The northern foot of Xionger Mountain.

Cao Cao lay behind a huge rock, looking at the Qiang and Hu soldiers galloping in the distance, worriedly. He crossed mountains and ridges and finally crossed Xionger Mountain. He thought that the suffering journey was about to end. As long as he walked into Luoyang City and into Zhu Jun's camp, even if he could not be reused immediately, he could at least eat a bite of hot rice, take a hot bath, and wash away the dust and bad luck in his body. Unexpectedly, what was hit was even greater bad luck.

The Qiang and Hu soldiers who could be seen everywhere all illustrate one thing. Luoyang was once again captured by Dong Zhuo's subordinates. Only God knows whether Zhu Jun is still alive.

"Meng De, how about it?" Xiahou Dun struggled to climb over. Although he used a lot of medicine along the way and asked someone to clean his wounds, his left eye was still festered, often burning to the point of being unconscious and talking nonsense. But he was like a stone, and he refused to fall down, miraculously sticking to the present.

Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Dun and suddenly felt ashamed of his depression. Xiahou Dun did not complain even if he was so hurt. What qualifications did he have to give up?

"The situation is not very good. There are Xiliang soldiers everywhere. Luoyang cannot go."

Xiahou Dun gritted his teeth, climbed up the stone, and lay side by side with Cao Cao. He raised his sleeve and rubbed his eyes. A piece of blood with pus was stained on the corner of his sleeve, and a white maggot was arching inside. He looked indifferently, rubbed the pus and blood on the stone, and crushed the maggots to death.

"Is that... Niu Fu's men? Why did he get here?"

Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Dun in surprise. "Can you see the flag so far away and recognize Niu Fu's battle flag?"

"Is it far?" Xiahou Dun suddenly laughed: "I can't tell the distance now."

Cao Cao's nose was sore, and he turned his head, so that Xiahou Dun would not see his wet eyes. Xiahou Dun glanced at him and said with a smile: "Meng De, I dreamed of Miaocai yesterday, and I sang a song "Fighting the South of the City" with him. He was still like that, he was not afraid of heaven or earth. Even when he turned around, he could not be too fast, otherwise his head would fall off. As for me, I had to be careful, often blocked my eyes to prevent wild birds from pecking at the carrion, and treat me as an Eastern Kitchen."

"Yuan Rang, stop talking." Cao Cao burst into tears and cried.

"What does it matter?" Xiahou Dun laughed. "The ox cavalry died in battle, and the horse lingered. A good man won the battlefield and wrapped his body in a horse. There is no regret in his life. I just feel that it is a pity that the Xiliang soldiers attacked Nanyang in two groups, and Sun Ce would be unable to escape and would never have the chance to compete with him again."

Cao Cao sighed. "I was panicked. I had known that Dong Zhuo sent two armies to attack Nanyang, even if Sun Ce's stone throwing machine smashed the city wall, I would not retreat. The three armies can seize the commander, but ordinary men cannot seize the will. I was frightened by his stone throwing machine and gave him a free gift."

Xi Zhicai, not far away, suddenly said: "General, retreat is for advancement. If you don't retreat, you will die in Wancheng. How can you see these?"

Cao Cao smiled bitterly. "But where else can I go now? Luoyang has fallen into Niu Fu's hands. I can't go to Dong Zhuo, right?"

Xi Zhicai stood up and shook his sleeves. "Of course, I won't submit to Dong Zhuo, that's a dying person. Let's go to Chang'an to help the emperor with his help."

"Go to Chang'an?" Cao Ren shouted.

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows slightly, pondered for a moment, and nodded slowly. "Yes, for the sake of just Sun Ce, why did he produce all the elite? This is not Dong Zhuo's original intention. Someone was luring the tiger away from the mountain. Could it be the prince's master?" He suddenly clapped his hands and smiled and said, "No wonder, I said, how could a gentleman like him bow to serve the thief? It turns out that he was trying to follow Li Ling's old trick."

Xi Zhicai glanced at Cao Cao and smiled slightly. "The general and Wang Zishi are old friends, don't you want to help him?"

"Of course I have to go." Cao Cao stood up and walked down the hillside. "If he is as I thought, we will help him. If he is willing to follow the thief, don't blame me for disregarding my old feelings and eliminating the thief for the country. Even if he fights his life, he will not let him destroy his reputation."

——

Du Ji became the governor of Jingzhou at first sight. Although the governor of Jingzhou could not leave Wan County, Du Ji's usefulness brought a good demonstration effect. As Yan Xiang arranged people to help those who settled in Nanyang, some appeared in front of Sun Ce through different channels, either self-recommendation or recommendation. Among them, there were those who left their names in history, such as Du Xi and Zhao Yan, who were more unknown, but most of them had a common characteristic: their family status was not high.

Du Xi and Zhao Yan were both from Yingchuan. Du Xi's great-grandfather was famous and became the prefect, but Du Xi's father was white. It can be seen that his grandfather had not been an official for a long time and did not even earn the benefits of responsibilities. Zhao Yan became famous when he was young and was known to Chen Qun and Xinpi, but the family backgrounds of both sides were far apart. Xinpi followed Yuan Shao to Hebei, and Chen Qun and Chen Ji went to Chang'an with his father Chen Ji. Zhao Yan and Du Xi had to flee to Nanyang.

If there was no recommendation from his fellow villager Xun Yu, it is really hard to say whether they could leave their names in history and what kind of records they had left.

Now Cao Cao was beaten like a dog of a betrayal by Sun Ce. Before Wang Zuo and Xun Yu found his lord, Du Xi and Zhao Yan could not count on him. When they learned that Sun Ce was respectful to his wise and nobles, they were happy. Du Xi's great-grandfather Du An had done Wan Ling, so Sun Ce asked him to fill the vacancy of Wan Ling. Zhao Yan had a tough personality, so Sun Ce asked him to be a military commander, specializing in military discipline, and strictly investigated illegal matters of each battalion.

Others have their own responsibilities because of their talents.

There are not many people, especially if he didn't see heavyweights, Sun Ce was still very content. Some things were not something he could do with just a shout. This is not just the influence of family background. Is Yuan Shu's family background good? These people are obviously in Nanyang, but they just don't miss him. To put it bluntly, except for the strong aristocratic families who are qualified to remain neutral and wait and see or even want to make a big vote, for most people, they still have to rely on others. Whether you choose you or not depends on whether you have investment value. Family background is just one of the reference standards.

Yuan Shu is a junk stock that has no investment value, so those who are capable are far away from him and do not want to be unlucky with him. If Sun Ce wants to attract more substantial talents, he must let people see his potential. Cao Cao’s reputation is not good, and it is not up to his own qualities and achievements to attract Xun Yu in the end?

Sun Ce believed that life would get better day by day. When he defeated Xu Rong and truly controlled Nanyang, more talents would naturally come to join him. He had to eat one bite of food, and things would be done one by one, and he would not be anxious.

After handing over the daily affairs of Wancheng to Yan Xiang, Du Xi, Du Ji and others, he devoted himself to the preparations for the war. He trained troops during the day, listened to the affairs reports of the generals at night, and analyzed the situation of the war.
Chapter completed!