Ma Teng, who fled in embarrassment after the defeat, was still a little loyal to the Han family. Before leaving, Ma Teng specially sent the brave general Pang De to escort the car of Liu Xie, the son of heaven, out of the palace and fled to the east together.

Han Sui suffered such a big loss and lost the Son of Heaven, of course he refused to give up. After capturing Chang'an City, he ignored the dissuasion of other Liangzhou generals, launched his main army, followed Ma Teng, and pursued all the way. Ma Teng went all the way to the east, holding the Son of Heaven hostage and fleeing into Hongnong County. Han Sui's army then pursued to the foot of Hongnong City and surrounded the small Hongnong City.

Fortunately, Ma Teng has been operating in Hongnong for several years, and Hongnong City, which is located on the front line, has been built quite strongly. However, the defect of Hongnong's small scale is more conducive to defense. Unlike in Chang'an City, due to the large size of Chang'an City and the limited number of troops, Ma Teng is relatively difficult to defend. If it weren't for the limited food hoarding in Hongnong City, with the remaining troops in Han Sui's hands, he might not be able to capture this fortified city.

On the surface, although Liu Xie, the son of heaven, seems to be a burden, in fact, sometimes, it is still quite useful. After Ma Teng fled back to Hongnong City, he knew that with Han Sui's temperament, he would never give up. After thinking for a while, Ma Teng immediately sent fast horses to ask for help from Sun Jian, Cao Cao and others around him, claiming that he wanted to return to the east by the Son of Heaven, but was hindered by Han Sui, and asked Sun Jian and Cao Cao to immediately send troops to respond.

In the hearts of Sun Jian and Cao Cao, the name of the Son of Heaven is a good tool. Han Sui has been worshipping the Son of Heaven all these years, but he has not been able to play a big role, that is because Han Sui himself is not in the right name, he is purely a rebel, and he cannot be accepted by the corporal of the world.

However, for legitimate Hanchens such as Sun Jian and Cao Cao, having the Son of Heaven in hand means that the name of righteousness belongs to their side. Anyone who dares to confront the forces that have the Son of Heaven. As long as the edict of the Son of Heaven is sacrificed, the morale of the enemy's army will inevitably be hit to a considerable extent.

However, compared with Cao Cao's enthusiasm, Sun Jian did not have a deep understanding of the issue of welcoming the Son of Heaven. Sun Jian, who was born in a martial arts, is far less politically sensitive than Cao Cao, who was born in an official family. In Sun Jian's heart. The Son of Heaven is not in his hands, and it doesn't feel like there's much difference.

Moreover, Sun Jian's main army was confronting Yuan Shu's forces at this time, and the battle between the two sides was close to breaking out. In such a situation, Sun Jian just sent his eldest son Sun Ce to march west with 5,000 elite soldiers, first joining forces with Zhu Hao and Cao Cao, and then trying to relieve the siege of Hongnong.

As for Cao Cao, although he was extremely enthusiastic about welcoming the return of the Son of Heaven. He even planned where to place the Son of Heaven, but due to his limited strength, he was unable to complete the rescue of Ma Teng on his own. Therefore, after Cao Cao rushed to the front line of Sili with a large army, he had to temporarily stay and wait for the arrival of the coalition army sent by Sun Jian.

To say that Cao Cao is also a state assassin, he just proclaimed himself a state pastor last year, and Yanzhou is also densely populated. Why is it such an important military operation in a large state with a lot of wealth? But he only brought 6,000 elite soldiers?

In this, there is naturally a bitter story belonging to Cao Cao.

Because just the year before last, there was a large-scale rebellion in Yanzhou under the control of Cao Cao. And the people who started this rebellion were several old friends of Cao Cao, and they were important ministers of Yanzhou who were officials of the county state. Their names are:

Chen stayed too guarded by Zhang Miao. Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei, Zang Hong, the minister of the city and the state, and Shanyang guarded Yuan's legacy. In addition, Cao Cao's subordinates Chen Gong, Xu Yan, Wang Kai and others also threw themselves into this full-scale civil war of Yanzhou forces without hesitation.

So. Why did these Yanzhou officials, who were close to Cao Cao, suddenly turn against Cao Cao?

This also starts with one person. This person is the Bian Rang mentioned above.

Bian Rang is a well-known taxi in Yanzhou. He is a native of Chen Liujunyi, worshiped the great Confucian Cai Yong as a teacher, and once served as the commander of the general He Jin, Jiujiang Taishou and other important positions. After Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, Bian Rang knew that the imperial court had been troubled since then, so he decisively resigned and returned to his hometown, wandering among Yanzhou celebrities and scholars to avoid the turmoil inside and outside the court.

Speaking of which, although Cao Cao and Bian Rang knew each other's existence, they had never officially met. Later, under the recommendation of Chen Liutaishou Zhang Miao, Bian Rang and Cao Cao became acquainted with each other.

It's just that when Bian Rang saw Cao Cao at a glance, he immediately turned pale, speechless, and had a frightened expression. Cao Cao was quite strange about this, and secretly asked his reliable masters to infiltrate Bian Rang's mansion to find out the reason for Bian Rang's discoloration. As a result, the news brought back by the master made Cao Cao also shocked!

It turned out that Bian Rang actually inadvertently discovered an extremely secret scandal about Cao Cao.

As mentioned above, when the Kwantung Coalition Army was first formed, there was an important member of the coalition called Qiao Mao. Qiao Mao, a famous scholar who was the Taishou of Dongjun at the time, was one of the initiators of the coalition and had a close relationship with Cao Cao, so he could be regarded as half of Cao Cao's ally.

But later, because Qiao Mao contacted the officials of the counties and states of Yanzhou, he wanted to expel Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou at that time, and served as the assassin himself, so he was deeply hostile to Liu Dai.

So, one day, Qiao Mao set up a banquet in the pavilion outside the barracks in order to let the Yanzhou celebrities who returned to their hometowns serve wine to catch the wind. Suddenly, a group of cavalry from nowhere raided the scene of Qiaomao's banquet and killed Dongjun Taishou Qiaomao on the spot!

Due to the strong force of the attacker, after killing Qiao Mao, he was almost unharmed and successfully retreated. Subsequently, Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, took advantage of the fact that Qiao Mao's subordinates had not yet reacted, so he drove the army to press the border and incorporated Qiao Mao's subordinates on the spot.

After this incident, it became one of the famous mysteries in the world at that time. However, generally speaking, most of the people in Yanzhou privately believe that Liu Dai secretly sent someone to do this.

And Liu Dai actually didn't get any real benefits from it. The final result of this assassination led to the centrifugation of Liu Dai by the officials of various counties and states in Yanzhou. So much so that later, the Qingxu Yellow Turban Army invaded Yanzhou on a large scale, and the officials of various counties and states secretly joined forces to kill Liu Dai, so that Cao Cao could become the new Yanzhou Assassin.

At this point, the people of Yanzhou believe that the case has been completely closed. After all, the two main parties are dead, what else is there to say?

However, few people knew that Bian Rang, as one of the bystanders at the scene of Qiao Mao's killing, would actually kill Qiao Mao's murderer. Remember it so clearly. In particular, Cao Cao's short physique is quite chic, and other people's forms may be forgotten by Bian Rang, but Cao Cao's form has always impressed Bian Rang.

So, in the first sight of Cao Cao. Bian Rang recognized that Cao Cao was one of the murderers of Qiao Mao!

Cao Cao was taken aback at first when he learned that Bian Rang recognized him. However, he quickly reassured himself that Bian Rang would not make a big deal about it. After all, Cao Cao, as the supreme governor of a state, did not have enough real evidence, and Bian Rang couldn't help him. In Cao Cao's prediction, just wait for things to settle down. Cao Cao sent assassins again and quietly eliminated Bian Rang.

However, who would have expected that Bian Rang would be so breathless, and the day after seeing Cao Cao, he hurriedly took his servants back to his hometown. What made Cao Cao even more annoyed was that the spies he sent to monitor outside Bian Rang's mansion actually found that Bian Rang had sent people to deliver several letterheads early in the morning. Cao Cao's spies stopped a letter. The contents of it made Cao Cao shocked.

Because, the side let in the letter. actually organized Cao Cao's assassination of Qiao Mao, and it was written in great detail!

After reading this letter, Cao Cao knew that this person could not be kept. Next, Cao Cao did something that he would later regret. He asked his henchmen to inform his henchman Xiahoudun that he must quietly take down the border concession who tried to escape back to his hometown.

Xiahoudun is "ten thousand enemies". Bian Rang was just a scribe. Taking down the side is of course no difficulty for Xiahoudun. However, I don't know which tendon Bian Rang is wrong, and when he saw Xiahoudun, he was immediately frightened. In a panic. Bian Rang actually committed suicide by taking poison!

As soon as Bian Rang died, he immediately confirmed the matter of Cao Cao's killing of Qiao Mao that he wrote in his letter.

Qiao Mao is Qiao Xuan's nephew and has a good relationship with Cao Cao. Such a good friend, Cao Cao actually said that he would kill him, and he was not merciful at all. Hearing such news made Cao Cao's friends feel cold in their hearts one by one.

Moreover, Bian Rang has a wide range of contacts in Yanzhou, and most of the celebrities in Yanzhou have friendships with him. Such a celebrity, Cao Cao also said that he would kill him, which was simply unscrupulous. Finding that Cao Cao was so ruthless, the celebrities and officials of Yanzhou and the county officials suddenly lowered their senses to Cao Cao to the lowest point.

The rest of the people will just wait. Zang Hong, the prime minister of Ren Chengguo, is a man with great dignity, and he can't see this kind of betrayal of friends and seeking glory. In addition, Zang Hong had a good relationship with Bian Rang, and on the tenth day after Bian Rang's death, Zang Hong gathered well-known scholars in the country and openly raised troops against Cao Cao in the name of Cao Cao's "villain has nothing to do".

Subsequently, Zhang Miao's brother Zhang Chao, who was dissatisfied with Cao Cao but had a good relationship with Zang Hong, strongly encouraged his brother Zhang Miao to respond to Zang Hong with Chen Liujun. And Zhang Miao thought that after defeating Cao Cao, he would probably be able to get the position of Yanzhou Assassin, so he decided to raise troops. Then, Shanyang Taishou Yuan Yu also sent troops to respond, wanting to seize the position of Yanzhou Assassin.

As for the last Jibei Prime Minister Bao Xin, he originally had an excellent relationship with Cao Cao. However, Bao Xin is the most righteous person, and Cao Cao's behavior made Bao Xin very dissatisfied. Bao Xin, who felt that he had seen the wrong person, was instigated by his brother Bao Tao and raised troops in anger against Cao Cao.

For a time, the entire Yanzhou was in chaos. Cao Cao's army and the anti-Cao Cao coalition army pulled the battle lines of both sides from Taishan County in the east to Chenliu County in the west. Most of the powerful clans in Yanzhou were also actively or passively involved in the civil war in the state.

The civil war that affected the entire Yanzhou was extremely tragic. Cao Cao's soldiers, the anti-Cao Cao alliance had many soldiers, and the two sides were at a standoff for a while. If it weren't for the arrogance in the north at this time, he was still in the post-war recovery period, and he couldn't even get together the money and food for sending troops, and Yuan Shu in the south was dragged by Lu Bu and Sun Jian, I was afraid that Yanzhou would fall into the hands of others at that time. (To be continued......)

PS: Some book friends think that Ma Chao died too quickly, so let's explain it here.

One of the characteristics of this writing is that it pursues unconventionality. Those characters who often appear in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and various Three Kingdoms entertainment novels, the author thinks they are well-known enough, and I will think of reducing some of their appearance opportunities, or focusing on writing new ideas. On the contrary, those characters of the Three Kingdoms who are not well known to the majority of readers, the author is very interested in exposing them for a while. Anyway, this book does not pursue commercial value, and it cannot be pursued. The author just wants to write a Three Kingdoms novel with its own characteristics, which can make book friends feel refreshed, then it is the best.

Sincerely, those who silently support and follow this book.