Xiaoguangong

Chapter 65

In the past few days, Cao Cao tossed and turned every night.

Thinking of the upcoming war, he was quite anxious.

He knew better than anyone that the preparations for this southern expedition were very inadequate.

But the previous progress was too smooth, the powerful Yuan family was beaten to ashes, so what is the power of Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

It was this decision that cost Cao Cao a huge price. As the day of the decisive battle approached, he became more and more uneasy.

It can even be said that this is the most uncertain battle he has ever fought in his life.

As long as Cai Mao surrenders his family as hostages, Cao Cao will regain military power in Jingzhou and promise that as long as this battle is won, he will return to the north immediately. Cai Mao and others can continue to be stationed in Jingzhou, whether it is General Zhennan or Jingzhou Mu. It cannot be negotiated, and the three-way law does not need to be considered at all.

Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu to give Cai Mao a clear ultimatum—if Cai Mao refused, he would rather mobilize the army to meet Cai Mao first.Anyway, the situation in Jingzhou is already quite corrupt, and Cao Cao doesn't mind making the already chaotic situation even more chaotic.

Cai Hao thought about it carefully, and felt that his soldiers still couldn't fight Cao Cao's army on land.

If a fight really broke out, let alone whether other people in Jingzhou could reap the benefits, anyway, he and his family would be the first to bear the brunt of it.

Cai Mao hesitated all night, and at dawn the next day, he expressed his willingness to cooperate with Cao Cao.

But the premise is that Cao Cao must first make him Jingzhou Mu and Zhennan General.

Conditions are a good start.

Cheng Yu, who had stayed up with Cai Mao all night, was overjoyed and heaved a sigh of relief.

"General Cai also knows that many things before were caused by misunderstandings. The Prime Minister has been thinking about the friendship with General Cai as a classmate. When he breaks through Jiangdong and captures Sun Quan, Zhang Zhao and others alive, I believe that everyone will be able to clear up the past."

Cai Hao also managed to force a smile:
"General Cheng, don't worry, it was the traitors who spread rumors and made troubles before, which made me wait. As long as the prime minister is willing to trust me, Cai Mao, I will fight hard and never back down."

Cheng Yu looked happy:
"Okay, then there is General Lao Cai. To be honest, it was Guan Ping who spread rumors and caused troubles before, which disturbed our army quite uneasy.

As long as General Cai and the Prime Minister settle their suspicions, we will be able to clear up the southeast and rule the Han Dynasty! "

Cai Mao smiled and said:
"General Cheng, don't worry, it was Cai who was careless before. Now that Jiangling is impenetrable, even if Guan Ping has three heads and six arms, he can't even think about it!"

Cai Mao's words are of course very confident.

When Cheng Yu came to the door last night, Guan Ping also came to say goodbye, saying that he was going back to Xiangyang to prepare for the next big battle.

Cai Mao pretended to be contemplative, and personally sent Guan Ping to the riverside. Watching Guan Ping's boat leave slowly, he was relieved.

It is difficult for Cao Jun to solve Guan Ping's small-scale continuous raids, but Cai Mao can solve it.

When Guan Ping has no use value, he can still trap and kill Guan Ping. Before that, he can also prevent Guan Ping from harassing Jiangling and further raise his status.

Thinking of this, Cai Mao was in a good mood. He took Cheng Yu's hand and sent him out. Both of them were beaming, and they had already begun to think about how to divide the interests reasonably after defeating Liu Bei.

But the two of them stopped at the same time without going far.

Because, they saw a thick smoke that covered the sky and the sun in the distance.

Come on, is it on fire?

"What happened!" Cheng Yu was anxious and angry, and suddenly grabbed a soldier from his side and asked.

The soldier was so scared out of his wits by this strong man known for his ferocity that he passed out on the spot. Cai Mao snorted and shouted sharply, "Don't go inquiring!"

Thick smoke and fire rose into the sky, Cai Mao's soldiers hurriedly came and went, and soon sent back a shocking news:

"Back to the governor, Guan Ping attacked, causing people to burn down the treasury. Cao Jun is trying his best to put out the fire, and I don't know how many of Guan Ping's men have landed!"

Guan Ping is here again?Come during the day!
Cheng Yu glared at Cai Mao angrily, and said coldly:

"Captain, what's going on?"

Cai Mao was a little dizzy for a while, and couldn't help but trembled and read:

"Guan, don't I know about Guan Ping? I personally sent him on board, I, I am not...I am not..."

Cheng Yu didn't want to listen to Cai Mao's explanation.

At night, Guan Ping could be said to have been unprepared, but it was broad daylight, and the waters near Jiangling were under Cai Mao's men. Guan Ping was so rampant, and even aggressively attacked Cao Jun's treasury.

"Okay, okay, what you Jingzhou soldiers have done is good! Is it tolerable or unbearable! Before colluding with Guan Ping to attack Zixiao, and setting fire in broad daylight today, does it mean that Guan Ping will attack the Prime Minister's Mansion tomorrow!"

Cheng Yu became angrier as he spoke, and began to speak indiscriminately. Cai Mao frowned and clenched his fists creakingly. He called a guard and asked in a low voice where Huang Zhong was. The guard replied that Huang Zhong had left. Cai Mao was helpless. , could only take a deep breath, and followed behind Cheng Yu with a livid face.

Cheng Yu ran out of Cai Mao's barracks in three steps and two steps, grabbed a horse and rushed to the burning position, but at this moment he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

He originally thought that it was the same as before, and it was Jingzhou soldiers who were unwilling to stop Guan Ping, allowing Guan Ping to enter the granary by the river without hindrance to commit murder, or escape by boat after the granary was fire-proof.

But when he ran over, he found that the place where the fire started was actually the arsenal by the city. Although it was also by the river, it was not only close to the river, but also surrounded by many Cao Jun barracks—that is to say, Guan Ping had entered the city. Cao Jun set fire behind the barracks, and then killed them again.

The Jingzhou soldiers stood still, strictly guarding the soldiers of the Cao army to take advantage of the chaos to attack them, but the Cao army had already begun to mess up their positions, and many people even started to take advantage of the fire to loot, the scene was extremely chaotic and embarrassing.

"Don't move!"

Cheng Yu was one of the few ruthless people in the Cao army. He roared angrily, and the Cao army soldiers saw that he was the one who had come, so they dispersed angrily.

Cheng Yu rushed into the arsenal, and saw that there were traces of scorched fire everywhere. The large amount of wood Cao Jun had stored before (including spears, wooden poles of iron halberds, and wooden shields) were all scorched by the fire. Although the open fire had been extinguished, But there were sporadic flames all over the place, and it was obvious that the area of ​​fire was astonishing.

Cheng Yu stepped forward on the scorching ashes all over the ground, stamped his feet in despair as he walked, and roared loudly:
"What's going on! What's going on! Someone tell me what's going on!"

"Where is Guan Ping! Who let Guan Ping go!"

Cheng Yu was incompetent and furious, and finally a ferocious smile appeared on Cai Mao's face:

"Okay, okay, the good deeds you Northern Army have done. Is it tolerable or unbearable. Before you colluded with Guan Ping to attack Zhongye, and today you set fire to the arsenal, are you going to attack the Prime Minister's Mansion tomorrow?"

"Uh……"

This is basically a perfect retelling of Cheng Yu's previous accusation. Cheng Yu secretly complained, but there was nothing he could do.

He hurriedly inspected the loss of the arsenal, and asked about the attack.

All the soldiers agreed that they were attacked by Guan Ping, but when Cheng Yu asked carefully, these people immediately began to show flaws, especially the description of Guan Ping's appearance was very unclear, and many people stared at Cheng Yu's death. The next speech gradually became chaotic, Qiqi Ai Ai said nonsense that didn't match the preamble.

Cai Mao sneered and said leisurely:

"It seems that there are ghosts in your army's mind, and it's not easy for me, an outsider, to ask more questions.

General Cheng, what should I say? "

Cheng Yu gritted his teeth with difficulty:
"Don't worry, I will definitely find out for you."

·
Cheng Yu and Cai Mao took several soldiers to a military tent, and they personally tortured them.

Those soldiers were all afraid of death, so they quickly confessed the ins and outs.

After listening to the confessions of several soldiers, Cheng Yu and Cai Mao's expressions became more and more ugly.

This incident turned out to be a group of soldiers who set themselves on fire in order to cover up the reselling of military supplies.

All the people participating here are the grassroots generals of Cao Jun, and everyone has benefited from it. Even being able to ignite a large arsenal is the result of everyone's concerted efforts.

What made Cheng Yu even more desperate was that after repeated torture, these soldiers refused to disclose how much military funds they had sold and what they were selling.

Cheng Yu hadn't seen this kind of person who would rather die than submit for a long time, and his eyes immediately showed a fierce look.

Well, it seems that my reputation, Cheng Yu, has regressed a bit in the past few years, and it has fallen into my hands. I will let you live or die!

He was about to ask someone to kill these soldiers, but Cai Mao grabbed his arm:

"you wanna die?"

"What does the governor have to teach?"

"Today's fire situation, you can tell at a glance that someone in your army is causing trouble and wants to blame me. Then, who in your army likes to resell military resources the most, and who is quite at odds with my Jingzhou army?"

Cheng Yu blurted out:
"Zi Lian!"

"That's it." Cai Mao sneered, "You still don't understand? This is Cao Zilian's trick. This man has a tyrannical temperament. This time, I, all the people in Jingzhou, surrendered. I didn't follow his intention of looting. I have always hated me in my heart. Wait.

Later, when I learned that Guan Ping was in frequent contact, he began to make troubles again and again, trying to deliberately frame us—Fu Xun lived near the camp of your army, how did their family escape?Why did "Guan Ping" plan for a long time but couldn't bear to burn food, but this time he simply burned so much military funds?
Hey, of course Cao Zilian didn't dare to burn food, for fear of starving to death here, but armaments and so on can be remade, so naturally he corrupted at will.

Today I just burned some objects. If you torture them, the next time they catch fire, they will die.General Cheng, has this fire in the treasury never happened before in your army?
Hehe, I'm not afraid of your jokes, our Jingzhou army used to have a lot of food and clothing, and I dare not judge rashly. "

Cao Hong is indeed the chief corrupt officer in Cao Cao's army. This person's character design is to show bad publicity, which makes it impossible for me to abide by the law.

But Cao Cao has always been indifferent to him, which made Cao Hong even more rampant.

Cheng Yu heard cold sweat rolling down his face, the corner of his mouth couldn't help twitching violently a few times, and finally nodded silently.

"This Guan Ping is really hateful, but he is very skilled in martial arts, so it's not good for him to torture and kill soldiers."

Seeing Cheng Yu's face covered in sweat, Cai Mao was delighted.

Of course he could guess what was going on, but he didn't mind adding a little bit of confusion to Cao Jun.

The messier it gets, the better his chances of fishing in troubled waters.

Nephew, nephew, why don't you discuss this way of getting rich with your uncle in advance, uncle can help you do better.

Thinking of this, Cai Mao snorted heavily: "That's right, Guan Ping is really hateful! He should be killed!"

(End of this chapter)