When Xun Yu rushed to the administrative hall where Cao Ang was, Cao Pi was indeed in the hall, still discussing something with Cao Ang and Sima Yi. When Xun Yu came in, the Cao brothers stopped talking. Cao Pi saluted Xun Yu respectfully, while Cao Ang was busy. Sima Yi personally arranged a seat for Xun Yu, and when he asked Xun Yu about his purpose, Xun Yu raised the official document in his hand and said with a smile: "Several people who are illegally brewing wine have been caught in the city. As a rule, they should be punished severely. The Chang'an order found out this Several common people are just first-time offenders, and they are brewing wine privately for sacrificial purposes, not to make huge profits. I am requesting that their sentences be reduced. Yu is undecided and has come to ask the lord for an announcement. He does not want to catch up with the second young master here."
After probably reading the official document brought by Xun Yu, the kind-hearted Cao Ang quickly said: "Since these people are not making profits in the disaster years, but just to worship their ancestors, let's treat them leniently and don't impose corporal punishment. Hard labor is enough."
"My lord is really a man who loves the people, I understand." Xun Yu, who had long known that Cao Ang would be lenient, handed over his hand, and then asked casually: "My lord, the second young master is here, is it because he found out about Jiang Qian's matter? New evidence?¡±
"No." Cao Ang shook his head and said truthfully: "My second brother heard that Liu Bei's army will arrive in Chang'an in the near future, so he came to remind me to be careful about Liu Bei and not to make the same mistakes as Zhang Lu, Tao Qian and others, but I also can't reveal it to Liu Bei. Showing too much hostility has chilled the hearts of our allies and delayed the important matter of forming an alliance to fight against Tao."
"Oh, is the Second Young Master here for this matter?" Xun Yu looked surprised, turned to Cao Pi and asked, "Second Young Master, in your opinion, how should our army deal with Liu Bei's team?"
"Returning to Uncle Xun, my nephew believes that we should treat each other with courtesy, keep the outside loose and the inside tight, and ceremoniously receive Liu Xuande and his party, but he must not be allowed to enter the city to garrison." Cao Pi said respectfully: "Now our army can no longer do without Liu Xuande's assistance. Therefore, we must pay him enough respect to let him know that our army is grateful and respectful to him. However, for the sake of caution, our army must not allow his army to enter the city. He must station his army outside the city and dispatch it as soon as possible. Go to the front line of Tongguan to avoid changes."
"What the Second Young Master said is absolutely true, and Yu also thinks it should be so." Xun Yu nodded and asked curiously: "How do the Second Young Master plan to pay respect to Liu Xuande?"
"My nephew originally wanted to ask my brother to go out of the city for hundreds of miles to meet Duke Xuande, but it would be dangerous to do so, and my brother is busy with official duties and cannot leave the city for a long time." Cao Pi answered in a more respectful tone, "So my nephew wants to volunteer and carry the reward. It means that my brother went out of the city for hundreds of miles to meet Duke Xuande. When Duke Xuande's army arrived at the outskirts of Chang'an, he led all the officials to go out of the city for ten miles to greet him. This not only reflects our army's respect for Duke Xuande, but also This saves my brother from having to leave Chang'an to fight against the enemy when the enemy is at hand, and he can kill two birds with one stone."
"Oh, what do you think, lord?" Xun Yu turned to Cao Ang calmly and asked.
"Uncle, my nephew has promised to ask my second brother to help me." Cao Ang replied: "Although Liu Xuande did not keep his word and stayed in Chencang for many days before leading his army to march eastward, our army still relies on his food assistance. Therefore, my nephew feels that he should be patient with Liu Xuande for the time being, and wait until he defeats Tao Ying to deal with other matters. I wonder what my uncle thinks about this?"
Xun Yu thought very quickly, and after a moment of calculation, he replied: "Very good. Yu suggested that Sima Yi go with him. Previously, the old master ordered Sima Zhongda to assist the master in negotiating with Liu Xuande. He was familiar with Xuande's team and asked him to go with him. It is just appropriate to assist the Second Young Master in welcoming Duke Xuande."
After hearing what Xun Yu said, Cao Ang immediately nodded in agreement without thinking too much. Sima Yi moved his eyes and glanced at Xun Yu and Cao Pi with some doubts in his heart. Cao Pi, who had a guilty conscience, felt his heart skip a beat and secretly said: "Xun Yu." Why do you recommend Sima Yi to accompany me to greet Duke Xuande? Is it intentional or unintentional? Has Uncle Xun already noticed something? No, it seems that I must be more careful in my actions in the future."
In view of the extremely fast speed of Liu Huangshu's march, in order to prepare in advance, Cao Pi and Sima Yi led a group of Cao Jun soldiers out of the city and marched westward on the same day, carrying a batch of precious gifts and pigs and sheep wine to meet Liu Huangshu's reinforcements a hundred miles away. , when setting off, Cao Ang, Xun Yu and others personally sent Cao Pi's team out of the Chang'an city gate. At the city gate, Xun Yu also held Sima Yi's hand and told him: "Zhongda, this is the first time that the second young master has taken on an important task. You have to help me more." Stay close to him, always follow his lead, care about everything, don¡¯t miss it.¡±
As he spoke, Xun Yu squeezed Sima Yi's hand hard. Sima Yi heard the implication of Xun Yu's words and nodded understandingly. He was inevitably suspicious of Dasheng and thought to himself: "You always follow him around and care about everything? What a show. You know you want me to spy on the second young master, what happened? Ah, could it be?!"
Thinking of this, Sima Yi quietly smiled, nodded and said, "Mr. Wen Ruo, please don't worry, Yi understands."
On the same day, news came from Tongguan that Zhong Yao¡¯s troops had withdrawn due to Zhang He¡¯s dispatch of troops.In the city of Tongguan, it was reported that Zhong Yao's 4,000 defenders had withdrawn to Tongguan and less than 800 people had withdrawn. Zhang He was also pursued by Zhao Yun's troops of the Xuzhou Army when he was responding to Zhong Yao. Fortunately, Zhang He's troops discovered in time that they were trying to take a detour by taking a trail. The surprise troops of the outflanking Xuzhou Army divided their forces to block the surprise attack team of the Xuzhou Army at a strategic point. After losing more than 500 troops, they successfully returned to Tongguan. Zhao Yun's team, unable to cut off Cao's army's return path, only pursued them to the west of Hu County and temporarily stationed there. They rushed to the gates of Tongguan City, probably hoping to wait for the main force to arrive before joining forces and marching westward.
There was not much time left for Cao's army. With Xuzhou's army arriving at Tongguan within a few days, Cao Ang had to quickly send someone to inform Cao Pi and Sima Yi of the matter, asking Cao Pi and Sima Yi to lead the emperor's uncle's army to Chang'an as soon as possible. In order to work together to resist pottery. Fortunately, the emperor's uncle's army came very quickly this time, always maintaining a rapid march speed of eighty miles a day. So on the afternoon of the next day, the ceremonial team led by Cao Pi and Sima Yi ushered in the Huaili area west of Chang'an. The emperor's uncle's army team, and in the evening of the same day, he met Liu Huangshu who personally led the army to rescue.
They met Liu Huangshu amidst the sound of playing and beating. Naturally, Cao Pi and Sima Yi had no choice but to express their gratitude to Liu Huangshu on behalf of Cao Ang and say some nonsense words such as being grateful. Liu Huangshu was also extremely ashamed to express his humanity to Cao Pi and others. He said that he should have arrived in Chang'an early, but due to a sudden flash flood that cut off the food road, his army was unable to arrive on time. He apologized repeatedly to Cao Jun's allies, and then introduced Pang Tong, Zhang Fei and Wang Ping to Cao Pi and Sima Yi, and then said After talking a lot of nonsense, they finally joined hands and entered the big tent set up by Cao's army, and held a grand banquet on the land of Guanzhong where people were starving and dying.
During the banquet, Cao Pi reported the military situation at Tongguan to Liu Huangshu, and asked Liu Huangshu to rush to Chang'an as soon as possible to join forces with Cao Jun. Liu Huangshu also immediately sent an order to the entire army, asking all the soldiers to speed up the march again the next day. Arriving at Chang'an City, a hundred miles away, before sunset, Cao Pi and Sima Yi were overjoyed and hurriedly thanked Uncle Liu Huang again and parted happily with Uncle Liu Huang and others.
The banquet broke up at the second watch, but the business of Cao Pi and Sima Yi had just begun. At half past the second watch, after confirming that Sima Yi, who was sleeping in the same tent with him, was already fast asleep, Cao Pi walked out of the tent with all his hands and feet, and then That night he went to Uncle Liu's army tent and asked to see him. After being led into the sleeping tent by Liu Huangshu's guards, Cao Pi was pleasantly surprised to find that Liu Huangshu and Pang Tong were both in the tent. Cao Pi quickly saluted and said with a smile: "I don't want Military Advisor Pang to be awake yet. I'm really sorry for disturbing you so late at night."
"Second Young Master has winked at the Lord and the Commander several times today at the banquet. How dare Tong sleep?" Pang Tong smiled and asked: "What? Second Young Master, is the eldest Young Master's confidant Sima Yi here to monitor you?"
"Maybe, but I haven't confirmed it yet." Cao Pi replied truthfully: "It was Xun Wenruo who suggested that his brother put Sima Yi in Pi's place. Pi had been worried that Xun Wenruo had discovered something, but he didn't know that there was a flaw there, so he had to be careful. Act.¡±
"Master Pi is right to be cautious." Uncle Liu nodded and asked: "Master Pi, you volunteered to come to meet our army on behalf of your brother, and you visited late at night. Could it be that there is something urgent?"
"To be honest with Mr. Xuande, Pi is here to seek advice." Cao Pi also confessed. He first introduced the general situation of the constant conflict between Cao Ang and Cao Jun's veterans, and then talked about the intensified conflicts between Cao Ang and Cao Jun's veterans in order to personally lead the troops to fight against the Xuzhou Army. Regarding the matter, he finally handed over to Liu Huangshu and Pang Tong and said: "Uncle Huang, Shi Yuan Gong, Pi knows that my brother wants to forget his father's hatred and lead his people to surrender to Tao. He also knows that the veterans of our army are extremely dissatisfied with my brother's hidden intention of surrender, and have already given birth to waste. In order to ensure that the foundation left by his father would not be destroyed in the hands of his brother, Pi decided to secretly push for the abolition of Li, but he didn't know how to start. Uncle Wanwang and Military Advisor Pang did not hesitate to give them advice and help Pi. He said that he had According to my long-cherished wish, Pi will be rewarded generously."
Hearing the news of the intensification of internal conflicts in Cao's army, Uncle Liu Huang, who was unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness, was secretly happy, but his face remained calm. He turned to Pang Tong and said, "Commander, I have come to rescue Cao Ang from afar, but I don't want Master Cao Ang to surrender to Tao. The stakes are high, and Mr. Pi is so sincere and has secretly helped our army many times. If the military advisor has any good ideas, he might as well offer them to Mr. Pi."
Pang Tong blinked his mung bean eyes and calculated, and said quickly: "This matter is not difficult, but I don't know when Master Pi wants to act? Is it before breaking the pottery, or after breaking the pottery?"
"If you don't help me, you can only do it before breaking the pottery." Cao Pi quickly replied: "Pi thought carefully and felt that if he took action after breaking the pottery, my brother would have the power to break the pottery, and his reputation would be greatly increased. The contradiction will be alleviated, and the success may be too small. Only by acting before breaking the pot can you be sure of success."
"Mr. Pi is right." Uncle Liu agreed: "Since Mr. Ang secretly wants to surrender to Tao, then Mr. Pi can only seize the throne before breaking Tao. Otherwise, if Mr. Ang suddenly orders Tao to be surrendered, then join forces The plan to resist Tao is just a big deal. But after taking action, as long as Mr. Pi can CaoIf the old man of the army supports him, then there will be no problem with the generals Cao Ren, Zhang Liao and Zhang He who are also old men of the Cao army. They will just follow the crowd and support Mr. Pi to succeed to the throne. "
"Well, since Mr. Pi has decided, and the lord also thinks it is best to take action as soon as possible, then we will take action in three days." Pang Tong said with a smile: "Our army will arrive in Chang'an tomorrow evening, and then rest outside Chang'an City for two days. At the same time, make all preparations and go east to Tongguan for reinforcements in three days. When we set off, we will join hands with the veterans of Cao's army to help Prince Pi inherit the throne of Meng De."
"Are we going to do it in three days? How to do it specifically?" Cao Pi asked with great joy.
"Master Pi, I heard that a few days ago, your army escorted Jiang Gan, the envoy of the Tao thief, back to Chang'an. Unexpectedly, he was deceived with a fake Cao Ang warrant, and his whereabouts are still unknown." Pang Tong did not answer the rhetorical question and said with a smile: "If Tong is here, If the information is correct, the fake warrant that was so vividly imitated should have been made by Mr. Pi, right?"
"This" Cao Piyou looked a little embarrassed. After hesitating for a long time, he finally nodded and admitted that he did it.
"Very good." Pang Tong nodded with satisfaction and said quickly: "Please take up your pen immediately and write a letter in the handwriting and tone of Prince Ang. Write a letter to the general Cao Ren, crying to Cao Ren about Xun Yu, Cao Hong and others who have used power and deceived the emperor. He implored Cao Ren to seek justice for him, and hinted that he intended to kill Xun Yu, Cao Hong and others."
"What a brilliant idea, why didn't I think of taking advantage of the arbitrary power of Xun Yu, Cao Hong and others?" Cao Pi was overjoyed and hurriedly begged for a silk pen to write a book immediately. Then he asked worriedly: "Xuan De Gong, Military Advisor Pang, this How did the letter get to Xun Wenruo? It seems inappropriate for Pi to come forward?"
"Don't worry, it won't be hard for Master Pi to come forward to deliver the message." Pang Tong smiled and replied: "Master Pi, your third brother Cao Zhi seems to be very concerned about military and political affairs?"
Cao Pi laughed loudly and quickly asked about the other steps of the plan, but Pang Tong refused to answer. He just urged Cao Pi to write the letter quickly. Cao Pi had to ask for help from others, and he quickly completed the letter as required and submitted it to Liu Huangshu and Huang Shu. Pang Tong took a look at it and was very satisfied after taking a closer look. He smiled and said: "Master Pi is indeed a good writer, and he is sentimental and well-founded. Especially the sentence 'I hate the thunder of the sky for not killing Yu Hong's thieves', which is just right and admirable." "
After laughing, Pang Tong ordered again: "Come here, give Mr. Pi a new writing brush, grind the ink again, and ask Mr. Pi to make another book."
"Why do you need to change the brush? Change the ink?" Cao Pi asked confused.
"Of course, we have to prevent Xun Yu and others from seeing that the two books are from the same brush and the same inkstone. Mr. Pi, don't underestimate these old foxes. Any clues may make you lose all your efforts." Pang Tong laughed. He explained, and then said: "Master Pi, please use the handwriting of Master Ang to write a letter to my lord. It is also crying and enumerating the crimes of Xun Yu, Cao Ang and others' autocratic power, and then imploring my lord to help when the army marches towards Tongguan. He single-handedly brought Xun Yu, Cao Ang and others to justice!"
"Ah!" Cao Pi was startled and asked quickly: "Then how can Xun Yu and others know about this letter?"
"You don't need to worry about this, Mr. Pi. Tong has his own solution." Pang Tong refused to answer and said with a smile: "Mr. Pi, don't be stunned. Please start writing. Remember, this letter must indicate the time. Today is August On the twenty-eighth day of the month, I will arrive in Chang'an tomorrow, then rest for two days, and the signature will be written on the night of the first day of September!"
Almost forcing Cao Pi to write these two letters, Pang Tong cooperated with Liu Huangshu and said many nice words to Cao Pi. He almost patted his chest and promised to help Cao Pi take Cao Ang's place and replace him, and then he was confused. Cao Pi of the water went back. It was not until after Cao Pi left that Emperor Liu, who was also in the mist of Yunshan, asked Pang Tong: "Military advisor, what are you planning to do? Since you asked Master Pi to write these two letters, why didn't you tell him the specific action plan?" How can he cooperate with our army?"
"Lord, there is no need to let him know." Pang Tong tossed the two letters in his hand and said with a smile: "With these two letters in hand, Master Pi has no use value. Master Pi is already twenty years old. He is quite scheming, my lord, why do you need to let him replace Cao Ang? Wouldn't it be better to let your future son-in-law, the fifteen-year-old Cao Zhi, replace Cao Ang?"
Uncle Liu Huang smiled and said: "The military advisor really knows my heart. By the way, what should I do with Sima Yi? Cao Ang sent him to follow Cao Pi to greet our army. This is a great opportunity to test and bribe him. How do the military advisor plan to deal with it?"
"Let's talk about it on the road tomorrow." Pang Tong replied: "Whether Sima Yi sincerely surrenders to the lord has yet to be verified, so we can't take him lightly yet, but it doesn't matter. Whether Sima Yi surrenders for real or pretends to surrender, it is in Tong's plan. They are no longer irrelevant and cannot affect the overall situation. As far as Tong is concerned, Sima Yi's only role at present is to disrupt Cao Ang andThe judgment of Yu and others made it impossible for people like Cao Ang and Xun Yu to judge our true intention and the time to take action. "
Uncle Liu Huang nodded and said with a smile: "The military advisor is really smart. When Sima Yi greeted our army today, although he was very respectful and affectionate to me, I could see that this child's eyes were terrifyingly calm and calm. In my opinion, Among the people I saw, Tao Ying was the only one who killed the thief and him, so I couldn't judge what they were thinking or whether their words were true or false. Children like this have to be careful."
¡¡¡¡¡¡
The night passed quickly, and the sky finally got slightly brighter. When the soldiers of the Imperial Uncle Army got up one after another and prepared to start again, 470 miles due east, on the heavily guarded Tongguan City Wall, an earth-shattering gong suddenly sounded. The sound of alarms and shouts of the arrival of the Xuzhou Army came one after another, causing the mountains to echo and the valleys to respond. Cao Ren, the general guarding the pass of Cao army who lived directly in the pass tower, also jumped up from his bed, rushed out of the pass tower and looked towards the east.
In the dawn, a group of Xuzhou cavalry with only a dozen people appeared on the narrow road east of Tongguan. They stood on their horses and looked at the Tongguan city tower 200 steps away with their heads held high. The mountain wind blew their flags away. The sound of hunting was heard, and the rising sun shone golden sunlight onto their armor, swords and guns, reflecting the dazzling light, which was as dazzling as gods descending from the earth.
"That's enough!" Cao Ren yelled at the panicked defenders with a dark face, "They are just Tao Thief's scouts, what's there to be afraid of? What are you talking about when you are so panicked? Stop beating the gongs and don't shout, you will lead to enemies. Ambition will destroy our prestige!"
The panic was finally suppressed by Cao Ren, but every Cao Jun guard still had a worried look on his face, because Cao Jun's officers and soldiers knew very well that the decisive battle of Tongguan, which was about the life and death of Cao Jun's team, was about to begin. The strength of the world The unparalleled Xuzhou main force is about to arrive. Every Cao Jun soldier may die. Every Cao Jun soldier will struggle to survive in the sword and fire. No one can know who will survive to the end.
Man Chong, the counselor of the Cao army who assisted Cao Ren in guarding the pass, went up to the pass wall with dark circles under his eyes. He walked to Cao Ren's side. After looking at the more than ten Xuzhou Army scouts outside the pass, Man Chong asked in a hoarse voice: "Do you want to report it immediately? Eldest Young Master?"
"There's no rush. We'll wait until we get a clear picture of the enemy's situation." Cao Ren shook his head and said with a gloomy face: "Besides, what's the use of reporting it to the eldest son? Can he send more reinforcements to us? Maybe there will be another trouble. If you come to Tongguan in person to lead the troops to defend against the enemy, then the matter will be difficult to handle."
Man Chong, who had already learned about the situation in Chang'an from Xun Yu and others' letters, nodded. He did not want Cao Ang to come to Tongguan to cause trouble and be a disservice, so he added: "First send someone out to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and then send the news to Xun Wenruo." , please pass Xun Wenruo to the eldest son, so that Mr. Wenruo and the others can make preparations first."
Cao Ren also nodded. Just when he was about to order the scouts to be sent out to reconnoiter the enemy, he suddenly remembered an important event and hurriedly said to Man Chong: "Bo Ning, you can arrange for the scouts to be sent out to conduct reconnaissance. I will leave this place to you for the time being." , I have something big to do.¡±
With that said, Cao Ren hurriedly walked away. Man Chong asked hurriedly: "General Zixiao, why are you so anxious about this matter?"
"When my old master was leaving Tongguan," Cao Ren replied smoothly, "I was given a sealed wooden box and told to open it when Tao's soldiers were about to leave Tongguan, and then act according to the orders in the box. Now Tao's soldiers The horse has arrived and I have to open the wooden box."
"Is there such a thing?" Man Chong was extremely surprised. At the same time, Man Chong was also full of doubts and said to himself: "Isn't it right? The old master went out to Tongguan to fight against the Tao thieves. How could he leave the wooden box first and order Zixiao to stay in Tao? Open it when the thieves come to Tongguan? Why didn't my lord think about it at that time? Even if he was unfavorable in the battle at Hangu Pass, he should return to Tongguan first? Ah!"
At this point in his soliloquy, Man Chong was suddenly startled and thought to himself: "Could it be that the old master had already predicted that he would die when he left seclusion and would never have the chance to return to Tongguan, so he left his will in advance?!" (To be completed) Continued.)