? In Zhuge Liang's mind, there are only a few forces worthy of winning over to fight against Jin with the court, and the rest of the forces can at most strengthen their momentum or cheer for them. When it is time to die, they have to rely on families like Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Yuan family and Sima family with a deep foundation and unwillingness to surrender to others to face the increasingly powerful Jin State with the court.

Cao Cao in Yanzhou has great ambitions and is proficient in civil and military affairs. He also has a group of extremely outstanding civil and military generals under his command. The combat effectiveness of the troops is also very considerable. In addition, his territory is only separated from the State of Jin by the Sili Hanoi County. Once the court fails to protect him, Cao Cao will be in trouble next, and is a typical stakeholder, so he has become the first choice for Kong Ming to join forces in secret.

According to Zhuge Liang's analysis, Jin State can consolidate and digest the two major territories of Liang and Youzhou in the short term, as long as two years, and as long as three years, forming a huge entity that starts from Shanhaiguan in Liaodong in the east and ends at Yumenguan in Liangzhou in the west. It not only accumulates quantitatively in territory and population, but also makes a qualitative leap in comprehensive strength and military combat power.

By then, Zhao Xing could have launched multiple wars at the same time on the east side of Jin (Jizhou) and the south side of Liangzhou (Yizhou) and even the south side of Jin (Sili area), and could be undefeated. Any attacked state forces will undoubtedly fail if they do not receive support from other states.

Now, it has been a whole year since the establishment of Liang Kingdom. At this time, the internal construction of Liang Kingdom and Youzhou has entered a critical stage. If a war against Zhao Xing is launched, the construction results of the two places over the past year will be in full swing, which can greatly delay Zhao Xing's pace of going south. If the court can gradually weaken the power of the governors of each state in the process of uniting the lunar calendar, and successfully integrate the eight states south of the Yellow River and Jizhou north of the Yellow River together, there is still hope to defeat Zhao Xing and resolve this catastrophe.

The court had to cooperate with the forces of the state and wanted to take over their authority, which seemed almost impossible, but Zhuge Liang had the confidence to complete it. Because he believed that with his own analysis, these forces could be convinced to agree to join the court camp and voluntarily hand over some of the actual rights.

Kong Ming left Hulao Pass and entered the territory of Yanzhou. It was only a hundred miles away from Chenliu, the capital of Yanzhou's governor Cao Cao, and arrived smoothly in just two days. The swordsman Shi A, who was guarding him, and a group of dead men loyal to the emperor pretended to be groom servants, were inseparable from guarding against Zhuge Liang for any unexpected accidents. Since even the emperor's most loyal personal dead men were dispatched, it means that Zhuge's secret mission this time was very important.

I heard from my subordinates that a young envoy had arrived in the court and asked for a name to meet the governor of Yanzhou. Cao Cao did not neglect and immediately invited Zhuge Liang into his mansion.

After the guests and host met, Zhuge Liang first spoke: "Zhuge Kongming of Langya, he is here to meet the governor of Caozhou by the secret order of the emperor."

After hearing that the man had reported himself to his house, Cao Cao asked in confusion: "Do you dare to ask the special envoy Kong Ming who was called Wolong by Sima Hui of Shuijing?"

Zhuge Liang replied indifferently: "It's just Mr. Sima's chatter. Liang was ashamed of Wolong's name, so he should not be true."

After the two talked casually for a while, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry to show the court's secret edict, and Cao Cao was not in a hurry to ask Kong Ming's purpose. The two talked about the customs and customs of Yanzhou and the personnel changes of the court in great agreement. They neither mentioned the "snowflake salt" dumping incident that has been causing a lot of controversy, nor did they talk about the new things that appeared at the Jin State Business Exhibition. It seemed that Zhao Xing, a powerful force that was enough to stir the world, had gone to another world and had nothing to do with them.

When it was lunch, Cao Cao invited Zhuge Liang to attend the reception banquet, and Kong Ming accepted it calmly. In order to show respect, Cao Cao invited all important scholars such as Xun You, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhong, and Liu Ye to accompany Kong Ming to have a banquet.

Zhuge Liang, dressed in a blue-clothed Confucian scholar, was the youngest among the guests, but his conversation was elegant and decent, and his manners were calm and steady, and he was no less than the famous scholars under Cao Cao. When everyone heard that the lord Cao Cao introduced that the envoy sent by the court was a character called "Wolong" in the Jingxiang area in recent years. Each of them had some thoughts of comparison and consideration in their hearts, so there was a lot of mystery in their words, not as harmonious as they were on the surface.

Zhuge Liang had heard of the group of counselors under Cao Cao. After seeing him today, he secretly sighed in his heart that Cao Cao was indeed good at identifying people. No matter which one of them was placed in the court, he was a great man. Kong Ming was not offensive to everyone's intentional or unintentional verbal tests, but also cleverly turned around with a clever attitude. The atmosphere in the seat seemed fresh and natural, not dull and depressing.

After half an hour of cups and cups, Cao Cao ordered people to call the musicians and musicians to dance in the middle open space that sat in a circle. The singer was beautiful, slim and beautiful in dancing. She sang and danced lightly against the music of the strings of silk and bamboo zither, which won the cheers of the people in the audience for a while.

After the dance, the singer and musicians retreated one after another. Cao Cao asked Zhuge Liang proudly: "I don't know how the envoy thought this dance and this music were like Luoyang?"

Zhuge Liang's face was calm and he replied slowly, "Dance is graceful and joyful. But Kong Ming's words were pressed into his lungs, and he would not vomit without venting."

After hearing this, Cao Cao was surprised and said, "I wonder what Mr. Zhuge has to say and then he will be quick?"

Zhuge Liang replied, "Yanzhou is about to fall, but the governor of Caozhou drinks and talks every day, and the nightingale sings and dances at night. Wouldn't the heroes in the world be despised?"

Cao Heizi, who was in high spirits, was suddenly covered in dust by Zhuge Liang's displeasure and his expression suddenly became a little ugly. Before Cao Cao could fight back, Xun Yu, who had long wanted to compete with Kong Ming, said, "If today is peaceful and the people are happy, how can Mr. Zhuge be worried about the world?"

Zhuge Liang's disappointing words were originally intended. As soon as Xun Yu opened his mouth, he knew that today's main drama had begun, so he said without hesitation: "Jin State is dominant in the north, and tigers are watching the world, Liang State, and Youzhou are supporting each other. How can the world be peaceful? Zhao Xing advocates strange skills, attaches importance to business and profit, and suppresses scholars and scholars. If everyone imitates today, and talks about money all the time, how can the people be happy?"

Xun Yu was an upright and honest person, and the things and phenomena that Zhuge Liang asked did exist and could not be refuted, so he kept silent, indicating that Kong Ming's words were indeed reasonable.

Xun You, who was standing aside, asked Zhuge Liang again: "Isn't it the court's indulgence in the past that the State of Jin could do today? The people value business and seek profits, all because of their livelihood. If Zhao Xing in the north really had an unjust act, the Sili area south of Jiguan would be the first to be affected!"

Zhuge Liang replied: "The year before yesterday, the imperial court sent troops to attack Zhao. Although the states responded, they were all ulterior motives, fearing that their forces would be depleted, and the result would be that the battle against Zhao ended ineffective. How could it be said that the court was indulging? The people valued merchants and pursued the people because the merchants of Jin State traveled south in the future and bewitched the people. How could Yanzhou be avoided after the fall of Sili?"

Zhuge Liang pointed out in public that when the attack on Zhao Xing, the forces of various states did not work, which made Zhao Xing survive. Now he is finally overwhelmed. After hearing this, everyone looked very ugly and wanted to argue, but found that it was just a cover-up of the bell, especially Zhuge Liang's last sentence, "If Zhao Xing goes south in the future, how can Yanzhou be avoided after Sili fall?" It pointed directly at the hearts of the people, making everyone unable to make excuses at all.

In such occasions, if anyone pretends to be stupid and says that Jin's southward travel has nothing to do with Yanzhou, he will definitely be despised and ashamed. Because everyone present is a master of strategy, saying that kind of lies that is useless will only make people laugh and cannot solve the common crisis between Yanzhou and the court.

Since Zhuge Liang had already said this, it was time for him to show his trump card, so everyone stopped telling each other and listened to what the imperial envoy was trying to come here this time. ~
Chapter completed!