"Zhou Sima, Lu Bu's envoy has left Prime Minister Cao's Mansion."
Zhou Ping was sitting in the house reading, and the detective hurriedly came back to report.
"Grasp."
Zhou Ping had already thought that no matter what Xu Bang talked about with Cao Bao, he could not be allowed to go back now.
What to do next can only be known if Xu Bang is captured and asked.
"Remember, don't kill him, keep him alive. Capture him and take him directly to the state capital. Don't let others see him when you enter the city." Zhou Ping ordered again.
"promise."
The detective agreed and went out. After leaving the city, he quickly passed Xu Si's carriage and rushed to the front to notify Zhang Wu and others.
Zhou Ping then went out and waited in the Prefectural Shepherd's Mansion.
Xu Bang did not expect that Zhou Wen'an, who was said to be an expert in predicting events, actually expected that Lu Bu would conspire with Cao Bao to attack Xia Pi.
No wonder...Xu Si thought of what he had heard about Yuan Shu's army rations being robbed and burned and the food routes cut off.
It turned out that Zhou Wen'an had already expected that Yuan Shu would lead his troops to attack, so he arranged for his soldiers to hide in the mountains several months in advance. This man was so terrifying.
Xu Si didn't know that Guan Yu deliberately sent scouts to Shouchun to investigate. If he knew, he would definitely think that this was Zhou Wen'an's plan to deliberately lure Yuan Shu to lead troops to attack.
Just like now he deliberately let the troops leave to lure Lu Bu to lead troops to capture Xiapi. This person can not only predict events, but also understand people's hearts, know that others have this intention, and then make countermeasures accordingly.
Fortunately, General Lu and Chen Gongtai asked him to come to see Cao Bao and learn the real situation in Xiapi. Otherwise, if General Lu had sent troops rashly, he might have fallen into Zhou Wen'an's trap.
But Xu Bang could not imagine for a moment what arrangements Zhou Wen'an would make to deal with it.
"Faster."
Xu Bang raised the curtain and urged the driver to run faster, hoping to get back to Lucheng as soon as possible.
The coachman raised his riding crop and whipped him hard again.
Xu Bang sat in the car, shaking his body, still thinking about Zhou Wen'an's plan.
After thinking for a while, he finally remembered something.
I remember that when I went to Xuyi, I saw thousands of Taishan soldiers retreating north on the road. At that time, I was suspicious and asked Liu Bei about it.
Zhou Wen'an said at the time that he was afraid that the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans would go south, so he sent those soldiers back.
Now it seems that these Taishan soldiers may have come back to Xiapi for defense.
But……
Xu Bang shook his head again, denying his judgment.
At that time, General Lu had just been defeated in Yanzhou. He came to ask Liu Bei if he could accept it. He had not even met Liu Bei yet. How could Zhou Wen'an have expected that General Lu would come to capture Xiapi today?
This is absolutely impossible!
No matter how he thought about it, Xu Si felt that Zhou Wen'an would never send troops back so early to guard against Lu Bu. No matter how good he was at predicting things, he would never have predicted what happened today.
Perhaps, when Yuan Gongli wrote to General Lu, he let Liu Bei and Zhou Wen'an know about it, and then they knew that he came to see Cao Bao, so he deliberately set a trap now.
Xu Bang could only guess this way, otherwise he would not have guessed why Zhou Ping expected that Lu Bu would attack and capture Xiapi.
It is also impossible to guess what preparations Zhou Wen'an made to deliberately lure Lu Bu to lead his troops to Xiapi. Otherwise, those soldiers in Xiapi may not be able to withstand General Lu's troops.
"ah……"
The carriage suddenly stopped and Xu Bang leaned back, then threw himself forward.
With a scream, he rolled out of the carriage and hit the driver.
"Why stop?" Xu Bang asked loudly.
But when he stabilized his body and looked forward, he saw several large rocks on the road ahead, blocking the way.
Behind those big rocks, there were more than ten horses standing. The people on the horses all held weapons in their hands and wore common people's clothes.
Immediately in front of him sat a young man carrying a bow and arrow, staring at him coldly, which made Xu Bang feel frightened.
Seeing that the carriage had stopped, they patted the horses and ran towards them, surrounding the carriage.
"Fellow knights, I...I have money, you all can take it, take it all."
As he spoke, Xu Bang took out the copper coins from his body, and pulled off the jade pendant from his belt. He handed it to the young man with a bowed back riding a horse and stood beside the carriage, and said, "I'll give you this jade pendant too. I just ask you to let me go."
"What's your name?"
Zhang Wu did not accept the jade pendant and copper coins he handed over, but asked coldly.
"Xu Si."
"Where are you going?"
Zhang Wu asked again, he wanted to confirm again whether he had arrested the right person.
"Lv Cheng."
Xu Si still thinks that these people are bandits who block the road just to steal money.
"That's right."
Zhang Wu said something and signaled to the people next to him, and two people immediately jumped off the horse, holding ropes in their hands, and went up to tie Xu Si up.
The jade pendant and copper coins in Xu Bang's hands fell to the ground, but these people didn't even look at them. He knew that these people were definitely not bandits.
"Ziwei, what should we do with this coachman? Are we going to kill him?" A soldier asked Zhang Wu with a knife.
When the coachman heard this, he was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and begged for mercy in a trembling voice: "Fellow knights, I still have an old mother who needs support at home. Please spare my life, knights!"
In the Han Dynasty, the world was governed by filial piety, with special emphasis on filial piety. No matter how evil a person was, he would still fulfill his filial piety. The coachman begged for mercy on the grounds that he had an old mother at home who needed support, hoping that this would help him find a way out.
Zhang Wu glanced at him and remembered what Zhou Ping said today about the principle of benevolence and righteousness: if the enemy soldiers ask for surrender or are injured and captured, then it is benevolence not to kill them.
"Don't kill him, tie him up and take him back together."
Following Zhang Wu's advice, the soldiers tied up the coachman and stuffed him into the carriage together with Xu Si.
"You...are you people sent by Zhou Wen'an?"
Xu Bang now guessed that these people must have been sent by Zhou Wen'an.
Zhang Wu didn't say much to him, and asked a soldier to drive a carriage. They guarded the carriage and ran back to Xiapi.
Zhou Ping was in the meeting hall of the Prefectural Mufu, and Bijia Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, and Xu Sheng were both there.
Sun Kang, the commander of Xiapi, and Xiahou Bo, the captain of the school, had just left. Zhou Ping asked Sun Kang to lead people to guard near Cao Bao's house to prevent Cao Bao from escaping.
Xiahou Bo mainly paid attention to the three gates except the west gate. If Cao Bao left the city from those three sides, he would be captured immediately.
As for the west gate, it is mainly guarded by Danyang soldiers. Zhou Ping has no way to deal with it for the time being and can only send people to guard outside the city.
However, as soon as Cao Bao left the Prime Minister's Mansion and wanted to leave the city, Sun Kang would lead the Taishan soldiers to capture him first.
The atmosphere in the meeting hall was a bit dull, with several people sitting alone and not talking.
Xu Sheng was finally sure that Zhou Wen'an allowed him to lead his troops and hide in the state capital to deal with Cao Bao.
He followed Zhou Wen'an back to Xiapi in Qu'a, and was appointed as a military officer by Liu Shijun, who even asked him to command two thousand soldiers. Now Zhou Wen'an asked him to lead the troops and hide them here. It can be seen that Liu Shijun and Zhou Wen'an
trust in him.
This made Xu Sheng feel very happy.
Both Mi Zhu and Jian Yong felt a little incredible at this moment.
Although they had been cooperating with Zhou Wen'an's plan, they still felt that it was unlikely that Cao Bao would betray and Lu Bu would lead troops to capture Pi.
At this moment, they are all waiting anxiously, waiting for General Zhang Xu to capture him, and then if they ask, everything should be clear.
Even in Zhou Ping's mind, he kept thinking about it.
He always felt that Xu Si came to Xiapi to see Cao Bao this time, perhaps because Lu Bu sent troops to explore the way.
I have no idea what Xu Bang and Cao Bao talked about.
If he captures Xu Si, will Lu Bu send troops until he returns?
Also, can Zhang Wu catch Xu Si?
These questions lingered in Zhou Ping's heart, making him seem calm, but in fact he was very confused inside.
Zhou Ping held the wine gourd in his hand. He had already finished drinking the wine, but he still picked up the wine gourd and poured it into his mouth from time to time, as if there was still wine in it.
Just when everyone was thinking about it, the soldier hurried into the hall, handed over his hands and reported: "Zhou Sima, Zhang Ziwei is back, and the person who wanted to be arrested has also been brought back."
Everyone in the hall was immediately overjoyed, and Zhou Ping said anxiously: "Quickly, bring him here."
