In mid-May of the fourth year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty (AD 193), Cao Cao raised his troops to attack Tao Qian of Xuzhou.
Ma Xiaoquan secretly ran the data device in his body, and after checking it, he learned that Cao Cao's first attack on Tao Qian should have been in the autumn of the fourth year of Chuping. It was now May, Xuzhou was very humid, and it was quite hot at noon, and Cao Cao's soldiers were mostly from the northern Central Plains.
For a while, he couldn't adapt to such a climate. Therefore, Ma Xiaoquan strongly suggested that Cao Cao take a break and wait for the sergeants to get used to it before attacking Tao Qian.
As for the supply of grain and grass, Ma Xiaoquan came up with a solution. Cao Cao was very surprised after hearing this, but he implemented it without hesitation.
Ma Xiaoquan said: "You only need to leave 20 people. The rest will go back to plant food one after another. It won't be too late to come back when autumn comes."
Although Cao Cao carried out Ma Xiaoquan's order, the direct consequence of this was that the central army was empty, and there were only a few bare commanders left. If Tao Qian took the opportunity to attack, wouldn't it mean that he would be captured without mercy?
Ma Xiaoquan added: "Xiao Cao, don't worry. As long as I am here, I will absolutely guarantee the safety of these 20 of you. Of course, you cannot run around. If you run away and die, I will not be responsible."
..."
With Lord Shangxian's promise, Cao Cao was confident and ordered to retreat in batches.
Seeing the sergeants evacuating batch after batch secretly, Ma Xiaoquan exhaled and thought to himself: Fortunately, Cao Cao is obedient. If this guy beats Tao Qian now, wouldn't history be a bit advanced?
...
Tao Qian got the news about Cao Cao's withdrawal from the scouts. At first, he didn't believe it. Moreover, Tao Qian was planning to ask Kong Rong in Peiping for help. After confirming the news that Cao Cao had indeed withdrawn, Tao Qian
He decisively canceled the plan to ask for help and called back the gold, silver and jewelry convoy that was half way through the journey. When Kong Rong found out about it afterwards, he scolded Tao Qian for not keeping his word and declared in public that Tao Qian would ask him for help again in the future.
, there is no door at all.
At night, Tao Qian proudly held a banquet to celebrate Cao Cao's unprovoked withdrawal. However, when everyone was eating happily, they did not realize that a dark shadow had sneaked into each of their residences.
It turned out that the 20 people Ma Xiaoquan asked Cao Cao to keep, except for Cao Ren and Cao Hong, the other 18 were all soldiers with a history of petty theft. These people could not be said to be very good at fighting, but their skills in stealing and sneaking were considered good.
Handy.
Cao Cao himself was not only lustful, but also loved wealth and talents. Cao Cao often said: Talents and money are all in his own hands, which is the most true. Therefore, Cao Cao acquiesced to the 18 soldiers left behind by Master Shangxian.
of.
Ma Xiaoquan trained each of these 18 people in front of them. These soldiers may not be afraid of Cao Cao, but they are afraid of and admire Master Shangxian, who has a high prestige in the army.
After the training, Ma Xiaoquan assigned tasks to these soldiers one by one, but he made it clear that he would not participate in this operation.
After everyone was ordered to go out to perform their tasks, Cao Cao asked Ma Xiaoquan: "Master Shangxian, is your idea feasible?"
Ma Xiaoquan raised his eyebrows: "Of course it can be done, but there should be losses."
Cao Cao chuckled, 20 people? If you lose it, just lose it, it’s not a big deal.
"Master Shangxian, what are we going to do?" Cao Hong asked.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled, looked at Cao Cao, Cao Ren, and Cao Hong, and said, "You three, come with me to Tao Qian's house to drop off some things."
When Cao Cao heard this, he hissed, then his eyes turned cold and he suggested: "Master Shangxian, it would be better if Tao Qian could be killed as well..."
Ma Xiaoquan didn't pay too much attention to Cao Cao's words. After all, in history, Tao Qian died of illness, not being killed.
...
Due to Tao Qian's grand banquet in recent days, the city defense work was relatively loose. Ma Xiaoquan led San Cao and slipped in through the side door smoothly.
"Pfft" Cao Ren spat out the straw in his mouth and whispered to Ma Xiaoquan: "Master Shangxian, what should we steal? You tell me."
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled: "Actually, it's not considered stealing. What we want to get back should be regarded as Xiao Cao's father's things. Don't you think so, Xiao Cao?"
Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
...The four of them were all very skilled. After doing a few simple tricks, the four of them successfully sneaked into Tao Qian's mansion.
Tao Qian was not here at this time, which gave these four people an advantage.
Ma Xiaoquan once ordered that anything that makes too much noise, is too big to handle, is heavy, and other useless items are not allowed to be obeyed. Only those light things are to be obeyed.
Although the three Caos had doubts, they resolutely carried out Ma Xiaoquan's orders without any complaints.
Cao Cao was also a thief when he was young, not because he lacked anything, but because at that time, Cao Cao had nothing to do all day long, just looking for fun. Cao Cao still clearly remembers that he stole from others with Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao and others.
daughter-in-law......
"Pa" Cao Cao received a slap on the head. When he came back to his senses, he saw that it was Lord Shangxian.
Cao Cao touched his head and smiled awkwardly, but he didn't laugh out loud.
Ma Xiaoquan quietly ordered the three Cao Cao: "Zi Xiao goes to the side room, Zi Lian goes to the side room, and Xiao Cao goes to the inner room."
Cao Hong asked quietly: "What about Master Shangxian?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "I'll go to the main hall to take a look. After we're done, we'll... Okay, let's take action."
With an order, the four people dispersed.
There are 15 side rooms in Tao Qian's mansion. Excluding the spiders on a few doors, there are less than 10 rooms left. Cao Ren quickly locks his target and ducks into the first side room; Cao Hong's side
The number of wing rooms is relatively small compared to the side rooms, but they are all in use. According to Ma Xiaoquan's instructions, Cao Hong first searched the largest wing rooms. As long as there was no one inside, Cao Hong would sneak in and search them one by one; and Cao Cao,
After entering the first inner room, there was no movement.
At this moment, Ma Xiaoquan was also searching carefully in the main hall.
A few days ago, Ma Xiaoquan successfully established contact with a contact point according to the Hua family's secret contact slogan, and got a piece of news he needed from it: It is said that Tao Qian has an unknown sheepskin picture.
According to the description of the servant at the contact point, there were patterns drawn on the drawing that many people could not understand.
After hearing this, Ma Xiaoquan immediately decided to find an opportunity to sneak into Tao Qian's house to find out what happened.
At first, Ma Xiaoquan was considering whether to go by himself, but after checking the internal data device, Ma Xiaoquan discovered that Cao Cao attacked Tao Qian a few months earlier than in history. Therefore, Ma Xiaoquan changed his original intention and persuaded Cao Cao to temporarily withdraw his troops.
Then he took Cao Cao to steal things.
Of course Ma Xiaoquan would not tell Cao Cao that the reason I asked you to steal things was to help me find the sheepskin picture.
Of course, if Ma Xiaoquan said this, I believe Cao Cao would not refuse him.
...
Cao Hong and Cao Ren came out soon. After coming out, the two of them ran towards the gathering point arranged in advance by Lord Shangxian. As for Cao Cao, there was still no news.
In the main hall, Ma Xiaoquan searched everywhere but could not find the sheepskin picture.
"Damn it, where are you?"
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head, quietly placed the last searched object back to its original place, and walked out of the main hall with his waist bent.
Gathering point.
Ma Xiaoquan counted the treasures brought out by Cao Hong and Cao Renshun.
Although these two guys have never done any serious theft, they seem to have their own unique experience when it comes to finding fortune-enhancing treasures.
Cao Hong was very rich and stingy, but he said that he would not give anything that Cao Hongshun gave to others. Cao Ren was much more generous than Cao Hong. The piece of jade pendant that Ma Xiaoquan was playing with, Cao Ren said.
If the Supreme Immortal likes it, I will give it to the Supreme Immortal.
Of course Ma Xiaoquan would not give in. He immediately accepted the jade pendant and patted Cao Ren on the shoulder.
"Where's Xiao Cao? Why isn't Xiao Cao here?"
Master Shangxian's words awakened Cao Ren and Cao Hong, who had eyes full of copper coins.
Cao Hong shook his head and said: "The last time I saw my lord, he sneaked into the inner room."
"Then what?"
Cao Hong shook his head: "Then I never saw my lord come out again."
Ma Xiaoquan hummed and suddenly felt a chill coming from his back.
"Oops!" Ma Xiaoquan screamed, stood up in a hurry, left Cao Ren and Cao Hong behind, and ran towards Tao Qian's mansion.
"You two don't move. Find a place to hide as soon as possible. I'll go find Xiao Cao."
Looking at Lord Shangxian's retreating back, Cao Ren said: "Zilian, will your lord be fine? How about we follow him?"
Cao Hong shook his head: "With Master Shangxian here, I believe that your lord will be fine."
"Um...okay..."
...
Ma Xiaoquan ran quickly, remembering that before stealing the things, Cao Cao had said that he would kill Tao Qian by the way. Ma Xiaoquan felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to his head.
"Damn it, I was negligent. If Cao Cao really did this, wouldn't history..."
Inner room.
Cao Cao was indeed as Ma Xiaoquan guessed, quietly lurking and motionless.
Cao Cao felt that he was very lucky. After entering the first inner room, Cao Cao discovered the dominoes that his father had always loved to play with during his lifetime.
With this domino, Tao Qian's decision to kill his father was truly confirmed. At the same time, Cao Cao also concluded that Tao Qian would definitely come to this inner room.
Cao Cao put the dominoes in their original positions and waited quietly.
...
After burning incense, the door to the inner room was kicked open brutally.
Cao Cao, who was hiding in the darkness, took a closer look and saw that it was really Tao Qian, and he was the only one with Tao Qian at this time.
"The opportunity has come." Cao Cao was very excited. His right hand quietly moved to the dagger on his waist.
Tao Qian wandered around in a daze for a few times, then sat down in front of the desk with his butt heavy.
"Yes." Tao Qian raised his eyebrows, grabbed the dominoes, and fumbled around carefully.
"This domino is said to be the treasure of Marquis Jichang of the West Bodhisattva... Cao Song... humph"
Tao Qian was in a state of confusion and lacked concentration. At this moment, he didn't notice at all that there was a man standing behind him.
The man quietly raised the dagger, and then stabbed it hard.