Youzhou, on the march of the expedition to Wuhuan.

The army has been marching continuously for more than a month, Guo Jia's health is getting worse and worse, his shape is skeletal, his face is pale, and he has to barely hold on to the horse, and his body sways from side to side with the footsteps of the horse, as if he may fall off the horse at any time.

Cao Cao saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart, he asked Guo Jia to stay in the rear to rest several times, but Guo Jia politely refused. The army marched in a hurry, and seeing that it was about to arrive in Yi County, this time Cao Cao decided to ignore Guo Jia's opposition and insisted on letting him stay in Yi County to recuperate.

At this moment a fast horse galloped from the rear of the army, and the knight carried two long poles, decorated with white pheasant feathers, and so dressed as a messenger. On a hot summer day, the messenger was already sweating profusely. Seeing the messenger coming straight towards Cao Cao, for Cao Cao's safety, the guards guarding Cao Cao's surroundings quickly drove their horses to stop the messenger. Seeing this, the messenger quickly took out a feather from the cloth bag he was carrying, and handed it to Cao Cao by his personal guard.

After the guard took the feather sheath, he glanced at a few Miao seals on the sealing mud, then rolled the saddle and ran to Cao Cao's side, then knelt down on one knee and lifted the feather sash to the top of his head, and reported respectfully:

"Tell the lord, there is a report from the leading general!"

At this time, the leading general was Cao Xiu, the son of Cao Cao, who was the most important general in the tiger and leopard cavalry except for Cao Chun, the cavalry governor, and was always responsible for secret operations.

Cao Cao stretched out his hand to take the feather sash, unwrapped the knot sealed with cement, and carefully read the contents of the letter, and couldn't help frowning.

"The Qingzhou army sent to Jingzhou to carry out the mission was all ......annihilated," Cao Cao handed the feather in his hand to Guo Jia beside him, and said to himself, "I didn't expect that old guy Liu Biao to be so well guarded!" ”

Because covert sabotage belongs to the category of secret operations, Cao Xiu is responsible for reporting the matter to Cao Cao himself.

Guo Jia glanced at the ten lines after taking the feather swish, coughed dryly twice in his mouth, and then said to Cao Cao:

"According to what the minister sees, this is not Liu Biao's doing."

Hearing Guo Jia's cough, Cao Cao felt extremely distressed, because Guo Jia's body had deteriorated for days. Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia with a caring gaze, and Wen Yan suggested:

"Bonghyo should go to the carriage and lie down."

Guo Jia waved his hand and responded with a forced smile:

"The minister is fine. Besides, the carriage was too bumpy, and the minister couldn't sleep soundly, so it was better to sit comfortably on the horse. ”

Although Guo Jia's body was extremely weak at this time, the light in his eyes became sharper and sharper, as if he could see through everything in the world.

Looking at Guo Jia's burning eyes, Cao Cao didn't say much, but hoped that the army would arrive in Yi County as soon as possible, so that Guo Jia could recuperate.

Cao Cao continued the previous topic and asked:

"Why did Feng Xiao decide that this was not Liu Biao's doing?"

Guo Jia raised his hand and pointed to the south behind him, and then analyzed it conclusively:

"Liu Biao is timid, nepotistic, and most of his subordinates are mediocre, so it is impossible for him to annihilate the dead soldiers sent to Jingzhou so quickly. The minister concluded that it must have been done by someone else. ”

What Guo Jia said is the truth, Liu Biao is an outsider, without a single soldier in his hands, and he can sit firmly in the position of Jingzhou Mu with only a talisman issued by the imperial court, relying on the support of the local wealthy families, especially the Cai family and the Kuai family in Xiangyang. However, these Xiangyang wealthy families lack enterprising spirit, procrastinate in handling affairs, and have extremely low mobility capabilities. Such a resolute move must have come from a powerful man with a huge local influence. And Liu Biao has a mediocre personality and is very old, so he is not such a character.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao stroked his beard lightly, and said with a deep chin on his head:

"Feng Xiao is right, but if it wasn't for Liu Biao's doing, whose masterpiece would it be? Could it be that Liu Bei can't do it? ”

Liu Bei is extremely familiar with Cao Cao, although his ability is far greater than Cao Cao's, but he has been defeated repeatedly, persevering, and always has some amazing moves. For example, during the Battle of Guandu, Liu Bei once suddenly killed Cao Cao's assassin Shi Chexuan and captured Xuzhou. If it weren't for Cao Cao's shrewdness and decisiveness, he personally led the army back from Guandu and defeated Liu Bei with lightning speed, almost causing a catastrophe. Now that Liu Bei is attached to Liu Biao, could this matter be the work of this troubled hero?

Guo Jia shook his head and denied Cao Cao's speculation.

"Liu Bei is now stationed in Xinye, and the minister thinks that he does not have such strength, nor does he have such power, and he can wipe out all the dead soldiers scattered throughout Jingzhou."

"And who will it be?" Cao Cao hesitated slightly, then wondered.

"Actually, the minister is also thinking about this, who can have such a powerful force in Jingzhou?" Guo Jiadeng fell into thought, and muttered in his mouth, "But in any case, this incident reminds us that there are powerful tripartite forces hidden in Jingzhou. In the future, when the lord sends troops to the south, don't be careful. ”

"Thank you Fengxiao for reminding me, Lone remembers." Cao Cao bowed slightly, deeply impressed by Guo Jia's judgment.

Suddenly, Cao Cao thought of a mysterious army. Before the Battle of Guandu, a light cavalry purportedly from the northern nomadic tribe Ding Ling had joined forces. Although the number of this light cavalry was only 1,000, the quality of the soldiers was unusually strong. Later, Cao Cao was worried that this light cavalry would not be able to be controlled by his own side in the future, so he set up an ambush to wipe it out. Even so, they also lost thousands of men and horses in this battle, which shows the strength of this group of Ding Lingren. Could it be that this group of Ding Lingren will be behind the scenes?

But when you think about it, this explanation doesn't make much sense. Because Ding Lingren lives in Mobei and rarely enters the Central Plains, how could he sneak into the hinterland of Jingxiang? Moreover, wouldn't it be more straightforward to attack your own army in the north if you want revenge? Why should he attack the dead soldiers whom he sent to the south? At the same time, this operation is extremely secretive, how did Ding Lingren know about it?

Moreover, at the beginning, these Ding Ling people came to unite with themselves, all because they took a fancy to the Hetao basin with abundant water and grass. They hoped that the imperial court would agree to their migration here, which shows that the interests of the Ding Ling people were in the north rather than the south. Since there is no profit to be made in the south, how can Ding Lingren lurk in the south?

All of this shows that the attackers were by no means Ding Ling.

But thinking that his dead soldiers were wiped out in an instant, except for the elite division of Ding Lingren, Cao Cao really couldn't think of any other army in this world with such strength.

Could it be that there is still a strong and unknown team on this Han land? Cao Cao was puzzled.

In fact, what Cao Cao didn't know was that there was a country floating in the sky in this world, and her name was "Cloud Heavenly Kingdom". Those so-called Ding Ling elite divisions are just pseudonyms used by the Heavenly Kingdom in order to hide people's eyes. Just as when they united with Soochow at this moment, they claimed to be the army of the Yue Kingdom. An unknown and mysterious country is secretly operating to seize control of the world, and for the ignorant world, it is not known whether it is happy or sad.