Although it was decided to launch a revenge battle under the initiative of Deputy Director Tao and Cao Laoda's provocation, but after learning the lessons of the battle of Guandu, the Great Yuan Sangong sent troops much more steadily and cautiously this time, and no longer directly went south to attack Baima, Yanjin and Guandu, which were heavily fortified by Cao's army, and chose to enter Guantao eastward, first meeting with the team of Yuan Xi, the second son of Yuan Xi, who was stationed in Guantao, and then marching to Cangting to cross the river, and then attacking Dong'e, Fan County and Dongping Yanzhou military towns, and opening up contact with the army of ally Xuzhou. Protect the rear and grain routes, and finally plot to move west to Xuchang.

The strategists under the command of the Great Yuan Sangong have also made some progress, although they are very opposed to the Great Yuan Sangong launching a revenge battle without being fully prepared, but after the Great Yuan Sangong forcibly passed the resolution to send troops, the powerful strategists such as Fu Zhu and Cui Yan still dutifully made suggestions for the battle plan of the Great Yuan Sangong, and suggested that the Great Yuan Sangong must fight steadily and steadily in this battle, march to Yanzhou step by step, plan and then move, and see clearly how Boss Cao plays cards and then strikes, so the marching speed of the Great Yuan Sangong who has listened to some persuasion is not fast, From Yecheng to Guantao and Yuan Xi's meeting, he walked for eight days, and rested in Guantao for two days, and then slowly went south to Cangting, deliberately leaving Cao Boss time to react, so that Cao Boss could act first.

In addition, considering the problem of the harvest time of the staple grain in Hebei and Yan Prefectures, Fu Zhu also put forward a frenzied battle plan, that is, to attract the main force of the Cao army to the front line of Cangting first, and then confront the Cao army with a high wall and deep fortress, and drag the time to the end of July and early August before launching a decisive battle! In this way, the Cao army, which used wheat as the staple food, would inevitably have insufficient food, while Yuan Shaojun, who used rice as the staple food, could obtain sufficient food and grass supplies, which could not only attack the enemy, but also have enough food to support the Jizhou army to occupy the central and eastern parts of Yanzhou.

Some friends must ask, Yuan Shaojun's position is more in the north than Cao Boss's position, why Cao Boss's team is all wheat as the staple food, and Yuan Sangong's team is rice as the staple food, is it a geographical mistake? In fact, there is nothing wrong with this, the territory of the Great Yuan Sangong can grow rice, it is a bastard who threw the witch into the river to negotiate with the river god, this guy has been in the Yecheng area hundreds of years ago to overhaul water conservancy, and made the infamous Ximen Twelve Canals to irrigate 10,000 hectares of fertile land, so Yuan Shaojun's territory in the north can grow high-yield rice, and Cao Jun's territory south of the Yellow River can only grow low-yield wheat because of the lack of such large-scale water conservancy facilities.

The words are far away, to get back to the point, although the arrogant Yuan Sangong rejected the heart-wrenching suggestion put forward by the frustrated professor - it is also a suggestion that can definitely make Cao Boss want to cry without tears, but after learning the news that the big Yuan Sangong sent troops again, Cao Boss still fell into the calculations of the frustrated and Cui Yan, and hurriedly led the main force to Cangting to prepare for the war, and also took the initiative to cross the Yellow River and set up camp in Hebei, not only entering the danger, but also completely exposing the Achilles' heel of the lack of stamina of the self-army, so that the Yuan army think tanks such as Fu Zhu and Cui Yan became more and more confident. It has strengthened its determination to drag the war into a war of attrition.

But then again, Cao Boss took the initiative to lead the army to cross the river and set up camp, or played a certain degree of role in luring the enemy, not to mention that the generals of Yuan Shao's army who were anxious for revenge came to the front of the Great Yuan Sangong to ask for battle, that is, the Great Yuan Sangong was also very tempted, and once planned to give up the plan to step by step for the battalion to immediately send troops to a decisive battle, fortunately frustrated and Cui Yan persuaded to stop, for the Great Yuan Sangong carefully analyzed the pros and cons, the Great Yuan Sangong changed his mind again, ordered the army to advance slowly, and set up camp thirty miles north of Cangting, and built a strong camp with a high ditch and deep base, Plan for the long haul.

As a result, of course, Cao Boss, who suffered from poor logistics, waited for a few days and did not see the Jizhou army attack, and Cao Boss could only take the initiative to attack when his troops were far inferior to the enemy, and personally led the army to fight in front of Yuan Shao's military camp. And when he received the news, Da Yuan Sangong couldn't believe his ears a little, saying that he didn't expect Cao Lao to take the initiative to fight with weak troops, and Fu Zhu and Cui Yan took the opportunity to point out that this was the self-army's attrition tactics that worked, and Cao Lao [***] came to this point, Da Yuan Sangong suddenly realized, and personally led his three sons and nephews and his generals out of the village to face the battle, and Cao Jun in the wilderness.

On the two armies, in order to provoke the Great Yuan Sangong to launch a decisive battle as soon as possible, Cao Boss personally went out again, deliberately surrendered the Great Yuan Sangong in public in front of the two armies and laughed at the Guandu fiasco of the Great Yuan Sangong, and the father and son of the Great Yuan Sangong really hit the plan, and Yuan Shanggongzi, who went out with his father for the first time, also slapped the red rabbit horse out of the formation, and asked for a fighting general with a double sword. Seeing that the third son of the third prince of Yuan Sangong was the most beloved in person, of course Boss Cao was also overjoyed, and hurriedly asked the generals to capture Yuan Shang alive.

As soon as he fought, Cao Boss also found that he was too underestimated Yuan Shanggongzi who looked like an embroidered pillow, and the battle was not a three-in-one, Yuan Shanggongzi suddenly released an arrow to hit Shi Jian's left eye, causing Shi Jian to fall off his horse and die, Cao's general Le Jin hurriedly went out to fight with Yuan Shanggongzi, and fought for more than 20 times, although he did not distinguish between victory and defeat, Wen Chou was worried that Yuan Shang was safe to shoot his horse to help in the battle, Cao Boss hurriedly sent Dian Wei out to meet Wen Chou, and Wen Chou, who was also excellent in archery, was already shot with an arrow, and Lejin was in the cheek, and Lejin shouted and turned around and left, Cao Jun was also defeated again.

Seeing that Aiko Dou will win two victories in a row, Da Yuan Sangong immediately whipped and urged the two wings of soldiers to rush forward to kill, the confidence of the restored Jizhou army shouted up, Cao Boss was forced to wave the army to meet the battle, the two armies were in a scuffle, it was difficult to distinguish the victory and defeat for a while, frustration rushed to the front of the Great Yuan Sangong, and suggested that the Great Yuan Sangong follow the example of the Xuzhou army, send a mobile cavalry to knock on the back of the Cao army, forcing the Cao army to divide the troops to meet the battle, the Great Yuan Sangong followed, Yuan Xi, who had been familiar with the cavalry in Youyan for a long time, also volunteered to lead the army to attack, and led 3,000 cavalry to attack the back of the Cao army. Cao Boss, who had suffered a lot, was forced to divide his troops to meet the attack, the Chinese army was suddenly weak, when Yuan Sangong ordered a general attack again, Cao Boss was a little overwhelmed, he could only hurriedly Mingjin collected his troops, led the army to withdraw to Cangting, Yuan Shaojun took the opportunity to chase and kill, and Xiaoyou was captured, but the Cao army was too elite to break up the Cao army to expand the results, so after chasing out more than ten miles, Yuan Sangong also listened to the advice of the frustrated professor and ordered Mingjin to return to the camp.

The first battle was lost, and the loss was not big Cao Boss was not discouraged, on the contrary, he felt that after the victory of the first battle of Yuan Sangong, he would definitely loosen his cautious psychology, and was determined to take the opportunity to lure the enemy into the deep plan to break the enemy, Cheng Yu also took the opportunity to offer a ten-sided ambush plan, Cao Boss from it, after some intensive arrangements and preparations, that night in the third watch, Cao Boss sent Dian Wei to replace Xu Chu, and led the army to Yuan Shao's army camp to rob the village to induce Yuan Shao's army to pursue.

History has changed dramatically because of the flapping of the wings of the demon moth deputy director Tao, although Dian Wei, who replaced Xu Chu and led the army to rob the camp, completed the task excellently, deliberately exposed his whereabouts to let Yuan Shaojun send troops to counterattack, and then deceived and left, pulling Yuan Shaojun to run into the ambush circle, but just when Yuan Shaojun was about to step into the Cao army ambush circle, Fu Zhi and Cui Yan, who should not have appeared on the Cangting battlefield, came to the front of Yuan Sangong together, and strongly persuaded Yuan Sangong to withdraw the team and beware of Cao Jun's ambush at night. Frustrated and grabbed the reins of the horse of the Great Yuan Sangong and begged the Great Yuan Sangong to be cautious, and the Great Yuan Sangong sent a large number of cavalry to search around, and sure enough, he found the ambush of the Cao army.

After the ambush of the Cao army was exposed, of course, the great Yuan Sangong who understood the plan immediately ordered a retreat, and the frustrated and urgently persuaded the great Yuan Sangong to lead the elite army hall with the fierce general Wen Chou, and the great Yuan Sangong hurriedly agreed without thinking about it, and the result was also another pit Cao Boss, who had been waiting on the Yellow River embankment, hurriedly launched a pursuit, not only was it late, but also encountered the stubborn resistance of Wen Chou's team, covering the main force of Yuan Shao's army to successfully withdraw to the camp, Cao Boss painstakingly arranged for a long time, and the Cao army team fed the mosquitoes in the field for half a night, In the end, less than 1,000 were captured, and the self-army paid almost the same price.

After only a little bit of almost being yin by Cao Boss again, Da Yuan Sangong's Alzheimer's disease also showed some signs of improvement, no matter how provocative and tempting Cao Boss was, Da Yuan Sangong was unwilling to take risks easily, and he could fight in the battle, but when the Cao army retreated, as long as the signs were wrong, he resolutely did not chase, and at the same time hid the grain and grass in the rear of the Fagan City, and sent the son of Fu Zhu to lead the army to properly protect it, and resolutely adopted the tactics of attrition proposed by Fu Zhu and Cui Yan, and used the advantage of more soldiers and more food to exhaust the Cao army team that had no support. Boss Cao, who was anxious to fight, was so anxious that he was so anxious that he was so anxious that he almost wanted to call out the big Yuan Sangong and fight it out alone!

The confrontation with each winner and defeat has been more than a month, and in the blink of an eye, forty days will pass, as the grain in East Atun is gradually dried up, Cao Laoda, who has never been able to find the opportunity for a decisive battle, was forced to be helpless, so he had to follow Mao Jue's suggestion, and took the risk of sending Xizuo to infiltrate the Yuan army camp to contact Yuan Tan Gongzi, and forced Yuan Tan Gongzi to use his strength to use his strength to instigate the three princes of Yuan to send troops for a decisive battle - Guo Tu and Xin Bi, the two great Yuan Tan dead friends, also came to the Cangting battlefield, It's just that Fu Zhu and Cui Yan have been too much of a limelight recently, and Guo Tu and Xin Bi have no chance to perform, but if Yuan Tan Gongzi comes forward to ask them to embarrass the two bastards, Fu Zhu and Cui Yan, there is still great hope for re-disturbing Yuan Shaojun's internal affairs.

The fine and meticulous work was sent out, and the fearful did not wait for the response, but the defenders of the Cangting ferry first escorted a Xuzhou fine who tried to smuggle the Yellow River, and also presented the letter of the deputy director of Tao who was found from Xuzhou fine work, when he opened the letter and took a closer look, a small black face of Cao Boss suddenly turned into a small white face, and he hurriedly asked Xuzhou fine work who was escorted: "In addition to you, can the pottery thief send other messengers?" If you tell the truth, spare your life, and if you tell a lie, you will be beheaded! ”

"Yes." In order to survive, the captured Xuzhou Xizuo also immediately sold Deputy Director Tao, and replied: "The letter of the lord is in duplicate, one is sent by the villain through Yanzhou to Cangting and Yuan Shao, and the other is sent to Cangting by another person through Taishan and Qingzhou, and the villain and another messenger did not act separately until Ren Cheng, so I know." ”

"So, this letter in your hand, Tao Ying exterminated the thief on purpose to give our army a chance to stop it?"

Boss Cao was so deceitful, he immediately gritted his teeth and asked, of course the captured Xuzhou Xiaozuo couldn't answer, just begged for mercy, but fortunately, Cao Boss was still trustworthy, and asked another fine messenger about the time of departure from Rencheng, and after getting the answer, he asked the guards to take this fine work down to punish him for hard labor, and then slapped his palm on the table in front of him, and scolded: "Tao Ying thief, did I throw your ancestral grave or rob your wife?" You actually cheated me like this! ”

Seeing that Boss Cao was so angry, Guo Jia, Xun You, Cheng Yu and others present hurriedly asked for the letter to watch, and when Deputy Director Tao strongly advised Yuan Sangong not to easily fight a decisive battle and wait for the letter from the main force of Xuzhou to send troops, Xun You and Guo Jia and others were shocked, but they were inevitably puzzled, and they questioned: "Is it really fake?" Tao Ying, that thief, would do such a loss-making business? Let him contribute troops to let Yuan Shao take advantage? It seems that the pottery thief has never done such a loss, right? ”

"It doesn't matter if it's real or fake anymore!" Boss Cao roared: "As long as another letter is delivered to Yuan Shaopifu, we will be in big trouble!" Yuan Shaopifu was already determined to consume our army, and when he saw this letter from the pottery thief, Yuan Shaopifu would not have sent troops to take risks! ”

"Can you use Yuan Tan's power to intercept another messenger of the pottery thief?" Mao Jue suggested: "Yuan Tan has been operating in the plains for many years, and his roots are quite deep, as long as he can make a move, there should be hope to stop another messenger of the pottery thief." ”

"I'm afraid it's too late." Boss Cao said with a gloomy face: "Xuzhou just now, from Rencheng to Cangting Ferry, it took five days, although the other pottery thief messenger is a detour, but along the way are official roads and stagecoaches can be replaced, the speed is very fast, according to the time, at this time should have entered the territory of Jizhou." ”

Mao Jue closed his mouth, but Cheng Yu reminded: "Prime Minister, after Yuan Shao saw the Tao thief's letter, what was his reaction, ignore him, but the Tao thief threatened to personally lead the army north to meet Yuan Shao, this must be prepared, although the Tao thief has always been deceitful and slippery, but he has always been true to his word, especially in the aspect of public promises, in order to maintain his hypocritical image of a promise, the Tao thief has not broken his trust so far, so the subordinates are worried that the southern front of our army may be about to usher in a vicious battle. ”

Boss Cao kept his face calm and didn't speak, but Xun You still had a trace of naïve illusions, and said: "Even if the pottery thief really sends troops, it should be like the last Guandu, only sending some old and weak auxiliary soldiers to come forward perfunctory, and it is unlikely that the elite will really storm the southern front of our army, which is not in line with the pottery thief's cunning surname." ”

"Be careful." Cheng Yu objected, and said: "Although our army and the pottery thieves are friends and enemies, they have broken the thread, but they have a deep hatred for each other, unless one party falls in advance, otherwise sooner or later there will be a life-and-death decisive battle, and now the main force of our army is firmly contained by Yuan Shao on the northern front, and it must not be ruled out that the pottery thieves have the intention of breaking through and taking the opportunity to annihilate the elite of our army's southern front." ”

Boss Cao nodded slowly, admitting that this possibility existed, and then gritted his teeth and said: "We must be prepared with both hands, while letting Xiahou Yuan stick to Changyi and choke the throat of the pottery thief going north, and on the other hand, send an envoy to contact the pottery thief to test the true intentions of the pottery thief, and then make a decision." ”

Everyone praised the goodness together, but Guo Jia warned: "Prime Minister, although General Xiahou Yuan is brave and good at fighting, he has always despised strategy, and his surname is strong and easy to scheming. ”

"That's what I'm worried about, too." Boss Cao nodded again and said, "Xiahou Yuan doesn't have too many soldiers and horses, and a head-on battle may not be the opponent of many fierce generals under the command of the pottery thief, and a capable strategist is needed to help him." All the princes are wise and resourceful, I wonder who would like to take my letter to Xiahou Miaocai to help him defend against the pottery thief? ”

"I want to go." Xu Shu, who had never said a word, stood up and arched his hand and said: "Shu Meng is included in the Prime Minister, and he hates to repay his merits, now that the pottery thief is about to enter Koushanyang, please go south to Changyi in the starry night, and assist General Xiahou Yuan to guard the southern line and resist the northern invasion of the pottery thief." ”

Boss Cao stared at Xu Shu, and after a long time, he got up and walked in front of Xu Shu, patted Xu Shu on the shoulder and said: "Then there is Lao Yuanzhi's hard trip, but I must also tell a few words, the southern line of Yanzhou is the same as Xuzhou, the terrain is open and there is no danger to defend, Xiahou Yuan's team is the only barrier of our army in the southern front, after Yuan arrives in Changyi, it is necessary to protect the army city, and you must not take risks - when I break Yuan Shao, Mr. wants to find the pottery thief for revenge, and there is a chance." ”

Xu Shu also knew that Boss Cao had seen through his thoughts, so he arched his hand and said: "Please rest assured, the family enmity and state affairs, Shu is still clearly divided, if the pottery thief really leads the army to the north, it is also a kind of revenge to assist General Xiahou to resist the pottery thief." ”

Boss Cao relieved his mind at this time, and told Xu Shu a few words to stop Xiahou Yuan from impulsively going to war, so he wrote a letter to Xiahou Yuan, asking Xiahou Yuan to stick to Changyi and choke the road of Xuzhou's army to the north, and to discuss with Xu Shu and Cao Chun in case of trouble, and not to act impulsively, and then handed the letter to Xu Shu, and sent a team of cavalry to escort Xu Shu south to Changyi without mentioning it.

………… By the way, let's take a look at the situation in Yuan Shaojun's army, after Cao Jun successfully delivered the letter to Yuan Tan Gongzi, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was a thief, suddenly turned pale, and wanted to kill Cao Jun carefully, but he was worried that Cao Boss would shake out that he had sent Liu Xun to secretly contact Cao Jun in an attempt to kill his father and stand on his own - at that time, even if Cao Boss could not produce conclusive evidence, once Yuan Tan Gongzi could not explain the fact that the head of his henchman Liu Xun was hung on Cao Jun's gate, even if there was no evidence, he would not think about his son-in-law in this life. Therefore, Yuan Tan Gongzi thought about it, so he had to take a delaying strategy, while asking Cao Jun to bring a message to Boss Cao, saying that he agreed to Boss Cao's request, and on the other hand, he did not take any action, and waited for the battle situation to change with fear.

Fortunately, with the prolongation of the war, the problem of the gradual lack of military strength and the huge consumption of grain and grass also appeared within Yuan Shaojun, and the big Yuan Sangong, whose surname was not very patient, gradually began to lose his breath, and discussed with the civil and military forces several times how to use tactics to break the enemy, and once considered dividing the troops to attack Dongjun, although each time was resolutely stopped by Fu Zhu and Cui Yan, but the voice of opposition to continued consumption was getting louder and louder, and Yuan Sangong also began to gradually become more and more dissatisfied with the passive and conservative tactics of Frustration and Cui Yan. Therefore, even if Yuan Tan Gongzi did not deliberately order, Guo Tu and Xin Bi, who were good at observing words and feelings, still spontaneously began to slander and persuade Yuan Sangong to give up conservative tactics and take the initiative to find fighters.

Three days later, Qingzhou Beijia Wang Xiu, who stayed in the plain, sent a light cavalry team to Xuzhou to send a messenger from Xuzhou who made a detour to the north, and also sent a letter from Deputy Director Tao who was determined to break Cao. Seeing this letter from Deputy Director Tao, Da Yuan Sangong was of course ecstatic, and even praised his son-in-law's filial piety and daughter for not marrying in vain, Fu Zhu and Cui Yan also breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said together: "Lord, since Tao Yuanjun has decided to personally lead the main force of Xuzhou to attack the battlefield of Cao Thief's southern front, then as long as our army holds on for a few more days, the winning fighter will definitely appear on its own!" The subordinates and others believe that the lord must not take risks to fight at this time, as long as he sticks to the confrontation, the Cao thief will definitely show his flaws! ”

Da Yuan Sangong nodded, but Guo Tu said unconvinced: "What if the pottery thief doesn't believe his words?" Every time our army is delayed, it is the expenditure of nearly 7,000 pieces of military rations, and after a long delay, how much more grain and grass will our army waste? ”

"May I ask Mr. Gongze, when did Tao Yuanjun say something but not believe it?" Frustrated and unceremoniously asked, he said: "If Mr. Gongze can find a precedent for Tao Zhijun to break his word and gain weight, then I should not say what I said before, and I will immediately support Mr. Gongze with both hands to instigate the lord to fight!" If Mr. Gongze can't find it, then please don't question Tao Yuanjun's credit! ”

"Mr. Gongze, our army's grain and grass costs nearly 7,000 Hu per day, but Cao Thief's daily grain consumption is also more than 2,200 Hu." Cui Yan also said: "And our army is close to the main grain-producing area of Ye County, and it is convenient to transport grain through the Cao Canal, so it is relatively easy to transport grain!" Previously, our army made a detailed report, saying that a large group of Cao thief grain transport ships had been found on the Pushui River in the Chenliu area, which was enough to prove that Cao Thief's Dong'e grain stock had been basically exhausted by our army, and could only be forced to transport grain supplies from Xuchang and Chenliu, thousands of miles away! That being the case, dare to ask Mr. Gongze, is it not good for our army to continue to wear down? Or is it bad for Cao thief?! ”

Guo Tu had nothing to say, but he hated Da Yuan Sangong for selling his reputation and reputation, and used Cui Yan, a Jizhou celebrity who had no talent and no virtue. And Da Yuan Sangong also made up his mind, stood up and pulled out his sword, cut off the case in front of him with a sword, and roared: "I have made up my mind, continue to fight Cao Thief to the end, wait for my son-in-law to send troops, and the fighter plane will appear!" There are those who speak out again, and this case is the same! ”

The civil and military forces of Jizhou, who had persuaded Da Yuan Sangong to take the risk of going to war, all closed their mouths and were silent, but Da Yuan Sangong still refused to relieve his anger, and threw the sword in his hand directly to Fu Zhi, and then shouted: "Gonghe, you are the supervisor of my army, this sword is given to you, and in the future, if there is anyone who persuades me to take the risk of going to war without authorization, there is no need to report me, you can hold the sword and kill immediately!" ”

"Thank you, Lord." Frustrated and overjoyed, he was so excited that he burst into tears, and choked up: "The lord can have such determination, and the shame of the official crossing is expected to be lost!" ”

(To be continued)