Chapter 343: You don't want to pick on the weak, but you want to pick on my hard bone. Are you sick? To resist foreign aggression, you must first stabilize the country!
Chang'an, Qin Palace.

On the throne, Cao Cao was listening to Cheng Yu's report with a frown on his face.

"According to my spies, rumors are spreading in Xuchang, saying that Liu Bei is about to mobilize all his troops and march west to attack our Qin!"

"According to reports from our spies in the Guandong states, the Chu troops are gathering towards Henan Yin and Nanyang."

"The grain and grass originally stored in Baima and the cities of Puyang were also being transferred to the above two places."

"Based on the current intelligence, we can infer that the Pseudo-Chu is about to launch an attack on our Great Qin!"

"Your Majesty, we need to be on guard."

After Cheng Yu read out the intelligence, he made a request with a serious look.

There was a lot of discussion in the hall, and all the Qin officials were shocked by the news.

"Yuan Shao's life and death are unknown, Yuan Shang forcibly succeeded to the throne, Yuan Tan gathered troops in Liyang, and the pseudo-Wei Central Plains has not recovered from the battle."

"No matter how you look at it, the Pseudo-Wei is at its weakest right now, and its strength is far inferior to that of my Great Qin."

"If Liu Bei can't see this, how can Xiao Fang not see it?"

"Why didn't he ask Liu Bei to attack the fake Wei, but chose to take the difficult path and tackle the hard bone of the Qin?"

Cao Cao pointed and tapped the table, his brows furrowed, his eyes full of confusion.

The ministers looked at each other, with suspicion and confusion in their eyes.

Obviously before this, they had all decided that Liu Bei's battle to unify the world would begin with an expedition to the north to attack Wei.

But the intelligence showed that Liu Bei was about to attack Qin.

This caused Cao Cao and his ministers to make wrong judgments and were all confused.

The ministers were discussing the issue, but there was only one man with half white hair and beard who was kneeling in a corner with his eyes closed, neither expressing his opinion nor joining the discussion.

"Jia Wenhe, what do you think about this?"

Cao Cao took the initiative to name the poisonous scholar.

After all, he doesn't keep any idle people under his command. Everyone is offering suggestions and advice. Why should you, Jia Xu, stay out of it?
Jia Xu, who was named, had to open his eyes and coughed a few times:

"Your Majesty, I don't have any unique insights into this matter, but there is one thing that I find a little strange and I really can't understand it."

Cao Cao's eyes moved slightly, and he asked:

"What strange things are there? What else can't you, Jia Wenhe, figure out? Tell me about it."

Jia Xu then stood up, bowed slightly and said:
"I accidentally noticed a piece of intelligence a while ago, claiming that our army repeatedly invaded Hongnong County, burning, killing and looting, and even massacring an entire county town."

"I was curious at the time. Why did the king send troops to invade the pseudo-Chu for no reason? Could it be that the king intended to attack Chu?"

"But I think the king is a man of foresight, and there must be other reasons for doing so, so I did not delve further into it at that time."

"Today Liu Bei intends to invade our Great Qin. I can't help but think of this matter. Could it be that we sent troops to invade Hongnong and slaughtered its border residents, which angered Liu Bei?"

Jia Xu did not state his views directly, but pretended to be confused and bewildered, and every sentence he said was misleading.

Cao Cao's heart was shaken, and his eyes shot towards Guo Jia:

"When did I send troops to invade Hongnong County? Fengxiao, do you really have such information?"

Guo Jia was so smart that he had already heard the implication from Jia Xu's words.

After his eyes rolled a few times, a gleam of light suddenly flashed.

"Your Majesty, what Jia Wenhe said is true, and we do have relevant intelligence, but our border troops have not sent a single soldier to invade Hongnong!"

Guo Jia said firmly.

Cao Cao frowned again, puzzled:

"Since our army has never invaded Hongnong, why do we have such information?"

Guo Jia's face flashed with sarcasm, and he sneered:

"In addition to this information, there have been rumors in Nanyang and Luoyang that our Great Qin and the pseudo-Wei have formed an alliance."

"Once the Chu army attacks Wei, Your Majesty will take advantage of the situation to send troops to capture Luoyang and Nanyang, and attack the rear of the pseudo-Chu army."

"Now it seems that this must be Yuan Shang's trick!"

Cao Cao's heart was shocked. He seemed to understand but not quite.

Cheng Yu suddenly realized and said:
"I understand. Liu Bei must have planned to attack the pseudo-Wei first!"

"Yuan Shang was frightened, so he deliberately sent troops to disguise as our army, crossed the river from Hedong and invaded Hongnong, burning, killing and looting to provoke Liu Bei."

"As for the news of our country's alliance with the Pseudo-Wei, it must have been deliberately spread by the Pseudo-Wei spies to guide the public opinion of the Pseudo-Chu and arouse their hatred towards our Great Qin."

"Yuan Shang's purpose is to provoke Liu Bei and make him change his mind about attacking Wei, and instead march west to attack our Great Qin!"

After some analysis and speculation, the two strategists finally deduced the truth behind the scenes.

Cao Cao suddenly realized and snorted:

"I see. I didn't expect Yuan Shang to resort to such a treacherous scheme and even massacre the entire city. He is truly cruel. I wonder who did this?"

Guo Jia's thoughts raced, but he said:
"Given the character of Ju Su and Tian Feng, they would not come up with such a vicious plan."

"Guo Tu was in Liyang following Yuan Tan, so it was impossible for him to offer advice to Yuan Shang, and Yuan Shang would not listen to his advice."

"As for Shen Pei, he is a man of few ideas and would never have thought of such a scheme."

"Jia also couldn't think of anyone under Yuan Shang's command who could have such a wise plan."

The Qin monarch and his ministers fell into speculation and suspicion.

At this time.

Liu Ye suddenly opened his mouth and said:

"Although Yuan Shang's plan is cunning and sinister, how could Xiao Fang be fooled by it?"

The hall suddenly fell silent, and everyone was shocked. Yes, that Xiao Fang, the strategist!
Everyone present, whether it was Guo Jia or Cheng Yu, admitted that his wisdom was superior to theirs.

Still far above me!

Even they could see that this was Yuan Shang's trick. Could it be that Xiao Fang couldn't see it?

Otherwise, why didn't he dissuade Liu Bei and instead launched an attack on the Qin State in anger?
You know, Liu Bei listened to Xiao Fangyan's advice. As long as Xiao Fang advised him, there was no reason for Liu Bei not to listen.

Could it be that Xiao Fang really miscalculated this time?

The same thought came to everyone's mind at the same time.

"Perhaps, this time, the country bumpkin finally miscalculated, and it's not impossible..."

After much thought, Cao Cao could only come to this conclusion.

However, Guo Jia's eyes were filled with suspicion and he shook his head.
"Based on my understanding of Xiao Fang, he has been very meticulous in his planning and has never failed since he came out to assist Liu Bei!"

"I find it hard to believe that he would miscalculate this time and fall into Yuan Shang's trap."

"I am afraid that Xiao Fang has other plans."

There is another plan!

Hearing these four words, Cao Cao's heart trembled and he became alert.

"However, with my wisdom, I really can't figure out what Xiao Fang is thinking right now."

Guo Jia changed the subject, but his brows were furrowed again, with a look of helplessness in his eyes.

Inside the hall, the counselors started discussing again.

"Now that things have come to this, even if we figure out Xiao Fang's intentions, what can we do?"

Cao Cao slammed the table and waved his hands helplessly:

"The big-eared thief is determined to invade our Great Qin. This is an inevitable trend. All we can do is to stop him with our troops and block him with earth."

"Pass on my order, gather the troops, and prepare to follow me to Tongguan to stop the big-eared thief!"

The ministers shook their heads and sighed, and had no choice but to obey the order.

...

It was late spring.

A letter to the soldiers and civilians in Guanzhong was written by Zhuge Liang, sent from Xuchang to Guanlong, and posted in all cities overnight.

This manifesto listed Cao Cao's numerous crimes, including holding the emperor hostage, usurping the Han Dynasty and committing treason, and slaughtering the people. It called on the people of Guanzhong to rise up against Cao Cao's rule and respond to the Chu army's attack on Qin.

Five days after the announcement, Liu Bei personally led the main force of the Chu army of 150,000 from Xuchang in the north to Luoyang, and then marched westward into Hongnongjun and headed towards Tongguan.

At the same time, the navy led by Taishi Ci, Wen Pin and others also entered the Yellow River from the Qingxu coast in advance, and went westward along the river to Luoyang.

A total of 170,000 troops advanced by land and sea and rushed towards Guanzhong.

The war against Qin seemed to have already begun.

...

Yecheng, Wei Palace.

"Liu Bei led an army of 170,000 men by land and sea and has advanced to Hongnong. The conquest of Qin is a foregone conclusion!"

"Cao Cao has also mobilized his entire army to defend Tongguan."

"The war between Chu and Wei should happen in the next few days."

Ju Su read out all the latest intelligence from the south.

There was a sudden burst of joy in the hall.

From Yuan Shang to Shen Pei, the nerves of the pseudo-Wei monarchs and ministers, which had been tense for several months, finally relaxed completely at this moment.

"Zhongda, your plan worked!"

"Liu Bei has really fallen into your trap and has been led to attack the fake Qin by your scheme. Our Great Wei finally has a chance to catch its breath!"

Yuan Shang was overjoyed, looked at Sima Yi with great admiration, and praised him:
"Zhongda, I was right about you. You are really my Zifang!"

"It seems that Xiao Fang's nemesis has finally appeared. In this world, only you, Sima Zhongda, can compete with that country bumpkin!"

Yuan Shang was so overjoyed that he did not care about the feelings of his other counselors and praised Sima Yi to the point that he could compete with Xiao Fang.

A gleam of light flashed in Sima Yi's eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

Naturally, he did not dare to show off his achievements, and had to be humble in public, all of which was attributed to Yuan Shang's wisdom and strategy.

Yuan Shang felt comfortable with the flattery, so he laughed and praised Sima Yi again.

The master and the servant started to flatter each other.

Ju Shou and Tian Feng stopped talking, stroked their thin beards and nodded slightly, revealing a bit of admiration for Sima Yi.

Shen Pei secretly curled his lips. Seeing that Sima Yi was in favor and was about to replace him, he naturally felt uncomfortable.

"Your Majesty, now that the big-eared thief has gone to attack Qin, we have a precious chance to catch our breath."

"I think that Your Majesty should accomplish two things while Liu Bei and Cao Cao are at a stalemate."

"Only in this way can the king lead his troops south in the future, conquer the Central Plains, wipe out the Qin and Chu countries, unify the world, and establish our Great Wei Dynasty!"

Shen Pei was not willing to be outdone, and immediately began to make an impassioned speech and paint a rosy picture for Yuan Shang.

Yuan Shang was filled with passion and hurriedly asked Shen Pei what the two things were about.

"The first thing to do is to recruit soldiers and rebuild our army."

Shen Pei calmly told the first thing, and then his eyes suddenly became grim:
"This second thing is even more crucial."

"To fight against foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. Your Majesty should eliminate Yuan Tan, the hidden danger, and bring the four states of Hebei under your true control!"

(End of this chapter)