When the Great Yuan Sangong decided to personally lead the army to conquer Qingzhou in the city of Jizhou, poor Yuan Tan Gongzi also suffered another defeat at the Yellow River ferry, losing hundreds of teams and also losing the ferry wharf, so that the Tiankong coalition army successfully crossed the Yellow River successfully, and planted a nail on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the plain city and the six counties on the north bank of the almost undefended were also exposed to the blade of the Tiankong coalition army at the same time.

Although this battle was deliberately lost by Yuan Tan Gongzi, and it was also Yuan Sangong who pulled his ears and forced Yuan Tan Gongzi to lose, lost the initiative on the battlefield but successfully achieved the purpose of luring the enemy, which belonged to the tactical surname retreat, but for Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was arrogant and eager to make contributions to prove himself, it was undoubtedly another major setback, so that after losing back to the plain to defend the city, Yuan Tan Gongzi fell a few teapots and tea bowls, and was so depressed that he almost wanted to raise troops out of the city again.

Because of various problems of time, distance and source channels, Yuan Tan Gongzi's defeat almost frightened the Xuzhou army, especially when this defeat first reached the Xuzhou Assassin's Mansion, Cao Hong, the internal security general who was in charge of confidential information for Deputy Director Tao, was so frightened that he simply broke into the hall and reported the matter to Deputy Director Tao, who was discussing the winter wheat harvest and seed rush with Xuzhou officials, which also surprised the Xuzhou officials present.

"Tian Kai and Kong Rong actually succeeded in crossing the Yellow River? How is this possible? The first to be frightened was Chen Qun, a famous man in Xuzhou, who exclaimed in a lost voice: "I can't imagine that Yuan Tan Pifu is incompetent to this point, if Tian Kai and Kong Rong are allowed to expel Yuan Shaojun from Qingzhou, and the main force returns to the southern line, it will be difficult for our army to go north to Qingzhou again!" ”

"yes, yes." The Xuzhou officials present echoed one after another, all worried about this, fearing that Tian Kai Kongrong would succeed in achieving the goal of breaking through, resulting in stubborn resistance from the Xuzhou army in the northern expedition to Qingzhou and paying more costs for the northern expedition.

"Got it." Deputy Director Tao's reaction was unexpectedly flat, he nodded very casually, and then instructed Cao Hong: "Kaiping, you should step back first, this is a people's livelihood meeting, and we will talk about military affairs later." Also, just send the information to Mr. Wenhe and Mr. Ziyang, and let them know about this matter as well. ”

"No." Cao Hong honestly agreed to step down, and Deputy Director Tao turned to Chen Deng, Chen Qun and other civilian officials and asked: "Yuanlong, Changwen, just now we talked about the problem of earthworm farming, who did you just say that you have summed up the method of properly breeding earthworms?" ”

"It's Your Majesty." Chen Deng replied unhurriedly: "This method was summed up by Cui Xian of Si Wu of Xiapi County, Cui Xi found that the earthworm breeding pit produced more or less earthworms, because the earthworms made holes and escaped, so the harvest was very small, so he tried to use bricks to build a pit for farming, and as a result, every earthworm pit really got a bumper harvest, and Lord Cui immediately informed the people of the county of this discovery, and wrote an official document to report to the lord, so that the lord could take it. ”

"Good." Deputy Director Tao nodded happily and said: "Give Cui Xi a credit, award it according to the rules, and then inform all localities of this method in the form of a list, and encourage the people to follow suit according to law. ”

Chen Deng agreed, and when Chen Ying quickly put pen to paper, Deputy Director Tao raised the tea and took a sip, and took the initiative to say: "Princess, by the way, I will discuss the issue of Guangling Xiang, Guangling Xiang has always been the old general of Zhang Zhen, although the old general did a good job, the collection of money and grain and the pacification of the displaced people are also quite unsatisfactory, but after all, the old general is very old, and he has too many things to take care of and is not energetic, and the governance of Guangling County is too southern, and the development of the sparsely populated northern part of Guangling is seriously insufficient. So I want to officially appoint a Guangling minister, let him be stationed in Huaiyin, share the civil pressure for General Zhang, and also develop the fertile land in the Huai River valley by the way. ”

As soon as Deputy Director Tao said this, the powerful representatives of the Xuzhou Shi clan present were all bright-eyed, ready to recommend the children of their own clan, but Chen Deng, the largest representative of the land snake in Xuzhou, was unexpectedly opposed, and said: "My lord, I'm afraid this matter is inappropriate, the lord's intention to develop the fields in the Huai River basin is certainly to benefit the country and the people, but at the moment our manpower problem is stretched, I am afraid that we will not be able to spare our hands to develop the northern part of Guangling." As the lord said, the northern part of Guangling is vast and sparsely populated, and even if it is difficult to raise manpower on the spot. ”

Of course, Chen Deng's words are not untargeted, the five counties of Xuzhou are indeed known for their abundant food, but the previous Cao Boss Rebellion has greatly injured Xuzhou's vitality, the population has decreased sharply, the hard-hit area of the northern part of Pengcheng and the western part of the East China Sea is almost thousands of miles uninhabited, the original land has not been completely restored, and now it has occupied Huainan, it is necessary to divide forces to develop Peiguo County to smooth the connection, the manpower situation has long been stretched, and it is indeed difficult to free up forces to develop the northern part of Guangling, which is still vast and sparsely populated in this era.

"Yuanlong has a point." Deputy Director Tao nodded first, and then said lightly: "But the reason why I agreed to my father-in-law and send troops to attack Qingzhou for him is also to solve this problem - the famine in Qingzhou is serious, as long as you take three or two heavy Hu cakes, some of them are hungry and homeless people are willing to join." ”

The Xuzhou officials present all laughed, Chen Deng also smiled, and said: "The lord is far-sighted, and Deng admires it to the fullest, but the Qingzhou refugees are notoriously poor and poor, and killing officials and robbing grain has almost become their habit, so the lord wants to place them in the hinterland of Xuzhou and manage them well, this candidate must be carefully chosen." ”

"Yuanlong, if I'm not mistaken, it seems that there are five brothers in your family, right?" Deputy Director Tao was not afraid of the Xuzhou Shi clan who was present, and smiled directly: "Your third brother Yuan Fang has already contributed, what's the matter, contribute another brother?" It just so happens that I want to try seawater salt drying in the coastal area, so as to reduce the cost of boiling salt, increase income for the people and for us, and if successful, your family will also have a big way to make money. ”

In the envious eyes of his colleagues who almost vomited blood, Chen Deng first smiled modestly, and then arched his hand and said: "The lord is kind, Deng received it, and I also thank the lord for his love for my Chen family, but Deng can only thank the lord for his kindness, and can't accept it, because the other younger brothers under the minister are too weak to take on this heavy responsibility, and ask the lord to choose another virtuous and good one." ”

Speaking of this, Chen Deng hurriedly added, "If the lord does not give up, Deng wants to recommend a person for the lord, and he will definitely be able to take on this important task, take care of the displaced people in Qingzhou for the main public security, and develop the northern part of Guangling." ”

"Oh, who?" Deputy Director Tao hurriedly asked.

"General Lujiang, Han Hao." Chen Deng recommended: "Han Yuanhei is a military general, brave and strategic, and it is the most ideal to suppress and appease the displaced people in Qingzhou, and General Han is well versed in agricultural affairs and familiar with water conservancy. ”

"Han Hao still has this ability? How did I not know? "Deputy Director Tao of historical blindness was a little surprised-of course, if Deputy Director Tao knew that in the history of Boss Cao's Tuntian, in addition to Zaoyi, there was also an important role in this Han Hao, then Deputy Director Tao might not be so surprised.

"Deng also stumbled upon it." Chen Deng replied: "By the grace of the lord, Deng has been in charge of the affairs of Xuzhou Tuntian, and is also responsible for the water conservancy of Xuzhou, General Han Hao was taken back to Xuzhou by the lord after returning to the lord, and led a group of auxiliary soldiers to Deng under the command according to the order, to assist Deng Tuntian to raise troops, during which General Han gave Deng a lot of good suggestions on farming and water conservancy. ”

Deputy Director Tao stopped talking, and after a long time, Deputy Director Tao said to Chen Deng in a gentle tone: "Yuanlong, I heard that you still can't change your habit of liking to eat yusheng, I know that habits are difficult to change, and I don't plan to force you to change them." But don't eat freshwater fish, eat marine fish, marine fish does not have as many parasites as freshwater fish, and it is not easy for your old disease to recur. ”

"Thank you for your advice, and I have registered." Chen Deng quietly thanked Tao Ying, but he was extremely grateful in his heart. The other Xuzhou officials on both sides look at me, I look at you, and they all muttered in their hearts, "No wonder the old Chen family is so favored, this sycophant kung fu is beyond Yang Hong's sycophancy." ”

After discussing political affairs for a long time, it was not until the work of harvesting and planting wheat and beans in winter was clearly arranged and perfected that Deputy Director Tao, who was already a little tired, ordered to end the logistics construction meeting of the Xuzhou Demolition and Relocation Office, and let a civilian lackey go down to do errands for himself, and also prepare necessary ammunition, weapons and more demolition tools for the violent thugs of the Xuzhou Demolition and Relocation Office.

The civilian officials in Xuzhou all went down to rest and do business, but at the same time, Deputy Director Tao and Chen Deng, who were both civil and military, did not even have the opportunity to rest, and immediately had to pick up the military intelligence report sent by Cao Hong before to discuss and analyze. But fortunately, after the civilian officials were all rolled out, Jia Xu and Liu Ye, who belonged to the military civilian officials, entered the conference hall together, and bowed their hands to Deputy Director Tao and smiled: "Congratulations to the lord, congratulations to the lord, the overall situation of the war in Qingzhou has been decided, and our army can sit back and relax." ”

"The big picture is decided?" Deputy Director Tao and Chen Deng, who had not had time to withdraw their thoughts from government affairs and turn to martial affairs, were a little surprised, and Chen Deng rubbed his aching temples and asked Jia Xu and Liu Ye in surprise: "Mr. Wenhe, Mr. Ziyang, the war in Qingzhou has just begun, why do the two gentlemen say that the overall situation has been decided?" Also, General Cao Hong came to report the time in person just now, as if he was saying that Yuan Tan had suffered a defeat, and even the Yellow River defense line was broken through by the Qingzhou coalition army, so the battle in Qingzhou should be more complicated, right? ”

"Don't worry, Ye and Mr. Wen He have carefully analyzed it in the side hall just now, and they unanimously determined that Yuan Tan was a fraud, and they also unanimously determined that Yuan Shao would soon personally lead the troops westward and fight a decisive battle with the Qingzhou coalition army in the plains!" Liu Ye replied with a smile on his face.

"How so?" Deputy Director Tao, who was also rubbing his temples, asked.

"It's very simple, Yuan Tan." Jia Xu replied very succinctly, "The lord only needs to think carefully about Yuan Tan's surname to understand the strangeness. ”

"Yuan Tan's surname is a person? What does this mean? Chen Deng was a little confused.

"Let me think about it." Deputy Director Tao didn't let Jia Xu and Liu Ye explain to him carefully, and after careful thinking for a while, Deputy Director Tao's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said in surprise: "Mr. Wenhe and Mr. Ziyang are indeed reasonable, with Yuan Tan's surname, it is impossible for Tian Kai and Kong Rong to easily break through his Yellow River defense line, because Yuan Tan Pifu knows very well that if he is broken through the Yellow River natural danger he is responsible for head-on by the Qingzhou coalition army, then he will be finished in front of Yuan Shao, and he will never turn over!" ”

"So unless he has fought to the last soldier and killed all the soldiers in his hands, Yuan Tan will never give up the Yellow River defense line! But Yuan Tan didn't do it, but left his troops to continue to defend Pingyuan City, which is enough to prove that Yuan Tan was a deceitful defeat and deliberately let the Qingzhou coalition army break through the Yellow River and succeed! ”

"Understood." Chen Deng's speed of thinking was not much slower than that of Deputy Director Tao, and after listening to Deputy Director Tao's analysis, he immediately came to his senses, and applauded happily: "The person who can make Yuan Tan humiliate and humiliate this, of course, cannot be Yuan Tan's sworn enemy Yuan Shang!" Only Yuan Shao! Only Yuan Shao can make Yuan Tan make such a sacrifice and carry this black cauldron on his back! And since Yuan Shao has done this, it is enough to prove that Yuan Shao has already gathered the main force to prepare for the personal expedition, and went to Qingzhou to fight to the death with Tian Kai and Kong Rong! Because apart from him Yuan Shao himself, there is no need for Yuan Shao to sacrifice his eldest son for anyone! Even if this person is his favorite son Yuan Shang, he can't do it! ”

Liu Ye and Jia Xu both gave a thumbs up, and finally understood why Deputy Director Tao wanted Premier Chen Deng to let Chen Deng participate in military affairs in addition to Xuzhou political affairs - this understanding of military tactical intentions is simply not under any world-class strategist!

After it was expected that the third prince of Yuan would personally lead the army west to conquer Qingzhou, Deputy Director Tao and Jia Xu, Chen Deng and others were of course overjoyed, and they were glad that the army finally did not have to worry about being deliberately harmed by Yuan Tan this time, and it was also taking this opportunity that Liu Ye took the opportunity to ask Deputy Director Tao: "My lord, my subordinates have already asked the lord face to face if he has a question, this crusade against Qingzhou, I don't know how the lord plans to fight?" To what extent, and what kind of charter do you have? ”

"What Mr. Ziyang wants to ask is the strategic purpose of our army's dispatch to Qingzhou, and what kind of specific benefits our army wants to obtain by sending troops to Qingzhou, right?" Deputy Director Tao asked rhetorically. Seeing Liu Ye nodding, Deputy Director Tao suddenly spread his hands and threw out an answer that made Jia Xu, Liu Ye and Chen Deng almost fall together and eat, "To be honest, I don't know." ”

"The lord doesn't know?" It was the first time that Jia Xu, Chen Deng and others found out that Deputy Director Tao would do something harmful to themselves and others, and they almost suspected that today's sun was coming out of the west.

"I really don't know." Deputy Director Tao nodded with a wry smile, and explained: "The reason why I agreed to send troops to Qingzhou is that in addition to wanting to please my father-in-law to continue the friendly relationship with Jizhou, there are indeed two purposes that I want to grab, one is to obtain Qingzhou manpower, and the other is to take the opportunity to integrate Langya County and consolidate the control of Langya County - you also know that among the five counties in Xuzhou, I only have the weakest control over Langya County, and some things are inconvenient to do, so this time it is a good opportunity to send troops to Qingzhou, and I took the main force of Xuzhou through Langya County, There are some things that you can do with your hands. ”

"Still, it's not enough to make up for my loss." Deputy Director Tao continued: "Because once Tian Kai and Kong Rong are destroyed, our army will be directly bordered by the Jizhou army, although this can strengthen the connection between our army and the Jizhou army, and facilitate our army and the Jizhou army to carry out war horse trade, but on the whole, it will still do more harm than good." So I've been thinking about this question these days, how can I maximize the interests of my army in Qingzhou? And how can we avoid the drawbacks of our army after it borders with the Jizhou army? ”

Faced with Deputy Director Tao's question of not only wanting horses to run, but also wanting horses not to eat grass, resourceful people such as Chen Deng and Liu Ye had no way to answer, and they also felt that Deputy Director Tao's wishful thinking was too whimsical, not only wanting to curry favor with Yuan Shao to maintain the honeymoon relationship between Tao and Yuan, but also not wanting to directly border Yuan Shaojun, and Yuan Shaojun was extorted by Yuan Shaojun to borrow money and grain in three days - there is such a good thing in the world?

"There is a way, but it is too difficult, and I am afraid it will be difficult to get it." Only Jia Xu hesitated and said: "If the lord can persuade Tian Kai and Kong Rong to surrender to Yuan Shao, and let Yuan Shao agree to let Tian Kai and Kong Rong continue to stay in Qingzhou, then the lord's requirements can be met, not only to please Yuan Shao, but also not to make our army directly border Yuan Shao's army." ”

"Mr. Wenhe, this is simply impossible, right?" Liu Ye reminded: "With the personal friendly relationship with Tian Kai and Kong Rong that our army has always maintained, persuading them to surrender Yuan Shao, or even directly surrender to our army, may have some hope, but if you want Yuan Shao to agree to let Tian Kai and Kong Rong continue to stay in Qingzhou and be in a state of half-reading, this is probably unlikely, Yuan Shao is not a weak and generous person." ”

Jia Xu nodded, and admitted that he was too whimsical, and if he wanted Da Yuan Sangong to accept such conditions, I am afraid it would be more difficult than killing Da Yuan Sangong.

"It's really difficult, but it's not impossible." Deputy Director Tao suddenly spoke, and said in a deep voice: "Of course, it is absolutely impossible for Tian Kai, who surrendered, to continue to serve as the assassin of Qingzhou, but if Kong Rong and Tian Kai lay down their arms and surrender to my father-in-law on the condition of serving as the Taishou of Beihai and Donglai counties, my father-in-law may not be unable to agree." ”

After pondering for a moment, Deputy Director Tao shook his head and said: "I have made the mistake of overcalculating again, now the decisive battle between my father-in-law and the Qingzhou coalition army has not yet begun, and the result is unknown. The best way now is to take one step at a time, and harvest the grain into storage first. ”

"What the lord said is very true, and now we can only take one step at a time." Jia Xu, Liu Ye and others all nodded in agreement, and then Chen Deng added, "Lord, please relax, for our army, it is best to avoid direct border with the Jizhou army, but it doesn't matter if you can't avoid it, the great thing is to pay more tribute to the lord's father-in-law every year, which is regarded as the lord's filial piety to his father-in-law, and pay a little protection fee in exchange for the peace of our army's northern front, which is also more beneficial than disadvantageous for our army." ”

"What Yuan Long said is very true, if it really doesn't work, it doesn't matter if I am a living Lei Feng of the Three Kingdoms." Deputy Director Tao threw out another sentence that Chen Deng, Jia Xu and others couldn't understand, and his heart was also swollen and fat, and he comforted himself: "When you live Lei Feng once, you should be a live Lei Feng, in short, you must be patient now, you must be patient until Yuan Shao and Cao Thief turn their faces and start a war, and then all the initiative will return to me." ”

"What does it mean to live Lei Feng?" Chen Deng muttered in his heart, but Chen Deng had long been accustomed to the strange terms that popped up in Deputy Director Tao's mouth at any time, and just sighed: "If nothing else, in the current Qingzhou Plain County, there is also the Licheng area, this will be full of Jin Ge Iron Horses, and there will be a sea of corpses and blood everywhere, and I don't know what kind of point Tian Kai and Kong Rong's desperate bets this time can go?" Can there be a miracle? ”

"There is no miracle, most of Tian Kai's main elite have lost in Qinghe and the plains, and now his team has no chance in front of the main force of the Jizhou army." Deputy Director Tao shook his head and said, "As for Kong Rong's team, it is actually similar to our previous Xuzhou army, and there is no chance in front of Yuan Shaojun. Therefore, I only hope that Tian Kai and Kong Rong will not be completely annihilated by the main force of Jizhou that suddenly appeared, and can escape back to Xixian and Linzi alive, so that I can have a chance to repay them. ”

……………… When it was found that the Great Yuan Sangong personally led 50,000 Yuan Shao's troops to appear in the Qinghe country bordering Qingzhou, Tian Kai, a veteran of the battlefield who was leading the army to besiege the Plains City, immediately found that he had fallen into the trap of the enemy, and immediately gave up attacking the Plain Lonely City, led the army to retreat to the ferry and began to prepare to cross the river, and launched the operation of crossing the river and retreating on the first day when the Great Yuan Sangong arrived on the battlefield. In vain, they tried to delay the crossing speed of the Tiankong coalition army and buy precious time for the main force to reach the battlefield, but they were met with stubborn resistance from the palace army led by Zhao Yun, the rebel general of Yuan Shao's army, and the delay and obstruction had little effect.

The retreat of the Qingzhou coalition army across the river was very fierce and tragic, the three thousand palace troops led by Zhao Yun fought bloodily with the determination to die with the Yuan Tan army, and the battle did not end until late at night, the battlefield was full of corpses and mountains of blood, and there were stumps and broken arms everywhere, and the losses on both sides were extremely heavy, and the casualties almost reached a tragic degree of one to one. And when Yuan Tan finally broke through Zhao Yun's blocking team at any cost when it was about to dawn, forcing Zhao Yun to lead his army to flee downstream to cross the river, and was able to lead the army to kill the ferry, Tian Kai and Kong Rong's team had basically withdrawn across the Yellow River, and there were less than 1,000 soldiers blocked by Yuan Tan's army on the north bank.

Under the thunderstorm, Yuan Tan Gongzi ordered the slaughter of all the hundreds of captives who took the initiative to lay down their arms and surrender, which not only caused the Tiankong coalition army that had escaped on the south bank of the Yellow River to be agitated and hated the enemy, but also made Yuan Sangong, who had only arrived on the battlefield at noon, raise his hand and reward his eldest son with a slap, scolding the stupid son for making a mistake. But the matter has been wrong, Tian Kai and Kong Rong have retreated across the Yellow River to rearrange the Yellow River defense line, so the Great Yuan Sangong has no choice, so he had to listen to the advice of Xun Chen, a strategist with the army, while starting to prepare for the battle, while sending someone to order the Cao Ren army on the battlefield of Licheng, ordering Cao Ren's army to take Licheng as soon as possible, forcing the Qingzhou coalition army to abandon the Yellow River defense line, so that the main force of Yuan Shao's army can cross the river to pursue.

The order of the Great Yuan Sangong was given very easily, but they didn't know that at this moment, General Cao Ren, Cheng Yu's strategist and Uncle Liu Huang were already crying and scolding under Licheng City, which was also full of corpses and a sea of blood, "Heaven damn Tao Ying exterminating thief, you lack great virtue!" You helped Tian Kai Pifu break our thunderbolt, how much price do we have to pay, how many people do we have to die, in order to take this easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack city? ”

"General, our siege team has been repulsed by the thieves again! The soldiers suffered heavy casualties, what should I do? ”

"What to do? Cold! Keep on the storm! The military rations are only five days, and we can't take this city in five days, and if the grain and grass in the rear can't be delivered in five days, we all have to eat bark and grass roots! Hell, your pottery thief! ”

By the way, explain the reason for the shortage of military rations of General Cao Ren, friends should all remember, because it is necessary to make the Yuan Shaojun and the Xuzhou army fall into the quagmire of a war of attrition, and take Licheng first to force the Qingzhou coalition army to retreat, so General Cao Ren was in a hurry to march a distance before, in order to speed up the speed, it is naturally impossible to carry too much grain and grass, and it takes time to temporarily send people back to the rear to raise transportation, so poor General Cao Ren can only ............ with Uncle Liu Huang, "God kill your pottery thief!" ”

(To be continued)