That night, the lights in Cao Cao's study in Jiyin County were brightly lit and stayed on all night. Cao Cao himself was not seen coming out of the study. The attendants brought dinner and supper. Cao Cao only said that he was not hungry and asked the messenger to go back quickly.
To disturb the old man's Qing Dynasty, Cao Cao did not eat or drink water for the whole night, and only asked his attendants to bring rags twice. The whole night passed by like beans.
Early the next morning, Cao Cao still didn't have breakfast, but just kept himself in the study and studied hard.
Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao came to see Cao Cao. After hearing that the attendants talked about Cao Cao's situation, the two conspirators suddenly became a little uneasy.
Duke Cao stayed awake all night. Could it be that he was suffering from some evil disease?
The two of them ran to Cao Cao's study in a hurry, regardless of etiquette and dignity.
At this time, in the study room, Cao Cao was looking at the first half of the strange book on the desk with a depressed expression, feeling an indescribable depression and irritability in his heart.
Although it is not known whether this work was written by Tao Shang himself, Cao Cao had to admit that the writing style of this book is indeed excellent.
The content is informative, the forms are diverse, and the emotions are vivid. Especially the way the details of the text are processed, it can be said to be lifelike, giving people an immersive feeling.
Cao Cao was almost forty years old, and he was well-read, but he had never read a masterpiece that mainly described the interaction of characters' behaviors and handled the details with such exquisite techniques.
It’s really refreshing, it’s so enjoyable for your mother!
The problem was that the little beast of the pottery merchant, whether intentionally or unintentionally, only put the first half of the strange book in the box, and the content of the second half was not found. Cao Cao turned the box over and couldn't find it.
What surprised Cao Cao the most was that Tao Shang actually listed some meaningful names in the small notes in the last volume, and used exaggerated techniques to praise them infinitely.
What about Xiangyang Liu Biao’s wife Cai?
Du Shi, the wife of Qin Yilu, a general of Lu Bu's tribe.
Zhang Ji's wife Zou.
Yuan Shu's concubine, Feng Shi, the daughter of Feng Fang, a minister of the imperial court, etc.
After all, they are all the daughters-in-law of other families, and the graceful appearance of these daughters-in-law is also moderately exaggerated by Tao Shang's genius.
After spending the whole night, Cao Cao was aroused by the sight of him. He felt hot all over, and there was an unspeakable feeling in his heart.
What worries Cao Cao the most now is... the Tao guy only wrote half of it!
It came to an abrupt end at the critical moment!
Is the little guy named Tao so careless? What is the content behind it?
You should give me an update! Broken chapter dog!
What exactly are you going to do by writing half of it to Cao?
Cao Cao poured all the poems in the box onto the ground and kicked them aside.
Cao Cao was no longer interested in those poems.
He just kept digging through the slips to see if there was any follow-up content about Tao.
After searching for a long time, Cao Cao was completely disappointed.
Just when I was about to look up to the sky and curse a few curse words, I suddenly heard a rush of footsteps outside the door.
Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao's shouts of "Ming Gong, Ming Gong" could also be heard vaguely.
As soon as Cao Cao heard the shouts of these two people, he immediately knew that something was going to happen. He hurriedly packed up the slips in his hands and stuffed them all into the wooden box.
Just when Cao Cao had just closed the wooden box, he saw Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao rushing into the house in panic.
"Ming Gong, how are you?"
Cheng Yu is not young, already in his fifties, almost old enough to be a grandfather. These few big steps almost killed him.
But for the sake of his lord, Cheng Yu couldn't care about anything else.
Cao Cao had just straightened his posture and was sitting in front of the desk, with a dark face that seemed to be a little red.
He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and forced a stiff smile.
"Why are you two gentlemen so anxious? Are you so worried so early in the morning? Cao is in good health."
Hearing this, Dong Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, bowed his hands and said: "My lord, please forgive me. I just heard from the servants that my lord stayed up all night last night and didn't finish the water and rice. I was panicking, so I came here to check on you, my lord."
, my subordinates entered in a moment of impatience and acted arrogantly, please forgive me."
When Cao Cao heard this, he laughed twice in embarrassment and guilt, but said nothing.
Cheng Yu looked at Cao Cao doubtfully for a while, then lowered his eyes, only to find a lost slip in a large box in front of Cao Cao's desk.
"Huh? Ming Gong, your official document fell." Cheng Yu said as he stepped forward to pick it up.
Cao Cao was shocked when he saw this.
Just now, in a moment of desperation, I actually left the first volume of Tao's Wonderful Book behind.
"Stop looking!"
Cao Cao was so frightened that he jumped up from the soft platform and hurriedly tried to grab it.
If it were anyone else, he might have listened to Cao Cao, but Cheng Yu had an extremely strong character. He had contradicted Cao Cao many times and made loud noises. He was the kind of straightforward minister who did not tolerate his superiors at all.
Cao Cao was also a mean person. The more Cheng Yu treated him like this, the closer he and Cheng Yu became.
Over time, Cheng Yu somewhat let himself go in front of Cao Cao.
The old man's steps were very vigorous. He went up and picked up the slip, unfolded it in front of his eyes and took a look.
"Cough, cough!"
Cao Cao stood there, looking up at the canopy, pretending not to know anything.
When I was young...
"This, Duke Ming! Did you write this?" Cheng Yu turned to look at Cao Cao in surprise.
Cao Cao trembled when he heard this, and hurriedly waved his hands and said: "Nonsense! This matter has nothing to do with Cao!"
Dong Zhao was also curious, so he put his head on Cheng Yu's shoulder and looked down.
Dong Zhao read very fast, and after reading ten lines at a glance, his eyes suddenly straightened, and a look of shock appeared on his honest round face.
"This, this...how to describe it, what a beautiful article!"
"Huh?" Cheng Yu looked at him sideways.
Dong Zhao coughed and hurriedly changed his tone: "Vulgar! It's really vulgar! My lord, who sent this article?"
Cao Cao hurriedly explained: "This article was mixed into the poems sent to Cao by the pottery merchant! The contents have nothing to do with me, and the contents are all written by that little thief!"
Cheng Yu was stunned when he heard this. He stroked his beard and frowned: "Little pottery merchant, what is the meaning of this... strange article?"
Cao Cao regained his usual calmness and was silent for a long time before saying, "The little thief is cunning. Could it be that he wants to mess with my mind with this article?"
Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao looked at each other, and then couldn't help laughing.
"If this is really the case, then the little thief has really underestimated Duke Ming! Duke Ming has his heart at home and has the ambition to talk about everything. How could he be deceived by such a little trick? It seems that this little thief named Tao also
It's not as great as we thought, it's just a little clever." Cheng Yu said confidently, stroking his beard.
Dong Zhao also agreed: "Who can say otherwise? People who can write such articles will not have any big future. They are just mediocre people and have no reputation... It seems that our previous guess was indeed correct.
"Ming Gong, it seems that we can feel at ease with the Xuzhou Army for the time being. We will first deal with the rebellion in Yanzhou and the Xiliang generals. After clearing the future troubles, we can conquer Xuzhou in one fell swoop."
Cao Cao secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Shan...Dong Zhao, you stay in Jiyin County and continue negotiations with Tao Thief on behalf of Cao. You must try to delay the time so that Tao Thief thinks he has a plan and concentrates on the transfer."
The population of Liang State, Cao and Zhongde will go to Yanjin the next day, and after quickly quelling the civil strife, they will return to conquer Xuzhou!"
"promise!"
After the order was finalized, Dong Zhao went back to arrange everything, while Cao Cao left Cheng Yu behind.
Cheng Yu discussed with Cao Cao for a while the specific details of the future use of troops, but suddenly Cao Cao said: "Zhongde, do you know that Zhang Ji has a wife named Zou?"
Cheng Yu was stunned when he heard this and shook his head: "I don't recognize it."
"Then Lu Bu has a lieutenant named Qin Yilu?"
"I've never heard of it. Is there something wrong with Mr. Ming?"