The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 206 Chapter 205

Under the city of Pingtao, Xia Houyuan, who was wearing a helmet and wearing armor, led his troops to line up at the gate of the city, quietly waiting for Cao Cao's army coming from afar.

Just an hour ago, Xia Houyuan led a thousand soldiers from his headquarters and suddenly launched an attack on Pingtao City.

The county magistrate of Pingtao was caught off guard, but still led the crowd to resist. None of the [-] soldiers in the city escaped, and all of them, together with the county magistrate, fought bloody battles with Cao Jun in the streets and alleys in order to resist the invasion of Cao Jun.

However, Xia Houyuan was too brave, and his subordinates were all elite soldiers who fought in hundreds of battles. After a fierce battle with the Pingtao County Magistrate for about half an hour, the battle ended, killing the Pingtao County Magistrate and all [-] soldiers. .

Then, Xia Houyuan led his army into the home of a big family in the city. Under his coercion and lure, the big family reluctantly agreed to come forward to appease the people in the city.

It took Xia Houyuan nearly half an hour to gradually appease the people in the city, and ordered the army to block the east and west gates, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

Cao Cao rode his beloved horse, Jueying, and walked at the forefront of the army, surrounded by Xiahou Dun, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia and other confidantes, and behind him were all cavalry in black armor. There are a thousand cavalry, and behind them are the three thousand elite infantry assigned to him by Yuan Shao, led by Yuan Shao's general Han Meng. The entire army is orderly and majestic.

Cao Cao saw Xia Houyuan leading his army waiting at the gate of Pingtao City from a distance, so he accelerated his speed, and in a short while, he arrived at the gate of the city.

"My lord, the general has been waiting here for a long time. This city has been completely occupied by our army, and all the warehouses in the city have been sealed up, waiting for the lord to come and deal with it!" Xia Houyuan bowed first.

Cao Cao said: "You did a good job. Most of this journey is due to your credit. After conquering Jinyang, eliminating Zhang Yang, and capturing Bingzhou, I will definitely reward you heavily."

"The last general does not ask for rewards, but only wants to be able to follow the lord, and he will not hesitate to live or die for the lord!" Xia Houyuan said very sincerely.

After Cao Cao heard this, his heart was moved for a while, and his eyes showed a little tenderness. He said to Xia Houyuan: "I am so lucky to have a general like you by my side!"

Xia Houyuan brought Cao Cao into the city, and Cao Cao led a large army into the city, and then ordered people to open the granary in the county government, open the granary, and distribute the grain to the poor people in the city.

Along the way, Cao Cao successively conquered Yuanping, Loufan, Lishi, Zhongyang, Zishi and other counties, all of which used the method of opening warehouses to release grain to buy people's hearts.

Because Bingzhou is located in a frontier fortress, it is often attacked by Xianbei people, but the incompetent Bingzhou government only knows how to avoid and not fight, retreating inside the Yanmen Pass, regardless of the lives of the people outside the pass.Not only that, there was a severe drought last year, and Bingzhou was not spared from the disaster. As a result, all places except Taiyuan and Shangdang counties suffered from famine.However, the government sat idly by and let the hungry people fend for themselves, so that bandits broke out in Bingzhou, burning, killing and looting, doing all kinds of evil.At this time, Xianbei also took the opportunity to invade Bingzhou and carry out a strategy, which made Bingzhou even worse.

For this reason, most of the people moved south.Therefore, Cao Cao passed several counties in a row along the way, but most of them were empty.Especially when I arrived in Lishi, I felt more and more desolate and sad.

It was in this situation that Cao Cao followed Xun Yu's suggestion, and every time he arrived in a county, he would open a warehouse to release grain, relieve the poor people, and buy people's hearts.

In the four counties of Yuanping, Loufan, Lishi, and Zhongyang, this effect was most obvious. The people received Cao Cao's favor, and then concealed their whereabouts for Cao Cao.Therefore, even the scouts sent by Hao Zhao did not ask for any news when they were inquiring for news, which made Cao Cao's army disappear for three days without reason in Bingzhou.

When he arrived at Zishi, Cao Cao felt a watershed. Zishi belongs to Taiyuan County and is on the bank of the Fen River, so the land is fertile and densely populated, which is very different from Zhongyang and Lishi counties west of Luliang Mountain. .

There are many people in the Zi family, no matter how careful Cao Cao is, no matter how secretive his march is, he will still be found by the scouts.

Therefore, Cao Cao directly attacked Zishi County with lightning speed, and after occupying Zishi County, he opened a warehouse to release grain again.

However, there is a large gap between the rich and the poor in the Zi family. This approach can only win over the hearts of the poor people, but it has no effect on the rich gentry.

In order to further buy people's hearts, Cao Cao sent people to secretly investigate for a day, who was the bully in the city, and which wealthy gentry were rich and unkind.After the statistics, Cao Cao ordered the arrest of these rich and unkind rich gentry at night, and beheaded them all, which can be regarded as eliminating several scourges for Zishi County.

This move not only won the poor people, but also made the rest of the people fear Cao Cao. The wealthy gentry were all trembling, and they took the initiative to send people to beg Cao Cao, and offered money and food to comfort the army.

This time, Xia Houyuan conquered Pingtao, and Cao Cao planned to use this method again to set off a bloody storm in Pingtao city.

After Cao Jun entered the city, Cao Cao issued an arrest warrant based on Xia Houyuan's previous investigation.

As a result, the city of Pingtao suddenly fell into a panic. Cao Cao's soldiers arrested people everywhere, making the people in the city panic.

Wang Ling has already made Cao Cao's evil deeds public, and said that Cao Cao is a demon who can only kill, and even if he captures a city, he will massacre it.

So there was a sudden chaos in Pingtao City, and the people hid in their homes, with doors and windows closed, huddled together, not daring to let out a breath, for fear of being caught and killed by Cao Cao.

After a night of arrests, Cao Cao finally arrested all the local rich and unkind rich gentry, and then sent people to beat gongs and drums to inform the people in the city, asking them to watch the scene of Cao Cao punishing these rich gentry.

Until this time, the people in the city were still skeptical, and they couldn't believe that Cao Cao, a devil, would actually do something to punish evil and promote good.

At noon, Cao Cao had the crimes of the rich gentry read out to the public, and then, with an order, all the rich gentry were beheaded for public display, and the blood was spattered on the spot.

After that, Cao Cao opened a warehouse to release grain, and confiscated all the property of the rich gentry's family, treating it as military pay.

Cao Cao's actions were all seen by Yuan Shao's general Han Meng. He is a smart man. Although he didn't say anything, he was like a mirror in his heart. Cao Cao was buying people's hearts.

When everything was almost settled, the people in Pingtao City had a different impression of Cao Cao, and they all appreciated Cao Cao's actions.

At this time, Han Meng couldn't stand it any longer, walked up to Cao Cao, and asked, "General Cao, you have been buying people's hearts all the way. Did you come to capture Jinyang this time for the sake of my lord, or did you have other ideas?" Selfish?"

Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, unexpectedly Han Meng could see his intentions.However, Cao Cao replied: "The purpose of my doing this is naturally for Brother Benchu. Otherwise, according to my previous practice, I will definitely slaughter the city!"

Han Meng sneered, and said, "I don't think so...everyone knows that General Cao is the one who opened the warehouse to release the grain, and it has nothing to do with my lord. How can General Cao think about my lord?"

"General Han, what are you trying to say when you are so tit-for-tat?" Cao Cao asked impatiently.

Han Meng laughed and said, "I'm just reminding General Cao, don't forget your identity. If my lord hadn't kindly taken you in at that time, I'm afraid you would have been homeless! Although my lord ordered you to be the general , but I am at least a lieutenant general, did you discuss it with me when you did these things?"

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Oh, it turns out that General Han is angry about this matter. General Han, when we captured Yuanping City, you agreed to open warehouses to release grain. Why, now you want to Have you regretted it?"

Han Meng said angrily: "Stop yelling at me here, you should know what I'm talking about! I don't have any objections to opening a warehouse to release grain. At that time, I made such a bad move to hide my tracks. Now, we are here Your family has been discovered. If you don't rush into Jinyang, but kill the rich gentry here and open the warehouse to release the grain, won't you delay the opportunity of the battle? As the saying goes, speed is the most important thing, you have delayed all the opportunities of the war. Everything in Jinyang City is ready, won't it be even more difficult for us to attack Jinyang again?"

After Cao Cao heard Han Meng's words, a murderous intent flashed in his deep eyes. If it had been before, if Han Meng dared to contradict him like this, he would have killed Han Meng already.But now he is dependent on others, and he has to endure Han Meng. For his great cause, he has no choice but to endure first, as the saying goes, a little intolerance leads to great conspiracy!

"Han Meng! How dare you be so rude to my lord?" Standing beside Cao Cao, Xia Houdun couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately drew out the saber from his waist, but seeing a flash of cold light, he put the saber on Han Meng's neck On the ground, but in his only eyeball, there was a great killing intent.

"Assistant Yuan Rang!" Seeing this, Cao Cao scolded immediately.

Xiahou Dun said to Cao Cao: "Master, Han Meng..."

"Back off! Don't be so rude to General Han!" Cao Cao frowned, his eyes fixed on Xiahou Dun, and his tone was so severe!
Xiahou Dun let out a cold snort, then withdrew the saber on Han Meng's neck, gave Han Meng a hard look, and said angrily, "If I see you being rude to my lord next time, look at me!" Don't cut off your dog's head!"

Han Meng is also a man of high skill and courage, and he is also one of the top generals in Yuan Shao's army. Seeing Xiahou Dun treat him like this, he was very annoyed.

"Yuan Rang, shut up! If you dare to say one more word, I'll cut off your tongue!" Cao Cao scolded Xiahou Dun.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Cao turned his face away, and said with a smile to Han Meng: "General Han, Cao has no way to discipline his subordinates, please forgive me, General Han."

Han Meng looked around, and saw Cao Cao's generals standing around, everyone had some displeasure on their faces, and he was the only one here. If there was a conflict, he must be the one who suffered!

So, Han Meng accepted it as soon as he saw it, and left in a hurry under the pretext of having something to do.

After Han Meng walked away, Dian Wei, who had been guarding Cao Cao, said, "My lord, Han Meng is so rude, why didn't you let General Xiahou kill him?"

"It's up to the owner to beat the dog. Now we live under someone else's fence. If it wasn't for Yuan Benchu, we wouldn't know where we are now. However, I will remember Han Meng's rudeness to me today, and I will repay it twice in the future." Cao Cao said .

(End of this chapter)