Chapter 16 Hidden Murder

Just when Yuan Shu passed away, there was an uproar outside the city of Xudu, and Cao Cao had ordered an army of 30,000 to rise up.In order to demonstrate the justice of Master Wang's rebellion, all civil and military officials went to the army outside the city to see him off.Cao Cao even ordered the beheading of the rebellious minister Yuan Xu in public. One sacrificed the golden axe and Bai Yan, and the two warned the people at both ends of the first mouse, and then led the soldiers and horses to the front line in Hebei. Although Liu Fu, the partial general, has the dignity of princes and princes, and he helped Cao Cao when he moved the capital, but he can only sit on the bench today.He was nominally the second left-behind commander of the capital, but Xiahoudun had the final say on any military affairs, and he was not the second in command at all, and the five hundred strong men he brought from Liang Guo were also replaced by old and weak soldiers.

Fortunately, Cao Cao was grateful for his contributions, and his treatment was quite generous, and his salary was full, so he didn't have to worry about it. Every time he won, he would give some trophies to him, and he was allowed to go hunting outside the city from time to time.But this prince has a high self-esteem, is capable of both literary and military skills, and is also ambitious in his early twenties. He really doesn't want to be this boring and unrestrained prince. What he wants in this life is beyond the reach of ordinary people!He doesn't care about whether the emperor has real power today, he only cares about how to display his ambitions, so when Cao Cao sent troops, he also volunteered to serve with the army, but he was immediately declined.The nominal reason is that important officials of the clan should not risk their lives, but the actual reason is very clear. They don't want a person of Liu's blood to be a powerful person.

Liu Fu was upset, but he could only send Cao Cao away with a feigned smile, and returned to the mansion with a sigh.After dinner, he planned to take a nap to escape the heat of the afternoon and go hunting outside the city, but as soon as he lay down, he heard rumbling thunder outside—it was raining again. "Cao A was exposed to the rain for half a day without telling the truth. You should! Who told you not to take me there!" Liu Fu smiled gloatingly for a while, then felt bored, and lay on the bed in a daze with his head and arms resting on his head.Suddenly, Cangtou (a domestic slave) came to report: "General Dong Cheng, a chariot and rider, has passed the mansion."

Liu Fu came to his spirits: "Please hurry up! Prepare some wine, vegetables and fruits." He and Dong Cheng were originally a pair of enemies. When the capital was moved to Xu County, Liu Fu secretly helped Cao Cao to prevent him from meeting him, so Dong Cheng had no choice but to submit.But as time went by, the relatives of the clan were suppressed, and the two became friends who were in the same boat. Liu Fu braved the rain to meet the second gate, and saw Dong Cheng coming in a coir raincoat, accompanied only by a confidant named Lu Hong. "Uncle Dong Guo, you are so elegant!" Liu Fu welcomed him to the eaves.Dong Cheng took off his coir raincoat, but he was wearing a casual scarf underneath, and said with a smile, "Once Mr. Cao is gone, we can feel free. I'll come and talk to you."

The cups, plates, and saucers were immediately set down, and no servants were required to serve them. The two sat facing each other without restraint.Dong Cheng seemed to be very excited, instead he gave Liu Fu full of wine, but Liu Fu repeatedly pushed back, but he said: "The prince has a noble status, I should pay you a lot of respect." Liu Fu nodded slightly, waited for him to fill up the wine cup, and picked up a ladle to fill up the wine for Dong Cheng: "General Dong is an important minister of foreign relatives, and I will also fill it up for you." Noble relatives and ministers are all in vain now.

Dong Cheng took a sip of his wine, and then complimented: "Our foreign relatives really dare not compare with the Wang family. I think of a famous clan. Back then, the Lu Dynasty was in chaos. You can be called a great hero if you control the rebels in the government!" Liu Fu felt that the implication of his words was terrifying, so he pretended to be confused and replied: "This kind of thing is nothing. I think it was Wei Qing, the general of the foreign relatives, who conquered the Xiongnu. Defend my Han territory, that is a real hero." Seeing that he didn't answer, Dong Cheng lowered his head and fiddled with the wine cup, and murmured with a half-smile: "Let's stop flattering each other. In fact, famous relatives of the clan are only rare, and it is the heroes of the field who create great achievements in the world. For example, That Han Xin, who was just a halberd-handler when he hadn’t met him, how would he know that in the future, he would go on stage to pay homage to his commander, secretly assassinate Chen Cang, attack Wei Ping, Zhao Ding and Qi to destroy Chu, lay in ambush on all sides and force Xiang Yu, and if he became famous, he would be among the princes and kings?” Speaking of this, he saw Liu Fu repeatedly. Nodded, then changed the topic, "It's a pity that the cunning rabbit died and the lackeys cooked it, the birds used their bows to hide, the enemy's country was destroyed and the plotters were punished, only to be killed by the sword in Weiyang Palace! It's a pity, a pity..."

Liu Fu couldn't help but secretly lost his mind—he helped Cao Cao coerce the emperor to move the capital, but now he has become an abandoned person. Although he has never punished or cooked, the reason is not the same?After thinking about it, he was afraid that he would fall into the trap set by Dong Cheng, so he hurriedly pretended to sneer: "Uncle Guo's words are not very insightful. The bubbles under his feet are all gone by himself. When Han Xin was demoted to Marquis of Huaiyin, if he behaves like a man with his tail between his legs, why not?" To end miserably? Maybe in the future, he can be like Chen Ping from beginning to end! He only blames himself for being dishonest, mocking Fan Kui for colluding with Chen Xi, who can he blame for his own death?"

Seeing that he didn't answer a word, Dong Cheng felt anxious in his heart.He came here full of secrets, and now the rumors have passed, if this surly prince doesn't get in, he turns his head and tells Cao Cao these taboo words, and his old life will be lost!Thinking of this, Dong Cheng drank up the wine and strengthened his courage, and said awe-inspiringly: "When a man is born in this world, he should make a difference, but the eternal opportunities are fleeting. If you can't show your ambitions in this lifetime, you can linger until you grow old." I can only sigh with regret. I am optimistic about the kind of people who know that they can't do it!"

These words were most in line with Liu Fu's temper, but he remained reserved and warned: "Uncle Guo must have a sense of proportion in his speech. Don't let Wei Qing fail, but instead become Li Ershi." The so-called Li Ershi is the emperor's concubine. Li Guangli, the elder brother of Mrs. Li and Li Yannian, a favorite minister, once conquered Dawan Ershi City in the Western Regions and imported excellent war horses, and was named Ershi General.In his later years, Emperor Wu was suspicious of Prince Liu Shi. On the one hand, Li Guangli made friends with the prime minister Liu Qushang (mao), and on the other hand he conquered the Xiongnu to build military exploits. He wanted his nephew King Changyi to take Liu Shi and replace him.Unexpectedly, Li Guangli was unfavorable in his career and was forced to surrender to the Xiongnu due to the situation. Not only was he not regarded as an uncle, but he also became a shame to his relatives.

Dong Chengxin had a bright eye. If the prince had no intentions at all, he would have issued an order to expel the guests. Not only was he not annoyed, but he also pulled out this allusion warning, which shows that he had the heart to fight against Cao Cao. To fight against the great Han, but to protect the great Han from falling into the hands of other traitors!" Liu Fu couldn't help being a little surprised, and quickly signaled him to shut up, got up and walked to the door to observe the movement, and saw only Dong Cheng's servant Lu Hong sitting on the porch, drinking and eating meat, with such a greedy look that he couldn't even hear the thunder.Only then did he close the door and go back to the table to sit down again, but his tone of speech changed completely, replaced by an unruly and reproachful tone: "Uncle Guo, Te Menglang, came here to yell such words, if the partition wall has ears to listen, wouldn't it be Get me into trouble?"

"A lot of offenses..." Dong Cheng said with a smile, "The prince is a family member of the great Han Dynasty, and you don't need to tell me if you are loyal to the country. Now that Cao's power is increasing, the emperor is very worried, and specially issued a secret edict, ordering to share with you Conspiring to eliminate thieves." "Hmph!" Liu Fu sneered, "You can lie to a three-year-old naughty boy with such words! How dare Liu Xie call you to look for me, it's clearly your own idea!" Dong Chengyi frowned: "The emperor's secret edict is here, why doesn't the prince believe it?" He reached into his bosom and was about to take it out. Liu Fu was stunned for a while, then raised his hand and said, "Wait a minute! You must have forged the edict!" "How dare I correct such a big matter..." "Shut up!" Liu Fu couldn't let him continue, "Even if it's true, it's for you, not for me. You can do it with your good son-in-law!" "The prince is a clan, how can you say such a thing? Don't you read it..." "Don't talk about big things with me!" Liu Fu raised his left eyebrow and widened his eyes, "In the world, the capable live in the incompetent and the incompetent lose it. Whatever the people's opinion is, the ancestor's favor is a lie, winners and losers That's right! I don't know if Cao thief will return to the emperor in the future, but I know that he relied on his own ability to get to where he is today! What ability does the emperor have when he lives in the palace? Since you insist on working for him, I will stand by and watch If it’s not bad for you, that’s all, anyway, success, fame, glory and wealth belong to your son-in-law, so what have I to do with you?” He knew that Dong Cheng didn’t dare to tell others what he said today, so he uttered nonsense and said what he thought. Dong Cheng was very surprised, he didn't expect that Wang Zifu would have such an attitude, he seemed to want the emperor's promise to increase his official rank, but there was no respect in what he said.He stared straight at Wang Zifu's arrogant and angry expression, puzzled. Liu Fu suddenly got up, paced back and forth between several cases, and muttered in his mouth: "Today's son was originally set up by the thief minister Dong Zhuo. He has no talent or virtue and occupies a high position. He is at the mercy of others like a puppet. Even if the Cao gang is killed He regained the power, how can a cowardly lord be able to sweep the world down in this troubled time?" Seeing that Dong Cheng was still confused, he raised his voice, "My clan of Liang Guo is the direct descendant of Lord Guangwu! The ancestors, King Liangjie and Emperor Xiaozhang, were both born of Yin nobles. They were extremely noble and favored. The land of the feudal country was twice that of other princes and kings. There were nine collateral descendants, Zhongxianghou and Tinghou! Regardless of status or blood , who can be more noble than us?" Seeing his actions like this, Dong Cheng was shocked at first, and then felt a cold chill rising from his spine—not only did he want to get rid of Cao Cao, but he also wanted to be emperor himself, this kid is a poisonous snake!Now that I think about it, everything is clear. When he paid homage to Cao Cao, today’s son and I were still on the way back to the east, surrounded by demons such as Yang Feng and Han Xian (xian), and followed by Li Jue and Guo Si beasts, life and death Misfortune and fortune are unpredictable.His original plan was to let Cao Cao support Liu Xie as emperor after Liu Xie died in the war!Unexpectedly, the real dragon of the emperor is immortal, and Cao Cao is not interested in him, so the bamboo basket fetches water in vain.It turned out that he, like Yuan Shu, had coveted the throne for a long time, and now he wanted to take this opportunity to make a move... In fact, Dong Cheng himself has selfish motives.He was promoted by Liu Xie to be a charioteer general before, and he was so frightened that he knelt down to plead guilty to Cao Cao, but it was later discovered that the reason why the emperor did this was not only to express his dissatisfaction with Cao Cao, but also another thing that had just been reported recently——Dong You are pregnant!It is clearly written in the emperor's secret edict that Liu Feng, the legitimate son, may not be in good health for a long time. If Dong Guiren lowers his son to be the crown prince, as long as Cao Cao can be eradicated, Dong Cheng will be the general in charge of the government, and his grandson will be the future emperor. There will be one person under ten thousand people, and his wife and son will be rich and honored for many generations. This temptation is really not small! Liu Fuwu eloquently said: "My father loved the common people generously, and his kindness spread throughout the Liang Kingdom. He was honored as a virtuous king, and my mother, Princess Li, was the descendant of a rich family in Yanzhou. Since I started the army, I broke the yellow scarf in Gepi and welcomed the king in Luoyang. , I also fought against Yang Feng and Han Xian with Wang Shi. Now the wood of the Xudu Palace is still cut from the tomb of my ancestor! Don’t see that now I only have 500 weak soldiers under my command. If I want to recruit the old troops, it’s just a word thing……" He talked for a long time, but actually only this last sentence hit Dong Cheng's weakness.Now the five school lieutenants of the Northern Army of the Beijing Normal University all have empty titles. In the garrison, except for Cao Cao's cronies, only Liu Fu controls a team of 500 people.If he gathers some old subordinates, together with Dong Cheng's private subordinates, he can gather 1,800 troops.Although this force is not enough to compete with Cao Cao, as long as it is deployed carefully, it will definitely not be a problem to defeat the palace guards and control the emperor. Liu Fu talked for a long time, seeing that Dong Cheng was still frowning, and his heart was gradually dissatisfied. He flicked his sleeves and said, "I've said what should be said. If there is nothing else, please go back. That's fine." Don't worry, I won't tell the thief Cao and spoil your dream of wealth. Hehehe..." After finishing speaking, he deliberately smiled mysteriously. The more he laughed like this, the more he was afraid that Dong Cheng would inform him, and if he learned that his intentions were not right, he couldn't leave in a daze, so he secretly gritted his teeth and made up his mind: whatever!Let this kid be arrogant for a while, first use his strength to get rid of Cao Cao, and then try to kill him after the matter is done.At that time, the emperor will come forward to shout, and it depends on whether the soldiers will listen to you or me... Thinking of this, Dong Cheng got up suddenly, straightened his clothes and bowed to the ground: "You said that I have a dream of wealth and honor, but in fact, who in this world doesn't? But the prince is different from me. In the past, the door of Lu Buwei had a beard that was thick and then high. Now I am with you." You also have such a relationship." The meaning of these words is very clear.During the Warring States period, Lu Buwei saw Prince Qin Yingyiren who was a hostage in Zhao State, and thought that there was something rare to live in, so he spent a lot of money to help him return to Qin State, and then went up and down to make him change his name to "Zi Chu" and make him the heir, that is, King Qin Zhuangxiang, the father of Qin Shihuang. Lu Buwei then became the prime minister.Dong Cheng compares himself to Lu Buwei and regards Wang Zifu as King Zhuangxiang of Qin, which means that he is willing to support him as the emperor after all things are done! What Liu Fu wanted was his statement, he let out a long breath, and raised his hands and said, "I dare not take it with fear." Even though he said that, he had no sense of shame, turned his head to face the torrential rain outside the window, and couldn't help showing a smile.But I only laughed for a moment, and felt heavy again.He also knew Dong Chengxu and Wei Snake, after all, today's son is his son-in-law, Dong Cheng would never bend his elbows.Now is the time to take advantage of each other, who will take the dragon position in the future depends on the development of things.But the question now is, even if he joins forces with Dong Cheng, can he really kill Cao Cao with his weak force?If even Cao Cao can't figure it out, then everything after that is just nonsense.Liu Fu gradually restrained his smile: "I only have five hundred soldiers, you are not as good as me, how can you shake Cao Cao with just this little man?" Dong Cheng, however, was already somewhat sure: "It is absolutely necessary to win more with less. In the past when Li Jue and Guo Si fought in Chang'an, Guo Aduo personally led hundreds of cavalry to gallop back and forth, defeating Li Jue's tens of thousands." Liu Fu shook his head again and again: "Guo Si used Xiliang warriors, but we only have old and weak soldiers. To deal with Cao Cao is like ants shaking a tree." "You don't have to attack Cao Cao!" Dong Cheng leaned into his ear and said, "Now that Cao Cao's army is out, we just need to kill the one-eyed Marquis Xia and seal off the city of Xu. At that time, he will have Yuan Shao in front and us in the future. If the Son of Heaven issues an edict again, declaring Cao Cao a traitor to the court, his army will surely fall apart!" Liu Fu still had concerns: "Even if we only deal with one-eyed dragons, we still have few people." Dong Cheng said again: "As long as we rush into the palace to control the emperor, capture Shang Shuling Xun Yu, and force him to write an imperial edict to mobilize the army, Cao Cao's men and horses can also be used by us. Even if Xiahou Dun himself resists the edict, his soldiers will also use it." I don't know whose order to listen to, and we will be able to win more battles with fewer victories while their morale is fluctuating." Liu Fu thought it made sense, nodded and said, "Aside from us, is there anyone else involved?" With his hands behind his back, he looked like he was asking his subordinates. "Changshui Xiaowei Zhongji, Yilang Wu Shuo are my confidantes, and..." "Those are useless people!" Liu Fu waved his hand, "What big event can be achieved without soldiers? Where is Liu Xie's secret edict, show me it." Dong Cheng didn't care about his arrogance, took out a silk book from his pocket, and respectfully handed it to Liu Fu's palm: "All those who agree with me have signed it." Don't look at Liu Fu's disdain for Liu Xie, when he really received the secret edict, he was still worried, feeling that this thin silk was heavy on his wrist!Carefully unfold it, but see that there are bloodstains all over it - it turns out that this was written in blood by Liu Xie biting his finger.Liu Fu was not in the mood to read what the emperor wrote, but he just checked the handwriting in a daze, then skipped to the end to read the signatures of the four participants, and muttered: "Cheqi General Dong Cheng, Yilang Wu Shuo, Changshui Xiaowei Zhong Ji, Zuo..." He couldn't help trembling, and asked in a low voice, "Why is there such a person?" Dong Cheng stroked his beard triumphantly: "This man led the army, so he can be used as foreign aid." "Very good..." Liu Fu smiled, "If there is such a person, we can get twice the result with half the effort!" "When does the prince think he will act?" "Not in a hurry." "It's too late to change!" Dong Cheng couldn't wait. "We have to wait for a good time. Yuan and Cao are fighting each other. If we rush to occupy the capital, Cao Cao will be defeated, but if Yuan Shao comes soon, it will be even more difficult to deal with. Don't be busy for a long time, but it will be easier for others." Liu Fu's eyes were piercing and he had plans, "I'll just watch from the sidelines. In terms of military strength, Cao is inferior to Yuan, and in terms of intelligence, Yuan is inferior to Cao. It's best to let them fight and lose, and let's reap the benefits of the fisherman." "Great opinion!" Dong Cheng admired him from the bottom of his heart, "Please hurry up and sign your name, too." Signing is like a grasshopper on a rope. Liu Fu didn't even hesitate, he put the silk script on several cases, bit his finger and wrote impressively at the end - General Prince Fu.The last word "Fu" was not finished yet, when suddenly there was a loud thunder that resounded through the sky outside. Although Liu Fu was full of ambition and talked eloquently, he was trembling with guilt. Throw the secret edict on him...