Xiahou Mao cheered up and ordered people to take a bath and change clothes. After he finished washing, Xiahou Ba invited Cao Tai to come and discuss it together.
Cao Taiyan said: "Zilin has done me a lot of harm during this deployment of troops. If the generals had not begged for mercy, he would have been almost beheaded by Zhang Liao. Now in Xuchang, he will be punished."
Xia Houmao smiled bitterly and said, "You just gave me a false alarm. Compared to me losing hundreds of millions of property, what does it mean?"
Xiahou Ba asked: "I wonder how much of Zilin's property is hidden in Ye County. Given time, we can secretly dig it out and transport it back."
"Where are the gold and silver treasures?" Xia Houmao sighed: "My warehouse is full of money bills! For the convenience of transactions in Ye County, everyone uses Hanyuan Bank's money. Now that the bills have been burned, Hanyuan Bank has also been destroyed. For ashes, this time there is no proof, no evidence, all empty words are turned into smoke.”
Xiahou Ba was taken aback: "No wonder every family wants to fight for you."
Cao Tai was dissatisfied and said: "Because you are trying to show off your talents, you insist on marrying Guan Yu. Isn't this humiliating yourself?"
"That's because I think highly of him!" Xia Houmao said angrily: "Why is Guan Yu so proud? Zhang Fei even kidnapped my sister back then..."
Xiahou Ba advised: "Okay, you two don't have to fight anymore. The war is about to begin. Now is the time to make achievements and become famous. You and I need to work together."
Xia Houmao said with emotion: "What Zhong Quan said is true. Two setbacks made me realize that a man's ambition is to be famous for future generations, and money is really something outside of himself. Since God does not ask me to make money, I must lead the army to defeat the enemy. , let’s go see the Crown Prince now.”
Cao Tai asked: "Have you decided where to go?"
Xia Houmao said: "Of course I came to Kunyang to serve. Guan Yu dares to underestimate me. I will defeat him with my own hands."
Cao Tai laughed and said, "In the case of Ye County, every family's losses were blamed on my brother. If it weren't for the protection of the Crown Prince, you would have been accused by every family, and there would be no place for you in the Central Plains!"
"Is this happening?" Xia Houmao was surprised and said angrily: "These profit-seeking people, if I didn't help manage the money when they made money, where would they have gotten rich? Who can compare with me in this loss? How dare you have the nerve to settle accounts with me?"
Xia Houba said: "Guan Yu wants to settle accounts with you by name, and the prince is fully committed to guaranteeing it. If you come to the front of the battle, you will be killed by his sword. Do you know what happened to Yan Liang and Wen Chou?"
"Uh, um..." Xia Houmao touched his neck unconsciously and said, "In that case, let's go to Huainan, my father..."
"I won't go!" Cao Tai immediately refused: "My father has told me that if I want to lead the army again, I cannot be under his command to avoid criticism."
Xia Houmao looked at Xia Houba: "Zhong Quan, you just said you wanted to ask for orders to go on an expedition. What are your plans?"
Xiahou Ba smiled and said: "You two don't know anything. My father is fighting Liu Qi in Guanzhong. Military advisor Xun is worried about the empty space in Chang'an, so he sent a letter asking for help. Now that Guan Yu's army is approaching, the prince is worried that no one will lead the army. We go to Guanzhong, and there is much to be done. .”
"Hello, Guanzhong!" Cao Tai nodded happily and said, "I'm about to fight Liu Qi to avenge my previous shame."
"Without further delay, let's go see Zihuan now!" Xiahou Mao stood up, grabbed their arms, and said slowly: "The glory of the new generation of Cao and Xiahou will be carried forward by us!"
The three men nodded solemnly, went out in high spirits, and went to the palace to see Cao Pi, asking for orders to lead the expedition.
…
Zhuge Liang took advantage of Xiahou Mao's vanity and took the opportunity to provoke a war, and Guan Yu sent troops from Jingzhou to the northern expedition to the Central Plains.
At the same time, Liu Qi also sent troops from Hanzhong. Longzhong's strategy was about to be realized, and the morale of the Han army was greatly boosted.
Previously, Zhang Lu destroyed part of the plank road on Baoxie Road to protect Hanzhong. Xia Houyuan ordered people to repair the path, but it was not enough to dispatch a large army, so he returned without success several times.
When traveling through the Qinling Valley Road, there are many places where you need to pass through steep rocks. If there is no plank road, even if people can pass through, vehicles will not be able to pass, and grain and grass cannot be transported.
Without the support of food, grass and baggage, it is impossible to march on a large scale. Taking the Baoxie Road to cross the south is no less than sneaking across to Yinping, not to mention that there is a large army guarding the front?
When Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu, he took a detour along the Wudu Road and traveled thousands of miles. When he arrived at Yangping Pass, he ran out of food and grass. If the defenders hadn't caused chaos among themselves, they would have had no choice but to retreat.
When Zhuge Liang left Qishan for the first time, the street pavilion was lost and all the troops suffered serious losses. Only Zhao Yun burned the plank road and retreated calmly without any injuries.
Later, Cao Zhen took Hanzhong again, but due to the slow progress of building the plank road, he returned in vain and died in anger.
When Zhong Hui attacked Shu, he even used a borrowed knife to kill people. He ordered Xu Yi to lead the way and beheaded him because of his unfavorable conduct.
Generally speaking, Chencang Road is the flattest, which is also the main reason why Zhuge Liang sent out six expeditions to Qishan in the Northern Expedition, so Liu Qi sent Zhao Yun as a general. Although he was a rare soldier, he was actually the main force.
After Zhao Yun sent troops, Liu Qi also took Yan Yan as the vanguard. Zhuo Ying and Deng Xian then led the troops to repair the plank road and walked along the roadside while repairing it. The army marched slowly.
At this time, Yan Yan had led the vanguard straight into the Baoxie Road, walking along the cliff path, clearing obstacles along the way, and setting up checkpoints to guard against Cao's army, so that the rear army could calmly build the road.
On this day, when they were marching after the rain, the scouts came to report that there was an important place in front of them, Qingsong Plateau, where Cao's army was building a camp and was guarded by 3,000 troops.
Yan Yan asked: "Who is the guard general of Qingsongyuan?"
The scout replied: "It's Xiahou De, the nephew of Xiahouyuan clan!"
Yan Yan sneered and said: "Cao's army is full of descendants of relatives, but there are no people in the Central Plains?"
Lieutenant General Zhang Yi cupped his fists and said, "General, I would like to go and break camp and kill this man to increase the strength of the army."
Ju Fuyan said: "Cao's army is stationed in Qingsong Plateau. If they advance, they can capture Hanzhong, and if they retreat, they can protect Ji Valley. They are waiting for work. They must be heavily fortified and need to use strategies to defeat them."
Yan Yan nodded and said: "Cao's army must have found out that we were sending troops, but they did not leave the camp to fight. They must have been ordered to defend. They can use the method of provoking the generals to lure them out of the camp, kill them in the canyon, and then counterattack the camp."
Zhang Yi asked for the order: "The last general will go first."
Yan Yan laughed and said: "This battle is the first confrontation between me and Cao Jun. We must not lose the face of our Sichuan army."
Zhang Yi cupped his fists and said, "Follow your orders!"
Although Yan Yan was older, he had a high prestige in the Sichuan army. This time he was appointed as the vanguard. Zhang Yi took the initiative to ask for orders to follow him and led the two young generals to practice.
Ju Fuyan said: "On the way here just now, there is a dense forest on a cliff, which can be used as an ambush. The master went to ambush, and the disciples were here to help."
Yan Yan waved his hand and said: "Xiahou De must know that someone is a forward general. If he doesn't move, he will definitely be suspicious. This time he uses the trick of luring the snake out of the hole. He needs to lure the enemy himself. Xiaoxing goes to ambush. I have a reason."
Zhang Yi first led a thousand men and horses to Qingsong Plateau, where he saw steep cliffs and lush green pine trees on the top of the cliff.
There was only a canyon extending into the distance, and Cao Jun's camp was built with rocks, which was one foot high. There was an archery tower on the high platform, and the defenders had already beaten drums to give warning.
The sound of drums echoed in the valley, causing birds to circle in fright. Cao Jun stood on the gate, bows and arrows drawn, ready for battle.
Zhang Yi stepped out from his horse and shouted: "A certain person is Zhang Yi, a Han general. Who in the camp dares to fight with a certain person?"
