Cao Thief

Chapter 797 An extremely personable minister
In the first year of Taiping, that is, in 213 A.D., autumn.

Cao Ren and the Eastern Wu soldiers and horses fought against Ruxukou again.General Zang Ba was ordered to take a detour and sneak attack on the flank of the Soochow Army. He didn't want to encounter heavy rain, and the river swelled violently, breaking the embankment.More than [-] people under Zang Ba's command were lost in the torrential flood, and Zang Ba died in this disaster...

It sounds a bit unreal.

Those who were generals in ancient times knew everything about astronomy and geography.

Generals like Zang Ba are even more experienced.It happened that such an experienced general died in the flood, more or less, which made people feel puzzled.However, this is indeed an accident!Hefei has had good weather and weather for many years. In previous years, there was very little heavy rain in this season.Even if there is, it's just light rain, which doesn't hurt the elegance.But this year's rain came suddenly, without any warning, and it rained very hard.So much so that Zang Ba encountered this misfortune without any precautions.

And such an accident brought great trouble to Cao Ren.

The skyrocketing river water shattered his plan.

The death of Zang Ba made Cao Ren feel unprepared.Fortunately, Yu Jin and Li Tong sent reinforcements in time, otherwise Cao Ren might face a disastrous defeat.However, after this battle, Cao Ren also fell ill on the bed.After being diagnosed and treated by a military doctor, he was unable to continue to sit in Hefei... As a last resort, Cao Zhang ordered Cao Zhen to replace Cao Ren as the prefect of Hefei and the governor of Huainan.Cao Ren was sent back to Luoyang for treatment.

The second generation of Cao has fully stepped onto the stage!

After Cao Zhen became the governor of Huainan, Xia Houshang and Xia Houba successively became officials and served as the prefects of Zhangling and Xiangyang.

Subsequently, Cao Zhang made a series of adjustments.

Xia Houyuan was transferred to be the general of Yizhou, and Shi Tao, the former governor of Yizhou, was transferred to Luoyang to serve as Yin of Henan.

The governor of Bingzhou was appointed by Cao Hong.

Abolished the Protectorate of the Five Armies, dismissed Zhang Liao's position as the Chief Protector of the Five Armies, served as the Governor of Jingzhou, and was in charge of the nine counties of Jingxiang.

Changed Caozhou to Lingzhou.

He dismissed Mu Liangxi of Lingzhou and was re-appointed as the governor of Liangzhou.

Xia Houlan, the governor of Lingzhou, was dismissed and changed to the Central Guard Army and the right general.

With the end of a round of adjustments, the time has entered the second year of peace.

After Cao Zhang stabilized the situation in the DPRK and China, he officially worshiped Cao Peng as Taifu, General, and Jiajing Zhaoyin.

Feng Cao Peng is Wu Xingong, and the food city is Xincheng, Lingzhou.

This Xincheng is Zhangcheng County, the previous Caozhou government.After Cao Zhang succeeded to the throne, he changed Zhangcheng County to Xincheng County.Among them, there is also a layer of meaning: I always trust you, please continue to help me!
The object of this meaning is Cao Peng.

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After Cao Cao's death, Cao Peng was left alone by Cao Cao, but his performance was extremely low-key.

After welcoming Cao Zhang to the throne, he disappeared from everyone's sight.Even when Cao Cao's coffin entered the mausoleum, Cao Peng did not appear.This caused a lot of speculation!But Cao Zhang, Xun Yu, and Mrs. Bian knew where Cao Peng had gone.In his hand, there is also a secret edict from Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's greatest wish was to write the title of Marquis of Anyuan on the tombstone after his death.

Unfortunately, he was unable to achieve this goal in the end.

Before he died, Cao Cao issued a secret order to Cao Peng: the bones should not be enshrined, and after they were cremated, they would be sprinkled on Jiming Mountain.

That Jiming Mountain was the place where Qin Shihuang conferred Zen after he unified the six kingdoms.

In Jiming Mountain, look west to the Hexi Corridor and north to Mobei.

Cao Cao hopes that after his death, he can continue to guard the frontier and become a real Marquis of Anyuan.Therefore, the corpse in the mausoleum is just a golden body that Cao Cao ordered secretly.And his corpse, when encoffined, had been scattered on Jiming Mountain.Cao Peng ordered people to erect a stone monument on Jiming Mountain.

An Yuan Yong Town!

He didn't say who this An Yuan was, he just wrote down the name.

Many years later, someone dug out this stele from Jiming Mountain, and Marquis Anyuan suddenly became a warrior named Anyuan, who fought against the Qiang Dihu captives here and died.And because of this, a beautiful and moving legend has been handed down... The town at the foot of Jiming Mountain was renamed 'Anyuan Town' because of this.

But in fact, this small town was a training base for dark men secretly built by Cao Peng when he buried Cao Cao.

But in the history books, there is no record.

In the second spring of the second year of Taiping, Cao Zhang, Emperor Zhaowu of Wei Dynasty, formally issued an edict to start war against Jiangdong.

Cao Wei's navy assembled at Sanjiangkou, and Jingnan even stationed tens of thousands of troops, eyeing it like a tiger.The war is about to start.

Cao Peng, who was the general at the time, was not ordered to command.

Cao Zhangli resisted the opposition of the ministers of the DPRK and China, and decided to march in person.

He ordered three groups of soldiers and horses to attack Jiangdong at the same time from Jingnan, Guangling, and Hefei.

Sun Shao, the young governor of Jingnan Daxing Mansion, was the vanguard and led his troops to approach Changsha County.

Tai Shici, the prefect of Changsha County, under Sun Quan's strict order, raised troops to fight.The two sides confronted each other on the banks of the Boluo River and started a series of bloody battles.

At the same time, Cao Zhen, the prefect of Hefei and the governor of Huainan, assembled 3 soldiers and horses in Huainan to garrison Ruxukou.He ordered Guo Huai to be the vanguard, Deng Ai to join the army, and Niu Jinniu Yin brothers to be the lieutenants to launch a fierce attack on the Soochow Army.

Sun Quan urgently ordered Zhugejin to fight, and even sent two generals, Jiang Qin and Xu Sheng, to assist.

But before the Ruxukou battle started, Guangling prefect Pang De launched a sneak attack on Dantu.Lu Meng, the guard of Dantu, was captured by Pang De.Lu Su urgently ordered General Dong Xi to rescue him, but was ambushed by Zhou Cang.

General Ding Feng was shot and killed by Ba Niu crossbow, and died tragically on the warship.

Dong Xi was seriously injured and led his remnants to retreat.

Lu Su was shocked when he learned about it.

General Zhou Tai rushed to help, and at the same time asked Sun Quan for reinforcements.

But I don't want to see more chaos in Kuaiji County at this time.Originally, in Shanyue of Kuaiji County, He Qi was sitting in the town, deterring Shanyue from acting rashly.But he didn't want Sun Quan to abolish his martial arts and dismiss He Qi.Without He Qi's deterrent power, Shan Yue no longer had the fear he had before.So with the assistance of the local tyrants, nearly [-] mountains rose into chaos, attacked the county, plundered the population, and robbed wealth, causing great harm.

The whole Jiangdong seemed to be in a mess in an instant.

Zhang Zhao and others suggested to discuss peace with Cao Wei.

But Ma Dalusu and others firmly opposed it...

When the two sides were at loggerheads, Sun Quan suddenly went berserk and beheaded Xue Zong and Xue Jingwen.

Although after waking up, Sun Quan regretted it unceasingly and ordered someone to bury him generously.

But this person is already dead, and the haze brought to Jiangdong's ministers will not dissipate for a long time...

"Zibu, now the lord is stubborn, he doesn't listen to advice, and even beheaded Xue Jingwen, what should I do?"

In late spring, Jiangdong is rainy.

A fine drizzle enveloped the sky over Jiankang, which made people feel even more depressing.

Zhang Zhao is old and no longer has the vigor of the past.

Sun Quan beheaded Xue Zong in the court hall, which really frightened Zhang Zhao.After returning home, he fell ill and never recovered.He was lying on the couch, looking at the people kneeling in front of the couch, feeling extremely bitter in his heart.

Yu Fan, Yan Yan, Cheng Deshu, Zhang Wen, and Luo Tong are all important ministers of the Eastern Wu.

But looking at these people, each of them has a worried look on their faces.

Yu Fan said softly: "I have just received a message from Ziyi. The son of King Heng is now leading his troops to garrison the Luojiang River. The offensive is extremely fierce. Ziyi has fought against him several times, but he failed to win. Bowen has grown up, and his martial arts strategy has become even stronger. It's not bad. Although Ziyi is good at fighting, he couldn't win immediately... However, the lord didn't ask the reason, and sent people to Changsha several times to question Ziyi, and ordered Xu Sheng to supervise the battle, which made Ziyi extremely dissatisfied.

If things go on like this, I'm afraid Ziyi may not be able to persevere.

He has always been friendly with Bowen, if he is pushed too hard, he will join Bowen, and Changsha will be in danger. "

Everyone present nodded their heads.

Zhang Zhao opened those cloudy old eyes, looked at Yu Fan, and suddenly asked, "What do you think Zhongxiang should do?"

Yu Fan sighed, "The most urgent thing is, my lord should make plans early.

The current lord is no longer the Marquis of Wu.The matter of Bo Wen caused him chaos... and the beheading of Xue Jingwen made the situation even more complicated.I've heard people say that people who are crossing the south are all panicked. "

Xue Zong is not a serious Jiangdong native.

He was originally from Zhuyi, Pei County. When Cao Cao conquered Tao Qian in Xuzhou, his family moved to Jiangdong.

This Xue Zong is a great Confucianist in the world. He has written poems and fus that are difficult to discuss in tens of thousands of words, and works such as "Er Jing Jie" and "Five Zong Tu Shu" have been circulated.It can be said that Xue Zong represented the interests of Nandu scholars to a large extent.

And Sun Quan killed Xue Zong, which made many people feel cold.

Zhang Zhao is also a scholar from Nandu.

His cheeks twitched slightly, and after a while, he said softly: "Only the gentlemen here know what you are saying. Zhongxiang should be cautious when speaking. Let's see again! The motor navy has not yet been dispatched, and the situation is not irreversible.

Look again, plan again. "

Yu Fan and the others looked at each other, and immediately nodded in response.

However, as soon as Yu Fan left, Zhang Zhao immediately recruited his second son, Zhang Xiu.

"Uncle Si, you bear my name and go to Wu County immediately to pay a visit to Gu Yuantan. Just say, ask him to take care of you."

"what?"

Zhang Xiu couldn't understand Zhang Zhao's words, so he looked bewildered.

But Zhang Zhao refused to explain to him, and only asked him to set off immediately.

At the end of the first year of Xinglong, Gu Yong resigned and recuperated at home due to physical discomfort.For more than a year, he has not shown up again and faded out of everyone's sight.But Zhang Zhao vaguely guessed why Gu Yong resigned.Maybe Sun Quan didn't know, but Zhang Zhao knew that Gu Yong was a disciple of Cai Yong.

As for Cai Yong's two daughters, one is married to Cao Peng, who is now named First-Class Mrs. Xinguo; the other is married to Yang Qin.That sheep is now the prefect of Xiapi, the Marquis of Louting, who worships Sima of Xuzhou.

In other words, Yang Fen is now acting as Pound's deputy.

As soon as Cao Jun of Guangling responded to the baggage, all of them were dispatched by Yanglin...

How could Gu Yong ignore such a relationship.Presumably he and Cao Wei had already gotten in touch, but were just waiting for the opportunity.That Gu Yong is a veteran Jiangdong gentry, with an influence that even Zhang Zhao can't match.Even though he is silent now, once the time is right, he stands up and raises his arms, and the whole Jiangdong may be chaotic... Zhang Zhao and Gu Yong are old friends!How could he not understand Gu Yong's nature?Now you look at Gu Yong as if nothing happened, but if he has no plans in his heart, how can he sit on the Diaoyutai?I can't say that in the future, I really want to ask Gu Yong.

Sending Zhang Xiu over will not attract attention.

Zhang Zhao also believed that Gu Yong must understand what he meant...

After Zhang Xiu left, Zhang Zhao leaned on the couch.He closed his eyes and let out a faint sigh.

Jiangdong, the situation is over!
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Chang'an, Duke Wuxin's mansion.

Cao Peng squinted his eyes and watched Jiang Wei and Cao Yang compete in the martial arts arena.

Both kids are grown up!
Cao Yang is 11 years old this year, and Jiang Wei is already twelve.

One of the two worshiped under Huang Zhong's sect, and the other practiced martial arts with Zhao Yun.Huang Zhong's wind and thunder sword technique, and Zhao Yun's coiled snake seven detectives, are all authentic.Sitting on the sidelines, watching the two boys wield swords and guns, Cao Peng was in a happy mood.

On the side, Zhuge Liang and Fazheng were commenting with gusto.

Cao Zhang really lived up to Cao Peng's expectations, he was a generous master.He has a forthright temperament and great bearing.

In this, there is a great relationship between Cao Peng and his explanation of the size of the world.

After Cao Zhang succeeded to the throne, on the one hand, he reused veteran officials such as Xun Yu, and on the other hand, he vigorously promoted newcomers such as Pang Tong, Huang Quan, and Liu Ba.The prosperity of the DPRK and China has also made many people feel relieved.

The only thing that makes Cao Peng dissatisfied is Cao Zhang's attitude towards Cao Chong.

He didn't kill Cao Chong, nor did he imprison him, but after reprimanding him, he granted Cao Chong the title of Marquis of Ye and let him stay in Yecheng.This is also the decision made by Cao Zhang after Mrs. Huan pleaded.

According to Cao Peng's thinking, even if Cao Chong is not killed, at least he should be imprisoned.

But Cao Zhang didn't accept it, instead he reprimanded Cao Peng.

This is also the first time Cao Zhang objected to Cao Peng's opinion.In this regard, Cao Peng is both happy and worried.The joy is that Cao Zhang finally has the consciousness of an emperor, knowing that the universe is arbitrary; the worry is that he is so indecisive, after all, it is not a common thing.If it goes on for a long time, it can't be said that tigers are infested.

But this is a family matter, and Cao Peng cannot participate too much.

"Young Lord, Prince Rui is here!"

When Cao Peng was thinking, he suddenly heard a report from his retainers.

Cao Peng sat up straight and turned his head to look.But on the small road, Cao Rui jumped up and down, running all the way.

"Father... Duke!"

Cao Rui was far away, so he shouted happily.

Although it has been nearly four years since he was adopted, when Cao Rui saw Cao Peng, he couldn't help but wanted to call him 'Daddy'.

Cao Peng glanced left and right, Fazheng and Zhuge Liang hurriedly stood up and retreated.

Behind Cao Rui, Wu Yan was still following.

With a loyal look, he stopped when he was about a hundred steps away.

"I... how is the prince recently?"

"I'm... pretty good, I just want to be a duke...the queen is so strict and always troubles me. Mother said, she asked me to be patient, but I really don't want to bear it any longer. Daddy, I want to go home... is that okay? ?”

The child's immature voice touched the softest part of Cao Peng's heart.

He put his arms around Cao Rui and said in a voice that only his father and son could hear: "Xiao Rui, don't worry... When the time is right, Daddy will let you come back. But before that, you have to be patient.

In a few days, I will send someone to accompany you, if Xiaorui misses his father, let Wucan tell me. "

"Ok!"

In the garden, only Cao Peng and his son are left...

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"My lord, living in Chang'an is not easy!"

After seeing off Cao Rui, Zhuge Liang and Fazheng stepped forward.

"how do I say this?"

Zhuge Liang glanced at Fazheng, and said softly: "Your Majesty did not let you lead the army this time. If you say that he has no fear in his heart, Liang can't believe it. Of course, your majesty still trusts you very much. This point It can be seen from the fact that he appointed the young master as a general, an extremely personable minister, and sits in Chang'an. But how long will this trust last? Liang is a little skeptical... Now, in addition to the young master's high meritorious service, there is still Rui Rui The prince is involved. After a long time, it is hard to guarantee that His Majesty will not be suspicious."

Cao Peng's cheeks twitched twice.

He took a deep breath and said softly: "What does Kong Ming think, what should I do?"

"The longer you stay in Chang'an, the more disadvantaged Prince Yu Rui will be, and the more jealous your majesty will be.

The young master is a great general, but what is the difference between a great general with no soldiers in his hand and the fish waiting to be slaughtered on the chopping board?Young Master wants to consider for Prince Rui, wants to plan for the future, it is useless to rely on the death-prevention certificate handed down by the late Emperor.Liang thinks that if you live in Chang'an, you will die, and if you lead the army outside, you will live. Please think again, young master. "

Cao Peng nodded slightly after pondering.

But the question is, how to get out?

Fa Zheng smiled slightly, "I heard people say that Ke Bi Neng has been quite uneasy recently.

He is deeply involved with Ding Linghujie and Mobei Xiongnu, and if he makes a mistake, he will send troops to attack Lingzhou...

When it is impossible to say, Xianbei Wang Suli will send someone to ask for help.

Why don't you take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to help and station in Lingzhou?When the time comes, everything will come to fruition. "

Xianbei Wang Suli is just a puppet.

Now the real caller of Xianbei is Hongdu.

This Hongdu has a very close relationship with Cao Peng. Cao Peng once saved his life, and single-handedly helped Hongdu to be the tribal leader.In other words, Hong Du is Cao Peng's person, but not many people know about it.

Cao Peng's heart moved, and he fell silent.

After a while, he said softly: "I have my own opinion on this matter, you two, don't mention it to others. By the way, Kong Ming... I heard that your younger brother is not in good health. Do you want him to come back to Chang'an?" ?He is very knowledgeable and has experience in administration. I think he can take a position in the Taixue. Prince Rui is not too young, so he should learn... I still hope that there will be someone who understands and imparts his knowledge."

Cao Peng was talking about Zhuge Jun.

But at this time Zhuge Jun was still called Ge Jun to the outside world.

Originally, after Zhuge Liang joined him, Cao Peng wanted Zhuge Jun to change his original name back, but Zhuge Liang refused.

Now it seems that Zhuge Liang still has the foresight.

Not many people know Zhuge Jun's identity, except for a few confidantes, only Sima Hui knows.

However, Sima Hui passed away last year.

As a result, even fewer people knew about Zhuge Jun's identity.

Even the current governor of Hexi County, Hu Ban, who is so close to the Cao family, doesn't know Zhuge Jun's origin.

Zhuge Jun is knowledgeable and strategic.

Coupled with the secret help of Wu Can, Wu Yan and others, as well as the Zhen clan, it was enough for Cao Rui to rest easy.

Zhuge Liang was overjoyed!
Bringing Zhuge Jun back means that the interests of the Zhuge Clan will be guaranteed.

He quickly thanked Cao Peng, "My brother is naturally suitable."

"That's... that's it.

I'm going to visit my brother-in-law's house in a while.He is a person who likes to be serious... I thought it would be easier to be a minister of Dali Temple, but now it seems that it is far more difficult than being the governor of Bingzhou.

My elder sister has said several times in private that if I don't visit, I will be reprimanded again. "

Zhuge Liang and Fazheng smiled slightly, "Young master, just go, the young masters will have classes soon."

Cao Peng nodded, and took Wang Shuang, left Duke Wuxin's mansion, and went straight to Dali Temple...

(End of this chapter)