The northern foothills of Bears Ears Mountain.

Cao Cao lay behind a boulder, looking at the Qianghu soldiers galloping in the distance, worried and worried. He crossed the mountains and mountains, and finally crossed the Bears Ears Mountain, thinking that the journey of suffering was about to end, as long as he walked into Luoyang City and Zhu Jun's camp, even if he could not be reused immediately, at least he could eat a hot meal, take a hot bath, and wash away the dust and bad luck in this body, but he didn't expect that what came to his face was even greater bad luck.

The Qianghu soldiers that can be seen immediately and the corpses that can be seen everywhere all show one thing, Luoyang was once again captured by Dong Zhuo's subordinates, and whether Zhu Jun is still alive or not, only God knows.

"Mengde, how's it going?" Xiahoudun struggled to crawl over. Although he used a lot of medicine along the way and found someone to clean his wounds, his left eye still festered, and he often burned unconscious, full of nonsense. But he was like a stone, he refused to fall, and miraculously persevered until now.

Cao Cao looked at Xiahoudun and suddenly felt ashamed of his frustration. Xiahou didn't cry out for pain when he was injured like this, and he had no qualifications to give up.

"The situation is not very good, there are Xiliang soldiers everywhere, and Luoyang can't go."

Xiahoudun gritted his teeth, climbed the stone, and lay side by side with Cao Cao. He lifted his sleeve and wiped his wounded eye, a piece of pus-laden blood stained the corner of his sleeve, and a white maggot arched inside. He looked at it very indifferently, rubbed the pus and blood off the stone, and crushed the maggots to death.

"That's ...... Ushisuke's people and horses? How did he get here? ”

Cao Cao looked at Xiahoudun in surprise. "Can you see the flag that far away and recognize Ushisuke's battle flag?"

"Far away?" Xiahoudun suddenly laughed: "I can't tell the difference between distance and proximity now." ”

Cao Cao's nose was sour, and he turned his head to prevent Xiahoudun from seeing the moist eyes. Xiahoudun glanced at him and said with a smile: "Meng De, I dreamed of Miaocai yesterday, and I sang a song "Zhan Chengnan" with him, he is still like that, he is not afraid of heaven and earth, but he can't turn around too quickly, otherwise his head will fall off." As for me, I also have to be careful, and always block my eyes to prevent wild birds from pecking at the carrion and using me as an east cook. ”

"Yuan Rang, don't say it." Cao Cao burst into tears and couldn't cry.

"What does it matter?" Xiahoudun smiled. "The horsemen died in battle, and the horses wandered and roared. A good man wins the field, and the horse leather shrouds have no regrets in this life. I just think it's a pity that the Xiliang soldiers are attacking Nanyang on both sides, and Sun Ce is afraid that he will not be able to escape, and he will never have a chance to compete with him in the future. ”

Cao Cao sighed. "It's me who panicked, I knew that Dong Zhuo sent two armies to attack Nanyang, even if Sun Ce's stone thrower smashed the city wall, I couldn't retreat. The three armies can win the commandery, but the horseman cannot win the ambition, I was frightened by his stone thrower, and I cheapened him for nothing. ”

Xi Zhicai, who was not far away, suddenly said: "General, retreat is to advance." If you don't retreat, you will die in Wancheng, how can you have a chance to see this? ”

Cao Cao smiled bitterly. "But where else can I go now? Luoyang has fallen into the hands of Niu Fu, I can't vote for Dong Zhuo. ”

Xi Zhicai stood up and flicked his sleeves. "Naturally, I don't vote for Dong Zhuo, that's a dying person. Let's go to Chang'an to help the Son of Heaven. ”

"To Chang'an?" Cao Ren shouted.

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows slightly, pondered for a moment, and nodded slowly. "That's right, for the sake of just one Sun Ce, why not do the best of the best, this is not Dong Zhuo's original intention, someone transferred the tiger away from the mountain, is it the prince's division?" He suddenly clapped his hands and said with a smile: "No wonder, I said how could a gentleman like him stoop to serve a thief, it turns out that he is trying to follow Li Ling's plan." ”

Xi Zhicai glanced at Cao Cao and smiled slightly. "The general and the prince are old friends, don't you want to help him?"

"Of course I want to go." Cao Cao stood up and walked down the hill. "If he is what I think, we will help him. If he is willing to be a thief, don't blame me for ignoring the old feelings and getting rid of the thief for the country. Fighting for his life, he can't let him destroy his reputation. ”

——

Du Ji saw it as the history of Jingzhou, although the decree of the history of Jingzhou could not be out of Wanxian County, but Du Ji's use of it brought a good demonstration effect. As Yan Xiang arranged for people to settle down and live in Nanyang, some people appeared in front of Sun Ce through different channels, either self-recommendation or introduction. Among them, there are those who have left names in history, such as Du Xi and Zhao Yan, and more are unknown, but most of them have a common characteristic: they are not high.

Du Xi and Zhao Yan are both from Yingchuan, Du Xi's great-grandfather and grandfather are famous, and the official is too guarded, but Du Zheng's father is white, it can be seen that his grandfather has not been an official for a long time, and he has not even earned the benefits of quality appointment. Zhao Yan became famous as a young man, and Chen Qun and Xin Bi were called together, but the two family backgrounds were very different, Xin Bi followed Yuan Shao to Hebei, Chen Qun went to Chang'an with his father Chen Ji, Zhao Yan and Du Xian could only flee to Nanyang.

If there is no recommendation from fellow villager Xun Yu, it is really hard to say whether the two of them can leave their names in history and what kind of records they have left.

Now that Cao Cao has been beaten by Sun Ce like a lost dog, Wang Zuozhicai Xun Yu has not found the lord himself, and Du Xi and Zhao Yan can't count on it. Knowing that Corporal Sun Celixian was eclectic, they were also pleased. Du Xi's great-ancestor Du An made Wanling, and Sun Ce asked him to fill the vacancy of Wanling. Zhao Yan has a tough personality, so Sun Ce made him a military official, in charge of military discipline, and strictly investigated the illegal things of each battalion.

Others are appointed according to their talents, and each has its own place.

There are not many people, especially if you don't see heavyweights, but Sun Ce is still very content. There are some things that he can't do with a single shout. It's not just about family history. Is Yuan Shu's family background good? These people are obviously in Nanyang, but they don't bird him. To put it bluntly, in addition to the powerful families who are qualified to maintain neutrality and even want to make a big vote, for the vast majority of people, after all, they still have to take refuge in others, and whether they choose you or not depends on whether you have investment value, and family background is only one of the reference criteria.

Yuan Shu belongs to a class of junk stocks with no investment value, so people with ability are far away from him, and they don't want to be unlucky with him. If he wants to attract more important talents, he must let people see his potential. Cao Cao's reputation is not good, and in the end, he was able to attract Xun Yu, not by his own quality and achievements?

Sun Ce believes that life will get better day by day, and when he defeats Xu Rong and truly controls Nanyang, there will naturally be more talents to defect to him. You have to eat the food one bite at a time, and you have to do things one by one, and you can't rush it.

After handing over the daily affairs of Wancheng to Yan Xiang, Du Xi, Du Qi and others, he devoted himself to the preparation of the war. During the day, troops were trained and prepared for war, and at night, they listened to the affairs reports of the generals and analyzed the war situation.

After a few days, Wen Ping sent the news again: 5,000 and rode to Licheng, and the generals who led the troops were Zhonglang General Duan Xuan and Captain Zhang Liao.