Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 229 Your Majesty, it's time to drink medicine

"what?"

On September 12th in the [-]th year of Jian'an, Huang Zu's disastrous defeat at Ruxukou eleven days ago was quickly sent to Xiangyang.

Liu Biao looked at the battle report with trembling hands, his face full of disbelief.

With an army of more than [-], the leader was Huang Zu, who was always known for his stability and prudence, but he was successfully attacked by Jiangdong at night?

Of the [-] Jiangxia navy, less than [-] fled back to Jiangxia.

And in that night attack, most of them died not from the Jiangdong attack, but from camp screams, fleeing stampedes, and disappearing after the war.

In other words, they just attacked them at night to scare them, and didn't kill a few people at all. Most of the soldiers were killed or disappeared by their own people, which can be described as extremely embarrassing.

Knowing that at this time, Liu Biao's already pale blood became even more exhausted. He slapped the table and said angrily, "Yuan Yang has always been cautious, why is he so?"

Seeing this, Jia Xu said quickly: "Your Majesty, it must be because there are too many mobs such as Mei Gan, Lei Xu, and Chen Lan, and General Huang was unable to attack for a long time. As a result."

"Ugh."

Liu Biao let out a long sigh: "It is indeed as the Taifu expected. This battle is due to Yuan Yang's long-term neglect of night defenses, so that when Mei Gan, Lei Xu, Chen Lan and others encountered the night attack camp roar, they were the first to fight. Time has no defense."

Although the Huangzu people were in Zheqi City at that time, half of the main force, about 2 people, were not affected in the city, but the other part of the main force was outside the city.

Some of them set up their own camps with the school as the unit, and some lived on the ship and guarded the ship.

After Jiangdong triggered the camp roar of Mei Gan, Lei Xu, Chen Lan and others, he immediately organized a fleet to attack the Zheqi city dock, trying to wipe out the fleet of Huang Zu's army.

Fortunately, although Huang Zu was negligent in guarding against it, he was an experienced veteran. Almost immediately when there was chaos outside the city, he immediately became vigilant, and immediately called all the soldiers in the city to rush out to fight bloody battles at the pier, repelling the Jiangdong Army and protecting a large number of ships. .

Therefore, most of his main force fled back by boat, while the Meigan, Lei Xu, Chen Lan and other ministries stationed outside the city, as well as the Jiangxia navy, were killed by their own people because of the roar of the camp, or fell into the river, or trampled on them. More than tens of thousands died, or were killed and captured by the Jiangdong Army, or disappeared.

Among them, Mei Gan and others have not yet been counted, but Huang Zu's Jiangxia navy is about [-], of course, it may be less, because most of them are missing, some become routs and will run away in the direction of Yuzhang by themselves, and some Many lands became bandits and bandits, and others were killed or captured.

But from a strategic point of view, Huang Zu had no choice but to withdraw to Jiangxia after this big defeat. Even Yuzhang couldn't continue to occupy it. It was really a bad battle to switch from the original strategic offensive to the strategic defensive. , leading to a complete loss of the situation.

"Although Jiangdong and Jingzhou are connected by water, there are high mountains and rugged roads in both places, and the only way to go is by water. As long as the cities along the banks of the river are guarded, the battle for fortification will be protracted, and it is difficult to determine the winner in a short time."

Jia Xu pondered and said: "Back then when Sun Ce failed to attack Jiangxia repeatedly, we can see that water warfare is not easy. General Huang probably tried his best. Your Majesty should first let General Huang defend Jiangxia to stabilize the situation."

"Ah."

Liu Biaochang sighed, and said with a sigh: "That's the only way."

He couldn't blame Huang Zu either.

Huang Zu is already the strongest water warrior in Jingzhou. At least before this big defeat, it is not easy to defeat the Jiangdong water army. It seems that it is not so easy to destroy the entire Jiangdong in a short time. .

Immediately, Liu Biao sent someone to appease Huang Zu, telling him to gather up the defeated soldiers and guard Jiangxia, and at the same time mobilize a batch of supplies, and then sent someone to issue an edict to Liu Qi.

In November, Huang Zu and Liu Qi managed to maintain the situation. Although Jiangdong took advantage of the victory to pursue Jiangxia, they led the troops to repel them.

So far, the situation between the two sides has only returned to the beginning from the original Jingzhou Army's active attack on Jiangdong.

Time soon arrived at the beginning of December.

It was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and there was heavy snowfall. Liu Biao was suffering from the cold and it was getting worse. Every day, he rested in the small building in the backyard that was warmed by the stove.

This afternoon Liu Biao was looking at the official documents in the small building, and the charming Mrs. Cai came over with a bowl of medicine for him to take.

At this moment, someone outside the door hurriedly reported: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

"When did you panic so much?"

Liu Biao's face was slightly unhappy. After he became emperor, he didn't recruit any servants, nor did he engage in any kind of regular servants, so the servants in the back garden were all maids, that is, maids of honor.

The palace lady was pale and covered in sweat, she crawled in tremblingly and said, "Your Majesty, there is a messenger from the palace to report that the Taiwei has been defeated."

"what?"

For a moment, Liu Biao felt short of breath, his heart couldn't bear it, and his whole body began to feel tight in his chest.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

Mrs. Cai, who has now been established as a queen, quickly stroked his chest, and then said to the maid: "Quickly pass on the imperial physician's order!"

Liu Biao resisted the discomfort, and after a while, the corners of his mouth were bright red. He was not in good health, but when he heard the news suddenly, he felt as if struck by lightning, and was in great pain.

Soon the Imperial Physician Order came over, diagnosed and treated him, and prescribed some medicines. He managed to sleep today and rested for three or four days before summoning Jia Xu to discuss the matter.

Inside the small building in the back garden, Liu Biao's face was pale, almost bloodless, he was already seriously ill, although he was not dying, but he had no energy.

Jia Xu walked into Xiaozhu with small steps, bowed and said: "Your Majesty."

"Wenhe."

Liu Biao looked at him blankly and said, "Cai Mao has retreated to Jiangzhou."

Jia Xu sighed: "I also know about this matter. The Taiwei was eager to attack Hanchang, so that the grain road transportation was too long. Zhang Lu sent people to attack Dangqu from the Bashu Road, burned the grain and grass, and returned to Jiangzhou after a big defeat. Zhang Lu took advantage of the situation and gave chase, losing tens of thousands of horses."

Liu Biao lamented sadly: "During my lifetime, after all, I will not be able to capture the entire south and leave a huge foundation for my son, so as to plot the world."

Jia Xu quickly persuaded: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Although Jingzhou has suffered two defeats, its foundation has not been damaged. Your Majesty only needs to take care of his body and take care of it slowly. Maybe he will be able to gain something."

"Forget it, I know my body."

Liu Biao shook his head and said, "Maybe I may not be able to live next year, Wen He, what do you think I should do now?"

Jia Xu asked, "Does Your Majesty want to ask about the war in the south, or about the successor?"

"How's the war in the South?"

Liu Biao asked.

Jia Xu said: "Jiangdong cannot be mapped in a short period of time, but Yizhou may be obtained. After Zhang Lu defeats the Taiwei, he will besiege Chengdu, and we can profit from it."

Liu Biao frowned and said, "Cai Mao is incompetent, and his men and horses are all lost. How can I get my soldiers and horses to go to Xichuan again?"

Although he has a solid foundation, he has to train soldiers with a solid foundation.

Sending soldiers who have never been trained to the battlefield is undoubtedly looking for death, so it will take at least a year to recruit troops and retrain them again.

There are troops in other places. For example, Nanyang has scattered [-] troops, and Zhang Yun still has [-] troops in Xiangyang. But these troops are here to defend Xiangyang and defend Cao Cao in the north. Once Nanyang is empty, this rich land will be robbed by Cao Cao. If he leaves, his loss will be really great.

So it seems that Liu Biao is strong, but in fact, before the new soldiers are trained, whether facing Cao Cao, Sun Quan or Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang, he can only adopt a defensive posture, and has no extra troops to take the initiative to attack.

Jia Xu smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, don't forget that Liu Bei still has troops. When Zhang Lu attacked Liu Zhang, he ordered Liu Bei to go to Xichuan."

"Liu Bei has always been ambitious, what if he wins Xichuan?"

Liu Biao frowned.

Jia Xu said: "Liu Bei has few soldiers, and it will be difficult to conquer Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang in a short time after entering Xichuan. We will step up training our soldiers. After a year or two, they will be exhausted. We will send troops to destroy them in one fell swoop. This is called The plan to drive away wolves and devour tigers is to say that the mantis catches the cicada and the oriole is behind.”

"I see."

Liu Biao nodded and felt that this plan was indeed a good one, so he said, "Then follow Wen He's wishes, and what should I do as an heir?"

"This matter can only be dealt with by His Majesty. I believe His Majesty already has the answer in his heart."

Jia Xu smiled.

"Well."

Liu Biao's eyes flickered fiercely, and he said softly, "Well, I understand, you can step back."

"My minister retire."

Jia Xu backed away, turned around, and there was a glimmer of light in her eyes.

Shen Xiaoqing, this old man can only help you so far.

In the future, it depends on you!

He raised his head and looked at the December sky in Jingzhou, which was already covered with cloudy clouds and flying snowflakes.

.

.

On the first day of mid-December, Mrs. Cai came to deliver medicine to Liu Biao as usual. At this time, Liu Biao, who was lethargic in the afternoon due to his illness, had already fallen asleep.

Originally, Mrs. Cai only wanted to put the medicine on the table and wait for Liu Biao to get up to drink, but suddenly noticed an official document on Liu Biao's table, which had her own brother Cai Mao's name on it, and picked it up out of curiosity.

After a while, her face changed drastically, and after the unpredictable change, she immediately picked up the soup and left the room, and at the same time told the maid waiting outside the door to conceal the news of her visit.

Everyone in the harem knew Madam Cai's tricks, so all the maids were trembling, even if Liu Biao woke up, no one told him about it.

After Mrs. Cai left, she immediately found people from the Cai Group, including Cai Zan and Cai Yan, as well as Kuai Yue and Zhang Yun.

What many people don't know is that Zhang Yun is also a member of the Cai family, or he cannot be said to be a member of the Cai family, but should be said to be a member of the second son Liu Cong. He grew up with Liu Cong and is a hardcore supporter of Liu Cong as the heir .

At this moment, everyone gathered, and after Mrs. Cai told them the situation, everyone's expressions were very serious.

Kuai Yue said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty has long wanted to get rid of me and the Taiwei to pave the way for the First Prince. Originally, he wanted to wipe out Jiangdong and Yizhou, and then do it after dominating the south, but His Majesty is running out of time, and he is a little impatient. , forcing the Taiwei and Huang Zu to attack, resulting in a big defeat, and now I am afraid that they are planning to let the eldest prince succeed."

Cai Zan nodded and said, "That's right. Although the Taiwei and Huang Zu were defeated, Jingzhou still has strength. It could have won with Zhang Lu and Sun Quan. It's just that your majesty is too anxious. When you arrive, you will definitely want to arrange the affairs behind you."

It's not that Liu Biao is weak, but that he has too little time.With the current size of Jingzhou, it is very easy to kill Jiang Dong and Zhang Lu.

Regardless of Zhang Lu's military strength of around 50, the actual population under his rule is less than [-] households. Including the previously occupied northern part of Berkshire, the population is only [-] million, which can be described as militaristic.

Sun Quan is similar. The population under his rule seems to be three to four million, but there are hundreds of thousands of mountains, and at least half of them are controlled by aristocratic families.

Therefore, there are clearly historical records that the population of Yangzhou increased from 320 million to 430 million at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When the Eastern Wu Dynasty fell, it became 52 households with more than 200 million people.

And Liu Biaoguang's Nanyang Basin has a direct population of more than one million people, not to mention Jingzhou and Jiaozhou's combined population of more than 800 million.Counting the hundreds of thousands of villagers under his control, the food and grass provided to him are countless, and the source of soldiers is also continuous, which is almost the same as Yuan Shao on the eve of Guandu.

Therefore, if the consumption continues, the south will belong to Liu Biao sooner or later.

But it is a pity that he knows that he has no time, so he can only hand over the task of regaining the world to the next generation.

Liu Cong can't.

First, he is not a hero, and second, he is manipulated by others.

So it can only be handed over to Liu Qi.

At that time, it would be best for Liu Qi to give birth to a son, if not, just adopt Liu Cong's son in the name of the emperor.

Liu Cong's son was born to the Cai family. In order to prevent the Cai family from continuing to control the government and affect his grandson, Liu Biao finally made up his mind to get rid of Cai Mao and Kuai Yue to prevent future troubles.

But Cai Mao Kuaiyue and others naturally knew this. They were thorns in Liu Biao's eyes that hindered his great cause, but didn't they want to seize power and dominate the South?
Therefore, the intimacy between the two sides after Liu Biao entered Jingzhou at the beginning suddenly turned into opposing positions, and became enemies of life and death.

As the saying goes, the emperor regards his ministers as worthless, and the ministers regard the emperor as an enemy.If Liu Biao wanted them to die, they would never sit still.

Kuai Yue looked around the crowd coldly and said: "Everyone, Your Majesty does not want the second prince to inherit the throne, but we are closely related to the second prince. Now your majesty wants me and the Taiwei to die, but when the eldest prince succeeds, you will follow us." follow suit."

Zhang Yun said hastily: "The eldest prince and I are brothers from our maternal mother, after all, it shouldn't be like this."

"One emperor and one courtier."

Kuai Yue looked at him and said coldly: "You are close to the second prince, even if you don't kill you, do you think you can still have the power you have today?"

Zhang Yun stopped talking.

Mrs. Cai was also a ruthless character. She looked at the crowd and said, "Situ is right. Now we are all prosperous and we are all damaged. If the second prince cannot be enthroned, we will die."

"What does Situ think we should do?"

Cai Yan asked.

What Mrs. Cai saw in Liu Biao's official documents before was actually only two things.

One is to recall Cai Mao, and the other is to recall Liu Qi.

Moreover, Liu Qi secretly ordered Shen Chen to take the Huangmen soldiers and Gan Ning army to personally escort Liu Qi back.

Mrs. Cai immediately realized that something was wrong, so she approached them to discuss the matter.

Kuai Yue and the others analyzed the results of these two events.

One, recall Liu Qi.

You don't need to think about it. Liu Biao knew that time was running out, so he probably wanted to pass on the throne to Liu Qi.

Second, recalling Cai Mao is naturally an excuse to get rid of Cai Mao and him, Kuai Yue, so that Liu Qi can take over smoothly.

So they are already at the time of life and death.

Kuai Yue pondered for a long time, and said: "We should immediately send a letter to the Taiwei, asking him to find an excuse to continue to stay in Berkshire and delay time."

Cai Zan frowned and said, "Since the great defeat a few days ago, the Taiwei retreated to Jiangzhou. Jiangzhou went down the river, but it took only a few days to reach Xiangyang. Even if it is a delay, how long can it be delayed?"

"After the eldest prince receives the edict, he will send someone to ask Shen Chen Ganning to go to Jiang Xiahu to send him back to Xiangyang. The round trip will take no more than [-] days. Once the eldest prince arrives in Xiangyang, His Majesty will issue an edict to make him the prince, then we Isn't it the end of the world?"

Zhang Yun also raised objections.

"this."

Kuai Yue rubbed his temples and said, "Let me think, let me think."

"If you want me to say that it is better to send someone to intercept the messenger and intercept the letter sent to Jiangxia, as long as it is delayed for another two months, maybe your majesty will be fine."

"No, it is impossible for His Majesty to just send a messenger for such a major event, not to mention how long can this kind of matter be concealed? Not to mention two months, half a month can't be delayed, and it will cause His Majesty to be furious and act in advance."

"But don't we do anything? When the eldest prince returns to Xiangyang, His Majesty will kill the Taiwei and Situ. After the eldest prince gains power and ascends the throne, how can we be better?"

Several people discussed it, but they couldn't come up with any ideas.

After a while, Mrs. Cai said to Kuai Yue: "Situ, there is no other way?"

As soon as she said this, everyone cast their eyes on Kuai Yue again.

It was Cai Mao and Kuai Yue who made up the minds of the Cai family and the Kuai family. Now that Cai Mao is away, they can only hope that Kuai Yue will give him an idea.

Kuai Yue pondered for a long time, a flash of determination flashed in his eyes, and he said softly, "There is a way."

"any solution?"

Everyone looked at him quickly.

Kuai Yue looked around and looked at Zhang Yun.

Cai Yan and Cai Zan are cousins ​​of Cai Mao and Mrs. Cai, stakeholders.

If they overthrow the Cai family, they will also overthrow, so naturally they won't betray Kuai Yue.

But Zhang Yun is not necessarily.

After all, he is Liu Qi's cousin. If he reports meritorious service, he may be reused by Liu Qi in the future, so he has to guard against it.

So Kuai Yue said: "This method is still a little immature, let me go back and think about it carefully, I will come here first today, and you should go back as soon as possible, so as not to doubt your majesty."

"Well, Situ come up with an idea as soon as possible."

"Then let's go back first."

"Walk."

Everyone didn't think too much, so they got up and planned to leave.

But after a while, when Mrs. Cai came to the door, Cai Mao's wife said to her: "Queen, please stay, there are some things that my sister wants to tell the queen."

"You go first."

After Mrs. Cai gave some instructions, she and Cai Mao's wife went back to the back garden.

She thought it was Cai Mao's wife who was looking for her, but when she returned to the back garden, she saw that Kuai Yue hadn't left yet, and asked in surprise, "Did Situ not leave?"

Kuai Yue looked at her and said word by word: "Queen, if you want the Cai family not to lose power, Your Majesty must die early!"

"what?"

Madam Cai's eyes widened and her mouth formed an "O" shape.

She immediately understood what Kuai Yue meant.

"You're going to murder."

"Shh."

Kuai Yue said softly: "Your Majesty was seriously ill and died suddenly!"

"I see."

Mrs. Cai fixed her mind, and her eyes showed sternness: "Only if His Majesty dies, the Cai family will not fall. For the sake of the Cai family, this is the only way!"

"Leave everything to the Queen."

Kuai Yue cupped his hands and said: "If the second prince succeeds, the queen will be the empress dowager. In the future, both the Cai family and the second prince will be grateful to the queen when they rule the world!"

"it is good."

Mrs. Cai turned her head and left.

After leaving Cai Mao's mansion, she calmed down and returned to the palace.

About half an hour later, Liu Biao woke up from a drowsy sleep. He was still covered with fluff, and he was sleeping on the chair of Xiaozhu.

At this moment, he felt a little pain in his head, and he couldn't breathe. At this moment, the charming Mrs. Cai walked in with a bowl of decoction in her hand, smiling.

"Your Majesty, it's time to drink the medicine."

(End of this chapter)