A side room in the backyard of the Duke of Wei's mansion was smoky, and Cao Cao, who was the Duke of Wei, was very comfortable leaning on the south side of the room, closing his eyes slightly, as if he was awake and enjoying the pleasure brought to him by this awakening incense from the south. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Cao Cao suffers from migraines, everyone knows this. In order to cure this problem, which was not a "problem", Cao Cao's ministers and his family members did not know how many means they had used and how much money they had spent on it. After knowing that the incense produced in the south had the effect of relieving headaches, they bought a lot of them desperately to use them for their father-in-law. This seems to have developed Cao Cao's habit of hiding in the wing room to a certain extent, after all, lying down is always more comfortable than sitting.

This is the moment when Cao Cao is curing, and it stands to reason that no one should disturb him, but now there is an accident. The hurried arrival of Jia Xu and Xun Yu made this a place for Cao Cao and their "playing" meeting. This can also be seen from the repetition of Cao Cao's attention to this negotiation. After all, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahoudun, and Cao Chun are all brothers of their own family, and Zhang He is also his own general, and this cadre is extremely important to him. Therefore, before the negotiations began, Cao Cao issued an order to the two negotiators he had appointed: "As soon as there is any news, notify me immediately." "Cao Cao didn't give Jia Xu full authority to them, not because he didn't trust them, but because the whole meeting was conducted under his own nose, and from the place of the meeting to his side, it was just a matter of passing through a few courtyards, and there was no need to give any carte blanche or anything like that, which would make things more complicated.

The report was going on, Jia Xu and Xun You truthfully reported the conditions proposed by Li Sheng, and then honestly stayed in a plate and waited for Cao Cao's anger to explode. They all knew that their lord would never accept such a condition. Even if he is a loser, his brother and the general are trapped by the other party, and they can actually be regarded as prisoners of the other party, and he will not agree to pay compensation for the land. Because this is an insult to him both in terms of face and practical interests. And for such an insult, it is a strange thing that he does not get angry - he Cao Cao has never been a humble gentleman, not the kind of person who is slapped on the left cheek and sends the right cheek instead.

Heavy wheezing sounded throughout the chamber. Cao Cao, who stood silently with bated breath, tried to stop his anger, but he couldn't do anything after all. No one has ever dared to threaten him so blatantly, especially after he exterminated Yuan Shao and became the strongest person in the world, no one dared to do so.

“…… Li Sheng, this damn guy, Lao Tzu, I won't kill you for three generations, and Lao Tzu won't be surnamed Cao. Although there were still people in the house, Cao Cao still couldn't help cursing, and after he cursed viciously, he still looked at Jia Xu and Xun Yu with a black face and hatred: "Why did you bring this thing to me?" You know there's no way I'm going to accept this! ”

"My lord, this is a condition proposed by Li Sheng. Li Sheng granted Deng Zhi and Deng Ai carte blanche to what Deng Zhi said, and what Deng Zhi said was what Li Sheng said. Although we also understand that this condition is really unacceptable, since it is Li Sheng's condition, Wen He and I dare not be good at it no matter what. Everything needs your consent. "Xun You is on the right path, which is how it is explained.

"Oh?" Cao Cao sighed softly, but looked at Jia Xu noncommittally: "What does Wen He think about this matter?" ”

"I think it's just a ploy by Li Sheng. With the level of those people on Li Sheng's side, of course they knew that we would never accept such a request. And they still do this after understanding this, because the goal they are talking about is absolutely false. They have such a lofty goal in order to bargain with us, like a merchant doing business. Jia Xu didn't know that there was such a thing as "asking for a price all over the sky, sitting on the ground and paying back", but he still expressed the meaning of this statement with his own understanding: "There is still talk about negotiations with Li Sheng. ”

"Really?" Cao Cao's face was still gloomy and tight: "Everyone else has pressed on our heads, and we are still thinking about negotiations?" This is not what I Cao Cao did. Why don't you want to give the people in the west some color? Seemingly dissatisfied with what his two military advisors said, Cao Cao put forward his own opinion. This view is irrefutable, because Cao Cao quickly issued a battle order: "Let Xiahou Yuan, the remaining guard of Chang'an, attack Hanzhong." I want the people of Yizhou to know who is the strongest in the world. ”

As the lord, Cao Cao gave such an order, and he was still in extreme anger, so Jia Xu and Xun You, who were courtiers, naturally had no objections to this. They also felt that Li Sheng was a little too deceitful, and they really had to teach him a painful lesson.

Just ......, "Lord, what should I do with this grain and grass?" Xun You asked. No one objects to the fact that it should be fought, but the logistics of this fight are not easy to solve. Xun You had always been in charge of this, so he quickly thought of this.

"How......? Isn't our food and grass enough to sustain us in such a war? I remember that this year's Guanzhong area was a bumper harvest. Although Yuzhou and Yanzhou have suffered certain losses because of Xiangyang, Guanzhong, Hebei and Xuzhou should still have money and grain! Let us people work hard for a while, and wait until we defeat Li Sheng. Cao Cao said so, he felt that there should be no problem in fighting such a battle. Although I can't compare with the previous few years, there are indeed many difficulties, but I shouldn't exhaust my savings. "Let's not say anything else, use our savings to fight, we should be able to hold out for a while." Cao Cao thought hatefully.

"Uh...... That's okay too. Xun You thought for a while and was speechless. But Jia Xu raised another question: "Lord, what is our goal in fighting Li Sheng this time?" ”

"The goal? Our most basic goal is to at least have one game and make Li Sheng realize that we are serious. To put it simply, it is to promote peace by fighting and making Li Sheng soft. Cao Cao considered the actual situation of his own family, and finally set such a goal that seemed to be a little petty.

"I see." Jia Xu nodded, but breathed a sigh of relief.

Orders were quickly communicated, negotiations came to an end for the time being, and Cao's army began to mobilize. Although Xuchang was not under martial law, the atmosphere in the city was much more tense than at the beginning. Cao Cao mobilized a team of 1,000 people to blockade the post house where Li Shengjun's envoy lived, and locked all Li Shengjun's people in the post house, and they were not allowed to travel unless they were ordered.

“…… Movement was completely restricted, and the entire post house was filled with watchful eyes. Shizai, I wonder if we've gone too far? I didn't expect Cao Cao's reaction to be so big. Deng Zhi said with a headache. At this moment, he regretted a little in his heart, did he say a little too much?

Looking at Deng Zhi's unstable color, Deng Ai, who had always been concerned about him, sighed helplessly, wrote something on the white paper in front of him and handed it to him directly: "It's not that we have gone too far." It was Cao Cao's arrogance that did not allow them to bear the matter of land reparations. They want to protect their interests and they want to save their face. They have big hearts, but they don't care whether this fits or not. ”

"Is that so? Is it just that they are greedy? Deng Zhi couldn't believe it: "Don't they realize that they are defeated?" ”

"Indeed!" Deng Ai's words are obvious in black and white.

"So...... How do we do that? Deng Zhi humbly asked this young man who was several years younger than himself for advice.

"Wait!" Deng Ai wrote: "We are people on the surface, and we have no connection with the secret. Cao Cao didn't know this, which is why he sent so many people to come and see us. He thought that he could block the transmission of news of his own troops by watching us, but they did not expect that there was another way for us to spread information in Xuchang. For everything Cao Cao has done, we can only choose silence and wait. Everything can only wait for the result of Cao Cao's dispatch of troops. Only when Cao Cao's side has a result, will he come to negotiate with us again. To put it mildly, Cao Cao didn't shed tears when he didn't see the coffin. ”

"Don't you shed tears when you don't see the coffin? Hehe, we really don't have much to do about it. I can only let the lord try to let them see the coffin. Deng Zhi laughed when he heard this, and said such a sentence.

"But it's also possible that we saw this coffin." Deng Ai wrote such a sentence that people don't like very much—this is another possibility, but neither Deng Ai nor Deng Zhi thinks that this is very likely. After all, Li Sheng's preparations in Hanzhong have been made for a long time, and Deng Ai and Deng Zhi, who have been monitored by Cao Cao, can only choose to wait at this moment.

On August 29, the 22nd year of Jian'an, Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Yuan to lead the army to attack Shu as the general of the expedition to the west, and threatened Hanzhong with 100,000 soldiers. Although Cao Cao said on the surface that he wanted to completely exterminate Li Sheng's existence, people with a discerning eye understood that this was just Cao Cao's attempt to save the defeat of Xiangyang.

The news quickly spread to Hanzhong, and after Li Sheng saw this information, he didn't know what to say. To be honest, he didn't want to keep fighting. But Cao Cao unexpectedly chose to send troops, and he had no more to do about it. He was unwilling to retreat, so he could only choose to face the battle, and immediately gathered his generals in Hanzhong to prepare for battle. Since the previous measures for dealing with the enemy had already been arranged, he did not say much when facing the generals, but after some exciting agitation, he gave the order to guard the pass and not attack without authorization. Because Li Sheng already had a further idea about this in his heart.

"In Xiangyang, we used the tactics of defending the west and attacking the east, so that Sun Quan thoroughly understood our strength. And now in Hanzhong, I plan to bring the plan that was originally launched in a few years to the present. Since Cao Cao refused to negotiate with me honestly and accept my terms, then I would make him suffer more. I plan to defend the east and attack the west, and take Liangzhou down for me. Li Sheng didn't say much about the general, but for the military teacher Fa Zheng who was beside him, Li Sheng had to tell his intentions, and he still needed him to help him pick up the gaps.

"Hit Liangzhou? That was supposed to be four or five years later. Lord, do you think we can do it now? Hearing that Li Sheng suddenly had such a great determination because of Cao Cao's attack at this moment, the military advisor Fa Zheng's brows furrowed involuntarily, and he asked with a little suspicion.

"All the preparations are pretty much done. Ma Dai has also been in Qiangzhong for several years, and he has already gained a foothold in Qiangzhong by taking advantage of the support we have given him and the prestige of his brother Ma Chao. Since two years ago, he has been providing me with war horses one after another. Although the number of these war horses is not too much in order to avoid the reconnaissance of Cao Cao's side, the accumulation of several years still makes the number of war horses of our army reach 20,000. We formed a new cavalry with 20,000 war horses, which were completely handed over to Ma Chao for training in the Wenshan area, which means that it can adapt to the environment and language of Qiangzhong. The army's preparations were almost complete by this point. As for grain and grass, after the implementation of the division of the military region and the efforts to import a large amount of grain from the south through Jiaozhou, our army's grain and grass have been sufficient to cover our army's war for several years. The amount of storage is outstanding. If I hadn't wanted to wait a few more years for the situation to become more mature, so that our army's firearms could be further equipped, even if we were to go to war with Cao Cao now, it would not be impossible to carry out a medium-sized Northern Expedition. Li Sheng smiled and solved Fazheng's doubts, in fact, the Fazheng he said basically understood, but he didn't consider all of this as a whole. After all, he is more in charge of tactics than strategy.

"So what is our plan now......?" Fa Zheng seems to understand a little, but he still wants to confirm it.

"Guard Yangping Pass and don't let Cao Jun enter. At the same time, I transferred Ma Chao's department in Wenshan to Qiangzhong, so that he could join Ma Dai in Qiangzhong and attack Liangzhou on the side. Regarding Fazheng's uncertainty, Li Sheng gave a very clear answer.

"So who is the general in charge of the Battle of Liangzhou......?" After listening to Li Sheng's answer, Fa Zheng nodded with satisfaction, but asked such a question again.

"Just use Ma Chao himself, is there anything wrong with this?" Li Sheng replied as a matter of course.

"General Ma Chao's ability is that there is no problem, but General Ma Chao's loyalty? This gave us a lot of headaches. Liangzhou is the original territory of the Ma family, and the prestige of the Ma family there is already high, and I believe that General Ma Chao will definitely not spend much effort to obtain the ruling power of Liangzhou once he passes. At that time, how will the lord treat General Ma Chao? Appoint General Ma Chao as the pastor of Liangzhou? This is not a good thing - it is easy for Ma Chao to become a relatively independent piece of land in our territory. Fa Zheng shook his head and asked such a series of questions.

"Huh?" Li Sheng was dumbfounded, thinking that he had never thought that there was such a problem. Li Sheng generally had a more positive view of his generals, and he did not doubt their loyalty. In his opinion, these people were all recruited by him with great difficulty, but he did not suspect them, and he did not use suspicious people. "I don't think that's the problem." Li Sheng insisted on his own point of view, he had also been in contact with Ma Chao, and knew that Ma Chao was the kind of bold person who had no scheming, it was really hard to imagine that he would betray himself and stand on his own, and Li Sheng was still a little sure of his own side of things, especially the army: "The newly recruited army in Wenshan is in accordance with the rules of our army." Just like all the armies we have here, there are guarantees at every level, even if Ma Mengqi has different intentions, I am afraid that he will not be able to take these people away. ”

"Is that right? But how many new troops do we recruit? How many centaurs are there in Ma Dai? If something really goes wrong, can these people prevent it? I don't think so, they can only disperse at best. Fa Zheng carefully analyzed.

"Is this possible? Maybe it's just a no-brainer? Li Sheng didn't believe it on the surface, but in his heart he was somewhat concerned about whether such a problem could really occur. What's your suggestion? After a moment of silence, Li Sheng asked.

"Can someone else replace Ma Chao? In addition to the prestige of the Ma family, Ma Chao's strongest is the cavalry, and there is another cavalry general of our army. Fa Zheng vaguely pointed out: "That person's loyalty to the lord is much stronger than Ma Chao." ”

"You mean Zilong?" Li Sheng came to his senses, and began to think about such a feasible letter in his heart: Zhao Yun is his brother-in-law and his old minister, and his loyalty to himself is undeniable, and he is good at commanding cavalry, quite strategic, and is a first-class general in Li Sheng's army. If it weren't for Ma Chao's much deeper roots on the ground in Liangzhou than he Zhao Yun, Li Sheng thought that he would be the most suitable person to go to Liangzhou to carry out such an independent mission, but ......

"Zilong's ability in this matter naturally doesn't have any problems. It's just that most of the people of Liangzhou are subordinates of the Ma family, and the Qiang people are also more convinced of the prestige of ......the Ma family.

"This matter is settled." Fa Zheng laughed: "Didn't General Zhao's wife die of illness two years ago?" There is only a pair of toddlers left, and they need to be supervised. I heard that General Meng Qi has a sister who is outstanding in appearance and has not yet been allowed to be anyone. Why didn't the lord renew the strings for General Zilong and marry General Meng Qi's sister to General Zilong? Fa Zheng thought about it and put forward such a "marriage" proposal.

"Well, that's a good suggestion." Li Sheng thought about it, stroked his palm, and laughed: "Just do what you say." Let Meng Qi lead the team to Yinping, and I will go there, and we will handle this matter, and then let Meng Qi be in charge of the Guards Cavalry Battalion, and the commander will follow me. Li Sheng thought for a moment and said. This can be regarded as a compensation for Ma Chao: the Guards Cavalry Battalion was the only formed cavalry unit before Li Shengjun's Qiangzhong Cavalry Battalion was established in Ma Chao. It adheres to Li Shengjun's consistent selection style of survival of the fittest, and its combat strength has always been one of the best among Li Shengjun. Although the number of its soldiers is not as good as the team trained by Ma Chao himself, it is superior in terms of elite. This team has always been led by Zhao Yun, and at this moment, Li Sheng has the idea of sending Zhao Yun to Qiangzhong instead of Ma Chao, so he plans to hand over the vacated position vacated by Zhao Yun to Ma Chao. In this way, the transfer between Ma Chao and Zhao Yun can be regarded as a parallel transfer, and it is not obvious that it is because of Li Sheng's distrust of Ma Chao.

"My lord's plan is wonderful." He sincerely appreciated Li Sheng's decision, and his eyes changed slightly. From this, he realized one thing: it was not that his lord did not know these schemes, but that the character of his own lord made him more willing to treat his subordinates with trust, rather than using this plot to measure all these relationships. "Although this is considered the innocence of the lord when you think about it carefully, for us subordinates, it is our blessing to meet such a lord. People's hearts are flesh and blood, and no one wants to be in an environment of intrigue. Fa Zheng pondered this: "Do I also have to change my temper a little?" "—That's a problem.

Ma Chao's team came here on the fourth day of Li Sheng's arrival in Yinping. At this time, the battle for the defense of Hanzhong had begun. Li Sheng left Wei Yan and Fa Zheng in Nanzheng to lead the war in Hanzhong, and at the same time asked the white-clothed Luo Zhao to continuously pass on the battle situation in Hanzhong: everything seems to be fine so far. Wei Yanqin led an army of 50,000 to wait at Yangping Pass, because of the proper preparation, Xiahou Yuan, who came from afar, did not dare to make further moves, and only went down to the village fifteen miles before the pass, but did not attack, and seemed to pose as a long-term threat. The war between Hanzhong and China is in the midst of a confrontation. Since Yangping Pass was like a gate, completely locking Xiahou Yuan's team outside the mountain gate, Zhao Yun's cavalry was not of much use, and Li Sheng was able to take Zhao Yun westward and bluntly renew the strings for him.

"That doesn't seem good." Although he is in his forties, when it comes to such a thing, Zhao Yun, who has already become a general, is still a little unscrupulous like a man.

"Why is it bad?" For Zhao Yun's embarrassment, Li Sheng pursed his lips but was a little disdainful: "Guang'er, Tong'er, how old are you?" They all have to be taken care of. Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your own son. No one loves a motherless child, and you are a military quartermaster who is often away. ”

"But General Meng Qi's sister-in-law is only thirty-eight years old, and it seems that she is not suitable for me...... Are people of young age? Zhao Yun still felt that something was wrong.

"Huh...... Age? Do you think people are too young or too old? Very unkindly, Li Sheng asked Zhao Yun directly.

"This ......" Zhao Yun really had some hard words about it.

"Don't do this, that." Seeing Zhao Yun's hesitation, Li Sheng waved his hand kissingly, but gave him a death order: "Anyway, you take a look first, and if you want to give me a word when the time comes." I don't want you, General Zhao, to be completely unmanly in this matter. ”

"Oh, okay." Zhao Yun was a little embarrassed by Li Sheng's words, gritted his teeth and agreed in one breath.

Ma Chao came to Yinping and stationed his army outside the city, while he led thirty-six horsemen and a petite lieutenant into the city. Zhao Yun and Li Sheng could see all this clearly on the Yinping city tower, but Zhao Yun paid attention to the military appearance and morale of the team trained by Ma Chao, but Li Sheng glanced at the team under the city, and set his eyes on the deputy general who entered the city with Ma Chao. Although no one explained to him in advance, he also knew that this petite deputy general was Ma Chao's sister, the girl named Ma Yunlu. "It seems that he has a similar personality as Yu'er and Ren'er, and he thinks he belongs to that kind of heroic type." Looking at it from a distance, Li Sheng commented. He was very enthusiastic about helping Zhao Yun continue the strings.

Ma Chao entered the Yinping Taishou Mansion, and after a little calm, he made a request to meet with Li Sheng. Li Sheng naturally agreed to this request, and he asked Ma Chao to wait in the front hall of the Taishou Mansion first.

For such a request, Ma Chaonaturally agreed. After two years under Li Sheng's command, he knows very well what his current status is. Although Li Sheng's so-called statement that there is something is just a kind of prevarication, he still understands this prevarication very well - now that Li Sheng is the lord and he is a minister, he is respectful and humble, and he can't let Li Sheng, the lord, wait for him, the courtier. After understanding the situation, he quickly took his sister and came to the front hall as agreed.

Generally speaking, the front hall should be empty at this time, but Ma Chao and Ma Yunlu pushed the door in and saw Zhao Yun. At this moment, he was sitting in the front hall with a cramped face, looking at the Ma Chao brothers and sisters who pushed the door in with a strange expression, but he was speechless for a long time. For a moment, the atmosphere became awkward.

"Isn't the lord here?" After being stunned for a while, Ma Chao opened his mouth to ask Zhao Yun.

"The lord only let me wait here alone, and at the same time let General Ma go to the side hall to meet alone." Zhao Yun was stunned for a moment, but when it came to business, he quickly came back to his senses.

"Just me?" Ma Chao was surprised, glanced at the girl who was standing beside him in the dress of a lieutenant general, and felt a little clear in his heart: "The lord is like this, but I want to create an opportunity for my sister and General Zhao Yun to meet." It seems that it is indeed very reasonable for people to say that General Zhao Yun is a first-class general under the lord. At that moment, he figured these things out, explained a few words in his sister's ear, and then walked past Zhao Yun and walked towards the side hall. He walked in a dashing manner, but he undoubtedly left an awkward ambiguity to the two in the front room, so that they didn't know what to say—of course, he didn't know that.

Not to mention how Zhao Yun and Ma Yunlu carried out this "blind date" after Ma Chao left, just said that Ma Chao came to the side hall to meet Li Sheng, and after a few words of greeting, he was very stunned and was frightened by Li Sheng's words: "I still doubt your loyalty." Li Sheng said such a big truth directly in front of Ma Chao.

“…… Belch! Ma Chao, who was said this, was embarrassed at the moment, and he didn't know what to say. What can he say? For Li Sheng, he has no second thoughts, although he always wants to go back to Liangzhou, but he has no idea of betraying Li Sheng on his own. He thinks that he is a loyal minister, but such a loyal minister is still suspected by his lord, which makes him feel a little aggrieved and a little disheartened. In front of Li Sheng, he didn't know whether he should turn around and say goodbye, or kneel on the ground in fear, or cry there with tears and snot. Maybe it's only normal to do something like this. But Ma Chao didn't wait to admit that he really couldn't do this.

"Meng Qi, do you know why I said something like that?" Ma Chao stood there speechless, the expression on his face was ever-changing, all of this was seen in Li Sheng's eyes, he seemed to understand Ma Chao's mood a little, and asked so at the moment, but he wanted to draw Ma Chao's attention.

"Well, what does the lord think about this? Meng Qi has been loyal and has no ambition since he joined the lord. Ma Chao was shocked by Li Sheng's question, and immediately defended himself with a serious expression. He didn't know why Li Sheng doubted himself so much, but he knew that when Li Sheng, his lord, doubted himself, if he didn't make a suitable defense, he was afraid that it would be a trivial matter to lose his official position and go to work, and his net worth and life would be not guaranteed. For these, Ma Chao couldn't help but get nervous, he was not for his own life, but for his brothers and subordinates, for his relatives and children.

"I understand that, too. That's why I'm going to meet with you alone and talk to you about things like this. If you really have two hearts. Do you think I'm going to have you standing here? Li Sheng said coldly, but it made Ma Chao feel relieved and happy. Although Li Sheng's words were very harsh and full of all kinds of frightening flavors, Ma Chao still understood from Li Sheng's words: his lord Li Sheng did not listen to other people's slander and was ready to deal with him, but because someone was slandering the lord, and the lord could not refute it for a while.

“…… If that's the case, there may be some hope. Ma Chao thought like this, and while breathing a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but pay more attention to Li Sheng's words.