Cao Thief

Chapter 436 Murder Case
Hongshuiji, Fuya.

Ma Chao closed his eyes and concentrated, like an old monk in meditation.

The man who spoke was named Hubai, and he was a member of Ma Chao's staff.He was not very tall, about seven feet six inches.The body is slightly thin, and the long gown exudes elegance.Wearing a Futou on the head and long hair in a bun.She has slender eyebrows, a pair of peach blossom eyes, a straight nose, thin lips, and a warm smile on her face.

"General Dou, Hongze people have almost cut off contact with the Central Plains since they settled in Hongze a hundred years ago.

Speaking of which, we can be regarded as natives of Liangzhou. Although we have had occasional conflicts in the past few years, it was just a misunderstanding.General Ma Teng is the descendant of the general family. In the past, General Fubo and the Dou family also had a life-threatening friendship... We, after all, are our own people!Presumably, General Dou also heard that the imperial court wanted to take back Hexi.Don't talk about other things, when the great general made great achievements in Mobei, he died at the hands of eunuchs in the end, so the general had to stay away from his homeland and gain a foothold in this bitter cold place.If the imperial court really took back Hexi, would the general still be able to dominate Hongze as before?Hongze is in the hinterland of Hexi, with lush water and grass and fertile land.I'm afraid that the imperial court will be the first to deal with it... Hehe, the general is a smart person, and he must be able to see the pros and cons of this, so the students will not say much.

Today, the eldest son came here under the order of General Ma Teng, hoping to make friends with Hongze.

Wuwei and Hexi live next to each other. We are not only neighbors, but also a common enemy. I wonder what General Dou thinks? "

Dou Lan showed a thoughtful look, staring at Hubai, without saying a word for a long time.

Dou Hu sneered and said: "Mr. Daozhi's words are nice, but I'm afraid that if we hate the court, General Ma will send troops to attack Hongze with the court. Even if it's not the case, Hongze will belong to General Ma Teng. What kind of relationship should it be? Is it possible that I have tens of thousands of Hongze people obey Wuwei, or that my father and son serve General Ma Teng?"

Dou Lan frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice, "Shut up, Dou Hu, stop talking nonsense."

Hubai smiled, "The little general is too worried... Hehe, if my general really intends to harm Hongze, how can Hongze survive to this day?"

With this sentence, the faces of Dou Lan and his son who said it directly changed immediately.

Hubai is not exaggerating. With Ma Teng's strength, it is indeed possible to seize Hongze.

It's just a question of how much to lose...

But even so, Dou Lan and his son still felt unhappy when Hubai said it so blatantly, and even felt aggrieved.But they didn't know how to speak. They looked at Hubai and couldn't speak for a long time.

Ma Chao, who had been silent all this time, suddenly opened his eyes.

After glancing at the crowd in the flower hall, he slowly said: "General Dou, my father Jing General is the descendant of the general, the son of a famous official, so he asked Meng Qi to come to meet the general. Hongze, my Ma family is not interested, so you don't have to. But There is one sentence that I must make clear, the current state is not strong, Cao Cao is coercing the emperor to make the princes, making the emperor like a puppet.

My father was ordered to seek rebellion, and all the previous things were just pretending to be a snake with Cao thief.

If General Dou wants to join Cao Cao, my Ma family will definitely not allow it.At that time, I believe General Dou can also think of the consequences.

In short, if Hongze Part 36 cooperates with my Ma family, Meng Qi can guarantee that Hongze can rest easy; if..."

In Ma Chao's words, people felt a bit of arrogance.

He sneered twice, looked at Dou Hu, then closed his eyes again, and said nothing more.

Dou Hu was furious, and was about to get up while supporting the case with both hands, but was held down by Li Ding, and shook his head slightly towards him.

Ma Chao, the visitor is not kind.

Dou Lan's tiger eyes widened, and she said sharply: "Meng Qi, are you threatening me?"

Hu Bai hurriedly said: "The general, why bother to get angry, the eldest son is not threatening, but just wants to remind you kindly.

General, you should know that sooner or later my general will turn against Cao thief. If Cao thief takes a firm stand in Hexi, it will not be a good thing.The eldest son has a strong temperament, and he can't help being a bit straightforward when speaking.But his intentions are indeed good, he doesn’t want our family members to beat our own family members, please think twice, General.”

Ma Chao completely ignored the anger of Dou Lan and his son, and his expression was extremely calm.

Just judging from his sharp-edged, sharp-edged face, it can be seen that he is by no means as simple as talking casually.

Dou Lan pursed her lips tightly, and burst out laughing after a while.

"What Meng Qi said is not unreasonable. It's just that Dou Lan lives in Hongshuiji. Although he is a tribal master, he can't just go his own way. The 36 parts of Hongze are closely connected and share weal and woe. Only after that can a decision be made. How about this, I immediately summon the 36 adults of Hongze to come to Hongshuiji, and then explain the interests and interests to them. As long as half of the adults agree, Dou Lan is willing to lead Hongze to join the general."

Ma Chao groaned and looked at Hubai.

But Hu Bai nodded at him, so he said: "Since the general said so, Ma Chao will not force him. It's just this time... the imperial court is about to enter Hexi, so please give Ma Chao some time, what do you think?"

"Three days, three days later I will call the adults of the 36 tribes to discuss this matter and give Meng Qi an answer."

"In that case, I'll wait for three days."

After Ma Chao finished speaking, he got up and said goodbye to Dou Lan and the others, then turned and left with Hu Bai.

Dou Lan personally sent Ma Chao out of the government office, ordered people to arrange the residence of Ma Chao and his party, and then returned to the flower hall.

"Father, Ma Mengqi is arrogant and bullied my father and son too much."

Dou Hu jumped into a rage in the flower hall, and said sharply: "I, Hongze 36, fought with his Ma family... Although his Ma family army is brave, our Hongze people are not bad. The big deal, let's fight them to the death."

Dou Lan ignored Dou Hu, but asked Li Ding, "Nephew, what do you think?"

Li Ding thought for a while, and said softly: "The Ma family's persecution is very tight, which also shows that they are quite jealous of Cao Cao... Otherwise, Ma Mengqi would not be so aggressive. Ma Shoucheng, this is to take a step ahead and control Hexi ah."

Dou Lan smiled, "He is not only aggressive, but he is also sure of victory."

"Father means..."

"Hongze 36, Hongze 36...I'm afraid that from now on, 36 will no longer exist, and it will fall apart!"

Since Ma Chao dared to threaten face to face, it shows that he is very sure.

And the reason why he agreed with Dou Lan to convene 36 adults to discuss, on the one hand, it is because he is not easy to force too much, on the other hand, I am afraid that he has already recruited some tribal adults, so he made such a decision...

Dou Hu and Li Ding couldn't help but change their expressions.

After looking at each other, the two looked at Dou Lan in unison.

"What does father (uncle) think?"

"Li Ding, did Master Li ever say what he thinks about this matter?"

"Family ancestor?"

"I know that Mr. Li has always hoped that Hongze would return to the court, but he was also worried that after the court got benefits, he would want to ignore Hongze as before. He knows a lot about the court, so I want to know, he ..."

"My ancestor, I once said that the Ma family is the evil wolf of Liangzhou."

This evaluation coincides with Dou Lan's point of view.

Although Li Ding didn't tell Li Qi's real thoughts, it could be heard that Li Qi was quite afraid of Ma Teng's family.

"So, I understand!"

Dou Lan thought for a while, but didn't ask any more questions.

He sat down in the middle of the flower hall, pondered for a long time, and said to Dou Hu: "Immediately summon the 36 lords, including lord Liang Yuanbi, to come to Hongshuiji. I think it's time to make a decision about something, and you must arrive within three days... …Li Ding, you inform Master Li so that he does not have to come. But please lead your troops to move closer to Hongshuiji.”

"Father……"

Dou Lan smiled slightly, "Since Ma Mengqi is here, how can Ma Shoucheng have no countermeasures?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++
After Li Ding returned to the inn, he told Cao Peng what had happened in detail.

After Cao Peng listened, he guessed some of Dou Lan's thoughts.Presumably Dou Lan is also hesitant at the moment. On the one hand, he is afraid of being deceived by the court. On the other hand, he is also worried that if he surrenders to Ma Teng, Hongze will no longer be independent as before.At the same time, due to his identity, Dou Lan was a little wary of the court, and even had some resistance.

At this time, it is not the best opportunity to contact Dou Lan.

And Li Ding also said that the vote of the 36 tribes is the key.

"What do you guys say, Xiutu?"

"Xiutu everyone... General Dou has always been the leader."

Cao Peng pondered for a long time, and finally decided to wait and see how it turned out.

However, in order to prevent accidents, Cao Peng still decided to let Liang Kuan go to the Li Ding tribe to contact Yin Feng, and urged Deng Fan to act faster.If Hongze really wants to belong to Ma Teng, then Cao Peng will not hesitate to fight Hongze in advance.

In this way, Cao Peng stayed in Hongshuiji and continued to observe the movement.

But Ma Chao and his party did not leave the house at the post station, and they looked extremely calm.Dou Lan also seemed very calm. After visiting Ma Chao the next day, she gave an order to arrange a venue outside Hongshuiji to welcome the arrival of the 36 adults.Hongshuiji is too small, if the 36 adults come to discuss matters, they will inevitably lead the entourage.At that time, with the scale of Hongshuiji, I am afraid that it will not be able to arrange so many people, so they have to station outside the city.

In the evening of the second day, the seven tribal adults closest to Hongshuiji arrived early.

Afterwards, the adults of various tribes who lived scattered on the Hongze Muyuan also came one after another, making Hongshuiji lively all of a sudden.

Li Ding had no time to take care of Cao Peng, and helped Dou Lan greet the arrival of the adults of the tribes.

Cao Peng felt bored in the inn, so he led Wang Shuang and Jiang Xu out of the inn and walked around the city.

Although Hongshuiji is not big, it has quite complete facilities.

There are many shops in the city, and there are many pedestrians on the streets.Strolling in the market, Cao Peng carefully looked at the town while listening to Jiang Xu's introduction.As a knight-errant, Jiang Xu is not the first time to come to Hongshuiji, and he is very familiar with this market town.As he walked, he and Cao Peng introduced various local customs and customs in a low voice.Cao Peng listened carefully, asked a few questions in a low voice from time to time, and nodded repeatedly to express his understanding...

"My lord, that's where the government office is."

Jiang Xu pointed at the end of the long street, following the direction of his finger, Cao Peng saw a house not far away.

Outside the gate of the government office, there are several servants guarding it, which seems to be quite tight.

After Cao Peng glanced at it, he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he turned around and looked curiously at a barbecue grill beside the street.

On the shelf was half a beef leg. A man with the appearance of a barbarian was grilling the meat while using a sharp knife to skillfully slice the tender meat from the beef leg.After the slices came out on a plate, they were sent to the side table with the dipping sauce, and those diners rolled up the barbecue with a piece of mustache, and devoured it, which seemed to be extremely sweet.

"That's from the Da Yue clan, who has been in Hongze for many years.

His family's barbecue is the best in Hongshuiji... Hehe, if you are interested, you might as well go over and try it. "

"Alright, I'm feeling a little hungry."

The strong meaty aroma made Cao Peng feel his index finger twitching.

After listening to Jiang Xu's introduction, he smiled and nodded in agreement, and walked towards the barbecue stand.

At this moment, a barbarian with braided hair came hurriedly from the other side of the long street.Cao Peng was accidentally bumped into by the barbarian.The barbarian stepped back a few steps, sat down on the ground, and cursed as soon as he opened his mouth.However, he spoke the Hun language, which Cao Peng couldn't understand, so he stepped forward and stretched out his hand to help him.

"It's the same with you, obviously you hit me, why do you blame me instead?"

The Hu man was stunned, and opened Cao Peng's hand with a slap, and said with a very strange emphasis: "If there is no urgent matter, I will never let you go."

As he said that, he got up quickly, glared at Cao Peng viciously, and left in a hurry.

Cao Peng scratched his head, and said to Jiang Xu: "What a domineering beard... In my opinion, this guy's temper will suffer sooner or later."

"How about I teach him a lesson?"

"Forget it, one more thing is worse than one less thing at this time...Jiang Xu, Xiao Shuang, let's have barbecue, I invite you."

Cao Peng looked at the back of the barbarian leaving in a hurry, shook his head slightly, and laughed.

Since he didn't want to pursue it, Jiang Xu and Wang Shuang didn't pursue it.The three of them went straight to the barbecue stand, found a clean dining table and sat down.After Jiang Xu ordered three catties of barbecue and a jar of wine, the three sat there and were about to talk, when they heard a series of screams from a distance, followed by someone from the end of the long street. shouted: "Killed, killed..."

Cao Peng was startled, and looked in the direction of the shout.

I saw crowds of people moving outside the Yamen of that mansion.Many people flocked away, completely blocking Cao Peng's view.

"what happened?"

"It seems that something happened in the government office..."

"Let's go and have a look!"

Cao Peng stood up and walked over with Jiang Xu and Wang Shuang.

At this time, the entrance of the government office was in chaos. Although the servant guarding the door stepped forward to maintain order, there were too many people, and the voice was extremely noisy.Various dialects and accents were mixed together, Cao Peng stood outside, and couldn't hear clearly at all.

"What happened?"

"It seems that someone was killed at the gate of the government office."

"what?"

Cao Peng was startled, and led Jiang Xu and Wang Shuang to squeeze through the crowd.After a lot of effort, the three squeezed to the front. Cao Peng stood on tiptoe and looked out. This look made his face change, and it changed...

(End of this chapter)