couldn't stop Cai Mao's insistence, and Uncle Liu Huang himself was also a little lucky, and felt that since Deputy Director Tao could seize the opportunity of Boss Cao's vitality to take advantage of the danger of others, he might not be able to seize the opportunity of the Xuzhou army to suffer a lot of damage, so the three allied forces of Uncle Liu Huang, Cai Mao's department of the Jingzhou army and the Han Fu department of the Cao army finally crossed the water with a lot of water and stationed on the east bank of the water that was convenient for attacking Xuchang.

Of course, General Cai Mao and General Huang Shot are also cautious people, in order to guard against the Xuzhou army half of the crossing and attack it, General Cai Mao listened to the henchman Fu Xunjia, with the three brothers of Liu Huangshu who can fight well as the vanguard to cross the river first, and line up to protect the ferry, then led the Jingzhou army to cross the water, and at the same time Cai Mao urgently ordered the Cao army in the team to write a book to contact Cao Boss, so that Han Fu's soldiers sneaked to Cao Ying at night to deliver a letter, and asked Cao Boss to rise up and join forces with his own army to break the pottery thief!

General Cai Mao was obviously a little overcautious, the Xuzhou army was eager for the Jingzhou army to cross the river in order to clean up, how could it stop General Cai Mao's team from crossing the river to find death? Therefore, General Cai Mao's team crossed the water very smoothly across the whole line, and quickly repaired some fortifications, which somewhat had the capital to gain a foothold, but it was not so easy to send the letter to Cao Ying, in the open area of the tragedy around Xuchang, the soldiers under Han Fu were familiar with the environment, and they were just close to Cao Ying and were held by the Xuzhou patrol sentry, and General Cai Mao's handwritten letter to Cao Boss was also sent to Deputy Director Tao.

After reading Cai Mao's letter with a yawn, Deputy Director Tao was not angry, and arranged for Shi Yi to send the messenger and the letter into the Cao army camp and hand them over to Cao Boss to dispose of by himself, and Cao Boss did not hesitate after reading the letter, and immediately took up the pen and made a book with Han Fu, ordering Han Fu to immediately cancel the alliance he had concluded with the Jingzhou team, lead the Cao army team out of the battlefield, and go south to Runan to meet with the Manchu team. Then Boss Cao handed over the letter to Shi Yi and entrusted the Xuzhou army to send someone to send it, and then said: "I have done my best, whether Han Fu obeys the order, whether Cai Mao and the big-eared thief prevent Han Fu's team from leaving the battlefield is no longer in my control." ”

"As long as Duke Meng De has this heart, Yi understands, and my lord will inevitably understand." Shi Yi took the letter very politely, and asked, "Does Meng Degong have anything else to say to my father-in-law?" ”

"Tomorrow at dawn, I will immediately lead the army to withdraw." Boss Cao replied frankly: "Retreat to the southeast, take Chenting to Chen County to rest, and then retreat to Runan, if your army does not believe, you can send troops to monitor." ”

"The ceremony will report truthfully to the lord, and listen to the lord's arrangement." Shi Yi solemnly agreed, and then said: "If Meng Degong has nothing to explain, then Yi will retire." ”

Boss Cao nodded and ordered the guards to send Shiyi out of the account, but he did not emphasize again that he asked the Xuzhou army to cover the retreat of the self-army - Cao Jun took the initiative to withdraw from Xuchang Such a big move, if Deputy Director Tao played tricks again, his hypocritical reputation in front of the world would basically be ruined. But after Yi said goodbye and left, Cao Jun's civil and military forces who accompanied him on both sides exploded, and a few strategists were better, but Dian Wei, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and Cao Hong and other generals exploded and rushed to Cao Boss to question them.

"Prime Minister, is our army really going to withdraw? Don't you think about joining forces with the Jingzhou army to recapture Xuchang? ”

"Yes, it's a pity to give up like this, our army still has thousands of soldiers to fight, there is plenty of food and grass, and we are familiar with the terrain of Xuchang's city defense, and it is not hopeless to join forces with the Jingzhou army to recapture Xuchang?"

"Prime Minister, we should gamble again, don't rush to retreat first, find an excuse to look at the situation outside the battlefield, and wait for the pottery thief and the Jingzhou army to divide the victory and defeat, it's not too late for us to make a decision!"

Faced with the unwilling proposal of several henchmen, Boss Cao only used one sentence to make several confidant generals shut their mouths - Boss Cao asked coldly: "Do you think that Cai Mao's puppet and the big-eared thief are sure to defeat the pottery thief?" Defeat the team of potters on land? ”

Several Cao army generals have closed their mouths, they have fought with the Jingzhou army and the Xuzhou army, and they are very clear about the gap between the combat effectiveness of the two sides, in addition to the current Xuzhou army likes to play tricks and steal chickens and dogs, the combat effectiveness is actually not much different from the heyday of the Cao army, but the Jingzhou army is different, by the way, pull a normal state of the main force of the Cao army out, can completely abuse the poor Jingzhou army, with the Cao army itself as a reference, the Jingzhou army can do the Xuzhou army may indeed be pitifully small.

But Cao Hong was still a little unconvinced, and said: "Not necessarily, at least in Xiangcheng, the Jingzhou army won the pottery thief team, and also killed the pottery thief's general Lu Yi." ”

"It was just an accident, the pottery thief team lost to the unknown enemy and careless enemy." Boss Cao said expressionlessly: "Now that the military situation of the Jingzhou army has been basically exposed, Cai Mao and the big-eared thief, the two fools, have given up the favorable terrain west of Lishui and stepped into the place of death by themselves, and the defeat of the Jingzhou army in this battle has been decided." ”

"The prime minister has a point." Xun Yu nodded and said: "The terrain west of Lishui is complicated, there are three big rivers of Weishui, Yingshui and Rushui, and there are mountains such as Funiu Mountain, Shiren Mountain and Baiyun Mountain, the mountains are high and forested, the terrain is complex, and the roads are not conducive to the cavalry of the pottery thieves. The east of Weishui is different, the terrain in this area is too open, the city of Xuchang has been controlled by pottery thieves, and the Jingzhou army, which is weak on foot, basically has no hope in such terrain. ”

"Do you understand?" Boss Cao asked the generals again, and then said: "It is true that our army still has more than 8,000 troops, but more than 6,000 of them have been wounded, and more than 5,000 of them have family members who need protection, and they have to free up manpower to transport grain and grass." Under such circumstances, if our army stands on the wrong side again, then the time has come for our army to be completely destroyed. ”

Speaking of this, Boss Cao paused for a moment, and said: "Besides, Cai Mao and the big-eared thieves asked our army to attack the pottery thieves, and they didn't have any good intentions, but they just wanted our army to consume more pottery thieves for them, even if they really won, our army will inevitably be annexed by them." So don't be unconvinced, you want to seek revenge on the pottery thief, and wait until we have reorganized the army and horses, now is not the time. ”

The generals of the Cao army no longer insisted, and hurriedly sang the promise together, while Boss Cao turned his eyes to the outside of the tent, looking at the direction of the Jingzhou army in the west, and muttered in his heart, "Cai Mao, the big-eared thief, although I know that you can't win, I also hope that you can give me some courage, and I will lose again for killing some pottery thieves, don't let that thief win too easily." ”

Cao Boss is also a trustworthy person, the next morning just dawn, Cao Boss led the team that was already full of wounded and family members, and rushed to Chen Guo by Xinji and Chenting, Deputy Director Tao did not keep after receiving the news, and personally led an army out of the city to see off Cao Boss, but unfortunately Cao Boss did not appreciate it, and he didn't even bother to say a polite word of thanks, just a symbol of the surname arched his hand, and then left with a belly full of resentment and some gratitude to Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao proposed to visit Cao Lao's family, was also categorically rejected by Boss Cao - Deputy Director Tao had the idea of beating Boss Cao's daughter more than once. Deputy Director Tao was not angry, but just sent more than 100 horsemen to monitor Boss Cao's team and left.

After seeing Boss Cao leave, Liu Ye next to him immediately suggested: "Lord, the team of Cao thieves is no longer enough to consider, and the team of Cai Mao and the big-eared thieves has also crossed the water and camped on the east bank, why don't our army immediately send troops to attack Cai Mao's camp and break the enemy in one fell swoop?" ”

Deputy Director Tao was a little tempted, but Jia Lao Poison immediately stopped him and said, "No! Although Cai Mao crossed the water and camped on the back of the water, almost all of his troops were Jingxiang's soldiers, all of whom were familiar with the surname of Shui, and it was easy to cross the river, while our army must be assisted by bridges and boats to cross the river, and the terrain on the west bank of the river was complicated, which was not conducive to our army's all-out pursuit. If our army goes forward to attack, even if it wins, it will be difficult to expand the results of the battle, and the best way is to lure Cai Mao's main force to a decisive battle under the city of Xuchang, which is far away from the water, so that our army will have more opportunities to inflict heavy losses on the enemy. ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded, but he was still a little worried, and said: "But the Cao thief has already withdrawn, what if Cai Mao and the big-eared thief notice that the situation is not good, and immediately withdraw from the water and retreat?" ”

"It's possible, but it's probably not big." Jia Lao Poison replied: "The Jingzhou army has just won a great victory in Xiangcheng, and its morale is flourishing, and our army has been damaged in the two battles of Xuchang and Xiangcheng, and its strength has been somewhat damaged, so Liu Bei may propose that Cai Mao, the commander of the Jingzhou army, will definitely not be willing to retreat, and will inevitably test our army. ”

Deputy Director Tao thought about it for a while, and quickly nodded and said: "Okay, since it is difficult for our army to achieve a big victory on the edge of the water, it is better to gamble, losing is just letting Cai Mao and the big-eared thief slip away, and winning is to severely damage the enemy's main force!" No troops for the time being, wait and see the enemy's movements! ”

…………………… The news of Cao's withdrawal was sent back to the Jingzhou army by Jingzhou Tanma, and Cai Mao, the general of Jingzhou who had just crossed the water, was furious, and immediately summoned Han Fu, the general of Cao's army, to ask the reason, who knew that Deputy Director Tao had sent Cao's army to send Cao's letter to Han Fu, and Han Fu, who was also loyal to Cao's boss, did not dare to disobey his orders, and had made more than 2,000 Cao's soldiers secretly prepare to retreat. Seeing that Cai Mao sent someone to spread the word, Han Fu also immediately understood that the matter was revealed, and hurriedly led the army out of the camp to chase Boss Cao, and at the same time ordered Cai Mao's guards to report back to Cai Mao, explaining that Boss Cao had refused to form an alliance, and asked Cai Mao to fulfill his promise not to pursue and kill and block his own army.

It stands to reason that Han Fu's team, which has already secretly prepared, should not be difficult to highlight the camp, and it is likely to cause chaos in the Jingzhou camp, creating an opportunity for the Xuzhou army to take advantage of the fire to rob, but when Han Fu led the army to rush out of the gate of the army camp, a horse suddenly rushed out of the oblique stab, and rushed to Han Fu with lightning speed, shouting that the knife fell, and the unprepared General Han Fu suddenly fell to the ground, and the soldiers of the Cao army were shocked to take a closer look, but they saw that it was the famous Guan Yu Guan Yunchang who cut off Han Fu's head!

Immediately afterwards, with the sound of a gong, Uncle Liu, who was famous all over the world, led the army to kill from the depths of the camp and stopped the Cao army, and then Uncle Liu Huang righteously announced that Han Fu had broken his promise, and also claimed that Han Fu had already secretly surrendered to the Xuzhou Tao thieves, and was ready to lead more than 2,000 Cao soldiers to defect to Tao Ying to destroy the thieves, and was ready to kill all the soldiers in the Cao army team who were loyal to Cao Boss, and asked the Cao army soldiers to put down their weapons and accept their own command and reorganization.

Han Fu's Cao army team is a second-line team, combat effectiveness and cohesion are far inferior to the main force under Cao Boss's command, Han Fu has been hacked to death by Guan Yu, the team is also surrounded, under the leaderless dragon, most of the more than 2,000 Cao army soldiers have chosen to lay down their arms and surrender, only a few Cao soldiers refused to give in, but they were also killed by Guan Yu Zhang Fei led the army, and when Cai Mao, who was angry and bullfighting, led the army to the scene, the situation was already under control, and Uncle Liu Huang also took over the command of more than 2,000 Cao troops in a high-sounding manner.

A catastrophe that could lead to the fiasco of the whole army was quickly eliminated by Uncle Liu Huang, and under the great joy, Cai Mao not only acquiesced to Uncle Liu's annexation of Han Fu's team, but also couldn't help but ask curiously: "How did Xuande know that Han Fu was going to rebel?" He was so well prepared that he put down the rebellion of Han Fu's thieves at once? ”

"It's not me, it's Mr. Zhuge Xuan's nephew Zhuge Kongming who anticipated Han Fu's rebellion and persuaded me to prepare in advance." Uncle Liu Huang was not greedy in this regard, and truthfully introduced to Cai Mao: "Kong Ming knows that Cao thief and Tao thief are both cunning and resourceful, and sooner or later they will take advantage of the complex weakness of our army's composition to divide the line, so he persuaded me to send someone to secretly monitor Han Fu's thieves. ”

Cai Mao laughed, and even praised Kong Ming, and the resurgence of Major General Huang Jie was also very satisfied, and smiled at Zhuge Liang, who was standing next to Uncle Liu Huang, and smiled: "Brother Xian is really good, it's rare that my uncle and you have only met once, so he immediately admires you very much, and he wants to marry my cousin to you." ”

"The governor and his brother have won awards, and Liang really doesn't dare to be it."

The person who thanked him was a young man in his early twenties, eight feet long (Han ruler), with a face like a crown of jade, delicate facial features, Confucian shirts and scarves, handsome and extraordinary-that is, Zhuge Liang, the little demon Zhuge Zhuge who has the biggest shadow in the heart of our Deputy Director Tao. After modesty, Zhuge Liang held the feather fan again and said solemnly: "But the governor of the capital, brother, now the Cao thief has betrayed the alliance and fled, the morale of our army has been affected, and it is difficult for the lone army to transport grain and grass from afar, and there is little hope of capturing Xuchang, Liang believes that it is better for our army to withdraw as soon as possible, so as not to make the pottery thief team approach, which is not conducive to the retreat of our army." ”

"What's the hurry?" Cai Mao waved his hand and said with a sneer: "Our army trekked hundreds of miles to take Xuchang, and retreated immediately before the battle was fought, wouldn't it make people laugh?" Anyway, there aren't many people in the Cao thief team, so let's go if you want to, there are not many of them, and there are not many of them. ”

"Uncle is reasonable, and he can't extinguish the prestige of our army."

Since Yang Changshi came forward to plague Jingzhou and set up a chariot and horse to support Liu Qi's son and Cai's trouble, there is a common enemy, and the relationship between the Cai and Huang families, who are usually not eye-to-eye, has suddenly become much closer, and Major General Huang Shot has also respected General Cai Mao as an elder, and immediately opened his mouth to echo, and also suggested: "Uncle, the little nephew thinks it is better to send an army to Xuchang City to fight, so as to test the current military strength of the pottery thief, if the pottery thief's military strength is indeed strong, our army will immediately retreat, If it is found that the army of the pottery thieves has been seriously damaged in the decisive battle with the Cao thieves, our army can take advantage of the situation to march into the army, destroy the pottery thieves, and take the city of Xuchang in one fell swoop. ”

After finishing speaking, Major General Huang Shot also added proudly, saying: "And as long as our army has the upper hand on the battlefield, with the deceit of Cao Thief, we will definitely immediately return to the division to ask for an alliance with our army and join forces with our army to flank the pottery thief!" ”

Hearing the words of Major General Huang Huang, Uncle Liu Huang didn't say anything, but he was really worried in his heart - with General Cai Mao's surname, this kind of unlucky messenger is generally from Uncle Liu's team. Zhuge Liang twitched the muscles on his face, and he felt that he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, but General Cai Mao was very satisfied, nodded and said: "The virtuous nephew is reasonable, since this is the case, how about a hard trip to Xuande Gong?" ”

"Sure enough, it came." Uncle Liu Huang snorted coldly in his heart, and said respectfully: "The governor has an order, and he should take the order, but the team has just subdued the Han Fu rebels, and it urgently needs time to reorganize these surrendered soldiers ......." ”

"It's okay, leave the new recruits in the camp, and I'll take care of them for you for the time being." General Cai Mao, who likes to arrange Uncle Liu to act as cannon fodder, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Xuande Gong, the more than 2,000 new soldiers are definitely yours, and I won't rob them." Besides, you're about to catch more Xuzhou captives, so do you need to care about such a few captives? ”

Uncle Liu Huang under the fence was helpless, and after quietly exchanging a look with Zhuge Liang, seeing Zhuge Liang nodding slightly, he bowed his hand to Cai Mao and said: "Obey the military order of the governor, and prepare for this to lead the troops out of the camp, but our army is small, please prepare for the governor." General Cai Mao laughed and agreed, urging Uncle Liu Huang to prepare for battle quickly and test the current military situation in Xuzhou.

Uncle Liu Huang led Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang back to the camp with a somewhat unsightly face, and it was also to a place far away from Cai Mao and Huang Jie, so Uncle Liu Huang asked Zhuge Liang softly: "Kong Ming, Cai Mao sent our army to ask for directions again, why do you still nod and agree?" Now there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and there are many cavalry, our army is only 5,000, and there are almost no cavalry. ”

"Although the lord is relieved, Liang dares to conclude that our army will go to test the strength of the pottery thief army." Zhuge Liang replied confidently: "In this battle, our army will win!" ”

"Victory?" Uncle Liu Huang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are all the same.

"Victory!" Zhuge Liang nodded again and said with a smile: "Liang has carefully studied the characteristics of the pottery thief's use of soldiers, is familiar with his style of using soldiers, and understands that his personality is actually greedy and insufficient, and if he can take advantage of ten percent, he will not only account for ninety percent!" ”

"Therefore, our army will win this battle! In order to eliminate more Jingzhou troops, and in order to lure the main force of Jingzhou to the city of Xuchang for a decisive battle, this battle will inevitably be defeated, and Cai Mao will lead the army to Xuchang City in person! ”

Uncle Liu Huang was stunned at first, and it took a long time before he was ecstatic, and he almost danced with his hands, but Guan Yu asked suspiciously: "Military advisor, Cai Mao has already led the army to camp across the water and water, less than forty miles away from Xuchang, the pottery thief wants to break Cai Mao, and directly send troops to raid Cai Mao's camp, so why bother to lure Cai Mao to Xuchang City?" ”

"General Guan asked well, the pottery thief is now raiding, and he really has a good chance of winning." Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "But General Guan obviously forgot that almost all of Cai Mao's subordinates are Jingzhou soldiers who are familiar with the surname Shui, and the water is just a small river ditch for Cai Mao's team, which can be crossed in an instant, but it is not so easy for the pottery thief team to cross the river." Moreover, the terrain west of Lishui is complex, which is not conducive to the pursuit and expansion of the results of the pottery thief, so if the pottery thief can lure Cai Mao's main force to the decisive battle under the city of Xuchang, forty miles away from the water, he can win a lot of time and space to destroy the enemy. ”

"Thief!" Uncle Liu Huang scolded, but he didn't know who he was scolding.

(To be continued)