"Cao Thief personally came forward to recruit Lu Bu? Is this news really fake? Did the thief eat the gall of the leopard? What happened to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, did he forget? Even if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, hadn't he heard it with his own ears? ”

Of course, this was Deputy Director Tao's first reaction when he heard the news of Boss Cao's recruitment of Lu Wenhou, and Deputy Director Tao did not know that he had surrendered Lu Wenhou himself, and he could recruit the most elite soldiers and strong generals of Lu Bu's army once and for all, not to mention that he had not calculated how to successfully surrender to Lu Wenhou himself, but when he thought of the lessons of the two bosses, Dong Zhongying and Ding Jianyang, Deputy Director Tao finally dispelled this idea - Deputy Director Tao was not sure that he could train a wild wolf into an obedient watchdog. So when I heard that Boss Cao personally came forward to recruit Lu Wenhou, Deputy Director Tao was inevitably surprised, and almost suspected that Boss Cao didn't know how to write dead characters.

"At first, Su didn't believe it." Lu Su replied respectfully: "But the scouts of our army saw with their own eyes that Cao Ying did talk to Lu Wenhou under the city of Changyi, and opened his mouth to recruit Lu Wenhou. In addition, our scouts also heard that Cao Ying promised to give Lu Wenhou two days to think about it. ”

"Did the thief take the wrong medicine?" Tao Ying was even more surprised, but after a little calculation, Tao Ying snapped his fingers and suddenly said: "I understand, Cao Thief must have seen that the soldiers of Lu Bu's army were in the heart of our army, and would rather fight with his army than rush to our army to surrender, knowing that Changyi City is broken, and most of the elite soldiers and strong generals of Lu Bu's army in Changyi City will definitely surrender to our army, so he moved his mind to recruit Lu Bu, and wants to use Lu Bu's last influence to compete with us for people's hearts and steal my talents." ”

"Although the reason is good, Cao Ying is sure to control Lu Wenhou?" Lu Su said suspiciously: "How can a surname like Lu Wenhou live in the hearts of the people for a long time and be willing to work for others?" Can Cao Mengde, who is old and slippery, not understand this? ”

Tao Ying didn't answer, stood up and turned around the big tent a few times with his hands behind his back, and suddenly stopped and said: "Maybe Cao Thief has such an idea, first recruit Lu Bu and his last elite soldiers, and then immediately deprive Lu Bu of all military rights, give Lu Bu a false position to raise, only give Lu Bu an official position, not military power, so that even if Lu Bu wants to bite back, he can't set off too many storms." If it really doesn't work, Cao Thief can also strike first, and just find an excuse to kill Lu Bu first and get rid of the trouble forever! ”

"Then we can do the same?" Lu Su also stood up and suggested: "Since Cao Ying can do this, then we can also do this, my lord, you used to be the son-in-law of Lu Wenhou, you used to be a great favor to Lu Bujun, and you have always been known for your kindness and generosity, it is far easier to recruit Lu Bu than Cao Ying, as long as we also make a move to surrender, we have a great chance of pulling Lu Bu from Cao Ying." ”

"No!" Tao Ying shook his head categorically, and explained: "Actually, I have considered this plan more than once to recruit Lu Bu to an idle person to raise. But I am different from Cao Thief, Cao Thief is difficult to recruit Lu Bu and easy to deal with the aftermath, but I am easy to recruit Lu Bu and difficult to deal with the aftermath. Lu Bu almost had to pass the life of the Cao thief several times, and the Cao thief gave him an idle job to support, which was to repay his grievances with virtue, which would make the Cao thief gain the trust of the world; Lu Bu used to be indirectly kind to Xuzhou, and he used to be my father-in-law, if I only give him an idle job, it would be ungrateful, and it would discourage everyone in the world. ”

"There's something more dangerous." Tao Ying analyzed again: "The strength of the Cao thief army itself is good, and it has recruited the last elite strong generals of the Lu Bu army, but it is just to reinforce, and there is no need to reuse these elite strong generals." I'm different, the Xuzhou army is short of talents, the strength is relatively weak, if I recruit the last elite generals of the Lu Bu army, if I don't give reuse, not only waste talents, but also lead to dissatisfaction with these surrendered elite generals; But if I reuse these elite soldiers, give them military power, and keep Lu Wenhou by my side, then I don't even dare to sleep and close my eyes, as long as there is any old Lu Wenhou who makes trouble, it will kill me. ”

"That's right." Lu Su suddenly realized and said: "If the lord summons Lu Wenhou over, it is very easy to lose his tail and it is difficult to control. The best way is to continue to carry out our original plan, as long as the elite soldiers under the command of Lu Wenhou do not want Lu Wenhou himself, and it is best to let Cao Ying kill Lu Wenhou, so that we can be more assured to boldly appoint military talents. ”

"Cao Thief must have also seen this, so he dared to boldly surrender Lu Wenhou in public, leaving me in a dilemma, neither could I stop it, nor did I dare to surrender Lu Bu like him." Tao Ying nodded, and smiled at Lu Su again: "Strategist, it's up to you, do you have any tricks to teach me and help me crack the tricks of the Cao thief?" ”

"My lord, please don't laugh." Lu Su replied with a wry smile: "In this position of military advisor, in fact, it has long been in name only, in terms of conspiracy and strategy alone, one of your fingers is a hundred times stronger than that of Xia." This kind of conspiracy and trickery, it is better to ask the lord to make his own decision, and at most he can only give the lord a hand. ”

"Zi Jing should not be modest, one person is short-minded, and two are long-term, let's use our brains together to see how we can crack the trick of the Cao thief, not only so that the Cao thief cannot recruit the remnants of Lu Bu's army, but also help us get rid of Lu Wenhou." Tao Ying said with a smile.

Lu Su nodded, frowned, and tried to activate the loyal head that was definitely not good at conspiracy, and pondered for Tao Ying how to beat the stuffy stick and release the black gun. Tao Ying, who was also accustomed to the surname, turned around in circles, and the lack of moral ideas in his head in the bad water also popped out one after another, and the first thing he thought of was, "How about instigating Yuan Shang's straw bag to come forward to recruit Lu Bu himself?" No, Lu Bu is very popular with the military, if he follows Yuan Shao, the most elite part of his team will definitely have to go with Yuan Shao, not only will I not get too much benefit, but in the future, Lu Bu will repeat his old tricks and stab Yuan Shao in the back of that idiot, I may also be ............affected. ”

Quickly eliminating this hopeful idea, Tao Ying quickly calculated two plans, one was to follow Uncle Liu Huang to remind Boss Cao not to forget Dong Zhuo Ding Yuan's lesson, and the other was to instigate Yuan Shang to come forward to prevent Boss Cao from surrendering Lu Bu, but both plans had all kinds of bad consequences, so Tao Ying quickly gave up. When he was helpless, Deputy Director Tao suddenly remembered something, subconsciously stopped, closed his eyes and thought nervously, after a long time, Deputy Director Tao finally spoke, while thinking about the details of the plan, he commanded in a hoarse voice: "Zijing, prepare to ...... pen and ink." ”

Lu Su, who racked his brains and couldn't think of a lack of moral ideas, agreed, and immediately brought pen, ink, paper, and inkstone to serve the marquis, and asked cautiously: "Lord, what do you write?" ”

"Write a letter for me, and use my tone to recruit Lu Bu himself." Tao Ying replied casually with his eyes closed, and his bad head was still nervously calculating every detailed step of the plan.

"Recruit Lu Bu himself?" Lu Su was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Lord, just now you also analyzed that our army will have endless troubles if you recruit Lu Bu himself, how can you change your mind again?" ”

"Don't worry, listen to me." Tao Ying finally opened his triangular eyes, and said with a smile: "On the surrender letter, add a surrender condition to me." ”

……………………………… In the evening, a probe horse galloped into the camp of the Cao army, bringing an unexpected news to the boss Cao who was personally leading the team to patrol the night, "Lord Qiqi, a Xuzhou cavalry took the opportunity of patrolling before, suddenly passed through the defense line of our army, galloped to the south gate of Changyi, shot an arrow up the city tower, and escaped back to the Xuzhou patrol before our army blocked it. General Yu Ban suspected that there was a letter on the arrow, and led the army to negotiate, but the Xuzhou army explained that it was sniping the enemy in the city, and Feng Li, the general of Yuan Shaojun's patrol in charge of the Ximen sentry, also favored the Xuzhou army and argued with General Yu Ban. At present, the two armies are facing each other, and General Yu Ban asked for an order to use force to forcibly capture the Xuzhou cavalry for interrogation? ”

"Call Yu Ban back, you must not clash with the Tao Yuan coalition army, and at the critical moment, you can't make extraneous branches." Boss Cao ordered casually, and hummed again: "Besides, what's the use of capturing that Xuzhou cavalry back?" Tao Ying thief is so fine, even if there is a letter tied to the arrow, it is impossible for the Xuzhou cavalry to know the content. ”

The herald took the order and left, and it was not until the herald went away that Boss Cao snorted again and said: "Tao Ying thief, he deceives people too much, and with the support of Yuan Shang's straw bag, he dares to communicate with Lu Bupifu in front of me!" I will remember this account first, and sooner or later I will settle it with you! ”

"Lord, do you think this thing is suspicious?" Cheng Yu next to him said in a dark voice: "If Tao Ying's thief wants to contact Lu Bupifu, then he can shoot the arrow book on the Changyi West Gate Tower, the Changyi West Gate is guarded by Tao Yuan's coalition army, he shoots the arrow book on the Changyi West Gate City Tower without knowing it, and he doesn't have to worry about being blocked by our army - in this case, why does Tao Ying thief take the risk and send someone to shoot books at the south gate of Changyi controlled by our army?" ”

was reminded by Cheng Yu, the most vicious under his command, Boss Cao also suddenly remembered this big problem - if Tao Ying just wanted to contact Lu Bu, then just shoot the arrow book directly at the west gate of Changyi, why do you have to risk going to the south gate of Changyi controlled by Cao Jun to shoot the book, and spend a lot of effort? Thinking of this, Boss Cao hurriedly asked Cheng Yu: "Mr. Zhongmou, then in your opinion, what is the purpose of Tao Ying's thief?" ”

"After thinking about it carefully, I feel that Tao Ying's thief's move may have two purposes." Cheng Yu analyzed: "First, Tao Ying's thief deliberately startled the snake and deliberately let our army know that he was secretly communicating with Lu Bu. Second, Tao Ying's thief's arrow book was not shot at Lu Bu, but at another person, who was currently on the southern city of Changyi, and Tao Ying's thief had to take a risk in order to avoid the arrow book falling into the hands of others! ”

"The south gate of Changyi, which enemy general is currently guarding it?" Boss Cao subconsciously asked sharply.

"Back to the lord, the enemy in charge of the defense of the south gate of Changyi is Wei Xu!" Left and right replied.

"Wei Xu?!" Boss Cao's heart trembled, and he subconsciously remembered Lu Su's words that night, there are three people in Lu Bu's army that can be used, except for Song Xian and Hou Cheng, who have already led the army to surrender to the Xuzhou army, the third person is none other than this Wei Xu!

Although he couldn't guess why Tao Ying contacted Wei Xu for the time being, for the sake of prudence, after a little calculation, Boss Cao still ordered with a blushing face: "Add two thousand infantry to Yu Ban, let him monitor the movements of Changyi Nancheng at night, and pay special attention to Wei Xu's every move of Wei Xu, the guard of the south gate of Lu Bu's army!" Then order Xiahoudun, Li Dian and Le Jin, let them each lead their headquarters to rest in turn, and each army will take turns to guard for four hours, once the south gate of Changyi changes, there is no need to ask for an order, immediately attack and attack the city! ”

A few personal soldiers rushed down to give orders, and Boss Cao first looked at the Changyi City Gate standing in the night in the north, and then looked at the direction of the Xuzhou camp in the west, and his heart was full of doubts, "Tao Ying thief, what the hell are you doing?" ”

……………………………… Okay, now let's take a look at the situation of Lu Wenhou, poor Lu Wenhou, who was repeatedly betrayed and fooled by his hateful son-in-law, locked himself in his room since he met and answered with Boss Cao, and refused to even see his wife and concubine daughter, and drank wine alone to calculate the answer to Boss Cao. wanted to surrender, but was afraid that Boss Cao would backtrack, tricked himself into putting down his weapon, and then chopped himself off with a knife; Resolutely refuse Boss Cao's request, the team under his command has reached this bird shape again, the morale of the army is weak, morale is low, no matter how much food and grass are saved, it can't support much time, and it is only a matter of time before it is destroyed.

After hesitating again and again, Lu Wenhou, whose ambition had already been wiped out by reality, was inevitably drunk, and he drank alone until he was drunk. Fortunately, when he saw that poor Lu Wenhou was about to be overturned by himself, there was another knock on the door, and the henchman who knocked on the door said cautiously: "My lord, the officials in the prison have come to report, Mr. Chen Gong knelt down and begged for a message, and asked the lord to see him again in the love that has been with him for many years." Mr. Chen Gong also said that he only wants to see the lord again, although he has no regrets in death. ”

"Call him ......." Lu Wenhou subconsciously wanted to drink a lot, but after the words came to his lips, Lu Wenhou, who had not lost his conscience like Deputy Director Tao and Boss Cao, still changed his mind, poured the wine in the bowl into his mouth again, and then sighed and said, "Bring Chen Gong." ”

The guard agreed, and after a long time, Chen Gong, who was covered in shackles, was finally escorted into Lu Wenhou's room, and when he saw the wine jar in front of Lu Wenhou, the unkempt Chen Gong frowned habitually, and opened his mouth to persuade him, but the words were forced to close when he reached his mouth. When Lu Wenhou saw Chen Gong's appearance in a hazy and drunken light, he sneered and asked, "What's the matter?" Don't you advise me to quit drinking today? ”

"The lord is depressed in his heart, and he borrows wine to drown his sorrows, but the palace does not dare to persuade him again, but he only asks the lord to protect the tiger's body, and not to be mistaken by the wine." Under the eaves, Chen Gong finally said something that made Lu Wenhou pleasing to his ears.

"Sit down." Lu Wenhou sighed, asked the guards to arrange a place for Chen Gong, and then asked, "Say, what do you want to see me?" ”

"Lord, the palace heard in prison, today it is said that Cao Ying and the thief personally went to the city to recruit the lord, and the lord promised to give Cao thief an answer after two days, dare to ask the lord, I don't know if there is such a thing?" Chen Gong asked straight to the point.

"It's still so well-informed in prison, yes, what's wrong?" Lu Wenhou snorted.

"Lord, don't surrender!" Chen Gong hurriedly knelt down on Lu Wenhou's knees, kowtowed with tears in his eyes, and said: "Cao thief is treacherous and dangerous, his heart is like a snake and scorpion, if the lord descends to him, he will definitely die in the future and have no place to be buried!" ”

"There is no place to die?!" Lu Wenhou's face began to turn a little blue again, and he shouted angrily: "Cao Gong's intention to surrender is very sincere, not only promising not to kill me, but also joining forces with me to exterminate the thieves in the world, why are you alarmist and slander Cao Gong's goodwill for no reason?" ”

"Lord, have you forgotten the battle of Juyang?" Chen Gong wept bitterly, choked up and said: "In the Juyang War, when Cao Thief agreed to the lord to ask for peace, how beautiful and sincere was the promise in his mouth? But after letting the lord relax, how did the thief treat the lord? Raid the camp overnight! Lord, the lessons of the past are ahead, do you want to repeat the mistakes of the past? ”

Chen Gong's words finally reminded poor Lu Wenhou, and poor Lu Wenhou, who was repeatedly tortured by Deputy Director Tao and Cao Boss, finally remembered that his army had declined from prosperity to destruction, and the cause was none other than because he believed in Boss Cao's promise, and was successfully attacked by Boss Cao, and his vitality was greatly damaged in the first battle! Thinking of this, Lu Wenhou finally calmed down, but he still said unconvinced: "Even if Cao Thief has always been untrustworthy, what is it? I surrendered to him with my army, and if he dares to break his word against me, who will dare to surrender to him in the future? ”

"Yes, if the lord leads the army to surrender to the Cao thief, the Cao thief really doesn't dare to kill the lord directly." Chen Gong nodded vigorously, and said: "But with the deceit of the Cao thief, after the lord surrenders, he will definitely confiscate the lord's military power, and make the lord an idle post to raise him, so that the lord will never come out!" At that time, the lord you have neither soldiers nor power, you are completely the fish and meat on the anvil of Cao Ying's thief, not to mention the comeback, even if you make a slight move, the Cao thief will not hesitate to immediately attack and kill the lord! Lu Boyu's lesson, have you forgotten it, lord?! ”

Lu Wenhou's stirring mind finally calmed down, and his heart said yes, I surrendered to Cao Thief, what if Cao Thief completely confiscated my military power? When the time comes, I imagine that I did it to Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan before, how can I do it without soldiers and power? Do you really want to be a slave to Cao Thief for a lifetime, and kowtow to him for the rest of your life?

Seeing that Lu Wenhou's expression was relaxed, Chen Gong hurriedly said again: "Lord, if you really intend to lead the people to surrender, it is better to surrender to Tao Ying, so as to ensure that the lord's surname is worry-free, and at the same time, the lord has a chance to make a comeback." ”

"Surrender to the Tao Ying thief?" Lu Wenhou narrowed his eyes again, and said angrily: "Surrender to that Tao Ying thief who fell into the well?" Surrender to a junior?! ”

"Lord, Tao Ying's thief's deceitful and vicious may not be under the Cao thief, but he will never dare to kill you." Chen Gong said solemnly: "Tao Ying's thief has always regarded himself as benevolent and righteous, cherishing his reputation, and you used to be his elder, if he kills you, it will be a great injustice, so if you go to surrender to him, not only will he not dare to harm you, but he will definitely treat you well and respect you, which is far better than swallowing your anger under the command of Cao Thief!" ”

Thinking of Tao Ying's previous respect for himself, and thinking that Tao Ying was once his son-in-law, Lu Wenhou nodded slightly and asked: "Then if Tao Ying's thief is like Cao Thief, give me an idle job to raise, what can I do?" ”

"That's all the more fine." Chen Gong replied quickly: "Tao Ying's thieves' generals are not only generally lacking, if the lord leads the crowd to surrender him, even if the lord has no military power, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao and others who are loyal to the lord will inevitably be reused, they have military power in hand, are you afraid that there will be no chance of a comeback, lord?!" And there are many loyal and brave soldiers under the command of the lord, and they will definitely be able to serve as grassroots generals in the Xuzhou army. ”

Lu Wenhou, who had already killed two godfathers, was finally moved, and after careful consideration, Lu Wenhou hesitated and said: "This matter is too big, I need to think about it carefully." ”

"The lord bows his head to his son-in-law, the lord does lose face, and it takes time to make up his mind, which Chen Gong understands." Chen Gong nodded, and said: "I only ask the lord to remember one thing, if Han Xin didn't have the humiliation of his crotch back then, he would not have been ambushed on all sides later, and he would be crowned King of Qi!" ”

Lu Wenhou's heart moved again, but he still couldn't immediately pull down his face and surrender to a late-born junior, so after hesitating again and again, Lu Wenhou still gritted his teeth and said: "You go back first, let me think about it all night, and then make a decision tomorrow." ”

Chen Gong had no choice but to kowtow and say goodbye, and was escorted out of the room by the guards, escorted back to the prison to continue to be detained, and Lu Wenhou rarely got up to see him off, and sent Chen Gong, who had been heavily shackled but still loyal to him, out of the door, and he also stood in front of the door for a long time, and his heart was uncertain.

At this time, Lu Wenhou suddenly felt a flower in the corner of his eyes, and found that there seemed to be a figure flickering next to the flowers, and when he shouted and asked who it was, Lu Wenhou's brother-in-law, General Wei Xu, walked out in a cower, and saluted in front of Lu Wenhou. Seeing that Wei Xu was not guarding the city, Lu Wenhou was immediately furious and asked, "You are not guarding the city, what are you doing here?" Do you still want to take another fifty military sticks? ”

"Sister-in-law Mingjian." Wei Xu hurriedly knelt down on his knees and said tremblingly: "It was my sister who summoned my little brother here, my sister was occasionally unwell, and summoned her younger brother to come over to visit, and my little brother was worried about my sister's health, so I temporarily left the city tower for a while to come to visit." If your brother-in-law doesn't believe me, you can ask your sister. ”

"She's not feeling well there?" Lu Wenhou really had nothing to say to his family, not only did he not pursue Wei Xu's crime of leaving his post without permission, but also asked about the physical condition of his little wife Wei.

"Some coughs, not tight." At this time, a woman's voice came from the corner of the corridor, and then a rather beautiful middle-aged woman walked out, and said to Lu Wenhou with a little pale face: "Husband, don't blame, in fact, the concubine did not summon Wei Xu to come in because she was unwell, but the concubine was worried that Wei Xu was injured and it was inconvenient to visit in the city, so she summoned Wei Xu to come back and inquire about his injuries in person. ”

"Since it's your sister and brother who care about each other, forget it." Lu Wenhou waved his hand and shouted to Wei Xu: "Go back to the South Gate City, guard the city carefully, and then dare to let the Cao thief steal the city wall, see how I clean you up!" ”

"No, no." Wei Xu agreed repeatedly, and hurriedly rushed out of the backyard. But when Wei Xu was about to rush out of the backyard, Lu Wenhou's heart moved again, and he hurriedly shouted: "Wait, come back." ”

Wei Xu returned to Lü Wenhou tremblingly and asked Lü Wenhou for any instructions, but Lü Wenhou hesitated, and he didn't know that after a long time, Lü Wenhou finally made up his mind, led the Wei family sisters and brothers back to the room, took pen and ink and wrote a letter to Tao Ying, handed it to Wei Xu and whispered: "Arrange a reliable henchman for me, go out of the city overnight to send the letter to the Xuzhou camp, and hand it over to Tao Ying in person!" As soon as there is an answer, whenever you want, report it to me immediately! ”

"Sister-in-law, are you really planning to surrender to Tao Ying?" Maybe he was too nervous, Wei Xu's voice trembled a little.

Lu Wenhou nodded and did not speak, but his expression was very firm. Seeing this scene, Wei Xu didn't dare to ask again, so he quickly nodded and sang a promise, and went out cautiously with the letter, and the Wei family behind him also hurriedly said: "Husband, let the concubine send him." Lu Wenhou nodded in agreement, and poured himself a bowl of wine.

(To be continued)