Chapter 220: Cut off hair and plead guilty, Cao Ren personally fights
After sending the two letters of petition, Xiahou Shang waited anxiously in Wudang County.
On the one hand, he was waiting for the replies from Cao Ren and Cao Pi, and on the other hand, he was waiting for Meng Da's next letter.
But unfortunately, after he waited for several days, Meng Da did not continue to ask Li Fu to send the letter as before.
This made Xiahou Shang anxious, and at the same time he began to worry about the situation in Hanxing County.
But at this time, under the influence of Meng Da's two letters, Xiahou Shang was not worried about Meng Da changing his mind. What he was worried about was that something unexpected had happened to Meng Da.
In Meng Da's previous letters, he had clearly expressed his situation and Mi Yang's attitude towards him.
Under that description, it was difficult for Xiahou Shang not to express concern for Meng Da's safety.
After several days of hesitation and thinking, Xia Houshang finally couldn't help it and made a move.
Xiahou Shang sent his cronies, led by Deng Xian, to search for Meng Da in the Han River military camp.
Xia Houshang is not a person who waits hard, and his character is quite proactive.
Since Mengda no longer sent messengers, he took the initiative to send his close associates to investigate the situation.
The reason why Xia Houshang released Deng Xian was because of multiple considerations.
Mengda's letter of surrender is either true or false.
If it is true, then keeping Deng Xian by your side will not be of much use.
And he sent his cronies to follow Deng Xian back so that he could investigate Mengda's situation on the spot.
seeing is believing.
Because since Mi Yang took charge of Hanxing County, he had to clean up the disloyal people internally and send external troops to block the Han River channel.
Under such circumstances, if Xiahou Shang simply sent out his cronies, they would probably be captured by Mi Yang's scouts, and the result would be very bad.
This can only be avoided as much as possible by letting the cronies return with Deng Xian.
If Meng Da's surrender was false, then his cronies would be able to detect something from Meng Da.
In this way, you can further judge whether Meng Da has really surrendered by seeing what news his cronies bring back, or whether they return safely.
After making up his mind, Xiahou Shang immediately sent a tribesman, lifted Deng Xian from house arrest, and asked the tribesman to follow Deng Xian back.
This clansman is Xiahou Shang's clan brother. He has always been loyal to him and would never betray him.
Meng Da's nephew Deng Xian had always thought that Meng Da was sincerely loyal to Xia Houshang, and of course he was willing to be the leader.
So under the leadership of Deng Xian, this Xiahou tribesman quickly followed Deng Xian and returned to the Hanshui Army Stronghold to meet Meng Da.
After Meng Da saw Deng Xian arriving with a member of the Xiahou Shang tribe, his face lit up with joy.
On the surface, it seemed that he was happy because Xiahou Shang trusted him.
But in fact, it is unclear what he is happy about.
Anyway, his joy was definitely not fake, it was very sincere.
When Xiahou Shang's envoy saw Mengda, he immediately asked Mengda why he had stopped sending letters recently.
Faced with the question from Xiahou Shang's envoy, Meng Da hesitated.
He reasoned that during this period Mi Yang often sent the postal supervisor to scold him, so he had no time to send out letters.
Messenger Xiahou Shang saw that the sad look on Meng Da's face did not seem to be a lie. Although he did not fully believe it, he did not have too many doubts.
Under Xiahou Shang's instructions, this Xiahou Shang tribesman needs to stay for some time.
But on the second day, Xiahou Shang's envoy saw something that he would never forget in his life.
Early the next morning, because of Mi Yang's request, Ding Feng brought several county soldiers to Mengda's tent and continued to question Mengda about various matters.
Following Mi Yang's instructions, he suspected that Meng Da had shown signs of disloyalty.
But since there was no evidence, Ding Feng, the postal supervisor, was needed to work for him at this time.
Under Mi Yang's order, Ding Feng has been coming to Mengda's military tent continuously in the past few days, making things difficult for Mengda with various things, many of which are unfounded charges.
Anyway, Ding Feng had only one purpose, and that was to force Meng Da to make some mistakes.
Although this purpose is not very fair, Mi Yang is Ding Feng's benefactor, so Ding Feng feels very at ease when he does these things for Mi Yang.
And because Ding Feng didn't know about the conspiracy between Mi Yang and Meng Da, he spared no effort when questioning Meng Da.
When Ding Feng arrived at Meng Da's military tent today, the first thing Ding Feng said when he saw Meng Da was:
"There was a secret report from a sergeant that Captain Meng was drinking in the camp. Is this possible?"
When Ding Feng questioned Meng Da, although his words were normal, his tone was very bad.
One can tell at a glance that Ding Feng's intentions are not good.
At this time, Xiahou Shang's envoy had not yet left, so Mengda regarded him as one of his personal guards and was on duty in the big tent.
Ding Feng's performance made Xiahou Shang's envoy raise his eyebrows slightly.
It seems that what Meng Da said before is true.
Faced with Ding Feng's questioning, Meng Da showed annoyance on his face and replied: "That's absolutely not the case!"
Drinking alcohol is strictly prohibited in most military camps in the world.
Some generals with strict military orders even treat drinking without permission as a very serious matter and punish them.
Among the seven beheadings issued by Mi Yang, drinking alcohol privately is a capital offense.
Faced with such groundless accusations, Meng Da will certainly defend himself.
When Ding Feng saw that Meng Da was still quibbling, he immediately started to pick other things to question Meng Da as usual.
Ding Feng's questioning words became more and more frequent, and his tone became increasingly bad.
Meng Da would defend a few words at first, but in the end he stopped defending at all, but his face was full of anger.
And all this scene fell into the eyes of the envoy Xiahou Shang.
When Ding Feng's questioning words mentioned that Meng Da had evil intentions, Meng Da seemed to have finally reached a critical point in his patience, and he stood up angrily.
Seeing Meng Da stand up suddenly, Ding Feng frowned slightly. This was the first time Meng Da behaved like this in recent days. What did he want to do?
But thinking that the entire military stronghold was full of people loyal to Mi Yang, Ding Feng was not afraid. Instead, he took a step forward and scolded Meng Da:
"What do you want?"
Seeing Ding Feng's aggressive attitude, Meng Da angrily drew the sword from his waist.
Seeing Meng Da's action of drawing the knife, a look of surprise flashed across the face of the Xiahou Shang clan brother.
Several county soldiers behind Ding Feng also drew their swords from their waists and guarded Ding Feng.
Then I saw that Meng Da did not rush towards Ding Feng with a knife, but cut off his own long hair with a knife in front of everyone.
Meng Da's move was so sudden that even his confidants Deng Xian and Li Fu had no time to stop it.
What's more important is that Meng Da's move was so shocking. When everyone in the military tent saw Meng Da's long hair fall to the ground, everyone's face showed huge shock.
Is this Mengda crazy?
"The Book of Filial Piety: Kaizong Mingyi Chapter": "The hair and skin of the body are received from parents and dare not be damaged. This is the beginning of filial piety."
This Mengda lost his hair in public, which was a great act of unfilial piety.
In this world where filial piety is highly valued, Meng Da's behavior is undoubtedly very serious.
After Meng Da chopped off the long hair on his head, he bent down to pick up the long hair from the ground, and walked step by step in front of Ding Feng with a long knife in hand.
Meng Da's face showed great pain. He raised his hands and cut off his hair, and said to Ding Fengyan: "Now I cut off my hair and plead guilty. Is the general satisfied?"
Ding Feng looked at Meng Da's disheveled hair and sad face, and he was greatly shocked in his heart.
He suddenly felt that what he had done these days had gone too far.
No matter what sins Meng Da had committed in the past, it seemed that all his sins could be forgiven when he confessed his guilt.
Ding Feng didn't dare to look directly into Meng Da's eyes now. With his eyes evading, he already had the intention of leaving in his heart.
He thought about reporting this matter to Mi Yang quickly.
Then, with a guilty look on his face, Ding Feng led several county soldiers and quickly left the military tent.
After Ding Feng left, Meng Da seemed to be unable to bear the sadness in his heart any longer, and knelt on the ground holding his broken hair in his hands.
After Ding Feng led his men away, only Meng Da's confidants were left in the military tent.
After Meng Da knelt down, Deng Xian and Li Fu looked at Meng Da's miserable appearance, with angry expressions on their faces.
Soon after, Meng Da dismissed everyone, leaving only Xiahou Shang's younger brother, Deng Xian, and Li Fu.
Then Meng Da stood up slowly. He came to the case and quickly wrote a letter and handed it to Xiahou Shang's clan brother.
Mengda's disheveled appearance made Xiahou Shang's brothers feel pity for him.
Meng Da suppressed his cry and said to Xiahou Shang's clan brother:
"Now I am confessing my guilt, and I hope Mi Yang will not persecute me too much in the short term.
But Mi Yang is suspicious, and I don’t know how much tolerance my confession will make him tolerant of me.”
"I also hope that the envoy can tell General Zhengnan that I am cutting off my hair today not only to confess my guilt and confuse Mi Yang and delay time, but also to prove to the general that my intentions are not even half false.
I also hope that General Zhengnan will trust you and don’t miss this great opportunity.”
After saying this, Meng Dadang immediately ordered Li Fu and Deng Xian to send Xiahou Shang's envoy back to Wudang.
Deng Xian and Li Fu now also knew that the situation was urgent, so they immediately sent Xiahou Shang's envoy out of the military tent without further delay.
After the three of them left, Meng Da looked at the broken hair in his hands, tears constantly falling from his eyes.
All of this was a trap set up by him and Mi Yang.
Mi Yang's original plan was to have him confess his crime at the right time and then spread the news.
But Mengda didn't expect that Xiahou Shang would send his clan brothers here. Under such circumstances, what better time could there be than with the presence of Xia Houshang's clan brothers?
However, although everything was arranged by Mi Yang, Meng Da's behavior after cutting off his hair just now was sincere.
In order to set up this situation, Meng Da risked everything.
There are true and false, and it is the most difficult to distinguish.
When the broken hair in his hand was soaked with tears, Meng Da looked in the direction of Xicheng, determination emerging in his heart.
The general will give him a great reward.
When Xiahou Shang's clan brother returned to Wuzhong, he immediately found Xiahou Shang and told Xiahou Shang everything he saw.
And when Xia Houshang learned that Meng Da had lost his will, the look of shock on his face was no less than that of others.
Shocked in his heart, Xia Houshang immediately opened Meng Da's letter and read it.
"Deng Xian was sent to Li Fu's family, and his relatives trusted him as if he were his son.
A handwritten letter, sent to both flesh and blood relatives, is proof of sincerity.
Daji has built this plan and left it up to Heaven. If it works, it will bring blessings to the people. If it leaks, it will suffer the disaster of destruction.
Recently, Mi Yang sent envoys to rebuke him several times, and then he confessed his sins. He lived and died, his body and soul were in a state of trance.
At this time, if Ming Gong has any doubts again, he may hang his head in the military camp and not be able to see Ming Gong in the future!"
Mengda's letter is shorter than the previous two letters, but his letter is full of sad words, as if he will die next moment.
After reading the contents of the letter, Xia Houshang no longer had any doubts in his mind.
The tribesmen have seen it with their own eyes, how can it be false?
Xia Houshang held the letter in his hand and promised Deng Xian and Li Fu: "You have high righteousness, and I will live up to it!"
Then Xiahou Shang immediately wrote two more letters of petition and rushed them to Wancheng and Luoyang respectively.
No matter what, he has decided on this battle!
Wudang County is not far from Wancheng. Cao Ren had received the first letter from Xiahou Shang long before.
However, when he received the first letter from Xiahou Shang, Cao Ren did not agree immediately because Xiahou Shang still had doubts in his letter.
But just today, Cao Ren received a second letter from Xia Houshang.
In this letter, Xiahou Shang's tone was full of certainty, and Xiahou Shang even stated in the letter that Meng Da had cut off his hair.
After seeing Xia Houshang's second letter, Cao Ren's face finally showed joy.
Perhaps in recent years, the impression given to the world by Cao Ren is that he was cornered by Guan Yu in Fan City.
But Cao Ren has been in the army for thirty years. In his military career, he was truly a general who was good at attacking.
He had followed Cao Cao for thirty years, and the only ones who could defeat him and trap him in the isolated city were Zhou Yu and Guan Yu.
Just two years later in history, Cao Ren, who was nearly sixty years old, still did not believe Sun Quan's words and personally led tens of thousands of cavalry to conquer Jiangdong.
Cao Ren was praised by Chen Jiao and others as "the general of heaven and man" precisely because of his attacking and brave style.
As a "general of heaven and man", when Cao Ren heard that Meng Da had cut off his hair, his inner reaction was more intense than Xiahou Shang's.
Great opportunity!
Xia Houshang had the belief that Mi Yang would be killed, so why didn't Cao Ren do the same?
Cao Cao is the person Cao Ren respects the most. In Cao Ren's view, Cao Cao's death is inextricably related to Mi Yang.
Because of his respect for Cao Cao, Cao Ren had long hated Mi Yang.
Even in Cao Ren's mind, he thought that if he could not get rid of Mi Yang, the enemy, and the great enemy of Cao Wei who was feared by Cao Cao before his death, then he would be filled with guilt when he saw Cao Cao after his death.
.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Cao Ren to sit back and let another good opportunity pass him by.
If God’s gift is not received, there will be disaster!
However, Cao Ren did not write back to Xiahou Shang to agree with his marching strategy. He only wrote back and ordered Xiahou Shang to organize his troops and be on standby at all times.
After replying to Xiahou Shang, Cao Ren summoned the generals.
He began to rearrange all defenses in Nanyang.
His purpose for doing this is obvious.
Faced with this great opportunity, Cao Ren decided to conquer it himself.
He wanted to cut off Mi Yang's head with his own hands and send it to Yecheng to pay tribute to Cao Cao's spirit in heaven!
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!