Chapter 28: The Wind Rises and Clouds Gather (Part 2)

  Xuzhou, formerly known as Tongshan and also known as Pengcheng in historical times, is a major city in Jiangsu province, China.

  "Lord Guan... what noble integrity!"

  Tao Qian's hands trembled as he gazed at the kindly face of the middle-aged man in front of him, and his eyes welled up with tears.

  That middle-aged man was over thirty years old, with ears hanging down to his shoulders and arms reaching past his knees. He had a majestic and heroic air about him, and behind him stood two large men with their hands clasped together.

  One of them, with a red face and black whiskers, was about nine feet tall, with two phoenix eyes that exuded an air of majesty, standing proudly behind him. The other had a leopard-like head with piercing eyes, emitting a fierce aura from his body, and stood alongside the red-faced man, making them even more eye-catching from afar.

  At this time, the middle-aged man humbly said: "Taogong is overpraising, you are a famous minister of Han, with a reputation for benevolence and virtue, how can you see death without rescue as a Han minister?"

  Upon hearing this, Tao Qian's face became even more excited and he exclaimed: "Thinking of Yuan Shao, who has tens of thousands of troops at his disposal, yet remains unmoved by my life or death. On the other hand, Lord Guan has only a few thousand men, yet still comes to rescue me without hesitation! Your great virtue is something I must repay on behalf of the people of Xuzhou!" He then attempted to kneel down.

  However, it was immediately stopped by the former.

  "It's absolutely impossible for Mr. Tao, how can a humble official like me repay such great kindness? Absolutely impossible!" As he spoke, he called out to those behind him, "Second brother, third brother, hurry and help me support Mr. Tao."

  The two saw each other and immediately obeyed orders.

  Needless to say, these three were Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the three sworn brothers.

  Liu Bei, seeing Tao Qian like this, was unable to bear it in his heart and immediately said with righteous indignation: "Cao Cao uses the name of mourning for his father to attack Xuzhou, but actually he is taking advantage of the situation... He has long had the intention of plotting against Xuzhou. This man is truly unworthy of being a Han minister."

  "Hmph, if you ask me, we should have killed that scoundrel Cao Cao with a single spear at the alliance meeting! It would have saved us all this trouble now!" At this point, Zhang Fei's eyes widened in anger, seeing his elder brother so pained, and his own heart burned with rage.

  "Third brother, don't be presumptuous." Guan Yu said calmly with a cold glance.

  As Tao Qian heard the two men talking behind Liu Bei, he couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration and said: "You two are indeed mighty warriors... But now that Cao Cao's army is at our gates, even with Lord Liu's arrival to rescue us, Xuzhou is still in grave danger..." As he spoke, he suddenly thought of something and looked at Liu Bei, hastily saying: "Why not ask Lord Liu to temporarily take over as the governor of Xuzhou? As a descendant of the Han imperial family, Cao Cao wants to kill me. If Lord Liu takes over as governor, it will be possible to ensure the safety of Xuzhou..."

  Suddenly a sentence was spoken, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's eyes lit up at the same time, but they quickly gave Liu Bei a signal.

  It was unexpected that Liu Bei hastily retreated several steps, ignoring Zhang's hint, and said with a somewhat ugly expression: "Tao Gong, don't be like this. I didn't come here to take Xuzhou for the sake of one county or city. Please think thrice."

  At the same time, he nodded and Tao Qian was suddenly moved. He said: "Lord Guan is indeed a man of high integrity, but Lord Guan... you should know that I, Tao Qian, am not a match for Cao Cao. Even if your 5,000 soldiers and my 30,000 troops in Xuzhou are combined, they would still be less than half of Cao Cao's army of 100,000."

  "Big brother! What's the point of hesitating? This old Tao Qian is willing to hand over Xuzhou to you, just take it!"

  "Right, right, right..."

  He glared at Zhang Fei, and then Liu Bei thought for a moment before saying to Tao Qian, "Why don't I write a letter of divorce to Cao Cao? If the Cao army doesn't retreat, we'll think of another plan..."

  "Can Cao Cao really retreat?"

  "This... is still unknown, but let's give it a try anyway."

  Upon hearing this, Tao Qian's bitter face suddenly flashed with a hint of joy, and he hastily knelt down, crying: "If Lord Guan can persuade Cao Cao to retreat, then the people of Xuzhou will forever thank Lord Guan for saving their lives..."

  *

  On the other side, Cao Jun's large camp.

  A hundred thousand troops lined up in succession, surrounding the city of Xiapi from all sides. Today is already the third day of attacking Xiapi.

  "My lord! Judging from this situation, we can conquer Xiaopei in just one day! Let's capture Tao Qian and Liu Bei on the spot!"

  At this time, Cao Ren arrived at the main tent in a flurry of dust and saw Cao Cao and Guo Jia discussing military affairs, but was interrupted.

  It was Cao Ren who had arrived, and Cao Cao immediately put down the military map in his hand, looking at him with a satisfied smile: "Very good! Take advantage of the soldiers' morale being high, speed up the attack on the city. Zi Xiao, you attack the city while quickly sending an envoy to Xiaci City. If the other side still resists to the death, the day the city is broken will be the day of slaughter!" As he coldly spoke these words, Cao Cao's eyes narrowed slightly.

  At this time, Cao Ren simultaneously took out a letter from his bosom and hesitantly said: "My lord, just now... Liu Bei sent an envoy with a letter. Does my lord want to read it?"

  His expression was slightly stunned, Cao Cao seemed to have not expected it at all. However, the next moment, he narrowed his eyes again and said, "No need! It must be that Liu Bei sent a letter of reconciliation on behalf of Tao Qian."

  "So this..."

  Cao Ren was about to hesitate, Cao Cao suddenly said displeased: "Burn it."

  "Agreed."

  Just then, Cao Ren was about to take his orders and leave when a minor officer outside the central army tent came to report at an inopportune moment.

  "A report has come from Yanzhou with urgent military news!"

  At this time, Guo Jia, who was originally organizing the map of the Wu army, was stunned at this moment, and when he heard that it was an urgent report from Yanzhou, a ominous premonition flashed across his face.

  At this moment, Cao Cao's face was even more peculiar, and he hastily said to Cao Ren: "Zi Xiao, quickly go and find out what military information it is."

  "Agreed."

  Cao Ren handed over the military information, Cao Cao looked at a letter in his hand, hesitated for a moment, glanced at Guo Jia, saw that the other party was also puzzled, but immediately opened it.

  He had only read two lines, but couldn't help taking a cold breath...

  "Ahhhhh..."

  With a "bang", the book was fiercely thrown to the ground, Cao Cao suddenly shouted angrily: "Lü Bu, you scoundrel! How dare you think of attacking Puyang!"

  Suddenly startled, Guo Jia immediately heard this and was also greatly astonished. He hastily picked up the book on the ground, opened it to take a look, but what followed was even more shocking.

  "My lord! Chen Gong has become Lü Bu's advisor..."

  At this moment, Cao Cao's face, which was about to erupt in anger, suddenly froze, and just a moment later, he burst out laughing without warning.

  "It's no wonder, it's no wonder...... Hehehehe......" This smile was extremely eerie, and even hid a mysterious killing intent. Those who knew Cao Cao understood that he was a person with unpredictable temperament. Even Guo Jia at this moment was secretly shocked by the other's emotional change, which was too fast.

  At this time, Cao Cao said again: "What else did the letter say......"

  He continued to read on. Guo Jia couldn't help but say with a bitter tone: "Within the past few days, Lü Bu's 30,000 cavalrymen have successively taken down Yangyi County, Rencheng, Lucheng, and Wuyancheng... Zhang Miao has also rebelled..."

  Finally, Guo Jia glanced at Cao Cao's face and saw that it was getting increasingly gloomy. Although the opponent still had no expression on his face, anyone with discerning eyes could see that Cao Cao was extremely angry at this moment.

  However, when he finally saw the letter, Guo Jia was stunned and couldn't believe it. He said to Cao Cao, "According to Wen Ruo's report, it seems that Cao Xin has also turned against us. Our scouts have discovered that Chenliu has been occupied by Cao Xin, who is using his position as a farmer's official to win over the people of Yanzhou. He has even destroyed all the tax records in Yanzhou... Not only will we not be able to collect taxes from Yanzhou this year, but the state treasury is also empty. With Cao Xin's move, our army's finances have suffered greatly... It seems that Cao Xin has joined forces with Lü Bu and is working together with Zhang Miao to occupy Chenliu..."

  As soon as these words came out, Cao Cao and Cao Ren were both shocked and lost their composure.

  "Zao Xin, you little brat! I swear to kill you!!!"