Chapter 1126 The heroic curtain call
On the early morning of the morning, the Tongque Palace was particularly quiet. Several eunuchs serving Cao Cao sat on the steps outside the ward, enjoying the warm winter sunshine while chatting boredly. At this time, a melodious bell sounded faintly from the distance, and an eunuch said, "This is the New Year ceremony of Ye Palace!"
"It should be that I heard that Mr. Zhi officially took office as prime minister."
Another little eunuch sighed: "Hey! Things are unpredictable in the world. If Mr. Pi doesn't die, then how can he get Mr. Zhi? People say that brothers are like brothers and feet. I think! Power is a sword, specially used to cut hands and feet."
As soon as he said this, a violent cough suddenly came from the room, and several eunuchs were panicked. When Mr. Wei woke up, they hurried into the room to serve. On the sickbed, Cao Cao was already exhausted and dying. In the past two months, he was in a coma for most of the time, and he woke up with a sense of consciousness, and he didn't even know his wife and children.
The eunuchs had long been used to it. They had to hurry up and eat for Mr. Wei to save his life. However, the eunuchs knew very well that Mr. Wei had not had a long time, so how could a person's body withstand such troubles?
"Hurry up and help Mr. Wei sit up!"
A eunuch quickly put a mattress behind Cao Cao and was about to help him sit up. However, Cao Cao opened his eyes and asked in a low voice: "What were you just talking about?"
Several eunuchs looked at each other. Mr. Wei was a little different from usual. One eunuch smiled and said, "Mr. Wei heard it wrong, we didn't say anything!"
"nonsense!"
Cao Cao whispered, "I can hear clearly, what's wrong with Pi'er?"
Several eunuchs were so scared that Mr. Wei was awake. He knelt down on the ground together. Cao Cao's face was covered with redness, and there was a sense of consciousness in his eyes. He leaned against the bedding, stared at the eunuchs and asked, "You just said, Pier is dead?"
The eunuchs were so scared that they kowtowed, "Damn the villain! Damn the god!"
Cao Cao closed his eyes, and for a moment, then slowly said, "If you don't want to die, tell me the truth. What happened?"
Several eunuchs did not understand the serious consequences and just wanted to save their lives. A young eunuch said tremblingly: "Last month, Mr. Pi unfortunately went there. Now Mr. Zhi is the decision."
Cao Cao closed his eyes in pain and said nothing. Several eunuchs thought it was okay. Suddenly, one eunuch found blood flowing from the corner of Mr. Wei's mouth, which scared him so much that he screamed. The other eunuchs were so scared that they stumbled out and shouted: "Come on, call the imperial doctor!"
An hour later, Cao Zhi and the officials rushed over after hearing the news. They gathered in the yard and waited for the news nervously. At this time, Mrs. Bian's cry came from the room. Everyone suddenly felt something was wrong. Doctor Wang walked out, and Cao Zhi hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "How is my father?"
Doctor Wang sighed, "Please beg me!"
Cao Zhi was stunned. He fell to the ground with powerlessness and started crying loudly. All the officials knelt on the ground and cried bitterly. In the Tongque Palace, the crying sounded.
On the 25th day of the 25th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, a hero, finally unfortunately passed away after nearly a year of illness. The city of Yedu mourned and cried. That night, a spiritual shed was set up in the square in front of Ye Palace, and dozens of monks were invited to come and salvation, and allowed all officials and ordinary people to come and celebrate filial piety.
Xiahou Dun and all the Cao family's children were wearing mourning clothes and knelt in front of the spirit shed, but Cao Xiu did not come. The place where Cao Xiu stationed his troops was outside the East City of Yedu. In the past few months, Cao Xiu and Xiahou Dun had a great disagreement.
Until now, Cao Xiu still firmly controlled his 30,000 troops, and did not obey Xiahou Dun's orders at all, nor did he enter the city, which made Xiahou Dun extremely angry. He wanted to kill him several times, but he had no chance.
At this time, Xiahou Dun's confidant general Guo Huai walked over quickly and whispered behind Xiahou Dun: "I have something to report to you!"
Xiahou Dun stood up, followed Guo Huai to a place where no one was around, and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Cao Xiu has entered the city!"
Xiahou Dun's eyes lit up. Of course, he understood what Guo Huai meant. How could he not take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? It's just that he is wearing mourning now, so he is not easy to come forward. Xiahou Dun pondered for a moment. Guo Huai understood what he meant and said, "Let this matter be left to Bei Zhi to do!"
Xiahou Dun said that. Seeing Guo Huai taking the initiative, he couldn't help but be overjoyed and asked quickly: "What are you planning to do?"
"The same thing, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. I will first find out his deployment and then attack his weaknesses."
Xiahou Dun knew that Guo Huai was a very strategic general, and he could feel at ease with him to do things. He patted Guo Huai on the shoulder, "I'll give you everything!"
As time gradually came to Hai, the drum sound reminding the city gate was about to close. After eight hundred drums, the city gate would be closed. Although something big happened in Yedu today and Duke Wei unfortunately passed away, the government decided to close the city gate on time.
Cao Xiu worshiped his uncle's spirit and planned to return to the military camp. According to the rules, as a child of the Cao family, he should guard Cao Cao tonight, but Cao Xiu was extremely cautious. The city of Yedu was Xiahou Dun's territory, so he dared not stay overnight in the city. He had to return to the military camp outside the Dongying. Of course, the reason he used was to prevent the Han army from attacking Yedu in the chaos and maintain the highest combat readiness. Cao Zhi also recognized his reason and allowed him to return to the military camp.
Cao Xiu was prepared for a long time. He brought 800 cavalry, of which 300 cavalry followed him into the city, and 500 cavalry were waiting outside the East City Gate. However, there were regulations on the sacrifice of spirits that it was not allowed to bring troops to worship. Cao Xiu temporarily placed 300 cavalry in a mansion about two miles away from Ye Palace. He only brought more than a dozen personal guards to the spirit shed to worship.
More than a dozen personal guards were waiting not far from the spirit shed. They led their horses forward, and Cao Xiu turned over and shouted: "Go!"
Everyone turned over and rode their horses and followed Cao Xiu to the death of Cao Cao. The streets were deserted. Although today was sunny, Cao Cao's death greatly affected the New Year atmosphere. People in Yedu went home early. As soon as the sky was getting dark, it was difficult to see pedestrians on the street. Especially now it was almost the hour of Hai, and there was no pedestrian on the street. There were only a group of soldiers patrolling the streets.
Cao Xiu ran away with his horse. His 300 cavalry were in a mansion two miles away. It was his mansion in Yedu. Someone specially arranged for the cavalry to have a rest and dinner. Cao Xiu was a little worried that he had to try his best to rush back to his mansion.
After running a mile, a team of patrol soldiers walked ahead, with about a hundred people, commanded by a horse-riding officer. At this time, the patrol officer found someone running in front of him and shouted: "There is no galloping horse in the city, stop for me!"
But Cao Xiu ignored it at all and continued to rush on his horse. The patrol officer shouted, "Bow and arrow intercept!"
Hundreds of soldiers set their bows and arrows at Cao Xiu who was running. The officer shouted: "If you don't stop, you'll shoot the arrow!"
Cao Xiu was forced to helplessly, so he had to slow down his horse speed and gradually stopped. At this moment, a clapper suddenly sounded from his head. There were countless soldiers ambushing on the roofs on both sides. Arrows were suddenly shot at Cao Xiu and his followers at one go. Cao Xiu could not dodge and was shot like a hedgehog and died tragically on the spot. More than a dozen of his personal guards were also shot to death by arrows.
At this time, Guo Huai came out of an alley and the patrol officer stepped forward to salute, "I'm lucky to be humble to be my duty!"
"Thanks for your hard work!"
Guo Huai nodded in admiration. Of course, this was his plan. Cao Xiu's weakness was at the distance from the mourning hall to his mansion. In order to hunt Cao Xiu, Guo Huai deployed two ambushes, one of which was the current roof ambush. His subordinates pretended to be patrol soldiers and called Cao Xiu to stop the running Cao Xiu and create opportunities for the roof ambush.
Another time was in Cao Xiu's mansion, where 300 cavalry soldiers had been poisoned and poisoned by Guo Huai's people during meals. Nearly a thousand ambushed soldiers were ambushed in the mansion. As long as Cao Xiu entered the house, he would still be shot to death by arrows. However, God favored them and only the first ambush was the one who hunted Cao Xiu.
Guo Huai walked forward and kicked Cao Xiu, who had already died. He immediately sent someone to notify Xiahou Dun that the next step was to Cao Zhi to surrender Cao Xiu's 30,000 troops. This was not difficult. After all, it was not Cao Zhang's Youzhou army. As long as Cao Xiu was dead, it would be easy to conquer him.
Xiahou Dun, who received the news, immediately took off his mourning clothes, put on his armor and helmet, found Cao Zhi again and explained this to him. Although Cao Zhi was dissatisfied, he actually killed people during his father's sacrifice to the spirits, but he had no choice but to obey Xiahou Dun's arrangements and rushed to the camp outside the East City. When dawn was about to clear, Xiahou Dun replaced Cao Xiu's confidant and firmly held this army of 30,000 people in his hands.
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The news of Cao Cao's death was delivered to Liu Jing, a Han army spy from Yedu, on the afternoon of the morning, with a pigeon letter, even though Liu Jing also set up a spirit shed to worship Cao Cao's spirit to fulfill his son-in-law's obligations and his condolences for the death of this old opponent.
But after worshiping, the war will not be suspended because of Cao Cao's death. On the contrary, Liu Jing immediately ordered the entire army to prepare to set out and march into Hebei. The 100,000 Han troops began to rush to try, and they had been waiting for too long on this day.
On the official road outside Taiyuan City, several scout cavalry were running fast, like a strong wind, heading towards the military camp outside Taiyuan City. Soon, they arrived in front of the camp. The scouts turned over and dismounted, and a garrison ran forward and shouted: "Emergency military information, we must see His Highness the King of Han immediately!"
At this time, Liu Jing was discussing a plan to send troops to Hebei with Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang in front of the sand table in the big tent. Liu Jing pointed at Youzhou with a wooden pole and said, "At present, in addition to Yedu, there is also Cao Zhang's 20,000 Youzhou troops. Although 30,000 Youzhou troops were annihilated in the Yellow River, this army has strong combat effectiveness. Ten thousand cavalry was trained by Wuhuan cavalry. Currently, he is commanded by Cao Zhang, no less than the cavalry of the Tiger Guard in Yedu, and is no less than our Guanlong cavalry. I am considering whether to kill Youzhou first, solve Cao Zhang's Youzhou army, and then go south to Yedu. What do the two military advisors think?"
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Now Xiahou Dun has 100,000 troops in his hands. If I were Xiahou Dun, I would definitely not defend Yedu. Instead of being besieged and killed sooner or later, it would be better to come and fight to your highness first."
Sima Yi also agreed: "Kong Ming said it well. Xiahou Dun always likes to take the initiative in his own hands when fighting. This is his habit. This was the case when he was in Xudu before. I believe Xiahou Dun will not sit still and wait for death. Besides, he has already mastered Cao Xiu's army, so there is no obstacle for him to dispatch troops."
Liu Jing pondered and said nothing. If this is the case, it might not be a bad thing to lead Xiahou Dun's army out. In this case, Zhao Yun and Wenpin's army need to be temporarily stopped from going north. Moreover, Huang Zhong's army cannot be too close to Yedu. If Xiahou Dun eats it, it will be a bad thing. Now, he cannot delay any more and must send troops immediately.
At this moment, a guard outside the tent reported, "Report to Your Highness, the scout has emergency information."
Liu Jing immediately ordered: "Let him in!"
After a moment, the scout chief was brought in, and he knelt down on one knee and said, "See Your Highness!"
"What emergency information is there?"
"Report to Your Highness, the subordinates of Beiyi discovered the 20,000 Youzhou troops led by Cao Zhang in Changshan County and were heading towards Yedu."
Liu Jing was stunned. He suddenly realized that this must be Cao Zhang rushing to attend his father's funeral. Liu Jing looked at Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, and both of them nodded slowly. Liu Jing made up his mind and immediately ordered: "Tell me my order, and the army set off!"
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Chapter completed!