After confirming the news that Boss Cao's reinforcement team was already marching towards Qingzhou, Tao Ying, who was also closely concerned about the battle in Qingzhou, breathed a sigh of relief, applauded and smiled in front of several henchmen and lackeys: "Okay, there is finally cannon fodder in Qingzhou, and the pressure on our Northern Expedition to Qingzhou can be reduced a lot." ”

"Lord, we can't be too happy now, can we?" Chen Deng reminded with a smile: "Because the old lord made public the precedent of abolishing the elder and the young, Yuan Tan hated our army to the bone, and later fought openly and secretly, and the hatred between our army and Yuan Tan became deeper and deeper. ”

"Of course, how could I accept that the Xuzhou army would be under the command of Yuan Tan, wouldn't that send the sheep into the tiger's mouth?" Tao Ying smiled gently, then turned to Cao Hong and Liu Ye next to him and asked, "General Kaiping, Mr. Ziyang, is there any news from Jizhou, have you seen the effect of the rumors spread by our Xizuo and Yuan Shang's people?" ”

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint my lord." Cao Hong, the oldest lackey of the old Tao family among the people present, replied with a sad face: "According to the orders of the lord, the last general arranged a large number of people to sneak to Yecheng to spread rumors, slandering Yuan Tan Xiao'er for resenting Yuan Shao's preference for the younger son, being unfair to the eldest son, secretly colluding with outsiders to try to seize power, and sooner or later he will definitely raise troops to commit crimes, but these rumors did not spread at all, and also attracted the attention and arrest of the Yecheng government, forcing the last general to be forced to withdraw several capable internal guards. ”

"There's no news from Yuan Shang's side yet." Liu Ye introduced and analyzed: "According to Ye's humble opinion, with Yuan Shang's surname and interests, it is impossible not to take action without getting the guidance of the lord, but so far Yuan Shang has not sent any news, which is enough to prove that Yuan Shang's plan of separation has not succeeded, and Yuan Shao has not yet given birth to the heart of replacing Yuan Tan." ”

"Changing commanders in battle is a taboo for soldiers, and Yuan Shao is also a person who knows the soldiers, so it is unlikely that Yuan Tan will be removed at this time, giving the enemy in Qingzhou an opportunity to take advantage of." Chen Deng also analyzed, and said regretfully: "It would be good if the lord had instigated Yuan Shang to seize the military power in Qingzhou early on, at that time, the lord's fake book plan had made Yuan Shao angry with Yuan Tan, it was Yuan Shang's God-given opportunity to seize the military power in Qingzhou, and he missed the best opportunity, and now if he wants Yuan Shang to seize Yuan Tan's military power, I am afraid it will be extremely difficult." ”

"I thought about it at the time, but after thinking about it, I finally decided to pass up the best opportunity." Tao Ying said quietly: "Because I instigated Yuan Shang to seize Yuan Tan's military power, then Cao Thief was afraid that his team would become cannon fodder, and he would not dare to send troops to Qingzhou. ”

"But my lord, if we can't pull Yuan Tan down from the position of Qingzhou coach, it will be a waste of our strength to pull Cao Thief's team into Qingzhou." Liu Ye reminded solemnly: "Judging from the time of Cao Thief's troops, Cao Thief is probably also guarding against Yuan Shao's change of commander, so he hurriedly sent troops to Qingzhou to help Yuan Tan reverse the situation and help Yuan Tan sit firmly in the position of Qingzhou Commander." ”

"That's fine, I expected that." Tao Ying said confidently: "I know very well the vicious intentions of the Cao thief, it is nothing more than to use Yuan Tan's hand to weaken our army, provoke the conflict between our army and Yuan Shaojun, and intensify the contradiction between our army and Yuan Shaojun. However, Cao Thief can't help but think that Yuan Tan is too simple, Yuan Tan certainly hates our army, but he may not treat Cao Thief's army as an ancestor, so if Cao Thief thinks that as long as Yuan Tan is saved, he can avoid the doom of serving Yuan Shaojun as cannon fodder, it is too wishful thinking. ”

Seeing that Tao Ying was so confident, Liu Ye, who knew that Deputy Director Tao never suffered losses, didn't say anything, just nodded honestly, and after a little calculation, Tao Ying decided: "Let's do it, continue to fully assist Yuan Shang to seize the military power in Qingzhou, of course it is best to let Yuan Shang go to Qingzhou to command the army, if it really doesn't work, we will activate the backup plan and remove Yuan Tan from the position of commander of Qingzhou." ”

"Backup plan?" Liu Ye, Chen Deng and the others were all in the same place, and then Liu Ye asked in surprise: "Lord, do you still have a backup plan?" Why didn't we know beforehand? ”

"I didn't mean to hide it from you, but I didn't want to use this backup plan until the last moment." Tao Ying explained: "But now there is no way, Yuan Shang himself is not competitive enough, and he has no ability to win the world's miracle of winning Qingzhou, so I can only start to prepare to start the backup plan." Yuan Fang, prepare the pen and ink of silk and write a letter for me. ”

"No." Deputy Director Tao's personal secretary, Chen Ying, agreed, quickly prepared the four treasures of the study, and then said to Tao Ying: "Lord, ready, who is the letter to?" ”

"Of course, it's for my most respected father-in-law, Ben Chugong." Father-in-law's nemesis Tao Yingtian replied shamelessly, and said: "You look at the text, in addition to greeting my father-in-law and mother-in-law and other nonsense, the key is to tell my father-in-law Benchugong, I have sent part of the main force north to Juxian, ready to discuss various matters in Qingzhou, after the wheat is ripe, I will not only personally lead the Xuzhou army north to crusade against Qingzhou, but also bring my wife and his daughter to the army, and go to Qingzhou to meet with relatives - if there is a chance, Our husband and wife also want to kowtow in front of his old man and personally present the heirloom jade seal to his old man. That's all, there's no need to be wordy about anything else. ”

Chen Ying agreed, and hurriedly buried his head in writing, while Liu Ye and Chen Deng were still thinking nervously about analyzing Tao Ying's intentions, and the current Xuzhou military advisor Jia Xu, who had not spoken before, had his eyes lit up, and immediately understood Deputy Director Tao's vicious intentions - to instigate the third prince of Yuan to conquer Qingzhou in person when he had no other choice, so as to avoid the Xuzhou army being killed by Yuan Tan! Then Jia Xu finally spoke, and said slowly: "Lord, Tian Kai and Kong Rong saw that a catastrophe was coming, and they desperately went westward and fought with Yuan Tan in the plains, which is a rare opportunity for Yuan Shao to settle Qingzhou in a war, why don't you remind him in the letter?" ”

"It can't be too explicit." Deputy Director Tao replied: "My father-in-law ordered me to send troops to fight Qingzhou for him, and I have not yet sent troops to encourage him to fight a decisive battle with the main force of Qingzhou in the plains, and my father-in-law will suspect that my son-in-law is unfilial and unwilling to work hard for him." So I must not say such things, and if I want to say it, I can only let Yuan Shang open his mouth to say it for me. ”

After that, Tao Ying added: "But I think that under my father-in-law's account, there should also be capable people who can see this great opportunity, and they should remind my father-in-law to do so." Yuan Shang is hopeless, in order not to let Yuan Tan monopolize the great work, he will definitely remind his father-in-law to do so. ”

"But is there enough time?" Jia Xu was a little worried, and reminded: "Cao Ying sent troops to Qingzhou, did not take the road of Liaocheng and went directly east to the plain battlefield, and chose to take the North Ji Road to go north to Jinan in Qingzhou, its tactical intention is very obvious, that is, to directly attack Licheng to besiege Wei to save Zhao, although Licheng is small, but it is the throat of the Qingzhou army, once it is taken by the Cao army, the main force of the Qingzhou army has to retreat to protect the grain road and the empty hinterland, and Yuan Shaojun will miss the opportunity to settle the battle. ”

Tao Ying nodded and admitted that Jia Xu was reasonable, and then turned out an official document from the case in front of him, handed it to Jia Xu and said: "Mr. Wenhe, don't worry, the detailed investigation report I received a few days ago was actually as early as the end of the Luoyin War, after the war in the plains entered a stalemate stage, Tian Kai sent his deputy Shan Jing to lead 8,000 troops to Licheng to reinforce and strengthen the defense there. It can be seen from this that Tian Kai should also understand that Licheng is the throat of his main army, and he did not dare to take it lightly and ignore it, Cao Renpifu wants to take Licheng, it should not be so easy. ”

Jia Xu took the detailed report, looked at it a few times, nodded, and said: "Tian Kai is really worthy of being a battle-hardened veteran of Youzhou, and he is indeed cautious and reasonable in using soldiers. But the lord, Su Xu bluntly said, the lord is still too optimistic - has the lord forgotten? When the lord was in Shanyang, he gave the construction drawings of the thunderbolt as a reconciliation gift to Cao Ying, and Cao Ren crusaded against Qingzhou to attack the city and pull out the village, how could there be no thunderbolt in the army to help? ”

"Thank you, Mr. Wenhe, for the reminder." Tao Ying said with a smile: "But Mr. Wenhe seems to have forgotten that the thunderbolt is my first creation, if there is no way to deal with the thunderbolt, how dare I trust such a dangerous thing to my rival?" ”

Jia Xu's steady and serious face finally showed a smile, and he arched his hand to Tao Ying and said: "The lord is clever and far-sighted, and he can't be criticized. Since the lord has already made arrangements, then our army can watch the fire from the other side with peace of mind and wait for the good news of Qingzhou. ”

Deputy Director Tao also laughed, laughing the same cunning as Jia Xu, while Chen Deng, Liu Ye and others next to him quietly wiped their sweat and muttered in their hearts: "Listening to the conversation between the old fox and the little fox, it's tired!" ”

…………………… Like Tao Ying's analysis, in fact, as early as when he learned the news of the desperate westward advance of the Tiankong coalition army, Tian Feng and Fu Zhu and others under the account of the third duke of the Great Yuan had already suggested that the third duke of the Great Yuan should adjust their strategy and immediately increase the troops of Qingzhou and the Tiankong coalition army to fight a decisive battle in the plains, striving for a decisive battle, and laying the victory of Yuan Shaojun's entry into Qingzhou through this decisive battle in the field.

Tian Feng and Fu Zhi and other people of insight put forward this suggestion, of course, not to cheapen Deputy Director Tao and Cao Boss who had promised to be cannon fodder for Yuan Sangong, but this opportunity is indeed very rare and advantageous, because Yuan Shaojun's main force is more than one step ahead of the Tiankong coalition army in terms of quantity and quality, and the main force is concentrated in the field decisive battle, and at the same time, after breaking the Qingzhou coalition army through the field decisive battle, Yuan Shaojun's attack on Qingzhou City is undoubtedly much easier, and even the Qingzhou cities are not hopeless. It can save countless money, food, baggage and time, and can also reduce the loss of many soldiers and horses, which is far better than the difficult attack of one city after another. Therefore, Tian Feng and Fu Zhi and other true loyal ministers of Yuan Shaojun suggested that Yuan Sangong seize this God-given opportunity to let Yuan Shaojun shoulder the burden of the decisive battle with the main force of the Qingzhou coalition army, and then throw the drudgery and troublesome errands of attacking the city to Cao Laoda and Deputy Director Tao.

The current Great Yuan Sangong has not reached the point of Alzheimer's disease during the Battle of Guandu, and after listening to the analysis of Tian Feng and Fu Zhu and others, he is naturally a little tempted, but it is a pity that most of the main forces under the command of the Great Yuan Sangong have already gone north to Youzhou to fight with Gongsun Zhan's main force, and the remaining team has either been put into the Qingzhou battlefield, or must stay to control the local counties and counties to prevent rebellions, and the total number of reserves on the southern front that can be used in their hands is less than 20,000, and the Bingzhou team transferred from the nephew's senior cadres is still on the way to Jizhou, Even if the motivation is insufficient, it is in vain, and at the same time, Da Yuan Sangong does not want to repeat the mistake of the main force being too southward last time, and refuses to transfer the reserve of the northern line, so after hesitating for a long time, Da Yuan Sangong still acted as cautiously as Deputy Director Tao and chose to give up this great opportunity.

By the way, Yuan Shang, Deputy Director Tao's biggest friend in Yuan Shaojun's ranks, also resolutely opposed this suggestion of Tian Feng and Fu Zhu and others, because no matter how ambitious and talented Yuan Shang was, he understood that if he launched a decisive battle with the main force of the Qingzhou coalition army at this time, then it was not his father who commanded this decisive battle, but his most hated brother Yuan Tan! In order to prevent the capture of Qingzhou from being accepted by his father, or the damned eldest brother in vain, Yuan Shanggongzi naturally did not hesitate to resolutely oppose it, and at the same time accelerated the action of seizing his brother's military power, planning that as long as he won the military power of Qingzhou, coupled with the full assistance of his good brother-in-law and Cao Laoda's cannon fodder team, the Gaishi Qigong of seizing the entire territory of Qingzhou would be at his fingertips.

Yuan Shanggongzi's wishful thinking is too underestimated of his father, even if the eldest Yuan Sangong is not Cao Laoda's opponent in terms of scheming, he is a generation of heroes who almost unified the north, and the reason and purpose of saying bad things about Yuan Tan in front of his stepwife and Yuan Shang have long been known, and he once suspected that the rumors that appeared in Yecheng City that were unfavorable to Yuan Tan were from Yuan Shang's hands, plus Yuan Sangong knew very well that changing commanders in battle was a taboo for soldiers, so no matter how Yuan Shang pleaded and how he spread rumors and slander, The Great Yuan Sangong just refused to agree to remove Yuan Tan and let Yuan Shang go to Qingzhou to command the troops.

What made Yuan Shanggongzi even more desperate was still behind, when Yuan Tan led the weak forces to stabilize their position on the Yellow River defense line, and gradually blocked the desperate all-out counterattack of the Qingzhou coalition army, Cao Boss suddenly decided to immediately send troops to Qingzhou to help Yuan Tan clean up the Qingzhou coalition army - in this way, it is naturally more difficult for Yuan Shanggongzi to snatch the military power of the eldest brother. What is surprising is that when Tian Feng and Fu Zhu and other neutral strategists heard the news, they rushed to the Great Yuan Sangong together, instigating the Great Yuan Sangong to immediately increase the troops in Qingzhou and seize the opportunity to start a decisive battle with the Qingzhou coalition army.

"My lord, this is a once-in-a-lifetime God-given opportunity." Frustrated to the Great Yuan Sangong analysis: "Tian Kai Kong Rong two thieves poured into the nest, its intention is to fight quickly, drive our army out of Qingzhou, although our army because of the lack of strength for a while, but also quickly stabilized the position on the north bank of the Yellow River, blocking the pace of the Qingzhou thief army's counterattack, Qingzhou thief army has lost its spirit, and then heard that Cao Ying sent troops to attack, the morale of the thief army will inevitably collapse for thousands of miles, the military heart is seriously shaken, if the main force of our army launches Qingzhou at this time, it must be twice the result with half the effort, and it is easy to break the enemy in one fell swoop. ”

"My lord, Mr. Guangping's words are very good, and my lord must not miss the opportunity." Tian Feng also analyzed: "Cao Jun sent troops to Qingzhou without going to Liaocheng to go straight to the plain battlefield, and chose to take the North Ji Road to the north of Jinan, and its first target must be Licheng, if Cao Jun successfully took this choke point, Tian Kai and Kong Rong two thieves will inevitably retreat in an all-round way, retreat to Jinan, Linzi and Beihai and other places to defend the city, if our army does not seize this God-given opportunity to immediately increase troops in Qingzhou, it will not only lose the opportunity for a decisive battle, but also miss the unavoidable God-given opportunity to defeat the water dogs and annihilate the enemy!" ”

"Lord, the opportunity must not be lost, and it will not come again." Xun Yu's fourth brother Xun Chen also instigated: "Although the increase in troops in Qingzhou at this time may lead to the increase in casualties of our army than expected, it can save our army countless precious money and time, and then our army can also free up the troops on the southern front, make every effort to eradicate the thief Gongsun Zhan, and officially unify the land of Hebei and Qingzhou faster, and also reduce the loss of our army's money and food soldiers." ”

Several loyal strategists all suggested this, and Yuan Shangdang such as Jubei and Feng Ji also didn't make up their minds, and the indecisive Yuan Sangong inevitably began to waver, and said hesitantly: "Although the princes are reasonable, but the maximum number of troops that can be dispatched in the Yecheng area is only 20,000, and the team in Bingzhou has just passed the Huguan, which will at most only arrive in Shexian and gather the main force to rush to Qingzhou, and I am afraid that it will be too late in time." ”

"It doesn't matter." Xun Chen shook his head and suggested: "My lord, today is the second day of the third month, and the 40,000 reinforcements from Bingzhou will rush to the plain from Shexian County, it will only take twenty days at most, and then take a little rest, and the decisive battle of Qingzhou can be launched on March 25 at the earliest." In this case, the lord can send a fast horse to order the Cao army to send reinforcements, so that it can slow down the speed of its march, and arrive in Licheng on March 25 to launch a siege battle, so that the main force of our army and the Cao army formed a flanking situation, so that the Qingzhou thief army is difficult to care about, and the enemy is on the back. It can also prevent Cao's army from attacking Licheng too early, causing Tian Kai Kongrong to be forced to retreat, so that our army will lose the opportunity for a decisive battle. ”

As soon as Xun Chen's plan came out, Tian Feng and Fu Zhu naturally applauded, and after hesitating and hesitating for half an hour, Da Yuan Sangong finally nodded, gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, just do it, although it is a bit cheap to do this Xuzhou Tao Ying, but Tao Ying is my son-in-law, even if he is half of my son, he is usually filial and obedient, which will give him a little advantage." ”

"My lord, in order to lure the enemy deep and prevent the enemy from escaping." Fu Zhu also suggested: "The lord may wish to secretly order the eldest prince to defeat a few more battles, build confidence in the enemy, and even deliberately let the Tiankong thief army break through our army's Yellow River defense line, anyway, as long as the main force of our army arrives, the Cao army will stab the Tiankong thief army in Licheng at the same time, and it will be difficult for our army to lose the decisive battle in Qingzhou." ”

Da Yuan Sangong and Gongsun Zhan also tasted the sweetness of luring the enemy into the depths when they were fighting, so this time Da Yuan Sangong rarely did not hesitate at all, and immediately nodded and agreed to the suggestion of the frustrated teacher, and immediately asked the secretary Chen Lin to write a letter to his son for himself to order Yuan Tan to defeat the battle, so that Tian Kai and Kong Rong, who were desperate, could see the hope of victory and prevent them from running away. Here, Yuan Shang saw that the wood had been completed, and he no longer hesitated, and immediately stood up and said: "Father, the child is willing to lead the main force of the state to the plains to reinforce his brother, and join forces with his brother to annihilate the Qingzhou thief army and recover the entire territory of Qingzhou for his father." ”

"You?" Da Yuan Sangong glanced at his most beloved son, and said in his heart that it would be strange if you could join forces with your brother, so Da Yuan Sangong shook his head and said: "Wu'er is too young, and he has little experience in battle, and he has led the main force to fight a decisive battle with the Qingzhou thief army. ”

Yuan Shang retreated in disappointment, but he was secretly worried in his heart, "But don't hand over all the troops to Yuan Tan, in this case, I will be in trouble, and my brother-in-law will also be in trouble." ”

……………… Yuan Shanggongzi may be worried in vain, and Yuan Sangong also overestimated some of his prestige, and overestimated the sincerity of Boss Cao's cooperation with him. Therefore, when the order of the Great Yuan Sangong was transmitted through the fast horse, and the order to launch an attack on March 25 was sent to Yanzhou, and to Cao Ren, the commander of the Cao army who had arrived in Dongping, although Cao Ren was very strange, although Yuan Shaojun first ordered the self-army to reinforce Qingzhou as soon as possible, and now ordered the self-army to slow down the pace of its march, the old fox Cheng Yu, who volunteered to serve as the staff officer of the army this time, saw through the wishful thinking of the Great Yuan Sangong at a glance, and immediately suggested to Cao Ren: "General Zixiao, you must not listen to this order, our army must do the opposite, Hurry up and go north to attack Licheng and force the two thieves of Tiankong to retreat! ”

"Why does Mr. Chung Tak say that?" Cao Ren asked in surprise.

"Yuan Shaopifu is going to launch a decisive battle in Qingzhou." Mr. Cheng Yu, the most vicious under the command of Boss Cao, sneered and said: "Tian Kaikong Rong made a desperate bet and went westward, the purpose was to expel Yuan Shao's army from Qingzhou, and then break our army and the Xuzhou thief army. I concluded that the old man must have been determined to launch a decisive battle in Qingzhou, so he gave our army a time to enter the army, so as not to startle our army and scare off the two thieves of Tian Kai and Kong Rong, so that he would lose this God-given opportunity. ”

"Of course, although Yuan Shao's move can reduce some of the losses of our army, it is far more harmful than beneficial for the lord and our army." Cheng Yu also analyzed to Cao Ren: "Because once Yuan Shao breaks the main force of the Tiankong coalition army in the field battle, then he will reduce a lot of losses and pressure in the battle against the remaining cities of Qingzhou, and will also greatly speed up the speed of conquering the entire territory of Qingzhou, and then he can concentrate all his strength to attack the main force of Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, and then greatly shorten the time to unify the four states of Youji, Qingdao, and Qingzhou, which is only one harm and one benefit to him." ”

"Our army's sworn enemy, Tao Ying's thief, will also get a lot of benefits from it, because once Yuan Shao breaks through the main force of the Qingzhou thief army in advance, he will have a lot less pressure to attack Qingzhou after the wheat is ripe, and at the same time, it will also help him speed up the process of ending the Qingzhou war, so that he can free up his hands more quickly to make difficulties with our army, which is beneficial and harmless for him."

"Only our army is the only one whose interests are damaged! Because Tao Ying annihilated the thief was the mortal enemy of our army, Yuan Shao's old man was also very dissatisfied with the fact that our army had the Son of Heaven, and he coerced the Son of Heaven to make the princes salivate, once they got out of Qingzhou as soon as possible, then our army would inevitably suffer from the enemy on the back of the belly, and the north and south would be in an emergency! Therefore, for our army, it is necessary to break through Licheng as soon as possible, force the two thieves of Tiankong to retreat to the hinterland of Qingzhou, and drag Yuan Shao's old puppet and Tao Yingxiao into the war of attrition in the hinterland of Qingzhou, so that the war in Qingzhou will be protracted and protracted, which will only do one harm to our army and benefit a hundred benefits! ”

After listening to Cheng Yu's detailed analysis, Cao Ren, the cousin of Boss Cao, didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately said: "Go north to Qingzhou at full speed, within five days, be sure to arrive in Licheng, and take three more days to take Licheng for me!" This time, it's time for our secret weapon, the Thunderbolt, to shine its might! ”

(To be continued)