Liu Xiu first went to Cao Ying to see if he was interested in serving in the Northern Army, although Cao Ying's experience in battle so far was still blank, and he was not as good as him, but Liu Xiu was too clear about the potential of this future overlord of the Three Kingdoms. They worship together to learn the art of war under Duan Cheng, but to be honest, he is actually not as fast as Cao Ying, he is more inclined to intuition, Cao Ying is much stronger than him in the direction of the surname, and on the basis of the theory in line with this era, he is even more out of reach, Cao Ying's familiarity with Sun Tzu's Art of War even Duan Cheng praised.

However, Duan Cheng also said that using soldiers is a technical job, that is to say, you must be familiar with various basic guidelines, such as the terrain, the surnames and characteristics of the generals on both sides, the composition of the troops, the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, and so on, and try not to make mistakes, especially not to make low-level mistakes, so that you are basically a qualified general, and of course only a qualified general. If you want to go further, it is an artistic work - this is a new word summed up by Liu Xiu - basically depends on the spiritual surname, it depends on the talent, and at that level, it is not something that anyone can teach, it depends on the innate enlightenment surname.

At this point, Duan Cheng admires Han Xin the most, Han Xin not only has a solid foundation, but also has a spiritual surname, and the surname Wu is extremely high, so he can win a hundred battles and never lose, even in the face of Xiang Yu, who is also a natural general and strives to pull out the mountains and cover the world, he is also at ease.

Whether there is a surname or not depends on whether the ancestors have accumulated virtue, and cannot be forced, what everyone can do is to be serious and cautious, and not to be careless. You have to know that all you can do is to take advantage of your opponent's mistakes instead of pinning your hopes of victory on them, unless they are really stupid pigs.

When Liu Xiu arrived at Cao's house, Cao Ying was not at home, and Liu came out to receive Liu Xiu with Cao Xiu, who was a few months old, and said that Cao Ying took Xiahoudun and a few of them to Guanglu Doctor Qiaoxuan's house. Liu Xiu stroked Cao Xiu's chubby little face, thinking that this baby died so miserably because of his father playing with women, it couldn't help but be a little worthless.

"Madame has given birth to a good son." Liu Xiu flattered, "At first glance, you can see that he is a talent." ”

Liu didn't know that Liu Xiu had something to say, so he smiled happily and thanked him repeatedly.

Liu Xiu immediately rushed to Qiaofu. He knew that so far, Xu Shao had not given Cao Ying that sentence, and the people who really encouraged Cao Ying were two people, one was He Hao, whom he had already dealt with, and the other was Qiao Xuan. In the play, Qiao Xuan is said to be the old man of Qiao Guo, and he is the son of the famous Er Qiao, but now it is certain that this old man of Qiao Guo is now almost seventy years old, although his body is still strong, but it is difficult to guarantee that he will leave one day, at least it is impossible to wait until Liu Bei's Ganlu Temple recruits relatives.

As for Er Qiao, what about the pit father, although Qiao Xuan is not old, he does have a son who is only ten years old, but no matter how powerful he is, it is estimated that he will not be able to give birth to two national colors in the last days of his life.

Liu Xiu is no stranger to Qiao Xuan, but he has never seen him, let alone visited him, of course he can't go empty-handed when he goes to Qiaofu for the first time, he wrote a famous assassin in Cao Ying, and asked Liu Bei to prepare some gifts, and then several people set off together.

When he arrived at Anjuli, where Qiao's house was located, Liu Xiu unexpectedly saw a few acquaintances, Yuan Shao and He Hao's carriage was parked on the side of the road, He Hao was sitting on the car, Yuan Shao was standing on the side of the barrier, the two of them were talking anxiously about something, the atmosphere at the door was tense, and several soldiers wearing official uniforms stepped forward to stop Liu Xiu and others.

"There is business inside, and idlers are not allowed to enter." A soldier blocked Liu Xiu with a cold face and said in an official tone of [***].

Liu Xiu was wearing civilian clothes today, and he didn't have a ribbon around his waist, and the soldier regarded him as an ordinary scholar, and his attitude was very bad, so he stepped forward and was ready to push. Xu Yu stood in front of him expressionlessly, and the soldier pushed him hard, but he didn't move. The soldier was anxious and annoyed, turned his head and shouted, "Skinhead, skinhead, someone is making trouble." ”

Pi Erding rushed over at a trot, glared at him, and was about to scold, when he saw Liu Xiu who was smiling, he was startled, and shook his hand and slapped the soldier: "Blind your dog's eyes, this is Liu Jun." He turned his head and smiled at Liu Xiu: "The newcomer, my distant cousin, I don't know the prestige of the adult, please Haihan." He glanced at the gift Liu Bei was carrying: "What, a visitor is here today?" Alas, it's really unfortunate, there was a big case inside, and Lord Yang ordered him not to let him in. ”

Liu Xiu was also taken aback, Captain Sili is equivalent to the history of the state assassin, and ordinary things will not alarm him, usually they will be handled by Luoyang Ling, at most, Henan Yin will be dispatched, and the things that will be dealt with by Captain Sili are not trivial. He took a look inside and knew that none of the people living in it were big people - Qiao Xuan was a bit stubborn, he had never gotten along well with his colleagues, and he didn't have any savings, so he could only live in an ordinary residential area outside the city, could it be that something happened to the Qiao family?

"It's not the bridge family." Pi Erding slapped his thigh, his face was covered with greasy sweat, "Three maniacs who ran from nowhere kidnapped Qiao Gong's young son, and are now extorting money from the Qiao family's upstairs." Lord Yang was afraid of hurting the prince of the bridge and did not dare to attack, but the prince of the bridge not only showed affection, but accused Lord Yang of ignoring the law of the country and conniving at the annihilation of evil, what do you say is this. ”

"What do you mean?" Liu Xiu didn't understand for a while.

"Gong Qiao wants Lord Yang to attack, don't care about the safety of the hostages." Yuan Shao walked over and took over the conversation, "What is Deran doing here?" ”

"Me? Let's beat the soy sauce. Liu Xiu didn't want Yuan Shao to know that he came to Qiaofu to find Cao Ying to join the Northern Army and confront the Yuan family's forces, so he talked nonsense. Yuan Shao was inexplicable, "Playing soy sauce? ”

"Huh?" Liu Xiu rolled his eyes, and suddenly felt a little weird, this word seemed to have been unfamiliar for a long time, and at this time, it suddenly appeared that there was a sense of intimacy of meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign country. He said perfunctorily: "I came by the way, not on a special trip." ”

Yuan Shao pursed his lips, despising him in his heart, did you come with a gift, or did you drop by? If you really want to make sauce or buy oil, you should bring a pottery urn. Can sauce and oil be said together, is it something new that he has made?

"What are you doing here?" Liu Xiu asked rhetorically.

Yuan Shao squeaked, he also came to find Qiao Xuan. Liu Xiu worshipped Duan Cheng as his teacher to learn the art of war, although he looked down on Duan Cheng, but he knew that Duan Cheng had been on the border for many years, he was very familiar with the affairs of the frontier, and his ability to use soldiers was also very clever. He refused to bow his head to Duan Cheng, Zhang Huan remained neutral, neither offended him, nor wanted to help him, he wanted to come and go, so he had to come to Qiao Xuan - Qiao Xuan was a general of the Liao Dynasty, and he also served as the Taishou of Shanggu, and he was very familiar with the military affairs of Northern Xinjiang. Unexpectedly, this kind of thing happened to the Qiao family, the people from the Sili Captain's Mansion looked around, and the robbers inside couldn't get out, and the people outside couldn't get in.

Liu Xiu saw that he was spitting and spitting, and it was not easy to ask, so he turned around and asked Pi Erding, "Then how is it now?" ”

"How? Qiao Cheng is scolding Lord Yang. Pi Erding felt very aggrieved for Yang Biao: "Lord He and Lord Zhou shrank aside and kept silent, it is really unrighteous." ”

"The other three?" Liu Xiu's eyes rolled, and he thought of being a special policeman.

Pi Erding nodded.

"You take me in to see Lord Yang, maybe I can help." Liu Xiu said. Pi Erding hesitated for a moment, remembering the amazing martial arts that Liu Xiu had displayed in prison, he nodded hurriedly, turned around and went in to report. It didn't take long, and he hurried out again, "Your Excellency, please come in." Liu Xiu smiled at Yuan Shao: "Originally, are you interested in going in and having a look?" ”

Yuan Shao and He Hao exchanged glances and nodded in response. Several people entered the inner gate together, passed through the nervous Sili Captain's Mansion, entered the gate of the Qiao family, and saw the legendary Qiao Guolao.

Qiao Lao is tall, although he is nearly seventy years old, he is still very tough, not even much white hair, and his voice is full of anger, which makes people's ears buzz. Right now, he was blowing his beard and glaring at Yang Biao's nose, He Jin and Zhou Yi were hiding with low eyebrows, not even daring to say anything. Cao Ying was persuading Qiao Xuan to relieve Yang Biao, but unfortunately the effect was limited, seeing Liu Xiu walking in, he wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said in a loud voice: "Deran, what can you do?" ”

Liu Xiu glanced at him, and first saluted Qiao Xuan: "Zhuo County will enter Liu Xiu and meet Qiao Gong." ”

"That's it." Qiao Xuan was furious, "Do you have a way to catch the robbers?" ”

"I don't dare to say yes, let's try it." Liu Xiu saw that Qiao Xuan was not in the mood to be polite to him, and he didn't care, he glanced around and saw several women crying in the inner room, but he didn't dare to speak up, thinking that he was suppressed by Qiao Xuan's anger. He retracted his gaze and thought for a moment: "Gong Qiao, since you want Lord Yang to catch the robbers at any cost, it is also the law of the country, presumably if Ling Lang is injured in any way, you won't blame me, right?" ”

"That's nature." Qiao Xuan said loudly, without any hesitation: "The Han family has its own three-foot law, where there is a robbery and killing, you must not spare the hostages, you must not redeem the treasure, and open the road." How dare Xuan use the life of a son to disrupt the law of the country? ”

Is there such a law? That's not humane. Liu Xiu asked Yang Biao with his eyes. Yang Biao nodded, indicating that what Qiao Xuan said was right. Although Liu Xiu is a little slanderous, now is not the time to slander, since Qiao Xuan is willing to sacrifice his son, his burden is much smaller.

"I'll give it a try." Liu Xiu said to Yang Biao: "I will do my best to save the child, but if I can't save it, don't blame me." ”

Yang Biao nodded helplessly, he couldn't think about it. It was easy to kill those three robbers, send dozens of people up for a while, unless the other three were warriors like Liu Xiu, none of them could escape. It's just that he really can't bear to let such a young child die like this, even if his biological father asks for it.

Liu Xiu glanced at Xu Yu and Zhang Fei, untied the ring knife on his waist, walked out of the hall, entered the backyard, and stood in the courtyard, he looked around, only to see that the window on the second floor was closed, only a crack was opened, and a figure could be faintly seen inside. More than a dozen heavily armed soldiers stood at the top of the stairs, and a few with crossbows stood in various corners, surrounding the small building like an iron bucket, and the people inside were unable to fly.

Liu Xiu asked for a shield from a soldier, protected it in front of him, and walked upstairs unhurriedly. As he walked, he shouted loudly: "Listen, people upstairs, I'm here to negotiate, I don't have a weapon, don't be nervous, if you have something to say." ”

"What kind of sentence to talk about, take the money to ransom people, or Lao Tzu will slaughter this kid with a knife." A rough voice rang out upstairs, accompanied by the sound of furniture being knocked over.

"I said this brother, are you seeking wealth or revenge? If you want to take revenge, don't talk nonsense, cut off the bridge boy with a knife, and then wait to be chopped into meat sauce, which will save me from talking in vain. If you want to make money, then you open the door, and we will discuss, what is it difficult to sit down and talk, and you have to use the knife? ”

He said as he approached the door. There was silence inside for a moment, and the door was opened a crack, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes, and when they saw Liu Xiu and them, they were taken aback: "Three people? ”

"I'm negotiating, they're my bodyguard." Liu Xiu lowered his shield, bared his teeth, and showed a harmless smile: "Don't worry, although their martial arts skills are good, they are not here to save people." ”

"And what are they doing here?" The eyes swept vigilantly on Xu Yu and Zhang Fei's faces, and finally stayed on Xu Yu's face for a moment, then suddenly opened wide and slammed the door shut, and a frightened voice sounded inside the door: "Xu Zhongkang!" Xu Zhongkang was outside. There was a dead silence in the room, save for the sound of heavy gasps and the whimper of the child as his mouth was covered.

"You know him?" Liu Xiu was surprised. Xu Yu was silent for a moment, and said expressionlessly: "Listening to the familiar voice, it should be an acquaintance of the Huiren family." ”

Liu Xiu raised his eyebrows slightly, it turned out that these people were the killers of the Huiren family, they were not ordinary robbers, maybe there was something inside behind this. He coughed, raised his voice and said, "I said strong man, since you know Zhong Kang, you must also know that you will definitely not be able to escape today." To tell you the truth, Gong Qiao won't let me negotiate, and he wants Lord Yang to kill you directly. As for me, I'm here to make soy sauce, and I don't want to see a child less than ten years old die like this, nor do I want to see you three brave men hacked to death with knives and arrows, and finally have your head cut off and hung at the city gate for public display. I said, at the end of last year, did you see the head of the eunuch Wang Fu? After hanging for less than three days, I was pecked in the eye by a crow......"

Liu Xiu talked endlessly about Wang Fu and the tragic situation of them being hung at the head of the city, nagging like a broken mouth, Xu Yu and Zhang Fei, who were behind him, looked at each other depressedly, and said in his heart that he didn't expect the owner to be so able to say it.

"You say don't say it." The door opened again, and this time there was a different person, a somewhat pale face, and gloomy eyes looked at Liu Xiu lifelessly: "You are Liu Xiu, the owner of the Taiji Daoist Pavilion?" ”

"Yo, you know me?" Liu Xiu said in surprise.

"If you can let Xu Zhongkang be your personal companion, there is no second one in Luoyang City." The man opened the door, but his body was hidden outside: "You come in, they are waiting outside." ”

"Is that you?" Xu Yu's eyes flashed.

"It's me." The man smiled coldly and shook his head at Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu put down his shield and motioned for Xu Yu and Zhang Fei to guard outside, and as soon as he walked in the door, a cold sword blade was pressed against his lower back. He stopped, turned his face sideways, squinted at the man hiding outside the door, and chuckled: "You have another hostage, did you let the child go first?" You should know that I am now a favorite of the Son of Heaven, and no one dares to ignore my surname, which is worth much more than that child. ”

"You're not a hostage." The man sneered, "But your prestige is too great, I can't be careless." He pushed Liu Xiu to go inside and closed the door with his backhand.

Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes and let himself get used to the light in the room, only to see that the owner of the blood-red eyes just now was a big man with a long beard, he couldn't tell his age, and he looked quite vicious anyway. The other looked a little bookish, but his eyes were a little evil, his legs were spread, and he sat on the edge of the bed very casually, supporting the edge of the bed with his hands, his head down, his eyelids turned up, full of anger.

"What do you want to talk about?" Shusheng asked angrily, "Can you call the shots and let us go?" ”

"Impossible." Liu Xiu shook his head, "You also know, there are not only Captain Sili, Henan Yin and Luoyang Ling's people outside, hundreds of soldiers, thirty or forty crossbows, but also two of my retinues, one of them is Xu Zhongkang, the number one warrior of the Huiren family, and the other is not so famous, but he is also one of the best warriors in a hundred." It's just the three of you," he held up a finger and shook it, "I can't kill it." ”

"Don't forget, you're in our hands too." The young man holding the long sword sneered, the tip of the sword advanced an inch, and the cold blade pressed against Liu Xiu's skin.

Liu Xiu sank his face and turned his face to look at him: "You just said that I am not a hostage, so is it not too kind for you to do this now?" I'm here to negotiate, unarmed. ”

"Kind?" The young man couldn't help laughing, and teased sarcastically: "I said Liu Dongjia, you and I are being kind now, is there something wrong with you?" ”

Liu Xiu raised his head and let out a long sigh: "It seems that Gong Qiao is right, you are not worthy of respect at all, you are scum." You are cowards who only know how to intimidate the defenseless and kidnap children under the age of ten. ”

"Presumptuous!" The young man blushed and shouted, "If you scold again, see that I don't ......"

"Yifeng ......" the scholar reminded urgently, but it was still a little late. Even when the young man was angry, the sword in his hand trembled slightly, and the time was very short, but this negligence had fatal consequences. Liu Xiu's hand hanging by his side floated up without warning, and struck his chest as fast as lightning.

With a "boom", the young man took two steps back, covered his chest with his left hand, opened his mouth wide, bent down in pain, his legs trembled uncontrollably, and he gradually couldn't support his body, and fell to the ground with one leg with a "plop", and then fell to the ground again, twitching and letting go of the sword in his hand.

"You ......" the scholar snorted, retreated from time to time, his body instantly moved two steps horizontally, his hand flipped, and choked the child's neck, the child was so frightened that his eyes widened, and he didn't even dare to cry. If you move again, I will kill him. ”

"Whatever." Liu Xiu waved his hand indifferently: "He doesn't care, why should I care about his life and death." Liu Xiu looked at his hand, admired himself for a moment, and then looked at the scholar and the strong man who had changed his face: "Don't worry, he can't die, it's just a shock after a heavy blow to the heart." However, if you don't help him in time, he will really die. ”

"Sure enough." The scholar held his breath, took the weapon from his companion's hand and placed it around the child's neck, motioning for him to drag the unconscious young man over. His eyes were staring at Liu Xiu, not daring to move away for a moment. "What do you want to talk about? Don't try to make us surrender, since we dare to come, we have already prepared to die. ”

"Then you can die now, why not?" Liu Xiu raised his eyelids and asked rhetorically. The scholar choked, anger surged, and then reacted again: "You think I don't dare? In a hundred years of life, who has not died? ”

"Have you read the Taishi Gongshu?" Liu Xiu suddenly laughed, "Yes, people must die, but some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, and some deaths are lighter than feathers." What kind do you think you're dead now? ”

"Hmph, what Taishan and Hongmao, aren't they all the same?" The corner of the scholar's eyes twitched, and he forced himself to calm down, but his eyes were a little shaken: "Taishi Gong himself is not the same as Hongmao. ”

"Not really." Liu Xiu found a place to sit down by himself, and said slowly: "Although Taishi Gong was born with a nest, he will be immortal after death. What about you? Born in a wretched bag, died even more wretched. When he was alive, he hid in the shadows and did not dare to see people, and when he saw the officers and soldiers, his legs were weak, and after he died, his body was in a different place, and he could not be buried in his ancestors, his soul could not return to the underworld, and he could not go to the blue sky, and he could only wander forever in the cold world as a lonely soul and a wild ghost. ”

The scholar shuddered, and there was a look of horror in his eyes. Although he said that if he dies, he will die, but people in these years believe that death is the same as life, but it is just life in another world, and the so-called "seeing death as life" is what it means. The scene depicted by Liu Xiu is something that everyone is unwilling to try, they believe in ghosts, and they believe that they are born with parents as firmly, how can they be willing to go to a lonely soul wild dog, and they will not be at peace in their lives.

"Shut up!" He snarled.

Liu Xiu didn't dare to say any more, he wasn't afraid of this scholar, he was afraid that he would collapse, and with a shake of his hand, he would cut the child's throat, and he would be busy in vain. He frowned and thought for a moment, relieving the two robbers before he continued, "I can give you a chance." ”

"What chance?" The big man was frightened by what he had just said, and asked subconsciously. Although the scholar was displeased, his mind was confused, and he also asked, but there was still a bit of sarcasm in his tone: "Can you let Qiao Xuan let us go?" As you said just now, we can't live this child, whether this child is dead or alive. ”

"I said, I'll give you a chance." Liu Xiu's fingers tapped lightly on the desk: "Let you have a chance to die as heavy as Mount Tai." ”

The big man was furious: "Isn't that still dead?" ”

The scholar stopped him, his eyes tightened, he stared at Liu Xiu for a long time, and suddenly smiled: "Do you want us to join the army and follow you to fight the Xianbei people?" ”

"Yes." Liu Xiu nodded and said very sincerely: "You have a ninety percent chance of dying on the battlefield, and one percent of the chance of coming back alive, but I can assure you that whether you die in battle or come back alive, you are glorious." ”

"And, if you say glory, you will be glorious?" The big man scoffed, disdained, and reached out to grab the knife in the scholar's hand. "Lao Tzu hacked this kid to death, and then fought with you, maybe he could rush out."

"Wait." The scholar interrupted him and looked at Liu Xiu intently: "What guarantee do you take?" ”

Liu Xiu stood up, straightened his clothes, had a serious expression, and said word by word: "My words are guarantees." ”

(To be continued)