"Big brother." Zhang Fei's hurried shout came from outside the room, interrupting Liu Bei's thoughts.

With a squeak, the door was pushed open by Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei strode into the room, and said to Liu Bei: "Tao Yuanjun received a letter from Cao Cao, saying that Cao Cao wanted to take his father and the whole family back to Xuchang, and Tao Yuanjun asked the eldest brother to discuss the matter. ”

Cao Cao wants to pick up his father? When Liu Bei heard this, he felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. is also a son of man, you Cao Cao is now in the Central Plains, it is the time when the spring breeze is proud, so you can naturally pick up your father who is in distress with great fanfare; But what about me Liu Bei? After the death of his father, the bones were buried in Zhuo County, Liu Bei himself can't remember how many years he hasn't been able to go back to worship, these more than ten years, Liu Bei has left his hometown, displaced, and has no fixed place, and he has never been able to have a piece of his own territory, let alone the glorious lintel.

Seeing Liu Bei stunned, Zhang Fei gently pushed Liu Bei and asked, "Big brother, what do you want?" Liu Bei was pushed by Zhang Fei, then came back to his senses, and said casually: "It's nothing, didn't you say that Tao Yuanjun is looking for so-and-so, don't you leave quickly." Zhang Fei agreed and walked out of the city first. Liu Bei sighed secretly, hid all the unwillingness and grievances in his heart, and pretended to be casual and walked towards the hall of the State Governor's Mansion.

When he came to the hall of the State Governor's Mansion, Liu Bei saw Tao Qian sitting on the main seat, holding a letter in his hand, and reading it. Liu Bei took advantage of Tao Qian's low head to look at the letter, and after glancing at Tao Qian's seat with greedy eyes, he immediately regained his calm, saluted Tao Qian and asked, "I don't know what the envoy has to call Liu Bei to come?" ”

Tao Qian raised his head and said to Liu Bei with a smile: "Actually, it's not a big deal, Xuande come and sit." Liu Bei came to Tao Qian's subordinate position and sat down. Tao Qian handed the letter in his hand to Liu Bei and said, "Xuande, this is a letter written by Cao Cao to the old man, he wants to take his father and the whole family back to Xuchang." The current Cao Cao is huge. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is dominant in the Central Plains. I can't imagine that the hairy boy of the Sour Jujube Association can have such an achievement today, and the future is terrifying. ”

Liu Bei took the letter and read it carefully, the wording in Cao Cao's letter was extremely sincere, and asked Tao Qian to make it convenient, not to embarrass the Xuzhou soldiers along the way, so that Cao Cao's father could be successfully taken to Xuchang. Liu Bei finished reading the letter and asked Tao Qian: "I don't know what the envoy plans to do?" ”

After laughing twice, Tao Qian said, "What else can I do?" Naturally, the sergeants along the way were told to let them go. Do you want to offend Cao Cao for this matter? He Cao Mengde is not what it used to be, we can't afford to mess with him. ”

After hearing Tao Qian's answer. A crazy thought suddenly popped up in Liu Bei's heart. If you can take advantage of this matter to disturb Cao Cao's mind, maybe Cao Cao will not have time to enter Xuzhou for a while, in that case, won't he have another chance? Grasping this thought in his heart, Liu Bei thought quickly. From Xuzhou to Xuchang, you will inevitably pass through Yanzhou, Yanzhou is the foundation of Cao Cao, if Cao Song dies on the boundary of Yanzhou. With Cao Cao's suspicious character, he will inevitably suspect that there is a rebellion in Yanzhou, and when the time comes, Cao Cao will inevitably conduct an inventory in Yanzhou. However, it is impossible to complete the inventory of the huge Yanzhou without three or five months of hard work.

Again. It can be seen from Cao Cao's letters that Cao Cao was a dutiful son, if Cao Song died. Cao Cao will definitely keep filial piety for three years, and he will not start his army lightly within three years, in that case, Liu Bei Ke will take the initiative, first plot against Tao Qian's Xuzhou, and then wave his troops to the north, seize half of Qingzhou in Cao Cao's hands, and form an alliance with Yuan Shao, if everything goes well, Liu Bei's foundation has been completed, even if it is Cao Cao, there is nothing to be done about him.

The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is that Cao Song can't die in Xuzhou, and the death must be peaceful, Cao Cao can't see that he killed him, and Cao Cao must be made think that Cao Song has run out of life and died naturally. Of course, this matter has to be hidden from Tao Qian.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei said to Tao Qian: "Envoy, Cao Cao is very powerful, we can't snub Old Lady Cao, so let's do this matter by Liu Bei, and ensure that Old Lady Cao arrives in Xuchang safely." Hearing Liu Bei's words, Tao Qian said with a smile: "This is the best, Xuande does things, and the old man is very relieved." ”

That night, Liu Bei invited Tao Qian's subordinate Zhang Min to his mansion and conspired with Zhang Min. Zhang Min was originally born in the Yellow Turban Army, and later took refuge in Tao Qian. In the two years since Liu Bei entered Xuzhou, Zhang Min has been one of the objects that Liu Bei has tried to befriend. After entering Liu Bei's room, Liu Bei told Zhang Fei not to let anyone get close to his room, and then took out the only one hundred taels of gold in his hand and handed it to Zhang Min.

Zhang Min asked in surprise: "What does Xuande Gong mean by this?" Liu Bei said with a smile: "It's not a secret, Liu Bei has a major event today that asks General Zhang, these gold are considered deposits, and after the matter is completed, Liu Bei will give General Zhang a thousand taels of gold as a reward." When Zhang Min heard that there was a reward of a thousand taels of gold, his face suddenly showed a greedy look, and he pretended to be generous and said: "A certain and Xuande Gong are close friends, if you want to say anything or not, Xuande Gong please command." ”

Liu Bei nodded and said in a low voice: "Tomorrow, Beihui will recommend General Zhang to escort Cao Cao's father out of Xuzhou, and after leaving Xuzhou and arriving in Yanzhou, General Zhang can secretly poison Cao Song's food and send Cao Song back to heaven." Zhang Min was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked in a low voice, "Why is this?" ”

Liu Bei put on a compassionate look and said: "For the sake of the millions of people in Xuzhou, Liu Bei has no choice but to make this decision. Cao Cao's wolf ambition will come to Xuzhou sooner or later. Liu Bei has been deeply favored by Tao Envoy Jun in recent years, how can he bear to watch Xuzhou fall into the hands of Cao Cao? After thinking about it for a long time, he came up with this strategy, which may save the lives of more than a million people in Xuzhou. As soon as Cao Song died, Cao Cao must have been in turmoil and served three years of mourning. Within three years, there may be some changes that will save Xuzhou from Cao Cao's poison. However, Cao Song's death must be peaceful and natural, and Cao Cao must not be allowed to see any flaws. ”

When Zhang Min heard this, he thought for a long time, and said slowly: "Xuande Gong, it is said that with the friendship between you and me, a certain should not be refused. But now Cao Cao is extremely powerful, and if he is not careful, he will die without a place to be buried. "Usually in order to win over these Xuzhou heroes, Liu Bei has worked hard, he knows that Zhang Min is insatiable, and he can do anything for money, and now he says this, just to get more benefits from himself.

Stretching out two fingers and shaking them in front of Zhang Min, Liu Bei intercepted and said, "Two thousand taels!" After the deed was completed, he gave the general two thousand taels of gold as a reward. After hearing Liu Bei's offer, Zhang Min did not hesitate and agreed: "Okay!" This matter will be handed over to a certain person, Xuande Gong can rest assured! ”

Liu Bei smiled with satisfaction, pushed the one hundred taels of gold on the table in the direction of Zhang Min, and motioned for Zhang Min to accept the deposit first. Under the kind smile, Liu Bei was already a killer. Not to mention that the one hundred taels of gold in front of him is the only money he has left, he can't take out the so-called two thousand taels of gold at all, and even if he can take it out, Liu Bei is not ready to hand it over to Zhang Min. When Zhang Min comes back from completing the task, Liu Bei will immediately secretly kill Zhang Min to prevent future troubles.

The next day, Liu Bei found Tao Qian and said that he had thought about it all night last night and felt that in addition to telling the soldiers along the way not to stop Cao Song, he should also send a team of soldiers to protect Cao Song from leaving the country in order to get a good relationship with Cao Cao. After hearing this, Tao Qian, who had no ambitions, even said that he was good, and asked Liu Bei who was the most suitable person to lead the troops to protect Cao Song. Liu Bei pretended to shirk and refused to speak out on the grounds of Xuzhou's internal affairs. Tao Qian asked again and again, and Liu Bei pretended to say Zhang Min's name in a deep voice. Tao Qian did not doubt him, and immediately ordered Zhang Min to lead the men and horses of his headquarters to escort Cao Song to Xuchang along the way. Zhang Min immediately expressed his willingness to take on this important responsibility, and when he was leaving, he secretly threw Liu Bei a reassuring look.

Zhang Min led the five hundred sergeants of the headquarters, together with Ying Shao sent by Cao Cao, to escort Cao Song all the way along the way, and a few days later came to Huafei County in the west of Xuzhou. At this moment, heavy rain suddenly fell in the sky, blocking everyone's trip. Zhang Min had no choice but to take the sergeant to escort Cao Song and his party to an ancient temple in Huafei County to take shelter from the rain. This heavy rain lasted for two days at a time, day and night, which made Zhang Min's mood very bad, he was in a hurry to send Cao Song to Yanzhou, and then poisoned Cao Song, and went back to ask Liu Bei for the two thousand taels of gold. Now the trip has been interrupted by this heavy rain.

That night, the rain became more and more intense. In the ancient temples where Zhang Min and others took shelter from the rain, there were only two temples for shelter from the rain, which had long been occupied by Cao Song and his family, and the subordinates of Zhang Min and Ying Shao could only gather under the eaves to take shelter from the rain. The heavy rain had already wet everyone's clothes and armor, and a sergeant under Zhang Min complained: "What kind of world is this, people take shelter from the rain in the temple, but we can only get drenched in the rain under the eaves!" ”

Zhang Min sighed and comforted his subordinates: "Forget it, he is Cao Cao's father, what are we?" Bear with me for now. The sergeant rolled his eyes, suddenly approached Zhang Min's side, and said in a low voice: "General, we are all Yellow Turban Army, and we reluctantly took refuge in Tao Qian in desperation. I see that the Cao family has countless heavy vehicles, presumably they are all filled with gold and silver, so it is better for us to rob him, go to the mountains overnight to fall into the grass, and go to be happy. ”

The sergeant's words touched the greed in Zhang Min's heart. Cao Song is a well-known rich man, when Cao Cao raised troops to recruit Dong Zhuo, Cao Song suddenly took out 20 million money to fund Cao Cao, which shows Cao Song's wealth. Compared with the dozens of carts in front of him, what is the two thousand taels of gold that Liu Bei opened? Why do you have to work hard for Liu Bei? Wouldn't it be better to kill Cao Song directly and take away the money?

As soon as he thought of this, Zhang Min no longer hesitated, and secretly gathered all five hundred subordinates to kill Ying Shao's department. (To be continued......)