“…… It is very much done. Those who get the head will be sealed by 5,000 households and rewarded with 50 million. If the ministry favors the generals and the officials, don't ask. Guangyi is entrusted, Bunyan is rewarded, proclaimed to the world, and Xian makes it difficult to know that the Holy Dynasty is persecuted. Like a law! ”

"Wow, Cao Thief's head is so valuable? Mr. Wenhe, Zhong Kang, it seems that we have missed the opportunity to make a fortune twice! I knew that Lord Yue's bounty was so high, we had already killed the Cao thief in Qian County and Xiao Pei, and if we left his head until now, we could sell it for 50 million yuan as soon as it changed hands! ”

finally finished reading the stinky and long essay on Cao Weiwen, which was praised by the world as a beautiful text in his own eyes, Deputy Director Tao immediately pretended to shout, and the handsome face of the man who specializes in cheating his wife and father-in-law was full of smiles that were difficult to hide - no matter how good Deputy Director Tao's acting skills were, he couldn't hide it this time, Chen Lin's famous article on Cao Wei finally came out, Cao Ying and Yuan Shao's two major nail households completely tore their faces, and they were blocked by the two major nail households in Xuzhou for more than a year and couldn't open a bulldozer, and the deputy director of the Demolition and Relocation Office Tao just couldn't laugh.

"The lord doesn't have to regret it, it was useless to cut it down at that time, it was cut at that time, and now Cao Ying's head is not so valuable. It's better to leave Cao Ying's head around his neck for a while longer, maybe there will be a chance to increase the price. ”

Jia Lao, who has always been serious, also made a rare joke, which made the lackeys of Deputy Director Tao present laugh, all of them were happy, and they all rejoiced and gloated about the fact that the two powerful neighbors in the north were about to pinch each other. Finally waiting for the laughter to subside, Deputy Director Tao put down the text sent by Xizuo in advance, and asked Liu Ye: "Mr. Ziyang, where is Chen Zhen, the envoy of Lord Yue?" ”

"I received a flying pigeon message half an hour ago, Chen Zhen arrived in Tancheng at noon yesterday, if the speed is fast, he can arrive in Pengcheng within two days, but his intention General Lu You has not yet figured out." Liu Ye, who was in charge of the affairs of exploring horses, replied.

"Don't touch it, use the edict and the righteous letter to order me to send troops to attack the Cao thief." Deputy Director Tao said contemptuously: "My father-in-law is ready to fight Cao thief, how can he be kind enough to let my son-in-law hide aside and watch the excitement?" ”

"Ye thinks so too." Liu Ye nodded, and asked again: "Then may I ask the lord, how to deal with it?" ”

"Promise him." Deputy Director Tao replied without even blinking his eyelids, and said with a smile: "Lord Yue's father-in-law raised an army to rebel against him by the blood edict of the Son of Heaven, how can I, as a son-in-law, not raise troops to help?" ”

"Promise him?" Liu Ye was stunned and reminded worriedly: "Lord, this matter can't be joked about casually, I agreed to send troops to help the war, and the troops were sent to weaken each other with Cao Ying, and Yuan Shao was cheapened for nothing." If you agree and don't send troops, or only send a few soldiers and horses in a perfunctory manner, maybe the Langya incident will be repeated? ”

"No, not perfunctory this time." Deputy Director Tao shook his head and continued to smile and said, "This time, I will personally lead an army of 50,000 to the north to attack Changyi City, an important town on the southern line of Yanzhou. ”

Seeing Deputy Director Tao smiling happily, he decided to send troops and said it so easily, so don't talk about Liu Ye, even Chen Deng was a little suspicious that Deputy Director Tao was still joking, and reminded: "Lord, please act cautiously, dispatching an army of 50,000 is not a joke, even if the road from Pengcheng to Changyi is not far, and there is a waterway to pass, it is relatively easy to transport grain and grass, but to dispatch 50,000 troops north to Changyi, at least tens of thousands of people and countless vehicles and ships need to be mobilized, In order to ensure that the army is not short of food and grass under the city of Changyi, the cost is very huge. ”

"If you want to gain, you must first lose." Deputy Director Tao put away his hippie smile and said solemnly: "It's so decided, immediately start preparing for the Northern Expedition, and Cao Ang, the son of the Cao thief, please also go home to guard it, but you must not hurt or intimidate him." Mr. Ziyang, you are personally responsible for this matter, explain it clearly to Cao Ang, and say that I am helpless with a blood edict, as long as Cao Thief sends my brother back to Xuzhou, I will immediately send him back to Xuchang. ”

Liu Ye, Chen Deng and the others looked at each other, and Jia Lao Poison said quietly: "Lord, did you send an envoy to contact Cao Ying?" ”

"Of course the messenger will be sent." Deputy Director Tao said slowly: "But there is no need to send it secretly, let Chen Changwen go to Xuchang openly, and ask Cao Thief to exchange hostages with our army, and there is no need to say anything else - with Cao Thief's deceit, he will naturally understand." ”

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao really didn't seem to be joking, the order to immediately start preparing for war was immediately implemented, first of all, Liu Ye and Cao Hong rushed to Pengcheng County with internal guards, invited Cao Ang back to his residence in Pengcheng's home, and specially arranged for 300 soldiers to guard, and Cao Ang was also very angry with Cao Boss, and when he was detained and placed under house arrest, he also carefully handed over the county minister work in his hand to the local officials in Xuzhou, and then returned home with Liu Ye and Cao Hong to accept house arrest, and his calm demeanor made Xuzhou officers and soldiers secretly admire.

At the same time, the Xuzhou army, which had been idle for more than a year, finally moved, and the soldiers were able to go home on vacation and say goodbye to their families overnight, and the next morning they began to assemble and prepare for the expedition; The grain, grass and ordnance that was about to burst the warehouse were also loaded on the dock and loaded on the ship, and the grain and grass were sent to Xiaopei for later use; Then there is the recruitment of people's husbands, the requisition of civilian ships and vehicles, the closure of Xiaopeibian City, the complete martial law at the border, the posting of notices to inform the people of the reasons for the expedition and the purpose of the troops, all kinds of preparations are complicated, so that many Xuzhou civil and military officials have not slept for several nights, and they are napping while working.

In this way, three days later, when Nanyang Chen Zhen, the envoy of the Third Duke of Yuan, arrived in Pengcheng, the general of Xuzhou, Gao Shundu, had already led an army of 10,000 and began to set off to Xiaopei. And Deputy Director Tao also personally led the civil and military officials out of the city ten miles to meet Chen Zhen, as soon as they met, they told Chen Zhen straight to the point, "Mr. Xiaoqi's intention, should have known, Lord Yue's request for Cao Weiwen, Tanma has also been copied to Xuzhou, please Mr. Yue Zhang, should look forward to this for a long time, Xuzhou pioneer has set off, do not say that Ying personally led 50,000 troops to the north, attack the southern line of Cao thief, should be Lord Yue across the river, and Yue Zhang's division in Guandu, a total of Cao thief!" ”

Hearing Deputy Director Tao's high-sounding and beautiful words, seeing the Xuzhou army on the official road that was constantly marching north, and the countless ships loaded with grain, grass and ordnance on the Surabaya River going upstream, Chen Zhen was of course overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked Deputy Director Tao again and again. However, Deputy Director Tao said: "There is another small thing, Yanzhou is open, the number of cavalry is very important, I recently heard that the Chang'an Taishou Zhong Xuan appointed by Cao Thief got a large number of war horses for Cao Thief from the Qiang people, and my Xuzhou War Horse is scarce, and I suffer a lot in Yanzhou. ”

Anyway, it's just to write a letter, whether it is successful or not is the decision of the third prince of the great Yuan, and it has nothing to do with him, so Chen Zhen naturally agreed, and on the same day, he raised his pen and wrote the small request of Deputy Director Tao into a letter, and sent a fast horse to send it back to Yecheng to hand it over to the third prince of the great yuan, and asked for the attitude of the third prince of the great yuan - by the way, he also reported the good news that the Xuzhou army had been dispatched first.

In addition to Deputy Director Tao's request for war horses, Chen Zhen actually didn't need to report the news of the Xuzhou army sending troops to the north, and even the eyes of a blind man couldn't hide such a big move. And when they heard the news, the nail households in the south of the Xuzhou demolition team were greatly relieved, but Yuan Sangong was ecstatic, and praised a few words after a long absence, but Cao Boss was a rumor here, and the post horses on the official road were endless, and the counties and cities of Yanzhou were under full martial law, and they were so nervous that they didn't even have a good year.

The most shocking thing is, of course, Boss Cao himself, who said that he didn't think that he had just lent Taishan County to the Xuzhou army to suppress bandits not long ago, Deputy Director Tao immediately turned his face and did not admit that he would start a war against himself, but when he heard that Chen Qun was on his way to Xuchang in Xuzhou, and he also made it clear that he wanted to exchange hostages to facilitate the war, Boss Cao immediately laughed and laughed: "Okay, you Tao Ying thief, your bluff is so vigorous that I was almost deceived by you." ”

"Bluffing?" Left and right asked in surprise: "The pottery thief went north with such fanfare, why did the prime minister think that he was just bluffing?" ”

"Of course, it's from the exchange of hostages." Cao Lao laughed and said: "Cao Ang is my eldest son, and the pottery merchant is the eldest brother of the pottery thief, both of whom are so close that they can no longer kiss each other. ”

"But now, the pottery thief suddenly sent troops without warning, as if he was going to kill me by surprise, and on the other hand, he sent an envoy to contact, demanding that the hostages be exchanged before going to war - deliberately so contradictory, it is tantamount to telling me in a different way that no matter how big his actions are, it is just a bluff and perfunctory Yuan Shaopifu!"

"Can the prime minister be sure?" Xun Yu asked with a serious expression: "If the prime minister's expectations are wrong, or the pottery thief suddenly turns virtual into reality, our army is in danger!" ”

"Others may do this, but the pottery thief will not!" Boss Cao said categorically: "The pottery thief is too deceitful, and he never makes mistakes in strategy, our army is down now, it is not good for him, the current military strength of the pottery thief is not even as good as our army, and he has no chance of winning against Yuan Shaopifu alone, so he will never do stupid things to destroy the barrier of self-destruction!" I dare to conclude that the pottery thief must be so fanfare because of Yuan Shao's persecution, and he has to have a ...... Yuan Shao's husband, ah! Pottery thief - you thief————! ”

Speaking of this categorically, Boss Cao suddenly came to his senses, and immediately scolded, "Tao Ying thief!" Did I dig up your ancestral grave or rob your wife? How did you hurt me like this?! ”

"Prime Minister, how did the pottery thief trap our army?" Left and right asked in surprise.

"This thief's bravado, in addition to perfunctory Yuan Shaopifu, is also to lure Yuan Shaopifu to immediately send troops to attack me!" Boss Cao roared angrily: "Yuan Shao is resourceful and fickle, hesitant and fickle, at the moment, the Jizhou army is only partial to Liyang, whether to cross the river to attack us is still hesitating, and giving up halfway is also two words!" But Tao Ying, a little thief, made such a big fuss, Yuan Shaopifu was likely to send troops immediately! This shameless thief is simply deceitful to the extreme! ”

Listening to Boss Cao's analysis, almost all of the strategists under Boss Cao's command whose intelligence was above ninety suddenly woke up, and began to follow Boss Cao to scold Deputy Director Tao for his deceitful and vicious, but Mao Jue, who had an intelligence of more than eighty in the game, did not wake up for a while, and wondered: "Prime Minister, the pottery thief is not afraid that Yuan Shao will always refuse to send troops, and sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight and watch our army fight to the death against him?" ”

"The pottery thief is cunning, and he will never really fight to the death with our army." Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Xun Yu and others all opened their mouths to explain for Boss Cao: "If Yuan Shao is reluctant to send troops, or Yuan Shao discourages his intention to send troops, or if the main force of our army goes south to form a decisive battle with it, the pottery thief will inevitably retreat to Xuzhou immediately, and it will never be possible to really work for Yuan Shao." ”

"In that case, why don't you lead the main force east and south to meet Tao Ying's thieves?" Mao Jue also suggested: "The master of the right talent said that Yuan Shao is resourceful and indecisive, hesitant and fickle, so he may not be able to make up his mind to send troops immediately. In this case, why didn't the lord lead the army to the south before Yuan Shao sent his troops, attack the pottery thief with lightning speed, and then turn back to meet Yuan Shao, wouldn't he have no worries? ”

Boss Cao was a little tempted, by the way, before the Battle of Guandu in history, Boss Cao dealt with Uncle Liu Huang who killed the rebellion in Xuzhou, but he used this method to kill Uncle Liu Huang who was pulling Boss Cao's soldiers and horses to rebel and had an unstable foothold, so ............ "can't take risks." After thinking about it again, Boss Cao still shook his head, and said helplessly: "Tao Ying is not an ordinary person, the Xuzhou army has grown a lot in recent years, it is difficult to break through quickly, and the father and son of the Tao thief have been operating in Xuzhou for many years, and they have won the hearts of the people. If you are so risky and careless, you will be attacked on both sides, and you will perish. ”

Everyone was silent, and after a long time, Xun Yu arched his hand and said: "Prime Minister, the Tao thief sent troops, Yu has three countermeasures, and the Prime Minister may wish to use them together." ”

"Mr. Wen Ruo tried to say it." Boss Cao replied.

Xun Yu replied: "First, please ask the Son of Heaven to issue an edict claiming that the secret edict in Yuan Shao's hand is forged, and use this as an excuse to communicate with the pottery thief envoy Chen Zhenxu and the snake, resolutely not agree to exchange hostages, and cooperate with the pottery thief to perfunctory Yuan Shao, leaving room for maneuver. ”

"Second, the prime minister can secretly send an envoy to contact the pottery thief directly, inquire about the details of the pottery thief, find out that the pottery thief and our army join forces to break Yuan Shao's reserve price, and then act at the opportunity."

"Third, the prime minister may wish to send a few adjutant generals, falsely pretend to be the prime minister's banner and lead an army to Changyi to help in the war, and then order the deputy general not to enter the light war, only to intimidate, if you can scare away the pottery thief, then Yuan Shao will hate the pottery thief perfunctory, so that Yuan Tao and the two thieves will have contradictions, and create a good opportunity for our army to discord."

Boss Cao thought about it again and again, and quickly nodded and said: "Just follow Mr. Wenruo's three strategies to deal with it, send Liu Daixu to fight my banner, and stationed troops in Dingtao to intimidate the pottery thief team." As for the secret envoy ...... who secretly contacted the pottery thief, how about Xiao go on a trip first? ”

"Mao Jue is willing to go."

Mao Jue, who was named by Boss Cao, agreed, Boss Cao nodded, and suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Raising tigers!" Nourish a snake in one’s bosom! When I was in Xuzhou City, what medicine did I take wrong? How could you let go of Tao Ying, a thief?! If this thief was cut down with a knife at that time, Yuan Shao, what should I be afraid of? What's there to be afraid of?! ”

(To be continued)