"There are still such shameless traitors in this world! Lao Tzu really looked away before, and he couldn't imagine that this Yuan Shang Pifu could be so thick-skinned! He used his younger brother Yuan Mai as a proton, but he asked me to use his own son as a proton, he was so calculating! ”

learned the general process of Deng Yi and Yuan Shanggongzi's negotiation, and got Liu Biao's letter asking him to hand over his son as a hostage, Yuan Tan Gongzi was angry with his nose, because Yuan Shanggongzi's hand was really a bit too despicable, and when he didn't have a son, he instigated Liu Biao to ask for the sons of the princes as hostages, and he handed over his half-brother Yuan Mai as a hostage - this Liu Biao just cut Yuan Mai, and can Yuan Shanggongzi shed half a tear?!

"Public rule, go back to the book and tell Liu Biao immediately!" In view of the insincerity of the damned brother, Yuan Tan shouted while grouping Liu Biao's letter into a ball: "It's that Yuan Shangpifu has no sincerity in the alliance, and we will never participate in this alliance!" ”

"My lord, please calm your anger, please listen to your minister." Mr. Guo Tu had a different opinion on this, first persuaded Yuan Tan to calm down, and then said: "My lord, in the opinion of the figure, although Yuan Shang took his younger brother Yuan Mai as a hostage is insincere, but Liu Biao is quite serious in forming this anti-Tao alliance, and asks the princes of the alliance to provide hostages, but he is only worried that the princes will not listen to the command, and they will not obey the orders to send troops at the critical moment, so they are not only for themselves, but also for the alliance, since the lord has long had the heart of forming an alliance with the princes of the world to cut down Tao, he should not refuse Liu Biao's request, and should promise to hand over the protons, Facilitate this alliance. ”

"What are you kidding?" Yuan Tan said angrily: "I handed over my son to Liu Biao as a hostage, how can I be at the mercy of Liu Biao in the future?" You don't know Liu Biao's virtues. Listen to his command, we still have to fight, we die, and he Liu Biao Lao'er has it alone? ! ”

"After forming an alliance with Liu Biao, this will indeed happen, but it is still far better than us fighting the pottery thief alone." Guo Tu said again: "My lord, please don't forget, at present, the pottery thief and our army are already incompatible, and the strength has far surpassed our army. There was no turning of the other cheeks and the war. If we don't quickly establish an anti-Tao alliance with Liu Biao, we can only fight against the alliance between Yuan Shang and the pottery thief alone, what are the consequences, isn't it clear in the lord's heart? ”

"But even if he signed an alliance with Liu Biao. It may not be reliable, right? Yuan Tan, who had already suffered a big loss, said with a sad face: "It is not that we and Liu Biao have not concluded a mutual insurance contract before. But at the time of the Guandu War. Liu Biao only sent 10,000 reinforcements to us, not to mention, the 10,000 reinforcements have not moved their nests since they arrived in Ye County, and they have formed an alliance with an old man like Liu Biao. How can I rest assured? ”

"You don't need Liu Biao to be reliable, you just need to drag Liu Biao into the water, and it would be better if you could borrow Liu Biao's hand to drag Yuan Shang into the water!" Mr. Guo Tu, who likes to exclude his colleagues, came up with a good idea, and said with a cruel smile: "Please think about it carefully, if the anti-Tao alliance is reached, who will be the person hated by the pottery thief the most?" ”

"Who?" Yuan Tan asked.

"Who else can there be besides Liu Biao?" Guo Tu smiled and said: "This anti-Tao alliance was initiated and formed by Liu Biao, Tao Ying traitors naturally hate the alliance leader Liu Biao to the bone, and will definitely deploy his main army on the southern front to deter Liu Biao, or simply send troops to clean up Liu Biao, after the Liu Tao war starts, can't we sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight?" Even if the Liu Tao war can't be fought for the time being, as long as the main force of the pottery thieves leans south, our pressure will be greatly reduced, right? ”

"Huh? Why didn't I think of that? Yuan Tan was startled at first, and then began to be moved, and said happily: "So, this deal has been done?" I can let a son go to Jingzhou to live for a while, which can relieve the pressure on our southern front, and maybe let the pottery thief and Liu Biao Lao'er fight, which is simply a good deal with a lot of profits. ”

"Not only that, it would be better if Liu Biao'er could really drag Yuan Shang into the water." Guo Tu analyzed: "Tao thief and Yuan Shang teamed up to attack me, but treacherously took the opportunity to occupy the important land of Liyang, has revealed the intention of peeping at Jizhou, although Yuan Shang did not comment, he must hate and fear Tao Ying traitor in his heart, it is likely that he really secretly formed an alliance with Liu Biao to resist Tao, as long as their alliance is reached, whether it is an alliance openly or secretly, as long as Tao Ying traitor learns the news, Tao thief and Yuan Shang will inevitably turn against each other, and then our army will want to recapture Jizhou and open up the connection with Youzhou, isn't it easy?" ”

"Brilliant plan!" Yuan Tan applauded and ordered without hesitation: "That's it, quickly write a book and Liu Biao, just say that I promise to make an alliance, and I will arrange for an envoy to send my second son Yuan Meng to Jingzhou as a hostage as soon as possible, and by the way, I will openly conclude an alliance with Liu Biao!" ”

So, under Guo Tu's strong persuasion, Yuan Tan Gongzi finally accepted Liu Biao's harsh conditions, promised to send his son to Jingzhou as a hostage, and concluded an anti-Tao alliance with Liu Biao. At the same time, Cao Boss also did not hesitate to agree to send his son Cao Xiong to Jingzhou as a hostage, in order to show the sincerity of the alliance, Liu Biao, who did not expect things to go so smoothly in advance, was overjoyed, while stepping up contact with Yuan Shu, Xu Gong and Yan Baihu and other princes, while writing a book and Deng Yi, who was waiting for news in Yecheng, asked his Yuan Shang to hand over his younger brother as a hostage, and sent an envoy to Jingzhou to conclude an anti-Tao alliance, and decided to build a Taiwan alliance in Xiangyang more than a month later, on the first day of the first month of June, and the princes from all walks of life made a blood alliance and swore to fight against the pottery thief!

Yuan Shanggongzi is also a good son who is true to his word, after learning that Yuan Tanzhen handed over his son Yuan Mai to Liu Biao as a hostage, Yuan Shanggongzi also immediately handed over his nine-year-old younger brother Yuan Mai to Deng Yi, and sent Li Fu as a plenipotentiary to lead a team to escort Deng Yi and Yuan Mai back to Jingzhou to participate in the alliance ceremony on the first day of the sixth lunar month!

According to the clever plan of the trial, after sending Deng Yi and his younger brother Yuan Mai away, the first thing Yuan Shanggongzi did was to write a letter to his brother-in-law, Deputy Director Tao, to report to Deputy Director Tao that Liu Biao and Yuan Tan tried to unite the princes of the world to jointly destroy Cao! And said that for the safety of his brother-in-law's net worth, and in order to help his brother-in-law deal with this rabble, he resolutely decided to sacrifice his personal reputation, pretending to join this anti-Tao alliance to act as an internal response for his brother-in-law, and he was also ready to turn against him at any time and join forces with his brother-in-law to clean up these rebellious thieves who dared to commit crimes!

In addition, Yuan Shanggongzi unceremoniously killed his relatives. exposed the crime of his brother Yuan Tan sending his son Yuan Mai to Jingzhou as a hostage, and by the way, he reported that Boss Cao also handed over his son Cao Xiong to Liu Biao as a hostage, and pointed out that the anti-Tao alliance formed by Liu Biao this time is definitely not trivial, and kindly reminded his brother-in-law to be careful! At the end of the letter, Yuan Shanggongzi told his brother-in-law more kindly, saying that he had no intention of attacking Youzhou for the time being, so there was no need to ask his brother-in-law to defend Liyang, and asked his brother-in-law to return it to himself, and when he needed it, he would definitely lend Liyang to his brother-in-law temporarily.

………………

When Yuan Shanggongzi's letter was delivered to Xuchang. Just in time, the good news that Zhou Hui, the general of Xuzhou, completely pacified the entire territory of Runan, was also sent to Xuchang. And there are special reasons why the Xuzhou army took so much time to take Runan, one is because Runan is too big and too dilapidated and withered, and it is sparsely populated by the combined torture of plague and war, and it is too cost-effective to invest too many troops to occupy it. Therefore, Deputy Director Tao only gave Zhou Hui 8,000 troops and asked him to occupy Runan; Second, there are simply as many small bandits in Runan as a small group of bandits and clan forces that have formed docks to protect themselves. Zhou Hui's team uprooted the dock forts that refused to surrender in addition to suppressing bandits every day. Every day, I had to go over the mountains and mountains, eat and sleep in the open, and the progress of the war was naturally nothing to say that it would not be fast.

In any case, it can basically pacify the entire territory of Runan. It is still a happy event for the Xuzhou army, one is that after pacifying Runan, it means that the Xuzhou army finally won the entire territory of Yuzhou, so that Deputy Director Tao's governance has reached the land of Qingxu, Yan, Yuyang, and Yang; Second, the water and land connection between Xuchang and Huainan has finally been opened, and the grain produced by Huainan every year, which has gradually recovered, can be sent to the vicinity of Xuchang by boat through the two large rivers of Yingshui and Hongshui, which greatly reduces the logistical pressure on Xuzhou. Because of this, Deputy Director Tao was also very happy to canonize Zhou Hui, a native of Danyang who was born as a soldier and a soldier, as the Taishou of Runan, setting an example of the Xuzhou army who climbed from an ordinary soldier to the throne of Taishou.

Finally pacified the whole territory of Runan and the whole territory of Yuzhou, this was already good news, and when he received Yuan Shanggongzi's whistleblowing letter, Deputy Director Tao was even more happy, and said with a smug smile: "All nonsense and nonsense, just one idiom is used correctly - the rabble!" Only the word rabble is right! If Yuan Shang knew that in fact, a few days ago, Cao Thief had already asked his eldest son Cao Ang to come forward to report and expose Liu Biao'er's attempt to form an anti-Tao alliance, Yuan Shang probably didn't even have the courage to take the opportunity to deceive Liyang, right? ”

It is not for nothing that Deputy Director Tao laughed so proudly, Yuan Shanggongzi's whistleblower letter was indeed sent one step late, just a few days ago, Cao Ang, the eldest son of Cao Boss who was basically brainwashed by the Xuzhou Army, had already sent someone to send the whistleblower letter to Deputy Director Tao, saying that he had 'inadvertently' learned from his father that Liu Biao had come forward to secretly contact the formation of an anti-pottery thief alliance, and had secretly contacted Cao Boss, Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, Yuan Shu and Xu Gong and other enemies of Tao, and may publicly swear blood at any time to form an alliance against pottery thieves! Cao Ang, who admired and admired Deputy Director Tao very much, was afraid that his idol would be lost, so he took the risk of telling Deputy Director Tao the secret behind his father's back and reminded Deputy Director Tao to be careful of the embankment.

By the way, in fact, Cao Ang is not the first person to report to Deputy Director Tao, as early as when Boss Cao secretly instigated Liu Biao to come forward to form an anti-Tao alliance, someone had already reported the matter to Deputy Director Tao - as for who is this Diao Min who reported nonsense, Deputy Director Tao will definitely not tell outsiders that these two people have the surname Sima! In addition, Deputy Director Tao can also be sure that Boss Cao, who is cautious and cautious by nature, must not 'inadvertently' leak his mouth in front of his eldest son!

Recently, Deputy Director Tao, who has become more and more complacent, is indeed getting more and more carried away, but fortunately, Deputy Director Tao also has a few calm people who are not shocked, at least the character and ability are as commendable as the law enforcement is Yi, so he reminded on the spot: "Lord, Liu Biao is ready to meet the princes of the alliance to fight against our army, although we know at present, the princes who are preparing to meet the alliance are a group of rabble, and the contradictions between each other are sharp, and it is impossible to really work together, but the strength of these princes is added together, and it can still be on par with our army, Please also ask the lord not to take it lightly, and never to be too contemptuous. ”

"My lord, Mr. Ziyu is reasonable, our army can't ignore this matter too much." Jia Lao Poison was also a little worried that Deputy Director Tao was too light of the enemy, so he reminded: "The princes of the year begged Dong, and they were the parties, and they saw the situation with their own eyes, and the princes of the world were indeed intriguing with each other at that time, and they didn't want to contribute to each other and just wanted to take advantage, but Dong Zhuo was finally forced to give up Luoyang. Why? It was because of the panic of the people that Dong Zhuo's team was worried that the alliance of princes would be too powerful and difficult for the army to resist, so they would be timid before fighting, which seriously affected the morale of the army and even caused civil strife. At present, Liu Biao will join the princes to attack our army, and the prestige must be very amazing, if our army is not careful, there may not be a possibility of repeating Dong Zhuo's mistakes. ”

"yes. And compared to Dong Zhuo. Our army also has a huge disadvantage. Shi Yi reminded again: "That is, the front of our army is too long, from the shore of the Bohai Sea to the top of Songshan Mountain, and then to the south of the Yangtze River, the battle line stretches for nearly 3,000 miles. Even though there are 400,000 troops available. It's also hard to do everything. It is even more difficult to echo each other, and it is very difficult to guard. Moreover, the two states of Yanyu are our newly occupied land, and the people's hearts are not attached. There are also hidden dangers within the army, and if you take it lightly, internal and external troubles will break out together, and the consequences will be worrying. ”

"Don't look at Cao Mengde and Yuan Shang, both took the initiative to tell our army, and even Yuan Tan may tell our army, but since these wall grasses can betray Liu Biao, they may also betray our army at any time." Jia Lao Poison added: "The point that Xu is most worried about now is that after the princes will join the alliance, Liu Biao will use the Jingzhou Navy to attack our Jiangdong places, and the strength of the Jingzhou Navy Division is still above the strength of our army's water division, and our army's water division will fight with it on the water, and there is no chance of victory." If Liu Biao really did this, and our sailors were slightly negligent and forced the main force of our army to go south to reinforce the Jiangdong battlefield, then these wall grasses would see an opportunity to take advantage of it, and they might not really work together to fight against our army. ”

Suppressing the smile and listening to the kind advice of Jia Lao Poison and Shi Yi, Deputy Director Tao's Jun showed some smiles on his face, and said with a relaxed expression: "Mr. Wenhe, Mr. Ziyu, if you think that I am laughing at the enemy, then you are wrong this time. How can I not understand what you are saying? I, who had already suffered a loss outside Yexian County, how could I repeat the mistake of the past and take the enemy lightly? I'm not laughing at the enemy rabble, I'm laughing at another thing. ”

"Oh, what's the Lord laughing at?" Shi Yi asked curiously.

"I'm laughing, of course, because of course there is a chance to break up this anti-pottery alliance that is likely to pose a threat." Deputy Director Tao smiled lightly: "Cao Thief is treacherous, he didn't come forward to tell our army, and let his eldest son Cao Ang be this villain, just because I am afraid that I will use his whistleblower letter to make a big fuss and make him the target of public criticism, so that I can't seize the opportunity to quickly break up the anti-Tao alliance." ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao held up the handwritten letter from his third brother-in-law, and said with a wicked smile: "But now, my good brother-in-law took the initiative to send a whistleblower letter to me to expose Liu Biao's imminent formation of an anti-Tao alliance. ”

Jia Lao Poison and Shi Yi first glanced at each other in surprise, and then they bowed their hands together, and said with a smile: "It turns out that the lord has always been in his chest, calmly watching, and I am worried about the lord in vain." ”

"You don't have to be polite, two gentlemen, your advice is also for my good, if I have any more complacent words and deeds in the future, please remind me from time to time and advise in time." Deputy Director Tao waved his hand very gracefully, and then held up the letter of the third brother-in-law and asked: "In the opinion of the two gentlemen, our army should make the best use of this letter and completely destroy the anti-pottery thief alliance that Liu Biao'er is engaged in?" ”

"The lord is really humble and can even say what he scolds himself as a thief." Jia Lao Poison first smiled, and then took out his own special tricks and tricks, and suggested: "This letter, naturally, fell into the hands of Yuan Tan in order to maximize the use value, the lord may wish to send Cao Ang and Yuan Shang's whistleblowing letters to Yuan Tan together, and then say that you are angry that Yuan Shangen will take revenge, capricious, and determined not to support him in charge of Jizhou, and even promised to form an alliance with Yuan Tan to destroy Yuan Shang." In this way, Yuan Tan will inevitably send troops to attack Jizhou, and the anti-Tao alliance will not attack itself. ”

"A clever plan is a clever plan, but I'm afraid that the strength is not enough." Deputy Director Tao was a little worried, and said: "It's so obvious to sow discord, I'm just afraid that Yuan Tan won't be fooled." And last time during the Guandu War, I used a lie to trap Yuan Tan once, and this time I am afraid that Yuan Tan will not believe my credit. ”

"It's okay, just add one more scheme." Yi Yi, who is good at winning directly over skill, opened his mouth and suggested: "The lord may wish to implement Mr. Wenhe's clever plan while using the excuse that Liu Biao colluded with the thieves to rebel against the court and sent a large army to attack Jingzhou, so that Yuan Tan saw that Liu Biao had attracted the anger of our army, and our army said that he would no longer support Yuan Shang, knowing that even if our army wanted to break its promise, it would not be able to support Yuan Shang for a while, and without scruples, it would definitely not rescue Liu Biao, but would only immediately send troops to attack Yuan Shang, as well as Yuan Shang's justified excuse for betraying the alliance and refusing to rescue Liu Biao. ”

"Dispatch a large army to attack Jingzhou?" Deputy Director Tao was a little embarrassed again, and said: "Our army has just taken Yanyu Erzhou, and its foothold is not stable. ”

"There is no need for an all-out war, just beat Liu Biao and take Wancheng." Shi Yi added: "Our army's naval division is not as good as the Jingzhou naval division, but it is easy for the infantry cavalry army to bully the Jingzhou infantry cavalry team, and it is easy to send troops to take Wancheng by land. At that time, if our army has an opportunity in the Jizhou War, it can also immediately return to the north and pacify the land of Jizhou in one fell swoop. ”

"That's it!" Deputy Director Tao quickly ordered: "Give Hou Cheng and Sun Guan in the hinterland of Yanzhou an order, let them lead the headquarters to come to Xuchang immediately to join us, and also ask Chen Zhi to divide 10,000 troops to go south to Xuchang to listen to it, and empty our northern line of Yanzhou, so that Yuan Tan can rest assured to clean up Yuan Shang, and also make Xuchang's troops sufficient, I will dispatch more than 100,000 troops to Nanyang this time, and scare Liu Biao's old dog who guards the door!" ”

Jia Lao Poison and Shi Yi applauded and laughed together, and hurriedly helped Chen Ying write the order, and then immediately began to prepare for the southern expedition to Jingzhou. While he was busy, the guards outside the door reported that Cui Yan was a demote and asked to see him, and he had something important to report, and Deputy Director Tao had a good impression of Cui Yan, so he didn't put up any shelf, and immediately nodded and agreed to meet.

A moment later, Cui Yan, who had a broken leg in the Battle of Guandu, came in with a little limp, and after saluting Deputy Director Tao, he did not accept Deputy Director Tao's offer, but just knelt down with difficulty, and said to Deputy Director Tao: "Taiwei forgives the sin, Yan not long ago, he privately met with a secret envoy of Yuan Tan from Taiyuan, and dared to lead him to the door of Taiwei's mansion, wanting to introduce him to Taiwei, and ask Taiwei for forgiveness if he was disobedient." ”

"Mr. Ji Jue, please get up." Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "I know that you are loyal to Lord Yue, and you have the old master with Yuan Tan, and it is normal for you to see his secret envoy exchanging news, and being able to take the initiative to confess is now loyal to my ministers, what is the crime?" Hurry up, please say something directly. Come on, help Mr. Ji Jue. ”

"Captain Xie." Cui Yan kowtowed and thanked him, and after getting up with the help of the guards, he arched his hand and said: "Yu Taiwei, Yuan Tan's secret envoy's surname is Xin Mingbi, and he is Xin Ping's brotherhood, and he secretly met with Yu Yan, just to ask Yan to lead him to Taiwei and ask Taiwei to meet him." ”

"Oh, what does Simbi want to see me for?" Deputy Director Tao asked curiously.

"Taiwei forgives the sin, Xin Bi wants to represent Yuan Tan and make a secret deal with Taiwei." Cui Yan replied honestly: "Yuan Tan is a filial son, and he wants to take the old Ji Hou back to Bingzhou to live in the old age, but he is afraid that the Taiwei will not allow it, so he sent Xin Bi to Xuchang, wanting to exchange an important secret related to the Taiwei for the old Ji Hou!" ”

"Use an important secret related to me in exchange for Lord Yue?"

Deputy Director Tao was stunned at first, and after glancing at Jia Lao Poison, Shi Yi and others, who were also very surprised, they all burst into laughter at once, and they also slapped their thighs and exclaimed: "What a Yuan Tan, find a good excuse!" What an excuse! ”

"Captain, what good excuse did Yuan Tan find?" The only one who was confused was Cui Yan, who was not present before, muttered confusedly: "Find a good excuse? What do you mean?! (To be continued......)