Yecheng, once one of the important material transfer places for the Cao army. The huge Cangcheng to the west of the county was destroyed by Jiangxia cavalry a year ago and burned into ruins. However, the Cao army quickly rebuilt Cangcheng and raised the garrison from 1,000 to 5,000 to strictly defend Yecheng.

This time, when Cao's army marched south, Yecheng once again showed its importance. The warehouse was filled with a large amount of grain and weapons, and a large amount of grain and food were transported from here to Nanyang County or Runan County every day.

Early this morning, when Yecheng people woke up, many people were shocked by the scene outside the city. They saw that the wilderness north of the county was covered with dense tents, just like mushrooms grown after a night of spring rain. At first glance, a flag that was several feet high fluttered in the wind.

In addition to the spectacular tent, there were also a large number of Cao army soldiers, and teams of cavalrymen were running outside the camp, driving the at a loss of merchants and pedestrians out of the official road.

This is Cao Cao who personally led 170,000 main army to Yecheng. If the troops in Anlu County, Wancheng, Fancheng, Shangyong and others were added, it would have exceeded 300,000. This is almost the outbreak of Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao will definitely win this battle in the southern battle.

At this time, a team of horses came from the west, about twenty people, each riding a horse. The leader was a man in his thirties, with a medium figure, a thin face, and a smart and capable person.

There were hundreds of steps away from the Cao army camp, and this group of people was intercepted by the Cao army patrol. When the patrol chief saw that the person in charge was elegant and not like ordinary people, he did not scold him, but warned: "There is a military important place ahead, so you must not move forward. Please take a detour elsewhere!"

The man stepped forward and bowed with fists and smiled, "I am the envoy of Bashu. I am here to come to visit the Prime Minister by the order of the governor of the state. Please take us to the camp."

When the patrol commander heard that they were Bashu envoys, he was not embarrassed, so he nodded and said, "Since they are Bashu envoys, please follow me!"

The patrol cavalry escorted the envoys toward the camp gate.

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In the central army's tent, Cao Cao was listening to Sima Yi's report on the battle of Anlu County. Zhang Liao's capture of Anlu County was as expected by Cao Cao, and there was no surprise. On the contrary, it was a bit regretful that he could not force the surrender of Wenpin.

"Wenpin is a famous general I have been thinking about for a long time. Unfortunately, you missed the best opportunity. I feel very sorry."

Cao Cao's tone was very gentle, but there was a hint of dissatisfaction with Zhang Liao in regret. Before Zhang Liao left, he had already told him to capture Wenpin alive, but in the end he still let Wenpin be rescued. He was rescued by Jiang Xia army at the last moment. If it weren't for his identity, Cao Cao would have thrown the report to the ground long ago.

Sima Yi was a little surprised. He didn't expect Cao Cao to value Wen Pin so much. Zhang Liao didn't tell him in advance. He came to meet Cao Cao to report back to the Jiangxia cavalry.

At this time, Cao Cao didn't care about the cavalry at all, but he focused on Wenpin's affairs, forcing Sima Yi to answer according to Cao Cao's ideas.

"At that time, General Zhang really wanted to capture Wen Pin alive, hoping that Wen Pin could surrender, but Wen Pin would never surrender..."

Cao Cao seemed to have no patience to listen to him. He opened the battle report and asked: "The battle report said that Wenpin had only less than 500 soldiers left in the end. Is that true?"

"It's true!"

"But you have a 50,000 army, and one hundred people are enough to deal with one person. The army rushed forward and could capture them all in an instant, but in the end they were rescued. How do you explain?"

Cao Cao was as careful as he found some unreasonable points in the military newspaper, but Zhang Liao did not explain, which made Cao Cao very dissatisfied. He would never allow his subordinates to fool him.

Sima Yi had a cold sweat on his back. He didn't expect that Cao Cao was so smart. Of course he knew what the reason was? At this point, he had to bite the bullet and tell the truth.

"The key is that Wen Pin did not do his best to siege, and only used 20,000 troops."

"Why don't you go up?" Cao Cao asked coldly with his hands behind his back.

"This is because we want to use Wenpin as bait to lure Jiangxia naval warships to rescue. We can trap Jiangxia warships to death in the water. But we didn't expect that Liu Jing actually sent cavalry to rescue. The cavalry came suddenly and was very sharp. In just a moment, he killed the siege and rescued Wenpin. Prime Minister, this cavalry is very powerful, and it is really no less than Gao Shun's cavalry in the trap camp."

Cao Cao's idea was not taken away by Sima Yi. He looked up at the roof and slowly said after a while: "In the Battle of Xinye, Jia Xu also wanted to use Liu Jing to lure Wen Pin's army, but he was trying his best to capture Liu Jing. Later, I asked him, since he was luring the enemy, why did he try his best to capture the bait? Jia Xu said, "Catch Liu Jing first and arrest the net for peace. As for luring the troops, you can use a fake Liu Jing to be surrounded."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao glanced at Sima Yi with a sharp look and said lightly: "Zhongda, you still have to learn more when you fight against the deception in your army! Unfortunately, Cao Ren was stupid and gave my adviser to Liu Jing for free. It is still a pain in my heart. As long as Jia Xu is not lost, even if all five thousand cavalrymen are killed, what's the point?"

Sima Yi looked ashamed. He understood Cao Cao's words. The Jiangxia cavalry was nothing, and the Jiangxia warship was nothing. Not capturing Wen Pin alive was the biggest mistake.

He lowered his head, "I am humble and stupid, and I failed the Prime Minister's trust."

"This matter has nothing to do with you, you don't have to blame yourself, the responsibility lies with the general Zhang Liao!"

Cao Cao said coldly again: "Zhang Liao failed to fight, so he took away the enemy's chief general Wen Pin and removed his position as the chief general of the Central Army. Zhao Yan replaced him, and Zhang Liao returned to the camp to obey orders."

Sima Yi sighed deeply. Wen Pin was rescued, and even he felt regret for Zhang Liao. He now deeply realized how much Cao Cao valued talents.

At this time, guards came from outside the tent, "Report to the Prime Minister, the governor of Yizhou, Liu Zhang, sent an envoy to come, and now I will ask for a visit."

Cao Cao nodded, "Let the messenger come in!"

He said again Sima Yi: "You go back first! I believe you know what to say to Zhang Liao."

"Yes! I'm resigning."

Sima Yi bowed and retreated. Cao Cao looked at his back and walked away. The anger in his heart gradually faded a little. In fact, Wenpin was not that important. Cao Cao was just dissatisfied with Zhang Liao's failure to implement his orders. More importantly, he wanted to leave a feeling of seeking talents in Sima Yi's heart.

Soon, several guards led the envoy Liu Zhang to come hurriedly. The envoy knelt down and bowed and said, "The envoy of Yizhou Fa Zheng pays homage to the Prime Minister!"

Cao Cao thought for a while and said with a smile: "It turns out that you are Fufeng Fa Xiaozhi. I have long admired your name."

Fa Zheng was hailed as a magical power and talented. He was very famous in Fufeng County. In the early years of Jian'an, he went to Sichuan with his friend Meng Da to avoid disasters and famines, but he was excluded by the bureaucratic faction in Shu and was never valued, which made him quite depressed.

This time, Cao's army was supposed to be not going to come to Zhang Song, but Zhang Song was temporarily sick and recommended him to come on his behalf. However, Cao Cao could say his own words, which surprised him and said quickly: "Fa Zheng dare not be praised by the Prime Minister!"

Cao Cao only heard about Fazheng's talent more than ten years ago. Since Fazheng did not have the opportunity to display his talents, Cao Cao didn't know his true talent, so he just laughed it off and didn't take him to heart.

Fa Zheng quickly took out Liu Zhang's handwritten letter and presented it to Cao Cao with both hands, "This is my handwritten letter from the governor of my family. Please check it out!"

Cao Cao took the letter and read it. In the letter, Liu Zhang said that he would send his son to Xudu as a staunch, and at the same time he would provide military rations for Cao Cao to conquer the south. If Cao Cao wanted, he could write to the emperor and respect Cao Cao as Duke of Wei. His words were quite flattering.

Cao Cao couldn't help but sneer, could his army be destroyed by giving children as a staple and providing military rations?

The pastor of a dignified state is so short-lived that it is despised. However, Liu Jing and Sun Quan trained troops to fight against the enemy together. In contrast, Liu Zhang did not want to unite Jingzhou and Jiangdong, but only wanted to protect himself. He was indeed a mediocre person and was not worth worrying about.

Cao Cao closed the letter and asked Fa Zheng with a smile: "Fa Xiaozhi is in any position in Yizhou?"

"The lower official serves as the military lieutenant."

"With Xiaozhi's talent, it took him more than ten years to get into a military lieutenant. This shows that Liu Zhang is a foolish person and has no knowledge of others. If Xiaozhi is willing to serve me, I recommend you to the prefect of Fufeng County, how about it?"

Fa Zheng bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, but since Fa Zheng is an envoy, he should be loyal to his mission and not talk about personal affairs."

"If Xiaozhi is unwilling to be loyal to me, he can actually choose Liu Jing. This person is a talented and stubborn, not inferior to me. He is the proud phoenix of heaven, my lifelong rival of Cao Mengde, and Liu Jiyu is just a grass chicken that inherits his father's sacredness."

Fa Zheng was silent for a moment and replied: "You are the prime minister's chest, why are you so mean?"

Cao Cao was not angry and still smiled slightly, "Do you know what Liu Zhang wrote in the letter?"

Fa Zheng shook his head, "The lord's trust is not something that the minister can see at will."

"You are the messenger, of course you can see!"

Cao Cao handed him the letter, and Fa Zheng hesitated for a moment. Cao Cao was right. He was an envoy, not a messenger. He should know the purpose of the mission. He took the letter and hurriedly read it.

Fa Zheng's face suddenly turned red. He didn't expect that Liu Zhang was so servile. No wonder Zhang Song said he couldn't come to his illness, which was a great shame.

"How about it?"

Cao Cao looked at his expression and smiled, "It's better not to be loyal to such a lord!"

Fa Zheng sighed in his heart, stood up and bowed deeply, "The subordinates are on an envoy for public affairs, and I wish to hear the Prime Minister's opinion!"

Cao Cao looked at him for a moment and said lightly: "I have no written reply, only one verbal reply, please tell Liu Zhang for me."

...
Chapter completed!