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Cheng Yu said goodbye and left, but Cao Cao kept Zhong Yao. In the study, Cao Cao walked slowly with his hands behind his back. He did not send anyone to invite Zhong Yao today. Zhong Yao came here by himself. Of course, there was something else, and Cao Cao also knew why Zhong Yao came to him.

Zhong Yao slowly drank tea, feeling a little nervous. He felt that Cao Cao already knew why he came. If this was the case, I was afraid that Cui Lin's affairs would not be Cao Pi's unauthorized efforts. Zhong Yao felt chill in his heart. If Cao Cao really agreed, Cui Lin would be in danger.

At this time, Cao Cao stopped and seemed to be talking to himself: "Mr. Cheng was right just now. I should contact Liu Bei and use Liu Bei to restrain Liu Jing. Perhaps it is better than Jiangdong."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao glanced back at Zhong Yao and said slowly: "How about asking the military advisor to work hard to travel to Jiaozhou?"

Zhong Yao sighed for a while: "Thank you for your kindness to protect Wei Gong!"

Cao Cao smiled knowingly. Zhong Yao was indeed very skillful and understood his thoughts. He pondered for a moment and said, "Some things are not as simple as the military advisors think. Although I don't want Cao Wei to have another internal strife, using Cui Lin as a seal is not just for the sake of the world."

Zhong Yao was speechless, and Cao Cao sighed again: "The struggle for power is a cruel thing, especially when power transfer is transferred. I just want to transfer power smoothly in the rest of my life, and I don't want to become the second second in Yuan Benchu. I hope the military advisor can understand."

Zhong Yao nodded slightly, "I can understand!"

Cao Cao smiled with relief and said, "It's fine if you understand, okay, let's talk about how to cooperate with Liu Bei!"

...........

The carriage on the return journey was much slower. Zhong Yao looked at the people coming and going on the street, but was thinking about what Cao Cao said to him, "Whether the Ding Ling can be implemented is related to Cao Wei's survival plan. If the Ding Ling fails, then Cao Wei will follow in the footsteps of Jiangdong. I hope to promote the Ding Ling in the remaining time."

.........

‘Some things are not as simple as the military advisors think. Although I don’t want Cao Wei to have another internal strife, using Cui Lin as a seal is not just for the sake of the world!’

Zhong Yao sighed slightly, and he finally understood why Cao Cao had attacked Cui Lin. The struggle for the world was just an appearance, but his deeper intention was to promote Ding Ling. The Cui family in Qinghe was a famous family in the world, and the family owned a large amount of land and tenant slaves. Cui Lin was also the leader of the aristocratic clan after Yang Biao. He took Cui Lin to attack him, which undoubtedly had the effect of killing the chicken to warn the monkey.

However... the ones who really own a lot of land are the Cao family and the Xiahou family. Cao Cao did not start with his own clan, but attacked the gentry. How could he convince the people of the world? This would only push the gentry to the Han Dynasty even more.

Zhong Yao was very melancholy. He was not optimistic about Cao Cao's reform at all. A reform could not be successful without the determination of a hero to cut off his arm. However, he could understand Cao Cao's difficulties. The Cao Wei army was controlled by the Cao family and the Xiahou family. In this case, how could Cao Cao touch the vital interests of these two families?

Zhong Yao couldn't help but think that Liu Jing did not have a huge family as a backing. In some cases, this is a good thing. Without the shackles of family interests, many things are much easier. Perhaps this is why Liu Jing is also successful than Cao Cao in land reform.

"Master, will you go back to the mansion first?" The carriage walked to the cross and a servant interrupted Zhong Yao's thoughts.

Zhong Yao thought for a while and said, "Go to the military office first, and you can go back and tell your wife that I will go on a long trip tomorrow and let her prepare her luggage now."

The carriage turned around and drove towards the military station not far away.

The full name of the military office where Zhong Yao is located is the General's Mansion, which is also the highest commanding military office of Cao's army. It is parallel to the Prime Minister's Mansion where Cao Pi manages government affairs. Although Cao Pi has obtained a little military power, it is only logistics, recruitment and military garrison, etc., and the military's real core military mobilization power, the general's appointment and removal power, and the military order tiger talisman are still firmly controlled by Cao Cao.

The General's Mansion is usually in charge of a military advisor, handling various daily affairs. Sometimes Cao Pi will come. Because Cheng Yu is old, he no longer cares about government affairs. Zhong Yao and Liu Ye are mainly responsible for the general's daily operations.

Tomorrow, Zhong Yao will represent Cao Cao on his mission to Jiaozhou. Cao Cao appointed chief clerk Sima Lang to temporarily take over his affairs. He needs to hand over the affairs in his hands with Sima Lang.

As soon as the carriage stopped in front of the military station, a burly man rushed out of the gate and headed straight for Zhong Yao's carriage. More than a dozen servants were so scared that they were in a hurry and pulled out their battle swords together.

"stop!"

Zhong Yao shouted and called out to the reckless servants. He had already recognized the person who came to his carriage. It was the former general, the governor of Yuzhou Xiahou Dun. Seeing that Xiahou Dun had an angry face, he opened the curtain and smiled, "When will Yuan Rang return to Yedu?"

Xiahou Dun restrained his anger and bowed to Xiahou Dun, "I just returned to Yedu this morning. How is the military advisor in good health?"

"It's okay! I just went to meet Mr. Wei and got a new job. I might have to go out for a long trip."

Xiahou Dun was stunned. At this time, Zhong Yao was going to go out. He asked quickly: "Where is the military advisor going? When will he be back?"

Zhong Yao looked at the guards and servants on both sides, and smiled and said, "This is not a place to talk. Please come to my official room to talk."

Xiahou Dun followed Zhong Yao into the official room. The two sat down. Zhong Yao said, "Duke Wei asked me to go to Jiaozhou today to establish a connection with Liu Bei."

Xiahou Dun suddenly became anxious, "Now in order to suppress the dissident Daxing Inquisition, the military advisor is going to Jiaozhou at this moment. Wouldn't Zhigong lose all the money?"

Zhong Yao sighed secretly, rumored that the Cao family supported Cao Pi, while the Xiahou family supported Cao Zhi. Now it seems that the rumors are true. Even Xiahou Dun went barefoot to fight for Cao Zhi. It seems that their friendship is indeed extraordinary.

Zhong Yao pondered for a moment and said, "Today I went to plead with Mr. Wei because of the investigation of the Cui Mansion, but now I have changed my mind. I decided to set off to Jiaozhou tomorrow. I also advised Yuan Rang to return to Xuchang immediately. Without Mr. Wei's permission, Yuan Rang would leave his post without permission. This would be caught by someone. Don't make any mistakes."

"Why?" Xiahou Dun asked in a deep voice.

Zhong Yao knew that although Xiahou Dun was a military general, he was smart and wanted to deal with him casually. It was almost impossible. Zhong Yao had to sigh and said earnestly: "I only tell Yuan Rang one thing. Wei Gong knew about what happened recently. Cui Lin's affairs were not as simple as the struggle for the world, but were related to the release of Ding Ling. After listening to my words, Yuan Rang immediately returned to Xuchang and don't get involved in this matter again."

Xiahou Dun understood what Zhong Yao meant. If he angered Duke Wei, it would be his turn to give Ding Ling. At that time, the world took the opportunity to take the blame and his military power would be difficult to protect. He sighed in his heart and stood up and bowed: "Thank you for the reminder of the military advisor, I will return to Xuchang now."

...........

Not long after Xiahou Dun returned to Yedu, Cao Pi received the news. He immediately ordered someone to come to discuss with Hua Xin. Hua Xin had been appointed as the chief minister by Cao Cao, which was also Cao Cao's compromise with Cao Pi. In the battle of Hefei, Cao Pi took the responsibility for defeat and was removed from the position of General of the Five-Secret General.

As a compensation for Cao Pi, Cao Cao relied on several of Cao Pi's major confidants and appointed Hua Xin as the chief minister, Wang Lang as the ward, Wu Zhi as the minister of Dali Temple, and also appointed Cao Zhen as the chief general and the governor of Huaibei.

This actually strengthened Cao Pi's power and was also to prepare for the smooth handover of power. However, for Cao Pi, the military power he longed for had never been obtained, and Cao Pi had no choice but to use another means to seize military power, that is, to make friends with the generals in charge of military power, especially the Cao family, Cao Ren, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and others were the top priority that Cao Pi won over.

To seek benefits for them and expand military power for them to gain their firm support, Cao Pi spared no effort to crack down on the Xiahou family that supported Cao Zhi, using his power to reduce the supply of food and grass, reduce the quality of replenishing troops, and send strong new recruits to Xuzhou and Qingzhou, while old and weak new recruits to Xuchang and Yuan, etc.

Now Cao Pi has a new goal, which is to seek the position of governor of Yuzhou for Cao Zhen. Now Cao Zhen is in charge of Huaibei and Qiao County, which is already within the scope of Yuzhou, but the military power is still far inferior to Xiahou Dun. After the Battle of Hefei, Cao Ren tactfully proposed this idea to Cao Pi, which could transfer Xiahou Dun to Jizhou and let Cao Zhen take charge of Yuzhou, and that Yu, Xu and Qingzhou could be connected together.

For Cao Pi, transferring Xiahou Dun would make Cao Zhi lose the support of the army and eliminate the biggest hidden dangers. Then Cao Zhen would use Cao Zhen to monitor and control Cao Zhi, and then Cao Pi would be completely firm in his position in the world.

The transfer of Xiahou Dun can not only strengthen the alliance with the Cao family, but also weaken Cao Zhi's power. It can be said that he kills two birds with one stone. In order to promote this matter, Cao Pi also proposed to his father twice to transfer Xiahou Dun to the governor of Jizhou, but his father did not respond.

But today Cao Pi heard that Xiahou Dun had come to Yedu without permission, and realized that maybe this was an opportunity, so he immediately asked Hua Xin to discuss it.

Hua Xin is a master of power and has a high talent for power struggles. He is also Cao Pi's military advisor. This time, the arrest of Jian'an Qi and the circumcision of Cui's mansion were all planned by him.

He knew how to grasp the measure and if he should proceed step by step. Seeing that Cao Pi was eager to overthrow Xiahou Dun, he advised him: "Your Highness, don't be anxious to achieve success. Xiahou Dun has a high status in the army. If you don't have absolute certainty, it's better not to act rashly. I suggest that the world focus on dealing with the Cui Lin case."

"But I think Xiahou Dun came from Xuchang, probably because of the Cui Lin case. If he persuaded his father, I would be wasting all his efforts." Cao Pi was still a little unwilling to say.

Hua Xin narrowed his eyes and smiled, "The Cui Lin case is what Duke Wei means, and Xiahou Dun may not know it yet. Wouldn't let him anger Duke Wei? Don't come forward, don't let Duke Wei see that he has the intention of planning military power. Once Duke Wei sees it, all his previous efforts will be wasted. If Xiahou Dun angers Duke Wei, I would advise Duke Shi to plead for him."

Cao Pi seemed to have some understanding. He knew what he should do. At this time, a guard reported at the door: "You reported to the world, and news came from the military office that after a conversation between Governor Xiahou and Junshi Zhong, he had returned to Xuchang."

Cao Pi was stunned, and then couldn't help but say angrily: "He ran quite fast!"

Hua Xin also breathed a light tone and smiled: "This should be Zhong Yao who persuaded him back."

Cao Pi pondered for a moment and said, "I just got the news. This morning, my father met Zhong Yao alone and sent him to Jiaozhou. What do you think this means?"

"The meaning of Duke Wei is very obvious. This is to protect Zhong Yao. In fact, it is also a hint that the world should not expand the attack surface."

Cao Pi was a little confused, "If so, why did my father hinted that I was attacking Cui Lin?"

Hua Xin sighed, "The world still doesn't understand. Duke Wei attacked Cui Lin not for Duke Zhi, but for the matter of Ding Ling. Land and population issues are the major concerns of Duke Wei!"
Chapter completed!