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"Zi Lian is at ease."

Cao Cao raised his hand to greet Cao Hong and sat down, chuckled and said, "After crossing the river, Yuan Shao will definitely cut off the supply of food and grass from all the princes, but he still wants to continue to command the Allied forces, so he needs a reliable allied to help him, and then consolidate his position as leader.

However, among the princes who can truly support him and make him trust this time?

Only I, Cao Cao!”

While speaking, Cao Cao turned his head to look at the generals not far away and whispered to Cao Hong: "I have already discussed with Yuan Shao secretly. After capturing Hangu Pass, our army will be stationed at Hangu Pass. Yuan Shao led the Jizhou army to take charge of the central army, and the other princes must lead their troops to capture the city and capture the territory. After the success, the Central Plains area is limited, so many princes are too crowded to stay together, hahaha!"

Cao Hong was shocked when he heard this, and his cheeks were slightly red, he was quite excited, and he looked at Cao Cao in awe.

He used to call Cao Cao Meng De directly, but since Cao Cao took the throne of the deputy leader of the army of princes, he subconsciously changed his words, and now he dared not shout, and he respected Cao Cao and regarded him as a god.

While being happy, Cao Hong suddenly remembered something and said anxiously: "No, lord! Yuan Shao is kind-hearted and ruthless, and hides his sword in his smile. He often does such two-faced things. Now he needs his lord and his lord to unite with him to suppress all the princes, so as to ensure that he remains firmly at the throne of the leader and control the army of the princes. After the matter is completed, what if he breaks the bridge across the river and turns to deal with us? "

Cao Cao turned his head and stared at Cao Hong with surprise. After a while, he praised: "Zi Lian should be a thousand-mile horse for my Cao family! I used to think that Cao Ren was calm and smart, and after a little training, he would be a general's talent, which is very useful. Now it seems that Zi Lian is rough and meticulous. He has long-term thinking, and is not inferior to Zi Fei!"

"The lord is too rewarded." Cao Hong's cheeks were slightly red, and he said in a rare modest way: "Zixiao is proficient in military strategies and strategies, and is good at placing troops and formations. The ability to command military battles is indeed far above me. I feel ashamed of myself. However, if I only talk about martial arts, I am not inferior to Zixiao. I swear to protect my lord Zhouquan to the death!"

"Zi Lian is so serious." Cao Cao knew what Cao Hong said, and he felt very helpful and said with relief: "We are all our brothers. We prosper and lose both of them. There is no need to compare with each other. There is no need to be petty. Zi Lian has always been loyal to me and saved me from danger many times. I, Cao Cao, will never forget these things in my life. However, Zi Lian still needs to restrain himself a little in the future. Don't be greedy for beauty and enjoy luxury. In this chaotic world, it is a great opportunity for us to make achievements. Don't waste your time!"

"This, I will know that I am wrong and I will not be content with enjoyment in the future." Cao Hong responded with his cheeks down with his head flushed.

Obviously, Cao Cao's understatement directly pointed out Cao Hong's weakness, which made him feel scared.

In fact, although Cao Hong and Cao Ren are not brothers, they have been practicing literature and martial arts together since childhood. When they grew up together, they are not brothers but are better than brothers. Whether it is civil and martial arts or intelligence, Cao Hong is not inferior to Cao Ren, but he is a person who is content with pleasure and has a very luxurious life. So much so that Cao Ren rarely interacts with him in the past two years, and Cao Cao cannot count on him. There are more than 500 maids in his mansion, and his mansion is more luxurious than Cao Cao's backyard, and he spends money like earth. He sings and dances every day, and is addicted to the pleasure of wine and sex.

Because of this, Cao Cao has always relied on Cao Ren and was determined to train Cao Ren into the commander of the army. In contrast, Cao Hong had a tendency to be unable to support him, which disappointed Cao Cao. However, due to Cao Hong's repeated efforts to sacrifice his life to save him, he had to turn a blind eye and let him go, and was unwilling to blame him in person.

However, Cao Hong has a strength that others cannot achieve, at least for Cao Cao. That is, although Cao Hong is greedy for women and content with pleasure, he is not a person who is greedy for life and fears death. He is loyal to Cao Cao, and he often ignores his own safety and sacrifices his life to save him. Therefore, when Cao Cao personally led a large army to fight, he would always bring Cao Hong with him. Subconsciously, as long as Cao Hong protects himself, he would not have to worry about his own safety.

Seeing Cao Hong bowing his head to admit his mistake, Cao Cao was deeply relieved and had no intention of blaming him at all. "It's good that you can correct your mistakes, Zi Lian doesn't have to blame himself."

"Bang——Gu,Gugu!"

Just as Cao Cao finished speaking, a crisp sound suddenly came from the cliff west of the valley, and then a nighthawk (owl) appeared above the valley, hovering and striking.

"Huh?" Cao Cao, who looked up at the sound, felt alert, and the smile on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by a solemn look on his face.

"At midnight, the night eagle was flew away and screamed and cried. This is a sign of great danger!" While pondering, Cao Cao asked Cao Hong in a deep voice: "How many soldiers are there to be guarding the night tonight? Have the scouts sent out previously discovered abnormal situations?"

Seeing Cao Cao's expression was different and his tone was not good, Cao Hong dared not hesitate and immediately reported: "The last one will arrange five thousand soldiers to watch at the entrance of the valley. Three miles north of the valley are garrisoned, with a total of eight thousand soldiers responsible for the vigil. In addition, after our army entered the valley, the last one will send three batches of scouts, a total of more than 1,000 people, searching all within ten miles of the mountain stream, without missing any grass or tree, and found nothing. But???"

"But what? Don't hesitate, you said!" Cao Cao's expression changed and asked anxiously.

Seeing Cao Cao so anxious, Cao Hong suddenly felt something was wrong, and a sense of crisis that he had never experienced before was filled with his heart.

He immediately reported truthfully: "One hour ago, the last group of 300 scouts will be sent to the north side of the mountain stream to explore the terrain, and ordered them to clearly observe the situation of the north exit, but they have not returned until now. Before, they thought that the mountain stream was full of rocks and was rugged and difficult to move. In addition, they were rushing at night, so the speed of movement was inevitably slower, so I didn't care."

While speaking, Cao Hong was afraid that Cao Cao would get angry, so he didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief, so he immediately explained: "Before our army came here, we sent scouts to investigate the terrain of the entire mountain stream. This mountain stream was called "Flying Yundu" by the local people. It is a tributary of the Yellow River during the flood season. The entire mountain stream is filled with floods, with few people and birds disappearing, so it is called Feiyundu. However, as the middle of winter approaches, the water level of the Yellow River has dropped sharply, causing the mountain stream to dry up, and the river has become intermittent streams, so it can accommodate our army lurking here.

The mountain stream is seventeen miles long, and the valley entrances at the north and south ends are relatively wide, each with a valley about three or four miles long, just like the valley where we are. The Yellow River is north of the mountain stream, and there is a ferry for more than ten miles south. It is built by people around the country when fishing. It is very simple and cannot dock with warships. In front of the ferry is a relatively flat mountain road, built around the cliff north of Feiyundu, which can be passed by horse and carriages. It is thirty-eight miles long. The exit of the mountain road is at the entrance of Hulu Valley where we are located, and it is connected to the official road leading to Hangu Pass.

In contrast, although the mountain road is a little further than the mountain stream, it is flat and easy to walk, and the distance is not much different, and it only takes half an hour at most. Therefore, even in the middle of winter, few people are involved in this mountain stream, and it is not even late at night, so it is impossible for anyone to pass by here."

After saying that, Cao Hong took a deep breath and finally expressed his worries: "But the last batch of scouts in our army have not returned yet. Looking back now, it is indeed a bit abnormal. No matter how difficult the mountain stream is to pass, an hour has passed, and they should come back no matter what. Therefore, I feel that something might have happened to them!"

"What happened?" Cao Cao was shocked when he heard this, and he said with a frown and said: "Do you mean they may encounter the Xiliang army, or be ambushed and killed by the Xiliang army? If the scout was discovered by the Xiliang army, then we,,,"

Speaking of this, Cao Cao's face changed drastically and he exclaimed: "Ah! No, our army's whereabouts have been exposed!"

"The whereabouts are exposed! How is this possible?" Cao Hong said in shock: "Along the way, our army hid in the daytime and walked at night without plagiarism, did not make fires or make food. They all lived by eating dry food and did not contact outsiders. How could they lose their whereabouts by marching in such a hidden way?"

Cao Cao shook his head when he heard the sound, lowered his head and walked out from under the rock, and said in a deep voice: "This time our army is alone. Once the whereabouts are exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable. When you are in a dangerous place, everything should be done with caution and be careful. Zi Lian, set off immediately and evacuate this place quickly!"

"Ah!" Cao Hong was stunned when he heard the sound, and said excitedly: "Is the evacuation so serious? We have been marching for more than ten days, and are lurking here due to cold and starving. Now we are retreating like this. I am really unwilling to give up!"

Cao Cao looked up at the nighthawk that was hovering under the moonlight and said in a deep voice: "Now that Yanzhou has fallen into Lu Bu's hands, we only have three small cities to accommodate. The only thing we can rely on is the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in our hands. If the troops are completely damaged, even though the world is big, how can we stay in? Our army is under the eyes of the Xiliang Army. Once the whereabouts are leaked, more than 60,000 Yanzhou soldiers, including you and me, will be buried here. Therefore, Zi Lian does not need to say much, but rather believe that he has something than that without it. He will set off immediately without any mistakes!"

"Okay, I will obey the order!" Seeing that Cao Cao had said this, Cao Hong didn't say much, so he had to bow and accept the order.

"Isn't it a pleasure to have friends coming from afar! Cao Mengde, since he has come, why should he rush to leave? Let's talk to you and I have a good chat tonight. It's not easy to wait for a trip, so let's stay all of them! Hahaha!"

Just as Cao Hong called his generals to gather the team to set off, a loud laugh suddenly came from the cliff more than 30 feet high behind him.

"roar---!"

When Cao Cao, Cao Hong and tens of thousands of Yanzhou soldiers heard the sound and looked up, a deafening roar of giant beast shocked everyone, and their heads buzzed. Immediately, a wild giant beast appeared on the top of the cliff in the east of Hulu Valley. His golden mane shone brightly under the moonlight, his body was huge, and the beast roar was shocking. With a roar, the sand and stones on the cliff flew down. However, this was not the most scary. What shocked Cao's army the most was the majestic figure on the back of the giant beast.

Although everyone could not see the person's appearance clearly, the identity of this person who controls the giant beast has long been famous all over the world. This person is the famous and powerful general of the cavalry, Li Li and Li Wenchang, the Marquis of Wuwei!

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Chapter completed!