"Cao Ying, this is a bet! Betting that Yuan Shao will not open a new Yanzhou battlefield is also betting that our army will preserve its strength and will not really start a full-scale war with him! As long as we fall into his calculations and give him time to eradicate the worries of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, so that he can concentrate on the affairs of the north and the south, then even if he offends Yuan Shao, his situation in the north and south will not be too bad! ”

Although there are not many strategists under Deputy Director Tao, they are all top characters with their own strengths, so after learning the news that Boss Cao will not hesitate to anger Yuan Sangong to attack Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, this time Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye, who accompanied Deputy Director Tao to Qingzhou in the north, also immediately understood Boss Cao's purpose, and Liu Ye, who is good at analyzing intelligence, also added: "Xun Youruo's attitude towards Cao Ying should be the same, Cao Ying must have been ready to turn against Yuan Benchu when he decided to pull out Zhang Ji's thorn in the eye and flesh. Otherwise, Cao Ren would not have withdrawn from Qingzhou in such a hurry. ”

"These are all the credit of Mr. Wenhe's clever plan, the contradiction between my father-in-law and Cao Thief has finally been completely intensified because of Mr. Wenhe's clever plan." Deputy Director Tao praised Jia Lao Poison with a smile, and said with a wry smile: "It's just that I didn't expect my father-in-law to be like this, and he turned his face with Cao Thief, but he asked my son-in-law to come forward to fight, he continued to hide on the side to watch the excitement, and watched the fire from the other side to reap the profits." ”

"It's inevitable, and it's only a matter of time." Jia Lao Poison didn't even blink his eyelids and said: "Since the lord became a blockbuster in the first year of Xingping, he has not tasted defeat in a hundred battles, and the governance is proper and the laws are strict, and the five counties of Xuzhou that have been greatly injured have been taken care of, and the prosperity has exceeded the past, and he also won the two counties of Huainan, the capital and grain in one fell swoop, and the growth speed is unparalleled in the world. ”

Speaking of this, Jia Lao Poison paused, and said: "The only miscalculation is that Yuan Benchu was wary of the lord so early, and took advantage of the situation to take weakening measures against the lord, and also took the opportunity to weaken his biggest enemy on the southern front, Cao Mengde. ”

"I'm afraid that this matter is also arranged by Cao Ying." Liu Ye analyzed: "Cao Ying's desperate attack on Zhang Ji, what he is most afraid of is of course that our army and the Jizhou army will attack him, and he is even more afraid that the Jizhou army will go south from Guandu to attack Xuchang, so in order to temporarily stabilize Yuan Benchu, Cao Ying will definitely use his inner line in the Jizhou army to instigate Yuan Benchu to watch the fire from across the shore and order our army to attack his southern line, so as to obtain the effect of temporarily stabilizing the Jizhou army." ”

"And whether our army sends troops or not, it is in the hands of Cao Ying, our army sends troops to attack Yanzhou, Cao Ying's strategic maneuver space is huge, and he can calmly eliminate Zhang Ji first and then turn back to fight with our army; If our army does not send troops to attack Yanzhou, it will not only give Cao Ying a better chance to eliminate Zhang Ji, but also lead to the deterioration of the relationship between our army and the Jizhou army, and then give Cao Ying a god-sent opportunity to divide and divide. ”

"The old immortal Cao Apu, really deceitful, wishful thinking is really good." Deputy Director Tao scolded in praise, and then smiled and asked Liu Ye and Jia Lao Poison: "Mr. Wenhe, Mr. Ziyang, also in order to temporarily stabilize my honorable father-in-law, I immediately sent troops to attack Yanzhou, but I slapped my chest in front of my father-in-law, according to the two gentlemen's opinion, how should our army behave now?" ”

"Lord, in this scenario, Ye and the others still need to know how the lord intends to decide." Liu Ye made a joke and asked, "Dare to ask the lord, do you plan to do your filial son-in-law to the end?" Did you really decide to send troops to attack Yanzhou and fight Cao Ying to the death? This is actually a great opportunity to hit Cao Jun hard, the lord and Cao Mengde have a lot of grudges, do you plan to seize this opportunity? ”

"As a son-in-law, of course, you must do your best to be filial." Deputy Director Tao Tian said shamelessly: "However, considering that Lord Yuezhang's main force is going north and cannot plunder the Central Plains land and cities for the time being, I am really embarrassed to swallow Cao Thief's Yanzhou, Sili and Yingchuan alone, so I decided to wait, give Lord Yue an explanation first, and wait for Yue Zhang's main force to go south before considering a decisive battle with Cao Thief." ”

Liu Ye, Jia Lao Poison and another Chen Ying all laughed, all of them admired Deputy Director Tao's cheekiness when he was a bitch and wanted to set up an archway, and after laughing, Jia Lao Poison said: "This matter is not difficult to solve, the lord can urgently repair a letter back to Xuzhou, and order Chen Zhi to send 10,000 troops north to attack Hulu and Changyi, and there is no need to succeed in attacking the city, just need to wait until Cao Mengde retreats from Nanyang and relieves Zhang Ji's danger, this matter can be regarded as understood." ”

"It's as simple as that?" Deputy Director Tao was a little surprised and asked, "Can Mr. Wenhe be sure that as long as our army feints to attack Changyi, it will be able to receive the effect of encircling Wei and saving Zhao?" Cao thief is cunning, it's not so easy to be fooled, right? ”

"The feint attack on Changyi is just an explanation to Yuan Benchu, but the lord can rest assured that Cao Mengde can't kill Zhang Pingyang now." Jia Xu replied confidently: "In terms of military strength and military skills, Zhang Ji is indeed not Cao Ying's opponent, and there is no doubt that he will lose the battle with Cao Ying." But Cao Mengde did not seize the best opportunity to send troops this time, Liu Jingsheng, who Zhang Pingyang was attached to, was currently in the midst of Zhang Xian's rebellion, and the three counties on the southern line were in an emergency together, and they would never dare to allow Zhang Ji, the northern barrier, to be uprooted by Cao Ji, and he would definitely go all out to rescue Zhang Ji, so it was extremely difficult for Cao Ying to destroy Zhang Ji, at most, it was to drive Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew away from Wancheng and seize a strategic buffer zone. ”

"Without Jia Lao's poison, can Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu really resist Boss Cao twice like in history?" Deputy Director Tao had some doubts in his heart, but at the moment, apart from the method of Jia Lao's poison, Deputy Director Tao couldn't figure out any way to deal with it, so he nodded and instructed Chen Ying: "Yuan Fang, draw up an order for me, according to Mr. Wenhe's idea, by the way, tell Chen Shuzhi that after sending troops, you must preserve your strength, and it doesn't matter if you can take Hulu and Changyi." In addition, it is forbidden to kill indiscriminately, let alone to kill prisoners out of anger, lest the situation deteriorate and it will be difficult to clean up. ”

"No." Chen Ying agreed, but he was not in a hurry to write an order, and asked worriedly: "Lord, our Xuzhou army has a blood feud with Cao Thief, and now our army takes the initiative to attack Yanzhou, if it provokes a full-scale war and invites Cao Thief to retaliate with all his might, what is it good?" ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "Yuan Fang rest assured, Cao thief is cunning, and he will not weigh the consequences of a full-scale war with our army, if he is determined to come and fight hard, it doesn't matter, anyway, the main force of our army has been on the northern front, and there is a buffer wall between him and the Jizhou army, and there is a buffer wall of his Cao thief, and it is really a big fight, and it will only be him Cao thief who will suffer." Chen Yingben was still a little worried, but seeing that Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison and others were full of confidence, he didn't say anything more, and honestly put pen to paper.

The next day after the order was issued, June 26, Deputy Director Tao and his wife and the couple of Yuan Sangong shed tears and said goodbye, each led the team to return to the territory, before leaving, Liu Shi, who was very satisfied with Deputy Director Tao, naturally had to tell his son-in-law in front of his son-in-law, asking his son-in-law to treat his daughter well, Deputy Director Tao nodded and agreed, and the appearance was well-behaved to the extreme, Liu was relieved to board the car, and his beloved daughter parted with tears, and Yuan Sangong also pretended to tell his daughter and son-in-law a few words of caution, and then led the army to set off, Deputy Director Tao, who was a junior, worshiped with Yuan Tan Gongzi on the side of the road, and did not stand up until Yuan Sangong walked away.

Next, Deputy Director Tao led the army to set off, although Deputy Director Tao has never looked at Yuan Tan Gongzi pleasing to the eye, but Yuan Tan is the half-brother of Yuan Fang, a virtuous wife, so no matter how unhappy Deputy Director Tao is, he has to bow in front of Yuan Tan and leave, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who hates Deputy Director Tao so much, said with a smile: "Sister and brother-in-law go slowly, have a good journey, and send it away for my brother's military affairs, so I will not be far away, and my sister and brother-in-law must take care of themselves on the road - sister, your way back is close to Taishan County, Not only are bandits rampant there, but they are also controlled by Cao Thief's team, and my sister and brother-in-law must be careful of accidents on the road. ”

"Thank you brother for your concern, my little sister will."

Yuan Fang saluted and thanked his brother very gently, and Deputy Director Tao was a little unaccustomed to Yuan Tangongzi's ugly face, and knew that it would definitely be nothing good to be neighbors with this brother-in-law in the future, but he didn't have to worry about offending his brother-in-law again, so he smiled and said: "Brother rest assured, the younger brother is also a battle-hardened person, and the Cao thief is in Taishan County's Taishou Lu Qian Lu Zike, and when he was in Runan, he was also a small character who ran away when he saw the banner of the younger brother, and there would be no problem on the way." ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao kindly reminded again: "It's your brother who has to be careful, my brother has been ordered to conquer Qingzhou and has been defeated repeatedly, thanks to Lord Yue's personal rescue of the army to stabilize his position, his prestige has not been established, his martial arts have not been demonstrated, and now his father-in-law is at odds with Cao thieves, so if Lu Qianfu has the mind of bullying the weak and fearing the hard, Qingzhou, where the elder brother is in charge, will never be peaceful." ”

Yuan Tan's little face turned black, and he roared with a blue face after a while: "The defeat I ate in the plains was all because my father made me defeat!" ”

"The little brother knows, of course the little brother knows." Deputy Director Tao said with a smile: "But the younger brother knows that the elder brother is a fraud, but Lu Qianpifu doesn't know that the county governance of Taishan County Fenggaocheng is not far from the Qingzhou Prefecture Linzi City, if the Lu Qian puppet wants to pick the persimmon to pinch softly, then the brother must bear the brunt." However, the elder brother can rest assured, if such a situation really occurs, the elder brother only needs to choose to defend the city and wait for help, and the lord and the younger brother will definitely send troops to rescue, and they will definitely not die without help. ”

"I don't need you to save it!" Yuan Tan Gongzi was even more angry, and shouted: "If Lu Qian'er dares to cross the line one step, I will guarantee that he will not come back!" ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled, and smiled very viciously, and said with a smile: "It turns out that the elder brother is just going to defend it, then the younger brother can rest assured, now the main force of the Cao thief is leaning westward, there are not many troops in Taishan, and Lu Qianpifu does not have many troops even if he comes from the nest, and the elder brother has a chance to retreat to Jizhou even if he is not effective in the battle, and the younger brother does not have to worry about his brother." ”

After saying this, without waiting for Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was already thunderous, to speak, Deputy Director Tao suddenly slapped his forehead again, and said in a loud voice: "The younger brother should die, the elder brother forgives the sin, why didn't the younger brother think about sending troops from Kaiyang to go up the Wushui River and attack Feiguo City, the gateway to the southern line of Lu Qianpifu, to share the pressure of Qingzhou for the elder brother?" Please rest assured, when the younger brother passes through Kaiyang on the way back to Xuzhou, he will definitely arrange for 2,000 troops to be stationed in Linyi, waiting for the opportunity to attack Yiting and Feiguo, besiege Wei and save Zhao so that Lu Qianpifu does not dare to bully his brother, and do his best Uncle Lang's righteousness - generals, do you think I should do this? ”

"Yes, yes." Xu Chu and Xu Huang and other Xuzhou generals behind Deputy Director Tao all laughed, and Wei Yan laughed the most arrogantly, deliberately saying with a mean smile: "The lord is still thoughtful, there are two thousand second-line troops arranged by the lord to be stationed in Linyi, the eldest prince can rest assured in Qingzhou, at least don't worry that Qingzhou has just been determined by the original fairness, and it will be taken away by Lu Qianpifu immediately." ”

"Bold fanatic! Who are you? Dare to humiliate me too?! ”

Yuan Tangongzi, who couldn't bear it, drew his sword and roared, startling the surrounding Qingzhou generals and Xuzhou generals to draw their swords together, and also frightened Yuan Fang is discoloration, so he hurriedly shouted and stopped, and then pulled Deputy Director Tao's sleeve and begged: "Husband, you just don't say a few words, brother, he has a bad temper, don't bully him." There is also a brother, husband, he just likes to joke and offend, and ask my brother to look at the thin side of the little sister and not to be like him. ”

"Madame, you misunderstood." Deputy Director Tao shook his head and said while pulling his pregnant wife behind him: "These words are really not a joke for the husband, Qingzhou was initially decided, Lord Yue's team has not gained a firm foothold in Qingzhou, then Lu Qian is wise and brave, maybe he will take advantage of the fire to rob and attack Qingzhou, Brother Yuan Tan is far inferior to Brother Yuan Shang in terms of martial arts - Brother Yuan Shang led the army to suppress the flying general Lu Wenhou in Yanzhou, and drew the main force of Cao thieves in Hanoi, but Brother Yuan Tan can't even win a group of old and weak soldiers in Qingzhou, and now Brother Yue has turned against Cao Thief, If the husband doesn't make arrangements for a rainy day, what if Lu Qian really sends troops to attack Qingzhou? ”

"I don't need you to plan ahead!" Yuan Tan Gongzi said angrily: "When I take care of the affairs of Qingzhou, I will send troops to Mount Tai and take down the head of Lu Qianpifu!" ”

Deputy Director Tao laughed again, Wei Yan and Xu Huang and other Xuzhou generals also smiled understandingly, and they laughed cheaper than one another, and they seemed to be saying so, "Yuan Tan Gongzi, okay, who doesn't know your little skills, just your little ability, you also want to take Mount Tai and take down the head of Lu Qian, the famous general of the Cao Army?" Dreaming, right? ”

After Yin finished laughing, Deputy Director Tao threw down some words in front of Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was trembling all over, and then pulled up his wife and turned around and left, "Brother, send troops to Mount Tai to take down Lu Qian's head, if Brother Yuan Shang said it from his mouth, then the younger brother believes it, and I believe that Brother Yuan Shang will definitely be able to do it." ”

"As for the elder brother - the younger brother dares to make a bet with the elder brother, if the elder brother can also do this, not to mention cutting off the head of Lu Qianpifu, that is, the elder brother can take Fenggao City, then the younger brother will definitely kowtow to the elder brother to make amends! Okay, that's all the little brother said, he said goodbye first, and waited for the good news of the elder brother. ”

Speaking in a big way, Deputy Director Tao pulled his beautiful wife away, and the generals of Xuzhou vigilantly surrounded Deputy Director Tao and his wife to get on the horse and set off, but when Deputy Director Tao rode on the war horse, Yuan Tan Gongzi's angry voice also sounded in the field, "Okay!" Bet on it! Within three months, I will inevitably put the Jizhou flag on the head of Fenggao City! ”

"The eldest son, Tao Ying is deliberately provoking the thief, the son must not be ......!"

Xin Bi, the strategist left by the Great Yuan Sangong to Yuan Tan, hurriedly pulled Yuan Tangongzi's sleeve to dissuade him, but he never thought that Yuan Tan Gongzi roared: "Shut up!" Tao Ying'er insulted me too much, and if he didn't let him see how powerful I was, he wouldn't know that Ma Wangye had three eyes! ”

"Also, if I don't let my father see how powerful I am, I will really be compared to Yuan Shangpifu." Yuan Tan Gongzi, whose book record is indeed far inferior to the third brother, added in his heart.

On the other side of Deputy Director Tao, Jia Lao, who had been watching the play and did not speak, rode a horse to Deputy Director Tao's side, and said with a smile: "Although the lord's plan is a little blunt because of his haste, but with Yuan Tan's courage and greed, it is expected that there is still a good chance of success, in order to ensure success, I think that when the lord returns to Xuzhou and passes through Linyi, he might as well really divide an army to attack Feiguo, force Lu Qian to go south to rescue, create a meritorious opportunity for Yuan Tan, and further induce Yuan Tan to send troops to Mount Tai to provoke Cao Yuan's war." ”

"Mr. Wenhe's words are exactly what I want, but the soldiers are fast, and this matter must be fast." Deputy Director Tao nodded with joy, and after a little calculation, Deputy Director Tao called Xu Huang to the front, arranged for Xu Huang to lead an army of 3,000 to go first, and rushed to Linyi in advance to launch an attack on Changguo, and sent a fast horse to Kaiyang to give Sun Guan an order, ordering Sun Guan to send an army to assist Xu Huang to attack Linyi, and send grain and grass to the battlefield in advance, in preparation for Xu Huang's attack on Changguo.

As a result, when Deputy Director Tao was still on the way back to Xuzhou, the two Xuzhou divisions had already launched the Yanzhou War in advance under the order of Deputy Director Tao, Chen Zhi led an army of 10,000 to attack Hulu, Xu Huang led an army of 3,000 to attack the small city of Changguo, and the southeast of Yanzhou was warned at the same time. After the news reached Xuchang, Xun You, who stayed in Xuchang for Boss Cao, was first taken aback, almost thinking that he had miscalculated in fact, the Xuzhou army was willing to act as cannon fodder for the Great Yuan Sangong, but after thinking about it carefully, Xun Yu smiled again, and ordered left and right: "Tao Ying's thief is really cunning, and his bluff is like enough, don't pay attention to him, let Cao Chun and Lu Qian stick to it, and when the Lord decides on Zhang Ji, the Tao thief will retreat." ”

Deputy Director Tao and Cao Boss's team all have a tacit understanding and cooperation, and the slogan of an all-out war is shouted loudly, but the thunder is loud and the rain is small, and they are unwilling to really touch the big Yuan Sangong for nothing, this time not only pitted the big Yuan Sangong, but also pit Uncle Liu Huang, who was holding back enough strength to fish in troubled waters in the Tao Cao war. After refusing Yuan Tan to stay with Cao's army and withdraw to Yanzhou, although Uncle Liu immediately asked Cao Ren in front of Cao Ren to order him to go south to Changyi to prepare for war, but unfortunately Cheng Yu was worried that Uncle Liu would act without authorization and spoil Boss Cao's plan, and strongly persuaded Cao Ren to refuse Uncle Liu's plea under the pretext that he had to ask Boss Cao, and Uncle Liu was forced to be helpless, so he had to write directly to Boss Cao, who was far away in the battlefield of Nanyang, to contact Boss Cao, and ask Boss Cao for permission to lead his army south to Changyi to prepare for war.

When Uncle Liu's letter arrived in Nanyang, the battle of Wancheng also entered a critical stage, and Zhang Jijun, who was more difficult than Cao Boss's estimate, was finally defeated by Cao Jun in the field battle, and was forced to retreat to Wancheng to hold on behind closed doors. Seeing that the opportunity was rare, when Boss Cao was about to try to send an envoy to surrender, a bad news was sent to Boss Cao along with Uncle Liu's letter - Liu Biao didn't know if he had taken the wrong medicine, since he sent Jingzhou General Wen Ping to lead an army of 20,000 to come north to rescue Zhang Ji, and he had already arrived in Jianyang and appeared on Boss Cao's flank, and at the same time, the news of the imminent arrival of reinforcements was also sent into Wancheng City through Shuishui, which greatly boosted the morale of Zhang Ji's team, and also made Boss Cao's dream of surrender come to naught.

"Old man Liu, do I have an enmity with you? Zhang Ji's thief is just a Xiliang guest general, what are you doing so hard to save him? Do what?! After venting his anger, Boss Cao did another extremely far-reaching thing, and yelled at Xun You, who came with the army: "Give Liu Bei an order and tell him to immediately take Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Wancheng to help in the battle!" Don't let him go south to Changyi, and really provoke an all-out war between me and the pottery thief! ”

(To be continued)