"Continue to stay in Xuchang as an official? Phew! Brother, if you want to kill your younger brother on your back, you can continue to stay in Xuchang Chaoli! The Son of Heaven wants you to stay, go and resign from me immediately, and go back to Xuzhou with me! ”

"Even our enemy Cao Thief in Xuzhou didn't harm you, Yuan Shao is my father-in-law, so he won't harm you? I'll phew! Cao thief doesn't dare to harm you, because I am holding his eldest son in my hand, and if he dares to touch a single hair of you, I will pick a layer of skin from his eldest son! If Yuan Shao takes you hostage, can I slaughter your brother and daughter-in-law and kill your nephew? Don't be naïve! Although the Cao thief is cheating, he can still communicate, my old man is not cheating, but his head is in the water! You were pinched by the Cao thief in his hand, I can still bargain with him to ensure your safety, Yuan Shao pinched you in his hand, and he cut you off with a knife in the water that day, I didn't even have a chance to shout that the knife would keep people! ”

"Go back! Get the hell out of here! If you don't want me to be embarrassed as a brother, give me Xuzhou immediately, and become an official in the Hui Dynasty, there will be a chance in the future, now give me back to Xuzhou to save my life, you are not afraid of death, I am also afraid of being infamous as a brother! ”

After scolding the honest brother Tao Shang for the first time, Deputy Director Tao did not give the stupid brother a chance to defend himself, and immediately ordered Chen Yingyue to write a resignation seal for the stupid brother on his behalf, ordering Ma Zhong to lead fifty guards into the city to take his sister-in-law and nephew out of the city and place them in the military camp, and then forced the pottery merchant to stay in the military camp and not allow the pottery merchant to return to Xuchang City. Although the potter was scolded by his brother, he also understood that this was a good intention from his brother, so he also accepted his brother's arrangement with tears in his eyes.

When Deputy Director Tao scolded his brother for being stupid, none of the Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye and others present dared to interject, and they all wondered in their hearts, why did such a deceitful and vicious brother have such a loyal and honest brother? Why is there a brother with such a noble and pure character who has such a despicable and filthy character? This is obviously not in line with the truth of genetics, right?

Finally sent away the honest brother, and there was an urgent report to Deputy Director Tao, saying that after the Jizhou army took Guandu, it had rushed to Xuchang at full speed, and the pioneer Yuan Shang's team had also arrived at Yuanling, according to the distance and speed, it was conservatively estimated that Yuan Shang's team would arrive in Xuchang in the afternoon of the next day. Hearing this news, Deputy Director Tao first sneered, then breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "Fortunately, it is Yuan Shang who is the pioneer, we don't need to worry too much, if Yuan Tan is the pioneer, it will be troublesome, and it is not so easy for us to withdraw from Xuchang smoothly." ”

"The lord is worried that Yuan Shao will take the opportunity to attack our army? Follow Xiang Yu's example to have a Hongmen banquet for the lord? Shi Yi asked tentatively.

"I'm not afraid that my father-in-law will follow Xiang Yu's example, but I'm afraid that he will follow Xiang Rong." Deputy Director Tao replied with a wry smile: "I was seriously injured in the middle of the stream last time, and my father-in-law had the idea of taking the opportunity to annex Xuzhou. ”

"This matter really needs to be guarded against, after all, the strength of our army has already threatened Yuan Shao's northern hegemony, and it cannot be ruled out that Yuan Shao will follow the example of Zhen Rong to assassinate the lord during the banquet." Shi Yi nodded, and then suggested: "In this case, my lord, you simply don't want to see Yuan Shao, under the pretext that the injury has recurred, you will lead the army to retreat to Chenliu tomorrow, leaving only one army to defend the city, and hand over the city defense to Yuan Shang's team." ”

"Is that good?" Deputy Director Tao said with some hesitation: "Yuan Shao is my father-in-law after all, I didn't even see his face and left first, first, it is not polite, and second, I am afraid that my father-in-law will think that I am wary of him." ”

"Know and act prudently, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. The lord did not see Yuan Shao, which was also in line with the words and deeds of the saint. Xun Chen reminded: "Chen has been with Yuan Shao for a long time before, and he knows that he saw Xiaoli's surname of death, this time Xu Ji will be taught in Xuchang, Yuan Shao only needs to suddenly tear his face to get rid of the lord, and he can lay the foundation of the Central Plains hegemony in one fell swoop, and it is difficult to guarantee that Yuan Shao will not give birth to this evil idea." And even if Yuan Shao can't make up his mind, Yuan Tan, Guo Tu and Xin Bi will inevitably instigate Yuan Shao to do this, just in case, the lord should prepare early. ”

"It's not entirely a bad thing to let Yuan Shao know that our army is on guard against him." Jia Lao Poison also persuaded: "At least we can warn Yuan Shao not to attack the idea of a surprise attack, so that Yuan Shao knows that our army has been on guard against his sudden turn of face at all times, and he does not dare to think of luck." ”

Deputy Director Tao pondered for a long time, but after all, his greed for life and fear of death prevailed, and he nodded and said: "Okay, order all the troops to prepare for withdrawal, retreat to Chenliu early tomorrow morning, and leave Fu Yang to hand over the Xuchang city defense to Yuan Shang." I entered Xuchang City to bid farewell to the Son of Heaven, all the gentlemen went to the camp, and when I met the soldiers who couldn't figure out how to evacuate Xuchang, I explained to them clearly that this time our army was based on Yuan Shao, and formed an alliance with the Jizhou army to take Xuchang, and drove Cao thief out of Xuchang is also the biggest contribution of the Jizhou army, and our army must hand over Xuchang and Chen Liu to the Jizhou army in a reasonable way, and try our best to appease the emotions of these soldiers. ”

The strategists agreed together, and everyone acted separately at the moment, Jia Lao Poison went to the camp as a military advisor to announce the withdrawal order, and led the strategists to appease the emotions of the soldiers, and Deputy Director Tao entered the city alone, went to the imperial city to meet Emperor Han Xian, submitted his resignation to Emperor Han Xian in person, and resigned from the post of imperial historian for Tao Shang. Emperor Xian of Han, who was looking forward to going to Xuzhou to live a good life, was of course surprised, and quickly asked the reason, Deputy Director Tao once again moved out of the Tao Yuan covenant as an excuse, explaining that he was to come to Xuchang Qin Wang to save the driver on Yuan Shao's master, and now Yuan Shao's army is about to return to Xuchang, of course he has to fulfill the promise of Yuan Shao as the main and hand over the Xuchang city defense to Yuan Shao.

No matter how much Deputy Director Tao explained, it was useless, Emperor Han Xian wanted to follow Deputy Director Tao back to Xuzhou, and tears flowed during the dispute, asking whether Deputy Director Tao was really a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty? Deputy Director Tao kowtowed and bleed, swore that he was indeed a genuine loyal minister of the Han family, but he did not stand without trust, since he promised to hand over Xuchang to the Jizhou army, he must fulfill his promise, and said that if he moved the capital repeatedly, he would make the people uneasy, and he would also bear the infamy of robbing the Son of Heaven through the ages, and strongly persuaded Emperor Han Xian to stay in the capital city of Xuchang, where the palace and temples were complete.

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao was resolute, Emperor Han Xian, who had no power and no soldiers, had nothing to do, so he just wiped his tears and said: "Tao Aiqing insists on keeping his promises, and I can't force Aiqing to break his promise, but I still have a question to ask Aiqing, after Yuan Shao takes over Xuchang, if he follows Dong Zhuo and Cao Ying's dictatorship and bullies the monarch, how will Aiqing deal with it?" ”

Deputy Director Tao was silent for a moment, and suddenly replied loudly: "If Yuan Shao also follows the example of Dong Zhuo and Cao Thief to deceive the monarch and gain power, the minister is a Han minister, and the world eats Han Lu, only a holy decree from the Son of Heaven is needed, and the minister will immediately set up the troops of Xuzhou to conquer the nest, and then come to crusade against Yuan Shao, and King Qin will save him!" ”

"Okay, I'll give Aiqing a secret decree!" Emperor Han Xian was also helpless, and immediately ordered the palace people to take a piece of white silk, bit his finger and wrote a blood edict, and then held it in front of Deputy Director Tao with tears, choked up and said: "Tao Aiqing, this edict can be brought back to Xuzhou, if Yuan Shao follows Dong Zhuo and Cao Ying after entering the dynasty and bullies the monarch and abuses power, I hope that Aiqing will immediately hold this blood edict, raise the righteous soldiers to fight against Yuan Shao, and come to the rescue of King Qin." ”

Deputy Director Tao knelt to take the blood edict, and also choked up and said solemnly: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, if there is really such a day, the next time the minister comes to Xuchang, he will definitely not be separated from His Majesty!" "After that, Emperor Han Xian and Deputy Director Tao hugged and cried, but they also felt that Jun's grace was as deep as the sea and his ministers were as loyal as a mountain.

For Deputy Director Tao's decision to withdraw from Xuchang, the reaction of the Han civil and military officials was not as fierce as that of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, except for a small number of people who felt that Deputy Director Tao was not responsible enough, most of the Han civil and military forces, including Fu Wan, were still very willing to stay in Xuchang, firstly, Boss Cao spent a lot of money to build the city of Xuchang before, and the Han family lived quite well except for the anger of Boss Cao, and did not want to go to Xuzhou to start over; The second is that the reputation of the third prince of the Great Yuan is not bad so far, he has not done any particularly outstanding rebellious behavior, and he was born in the family of the third prince of the fourth generation, and most of the civil and military officials in the Han court have protégés or relatives and marriages, so these Han civil and military officials also hope that Yuan Shaojun will take over Xuchang, so that they can hope to get better treatment and higher official positions in the Han court.

Thanks to the fact that most of the Han civil and military forces had such thoughts, the evacuation of the Xuzhou army from Xuchang was generally smooth, and the whole army began to retreat early the next morning, leaving only the 3,000 infantry under Fu Yang to guard Xuchang, waiting for Yuan Shang's team to arrive and hand over the city defense. In this regard, the Xuzhou army does have some dissatisfied voices, but because the Xuzhou army has been fighting for five or six consecutive years, most of the soldiers still miss their relatives and water and soil in their hometown, so the opposition is not too big, and there is no turmoil.

At noon on the day when the Xuzhou army withdrew, Yuan Shanggongzi's team hurried to Xuchang City, and learned that the main force of the Xuzhou army had withdrawn in the morning, although Yuan Shanggongzi also regretted that he could not meet his brother-in-law again, but he couldn't care so much, but he couldn't wait to take over the Xuchang city defense that Fu Yang's team took the initiative to hand over, and as soon as he entered the city, he ignored the fact that the winter wheat had reached the next planting season, and immediately closed the four gates of Xuchang, and sent his henchman Xianrong to lead the army as the Imperial Forest Army and took over the defense of the imperial city. Like Cao Boss, the imperial city was tightly sealed, and then he entered the court to see Emperor Han Xian, and as soon as he met, he asked his cronies Li Fu to ask for an official position for himself, until Emperor Han Xian personally told Yuan Shanggongzi that it was Deputy Director Tao who had asked Yuan Shang for the post of general of the chariot and cavalry, and Yuan Shanggongzi was satisfied to thank the emperor, and he was also grateful to the brother-in-law who was informed and interested in his heart.

Regarding Yuan Shanggongzi's clumsy performance, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and the Han family Wenwu said in their hearts that there was no unpleasant feeling, which was false, but for the sake of Yuan Shanggongzi's young age, he didn't care too much, and only hoped that the third prince of Yuan would arrive in Xuchang as soon as possible to reorganize the dynasty and correct the mistakes of Yuan Shanggongzi. As everyone knows, a day later, when the Great Yuan Sangong personally led the Jizhou army to the city of Xuchang, not only did he not scold his son's stupid behavior, but also became furious because Deputy Director Tao had led the army to withdraw, "The erector is bold, without my orders, he dared to lead the army to withdraw privately?!" ”

It is not for nothing that the Great Yuan Sangong was furious, as Xun Chen guessed, on the way south to Xuchang, Yuan Tan Gongzi and his party did not make a lot of suggestions in front of the Great Yuan Sangong, instigating the Great Yuan Sangong to follow the example of Zhenrong, and use the opportunity of the meeting to trick Deputy Director Tao into the camp and take it, so that the Xuzhou army without a leader took the opportunity to annex it, and then took the control territory of the five counties of Xuzhou and the Xuzhou army, which is rich in the world!

In this regard, the three princes of Da Yuan were very moved, only because Cui Yan, Chen Zhen and others were resolutely opposed, so they did not make up their minds on the spot, but they also made up their minds, and prepared to use the Xuzhou army as cannon fodder as soon as they arrived in Xuchang, and hit the vanguard to hunt down the remnants of the Cao army that were defeated to the south of Yanzhou! And if Deputy Director Tao refuses to accept the cannon fodder task, Da Yuan Sangong will consider implementing the suggestions put forward by Guo Tu and Xin Bi, trick Deputy Director Tao into his own military camp to capture and kill, and then take the opportunity to annex the Xuzhou army, which has grown so strong that it is difficult to control!

The wishful thinking was crackling, but unfortunately Deputy Director Tao ran away with great foresight, and he slipped away without even knowing how to meet, and Da Yuan Sangong's wishful thinking fell through, of course, he was going to be furious and thunderous. Guo Tu and Xin Bi and other Yuan Tan Gongzi's sworn friends took the opportunity to fan the flames, and sneered in front of the Great Yuan Sangong and said: "Lord, it seems that the Xuzhou army is also on guard against our army, but it is not surprising that the Cao thief is about to be destroyed, and it is our turn to become the opponent of Xuzhou. ”

A cold light flashed in Da Yuan Sangong's eyes, and he subconsciously remembered the warning he gave him when he was dying-Deputy Director Tao is more dangerous and terrifying than Boss Cao! Thinking of this, Da Yuan Sangong snorted coldly and said, "Want to be my opponent? If you have the guts, just come, I'm afraid that he Tao Yingzhuzi doesn't have the guts! ”

Guo Tu and Xin Bi glanced at each other proudly, very satisfied with the reaction and attitude of Da Yuan Sangong. Although Cui Yan next to him was very dissatisfied with the instigation of Guo Tu and Xin Bi, he also knew that what Guo Tu and Xin Bi said was the truth, after the Cao army, which had no power to fight back, was destroyed, it was indeed the turn of Yuan Sangong and Deputy Director Tao to compete for hegemony in the Central Plains, and in addition to Deputy Director Tao, even Liu Biao, Ma Teng and Liu Zhang and others were not qualified to compete with the Jizhou Army.

After quietly sighing secretly, Cui Yan could only bow his hand to the Great Yuan Sangong and said: "The lord is still angry, although Tao Ying is rude to say goodbye, but at the moment, the primary enemy of our army is still the dead and unfrozen national thief Cao Ying, and he must not be given a chance to resurrect." Moreover, in the Yanzhou War, our army and Cao's army suffered the same heavy casualties, and urgently needed time to recuperate and reorganize the troops, but the Xuzhou army suffered the least losses. ”

This time, even Guo Tu and Xin Bi didn't dare to oppose Cui Yan's anti-ear advice, because at this time, the vitality of the Jizhou army had indeed been greatly damaged, and the soldiers and horses who returned to Xuchang were less than 50,000, and most of them were defeated generals whose morale had not recovered after the defeat of Xuchang. And Da Yuan Sangong also understood this in his heart, so he nodded and said: "Ji Jue's words are reasonable, there is no need to turn his face with Tao Ying Xiao'er at this time, he will go if he wants to, wait for me to reorganize the army of soldiers and horses, and then settle accounts with him." ”

At this time, Emperor Han Xian had personally led a hundred officials out of the city to greet the three princes of Yuan under the 'request' of Yuan Shang Gongzi, and saw the Son of Heaven personally greet, and saw a large number of civil and military officials with a rank of more than a thousand stones worshipping on both sides of the road, the three princes of the Great Yuan were not polite under the complacency, and the big horse rode to the front of Emperor Han Xian ten steps before getting off the horse and saluting, and refused to kneel all, but knelt down on one knee and saluted with fists, saying long live, and explained that he was in armor and could not pay the full salute, please forgive the Son of Heaven. Emperor Han Xian, who had just escaped from the wolf's den and entered the tiger's mouth, was angry, but he didn't dare to say anything, and the Han family and civil and military also looked at each other, and faintly began to regret their naïve fantasies about the three princes of Da Yuan.

"Father, the child is not convinced! The child is not convinced! The accident arose again, Yuan Tan Gongzi suddenly came to the big Yuan Sangong angrily, knelt down on his knees and said loudly: "Father, the child heard that the Son of Heaven has named the second brother as the hussar general, and the third brother as the chariot general, but he has no gift to the child!" The child is not convinced, the previous battle of Xuchang, only the child led the army to defeat the Cao thief several times, and made the most meritorious contributions, why did the second brother and the third brother were all sealed with important positions, but the child got nothing? ! ”

"And this?" Da Yuan Sangong pricked up his eyes and arrogantly asked Emperor Han Xian, "Son of Heaven, is there really such a thing?" ”

"Yes." Emperor Han Xian held back his anger, lowered his eyebrows and replied: "It was Tao Aiqing who played it, I was originally going to make Tao Aiqing the general of the chariot cavalry, but Tao Aiqing thought that his merits were shallow, and he was not worthy of the post of general of the chariot cavalry, and he was only willing to accept the title of general of the guard, and he also expressed Yuan Shang as the general of the chariot and cavalry, and Yuan Xi as the general of the hussars, and I was approved." ”

The third prince of Yuan was a little embarrassed, but the son-in-law took the initiative to give up the three highest official positions in the military attache rank to his Yuan family, he went to be the fourth, if he still wanted to accuse his son-in-law of seizing the high position, he would be too greedy and insufficient, right? Over there, Yuan Tan Gongzi was furious and roared angrily: "What about me? What should I do? ”

"Sure enough, don't you take me seriously, the fourth and third dukes? Bah! Emperor Han Xian was dissatisfied.

"Son of Heaven, Yuan Tan, the eldest son of the minister, has made a lot of contributions in the battle with the national thief Cao Ying." In desperation, the third prince of Yuan had no choice but to say to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty: "The minister wants to show the minister's eldest son Yuan Tan as a former general, I don't know what the Son of Heaven wants?" ”

Da Yuan San opened his mouth, what else could Emperor Han Xian say, it was not that he could only nod his head, but Yuan Tan Gongzi was still furious, because the position of former general was only fifth, and Yuan Tan Gongzi not only still had to be ranked below the two younger brothers, but also under Deputy Director Tao! So Yuan Tan Gongzi didn't kowtow to thank him, he stood up directly, stepped aside angrily, and glared at Yuan Shanggongzi on the opposite side viciously.

Seeing the wonderful performance of the father and son of the third prince of the great Yuan, the civil and military of the Han family present were dumbfounded, and they inevitably began to regret it one by one, "Oh no, I didn't expect that Yuan Benchu, the third prince of the fourth world, was even more domineering than Cao Thief, and compared with the Tao Envoyjun brothers, it was a world of difference, I knew that this was the case, we should persuade the Son of Heaven to move to Xuzhou." ”

"Son of Heaven, please enter the city." The third prince of Dayuan opened his mouth again: "The minister is the first to arrive in Xuchang, and he doesn't know the geography, so he asked the Son of Heaven to guide the way for Weichen." ”

Han Xian Emperor Wohuo agreed, personally for the Great Yuan Sangong into the city to guide the way, the Great Yuan Sangong triumphantly walked up, the footsteps were not yet steady, a whirlwind suddenly struck, a stumbling almost fell, fortunately next to Qin Sheng and Cui Yan hugged him, anxiously asked how the situation of the Great Yuan Sangong was, the Great Yuan Sangong only felt that his hands and feet were numb, like ants biting needles, it took a long time to relieve his breath, shook his head and said: "It's okay, it's okay." ”

By the way, the high blood pressure patient Da Yuan Sangong has been eating ginseng stewed chicken soup or ginseng hoof soup these days, ginseng that nourishes blood and body, hens that help warm and heat, and pig trotters that are high in fat and high cholesterol, as well as cooks who can make these future dishes, or the filial son-in-law of Da Yuan Sangong specially sent people to the Jizhou army.

(To be continued)