For Zang Hong, a famous scholar in the late Han Dynasty, Liu He still has some impressions.

As a participant in the Sour Jujube Alliance, after the troops of the princes from all walks of life were assembled, Zang Hong once took the oath on the altar and delivered an emotional and inspiring speech. Later, Yuan Shao appointed Zang Hong as the Qingzhou Thorn Shi and the Taishou of Dongjun, and Zang Hong also showed a strong ability in internal affairs, so that the rule could be restored and developed.

If it weren't for Zhang Chao's death, Zang Hong might not have completely broken with Yuan Shao, and after Yuan Shao killed Zang Hong and his subordinate Chen Rong, it was just like Cao Cao who killed the famous man Bian Rang, which was a very unwise thing.

Liu He promised Chen Rong to try his best to rescue Zang Hong, in addition to helping him increase his reputation among Shilin, he could also get two usable talents from Zang Hong and Chen Rong, and maybe he could also attract Zhang Miao, and the brave and loyal general in front of Zhang Miao's tent naturally couldn't run away.

That guy is a monster that Cao Heizi called the evil of the ancients......

Liu He never dragged his feet in his work, and since he had made up his mind to rescue Zang Hong, he quickly wrote a letter with very fierce wording in front of Chen Rong.

"Mr. Chen, do you dare to take my letter to Yecheng?"

"In order to save Lord Zang, even if you go up to the knife mountain and go down to the sea of fire, what is Chen afraid of!"

"Good! Mr. Chen's righteousness! You go to see Yuan Benchu with this letter, if he dares to embarrass you and Zang Junshou at that time, don't blame Ben Gongzi for being ruthless! ”

Chen Rong resolutely took Liu He's letter to Yuan Shao, and hurriedly left Jicheng under the escort of several guards temporarily appointed by Liu He.

After Chen Rong left, Liu He sent another letter to Guo Jia in the direction of Macheng, telling Guo Jia his idea of rescuing Zang Hong, and asking Guo Jia to cooperate best on the Western Front.

In the Yecheng prison, Cui Yan, the head of the Che Cavalry General's Mansion, and Chen Lin, the chief bookkeeper, came together, but they wanted to persuade the celebrity Zang Hong to change his attitude and switch to Yuan Shao. lest he be finally returned to Cao Cao by Yuan Shao and provoked death.

Yuan Shao was also a little jealous of Zang Hong's identity, and after his soldiers took Zang Hong, he did not torture him, but only imprisoned Zang Hong in the Yecheng prison to prevent him from contacting others, as for how to deal with Zang Hong, Yuan Shao did not make up his mind for the time being.

Dong Zhao suggested that Yuan Shao directly send Zang Hong back to Cao Cao, so that even if Cao Cao finally killed Zang Hong, Yuan Shao would not have to be infamy. Cui Yan and others resolutely stopped Yuan Shao from sending Zang Hong to Yanzhou. thought that this was no different from indirectly killing Zang Hong, in order to save Zang Hong's life, they came to the prison to persuade Zang Hong after obtaining Yuan Shao's consent.

Led by the guards, the two soon arrived at the room where Zang Hong was being held. The room is quite clean, because Zang Hong's identity is special, and the prison guards don't dare to make things difficult for him, so Zang Hong's spirit is quite normal, and he doesn't want ordinary prisoners to be as haggard as others.

"Brother Ziyuan. Brother Ji and Ji Qi (Cui Yanzi) came to see you! Chen Lin walked into the prison cell and bowed to Zang Hong, but he was very polite.

Zang Hong is from Sheyang County, Guangling County, Xuzhou, and Chen Lin is from Hongyi County, Guangling County, Xuzhou. The two are not only authentic fellow villagers, but also "old comrades-in-arms" who fought side by side when they were in the Sour Jujube Alliance, so Chen Lin showed enough respect for the older Zang Hong.

Zang Hong is not a pedantic person who wants to die. Otherwise, he would not have fled in the direction of Youzhou after the matter was revealed, and when he saw Chen Lin taking Cui Yan to visit him, he also revealed his touched identity. hurriedly returned the salute to the two.

"How dare you let Brother Kong Zhang and Brother Ji Qi bow down to the prisoners!"

Chen Lin then asked his entourage to bring the wine and food into the prison cell, and the three scribes did not think that the conditions in the prison cell were poor, and they talked about the old while drinking.

"Brother Ziyuan, you and Brother Zhang Miao have really done a lot of things in Yanzhou this time! I heard someone from Yanzhou say that Cao Mengde was about to capture Xuzhou, but because of the civil strife in Chenliu and Dongjun, he had to give up the deployment of attacking Tancheng and hurriedly led the army back to help, so Cao Mengde now hates you and Zhang Miao and others! Chen Lin said with some emotion.

Zang Hong sneered and said: "Hmph, Zang is also from Xuzhou, how can he sit back and watch the Cao thief invade Xuzhou's Tutan Township!" Cao thieves can't attack Xuzhou, that's because Xuzhou has Zhenwei General Taishi Ziyi sitting in Tancheng, and there is more support from Jicheng Taifu, I and Zhang Mengzhuo brothers in Chenliu and Dongjun started an incident, not only to delay the pace of Cao thieves attacking Xuzhou, but also to let Cao thieves play with the Yanzhou Shi clan! ”

Cui Yan kindly reminded Zang Hong and said: "Brother Ziyuan, these words must not be confided in front of Yuan Gong, after all, Yuan Gong is now an ally with Cao Mengde, if these words reach Cao Mengde's ears, I am afraid that Yuan Gong will not be able to keep you." ”

Zang Hong said with some disdain: "Even if you don't say these words, can Yuan Gong let me go?" ”

Chen Lin hurriedly said: "As long as Brother Ziyuan repairs a book, admits his mistake to Cao Mengde, and then expresses his willingness to serve Yuan Gong, Yuan Gong will definitely be able to talk to you and Cao Mengde and leave you in Yecheng." ”

Zang Hong shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said slowly: "I think I haven't done anything wrong, let Zang admit his mistake to Cao Thief, it's better to send Zang's head to Changyi." ”

Chen Lin and Cui Yan tried hard to persuade them, but they couldn't change Zang Hong's determination, and finally shook their heads and left the cell.

In the past few days when Chen Lin and Cui Yan persuaded Zang Hong, the military information from the fast horse on Bingzhou North Road arrived at the Che Cai General's Mansion, but Yuan Shao turned pale after reading it, and scolded "Liu Shiren is too deceitful!" ”。

It turned out that this military report was written by Feng Ji, and he reported to Yuan Shao about Liu He's defeat of Kebineng in the northern grasslands, and also said that Liu He's general Zhang He now led his army to occupy Pingcheng, the eastern gateway of Yanmen County, and Zhao Yun occupied the entire Yunzhong County, and now he also sent troops and horses to continue to seize Jiuyuan County and Yunzhong County to the west.

Yuan Shao was furious, and immediately sent an order to Gao Gan, the governor of the West Road, to temporarily stop the oppression and coercion of Duan Xuan of Hedong County, and send troops north to reinforce Fengji, and take back the four northern counties of Bingzhou from Liu He's soldiers and horses.

At the same time, Guo Jia, who was in Macheng, received a secret letter from Liu He, and after reading it, he immediately asked Tian Chou to discuss with Liu Fang and others, and then asked Tian Chou to lead 5,000 infantry to Pingcheng to reinforce Zhang He, and at the same time sent a secret letter to Zhao Yun stationed in Jiling City.

After a few more days, Chen Rong finally arrived in Yecheng. With Chen Rong's identity, it was originally difficult to see Yuan Shao directly, after all, he was just a subordinate of Zang Hong, and he had no reputation, and Yuan Shao was now compared to the hussar general Liu Yu, and the identities of the two were very different. However, Chen Rong came this time, not to wag his tail and beg for mercy under Zang Hong's men, but in the name of Liu He's messenger, he wanted to discuss with Yuan Shao how to solve the problem of annexing the northern part of the state.

Liu He's messenger, and he came to talk to Yuan Shao about the ownership of the four northern counties of Bingzhou, Chen Rong came to Yecheng in such an capacity, and no one dared to give him a face!

Sure enough, on the day Chen Rong arrived in Yecheng, Yuan Shao's former advisers Chang Lin and Yin Kui came to inquire about Chen Rong's intentions, and after the two of them understood Chen Rong's intentions, they didn't dare to stay for half a minute, and hurriedly went to report to Yuan Shao.

On the second day, Yuan Shao met Chen Rong at the Cheqi General's Mansion.

Yuan Shao originally wanted to give Chen Rong a dismount, so he deliberately sent all the burly and fierce-looking guards in the mansion, and then stood on both sides of the road in the mansion with knives and axes, just waiting for Chen Rong to pass by to deter and scare Chen Rong. It's a pity that although Chen Rong was born as a scribe, he is a guy with hard bones like stone, and he came to Yecheng with a determination to die with Zang Hong if he didn't rescue Zang Hong, so he won't be scared by Yuan Shao's sword and axe array at all.

Chen Rong, who was dressed in black, walked into the mansion of the general with his head held high with Liu He's handwritten letter, and then walked into the lobby without changing his face, and under the complicated gaze of a cadre of scribes and generals in the hall, he said loudly to Yuan Shao, who was sitting on the main seat outside the three zhangs: "Guangling Chen Rong came to Yecheng to visit Yuan Gong and discuss the ownership of the four northern counties of the state!" ”

"Be bold! The four northern counties of Bingzhou are naturally under the rule of the Muslim of Bingzhou, so how can they discuss it! Li Fu, who was beside Yuan Shao, scolded loudly.

Chen Rong's face did not change, and he talked about it: "The four northern counties of Bingzhou should naturally be under the rule of the pastor of Bingzhou, but the four states north of the Yellow River are under the rule of Lord Taifu!" The defenders of Bingzhou sat back and watched the Hu people invade and plunder, and lost the four counties of Shuofang, Wuyuan, Yunzhong and Yanmen, fortunately, the eldest prince Tiyouzhou Xiongshi defeated the Hu people and the north of Danhan Mountain, and now he is sending troops to join the four counties in the north of the state, and all the remnants of Xianbei in the four counties are swept away. The eldest prince sent me here to ask Yuan Gong and you, and if you still want the four counties of the state, if you want to, you should always give an explanation, you can't let the blood of the soldiers of Youzhou be shed in vain! ”

Chen Rong's words were righteous and strict, even if someone in front of Yuan Shao's account wanted to refute it, he had no confidence and did not dare to speak easily, so as not to humiliate himself. What's more important is that Chen Rong didn't say anything to death, but still kept an opening to sit down and discuss.

Yuan Shao, who had never spoken, stared at Chen Rong with a dark face for a long time, and then suddenly squeezed out a little smile.

"I don't know what kind of statement the eldest prince needs to say before he is willing to return the four counties of the state to the state?"

"This is Gongzi's handwritten letter, and I invite Yuan Gong to look at it!"

The attendant in the hall then took the letter from Chen Rong and presented it to Yuan Shao's case.

Yuan Shao opened the letterhead, endured his anger and read Liu He's letter, then looked up at Chen Rong and said: "Mr. Chen has been tired all the way, and he will rest well in Yecheng in the past few days. ”

Chen Rongzhi said that it was impossible for Yuan Shao to immediately agree to Liu He's conditions, and it was inappropriate for him not to refuse on the spot, and this negotiation had just begun, and he was afraid that he would not be able to have a result until the state side saw and understood.

However, Chen Rong finally has some confidence now, as long as Zang Hong is still in Yecheng, there is still a chance to rescue him. The eldest prince's face is really good now, and even Yuan Shao now has to concede three points, and he doesn't dare to speak disrespectfully in public. (To be continued......)