On the seventh day of the sixth month of the third year of the Han Dynasty, that is, the third day after Kang Peng had a secret discussion with Jia Xu and others, Kang Peng left Li Ru, Sima Lang and Zhao Yun and others to guard Chang'an, and together with Jia Xu, Fa Zheng, Ma Chao and Pang De and other civil and military personnel, led 6,000 Xiliang iron horsemen, left Chang'an with a large number of materials, and went to Luoyang, which was forced to withdraw two years ago, to 'meet' the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Unlike when he evacuated Luoyang in embarrassment that day, Kang Peng deliberately returned to Luoyang this time with a fragrant cart and horses, fine clothes and food, and beautiful scenery.

Because this time I didn't go to the battlefield, so this time I went with Kang Peng and the sick Fu Yu, Da Qiao and Zhen Mi's mother, Fu Yu's illness was all caused by missing his parents too much, and because he persuaded Cai Wenji not to go back to Luoyang angrily, he was scolded by his best friend Cai Wenji, vomiting blood and fainting in a hurry, Kang Peng was too busy with official business to be distracted to take care of her, thanks to the divine doctor Hua Tuo in Chang'an, and Da Qiao had to take care of and enlighten him, otherwise Fu Yu's condition would really be dangerous. However, when Fu Yu heard that Kang Peng was going to take her back to Luoyang, her illness suddenly improved by half, and Da Qiao insisted on following her under the pretext of taking care of her, and was also acquiesced by Kang Peng.

According to the news obtained by Kang Peng, Cai Wenji and his entourage, who had fled in a negative mood, had arrived in Huayin, and when they met the slowly advancing troops of Lu Bu and Zhang Xiu, Kang Peng was not in a hurry to catch up, but the flying pigeon passed a letter to Lu Bu, asking him to lead the army to personally protect Cai Wenji and his party to go to Luoyang in the name of going home to visit relatives.

It's not that Kang Peng doesn't care about Cai Wenji, but he knows Cai Wenji's temper too well, and now catch up, she may really be able to kill herself in front of herself, it is better to let her go back to Luoyang, which has been broken, to suffer a little, and sharpen her arrogance, not to mention that the sick Fu Yu is still lying in the car, Kang Peng doesn't dare to let her be too bumpy. As early as three days ago, Zhen Mi's mother quietly told Kang Peng that she deliberately let Zhen Mi and Cai Wenji go together, the purpose was to let Zhen Mi, who had grown up, slowly persuade Cai Wenji on the road, so that Kang Peng and Cai Wenji could reconcile. But there is one thing to remind by the way, Fu Yu is sick, and Da Qiao Kangpeng dare not move, when staying at night, whether it is the mother Zhen who is in her early thirties and looks like she is only about twenty, and is in the year of wolves and tigers, and is so mature that she is dripping honey. The only thing I know is that as early as Chang'an, Kang Peng touched Zhen Mi's mother and daughter's room several times in the dark under Cai Wenji's nose, and he didn't know what he was going to do - maybe he was just going to visit the lonely mother and daughter, so the people in the Dong Mansion didn't dare to talk nonsense.

Just when Kang Peng was slowly marching towards Luoyang, Cao Cao's army was facing the biggest trouble after they dominated Yanzhou, and it began with a notice appearing next to the gate of Chenliu, which was very strange, not paper or silk, thin and translucent, not soaked in water, kneaded but not rotten, and the words on it were gray and blue, and they were also translucent, as if they were a material. If a modern person saw that notice, he would definitely scoff - isn't this just a car with the sun film cut into words and glued to the plastic sheeting, what's the surprise?

There are only sixteen words on the notice: 'Cao Cao is unkind, vainly robbing auspiciousness; Heaven will punish him, and the Yanren will avoid it quickly! Although the day of the notice happened to be the day of the Chenliu Market, there were many Yanzhou people who saw the notice, but the meaning of the notice was vague, the words were unknown, I don't know what it meant, in addition to the unique paper, it should not have caused much sensation, and after sticking it for a few hours, it was torn up by the soldiers of Cao Cao's army who rushed to hear the letter. But since that day, strange things have been happening in Yanzhou, and two stone figures have been dug up in the field, and the stone figures are also engraved with those sixteen characters; Then a few Yanzhou fishermen picked up a few big fish on the bank of the Yellow River, which was a common thing, but those Yanzhou fishermen who thought they were lucky soon couldn't laugh, and they sold the fish less than half an hour, and a team of wolf-like Cao Cao soldiers took them to the barracks and asked them about the origin of the fish with leather whips - white silk was found in the stomachs of those fish, and the sixteen big characters were also written on the white silk. Then there were some nursery rhymes among the people of Chen Liu, which were strange and strange, and I don't know what they meant, one of them read: 'A song of the sun, against the will of God; Thousands of pounds of grain, do not sprout; The thunder descended, and the people were in chaos; Tipin wood, not born. The children sang for fun, but they didn't know what they meant. But the knowledgeable scholars and students in Yanzhou probably smelled something, dragged the relationship, went through the back door, and asked around about the growth of the divine seed that Cao Cao snatched from Wang Kuang, and the growth of the divine seed was a secret of Cao Cao's army, of course they couldn't inquire about it, but it increased their suspicions. As a result, in just a few days, the news that Cao Cao was going to be punished quickly spread to the entire territory of Yanzhou at a speed that surpassed that of the merchant messengers, causing a great sensation among the people of Yanzhou

These circumstances aroused the suspicion of Cheng Yu and Xiahou Dun and others who were left behind by Cao Cao's army in Chenliu, and on June 14 of the third year of the Han Dynasty, five days after the rumors appeared in Yanzhou, Xiahou Dun hurried to the mansion and shouted at Cheng Yu as soon as he entered the hall: "Zhongde, it's not good, in the wilderness of Liangdu, sixteen big characters with a length and width of more than zhang appeared overnight, or those words that slander the lord." After Xiahou Dun finished shouting, he rolled his eyes and said worriedly: "Zhongde, the strangest thing is that those words are composed of countless dense ants, do you think this is really a warning from heaven to the lord to rob auspiciousness?" ”

Cheng Yu smiled, "Yuan let me not panic, it is just a fine work to imitate the method of the former Han Gaozu to lure the overlord of Chu Wujiang to kill himself, write with honey, and the ants attach themselves to the words, there is nothing strange." ”

Xiahou Dun breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say a few witty words, but Cheng Yu frowned again and muttered, "Is the speed so fast?" In the past five days, a large number of rumors have suddenly appeared in Xuchang, Yingchuan, Guandu, and Wuping, and yesterday it was Liangdu, unless there are preparations in advance and there are special methods of contact with each other, it is impossible for a little bit of finesse to spread rumors. ”

Xiahou Dun has the courage to fight in battle, but these conspiracies and tricks are not his master, so he can only watch Cheng Yu take out the strange notice with one eye and continue: "Yuan Rang, it's not that I'm arrogant, I'm familiar with the subset of scriptures and history, and I know a little bit about astronomy and geography, but the paper of this notice has never been seen, and it's unheard of, I always feel that things are a little strange, if the enemy is to shake the heart of our army, you can take advantage of the discord between the Yanzhou Army and the Qingzhou Army in our army to make a fuss, why use natural disasters as an excuse?" Unless they can manipulate the Scourge, the rumors will soon be debunked. "Actually, as Cheng Yu talked about, Kang Peng originally wanted the Dark Moon Group to take advantage of the discord between the Yanzhou Army and the Qingzhou Army to make a big fuss, but he just changed his mind temporarily.

Xiahou Dun shook his head and replied honestly: "I don't understand this, it's okay for you to ask me to go into battle, but I can't strategize." ”

Cheng Yu smiled slightly, and said in his heart that you are really self-aware. Cheng Yu thought about it for a long time, but still said: "No, this matter can't be taken lightly, General Yuan Rang, you immediately send your henchmen to send this notice to the lord who is in Xiaopei, and ask the lord to decide." ”

Xiahou Dun nodded, and was about to do it, when a herald rushed in, half-knelt and presented a bamboo letter, "Tell the two adults, Dong Zhuojun's general Lu Bu led five thousand iron cavalry out of Tongguan and rushed to Luoyang." According to another news, Zhang Xiu, the general of Dong Zhuo's army, also led 5,000 iron cavalry to move in the direction of Tongguan, and Dong Zhuo personally led 6,000 iron cavalry to follow, and the target was also in the direction of Tongguan. ”

Cheng Yuteng stood up and shouted: "By the way, Dong Zhuo, it's him!" He wants to attack us in the name of God's damnation, restrain our strength, and deny us a chance to develop with peace of mind. ”

Xiahou Dun was shocked, but also a little strange, "Strange? Dong thief actually only sent more than 16,000 cavalry to attack us, is such a few people enough? ”

Cheng Yu shook his head and said: "The soldiers are not expensive, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry is known for its elite, and now it has been refined by Dong Thief several times, although there are only 16,000 people, but the combat effectiveness is far better than 100,000 infantry." What's more, Dong Thief's primary target in the future should be Xichuan. This is only to destroy our agriculture, and to force us to deploy troops for tuntian to meet the enemy in the season when the autumn harvest is busy, so that we are unable to take care of tuntian and the grain production will be reduced, and we will not penetrate deep into Yanzhou. ”

"What then? Is it necessary to immediately recruit the militia? "Xiahou Dun is anxious to be full of big men, from Kangpeng to withdraw from Luoyang for more than a year, Cao Cao in order to maintain the development of the people, to adopt the policy of hiding soldiers in the people, although the population base of Yanzhou is far better than Hebei and Xuzhou, but there is no large-scale recruitment and expansion of the army like Liu Bei and Yuan Shao, the number of troops has been maintained at about 120,000, but now the Tuntian army has accounted for most of the number of troops, and it has to be stationed in various places, and Cao Cao took away some to Xiaopei, and the army that can still be mobilized is only 30,000.

"We can't recruit from the civilian sector, and we must ensure this year's autumn harvest anyway. General Yuan Rang, please immediately lead the 30,000 soldiers and horses that can still be mobilized to reinforce the two passes of Bishui and Tiger Prison, as long as Dong Thief comes to attack, no matter what he provokes, you must rely on the wall to hold out, as long as you stick to the help of the lord, then Dong Thief will retreat, if the thief alliance can be successfully formed, then we can also take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the results. ”

Cheng Yu asked Xiahou Dun to reinforce Bishui and Tiger Prison Erguan, and at the same time sent someone to urgently inform Cao Cao, who was far away in Xiaopei to negotiate, although it was a foolproof plan, but one point was missed, after Chen Liu's troops were empty, the Dark Moon Group ambushed in Chen Liu's army suddenly became more active, taking the opportunity to enter the vegetable market, enter the alley, go to the brothel, go to the bazaar, and go deep into the fields, rumors about Cao Cao's robbery of Wang Kuang's divine seed will be punished by heaven are endless, but Cao Cao's governance in the past two years has been really appropriate, and the people of Chen Liu's rumors are skeptical. For the time being, it did not inspire a popular uprising. But at the same time, two boxes of white cotton were mixed in a batch of cotton from Chang'an, and through repeated inspections, they were quietly delivered to some people in Chen Liu......

On June 20 of the third year of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao's army messenger finally arrived at Xiaopei and sent Cheng Yu's urgent letter to Cao Cao, and it happened that on this day, the wavering Yuan Shao made up his mind to resolve the hatred with Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Kong Rong, Liu Biao and Liu Yan and other forces, and formed a second alliance against Dong to resist Dong Zhuo, who had already made a comeback and was about to devour people at the right time.

Cao Cao and the other six parties agreed that no matter which side was attacked in the future, the other five parties would have the obligation to rescue that side, or support supplies, or send troops to help, and directly attack Dong Zhuo's base camp. The six parties also slaughtered the white horse as an oath, and agreed with each other that the six parties should not attack each other, and after accumulating enough strength, they would destroy Dong Zhuo in one fell swoop and rejuvenate the Han Dynasty.

But the princes didn't expect that on the day they swore an oath, Cao Caojun's letter of request for help arrived, although it was a bit unpleasant, but it also gave Liu Bei, one of the two proposers of the alliance, a chance to express his sincerity, Liu Bei patted his chest and said: "Brother Meng De, don't worry, Dong Thief will attack you under the pretense of the Mandate of Heaven, I will personally lead 10,000 elite soldiers stationed in Xiaopei to help you, and support you with a batch of grain and grass weapons to help you resist Dong Thief." Liu Bei smiled secretly in his heart, as expected by Zhuge Junshi, as soon as the second Dong Alliance was established, Dong Thief would inevitably attack you, so that you and Dong Thief would fall into an endless war of attrition. It's a pity that Zhuge Junshi is guarding Xuzhou, otherwise he will definitely be able to give me a good idea to make your fight with Dong Thief a little more intense.

Liu Bei took the lead in speaking, and another prince who was present Kong Rong was naturally embarrassed to be stingy, and also sent Tai Shici to lead 10,000 troops to help, but there was no military food at all, the drought in the first year of the first peace, Qingzhou was the most severely affected, for more than a year, Kong Rongjun has been fighting with Yuan Shaojun, and he is unable to recover at all, in order to solve the problem of military food shortage, Kong Rong has invented his theory in history in advance that eating human flesh is equivalent to eating orangutans and parrots.

Liu Biao's envoy Yizhi, Liu Yan's envoy Zhang Su, and Yuan Shao's envoy Fu Zhu also expressed their condolences to Cao Cao for being attacked by Dong thieves for no reason, and immediately returned to Xiangyang, Chengdu, and Yecheng to ask the lord to support Cao Cao.

The six parties were impassioned there, only Guo Jia, who came with Cao Cao, stared at the map of Kyushu, coughing while looking at the map, while looking at the strange notice brought by the messenger, pondering, since the trip to Chang'an in January this year, Guo Jia's already bad physical condition has worsened, he always coughs, and his body has lost a lot of weight. Suddenly, Guo Jia stared at a certain place on the map, blood rushed to his head all of a sudden, his face suddenly turned red, and he just wanted to speak, but the voice he made was a series of fierce coughs, "Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough! ……”

Guo Jia's movements were immediately discovered by Cao Cao, who hurriedly patted him on the back and complained: "Fengxiao, if I tell you to rest more, you just don't listen, don't work so hard." Come on, take the pill and give it to Feng Xiao. Guo Jia's face was flushed and almost dripping blood, but he couldn't say a word, and he coughed more and more, and suddenly a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he looked up and fainted......

Guo Jia was very sick this time, when he woke up, it was already June 23, Cao Cao was eager to return to Yanzhou, handed over Guo Jia to the care of the servants, and Liu Beijun had been in advance for three days, and two days ago, Kong Rong's army was also assembled and followed. And after Guo Jia listened to the situation and shouted, "It's over!" Yellow River! Then he vomited blood again and fainted.