Yuan Mai led Wang Shuang with three hundred cavalry, and under the guidance of a local guide, he galloped towards Xu Wushan and came to the foot of the mountain in the evening. Looking around, but seeing the houses on the mountain and down the mountain, the sky is longitudinal and horizontal, the peach and plum are fragrant, the water is murmuring, and there is no quarrel with the world, as if the war in the world has not affected here.

"This Xu Wushan is really a good place, it can bring refugees from all walks of life together and live in an orderly manner, it can be seen that this Tian Chou is really a talent!" Looking at the scenery of Xu Wushan like a spring outing, Yuan Mai slowed down his horse, pointed to the scenery above and below the mountain with the whip in his hand, and praised it from the bottom of his heart.

"What the general said is very much, let me fight it's okay, if I am allowed to govern the place, I don't have the ability!" Wang Shuang deeply agreed with Yuan Mai's words and was also modest, but when his eyes fell on the crossbow arrow tower at the bottom of the mountain, he laughed: "Haha, born in troubled times, where is there a paradise?" General, look at the crossbow arrow tower in front of you, which shows that the residents of Xu Wushan also know that they are prepared for danger in times of peace, and that they are safe and sound today, which does not mean that they can sit back and relax tomorrow! ”

As they spoke, the team gradually came to the foot of the mountain, only to see that not far in front of them was a tall fence, enclosing the houses above and below the mountain, forming a moat; There are rows of crossbow arrow towers in the walled gate, up to three zhang, there is a zhang wide moat outside the walled gate, if you want to pass the river, you must take the suspension bridge, it may be disturbed by the sudden arrival of the cavalry, the drawbridge has been pulled up, and the crossbow arrow tower every ten zhang is also full of strong men with bows and arrows.

"Who's on the other side? Isn't it a Montenegrin thief? Why don't you go to the county seat to rob grain, why do you come to my Xu Wushan? Although we are not as numerous as your Black Mountain Army, we are not easy to bully, if you want to spread wild here, you have to weigh it carefully! A man dressed as a leader stood on the tower of the crossbow arrow, shouting loudly.

Yuan Mai rode forward and said loudly: "This strong man is going to misunderstand, you look at the outfit of our waiting, where does it look like a black mountain thief?" ”

"Now when the Black Mountain thieves come to the county to loot, Du Qiao pretends to be an officer and soldier, just by pretending, who knows if you are an officer or a thief? Besides, it's getting late, what are you doing suddenly coming to my Xu Wushan? Don't think that we are easy to deceive, if we are acquainted, retreat quickly! Otherwise, the arrows will be shot down and you will look good! The leader stood on the crossbow tower and threatened.

"May I ask if there is a Mr. Tian Chou on the mountain?" Seeing that the leader didn't believe his words, Yuan Mai hurriedly expressed his intentions. The crossbow arrow tower in the fence is so high, if the other party shoots down the arrows, it is not a joke!

"Of course there is, our owner of the village is Mr. Tian, women and children within a radius of 100 miles know it, do you want to deceive the gate of the village with this alone? It's too much to underestimate the intelligence of what I'm waiting for! Acquaintances quickly retreat, or I will give the order to shoot arrows!" The leader still indiscriminately threatened the people outside with archery, and he didn't listen to Yuan Mai's words at all.

Yuan Mai was furious, why didn't this dog know how to lift, and shouted: "You dare to shoot arrows? I am Yuan Mai, the son of Yuan Gong, the current Jizhou pastor, if you dare to order the arrows, I should mobilize 100,000 troops to break through the cottage and punish you all over the door! I said that I came to Xu Wushan today to visit Mr. Tian Chou, and as soon as I reported the trouble, I said that the old man came to visit and had something to ask for. I had a relationship with Mr. Tian in Yecheng, you go to report, he will definitely come to see me! ”

The leader was shocked by Yuan Mai's sudden outbreak of the king's domineering aura, and his arrogance was really suppressed, and he asked suspiciously: "Are you really the son of Yuan Jizhou's family?" I'll send someone to inform the owner of the village, if you play tricks, you will have to shoot you harder! ”

The soldiers sent had just got on their horses, and Tian Chou, who got the news, had already brought more than a dozen people on horseback, and rode his horse to the front of the gate of the village to look out, only to see that the team outside was clearly armored, the horses were strong, and the array was neat, obviously not the Black Mountain thieves were dressed in disguise, and the Black Mountain Thieves could wear the clothes of officers and soldiers, but they did not have this momentum. Look at the young man at the front, handsome, domineering, he looks a little familiar, and he remembers where he has seen it in a trance, but he can't remember it for a while.

Yuan Mai across the moat, from a distance, saw more than a dozen horsemen hugging a person to the door to observe, only to see that this person was dressed as a Confucian scholar, with a clear face, it was clearly the hermit who was dressed as a village man in Yecheng Qiao that day, and he bumped into himself, and left a message to let him come to Xu Wushan to find him, presumably Tian Chou, the owner of the village here.

"Mr. Tian, the boy Yuan Mai, the fourth son of Yuan Benchu in Jizhou, not long ago you and I had a relationship in Yecheng. Mr. Meng taught, the boy remembered in his heart, did not dare to forget Mr., now led the army to the north to attack Dai County, passing through here, I heard that Xu Wushan is here, so the boy came to visit, and asked Mr. to put down the drawbridge and meet me. Yuan Mai came to the edge of the Huzhaizi River and shouted loudly.

Tian Chou then remembered that this young man turned out to be the fourth son of the Yuan family who left a deep impression on him that day, but he hadn't seen him for a long time, but he was much more heroic than before, and his words and deeds were full of domineering, compared to the sick appearance at the beginning, as if he had changed people.

"Oh...... Haha, it turned out to be the fourth son of the Yuan family, Shu Tian Chou was clumsy, he didn't recognize it, how offended! Tian Chou put his mind at ease, ordered the suspension bridge to fall, and let Yuan buy and his party into the village.

In order to completely dispel the doubts of Tian Chou and the cottage soldiers, Yuan Mai only took Wang Shuang into the village alone, and ordered all the cavalry to dismount and camp outside for a night. After all, it is normal for a team of people to visit in the middle of the night, and people have doubts. If you want Tian Chou and his subordinates to believe in themselves thoroughly, you must treat each other with sincerity.

"Mr. Tian is okay? Listening to Mr.'s training, like hearing the sound of heaven, the kid missed it very much, but he didn't know where Xu Wushan was, so he didn't have a chance to visit. Fortunately, the army crossed the border today, and only then did I know that this Xu Wushan was not far from Changshan Country, so I came to pay homage to Mr. After Yuan Mai saw Tian Chou, he immediately saluted respectfully.

Liu Bei is old, and when he goes to invite a hairless Zhuge Kongming, he must be respectful, and even look at the thatched house three times to invite him, and he should also be polite when he comes to visit Tian Chou, who is twice as old. Although this Tian Chou's ability is not as good as Kong Ming, not even one-tenth, but now is the time to employ people, and it can be regarded as good luck to be able to recruit a character like Tian Chou. What's more, Tian Chou has soldiers and food in his hands, and if he can recruit his subordinates, he will definitely be able to greatly enrich his strength.

Tian Chou hurriedly returned the salute and explained: "Some time ago, the Black Mountain thieves once pretended to be officers and soldiers to grab food, so the cottage had to be careful to take precautions. He immediately gave the order to go down, prepare wine and food, and entertain the distinguished guests, and send thirty jars of wine and some delicacies to the soldiers who were camped outside.

Tian Chou led the way in front of him, leading Yuan Mai and Wang Shuang straight to his residence, Yuan Mai and Tian Chou walked side by side, and praised: "Then when I listen to Mr. talk, I know that he is an extraordinary person, but I never thought that Mr. has such a talent, and he runs this Xu Wushan like a paradise." Mr. is talented, if you can't get out of the general and govern the state and county, it's a pity! ”

For Tian Chou's allusion, after pondering and thinking hard, Yuan Mai remembered a little, and only remembered that this person had been conquered by Yuan Shao and Yuan Shang's father and son many times, but for some reason, he had always refused to come out. Later, Yuan Shao died, Cao Ying pacified the four states, conquered Tian Chou, Tian Chou was only then out, used as a guide for Cao Ying, expeditioned to Wuhuan, and forced Gongsun Kang to kill Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang brothers. At this time, Tian Chou ignored Cao Ying's ban and risked being killed, and cried in front of Yuan Shang's corpse.

However, fortunately, Cao Ying was magnanimous and did not bother with him, and was named a liehou, this Tian Chou felt ashamed of the Yuan family and resolutely refused to accept it. So much so that later generations have mixed evaluations of him, and they have their own opinions. Some praise his loyalty, and some say that he is hypocritical, in short, there is a "two-faced surname" on this Tian Chou, which is more like a dual personality in later generations. Tian Chou's greatest talent in his life, the first is to gather people in Xu Wushan to reclaim the wasteland, and the second is to lead Cao Ying to go deep into Saibei and expedition to Wuhuan. The first shows that he has excellent governance skills, and the second shows that he is very familiar with the geographical environment, and in this era without maps, he is a rare talent.

Of course, Yuan Mai was only a professional archery athlete in his previous life, and he was not an expert in history, so he only knew a little bit about Tian Chou, and he just felt that if he wanted to recruit him under his command and praise him a few words, he would definitely be useful. Isn't there a saying that thousands of people don't wear sycophants, this truth, I don't know if it's easy to put in the Three Kingdoms two thousand years ago?