There are gentlemen in the Three Kingdoms

Cao Cao felt something was wrong when he learned that Xu Huang and Tao Ji soldiers of the Jinling Army were attacking two counties of Liang State in two ways.

He wanted to immediately inform Yanjin's main force to go south, but he finally endured it.

Cao Cao calmly analyzed the situation, and then wanted to write a letter to inform Xun You and Xia Houyuan, telling them not to act rashly.

But before Cao Cao's letter was delivered, he received the battle report that Xia Houyuan was defeated and captured, and Xun You led his army to withdraw from Liang State.

Cao Cao was so furious at that time that he almost sent troops to Liang Guo to rescue Xia Houyuan in person.

In the end, for the sake of the stability of Yanzhou, he still did not rush to do so.

But at this moment, Cao Cao is already at the critical point of going berserk, and he may really send a large army to kill Xuzhou at any time.

At this juncture, Xuzhou's envoy came to Yanzhou to meet Cao Cao with the sincerity of the potter.

Hearing that pottery merchants sent envoys to see him, Cao Cao immediately cheered up 12 points to meet the envoys.

The envoy who came to Jiyin from Xuzhou was recently recommended to Tao Qian by the great Confucian Zheng Xuan. Tao Qian appointed him as an officer and asked him to go to Peijun to be responsible for raising money and food for the pottery merchants.

The envoy's name is Sun Qian.

When Cao Cao met Sun Qian, he admired and liked him very much when he saw Sun Qian being graceful, graceful, and well-mannered.

But on the surface, Cao Cao didn't give Sun Qian a good face.

"Cao has already mobilized the Yanzhou army, and wants to go to Xuzhou to kill the Tao family and his son to avenge my father and younger brother. The Tao merchants are not serious about cultivating virtue, but burning incense and praying to repent. General, if you capture my clan, you are not a gentleman if you don’t take revenge! Why would you come here, the little pottery thief, at this time of year!”

Faced with Cao Cao's sharp reprimand, Sun Qian did not panic at all.

"Reporting to Mr. Cao, Mr. Tao specially ordered me to come here to ask for peace and strike. He wanted to use General Xia Houyuan as a condition to ask Mr. Cao to cease the war. The two families will rebuild their alliance and jointly help the people of Hanan."

As soon as these words came out, Cao Cao's nose almost crooked out of anger.

"The pottery thief killed my father and captured my brother, and now he still wants to make peace? It's a dream! What does he think of Cao? Fool me like he fooled Dong Zhuo back then? Pooh! Cao doesn't like his set!"

Sun Qian was not in a hurry, but just persuaded: "Mr. Cao, before Mr. Tao Fu comes down, let me bring you a message: whether your father's death has anything to do with Xuzhou, Mr. Cao knows well, what a hero Mr. Are you willing to be someone else's sword? General Xiahou is in the hands of my Xuzhou army, and his life is at stake. If Mr. Cao still cares about brotherhood, please call for a truce and stop the army, and pay 50 yuan to buy General Xiahou's life. Fang is not hurting the peace."

"Wait, wait! Shut your mouth first!"

Cao Cao hurriedly raised his hand, interrupted Sun Gan, and looked at him with incredible eyes.

"What you said just now means that the pottery merchant killed my old father and captured my brother. I want to send troops to fight him now, but he uses my brother's life in exchange for my retreat. At the same time, I have to pay him another 50 yuan. Thousands of dollars? Messenger Sun, do you mean that? Cao must have understood correctly, right?"

Sun Gan nodded with a smile, and said: "Grandpa Cao is really a hero in the world, and you can see it right away. That's right, that's what Mr. Taiping means."

"I bother!"

Cao Cao stared at him coldly, and said with a sneer, "Little pottery merchant, how many years have passed, why hasn't this stinking virtue changed at all? This condition is in the ears of Cao, why does it feel like I sent troops to beat him, but rather It’s a bit like he sent troops to destroy me? Messenger Sun, did you figure out the situation before you came here?”

Sun Qian bowed his hands modestly, and said: "I'm sorry for your concern, Mr. Cao. Before you do it, make this matter clear."

"It's clear, you still..." Cao Cao was about to yell at him, but suddenly Fu Ling came to his mind, and seemed to think of some key point in his mind.

wrong!

I'm not stupid, so how could I agree to this kind of exchange?

That little thief of the pottery merchant is a smart person, and he would never send an envoy from a long distance to negotiate an agreement that is impossible to negotiate. Why did he go to such unnecessary trouble?

There must be something wrong here!

Thinking of this, Cao Cao stopped talking. He waved his hand and said to Sun Qian: "The envoy will go to the post house to rest first. After Cao Mou carefully examines the matter, you and I will make a decision!"

Chapter 339 Lion Tiger Army, Eagle Snake Mansion

Cao Cao asked Sun Qian to return to the post to rest, and then he found the two resourceful men who were accompanying him in Jiyin County.

There are now two wise men who are here with Cao Cao.

One is Cheng Yu, Zhang Ling of Qianshou. He was originally called Cheng Li. After he met Cao Cao, he was renamed Cheng Yu by Cao Cao because of a dream of Cao Cao.

Cheng Li was renamed by Cao Cao. Although he wanted to scold his mother, Cao Cao was his immediate boss after all, so he couldn't be provoked easily.

Not to mention changing his name to Cheng Yu, even calling him Cheng Maomao or Cheng Gougou, even if it was Cheng Baba, he would have to bear it.

Cheng Yu was from Dongjun, but he had friendship with Xun Shuang of the Eight Dragons of the Xun family, and he also stayed in Yingchuan back then, so compared to the nobles of Dongjun, he was closer to the students of Yingchuan.

The other is Dong Zhao, who originally joined the army under Yuan Shao's account, and later was ordered by Yuan Shao to follow Zhang Yang. When Li Jue, Guo Si and Lu Bu made troubles in Chang'an, Dong Zhao was ordered by Zhang Yang to go south to the imperial capital Chang'an, named Gong In fact, it was to observe the situation in Chang'an. The problem was that Dong Zhao had selfish intentions. He had long seen that Zhang Yang could not achieve great things, so he took the opportunity to stay in Chang'an as Zhang Yang's envoy, waiting for the right time.

After Cao Cao secretly greeted the emperor, Dong Zhao met Cao Cao because of this, and was entrusted with the task of a trusted arm ever since.

These two people are now stationed in Jiyin County with Cao Cao.

When the two came to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was not polite, and immediately told them what the potter's envoy had told him, and then told Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao what he had doubts in his heart.

After listening to Cao Cao's words, Dong Zhao and Cheng Yu thought about it for a long time and carefully considered it.

After a while, Fang heard Cheng Yu say: "Ming Gong, the Xuzhou potters took over Liang Guo and threatened Ming Gong with Xia Houyuan as a hostage. This matter is already ridiculous, but he asked another question. Minggong wants 50 yuan, such actions are no different from children's nonsense, but the pottery merchant has become famous in recent years, and he is probably not a mediocre person, so there may be something strange in it."

Cao Cao stroked his beard, his face also looked very dark.

Of course, he knew better than Cheng Yu about the abilities of pottery merchants.

"Right now, the gentry of Yanzhou and the generals of Liangzhou are about to act. Cao has been planning for a long time, and he just wants to take this opportunity to uproot them. I'm afraid it will be a little troublesome to stab a certain Cao in the back with an evil plan."

After all, Cao Cao looked at Dong Zhao again.

Dong Zhao was a very kind-looking fat man, smiling all day long, and looked kind and friendly. His benevolent face was like a Maitreya Buddha, in stark contrast to Cheng Yu, who had a dark and serious face all day long.

After listening to the conversation between Cheng Yu and Cao Cao, Dong Zhao laughed and said kindly, "Duke Ming doesn't need to worry too much. The potters took down Liang with only tens of thousands of troops, mostly infantry and few cavalry. , even if he and the gentry in Yanzhou were in trouble at the same time, the military force in Duke Ming's hands would be enough to deal with it. What we need to figure out now is what is in the heart of the little pottery merchant? Does he intend to continue to fight with Duke Ming? The enemy, or have the heart to plot Yanzhou."

Cao Cao nodded when he heard the words, and said: "The pottery boy, to be honest, Cao admires him very much. He is young, has a lot of strategies and is very resourceful. This person definitely has abilities, but The things he does on weekdays are really no different from those in the market. The thing Cao is most confused about is what his ambition is!"

Dong Zhao said with a smile: "No matter how resourceful the people in this world are, it is useless if they don't have the pattern and ambition to accommodate all rivers and rivers in their chests. Now, maybe this is a good time to see the pattern in the chest of the little pottery thief." .”

Although Dong Zhao looked like a good old man with a smile all day long, Cao Cao knew that Dong Zhao was good at understanding other people's psychological dynamics, which was by no means comparable to ordinary people.

At that moment, Cao Cao asked Dong Zhaodao, "What advice does Gongren have on how to figure out who the pottery merchant is?"

Dong Zhao was not in a hurry, and said, "I heard that Duke Ming established a government office in Yanzhou that is good at scouting and assassination. It is similar to the school office of pottery merchants in Jinling City. What is it called? Yes, Eagle Snake Mansion! You might as well ask the Eagle Soldier from Eagle Snake Mansion to spy on the movements of Tao Bandit in Liang State, and your subordinates may be able to infer the true meaning of Tao Bandit through the traces of Tao Bandit's actions."

After hearing Dong Zhao's question, Cao Cao suddenly felt ashamed.

To be honest, because of this incident, he has already scolded the Tao merchant's father Tao Qian and the eighteen generations of his Tao family's ancestors more than a thousand times in his heart.

After Cao Cao took over Yanzhou, he ordered Xiahou Dun to draw strong men from the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and the former Bao Xin, Liu Dai, Yuan Yi, Qiao Mao and other old troops, and organized a lean personal infantry for himself, led by Dian Wei .

This elite attacking infantry, just like Cao Cao's recently started building tiger and leopard cavalry, can be said to be his ace troop, one cavalry and one infantry. In Cao Cao's thinking and planning, these two troops will be his right arm, Travel thousands of miles with him to pacify the world.