Chapter 51

Cao Song, the old man, was very stubborn and could not be persuaded, but he could be intimidated. After Xu and Cao De rushed back to the Cao family estate from Juxian, the two of them took turns to scare Cao Song. Xu first analyzed the current situation in Xuzhou and then said, "If Lord Cao stays in Yanzhou, the ambush and assassination will happen again. Although we can protect you for a while, we cannot protect you forever."

Cao Song shook his head, "At least there is the estate to defend against outsiders. If we set out on the road, we would be exposed and vulnerable, wouldn't that be even more dangerous?"

Cao De then advised, "Father, why did you accumulate such vast wealth? Don't you want to pass it on to your elder brother? If it is seized by outsiders, it will be too late to regret it."

Cao Song was greatly alarmed and grabbed his son's collar, "Do you mean they want to seize my wealth?"

Cao De spread his hands, "If not for that, they could just send an assassin to kill you. Why would they send troops?"

The fat on Cao Song's chin trembled, and he suddenly jumped up from the couch, "In that case, let's go, let's go!"

So they packed their luggage and set out on the journey—Cao Song and his son, as well as Cao De's underage son and daughter. The Cao family's wealth filled twenty to thirty carts, escorted by more than thirty surviving estate servants and soldiers, and Sun Fan's Lanyang troops. They left Lanyang Commandery and entered Taishan Commandery, first arriving at Hu County.

Zang Ba, Wu Dun, and Sun Guan personally came to pay their respects—Yin Li was stationed in Fei County. Cao Song glanced at the sky, casually exchanged a few words, and dismissed them. The group rested in Hu County for two days and then set out again, leaving through the north gate.

Hu County was a small town, and Zang Ba's main force of nearly seven thousand could not all be accommodated within the city walls. They were divided into dozens of units, most of which were camped outside the city or at key traffic points. Xu and his companions escorted the Cao family into Hu County, and Sun Fan also needed to report to the city, but his three hundred soldiers were not allowed to enter. They only rejoined the group at a pavilion ten miles outside the city after they left.

However, strangely, Xu noticed that the leader of the troops was no longer Sun Fan but a stranger. He called the officer over and asked, and the man bowed and reported, "Sun Fan has been assigned another task. I am Xue Xian, ordered to protect Lord Cao and his party."

Xu was secretly alarmed, thinking that the change in the leader had not been mentioned by Zang Ba. He scanned the soldiers and saw that more than a dozen of them were also unfamiliar faces. Sensing something was amiss, he ordered, "I accidentally left the official document in the county. Turn the carts around and return to the city."

As he gave the order, he kept a wary eye on Xue Xian. Xue Xian's expression was uncertain, and suddenly he clenched his teeth and shouted, "Attack!" He drew his saber and slashed at Xu's face.

Fortunately, Xu was prepared. He had practiced martial arts with Taishi Ci for several days and was no longer the weakman from Lelang who only knew how to shoot soft arrows. Seeing the flash of the blade, he quickly raised his arm to block it, while gathering his strength and shouting, "You dare... spare my life!"

There was no way around it; even if his martial arts had improved from H to G, his combat experience was still at J, and his courage was barely at Y. All he could do was instinctively cover his face and beg for mercy.

As the blade was about to sever Xu's arm, and if Xue Xian had more strength, it would have shattered his face. In that instant, countless heroic figures flashed through Xu's mind—Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian, Yan Liang, Wen Chou... none of them had good ends. A voice echoed in his mind, "I never thought that after traveling through two thousand years, I would end up as a ghost under the blade without making much of a difference in history..."

In the tension, one tends to close one's eyes, but just as he did, he heard a scream in front of him, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling. Xu bravely opened his eyes and saw the blade had stopped. Looking down, he saw Xue Xian lying on his back in front of the horse, an arrow in his neck, the feather still trembling. Who? Who saved my life?!

Looking up, he saw the dozen unfamiliar faces brandishing weapons and rushing towards the Cao family's carriage. The situation was sudden, and neither the Cao family's servants and strong men nor the Lanyang soldiers had time to react. They were about to reach Cao Song, who was already terrified, his fat body trembling, and even the strength to roll off the carriage had vanished.

Xu, knowing someone had come to the rescue, felt his courage grow. He quickly grabbed his bow and arrow and shot, hitting— the carriage. The "click" sound frightened Cao De, who covered his head, and Cao Song closed his eyes. It also startled one of the attackers, causing him to stumble and miss his target, only slashing the carriage's side.

Xu's first arrow missed, but the second one could not miss— the distance was less than twenty steps. It hit the attacker, blood spewing, splattering Cao De's face. This delay gave the Lanyang soldiers and the Cao family's strong men time to react, rushing to protect the carriage and engaging the attackers in combat.

Another arrow flew from nearby, felling another enemy. Xu shouted, "Protect Lord Cao, capture those traitors!" and turned to see a rider approaching like the wind. The rider was not tall, with an ordinary face, and it was none other than Zhang Kai, whom he had recently met.

Zhang Kai rode up to Xu, smiling obsequiously, "Mr. Xu, you have been frightened." Xu pointed at him, "You, you, you..." but could not speak. In a moment, the attackers, being few in number and their leader killed, were quickly killed or captured by the Cao family's strong men and the Lanyang soldiers.

Cao De ordered the strong men to continue protecting his father, wiped the blood from his face, jumped off the carriage, and ran to Xu and Zhang Kai. Zhang Kai quickly dismounted and knelt, "Greetings, Master Cao. I am Captain Zhang Kai. I received the alarm and rushed to rescue. Fortunately, Lord Cao is unharmed..."

Cao De, panting, asked, "What happened?"

Zhang Kai replied, "They are newly recruited soldiers in Hu County. This morning, they killed Captain Sun in a secret place in the city, stole the order, and planned to assassinate Lord Cao."

At this point, Xu's mind cleared. He suspected these were assassins sent by a co-conspirator in Yuan Shu's territory, infiltrating the escort team, waiting for the right moment to kill the Cao family. Fortunately, he was alert and immediately decided to return to the city when he sensed something was wrong, forcing them to act prematurely. "Who are you? How did you know to come to our rescue?"

Zhang Kai pulled out a piece of cloth from his chest and handed it to Xu, "I was ordered to protect Mr. Xu and Lord Cao." Xu took it and saw a small, thin piece of white silk, about the size of a palm, with neat small characters written on it:

"Escort the former Grand Commandant Cao to Yanzhou, ensuring the safety of Xu and the Cao family. Otherwise, bring your head."

The signature was: "Hong."

Xu passed the silk to Cao De and asked, "Who is your master?"

Zhang Kai replied, "It is the Registrar of the State, Lord Cao."

Cao Hong, indeed, it was him!

In that instant, Xu understood everything. He glanced at the kneeling Zhang Kai— "You have hidden your identity well." Zhang Kai smiled obsequiously, "I apologize for deceiving Mr. Xu. I hope you will forgive me for my assistance just now." Xu asked, "Do you recognize the writing on this silk?" Zhang Kai replied, "I admit I deceived Mr. Xu. I hope you will forgive me for my assistance just now." Xu asked again, "What are your characters?" Zhang Kai replied, "They are the 'Zhang' of 'bow and long' and the 'Kai' of 'door frame.'"

So that was it! In the original history, it was likely that Cao Hong had secretly sent Zhang Kai to kill the Cao family, both to disrupt the alliance between Xuzhou and Yanzhou and to clear his and Tao Qian's suspicions. By blaming everything on the unknown Zhang Kai, most of the warlords would not blame Tao Qian, at most criticizing him for poor military discipline and poor judgment. This is why later, Gongsun Zan had a reason to send Liu Bei to save Xuzhou. Of course, he did not expect that Cao Cao, who had long coveted Xuzhou, would blame Tao Qian as the main culprit and seek to eliminate him.

The true mystery of the original history was probably this!

But now everything had changed. Cao Hong partially agreed to the alliance between Xuzhou and Yanzhou because Xu, Cao, Mi, and Chen had already united. Whoever ruled Xuzhou would find it difficult to shake his position. In the chaos, it was better to temporarily hand Xuzhou over to Cao Cao than to Tao Qian's incompetent sons. Therefore, Zhang Kai was no longer the executioner of the Cao family but their savior.

Just as he was thinking this, Cao Song's voice came from the carriage, "Return to the city, quickly!"

"We cannot return," Zhang Kai hurriedly said to Xu and Cao De, "There may be their accomplices in the city. I have already notified General Zang to search for them, but many new soldiers from Yanzhou have been recruited recently, and their quality is mixed. Even the Xuzhou soldiers may not be entirely reliable. Only Captain Sun's soldiers, who saved Lord Cao at the estate, are likely to be loyal. We should set out immediately and head to Yanzhou to meet Lord Cao."

Xu was still hesitant, and Zhang Kai quickly revealed his identity, "I am a guest of Registrar Cao, ordered to infiltrate General Zang's side to prevent him from competing with General Cao. Mr. Xu is a future son-in-law of the Cao family, so I consider you my half-master. I did not know this before, so I deceived you. What I say now is the truth."

Cao De said calmly, "Captain Zhang's words are reasonable. I will persuade my father to continue the journey." He then returned the secret order to Zhang Kai. Xu casually asked, "How did you communicate?"

Clearly, the last time he saw Zhang Kai, he had not received this secret order and was still in deep cover, pretending not to know Xu and Cao Hong's relationship, so he had to act dumb and claim he could not read.

Zhang Kai truthfully reported, "By carrier pigeon."

"Carrier pigeon!" Xu and Cao De exchanged glances, both seeing the same information in each other's eyes: "So that's how it is."

———————————I am the curtain divider——————————

Lanyang's famous deputy, Mr. Sun Fan, after running as a minor character for six chapters (not necessarily appearing in every chapter), finally bid farewell to us today, met his end, and left the stage. However, dear readers, you will find that he was not the most unfortunate. There was also Mr. Xue Xian, who, due to signing up late, had to meet his end as soon as he appeared. Let's all applaud for his selfless spirit and willingness to be a supporting character, and throw some collections, recommendations, and likes his way. Thank you!

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