As a poor general who even had his descendants reorganized and could only take his family into battle to find a place for his only son, Deputy Director Tao temporarily decided to go back on his word and demote poor General Li Shu to the position of postal supervisor that even the three peach brothers dared to bully, and the sad General Li Shu naturally didn't even dare to put a fart - but this is really no wonder Deputy Director Tao or General Li Shu himself, it was General Li Shu's precious son who forced the whole thing to this point, forced Deputy Director Tao, who has always paid attention to reputation, to eliminate hidden dangers in advance! Otherwise, the Xuzhou army will basically fight in vain when it conquers the Lujiang River.

When poor Li Shu wept bitterly and regretted that his godson was not strict, Deputy Director Tao, who had always been unlucky, finally ushered in a good news in the city of Anhui County, and Song Kai, who was sent to contact the Jingzhou Army, successfully persuaded Liu Pan, the commander of the Jingzhou Army, to let Liu Pan accept the solution to the dispute in Anhui County proposed by the Xuzhou Army, and agreed to accept half of the money and grain in the inventory of Anhui County, in exchange for the friendly coexistence and non-aggression between the Jingzhou Army and the Xuzhou Army. He also took the initiative to order most of the Jingzhou army to withdraw to Juchao, leaving only 1,000 auxiliaries to receive money and food, as a sign of friendship from his army.

Liu Pan also had no way to do this, when he set out on the expedition, Liu Biao repeatedly told him that once it was confirmed that the Great Yuan Sangong was on the side of the Xuzhou army, then he must not clash with the Xuzhou army, and could only get along with the Xuzhou army amicably, and even fell into the well to help the Xuzhou army flank the little Yuan Sangong who was not friendly to the Jingzhou army! But now, because of the greed of Liu Pan and Huang Shot, and because of the arrogance and ignorance of Major General Huang Shot, the Jingzhou army not only suffered heavy losses, but also had a violent conflict with the Xuzhou army.

But fortunately, the two generals Liu Pan and Huang Jie did not gain nothing when they entered the Lujiang River this time, and more or less they still got some money and grain from the hands of Yuan Sangong and Lujiang County, and at the same time, because Li Shu refused to hand over the city of Anhui County to the Jingzhou army, it was understandable that the Jingzhou army refused to help the Huainan army anymore - after all, it was the little Yuan Sangong who could not fulfill his promise first, and the Jingzhou army refused to fulfill the promise with a tooth for a tooth, and it made sense when he went there. Therefore, when Song Kai sent the Jingzhou army again, General Liu Pan, who weighed it repeatedly, naturally made the smartest choice.

At present, the Xuzhou army is only one step away from the strategic purpose of driving Xiao Yuan Sangong across the Yangtze River, and naturally does not want to make too many extraneous branches, let alone immediately turn around with the new neighbor Jingzhou army, which is actually bordering, and disperse the Xuzhou army, which is not very strong at present. Therefore, after receiving Liu Pan's reply, Deputy Director Tao not only ceremoniously entertained the envoy sent by Liu Pan, but also fulfilled his promise on the spot and handed over half of the money and grain from Anhui County to the Jingzhou army, and the Jingxu and Xu armies also maintained friendly relations for the time being, which is omitted here.

In order to save time and prevent accidents, Deputy Director Tao decided to return to Shucheng first with Tao Ji to lead the Junzi Army, Xu Chu and Wei Yan led the infantry brigade to the rear, and Cao surnamed Cao led 4,000 Xuzhou infantry to stay in Anhui County, a big city on the Lujiang River. After finalizing all this, Deputy Director Tao didn't have time to go to the Qiao sisters to ask them to fulfill their promises, so he directly led the Junzi Army to set off, and successfully returned to the Xuzhou military camp outside Shu County a day later.

Deputy Director Tao came back very coincidentally, as soon as he stepped into his Chinese army tent on the front foot, a herald came in to report on the back foot, saying that Xiao Yuan Sangong sent the master Bo Yan Xiang to visit the city and ask to meet with Tao Ying, Tao Ying did not refuse, and even the gray little face did not have time to wipe it, when even if he agreed to meet with Yan Xiang. After a while, Yan Xiang, who had met with Tao Ying, was also invited to the big tent, and after the salute, he was not polite, seeing Tao Ying's face covered with dust, and his expression was quite tired, Yan Xiang couldn't help but ask, "Dare to ask where the envoy came from?" Why the way it looks? ”

"Just came back from Anhui City." Tao Ying didn't hide it, and while beckoning Yan Xiang to sit down, he smiled and said calmly: "Thanks to Lord Bo's two tigers, I should personally go to Anhui County to settle the dispute with the Jingzhou army, and I just came back." ”

"How many times are the envoys not in the camp?" Yan Xiang, who was sitting down, blurted out and exclaimed, almost falling on the case, seeing Tao Ying nodding with a smile, Yan Xiang almost regretted his intestines, so much so that he sighed in front of Tao Ying, "No wonder, no wonder the Jingzhou army suffered such a big loss, and even chose the Xuzhou army to reconcile, it turned out to be ......." It's really incompetent, and I should have thought of this earlier. ”

"Lord Yan doesn't have to be too humble, in fact, you are also very remarkable." Tao Ying said with a smile: "Lord Yan's two tigers are so vicious, not only is the Jingzhou army completely scheming, although he has seen through Mr.'s clever plan, but he also has to jump into the trap hard, but he is not arrogant, there are definitely only a few people in the world who can force me to this step!" Moreover, Lord Yan Bo still has a plan to provoke a conflict between our army and the Jingzhou army, and take advantage of the situation to insert General Li Shu into our army, so that your army can take things from it. ”

Yan Xiang was silent, and only after a long time did he say: "The envoy has praised it falsely, the matter has come to this point, and I don't dare to deceive the envoy, in fact, I also know that with General Li Shu's surname, it is difficult to win the trust of the envoy even if he surrenders to your army, so taking advantage of the situation to insert General Li Shu into your army is not from the suggestion of the subordinates, but the arrangement of my lord's father-in-law, the general Yuan Gong." ”

"I see." Deputy Director Tao smiled again, and said in a condescending tone: "I'll just say, with the ability of a gentleman, how can you arrange such a superficial deception plan for Li Shu, and not arrange a few capable assistants and a thorough deception plan for General Li Shu?" After doing it for a long time, it turned out that this plan was in the hands of Mr. Lord, who was ambitious and talented. ”

"My father-in-law is not ambitious." Yan Xiang was indeed loyal to Xiao Yuan Sangong, and immediately defended Xiao Yuan Sangong: "Although the career of my lord is related to his background in the fourth generation and the third duke, but he can dominate Huainan and Jiangdong as a Nanyang Taishou, so that the heroes of Jiangdong and the heroes of Huainan surrender one after another, and even make Sun Jian, Sun Wentai, the Jiangdong Tiger who once had a gap with our army, bow down to obey orders, saddle up for my lord, and go to the soup to fight the fire, which is enough to prove that my lord himself is talented. It's just that the lord's luck is too bad, and he just ran into an even more powerful opponent, so he came to this day. ”

"People say that in the Huainan Army, only Yang Hong and Yang Zhongming are the best at sycophancy, and now it is known that Mr. Yan's flattery skills are not under Mr. Zhongming!" Tao Ying laughed and said: "But Mr. This fart is indeed very comfortable, sir, please say, Yuan Shu sent Mr. to envoy this time, what is the matter?" ”

"My lord hopes to reopen negotiations with the envoy and peacefully resolve the dispute between your army and our army." Yan Xiang replied straight to the point: "The Lord sent an envoy to your army to negotiate with your army about the time and place of negotiation. ”

"When and where to negotiate directly with us? Sir, I will not first consult the following other opinion - do you agree to reopen negotiations with your army? Tao Yingjian asked with a smile.

Yan Xiang hesitated for a moment, and then remembered this important question, but this also did not make it difficult for Yan Xiang, after a little nodding, Yan Xiang said loudly: "To make the king forgive the sin, I really forgot to ask the envoy for his attitude in this regard, but I dare to think that the envoy should not refuse to reopen negotiations with our army - after all, the settlement of the dispute between your and our armies by negotiation means is the proposal of the envoy's father-in-law, Ben Chugong, so that Jun is a person of great filial piety, how can he disappoint Ben Chugong?" ”

"Not necessarily." Tao Ying's smile was even more deceitful, and he said: "It is true that the father-in-law of the first prince is under the government, and it is also his old man's proposal to solve the Huainan problem by means of negotiation, but his old man did not force your two armies to accept his proposal, which means that I can also refuse to negotiate with your army and solve the Huainan problem by force." And now, Mr.'s plan to compete with the two tigers is only half successful, although the Jingzhou army has been in conflict with our army, but it has not continued to expand, and at the same time, the Jingzhou army shamelessly excuses that your army has not fully fulfilled its promises, refuses to provide military support for your army, and your army's foreign aid has been cut off. ”

Hearing Deputy Director Tao's threatening words, Yan Xiang, who was calm and calm, not only did not fear, but also laughed and said: "Envoy, don't intimidate, if you really have the heart to completely eradicate our army, when you sent troops from Liyang to Shucheng, why didn't you take the shortcut road of Xiang'an and Linchao, which not only saves the distance, but also can take the opportunity to cut off the connection between our army and the Wet Beard Mouth Division?" Do you want to choose to return to Hefei and go south to Shucheng on a long detour? Isn't the true strategic intent of the envoy already revealed? ”

Tao Ying finally put away the flirtatious smile that had always hung on his face, and asked Yan Xiang in a rare and serious tone: "Then may I ask sir, I wonder if Mr. can inform our army of the strategic intentions of the highway public?" ”

"Nope." Yan Xiang shook his head and explained: "Because there is no need, Tao Envoy Jun's intention to drive our army across the Yangtze River has been decided, and whether or not he will inform the lord of this matter will not be able to change the situation." ”

"Mr. should report this matter to the highway officer, so that the highway public can be mentally prepared." Tao Ying shook his head with some regret, and said more seriously: "Gong Yan, I think you should also know that I don't have the patience to sit down and talk with you slowly, bargaining little by little. I also know your situation, the surname of the highway is arrogant and does not accept advice, but only Mr. Zhongming and Yan Gong can barely listen to you. Therefore, in order to prevent your and our armies from continuing to expand casualties, continue to consume each other's strength, and cheapen others for nothing, Yan Gong might as well negotiate with Zai Xia in person now to decide how the Huainan War will end and what outcome it will end. I like to talk to smart people, save time, and also save saliva. ”

Of course, Yan Xiang understood Tao Ying's overtone, but after hesitating for a while, Yan Xiang still prevaricated: "I'm afraid that I will disappoint the envoy, like the queen general's mansion, I have no qualifications and no courage to negotiate with the envoy without authorization behind the lord's back, let alone decide the major affairs of Huainan for the lord." ”

"Then Yan Gong can go." Tao Ying unceremoniously ordered the expulsion: "Your army wants to delay time through negotiations and strive for new variables, you should not be stupid and will not be fooled by this." Our army is ready to attack the city, and I will personally wave my army to attack the city and drive your army across the Yangtze River by force! At that time, if your army suffered too many casualties in Huainan, and after crossing to the south, it would not be able to gain a foothold in Jiangdong and be unable to compete with its rival Liu Xuan, but it would be a matter of complaining that your army should not be given a chance. ”

Yan Xiang's surname is wise and calm, naturally he will not be angry because of Tao Ying's eviction order, and he will miss this last opportunity, and after being silent for a long time again, Yan Xiang finally spoke: "Keeping the entire territory of Lujiang, ceding the entire territory of Jiujiang, and handing over the jade seal of the country is the final limit for the lord of my family, I don't know if you can agree?" ”

"Of course I can't." Tao replied: "Let's not say that half of the Lujiang River has fallen into the hands of our army, just by virtue of the upper reaches of the Lujiang River, I will never allow your army to station soldiers and horses in the Lujiang River and threaten my money and grain in Jiujiang and Guangling County." Your army's surrender of Lujiang and Jiujiang and Jiujiang counties, and the handover of the jade seal of the country, is my final limit, and as for other conditions, they can be discussed. ”

"My father-in-law won't agree." Yan Xiang shook his head, and said in a pleading tone, "Tao Envoy Jun, isn't the whole county of Jiujiang enough to satisfy your appetite?" Although the land of Jiujiang is not as vast as the land of Lujiang, the population of money and grain is more than twice that of Lujiang, and the wealth is not under any of the five counties of Xuzhou. ”

"Jiujiang is indeed far richer than Lujiang, I know this very well." Tao Ying nodded, and said: "But Lujiang's important surname in military affairs is far better than Jiujiang, I have already said this, just the benefits of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Huaishui are enough to make my Jiujiang Guangling two counties unpleasant, like a thorn in the back!" Moreover, the Dabie Mountains are also in the Lujiang River, which is not only a natural barrier for our army to resist a strong enemy in the west, but also the most important source of timber in Huainan. ”

Yan Xiang was silent again, and after a long time, Yan Xiang said very reluctantly: "I need time to persuade the lord to give up the whole territory of Huainan. In addition, when our army retreats, we must take away the money and grain of Shucheng, Linhu and Xiang'an, as well as the water army of Mixukou, and our army must take them all, and your army must not stop or pursue, and must promise to let our lord's Lujiang army smoothly withdraw across the Yangtze River. ”

"Yes." Tao Ying agreed, and said, "I gave Yan Gong seven days, is it enough?" ”

"Seven days? It's a little shorter....... Yan Xiang frowned, and pondered for a moment before replying: "Do your best and strive to give the envoy a satisfactory answer within seven days." But there is another requirement, for seven days, your army must not launch a siege battle. ”

"I can't say yes." Tao Ying refused without hesitation, and said: "Yan Gong, I also want to help you, what kind of temper is the highway duke, you know best, if you don't give him a little pressure to make him afraid, he will not bow his head, and it will be difficult to accept Yan Gong's persuasion, so Yan Gong's request can not be agreed to, I can only agree at most, within seven days, I will not send troops to fight with your army for the wall position in Shu County." ”

Speaking of this, Tao Ying added another sentence and said: "Yan Gong, the Ming people don't say dark words, I will only give you these seven days, if you can't persuade the Highway Duke to accept my conditions within seven days, on the eighth day, I will officially attack the city, and decide to use force to drive your army across the Yangtze River." ”

Yan Xiang's expression was gloomy, and after a long time, he reluctantly nodded, and said in a hoarse voice: "I can only say that I try my best in the bottom, whether I succeed or not, and I am really not sure in the bottom, I hope that God will bless the lord to make the right choice, and leave a foothold for my lord after crossing the river, otherwise it will ......." ”

Speaking of this, Yan Xiang shook his head, he didn't want to imagine it any further, but Tao Ying over there smiled again, and said: "Yan Gong doesn't have to be so frustrated, as Yan Gong said, your lord Yuan Highway is not an ordinary prince, and he also knows what it means to weigh the severity, pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages, and if nothing else, in these few days, the news that it will help Yan Gong successfully persuade the Highway Duke has come." ”

"Help me persuade the lord's news?" Yan Xiang was stunned first, and then Yan Xiang immediately came to his senses, nodded and said, "Yes, it's time to have news, Liu Xiang's side, it's time to attack Wanling and Jing County." ”

……………………

In the early morning of the second day after returning to Shucheng, Deputy Director Tao really fulfilled his promise and launched a siege war, dispatching sixty Xiangyang cannons to bombard the fortifications and buildings on the wall of Shu County, and at the same time sending a large group of infantry to transport earth and stones, filling the moat and ditch outside Shu County, preparing for the launch of the infantry siege war, and at the same time exerting pressure on Xiao Yuan Sangong to force the desperate little Yuan Sangong to agree to his harsh requirements.

Poor little Yuan Sangong and most of the Shucheng defenders still experienced the terrifying power of the Xiangyang cannon for the first time, when they saw a giant stone projectile weighing more than 300 catties flying up the city wall, easily smashing the Shucheng city tower into a pile of broken bricks and tiles, the Shucheng defenders were inevitably frightened up and down; Seeing the huge stone bombs bombarded by Xiangyang bombarded the comrades of the self-army, and smashed the self-army soldiers who could not avoid it into a pile of broken flesh, the morale of the defenders of Shucheng was naturally low to the extreme, and the panic was excessive, and countless defender soldiers put down their posts on the city wall and fled into the city, preferring to be beheaded by the supervision team rather than stay on the city wall and be smashed into meat sauce, and even many defender soldiers simply slipped off the city wall and surrendered directly to the Xuzhou soldiers who were filling in the river, and the army was full of despair.

The most frightened is, of course, the number one party, Xiao Yuan Sangong, and finally understands why his Huainan city is often vulnerable in front of the Xuzhou army, and under despair and fear, Xiao Yuan Sangong has no choice but to send envoys out of the city again, asking to negotiate with the Xuzhou army, and even offered to take Lu'an as the boundary to cede all the land and cities in the north of the Lujiang River to the Xuzhou army. However, what answered Xiao Yuan Sangong was Deputy Director Tao's refusal, as well as the newly developed incendiary fire bomb of Xiangyang Artillery.

The peace negotiations were refused, and Xiao Yuan Sangong could only follow the example of his former subordinate Qiao Rui, and organized a death squad to venture out of the city to assault the Xiangyang artillery position, in an attempt to destroy the Xiangyang artillery of the Xuzhou army, but unfortunately the Xuzhou army had long been accustomed to dealing with this tactic, and the five hundred death squads sent by Xiao Yuan Sangong had not even had time to approach the Xiangyang artillery position, and had been surrounded by several times the Xuzhou army. It was to be a prisoner of the Xuzhou army.

It took two days to completely destroy the north gate of Shucheng after the building on the city, on the third day of the siege, the Xiangyang artillery position was transferred to the west gate of Shucheng, and began to destroy the west gate fortifications of Shucheng, and Xiao Yuan Sangong gritted his teeth for a long time, and refused to give up and sent 10,000 troops out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Xuzhou army, and personally climbed the city wall to boost morale. However, Liu Xun, who led the army out of the city, was attacked by the Xuzhou army when he went out of the city, and more than 1,000 wind feather troops lined up in front of the narrow city gate, and shot the dense featherless crossbow arrows to the city gate with three shots, and shot Liu Xun's team to the ghost crying wolf, and the corpses piled up like a mountain, and the corpses were so many that they almost blocked the road, and almost couldn't even close the city gate.

After the failure of the first battle out of the city, Xiao Yuan Sangong did not give up, and sent more than 10,000 troops out of the city again the next day, and also learned a lesson from the east gate where the Fengyu army was located out of the city, and lined up outside the city to fight against the Xuzhou army, and Deputy Director Tao did not hesitate to personally lead the troops to meet the battle. Wei Yan, the latest lackey of Deputy Director Tao, showed his skills, beheaded five enemy generals, Xu Chu and Xu Huang also led the army to kill left and right, the Huainan army was defeated, and was killed by the Xuzhou army The corpses were all over the field, and the blood flowed all over the canal, and when the general Lei Bo finally fled back to the city, the soldiers were already more than half of the casualties.

On the night of the field defeat, the city patrol team led by his cronies Yuan Yin took a Lujiang soldier who tried to slip off the city wall, and at first Yuan Yin thought it was just an ordinary deserter who was ready to behead him, who knew that when the Lujiang soldier was pushed to the execution ground, he suddenly shouted that he was willing to make meritorious service to atone for his crimes, expose the rebellion in the city, or he was the secret messenger sent by Han Hao, the general of Lujiang, to contact the Xuzhou army, Yuan Yin was shocked and hurriedly escorted the soldier to the front of Xiao Yuan Sangong, Sure enough, Han Hao's secret letter to the Xuzhou army was found from him! In the letter, Han Hao even promised to open the city gate to welcome the Xuzhou army into the city............ Under the fury, Xiao Yuan Sangong naturally ordered to arrest Han Hao and behead, but Han Hao heard the rumors, and had already escaped from the city alone to surrender to the Xuzhou army, Xiao Yuan Sangong was even more furious, first ordered Han Hao's wife to be beheaded, and strengthened the monitoring of the Lujiang army, so that everyone in the Lujiang team was in danger, and there were too many people who surrendered in the city, and the morale of the Shucheng defenders became more and more depressed, and the morale of the army was more turbulent, and even Xiao Yuan Sangong himself began to waver, "The morale was dissipated like this, after the Xuzhou army began to officially attack the city, Can this Shucheng really be defended? ”

In fact, as early as the night of the envoy to the Xuzhou army, Yan Xiang had already reported the secret negotiation between himself and Tao Ying to Xiao Yuan Sangong alone, but he only concealed that he had agreed to Tao Ying's harsh conditions on behalf of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and although Xiao Yuan Sangong refused to agree, he also knew the seven-day covenant between Yan Xiang and Tao Ying, and his heart was inevitably a little shaken. In the following days, Yan Xiang also directly or indirectly talked about some powerful relationships in front of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and analyzed for Xiao Yuan Sangong the glorious prospect of giving up Huainan and leading the army to cross the river - but Yan Xiang was not completely nonsense, except for Liu Xuanjun, who could barely compete with Xiao Yuan Sangong in the south of the Yangtze River, none of the other princes was really an opponent of Xiao Yuan Sangong. At the same time, Yan Xiang had to cite the precedent of Xiao Yuan Sangong abandoning Nanyang and going to Huainan in the past, which made Xiao Yuan Sangong more and more shaken in hesitation.

According to the crow of Deputy Director Tao, on the evening of the fifth day after the siege began, Xiao Yuan Sangong did receive news related to Liu Xiang - Danyang Taishou Zhou Shang, who surrendered to Xiao Yuan Sangong, sent someone to report, saying that Liu Miao had concentrated 40,000 troops to attack Wanling City, where Zhou Shang's army was stationed, and Zhou Shangjie, who was greatly injured in the battle of Hefei, was defeated and retreated, and was about to be forced to retreat to Wanling to defend the city, so he had to beg Xiao Yuan Sangong to send troops to help, otherwise, Yuan Shu's army in the Wanling town in the south of the Yangtze River would be taken by Liu Xiang, the sworn enemy of Xiao Yuan Sangong.

"My lord, the situation is so critical, we must make a decision immediately." After hearing this news, Yan Xiang took the opportunity to persuade Xiao Yuan Sangong and said: "The time limit given to us by the Xuzhou thief army is only two days, and after two days, Tao Ying will officially launch a siege of the thief. It is better for a strong man to break his wrist, first save the living force, cross the river to clean up the strength is not as good as our army, as long as Liu Xiangpifu is defeated, Jiangdong six counties and eighty-one cities, it is also easy for the lord to be able to obtain, and Jiangdong has the Yangtze River to defend, the people are rich in food, the lord is based on Jiangdong to build the cause of the king, and it may not be a flower in the water, the moon in the mirror. ”

Xiao Yuan Sangong was silent for half an hour, and finally trembled and personally took out the heirloom jade seal that Deputy Director Tao entrusted him with custody, handed it to Yan Xiang and instructed: "Go and hand it over to Tao Ying thief, tell him that his conditions, lonely ......, I have agreed to all of them." ”

(To be continued)