Chapter 493 Cao Mengde drove the crane back to the west

In order to train Liu Chan to become a qualified and even excellent successor, Liu Bei began to take care of Liu Chan's daily life in person. In this way, three years have passed unconsciously.

In the past three years, Liu Chan has become illiterate and able to recite the four books and five scriptures and the classic works of hundreds of families. In the middle, Liu Bei regarded Liu Feng, who was a civilian, as his adopted son. Liu Bei's adopted son and parent-child names have profound meanings: Liu Feng, Liu Chan. Feng Chan, which shows that Liu Bei's ambition is extremely ambitious. For Liu Bei's lofty goal, there is no reason for Liu Bei's large and small officials to slack off, and there is no reason to lie on the merit book and sleep. They can only bury their heads and work hard.

In the past three years, Liu Bei has finally lived a life without having to run around. Most of the areas of Jingzhou and Yizhou he occupied have gained unprecedented development opportunities. And his opponent Cao Cao has been very difficult in the past three years.

Cao Cao's tightness and depression are not because of natural and man-made disasters, nor because of Liu Bei's strong rise, but because of the problem of the heir. This year, the spring was warm and the flowers were blooming, and Cao Cao also celebrated his 70th birthday. As the saying goes: seventy years have been rare. Before the age of 40, Cao Cao lived a life of ups and downs. After the age of 40, he lived a military life of hard work and danger. On such a day, Cao Cao is also a strange person to live to the age of 70.

At the age of 70, Cao Cao really felt that all aspects of his body were not as good as before. Therefore, in recent years, Cao Cao has been considering who should inherit Cao's family business? Is it the eldest son Cao Pi? The second son Cao Zhi? Or is it the brave and invincible third son Cao Zhang?

At this time, Cao Cao's side could launch a large-scale war without the Cao clan, so Cao Zhang, who was good at martial arts, was excluded by Cao Cao. The heirs of the Cao family can only be selected between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi.

Cao Cao is both civil and martial arts, and so are his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi have roughly the same talents, but in terms of temperament: Cao Pi is outward and Cao Zhi is inward.

Originally, according to the secular rules, Cao Pi was the eldest son and had the priority to inherit the throne. However, for a period of time, Cao Cao ordered all officials not to wear gorgeous clothes, but Cao Pi did not obey. This made Cao Cao extremely disappointed.

During the period when Cao Pi was out of favor, Cao Zhi performed particularly well with the help of Yang Xiu. As a result, he gradually won the favor of Cao Cao. However, after Yang Xiu was killed by Cao Cao, Cao Zhi began to behave in general.

Cao Cao also asked his advisers Sima Yi, Xun Yu, Xun You, Chen Qun, Cui Dan and others about the heirs' questions. In the face of this problem, only the poisoner Jia Xu did not express his opinion, and the rest of the people frankly said their thoughts to Cao Cao. Results: Half of them supported Cao Pi and half of them supported Cao Zhi. However, although Cao Zhi is Chen Qun's son-in-law, Chen Qun still recommends Cao Pi to Cao according to his own understanding.

Because Cao Cao did not announce who was the heir in time, most of the officials and generals began to divide into two groups to support Cao Pi and Cao Zhi respectively. This situation was beyond Cao Cao's control. But in the dark, Cao Cao felt that in a hundred years, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi would definitely fight for power.

The fight between brothers will definitely consume the strength of the Cao Group. If Liu Bei took advantage of the fire at that time... Cao Cao thought of this place and had a splitting headache.

In the past three years, Cao Cao and Liu Bei have stopped, and the small actions of Jiangdong Group have been continuous: the two factions facing each other under the command of Taishi Ci, the King of Wu - the main attack Jingzhou faction led by Zhuge Jin and the main attack Cao Cao faction led by Gan Ning have been out of the control of the King of Wu, and went to Jingzhou respectively. Launched a small-scale offensive with the Qingzhou boundary.

Zhuge Jing led his troops to take Jiangling County, and was finally blocked by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's attack by the Jiangdong Army. During the confrontation, Cheng Pu, a veteran general in Jiangdong, relapsed from his old wounds and died. On Liu Bei's side, the fierce general Wei Yan was lucky to enter the innate realm in the fierce battle and became a super fierce general. This change was unexpected by Zhuge Jin.

In the face of the fierce attack of the Jiangdong army, Zhuge Liang rearranged in time and dispatched troops to transfer the super generals Zhang Ren and Yan Yan back to Yizhou and send Liao Hua to Jingzhou. In this way, four super generals, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and Liao Hua, presided over the war in Jingzhou. After a bloody battle, Guan Yu and other generals recaptured Jiangling County and completely defeated the Jiangdong Army led by Zhuge Jin.

The Jiangdong Army lost in the battlefield of Jingzhou, but in the boundary of Qingzhou, it defeated Cao's army. This Jiangdong army was led by Gan Ning and assisted by Gao Shun, Surman and other generals. Even if Zhang Liao and Cao Zhang led the army to fight against it, they were not their opponents. After a bloody battle, the Jiangdong army forced Cao's army to retreat to Xuzhou. Therefore, the area near the sea in Qingzhou belongs to Jiangdong Group from south to north.

With the opening of the north-south channel, Sun Zan, the herdsman of Youzhou, also secretly went to Yangzhou to meet Tai Shici, the king of Wu. At this time, the former captain was already the title of the prince, and Tai Shici's official rank was three levels higher than that of Gongsun Zan. However, when the two meet, they are still called brothers.

So far, the connection between Youzhou and Jiangdong Group has become closer.

A year later, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Tai Shici reached an agreement: the three forces of the three parties shall not conclude an alliance; when any two parties go to war, the third party shall not intervene and play evil hands behind their backs.

This unwritten agreement took effect, and Cao Cao gathered 500,000 troops again and attacked Liu Bei from the south and the west. At this time, after several years of development, Liu Bei's troops also reached 200,000.

As four years ago, the two sides once again deadlocked in the battlefield of Runan, Jingzhou, regardless of victory or defeat. However, in the Western battlefield, Cao Cao's army was divided into three ways: attacking Wudu City from Tianshui City, Pingyang Pass from Chencang, and Wuzhangyuan from Mei City.

The battle lasted for a year: Sima Yi's leader successfully captured Wudu City. When they attacked Mianzhu Pass, they were resisted by Liu Bei's army. Originally, in Sima Yi's expectation, as long as he took Mianzhu Pass, he could attack Hanzhong County from behind. However, Zhuge Liang personally led the elite soldiers and strong generals. Relying on the strength of Xiongguan, he successfully repelled the wave-like attacks of Cao's army again and again. Xia Houyuan led the attack of Pingyang Pass. After paying the lives of nearly 100,000 soldiers, Xiahou Yuan One finally captured Pingyang Pass; while Cao Cao personally led the army to attack Wuzhangyuan, but was stubbornly resisted by Liu Bei's army.

As the two sides readjusted their military deployment, Cao Cao suddenly had a stroke during the command and fell into a deep coma. Cao Cao's stroke was unconscious, and the Cao army on all battlefields could only stop the fierce attack and retreat gradually and orderly while consolidating the fruits of victory.

When Sima Yi left the Mianzhuguan battlefield, Zhuge Liang led his troops to launch a counterattack and recapture Wudu City in one fell swoop. Of course, for Tianshui City, in order to preserve his strength, Zhuge Liang did not make a bold move. After that, Zhuge Liang also rushed to Wuzhangyuan overnight to discuss countermeasures with Liu Bei.

When Liu Bei saw Zhuge Liang, he said his doubts to Zhuge Liang: Originally, Liu Bei was unable to resist the attack of Cao's army. Just when Liu Bei's army was exhausted, the wave-like Cao army suddenly retreated silently...

Zhuge Liang analyzed according to the situation and Cao Cao's physical condition: It is estimated that there is something wrong with Cao Cao's body... Huang Zhong said: When are we still waiting? We should take the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Before Zhuge Liang replied, Jiang Wan, a young counselor, said to Huang Zhong: General Huang, if there is an ordinary army, we can completely take the opportunity to fight back, but Cao Cao's army can't deal with it like that, because the mourners will win...

When Zhuge Liang heard the words, he nodded approvingly to Jiang Wan. Huang Zhong originally wanted to refute Jiang Wan. He thought that a smelly young man knew nothing. But when he saw that Zhuge Liang actually agreed with Jiang Wan's statement, he could only hold the words back from his throat to his stomach.

Liu Bei looked like a godless master, and he looked at Zhuge Liang eagerly. Zhuge Liang looked into the distance and just shook the fan and said, "Master, don't worry too much. Liang predicts that Cao Mengde will not be able to pass this test... If Cao Mengde does not forcibly launch this war, it is estimated that he will live for at least another five years! In order to avoid the worries of the heirs, Cao Mengde launched a battle against us..."

When Liu Bei heard the words, he nodded as if he understood something. He has a deep understanding of the problems that Cao Cao encountered: because he is also having a headache for his heirs at this time, because he can see that his son is a second ancestor, and the mud can't hold on the wall... But what about Cao Cao? Although all the sons are excellent, they face the trouble of fighting for power and profit...

In this year's battle, Cao's army lost nearly 20 soldiers and horses, and Liu Bei's side also lost nearly 100,000 elite soldiers and strong generals. Cao Cao used the tactic of "self-injurying eight hundred and injuring one thousand enemies" to deal with Liu Bei regardless of his blood. For this reason, Cao Cao hopes to get a few years of stability. During this stable period, Cao Cao Group successfully survived the internal power struggle.

When Sima Yi and others sent Cao Cao back to Luoyang City, Cao Cao was still unconscious. As candidates for the heirs, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are waiting in front of Cao Cao's sickbed day and night. For several days, the two of them have stayed up late and their eyes are red, and their eye bags are red and swollen.

On this day, Cao Cao, who was in a coma, opened his eyes strangely after gasping for a while. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were very surprised to see this, but the imperial doctor beside them shook his head sadly.

When Sima Yi, Jia Xu, Xun Yu and others came to visit Cao Cao, Cao Cao suppressed his severe headache and talked to them easily. Sima Yi and others saw the imperial doctor's face and knew that this was Cao Cao's return.

When Cao Cao was most sober, Cao Cao personally confirmed that Cao Pi was the successor of the Cao family. At the same time, Cao Cao hoped that the Cao family must support Cao Pi as if they supported him. If the Cao family is chaotic, they will be coveted by strong enemies. At that time, their own graves will not be at peace...

At that time, Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Xiahou's uncle and nephew and others all vowed to support Cao Pi. Finally, when Cao Cao was dying, Cao Cao talked about his arrangement for more than a dozen wives and concubines: let them continue to live in Tongquetai, hoping that they will continue to maintain a diligent and thrifty style and not be excessively extravagant... At the same time, Cao Cao distributed the spices he had collected for many years to his wives and concubines, so that they could use spices to make shoes and continue to eat for themselves. The life of strength...

Cao Cao closed his eyes and said all this with tears in his eyes. Finally, he slowly swallowed and died! At this time, Emperor Xian had just arrived at the ward. When Emperor Xian heard the bad news of Cao Cao's death, he suddenly cried sadly...

At the moment when Cao Cao died, Guo Jia, who was happily talking and laughing with Taishi Ci, the king of Wu, suddenly felt a palpitation. Guo Jia frowned slightly and pinched his fingers. Finally, he said to Tai Shici with a sad expression, "King of Wu, Cao Mengde, the king of Wei, has passed away..."

Tai Shici and others were stunned when they heard the words. After that, under the gaze of everyone, Guo Jia put up an incense case in the north. After Guo Jia lit three sticks of incense with a solemn expression, he knelt down three times in the distance of incense in the north in sobbing, to commemorate Cao Cao's death, and thanked Cao Cao Cao for his kindness and cultivation!