As Zhuge Liang expected, after Uncle Liu Huang asked Cui Yan, an important minister of Yuan Tanjun, to resign under the pretext of Deputy Director Tao's hard work, Cui Yan, who was kind to him, ignored Guo Tu's instigation of Yuan Tan to take down Uncle Liu's three brothers, and promised to persuade Uncle Liu to persuade Yuan Tan to allow Uncle Liu to lead the army to resign and leave.

Of course, people like Cui Yan do what they say, and really persuade Uncle Liu to leave ahead of schedule in front of Yuan Tan Gongzi, but in this way, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was already undecided, was of course even more hesitant and indecided, on the one hand, Guo Tu persuaded and agreed to the harsh conditions offered by the Xuzhou Army, and took Liu Huang's uncle and brother and handed them over to Deputy Director Tao in exchange for armistice peace talks, on the other hand, there was the consideration of personal reputation and Cui Yan's persuasion, from the afternoon to the late night, he was always hesitant about the fox, and he was determined to bend his knees to sue for peace. I can't make up my mind to fight to the death with the Xuzhou army.

sighed and thought about the second watch, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who had not eaten water and rice for most of the day, finally entered the meal under the persuasion of his personal guard, but he was still preoccupied with food and unpleasant taste, and he had no appetite and was about to abandon the bowl when Yuan Tan's confidant Peng An hurriedly came to the big tent of the Chinese army and reported to Yuan Tan Gongzi: "Lord, the big thing is not good, the sergeant of the last general's battalion passed by Liu Bei's camp when he was patrolling, and accidentally found that Liu Bei's army team was secretly distributing our army's military uniforms to the soldiers. ”

"Liu Bei's team is secretly handing out our military uniforms?" Yuan Tan jumped up violently and shouted, "Is the news confirmed? Our military uniforms from the big-eared thieves? ”

"Absolutely." Peng An quickly replied: "It was a patrol guard under the command of the last general who saw and heard it with his own eyes, when he passed by Liu Bei's camp and suddenly had an urgent need to urinate, he went to the fence of Liu Beijun's camp to pee, and happened to see Liu Beijun's soldiers quietly distributing our army's military uniforms, and also heard Liu Beijun's generals order, asking Liu Bei's soldiers to change their military uniforms before the arrival of the third watch, and wait for the order to act." As for how Liu Bei got our army's uniform, the last general doesn't know. ”

"The big-eared thief, really uneasy and kind!" Yuan Tan Gongzi was furious and shouted: "Peng An, you quickly go back and gather the soldiers and horses of the headquarters, and surround the camp of the big-eared thieves before the third watch!" But remember, you must also act in secret, and don't let the Big-Eared Thieves know about it! Someone is coming, the military battle in the order is given, and Guo Tu, Cui Yan, Tian Chou, and Lu Kuang are quickly sent to see you! ”

Peng An and the heralds rushed away, and in a short time, Guo Tu, Cui Yan, Tian Chou and Lu Kuang, the four Yuan army civil and military officers hurriedly rushed to the big tent to listen to the order, and after learning the reason for Yuan Tan's summons, Guo Tu and Cui Yan and others were also surprised, and then Mr. Guo Tu hurriedly said: "Lord, you should strike first, immediately attack the big-eared thief camp, and capture and kill the big-eared thief brothers, otherwise, once the big-eared thief team wears our army's uniforms and makes trouble in the camp, the consequences will be unimaginable!" ”

"No!" Cui Yan also hurriedly objected: "Liu Bei acted like this, he must be worried that the lord would not let him go, and he made this arrangement just in case, the lord should quickly make up his mind, agree to Liu Bei's evacuation of Guandu and send someone to inform Liu Bei, so as to avoid the conflict between our army and the reserve army." ”

"Mr. Ji Jue, don't be kidding." Guo Tu said impatiently: "Tao Ying named the head of the big-eared thief, if our army allows the big-eared thief to leave Guandu, how can we negotiate and reconcile with the Xuzhou army?" ”

"If Liu Xuande is handed over to Tao Ying, who else will dare to save our army in the future?" Cui Yan asked angrily.

Seeing that Cui Yan and Guo Tu, who were not right, were about to quarrel again, Tian Chou, the only surviving Jizhou veteran, hurriedly came over to dissuade him, and then hugged his fist to Yuan Tan and said: "Lord, the military situation is like fire, the lord should first lead the army Liu Bei's army camp, talk to Liu Bei face-to-face and negotiate, understand his true purpose, and then make a decision on the spot." ”

Yuan Tan thought about it carefully, and immediately accepted Tian Chou's suggestion, and immediately led the Chinese army team that had been assembled to the right camp where Liu Beijun was. As a result, Uncle Liu's team saw a large number of torches rushing towards the camp of the army, and immediately understood that the news had leaked, and quickly reported the news to Uncle Liu, who was also shocked, and quickly asked his henchmen to carry Zhuge Liang into the carriage, and then went into battle with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and led the army to assemble in front of the camp gate, preparing to break through by force, and the neighboring Peng An team did not dare to slack off, and also hurriedly lit torches to illuminate and prepare to intercept, and the atmosphere in the right camp suddenly became tense.

Fortunately, both the Imperial Uncle Army and Yuan Tanjun knew to exercise restraint, although the sabre-rattling was not the same as the army dared to fire the first shot and put the first arrow, just waiting for Yuan Tan to arrive, and when Yuan Tan personally led the army to the scene, sure enough, he saw that the Imperial Uncle Army had already changed into the red Yuan Tan Army uniform, Yuan Tan was shocked and angry, and hurriedly slapped his horse forward, pointed at Uncle Liu Huang in the fire with a horse whip and scolded: "Big ears, as a soldier of Jingzhou, why did you change the clothes of our army?" What do you want? ”

Uncle Liu Huang grabbed Zhang Fei, who was thundering, and replied politely and loudly: "Ji Hou is mistaken, I heard that Ji Hou intends to dedicate the head to the Xuzhou pottery thief, and it is also a last resort to prepare for a rainy day." ”

"Who said I was going to sacrifice your head to the pottery thief?" Yuan Tan asked angrily.

"I asked Cui Jiqi to negotiate with the Marquis of Ji and asked to lead the army to leave Guandu, but the Marquis of Ji did not reply, isn't this that the Marquis of Ji is hesitating, whether to capture the Liu Bei brothers and sacrifice them to the pottery thief?" Uncle Liu Huang asked loudly.

Yuan Tan was speechless, but Zhang Fei scolded angrily, "Yuan Tan Pifu, my eldest brother personally led the army to rescue you thousands of miles away, and he also killed eighty percent of the soldiers and horses for you, you don't know how to repay the favor, and you still want to give my brother's head to the pottery thief, and the revenge has reached this point, has your conscience been eaten up by dogs?" If you have the guts, come and fight with your Grandpa Zhang for 300 rounds! ”

Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was in charge, continued to be speechless, and Cui Yan next to him said quickly: "Lord, the matter has come to this, let's let Uncle Liu Huang go, otherwise, our army will not only have to fight with our allies, but also leave a reputation for eternity!" In the future, if we want to ask other princes for help, there will definitely be no prince who dares to lend a helping hand to us. ”

"Lord, it's Liu Biao's injustice first!" Guo Tu also said quickly: "Our army and Liu Biao concluded a mutual insurance agreement, but Liu Biao broke his trust and refused to send reinforcements ....... ”

"Kill————!"

Mr. Guo Tu's strong words were interrupted by the sudden loud shouting of killing, and when everyone looked at the sound in surprise, they saw that the fire was burning in front of the Chinese army camp of Yuan Jun, shouting to kill the sky, and it seemed that an army had entered the camp of the Yuan army's Chinese army, which had lost the protection of the outer fortifications. Seeing this scene, Yuan Tan Gongzi was stunned, and inevitably screamed, "How is it possible? How can it be? Brother-in-law, he promised to give me a day, why did he come to rob the village tonight? ”

"Ji Hou, it's time for you to see the true face of the pottery thief, right?" Uncle Liu Huang, who was ecstatic in his heart, took the opportunity to say loudly: "I bet that when the pottery thief promised you, he must have deliberately left a loophole and promised to give you a day to think about it, but he deliberately did not declare that he would not attack or sneak attack you within this day!" Let you take it lightly and then take the opportunity to rob the camp! This thief has always been this deceitful virtue! ”

Yuan Tan was shocked and recalled carefully, and found that Deputy Director Tao had indeed not made a similar promise, and then Yuan Tan immediately became angry and shouted: "Tao Ying! Dog thief! I swear to kill you! Quick, go and save the Chinese army immediately, go and save the Chinese army! Uncle Liu Huang, what if what happened just now didn't happen, come and help me resist the pottery thief, I will definitely repay you! ”

Uncle Liu Huang sneered and was about to make it difficult, but Zhuge Liang's personal soldier Shi Yunfeng ran to Uncle Liu's side and said in a low voice: "My lord, the military advisor suggests that you accept Yuan Tan's request for reconciliation, if you can do so, there will be endless benefits for our army's comeback." Uncle Liu nodded after hearing this, and immediately accepted Yuan Tan's request, and then the two armies joined forces and immediately rushed to the rescue of the Chinese army.

It was too late for Yuan Tanjun to rejoin forces, taking advantage of the opportunity that Yuan Tanjun's attention was attracted by the Huangshu army, the Xuzhou vanguard team led by Wei Yan easily broke through the door of Yuan Tanjun's Chinese military camp, and rushed into the Chinese army camp of Yuan Tanjun to kill people and set fires. So when the elite of the Chinese army led by Yuan Tan Gongzi returned to the camp, it was already too late, not only Wei Yan's team had already entered the camp, but even the rear army led by Tai Shici was already entering the camp in an endless stream.

By the way, in fact, the fire of the left camp of the Yuan army also scared the Xuzhou army enough, so that Wei Yan, who served as the vanguard, almost thought that the enemy was prepared, and the camp robbery operation had been exposed, and he almost wanted to give up the plan to rob the camp, and finally the Xuzhou scouts ventured close to the Yuan army camp to reconnoitre, and found that the enemy's team was concentrated on the left flank, and the defense of the front was seriously insufficient.

Wei Yan is right, although the elite has been transferred to the left battalion of the Yuan army, although there is a certain amount of defense, but the defense is already very weak, and then the top three Danyang elite soldiers in the Xuzhou army rushed with all their might, and the camp defense suddenly collapsed, and the team that hurriedly met the battle was killed in a moment, and a large number of camp tents were also set on fire by the Xuzhou army. Wei Yan's team took the opportunity to march forward, and with just one charge, they seized Yuan Tan's Chinese army's big tent and cut down Yuan Tan's so-called prime minister's banner.

It was also when Yuan Tan personally led the army back to reinforce the Chinese army, and the Yuan army stabilized the situation a little, but without waiting for Yuan Tan Gongzi and others to judge the enemy situation clearly, the Danyang elite soldiers led by Wei Yan's deputy Zhou Hui were already like wolves and tigers in front of Yuan Tan's army, although there were many fierce generals around Yuan Tan, but he ran into the Danyang soldiers who are now the best at collective combat, although a fierce general blocked the slashing of two or three Danyang soldiers, but could not stop five or six or even more skilled Danyang soldiers from beating them, and several Jizhou generals were killed on the spot, The soldiers of Jizhou, who had no heart to fight, were even killed by the Danyang soldiers and cried wolves, and their corpses were all over the place.

Seeing that the situation was urgent, Uncle Liu hurriedly led Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to come to the rescue, but the Xuzhou army led by Tai Shici had also been killed to the nearest place, catching the team of the imperial uncle's army, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were no matter what ten thousand enemies, and they couldn't stand thousands of Xuzhou soldiers beating and slashing, even if they killed dozens of enemies on the spot, they also killed one to two, and killed one pair to two pairs, and roared even more and said that they couldn't stop the Xuzhou team from constantly surging, and the soldiers of the Huangshu army were even more pitiful, and the combat effectiveness was not as good as the old and new Xuzhou soldiers. The strength of the army is at an absolute disadvantage, more than 800 soldiers were wiped out or surrounded in a blink of an eye, seeing that the signs are wrong, Uncle Liu Huang can only order Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to protect himself and retreat to the left camp, Tai Shici's team chased after him, and followed into the left camp of the Yuan army.

With the third team of Xuzhou led by Zhao Yun and Tian Xiang into the camp of the Yuan army, the Xuzhou army also completely occupies the absolute upper hand in the number of troops, and the combined troops of the three teams have exceeded 36,000 people, while the poor Yuan Tan army and the Huangshu army together are less than 24,000 people, and they are also distributed in the middle and left and right back four camps, unable to twist into a rope and clench into a fist to meet the enemy, they can only fight separately and support hard, and the heralds of each battalion and army are running around looking for contact, but most of them can't find Yuan Tan Gongzi to get orders, It is impossible to act in unison and turn the tide of the war.

Of course, the number of troops is just a numerical comparison, as long as the morale is high, the tactics are proper, the commander is powerful, and the examples of defeating the strong with the weak and winning more with less are more than the floating corpses of the Ganges River of the third brother's family, but it is extremely regrettable that the Yuan-Liu coalition army is not only at a disadvantage in terms of troops, but also in terms of morale. Many of the teams collapsed immediately as soon as they were rushed by the Xuzhou army, scattered and fled for their lives, and even many Yuan soldiers had escaped from the camp without encountering the enemy, and rushed to the canal bridge and pontoon bridge to cross the river to escape for their lives.

Of course, there are also a few Yuan Tan army teams that fought well, for example, Yuan Xi and Hao Zhao's team desperately held the right battalion where they were, and repelled the two charges of the Xuzhou army, but there were too many pig teammates around them, and there were two right battalion generals because they were too timid, and took the lead in abandoning their positions to flee to the canal pontoon bridge, and drove their soldiers and friendly troops to follow suit, and the Xuzhou army took the opportunity to rush into the right battalion, and burned countless tents in the right battalion. Although Yuan Xi, who was in charge of the defense of the right battalion, personally led the supervising team to cut down the fleeing generals and soldiers, there were too many fleeing soldiers, and in the end, even Yuan Xi's supervising team was defeated by the defeated soldiers.

What's worse is that in terms of the commander-in-chief decision-making of the Yuan army, Yuan Tan Gongzi, as the commander of the whole army, was also infected by the indecisive surname of his father Yuan Sangong at this moment, and he couldn't make up his mind what to do in a hurry. Or do you want to preserve your strength, decisively abandon the Guandu battalion, which has no value to hold onto, and immediately withdraw across the canal to escape for your life after breaking it with all your strength? And the same is true of Mr. Guo Tu and Cui Yan, who didn't even think of how to advise Yuan Tan Gongzi in a panic.

Of course, the price of ineffective command is extremely heavy, less than half an hour after the battle started, the camp of the Yuan army has turned into a sea of fire, the left and right rear camps have also been ignited a large area, the Xuzhou army is rampaging in the raging firelight, killing people when they see them, and ordering them when they see them, but the soldiers of Yuan are running back and forth in the sea of fire, crying and shaking the sky, and the Xuzhou army is killed to the point of bleeding and bleeding, and the corpses are all over the ground, and the dead are countless.

In the end, it was Uncle Liu Huang who led the team to Yuan Tan Gongzi, and then someone made a retreat suggestion to Yuan Tan Gongzi, "Ji Hou, the Guandu battalion can't be saved, you should immediately withdraw the canal to sort out the team, and give priority to retaining troops!" ”

Hearing this suggestion, Yuan Tan Gongzi woke up like a dream, and quickly ordered the veteran general Tian Chou to lead the army to the palace, and he led the army to the south of the canal to flee for his life, and Uncle Liu's team also followed Yuan Tan Gongzi's left and right to retreat together, fortunately, the canal water flow in this area is slow and shallow, and there are a large number of bridges and pontoon bridges, so Yuan Tan's army team crossed the river quite quickly, and at the same time, it did not encounter the unfortunate incident of thousands of soldiers crowding themselves and falling into the water when crossing the river.

Finally escaped the canal, the frightened Yuan Tan Gongzi also listened to Uncle Liu's advice, immediately played the handsome flag to gather the team, clean up the remnants of the defeated generals to reorganize the army, and at the same time arrange the team to hold every bridge, ready to destroy the bridge at any time to block the pursuers, and Yuan Xi, Hao Zhao, Peng An and Lu Kuang and other generals also escaped the canal and came to Yuan Tan Gongzi's side to meet, only the Jizhou veteran Tian Chou who was in charge of the palace never crossed the river, Yuan Tan Gongzi sent someone to inquire carefully, only then did he know that Tian Chou was at war with Tai Shici, has been captured by Xuzhou general Taishi Cisheng.

Seeing this scene, Yuan Tan could only order to destroy all the bridges to block the pursuers, as a result, although the pursuit of the Xuzhou army was temporarily blocked, a large number of Jizhou soldiers were stopped on the north bank of the canal, as well as Yuan Tan's army's grain and grass baggage, seals, knots, armor and gold silk books and other things, were all abandoned on the north bank of the canal. When Yuan Tan ordered the team to be counted, he found that the soldiers around him, including Uncle Liu's team, were less than 10,000.

This battle was lost so badly, Yuan Tan Gongzi scolded Deputy Director Tao for being despicable and shameless, it was inevitable to cry loudly like Yuan Sangong, beating his chest and feeling distressed about the defeat of this battle, Uncle Liu Huang and Yuan Xi, Guo Tu, Cui Yan and others comforted him with kind words, and then Uncle Liu Huang said: "Ji Hou, the canal is too shallow and narrow, it will be difficult to block the pursuers for a long time, where will our army go, and I hope that Ji Hou will make up his mind early." ”

"Go to Hanoi first, then go to Bingzhou." Yuan Tan Gongzi, who had already planned this, wiped his tears and said: "There are quite a lot of soldiers and horses in Bingzhou, I want to go there to regroup, and then come to find the pottery thief to take revenge!" ”

"What about Xuchang?" Uncle Liu Huang hurriedly asked.

"Xuchang? yes, what should Xuchang do? "Yuan Shanggongzi is a little hesitant, now although Guandu is lost, Xuchang is equivalent to isolation, but after all, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Xuchang City, as well as Emperor Han Xian and Yuan Sangong, who is sick in bed, it is not only a pity to give up like this, but Yuan Tan Gongzi, who abandoned his paralyzed father, has no way to explain to the world.

"If the Marquis of Ji does not give up, prepare a group of soldiers and horses to return to Xuchang, and go to guard Xuchang with Mr. Xin Ping and General Cen Bi." Uncle Liu Huang took the opportunity to say: "At that time, if Xuchang can hold on, Bei Zi should hold on with all his might, waiting for the return of the Marquis of Ji, if Xuchang can't hold for a long time, Bei will withdraw to Jingzhou with Xin Ping and Cen Bi to protect the Son of Heaven and the father of the Marquis of Ji, and then try to send the Son of Heaven and the father of the Marquis of Ji to Bingzhou." ”

Uncle Liu Huang finally showed his hideous fangs, but unfortunately Yuan Tan Gongzi was not too stupid, and Mr. Guo Tu next to him was also a master who did not suffer losses, and soon came to Yuan Tan Gongzi's ear and came up with a bad idea, and then Yuan Tan Gongzi immediately arranged: "That's it, second brother, Mr. Ji Qi, I will give you 3,000 infantry, you and Xuande Gong will go south to Xuchang together, and then see the opportunity to act, I will lead the troops north and merge the state." ”

Yuan Xi and Cui Yan agreed without hesitation, and Uncle Liu Huang also smiled and nodded calmly, as if he didn't mind the success of his annihilation plan, he just added in his heart, muttering: "I hope Kong Ming's expectations are not bad, in order to prevent Yuan Tan from escaping to Xuchang, there is an ambush in the south." ”

(To be continued)