At the critical moment, just when the dagger was about to pierce into the back of Tao Qian's neck, a hand blocked the dagger horizontally at an almost impossible speed.
In the darkness, there was a "puff" sound, and the dagger sank into the palm.
Cao Cao frowned, and without thinking, he pulled out his dagger and prepared to stab him again.
This time, before Cao Cao had time to make a stabbing motion, Cao Cao felt someone cut him on the back of his neck, and he rolled his eyes and fell backwards.
Regardless of the injury, the bloody hand hugged Cao Cao and gently placed him on the ground.
Tao Qian, who was drunk, was completely unaware of this and continued to play with the dominoes while shaking his head.
The one who reached out to stop Cao Cao was Ma Xiaoquan who arrived in time.
It is said that after Ma Xiaoquan noticed Cao Cao's motive of assassinating Tao Qian, he rushed back non-stop. Since he didn't know which inner room Cao Cao entered, Ma Xiaoquan quickly scanned it until he reached the fifth inner room.
, Ma Xiaoquan just heard something moving inside.
Because he was afraid that Cao Cao had succeeded, Ma Xiaoquan didn't care so much and directly opened the door and entered the inner room.
I originally entered with the mentality of being discovered, but when I entered, I found a drunk man lying on the table. The man also held a set of bones in his hand, which looked like a poker.
Behind the man, a dark figure was standing.
Ma Xiaoquan guessed that it was Cao Cao and stepped forward quickly, reaching out to stop him. Unexpectedly, Cao Cao moved faster than him. When Ma Xiaoquan approached him, the dagger had already been thrust out.
Ma Xiaoquan was so determined that he stretched out his hand to stop the direction of the dagger. Of course, the dagger pierced straight into his palm...
"Hiss" Ma Xiaoquan endured the pain and pressed the wound on the palm of his right hand with his left hand. He looked at Cao Cao beside him who had been knocked unconscious by him. Ma Xiaoquan let out a long breath.
At this time, Tao Qian was completely asleep. Judging from the sound of his snoring, Tao Qian might not be able to wake up for a while.
Ma Xiaoquan lifted Cao Cao up and the two of them slipped out of the side door.
When they reached a separate courtyard, Ma Xiaoquan put Cao Cao down, then went to the kitchen and stole an egg. He didn't care whether it was raw or cooked, he just opened it and ate it.
After eating an egg, the wounds on my hands immediately healed at an extremely fast speed. After two breaths, no wounds were visible at all.
Ma Xiaoquan wiped the blood dripping on his body, picked up Cao Cao, and walked out secretly.
...
At the gathering point, Cao Ren and Cao Hong were waiting anxiously. They thought that Lord Shangxian would come back as soon as he left, but they didn't expect that the incense had passed by and he still didn't come back. After a while, they couldn't help it anymore.
"Zilian, let me see, why don't we go and have a look too! What should I do if something happens to the lord and Lord Shangxian?"
Cao Hong nodded: "Okay, I think Lord Shangxian and the lord will be fine..."
Cao Hong's words were no longer as confident as before, and Cao Ren didn't criticize him. The two of them pulled up their sabers and started to walk back.
At this moment, the two saw a man holding another man not far away, approaching them.
"Master Shangxian?" Cao Hong had sharp eyes and could see it at a glance. Although it was getting late at the moment, and Ma Xiaoquan's iconic purple hair looked just like black in the dim sky, but the way he walked, Cao Hong insisted that it was
Lord Immortal.
Sure enough, when the two people approached, Cao Ren saw clearly that it was really Lord Shangxian, and that Lord Shangxian was holding the unconscious Lord Cao Cao.
Cao Ren quickly stepped forward to take Cao Cao's hand and asked in confusion: "Master Shangxian, my lord..."
Ma Xiaoquan wiped the sweat from his forehead, waved his hand and said: "Xiao Cao is fine, he was just knocked unconscious. Oh, if I hadn't gone there in time, Xiao Cao would have been dead..."
When Cao Ren heard this, he immediately became nervous and hurriedly asked what was going on.
Ma Xiaoquan continued to lie: "Xiao Cao went to kill Tao Qian on his own initiative. Who knew that Tao Qian was actually pretending to be a fake? Xiao Cao was caught and revealed his identity, and almost died. If I hadn't arrived in time, you guys would have been killed in the future."
Just stop thinking about seeing Xiao Cao..."
Ma Xiaoquan made up a story in an understatement. Upon hearing this, Cao Ren and Cao Hong both patted their chests and shouted, "It's such a dangerous thing."
...
In the evening, the four of them did not stay in a hotel, but lit a fire and chose a hidden bush for camping.
Cao Cao had also woken up. After waking up, Cao Ren and Cao Hong immediately asked about the safety of his lord. Cao Cao ignored the second Cao. He looked at Ma Xiaoquan next to him, and saw the blood on Ma Xiao's body by the firelight.
Cao Cao fell silent.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and handed a chicken leg to Cao Cao, comforting him and saying, "Don't panic, little Cao, we are safe now."
Cao Cao looked at Ma Xiaoquan thoughtfully, and Ma Xiaoquan snorted twice and said to the three of them: "Shall I tell you a story?"
Ma Xiaoquan is a well-known storyteller among Cao Cao's troops. When he has nothing to do, Cao Cao's officials and generals will come to him and pester him to tell stories. After all, in the eyes of everyone, the Immortal Lord has lived for more than a thousand years.
There should be many stories to tell.
When Cao Hong and Cao Ren heard that Lord Shangxian was about to tell a story, they clapped their hands and cheered. Although Cao Cao rarely listened to Lord Shangxian's stories, seeing those two idiots with stars in their eyes made Cao Cao feel embarrassed to look down on them.
Already.
"Okay" Cao Cao responded, and he agreed.
Ma Xiaoquan cleared his throat and told Sancao a short story.
Ma Xiaoquan vaguely remembers this story from a movie. Although Ma Xiao can't remember many details, there is one line in it that Ma Xiaoquan has never forgotten.
Ma Xiaoquan imitated that tone and said: "Everything in the world is yours if I give it to you; if I don't give it to you, you can't take it away... In this square circle, you all have your own place...
...The rules must not be messed up." Do you still remember that explosive movie? After saying this, the three Cao people were silent. Cao Ren and Cao Hong were obviously just pretending to be Ma Xiaoquan telling a story. After a short silence, the two of them fell silent.
They all clapped their hands and said that what Master Shangxian taught was so good and that he learned so well. But Cao Cao frowned and said nothing.
Within two breaths, Cao Cao started to sweat profusely.
Ma Xiaoquan looked at Cao Cao's expression with satisfaction. Whether he was real or pretending, Ma Xiaoquan believed that his warning had been effective. He believed that with Cao Cao's intelligence, it would not be a problem to understand that line.
With a "pop" sound, Cao Cao knelt in front of Ma Xiaoquan and kowtowed heavily: "Master Shangxian, please admit your guilt!"
Ma Xiaoquan helped Cao Cao up and comforted him: "What crime is Xiao Cao guilty of?"
Cao Cao blushed, looked at the surprised Cao Hong and Cao Ren beside him, and lied: "I shouldn't have joined everyone so late."
As soon as Cao Cao said this, Cao Ren and Cao Hongcai exclaimed.
"So that's what happened." Cao Hong laughed, "My lord, didn't Master Shangxian save you? My lord is really a blessing..."
Cao Hong is very good at talking, and with a few words he immediately eased the awkward atmosphere at the scene.
Cao Cao took the opportunity to pick up a jar of water and wine and said: "This wine comes from my filial piety, so I will punish myself with a jar to express my apology!"
After Cao Cao said this, he held the jar of wine and drank.
The two generals Cao Ren and Cao Hong did not show weakness, they all picked up jars of water and wine and drank with Cao Cao.
"Haha..." Laughter and curses echoed through the forest.
...
The next day, when Tao Qian sobered up, he found that the set of dominoes he was holding had fallen to the ground. Tao Qian lowered his head to pick them up, but found some blood near the dominoes.
"Huh?" Tao Qian became nervous and immediately called his servants to ask about the situation.
A servant reported: "Mr. Tao, a group of thieves have come recently and they are all-pervasive. Mi Fang and Sun Qian's house have been robbed several times."
Tao Qian raised his eyebrows: "Is this possible? What about the thief?"
He started: "Some have already escaped, and a few others have been caught. They are now in the main hall, waiting for Tao Gong to be punished."
Tao Qian waved his hand: "Take me there quickly."
In the main hall, Tao Qian used both soft and hard tactics to extract an important piece of news from the captured thieves: these thieves were sent by Cao Cao.
Tao Qian's subordinates expressed their confusion one after another, especially Mi Zhu Mi Fang and Sun Qian, who scolded Cao Cao for his actions on the spot, but Tao Qian remained silent.
After leaving the hall, Tao Qian ran non-stop to an inner room and took out a scroll box from behind the painting on the wall.
After opening the box and taking a look, Tao Qian took a long breath.
"It's still there, that's great." Tao Qian covered the box and put it back to its original place, but he felt it was not safe, so he took the box out and looked at it again and again...
...
In September and autumn of the fourth year of Chuping reign of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao once again gathered his troops to attack Tao Qian.
This time, Cao Cao came under the banner of crusade against the rebels and their accomplices. The rebel was Que Xuan, who claimed to be the emperor, and his accomplice was Tao Qian.
This time, Tao Qian had no reason not to fight. After all, when Que Xuan raised his troops, he did participate and got a lot of benefits from it.
When Cao Cao came, he was afraid that the momentum would not be big enough, so he wrote a special letter and invited his childhood friend Yuan Shao to help.
Yuan Shao was a little more humane and sent Zhu Ling, leading three battalions and only about a hundred people to come to help.
Since the soldiers he brought last time were not used to the soil and water of Xuzhou, this time, Cao Cao specially brought the "Qingzhou soldiers" who were newly formed when he regained Yanzhou. These Qingzhou soldiers were originally the Yellow Turban thieves who were driven out of Xuzhou by Tao Qian. Therefore, these people are completely adaptable to the climate, water and soil of Xuzhou.
In terms of strategy, Cao Cao first reported his plan to Ma Xiaoquan, the Supreme Immortal. Ma Xiaoquan checked Cao Cao's plan with the historical data in the internal data device and made some corrections before agreeing to Cao Cao's implementation.
In early October, Cao Yujin captured Guangwei and followed the Surabaya River to Pengcheng. Cao Ren, the forward army, defeated Tao Qian's general Lu You and later joined Cao Cao's large army.
In mid-to-late October, Cao Cao gathered an army and started a battle with Tao Qian in Pengcheng. Facing Cao Cao with old and new hatreds, although Tao Qian put up a tenacious resistance, he was defeated and fled to Tancheng.
In mid-month, Cao Cao successively conquered Fei, Hua and Jimo. On Kaiyang, Tao Qian's general Zang Ba was entrenched and could not break through for a while.
In December, Cao's army successively conquered some areas around Tancheng. At this point, the entire Tancheng was exposed to Cao's army.