Yecheng, the palace of the king of Wei.

Since he was injured in the battle half a year ago, Cao Cao's body has not completely recovered, but after nearly half a year of recuperation, his body has gradually recovered, and he has been able to get out of bed and move recently.

Cao Cao sat down in the courtyard accompanied by Xu Chu, bathed in the warm sunshine, and felt that the shadow of the defeat half a year ago had even darkened.

"I, Cao Cao, am not a person who was defeated lightly, hehe, Liu Qi Xiaoer, the old man really didn't expect that you had that powerful weapon called gunpowder in your hands, which could produce such amazing power, not only blew up the gates of my city, but even the old man I was calculated by you, the explosion on the river not only sent away hundreds of my personal soldiers, but even the old man was seriously injured, and he almost couldn't survive, but unfortunately the old man I had a big life, and finally survived. If you don't die, there will be a blessing, since the old man is lucky not to die, it will be your misfortune in the future, and now the old man is sending people to find out the secrets of those advanced weapons in your army, once they are obtained by our army, they will be used against you, so that you can also taste the taste of giving back to the other in the other way. ”

Cao Cao squinted his eyes and smiled faintly, with a slight smug look on his face.

Xu Chu still stood there like a stone pillar, as Cao Cao's henchman, he naturally understood the truth that the lord would not speak without asking him, but seeing Cao Cao so happy, he couldn't help but think of the news that Qingzhou and Hedong had been lost in the past few days, and that Xiahou Yuan and Zang Ba had all been killed, and his heart suddenly felt gloomy.

Cao Cao was happy in his heart, so he said to Xu Chu: "Zhongkang, you also sit down." Let's talk together. ”

"No. Xu Chu was still a stuffy gourd, just responded simply, and then sat opposite Cao Cao, and then looked at Cao Cao without saying a word.

"Hehe, for so many years, this king has been reminding you. Don't have so many rules with this king, but you don't listen, alas, it's really a way to take you. ”

Although Cao Cao said it very helplessly, he was still very happy in his heart, because as the head of one party, he believed in the imperial power technique very much, and felt that giving his subordinates some mystery could enhance their awe, so he was even his own son. He also communicated without reservation, and even in order to create a sense of mystery and make others dare not approach, he deliberately declared that he would kill people in his dreams, but one day he deliberately pretended to be asleep and killed an attendant who covered him with a quilt on the spot, and after waking up, he "learned the truth", but he cried, buried heavily, rewarded his family, and so on.

So. For Xu Chu's current appearance, he is very satisfied. At any time, he never forgets the difference in his identity, which is the main reason why Xu Chu is most trusted by him.

But Cao Cao likes to pretend to persuade the other party not to take into account etiquette and be intimate with himself, so Xu You and others will be arrogant in front of Liu Qi, of course, their end is only a dead end, and the person who can express Xiàn's intimacy with Cao Cao but will not arouse Cao Cao's suspicion. For so many years, there are only two people, Guo Jia and Xu Chu.

This Wen Yiwu is his right-hand man, and it is like the two wings of a bird, but it is a pity that Guo Jia died, and his bird with broken wings can no longer fly.

"Hehe, Zhongkang. Tell me, if this king had ordered a craftsman to develop gunpowder himself, how long would it take? ”

Cao Cao didn't expect Xu Chu to answer at all when he asked this, because he also understood that Xu Chu didn't know this way at all, and he wouldn't know the answer he wanted at all.

Cao Cao saw that Xu Chu really didn't answer, he was very proud in his heart, and then smiled slowly: "This king thinks that we can develop it in three years at most, and if it is applied to the war, it will only take five years to do it, but this king is not even willing to wait for five years, this king hopes to succeed in three years at most, and if you want to succeed in three years, you must take ready-made, and now the fine work sent by this king to the Chu military camp has gradually been trusted, I believe that within two years, they will definitely succeed in bringing gunpowder technology to Hebei, and as long as there is mature technology, We only need one year at most to produce in large quantities, and at that time, we will be able to use gunpowder weapons to catch Liu Qi'er off guard, this time we use the trick of luring the enemy, concentrate a large amount of gunpowder to blow up Liu Qi'er's main force, and see what other way he can compete with this king for the world? ”

After a slight pause, Cao Cao said slowly: "It's March now, and the river has already thawed, so I think our army has already left for Qingzhou, right?" Hehe, with Zang Xuangao and Mao Xiaoxian here, plus the reinforcements we sent, it should be no problem to keep Qingzhou, as long as time passes, Liu Qi's children run out of food and grass, then they have to retreat. ”

Cao Cao laughed as he spoke, but when he saw Xu Chu's face suddenly a little gloomy, he couldn't help asking, "Zhongkang, what's wrong with you?" ”

Xu Chu shook his head and said in a bit of a panic: "No, it's nothing." ”

Cao Cao opened his mouth and said: "Zhongkang, you have never told a lie in front of this network, how can you hide it from me with such a look today?" Tell the king quickly, is there something wrong with Qingzhou? ”

Xu Chu saw that Cao Cao noticed something abnormal, and he couldn't hide it, so he sighed and said slowly: "Lord Qiqi, don't hide it, Qingzhou fell four months ago. ”

"What? How is this possible? Qingzhou has plenty of grain and grass, and the city is strong, with the skills of Zang Xuangao and Mao Xiaoxian, as long as they can't hold on, how can Liu Qi'er break the city lightly? As long as they suffer for another month, our rescuers will be able to arrive, and in this way, Qingzhou will be more stable, how can it be lost? Could it be that Liu Qi used gunpowder again? Cao Cao couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and then asked in a deep voice.

But Xu Chu, who listened to it, said: "Lord, as far as the last general knows, Liu Qi used up all the gunpowder during the battle of Dunqiu, and there was no surplus in the warehouse, so he did not rely on gunpowder to attack the city, but used normal means to attack the city, in fact, it is not very accurate to say that it is normal means, because Liu Qi is to besiege Jinan and Qi respectively, and then Liu Qi led the army to attack Licheng, the capital of Jinan, at first under the leadership of Mao Xiaoxian, Liu Qi's attack was frustrated, but I didn't expect to know who offered the plan, then Liu Qi and Xun Yu actually jointly wrote a letter Tell the people of Licheng Book", count how the lord is, how he Liu Qi is, and then persuade the people in the city how, the result actually caused a contradiction between the military and the people in the city, and he took advantage of this opportunity to lead the army to break through the city gate, and after his bewitchment, Mao Jue surrendered ......"

"What?" Listening to Xu Chu's words, Cao Cao suddenly felt that his eyes were dark, his throat was salty, and a bloody arrow sprayed from his mouth.

"My lord." Seeing Cao Cao's appearance, Xu Chu was immediately shocked, and hurriedly rushed forward to support Cao Cao, and shouted loudly to ask the imperial doctor to come for treatment.

But at this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves outside the gate of the mansion, and then I heard a person shouting loudly outside the gate of the mansion: "Let me in quickly, I have something urgent to see the king." ”

Cao Cao heard the shouts outside, slowly opened his eyes, and said to Xu Chu, "Zhongkang, let him in." ”

"No." Xu Chu nodded, then waved his hand to the soldiers beside him, and asked him to go and bring the man in.

After a while, he saw a general crying in front of Cao Cao, and then knelt down and said, "King, something is wrong, General Xiahou is dead." ”

"Who do you say? That General Xiahou? Cao Cao's face couldn't help but change greatly when he heard this, and then shouted.

I heard someone say: "It's Xiahou Yuan, the general of Zhengxi, he was attacked by the Chu army on three sides, and as a result, he fell into Huang Zhong's tricks, not only Hedong fell, but even he himself was beheaded with a knife......

Before the man finished speaking, he heard a grunt around him, and then looked up, only to find that it was Cao Cao who was lying upright on the ground, and he was suddenly frightened, not knowing what to do.

Seeing this, Xu Chu on the side was even more shocked, and immediately rushed over, picked up Cao Cao, and carried Cao Cao into the inner room, and immediately notified Cao Pi, Mrs. Bian, Sima Yi and others.

After a short time, they saw Mrs. Bian, Cao Pi, Sima Yi and others arrive almost at the same time as the imperial doctor, and Mrs. Bian and others saw Cao Cao's face as white as paper, and their hearts trembled, but no one dared to speak, just looked at the imperial doctor who was carefully diagnosing the pulse with their eyes, hoping to say the word "no hindrance" from his mouth.

But I didn't expect that the doctor had been working for a long time, and his face became worse and worse, so he finally shook his head and said cautiously: "Madam, prince, Lord Sima, the king's injuries were originally extremely heavy, and it took nearly four months of recuperation to finally improve, but today I suddenly suffered from stimulation, and the guide zhì qi and blood attacked the heart, and the illness became heavy, and the situation seemed to be a little bad." ”

After the imperial doctor said this, Mrs. Bian's complexion suddenly changed greatly, and she asked Xu Chu, "How can this be?" Wasn't it okay this morning? ”

Xu Chu didn't dare to hide it, even if he told what had happened recently.

When Mrs. Bian heard this, she immediately burst into tears and said: "I really didn't expect that even Miaocai was killed in battle, this is really a heavy loss for my king, no wonder he will become like this, but now that he has become like this, no matter what, I have to find a way to save it." ”

After finishing speaking, he ordered someone to open the treasury and use all the best elixirs, so as to save Cao Cao's life.

But this time, due to Cao Cao's desperation, the whole person no longer had any motivation to live, so a generation of traitorous males finally reached the twilight and was ready to return to silence.

On this day, Cao Cao's complexion suddenly improved, he opened his eyes, and saw Sima Yi beside him, and suddenly remembered that it was rumored that Sima Yi had a wolf appearance, so he had a plan, and when Sima Yi rushed out, he immediately shouted loudly: "Zhongda." ”

Seeing that Sima Yi's upper body was not moving, he immediately turned his head behind his back and looked at him in surprise.

Cao Cao saw that Sima Yiguo had a wolf appearance, and remembered that he had been dreaming of three horses eating together in a daze for the past few days, and suddenly thought: "Could it be that the dream I had means that the Sima family wants to take away the power of my Cao family?" ”

I couldn't help but feel unhappy in my heart, so I immediately said a few words and sent him away, and then closed my eyes and thought for a long time, and secretly made a decision in my heart. (To be continued......)