Zhou Yang had the highest executive power in the entire Xudu, but knew in his heart that he had not gained the absolute trust of Cao Cao, and he would never have any chance of rebellion.

After all, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the highest mysterious army that has almost never appeared, is still in the hands of Cao Cao's most trusted confidant general.

However, as an outsider son-in-law, he or she is either dedicated to Cao Cao's safety like Dian Wei and Xu Chu. Otherwise, he or she will be the first person to gain this level of trust.

A few days later, Cao Cao's army set off.

Zhou Yang didn't even have the chance to see Liu Bei, and now it is not the time to kill Liu Bei, so he will wait for Cao Cao to come back triumphantly.

Now I only have one concern in my heart, that is, after defeating Lu Bu, try to save the lives of their father and daughter!

But not to mention that he did not participate in this war, even if he participated, he might not be able to convince Cao Cao to let go of Lu Bu.

Forget it, everything is left to fate!

Just think that I was sorry for Lu Lingqi again, and I hope she would be lucky enough to be a celestial phenomenon.

So Zhou Yang took over the work of building the imperial city, and Zhong Yao, who had originally assisted Cao Cao, continued to assist him and told him about the current progress.

It turned out that Cao Cao had issued edicts to Yuan Shao, Hebei, Sun Ce of Sun Ce of the Eastern Wu, Liu Zhang of Bashu, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, Ma Teng of the Western Liang, Han Sui, Zhang Xiu of Wancheng, Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Kong Rong of the Beihai, Liu Bei of Xuzhou, and the prefects of various counties.

But only Ma Teng, Kong Rong and Liu Bei responded and came to Xu Du to meet the saint.

Ma Teng was sincerely trying to assist the Han Dynasty. As for Liu Bei, he was occupied by Lu Bu, he had no choice but to come to Xudu. Kong Rong had no ability to defend his territory. Before, a small Yellow Turban Army killed him so much that he almost lost his territory.

Sun Ce's attitude was still neutral, neither opposed anything nor took the initiative, but just sent someone to respond and pretend.

Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu held on to the high mountains and long roads, and did not have to worry about Cao Cao's expeditions and confrontation. They just sent some supplies to give them perfunctory due to their kindness of respect for the Han Dynasty and their lack of wanting to offend others.

Zhang Xiu had mistakenly thought that he had killed Cao Cao, but he found out that he was just Cao Cao's substitute Cao Anmin. In addition, Sun Ce kept growing up in Eastern Wu and was not tough on Cao Cao. He was worried that Liu would show Zhe to protect himself, so he quickly sent someone to return Dian Wei and Cao Ang's body, and at the same time he expressed his loyalty to the Han, and would never act rashly in the rear.

How could Cao Cao believe him? He just started to deal with Yuan Shu before, but now he wants to attack Lu Bu, so he temporarily accepted Zhang Xiu's request for peace.

Among so many princes, only Yuan Shao was the most disdainful of Cao Cao's edict. Not only did he not take Cao Cao seriously, he even sent someone to send a letter, which cursed Cao Cao's treacherous ministers in the letter, and told all the wrongs that he used the emperor to command the princes.

Cao Cao knew that it was not the time to confront Yuan Shao head-on, so he endured this tone.

He even asked the emperor to draft an edict to send it to Hebei, and appointed Yuan Shao as Situ, one of the three ministers of his own.

It is also said that Yuan Shao was originally a three-monarch in four generations, and it is natural to continue his ancestors. He could also be responsible for education and other things in Hebei. These are the responsibilities performed by Situ and belong to loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty.

Now Cao Cao is focused on dealing with Lu Bu, while Yuan Shao continues to go north to Xiangping to deal with Gongsun Zan, attempting to unify the entire north.

Zhou Yang knew that the battle between Cao and Yuan was coming soon, and all preparations must be done in front of him, because it will be a very arduous and important battle.

"The funds raised so far are not enough to even complete the foundation of the imperial city." Zhong Yao sighed.

"It's okay." Zhou Yang didn't think this was a burden, so he said easily, "I will leave this matter to a more suitable person to contract."

After Zhong Yao surrendered, Zhou Yang immediately sent Wenlong to Mount Tai to inform Wu Fang.

Wenlong asked, "What do you want to tell him?"

Zhou Yang said: "Just say that the contracting rights for the construction of Xudu Palace were handed over to him. There were also peripheral imperial cities and various buildings. Let's see if he was interested. If there were any, bring more people and food and grass."

Wenlong said in confusion: "Do we need food and grass now?"

Zhou Yang was thinking about the battle of Guandu soon, but he couldn't say it explicitly at this time, and just chuckled and said, "What you will use in the future, be prepared for any trouble!"

Wenlong took the order and left, and then Zhang Yan came back, saying that there was no news about Digen and Li Damu.

These two Zhang Niujiao's proud disciples have always been Zhou Yang's most troublesome hidden danger.

It is hard to tell when he or Zhang Yan and others will come to assassinate him or her. If they are not removed as soon as possible, it will be really hard to sleep or eat.

Guo Daxian suggested: "Since they have no movement, we will take the initiative!"

Zhang Yan said: "Do you know where they are? Besides, even if we and Yu Li look at them, do you really have the strength to get rid of these two people?"

Guo Daxian did not understand the power of Digen and Li Damei, and only relied on his bravery: "We are in Xudu, which is Cao Gong's territory. There are two thousand imperial guards in Zhou Taishou, and the tiger and leopard cavalry of General Cao Ren and Cao Hong. Are you still afraid that these two guys will not succeed?"

Zhou Tai said: "Brother Zhang Yan is right. I am secret and I am clear. I have to be careful."

After saying that, Geng Long thought of him.

This person is less than ten, but he is the most elite and trustworthy confidant, and he is also another "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" in his hands.

It is better not to let Geng Long show up unless it is absolutely necessary, so let him continue to be in the dark.

In this way, not only the enemy is dark, but also the mysterious army hidden on our side.

The ones that need to meet now are Ma Teng and the little emperor, especially the little emperor. Cao Cao explained it before that, the key is to establish a good relationship with the emperor.

But is the emperor today still the little emperor of that year?

Zhou Yang was unsure, and he was still worried about killing Xiaoyao and putting Sima Yi in house arrest. When he saw the emperor, he was inevitably even more guilty - fortunately, he didn't know.

Driven by complex emotions, Zhou Yang finally bypassed the Sikong Mansion where the little emperor temporarily lived and turned to the place where Ma Teng was placed.

The Xiliang army was placed in the military camp outside the city, with only Ma Teng, Ma Xiu, Ma Tie and Ma Yunlu living in the house, and they provided them with special maids and guards.

The maids were to serve their daily life, while the guards only nominally protected their safety, but in fact they were a bit like house arrest.

Zhou Yang saw it and felt a little uncomfortable.

Ma Teng came from afar with kindness and was treated like this.

But from Cao Cao's standpoint, he had to do this, because Ma Teng did not come to help Cao Cao, but to increase the obstacles to Cao Cao's control of the regime.

When the guards in front of the door saw Zhou Yang coming, they immediately gave in.

After all, in the past, the entire Xudu, apart from plotting rebellion or raising an army to independence, was almost the final say for him, Zhou Yang.

The maid in the house was even more respectful and humble to him, and even secretly looked at his special fluffy hair and his increasingly tall figure.

Zhou Yang was not careful about these things, and he wanted to see Ma Teng, and even more so he wanted to see Ma Yunlu.

Now Ma Yunlu has not become a beauty dedicated to Cao Cao, and has saved him from a tragedy. This made Zhou Yang suddenly want to tell this girl he had longed for so many years that he had never forgotten her.

He will never forget the gift of swords when Ma Yunlu let him leave.

"Prefect Zhou?" As soon as Ma Tie and Ma Xiu heard something moving outside the door, they came out to take a look.

The former has a good attitude, after all, he fought side by side with Zhou Yang when he was in Qinchuan; the latter looked disdainful and turned around and wanted to go back.

Zhou Yang hurriedly shouted: "I want to meet my father, General Ma."

Ma Xiu said without looking back: "My father is not here."

Ma Tie replied at the same time: "Previous Sir Zhou, please come in!"

The two spoke very consistently, but the meaning expressed was completely opposite.

However, Zhou Yang knew that they were very dissatisfied with the treatment he had come to Xudu, and felt quite guilty in his heart, and said, "Please let me see General Ma. I really have something to do and want to have a good talk with General Ma."

Ma Xiu snorted coldly: "What's there to talk about? If my father hadn't insisted on seeing the emperor again, we would have been back home long ago. Why should we stay in Xu Du and be so cowardly?"

Ma Tie didn't know what to say, but just sighed and said, "Prince Zhou would rather ask him to go back!"

In fact, what Zhou Yang really wanted to see was Ma Yunlu. For Ma Teng, he had no way to go against Cao Cao's intentions.

Because Ma Teng came to Xudu this time, he would never be able to return to Xiliang, unless he turned into a corpse, this was definitely not what Zhou Yang wished.

For personal gain, the Ma family has done him kindness.

Yu Gong, he would never hope that when this situation was not stable, Cao Cao would invisibly establish a powerful enemy like Ma Chao.

Therefore, no matter what, Zhou Yang must keep Ma Teng and these three siblings. He must not let Cao Cao kill Ma Teng and his family like he did to Zhang Miao.

"Let him come in!" Ma Teng's heavy voice came from the hall.

No matter how reluctant Ma Xiu and Ma Tie were, they had to retreat left and right, allowing Zhou Yang to step up the stairs from the middle, and also gave them a sorry gaze.

The hall was quite dim, and Ma Teng sat alone in the center of the missing light.

Zhou Yang couldn't help but take a deep breath and greeted him, "My younger generation Zhou Yang, have seen General Ma."

Ma Tenglu smiled outside the shadows and said in a gentle tone: "You don't have to be polite to the prefect Zhou. Qin Chuan is already very clear about your character, but Lord Sikong's decision does not represent your decision. Please understand my two young and impulsive sons."

Zhou Yang lowered his head slightly, and knew that Ma Xiu and Ma Tie did not follow in, but his eyes wandered.

There was no sign of Ma Yunlu, and only Ma Teng was with him alone in the entire hall.

"The prefect Zhou is young, but she is already the leader of a city and has the leadership of Xu Duzhong. It is really rare." Ma Teng continued, "The most rare thing is that you can have feelings and righteousness to Yunlu, and it is not in vain that she thought about you day and night after you left Wuwei."

Zhou Yang was shocked when he heard this, his body and mind were about to speak, but he was interrupted by a crisp female voice.
Chapter completed!