Chapter 33 backyard fire

Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, courtesy name Gongzu, was born in Danyang, Yangzhou.He started his career as a soldier in his early years, and he served as Zhang Wen's army when he was fighting against the rebels in Xiliang.The yellow turban was in chaos, and he was transferred to the governor of Xuzhou.After Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, all the shepherds were actively preparing for the battle, but Tao Qian decided that this move would not be successful, so he sent his subordinate Zhao Yu to the pilgrimage, and Dong Zhuo named him General An Dong and Xuzhou Mu.However, Xuzhou was the hardest-hit area of ​​the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and there was also a powerful Zang Ba who led troops and horses to separate the regime, so Tao Qian was relatively weak.When the heroes were fighting, he had no intention of using troops abroad, but was forced by Gongsun Zan's power to encircle Yuan Shao, and was repelled by Cao Cao.

From then on, he kept his self-protection, but he didn't know that sitting behind closed doors at home, disaster would come from heaven.Another bandit, Que Xuan, broke out in Xiapi, and he led his troops to beat him to Taishan County.When Cao Song, Cao Cao's father, was passing by, Tao Qian saw the old man ostentatiously carrying gold and silver treasures, so he sent someone to protect him out of kindness.But never expected that Zhang Kai, one of his subordinates, would take refuge in Quexuan after plotting to get rich and kill him.Tao Qian knew that he was not good, so he immediately sent troops to destroy Quexuan, and wrote a letter to Cao Cao in time. His words were extremely humble, but he still couldn't stop the progress of Cao Cao's army.

In the autumn of the fourth year of Chuping (193 A.D.), Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou. He was inspired by a feeling of revenge and land seizure, which had reached the point of being crazy and unable to control himself. He was invincible along the way. In half a year, he conquered more than ten counties in Xuzhou, broke through Pengcheng, the state capital, and slaughtered all the places he passed.In particular, Qulu, Suining, Xiaqiu and other places were severely damaged. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, and their bones piled up like a mountain. Even Surabaya was blocked. , Those refugees who fled to Xuzhou due to the Sanfu Rebellion were also killed by Cao Cao.Tao Qian was too frightened to fight, and fled again and again, and finally retreated to Tan County in the East China Sea.Cao Cao led his soldiers and horses on a rampage, wantonly plundering and massacring Xuzhou.A piece of good news was sent back to Yanzhou, but what aroused was not celebration, but waves of uneasiness among the scholars in Yanzhou.

On the night when Cao Cao's troops arrived in the East China Sea, three fast horses rode into Chenliu City in the dim night... Zhang Miao was not surprised by the arrival of Chen Gong, Li Feng, and Xue Lan, but he was still uneasy. He invited them into his study and waved away all the soldiers and family members. Under the dim light, Chen Gong's face was extremely distorted: "General Zhang, have you heard what Cao Cao did in Xuzhou?" Zhang Miao nodded slightly, but said: "You have won the victory." Seeing that he did not talk about the massacre, Chen Gong sneered and said, "I remember you are also a native of Yanzhou."

Zhang Miao didn't speak. "Since Cao Mengde was stationed in Yanzhou, he has promoted private parties, monopolized military power, and privately appointed Xiahou Dun as the prefect of Dongjun. You don't know these things?" Seeing that he didn't respond, Chen Gong continued, "He killed him in a day Bian Rang, Yuan Zhong, and Huan Shao are three sages, and their families were exterminated, so Wen Li is also from Yanzhou..." Li Feng took the words: "That's right! He just wants to attack the powerful families in Yanzhou and plunder soldiers, horses, food and grass. If this continues, our local scholars will suffer losses, or even be killed by him." What he is really worried about is Cao Cao divided the power of their Li family.The Juye Li family used to form their own faction to rule the county. Now Li Qian and Li Jin are willing to follow Cao Cao, but Li Feng is still uneasy. He always feels that Cao Cao is using his family and will turn against him one day, so he is also determined. Against Cao Cao.

"It's not just people like Brother Li, but also the people!" Xue Lan did not show weakness, "In the battle of Xuzhou, how many people did he massacre, and Surabaya didn't let it flow! If he can harm Xuzhou today, he can come back tomorrow Don't you want to do something to harm Yanzhou and for the sake of the common people?" Don't look at Xue Lan's benevolence and righteousness, but he also has selfish intentions.Although he is from the Xue family of Hedong, because his father Xue Shengsheng was the Prime Minister of Donghai, his family has a property in Donghai.Now that Cao Cao has reached the East China Sea, his son Xue Yong is still with Tao Qian. If he doesn't think of a way to make Cao Cao withdraw his troops, if he breaks Tancheng, the lives of his family will be over.

Zhang Miao knew the details of these people well, and also understood that they all had selfish intentions, but what Cao Cao did was right before his eyes, and he couldn't do without facing it.He sighed deeply: "I know why you are here, but..." "Now I can't let you think about anything anymore! You have to be for yourself if you are not for others." Chen Gong raised his voice, "Today the heroes are rising together, the world is falling apart, and you, with thousands of miles away, will be the place of four wars, holding swords Gu Yu is also enough to be proud of others, but to counter others, isn't it contemptible?"

Zhang Miao hurriedly raised his hand to signal him to lower his voice, and hurriedly said, "I'm not talented in military management, so I can't do such a big job. You should find someone else, please, please." Chen Gong came prepared and said with a sneer, "Jun Zhang, are you not deceiving yourself? Your head is just stored around your neck. Maybe one day, Cao Cao will pick it off. Yuan Shao told Cao Cao to kill you , do you think I don’t know?” Zhang Miao shivered and touched his neck involuntarily: "How do you know?" "When Yuan Shao sent someone, I was by Cao Cao's side."

"But Cao Cao refused, he won't kill me." Although Zhang Miao said so, there was still fear in his eyes.Chen Gong suddenly laughed out loud, making Zhang Miao's hair stand on end, "You...what are you laughing at?" "I laugh at you if you don't understand. I remember every word Cao Cao replied to Yuan Shao's envoy. Well, I might as well learn from you." Chen Gong cleared his throat and imitated Cao Cao's arrogant tone, "Meng Zhuo, relatives and friends Also, right and wrong should be tolerated. The future is uncertain today, so it is not appropriate to endanger each other."

Zhang Miao nodded: "Isn't Meng De determined to protect me?" "Resolute?" Chen Gong laughed again, "I remember Commander Zhang is also a famous poet of Dongping, why can't you understand the meaning of these few words? Cao Cao said 'right and wrong', that is temporarily ignoring you Right or wrong. He said, 'The world is not determined today, so it is not appropriate to endanger each other', but what if the world is determined?" Zhang Miao lowered his head silently: "I don't believe it, Cao Cao has been very kind to me, and he even entrusted his wife to me when he went out to battle."

"You are really a kind person." Li Feng shook his head again and again, "He still wants to use you. He has not established a firm foothold in Yanzhou, and he wants you to help him stabilize the scholars here." Xue Lan hit the nail on the head: "But it will be different if he wins Xuzhou and has a new territory. Don't let him break Tancheng." He was still thinking about his own family. "I won't listen! I won't listen!" Zhang Miao couldn't help shaking his head, "You all have selfish intentions..." "Who in the world has no selfish intentions?" Chen Gong interrupted him, "Brother Meng Zhuo, people in troubled times are united by benefits, and when benefits are exhausted, people disperse. Have you seen anything about Han Fu? How did he die, you know best Don't you think so?" Zhang Miao couldn't help shivering when he heard this! After Han Fu, the former Jizhou herdsman, gave up the land, Yuan Shao treated him favorably on the surface, but secretly squeezed him everywhere.Han Fu was deeply disturbed, and finally fled Hebei alone, and went to Chenliu to join Zhang Miao. Unexpectedly, as soon as Han Fu arrived, Yuan Shao sent an envoy to ask to cut the weeds and roots.At that time Zhang Miao and Yuan Shao hadn't fallen out yet, and he didn't want to bear the reputation of being a virtuous person, so he made false claims with the envoy.But Han Fu was deeply disturbed, so he hanged himself while Zhang Miao was meeting the envoy. Chen Gong saw the fear in Zhang Miao's eyes, and sneered again: "In the past, you had no intention of killing Han Fu, but Han Fu still died because of the king. Now it's your turn to be in this position... I have to remind you Wake up, Yuan Shao forced Han Fu to death, and Cao Cao killed Wang Kuang, they are the same raccoon." Zhang Miao's head was getting bigger, and he waved his hands again and again: "I don't believe you! You are all chaotic people, and you have separated the relationship between me and Meng De. Meng De will not kill me. Over the years, we get along like brothers. " Suddenly a voice shouted from outside the door: "You treat him as his brother, but he may not treat you as a brother!" The people in the room were terrified, and Gela drew his sword.Unexpectedly, when I opened the door, with the dim light, a smiling face appeared in the dark night——Zhang Chao came in. "Brother, only I am your real brother!" He closed the door, "I have heard what you said just now, let's take care of this matter!" "Good! Zhang Guangling is indeed a righteous man, and he does things with ease." The three of Chen Gong hurriedly praised him. "Meng Gao, stop messing around." Zhang Miao glared at his younger brother, "How can we seek our own death when we are short of troops?" Zhang Chao patted his elder brother on the shoulder and said: "Brother, you are obsessed with things. Why did Yuan Shao want to kill you? You have to tie the bell to untie it!" Zhang Chao told everyone the whole story.It turned out that Xijing fell for the second time, and Lu Bu led the remnants of the Bingzhou Department and the defeated generals, took Dong Zhuo's head, and went to Nanyang to join Yuan Shu.He thought that he had avenged the Yuan family, and Yuan Shu would definitely take him in.Unexpectedly, Yuan Shu hated him for being capricious and refused to take him in. In a fit of anger, he turned to Yuan Shu's enemy brother Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao treated him very preferentially and took him to fight the Black Mountain Army.Lu Bu was extremely brave, and he won a few battles completely.But as the number of victories increased, he also became arrogant, asking Yuan Shao endlessly for food and salary, and to expand the army.His Bingzhou army was used to doing evil with Dong Zhuo, and also plundered people's lives in Jizhou, so Yuan Shao gradually hated him. Lu Bu asked to leave when he saw that he was not being reused. Yuan Shao felt that this person must be a disaster in the future, so he secretly sent someone to assassinate him.Lü Bu was lucky enough to escape, so he hurriedly left Hebei and went to Hanoi County to join his fellow villager Zhang Yang.Passing by Chenliu from Jizhou to Henan, Zhang Miao was one of the party members and favorites to make friends. Hearing that Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo, he treated him well and saw him off personally before leaving.This was tabooed by Yuan Shao, so he ordered Cao Cao to kill Zhang Miao. After some narration, Zhang Miao also understood what his brother meant: "Are you asking me to lure Lu Bu into Yanzhou?" "That's right," Zhang Chao said angrily, "What kind of thing is Cao Cao? How can he be domineering for a few days while holding Yuan Shao's thick legs? Lu Bu's bravery far surpasses Cao Cao's. As long as he comes, it will be easy." "This is a good way." Chen Gong cupped his hands and said, "Nowadays, the state army is marching eastward, and the place is empty. Lv Bu is a strong man who is good at fighting like never before. If you have the right to welcome him, we will shepherd Yanzhou together. Watch the situation of the world. When the current situation changes, this is also a matter of course. For a while!" "Is this okay?" Zhang Miao was still hesitant. "Brother, can't you do it yourself? Our brothers should also have a bright future." Zhang Chao held his hands to encourage him. "General Zhang, don't worry. Xu Si and Wang Kai have long been dissatisfied with Cao Cao. Now they have contacted Mao Hui, Xu Xi, and Wu Zi. Now the whole Yanzhou is hostile to Cao Cao. He is dead." Chen Gong sneered. . Li Feng vowed: "This is a rebellion for the scholars of Yanzhou." "It's also to save the people!" Xue Lan added.Zhang Miao trembled for a long time, wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead, and tremblingly said, "Okay...I'll do it...I'll do it..."