Vol 2 Chapter 2897: The army was besieged internally and externally and was disheartened. Cao Ren w
Chapter 2897 The army was besieged internally and externally and was disheartened, and Cao Ren was forcibly surrendered (Part 2)
Chapter 2893: The army was besieged internally and externally and was disheartened, and Cao Ren was forcibly surrendered (Part 2)
"Although my sword was heavy, I deliberately avoided the vital point. When I left, Cao Hong was still fine and could even stand up. How could he die of serious injuries so quickly?" Cao Youwen defended with a puzzled look on his face.
Hearing this, Cao Zhen probably guessed the reason. Since Cao Youwen didn't kill him, it was most likely someone from Da Qin who did it secretly.
Don't ask him how he knew, because Cao Zhen, like Li Da, had already been in contact with the people of Heibingtai, otherwise how could he dare to openly challenge Cao Ren's authority.
After confirming that Cao Youwen was not the killer, Cao Zhen knew it. Naturally, he would not defend Cao Youwen, because it was meaningless, because whether it was Cao Youwen who killed him or not, Cao Hong's death was inseparable from him.
Whether it was Cao Hong that Cao Youwen killed is actually not important at all. What is important is what Cao Ren thinks.
If Cao Ren is really determined to avenge Cao Hong and directly lifts the table to get rid of Cao Youwen, even if Cao Zhen and Cao Youwen join forces, they may not be able to protect themselves. After all, the combined strength of the two families is only more than 30,000, which is only the total number of General Chen Liu. Three-tenths of the troops, not to mention Cao Zhen's troops were surrounded by Cao Ren.
Of course, if Cao Ren really does this, both sides will definitely lose and Qin will gain in the end, and there is a high probability that their father and son will die in this internal fight;
At this thought, Cao Zhen couldn't help but feel a little frightened. Obviously he was afraid that Cao Ren would overturn the table. After all, he didn't want to die.
The best way to calm Cao Ren's anger is to hand over the brothers Cao Youwen and Cao Youwan. Now that these two people are in Cao Zhen's army, it will be easy to capture them, but if you do, the consequences will be very serious. serious.
After all, Brother Cao Youwen came here to ask for cooperation. If the other neutral generals who were still waiting and watching saw that Cao Zhen took the initiative to hand over Brother Cao Youwen because he was afraid of Cao Ren, they would definitely not dare to cooperate with him. Cao Zhen would also The capital to fight against Cao Ren was completely lost.
In addition, after Cao Ren defeated Cao Youwen's brothers, if he were to point the finger at him, Cao Zhen would have no power to fight back.
If you protect Brother Cao Youwen, you and Cao Ren will die. If you don't protect them, they will drink poison to quench their thirst. Sooner or later, they will still be targeted by Cao Ren.
Facing these two options, Cao Zhen hesitated again and again, but finally decided to choose the former. He decided to put his money and life on the line again.
The last time Cao Zhen lost his bet, the price was the loss of his position as a city gate guard and the surrender of control of five thousand elites.
This time, Cao Zhen bet that Cao Ren did not want to let the fishermen of Qin die and benefit from the net, so he would take the initiative to tolerate it to appease the internal conflicts.
If Cao Zhen can win the bet this time, he will be the first contributor to the Qin army's victory over Chen Liu. If he loses the bet, it won't be a big deal, because only one of the former and the latter will die.
After thinking about this, Cao Zhen became more enthusiastic about Cao Youwen. After all, Cao Youwen could save the lives of their father and son now.
When Cao You heard that Cao Zhen's attitude changed and knew that the other party was willing to join forces with him, he was secretly relieved. After all, he was really desperate now. If Cao Zhen didn't join forces with him, their brothers would only die.
"Brother Zhen, if Cao Hong dies, Cao Ren will definitely not let me go. You openly opposed Cao Ren before, but he took away your position and military power. He will also not trust you. Now only you and I can protect ourselves. "Cao Youwen said with a sincere face.
“If we unite, we will both benefit; if we divide, we will hurt both.”
Cao Zhen also nodded in agreement and said: "Don't worry, brother, I won't just sit idly by."
Cao Youwen had a ruthless look on his face, and he leaned into his ear and whispered: "Brother Zhen, while the fire has restrained many of Cao Ren's troops, why don't we join forces with our two armies, force open the city gate, and let them go?" How about the Qin army entering the city?"
When Cao Zhen heard this, his face was full of shock. He obviously didn't expect Cao Youwen to be so bold. He was forced to openly rebel.
Although Cao Ren’s troops were constrained by the fire, it was possible for the two armies to merge and rebel at this time, but Cao Zhen would not agree to it anyway. There are two reasons for this:
First, Cao Ren still has an absolute advantage in military strength. Even if he is partially restrained by the fire, he will definitely be on guard. Even if the two families join forces to rebel, they may not succeed;
Second, Cao Zhen’s army is surrounded by Cao Ren. If they really rebel, they will be helping Cao Youwen to contain Cao Ren. Let’s not mention whether they can forcefully open the city gate. Even if they succeed, there may not be many people left;
As for the third point, Cao Zhen did not want to bear the infamy of surrender.
The generals named next to them surrendered, and they surrendered. After all, they were not members of the Cao family, so it would be okay if they were forced to surrender.
But if generals named Cao Zhen also surrender, they will be betraying their own families and tribesmen. This is much worse than surrendering with other surnames.
This is not just a concern for Cao Zhen alone, but also a concern for all the other surrendering generals named Cao. After all, if this spreads out, his reputation will be completely ruined. How can he have the face to see others in the future?
Therefore, Cao Zhen would not take the initiative to rebel unless it was absolutely necessary.
As for Cao Youwen, he naturally understands this truth, but this time he was forced to a dead end. Now Cao Hong has died inexplicably, but he still can't get rid of the blame. Naturally, he can't care about his reputation in order to save his life.
In Cao Zhen's plan, all forces should be united to force Cao Ren, the general, to surrender, and let Cao Ren bear the infamy of surrender.
Now Cao Youwen is destined to join the ranks of the capitulation faction. The strength of the capitulation faction in Cao's army has doubled in an instant, and they have the capital to initially confront Cao Ren. At this time, Cao Youwen wants to take action directly, how can Cao Zhen agree?
"No, you must not, my dear brother, although the fire has restrained some of Cao Ren's troops, Cao Ren's defense against us has only increased. At this time, rebellion can only lead to death."
How could Cao You not know what Cao Zhen said, but he was afraid that he would not be able to wait until that time. After all, although Cao Ren's methods were not as good as Cao Cao's, he still had a vigorous and resolute personality. After Cao Hong died, Cao Ren could not remain indifferent.
"But..." Seeing that Cao You was still hesitant, Cao Zhen continued to persuade: "The most urgent task now is to respond to the situation unchanged. Let's see Cao Ren's reaction first.
If Cao Ren continues to press, it won't be too late for us to fight him. At worst, we will break up and let Da Qin reap the benefits.
But if Cao Ren takes the overall situation into consideration and chooses to be patient and give in, we can take this opportunity to unite more forces, or even completely isolate Cao Ren, thereby forcing Cao Ren to surrender and let him bear the infamy for us.
This is the best outcome for us. "
As soon as Cao Zhen said this, Cao Youwen was inevitably moved. Although he didn't have any confidence in his heart, he was willing to gamble on this bright future.
“I hope everything will develop for the better.”
Cao Youwen smiled bitterly, and as soon as he finished speaking, Cao Ren's envoy came.
After Cao Zhen and Cao Youwen glanced at each other, they both knew that whether they would die or live this time would depend on Cao Ren's next choice.
With anxious and complicated feelings, Cao Zhen and Cao Youwen received and knelt down to listen to Cao Ren's envoy read out the order. They did not even dare to breathe during the whole process.
When they heard Cao Ren say in the order that the truth had been found out, that Brother Cao Youwen was innocent, and that Cao Hong's death had nothing to do with him, but was caused by a doctor's mistake, Cao Zhen and Cao Youwen couldn't help but feel relieved.
Although this does not mean that Cao Ren will not attack them, it at least shows that Cao Ren still takes the overall situation into consideration and will definitely not openly attack them before he is sure of victory. This will undoubtedly make Cao Zheng and Cao Youwen surrender. Gives you a lot of room to operate.
"Brother Youwen, you must not leave the camp next. If Cao Ren summons us, I will go to see him. You don't want to go. If I don't come back, my son will cooperate with you in raising an army. ”
Hearing Cao Zhen's words, Cao Youwen knew how dangerous it would be next, and Cao Zhen was already prepared to die.
Seeing the sadness on Cao Youwen's face, Cao Zhen couldn't help but smile and said: "Don't be so pessimistic. The grain depot was burned down and Cao Hong died. Cao Ren is now too busy to take care of himself. It's too late to comfort us. I don't think he will break up so soon."
As long as we recruit more people during this period, Cao Ren will be a polished commander, and we can completely eliminate him by then. "
Under Cao Zhen's persuasion, although Cao Youwen left, he kept his younger brother Cao Youwan as a hostage. After all, it was a major matter involving his family and life. No one would be relieved without a hostage. Moreover, Cao Youwan had a broken arm. There would be no use for him to go back, and he would be safer at Cao Zhen's place.
As soon as Cao Youwan left, a man in black walked out of the screen behind Cao Zhen. It was Ren Qianxing, the person in charge of Chenliu of Heibingtai.
Cao Zhen's expression suddenly changed when he saw Ren Qianxing, and he hurriedly said: "How dare you come in person? If Cao Ren finds out, you and I will both die."
Ren Qianxing looked unconcerned and asked with a smile: "General Cao, didn't you just say that Cao Ren is too busy to take care of himself, so how can he still have the energy to keep an eye on me? Don't worry, since I If you dare to appear here, you will never let Cao Ren find out."
Hearing Ren Qianxing's words, Cao Zhen's face turned extremely ugly. He felt that Ren Qianxing was spying on him, but he didn't care about that much at this time. He quickly asked: "We have reached this point now. How can we Please tell me the list of your own people.”
The surrender faction in Cao's army in Chenliu City was naturally not only Cao Zhen, Cao Bing, Li Da, and Cao Youwen, Cao Youwan, who was forced to rebel. There were also many people who were hiding, but they were not in the same position as Cao Youwan. Zhenli Da was so important, so it didn't play that big a role.
“General Cao, you have proven your loyalty to the empire, and the empire will naturally repay you.”
With that said, Ren Qianxing took out a piece of paper and said, "This is the list of my people. Burn it after you read it."
Cao Zhen quickly took it, and after reading it, his face was full of shock: "You Black Ice Platform actually instigated so many people to rebel?"
Although many of them do not hold military power, and the number of troops who do hold military power is not large, if so many people unite, it is enough to give him the confidence to face Cao Ren directly.
“Not everyone is like Cao Ren, knowing that he is going to die but he still takes the initiative to die. Most people are still afraid of death. As long as they are afraid of death, there is room for our Black Ice Platform to perform.”
Hearing what Ren Qianxing said, Cao Zhen continued to ask: "Why are the people with the most military power not on top? Didn't you send someone to lobby?"
Those people Cao Zhen mentioned are naturally Cao Ren's confidants, that is, Cao Cao's die-hard faction.
For these people, Ren Qianxing naturally sent people to instigate rebellion, but the effect was not good. No matter coercion or inducement, they could not make the other party succumb. On the contrary, he lost several first-class spies.
Of course, Ren Qianxing would not tell Cao Zhen. Instead, he argued: "Just recruiting all the people on the list is enough for you to fight against Cao Ren. In addition, my people helped you burn down the underground granary." , then Cao Jun's military morale will definitely be turbulent.
Cao Ren is now facing a desperate situation of internal and external difficulties. If you still can't win over these people and completely ignore Cao Ren, then I really wonder if you have found the wrong spokesperson. "
That's right, the plan to sideline and force Cao Ren to surrender was not Cao Zhen's idea, and he didn't have such a good mind. The person who really proposed it was Jia Xu.
I still have one day of sick leave tomorrow, so I’ll try my best to make up for what I owe
(End of this chapter)