As mentioned above, Cao Boss listened to the advice of Uncle Liu Huang's good friend Xu Shu, and took advantage of the convenience of transporting grain in Surabaya, and secretly attacked the pottery thief by guarding against Yuan Shao, until the army set off, he suddenly announced that he would send troops to Xuzhou, and also ordered the army to go on two roads, and it took only five days to complete the more than 400 miles from Guandu to Changyi, and suddenly appeared in front of the northwest gate of Xuzhou. The people of the people and the army were panicked, and they were shocked, vividly interpreting the essence of the unexpected and precedent soldiers.

Can't blame the Xuzhou military and civilian gentry for being timid, it is really the shadow that the Cao army brought to the five counties of Xuzhou is too deep, six years ago when the old Tao Qian was still there, the Cao army slaughtered more than 20 cities in Xuzhou, killing countless soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou, and the corpses were thrown into the river. If it weren't for Lu Wenhou's sudden madness and killing Yanzhou, forcing Cao Boss to return to the army to save the old nest, Pengcheng and Donghai two counties in Xuzhou would definitely have been slaughtered by Cao's army! But even so, the northern part of Pengcheng and the western part of the East China Sea, which were most poisoned by Cao Jun six years ago, are still vast and sparsely populated, and their vitality has not recovered! Now that Cao Jun is here again, the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou, who have experienced the tragedy six years ago, want to say that there is no fear in their hearts, it is simply self-deception.

In addition, there are two points that make the Xuzhou officials and civilian troops afraid and worried, the first is to seize Qingzhou, a large number of Xuzhou troops have gone north to Qingzhou, Langya County and Taishan County, including the elite of the Langya Army, the main force of the anti-Cao Army, and the first ace gentleman army in Xuzhou, which could not return to the Pengcheng battlefield for a while.

The second is that in the past six years, although the military situation of Xuzhou has improved greatly, and it has also fought a lot of big victories that have decided the surname, but these big victories have been achieved in Zhenrong, Xiao Yuan Sangong and Liu Huangshu, and the number of battles with the Cao army is very small, and they are all small battles with thousands of people, and there is no record of winning battles with the main elite of the Cao army, and the only gentleman army that has completely annihilated the tiger and leopard cavalry is not in Xuzhou but in Qingzhou, so don't say that the people of Xuzhou have no bottom in their hearts, that is, many senior civil and military officials in Xuzhou do not have much confidence in their hearts. Some couldn't believe that Deputy Director Tao would be able to repel Cao's army with his existing forces.

Under the cowardice, even Cao Bao, the oldest general in the Xuzhou army, Chen Qun, Xu Fang and other important civil and military ministers in Xuzhou, ran to Deputy Director Tao to propose peace, and suggested that Deputy Director Tao bow to Boss Cao and sacrifice some money and food in exchange for a truce. Yang Hongchangshi, who was the least courageous, even proposed to let Deputy Director Tao return the land in Qingzhou that he had finally extorted from his father-in-law, in exchange for the Great Yuan Sangong to immediately send troops to rescue Xuzhou - don't look at the fact that the Great Yuan Sangong had just reconciled with his son-in-law and formed an alliance to destroy Cao, but considering the selfish surname of the Great Yuan Sangong, even Yang Changshi, who had almost nothing left in our minds except for wine and wealth, couldn't believe that the Third Duke of Great Yuan would really keep his promise and send troops to attack Yanzhou.

Contrary to the panicked and worried Xuzhou Wenwu, Deputy Director Tao, Jia Lao Poison and Chen Deng, who were at the top of the food chain in the five counties of Xuzhou, seemed unusually calm, in addition to talking and laughing freely, they also calmly told the Xuzhou Wenwu who came to inquire about the news, saying that they had been prepared for Cao Laoda's troops, and asked the generals and officials to go down to stabilize the hearts of the army and the people, and patiently wait for their own strategies to retreat from the enemy. However, in private, Deputy Director Tao quickly sent Yin Li to lead an army of 3,000 to Xiaopei to reinforce the surname Cao stationed there, and sent a fast horse to send an order to Lu You, the minister of the East China Sea, so that he could move the people and civilians to the west of Yishui to retreat to the east of Yishui, and at the same time sent Qin Yi and Chang Xian two generals to lead 6,000 troops to reinforce the East China Sea, and join hands with Lu You's team to fortify along Yishui to ensure the smooth communication between Xuzhou and Langya, Taishan, and Qingzhou.

In public, he was calm, but in private, Deputy Director Tao, who was indeed a little ill-prepared for this, was also a little nervous, so much so that when discussing the military situation with Jia Lao Poison and Chen Deng's two cronies, Deputy Director Tao also issued such a scratch, "Is Cao Thief crazy?" Even if his overall strength may still be above our army, if he wants to take the five counties of Xuzhou, he will not be able to do it for a year or two, he will not be afraid that the main force will be on the southern front for a long time, and my father-in-law will not be able to hold his breath and sneak attack his old nest Xuchang City? ”

"Of course Cao Ying is not crazy, and his purpose is not the city land of the five counties of Xuzhou." Jia Lao Poison said with a smile: "Judging from the current situation, Cao Ying's strategic purpose this time is definitely to inflict heavy losses on our army, and strive to annihilate a large number of our army's living forces in the war, so as to achieve the effect of weakening the overall strength of our army." ”

"What Mr. Wenhe said is very true, and Deng also sees it this way." Chen Deng nodded and said calmly: "Our army and Yuan Shao have made peace, and Cao Shao is attacked by the north and south, and he must be worried that when Yuan Shao sends troops to take revenge in the future, our army will send troops to contain his southern front, and I am even more afraid that our army will remember the death enemy of Xuzhou Massacre six years ago, and suddenly exert force to really annihilate him, in order to gain the initiative, and in order not to give our army a chance to fish in troubled waters, even if Cao thief can't destroy us, he will inevitably strive to hit our army hard, so that our army is powerless to threaten his southern front." ”

"It's really calculated." Deputy Director Tao praised it and said, "In this case, how should our army meet the enemy?" ”

"Just stick to Xiaopei." Chen Deng replied: "Cao thief from afar, although the grain and grass have the benefit of transporting grain in Surabaya, but the battle of Guandu, has exhausted the winter wheat and hoarding harvested by Cao thief this year, and then in the autumn harvest of August, although Cao thief harvested a batch of corn (millet) and millet (millet, also known as small yellow rice) from the Xuchang Tun field, but the yield per mu of these grains is not as good as winter wheat, and Cao thief must leave a batch of grain and grass to guard against Yuan Shao, so Cao thief's grain and grass must be difficult to last, our army only needs to stick to Xiaopei and hold the throat of Cao thief's marching army, not more than a month, Cao thieves will inevitably run out of food and retreat. ”

"Yuanlong's opinion, although it is exactly what I want, but it is ......." Deputy Director Tao was a little hesitant and hesitated: "But Xiaopei is not as dangerous as Guandu, at most he can only block the main force of Cao Thief from going south along Surabaya, and Cao Thief is not as stupid as my father-in-law, if Cao Thief divides his troops into the hinterland of Xuzhou, then our people will be miserable." ”

"It's possible, but there's no way around it." Chen Deng, the head snake of the land of Xuzhou, said helplessly: "Our Xuzhou is the land of four wars, the terrain is too wide, except for a few big rivers, there is almost no natural danger to defend, there is no way to completely prevent Cao thieves from invading the hinterland, and it can only be as strong as possible to clear the wilderness to reduce losses." Fortunately, it is now the lunar month, and there is not much farm work, so the impact of letting the people take refuge in the city is not very great. ”

If it were another warlord in the late Han Dynasty, he would definitely accept Chen Deng's suggestion immediately, but after all, Deputy Director Tao is a time-traveler who has received modern education, in addition to being brainwashed by humanitarianism, he also understands that if you want to exploit, there must be an exploited person, so when you think that there will be thousands of exploited people who will be likely to be slaughtered by Cao Jun, Deputy Director Tao, the number one landlord in Xuzhou, will inevitably hesitate, and finally can only turn his gaze to Jia Lao Poison and ask: "Mr. Wenhe, what do you think?" ”

"Xu and Mr. Yuanlong's opinion are the same, and they are also based on defense." Jia Lao Poison replied: "Now our army's troops in Pengcheng and Xiaopei, including the city defense team, only have a total of more than 60,000 people, and the most that can be dispatched to meet is only about 40,000, but the Cao army has 80,000 people, and the overall elite level is still above our army, and the chance of winning a decisive battle with our army is not very good." However, Cao's army has more soldiers and less food, and our army has fewer soldiers but more food, and logistics are worry-free, so our army can only stand on the defensive, first block Cao's southward footsteps, and then have a chance of victory. ”

"In this way, the loss of the hinterland of Xuzhou is unavoidable?" Deputy Director Tao was a little disappointed.

"Don't worry, the lord hasn't finished yet." Jia Lao Poison smiled and said: "The basis of Xu's proposal is slightly different from Mr. Yuanlong, Mr. Yuanlong is to suggest that the main force of our army stick to Xiaopei, the only dangerous pass in the northwest of Xuzhou, but Xu feels that it is better to deploy layers of defense, so that Cao surnamed and Yin Li can hold Xiaopei with their existing strength, and then let Gao Shun lead the trap camp and 5,000 infantry to hold Liuxian, and the main force of our army will hold Pengcheng, so that the Cao army can be prevented from invading the hinterland of Xuzhou to the greatest extent. ”

Listening to the tactical defense plan proposed by the world-famous Jia Lao Poison, Deputy Director Tao and Chen Deng, who are also tactical masters, inevitably widened their eyes, knowing that Deputy Director Tao, who was a good candidate for Jia Lao Poison in history, Chen Deng simply asked: "Mr. Wenhe, aren't you joking?" The purpose of Cao Thief's trip was to weaken our army, and our army was so armed, although it could prevent Cao Thief from invading the hinterland of Xuzhou to the greatest extent, but it also gave Cao Thief more opportunities to break through? At that time, even if our army wants to rescue Xiaopei and Liuxian, it will give Cao thieves a chance to besiege the city and send reinforcements. ”

"Mr. Yuanlong, don't worry, there is a second step." Jia Lao Poison said unhurriedly: "The lord can fortify the northwest of Pengcheng layer by layer, and clear the wilderness, while quickly ordering the Qingzhou team, ordering Chen Zhi, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji to lead the army from Qingzhou to return to the division quickly, and directly force through the Lu State and Rencheng behind the Cao army, threatening the Cao thief Surabaya grain road. ”

"If the thief senses the movement of our army in time and divides his troops to block or even encircle and annihilate our reinforcements? And what can I do? Chen Deng continued to ask.

"If the Cao thief divides his troops, of course it will be the third step." Jia Lao Poison replied very simply, and the smile on his face became more and more kind.

Although Jia Lao Poison has not yet introduced his third step, Deputy Director Tao has already laughed, because Deputy Director Tao knows very well that the famous Boss Cao has only been defeated by the enemy three times in his life in history, and the third time is in Chibi without Guo Jia, but the first two times are the same person who used the strategy to defeat the strong with the weak, and twice in a row overturned the super platinum combination of Boss Cao and Guo Sick Ghost, this person is not someone else, it happens to be the surname Jia Mingxu Zi Wenhe.

……………… On the same day, Deputy Director Tao adopted the suggestion of Jia Lao's poison, sent Gao Shun to lead the army to garrison Liuxian, and ordered the surname Cao and Yin Lier to defend Xiaopei City, and not to send troops to meet the battle, and at the same time sent a fast horse to Qingzhou to send an order, ordering Chen Zhi, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji to lead the troops and horses to return to the army to help the battle, and also asked Chen Zhi and Hou Cheng and other generals to go directly to the shortcut to help, capture the main battlefield of Lu State and Rencheng to return to the reinforcements, and also threaten Cao Laoda's Surabaya grain road. And when the arrangement of the Xuzhou army was in place and the implementation of the fortified wall Qingye was more than half, on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the Cao army team led by Cao Boss himself finally arrived at the foot of Hulu City, which was only forty miles away from Xiaopei City, the gate of Xuzhou.

The name of the 80,000 army also falsely claimed to be 100,000, but in order to transport grain and grass and defend the rear, Cao Boss actually brought only about 70,000 troops to Hulu, but it doesn't matter, this 70,000 army not only has the most elite 5,000 cavalry of the Cao army, but also the absolute elite of Cao Boss's victory over the Jizhou army in Guandu, these elite teams are not only experienced in a hundred battles, experienced, well-equipped, but also coerced the high morale of the Guandu victory, it is not an exaggeration to say that one is ten!

Of course, the Cao army also has a considerable number of auxiliaries, but even if they go to the battlefield, they don't need to charge into battle, they only need to follow the back of the main force to sweep the remnants of the enemy, six years ago, almost all the Cao army in Xuzhou is full of confidence, I believe that the army can sweep Xuzhou like six years ago, kill the five counties of Xuzhou ghosts crying wolves, blood flowed like a river! Even Boss Cao, who knew that the Xuzhou army had made great progress, was also complacent that the elite of the self-army trained through the vicious and bloody battle could easily defeat the elite of Xuzhou who had been trained by stealing chickens and dogs and bullying the weak, and reproduced the glory of six years ago!

What surprised Boss Cao was the reaction of the Xuzhou army, Deputy Director Tao, who had always liked to steal chickens and dogs and meet the source left and right, changed his previous style this time, and even wrote back to Boss Cao to agree to exchange hostages, and agreed that when Deputy Director Tao personally led the main force of Xuzhou to fight against the main force of the Cao army, he would exchange their respective hostages in front of the two armies, so as to start the war with confidence. At the same time, the Xuzhou army's layer-by-layer fortification strategy also made the Cao boss, who pursued a quick battle, feel as disgusting as eating a fly, and first captured the two cities of Xiaopei and Liuxian, and then could fight with the main force of Xuzhou in Pengcheng, which was not a good tactic for the Cao army, which had a very serious problem of grain and grass.

"The pottery thieves are deceitful, Jia Xu and Chen Deng are also very resourceful, and they must have seen through the weakness of our army's lack of food and grass, so they took a defensive position."

This is the answer that Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and Xu Shu and other military strategists analyzed to Boss Cao, but after frowning and thinking about it carefully, Boss Cao laughed again, and said: "It seems that Tao Ying's thief is only cunning in terms of vertical and horizontal cooperation, and when it comes to battlefield tactics, this thief is clumsy. ”

"Prime Minister, the pottery thief is so armed, and it has another effect, that is, it can prevent our army from invading his hinterland." Guo Jia coughed and said: "The pottery thieves have moved all the people of the East China Sea west of Yishui back to the east of Yishui, and the strong wall clears the west of Donghai County, so they will not give our army the opportunity to get food on the spot." If our army divides its troops to invade the grain area in the southern hinterland of Xuzhou, it will be poisoned by the main force of Xuzhou. ”

"I don't divide my troops!" Boss Cao waved his hand decisively and said confidently: "I don't need to divide my troops, as long as I break through each one, as long as I besiege the city and send reinforcements, I want to see that Xiaopei and Liuxian can block my army for a few days!" ”

Although Cao Boss's self-confidence is based on strength, but after arriving at the Xuzhou gateway Xiaopei City, Cao Boss was a little dumbfounded, because Xiao Pei, who was carefully built by the famous general Qiao Rui, was really a little perverted, surrounded by water on three sides, and the only West Gate moat facing the land simply gave up the suspension bridge to build a stone bridge, and the end of the stone bridge was a solid wall, and then completely deepened and widened the moat, introduced the living water of Surabaya, and skillfully used the terrain to form a rapid water flow, which was difficult to fill and difficult to cross. turned the entire city of Xiaopei into a perverted fortified city surrounded by water.

In addition, between the moat and the city wall is usually a solid sheep and horse wall, the heightened and thickened city wall is usually full of yaksha rings and arrow platforms, the sheep's head stones are piled up so that they can be easily seen even in the distance of the city wall, and the Tibetan army tower is naturally covered with anti-stone fences, in addition, it is also arranged to compete with the Cao army's thunderbolt car The ultra-distant Xiangyang cannon is arranged, so that Cao Boss is a tiger gnawing hedgehog, and he can't find a place to start.

"There's going to be a siege battle."

After gasping, Boss Cao suddenly put away his arrogance and underestimated the enemy, and began to carefully discuss the strategy of breaking the city with the strategists. However, the envoy of the Cao army had just entered the city to explain his intentions, and the little Peishou general surnamed Cao, who had been ordered by Deputy Director Tao to try to provoke Cao Boss, did not say a word, cut off the Cao army envoy with a knife, threw the head off the city wall, and shouted loudly to ask Cao Boss to come to attack the city. When Cao Lao Da angrily ordered the siege of the city, but because the siege weapons were not prepared, he was stopped by a group of strategists, and Cao Lao had no choice but to change his order and let the sergeants prepare siege weapons overnight, waiting for the siege to come.

Looking at the thunderous Boss Cao, and then looking at the terrifyingly strong Xiaopei City, Xu Shu, who had never said a word, calculated in his heart, and said secretly: "Is the pottery thief's layer-by-layer fortification tactics really just to delay the speed of Cao Thief's advance and consume Cao Thief's grain and grass?" Judging from the previous use of soldiers by the pottery thief introduced by Uncle Liu Huang, this is not quite in line with the style that the pottery thief likes to win by surprise? ”

After pondering for a while, Xu Shu's heart suddenly moved, and he hurriedly bowed his hand to Boss Cao and said, "Prime Minister, should we divide an army to strengthen the defense of Rencheng and Lu State?" If the Qingzhou team of the pottery thieves returns to the division for reinforcements, the most convenient route to return to the army seems to be not to detour through Langya and the East China Sea, but to directly pass through the two places of Lu and Rencheng, which are only guarded by local troops, and can also appear directly behind our army, forming a flanking attack. ”

Boss Cao took a look, and then carefully recalled the map of Yanzhou that had already been imprinted in his mind, and Boss Cao soon found that if the Xuzhou team going north to Qingzhou wanted to return to the main battlefield of the division and take the road of Rencheng and Luguo, it would actually save more than half of the marching distance compared to taking the detour of Langya and Donghai counties! Thinking of the Xuzhou army's layer-by-layer fortification and sluggish tactics, Boss Cao was inevitably shocked in his heart, and said secretly: "What a pottery thief, do you want to use the villain army to disturb my grain route, and let Chen Zhi and Hou Cheng's team flank my army?" ”

Secretly frightened, Boss Cao wanted to accept Xu Shu's suggestion on the spot, but after thinking about it carefully, Boss Cao laughed heartily for the second time, and said: "Yuan Zhi doesn't have to worry, and he doesn't have to divide his troops into Rencheng Luguo, no matter how bold that pottery thief is, he doesn't have the courage to let his reinforcements risk passing through my Rencheng and Lu Guo's two counties!" There is no need to divide the troops, Rencheng and the two counties of Lu State, just need to strengthen the sentinel and liaison. ”

"Prime Minister ......." Xu Shu wanted to continue to persevere, but after seeing Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and other Cao bosses and lackeys next to him all smiling evilly, Xu Shu closed his mouth again, and secretly scolded in his heart: "What a thief!" It's really not worth worrying about him! ”

(To be continued)