"What? Did the persuasion succeed? This Yang Zhongming will really give me nothing to do, and directly kill Liu Qi to save trouble and effort? Troublesome! But forget it, the wood is already in the boat, let's let Yang Zhongming bring Liu Qi here. ”

Deputy Director Tao very cordially met with Liu Qi and Wang Wei and other Jingzhou people, on the spot canonized Liu Qi as a counselor, Gaodu Hou, 200 households, Wang Wei and Zhou Zhao also have their own rewards, Liu Qi, who was a prisoner, had no choice, honestly presented the Jingzhou Thorn History Seal letter he brought from Jingzhou, and sent Wang Wei to Jiangling City to recruit Liu Xian and Deng Yi according to the requirements of Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao was very happy to see Liu Qi obedient, while ordering people to treat Liu Qi well, while ordering the army to be on guard, beware of the Jiangling team to send troops to sneak attack.

Basically, Luo Guanzhong, who has returned to his hometown, made an internal response to Deputy Director Tao before he retired, and sure enough, as he told Deputy Director Tao, Wang Wei, a veteran of Jingzhou who was loyal to Liu Biao's father and son, came to Jiangling City with a book and ordered Liu Xian and Deng Yi to surrender, and really explained to Liu Xian and Deng Yi the helplessness of being forced to surrender to Tao, and immediately offered that famous bad idea, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity that Deputy Director Tao would inevitably underestimate the enemy after Liu Qi's surrender. Arrange a surprise army to attack the camp of the Xuzhou Army at a dangerous place, capture Deputy Director Tao alive and rescue Liu Qi, so that not only can the entire Jingzhou be recovered, but maybe there will be a chance to win the whole world.

It's a pity that Wang Wei's famous bad idea is destined to not have the opportunity to practice, after listening to Wang Wei's advice, Liu Xian and Deng Yi immediately made a decision and made an extremely smart and correct choice - immediately took down Wang Wei and Wang Zhong's father and son, and escorted them together to the Xuzhou army to express their sincerity in surrender. Then he did not hesitate to open the gate of Jiangling, honestly surrendered to the Xuzhou army, and offered Liu Biao a lot of money and food that Liu Biao had worked hard for his son over the years to ask for merit and reward, which was enough for the 550,000 Xuzhou army to use for more than a year!

As a result, the loyal Wang Wei father and son were of course too dead to die, and they were ordered to be beheaded by Deputy Director Tao on the spot, and Liu Qi was also implicated - if it wasn't for Yang Changshi's hard pleading, Liu Xian and Deng Yi also proved that Liu Qi didn't know about it in advance, and Deputy Director Tao was determined to kill Liu Qi Liwei! Liu Xian and Deng Yi were heavily rewarded, and Liu Xian was crowned Yuzhou Liang Guotaishou. Seal Pavilion Marquis. Deng Yi was named the Taishou of Dongping in Yanzhou, and the Tinghou of Fenglin Township, because Liang Guo and Dongping were currently in the hands of the Xuzhou army, and the official positions given by Deputy Director Tao to Liu Xian and Deng Yi were not fictitious. It's actually taught. Liu Xian and Deng Yi were overjoyed. Busy kowtowing to Deputy Director Tao to thank him.

Of course, even if they are actually awarded official positions, Liu Xian and Deng Yi must also do a few more practical things for Deputy Director Tao before they can officially take office. Deputy Director Tao gave an order, Liu Xian and Deng Yi immediately split up, and Liu Xian crossed the river to pass orders for Liu Qi to Changsha, Wuling, Guiyang and Lingling counties, so that they could honestly surrender to Deputy Director Tao. Deng Yi rushed down the river to Jiangxia to recruit Wen Ping, the general of Jingzhou who was trapped in the lonely city of Wuchang - as for the team of Zhang Yun and Cai He stationed in Xiakou, there was no need for Deng Zhizhong to bother and bother, after getting Cai Mao's letter, Zhang Yun and Cai He had already come to Jiangling with the sailor to flatter and ask for a reward from Deputy Director Tao.

Let's give a general introduction to the situation of the Jiangxia battlefield, this time the Xuzhou army marched south to Jingzhou, in addition to Liu Cousin's father and son, the most bitter thing in Jingzhou was the unlucky general Wenpin, almost with the strength of an army to resist the entire Xuzhou Army Jiangdong Army, and then the courage and strategy could not withstand the full attack of the Jiangdong Army, and the generals such as Xu Sheng, Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai under the command of Lu Su could not play by force, and Yang Changshi's baby son Yang Zheng could not play with strategy. The reserve station Shaxian was also attacked by Yang Zheng with a trick, leaving only a lonely city in Wuchang to support it, and there was no response to Zhang Yun and Cai He several times, and the Jiangdong Army besieged Wuchang for more than a month, and the defenders in the city were killed and wounded more than seventy percent, so when Deng Yi was still on the way down the river, the Xuzhou army had already invaded Wuchang City and captured Wen Pingsheng alive who had no way out.

Even so, after being captured by the Xuzhou army, Wen Ping still refused to surrender to the Xuzhou army, and insisted on asking for death, Lu Su cherished Wen Ping's talent and loyalty, and could not bear to kill him, so he temporarily detained Wen Ping and put him in prison, until Deng Yi rushed to Wuchang with a book, and handed over Liu Qi's letter asking Wen Ping to surrender to Wen Ping, Wen Ping cried bitterly for a while, and then knelt down to express his willingness to surrender. Lu Su was overjoyed, and hurriedly led the Jiangdong Navy Division to Jiangling to meet with Deputy Director Tao, and excused himself for attacking Jiangxia for a long time.

Because Lu Su was extremely unlucky to run into the stone in the pit of Wenpin, who had attacked Jiangxia for a long time, Deputy Director Tao naturally would not pursue the self-destruction of the family business and followed his old lackey, and smiled and gave Lu Su a chance to atone for his crimes, saying that Wuling in the four southern counties was too shou Jin Xuan to surrender, and wanted Lu Su to lead the Jiangdong Army to attack Wuling again to teach Jin Xuan a lesson, Lu Su was overjoyed to immediately lead the army south to kill Wuling, and at the same time, Deputy Director Tao Feng Wenping was appointed as General Zhaoyi, and the Marquis of Jinan Ting, so that Wen Ping followed Lu Su to conquer Wuling, and Wen Ping was grateful to be the vanguard, Deputy Director Tao and Lu Su agreed with a smile.

Lu Su's expedition to Wuling finally did not make any more mistakes, the Jiangdong army only took six days to break through Linyuan City, Wen Ping was the first to enter the city, rescued Liu Xian who was detained by Jin Xuan, Zhou Tai beheaded Jin Xuan in the city tower, engaged in Gong Zhi led the rest of the surrender of the Xuzhou army. Seeing that the Xuzhou army was unstoppable, Changsha Han Xuan, Guiyang Zhao Fan and Lingling Liu Du had no choice, and sent protons to surrender to the Xuzhou army. At this point, all the counties of Jingzhou have finally been pacified, and the land of Jingzhou, which is the most extensive area, has completely fallen into the clutches of Deputy Director Tao like ripe fruit.

The battle of Jingzhou of the Xuzhou army is a battle that is both reasonable and unexpected, and it is reasonable that the difference in strength between the Jingzhou army and the Xuzhou army is too huge, and the only sailor who can prevail is tormented by Liu Qi and his vitality is greatly injured, the people's hearts are scattered, the war has not started, and there is no suspense about the victory or defeat, including Liu Biao and Liu Qi's father and son have never dreamed of being able to defeat the Xuzhou army, but they are looking forward to being able to block the Xuzhou army north of the Han River, and use the time to consume the Xuzhou army's insufficient military food, forcing the Xuzhou army to retreat from its own strength. The only concern within the Xuzhou army is whether they can cross the Han River as soon as possible. The soldiers were under the city of Xiangyang, and they never considered that they could not defeat their opponents.

The unexpected thing was that the top and bottom of the Xuzhou army, including Deputy Director Tao himself, did not expect that the war would go so smoothly, easily smashed the Xinye defense line of the Jingzhou army, simply broke through the Han River, and entered Xiangyang that night, and then trapped Liu Qi to death in the small city of Dangyang, forcing him to surrender, so that the counties and armies of Jingzhou fell without a leader. It almost swallowed up the entire Jingzhou at a flying speed. The speed at which the whale swallowed Jingzhou was so fast. Even Deputy Director Tao himself hadn't thought of it beforehand.

However, it is not surprising that in history, the speed at which Boss Cao famously annexed the entire territory of Jingzhou was much faster than the Xuzhou army, and the army had just arrived in Wancheng. Liu Cong had already sent someone to send a letter of surrender. It's just because Uncle Liu Huang and Liu Qi are making trouble. This failed to take Jingzhou in fact. This will Uncle Liu Huang has long been driven to Hanzhong and then surrounded by heavy surrounding, Deputy Director Tao just ran into a militarily lame Liu Qi, and it is naturally easy to take Jingzhou, which has huge internal contradictions. If Deputy Director Tao's luck can be better. If Liu Qi is taken down in Xiangyang, then the speed of the Xuzhou army's annexation of Jingzhou will only be faster.

At the same time, because of the successful capture of a large amount of Jingzhou money and grain, many Xuzhou civil and military officers ran to the front of Deputy Director Tao to make a statement, suggesting that Deputy Director Tao take advantage of the opportunity of the current sailor to simply trace the river from Jiangling, directly attack the hinterland of Yizhou, and take Xichuan.

Deputy Director Tao calmly rejected this suggestion, and smiled at the civil and military people who made the suggestion: "The words of the princes, although reasonable, but after all, our army is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, against the wind and water, it is very inconvenient to transport grain and troops, and it is almost impossible to succeed in the blitz attack on Chengdu. ”

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao was determined not to attack Liu Zhang for the time being, the generals of the Xuzhou army were inevitably disappointed, but what no one expected was that at this time, the unexpected good news suddenly came, and Zhang Lu, who was driven by Uncle Liu Huang to Shangyong and had no way out, saw that the situation was extreme, and gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and simply sent his younger brother Zhang Zheng to Xiangyang to ask for surrender, and asked Deputy Director Tao to send troops to take over Shangyong, and he was willing to offer Shangyong Fangling and other places with both hands in exchange for a place under Deputy Director Tao. Deputy Director Tao was even more overjoyed when he heard the report, and hurriedly sealed Wen Ping as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and ordered Wen Ping to lead an army of 10,000 to Shangyong to take over the city defense, and arranged for Wen Ping to be two deputy generals of Jingzhou, stationed in Shangyong to contain Uncle Liu Huang.

"Lord, the last general is the new descendant, you immediately let the last general take charge alone, you ......, you ......." After hearing Deputy Director Tao's order, Wen Ping himself didn't dare to believe it, so he simply knelt down on his knees, hugged his fists and asked directly: "The lord forgives the sins, the last general has the courage to ask, isn't the lord afraid that the last general will raise troops to rebel after reaching Shangyong?" ”

There was a fine work that made Deputy Director Tao of Luo Guanzhong laugh loudly, first holding Wen Ping with both hands, and then patting Wen Ping's hand and laughing: "Zhongye is a loyal and righteous person, how can he betray me?" Zhongye went this time, you can bring your family members with you, the upper and remote areas, the audio transmission is inconvenient, Zhongye will bring your family members with you, so you can take care of each other. ”

Wen Ping cried loudly, knelt down on his knees to Deputy Director Tao, and said with a heavy pause: "The lord trusts the last general so much, and the last general swears not to betray the lord!" Please rest assured, after the last general arrives at Shangyong, he will strictly protect the Shangyong city, contain Liu Bei's flanks, and not give the big-eared thief any chance! ”

Deputy Director Tao listened to Wen Ping's solemn words, and hurriedly picked up Wen Ping again, comforted him with kind words, and gave Wen Ping a hundred food towns, Wen Ping thanked him again and again, and two days later, he led 10,000 newly reorganized troops to Shangyong to take over the city defense. Of course, some people expressed concern about Deputy Director Tao's arrangement, worried that Wen would defect immediately after he reached Shangyong, and Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "I will live up to Zhongye, and Zhongye will live up to me." After saying the high-sounding words, Deputy Director Tao sneered in his heart: "In a ghost place like Shangyong, there are few people and food shortage, even if Wenpin is different from history, how many waves can it set off?" ”

After Wen Ping led the army to Fangling and Shangyong, the desperate Zhang Lu really obediently handed over the city defense, and also handed over the last few thousand remnants of the defeated army to Wen Ping to command the reorganization, and led the whole family to Xiangyang to surrender to Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao was overjoyed to seal Zhang Lu as the general of Zhennan, Langzhong Hou, 200 households in Shiyi, Zhang Zhen and Yan Pu and others who surrendered with Zhang Lu also had their own rewards, and treated Zhang Lu's family quite well. Zhang Lu was very happy in his heart. took the initiative to beg to marry the Tao family, wanted to marry his daughter Zhang Qiying to the children of the Tao clan, and vowed to marry the daughters of the princes, Deputy Director Tao wanted to accept himself, but after inquiring about Zhang Qiying was only ten years old, Deputy Director Tao had to choose to let his nephew, the eldest son of the Tao merchant, marry Zhang Qiying, so as not to continue to corrupt his already incomparably corrupt reputation - in order to meet Deputy Director Tao's special preferences over the years, there are many sycophants who are scrambling to dedicate their young daughters to Deputy Director Tao. As a result, Zhang Lu was also very lucky to escape the catastrophe - those who dared to be the deputy director of Tao's father-in-law, there was basically no good end.

At this time, it was the end of the tenth year of Jian'an, and Deputy Director Tao quickly settled the news of Jingzhou. It has also basically spread all over the land of China. The princes reacted differently, Deputy Director Tao's new neighbors Liu Zhang, Wu Ju and Shi Xie, of course, hurriedly sent envoys to congratulate and hug their thighs, and Uncle Liu Huang wept bitterly and said that the Han family was in decline and the traitor was in charge. gritted his teeth and vowed to fight to the death with the thief Tao, the deputy director of the country. And the biggest reaction was Boss Cao. I heard that the counties of Jingzhou fell into the clutches of Deputy Director Tao almost intact. Boss Cao didn't say a word for almost five minutes, and then said with a pale face: "I thought that the pottery thief might not send troops west until the year after tomorrow, but now it seems." At most, until May or June next year, the pottery thief's soldiers and horses will come. ”

"What the lord said is very true." Xun Yu agreed with Cao Laoda's judgment, and analyzed: "Tao Ying traitors have taken Liu Biao's savings for many years, and there is no need to worry too much about the soldiers' rations, and then let the army rest for half a year, and after the winter wheat is harvested and put into the warehouse, we can come in from Rongxi to attack us, we only have about half a year to prepare for war, and we must immediately take precautions and start arranging to resist the attack from the Tao thieves." ”

"Plan ahead?" Boss Cao's face was a little miserable, and he said with a wry smile: "How can you take precautions? There are Liu Bei's traitors in the south, Ma Teng and Han Sui in the west, and Tao Ying's hundreds of thousands of traitors in the east, our total strength is less than 60,000, but we are attacked on three sides, how can we stop the invasion of so many traitors? ”

"It's not impossible." Xun Yu said in a deep voice: "Yu suggests that the Luoyang area be used as a buffer with the pottery thieves, and if necessary, you can give it up, and gather troops to hold on to Hangu Pass and Kei Pass, not necessarily without hope of blocking the invasion of the pottery thieves." ”

"And what about our rear? What to do with Chang'an and Tongguan? Boss Cao smiled even more bitterly, coughed and said: "When the time comes, the main force of our army will be exhausted on the eastern front, and once Ma Teng, Han Sui and the big-eared thieves take the opportunity to attack Chang'an and Tongguan, won't our army all have to be crushed?" ”

"Lord, is your question a problem?" Xun Yu said in a solemn tone and asked, "With the power of the lord, is there really no way to resolve the crisis on the Western Front?" Full force against the threat from the Eastern Front? ”

Boss Cao stopped talking, and coughed even more, Guo Jia, who was already skinny and skinny, was infected by Boss Cao, so he couldn't help coughing violently, and said with difficulty while coughing: "Lord, Jia and others also know that joining forces with the big-eared thief is equivalent to seeking skin with the tiger and fighting the fire with salary, but when things come to this point, if you don't want to be arrested, you can only bow to the big-eared thief temporarily." ”

"Yes, my lord, don't hesitate." Cheng Yu also persuaded: "In the current situation, no matter how much we don't share the sky with the big-eared thief, we are already dependent on each other, and if we don't give in to the big-eared thief and bow our heads, we can't concentrate on the eastern front to resist the pottery thief." But if we work together with the big-eared thief to turn the war into a jade silk and work together, then our western front will immediately be safe and sound, and the threat of Ma Teng and Han Sui can also be eliminated by the hands of the big-eared thief, and we will be more worry-free. ”

"As for whether the big-eared thief agrees to work together, the lord doesn't have to worry about it." Xun Yu said again: "The big-eared thief is a smart person, he knows how to choose what is more beneficial to him, as long as the lord is interested, we don't even need to send an envoy to contact the big-eared thief, with the insight of the big-eared thief, Pang Tong and Xu Shu, we will definitely take the initiative to send an envoy to contact us." ”

Boss Cao hesitated for a moment, then coughed and said, "I want time to think about it, this matter, put it aside for the time being, let me think carefully before making a decision." ”

Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others nodded silently, and also knew that in this matter, it was indeed difficult for Boss Cao to make a decision, joining forces with Uncle Liu Huang was death, and not joining forces with Uncle Liu Huang was also death, the difference was only whether there was any hope of blocking Deputy Director Tao's extermination, whether he would die in the hands of Deputy Director Tao in the future, or in the hands of Uncle Liu Huang, who would definitely fight back against his allies.

I don't know how many sleepless nights have passed, and in the first month of the eleventh year of Jian'an, Boss Cao, who has just turned over half a hundred years old, ushered in a special guest - Uncle Liu Huang sent Sun Qian as an envoy to Chang'an City via the Meridian Valley, and handed over Uncle Liu's handwritten letter to Boss Cao, asking for an alliance with Boss Cao to resist Deputy Director Tao's handwritten letter.

"Meng Degong, don't be polite, don't blame it bluntly." After submitting the letter, Sun Qian said straight to the point: "The general trend of the world, Meng Degong must know in his heart that after Liu Biao's father and son were unfortunately brutalized by Tao Ying's traitors, the next target of the Tao thieves must be you, Pang Junshi and Xu Junshi estimate that at the latest in July this year, as soon as June, Tao Thief will personally raise troops to the west to attack Meng Degong and your team, and kill Meng Degong and you." Your and my two families depend on each other, and if Cao dies, Liu will not be guaranteed, so my lord is full of sincerity in seeking the alliance this time, and I also ask Meng Degong to investigate. ”

Boss Cao took a cursory look at Uncle Liu's letter full of sweet words, threw it on the case, supported his chin with his fist, and was silent. Sun Qian hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Please rest assured that as long as your army agrees to form an alliance, my lord will come forward to persuade Ma Teng, Han Sui and your army to reconcile and join forces to resist the pottery thieves. ”

"And what do you want?" Boss Cao finally asked.

"As long as Meng Degong's stamp, a promise." Sun Qian replied: "Please ask Meng Degong to show the Son of Heaven, show my lord as the pastor of Yizhou, and promise that when my lord goes south to attack Yizhou, he will not offend my land in Hanzhong." ”

"It's as simple as that?" Boss Cao smiled and asked, "Are you not afraid that I will not be trustworthy in my words, and take advantage of the opportunity of your southward movement to suddenly send troops to attack Hanzhong?" ”

"With all due respect, although Meng Degong is a hero, after blocking the attack of the pottery thief, I am afraid that he will not have the strength to threaten Hanzhong anymore." Sun Qian replied frankly: "The only purpose of our army's alliance with your army is to use the hands of Meng Degong to block the pottery thief!" And my lord can clearly tell Meng Degong that if Meng Degong can't stop the pottery thieves on the front line of Hangu Pass and retreat to the pass to defend Tongguan, my lord will definitely send troops to assist your army in guarding Tongguan, and join forces with Meng Degong to repel the pottery thieves at any cost! ”

Boss Cao stopped talking again, but Xun Yu next to him smiled and said: "So, Xuande Gong hopes that our army will always be a watchdog for him?" ”

Sun Gan was also silent for a moment, and replied: "My lord can also promise that after our army takes Yizhou, he will give Hanzhong to Meng Degong to gain a foothold, and this article can be clearly written into the covenant." ”

Xun Yu's eyes flashed, and then he leaned into Boss Cao's ear and whispered: "Lord, the big-eared thief's intention to seek an alliance this time is very sincere, if the lord makes up his mind, he can agree now." ”

Boss Cao coughed lightly and didn't speak, Sun Gan also said that Boss Cao was worried about Xiliang, so he simply played the last hole card and said frankly: "Don't hide it from Meng Degong, I came to contact your army on this trip, and I didn't let Ma Teng and Han Sui know, now it's the first month of the New Year, and the two armies of you and us can secretly form an alliance first, and join forces to make Ma Teng, who has no virtue, and Han Sui turn against each other and kill each other, and they will never be able to threaten the back of your and our armies." Your two armies are in the same voice, and it shouldn't be difficult to do this, right? ”

Boss Cao pondered for a long time, and then said with a miserable expression: "Okay, although your lord sent me a glass of wine, who made me thirsty now?" I agreed to this, and went back to tell the big-eared thief, telling him to use less of the poison in the poisoned wine he had prepared, and that I would die too quickly, and it would not do him any good, would it? (To be continued......)