Chapter 388: Plot in the Classroom

When Chen Gong urgently sent someone to report what happened in Huaicheng to Lu Bu in Anyi City, several parties were arguing in the emperor's court.

The next destination of the emperor's convoy.

Cao Cao proposed to welcome the emperor to Xu County.

Lu Bu and Ju Shou proposed to welcome the emperor to Huaicheng.

Both sides had many ministers supporting them, and of course there were also some ministers who insisted on returning to Luoyang, after all, that was the old capital of the Han Dynasty.

The two sides argued for several days, but Liu Xie was still undecided. After all, in order to revive the Han Dynasty, he had to consider the opinions of all parties. Now it seemed that the majority of people supported Cao Cao.

Although Liu Xie regained Lu Bu's loyalty, he was still somewhat wary of Ju Shou and Zhao Yun, who belonged to Yuan Xi's faction. Although Zhao Yun defeated Li Jue and Guo Si, in Liu Xie's view, Yuan Xi was a member of the Yuan family and it was difficult to fully trust him.

He privately summoned Lu Bu, as well as Cao Cao's adviser Xun You and Yuan Xi's adviser Ju Su, and listened to their ideas respectively.

Of course, Lu Bu thought it would be best for Liu Xie to go to Huaicheng, Xun You agreed to go to Xuchang, and Ju Su stood on Lu Bu's side, but at the same time suggested that if Liu Xie felt Huaicheng was unsafe, he could go to Jizhou to seek refuge from Yuan Shao.

In Liu Xie's heart, he was actually more inclined to Cao Cao. After all, Cao Cao had privately sent people to contact the Han court with letters a few years ago, and his ancestors had a relationship with the Han Dynasty, which made Liu Xie more at ease.

More importantly, Cao Cao's power was relatively weak, which was most suitable for Liu Xie, as he could have more autonomy.

The fact that Yuan Xi had Yuan Shao's support was a big threat to Liu Xie, especially if he went to Jizhou for refuge, which would affect his administration as the emperor.

Liu Xie's real idea was to rely on Lu Bu to check and balance Cao Cao, and to make the best use of the forces in Jizhou but keep a distance from them. Now that he was dealing with all parties, he had a lot of autonomy. Naturally, he was not as embarrassed as before when he was chased and had no place to go and was forced to ask for help from the whole world.

Therefore, he had already had a bias in his mind on how to arrange the three forces of Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Youzhou. If nothing unexpected happened, the Youzhou army would be the one to be eliminated early.

But how to appease the Youzhou army that has made meritorious service is also a problem. Rewards must be given. They cannot be driven away. Otherwise, who in the world will believe in themselves?

However, Liu Xie discovered that he could not get the official position even if it was an honorary one!

All the generals in all directions were occupied by the Baibo Army, and hundreds of official positions were also divided up by the Baibo Army's soldier leaders. These high-ranking positions that only the children of aristocratic families could hold more than a decade ago are now occupied by illiterate bandits like dividing cabbages. For the Han Dynasty, it is a great irony.

If Liu Xie wanted to continue using empty official positions to win people's hearts, he had to leave these positions vacant.

As a result, the Baibo Army, which acted recklessly and left no way for others to retreat, became a thorn in the eyes of all other forces, even more so than Li Jue and Guo Si.

With the secret promotion of several parties, a plan against the Baibo Army began to take shape.

At this time, Zhong Yao in the hall was saying passionately: "No matter where the emperor goes, we must eliminate the rebels who threaten the emperor!"

"After Li Jue and Guo Si were defeated, they did not leave, but continued to spy on the emperor's carriage outside the city!"

"Now that all parties have come to our aid, our strength has surpassed that of the Liangzhou Army. This is a great opportunity to destroy them!"

To be fair, this statement is not wrong. Last time, the coalition forces of Zhao Yun and Lu Bu alone were able to barely stop the Liangzhou Army. If the Cao Army and the Baibo Army came out in full force, they might be able to wipe them out!

The key question is, who will lead this counterattack and who will be responsible for the striker?

Lu Bu and Zhao Yun have already sent troops to fight before. If anyone proposes to let these two serve as the main force this time, he will obviously be questioned. Therefore, the vanguard this time is likely to come from Cao's army and Baibo's army.

Neither side was stupid. Cao Cao aside, the Baibo Army knew how powerful the Liangzhou Army was, so they made all kinds of excuses to shirk responsibility. However, Zhong Yao on the field seized the Baibo Army's weakness and tried his best to incite them.

He said, "Now that the four generals are still here, this position was originally established to suppress rebellion. Now that the rebels are around, those who have been awarded the position should take their place. They should defeat the rebels, wipe out the bandits, and protect the emperor!"

His words were full of sarcasm, not only hinting at the top brass of the Baibo Army, but also hinting at the Baibo bandit soldiers who occupied hundreds of official positions. Now that they have received all the benefits, it is time for them to contribute!

The generals of the Baibo Army cursed in their hearts, but now they were in a difficult situation. After a secret discussion, Yang Feng came out and said, "Although we are not talented, we are also loyal to the Han Dynasty. However, our strength is still far behind Li Jue and Guo Si, so we can only assist with all our strength, but we are unable to take charge of the overall situation."

They thought very clearly that they could go into battle, but their skills were not good enough and they could only serve as minor troops!

Everyone turned their eyes to Cao Cao and Lu Bu at the same time, only to find that Lu Bu was in a daze, as if he was oblivious to everyone's argument.

Lu Bu just received a letter from Huaicheng, but it was from Zhang Yang, which made him very confused.

During the first rebellion in Huaicheng, Zhang Yang learned that the rebel was caused by Yang Chou, so he hurried back to explain things to Lu Bu. However, Lu Bu and the Youzhou army joined forces to rush to Anyi, but the two sides took different routes and did not meet.

On the way back, Zhang Yang heard that Yuan Shu's army was attacking the city. He was shocked and waited near Huaicheng for two days. Then the news came that Yuan Shu's army was defeated!

After hearing this, Zhang Yang hurriedly took another route to avoid Yuan Shu's army and sneak into the city. When Yuan Xi learned about this, he asked Zhang Yang to take charge of the overall situation in Huaicheng. After all, Zhang Yang's official title was still the prefect of Henei.

Zhang Yang carefully investigated what happened in the city and was even more shocked. He didn't expect that after Yang Chou, Lu Bu's men also rebelled!

He did not dare to delay and immediately wrote an urgent letter and handed it to Lu Bu. After receiving the letter, Lu Bu almost smashed the table. Even Wei Xu, Song Xianhou, and Chengdu rebelled?

Are there any good people under your command?

Isn't this really Yuan Xi colluding with Chen Gong and Gao Shun to clean up his own forces?

But Lu Bu changed his mind and realized that doing such a thing would not benefit Chen Gong and Gao Shun. Moreover, after Zhang Yang returned, Yuan Xi let Zhang Yang take control of the military power in the city again. If he had any ulterior motives, he would never do so.

Moreover, in the letter, Zhang Yang swore that he had interrogated Wei Xu and the other party confessed that Yuan Shu had promised him high position and generous salary, so he was confused for a moment and hoped that Lu Bu would spare his life for the sake of his family.

This family is the essence. Lu Bu naturally understood that Wei Xu was not referring to Lu Bu's maternal family, but Wei Xu's wife.

Lu Bu already felt guilty about having an affair with his subordinates' wives and concubines, and subconsciously wanted to reply and agree. But then he changed his mind and thought, this bastard Wei Xu was having an affair with Yuan Shu. If Huaicheng was really breached, would his wife and daughter have a good ending?

So Lu Bu is now upset. He just wants to rush back to Huaicheng with the emperor's convoy. He is really worried about the base camp in this state.

But now, in order to deal with Li Jue and Guo Si, they started arguing in the hall. Seeing that Lu Bu looked uninterested, everyone looked at Cao Cao again.

Seeing this, Cao Cao knew that the time had come.

Whether it is to welcome the emperor or to clean up the court, an excuse is needed to reshuffle power.

Now is the opportunity to eliminate Li Jue and Guo Si. Only by making great contributions can the emperor reward him and reallocate official positions, so that he can place his own direct forces in place.

He stood up and said, "The Liangzhou Army intends to hold the emperor hostage and harm the world. It has reached the point where we have to eliminate them!"

"Although I am not talented, I am willing to be the vanguard and obey your orders!"

As soon as he said this, several officials came out to praise him, while secretly mocking the Baibo Army for not taking the lead.

Except for Yang Feng, Han Xian and Hu Cai of the Baibo Army were all long-term thieves. They were fooled at once and jumped out shouting that they should fight the bandits together.

Yang Feng was unable to stop it and watched Han Xian and Hu Cai make the promise. At this time, Li Le stood up and said, "I have received news that the Southern Xiongnu has sent troops to plot evil. I am willing to lead a group of troops to the north to stop the enemy and prevent the Southern Xiongnu from colluding with the Liangzhou army."

All the officials present did not believe it and thought to themselves, how can you come up with such an excuse?

Unexpectedly, Cao Cao looked at Zhong Yao and said to Liu Xie: "General, your concerns are very reasonable. The Southern Xiongnu has ulterior motives and we must be on guard."

After hearing this, Liu Xie said to Li Le: "Since this is the case, General, you can lead a group of soldiers and horses and do what you think is appropriate."

Li Le immediately accepted the order.

Cao Cao turned to Lu Bu and said, "I would like to ask Marquis Wen to take charge of the central army during this battle. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Lu Bu subconsciously felt that Cao Cao was treating him as a general of equal status, so he nodded and said, "Yes."

After hearing this, Ju Su was about to speak out to stop him, but Lu Bu had already agreed, and his face froze.

He could naturally guess that the next major battle would be the key to truly reap the rewards. If Lu Bu stayed in the center of the army, he would lose the opportunity to make merit!

When the time comes to reward people for their contributions, if Cao's army occupies too many key official positions, our say will become very low!

Now Lu Bu is restricted and can only rely on Zhao Yun. However, if Zhao Yun fails to achieve anything, the rumor of going to Xu County to welcome the emperor will overwhelm the voice of going to Huaicheng.

Moreover, Ju Su was certain that when Cao Cao attacked the Liangzhou Army, he would most likely take the opportunity to attack the Baibo Army. That was fine, but Cao Cao was targeting not only the Baibo Army, but also very likely Lu Bu and the Youzhou Army!

At this time, Lu Bu was in charge of the central army, which was equivalent to being sidelined. How could he know what was happening outside?

Looking at the confused Lu Bu, Ju Shou suddenly found himself so tired. Following a lord like Lu Bu, it was no wonder that his subordinates had all kinds of thoughts!

Ju Shou was now very anxious. Although he told Liu Xie that he and Ju Jun were of the same clan, and Liu Xie also expressed his condolences for Ju Jun's death, it was obvious that he did not trust Ju Shou as much as Cao Cao.

Ju Su guessed that Yuan Shao's support for Liu Yu as emperor had left a shadow in Liu Xie's heart, so he could not fully trust the Yuan family. Before Ju Su came, Yuan Xi had foreseen this and simply told Ju Su not to have any worries and to just do it with confidence.

But now Ju Su was somewhat helpless. He did not expect that Cao Cao had such a strong influence around the emperor. In addition to Dong Cheng, Zhong Yao and others, there were also a large number of people who supported Cao Cao!

He looked around at the officials, wondering if there was anyone planted by Yuan Xi among them?