Hold Your Hand·Xuantian Chaotic Times

In the summer and May of the 21st year of Jian'an, when there should have been constant separatism and chaos and disputes, Cao Cao was able to cross the east-west border with one last step and take Xichuan occupied by Liu Bei in one fell swoop. The imperial court was always on guard against Lu Bu, but it never occurred to them that the soldiers and horses in Xiliang would be willing to take the initiative to stand by Lu Bu's side and be brought under the emperor's command, becoming the second batch of troops out of their control.When this sudden situation happened, Cao Cao had to overturn his previous plan and focus most of his energy on dealing with Lu Bu. As for Xichuan, he had no time to attack at all. After all, half of the troops guarding Dongchuan have been transferred back now. imperial court.

Lu Bu knew about Ma Chao, and Ling Hao had told him before he left that the Emperor was most pleased with Xiliang's surrender.This not only has a usable force that does not go through Cao Cao's hands, but also adds obstacles to Cao Cao.At the same time, because Cao Cao is now the prime minister after all, he is still working for the Han Dynasty on the surface, and Xiliang, which he had been conquering at the beginning, has been included in the Han Dynasty. It is not reasonable to occupy Xiliang and not return it.As a result, Cao Cao had no choice but to return Xiliang to Ma Chao under the eyes of everyone in the court and the people of the world.In the end, not only didn't I get any benefit from the things I worked so hard and thoughtfully, but it also strengthened my opponent's strength.

The day after Ma Chao entered the court, the emperor used the convenience of his status and supplemented it with well-known principles. Even if the court is full of Cao Cao's eyeliner at the moment, that still can't stop the emperor from adding officials to the officials of the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao has the upper hand in everything. There is only one thing that he can't compare to the emperor now, that is, one minister and one emperor. No matter how much he wants to overthrow the Han Dynasty, he has to agree now, after all, he has no reason to object.Ever since, the emperor directly appointed Ma Chao as a Liangzhou shepherd to the maximum extent, and the official residence was a first-rank hussar general, second only to Lu Bu and Cao Cao.In this way, the great general, one of the three princes who was never appointed outside because of Cao Cao's monopoly, is now legitimately given to Lu Bu by the emperor, and the original title of Marquis Wen has also been restored. The Han Dynasty is naturally justifiable.

All kinds of righteousness made Cao Cao almost angry. He had already reported to be the king of Wei, but Lu Bu directly opposed him, "The first emperor abolished the kingship a long time ago. No matter how good the prime minister is at this time, the rules of the ancestors cannot It was changed because of the foreign surname. Besides, the matter of conferring the king and dividing the land can easily cause the princes to rebel and separate. I am not targeting the prime minister. Your Majesty has learned that once one person is crowned king, there will inevitably be a second and third. There is only one ten-thousandth chance, once something happens, it will repeat the mistakes of history. Now that the imperial court has external troubles and internal troubles, it is not too late to wait until it is consolidated." glance.The inside line of the court and the civil and military people who stood on his side were so arrogant that they didn't dare to show up, and none of them stood up. In addition, the emperor intended to let Ma Chao take over the palace guards (equivalent to Jinyiwei), Cao Cao was so blocked that he didn't go out for two days. up court.Thinking back to when he sat firmly in the prime minister's position, coercing the emperor to make the princes is something that everyone in the world knew but dared not resist. Why didn't he dare to resist, because no one had the strength and identity to fight against him, who would have thought The ghost that I killed with my own hands back then will come back to life now, and it will be even more oppressive and troublesome.

Although Ma Chao was a newcomer, he was promoted by the emperor after all, and the power and status given to him was already much higher than that of many civil and military officials.Lu Bu was already troublesome enough, but now there is another enemy who has been a deadly enemy before, and is standing with Lu Bu, just thinking about it is a headache.From the former major general of Xiliang to the shepherd of Liangzhou who was a higher level than the prefect of Xiliang, Ma Chao was not happy at all, and he was on his way to success, only when he woke up did he feel alone. "Is it because he and I are doomed to stay together without hope in this life." There was only a Linglong bag left in his hand.The murmured words made Lu Bu, who was pouring the wine, pause slightly, "No, he likes you." This time it was Ma Chao's turn to be startled, "Do you know who I'm talking about?", "Is it not Zixuan? Who could it be? He has been thinking about you ever since he left Xiliang." Lu Bu drank the wine in the wine cup, glanced at the other party's bewildered expression, and said lightly: "I know your father is trapped in Cao Cao's hands, let go With everything in hand, he did not hesitate to go retrograde with Liu Bei, quarreled with Zhuge Liang, went to Xuchang alone to ask Xia Houshang for help, and then went to Xiliang to apologize. Even if you hold grudges, you only want to save Xiliang soldiers and horses. I will accompany you to die on the battlefield. You should not doubt his affection for you, if this is not counted as intentional for you.".

"You... how did you know..." After hearing these words, only he and Ling Hao knew about it, and Lu Bu and himself had no intersection at all. If you say you know Ling Hao, it can only be a few days ago. It is impossible to know what happened in Xiliang before, and what is even more unbelievable is why Lu Bu knew that the person he was thinking and talking about was Ling Hao? "Guard." Lu Bu only uttered two words, his thoughts collided with each other, Ma Chao's brows tightened, and there was some disbelief in his eyes, "You...you are Li Yuan?".Heh, he still likes to deal with smart people, "Like me, it's hard for him to face it. The so-called days and nights are just old things. The time I've stayed by his side has never been shorter than you. Now For him to return to the imperial court, but he still finds it difficult to accept me, so is it you or I who are sad?".Ma Chao didn't say a word, he never thought that the frightening Lu Bu sitting in front of him would be the guard next to Ling Hao. "I can't find it in Jingchu, Yizhou, and Jiangdong. What's the use of talking about it now." Ma Chao clenched the Linglong bag tightly, his eyes dimmed. "He won't be overwhelmed. He will come back one day. You also need time. Since you know that you are not the only one he loves, it's up to you to accept it or not."

"You see it very openly..." Lu Bu heard the words with a self-deprecating smile, "If I didn't see it, I should have left a few years ago. If I couldn't see it, how could I let my emotions The enemy in the world has survived until now. Zixuan is different from you and me. His ending has already been doomed, and all I can do is to look away." At the end, Lu Bu patted Ma Chao on the shoulder, "If I were you, I would definitely I won't let Zixuan leave Xiliang." Ma Chao's fingertips turned white, and he finally relaxed after a while, but...it was too late when he realized.

As for Ling Hao, in the past few months, Liu Bei has already secured Xichuan to capture Dongchuan, but there is still no news.Originally, Zhuge Liang never believed that Ling Hao would really seek death, so he used almost all the soldiers and horses at hand to search Jingchu, and finally expanded to dozens of surrounding counties. The news, at the end of the day, Zhuge Liang actually checked everything from rivers to lakes in the world. He knew in his heart that if a person really threw himself into the river, not to mention a few months, even a few days, his bones would be fished. The prawns are eaten clean.The only place left is Xuchang, but no matter whether it is the imperial court or Xuchang, none of the eyeliners and secret whistles placed have found any news.As long as a person is alive, there will always be traces of activities more or less, but what is Ling Hao's identity?As a high-ranking general under Liu Bei, no one dared to stop him from entering and exiting the entire territory, and Ling Hao relied on Ji Sheng to lead the way, let alone a little bit of officialdom, and he didn't even take the ordinary road. I found him in the wilderness.Time passed day by day, seeing the hope getting more and more bleak, even Liu Bei gave up. He had no idea why Ling Hao left suddenly, or whether it was really like Zhuge Liang mentioned about throwing himself into the river. For those who don't know, Ling Hao His actions are simply unimaginable and embarrassing.

"It's been a few months... I'm also very sad, so I can understand your feelings, but the matter has come to this point, Zixuan... There is no news at all, even if you obsess over him and he is still alive, it will not help. And why? This kind of thing happened suddenly, and since Jiangdong came back, it has evolved to this point, and Sun Ce has never said anything." The atmosphere was as heavy as ever, Zhao Yun was like this, after all, in Liu Bei's eyes, Ling Hao spent the longest time with Zhao Yun on weekdays, and Zhuge Liang did the same , how could the only apprentice be happy when this happened.Xu Shu and Pang Tong, who knew little about this matter, were quite shocked when they heard it for the first time, and now they have to accept the news that Ling Hao has no news. "Kong Ming..." Xu Shu said worriedly, seeing how uncomfortable his friend was.The entire Liu Bei army, except for Zhao Yun and Zhuge, not to mention Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Guan Zhang, Huang Zhong, Guan Ping, and everyone get along well with Ling Hao on weekdays. No one would have expected such a thing to happen.

So many people have been mobilized, Dongxichuan Jingchu and Jiangdong have been rumored recently, and it will be a matter of time before the news spreads.In the meantime, whoever is separated from thinking, and whoever is bitter is not worth mentioning.From the early summer of May to the high autumn of October, in only four or five months, the situation has undergone considerable changes. Not to mention that Jiangdong took back half of Jingzhou before, and now it has occupied Jingzhou, Jiaozhou and Yangzhou, and so has Liu Bei. Successfully captured Dongxichuan and occupied the counties of Yizhou.Although on the whole, the area occupied by Cao Cao is as large as Kyushu, but in name it is owned by the emperor after all, so let's not mention it for now.The imperial court was also in dire straits. Fortunately, because of Lu Bu's scruples, no major incidents broke out. Cao Cao was gradually restraining himself and making steady progress. He had reminded the emperor from time to time not to entrust important tasks to Ma Chao, but after a few months, Ma Chao did not Cao Cao's impeccable behavior really made it impossible for him to find fault.It coincided with the birthday of Cao Cao’s son Cao Zhi (in the novel, Cao Cao was promoted to the king of Wei at this time and built his own mansion, which was changed due to the needs of the plot). Naturally, the emperor could not show negligence, and directly built a mansion in Huashi. It was originally given to Cao Zhi, but in fact it was to sell Cao Cao's face.

On the birthday of the prime minister's son, all parties are courteous and courteous. Even if they are separated from each other, they are still the local forces of the courtiers, and the annual worship taxes still have to be handed over.The most seasonal melons, fruits and flowers are sent from all over the country in this season.Tangerines in Wenzhou, Jiangdong are famous, and October is naturally indispensable at this time.Dozens of loads were sent to the imperial court by fast horses almost day and night. In ancient times, there was no embalming or freezing, not to mention airplanes, trains and ships. For the freshness of the tribute, it was common for several horses to run to death.However, the tribute must be manually processed one by one to pass the inspection. As a result, the melons, fruits, flowers and plants have to be unloaded one by one by laborers or bearers, and then moved into the city one by one. This time of the year is always the most troublesome time. Coincidentally, this year coincided with Cao Zhi's birthday, so it was even more complicated.

"No, I'm exhausted, I have to rest for a while—" People with the same burdens passed by from time to time on the small road leading into the city. He found a stone on the side of the road and sat down to rest.There was a lot of suffering along the way, not to mention sweating profusely, but also to be constantly checked at various checkpoints. Little ordinary people like them really couldn't bear it.He took out his water bag and took a sip of cold water. The servant looked at a few unnamed mountains not far away. He remembered that the mountain was quite short last year. Why did he feel that it seemed to be taller this year... This illusion, the servant rubbed it Rubbing his eyes and looking around, he saw an old gentleman not far away.Also sitting on the side of the road, wearing a white vine crown and a blue cloth coat, a man dressed as an attendant beside him was answering something nonsense.

Seeing the servant looking at him, the old man waved to the attendant. He didn't know what to explain, then he got up and walked to the servant, "Is this going to the court?" Seeing the servant nodding, he said again: "It's just right I'll go too, seeing you are working so hard, why don't I help you share a little?".The servant hesitated, "No need, old man, you are too old, so this kind of heavy work is not suitable." "Sir, let me do it." When the attendant saw this, he was about to step forward, but was stopped by the old man, "Young man, Regardless of my age, I am as strong as you two." Although everyone didn't believe it, it was naturally joyful that someone took the initiative to share.Ever since, the old man picked a few miles for each load. When he arrived outside the city, everyone thanked him. The characters are released. When you see the salary officer, please apply for me.".Since the two sides took two different passages, the servants agreed and went into the city separately.

"Why do I feel that this burden is light...", "Don't talk nonsense, I don't want to cause trouble if you want to! Hurry up and make a job.", "Yes.".