Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 415: Fa Qiu Zhong Lang Jiang, success does not depend on me
"You mean, these shops might be the channels through which spies pass information to the outside world?"

After Xun Yu's reminder, Cao Cao suddenly realized that he was really blind. All the fine salt came from Liu Bei, so what about the people in the shop? They were naturally related to Liu Bei. Even if the soldiers and lieutenants went in openly, there would be no problem. Even if they were caught, they could say that they came to buy salt. It could be said that this was a nearly perfect meeting place.

"The baggage camp! It must be the baggage camp. It's fine for ordinary soldiers to go there to buy salt once or twice, but if they go there too often, it will definitely attract attention. Therefore, they must have an identity that allows them to buy things for a long time to avoid suspicion. Wen Ruo, tell Yuan Rang to focus on investigating the powerful captain and captain in the baggage camp who is responsible for purchasing fine salt!"

Xun Yu watched Cao Cao express his thoughts in a series and nodded involuntarily.

"Prime Minister, I will go and inform General Yuan Rang right away."

Xun Yu stood up, bowed to Cao Cao, and slowly left the room, leaving Cao Cao alone in the room. After solving the problem he had been thinking about, Cao Cao stopped thinking and sat down at his desk to continue the work he had not finished during the day. He, Liu Zhang, and Xun Yu had planned this plan for a long time, and in the end they got an outcome where all four sides were defeated and only he and Liu Zhang benefited. He certainly could not give up this opportunity.

The reason why he is recruiting soldiers at all costs now is to completely defeat Liu Bei in the near future. By that time, Sun Jian, who has suffered huge losses from multiple failures, will be even less likely to be his opponent. A magnificent blueprint has slowly emerged under Cao Cao's planning.

At the exit of Yizhou to the Western Regions, Liuzhu Bodhisattva was leading an army of 10,000 and 18 golden arhats to quickly pass through the pass and rush towards the Western Regions. Liuzhu Bodhisattva wished he could clamp the horse's belly with his legs, and kept whipping the horse with the whip in his hand, trying to make the horse run faster.

According to Cao Cao, nearly ten days ago, Liu Zhang led his army of more than 100,000 to retreat from Nanjun of Jingzhou and headed towards the Western Regions. In ten days, not to mention the army, even the caravans had arrived. Now what Liuzhu Bodhisattva is hoping is that the eight thousand monks hiding on Mount Nalanda can rely on the favorable terrain of Mount Nalanda to block Liu Zhang's army and hold out until he can return.

But Six-Pearl Bodhisattva knew in her heart that even if she could hold on until she returned, her 10,000 troops would be just a drop in the bucket for Mount Nalanda and would not change anything. All Six-Pearl Bodhisattva wanted was to save their king, even if she herself would die.

Behind the Six-Pearl Bodhisattva, more than a hundred riders were following them from a distance, heading towards the Western Regions. They were not in a hurry and always kept a safe distance from the Six-Pearl Bodhisattva and had not been discovered. In this way, they followed the Bodhisattva to the holy mountain in the Western Regions, Mount Nalanda.

However, the current Mount Nalanda no longer looks like a holy mountain. The entire mountain, from top to bottom, wherever the naked eye can see, is covered with flames of war. The flames of war everywhere frightened the Bodhisattva Liuzhu, and he led his men and horses to gallop up the mountain.

The way up the mountain was so steep that there was no room for several horses to advance in unison. How could such a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack be completely defeated in such a short time? Even if there were hundreds of thousands of troops, only tens of thousands of people could climb Mount Nalanda at most, and they had to face various assassinations during the climbing process. Under such circumstances, Mount Nalanda should not be undefendable.

At this moment, there were no troops of 100,000 on the top of Mount Nalanda. There were only 4,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and 200 Fa Qiu Zhonglang Jiang. With only 4,200 people, they reached the top of Mount Nalanda. In fact, the monks could not be blamed, because they encountered the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry that could defeat most armies in the Central Plains.

There is also the Fa Qiu Lieutenant, a special soldier with the same combat power as the Mojin Captain, and also has special skills in exploring water sources and finding Feng Shui. Every one of them can fight with the Younu Captain, and they have the basic attributes of a second-rate general. Coupled with the characteristic bonuses of Cao Cao and his subordinates, for these Fa Qiu Lieutenant, fighting these monks is no different from chopping melons and vegetables.

Before, when they were in the Central Plains, the reason why these monks were able to fight back and forth with the ordinary soldiers under Gu Rubing was entirely because the basic attributes of the monks were higher than those of ordinary soldiers. In addition, at that time they were Cao Cao's mercenaries and had the bonus of Cao Cao's characteristics.

Now, these monks have no special bonuses, only some basic attributes, how can they be the opponent of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, not to mention the Fa Qiu Lieutenant General. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and the Fa Qiu Lieutenant General together have only more than 4,200 people, and it is much more convenient for them to move than an army of hundreds of thousands, not to mention that the other side has only 8,000 monks.

As for the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Liu Zhang, they are now recruiting young and middle-aged people of appropriate age from various countries in the Western Regions. Although it is called recruitment, it is actually no different from arresting. Those who are willing to go with them will be given some gold, silver and food. Those who are unwilling to go with them will be forcibly taken away and left with some life-saving food.

More than 30 countries in the Western Regions, large and small, were all attacked by the Yizhou army. They only wanted people and nothing else. Their goal was to gather a group of troops who were ready to fight for Cao Cao and Liu Zhang at any time.

At the same time as Liu Zhang launched his operations in the Western Regions, Cao Cao's internal investigation of spies also officially began. At this moment, in the Cao army's supply camp, a powerful captain named Wang Zhao was carefully looking through an account book in his tent. The account book recorded all the food and fodder, as well as the movement of gold and silver in the supply camp. It can be said without exaggeration that mastering this account book is equivalent to mastering all the movements of Cao's army and knowing the reserve of Cao's army's food and fodder.

Just when Wang Zhao was carefully checking some of the details, a man suddenly rushed in from outside his tent and ran hurriedly to Wang Zhao.

"Captain, this is bad. For some reason, General Xiahou led his soldiers to surround our baggage camp in the middle of the night."

"General Xiahou? Which General Xiahou?"

Hearing these words, Wang Zhao's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Xiahou, Cao, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei all meant different things in Cao's army. Xiahou and Cao were both Cao Cao's direct descendants, or clan relatives, or cousins. These close relatives were the people Cao Cao trusted the most. Not to mention Xu Chu and Dian Wei, they were Cao Cao's most trusted and beloved generals.

"It's General Xiahou Dun. He has surrounded the entire baggage camp and only allows entry but not exit."

After he finished speaking, Wang Zhao tensed up, as if he was very nervous. The soldier who came in to report the news looked at Wang Zhao with some confusion, and when he was about to ask something, Wang Zhao waved his hand at him.

"Get out now and don't tell anyone you were here!"

"Ah? Captain, why?"

The man didn't understand what was going on and sweat started to appear on his forehead due to anxiety. Wang Zhao took a deep breath and cursed angrily.

"Get out! Who asked you to come? Get out?"

The sudden insult made the soldier stand still. With a roar of "Get out of here!", the soldier hurriedly ran out of the tent, leaving Wang Zhao alone sitting in the tent. Wang Zhao just stayed there quietly for about ten breaths, and then as if he had made up his mind, he picked up the brush at hand and continued writing on the paper with ink not yet dried. Then he folded it up and placed it in a grid under his desk.

After hiding it, Wang Zhao took a deep look at the place, as if he was worried, so he took out the paper again, then walked out of his tent, walked to the right for a while, came to the stable, and put the paper under the saddle of a gray horse.

Then he quickly returned to his tent, closed the account book and put it aside, then sat at the desk, quietly waiting for everything to happen next.

Soon, the curtain of his tent was lifted, and Xiahou Dun's deputy general walked into the tent with several soldiers. The deputy general held a list in his hand and glanced quickly at Wang Zhao.

"Wang Zhao, from Yanzhou, right?"

Wang Zhao nodded, which was considered as responding to the other party's call, and the deputy general nodded with satisfaction.

"We'll have to trouble you to come with us. There are some things that require your investigation." Wang Zhao had no objection to this. He stood up and walked in front of the deputy general. The deputy general seemed surprised by Wang Zhao's actions. He opened his eyes wide and watched Wang Zhao approaching him step by step, and was finally surrounded by two soldiers on both sides.

Soon, the four people were brought to the parade ground. Xiahou Chun was sitting on the parade ground, waiting for their arrival. All four were sent to the platform.

On the platform, Xiahou Dun was holding a long thin whip in his hand, which was used to tame wild horses. Even the most unruly horse would not be able to withstand a few whips from this special thin whip. Xiahou Dun swung the whip in his hand, looking at the four people on the platform with interest, with a sarcastic smile on his lips, and then he suddenly lashed the whip to the ground, making a loud noise.

"Oh, do you think that if you use the clothes on your body to frequently go to the salt shop to deliver information, I won't doubt you? Naive."

As Xiahou Dun spoke, he stood up and stopped sitting. He dragged the thin horse whip in his hand slowly forward on the school platform, leaving a light mark.

"Now, I will only give you one chance to speak. This time, you can only say three sentences. If you say them correctly, I will spare your lives. Among the four of you, whoever speaks the best will survive."

Xiahou Dun laughed ostentatiously and presumptuously. He first sealed off the salt shops. Although the three shop owners all denied that they were Liu Bei's spies, their military backgrounds betrayed them. Under severe torture, Xiahou Dun did not get any of the information he wanted. Finally, he found the name he wanted in the salt shop's account book.

After comparing the account books of the three salt shops, Xiahou Dun pulled out the names of these four people. Wang Zhao was one of them. Thinking of the salt shop owners who had been tortured by him, Xiahou Dun laughed even more happily.

"You may not know, but those three salt shop owners were really brave. I used all kinds of torture on them. One of them even brought his whole family here. I killed all four of them. I killed his son and daughter in front of him and his wife, and then I had my brothers beat his wife to death in front of him. But even so, he didn't betray you in the end. Wow, it's really touching, hahahaha."

As Xiahou Dun spoke, he swung a whip. A blood mark immediately appeared in front of Wang Zhao and the other person, quickly staining their clothes. Blood began to drip down their clothes. Wang Zhao didn't say a word, but the other person knelt on the ground in pain and kowtowed to Xiahou Dun repeatedly.

"General, General Xiahou, what are you talking about? I don't understand, General Xiahou! What did I do wrong?"

The man roared and kowtowed to Xiahou Dun, begging him to let him go, but Xiahou Dun ignored his screams and just stretched out a finger.

"I told you that you can only speak once and only three sentences in total. You said too much."

As Xiahou Dun spoke, he waved his hand, and the deputy general standing behind the man raised his sword and killed the powerful captain with his own hands. Then Xiahou Dun turned his attention to the few people again.

"It's your turn now. You still have a chance."

After waiting for a while, no one spoke, and Xiahou Dun chuckled.

"No one is talking, right? Well, you go ahead and talk."

Pointing to the person on the far left, Xiahou Dun said.

"I remember you are from Bingzhou, no relatives or friends, so there is nothing to hold against you. However, there is a young lady who is said to be in Xudu City and is familiar with you. How about I bring her over to play with my brothers?"

After hearing what Xiahou Dun said, the man roared angrily.

"you dare!"

Xiahou Dun still ignored his roar and just waved to the person next to him.

“That’s the first sentence.”

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"The second sentence."

As soon as he finished speaking, a young and beautiful girl was pulled onto the school platform. Xiahou Dun looked at them with interest.

"No wonder you were so moved by a girl from Xudu even though you had such a difficult mission. She is indeed pretty. Brothers, take her down and have some fun with her. Let's release her when she dies."

"Xiahou Dun, I fuck your grandma!"

The man rushed out and swung his fist at Xiahou Dun. Xiahou Dun swung out his horsewhip, tied the man's neck, and then strangled him to death. Seeing the man die, the woman who had been struggling fiercely stopped struggling and fell headfirst onto the knife of a soldier beside her and committed suicide.

Xiahou Dun looked at the scene in front of him without any emotional fluctuations. He took back the whip that was wrapped around the neck of the corpse and pointed at Wang Zhao, who was now on the far right.

"Come on, it's your turn, you speak."

Wang Zhao raised his head and looked at Xiahou Chun. The bloodstain on his chest was still oozing blood. He looked at Xiahou Dun, then looked around and then spoke.

“Success may not depend on me, but I must be part of it.”

(End of this chapter)