The garrison in Xuzhou has a total strength of 30,000 people. They are large in number and have strong soldiers and horses.
The person in charge of the army now is Cao Bao.
When Lu Xuan captured Xuzhou, Cao Bao followed suit. At first, Cao Bao's official position was the Prime Minister of Xiapi. After Kuai Liang became the governor of Xuzhou, he transferred Cao Bao from Xiapi and served as the prefect of Guangling County.
Later, after Kuai Liang reorganized Xuzhou and stabilized the situation, he transferred Cao Bao back to Xiapi and continued to serve as Xiapi Prime Minister. Later, Cao Bao was removed from his position as Xiapi Prime Minister and was transferred to the army to serve as Huang Zhong's deputy general.
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In fact, he had nothing to do at all.
Everything in the army was decided by Huang Zhong. It was Huang Zhong's word. Cao Bao could not intervene and had no command power. After Kuai Liang was transferred from Xuzhou and Lu Dai took over as the governor of Xuzhou, Huang Zhong temporarily left the Xuzhou army.
Follow Lu Xuan to conquer the Japanese country.
Therefore, Cao Bao temporarily took over the army and was responsible for its training.
Even so, Cao Bao did not have the right to command the army in combat or mobilize the army to perform tasks. All actions required orders from the Governor's Office before Cao Bao could arrange them.
Cao Bao didn't care about command and mobilization rights. He had no intention of rebelling, so these rights were of no use.
However, Cao Bao took advantage of the power to train the army, pulled the tiger's skin to pull the flag, and used the army to do business. The Cao family now cooperates with the army and operates a large amount of business, not only involving salt, grain, cloth, and tea.
Wait, even iron ore is involved.
If there were only a few short months, Cao Bao would not be able to expand the scale. However, Huang Zhong left Xiapi for a long time, everything was different, which gave Cao Bao more opportunities to plan.
For about two years, Cao Bao did this, and many generals participated.
In short, everyone in the military has a share.
Cao Bao knew that if he was alone in the army, he would definitely be punished, so he divided the benefits among many people. Anyway, most of the generals got the benefits, so naturally they all supported him, and Cao Bao could do business with peace of mind.
In the Chinese army's large account, Cao Bao was looking through the account books, which involved many industries to be arranged next month and to further expand the business scope in Xuzhou.
In the past three months, Cao Bao formed an army to transport goods.
This requires money.
Under normal circumstances, bulk cargo merchants have to hire guards for protection. However, even guards can easily cause problems. Now, with Cao Bao's military escort, no one dares to have any ideas, and no one dares to rob, which is more secure.
.
This business is booming.
In Cao Bao's imagination, in the future he can consider further expanding the scope to allow more people to participate, even involving Qingzhou, Yangzhou, Yuzhou and other places, and even Jingzhou and Guanzhong areas.
As long as the scope is spread, this is a profitable business.
call!!
The curtain of the camp tent was raised, and the soldiers entered and reported: "General Cao, just now I sent Ling Cao the money, but he refused again, saying that he has no merit and no reward, so he cannot accept it."
Ling Cao was a general in the army.
He was a native of Wu County. When Lu Xuan campaigned against Wu County in the early years, the Ling family did not participate in the war. Lu Xuan withdrew from Wu County and left Zhou Yu to sweep the place, so he took the initiative to join the army and was later transferred to Huang Zhong's command.
Ling Cao had insufficient qualifications and was young at the time, so he did not rise to prominence quickly. In addition, although he was promoted step by step, he had been stationed with Huang Zhong in Xuzhou and had not participated in many wars, so his official position was not prominent.
In the process of sweeping Qingzhou, Ling Cao performed some meritorious deeds and was awarded the title of general and became the backbone of the army.
Historically, Ling Cao followed Sun Ce. Because of Lu Xuan, Sun Ce died in Danyang County, so he did not die when he went to attack Jiangxia County like in history.
He is not bad now, he is already second only to Cao Bao and is a mid- to high-level general.
Cao Bao tried to win over Ling Cao several times, and even when talking to Ling Cao, he hoped to marry his daughter to Ling Cao's son Ling Tong, but Ling Cao refused.
Cao Bao was quite uncomfortable with this.
Cao Bao's qualifications are very deep, and the Cao family is already a big family in Xuzhou, with huge power.
Ling Cao was of ordinary origin. Although the Ling family was a small family in Wu County, it was far behind compared to the Cao family and Cao Bao.
Cao Bao was optimistic about Ling Cao, but he would not show favor to him again and again. This time, Ling Cao's refusal made Cao Bao completely angry. He ordered: "Go and notify Ling Cao to discuss the matter."
The soldier went directly to notify him. Not long after, a middle-aged man in his early thirties entered.
The person who came was clearly Ling Cao.
He has a strong physique, piercing eyes, a serious face, sharp eyebrows, and a fierce aura. Although his official position in the army is lower than that of Cao Bao, Ling Cao is not angry and has a certain magnanimity.
Facing Cao Bao, Ling Cao said neither humble nor arrogantly: "The last general, Ling Cao, pays homage to General Cao."
Cao Bao said with a smile: "General Ling, your share of the military business income is yours, why do you refuse?"
Ling Cao said, neither humble nor arrogant: "My salary will be paid in full every month. There is no other salary payment in the court. As for the income from business, it is what you do, and I have no involvement at all. No reward will be received without merit.
I didn’t do it, so naturally I can’t enjoy it.”
Cao Bao's face turned cold and he said in a deep voice: "General Ling's actions are to draw a clear line between us?"
When Ling Cao was young, he was a chivalrous man who wandered around the local area. He was very courageous and had never been afraid of anyone.
Hearing Cao Bao's words, Ling Cao smiled contemptuously and said: "From the beginning, we were not on the same road, how can we draw a clear line? I am a general in the army. Other than that, I have no other identity. I serve Ling Cao
Yes, it's just Your Majesty. If you want to do business, it's your business and has nothing to do with me. I can't control it and I won't."
Cao Bao sneered and said: "What a noble Ling Cao."
Ling Cao said: "This is not arrogance, I just did my job. The reason why you think I, Ling Cao, is arrogance is because you are too dirty. Cao Bao, listen to my advice, it is best to stop early, otherwise His Majesty will investigate sooner or later.
It’s a day of being punished. If you don’t want others to know what you have done, you can’t do it except yourself.”
Cao Bao's face suddenly turned cold.
Ling Cao doesn't know good from evil.
The existence of such people is a threat.
However, Cao Bao did not take action immediately and sneered: "Ling Cao, your aloofness will only make you isolated. What's more, what we do is not expressly prohibited by the court. We can do it without prohibition by law, and no one can do it.
Interference. In addition, I will finally give you a chance, what choice do you make?"
“No need to choose!”
Ling Cao spoke without hesitation.
Cao Bao said coldly: "In that case, let's wait and see."
"Farewell!"
Ling Cao was not afraid of Cao Bao's threat at all and turned around and left. Although Cao Bao was responsible for the training of the army and was the person in charge of the army, Cao Bao wanted to mobilize the army. Maybe a few hundred people could be mobilized, but it was impossible to mobilize a large army.
Therefore, Ling Cao was not afraid at all.
He even believed that Cao Bao's approach was a recipe for death and would never last long. This was because Cao Bao's rampant occupation for the sake of doing business had already caused a great impact.
Cao Bao looked at Ling Cao's leaving figure with murderous intent in his eyes.
Ling Cao refused to cooperate and had no choice but to kill him.
Cao Bao rolled his eyes and ordered: "Whoever comes, please inform Zhao An that Zhou Peng and Pang Chen are here to discuss matters."
Zhao An, Zhou Peng and Pang Chen were all generals in the army, in charge of the soldiers of the army. They were all connected with Cao Bao, and they were also the ones who took advantage of the business.
The soldiers went to inform, and not long after, Zhao An and three other people entered together.
After the three of them saluted, they each sat down. Zhao An took the lead and said, "General Cao, call us together. What can you do?"
Zhou Peng and Pang Chen also looked over.
Cao Bao didn't beat around the bush, he went straight to the point and talked about Ling Cao's refusal to accept the money. He also added insult to injury by saying that Ling Cao had a bad attitude, saying that Ling Cao believed that they would be punished for doing business wantonly.
After saying this, Cao Bao said in a deep voice: "Now it seems that Ling Cao wants to be alone in our business matters and is unwilling to join forces with us. I believe that it must be dealt with, otherwise, Ling Cao will sooner or later
Become a hidden danger.”
Zhao An asked: "What does General Cao plan to do?"
A cold light flashed across Cao Bao's eyes, and he said: "Just charge him with a crime and eradicate the root cause. As long as he is here, our affairs will not be easy to handle. If he is dead, he will not talk nonsense. Everyone, what we have done
, it’s all for ourselves. If we don’t arrange it this way, the consequences will be disastrous.”
After thinking about it, Zhao An said: "I agree with General Cao's analysis."
Zhou Peng said: "I agree too!"
Pang Chen said: "I agree too."
A smile appeared on Cao Bao's face, then a murderous intention emerged, and he said: "Since everyone agrees, the matter is simple. This time, we convict Ling Cao because Ling Cao embezzled public funds, tortured and killed soldiers, and directly led the troops
Go surround and kill him."
"feasible!"
Zhao An immediately agreed.
Pang Chen and Zhou Peng also expressed their stance.
The expressions on each face were ferocious, and they also showed a desperate greed for money. These people were blinded by money and did not care about laws and regulations. They only thought about killing anyone who stopped them from making money.
Cao Bao ordered: "In that case, let's go and prepare ourselves. Half an hour later, we each led one hundred and fifty soldiers to surround Ling Cao's camp and directly surrounded and killed Ling Cao. Six hundred people besieged him, even though
Ling Cao is so brave that he will surely die."
Zhao An and others went to prepare separately.
Cao Bao also made arrangements quickly.
However, when something unexpected happened in the Xiapi military camp, ten miles outside Xiapi city, a group of people came unhurriedly.
It was Lu Xuan and his party.
Lu Xuan, Zhou Yu, Xu Chu, Yang Xiu and others were already heading towards Xiapi.
