Chapter 104 Harvest Moon Shadow [Subscribe]

Prefect's Mansion.

In the living room, Chen Ying had a cold expression on her face as she stared at a piece of paper in front of her.

This piece of letter can be used for the highest level of secret communication, just like Cao Cao's communication bead.

But it is not as good as the Xunzhu, which can be used repeatedly. Yuan Wei only uses the Xunjian when discussing the news of the deposed emperor.

"Any news about the late emperor?"

"No."

More than half a year had passed, and Chen Ying had not found any clues about the late emperor Liu Bian.

She was very close to Cao Cao and knew almost all of his movements.

But there was no connection with the deposed emperor.

"What changes have taken place in Chenliu recently?" The handwriting on the secret letter changed.

There have been many changes in Chen Liu, and Chen Ying didn't even know where to start.

"Cao Mengde's troops are deployed in all directions, and are doing their best to deal with the Black Mountain bandits. It is estimated that after capturing the Black Mountain bandits, his troops will increase by more than 20,000.

The total number of soldiers and horses under his command may reach about 40,000."

After Chen Ying reported the number, she also felt a palpitation in her heart.

With 40,000 soldiers, Cao Cao could quickly form a fighting force with his means and the strength of his generals.

Yuan Wei on the other side also fell silent.

First they raised Dong Zhuo, and now they have another Cao Cao.

The rise in power of these two people is inseparable from him.

Dong Zhuo took advantage of and deceived Yuan's resources.

Cao Cao weighed the situation, fought for himself, borrowed some of Yuan's power, and rose rapidly.

Within a year, Cao Cao seized every opportunity to expand.

Not only did he gain a firm foothold in Chenliu County, but he was also about to have 40,000 soldiers under his command.

"Not only are the troops increasing, but the Yu family in Yecheng and Chenliu are in frequent contact. The Xun family in Yingchuan has also increased their contact with Chenliu. There is also the Zhen family. Zhen Yan wants a lot of resources, such as horses and blacksmiths from Youzhou, and has sent them to Chenliu twice."

The Zhen family is located in Zhongshan, in Jizhou, but close to Youzhou.

They had Youzhou horses in their hands, but more valuable than the horses were the craftsmen who forged horse harnesses and other related items.

Cao Cao never refused anything that was offered to him, and he would accept it with ease.

The Yuan family, the Xun family, and the weaker Zhen family, these aristocratic families aimed to put resources into different baskets.

The Zhuge family did the best in this regard. The three brothers belonged to three major camps.

No matter who wins, they will not suffer any loss, and they can ensure the long-term prosperity of the family.

Other noble families also had similar arrangements.

Cao Cao's rapid rise and growing power had long attracted the attention of these nobles.

Because of Xun Yu's relationship, the Xun family of Yingchuan also poured resources into Chenliu.

"Grand Administrator Cao captured the Black Mountain bandits and selected those aged 15 and over and under 26 to train them as soldiers. The rest of their families and the elderly and weak were used to cultivate the land in Chenliu.

Recently, notices have been posted several times to encourage the people to expand farming and to mobilize officers and soldiers to help them protect grain production.

It is expected that the agricultural production in Chenliu will continue to improve in the next two years.”

Chen Ying reported everything she saw to Yuan Wei, in fact, she wanted to persuade Yuan Wei to change his approach:
"Maybe our Yuan clan can attract Cao Cao to be our strong support."

What she meant was to form a closer, trustworthy partnership with Cao Cao, preferably through marriage.

The abilities and potential demonstrated by Cao Cao are worthy of Yuan's investment of more resources and sincerity.

Yuan Wei took a long time to respond: "Can you try to get close to Cao Mengde and gain his trust?"

Gaining his trust... there is no chance at all. If I encounter any difficult problems with those people under him, I have to ask Jia Xu for help... Chen Ying shook her head slightly.

Yuan Wei was urging her to take action.

What means can she use?
In Chang'an, at the newly built Shangshutai, Yuan Wei had a thought:
"Cao Cao's power is growing too fast. My Yuan clan's people will be left behind by him. We need to suppress him... If the Black Mountain bandits don't work, we can replace them with another group of people to sabotage the attack on Chenliu..."

Yuan Wei wrote another secret letter and rolled it into a small scroll.

Someone would weave this small strip of paper together with a hemp rope and use it as a rope to string the bamboo slips together to make a book, without any trace of it being visible on the surface.

As officials went in and out of the palace every day to handle state affairs, it was common for them to bring in and out of the palace, and the number of scrolls was large.

Who would have thought that a thin string connecting the pieces of paper could spread the message?
This method was designed by the deceased Yuan Ji and has never been discovered by anyone.

The secret letter written by Yuan Wei will be sent to Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou again.

Yuan Wei thought of a way to disrupt Cao Cao's development in Chenliu and persuaded Liu Dai to implement it.

Word spread quickly.

----

On the afternoon of the second day after leaving Mangdang Mountain, Xu Huan returned to Chenliu and brought people to the prefectural government to report the circumstances of entering the tomb.

He brought with him Li Feixiong, Hu Yu, an ink worker named Li Shou, and an Yin-Yang master named Wu Xiang.

These few people are considered the top five tomb robbers in the world, each with his own methods.

I heard that Governor Cao was planning to establish the post of Lieutenant General of the Fa Qiu Army to specifically supervise these tomb raiders.

Xu Huan thought that he should fight for it, but he did not dare to ask for the position of General of the Central Army.

If I could become a colonel, it would bring honor to my family.

It can be said that digging graves has helped one to succeed.

They had just returned from the tomb, and this time when they met Cao Cao, the inspection was even more strict.

We passed four checkpoints in the palace.

After checking all the things they brought, they finally met Jia Xu, who was equivalent to the director of the tomb-robbing office.

When they were still quite far away, Jia Xu stopped them from getting closer: "Stand there and don't move. You just came out of the tomb a day ago. Don't go any further."

An attendant came forward and pressed a copper coin carved from white jade between the eyebrows of several people, checking them repeatedly.

Seeing that Yu Qian had no reaction at all, Jia Xu breathed a sigh of relief.

But still be cautious.

He walked forward about seven or eight feet ahead and entered Cao Cao's study first.

Xu Huan and others were stopped at the door. They bowed from a distance to Cao Cao in the study, took out the things they got from the tomb and handed them over.

The objects have been strictly inspected and there are no safety hazards.

A bronze mirror and a silk cloth wrapped around it.

Both items were placed in a square jade box.

"We followed the governor's instructions and went in without touching any objects in the tomb. Everything went smoothly. The tomb was incredibly large, like a city."

"We recalled afterwards that the only possible problem was that we took back the jade box as well, and did not take the ancient mirror alone."

The jade box containing the mirror is placed above the main door outside the last main tomb chamber.

The box was open, with the mirror facing upwards, and covered with a silk cloth that wrapped the mirror.

We can see a coffin through the open main door of the tomb."

Xu Huan took a breath.

Li Feixiong said on the side: "I would like to add something."

Cao Cao lowered his head to check the mirror he had retrieved, "Speak."

Li Feixiong said hurriedly: "The coffin is made of copper, a bronze coffin."

Hu Yu said: "I would also like to add something."

"The innermost chamber is a burial chamber from the Shang Dynasty. It's not a regular coffin, but a sacrificial vessel. It looks more like a tripod, and I think it's made of jade, not bronze."

Li Feixiong wanted to argue with Hu Yu, but Cao Cao and Jia Xu were both in the study, so he did not dare to act recklessly and held back what he wanted to say.

"It's bronze, yes."

Xu Huan said: "Hu Yu thought it was jade because there was something glowing on the tomb wall behind the coffin, and the coffin also emitted a faint light that looked like jade."

"What's glowing on the tomb wall?"

“There was a painting on the wall, depicting a beautiful woman with a fiery red beast crouching beside her.

The moment we took the box away, the woman came out from the wall, and the beast followed her out. It was so scary."

Li Feixiong said: "I would like to add something."

"The woman and the strange beast were alive. They spewed out a black gas from their mouths, and anyone caught in it would die instantly."

Hu Yu got goose bumps all over his body and a look of shock appeared on his face:
"They eat people, and the more they eat, the more powerful they become."

Li Shou, the oldest among the group and the chief ink worker, said,

“That is not a living creature, but a skilled beast from my Mohist lineage. Mozi and several of his disciples all knew how to make sacrifices to it, but the method has now been lost.

That beast looks very much like the evil glutton among the ten beasts of craftsmanship. Legend has it that it was made by Mozi himself. "

"Nonsense, how could there be a crafted object made by Mozi in a tomb of the Shang Dynasty? The time doesn't match."

There were expressions of shock on the faces of several people. It was obvious that the experience in the tomb was profound and terrifying to them.

In the confined tomb, crying out for help is useless and fighting the enemy is also unacceptable.

Your life is at stake, and you are faced with things beyond your understanding, filled with fear of the unknown, which is really scary.

Dian Wei was amused when he heard this: "That's quite interesting. Next time if there are hard-to-get items, I'll go to the tomb with them and help you get them back!"

Jia Xu frowned and said: "The way of the underground tomb draws the energy of the earth veins to nourish all kinds of strange things.

The energy in the tomb has been nurtured for hundreds of years. There are many things that are difficult to understand. General Dian must not take risks. "

Xu Huan and others rolled their eyes secretly and said, since the tomb is so dangerous, why don’t you let us go?

Several people explained the process of going to the tomb and what happened. Cao Cao waved his hand and let them go down and reward them according to their merits.

He had been studying the bronze mirror that the men had retrieved.

The silk cloth wrapping the bronze mirror is also extraordinary.

This was the second time Cao Cao had seen this kind of silk cloth.

The scroll that was taken from Zhang Rang and was suspected to be the "Heavenly Book" that Zhang Jiao had received from the immortals was made of this kind of material, neither gold nor silk, and could not be damaged by water or fire.

This kind of thing that is beyond understanding can only be self-consistent if it is classified as "immortal gift" which is also beyond understanding.

[The ancient mirror is called Moon Shadow. It is safe and can be viewed. By integrating your spirit into the mirror and absorbing the moonlight, you can open this realm and reflect all objects.]

[There is also a Sun Shadow Mirror that can dispel evil spirits in the world. It is a pair with the Moon Shadow Mirror. The Sun Shadow Mirror is located in the Sequence 4 Tomb.]

The harvest this time will probably be considerable, Cao Cao thought.

The mirror is round, the size of a palm, with a green surface that looks like a pool of clear water. There are countless seal characters engraved on the back, and the workmanship is exquisite.

Cao Cao took it in his hand.

Jia Xu was also a little curious and came over to watch.

Just as he tried to get closer, a faint light suddenly appeared in the mirror.

The silk cloth that wrapped the mirror mysteriously unfolded from the jade box and left the box.

The moment the change occurred, Jia Xu was shocked and leapt behind Dian Wei at incredible speed.

The study was quiet for five or six breaths. Jia Xu found nothing unusual, so he poked his head out from behind Dian Wei and carefully checked what was going on.

He found that Cao Cao, Dian Wei and Xiao Xiang, six eyes were looking at him.

Jia Xu said awkwardly: "It was so dangerous just now, didn't you notice it? Why didn't you hide?"

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(End of this chapter)