"I am Cao Jie, the daughter of Prime Minister Cao."
Cao Jie? Cao Cao’s daughter?
Yan Liang searched his mind for those memories about the characters of the Three Kingdoms, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
Isn't this Cao Jie exactly the Queen Cao in history?
Historically, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty Liu Xie instructed his father-in-law Fu Wan to murder Cao Cao. After the incident was revealed, Cao Cao killed the Fu family including Queen Fu.
After that, Cao Cao married three of his women to Emperor Xian as concubines, including Cao Jie, and not long after, Cao Jie was made queen.
But he didn't expect that the last empress of the Han Dynasty in history would be right in front of him now.
"Who are you? Are you a general of Duke Yuan or a traitor of someone else's family?"
Cao Jie asked calmly, with a hint of fear in his expression. She was indeed Cao Cao's daughter.
Yan Liang stood with the knife behind his back, the corner of his mouth raised.
"General Yan Liang."
When he heard the word "Yan Liang", Cao Jie, who was originally calm and pretty, suddenly felt a little bit shocked.
"You - you are Yan Liang? Aren't you in Xinye? How could you..."
Cao Jie's tone was trembling, and his expression was astonished, as if he couldn't believe that Yan Liang would appear in Xudu City at such a special moment.
Yan Liang smiled slightly and said: "Cao Gong has repeatedly sent troops to attack Yan. This time Yan wanted to pay him a courtesy visit, but he didn't expect that he had already escaped."
Hearing the sarcasm in Yan Liang's tone, Cao Jiehua suddenly became angry and said angrily: "You can't—"
But before these angry words could be spoken, her eyes suddenly dazzled, her body became unsteady, she staggered and then fell down.
Seeing her collapse, Yan Liang didn't think much and stretched out his hand to hold her in his arms.
The moment that limp body, frail and boneless, fell into his arms, Yan Liang couldn't help but feel a slight movement in his heart.
Cao Jie was dizzy for a moment, then reluctantly opened his eyes, only to be surprised to see that he was lying in Yan Liang's arms, and a look of shame and anger could not help but appear on his pretty face.
"Thief, how dare you be so frivolous to me? Why don't you let me go quickly!"
Her energy and blood were surging, and after drinking like this, her breath became sluggish, but she didn't even have the strength to struggle.
Yan Liang ignored her and took a closer look at her face, and it turned out that she looked sick. So instead of letting go, he hugged her tighter.
"I think you are sick, so save your energy. Don't worry, I will take you back to Xinye and ask famous doctors to treat you."
Although Cao Jie is a female, she is still Cao Cao's family member, which is better than nothing. Yan Liangzi wants to take him back to Xinye.
Cao Jie was shocked when he heard this and yelled: "Whoever wants to go to Xinye with you, let them go quickly——"
She was so anxious that her energy and blood rushed to her heart. She suddenly felt dizzy and fainted on the spot.
Yan Liang was startled and rushed to test her breathing and pulse. He found out that she had just fainted out of breath, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He asked the maid what was going on, and only then did he learn that Cao Jie was ill and could not evacuate with his family members. He wanted to leave later, but unexpectedly, there was a rebellion in the city and he wanted to leave.
But not.
Yan Liang nodded slightly and comforted the maid with a few words, telling her not to be afraid and to just take good care of her young lady.
Then Yan Liang ordered his subordinates to escort Cao Jie out of the city and send him to Xinye together with Jia Xu and Hu Che'er at starry night.
When Cao Jie was sent out of the city, the infantry led by Gan Ning had also arrived. All the treasury in Xu Duzhong was opened by Yan Liang, and boxes of money were loaded into trucks and sent south to Xinye.
In troubled times, recruiting troops and buying horses depends on money. The seven counties of Xinye where Yan Liang is based have limited tax revenue. This time he made a huge windfall, which was enough for him to "squander" for a while.
One day after the capture, it was almost dusk. Scouts from the north came to report that Yuan Shao's army was more than ten miles away from Xudu.
Yan Liang had not officially broken up with Yuan Shao yet, so of course he was willing to fight Yuan Shao this time. When he heard that Yuan's army was approaching, Yan Liang ordered his troops to withdraw from Xudu and return to Xinye via the same route.
Yan Liang asked Zhou Cang to lead a thousand soldiers and horses to escort Cao Jie, Jia Xu, and more than a hundred chariots of money. He himself led the Shenxing Cavalry and two thousand infantry led by Gan Ning to suppress the formation and break off the troops.
Two groups of soldiers and horses left the city one after another, and before sunset they were twenty miles away from Xudu.
"I've made a lot of money this time, and captured a great talent like Jia Xu. This trip to Xudu is not in vain, but it seems that I have to spend some brain cells to persuade this old cunning guy Jia Xu to surrender..."
When Yan Liang turned his horse and walked slowly, his mind was already thinking about the next step.
At this moment, there was a rapid sound of horse hoofbeats, and it was Gan Ning who came galloping from behind.
"General, the scouts reported that a Yuan army went south from Xudu and seems to be chasing our army." Gan Ning gasped.
Yan Liang frowned slightly and asked: "How many Yuan's troops are there and who are the enemy generals?"
Gan Ning said: "The enemy army has about five thousand infantry and cavalry, and they seem to be fighting under the banner of Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan."
Hearing Yuan Tan's name, Yan Liang immediately felt relieved.
Although this man was the eldest son of Yuan Shao, his ability to command troops and martial arts were only at the third-rate level. Now that he was leading the army alone, Yan Liang was not afraid.
Yan Liang's betrayal must have made Yuan Shao very angry, and Yuan Tan's eager pursuit must have wanted to get rid of him in order to claim credit in front of his father.
"I didn't want to have a conflict with Yuan Shao, but if his son is so ignorant, don't blame me."
Yan Liang snorted coldly, looked around at the terrain, and immediately had a plan.
######
It was getting late, but an army with high ambition was still moving quickly.
Yuan Tan galloped forward with his horse in high spirits.
In the Battle of Guandu, he finally defeated the Yuan family's old enemy Cao Cao. As the eldest son of the Yuan family, at this time, in Yuan Tan's view, there was no other opponent for the Yuan family in the world.
When he thought he had taken the lead in seizing Xudu, he learned that Yan Liang had already entered the city before him and moved away all the Han court's treasury.
The success he had achieved was disrupted by the traitorous general Yan Liang. Yuan Tan was furious and immediately led his army to pursue him.
"My father hates Yan Liang deeply. If I can kill this thief, my father will be very happy, and I will be able to outdo Xianfu..."
Yuan Tan was thinking freely in his heart, and a smile quietly flashed across his lips.
At this time, the veteran general Chunyu Qiong was chasing after him, and said with a worried look on his face: "My lord, there are more and more mountains ahead, the road is getting narrower, and the sky is getting dark. I think it is not appropriate to pursue any further."
"Yan Liang, the dog thief, is right in front. How can we let him get away like this? I have to take his head off today."
Yuan Tan spoke resolutely and ignored Chunyu Qiong's advice.
Chunyu Qiong wanted to persuade him again, but the sentry rider in front suddenly came to report that Yan Liangjun's transport team had been spotted on the road ahead, and there were about a hundred mules and carts.
Yuan Tan's expression perked up and he shouted loudly: "It must be the property that Yan Liang's dog thief kidnapped from the treasury. Send my order to the whole army to attack immediately. Whoever takes Yan Liang's head will be heavily rewarded!"
"Eldest Young Master——"
Before Chunyu Qiong could speak, Yuan Tan had already galloped out on horseback, danced his gun and killed him.
The five thousand Hebei infantry troops also moved with a roar and came out shouting to kill.
Five thousand men and horses came overwhelmingly, and their momentum was extremely frightening.
When the hundreds of Yanliang troops on the road saw the enemy coming, they all panicked and abandoned their mule carts and fled.
Yuan Tan rushed forward on horseback, his spear passed by and stabbed several enemy soldiers to death one after another.
Yuan Tan, who was greatly confident, immediately ordered his soldiers to continue the pursuit along the avenue. He believed that Yan Liang's army, which had retreated hastily, should be not far ahead.
However, when the thousands of soldiers and horses under his command saw this cartload of money, their eyes immediately turned red, and their ears were filled with any general orders. They all stopped and started to rob the money.
When Yuan Tan saw this, he shouted angrily: "No one is allowed to rob or seize property without permission. Let me continue to pursue you."
Yuan Tan's angry shout seemed so weak and weak, and was soon drowned in the laughter.
The soldiers of Yuan's army were undisciplined, and all of them were greedy for money. No one could care about killing the enemy.
At this time, on the hillside a mile away, Yan Liang looked at the money-grabbing farce on the narrow road with a sarcastic look on his face.
"Yuan Shao, thank me. With your military discipline, if I hadn't fooled Xu You away, it would be surprising that you could defeat Cao Cao."
After the sarcasm, murderous intent surged into Yan Liang's razor-sharp eyes.
The long knife was raised and slashed forward fiercely.
The rumbling sound of war drums suddenly sounded like thunder.
The horn of attack was sounded, and the ambush troops on both sides of the narrow passage suddenly rose up.
Amidst the loud shouts of killing, Gan Ning rushed out of the woods with his horse and halberd, and ran towards Yuan Tan.
