Outside the city of Luoyang.

As the sun sets, the ruined city walls are no longer majestic, and they are a withered scene. The undulating mountains echo each other in the distance, and the water surface of the river in the distance glows red, like a dilapidated ink painting.

On the official road, the roadside is overgrown with weeds, wild flowers swaying in the wind, and the warm sun shines through the mist on the ground, trying to add a layer of warmth to this desolation.

Cao Zhang's army slowly circled the official road outside Luoyang City and continued to advance in the direction of Xudu.

Cao Zhang, Ma Chao and Ma Yunlu stood quietly on the high ground outside Luoyang City, looking at the scene in front of them, in addition to sadness, there was more resentment and helplessness in their hearts.

Ma Yunlu sighed softly: "I remember when I was a child, my father once told me that Luoyang is a solemn and ancient city. Unexpectedly, it has become like this now. ”

Cao Zhang sighed softly and said with emotion: "Luoyang City used to be the former capital of the Han Dynasty, but it was caused by a fire from Dong Zhuo to decay like this. Not long ago, in order to defeat Li Dao, I arranged another surprise fire attack, which added another catastrophe to Luoyang, and now that I think about it, I really regret it. ”

Ma Chao comforted Cao Zhang: "Ziwen, you are also trying to break the enemy and win, sometimes you have to do it as a last resort." If you don't have to defeat Li Dao, Luoyang, which is under his tyrannical control, will not be even more degraded. It is right to love the people and be merciful, but now it must be troubled times, and sometimes extraordinary measures must be taken to act in troubled times. Now that the fighting has subsided, we are working hard to rebuild Luoyang and recreate its glory. ”

"What the eldest brother said is that only by calming down the troubled times as soon as possible can we have the opportunity to rebuild Luoyang and restore its former glory." Cao Zhang listened to Ma Chao's persuasion and felt a lot relieved.

He also understands that maintaining a heart of benevolence and righteousness can gain more support from the people, but if he becomes timid in pursuit of "benevolence and righteousness", or even ignores the overall situation, it will become a heart of God and false benevolence. In order to calm down this troubled world, sometimes it is necessary to maintain enough ruthlessness and determination.

"Let's go!" Cao Zhang greeted Ma Chao and Ma Yunlu, the two nodded, and the three of them greeted the afterglow of the setting sun together, and quickly rushed towards the advancing army......

As night fell, Cao Zhang's army temporarily settled in the field to rest, preparing to continue the march the next day.

The soldiers began to light a fire to cook, and the smell of cooking was permeating the air.

Cao Zhang was drinking a bowl of vegetable porridge, and Xu Shu hurriedly walked from a distance with a messenger.

"Childe, there is a messenger from Xu Du, who claims to be from the Sima family." Xu Shu reported to Cao Zhang.

When Cao Zhang heard that it was someone from Sima's family, he knew that something big must have happened, so he hurriedly put down the porridge bowl and asked with concern: "Is there something wrong?" ”

The messenger handed a letter to Cao Zhang: "This is a letter from the eldest son of my family. ”

Cao Zhang took the letter and opened it and looked at it, then nodded with a smile: "You have worked hard, go eat and rest." ”

Xu Shu beckoned a soldier to take the messenger away.

"Childe, is something happening to Xu Du?" Xu Shu asked with concern.

"Everything is fine, the release of Cao Gong Paper and "Thousand Character Text" has been very smooth, and the two months have been very fruitful. Boda is still very safe in doing things. Cao Zhang responded with satisfaction.

"Oh, what's the matter with the letter from Boda?" Xu Shu knew that if it was just to report the profits, Sima Lang didn't need to be in such a hurry, and sent a messenger to report to Cao Zhang.

"He reported to me that Miss Guo had contracted the plague and is now very sick." Cao Zhang deliberately responded with a solemn expression.

Xu Shu and Ma Chao and Ma Yunlu, who were originally sitting next to Cao Zhang and drinking porridge together, became nervous when they heard the word plague, in this era, they all knew very well that if they got the plague, they were basically not far from death.

"How could Miss Guo be infected with the plague?" Xu Shu asked with concern.

"I don't know the specific situation, but now I have to find a famous doctor to treat him." Cao Zhang responded with an anxious gesture.

In fact, the problem mentioned in Sima Lang's letter was already thought of by Cao Zhang when he prepared ointment for Guo Zhao before leaving. Pretending to be sick can be fooled for a while, but in the end, a famous doctor must be needed to treat Guo Zhao for the so-called "plague" in order to win the trust of others, so that she can return to normal and socialize with herself.

And in the late Eastern Han Dynasty where they are now, there happened to be two famous doctors.

One is Hua Tuo, but he travels around practicing medicine, and he has no fixed place to live, so it is not easy to find.

Another famous doctor is Zhang Zhongjing, who is also a very famous doctor who treated typhoid fever in ancient times.

At this time, he happened to be in Changsha as a taishou, and he was sympathetic and loved the people, and often treated visiting patients in the court, and the title of doctor in the court was given by him, and it was relatively easier to see him.

Cao Zhang got up and commanded loudly: "Quick, pen and paper are waiting!" ”

Xu Shu hurriedly greeted the soldiers, laid out the bookcase for Cao Zhang, and prepared the pen and ink.

Cao Zhang picked up the pen, wrote hard, quickly wrote a letter, and wrote a few more pieces of paper.

He greeted Li Jin: "Season! ”

Li Jin hurriedly stepped forward to wait.

Cao Zhang sealed the letter in his hand and the paper with the text in a small bamboo tube and handed it to Li Jin's hand: "Season, you immediately take my letter and prayer post, take ten personal guards, rush to Changsha in the starry night, go to meet Changsha Taishou Zhang Ji, present the letter, and then quietly escort him to Xudu for Miss Guo's treatment, remember not to alarm the soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, causing unnecessary trouble." ”

Li Jin took the letter, turned around and left, and acted according to Cao Zhang's arrangement.

Ma Chao looked at Cao Zhang with some surprise: "Ziwen, this machine is Changsha Taishou, Liu Biao's subordinate, you can invite him with a letter?" ”

Cao Zhang smiled very confidently: "In addition to the letter, I also gave him a few prescriptions, maybe these prescriptions can arouse his curiosity." ”

After all, Cao Zhang was a forensic doctor in his previous life, and he also dabbled in traditional Chinese medicine when he studied medicine, especially the "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Before the crossing, the Central Plains experienced a special period of three years, and also accumulated a lot of experience in the treatment of typhoid fever and epidemics, which could be used to treat Zhang Zhongjing's wind and cold, and it was of great help to him to complete the book "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases".

Cao Zhang deliberately selected several classic prescriptions in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" and asked Li Jin to bring them, he believed that Zhang Zhongjing would be tempted to see it, and personally came to Xu Du to diagnose and treat Guo Zhao, and met with him.

At that time, Cao Zhang can also discuss with Zhang Zhongjing, in addition to medical exchanges, he can also try to develop some medicines, which can not only relieve the worries of the people, but also can be used in future military supplies.

Cao Zhang was thinking about it, but there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and a fast horse came.

After a while, a messenger was brought to Cao Zhang.

"Qiyu Gongzi, there is an order, please don't have to return with the army, immediately lead the two Xiahou to join the army and return to Xudu, there is something important for you to deal with!" The messenger was sweating profusely and reporting to Cao Zhang, very tired.

Looking at his appearance, Cao Zhang understood that this was the news that the eight-hundred-mile urgent messenger had come to deliver to him, obviously something happened to Xu Du, and the special mention of bringing Xiahou Shang and Xiahou Ru made Cao Zhang vaguely guess that the matter must be not small, and it may be related to the previous leak of military information.

Cao Zhang didn't dare to slack off, and immediately ordered to go down, led by Ma Chao, Xu Huang, Yan Xing, and Pang De, and the army moved slowly, while he took dozens of personal guards and set off to return to Xudu overnight......