At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 45 Imprisoned
In Zhou Qi's inherent impression, Cao Ren is the general of Cao Wei with great military exploits.

Even if Cao Ren still has no fame, he should still be a dignified man and a great husband.

Unexpectedly, the aggressive person who appeared in front of Zhou Qi was actually just a kid in his early ten years old, which made Zhou Qi feel a little bit of a gap.

But soon, Zhou Qi figured it out.

It is now the second year of Guanghe, and even Cao Cao is only 24 years old. It is not surprising that Cao Ren, who is much younger than him, is only in his early ten years.

Even Sima Yi and Pang Tong, who are famous in history, were only born this year.

As for the old iron Zhuge Liang, he has not been conceived by his mother yet, and he will not be born until two years later.

After calming down, Zhou Qi faced a dozen burly men holding sharp knives and staring eagerly, but he showed no fear at all, and instead had a slight smile on his face.

He looked at Cao Ren with interest and asked, "You said we stole the horses, do you have any evidence?"

Cao Ren immediately put his hands on his hips and hummed: "My brother loves that white horse very much. Even if I want to borrow it from him in ordinary times, my brother is not willing. How can he give it to you for no reason?"

"And my brother really likes to make friends with heroes, but I know all of them, and there is no Xiangxian Zhou Qi among them."

Speaking of this, Cao Ren showed a mocking look on his face, and said: "The most important thing is that my brother is going to Xiao County to meet Brother Liu, and he will never pass through Xiang County, so how can he give the horse there as a gift? you?"

"From my point of view, the horses were either stolen by you, or snatched!"

As soon as Cao Ren's words fell, the dozen or so big men all gathered around, with unkind expressions on their faces.

Holding the knife handle, Xiang Hong moved two steps towards Zhou Qi's position, looking at Cao Ren with a little coldness in his eyes.

In any case, he must ensure Zhou Qi's safety.

If Cao Ren didn't believe Zhou Qi and insisted on sending people to arrest the two of them, Xiang Hong would never show mercy. He would definitely take Cao Ren hostage.

Compared to Cao Ren's nervousness, Zhou Qi seemed relaxed and comfortable.

He looked at Cao Ren, who was only eleven or twelve years old, and couldn't help sighing in his heart: "Sure enough, he is worthy of being the leading general of Cao Wei's clan. Cao Ren has such keen insight at a young age. It seems that he can have such achievements in the future. It’s definitely not just relying on the identity of Cao Cao’s brother.”

Cao Ren's face was pale, he raised his head proudly, and said, "Thief, do you have anything to say?"

Zhou Qi grinned and asked, "Did you know that Xia Houyuanrang followed Cao Mengde?"

Cao Ren gave Zhou Qi a sideways look, and said with a sneer, "Of course I know."

Zhou Qi continued: "If Xiahou Yuanrang is holding a sharp knife here, do you think these dozen or so people can stop him?"

Cao Ren said with a smile: "Brother Yuan Rang has extraordinary martial arts skills. If he holds a sharp blade, how can a dozen or so people stop him?"

Zhou Qi's expression darkened suddenly, and he said in a sullen voice: "To be honest, this horse was not stolen, but my two brothers snatched it by force. Even Xiahou Yuanrang couldn't stop my two brothers. Children only bring a dozen people here, are they not afraid of losing their lives?"

Frightened by Zhou Qi's ferocious face, Cao Ren couldn't help but take a few steps back. The dozen or so big men also took a few steps back vigilantly, protecting Cao Ren in the middle.

"Hahahaha!"

Seeing that the atmosphere became so dignified, Zhou Qi suddenly burst out laughing.

"Horses are so precious. With brother Meng De's wisdom and prudence, who can steal the war horse from Meng De?"

"Yuan Rang is so brave. The dozens of sharp sword-wielding men under your command also changed their expressions upon hearing his name. How can we dare to stroke Yuan Rang's tiger beard!"

Hearing this, Cao Ren breathed a sigh of relief, and then shouted, "Since that's the case, why did my brother go to Xiang County?"

Zhou Qi said seriously: "To be honest, our ancestors were family friends with Shi Taigong of Xiao County, and I was engaged to Shi Gong Liu's sister. Gong Liu went to Xiang County to look for me because of the engagement, and Meng De went to Xiang County to look for me. Liu, only in this way can I meet Mengde."

When Cao Ren heard this, he was convinced that what Zhou Qi said was true.

He just said that Cao Cao went to Xiao County to find Gong Liu, but he didn't say what Gong Liu's surname was, nor did he say that Gong Liu had a younger sister.

Zhou Qi knew all these things, so he obviously wasn't lying.

However, thinking of how the other party had deliberately scared him, Cao Ren immediately became a little angry.

Cao Ren was not a good stubble. It is recorded in the history books that he "did not practice Xingjian when he was young". The "Xingjian" here means "conduct" and "virtue".

Cao Ren, who was furious and angry, even though he knew that the two of them were familiar with Cao Cao, he still made things difficult on purpose: "Anyway, this is your one-sided opinion, how can I believe it?"

Then, he shouted to the left and right: "Confiscate their weapons, put them all in the woodshed, and deal with them after brother comes back."

"If they dare to resist, give them a little pain."

Hearing the words, more than a dozen men were ordered to press towards Zhou Qi and Xiang Hong step by step.

Xiang Hong was about to take action when he heard this, but was held down by Zhou Qi.

He first threw away the weapon in his hand, and then ordered Xiang Hong to do the same.Although Xiang Hong was unwilling, he did not disobey Zhou Qi.

After throwing away his weapon, Zhou Qi spread out his hands and said, "Where is the firewood room, I'll go there by myself."

More than a dozen big men who had been staring at him, but they didn't know what to do when they saw this, turned their heads to look at Cao Ren, waiting for orders.

Cao Ren originally wanted to take the opportunity to teach Zhou Qi a lesson, but when he saw how cooperative the other party was, he had no excuse for a moment and could only snort coldly and ordered his men to take the two of them to the woodshed.

After watching the two of them being taken to the woodshed, the manager of the Cao Mansion sneaked out.

He said to Cao Ren with some concern: "Young Master Ren, these two people don't seem to be fake. You know Eldest Young Master, he can give such a valuable mount to these two people, which shows how much he thinks of them."

"Is it inappropriate to lock them in the woodshed like this?"

However, Cao Ren dismissed the frivolous look just now, and instead said with a serious face: "I have my own calculations. Just tell me, no one can spread the news of the two coming."

"Don't treat them badly with the food in the firewood room, everything will be dealt with after the eldest brother comes back."

Afterwards, Cao Ren directly ordered a dozen strong men under his command to guard the woodshed.

In the backyard of Cao Mansion, inside the woodshed.

Xiang Hong looked around, looked at the firewood house that was bigger than his own yard, turned his head to look at Zhou Qi, and asked: "Then Cao Ren knew that the horse was a gift from Cao Mengde, but still locked us in the firewood house, it's really deceptive. "

"Why doesn't Ziyi allow me to resist and let Cao Ren humiliate me?"

Zhou Qi changed his relaxed expression, and asked, "Brother, do you really think that Cao Ren is humiliating us?"

(End of this chapter)