After Xun You and Yu Ban were captured, their performance was completely different. Yu Ban took the initiative to ask for surrender at that time, but Xun You refused to bow his head. Liu Xin ordered Xun You to be released and sent back to his hometown Yingchuan, where he would be beheaded for public display.

For such a disposition, Fu Zhi didn't understand it, but Liu Xin didn't say it, and he didn't dare to ask more, so he had to follow it.

In fact, on the issue of how to deal with these two people, Liu Xin was also thoughtful. Yu Ban is indeed a general, and he is also very proficient in martial arts, but he lacks one thing, that is, backbone. Liu Xin hopes that his subordinates can be civil officials who are not greedy for money, and military generals who do not hesitate to die. And this point cannot be done by banning. If it had been a few years earlier, Liu Xin might have spared him and entrusted him with a position, but Liu Xin is now full of talents, and he is indeed not worse than Ban.

But Xun You is different, he is a member of the Yingchuan Xun family, and Yingchuan Academy is the property of the Xun family. Although there are not many Xun family members in Yingchuan now, there are many Xun family members who are officials under Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Liu Xin has been taking good care of the Xun family since he occupied Yingchuan, and one of the reasons is that he had a relationship with Xun Yu in his early years. Of course, this is only a superficial reason, and the deeper reason is that Liu Xin hopes to use these talents of the Xun family for his own use.

The so-called civil governance and martial arts, although the world is chaotic now, but pacification is just around the corner, and in the future, to govern the world, more people like Xun You and Xun Yu who are proficient in internal affairs are needed. If it weren't for Xun Yu and Xun You's help, Cao Cao would have been anxious because of the grain and grass matter, where could he still compete with Yuan Shao for so long. Such talents are exactly what is urgently needed to govern the country in the future. And Liu Xin believes that as long as Xun You returns to Yingchuan and sees the great changes that have taken place in his hometown, his thinking will definitely change.

At noon that day, the entrance of Chang'an Caishi was crowded, and Yu Ban, Chen Qun and the soldier were escorted to the court. In order to prevent the prisoners from saying things that should not be said before the execution, all three people were stuffed with walnuts in their mouths and tightened with strips of cloth, and they could only make a whining sound from the depths of their throats. However, the expressions of the three men were different. Yu Ban's face was full of chagrin and regret, Chen Qun was angry, and only the soldier looked calm.

With a cry of "The hour is up!" The warden threw out a fire stick, the executioner raised the ghost-headed broadsword, and Yu Ban and the soldier fell to the ground. However, Yu Ban's head was quickly picked up by the messenger and sent to the city gate to show the public. The soldier's head was collected along with the body in a thin-skinned coffin and sent to a mass grave outside the city for burial. Of course, no one knew that after nightfall, the soldier's coffin would be transported to Xiangyang and buried in the martyrs' cemetery in the south of the city. The worst is Chen Qun, he will not die until he is cut seventy-two times by the executioner, and if he dies a moment earlier, the executioner himself will be punished.

There were two former colleagues at the execution ground, but Xun You did not come to see Chen Qun and Yu Ban off, because he had already embarked on a journey south, accompanied by his and Xun Yu's family members and an escort of officers and soldiers. In Xun You's affairs, Liu Xin is a good person to the end, not only returning Xun Yu's family, but also returning Xun Yu's family. Of course, Xun You didn't believe that the officers and soldiers of that team were really trying to protect their own safety, but they were afraid that it was more out of surveillance. But he didn't dare to fight the idea of running away, if it was reasonable to run away in the past, it would be a big deal to harm his family, but now his cousin Xun Yu's family is also following behind.

Liu Xin did not come to the scene to watch the execution, although he had experienced many battles, he still didn't like such a bloody scene. He stayed in the palace all day with his wife and children, although this trip to the Western Regions did not have time to prepare any gifts because of the rush to come and go, but it was still very popular with everyone to talk about the customs of the Western Regions.

The palace city is too big, Ma Yun and Bian Yu have their own palaces, but there is less contact with each other, but the relationship is not as close as when they were in Xiangyang. Now that Liu Xin is back, everyone is together, which is a rare opportunity to enhance their relationship.

Just when everyone was feeling the warmth, Ma Yun suddenly said: "When you leave Chang'an at such an important time, won't you just look at the scenery?" ”

Liu Xin smiled, took out a piece of paper from his arms, raised it, and said: "The results of this trip are all here, and I have signed the "Treaty of Khotan" with Kangju. ”

Only in front of his courtiers will Liu Xin call himself "I", and in front of his family, he is still used to saying the word "I".

Ma Yun took the piece of paper and looked at it, her face suddenly changed, and she said, "Why do you give Kangju such generous conditions?" ”

In the eyes of Fu Zhi, Tian Feng and others, this treaty was just a gift from the Heavenly Empire to a remote and small country, and it was not a big deal. But Ma Yun is different, her concept is the same as Liu Xin, and it is impossible to sacrifice real profit for a little fame. Therefore, Ma Yun immediately became suspicious of this treaty.

Liu Xin didn't hide it, and told her and Ban Xue'er about it.

Women naturally like to gossip, for such an incredible thing, Bian Yu and Cai Yan naturally wanted to break the casserole and ask to the end, only Ma Yun had a straight face and was angry. It took Liu Xin a lot of effort to coax her to change her mind.

However, Liu Xin didn't stay with his wife and children for long, and soon news about Cao Cao came.

Cao Cao not only has a lot of talents under his hands, but he is also a hero with great ambitions, so Liu Xin attaches so much importance to him, and must eliminate him first, and then deal with Yuan Shao. In fact, Cao Cao also deserves Liu Xin's attention.

Upon learning of the loss of Puyang, Cao Cao experienced only a brief moment of shock before making the decision to launch a frenzied, almost desperate attack on Tiger Prison Pass. This fierce offensive continued until dark. The terrain of Tiger Prison Pass was not suitable for night battles, and every day Cao's army stopped attacking until dark, and this day was no exception, and it did not attract the attention of the defenders in the slightest. Unlike in the past, Cao's army, which had withdrawn to the barracks, did not go into the camp tent to rest, but withdrew from the camp overnight with heavy grain and grass.

Before this war, Cao Cao had also done his homework, and the establishment of the major legions under Liu Xin was made public in the Han Express, so as long as you pay a little attention, you can find out the situation of the Han army. Therefore, Cao Cao was able to deduce Liu Xin's troop deployment without any effort, so he dared not to save Yuan Shao and instead attacked Tiger Pass.

What Cao Cao didn't expect was that the defenders of Tiger Prison Pass were so tenacious, and the army under him was also elite, attacking for more than ten days, but he failed to set foot in the city, but lost Puyang.

But Cao Cao also knew that Liu Xin's current troops were not abundant, and he could divide his troops to attack Puyang, and other places would definitely be empty. Now Cao Cao does not have no soldiers in his hands, but lacks money and food. Puyang has been lost, and the shortage of food in the army will be even more serious, even if it is useless to return to the division now, it is better to take a risk.

As a result, Cao Cao withdrew his army to Chenliu overnight. Chenliu was the place where he raised his army, and he had the support of the local scholar family. However, Cao Cao only replenished some grain and grass in Chenliu, and then entered the territory of Runan through Chen. Although the Wei family was extremely wealthy, it was not enough to feed such a huge army, and Cao Cao needed to find another source.

Runan is not wealthy, but Cao Cao knew that Mi Fang smuggled grain to Puyang through Runan, which means that a large amount of grain must have been accumulated in Runan, and even the foundation of the Mi family has been moved from Xuzhou to Runan. The Mi family was the richest man in Xuzhou back then, and now with Liu Xin, he has long been bleeding oil, if he can copy the Mi family, then he will have both money and food.

Cao Cao is not a good stubble, after the army was short of food and grass, he sent troops to dig up a lot of tombs of the princess, let him copy a rich family. As long as there is money and food, it won't be long before he Cao Cao can make a comeback, and the recovery of Puyang is just around the corner.

Of course, the reason why Cao Cao was so confident was entirely based on one of his judgments. Now Liu Xin has two major enemies, one is he Cao Cao, and the other is Yuan Shao. Now that the siege of Tiger Prison Pass has been lifted, and he Cao Cao has also lost Puyang and fled, Liu Xin will definitely focus on Yuan Shao. Because of the fourth generation and third duke of the Yuan family, there are many generals under his command, countless money and food, and there are more Xianbei and Wuhuan to help each other, so it should be Liu Xin's strong enemy. It was impossible for Liu Xin to let Yuan Shao go, but he came to pursue him Cao Cao. As long as Liu Xin and Yuan Shao fight for a while, he Cao Cao can regroup in the Xu Yang area.

As Cao Cao expected, the army was empty, and there were only a small number of local troops stationed in the counties along the way, and the city was also very dilapidated, and it had not been specially repaired, almost in one go. But to Cao Cao's disappointment, the counties in Runan were very poor, not at all like the places under Liu Xin's rule.

In fact, what Cao Cao didn't know was that although Runan and other counties were occupied by Liu Xin together with the counties in the south of the Yangtze River, the funds in Liu Xin's hands were not unlimited, and he had to consider the priority of development. Jiangnan is the focus of Liu Xin's development, and Runan has relatively few resources, and the focus is on solving the food and clothing of the people. The people of Dahan are very simple, and their requirements are not high, as long as they can fill their stomachs. Therefore, although Runan did not become as wealthy as Jiangnan, the people still sang praises to Liu Xin, but created a false impression for Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was naturally unwilling, and continued to wave his army south, entering the territory of Jiujiang. Jiujiang County is the largest county in Yangzhou, Shouchun, Yinling, and Liyang have all been the administrative offices of Yangzhou, even when Liu Xin attacked Jiujiang, it took a lot of effort, and it was easy for Cao Jun to overcome.

Sure enough, after Cao Cao entered Jiujiang, he immediately encountered a roadblock.