Chapter 10 10. Nearly died en route to duty

In the winter of the fifth year of Xiping (AD 176), the 22-year-old Cao Cao was framed by eunuchs. He left his position as a lieutenant in the north of Luoyang and went to Dunqiu County under the administration of Yanzhou Dongjun as the county magistrate.I don't know if it was specially arranged by Cao Jie and others, or it was just a coincidence that the time when he left Beijing was the coldest day in the middle of winter. In ancient times, the emperor and the courtiers in one dynasty, even a small county magistrate, had his own confidant followers.However, Cao Mengde came out angry, and acted hastily. He only took Chang Sui Louyi and four ordinary servants on the road.All the way up the stairs, Yi rode in front, Cao Cao rode in a chariot, two family members straddled the chariot, and two others followed on foot.When we arrived at a deserted mountain path, we heard a burst of shouts, and from behind the hill came out more than 20 men, all of them wearing ragged cotton clothes, with steel knives and wooden sticks in their hands.

"Traveler! Leave your luggage and money!" The leader had a broad shoulders and a round waist, with a dark face and a big stick in his hand. "Who are you, you dare to do such a path-cutting act in broad daylight, aren't you afraid of the king's law?" Cao Cao asked. "What is the law of the king? Which is called the law?" The black man sneered, "I have the final say on this piece of land!" "Bold! How dare you threaten my lord, are you giving up your heads?" Lou Yi also shouted. "Don't talk nonsense, even if you are an official, you still travel in a car, ordering slaves and maidservants, how can you travel on horseback?"

"My lord is the county magistrate of Dunqiu, and he has been in office since then." After all, Lou Yi came from a poor background in the market, and knows the rules of these people quite well, "My lord is an upright official, I advise you to get out of the way quickly, so as not to hurt your friendship. If you dare to rob, when my lord takes office, I will send officials to take your locks to the Yamen, and you will be beaten with sticks and sticks, and when the time comes to discipline you, it is easy to think ahead and it is difficult to retreat!" "Hahaha..." the black man laughed, "Such a big tone, who are you scaring? Don't say it's a real county magistrate, or a real county magistrate. Dunqiu and Fengqiu are far apart, and you don't care about me! Like you Wait for the lonely geese and sheep, if you kill them, you will kill them! How about it? Money or life?"

Cao Cao saw that this man was fierce and shapeless, and he had quite a lot of people with him, so it must be difficult to deal with it; and seeing that Lou Yi was the only one who could rely on him, the two long legs were trembling with fear, and he knew the crowd The disparity is more ominous than good.He also heard Lou Yi say that he was not going to move, so he simply used his power to suppress them: "Bold thief, my official Cao Cao is the son of Lord Cao, the Jiuqing of the current dynasty. Which one of you dare to move? If you still persist in your obsession, I will go back and report to the old man." , immediately send soldiers to arrest you, and destroy your whole family!"

Unexpectedly, the man became even more angry: "It's fine if you don't mention that old man Cao Song. If you mention that shameless corrupt official, I will kill you! I know your surname Cao, but I don't know your surname Cao with a big stick in my hand." " After saying that, he lifted the big stick in his hand, "Don't talk nonsense, grab it!" He gave an order, and the group of men rushed over wielding their sticks.When the two chiefs met, they didn't care about Cao Cao and ran away; only Lou Yi saw this, and he used a five-colored stick to protect Cao Cao's horse.It was also because of his strong hands that the two big sticks made him dance with each other.He knocked down two of the thieves, Fang Zhi, and the others did not dare to go up again. They surrounded a big circle with their hands, trapping Cao Cao and Lou Yi in the middle.

When Lou Yi saw that his master was in danger, he didn't care if someone behind him greeted him with a stick, so he aimed at the black man and hit him in the heart.This blow made the black man stagger, and before he could raise his head, Cao Cao's sword also arrived.In an instant, a red light flashed, and a large piece of scalp with a bun attached to the left ear was cut off! "Ah..." The black man screamed in pain, and the thieves didn't dare to fight any more, they left their hands to protect the guy and ran away. When Cao Cao and Lou Yi saw that they were gone, they didn't dare to neglect them, fearing that more thieves would come back later, they hurriedly urged their horses, strided forward, and headed northwest in a hurry.After running for two miles, the master and servant were so tired that they were out of breath, so they rested.

Seeing that Lou Yi was sweating profusely from exhaustion, Cao Cao hurriedly took off his cloak to wear it for him because it was too cold to fear that he would get sick.Only then did he realize that someone had already cut a two-foot-long slash in the cloak, and he couldn't help feeling horrified. He wanted to get off the horse and put it on for him himself, but his left leg hurt so badly that he couldn't even lift it up. "My lord, don't dismount!" Lou Yi took the torn cloak and wrapped it up, "If you dismount, if the thieves come after you right now, we will all be ruined!"

"Oh! Where did those two boys go?" "They took the adult's luggage and ran away." "Let's look for them." "Your Excellency is so kind." Lou Yi was a little anxious, "These two people see us being surrounded, how do they think we can survive? The bags are full of money, and they will definitely take the money and flee back to their hometown, no matter whether we live or die Already!" "Ah!" Cao Cao felt sad for a while, "Human favor is so thin!" "My lord is still too rudimentary! There are many hardships along the way. I always carry the money bag and let them carry the stick. I am afraid of their hand. In the end, I was kind-hearted, but they were abducted by them. We have no money!"

"It doesn't matter." Cao Cao said as he took out the county magistrate's seal from his bosom, "If you don't lose the seal of the official, everything will be easy to deal with! The official post relies on official seals for food and lodging, let's go to Fengqiu to work quickly. Care about. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time, go! Go!"