Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

Everyone was shocked.

Pang De, a warrior, was so angry that he lost his mind and wanted to draw his sword to kill Zhang Song.

Or behead him in front of Cao Cao!

The people around were stunned and stepped back subconsciously, and no one dared to step forward to stop it.

"Your Majesty, save me~~"

Zhang Song screamed and stumbled back towards Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was also surprised. He did not expect Pang De to dare to act so rashly.

The shock instantly made him furious and he shouted:
"Where is Dian Wei!"

Dian Wei, who was standing beside him, rushed forward and blocked Zhang Song. He held his iron halberd horizontally and shouted:
"Pound, you are so brave, why don't you put away your sword?"

The most powerful general of Qin State takes action!

The roar of the tiger and bear made Pound's scalp numb and his eardrums sting, and immediately woke him up from his loss of control.

Pound suddenly came to his senses and realized that he had acted rashly and made a big mistake.

Drawing a sword and demanding the ministers' death in front of the emperor, isn't this treason?
"Bang!"

Pang De's sword fell to the ground and he fell to his knees.

"Your Majesty, I was so angry with Zhang Song that I lost my temper. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me!"

Pang De kowtowed to the ground and hurriedly apologized to Cao Cao.

Dian Wei held the halberd in his hand, glanced back at Cao Cao, and waited for Cao Cao's order.

As long as Cao Cao nodded, he could immediately take action and kill Pang De.

Even if Pang De dared to resist, he was absolutely confident that he could cut off Pang De's head by himself.

Cao Cao's brows were furrowed, his face was as gloomy as iron, and for a moment, there was indeed a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.

On the one hand, Zhang Song's accusation did arouse his suspicion of Pang De.

On the other hand, Pang De's action of drawing his sword to kill Zhang Song just now deeply angered him and made him feel that his authority was offended.

"Pang Lingming, you have to give me an explanation for what Zhang Yongnian said!"

Cao Cao asked in a deep voice, his tone hinting at murderous intent.

Pang De bowed his hands and said with a sad and angry look:

"Your Majesty, although Ma Chao is my former master, I and he now serve different masters. If we meet again on the battlefield, we will fight to the death."

"Your Majesty has been kind to me, and I will never forget it, let alone betray you."

"That villain Zhang Song, every word he said was a slander against me."

"I am a reckless man, I could not win the argument, I was so angry that I did such a rash thing just now."

"If Your Majesty punishes me for this crime, I will accept it willingly and will not complain even if I die."

"But if Your Majesty believes Zhang Song's slander against me, questions my loyalty to Your Majesty and the Qin Dynasty, and charges me with treason, I will never submit even if I die!"

"Your Majesty, please tell me clearly!"

After Pang De's impassioned and indignant defense, he knocked his forehead deeply to the ground.

The gloom on Cao Cao's face dissipated a little, and the suspicion in his eyes also faded a lot because of Pang De's sincere, aggrieved and angry words.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking frankly. What Yongnian said is indeed one-sided. There is no conclusive evidence to prove that Pang Lingming is collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country."

"As for today's disastrous defeat, he did forget the instructions of His Majesty and was defeated by the Han army's crossbows, but this cannot be used to conclude that he was secretly in contact with Liu Bei."

"At this critical moment, I think if we kill the general based on speculation, it will only cause instability in the army."

At the critical moment, Guo Jia stood up to defend Pang De.

As a native of Xiliang, Jia Xu wanted to speak up to defend Pang De, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. Zhang Song's face darkened, and he secretly glared at Guo Jia, then he stepped forward and bowed:

"Your Majesty, this is a critical moment, so we must eradicate the traitors—"

"enough!"

Cao Cao raised his hand and interrupted Zhang Song's continued fanning the flames.

After all, he was not a foolish ruler like Yuan Shu. He was the only powerful ruler in the world who could compete with Liu Bei. How could he be easily instigated by a few words from him and completely lose his rational judgment?

Guo Jia's words successfully brought Cao Cao back to his senses, making him calm down and re-examine the whole matter.

"Pang Lingming, please stand up. I will not pursue this matter for now."

"And you, Zhang Yongnian, you also shut up and don't mention this matter again."

"This matter ends here, no one is allowed to mention it again!"

Cao Cao gave each of them fifty lashes of the cane, and finally resorted to the method of compromise to deal with them.

There was no way. The Xiliang Legion accounted for a huge proportion in his Qin army, and Pang De was quite prestigious among the Qin army from Xiliang.

Especially in the cavalry corps, no one can replace Pound's influence.

Under the current situation, would he dare to kill Pang De based solely on Zhang Song's one-sided statement without considering the thoughts of the Qin soldiers in Xiliang?
Of course not.

As for Zhang Song, how could Cao Cao not see that Zhang Song's efforts in accusing Pang De were intended to find a scapegoat for his own miscalculation?

Naturally, deep in his heart, he felt great disgust and resentment towards this ugly and conceited strategist from Shu.

However, Zhang Song was the ceiling of Yizhou officials in the Qin court and had great influence among the people of Shu.

If Zhang Song were to be held accountable rashly, it would inevitably affect the loyalty of the people of Shu towards him.

With all these concerns, Cao Cao had no choice but to resort to compromise.

After the emperor said this, Zhang Song had no choice but to shut up.

Although Pang De still felt aggrieved, he did not dare to argue any more. He could only stand up silently, not daring to protest for his injustice anymore.

Guo Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed again:

"Your Majesty, the Han army has now established a firm foothold on the south bank of the Wei River. Liu Bei just gave up crossing the river, so he must lead his army upstream to cross the river."

"Our Weishui defense strategy has already failed. It is impossible to defend the Weikou."

"I think that Your Majesty should quickly order the army to abandon Weikou and retreat to Chang'an. At the same time, order the army guarding Tongguan to immediately abandon the city and retreat to Chang'an."

"Only in this way can we preserve our strength as much as possible and have hope of defending Chang'an."

"Otherwise, if you hesitate any longer, our army will be in danger of being wiped out!"

Cao Cao was startled and fell into silence again.

He raised his head and looked towards the north bank of the Wei River.

At this moment, he seemed to see Liu Bei's mocking look as he stood on the shore, sneering at Weikou City.

What's worse, Liu Bei is no longer in the camp and is leading his army towards the upstream floating bridge.

The last line of defense collapsed.

Once again, he was fooled by Liu Bei, once again he lost cities and territories, and once again he suffered heavy casualties!
At this moment, what Cao Cao felt more in his heart was not anger, but a deep sense of powerlessness.

"Despite all our efforts, we still failed to stop the big-eared thief, and he killed us and entered the Guanzhong Plain."

"Could it be that I really have to follow in Yuan Shao's footsteps?"

"Ah~~"

Cao Cao sighed helplessly, then waved his hands feebly:
"Pass on my order to abandon Weikou and Tongguan, and all troops should retreat westwards to Chang'an immediately!" (End of this chapter)