"Immediately start preparing veterinarians, gather as many as possible, and let them go out with the army, lest they finally capture the enemy's war horses on the battlefield as they did the previous times, and because the war horses are injured and healed in time, they die and become disabled, and they can no longer be used on the battlefield, and they are wasted."

This was Deputy Director Tao's first reaction after learning that the old man was going to send a large number of cavalry to teach him a lesson, and then Deputy Director Tao, who had already prepared for this, did not hesitate, and quickly sent a messenger to ask Boss Cao for help, and immediately summoned many accomplices and lackeys to discuss and formulate a battle strategy.

When Deputy Director Tao began to arrange preparations for the battle, our Yuan Tan Gongzi had already led the army to withdraw from Fenggao City to Qingzhou and began to arrange the strategy of attacking Langya County in Xuzhou, but what poured cold water on the elated Yuan Tan Gongzi was that Yuan Tan Gongzi's deputy, the resourceful Qingzhou Beijia Xinbi, resolutely opposed the initiation of this war, and also strongly persuaded Yuan Tan Gongzi to come forward to prevent the Great Yuan Sangong from launching this meaningless war.

"Childe, Tao Ying's thief is indeed hateful, and he deserves death, but there is not much point in sending troops now." Xin Bi, whose real talent is far above his brother Xin Ping, persuaded bitterly: "The main force of our army has already gone north, and the troops on the southern front have not been able to draw too many troops to attack Xuzhou, except for Cao Mengde, who has been at odds with our army, and the northern line of the main force of Xuzhou has been recuperating for a long time. ”

"At this time, the timing of sending troops to attack Tao is too inappropriate, so the eldest prince had better persuade the lord to be patient for the time being, please take a step back from the sea and the sky, temporarily and the pottery thief and the snake, and wait until the main force of our army has exterminated Gongsun Zan and returned to the south, at that time, don't say that it is a lesson to Tao Ying to destroy the thief, it is not hopeless to take the entire territory of Xuzhou in one fell swoop, and now send troops to cut Tao, in addition to the empty consumption of soldiers, horses, money and food, it is difficult to have a big harvest."

"George is too short-sighted." Yuan Tan Gongzi said unhappily: "Tao Ying is a thief who is ungrateful, dares to collude with Cao Ah to check and balance his father, and refuses to obey his father's orders. How will the princes of the world despise their father's dignity? ”

Speaking of this, Yuan Tan Gongzi gritted his teeth and added, "Besides, what Tao Ying thief is best at is flattery, sneaking and slapping horses, if I don't seize this opportunity to let my father and him completely tear their faces, maybe it won't be long before the Tao thief will use his son-in-law status to do everything possible to please his father and coax his father to relax his vigilance against him, and he will take the opportunity to hook up with that Yuan Shang and join forces to frame me in front of my father!" ”

"But at this time, we don't have much chance of winning?" Xin Bi said with a bitter face: "The eldest prince has besieged Fenggao for more than two months, but he has not taken Fenggao City, and now he is attacking Langya City, which has been operated by the Tao thief's father and son for many years, and the odds are really not big." ”

"I have been attacking Fenggao for a long time, all because the Tao Ying thief released water on the southern front and deliberately connived at the main force of Lu Qian's thieves to return to Fenggao! And because I don't have enough troops, there are no follow-up reinforcements. Yuan Tan Gongzi defended unhappily, and said viciously: "But even so, I still took the four cities of Laiwu, Yingxian, Boxian and Mu County, and beat the Lu Qian thieves to be forced to ask for help from the Xiahou thieves in Yanzhou!" ”

"Now it's different again." Yuan Tan Gongzi smiled and said: "The combat effectiveness of the Xuzhou thief army is far inferior to the Cao thief team, and Langya County is vast and sparsely populated, and the rivers are scarce, which is suitable for the Youyan Iron Cavalry under my command to show his strengths, don't say that Tao Ying's thieves dare not raise the Xuzhou Nest Army to go north to rescue, even if he takes all the main forces of the Xuzhou thief army to the north regardless of the tail, I can still let him have no return, and vent the hatred in his heart!" ”

Again, although Yuan Sangong is unfortunately the son-in-law of Deputy Director Tao, he knows very little about the current real situation of his son-in-law's army, and he doesn't know what has become of his son-in-law's army now, so Xin Bi, who also doesn't know enough about the Xuzhou army, tried his best to persuade Yuan Tan not to start a war, but he still couldn't come up with a strong argument to persuade Yuan Tan Gongzi to listen to his own opinions, so he could only helplessly watch Yuan Tan Gongzi go his own way and actively prepare for the southern expedition to Langya.

What made Yuan Tan Gongzi full of confidence was still behind, and in the evening of the same day, the Great Yuan Sangong ordered the general Chun Yuqiong to bring Yuan Tan Gongzi 5,000 Karasuma cavalry - this is also the most elite reserve of the Great Yuan Sangong on the southern front, and at the same time, the Great Yuan Sangong also sent Yuan Tan Gongzi's right-hand man Guo Tu Guo Gong to Qingzhou, ready to give advice to Yuan Tan Gongzi and help Yuan Tan Gongzi raise troops to the south.

In addition, Da Yuan Sangong also asked Guo Tu to bring a sentence to Yuan Tan Gongzi, "Tao Ying must teach a lesson, a heavy lesson, let him know who is his biggest dependent!" However, the attack should not be too deep, and it is necessary to prevent the lone army from falling into danger. If Tao Ying was sent by the boy to sue for peace, he could accept it, and report it to his father for another disposition. ”

But it's a pity that Yuan Tan Gongzi, who hates Deputy Director Tao deeply and is eager to make contributions to prove himself, naturally chooses his surname and ignores the last two sentences of the third prince's explanation.

Of course, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who has been fighting with his father for many years, is not completely underestimated, at least he did not recklessly lead the army directly into Xuzhou Langya, or first sent a large number of scouts to investigate the movements of the Xuzhou army, but what made Yuan Tan Gongzi sneer again and again was that the only adjustment made by Deputy Director Tao in Langya County was only to send a Huainan general named Qiao Rui, so that he could lead an army of 3,000 to Ju County to take over the defense, and assist Xiao Jian, the prime minister of Langya in Xuzhou, to guard Ju County, the second most important town in Langya County. As for Kaiyang City, the first important town in Langya, Deputy Director Tao simply did not make any adjustments, and still let Sun Guan lead the army to guard, while the unknown number of Xuzhou main forces were stationed in the southernmost part of Langya County, Jiqiu, and did not hurry up to rush to Langya cities to wait for work.

"Why is the pottery thief so arranged? Doesn't that make sense? "The resourceful Mr. Xinbi can't understand Deputy Director Tao's arrangement at all.

"The pottery thief really has no name, his cavalry is far inferior to our army, and he didn't even hurry up to let the slow infantry team go north to defend the city, ready to stay and slaughter our cavalry in the field, he is really incompetent." This is Yuan Tan Gongzi's contemptuous evaluation of Deputy Director Tao's tactics.

"The pottery thief may want to lure the enemy to go deeper, abandon the other cities in Langya County and only defend Juxian and Kaiyang, so that our army can only make two choices when there is a shortage of food and grass, one is to retreat, and the other is to go deep into Jiqiu alone to fight with him, so that he can win a better opportunity to wait for work." This is the conclusion reached by Mr. Guo Tu, and then Mr. Guo Tu smiled again: "But the arrangement of the pottery thief is also the best for our army, as long as Juxian and Kaiyang are taken, our army will also gain a firm foothold in Langya, and it will be much easier to capture the prosperous and rich Donghai and Pengcheng counties in the future." ”

When this conclusion was reached, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was very fast, left his deputies Lu Kuang, Lu Xiang brothers and Zhao Yun and other generals to guard Qingzhou, and had already led an army of 20,000 into Langya County. What made Yuan Tan Gongzi even more overjoyed was that Deputy Director Tao had not transported the money and grain stored in the two counties before, which not only cheapened Yuan Tan Gongzi in vain, but also reduced some of the logistical burden for Yuan Tan Gongzi's army.

Then from the surrender of the county commander Chen Ci and other people, we learned that the situation in Yishui, Dong'an and Langxie counties in the north of Langya County is also the same, and the money and grain hoarded in the city have not been transferred by the Xuzhou army, Yuan Tan Gongzi is inevitably greedy for life, and once planned to divide troops to capture these cities to seize food for self-sufficiency, fortunately Guo Tu and Xinbi tried their best to persuade them, saying that these cities are located in remote areas, and there is not much grain and inconvenient transportation, so as to divide the troops to seize, it is better to wait for the first to take the important town of Ju County in the hinterland of Langya, and cut off the connection between these remote counties and the base camp in Xuzhou. Then it can be decided, and it is impossible to break up the already small forces to attack.

Yuan Tan Gongzi is also a good son and a good commander, and he did not hesitate after feeling that Guo Tu and Xin Bi were reasonable, and immediately led the cavalry to open the way with Gao Ran as the vanguard, and led the army all the way to Juxian, and also sent many scouts to carefully investigate the movements of the Xuzhou army, so as not to fall into the trap by mistake in the away battle.

Three days later, Yuan Tan Gongzi's army successfully arrived at the hinterland of Langya County, under the city of Juxian, and Xiao Jian and Qiao Rui, the defenders of Juxian County of the Xuzhou army, did not dare to go out of the city to face the battle, but only withdrew their troops to defend the city. Seeing that the enemy didn't even have the courage to fight with him, Yuan Tan Gongzi was complacent, and without waiting for the camp to be established, he immediately led Guo Tu, Xin Bi, Chun Yuqiong, Cen Bi and other civil and military officials to explore the city under Juxian County to find a way to break the city. But after he really arrived at the city of Juxian, Yuan Tan Gongzi was dumbfounded on the spot, and he also exclaimed on the spot, "Dog!" This city is not easy to attack! ”

What can make Yuan Tan Gongzi scream so miserably is, of course, that the city fortifications in Juxian County are a little too perfect, and they are so excessive that they are almost changing. Needless to say, the city wall has obviously been strengthened and repaired, and the buildings on the city are all covered with protective fences to prevent thunderbolts, and the moat has been widened and deepened more obviously, introducing the Shushui living water in the east of Juxian County, which is more than three zhang wide, and the water flow is so rapid that it is difficult to cross and fill.

A new civil structure of sheep and horses was built between the moat and the city wall, and in front of the sheep and horse wall were dense with sharp antlers, and behind the sheep and horse wall could be arranged at any time to arrange defenders to shoot the enemy on the other side of the moat with bows and crossbows.

The garrison on the city wall is even more perverted, more than 20 thunderbolts are directly installed on the city wall, each arrow buttress gap is installed with a flail, the yaksha with sharp iron horns is everywhere at the top of the city wall, the corner tower is full of spleen turning machines, and the sheep's head stones piled up on the city wall can be seen even from a distance outside the city. This kind of city defense preparation is not to say that it is an attack, but to stand under the city and look at it, it gives people a feeling of numbness in the scalp.

"Why is Ju County so tightly guarded? Tian Kai's thief's Linzi lair is not so tightly guarded! Yuan Tan Gongzi exclaimed again.

"No wonder Tao Ying annihilated the thief and dared to rest assured that our army would attack Ju County to the fullest." Mr. Guo Tu was also a little depressed, and said helplessly: "If you want to capture this city, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time." ”

"Time is still a small matter, and it is a big thing that our army's siege casualties are difficult to accept." Mr. Xinbi was more depressed than Guo Tu, and after a little calculation, Xinbi suggested: "The eldest prince, try to surrender, Xiao Jian, the main general in Juxian County, is just a scholar, and he has no power to tie the chicken, and his deputy Qiao Rui is a general in Huainan, who once served under the command of Gongzi's uncle Yuan Highway, and was a pottery thief who surrendered in desperation. ”

Looking at the hedgehog-like Juxian Chengchi, Yuan Tan Gongzi nodded, and immediately sent an envoy to surrender, but it is a pity that although Xiao Jian, the chief general of the Juxian garrison, Langya Xiang, is indeed a civilian official, neither Lao Tao Qian nor Deputy Director Tao has ever considered removing Xiao Jian, because Xiao Jian not only won the hearts of the army and the people, but also was loyal to the Lao Tao family, and has always been the number one nail that the Lao Tao family planted in Langya to monitor Zang Ba's team! At the same time, Qiao Rui's situation is not verbose, he offended Deputy Director Tao so many times, and finally was spared by Deputy Director Tao and entrusted with important tasks, and he has long been Deputy Director Tao's loyal lackey, so the result of Yuan Tan Gongzi's surrender is............ "Go back and tell Yuan Tan Pifu that if you want to attack the city, we will accompany you to the end." Xiao Jian slowly tore Yuan Tangongzi's letter of persuasion to surrender to shreds, and said slowly: "But if he wants us to surrender, he is dreaming in vain." ”

"Looking at Ben Chugong's face, spare you this time and don't die!" Qiao Rui also picked up Yuan Tan Gongzi's envoy, and said viciously: "Tell Yuan Tan Pifu that if he dares to send someone to surrender and humiliate me, then don't be unkind, even if the lord blames him, I will drag his surrender envoy to the city and cut him to death with one knife with one knife with my own hands, so as to thank the lord for his trust and great grace!" ”

After the envoy replied to Yuan Tan Gongzi with Xiao Jian and Qiao Rui's rude reply, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who had a bad temper, was of course furious, and immediately ordered to build siege weapons overnight to prepare for the siege, although Guo Tu and Xin Bi both knew that such a strong city was difficult to attack, but they could not fail to attack, so they had no choice but to rack their brains to think about the strategy of breaking the city for Yuan Tan Gongzi, while praying that the morale of the defenders in the city was low and the combat effectiveness was low, and the city of Juxian was by no means as difficult to attack as it seemed.

Guo Tu and Xin Bi were soon disappointed, two days later, when Yuan Tan Gongzi's team built a large number of siege weapons to launch a siege, they were immediately attacked by the defenders of Ju County, the rocket dovetail torch specially greeted the large siege weapons of Yuan Tan Army, and the defenders behind the sheep and horse wall warmly welcomed Yuan Tan Gongzi's river reclamation team with strong bows and crossbows, and the condescending defenders above the city wall were even more arrows and stones, and the soldiers of Yuan Tan Army cried wolf and hugged their heads and rats, and it was extremely difficult to even get close to the moat. The large siege weapons such as ladder trucks and trench bridge carts that Yuan Tan Gongzi had managed to build were all burned by the flames.

Seeing that ordinary siege weapons were difficult to obtain, they suggested that Yuan Tan Gongzi build a wooden frame outside the city that was higher than the city wall, intending to suppress the defenders of the city with bows and arrows. It's a pity that there are strong players in the strong, and the bridge general, who was born to defend the city, just saw Yuan Tan's army building a high platform, and immediately understood Yuan Tan Gongzi's vicious intentions, and immediately built a wooden tower in the city, and in turn condescendingly suppressed Yuan Tan's high platform wooden frame with a strong bow and crossbow, killing Yuan Tan Gongzi's sappers countless times, and also increasing the firing points of many defenders, forming more threats to Yuan Tan Gongzi's siege team.

When Mr. Guo Tu and Mr. Xin Bi tried to attack the city with a tunnel at the same time, as soon as the tunnel was dug under the city, they were monitored by the bamboo pipe water tank buried by the bridge, and they identified the direction and dug the tunnel.

Forced to be helpless, Yuan Tan Gongzi had no choice but to dispatch the thunderbolt that was destined to have little effect, intending to destroy the sheep and horse wall fortifications under Juxian County first, but unfortunately the Xiangyang cannon of the Juxian defenders was condescending and not only fought farther, but the thunderbolt in Yuan Tan Gongzi's hand was also a weakened version of the Xiangyang cannon that Deputy Director Tao had manipulated on the drawings, and it could only be played about two hundred steps away, so Yuan Tan Gongzi dispatched those heavy and slow thunderbolts, basically before they had time to fire a cannon and a shell, they were either smashed by the stone bullets thrown by the Xiangyang cannon of the Juxian defenders. Either burned to ashes by incendiary bombs thrown by the defenders.

In this way, you have been fighting back and forth for more than 20 days, with the rapid consumption of military rations and the gradual decline in morale, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who has always had nothing to do with Ju County, finally became furious, and decided to give up attacking Ju County and go south to open Yang - because the scout scouts sent out by Yuan Tan Gongzi found that Kaiyang's garrison was by no means as perverted as Ju County, and it was obviously much easier to attack than Ju County!

"Eldest son, don't do it!"

Hearing Yuan Tan Gongzi's decision, don't say that it is Mr. Xinbi, even Mr. Guo Tu panicked, and hurriedly dissuaded: "The eldest prince, Kaiyang is more than 300 miles away from the Qingzhou border, but it is less than 50 miles away from Linqiu, and now the main force of the pottery thieves is entrenched in the Linqiu area, and the Kaiyang defenders are each other's horns. ”

"But what if you don't turn on the yang?" Yuan Tan Gongzi roared angrily: "Juxian Chengchi is so strong, our army has repeatedly failed to attack, and if it continues to stalemate, what should we do if the grain and grass run out?" My father asked me to come to Langya to teach Tao Ying a lesson, do you want me to return in vain? ”

Guo Tu and Xin Bi were speechless, and Yuan Tan Gongzi thought for a moment and said: "Otherwise, you stay here to monitor the Juxian thief army, and I will take the mobile cavalry to the south to find an opportunity to fight with the pottery thief in the field?" ”

"Childe, you still can't take risks." Xin Bi shook his head, and said tentatively: "Childe, why don't you write down the battle situation and report it to the lord, and ask the lord to decide?" ”

"Fart!" Yuan Tan Gongzi scolded angrily: "Let my father know that I am helpless under Juxian County, and Yuan Shang's dog thing still has to laugh off his big teeth......?" ”

Scolding here, Yuan Tan Gongzi suddenly closed his mouth, and turned his head sideways to reveal an expression of attentive listening, and was about to be scolded by Yuan Tan Gongzi, and then like Yuan Tan Gongzi, he suddenly faintly heard some strange voices and strange singing voices from far away from the south.

"Report ————!"

At this time, a herald rushed into the tent of the Chinese army marshal, knelt down on one knee and clenched his fists and was about to open his mouth to perform, but Yuan Tan Gongzi waved his hand to interrupt the herald's words, and said with a cruel smile: "No need to report, I know who is coming, I have long heard that the hypocrite army, the magic weapon of the pottery thief, is to take the first song of the opening song of the "Book of Songs" "Guan Ju" as a military song, I thought it was a joke, but I didn't expect it to be true. ”

"Give the order, and the cavalry will assemble immediately! This time, I want to let Tao Ying thief experience for himself, what is the real invincible iron horse! ”

(To be continued)