(PS: It's 2014, Happy New Year, good friends, good monthly pass, this book will be completed within the month, ask for the last support.) ）

The disappearance of Jiang Gan on the way, Cao Ang jumped into the Yellow River and could not clear it, because the Cao Ren personal army escorting Jiang Gan not only clearly reported that Cao Ang sent someone to pick up Jiang Gan, but also presented a handwritten warrant from Cao Ang requesting the transfer of Jiang Gan as evidence, although Cao Ang flatly denied that he had issued this warrant, but he could not produce any evidence to prove that this almost perfect imitation of the warrant was not his own handwriting.

In this way, Cao Junwenwu, who knew Cao Ang's pro-Tao position, was inevitably suspicious, and was very suspicious of Cao Ang's temporary change of fortune, and decided to hand over Jiang Gan to Uncle Liu Huang for execution, and then changed his mind, and quietly released or protected Jiang Gan. Cao Zhi, who was extremely dissatisfied with his brother's pro-Tao attitude, also took the opportunity to attack, and directly on the mourning hall of Boss Cao, he asked Cao Ang in public: "Big brother, what the hell is going on?" Where did your men bring the Pottery Thief? Did you let him go quietly, or did you let him hide there?! ”

If it was changed to before, who dared to speak like this to Cao Cao, the boss of the Cao army, in such a tone, then without Cao Boss opening his mouth, Xun Yu, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu, the important ministers of the Cao army, would have been furious, and the generals of Dian Wei and Cao Hong were even more furious and pulled out their knives to cut people, but this time it was different, Xun Yu and Guo Jia and others looked calm, and Dian Wei and Cao Hong and other generals also sank like water, and they also focused their eyes on Cao Ang's face, waiting for Cao Ang's reaction. And Cao Ang, who is not very good at acting, looked a little flustered, and said stubbornly: "Fourth brother." What nonsense are you talking about? Tao Ying's envoy was ordered to be arrested for his brother, how could his brother let him go? How could it be possible to protect him? ”

"Then where did Jiang Gan go?" Cao Zhi yelled: "You sent someone to pick him up, and now Jiang Gan is there?" ”

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Cao Ang almost didn't cry, and hurriedly said: "Fourth brother, don't worry, Brother Wei has already sent Jingzhao Lord Bo Wei Kang Wei Yuan to investigate this matter full-time, and there will be news soon." ”

"What if you can't find out? Is it just like this, the big things are small, and the small things are turned into small things? Cao Zhi continued to be aggressive.

"Shut up!" Cao Ang finally couldn't bear it anymore, and roared with some annoyance: "Don't forget. I am your brother. He is also the heir to the throne under the guidance of his father, and he is still your lord! Is there anyone like you who speaks to your lord? ”

"I'm not speaking to you as a subordinate now, I'm speaking to you as a younger brother." Cao Zhi roared even louder and shouted, "Big brother." Don't forget. It was the pottery thief who killed our father. forced our Cao family to this point, and he also forcibly occupied our sisters and bullied our Cao family to the extreme! You are your father's eldest son-in-law. You must make up your mind to avenge your father and our Cao family, don't just think about eyebrows and enemies and secretly collude! If you can't do this, you are not worthy of being a descendant of the Cao family! ”

"Shut up!" Cao Ang finally couldn't bear it anymore and yelled: "Come on, take Cao Zhi down for me!" ”

Dian Wei, Cao Hong and others continued to remain silent, only a few soldiers loyal to Cao Ang stood up to receive the order, and pulled Cao Zhi, who was yelling and presumptuous, to hold down, and asked Cao Ang how to deal with it with his eyes, but Cao Ang, who was loyal, hesitated, and thought about it again and again, and couldn't bear to kill his younger brother when his father's bones were still cold, so he lowered his head in Cao Zhi's roaring questioning, and said weakly: "Send him to the back garden and hand him over to his mother to dispose of." ”

"I don't need you to be hypocritical!" Cao Zhi refused to accept the love of the kind-hearted brother, and shouted again: "You have the ability to kill me now, and you want to take me to surrender to the pottery thief, you are dreaming!" ”

"Take it away." Cao Ang twisted his head away, feeling extremely bitter in his heart.

Cao Zhizhi, who took the lead in the attack, was escorted down, and the mourning hall finally became quiet again, but the atmosphere became extremely strange again, everyone was preoccupied, silent, and almost isolated Cao Ang noticed this, gritted his teeth, and said: "Please rest assured, I will definitely give you an explanation for this matter, and I will also give an explanation to my soldiers and soldiers, and please believe me, the team of our soldiers who rescued Jiang Gan was really not sent by me." ”

"Brother, little brother believes in you." Cao Pi, the eldest of Cao Ang's brothers, stood up, wiped his tears and choked up and said, "Brother, junior brother believes that you will not do this, your father's bones are not cold, you can't do such a thing." If the elder brother can trust the younger brother, the younger brother is willing to investigate the matter with Wei Yuan and Master Wei, find out the culprit who rescued Jiang Gan for the elder brother, and give an explanation to the soldiers of our army on behalf of the elder brother. ”

"That being the case, then there is the second brother Lao." Cao Ang also wiped a handful of tears, choked up and said: "Please also ask the second brother to assist Wei Yuan to find out the real culprit as soon as possible and wash away this injustice for my brother." ”

Cao Pi choked up and agreed, and at this time, Guo Jia, who had not spoken, suddenly came out and asked: "Lord, Weichen has a small question, and I ask the lord to be sure." Weichen dared to ask the lord, since the lord ordered the arrest of Jiang Gan in order to make Liu Bei believe in the determination of our army to ally with him to resist Tao, then why did the lord insist on escorting Jiang Gan to Chen Cang to Liu Bei and beheading Jiang Gan with Liu Bei's hand? Wouldn't it be better for our army to behead Jiang Gan at Jiang Gantong Pass, or to behead Jiang Gan in front of the old lord's spirit, and then send Jiang Gan's head to Chencang after the memorial service? ”

Cao Ang, who was a thief, was speechless, and Sima Yi's face beside Cao Ang was also a little gloomy, knowing that because of this unexpected sideshow, Guo Jia had already begun to doubt Cao Ang's real purpose of insisting on escorting Jiang Gan to Chen Cang. After a long time, Cao Ang explained stubbornly: "Uncle Guo, the little nephew wants Liu Bei to see Jiang Gan himself, so as not to let Liu Xuande's army follow Tao Ying and deceive him with a fake head, so he insisted on escorting Jiang Gan to Chen Cang and handing him over to Xuande Gong." ”

Guo Jia stared at Cao Ang, Cao Ang didn't dare to meet Guo Jia's gaze, and lowered his head slightly, seeing this scene, don't say that Xun Yu and Cheng Yu knew Cao Ang's true intentions, that is, Dian Wei and Cao Hong, these generals, also understood that the situation was wrong, and anger began to appear on their faces. Fortunately, for the sake of Boss Cao's face, Guo Jia didn't force Cao Ang hard, just sighed, and then said, "Lord, the past." can just pass like this, and His Majesty has a reluctant request, hoping for the lord's favor. ”

"Uncle has something to say, the little nephew will do his best." Cao Ang hurriedly replied.

"Please take an oath in front of the old lord's spirit now." Guo Jia knelt down on Cao Ang's knees, clenched his fists and said: "I swore to avenge the old lord, and swore that I would rather die than surrender to Tao Ying traitor, if you violate this oath, the lord will be ashamed to be the descendant of the Cao family, and you will be spurned by everyone in our army, and you will have no shame to stand between heaven and earth." After death, the soul cannot ascend to heaven. Never forgive the heroic spirit of the old lord! ”

If it is replaced by Deputy Director Tao, this kind of oath without the slightest binding force can definitely be issued in the blink of an eye, but Cao Ang, an honest child who has been brainwashed by the toxins of feudal superstition, will not be able to. Immediately lowered his head again and hesitated. Seeing Cao Ang's expression like this. Dian Wei and Cao Hong immediately knelt down together. They clasped their hands into fists together and shouted in unison: "Please swear by the Lord!" ”

"Please swear by the Lord." Xun Yu and Cheng Yu also knelt down to ask Cao Ang, although their voices were not loud. The tone was unusually firm.

"Please swear by the Lord!" Cao Pi and the other Cao Jun also knelt down to Cao Ang.

Of course, Cao Ang knew the purpose of Guo Jia's oath in front of his spirit, but Cao Ang had no choice but to kneel down on his knees to Cao Laoda's spirit card tremblingly, and said with tears in his eyes: "Father's heroic spirit is above, and the child Cao Ang is not filial, I swear in front of your spirit today, I must avenge your hatred, and I would rather die than surrender to the pottery thief!" The child violates this oath, the sky is disgusted, the earth is disgusted, the soldiers of the three armies and the people of the world abandon it, and after death, they will become lonely ghosts, and they will never be ......, and they will never be able to ...... their father's heroic spirit, and they will forgive ....... After the oath was spoken, Cao Ang couldn't cry anymore, kowtowing again and again in front of the spirit of Boss Cao, hating himself for being incompetent, unable to avenge his father, nor able to change the fate of the complete destruction of the remnants of the Cao army.

Seeing that Cao Ang was forced to make an oath, Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others, who knew that Cao Ang would not break the oath, eased their faces slightly, and after exchanging glances with each other, Xun Yu, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu stood up and quietly pulled Dian Wei and Cao Hong out of the mourning hall and went to a secluded place to discuss. As soon as he arrived at the no-man's land, Dian Wei immediately couldn't wait to ask Xun Yu and the others, "How are you doing?" Did the eldest prince do it? ”

"It's not." Guo Jia shook his head and replied: "I can see that Gongzi should want to take Jiang Gan to Chang'an first to create some momentum, and then quietly release Jiang Gan on the way to Chencang. ”

"I think it should be a good thing done by one of the sons." Xun Yu said in a low voice: "This prince wants us to know that the eldest prince is unwilling to avenge the old lord, and is likely to surrender to the pottery thief, arousing our dissatisfaction, and letting us force the eldest prince to abdicate, and then he will have the opportunity to take the throne." ”

"Who is it?" Cao Hong said angrily: "Is it the fourth son?" Our army has been forced like this by the pottery thief, and he still wants to kill each other and create civil strife! ”

"Wrong, the one who screams the most doesn't necessarily mean that he did it." Cheng Yu sneered and said: "The fourth prince is the least likely to be, because he took the lead in jumping out to challenge the eldest prince, and he will definitely be closely monitored by the eldest prince's people. Besides, the fourth prince is only fifteen years old after all, and no matter how talented and intelligent he is, it is difficult to come up with such a well-thought-out and vicious plan to frame the eldest prince. ”

"Who's that?" Dian Wei hurriedly asked again.

"General Dian, what do you say?" Xun Yu asked rhetorically, and said with a smile: "If the treacherous plan to frame the eldest prince succeeds, and we old men join forces to force the eldest prince to abdicate, who is most likely to be put on the throne by us?" ”

"Second ......, second son?" Dian Wei's voice trembled, and he said, "How could it be him?" Didn't he help the eldest prince speak, and volunteered to help Wei Kang investigate the matter? ”

"Isn't participating in an investigation a chance to destroy evidence that may have been missed?" Xun Yu smiled even more happily, and said quickly: "General Dian, General Cao, one of you controls the guards of the Lord's Mansion, and the other controls the defense of Chang'an City, secretly keep an eye on the second prince and his people, and don't startle the snake if you find something abnormal, just notify us secretly." ”

"Then do you want the eldest prince to know about this matter?" Dian Wei asked again.

"No need, we'll do it for him secretly." Xun Yu shook his head and said expressionlessly: "Although Fengxiao forced the eldest prince to make an oath in front of the old lord's spirit, and it is unlikely that the eldest prince will break the oath, but in order to prevent accidents, we better be careful." In any case, the second son is far above the eldest son in terms of scheming and forbearance. and resolutely hostile to Tao Ying's traitors, perhaps ......, but not ....... ”

Xun Yu didn't finish his words, but several old people of Cao Jun understood what he meant, and they all finished the whole sentence for him in their hearts, "Maybe the second son is not a better choice than the eldest son!" ”

………………

Relying on the extraordinary insight and covert maintenance of Cao Jun's old ministers such as Xun Yu and Guo Jia, Cao Ang finally barely passed the test of Jiang Gan's disappearance, and did not get a little respite from the internal rectification as some people hoped that those who were knocked down by Cao Jun's old ministers got a little respite. However, the external situation has become worse and worse. Hedong and Hongnong counties are in emergency one after another. The report said that the Xuzhou army's detachment Zang Ba's team had already reached the city of Anyi, and defeated the Cao army's defenders on the Salt Lake battlefield, terminated the salt lake salt field in Anyi, and cut off the Cao army's largest source of military spending. Ren Jun and Pei Mao's teams guarding the east of the river were powerless. had to defend the city to contain Zang Ba's partial division.

The front side of the Hongnong battlefield. The Cao brothers were able to still fight for power and profit under the current situation of the great enemy, in fact, they relied on Hongnong Taishou Zhong Xuan to buy time for them on the frontal battlefield, in order to delay the offensive speed of the main force of the Xuzhou army. In order to gain time for the defense of Tongguan, Zhong Xuan with a mere 4,000 troops trapped in the isolated city of Hongnong, to resist the main force of Xuzhou that contained dozens of troops, although the Hongnong city located in the ancient road of Cuihan is also easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it can not withstand the repeated attacks of the main army of Xuzhou, and the conspiracy and trickery are endless, and the heavy casualties are heavy in the face of the strong attack of the Xuzhou army, which is difficult to parry. In desperation, Zhong Miao had no choice but to send a messenger back to Chang'an to report the specific situation of the Hongnong defenders, and ask Cao Ang to allow him to withdraw to Tongguan as soon as possible.

In the tear-stained emergency letter, Zhong Miao told Cao Ang that if Cao Ang insisted on breaking through and returning to Tongguan again until the beginning of September, then there would be only one fate for the Hongnong defenders, that is, the entire army was annihilated! In this regard, although Zhong Xiang himself has been psychologically prepared, but Zhong Xiang does not dare to guarantee that his team will fight to the death with him, because the Xuzhou army's heart-attacking tactics are too powerful, in the case of overwhelming superiority in troops, still resolutely adopt the siege of three missing one of the heart-attacking tactics, and constantly arrange for the Cao army to surrender troops to Hongnong City to shout, preaching the Xuzhou army's policy of treating prisoners well, the cohesion of the Cao army's team is strong enough in this era, but the morale of the army is still greatly affected, Zhong Xiang wrote to Cao Ang's first night, The Hongnong defenders have already seen soldiers sneaking down the city wall to surrender to the Xuzhou army.

When Zhong Xuan's urgent letter was delivered to Chang'an City, the time was already August 19 in the 11th year of Jian'an, which exceeded the time of reinforcement Chang'an promised by Uncle Liu by four days, but not only did the Emperor's army not arrive at the city of Chang'an, but the latest scout report also clearly showed that as of the evening of August 16, the Emperor's army was still standing still in the Chencang area, and there was no sign of eastward reinforcement of Chang'an.

Hongnong was already crumbling, but Uncle Liu Huang was still touring the mountains and rivers around Chencang to remember his ancestors, and Cao Ang, who had planned to drive wolves and tigers, had no choice but to quickly convene Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others to discuss countermeasures. But in the face of this situation, Wang Zuo's ghost plots such as Xun Yu and Guo Jia were also helpless, so after a little discussion, the chief strategist Xun Yu could only say to Cao Ang: "Lord, there is no choice, no matter what the big-eared thief is for, our plan to drive away wolves and tigers has no chance to succeed, so we can only let Zhong Yuanchang withdraw to Tongguan immediately." ”

"My lord, Mr. Wen Ruo is reasonable." Guo Jia also said helplessly: "There is no way to induce the big-eared thief to go out of the pass to meet the enemy, and it is impossible for our army to go out of the pass to fight a decisive battle, and it is meaningless to let Zhong Yuanchang hold on to Hongnong, let him break through and return to the pass, otherwise, Zhong Miao may not even have a chance to return to the pass." ”

"Okay, I'll give the order immediately." Cao Ang nodded helplessly, and after a little calculation, Cao Ang instructed again: "Let Zhang He send troops from Huayin, lead an army of 4,000 out of the pass, and take Zhong Yuanchang back to the pass." ”

"Lord, don't take risks." Cheng Yu reminded: "To the east of Tongguan is Taolinsai, the terrain is complex, there are many paths, and the pottery thieves have many generals, so we must prevent him from ambushing our army, and our main army is not much." ”

Cao Ang was silent for a moment, and then insisted: "Zhang He must be allowed to send troops, Zhong Yuanchang's team has sacrificed too much in order for us to buy time for the main force to deploy and recuperate, and if we can save one more person back, we must try our best to save one more person back." That's it, Zhongda, and make an order for me right away. ”

Sima Yi, who wished that the main force of the Cao army had finished earlier, agreed and immediately put pen to paper, but Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others sighed quietly and said secretly: "This eldest prince, if it is in the peaceful years and when the world is stable, he must be a benevolent monarch and holy lord, but in this world chaos, it will harm people." ”

Coincidentally, at this time, Wei Kang and Cao Pi, who were ordered to investigate the disappearance of Jiang Gan, also came to the lobby and presented the results of the first phase of the investigation to Cao Ang, and also deduced two possibilities of Jiang Gan's disappearance, one is that the Xuzhou army went deep into the west of Tongguan and pretended to be Cao Ang's subordinates to rescue Jiang Gan, and the other is that Cao Jun's traitors arranged for henchmen to pretend to be Cao Ang's subordinates and deceived Jiang Gan to make him disappear.

"The traitors in our army?" Cao Ang was a little surprised and asked, "Why did our army traitor do this?" If it was to curry favor with Tao Ying, and he had the courage and ability to act like this, then why didn't he initiate an internal response when the Tao thief soldiers were in Tongguan, in exchange for greater credit? Why take such a risk to save an inconsequential mourner? Isn't that too unconscionable? ”

"You're not stupid if you understand that." Xun Yu muttered in their hearts together with Guo Jia and others, but no one made a sound, just quietly focused their eyes on Cao Pi.

Wei Kang, who had such doubts, didn't dare to say anything, but Cao Pi arched his hand and said: "Brother forgives, little brother has a word, I don't know if my brother has paid attention?" After Jiang Gan's disappearance, in his father's mourning hall, someone immediately took advantage of the incident to make a big fuss and pointed the finger at his brother You ....... ”

Cao Ang's face changed, he lowered his head and thought about it for a long time, but he still shook his head and said: "The fourth brother is not such a person, although he is arrogant, he can't do such a thing. You continue to investigate, and report back to me when you have solid evidence. ”

Wei Kang and Cao Pi hurriedly sang a promise to agree, and Xun Yu and Guo Jia and others over there glanced at each other, although they were a little dissatisfied with Cao Pi's repeated cannibalism, but they also secretly appreciated Cao Pi's means of marrying each other, and once again confirmed that Cao Pi was far more suitable than Cao Ang to serve as the commander of Cao's army, and to compete with Deputy Director Tao, who was also insidious, vicious, cunning and despicable. At the same time, Xun Yu also had such an idea, wanting to talk to Cao Pi alone as soon as possible, consult his views on the decisive battle of Tongguan, and take the opportunity to understand Cao Pi's military capabilities.

If Cao Pi could have a God's perspective and know that Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others already admired him very much, then Cao Pi would definitely not have the next move, but unfortunately, Cao Pi did not have this perspective - Cao Pi just saw Sima Yi present an official document to Cao Ang, Cao Ang carefully checked it before signing and sealing, and then took out the special military talisman for mobilizing the army, and handed it to Sima Yi together with the letter, so that Sima Yi could send someone to pass the order, so Cao Pi immediately asked casually with a relaxed expression: "Brother, what's wrong?" Need to use the Talisman? ”

"Hongnong can't hold on." Cao Ang replied casually: "I have asked Zhong Xuan to give up Hongnong, withdraw to Tongguan, arrange for Zhang He to lead the army out of the pass to respond, and rescue Zhong Yuanchang's team as much as possible." ”

"Hongnong's war has reached this point?" Cao Pi's face was shocked, but he was secretly happy in his heart, and said secretly: "Okay, this is the news that Xuande Gong is waiting for, I have to let Xuande Gong know immediately!" As long as Xuande Gong's team arrives in Chang'an, hum. (To be continued......)