Xun Yu's first step of the tiger transfer plan from the mountain is the best and safest, even if it is recognized by Deputy Director Tao, it will not hinder the overall situation, the only key is only the candidate of the confidant and the dead, must be smart enough, must be loyal enough, and must have the heart of death to induce Deputy Director Tao to divide the troops, none of the three is indispensable, otherwise, Cao Jun's next follow-up is not only impossible to perform, but also is likely to be annihilated by the sinister and vicious Deputy Director Tao, and in turn hit the Cao army team who took the risk to fight.

Fortunately, such a person may be difficult to find in other people's teams, but it is everywhere in Cao Boss's team, Cao Boss summoned a few henchmen and nephews and Cao juniors, just said that he would send people out of the city for the Xuzhou army to capture, immediately many people understood, Cao Boss's adopted son Cao Zhen also immediately stood up and recommended himself, hugged his fists and said: "Father, the child is willing to go." ”

Seeing that it was the adopted son Cao Zhen who was the first to stand up and ask for his life to die, Cao Boss not only was not proud of having such a son, but also unprecedentedly unbearable, after a little hesitation, Dian Man, the son of Dian Wei, Cao Zun, the nephew of Cao Boss, his nephew Cao Anmin, Xiahou Yuan's son Xiahou Shang and Xiahou Ba, etc., all stood up, and rushed to ask Cao Boss for orders to go to death, but Cao Zhen said angrily: "I asked my father for orders first, don't rob me." ”

After finishing speaking, Cao Zhen knelt down on Boss Cao's knees again, and said solemnly: "Father, the child is willing to go to the enemy for his father, please ask for his father's permission!" ”

"Zhen'er, it's not that my father doesn't want to give you this opportunity......." Boss Cao hesitated and said: "You are going to die for a lifetime, a little worse, my father can't save you, your own father Cao Shao has already died for me, if you have any accidents, I will go to see your biological father in the future......?" ”

"If the child can't come back, ask the father to take care of the second brother Cao Bin and the third brother Cao Fan for the child!" Cao Zhen replied without hesitation: "The child's father died early, it was the father who raised the child's three brothers, and he was kind to the children and brothers. ”

Cao Zhen, whose conscience has not been eaten up by the dog, is still a little unbearable, Cao Zhen repeatedly asked for orders to go out of the city to die, and threatened that if Cao Boss did not agree, he would immediately kill himself in front of Cao Boss, kowtowing desperately with tears and begging, Cao Boss saw Cao Zhen's attitude was resolute and sincere, and he was moved, but it was inevitable that he would cry, and finally nodded and accepted Cao Zhen's self-recommendation, and then dispersed everyone and taught Cao Zhen alone to face to face.

It was the fourth watch of the night, taking advantage of the moon and the dark stars, Cao Boss personally sent Cao Zhen to the west gate of Xuchang, and put Cao Zhen and a war horse down the city with a sling to act, the father and son said goodbye on the city wall, and burst into tears together. Cao Zhen got on his horse immediately after leaving the city, and ran to the southwest of Xuchang overnight under the cover of night, disappearing from the tearful eyes of Boss Cao.

On the morning of the second day, after lurking on the banks of the Yingshui River for a few hours, Cao Zhen remounted and returned to Xuchang, deliberately moving along the official road along the way, and after encountering the patrol scouts of the Xuzhou army, he pretended to be in a panic and fled, causing the Xuzhou scouts to suspect and chase with all his might, during which Cao Zhen, who was dressed in civilian clothes, also suddenly took out a weapon and stabbed a Xuzhou scout into a serious injury, which angered the Xuzhou scout team to besiege him with all his might, and then after a hard fight, Cao Zhen deliberately took off the weapon in his hand, gave the Xuzhou scouts the opportunity to capture them alive.

Caught Cao Zhen, and found a strange document from Cao Zhen's body, Xuzhou scouts naturally did not dare to slack off, and quickly escorted Cao Zhen to the Xuzhou camp to dedicate to Deputy Director Tao, during which in order to make the Xuzhou army believe that he was unfortunately captured, Cao Zhen once again deliberately tried to escape, which caused the Xuzhou soldiers to be furious, and simply broke Cao Zhen's leg, tied it to the Xuzhou camp on a war horse, and the broken leg made Cao Zhen sweat profusely, but Cao Zhen's heart was secretly happy, I believe that the bitter meat trick I have figured out will definitely be able to deceive Deputy Director Tao, who is more slippery than a fox.

Sure enough, when he saw Uncle Liu's secret letter from Boss Cao who was ready to join forces to fight against Tao, Deputy Director Tao was really furious, and immediately patted the case in front of him and shouted at Cao Zhen and asked, "Say, who are you?" Where have the soldiers and horses of the big-eared thief arrived, and when did they arrive in Xuchang? How many troops are there? Say it and spare you from dying, and give you back your leg! ”

"Phew!" This is Cao Zhen's only answer to Deputy Director Tao, the bloody phlegm in his mouth spit out heavily, fast and far, almost sprayed on Deputy Director Tao's obscene and ugly face, the Tao army guard next to him was furious, and immediately punched Cao Zhen, and a guard simply stepped on Cao Zhen's broken leg, and Cao Zhen yelled madly in pain, "Tao thief!" Kill me! Kill me! If you want me to betray my father, you dream! ”

"Father?" Deputy Director Tao was stunned and asked, "Who is your father?" Big-eared thieves? Or is it Cao Apu? ”

"Thief! Kill me! Kill me right now! My father will take my revenge! Cao Zhen didn't answer, just roared.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao would not kill Cao Zhen easily, and when he immediately summoned the Xuzhou officials who had been to Xuchang to make a detailed identification, several Xuzhou Xiaozuo also immediately recognized Cao Zhen's identity, and exclaimed: "Lord, he is Cao Zhen!" He is Cao Zhen, the adopted son of Cao Thief! ”

"Yes, this son is the son of the Han Dynasty Cao Cheng, the righteous son of Cao Zhen, Cao Zidan, yes!" Seeing that his identity was exposed, Cao Zhen no longer concealed it, but just yelled and scolded: "Despicable pottery thief, kill me immediately if you have an egg!" Uncle Liu's soldiers and horses are coming, the death of your pottery thief is coming, and someone will avenge me! ”

"Kill you? That's of course, but not now. Deputy Director Tao sneered, and suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Someone, take Cao Zhen down, torture him severely, and let him recruit the big-eared thief when will he arrive in Xuchang, and how many soldiers and horses are there?!" ”

"No!" The guards hugged their fists together and sang a promise, but at this moment, Cao Zhen's face suddenly twitched violently, and it was too late for the guards to find out that something was wrong and quickly stopped it, Cao Zhen had already spurted blood out of his mouth, and spit out half of his tongue, Xuzhou Guards were shocked and shouted: "Lord, he bit his tongue and committed suicide!" ”

Deputy Director Tao Huo Ran got up and strode in front of Cao Zhen to check it personally, seeing that Cao Zhen's mouth was bleeding nonstop, and most of his tongue had been bitten off, Deputy Director Tao couldn't help showing a disappointed look on his face, and his face was already pale in pain, but Cao Zhen smiled, and said secretly in his heart: "Father, the child didn't embarrass you, right?" ”

Before the self-talk in his heart was finished, Cao Zhen's face suddenly changed again, because Deputy Director Tao suddenly sighed and asked with a pleasant face: "Zidan Gongzi, the trick of biting your tongue and committing suicide was not taught to you by Cao Thief, right?" Although the thief Cao was vicious and cruel, he did not teach his son to die. ”

"What do you mean? How does the pottery thief know? Cao Zhen, whose tongue was speechless, was at a loss.

"Zidan Gongzi, in fact, you don't have to be like this." Deputy Director Tao sighed again and said gently: "Your father Cao Apu wants to divert the tiger from the mountain, and sent you to carry a false letter to deceive me into dividing my troops, and give him a desperate bet to find a fighter. It's just that I didn't expect that you would be so fierce that in order to convince me that the big-eared thief really came to save your father, you would bite your tongue and commit suicide. ”

Cao Zhen fell into an ice cellar, his face changed completely, from the pale of excessive blood loss to dead gray, and the whole person seemed to have fallen into a bottomless abyss, drifting and not knowing where he was. Deputy Director Tao grabbed Cao Zhen's hand, which was gradually cold, gently touched the back of Cao Zhen's hand, and said gently: "Zidan Gongzi, you didn't disgrace your father, just by virtue of this, you can be regarded as repaying his nurturing grace." ”

"Really?" Cao Zhen finally spoke, asked vaguely with his last strength, and seeing Deputy Director Tao nodding solemnly, Cao Zhen finally put his mind at ease, hung his head weakly, and said secretly in his heart: "Father, the child tried his best, but I'm sorry, the child's opponent is too cunning............." ”

"Carry Zidan Gongzi down, put the coffin in the coffin, and return it to Cao Thief when he has the opportunity." Ordered someone to carry Cao Zhen's body away, Deputy Director Tao shook his head at first, and he didn't understand why so many people were willing to die for Boss Cao, and even sacrificed their lives in order to increase the hope of deceiving themselves a little - in terms of making the soldiers willing to die for themselves, Deputy Director Tao is indeed inferior to Boss Cao now.

Sighing again, Deputy Director Tao turned to Jia Lao's poison who had been silent, and a happy smile appeared on his delicate face, and said: "Mr. Wenhe, I was expected by you, Cao Thief really couldn't hold his breath and made the first move, now it's time for us to strike later, Mr. Wenhe has been thinking for so long, there should be a clever plan to teach me, right?" ”

"This time I want to disappoint the lord, and I haven't come up with a way to break the enemy." Jia Lao Poison frowned and said: "Although this letter can be concluded to be Cao Mengde's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, but our army wants to plan in turn, but it is not so easy, because Cao Mengde's purpose is to induce our army to divide the army, and our army wants to arrange the illusion of dividing the troops is not only difficult, but also extremely easy to expose, not to mention the open terrain near Xuchang, it is difficult for our army to escape the reconnaissance of Cao Jun's scouts, Cao Jun is still fighting at home, familiar with the terrain and roads, whether our army really divides troops to the south, It is bound to be in Cao Mengde's hands, and it is not easy to deceive. ”

Deputy Director Tao, who has more than 2,000 years of knowledge and is still naturally cunning, also twisted his lips and whiskers, because Deputy Director Tao also knew that the illusion of arranging troop transfers on Cao Boss's territory to deceive Cao Boss was indeed a difficult thing to climb to the sky, just like the battle of Xiaopei at the beginning of the year, the main force of the Cao army had just been divided, and a carrier pigeon made by Xuzhou immediately exposed the heavenly opportunity, and the Xuzhou army wanted to make Cao Boss believe that the army had been divided, which was almost an impossible task on the battlefield of Xuchang.

It's hard to return, but after all, the cards that can be played in Deputy Director Tao's hand are much better than Cao Lao's, so after thinking for a while, Deputy Director Tao suddenly pulled off his two mustaches and shouted: "Don't make a fake!" Really divide the troops! Divide 20,000 troops to go to Rushui Xiangcheng to intercept the coalition army of the big-eared thief and Wei Chong! ”

"Really divide the troops?" Jia Lao Poison raised his eyebrows and said, "Lord, it's too risky, right?" Divide 20,000 troops to go to Rushui, and at least 10,000 troops must be left to defend the camp and Yanling granary, our army only has 20,000 soldiers to fight, and the strength is not as good as Cao Mengde. ”

"After the division of troops, the strength of our army will indeed be inferior to Cao Thief, but the condition of our army is far better than Cao Thief's team, at least there are not so many wounded soldiers!" Deputy Director Tao gritted his teeth and said: "Cao Thief is too cunning, he can't really divide his troops, and he can't be tricked out of the city!" Only take a risk, really divide the troops to trick the Cao thief out of the city, and then fight a decisive battle with the Cao thief in the field with a small number of elite soldiers! ”

"The lord has made up his mind?" Jia Lao Poison said solemnly: "I remind you that if you don't divide your troops to attack the fortifications head-on, our army still has a great hope of taking Xuchang, and after dividing your troops and fighting Cao Ying, then our army's advantage will be completely negated." ”

"A must take a risk!" Deputy Director Tao replied categorically: "The cohesion of the Cao thief team is too strong, although our army concentrates its forces to attack head-on, although it has the advantage of strength and combat effectiveness, it will definitely have heavy casualties and take a long time, if Xuchang Jiancheng cannot be attacked for a long time, and the main force of our army has too many casualties, then the Jizhou army may make a comeback, and the big-eared thief will definitely come to fish in troubled waters, and then our army will be far away from the rear, and the grain and grass will be inconvenient, and the situation will be very unfavorable!" ”

"Since the lord has this courage, then he has no objection." Jia Lao Poison nodded, and said: "In order to make Cao Mengde believe in our army's plan, Xu suggested that our army dispatch a large number of cavalry today to increase the attack on Cao Jun's scouts, compress the scope of Cao Jun's scouts' activities to within three miles around Xuchang, and then divide our troops in the evening, so that our army can divide our troops overnight and bypass Xuchang City to the west and enter Rushui." Only in this way will Cao Mengde suspect that our army has divided its troops, and then send people to closely reconnoiter the movements in the southwest. ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded in agreement, and at that moment Deputy Director Tao immediately dispatched troops, and decided to send Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, Lu Yi and Yin Li to lead an army of 20,000, and the four generals will be headed by Xu Huang, Xun Chen is the staff officer of the army, and the troops were divided into Xiangcheng overnight to intercept Liu Cao's coalition army, in order not to let the generals oppose his adventurous move, Deputy Director Tao also simply announced that he had received a detailed investigation report, and found that the big-eared thief and Cao Jun joined forces to save Xuchang, in order to avoid heavy casualties during the siege, he had to divide his troops to intercept Cao Laoda's rescue troops!

But even so, Deputy Director Tao's decision was strongly opposed by the generals, and all the generals in Xuzhou thought that there were too many troops, worried that Cao Boss would take the opportunity to go out of the city for a decisive battle, and suggested that Deputy Director Tao only divide 10,000 troops to intercept Cao Jun's rescuers, and the stunned Qing Taoji also volunteered to lead the Junzi Army alone to intercept Cao Laoda's rescuers - as a result, he was naturally scolded by Deputy Director Tao for a bloody dog, and there are three large rivers in the southwest of Xuchang, namely Zhushui, Yingshui and Rushui, which are not a good place for gentlemen to fight.

"The congregation need not be anxious." Deputy Director Tao comforted the generals and said: "Our army has already figured out the marching route and the speed of the Cao thief's reinforcements, and Mr. Wen He and I have also formulated a strategy to break the enemy in a war, our army can end the battle and return to the Xuchang battlefield within five days, and it will not delay too much time, you will never doubt that my lord, the lord, can't even hold the camp for five days, right?" ”

All the generals in Xuzhou laughed, and Zhao Yun smiled and reminded: "Lord, if you have made up your mind, then the general should follow the order, but there is another thing, the fortifications of our army camp are not perfect enough, after our army divides the troops, I hope that the lord will immediately step up the repair of the camp fortifications, just in case." ”

Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison quietly looked at each other all night, and both found that their wise men must make a mistake, and they forgot to strengthen the fortifications to seduce Boss Cao, and then Deputy Director Tao nodded and said, "It's still Zilong who is careful, I will, Gongming." ”

Xu Huang sang the promise, Deputy Director Tao took out a sealed bag, handed it to Xu Huang and said: "General Gongming, you are the chief general of our army's division of troops, this bag will be handed over to you, keep it properly, after our army divides its troops to Xiangcheng, regardless of whether the enemy holds the city or not, immediately open the bag for me, and then act according to the order." ”

Xu Huang sang a promise, respectfully took the bag and hid it carefully, Deputy Director Tao then ordered the account to be dispersed, and ordered the generals to go back to prepare for the division of troops, and then Deputy Director Tao left Liu Ye alone, first arranged for Liu Ye to organize auxiliary troops to repair the fortifications of the camp, and then asked Liu Ye in a low voice: "How much of our secret weapon have been prepared?" ”

"Thirty." Liu Ye replied in a low voice: "If the lord needs it, you can hurry up and come out." ”

"That's enough." Deputy Director Tao replied with a smile: "This time it's a field battle, and it's useless to prepare too much of this secret weapon, so let's just order it." ”

Liu Ye sang a promise, and when he was about to retire, Deputy Director Tao suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly jumped up and said, "Oh no, how did I forget a big thing?" Hurry, immediately ask Mr. Ziyu and the battalion supervisors to come to the big tent quickly, I have an important order to announce! ”

…………………… In the afternoon of the same day, the Xuzhou army hit the Cao army scouts like crazy, the Junzi army was divided into ten roads, and the Cao army scouts who desperately swept the open area at all costs, and the oldest qualified ace team in the Xuzhou army, the Danyang soldiers, also went out to search and kill the Cao army scouts in the mountains and forests, and the Cao army scouts, who were originally bullied by the Junzi army, suddenly became more pitiful, and were chased and killed by the Junzi army in the wilderness, and hid in the Danyang hooligans who liked to bully the weak. I also went there and was chased and slashed by the Xuzhou army, and had to retreat in the direction of Xuchang City, and the activity space was quickly compressed to the point that it could not be compressed.

When the news was transmitted back to Xuchang City, the generals of the Cao army, who had long been bullied by the Xuzhou army in the scout outpost battle, were furious, and they rushed to Cao Boss to ask for battle, intending to take advantage of the opportunity of the Junzi Army and the Danyang hooligan soldiers to divide a large number of troops, and suddenly sent troops to raid and strike at the arrogance of the Xuzhou army. Worried that this was Deputy Director Tao's plan to lure the enemy, Boss Cao categorically refused, ordered the four gates to be closed and not allowed any troops to leave the city, and also ordered the scouts to recover in the direction of Xuchang City, allowing the Xuzhou army to be arrogant and domineering on the periphery, ignoring anything.

"Strange, how could the pottery thief take scout warfare so seriously?" Although he didn't want to pay attention to the Xuzhou army's picking quarrels and provoking troubles, of course, Boss Cao was also very curious in his heart, why did Deputy Director Tao repeatedly increase the intensity of scout warfare? Although compressing the reconnaissance space of the self-army can play a role in blinding one's ears and eyes, but now that oneself has neither reinforcements to rescue nor food and grass to transport, it is almost a waste of effort to compress one's reconnaissance space?

"Really?" Suddenly thought of a possibility, Boss Cao's heart almost didn't jump out of his throat all of a sudden, but after a little excitement, Boss Cao forced himself to calm down again, and said to himself in his heart, "Meng De, you have to be calm, your opponent this time is not Yuan Shao's straw bag, nor Lu Bu's reckless man, it is Tao Ying's thief who has deceived you several times, and he is also the only Tao Ying thief who has not been deceived by you!" You have to be cautious when you fight him! You can't make a decision until the last minute! ”

A day's time passed quickly, to the surprise of the Cao army's team, as soon as the sun set, the Junzi army also withdrew to the camp to rest, but today's sky has been dark, the Junzi army's team is still in the open area outside Xuchang City, the Danyang soldiers led by Wei Yan have withdrawn, but the Xuzhou army camp has sent an army to rotate the Danyang soldiers, to assist the Junzi army to monitor the movements of the Xuchang defenders, so that the Cao army is worried, I am afraid that this is a sign that the Xuzhou army is preparing to attack the city overnight.

"Let fifty scouts go and explore the Pottery Thieves camp!" This is the countermeasure personally finalized by Boss Cao, "The scout team is divided into pieces, acting alone, at any cost to find out the movements of the pottery thief team, and if you find the pottery thief anomaly, you will be rewarded!" ”

Cao Xiu, who was in charge of the scout sentry, agreed, and quickly went down to arrange the arrangement, but Boss Cao shouted again: "Also, remember to give me the time to watch out for the big food of the pottery thief team!" ”

Cao Xiu sang the promise again, and Dian Wei next to him suggested: "Lord, the villain army of pottery thieves has been crazy for a day, and now people are sleepy and lacking, although there are infantry cover, but the terrain is not as familiar as familiar, the last general will order the army to go out of the city to raid the pottery thief team, defeat the pottery thief team, and frustrate the pottery thief's spirit!" ”

Boss Cao remained silent and said slowly: "Evil, do you remember the battle of Runan six years ago? At that time, our army was preparing to attack the pottery thieves at night, but as soon as they were dispatched, they were immediately noticed by the pottery thieves, who boasted in the battle at that time, saying that there was not a single chicken blind (night blindness) in his army, and he did not want to bully our army, so he advised me not to fight with him at night. ”

Dian Wei recalled for a long time, and quickly nodded and said: "Come to remember, the pottery thief did say this sentence back then. ”

"The potter thief didn't brag." Cao Lao said in a dark voice: "In the past few years, our army has collected a lot of information about the pottery thief, and I have also arranged for the meticulous investigation of this, and found that the pottery thief's words back then were not boasting, but the truth!" Not only does there not have a single chicken blind eye in the pottery thief's team, but even if a soldier with chicken blindness joins the pottery thief team, the symptoms of chicken blindness will disappear quickly. ”

"The pottery thief's medical skills, even Nanyang Divine Doctor Zhang Zhongjing admires him a lot, and he has already saved Fengxiao's life twice." Boss Cao looked into the distance with his hands behind his back, and said in a low tone: "For every twenty soldiers in our army, three people suffer from chicken blindness, so our army can't fight at night with pottery thieves. ”

"The last general understands, and the last general takes back his request." Dian Wei lowered his head, then quickly raised his head and said: "But Prime Minister, the terrain in this area of Xuchang is so open, and if you don't fight at night with the pottery thief team, our army, which is greatly injured, will have no chance of winning by surprise?" ”

"Not necessarily!" Boss Cao's low tone suddenly changed, and he said with a sneer: "To win by surprise, you don't necessarily need to cover the night!" Highlighting surprise soldiers does not necessarily require an ambush in advance! The team of pottery thieves is only ten miles away from Xuchang City, and our army can reach the battlefield in half an hour! As long as the timing is right, you can still receive the effect of highlighting the surprise soldiers! ”

That night, the scouts sent out by Cao Boss sent two pieces of news one after another, first, there was no change in the Xuzhou army camp, and second, the Xuzhou army and the Junzi army outside Xuchang City all withdrew to the camp, and there was no other change, and Cao Boss was puzzled by this. However, after the sky was full of light, the scouts of the Cao army sent two more news, one is that the Xuzhou army began to make a fire to make food at three o'clock in the morning, and let the soldiers eat breakfast at the first hour of the morning, and the other is that the Xuzhou army began to build a camp again to strengthen the thin camp defense built before.

"The Great Eclipse Time is the same as our army, but why did the pottery thieves strengthen the camp? This is already the sixth day that the pottery thief team has arrived at the Xuchang battlefield, why do they still need to spend effort and time to strengthen the camp? Also, why did the pottery thief desperately fight the scout ...... yesterday afternoon? Don't?! ”

Thinking about this, Boss Cao immediately jumped up and shouted: "Send another thirty scouts out of the city, reconnoiter the southwest direction, and find out all the situation from Xuchang to Xiangcheng for me!" ”

"Prime Minister, there's no need to send scouts to investigate!" Xun Yu's voice sounded outside the door, and then Xun Yu hurriedly entered the lobby, bowed deeply to Cao Laoda, who had dozens of gray hair overnight, and said with a haggard face but a calm tone: "Congratulations to the prime minister, congratulations to the prime minister, I just received the carrier pigeon book, last night more than half of the three watches, there was a Xuzhou thief army suddenly ran to Yingyin City, after a short rest, and crossed the river five miles south of Yingyin today, Yingyin was broken, although our army did not garrison the team, the Xuzhou thief army also divided a small number of troops to control Yingyin City—— But Yu was in charge of the team, and there happened to be a carrier pigeon post in the city. ”

"Oh." Boss Cao was stunned for a moment, and then asked calmly, "Confirmation?" ”

"Confirmed, about 20,000 people." Xun Yu also nodded calmly, and added a sentence.

Boss Cao didn't speak, just looked at Xun Yu quietly, Xun Yu didn't speak, he also looked at Boss Cao quietly, looked at each other for a long time, Boss Cao and Xun Yu laughed together again, and then Boss Cao ordered: "Arrange manpower to closely monitor the movements of this Xuzhou thief army, I want to know the distance between them and Xuchang, if I can find out that there are those Xuzhou thief generals to lead the army, it is better." ”

(To be continued)