On the second day after sending Jiang Gan to Yexian County, Deputy Director Tao left the general Zhao Yunzhen to guard the official crossing to defend the grain road, and ordered the general Chang Xuan to lead a partial division to take Chen Liuhe and Chen Di, leading an army of 80,000 and claiming to be 100,000, taking the road to Yuanling and going straight down to Xuchang, the soldiers were in the direction of Yuanling, Kaifeng, Xinzheng and Wei's and other cities, and there was no soldier and a city and a place for two hundred miles.

At the same time, Deputy Director Tao received a letter from Yuan Shang in Jizhou, in which Yuan Shang, in the name of his wife and brother, asked Deputy Director Tao to strengthen the war on the northern front as soon as possible, and join hands to attack the high-ranking cadres of Yuan Tan's army and Jiang Yiqu entrenched in the area of Puyang and Liyang, so as to kill the most elite and capable main force under Yuan Tan's command, eliminate the danger of the Xuzhou army on the northern front of Yanzhou - and also eliminate the huge danger of the southern front for Yuan Shanggongzi, and clear the biggest obstacle to Yuan Shanggongzi's unification of the three states.

As a model twenty-four filial son-in-law and a model good brother-in-law, he contributed money, food and troops to let his third brother-in-law enjoy his success, of course, Deputy Director Tao would only do this if he was stupid! Therefore, Deputy Director Tao immediately asked Guo Huan, the personal female secretary, to write a letter to the third brother-in-law, under the pretext that Xuchang had no time to withdraw from the war, and categorically refused Yuan Shang's request. Then Deputy Director Tao sent a secret order to Chen Zhi, the general of Xuzhou stationed in Lihu, ordering Chen Zhi not to go all out to hunt down and kill the Gao Gan and Jiang Yiqu teams who were about to retreat to Bingzhou, and only need to do a perfunctory appearance, and at the same time be sure to take the opportunity to take the important town of Puyang, and never give Yuan Shang the slightest chance to set foot in Yanzhou.

In addition, Deputy Director Tao had to give an order to Sun Guan and Hou Cheng, the Xuzhou generals stationed in Rencheng and Taishan, ordering Sun Guan and Hou Cheng to immediately send troops to capture Dong'e, Wuyan and Juancheng and other important towns in the north of Yanzhou, completely drive the Yuan forces out of Yanzhou, and completely consolidate the northern part of the Xuzhou army.

After arranging these actions, it took four days later, Deputy Director Tao led the army to Xuchang City for the second time, and once again set up a large camp on the bank of the Weishui River, the Xuchang defenders of Yuan Tanjun, who had become a lone army, knew that they were invincible in the field, and did not dare to go out of the city to fight, but they were desperately trying to strengthen the city defense and prepare to defend the city, and the internal differences of the Xuchang defenders were also very serious. A part of the Yuan army led by Cen Bi advocated abandoning the city and breaking through the siege, giving priority to saving the army and the surname. The Diehards and the Breakout factions were at loggerheads, and neither could convince the other, and as a result, after a slight delay, the Xuzhou army had already killed the city of Xuchang, wasting the best opportunity to escape.

The front has been wordy, Xuchang is easy to defend and difficult to attack from a strategic point of view, but it is easy to attack and difficult to defend from a tactical point of view, without considering the possible reinforcements of the enemy, whether the Xuzhou army can capture Xuchang is not much in suspense, the difference is only the length of time and the size of the cost. Although it is not difficult to capture Xuchang City from a tactical point of view, Xuchang City is after all the lair of the Han Dynasty and the former Cao Boss, before Cao Boss spent some money in the construction of Xuchang City, and built the Xuchang City Defense to be high and deep, the fortifications are perfect, and the strength is abnormal, so if the Xuzhou army wants to capture the Xuchang City by force, how to do it must be prepared for some bloodletting.

With Deputy Director Tao's cunning surname and the bad degree of the Xuzhou Strategist Regiment, of course he didn't like the behavior of bloodletting and cutting flesh, so after arriving at the city of Xuchang, the Xuzhou army not only set up a camp and prepare siege weapons, but also racked their brains to find and take Xuchang Jiancheng at the lowest cost.

At the same time, the hypocrisy and benevolence of the Xuzhou army when the last time the city of Xuchang was taken, at this moment also received an incomparably rich reward, on the night of arriving in Xuchang, there were countless scholars around Xuchang sent representatives to the Xuzhou camp with gifts, while crying about the perverse behavior and tyranny of the father and son of the third prince of the Great Yuan during this time, while expressing full support for the Xuzhou army into Xuchang, and taking the initiative to provide the necessary information for the Xuzhou army, bring their own dry food to transport baggage, build roads and build siege weapons for the Xuzhou army, and exchange the actual actions of the present for rich returns in the future.

Although Deputy Director Tao is also very good at explaining to these local snakes, this time Deputy Director Tao does not have much time to be hypocritical and polite to these big scholars who see the wind and rudder, and throw the messenger who received these big scholars to Xun Chen and Chen Ying, who are from the great family, Deputy Director Tao led Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye and Shi Yi into the most important military work, and at present, in addition to how to take Xuchang City at the lowest cost, Deputy Director Tao is also concerned about two major things at the same time, one is the result of Jiang Gan's envoy to Ye County, The second is whether Uncle Liu Huang fled back to Xuchang City.

Perhaps the luck of Deputy Director Tao, who is rare to transfer, has run out, and what is destined to disappoint Deputy Director Tao is that in fact, on the night when the Xuzhou army arrived in Xuchang, Uncle Liu Huang, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and others finally quietly touched the city of Xuchang after going through many difficulties and dangers, and relied on the so-called ally identity to get the permission of Xin Ping, the chief general of the Xuchang defenders, and was pulled up the city wall of Xuchang with a hanging basket, and finally got rid of the search of the Xuzhou army temporarily, and could eat and sleep with peace of mind. You can also cry without scruples about the unfortunate sacrifice of Guan Erye.

The first thing Uncle Liu Huang, who had just stabilized and was anxious to get the resurgence of the soldiers and horses, was not to be grateful to Yuan Tanjun for his kindness, and after resting for the night, he ran to Xin Ping and Cen Bi to test whether Xin Ping and Cen Bi had any plans to lead the army to Jingzhou to avoid the pottery thief. However, what made Uncle Liu Huang depressed was that although Cen Bi advocated abandoning the city and leaving, he only planned to flee to Hanoi with Emperor Xian of Han and the paralyzed Great Yuan Sangong, and then go to Bingzhou to meet Yuan Tan Gongzi, and did not have the idea of going to Jingzhou. Xin Ping was even more ruthless, not only resolutely refusing to abandon the city, but also questioning Uncle Liu Huang in person, asking when the Jingzhou reinforcements stationed in Ye County would be able to arrive in Xuchang?

"When will Liu Pan's reinforcements arrive in Xuchang?" Uncle Liu Huang almost didn't cry, and said in his heart that it would be good if I knew, that old thing Liu Biao was more suspicious than a fox and more timid than a mouse, so he made up his mind to start an all-out war with the pottery thief, isn't it more difficult than asking for his life?

"Forgive me, there is no hope for reinforcements from Jingzhou, and Lord Servant Shot doesn't have to have any illusions anymore." Zhuge Liang next to him was rare to be frank once, and told Xin Ping straight to the point: "If the Marquis of Ji can withdraw to Xuchang with part of the main force of Guandu, then the reinforcements from Jingzhou may be very likely to rush to Xuchang for reinforcements, but now the main force of the Marquis of Ji's Guandu has been wiped out, and the Marquis of Ji himself has given up Xuchang and fled to Bingzhou. Spend a lot of army money and food for Xuchang, which is already an isolated city? ”

Xin Ping was stunned for a while, and only after a while did his face appear angry, and he yelled at Uncle Liu Huang and Zhuge Liang angrily: "Since Liu Biao doesn't want to rescue our army at all, then what are you doing here?" ”

"It's strange what Lord Servant Shot, what are we doing here? What else can we do but come to reinforce your army? Zhuge Liang asked rhetorically without fear, and said solemnly: "Please be sure to be clear about one thing, my lord Liu Xuande is just Liu Jingsheng's guest general, not a subordinate of Duke Jingsheng, my lord came to rescue your army, is to uphold justice and save the common people from fire and water, Liu Jingsheng retains his strength and refuses to let go of the army, it is his own business, and it has nothing to do with my lord, Xin Servant shoots want to accuse Liu Jingsheng of treachery and refuses to let go of the army, but he is angry at my lord, obviously looking for the wrong target. ”

Xin Ping was speechless, and only after a while did he ask Uncle Liu Huang to plead guilty: "Don't blame Xuande Gong, the evaluation is impulsive, and the comment is from the bottom of my heart for the help of the public war, but I just said evil words on the spur of the moment, and I hope that Uncle Huang will forgive my sins." ”

"It's okay, the clay man still has three points of local surname, not to mention servant shooting?" Uncle Liu Huang was very generous, and then sighed: "It's a pity that there is no half-inch foundation, and you can't raise soldiers, and you need to rely on people for money, food, and ordnance. ”

Xin Ping also sighed, very sad that the hearts of people in this era are so sinister, but real moral gentlemen like Uncle Liu Huang are as rare as a rarity. After sighing, Xin Ping muttered again: "Jingzhou reinforcements can no longer be counted on, the lord is forced to defeat and merge with the state, and the lonely city of Xuchang is difficult to defend, what should I do?" ”

"Xin servant shooting, forgive Liang said bluntly again, I am afraid there are only two choices for servant shooting this time." Zhuge Liang spoke again, and said helplessly: "First, abandon the city and leave, protect the Son of Heaven and the old Ji Marquis to go to Hanoi and Merge with the Marquis, and the other is to abandon the city and leave, lead the army south, first go to Jingzhou to accommodate himself, and then try to meet with the Marquis of Ji." ”

"To the south?" Xin Ping glanced at Zhuge Liang and said suspiciously: "If I really want to abandon the city, I don't take the road straight to Hanoi, why do I want to go to Jingzhou?" ”

"If your army breaks through to the north, there is little hope." Zhuge Liang replied calmly: "Xuchang to Hanoi Huyuan Pass is three hundred miles, the road is far away, and the terrain is open on the way, and there is no reinforcement to respond, the Xuzhou army with many cavalry can easily catch up with the Gui Army, and can even seize the Huyuan Pass in advance, blocking the road for your army to go north to catch turtles in the urn, your army is too dangerous to break through the north, and there is a possibility that the whole army will be wiped out at any time." ”

Xin Ping nodded slightly, admitting that Zhuge Liang's analysis was reasonable, and Cen Bi, who had previously resolutely advocated a breakthrough in the north, was also frowning and deeply worried.

"It's different to the south." Zhuge Liang, who is also good at observing words and feelings, took the opportunity to speak, and calmly analyzed quietly: "From Xuchang to Jingzhou Ye County is only two hundred miles, on the way there are four big rivers of Weishui, Yingshui, Rushui and Weishui to block the pursuing soldiers, and after passing the water, it is a complex terrain section, which is not conducive to cavalry activities, Xuzhou cavalry wants to outflank and cut off the retreat road of your army, and at the same time, the Xuzhou army is killed in front of the door, Liu Pan's team stationed in Ye County just does not want to rescue the Gui army, and must also perform their duties and block the road of the Xuzhou army to defend Jingzhou, Provide assistance to your army, either indirectly or directly. ”

"Makes sense!" Cen Bi nodded vigorously and said: "To break through to Jingzhou, we actually only need to rush through the water to be complete, and when the time comes, we will destroy the bridge and sink the ship when we cross a big river, unless the pottery thief has wings, he will not want to surround and intercept our army!" ”

Xin Ping was silent and just calculated, and only after a moment did he hesitate and said: "But if you want to break through to the south, even if our army reaches Jingzhou, it can only be at the mercy of Liu Biao, and the Son of Heaven and the old lord will also fall into the hands of Liu Biao." ”

"At most, the Son of Heaven fell into the hands of Duke Jingsheng, as for the old Marquis Ji, what is the use of Duke Jingsheng leaving him?" Zhuge Liang said expressionlessly: "Old Jihou is now paralyzed in bed, he can neither write a pen nor give orders, Jingsheng Gong holds him in his hand, in addition to falling into infamy, what role can he play?" ”

Xin Ping nodded slightly, and then muttered again: "But our team has arrived in Jingzhou, in case Liu Biao forcibly absorbs our army......." ”

Zhuge Liang stopped talking this time, because Zhuge Liang knew that if he opened his mouth again, he would expose the intention of encouraging Xin Ping and Cen Bi's team to go south, and at the same time, Zhuge Liang also knew very well that with Xin Ping's ability, he would soon be able to guess the answer by himself - it was only possible to be forcibly absorbed by Liu Biao, and there was still hope of retreating to Bingzhou without being annexed, surrounded by the Xuzhou army, but there was no hope of not being annexed, and there was only the option of dying in battle or surrendering on his knees.

Sure enough, after thinking about it alone for a long time, Xin Ping still hesitated and said: "This is a big matter, and let me discuss it carefully with everyone." ”

"Please shoot the servants for their own self-determination." Zhuge Liang said respectfully: "Liang is just planning for the promotion of servants, and he is responsible for fulfilling his responsibilities as allies, and it is all up to Xin Servant and General Cen to decide." However, Liang has another suggestion, I heard that although the old Ji Hou can't speak, he understands in his heart that the previous decision to pass on the throne to the eldest prince was that the old Ji Hou listened to Mr. Ji Jue's idea and expressed his decision by blinking his eyes. ”

Xin Ping nodded in thanks, and explained that he was going to discuss important matters with everyone, and Uncle Liu Huang and Zhuge Liang were busy saying goodbye to themselves and returning to the pavilion where they were staying to rest. On the way back, Uncle Liu Huang had no choice but to ask Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming, although your plan to capture and indulge in indulgence is wonderful, why did you propose that Xin Ping ask Yuan Benchu's opinion?" Yuan Benchu and the Tao Thief are the relatives of Weng's son-in-law, and there was no conflict with Yuan Benchu before the stroke, the relationship is acceptable, in case Yuan Benchu refuses to go to Jingzhou and decides to surrender to the Tao Thief, then aren't you self-defeating? ”

"Don't worry, the lord will not go to ask Yuan Benchu for advice." Zhuge Liang replied with a smile: "Liang knows that Xin Ping's party is attached to Yuan Tan, has a deep grudge with Tao Envoy, and is loyal to Yuan Tan, and must want to do his best to protect the soldiers and horses to return to Yuan Tan, and there is absolutely no possibility of surrendering to Tao Yingjun, so Xin Servant will not go to ask for the opinion of the original prince to ask for trouble, even if he really goes to ask for instructions, Xin Ping will definitely not listen to the order of the original prince to surrender to Tao Envoy Jun." ”

"It's for the best." Uncle Liu Huang breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "In this way, the most important thing for us now is to urge Xin Ping to give up his plan to defend Xuchang as a martyr. On this point, Kong Ming has a clever plan? ”

"Don't worry, my lord, if we don't need to make a move, someone will prompt Xin Ping to make up his mind and give up Xuchang to lead the army to break through." Zhuge Liang replied with a smile.

"Who?" Uncle Liu Huang asked in surprise.

"Outside Xuchang City, in the northeast, Tao Yingjun on the bank of the Weishui River." Zhuge Liang bowed to the northeast and said with a smile: "Tao Yuanjun's military style is to like opportunistic shortcuts, such stupid things as attacking the city, Tao Yuanjun has always been able to dodge and avoid, so this time there will be no exception, Tao Yuanjun will definitely try his best to urge Xin Ping to give up the lonely city and escape, and will never trap Xin Ping to death in Xuchang City, forcing Xin Ping and Cen Bi to fight the trapped beast!" ”

Uncle Liu Huang smiled and muttered, "Unexpectedly, there are times when the pottery thief has to work for our army. ”

"Not only Tao Yuanjun, but there will also be people in Xuchang City who are vying to serve the Lord and do things." Zhuge Liang smiled again, and said leisurely: "Tao Envoy Jun is good at buying the hearts of the people, the previous time he was stationed in Xuchang Yu Minqiu did not commit any crimes, and he was also very respectful to the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials in the court, but the father and son of Ji Hou were a little anxious for quick success, and they were completely compared to Tao Envoy Jun, so this time Tao Envoy Jun returned to Xuzhou, there will inevitably be people who can't hold their breath and jump out impatiently to serve Tao Envoy Jun, and also indirectly serve you." ”

Zhuge Liang's crow's mouth is so effective that it is not verbose here, but on the night of the same day, Zhuge Liang's analysis was fulfilled - he once left his name on the edict of the clothes and belts, but because the edict never fell into the hands of Cao Boss and escaped the poisonous hands, he sent people to venture to the city wall of Xuchang, and shot the arrow book outside the city with a bow and arrow, and made an appointment to prepare to meet the Xuzhou army to break the city as soon as possible.

As a result, although the arrow book was lucky to be captured by the city patrol team led by Xin Ping himself, it also scared Xin Ping into a cold sweat, and had to be executed overnight for the crime of rebellion, and at the same time, he was also forced to strengthen the surveillance of the Han officials in Xuchang City, which caused the people in Xuchang City to panic, and the morale of the lone army defending the city was low, Xin Ping himself was also worried, knowing that the army could not be supported by the people in the city, and the lonely city of Xuchang was more difficult to defend, so he had to carefully consider abandoning the city and breaking through.

At the same time, there is another good thing that makes Uncle Liu Huang and Zhuge Liang secretly happy, when the Xuzhou army set up camp, it was only outside the southeast two gates of Xuchang City, each of them set up a partial division camp, and the main battalion joined forces to block the Xuchang defenders' breakthrough road in the southeast, north and south. Upon learning of this news, Uncle Liu Huang and Zhuge Liang were very relieved, and began to wait patiently for Xin Ping and Cen Bi to make up their minds to break through, but Xin Ping, who wanted to stick to the city, was full of sadness and was greatly shaken in his determination............

………………

By the way, in the early morning of the second day of the book, the news that the Xuzhou army broke through Guandu and landed in Xuchang City was finally transmitted through the details and sent to Cao Boss, who was blocked in the Xiping area. Hearing this news, Boss Cao, who was worried about not being able to move Liu Pan to make way, was so shocked that his brush fell to the ground, and he said with a blank face for a while: "If Xuchang City can't break through Liu Pan's interception before it breaks, and pass Luyang to enter the division, our army will be suspended!" ”

"Lord, if you can't do it, break through by force!" Dian Wei shouted: "The last general is willing to be the vanguard and lead three thousand troops to behead Liu Panpifu's head!" Open the way to break out for our army! ”

Boss Cao refused to say anything - if Boss Cao dared to break through by force, he would have broken through a long time ago, Yexian is the throat of Yingchuan, Jingzhou, Runan and Si Li's mutual traffic, and it has always been a place where soldiers must fight, and it is the easiest to defend and difficult to attack. Now Boss Cao only has 9,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, not only has to protect thousands of family members, but also has to protect the necessary marching food and grass on the way to break through, and he also wants to break through the danger and defend Liu Pan's team to intercept it, not only is it not difficult, but the slightest carelessness may lead to irreparable unforeseen consequences! Of course, Boss Cao didn't dare to take this risk casually.

"Lord, I can only continue to bow my head to Liu Pan." Xun Yu said in a deep voice: "Although Liu Pan returned the gift in its original form every time and refused to let him go, he summoned the envoy of our army every time, treated him politely and sent someone to escort him back to our army camp, so Yu dared to conclude that Liu Pan must be greedy and wanted to extort more money from our army to buy roads, so as long as the lord is willing to put money to Liu Pan, he will definitely let Liu Pan let go of the road!" ”

"Of course I am willing to pay the capital, but I have sent all the gold, silver, jewelry, and beauties, what should I do if Liu Pan just doesn't let go?" Boss Cao looked distressed, and sighed, and said: "Tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by dogs, if our army was not harmed by the shameless pottery thieves to this point, how could he let Liu Pan be so arrogant?" ”

"If the lord is really willing to pay the capital, then he is willing to persuade Liu Pan to give way." One of the strategists suddenly stood up, but it was Xu Shu Xu Yuanzhi, who was snatched by Boss Cao from Uncle Liu Huang, and said with a calm expression: "There is a way to persuade Liu Pan to give way, so that our army can pass through Liu Pan's defense area intact." ”

"Yuanzhi has a way?" Boss Cao was a little suspicious, and asked carefully: "What is Yuan Zhi's clever plan, and try to say it." ”

"I listened to our army's detailed report, and there was a member of Liu Pan's army named Pang Tong, the word Shiyuan." Xu Shu said calmly: "This person knows, when he traveled to Xiangyang, he had gathered many people with him and his uncle Pang De, and knew that this person was knowledgeable and far-reaching, Liu Pan's greedy generation can keep calm in the face of our army's thick bribes, neither easy to let go, but also constantly cut off contacts with our army, Shu dares to conclude that this must be Pang Shiyuan's plan for him to capture and indulge, so as long as Shu starts from him, he will definitely be able to persuade Liu Pan to make way and let go." ”

"Really?" Cao Lao Da was overjoyed and blurted out, and then quickly changed his tone and asked, "Is Yuan Zhi really sure of this?" ”

"Of course it's true." Xu Shu didn't mind the distrust of Boss Cao's tone, but said calmly: "If our army can break through and go to Sili Pass, Tao Ying will definitely be disappointed by the thief, and what can make the Tao thief disappointed or even desperate, you should do it with all your might." ”