It's hard to talk about two words with one mouth, let's not talk about how the heroes, heroes and heroes of all sizes calculate our Deputy Director Tao, let's go back and take a look at what happened in Xuzhou City.

After Tao Qian's death, although our deputy director Tao really wanted to perform his filial piety image again, and planned to hold a funeral for Tao Qian according to the specifications of the princes' funerals, but after listening to Lu Su smile bitterly and saying that the princes' funerals were the rules of the funeral in May and May, Tao Ying finally dispelled this idea, and decided to listen to Lu Su and Chen Deng's advice to act simply, and store Tao Qian's coffin in the ground for 21 days - just kidding, five months before burying the cheap father, Deputy Director Tao still can't do the right thing? But fortunately, now is a chaotic era, whether it is the Shi family and the common people are living a precarious life, these false etiquette is far less important than in the peaceful era, and no one is too harsh on Tao Ying's unfilial piety, so that our Deputy Director Tao passed the test in confusion.

During the funeral for Tao Qian, there were two princes around who sent envoys to mourn, one was the Gongsun Chan general Qingzhou who had an alliance with Xuzhou Tian Kai, but his envoy also came to go through the motions, Tian Kai had no right to make any promises to Tao Ying on behalf of Gongsun Zhan, but just said that Gongsun Chan would be made clear as soon as possible, and let Gongsun Chan send someone to Xuzhou to negotiate with Tao Ying and continue the covenant signed by Tao Qian and Gongsun Zhan's forces. During this period, Tian Kai guaranteed that he would continue to carry out the obligations of the covenant, exchange trade and news with Xuzhou, until Gongsun Chan made a new decision, and Tao Ying, who had to maintain the trade with Gongsun Zhan's war horses, was very grateful and thanked Tian Kai and his envoys.

The second messenger to Xuzhou to pay tribute to filial piety is, of course, Lu Bu Wenhou, the envoy Xu Yan in addition to expressing condolences to Tao Ying, and then there is a test of whether Tao Ying intends to form an alliance with Lu Bu against Cao, Tao Ying is vague, noncommittal, Xu Yan repeatedly persuaded Tao Ying with the reason that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, and Chen Gong secretly told Tao Ying that Tao Ying should send a matchmaker to Yanzhou to ask Lu Bu for marriage, and Chen Gong guaranteed to persuade Lu Bu to agree. Although Tao Ying was tempted, considering that it was a little undesirable for his cheap father to marry his wife just after he died, he thanked Xu Yan and Chen Gong, promised to wait until the end of his mourning period, and carefully considered marrying and forming an alliance with Lu Bu, and promised that after the war between Lu Bu and Cao Ying resumed, he would definitely support Lu Bu with a batch of military rations.

Because of the distance and time, during the funeral, the envoys of these two princes came to mourn Tao Qian's filial piety, but what surprised Tao Ying was that when Tao Qian was about to be buried, Mi Zhu, who had resigned and returned to the East China Sea for the people, also came to Pengcheng to mourn Tao Qian. Camels starve to death bigger than horses, considering the huge financial and manpower of the Mi family in Xuzhou, Tao Ying, Chen Deng and Lu Su and others still treat Mi Zhu with courtesy, after Mi Zhu sacrifices, Tao Ying has to set up a banquet to thank each other, but the old grievances are not over, the atmosphere of the banquet is very depressing, the guests and hosts do not talk much, even if they speak, it is all nonsense without nutrition.

Seeing that the banquet was about to end, Mi Zhu took the initiative to say a word to Tao Ying that was barely enough to lift his spirits, and pleaded: "Envoy, the previous Cao thief rebellion, the East China Sea suffered the most, the county was full of soil and white bones, wild grass and overgrown, and bandits were rampant, and there were often Yanzhou rebels who crossed the border to plunder, and the manor, land and caravan below were also deeply affected and could not be at peace. Mi Zhu was cheeky and wanted to ask the envoy to be gracious and allowed to return to Pengcheng with his dependents, and hoped that the envoy would allow him. ”

"Zizhong wants to go back to Pengcheng to live, okay." Although he was full of doubts about Mi Zhu's true intentions, Tao Ying was still a little happy, and hurriedly said: "Zizhong, don't worry, the old things are over, you are still the people of Xuzhou, and within the five counties of Xuzhou, you can still move at will." Besides, my father is talking, and he hasn't said that Zizhong is not allowed to move back to Pengcheng. ”

"In that case, then thank you to the envoy below." Mi Zhu left the table and bowed, and took the initiative to say: "Don't hide from the envoy, this time I have brought my family back to Pengcheng, and I live in the house I bought before. ”

"So, Sister Mi Zhen is also back?" Tao Ying was overjoyed in his heart, but recalling Mi Zhen's sad look that night, Tao Ying couldn't help but feel a sense of loss in his heart, and quietly sighed, only then did he be hypocritical and polite with Mi Zhu, and said some nonsense such as Mi Zhu's words, and then Mi Zhu said goodbye, and Tao Ying personally got up to send him off.

What surprised Tao Ying again was that Mi Zhu did not go out directly, but first went to the coffin where Tao Qian's coffin was parked, at this time, to Tao Ying's surprise, Mi Zhen's sister in plain clothes wore white flowers, and she didn't know when she also came to the mourning hall to hang her filial piety, Tao Ying looked at Mi Zhen in surprise, Mi Zhen's beautiful eyes also saw Tao Ying, and the four eyes intersected, Mi Zhen's eyes first flashed a trace of complexity, and then became extremely cold, and quickly turned her eyes away, and knelt down to Tao Qian's spiritual seat. After getting up, he went out with Mi Zhu without saying a word, bowed his head and passed in front of Tao Ying, and from beginning to end, he didn't look at Tao Ying again.

Staring at Mi Zhen's obviously much thinner back for a long time, Tao Ying felt a lot of emotion in his heart, but Tao Ji on the side came up and whispered in Tao Ying's ear: "Second brother, don't look at it, this woman is not suitable for you, even if you marry her back, it will only be a burden and trouble, maybe there will be danger." According to the younger brother's opinion, the only person who is suitable for the second brother to be your wife is that Miss Lin or Lu Wenhou's daughter, and no one is worse than this woman. ”

"Little fart boy, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand, your uncle's bones are not cold, how can I think about those things?" Tao Ying scolded Tao Ji, and snorted again: "Besides, do you think those two little girls are fuel-efficient lamps?" One is Lu Da's troublesome daughter, and the other is even more troublesome, I haven't seen her since I returned to Xuzhou, and your uncle didn't come to a pillar of incense to kowtow a few times when he died, and he had no tutor. ”

"Miss Lin has been here." Tao Ji was shocked, and said: "The day before yesterday, the second brother, you went out of the city to patrol Chen Dao and Xu Sheng to recruit new soldiers, and that Miss Lin came in filial piety clothes, kowtowed to her uncle, and cried for a while, I wanted to keep her, but she refused, so she left again." ”

"She came when I left the city? She's trying to avoid me, right? Tao Ying was a little annoyed, and secretly scolded his women's luck for being worse than battlefield luck, and the women he met were more troublesome than the other, and he really didn't know when he would end his single-man body?

After all, the cheap dad is still not cold, and Tao Ying is not convenient to think too much about personal problems, so after Tao Qian is buried, Tao Ying in addition to adjusting Xuzhou personnel, the main energy is also on the spring ploughing and army expansion, of which the expansion of the army is the top priority, although now Zang Ba led the army back, Tao Ying also incorporated a large number of troops in Yuzhou, the total strength of the Xuzhou army has exceeded 50,000 people, but in terms of quantity and quality, this point of strength is still far from meeting Tao Ying's needs, Therefore, Tao Ying quickly made up his mind and decided to expand the army to more than 70,000 - fortunately, Tao Ying came back with a large amount of money and grain in Yuzhou, and recaptured the Xiaopei granary, so the money and grain needed for the expansion of the army were not too worrying.

Because of the acceptance of a large number of surrounding refugees, the Xuzhou army in the expansion of the army is very smooth, basically in the burial of Tao Qian at the same time, Chen Zhi and Xu Sheng, who are responsible for the recruitment of new soldiers, have completed the recruitment task, in one breath for Tao Ying to recruit 20,000 recruits, but also all over 15 years old, under 40 years old strong men, with the potential to become the main force. Tao Ying heard the great news, and immediately led Lu Su and Chen Deng to start the formation of the new army, but at this time, Mi Zhu came to the door again, and took the initiative to give Tao Ying 20,000 pieces of military food, 30,000 catties of iron, 1,000 pieces of cloth, and 500 horses to help Tao Ying form a new army.

In any case, Mi Zhu, who has been making trouble for Tao Ying for a long time, is so generous this time, which also proves that he does have a heart of repentance, so not only Tao Ying is quite grateful to him, but the pottery merchants and Tao Ji who hate the Mi family have also greatly improved their impression of Mi Zhu, and no longer oppose Tao Ying asking Mi Zhu to come out of the mountain again, Cao Bao and Chen Deng and others remained silent, only Lu Su has a small belly and chicken intestines, and repeatedly warned Tao Ying not to be confused by appearances, and must be careful of Mi Zhu, who has strong financial resources and has had a close relationship with Liu Bei, Tao Ying disagreed, also asked Cao Hong to withdraw the secret agent who was secretly monitoring the movements of Mifu.

Busy and busy, the time has unconsciously arrived at the time of the spring flowers of the second year of the first peace, as the weather is getting warmer, the five counties of Xuzhou have gradually embarked on the development of normal, Tao Ying is trying to breathe a sigh of relief and rest, Cao Hong is responsible for the fine work from Jiujiang brought bad news, received Tao Ying passed on the jade seal of the country to make peace Yuan Shu Xiao Yuan Sangong did not know whether he had taken the wrong medicine, and even began to gather troops in the area of Jiujiang Dangtu, threatening to cross the river to the north, through Peiguo to attack Xuzhou, as for the reason for the war, it was to retaliate against Tao Ying's evil deeds of trying to annex Jiujiang, preemptively gave Tao Ying a lesson.

Hearing this news, Deputy Director Tao, who is not too adaptable to the rules of the game in this era, was completely confused, and said in his heart When did he say that he was going to annex Jiujiang? Now that the situation in Xuzhou is here, do I dare to expand casually? However, Chen Deng told Tao Ying bluntly, "Excuse, this is just an excuse!" The old lord is newly mourned, the lord is the new successor to Xuzhou, the internal instability, Yuan Shu wanted to take advantage of the fire to rob, so he found such an excuse to tear up the peace treaty and take the opportunity to start a war against our army. ”

After finishing speaking, Chen Deng also added, "Maybe this excuse was found by other princes for Yuan Shu, with Yuan Shu's greed and bullying of the weak and afraid of the hard, he intended to provoke our army to go to war with Yuan Shu, just send someone to spread a little rumor in Shouchun, saying that our army intends to attack Jiujiang, even if Yuan Shu, who is already greedy for the five counties of Xuzhou, understands that it is a rumor, he will definitely push the boat down the river, and in the name of tearing up the peace treaty and sending troops to war." ”

Tao Ying got up from the table, walked around a few circles in the Assassin's Mansion that had just belonged to him, frowned and said: "It's not strange that Yuan Shu wants to take advantage of the fire to rob, I'm just a little strange, if Yuan Shu starts a war with our army, the first target should be Guangling, right?" The main force of our army is all in the north, Guangling has few soldiers and the road is far away, it is inconvenient for the main force of our army to reinforce, Yuan Shu is far easier to attack Guangling than to directly attack Pengcheng, why should it be easier to give up? ”

"Yuan Shu may be worried about Liu Xuan." Lu Su reminded: "Guangling is close to Dantu and Qu'a, this area is Liu Xuan's base camp, Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan have a common enmity, afraid of being attacked by Liu Xuan and our army, so he chose to attack Pengcheng directly." Moreover, sending troops from Shouchun to Pengcheng is also much closer than sending troops from Shouchun to Guangling. ”

"Really?" Tao Ying is a little suspicious, Tao Ying's strategic vision is indeed inferior to Lu Su, but at the tactical level, Tao Ying can definitely be regarded as a tactical genius, so in Tao Ying's view, Lu Su's tactical analysis is not completely reasonable, because Tao Ying feels that Yuan Shu's journey to fight Pengcheng is indeed closer, but the road is all land, and the supply of grain and grass is far less convenient than the Yangtze River waterway, and the consumption of grain and grass by land transportation is far better than that of water transportation several times, although the head of Emperor Xiao Yuan Sangong of the Zhong family is also a little two, But the likelihood of making this mistake is still not very large.

Besides, Yuan Shu attacked Pengcheng by land, and he had to make that bigger tactical mistake, that is, his grain route would definitely be disturbed and destroyed by the Junzi Army day and night, and Yuan Shujun, who had already learned the hooligan tactics of the Junzi Army, would make mistakes again and again?

"Don't worry, the lord doesn't worry, although Yuan Shu has many soldiers and horses, but the law and discipline are scattered, and he will be afraid of the dead and greedy for life, so there is no need to worry." Chen Deng misunderstood Tao Ying's expression, comforted him, and then suggested: "In Deng's opinion, Gongzi only needs to send a team of elite soldiers south to Zhuyi to guard the Zhuyi ferry on the Suishui River, and it can be prevented." ”

Tao Ying hesitated, and Tao Ji, who had officially become the chief general of the Junzi Army next to him, couldn't wait to say: "Second brother, let me go, I will take the Junzi Army and a team of infantry to Zhuyi, and keep it so that Yuan Shu Lao'er will not dare to cross Suishui a step." ”

Tao Ying continued to hesitate, and only shook his head for a while, and said firmly: "Don't worry, the first strike is of course, but the latter may not lose the initiative, the left and right Zhuyi is not far from Pengcheng, and it will only take one day for the Junzi army to attack the Zhuyi ferry at most, we still have to wait a little longer, and when the main direction of Yuan Shu's attack is determined, we will not be too late to make adjustments." ”

Tao Ji thought about it, Zhuyi is only more than one hundred and fifty miles away from Pengcheng, and the road is full of plains, and it will not take a day to arrive at the maneuvering speed of the Junzi army, so there is really no need to be too anxious, so Tao Ji no longer insisted, but begged Tao Ying to send him to meet Yuan Shu in the future. And Chen Deng said: "Since the lord is worried that Yuan Shu will attack the east in the north, then the old general Zhang Zhen needs to ask the lord to give more advice, and he must prevent Yuan Shu from suddenly sending troops from the Yangtze River waterway to attack Guangling." ”

Tao Ying nodded, asked Lu Su to write on his behalf, sent a letter to Guangling Xiangzhang for himself, and ordered him to strengthen his defense to prevent Yuan Shu's sneak attack, and at the same time ordered Cao Hong to strengthen the surveillance of Yuan Shu's army in Jiujiang and pay close attention to every move of Yuan Shu's main force.

……………………

When the news that the Xuzhou army had always been stationary was transmitted back to Jiujiang, Zhou Yu, who was assisting Ji Ling in dispatching troops in Tucheng, scolded on the spot, "Tao Ying Xiaoer, really annihilated!" It seems that he has already suspected the main target of our army. ”

"So what do we do?" Ji Ling asked, "Do you want to send troops immediately to surprise Tao Ying'er?" ”

"General, don't be in a hurry." Zhou Yu hurriedly shook his head and warned: "Tao Ying Xiaoer's main force is all in the north of Xuzhou, if he doesn't move, if he doesn't divide the main force to go south, Cao Ying and Lu Bu further north will never do it casually, they will only continue to wait and see, continue to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and even if our army succeeds in the surprise attack, it will be counterattacked by Tao Ying Xiao'er's full force, and Cao Ying and Lu Bu will be two thieves in vain!" Therefore, we must not move first, we must let Tao Yingxiaoer move first, once Tao Yingxiaoer's northern defense is adjusted, and the whole body will be moved, the Cao and Lu families will inevitably take advantage of the weakness to share the pressure of Tao Yingxiao'er's counterattack for our army. ”

"Then how to make Tao Yingxiao'er move first?" Ji Ling asked again.

"It seems that I can only make a fuss over there in Guangling." Zhou Yu groaned and said: "With Tao Ying's deception, once you suspect that our army is bluffing, you will definitely closely monitor the movements of our army's sailors to prevent our army from sneaking up on Guangling, fortunately, my father-in-law has a lot of soldiers, and Tao Ying'er can't judge the main force of our army from the number of soldiers, so I must go back to Shouchun to see my father-in-law, and ask my father-in-law to arrange some illusions in the Liyang area, so that Tao Ying can determine that the main attack direction of our army is Guangling City." ”

"This can make Tao Yingxiaoer move, but what if Tao Yingxiaoer increases his troops in Guangling?" Ji Ling warned.

"Wouldn't that be better?" Zhou Yu smiled and asked: "Isn't it more convenient to catch more Xuzhou troops in the urn, my father-in-law will capture Xuzhou, and the general will make contributions?" ”

Ji Ling thought about it carefully, and immediately laughed, urging Zhou Yu to go back quickly and create an opportunity for himself to send troops as soon as possible. Zhou Yu agreed with a smile, but he was thinking about another question in his heart, "Lu Bupifu's side, why hasn't there been any movement yet?" I persuaded Yuan Shu Lao'er to secretly form an alliance with him, join forces to attack Tao Ying Xiao'er, and divide the land of Xuzhou equally, it is impossible for this repeated villain not to be tempted? Could it be that Lu Bu is grateful to Tao Ying Xiao'er for his grace of capturing but not killing, and plans to form an alliance with Tao Ying Xiao'er forever? Is this possible? I don't believe it! ”

Note: To correct it, the pure wolf in Chapter 80 made a geographical mistake, the place where Chen Sheng and Wu Guang organized the masses who did not know the truth to make trouble was not Daze Lake in the west of Xiaopei, but Daze Township in the southeast of Suzhou City, and the two places were quite far apart.

(To be continued)