Cao Peng stood sluggishly in the courtyard, looking at the lilac flowers that covered the courtyard wall but showed a withered color, motionless.
It’s the third day!
The situation in Longyou suddenly changed, and it took Cao Peng ten days to get the news.
Wang Meng died in the battle, and the whereabouts of Wang Mai and Shi Tao were unknown... Cao Peng seemed to be stupid, and suddenly became confused and at a loss. Ma Teng finally took action. He knew that such a situation would happen, but he could not change the outcome.
Even if you become a general, what can you do?
If you can't even protect your own loved ones, what's the use!
Cao Peng didn't cry or shed tears. However, he seemed to have lost his soul all of a sudden and could no longer regain any energy.
"Master!"
A timid voice sounded behind him.
Cao Peng turned around suddenly and saw Zhen Mi standing not far away, with a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Sister Cai invites you to dinner."
It turned out that Geng Lin saw that Cao Peng was in a bad mood and immediately sent someone to Guzang.
Buluan and Guo Huan were originally going to come over, but Buluan was already in serious trouble, so Guo Huan had to stay and accompany Buluan. After Cai Yan heard about it, he volunteered and took Zhen Mi with him to Luanniao. Zhen Mi
Currently, I am still assisting Cai Yan in endorsing the classics, but it has basically been completed. There are more than 530 classics, more than 100 more than in history, which can be regarded as an incredible achievement... Next, there is the transcribing,
Then he sent someone to Xudu.
However, Cai Yan no longer paid attention to these things.
Zhao Ang's wife Wang Yi took the initiative to take on the work of proofreading. Cai Yan, who was free, also felt quite bored. When she learned that Cao Peng was a little unusual in Luanniao, she didn't know what her psychology was.
Cai Yan ran over like a ghost. But what about Zhen Mi? She didn’t want to come at first...but under the persuasion of her family, she still went with Cai Yan.
In Zhen Yao's words: My little sister went to Luanniao for no other reason than to have more contact with the young master.
The Zhen family is not as good as it used to be. Without the support of Mr. Cao, there will be many hardships in the future. Look at Su Shuang, who came to leave the family, but has already established a firm foothold. And what about us? We came late, so we need to be more proactive.
That's it...
It’s almost clear in those words!
But how could Zhen Mi be willing to show shame and take the initiative to seduce?
She is not the kind of woman who takes the initiative. Although the ethics are not so strict these days, she still has a sense of shame. But Zhen Mi also knows that what her brother said is right! Today's Zhen family really needs
There is a backer.
But this doesn't mean that she is willing to give herself away.
She came with Cai Yan just to take care of Cai Yan. But when Zhen Mi saw Cao Peng, she was shocked by Cao Peng's appearance. In Zhen Mi's impression, Cao Peng was a strong and burly young man.
It seems like there is endless energy.
But now...
Cao Pengqing has lost a lot of weight, and his cheekbones are prominent.
The eye sockets are sunken and the complexion is bad.
The most frightening thing was that his originally long black hair seemed to have gained a lot of gray in one night, so much so that it made people feel heartbroken just looking at it.
"I see!"
Cao Peng said calmly: "Miss Fanlao told everyone Cai that I'm not hungry."
"But……"
Cao Peng didn't wait for Zhen Mi to finish speaking, rolled up his sleeves and walked to the study.
Zhen Mi's eye circles suddenly turned red, and her eyes sparkled with water. She knew that Cao Peng was not targeting her, but she still felt very uncomfortable in her heart. Since she was a child, almost everyone has surrounded her,
Holding her up... Even though she later married Yuan Xi and the Yuan brothers turned against each other, for Zhen Mi, not much changed.
After being kidnapped by Su Shuang, Zhen Mi felt as if she suddenly fell from the sky to the earth...
The feeling of being surrounded by stars seems to be gone forever.
She, just like an ordinary girl, doesn't seem to have much that stands out. Compared with Cai Yan's profound knowledge, Zhen Mi is inferior; compared with Qingluan's gentleness, consideration, hardworking and tenacious, Zhen Mi is inferior; compared with Guo Huan's
As shrewd as she is, Zhen Mi is still inferior. Comparing herself with the girls around her, Zhen Mi finds that she seems to be incomparable to anyone else.
This feeling of loss made her very uncomfortable.
But this time, I was persuaded by my brother to come to Luanniao, but I didn't want to end up in a hot-faced situation again.
Cao Peng seemed to completely ignore her beauty and charm, which made Zhen Mi feel even more sad.
After standing in the courtyard for a long time, Zhen Mi resisted the urge to cry, returned to the back house, and told Cai Yan the situation...
Cao Peng, standing in front of the sand table, holding small colorful flags in his hands, deduced the situation of the battle.
Ma Chao's recent behavior has been very strange. After his troops retreated twenty miles, he stopped making any moves. He said he wanted to return to Zhangye? Not like that! From the look of him, he had no intention of withdrawing his troops. In fact, Cao Peng could vaguely sense that Ma Chao
His purpose in occupying Zhangye County was to delay Cao Peng so that Cao Peng could not be distracted elsewhere.
This other place is naturally Longxi!
But I have to admit that Ma Chao's move really made Cao Peng feel uncomfortable.
He wanted to send troops, but he had to consider the threat of Ma Chao. This guy was like a nail, wedged firmly in Cao Peng's heart, making Cao Peng choke and feel extremely uncomfortable... This was definitely not a trick that Ma Chao could think of.
This is a conspiracy. Even if Cao Peng knew Ma Chao's intention, he couldn't resolve it. Now, Ma Chao has stationed troops twenty miles away from Luanniao. He can retreat back to Zhangye County and attack Luanniao County when he advances. At the same time, he is stationed at Luanniao County.
There was a huge distance between the place and Lushuitan. Cao Peng's previous arrangement suddenly failed and it was difficult to achieve the goal.
Xu Shu and Yan Xing quietly camped at Zhalu Water Beach.
It was originally a good plan, but because of Ma Chao's unexpected withdrawal of troops, it suddenly became confusing.
Want to sneak attack Ma Chao?
Some suffering!
Ma Chao's defense was tight and no flaws were revealed.
What about a sneak attack on Zhangye County? It seems impossible. Once Xu Shu cannot capture Zhangye quickly, he will inevitably face the situation of being attacked from both sides. Ma Chao's move inadvertently caused a stalemate and anxiety in Luanniao's battle situation.
His retreat of thirty miles had exactly the same effect as Cao Peng ordered Xu Shu to station at Lushuitan.
Standing in front of the sand table, Cao Peng kept making deductions, trying to break this deadlock. Unfortunately, he could not find a clue.
The chief general of Xiliang who ordered his residence was Cheng Yin, one of Han Sui's eight former generals.
In the novel, this is a supporting role. But in fact, Han Sui has eight troops, each leading an army. Cheng Yin can lead an army alone, which itself shows something. At least, this person is by no means as incompetent as in the novel.
…
Next to Pang Tong, there were Pan Zhang and Han De, who repeatedly wanted to deal with Cheng Yin.
But Cheng Yin is also very cunning...
When Pang Tong attacked, he retreated to Lingju County and defended it to the death; when Pang Tong retreated, he immediately attacked. Cheng Yin's troops were not far away from the attack, and moved within a fifty-mile radius of Lingju County. This made Pang Tong particularly special
Uncomfortable. Pang Tong was in Cangsong, unable to advance or retreat. The situation faced by Cao Peng was surprisingly similar.
Wuwei County is dominated by pines and luan birds.
As for Jincheng County, Lingju County echoes Zhangye County...
One side refused to fight, and the other side could not ask for one. This stalemate situation made Cao Peng feel helpless.
After deducing for a long time, Cao Peng suddenly became furious.
He slammed the small flag in his hand to the ground.
The current situation requires a surprise force to destroy this balance. But where can this surprise force be found?
Still no troops!
Cao Peng suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a mistake.
In this era, there are hundreds of thousands or millions of troops attacking at every turn, but he has to take the route of elite soldiers... How big are the battlefields of the Three Kingdoms? Even if he has elite soldiers, he can only win on local battlefields, but he has always been victorious in the overall situation.
At a disadvantage. For example, during the Battle of Guandu, on the surface, it was just a battlefield in Zhongmou. But in reality? Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and even Yuzhou, the three states, were full of battlefields. If Lao Cao didn't have enough troops, I'm afraid it would have been a long time ago.
He was riddled with holes by Yuan Shao... Now, Ma Chao stationed troops in Zhangye County, and hit Cao Peng's weak spot exactly.
Insufficient troops...
Precisely because of the lack of troops, Cao Peng was unable to attack with overwhelming force.
Precisely because of the lack of troops, he had to divide his troops for defense. As a result, it became a situation where he had more than enough to defend but not enough to attack.
But there is nothing we can do about it.
Hexi County has a sparse population, a mixture of Hu and Han people, and does not have many troops.
After taking over Wuwei County, we had to appease the people, and supplies were slightly insufficient, so we naturally couldn't recruit troops and horses on a large scale.
What he needs is a stable Hexi Corridor, not a war-torn place where refugees are everywhere.
Therefore, necessary recuperation is unavoidable, and it also makes it impossible for Cao Peng to recruit soldiers on a large scale... It is really an embarrassing thing. If this situation continues, it is definitely not a good thing for Cao Peng!
Suddenly, there were soft footsteps outside the door.
Immediately afterwards, the aroma of rice wafted in, bringing Cao Peng back to his senses.
It’s dumplings!
He immediately smelled it, and the aroma was that of dumplings. Turning around, he saw Cai Yan holding a tray, Zhen Mi and Ameiguai, one holding a wine jar and the other holding a cup, following closely behind
Cai Yan came in from behind.
"Sister Cai..."
Cao Peng looked at Cai Yan doubtfully.
Speaking of which, he and Cai Yan have known each other for nearly two years.
From the beginning, they were strangers to each other. Later, Cao Peng became Cai Di, Adiguai's teacher, and the two families gradually became familiar with each other, and their visits became more and more frequent. Cai Yan had no other support in Hexi; and Cao Peng, in Hexi
They were also unfamiliar with the place, so the two of them often contacted each other. After repeated visits, Cao Peng also changed his name to Cai Yan.
When talking to outsiders, he would still call Cai Yan "Master Cai".
However, in private, he called Cai Yan "sister", which made the relationship between the two families even closer.
Cai Yan traveled a long distance to Luanniao, which also moved Cao Peng.
It's just that he was sad because of Wang Meng's bad news, so he seemed a little lazy.
Looking at the steaming dumplings, Cao Peng wanted to be angry, but he was really embarrassed...
"My younger brother is busy with military affairs and has done great things.
But you also need to take care of yourself and don't get too tired... You have children now, and Xiaoluan's body is getting bigger day by day, so you need to take more care of yourself. Don't want your children to be alone in the end, that's a disaster.
Tragic thing."
With that said, Cai Yan placed the food plate on the small table.
Ameiguai walked over obediently, put down the cup, and timidly said: "Invite uncle to dinner."
Zhen Mi stepped forward, put the wine jar aside, then stepped back, lowering her head and saying nothing...
Cao Peng scratched his head and suddenly let out a sigh of relief.
He also knew that he had been in a very bad mood these past few days, so many people were secretly worried about him.
He put his hands on his hands and said to Cai Yan, "Sister, please bother me."
Then he glanced at Zhen Mi again and said in a deep voice: "Miss Zhen, I was a little rude just now. Please don't blame me."
Zhen Mi's eyes suddenly turned red again.
The grievances in my heart disappeared with Cao Peng's apology and disappeared.
"Master, please don't say that. It's because Zhen Mi didn't know what happened. She disturbed the master's thinking just now. No wonder, master."
"Okay, okay, don't be polite anymore."
Cai Yan generously pushed Cao Peng to sit next to the small table, "Eat quickly. If you put it down again, I'm afraid it will get cold."
Over there, Ameiguai obediently filled a glass of wine for Cao Peng, "Uncle, please drink."
The crisp voice echoed in Cao Peng's ears, which made his heart move. Tears could not help but roll in his eyes. Once upon a time, he also called Wang Meng like this. Now, Wang Meng is not here, and Wang Meng's whereabouts are unknown, which makes him even more worried.
...As a result, he took a sip from the wine cup and gently patted Ameiguai’s little head.
"Ameiguai is so good. I wonder which son will be lucky enough to marry a daughter-in-law like Ameiguai in the future."
"Brother, don't talk nonsense."
Cai Yan said, took a dumpling and put it in the small bowl in front of Cao Peng, "Eat it quickly, or it will get cold if you don't eat it."
She was aside, packing up the items on the table for Cao Peng.
Cao Peng, on the other hand, was sitting behind the small table, eating one dumpling at a time, which was extremely sweet.
"Brother, are you still worried about Jincheng's military affairs?"
"kindness!"
Cao Peng's mouth was full of dumplings and he nodded vaguely.
When Zhen Mi heard Cai Yan talking about military affairs, she quickly took Ameiguai and quietly exited the study. For this kind of thing, Cai Yan could treat Cao Peng as a petty gossip, but she couldn't listen on the sidelines. This was a rule...
After all, Zhen Mi also came from a wealthy family and knew this etiquette to some extent. She was different from Cai Yan. She was a prisoner and had no right to interfere; while Cai Yan was well-known, and Cao Peng's respect for Cai Yan also made her
A lot less worries.
"Sister also knows military affairs?"
"I don't really know, but when senior brother Yuan Tan was studying under my father, I occasionally heard them mention it."
"Senior Brother Yuan Tan?"
Cao Peng felt that this name sounded familiar.
Cai Yan smiled and said, "That's Gu Yong and Gu Yuantan from the Gu family in Wu County."
Gu Yong, is he a student of Cai Yong?
Cao Peng really didn't know very well...if Cai Yan hadn't taken the initiative to mention it, he wouldn't have even known that the two had such a relationship.
He has met Gu Yong!
However, that was many years ago.
At that time, he accompanied Xun Yan on his mission to Jiangdong, and inadvertently ruined a conspiracy of Sun Quan. The successful marriage between the Gu family and the Lu family of Songjiang could be regarded as a meritorious deed. Now, both Lu Xun and Gu Yong have become officials, and
Lu Xun's younger brother Lu Mao was studying at the Imperial Academy in Xudu... In a flash, so many years have passed, and the events of that year are still vivid in his mind.
Cao Peng couldn't help but smile and mentioned his acquaintance with Gu Yong.
It was also the first time for Cai Yan to hear Cao Peng talk about this matter, and he couldn't help but feel slightly moved, "My younger brother actually knows Senior Brother Gu?"
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Recommend a book "Wives and Concubines" by Ouyang Wuqin
ISBN:2123866
If he didn't serve as marshal, Huang Taiji would be beaten and run away. If he didn't serve as chief assistant, Wei Zhongxian would be breathless. He had nothing to do, so he went to the Qinhuai River to stroll around, flirt with rich ladies, and fool the talented people of the Ming Dynasty.
Three coins can buy you a fortune, a few articles can buy you a lifetime of glory.
Let’s take a look at the story of a little person who has fun and becomes the best in the world!