——Cao Chun is back.

——Cao Chun came back in embarrassment.

He came back from the Sunset Valley, which was filled with the corpses of tigers and leopards. To be precise, he crawled back.

He climbed over mountains and ridges, captured a fast horse, and relied on a certain obsession in his heart...

He's back.

When countless torches on the tower lit up the dark night, under the torches, a man with disheveled hair stood in front of the door. As the man raised his head, that familiar face appeared on the faces of all the guards on the tower.

In eyes.

"This is General Cao Chun, open the city gate quickly... open the city gate quickly."

"Quick...quick!"

In the middle of the night, the city tower in Xiangyang looks like a dormant giant beast. With the sound of "crunching", it's like the giant beast is waking up, and the gate is open.

Because it was already dark, the streets were extremely quiet, and Cao Chun's footsteps became particularly clear.

The tiger and leopard cavalry who had escaped saw their general's return and rushed forward quickly.

"General, general..."

"General, general!"

These warriors riding on tigers and leopards seemed to suddenly see hope and light.

Almost at the same time, their tears burst into tears. Since the battle in Sunset Valley, all the grievances they had suffered... all burst out at this moment.

Cao Chun looked at them with regret.

But the hunger in his belly made him weak. He pondered for a long time before opening his mouth.

"Bring me some food!"

"Now, now!!"

…

A lamp is like a bean.

Because it was already dark, and because of Cao Chun's special instructions, the soldiers guarding the gate did not immediately report the news of "Cao Chun's return" to Cao Ren.

On the contrary, the defeated generals of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry heard that their general Cao Chun was back, and these generals who had saved their lives rushed over.

At this moment, Cao Chun didn't care about his demeanor at all. He stuffed the dough into his mouth and took another gulp of wine.

On the other hand, the stew next to him remained untouched.

As if he was no longer hungry, he raised his eyes and asked sadly.

"How many brothers have died."

A tiger and leopard cavalry captain replied truthfully: "We are the only ones who escaped, more than 700 people. Most of them were injured, killed in battle, and captured alive by the Guan army. It is difficult to estimate... In the past two days, there have been soldiers like the general... this

Come back like this."

What the captain wanted to say was to escape like the general.

But... when the word "escape" came to his lips, he quickly swallowed it.

How could this word sound insensitive and fragile to the general's ears now?

Sure enough, Cao Chun trembled slightly and asked again: "Where are the weapons and horses? And where are your weapons? Why don't you even have any light armor?"

Hearing this, the captain lowered his head and said sadly, "Military supplies, food and grass, equipment, armor, weapons...all...all lost. The Guan family army's chariot is so high, all the ordnance must be removed."

, it is possible to crawl over...and escape from that Shura field!"

"It's... it's thanks to General Cao Ren that he prepared food and medicine. Otherwise, how could hundreds of us survive these days?"

Cao Chun's eyes were filled with tears. He stood up with grief and anger, looked at the captain, and questioned him.

"Thank you? Thanks to him for refusing to save me. That's why the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were defeated so miserably!"

"Thanks to my 'beloved brother', more than 4,000 tiger and leopard brothers were buried in a foreign land. I and that Cao Zixiao share the same fate!"

Having said that…

With a "swish" sound, Cao Chun pulled out the only remaining long sword on the waist of the commander.

His own sword had already become stiff from climbing mountains and chopping rocks, but the sword in his hand now was extremely sharp and perfect for killing people!

"snort…"

With a cold snort, Cao Chun wiped his mouth, took another gulp of wine, and staggered out of the tent of the tiger and leopard rider.

Under the moon, the sword is extremely sharp...

The cold light on the sword blade was aimed at... the official office of Xiangyang City.

It is the residence of his "loved relatives and friends" and "good big brother" Cao Ren.

…

…

The moon seemed to be obscured by dark clouds, and there was no light on the streets of Xiangyang City.

A "continuous crossbow" is placed on the table. This is the repeated crossbow that "Zhang Wuji" stole back from Jiangling when he surrendered. The four words "Huang Laoxie" on it are particularly eye-catching.

This was Cao Ren's second consecutive night of insomnia.

He was sitting on the desk, but he was not reading the official document, nor was he looking at the "Liannu" beside him. His eyes were full of emptiness and desolation.

It's like falling into some kind of meditation.

And above his head, there was a plaque given by Cao Cao himself, with the four words "General of Heaven and Man" shining in golden light on it.

This was during the Battle of Nanjun. His general Niu Jin and his 300 men were besieged by Zhou Yu's thousands of vanguard troops.

Cao Ren rushed in with dozens of cavalry to rescue people. He first rescued Niu Jin, and then turned back and rushed in to rescue Niu Jin's soldiers.

Then, as if the "unparalleled mowing" mode was activated, he forced Zhou Yu's army back with his generous and brave spirit that shook the sky.

From then on, Lieutenant General Cao Ren of Cao Army called him "the man of heaven"!

And the plaque of "Heavenly General" above his head seems to highlight Cao Ren's excellence and glory over the years.

only…

To whom should Cao Ren express his pain?

The source of this suffering lies in his status as a "bastard".

The father of Cao Ren and Cao Chun is Cao Chi. During the Huan and Ling emperors, they successively served as Taizhong doctor, Sima, Changshi, Shizhong, and Changshui captain. Even Cao Cao had to follow the rules and call them

A word of "obey the father"!

A generation earlier, Cao Chi's father, Cao Mao, was the brother of Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, and also held the official title of Yingchuan Prefect.

Because of this, Cao Ren's family is a wealthy family in Qiao County, Peiguo.

Cao Ren was two years older than Cao Chun, but when Cao Ren was fifteen years old, his father Cao Chi passed away, and the thirteen-year-old Cao Chun naturally became the head of the family as the "legitimate son".

All the resources of the entire family belong to Cao Chun!

It is precisely for this reason that before he even reached the crown, Cao Chun was already a servant of the Huangmen, serving in front of the emperor. This was the standard of "a son inherits his father's legacy", step by step, he achieved what his father had done before.

The script of "Shizhong".

But...where is Cao Ren?

As Cao Chun's elder brother, he was two years older than Cao Chun. However, because of his status as Cao Chun's concubine, he gradually drifted away from all the resources in the family.

The death of his father marked a sharp decline in his "status" in the family.

It was precisely because of this that Cao Ren left this home out of desperation.

Of course... After all, he is Cao Chi's son, so the family will still give him a large sum of money, which is equivalent to a liquidated family division.

Logically speaking, what Cao Ren received was a script in which "the father does not care, the mother does not love, the younger brother succeeds to the throne, the older brother wanders, abandons himself, and fends for himself."

But unfortunately, Cao Ren was beaten into a "king bomb" by Cao Ren with a poor hand of cards!

He first settled between Huaisi and Huaisi, then dispersed his family wealth and recruited more than a thousand followers here.

Just as the world was in chaos, Cao Ren led more than a thousand of his followers to roam Huaisi, fighting the Yellow Turbans while collecting protection and fees, and grew stronger step by step.

Many people thought that when Cao Cao and Chen Liu raised troops and the eighteen princes attacked Dong, Cao Ren went to support Cao Cao.

This is not always the case.

Cao Ren never participated in the discussion against Dong at all.

In "Three Kingdoms", the first record about Cao Ren was after he became subordinate to Cao Cao, in the fourth year of Chuping, when Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu.

In other words... Previously, when Cao Cao's nightmare difficulty Chen Liu started, Cao Ren didn't show up at all. On the contrary, at that time, Cao Chun went to support Cao Cao immediately.

——As the saying goes: "At the age of twenty, Taizu went to Xiangyi (a county left by Chen) to recruit troops!"

——Cao Chun brought capital into the group!

This is actually easy to understand.

Those who support Cao Cao must be from the Cao family of Qiao Pei or the Xia Hou family of Qiao Pei.

As the legitimate son of Cao Chi, Cao Chun is naturally the continuation of the Cao Chi lineage in the family, and there is nothing wrong with supporting Cao Cao, who is from the same clan.

But Cao Ren split up his family long ago...

His bond with the Cao family was not that deep, so... he did not immediately support Cao Cao.

Instead, he developed in Huaisi and planned to make a career for himself.

But later, the "Huainan Destroyer King", "honey lover", and "the first false emperor" came to Huaisi.

…Cao Ren’s living space was suddenly compressed.
To be continued...