From the perspective of people at that time, the people on the northern grasslands basically referred to the Xiongnu tribes that had been divided into pieces.

Since Zhong Yao's shock, Hu Chuquan led his troops to surrender, he was basically in a state of peace in Hedong and had never had any trouble. When Ma Chao was in trouble in Guanzhong, he had sent a letter to Hu Chuquan, hoping that he could support himself from the north to attack Cao Cao. Hu Chuquan not only rejected Ma Chao's request and killed the messenger who delivered the letter, but also sent the head and letter to Cao Cao to show his loyalty and gained Cao Cao's trust.

But this trust gradually faded in Cao Cao's heart because of a prophecy that Ge Xuan said. According to Ge Xuan's statement, after the Emperor Star unified the world, another Emperor Star would rise on the northern grassland.

This made Cao Cao very concerned. He once made such assumptions:

If he or Cao Wei's successors successively eliminated Sun Quan and Liu Bei and thus unify the world, then this other imperial star would be the biggest threat to Cao Wei's regime.

At this time, Cao Cao noticed how powerful Hu Chuquan's subordinates had, and they had a deep foundation in Hedong for many years. If they had this intention to rebel in the future, it would be very troublesome.

However, after thinking about it, Cao Cao felt that he could not be able to be aware of the Southern Xiongnu at the moment, because they were different from the Guanzhong Allied Forces. If they rashly sent troops to wipe out the troops, they would not only lead to Wuming, but also make those who want to surrender.

In desperation, he decided to put this matter on the table and leave it to the congress to decide.

During the court discussion, Cao Cao took advantage of the chaos in Daijun that had just been pacified by Pei Qian not long ago to open up the topic:

"If I want to advance westward to destroy Shu or go south to destroy Wu in the future, what I must rely on is the stability of the north. Although the Wuhuan Rebellion did not cause any major storms, it sounded a wake-up call for me. The forces of the Huns, Wuhuans, Qiang and Hu made the situation in Hebei very delicate, especially the Huns Huchuquan, which has a great influence and foundation in Hedong. If they raise an army to cause chaos, they may be a threat to Sanfu and Luoyang."

After hearing this, Jiang Ji, who was sitting on the side of the lower side, believed that the Southern Xiongnu Shanyu Huchuquan had always been loyal to Cao Cao, and as long as Cao Cao had no intention of conquering the enemy, they would never have any other intentions. However, Sima Yi beside him vaguely realized that Cao Cao was intentionally trying to touch the Xiongnu's brains, so he thought about it and said to Cao Cao:

"The Southern Xiongnu tribes headed by Huchuquan Shanyu have a total of about 20,000 to 30,000. If such forces gather, it is indeed a problem that cannot be ignored. However, the king cannot conquer the elite troops and generals, and other plans need to be taken separately."

Sima Yi's words aroused Cao Cao's interest. He raised his right arm that was placed above the hands of several hands, and looked forward slightly and asked, "Oh? What's the point of Zhongda?"

"In fact, it is not difficult to solve the hidden dangers of the Huns. They are taken in two steps. First, call Chuquan to Yecheng, and then follow the courtesy of the guest to keep him in Yecheng. Then, send the Right King to Bei to serve as the commander. If he has no ambition and is greedy for enjoyment, he will definitely not start a war. Second, divide the Southern Huns into five parts and live in various places in Bingzhou for management reasons. It is allowed to first lead the Shanyu to command the largest part of Fuluo's legitimate son Liu Bao, and then send Han people to supervise for other divisions. In this way, although the Huns' tribes were nominally led by Shanyu, in fact, the power was in the hands of the King of Wei."

After a long discussion, Sima Yi won the praise of many people present. Everyone thought that this was a good strategy to quell the hidden dangers of the Huns without spending one soldier. Cao Cao also agreed.

But for some reason, the position of "Sima from another department" mentioned by Sima Yi just now made Cao Cao feel a little familiar. It seemed that these four words mean extraordinary to Cao Cao, but it was difficult to think of it for a while.

Cao Cao followed Sima Yi's plan to summon the Zuoxian King Hu Chuquan to Yecheng, and later left him in Yecheng under the pretext of being kind. Later, he scattered various parts of the Huns around Jiuze Lake in Bingzhou. Liu Bao, the son of Yufuluo, was only nineteen years old, was responsible for commanding the largest left-wing unit.

At this point, Cao Cao solved a major heart disease in his heart, which reminded him of another heart disease.

In early October of 216 AD (the 21st year of Jian'an), without discussing with anyone, Cao Cao suddenly proposed a strategic plan to fight Ruxu again in the court and eliminate Sun Quan, which caused an uproar in the court.

Jiang Ji, Gao Rou, Cheng Yu and others all expressed opposition, while Sima Yi, Jia Xu and Chen Qun remained silent and did not express any attitude. The reason for this situation was that they had seen through Cao Cao's mentality. At this time, Cao Cao was already in his sixties and his mood was very complicated. All the hidden pains that made him feel unhappy would make him unable to sleep or eat. Of course, this included the southern expedition, which had no success in three expeditions. Especially the defeat of Chibi, which completely lost Cao Cao's grand and hegemony to unify the world as soon as possible, and it was a shadow that Cao Cao would never be able to escape.

Even Sima Yi and others were futile to dissuade Cao Cao, and they would be disgusted and disgusted by Cao Cao. Instead of doing this, it would be better to remain silent and stay out of the matter.

Sima Yi, Jia Xu and others' expectations were very accurate. Cao Cao really ignored everyone's opposition, resisted the opposition, and insisted on attacking Wu. This kind of act of activism was destined to have absolutely no result.

This time, the troops were sent south were also very powerful. Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Dun to be the general of the former army, with Zang Ba and Hao Zhao as the auxiliary. In addition, Cao Ren, who had returned to Nanyang to guard, led his troops eastward, intending to conquer Ruxuwu in one fell swoop and cross the natural danger of the Yangtze River.

In addition, Cao Cao also appointed Yanzhou Governor Sima Lang to serve as the military supervisor and was responsible for the dispatch of food, grass and supplies.

In mid-October, after making all the pre-war preparations, Cao Cao officially launched an army south.

When seeing off at the city gate, Yang Xiu knew that Cao Cao liked poetry and was very proud of his face, so he secretly told Cao Zhi that he would quickly write a gorgeous song, which could not only praise Cao Cao's great merits but also restore his image of gradually falling in Cao Cao's heart.

Poetry and songs were not a problem for Cao Zhi at all. He quickly wrote a poem that made people admire him. Everyone present praised him, and Cao Cao also felt that his face was very glorious.

At this time, Cao Pi, who was slightly embarrassed, stood beside him, was ignored. He thought that his poems were slightly inferior to Cao Zhi. It was difficult to surpass him, but he could not just let him steal the limelight by himself. Under his calm face, there was an uncontrollable anxiety and uneasiness.

Wu Zhi, who was standing beside him, saw what Cao Pi was thinking at a glance, so he approached him and whispered in his ear:

"Now that the King of Wei is in an expedition, the young master just needs to cry out loud."

Cao Pi quickly understood Wu Zhi's meaning and immediately bid farewell to Cao Cao in tears. His words showed his reluctance and blessings to his father's expedition, which moved many officials present. Many officials were influenced by Cao Pi's filial piety and shed tears one after another. He believed that although Cao Zhi's poems were gorgeous, they were inevitably suspected of making a show, and Cao Pi was obviously better in sincerity.

Of course, the one who was most moved was Cao Pi's biological father Cao Cao. Seeing that Cao Pi was so filial, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and he completely threw away the gorgeous poems that Cao Zhi had recited.

After saying goodbye to Cao Cao, Sima Yi patted Wu Zhi on the shoulder and smiled:

"Everyone says that Yang Dezu is a roundworm in the belly of King Wei. I think you are not inferior to him, Brother Ji Chong."

Wu Zhi turned his face and raised the corner of his mouth slightly to Sima Yi:

"Is that true? If you say this like Brother Zhongda, then I think King Wei's stomach should be bad, because there are more than the roundworms hidden in his abdomen, and I and Yang Xiu, are you right?"

Obviously, Wu Zhi's words refer to Sima Yi. After that, Wu Zhi also learned from Sima Yi and reached out to pat Sima Yi on the shoulder:

"Yang Xiu took advantage of Cao Cao's increasing vanity in his later years to increase his chances of performance for Cao Zhi. However, he, who was smart, ignored that as an elderly person, especially an elderly person with supreme power, what he often values ​​most is not how talented his children are, but how deep they are to themselves."

Speaking of Wu Zhi standing in front of him, it is quite unfamiliar to Sima Yi. Although Wu Zhi has been with him since Cao Pi went to Lukou to meet him in a secret meeting, Sima Yi has not had much direct contact with him. In addition, Wu Zhi has rarely interacted with others, so it seems particularly mysterious and unpredictable...

Seeing that Sima Yi seemed to want to see through his heart, Wu Zhi took the initiative to reveal his thoughts:

"To be honest, I can't see through you, just like you can't see through me, but there is one thing you can rest assured that Jia Kui and I are different and will never cause obstacles or obstacles to anything you want to do, so you don't have to worry about me, let alone protect me. I just want to stand behind you so that you can see with your own eyes what path you want to take."

After saying that, Wu Zhi walked calmly from Sima Yi to behind him, leaving Sima Yi standing alone.

Although Wu Zhi expressed his position that he would not be an enemy of Sima Yi, Sima Yi was not at ease for such a scheming person, so he planned to let Zhong Yu secretly investigate Wu Zhi's background.

However, what Sima Yi did not expect was that Zhong Yu and Wu Zhi had known each other for a long time, and he did not expect that he was an old acquaintance with Zhuge Liang:

"When we learned that you were determined to follow Cao Cao to fight against Jingzhou and Liu Bei, we expected that 'Liu Ji' would not be on the sidelines. Although we didn't know that he and Liu Xie had colluded with each other at that time, I still made the worst plan."

Zhong Yu described the entire process of contacting Wu Zhi to Sima Yi:

"Zhuge Liang, whom you met, had become Liu Bei's military advisor before Cao Cao's southern expedition, and he also made enemies with "Liu Ji" because of your reasons. I think it should be consistent in his position on "Liu Ji", so I took the initiative to contact Wu Zhi, who had an old friend with him and asked him to pass on the plan to deal with "Liu Ji". Unexpectedly, Wu Zhi actually defected to Cao Pi afterwards."

However, at this time Sima Yi had no time to care about Wu Zhi's past. What he cared about was whether Wu Zhi really would not be an enemy of him.
Chapter completed!