"The pottery thief wants to let me go? Is this possible? ”

The defeat has been decided, and the time of death is not far away, and the temporary conscience found that he sent someone to send an order to let the besieged accomplice lackeys lay down their arms and surrender, and stop making senseless resistance, but in exchange for the conscience of the enemy boss, he decided to give himself a chance to live. It's a pity that Boss Cao and Deputy Director Tao are the same kind of people, vicious and suspicious, and never believe in such good things as pies falling from the sky, so after listening to the guard's report on the situation, Boss Cao not only didn't have the slightest sense of surprise, but also immediately blinked his triangular eyes and began to calculate the conspiracy and trickery.

can't completely blame Cao Lao for being suspicious, the key is that Deputy Director Tao's reputation for tricks is too stinky, so Cao Jun's strategists, who are familiar with Deputy Director Tao's person, are also frowning, and they don't dare to easily analyze Deputy Director Tao's intentions - usually if he says something wrong, he still has a chance to remedy it, but if he says the wrong thing and misleads Boss Cao, it will be a catastrophe immediately.

"Prime Minister, there is another thing that the villain must report, in fact, the pottery thief didn't want to negotiate with our army at the beginning, it was the Xuzhou military advisor Jia Xu who tried his best to persuade ......."

The guards sent to negotiate with Deputy Director Tao in person were more conscientious, and gave a general introduction to Jia Lao's poisonous persuasion of Deputy Director Tao, although many of them were not understood by the guards, but when they heard the ears of Cao Boss and Cao Jun's strategists, they all had their eyes lit up, and Mao Jue simply rushed to say: "Prime Minister, the purpose of Tao Thief's negotiation is already very clear, and he still needs our army to contain Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and Ma Teng, and he doesn't want these people to take advantage of him after destroying our army. That's why I followed Jia Xu's advice. That being the case, the prime minister may wish to consider accepting the potter's request for negotiation. ”

Only Mao Jue was so breathless, although Boss Cao, Uncle Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others also felt reasonable, they still didn't dare to make a judgment easily-after all, Jia Lao's poison was by no means under Deputy Director Tao. In the meantime, the Xuzhou army outside the city also temporarily stopped the action of encircling and suppressing the remnants of the Cao army, and only surrounded the ranks of the Cao army soldiers who refused to surrender, and the bows, crossbows, knives and guns designated the circle formed by the remnants of the Cao army spontaneously, which did not give the remnants of the Cao army a chance to break through, but also prepared to launch an attack at any time, and completely annihilated the remnants of the Cao army, which had less than 1,000 people.

Not long ago, the battlefield under the city that was still killing gradually quieted down, and the officers and soldiers of the two armies who gradually knew that Deputy Director Tao asked for negotiations were waiting, waiting for Boss Cao to accept the negotiations proposed by Deputy Director Tao, and their thoughts were different, and the focus of the battlefield also shifted to the city tower at the north gate of Xuchang. Under the gaze of so many eyes, Boss Cao, who was hesitant in his heart, also felt the great pressure that he had to bear as a human master for the first time, and at this moment, as long as Boss Cao made the slightest mistake, it would immediately bring hundreds of deaths, and even the doom of the entire army.

"Prime Minister, we are running out of time." Xun Yu reminded softly: "The pottery thief only gives us a quarter of an hour to think about it, and this thief has always paid attention to doing what he says. ”

Boss Cao's eyes flashed, and soon dimmed, just got up silently, walked to the battlement of the city wall, looked at the battlefield of the two armies in the distance, and looked condescendingly, the Xuzhou army wearing apricot yellow uniforms was in groups, like a yellow ocean, boundless, and the Cao army team of less than a thousand people was like a black lonely boat, surrounded by this yellow ocean, and could be subverted and destroyed by the storm at sea at any time. Boss Cao's mind was complicated, and after a long time, he asked in a hoarse voice: "If this is a trick of the pottery thief, what is his most likely purpose?" ”

"Take Xuchang Jiancheng without much effort, and easily annihilate the last remnants of our army in the field battle." Xun Yu replied: "If the pottery thief uses a trick, this should be the purpose of the pottery thief." ”

Boss Cao closed his eyes, first sighed, then opened his eyes, and said coldly: "Tell the pottery thief that I agree to negotiate under this north gate city, and I will personally go out of the city to negotiate with him face to face." Besides, immediately invite the Son of Heaven to the north gate of Xuchang to witness my negotiation with the pottery thief. ”

"Prime Minister, although our army can't agree to the conditions of the pottery thief, if this is the pottery thief's annihilation plan, our army will not even have the opportunity to defend the city." Cheng Yu hurriedly reminded.

"Our elite has basically run out, even if we stick to the city, it is a miracle to be able to hold it for ten days and half a month." Cao Lao said expressionlessly: "Negotiation is death, not negotiation is death, it is better to gamble, bet that he will keep his promise as always, and never break his promise when he says it in public, so that our army can have a glimmer of life." ”

Although he was unwilling, he was even more worried that Deputy Director Tao would suddenly come out of the ten fakes, and he would regret his promise for the first time at this fateful moment, but the situation was put here, and he didn't know that the unexpected reinforcements were actually less than two hundred miles away from Xuchang, so the think tanks under the command of Cao Boss still did not open their mouths to object, but with the same unwilling Cao army generals to chant their promises, and then acted according to the order, while sending people to contact the Xuzhou army and agree on the details of the negotiation, Xun Yu and Cao Hong came forward, Entering the palace to invite Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to come to the city to witness this Cao Tao negotiation is also a typical humiliating negotiation of the alliance under the city.

After another moment, the much-anticipated Cao Tao peace talks finally unfolded under the city of Xuchang, under the gaze of thousands of soldiers of the two armies, and also under the gaze of Emperor Han Xian, the supreme ruler of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xuzhou army retreated to two hundred steps away according to the prior agreement, and then the north gate of Xuchang slowly opened, Cao Boss led ten horsemen out of the city, to Xuchang City outside a hundred steps away to stand, and then Deputy Director Tao also led ten horses out of the battle, to Cao Boss ten steps in front of the horse to restrain the horse's head.

After standing still, Deputy Director Tao did not rush to talk to Boss Cao, but first looked up to see Emperor Han Xian on the city wall, which was also the first time in Deputy Director Tao's life to meet Emperor Han Xian. Then Deputy Director Tao clasped his fists on the horse and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, Weichen Xu Yangzhou Mu Tao Ying, meet Your Majesty, the armor is on your body, you can't pay full salutes, I hope Your Majesty will forgive your sins." But please rest assured, now that Wechen has mastered all the initiative, King Qin escorted and rescued His Majesty from the wolf's den, it is only a matter of time, and please wait patiently, and wait for Weichen's good news. ”

Of course, the poor Emperor Han Xian also met with Deputy Director Tao for the first time, seeing Deputy Director Tao's loyal and handsome appearance, and hearing Deputy Director Tao's respectful and polite voice, Emperor Han Xian, who had suffered five years of living crimes in the hands of Cao Boss, was very excited, but he was afraid that Cao Boss would jump over the wall in a desperate situation, and suddenly poison himself, and he didn't dare to say something that would stimulate Cao Boss's fragile nerves too much, so he said loudly on the city wall: "Tao Aiqing, please calm down, I already know the matter, you negotiate with Cao Aiqing, I will personally witness for you." ”

"Weichen obeys, thank your majesty." Deputy Director Tao saluted respectfully again, and then turned his eyes to look at Boss Cao, who had not even had time to wipe off the blood on his face, and said solemnly: "Meng Degong, although the battle today is cruel, I will never fight with you for personal grudges, the Son of Heaven is the lord of the world...... ”

"Shut up!" Boss Cao interrupted Deputy Director Tao's words and said coldly: "Stop acting, let's talk, what is your purpose?" ”

"For what purpose? Of course, it is for the purpose of thousands of soldiers of the two armies not to die in vain, and also for the purpose of reviving our Han rivers and mountains. Deputy Director Tao was still full of sweet words, and then said: "Meng Degong, the matter has come to this, I still say the same thing, as long as you withdraw from Xuchang and return the Son of Heaven and my brother to me safely, I will let you leave with the army and your family, and promise not to hunt you down." ”

"You promise not to chase and kill?" Boss Cao asked.

"The Emperor and the Queen of Earth! The Son of Heaven testifies! Deputy Director Tao said loudly: "Xu Yangzhou Mu Tao should hereby promise that if Cao Ying leads the army to withdraw from Xuchang, safely return the Son of Heaven, the Empress, the Han Dynasty Wenwu and my brother Tao Shang, and does not do anything to attack our army, I will never chase and kill Cao Ying's evacuation team!" If this promise is violated, God will hate it! Disgusted! People hate it! ”

Zheng Zheng finished his oath loudly, Deputy Director Tao slowed down his breath and said to Boss Cao: "Meng Degong, what is my credit, you should know very well, choose, whether to resist stubbornly to the end, or take a step back, you take the initiative to withdraw, and I will let you live." By the way, there is still land, I am not greedy, as long as the four counties of Yingchuan, Shanyang, Chenliu and Jiyin, the rest, as long as you can defend it yourself, I will not start until you start another war against me. ”

Boss Cao's face was gloomy, and he asked after a while, "Where is my son Cao Ang?" What to do? ”

"When Meng Degong confirms his foothold, I will send someone to send Ling Gongzi back to Meng Degong." Deputy Director Tao replied.

Cao Boss is still confident in Deputy Director Tao's credit, hearing Deputy Director Tao's oath in public, and getting Deputy Director Tao's promise to release his eldest son, Cao Boss no longer hesitated, immediately turned his horse's head, and shouted to Emperor Han Xian on the city wall: "Son of Heaven, Tao Envoy Jun's words, you must have heard it, Wei Chen believes in Tao Envoy Jun's credit, but Wei Chen does not believe in Tao Envoy Jun's character, in order to prevent accidents, Wei Chen is courageous, and wants to ask the Son of Heaven for a decree, please ask the Son of Heaven to issue an edict in public, pardon all the previous sins of Wei Chen, and no longer pursue it, And promised never to issue an edict to let Tao Envoy Jun chase and kill Yu Chen, and the minister agreed to Tao Envoy's conditions! ”

Hearing that Boss Cao finally chose to hand over himself, Emperor Han Xian was of course overjoyed, and quickly nodded again and again, and said loudly: "Quasi, quasi, I will issue an edict now, Cao Aiqing, although you have occasional minor mistakes, but you also have great merits, I have decided to forgive all your previous sins and will not pursue it again!" I also promise you that I will never issue an edict to Tao Aiqing ....... ”

"Your Majesty, wait!" Deputy Director Tao hurriedly opened his mouth and said loudly: "Your Majesty forgives me, Weichen neither believes in Prime Minister Cao's credibility nor his character!" In order to prevent accidents, Wechen also dared to ask His Majesty to add, as long as Prime Minister Cao's team does not take the initiative to attack our army, Your Majesty agrees not to issue an edict to order Wechen to crusade against Prime Minister Cao's team! If Prime Minister Cao Cheng reneges on his promise and takes the lead in re-provoking the war, Weichen has the right to immediately counterattack and immediately send troops to hunt down Prime Minister Cao's team! ”

Emperor Han Xian, who was accustomed to being a puppet, didn't dare to speak, but just cowered to look at Boss Cao, until he saw Boss Cao nodding, Emperor Han Xian said happily and loudly: "Quasi-play!" I promised that as long as Cao Aiqing did not take the lead in attacking Tao Aiqing's troops, I would never issue an edict ordering Tao Aiqing to crusade against Cao Aiqing! If Cao Aiqing does not keep his promise and attacks Tao Aiqing's team after leaving the city, Tao Aiqing can immediately send troops to fight back without asking for an order! ”

"Obey! Long live the Son of Heaven, long live, long live! Deputy Director Tao took the lead in handing over the order.

"The Lord's Order is grateful." Boss Cao also saluted with an expressionless face, and then turned to Deputy Director Tao and ordered: "You withdraw first, let my army go back to the city, I will prepare for the night, tomorrow morning, I will lead the army to withdraw from Xuchang City, and let your team take over Xuchang City." ”

"No way!" Deputy Director Tao flatly refused and said, "I'll only give you an hour to prepare!" An hour later, you withdrew from the west gate of Xuchang, and I entered the city through the east gate and took over the city of Xuchang. ”

"Is an hour enough?" Elder Cao said angrily.

"That's your business." Deputy Director Tao sneered and said: "Let Meng Degong and your loyal team return to the city, and give Meng Degong you a night to prepare for the war, if our army wants to break through Xuchang, won't we have to sacrifice many soldiers in vain?" ”

Boss Cao gritted his teeth, and said after a while: "It's now more than half of the Shen time, and it's an hour and a half, and I am withdrawing from the west gate of Xuchang, and you enter the city from the east gate of Xuchang!" Also, let my party into the city immediately, they also need to bring their families and personal belongings. ”

"Deal." Deputy Director Tao didn't even blink an eyelid, and immediately shouted: "Order, get out of the way, and let Prime Minister Cao's team return to the city." ”

The fast horse conveyed the order, and the Xuzhou army that was waiting in formation immediately gave way to the road, and the Cao army soldiers who had only more than 800 people left also staggered, supporting each other and walking towards the north gate of Xuchang.

When the more than 800 Cao soldiers walked to the edge of the moat, a thing happened that made Cao Boss and Deputy Director Tao very surprised, a Cao soldier suddenly broke away from the team, and rushed to Cao Boss quickly. Who knew that the Cao army soldier was close to the front and back, and suddenly knelt down on Boss Cao's knees, shouting with a crying voice............ "Prime Minister, you have been tricked!" Our reinforcements have arrived, and our reinforcements have arrived in Xiangcheng! Our 30,000 reinforcements have arrived in Xiangcheng! It also hit the pottery thief's deviant division hard! We only need to hold on for a few more days before we can stop the team of pottery thieves!" ”

"Oops!" Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison both complained in their hearts, knowing that this soldier must be a messenger sent by Cao Jun of Ye County to contact Cao Lao.

"Our reinforcements are coming?!" The whole Cao army team was ecstatic, and Boss Cao was even more surprised and couldn't believe his ears, and shouted: "Who are you? Where are our reinforcements? ”

"The last general, Meng Tan, is the general under the command of General Han Fu, the guard general of Yexian County!" The messenger replied loudly: "A few days ago, Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao Liu Envoy Jun sent General Cai Mao and Xinye Liu Huangshu to lead an army of more than 35,000 people to the north to attack Ye County, after learning that the Tao thief took advantage of the danger to attack Xuchang, Uncle Liu Huang was indignant, so he strongly persuaded General Cai Mao to make an alliance with our army for Liu Yuanjun, and together with the defenders of Ye County, to rescue Xuchang and resist the invasion of the national thief Tao Ying!" ”

"Because Uncle Liu Huangjun's request for Liu Yuanjun is only to return the entire territory of Nanyang and bear the military expenses and food, and I only have less than 3,000 defenders in Ye County, and I heard that the war situation in Xuchang is urgent, General Han Fu took the risk to agree to Uncle Liu's conditions on behalf of the prime minister, and let Ye County, Uncle Liu Huangshu and General Cai Mao's team join forces to come to the aid of the prime minister! Early yesterday morning, Uncle Liu Huang used a clever plan to break the pottery thief's division, beheaded the Xuzhou thief general Lu Yi, annihilated countless enemies, and forced the pottery thief's division to retreat to Fenqiu! In order to make the prime minister feel at ease to defend the city and wait for help, General Han ordered the last general to come to Xuchang to report the news, but he never thought that he encountered a great defeat of our army, and the last general could not enter the city, and was trapped in the battle, so he did not have time to deliver the letter to the prime minister in time. ”

Quickly explaining, Meng Tan quickly took out a blood-stained letter from his arms, held it in front of Boss Cao with both hands, and shouted excitedly: "Prime Minister, this is General Han Fu's letter with you, please take a look at it!" ”

personally rushed to Meng Tan's face, snatched the letter, opened it and read it carefully, Cao Boss suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed wildly, Cao's army team observed the words, knowing that this matter must be true, and suddenly all of them were happy, and the Xuzhou army was in addition to Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao's poison silently, the team looked at each other one by one, and doubted what Meng Tan said.

"Pottery thief!" Boss Cao suddenly suppressed his wild laughter, then roared, and said with a cruel smile at Deputy Director Tao: "I'm wondering, how could you, a thief, be so kind and offer to let me go?" After doing it for a long time, you are playing me like Sun Ce's child! Knowing that our army's reinforcements are coming, your sneak attack on Xuchang will be a failure, so you deliberately said some nice words, offered some tempting conditions, deceived me into taking the initiative to give up Xuchang, and then took the opportunity to take Xuchang and be invincible! Sure enough, good intentions, good means! ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled, nervously calculating countermeasures, but Boss Cao sneered and said, "It's useless to laugh!" Your plan has been exposed! Now if you withdraw the partial division, our army reinforcements can take advantage of the situation to enter the city, if you lead the army to save the partial division, I will take the opportunity to protect the Son of Heaven to break through, go to the south of Yuzhou to regroup, and unite Liu Biao and Liu Bei to attack you and threaten your hinterland of Xuzhou! I want to see how many ways can you, surrounded by enemies on all sides, with a long battle line and no danger to defend, be able to defend against it? ”

Speaking of this, Boss Cao laughed again and said: "Actually, this is also your retribution, if it weren't for your revenge on Liu Beien, if it wasn't for you secretly supporting Liu Qi and Cai Mao's family to make things difficult, how could Liu Bei and Cai Mao dare to do such a private thing behind Liu Biao's back?" By the way, I also have to thank your favorite minister Yang Hong, if it weren't for this despicable villain who instigated Liu Qi to fight for power and profit with the Cai family, how could Cai Mao's family hate you to the bone? ”

"Meng Degong, have you said enough? It's time for me to say a few words, right? Deputy Director Tao asked with a wry smile, seeing that Boss Cao closed his smug mouth, Deputy Director Tao smiled again and said: "Meng Degong, yes, I have received the news that the big-eared thief has arrived in Xiangcheng before, and I also know that you will have hope to hold Xuchang immediately, but I asked you to negotiate, not to let you hand over Xuchang City for one purpose, I also have one purpose." ”

"Want to know what my other purpose is?" Deputy Director Tao smiled again, suddenly raised his voice, and yelled, "I'm here to save you!" Save your Cao Mengde's life, and also save your Cao family's life! ”

"Hahaha......, save my life? Save my Cao family's life?! ”

Boss Cao laughed wildly again, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, but then, Deputy Director Tao only used one sentence to make Boss Cao's laughter suddenly stop - Deputy Director Tao smiled and said, "Meng Degong, have you forgotten who the big-eared thief is?" Is it really just because he hated me that he came to save you so kindly? ”

Boss Cao's face quickly became gloomy, and then he suddenly remembered an important question, why did Uncle Liu Huang come to save himself at such a cost? What is the purpose? Taking such a big risk for the sake of hatred, is this the style of Uncle Liu Huang, who is high-spirited and bright?

"Meng Degong, you are also one of the parties to the grievances and grievances between me and the big-eared thief, you should be very clear, and I will be verbose." Deputy Director Tao said slowly: "Meng Degong can think about it, with the remnants of the defeated army in your hands now, can you stop the big-eared thief and Cai Mao from taking advantage of the fire to rob?" After I withdraw to the partial division, the army of big-eared thieves will take advantage of the situation to enter Xuchang City, and then I will withdraw from Xuzhou, will I be able to get rid of Meng Degong and your whole family without spending a single soldier? ”

Boss Cao's face was even more gloomy, because Boss Cao was very, and Deputy Director Tao's words were definitely not intimidation, but facts! With Uncle Liu's person, such a thing can definitely be done!

"Meng Degong, in your eyes, I may be a despicable villain." Deputy Director Tao said slowly: "But in your eyes, what kind of person is the big-eared thief?" Me with the big-eared thief, whose promise would you rather believe? ”

Boss Cao continued to be silent, and only said after a while: "I want to believe you, you are a despicable villain, but you are a despicable villain with a bottom, at least you will not go back on your word." The big-eared thief is inferior to you in this regard, and he can do anything for the sake of a position of power! ”

"That's it." Deputy Director Tao spread his hands and said: "Meng Degong, choose, either you will fulfill the promise you made just now, and you are withdrawing from Xuchang City, or I will kill you with my own hands, or I will kill you with the hands of the big-eared thief." ”

"Oh, by the way, by the way, I would like to remind you of Meng Degong." Deputy Director Tao said: "Meng Degong, if you die in my hands, it may be more beneficial to Xuande Gong, because as soon as you die, Xuande Gong can also take over and appease the rest of your remnants in a justifiable manner." This kind of thing, Xuande Gong has done to my other father-in-law, Feng Xiangong, I think as Xuande Gong's person, I will never mind doing it again. ”

Boss Cao closed his eyes, and after quickly thinking for a moment, Boss Cao opened his eyes violently and said categorically: "I can fulfill my promise to quit Xuchang just now, but I have two additional conditions, one, you must let me take away half of the Xuchang Tun grain!" Second, your army must cover the withdrawal of my troops to Runan! ”

"Deal." Deputy Director Tao replied: "My Xuzhou has never been short of food, it doesn't matter if you take sixty percent away, you can rest outside Xuchang City for the night, I will arrange for people to send food out of the city, and it is also a trivial matter to cover your return to Runan, because I suddenly thought of one thing just now, as a son-in-law, I have to dedicate Yingchuan and Chen Liu's two counties to Lord Yuezhang, right?" ”

"I can't imagine that Tao Yuanjun is really a filial son-in-law?!" Boss Cao gritted his teeth.

"Of course." Deputy Director Tao Tian was shameless, and said with a smile: "I heard that Meng Degong's eldest daughter, Miss Cao Xian, is also about to reach the age of Jilu, how about it?" Think about it, right? ”

"Thank you, no one who dares to be your father-in-law will end well!" Boss Cao waved his hand, then turned around and strode back to the city, shouting: "Pass my order, all the soldiers of the army, civil and military generals, if you are willing to go with me, go home immediately and pack your bags, and when you are withdrawing from Xuchang, camp and rest outside the south gate of Xuchang, and hand over the city defense of Xuchang to the pottery thieves!" ”

"Prime Minister, we have reinforcements!" Countless Cao Junwen and military soldiers shouted.

"Be a man and keep your promises! What you promised, you can't go back! Boss Cao was expressionless, and said coldly: "Besides, the team of the big-eared thieves is not our reinforcements, it is a group of wolves!" White-eyed wolf! After the pottery thief eats our meat, he will at least leave us a few bones, and the big-eared thief will only swallow us with the bones of the belt! ”

(To be continued)