Affected by the distance and news channels, Deputy Director Tao of course could not know that the old man had sent an ideal excuse for war to him, and after helping Boss Cao sneak attack on Wuchao, although Deputy Director Tao quickly evacuated from the battlefield of Wuchao, he actually did not go far, but lurked in the Pushui area thirty miles east of Wuchao, continued to monitor the movements of Wuchao through scouts, and patiently waited for the battle of Wuchao to be decided.

In this regard, Tao Ji and Xu Chu, who assisted Deputy Director Tao in the sneak attack on Wuchao, were a little puzzled, and Tao Ji simply asked Deputy Director Tao directly: "Second brother, since you are so worried about the safety of Cao Thief, why don't you just resist Yuan Shao's reinforcements for him and buy him time to completely burn Wuchao?" ”

"Guandu's victory and defeat are not scored, we can't stand in line openly, we must see the winner before placing a bet." Deputy Director Tao's answer was consistent to ride the wall and watch the wind, and said: "Besides, we are a gentleman's army, a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, and an army of morality. ”

"Then what if the Jizhou army reinforcements arrive in time and defeat the Cao thief team?" Tao Ji asked again.

"Then we will take the opportunity of the Jizhou army to chase and kill the Cao thief, and then attack the black nest." Deputy Director Tao replied with a smile: "Cao Thief personally led the team to attack Wuchao, Jizhou reinforcements will definitely not let go of this opportunity to capture the thief first, and will definitely go all out to hunt down and kill Cao Thief, we have the opportunity to solve the food of Wuchao for Cao Thief." ”

At this time, the scouts of the Junzi Army also sent the news of Zhao Yun's team to the Wuchao battlefield to Deputy Director Tao, and heard that the leading general of the Jizhou reinforcements was Zhao Yun, and the deputy director Tao, who cherished his reputation, was naturally even more reluctant to join the battlefield, in addition to ordering the scouts to continue to closely monitor the movements of the Wuchao battlefield, and then there was a light cavalry team to search and kill the surrounding Jizhou army scouts, and not give the Jizhou scouts a chance to get close to the surrounding Junzi Army brigade.

Fortunately, Boss Cao's team did not disappoint Deputy Director Tao, and after a hard battle, Cao Jun finally defeated Zhao Yun's reinforcements, and quickly changed the color of Yuan Shao's military uniform and began to retreat to the mountain path. After confirming this news, Deputy Director Tao did not hesitate, and immediately ordered: "Send a signal, the whole army will return to the team, and retreat to Changyi." ”

"No!" Tao Ji agreed, first ordered the soldiers to light the wolf smoke to summon the troops to return, and then asked Deputy Director Tao: "Second brother, withdraw now, what if Cao Thief's team is intercepted by the Jizhou army?" ”

"There's nothing you can do, you can only look at his own luck." Deputy Director Tao shook his head decisively, and said: "As long as the black nest is destroyed, it doesn't matter if the Cao thief loses all his five thousand light horses, as long as the Cao thief himself can escape back to the Guandu camp, he will win the battle of Guandu!" We don't need to worry about Cao Thief now, but my old man has to worry about him, if he unfortunately dies in the chaos, our trouble will be great. ”

is also a little free, usually in addition to leading troops to fight, Tao Ji, who never interferes in political affairs, asked a lot, "Second brother, the younger brother has something unclear, since the second brother said that it is because the Jizhou army is too strong, and we can't stop Yuan Shao if the Cao thief falls, so we support the Cao thief to resist Yuan at any cost." In that case, second brother, why do you still say that if Yuan Shao dies in the chaos, our trouble will be great? ”

"Okay, it's a little bit of a long way, I know how to use my brain to think about it." Deputy Director Tao, who had high hopes for Tao Ji's cousin, praised him, and then explained: "I don't want Yuan Shao to die in the chaos, of course, I don't want to weaken the Jizhou army too much, giving Cao Thief's team the opportunity to grow rapidly." ”

"Because as far as the current situation is concerned, the overall strength of the Cao thief still exceeds that of our army, and it is not big for our army to defeat the Cao thief alone, and at the same time, the hatred between our army and the Cao thief is the deepest, and the contradiction is the most irreconcilable, so even if our army and the Cao thief temporarily join forces to resist Yuan, there will be a life-and-death decisive battle in the future, and then the greater the profit of the Cao thief in this Guandu war, the stronger the team will take the opportunity to grow, and the more unfavorable it will be to the future of our army."

"Yuan Shao is different, our army and Yuan Shao only have a conflict of interest, there is no common life and death enmity, as long as our common enemy Cao thief is still there, our army and Yuan Shaojun still have the opportunity to rebuild the old good and join forces to destroy Cao, so we can only support Cao thief to defeat Yuan Shao in Guandu to weaken part of the strength of Jizhou, so that it is unable to threaten our army and Cao thief at the same time, and also make it necessary to rely on our army to help in the war to destroy Cao, but our army must not weaken the Jizhou army too much, let alone allow Yuan Shao to die in Guandu, Because the party struggle between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang was too fierce, even if our army could successfully conclude an alliance with Yuan Shang once Yuan Shao died, it would also face the joint ...... of Yuan Tan and Cao Thief. ”

"Huh?!"

Patiently explained to Tao Ji and pointed him here, Deputy Director Tao's heart suddenly moved, and his face showed a worried look. Tao Ji saw that Deputy Director Tao did not look good, and hurriedly asked, "Second brother, what's wrong?" Isn't that right there? ”

"There are so many variables that I missed a possibility." Deputy Director Tao replied frankly, "Lord Yue's southern expedition this time, Yuan Tan also came, according to the rules and habits, he will definitely accompany Lord Yuezhang, if he wants to kill his father or collude with Cao Thief to kill his father, it will be easy, but no matter which situation arises between these two possibilities, it will be a great disadvantage to our army." ”

"Yuan Tan killed Yuan Shao? Collusion with Cao thieves to kill Yuan Shao? How is it possible to kill his father Yuan Shao? ”

Tao Ji's insight is still a little less in the end, and he inevitably feels a little unbelievable about Deputy Director Tao's worries, and Deputy Director Tao will not be too lazy to explain to his stunned cousin that people's hearts are sinister, and his eyes are just thinking about analyzing the possibility that Yuan Tan killed his father and seized the throne in the Battle of Guandu. At this time, all the light cavalry of the Gentleman's Army who scattered around to search and kill the enemy's scouts also returned to the brigade, and Tao Ji immediately asked Deputy Director Tao for an order: "Second brother, do you order to collect troops and return to Changyi." ”

"No, Lord Yue-in-law can hang it, but not now! To be on the safe side, an arrangement must be made. Deputy Director Tao groaned and answered the question, and after thinking for a while, Deputy Director Tao asked for a silk pen from the guard's hand, and directly squatted on the side of the road and wrote the name of Yuan Tan Gongzi on the white silk crookedly, and then handed the white silk to one of his confidant guards, and instructed him: "Disguise yourself as an ordinary person, take this letter to Guandu, once it is confirmed that Cao Thief has withdrawn to the Guandu camp, immediately send the letter to Cao Thief in my honor, and there is no need to say anything else." If the Cao thief was killed by the Jizhou army on the road, then forget it and immediately lurk back to Changyi to report the news. ”

The Danyang guard agreed, and hurriedly took out the clothes of the people brought by the army to change, and Tao Ji on the side asked confusedly: "Second brother, what do you mean by writing the name of Yuan Tan Pifu and giving it to Cao Thief?" ”

"Intimidation!" Deputy Director Tao replied: "Cao Thief and Yuan Tan Pifu have already had secret dealings, and the victory of Guandu has been decided, there is no need for me to remind him to secretly contact Yuan Tan to get things done, I deliberately add snakes, with Cao Thief's suspicious surname, I must suspect that I hope he and Yuan Tan will join forces to get rid of Lord Yuezhang, but I don't dare to do so, even if Yuan Tan Pifu takes the initiative to secretly contact Cao Thief, Cao Thief will definitely worry that getting rid of Lord Yuezhang will only cheapen our Xuzhou army in vain, and then dare not seize this opportunity to capture the thief and capture the king first!" ”

Deputy Director Tao's intentions are too complicated, Tao Ji, who has not heard the story of Huarong Dao, is naturally difficult to understand, but Tao Ji has always respected his cousin's cheekiness and black heart, even if he didn't understand, he didn't ask much, but he honestly acted according to the order, assisting Deputy Director Tao to lead the army back to Changyi, and the Danyang guard, who had been a cow and a horse for the old Tao family since the time of Tao Qian, sneaked to Guandu on foot, looking for an opportunity to send Deputy Director Tao's letter to Cao Laoda.

……………… Okay, now let's take a look at the situation of Boss Cao, to put it mildly, Boss Cao, who has escaped death on the battlefield countless times, not only is his escape kung fu not under the three peach brothers at all, but also in terms of luck on the battlefield, it is even more than eight streets to throw the three peach brothers, because the big Yuan Sangong suddenly fell into a coma and there was a great confusion in the command of Yuan Shaojun, and the Cao boss team who disguised himself as Yuan Shao's defeated army made a detour back to the Guandu camp on the way, Leng was not intercepted by half of Yuan Shao's army, although he walked an extra forty or fifty miles, But in the end, it was dark and smoothly returned to the Guandu camp, and the Guandu Cao army team, which had been worried for a whole day and a night, was suddenly thunderous with joy, and the morale was greatly boosted, from the senior generals to the ordinary soldiers, they were already full of absolute confidence in the victory of Guandu, Xun You and Guo Jia and other ministers cried with joy, and even called for the blessing of the sky, and Cao Boss was blessed with great blessings.

In addition to the two famous generals in Hebei, Zhang He and Gao Ran threw themselves into the arms of Cao Boss at the same time, Cao Boss's brother-in-law Dian Nong Zhonglang General Ren Jun finally sent a batch of grain and grass urgently needed by Cao Jun, although this batch of grain and grass was only enough for Cao Jun for half a month, and at the same time Ren Jun also told Cao Boss honestly, saying that this batch of grain and grass had been forcibly extorted by Xun Yu from the hands of the major wealthy families in Xuchang, and it was difficult to send follow-up grain and grass to Cao Boss after half a month. But these don't matter anymore, because Zhang He and Gao Ran have already leaked the secret to Boss Cao, saying that the grain and grass of Yuan Shaojun's battalions are collected from Wuchao every two days, and the grain and grass of Yuan Shaojun's main battalion are only enough for one day, so don't say that the grain and grass can be used for half a month, even if it can only be used for seven days, Cao Boss also has enough time to completely defeat Yuan Shaojun's main force.

Even more ecstatic to Boss Cao is still behind, after the third watch that night, Yuan Tan Gongzi actually sent his henchman guard chief Liu Xun to contact Cao Boss, although Liu Xun did not explain his intention to the notification guard, but Cao Boss, who is three points more slippery than a fox, still applauded and laughed, and said that Yuan Shao was resting, and despite his exhaustion, he met Liu Xun overnight, and contacted and negotiated with the secret envoy sent by Yuan Tan Gongzi in person.

Yuan Tan Gongzi sent Liu Xun to secretly contact Cao Boss without Guo Tu and Xin Ping and other absolute henchmen, the purpose was actually very simple, that is, he hoped to stop fighting with Cao Boss, and asked Cao Boss not to take advantage of the fire to rob and kill the main force of Yuan Shaojun, and allowed Yuan Tan Gongzi to bring the main force of Yuan Jun back to Jizhou. When Boss Cao heard this, he was secretly ecstatic at first, and then asked deliberately with a smile: "General Liu, it seems that your eldest son is not qualified to ask me for peace and dismissal, right?" Yuan Shao is still here, and he Yuan Tan is qualified to ask for peace for Yuan Shao? ”

"My father-in-law has fallen ill and is still unconscious." Liu Xun was not afraid of leaking the military aircraft, and explained according to Yuan Tangongzi's instructions: "Now the Jizhou army is temporarily in charge of my eldest son, and the trial has also returned to Jizhou, and the post of military advisor is taken over by Mr. Guo Tu, so my eldest son can now be the master for the lord." ”

"Yuan Shao is unconscious?" Boss Cao was even more ecstatic in his heart, and said with a pretended calm smile: "I'm afraid it's also a temporary decision, when your lord Yuan Shao wakes up, if he refuses to accept Cao Yuan's peace talks and insists on continuing to fight with me, what can I do?" ”

Liu Xun looked at Guo Jia, Xun You and others on the left and right in embarrassment, as if he wanted Boss Cao to drive away others, but Boss Cao refused to give in, and said: "If you have something to say, these are all my henchmen and cronies, so you don't have to hide it from them." ”

"No." Liu Xun nodded helplessly, lowered his voice and said: "The eldest prince has a sentence for the villain to turn the prime minister - if the prime minister can agree to his request for peace, then my lord will never be able to wake up!" ”

Boss Cao's triangular eyes shot a fine light, and he stared at Liu Xun viciously, Liu Xun was panicked by Boss Cao, and quickly added: "My eldest son also said that if the prime minister can grant his request for peace and support him to become the lord of Jizhou, then he will not only form an alliance with the prime minister forever, but also fully support the prime minister to capture Xuzhou and help the prime minister kill his father!" ”

"Yuan Tan's courage is really not small, he actually wants to kill his father and stand on his own, and use force to compete with Yuan Shang for the throne, he has courage, I really underestimated him before."

Boss Cao secretly praised in his heart, and when he turned his head to look at the left and right strategists, he saw that Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others were all full of joy, and they all nodded slightly to themselves, signaling that they accepted Yuan Tan's request. However, this is not that Xun You and Guo Jia and others have high moral character, and they applaud when they hear such a human tragedy as killing their father with their sons, the key is that with the current situation, Yuan Tanzhen's doing this is too beneficial to Cao Jun, it is simply a pie in the sky, there are hundreds of benefits and no harm, the danger is borne by Yuan Tan, and the biggest benefit cake is enjoyed by Cao Jun alone.

The reason for Guo Jia and the others' hearts is, of course, that Yuan Shaojun is too strong, although the Wuchao granary has been destroyed, and another group of Yuan Shaojun's troops have defected to Cao Jun, but Cao Jun wants to gnaw off the remaining more than 200,000 Yuan Shaojun still has to be prepared to be broken a few teeth, and at the same time, even if Cao Jun can successfully take the more than 200,000 Yuan Shaojun, it will only weaken the overall strength of Yuan Shaojun at most, and cannot completely reverse the trend of Yuan and Cao's two armies, because the land and city of Ji Youyou and Qing Sizhou are still in the hands of the Great Yuan Sangong, Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses still exist, and now even if only Da Yuan Sangong is left to flee back to Jizhou, he can pull up hundreds of thousands of troops to make a comeback at any time and regain an overwhelming advantage over Cao's army.

But if Yuan Tan kills the Great Yuan Sangong for Boss Cao, then the situation will be completely different, as soon as the Great Yuan Sangong dies, no matter whether Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang have no prestige and ability to reintegrate the soldiers and horses of Jiyou and Qingzhou, no matter how many troops the Yuan army has, it will fall into endless internal friction, and it will not be possible to concentrate on the Cao army to form an overwhelming surname, whether Boss Cao wants to break through or want to fish in troubled waters, he can get twice the result with half the effort, and even kill the most threatening Xuzhou Tao Army first and then free up his hands to annex Jizhou- Without the threat and containment of Da Yuan Sangong on the northern front, Boss Cao's main force could naturally go south to find Deputy Director Tao for a decisive battle.

Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Yuan Tan's action to kill his father and seize the throne fails, it doesn't matter, Boss Cao not only has no loss, but also can take the opportunity of the father and son of the third prince of Yuan to calmly enter the army, and it is easier to take down the remaining more than 200,000 Yuan troops, and get the maximum benefit at the minimum cost. It is precisely because they know these powerful relationships that not only Guo Jia, Xun You and others are happy, but Boss Cao is inevitably very moved, and can't help asking: "Did Yuan Tan say when he would be able to make Yuan Shao never wake up?" ”

"The eldest prince said that if the prime minister can give a covenant for the villain to bring back to the camp and make a truce with my eldest prince, then my lord may be ill tonight." Liu Xun replied respectfully.

"Bring pen and ink." Cao Lao didn't even blink his eyelids and commanded, and laughed secretly in his heart: "A straw bag is a straw bag, and a covenant is binding on me?" As long as you Yuan Tan get rid of Yuan Shao, I don't just do what I want! ”

At the critical moment, just when Liu Xun, Guo Jia and others were secretly happy, Dian Wei suddenly hurried in from outside the tent, held an envelope in front of Boss Cao with both hands, and whispered in Boss Cao's ear, saying that it was a letter sent by Deputy Director Tao. When Boss Cao opened the envelope again and saw the letter in the letter, the previous happy expression suddenly froze on his black face, and his eyes also showed a puzzled look, and he couldn't understand why Deputy Director Tao wanted to draw snakes and remind himself to contact Yuan Tan to get things - he had a secret friendship with Yuan Tan, and Deputy Director Tao and Yuan Shang wore a pair of pants, these are all things that both parties have long known, and they can still send someone to contact and remind them?

After hesitating for a long time, Boss Cao suddenly slapped the table in front of him, pointed at Liu Xun and shouted: "Come on, push him out of the tent and behead him, and his head will be hung in the gate!" ”

"Prime Minister spare his life! The prime minister spares his life! Liu Xun screamed in disarray, "Prime Minister, what crime did the villain commit?" Why did the prime minister kill the villain? ”

"Prime Minister, what's wrong?" Guo Jia, Xun You and others also stood up in surprise.

Boss Cao didn't answer, but waved his hand and ordered Dian Wei to drag Liu Xun out of the tent and behead him, and at the same time handed the letter sent by Deputy Director Tao to Guo Jia and others to circulate, and Guo Jia reacted after only a little thought after reading it, and hurriedly said: "Prime Minister, this may be the suspicious plan of the Tao thief, he is afraid that our army and Yuan Tan will join forces to get rid of Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao will not be able to contain the northern front of our army if it is too weak, so he deliberately added a snake to remind our army to contact Yuan Tan to take matters into account, and pretend that he has already prepared for this matter to intimidate our army. Let our army not dare to join forces with Yuan Tan to cheapen him in vain. ”

"Of course I know that." Boss Cao said with a gloomy face: "But Tao Ying's thief has always had a close relationship with Yuan Shang who stayed in Jizhou, and he has long expected Yuan Tan's murder of his father, and it is likely that he has already arranged a backup to deal with this matter, if this is the case, I will join forces with Yuan Tan to get rid of Yuan Shao, not only is it difficult to succeed, but it is also likely to help Tao Ying thief and Yuan Shang!" Moreover, at present, our army has reached the end of the strong crossbow, and there is no strength to destroy Yuan in one fell swoop, if he falls into the pottery thief annihilation plan, in addition to Yuan Shao and destroys Yuan Tan, so that Yuan Shang will inherit the four states of Jiyou and Qing, then the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

"Even so, then there's no need to kill Yuan Tan's envoy?" Guo Jia asked, "Wouldn't it be better to expel Yuan Tan's envoy back?" Give Yuan Tan a little affection, and you can contact him in the future? ”

"Two reasons, one is to tell Yuan Tan that I firmly oppose him killing his father and seizing the throne, lest he do stupid things with his desire for profit and cheapen Yuan Shang and Tao Ying." Boss Cao explained, and said lightly: "Second, I and Ben Chu have always been young friends, and killing the juniors around him is not only to give him a warning, but also to do his best as a friend." ”

(To be continued)