"Abdominal pain?" Cao Xiu shook his head.
Nowadays, abdominal pain can represent too many diseases. All the internal organs are in the abdomen, so abdominal pain is almost synonymous with illness.
Cao Xiu continued to ask: "Then how did Lü Fan die?"
Cao Qi replied, "Lü Ziheng died of old age. He was over seventy years old, so his death was inevitable."
"I handed the letter from the governor to Lü Fan's son, Lü Ju, and bowed in front of Lü Fan's coffin in the name of the Grand Marshal." Cao Qi added, "I did not overstep the mark in any way."
"He's dead, so what's the harm in bowing? How can I blame you?" Cao Xiu said with emotion: "He just bowed to me on my birthday a month ago, but I can't be ignorant of etiquette."
"Since Bolian has already paid his respects, I will not send you again. Please go down and write a letter to Lu Ju to express your condolences. There is no need to say anything else."
"Yes, sir. I understand." Cao Qi replied.
After Cao Qi left, Cao Xiu ordered someone to invite Jiang Ji, the governor of Yangzhou, into his mansion.
Jiang Ji is indeed a capable minister. Compared with Liu Fu and Wen Hui in the past, he seems to be better.
During the one year that Jiang Ji served as the governor of Yangzhou, he and Cao Xiu cooperated well in military and civil matters, and there was no conflict at all.
Jiang Ji assisted Cao Xiu in doing many useful political affairs, including dredging rivers and water conservancy projects, managing military and civilian settlements, and repairing cities in Huainan.
After reorganizing the surrendered Wu soldiers into farming, Cao Xiu and Jiang Ji were both praised by Your Majesty for this.
Jiang Ji walked slowly from outside to inside, looked at Cao Xiu with a smile, and said while bowing, "Why did the Grand Marshal call me here?"
"Zi Tong, please sit down." Cao Xiu pointed to the chair beside him and said, "Cao Qi just came back from Jiangdong and said that He Qi died of illness and Lu Fan died of old age."
"Two important officials of Wu in Jiangdong died at almost the same time." Cao Xiu looked at Jiang Ji and said, "Zitong, do you think we should take some action?"
"Action?" Jiang Ji responded directly: "Does the Grand Marshal want to cross the river to attack Wu? Or to attack Ruxu?"
Cao Xiu shook his head: "I haven't figured out how to fight or whether to fight at all."
"But Lü Fan and He Qi both died at the same time. It would be a pity if we don't seize this opportunity! Zi Tong, what do you think?"
Jiang Ji looked at Cao Xiu and said, "Your Majesty is still in Qinzhou. We don't have an imperial edict and we are not on the defensive. How can we advance without authorization?"
"Besides, the Wu Kingdom only lost two elderly generals, not all the generals who led the troops. What impact can it have?"
"Da Sima, my suggestion is not to move."
A trace of regret flashed across Cao Xiu's face, and then he sighed, "Then don't move."
"Come on, Zitong, let's write a petition together and send it to Luoyang, explaining the whole story."
Jiang Ji nodded slightly: "That's right. Grand Marshal, please have someone draft the document first, and I will sign it later."
Although Cao Xiu listened to the advice and immediately gave up his idea of attacking Wu, in the eyes of Jiang Ji, a shrewd man, Cao Xiu had already shown some unwiseness.
What time is now?
Your Majesty led the entire Central Army to fight the Shu Army in Qinzhou and Wudu. Except for Yuzhou and Yangzhou, which still had sufficient troops, the rest of the states seemed empty at this time.
The three states of Sili, Yanzhou and Jizhou transported grain to Yongzhou day and night, and there was no surplus grain to support the military operations in Yangzhou.
Moreover, defending a dangerous place is the national policy. Didn't your Majesty personally lead the expedition to Huainan last year in order to have a stable external environment, thereby restoring national strength and accumulating power?
This idea of taking advantage of the opportunity to attack Wu should not even exist, let alone tell it to others?
Do you, Cao Xiu, think that the victory last year was all earned by you, the Grand Marshal?
After Jiang Ji signed his name, he walked out of the hall. His opinion of Cao Xiu dropped a little.
……
In Qinzhou, the Wei army continued to split into two groups to confront the Shu army.
The Wei army had something to rely on, and so did the Shu army, but the two armies had different strengths.
The confidence of the Great Wei came from its more sufficient military forces, more elite central army, and the possible results brought about by the small forces led by Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian in Dazhong, Wujie and Yinping areas.
The Shu army's confidence came from the fact that it was closer to Shu, food and military supplies were more easily guaranteed, and Wuxing, where Zhao Yun was located, provided them with a stable retreat.
The two sides are not the same.
At this moment in the Wei army's central camp, Cao Zhen seemed a little anxious.
"Your Majesty, why has there been no news about Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian?" Cao Zhen asked, cupping his hands. "Today is already the 28th. Could something have happened to their troops?"
Cao Rui glanced at Cao Zhen and said calmly, "Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian have 20,000 cavalry. Although there are 10,000 Qiang cavalry among them, it is still a solid 20,000 cavalry."
"With 20,000 cavalry in hand, what could possibly go wrong? Zhuge Liang is not a god who can burn all the cavalry with a single fire. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others have been dead for ages!"
Cao Zhen smiled apologetically and said, "Why not send someone to ask?"
"General!" Cao Rui looked at Cao Zhen and said, "Be patient! I believe in Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian. Do you believe that the military reports from Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian will be delivered before the end of the month?"
Cao Zhen nodded: "Your Majesty, your words are as good as the law. I will definitely believe it." Just as the two were talking, the military report sent from Qian Zhao was brought into the big tent by Yang Fu.
Cao Rui flipped through the military report and handed it to Cao Zhen: "After three consecutive days of attacking, the Shu army on the opposite side has been silent for three consecutive days."
"Our Shu army is also silent. It seems that Zhuge Liang is determined to shrink his head and not fight with me."
"General, Sikong, think of some way to make Zhuge Liang move." Cao Rui smiled and looked at Cao Zhen and Sima Yi: "Although I am not afraid of fighting him, I don't want the Shu army to have such an easy life."
While Cao Zhen was still thinking, Sima Yi came up with an idea: "Your Majesty, do you want to use troops? Or use a trick?"
Cao Rui laughed and said, "How do you use troops? How do you use strategies?"
Sima Yi cleared his throat and said, "Then I will talk about the use of troops first?"
"Okay." Cao Rui said.
"If you want to use the army, you can order people to build thunder chariots." Sima Yi said slowly: "Didn't the Shu army set up camps in the river valley and build high fortifications?"
"Anyway, the army has nothing to do here, so we can just gather supplies and send thousands of stones to attack the Shu army camp. The Shu army will not be able to cope with this method for the time being."
Cao Rui nodded: "That counts as one. What about the plan?"
Sima Yi grinned: "The Wei army is upstream, and the Shu army is downstream. According to the terrain of Chiting, the Shu army's camp must be between the camps."
"Build a raft and write on it the story of Zhuge Liang's monopoly of power, so as to make the various armies of the Shu army suspicious of each other."
Yang Fu, who was sitting next to him, seemed to have his eyes light up, and hurriedly added: "Your Majesty, in addition to talking about Zhuge Liang's monopoly of power, I think there are many other things that can be used to insult the Shu thief!"
"Ahem." Cao Rui coughed twice. "It's fine to say you're monopolizing power, and it's fine to insult you. I'm in the army myself, so I still have to maintain my dignity."
"If people talk about this battle in the future, they will all say that I went downstream to hand out bamboo slips to curse the Shu army. That would be too harsh to hear." Cao Rui rolled his eyes at Yang Fu: "You can't insult, you can only tell the truth."
Yang Fu cupped his hands and said, "For the Shu thieves, what's the big difference between telling the truth and cursing them?"
Cao Rui replied: "What does Yang Qing want to write?"
Yang Fu replied: "I hate the Shu rebels the most in my life. If I were asked to find solid evidence to refute the Shu army, I would probably not be able to finish it in three days and three nights."
Sima Yi was a little impatient: "Yishan, please speak quickly! Don't keep us waiting!"
Yang Fu nodded: "Let's start with Liu Bei."
"For example, Liu Bei compared himself to Emperor Guangwu, but he hadn't been to Luoyang for forty years."
"For example, Liu Bei fled from north to south and lost his wife several times, which was quite similar to the legacy of Emperor Gaozu of Han."
"Another example is Liu Bei entering Jingzhou and seizing Liu Qi's foundation, and committing himself to Liu Zhang and seizing Shu to defend himself..."
Cao Rui looked at Yang Fu in surprise: "Why didn't I realize that Yang Qing could curse like this! If these examples of yours are made public, the Shu army will lose face."
Yang Fu calmly bowed and said, "I still have more to say!"
"As for those generals, I can tell them that Shu generals don't have a good ending."
"Guan Yu fought all his life, but was stabbed in the back by his allies and his head and body were separated. Zhang Fei claimed to be a hero, but he was incompetent in commanding his subordinates and was stabbed by his men."
"There are also Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Fu Zhun, Ma Liang and others..."
"And the filial son Ma Chao..."
"Stop, Yang Qing." Cao Rui had no choice but to stop Yang Fu who was still talking: "In my opinion, don't tell these to the Shu army."
"The Shu army has problems of all kinds. What if they use the Wei officials as an example? When Emperor Wu started his business, not all the Wei officials were saints."
Speaking of this, Cao Rui naturally thought of people like Jia Xu, Cheng Yu, or important generals like Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren who died in battle or after the battle.
After all, you are the eldest brother, so don't laugh at the second brother. If you really want to engage in this kind of public opinion war, both sides will definitely end up in disgrace in the end.
Cao Rui stopped Yang Fu, which naturally meant that he agreed with Sima Yi's first suggestion.
"What Sikong said is very true. The general should ask the lieutenant general to prepare to build a catapult to see if it can be effective in this narrow valley!"
"As you wish. The catapult is indeed great. I will arrange for someone to make it right away," Cao Zhen replied.
Just as Cao Rui was discussing with his ministers in the tent, someone outside the door delivered a brand new military report.
Cao Rui took it and looked at it for a few moments, then smiled and said, "Look what I said? I said Lu Xun would be able to send me the military situation before the end of the month, but half an hour late, Lu Xun's military report arrived!"
Cao Rui handed the report to Cao Zhen and said, "Lu Xun was delayed in Dazhong and Dangchang for some time, but now he has gone south from Wujie and is heading towards Yinping Bridge."
"At this speed, we will reach Baishui Pass soon!" (End of this chapter)
