Liu Bian at the start, so you're called Dong Zhuo, right?

The next day, at Chengde Hall.

The lights inside the hall were still on, but the sky outside was only just beginning to lighten.

"Urgent dispatch—!"

The sound was like a knife, cleaving directly into the Chengde Hall.

Wang Ming rushed out first, and the next instant, he was knocked backward by the impact—

The newcomer was covered in blood and mud, half of his armor was broken, and a deep gash on his left shoulder was haphazardly wrapped with cloth, with blood still dripping down.

He staggered, but stubbornly held on until he saw the young man in the hall, at which point he knelt down with a thud.

"Xiahou Dun...pays his respects to Your Highness!"

Liu Bian's eyes darkened.

Xiahou Dun's voice was hoarse, as if it had been ground with sand: "Mengde... ordered me to risk my life to send him back."

He held the letter above his head, his hand trembling as if he were grasping his life.

Liu Bian took it; there was only one word on the cover: Urgent.

open.

Though the words were few, Liu Bian knew that this time it was truly a dangerous situation—

The letter was full of the "chaotic" handwriting that Cao Cao rarely showed.

"There is an ambush in Jizhou, hidden between the road signs and the official seal."

I led more than ten people into the country, and we were tested twice within three days. Tonight, when we arrived at the border post, we were suddenly ambushed.

The men lying in ambush were not thieves; their ranks were orderly, and they seemed familiar with our movements, as if they had known we were coming.

The squad suffered more than half its casualties. Apart from Chen, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan, only five people remained, one of whom was seriously injured.

They did not rush to kill, but instead wanted to surround and cut off communication.

If Your Highness receives this letter, please remember: Do not rush. Saving me is easy, saving my mouth is difficult.

—Cao Mengde.

The words "Don't rush" pierced Liu Bian's heart like needles.

This immediately calmed Liu Bian down.

The hall fell eerily silent for a moment.

Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Cao Chun rushed in almost at the same moment—

They were on duty outside the East Palace when they heard the urgent message and knew something serious had happened.

Cao Hong spoke first, his voice hoarse: "Your Highness! Give me five hundred men! I will immediately lead troops out of the pass—"

Cao Ren was even more direct, his hand already on the hilt of his sword: "If the governor of Ji Province dares to touch the Imperial Guard, then he dares to touch the Crown Prince! I request permission to send troops!"

Cao Chun's eyes were red: "If we delay any longer, Mengde will be gone!"

Liu Bian raised his hand, and with just one movement, the voices of the three people were silenced by half.

He didn't get angry or yell; he simply placed the letter on the table, gently tapped the words "Don't rush" with his fingertip, and spoke in a calm tone:

"You're anxious, but I'm even more anxious than you."

"However, Mengde made it clear in his letter: they are not in a hurry to kill, but to surround."

"What are we surrounding? We're surrounding his people, and we're also surrounding our hearts."

"You now lead your troops and charge out—"

He looked up at the three men: "First, Zhao Zhong can immediately say in the Zhangde Hall: What is the Crown Prince's intention in privately mobilizing troops?"

"Secondly, Jizhou is waiting for this moment: waiting for us to get anxious, waiting for us to be in chaos, waiting for us to whisper the words 'the Crown Prince's private army' into Father Emperor's ear."

"third--"

Liu Bian paused for a moment, then lowered his voice even further:

"Once you enter Jizhou, you won't be rescuing people; you'll be throwing yourselves into their trap."

Cao Ren gritted his teeth, his chest heaving, but he managed to suppress his anger: "Then... how does Your Highness intend to save me?"

Liu Bian did not answer immediately, but turned to Wang Ming:

"Go and summon Xun Yu."

"Send another message: Have Cao Song prepare all the records of road tickets and ticket samples with secret marks from the past three months in Ji Province and send them over immediately."

Wang Ming was taken aback, then understood.

Your Highness must not only save Cao Cao, but the entire "road".

He responded and left.

Just then, a series of even steadyer and heavier footsteps sounded outside the hall.

It was unpleasant, yet felt like being struck on the ground with hammer blows.

"Huangfu Song requests an audience."

Liu Bian's eyes lit up. Huangfu Song was a master of military strategy; perhaps he had a solution.

"pass."

Huangfu Song entered the hall, still wearing his short armor and holding his wooden spear.

"Your Highness."

His eyes swept over the blood, letters, and shattered armor in the hall, his expression showing no panic, only a deep, cold indifference.

His voice wasn't loud, but it quelled everyone's restlessness.

"His Highness was late in coming during martial arts practice."

His gaze fell on Xiahou Dun, then on the letter on the table.

"Something happened?"

Liu Bian nodded.

He knew that this teacher was not only good at teaching how to shoot.

He knew even better that if this man wanted to protect the Han, he would protect him to the death.

Liu Bian made no further attempt to conceal the truth.

He recounted one thing after another: the "stagnant water" in Jizhou that year, the borrowing of the seal of the Tianshang Association, the double-numbered road signs, the nails jointly managed by Zhao Zhong, Cao Cao's pretext of entering Jizhou to inspect contraband, and the deduction that Taiping Dao might "hide fire".

Without exaggeration, it describes every detail.

It means presenting Huangfu Song with a list of accounts and a list of paths.

Finally, Liu Bian paused for a moment before asking:

"Teacher, do you have a good idea?"

Huangfu Song did not answer immediately.

After listening, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, as if he saw a net stretching from Jizhou all the way to Luoyang.

"The Way of Peace..." he repeated softly.

"If it really is them, then daring to submit to the Crown Prince's guards is not a 'cult gathering'."

"It's a military uprising."

Cao Ren couldn't help but exclaim, "General, what are we waiting for? Let's send troops to annihilate them!"

Huangfu Song looked up at him and said only one sentence:

"You can afford to suppress people, but you can't suppress their voices."

Cao Ren hesitated.

Huangfu Song then looked at Liu Bian, his voice as steady as if pressing down on iron:

"Your Highness has asked for a good strategy; I have three points to make."

"The first rule: When saving someone, you must do so in a legitimate and justifiable way."

He held up one finger: "No troops are to be deployed without an imperial edict. There must be a justification for deploying troops. If the justification is not legitimate, even if Mengde is rescued, people will write it as 'the crown prince secretly conspiring to seize military power.'"

The second point: When saving people, you must do so without getting involved.

He held up his second finger: "They've surrounded you but aren't killing you, which means they want you to come. The faster you come, the more exactly what they want."

The third saying: When saving someone, you must make the opponent anxious first.

He extended his third finger, pointing to the two characters on the table—"Jizhou".

"They were able to hide Ji Province for a year because of 'those who shelter them from the wind.' This wind originated in Luoyang. What you need to do is not to cut your way into Ji Province."

"It's like a gust of wind—stirring things up in Luoyang."

The hall fell silent once more.

Cao Cao's line in his letter, "It's easy to save me, but difficult to save my mouth," now seems to have been given a second half by Huangfu Song.

At this moment, an announcement was made outside the hall:

"Xun Yu has arrived—"

Xun Yu entered the hall and bowed. His gaze swept over Xiahou Dun's blood and the letter, his expression unchanged, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

He didn't rush to speak.

It was Huangfu Song who spoke first:

"Wenruo, you should listen to this too."

Xun Yu nodded slightly and stood aside, like a sword ready to be drawn at any moment.

Looking at Huangfu Song and Xun Yu, Liu Bian suddenly felt that all the people he could truly "see" in the hall had arrived.

He suppressed the burning urge to burst forth from his chest and whispered:

"Does the teacher mean... to establish a formal relationship first, and then use the situation to force a confrontation?"

Huangfu Song nodded, his tone resolute:

"Your Highness, please proceed to Zhangde Hall immediately."

"Your Majesty, please issue an edict: on the grounds of 'the circulation of prohibited goods in Ji Province, the falsification of road permits, and the unrest on the post roads,' order me, Huangfu Song—"

He paused, his gaze sharp as a knife:

"Leading troops for inspection."

"Once the title is granted, the soldiers will no longer be the soldiers of the Crown Prince's Palace, but the soldiers of the Han Dynasty."

"Then split into two groups: one group openly distributes food and medicine, carrying proclamations announcing 'amnesty for exchanging headscarves'—to gain the people's trust in the imperial court first;"

"The elite cavalry advanced stealthily, following the advice of 'do not rush' in Mengde's letter, to rescue people, to cut off communications, and to counter-encircle."

Xun Yu finally spoke, his voice still calm, but in his heart he had calculated this game of chess even more clearly:

"The general's strategy is feasible."

"Add one more point: Your Majesty, please order Zhao Zhong to jointly manage the signing and sealing—this time, he should also sign as well."

"The more he wanted to use the fire in Ji Province to turn against the Crown Prince, the more he needed to be given a chance to 'write it down himself'."

Cao Ren felt a chill run down his spine, and finally understood:

It wasn't just about saving Cao Cao.

The goal is to firmly establish the roles of "who delivers the message, who provides cover, and who lends their seal" within the established hierarchy.

Liu Bian slowly exhaled.

He looked up at Huangfu Song and bowed respectfully:

"It is a blessing for the Crown Prince and the Han Dynasty that the teacher is willing to help."

Huangfu Song waved his hand, leaving only one sentence:

"Stop talking about happiness or misfortune."

"Your Highness only remembers: the first principle of military strategy is not to win, but to not be led by others."

He looked at Xiahou Dun, his voice lower, but harder:

Tell Mengde—

"Hold on for three days."

"I will go to pick him up with the proper status."

Xiahou Dun's eyes welled up with tears, and he gritted his teeth and bowed:

"Your humble servant obeys!"

Liu Bian gripped the edge of the table tightly, but his expression was no longer flustered.

He finally managed to suppress his "urgency" and turn it into "steadiness".

The fog outside the palace had not yet dissipated, like a large net still covering Luoyang and Jizhou.

But this time, those on the ground began to wield knives with their hands behind their backs.