According to Liu Biao's original wishful thinking, Liu Biaojun, who was stationed in Zongyang and refused to move his nest, was unlikely to clash with the Xuzhou army, and even the chance of meeting on the battlefield was almost non-existent, and at the same time, the decision-making level of the Xuzhou army also hoped to avoid conflict with Liu Biaojun and get along with Liu Biaojun's team temporarily, so Jingsheng Gong's abacus of riding the wall to watch the wind and fishing in troubled waters was not only wishful, but also almost infinitely close to ten percent.

In fact, Song Kai, the envoy of Xuzhou who was ordered to rush to the Zongyang ferry to envoy Liu Biaojun, in addition to bringing the mediation attitude of the Great Yuan Sangong to the Huainan War to Liu Biaojun's team, so that Liu Biaojun could hug his thighs from the general trend, but also brought quite valuable gifts to Liu Biaojun's two main generals, Liu Pan and Huang Jie, at the same time, Song Kai also said in a rare low tone on behalf of Deputy Director Tao, "This war is completely our personal grudge with Yuan Shu, revenge for Yuan Shu's several unprovoked enmity in Xuzhou, please Jingsheng Gong and the two generals do not interfere." If Jingsheng Gong and the two generals can show a neutral attitude, then the five counties of Xuzhou will be grateful, and they will also have a generous courtesy to Jingsheng Gong and the two generals. ”

took the initiative to inform Liu Biaojun of the attitude of Yuan Sangong, and also gave Liu Biaojun enough face, it stands to reason that Liu Pan and Huang Jie should also be satisfied, and they should be on the slope of the donkey to implement Liu Biao's order to ride the wall and watch the wind and hook up with the Xuzhou army to annihilate. But some people just can't be saved, seeing the attitude of the Xuzhou envoy respectful, the tone is weak, and repeatedly said that there will be a heavy gift in return, Liu Pan and Huang Shot, who did not get too much benefit from the hands of Xiao Yuan Sangong, are inevitably greedy for a big life, and I heard that Xiao Yuan Sangong is ready to start armistice negotiations with the Xuzhou army, and both sides need to fight for Jingzhou reinforcements at the negotiation table.

Liu Pan and Huang Jie's wishful thinking was like this, while sending envoys to contact Xiao Yuan Sangong, promising that Xiao Yuan Sangong only needed to pay another sum of money and grain, then they led Jingzhou reinforcements north to Shucheng to station, cheering for Xiao Yuan Sangong at the negotiation table; On the one hand, he opened his mouth to the lion of the Xuzhou army, and asked the Xuzhou army to take out 200,000 hun of grain and 3,000 catties of gold and silver in exchange, in exchange for the Jingzhou army to go north to Shucheng, and join forces with the Xuzhou army to put pressure on Xiao Yuan Sangong at the negotiation table. Surprised by Liu Biaojun's sky-high asking price, Song Kai did not dare to slack off, so he could only hurry back to Shucheng and report the news to Deputy Director Tao without mentioning it.

When Song Kai brought the news back to Shucheng, under the auspices and supervision of the Jizhou envoy Xu You, the envoy of Deputy Director Tao and Xiao Yuan Sangong had already concluded the first armistice negotiations in the Xuzhou camp, and the benevolent armistice conditions offered by the generous Deputy Director Tao were as follows: Xiao Yuan Sangong ceded the entire territory of Lujiang and Jiujiang counties, compensated Xuzhou for 5,000 catties of gold and silver, compensated 300,000 yuan of grain and grass for the Xuzhou army, and made up for the losses of the Huainan Army in the five counties of Xuzhou three times before. At the same time, Deputy Director Tao had to ask Xiao Yuan San to pass on the national jade seal by bus, and it was transferred to the Son of Heaven by Da Yuan Sangong!

The harsh armistice conditions made public by the little Yuan San of the rat belly and chicken intestines, the Xuzhou army unconditionally withdrew from Huainan and returned all the Huainan land and cities captured before, and the Huainan army paid the Xuzhou army 50,000 yuan of grain and grass, 500 catties of gold and silver, as compensation for the previous invasion of Xuzhou's land, and at the same time did not negotiate with the Xuzhou army about the matter of passing on the jade seal, and the ownership and custody of the jade seal was resolved by the brothers of the little Yuan Sangong and the big Yuan Sangong.

Both sides have made up their minds to ask for a sky-high price and repay the money on the spot, and the first peace talks are very far apart; of course, the first talks ended in a fruitless and unhappy end, and there was no decision on when the second talks would begin. In order to force Xiao Yuan Sangong to make substantive concessions at the negotiation table, after bribing Yuan Shaojun's envoy Xu Yu to favor his own army, Deputy Director Tao did not hesitate to order to start preparing for the siege, preparing to scare Xiao Yuan Sangong with Xiangyang cannons first, and then force Xiao Yuan Sangong back to the negotiating table, but at this time, Song Kai came back with Liu Biaojun's reply............ "200,000 grains, 3,000 catties of gold and silver?" Knock them in the wrong place! After listening to the conditions offered by Liu Pan and Huang Jie, Deputy Director Tao suddenly became angry, waved his hand and shouted: "Don't pay attention to them, let them toss, they don't have the courage to start a war with our army, wait until Yuan Shu is forced to give up Lujiang first, and then slowly clean them up." ”

Song Kai nodded hurriedly, and Chen Ying next to him carefully reminded: "My lord, if our army completely ignores Liu Biaojun, if it angers Liu Biao's team, and Yuan Shu bows to Liu Biaojun in exchange for Liu Biao's army going north to support Shucheng, then wouldn't our army be in a dilemma?" If you don't fight, you can't force Yuan Shu to hand over the remaining land and city of Lujiang, and if you fight, it will provoke a war between Xuzhou and Jingzhou, which is not conducive to our army's stability in Huainan and the development of a naval army. ”

"Don't worry about that." Deputy Director Tao replied confidently: "With Yuan Shao's support for our army, Liu Biao'er doesn't have the courage to start a war with our army, they really dare to go north to Shucheng, and it is enough for Xu You to come forward to clean them up." Besides, Yuan Shu is not a stupid person, can he not see that Liu Pan and Huang Shot, the two horsemen, are taking advantage of the fire to rob and extort bamboo poles, how can they endure the repeated blackmail of Liu Biao's reinforcements? ”

Seeing that Tao Ying was so confident, Chen Ying didn't say anything anymore, but just retreated honestly, and Lu Su, who was the best at strategic diplomacy in the Xuzhou army next to him, suggested: "Lord, according to the next opinion, the lord might as well jump away from Liu Pan and Huang Jie to contact Liu Biao directly, explain various situations to Liu Biao, and also tell Liu Jingsheng about the unreasonable conditions offered by Liu Pan and Huang Jie, so that Liu Jingsheng can know the situation in Lujiang and our army's restraint and respect for him." In this way, even if Liu Pan and Huang Jie repeatedly forced each other and deliberately created friction with our army to disrupt the situation, and our army was forced to return fire, there was also an explanation on Liu Biao's side, and it also laid the groundwork for turning enemies into friends in the future. ”

"Zijing's words are very good, and they are exactly what I want." Tao Ying nodded very satisfied, and then turned to Chen Ying next to him and ordered: "Yuan Fang, Liu Jingsheng is from the most important family, and he likes to look down on people with dog eyes, so it is not suitable for this matter to be handed over to Mr. Zhongming and Bei'an, how about you go to Jingzhou?" First go to Shouchun to take a boat up the Huai River, and get off the boat in Pingchun and go directly west to Xiangyang, which can not only avoid the enemy blockade, but also save a lot of time and distance. Chen Ying, who was born in the Xuzhou clan, agreed, and did not mention the work of preparing to send an envoy to Jingzhou overnight.

………………

Xiao Yuan Sangong and his think tank are indeed not stupid, and they are smarter than Deputy Director Tao expected, so when the envoys sent by Liu Pan and Huang Jie arrived in Shucheng to extort bamboo sticks, Xiao Yuan Sangong, who had already suffered a loss, said that he would not be fooled again this time, not only was he not fooled, but he also snorted coldly in front of Liu Biaojun's envoy Chen Zuo: "Do you want to ask for money and food again?" Yes, as long as your army goes north to Shucheng and kills the Xuzhou thief army, how much food it will cost can be discussed. ”

Chen is the confidant and favorite general of Huang Zu, Huang Zu, Huang Biao's father, and he can be regarded as a high authority in Liu Biaojun, and he is usually respected, so he has no restraint in front of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and said with a smile: "Yuan Gong's words are wrong, there is no food team to eat, and the strength of our soldiers and soldiers to go north to kill thieves?" Please rest assured that as long as Yuan Gong provides our army with another batch of grain and grass this time, our army will definitely go north to Shucheng and join forces with your army to resist the invasion of the Xuzhou thief army. A gentleman promises a thousand gold, and our army will never break its promise. ”

"Fifty thousand grains still can't be eaten?" Xiao Yuan San was angry, and roared at the case: "You only have a total of 20,000 troops and 50,000 grains, even if it is according to the highest standard of border soldiers, two grains per person per month, it is enough for you to use it for more than a month, and you still have the face to say that you can't eat enough?" Your team in Jingzhou can eat like pigs?! ”

Chen changed his face and snorted coldly: "Yuan Gong, our army came to the rescue thousands of miles away, but Gong said humiliating words to our army, is this Yuan Gong's hospitality?" If my lord knew that Yuan Gong humiliated his allies like this, the consequences would be terrible....... ”

"It doesn't matter, whatever you want." Xiao Yuan Sangong, who had been deceived and deceived by his allies repeatedly, had a very sad and indignant expression, and gritted his teeth and said: "It's great that you will collude with the Xuzhou thief army to attack Shucheng together, come on, as long as you are not afraid of the shameless betrayal of the people of the world scolding you for defecting, then you can come, you don't have to worry about more debts, you don't have to itch if you have more lice, and you don't care about one more enemy." Come, as long as you feel that Tao Ying is more generous than Lone, and can better meet your shameless demands, then you can come. ”

Chen was not afraid, and snorted coldly: "Yuan Gong's words are too much, my Jingzhou army is a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, a teacher of gentlemen, how can I do a shameless thing of rebellion?" However, Yuan Gong did not blame him for not saying it in advance, Yuan Gong had promised before that if our army sent troops to rescue, then all the money and food expenses would be borne by Yuan Gong, but now Yuan Gong refused to provide grain and grass, and our army was about to run out of food - among our army, some brave and combative soldiers had already shouted out the words of looting the grain and grass supply of Lujiang. Although General Liu and General Huang can still suppress it now, if time passes, the neighboring cities of Juchao and Anhui County in Zongyang will be ............. ”

Chen is already a threat to Chi Guoguo, hearing this, Xiao Yuan Sangong, who has a bad temper, is naturally furious, and he jumped up and was about to give the order to behead, but Bo Yanxiang, the commander of the Huainan Army, who had been watching Chen Zhi's clown performance coldly, suddenly brightened his eyes, and was suddenly reminded of a big event by Chen! At that moment, Yan Xiang did not hesitate, and hurriedly stood up on the train, while wiping his neck with a look at Xiao Yuan Sangong, signaling Xiao Yuan Sangong to be patient for the time being, and said respectfully to Chen: "General Ningshi, don't be angry, my lord is also in a bad mood because of the recent war situation, and there is quite anger in his words, please don't care." In this case, how about the general go to the pavilion for a while, and after my lord and everyone have carefully discussed, then give the general a satisfactory answer? Come, please go down and rest for General Ningshi, so that you can entertain you. ”

Hearing Yan Xiang's words, Chen, who was tasked with extortion, did not refuse, and swaggered away from the Huainan Army's meeting hall with the guards, and as soon as Chen left with his front foot, Xiao Yuan Sangong lifted the table in front of him with his back foot, and roared at Yan Xiang: "What are you stopping me for?" This thief is so rude, Lone wants to kill him to vent his anger, why do you want to stop Lone?! ”

"The lord, please calm your anger, such a clown, killing him is just defiling the lord's knife out of thin air, it doesn't matter." Yan Xiang persuaded well, and said with a happy face: "But thanks to the reminder of this jumping clown, His Majesty suddenly thought of a clever plan, which can make the Xuzhou thief army and the Jingzhou thief army turn against each other, raise arms and arms, let our army sit and reap the profits, and win the first opportunity in the negotiation." ”

"What is Yan Gong's plan, tell me quickly." Xiao Yuan Sangong asked with great joy.

"It's a two-step process." Yan Xiang lowered his voice and said quickly: "The first step, the lord pretended to agree to the shameless blackmail of the Jingzhou thief army, and under the pretext that the Xuzhou thief army was besieging the city on all sides, and the grain and grass could not be transported, let the Jingzhou thief army take over Juchao and Anhui County, and let them take the grain and grass supplies in the city by themselves, and then tell the Jingzhou thief army that these two cities are very rich, and the money and grain in the city are enough to be used by the Jingzhou thief army for more than two months, even if the money and grain in the city are not counted as civilian grain, it is enough for the Jingzhou thief army to use for more than two months. ”

Xiao Yuan Sangong's strategic fulcrum in Lujiang is Lujiang County's governance of Shucheng, and he doesn't pay attention to Juchao and Anhui County, and he won't be too distressed even if he loses it, so Xiao Yuan Sangong didn't question whether Yan Xiang's plan was too sacrificial, but just asked: "Then how to go about the second step?" ”

"Simple." Yan Xiang said quickly: "Although Anhui County is located in a relatively remote area, but the people are quite rich, money and food are quite abundant, whether it is the Xuzhou thief army or the Jingzhou thief army will not be ignored, Anhui County guard Li Shu is Liu Xun's henchman, quite loyal to the lord, Anhui County is located next to the Dabie Mountain, the terrain is dangerous, the city defenders also have 4,000 people, can guard the city for a long time, the lord can send a fast horse to send a secret letter to him, ordering him to refuse to hand over Anhui County to the Jingzhou thief army, and then send someone to send the household registration of Anhui County and the official seal of the general card to Tao Ying thief army, It is said that the Jingzhou thief army is brutal, harming the people very hard, only willing to descend Tao, unwilling to surrender Liu, begging Tao Ying to send troops to take over the city of Anhui County, save the people from fire and water, Tao thieves will also inevitably send troops to Anhui County, the two thieves meet under the city of Anhui County, the two tigers compete to eat a city in Anhui County, how can there be no reason not to use fire? And as soon as the Taoliu war began, wouldn't our army be in a favorable position to watch the fire from the other side and reap the benefits? ”

"Wonderful!" Xiao Yuan Sangong applauded with joy, and then woke up again, and hurriedly said: "Slow, Yan Gong, Tao Ying's thief is better than the monkey on the mountain, and more slippery than the fox in the woods. ”

"Don't worry, my lord, even if Tao Ying sees through the plan of his subordinates this time, he will definitely fall for it!" Yan Xiang also gritted his teeth and said: "The lord can let Li Shuxian spread how the Jingzhou thief army is brutal in Anhui County, killing people and setting fires, robbing money and grain, silver wives and daughters, doing evil, doing all kinds of evil, intimidating the soldiers and civilians in the city, and then organizing a joint petition by local gate lords and clan celebrities, and even writing a blood letter begging Tao Ying to send troops to save the people of Anhui County!" In this way, with Tao Ying's hypocrite fake benevolent surname, even if he sees that Anhui County is a huge trap, he has to jump into it! ”

The horizontal flesh on Xiao Yuan Sangong's face twitched a few times, and he quickly made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!" That's it! Anyway, whether it is the Xuzhou thief army or the Jingzhou thief army to attack Anhui County, our army has no way to send troops to save Anhui County, rather than being taken away by the thief army by force, it is better to use it as a bait to make the two thief armies turn their faces into enemies! If successful, Li Shu can also lead the army to blend into the Xuzhou thief army and become the internal response of our army, killing two birds with one stone! ”

……………………

Finalized this vicious to the extreme of the two tigers to compete for food, the broken jar of the little Yuan Sangong immediately acted according to the plan, first summoned the Jingzhou army envoy Chen Zuo, expressed his willingness to accept the extortion of the Jingzhou army, in exchange for the Jingzhou army to go north to reinforce Shucheng, and then under the pretext that the Xuzhou thief army was coming to the city, the grain and grass in Shuxian County could not be transported out, and proposed to give all the money and grain to the Jingzhou team in the two cities of Juchao and Anhui County, as the use of the Jingzhou army, and at the same time, in order to show the sincerity of his alliance, Xiao Yuan Sangong also wrote an order on the spot, Ordered Zhou Jian, the general of Juchao, and Li Shujiang, the general of Anhui County, and ordered Zhou Jian to lead the army to retreat to the mouth of the water to meet Chen Fen, Li Shu led the army to withdraw to Shucheng to meet with the main force, and the defense of the two cities was handed over to the Jingzhou army, and asked Chen to bring this back to Zongyang and hand it over to Liu Pan and Huang Jie to show his sincerity in asking for help.

Seeing the handwritten warrant of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and listening to Yan Xiang's introduction to the prosperity and abundance of money and food in Juchao and Anhui County, Chen Zhi, the envoy of the Jingzhou army, was of course overjoyed in his heart, but Chen was not stupid, and proposed that after the Jingzhou army took over the two cities of Juchao and Anhui County, the Jingzhou army could then send troops to Shucheng to help fight - otherwise the Jingzhou team would not have enough to eat and have no strength. Xiao Yuan Sangong pretended to be angry, but fortunately Yan Xiang repeatedly persuaded Fang to reluctantly agree, asking the Jingzhou army to send troops to Shucheng immediately after taking over the second city, and Chen, who succeeded in blackmailing, agreed, and also wrote a covenant on behalf of Liu Pan, Huang Jie and Xiao Yuan Sangong in white silk and black letters, and then left happily.

After Chen brought the handwritten warrant of the little Yuan Sangong back to Zongyang, the insatiable General Liu Pan and General Huang Shot were of course ecstatic when they learned of the situation, and without saying a word, they sent 5,000 troops to take the little Yuan Sangong north to the nearest Juchao City, and Zhou Jian, the guard of the Huainan Army, had been told by the little Yuan Sangong to follow the order, although he was unwilling to see the warrant, but he still opened the city gate with tears to welcome the Jingzhou army into the city, handed over the Juchao city to the Jingzhou army, and he led more than 1,000 defenders to move outside the city. Prepare to go east to meet Chen Fen at the mouth of the water.

In fact, there is no need for Xiao Yuan Sangong to order Li Shu, the guard general of Anhui County, to publicize the brutality of the Jingzhou army, how can the Jingzhou army fighting away be polite to the people of Lujiang? Especially a city like Juchao, which can only be occupied for a period of time and must be returned, can the Jingzhou army enter the city without being three feet high? Among them, Liu Pan's Changsha team was slightly better, but under the pretext of military situation, it was necessary to forcibly collect money and food from the people in the city, and after the Jiangxia army led by Huang Jian entered the city, it was really as evil as Yan Xiang described, and he did everything to rob the people's daughters to rob money and grain, kill people and set fires, and as a result, not only the people in the city were miserable, but also Zhou Jian, the original guard of the nest who had moved outside the city, couldn't stand it, and there were disputes and conflicts with the Jingzhou army.

When the Jingzhou army was still doing evil in the city, Li Shu, the guard general of the Huainan Army in Anhui County, who was ordered to act, had already started intimidation propaganda in Anhui County, telling the people in the city about the atrocities of the Jingzhou army, and publicly stated that he would live and die with the soldiers and people of Anhui County, and would never hand over Anhui County to the Jingzhou army that did all kinds of evil, in exchange for the applause of the people of Anhui County, and the support of the local scholars and gate lords in Anhui County.

The day later, Li Shu urgently summoned the representatives of the big clan gate lords in Anhui County, and showed them the order of Xiao Yuan Sangong asking him to hand over Anhui County to the Jingzhou army, saying that he really could not accept this chaotic fate, and was determined to confront the Jingzhou army by force, and at the same time sent an envoy to the Xuzhou army to ask for surrender, and presented the city's household registration and official seal to the Xuzhou army, in exchange for the Xuzhou army to send troops to rescue Anhui County and take over Anhui County, and asked the Shi clan gate lord of Anhui County to jointly write a letter to Xuzhou Tao Envoy Jun with himself. lest Tao Zhijun dare not trust the defenders of Anhui County to refuse to send troops, in addition, Li Shu also pierced his arm in public and took his own blood to make a book.

Anhui County's Shi clan gate valve and other Shi clan gate valve in Lujiang are naturally connected, long from Zheng Bao, Xu Gan and other Lujiang clans have learned about the situation of the Xuzhou army, know that the Xuzhou army is very able to protect the interests of the local scholars, the heart of Xuzhou for a long time, at this moment heard about the brutality of the Jingzhou army, and saw Li Shu's stabbing arm book blood of course was very moved, not only immediately forgot that Li Shu had previously given Xiao Yuan Sangong and Liu Xun to abuse the tyranny, but also signed one after another, and wrote his name on Li Shu's blood book with his own blood. I begged Tao to send troops to Anhui County to save the people from fire and water, and save the people from danger. And after all these preparations were perfected, General Li Shu immediately sent people out of the city with blood books and Anhui County household registration books, and Pegasus rushed to Shucheng to ask the Xuzhou army for help.

Anhui County is more than 170 miles away from Shucheng, and more than 70 miles away from Zongyang, so when the envoy sent by Anhui County to surrender was still on the way, General Huang Shot of the Jingzhou Army couldn't wait to personally lead 5,000 Jingzhou troops to the city of Wanxian County, showing the handwritten warrant of Xiao Yuan Sangong, asking Li Shu to hand over the city of Anhui County............ "The Jingzhou Riot Army is coming!" The Jingzhou Riot Army is coming! The Jingzhou rioters are coming————! ”

With the shouts on the streets of Anhui County, the streets and alleys of Anhui County also suddenly appeared in a panic, which is located in the north of Anhui County in a rather elegant house is even more so, the owner of this house after hearing the alarm, the first thing is to rush into his own kitchen, regardless of the surprised eyes and inquiries of the family, grab an old iron pot next to the stove and rush out of the kitchen, and then rush all the way into their own backyard, and rush to a finely carved embroidery building, people are still upstairs has been hurriedly shouted, " Liang'er, Wan'er, quick, quickly smear the ashes on the pot on your faces, and then change into old clothes, if the Jingzhou army enters the city, you will run with your father. ”

"No, it's dirty."

"Dirty? Is it dirty, or is your life important? The Jingzhou riot army has entered the city, if you see your appearance, then you can pay it back? Quick, fast application. ”

"Don't, don't, it's so dirty and ugly, father, you have to apply pot ashes, paint your own face."

"Sister, don't be rude to your father, my father is also for our good. And father, don't be in such a hurry, if the Jingzhou riot army enters the city, we still have time to apply pot ashes. ”

"Then I put this pot here, you two hurry up and change your old clothes, the more simple the better, if you hear something wrong outside the city, immediately smear the pot ash all over your face, do you understand?"

"Understood, father, why are you more verbose than the aunt next door? Oh, by the way, Dad, I heard that you also wrote a blood letter to ask Tao Envoy Jun from Xuzhou to come to save Anhui County, is it true? ”

"Well, I wrote it. By the way, by the way, let me tell you sisters, if the Xuzhou army enters the city, you must also paint pot ashes on your face, and you must not be careless. ”

"Why? Didn't the Xuzhou army come to save our Anhui County? ”

"Be careful, listen to General Deng Dang, who was stationed here before, that Tao envoy in Xuzhou is not only as ugly as a pig, roe deer, but also lustful and cruel, and even refuses to let other people's wives go, if he is allowed to see your sisters, ....... Alas, in today's world chaos, how did your sisters grow up like this? ”

(To be continued)