and others, they might not have paid any attention to them at all. Considering their positions, Deng Dang, the captain, could barely be considered worthy of their attention. As for Deng Dang's brother-in-law... God knows who he is!
Even in Deng's army, everyone's impression of Lu Meng was just that of a young general who was a little clever, a little courageous... and had some connections.
When Lu Meng first joined the army, he was only sixteen years old and he followed Deng Dang quietly. Lu Meng's goal of joining the army was very simple - his family was too poor and he had not received much education. If he did not try his best, he would just be an ordinary farmer like his ancestors in the future, and his hunger and fullness depended on luck... Instead of that, it was better to join the army and fight, to get a title for his wife and children.
Deng Dang was so angry that he took him directly to his mother-in-law, Lu Meng's mother, and asked the old lady to teach him a lesson. As a result, Lu Meng quoted Ban Gu's allusion "If you don't venture into the tiger's den, how can you get the tiger cub?" and convinced his brother-in-law and mother.
Bai Tu also knew that in history, it was Lu Meng who took over as the third Grand Commander of Eastern Wu when Lu Su passed away many years later.
After the Battle of Chibi, Lu Meng first planned to capture Jingnan, and then commanded the Battle of Ruxukou, which was Cao Cao's second campaign against Sun Quan after the Battle of Chibi.
Although Sun Quan surrendered in the end, but on the tactical level, it was Lu Meng who prevented Cao's army from achieving any success at Ruxukou, which gave Sun Quan the opportunity to "surrender". Otherwise, Cao Cao would have swallowed up Sun Quan directly, and Cao Cao would have only asked him to nominally submit and pay tribute.
What followed was Lu Meng's peak battle - after succeeding the position of Grand Commander, he changed Lu Su's previous friendly strategy towards Guan Yu and planned to seize Jingzhou by force.
Finally, when Guan Yu flooded seven armies and marched north to attack Wei, he crossed the river in white clothes and cut off Guan Yu's retreat, thus recovering Jingzhou south of the Yangtze River for Dongwu in one fell swoop.
Of course, it may be that the Grand Commander of Wu was really poisonous. Not long after, Lu Meng became ill from overwork and died before Liu Bei could even fight to avenge Guan Yu. His successor, the fourth Grand Commander Lu Xun, defeated Liu Bei, but that is another story...
When Bai Tu came to the military camp and met Deng Dang and others, he paid special attention and found out... As expected, Lu Meng also came to Jinling as a representative of outstanding grassroots generals - after all, he was Deng Dang's brother-in-law, it would be strange if he was not an outstanding representative.
