After hearing Cao Zhang's order, soldiers immediately came forward to hold down the Xiahou brothers.
Xiahou Shang was shocked and shouted loudly: "I am wronged, we did not collaborate with the enemy!"
Xia Houru also argued eagerly: "Coach, there must be a misunderstanding here, we were wronged!"
However, Cao Zhang had a cold face and said nothing, and the soldiers dragged the two of them out.
Xiahou Ba was also startled and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him: "Ziwen..."
Cao Zhang immediately stared: "What did you call me? There are only generals on the battlefield, not brothers!"
When Xia Houba saw Cao Zhang getting angry, he quickly changed his words and knelt down in front of him: "Commander. The two soldiers who joined the army will never collaborate with the enemy. There must be a misunderstanding here. Please be aware of it, commander!"
Cao Zhang snorted: "Okay, I'll let them understand!"
He shouted: "Bring the people back first!"
The soldiers escorted the Xiahou brothers back to Cao Zhang and knelt down in front of Cao Zhang.
Xia Houshang defended anxiously: "Coach, our brothers only want to defeat the enemy and share the coach's worries. We have no intention of collaborating with the enemy."
Xia Houru also argued eagerly: "Yes, please let the coach take a closer look and clear our brother's name!"
"Innocent?!" Cao Zhang sneered, and then asked sternly, "If you hadn't collaborated with the enemy, how would Li Jue know that I was going to Tianshui alone to meet Ma Teng with the holy envoy, and how could he arrange heavy troops to intercept and kill me?"
"If I hadn't made arrangements, Zhong Shizhong and I would have been killed by our enemies last night. Did you know that?!" Cao Zhang became angrier as he spoke, pointing at the two of them and angrily yelled.
Xia Houshang thought of what he had experienced the night before. It was indeed extremely dangerous, but he still didn't understand what this matter had to do with their brothers, and how it could be related to collaboration with the enemy.
"Coach, I really don't know how Li Jue knew your itinerary. How can you blame us for collaborating with the enemy?" Xia Houru had already asked the question first.
"You still don't admit it, right? Okay, let me ask you, are all the people accompanying you around now? Are there any missing people?" Cao Zhang walked slowly up to the two of them and asked coldly.
"This..." Xiahou Shang was at a loss for words. He was debating whether to tell Shi'a or not.
"What else is this? The night I assigned the mission, someone saw your entourage leading the horse out of the camp and has not returned yet. Where did he go?" Cao Zhang did not give Xiahou Shang a chance to breathe and continued to question. With.
When Xia Houru saw Cao Zhang asking about Shi A, he knew that he could no longer hide it, so he quickly admitted: "Commander, we did have one of our followers who left the camp, but when we sent him out, we were definitely not collaborating with the enemy, but asking him to report back to Xudu! "
"Go back to Xudu?" Cao Zhang looked at the two of them with a somewhat suspicious expression, judging the authenticity of their words.
Seeing the two people hesitating, Xiahou Ba became anxious and stepped forward to urge: "Oh, if you two have something to say, please tell us clearly what is going on and why did you send someone back to Xudu to report?!"
Xiahou Shang looked at Cao Zhang and told them truthfully everything Cao Pi told them at the banquet before departure.
"Coach, what we said is the truth. Brother Zihuan is really worried about you, so he arranged for us to report the general situation at any time. He has good intentions." After Xia Houshang finished speaking, he was afraid that Cao Zhang would misunderstand, so he said good things for Cao Pi .
"Yes, coach, we have been unable to attack Chang'an for a long time. We were afraid that Sikong would blame us, so we thought of writing to brother Zihuan, hoping that he could help intercede in front of Sikong and buy time. This has absolutely nothing to do with collaborating with the enemy." Ru Ye argued vigorously.
After listening to the explanations of the two, Xiahou Ba also stepped forward to say good things to them: "Coach, these two are pure and good-natured, and they will definitely not do anything to collaborate with the enemy. I believe what they said is the truth!"
"The truth?!" Cao Zhang yelled angrily, "Do you know where the messenger you sent out went after leaving the camp? He went directly to Chang'an! This is what Ji Ji saw with his own eyes. He is definitely a collaborator. !”
"How is this possible?" Xiahou Shang's eyes widened in disbelief.
Xia Houru also couldn't believe it: "He was specially arranged for us by brother Zihuan. How could he go to Chang'an to report to Li Jue!?"
Xia Houba understood everything now, and said to Cao Zhang suddenly: "Coach, I understand, the collaborators are not Boyan and Junlin, but Cao Pi. It was Cao Pi who deliberately arranged a person to be around Boyan and the others, pretending to care. In fact, you are here to pass on our military information to Li Jue!"
Xu Shu, who had been silent all the time, slowly stepped forward, stroking his beard, and nodded gently: "Master, Mr. Zhongquan's analysis is somewhat reasonable, and it should be the truth of the matter. The two Xiahou Mr. Xiahou were deceived and used by him. But they are definitely not his accomplices."
Xia Houshang had already reacted at this time and repeatedly echoed: "Coach, this must be the case. We are being deceived and used. We really have no idea!"
Cao Zhang kept looking at the two of them, his expression slowly softened, he waved his hand to signal the soldiers to retreat, and then called the Xiahou brothers to stand up: "Get up!"
Xia Houshang and Xia Houru got up from the ground.
Xiahou Ba stepped forward and blamed the two of them: "You two fools, you were taken advantage of in such a way! If it weren't for Ziwen's clever plan and clever arrangement this time, not only him, but all of us would have followed. Finished!"
Xia Houshang came to his senses and saluted Cao Zhang quickly: "Coach, we were confused before and were taken advantage of by Zihuan, which almost caused a big mistake. Thank you for your kindness and forgiveness. I will follow you wholeheartedly from now on and will never be used by others again."
Xia Houru also hurriedly followed Xia Houchang to express his gratitude and following to Cao Zhang.
Cao Zhang helped the two of them up: "The two brothers were also used by others. This incident should be regarded as a lesson. In the future, you should never trust others easily, and you must never leak your military intelligence at will. Otherwise, even if we are brothers, I will not do it again." show mercy!"
The Xiahou brothers bowed their heads together and said yes.
Cao Zhang looked at the expressions of the two people and knew that his move to knock the mountain and shake the tiger had an effect.
In fact, he had already judged that the Xiahou brothers were not sincerely helping Cao Pi and were being used as undercover agents by his side.
But if they don't hit them in this way this time, they will never understand the stakes, and they will never truly surrender to themselves.
Another purpose of Cao Zhang's doing this is to establish his authority in front of the three people, so that these clan subordinates who talk about "brothers" all day long understand the vassal relationship between them and obey him from the bottom of their hearts!
Xia Houru was still in shock. He hadn't fully figured it out yet, so he muttered: "But, why did Zihuan do this? Why did he help the enemy deal with his own people?"
"Oh, Jun Lin, you are really my stupid brother. Why haven't you understood it yet? From the beginning, Cao Pi recommended Ziwen to take orders to fight. It was a conspiracy! He just wanted to kill Ziwen, do you understand!? Xia Houba said anxiously when he saw that Xia Houru was still confused.
After all, Xia Houru is also a talented person. After being reminded by Xia Houru, after thinking about it for a while, he understood the deep meaning behind it.
"In order to fight for the heir apparent, Zihuan did not hesitate to kill each other and disregarded the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. This is simply inhumanity and a heinous crime! When we return to Xudu, we must report his collaboration with the enemy to Sikong!" Xiahou Shang Unexpectedly, Cao Pi appeared to be generous on the surface, but secretly he was so sinister and vicious, shouting angrily.
"Yes, we must report it to Sikong and ask him to convict him!" Xia Houru was not willing to be teased by Cao Pi and agreed angrily.
"We must take care of him this time to vent the evil anger in my heart!" Xiahou Ba also vented his anger.
At this time, Cao Zhang had completely calmed down and shook his head gently: "I'm afraid you have to continue to hold in your breath. Since he dares to do this, he must have already thought of a way out for himself. We don't have any real evidence in our hands. , even if I sue my father, what will happen?"
When Cao Zhang said this, the three of them fell silent. They all also realized that they had no witnesses or physical evidence, so relying solely on the Xiahou brothers to report was obviously not enough to win people's trust, let alone convince the public.
"Then we took advantage of him like this!?" Xiahou Ba said unwillingly.
"Do you think I am a submissive person? Think about it, we won a big victory over Li Jue last night, and we are just around the corner to capture Chang'an. As long as we work harder and eradicate Li Jue, we will have achieved great success!"
"When we return to Xudu, the sales of Cao Gongzhi and "Thousand Character Classic" will definitely be on a large scale. I can continue to expand my reputation and status. I will rely on my true skills to slowly win what I want. everything!"
"I also want Cao Pi to watch. You can't harm me or defeat me with conspiracy and tricks! I want him to watch how I trample him step by step. This kind of psychological crushing is far better than killing him directly. If you kill him, you will be more relieved!" Cao Zhang confidently and proudly spoke out his way of fighting back against Cao Pi...
