"Lord, are you too reckless to join forces with Liu Bei to deal with Yuan Shupifu? Too light? Lu Su cautiously said to Tao Ying: "With a covenant signed by Liu Bei, I believe that Liu Bei will join forces with our army, miss the opportunity to hit Liu Beijun hard, and deliberately let Liu Bei flee back to Shouchun, is this not your usual style, my lord?" ”

"Yes, second brother, the younger brother was not present at the time, if the younger brother was present at the time, the younger brother would definitely resolutely oppose your decision." It wasn't until he returned to Quyang City that he knew that Tao Liu was just acting, and Tao Ji, who was also full of anxiety, said, "Who is the big-eared thief?" The world's No. 1 faithless, unrighteous and incorruptible, shameful, despicable and shameless person! He promised to make a sudden move when we attacked Shouchun, and joined forces with us to attack Yuan Shupifu inside and outside, and he said it nicely, but when the time comes, if the big-eared thief is untrustworthy and refuses to do it, what will he do? ”

"Three generals, won't you?" Chen Ying, who was the only one present at the time, said suspiciously: "The big-eared thief has a handwritten covenant in our hands, if he repents and breaks his promise, we can hand over the big-eared thief's handwritten covenant to Yuan Shu, and let Yuan Shu's old puppet go to him to settle accounts?" ”

"It's useless." Lu Su shook his head and said: "Not to mention that Liu Bei can deny it, he insists that we forged a fake book used to divide the alliance between Liu and Yuan, if Yuan Shu is smart enough, even if he knows that this covenant is true, in order to continue to use Liu Bei to destroy thieves, and for the sake of internal stability, he will also help Liu Bei insist that this covenant is forged by us." And even if Yuan Shu was not so smart, the smart people in his team would remind him to do so. ”

"Really?" Chen Ying, who had just been promoted to the commander of the army, had not been completely corrupted by Deputy Director Tao for a short time, and said in disbelief: "In this world, can there be such a shameless and scoundrel person? The autographed covenant written in white silk and black letters was written, and in the end, not only did he not obey it, but he also bit back and said that it was a forgery? ”

"Yes." Tao Ying finally spoke, and said with a sneer: "Just in terms of the thickness of the skin, compared to Xuande Gong, I have to sigh to myself!" Xuan Degong can definitely do such a thing. ”

"Then the lord, you still agree?" Chen Ying asked in surprise, Tao Ji also widened his eyes, only Lu Su was Tao Ying's confidant, and asked tentatively: "The lord deliberately fell into the scheme, could it be another reason?" ”

"There's a reason, of course." Tao Ying replied calmly: "The reason for this is that I suddenly found that I still underestimated Xuande Gong too much, and when I was not sure that I would kill him, I could only deliberately fall into the trick and wait for the next better opportunity to wipe out all the big-eared thieves." ”

Speaking of this, Tao Ying got up and walked to the map sand table, beckoned Lu Su and others to the side, pointed to the map sand table and said: "You see, this is the location where the big-eared thieves camped at that time, the terrain is open on all sides, our army only has more than 30,000 people, even if the nest is dispatched, the big-eared thieves cannot be completely surrounded, and at the same time, to the west of Liu Bei's camp, is Shaobi Lake and low-lying areas full of trees, reeds and swamps (that is, the current Wabu Lake), the terrain is very complicated, not suitable for tracking and surrounding, and it is not conducive to our cavalry action, So when the scout reported to me the location of Liu Bei's camp, I already understood the reason why the big-eared thief was marching eighty miles in a hurry, and he was grabbing this position to prepare for his life, so that I could defeat him, but I could not wipe him out. ”

"Don't think about winning, think about escaping first, this is only the first point of Xuande Gong's cleverness." Tao Ying continued: "What I admire even more is Xuande Gong's position on the wall, Yuan Shu asked him to go south to block our main force, making it clear that he was making him cannon fodder, he sent people under the fence and couldn't refuse, and knew that the rabble under his command was definitely not the opponent of the main force of our army, so he could only make a few preparations, while deliberately asking Yuan Shu for an unnecessary large amount of grain and grass, inducing Yuan Shu to refuse to bury his face and foreshadowing, while sending Sun Qian to ask us for peace and ask to join forces to deal with Yuan Shu, so that Xuande Gong could also act at the opportunity. ”

"Xuande Gong sued for peace, if I refuse his request for peace, it proves that I am determined to kill him, he will naturally flee to the back road prepared in advance, no matter how many teams he can keep, it is important to save his surname first. But if I am greedy for his cannon fodder team, want to reduce some of the battlefield pressure, and agree to Xuande Gong's request, then Xuande Gong not only keeps the team, but also is more invincible, as long as he is willing or needed, he can help our army easily take Shouchun and break through the main force of Yuan Shu's northern front, or you can gamble to help Yuan Shu resist our army with all his might, and you can also protect Yuan Shu at a critical moment to retreat to An Feng and flee to the hinterland of the Lujiang River to fish in troubled waters. He has a chance to make a comeback. ”

As soon as Tao Ying finished speaking, Tao Ji and Chen Ying had already scolded their mother, scolding Uncle Liu Huang for not being a thing, and sliding to this point, it was simply the peak, but they completely forgot that when the Xuzhou army first sent troops to Yanzhou, Deputy Director Tao's style was actually far above Uncle Liu Huang. Tao Ying didn't get angry, just smiled and added: "So even if Xuande Gong knew that there was little hope, and knew that there were countless people in our army who were not with him, he still sent Sun Qian to gamble, betting that I was eager to defeat Yuan Shu and break Yuan Shu at the lowest cost, maybe it would be possible to agree to his request." ”

"Liu Bei's villain's purpose is so despicable, and the lord has already seen through it, so why give Liu Bei a chance to put him in a more advantageous position?" Lu Su asked suspiciously: "At that time, if the lord refused Liu Bei's false intention to make peace and ordered the main force to attack, even if he couldn't kill Liu Bei's three brothers, he could still break his main force and cut off most of his wings?" ”

"Two reasons." Tao Ying raised two fingers and said with a smile: "First, the team of big-eared thieves does have hope to be used by me and inflict heavy damage on Yuan Shu from the inside. The second is that I found out through deduction that if I let the big-eared thief escape back to Shouchun with the team, I have a great chance to get a better chance of fighting the big-eared thief on a battlefield that is conducive to our army's total annihilation of the enemy. ”

"A decisive battle with big-eared thieves on a battlefield that is conducive to our army to annihilate the enemy?" Lu Su paused for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and blurted out: "The east bank of Feishui!" Liu Bei's team is still alive, and with Yuan Shu's surname of harming others and benefiting himself, he will definitely push Liu Bei to the west bank of Feishui, and construct three lines of defense to intercept layer by layer to prevent our army from attacking Shouchun. ”

"Wrong!"

Before Tao Ji and Chen Ying could show joy, Tao Ying had already shook his head decisively and said categorically: "It's not the east bank of Feishui!" The big-eared thief is slipperier than a fox, how can he die by himself? Even if Yuan Shu forced him to cross the river, he would do everything possible to shirk and refuse, the big-eared thief is not so stupid, my hatred for him is so deep, if he goes to the east bank of Feishui and camps on the backwater, how can I not consider this opportunity to completely annihilate him? So expecting the big-eared thief to cross the river and fight a decisive battle with us on our backs is something you can't even think about! ”

"So, where is the ideal battlefield that the lord said?" Lu Su asked curiously.

Tao Ying smiled slightly and replied, "Of course it's ............." ”

…………………………

Like Deputy Director Tao's analysis, after the main force of Xuzhou returned to Quyang to rest for a day, Liu Beijun really did not cross Feishui to build a peripheral defense line, but joined forces with Yuan Shujun to build river defense fortifications on the west bank of Feishui, and put on a posture of refusing to cross the river for a decisive battle. At the same time, a Xuzhou Xizuo who was lurking in Yuan Shu's army also risked death to send an important news, that is, yesterday morning, Liu Beijun's camp once entered a state of alert, and Liang Gang, Lei Bo and Liu Wei's teams outside Shouchun City also urgently assembled on alert, but in the end, I don't know why they were released from the state of alert together. The soldiers of Yuan Shujun, who were fighting for food, saw that little Yuan Sangong was treating his allies but not his own army, and Yuan Shujun's team was naturally full of complaints.

Hearing these news, and from the scout to explore the horse, it was confirmed that Yuan Shujun, who was deployed along the river, did enter a state of alert for a time without the approach of the Xuzhou army, and Deputy Director Tao, who vaguely guessed part of the reason, was of course overjoyed, and soon issued three orders! First, the main team set off to the east, concentrated twenty Xiangyang cannons, and went all out to attack the isolated city of Yinling guarded by Yuan Shujun's general Qiao Rui! Second, the orthodox siege tactics of encircling three and missing one for Yinling City were adopted, only attacking the east, west and north gates, leaving the south gate for the defenders to flee for their lives, and at the same time not to intercept the traffic messengers who contacted Yinling and Shouchun, and allowed Qiao Rui to contact Xiao Yuan Sangong at will. Third, Ling Tao Ji led the Junzi Army and 1,000 auxiliary troops to the east, bringing more fire-burning things such as fire oil, firewood and grass, rockets and flying muskets, burning all the pontoon bridges on the Feishui River, and at the same time responsible for monitoring and containing the main force of the Shouchun defenders of Xiao Yuan Sangong.

Among Tao Ying's three orders, the first Lu Su and the generals in Xuzhou all understood, knowing that if the nail of Qiao Rui was not removed, the Xuzhou army would not be able to concentrate its forces to attack Shouchun with peace of mind, but the second order and the third order everyone did not understand, and Qing Taoji was stunned and asked in person: "Second brother, what does it mean not to cut off the contact between Qiao Rui and Yuan Shu?" Once Yuan Shu knows that Yin Ling is in an emergency, he is likely to send troops to reinforce him? Also, the eight pontoon bridges built by Yuan Shupifu on the Feishui River can also be used to cross the river, wouldn't it be a pity to burn it? ”

"Don't ask, carry out the order, and you'll know the reason then." Tao Ying, who pays great attention to talent training, is abnormal this time, and did not explain the reason and purpose in detail to the stunned cousin, and the generals of Xuzhou also know that their lord has always been scheming, ruthless and poisonous far beyond ordinary people, and there must be some ulterior evil purpose in doing so, so Tao Ji and the other generals will not ask more, clasp their fists together, and honestly carry out the order.

In the evening of the same day, the main force of Xuzhou together with more than 30,000 cannon fodder troops successfully arrived at the city of Yinling, and set up a large camp outside the west gate of Yinling. At the same time, Qiao Rui Shao had to send a messenger to Shouchun in the starry night to report the emergency, and asked Xiao Yuan Sangong to prepare and send troops at a critical moment to contain it a little and relieve some of the pressure on the Yin Ling side.

Prior to this, Tao Ji also led the Junzi Army and a thousand auxiliary soldiers to the Feishui Ferry, and the Yuan Shujun team on the other side saw that Tao Ji had few soldiers, and began to think of crossing the river to fight, but after hearing the Zi Yue Shiyun recited by the Junzi Army neatly, Liang Gang, Lei Bo and Liu Wei and other Yuan Shujun generals still dispelled this idea - fighting with the Junzi Army who was recognized as invincible in the plain in the open area, no matter how stupid the Yuan Shujun generals were, would not do such a stupid thing! As for our Uncle Liu Huang, he hurriedly called Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to sleep with him, for fear that the two grumpy brothers would not be able to hold their breath and cross the fat water, and go to the gentleman's army to die in vain.

No enemy dared to cross the river to become honeycomb coal, the auxiliary soldiers of the Xuzhou army started to burn the bridge when it was naturally very easy, and even better, Yuan Shujun was afraid that the main force of Xuzhou would cross the river, and had already preemptively spread firewood and grass on the eight pontoon bridges, and was ready to burn the pontoon bridge at any time to prevent the Xuzhou army from crossing the river, so the soldiers of the Xuzhou army even saved the effort of laying firewood and grass, and boarded the pontoon bridge under the cover of the bow and crossbow of the Junzi army, poured fire oil and threw torches, and the eight pontoon bridges soon became eight fire bridges, which gradually collapsed and sank in the flames. Tao Ji also easily completed the first task assigned by his cousin.

The Xuzhou army actually burned all the pontoon bridges that could be easily crossed the river and stormed, and of course the upper and lower levels of Yuan Shujun's army were inexplicable, and they couldn't understand what medicine was sold in the gourd of the Xuzhou army? If it weren't for the urgent news of Qiaorui's Yin Tomb, Xiao Yuan Sangong would have even doubted for a while - could Gongsun Zhan really send troops to Langya, Tao Ying was afraid that the Huainan army would pursue, so he burned the pontoon bridge, right? Only Uncle Liu Huang knew Tao Ying as a person, knew that Tao Ying almost never made mistakes, and had an ominous premonition.

Another night passed, when the sky was all bright, the Xuzhou army's attack on the Yinling began, in accordance with the orthodox siege tactics step by step, first with firewood, grass and soil to fill the moat of the east and west and north gates of the Yinling, when the bridge Rui urgently led the defenders to release arrows to suppress, the Xiangyang artillery in the Xuzhou army beyond the era of the millennium began to exert its might, twenty Xiangyang cannons only one round of salvo fire, the predetermined main battlefield Yinling West Gate City Tower smashed to smithereens, the defenders on the city wall suffered heavy casualties, Qiao Rui himself was almost killed by the boulder, Xuzhou soldiers took the opportunity to desperately step forward, The archers hid behind the shields and fired arrows to suppress them, while the cannon fodder recruits took the opportunity to pour dirt and miscellaneous wood into the moat to patiently open the way forward.

There is no large river near Yinling, no matter how deep and widened the moat is not injected, there is little effect, so the Xuzhou army's river filling speed is very fast, and at the same time, the Xiangyang cannon of the Xuzhou army also shows its might, the defenders on the west gate of Yinling are smashed to the deaths and injuries, flesh and blood fly, and the Yinling city wall built by bricks and rammed earth is smashed to the bricks and collapses, there are potholes everywhere, the defenders are all frightened, morale is greatly reduced, Qiaorui once organized a death squad to go out of the city to raid the thunderbolt car formation, and was also killed by the Xu Sheng team who protected the Xiangyang cannon, lost two hundred death squads in vain, but they didn't even touch the side of the thunderbolt.

In the evening, the Xuzhou army had filled a considerable section of the moat at the west gate of Yinling, but Tao Ying was still not satisfied, and divided the cannon fodder auxiliary soldiers into several teams, taking turns to rest and fill the river overnight, just withdrew the Xiangyang artillery team, and replaced Hou Cheng into a leader to monitor the defenders in the city to prevent the bridge from going out of the city to attack. Qiao Rui saw that the Xuzhou army was well arranged, and he didn't dare to go out of the city to take risks, so he had to send a messenger out of the city from the south gate overnight, and rushed to Shouchun to report the emergency, saying that the catapult of the Xuzhou army was too powerful, and even if he blindly held on, he was afraid that it would be difficult to hold on for a long time, and hoped that Xiao Yuan Sangong would come up with an idea as soon as possible and appropriately and indirectly support the battlefield of Yinling.

Because Tao Ying deliberately ordered the Xuzhou army not to intercept the messenger who contacted Qiaoyinling and Shouchun, Qiaorui's emergency messenger smoothly bypassed the Xuzhou camp and brought the news into Shouchun City when it was dark, and after reading Qiaorui's military intelligence report, although Xiao Yuan Sangong immediately scolded Qiaorui for being incompetent and useless, he did not dare to take it lightly, so he could only quickly convene the military generals under his command and discuss the plan to reinforce Yinling with everyone.

"Lord, I can only save Zhao by encircling Wei." The first to speak was Yanzhou Assassin Shi Jinshang, who said helplessly: "Yinling City can't give up, once Yinling is gone, the Xuzhou thief army will be no longer contained, and it will inevitably attack Shouchun with all its might, saving Yinling is equivalent to saving Shouchun, and appropriately sending troops to disturb the back of the Xuzhou thief army can reduce a lot of pressure for General Qiao Rui." ”

The method that Jin Shang said was also the only way for Yuan Shujun at present, so Yuan Yin, Yuan Lian, Shu Shao and others all nodded in agreement, but Xiao Yuan Sangong asked a key question, "It's okay to send troops, who to send?" ”

Jin Shang and Shu Shao and other strategists all kept their mouths shut, sending troops to reinforce Yinling would have to be over Feishui, in the case of not being able to do the Xuzhou army in the field, after Feishui means that it is likely that they will never come back, and the suggestion of sending their own troops to die in vain, Jin Shang and Shu Shao and others really can't open this mouth. After a long time, Shu Shaocai, who had originally invited Xuande Gong to rescue Huainan, said timidly: "Lord, do you want to discuss with Liu Bei and let him work hard again?" ”

"Lone is also planning to do this." Xiao Yuan Sangong was waiting for this sentence, and pointed at Shu Shao and said: "At the beginning, Mr. strongly requested Liu Bei for reinforcements, and now whether or not he can solve Liu Bei's trouble, which is a big tail, will also fall on Mr., Mr. will contact Liu Bei, as long as Liu Bei is willing to cross the river to rescue, any conditions can be discussed." ”

Shu Shao, who was named by Xiao Yuan Sangong and suffered on his own, agreed hard, but inevitably regretted that he had invited Liu Bei to cross Huai, and finally learned what his former friend Yan Xiang often said - it is easy to please God and it is difficult to send God! But the matter has come to this, and Shu Shao has no choice but to rush to Liu Bei's camp with a sad face, asking Liu Bei to send troops to contain the Xuzhou army and relieve Qiao Rui of a little pressure.

Shu Shao was so naïve that he wanted to ask Uncle Liu Huang to cross the river to die, but the result was a matter of course, just after listening to Shu Shao's intentions, our Uncle Liu Huang immediately shook his head into a rattle, and sighed and said: "Shu Changshi, it's not about shirking, our army has been fighting a lot recently, not only has more than half of the team been killed or wounded, most of the soldiers are tired, most of them are wounded, just four days of rest, not to mention that the injuries on the body have healed, that is, the physical strength has not fully recovered, such an army crossing the river for a decisive battle is equivalent to sending death in vain." ”

Shu Shao Shu Changshi, the initiator who led the wolf into the room, almost didn't cry, and hurriedly said: "Xuande Gong, as long as you lead the army across the river and restrain Tao Ying to destroy the thieves, money, grain, cloth, gold and silver beauties, please ask Xuande Gong to speak casually, my lord will try his best to satisfy." ”

"Am I stupid? No matter how much money and food the beauties Yuan Shupifu gives, don't you have to be taken back if you don't have a life to enjoy? Uncle Liu Huang muttered in his heart, but his face was full of sadness, and he hesitated: "I have been greatly favored by Yuan Highway, and I don't dare to ask for any more rewards, since Yuan Gong has an order, I don't dare to disobey it, but my sergeants are really unbearable to fight again...... ”

Speaking of this, Uncle Liu Huang, who was an absolute genius in terms of power and strategy, had an idea and hurriedly said: "Shu Changshi, what do you think of this?" Please Changshi report to Yuan Gong, Bei can personally lead the army to cross the river to save Yinling, but the Bei soldiers are too tired, there are many wounded, and they are unable to cross the river to fight, so they can only ask Yuan Highway to be like Tao Qian and Tao Gongzu back then - send 10,000 elite soldiers to Bei Tong, and Bei led the rescue across the river. ”

Shu Shao almost wanted to strangle Uncle Liu Huang to death, and said in his heart that Yan Xiang was really right, Tao Ying's thief is just a robber, but you, a thief, are a thief, and if you get into a critical position, you will immediately fish in the water! Sending the Huainan Army across the river to rescue still needs you to teach, our lord himself will not send it directly? Let you command 10,000 elite soldiers to cross the river, if you deliberately lose all our 10,000 troops, our Huainan army will not have to look at your face and act more?

Anger is anger, but at the moment of the great enemy, Shu Shao does not have the courage to scold Uncle Liu Huang for taking revenge and attacking the gold owner, so he can only beg again and again in a low voice, and almost knelt down for Uncle Liu Huang, and even said that he was the one who invited Uncle Liu Huang to rescue, and Uncle Liu Huang would not be able to substitute for Xiao Yuan San if he did not agree to this request. But Uncle Liu Huang said that he would not let go of anything, and insisted that more than half of the casualties of his army were very tired, and he must not cross the river to fight, and if he wanted to send troops, he could only dispatch the Huainan army!

Of course, Uncle Liu Huang knew the consequences of his actions, but Uncle Liu Huang had no other way, although he reached a secret alliance with Tao Ying and joined forces to annex the team and territory of Xiao Yuan Sangong, but Uncle Liu Huang knew very well that not only did he have a deep grudge against the Xuzhou army, but Tao Ying was also a slippery head like an oiled loach, and he joined forces with Tao Ying, and if he was not careful, he might be sold by Tao Ying and have to help the Xuzhou army count the money, so until the last moment, Uncle Liu Huang, who was cautious, would never dare to really join forces with Tao Ying! At the same time, Uncle Liu Huang did not dare to lead his own team to cross the fat water and send him to death, not only is it likely to attract the crazy siege of the main force of Xuzhou, but the little Yuan Sangong, who has a sharp contradiction with himself, may also be stabbed in the back!

Finally sent away the entangled Shu Shao, Uncle Liu Huang hurriedly ordered the army to be on secret guard, and slapped his palm on the case, and said hatefully in his heart: "Tao Ying thief, really deceitful!" must have suspected that I might not really join forces with him, so I deliberately did not cut off the contact between Qiao Rui and Yuan Shupifu, forced Yuan Shupifu to come forward to force me, and forced me to stand in line with Yuan Shupifu's hand, so that I could either cross the river for Yuan Shupifu and die, or I would have to anger Yuan Shupifu, so I could only choose to really join forces with him! little thief! It seems that we have to contact the little thief again! ”

At the same time, outside the city of Yinling, in view of the fact that the Xuzhou army had filled a large section of the moat overnight, all the people of Xuzhou who were gearing up came to Tao Ying to ask for battle, requesting to immediately launch an attack on the city and take the Yinling, but Tao Ying shook his head and refused, and said slowly: "Don't worry, the simmering meat is cooked badly, continue to fill the river, the thunderbolt car moved to the north gate of Yinling today, first smashed the Tibetan army building and city defense fortifications at the north gate of Yinling, and then smashed the east gate of Yinling tomorrow, gradually weakening the strength of Yinling's city defense, and then look at the situation the day after tomorrow to consider whether to attack the city." ”

(To be continued)