The soldiers and horses finally started to move. They were scared to death because at first, they thought that there was a fire in the city but the fire was getting bigger and bigger. Later on, some of the nearby camps could hear the battle cries coming from the city.
Their complexion suddenly changed. If something happened to Cao Cao, then everyone would die together with him.
Immediately, they began to order the soldiers and horses. These were the fast ones. Some of the slow ones were still sitting on the fishing platform. They didn't dare to approach the city without a military order.
Now, whether they were fast or slow, a messenger ran into the camp and said that the Prime Minister wanted to see them.
At the start, they were still calm. However, when they entered the city, it seemed that Cao Cao had deliberately made them enter through the south gate. When they saw the state of the south gate, with corpses strewn all over the ground, their faces turned pale.
They weren't afraid of corpses. Which one of them wasn't brave and good at fighting in the army? How could they be afraid of some corpses? They were afraid of the living person, their master Cao Cao.
The south gate was already in such a state, how could the city be any better? And their master Cao Cao would be very angry. Even if they used their buttocks to think, they would know. Therefore, each and every one of them had a pale complexion. They were crying as if their parents had died.
One by one, they entered the Yuan residence. Although the corpses inside the Yuan residence were taken away, the strong smell of blood still hadn't dissipated.
"Milord, those generals are here!" Cheng Yu said to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was wiping the body of a big man. This man was Xu Chu. Xu Chu didn't have any serious injuries but he had lost too much blood. Xu Chu's strong physique and thick fat saved his life. He wasn't killed by Zhao Yun on the spot but he still fainted because of excessive blood loss.
What Cao Cao needed to do now was to wipe the dirty parts of Xu Chu's body clean, and then use a clean cloth to help Xu Chu bind his wounds.
Cheng Yu called out once, but Cao Cao didn't respond. He thought that Cao Cao didn't hear him, so he called out a second time, but Cao Cao still didn't respond. Cheng Yu naturally knew that it wasn't that Cao Cao didn't hear him, but that he wouldn't immediately go out to meet those people.
Cheng Yu nodded and went out of the room. He saw Cao Jun's subordinates kneeling in front of the door. Each and every one of them had a lot of military exploits, at least at the level of ten thousand men. But now, each and every one of them was kneeling like a quail.
The sky gradually darkened. After kneeling for a long time, his legs would go numb due to insufficient blood supply.
One by one, the generals began to stagger.
It looked like it was about to collapse. Cao Cao finally finished wiping Xu Chu's body. He finally had time to meet them.
Each and every one of them breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they didn't have to kneel anymore. In fact, waiting was the most frightening thing, because you didn't know how angry Cao Cao was, whether he would kill you or not. Instead of being on tenterhooks, it was better to just die.
Hearing Cao Cao's words, each and every one of them stepped into Cao Cao's conference hall.
"We came late to protect you, Prime Minister, please punish us!" Each and every one of them knelt in front of Cao Cao.
Cao Cao looked indifferently at his subordinates who were kowtowing and admitting their mistakes. No one knew what he was thinking.
"Get up!" Cao Cao said to the people below.
But none of them dared to get up. The calmer Lao Cao was, the faster the storm was coming.
"Why, do I have to say it again?" Cao Cao continued.
"Yes!" Since Cao Cao said so, everyone also stood up. However, they still felt uneasy in their hearts.
"What crime did you all commit? Biding your time and not moving your troops without a military order is the way of a general!" Cao Cao praised them instead.
Each and every one of them breathed a sigh of relief. After all, their lord wasn't that angry.
"Xu Huang, I heard that when you saw the smoke signal in the city, you acted on your own? Are you preparing to move your troops into the city? " Cao Cao asked Xu Huang.
"Yes!" Xu Huang nodded his head. Although he gathered his troops, he was still hesitant and didn't dare to move. He didn't know if that was the smoke signal or something else.
"Xu Huang, Xu Gongming, what crime did you commit?" Cao Cao slammed the table and angrily reprimanded Xu Huang.
"This general, this general knows his crime!" Xu Huang hurriedly knelt down.
"You know your crime? What crime do you know? Humph, moving the troops without permission. Just because I gave you a military order, you want to move the army out of the camp? Cheng Yu, tell him what the military law should do? " Cao Cao angrily roared at Xu Huang.
"Follow the military law! All of you should be beheaded! " Cheng Yu said to Cao Cao.
Seeing how Cao Cao dealt with Xu Huang, the people on his side couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This was because they had been biding their time and didn't want to make any mistakes. Originally, they were apprehensive, afraid that Cao Cao would drag them out and behead them in a fit of anger. But now, it seems that this lord didn't have much of a reaction to biding his time and instead dealt with those who acted on their own initiative.
Serves you right for moving out without permission. Each and every one of them were immensely pleased with themselves for not moving out.
On the other hand, Cheng Yu shook his head. Those bunch of fools. How could the lord kill Xu Huang, Xu Gongming? What kind of person is Xu Huang? He can be considered as the lord's capable general. If the lord killed Xu Huang, wouldn't that be cutting off his own arm?! Therefore, the board that Cao Cao placed on Xu Huang's body would only be lifted up heavily before gently falling down.
However, those people didn't know this.
Sure enough, as Cheng Yu expected, someone immediately knelt down to plead for mercy for Xu Huang. Something like, although General Xu Huang was guilty, his crime didn't warrant death. Also, General Xu Huang only acted foolishly because he had the lord in his heart.
Cao Cao immediately had a way out and stepped down. Xu Huang's death sentence could be avoided, but he couldn't escape punishment. He was dragged out by Cao Cao and beaten ten times with the board. In addition, he was demoted by one rank and fined a year's worth of salary.
"As for you all, you are biding your time. Very good, very good!" Cao Cao said with a beaming smile as he looked at the few generals who were biding their time. When Cao Cao called for the commanders of these armies, he had sent people to investigate which soldiers had moved out and which ones hadn't. Cao Cao could tell at a glance which ones had moved out and which ones hadn't.
"Many thanks for the lord's praise. This is what we should do!" A few of them shamelessly said.
"Meritorious deeds are rewarded and wrongdoings are punished. This is the way of rewards and punishments. Don't you all agree?" Cao Cao said with a beaming smile.
"Lord, we didn't do anything. We don't dare to accept it!" A few of them were laughing in their hearts. Although they were declining, they were still looking at Cao Cao anxiously.
"Men, reward each of these generals with a hundred gold and promote them by one rank!" Cao Cao shouted to his subordinates.
"Lord is wise!" One by one, they knelt down on the ground and beamed with joy. They didn't do anything, yet they were receiving money, merit, and promotion. Who wouldn't want these kinds of benefits?
"Go, quickly go!" Just when these generals who were biding their time were still enjoying their rewards, a series of reprimands came from the other side.
A few Cao Jun's soldiers were pushing a few disheveled people to the outside of the conference hall.
These disheveled people were originally dejected. Suddenly, when they saw the people in the hall, their eyes lit up and they shouted loudly, "General, save us! General, save us!"
"En?" A few generals who were still receiving their rewards were stunned. Were these people from their camp?
"General, I am under Colonel He's command! Don't you recognize me? I even had a meal with you last time! "
"General, I am under Colonel Chen's command. Colonel Chen is my brother-in-law. Have you forgotten?" A few disheveled people tried to make friends.
Only then did these generals realize that these people were really from their camp.
"What's the situation!" Before Cao Cao could open his mouth, Cheng Yu angrily rebuked. "Where is this place? Who are you?"
"General, save us!" A few people with disheveled clothes shouted loudly.
It turned out that they were soldiers from the camp. However, when they were on duty, they went into the city to eat, drink, whore, and gamble. Now, because they lost money in gambling, they even killed people. Now that they were caught by Cao Jun, who was in charge of military discipline, they were basically dead. Now that they saw their general, they naturally treated him as a life-saving straw and called for help.
This time, it was a big problem. How could those generals be willing to see them? If they didn't call for help, the military police would be able to find them later. Now that they called for help, everyone was finished.
"Prime Minister, I don't know them!" One of the generals was more shrewd and immediately shook off his relationship with them.
"Yes, yes, Prime Minister, I don't know them either! Who are you? Do you know where this place is? Get out of here! " “
"General, you really don't recognize me? I am Wang Er!"
Not to mention Wang Er, even Wang Da and the others didn't dare to talk to him.
"Oh, aren't they from your army?" Cao Cao looked at those generals with a playful expression. "Men, drag them out and behead them. How dare they pretend to be soldiers from my army!"
Hearing Cao Cao say that he would behead them, those disheveled Cao Jun soldiers panicked. "Prime Minister, we are really General Chen, General Wang's subordinates! If you don't believe it, Prime Minister, look, we still have the army's arrow of command! "While speaking, someone took out the evidence.
Soon, someone handed it over to Cao Cao.
Cheng Yu nodded. This was indeed the army's seal.
"General Chen, General Wang?" Cao Cao looked at these people with a smile.
"Prime Minister, please forgive us, please forgive us!" Several people knelt down and kowtowed.
"I said that people should be clear about rewards and punishments. You didn't have any opinions just now. Now that you have received this reward, let's start the punishment!" Cao Cao's face suddenly changed like the weather in June. "Men, arrest these guilty generals!"
Cao Cao pointed at those generals who didn't move and counted out three crimes. First, they didn't manage their subordinates well. Second, they covered up their subordinates for accepting bribes. It should be that after knowing that Cao Cao would behead them, those disheveled Cao Jun soldiers pulled out all the unspoken rules. Things like when and where, how much money General Chen received, how much he received, how much he received, how much he received, how much he received, and how much he received. From ancient times until now, it was the same principle. No official could withstand the investigation. Even Liu Mang's subordinates, Zhuge Liang, were the same. Even if Zhuge Liang didn't take bribes, his family would still receive a lot of benefits because of Zhuge Liang.
So after the investigation, these few people were finished.
There was also the third crime, which was to deceive Cao Cao.
The punishment for these three crimes was directly dragged out by Cao Cao to be beheaded.
"Prime Minister, please spare our lives! Prime Minister, please spare our lives!" Several generals knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Cao Cao as they shouted.
"Mr. Cheng Yu, save us, save us!" Several people also shouted to Cao Cao's chief strategist, Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu shook his head. He walked to the side of these generals and gently lowered his body. They didn't deserve to die, but they forgot one thing. The reason Cao Cao wanted to kill them wasn't because of this.
It was because he didn't make a move before.
Several people were dragged out amidst the miserable cries. Soon, someone came back with a few heads in his hands.
"Hmph! These vermin actually appeared in my army. They deserve to die. Cheng Yu, didn't I ask you to be in charge of the military law department? "
"Cheng Yu is guilty!" Cheng Yu also knelt down and shouted to Cao Cao. Cheng Yu was also fined a year's salary.
However, Cheng Yu wasn't worried in the slightest. Was a year's salary a lot? To his Cheng Family, it was just a drizzle.
"That's enough. Xu Huang, this army cannot be without a general for even a day. Their subordinates will be under your command for the time being. Wait for me to find more suitable people before assigning new ones!" Cao Cao said to Xu Huang who had just received a beating.
At first, Xu Huang was still complaining about Cao Cao. But now, he was smiling like a flower. No matter what Cao Cao's arrangements were, he, Xu Huang, had already profited. With this military authority in his hands, even if Cao Cao arranged for new people to come over, he, Xu Huang, could still arrange the elites in the army to be under his direct command, and throw the old, weak, sick, and disabled over there. They immediately knelt down and accepted the order.
They looked at Xu Huang, who had just received a beating, and then looked at the heads that were being rewarded.
One by one, they finally understood what was going on.
How was this looking for trouble with Xu Huang? It was clearly a promotion in disguise! As for those who didn't make a move, they directly lost their lives. If there wasn't something fishy going on, they wouldn't believe it even if they were beaten to death.
Sure enough, the biggest difference was that Xu Huang had made a move. That was why he received a reward. Although the others didn't make a move, they had at least prepared their subordinates to prepare for any unexpected situations. As for those who were beheaded, they didn't make a move at all. They were people who didn't make a move.
One by one, they suddenly saw the light. As expected, accompanying the monarch was like accompanying a tiger. This Prime Minister Cao's face changed at will.
"Prime Minister is wise!" Even so, one by one, they still had to kneel down and respectfully shout to Cao Cao.
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