Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 130 Test
The emperor's call of "uncle" is tantamount to officially endorsing Liu Bei's royal status.

Liu Bei was different from Liu Xuan. He claimed to be a member of the Han Dynasty, but he was not on the royal family tree. If the emperor acted in accordance with the law and did not recognize Liu Bei's royal status, then all Liu Bei's previous propaganda would backfire on him.

After Liu Bei thanked him profusely, and some of the ministers in front of the palace also expressed their congratulations to His Majesty in a timely manner, the day's court meeting came to an end.

Although Liu Xie is the emperor, not many government affairs are handled by him. Counting the only thing Liu Xie has done on his own initiative in the past few years, on the contrary, in this case, he combined two well-off men. The clan clan secretly recalled Xu Du.

The ministers dispersed, and the emperor said,

"I met your uncle and brother Wang for the first time today. We have many old things to talk about. You can follow me to the inner hall to talk."

The two of them followed the emperor to the inner hall, where Liu Xie rested privately on weekdays.

Liu Xieping dismissed all the palace maids and guards, and when he looked at Liu Bei and Liu Xuan again, his expressions were sad.
Liu Bei's eyes turned red immediately, he supported Liu Xie with his hand and said:
"Why is Your Majesty so sad?"

Liu Xuan, on the other hand, said directly: "Since Your Majesty called me to come to the inner hall, there must be some difficulty. Please explain it to me and I will handle it for Your Majesty."

After Liu Xie heard Liu Xuan's words, he finally calmed down and said slowly: "Brother Wang is serious about calling you here. There is indeed something wrong."

"Since I was taken hostage by Cao Cao to Xudu, I couldn't help myself. I couldn't take charge of all the affairs in the palace. This time I sent you the imperial edict to Xudu. I relied on my uncle Dong Cheng to hide the imperial edict in his belt and take him out of the palace. .”

"It's just that although my uncle sent the imperial edict to you, Cao Cao still knew about it. Just two days before you came to Xudu, Cao Cao arrested my uncle."

When Liu Xie said this, he looked at Liu Xuan and said,

"You said that my uncle was convicted because of you. If you didn't save him, wouldn't you feel guilty?"

Although Liu Xuan didn't feel any guilt in his heart, but the emperor asked this question in person, he still had no choice but to nod and respond like Liu Bei: "Uncle Dong Guo was innocent and convicted, and it was all because of the two of us. Your Majesty's intention is that Uncle Liu and I should obey the law." Rescued Uncle Dong Guo from Cao Cao?"

Liu Xie nodded decisively and said: "Exactly."

"However, Cao Cao's troops are everywhere in Xudu. I know it will not be easy to save Uncle Dong Guo. So, I also plan to treat this matter as a test."

"Test?" Liu Xuan couldn't help but look up at the emperor, and saw that the emperor's originally sad face now showed a somewhat shrewd look.

"That's right." Liu Xiedao, "You two are among all the Han clan clan members outside the country who have not yet been officially ennobled by the royal family. And according to reports from the inner court officials, this year is the year of royal title replacement, and there is still one person who has been ennobled. There is a quota, but there is only one quota.”

When Liu Xie said this, he looked at Liu Bei and Liu Xuando and said: "So, it is difficult for me to decide whether to be granted the title of Prince Jing of Zhongshan or Prince of Huaiyang."

Liu Bei still couldn't understand what the emperor meant, and his eyes flashed,
"Your Majesty's intention is that whoever rescues my uncle Dong Cheng can inherit the title of his ancestor, right?"

"Of course!" Liu Xie smiled slightly, looked at Liu Xuan and Liu Bei and said, "Uncle Huang and Brother Wang are willing to participate in this test?"

Liu Xuan looked at the pale Liu Xie, this guy was not as decadent as he looked.

This test can not only show the strength of Liu Bei and Liu Xuan, but also win people's hearts. More importantly, Dong Cheng was captured by Cao Cao. To save Dong Cheng, he must offend Cao Cao. In this way, Liu Bei or Liu Xuan can be killed. Liu Xuan pulled him to the emperor's side and joined forces to fight against Cao Cao.

However, in view of the new tasks in the notebook, Liu Xuan was too lazy to argue with the emperor, so he confidently replied,
"For such a challenging test, I am willing to give it a try."

Liu Bei also replied: "I will definitely rescue Uncle Dong Guo."

A special courtyard somewhere in Xuchang.

This is a large courtyard rented by Liu Bei, which is enough to accommodate the hundreds of elites they brought.

At night, the three Liu Bei brothers and Xu Shu were still gathered in the hall, discussing how to rescue Dong Cheng.

"The Emperor has made it clear that Dong Cheng was captured by Cao Cao. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this matter. I have inquired with the ministers during the day. Dong Cheng is being held in the Xudu Heavenly Prison. Next, we only need to find a way to rescue him. "

Liu Bei said, "Everyone should come up with any ideas and discuss them."

Zhang Fei said without thinking: "Since we know that we are in the Heavenly Prison, what are we discussing? I will take people to break into the Heavenly Prison and get out."

Liu Bei glanced at Zhang Fei speechlessly, and explained patiently:
"Yide, if the Xudu Heavenly Prison is so easy to rob, does the Emperor still need to use our help to rescue Dong Cheng? This is Cao Cao's territory. If you break into the Heavenly Prison, Cao Cao will definitely send out an army to intercept you."

"It doesn't matter if the army blocks us. How can I, Zhang Fei, be afraid of the crowd? Brother, if you feel it's not safe, I can take my second brother with me."

As he spoke, Zhang Fei raised his chin towards Guan Yu, "Second brother, do you dare to go?"

Guan Yu stroked his beard: "If your third brother dares to go, of course I dare to go. However, I also think that Jie Tian Prison is a bad idea. I'd like to hear what the military advisor has to say."

Xu Shu pondered for a moment and said: "Dong Cheng is imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison. There are only two ways at the moment. One is to break into the Heavenly Prison and rob the prisoner as the three generals said."

"The second is to let Cao Cao take the initiative to release him."

"In contrast, if Cao Cao takes the initiative to release him, he will truly rescue Dong Cheng. If he is forced to escape from prison, even if Dong Cheng is rescued, he will not be able to gain a foothold in Xudu in the future. Cao Cao will have an excuse to take him back at any time."

Liu Bei said: "What the military advisor said makes sense. If Cao Cao can be allowed to take the initiative to release the people, Your Majesty will be happy."

"Brother put it lightly, it's not that easy for Cao Cao to release him unless I can kidnap Cao Cao."

Zhang Fei spread his hands, expressing his difficulty.

Xu Shu said: "That's not necessarily true. Cao Cao captured Dong Cheng mainly to frighten the emperor. Dong Cheng was of little use in his hands. The reason why he refused to let Dong Cheng go was because once Dong Cheng was fine, Cao Cao would be there. It is a defeat in front of the emperor for a while, which has a profound impact on Cao Cao's prestige in the palace, and maybe the important officials in the court will have ideas to resist Cao Cao."

Guan Yu's narrow eyes widened: "The military advisor's intention is not only to let Cao Cao take the initiative to release the people, but also to make him feel that he has defeated the emperor for a while, right?"

Xu Shu nodded and said: "That's right."

"That's easy," Zhang Fei answered carelessly, "Brother, go directly to Cao Cao and ask for him. Just say that the emperor asked you to ask for him. If necessary, you can imitate the emperor's cry and cry. Cao Cao will think it's a good idea. Maybe we’ll let him go.”

"Shut up, Yide!" Liu Bei rolled his eyes at Zhang Fei angrily.

Zhang Fei pursed his lips with an aggrieved look and stopped talking. Liu Bei had no choice but to get up and straighten Zhang Fei's clothes.
"Yide, Yun Chang, you are all tired today. Go down and rest first."

Seeing that they couldn't come up with any good ideas for a while, the two of them retired and went to rest.

Only Liu Bei and Xu Shu were left in the room.

The two looked at each other, and Liu Bei said slowly: "Yuan Zhi, you should have a plan, right?"

Xu Shu whispered: "My lord Mingjian wants Cao Cao to take the initiative to release him. For now, the only way is to exchange something that exceeds Dong Cheng's value."

Liu Bei's eyelids twitched and he did not answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the back room and pulled out a brocade box from his bedside.

Liu Bei held the brocade box in one hand and gently stroked the box with the other hand, and said to Xu Shu:
"Yuan Zhi, I have only told you about this matter, and even my two brothers have not let them know about it. Do you really want to use this thing to replace Cao Cao?"

"Lord, this thing in our hands is not of much use. Instead, it is a hot potato. It is better to hand it over and exchange it for the title of Prince Jing of Zhongshan. This is a choice with all benefits and no harm."

Liu Bei shook his head, opened the brocade box, and carefully took out an object from inside.

It was a jade seal, four inches in diameter, with five dragons intersecting the upper button. On the front, there were eight seal characters engraved on it: "I have been ordered by heaven, and I will live forever."Under the illumination of candlelight, the jade seal has dragon patterns flowing inside.This jade seal is the traditional jade seal of the Han Dynasty.

When Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu allied forces attacked Shouchun, Liu Xuan led his army to break the city, and designed an archery competition to let Liu Bei take over Shouchun.

Liu Xuan emptied Shouchun of all his money, leaving Liu Bei with an empty city.

I just didn’t expect Liu Bei to survive by borrowing money from Liu Biao.

What he didn't expect was that Liu Bei got Xu Shu's allegiance during this trip, and then found the imperial seal in a hidden dry well in the Shouchun Palace.

In order to prevent the news from leaking, Xu Shu secretly disposed of the several personal guards who found the imperial seal at that time.

Liu Bei carefully touched the imperial seal and looked at the eight seal characters on it:
Ordered by heaven, you will live forever.

A complicated look flashed in his eyes, and then he said to Xu Shu,

"Yuan Zhi, you may be wrong about one thing. It is not harmless to give this treasure to Cao Cao. Cao Cao is raging in the palace and despising the royal majesty. If he gets this imperial seal, given Cao Cao's ambition, it is very likely that he will Replace the emperor and establish yourself as king."

Xu Shu immediately replied: "It is not necessarily a bad thing for Cao Cao to proclaim himself king."

"Yuan Zhi speaks carefully!" Liu Bei quickly interrupted Xu Shu, "I, Liu Bei, have wasted half my life. It is only today that my identity as a clan member of the Han family has been recognized by the emperor. How can I just watch the decline of the Han family's power?"

"The matter of exchanging the imperial seal for Dong Cheng should be discussed later."

After saying that, he closed the brocade box in his hand again and continued the topic just now,
"Actually, I just thought about it, and what Yide said about breaking into the sky prison may not be impossible."

Xu Shu said: "Although the three generals are brave, this place is Cao Cao's base camp. If you want to rob Tianlao, I'm afraid it will take a fierce battle."

But Liu Bei said with full confidence: "My third brother has the courage that ten thousand people cannot match. Taking the head of an enemy general from among ten thousand troops is like picking out an object from a bag. If I lead Yun Chang to support me, how many people will be able to fight in Xudu's Tianlao?" Can anyone stop them?"

Xu Shu sighed slightly: "Now that the princess has made up her mind, Xu Shu will try her best to plan it."

"Well, without further ado, the matter of rescuing Dong Cheng is also a contest between me and Liu Xuan. Don't let him take the upper hand."

The next day, Zhang Fei received Liu Bei's military order, asking him and Guan Yu to lead [-] elite troops to break into the prison and rob the prisoners.

"Hey, eldest brother is the same, but he just refuses to admit my goodness to my face. After working on it all night, I finally went with the plan I first proposed."

Zhang Fei was quite proud and raised his chin to Guan Yu, "Second brother, let me take the lead this time, and you can hold the line for me."

Guan Yu holds the Qinglong Yanyue Sword, with no sadness or joy on his face.

However, he still reminded Zhang Fei: "Third brother, please don't be reckless and act according to the military advisor's plan."

"I know. Second brother, please go ahead. I'll be fine with everything."

It was night, and the sky was getting dark. There was a curfew in Xuchang City, and there were soldiers patrolling the streets.

Because Xudu was not built as a capital, it became a capital only because the imperial court was located here.

Therefore, the palace in Xudu is different from that in Luodu. It is called a palace, but Cao Cao freed up the largest building complex in the center of Xudu as a place for royal life.

The buildings that should originally belong to the palace are not within the palace.

For example, Tianlao is not inside the palace, but near the Yamen on the main street.

At this time, near the main street, an elite troop masked in black scarves had assembled in an alley.

The leader is holding a big sword, with red phoenix eyes and silkworm eyebrows. He is Guan Yu.

Guan Yu led [-] elite troops to the outside of Tianlao, pointed his sword, and
"attack!"

500 people immediately rushed outside the prison under the leadership of Guan Yu.

The defenders outside were naturally on guard. When they saw a large number of people rushing towards them, they immediately calmly ordered everyone to withdraw into the sky prison and formed a formation at the gate to wait.

Guan Yu rushed to the door of Tianlao, raised his sword and killed without saying a word.

But the soldiers inside seemed to be prepared. A huge shield formed a shield array to block the gate.

Although Guan Yu's broadsword smashed a crack into a shield, the soldiers behind him retreated with only broken hands and no fatal injuries.

The narrow gate limited the performance of the Five Hundred Elites, and Guan Yu's long sword could not be retracted and retracted freely. The two sides fought for a quarter of an hour, and Guan Yu and the Five Hundred Elites only advanced less than five meters.

The shouts of killing here had already alerted the nearby defenders. They saw a large number of Cao Cao's defenders galloping from the main street.

Guan Yu had no choice but to swish his sword, repel the guard in front, call to everyone, and exit the Tianlao gate unwillingly.

The guard of Tianlao saw that someone actually dared to attack Tianlao at night. Seeing that his own reinforcements had arrived and the other side was about to retreat, how could he let his great achievements slip away just like that.

"Follow me!"

After that, he led most of the defenders in the Tianlao and chased Guan Yu out.

Guan Yu led [-] elite troops to fight and retreat until they reached the end of the main street, still dealing with the pursuers under the cover of night.

At this time, Zhang Fei and a dozen more elite soldiers had already reached the outside of the prison.

Seeing that most of the defenders and patrol officers were lured away by Guan Yu, he no longer hesitated and went straight to the gate of Tianlao with his spear in hand.

Zhang Fei's face was covered, and the spear in his hand was not his usual Zhangba snake spear, but this did not affect his charge at all.

The spears were slashed vertically and horizontally, and shouts were shouted repeatedly. No one in the Tianlao defenders could combine.

Zhang Fei killed the retreating defenders and finally came to the door of the prison where the prisoners were actually held. He kicked open the door and led a dozen of his elite men in, rushing into the sky prison.

It was pitch dark in the prison and Zhang Fei couldn't see clearly, so he asked his elite men to light the oil lamps on the wall.

The men obeyed the orders and lit the oil lamps.

However, Zhang Fei saw clearly the situation in the prison and couldn't help blurting out,

"His grandma was fooled and there was an ambush."

As soon as he spoke, he saw dense arrows shooting from below.

(End of this chapter)