Chapter 348: I let Liu Bei play tricks on me? You have to take the blame! The lips and teeth are interdependent, saving Wei is saving ourselves!
At this moment, Yuan Shang's expression was not only shock, but also a kind of deep confusion.

It was as if he had heard something illogical, beyond his understanding, and extremely bizarre and strange.

He's not the only one.

Sima Yi, Shen Pei, Ju Shou and Tian Feng all looked shocked and bewildered, as if they were having an illusion.

Aren't Liu Bei and his 170,000 troops currently in Hongnong, attacking Tongguan by both land and sea?
How come he suddenly appeared in Liyang for no apparent reason?
How could the attack on Liyang and the attack on Tongguan, two completely unrelated things, be magically linked together?
Inside the hall, everyone's mouth opened wide in shock.

The next moment, there was a loud explosion.

"Liu Bei clearly wanted to attack Qin and was clearly attacking Tongguan, so how could he have surrounded Liyang?"

"The intelligence must be wrong. How could the Chu army appear in Liyang?"

"How is this possible? This doesn't make sense!"

Voices of astonishment and questioning suddenly arose one after another.

Yuan Shang suddenly came to his senses, jumped up without saying a word, walked down the stairs a few steps and snatched the letter from the guard's hand.

The letter was indeed written by Yuan Tan, and it was indeed a letter asking for help.

The letter did not explain the cause and effect, only saying that the Chu navy suddenly came from upstream, transported 70,000 Chu troops to land on the north bank, and captured the Liyang ferry in one fell swoop.

Yuan Tan had few soldiers and was unable to stop the enemy, so he could only lead his troops to retreat to Liyang. He was asked to lead the main force of the army south immediately to lift the siege of Liyang.

"The big-eared thief was clearly attacking Qin, so why did he suddenly take a naval warship and return to Liyang?"

"Zhongda, what is going on?"

Yuan Shang's expression of surprise became even more gloomy, and he turned his blade-like gaze towards Sima Yi.

There was a clear sense of resentment and blame gradually emerging from his eyes.

After all, the entire plan to induce Liu Bei to attack Qin was all the work of Sima Yi.

Now Liu Bei suddenly turned back and unexpectedly broke through the Yellow River defense line. His army rushed to the north bank and besieged Liyang.

This unexpected upheaval, this sudden turn of events, how could you, Sima Yi, not give me a reasonable explanation?

A bead of sweat rolled down Sima Yi's forehead, and his calm and composed demeanor was silently filled with a sense of guilt.

With his intelligence, he had obviously guessed the truth from Yuan Tan's emergency document.

"Could it be that the eldest son guessed that the king wanted to deal with him and did not dare to come to Yecheng, so he lied about military intelligence in order to disrupt the king's plan?"

Sima Yi did not dare to reveal the truth. Instead, he held on to a glimmer of hope and made a self-deceiving guess.

Yuan Shang's eyes lit up slightly, and the astonishment and anger on his face faded a little, as if a little hope was rekindled.

"impossible!"

"If the eldest son lies about military intelligence, wouldn't that lead the king to lead the main force to rescue Liyang? If Liu Bei's army doesn't come to attack, wouldn't it be a good excuse to arrest him for lying about military intelligence?"

"Even if the eldest son knew that the king wanted to capture him, he would not be so stupid as to resort to such a desperate measure and accelerate his own demise!"

Ju Su's tone was firm and stern, shattering Yuan Shang's lucky dreams.

Then he pointed to the south, his face extremely solemn and said:
"From the current situation, Sima Zhongda, your plan must have been discovered by Xiao Fang."

"Liu Bei's high-profile attack on Qin was a strategy that would allow him to gather troops and transport food and grass in a natural way."

"We were paralyzed by them, mistakenly thinking that Liu Bei was lured to attack Qin, and we thought we could rest easy. Your Majesty even took away half of Chunyu Qiong's troops to deal with Yuan Tan, leaving Liyang City empty-handed, and our defense line on the north bank of the Yellow River was useless."

"At this time, Liu Bei took advantage of the opportunity to attack Qin and openly transferred his navy into the Yellow River right under our noses and to Hongnong."

"Liu Bei took advantage of my unpreparedness and sent his army on naval warships, taking the Yellow River route to attack Liyang unexpectedly before our spies could deliver intelligence!"

"My king, from the very beginning, Liu Bei's target was our Great Wei!"

"From beginning to end, we were played around by Xiao Fang!"

Ju Su did not have any chance of success. He revealed the cruel truth that Sima Yi was unwilling to tell and put it in front of Yuan Shang.

Sima Yi's body swayed slightly and he shuddered. The guilt that he had been suppressing was revealed on his face at this moment.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and with a nervous and guilty look in his eyes, he glanced at Yuan Shang stealthily.

The letter in Yuan Shang's hand fell out of his hand.

The body that had been so domineering just now seemed to be in a bottomless icy abyss, solidified into an ice sculpture.

His face was frozen in a moment of shock and astonishment.

The next moment, astonishment turned into anger.

"Sima Zhongda——"

Yuan Shang woke up in shock, his face distorted and he looked at Sima Yi fiercely with extreme anger and disappointment.

All the previous praise and admiration, such as "the orphan's son's room", were now completely forgotten by him.

At this time, Yuan Shang was almost angrily questioning Sima Yi:
What kind of bullshit plan did you come up with?

Liu Bei and Xiao Fang, the chief ministers, were playing tricks on me like a monkey, and you didn't realize it?
However, Yuan Shang swallowed back these hurtful words and did not say them out loud in front of everyone.

Sima Yi's strategy was one that he approved of. The proposal to deal with Yuan Tan was proposed by Shen Pei. Although the strategy of winning over Chunyu Qiong and reducing Yuan Tan's troops came from Sima Yi, he also praised him.

If he reprimanded Sima Yi in public, wouldn't that be tantamount to slapping himself in the face?
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The siege of Liyang was indeed caused by my miscalculation."

"Today I finally understand why the late king was defeated by Liu Bei, and why seniors like Xu You, Feng Ji, Xin Ping, etc. died in Xiao Fang's scheme."

"I finally understand that even Lord Ju and other powerful men are no match for Xiao Fang!"

"This man's cunning schemes are rare in ancient and modern times. I am ashamed to be inferior to him!"

Sima Yi understood Yuan Shang's thoughts and took the initiative to blame himself and take the responsibility on his own shoulders. However, he did not take the blame for nothing, and took the opportunity to drag Yuan Shao's loss of Henan, the death of Xu You and other counselors, and even Ju Su into it.

What I meant was that even Yuan Shao and so many of your famous counselors were defeated by Liu Bei and Xiao Fang's brilliant strategies. Isn't it normal that I, Sima Yi, a young junior, failed to see through Xiao Fang's schemes?

As soon as he said this, Sima Yi immediately put himself in an invincible position, and no one could blame him anymore.

Shen Pei, who originally wanted to take the opportunity to question him, had to swallow the words back when they came to his lips.

Seeing that he took the initiative to take the blame, Yuan Shang was quite satisfied, and the resentment he had just felt disappeared.

"Forget it, forget it. Xiao Fang is known as the Sage of Strategy. He is cunning and deceitful, and everyone knows it."

"Zhongda, your plan is not bad, but it's a pity that you ran into Xiao Fang. It's not surprising that he saw through it."

Yuan Shang waved his hand and completely suppressed his resentment towards Sima Yi.

Sima Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed:

"Your Majesty, now that the matter has been settled, the most important thing for us is to mend the situation."

"Although Liu Bei has broken through our Liyang defense line, fortunately Liyang City is strong, and Yuan Tan still has 15,000 soldiers and horses, so we can barely hold on."

"I think that Your Majesty should mobilize all your troops and march south to Liyang immediately, cooperate with Yuan Tan to attack from both inside and outside, and drive Liu Bei back to the south of the Yellow River!"

Yuan Shang's spirits perked up slightly, and he shouted vigorously:

"Follow Zhongda's plan. Pass on my order and gather troops immediately. Within two days, I will march south to lift the siege of Liyang!"

All the ministers were in high spirits and obeyed the orders.

"Your Majesty, I think that the Wei Kingdom alone is no longer able to repel the invasion of the Pseudo-Chu Kingdom!"

"I think that Your Majesty should quickly send an envoy to the Pseudo-Qin to form an alliance with Cao Cao, explain to him the principle of the lips and teeth being cold, and order him to march east through Tongguan to attack the enemy in Luoyang!"

"In this way, even if we cannot force Liu Bei to return, we can at least force him to withdraw troops to reinforce the defense of Hongnong and Luoyang, so as to reduce the pressure on our Wei!"

Tian Feng, who had been silent all this time, stepped forward at this time and offered a suggestion.

Yuan Shang frowned, but looked hesitant.

Back then, Cao Cao was like a stray dog, driven out of the Central Plains by his Yuan family and driven to a corner of Guanzhong.

Now his Yuan family is facing life and death, and he, the new head of the Yuan family, has to beg Cao Cao for an alliance and ask him to send troops to rescue?

Where to put the face...

"The world is divided into three parts. Chu is strong while Wei and Qin are weak. If Wei is swallowed by Chu, how can Qin survive alone?"

"With the insight of Cao Cao and his ministers, it is impossible for them not to see the truth that the lips and teeth are cold. As long as the king is willing to lower his posture and ask for help, Cao Cao will send troops!"

"Your Majesty, now is the time for the survival of our Wei Dynasty. Don't worry about your face anymore."

Tian Feng tapped the ground with his cane and persuaded excitedly.

Yuan Shang's heart trembled, and he could only grit his teeth helplessly:

"Forget it. As the King of Wei, I have to take it as my responsibility to protect the survival of the people of Wei. What does it matter if I sacrifice a little face?"

"Follow Yuan Hao's plan and quickly send an envoy to Qin to ask Cao Cao for help!"

...

Tongguan.

The hall was in an uproar, with noisy discussions ringing in the ears.

"Liu Bei mobilized his army and started a war, but it turned out to be a trick to attack the west while making a feint to the east!"

"Just to transfer the navy to Hongnong, and then attack Liyang by water!"

"What a big situation! Even I was deceived and led by him!"

"Xiao Fang, this is probably another masterpiece of yours..."

Cao Cao, sitting on the throne, looked at Yuan Shang's letter of alliance and request for assistance in his hand, shaking his head continuously and sighing.

Besides being shocked, I also felt a little helpless.

"I should have thought of this earlier. How could Xiao Fang, who is known as a strategist, fall into Yuan Shang's trap so easily?"

"This time, Yuan Shang has shot himself in the foot!"

Guo Jia also shook his head and sighed, his sarcastic tone showing helplessness.

Then he changed the subject and bowed:

"The strength of the Pseudo-Chu State is already stronger than our Qin and Wei States. If Liu Bei swallows up Wei State, the strength of the Pseudo-Chu State will expand to an unimaginable level!"

"By then, I'm afraid that the Qin Empire alone will not be able to resist!"

"Your Majesty, I believe that if one person is as good as the other, his teeth will be as weak as the other. Saving Wei is saving ourselves. We cannot sit back and watch the pseudo-Wei fall. We must immediately go east through Tongguan and take advantage of the opportunity to attack Hongnong and Luoyang!"

All the counselors and generals agreed, and they all advocated sending troops immediately to rescue Wei and attack the flank of Chu.

Cao Cao's eyes became more and more determined. When he was about to make a decision, he found that Jia Xu remained silent and did not express his opinion.

Cao Cao stopped talking and asked, "Wenhe, do you agree that I should send troops to rescue Wei?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Jia Xu.

Jia Xu coughed dryly a few times, stroked his white beard and said:
"Your Majesty, I think the fake Wei is beyond redemption. Why not take advantage of the situation to attack Shu and take over Yizhou?"

(End of this chapter)