Three fast horses galloped and quickly entered the valley. A knight turned over and dismounted, threw the reins on the horse's back, ran up the hill himself, rushed to Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai, and bowed to salute.

"The scout battalion Chenzi team is long and clear, I have seen the general, I have seen the gentleman."

Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai exchanged a look, and Xi Zhicai coughed and said, "How is Wuguan over there?" ”

"The Wuguan is heavily guarded, and the craftsmen of the baggage battalion are out in large numbers and are cutting wood and quarrying. We captured a captive for torture, and learned that a large number of Xiliang soldiers were coming, and a big battle was about to be fought soon. Wei Li hesitated for a moment, and then said: "There is another thing, on the way back to Wancheng, we saw a large number of craftsmen quarrying in the southwest of Wancheng, about more than 2,000 people. ”

Cao Cao's heart moved, and he suddenly slapped his thigh, and when the words came to his mouth, he swallowed back when he saw Xi Zhicai's eyes.

Xi Zhicai waved his hand and motioned for Wei Li to retreat. "General, since you want to retreat, of course, it is better to go sooner rather than later, once the outer city is broken and Yuan Highway's army enters the big city, can you still leave?"

Cao Cao laughed awkwardly. "Zhicai is right, I'm just a little ashamed. Alas, Sun Bofu is so cunning at a young age, and he will be a fierce rival in the future. ”

"What about cunning? Yuan Highway now needs him to contribute, so he naturally trusts him. When Nanyang is stable, it is difficult to say whether he can rely on him so much. Sun Jian was born as a small official, but both father and son are good at using soldiers, which is valued by Yuan Highway, Chen Gongwei, Yang Wenming and others must not like it, and conflicts are inevitable. ”

Cao Cao let out a long sigh, turned over and got on his horse, Cao Ren and the others drove out of the woods where they were hiding, surrounded Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai, and headed north. At noon, they received another news that Lou Gui had surrendered the city, and Wancheng had fallen into the hands of Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao had already been mentally prepared for this, didn't say anything, quickened his pace, caught up with the main force of the county soldiers led by Xiahoudun, and headed north.

——

Yuan Shu straightened his chest, shook the horsewhip in one hand, and pressed the Qiyao knife on the other, and strode into the atrium of the Taishou Mansion.

A large group of people stood in the court, Yang Hong and Yuan Shu's son-in-law Huang Yi stood at the front, Yuan Shu's eldest daughter Yuan Quan stood behind with her sister Yuan Heng in her arms, although they had all washed up in a hurry and changed into clean clothes, but the marks left by the suffering of being imprisoned for a month could not be erased, and their faces were emaciated and their expressions were frightened. Cai Mao and Lou Gui stood aside, looking cramped and uneasy.

Yuan Shu's eyes swept around, and the smile on his face slowly dissipated.

"Where's Yao'er?"

"General Ming Rong ......" Cai Mao greeted him, wanting to pull Yuan Shu aside, but was pushed away by Yuan Shu with a palm. Yuan Shu walked towards Lou Gui, murderous, and couldn't help but say, raising his hand was a whip. "Where did you hide my son?"

Lou Gui fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowed repeatedly, and wept bitterly. "General Ming, I really don't know. I have never seen General Ming's beloved son, or Cai Dejun asked just now, and I learned that General Ming's beloved son was also in the city. But...... If the general doesn't believe him, Ling Ai and your son-in-law are here, you can ask them. ”

When Lou Gui found that Yuan Yao was missing, he couldn't wait to kill Cao Cao's ancestors for eighteen generations. All the captives are there, but Yuan Shu's only son, Yuan Yao, is not there, what kind of credit is this, this is simply a pit. His first reaction at that time was to run away, but Cai Mao was by his side, and there was Yuan Shu's army outside the city, so he couldn't escape if he wanted to. Even if he could escape by himself, Yuan Shu would kill his family to vent his anger.

At this moment, the only way is to put all the blame on Cao Cao. Since Cao Cao is yin against him, he can't think about Cao Cao anymore.

Yuan Shu immediately turned to Huang Yi. "Tell me, where has Yao'er gone?"

Huang Yi came from a family, he was a scholar, he used to be high-spirited, he thought he was romantic, but now he has been locked up for a month, he has lost all his sharpness, he was yelled at by Yuan Shu, and he suddenly sifted food all over his body, his legs were weak, and he knelt down in front of Yuan Shu, trembling and unable to even say a complete sentence. However, his wife Yuan Quan was quite calm, pulled Yuan Heng forward, and knelt on the ground.

"Father, my younger brother was taken away by Cao Cao half a month ago, and he never came back."

"Cao Cao?" Yuan Shu turned around and left, shouting loudly: "Guard the camp, follow me to chase, hack that eunuch to death, and save my son." ”

Yan Xiang and Yang Hong were shocked, and rushed over from left to right, both of them stopped Yuan Shu. "General, no!"

"Get out of here!" Yuan Shu was furious, picked up the horsewhip, and whipped it headlessly. Yan Xiang was better, Yang Hong had been locked up for so many days, his body was originally weak, and he was whipped by Yuan Shu's two horse whips, he was ashamed and angry, and he actually fainted. Seeing this, Yan Xiang hurriedly went to help, and taking advantage of this effort, Yuan Shu rushed out of the Taishou Mansion, called the pro-guard camp, and rushed out of Wancheng.

Wancheng was in turmoil. Yan Xiang was also a little confused, he sent people to chase Yuan Shu, and at the same time asked people to go out of the city to invite Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

——

When I woke up, it was already noon. After all, when I am young and make up for my sleep, the whole person is refreshed, and the exhaustion is swept away. Huang Yueying hasn't woken up yet, but the quilt has come sideways, and the pillow is also in her arms. Sun Ce quietly got up and walked out of the big tent. The camp was silent, and the soldiers had already gotten up and were doing daily training under the command of the generals of the various departments. Pang Tong boiled a pot of porridge, and the aroma was tangy. Sun Ce washed up, filled a large bowl of porridge, and drank it slowly in his hand.

"General, can I ask you a question?" Pang Tong squatted in front of Sun Ce, holding his face with his hands.

"Absolutely."

"You...... Don't believe in the unity of man and nature? ”

Sun Ce was very surprised and glanced at Pang Tongyi's eyes. "Why are you asking this question all of a sudden?"

"Yesterday, I saw you and Cai Bojiao talking about the way of heaven, Cai Bojiao first said that the seven politics can be counted, and then said that heaven and man are one, and there are elements that cannot be counted, you said that those are made up by people, so to speak, isn't it that the seven politics can be counted, but there is no unity of heaven and man?"

Sun Ce did not answer Pang Tong immediately. He poured the sauce into the porridge, stirred it, drank it all, put down the bowl, wiped his mouth, and then said: "Life is between heaven and earth, and naturally it is subject to the influence of heaven and earth, but this influence is latent and weak, and it is impossible to see immediate results. There are gains and losses in the government, and the heavens immediately warn them with celestial phenomena, I don't believe this. ”

Pang Tong's eyes flickered. Since Dong Zhongshu ascended the three strategies of heaven and man, and Confucianism respected official learning, the view of the unity of heaven and man has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, even if he is not a scholar, he is convinced of this, and he is naturally among them. Yesterday, when I listened to Sun Ce and Cai Yong talk about the way of heaven, I felt that Sun Ce was not impressed with the unity of heaven and man, and he was still suspicious, but at this moment, it was confirmed from Sun Ce's mouth, and he couldn't react a little. But faintly, he felt that what Sun Ce said seemed to have some truth, and Cai Yong's performance could already explain the problem.

Seeing that Pang Tong was distracted, Sun Ce didn't bother him, got up and walked out of the big tent, ready to ask someone to invite Zhou Yu. He will rush to Wuguan tomorrow, how Yuan Shu will arrange Zhou Yu, he is not clear yet, he has to ask Zhou Yu to understand. He called Dian Wei on duty, and before he could give orders, Zhou Yu hurriedly walked over, walked quickly to Sun Ce, grabbed his arm, and dragged him to the big tent.

"Bo Fu, something happened."

Sun Ce was inexplicable. "What's wrong?"

"The general took his guards to chase Cao Cao."