In fact, even if Yuan Tan Gongzi did not choose to surrender because of Chrysanthemum's serious injury, and even if Yuan Tan Gongzi was lucky enough to escape from the pursuit of the Xuzhou army and fled back to his own camp, Yuan Tan Gongzi's army had to withdraw. First, because Yuan Tan Gongzi's main team, Jizhou Iron Cavalry, has been hit hard, and second, Boss Cao's side has also begun to move.

Because the eldest son was being held by Deputy Director Tao, after receiving Deputy Director Tao's letter for help, Boss Cao did not hesitate too much, and almost decided to send troops to help Deputy Director Tao on the spot, and also consolidated the newly baked Tao Cao hardcore covenant by the way, but of course Boss Cao would not be stupid to cross the Yellow River and go directly to fight Yuan Sangong's old nest Yecheng, but chose to send Xiahoudun to send troops from Juancheng, take Jibei to attack Qingzhou Licheng, and ordered Lu Qiantun to attack Linzi City, Yuan Tan's base camp Linzi City, From the side, the pressure on Deputy Director Tao on the Langya battlefield was relieved.

It also happened that on the day Yuan Tan Gongzi was captured, the news that Cao Laoda's team attacked Qingzhou in two ways also happened to be sent to the main camp of Yuan Tan's army under Juxian County, causing Chun Yuqiong and Guo Tu and others to be forced to give up the plan to rescue Yuan Tan Gongzi by force, and immediately withdraw the army back to Zhuxian, ready to return to Qingzhou at any time, and avoid the doom of being flanked by Tao Cao's two armies.

"Eldest son, you are really a son who can't be helped, this time, even if you can come back alive, don't want to let the lord make you your heir in this life." This is also Mr. Guo Tu's lament after persuading Chun Yuqiong to withdraw from the counties.

"What should I exchange my brother-in-law for my father-in-law?"

This question is, of course, the idea of filial piety son-in-law Deputy Director Tao at the moment, before the start of the Langya War, Deputy Director Tao, who has been recuperating on the main northern front for a long time, faced the Jizhou division led by Yuan Tan, although it is basically a stable victory, and he has also fantasized about capturing the annoying brother-in-law Yuan Tan Gongzi on the battlefield, but when he really caught the good card of the brother-in-law, Deputy Director Tao found that he was unprepared, and he didn't think about how to maximize the benefits of this good card. How to use this card to get the most political and practical benefits for yourself.

"Tell Yuan Shao to exchange thousands of good horses for his son, and then ask Yuan Shao to compensate us for the war losses in Langya County!"

This is of course the unanimous suggestion of many Xuzhou generals, because in recent years, although the Great Yuan Sangong has indeed opened the war horse trade to the Xuzhou army, but the price is very high, even the Xuzhou army with abundant money and food often shouts that it is unbearable, and the war horses purchased at high prices are not much left except for the generals and scouts to ride, which seriously delays the construction of the cavalry team of the Xuzhou army, resulting in the Xuzhou army so far except for the serious gentleman army, there is no decent cavalry team, This will finally seize a good opportunity to extort free war horses, and the fierce generals under Deputy Director Tao will naturally not be polite.

Of course, this suggestion of the generals of Xuzhou was resolutely opposed by the military strategists Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye, and they persuaded together: "Lord, you must not act so roughly, Yuan Benchuzhi is wise, self-exalted, short-sighted, and born in the family of the third prince of the fourth world, the most important thing is to extort money and food from the war horse, not only is it destined to be difficult to succeed, but also may attract a monstrous disaster, and even attract Yuan Benchu's army to attack our army. ”

In addition, Liu Ye persuaded Deputy Director Tao again: "My lord, Yuan Benchu seized Hebei, there are many generals, money and food are abundant, and the army is strong, and our army is far better than being an enemy with it, so it is better to return Yuan Tan to Yuan Benchu, and take this opportunity to ease the contradictions with him, rebuild the old friendship, and form an alliance again, which is the best policy." ”

Deputy Director Tao was a little tempted, and said hesitantly: "I also had this intention for a long time, but considering that this move is too weak, once Lord Yuezhang feels that I am weak and can be bullied, it may force me step by step and backfire, so I ......." Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao shook his head again and continued to hesitate.

"Lord, cut Yuan Tan Pifu with a knife!" It was our heartthrob Yang Hong Yang Changshi who put forward this amazing suggestion, this time in order to prevent accidents, Deputy Director Tao brought our Yang Changshi to the Langya army to listen to the army, and as a result, our Yang Changshi remembered that he was almost beheaded by Yuan Tan Gongzi when he was in Jizhou, and he was immediately angry, and took the opportunity to announce his personal vendetta and put forward this vicious suggestion.

As a result, it was natural that Yang Changshi's suggestion of course attracted a lot of boos, not to mention that Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye rolled their eyes at Yang Changshi, and even the generals of Xuzhou who were slashing people with knives all day long shouted, "Mr. Zhongming, what are you kidding?" Just cut Yuan Tan Pifu with a knife like this, isn't it too cheap for this Pifu and Yuan Shao? ”

"I'm not kidding." Yang Changshi shook his head and said very unexpectedly: "My lord, Your Majesty suggested that after Yuan Tan Pifu was beheaded, he would send Yuan Tan Pifu's head to Xuchang to offer Cao Ying, so that Yuan Benchu would think that we killed Yuan Tan at the instigation of Cao Ying, so that Yuan Benchu would not hate us but only Cao Ying, even if Yuan Benchu sent troops to retaliate, it would be to retaliate against Cao Ying first and then retaliate against us. ”

Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye's eyes lit up, and they both felt that although Yang Changshi's strategy was rough, as long as it was slightly modified, it might not be almost unsuccessful, and Deputy Director Tao, who had never thought about us, shook his head resolutely and said: "No, this strategy is too easy to crack, if I am Cao Ying, I only need to carve an agarwood body for Yuan Tan and bury it with the courtesy of a minister, then Lord Yue will not hate Cao Ying but will hate us, and maybe he will stir Cao Ying and Lord Yue together again, and join hands to clean us up." ”

"Really?" Yang Changshi was disappointed, and did not give up at the instigation: "But the lord, Yuan Tan Pifu was originally not with our army, and this time he suffered such a big loss, and seriously injured his unsightly body Gu Dao, which is equivalent to giving him a double shame, with this vertical temper, just let him go back to Jizhou, and he will definitely try to take revenge on us in the future?" ”

Yang Changshi's fanning still didn't work, because Deputy Director Tao had long known that even if he put Yuan Tan back in Jizhou, Yuan Tan would not be grateful to him and would definitely hate himself even more, but Deputy Director Tao was really not afraid of Yuan Tan's revenge, and now the only thing that Deputy Director Tao is embarrassed about is how to use Yuan Tan's good card to seek the greatest benefit for himself, and not to completely Da Yuan Sangong.

After playing with an arrow for a long time, Deputy Director Tao suddenly had such a thought, and casually asked the civil and military forces in front of him: "Princes, in your opinion, do you think that my father-in-law is too strong?" Sitting in the land of four states, hundreds of thousands of people wearing armor, strong soldiers and horses, sufficient food and grass, and born in the family of the third prince of the fourth world, protégés are all over the world, and the people of the scholar clan are aspiring, is this strength too strong? ”

The Xuzhou Wenwu people present looked at each other, and they didn't understand why Deputy Director Tao asked this mentally handicapped question, and they didn't know how to answer for a while. Deputy Director Tao pondered and asked: "Hypothesis, I'm talking about hypothesis, assuming that our military alliance with Cao Ying continues, and we truly achieve intimacy and work together, then when Lord Yuezhang destroys Gongsun Zhan and returns to the south, we and Cao Ying join forces to resist Lord Yuezhang, who has the advantage on both sides?" ”

This time someone finally opened his mouth to answer, and Liu Ye, who is good at intelligence analysis, replied respectfully: "My lord, it is still the original prince who has the advantage, although the territory of our army and Cao Ying together also has more than two states, but Cao Ying's Yanzhou has been damaged too much by the war, the people's livelihood has withered, there is a shortage of grain and grass, and the population is not as good as the previous two or three ten; Although our army is much better than Cao Ying in terms of money, food, and population, the quality of our army's soldiers is not as good as that of Cao Ying and Yuan Shao, and our army's control area is long and narrow from north to south, and it is difficult to concentrate our forces on one point, and the northern front is very lacking in danger to defend, so it is very difficult for our army to fight on the northern front. ”

"The situation of Ben Chu Gong is different, the first is that he sits on the land of four states, and the population, money and food are more than our army and Cao army combined; The second is that the original public has a stable source of war horses, and it is easy to form strong cavalry; The third is that Ben Chu Gong has no worries about the rear, unlike our army and Cao Jun, the rear has more or less some problems and hidden dangers, so even if our army and Cao Jun really work together and have no suspicion of each other, when it comes to a full-scale war, the overall strength is still far inferior to Ben Chu Gong. ”

"One more question." Deputy Director Tao asked again: "When our army joins forces with the Cao army, or when our army fights the Jizhou army alone, if my father-in-law does not make a fatal mistake, who has a better chance of winning?" ”

"Why does the lord knowingly ask?" Liu Ye replied with a wry smile: "All the teams of our army together barely reach 100,000 people, and the combat effectiveness of most of the troops is not as good as that of the Jizhou army, and they cannot all be put into the battlefield of the northern front. Cao Ying likes to use military force, and the army is about 150,000 or 60,000, but the elite army that can really be sent to fight on the northern front is less than 50,000 troops. Ben Chu Gong can easily mobilize tens of thousands, or even two or three hundred thousand elite troops to go south, the difference between strength and weakness is huge, as long as Ben Chu Gong does not make fatal mistakes, whether our army joins forces with Cao Ying, or fights the enemy with Ben Chu Gong alone, the chance of victory is ...... very small, and it is not very big. ”

"Yes, if the old man hadn't made the mistake of the black nest in history, Boss Cao would have burped in Guandu a long time ago." Deputy Director Tao thought in his heart, "Also, in history, even if the old man was wiped out in Guandu, he gathered hundreds of thousands of troops in Cangting in less than a year and fought with Cao Lao, and Cao Lao also won the battle of Cangting by luck by relying on the death battle and ambush on all sides. Even so, after the Cangting fiasco, the overall strength of the remaining army of the old man is still above Cao Boss, if it weren't for the fact that the old man himself couldn't figure it out and died, if it weren't for the two straw bales of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang who were fratricidal and defeated each other, Cao Boss might not be able to take Hebei. ”

Thinking about this, Deputy Director Tao suddenly asked a more mentally retarded question, "The last question, how old is my father-in-law, Benchugong, this year?" ”

"It's ......." Liu Ye was asked by Deputy Director Tao, but Jia Lao Poison on the side spoke: "Ben Chu Gong is two years older than Meng Degong, and he is forty and five this year. ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded, suddenly sat up straight and said: "It's decided, send Jizhou to ask Lord Yuezhang for peace, as long as Lord Yuezhang agrees to my two conditions, I will immediately return Yuan Tan with both hands, and once again ask Lord Yuezhang for guilt." ”

"Dare to ask the lord, those two conditions?" Liu Ye asked tentatively.

"The first condition is to ask Lord Yuezhang to abolish Chang Lixian and appoint the third son as his son-in-law." Deputy Director Tao said without blinking his eyelids: "The second condition is to ask Lord Yuezhang to remove the governor of Qingzhou, transfer Yuan Tan back to Jizhou, and select another person to serve as the governor of Qingzhou." ”

"What? It's that simple?! The Xuzhou generals present jumped up.

"Lord, this is unlikely, is it?" Liu Ye also exclaimed, "The original justice is in the prime of life, how can it be possible to set up a son-in-law now?" Besides, although you are the son-in-law of the original prince, the establishment of the heir is the Yuan family affair of the Yuan family, and if the lord intervenes rashly, the original prince will be furious! ”

"Generals, don't be anxious." Deputy Director Tao first smiled at the Xuzhou generals present and said, "Haven't the generals heard of the phrase "casting a long line to catch a big fish?" The third son, Yuan Shang, is my wife's half-brother, and the relationship is the most intimate, and he usually knows his attitude towards our Xuzhou army, and I strongly support him to be Yuan's sister-in-law this time, won't he be grateful to us in the future? Isn't that better than extorting money by force? ”

After listening to Deputy Director Tao's explanation, and remembering that Yuan Sangongzi was really good to the Xuzhou team, the generals in Xuzhou nodded again and no longer objected to Deputy Director Tao's decision. After pacifying the arrogant soldiers under his command, Deputy Director Tao turned to Liu Ye next to him, and said with a smile: "Mr. Ziyang's words are wrong, my son-in-law is half a son, I am the son-in-law of the Yuan family, and Lord Yuezhang chose to be the future master of the Yuan family, how can I not be qualified to express my opinion?" ”

"But ......."

Liu Ye, who had not yet reached the level of Deputy Director Tao, wanted to open his mouth to dissuade him, but the old Jia poison next to him suddenly opened his mouth and said with a chuckle: "What does Mr. Ziyang have to worry about? Our lord, when has something gone wrong on such a question? ”

"Is there a queen in the lord?" Liu Ye's heart sank, and when he saw that Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison were smiling very gently and kindly-exactly the same as when he was usually preparing to trap people and harm people, Liu Ye suddenly realized in his heart, and quickly smiled and retreated, and thanked Jia Lao Poison with a light smile: "Thank you Mr. Wenhe for your advice, it seems that Ye will have to learn more from the lord and Mr. Wenhe in the future." ”

After sending Liu Ye away, Deputy Director Tao turned to Yang Changshi next to him and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhongming, you are my chief diplomatic master in Xuzhou, and this trip to Jizhou has a great responsibility, so it seems that you have to go out in person." ”

"Me?" Yang Changshi was stunned at first, and then immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and said tremblingly: "Lord, our army is at war with the Jizhou army, and it has just severely damaged the elite cavalry of the first duke, let Weichen send an envoy to Jizhou, in case the first duke is angry and ......, Weichen will no longer have a chance to serve you." ”

"What is Mr. Zhongming afraid of?" Deputy Director Tao continued to laugh and said, "Yuan Tan is in our hands, unless Lord Yuezhang doesn't want his son's life, will it kill my close confidants?" Besides, you are going to give a gift to the third prince this time, and the third prince still has to protect you desperately? ”

After laughing, Deputy Director Tao didn't care whether Yang Changshi agreed or not, and directly yawned and said: "Okay, let's break up the account, the generals will go back to train the team to prevent Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong from killing us." Mr. Zhongming, Mr. Wenhe, and Mr. Ziyang stayed and sent an envoy to Jizhou, and I still have some explanations. ”

The generals in Xuzhou sang a promise and left one after another, until there was no one in the big tent of the Chinese army who could leak secrets, and Deputy Director Tao called Yang Changshi to the front again, and whispered to the audience. And when Deputy Director Tao whispered after saying that he was charitable, peaceful, family and friendly, Liu Ye and Jia Lao Poison suddenly laughed so hard that their eyes narrowed, and they hurriedly expressed their admiration to Deputy Director Tao again and again, but our Yang Changshi was sad and said very depressed: "In this way, Weichen has to endure hardships like last time when he goes to Jizhou this time?" ”

"It's absolutely impossible to be pushed into the court again, at most I'm a little frightened." Deputy Director Tao smiled and comforted, and encouraged: "Mr. Zhong Ming, rest assured, after the matter is completed, the northern front of our army will be temporarily safe, and when the main force of our army will go south to attack the city and plunder the land, I will take you south to confiscate the enemy's property." ”

Thinking that Deputy Director Tao's plan was indeed not in danger, Yang Changshi immediately turned his worries into joy, patted his chest and promised to complete the task, while Jia Lao Poison next to him suggested: "Lord, why don't you let Cao Mengde also participate in this matter?" After all, if the lord does this, he can also take the opportunity to benefit from it. ”

"Just let him know the conditions for my release of Yuan Tan." Deputy Director Tao replied: "But there is no need to pull him in, after all, our alliance is only temporary, and we must prevent him from stabbing us in the back." Besides, we must also use the hand of the Jizhou army to weaken him, and there is no need to help him ease the relationship with the Jizhou army. Jia Lao Poison nodded and retreated.

After discussing the military situation and war with Deputy Director Tao for a while, seeing that Deputy Director Tao was really tired after yawning, Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye and others also submitted their farewell, and Deputy Director Tao did not keep it, but just told Jia Lao Poison and others to rest, and then asked Jia Xu and others to say goodbye and leave. But after everyone left, Deputy Director Tao still didn't go back to the tent to rest, but continued to play with the arrows in his hand, and the only one left in the big tent Lord Bo Chen Ying was a little strange, so he asked: "Lord, do you still have something on your mind?" ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded, and suddenly asked, "Yuan Fang, who do you say is more difficult to deal with compared to Cao Ying and Yuan Shao?" ”

"Of course, it's the lord's father-in-law." Chen Ying said with a smile: "Didn't Mr. Ziyang say just now, our army and the Cao army are not as good as the Jizhou army combined, and Ben Chu Gong is of course more difficult to deal with than Cao thief." ”

"Really?" Deputy Director Tao was noncommittal, but secretly said in his heart: "I'm afraid it may not be." ”

"My lord, there is a little thing that must be told to you." Seeing that Deputy Director Tao was free, Chen Ying said again: "The detailed investigation sent by our army to Xuchang found out that when Ben Chu Gong decided to send troops to punish our army, Bo Sima Lang, the prime minister of Cao Thief, once strongly persuaded Cao Thief to make peace with Ben Chu Gong and exchange for hostages to send troops to attack our army, but Cao Thief sternly refused. ”

"Is there such a thing?" Deputy Director Tao was a little surprised.

"It was our army who inadvertently learned from the mouth of the Cao thief guard, I don't know if it's true or not." Chen Ying replied, and said quite suspiciously: "It stands to reason that Sima Lang should not have this attitude towards our army, it should be that he is strange about this, so he will report it to the lord alone." ”

Deputy Director Tao blinked his triangular eyes, and after a long time, Deputy Director Tao suddenly said to Chen Ying: "Yuan Fang, after Mr. Zhongming sets off for Jizhou, you will take over the errand of appeasing Yuan Tan, Gao Ran, and Xin Bi, these high-ranking prisoners of war." During this period, you have to build a good relationship with Yuan Tan, and then find an opportunity to tell a story in front of Yuan Tan alone. ”

"Storytelling? What story to tell? Chen Ying asked with some surprise.

Deputy Director Tao blinked his triangular eyes again, and said with a chuckle: "It's a little story called the change of Xuanwu Gate. ”

(To be continued)