Chapter 48: Turning the Tide (Part 1)

  The next day.

  It was night, in the great prison of the prefecture of Yecheng.

  Cao De hasn't had a good night's sleep for days, ever since he was locked up in the big prison by Xun Yu a few days ago. It seems to him that his life has lost all its color.

  Looking at the earthen window of the prison cell, the faint moonlight shining through it, he couldn't help but think of his son Cao Xin and his expression became gloomy again.

  "Do you know what Cao Xin did?"

  "It is reported that Cao Xin has burned all the tax lists from various places in the past few days, causing great losses to our military finances. Grain and salary are the most important things in the army, but this time we haven't received any grain or salary, and he even burned all the taxes of the people! What is his intention? According to the scouts, Cao Xin has already defected to Lü Bu! He is now besieging Chenliu... What do you have to say about this?"

  One by one, the questions of that day slowly floated into Cao De's mind, but the more he thought about it, the more doubts arose in his heart. In Cao De's impression, although his son Cao Anmin had a serious illness ten years ago and changed his temperament, the father-son relationship was still very good over the years. Although Cao Xin was idle at home every day, doing nothing, Cao De believed that he would never do such a rebellious thing.

  However, it is undeniable that Cao Xin did become much stranger after arriving in Xuchang.

  "Rebellious son... rebellious son... how you've wronged me... where can I put my old face now... how can I face my elder brother?" He paced back and forth, sighing bitterly, Cao De's heart filled with shame, but thinking of Cao Song's death, his guilt grew even deeper.

  All fathers in the world hope their sons will become dragons, and Cao De is no exception. However, it seems that things have now gone beyond redemption. In Cao De's eyes, Cao Xin has long since become a traitor. Cao De also wants to be proud of his own son, but in this matter, he feels as though his entire lifetime of integrity has been ruined all at once.

  Suddenly at this moment, Cao De's gaze suddenly fell on the wall, looking at the uneven prison wall. The former instantly revealed a wry smile: "Well... Since that's the case, I, Cao De, have no face to stand in this world anymore..."

  As she spoke, her eyes snapped shut tightly...

  "Hula hula"

  Suddenly, a series of urgent footsteps sounded outside the cell.

  But just as Cao Degang was about to take his own life, he heard this voice and subconsciously startled, then seemed to feel the urgency of these footsteps, and suddenly became suspicious.

  Before long, footsteps approached slowly, and it seemed there were still many people around.

  "General Zhong! Xing Gongzi is a man of great righteousness!!!"

  A sudden sentence came, Cao De was stunned for a moment, but the first person who rushed into his eyes was.

  "Xun Jun Shi!?" Hearing the voice, Cao De suddenly saw through the prison cell, but it was that behind him were countless generals and scholars, all of whom seemed to be in an excited state...

  What's going on here?

  Just as Cao De was bewildered, Xun Yu and his men rushed to the front of Cao's prison cell, kneeling down in shame: "Lord Cao is noble! We wrongly accused Lord Cao! We wrongly accused Zhongmou!"

  Suddenly seeing the crowd behind Xun Yu, Cao De was taken aback and couldn't help but ask: "General Xun, General Xiahou, and Lord Cheng Yu... what is the meaning of this? And what about my son Cao Xin?"

  Cao De's mind still couldn't figure out what was going on, but he couldn't help thinking about what his son had done again.

  At this time, Xiahou Dun was extremely excited and loudly said: "Just now, a good news came from the front line. Cao Xin led his 2,000 troops to capture Chenliu, Rencheng and Yangyi counties one after another, and set up an ambush in the Chenliu area, killing all of Hou Cheng's 5,000 cavalry!"

  His mind "buzzed" for a moment as he suddenly felt a little dazed, and Cao De involuntarily took two steps back, finding it hard to believe for a moment.

  "You said I... didn't surrender to Lü Bu? Still... still..."

  At this time, Xun Yu had already ordered someone to open the prison cell. The former entered first and said awkwardly: "Not only did I not surrender, but in these days, if it weren't for believing that Master was behind Lü Bu's back, making a surprise attack at night, by now Lü Bu's army would have occupied half of my Yanzhou territory."

  Xiahou Dun burst out laughing and said: "I just heard that Cao Xing led a thousand men to attack Zhang Liao, but unexpectedly Zhang Liao fell into Cao Xing's trap. Five thousand men were killed by Cao Xing, leaving less than a hundred riders, and even the city of Wucheng was breached, haha..."

  As soon as this was said, the officials and military officers behind him whispered to each other, seemingly having never heard of this news before.

  A barrage of words bombarded Cao De, who had originally thought that Cao Xin was a traitor. At this moment, he suddenly woke up from his dream and was somewhat overwhelmed by the results of Cao Xin's battle.

  At the same time, Xun Yu, Xiahou Dun and Cheng Yu knelt down in front of Cao De again. Xun Yu said with shame: "General, you are indeed a divine person! This time, as soon as Lu Bu's army heard the two words 'Cao Xin', they all changed color. Our lord has obtained this rare talent, which is truly fortunate for our lord and Yan State. In the past few days, we doubted your lordship, please forgive us."

  With a slightly composed expression, Cao De's face finally showed a hint of a smile, but it was unclear whether it was pride or excitement. He hastily helped the three men up and couldn't help but say with joy: "You three don't have to be so polite, you really don't have to be. What merits does my son Cao Xin have that would make your lordships praise him like this? I, Cao De, dare not accept such grand courtesy from your lordships."

  But at this time, Xun Yu stood up first, shaking his head and laughing: "These days, there have been continuous migrations of civilians under our military control. I didn't understand why General Shi burned all the tax registers in Yan Province at first, but now I know that General Shi's deep strategy is really making me ashamed..."

  "Oh?" At the same time, Cao De asked in surprise: "What's the connection? Does destroying the name register still benefit our army?"

  "Not bad, Cao Xing's burning of the tax register was indeed a heavy blow to our military rations, but it has brought about an even more powerful force."

  "What power?"

  "The people's heart."

  One sentence made Cao De suddenly enlightened, but this father was first surprised and then showed a hint of pride.

  At this time, Xun Yu saw that the other party understood and couldn't help but praise: "This time Lü Bu first came to Yanzhou, added taxes to the cities he arrived at, while our army was under no taxes at all. This time Lü Bu suddenly lost the hearts of the people, our army has gained a lot of popular support, wonderful, too wonderful! General, you are indeed a man who makes one look up to him."

  "Not bad, General Xun's military tactics are godly, several times he toyed with Lü Bu's army, making them exhausted from running around, beheading Zhang Miao, Song Xian and Hou Cheng among others, and killing over 10,000 enemies. Such a fierce general, I, Xiahou Dun, am the first to admit defeat haha!"

  "You're overpraising me..." From great sorrow to great joy, Cao De experienced the two extremes of life in a brief moment. Nevertheless, at this moment, Cao De felt extremely proud, or rather, he had never felt such a wonderful feeling in his entire life.

  However...

  Here is just like a small microcosm of the whole Yanzhou, Cao Xin's reputation spread to all parts of Yanzhou at the same time, and for a while, there was no rival.

  *

  P.S: Signed, still obediently asking for collection.