In the early morning, the Tongque Palace was exceptionally quiet, several eunuchs serving Cao Cao sat on the steps outside the ward, enjoying the warm winter sunshine while chatting with bored people, at this time there was a melodious bell in the distance, and a eunuch said: "This is the Ye Palace is holding a New Year's ceremony!" ”

"It should be, I heard that there is also a ceremony for Gongzi Zhi to officially become the prime minister."

Another little eunuch sighed: "Hey! The world is unpredictable, if Pi Gongzi does not die, where is the turn to get Zhi Gongzi, people say that brothers are like siblings, I see! Power is the sword, which is used exclusively to chop off hands and feet. ”

As soon as he said this, there was a sudden violent coughing sound in the room, and several eunuchs panicked, this is Wei Gong woke up, they hurriedly ran into the room to serve, on the sickbed, Cao Cao has run out of oil and lamp, dying, these two months, he was in a coma most of the time, and he woke up unconscious, and he didn't even know his wife and children.

The eunuchs have long been accustomed to it, and they have to hurry up to feed Duke Wei in order to save his life, but the eunuchs know very well that Duke Wei's time is short, how can a person's body withstand such a toss.

"Quickly help Wei Gong sit up!"

A eunuch hurriedly put a mattress behind Cao Cao and was about to help him sit up, but Cao Cao opened his eyes and asked in a low voice, "What were you talking about just now?" ”

Several eunuchs looked at each other, Duke Wei was a little different from usual, and one of the eunuchs laughed and said, "Duke Wei heard it wrong, we didn't say anything!" ”

"Nonsense!"

Cao Cao reprimanded in a low voice: "I can hear clearly, what's wrong with Pi'er? ”

Several eunuchs were frightened and panicked, Wei Gong was awake, he knelt on the ground together, Cao Cao's face was smeared with red, and there was a god in his eyes, he leaned on the futon, stared at several eunuchs and asked, "You just said that Pi'er is dead?" ”

The eunuchs were so frightened that they kowtowed, "The villain should be damned!" Damn it! ”

Cao Cao closed his eyes, and after a moment, he said slowly: "If you don't want to die, tell me the truth, what happened?" ”

Several eunuchs didn't understand the consequences, they just wanted to save their lives, and a little eunuch trembled and said: "Last month, Pi Gongzi unfortunately went, and now it is Zhi Gongzi who is in charge." ”

Cao Cao closed his eyes in pain and didn't say a word, several eunuchs thought it was okay, and suddenly, one of the eunuchs found that blood was flowing from the corner of Wei Gong's mouth, which made him scream in fright, and the other eunuchs were also so frightened that they stumbled out and shouted: "Come on, call the imperial doctor!" ”

An hour later, Cao Zhi and the officials rushed to hear the news, they gathered in the courtyard, nervously waiting for the news, at this time, the room came from Mrs. Bian's cry, everyone suddenly felt bad, the royal doctor came out, Cao Zhi hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "How is my father?" ”

Imperial Physician Wang sighed, "Son, please mourn!" ”

Cao Zhi was stunned, he was powerless to kneel on the ground, and cried loudly, all the officials knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, and in the Tongque Palace, the crying sounded.

Twenty-five years of Jian'an, a generation of heroes Cao Cao after nearly a year of illness torture, finally unfortunately passed away, the city of Ye has raised mourning, crying, that night, the square in front of the Ye Palace set up a spiritual shed, invite dozens of monks to come to exceed, and allow hundreds of officials and ordinary people to come to mourn filial piety.

Xiahoudun and all the children of the Cao family wore linen and filial piety, kneeling in front of the spiritual shed, but only Cao Xiu did not come, Cao Xiu garrisoned outside the east city of Yedu, these months, Cao Xiu and Xiahoudun fought for the dominance of the Cao army, and there was a great discord.

So far, Cao Xiu still firmly controls his 30,000 horses, does not obey Xiahoudun's dispatch at all, and never enters the city, which makes Xiahoudun extremely angry, and he wants to kill him several times, but has no chance.

At this time, Guo Huai, Xiahoudun's henchman, walked over quickly, and whispered behind Xiahoudun: "There is something to report for your humble duties!" ”

Xiahoudun got up, followed Guo Huai to the side and no one, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Cao Xiu has entered the city!"

Xiahoudun's eyes lit up, of course he understood what Guo Huai meant, how could he not take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but he was now wearing filial piety, he was not good at this kind of thing, Xiahoudun was silent for a while, Guo Huai understood what he meant, and said: "This matter will be handed over to the lowly position!" ”

That's what Xiahoudun meant, he couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw Guo Huai take the initiative, and hurriedly asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

"It's still the same sentence, know yourself and know your opponent, you can't be defeated in a hundred battles, I will first find out his deployment, and then attack his weaknesses."

Xiahoudun knew that Guo Huai was a very strategic general, and he could rest assured that he would have him to do things, so he patted Guo Huai on the shoulder, "I'll leave it to you!" ”

The time gradually came, the drum reminding that the city gate was about to be closed began to beat, after 800 drums, the city gate will be closed, although a major event happened in Yedu today, the Duke of Wei unfortunately died, but the government still decided to close the city gate on time.

Cao Xiu worshiped his uncle's spirit, and then planned to return to the barracks, according to the rules, as a disciple of the Cao family, he should give Cao Cao a vigil tonight, but Cao Xiu was extremely cautious, Yedu City is Xiahou Dun's territory, he did not dare to spend the night in the city, he must return to the military camp outside Dongying, of course, the reason he used was to prevent the Han army from taking advantage of the chaos to sneak attack Yedu, and he must maintain the highest combat readiness, Cao Zhi also recognized his reason, and allowed him to return to the barracks.

Cao Xiu had already prepared, he brought 800 cavalry, of which 300 cavalry followed him into the city, and 500 cavalry waited outside the east city gate, but there were regulations for the sacrifice of the spirit, and it was not allowed to bring troops to worship, Cao Xiu temporarily placed the 300 cavalry in a mansion about two miles away from Ye Palace, and he only brought a dozen guards to the mourning shed to worship.

More than a dozen guards were waiting not far from the spirit shed, they led their horses forward, Cao Xiu turned over on his horse, and shouted: "Go!" ”

Everyone has turned over on the horse, the horse followed Cao Xiu galloped away, the street has been deserted, although today is the day, but Cao Cao died, so that the atmosphere of the New Year is greatly affected, people in Yedu are going home early, the sky is just dark, it is difficult to see pedestrians on the street, especially now it is almost to the sea, there is no pedestrian to see on the street, only a team of soldiers patrolling the street.

Cao Xiu galloped on horseback, his 300 cavalry was in a mansion two miles away, that was his mansion in Yedu, someone specially arranged for the cavalry to rest and eat, Cao Xiu was a little worried in his heart, he had to rush back to his mansion as much as possible.

Running out of a mile of distance, there was a patrol soldier in front, about 100 people, commanded by a horse officer, at this time, the patrol officer found that there were people galloping in front of him, and he couldn't help shouting: "No horses are allowed in the city, stop me!" ”

But Cao Xiu didn't pay attention to it at all, and continued to gallop his horse, and the patrol officer shouted, "Bow and arrow intercept!" ”

Hundreds of soldiers opened their bows and arrows one after another, aiming at Cao Xiu, who was galloping, and the officer shouted: "If you don't stop any longer, you will release the arrows!" ”

Cao Xiu was forced to be helpless, so he had to slow down his horse and gradually stopped, at this moment, there was a sudden bang sound overhead, and I don't know how many soldiers were ambushed on the roofs on both sides, and suddenly the arrows were fired in unison, nearly a thousand crossbow arrows were fired at Cao Xiu and his entourage, Cao Xiu couldn't dodge, was shot like a hedgehog, and died tragically on the spot, and more than a dozen of his personal guards were all killed by random arrows.

At this time, Guo Huai came out of an alley, and the patrol officer stepped forward and saluted, "I am fortunate to be dishonored!" ”

"Good work!"

Guo Huai nodded appreciatively, of course, this was his single-handedly planned, Cao Xiu's weakness, in the distance from the mourning hall to his mansion, in order to hunt Cao Xiu, Guo Huai deployed two ambushes, one is the current roof ambush, by his subordinates pretending to be patrol soldiers, stopping Cao Xiu in the gallop, giving the roof ambush a chance.

The other time was in Cao Xiu's mansion, 300 cavalry had already been poisoned by Guo Huai's food, and nearly 1,000 ambush soldiers were ambushed in the mansion.

Guo Huai stepped forward and kicked Cao Xiu, who had been killed, he immediately sent someone to inform Xiahoudun that the next step was for Cao Zhi to come forward and surrender Cao Xiu's 30,000 troops, which was not very difficult, after all, it was not Cao Zhang's Youzhou army, as long as Cao Xiu was dead, it was easy to subdue.

After receiving the news, Xiahoudun immediately took off his filial piety clothes, put on armor and helmets, and found Cao Zhi again, and told him about it, although Cao Zhi was dissatisfied, he actually killed people during his father's sacrifice, but he had no choice but to obey Xiahoudun's arrangement, rushed to the camp outside the east city, when the day was about to dawn, Xiahoudun replaced Cao Xiu's henchmen, and firmly controlled the army of 30,000 people in his own hands.

．．．．．．．．

The news of Cao Cao's death was sent to Liu Jing in Taiyuan by the Han army spies in Yedu in the afternoon of the same day, although Liu Jing also set up a funeral shed to worship Cao Cao's spirit, as well as his mourning for the death of his old rival.

On the contrary, Liu Jing immediately ordered the whole army to prepare to set off and march to Hebei, and the 100,000 Han army began to gear up and be eager to try, and they had waited too long for this day.

On the official road outside Taiyuan City, several scout cavalry were galloping fast, like a gust of wind, rushing to the military camp outside Taiyuan City, and after a while, they arrived in front of the camp, the scouts turned over and dismounted, and a tun commander rushed forward and shouted: "Emergency military situation, to see His Royal Highness the King of Han immediately!" ”

At this time, Liu Jing was in front of the sand table in the big tent and Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang to discuss the plan to send troops to Hebei, Liu Jing pointed to Youzhou with a wooden pole and said: "At present, in addition to Yedu, there is Cao Zhang's 20,000 Youzhou army, although the 30,000 Youzhou army was annihilated in the Yellow River, but this army is very strong in combat, there are 10,000 cavalry trained by Wuhuan cavalry, currently commanded by Cao Zhang, no less than Yedu Tiger Benwei cavalry, and our Guanlong cavalry is also on par, I am considering, whether to kill Youzhou first, after solving Cao Zhang's Youzhou army, If you go south to Yedu, what do the two military advisors think? ”

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly: "Now Xiahoudun has 100,000 troops in his hands, if I were Xiahoudun, I would definitely not defend Yedu, rather than be besieged and die sooner or later, it is better to come to His Highness for a decisive battle first." ”

Sima Yi also agreed: "Kong Ming is right, Xiahoudun fights, he always likes to take the initiative in his own hands, this is his habit, it was like this when he was in Xu Du before, I believe that Xiahoudun will not sit still, and he has mastered Cao Xiu's army, so there is no obstacle for him to transfer troops." ”

Liu Jing pondered silently, if this is the case, it may not be a bad thing to lure out Xiahoudun's army, in this case, it is necessary to temporarily stop Zhao Yun and Wenpin's army from going north, and Huang Zhong's army can't get too close to Yedu, if it is eaten by Xiahoudun, it will not be good, and now, he can't delay any longer, he must send troops immediately.

At this moment, there was a guard outside the tent to report, "Your Highness, the scout has urgent information." ”

Liu Jing immediately ordered: "Let him in!" ”

In a moment, the scout commander was ushered in, and he knelt down on one knee and said, "See Your Highness!" ”

"What's the urgency?"

"Your Highness Qiqi, your humble subordinates have found the 20,000 Youzhou army led by Cao Zhang in Changshan County, and they are heading towards Yedu."

Liu Jing was stunned, he suddenly understood, this must be Cao Zhang's rush to participate in his father's funeral, Liu Jing looked at Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, both of them nodded slowly, Liu Jing made up his mind, and immediately ordered: "Pass my order, the army will set off!" ”

．．．．．．．．．．．