In the winter of the ninth year of Jian'an, there was heavy snow in the sky.
This year's winter is still very cold, but in places like the Central Plains and Hebei, people no longer have to worry about survival.
In the city of Fancheng, Cao Ren was warming himself by the fire when he suddenly heard a soldier reporting that dozens of transport ships had arrived at the port. The leader of the ship claimed to be General Cai Mao of Jingzhou, and he had led his troops to defect to Prime Minister Cao.
After hearing this, Cao Ren did not dare to neglect, quickly put on his big cloak, called his deputy general Niu Jin, and took about a hundred personal guards with him and rushed towards the port.
When he arrived at the port, Cao Ren was so shocked by the scene in front of him that he couldn't help but sigh: "What a guy!"
In front of me, there are more than a thousand young and middle-aged men who look like beggars. They are in ragged clothes, unkempt, skinny, and many of them have bloody bandages on their bodies... They are all shivering in the cold wind.
, it seems that if he is two hours late, this group of people will probably have to answer here...
I don’t know how they persisted here...
But judging from the clothes of the leading men, although their armors were in tatters, it could still be seen from the style of the armor that they were indeed generals of high rank.
Seeing hundreds of Cao soldiers coming on their horses, Cai Mao, although he didn't know Cao Ren, could judge from Cao Ren's demeanor and armor that he should be the defender of the city.
Cai Mao endured the hunger of not having eaten for three days. When Cao Ren and others came closer, he clasped his fists and bowed in salute: "I have seen General Cai Mao in Jingzhou!"
Cao Ren didn't show any hesitation, he quickly jumped off his horse, helped Cai Mao up and said, "Hahaha! I've heard about General Cai for a long time, and seeing him today is so satisfying!"
"Uh..." Cai Mao was a little confused by Cao Ren's reaction. Why did his tone sound weird?
"Oops! I was so happy to see General Cai that I forgot to introduce myself!" Seeing that Cai Mao was confused, Cao Ren slapped his forehead and said, "I am General Jianzhong Cao Ren, now the guard general of Fancheng."
"It turns out to be General Cao Ren and Cao Zixiao!" Cai Mao suddenly thought and thought, then there will be no problem.
Cao Ren's praise just now was indeed a bit strange for a person with no famous status.
But who is Cao Ren? He is Cao Cao's closest and most valued clan brother! To a certain extent, his attitude can actually be regarded as Cao Cao's attitude.
When these words came out of Cao Ren's mouth, it immediately seemed that they had given Cai Mao and others face.
Cao Ren glanced at the many Jingzhou soldiers who were half-clothed, and quickly said to the guards around him: "Hurry, take General Cai's men to the military camp, and serve them with good wine and food! Also, go and get two thousand cotton-padded clothes.
Two thousand quilts must not let the brothers who come from afar starve and suffer from cold!"
After arranging Cai Mao's subordinates, Cao Ren took Cai Mao's arm and said: "Several generals will follow me into the city, and I will hold a banquet to welcome them!"
Cao Ren's arrangement was not bad, but it was precisely because it was so good that Cai Mao felt a little uncomfortable.
He secretly glanced at his subordinates who were grateful to Cao Ren, and said with a wry smile in his heart: "This Cao Ren is really powerful... He only used some wine, food and clothing to establish a good impression among our army..."
But then I thought about it, Cai Mao and his brothers were determined to join Boss Cao, so the more than a thousand soldiers were actually not that important.
Cai Mao's heart suddenly became more open-minded, and he clasped his fists in thanks and said, "Well, thank you General Cao for your hospitality!"
"please!"
...
Cai Mao is not as useless as he appears in the novel.
On the contrary, as the head of the Cai family, he has huge connections and resources in Jingzhou; and he is also a very capable naval general. He can lead the navy to fight back and forth in Jiangdong, which is not something ordinary people can do.
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Now Cao Cao has no shortage of wise generals or powerful generals, but the only thing he lacks is naval generals.
Although there are Gan Ning and Su Fei now, if the navy wants to expand, it must have more generals who understand water warfare.
In fact, in the past few months, Cao Cao had received many letters from officials and nobles sent by the generals of Jingzhou. They had already secretly sent letters expressing their willingness to surrender.
Now the news of Cai Maolai's surrender has reached Xuchang, which gives Cao Cao and others hope of taking Jingzhou without a bloody battle.
If you can directly persuade them to surrender, no one will be willing to fight.
Cai Mao didn't have great wisdom, but he did have a lot of cleverness. When he was being chased by Pang Tong to flee, he had already planned to join Cao Cao.
In the early years, Shadow Guard had many connections with the Cai family. Even when Liu Cong attempted to seize the position of Lord of Jingzhou, Shadow Guard provided some secret help.
Unfortunately, because Zhuge Jin and Pang Tong cut the knot quickly, Pang Tong and Liu Qi had a firm foothold before Cai Mao and others could react.
Cai Mao was so angry that he did not listen to the Shadow Guards' suggestion to evacuate Jingzhou and join Boss Cao. Instead, he tried to gather troops to attack Xiangyang... but was defeated by Pang Tong, who was tragically chased in a large circle on the map.
Choosing to surrender to Cao Cao was something Cai Mao had already thought about.
Compared to Soochow, Cao Cao has almost no navy under his command. Cai Mao's coming to join him will be like providing help in times of need, and he will definitely have a chance to show off his skills; and if he defected to Jiangdong, Cai Mao would probably have to guard the shipyard...
Cao Cao was very happy with Cai Mao's arrival, and even hosted a banquet in person for his three brothers at the Prime Minister's Mansion.
During the banquet, Cao Cao also called Lu Yan, Gan Ning, and Su Fei over, saying that they were all naval generals, so that they could get acquainted with each other first.
However, Gan Ning, Su Fei and Cai Mao were all quite embarrassed when they met. After all, Gan Ning and Su Fei were once a member of the navy of the Jingzhou Army, but now they are all sitting in the Prime Minister's Palace of their mortal enemy Cao Cao.
It’s true...there are no places in life where we don’t meet each other!
What is most embarrassing to Cai Mao, Cai Zhong, and Cai He is that Gan Ning and Su Fei, who were despised and neglected by them in the past, have now become the naval commanders of Cao's army. From fourth-rank generals, their official positions are still with them.
above.
How could the three Cai Mao brothers not be filled with confusion and embarrassment when they met now.
Fortunately, both Gan Ning and Su Fei were "open-minded" people, and they did not care about the initial contempt of the Cai brothers.
During the banquet, Gan Ning and Su Fei took turns drinking with the Cai brothers, until the three of them got drunk under the table and finally gave up.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Seeing this, Lu Yan couldn't help but asked: "Actually, even if Cai Mao and others join in, your status will not be shaken. Why are you so cautious?"
Gan Ning shook his head and said: "But our warships and cannons are not available to others. Do we want to give these guys such a free advantage?"
It turns out that he is not willing to share his treasure with others?!
Hearing this, Cao Cao couldn't help but smile and said: "Of course not! The Navy is also organized into separate organizations. You are the most elite unit of the Han Navy, and only you can afford to equip these most advanced weapons!"
Cao Cao and Lu Yan would not be so stupid as to hand over the most high-end weapons to people like Cai Mao who had surrendered. Moreover, these things were very expensive to equip and maintain, and it was not possible to afford them if they wanted to.
When Gan Ning saw that Lu Yan and Cao Cao had expressed their opinions, he finally laughed and said, "With your words, I, Lao Gan, feel relieved! Hahaha!"