"What? Tao should be sent by a traitor to visit? This traitor is really cunning! What excuse is used? ”

"Lord Yu, I used the excuse of sending medicine, Tao Ying asked the messenger to send some precious medicine under the pretext of worrying about your physical condition, and asked the envoy to bring it to you." Cheng Yu replied respectfully, and then said: "Who is the messenger of Tao Ying's traitor, it is estimated that the lord must not be able to guess." ”

"Who?" Boss Cao asked curiously.

"Our old friend, the number one corrupt official under the command of the pottery thief, may be the richest man in the world now, Yang Hong and Yang Zhongming." Cheng Yu replied with a smile, and added: "There is also Li Lang's horseman, and the two of them rode together, and they went to Hangu Pass to ask the lord to meet him." ”

"Yang Hong, Yang Zhongming?" Boss Cao also laughed, coughed and said: "I can't imagine that this world's number one corrupt official still has such guts, and dares to come to spy on my life and death for Tao Ying's traitor, he is not afraid of being cut by us, and he will never have the opportunity to go back to enjoy his beautiful wife and concubine, and his family wealth?" ”

"Maybe I was forced to come here by the pottery thief again." Cheng Yu obviously didn't believe in Yang Changshi's personality, and said with a smile: "Tao Ying traitors want to spy on the true situation of your lord, send ordinary messengers for fear of being deceived by our opportunity, and send fine people such as Jia Xu and Liu Ye for fear of being killed or detained by us, counting and counting is the most suitable for Yang Hong, who is not too stupid, and is familiar with the internal situation of our army, even if he loses, he doesn't have to feel distressed, it is very suitable." ”

After laughing, Cheng Yu asked Boss Cao again: "Lord, after seeing Zhang Wenyuan's fraudulent surrender letter, the pottery thief sent an envoy to deliver medicine, obviously doubting whether Zhang Liao had surrendered fraudulently. I am also wondering if you really died suddenly, how should we deal with it? ”

Boss Cao coughed and pondered for a moment, and then said: "This question, I should ask you, if I really die suddenly, you plan to secretly withdraw to Tongguan, and the pottery thief sends an envoy to test the truth, how will you deal with it?" ”

Cheng Yu and Guo Jia pondered for a long time, and then Cheng Yu replied first: "If such a situation really occurs, the ministers will pretend that the lord is unwilling to receive the envoy." Drive away the pottery thief. Or detain the Tao thief's envoy, or put him to death, so that Tao Ying's traitor cannot judge the truth of our army. ”

"Doing so, though, will make the potter hesitate. But I can't convince the thief that I'm dead. Boss Cao groaned: "Our purpose this time. It's to make the pottery thief believe that I'm really dead. Tempting him to send troops to attack Hangu Pass at night, he only made him hesitate, for fear that this traitor would not dare to take risks. ”

"It's a pity that time is short. There was no stand-in for the lord. Guo Jia said regretfully: "Otherwise, let the stand-in of the lord come forward to meet Yang Hong, and deliberately let Yang Hong see through the lord You are someone else pretending, so that Tao Ying traitor must believe that the lord is dead, and come to attack overnight." ”

Listening to Guo Jia's words, Boss Cao also felt a little regretful, but for a while, he really couldn't find a stand-in similar to his figure. After Guo Jia sighed, he suggested: "Lord, let's just do this, just cut Yang Hong, the puppet, so that Tao Ying, a traitor, can't judge the situation of our army, so that even if Tao Ying's traitor refuses to be tricked, we can also snow the hatred of Luoyang and the hatred of the Son of Heaven back then." ”

If it had been replaced before, Boss Cao, who hated Yang Changshi at no means below Deputy Director Tao, might have agreed in one bite, but this time Boss Cao was a little forward-looking, hesitating and not agreeing immediately. At this time, Boss Cao's confidential secretary Sima Lang stood up and said to Boss Cao: "Lord, although killing Yang Hong relieves hatred, if the pottery thief refuses to take the risk because of his suspicions, he will inevitably waste the lord's trick of cheating his death." If the lord does not give up, Lang is willing to go out of the customs to negotiate with Yang Hong, and take the opportunity to arrange the illusion that the lord is dead. ”

"How do you set it up?" Boss Cao hurriedly asked.

"Your Majesty wants to put on a filial piety robe first, covered with a long robe, and deliberately let Yang Hong see some flaws." Sima Lang replied calmly: "During the conversation with Yang Hong, his subordinates deliberately had red and swollen eyes and a little choked voice, making Yang Hong believe that the lord was really dead. ”

Boss Cao hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded and said: "Okay, just do it, anyway, even if the Tao Ying traitor believes that I am really dead, he will definitely not personally lead the troops to come to the adventure, he will only steal the pass with one army, and respond to the pass, if you go to arrange this illusion, if it is successful, at least let the Tao thief send some more front troops to ambush our army." ”

Sima Lang sang a promise, and immediately changed into a filial piety robe found by Cao Jun's guards, and covered his body with a long gown on a hot day, and wiped his eyes with a piece of ginger, deliberately making his eyes red and swollen, and then went out to negotiate with Yang Changshi outside the gate. And because Sima Lang has always been hostile to Deputy Director Tao, Boss Cao did not send anyone to monitor him, and let Sima Lang ride out of the gate alone to continue to defraud his son-in-law for himself.

At the same time, outside the Hangu Pass, Yang Changshi and Li Lang, the two unscrupulous masters and servants, were also trembling, because right above their heads, there were thousands of bows and crossbows aimed at them, and behind them, there were dozens of Cao Army scout sentry teams staring at them, but they did not even have a protective Xuzhou soldier beside them, it can be said that as long as Cao Jun gave an order, Yang Changshi and Li Lang, the unscrupulous master and servant, would have to end their journey of abduction and abduction forever. Under the fear, Yang Changshi couldn't help but quietly scolded his baby son for having a bad idea, forcing himself to tie his head to the waistband of his pants and come up here to make a risk.

I don't know how long it took, the closed door of Hangu Pass finally opened a narrow slit, and a weak man in his early thirties walked out of the pass, bowed in front of Yang Changshi, lowered his voice and said, "Mr. Zhongming, do you know how adventurous you are this time?" If it weren't for the fact that Cao Thief hesitated a little and gave him the opportunity to make a plan in time, Guo Jiadu would have already offered a plan to behead you in front of the gate. ”

"Foot?" Yang Changshi was a little surprised.

"Be quiet." Sima Lang reminded in a low voice, and then said loudly: "In the next Fu surname Sima, single name Lang, the word Boda, is the main book under the lord's account, the lord's military affairs are busy, there is no time to see you, and I am too lazy to accept the hypocrisy of the pottery thief, you can go and take your gifts with you." ”

"You're Sima Lang? No wonder I think you're a little familiar. Yang Changshi was overjoyed and said in a low voice: "I was really hit by my dog." When you heard that I was coming, you did everything you could to come out to meet me. ”

"Sir, forgive me, I also brought a reliable messenger." Sima Lang said in a low voice: "But the Cao thief is treacherous and abnormal, and no one is allowed to go out of the customs without his warrant, so he can't get in touch with the Tai Lieutenant." ”

"Master Sima, my father-in-law is also a good intention, please report to Meng Degong again, please be sure to see me, I still have important things to present to him." Yang Changshi said loudly to the Cao soldiers who were closed. Then he hurriedly asked in a low voice, "How is it?" Is the thief really dead? ”

"Of course not. Zhang Liao was also ordered by Cao Thief to surrender. Sima Lang replied in a low voice: "Tonight, the Cao thief will set up ambushes on the mountains on both sides of the valley road, and when your army enters the valley, he will push down the rolling stones and fall off his horse to block the valley road." Then destroy all your soldiers who enter the valley. ”

"Thank you." Yang Changshi was overjoyed. Busy whispered: "Don't worry, Boda. After I go back, I will definitely ask the lord for credit for you, and after I break Cao, the lord will reward you for your deeds. I won't treat you badly. ”

"I don't dare to take the reward, I just want revenge." Sima Lang whispered modestly, and said in a low voice: "Please go back to Taiwei Tao, just say that although Cao Thief is seriously ill, he will not die for a while, don't take chances, he is still planning to try his best to provoke Taiwei and induce Taiwei to forcibly attack the key and fall into a hard battle." Also, this thief is treacherous and autocratic, large and small military affairs must be seen in person, and more than 20 staff members in the army must be seen in person, since the tooth general, every general has his eyeliner secretly watching, if the lieutenant wants to buy or contact the generals under the command of Cao Thief, he must be careful to be detected by Cao Thief's eyes. ”

Yang Changshi thanked him in a low voice, kept Sima Lang's words in mind, and then said a few pretentious words loudly to Sima Lang, and quickly said goodbye and left, while Sima Lang also returned to Guanzhong to hand over the order to Cao Laoda.

………………

Okay, now let's take a look at the situation of our Yang Changshi returning to the camp to hand over the order, because Sima Lang did not give the order to Boss Cao to take down Yang Changshi's head, so Yang Changshi walked out of the narrow pass that was ten miles long very smoothly, but after arriving in the open area, Yang Changshi and Li Lang met a team of heavily armed Xuzhou troops head-on, and then this Xuzhou army was not ambiguous, and immediately pulled Yang Changshi and Li Lang off their horses and tied them up with ropes three times and two times. Yang Changshi, who was born and died for his own team, didn't even have the courage to cry out for injustice, and honestly returned to the camp with this Xuzhou army, and was directly escorted into the Chinese army tent of Deputy Director Tao.

Yang Changshi's baby son Yang Zheng is also in the tent at the moment, and he is honestly kneeling in front of Deputy Director Tao, Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye and others are sitting on both sides with strange faces, seeing Yang Changshi and Li Lang coming back safe and sound, Deputy Director Tao, who is sitting in the middle with a straight face, first breathed a sigh of relief, and then stretched his face and shouted: "Yang Hong, are you guilty?" ”

"Wechen is guilty." Yang Changshi was also refreshed, and honestly knelt down and admitted: "Weichen not only did not stop the dog's misdeeds, but also let Wang Wu and Chen Er tie up the dog, and he went out of the camp without authorization in violation of the order, pretending to be the order of the lord to contact the Cao thief. ”

"It's good that you confess!" Deputy Director Tao patted the table in front of him and roared: "How dangerous is it to take the risk of contacting our internal affairs?" If we are not careful, not only will the life of the messenger be difficult to protect, but our inner life will also be lost! I have already vetoed your son's suggestion, but your father and son dare to rely on my favor and go out of the camp to contact our internal contact without permission, it is tolerable, which is unbearable, this time you don't think I spared your father and son! ”

"My lord, the dog is also for the sake of our soldiers to suffer fewer losses, so he acted against your orders without authorization, and he is loyal to you." Yang Changshi hurriedly shouted for his son, and then kowtowed and said: "Lord, all the blame belongs to the minister, and it has nothing to do with Weichen's dogs. ”

After that, Yang Changshi kowtowed again and again, and Yang Zheng over there was anxious, so he quickly kowtowed and said: "Lord, it's not my father's business, it's Weichen who violated your military order, and took the risk to contact Neiying, and my father didn't want to let Weichen's son take risks, and he wanted to give Weichen a chance to make meritorious contributions, so he risked his life to negotiate with the enemy and risk contacting our army." Everything is the fault of Weichen alone, and it has nothing to do with his father, and he also asks the lord to investigate clearly, spare his father, and Weichen is willing to take full responsibility. ”

Saying that, Yang Changshi and Yang Zheng, the father and son of the living treasure, kowtowed desperately, scrambling to take full responsibility, rushing to exonerate each other, and during the scramble, Yang Changshi was still in tears, crying and crying, and the old Jia poison who had a good relationship with Yang Changshi next to him smiled and groaned without moving, and did not open his mouth to intercede for Yang Changshi's father and son - because Jia Lao Poison knew very well that Deputy Director Tao would never kill his friend and leader because of this.

"Get up!" Sure enough, Deputy Director Tao quickly roared and yelled at Yang Changshi: "Bastard thing! It will embarrass me all day long, I can't bear to kill you, and it's difficult to correct military law if I don't kill you! You and your son will be demoted three levels together, and the original position will be retained! There will be a next time, and the two crimes will be punished together! ”

Yang Changshi stopped crying, kowtowed with a smile and said: "Thank you for the grace of the lord not to kill, Weichen knows that the lord will definitely understand the loyalty of Weichen's father and son, and will not kill Weichen's father and son." The lord's kindness to Weichen's father and son is higher than the sky, thicker than the earth, and ...... than the sea. ”

"Come on! Shut up! Deputy Director Tao roared again: "This matter is not allowed to be publicized, your father and son always act in violation of the order, and I still can't bear to kill you, if everyone is like you, I am still not the right lord?!" ”

Yang Changshi obediently closed his mouth, stood up with the support of his son and Li Lang, looked at the seat next to him and didn't want to sit or not, and pretended to be pitiful, Deputy Director Tao was angry and funny, so he roared: "If you want to sit, sit down, say, you ran to contact Cao Thief without permission, what is the result?" ”

Listening to Deputy Director Tao ask about the harvest of his trip, Yang Changshi, who was crying bitterly and pretending to be pitiful just now, suddenly danced again, and hurriedly gave a detailed introduction to the experience of his trip to contact Cao Jun. Sure enough, he successfully connected with Sima Lang and reported it to Deputy Director Tao.

"Sure enough, he's cheating on death." Deputy Director Tao snorted coldly, and then hurriedly asked: "Wait, you just said that Sima Lang introduced to you that the affairs of the Cao thief army, the staff is more than twenty, and it must be seen by him Cao Thief himself?" Are you mistaken? ”

"Wechen is definitely not mistaken." Yang Changshi replied.

"It's strange, Cao Thief is not such an authoritarian person, right?" Deputy Director Tao was a little suspicious.

"My lord, this should be true." Liu Ye next to him interjected and said: "Ye is responsible for intelligence collection, and some intelligence does mention that Cao Thief has become more and more authoritarian in recent years, and I think it is because the talents under Cao Thief are withering day by day, and they have to do it as a last resort." This time, Cao Thief personally raised the main force to meet our army, leaving Cao Hong in Chang'an, leaving Cao Ren in Tongguan, the general at the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army, there is no longer a general surnamed Cao or a member of the Xiahou family, even the most trusted brother-in-law Ren Jun was sent to Jiguan, there is no clan center on the left and right, and Cao Thief takes power in his hands, also to prevent accidents. ”

Deputy Director Tao thought about it carefully and found that there are indeed not many talents in Boss Cao's hands now, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia are both strategists who cannot command the army, and the absolutely reliable Dian Wei must protect the safety of Boss Cao, Zhang He and Zhang Liao are both demoted generals, and almost all of their old companions are still on their side, with Boss Cao's suspicious character, they definitely dare not completely rest assured, it is indeed reasonable to take over the dictatorship, and they will definitely do it if they are replaced by themselves. After discovering this, and thinking of Boss Cao's condition, Deputy Director Tao couldn't help but have such a thought, "Is there any way to exhaust Cao Apu, a traitor?!" ”

"Lord, since it has been confirmed that Zhang Liao is just a fraudulent surrender, then it will be easier for us to arrange tactics." Jia Lao Poison also spoke: "But before that, I also want to remind the lord that the tactics and strategies of our army are best based on clearing the suspicion for Brother Ah Yi, so as to avoid Cao Mengde's suspicion that Brother Ah Yi leaked the secret when he negotiated with Mr. Zhong Ming, and to protect Brother Ah Yi, we will be of great use in the future." (To be continued......)