Chapter 20 8. Seamless anti-interference plan

In the early morning of the second day, Jiang Gan hurried back from the opposite bank by boat, and ran straight to Cao Cao's sleeping tent as soon as he landed as if he was on fire. A few moments after he entered the tent, several personal guards were ordered to rush out of Cao Cao's sleeping tent, respectively rousing Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, Mao Jie, Sima Yi, etc. from the bed. The prime minister had an urgent matter to summon them Negotiate immediately. As soon as he stepped into Cao Cao's sleeping tent, Sima Yi immediately saw Jiang Gan sitting on the lower right side of Cao Cao's couch with sweat profusely, while Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, Mao Jie, etc. were already sitting solemnly on the long mat on the left side of the couch. .Cao Cao had already put on his cotton robe, and sat up on the couch, his flushed face faintly filled with anger.On the desk in front of him was an unsealed letter in silk.

"Zhongda, please take a look at this letter." Cao Cao asked a personal guard to hand over the silk letter. Sima Yi took the letter in his hand, retreated to Mao Jie's seat and sat down, read it slowly, but his complexion changed slightly.The contents of the letter read as follows: Governor Zhou of the Jiangdong Navy: Mao once thought that he used to be the Sima of the Jingzhou Shepherd's Mansion, and he wanted to respect the Han Dynasty and obey the order, keep the people safe and protect Jing. Unexpectedly, Thief Cao is arrogant, mean and ungrateful, and treats our soldiers and people in Jingzhou as private slaves.The Cao thief surrounded and slaughtered them in the middle of the night, burning and killing more than 13,000 people, without any regard for mercy, which is really outraged by both humans and gods.Every time Cai thinks about it, his heart breaks.If you want to vote for the Lord, you hate that you have no chance.But the governor is majestic and heroic, with a great strategy and friendship with Mao's in-law Zhuge Liang, Mao is willing to lead the people of Jingzhou to defect without regret.It must be delayed for a few days. If Cao thief came to inspect and condolences in the navy camp, but it was convenient, Mao would lead his troops to rebel against the war, cut off the head of Cao thief, and offered it to his subordinates.Fortunately, please do not be suspicious, and hereby respectfully submit.

Co-authored by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun of Jingzhou. Sima Yi was watching carefully, and Cao Cao over there had already waved to Jiang Gan as a signal.Jiang Gan was still full of lingering fear, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the corner of his sleeve, and said with some breathlessness: "My lords... this is stolen from the secret drawer of the bookshelf in Zhou Yu's bedroom. It was because of the contents of this letter that Ziyi felt that the matter was too critical, so he fled back at the risk of death..." Cao Chun had read the letter just now, and asked with some surprise: "Mr. Jiang, how did you get this secret letter?"

Jiang Gan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then recounted the incident in detail: "Zhou Yu invited me to share the bed last night for the sake of old classmates, he was so drunk that he took advantage of his deep sleep At the time, I secretly searched the secret drawer of his bookshelf, only to find this secret letter in the slip of the volume of "Sun Tzu's Art of War". You adults may not know that when I was studying with Zhou Yu's classmate Zhou Yu in the "Wanyuan Academy", Ziyi knew that Zhou Yu had the habit of hiding letters in slips. So many years have passed, and Zhou Yu has not changed this habit! When Ziyi saw what was written in the letter, he I was so scared that I drove back in a hurry."

"Huh? I heard that Zhou Yu's barracks was heavily guarded and the ferry was heavily guarded. How did you escape, Mr. Jiang?" Mao Jie was also quite skeptical. "That's right! That's right! At the door of his sleeping tent, the gate of the barracks, and the crossing of the wharf, there are indeed soldiers everywhere who stopped and questioned Qian." Jiang Gan hurriedly pulled out a bronze talisman from his sleeve and showed them, " Fortunately, Ziyi found Zhou Yu's box of passing talismans by his bedside, and stole one by the way, and the soldiers let it go after careful investigation."

Although Cao Chun and Mao Jie sounded like there were coincidences like telling stories everywhere, Jiang Gan still explained the ins and outs very clearly, and they couldn't ask any more questions.At this time, Xia Houyuan believed a little bit in his heart, turned his head and said to Cao Cao: "My lord, recently Li Yuan also looked at Cai Mao and Zhang Yun who were a little thieves and sneaky, and sometimes they shrunk their heads and lowered their eyebrows when they met Yuan face to face. This time, Mr. Jiang stole their correspondence with the enemy again, and it is indeed God Bless the Prime Minister! God Bless our army! —— Please, the Prime Minister, order the two of them to be bound and brought here immediately!"

Cao Cao pondered for a while, then turned to Mao Jie and asked, "Master Mao, what do you think?" Mao Jie showed a serious look: "Cai and Zhang have indeed shown signs of suspicion recently, but it seems that they cannot be used to explain that they have rebellion. Moreover, this letter is unilaterally from Zhou Yu. The ones that were found... I'm afraid there may be fraud in them! This is a big matter, and I ask the Prime Minister to be cautious and make a decision." After Cao Cao listened, he nodded and turned his eyes to Sima Yi. However, Sima Yi looked very calm, raised his head and straightened his body, and said calmly: "There is a saying, 'If you catch a thief, you must get the stolen goods. The emissary went to invite the two of them here politely, to "tune the tiger away from the mountain"; on the other hand, secretly mobilized the secret soldiers to search the two of them quickly and carefully when they were ordered to leave their dormitory. , to see if they have other evidence of collaborating with the enemy. If there is other evidence of collaborating with the enemy, everything is self-evident; if there is no other evidence of collaborating with the enemy, then listen to how they explain the matter."

"Zhongda is right!" Cao Cao nodded slowly, and beckoned to Xu Chu and Wu Mao, "You two, follow Zhongda's words, go down and deal with it right away!" Cai Hao and Zhang Yun walked into Cao Cao's sleeping tent and saw Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, Mao Jie, Sima Yi, Jiang Gan and others all sitting in front of them, thinking that Cao Cao was holding some important military meeting, the two couldn't help but hold their breath , bowed to Cao Cao and said: "Master Prime Minister, please forgive me for being late this time." Cao Cao sat on the bed, his face pale: "That's right, it's a good thing that you are 'belated' in all kinds of scandals, otherwise the leader of the truth has already crossed the river, and you have offered it to Zhou Yu's child's account!"

When Cai Hao and Zhang Yun heard these words, they felt that the intention was very bad, their legs trembled, and they hurriedly knelt down: "Why did you say that, Prime Minister? You really bluffed and killed your subordinates..." "Wait, let's read this letter!" Cao Cao didn't bother them, and with a "crash", he threw the silk letter in front of them. Cai Mao and Zhang Yun hurriedly walked forward on the floor and picked up the letter. When they saw it, they felt as if they had been struck by five thunders, and their faces turned pale: "My lord prime minister! This... this is really a great injustice! The subordinates are devoted to you wholeheartedly, how dare they have such dissatisfaction? Someone must have framed the subordinates..."

Cao Cao said coldly: "If you want to clear the two of you of the crime of treason and collaborating with the enemy, you two must produce evidence!" Cai Mao spread out the silk letter on the ground, pointed to the line of writing on it, and cried out: "My lords, please look, the handwriting on this letter is definitely not from my handwriting! Please let the prime minister distinguish everything. what!" As soon as he said this, there was a sudden silence in the field.After a while, Cao Cao's voice sounded slowly: "The truth of this has long been seen. The handwriting on this letter is indeed not from the handwriting of the two of you. However, this also happens to prove that you are treacherous. The cunning. You don’t write this letter of traitor and collaborator with your own style of writing, just to better hide yourself and cheat the world!”

Hearing what Cao Cao said, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were stunned on the spot.After a while, Cai Hao mustered up his courage, and asked in a murmur, "My lord, the handwriting on this letter was not written by the subordinates themselves - why do you think it must be deliberately done by the subordinates?" ? Lord Prime Minister, you have always been the most impartial and selfless, and everything must be well-founded, so that it can be convincing!" Cao Cao couldn't help but froze when he saw that his "fake word intimidation" move didn't shock Cai and Zhang as expected.At this moment, he really only has Jiang Gan's one-sided statement and this letter in his hand. How can it be concluded that the two of them have betrayed and cooperated with the enemy based on this? While he was meditating, the curtain of the bedroom tent was lifted suddenly, and Wu Mao rushed forward with a gust of cold wind, with a serious expression on his face and a scroll of silk in his hand, he walked up to Cao Cao and bowed to present it to Cao Cao. : "Master Prime Minister—these two letters were searched by Wu Mou from the agarwood hollow pillow on Cai Mao's couch..." Cao Cao grabbed the silk book, unfolded it, his face changed drastically, and he threw it in front of Cai Mao, and said coldly, "So you have been with your niece and son-in-law Zhuge Liang all the time. Going secretly, hooking up, this time, you have nothing to say, right?" When Cai Mao heard this, he hurriedly picked up the scroll and took a look. There were indeed two letters inside, one of which read as follows: My lord uncle: Liang is shocked to hear that his uncle is now like a dragon in the shoal under the hands of Cao thief, and he is becoming more and more embarrassed.Cao thief's suspicion is ruthless, Liang once talked about it for his uncle in Xiangyang; now that his uncle has seen it for himself, he should feel pity, why don't he think of a strategy for self-sufficiency?Liang is currently in the Chibi water village, just across the river from his uncle!If my uncle can wake up and turn to the light, the light will be very pleased, and I swear to persuade Zhou Dudu and Liu Huangshu to abandon their past suspicions and accept you openly.Don't hesitate, please give me your best news soon. Nephew Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter After reading it, he couldn't help breaking out in cold sweat on his forehead, and hastily unfolded another letter in silk, which read like this again: My lord uncle: Your letter has been received.At first, Liangben suspected that his handwriting did not seem to be written by his uncle himself, but after careful questioning of the messenger, he found out—it turned out that this was a clever plan by his uncle to take precautions against the slightest and hide his invisibility!Liang Shi is sincerely admired.Liang also asked others to copy and send the reply in accordance with your actions. Liang has already informed Zhou Dudu about his uncle's intention to abandon the dark and turn to the bright.Governor Zhou is also very welcome.He is now the commander of the Liu-Sun coalition army, holding the military power to crusade against the Cao thieves.My uncle can contact him directly in the future, and it should be more convenient for the two parties to cooperate in fighting against Cao.Liang will also help you succeed from the side.Deeply pray for peace. Nephew Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter At this moment, Cai Mao felt as if he had been hit hard by a blow to the head. His eyes were blank immediately, and he murmured, "What...what's going on? Zhu...how did Zhuge Liang's letter get hidden in my wooden pillow?" He suddenly realized something, and couldn't help shouting to Cao Cao: "My lord... Your lord! There must be spies! There must be spies! You must be hiding the spies sent by Zhuge Liang!" Cao Cao ignored him, and turned to look at Mao Jie: "According to the facts, there should be quite a few people in Jingzhou Mufu who are familiar with Zhuge Liang's handwriting? Mr. Mao, please find a few to check the two letters. handwriting." Mao Jie thought for a moment, and said: "My lord, Zhou Buyi, the nephew of Liu Xian, who used to be in Jingzhou, is now serving as Wen Chaolang next to the old man. He seems to have mentioned that he had a relationship with Zhuge Liang on several occasions—he You should be familiar with Zhuge Liang's handwriting." With a wave of his hand, Cao Cao asked his soldiers to call Zhou Buyi into his sleeping tent to verify the handwriting on the letter. That Zhou Buyi was approaching the frail age, and was born with a thin and frail appearance.After listening to Mao Jie's instructions, he immediately picked up the two letters and carefully identified them for a long time, and then reported very seriously: "My lord, the first letter is Zhuge Liang's handwriting, and the second letter is written by Zhuge Liang. A letter is not in his handwriting." When Cao Cao heard this, he glanced at his face: "Can you tell the difference?" Zhou Buyi bowed his head to the ground, and replied solemnly: "I dare to use the head on the item to guarantee that I can identify it correctly." Cao Cao also found two or three officials who had been in contact with Zhuge Liang in the Jingzhou Mufu and checked it repeatedly seven or eight times. The final confirmation results were completely consistent with Zhou Buyi's conclusion. When he saw it, he slapped the edge of the couch with his right palm, and shouted to Cai Mao and Zhang Yun: "What else do you have to say now?" "Prime Minister, Mao also admits that the handwriting on this letter is indeed Zhuge Liang's handwriting, but Mao really doesn't know how it got into his pillow!" Cai Mao's face was pale, and he just kowtowed. Shout, "Master Prime Minister, there are spies! There are spies! I am wronged! I am wronged!" But Zhang Yun yelled like a mad dog in a hurry: "My lord! Your lord! Zhang has something important to report! This week, he is undoubtedly framing and killing people with a knife! His uncle Liu Xian and Zhang The relationship with Liu Xian has always been bad, and Liu Xian has always been pro-Liu and anti-Cao...he is now 'public revenge'! Prime Minister, don't believe his nonsense!" Mao Jie listened, sneered from his nostrils, and coldly refuted Zhang Yun: "Your Excellency, General Zhang's words are a little bit off! Since the beginning of this Eastern Expedition, this old man has always brought this Zhou Jun by his side to strictly control him. He has never been found to have any suspicious behavior. The old man is willing to guarantee his innocence with the top of the crown." Cao Cao looked at Cai and Zhang with some contempt. Seeing their distraught, insane and ugly appearance, he flicked his sleeves out suddenly: "Come on! Push these two thieves out of the gate and behead them for public display!" Seeing Cai Hao and Zhang Yun being dragged out of the tent by the warriors, a sharp cold light suddenly flashed in the bottomless eyes of Sima Yi who was sitting under Mao Jie, and the corners of his lips twitched. A cold smile slowly appeared...