Three Kingdoms

"The short boy must have bad intentions!" Zhang Fei banged his head and hit the table with his palm. The Panwan Jiujue and others on the table jumped up on the spot, but Zhang Fei had to control his strength, otherwise they would all have escaped successfully from the table.

Guan Yu talked about the important point and said in a deep voice: "Brother, why is Huang Zhonglang at the school grounds?"

Liu Bei shook his head, but continued, "I asked Xianhe to go out and investigate..."

It is not his home court, and many things can only be covered up by the troops coming to block the water and the earth. There is no prediction or plan at all. Although he has agreed in front of Cao Cao, Liu Bei still hopes to understand the reason. Be more detailed and thorough.

"Mr. Cao..." Guan Yu hesitated and said, "Mr. Cao also has some good intentions?"

Zhang Fei opened his mouth wide: "How can that short boy have good intentions!"

"Don't be rude!" Liu Bei glared at Zhang Fei, frowned and said, "You have to call me Duke Cao! The court still needs to be dignified!"

"Short... Mr. Cao..." Zhang Fei muttered.

Liu Bei was silent for a moment and said: "Actually... I had a pretty good relationship with Duke Cao..."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were both a little confused and turned to look at Liu Bei.

"Back then..." Liu Bei sighed softly and said, "Do you two worthy brothers know about Wang Wenzu?"

"Wang Wenzu?" Zhang Fei was completely unimpressed.

Guan Yu frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Could it be that one of the eight chefs? Someone who wanted to rebel but committed suicide after being defeated?"

Liu Bei nodded slowly and said: "Wang Wenzu originally had a clear name. In the ninth year of Yanxi, the party controlled the world, and Wang Wenzu was among them. He was not allowed to be an official... Therefore, in the Central Plains, the clear currents gathered together and established three monarchs. Eight Horses and Eight Gus, Eight and Eight Chefs, Wang Fen is one of the Eight Chefs..."

In fact, except for the title of Sanjun, which is relatively rare, the rest of the Eight Horsemen and Eight Gus are simply overflowing. There are four versions of the Eight Horsemen alone, not to mention other names. Ba Chu is the type who is willing to spend money and be quick to do justice. For example, he is like Song Jiang.

"Then the party's rule was revived, and Wang Wenzu was listed among them again..." Liu Bei continued, "Later, due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the party's rule was eased, and Wang Wenzu was appointed as the governor of Jizhou. He stayed in the state for four years, and the people's livelihood was prosperous. Later..."

Liu Bei leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and said: "Wang Wenzu plotted rebellion due to the imprisonment of the party, and wanted to establish a marquis of Hefei as his replacement... At that time, Duke Cao was recruiting troops in Pei State, and Wang Wenzu sent people to contact Duke Cao... Unintentionally , was informed by someone..."

At that time, Cao Cao served as the captain of the Dian Army of the Eighth Lieutenant of Xiyuan. Although his rank was not very high, because he was newly established by Emperor Ling, he was closer to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty to a certain extent than any other army. Although Liu Bei didn't know exactly how Wang Fen wanted Cao Cao to cooperate, Liu Bei knew that it was definitely related to the responsibilities of the Eighth School Lieutenant of Xiyuan.

"Gong Cao sternly refused... However, Gong Cao did not report the matter to the court..." Liu Bei said this and was silent for a moment before continuing, "I thought it was inappropriate, so I sent a secret message..."

"Brother!" Zhang Fei's eyes widened, but he didn't know what to say.

"Third brother! The eldest brother has done nothing wrong!" Guan Yu said in a deep voice, "As a minister, you should be loyal to the emperor. If you know that you are planning to rebel but don't do it, wouldn't you be an accomplice?"

"Uh...brother, that's not what I meant...ha, I meant...well, that..." Zhang Fei scratched his head, not knowing what to say better.

Liu Bei waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, you and I are both brothers, I understand. I was extremely embarrassed at the time. If I didn't say it, it would be disloyal, and if I said it, it would be unjust... Later, after thinking about it again and again, I decided I wrote a secret letter and sent it to Duke Yuan..."

"Yuan Benchu?" Guan Yu asked with a frown.

Liu Bei nodded, sighed softly, and said: "Mr. Yuan and Gong Cao are friendly, and the Yuan family lives under Sanhuai... I thought that this way, I could not only protect Gong Cao, but also warn the public." The court... never thought... never thought... that my secret letter to Yuan Benchu ​​was somehow seen by Yuan Gongli..."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei: "?!"

"What happened next is pretty much what the second brother knew..." Liu Bei said, "Wang Wenzu committed suicide when he saw what happened... Cao Gong was also implicated. If Yuan Benchu ​​hadn't been a guarantee, he would have been jailed long ago... But because of this, the soldiers recruited by Duke Cao from Pei State were all dispersed and assigned to the other captains... The captain of the Dian Army only had a false name at that time..."

Zhang Fei asked anxiously: "Then...does Mr. Cao know the secret letter written by eldest brother?"

Liu Bei was silent for a moment and said hesitantly: "I'm not sure, but... I think that even if Duke Cao didn't know it at the time, he should know it now..."

Guan Yu frowned and said: "If this is really the case, why would Duke Cao give the eldest brother military power? This makes no sense at all?"

Liu Bei nodded and said: "This is exactly what I am worried about..."

But soon, Jian Yong, who came back from inquiring about the news from outside, put together the missing piece of the puzzle for Liu Bei.

Jian Yong said: "Huang Zhonglang was transferred from the prison some time ago, and Captain Yu is his deputy..."

The military training general Liu Bei saw in the school grounds yesterday was Huang Xian.

According to the news from Jian Yong, Cao Cao greatly praised Huang Xian's army leadership in front of Liu Xie, saying that such a great talent as Huang Xian should not be wasted and should play a more important role. At the same time, Cao Cao expressed his willingness to hand over the right to train troops to Huang Xian...

Liu Xie agreed and sent Huang Xian to assist Cao Cao in training his troops.

"Then who is the current commander of the forbidden guards?" Liu Bei asked.

"Now there are three fake school captains in charge. One is the Xiahou family, named Chong, who is the son of General Xiahou Yuanrang, the second is the Yang family, named Wu, and the third is the Peng family, named Yue..." Although Jian Yong is not very good at making suggestions. No matter what, he is still quite good at inquiring about these things. Although he has never been to Xuchang, he can still find people and get the information Liu Bei wants.

"Yang family?" Guan Yu asked, "But Hongnong Yang family?"

"No." Jian Yong shook his head and said, "There should be no connection."

Liu Bei nodded. He had no interest in Yang Wu, but expressed concern that Xia Houchong had become the commander of the forbidden area...

"Your Majesty..." Liu Bei sighed.

When anyone meets a pig teammate, the feeling is always the same. It's like the top laner is pushing towers and junglers all the way. The head was killed, and the tower was also given away. The key is that when the spring water was revived, it was also ridiculed for not knowing how to rescue and cooperate, indicating that he would hang up and stop playing...

Liu Bei feels like this now.

What does Liu Xie want to do?

The military power that was originally in his hands was so easily broken up by Cao Cao!

Liu Bei could generally guess what Liu Xie was thinking. He probably thought that in this way, he could join Cao Cao's army. He thought that he would be like an official's protégé and former official, as long as he controlled Huang Xian. People can allow Huang Xian to expand a large number of soldiers in the army...

The ideal is beautiful, but in reality, the military and officialdom are two completely different things.

Just like now...

When Liu Bei thought of this, he couldn't help but suddenly realized, "So that's it! That's it!"

Jian Yong asked: "What did the envoy think of?"

Liu Bei said: "Everyone, yesterday in the school grounds, I also saw many Xuzhou soldiers... and they were also mobilized in the ranks of... Cao Gong was trying to eliminate the bad and save the good... Good means, good means. !”

When Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao, he naturally brought some soldiers with him. Some of these soldiers were Danyang soldiers and some were Xuzhou soldiers. The Danyang soldiers originally followed Tao Qian on a mercenary basis, and then followed Liu Bei. Now, Cao Cao has soldiers' pay and food, but Liu Bei has none, so they naturally transferred to Cao's army without hesitation.

Anyway, the soldiers were eating food and receiving military pay. Without money and food, even though Liu Bei was distressed, there was nothing he could do.

But for Xuzhou Bing, it was different.

Because of the love-hate relationship between Cao Cao and Xuzhou, it was difficult for these Xuzhou soldiers to integrate into Cao Cao's army, so Cao Cao simply removed them and gave them to Huang Xian for training, showing that Cao Cao himself was not deceived. Liu Xie had asked Huang Xian to train troops. On the other hand, he also took this opportunity to eliminate unstable factors in the army.

If Liu Bei's prediction was correct, among the soldiers Huang Xian said were training in the remote and hidden school grounds, the others were the soldiers who had followed Liu Xie all the way to conquer the West and the soldiers from Heluo from Luoyang and other places. …

Zhang Fei's eyes widened and he cursed loudly: "The short boy is indeed evil-hearted! The Xiahou clan is not a good person either! We must deal with it when we find a chance!"

Guan Yu glanced at Zhang Fei, but did not stop Zhang Fei from muttering. He just stroked his long beard and said nothing.

Jian Yong took a breath and said, "In this case, aren't we... aren't we helping Duke Cao eliminate dissidents..."

Liu Bei was silent.

Not happy?

accurate.

Is there any way?

no way.

Liu Bei originally thought that Liu Xie could still be of some use, but he didn't expect that Liu Xie was just a big empty sieve, unable to hold anything, and even the only remaining force in his hand was leaked out. How else to play?

"Let's go!" Liu Bei sighed, "Xuchang is not a place for you and me after all! We might as well follow Cao Gong's wishes and fight back to Xuzhou! Maybe there will be a new world! Second brother, third brother, the newly arrived soldiers will be in good order, please ask the second brother The position is here! Xianhe, as for allocating money and food..."

Jian Yong laughed and said, "Leave it to someone! I'll go to the minister's desk to pay for the writing!"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also stood up to leave and went to prepare, leaving only Liu Bei in the hall.

Do you want to give Han Emperor Liu Xie some warning?

Liu Bei walked back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back for a long time, and finally made up his mind...

…………………………

Cao Cao's chariot was swaying, coming out of the Xun's Villa where Liu Xie was staying, and stopped at the place where he stayed at the guard.

"Chong'er, have you ever gotten used to the forbidden position?" Cao Cao smiled slightly and looked at Xia Houchong who was standing aside.

"Your Majesty, Lord Sikong, everything is in order for this humble position." Xiahou Chong is Xiahou's son, so given the relationship between Xiahou and Cao Cao, it is normal for him to call Cao Cao "sir."

"Well..." Cao Cao nodded and said, "I heard that Liu Yuzhou came to pay homage to His Majesty again? Did you hear what he said?"

Xia Houchong silently took out a wooden slip from his sleeve and handed it over.

Cao Cao reached out to take it, glanced up and down a few times, suddenly raised his eyebrows and smiled, put the wooden slip into his sleeve, and said: "Chong'er's calligraphy has been improving recently... This hand embroiders small characters with a lot of character..."

Xia Houchong said with some embarrassment: "This... this was not written by Beizhi... When Liu Yuzhou came, His Majesty ordered Beizhi to get some brocade silk as Liu Yuzhou's farewell gift, and he was not present..."

Cao Cao snorted and said, "Just take some brocade silk and use the small yellow gate. Why bother telling you to run around? Then who recorded this wooden slip?"

Xia Houchong glanced back and said, "It was recorded by Song Hang, Cai Zijing, a humble subordinate..."

"Song Hang and Cai Zijing?" Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, "Do you know who he is?"

"He is a native of Jingzhao, who was born after Zhongzi of Song Dynasty. He moved to Chenliu due to the rebellion of the Western Qiang." Xia Houchong said.

"Chen Liu? Are you nearby? Call me to see someone." Cao Cao nodded and said.

After a while, Song Hang and Cai Zijing came to Cao Cao's carriage, raised their hands and saluted: "I have met Mr. Cao!"

"No need." Cao Cao waved his hand, motioning for him to come forward and reply. He looked up and down a few times, then smiled and said, "He is quite a talented person! Why don't you read scriptures and join the army?"

"Reporting to Mr. Cao, I have fallen into disgrace in my family. Although I have read a few books, I am unable to study them thoroughly, so..."

Cao Cao nodded, narrowed his eyes and said, "Zijing's embroidery work is quite impressive. I wonder where he learned from it?"

Song Hang cupped his hands and said, "I don't have a master...I accidentally got a copy of "Cai's Thousand-Character Essay" from Chen Liu, so I used this book as a postcard and copied it in my spare time..."

"Oh? Do you have this book with you?" Cao Cao asked.

Song Hang took out a scroll from the leather pouch on his waist and held it up with both hands.

The guard on the side reached out to take it and handed it to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao unfolded it and saw that there were many curling marks between the pages, which were obviously left behind by reading for a long time. He looked at the small words inside and couldn't help but smile, with some nostalgia in his smile...

"The book is a good book, and the words are also good..." Cao Cao laughed, returned the book to Song Hang, and said, "It's just that the words in this book were written by a woman... Zijing used these words as his If you post it, it will lose your masculinity..."

"Ah?" Song Hang's eyes widened.

"If what I expected is correct, this was written by Cai Yan and Cai Zhaoji, the daughter of Cai Zhonglang..." Cao Cao said with a smile, "Since Zijing likes to read... Chong'er, I will bring books to Zijing next time... remember to return them Some rubbings of the "Xiping Stone Classic" might as well be given to Zijing for copying purposes..."

Song Hang was overjoyed and thanked him quickly.

Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "It's a good thing that you like reading... You don't have to say thank you, it's just a good job..." Cao Cao glanced at Xia Houchong, nodded, and ordered the driver to continue moving forward.

Xia Houchong and Song Hang quickly stood on the left side of the road and respectfully sent Cao Cao away. When Cao Cao's chariot was out of sight, Xia Houchong smashed Song Hang's shoulder and said: "I didn't expect that my uncle would be so good at your calligraphy! You boy, you are so good! Follow me and work hard, and you will get the benefits." !”

Song Hang lowered his head and cupped his hands in response, but his eyes flickered.

Cao Cao, who had already walked away, silently held the hard piece of wood in his sleeve. The smile and nostalgia on his face gradually disappeared, and it seemed that his heart gradually became harder...