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Xuchang.

Xuchang was originally just an ordinary county seat in Yingchuan County, and was also greatly damaged in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Cao Cao welcomed the Son of Heaven in Xuxian County, changed Xuxian County to Xuchang, and worked hard to govern the country, Xuchang's population gradually recovered, the market also became more and more prosperous, and gradually had the atmosphere of the heyday of the two Han Dynasty.

Especially near the east gate of Xuchang, the houses are lined up one after another, the eaves almost hang down to the ground, and the hawkers who set up stalls and sell along both sides of the street almost occupy half of the East Street, and the vendors who rush to the morning market, the stewards who come to buy and the business travelers who come and go are almost crowded the entire street.

The intersection of Dongmen Street and Suzaku Street is particularly lively.

A steamed cake shop is just a stone's throw from the intersection and attracts a large number of peddlers.

An unkempt half-grown child quietly moved to the steamer along the street from the side, taking advantage of the innocence of the shopkeeper who was not paying attention, he grabbed a white flour cake from the steamer, and then pulled the cake in his mouth and ran, the shopkeeper immediately found that the steamed cake was stolen, and immediately pulled his leg to chase it, while shouting to catch the thief.

Seeing this, the two fast men patrolling nearby also joined the pursuit.

The half-grown child who stole the steamed cake ran wildly, knocking over many vegetable stalls and pedestrians in a row, and the entire Dongmen Street immediately became a crowd of chickens and dogs.

By the time the shopkeeper and the two fast hands chased across the corner, the child was already gone.

Ma Zhong, who was covered in dust, came out of the steamed cake shop and lowered his head and merged into the rioting crowd.

Ma Zhong rode two war horses to death, galloped nearly 400 miles in less than a day and night, and finally arrived in Xuchang before the morning market, and then took the foaming war horse and a farmer outside the city to change a set of linen clothes, and then swaggered into Xuchang City.

After eating and drinking enough, and washing his face in the bucket of the street vegetable vendor, Ma Zhong suddenly felt refreshed.

Ma Zhong casually stopped a woodcutter who was carrying dry firewood and asked, "Uncle, dare to ask Uncle Guo's mansion how to go."

In order to sell at a good price, the woodcutter will directly carry the firewood to the back door of the wealthy family to sell, and naturally he will recognize the door of the local wealthy family.

Sure enough, the woodcutter asked Ma Zhong rhetorically and said, "Which uncle are you asking, Uncle Dong or Uncle Fu?"

Ma Zhong knew that there were two uncles today, one was Dong Cheng, whose daughter was the concubine of the Son of Heaven, and the other was Fu Wan, whose daughter was the queen of the Son of Heaven, which was told to him by Yuan Wei.

At that moment, Ma Zhong said: "I'm looking for Uncle Fu Guo." ”

"Uncle Fuguo," the woodcutter nodded and said, "Go south along Suzaku Street, go west to Yusifang, and then go all the way to the end, and see the vermilion gate with two stone lions at the door, which is Uncle Fuguo's mansion." ”

"Thanks, sir." Ma Zhong thanked him and searched all the way.

After passing through Suzaku Street, turning into Yusifang, and walking hundreds of steps forward, Ma Zhong really saw a big red gate, and two majestic stone lions squatted on the stone steps in front of the gate.

At that moment, Ma Zhong stepped forward and slapped the copper ring on the side door.

After a while, a thin slit opened in the side door, and a pale head poked out of the crack in the door, muttering very unhappily: "It's early in the morning, what kind of door does it take to keep people from sleeping?"

"Dare to ask, this is Uncle Guo's mansion," Ma Zhong asked.

The cangtou said, "You are blind, don't you write on the gate?"

Ma Zhong said: "So, this is really the uncle's mansion"

"Nonsense." Cangtou became more and more impatient, "If there is something to do, say it quickly, if you have nothing to do, get out of here." ”

"There's something, there's something urgent." Ma Zhong hurriedly took out a secret letter from the placket of his clothes and handed it to Cangtou, saying, "Uncle, the villain has a secret letter here, and he wants to hand it over to Uncle Guo by himself." ”

"The secret letter is also handed over to Uncle Guo by hand, bring it to you"

Cangtou snatched the letter from Ma Zhong's hand, and then closed the door with a flat bang, Ma Zhong was blocked from the door, not only was he angry, but his face showed a sly smile.

Dividing line

Cao Pi got up early in the morning as usual and came to the school palace to learn from Xun Yu about governance.

Don't look at Cao Pi is only twelve years old, but he has shown superhuman enthusiasm for political affairs, he followed Xun Yu to deal with government affairs until late at night last night, and early this morning, he came to the school palace early.

However, almost no one knows that Cao Pi actually hates dealing with government affairs, and the reason why he shows so much enthusiasm for "governing politics" is to attract the attention of Xun Yu and other ministers, especially to attract the attention of his father Cao Cao.

Cao Pi knows his own family affairs, he knows that he has a bad background, his biological mother Bian was originally an advocate and Cao Cao's concubine, so he is just a concubine, even now the eldest brother Cao Ang has suffered in Wancheng, and his biological mother Bian has also become the main family, and he Cao Pi has also become Cao Cao's sister-in-law, but Cao Pi still lacks a sense of security.

Because Cao Pi also has a very smart younger brother, he is deeply favored by Cao Cao.

Cao Pi knew that his qualifications were not as good as Cao Value, so only by being more diligent and diligent could make up for his clumsiness, wouldn't it be true that only when the ministers supported him and his father agreed with him, the throne of the prince would not be left behind.

By the time Xun Yu came to the Xue Palace, Cao Pi had already sorted out the chapters sent last night according to the categories of military affairs, agricultural affairs, public works, commercial affairs, and prisons.

Xun Yu praised Cao Pi without hesitation.

Xun Yu's praise made Cao Pi's heart flutter as if he had drunk wine, because Cao Pi knew that Xun Yu was the number one confidant under his father's command, and Xun was the head of the eight families in Yingchuan, and with Xun Yu's support, Cao Pi's position as the son of the world was half stable, and of course Cao Pi at this time would not know that Xun Yu would be separated from Cao Cao in the future.

Xun Yu began to sit down and teach Cao Pi to handle government affairs, and after approving it for a while, a small official suddenly ran in in a hurry.

"Childe, Xun Lingjun, something is wrong, something is wrong" The little official shouted out of breath as he ran.

"What are you panicking about" Xun Yu put down the brush in his hand and said in a deep voice, "It can't fall this day, say, what's wrong?"

"Xun Lingjun, someone wants to rebel" The little official hurriedly ran to Xun Yu and Cao Pi, and said angrily.

"What, rebellion" Cao Pi was suddenly startled when he heard this, no matter how old he is, he is still a child after all.

Xun Yu looked as usual, and said coldly: "Chen Qun, do you know what you are talking about, do you know, spreading rumors is to be asked."

This little official is none other than Chen Qun, who will single-handedly establish the Jiupin Zhongzheng System in the future.

But now, Chen Qun is just a Cao Peng official in Sikong Mansion, and he is not a popular product.

Chen Qun wiped the sweat from his head and said, "Ling Jun, how dare you spread rumors below, there is really physical evidence here." ”

After speaking, Chen Qun took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Xun Yu.

Xun Yu took the letter, unfolded it and read it hurriedly, and his face immediately changed.

Cao Pi was a little curious and asked, "Sir, what did the letter say?"

Xun Yu didn't answer, but handed the secret letter to Cao Pi, and Cao Pi's face changed greatly after reading it: "What, Liu Bei Yuan and Uncle Dong Cheng want to join forces to plot against Xu Du and rob Jingzhou, the son of heaven."

Xun Yu asked Chen Qundao: "Long text, this is a secret letter written by Yuan Wei to his uncle Dong Cheng, how did you get it?"

Chen Qun said: "This thing is really a coincidence, the messenger sent by Yuan Wei was supposed to send a letter to Uncle Dong Guo's mansion, but he didn't want to mistakenly vote to Uncle Fuguo's mansion, after Uncle Fu Guo got the letter, he didn't dare to hide it privately, so he found it in private, and asked him to forward this letter to Ling Jun and Gongzi, Ling Jun, what the letter said is 100,000 urgent, we need to prepare early."

Cao Pi also hurriedly said: "Yes, sir, the secret letter said that Yuan Wei's army could reach Xuchang within five days, and now Xuchang is empty, there are less than 2,000 county soldiers, and it is necessary to quickly transfer troops from various counties to guard Xudu, oh yes, and Uncle Dong Guo, you also need to quickly transfer troops to take it down, so as to prevent future troubles." ”

Chen Qun echoed and said: "What Gongzi said is extremely true, and it is advisable to make a decision as soon as possible. ”

"No, this matter is quite strange, it is hard to guarantee that it is not Yuan Wei's trick." Xun Yu shook his head and said, "Whether Uncle Dong Guo is really secretly colluding with Yuan still needs to be carefully investigated, and you must not rashly transfer troops to take people." ”

Cao Pi said: "But sir, we don't have time, and the edict of clothes and belts mentioned in the secret letter does not seem to be fake, combined with the unexpected defeat of Liu Bei in Runan, Liu Bei went to Jingzhou in a hurry after the defeat, and it was still foggy, but with the edict of clothes and belts, all this can be explained." ”

Chen Qun echoed again: "What Gongzi said is extremely true, with the edict of the clothes and belts, everything will be explained, and then give He Yuan no fanfare in Runan, this is obviously to lure the lord's army into Runan first, wait for Xuchang to be empty, and then Yuan Liu Bei and Dong Chengcai will take advantage of the void to start an incident, it must be so, it must be so."

Xun Yu's expression also became serious, because logically speaking, Cao Pi Chen Qun's speculation was tenable.

If Liu Bei and Dong Cheng had already colluded, then it would be reasonable for Liu Bei to lose to Yuan No in Runan, because this was part of the other party's plan, Liu Bei wanted to give Yuan no all the ordnance and equipment of the 8,000 Cao army, as well as grain and grass, so that Yuan would have the capital to confront Cao Cao and threaten the safety of Xuchang.

After Yuan Wei sat in Runan, Cao Cao would inevitably send a large army to conquer.

At this time, Xuchang became empty, and then Yuan Wei jumped out of Runan again, first put on a false appearance of going north to Qingzhou, waved a shot in Peijun, and then killed Xuchang back under the nose of Cao Jun, and he could easily capture Xuchang with Dong Chengli, the most powerful thing here is that no one believes that Yuan will attack Xuchang without his own strength

If this is the case, I am afraid that Yuan Nuo has already captured Xuchang, but Cao Cao's army is still waiting stupidly in Pei County, waiting for Yuan Nuo to throw himself into the net.

"By the way, sir, there's this." Cao Pi suddenly remembered something, and quickly found a book from the pile of notebooks, and said, "This is an urgent report just sent by Zhang Xiu, the Taishou of Wancheng, saying that Liu Bei has been appointed as the commander of Xinye County by Liu Biao, the assassin of Jingzhou, and is now recruiting troops and horses in Xinye to reorganize the armament. ”

Hearing this, Xun Yu was not calm, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go, go to Dong's Mansion"