Three fast horses rushed over and quickly entered the valley. A knight turned over and threw the reins on the horse's back, ran up the hillside by himself, rushed to Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai, and bowed to salute.

"Wei Li, the chief of the scout camp Chen-character team, has met the general and the sir."

Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai exchanged glances, and Xi Zhicai coughed and said, "What about the other side of Wuguan?"

"Wuguan is under strict caution, and a large number of craftsmen from the baggage camp were dispatched to log and quarrying. We captured a prisoner and torture it. We learned that a large number of Xiliang soldiers were coming and that a great battle was about to come." Wei Li hesitated for a moment and said again: "There is another thing. On the way back to Wancheng, we saw a large number of craftsmen working hard to quarry in the southwest of Wancheng, with about two thousand people."

Cao Cao's heart moved, and suddenly slapped his thigh, and the words came to his mouth. When he saw Xi Zhicai's eyes, he swallowed them again.

Xi Zhicai waved his hand and signaled Wei Li to retreat. "General, since you want to retreat, of course it is better to be early than late. Once the outer city is broken and Yuan Highway's army enters the big city, can you still leave?"

Cao Cao smiled awkwardly. "Zhicai is right, I'm just a little ashamed. Alas, Sun Bofu is so cunning at a young age and will definitely be a strong enemy in the future."

"So what can I do if I cunning? Yuan Gonglu needs his efforts now, so I naturally have more trust. It is hard to say whether Nanyang can still rely so much on him. Sun Jian was a minor official, but his father and son were both good at using troops and were valued by Yuan Gonglu. Chen Gongwei, Yang Wenming and others must not be happy, and conflicts are inevitable."

Cao Cao sighed and turned over the horse. Cao Ren and others rushed out of the hiding woods, surrounded Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai, and walked northward. At noon, they received another news that Lou Gui had surrendered the city and Wancheng had fallen into the hands of Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao was mentally prepared for this, and said nothing, speeded up, caught up with the main force of the county soldiers led by Xiahou Dun, and headed north.

——

Yuan Shu stood upright, shook the whip with one hand, and pressed the Qiyao Sword and walked into the atrium of the prefect's mansion with great strides.

A large group of people stood in the courtyard, Yang Hong and Yuan Shu's son-in-law Huang Yi stood in front, Yuan Shu's eldest daughter Yuan Quan hugged her sister Yuan Heng and stood behind. Although they had all washed up in a hurry and changed into clean clothes, the marks left by the suffering of being imprisoned for one month could not be eliminated, and they all looked thin and frightened. Cai Mao and Lou Gui stood aside, with a cramped expression.

Yuan Shu glanced around his eyes and the smile on his face slowly dissipated.

"Where is Yao'er?"

"General Ming Rong..." Cai Mao went up to him, trying to pull Yuan Shu aside, but Yuan Shu pushed away with his palm. Yuan Shu walked towards Lou Gui, with murderous aura, without saying anything, raised his hand and whipped it. "Where are my son, where did you hide him?"

Lou Gui knelt down on the ground with a pounce, kowtowed repeatedly, and burst into tears. "General Ming, I really don't know. I have never seen General Ming's beloved son. It was only when Cai Degui asked just now that I knew General Ming's beloved son was also in the city. But... if the general doesn't believe it, let Ai and his son-in-law be here, you can ask them."

When Lou Gui found that Yuan Yao was missing, he wanted to kill Cao Cao's ancestors with eighteen generations with one sword. All the prisoners were there, but Yuan Shu's only son Yuan Yao was not there. This was not a credit, it was simply a pit. His first reaction at that time was to escape, but Cai Mao was by his side, and there was Yuan Shu's army outside the city, so he couldn't escape even if he wanted to. Even if he could escape himself, Yuan Shu would kill his family to vent his anger.

At this moment, the only way is to put all the blame on Cao Cao. Since Cao Cao implicated him, he could not think about it for Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu immediately turned to Huang Yi. "Tell me quickly, where has Yao'er been?"

Huang Yi came from a noble family and was a scholar. He used to be full of energy and thought he was literary and elegant. Now he has been imprisoned for a month and has lost all his strength. When Yuan Shu yelled, he suddenly sifted food all over his body and his legs became weak. He knelt in front of Yuan Shu, trembling and couldn't even say a complete sentence. However, his wife Yuan Quan was quite calm, and pulled Yuan Heng forward and knelt on the ground.

"Father, my brother was taken away by Cao Cao half a month ago and has never come back."

"Cao Cao?" Yuan Shu turned around and left, shouting loudly: "Celebrity Guard Camp, follow me to chase, chop the eunuch to death, and save my son."

Yan Xiang and Yang Hong were shocked and rushed over from left to right, stopping Yuan Shu. "General, no!"

"Get out!" Yuan Shu was furious and swung the whip and thrust it in a daze. Yan Xiang was better. Yang Hong had been imprisoned for so many days and was originally weak. He was whipped by Yuan Shu and was both ashamed and angry. He fainted. Seeing this, Yan Xiang quickly went to help him. Taking advantage of this, Yuan Shu rushed out of the prefect's mansion, called the guard camp, and rushed out of Wancheng.

Wancheng was in chaos. Yan Xiang was also a little confused. While sending people to chase Yuan Shu, he asked someone to go out of the city to invite Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

——

It was noon when I woke up. After all, I was young and had enough time to make up for it. I felt refreshed and exhausted. Huang Yueying had not woken up yet, but the quilt had crossed and the pillow was also held in her arms. Sun Ce quietly stood up and walked out of the tent. The camp was quiet, and the soldiers had already gotten up and were doing daily training under the command of the generals of various departments. Pang Tong cooked a pot of porridge, which was fragrant. Sun Ce washed up, served a large bowl of porridge, and slowly drank it in his hand.

"General, can I ask you a question?" Pang Tong squatted in front of Sun Ce, holding his face with both hands.

"sure."

"You... don't believe in the unity of man and nature?"

Sun Ce was surprised and glanced at Pang Tong. "Why did you suddenly ask this question?"

"I saw you and Cai Boyi talk about the way of heaven yesterday. Cai Boyi first said that the seven politics can be counted, and then the unity of man and nature has an uncountable component. You said that those were made up by man. So, wouldn't the seven politics can be counted, but there is no unity of man and nature?"

Sun Ce did not answer Pang Tong immediately. He poured the sauce into the porridge, stirred it, drank it all, put down the bowl, wiped his mouth, and then said: "Life is born between heaven and earth, and naturally it will be affected by heaven and earth, but this influence is potential and weak, and it is impossible to achieve immediate results. There are gains and losses in the government, so God immediately warns the celestial phenomena, and I don't believe this."

Pang Tong's eyes flashed. Since Dong Zhongshu entered the three strategies of heaven and man, Confucianism was the only one in official schools, the view of unity between man and nature has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even if he is not a scholar, he believes it without doubt. He is naturally among them. Yesterday, when he heard Sun Ce and Cai Yong discuss the way of heaven, he felt that Sun Ce did not agree with the unity between man and nature, and he was still skeptical. At this moment, he was confirmed from Sun Ce, and he couldn't react. But in a vague sense, he felt that what Sun Ce said seemed to make some sense, and Cai Yong's performance could explain the problem.

Seeing that Pang Tong was in a daze, Sun Ce did not disturb him, and got up and walked out of the tent, preparing to invite Zhou Yu. He was going to Wuguan tomorrow. He was not sure how Yuan Shu arranged Zhou Yu, so he wanted to ask Zhou Yu for clarity. He called Dian Wei on duty. Before he could give instructions, Zhou Yu hurried over, walked quickly to Sun Ce, grabbed his arm, and pulled him into the tent.

"Bo Fu, something happened."

Sun Ce was puzzled. "What happened?"

"The latter general took his personal guards and cavalry to chase Cao Cao."
Chapter completed!