Chapter 45: The Cao Group's Collective Meal Scrounging

  "Meng De... what do you mean by this? Could it be that you want to...", Zhang Yan's voice trembled like a brothel owner being searched, making me suspect he was about to collapse, as he gazed longingly at Cao Cao outside the city, his face filled with yearning... yearning for Cao Cao to utter those words that stirred his soul!

  "Not!", Cao Cao chimed in, surprisingly able to hear Zhang Miao's soft and gentle voice clearly. "Hoo...", okay! Zhang Miao let out a mouthful of air... (don't think dirty thoughts!)

  "Meng Zhuo! Meng Xian! Cao Cao has come only to borrow the strong city of Chenliu to rest for a few days and ask for some grain and fodder, that's all!" Cao Cao said with a calm face, but in Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao's ears, this was not a good intention. You have tens of thousands of troops "borrowing" the city for a few days? Isn't that just an excuse to occupy it forever?

  "Meng De! This Chenliu city is too small, and my army of 100,000 soldiers has no place to stay. Is there nowhere else?" Zhang Miao was using both soft and hard tactics, on the one hand saying that the place was too small and had no room for them, while on the other hand telling Cao Cao that he had a large army of 100,000 men. At this time, he also tried to intimidate Cao Cao;

  "Haha!", the officers and soldiers of Cao's camp burst out laughing. Cao Cao stopped the laughter: "Meng Zhuo deceived me! You only have 40,000 troops! Can't this Chenliu City accommodate my tens of thousands of troops? I know you suspect that I want to seize your city! Alright, I won't enter then! We've been friends for many years, can't you give me some grain and fodder? Can't let my tens of thousands of troops suffer from cold and hunger again!"

  Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao conferred with each other, "Brother! Let's just give him some grain and fodder. Send him off and be done with it. I think this guy is definitely up to no good! We absolutely can't let them into the city! And they seem to know our situation very well, could there be a problem somewhere?"

  "What's wrong? Let me think... Ah! Cao Cao still has 2,000 troops in this city! If they respond from inside and outside...", Zhang Miao was suddenly shocked;

  It just so happened that Cao Cao shouted: "Meng Zhuo, Meng Xian! Let my more than 2,000 brothers out of the city too! So you don't have to worry!" People always have a kind of innate suspicion. Sometimes it's just a small matter, but they will think of it as doomsday!

  "What do they want to do with those two thousand people? Is it to occupy the city gate when our army opens it? If they occupy the city gate, his tens of thousands of iron cavalry will charge, and we will have no lives left! ", Zhang Chao's face was full of fear, suddenly his spirit shook: "Right! Call Mr. Zi Yuan over! What are you thinking? Go quickly!"

  "General Meng, don't worry! It's not that I'm overly suspicious, but I'll take good care of your over 2,000 brothers. You go ahead and set up camp, start a fire, and I'll arrange for grain and fodder to be transported to you right away!" Zhang Miao was known for his chivalrous behavior in his youth, but after being severely taught a lesson, he became timid. Although he had become timid, he had matured a lot, especially when it came to dealing with people; telling a lie was as easy as passing gas for him.

  He was dealing with Cao Cao on one hand and plotting against him on the other.

  "Listen to my orders! Set up camp and settle down! Before that, thank you for Lord Zhang's kindness!" Cao Ren gave the order to the eight thousand soldiers and horses. They were of course delighted at the prospect of getting food, and all shouted together: "Thank you for Lord Zhang's kindness!" The loud shouting startled the chickens and dogs in Chenliu City, causing everyone to become flustered and wonder what had happened;

  "Filial piety! Proceed according to plan! Set up more camps and deploy more sentries! The rest will depend on Mr. Huaide's decision!" Cao Cao and Cao Ren exchanged a smile, this was previously agreed upon to take the initiative and put pressure on Zhang Miao before negotiations began;

  Who is Zang Hong again? His full name is Zang Hong, of course, and has nothing to do with Zhang Ba, one of Lü Bu's Eight Robust Riders. He was from Shayang, Guangling. Zang Hong had a heroic appearance, and in this era where people were judged by their looks, his appearance was also a small fortune for him. When he was young, he was selected as a Filial and Incorrupt official, but later resigned during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han;

  This person is not outstanding in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but if we talk about the official history, his loyalty can be ranked among the top ten! If we look at ancient and modern history, if we talk about the most iron-clad brothers in history, he and Zhang Chao are also among the best!

  Zhang Chao is even worse than Zhang Miao, with shortcomings such as being timid, weak-willed and fond of wine. Probably the only thing he has done that is worthy of praise in his entire life is treating Zang Hong like a brother from his own family, or even closer than a biological brother!

  Before the messenger's message reached Zang Hong's mansion, Zang Hong rushed to the top of Chenliu City, without even greeting him. He hastily looked outside and took a rough estimate - this was at least an army of 30,000 men!

  "Lord Meng Zhuo! My lord!", At this time, Zang Hong finally saw the courtesy, Zhang Chao: "Sir, don't be too polite, Cao Cao's momentum is fierce and evil, I'm afraid it's not a good thing, how should we resist?", Zhang Miao also respected Zang Hong very much, because this person was indeed talented and virtuous, so he didn't care about the courtesy.

  As soon as Dong Zhuo arrived in Luoyang and revealed his ambition, he advised the timid Zhang Chao to gather a righteous army to attack Dong Zhuo. However, Zhang Chao had too few soldiers and did not dare to take action. Zhang Chao then brought him to see Zhang Miao, but Zhang Miao was also unable to do anything. Zhang Miao brought him to see Liu Dai, who was overly cautious and brought him to see the Governor of Yuzhou, Kong Zhou. It was through his connections that these four armies gathered together.

  A few people who had been thinking about it, also recommended him as the leader of the alliance. Although they didn't make a big show of it and weren't taken seriously, these four groups later became part of the eighteen vassals. Their previous meeting can be seen as laying a small foundation for the meeting of the eighteen vassals. At the time of the meeting of the eighteen vassals, he was seriously ill and stayed in Chenliu City to recover, so he didn't attend.

  "Cao Cao came to borrow Chenliu City for recuperation, but I refused him. He also asked for grain and fodder, and I agreed to calm him down first. He even wanted the two thousand soldiers in the city to let them out of the city!", Zhang Miao explained the cause and effect very clearly;

  Zang Hong paced back and forth: "First, provide them with a meal, send soldiers to investigate their actual number of troops. Where did Cao Mengde get so many troops? Also, those two thousand soldiers must be kept under close guard, they cannot be killed or released, just keep an eye on them without taking action! Let's probe for the truth before making plans!"

  Just as they were lowering baskets of soldiers and grain from the city wall, a soldier came to report: "Outside the city, Cao Cao has sent an envoy?" "Who is it?" Zhang Miao asked.

  "A white-faced scholar and a black-faced strongman, without exchanging names!"

  "Bring it on! I bet he's here to persuade us to surrender! Ha! Cao Cao really has confidence, doesn't he?" said Zang Hong.

  The soldiers who were sent to deliver grain and fodder soon encountered difficulties. They had two tasks in delivering grain to Cao Cao: one, naturally, was to deliver the grain and fodder, which was not the most important; two, this was the more important task, to find out about Cao Cao's military strength!

  This guy just came up with a small cow flying an airplane - the cow is going to heaven! He's got tens of thousands of troops, is he trying to scare us?

  What kind of person is Cao Cao? Such a wise and strategic man, how could he make mistakes? He had long been prepared with his army and horses. The soldiers from Chenliu City had not yet arrived at his camp when the grain and fodder were already taken away by him. Zang Hong's plan did not work out as expected. Cao Cao knew that doing so would arouse suspicion, why didn't he let me enter his camp? Isn't it because you have a guilty conscience? However, he was not worried at all. With a wave of his hand, the bonfires in the big camp behind him were all lit up;

  Inside the big camp, people were bustling about, and the sounds of noise and quarreling never stopped. The wooden stakes with fake human shadows on them were seen by Zang Hong on the city wall, and he vaguely saw Cao Cao sending people to cut down trees, which was to make siege equipment! It's not that there aren't enough people, but they want to catch us off guard!

  The fact is just the opposite, Cao Cao was actually short of men and had been intimidating them all along.

  It's been a long time since I last posted, recently been busy, please support me!!! Collect, recommend and forward quickly!

  Also, I'd like to inform you that from now on, there will be two updates every day: one at 8am and another at 6pm, absolutely punctual! Hehe.