As an excellent servant of the Han Dynasty, since our Deputy Director Tao has promised to give Chen Guojun to Boss Cao, and also promised to give Boss Cao 30,000 military rations, then he must keep his promise when he says it, especially when the Xuzhou army does not have the strength to keep Chen Guojun at present, Deputy Director Tao is more willing to keep his promise and deceive the world again. However, keeping the promise is obeying the promise, this does not mean that Deputy Director Tao is willing to let Boss Cao go cheaply by himself, and on the way back to Chen Guo with the Junzi Army, Deputy Director Tao has been thinking about a problem, how to keep his promise while then yin Boss Cao?

It's okay for poor Boss Cao, at this time, even the heavens can't look at the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of our Deputy Director Tao, on the same day that Deputy Director Tao deceived Xu Chu, Deputy Director Tao's rear nest in Xuzhou finally ignited the flames of war, and also opened a new page of the Xuzhou War!

Zhang Liao was ordered to lead the army south to arrive in Xiaopei, and Zhang Chao, the important minister of the accompanying Lu Bu army, immediately went to Liu Huangshu to flicker, and insisted that Tao Qian's father and son refused Lu Bu's request twice to look down on Lu Wenhou, so Lu Bu's army decided to start a war with Tao Qian's army to punish Tao Qian's father and son's ungrateful evil deeds, Zhang Liao's army was only the vanguard, and the main force of Lu Bu's army had begun to assemble and prepare, and could attack Xuzhou in an all-out way at any time under the leadership of Lu Bu. And Uncle Liu Huang was dreaming of such a day, of course, he reconciled a few words of false persuasion, and then expressed his understanding of Lu Wenhou's military action.

Originally, Uncle Liu Huang still wanted to stay out of the matter, and it would be best to wait for Lu Bu and Tao Qian's father and son to lose before intervening, but Lu Bujun was not stupid, at least Zhang Chao asked Uncle Liu Huang to fulfill his obligations as an ally, and joined forces with his own army to attack Tao Qian's father and son, and promised that after the matter was completed, he would equally share the money, grain and land of the five counties of Xuzhou with Uncle Liu Huang. In this regard, Uncle Liu Huang, who hoped to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, of course did everything possible to find an excuse to refuse, but Zhang Chao took out the alliance signed by Lu Bu and Uncle Liu Huang - it was clearly written that Lu Bujun and Liu Beijun could ask the other party to send troops to help regardless of which side took military action, and the other party must not refuse!

Seeing the covenant he proposed to sign, Uncle Liu Huang, who had suffered by himself, was completely speechless, but fortunately, Zhang Chao said that he did not need Uncle Liu's army to charge into battle as cannon fodder, and only asked Uncle Liu to cover the flank of Lu Bu's army and protect the grain route of Lu Bu's army. Uncle Liu Huang, who didn't dare to destroy the alliance and scold, was forced to be helpless, so he had to agree to send troops to help and join forces with Lu Bujun to attack Xuzhou, which was okay, and the excuse for war was also very sufficient.

Finalized the details of the joint operation, Deputy Director Tao deceived Xu Chu on the same morning, Zhang Liao's army from Xiaopei to the south, to the Xuzhou army fifty miles away from Liuxian launched an attack, Liu Huangshu left Guan Yu to guard Xiaopei, and Zhang Fei led an army of 3,000 to follow up to protect Zhang Liao's flank and prevent Pengcheng from sending troops to reinforce Liuxian. Zang Ba, the general of Xuzhou stationed in Liuxian, was furious when he heard the news, and immediately led 4,000 Langya elite soldiers out of the city and went ten miles north of Liuxian to meet the Luliu coalition army.

Zang Bajun and Lu Liu Coalition Army two armies in a circle, each with a strong bow and crossbow to shoot the position, Zang Ba rode out of the gun, scolded Lu Bujun for being ungrateful, received the benefits of Xuzhou and came to take revenge, and invaded the territory of Xuzhou. Zhang Liao also scolded immediately, also accusing the Xuzhou army of being ungrateful and prevaricating the perfunctory life-saving benefactor Lu Wenhou.

Zang Ba and Zhang Liao each slapped their horses and spears to fight, and fought for twenty or thirty rounds without winning or losing, Zhang Fei, who was watching the battle on the flank, saw that his hands were itchy, and he even slapped his horse and rushed to join the battlefield, Zang Ba's deputy Sun Guan's brother Sun Kang stepped forward to meet him, but he was stabbed under the horse by Zhang Fei with a spear and died on the spot. Seeing this scene, the panicked Zang Ba had to sell a flaw and pull out the horse and leave, fleeing back to his own position, Zhang Liao took the opportunity to wave the army to cover up the killing, Zang Ba's army was defeated, and was forced to flee back to Liuxian to close the city and defend it, and at the same time sent a messenger to Xuzhou to report the news that the Lu-Liu coalition army had started a war, and asked the Xuzhou army to prepare for the battle, and to be ready to withdraw to Xuzhou.

Although Uncle Liu Huang was very dissatisfied with Zhang Fei's unauthorized battle and Tao Qianjun's mortal enmity, he also greatly increased his confidence, and Zhang Liao joined forces to camp outside the county, and took the initiative to sacrifice the siege weapon thunderbolt car stolen by the Mizhu brothers from Tao Ying, and wanted to join forces with Zhang Liao to break through Liuxian. Zhang Liao, who was shouldering the secret order, and Liu Huang Shuxu and the snake, secretly prepared to withdraw the army.

In the early morning of the next day, when Uncle Liu Huang was about to go to see Zhang Liao to discuss the siege of the city, Zhang Liao preemptively sent a messenger to meet Uncle Liu Huang, showing the Lü Bu warrant that he had just received, saying that Cao Jun had borrowed a batch of grain and grass from Yuan Shao, and had already left Juancheng again and was going to Shanyang to kill, and Lü Wenhou had no choice but to temporarily give up the plan to attack Xuzhou, and ordered Zhang Liao to immediately collect his troops and go north - so I'm sorry, General Zhang Liao could only withdraw his troops immediately, and he would not play with Uncle Liu for the time being.

After reading this Lu Bu warrant, Liu Bei, who had only completely torn his face with Tao Qian's father and son yesterday, was naturally struck by lightning, and he was dumbfounded on the spot, and he didn't know whose mother to scold for a while? General Zhang Liao didn't wait for Uncle Liu's reply at all, and under the pretext that the military situation in Yanzhou was urgent, he immediately pulled out the camp and went north, and retreated to Shanyang at night, leaving Uncle Liu to bear the revenge and anger of the Xuzhou army alone! Uncle Liu Huang, who had already ridden a tiger, did not dare to stay here and wait for death, and after reacting, he quickly withdrew his troops and returned to Xiaopei, while Zang Ba, who had just suffered a defeat, was inexplicable in staying in the county seat, until he caught a lone soldier of the Lu Bu army, and then he knew what was going on.

It was confirmed that Lu Bu had withdrawn from the army, and Uncle Liu's good words in Xuzhou had finally come to an end, and the generals of Xuzhou, who were thunderous, went to the Assassin's Mansion to ask for battle, asking to concentrate the main force to go north, and take advantage of the fire to rob and kill Uncle Liu Huang who was eating inside and out, Zang Ba sent troops to chase and kill without waiting for orders, and fought several battles with Zhang Fei of the Royal Palace, and drove Uncle Liu's team back to Xiaopeicheng, which was surrounded by soaking water and Surabaya on three sides, and then angrily collected the troops and returned to Liuxian. The honeymoon period between the Xuzhou army and Liu Beijun for nearly a year has finally come to an end.

The matter is not over, in view of Liu Beijun's bad behavior of luring wolves into the house and aiding the abuse, the Xuzhou army is furious from top to bottom, whether it is Cao Bao or Zang Ba, they are resolutely asking for war and asking to send troops to kill Liu Bei. Fortunately, there was also a cool-headed Chen Deng in Xuzhou City, knowing that attacking Liu Bei with all his might at this time would only benefit Lu Bu in the end, so Chen Deng tried to persuade the generals to calm down, and at the same time sent a fast horse to Yuzhou to contact Tao Ying, report the military situation in Xuzhou, and ask Tao Ying to return to Xuzhou as soon as possible to preside over the overall situation.

The road from Xuzhou to Chen was already under the control of the Xuzhou army, so when Tao Ying led the Junzi army and Xu Chu's hundreds of clans back to Chen Guocheng, Chen Deng's messenger had also arrived in Chen Guocheng, and the news that Cao Ying had also sent envoys to Xuzhou to borrow grain. After hearing these two news, Tao Ying immediately gave up the idea of pitting Boss Cao again, and didn't even bother to wash his face, so he immediately pulled Lu Su into the conference hall to discuss countermeasures.

As soon as he entered the conference hall and sat down, Tao Ying, who had a dry mouth, poured the freshly brewed tea in his hand, and couldn't wait to ask Lu Su: "Zijing, I haven't read Yuanlong's letter yet, did he say what he meant?" To fight or not to fight? What do you think? Do you think to fight or not to fight? ”

Chen Yuanlong didn't directly express his attitude in the letter, but he also tactfully reminded his son. Lu Su took out Chen Deng's handwritten letter and handed it to Tao Ying, while pointing to one of the lines and said: "Son, please see, Chen Deng made it clear in the letter that as far as the news he had, after Liu Bei returned to Xiaopei, he immediately sent envoys to Beihai and Qingzhou - so Chen Deng analyzed that Liu Bei wanted to ask Kong Rong and Tian Kai to mediate and make peace." ”

"Old fox, knowing that I want fame, I can't help but give Kong Rong and Tian Kai face, so I pulled them to participate." Tao Ying snorted coldly, and then analyzed: "Chen Yuanlong focused on this matter, could it be that he opposed our army and Liu Bei's all-out war?" ”

"That's what I think about below." Lu Su replied: "Chen Yuanlong can see very clearly, with the current strength of our army, although the problem of defeating Liu Bei is not big, but the loss is bound to be not small. Therefore, fighting at this time, although our army has a chance of winning, it will only benefit Lu Bu. ”

Tao Ying drank another cup of tea, holding the empty teacup with his eyes rolling around, and asked again: "Zijing, in your opinion, should our army accept the reconciliation of Kong Rong and Tian Kai?" Or seize this opportunity to completely eradicate Liu Bei, a tumor in Xuzhou? ”

"Childe, then I'll be blunt." Lu Su said in a deep voice: "I agree with Chen Yuanlong's proposition, and to eradicate Liu Bei at this time will do more harm than good to our army!" There are three reasons, first, it is difficult for our army to form an absolute advantage over Liu Bei's army, although the strength of the Xuzhou army is more than six times that of Liu Bei, but the strength of our army is distributed in the five counties of Xuzhou, Liu Beijun only needs to defend Xiaopei City, our army is scattered and the enemy army is gathered, the local advantage is not obvious enough, even if the decisive battle is won, it will inevitably pay a considerable price. ”

"Second, Lu Bu is a huge threat, Lu Bu provoked a war and immediately withdrew from Xuzhou, although the tactical purpose is to provoke our army to fight a decisive battle with Liu Bei, but the strategic purpose is still to annex the entire territory of Xuzhou! Our army fought a decisive battle with Liu Bei, and Lu Bu reaped the profits, and he could go south to Xuzhou at any time! And Lu Bu's military strength is already superior to our army, if our army suffers heavy losses in the decisive battle with Liu Bei, one will eliminate the other's strengths, and Lu Bu will inevitably have more advantages. ”

"Third, Liu Bei and Gongsun Chan are friends of life and death, Kong Rong has received Liu Bei's great favor, Tian Kai is Gongsun Chan's general, he asked Kong Rong Tian Kai to come forward to reconcile, Tian Kai and Kong Rong will inevitably agree, then the son will refuse to reconcile, offended only Kong Rong and Tian Kai two Xuzhou benefactors, and the lord said that the ally, our Xuzhou army in the north of the largest reinforcement - Gongsun Zhan!"

Speaking of this, Lu Su looked at Tao Ying's face, and then said: "If you offend Gongsun Zhan, even if Gongsun Zhan, who is confronting Yuan Shao, is temporarily unable to threaten our army, as long as you cut off the war horse trade with our army, Gongzi, your plan to expand your army will be in vain." ”

"So, Zijing is also against a decisive battle with Liu Bei?" Tao Ying asked with a deep groan.

"Yes, although Liu Bei is weak, he will move his whole body, even if he wins the tactics, he will only lose the strategy." Lu Su replied.

Tao Ying stopped talking, turned the teacup and calculated for a long time, Tao Ying finally spoke, and said very seriously: "Zijing, your analysis and worries are very reasonable, and I also understand Yuanlong's hints, but I think that this time I can't accept your proposition!" In my opinion, this decisive battle with Liu Bei must be fought, and it must be fought resolutely! ”

"Why?" Lu Su asked rhetorically.

"There are two reasons, one is that the opportunity is rare, I must seize this opportunity once and for all, and completely solve the hidden danger of Liu Bei!" Tao Ying gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "Liu Bei has long had the intention of annexing Xuzhou, and he has made waves in Xuzhou and fanned the flames. This time, Liu Bei united with Lu Bu to attack Xuzhou, killed my Xuzhou generals, and invaded my Xuzhou land. If I endure it any longer, not only will it be difficult to have this opportunity, but I will continue to be constrained internally by Liu Bei's thieves, and it will be difficult to rest assured that I will be able to start my fists and feet! Therefore, this battle must be fought, Liu Bei must be annihilated, and at least he must be driven out of Xuzhou! ”

Lu Su nodded silently, and also knew that Tao Ying had hated Liu Bei to the bone for a long time, Tao Ying trained the gentleman's army Liu Bei to make trouble, made new weapons Liu Bei stole the blueprints, integrated the internal Liu Bei to entrap the Mi Zhu brothers, and even instructed the Mi Zhu brothers to provoke the brother dispute between Tao Ying and the Tao merchant, and sent assassins to try to assassinate Tao Qian, and there were many evil deeds. After nodding, Lu Su asked again, "Childe, what about the second reason?" ”

"The second reason is that Xuzhou can't be weak!" Tao Ying sneered and said: "Xuzhou is a place of four wars, there is no natural danger to defend around, and it is relatively rich and rich in money and food, whether it is a person or a ghost, everyone wants to cut a piece of meat on our father and son!" Horses are good at being ridden, people are good at being bullied, and blindly tolerating it will only make the jackals, tigers and leopards around us feel that we are weak and can be bullied. So we have to be tough and make these jackals and leopards understand that we are not easy to provoke, so that they will be in awe of us. Don't dare to provoke us casually! ”

"Especially this time, we can't show weakness at all!" Tao Ying slammed the teacup on the case, and said viciously: "Liu Bei only has a city of Xiaopei, and only 6,000 troops, and he dares to kill my Xuzhou general and violate our military might!" If I don't fight back, the surrounding Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Gongsun Zhan and Cao Ying will think that my Xuzhou is weak and bulliable, and they will be more and more greedy for our Xuzhou! So this time, I must fight, I want to let these jackals, tigers and leopards see clearly, what kind ......of pitiful end will there be if I mess with my demolition and relocation office, and if I mess with my Xuzhou Taoying! ”

Although Tao Ying broke his promise to obey Lu Su this time, Lu Su was not angry, but just suggested: "Since the son has made up his mind, then he will not object to it, and the words of the son are also reasonable, Ma is good and is ridden, and people are bullied, and it is time to show my Xuzhou military strength." I no longer oppose it, but I must make another suggestion that this battle must either not be fought, or if it is to be fought, it must be fought immediately! Fight quickly and don't give other princes a chance to interfere! Don't give Gongsun Chan a chance to reconcile and mediate! ”

"That's exactly what I mean." Tao Ying slapped the case and said even more fiercely: "It's decided, our army will not withdraw to Xuzhou City for the time being, and go north from Peiguo to Xiaopei, and kill the big-eared thief by surprise!" Our army now has soldiers and food, and also has eight siege trebuchets to attack Xiaopei directly, and there is no need to make any preparations! ”

"Childe, the soldier is fast." Lu Su suggested again: "If Gongzi can be trusted, he can lead the Junzi army first, go straight to Xiaopei, first frustrate Liu Bei's spirit in the field battle, and beat Liu Bei to destroy the thief and dare not go out of the city to fight!" The infantry and the baggage food team were handed over to the subordinates to lead, and then arrived to assist Gongzi in attacking Xiaopeicheng! ”

"Zijing said with a smile, you are the military advisor of my Gentleman's Army, if I can't even trust you, then who can I trust?" Tao Ying smiled, and said in his heart that you Lu Su is also the governor of the whole country of Eastern Wu, and I will hand over the infantry to you, can I still rest assured? Besides, most of the grain robbed this time has been sent to Peiguo, and I am still afraid that he will be chased to the hinterland of Peiguo to rob it?

After finalizing this resolution, Tao Ying and Lu Su immediately discussed the details of the war, and decided not to use the soldiers and horses of the four counties of Xuzhou in addition to the Western Expeditionary Army and the soldiers and horses of Pengcheng County, so as not to expose flaws, and at the same time ordered Lu You to lead an army of 3,000 from Xuzhou to the north to the East China Sea, assist Xu Xuan, the prime minister of the East China Sea, to guard Tancheng, and not give the Mizhu family, which is deeply rooted in the East China Sea, a chance to respond to Liu Bei's flow to the East China Sea. He then ordered Chen Deng and Cao Bao to send more food and grass to the Zang Ba army stationed in Liuxian County, so that the Junzi army could eat after arriving first, replenish bows and arrows, and let Zang Ba be responsible for assisting Tao Ying in attacking Xiaopei, and Cao Bao and Chen Deng were responsible for military logistics.

As for Chen Guojun's side, due to the forced situation, Tao Ying could only decide to keep his promise, leave an auxiliary army to temporarily guard Chen Guocheng, and at the same time leave 30,000 pieces of grain in the city, and after the arrival of Cao's army, he would transfer the city with the grain to Cao Laoda. As for the plan of Boss Cao to send envoys and personally propose an alliance to suppress Lu, although Tao Ying was moved, he couldn't agree casually, and after thinking about it again, he decided to refuse - Boss Cao is now Yuan Shao's hardcore ally, and Yuan Shao is the sworn enemy of Gongsun Zhan, Xuzhou's largest war horse trading partner.

But fortunately, Lu Bu grabbed Cao Bu's territory and gained a foothold, and the contradictions between the two sides could not be reconciled at all, so even if there was no direct alliance, Cao Boss would never be able to make peace with Lu Bu, and he could still contain the main force of Lu Bu's army in large quantities and reduce the pressure on Tao Ying. And in the same way, once Tao Ying, who has already turned his face with Lu Bu, destroys Liu Bei, he can also directly contain a large number of Lu Bu's main forces, so at this critical moment, it is not very likely that Boss Cao will turn his face again and make a black hand against Tao Ying for his own interests.

After arranging these and resting for another day in Chen Guocheng, Tao Ying once again led the Junzi army to set off first, returning to Peiguo via Qiaoxian. However, what made Deputy Director Tao dizzy was that it was not until the Junzi Army arrived at the foot of Peiguo City that Deputy Director Tao suddenly remembered a major event and shouted: "Oh no, I forgot a big thing!" ”

"What did Childe forget? Do you want to go back and do it for you? Xu Chu, who had been promoted to the commander of Xuzhou Cavalry, hurriedly asked.

"Alas! I'm so busy! Tao Ying smashed his fist in annoyance, and replied casually: "Zhongkang, no need, it's actually not a big deal, it's a person, I forgot a person." ”

When Xu Chu asked Deputy Director Tao who he had forgotten, Deputy Director Tao refused to answer anything, but muttered in his heart, "This time I passed through Qian County, why didn't I think about looking for her carefully?" If you bring her back to Xuzhou, Lin Qing, that little girl, still dare to show off her power in front of me? However, that little beauty shouldn't be too old now, right? ”

(To be continued)