It is not for nothing that people covet the jade seal of the country, but if they want to take the jade seal from the hands of Liu Ze, the governor of Xuzhou, first of all, no one in Xuzhou has the courage to do so, but out of Xuzhou, they have no chance. As soon as Liu Ze left Xiaopei and left his sphere of influence, Cao Cao sent a group of men and horses to meet Liu Ze on the border of Chen, and the general led by him was Xiahoudun.

Because Liu Ze intervened in this history, Lu Bu did not need Cao Cao to send troops to destroy it and was already annihilated in the long river of history, and Cao Xing also surrendered to Liu Ze's command, and Xiahoudun was fortunate to save his left eyeball, but there was a shocking move in history that was missing out of thin air.

Xiahoudun received Liu Ze very politely and escorted Liu Ze all the way to Xuchang, which was obviously arranged by Cao Cao, the first was to ensure Liu Ze's personal safety, and the second was to protect the jade seal of the country.

Xudu was originally just a small county under the rule of Yingchuan County, the scale was very small, after Luoyang was deserted, under the instruction of Cao Cao, Emperor Han Xian was forced to move the capital here, although the reconstruction of Xuchang City, the scale is much larger than before, but compared with Luoyang, the capital of the century-old emperor, the shabby and embarrassing nature of Xudu is undoubtedly revealed, even the palace where Emperor Han Xian lives is only slightly larger than that of ordinary princes at best, and compared with the original magnificent and majestic Luoyang South Palace and North Palace, it can only be regarded as a snail dwelling.

However, in troubled times, it is already very good to have this place to live and live, the rich land of Henan has been war-torn, ten rooms and nine empty, full of greenery, Cao Cao can rebuild this simple palace for Emperor Han Xian, compared to the ruins of Luoyang in the wind and drink more than 100 times, it can be regarded as barely maintaining the system and face of the Han dynasty.

When Liu Ze arrived outside the city of Xudu. Cao Cao personally led hundreds of civil and military officials out of the city to greet each other.

The last time I met Cao Cao, it was when I was in Luoyang in the second year of Chuping, Cao Cao Fang experienced the fiasco of Hangu, and the rest of the ten did not survive, Cao Cao did not slump, and he was open-minded in the face of failure, talking and laughing, when Cao Cao was going to Danyang to recruit troops, he said goodbye to Liu Ze, and then Liu Ze also turned his face with Yuan Shao. Withdrew from the Dong Alliance. From then on, we never saw each other again. It's been eight years. Although when he was in Xuzhou, Liu Ze and Cao Cao were facing each other across the city. But at that time, the soldiers met. Naturally, I didn't have a chance to see my face again.

Cao Cao, who was over forty years old, was slightly blessed. The long years of battle have also made his white face look a lot of vicissitudes, but the light in his slender eyes is as sharp and wise as ever. Full of prestige. As soon as he saw Liu Ze, Cao Cao greeted him with a smile, took Liu Ze's hand, and sighed for a while.

"Luoyang farewell, it's been more than eight years, Brother Runde, you want to be foolish!"

Cao Cao is still as enthusiastic as ever, Liu Ze's attitude towards him has long been accustomed to it, the world's evaluation of Cao Cao is a traitor rather than a hero, which is quite pertinent, the appearance is kind as fire, and the heart is extremely treacherous, Cao Cao's tricks are okay to deal with others, but for Liu Ze, he has a clear understanding and will never be confused by Cao Cao's hypocrisy. At the moment, he smiled and saluted: "There is Brother Lao Mengde who is concerned, and the younger brother is terrified." ”

Cao Cao said: "This time to destroy the rebel Yuan Shu and recapture the jade seal of the country, the virtuous brother has made immortal contributions to the Han court. His Majesty summoned the virtuous brother to the court, and he wanted to show the merits of the virtuous brother and reward him thickly. The foolish brother and the virtuous brother have not seen each other for a long time, and they have been missing, this time the virtuous brother came to the court, and the foolish brother has set up a banquet in the city. ”

Liu Ze said: "The Son of Heaven issued an edict twice, but because a certain person had an arrow wound in his body, he failed to serve the edict, so he was late, and he also invited Brother Meng De Haihan." ”

Cao Cao asked with concern, "Where was the virtuous brother injured?" Can the injury be serious? Can it be cured? ”

After a few questions, others may have been moved to a mess, Liu Ze was not injured at all, but it was just a prevarication, and secondly, he had already had immunity to Cao Cao's enthusiasm, so he naturally didn't feel anything, and said with a smile at the moment: "Thank you Brother Meng De for worrying about it, fighting on the battlefield, licking blood from the knife, a little wound outside the skin, it's nothing, every knife mark is also a glory, I'm afraid that Brother Meng De has a lot of scars." "Cao Cao's southern expedition to the north, his body is also scarred, after the battle of Hangu, he was hit by an arrow from Xu Rong in the back, his right arm was injured by fire during the battle of Puyang, and he ate another arrow on his back in the battle of confusing water, each of these scars almost cost Cao Cao's life, but Cao Cao's fortune is great, and he can save the day every time.

Cao Cao laughed heartily a few times, walked side by side with Liu Ze, and entered the city together. The reception banquet was set up in Cao Cao's Sikong Mansion, and Chen Deng and Zhao Yun, who came to Xu Capital with Liu Ze, naturally accompanied Liu Ze to the banquet, and Cao Cao's several heavyweight strategists Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others were accompanied during the banquet. Cao Cao's interest was very high, he sang a long song, was handsome and flying, and frequently toasted Liu Ze, talking and entertaining.

Liu Zewen was elegant, peaceful and humble, and dealt with Cao Cao with a smile and a smile with an attitude that was neither humble nor arrogant. The reunion of old friends is naturally inseparable from the previous topics. From the burning of the Changshe, the white horse crossing the river to Zhang Jiao's first Huang Rebellion to subside, from the front of the Tiger Prison Pass, the battle of Hangu to Luoyang's parting from each side of the sky, recalling the past, the eventful years, Cao Cao is a lot of emotion.

The style of the reception banquet is to recall the past, and Cao Cao will never talk about real problems at all, let alone look forward to the future. In fact, Liu Ze understands very well in his heart, Cao Cao arranged this reception banquet with good intentions, never mentioned the conflicts and contradictions between the two sides, and played the family card, the relationship between Cao Cao and Liu Ze can be described as a comrade-in-arms who crawled out of the trenches, brothers who were born and died together, and they were born and died together. As for some contradictions and conflicts between the two sides, as well as the future trend of the relationship between the two sides, Liu Ze has just come to Xudu, and the two sides have time to talk, so Cao Cao naturally does not need to be in a hurry.

After the banquet, Cao Cao did not arrange Liu Ze to rest in the pavilion, but arranged Liu Ze in a mansion, which is Cao Cao's own courtyard, with complete facilities and a quiet environment, which can better reflect Cao Cao's attention to Liu Ze, and the entire reception regulations even exceed the level of the three dukes.

Pan Feng personally served as the commander of Liu Ze's guards this time, and after coming to Xudu, he didn't dare to slack off, Cao Cao let Liu Ze live in his own courtyard, in addition to sending elite guards outside the mansion, all the defense affairs in the mansion were handed over to Liu Ze's people. After Pan Feng entered the mansion, he immediately began to set up defenses, and strengthened the guard to ensure that nothing went wrong. At the same time, Pan Feng got in touch with Zhang Longdutong of the Jinyingwei Xuchang Branch.

Zhang Long had been active in Luoyang before, and later after Luoyang was burned by Dong Zhuo, Zhang Long moved the Central Plains Branch of Jinyingwei to Xu County under the instruction of Liu Ze. Zhang Long has infiltrated the Jinyingwei power into every corner of Xudu, including the imperial palace, including Cao's mansion, and now Zhang Long's Xudu branch has become the first branch of Jinyingwei, and many important news about the Xudu court and Cao Cao's mansion have been continuously transmitted to Xuzhou in the form of carrier pigeon letters, providing first-hand detailed information for Liu Ze's decision-making in a timely manner.

"Yuanlong, Zilong, all the way to the saddle horse, you should rest early, and you will face the saint tomorrow morning." Liu Ze said to Chen Deng and Zhao Yun. According to the arrangement, Liu Ze will meet the Son of Heaven at the morning of tomorrow, and at the same time submit the jade seal to the court. The jade seal of the country was closely protected by Zhao Yun all the way.

Chen Deng didn't feel the slightest sleep, and said to Liu Ze: "Lord, Cao Cao's attitude at the banquet today is too **, be careful of deception." "If you want to take it, you must give it first, in Chen Deng's opinion, Cao Cao's enthusiasm at today's banquet is a bit excessive, if something is abnormal, it must be a demon, and Cao Cao will definitely have other plans.

Liu Ze smiled and said: "If you come, you will be safe, I am not worried about Cao Cao's tricks, now Cao Cao's biggest enemy is Yuan Shao, we are just his friends and not enemies, even Zhang Xiu, who has a deep blood feud with Cao Cao, was also recruited by Cao Cao, the enemy is current, I think Cao Cao can still distinguish between right and wrong." ”

Chen Deng's impression of Cao Cao has always been very bad, probably because Cao Cao once slaughtered the five cities in Xuzhou. "Cao Cao was brutal and unkind, in order to vent his personal anger, he slaughtered the people of the five counties of Xuzhou, which shows that he was wolf and ferocious, although he had a friendship with the lord in the past, but things have changed, and the profit is dizzy, in order to dominate the world, Cao Cao may not be willing to be tolerant of the lord's hands."

Liu Ze smiled slightly: "Yuan Long is still worried about Cao Cao's slaughter of Xuzhou back then, it is true that Cao Cao's behavior can indeed be described as brutal, but after all, this matter is for a reason, Cao Cao's father died in Xuzhou, and it is reasonable for Cao Cao, who is a filial son, to have some radical behaviors." Seeing that Chen Deng was anxious to speak, Liu Ze waved his hand lightly and said with a smile: "Yuanlong, don't worry, I don't want to overturn the case for Cao Cao, but just talk about the matter." At this time, Cao Cao's heart was much deeper than when he was in Yanzhou, which can be seen from his attitude towards Zhang Xiu. The higher a person's status, the broader his mind will be, as the saying goes, the prime minister can support the boat in his belly, which is the truth. ”

Chen Deng said: "Since the lord has come to Xudu, how will he deal with Cao Cao?" ”

Liu Ze smiled slightly and said: "Cao Cao wants to use us to fight against Yuan Shao, and we also want to take advantage of Yuan Cao's struggle to develop southward, each with its own needs and needs, as for the outcome, then we have to consider who has the deeper negotiation skills between the two sides." (To be continued......)

PS: I'm too sleepy today, I can only send a chapter in the early morning, and the second chapter will be uploaded later today, sorry!