After Sima Yi and Chen Qun had a long talk all night, Cao Pi completely confirmed that he was about to become emperor.

Three days later, Cao Pi kept Cao Zhen to temporarily guard Luoyang according to the original plan, and then returned to Yecheng.

Sima Yi, who was standing at the gate of Luoyang City and bid farewell to Cao Pi with all the officials, looked at Cao Pi's imperial carriage and ceremonial guards heading north. Cao Zhen, who was standing beside him, vaguely saw something unusual in Sima Yi's deep gaze. But just as he was about to think about it carefully, the unusual suddenly disappeared...

At this time, Cao Zhen had not yet noticed the hidden danger from Sima Yi, so he was not too alert to him.

After the farewell ceremony, Sima Yi and Sima Fu returned home together. On the way, Sima Yi looked ahead with a calm expression, and his tone looked like an ordinary conversation:

"Have all the arrangements in Yecheng?"

Sima Fu also responded in the same manner: "I received a secret report from Jia Mu from Yecheng yesterday, saying that everything has been arranged and can be carried out at any time, but..."

Speaking of this, Sima Fu looked a little unbearable and hesitant, so he couldn't help but stop:

"If you do this, isn't it..."

"You are trying to say, isn't I too cruel to do this... right?"

Seeing Sima Fu stop, Sima Yi stopped after four or five steps away from him, and turned around and looked at Sima Fu, which made Sima Fu feel at a loss.

Then Sima Yi took a light step towards Sima Fu until he reached his right side before he stopped again:

"You should understand that there is no room for me to choose the means..."

In early June of 220 AD (the 25th year of Jian'an), Cao Pi arrived in Yecheng according to the scheduled date. Jia Kui, the prefect of Wei County, also served as the magistrate of Yecheng County, led officials of all sizes and small in the city to welcome him at the gate of the city.

Since Jia Kui took office, he has handled the affairs of the entire Wei County in an orderly manner, and has successfully settled the nomadic peoples with Tian Yu, who was guarding the northern border. Cao Pi is very satisfied with this. However, today's scene also makes him dissatisfied with it. That is, Zhen Mi, the princess of the King of Wei who was driven back to Yecheng a few days ago, did not leave the city to greet him. This made him quite angry, but he could not show this matter on his face, so he had to pretend that he had not seen it.

Accompanied by Jia Kui, Cao Pi came to the former Prime Minister's Palace, and the revisiting of the old place made him sigh:

"Hey... I really didn't expect that my father and I have been in Yecheng for fifteen years. I really can't bear to leave..."

Jia Kui quickly heard the taste from Cao Pi's words. He held his back and asked Cao Pi directly:

"Does the king really plan to put his heart to be emperor into action?"

Cao Pi had extraordinary trust in Jia Kui. He was also planning to discuss this matter with Jia Kui, and told Jia Kui about the plan he had already confirmed with Chen Qun and Sima Yi and asked for his opinions:

"Liang Dao, what do you think?"

In fact, Jia Kui also supported Cao Pi's ambitions deep in his heart. This time he temporarily put his personal views aside and stood behind Cao Pi with Sima Yi paved the way for his path to becoming emperor and gave advice:

"We have calmed down internal worries at present, but if the king wants to become emperor, there are still two steps to worry about."

"Which two steps?" Cao Pi was very concerned about Jia Kui's argument.

"The first step is to abolish the Han Dynasty and become independent, when Zi Liu Xie is the biggest obstacle today, the king must try to make him voluntarily abdicate and not force him to seize it, so that the negative impact of this matter can be minimized."

Cao Pi has been thinking about this, but he decided to finish listening to Jia Kui's argument first:

"What about the second step?"

Jia Kui continued: "At present, our relationship with Sun Quan and Liu Bei is very delicate. Eastern Wu has a grudge against Liu Bei for killing generals and seizing the city, and we also have grudge against him for Shangyong to be attacked. In other words, Liu Bei may attack any of us at any time, not to mention that Sun Quan is a smart person. He knows that after the alliance is strong and the weak, he will become our target. Confronting Liu Bei with us is the only way to survive in the long run. This is a very obvious motivation when he gives Guan Yu's head to the previous king."

After hearing Jia Kui's analysis, Cao Pi nodded and said, "Indeed, Liu Bei has always been holding the banner of 'reviving the Han Dynasty'. If I rashly proclaimed myself, his anger towards Sun Quan might be transferred to me..."

"In fact, what Liu Bei thought in his heart may not be as high-sounding as he appeared on the surface. In the opinion of his subordinates, Liu Bei thought in his heart the same as the king, or what he was waiting for was the moment when you deposed the Han and became independent. As for reconciliation with Sun Quan, it may be extremely difficult for him to do so. The king might as well give him a reassurance first..."

Afterwards, Jia Kui told Cao Pi about the specific routines. At first, Cao Pi's face was quite surprised, but soon he understood Jia Kui's intention and showed a satisfied smile.

Soon, Cao Pi suddenly assembled a 50,000 army in Hebei, and appointed Jia Kui as the prime minister's chief clerk to sacrificial wine. He led his army to cross the Yellow River south through Liyang and arrived eastward to Qiao County, but did not disclose his purpose.

The news was transmitted to Jianye and CD through secret scouts installed by Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Sun Quan, who had returned to Jianye from Jiangling, was shocked when he heard such a secret report. He had previously followed Lu Xun's advice to transfer a large number of troops from the rear of Yangzhou to Jingzhou to various places for defense. Moreover, Lu Xun himself was in Jiangling. If Cao Pi took this opportunity to attack south, the defense of Ruxuwu would be very dangerous.

On the contrary, Liu Bei felt secretly happy after hearing that Cao Pi was intending to attack Jiangdong, and he said to Li Yan:

"I have long wanted to recover Jingzhou and then station troops in Eastern Wu. I am just worried that Cao Pi will form a secret alliance with Sun Quan. If I send troops rashly, I will fall into a situation of encirclement on both sides. However, when I learned that Cao Wei had raised his troops and advanced southeast, I feel that a stone in my heart has finally fallen to the ground. Now the time for the reign has come, I want to gather troops and send troops to Zirong!"

So Liu Bei ordered Zhuge Liang to mobilize food and grass to prepare to attack Jingzhou.

But Zhuge Liang could see Jia Kui's vicious plan at a glance, and his family and Huang Yueying said:

"Cao Pi is not a fool, how could he attack Sun Quan at this time? I think his real purpose is to follow Sun Quan's fake attack on Hefei, and use this huge feint to lure Liu Bei to put down his guard and start a war with Sun Quan."

Huang Yueying smiled faintly and said, "I'm afraid these are just momentum created by Cao Pi to abolish the Han Dynasty..."

Zhuge Liang did not make any statement on this matter. However, after receiving the general Liu Bei was preparing to raise an army, another person immediately expressed his strong opposition. This person was Zhao Yun.

In order to prevent Liu Bei from receiving the order to command the troops to Badong, he immediately went to the palace to ask for Liu Bei, and advised Liu Bei in front of the civil and military officials of the court:

"The current traitors are Cao Cao and his son. Attacking Sun Quan will not only have no meaning, but will instead lead to Sun Quan turning to Cao Wei, which will make the king fall into a more isolated situation at that time. Finally, we will beg the king to take it back!"

Seeing that Zhao Yun, who had been following him for many years, actually stopped him, Liu Bei's anger became more and more obvious. Seeing that he was about to be unable to suppress him, Zhuge Liang stood up and rescued Zhao Yun and said:

"Reporting to the king, our original strategic plan was to attack Cao Wei in the northern expedition, but suddenly it was changed to advance eastward. It was inevitable that some generals could not understand it. Moreover, the attack on Jingzhou is of great importance, and we still need to make a long-term plan."

Zhuge Liang's statement was approved by many ministers in the court, and they all agreed:

"What the military advisor said is very true, please think twice..."

Under pressure from the ministers, Liu Bei had to put down his strategic plan to go east to Jingzhou again.

After the court was dispersed, Liu Bei returned to the study angrily with Li Yan. When he saw that there was no one around, he vented his strong dissatisfaction with the affairs of the court, because after this, Liu Bei had already vaguely foreshadowed that Zhuge Liang, who was calm on the surface, actually had secretly contacted many ministers in the court.

During the fierce battle in Hanzhong, Liu Bei did not listen to Zhuge Liang's advice and mobilized the troops from Fuling and Badong, as well as replaced Shangyong's garrison, so that Guan Yu fell into an isolated and helpless situation. Later, he did not obey Zhuge Liang's advice and prevented Guan Yu from advancing rashly, resulting in Guan Yu being killed and lost Jingzhou.

More and more people began to express doubts about Liu Bei's decision-making ability, including Liu Ba, Fei Yi, Dong Yun, Yang Yi and Zhao Yun, who were actually on Zhuge Liang's side. As Fa Zheng said during his lifetime, almost no one except Li Yan and Wei Yan took himself as the core of his leadership and obeyed his orders.

However, because of this, Liu Bei needed to personally conquer Sun Quan and win, to regain his prestige among his ministers.

Li Yan is a very good at observing expressions. Because when he attacked Mianzhu, he responded in time to Liu Bei, the situation of the war was reversed. In addition, Fa Zheng recommended him to Liu Bei when he was dying, which made Liu Bei's emphasis on Li Yan even more.

In this matter, Li Yan said that attacking Sun Quan is indeed not a good time, but he made Liu Bei accept his suggestions from another perspective: "Your Majesty, I think Cao Pi's recent movements are very strange. According to common sense, he should return to Yecheng in time before and after Cao Cao's funeral. However, Cao Pi did not do this, but instead transferred all the officials of Yecheng to Luoyang. In addition, Cao Pi personally led the army to deliberately acted in the accent of going south, just to make you think you can take the opportunity to attack Sun Quan, and he can take this opportunity to abolish the Han Dynasty without any scruples."

After Li Yan's explanation, Liu Bei seemed to have noticed that Jia Kui and Cao Pi seemed to be planning something. He asked Li Yan:

"Zhengfang, then how do you think I should deal with it?"

Li Yan smiled and said, "Cao Pi abolished the Han Dynasty and established himself. It was also a thousand-year opportunity for the king to ascend the throne and establish the foundation of Shu Han..."

Li Yan expressed Liu Bei's political ambitions in this sentence. He pretended to be displeased and asked Li Yan:

"You are so brave. Is this arguing about injustice?"

Although Liu Bei was blaming himself on the surface, Li Yan could see that Liu Bei had begun to feel secretly happy, so he cooperated to pretend to be a loyal minister and knelt on the ground and bowed:

"When today, the Han Dynasty, which was controlled by Cao Cao and his son for many years, has long lost its former glory. As the saying goes, in a great battle, those who are capable are resident. Moreover, the king is a great Han royal family. At this time, only you can revive the Han Dynasty!"
Chapter completed!