Cao Cao opened up the Xuanwu Pool to train a large number of naval forces, which caused panic among the Jiangdong gentry. Zhang Zhao, Yu Fan and others wrote letters to Sun Quan one after another, claiming that Cao Cao's primary goal of going south must be to go south along Xuzhou and use the powerful navy train to go straight to Jiangdong along the Yangtze River. Therefore, Zhang Zhao suggested to Sun Quan that the main force of the navy deployed on the Jiangxia line was transferred to Wuhu and Moling areas to deploy defenses.

Long before, Pang Tong, Lu Xun, Zhou Yu and others made accurate analysis. Zhou Yu also told Sun Quan that Cao Cao would not use troops to Jiangdong at least until the thirteenth year of Jian'an, and also explained that the land of Jingzhou would become the place where Cao Cao's blade was heading. The offensive and defensive alliance with Liu Bei and Liu Qi would definitely fight to the end. At this time, Cao Cao would never open up a second battlefield in Jiangdong.

The two opinions made the young monarch Sun Quan difficult. He didn't know what he should do next, because all his every move would affect the future of Jiangdong, so he was reluctant to eat.

Mrs. Bu saw Sun Quan’s knot and said to Sun Quan:

"Cao Cao is about to go south, so the lord may as well send an envoy to Yecheng to show his favor to Cao Cao, send him great profits and show him that you will advance east after capturing Jiangxia. I hope he can watch the wall so that you can recover Jingzhou for the court."

When Sun Quan heard Mr. Bu's words, he immediately understood them. He held Mr. Bu's hand and said happily:

"Madam, this plan is really amazing."

Afterwards, Sun Quan sent an envoy to Yecheng with a large number of generous gifts.

At this time, Cao Cao, who was in Yecheng, was watching his sons' opinions carefully. While reading, he was attracted by the articles of Zhou Buyi and Cao Chong, and he became more and more excited as he read them.

Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and others who stood on both sides could see that their father had a clear bias.

After reading it, Cao Cao put down the bamboo slips with the strategy, looked at his sons and said:

"Zhier's literary talent is outstanding. Even when his father was young, he did not have the same style as you. However, you are too biased towards the polishing of the article and do not have obvious and practical political policies."

As he said that, Cao Cao picked up Cao Zhang's strategy again and found that the fonts on it were messy and the arguments were all marching strategies for conquering the battles. He smiled and said to Cao Zhang: "Zhang'er, you should read the Book of Songs and the Book of Documents more. It is not a good thing to focus on martial arts and over literature."

Cao Zhang retorted honestly: "Father, my son believes that a man should follow the example of a great hero like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, leading 100,000 troops to the battlefield and make achievements. How can he stay at home and become a nerd?"

Cao Zhang, who was verbally unintentional, did not mean to target Cao Zhi, but his words did make Cao Zhi feel extremely uncomfortable. Cao Pi, who saw it, quickly came out to reconcile and said, "Brother Zhi, don't be too careful, Zhang Zhi didn't say anything to you."

At this time, Cao Cao looked at Cao Pi, and his eyes seemed to be a little serious. He wanted to comment on Cao Pi's normal policy, but he put it aside and picked up the book of Zhou Buyi and Cao Zhi:

"Look, it's my choice that Chong'er and Wen Zhi are very much like me. Look at you brothers and sons, who are not as good as your younger brothers and outsiders. You still need to encourage yourself more and not be satisfied with the status quo."

Just as Cao Cao scolded them, Cheng Yu walked in from outside the door and reported to Cao Cao:

"Prime Minister, Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu sent someone to join us and gave him a generous gift."

As he said that, Cheng Yu handed the bamboo slip in his hand to Cao Pi: "This is Sun Quan's gift list and a letter written by his own hand."

After taking the letter from Cao Pi, Cao Cao immediately saw from Sun Quan's words that he intended to capture Jingzhou. After reading it, Cao Cao threw the letter on the table. As for the gift list, he didn't even want to read it:

"Sun Zhongmou has a big appetite and actually wants to swallow the land of Jingzhou, and he even told me not to interfere."

Zhou Buyi, who was standing beside him, stepped forward regardless of etiquette and picked up the book on the table, read it carefully and said with a smile:

"I'm afraid that even if Sun Quan intends to seize Jingzhou, he will definitely not have the strength at this time. Let's see why Sun Quan deliberately told you that he wanted to take advantage of the situation and advance westward after conquering Jiangxia, which is precisely because you want to divert your attention to Jingzhou, because you will not sit idly by and watch Sun Quan occupy Jiangdong and then take Jingzhou into his pocket, so you will definitely take the lead in going south."

Cao Chong nodded: "Yes, Sun Quan also wanted to test his father's true intention."

Looking at Cao Cao's extremely expectant gaze, the three Cao brothers present couldn't help but feel ashamed.

At this time, Cao Chong saw a gift called "Elephant" in Sun Quan's gift list, and he asked Cao Pi:

"Second brother, I have never seen what this elephant looks like."

This question made Cao Pi unable to help but stop him, and he said to Cao Chong:

"Brother Chong, this animal called 'elephant' is a giant beast that lives in the south. I heard that it is extremely tall when I become an adult, but I have never seen what it looks like."

Then the "elephant" aroused Cao Chong's interest. He walked to Cao Cao and took his father's hand and said:

"Father, the child wants to see what this giant beast called 'elephant' looks like."

Cao Cao was very fond of Cao Chong. Cao Cao would do his best to meet anything Cao Chong wanted. This time he happily agreed to his request and led Cao Chong himself. Zhou Buyi and his sons went to watch it.

When they saw the giant beast in front of them with a tall body, a thick nose like a python, and an ear like a pupat leaf, they were all shocked because they had never seen such a mighty beast.

The envoy of the Eastern Wu who was standing aside said to Cao Cao:

"Report to the Prime Minister, my Wu Hou once wanted to measure the weight of this giant elephant. I can only look at the entire Eastern Wu that cannot withstand this giant elephant. I wonder if the Prime Minister has a way?"

The messenger's words were obviously provocative and tempting. Cao Cao knew very well, but he didn't care. Instead, he turned around and said to his sons behind him, "Do you have any solutions?"

Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and Cao Zhang all frowned, but they had no choice but to stand up and said to Cao Cao:

"Father, the child has a way to try it."

"Oh?" Cao Cao smiled and said, "Chong'er, what are you doing?"

Cao Chong replied: "I'm sorry for my father to pull the giant elephant to the edge of the Xuanwu Pool."

After hearing this, Cao Cao said to the soldiers standing aside: "Go and pull this giant elephant to the edge of the Xuanwu Pool."

The soldiers were ordered to step forward and use ropes to pull out the giant elephant's neck, but despite their efforts, the giant elephant's thick limbs showed no sign of moving. At this time, Cao Zhang, who was standing beside Cao Cao, could not see it, and he waved at the soldiers:

"Get out of the way, let me do it!"

All the soldiers retreated aside, Cao Zhang tied the rope to his waist and began to drag the giant elephant forward.

As Cao Zhang's expression became more and more ferocious, the giant elephant's head began to move forward little by little, and his right foot moved slightly to the ground, but soon this sign disappeared, and the giant elephant still did not move a step.

Everyone was in trouble. Looking at the envoy's proud expression, Zhou Buyi stood up and walked to the edge of the forest path very calmly. He reached out and pulled off a branch full of green leaves, then returned to the giant elephant and shook it on his nose twice.

The next surprising scene appeared: Zhou Buyi did nothing, just carried the branch behind him and walked towards the Xuanwu Pool, and the giant elephant followed him without falling.

After thinking about it carefully, everyone knew the truth and everyone felt very ashamed.

After arriving at the Xuanwu Pool, Cao Chong ordered people to dock two ships that could accommodate giant elephants on the shore. Then Zhou Buyi threw the branches in his hand into the ship. The giant elephant obediently walked into the hull. Soon, due to the weight of the giant elephant itself, the hull gradually sinks. Cao Chong began to order people to pile stones on another exactly the same ship, until the scale of the ship sinking coincided with the one with the giant elephant.

After all the work was completed, Cao Chong said to Cao Cao:

"Father, just move this head out and weigh it, and then add the total number to the weight of the giant elephant."

Everyone cheered for Cao Chong's wisdom, but the envoys of the Eastern Wu, who looked like earth, were paying attention to hundreds of magnificent ships and ships in the Xuanwu Pond. The scene was as shocking as if they were in the Wu Jun Water Village in Chaisang.

After this time, Cao Cao attached more importance to Cao Chong and had a very obvious intention to make him his successor.

This made Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and Cao Zhang present very embarrassed, and only they themselves knew the feeling of their hearts.

In fact, when Cao Cao deliberately asked Zhou Buyi and Cao Chong to accompany the two prodigy, Cao Pi, to his heart, had this premonition. However, as the eldest son after Cao Ang's death, he knew that once Cao Cao made up his mind to let Cao Chong be his heir, his existence would be a huge threat to Cao Chong, and it is still unknown how Cao Cao would do to him at that time.

For this reason, he specially visited Chen Qun, who had a close relationship with him, and expressed his inner worries:

"Sir, I am already in chaos at this moment. If Brother Chong is really appointed as the prince, then how should I deal with it?"

Chen Qun always admired Cao Pi's forbearance and keeping a low profile in his heart. At this time, he also needed someone to serve as Sima Yi's backstage, so he decided to help the two of them and said:

"The Prime Minister is still in his prime at this time. Even if he intends to spread the situation in Gongzi Chong, he will not be in a hurry to enthrone it now. I think the Prime Minister's original intention is to inspire you through Gongzi Chong. Now that Gongzi Chong has a supporter, you need to find a talent who can be a supporter as soon as possible, which will be very beneficial to you in the future."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, Cao Pi quickly knelt down to Chen Qun regardless of his identity:

"Mr. is a talented man, and he is ranked among the 'Eight Scholars of Yingchuan'. If you are willing to help, Zihuan will definitely give him a favor in the future."

Chen Qun bent down and helped Cao Pi up: "Young Master, you don't have to do this. You are so slim and knowledgeable. However, if the young master can take that person to his own use, then the young master will have a bright future in the future."

Cao Pi immediately asked: "Who is that person?"

Chen Qun, who picked up the teacup, smiled and said, "Young Master, do you still remember the Sima Yi, Hanoi who the Prime Minister was very afraid of?"

Speaking of Sima Yi, Cao Pi immediately had an impression. When he was investigating military information with Jia Kui in Bingzhou, he had a "slow support" relationship with him. Later, he heard from Cao Hong several times that Sima Yi helped Yuan Xi when he was in Youzhou, which caused great trouble to Cao Cao until they met most recently.

"I know that Sima Yi has the ability to make his father afraid, but Cao Hong said that he has refused to surrender to his father for various reasons in the past few days. Can such a person be my help?"

Chen Qun explained: "The time is not yet ripe, so you have to wait for the opportunity..."

At this moment, the servants from Cao Pi's mansion outside the door came over in panic and reported to Cao Pi:

"Young Master! The news just now came, Mr. Chong suddenly fell seriously ill and was bedridden!"

Cao Pi looked at the attendant with an incredible look on his face: "Say it again!"

After repeating the servant, Cao Pi fell into a dull state, while Chen Qun on the opposite side had no obvious change in expression. He was still sitting there calmly and tasting tea with a calm attitude.

"Young Master, you shouldn't sit here again, right?"

Chen Qun's suggestive words woke Cao Pi up from his shock. He quickly stood up and said to the attendant:

"Let's go, go to the Prime Minister's Mansion!"

At this time, Cao Pi didn't know that the opportunity that Chen Qun mentioned would come so quickly.

Although Cao Cao tried every means to ask someone to treat Cao Chong, he always left the doctors helpless.

Cao Cao's mentality changed greatly. He lost his temper many times and drove out most of the doctors who had no effective countermeasures. In the absence of any help, he sent someone to visit Hua Tuo who left Yecheng and traveled again, but he was still speechless, which made Cao Cao fall into a state of almost collapse.

In addition to Cao Cao, Zhou Buyi was the most saddest during this period. During Cao Chong's bed, he was almost untied and took care of himself, which moved Cao Cao and Cao Chong's biological mother, Mrs. Huan.

But in the end, Cao Chong passed away without a doctor in medicine, and a generation of young talents died.

Apart from Dian Wei, Cao Cao had never cried so sadly after Cao Angzhi's death. His trembling hands stroked Cao Chong's completely stiff and pale face, sobbing and speechlessly, and Mrs. Huan was also heartbroken.

Cao Pi stepped forward to comfort Cao Cao while crying:

"Father, we are all sad when we go to my brother. People cannot be resurrected by death. Don't be too sad."

After hearing Cao Pi's words, Cao Cao turned his head and looked at him, looking even more sad:

"It's my misfortune to rush over, but it's your great blessing!"
Chapter completed!