Chapter 110: The Changes in Qingzhou

"Send someone to replace Zang Ai?" I have to say that this proposal made Cao Rui very moved.

Xu Shu and Sima Yi's betrayal have made Cao Rui lose trust in his ministers. Sima Yi has successfully persuaded the governor of Xuzhou to surrender. In addition, Zang Ai's father Zang Ba was born into a bandit, so Cao Rui was very worried about Zang Ai.

At that time, Zang Ba gathered more than 200,000 people on Mount Tai, and was also a powerful man. Later, Zang Ba surrendered to Cao Cao. Cao Cao selected 100,000 Qingzhou soldiers from the Taishan bandits under Zang Ba's command, and these 100,000 Qingzhou soldiers became the main force in Cao Cao's future competition. Cao Cao did not treat Zang Ba unfairly. Not only did he grant Zang Ba's official position, but he also granted Zang Ba his wife and sons. Zang Ba's son also gave him the title, and gave him the fat que, the governor of Qingzhou.

After the Battle of Guandu, Qingzhou was no longer in war, and the main task of Zang Ba and his son over the past few decades was to recruit and train Qingzhou soldiers and provide soldiers to the Wei State.

At this critical moment, the Wei State has only three states left, and Qingzhou has become the front-line position and the last barrier of Jizhou. Cao Rui is quite worried about defending Qingzhou by Zang Ai, the uncertain factor.

"It should be replaced by Zang Ai!" Cao Yu took a deep breath.

"The person who came here, I have signed an order to grant Zang Ai the Shaofu, and I will be granted the title of Marquis of Jinyang. I will return to Yecheng to take office today!" Cao Rui paused and continued, "There is another thing. Who will take over the position of the governor of Qingzhou? Can anyone choose the two dear ministers?"

Liu Fang and Sun Zi looked at each other, and then Sun Zi came out and said, "Your Majesty, Zhong Yu, the minister of Sanqi, is the eldest son of Zhong Yao. He is quite talented and well-versed in military affairs. It would be better to send him to serve as the governor of Qingzhou to replace Zang Ai."

"Yeah." Cao Rui nodded: "Zhong Yu is a good candidate. Grand Tutor Zhong is loyal to the country. I can trust his son Zhong Yu. As for Zhong Yu, Zhong Yu is not young anymore and can be a great task! I will pass the order and select the Minister of the Sanqigong Zhong Yu to enter the palace!"

...

Not far from the south of the Yecheng Imperial Palace, there is a large mansion that looks very luxurious, and this is Zhong Yao's residence.

Zhong Yao is in his 80s. Perhaps because of his older age, Zhong Yao has been in a bad state for more than a year and has been bedridden for more than half a year.

A pink child came over, holding a bowl of medicine in his hand. The strong medicine air filled the air, making people feel the bitterness in it when they smelled it.

"Father, it's time for you to take medicine." The child walked closer to Zhong Yao with the medicine bowl.

This child is Zhong Hui, the youngest son of Zhong Yao. He has been extremely smart since he was a child and is known as the number one prodigy in Yecheng. Zhong Yao gave birth to Zhong Hui in his seventies, and it is a miracle to have a son at the seventy.

Zhong Yao looked at Zhong Hui with a loving look on his face. When he was old, Zhong Yao also favored Zhong Hui very much. Perhaps Zhong Yao also knew that he was old and was about to be buried. It was impossible for him to have a lot of time with Zhong Hui, so he deliberately compensated Zhong Hui for some fatherly love!

"After a while, this medicine is very bitter. My father doesn't want to drink it!" Zhong Yao sighed.

"Father, if you don't drink medicine, how can your illness be cured? You should just bear it for a while and drink the medicine!"

"The disease of father is that the elderly are sick. When people get old, they will get sick. It doesn't matter whether they drink this medicine or not. On the contrary, have you done your homework today?"

"Father, everything is done." Zhong Hui replied.

"Since that's the case, let's take you for your father!"

At this moment, Zhong Yao's eldest son Zhong Yu walked in from outside.

"Father, your Majesty just called me over."

"Seeing that you are very anxious, is there something important to you when Your Majesty asks you?"

"What my father said is that Liu Fang and Sun Zi made a comment to His Majesty, and Zang Ai was appointed as the Taifu and the Marquis of Jinyang, and he could return to Yecheng to take office."

"What, is this clearly an increase in the open and secretly? This is equivalent to removing Zang Ai as the governor of Qingzhou, which also shows that Your Majesty does not trust Zang Ai. In this way, Zang Ai will rebel! Liu Fang and Sun Zi, two guys, claiming to be smart, but offer this plan to Your Majesty, is simply giving Qingzhou away for nothing! Cough cough cough..." Zhong Yao said here, coughing violently.

"Father, please calm down." Zhong Yu rushed forward.

"Hey..." Zhong Yao sighed long and then asked, "Who will His Majesty send you to be the governor of Qingzhou?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty sent his child to be the governor of Qingzhou!" Zhong Yu replied carefully.

"What?" Zhong Yao was so scared that he almost rolled off the couch.

"Hurry, hurry up... take me to see Your Majesty! I'm going to see Your Majesty!" Zhong Yao forced himself to stand up, then walked off the bed.

"Father, no, your body..."

"You must go for your father! This matter is related to the survival of the country. Qingzhou is the last barrier of Jizhou and must not be lost. I will go to see Your Majesty first!" Zhong Yao stood up tremblingly, and Zhong Yu and Zhong Hui next to him hurriedly went up to support Zhong Yao.

"Hurry, help me see Your Majesty and go prepare the court suit for me... Hurry!" Zhong Yao said here, his body suddenly stopped, and his eyes stared blankly ahead.

"Father, what's wrong with you?" Zhong Yu discovered Zhong Yao's abnormality.

"Father, father..." Zhong Yu called softly, but Zhong Yao did not answer.

Gradually, Zhong Yu discovered that Zhong Yao's eyes had lost color, and Zhong Yao's hands suddenly dropped.

"Father!" Zhong Yu shouted, and Zhong Yao not only did not respond, but leaned on Zhong Yu's body.

Zhong Yu leaned his hand towards Zhong Yao's nose. At this time, Zhong Yao no longer breathed.

Zhong Yao is dead!

...

Qingzhou, Linzi City.

When Qingzhou soldiers helped Cao Cao conquer the Central Plains, Cao Cao was delighted. Therefore, since Cao Cao obtained Qingzhou after the Battle of Guandu, he would recruit thousands to 10,000 to 20,000 elite soldiers from Qingzhou every year to supplement the Qingzhou soldiers.

Nowadays, it is the time of war that Qingzhou recruits several times more soldiers than before. In addition, the original Qingzhou garrison power, Zang Ai has a total of more than 30,000 people, and they are all elite Qingzhou soldiers, with combat power much stronger than ordinary soldiers. You must know that Qingzhou soldiers who helped Cao Cao conquer the world in the past were only 30,000.

Yanzhou was lost and Xuzhou also surrendered. Now Zang Ai is enemies to the west and south, and they are extremely powerful.

Yanzhou was better. The Han army only advanced to Taishan County, Yanzhou, and did not enter Qingzhou. However, the Eastern Wu army in the south had already entered Qingzhou. What made Zang Ai even more depressed was that the Eastern Wu led the troops was Sima Yi and Zhuge Dan. These two people were both old acquaintances of Zang Ai.

Sima Yi was once one of the three giants of Wei, and knew the deployment of the entire Wei State and the officials. Zhuge Dan lived in Langya County and was very familiar with the terrain of the entire Qingzhou. The combination of these two people made Zang Ai feel that his Qingzhou seemed to have become an unclothed girl, directly placed in front of the Eastern Wu.

"General, Sima Yi sent someone to send a letter." Sun Yu walked in from outside.

Sun Yu was Sun Guan's son. Sun Guan was Zang Ba's general and one of the leaders of the Taishan bandits. Later, he surrendered to Cao Cao with Zang Ba and was named a marquis.

"It's time to persuade me to surrender again!" Zang Ai sighed and said.

"Yes, General, this time it was Sima Yi's personal letter of surrender again." Sun Yu said and handed over the letter.

Zang Ai took the letter, but didn't even read it, and threw it directly on the table.

"General, don't you look at it?" Sun Yu asked.

"What are you looking at? There have been several letters, but it's almost the same." Zang Ai shook his head.

Sun Yu hesitated for a moment, as if he had something to say, but in the end he stopped and did not say it.

Zang Ai noticed Sun Yu's appearance and then asked casually: "Do you have anything else to say?"

"General, I just heard a piece of news that it was coming from Yecheng." Sun Yu said cautiously.

"It has something to do with us?" Zang Ai asked.

"Yes, it's something related to the general." Sun Yu hesitated for a moment again, and then said: "There is news from Yecheng that the general must be appointed as the Shaofu and the Marquis of Jinyang, and let the general go to Yecheng to take office."

"What?" Zang Ai's face showed a hint of displeasure. Shangye City was the young mansion. Although he was one of the nine ministers, his military power was far inferior to the position of the governor of Qingzhou. All of this seemed to be promoted, but in fact he was promoted openly and secretly.

At the most critical moment, Zang Ai was transferred at this critical moment, which made Zang Ai realize that Cao Rui did not trust him.

"Cao Rui, Cao Rui, both my father and son have been loyal to serving your Cao family, and they ended up like this! Humph..." Zang Ai's mind was full of dissatisfaction.

After a long time, Zang Ai took a deep breath and asked, "Who is the trusted governor of Qingzhou?"

"Your Majesty originally asked Zhong Yao's son Zhong Yu to come to Qingzhou to serve as the governor of Qingzhou, but Zhong Yao suddenly passed away, so Zhong Yu stayed in Yecheng to deal with Zhong Yao's funeral." Sun Yu continued.

"Well, so that's it. Zhong Yao's youngest son Zhong Hui is still a child of a few years. Zhong Yu should stay and take charge, but I think Cao Rui will send someone to replace me!" Zang Ai said viciously.

Sun Yu next to him was slightly stunned. Now Zang Ai no longer called His Majesty but should call Cao Rui's name directly. It can be seen that Zang Ai had such a big prejudice towards Cao Rui.

Finally, Zang Ai's eyes remained on the table and Sima Yi's handwritten letter.

Zang Ai walked forward, picked up Sima Yi's letter, opened it gently, and then looked carefully.

Sun Yu next to him stood quietly aside without saying anything. It was not until half an hour later that Zang Ai finally put down the letter in his hand.

"Sun Yu, I..."

"General, our two families are family friends. My father Sun Guan was with General Zang Ba back then. Now I have been with you for decades. No matter what you want, General, I will definitely follow the general to the death!"
Chapter completed!