"What's there to be afraid of?" Lu Bu said angrily. I have a red rabbit and a horse, so I'm not afraid of water. When the time comes, I'll just ride the red rabbit out of the city.”
Chen Gong laughed bitterly and shook his head,""General, you are very brave and can kill your way out of the city, but what is the use of you escaping alone? We still have to think of a way to invite reinforcements. Otherwise, our army will die.”
"Do you have any ideas?" Lu Bu asked.
"Take advantage of the fact that the rain hasn't stopped. You lead the cavalry out of the city to set up camp, and I will lead the infantry to defend the city. If the Cao army attacks, you attack from behind. If they attack you, I will attack from behind.”
It was a good idea, but unfortunately, the person who implemented it was not good enough. Lu Bu went home to prepare things to leave the city, but was persuaded by Lady Yan. He had no intention of leaving the city, and had missed the best opportunity.
Thus, he continued to drink until he was extremely haggard. Only then did Lu Bu order a ban on alcohol.
Unexpectedly, his subordinate Hou Cheng ran into the muzzle of Lu Bu's gun. It turned out that Hou Cheng had raised 15 good horses, but they were stolen by the people behind him to give to Liu Bei. In the end, they could not leave the city and were caught by Hou Cheng and punished severely.
In order to celebrate, Hou Cheng invited Song Xian and Wei Xu to a banquet. However, he was afraid that Lu Bu would be unhappy, so he sent a few jars of wine to Lu Bu first.
However, Lu Bu wanted to kill Hou Cheng on the grounds of disobeying military orders. Thanks to Song Xian and Wei Xu's pleading, the death penalty was changed to fifty strokes.
Hou Cheng felt very wronged, Song Xian and Wei Xu also sympathized with Hou Cheng, so the three of them decided to join the Cao army.
First, they would let Hou Cheng steal the Red Rabbit Horse to show their sincerity. Then, they would find an opportunity to capture Lu Bu and offer him to Cao Cao.
After the discussion, Hou Cheng hurriedly escaped from Xiapi. Song Xian and Wei Xu pretended to chase after him, but they did not put in any effort. In the end, Hou Cheng successfully reached the Cao army camp.
After informing Cao Zheng of their plan, Cao Zheng immediately launched a fierce attack on the east and west gates of Xiapi City.
Seeing that the Cao army was attacking the city, Lu Bu could only give up on punishing the two of them and lead his troops to resist the enemy.
However, after a few days of fighting, Lu Bu was already exhausted. Song Xian and Wei Xu seized the opportunity to not only control Xiapi City, but also Chen Gong, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and other close subordinates of Lu Bu.
The next day, Cao Zheng led his troops into the city and arrived at the city tower. At this moment, Lu Bu, Chen Gong, Zhang Liao, and the others had been forcefully escorted up.
"It's tied too tightly.”This was the first thing Lu Bu said when he saw Cao Zheng.
"How can I not be tight when tying up a tiger?" Cao Zheng said indifferently.
"Ziming, where are Madam Yan and Diao Chan?”Cao Zheng recalled his agreement with Cao Cao and said to Cao Zhen.
"Brother, don't worry. Lu Bu's family is already under our control.”Cao Zhen replied.
" Alright. Send a group of people to Xuchang and hand them over to my father.”
Cao Zheng instructed.
"Yes."
When Lu Bu heard that Cao Zheng wanted to give his wife and concubines to Cao Cao, although he hated it, he had no choice but to think of a way to save his life.
"General, your wisdom is unparalleled, and I, Lu Bu, am invincible. If we join forces, wouldn't we be able to take down the world with a snap of our fingers?”Lu Bu suggested to Cao Zheng.
"Lu Bu, everyone will die sooner or later. Besides, you're older than me. I don't want a godson as old as you. Moreover, this godson isn't that filial.”
"Drag him down and hang him outside the city. For the sake of him killing Dong Zhuo, leave his corpse intact.”
"Yes."
Following which, two soldiers dragged Lu Bu away.
At this moment, Cao Zheng came in front of Chen Gong." Uncle Chen, long time no see."”
" Yes," Chen Gong said indifferently." When I first met you, you were only a 14-year-old child. In the blink of an eye, several years have passed."”
"Uncle Chen, I know that you are a tough nut to crack and will definitely not surrender, so I won't waste any more time.”
Cao Zheng said coldly to Chen Gong.
"This is also what I hope."
Chen Gong said nonchalantly.
"Alright, come on, first send Chen Gong's family, the women to the Education Bureau to be military prostitutes, the men to be castrated and sent to the palace to be servants.”
"I want everyone in the world to know the consequences of offending me.”
"Drag him down to the execution."
"Yes."
At this moment, Chen Gong could no longer remain calm. He had thought that Cao Zheng would only blame him. He did not expect that his mother, wife, and daughter would become prostitutes while his son would become a eunuch.
Wasn't this too ruthless? This was even more ruthless than Lu Bu.
Unfortunately, the biggest difference between him and Lu Bu was that Lu Bu had always been the enemy of the Cao family, while Chen Gong was a traitor.
"Come on, untie General Zhang."
Cao Zheng came to Zhang Liao and ordered.
"Yes."
"Zhang Liao, a wise man knows how to adapt to the times. I hope you will surrender. As a gift for you to surrender, I can let you raise a condition.”
Cao Zheng asked.
"Really?" Zhang Liao asked in disbelief.
"Of course, but you can only propose conditions that are within my authority. I can't do anything else.”
Cao Zheng warned.
"Alright, Zhang Liao is willing to surrender. I only have one request, spare Wen Hou's wife and daughter.”
Zhang Liao said firmly.
" Sure," Cao Zheng said directly." However, you have to use your merits to exchange for them. If you can achieve ten great battle merits, I'll let them go. Before that, I'll send someone to arrange for them to be placed in a safe place."”
"Thank you, General." Zhang Liao did not expect Cao Zheng to agree so easily.
Gao Shun was unwilling to surrender, Cao Zheng was unwilling to kill this stubborn brain, so he only imprisoned him.
In the next few days, Cao Zheng was busy dealing with the aristocratic families of Xu Prefecture. With Chen Deng's help, everything went smoothly.
On this day, when Cao Zheng was resting in the manor, Cao Zhen hurriedly ran in.
"Big Brother, Zhao Wu is back."
When Cao Zheng heard that it was Zhao Wu, he hurriedly instructed,"Quickly let him in."
Zhao Wu was originally one of the Cao Clan's guards who escorted Cao Song back then. At the same time, he was also sent there by Cao Zheng. At first, they thought that he was dead. He didn't expect to come back at this time.
"Second Young Master." After Zhao Wu came in in a sorry state, he knelt down and cried to Cao Zheng about his encounter.
"Little Wu, let me ask you, what exactly happened to my grandfather that day? Who killed him?"
Cao Zheng hurriedly asked.
"Young Master, we were about to pass through the border of Xu Prefecture that day, but Tao Qian's men ambushed us halfway. We were caught off guard, and most of our brothers died in battle. However, I vaguely heard Zhang Kai say that it was Tao Qian's orders. They were afraid that Tao Qian would throw them out to take the blame, so they took a few carts of gold, silver, and jewelry and fled into Mount Mang Dang.”
"After they left, I followed them all the way. I didn't expect them to be too cunning. They changed places almost every day, so I've been keeping an eye on them all these years.”
"Xiao Wu, where are they now?”Cao Zheng asked.
"Young Master, they've been staying in the White Tiger Village in the deepest part of Mount Mang Dang.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。