In the second year of Jian'an, June 197, Xuchang.

This whole year has been a bad year for Cao Cao.

In other words, before the Battle of Guandu, any year was a difficult year for Cao Cao.

When he first entered Yanzhou, he defeated the Qingzhou Yellow Turban with difficulty, and then fought in the east and west, defeated Yuan Shu and Tao Qian, and defeated Lu Bu in Runan.

It's hard to settle down, and I have to fight with Yuan Shu to break my head and bleed.

In just a few years, Cao Cao was either fighting or on his way to fight.

Any war is full of dangers, and when he was most depressed, he almost sent his family members to Yecheng as hostages.

Fortunately, everything survived.

It's just that at the beginning of this year, Zhang Xiu went south to conquer him, and he lost his troops and generals, which was the most tragic in history.

In history, he only lost Dian Wei and Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, and one or two thousand men, but this time he added Cao Ren Lejin and nearly 10,000 elites.

The strength was almost weakened by a quarter, which made Cao Cao put away the arrogance when he first welcomed Liu Xie and began to keep a low profile.

In May, Cao Cao learned a lesson and decided not to make friends with Liu Biao anymore, so in the name of Liu Xie, he crowned Liu Biao as the general of the expedition to the south, which was regarded as a gesture of goodwill, and did not send Cao Hong to continue to go south to conquer Zhang Xiu.

The two sides are currently at peace, Cao Hong is stationed in Ye County, Liu Biao sent Gan Ning to be stationed in Biyang, and Zhang Xiu is much more instigated, and he himself is in Sui County, only sending a few soldiers and horses to garrison Wancheng.

After being crowned as the general of Zhengnan by Liu Xie, Liu Biao was no longer hostile to Cao Cao, and even sent an envoy Han Song to Xuchang again to worship the Son of Heaven.

Mainly because Liu Biao's Jingzhou Thorn History in history was given by Dong Zhuo, and the later positions and titles of General Zhennan, Jingzhou Mu, and Marquis Wucheng were sealed by Li Dao, although they were all in the name of Liu Xie, but they were still a little less meaningful in legal theory.

So now that Liu Xie has personally named him the general of Zhengnan, it can be regarded as officially justifying this layer of legal theory, and Liu Biao is naturally very happy.

And Cao Cao now does not dare to despise Liu Biao, in history he personally conquered Nanyang several times, and defeated Liu Biao's army. Therefore, Cao Cao never took him seriously, nor did he promote him to an official position.

But this time he had to do this, and when his strength was greatly damaged, he had to consider a question of who could be messed with and who couldn't.

Under normal circumstances, Yuan Shu is within the category of not being provoked.

He has just been proclaimed emperor this year, and his strength is at its peak, with more than 100,000 troops, while Cao Cao has lost his troops and lost his generals, and now his troops are only 40,000, and the chances of winning against him will definitely not be too much, and more importantly, he has to worry about Lu Bu's attitude.

Once Lu Bu and Yuan Shu were mixed up, the threat to Cao Cao would be too great.

This worries him.

Xuchang Sikong Mansion, after returning from Nanyang in March, the original prosperous mansion seemed to be deserted a lot in just three months.

Cao Cao sat cross-legged under the wooden porch by the pond in the backyard alone, looking at the swimming fish in the pond and being slightly distracted.

It was summer, the sun was blazing, the water was sparkling, and the sun was warm and hot.

The servants and maidservants who came and went around him crept to him, not daring to disturb him.

Since the Battle of Nanyang, Cao Ang was killed in battle, and Cao Cao's original wife, Mrs. Ding, was furious about this, broke off relations with Cao Cao, and took some of the slaves back to his hometown.

There is no original wife in the house, only a few concubines are left, and the inner house is empty, which seems to be a little less popular.

And Mrs. Bian will have to wait for another two years, and after Cao Cao wants to save Mrs. Ding, and finally divorces Mrs. Ding, she will be established as the main room.

Therefore, there is no owner in the inner house of the Cao family now.

In the past, when Cao Cao was bored, Mrs. Ding could persuade him a few words, but now no one dared to persuade him.

However, Mrs. Bian knew that Cao Cao's mood was not very good these days, and she was worried that he would suffer from heat stroke if he sat like this all the time in hot weather, so she prepared a plum decoction to quench his thirst, that is, sour plum soup.

"Husband."

Mrs. Bian slowly walked to the porch with the sour plum soup, waved her hand, and motioned to the slaves on the left and right sides who had already stood with sore legs and feet to go down and rest first.

Then he knelt beside Cao Cao, put the plate under the porch, picked up the sour plum soup and handed it to Cao Cao.

"Yes, ma'am."

Cao Cao responded, took the sour plum soup from Mrs. Bian's hand, held it in his hand, and pretended to be relaxed: "What about Pi'er?" ”

Mrs. Bian said: "The weather is too hot, and they will be drowsy after the afternoon, and they have already slept. ”

"Did Cang Shu sleep too?"

Cao Cao asked.

Cang Shu is Cao Chong's nickname, and Cao Chong is almost two years old this year.

Normally, children can speak by the time they reach the age of one and a half and can read by the age of three.

But Cao Chong was a prodigy, and historical records record that the intelligence of a five-year-old is similar to that of an adult, and he can speak at the age of nine months, and he can read and write at the age of one and a half, which is very much loved by Cao Cao.

He once said that although Shen's child has early wisdom, he is still not as good as my family Cangshu, although he is suspected of selling and boasting, but it also shows that Cao Chong is indeed smart.

"Cang Shu also slept."

Mrs. Bian said with a smile: "Before going to bed, he said that he would recite an article to Ye Ye when he woke up." ”

"Oh?"

Cao Cao was quite surprised: "Cangshu already knows how to memorize articles? ”

"That's not it, it's just that I can memorize the first chapter of "Cangjie Chapter", one hundred and two crosses, but who can memorize so many words if their child is less than two years old? I'm afraid that if I wait for another two years, Cang Shu will definitely be brilliant. ”

Mrs. Bian picked up some nice things and told Cao Cao, she knew that Cao Cao liked to listen to this.

Cao Cao stroked his beard and laughed when he heard this: "Hahahaha, it's good to be able to memorize the first chapter of "Cangjie Chapter", I have this unicorn, why worry that our Cao clan is not prosperous?" ”

was coaxed by Mrs. Bian to Cao Chong, and Cao Cao's depression approaching Yingchuan was much better because of Yuan Shu's capture of Chen and Liang.

The two talked about some other things, and at this time, the servant came in and said, "Sikong, Lu Bu sent the envoy Chen Deng to Xuchang, and he is now outside the door." ”

"Oh?"

Cao Cao muttered: "Let him wait in the front hall first, and then send someone to invite the military advisor to sacrifice wine, and when the military advisor sacrifice wine comes, then summon him to the middle hall." ”

"Yui."

And the slave went and arranged for it.

Mrs. Bian said: "The husband has something important to deal with, and the concubine will go back to the inner house first." ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded, stood up and went to the front hall.

After the conquest of Nanyang, a lot happened in Kanto.

For example, last year, Gongsun Chan defeated Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Gongsun Chan and besiege him in Yijing.

Now everyone can see the situation in Hebei, Gongsun Zhan is already at the end of the crossbow, and it is only a matter of time before Yuan Shao occupies the north.

Also in May of this year, Yuan Shu went north to occupy the states of Chen and Liang, and in order to prevent Lü Bu from alliing with him, Cao Cao hurriedly sent an envoy to Lü Bu, promising to promote him to general Zuo.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that Lu Bu originally planned to ally with Yuan Shu, and at the request of Yuan Shu, he was ready to marry his daughter to Yuan Shu's son.

However, Chen Qi and Chen Deng's father and son made an obstacle and successfully persuaded Lu Bu to refuse to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, which was regarded as indirectly helping Cao Cao.

Now Lu Bu sent Chen Deng to Xuchang again, probably for this matter.

The reason why Guo Jia was able to be photographed by Cao Cao on such an extremely important occasion was that after the Battle of Nanyang, Cao Cao was defeated by Zhang Xiu and fled back to Yingchuan in disgrace.

Yuan Shao immediately sent someone to send a letter over, arrogantly speaking, humiliating Cao Cao.

This incident made Cao Cao very angry.

However, because Yuan Shao was about to defeat Gongsun Zan and occupy the entire north, his strength made Cao Cao very afraid and did not dare to respond.

Only Guo Jia proposed to him the theory of ten wins and ten defeats, which gave Cao Cao a lot of confidence, so since then, he has set up a military priest to sacrifice wine, which officially allowed Guo Jia to enter the core strategist circle.

Later, Cao Cao's five great strategists have not yet taken shape.

Xun Yu has a cooperative relationship with him, and is now in charge of Shangshutai; Jia Xu was still following Zhang Xiu in Nanyang; Xun Yu served as the Taishou of Runan and helped Cao Cao stabilize Runan; Cheng Yu is Jiyin Taishou and sits in Yanzhou.

Therefore, Guo Jia is the only one who follows him, and when he encounters something, he really needs Guo Jia to help analyze it.

Soon Cao Cao came to the middle hall, and at this time Chen Deng was waiting in the front hall, and the slave was now going to find Guo Jia.

About half an hour later, Guo Jia came in a hurry, and when he entered the hall, he saw Cao Cao reading some official documents on the main case, so he arched his hand and said, "Ming Gong." ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao put down the official document and said to Guo Jia: "Fengxiao sits first." ”

"Thank you, Ming Gong."

Guo Jia sat under Cao Cao's right hand.

After he sat down, Cao Cao said: "Lu Bu sent a messenger Chen Deng, what do you think of Fengxiao?" ”

Guo Jia said with a smile: "I already know about this matter, at the beginning of this year, Yuan Shu had already sent someone to contact Lu Bu, wanting to marry Lu Bu's daughter for his son. It can be seen that they are people who are interested in the court, and Chen Deng is coming, and the public can test it, or it can be used as an internal response. ”

If it is said that it is insightful of people's hearts, the Three Kingdoms of the late Han Dynasty are unsurpassed by Guo Jiaqi.

In May, the envoy sent by Cao Cao to see Lü Bu happened to meet Chen Ju, Chen Deng's father and son, and foiled Yuan Shu's plot to ally with Lü Bu, so Lü Bu arrested Yuan Shu's envoy Han Yin, and this time Chen Deng brought it over to Cao Cao.

Everyone already knew about this matter, but Guo Jia judged from it that Chen Qi and Chen Deng's father and son didn't really want to do things for Lu Bu, so they persuaded Cao Cao to win over the two and let them respond internally.

Cao Cao nodded and said: "I think so too, if Chen Yuanlong's father and son really have their hearts set on the imperial court, then it will be too good for the imperial court." ”

As he spoke, the waiter had already brought Chen Deng over from the front hall.

Chen Deng is eight feet tall, with a handsome face, and has a heroic demeanor, he calmly walked into the hall, and when he saw Cao Cao, he stepped forward and said, "Deng, I have seen Cao Gong." ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao said: "Your envoy, please take a seat, what is the matter with Lu Bu sending you to see Gu?" ”

At the beginning of the year, Liu Xie named Cao Cao as the Marquis of Wuping, and the titles of the Zhou Dynasty were duke, marquis, earl, son, and male.

In the Qin and Han dynasties, because of the prevalence of twentie-level titles, the four lords, earl, son, and male were basically abolished, leaving marquises, of which the marquis of Guannei was the lowest marquis, and then the liehous.

The liehou is divided into three, six, nine and so on, for the capital pavilion marquis, pavilion marquis, all township marquis, township marquis, the highest is the county marquis, a county is the hou country, at this time you can be called a lonely widow.

Cao Cao's Marquis Wuping and Liu Biao's Marquis Wucheng are all at the county level, so now when Cao Cao talks to outsiders, he will use the self-title of "Lonely".

"Thank you, Gong Cao."

After Chen Deng sat down, he said: "At the beginning of the year, Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor in Huainan and sent an envoy to Yin to tie up Lu Bu, does Cao Gong know? ”

Cao Cao noticed that Chen Deng was talking about Yin Knot Lu Bu, not Yin Knot My Lord, and his heart suddenly settled, nodded and said: "Naturally, I know that I have to thank Han Yu Gong and Yuan Long this time, if it weren't for you, the court might be in danger." ”

He also spoke a little closer, paving the way for winning over Chen Deng in the future.

Chen Dengzheng said: "My father and I dissuaded Lu Bu for the sake of the country and the world, and we had no intention of inviting credit. This time, I just wanted to tell Cao Gong that Yuan Shu's wolf ambitions, according to Huainan, are difficult to raise for a long time, and Gong should first make friends with Lu Bu and repel Yuan Shu from Yuzhou, so as to protect Xu Du's safety. ”

Cao Cao said: "I know all this, Yuan Shu has already marched into the Chen State, and he has the intention of attacking Yingchuan, how can I tolerate him?" However, Huainan's brother embraced the land of Jiangdong, and Runan followed it, with many soldiers and generals, and he wanted to crusade alone, but he couldn't be defeated. ”

Chen Deng immediately said: "I am willing to persuade Lu Bu to form an alliance with Cao Gong, Lu Bu killed Yuan Shu's envoy, he has annoyed Yuan Shu, and he will inevitably raise troops to fight, and the Duke can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight." ”

"Good."

Cao Cao nodded approvingly and said, "I don't know what Yuanlongguan Lu Bu is?" ”

Chen Deng said: "Lu Bu is brave and unscrupulous, and he is not a good minister of the society. After he came to Xuzhou, he attacked Liu Huang's uncle Yu Xiaopei, forcibly recruited my father, and made Xuzhou centrifuge from it. ”

Cao Cao sighed: "Yes, Lu Bu is a capricious person, even if he is given to him by a high-ranking official today, he will definitely rebel in the future." You are by his side, only Qing Qing knows his hypocrisy. ”

Chen Deng immediately stood up and arched his hand and said, "Deng's wish is Cao Gong's internal response." ”

Cao Cao was overjoyed and said: "With the help of Yuanlong, the imperial court will be able to recover Huaibei as soon as possible." I want to play the Son of Heaven, and I want to be the Taishou of Guangling, and entrust the affairs of the East to you, how about it? ”

"Deng will not be dishonored."

Chen Dengying made this matter, he was actually very disgusted with Lu Bu, and now he is Cao Cao's internal response, naturally so that the imperial court can recover Xuzhou one day.

Cao Cao was very happy to win over Chen Deng, rewarded Chen Deng's father Chen Qi, and at the same time discussed with Chen Deng how to temporarily ally with Lu Bu and attack Yuan Shu.

This time, Lu Bu sent Chen Deng over for the biggest purpose, that is, to get the imperial court to officially canonize him as the pastor of Xuzhou.

When Liu Bei came to help Tao Qian before, Liu Xie was still in Chang'an, Tao Qian played Liu Bei as the assassin of Yuzhou, and when he was dying, he gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei, but at that time Liu Bei only led Xuzhou Mu and did not accept the canonization of the imperial court.

When Cao Cao welcomed the Son of Heaven last year, he officially canonized him as the general of Zhendong and the marquis of Yicheng Pavilion. But he didn't say that Liu Bei was the pastor of Xuzhou, so his name as the pastor of Xuzhou was not right, and the county guards did not listen to him. m.jújíá?y.?? m

After Lu Bu forcibly occupied Xuzhou, he asked for a seal. At that time, Liu Xie was on the way east to Luoyang, and he was still in Hedong, and he did not give him the official position of Xuzhou Mu, but only gave him a Pingdong general.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were already four generals, four towns, and four equals, and General Pingdong was still under Liu Bei, the general of Zhendong, and of course Lu Bu was not happy.

So after driving Liu Bei away again this year, he always hoped that the imperial court could officially canonize him as the pastor of Xuzhou.

Cao Cao naturally knew what he thought.

Before Lu Bu forcibly occupied Xuzhou, because he did not have the position of Xuzhou Mu, he could not govern Xuzhou at all, like Zang Ba, Xiao Jian and others, he didn't care about him at all, he couldn't unify these forces, and naturally he couldn't grow in Xuzhou.

Now if he is really given Xuzhou Mu, and he is justified in commanding Xuzhou, he can appoint and dismiss the county orders and the county ministers of each county, and hold the personnel power, financial power and governance power, Lu Bu can unify the forces of the five counties in Xuzhou, and it will be difficult to deal with it at that time.

Therefore, after Cao Cao and Chen Deng discussed, they thought that they must not give him Xuzhou Mu.

But he must be appeased.

Cao Cao pondered for a long time, and finally gave him a letter called "Handwritten and Lü Bu" in addition to the promised General Zuo.

The content of the letter is different from history, in history, Cao Cao only told Lu Bu about the current difficulties in the imperial court, and even Lu Bu's left general Jin Yin and Purple Ribbon were rebuilt by him with his own gold and purple ribbon, hoping that Lu Bu could know his sincerity.

And this time, in addition to talking about the golden seal and purple ribbon, he also praised Lu Bu's "loyalty", and gave Lu Bu a little sweetness, in addition to the official position of General Zuo, he also gave him the power to open the mansion, and at the same time painted a big pie, saying that after the elimination of Yuan Shu, he would be given the position of pastor of Xuzhou, so that he could justifiably lead Xuzhou.

This is already a sign of weakness.

The reason for this is that Cao Cao's defeat in Nanyang made Cao Cao suffer heavy losses, and he had to act carefully, and his posture in his words made Lu Bu embarrassed to trouble him again.

Chen Deng got this letter, and then took Lu Bu's gold seal and purple ribbon, and set off to return to Xuzhou to report to Lu Bu.

Cao Cao personally sent him outside the city, shook hands and parted with him.

From then on, the alliance between Lü Bu and Yuan Shu was completely divided, and Cao Cao could safely send troops to attack Chen and Liang to drive Yuan Shu's forces out of Yuzhou.

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.