Xiaoqi

"I want to drink water, give me the water bag." There was no food to eat, so Liu Xie took the next best thing and turned to ask Dong Cheng for water.

"This..." Dong Cheng was speechless for a while, took the empty water bag in his hand, stood upside down to show Liu Xie, and there was not a drop of water for a while.Obviously, if there was still water to drink, Dong Cheng's lips would not be so dry and cracked, and it would be good to take a sip to moisten his throat.It's a pity that from the night before yesterday to now, water and food have already been exhausted. Everyone just buried their heads in the road, thinking about rushing to Luoyang as soon as possible, and didn't even think about looking for water.Unexpectedly, after entering Luoyang City, it was discovered that hundreds of wells in the city had all dried up, and even the moat was so dry that no drop of water could be found.Now Liu Xie asks him for water, but the moat is dry, where can he find water?

Therefore, right now, the whole group of people is really desperate, thirsty and hungry, but they still have nothing, so they can only hold on, hoping that the young and strong soldiers sent out can find some food, even if they bring back a little water, it will be enough for a while. Sleepy.

"Hey! Is God really going to let Zhen and all the ministers starve to death in Dongdu?" Liu Xie stared at the water bag for a long time, and took it to shake it, but there was no water.Then he sat decadently on the cold and hard wall, sighed, extremely disappointed.

Feeling lonely, Liu Xie couldn't help turning his eyes to Fu Shou and Dong Guiren who were sitting in the distance.However, the moment he saw the two of them, Liu Xie's eyes naturally showed an extremely complicated look, resentment, disgust, shame, pity, many complicated and contradictory emotions emerged in his eyes, as if he was very fond of the two girls. It's because they don't like it, or because they despise them for being unclean.

In the previous four months, Liu Xi and his party had been on the verge of hell almost every day, living a life that was worse than a pig and a dog, life was worse than death, and it was unspeakably miserable.On the second day after leaving the Banshan Taoist Temple, they were robbed by rogues, and then a group of 500 rogues hijacked them into the cottage. Then they tried every means to escape, but unexpectedly, they escaped from the wolf's den with their front feet, and fell into the tiger's den with their back feet .He was hijacked again and again, escaped again and again, tried his best to deal with the robbers again and again, and the number of entourages decreased day by day. Many soldiers either died in battle or fled, making the protection force of the group weaker and weaker.

At the same time, bandit leaders and bandit leaders repeatedly bullied the family members of officials, and even Fu Shou and Dong Gui could not escape the fate of being humiliated.Liu Xie was right in front of him at that time, but he didn't dare to stand up to protect his woman. He didn't even say a word, watching his queen and concubine being torn off by the bandit leader, and then wantonly laughing and hugging her. After the second daughter entered the inner room, the two said that the bandit leader did not violate their bodies, and that the unbearable noise in the inner room was not caused by them, but by the leader's woman yelling wantonly.But Liu Xie was very disdainful of their explanations, and didn't believe that they were clean at all. On the contrary, he thought that the second daughter had humiliated him, and tried to cover up by sophistry, which was really shameless.

From then on, Liu Xie didn't even look at them, as if just looking at them would insult the eyes of his true son, and drove the two of them away, and wouldn't let them get close to him, for fear of tarnishing the emperor's dragon body.

"Dong Cheng, have you sent out all the edicts of King Qin, have you missed them, why haven't you seen the princes come to welcome you?" After looking away from Fushou and Dong Guiren, Liu Xie became inexplicably irritable and asked in a deep voice road.

Dong Cheng heard the words and quickly apologized: "Your Majesty, please calm down. King Qin's order has already been sent to all states and counties. It has been half a month, and the princes must be on their way to Luoyang. The princes closest to Luoyang are Jizhou Yuan Shao and Yanzhou Cao Cao. It is expected that they Then you can come and pick you up.”

"Report" Dong Cheng's voice hadn't finished yet, but he saw a small official guarding the city gate running and crawling in front of Liu Xie among the ruins, panting and urgently said: "Your Majesty, the cavalry,,, The cavalry has arrived at the gate of the city."

"Ah! The Xiliang army has caught up so quickly?" Liu Xie screamed, stood up, and ran away before the official who reported the news could finish speaking.

At this time, Dong Cheng grabbed Liu Xie, fearing that he would fall, and angrily said to the little official: "You can see clearly, are they really Xiliang cavalry?"

"No, no, it's not the Xiliang Army, but the cavalry under Cao Cao's command in Yanzhou." The official shook his head and said.

"Ah!" Liu Xie and Dong Cheng were astonished when they heard the words, and then Dong Cheng laughed in surprise: "I just mentioned Cao Cao, but I didn't expect him to come right away. God bless me, Your Majesty, Hong Fuqi! Hahaha"

"Cao Cao Cao Mengde?" Liu Xie murmured, frowned slightly, and asked doubtfully, "Why is Cao Cao not Jizhou Yuan Shao? Yecheng is closer to Luoyang than Dongjun. Why didn't Yuan Benchu ​​come to greet him?"

Dong Cheng's expression suddenly changed when he heard the words, and the laughter stopped abruptly. He thought about it and said: "I know what your majesty wants. Yuan Shao is the fourth generation and the third prince. The Yuan family has been loyal and good for generations, and they are indeed the pillars of the auxiliary country. Maybe he is on the way now. Cao Cao just arrived one step ahead. Don’t worry, Your Majesty, there are already princes coming to meet you, which means that we are safe and out of danger!”

Liu Xie nodded lightly, his tense expression gradually relaxed, and said happily: "Dong Qing is right, I and all the ministers finally don't have to worry about it, and really got rid of the threat of Thief Li. Hahaha!"

Chapter 898 Tiger and Leopard Rider

Beimang Mountain, on the official road.

The sound of "rumbling" horses came from far and near, followed by groups of Xuanjia cavalry galloping with horses and whips, heading straight for the towering and standing city of Luoyang.

After a while, after bypassing the Mangshan official road, the vanguard general who led the attack suddenly reined in his horse and stopped, raised his hand to signal the cavalry behind to stop marching, and sent scouts to investigate.

"Zixiao, why don't you stay still?"

An extremely handsome horse stepped forward slowly, and a middle-aged general in a dark red shirt and battle armor on the horse rode slowly to the front of the army, and asked with a slightly hurried breath.

"My lord, the situation in Luoyang City is unknown, so we should not rush there. If there is an ambush in the city, or the princes have arrived first, we will go straight to the city, fearing that we will be ambushed by the enemy. Therefore, the last general will send scouts first. It’s not too late to find out the situation, and act accordingly.” The vanguard general responded respectfully.

"Hehehe!" The middle-aged general laughed heartily when he heard the words, nodded his head and said: "Zixiao has become more and more calm and capable. He is not in a hurry, he is not impatient, he is planning before acting, and he shows the style of a general. I am very pleased."

"My lord has won the award, and I will be ashamed of it." The vanguard general was not proud of the praise, and turned his head to look at the five thousand cavalry behind him like arms. His disciples and disciples are none other than him. He is a well-deserved general. In just half a year, Zihe has trained this well-trained Xuanjia cavalry. His ability to train troops is the best among all generals. Shame."

The middle-aged general nodded slightly, and said deeply: "Zihe is indeed a great general, but he has been unknown before. If it wasn't for Xun Yu's strong recommendation, I would still be kept in the dark. Half a year I trained this cavalry as fast as a leopard and as fierce as a tiger. I am deeply surprised that Zi is both civil and military. He is a well-deserved general in command. Fortunately, he is a member of my Cao clan and Zixiao's younger brother. , this is the great fortune of my Cao family!"

The vanguard general called "Zixiao" by the middle-aged general is Cao Ren Cao Zixiao.thus.The identity of the middle-aged general is about to be revealed. He is Cao Cao Cao Mengde of Yanzhou.

The "Zihe" highly praised by the two of them is Cao Chun Cao Zihe who is now known as the general of the Cao army.And the Xuanjia cavalry behind them was carefully selected by Cao Cao.All efforts were made to build battle armor and weapons, to buy high-quality war horses, and Cao Chun was solely responsible for the training of tiger and leopard cavalry.

After more than half a year, the tiger and leopard rider has taken shape.This time the cavalry was led by Cao Ren.Follow Cao Cao to Luoyang to meet him.Within three days, the tiger and leopard cavalry ran for hundreds of miles, swift as the wind and thunderous, and the formation was not chaotic at all. This alone amazed Cao Cao and Cao Ren.And this is just a small test of strength. In case of war, it is possible to truly test the combat strength of this iron cavalry and whether it can be used against a hundred.

It should be noted that in order to build this war cavalry, Cao Cao did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money.Nearly doing everything possible, investing a lot of manpower and material resources.Choose the bravest soldiers, equip the best horses and armors, and create the sharpest weapons.It is not difficult to see from this that Cao Cao really had high hopes for the tiger and leopard cavalry, aiming to build an iron cavalry guard that is strong and invincible.

It is precisely because Cao Cao had high expectations for this cavalry and gave all his support that the formation of this cavalry was completed within half a year.Five thousand tiger and leopard cavalry, each cavalry is a tiger and cardinal selected from the middle of the 10,000+ army.Therefore, at the beginning of the formation of this cavalry, there was no need to train riding skills and fighting skills, but to directly train the overall cooperative fighting and battle formation changes.

This is a strong team that Cao Cao is eager to have after learning the painful lessons of previous defeats.

Looking at the princes and overlords from all walks of life, all the princes with strong military power have a sharp knife army under their command, and most of them are war cavalry.The one at the top of the list is Xiliang Li Li, who claims to be the overlord of the princes. He has the most powerful Xiliang Iron Cavalry in the world under his command: Flying Bear Soldier, Longxiang Camp, Huben Camp, Wuwei Camp, and Jin Yanwei. Sending out an iron cavalry is an iron armored team that shocks the world.Secondly, it is the wolf cavalry army under Lu Bu. The reason why Yanzhou fell was thanks to the wolf cavalry army. A mere cavalry of more than [-] people defeated Cao Cao's more than [-] troops and retreated steadily; this lesson can be said to be true. It was so painful that Cao Cao remembered it in his heart.The last well-known force is the Danyang elite soldiers under the tent of the former Xuzhou Mu Taoqian.

In addition, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou has a white horse cavalry under his command, Yuan Shao of Jizhou has a group of first-time dead soldiers known as the first army in the world, Yuan Shu of Yangzhou has a battalion of black feather bows and crossbows with extraordinary combat power, and Liu Biao of Jingzhou has two. The first is the Jiangxia Navy led by Huang Zu, and the second is the Changsha Army led by Liu Biao's son Liu Pan.

In contrast, Cao Cao originally had a well-known force under his command, which was the Qingzhou soldiers who claimed to have a strength of [-].It is a pity that the [-] Qingzhou soldiers were annihilated in the battle of Feiyundu, and the remaining [-] to [-] Qingzhou soldiers were already useless, and their combat power was greatly damaged.In view of this, Cao Cao urgently needs to form an invincible force that dares to fight hard and win the battle, so as to resist the sharp-edged troops under the command of various princes, in case of emergency.Therefore, when Cao Cao recaptured Yanzhou, he immediately formed iron cavalry, and the tiger and leopard cavalry came into being, and quickly became the number one force in Cao's army.

At the same time, with the appearance of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Cao Chun, its first commander, also became famous, and was known as "the first general of the Cao Army".Under the city of Puyang, Cao Chunli fought Lu Bu for more than 70 rounds without defeat, which shows his bravery; he defended Dong'e for half a year without losing, and won the last foothold for Cao Jun, which shows his courage, strategy, calmness and prudence.There are also tiger and leopard cavalry trained by themselves. When they formed an army, they overwhelmed the battalions and took the lead, thus establishing Cao Chun's position as a general.

As the saying goes, times make heroes, if Cao Jun was not in danger and would soon be destroyed, it would be difficult for Cao Chun to stand out, and he would be suppressed by Xiahou brothers, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, etc. all his life, always under their shadows.However, it was precisely because of the pressure of the current situation that Cao Chun stepped forward in times of crisis and won Xun Yu's respect and admiration in one fell swoop.Then stand out and come from behind.He became the favorite general appreciated by Cao Cao, so he regarded him as his confidant and was promoted to General of the Imperial Guard.Stay at the State Shepherd's Mansion.

However, Cao Ren has always been at odds with his younger brother Cao Chun.As a member of the Cao clan, the reason why Cao Chun has not been well-known is not unrelated to Cao Ren's secret suppression.It was precisely because of this that Cao Hong and Xiahou brothers had very little contact with Cao Chun, as if they were excluded from the Cao clan, so that Cao Chun had no chance to show his strength in front of Cao Cao.As a result, he was buried among many generals.

However, as far as Cao Cao is concerned, he has no prejudice against the members of the Cao clan.They treat everyone equally, and have always regarded the members of the Cao clan as their confidantes.This time, Cao Chun has been buried for many years, and he must be compensated in public and private, not to mention Cao Chun's high martial arts skills and outstanding strategies.This surprised Cao Cao.Naturally, he must be exceptionally promoted and entrusted with important tasks.

Today, Cao Ren has to accept the reality that his younger brother Cao Chun is indeed a general, and his talent is far higher than his elder brother.With the passage of time, Cao Ren gradually let go of his prejudices, and he and his younger brother Cao Chun let go of their past suspicions and reconciled.This move greatly appreciated Cao Cao.It's also like a relief, after all, clan fighting should not be.And as the patriarch of the Cao clan, he was also powerless to deal with the entanglement between Cao Ren and Cao Chun brothers.Fortunately, Cao Ren deserved to be his most valued general in the Chinese army. He was tenacious and knew how to weigh the pros and cons. He took the initiative to give in and reconcile with Cao Chun, and everyone was happy.

small dividing line

"Report that there is no ambush in Luoyang City. Right now, the emperor and all officials are resting in the ruins of the imperial palace, accompanied by only a hundred or so followers."

As the scouts returned quickly, Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Xun Yu and the others immediately let out a long breath, and their expressions couldn't help but relax.

"The army continues to move forward and head straight to Changle Palace." Cao Ren waved his hand at Cao Cao's signal, and five thousand tiger and leopard riders moved in response.

In a few moments, Cao Zhen led his army forward and entered the imperial city of Luoyang ahead of time, while Cao Cao, Cao Ren and Xun Yu were walking slowly with their own soldiers.While riding his horse forward, Cao Cao turned his head and said to Xun Yu, "According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, foreign ministers need to pay tribute to the emperor to show their loyalty. We are marching day and night in a hurry, and we have no plans to pay tribute. things, what should I do?"

Xun Yu's expression changed when he heard the words, he pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "My lord, don't worry too much, I have a plan to solve my siege."

"Oh? If Wen has any good ideas, he might as well speak up." Cao Cao said in amazement.

Xun Yu said with a smile: "It is not easy for the emperor and all the officials to return from fleeing under the rule of Li Thief. They must have gone through many hardships and narrowly escaped death. Now that they return to Luoyang, they must be short of food and clothing, and hungry. We wait Just think about it, when people are hungry, what do they need most? At this time, any rare treasure in the world is not as good as a mouthful of hot rice. Therefore, we do not need to prepare tribute, but only need to order people to prepare some meals That's it."

"Hehehe! Wen Ruo's words are very kind." Cao Cao laughed when he heard the words, stroked his beard, and said deeply: "In the past, Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, and when he was fleeing, he was most eager to eat a mouthful of hot rice and a mouthful of broth. , It is expected that the emperor and the officials will do the same. Cao Ren, go and prepare some noodles and chicken soup immediately, there must be no mistakes!"

"Promise, the general will obey." Cao Ren accepted the order happily, and led more than a hundred of his own soldiers on horseback to a village not far away.

As soon as Cao Ren and others left, Cao Cao and Xun Yu heard the sound of horse hooves behind them, and saw a sentry horse galloping towards them. They dismounted and reported in a hurry: "My lord, we found a horse in the distance thirty miles away. The brigade is rushing to Luoyang, and it will catch up with our army in half an hour!"

"Ah!" Cao Cao, Xun Yu and the others changed their countenance and exclaimed in surprise.Cao Cao frowned, and asked sharply: "Have you ever seen the banner of the princes behind the army, is it Xiliang Army or Jizhou Army? Hurry up!"

The sentry cavalry said anxiously: "The opponent has a huge number of soldiers and horses, there are [-] people, and they are carrying the banner of Yuan Shao in Jizhou."

"Huh..." Cao Cao let out a long sigh after hearing the words, his frosty expression relaxed a little, and he said thoughtfully: "It turned out to be Yuan Shao. I thought he would not come to greet you, but I didn't expect him to come here this time." They are here. The people who are least likely to pick him up all led the army to Luoyang with great fanfare. From this, it can be inferred that there must be many princes who came to greet him this time. Within three days at most, the princes from all sides will come one after another. The day when the princes gather in Luoyang is just around the corner.”

After a pause, Cao Cao turned his head to look at Xun Yu, his face was ugly, and he said in a deep worried voice, "It seems that my waiting this time may have been in vain."

Xun Yu's expression was solemn, his brows were tightly frowned, and he lowered his head in thought and said softly, "My lord, don't worry. Just as my lord said, even Yuan Shao of Jizhou, the fourth and third lord, has come, and the other princes will definitely come with their troops. After all, the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials are the orthodox place of the Han Dynasty, and their importance is self-evident. Before Li Thief controlled the Son of Heaven and commanded the world, the princes from all walks of life were repeatedly threatened by him and suffered a lot. Now the world and the hundreds of officials have fled Chang'an, this is a god-sent opportunity before the princes of all walks of life.

Whoever can control the emperor and hundreds of officials can coerce the emperor to make the princes, dominate the world, occupy the name of righteousness, and his strength will skyrocket countless times.What a temptation this is, who can be indifferent?However, a god-sent opportunity often means danger is everywhere. When the princes from all walks of life gather together, an unprecedented melee will surely break out.And this is the opportunity we are waiting for. As long as we plan properly, we may not be able to reap the benefits of the fisherman. "

"I hope so." Cao Cao sighed softly, and immediately reined in his horse, and while galloping, he shouted: "All soldiers, speed up and follow me into the city."