dognovel Chapter 728 Too far from Liu Bei, too close to Cao Pi
Chapter 728 Too far from Liu Bei, too close to Cao Pi
When one person attains the Tao, the chicken and the dog ascend to heaven.
When a close relative of yours reaches a height that is difficult for ordinary people to achieve, your net worth will also increase.
Take Liu Bei's two daughters for example. They were Cao Chun's spoils of war. If Liu Bei had lost Jingzhou and suffered defeat at Yiling, and died of illness in Baidi City, just like in history, they would have been left to live a life of idleness and oblivion in the Cao family in Qiao County, forgotten by everyone.
But now that Liu Bei has unified Jiangnan and ascended the throne, he seems poised to launch a northern expedition to revitalize the Han Dynasty. Naturally, the two of them have become legitimate princesses of the Han Dynasty and have attracted everyone's attention.
The person most concerned about them now is naturally their adopted son, Cao Yan. Cao Yan is not as capable as his father, Cao Chun. He is a typical playboy who just wants to live a life of leisure. What he fears most is that after Liu Bei's Northern Expedition succeeds, the Cao family will lose its current power.
But if you take good care of these two stepmothers, things will be different. When Liu Bei returns in the future, you can get the same treatment as Xiahou Ba by virtue of being Liu Bei's adopted grandson.
So when he heard Cheng Xian say that the problem wasn't serious, Cao Yan was truly relieved and sincerely said to Cheng Xian, "Dr. Zhou, you must cure my mother. Just ask for anything you need, and I will spare no expense, even if it means going bankrupt."
Cheng Xian shook his head and said, "It won't lead to bankruptcy. I'll prescribe some medicine and you can take it on time. Besides, medicine can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. To completely cure it, you have to maintain a good mood. When you're in a good mood, all your ailments will naturally disappear."
Cao Yan wrote down each prescription, ordered someone to take Cheng Xian's prescription to get the medicine, and then instructed his younger brother and sister, who were the children of the two princesses, to take good care of their mothers before leaving with everyone.
Soon only Liu Bei's two daughters, Liu Man and Liu Mi, and their three children remained in the room.
Princess Liu Mi grabbed her elder sister Liu Man's hand and said thankfully, "Eldest sister, did you hear that? The doctor said it's not a big problem. You just need to rest and recuperate. Don't worry about it all the time."
Liu Man said with a wry smile, "How can I not worry? I still don't know why Cao Pi summoned us to Luoyang."
Liu Mi said, "You don't need to worry about that at all. He wouldn't dare kill us. Don't forget that Father has already declared himself emperor and is preparing for a northern expedition. Under these circumstances, my sister and I will be fine. At most, we'll be taken hostage."
When Liu Mi mentioned his father, Liu Bei, his expression became quite complicated.
They were taken away by Cao Chun during the Battle of Changban. It was thought that their father, who had been defeated by Cao Cao like a stray dog, would fade into obscurity like Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and other warlords. Who knew that Liu Bei would rise up and conquer the south, become emperor, and even become a nightmare for Cao Wei, which made their treatment in the Cao family better.
But no matter how good the treatment was in the Cao family, it was not as good as the treatment of being a princess in Jiangling. So these days, the two of them often thought that if they had not been captured by Cao Chun back then, but had escaped to Jiangnan with their father, would their fate have been different?
Liu Man smiled wryly and said, "I can't count on my father for now, so I should think about myself."
As the eldest daughter, Liu Man has had a harder time than Liu Mi over the years. As the older sister, she was supposed to protect her younger sister from the wind and rain, but no one was there to protect her. As a result, she suffered many injustices that were hard for ordinary people to understand, and thus harbored some resentment towards her father, Liu Bei.
More importantly, Cao Pi's sudden summons of the two of them to the capital was for unknown reasons, and the unknown is always worrying.
Although their father had become successful, he was still too far away from them. Cao Pi, that devil, was too close to them. What if Cao Pi failed to resist Liu Bei and killed them in a fit of rage? Wouldn't that be tragic for them?
If that's the case, it would be better to live out one's days in the Cao family in Qiao County.
Liu Mi didn't understand her sister's worries, but she also knew that going to Luoyang would not be good. After thinking for a moment, she gritted her teeth and said, "Why don't we just run away? We'll be safe if we sneak across the river."
Liu Man patted her head and laughed, scolding, "It's not that easy. Do you know how far it is from Xudu to the Yangtze River? We can't even get out of Xudu city, let alone run to the riverbank."
"Forget it, let fate decide. As long as Cao Pi doesn't harm the children, I'll accept whatever comes my way."
After speaking, she looked at her two daughters and her sister's son, a hint of doting and worry on her face. Right now, she was most worried about these children. Who knew what Cao Pi's attitude towards them would be?
While the two sisters were worrying about the future, Li Gousheng and Cheng Xian were once again kicked out of the mansion by Xiahou Chong, who refused to provide them with a carriage and forced them to walk home.
On the way, Cheng Xian said worriedly, "I wonder why Cao Pi summoned the two princesses to Luoyang. Why don't we gather some men and abduct them on the way after they leave Xuchang?"
Li Gousheng shook his head and said, "Robbing is easy, but we will face many problems. First of all, after the robbery, the Wei army will definitely come to search. How can we send the person to the riverbank under the Wei army's strict search?"
"Secondly, once we are kidnapped, Xiahou Chong and Cao Yan will definitely suspect that someone leaked the information. At that time, we two outsiders will definitely be the primary suspects. In that case, there's no point in doing anything else."
"But now that we know about the two princesses, we can't just ignore it. If we do, the princesses will definitely hold a grudge against us if His Majesty succeeds in the Northern Expedition. Even His Highness the Crown Prince and Marquis Shence might have some complaints about us. So we have to shift the blame and clear ourselves of any responsibility."
“Here’s what we’ll do: you try to stall the princess’s illness and prevent her from getting better too quickly. I’ll send someone to consult Marquis Shence immediately. If Marquis Shence orders us to rescue her, we’ll risk our lives to do so. But if Marquis Shence orders us to stay infiltrated, we’ll strictly follow his orders. If anything happens to the princess in the future, no one can blame us, right?”
Cheng Xian was stunned for a moment before giving a thumbs up and saying, "Li Gousheng, you're simply born to be an official."
Li Gousheng shook his head and said, "Stop talking about this. Xiahou Chong has given me another difficult task. He actually wants me to find a way to recruit some excellent craftsmen from major factories in Jiangnan to build factories for him. Where am I supposed to recruit craftsmen for him? Even the Imperial Academy can't do it. How can I do it? Isn't this deliberately making things difficult for me?"
He had handled Ding Shun's matter so well that he had gained Xiahou Chong's full trust, but at the same time, Xiahou Chong had unrealistic expectations of him.
Actually, this task was not difficult for Li Gousheng at all, because Xiahou Chong only said to kidnap excellent craftsmen, without specifying which profession they wanted, whether it was textile, steelmaking, or papermaking.
To put it bluntly, Xiahou Chong's interest in the Jiangnan craftsmen wasn't about serving Cao Wei, but about building factories to make money for himself. Li Gousheng could easily find such workers, and he could even hire them himself, since he had visited many factories and understood the production processes of various products.
But he dared not reveal these technologies. If he did, people would immediately think he was suspicious. How could a subject of Cao Wei possess the technology of a pseudo-Han state?
If you investigate further in this direction, the timeline for when you became a medicinal herb merchant will immediately be exposed.
Therefore, those who infiltrate behind enemy lines must go with the flow and never try to be different or stand out, because the more they try to be in the limelight, the easier it is for them to be exposed.
Therefore, Li Gousheng did not intend to complete Xiahou Chong's task; at most, he would find a few craftsmen in Xudu to put on a show.
Cheng Xian laughed and said, "I don't care about your affairs. I can also delay the princess's illness for about twenty days. That's enough time to wait for Marquis Shence's order."
"However, there is something we must be wary of. Yesterday, our brother in Pingyu (the seat of Runan County) sent back a message saying that Tian Yu has arrived in Pingyu to serve as the prefect and has successfully met up with Gao Rou, the prefect of Yingchuan. He may be about to make a move against us."