Chen Deng said without thinking: "Naturally, I bet on the person who can best protect the interests of my family!" ”

This time, Chen Jue finally laughed, and his old and relieved look was fully revealed.

"I asked Ying'er the same question this morning, how did you answer Ying'er as a father?"

Chen Deng thought for a while and replied, "Presumably the second brother said that I, the Chen family, should stand on the side that is most likely to win." ”

Chen Qi nodded: "That's pretty much what it means." Ying'er is also a big man now, but she is much more immature than your eldest brother. As a father, he knows that time is short, and the Chen family will still have to rely on you alone for the next few decades, and it will be difficult for you. ”

"By the way, your abdominal pain a few days ago was diagnosed and treated by the first doctor in Xuzhou, has it improved now?"

Hearing that the gray-haired old father sighed about the fortune of life and death, Chen Deng unconsciously got up with his feet, and heard that the old father cared about his occasional minor illness, his heart not only warmed, but he hurriedly said: "Don't worry about my father, my body has recovered as before in the past few days, and the abdominal pain is no longer a big problem after taking medicine." ”

"That's great!"

"I almost forgot, you weren't there the day before yesterday, and Zhang Hong also visited our house to find a way. Although this person has no talent, he still has some vision and means. If you have a heart, you might as well introduce him in front of Xuande Gong, which can be regarded as adding a wing to the Chen family. Of course, if you have other plans, then the Chen family also has a lot of people with the surname Zhang Hong. ”

This time, Chen Deng did not respond directly to Chen Jue, he was silent for a while, and Chen Deng suddenly said: "Father, are you really not optimistic about Xuande Gong?" ”

Chen Jue was not surprised by his eldest son's reaction, sighed slightly, and Chen Jue said: "Deng'er, for my father, I know that in your heart, Xuande Gong is better than Cao Mengde and Yuan Benchu, and he is a hidden dragon with the spirit of a king. But as a father, I just want to tell you that if you have the spirit of a king, you are not necessarily a real king. Although the hidden dragon can, it has no ability to shake the sky and the earth. ”

Hearing his father's judgment, Chen Deng's heart trembled suddenly, as if he had fallen into the sea. But the persistent belief in Chen Deng's heart has not been broken.

After a long time, Chen Deng suddenly fell into tears: "Follow my father's teachings, Zhang Hong's matter, Deng'er will be properly settled." Deng'er only hates that his father can't be 100 years old, otherwise the second brother and the third brother and the fourth brother will definitely be able to become an adult dragon and phoenix under the teachings of his father! ”

……

Besides, Sun Gan, who was sent to Huainan to connect with Zhang Xiu, left Xuzhou City and traveled south through Xia Pi for a day, and then ran into Jiang Gan and his party sent by Zhang Xiu.

Waiting for Jiang Gan to explain his intentions, Sun Gan was immediately overjoyed, and immediately took Jiang Gan to inform Liu Bei of the news that Zhang Xiu had sent two generals, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, and 40,000 troops to aid Xuzhou.

Chen Deng was happy for Liu Bei when he learned that Zhang Xiu had sent elite soldiers to aid Xuzhou, but after learning that his rival Chen Gong had also come to Xuzhou as the supervisor of Zhang Xiu's army, he immediately laughed heartily and said: "I didn't expect that Chen Gongtai also came to Xuzhou, I don't know if he has grown up under Zhang Wenjin's account." ”

Compared with Chen Deng's free and easy, Chen Gong was quite obsessed with the things that Chen Qi and Chen Deng's father and son did back then, and they didn't get along well with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other Liu Bei's cronies. In addition to important military defense affairs, Pengcheng guard Guan Yu had little communication with Chen Gong. And Zhang Fei, who was sent by the vanguard, directly refused to see Chen Gong when he mentioned it.

This can only be blamed on Chen Gong's strategy to attack and seize Xuzhou for Lu Bu at the beginning, so how can Guan Yunchang, who is arrogant and arrogant and respectful of loyalty and righteousness more important than his life, give Chen Gong a good face, and Zhang Yide, the direct victim of the temperament, is now not directly looking for Chen Gong's stubble, which has already given Zhang Xiujun face.

Fortunately, Liu Bei, as a big man, did not care about the arrival of Chen Gong at all, and many words of praise about Chen Gong's military plans were gushing endlessly in front of Guan Erye and Zhang San. This also made Zhang Liao Gaoshun, who was worried that he would be squeezed out by Liu Beijun as cannon fodder, breathed a sigh of relief.

With the eastward advance of Liu Beijun's main force, Cao Ren, who was also under the military intelligence of Zhang Xiujun's northward march on the other side, immediately gave up Xiaopei. Liu Bei's soldiers took this important town against Cao without blood.

In November, Cao Cao led the main force of Cao's army to join Cao Ren's troops in Xiaopei, but because of the arrival of 40,000 Zhang Xiu's troops, the whole battle situation showed a balanced situation.

Although the general combat strength of the Liu-Zhang coalition army was much inferior to the main force of the Cao army, but fortunately, the Liu-Zhang coalition army had the advantage of geography and people, and there were several fortified cities that could be defended, and the grain donated by the common people alone was enough for the Zhang-Liu coalition army to eat for a month. The Cao army added 50,000 new troops to be reorganized, and the daily consumption of grain and grass was days. Although the grain routes were unblocked, the people were well organized, but there was no grain in the rear.

All of a sudden, Cao Cao, who ventured to attack Xuzhou, was in a dilemma.

Entering, there were not enough troops, and morale had been extremely low after months of confrontation with Yuan's army and last month's trek. Retreat is equivalent to tyrannizing the tiger and dominating the mountain, and cultivating a strong opponent who is not weaker than Zhang Xiu, and even from then on, Qingxu and Yang Sanzhou will no longer be owned by Cao Jun.