Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 2381 The height of Mount Tai

  Langya.

  Brother Pig's hometown.

   What's interesting is that the two characters Langya, apart from the same Wang character side, or jade character side, one is a good thing and the other is a bad thing, and then they appear together in pairs.

   It's like the good and bad aspects of a transaction, and it's like a person.

  Good people, bad people, or there have never been good people, nor bad people, just distorted, mixed, contradictory but unified people.

  A hundred miles outside Langya City, Zang Ba stood on the left side of the road early, with the black cloak fluttering in the wind behind him.

  Although the twelfth lunar month has passed, the cold wind in the first month is still biting.

  Taixing six years.

  The first month.

  General Cao Cao, patrolling Xuzhou.

  『General…』 said the confidant guard beside Zang Ba, 『Didn’t you say there are still thirty miles left? Why haven’t we seen anyone yet? Do you want to send someone..."

   Zang Ba thought for a while, then shook his head.

   Behind him, about 300 soldiers formed an array and waited quietly.

   No one likes to wait.

   Unless the time spent waiting can recover some value.

Zang Ba's personal guards are of course carefully selected. The soldiers are wearing battle armor, cloaks on their backs, holding spears and large shields, and swords and bows. In addition, they have the aura of battle experience. How come? Said to be considered elite. But these elites at the moment are somewhat restless. Even though he was standing there without much agitation, the expression on his face still revealed some uneasiness.

  Taishan Army, at the beginning, was local private soldiers. Later, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, it continued to absorb the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, and finally formed the current army. So from this point of view, many of these Taishan troops are actually yellow turban thieves who changed jobs, and they even have some similarities with Cao Cao's Qingzhou soldiers.

   It can be said that most of Cao Cao's soldiers are pieced together, and the composition is much more complicated than that of General Hussars.

  Under the rule of General Hussars, Bingzhou soldiers and Xiliang soldiers are the most important pillars of the cavalry, and the rest of the local soldiers are supplemented. For Cao Cao, some of the Yuzhou soldiers are the remnants of Yuan Shu, among the Jizhou soldiers there are naturally Yuan Shao’s remaining forces, the Qingzhou soldiers are the transformation of the Yellow Turbans, and there are Jingzhou soldiers newly included in the system...

  Brothers who are related by blood live together, and from time to time they will quarrel or even fight because of this or that matter, not to mention these people who are no longer together, or even originally hostile? Under a limited economic system, whichever side gets more food and supplies means that others may be short of food and money.

  Undoubtedly, the Taishan Army basically belongs to the part with the least supply from the central government, almost equal to no.

  Because this is the price the Taishan Army paid for its independence.

  Zang Ba is different from other generals under Cao Cao’s command. He has his own small power, elite soldiers, and independent territory. He is responsible for the taxes in his own territory. He only needs to pay a small part of it, and he can even deduct it for various reasons.

  Although it is said that Langya has been ruined by old classmate Cao once or twice, but after all, he still has some foundation, and he has some money and property...

   After all, a skilled technician is not something anyone can find on the street.

  According to the military system of the Han Dynasty, even a general has a certain limit on the number of pro-armies he can independently own, that is, private soldiers. In history, Zhang Babai didn't mean that he didn't want to cross a thousand, but that he couldn't cross the line. For the other soldiers dispatched by the central government, no one can move without the Tiger Talisman.

  In addition to the limit on the number of soldiers, financial support is another constraint.

   Not everyone has a fief, but at present Langya is almost the same as Zang Ba's fief. As long as Zang Ba wants to explode and can sustain it, the number is not just hundreds, but tens of thousands are possible. In addition, Zang Ba has a great reputation among Qingxu, has many life and death brothers, and these life and death brothers also have soldiers...

   To put it simply, if Zang Ba is really driven crazy, it is not completely impossible for Zang Ba to pull tens of thousands of elite soldiers between Qing and Xu with an order regardless.

   Therefore, Cao Cao's arrangement for the Taishan Army at the beginning was that it is better to be quiet than to move.

  But this does not mean that the Taishan Army will always be so ostentatious...

In history, because of the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's prestige collapsed in the later period, coupled with the rebellion one after another in various places, he did not free up his hands to reorganize the Taishan Army in the later period. He was getting old, so he killed Zang Ba in the name of "unnecessary".

  And now, because Cao Cao was stimulated by General Hussars, and Cao Cao had his nose in Jizhou before...

  Although Cao Cao hated others saying that he was born in a family of eunuchs, for Cao Cao, the skills of eunuchs were almost engraved in his bones.

   Take advantage of the situation.

  The reason why eunuchs are arrogant is because most of the time, they represent the authority of the emperor.

  When Cao Cao first started, in Yanzhou Chenliu, a place of the Four Wars, he moved around. In addition to his personal martial arts and military strategy, Cao Cao also took advantage of it!

   At the beginning, it was borrowed from Yuan Shao, and later from the emperor.

  At the moment, Cao Cao took advantage of the momentum of the Yuzhou gentry children to suppress Jizhou, and after discovering the rebound, he immediately made peace with the Jizhou gentry children. After negotiating the conditions, he turned his head.

Cao Cao appeared suddenly, almost as if he had just popped out of the ground. The momentum was huge, and there were many cavalry in the forward position. These cavalry had enough mobility. Control a large area.

  After Zang Ba found Cao Cao’s army appeared, he immediately found Cao Cao’s cavalry formations appeared in almost three directions, only the south side was empty...

   To scare the snake away?

  Knock the mountain to shake the tiger?

   Or drive away tigers and eat wolves?

   Or some other strategy?

Although it is said that Zang Ba's private soldiers are loyal to Zang Ba, it does not mean that everyone in Langya is willing to go through fire and water for Zang Ba. For some ordinary people or small soldiers, it is estimated that there are not many People would be willing to fall into the war between Cao Cao and Zang Ba. As long as Zang Ba's direct lineage is not wrong, it is inevitable to have some different thoughts after being shocked by Cao Cao's huge momentum.

  The problem is that no one knows what Cao Cao wants to do!

  Even though Cao Cao stated on the surface that he was going to comfort the army and inspect the Taishan army...

After getting the news, Zang Ba immediately took action. On the one hand, he met with his subordinates, especially the soldiers of his direct lineage, to cheer up and stabilize the morale of the army. In human hands, just in case... If there is really any eventuality, as long as there are Sun Guan and others on the periphery, and Cao Cao doesn't catch them all in a net, then even if Cao Cao wants to make a move, he still needs to consider one or two things.

  After the military alert was completed, Zang Ba brought hundreds of elite guards out of the city to greet him after a little peace of mind. Everyone was neatly dressed and tidied up. All the etiquette for welcoming the general was done meticulously and in place, so that when Cao Cao arrived, he could find nothing wrong with him.

   All in all, Zang Ba believes that Cao Cao is willing to come to see him in person, which means something...

  Of course, if the meeting is not ideal, maybe it will be the last meeting.

  There are various thoughts in his mind, weighing various possibilities, and Zang Ba himself is not a resourceful person, so in the end, it is inevitable that the more he thinks about it, the more confused he becomes, and his mood will gradually become irritable.

   Seeing the general's expression shaken, and even showing some resentment, Zang Ba's confidant guard was secretly uneasy, but he didn't dare to say anything more, and could only wait with his breath held.

   After a while, Zang Ba regained his composure and cast his eyes far into the distance. I don't know how long it took, maybe it was an hour, maybe it was longer, and finally saw some smoke rising in the distance, and then a dozen cavalrymen from Zang Ba's vanguard came back quickly to report the news, shouting while running wildly : "The general is here! The General has arrived! 』

   The army formation behind Zang Ba couldn't help being in an uproar, and then Zang Ba looked back with a sullen face and swept around, and finally settled down again.

Zang Ba touched the armor belt on his body again, and then tightened the belt a little more, then touched the saber beside him, holding the hilt of the saber, his beating heart gradually in order.

  But soon, Zang Ba frowned again...

   There were more hooves of horses in the distance, and then it was like thunder, shaking the dust on the ground!

   Where did Cao Cao get so many cavalry? !

  Didn’t the previous sentry say that there were only a thousand cavalry, but now the momentum is at least three thousand cavalry! The mighty sound of horseshoes was so shocking that the ground trembled slightly, and Zang Ba and the soldiers behind him turned pale!

  Anyone with a little battle experience can tell that the thunderous sound of horseshoes means that the cavalry is galloping at full speed, and even when they get close to the surrounding area, they don't slow down at all!

  What is Cao Cao going to do?

   Do you really want to kill him directly? !

   Zang Ba's confidant guard stepped forward and said eagerly: "General! The cavalry is coming at full speed! It must be malicious! what to do? Otherwise, I'll take someone here to break up and return the master to the city quickly! 』

  Zang Ba took a deep breath to calm down his brain. He looked back at his queue, and saw fear and wavering in the eyes of his subordinates. Before he knew it, Zang Ba's hand was already on the hilt of the saber. You can pull it out directly, raise your arms and shout, or resist, or protect yourself and withdraw into the city!

  But at the next moment, Zang Ba let go of his hand, not only let go of the handle, but even took off the entire sword from his waist, and handed it to the side guards.

  The confidant guard was puzzled, stared round, looked at Zang Ba's saber, then looked up at Zang Ba, "General...this is..."

  『All standing up! Get ready for the arrival of the Great General! Zang Ba yelled, as if he could not hear the sound of hooves getting closer, nor did he see the clouds of smoke rising from the wings!

   Zang Ba wants to take a gamble.

On the horizon, finally appeared the **** banner representing Cao Cao, with layers of canopies, streamers inlaid with gold and silver. At the same time, behind the vehicle, there were seven or eight large flags, which were half higher than ordinary flags. Fluttering in the wind, and at the top of these large flags, there are golden gourds or long feathers inlaid, which are extremely gorgeous.

Before the big canopy chariot, there were all cavalry in black armor, all in black light armor, hundreds of soldiers marched in unison, like a rushing black wave, dark as if it was going to crash directly into people's bodies bottom of my heart!

  The cavalry on both sides were non-stop, directly outflanking to the rear of Zang Ba's formation!

  As soon as the formation of the generals appeared, they pressed in front of Zang Ba and others with overwhelming vigor!

Zang Ba gritted his teeth and insisted on raising his head and chest, without saying a word or taking a step back, while the soldiers behind him also gritted their teeth, just staring in front of the eyes instead of looking at the flanks that were outflanked on both sides …

  Time passed and the vehicle was moving forward. This moment seemed extremely short and at the same time seemed extremely long.

The cavalry on both sides of Cao Jun finally slowed down under an order, and gradually stopped behind Zang Ba's formation. Riding his spear straight to the sky, a cavalry general glanced at Zang Ba's queue, clicked his lips, then turned around and ordered his subordinates to be alert.

  The frame of General Cao Cao finally slowly arrived in front of Zang Ba and others.

   Zang Ba took a step forward, lowered his body and bowed down, "My lord, welcome the general!" 』

  The soldiers behind Zang Ba also bowed down together, shouting in unison, "Welcome to the general!" 』

  The whole field was silent, Cao Cao didn't speak, and seemed to be sitting on the canopy car, looking into the distance in a daze. It also seemed that he didn't hear it on purpose, and didn't give Zang Ba face in public.

   Zang Ba lowered his head like a frozen statue.

  『Ahahahaha...』

  Cao Cao raised his head and laughed.

   It's just a pity that there is no one around me to ask...

  Cao Cao jumped out of the car, walked up to Zang Ba and stood still, then raised his hand to signal, "Xuan Gao, please stand up!" After so many years, is Xuan Gao going to be safe? 』

  Cao Cao's gaze flickered and landed on Zang Ba.

   Zang Ba raised his head slightly, then bowed his hands again and bowed, "I am so lucky to be cared for by my lord..."

   Before Zang Ba finished speaking, Cao Cao stepped forward and approached Zang Ba, "Why is Xuan Gao so indifferent? ! Could it be that there is something wrong with Xuan Gao? Please speak up! 』

"This…"

   Zang Ba didn't know what to say for a while.

  Actually speaking, Cao Cao treated Zang Ba well.

As we all know, currently under Cao Cao's command, the generals of the Cao family and the Xiahou family are basically in command of the soldiers, and among the generals with different surnames, there can be ones like Zang Ba who have their own fixed territory and do not limit the number of private soldiers. , that is, only these people in the Taishan Army. Although Cao Cao promised such good conditions to the Taishan Army at that time, it was to make Zang Ba willing to fight against Yuan Shao with Cao Cao, but it was Cao Cao's preferential treatment for the Taishan Army.

Because no matter whether it is Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu, the previous attitude towards the Taishan Army, as well as the Black Mountain Army, Baibo Bandits, Runan Bandits, etc., is basically a reward for some meat, and these people should immediately kowtow to thank them, and be grateful, otherwise Just don't give face...

  So Cao Cao's attitude towards the Taishan Army is considered the best among these princes, and this is true no matter what.

   As for exploiting…

hehe.

Therefore, Zang Ba used Cao Cao to obtain Prime Minister Langya, and Cao Cao used Zang Ba to contain Yuan Shao's flanks. It was originally a relationship of mutual use. Of course it is very harmonious, but now, the relationship is not so harmonious.

   But the problem is that Zang Ba and Cao Cao have not yet broken faces, nor have they said that they are completely incompatible.

  『The minister...the minister is afraid...』 Zang Ba gritted his teeth and decided to hit a straight ball. To be honest, Zang Ba is not good at making rounds.

  When there are a lot of reasons, the rejection that is often said is the most inconspicuous one.

  Cao Cao seemed to really believe it, nodded, and took Zang Ba's arm, "Xuan Gao's heart, someone knows it...just..."

  Cao Cao looked around and saw a small **** beside him, so he pointed to the **** and said, "Xuan Gao, come with me..."

  The two of them stood on the slope, and their field of vision widened a little.

  Cao Cao pointed to the distance and said, "Kong Zhongni once said that climbing Mount Tai would make the world smaller... Xuan Gao lived near Mount Tai for a long time, and asked about the height of Mount Tai. Is it true that he is the best in the world?" 』

"This..." Zang Ba was stunned for a moment, pondering a few thoughts in his mind. He didn't know whether Cao Cao was referring to Mount Tai, or the Taishan Army, or these people around Mount Tai. It is just talking about the body of Mount Tai, "The peak of Mount Tai may not be higher than the mountains of the world..."

  『But that’s what Kong Zhongni said! Xuan Gao..." Cao Cao sighed, pointed in the direction of Jizhou, then sighed in a low tone, as if complaining with an old friend, "These people said the same! They don't want us to see other mountains, and they don't let us know how high other mountains are... They are even going to tell our children that the majesty of Mount Tai is the highest in the world... And is it really so? 』

"They know some things, but they won't tell us, let alone our children, then..." Cao Cao took Zang Ba's arm, "Then I would like to ask Xuan Gao, if our children meet people like them in the future, what should we do?" what to do? Xuan Gao, can you do anything? 』

  『…』 Zang Ba was stunned. Boss Cao, what does this mean?

"In Yecheng, I personally run a school to adopt the directors of various families..." Cao Cao turned his head and looked at Zang Ba with a sincere face, "Besides, the more important thing is to let the children and grandchildren be in the school. Learn some skills and gain more knowledge... There is no need to copy what others say, and there is no reason for tomorrow! 』

"Xuan Gao is also my friend. I originally wanted the son and the dog to be companions. It can be regarded as strengthening each other and working together to promote..." Cao Cao said with a smile, "I never thought that Xuan Gao was worried because the officials failed to explain clearly... Whatever Xuan Gao didn't want to, so he didn't want to, and he didn't force it...』

   Zang Ba glanced at Cao Cao, bowed his head in thought for a moment, and then fell to the ground, "I don't understand the kindness of the general, and it is a crime to speculate with a villain's heart!" Now that the general has explained it, all my doubts are gone! I also ask the general to let his ministers be presumptuous, and allow the dog to read with the son, to do his duty as a courtier! 』

  『Hey, since you are a fellow reader, how can you talk about it? ”Cao Cao laughed, “Since you have the heart to study, you should be the beauty of an adult! Xuan Gao don't worry! 』

  The two looked at each other and laughed together. It seemed that at this moment, the haze covering the two of them was swept away, and then they went down the **** hand in hand, ready to move on.

   Zang Ba strode forward, and his arrogance seemed to return to him. After helping Cao Cao into the carriage, he wanted to go forward to pull Cao Cao's horse to chew his head and lead the way for Cao Cao himself.

  Cao Cao smiled and held Zang Ba's hand, "Let Xuan Gao ride with us today!" 』

   Zang Ba refused again and again, Cao Cao insisted on asking again and again, and finally Zang Ba had to get in the car too, and sat beside Cao Cao, not daring to sit with Cao Cao.

  Cao Cao's bodyguards and Zang Ba's soldiers were naturally divided into two teams, followed the vehicles on the left and right, and slowly headed towards Langya City...

  The atmosphere became harmonious for a moment.

   Maybe.

  (end of this chapter)