Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Oh!"

Tao Qian slammed the "Manifesto for Revenge on the Bandits" in his hand on the table and shouted at the civil and military officials below.

"Who is it?! Who killed Cao Jugao?!"

Tao Qian's response was a silence in which everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Why did Cao Cao send his troops to invade the border? I just learned about Cao Jugao's death..."

When he said this, Tao Qian even laughed out of anger, his cloudy eyes staring at Chen Gui and Chen Deng, father and son, who were sitting on the side.

Cao Song was killed in Langya State, so it would have been fine if the magistrate of Dongguan County had abandoned his post and fled.

However, nearly half a month had passed since the incident, and Cao Cao's army had already invaded the border. It was only after Cao Cao's edict slapped Tao Qian in the face that he learned about these things.

Even if the Dongguan County magistrate tried to suppress the news of Cao Song's death in order to buy time to resign and flee, the news could not be concealed from the surrounding noble families. However, no one leaked any news to Tao Qian.

This made Tao Qian both furious and extremely ridiculous.

Knowing that the Xuzhou gentry must be taking revenge on Tao Qian's previous suppression, they deliberately concealed all the news of Cao Song's death.

Just when Tao Qian was furious, Liu Bei's letter was delivered to the Xuzhou governor's mansion, which also asked Tao Qian why he wanted to kill Cao Song.

After reading the letter, Tao Qian, who was already furious, almost felt dizzy and slammed the table in anger.

"Not me!"

But after venting his anger, Tao Qian realized that no one would believe anything he said.

After Tao Qian sat down again somewhat tiredly, he looked at the civil and military officials who were silent as a mouse below with a murderous look and said.

"Investigate! Find out for me whose subordinates attacked and killed Cao Jugao in Langya State!!"

When he spoke to the end, Tao Qian's eyes were almost fixed on Chen Gui, whose hair and beard were all white.

The Chen family is a large family in Xuzhou and also a representative of the Xuzhou aristocratic families.

While Tao Qian knew full well that he was innocent, there were only two people in Xuzhou who were the most suspicious.

One is the generals with a large number of private troops such as Cao Bao, Zang Ba, and Xiao Jian, and the other is the aristocratic families with deep roots in Xuzhou headed by Chen Gui.

Among them, Tao Qian was most suspicious of the Xuzhou family, who intended to retaliate against Tao Qian and also to provoke a war between Xuzhou and Qingzhou.

Feeling Tao Qian's gaze, Chen Gui stood up tremblingly and said.

"My lord, in my opinion, the man who attacked and killed General Cao was neither a general from Xuzhou nor a member of a noble family from Xuzhou."

"Why?" Tao Qian asked.

Chen Gui analyzed. "No matter who attacked and killed General Cao, they will not be tolerated in Xuzhou and Qingzhou. The Yuan family is on good terms with Cao Cao, and the lord is also on good terms with Liu Xuande. In this case, how can the Han Dynasty have a place to stay?"

As soon as these words were spoken, almost all the civil and military officials present nodded, also proving their innocence.

Who is out of his mind to make enemies with two princes at the same time for no reason?

Moreover, Cao Cao and Tao Qian also had allies behind them, so it could be said that most of the Han princes were offended at once.

The Xuzhou noble families would not do such a self-destructive thing, and the generals would not risk their lives for a little business.

"Who does Hanyu think did it?" Tao Qian asked.

Chen Gui coughed twice, pretending to be old and weak, then cupped his hands and answered.

"I am incompetent and don't know who did this."

At this moment, Chen Gui was like Di Ting between the True and False Monkey King.

Regardless of whether I have the answer to my guess in my heart, the conclusion I say out loud is that I don’t know, but it is definitely not me.

Since the murderer could not be a general or aristocratic family in Xuzhou, the answer was obviously the relevant princes. However, Tao Qian himself did not admit it, and the deceased was Cao Cao's father. Chen Gui did not dare to transfer the suspicion to Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Bei.

So, if you don’t know, you don’t know.

Tao Qian was not a fool, and he could see that Chen Gui was pretending to be confused.

Even though Tao Qian deliberately suppressed the Xuzhou families, he had to reuse the Chen family to stabilize Xuzhou internally.

Even though Tao Qian wanted to put a knife across the old man Chen Gui's neck at this moment, he could only force a smile and said.

"Cao Cao has led a large army to invade our territory. The only way to calm Cao Cao's anger and restore peace to Xuzhou is to quickly find the real culprit and hand him over to Cao Cao."

"As for who the real murderer is, it will take a highly respected person like Han Yu to investigate and prosecute him, so that the world can be convinced."

Most of the generals present failed to understand the deeper meaning of these words.

However, Chen Gui and Chen Deng understood that what Tao Qian urgently needed right now was not the real murderer, but he wanted to borrow Chen Gui's reputation to identify a real murderer and hand him over to Cao Cao to calm his anger.

But how could Chen Gui be willing to take the risk of dragging the Chen family into this vortex?
"My lord, forgive me for being blunt, but Cao Cao led his army south in the name of revenge, but it was not to avenge his father, but to take advantage of the opportunity to seize Xuzhou..."

After a pause, Chen Gui raised his old yet somewhat bright eyes, looked at Tao Qian, and said.

"Besides, Cao Cao has determined that you are the murderer. Even if I find the real murderer, I am afraid he will not admit it, which will weaken his momentum."

At this point, Tao Qian knew very well that it would be impossible to force Cao Cao to withdraw his troops by just finding a scapegoat, but Tao Qian, who had no courage left, could not help but harbor illusions.

Seeing that Chen Gui, the old fox, was unwilling to help, Tao Qian could only look at Cao Bao, whose eyes were both clear and confused, and spoke.

"General Cao."

"Here!" Cao Bao stood up and answered.

Tao Qian said seriously.

"You are to send someone to immediately investigate who exactly attacked and killed Cao Jugao. No matter who it is, no matter what their identity is, no matter which lord is involved, you must investigate it thoroughly for me."

"Yes, my lord."

Cao Bao's body trembled, and he felt deeply that Tao Qian valued him, and he responded with an even louder voice.

When Chen Deng saw this scene, a hint of contempt flashed across his face.

In Chen Deng's eyes, Cao Bao was exactly as his name suggested, a complete idiot.

Tao Qian is also an old and timid rat.

However, Chen Deng, concerned about the safety of the people of Xuzhou, hesitated for a moment and took the initiative to step forward and remind them.

"My lord, the real murderer must be investigated. After all, this involves the innocence of my lord and Xuzhou. However, Cao Cao has brought a large army and I am afraid he has already entered Langya."

"Right now, we should quickly mobilize troops and deploy defenses, and send someone to contact Lord Xuande and ask him to send reinforcements to help. This is the best strategy."

After hearing this, Tao Qian frowned and refused.

"For such a small matter, why do we need to ask Xuande to send troops to rescue us?"

Immediately, Tao Qian swept his eyes over the generals below and gave the order.

"Order Cao Bao to lead 60,000 troops north to Kaiyang and Jiqiu immediately, and make sure Cao Cao is stopped in Langya."

"I obey your command, Cao Bao!" Cao Bao responded quickly.

"As for the troops stationed by Yuan Shu in the Pei State area..."

Tao Qian hesitated for a moment, then gave the order. "To order Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Wu Dun and other generals who were originally stationed in Kaiyang to lead their 20,000 troops to move to Pengcheng for garrison." (End of this chapter)