Chapter 481 The alliance deal is completed
"The matters of Degui have been arranged long ago, and you can do things as usual."
Cao Cao pulled his thoughts back, looked at Xi Zhong, and asked again: "Zhicai, what do you think Liu Zisheng's proposal is like?"
Xi Zhong glanced at Cao Cao. He and Cao Cao had similar temperaments, so he naturally understood the other party’s thoughts very well and knew that the other party was moved.
If you think about it carefully, the conditions that Liu Feng had set up were actually just one Xiangyang City away from Cao Cao's bottom line.
Now Liu Feng is willing to ced Fancheng to Cao Cao, which means he even gave up half of Xiangyang City. It can be seen that the other party was really forced to the corner. Cao Cao was also worried that he would force Liu Feng to anger and slapped him and parted.
Cao Cao knew very well that Liu Feng was just worried that he would switch to Yuan Shao.
But Liu Feng didn't know that there were a lot of problems between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. The two of them had a good friend before and had a deep relationship. But no matter how deep the relationship is, it cannot withstand the two of them in both directions.
Not to mention anything else, Cao Cao alone gave Yuan Shao eye medicine several times after becoming the general to assist in the administration.
Joining forces with Liu Feng were forced to pay tribute to the emperor, Chen Bing Dahe stumbling to Yuan Shao, secretly colluded with Zhang Yan, the Heishan Army, and hindered Yuan Shao from going north to attack Gongsun Zan.
With these things one by one, Yuan Benchu had long wanted to bite Cao Mengde to death behind his back. If you really want to commit to it, Cao Cao will have a hard life. There is a high probability that Yuan Shao will be forced to be cannon fodder and will first face the Liu family's father and son.
Therefore, neither Cao Cao nor Liu Feng wanted to break the alliance, but just wanted to try his best to gain benefits. This is also one of the fundamental reasons why whoever is weak is better able to gain the upper hand in negotiations.
Xi Zhong pondered for a moment and said, "General Zuo's sincerity is revealed. I think the lord will take it as the best. The day before yesterday, news came from Hebei that Yuan Benchu had a 100,000 army heading north to attack Yi County. The former general may be in danger this time."
A trace of gloom flashed across Cao Cao's face. Gongsun Zan was the most powerful restraint on Yuan Shao. Gongsun Zan still survived for a day, and Yuan Shao would not dare to go to Henan for a day.
Previously, Yecheng had sneak attacks and destroyed the city for Yu Du and Zhang Yan. The death of the Hebei generals' families was not far away from each other, and Yuan Shao dared not repeat the same mistake again.
After hearing Xi Zhong's words, Cao Cao nodded slowly to show his agreement, but his eyebrows were still a little reluctant: "Xiangyang is the place where Liu Jingsheng's foundation is in business, and the inventory is extremely abundant. It is reported that the grain in the warehouse alone has more than three million stones, not to mention other weapons, cloth, silk, forage, weapons, armor, iron tools, agricultural tools, etc., all of which are full of boxes and full of granaries and full of warehouses."
Xi Zhong is so smart that Cao Cao can say so clearly, so he will naturally not be unable to understand.
Cao Cao was obviously heartbroken by the food and food resources in Xiangyang City and wanted to share the money, but the reason why he was not clear was that he was worried that he would touch Liu Feng's bottom line. After all, he had almost no loss, so he had a whole Nanyang County in vain and took Fancheng away, which was divided equally with Liu Feng's danger of the Han River.
If it were Cao Cao himself, he felt that it would be too much of a bully to continue speaking on materials. But if so many supplies are placed in front of you, I feel unwilling to accept it if I don’t test it.
In the contradiction, I could only ask my confidant planner.
Xi Zhong turned a decisive approach: "No."
"Why?"
Cao Cao was surprised. He didn't expect Xi Zhong's attitude to be so firm.
"Master, you can do one or two, not another."
Xi Zhong advised: "The general situation of Liu Zisheng has been completed. The lord's plan to seize Nanyang this time is to seize food from a tiger's mouth. Now that things have been done, don't be greedy and gain more and more. Don't forget, lord, you need to join forces with the Liu family to fight against Hebei in the future."
When Cao Cao heard this, he fell into deep thought. After a moment, he nodded and agreed, "What Zhicai said is the right reason, and I am greedy."
Immediately, Cao Cao decided to say, "Since that's the case, we will divide Jingbei according to Liu Zisheng's plan."
Cao Cao was strong and decisive, and once he made a decision, he immediately put it into practice. On the one hand, he sent Xi Lu to the country again and reached a contract with Liu Feng. On the other hand, he secretly went to Xiangyang with Xi Zhicai as an envoy.
Now that he and Liu Feng have agreed, he still need to convince Cai Mao if he wants to do specific actions.
Only by controlling the military force in Xiangyang City can we take Xiangyang without bloodshed. Liu Feng will definitely not want an empty Xiangyang, let alone a white Xiangyang.
From Cao Cao's perspective, if Liu Feng can give up the entire Nanyang County and a Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River, he must have Cao Cao help him take Xiangyang, otherwise why would he give you such great benefits?
So is this problem difficult?
For Cao Cao, it is actually not difficult at all.
As long as Cai Mao agrees, Xiangyang is within his reach.
And will Cai Mao agree?
Cao Cao believed that Cai Mao would be very satisfied with the treatment of a marquis of the court and the court officials.
**
Before Xi Zhong entered Xiangyang, someone had already cleared everything for him.
Cai Mao was secretly satisfied when he heard the arrival of Xizhong.
Xi Zhong was Cao Cao's planner, and many people knew about this.
At present, Cao Cao sent Xi Zhong to Xiangyang to contact him secretly. In Cai Mao's opinion, it was obvious that Cao Cao realized his value.
Cai Mao’s judgment is indeed correct, but it has a certain bias.
"Mr. Cao wants me to cooperate with Liu Zisheng to control Xiangyang!?"
Cai Mao almost screamed in surprise, looking at the slightly thin Xi Zhong in front of him with a puzzled face, and even the promised conditions of the other party turned a deaf ear.
"Not bad."
Xi Zhong nodded affirmatively, and he had no strange expression at all for Cai Mao's shock, obviously he had expected it.
Cai Mao was stunned. He always thought that no matter whether Cao Cao could mediate successfully or not, Xiangyang City would inevitably fall into Cao Cao's hands. He never thought that Cao Cao would give up the fat in his mouth.
If Xi Zhong was not the most capable planner around Cao Cao, he might have tied up the other party and sent it back to Cao Cao.
"How could this be so?"
Cai Mao felt a little nervous. He colluded with Cao Cao on his back and even betrayed Xiangyang. He felt no guilt, because he believed that he could bring benefits to Liu Biao and Xiangyang.
Not to mention anything else, Cai Mao was sure to win Liu Biao the position of the Nine Ministers.
In this chaotic situation, the nine ministers are naturally far from being able to compete with the governor of the state.
But now Liu Biao has lost again and again, and seven out of ten of the entire Jingzhou has been lost, leaving only one Nanyang County. Moreover, the people of the Jingxiang gentry were fluctuating, and the current situation in Xiangyang City was not peaceful. As far as Cai Mao knew, many gentry and powerful men had sent their children to the Zheng Kingdom to contact Liu Feng.
Cai Mao can only turn a blind eye to these things at present. After all, even he himself has other plans, let alone other people.
But others could contact Liu Feng, but Cai Mao was unwilling to do so. He thought he had seen Liu Feng clearly. What the other party did in Yangzhou made him frightened and shuddered. He instinctively felt that if Liu Feng took over Xiangyang, the Cai family's good life would be over.
Therefore, after gaining control of the military power of Xiangyang, Cai Mao chose Cao Cao only, and even the strategies of choosing from multiple parties were not implemented.
But Cai Mao never dreamed that it would be Cao Cao who came to force him to welcome Liu Feng.
The whole thing seemed both ridiculous and terrifying to him.
At this moment, Xi Zhong ignored Cai Mao's scenes. He directly put forward the conditions: "General, don't worry, my lord and general have been intimate for many years, and they have a deep affection and have already made arrangements for the general."
When Cai Mao heard this, he was immediately attracted: "Dare you ask how Cao Gong arranged it?"
"After the matter is completed, the general can go straight to the court. After the seal of the pavilion, if he is willing to serve as a civil servant, he will treat him as a servant. If he is willing to continue leading troops, he will be rewarded with the Sima of the General's Office."
Xi Zhong said, staring at Cai Mao and paying attention to the other party's reaction.
"Really!?"
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Cai Mao was overjoyed, but this condition had exceeded his bottom line.
Although Cai Mao served as a prominent official of two thousand stones over the years, the prefect of Jiangxia, Nanjun and Zhangling took turns to do it. After Liu Biao was just appointed as General Zhennan by the court, he was immediately appointed as General Zhennan, in charge of military affairs.
But the Han Dynasty was still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for four hundred years, and the official positions and titles of the court center are still not comparable to those of the local prefects.
The prefect has two thousand stones, and the attendant only has one thousand stones, and the high-quality ratio is two thousand stones. It seems that the transfer to the attendant as Cai Mao is depreciating. But in fact, the position of Shizhong is much more valuable than that of ordinary prefects. I am afraid that only the prefect of Haojun, such as Nanyang Prefect and Runan Prefect, can be compared with it.
Because the official position of Shizhong was to set up Shizhong Temple for the emperor, and he was responsible for accompanying the emperor to prepare for the emperor's consultant to deal with it and fill in the gaps.
The key lies in the four words accompanying the emperor.
I spent day and night with the emperor, and after having feelings for him, I am still afraid that I will not be promoted in the future?
What's more, even this official position gained greater authority by accompanying the emperor.
At first, the Shizhong, who had only had the authority to prepare for Q&A and fill in the gaps, continued to expand his authority over time. In addition to the original use of Q&A and expanded it into participating in decision-making, it also added many other powers such as life care, travel with the car, uploading and issuing, document review, supervision of officials, and recommendation of talents.
This greatly improved the value of the servant, from a small official with a low position of 600 stones, to a person who could compete with important positions such as the Censor General and General Manager.
Cai Mao was extremely satisfied with the position of Shizhong, not to mention that Cao Cao also promised him an additional marquis of Tao.
The titles of the Eastern Han Dynasty were quite rare, and only military merits could be awarded titles.
Although the emperors were bullied in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the title was still quite popular.
Even a rebellious warrior like Guan Yu was obsessed with the Han Shouting Marquis who Cao Cao rewarded. In official history, Guan Yu did grant gold when he left Cao Cao, but he was not willing to hang a seal, which shows how precious the title of the Eastern Han Dynasty was.
Cai Mao gritted his teeth and asked, "How can I cooperate with Mr. Cao?"
With Cao Cao's guarantee, Cai Mao's psychology changed again and he no longer resisted contact with Liu Feng. Anyway, he will leave Xiangyang and go to Luozhong by then.
Xi Zhong saw that Cai Mao was already moved and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. What he was most worried about was that Cai Mao refused to agree. Now it seems that things have been done.
Xi Zhong led Cao Cao and him to pallet the plan discussed by him.
Cai Mao had to first pick up Cao's army into Fancheng, and then offer Liu Feng out of Xiangyang.
If you enter Fancheng first, you don’t need to explain much.
Although we have discussed it with Liu Feng, Fancheng is too important and we must take it in our hands to be at ease. What's more, Cai Mao was originally on his side, so he naturally had to arrange the handover in Fancheng first.
As for the Xiangyang side, after Liu Feng entered the city to take control, Cai Mao could leave safely with his furniture, goods and troops and take up his post in Luozhong Capital.
After listening to the complete plan, Cai Mao had no objection, but he immediately raised another question: "How will Cao Gong plan to resettle Zhennan?"
Zhennan, which Cai Mao mentioned, was naturally the lord of Jingzhou, and General Liu Biao of Zhennan.
Seeing Cai Mao remembering Liu Biao at this moment, Xi Zhong couldn't help laughing in his heart. It might be wrong to say that Cai Mao had no loyalty at all, but he could only say that he still had a loyal heart, but not many.
"Zhennan also went to Luozhong together to serve as the Grand Duke of one of the nine ministers."
Among the nine ministers, the Taipu was responsible for carriages and horses and other affairs. Later, he expanded the management of horse politics, including horse breeding, breeding, training, etc., to meet the national military, transportation and other needs for horses. Therefore, from this responsibility perspective, Taipu is also called "Chief Ma Zheng".
During the heyday of the dynasty, Taipu was a very popular position. Although he was not very powerful, his status was very high and he was quite rich.
The black and gray income in Ma Zheng is extremely numerous, which is enough to make the bureaucrats at Ma Zheng eat so much.
Unfortunately, it is the end of the dynasty, and the horse farms across the country have been taken for themselves by princes from all over the world. The emperor cannot even get together six horses of the same color, and the Taifu is almost becoming a false post.
However, Cai Mao was very satisfied and felt that Cao Gong would fulfill his words, so he really gave Liu Biao a position of Nine Ministers. As for whether Liu Biao is willing to serve as the Nine Ministers, that is not something Cai Mao is concerned about.
After Xi Zhong got Cai Mao, he began to prepare for action in great detail, and Xi Lu once again came to Zhengguo to ask for Liu Feng.
After receiving the news of Cao Cao's approval, Liu Feng was overjoyed.
After all, he was mentally prepared to give in. Now he can still get a Xiangyang city for nothing. The strategic value of this city alone cannot be mentioned, let alone the more than three million stones of food and various materials in the city.
The satisfied Liu Feng did not continue to be disrespectful to Xi Lu this time, but instead put on an unprecedented enthusiasm, allowing Xi Lu to experience the warm treatment of the song Zhouzhi and home.
Various delicious dishes were served like flowing water, and the table was seasoned with snow salt, frosted sugar, sesame oil, jerky, and many unprecedented special dishes, which made Xi Lu stunned.
It was completely different from the previous farewell. Liu Feng attended the banquet in person, and Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Lu Xun, Taishi Ci, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and other generals also attended, which gave Xi Lu a full face.
(This chapter ends)