Yinzhongmu County, Henan

In the hinterland of the Central Plains in March, it is already a new spring weather where the grass grows and the warbler flies and the spring is full of joy. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Because of the spring rain that had just fallen, the ground in the barracks outside the city became a little wet, and walking in the barracks would leave footprints of different shades.

Cao Cao is leading a team of personal soldiers at this moment, taking advantage of the gap when the rain has stopped, to step up his inspection of all important places in the military camp.

The spring rain is as moist as crisp and as expensive as oil. For farmers who bury themselves in the fields, this is an important guarantee of a year's crops, but it is not necessarily a good thing for soldiers who march to war.

After a spring rain, the barracks should begin to send non-commissioned officers to inspect the ravines and fences outside the barracks, and if the soil outside the ditch is found to be soft and has begun to collapse, the soil in the ditch must be removed in time and the soil on both sides of the gully must be reinforced. If the land where the fence is located is soft and muddy, and the fence will bring out the soil and fall down when it is pushed, the position of the fence should also be re-strengthened and deepened.

In the barracks, it is necessary not only to move the grain and grass in the granary to a higher position to prevent it from being wet and wet by the spring rain and causing mildew, but also to order the non-commissioned officers and soldiers to change their wet clothes in a timely manner and remove the low-lying stagnant water in the barracks to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and the infection of diseases among the soldiers and soldiers in the barracks.

Cao Cao had previously ordered Xiahou Xuan, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and other Sima in the camp to start executing these things, but as soon as the rain outside the tent stopped, Cao Cao quickly abandoned the military affairs at hand and began to patrol the camp with his brother Cao Hong and a team of personal soldiers.

Cao Cao's stature is not high, only about seven feet, his eyes are narrow and shiny, and his face is not handsome, but he is agile, and his steps are fast and vigorous when he walks.

"Ah Hong, you go and push the third fence on the left to see if it hasn't been reinforced!"

Cao Cao did not inform the other generals in the army, he practiced himself, personally inspected every important place in the army, his eyes were very sharp, between the march, at a glance there was a soft foundation hidden danger of the fence, he immediately stopped, stretched out his hand to let Cao Hong, who was following closely behind, come forward to try.

"No!"

Cao Hong, who was young, had not yet grown a beard, and had a little childishness on his face, hurriedly responded, and ran over quickly, he ran to the front of the railing that Cao Cao pointed to, stretched out his hand and pulled it out, and sure enough, it didn't take much effort, and the railing was raised a few points, if it weren't for the two horizontal beams above and below the railing, and the other railings were reinforced together, I was afraid that Cao Hong would pull it out with the soil immediately.

"This place is the responsibility of the Yuan Rang Department, mark that railing, and let him check it again!"

After hearing Cao Cao's order, Cao Hong nodded, pulled out his dagger and marked the railing, and then ran back to Cao Cao's team that had begun to march, following closely behind Cao Cao.

Along the way, Cao Cao's eyes were like torches, and he pointed out several omissions in the military camp one after another, and asked people to make marks, and when he was ready to send someone to summon those military officials who were negligent in military affairs to his military tent, he would reprimand them well.

At the last stop of the inspection trip, Cao Cao went to the granary set up in the high ground in the camp, and after Cao Cao inspected it back and forth, he did not find any omissions or wrong arrangements, so he stopped his steps with satisfaction, and stood on the high ground where the granary in his camp was located, looking at the outline of the city wall of Zhongmu County in the distance.

Last year, when Cao Cao fled back to his hometown, he was once in Zhongmu here, and was noticed by a pavilion chief on the official road, which attracted people to pursue, and finally Cao Cao was outnumbered and captured in the county, although Cao Cao concealed his name, but Dong Zhuo of Luoyang had ordered to hunt down Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was bound to not hide it for long. Just when Cao Cao in prison thought that he would not escape his fate, he unexpectedly got the help of Gong Cao in the county, successfully escaped, and returned to his hometown in Qian County.

Although in the process of recruiting troops in Yuzhou, there were mutinies among soldiers and local heroes, which made Cao Cao almost lose his life again, but finally escaped with his quick wit and returned home to recuperate from his injuries, and at the same time, Xiahoudun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Chun, Cao Hong and other brothers in the clan and Chen Liuweizi and other friends also brought guests and righteous people to help him raise the banner of rebellion and recruit troops, which made Cao Cao's momentum rejuvenated, with 5,000 men and horses, he did not need to go to Hanoi to defect to Yuan Shao, Instead, he met with people and horses in Sujube and other states and counties, and also got the title of a general of Xingfenwu.

This year with soldiers and horses back to Zhongmu, originally Cao Cao marched westward, only Bao Xin, Wei Zi and other two people with troops, it can be said that the lone army went deep, although deliberately fanfare, but the soldiers' fighting spirit and morale are not high, as a result of Zhongmu, the main book of Zhongmu Ren Jun and the city surnamed Zhang Fen opened the city to surrender to himself, Ren Jun himself is also a powerful surname in the city, with him with guests and money and food to join the Cao army, this made Cao Cao's army soar, even with several counties east of Yin in Henan also opened the city to Cao Cao to surrender, Cao Jun finally gained a firm foothold in the territory of Yin, Henan, and could begin to try to seek Xingyang, Chenggao and other places.

For this reason, Cao Cao also deliberately wanted to play Ren Jun as a cavalry captain, and was ready to choose a suitable age from the clan to marry Ren Jun.

At this time, Cao Hong, who was following Cao Cao, saw that Cao Cao had not moved for a long time, so he stood like this, not knowing what he was looking at, he was still young, so after joining the army, Cao Cao deliberately kept him by his side, and his relationship with Cao Cao was also relatively close, so he couldn't help but ask:

"Big brother, what are you looking at?"

Hearing Cao Hong's question behind him, Cao Cao retracted his thoughts and smiled, he turned to look at Cao Hong, who was still a little immature, his eyes squinted slightly.

Cao Hong is also the same group of clansmen who came to join the army to help him with Xiahoudun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Chun, but he is young and has no talent to show, that is, he is not as good as the person who killed and insulted his division commander at the age of fourteen.

Together with Cao Ren and Cao Chun, who are his contemporaries, the talents they show can steadily overwhelm him.

Cao Ren and Cao Chun are brothers, Cao Ren is young and good at being a hero, after the separation, all the inheritance left by his father in the family was left to his younger brother Cao Chun, and he took a group of light chivalrous and evil boys to wander between Huaisi, gathered a team of about 1,000 soldiers and horses, this time among the clansmen who came to help, he brought the most people.

After Cao Chun inherited the family's inheritance, he also showed extraordinary talent, he was able to run the family with discipline at a young age, supervise the royal servants, manage the family business without losing order, and was considered very talented by the surrounding villagers. Moreover, Cao Chun also advocated learning and respected the learned Confucian scholars, so many Confucian scholars came to join him, making Cao Chun's reputation praised far and near. In the fourth year of Zhongping, Cao Chun, who was not yet weak, was recruited into the court and served as the squire of the Yellow Gate.

Cao Hong is naturally dwarfed by these clansmen, but he is still young, and he does not have too many scruples and thoughts, which makes Cao Cao quite fond of him, and often takes him with him, at this time he turned to look at the young Cao Hong, Cao Cao smiled, did not answer Cao Hong's question just now, but asked out loud:

"Zilian, I heard that you got a good horse, called 'White Bird', but is there such a thing?"

Hearing Cao Cao talk about his new good horse, Cao Hong raised his eyebrows, a little proud, and was about to speak, but then he thought of something, and quickly lowered his head again, lowered his voice to speak, and at the same time secretly glanced at Cao Cao.

"Well, eldest brother, you even know, yes, this war horse is a good horse, I bought it from a horse merchant in Youzhou, Yuan Rang, Brother Miaocai, after they saw it, they also wanted to exchange gold and silk with me, but I didn't agree."

"I see, it's a war horse from Youzhou, it should be a Wuhuan horse!"

Cao Cao didn't care about the little Jiujiu in Cao Hong's heart, he heard that it was a war horse from Youzhou, and then thought of the Wuhuan people who had been invading and plundering Youzhou a few years ago.

"Yes, speaking of which, I was able to get this Wuhuan man's war horse, thanks to the good governance of Youzhou Mu now. I heard that he himself was clothed and roped, and he had no food and meat, but he treated the Qianshou under his rule very well, and he was lenient, persuaded the farmers to sang, opened the benefits of Guhu City, and passed the salt and iron of Yuyang, and through the exchange of markets with the Wuhuan people, he not only pacified the Wuhuan people who had been in the army for many years, but also increased the tax revenue of the state capital and enriched the armament. ”

Cao Hong nodded and talked eloquently, Cao Cao glanced at him in surprise and said with a smile:

"You know, that's a lot!"

Cao Hong smiled when Cao Cao said it, scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and said:

"It's rare to be able to buy such a good horse, so I talked a little more to those horse dealers at that time."

Cao Cao pondered for a while, he didn't mean this, Liu Yu's ability to govern the place, when he was an official in the court, he often heard about it, speaking of which, Liu Yu's reputation is greater, and he is a relative of the Han family, and the soldiers and horses in Youzhou are also comparable to Liang, and the elite soldiers, if Liu Yu is willing to join the alliance to fight for Dong, this time the chances of winning against Dong will be a few points more, and a few people will not fight separately like a plate of scattered sand.

It's just that with Liu Yu's character, even if he is dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo's prestige above the court, he will not follow Yuan Shao and himself and others to join forces and coerce the Son of Heaven in Luoyang Kyoto.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao sighed slightly, nodded and said:

"Gong Liu is a loyal elder!"

After a short sigh, Cao Cao put on his smile again and said to Cao Hong:

"Zilian, the next time you meet that group of horse merchants, tell them that as long as there are good horses from the Northland, you can sell them all here, and I will not refuse to fight the horses here, and I will definitely buy them at a higher price."

"Good!"

After talking about the horses, Cao Cao thought about other things, but did not speak again, while Cao Hong rarely opened the conversation, taking advantage of this opportunity, he hurriedly asked Cao Cao in a low voice:

"Big brother, you see, I waited here for some days and Mu also stopped for some days, why did I hold military discussions all day long, but I didn't move any soldiers and horses, when did I want to march?"