Chapter 901 Peace

That night, Lao Cao drank a lot of wine, more than Jichou Du Kang had ever drunk since he was captured by Wang Yan.

There is a gap between knowing failure and having already failed. Lao Cao was a hero and a great man. He had been a minister of the Han Dynasty for more than 20 years, and a "pillar of the Han court" for more than 20 years. In total, he had spent more than 50 years, most of his life in that. Now that Jiangguan had been lost and Shu was helpless, it was infinitely equivalent to failure. Even though Lao Cao was strong-willed, he could not withstand this blow.

The old man, who was still quite energetic, lost his spirit and looked much older. Wang Yan comforted Lao Cao very considerately, saying that he should not underestimate Tianzhu, and that the barbarians there still had some strength. He was even more considerate, examining and prescribing Lao Cao, conditioning his body, and hoping that Lao Cao would live a hundred years.

Lao Cao could originally live to be over 60 years old, which was good enough for him to fight for half his life, fighting in the south and the north, and fighting in the east and the west, but Wang Yan felt that Lao Cao should live longer.

There is no doubt that Lao Cao would definitely be severely punished under his command. Even if he was a leader, he could not escape this fate. He would definitely die, and die miserably, in order to further consolidate his political foundation and strengthen his political line. This was not due to personal grudges, but due to struggle.

But if Lao Cao was expelled from the plateau to Tianzhu, it would not be enough. After all, it was an expedition and a new homeland. Lao Cao was a hero, with a pattern, a brain, and more courage. He must live a few more years and gain a foothold in Tianzhu.

If it was pointed at those people under Lao Cao and a few sons who were fighting internally, they would basically be useless. After all, the Tianzhu people were not fools. They would also divide and win over. Although they might be inferior in combat effectiveness and did not have the high-end military tactics and tactics of China, they would also learn. They were fighting at home, and they did not bow down and obey Lao Cao's rule in the past.

The fact that Lao Cao did not unify China when he was alive did not mean that Lao Cao was not good. No one would deny Lao Cao's achievements in his life. And this achievement was condensed into three words, Emperor Wu of Wei.

A serious ruthless man.

Therefore, Lao Cao's longevity is the top priority for the management of Tianzhu. It can be said that Wang Yan really took care of Lao Cao.

Although Lao Cao was quite happy that Wang Yan, a famous doctor in the world, treated and recuperated, he was not very happy after hearing Wang Yan's straightforward explanation of the reason.

He had no choice but to be sad alone.

Compared with Lao Cao's sadness, Wang Yan can be said to be in high spirits now. Although in fact, since he was favored by his living father and passed the initial period, he has been bathing in the spring breeze.

Controlling the Jiangguan, cutting off the grain supply, and blocking the southern part of Jiujiang, Wang Yan's army is slowly pressing forward. Jiujiang's 100,000 troops can only run to the mountains if they want to escape, or jump into the Yangtze River, hoping that Wang Yan's navy can't catch them and can float out to the sea. At the same time, there is Wang Yan's good reputation that he has been building for more than 20 years. Officers who know that they will not have a good end cannot stop the vast number of grassroots soldiers.

So it was not surprising that the 100,000 Cao troops in Jiujiang mutinied. No one knew who was the first to chop off the commander, but once they started, they could no longer stop. In the end, they killed officers of all ranks, and because they were crazy about killing, they killed many of their own people.

At the same time, the besieged Linxiang could not hold on any longer, and opened the city to surrender, capturing the famous Xun You, the Han mascot, and a group of court officials.

So far, the war of unification with Cao Cao came to an end, ending with the final victory of Wang Yan. As for the subsequent pacification of Shu, and the desperate fighting of Sun Ce and Shi Xie, they were just aftermath.

They had their place in history, but for Wang Yan and others of the time, the war was over, because the remaining ones were no longer enough to resist, and the war ended before the spring of 209.

The spring in the south of the Yangtze River was chilly, but Wang Yan still wrapped himself in a robe, rode a horse, led the army, and led Lao Cao and others, and slowly drove into Linxiang City.

Linxiang is not the seat of Jingzhou, but Jingzhou has a large population. It was the most populous state before the Yellow Turbans, reaching more than 6 million people, so the cities here are well developed, and Linxiang is the same. Later, Lao Cao moved the Han Emperor to stay here, and it has developed steadily for many years. Linxiang City has been thriving in recent years, and the city is much larger.

What's more, Lao Cao built a small palace for the Han Emperor here, and his own prime minister's residence was set up in the official office.

Riding all the way to the palace that was not very majestic, Wang Yan dismounted and walked up the stairs with Cao Cao and others and entered the palace.

At this moment, two rows of people stood respectfully in the hall, most of them were men, but there were also a few women. They all looked at the door, and their expressions were unclear.

Although these people were captives and defeated people, the eyes of all of them gathered together, and they still gave people a certain amount of pressure. But this is not a problem for the winner. After all, without strong inner energy and firm will, there will be no winner, not to mention that the winner is General Wang.

Wang Yan held the sword in his hand, and under the gaze of the group of people, he walked forward slowly with Cao Cao and sat on the dragon throne.

He clearly saw that many people glared at him, which was normal and understandable. After all, there were many diehards of the Han Dynasty. It would be strange if they would look favorably upon such a big traitor who succeeded.

He glanced at Liu Xie, who was timid and trembling slightly while hugging his wife. He also looked at Cao Cao, who stood on the platform in the middle of the high steps with his hands behind his back, silently watching the scene in the palace.

Wang Yan said: "Meng De, how do you think about placing the Han Emperor?"

"I think I will establish the Han Dynasty outside the territory, and the Han Emperor will naturally follow me."

Lao Cao's mind is still very complicated. The Han Dynasty in China has fallen, and he wants to inherit the name of the Han Dynasty in Tianzhu. He has some obsession with the Han Dynasty.

Of course, this decision has no effect on him, it's just the relationship of the country's name. Liu Xie can't make the decision in the past, and he may have to abdicate in a few years. But Liu Xie can't go. After all, Liu Xie is the orthodox of the Han Dynasty. Without this legitimacy, Lao Cao's self-established Han Dynasty is not the current Han Dynasty. These are two different things.

Wang Yan smiled and nodded: "In this case, all the court officials will go with me, and I will not be killed."

"That's right."

Lao Cao agreed with Wang Yan's words. These people are all capable. Now they are looking for trouble with him all day long. After leaving their hometown and going outside the territory, they will definitely be able to do things seriously. But there is a prerequisite, they must be able to survive to Tianzhu.

It's a long journey, and the road is difficult. Death is certain. How many people will die and who will die is unknown. It depends on who has a strong life.

Of course, you can choose not to go, but not going means death. It's not as simple as suicide. They don't even have the chance to commit suicide. Wang Yan will never allow it. Whoever commits suicide will be prepared to have his bones plated on for hundreds of years.

Wang Yan didn't want to care. These people were useless in his hands. They were nothing more than moving a few more bricks. In comparison, these people can indeed play a greater role in Tianzhu. After all, they are all wise people. The various noble nobles in Tianzhu are of course smart, but in front of the Cao Wei camp in the Three Kingdoms era, where talented people are emerging in large numbers, they are obviously not enough.

Looking at the row of seals on the low table in front of him, Wang Yan picked them up one by one to play with. The emperor has many seals, with various functions. Even though it was still relatively rough at this time, far from the peak of centralization, and there were not more than 20 large seals like the Qing Dynasty, there were still a few.

The most interesting thing is, of course, the one that Wang Yan picked up last. It is four inches in diameter, with five dragons on the top button and one corner inlaid with gold. It feels warm and has been classified as a mythical item. It is the famous imperial seal.

When Yuan Shu surrendered to Cao Cao, he took the imperial seal as a bargaining chip, so the imperial seal came into Cao Cao's hands. No one would do anything because of a seal. Cao Cao understood this even more. Everything he had came from his strong army.

Originally, Yuan Shu became emperor not because of this seal, but because his strength was indeed not weak at that time. In addition to his own temperament and ambition, he would rashly become emperor. The imperial seal brought him legitimacy.

After all, this jade seal is indeed extraordinary. It came from Qin Shihuang, and at that time, Ying Zheng had not conquered the six countries. After various changes, it was lost several times and reappeared. It has been passed down for more than 400 years until now, through Qin, the first Han Dynasty, and even now. Moreover, Qin Shihuang unified the world and called himself emperor, which has a special meaning.

"Received the mandate from heaven, long life and eternal prosperity..." Wang Yan played with the jade seal, looked at the inscriptions on it, and murmured.

This was carved by Qin Shihuang's order to Prime Minister Li Si, using flower and bird seal characters. Li Si's end was not very good, but his handwriting was very good, and he also completed the task very well.

Wang Yan didn't have any special feelings about this imperial seal. Even if there were many legendary stories, it was just an imperial seal after all. It's just that he really hadn't seen it, and now he was looking at it for fun. He had been emperor twice before, and the imperial seal had been lost long ago, and he hadn't seen it either.

Now that he was playing with it, it was over. However, he planned to replace the general seal on the money with this imperial seal when printing money in the future. Of course, he also recognized the special value of this seal.

As for the counterfeiting, Wang Yan had a wealth of knowledge in antique appreciation. Although there was indeed no other seal for him to compare, from his judgment of the jade material, the judgment of the age, and his personal feeling, this was the real thing.

And Lao Cao didn't need to do such a thing. The Han emperor, court officials and others didn't have time to fake it. After all, the jade is still quite rare. When the country was at its peak, of course, everything was available. Now, these people are very poor, how can they have so many treasures.

He found the ink and tapped it on the white paper. Looking at the printed words on the paper, Wang Yan nodded with satisfaction, and used a new piece of paper and started writing. While writing, he glanced at Cao Cao.

"You need to go to Shu in person, all according to our previous discussion. You can start preparations in the near future. The matters of the advance scouting must be arranged properly. You will set off on the road next spring, and there must be no delay."

Cao Cao nodded and bowed his hands as an answer.

This was what the two had discussed before. Cao Cao went to incorporate Shu to prevent Wang Yan from continuing to mobilize troops. At that time, Cao Cao would directly select the population and set aside a group for the expedition.

Of course, Wang Yan said that he would leave next year, which definitely did not mean that all 500,000 people would leave. After all, the road is long and difficult to walk, and 500,000 people will die on the road. Instead, they will leave in batches of tens of thousands.

The first batch was high-ranking officials, elite soldiers and their families. Wang Yan sent naval warships to deliver them, and naval warships were also used for transportation in the future. With a fixed location, the trade route would be easier to open.

In fact, Wang Yan originally planned to let Lao Cao cross the mountains and ridges, but later he thought about it and gave up. The people have suffered too much, and there is no need for them to die on the road.

But even so, long-distance voyages will also kill people. Conquest is always accompanied by death. Others die first, but our own people die first.

For them, it was also an extremely huge test. The fleet is now very large. Even if many warships have been retired in the past 20 years, there are still more than 50 ships, each one larger and more advanced than the other.

All the fleets sent out that year returned. Although they suffered heavy losses and many of them were stranded on different continents, they still gained important navigation experience and preliminary, not very detailed sea charts. Tianzhu has long been explored by Wang Yan's fleet. There is no shortage of supplies along the way, and the things they bring are enough for a round trip.

After all, there were many people when they went there, and only the people who drove the boat when they came back, so they could solve it anyway.

Wang Yan wrote two pieces of paper, waited for a while for the ink to dry, and stamped them with the imperial seal and his general seal respectively. He found a eunuch who was hiding in a corner to reduce his presence, and ordered him to arrange people to deliver the two letters to Sun Ce and Shi Xie.

The meaning of sending people to the Han court was very simple. The place was really remote, and the message was not transmitted smoothly, and the result here was not known. Now he is an eunuch of the Han court, and he used the seal of the imperial seal and the seal of General Wang, which is enough to prove the authenticity.

The content of the letter is also simple, giving them two choices. Either wait until he has sorted out the situation in Jiangnan and Shu, and then march south to capture them one by one and kill them, or pack up and leave before he goes there.

He also talked about Han Sui and Cao Cao, so that they can have a rough idea.

Jiaozhi must be occupied, but there are only one million people there, so it is not urgent to occupy it. After all, Wang Yan basically accepted Lao Cao's 13 million people without any damage. The work of these people is quite complicated, and he has no time to deal with Sun Ce and Shi Xie for a while.

So give them a chance to take people to develop outside. If they don't seize it, it's not his fault. When he sends Lao Cao away next year, he will kill them on the way.

It's a pity for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who are both people who have made a big name in this world, but they were defeated without fighting in General Wang's world. It was because they developed slowly that they were hit by the bigger aftermath.

But Sun Ce was also lucky. After all, he was assassinated after unifying Jiangdong. Later, he did not recover well and died young. But now with the intrusion of General Wang, Sun Ce did not defeat Liu Bei, and had to go back to work for Yuan Shu. He escaped the killing and lived healthily until now.

As for Xiao Qiao, Wang Yan certainly would not admit that he was also curious. If Sun Ce was sensible, then he would not have a chance with Xiao Qiao. If he was not sensible, then maybe they would have a chance.

But obviously, facing the current situation, Sun Ce would definitely be sensible...

But Wang Yan didn't care. He was not a sex-hungry ghost. How could he be perfect in everything. If he really had to send a large army to kill Sun Ce and Zhou Yu for such a small matter, it would be a bit unpresentable.

Although he was indeed a gangster, he was not really a gangster. Don't soldiers die in wars? His hard-heartedness was not reflected in this aspect. It was really not worth it.

Everything is valuable, or if you think about it from another perspective, some people in Wang Yan's position might send out a large army. Because the beauty of Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao has been passed down for two thousand years, and they are sisters, it is very exciting for some people. In the eyes of these people, the casualties caused by this unnecessary war and the resources consumed by the long-distance expedition are naturally not as good as Xiao Qiao.

Of course, there are excuses. After all, there are so many incompetent emperors and so many tricks. Relatively speaking, such behavior does not seem to be a big deal.

But for Wang Yan, it is really unnecessary to fight an unnecessary war for Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao. For him, this is a complete economic account. So he would say that Sun Ce is ignorant and let it go and kill Sun Ce and Zhou Yu...

The subsequent development was very smooth. Lao Cao personally came out and exchanged opinions with the nobles. The nobles were forced to agree to lay down their weapons and go on an expedition to Tianzhu. They couldn't disagree. In Wang Yan's eyes, they were really dead, and their bones would be hung for hundreds of years.

So the defenders in dangerous places in Shu all laid down their weapons. Except for the elite selected by Lao Cao, all went back to their homes.

The news of the expedition to India was also widely spread. Cao Cao finally retained 100,000 soldiers, as well as the corresponding young women and children, without a single old man. Even his soldiers, the older ones were eliminated, and young people were added.

Wang Yan provided them with more advanced weapons and food for departure, and sent them all the way to the land of India.

To be honest, this was not fair to the people who were selected to follow Cao Cao on the expedition to India, but who cares what they think? Cao Cao needed them, and Wang Yan would not keep them, so they could only obey, and there was no other way.

After selecting the people, Wang Yan arranged for these people to develop the land in Shu, and the first group of people began to migrate. They were going to move to Wujun on the coast, which was the estuary of the Yangtze River, and Wang Yan had a dock there.

All kinds of things had to be transported, which was a huge job, and all preparations had to be done. When the spring of next year came, Cao Cao would take people on the warship, set sail, and go on an expedition to India.

This is the work that Lao Cao has to coordinate. All Wang Yan has to do is arrange people to connect with them. He is still in charge of the work in Jiangnan and Shu, and he has to completely stabilize the people and resume production and construction.

The war is over, and peace has once again become the theme of this ancient land. The difference is that this time, the people have stepped onto the stage of history. Wang Yan was a pure commoner, and later became a refugee. He stood with the people and created a powerful empire that was strong for hundreds of years and whose thoughts influenced years...

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