Xu Du, the residence of the Sima family.

In the main hall, Sima Yi was carefully calculating the account books, and recorded all the sales books of Cao Gong paper and "Thousand Character Text".

The recent sales work has been very successful, the sales volume is getting bigger and bigger, and the income is also quite large, and Sima Yi is also trying his best to record every account clearly.

There was the sound of eager footsteps outside the hall, it was Sima Lang returning from outside, he rushed into the hall excitedly, with an unconcealable smile on his face, and greeted Sima Yi in a loud voice: "Zhongda! ”

Sima Yi didn't look up when he heard his greeting, but just responded lightly: "Big brother, there's a battle report back, isn't it Ziwen's big victory over Li Dao?" ”

Sima Lang didn't expect Sima Yi to guess right at once, shook his head a little disappointed and helpless, and responded: "Zhongda, you are always so disappointed, you originally wanted to tell you the good news, but you said it at once, it's really boring." ”

Sima Yi hurriedly raised his head and smiled at Sima Lang: "I'm sorry, big brother, I'm all about settling accounts and ignoring your feelings." Why don't you say it again, I'll just think of nothing just now, and I'll be happy with you, how about it? ”

"Okay, who wants you to cooperate with me like this, you will coax me as a three-year-old child." Sima Lang snorted helplessly, but it still didn't quench his excitement, and continued, "Zhongda, even if you have already guessed it, I have to say it again. ”

"I just got the news in Sikong Province. A few days ago, Ziwen Gongzi used a strategy to lure Li Dao and them out of the city, and then set up an ambush to severely damage the enemy army, and now Li Dao and they only have about 20,000 troops left, and they can only defend Chang'an. Ziwen Gongzi has already personally recruited An Ma Teng and Han Sui, preparing to unite the Guanxi princes and besiege Chang'an together. Sima Lang conveyed the battle report he had just received to Sima Yi.

After hearing this, Sima Yi also nodded with joy on his face, and then asked, "Big brother, you just said that this news happened a few days ago, right?" ”

"That's natural, even if it's a fast horse, it will take several days to pass from Chang'an to Xudu!" Sima Lang responded.

"According to this, the current Chang'an should have completed the war, Ziwen Gongzi has won a complete victory, exterminated Li Dao, and the army should be on the way back to Xudu." Sima Yi said very confidently.

"Huh? How can you be so sure? Sima Lang asked incredulously.

Sima Yi said with a smile: "If you leave today, hurry up, and you can return to Xudu before the 100-day deadline." Ziwen Gongzi must not let his military order pass the time. ”

"What I'm saying is that you are so confident that Ziwen Gongzi will definitely be able to conquer Chang'an in such a few days?" Although Sima Lang also admired Cao Zhang very much, he still had some doubts about the results that Sima Yi said.

"Big brother, that's your lord, don't you know if he has this ability? Okay, it just so happens that my account has been settled, so I will go to the paper mill and tell Ah Zhao the news that Ziwen Gongzi is coming back soon, so that she can be happy too. Sima Yi said and stood up, straightened his clothes and walked out.

He walked to the door, suddenly remembered something, turned around and said to Sima Lang: "By the way, big brother, did you write a letter to Ziwen Gongzi before, mentioning Ah Zhao's condition?" ”

"Yes, I've already reported to him in the previous letter." Sima Lang replied.

"Then trouble the eldest brother to write another letter to Ziwen Gongzi, and ask him to think about how to cure Ah Zhao's illness after returning to Xudu!" After Sima Yi finished speaking, he strode out.

Sima Lang didn't understand what Sima Yi meant at first, and was slightly stunned, and then he pondered for a while before he suddenly realized.

Cao Zhang's medicine made Guo Zhao form a symptom of the plague, and only then did he fool Cao Pi's proposal.

But after Cao Zhang came back, it was inevitable that Guo Zhao would return to normal, and the two would be able to interact normally.

But the plague was close to being incurable in this day and age, and it was extremely unlikely that it would get better on its own.

And during this time, in order to prevent Cao Pi's harassment, Guo Zhao has been staying next door, claiming that his condition is very serious, and it is even more impossible to recover himself in a short time.

After Sima Lang figured it out, he walked quickly to the bookcase, picked up a pen and paper, and began to write......

In the Sima's paper mill outside the city of Xudu, Guo Zhao lived alone.

Because she was infected with the "plague", a room was specially arranged in a remote corner of the paper mill for her to live in isolation.

The doors and windows of the room were closed, and Guo Zhao was not allowed to go out, but someone came to bring her water and food at regular intervals every day.

The light in the room was very dim, because Guo Zhao had to show a seriously ill posture in front of outsiders, so naturally he couldn't light the lamp and walk around the house.

Although the ointment given by Cao Zhang was effective, but he insisted on applying it for so many days, and he was about to run out, in order to hide people's eyes, Guo Zhao simply covered his entire face with a veil, only revealing a pair of eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and let him wrap his neck with a scarf, and wrap his arms with a white cloth, wrapping himself into a "mummy" alive.

At this time, she was holding a knife in her hand, sitting on the edge of the bed, and was gently drawing on the bed frame of the wooden bed, and there were already many small lines densely drawn on the bed frame, Guo Zhao was still counting in a whisper while drawing: "Ninety-two days......

Guo Zhao put down the knife and whispered in his mouth: "There are still eight days to reach the 100-day deadline, can Ziwen Gongzi defeat Li Dao and come back on time......

Guo Zhao was thinking about it, when there was a sudden sound of eager footsteps outside the house, and he came straight to his room.

When Guo Zhao heard the movement, he hurriedly put away the knife, quickly lay down on the bed, continued to pretend to be sick, and moaned softly.

The footsteps stopped outside the door, and then there was a knock on the door with a rhythmic code, and Sima Yi's voice sounded softly: "Ah Zhao, it's me, Sima Yi, there's no one outside." ”

Guo Zhao heard Sima Yi's voice, turned over, walked quickly to the door, and responded in a low voice: "Second brother, you are here, is there any news of Ziwen Gongzi?" ”

"Yes, I just received the battle report, a few days ago, Zi Wen Gongzi defeated Li Dao and killed tens of thousands of enemy troops. I guess he'll be able to kill Li Dao soon, and he'll be back victorious. Sima Yi whispered the news to Guo Zhao.

"Great, I knew that Ziwen Gongzi would definitely win!" Guo Zhao shouted excitedly.

Sima Yi was startled, and hurriedly reminded Guo Zhao through the door: "You be quiet, don't let others hear." ”

Guo Zhao reacted, hurriedly reached out to cover his mouth, and didn't dare to make another sound.

Sima Yi looked around to make sure that there was no one, and then continued to whisper to the house: "Ah Zhao, listen to me, I came to tell you that you must be very careful in the past few days, don't make too much noise, and don't show any flaws." ”

"I'm afraid that before Gongzi Ziwen comes back, Gongzi Zihuan and they will be unwilling and come to you for trouble again, do you hear?" Sima Yi whispered to Guo Zhao.

"I know, second brother, I will definitely be very careful, and I will never let people find out." Guo Zhao agreed in a low voice.

"Okay, then I'll go, you take care of yourself." After Sima Yi finished the last sentence, he carefully looked around to make sure that there was no one, and then left quickly.

Guo Zhao listened to Sima Yi's footsteps in the distance, then calmed down, and slowly walked back to the bed and sat down.

She reached out and gently stroked every path drawn on the bed frame, and whispered: "Ziwen Gongzi, you are finally coming back, do you know how much Ah Zhao misses you......"

Guo Zhao was sad for a while, and two lines of tears flowed out of her eyes, soaking the veil wrapped around her face......

……

On the official road from Chang'an to Luoyang, Cao Zhang's army was returning in the direction of Xudu.

In one of the carriages in the middle of the procession, a loud sneeze suddenly sounded, "Ahhh ”

Cao Zhang, who was sitting in the car, touched his nose gently, raised his head and muttered with infinite fascination: "Who thinks of me so much?" Is it Juan Er or Ah Zhao? ”

The appearance of Xiahou Juan and Guo Zhao appeared in front of Cao Zhang's eyes, he thought about them, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

There was a gentle three taps outside the car window, and it was Li Jin, who was guarding outside the car, heard Cao Zhang's sneeze and asked with concern.

"I'm fine, season, don't worry!" Cao Zhang hurriedly responded loudly, and also collected his thoughts, looking at the stack of handwritten drafts in the carriage in front of him.

fought with Li Dao, although he won a big victory in the end, Cao Zhang also found a lot of very real problems.

So on the way back to Xudu, he did not choose to ride a horse, but got into the carriage, just so that he could think about some problems relatively quietly and write down them at any time.

Cao Zhang's first thought was to increase the manufacture of cavalry saddles and horseshoes.

Xu Huang's surprise attack was successful, and he quickly ran to Tianshui thanks to the improvement of horse equipment.

Now that Ma Chao has joined and collected tens of thousands of prisoners of the former Xiliang Army, he can form a more powerful cavalry.

The battle against Li Dao was more of a siege battle, and the cavalry did not play much of a role, but in the future, the role of the cavalry was still very important to face enemies such as Zhang Xiu, Lu Bu and even Yuan Shao.

In addition to the cavalry, there is another unit that needs to be further strengthened, and that is its own personal guard.

Cao Cao had a tiger and leopard horse, and Liu Bei in history also had a white soldier and a flying army in the later period; Sun Quan also has a difficult army, Yuan Shao has a halberd, and if he wants to fight on the battlefield in the future, he also needs an elite ace army.

Since it is an ace, it is necessary to have the best equipment and weapons.

Cao Zhang had already decided that after returning to Xudu, he would try to improve his smelting techniques according to his memory, and to create sharper swords and lighter and stronger armor to equip his own personal guards.

He has even thought of a resounding name for his own personal guard - Dreadnought, which means fearless and invincible!

In addition to these troops, Cao Zhang also noticed a big problem, that is, the siege warfare adopted during the attack on Chang'an, although this time they also prepared a series of siege weapons that were very common in this era, such as catapults, rushing cars, and strong ballistas, but obviously the effect was very poor, and the role played in siege warfare was very low.

In the future, he will fight in all directions and face more ironclad cities.

Those cities are not like ancient capitals such as Chang'an and Luoyang, which have a perfect drainage system and can achieve water escape.

Therefore, the development of some new and more powerful long-range siege weapons is also something that Cao Zhang has to think about.

Moreover, as a former forensic doctor, Cao Zhang also discovered that the low level of medical care in this era, as well as the inconvenience of carrying medicines with the army, caused many wounded soldiers to be unable to be treated and eventually died.

The development of some medicines that are easy to carry, can heal wounds, stop bleeding, and treat wind and cold can ensure that the troops can recover in time throughout the year and have combat capability.

These problems need to be solved, but in order to achieve them all, a large amount of financial support is indispensable.

This is definitely not enough to be satisfied by brewing distilled spirits and selling Cao Gong paper and "Thousand Character Text", but also needs more projects that can create wealth.

Cao Zhang's mind kept turning, recording some ideas that popped up in his mind from time to time, hoping to finally sift through them and find a practical method......