Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1199 Attacked
Handan Chun didn't realize who Yang Xiu was hinting at for a while, but Ding Yi knew him, and it could even be said that he was too familiar with him.

Since the other party is in Cao Cao's mansion, it must be Cao Cao's eldest daughter Cao Qing, and only Cao Qing.

After Cao Qing was released back to Xu Du, she came to Yecheng with Madam Bian because Cao Cao was seriously ill. During this period, Cao Cao also asked his trusted subordinates about her marriage.

Cao Cao's original idea was to marry Cao Qing to Liu Xie as the queen, but Cao Qing was extremely resistant to this and made a big fuss.

Perhaps considering the experiences of Lady Bian and Cao Ang, Cao Cao was rarely submissive. In the end, he found a woman of appropriate age from the Cao clan to enter the palace to replace Cao Qing.

Although Cao Qing evaded the question, she was already quite old and her marriage had to be put on the agenda. The officials of Cao Wei should have been eager to get married, but Cao Qing's experience of being captured made them hesitate.

Given the bad reputation of the evil tiger and Cao Qing's beautiful appearance, many people privately suspected whether something had happened after Cao Qing was abducted to Shouchun. Therefore, many families were afraid of damaging their reputation, so they chose to wait and see.

Of course, there are also people who don’t care about their family’s reputation, such as Ding Yi, who once met Cao Qing at Yang Xiu’s house.

His father Ding Chong was assassinated in Huaicheng. Now Ding Yi is the head of the Ding family. Since he doesn't care, who else in the Ding family can stop him?

Cao Qing and Cao Pi were at loggerheads, so she naturally stood on the side of Cao Zhi, with whom she had a better relationship. In order to pass on a message, she found an excuse to secretly visit Yang Xiu's residence and got in touch with the Four Friends.

Yang Xiu and the other three were naturally very surprised by this. Given Cao Qing's status in Cao Cao's mansion, what secret information could she not find out?
Sometimes the transmission of information depends on just a critical moment. With Cao Qing as an insider, the confidence of the four friends in confronting Cao Pi's forces is greatly increased.

When Ding Yi met Cao Qing, he was shocked by her beauty. He fell in love with her from then on and was glad that he was in the right position.

Of course, Ding Yi was not without some grudges in his heart. When he thought of the tragic fate that Cao Qing might have suffered in Shouchun, Ding Chong's heart bled and he even felt that the color of the hat on his head was different.

In addition, the vicious tiger was the culprit who caused Ding Chong's death in the Huaicheng assassination, which made Ding Chong feel even more uncomfortable. So he could only deceive himself and ignore these things and focus on Cao Qing's marriage.

After Cao Zhi knew Ding Chong's intention, he also wanted to help. He praised Ding Chong's talent in front of Cao Cao several times in order to help Ding Chong fulfill his wish.

But Cao Pi naturally didn't want Cao Qing to become Cao Zhi's helper, so Cao Pi slandered Ding Chong in front of Cao Cao several times, especially saying that Ding Chong was not good-looking.

This seems to be more useful than Cao Zhi's words. At any rate, according to later news, Cao Cao seemed to have given up Ding Chong and was more inclined to choose a son from the Xiahou family.

After hearing the news, Ding Chong naturally gritted his teeth and hated Cao Pi even more deeply. However, Cao Pi was not so easy to overthrow, and Cao Qing's marriage seemed to be settled soon, which made Ding Chong extremely crazy.

Just at this time, news came that Cao Cao had vomited blood and was unconscious, which made Ding Yi ecstatic. It would be best if Cao Cao died at this time. Whether it was for Cao Zhi's power or his own marriage, this would be a great thing!

But during this period, Cao Cao's health was deteriorating. The Yingchuan faction that supported Cao Pi had already taken action and was suppressing Cao Zhi's faction with all their strength. The relationship between the two sides was not equal, and Cao Zhi and his four friends were at a disadvantage and could only struggle to hold on.

Especially along with the news of Cao Cao vomiting blood, there was also the urgent report of Xiahou Yuan's death in battle. As one of the few people in the Xiahou clan who secretly supported Cao Zhi, this was a huge blow to the four friends, and everyone fell into panic for a while.

At this time, Yang Xiu urgently summoned Ding Yi and the other two and told them the message conveyed by Cao Qing. The content of the message made everyone understand that the current situation was extremely dangerous!

Ding Yi said, "Does Dezu think they will take action in the next few days?"

Yang Xiu's face was solemn. "If it's not these days, it could be tonight!"

Everyone was shocked. Ding Yi said in disbelief, "No way. The King of Wei just fell down during the day, and the Yingchuan sect is going to take action now?"

"What if the King of Wei wakes up tomorrow?"

Ding Yi suddenly realized and nodded, "Dezu is right. It is precisely because Duke Wei could wake up at any time that they are in a hurry to act!"

"They won't do anything to the Third Young Master, but they will definitely eliminate us. As long as we make it real, the Third Young Master will no longer have any help!"

"When everyone in the court stands on the side of the Second Young Master, Your Majesty will not go against the trend, just like the Four Elders of Shangshan during the reign of Emperor Gaozu!"

Everyone knows this history. At the beginning, Liu Bang first appointed Liu Ying as the crown prince, but later wanted to depose Liu Ying and appoint Liu Ruyi as the crown prince. When Empress Lu heard about it, she asked Zhang Liang for advice. Zhang Liang suggested that Empress Lu invite the Four Elders of Shangshan to come out of seclusion.

These four people were the ones Liu Bang had always wanted but could not get. Empress Lu found ways to make them follow Liu Ying. When Liu Bang found out, he knew that Liu Ying's trend was already established, so he had to give up the idea of ​​deposing Liu Ying.

The fight for the position of crown prince depends on one's connections and reputation. No matter how noble the character of the son is, or how much he is loved by his father, if the officials under him do not support him, it means that he cannot win the support of the people and will pose a hidden danger of disaster. He will definitely not be able to be the crown prince.

Countless tragic facts in the past have proved that if such a crown prince does not get the support of officials, he is likely to be deposed, leading to chaos in the dynasty. Not to mention the distant past, an example in recent years is the deposed emperor Liu Bian.

As the lord, the choice to be made in this situation is self-evident, so Yang Xiu said it very clearly. If the Yingchuan faction eliminated them, it would mean that Cao Zhi would be eliminated early!

Seeing the panic on the faces of the three young men, Handan Chun said, "Don't panic, think of a solution quickly."

"There are two choices now. Do you want to avoid the spotlight and save your life, or gather your forces and attack?"

Everyone was silent, and Yang Xiu's eyes kept flashing with thought. After a while, he raised his head decisively and said, "Does the Ding family still have a lot of servants?" "You two should go back quickly and gather all the servants. Together with the dozens of people in my house, try to gather a few hundred people!"

Ding Yi said, "Dezu, what are you going to do? Rebellion?"

"What can these servants accomplish?"

"It's useless to use them to defend the mansion. You can't kill the Yingchuan Sect and the Second Young Master with these people, right?"

Yang Xiu shook his head and said, "Of course not."

"We will go to the Prince of Wei's mansion under the pretext that someone is trying to assassinate the Third Young Master, pick him up, and act out a play with me."

"In this way, the Yingchuan sect that wants to attack us will naturally be cautious. If they want to attack us, they will be charged with the crime of assassinating the Third Young Master."

"And we use the Third Young Master's identity to protect ourselves, which is also a disguised way to clear the obstacles for the Third Young Master!"

After hearing this, the three of them all nodded and said, "Dezu's plan is brilliant!"

The four stood up and prepared to go back to do their own thing, but at this moment the door was suddenly pushed open and a servant rushed in, whispering, "Everyone, hurry up, someone is coming with troops!"

The three were startled by this man's action and subconsciously wanted to draw their swords. Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu asked, "Whose are you?"

The man whispered, "They are the princess's men. Hurry up, they are on their way. In half a cup of tea, they will rush in!"

After hearing this, Yang Xiu walked towards the back door with the three of them in doubt, but he was wondering in his heart, is the princess so powerful that she could quietly plant a spy in his own mansion?

They were about to reach the back door when they heard the sound of a door being broken in from the direction of the front door, followed by the guard's screams. Immediately afterwards, the hooves of war horses stepped on the walkway, and the sound of thudding thudding was rapidly approaching the hall.

Then there was the sound of chaotic footsteps, the door of the hall was broken, weapons clashed, and the voices of slaves and maids begging for mercy were heard. Then there was the sound of puffing, and after a few screams, the begging for mercy stopped abruptly.

The four people suffered cardiac arrest. It was likely that the other party had not found the four people and had started killing them. I was afraid that they would definitely search the backyard next!

The four of them no longer cared about their image, lifted the hem of their robes, and ran towards the back door as fast as they could.

The spy called out to them, saying, "It's too late. The other side must have deployed people at the back door."

As if to confirm his words, there was a sound of banging at the back door. Ding Yi heard it with a look of despair on his face and said, "How dare they!"

Handan Chun said, "There's a dog hole in the wall over there."

Before he finished speaking, footsteps were heard along the wall, apparently blocking all the roads on the outer wall.

Ding Chong cursed, but Yang Xiu turned to the spy and said, "You must have a way. We will follow you."

The man smiled when he heard that, and led everyone towards the toilet.

He walked to the toilet, pushed aside the weeds, kicked away the dirt, revealing a piece of wood.

He lifted the wooden board, revealing a dark and narrow passage. The four of them covered their mouths and noses, looking at the yellow-white liquid oozing from the cave wall, and were stunned for a moment.

Climb out from here?

The man said, "Everyone, in an emergency, choose between life and face."

Yang Xiu hesitated for only a moment, then endured the pungent smell and climbed down with difficulty.

The other three looked at each other, but heard footsteps coming rapidly from behind. They were so scared that they slipped down one by one and scrambled to climb in.

The spy then followed him down and covered the place with the wooden board again. The ground was overgrown with weeds, which temporarily concealed all traces.

Xu Chu in the front hall was riding on his horse, but he was extremely anxious. He led his soldiers to search the front and back yards back and forth several times, but he could not find how the four friends escaped!
He had rushed here as fast as he could. According to the maid's confession before her death, these four people were clearly discussing matters in the hall just now. How could they disappear in the blink of an eye?

The Four Friends are Cao Zhi’s most important followers. If we fail to capture them, tonight’s operation will be a complete failure!
Thinking of this, Xu Chu shouted: "The front and back doors are blocked, they can't escape!"

"Search the place thoroughly and find them!"

(End of this chapter)