"Son-in-law, little ......, the villain didn't dare to lie."

Hearing Deputy Director Tao's shameless quibble, the girl immediately raised her willow eyebrows, her apricot eyes widened, and the short sword in her hand immediately stabbed out without hesitation, resisting Deputy Director Tao's throat and skin, and shouted sharply: "Dare to quibble? Since you are a child of a good family, after the official eunuch, you can read and write, why do you still call Zhang San such a name as a common man in Qian? Isn't that a lie?! ”

As soon as the words fell, the two Cao soldiers who had held down Deputy Director Tao immediately worked harder, and the grassroots general of Cao Jun who captured Deputy Director Tao also put the iron knife in his hand on Deputy Director Tao's neck, and Deputy Director Tao secretly praised this chick in his heart for being ruthless and careful enough, and then hurriedly said: "The daughter-in-law misunderstood, the villain is called Zhang Shan, but not the three of one, two, three, but the cedar of the cedar tree, just because there is a cedar tree behind the villain's ancestral house. Therefore, the parents let the villain take the name of cedar. ”

Keeping an eye on Deputy Director Tao's eyes, seeing that Deputy Director Tao's eyes were full of cringe and timidity, but there was no nervousness when lying, the girl snorted again, and then withdrew the short sword, and chose to believe Deputy Director Tao's nonsense, Deputy Director Tao quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly said in his heart: "What a deceitful and suspicious chick, it's almost catching up with the Cao thief under Xuzhou City back then - but, who is this little girl?" ”

Seeing that the girl no longer pressed to ask, the young Cao Jiang first bowed to the older middle-aged lady before asking, "Mastermother, what should I do with this person?" ”

"Mistress? Could it be Mrs. Ding, the eldest wife of Cao Thief? Deputy Director Tao felt strange in his heart, but he didn't dare to slack off on his face, and quickly kowtowed to the middle-aged lady who was suspected of being the wife of Cao Thief with a sad face, and begged with a crying voice: "Madame spare your life, Madame spare your life, the villain is just a pawn, the villain is just a pawn, the villain is a soldier for Yuan Cheng, but the villain has never killed a chicken in Dalian when he is so small, please spare your life, please spare your life!" ”

begging, Deputy Director Tao, who had no choice, could only kowtow desperately, crying and begging for his life, looking a hundred times more embarrassed than in Cao Laoda's camp back then. And the middle-aged lady looked hesitant, and couldn't make up her mind for a moment how to deal with Deputy Director Tao, but a teenage child stood up among the two boys present, and suggested: "Mother, kill him to make broth, so that we can have a full meal." ”

"Kill to make broth?" Deputy Director Tao's eyes suddenly widened wider than a cow, and he looked at the little boy who was only a teenager and screamed in his heart, "Who is this little bastard?" It's even more ruthless than Cao Apu! ”

"Don't talk nonsense!" Fortunately, the middle-aged lady immediately scolded: "He is human, we are also human, people can't eat human flesh, how can we eat his flesh?" ”

"The child is not talking nonsense." The little boy said very seriously: "The child heard that when Lu Bubing invaded Yanzhou, his father's army was short of food, and Cheng Shangshu made human meat and sent it to the army in order to feed his father's army, solving his father's food shortage. Now that we are out of food, this Jizhou thief soldier is fat and fat, and he is just used to cook soup. ”

"Sure enough, it's the evil seed of the Cao thief!" Deputy Director Tao's heart froze, and then he was shocked, "Zhi'er? Could it be Cao Zhi?! I can't imagine this kid is so ruthless! ”

"Nope." Fortunately, the middle-aged lady categorically rejected Cao Zhi's suggestion, shook her head and said: "Your father later regretted the use of human flesh as military food, and said that no matter how difficult it is in the future, we must not do such a hurtful thing again, and we cannot disobey your father's orders." ”

When Cao Zhi's mother and son answered, the girl kept looking at Deputy Director Tao, looking up and down with bad intentions, and seemed to covet Deputy Director Tao's fine skin and tender meat, and Deputy Director Tao was trembling all over, trembling like a dead leaf in the autumn wind - this time it was not pretended, Deputy Director Tao didn't mind letting beauties eat some of their own cells, but he was never willing to let people eat their own flesh! And when the girl saw Deputy Director Tao's cowardice, the inherited suspiciousness finally disappeared, but she still glanced at Deputy Director Tao again, and scolded in her heart, "Useless things, I'm afraid of being like this!" Even if you send your dirty meat to this girl, this girl still stinks! ”

Fortunately for Deputy Director Tao, although Cao Zhi repeatedly asked to slaughter himself to cook soup, the middle-aged lady just refused to agree to anything, and at the same time, the young Cao Jiang who took Deputy Director Tao also spoke up, saying: "If the fourth prince really wants to eat human flesh, the last will go to the Tanshui River to fish, and when the last general goes to the river to fish, he has seen two dead bodies floating down from the upstream, since the Jizhou army has suffered a big defeat in the upstream, I think there will be corpses floating in the river one after another, Gongzi really wants, and the last general can go to fish at any time." This Jizhou soldier is our prisoner, eat him, who else will dare to surrender to us in the future? ”

Cao Zhi finally shut up, and ignored the young Cao Jiang, just twisted his face to the side, and the expression on the side face was very unkind, as if he was dissatisfied with the young Cao Jiang. And the young general Cao didn't continue to pay attention to Cao Zhi, but just turned to Deputy Director Tao and asked: "I guess you can also see that we are the soldiers and horses under the command of Prime Minister Cao Cheng, since you are a soldier in Jizhou, then let me ask you, do you know the news that our army suffered defeat the night before yesterday?" ”

"Yes." Deputy Director Tao hurriedly nodded and replied: "In order to boost morale at noon yesterday, the news of Meng Degong's fiasco has been spread throughout the army, so the villain knows. ”

"Then do you know the news of our lord Prime Minister Cao?" That young Cao Jiang hurriedly asked.

"Yes, do you know my father's whereabouts?" The beautiful girl also hurriedly asked, "Do you know where his team is now?" ”

"Cao Thief's eldest daughter, Cao Qing." Deputy Director Tao, who had already understood the situation of Cao's eldest daughter, suddenly felt in his heart, and hurriedly nodded and replied: "I know, I know, Lord Servant once announced that Meng Degong had crossed the water and went to Licheng in the northwest direction, if nothing else, Meng Degong's team should now go to Luyang." ”

"Father went to Yecheng?!" Cao Qing suddenly lost his face and exclaimed: "Oh no, we thought that our father had returned to Runan, but now the direction is completely reversed." ”

"Sister, how can you believe the words of a Jizhou thief?" Cao Zhi said dissatisfiedly: "How could my father leave us alone and retreat to Licheng and Luyang by himself?" This thief must be lying, kill him! ”

"This son, it seems that we have always been innocent, right?" Deputy Director Tao, who had shamelessly plagiarized Cao Zhi's famous sentences, smiled bitterly and said, "Since there is no injustice and no hatred, why should the villain lie to you?" Besides, what's the use of villains lying to you? ”

"What's the use? Of course, it's to trick us into going back and sending us to death, so that you have a chance to escape. Cao Zhi sneered, his ruthless appearance seemed to be enough for the boss of Cao in the city back then, and also made Deputy Director Tao, who was very familiar with Cao Zhi's eldest brother Cao Ang, wonder, how could a brother as filial and loyal as Cao Ang have such a cruel and vicious brother as Cao Zhi? Is there such a contrasting brother in the world? - Of course, it seems to be.

It is the luck of Deputy Director Tao, although Cao Zhi is vicious, he can't be the master, and the Cao boss Yuan and Mrs. Ding, who can call the shots, are not easy to kill, and after discussing a few words in a low voice with Cao Qing and another middle-aged noblewoman, they quickly ordered that Deputy Director Tao be escorted to a distant place for temporary care, and they got together and discussed in a low voice how to act next. A few helmets were still on the fire and cooking something, and the hungry and tired Deputy Director Tao smelled the aroma of the food cooked, and his stomach twitched very much, but he didn't dare to open his mouth to beg for food - this remnant of the Cao army was so hungry that he was about to eat human flesh, and he also opened his mouth to plead for food, not looking for death?

To Deputy Director Tao's great surprise, after a period of time, Cao Qing actually came to Deputy Director Tao with a helmet, handed the helmet to Deputy Director Tao, and there was a small half helmet of wild vegetable and mushroom soup in the helmet, and Deputy Director Tao, who was already hungry with his chest against his back, was surprised and delighted, and quickly asked, "Give me food?" ”

Cao Qing nodded expressionlessly, Deputy Director Tao was overjoyed, quickly took the helmet, ate all the wild vegetables and mushrooms in it in three times and two times, and even drank the soup cleanly. After his stomach finally felt a little more comfortable, Deputy Director Tao returned the helmet to Cao Qing with both hands, and thanked him repeatedly, "Thank you, thank you, son-in-law." ”

Thanking him, Deputy Director Tao also added in his heart, "I didn't expect that a thief like Cao Apu could give birth to such a beautiful, gentle and kind daughter, and I decided that if I can return to the team alive, I must send someone to take this little beauty back and take care of it in Xuzhou." ”

Muttering in his heart, Deputy Director Tao suddenly realized that something was wrong with the situation, because Cao Qing did not leave immediately after taking the helmet, and continued to look at Deputy Director Tao in a daze, as if he had been fascinated by Deputy Director Tao's handsome appearance. And when Deputy Director Tao was a little embarrassed by Cao Qingmei's eyes, he suddenly came to his senses, and quickly turned his head to look at Cao Jun and the others in the distance, and saw that they were really not in a hurry to eat, and they were all looking at themselves from afar, Deputy Director Tao suddenly understood the reason, and asked with a wry smile: "Son-in-law, should you test the poison with the villain?" You are not sure whether wild mushrooms (mushrooms) are poisonous or not, so test the villain for poison first. ”

When Deputy Director Tao said the central matter, Cao's pretty face flushed, and then he said stiffly: "You want to eat it yourself, I didn't force you to eat it." ”

"In the end, it's Cao Thief's daughter, it's really not a good thing." Deputy Director Tao sighed in his heart, and said helplessly: "Son-in-law, you can eat with confidence, these mushrooms are not poisonous, you can eat them with confidence." ”

"How do you know?" Cao Qing hurriedly asked.

"Because I know all these wild mushrooms." Deputy Director Tao replied weakly: "There are five kinds of wild mushrooms I ate just now, namely fragrant mushrooms, grass mushrooms, flat mushrooms, pine mushrooms and porcini mushrooms, all of which are not poisonous, otherwise I wouldn't dare to eat them." ”

"Why are you so familiar with wild mushrooms?" Cao Qing asked in surprise.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao couldn't tell Cao Qing, saying that he had worked hard to study wild mushrooms when he was training the Junzi Army's survivability in the wild, but he just said casually: "The son-in-law forgot, the villain once worked as a small official in Chi County, and Chi County is close to Qingzhou and is often plagued by homeless people and food shortages. ”

"Great." Cao Qing was overjoyed, quickly pulled up Deputy Director Tao and left, and said with a smile: "It just so happens that we found a lot of wild mushrooms, but we don't know if they are poisonous or not, so we can only choose some wild mushrooms that look 'maybe or maybe' not poisonous and cook them, you can help us distinguish them." Cao Qing's little hands are soft and tender, and they are not inferior to Deputy Director Tao's favorite concubine Guo Huan, but Deputy Director Tao rarely has much itchy reaction this time - after all, Deputy Director Tao was just hurt by Cao Qing and walked up from before the ghost gate closed.

Cao Qing was pulled to the bonfire, and there was a pile of colorful wild mushrooms on the ground, when Cao Qing was still explaining to everyone Deputy Director Tao's ability to identify wild mushrooms, in fact, Deputy Director Tao, who was still hungry, had already squatted in front of the mushroom pile and picked it up, pointing out that those were edible mushrooms, those were poisonous mushrooms, and at the same time picked out some mushrooms that he didn't know and threw them away. The disagreeable person was full of disgust with Deputy Director Tao, and he didn't believe in Deputy Director Tao's ability to distinguish wild mushrooms at all - fortunately, Cao Zhi ate grilled fish caught in the river, and he didn't need to risk eating wild mushrooms.

Cao Zhi soon found an opportunity to clean up Deputy Director Tao, and when Deputy Director Tao threw a few pieces of ear-shaped black wild mushrooms into the pile of poisonous wild mushrooms, Cao Zhi immediately shouted, "Thief! The fox's tail is exposed, right? Kill him, kill this thief right away! ”

"What's wrong?" Cao Jun asked in surprise.

"This puppet deliberately threw away the edible wild mushrooms!" Cao Zhi picked up a few pieces of ear-shaped wild mushrooms as if he had discovered a new continent, and said loudly: "This wild fungus is called mulberry fungus (fungus), I have not only seen but also eaten it, the taste is very delicious, this puppet deliberately threw away the edible mulberry fungus, and must have left the poisonous wild fungus, and wanted to poison you!" Kill him! ”

Before the words fell, Cao Jun, who had been beaten into frightened birds in the past two days, immediately subconsciously took their weapons, and Cao Qing also asked Deputy Director Tao suspiciously: "Zhang Shan, what's going on?" ”

"Son-in-law, Brother Ling is right, this wild fungus is indeed called Sang Er, and it is indeed not poisonous." Deputy Director Tao said weakly: "But this third son, if you want to kill all the soldiers present, let them eat." ”

"Nonsense!" Cao Zhi was furious.

"What do you mean?" Cao Qing and Cao Jun asked in surprise.

"Mulberry ear is indeed non-toxic, but it has the effect of invigorating the blood veins in the medicinal effect, and the injured person eats this mulberry ear, and the wound will bleed nonstop, and it is difficult to heal." Deputy Director Tao explained helplessly: "I noticed that almost all the soldiers present had bleeding wounds on their bodies, so I didn't dare to let them eat mulberry ears. (Non-apocryphal, black fungus has the effect of hindering the normal clotting of platelets, making it difficult for the wound to stop bleeding, and is not suitable for bleeding patients, which has been recorded in the "Shennong's Materia Medica", which was written in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.) ）

After listening to Deputy Director Tao's explanation, more than a dozen Cao soldiers who were indeed injured suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and some people glared at Cao Zhi viciously, but Cao Zhi refused to give up, and said: "Nonsense!" How come I haven't heard of it before? You also have injuries on your body, you eat a few pieces of mulberry fungus and I'll take a look, if it really doesn't stop bleeding, I believe you! ”

This time, even Cao Qing couldn't tolerate it, first kicked his hated brother, and then pushed Cao Zhi into the arms of Cao Boss's original wife Ding, and then apologized to Deputy Director Tao: "Don't blame Zhang Junjun, my younger brother has been pampered by his father since he was a child, and he always thinks that he is the smartest in the world and looks down on others, don't mind." Deputy Director Tao shook his head with a wry smile, and continued to select wild mushrooms.

The edible wild mushrooms were quickly picked out and cooked in the helmet, and then Deputy Director Tao didn't wait for Cao Qing's order, he took some cooked wild mushrooms and ate them, and drank a few sips of soup to show that they were not poisonous. Seeing these actions of Deputy Director Tao, the Cao soldiers who were also screaming with hunger suddenly put their minds at ease, and hurriedly ate the wild mushroom soup with all their hands and feet, and put the remaining edible wild mushrooms into the helmet to cook, and the young general of the Cao Army before also hurriedly ordered: "Quick, go to the mountain and find all the fungi that can be found, and ask this Brother Zhang to distinguish for us." ”

After Deputy Director Tao saw them go up the mountain, when he turned back with a wry smile, there was a small roasted golden fish and a white and tender little hand in front of him, and then Cao Qing, the owner of the small hand, said gently: "Eat some fish, this is how strong you are." ”

Deputy Director Tao glanced at Cao Qing and saw that her pretty face was apologetic, as if she was ashamed of what she had done before, and then Deputy Director Tao smiled, but after taking the small fish, he didn't eat it, just threw the small fish into the helmet with the remaining wild mushrooms. When Cao Qing was stunned, Cao Zhi, who was not pleasing to the eye of Deputy Director Tao, jumped up again and roared angrily: "Thief! My sister rewarded you with fish, and you dared to throw it! Kill him! Kill him right away! ”

"The general." Deputy Director Tao didn't pay attention to Cao Zhi, just turned to the young general Cao, and said lightly: "General, you are really not a qualified general, at such a critical moment, you gave all the grilled fish to the master's family, you are loyal, but what about your soldiers?" Don't your mother's family need the protection of you and your soldiers? They don't have enough stamina, so how can they protect your mother's family from the disaster? Escort them to your lordship? ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao paused for a moment and said very majestically: "Although I have not been in office under Meng Degong for a long time, I have long heard that Meng Degong's military law is like a mountain, and he treats everyone equally in the army. You are doing this now, although you are doing your best to be loyal, but it is breaking the military law of Meng Degong and destroying your military morale, you know? ”

The young general blushed, and hurriedly bowed his hand to Deputy Director Tao and said, "Thank you Brother Zhang for your advice, I have been taught in Xia Ding Feng, Brother Zhang has taught me a lesson, and Feng must have changed in the future." ”

"Ding ......, Ding Feng?" Deputy Director Tao was a little dumbfounded, and quickly found an excuse to knock on the side and asked, "General Ding, it seems that your accent is from Jiangdong?" How did you come to this Central Plains Army? ”

"Brother Zhang is very knowledgeable, Feng is indeed from Anfeng, Huainan." Ding Feng replied: "Seven years ago, the pottery thieves entered Kou Huainan, and the war spread to Anfeng, and Feng's parents were worried about suffering from military disasters, so they took Feng to take refuge in Shenyang in Runan County. Later, the war in Huainan stopped, Feng's family planned to move back to their hometown, but they heard that Huainan did not dare to go back after years of drought, and then Feng's father passed away, in order to let his mother and younger brother have a bite to eat, he entered the army of the Mantai Shou team, this time the lord went north to break through and brought Feng to the army, so Feng came to the Central Plains. ”

"I see." Deputy Director Tao nodded, and scolded secretly in his heart: "No wonder Lu Su Zhang Zhao couldn't find Ding Feng in Jiangdong, it turned out that this kid came to be an accomplice to Cao Thief." ”

At this time, Cao Zhi shouted over there again, and when Deputy Director Tao and Ding Feng turned their heads to look together, they saw that Cao Qing had already put all the remaining grilled fish in the helmet with wild mushrooms, and also snatched the fish in the hands of Cao Zhi and several younger brothers and sisters, and put them in the helmet to share with the soldiers, so Cao Zhigongzi, who likes to cook sheep and slaughter fat cows, shouted.

"Zhang Junshu is right, the military law was set by my father, and I am my father's daughter, so I can't take the lead in breaking his military law." This Cao Qing explained to Deputy Director Tao, and when he said this, Cao Qing's expression was still a little shy, and he secretly glanced at Deputy Director Tao's reaction.

"Yes, qualified to be my wife." Seeing Cao Qing's shy and moving demeanor for the first time, Deputy Director Tao coveted and secretly praised, and inevitably had such a thought, "How can Cao Thief's black and short appearance give birth to such a beautiful girl?" Could it be that on a stormy night, Cao Apu's wife went out for half an hour? Also, looking at the appearance of Cao A's other daughters, has this happened more than once? ! ”

When he was pondering these dirty thoughts in his stomach, the sentry of the Cao army arranged on the mountain suddenly rushed down and shouted from afar: "Master, Ding Dubo, the big thing is not good!" An enemy is coming! ”

"What enemy?" Deputy Director Tao didn't want to think about it, so he shouted and asked, "The number of troops?" Cavalry or infantry? ”

"Huh?" The sentry who had been on the top of the mountain looked at Deputy Director Tao who had just been arrested not long ago, Deputy Director Tao wearing Yuan Tan's military uniform. It wasn't until Cao Qing and Ding Feng repeated Deputy Director Tao's question in unison that the sentry replied: "There are five people, it is a team, all infantry, wearing apricot yellow military uniforms, it should be Xuzhou thief soldiers!" ”

"My man has finally been found!"

Deputy Director Tao was overjoyed, but Ding Feng immediately pulled out his knife in his hand and said with a cruel smile: "Great, there are only five people, just enough to kill them and snatch all their dry food!" Assemble, assemble! ”

"It's broken." Deputy Director Tao reacted violently and secretly complained: "Oh no, why did you come to a team?" There are more than a dozen Cao thief soldiers here, and there is also a Ding Feng who is not bad at martial arts, so it is unlikely that he can fight? ”

When Deputy Director Tao turned his head tremblingly, he saw that it was Cao Qing's little girl who pressed against his waist with a short sword, and said apologetically: "Zhang Junshu, it's not that I don't believe you, but my mother and younger siblings are here, I have to be careful." But you can rest assured, as long as you don't mess around, I won't hurt you. ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded very reluctantly, and squeezed out a little smile, saying that it was not in the way, and after glancing at the position of Cao Qing's short sword against his waist, he cried out in his heart: "Little girl, what are you doing with the sword against my kidneys?" Do you know that if you go down with this sword, even if I can survive, you will have to be widowed for the rest of your life. ”

What happened next surprised Deputy Director Tao again, when the Xuzhou army team turned around the mountain and suddenly saw more than a dozen Cao soldiers waiting in battle, the commander of the Xuzhou army team quickly raised the short crossbow in his hand and shouted viciously: "Don't mess around!" To tell you the truth, the crossbow arrows in my hand are highly poisonous, and whoever shoots them will die! ”

"Huh?" Deputy Director Tao was stunned, and said in his heart, what's going on? When did my Sentinel equip poison arrows? Who ordered them to equip?

"Be careful." Ding Feng, who originally planned to lead the army to assault, waved his hand to stop the reckless movement of a total of fifteen Cao soldiers beside him, and commanded in a low voice: "Five are responsible for protecting the master mother, and the rest are scattered, pay attention to dodging arrows." ”

"Poison arrows?" Cao Qing, who was behind Deputy Director Tao, once again raised his eyebrows, spat a mouthful, and said angrily: "It really deserves to be Tao Ying's team of thieves, it is really despicable and vicious!" (To be continued.) )