"Hum~"

The heavy breathing of the war horses sounded, and one horse after another came out from behind the hillside, extending towards the wings with the initial wild horse thief. In the end, the entire ridge on the left was already filled with black horse thief.

The face of the Xiyang County Magistrate suddenly turned gray. The horse thief was actually a group of horse thieves!

The leader of the horse thief led the blunt knife in his hand forward. Hundreds of horse thieves rushed down from the ridge with a scream. The horse's hooves were scattered, and the snow was splashing. Hundreds of dark blunt swords reflected the sky in winter, reflecting a heart-pounding look of death. More than 200 Cao troops guarding the grain transport team looked around in panic and began to retreat instinctively.

After all, they were just a group of county soldiers who had never been on the battlefield, and they were scared to death just by seeing this formation.

"Don't be afraid, keep calm!" Xiyang County Captain waved the sword in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "It's just a group of horse thieves, a mob, not to be afraid! When you go back, you'll go back to guard the convoy..."

"Swish swish swish!"

A tent of arrows rushed over the sky, and instantly shot the Xiyang County Magistrate into a hedgehog. As soon as the county magistrate died, more than 200 Cao troops suddenly scattered and fled in all directions. However, on this vast snowy field, how could two legs run past four legs? In less than a meal, more than 200 Cao troops were killed by horse thieves like chopping melons and vegetables.

The horse thief burned another fifty carts, and abandoned the body and left.

Xuchang, Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Xun Yu looked gloomy and was pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back.

Every time Cao Cao led a large army to fight, he would leave Xun Yu in Xuchang to take charge of the overall situation. Guo Jia was Cao Cao's most respected military arm, while Xun Yu was Cao Cao's most dependent pillar in internal affairs!

In the third year of Jian'an, Tao Qian's general Zhang Kai killed Cao Song. Cao Cao raised an army to conquer Xuzhou to avenge his father. Zhang Miao and Chen Gong suddenly rebelled and welcomed Lu Bu into Yanzhou. At that time, if Xun Yu had not designed to defend Dongjun and preserved his last base for Cao Cao, Cao Cao would have become Liu Bei's second and would be a loser.

But this time, Xun Yu really encountered a difficult problem.

"Sir, the Prime Minister has sent another letter to ask for military rations." When Xun Yu was anxious, the young Prime Minister Bo Yang Xiu stepped into the hall and handed the book in his hand to Xun Yu. "In the letter, the Prime Minister said that even if the military rations in Guandu are saved for frugality, it will only last for three days. If the Lord does not try to raise military rations, the soldiers on the front line may be worried about mutiny."

Xun Yu took the book and read it in a hurry, responded calmly: "I understand, you go down first."

Yang Xiu bowed and turned around and exited the hall.

Xun Yu sighed softly, sat down behind the table, spreading out the book and was about to write a reply to Cao Cao, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hall again. This time, the general Yu Jin who stayed in Xuchang was Yu Jin. Cao Cao and Guo Jia led their troops to fight, and Yu Jin led 8,000 troops to stay in Yingchuan to protect the safety of the Xuchang court.

Yu Jin rushed into the hall and said to Xun Yu: "Mr. Xun Yu, something happened."

Xun Yu's heart sank and asked calmly: "General Yu Jin, what happened?"

Yu Jin said: "Just just got the news that the grain transport team departing from Xiyang County was also looted in Mangdang Mountain. Like the grain transport team that had happened several times in the past, all 220 county soldiers who escorted the grain were killed, leaving no living gulf. Obviously, this was done by the same group of horse thieves."

Xun Yu was silent and sighed for a while: "It's a matter of trouble, and it's a matter of trouble."

Yu Jin said anxiously: "Mr. Xun Yu, we must find a way to eliminate this group of horse thieves! Otherwise, the military rations from Huainan and Xuzhou will never be transported. At that time, not only will the military rations of the Prime Minister's army not be able to provide support, but the food in Xuchang City will be out of stock. If this continues, major problems will definitely happen."

Xun Yu said: "But this is a group of horse thieves who are coming and going without a shadow, plundering thousands of miles away. The prime minister and military advisor have led a large army to fight. The general's eight thousand elite soldiers have to guard the entire Yingchuan County and stabilize the situation in Xuchang. The troops are already in short supply. How can he draw the army? Take a step back, even if one thousand two thousand soldiers can be transferred, and there are infantry left in Yingchuan, how can he catch up with this group of horse thieves?"

Yu Jin said: "What should I do now?"

Xun Yu said: "In this way, the general will send troops to send the last surplus grain in Xuchang City to Guandu to solve the Prime Minister's urgent need. This official will write an urgent letter to the Prime Minister. It is best to draw hundreds of elite cavalry back to eliminate this group of horse thieves as soon as possible. Although this group of horse thieves is not large in number, it is extremely harmful. If you don't try to eradicate it as soon as possible, the Prime Minister's great cause may be broken in the hands of this group of thieves!"

Yu Jin said: "After this, we will transfer military soldiers and escort military rations."

Guandu, Cao's army camp.

Seeing that the army was about to be out of food, Xun Yu had not sent troops to transport food for a long time, Cao Cao couldn't help but be anxious and summoned Xun You, Cheng Yu and Liu Ye to the central army's tent to discuss countermeasures overnight.

Cao Cao looked around the three of them and asked, "The army's food and supplies are about to be exhausted, and the three major armies may worry about mutiny. What if they do?"

Xun You and Liu Ye were speechless.

Only a terrifying cold light flashed through Cheng Yu's eyes and said to Cao Cao: "Lord, the people have no other good idea at this point, so they can only make the people's jelly for the soldiers to eat."

"Human suckling?" Cao Cao said with a slight brilliance, "Human suckling!"

"No, this plan hurts the harmony of heaven, absolutely not."

Xun You and Liu Ye were also shocked and looked at Cheng Yu in surprise.

Cheng Yu said in a dark voice: "The military situation is like fire, and I can no longer care about it! Yu is willing to lead an elite soldier to pretend to go hunting in the mountains, but in fact he searches for hunters and woodcutters in the mountains, young and young, kill them, take them all into jerky meat, and bring them back to the military camp for the soldiers to eat. Only in this way can the worry of military food scarcity be relieved."

"My lord must not." Liu Ye was so anxious that tears were almost shedding. He knelt in front of Cao Cao and said, "The people are innocent, how can they harm their lives?"

Xun You also advised: "If things fail, you may be despised by the world!"

Cheng Yu insisted: "Lord, what should I do if I am in urgent need of power!"

Cao Cao's little eyes suddenly opened wide, and his eyes flashed again and again, just as he was about to make a decision, Cao Chun suddenly stepped in and shouted: "Lord, the military rations have been shipped!"

"call!"

Cao Cao's expression relaxed, he breathed a long sigh, and his wide eyes slowly closed. Liu Ye and Xun You also breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, shook their heads with lingering fear.

Cao Chun said again: "Lord, there is also an urgent letter from Mr. Xun Yu here."

"Oh?" Cao Cao reached out and said, "Take it and take a look with me."

After reading the book, Cao Cao's eyebrows frowned again and said to Xun You and others: "Wen Ruo wrote that a group of brutal and bloodthirsty horse thieves appeared in Mangdang Mountain area. Several grain transport teams transporting military rations from Huainan and Xuzhou to Xuchang were looted. Now, Huainan and Xuzhou's military rations cannot be transported to Xuchang at all. Wen Ruo thought that this group of horse thieves was extremely harmful, so he asked Gu to quickly condemn the spirit cavalry to Mangdang Mountain to clear the enemy. What do you think?"

Xun You said without hesitation: "This must be the butcher horse's trick!"

Cheng Yu said: "Yes, the horse butcher was born as a bandit, and being a bandit is his old profession."

Xun You said: "You thought that it was unlikely that the horse butcher personally led a small group of cavalry to penetrate the Central Plains alone, but the possibility of being led by the horse butcher brother Ma Chao is very great! The number of horse thieves in this group is not too many, at most, but the harm is indeed not small. Not only does it seriously threaten Huainan, Xuzhou's grain transport routes to Xuchang will even seriously affect the stability of the Xuchang court. The lord should not be despised."

"Well." Cao Cao nodded, "I should condemn the elite cavalry to suppress the enemy. Gongda thought it was appropriate to send how many elite cavalry?"

Xun You said: "If you send less soldiers, you may not be the opponent of horse thieves. If you send too many soldiers, it will affect the decisive battle with the Hebei army. You thought it was better to use a thousand cavalry!"

Cheng Yu said: "Another general needs to be sent to lead the army, otherwise he may not be a match for Ma Chao!"

Cao Cao said: "Zhongde thinks who in the army can compete with Ma Chao?"

Cheng Yu said: "General Guan Yu must be the one who must be the one who is Guan Yu, but the lord needs to send another confidant general to assist him."

"Yeah." Cao Cao said after pondering for a moment, "Let Guan Yu lead the five hundred school knives in the headquarters (can fight on horseback and can do it off horseback, and is a real elite force) to Mangdang Mountain to fight the thieves. I then sent Xiahou De (son of Cao Cao's clan) as Guan Yu's deputy general and led 500 light cavalry together, how about it?"

Cheng Yu said: "The lord is wise."

Guan Yu's military tent.

Guan Yu was wiping the Qinglong Yanyue Knife in the tent, and his confidant Hu Ban suddenly lifted the curtain and entered the tent and said to Guan Yu: "General, the Prime Minister is welcome."

"Oh?" Guan Yu raised his head, five long beards were automatically unwind, and his narrow and long phoenix eyes also opened slightly, and a terrifying shock flashed away, asking Hu Ban, "Do you know what's going on?"

Hu Ban said: "I heard that a group of extremely fierce horse thieves appeared in Mangdang Mountain area. The Prime Minister wanted the general to lead his army to challenge him."

"Mangdang Mountain?" Guan Yu's slightly narrowed eyes suddenly widened, and his sharp black eyes turned and suddenly looked out of the tent, and said in a deep voice, "Go and go to the prime minister's tent."

Thirty miles north of Guandu, Yuan Shao's camp.

When Yuan Shao was pretending to read military books in his tent, he suddenly saw the counselor Seiwei hurried in.

Yuan Shao asked: "Zhengnan is not in the tent, what's the point of coming late at night?"

Shen Pei replied: "Lord, Xu You's family is in Yecheng to cause trouble and disturb the people and commit crimes. He has already asked the subordinates of the officials to confiscate the house."

Yuan Shao disagreed and said, "Just just copying Xu You's home for this matter, Zhengnan is too much of a big deal, right?"

Shen Pei said: "Lord, this is not a big deal. A large number of gold, silver and jewelry were found from Xu You's home, countless silk and satin, and many rare antiques. These were all caused by Xu You forcibly robbing and occupying them over the years and illegally accumulating them. If such a huge corrupt person is not punished, how can he calm the public anger?"

"Oh?" Yuan Shao said moved, "What happened?"

Shen Pei said: "Xu You is a crime, please punish him severely."

"Father." As soon as Shen Pei finished speaking, Yuan Shang, who was only eighteen years old, suddenly entered the tent and said furiously, "Father, Xu You, this guy, has been betrayed Cao Cao!"

"ah?"

Shen Pei was shocked, Yuan Shao suddenly smelled it and said angrily: "Xianfu (Yuan Shangbiao) What did you say?"

Yuan Shang said: "Xu You went to rebel against Cao Cao."

"This Xu You!" Yuan Shao was furious and said to Shen Pei, "Zhengnan, quickly send someone back to Yecheng and kill Xu You's family in half. No, kill the three clans!"

"Receive the order."

Shen Pei agreed and went there hurriedly.

Guandu, outside Cao Cao's tent.

Cao Cao held Guan Yu's hands, shook them twice, and said sincerely: "Chang Yun, please."

Guan Yu said solemnly: "Prime Minister, please rest assured, Yu Ding killed all the horse thieves!"

Cao Cao let go, stroked his beard and smiled, "I am here to respect the good news."

Guan Yu bowed with his fists and said loudly: "I will say goodbye until the end."

After saying that, Guan Yu turned around and left quickly.

It was not until Guan Yu's figure disappeared into the night that Cao Cao withdrew his gaze and walked back to the military tent alone. It was already late at night, but Cao Cao was completely sleepy. Just as he sat down to read a few military books, Cao Chun hurried into the tent again and said anxiously: "I will catch a spy and claim to be his old friend of the lord."

"Oh?" Cao Cao said with emotion, "Who is calling himself?"

Cao Chundao: "The person who came called himself Xu You."

"Xu You? Ziyuan? Didn't he plan something under Yuan Shao's tent?" Cao Cao said this and suddenly felt awkward. After looking overjoyed, he suddenly stood up. The military books piled on his knees suddenly scattered on the ground. Cao Cao couldn't pick up the military books and rushed out of the tent with his bare feet. While running, he asked Cao Chun, "Where is the person?"

Cao Chundao: "It's outside the tent."

Cao Cao ran out of the tent quickly and saw a middle-aged man with a short figure and a locked appearance standing under the flames. The man was tied up with his hands and was struggling desperately. He was struggling and shouting, "I am not a spy, but an old friend of the prime minister. How dare you be so rude? It's so outrageous!"

"Oh, oh, isn't this Xu Ziyuan?" Cao Cao rushed to Xu You in front of two steps, then pretended to find that Xu You was tied up, and shouted angrily to the personal soldiers who held Xu You, "Random, Mr. Xu You is an old friend of the orphan. How dare you be so rude, and you don't let go of the orphan!"
To be continued...