Chapter 776: Xiahou’s Family Matters
It is said that Zhang Liao and Huang Gai got through the dog hole in the city wall and sneaked into Chenliu City. Chenliucheng had just fallen, and Cao's army was burning, killing, and looting. Zhang Liao was so heartbroken that he finally couldn't help but help and rescued a dying mother and daughter.
The special forces team members caught turtles in the jar and captured Cao Jun who had escaped long ago. Although Cao Jun had committed countless murders, seeing Huang Gai castrate the corpses of his comrades in a ferocious manner, he almost urinated and said that he was a soldier under Xiahou Mao.
Zhang Liao frowned slightly and decided to use Cao Jun's identity and clothing to take Xia Houmao hostage in order to find and rescue his own hostages. Xia Houmao has a distinguished status, so this plan is foolproof. Huang Gai nodded in agreement, secretly admiring him in his heart.
After being baptized by the flames of war, Zhang Liao and Huang Gai have become brothers. They have similar intelligence and martial arts, and they cherish each other. Zhang Liao and his party of five or six people changed into the uniforms of Cao Jun, while the others stood by where they were. Zhang Liao and Huang Gai escorted Cao's army straight to East Lake. There were rioters along the way, just burning, killing and looting. Who would pay attention to this small team?
Although East Lake is not big, it has beautiful scenery. The lake surface is not round, but it is like a curved swimming fish, surrounding two peninsulas. There are peanut trees on the peninsulas, and several antique courtyards among flowers and plants, just like the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. The small bridge in the water lane occupies this geomantic treasure.
Xia Houmao occupied one of the villa courtyards, and his garrison quickly deployed its defenses. Xia Houmao had tens of thousands of people under his command, but only a few hundred guards were elite tiger and leopard cavalry, which were the dowry after marrying Cao's daughter.
The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were also very well-disciplined, and all of them guarded their masters with all their might, and no one participated in the robbery. Zhang Liao and others lowered their heads and approached the courtyard. Immediately, several black-armored soldiers came over from the darkness of the woods and stopped them: "Where are the soldiers? We got here, why don't you get out of here!"
The Cao Bing who led the way stammered: "It turns out to be Brother Wang. The brothers went astray. Let's leave immediately." Seeing the crowd, those few turned around and hid back in the woods. Suddenly, a few black hands in the woods covered their faces. These tigers and leopards rode their noses and mouths and settled their accounts instantly.
Zhang Liao and others turned back, bypassed the outermost courtyard gate, and came to a dark wall. It was quiet and silent here, and there were no lights in the courtyard. Zhang Liao, Huang Gai and others waited for a while, and were about to stand on the wall to watch, when suddenly there were footsteps, and several people hurriedly got down.
A voice rang out urgently: "Duan Mo, what did Zizang and Zijiang commit? Do you want to be arrested and interrogated?" The voice fell, and it was actually mixed with the sounds of warblers and swallows.
Duan Mo is the current Taishan Changshui Colonel and a direct descendant of Xia Houmao. The reason why Duan Mo was able to rise to the position at a young age was purely due to Xia Houmao's promotion. Duan Mo, who had been waiting beside Xia Houmao and his wife for a long time, knew that what Qinghe liked was not the wanton and lustful Xia Houmao, but someone else, so the couple were not getting along.
Although Xiahou Mao is the son of Xiahou Dun, the term "a son of Gaoliang" is very appropriate to describe Xiahou Mao. He was lustful and careless and also liked to amass money. In the official history, Cao Cao betrothed his daughter Princess Qinghe to Xiahou Mao because of Xiahou Dun. After Cao Pi became emperor, Xiahou Mao's status became more prominent because he was a relative. Moreover, Cao Pi had always had a good relationship with Xiahou Mao, so Xiahou Mao was called the general guarding Guanzhong. Guanzhong is a strategic location for Cao Wei. Cao Pi's hasty approach of letting Xia Houmao guard Guanzhong was obviously childish. What did Xia Houmao do in Guanzhong? "Wei Lue" records: "When I was in the west, I had many concubines, and the princess was at odds with me." As a general guarding one side, Xiahou Mao actually kept many singing girls and beauties outside. He indulged in beauty all day long, lingering around. In the museum, over time, Princess Qinghe became dissatisfied.
Zhang Liao and others were overjoyed. They really couldn't find anything after wearing iron shoes. It took no effort to get here. They didn't expect that Xia Houmao and his servants actually walked to this corner. There were not many people who heard the footsteps, and there were many female relatives. If we don’t take action now, when will we wait?
Zhang Liao raised his head to ask for Huang Gai's opinion, and only heard the silent reply: "I came here urgently from Taishan County to ask the general to go back to rescue Zizang and Zijiang. Their crime is bullying the market and not abiding by etiquette. Madam. If you are willing to come forward, the younger one has no choice but to come to the general."
Xia Houmao said angrily: "These two little bastards, I know they are ignorant and incompetent at such a young age, and they will cause trouble sooner or later. Forget it, I will handwrite a book later, and you can go back to Taishan County overnight and give it to Taizhong Doctor Liu Ye, please order your Majesty to deal with these two boys severely!"
Duan Mo trembled when he heard this. He thought he heard it wrong and asked quickly: "What? Strict punishment?"
Xia Houmao said harshly: "Let Qinghe see the joke, these two boys must be dealt with severely!" Then his voice dropped and he said: "Liu Ye and Liu Ziyang are smart people. Naturally, I don't need to plead for mercy. I just ask for strict treatment. Liu Ye will think about it himself. The punishment will be appropriate, and I have no evidence of bending the law for personal gain, so I will not give up the truth."
Duan Mo understood. It turned out that Xiahou Mao was not a fool. As long as Xiahou Mao's autographed letter got into Liu Ye's hands, Liu Ye would naturally consider the relationship between Xiahou Mao and Qinghe, and he would also consider the matter and handle it, so as not to harm Xiahou Mao. The two younger brothers should be beheaded directly.
What Xia Houmao didn't expect was that he almost got killed because of the letter Duan Mo sent. This is something I won't mention later. Liu Ye, courtesy name Ziyang, was born in Chengde, Huainan. He was a descendant of Fuling King Liu Yan, son of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, and a famous strategist of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. Liu Ye was well-known at a young age and was known to have a talent for serving the world. He first served as Liu Xun, the governor of Lujiang, and saw through Sun Ce's false alliance plan. Later, Liu Xun defected to Cao Cao and became an important counselor under Cao Cao. He repeatedly came up with ingenious ideas and often had a precise understanding of the development of the world's situation. Liu Ye served as an official for several dynasties and was a veteran of Cao Wei for three dynasties. When he reached Taizhong Dafu and Dahonglu, he was granted the title of Marquis of Dongting. He died in the second year of Qinglong, and his posthumous title was Jinghou. Now that Liu Ye is in charge of public security in the capital, Xia Houmao naturally wants to intercede with him.
As soon as Xia Houmao finished speaking, a few pairs of big hands suddenly stretched out from the dark night and pushed Xia Houmao, Duan Mo, and several accompanying maids to the ground. They were shocked and about to scream, but suddenly they noticed the cold air in their throats. With a dagger, he suddenly didn't even dare to draw his breath. The women were knocked unconscious quickly to prevent them from screaming.
Seeing that Zhang Liao had succeeded with one blow, he couldn't help but look at Huang Gai's special forces members with admiration. They struck steadily and accurately, almost silently. With such assassination skills, Xia Houmao's martial arts skills were simply irresistible. Xia Houmao was shocked and finally stuttered: "Where is the hero..." However, his voice was exposed, and Huang Gai shouted softly: "It's him!".
Before he finished speaking, Xia Houmao felt his eyes go dark, and Zhang Liao cut the back of his neck with his palm, and he immediately fainted. Seeing that Huang Gai had succeeded, he gave a signal to retreat. Zhang Liao carried Xiahou Mao on his back and jumped out of the wall, allowing the Cao army leading the way to identify him. It was undoubtedly Xiahou Mao. Zhang Liao stabbed the dagger through Cao Jun's throat and shouted in a low voice: "Anyone who insults an underage girl will die!"
If you want to know what happens next, listen to the explanation next time.
