Chapter 13 first quarter

Xuzhou, snowy night. Che Zhou raised his gun and straddled his horse, and walked out of the city gate.The heavy snow like goose feathers fell one after another, covering the sky and the moon, making the armor on the body heavy and cold.The mount was breathing white gas from its nose, and kicked its hooves agitatedly from time to time. For some reason, this beast was a little uneasy today. He saw the shadowy figures of three riders gradually approaching in the distance, reined in the reins, and said loudly: "Is it Liu Yuzhou who came?" A voice came faintly from a distance, and it was not very clear in the wind and snow.Che Zhou received a post report a few days ago, saying that Liu Bei led his army to pass by Xuzhou, and a scout also came to report just now.At this time, he went out of the city to inquire in person, but he was just fulfilling his duty as the guardian of Xuzhou.

Che Zhou hung the spear on the victory hook and freed up his hands to greet him with fists.At this time, one of the three riders suddenly moved towards him quickly.Che Zhou squinted his eyes, and noticed that there was still a slender black shadow on the right side of the rider, but he couldn't see it very clearly. The speed of that ride was quite fast, the horse's hooves knocked on the bluestone road frequently, crisp like a drum, and soon approached the city gate.The figure on the horse suddenly lowered his body, which was a sign of exertion. Che Zhou finally saw clearly - what was dragging on the right side of the horse was a long knife, like a crescent moon.

There was a flash of moonlight. Che Zhou felt dizzy and dizzy for a moment. First he saw the night sky, then the earth, and finally his own body without a head. He heard the mournful cry of his mount, and then the whole world fell silent... "Liu Bei will stand on his own in Xuzhou!" After the news reached Xudu, the ruling and opposition parties immediately exploded.Many people still remember Liu Bei's behavior in Xudu, and asked their colleagues next to him with doubts: "Is that Uncle Liu Huang who grows vegetables at home all day?" A ruthless and bold hero.Some ministers who knew more about the inside story sighed secretly: "People say that Liu Bei's residence is like raising a tiger, but now I see it, it really is."

Everyone is talking, but everyone is afraid to talk aloud.Doubt, anger, secret joy, and confusion were intertwined in Xu Du's big cauldron, and the stored heat made the water temperature in the cauldron slowly rise.The reason why this cauldron has not yet boiled is because Cao Sikong and Xun Shangshu have not yet responded. For Cao, Liu Bei's self-reliance is not as simple as just losing Xuzhou. The main force of Cao's army was confronting Yuan Shao at Guandu at this time. The loss of Xuzhou was tantamount to stabbing Cao's army in the back.If Cao Jun tried to withdraw and come back to attack Xuzhou, Yuan Shao's superior force would rush across the Yellow River like Mount Tai.If Cao Jun ignores it, Liu Bei can intimidate Yan and Qingzhou when he advances, and he can contact Liu Biao and Sun Ce when he retreats, which is also a great trouble.

Everyone is waiting to see how Cao Cao will deal with this difficult situation. "Everyone, Mr. Cao has made a decision." Xun Yu said calmly to the people below, holding up Cao Cao's handwritten letter in his hand.The letter had just been delivered, and three horses and a messenger were exhausted on the way. The people who are qualified to be in this room are all Cao Zhongchen, generals, and local governors of nearby counties who stayed in Xudu.Everyone waited solemnly and nervously for his next words, and the room seemed very quiet.Xun Yu looked around, his majestic eyes made everyone who touched them tremble, they rarely saw the gentle and jade-like Xun Shangshu so serious.

"Duke Cao left three generals, Le Jin, Yu Jin, and Cheng Yu, to confront Yuan Shao, and the army moved eastward immediately to attack Xuzhou." The people in the room looked at each other when they heard the news.Cao Ren couldn't help but asked: "Le Jin, Yu Jin, and Cheng Yu are all good generals, but Yuan Shao's army is strong, and Master Sikong can't defeat him in his own conquest. Will they be able to withstand it?" "Mr. Cao has his own plans for the affairs of the north. What we need to do now is to save Mr. Cao from worrying about the future and allow no mistakes!"

Xun Yu put the letter on the table, his handsome face showed a bit of toughness.Cao Gong is not here, he is the highest guardian of the entire Xudu, and he will not allow anyone to threaten it. Since the news of Liu Bei's self-reliance came, Xun Yu realized that the officials in Xudu might be shaken, so he decided to stabilize the mood in the Sikong shogunate first, and this was the reason for this meeting.Now it seems that everyone's morale is still high. As for how long it can last, it depends on how much Cao Jun can achieve on the front line. Xun Yu paused for a moment, then continued: "Back then when Lv Bu and Chen Gong rebelled, one state was lost and only three cities were left. Mr. Cao was able to turn defeat into victory; today's situation is still better than before, so why not worry about it. I hope you can live up to it. Entrusted by Duke Cao, I will do my best and be loyal in order to repay the Han Dynasty."

All the people bowed and took an oath, expressing their willingness to follow the Shangshu and serve the country loyally.Mr. Cao must repay the kindness of Zhiyu. As for the Han Dynasty, it's fine to shout. The next step was to arrange a series of tasks such as supervising food and recruiting soldiers. The atmosphere of the war rushed to the face through Xun Yu's orders. Every official felt heavy in his heart, but no one complained.Everyone took the warrant silently, and then rushed to where they should be. The gathering lasted until midnight, and when most of the officials had left, Xun Yu noticed that Man Chong was kneeling in the last row, showing no intention of leaving.After signing the last document, he raised his head and asked, "Boning, do you have anything else to do?"

"There is something I want to remind you." Man Chong's tone was always calm. "Speak." Xun Yu said, picked up the brush and shook his wrist, a little dissatisfied with his tight-fisted tone. "I think Xuzhou is just the beginning." Xun Yu put down the brush and frowned.Man Chong's words are very unusual. He is Xu Duling, and it is said that he only needs to be responsible for the security of Xu Du.Man Chong is a cautious person. If there is no special reason, he will not exceed his authority to make comments. He motioned Man Chong to go into more detail.Man Chong stepped forward, clicked on the cowhide map behind Xun Yu, and pressed his finger on Runan.

"Will Runan be next?" "Yes," Man Chong said, "I don't know if Xun Lingjun still remembers Yang Jun? He was attacked on the way to Xu. According to him, the bandits who attacked were passing by and were about to rush to Runan. Runan was the most prosperous place in the Yellow Turban. The land is also Yuan Shao's hometown, if there is any change, it will be no small matter." Xun Yu fell into deep thought, and asked for a while, "How trustworthy are Yang Jun's words?" "Eighty percent of it is false, so this matter is true." Xun Yu was taken aback, not quite understanding Man Chong's intentions.

"The body of Yang Ping, the son of Yang Jun, is now in Xu Duwei's cellar. Fortunately, it is winter, so it is well preserved and has told me many things." Xun Yu tapped a few cases solemnly with his fingers, motioning for Man Chong to continue. "For example, Yang Jun lied about being attacked." Man Chong's flat eyes flashed a sharp light, as if a poisonous snake was poised to spit out a message, "Yang Ping's face was chopped into pieces, but his torso was almost Without scars, it is hard to imagine that such strange wounds would be left in fierce fighting; also, his wrists and cervical spine have been broken, but they are older than the knife wounds on his face. A neck and wrist are almost broken It is also inconceivable that people who are still alive can resist bandits." "Do you think Yang Ping didn't die in rebelling against the bandits, but was killed beforehand and placed there?" Xun Yu quickly grasped the point. "Yeah. I'm not even sure if it's Yang Ping. His face was chopped up to show that someone didn't want Yang Ping's face to be recognized." "But what does all this have to do with Runan?" "Since Yang Jun's attack was a hoax, he deliberately mentioned Runan in the hope that we would pay more attention to it. In order to confirm Yang Jun's words, something must happen in Runan in the near future, otherwise he would say nothing. significance." Xun Yu frowned almost together: "Runan, Runan...but why did Yang Jun do this?" "I don't know yet," Man Chong shook his head, "but behind him, there must be some important person standing. Now Cao Gong is outside, and some people in Xudu can't bear to be lonely. We can wait for them to jump out one by one. ..." "You mean to let the tiger go back to the mountain?" "Lingjun Mingjian. I don't mind arresting him for torture, but for a person who is willing to sacrifice his own arm to create a deception, torture is useless to him. Lord Jijiu often said that only by letting the birds return to their nests can they be rewarded." its hatchlings." Xun Yu stared at him with complicated emotions for a while, and then slowly said: "Runan, I will make arrangements. As for Yang Jun's matter, you can handle it yourself." "I understand." Man Chong grinned and seemed to be smiling.Xun Yu waved his hand wearily, picked up the brush again, snorted the frozen wolf hair beard with his mouth, and continued to deal with government affairs at the desk - he knew that Man Chong's best skill was not to grasp the measure, but to find the seven inches.Man Chong is like a poisonous snake, always biting the opponent's vitals at the sharpest angle, and then injecting the deadly venom into it.He'd seen it more than once, but never liked it. Man Chong silently withdrew from Shangshutai, and some speculated that Xun Yu didn't ask, so he didn't mention it. Both of them tacitly focused the topic on Runan, without further discussion and analysis.Xun Yu's loyalty is not entirely on Cao Gong, so he doesn't want to pursue some things too closely, but his Man Chong is different. Two days later, General Li Tong, who was guarding Runan, received a letter from Xun Yu, urging him to pay attention to the situation in the county.Li Tong immediately recruited local soldiers and gathered the elite near Runan City. Before his deployment was complete, the accident happened. Liu Pi, the remnant member of the Yellow Turban Party, gathered tens of thousands of old parties and suddenly launched a large-scale rebellion near Runan.Fortunately, Li Tong prepared in time and firmly guarded Runan, but he did not dare to attack lightly.The two sides launched a confrontation, and the rebels took the opportunity to loot around Runan. After the news reached Xu Du, a difficult problem was posed in front of Xun Yu. Cao Gong's main force was on the way to Xuzhou, Le Jin and Yu Jin were guarding Guandu, and Zhong Yao was stationed in Guanzhong in the west. The only mobile corps that could rescue Runan was Cao Ren's troops in Xudu. If you don't save it, Runan will be in danger; if you save it, everything will be empty.To save or not to save has become the focus of debate.Cao Ren himself swore that he would break the siege of Runan within ten days, but Xun Yu didn't agree. Just before the dispatch of troops was finalized, a strange rumor suddenly appeared in Xudu City, which made the already very complicated situation worse: "Sun Ce of Lujiang intends to attack Xu!" Attacking Xudu from the Lujiang River in Huainan, traveling thousands of miles, sounds like an extremely absurd idea at first glance.But no one will laugh when they think that the mastermind is Sun Ce.In the past few years, that lunatic from Jiangdong has brought too many surprises to the world, and no one can guarantee that he will never do such a thing. What's more, this rumor pointed out clearly that Sun Ce sent troops to cooperate with Yuan Shao.One south and one north joined hands to move, and the attack on Xu was pretended to be a response to Hebei.Many people think that Runan was originally Yuan Shao's native place, filled with former students and old officials. Sun Ce's choice to send troops at this time has a stronger meaning. The bad news came one after another, causing Xu Du to fall into anxiety of not knowing what to do.Xun Yu had no choice but to hastily order Cao Ren's troops to move to near Xiang County in order to block the access to Xudu from the southeast.Just in case, he also strengthened Xudu's city defense preparations, announcing that the four doors are closed and will not be opened without order. ※※※ "If Xun Wen thinks that he can guard against external forces, he can feel at ease. He doesn't know what happened. He closed the gates of Xudu City to prevent entry and exit, but it is convenient for us to do things." Dong Cheng raised his wine glass and said in a confident tone, "The time has come, let's see Whether you can defeat the city in one battle, the fate of Xudu and the Han Dynasty is in your hands." Wu Shuo, Zhong Ji and others showed admiration.They thought that Liu Bei was the main force of external support, but they didn't expect that it was just an abandoned son who attracted the main force of Cao Jun.Xuzhou, Runan, Jiangdong, and Dong Cheng's positions in these three places were real or false, and all of Xudu's defense forces were emptied at once. Now Cao Cao is trapped in Xuzhou, Li Tong is trapped in Runan, and Cao Ren is rushing to Xiang County, Xu Du has fallen into an unprecedented emptiness.The softest underbelly of the city has been exposed, and the sharp spears have been set up.It only needs a slight stab, and the Han Dynasty will be reborn here. "Leave out of the small room tonight, see you tomorrow morning!" Dong Cheng scanned the colleagues around him, each of them showed a fanatical expression.This is a kind of excitement derived from nervousness, and it is also the intoxication of a great cause.He slammed the wine glass on the ground, and held up the belt edict with the Han Emperor's calligraphy on it. "For the revival of the Han Dynasty!" He raised his arms and shouted. ※※※ When Xun Yu arrived at Sikong Mansion, he noticed that a young eunuch was leading the way instead of Zhang Yu.His eyebrows and eyes seem familiar, he should have seen him somewhere, and it was recently. "You are……" Seeing Shang Shuling's doubts, the little eunuch immediately bowed and said, "Xia Leng Shouguang, who had met the adults in the ban before, is now succeeding Mr. Zhang as the Zhonghuang Gate." Xun Yu suddenly remembered that that night when the sleeping hall was on fire, it was this little eunuch who was not afraid of danger and repeatedly offered wonderful strategies.Nowadays, the palace is frugal, and the rank of eunuchs is not so strict.This person looks shrewd and well-behaved. Compared with the stubborn Zhang Yu, he seems to be more suitable for the current situation. While thinking this way, Xun Yu came to the main courtyard of Sikong Mansion.According to the rules, this place is already within the forbidden zone, and Habayashi should encircle it, and everyone in the Cao family should avoid it.As soon as Xun Yu stepped in, he saw several guards leaning against the porch, throwing dice with a young man.Leng Shouguang suddenly said loudly: "Shang Shu Ling Xun Yu, I will see you." This is a friendly reminder.When the old guards heard the call, they hurriedly stood up, not even taking up their weapons.Xun Yu walked up to them with a sullen face, carefully studying the young man's face.The young man was a little embarrassed to be stared at, and scratched his head: "Master Xun." "Dezu, you are a smart man, don't let your father's name be ashamed." Xun Yu said with regret. Kong Rong and Dong Cheng jointly recommended Yang Xiu to take over the position of Zhong Ji a few days ago. Xun Yu has always admired this young man, and he also felt guilty about Yang Biao's relegation, so Shang Shutai was very sad. The appointment was passed soon, and the emperor also approved it with Zhubi.But this guy is actually gambling in the ban now, it's really outrageous.If the emperor was not waiting, he really wanted to reprimand this stunned young man. Xun Yu looked around, and found that there seemed to be more guards in the mansion today, and there seemed to be some faces of the guards in the mansion, and his brows furrowed unexpectedly.Prohibition of gambling in China is just a matter of bad character; if this young man suddenly gains power, does not know the importance, and arbitrarily mobilizes soldiers to show off, it will be a serious political problem. Seeing Xun Yu's doubts, Yang Xiu explained with a smile: "This is what His Majesty meant. Since he was stationed in Cao's Mansion, Sikong's family and his family have been working day and night and are exhausted. His Majesty couldn't bear it, so he specially ordered the guards to come in to serve the Cao family. Divide the labor." Regarding this statement, Xun Yu didn't comment, but said: "Today I give lectures on Confucian classics for His Majesty, it takes a long time, so don't be lazy." Yang Xiu nodded repeatedly. Xun Yu patted him on the shoulder, took out the "Shangshu" from his sleeve, and followed Leng Shouguang into the main hall.Yang Xiu turned around and waved his hand, and the disinterested guards dispersed and returned to their posts, completely surrounding the room where the emperor lived.But after careful observation, it can be found that these guards are distinct, the old old guards are on one side, and the newly recruited Xu Duwei soldiers are on the other side, and both sides ignore each other. Yang Xiu leaned against the corridor pillar, tossing the dice in his hand, his eyes turned cold as he looked into the main hall.