After listening to the news sent by Xun Yu's messenger who ran to death and killed a good horse, Rao is Cao Boss no matter how calm and confident he was, he was also shocked into a cold sweat, the god of war Lu Bu sent troops to Yanzhou at the instigation of Cao Boss's rival Chen Gong, not only beat Cao Ren, the general of the Cao army who stayed in Yanzhou, to find teeth all over the ground, and retreated one after another, but also captured the strategic Puyang City, and took almost all the cities in Yanzhou.

"If Yanzhou is lost, I will be homeless!" After being silent for a long time, Boss Cao, who has always been optimistic and confident, gritted his teeth and said a dejecting word.

"Xuzhou can't fight anymore, the lord must return to Yanzhou immediately!" Guo Jia said categorically: "The five counties of Xuzhou were all under fire, and their vitality was completely damaged, even if the lord took Xuzhou, he would not be able to gain a foothold, and the gains in exchanging Yanzhou for Xuzhou outweighed the losses!" Moreover, the three support armies of Kong Rong, Tian Kai and Liu Bei have already arrived on the battlefield, and it will be difficult for our army to break through Xuzhou again, and it may also lead to an alliance between Lu Bu, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, Tian Kai and Kong Rong, and join forces to flank our army, and the consequences will be unimaginable! ”

Boss Cao nodded slowly, admitting that what Guo Jia said was true, Cao Jun in order to avenge Cao Boss's father Cao Song, killed four of the five counties in Xuzhou to the point that the blood flowed like a river, and the corpses were piled up like a mountain, and the whole of Xuzhou was afraid of Cao Jun like a tiger, hated it like a bone, and heard the news that Lu Bu had entered Yanzhou, and he would not let go of this opportunity to beat the water dogs.

"Lord, in that case, why don't you sell a favor to Liu Bei?" Xun You pointed to Liu Bei's letter on the case and suggested: "For the time being, let's make peace with Tao Qian's old man and withdraw the army to return to Yanzhou?" ”

Boss Cao raised his eyebrows and was about to agree, but Guo Jia suddenly opened his mouth to stop him: "Don't!" Lord, this favor must not be sold to Liu Bei! ”

"Why did Bong Hyo say this?" Boss Cao asked in surprise.

"Liu Bei, Xiao Xiongye! Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, 10,000 enemies! Guo Jia said solemnly: "If the merit of Xuzhou is given to Liu Bei, the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou will regard Liu Bei as a reborn parent, and they will be grateful, Tao Qian will also recruit Liu Bei at any cost, and use Liu Bei's power to prevent our army from going and returning, and once Liu Bei has a firm foothold in Xuzhou, our army will want to capture Xuzhou to avenge the father-in-law's father, it will be difficult to climb to the sky!" ”

"Feng Xiao's words are reasonable." Boss Cao came to his senses and agreed: "Liu Bei Xiaoer is good at winning the hearts of the people, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are extraordinary, and Lu Bu is still afraid of them. ”

Seeing that Boss Cao agreed with Guo Jia's opinion, Xun You did not insist, so he suggested: "In this case, the lord can behead Na Tao Ying to show the public, pay tribute to the prince, and then immediately raise troops back to the division and quickly withdraw from Xuzhou." ”

"Lord, it's still not possible!" Guo Jia seemed to be holding back enough strength to go against Xun You today, so he opened his mouth again to stop it, and said in an astonishing voice: "Lord, according to Guo Jia's opinion, this Tao Ying not only can't be killed, but also should give him all the great merits of our army in accepting Tao Qian's request for peace!" ”

"Why did Mr. Bonghyo say this?" Xun You was shocked: "Tao Ying is the son of Tao Qian, and he has a grudge against the lord to kill his father!" Now Tao should throw himself into the net, how can he indulge it? ”

"But the current Tao Ying is of great use to the lord!" Guo Jia smiled and asked, "Mr. Gongda, have you ever thought that the arrow book that informed Tao Ying's identity was shot from Xuzhou City to scout our army?" ”

Xun Youleng was stunned for a while, and then he remembered a major question - who shot the whistleblower arrow book from Xuzhou City? In the blink of an eye, Xun You exclaimed, "Could it be Liu Bei?" ”

"It's not Liu Bei, Liu Bei has just entered Xuzhou, and he won't risk shooting books to expose his ugly face." Guo Jia said confidently: "But the person who shoots the book must be instructed by Liu Bei!" ”

"Reasonable." Boss Cao patted the case and said: "If I kill Tao Ying, I will have a deeper hatred with Tao Qian, and Tao Qian's old man will inevitably rely on Liu Bei more, which is very conducive to Liu Bei gaining a firm foothold in Xuzhou, and then controlling the power of Xuzhou!" ”

"Not only that, but there is another possibility." Guo Jia smiled and said: "Tao Qian'er is over sixty years old, frail and sickly, if he hears the bad news of his beloved son again, even if he does not die on the spot, his condition will inevitably worsen, and no matter whether Tao Qian'er is sick or killed on the spot, only Liu Bei can benefit from it!" ”

Boss Cao blinked his triangular eyes and asked, "Then Feng Xiao's proposal to give Xuzhou to Tao Ying Xiao'er is planning to separate Tao's father and son from Liu Bei?" ”

"As the lord said, it is exactly so." Guo Jia nodded and admitted, and said with a wicked smile: "If the merit of Xuzhou is given to Tao Ying, the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou will only be grateful to Tao's father and son, and will not be grateful to Liu Bei, Liu Bei brother will not be so important in the minds of Tao Qian's old man and the people of Xuzhou, Liu Bei brother, naturally it is difficult to gain a foothold in Xuzhou, maybe he will withdraw from Xuzhou in disgrace, as soon as Liu Bei leaves, when the lord comes to attack Xuzhou again, the resistance is not much smaller?" ”

Boss Cao left the table and got up, turned around in the big tent with his hands behind his back, weighing the pros and cons while tiptoeing, Guo Jia's eyes kept shaking with Boss Cao's figure, and said calmly: "Lord, Guo Jia knows that the hatred of killing his father is not the same as the sky, but people have high and low, and the enemy has a strong and weak choice, Liu Bei is the hero of the world, both civil and military and good at winning people's hearts, if he is allowed to gain a firm foothold in Xuzhou, the lord wants to seize Xuzhou again, and he will have to pay a greater price." Tao's father and son are different, Tao Qian is old and sick, Tao Qian's eldest son Tao Shang is cowardly and incompetent, and the second son Tao Ying can only write poems and songs, with the courage of a husband and no scheming, all of which are far easier to deal with than Liu Bei. ”

"Mr. Guo Jia, I think that Tao Ying is very bold and talented, why do you say that he has the courage of a man and has no scheming?" Boss Cao asked curiously.

"How can a scheming person personally deliver a letter to our army camp?" Guo Jia smiled and said: "The gentleman does not stand under the dangerous wall, Tao Yingxiaoer, as the second son of Tao Qian, but he is brave and single-handedly sent a letter to our army camp, without considering the consequences of this move. ”

Cao Hong suddenly realized, and said in his heart that it was right, several peace envoys sent by Tao Qian Lao'er before were beheaded by the lord, and Tao Ying Xiao'er dared to come to deliver the letter, isn't it stupid? Unless he Tao Ying Xiao'er can predict the prophet and know that he sent the letter to our army's camp, the news of Lu Bu'er's attack on Yanzhou also happened to be sent to our army's camp!

"Tao Ying'er's bravery, our army can also take advantage of it." Boss Cao suddenly stopped, turned to Guo Jia and said with a cruel smile: "Fengxiao, put away the arrow book, and when Tao Ying Xiao'er is released in a while, give him the arrow book, and let Tao Qian Lao'er and Liu Bei'er go dog-eat-dog!" ”

Guo Jiajian smiled and nodded, understanding - Tao Ying is a stupid boy with courage and no strategy, Tao Qian's old thing is a genuine old fox, and when he sees the arrow book, he can not doubt Liu Bei. At the end, Guo Jia suggested again: "Lord, Guo Jia thinks that it is a pity to let Tao Ying Xiaoer go directly, Jia has a plan, which can make Tao Ying Xiao'er as prestigious in Xuzhou City as Zhongtian, so that Liu Bei Xiao'er has no place to be ashamed of himself in Xuzhou City, and even has no shame to stay in Xuzhou and part ways with Tao Qian's old man." ”

"What's the trick of Feng Xiao? Come on. Boss Cao said happily: "The higher Tao Ying'er's reputation in Xuzhou, the easier it will be for me to attack Xuzhou next time!" ”

……………………

After another moment, the Cao army camp that had been calm for a period of time suddenly moved, and the Cao army troops poured out of their nests, lined up a large team outside the camp gate, Cao Boss personally got on the horse and led the team, leading tens of thousands of Cao troops towards the north gate of Xuzhou, and our poor deputy director Tao was also dragged out by the Cao army soldiers, tied his arms, and escorted him south with the Cao army.

Cao Bao, Cao Hong and Tao Ji and other Xuzhou generals led the Xuzhou army is naturally all in the city, ready to defend the city, Liu Bei's team in less than half a day into the city also quickly climbed the city wall, joined the city defense team, and a large number of Xuzhou people, also spontaneously rushed to the inside of the city wall, carrying stones and picking wood for the defenders to transport weapons to defend the city, to help the army defend the city.

Tao Ying's father Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian also went up to the city wall, before hearing the news that Tao Ying personally went out of the city to Cao Ying, Tao Ying, who was a father, was stunned on the spot, but after being rescued, Tao Qian unexpectedly rejected Liu Bei's request to send troops to save Tao Ying, and asked Xuzhou Army and Liu Beijun to stick to the city, not a single soldier was allowed to go out of the city, the reason given was that Cao's army was powerful, no matter who went out of the city, it was in vain to die, Xuzhou civil and military officials all cried, Liu Bei's army in Guan Zhang Zhao three people were also moved, I feel that Tao Qian is indeed a rare loyal old man, who can consider others - don't look at Guan, Zhang and Zhao San are all enemies, if you really want to rush the heavily guarded Cao army camp and save a big living person, it is basically an impossible task.

When Tao Qian climbed the city wall of Xuzhou with the support of his entourage, Cao Ying's army had already established a firm foothold in the wilderness outside the north gate of Xuzhou, with long shields in the lead, strong bows and crossbows lying behind, and also erected antlers to block the cavalry assault and resist horses, and the tactics were very cautious. At the same time, what puzzled Tao Qian, Liu Bei and others was that Cao Bing actually built a large earthen stove in front of the battle, and built firewood under the stove, and finally set up a large iron pot on the fire.

When Cao Jun's soldiers poured green oil into the iron pot, Tao Qian, Liu Bei and others finally understood Cao Ying's vicious intentions - it was obvious that the notoriously ruthless Boss Cao planned to blow up Tao Ying with boiling oil in public!

Knowing this, Tao Qian's face was of course like ashes, and the old tears were all over the place, while Liu Bei was filled with righteous indignation and shouted: "Tao Envoy, please order the opening of the city, be prepared to personally lead the troops out of the city, and rescue the second son at any cost!" ”

"Cao Ying dog thief, what kind of ability is it to bully children?" Zhang Fei also shouted with leopard eyes on the city wall, and roared like thunder: "If you have the ability, come out and fight with my old Zhang for three hundred rounds!" ”

Tao Qian hesitated, of course Tao Qian didn't want his son to be blown up in public by Boss Cao, but Tao Qian knew better that with the two or three thousand patchwork rabble in Liu Bei's hands and the remnants of the defeated army in Xuzhou City, it would be difficult to rescue his beloved son from the wolf-like army of Cao Ying, and at the same time, he would lose the last bit of his old capital! But if you don't go out of the city to save it, Tao Ying, the beloved son Tao Ying, who has just been impressed by Tao Qian, will be fried in public!

At this time, Tao Ying, who was wearing a Confucian robe, had been pushed to the front of the battle and escorted to the side of the big oil pot, and at the same time, Cao Boss was wearing a pure white filial piety robe, and he also came out surrounded by a large group of Cao Jun's fierce people, and trotted to the top of the Xuzhou city wall, and shouted: "Tao Qian, come out and answer!" ”

Tao Qian burst into tears, trembled and walked to the side of the arrow stack, and shouted with difficulty: "Ming Gong, Tao Qian is here." ”

"Old horseman, you have given birth to a good son!" Boss Cao raised his horsewhip and shouted with a cruel smile: "You dare to disguise yourself, change your name and surname, and sneak into my camp under the pretense of sending books to spy on my military situation!" After being recognized, he actually used rhetoric again, saying that he was willing to die for the creatures of Xuzhou, and was willing to die in exchange for his retreat, which was bold! ”

There was an exclamation on the city wall, and the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou, as well as hundreds of civil and military officials, were all surprised by Tao Ying's righteousness, and they actually put forward a request that they were willing to exchange for a death for Boss Cao! Only Liu Bei laughed secretly in his heart and scolded secretly: "What Zizhong said is true, Tao Qian's son is really as stupid as a guinea dog!" ”

Tao Qian cried, and said to Boss Cao on the city wall: "Ming Gong, the child is ignorant and makes nonsense, and I hope that Ming Gong will bear with me." Qian was guilty of the sky, causing Xuzhou to suffer this catastrophe, and he had already had the heart to die, and hoped that Ming Gong would forgive the dog and the people of Xuzhou, and the old man was willing to exchange his body! ”

"Hahaha!" Boss Cao laughed wildly, pointed at Tao Qian with a horsewhip and shouted: "Old horseman, don't talk flatteringly there, if you can really die for Xuzhou, why don't you kill yourself early, but wait until I capture your son?" Today, I won't kill you first, I will kill your son first! ”

"Ming Gong ......." Tao Qian couldn't cry.

"Listen, old man!" Boss Cao roared wildly: "I want to expose the hypocrisy of your father and son's greed for life and fear of death!" Your son Tao Ying, didn't he say that he was willing to die in exchange for my retreat? Okay, I give him a chance, I have now set up an oil pot and put boiling oil, if your son Tao Ying dares to jump into the oil pot by himself, I will immediately withdraw from the army, leave Xuzhou, and never break my word! If your son doesn't dare, I'll cut off his limbs first, dig out his heart and liver alive, and then wave my troops to attack the city!" ”

"Ming Gong ——!"

"Virtuous Brother ——!"

"Brother——!

Tao Qian screamed, and the Tao merchant and Tao Ji's cousins also screamed at the same time, but Cao Boss didn't give the Tao family's father and son a chance to intercede at all, turned around and left, and the Xuzhou city wall was full of people again, and the Xuzhou soldiers and civilians either screamed loudly, or gritted their teeth, or showed joy on their faces, hoping that Tao Ying would be able to enter the oil pot from himself, in exchange for Cao Boss to withdraw from Xuzhou - Cao Boss is not bad in terms of credibility.

"Ming Gong, please open the city gate quickly and let the soldiers go to save the son!" Liu Bei's eyes widened and he roared, his expression was both angry and crazy, and the three fierce men of Guan Zhang and Zhao also asked for help, expressing their willingness to lead the army out of the city to rescue Tao Ying.

"Listen to all the people in the city!" Dian Wei, who was following behind Boss Cao, turned around and shouted in a super voice no less than Zhang Fei: "From now on, if anyone dares to take a step out of the city, our army will immediately execute Tao Yingxiao'er!" Liu Bei, Guan Zhangzhao and others were speechless, not knowing what to do.

At the same time, Deputy Director Tao, who was escorted to the oil pot, heard Boss Cao's words, and his handsome little face became whiter than a dead man, and there was only one thought left in his mind, "Oh no! How could the old thief Cao be so deceitful and come up with such a vicious idea? Not only did I up with boiling oil, but I could justifiably return to the army to save Yanzhou, and I wanted it together! ”

"Tao Ying Xiao'er, donating his body to go to the country, seeing death as if he were going home!" Cao Lao smiled and patted his horse closer, waved a whip at Tao Yingxu, and said with a laugh: "Your opportunity to donate your life has arrived, you also heard what I said just now, if you dare to jump into the oil pot by yourself, I will immediately withdraw from the army and never break my word!" ”

"Tao Gongzi, who has not died in ancient times, leave Dan to take care of the sweat, this is your good sentence." Guo Jia also coughed and stepped forward, smiled at Deputy Director Tao and said, "Today, I, Guo Jia, want to see if Tao Gongzi, who can chant such a good sentence, can really do it." ”

"This guy is Guo Jia." Tao Ying glanced at Guo Jia, tried hard to remember what kind of ugly face this tuberculosis ghost was, and then turned his head to look at the cauldron full of green oil, Deputy Director Tao's legs felt cramps - mother, why did the boiling oil in the pot roll so quickly?

"Let him go!" Boss Cao gave an order to Cao Bing, who was holding Tao Ying, and asked Cao Bing to let go of Deputy Director Tao, and asked people to take the horse stake and put it next to the pot, and finally shouted at Tao Ying: "Boy, you choose for yourself, do you want yourself, or the people of Xuzhou?" ”

Deputy Director Tao's face was as pale as earth, and he didn't dare to answer - just kidding, Deputy Director Tao had already been in a car accident, how could he dare to jump into the boiling oil pot by himself?

"Lord, since the lord has the heart to test the second son, then the surname Suo will bet a little bigger." Guo Jia smiled and came up with a more rancid idea, "If Tao Gongzi doesn't dare to jump, please let him go back to Xuzhou City first, and then the lord will attack the city again, killing all the soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou City to avenge his father." If Tao Gongzi jumped into the oil pot by himself, then the lord would keep his promise and retire from Xuzhou! ”

"Wonderful, that's it!"

Cao Boss applauded, and gave a look to Dian Wei, the commander in front of the tent next to him, Dian Wei understood, and immediately returned to the horse and ran to the city wall, pulling a loud voice no less than Zhang Fei, and shouted out the new conditions opened by Cao Boss, that is, if Tao Ying is afraid of death and does not jump the oil pot, Cao Boss will immediately release people, and wait for Tao Ying to return to the city and then attack the city, if Tao Ying jumps the oil pot, then Cao Boss will immediately withdraw his troops and spare the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou - of course, only for the time being.

After listening to the new conditions of Cao Laoda's cat playing with mice, Tao Qian, Tao Shang and Tao Ji on the city wall wept bitterly, and they didn't know how to choose, while the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou talked about it and had different thoughts, but Liu Bei and Guan Zhangzhao and others shouted, "Second son, come back!" Come back! We will wait to defend Xuzhou, and we will not let the Cao thief break the city! ”

"Boy, have you heard my new conditions?" Boss Cao turned to Tao Ying again, and said with a cruel smile: "If you are afraid of death, you can leave immediately, I will not kill you for the time being!" ”

As an excellent person in the 21st century, Deputy Director Tao is of course greedy for life and afraid of death and loves his own life, so when he heard the new conditions offered by Boss Cao, Deputy Director Tao almost subconsciously raised his legs and wanted to run, but as soon as his legs moved, Deputy Director Tao, who was in a slightly relaxed mood, suddenly found an abnormality - there seemed to be a strange smell in the air.

Deputy Director Tao sniffed it carefully, and finally distinguished the strange smell from its source, the strange smell was a thick sour smell, coming from the boiling oil pot.