In addition to the need to beware of Cao Laoda's main force to chase and kill, the road for the Luyi team to go east to Changyi to meet with Deputy Director Tao is relatively smooth, and only Dingtao and Liu Dai's team block the road on the way, and the friends of General Liu Dai's team also know that all of them are the second-line auxiliaries of the Cao army's team, whether it is the Luyi team or the Xuzhou team, just pull an elite soldier out to easily deal with the poor General Liu Dai, so the threat to the Luyi team can be almost negligible.

But even so, after receiving Yang Changshi's good news letter, in order to show his importance and respect for General Lu Yi, Deputy Director Tao personally led the 20,000 troops westward to meet General Lu Yi's surrender team, deter Liu Dai's team in Dingtao City, beware of the possible pursuit of Boss Cao, and also cover up his ugly deeds by the way - he was blocked by a team of Cao army auxiliaries for half a year. At the same time, he sent a letter to Lu Yi, and repeatedly told the Lu Yi team to be careful of Cao Boss's sneak attack.

Deputy Director Tao's worries about the main force of the Cao army are not unreasonable, with the surname of Cao Boss, he is naturally unwilling to let the Jizhou elite fall into the hands of the potential enemy Deputy Director Tao, in fact, it is exactly the case, after leaving Jiyang in embarrassment and going north to join the main force, the embarrassed and angry Cao Boss is indeed determined to pursue and kill the Lu Yi team with all his might, and even considered taking advantage of the situation to launch a plan for a decisive battle with the main force of the Xuzhou army, and consulted the opinions of the strategists under his command, and asked the strategists under his command to analyze the prospects of the victory or defeat of the decisive battle between the army and the main force of Xuzhou.

In view of the current situation of the Cao army, Cao Boss's decisive battle plan was unanimously opposed by his strategists, because although the current morale of the Cao army is strong, the army is too tired, and the follow-up food and grass are also seriously insufficient. The main force of Xuzhou has been recuperating for a long time, waiting for work and having sufficient food and grass, and Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison are also the kind of thieves who are scheming and rarely make mistakes, at this time, the decisive battle of Cao Tao is not only unlikely to win, but also may be defeated in the hands of the Xuzhou army.

Cao Boss is a persuasive hero, and he felt that Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others were reasonable, so he immediately changed his mind and decided to only pursue Lu Yi and not provoke Deputy Director Tao, but just when Cao Boss was about to send troops, a new trouble came - Cao Hongfei, the general of the Cao army who guarded Sili and Nanyang, came to report, saying that Uncle Liu Huang took advantage of the empty opportunity of Cao's army to go north to Xuchang, and colluded with Zhuge Xuan, a guest of Jingzhou, to persuade Liu Biao to send troops to attack Xuchang. Sent Liu Bei and Zhang Xiubing to attack Xuchang in two ways, at present, Cao Hong's main force in Nanyang has been contained by Zhang Xiu in Wancheng, and Uncle Liu Huang is marching all the way, and has now arrived in Duyang, which is less than 300 miles away from Xuchang.

"The big-eared thief raised by the son of a bitch!" Boss Cao scolded a swear word and said angrily: "This shameless big-eared thief must not have received the news that our army has won a great victory in Guandu, otherwise, he would not dare to enter the north with a hundred dares!" ”

"Prime Minister, let's hurry back to Xuchang, as soon as Xuchang is empty, Liu Bei will not retreat." Xun You said helplessly: "Chasing and killing Lu Yi is just to expand the results of the battle, and it will inevitably provoke Tao Ying to annihilate the thief, and it is possible to have a full-scale conflict with the main force of Xuzhou, Liu Bei is a real threat to Xuchang, if you don't get rid of this hypocrite who claims to be the emperor, the rear of our army will never be peaceful." ”

After gritting his teeth and weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Boss Cao finally waved his hand helplessly, so that the team that was already on the march stopped, and then ordered the troops to be dispatched with a straight face, and ordered Xiahou Yuan to lead an army of 10,000 to follow the Luyi team to Dingtao to garrison, and lead the Yanzhou southern line team, but not to start a war with the Xuzhou army at will; He also ordered Mao Jue to rush to Changyi to negotiate with Deputy Director Tao, demanding that the Xuzhou army fulfill the promise made before the war, immediately withdraw from Yanzhou and ask Deputy Director Tao to reopen the border city; In the end, he ordered the army to turn around and return to Xuchang to clean up Uncle Liu Huang, who took advantage of the fire to rob and disgusted him!

Uncle Liu was implicated by Uncle Cao Cao did not dare to continue to make trouble, and Lu Yi's team was naturally able to smoothly meet with Deputy Director Tao in the Dingtao area. The arrogant Lu Yi was satisfied with Deputy Director Tao's salute, and also led his generals to kneel in front of Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao personally picked everyone up one by one, rewarded Lu Yi with a set of gold chain mail, and under the pretext of thanking Zhao Yun for his rescue of Yang Changshi, he took off the bright silver armor he was wearing and draped it on Zhao Yun, and the rest of the generals also had their own rewards, and the drama of buying people's hearts was performed for more than an hour.

When it was the turn of the envoy, the confession not only resolutely refused the reward of Deputy Director Tao, but also told Deputy Director Tao straight to the point, "The envoy forgives the sins, and the general Lu Yi came to defect to the envoy, not to serve the envoy, but to return to Jizhou by the road of Xuzhou, and to ask the envoy to keep his promise and let him leave." ”

Deputy Director Tao, who had been mentally prepared, smiled, returned the salute to Fu Zhi, and said with a smile: "Please rest assured, although I really hope that Mr. can stay in Xuzhou, but the gentleman is not strong, if Mr. Gong and Mr. want to leave, they can leave at any time." ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao added with a smile and said: "But it is absolutely not possible today, first, there should not be a banquet for Mr. to pick up the wind and wash the dust, and second, I still have a letter that I want to ask Mr. to bring to Jizhou by the way to hand over to Lord Yue, so Mr. must not leave today." ”

Frustrated and laughing, the civil and military forces of the surrounding Xu and Ji states also echoed the laughter, Deputy Director Tao smiled, and said in his heart: "Mr. Gonghe, if you know, I want you to bring back the declaration of war against Jizhou, I really don't know if you can laugh out." ”

Of course, in view of the fact that the Great Yuan Sangong had already killed the Xuzhou envoy twice, Fu Zhu was also very worried that Deputy Director Tao would fall into the well and start a war against Jizhou at this critical moment, so on the way back to Changyi, Fu Zhu explained this matter in front of Deputy Director Tao, saying that Yuan Sangong had done something stupid after listening to Yuan Tan and Guo Tu's slanderous rumors, and Yuan Sangong also regretted it very much afterwards - this sentence was of course pure nonsense, and asked Deputy Director Tao to send an envoy north for the sake of Weng and his son-in-law, and to rebuild the old friendship with Yuan Sangong and join hands to fight against Cao Thief.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao, who had been holding back enough to take advantage of the fire to rob, would not listen to the nonsense of Frustration, let alone miss such a great opportunity to cut meat from the stingy old man, so Deputy Director Tao only talked about him left and right, and no matter how anxious the Frustrated Professor was, Deputy Director Tao just said it later, although Frustrated Professor was worried, but he was helpless.

Two days after returning to Changyi, accurate news finally came from the north, confirming that the Great Yuan Sangong did not die in the chaos, but led part of the light cavalry to flee back to Liyang to join the Jiang Yiqu team of the Jizhou army, and at the same time, a large number of Jizhou soldiers escaped the Yellow River and returned to the side of the Great Yuan Sangong. At the same time, nearly 10,000 of the 30,000 Yuan Shaojun troops also missed their hometown relatives and asked to return to Jizhou with Fu Zhu - fortunately, the strict and cohesive Fu of the Tuolu Yi Army, only more than 30 people in the 800 Xiandeng camp said to leave, and only more than 500 people of more than 3,000 Jizhou Iron Cavalry asked to leave, and most of the rest were older second-line auxiliary soldiers, because their wives and children were in Jizhou and had to go back, and the loss to Deputy Director Tao was not big if they left.

Deputy Director Tao did not break his promise, and after handing over the sealed letter to Fu Zhu, he immediately arranged for Liu Ye to lead an army of 2,000 to escort these Jizhou soldiers back to Jizhou via Taishan County, and specially ordered the Xuzhou government along the way to use the treasury of grain to supply the Fu Zhi team. In this regard, Xuzhou Wenwu also has quite an opinion, because the travel expenses of nearly 10,000 people are really not a small amount, Deputy Director Tao disagreed, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, even if 10,000 people go back to Jizhou, even if they have to use 30,000 grains, in the future, on the battlefield, I can recover 300,000 grains!" ”

After saying this sentence with a smile, Deputy Director Tao immediately sent an order to Taishan Zang Ba and Langya Sun Guan, asking Zang Ba and Sun Guan to immediately attack Qi and Beihai in Qingzhou in two ways after confirming that the frustrated team had left the control of Xuzhou, and the excuse for sending troops was to take revenge on the two beheadings of the Great Yuan Sangong!

After sending away the frustrated team, Deputy Director Tao finally took the time to meet with Mao Jue, the secret envoy sent by Boss Cao, and then told Mao Jue: "Of course I will return Changyi City to you, but I have to wait for a while, in addition, I must borrow from you the road that Rencheng and Lu Guo go straight to Taishan County, and when my team finishes this road, our army will immediately return to Xuzhou." As for what our army wants to borrow, with Mr. Xiaoxian's cleverness, I believe I don't need to explain, right? ”

There really is no need to explain, just listening to the few place names mentioned by Deputy Director Tao, Mao Jue knew that Deputy Director Tao was preparing to fall into the well and attack Qingzhou, so Mao Jue didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately patted his chest and promised to return to Dingtao immediately to contact Xiahou Yuan on the southern line of Governor Yanzhou, and persuade Xiahou Yuan to order release. Then Mao Jue took the opportunity to propose to Deputy Director Tao to reopen the border market and carry out grain trade, Deputy Director Tao, who was still not sure about the situation of Cao Jun, neither refused nor agreed, but only said that he would talk about the matter later, although Mao Jue understood that Deputy Director Tao was still riding the wall to watch the wind, but he had no choice but to temporarily agree to talk about this issue in the future, leaving a little hope for the reopening of the border market.

More than 20 days later, on the tenth day of the eighth month, after confirming that the frustrated team that had traveled a hundred miles had left Taishan County and entered the territory of Qingzhou, Zang Ba, the general of Xuzhou who had already been secretly canonized as the governor of Qingzhou by Deputy Director Tao, raised troops outside the county of Taishan County under the banner of Gaocheng, under the pretext that the three dukes of Yuan had killed the Xuzhou envoys twice and were unjust, and sent 20,000 troops to the north to attack Qiguo County in Qingzhou!

Two days later, Sun Guan, the Taishou of Langya, Xuzhou, also sent troops from Ju County and led an army of 15,000 to the north to attack Beihai County, Qingzhou!

As early as the fifth day of the eighth month, Deputy Director Tao had already sent the generals Chen Dao, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji to lead 20,000 cavalry and gentlemen's army, borrowed to Lu and Rencheng, and rushed to Taishan Zangba's team to rendezvous, and cooperated with Zang Ba and Sun Guan to attack Qingzhou. At the same time, Deputy Director Tao asked Chen Dao, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji's teams to accept the command of Zang Ba, entrust all the Qingzhou battles to Zang Ba, a prestigious general in Qingzhou, and use Liu Ye, who had previously escorted the frustrated team to the north, to join the army in Qingzhou and assist Zang Ba in capturing Qingzhou.

On the 23rd, after confirming that Chen Zhi and Tao Ji's team successfully passed through Rencheng and Lu at a speed of 50 miles, Deputy Director Tao, who had been stationed in Yanzhou for more than half a year, finally withdrew his troops and left for Xuzhou. On the same day that Deputy Director Tao arrived in Xiaopei, Deputy Director Tao received a letter from Zang Ba on a fast horse, saying that Yuan Sangong sent Chen Zhen as an envoy to send thousands of horses to the Xuzhou army, trying to rebuild the old friendship with the Xuzhou army.

"Now I think that my son-in-law is here, it's too late!" Deputy Director Tao sneered, and instructed Chen Ying next to him: "Yuan Fang, Hui Wen Zang Xuangao, let Zang Xuangao drive Chen Zhen back with people and horses, and Yuan Shao will do the same next time he sends an envoy to contact, and he will not accept gifts and letters, and return them in their original form!" Yuan Shao sent an envoy to contact me for the third time, and then asked Yuan Shao's envoy to meet me in Xuzhou. ”

"No." Chen Ying agreed, and reminded: "Lord, it is only eighty miles away from Pengcheng, how to explain to Madame, the lord must be ready." ”

Thinking of his virtuous wife, Deputy Director Tao, who has always been thick-skinned and dark-hearted, also felt a little guilty, and sighed: "It's useless to prepare, I know that Fang'er won't mess with me, but the more she doesn't mess with me, the more guilty I feel." ”

As Deputy Director Tao guessed, when the Xuzhou army returned to Pengcheng, after Deputy Director Tao met with Yuan Fang and his wife, Yuan Fang, a typical good wife and mother, knew that her husband and father had turned against each other, and really did not scratch Deputy Director Tao for half a sentence, let alone accuse Deputy Director Tao of being afraid of a word, holding Deputy Director Tao's eldest son Tao Luo just silently wept and cried silently. But the more Yuan Fang was like this, the more guilty Deputy Director Tao who had stabbed his father-in-law in the back for a long time, and under the shame, Deputy Director Tao could only hug his virtuous wife and say: "Fang'er, don't worry, as long as Lord Yuezhang admits his mistake and gives an explanation to the two innocent envoys in Xuzhou, I will stop fighting with my father-in-law." ”

Yuan Fang opened his mouth, choked up and asked, "But you don't know your father's temper, how can he admit his mistake?" ”

"It's not that I want him to kowtow, just say a few soft words." Deputy Director Tao continued to persuade, and said softly: "Fang'er, don't blame me, it's difficult for me to do it, the two countries are fighting and don't kill the envoys, but Lord Yuezhang killed my two envoys in a row, if I don't give an explanation to my subordinates, how will I serve the people in the future?" ”

Yuan Fang cried again, and when Deputy Director Tao was about to persuade again, Yuan Fang, who was already crying with pear blossoms and rain, took the initiative to stop crying, and said to Deputy Director Tao in a choked voice: "Husband, the concubine has a request, please be sure to agree." ”

"Madame, please say, I will definitely agree." Deputy Director Tao replied hurriedly.

"Please allow the concubine to visit the families of the two envoys." Yuan Fang choked and said: "The concubine has some private rooms, I want to give these private rooms to the families of the two envoys, and atone for the concubine's father a little, please ask the husband to agree." ”

"Ma'am." Deputy Director Tao was so moved that he hugged his beloved wife tightly and said gently: "Good lady, how can you use your private room again?" In fact, I already knew that most of your dowry was used by you to supplement the family's expenses and reward the wives of my subordinates, and you can keep the rest, and I will take a sum of money and grain out to support the families of the two messengers for you. ”

"No, no, I can't ask for my husband's money and food, this is my atonement for my father, and I can only take my private house." Yuan Fang, who has always been gentle as water, was stubborn once, and after shaking her head resolutely, Yuan Fang shouted outside the door: "Ah Huan, come in and take care of me for a while." ”

"No." In the sweet answer, a thin girl walked in outside the door, Deputy Director Tao glanced at it casually, a pair of triangular eyes suddenly stared rounder than a bull's eye, it turned out that although the maid was not very old, a goose egg face was abnormal, especially the pair of clear big eyes, Xiu Ling's beautiful eyes seemed to contain a lot of clear water, hooking the soul, the small nose could not find a trace of flaws, with a cherry-like mouth and a neat mouth, So that Deputy Director Tao, who has always been known for his noble character, couldn't help but want to hug and kiss him.

When Deputy Director Tao looked at the little maid with a smile, Yuan Fang had already handed Tao Liu, who had hardly seen his father, to the little maid and hugged him, and went back to the bedroom to rummage through the private money, Deputy Director Tao took the opportunity to ask the little maid, "When did you come?" How come I haven't seen you before? What is your name? ”

"Back to the lord, the slave maid is called Guo Huan, and the lady is called the slave Guo Huan." The little maid hung her head a little shyly, and replied in a low voice: "The slave maid only entered the mansion on an errand four months ago, so the lord has never seen the slave maid." ”

"Listening to your accent, doesn't it look like you're from Xuzhou? Where are you from? Deputy Director Tao continued to ask - but this is not entirely because Deputy Director Tao is lustful, the key is that some of Deputy Director Tao's opponents have worse character, and some rivals know some of Deputy Director Tao's little habits, so Deputy Director Tao of course has to prevent his opponents from inserting fine work into his bedroom.

"She is a fellow concubine, a native of Anping, Jizhou." Yuan Fang replied for Guo Huan in the inner room: "She also has a sister named Guo Yu, who was the concubine of the third brother to Mr. Zhong Ming when he was in Jizhou, and the little girl came to our Xuzhou with her sister. ”

"So, you're still Mr. Zhongming's sister-in-law? If you don't enjoy the happiness in Mr. Zhongming's house, why do you want to come to me to be a maid? Deputy Director Tao was even more curious, and quietly muttered in his heart, "Yang Hong, that old pervert, would let go of such a beautiful sister-in-law?" What a miracle! ”

"Mr. Zhong Ming's wife is too powerful." Yuan Fang came out of the back room with the private room and continued to explain for Guo Huan: "Because Mr. Zhong Ming dotes on the little girl's sister, after Mr. Zhong Ming went out with her husband, the little girl's sister suffered enough at home, kneeling in chains and kneeling so that even her knees were black, you also saw Ah Huan's appearance, Mr. Zhong Ming's wife was worried that no matter how old she was, she would go to Mr. Zhong Ming to compete for favor, and even Ah Huan was tortured together, when she came to the house with me, her back was beaten with blood, and her sister was worried that Ah Huan would be tortured to death sooner or later. begged me to bring Ah Huan to our house to give her a bite to eat, and I saw that the little girl was pitiful, and she was my fellow villager, so I brought her back. ”

"I see."

Deputy Director Tao completely put his mind at ease - as far as Yuan Shanggongzi's mind was concerned, he couldn't arrange such a careful plan to put a fine work around him, and under peace of mind, Deputy Director Tao was lustful again, and deliberately faked a compliment: "It's still Mrs. Kind-hearted, kind and virtuous, my concubines can meet a good sister like Mrs. You, it's really their eight lifetimes of virtue - even I follow the light, and I can rest assured that I can boldly take concubines at home." ”

"Less of this!" Yuan Fang is Deputy Director Tao's eldest wife, and immediately understood Deputy Director Tao's sinister intentions, gently twisted Deputy Director Tao's waist, and said angrily: "Anyone can, but Ah Huan is not allowed, she is the daughter of an official eunuch's family, because of the war and the death of her parents, she unfortunately fell to this point, and her sister is so miserable, you can't hurt her anymore." When she grows up, I will personally choose a good family for her to marry and let her be the main house. ”

"Madame, don't worry, you don't know your husband's character yet? The word lustful and insatiable, when has it been associated with a husband? Deputy Director Tao boasted without blushing, and said regretfully in his heart: "Why can't this little beauty?" If she can be my concubine, I'd rather not have that little Qiao in Wancheng. Hey, if this little beauty grows up, it seems that she will be more beautiful than Little Joe. ”

"Huh? Bad for? The rooms at home are almost not enough, and it's not? Yuan Fang snorted in jealousy, and then said: "By the way, Mr. Zhong Ming's family affairs, you have the opportunity to take care of it, they are all raised by your parents, Mr. Zhong Ming's wife is simply trampling people to death, kneeling on iron chains and top copper basins, and her heart is too ruthless." ”

"Yes, yes, I will definitely talk about Yang Hong when I have the chance." Deputy Director Tao nodded wrongly, but a pair of eyes that were fascinated by color always swirled on Guo Huan's face and small figure, and it happened that Guo Huan also quietly raised her little face to peek at Deputy Director Tao, and her eyes intersected, Guo Huan's little face suddenly flushed and lowered her face, but Deputy Director Tao began to hesitate in his heart, "Did you make Fang'er angry once and find an opportunity to push this little beauty too?" ”

(To be continued)