Kuangfu Han Dynasty

Chapter 3 Yes, We Have a Child

The sky has completely darkened. On the Dangyang County Gate Tower, Captain Xia Houyuan of the Dian Army is standing under the flag of the Colonel's Army with the word "Xiahou" embroidered on it. He stares at the Knights of Sanhe who are returning one after another, with a smile under his beard:

"With sharp power and strategy, there is no end to the magic, and the prime minister's use of troops is truly a gift from heaven!"

In July, Prime Minister Cao decided to attack Liu Biao, and used Xun Yu's plan to make the entire army take shortcuts and advance lightly, rushing to Wan and Ye to catch him by surprise.It was God's will that Liu Biao died of illness in the eighth month of autumn. At the end of September, the civil and military officials in Jingzhou were shocked to hear that the prime minister had arrived, and were so frightened that they surrendered without a fight.

As a result, only Liu Bei was still resisting in Jingzhou. Old Liu Shan ran away. When he heard that Cao Cao had arrived, he immediately abandoned Fancheng and crossed the Han River to the south.When the prime minister arrived in Xiangyang a few days later and heard that Liu Bei had escaped, he said to Xia Houyuan and others: "Xuande must go to Jiangling!"

So the prime minister quickly made a decision. He did not rest in Xiangyang City, but personally led five thousand cavalry to pursue Liu Bei all night long!
These five thousand cavalry are composed of three parts. One is the hundreds of guides of Jingzhou's surrendered general Wenpin; the other is the world-famous tiger and leopard cavalry army of more than [-] cavalry, led by the prime minister's cousin Cao Chundu; the rest are It was Xia Houyuan's first school of Dianjun, with more than a thousand cavalry.

Although Xia Houyuan followed Duke Cao in raising troops when he was fighting against Dong, he served mostly as a local governor and supervising the transportation of military supplies in his early years. It was not until the sixth year of Jian'an that he received the important task of commanding the army. He attacked Buchen in Haidai, Qingxu, and was promoted to "Dian" Military Academy Lieutenant".

Although this is just a captain, he is more noble than a general!The Dian Army used to be the Imperial Guards of the Han Emperor, and was one of the Eight Schools of Xiyuan. The person who served as the captain of the Dian Army during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was named Cao Cao!
Granting his past positions to his subordinates was a great sign of Gong Cao's trust.Xia Houyuan was also very ambitious. In just a few years of leading the army in battle, he developed his own style and cultivated an army mainly composed of light cavalry. He used his troops with extraordinary speed to catch the enemy unawares. Therefore, the generals in the army often praised:
"Dian Junxiaohou Miaocai can travel five hundred miles in three days, and a thousand miles in six days!"

Such a swift force would naturally be indispensable for long-distance attacks. After receiving the order, Xia Houyuan and Cao Chun followed Wenpin closely, running more than three hundred miles day and night, and finally caught up with Liu Bei at Dangyang Changban.

Facing the common people mixed with Liu Jun, Xia Houyuan did not hesitate at all and still issued the attack order. After all, in the annotations of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" distributed by the prime minister to the generals, it was written in his own handwriting: "Those who love the people will attack the people!"

From morning to evening, the war was declared complete. The only flaw was that Liu Bei fled eastward.But the prime minister's goal has been fully achieved. As long as Liu Bei is prevented from taking Jiangling, he will be like a tiger without claws and can only flee in a hurry, not causing any trouble.

When Cao Cheng saw that the overall situation had been decided, he calmly waited for the army to arrive and join forces. The Hubao Cavalry and the Dian Army were assigned different tasks.Cao Chun continued to travel south quickly with Wenpin to take over Jiangling City, while Xia Houyuan stayed in Dangyang County and was responsible for receiving the large troops.

Nowadays, the knights of Sanhe are returning one after another, either bringing back Liu Jun flags or escorting an endless team of prisoners. Although these people are pitiful, who makes them dare to be disobedient?Although the Prime Minister said: "Renewal with the people of Jingzhou, you have to pay a price. It is not easy to gather so many people. They just happened to carry grain for Cao Jun's cart, so that he can atone for his sin."

At this moment, I saw a village commander with a Chinese character and a beardless face, riding towards the county seat. The Cao officers and officials guarding the city gate treated him with respect, which was beyond the etiquette of their peers.Xia Houyuan recognized at a glance that it was his second son: Xia Houba.

What was strange was that Xiahou Ba was actually carrying a young child on his horse, walking through the army without any fear at all. He was still looking up at the city wall!
After Xiahou Ba entered the city gate, he left the child at the foot of the steps and told Shi Changwuhong, who was following him, to keep an eye on the kid. He himself hurriedly ran up the wall, making Xiahou Yuan frown.

When he was close, Xiahou Ba raised his hands to his father: "Sir!"

Xiahou Ba was only 24 years old this year, and it was his first time to go on an expedition with the army. Xiahou Yuan only asked him to start from the position of commander of the camp, and only command a hundred horses. He also taught him: "Generals all start in the army." Usually, he has strict requirements on him.

Now it seems that Ba'er is still not stable enough. Xia Houyuan scolded: "Why are you panicking! Look at you, you don't have the grace of a general at all."

After scolding Xiahou Ba, Xiahou Yuan said: "Were you injured in the battle today?"

"Nothing..." Xiahou Ba was anxious to say something, but Xiahou Yuan did not panic and said slowly: "What about the gains?"

Xiahou Ba had no choice but to report the number of Liu soldiers killed in his camp and the number of refugees escorted back one by one. He also said: "We also captured Liu Bei's two daughters and Xu Shu's mother..."

"Good." Xia Houyuan finally smiled at his son, patted his armor and said: "Although I didn't get Liu Bei's head and beheaded his brave generals and staff, it was a small feat to capture his family members. When the prime minister knows about it, I'm afraid he will Promoted you."

Although Xiahou Ba is not as sharp as his third brother, he is still outstanding among the younger generations of the Xiahou family. At least, he is no worse than the sons of Xiahou Dun, right?

With the same surname as Xiahou and both being the prime minister's beloved general, Xiahou Yuan is always compared with Xiahou Dun.In fact, one of them is a small side sect, one is a big sect, one is a school captain, and one of them has already lived in General Fubo and Xudu of Yinliu Town in Henan Province.

Xiahou Yuan understood that he came from a poor family and only relied on his flesh and blood to fight for the prime minister. This was incomparable to Xiahou Dun who led many soldiers and tribesmen to follow the prime minister during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Now he was happy with only two things.

First, he has one more eye than Xiahou Dun.

Second, his sons are very up to date.

Before he could be happy, he saw that Xiahou Ba was hesitant and hesitated to speak, so he shouted: "How can a person who wants to be a general in the future be hesitant and cowardly? Just say what you have to say."

Xia Hou said overbearingly: "In addition, I also captured Zhang Fei's son and brought it to your lord for inspection..."

"Zhang Fei!" Upon hearing this name, a surge of anger rose from Xia Houyuan's stomach. It has been nine years, a whole nine years!He hated Zhang Fei with all his heart and wished he could eat his flesh alive!Now that he has captured his son, he must be severely humiliated and tortured in order to relieve his anger... Wait a minute...

Xia Houyuan looked at his son with a wry smile on his face, and then at the little guy looking around leisurely under the city wall, and he immediately realized: "What's this boy's name? Could he be..."

"That's right." Xia Hou said domineeringly: "This boy calls himself Zhang Shao, and he is the child of my younger sister and Zhang Fei!"

……

This involves a secret "scandal" in Xia Houyuan's family.

Although the Xiahou family is a big family in Qiao County and has been related by marriage to the Cao family for generations, there are also rich and poor people in the same clan. For example, the Xiahoudun family is a wealthy family, while the Xiahouyuan family has fallen into poverty and has lived a relatively poor life since childhood.

The reason why he rose to prominence was that his eldest brother Cao Cao committed crimes when he was a knight in the early years.

However, Xia Houyuan's family was still far from wealthy. During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Jiao caused chaos and the Yellow Turban Army fled around Qiao Pei. During the war, Qiao County ran out of food.

Xia Houyuan's family could no longer feed one more child. At this time, he made a choice that shocked others: abandoning his youngest son and using the food he saved to feed his deceased brother's daughter.

This is the "little sister" in Xia Houba's mouth. Her name is Xia Houjuan. She has been raised at home since she was a child. Xia Houyuan treats her as her own and loves her very much.

More than ten years have passed like this, and Xia Houjuan has grown into a beautiful lady. When Xia Houyuan was planning to find young talents in Xu Duxungui and arrange a good marriage for her, bad news suddenly came from his hometown!
It turned out that Liu Bei defected from Xudu at that time, attacked and killed Chezhou, the governor of Xuzhou, raised troops to camp in Xiaopei, and sent Zhang Fei to attack Qiao County.During the war, Xiahou Yuan's family also suffered disaster. When Xiahou Juan went out to pick mulberries with his servants, he was kidnapped by Zhang Fei!
She was only 14 years old at that time. Xia Houyuan was very sad when he heard about it and hated Zhang Fei deeply from then on.

But the matter was not over yet. What was even more disgusting was that a few years later, a "letter from home" sent to Xudu by someone from Xinye was placed in front of Xia Houyuan. It was actually written by Xia Houjuan. She claimed to have become Zhang Fei's wife. The year before last, a boy was born, named Zhang Shao...

Xiahou Ba was happy that his little sister was still alive, but Xiahou Yuan tore up the letter angrily. He regarded this as a family scandal and ordered his sons to keep it secret!
"How can my family marry a thief? We must not let outsiders know! From now on, there will be no such daughter in the Xiahou family!"

Even so, Xiahou Ba knew that his father would always hold the bottle alone during New Year's Day and look toward the south in silence. He still missed his little sister in his heart.This time when he went south to pursue Liu Bei, Xiahou Ba also thought: "Can I kill Zhang Fei, take back my little sister, and avenge the shame of my family?"

But the story that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry came back from Dangyang Broken Bridge made Xiahou Ba speechless. He thought that if he were there, he would probably not dare to go there.

And he inquired from all the riding villages and found that no one had captured Zhang Fei's wife, so she probably escaped.For some reason, Xiahou Ba was secretly relieved about this.

But he never expected that his little sister’s son would fall into his hands. Could this be fate?

Suddenly he picked up a nephew. Xiahou Ba was caught off guard and wanted to discuss it with Xia Houyuan. He raised his eyes and peeked at his father, and found that Xia Houyuan's face changed several times. He didn't answer for a while. After a while, he said: "How many people know about this?"

It seemed that Xiahou Yuan still regarded this as a shame for the family and wanted to hide it, but Xiahou Ba said awkwardly: "This little boy Zhang Shao shouted loudly and claimed to be the grandson of the Xiahou family. There were 200 or [-] people nearby who heard it. I'm afraid he was trying to hide it." Can’t stand anymore.”

This has become a shocking gossip. People are whispering everywhere. It won't be long before it spreads to the Dian Army, to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry stranded in Dangyang, and then spreads to the three armies and reaches the ears of the Prime Minister!

"How dare you, Shuzi!" Xia Houyuan suddenly became very angry and his face turned red.

Yes, precisely because he is Zhang Fei's son, and the prime minister likes to subjugate hostile generals, I'm really not sure how he will be treated. In addition, the relationship with his own family makes it even more difficult.

Xiahou Ba asked cautiously: "Sir, what should I do with this son now?"

"Did you bring that boy?"

"Yes, right under the wall!"

Xia Houyuan supported the wall and glanced down at the child again, only to see him sitting carelessly on the steps picking his feet!
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and in the end Xia Houyuan just gritted his teeth and said, "How do you know you're not pretending to be a swindler? Let's bring him here for questioning first!"

……

"Hey, are you really under the command of General Xiahou Miaocai?"

At this moment, Zhang Shao was chatting with Shi Changwu Hong.

Wuwu Hong glared at him: "Boy, how dare you call Duke Xiahou by his first name!"

He didn't deny it, it seemed that it was indeed the case. Zhang Shao couldn't help but feel happy, knowing that he had made the right bet.As a loyal supporter of Cao Cao, there were quite a few people with the surname Xiahou in Cao Cao's army. He remembered that the most famous people in the novel were Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. This Shaozheng had a great relationship with Xiahou Yuan's family.

But Zhang Shao actually didn't know Xia Houyuan's specific position at this time. He originally planned to reveal his identity and shout out to Cao Jun to surrender. Unexpectedly, the master of suffering was at the head of Dangyang City. This is really...

"The flood washed away the Dragon King Temple, and the whole family no longer knew each other."

Zhang Shao sighed in front of Fifth Hong and asked him again: "Hey, who is Xiahou Gong, the commander of Xiahou?"

Fifth Hongdao: "The commander of the village is Zhongzi of Xiahou Gong's family..." After answering, he came to his senses and said angrily: "You are rude, I won't say hello!"

After speaking, he raised his hand to scare Zhang Shao. Unexpectedly, Zhang Shao was not afraid of him at all now, and said with a sidelong glance:

"You dare to hit Prime Minister Cao's important prisoner?"

"You dare to hit Xiahou Gong's grandson?"

As he spoke, he took the initiative to bring his face closer, which actually forced Fifth Hong to take half a step back. In the end, he could only snort and turn his head away, not to care about the child.

Zhang Shao finally figured out his bottom line. After a while, Xiahou Ba shouted from the city wall, asking Fifth Hong to bring Zhang Shao up.

"No!" Wuwu Hong hurriedly urged Zhang Shao to get up. Unexpectedly, the child actually put up the music, sat on the steps and sighed: "The steps are so high. My left leg is injured and I can't climb up. It's not like you." I don’t know.”

Fifth Hong was stunned, and then he realized that this kid was taking revenge on him. If it were an ordinary child, Fifth Hong would have kicked him up directly. But considering Zhang Shao's complicated identity, he really didn't dare to use violence. Can you squeeze out the words through your teeth: "Then my father will help you?"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Shao pushed even further and sighed: "My other leg was frightened by the whip on the way to the county seat. It was like a puddle of mud and couldn't move at all..." Zhang Shao patted his right leg and looked up with a smile. : "You have to carry me."

"How dare you, little Shuzi!" Wuwuhong was furious. He wanted to fight several times but didn't have the courage. Zhang Shaoze saw that Xiahou Ba on the top of the city had stretched his head to look down for the third time, and impatiently urged him. Kao Zhang Le said:
"Xiahou Gong has been waiting for a long time."

Wu Hong had no choice but to curse: "Okay, okay, Nai Gong will just carry his son!" Then he turned his back and squatted down, letting Zhang Shao climb up and ride on him. As he climbed up the steps, Zhang Shao said: "Hey... drive!"

After reaching the city wall, Zhang Shao said again when he was about to walk in front of Xia Houyuan: "Hey, let me down."

Using the starlight and the torch from the tower, Zhang Shao could see Xia Houyuan's appearance clearly. He was nearly fifty years old, with a straight nose and no beard on his chin. Instead, he had sideburns on his cheeks, mixed with a few white hairs.He was not wearing a helmet, but was wearing a pair of fish-scale armors. He looked very brave, and his eyes were calm and intimidating as he glanced straight at Zhang Shao.

Xiahou Ba stood aside, holding his sword and looking equally solemn.

Zhang Shao did not regard himself as an outsider at all. He stepped forward to worship him generously, performed the courtesy of a junior, and said to Xia Houyuan: "My dear Zhang Shao, I have met my uncle."

Then he got up again, bowed to Xiahou Ba, and shouted:
"Second uncle!"

……

PS: These are the three chapters on the 27th. The next update will be on the morning of the 28th. If nothing else happens, there will be two chapters every day until it is released. Good night everyone.

(End of this chapter)