The wind howls, the rivers freeze, and the northern land ushers in the coldest midwinter.

Qinghe country, the southern suburb of Ganling City.

Sunset at dusk, on the official road in the south of the city. The cold wind was raging, the pedestrians were scarce, and a group of more than 100 people rode horses and galloped, all the way dusty, and the sound of horses' hooves was particularly loud.

After a while, a group of horses stopped in front of the Ganling Post Station on the side of the road, and then more than 100 young people in strong clothes surrounded the post station layer by layer, and carefully checked the front and back of the house.

It wasn't until the servants confirmed that there was no danger that a middle-aged man with a black cloak turned over and dismounted, threw the reins to the servants waiting at his side, and then led the two burly men to the station.

There was a "crunch" sound, and when the middle-aged man stepped on the steps with two attendants, the originally closed door suddenly opened. Immediately afterwards, a scribe with a "mustache" came out, and the middle-aged man seemed to have known each other for a long time, and after a little greeting, the two entered the post house together, and the gate was closed.

A group of four people walked quickly through the front yard, and at the end of the bluestone road was the front hall of the post station, which was also the main hall.

Outside the door of the main hall, there were four big men standing in the shape of a man, with fierce faces like door gods, with a pestle and a spear in their hands, and a long sword tied to their waists, without a trace of emotion on their faces. Watching the four of them walk up the steps, the four of them did not move, did not squint, and did not blink their eyes.

However, when the middle-aged man and his group of four walked to the door, the two big men standing on the left and right sides of the door took a step sideways, and one of them said in a cold tone: "The head of the family has an order, Cao Gong will go in alone, and the rest will wait here." ”

The two burly men behind the middle-aged man heard the change in color, and rolled up their sleeves angrily. Raise your big fist and you're about to fight. At this time, the middle-aged man known as "Cao Gong" raised his hand to signal them to be calm, and then said in a deep voice without question: "You must not be presumptuous. Wait here. With that, he gently patted the sleeve of his shirt to drive away the dust from his robe, and then pushed open the door of the main hall, crossed the threshold, strode in, and closed the door with his hand.

Seeing that "Cao Gong" went in, he closed the door. The "mustache" scribe who had just gone out to greet him could not help but stomp his feet, his face full of displeasure, as if he was extremely dissatisfied with this rejection. There are quite complaints. How could two big men stand in front of him, even if he was dissatisfied, he had no choice but to stand under the porch and wait.

After closing the door, the main hall suddenly went dark. Even the four lattice windows on both sides were tightly covered by black curtains. Not a little light.

Just as "Cao Gong"'s face changed slightly, and his heart was full of suspicions, there was a sound of "snort" burning from the back of the lobby, and then the oil lamp on the table was lit, revealing a thin figure sitting next to the desk.

"Meng De should not be surprised, my brother has been afraid of light recently, and I ask my brother to bear with me if it is inconvenient." The figure sitting on the east side of the desk whispered.

Before he could finish speaking, he turned his face slightly. Turning his head to look at the suspicious "Cao Gong".

It goes without saying that this Cao Gong named "Mengde". It is the Yanzhou Cao Cao and Cao Mengde who are stationed on the border of the Qinghe State at the moment. And the people who dare to call themselves brothers in front of Cao Cao today are really rare, or only a handful, after all, Cao Cao is the eldest in the Cao clan and the Xiahou family, and Cao Cao has no brother or brother. If there are still people in the world who call themselves brothers just because of their former friendship with Cao Cao, then there is only one person. This person is Cao Cao's former playmate, Yuan Shao Yuan Benchu of Jizhou, who stole chickens and dogs together, fought together, and prostituted together.

"Ugh!" When Yuan Shao turned his face and turned his head, Cao Cao exclaimed in surprise, almost unable to believe his eyes, the person in front of him was Yuan Shao?

But when I saw the face in the dim light, there was an indescribable aging. He has a white beard, snow-white temples, furrow-like wrinkles on his forehead, interspersed with gray-brown spots, the edges of his ears are also covered with brown spots, his cheeks are extremely thin, his eyebrows are sparse and white, his eye sockets are deep, his eyes are cloudy, his eyeballs bulge, his lips are pale and bloodless, and his chin is sharp. What kind of face is this, so thin and thin, like skin and bones, and terminally ill.

Such a face is very terrifying at first glance, if he could not speak, he would have thought that he had seen a ghost!

"Brother Benchu, you ??????" Pointing at Yuan Shao in shock, Cao Cao felt scared for the first time in his life. At this moment, he had many questions in his heart, but in the face of Yuan Shao's appearance, he couldn't say a word, and his throat choked inexplicably, and he was sad.

The last time I saw Yuan Shao was when Wancheng was fighting for the Han Emperor Liu Xie, and in the blink of an eye, the two had not met for three years. Three years is not short, but it is not long, but Cao Cao never expected that Yuan Shao would be so old after only three years of not seeing each other!

This is really a change in the world, a vicissitudes of life!

Thinking about the time when the princes of the Eighteenth Road were discussing Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao was so high-spirited, what a beautiful scenery, commanding the heroes, and not daring to disobey. Four years ago, Yuan Shao became the leader of the alliance of princes again, with six or seven hundred thousand troops under his command, known as one million heroes.

He became the leader of the princes twice, once coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and now he is the Han prime minister with the highest status and the most powerful in the Han world, which is the glorious course experienced by Yuan Shao Yuan of Jizhou at the beginning. Which of these things is not a major event that makes the princes of the towns envious, and which one is not a brilliant feat that the world's heroes want to do but dare not do?

To this day, there is only one result when it comes to saying who is the most famous, who has the loudest name, and who has the most noble status in the world. But it is by no means the strongest and most prosperous Xiliang Li Li, but the gray-haired and white-headed Yuan Shao Yuan Benchu in front of Cao Cao.

But?????? What kind of pain did Yuan Shao torture like this, so old?

At this moment, Cao Cao's mind was full of doubts, full of puzzlement, but he didn't know where to start, and he didn't want to uncover Yuan Shao's scar in person, so that he could hurt again. In Cao Cao's eyes, with his extraordinary eyesight and countless rich experience in reading people, he deeply knew that Yuan Shao could no longer withstand any stimulation at this moment. Yuan Shao's current situation is like an oil lamp in the wind, all supported by a tenacious perseverance and obsession, once the wind rises slightly, the oil lamp will flicker and may be blown out by the wind at any time.

"Meng De is asking why I am the way I am, right? This matter is a long story, Meng De and sit down, and you and I will have a good talk today?????? Perhaps, this will be the last time we will see each other. Yuan Shao's voice was very low, and the expression on his face was very stiff, or his face no longer allowed him to make expressions when he spoke, and this face was no longer obedient.

Gently waving his hand to signal Cao Cao to sit down opposite, Yuan Shao said in a low tone: "Three years ago, the Han Emperor moved to Jizhou, at that time I thought that the general trend of the world was in the palm of my hand, and in time I would be able to surpass Li Li, the leader of the group, and dominate the leader." It is because I plan to use one to two years to pacify Youzhou, sweep away the hidden dangers in the rear, and then wave my army to the south, fight for the Central Plains again, and compete with Li Li. ”

Speaking of this, Yuan Shao paused, and after taking a breath, he said frankly: "To be honest, I thought at that time that after pacifying Youzhou, I would attack Yanzhou occupied by Meng De. Only by occupying the four prefectures of You, Qing, Hebei, and Yan can I have the strength to start a head-on decisive battle with Li Li in Xiliang, otherwise the strength is still not enough, and I am afraid that I am not Li Li's enemy. After a pause, Yuan Shao smiled apologetically at Cao Cao, although his smile at the moment was more ugly than crying, but his eyes and heart, Cao Cao understood.

Immediately, Cao Cao bowed his head and said that he could understand and did not mind. But he didn't interject, because he didn't want to interrupt Yuan Shao's train of thought, or he couldn't bear it. No matter how he fought openly and secretly with Yuan Shao before, how he fought each other with swords and soldiers. But at this time, seeing that Yuan Shao was already terminally ill and his days were running out, Cao Cao was saddened, and couldn't help but recall the good times when he was young and Yuan Shao spent time together.

Just as Cao Cao thought, after a pause in Yuan Shao's voice, he continued: "Originally, this qiē was planned, and I made sufficient preparations for this. However, with Liu Xie's sudden death, all my plans and preparations were instantly in vain, and everything was disrupted. The moment I learned that Liu Xie had died, I really couldn't accept this fact, I didn't believe that this qiē was true, and I immediately vomited blood and fainted.

That time, I was in a coma for two days and three nights, and I almost never woke up again. After waking up, Fang knew that the beautiful dreams he had woven had come to naught, and all his efforts and efforts were burned with Liu Xie's sudden death. Since then, I have fallen ill, and I hurried back to Yecheng before the old illness was cured, and just after handling Liu Xie's funeral, I ushered in a major crusade against the Yuan Alliance. In the past two years, Jizhou has always been surrounded by more than 200,000 troops, and it has been difficult to live like a year. And I couldn't sleep at night, with nightmares repeatedly, and every day I had to face war reports from all directions, and I couldn't relax for a moment, and I always tensed my mind and didn't dare to relax in the slightest. Over time, it is the current appearance, afraid of seeing the light, not liking noisy, water and rice do not enter, every day with ginseng soup to continue life, lingering until now, life is better than death. ”

At the end, Yuan Shao asked in a low voice with a melancholy look in his eyes: "Meng De, do you believe that Liu Xie was ordered by me to kill?" ”

Cao Cao shook his head when he heard this, and said very firmly: "The foolish brother categorically doesn't believe it. If Brother Ben Chu wants to kill Liu Xie, why should he take him to Jizhou, isn't this an extra move? is based on Liu Xie's death, and all the princes in the world are suspected, including my Cao Cao. However, none of our princes had a chance to get close to Liu Xie, and only my brother and Li Li could get close to him, so Li Wenchang was the most suspicious. Obviously, although Cao Cao's words were frank, he still had reservations, and did not speculate and speculate.

—————— to be continued———————————— (To be continued......

PS: [Heartfelt thanks: a04050235cxj book friends, 28651922 book friends for their monthly pass support, happy New Year's Day!] 】