—184 A.D.——

Luoyang, Washington Annex.

Cao Cao was still drinking with Liu Bei.

The "stand-in" should still be making a move to lure away Zhang Rang's pursuers at this moment, and before he confirmed that the attention of the Ten Standing Servants was far away from Cao Mansion and returned, it was really reckless for him to act rashly, and since Liu Bei had no intention of chasing away customers, it was not a bad thing to talk more about this young man he admired very much.

Before, after Cao Cao judged all those who had the potential to inherit the throne and proposed that they could be succeeded by women, Liu Bei seemed to be uninterested in this topic, and related topics were all dealt with, which shows that he himself has ideas about that position, and now he is probably considering how many "competitors" there are besides the princess.

Scold...... Most of the people of the Liu family will have this kind of thought, and if their own opinion spreads, the difficulty of their succession to the throne will be doubled.

After all, the last empress has to be traced back to the Ji family of the Zhou Dynasty, after hundreds of years of time in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the pre-Qin and pre-Han dynasties, the existence of the "empress" has become an unexaminable "legend" in the hearts of the people of the time.

"I heard that Xuande was the head of any county at this time, which made Cao Cao, who is still the minister of state, very ashamed." After confirming that Liu Bei did not intend to talk about that topic, Cao Cao took the opportunity to change the conversation and began to talk about the substantive work of the two sides.

"Meng De is too modest," Liu Bei really responded: "Compared with Guangyang County, which has only two counties, it is not easy to govern Jinan with fourteen counties, let alone ......."

That's it, Cao Cao nodded, and the conversation between men often starts with major events in the world, and then narrows down to one state and one county, and finally ends with their respective substantive duties, rarely involving family affairs.

Women on the contrary, if they don't know where the other party's home is, can they have been married, what kind of livelihood they do, what relatives they have, often can't talk, after quelling the Xiliang rebellion, Cao Cao once boasted to Ding Yi and Bian Aya about Guan Yu and Lu Bu, but the wife and concubine opened their mouths and asked: "How is the appearance?" "Have you ever been married?" "Whom are you married?" "Do you have children?" , only to know that Lu Bu seemed to marry Dong Zhuo's daughter, Cao Cao, and finally retreated speechlessly.

Thinking about it this way, Cai Zhenji, who couldn't go to Xiliang, asked, "Can I be powerful?" "It's quite unusual...... Wait, could it be that it is precisely because of the influence of Zhenji from childhood to adulthood that she has no guilt about electing an empress?

Cao Cao talked with Liu Bei while his mind turned, and preliminarily negotiated some aspects of cooperation between Qingzhou and Youzhou, such as the trade of their own scarce goods such as horses and salt and iron, as well as the offensive and defensive alliance against the "Ten Standing Servants"—after all, both sides were now well-established members of the party, and they could not walk away at will when they encountered malicious difficulties.

However, with the Ten Standing Servants still in their hands on the righteousness and with the backing of the "Sword Master", they cannot and cannot confront it head-on, and the current conclusion is that even if it is a holy decree, it is necessary to resolutely deal with certain orders that are clearly intended to trap them, such as "not bring a single soldier to Beijing to report on their duties" or "do not carry weapons into a suspicious place...... Pretending not to hear, no matter what the consequences are, is better than being pitted to death.

————

Just as they were nearing the end of their conversation, there was a dull thump of "bang, bang, bang" outside the window, and it was obvious that Dian Wei and Zhang Fei had started to "discuss" after drinking enough.

Dian Wei's "guard" does not work when Cao Cao has not encountered the enemy, and looking at Liu Bei's attitude, it is obvious that Zhang Fei's "Wushuang" is not the type that can be used in this kind of fist-to-flesh fighting.

"Why don't you go and see who wins and who loses?" Cao Cao put down the wine cup and proposed.

"It's hard to judge victory or defeat in hand-to-hand combat, unless the two of them agree on some kind of 'rule'." Liu Bei nodded and stood up as well.

The biggest feature of Huaxin's house is that there is no feature, there are private rooms and study rooms for elegant people to cook wine and enjoy the scenery, as well as gardens for women to play, as for the martial arts arena for martial artists to practice and learn, but because its owner only requires "yes", its specifications and quality are not top-notch.

When Cao Cao and Liu Bei came to the martial arts arena, the simple bluestone ground had already been stepped out of many cracks by the two strong men.

Zhang Fei and Dian Wei were holding each other very much, constantly changing positions under their feet to trip each other, and from time to time they had their hands free to beat each other's backs, and those strange banging sounds came from this.

"Big brother, General Cao." Guan Yu was watching the battle on the edge of the martial arts arena, and when he saw the two of them, he bowed his hand.

"Yun Chang can call me 'Mengde'," Cao Cao waved his hand and looked at the middle of the field: "Is this 'wrestling'?" ”

"Exactly," Guan Yu should say: "This is a technical play among some nomads in the north of Youzhou who do not enter the Central Plains, and those who touch the ground with their backs are considered defeated, because the blades are easy to make loud noises, and the fists and feet are not easy to distinguish the winner from the loser, so the third brother and General Dian Wei will compete with this." ”

"Hmm......" Cao Cao also stood on the edge of the martial arts arena and began to watch the battle: "If Zhong Kang does this game, he will probably be invincible." ”

"He'll be barred from participating." Liu Bei has probably heard of Xu Chu's body shape, so he should be.

"Guess who's going to win, Lord Mengde?" Cao Cao was about to answer, when Cai Wenji's playful voice came from next to him.

Ah, too, it's strange if such a big movement doesn't attract a little girl who is curious about everything.

Cao Cao turned his head and faced a long face with black bean eyes, a sheep mouth that kept chewing and white hair on his forehead: "......"

"Huh? Why did Lord Mengde stay stunned? Cai Yan's little face poked out from the back of the strange animal's neck.

"Probably frightened by the power of my darkness." Xiahou Ji answered with her rabbit in her arms.

"Master Meng De will not be deterred!" Cai Wenji immediately defended Cao Cao and said: "Sister can't do it!" ”

Before Liu Bei said that this little girl's name was Xiahou Ji, and she was the younger sister of Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Yuan, but it didn't look like it at all.

"So, who do you think will win?" Cao Cao asked, it would be a good idea to throw the question back when it was difficult to answer.

"It must be Adian!" "My guild wins." The two girls replied, one after the other.

"Adian will win! Look at his bald head, bald people are amazing! Cai Yan immediately retorted.

Xiahou Ji snorted, and kept saying: "My husband is the Marshal of Tianpeng who is in charge of the Tianhe Water Army, with 100,000 heavenly soldiers and 100 warships, and there will be seventy-two changes, and a somersault cloud is 108,000 miles, only because he broke the glass cup during the debate with the Buddha at the Bon Festival, and was punished by the Nether Reincarnation 10th to become like this, if he didn't lose his [power], how could a mere mortal be his opponent?" ”

Okay, I believe she is Xiahoudun's sister, Cao Cao glanced at Liu Bei and Guan Yu, and they were really full of words.

On the martial arts field, because Dian Wei was stunned for a moment, Zhang Fei found a flaw and put him down directly, and then laughed.

"He's so powerful, so who are you? Dare to call him husband? Because the "Adian" he supported was lost, Cai Wenji was very dissatisfied and asked Xiahou Ji.

Cao Cao saw Liu Bei stretch out his hand and seemed to want to stop it, but it was too late.

"I am the embodiment of [power]!" The little girl proudly announced.

It's even connected to the "loss of power" mentioned earlier! Cao Cao tried his best to stop himself from saying this.

Although it was Dian Wei and Zhang Fei who wrestled, Cao Cao also had a serious sense of detachment at this time, and originally wanted to take her back to meet the Xiahou brothers first, even if she wanted to get married, she had to have a parent's order, the words of the matchmaker or something, but now it seems that it is better to stay here with Liu Bei......

————

"Mengde! I am back! ”

Yuan Shao's voice came in from outside the courtyard, breaking the strange atmosphere in the martial arts arena, and Cao Cao also recalled why he wanted to stay here, yes, the "stand-in" side......

"[Yo, partner]," "Stand-in" jumped into the martial arts arena with his blue and red sword ahead of Yuan Shao: "[I just met Zilong, and I also cooperated with him to save Ben Chu and a group of Taiping Dao disciples, he seems to be ...... to me Why do you look like you've been beaten up by Jeonghime? 】”

"Zhen Ji didn't beat me," Cao Cao lifted his spirits a little and replied in a low voice, "Where is Zilong?" ”

"Well, he said that he was going to escort those people to Julu, and he didn't have time to come over, but I feel that he has a much better impression of me. "The stand-in" seemed to be very happy.

That's good news...... Cao Cao nodded and looked in the direction where Yuan Shao's voice came from.

"Mengde! You always say that I don't please my daughter-in-law, now I have it, come and see! Yuan Shao's voice appeared at the door of the martial arts arena from far and near.

"What must be corrected is that even if you and I get married, you will become a colt, not me 'marry', not that I have not promised to marry you." Yuan Shao was followed by a girl in a green shirt and red dress, holding a meteor hammer, and wearing a bright yellow coat.

"Naturally, I won't force Yuanjia in the next place." Yuan Shao's expression changed, and he replied solemnly.

How could the original way of speaking be so strange? And the girl's rebuttals were in the wrong order...... Wait, Yuanjia? Cao Cao looked at the girl carefully, was suddenly startled, and bowed: "Cao Mengde has seen the 'Princess of Ten Thousand Years'." ”

"No need to be polite, I'm evading the queen's pursuit, and I'm not a 'princess' for the time being." Although her attitude towards Yuan Shao is a little strange, the attitude and actions of this "Wannian Princess" when dealing with Cao Cao are completely in line with her status as a royal princess.

"You ......" Xiahou Ji didn't seem to have recovered from her state of "incarnation of power" and was about to say something to the princess, but was directly dragged away by Cai Yan.

"Liu Xuande has seen the princess." Liu Bei also came to give a salute, as for Dian Wei and Zhang Fei, who were still wrestling just now, they had been taken away by Guan Yu for cleaning.

"I've heard of you, after King Jing of Zhongshan, a student of Lu Da Sima." After someone treated her as a princess, Liu Nai's temperament naturally began to change, as if the emperor was receiving his courtiers on the temple.

How the hell did Ben bring her back? Cao Cao had nothing to say about Yuan Shao's luck.

"Hmm...... If you count it, you should be my father's cousin, that is, my cousin. The princess pinched her fingers for a moment before saying, "That's why I should call you—"

"Princesses don't have to be like this." Liu Bei seems to be planning to shirk it, after all, this identity is really a bit arrogant.

"—Uncle Brother."

“……”