"Lure the snake out of the hole? It's really better to say than to sing, since you want to lure the Cao thief team out of peace, then why didn't you inform our army as an ally in advance? But we had to wait for our army to send troops to fight before we hurriedly came to explain to our army? Inform me in advance that you are afraid of leaking the news? That's nonsense! How did the news leak, who leaked the news, is it afraid that I will secretly reveal it to Cao Thief? ”

"Shut up! Immediately go back to Xuchang with your gifts, and tell Yuan Tan Pifu that I sent troops this time, not only to teach him an unfilial son for Lord Yuezhang, but also to send troops to the king of Qin, to crusade against his crime of bullying, it is impossible to stop the army! If you call him Yuan Tan Pifu smart, he will immediately lead the team to lay down his arms and surrender, for the sake of his wife's face, I can consider sparing him from dying, and I will also intercede in front of the Son of Heaven! Otherwise, tell him to prepare for the burial of Cao Thief! ”

After pleading bitterly and still being rejected by Deputy Director Tao unreasonably and rudely, Chen Zhen, the envoy sent by Yuan Tan to negotiate with the Xuzhou army, had no choice but to hurry back to Yuan Tan to report to the emergency, and Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was confused for a while, was even more helpless, in addition to scolding Guo Tu and Xin Ping, who had bad ideas, once again for a bloody head, he had to immediately start preparing for war to resist the Xuzhou army that had arrived in Changyi.

Although there are several ways to go from Xuzhou to Xuchang, but considering the transportation of grain and grass, even if the Xuzhou army attacks Xuchang, the most ideal road is to march west along Surabaya and Jishui, first take Guandu and then attack Xuchang - otherwise the loss of the road will be too great. At the same time, land transportation is far less safe than waterway grain transportation, if the Xuzhou army repeats the old trick to take the Chenliu road to attack Xuchang, then the distance of land grain transportation will be more than 350 miles, and it is not possible to cut off the direct connection between Yuan Tan's army and Jizhou and northern Yanzhou, so Yuan Tan Gongzi rarely guessed the mind of Deputy Director Tao, and immediately began to arrange the defense of Guandu, so as to take precautions.

Guess the route of Deputy Director Tao's march, at most, you can only build camp fortifications in advance, and whether you can block the attack of the Xuzhou army depends on the battlefield performance of the army. And what worries Yuan Tan Gongzi the most is the army, in order to quell Yuan Shang's rebellion, the most capable Jiang Yiqu and senior cadres under Yuan Tan Gongzi's command have been put into the Jizhou battlefield, and the new force assembled in Bingzhou is not in Huguan or in Dangyin and Liyang to protect the grain route of the Northern Expeditionary Army, even if it is emphasized to come back, it will also give Yuan Shang the opportunity to counterattack and Deputy Director Tao to break through, so Yuan Tan Gongzi can use it to resist Deputy Director Tao's attack, in fact, there are only more than 50,000 troops in Xuchang.

What makes Yuan Tan Gongzi want to cry without tears is that these more than 50,000 troops are basically the remnants of the defeated generals left after the defeat of Xuchang at the beginning, the morale is not high, and the elite level cannot catch up with the main force of Jizhou in the heyday, and these more than 50,000 troops must also leave some to defend Xuchang, part to guard against Cao Boss, and part to defend the transportation of grain and grass, so no matter how full the battle, Yuan Tan Gongzi can really put into the team of the Guandu battlefield will definitely not exceed 35,000 people. The disparity between strength and weakness is also more tragic than when Cao Boss used more than 60,000 troops to carry the 300,000 Jizhou army.

In order to add a little chance of victory to himself, Yuan Tan could only immediately order Gao Gan and Jiang Yiqu to abandon the attack on Yecheng, withdraw the army to Liyang and Puyang, and threaten the Xuzhou army behind to share the frontal pressure. In this regard, although Cui Yan also pointed out that Gao Gan and Jiang Yiqu's team must be restrained by Yuan Shang, and they should not pin too much hope, but Yuan Tan Gongzi couldn't take care of it so much, so he could only order the withdrawal of the army while praying that his third brother would have a despicable character and sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight not follow him to find trouble.

In addition, Yuan Tan Gongzi naturally had to send an envoy to Xiangyang to ask Liu Biao for help, asking Liu Biao to send troops to help him resist the deputy director Tao who was as ruthless as a jackal and poisonous as a snake, and Liu Biao hesitated again and again, and finally decided to send 10,000 troops to Xuchang to help with Uncle Liu, a guest army, under the instigation of Cai Mao, Zhuge Xuan and Uncle Liu. In this regard, although Yuan Tan Gongzi was very dissatisfied with Liu Biao's too few troops, he did not dare to attack, so he could only thank Liu Biao for his kindness and begged Liu Biao to send the army and subsidize money and food again.

During the pain and suffering, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the main force of Xuzhou arrived in Jiyang, and really did not go south from Jiyang to attack Chen Liu, and chose to continue to march west to kill Fengqiu, after confirming the news, Yuan Tan Gongzi was forced to be helpless, and had to leave his henchman Xin Ping and Cen Bi to guard Xuchang, and led 10,000 rear troops to go north to Guandu to meet Deputy Director Tao. However, to the joy of Yuan Tan Gongzi, when the team started, the 4,000 reinforcements led by Uncle Liu also arrived at the city of Xuchang.

As soon as the soldiers arrived, reinforcements arrived, and Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was worried about the lack of troops, was of course overjoyed, and hurriedly led the military to meet Yu in charge, and the three brothers of Uncle Liu were already familiar with Yuan Tan Gongzi when they were in Qingzhou, and of course they were overjoyed after a long reunion, and then Uncle Liu Huang introduced a young man sitting in the carriage to Yuan Tan Gongzi, and introduced: "Yuan Jihou, this gentleman has the surname Zhuge again, his single name is Liang, the word Kong Ming, and he is now the military division of Beizhi. ”

Looking at Zhuge Liang, who was lame and young, Yuan Tan Gongzi was suspicious in his heart - why did the famous Uncle Liu Huang use such a person as a military advisor? But in front of Zhuge Liang, no matter how arrogant Yuan Tan was, it was inconvenient to ask Uncle Liu Huang about this matter, so he exchanged a few polite words with Zhuge Liang, and said a few nonsense words such as long-admiring the name, and then couldn't wait to ask Uncle Liu Huang: "Xuande Gong, doesn't Liu Yuanjun still have 10,000 soldiers and horses to help?" Got there? Maybe it's time to get to Xudu today? ”

Uncle Liu's upright smile disappeared suddenly, and he hesitated for a moment before slowing down and said, "Don't blame the Marquis Ji, the 10,000 reinforcements led by General Liu Pan should still be on the way to Yexian in Bowang." Also, Bei didn't dare to deceive the Marquis of Ji, after General Liu Pan's team arrived in Ye County, he would be stationed in Ye County to rest for a period of time, which was an order personally explained by Jing Sheng Gong. ”

Yuan Tan Gongzi, Guo Tu, Cui Yan and others changed color on their faces together, and they wanted to scold Liu Biao for slipping their heads, but they didn't dare to scold Uncle Liu Huang. After gritting his teeth for a long time, Yuan Tan Gongzi reluctantly smiled and said: "Then Jingsheng Gong can have an explanation, when will this army of soldiers and horses go north to reinforce me?" ”

"Ji Hou, when will Jingsheng Gong's reinforcements go north, and will there be follow-up reinforcements going north." Zhuge Liang suddenly spoke, and said slowly: "This point does not depend on Jingsheng Gong, but on the Marquis of Ji and Xuzhou Tao Envoy. ”

"It's up to me and Tao Ying to destroy the thief?" Yuan Tan Gongzi was stunned and puzzled: "Mr. Kong Ming, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Mr. Kong Ming really deserves to be the military division of Xuande, and he is really smart." Cui Yan also spoke, and said: "Whether Jingshenggong's reinforcements continue to go north to reinforce our army really depends on Ji Hou, if Ji Hou proves that our army can be saved and worthy of rescue on the Guandu battlefield, then Jingzhou reinforcements will inevitably continue to go north, and there may be follow-up reinforcements arriving." But Mr. Kong Ming said that it also depends on Xuzhou Tao Ying, and Yan doesn't know what he means. ”

"It's very simple, it depends on Tao Yuanjun's attitude towards Jingsheng Gong." Zhuge Liang replied confidently: "In the previous battle of Xuchang, the Jingzhou army and the Xuzhou army fought and clashed, and there was a grudge, and the relationship was not repaired afterwards, Jingsheng Gong is a benevolent person, although he does not hold grudges, but he also has to prevent Tao Zhijun from taking revenge and revenge, so in this Guandu battle, if Tao Yuanjun shows enough hostility to Jingsheng Gong, Jingsheng Gong just wants to go all out to rescue Jihou. ”

"Wonderful! Hit the nail on the head! Cui Yan applauded, and finally showed some smiles after a long time, and said to Yuan Tan Gongzi: "My lord, Kong Ming's words are very good, if our army wants to win the full support of Jingsheng Gong for our army, we can only make a fuss about Jingsheng Gong's fear that Tao Ying will threaten Jingxiang Jiujun." ”

Yuan Tan Gongzi nodded as if he didn't understand, and asked Zhuge Liang curiously: "Mr. Kong Ming, the deep enmity between Xuande Gong and the pottery thief is not shared, why do you still use honorific titles for the pottery thief?" ”

"Kong Ming is a wise man, and he never speaks ill of people, even if he is an enemy." Uncle Liu Huang explained, and pointed to Zhuge Liang's right foot and said: "Don't hide it from the Marquis of Ji, Kong Ming's foot was shot by the soldiers and horses of the pottery thief in the last Xuchang War. Yuan Tan Gongzi suddenly realized, and was busy paying respects to Zhuge Liang and treating him as a guest.

The battle situation was like fire, Yuan Tan and Liu Huangshu and others did not dare to be too polite, and hurriedly led the army to the north after a few words, and Liu Huangshu, who was anxious to fish in troubled waters, also ignored the fact that the team was quite tired, and declined Yuan Tan Gongzi's kindness to let the army take a little rest, and even Xuchang City could not be cared about, and led a team of 4,000 including more than 2,000 Cao troops to the north, and the 14,000 army traveled 80 miles, and finally arrived at Guandu on the evening of the third day, which was also the afternoon of July 13, and was stationed in the Guandu camp before the arrival of the main force in Xuzhou.

One thing I have to introduce is that when Yuan Tan Gongzi and Uncle Liu Huang arrived at the Guandu camp, they were pleasantly surprised that the Guandu camp, which was once razed to the ground by the great Yuan Sangong when he vented his anger, has been rebuilt in a short period of time.

What made Yuan Tan Gongzi and Uncle Liu Huang even more happy was the fortifications of the big camp, which were as strong as the city fortress, the fence was towering and solid, the trench was wide and deep, and there were many sharp wooden piles buried in it, in addition to the construction of a condescending trebuchet position and command platform, a light and dark sentry fortification to prevent the enemy's night attack, a beam bridge that could be moved to overturn, a deep trench around the camp to prevent the enemy from penetrating the camp, and even a sheep and horse wall that was about to be completed was also under construction, so that the defenders could hide behind the waist-high sheep and horse wall and cast crossbow arrows. With more points of fire and buffers, the fortifications were so perfect that the entire battalion was turned into a big hedgehog.

"Who did this?" Yuan Tan Gongzi asked in surprise: "Such a camp defense is comparable to the Langya Ju City I met back then." ”

"Hao Zhao Hao Bodao." Cui Yan replied: "His Majesty has close contacts with General Bodao, and knows that he is not only a civil and military all-rounder, loyal to the lord, and the best at guarding the imperial policy, before the lord sent the second prince to lead the army here to rebuild the Guandu camp, and the subordinate recommended General Bodao to the second son, and suggested that the second prince listen to Hao Bodao's advice when establishing the camp, it seems that the second prince also found Hao Bodao's strengths." ”

Yuan Tan nodded with satisfaction, and praised Hao Zhao a few words, but Zhuge Liang next to him was secretly frightened, and reminded himself in his heart: "If you fight against this Hao Zhao in the future, it seems that you must be careful of his guarding skills, this vertical is built to build this Guandu camp, even I am not sure that I will be able to break it!" ”

After entering the camp, the team was stationed, Yuan Tan immediately asked about the movement of the Xuzhou army, and Yuan Xi, who arrived in Guandu in the early stage, replied: "The main force of the pottery thief is said to have crossed Pingqiu today, and the distance can be reached tomorrow, and the 10,000 team of the pottery thief forward Zhao Yun has arrived at Fengqiu this morning, but there is no rush to cross the **, and the pontoon bridge is currently being erected on the **river, and it is estimated that he wants to wait for the main force to arrive ** and then cross the river together." ”

"Fortunately, our army still has at least two days to rest and prepare for battle."

Yuan Tan Gongzi breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest and congratulated himself on the speed of his soldiers, while Zhuge Liang and Cui Yan, who had been talking about it for the past few days, glanced at each other, and said together: "The Tao Thief is so cautious in entering the army, it seems that the Tao Thief is planning to fight steadily and suppress people with his momentum." If you want to count on the pottery thief to be careless, there is no such possibility. ”

At this time, Yuan Tan turned to everyone and asked, "Zhugong, the army of pottery thieves should be in the army after two days, can you have a clever plan to teach me to break the enemy?" ”

Mr. Guo Tu, who was named the military advisor of Yuan Tan's army, had a closed mouth and had no choice, and Zhuge Liang asked Yuan Tan rhetorically: "Dare to ask the Marquis of Ji, in the Guandu camp, how much is the grain and grass in the camp?" The stakes are very high, and I hope that the Hou will tell the truth. ”

Guo Tu was furious, and was about to ask Zhuge Liang what qualifications he had to ask about such an important military situation, but Cui Yan on the other side hurriedly said: "It can be used for at least five months, Yan heard that during the Guandu War, Cao Thief was almost defeated because of the lack of grain and grass and the threat of our army's light cavalry on the grain road, so I suggested that the lord learn a lesson and send a large amount of winter wheat harvested in Xuchang this year to Guandu for prevention." ”

"In this way, even if our army is counted, it can be supported for at least four months." Zhuge Liang nodded, and said confidently: "Marquis Ji, Mr. Ji Jue, in Liang's humble opinion, if your two armies want to defeat Tao Yuanjun, the first point is to stick to it without fighting!" Relying on this Guandu camp to confront Tao Envoy's army, as long as we hold out for three months, there will be a turnaround! ”

"Wonderful!" Cui Yan applauded Zhuge Liang's high opinion again, and said to Yuan Tan: "Lord, Mr. Kong Ming's words are very good, our army has little food and enough food, the camp is strong, Zhengli is sticking, the enemy soldiers have a lot of food, and the transportation of grain is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the road is long, the most urgent battle, our army sticks to the Guandu camp, Tao Ying will come to attack the camp for the urgent battle, and then our army will rely on the strong camp of Guandu to meet the enemy's army attacking the camp, and it will be victorious!" Then wait until the old man of the pottery thief soldiers and horses is tired, the morale is exhausted, and the military spirit is slack, and the battlefield situation will inevitably take a turn in favor of our army! ”

"Ji Hou, Mr. Ji Jue and Kong Ming's tactics are feasible." Uncle Liu Huang also said: "As long as our army relies on the battalion defense to achieve a few victories, it will be much easier to ask Jingsheng Gong's reinforcements to go north and send reinforcements again." ”

"No!" Mr. Guo Tu was afraid that his military adviser would be forgotten by Yuan Tan Gongzi, so he quickly stood up and retorted: "Although our army has enough grain and grass, but the pottery thief has more grain and grass, our army has made a detailed investigation, the five counties of Xuzhou of the pottery thief are ripe again this year, and the two counties of Huainan, which suffered from drought in the past few years, have been in good weather last year and this year, and the rain is sufficient, and the rice will be harvested in January. And the pottery thief also has the convenience of transporting grain in Surabaya Ji Ershui, transporting grain quickly and the road consumption is very small, and the pottery thief competes with the consumption of grain and grass, if the beggar and the prince fight for wealth, the baby and the strong man fight, how can there be a victory? ”

"Then in the opinion of the general, how should our army break the enemy?"

Cui Yan smiled and asked rhetorically, his smile was full of disdain, poor Mr. Guo Tu closed his mouth again, there was nothing to say, Cui Yan waited for a long time, and then said with a smile: "There is another point that must be reminded of the military advisor, Mr. Zhuge and I just want to stabilize the situation, consume the sharpness of the pottery thief team, and let him have the situation of the old man and the slack morale of the army, and that sentence mentions that you want to consume food and grass with the pottery thief?" Hehe, is the military advisor behind his ears? ”

Guo Tu and Cui Yan couldn't pee in a pot, and now they were ridiculed by Cui Yan in public, of course, they were furious, and when they were about to open their mouths to refute, Yuan Tan Gongzi spoke first, and shouted at Guo Tu with a very rude attitude: "Shut up!" The matter of Cao Thief is to listen to your bad idea and make things like this! You didn't even hear the words clearly today, so you want to come up with bad ideas to hurt me again? Shut up! From now on, you don't talk much! ”

After drinking Mr. Guo Tu, Yuan Tan Gongzi clapped his hand very wisely: "Ji Jue and Kong Ming's words are exactly what I want, back then, the pottery thief used Juxian Jiancheng to exhaust my military morale, and made me anxious to fight in his tricks, now it's time for me to retaliate with a tooth for a tooth!" Just do it, stick to it, stick to the official camp, and see what he can do to me! ”

Cui Yan, Zhuge Liang, Uncle Liu Huang and others were all happy, and hurriedly clasped their fists together and sang a promise, praising Yuan Tan Gongzi's wise decision-making, and then Cui Yan suggested: "My lord, your majesty thinks that you should personally visit the construction site outside the camp to inspect, firstly, to encourage and comfort those soldiers and men who have worked hard to build camp fortifications, and secondly, to see what camp fortifications need to be strengthened and improved." ”

"Good idea." Yuan Tan Gongzi nodded happily and said: "Xuande Gong has been on the battlefield for a long time and is proficient in military affairs, and Mr. Kong Ming is knowledgeable and must have unique opinions, how about going on patrol with me?" Guo Tu, you stay, and give me the command to build a camp tent. ”

Uncle Liu Huang, Zhuge Liang and others hurriedly followed Yuan Tan Gongzi to leave the Chinese army and inspect the construction of the camp fortifications, leaving Mr. Guo Tu standing alone in place, watching Yuan Tan Gongzi and his party leave with their heads down, quietly gritting their teeth and clenching their fists, Mr. Guo Tu's eyes flashed with a fierce and fierce light.