Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Cao Cao was deeply moved by these words and choked with emotion, kowtowing as he spoke.

"This unworthy general dares not claim any merit, only regretting that I could not hold Dongchao Ford for Your Majesty."

Cao Cao looked at the extremely agitated Cao Hong, but in his heart, there was not the slightest ripple.

Did Cao Hong deserve to die?

Yes!

Losing Dongchao Ford had immediately put Qingzhou in a completely passive position.

When he learned of this news, Cao Cao had wanted to chop Cao Hong into pieces on the spot.

But Cao Cao knew even better that Cao Hong absolutely could not be killed.

The fall of Dongchao Ford had already caused a sense of unease among the civil and military officials of Wei.

Moreover, although Cao Hong's position in Wei was perhaps not as high as Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, or Xiahou Yuan, his seniority was extremely high. If he were truly executed according to military law,

Cao Hong's death, while enforcing military discipline, would only make everyone in Wei understand how important Dongchao Ford was, so much so that even Cao Hong lost his head for losing it.

On the contrary, the more lightly Cao Cao, who usually governed the army with strict discipline, glossed over the matter and allowed Cao Hong to continue living, the more it would stabilize the people's hearts.

At a time of great war, stabilizing the people's hearts was more important than anything else. Otherwise, if the people's hearts were scattered, Wei would be even less able to resist Li Ji's fierce Northern Expedition.

Considering the overall situation, Cao Cao slowly rose, descended the steps, helped Cao Hong, who was still kneeling, up, and then scanned the civil and military officials present, saying in a loud voice.

"Dongchao Ford is indeed important, but after all, it is only a matter of gaining or losing a city and a piece of land. Losing it is certainly not good, but what I am even more gratified by is Zilian's loyal heart, willing to fight to the death for Wei."

"If everyone were like Zilian, what fear would there be of the Five Tiger Generals? What fear would there be of Li Zikun?"

Cao Cao's words, filled with domineering magnanimity, convinced all the civil and military officials present, making Cao Hong, who was already extremely loyal to Cao Cao, wish he could die for Cao Cao on the spot.

Cao Cao chuckled and then said.

"Furthermore, the loss of Dongchao Ford is not Zilian's fault, but mine, and yours."

Upon hearing this, many of the civil and military officials were puzzled.

Cao Cao then raised his hand and pointed to the south, saying.

"Who is Li Zikun? First, he used a treacherous scheme to deceive me, using the so-called Shouchun Rebellion to fool the world, painstakingly taking advantage of my unpreparedness to launch the Northern Expedition. How could he not use some conspiracies and tricks?"

"And I and all of you were unaware, failing to foresee his arrangements in advance. Could it be that all of you are inferior to Li Zikun?"

"No!"

Cao Cao continued in a tone that was neither happy nor angry.

"I fear that all of you underestimated Li Zikun, believing that Qingzhou had been managed for many years, with more than 100,000 elite soldiers stationed there. Even if Li Zikun came up with a hundred ingenious schemes, he would definitely be able to hold him off for a year and a half, wouldn't he?"

This undoubtedly revealed what many people were thinking.

Regarding Li Ji personally leading the army on the Northern Expedition, Cao Cao was nervous, and the Cao and Xiahou clans were mostly nervous as well, but the Wei court officials were not necessarily as nervous as they appeared on the surface.

This Northern Expedition war could not be ended in a day, and Qingzhou could not be lost in a short time.

In the final analysis, the Wei state had only just been established, and many people still thought of themselves as Han Chinese.

Especially many people from aristocratic families in Ji Province felt that even if the Wei state was defeated, the biggest loss for the Ji Province aristocratic families would only be the land and money lost due to the "Equalization of Land Tax".

The civil and military officials from Ji Province aristocratic families often became representatives whom the Great Han urgently needed to win over in order to stabilize the region.

If the Wei state was destroyed, they would simply return to the embrace of the Great Han.

Cao Cao was well aware of this, clearly knowing that even now, with the war in Qingzhou already underway, there were still many people secretly singing and dancing in their mansions, partying every night, completely unaffected.

Perhaps many of the officials in this hall had already secretly colluded with Liu Da'er.

Of course, Cao Cao knew that he could not reveal the truth. He could only imply and warn them by saying that the civil and military officials had underestimated Li Ji, believing that Qingzhou was safe and sound.

The next moment, Cao Cao's tone suddenly rose, saying.

"However, where are the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the late Emperor now? Have they been placed in Liu Da'er's court?"

"In the court, only Li Zikun alone holds power, arbitrarily篡改祖制, today there is the 'Equalization of Land Tax', who knows if tomorrow there will be a law that the sons of aristocratic families cannot become officials?"

"How can you underestimate such an arbitrary and unconventional person, how can you underestimate him, only thinking that he only knows how to attack head-on, but has no treacherous schemes to strike at the root of the problem?"

It sounds good to say that Li Ji is solely in charge of power, but it sounds bad to say that he is powerful and influential.

More importantly, Li Ji is young enough, only thirty years old now. If he has a long life, he may be able to outlive all the officials who have already taken office.

Moreover, Li Ji's attitude towards aristocratic families and powerful clans over the years has not been friendly.

Of course, Cao Cao himself approved of Li Ji's policies. Those reforms had indeed greatly strengthened Liu Da'er's national strength.

If possible, Cao Cao would have loved to have Li Ji use his talents for him to govern Cao Wei.

But Cao Cao knew even better that what he was using now were the many people from the aristocratic families of Ji Province, and he had to let them understand that he, Cao Cao, could not surrender or be defeated, and they also could not surrender or be defeated.

Seeing this, Xi Zhicai, who already understood Cao Cao's intention, quickly spoke up to cooperate, saying.

"Your Majesty is right, Li Zikun is not to be underestimated in the slightest. His ruthlessness in using schemes is rare in the world. He is definitely not a moderate gentleman. We must be careful that after he succeeds in taking Dongchao Ford, he will continue to secretly use vicious schemes."

With such cooperation, the civil and military officials in the hall understood what needed to be understood, and those who did not understand did not need to understand.

However, the people's hearts were not scattered as Cao Cao had feared, but greatly united.

In the final analysis, the fall of Dongchao Ford did put the situation in a very unfavorable direction for Cao Wei, but it did not mean that Qingzhou had been completely lost.

Qingzhou still had a large number of Cao army guards, and Cao Ren was still stationed in Qingzhou.

Even if Li Ji led an army of two or three hundred thousand to attack, Cao Ren's step-by-step defense would be enough to delay for a long time.

Especially with winter approaching, there would inevitably be a ceasefire for a period of time to avoid a large number of non-combat attrition due to the severe cold.

As long as Cao Ren could buy enough time, then with the support of the gradually recovering rear and the advantage of being on the defensive, he might not be able to defeat Li Ji's Northern Expedition army.

Of course, this was the most ideal scenario. Cao Cao was not confident that Cao Ren alone could absolutely secure Qingzhou, so he asked.

"Now that Qingzhou is in such a difficult situation, do any of you have any brilliant plans to offer? So that Li Ji can be defeated and return in disgrace."

......

At the same time.

Within the territory of Qi, Qingzhou.

Except for leaving a small number of troops in Zhuxu City, Wei Yan led nearly 26,000 available troops, changed into the armor and clothing of the Cao army, and openly marched towards Linzi City under the banner of the Cao army.

The straight-line distance between Zhuxu and Linzi is nearly two hundred miles, and the actual march requires bypassing many cities, which is even farther.

With such a large-scale force passing through, even if they pretended to be the Cao army to deceive the heavens, the suspicion raised was still not small.

But Wei Yan knew even better that he could not stop. He had to arrive before Cao Ren learned of the fall of Zhuxu City and then tried to strengthen the defense of Linzi, otherwise, all his efforts might be in vain.

(End of this chapter)