In fact, Xiao Yuan Sangong doesn't need to be so nervous and desperate, because Deputy Director Tao's strategic focus is fundamentally in Jiangnan, and Jiangnan in this era is far from being able to catch up with even one-fifth of the Central Plains in terms of population and economy, and the land is so barren, and the grain production is so scarce, even Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, is still a wilderness, and Deputy Director Tao, an excellent people's servant who is accustomed to clothes to stretch out his hands and food to open his mouth, naturally has no interest in being a wasteland cow and sacrificing his precious time and energy to benefit future generations.

Of course, not enough attention is paid to the current Jiangnan, Deputy Director Tao, who is well aware of the potential of Jiangnan, in order to prevent the princes of Jiangnan from sitting big, or in the case of not being ready to annex Jiangnan, he resolutely launched the battle of crossing the Yangtze River, and successfully broke through the Yangtze River defense line of Xiao Yuan Sangong at Niuzhu Ferry, forcing Yuan Sangong to lead the army to retreat, and also gave up Shicheng and Danyang two cities one after another. However, to Deputy Director Tao's surprise, Xiao Yuan Sangong's main force was not withdrawn to the Jiangdong Essence in the Qu'a area, but directly withdrew to Wanling City, the seat of Danyang County, which is far away from the Yangtze River waterway.

"I really underestimated him Yuan Shupifu, and he was willing to give up Qu'a, the richest town in Jiangdong, which can be regarded as a little progress." Deputy Director Tao snorted coldly: "If he is reluctant to retreat to the prosperous land of Qu'a and retreats eastward, then he will basically be finished, abandon Qu'a and go to Wanling, and still have a little hope of lingering." ”

"A wise choice, wiser than his brother in the choice of trade-offs." Xun Chen next to him also praised it, and said: "Yuan Shu's move is obviously to drag Liu Miao into the battlefield, so that Liu Xuan, who is eager to recapture the important town of Qu'a, will have a conflict with our army, I don't know what the lord thinks?" ”

"Liu Xuan?" Deputy Director Tao sneered loudly and said, "Being beaten by the half-crippled Yuan Shu and almost unable to take care of himself, do we still need to be afraid of him?" There is no need to consider Liu Xuan's reaction, resolutely march east to take down Qu Adantu, open up the road connection with our army's Guangling team, and our army can basically be regarded as gaining a firm foothold south of the Yangtze River. ”

"Lord, it's better to be cautious." Liu Ye persuaded: "Although Liu Miao is not to be worried, after all, our army has just crossed the Yangtze River, and its foothold is not stable and the people's will is not attached. ”

Everyone knows Deputy Director Tao's temper of cherishing his reputation, considering that his northern front is still turbulent, and listening to Liu Ye's persuasion, Deputy Director Tao quickly nodded and said: "What Mr. Ziyang said is extremely true, although we don't need to be afraid of him Liu Miao and Yuan Shu joining forces, but Liu Xiang is a clan member of the Han family after all, and he is the former Yangzhou assassin appointed by the imperial court, we can't just rely on violence and oppression, so according to Mr. Ziyang's opinion, how should I treat Liu Xuan?" ”

"The lord may wish to try to surrender." Liu Ye suggested: "Cao Ying previously expressed to the court that the lord is Xu Yangzhou, and the brother of the lord is the Yangzhou assassin history, Liu Xiang, the Yangzhou assassin history canonized by the imperial court, has actually stepped down, the lord may wish to send an envoy to surrender Liu Miao in the name of this, Liu Miao is willing to surrender is the best, if Liu Miao does not surrender, that is, he does not obey the imperial court's order to rebel by force, the lord can give him a charge of rebellion and usurpation, and then cooperate with our army's previously agreed slogan of light taxation and thin servitude, do not worry that the people of Jiangdong will not turn their backs on Liu Xuan, and their hearts will be towards our army. ”

Deputy Director Tao thought it was feasible after careful consideration, nodded in agreement and was about to give the order, but Jia Lao, who was silent next to him, suddenly spoke, and said slowly: "When the lord sends an envoy to recruit Liu Xuan, you might as well promise to show the imperial court that Liu Xuan is the Taishou of Wu County and leads the affairs of Wu County." ”

After saying this, Jia Lao Poison didn't explain the reason why he suggested this, and immediately closed his mouth, but Deputy Director Tao laughed and applauded: "Mr. Wenhe really has a clever plan, if you want to be an empty favor, you will be bigger, I remember that Yan Baihu's lair is in Wucheng, Wu County, I simply promised him Liu Xuan to be the Marquis of Wucheng, and let Xu Gong and Yan Baihu go to him Liu Xuan to trouble." Xun Chen, Liu Ye and others laughed, and hurriedly praised Deputy Director Tao for his proper intentions, Jia Lao's poison was compassionate, and the people of Wu County were blessed.

When the Xuzhou army was still in the Shicheng area to reorganize the soldiers and horses to prepare for the eastward invasion, the Xuzhou envoy who was full of evil intentions also rushed to Wu County to contact Liu Xuan's team, and it was a coincidence that the Xuzhou envoy and the Yuan Shujun envoy actually arrived at the Liu Xuanjun garrison Biling on the same day, and also saw Liu Xuan on the same day, and explained their intentions to Liu Xuan one after another, so that Liu Xuan fell into a dilemma. Discuss whether to accept the surrender of Deputy Director Tao, or join forces with Xiao Yuan Sangong to resist Tao.

By the way, after Qu A was defeated by Liu Xuan, although the nobody, Tai Shici, also withdrew to Biling with Liu Xuan, because he was not from the scholar clan, he was still only a general in Liu Xuanjun, so he was not qualified to participate in this meeting.

Because of the insincerity of Deputy Director Tao's surrender, when Liu Miao showed Xiao Yuan Sangong's letter of request for alliance and Deputy Director Tao's letter of surrender, Fan Neng and Yu Elk's two generals resolutely opposed the surrender to the Xuzhou army, in which Fan Neng said: "Lord, you must not surrender to the Tao thief, the lord, you are a relative of the Han family, and you are the Yangzhou Assassin who was canonized by the imperial court, but you want to surrender the Tao thief to be a little Wu County Taishou, isn't it a great shame?" The pottery thief is so rude, the lord should behead his envoy first, and then raise troops to resist Tao. ”

"Yes, my lord, you can't descend to pottery." Yu Cheng said the sincere words of the military general's refusal to descend the pottery, "The lord descends to the Tao, and only seals the Taishou of one county, I am waiting for the Tao, I really don't know how the pottery thief should treat me slowly?" It is better to promise Yuan Shu to seek an alliance, take the opportunity to recapture the land of our army's Qu Agen, and then make a good plan. ”

Of course, Liu Miao was not willing to surrender to the Xuzhou army as the lackey and pawn of Deputy Director Tao, and Liu Xuan, who was arrogant and noble, couldn't stand the huge gap from the history of a state to the Taishou of a county, and after listening to the instigation of Fan Neng and Yu Zhen, it was inevitable that he was even more moved. However, he was also worried that the Xuzhou army was powerful, and it was rare for the mantis arm to die well as a car, so after thinking about it, Liu Miao still turned his gaze to his most trusted strategist Xu Shao, and asked, "Mr. Zijiang, what do you think?" ”

"Lord, whether to descend or not, Shao doesn't dare to speak out, so he can only ask the lord to be the master." Xu Shao arched his hand and said: "But Shao can be sure of one thing, Tao Ying's surrender is not very sincere, but also contains evil intentions and uneasy intentions. ”

"No sincerity? Still harboring evil intentions? Please give me some advice. Liu Xuan said.

"No." Xu Shao agreed, explaining: "Shao thinks that Tao Ying is not very sincere in recruiting the lord, because the lord is the assassin of Yangzhou, and Tao Ying is just a nominal Xu Yangzhou pastor, and he can't come up with any decent price to make the lord tempted, if he really intends to surrender our army, he must wait until he defeats our army on the battlefield, or forces our army to a corner, and then sends an envoy to surrender, so that it is possible to succeed." But now Tao Ying has crossed the river for less than ten days, and before he has come into contact with our army, he can't wait to send an envoy to surrender, which is enough to prove that Tao Ying has no sincerity in surrendering, and the so-called surrender is just to buy the hearts of the people in Jiangdong and push the charge of provoking the war in Jiangdong onto our army. ”

"dog thief, it's really deceitful!" Liu Miao scolded a swear word, and also remembered the trap he suffered when he formed an alliance with Deputy Director Tao to destroy Yuan.

"Tao Ying is more deceitful than that." Xu Shao said again: "Tao Ying proposed to canonize the lord as the Taishou of Wu County and the Marquis of Wucheng, and his sinister intention is nothing more than to divide the relationship between the lord and Xu Gong and Yan Baihu, because Xu Gong is the current Taishou of Wu County, and Yan Baihu is based on Wucheng. ”

"thief!" Liu Miao couldn't bear to flip the table in front of him, jumped up and shouted: "Destroy the thief!" Thief! Even if you blame our army, you still want to separate our allies! Come on, quickly behead the pottery thief messenger, and then send his head to Xu Gong and Yan Baihu, so that they can know the despicable intentions and vicious intentions of the pottery thief! ”

"Lord, never!" Shi Yi, the lowest-ranking strategist present, jumped out and objected: "My lord, if the two countries are fighting each other, they still don't kill each other, and the lord is the royal prince, how can he do such an unkind and unjust thing?" ”

"My lord, there is no need to behead the envoy, just expel the envoy from Piling City." Xu Shao also objected to the beheading, and said: "The pottery thief surrendered in order to buy people's hearts, if he beheaded his envoy again, the people of Jiangdong will be even more convinced that it was our army that deliberately provoked the war." ”

To put it mildly, Liu Miao retracted the order to kill the envoy, but he was still angry, and roared angrily: "Quickly beat the pottery thief envoy out of Biling City, and be sure to let Yan Baihu and Xu Gong know the sincerity of my alliance with them!" ”

"Lord, please take a break from the wrath of the thunder." Shi Yi spoke again, and said: "Lord, Yi also knows that Tao Ying has no sincerity in surrendering, but after all, the Tao army is powerful, and the soldiers are far better than the Jiangdong armies, not to mention, the abundance of money and food is better than the sum of the Jiangdong princes, even if our army is joining forces with the Jiangdong armies to resist Tao, it will be defeated by Tao Ying sooner or later, rather than being defeated and humiliated, it is better to surrender now, the lord will descend to Tao as the emperor and the assassin history, Tao Ying will treat the lord well under the unexpected surprise, and will not only protect the surname of our army, but also the lord's family can enjoy the ...... of wealth and wealth. ”

Before Shiyi's words were finished, Liu Miao had already pulled out his sword to cut Shiyi, fortunately, Liu Miao's current most trusted military advisor Xu Shao's character was not bad, and he tried his best to stop and intercede for Shiyi, Liu Miao's anger subsided slightly, and he ordered Yi to be expelled from the lobby, and Shiyi did not argue, but sighed after leaving the hall: "Dying and struggling, seeking his own death!" Even Yuan Shu can't do it, and he still wants to resist Tao Ying's tiger and wolf army? Mantis arm as a car! There is still glory and wealth to enjoy if you surrender now, please surrender ...... in the future, heh, you are lucky to have something to eat. ”

Rejecting Shi Yi's anti-ear advice, Liu Miao listened to Xu Shao's suggestion again, and decided to immediately temporarily detain the Xuzhou envoy to buy time, and at the same time accept Xiao Yuan Sangong's request for an alliance, and lead his troops north to take over Qu'a Chongzhen before the expansion of the Xuzhou army, and then let Xiao Yuan Sangong's Qu'a guard general Lei Bo go to guard the Dantu to prevent the Xuzhou Navy Division and the Xuzhou Guangling team, and Liu Xiang's army team relied on the Maoshan natural danger to defend and prevent the Xuzhou army from advancing eastward to seize the essence of Qu'a, and when the northern line of the Xuzhou army changed, the main force of Xuzhou was forced to return to the army. Liu Yuan's coalition army can also see a little hope of victory.

Of course, in addition, Liu Miao naturally sent envoys to Wu County and Wucheng to persuade Xu Gong and Yan Baihu to send troops to resist Tao, and after receiving Liu Xiang's letter, Xu Gong, who wanted to be the emperor of Wu County, and Yan Baihu, the king of Caotou Eastern Wude, who cut off Wucheng, refused to be captured, and also agreed to Liu Xuan's request to form an alliance to resist Tao with a fluke mentality, but they refused to immediately send troops to help, just hid in the safe rear and instigated, "Liu Yuanjun, on!" the pottery thief! We've got your back! ”

The Xuzhou army is a newcomer, although the successful crossing of Niuzhu was successful, but after the successful crossing of the river, it still has to face a lot of complicated problems such as pacifying the people, buying the hearts of the people, understanding the terrain, reorganizing the team and recruiting the surrounding cities, etc., it is difficult to quickly advance the army to expand the territory, and at the same time, because the Yuan Shu army Moling defenders resolutely refused to surrender, it took a few days for the Xuzhou army to break through the Moling, and captured the defending general Quan Rou - and then out of the need to buy the hearts of the people, Deputy Director Tao pretended to forgive Quan Rou's crime of refusing to surrender, and ordered the release of Quan Rou and his family to return to his hometown in Qiantang, Quan Rou was deceived by Deputy Director Tao's acting skills, and moved to surrender to Deputy Director Tao with his two-year-old son Quan Cong.

Under such a delay, Liu Xuan's team also successfully retook the important town of Qu'a, and Lei Bo, the general of the Yuan Shujun stationed in Qu'a, led more than 10,000 defenders to move to Dantu, and Liu Xuan became a rival, and the news reached the Xuzhou army, and the deputy director Tao who had moved to Danyang did not have any frustration about this, and said with a very graceful smile: "I can't imagine that Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan, the sworn enemies, can also abandon their previous suspicions and work together, if my father-in-law can also learn from my own brother, then we will be in big trouble." ”

"Liu Miao sent the general Fan Neng to garrison Shenting Ridge, and his intention is obviously to defend it, delaying time to wait for changes on my northern front." Liu Ye said: "I don't know what the lord thinks, do you ignore it for the time being?" Or send troops to attack? ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled gently, suddenly raised his voice again, and roared with a hideous expression: "Of course I beat him!" Even Yuan Shu can't beat it, and he dares to come to attack my tiger power, if he doesn't beat Liu Xiangpifu for fear of hurting, Xu Gong, Yan Baihu, Zou Lun, Qian Tong and Wang Sheng, these wall grasses, will definitely stand opposite us! Only when these wall grasses are scared and hurt, can we gain a foothold in Jiangdong with peace of mind! ”

"No." Liu Ye smiled and arched his hand, and muttered in his heart: "Lord, it seems that in this world, you alone are not qualified to scold others, right?" ”

After Deputy Director Tao gave an order, more than 15,000 Xuzhou elites immediately pulled eastward, and went straight to the throat of the Maoshan Mountain Range, although Liu Miao heard the news, he said that he was not afraid, but he was really panicked in his heart, and listened to Xu Shao's suggestion to defend the enemy outside the country, so he personally led more than 10,000 troops to Shentingling to help in the war, and the combined army was also about 15,000 to defend the throat of Shentingling. But in terms of teaming, it is not much inferior to Xiao Yuan Sangong.

On the fifth day of the fifth day of May, the Xuzhou army arrived at the Shenting Ridge, which is a rather dangerous mountain, in the east-west direction, there is only one road under the ridge that can pass through the mountain range, Liu Xuanjun naturally set up camp in the dangerous place, and held the danger, so that the Xuzhou army is difficult to attack. After the scout reported the situation of the terrain and roads to Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao did not underestimate the enemy, but sent a few local soldiers and asked them about the specific situation of Shenting Ridge.

"Lord Yu, in fact, there is not only one way to cross the Shenting Ridge." A local soldier of Maoshan introduced: "There is also a small road that goes straight to the top of Shenting Ridge, and then goes directly down the ridge, but this road is rugged and difficult, and it is very narrow, and there are not many soldiers and horses to walk at a time." ”

"If Liu Miao hadn't set up an ambush on this road, it would have been a good place to launch a surprise attack." Xun Chen groaned, and suggested to Deputy Director Tao: "Lord, why don't you send someone up the mountain to do a little sentinel, if you confirm that there is no ambush on the ridge, our army can send an elite army to sneak behind the Shenting Ridge and attack Liu Xuan's military camp." ”

"Don't take any chances." Liu Ye objected: "Liu Miao has been operating in Qu'a for many years, and he has been fighting against Yuan Shu for a long time with Maoshan Mountain, so he must already know the terrain in this area well. ”

Xun Chen and Liu Ye each said that they had a point, Deputy Director Tao was thinking about the trade-off, and suddenly there was a herald outside the tent, saying that there were 3,000 Liu Xianjun rushing to the Xuzhou camp, and it seemed that they wanted to take the initiative to fight in front of the Xuzhou military camp. Deputy Director Tao was happy when he heard it, and laughed and said: "I didn't expect that Liu Xuan's team would dare to come to his death, we can't live up to Liu Yuanjun's kindness, quickly gather troops and horses, and fight with me in front of the battle." ”

"My lord, the enemy army took the initiative to fight, although it cannot be ruled out that it was a test of our army's reality, but it may also be a trick to lure the enemy." Jia Lao, who had not spoken, finally spoke, and reminded: "The terrain around Shenting Ridge is complex, the vegetation is dense, and the lord also needs to beware of the enemy's ambush, and must not chase the enemy too deeply. ”

"Of course." Deputy Director Tao nodded with a smile, and said, "However, if Liu Miao also wants me to be successful, I have to study for a few hundred years." ”

After laughing, Deputy Director Tao immediately went out of the camp to gather soldiers and horses, led about 5,000 cavalry out of the camp, and set up a formation in front of the formation. Seeing that the nearby terrain was open and flat, Deputy Director Tao stretched out a devil's claw, first patted Xu Chu's shoulder next to him, and then patted Zhao Yun's shoulder on the other side, and said with a smile: "Zhongkang, Zilong, each lead three hundred iron horsemen to give me a few round-trips, and give Liu Xiangpifu a dismount." ”

Xu Chu and Zhao Yun hugged their fists and sang a promise, without saying a word, they rushed to the middle of the formation to point troops, and then each led three hundred green Xu Tie cavalry to kill left and right, Liu Xiangjun on the opposite side said that he didn't expect the Xuzhou army to be so strong and domineering, and the mistake was not enough to let Xu Chu and Zhao Yun's team easily rush into the formation, kill when they see people, and rush when they see the team, Liu Xiangjun's team was suddenly chaotic, shouting and screaming endlessly, Chen Heng, who led this Liu Xiangjun, scolded loudly, and could only quickly mobilize troops and horses to chase and intercept, intending to annihilate the two Xuzhou cavalry squads in the formation.

General Chen Heng wants to do this, of course, it is just a dream, in the elite of the Qingxu cavalry that has experienced a hundred battles - it is indeed a hundred battles, because the elite of the Xuzhou cavalry are almost all cavalry veterans who were abducted by Deputy Director Tao from Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan and Lu Bu, in short, in front of the elite of the Xuzhou cavalry, Liu Xuanjun, who even has few war horses, is simply a lamb to be slaughtered, and is killed by Xu Chu and Zhao Yun's team cutting melons and vegetables, and the ghost cries wolf, if it is not for Chen Heng's Chinese army has been set up in a formation to protect the flag array, Xu Chu and Zhao Yun, the two madmen, definitely dared to rush even Chen Heng's banner array.

After rushing for more than half an hour, seeing that there were no more lone enemy soldiers and small groups, Xu Chu and Zhao Yun's cavalry team laughed wildly and returned to the battle, leaving corpses all over the ground, and countless wounded soldiers of Liu Xuanjun rolled and groaned in a pool of dust and blood, screaming in despair, and couldn't believe what had just happened. Seeing this scene, of course, the morale of the Xuzhou army was greatly boosted, and the cheers were like thunder, but almost all the officers and men of Liu Xuan's army were as pale as dirt, and Chen Heng, the general of the army, looked even more desperate, and couldn't believe that the self-army still had hope of victory in front of such a jackal army.

"Piff, leave off!"

When Zhao Yun and Xu Chu's team just withdrew to the formation, Liu Xiangjun's team suddenly rushed out of a horse, single-handedly killing the Xuzhou cavalry with red eyes, and roared like thunder in his mouth, "Rushing into the battle, I want to leave like this, dreaming!" ”

"No one is allowed to rob it, this horseman belongs to me!"

Xu Chu laughed wildly, first ordered the soldiers under his command to continue to return to the battle, and then turned the horse's head alone, raised his knife to meet the low-level general of Liu Xuanjun who was wearing a tooth general's uniform, and the Xuzhou cavalry beside Xu Chu was also smiling, and someone said: "Is there anyone who bets that General Xu will cut off the head of the thief in a few rounds?" One pays one within ten rounds, one pays two for twenty rounds, and if General Xu loses, one pays ten! ”

"! One to one within ten rounds, who bets with you? One loss within three rounds is about the same! ”

(To be continued)