With great joy of victory, Cao Cao led his victorious army back to Yecheng in a mighty way.

After entering the city, Cao Cao immediately praised the civil and military officials who made great contributions, especially Cao Chun, Zhang Liao and Zhang He who bravely took the lead in the Battle of Bailang Mountain, which gave Yu a reward that was beyond ordinary people.

Unlike Zhang Liao, Cao Chun and others who were pleased to accept the reward, Zhang He seemed worried, so he was particularly eye-catching among the three of them. Cao Cao saw that he was displeased with the reward. At this time, Cao Cao was in an excited mood, so he pointed at Cao Pi who read the reward directory and smiled:

"Junyi, how can you achieve such a brilliant record and still feel depressed? Just say whatever you want, I agree to it!"

The civil and military generals standing in the two rows complained about Zhang He's ignorant attitude, especially Cao Hong, who replaced him to fight for Liucheng, even more accused Zhang He:

"Why are the general not satisfied with the reward that is higher than all of us? Isn't it too greedy?"

Not only that, Cao Hong, who was jealous, also intended to make things difficult for Zhang He:

"Or, is the general still missing the Yuan clan, so is he sad about it?"

At this time, among the generals standing in the hall, except Gao Lan, Zhang He was the old minister of the Yuan clan. After Cao Hong's words, some people began to unable to help but discuss. At this time, Cui Yan, who was also a surrendered minister of the Yuan clan, stood up and refuted Cao Hong:

"The general is so bad. According to my opinion, General Zhang He is a man of both loyalty and righteousness. Why did he force him to speak like this?"

Cao Hong, who had no good impression of the surrendered minister of the Yuan family, saw Cui Yan, a seemingly weak scholar, dared to confront him in person, for a moment, forgot that Cao Cao was also on the scene, and immediately pulled out the sword from his waist and was about to point at Cui Yan.

What he never expected was that when his hand held the hilt of the sword and pulled out the sword and was about to swing it towards Cui Yan, Cui Yan actually stretched out his right hand and grabbed Cao Hong's wrist at the same time, leaving Cao Hong's hand holding the sword without any force.

Immediately afterwards, Cui Yan pinched Cao Hong's wrist, and Cao Hong's sword fell off due to paralysis of his meridians.

Cui Yan quickly squatted down and caught the sword, and inserted it back into the scabbard around Cao Hong's waist.

Seeing such a wonderful scene, Cao Cao had a new understanding of Cui Yan, and then he spoke to stop the conflict between the two:

"stop..."

Hearing Cao Cao's words blocking him, Cui Yan quickly turned around and bowed to Cao Cao and said:

"The surrendered ministers are so rude, so please ask Lord Sikong to sue him..."

Unexpectedly, Cao Cao had no intention of blaming Cui Yan at all. Instead, he scolded Cao Hong for his reckless behavior:

"Zi Lian, you are so majestic. You dare to draw your sword in front of me..."

Cao Hong knew Cao Cao's temper well, so he quickly bowed and apologized: "I will know the crime!"

Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Cao Cao was particularly interested in Cui Yan's words just now:

"You said just now that Zhang He is a loyal and righteous person, please explain it in detail."

Cui Yan calmly replied: "Although General Zhang He was a general in front of the battle, he has won every battle since he joined Cao Gong's command. He even made great contributions to the encirclement of Tadun in the Battle of Bailang Mountain. This is loyal. However, General Zhang He has been in Hebei for several years and has always had the right to be a monarch and minister with Yuan Shao. It is reasonable to see the destruction of the Yuan clan today."

After hearing Cui Yan's comments, the officials nodded one after another. Xun You and Xin Pi looked at each other and also looked at him with admiration. Cheng Yu even said to Cao Cao bluntly: "I think Mr. Ji Gui is saying very much, so please ask the lord to investigate clearly."

After staring at Cui Yan for a while, Cao Cao slowly stood up and stretched out his hand to applaud him: "Well said."

Cui Yan's righteous words not only relieved Zhang He's siege, but also left a deep impression on Cao Cao.

In contrast, Cao Cao expressed great dissatisfaction with the unreasonable Cao Hong. Moreover, considering that most of the places in Hebei were former Yuan members, Cao Hong's mentality would inevitably have an adverse impact on local stability. Therefore, after the end of the Zhanggong Conference, Cao Cao sent him back to Xudu on the grounds of preventing Liu Biao and Sun Quan from attacking Yuzhou to assist Xun Yu's work.

In order to appease Cao Hong, Cao Cao did not express his inner thoughts, but said to him tactfully:

"You just got married before the Battle of Guandu. I heard that your wife is a beautiful lady. It has been very hard for you to accompany me to fight in the war. I think it is time to let you go home and reunite with your wife."

Cao Hong, who was not that complicated in his mind, thought Cao Cao was really just to sympathize with him, so he accepted it happily.

Since returning to Yecheng, Cao Cao has always missed Guo Jia very much and kept Guo Jia's instructions before his death in mind:

Be sure to take Cai Yan, who was trapped in the Hedong Huns, back to the Central Plains and take good care of him.

In fact, Cai Yan's father Cai Yong's name has long been admired by Cao Cao. After hearing Guo Jia tell the story of Cai Yong's daughter, he also sympathized with Cai Yan very much. So after dealing with many matters in Hebei, he officially put the welcome Cai Yan back to the Han Dynasty on the agenda.

For this reason, he once asked the meticulous Cheng Yu to discuss this matter. Cheng Yu also felt that the daughter of a famous Han scholar had fallen into the hands of the Huns for a long time was a disgrace to the dignity of the Han Dynasty. Although he did not know that this was Guo Jia's last wish, he still supported Cao Cao's idea and recommended two capable candidates to Cao Cao: Xin Pi and Cui Yan.

Cao Cao was very clear about the talents of these two people, but after repeated weighing the pros and cons, he decided to let Cui Yan complete this task, the reason was that Cui Yan could argue with reason without fear of anyone. Although Hu Chuquan had nominally surrendered to him, the Huns were divided into pieces and mixed with dragons and snakes. What's more, according to the information sent by Zhong Yao, Cai Yan was Yu Fulu's favorite concubine before his lifetime, and it was not easy to get Cai Yan back from the Huns.

On the other hand, Xinpi is slightly inferior to Cui Yan's pride and pride.

However, Cheng Yu thought in his heart that Cao Cao would send Xinpi, who was more meticulous, so he accidentally revealed this to Xinpi when he met in private.

When Cao Cao announced that Cui Yan was fully responsible for taking back Cai Yan, Xin Pi felt quite disappointed. After returning home, he couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that Lord Sikong still thinks Cui Yan is better than me, Xin Pi."

At this time, a fifteen-year-old girl walked out of the inner hall. She wore plain clothes and held the book in front of Xinpi:

"Why did my father sigh?"

Xinpi looked at the girl in front of her, and her eyes couldn't help but show her grief that she was not valued. After hearing Xinpi's description, the girl did not think so: "My daughter thinks that Master Sikong is right to do this. In terms of talent, his father is not inferior to Mr. Cui Yan, but you are a little inferior to that of principle. What's more, Lord Sikong immediately responded to you as the attendant when he wiped out Yuan Tan, and saw that he valued you, so there is no need to complain to yourself here."

After the girl gave this little trick, Xinpi looked up at the sky and said with a smile:

"Hahaha, I didn't expect that I, Xinpi, lived a long life and taught me a lesson with the young girl..."

At this point, Xinpi no longer had any concerns and worked for Cao Cao wholeheartedly.

Since An Ran returned to Tangyang, although she received careful care from the Sima brothers, Yuan Xi's death still could not really let her go. Whenever she thought of Yuan Xi's final farewell to him and Sima Yi, she felt secretly sad.

Although she didn't say it, Sima Yi still saw what she was thinking.

Until one day, Zhang Chunhua stood in front of the white horse given to Sima Yi by Cao Pi, remembering the memories of Yuan Xi teaching herself to ride a horse before. She couldn't help but stretch out her hand to caress the horse's back. Zhang Chunhua even believed that if she had not insisted on following Sima Yi to Bailang Mountain, at least she would be with him in the name of her sister when she died.

Now that he is in a different place, he is living well...

Just as she was immersed in pain and self-blame, she suddenly felt someone picking her up and putting her on the horse's back. When she recovered from her surprise, she found that Sima Yi, who was holding her, was already sitting behind her.

"Brother Zhongda, you..."

Before she could finish her words, Sima Yi walked around Zhang Chunhua's waist and grabbed the reins tightly, and gently patted the horse's belly to drive him forward: "I'll take you to a place."

The white horse carried Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua out of Tangyang City and headed straight to the hilltop of the northern suburbs.

Facing the gentle breeze, Zhang Chunhua felt that his heart seemed to calm down a little, and Sima Yi said in her ear:

"Do you want to be faster?"

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Chunhua nodded:

"kindness..."

Sima Yi smiled and waved the horse whip, whipped his ponytail hard and shouted: "Go!"

The white horse raised its front hooves after a long neighing. Zhang Chunhua subconsciously grabbed Sima Yi's hand holding the reins with both hands and leaned his back against his chest.

At this time, she knew that this man's chest had become her only support.

After speeding for a while, Sima Yi took the reins after reaching his destination, dismounted himself first, then reached out to hold Zhang Chunhua's hand and gently helped him down: "We're here."

“Where is this?”

Zhang Chunhua didn't know what Sima Yi was trying to bring her here, but she had no doubts.

Sima Yi stretched out his right hand and pointed to the two wooden stakes standing on the hillside in front and said to Zhang Chunhua:

"Come with me..."

Following his footsteps to the wooden stake, Zhang Chunhua was shocked by the scene in front of him:

These are not two simple wooden stakes, with the names of Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang engraved on them. Zhang Chunhua quickly understood that this was the tomb of clothing established by Sima Yi for Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang.

Seeing this scene, she couldn't suppress her long-hidden thoughts in her heart. Zhang Chunhua looked at Sima Yi with tears in her eyes and was full of gratitude for a moment. Sima Yi knew her thoughts, took off the package on the horse and took it to Yuan Xi's tomb and placed it on the grass, and opened the package. What was displayed in front of Zhang Chunhua was necessary sacrificial supplies.

"I know that Yuan Xi's death has always been upset, so I specially arranged this so that you can worship it."

Accompanied by Sima Yi, Zhang Chunhua not only worshiped Brother Yuan Xi, whom he had long admired, but even Yuan Shang, who lacked moral conduct, and Zhang Chunhua also worshipped Yuan Shao for his kindness and education.

After everything was finished, Zhang Chunhua stood in front of their tombs for a long time and silently. Although time had passed for a long time, Sima Yi did not urge him. He just stood silently behind her and accompanied him.

Suddenly, a cry for help came not far away, breaking the silent atmosphere of mourning.

Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua looked in the sound and found a ragged woman running towards the hill where they were. Behind him were a group of men holding various farm tools.

Soon the woman fled to Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua. As soon as she saw them, she immediately called for help:

"Please save me! Just save me!"

At this moment, the group of men had already rushed to them. The strong man in charge held the sled in his right hand and pointed at the woman with his left hand and cursed: "You ungrateful girl, you have given me your user to pay off your debts. Do you dare to run away?"

I thought it was a thief who robbed good women, but Sima Yi immediately understood the whole story when he saw all kinds of farm tools in their hands. Although the young woman was very pitiful, from a law, Sima Yi had no right to interfere at all.

So he didn't want to make trouble and meddle in other people's business, but he didn't expect that Zhang Chunhua was blocking the woman:

"Since she doesn't want to, why should you force her?"

The strong man raised his head and glanced at Zhang Chunhua with a contemptuous look:

"I'll tell you to meddle in other people's business. Even if it's a matter of trouble, I have some reason to say!"

As he said that, the strong man pushed Zhang Chunhua away. Sima Yi saw this scene and quickly stepped forward to support Zhang Chunhua, and changed his position on this matter. He stepped forward and pressed the strong man's wrist:

"Since that's the case, let's go to the county magistrate to discuss the matter."

The farmer didn't have that much patience. When he was about to reach out to push Sima Yi, a group of horse hooves came from a short distance. Everyone looked in the direction where the horse hooves came. Only then did they see clearly that it was Cao's small team of troops rushing here quickly.

As the distance got closer, Sima Yi saw the face of the leader, and then he shouted at the general:

"General Wang Ling! I am Sima Yi!"

Wang Ling, who was leading his men to Tangyang, also saw Sima Yi and his group of people, so he turned around and ran towards them. When the strong man saw Sima Yi and the general met, he held his hand tightly and slowly put down his hand.

After Wang Ling dismounted, he saw that it was really Sima Yi, and he seemed very happy:
To be continued...