Creating dense smoke to cover the army's attack on the fortified fortress of Hangu Pass was actually only a momentary thought of Deputy Director Tao, and it was still inspired by the actions of the Cao army's own team - the Xuzhou soldiers who pretended to be Cao soldiers were able to smoothly blend into the Cao army's team, because the Cao army ignited a fire in the valley and created a large amount of smoke, and the smoke lingered in the narrow valley road for a long time, giving the Xuzhou army soldiers a lot of opportunities.

After Deputy Director Tao, who is good at summarizing lessons and lessons, found out about this, he temporarily decided to try this cover tactic, before that, Deputy Director Tao and the decision-makers of the Xuzhou Army did not dare to have too much hope for this tactic, so they just relied on the soldiers to give it a try, and arranged for Qin Yi, a veteran of the Xuzhou Army, to collect a batch of firewood and grass with a thousand auxiliary soldiers and send it to the battlefield to listen to it, and at the same time, in order to avoid self-defeating tactics that can also interfere with the siege of the Xuzhou Army, and frustrate the spirit of their own team. Deputy Director Tao did not dare to use this tactic in the first wave of tentative attacks, and it was not until he confirmed that it was almost impossible to break through the frontal attack, and then Deputy Director Tao gave this tactic a little try with the attitude of a dead horse as a live horse doctor.

The effect of the smoke tactics was so good that it greatly exceeded the expectations of Deputy Director Tao and the Xuzhou Army, and when he saw the second wave of siege teams easily killing the wall in the smoke, Deputy Director Tao's mouth opened into a circle! After finally coming back to his senses, the first thing Deputy Director Tao did was to scold himself for being confused, not letting Qin Yi collect more than ten times as much firewood and grass, and not bringing absolute elites such as Danyang soldiers and trapping camps, and missing this opportunity to break through the level in vain!

The result also made Deputy Director Tao regret it a lot, because Boss Cao promptly invested the most elite tiger battalion under his command to participate in the battle. Also because the Xuzhou army was seriously underprepared to break the city for the first time, the Xuzhou army that rushed to the wall was driven off the wall by the Cao army in the case of the smoke cover gradually disappearing, and finally it was extremely regrettable that the Cao army drove off the wall, and failed to break the mythical miracle that Hangu Pass was never broken by the enemy head-on.

Regret to regret, after confirming that the smoke tactics were extraordinarily effective in the Gudao operation, the Xuzhou army was suddenly full of confidence in the frontal breakthrough of Hangu Pass, and the Xuzhou generals rushed to the front of Deputy Director Tao to ask for the order to fight, competing for the heavy task of attacking the fortification that everyone who usually has a sad face, and the veteran Ma Yan, who was cannon fodder in the first wave of siege, also fought the loudest, saying that the self-army team was not bad. It's just that there is no smoke cover to capture Hangu Pass. Ask Deputy Director Tao to give himself another chance. General Qin Yi, the veteran of the Xuzhou Army, also patted his chest and assured that the supply of firewood and grass would be guaranteed next time, and that the smoke would always be shrouded in Hangu Pass.

The most confident is, of course, Deputy Director Tao himself, who smiled after returning to the camp. Deputy Director Tao immediately organized people to study what kind of trees can produce more smoke. I plan to attack it head-on once. However, only one night has passed. On the morning of the next day, there was an earth-shattering news from Cao Jun's side, and Boss Cao actually took the initiative to give up the Hangu Pass Risk. He personally led the 15,000 troops out of the customs, arrived at the open exit of the valley road in Hangu Pass, and set up camp only 20 miles away from the Xuzhou army camp, and put on a posture of fighting to the death with the Xuzhou army in the field!

When the news spread, the generals of Xuzhou, who had long been looking forward to killing the main force of the Cao army in the field battle, did not hesitate, and rushed to the big tent of the Chinese army to ask Deputy Director Tao for orders to fight, but unfortunately the treacherous and suspicious Deputy Director Tao saw that the old man was unreasonable to go out of the decisive battle, not only did not immediately seize the opportunity to send troops, but also was shocked, and quickly sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the movements of the Cao army, understand the situation of the Cao army, and analyze the real purpose of Lord Yuezhang.

Deputy Director Tao didn't have much effort to do this, after learning that Cao Jun's team was out of the customs, the Xuzhou military drum and bugle team sent to greet the old man the night before sent a crucial guarantee to Deputy Director Tao, that is, they clearly heard the rhythmic and neat shouting of revenge slogans of Cao Jun's soldiers in the valley. Confirming this, Deputy Director Tao also immediately came to his senses, applauded and smiled: "Cao Thief Dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, he knows that if it goes on like this, Hangu Pass will be broken by our smoke cover tactics sooner or later, and he feels that instead of passively waiting for death, it is better to take the initiative to go out and fight to the death, so that there may be hope that the weak will defeat the strong." ”

"Maybe there's another reason." Liu Ye echoed and said: "Cao thief doing this, can also prevent our army from continuing to beat drums and trumpets in the valley road to disturb him, the previous Cao army account in charge of protecting the safety of Cao Jun Dian Wei attacked late at night and raided our army's drum and trumpet team, it is enough to prove that Cao thief has been tortured by our army's tired enemy tactics, unbearable, move to the valley mouth, Cao thief can at least rest." ”

"I didn't expect that the Cao thief would not be able to stand the square dance, so he couldn't help but shoot the Tibetan mastiff."

Deputy Director Tao, the organizer of the square dance at the end of the Han Dynasty, laughed loudly and said something that Xuzhou Wenwu absolutely did not understand, but the generals of Xuzhou had long been accustomed to the fresh terms that appeared from Deputy Director Tao from time to time, and they didn't understand it and didn't pay attention to it, but they just asked for war one after another, asking Deputy Director Tao to immediately order troops, taking advantage of the opportunity of the unstable establishment of the Cao army's team to send troops to a decisive battle, and annihilate the main force of the Cao army in one fell swoop. And Deputy Director Tao thought about it for a long time, but waved his hand and said: "Don't send troops for the time being, let the Cao thief team set up camp!" ”

"Lord, it was not easy to force the Cao thief out of the Hangu Pass for a decisive battle, why didn't you allow us to send troops?" The Xuzhou generals asked in surprise.

"Didn't you hear our drum and bugle corps report that the Cao thieves were chanting revenge slogans last night?" Deputy Director Tao replied: "This is enough to prove that Cao Thief has done a good job of army mobilization before sending troops, and his team must now be the same enemy, and the morale is high. ”

"But my lord, what should I do if the thief sees that our army refuses to fight and retreats to Hangu Pass?" Wei Yan asked.

"Send troops at this time, even if we win, Cao Thief can still calmly return to Hangu Pass." Deputy Director Tao said calmly: "You have all walked through the valley road of Hangu Pass, and the Cao thief team has retreated, what chance do we have to outflank and cut off his way back?" Since there is no certainty that the team of Cao thieves will be wiped out, it is better to wait for the Cao thief team to pass this momentum. Morale is low again, and then we will send our troops to a decisive battle to achieve the greatest victory at the minimum cost. ”

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao had made up his mind, although the generals in Xuzhou still had some regrets, they didn't dare to insist, so they had to keep their mouths shut honestly. Deputy Director Tao ordered again: "Order all battalions and all armies to strictly guard the camp from now on to prevent the Cao thief team from sneaking up or robbing the camp, and no one is allowed to fight without my order." Violators. Chop! ”

The generals of Xuzhou sang the promise to lead the order together, and it was also at this time that Jia Lao Poison smiled and suggested: "Lord, I think you might as well send a team of people." Send a batch of wine and meat to Cao Mengde's team. Reward Cao's team. ”

"Mr. Wenhe. The thief is our enemy, how can we treat his team? ”

The generals in Xuzhou shouted, but Deputy Director Tao was not surprised at all. He also frowned and said, "Although Mr. Wenhe's plan is wonderful, but in order to boost morale, Cao Thief is likely to kill everyone in our envoy team?" ”

"The lord forgot, the last time we fought with Cao Jun Zhang Liao's team at Hangu Pass, we captured a lot of Cao army prisoners?" Jia Lao Poison smiled even more happily and said: "Among those prisoners, many of them are natives in Guanzhong, and their wives and children are all in Guanzhong. ”

Deputy Director Tao applauded and laughed, and exclaimed: "It's really worthy of Mr. Wenhe, it's really a clever plan, just do it!" ”

………………

At the same time, at the exit of Hangu Guangu Road, in addition to seizing the time to set up a strong camp, Cao Boss personally led 10,000 troops to line up in an open place, ready to meet the invading division of the Xuzhou army at any time, the soldiers of the Cao army with high morale were in strict order, the swords and guns were bright, everyone gritted their teeth, looked indignant, and only hoped that the Xuzhou army would come to the decisive battle as soon as possible. However, Cao Boss's team waited left and right, from the morning to the middle of the afternoon, but never waited for the news of the Xuzhou army to fight, on the contrary, there was a horse exploration report, saying that the Xuzhou army battalions closed the gate of the village, and set up more bows and crossbows at the fence to defend tightly, and at the same time, in front of the main camp of the Xuzhou army, it was also very shameless to hang out a war-free card!

When the camp was not stable, he encountered the enemy and hung up the free battle card, and Boss Cao must have been snickering in normal times, but this time Boss Cao was furious and scolded, "Traitor! traitor! He refused to give me even such a chance! ran into this traitor as an opponent, Lao Tzu really fell into eight lifetimes of mold! ”

"Lord, it's good that the pottery thief refuses to take risks and fight." Guo Jia coughed and said: "Our army should hurry up and set up a camp, at least it can be able to advance and retreat, and it may not be inferior to fighting to the death with the pottery thief team now." ”

Boss Cao nodded helplessly, and was afraid that his son-in-law would hide a knife in his smile, and hung a war-free card on the surface, so that his team was negligent and immediately sent troops to raid, so he did not immediately order the troops to be collected, and also ordered to block the news that the Xuzhou army was hanging a war-free card, so that the army would continue to be on strict alert and protect the rear army and set up camp. However, it didn't take long for Cao Jun scouts to rush to report, saying that the Xuzhou Army had sent a team of about three or four hundred people, leading dozens of pigs and sheep, and ten carts of wine urns, waving white flags and coming to the Cao army camp.

"Pig and sheep wine urn? What is Tao Ying traitor planning to do? Cheng Yu, who didn't react for a while, exclaimed.

"What else can I do besides to demoralize my army?" Guo Jia said with a wry smile: "The pottery thief must have expected that our army is now in high morale and has the same hatred for the enemy, and knows that at this time, even if the army is victorious, it will break a few teeth, so he will hang up the battle exemption card to avoid the edge of our army, and send people to send sheep wine to the army, so that the soldiers of our army feel that the pottery thief is amiable, eliminate the hostility of our soldiers to him, weaken the morale of our army, and shake the morale of our army." ”

Cheng Yu suddenly realized, but Boss Cao gritted his teeth and scolded the traitor, Boss Cao immediately beckoned Xiahou Ba to the front, and ordered Xiahou Ba to lead an army of 500 to intercept the Xuzhou envoy, asking Xiahou Ba to kill and disperse the envoy team of the Xuzhou army, kill all the pigs and sheep, and smash all the wine urns, not only refused to receive the filial piety of the unworthy son-in-law, but also took the opportunity to try to provoke the unworthy son-in-law. Xiahou Ba received the order and hurriedly led five hundred elite soldiers along the road to meet him.

After half an hour, Xiahou Ba returned to the front of Cao Boss, and seeing that Xiahou Ba only brought back more than ten soldiers, Cao Boss couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What about the five hundred soldiers you brought?" Why didn't you come back? What happened to them? ”

"My lord, they didn't have an accident, they are monitoring the team of pottery thieves five miles to the east." Xiahou Ba replied dejectedly.

"What? Why don't you kill all the thief messengers? Elder Cao asked angrily, "Why do you want to take them five miles to the east?" ”

"My lord, I can't do it." Xiahou Ba knelt down on one knee. Crying and sad face, he replied: "The envoy team sent by the pottery thief is all our soldiers who were captured by the pottery thief a few days ago under the Hangu Pass, and all of them are local soldiers in Guanzhong, because they miss their hometown relatives, they were ordered to be released by the pottery thief, let them return to our army, and let them send 30 pigs and sheep each and 10 carts of wine to reward our army by the way." ”

"What?!" Cao Lao was so angry that he almost didn't vomit blood, and he was so angry that he pulled out his other famous sword, the Qingyu Sword, cut off the case in front of him with a sword, and roared wildly. "Shameless traitor! Such a shameless trick. You can figure it out! ”

"Traitor!"

Guo Jia and Cheng Yu were also so angry that their whole bodies trembled and scolded, but like Boss Cao, they also had no way to take Deputy Director Tao's cheap trick to let these released captives come back. It is determined to shake the morale of the army and weaken its morale. Drive these captives away or kill them. Then the news was spread by the soldiers under Xiahou Ba, and for the Cao army, it was not as simple as shaking the morale of the army and demoralization, and a large number of defections were possible! So after beating my chest for a long time. Boss Cao, who had no choice, still roared at Xiahou Ba: "Go and escort those people back to Hangu Pass, don't let them come into contact with our main team, the gifts of the pottery thief are all ruined, don't bring them back at all!" ”

Boss Cao's order this time was finally faithfully implemented, all the pigs and sheep sent by Deputy Director Tao were killed by Xiahou Ba's team, the wine jar was also smashed, and nearly 400 prisoners of the Cao army from Guanzhong were also directly escorted back to Hangu Pass, not allowing them to confuse the army's morale in the main force of the Cao army. But the paper can't contain the fire, and the news of Deputy Director Tao's 'righteous release' of Cao Jun's prisoners is still through the mouths of the soldiers under Xiahou Ba's command, and it secretly spreads among the Cao army's ranks, and the morale of the new Cao army, who has not experienced the melee in the Central Plains, is fluctuating, and the morale and fighting spirit are inevitably affected.

The Xuzhou army pig and sheep who were killed on the road by Xiahouba's team finally quietly fell into the Cao military camp and became the mouth of the Cao soldiers, but Cao Boss not only failed to prevent the army's heart from wavering, but also was quietly complained by many soldiers in private, complaining that Cao Boss only cared about his own anger and refused to sympathize with the soldiers' hard work.

Because the things needed to set up the camp were well prepared in Hangu Pass, when it was dark, Cao's military camp was basically established, and Cao Boss felt a little at ease, but he was worried that the trench had not been dug yet, and the antlers had not been buried perfectly, and he was afraid that his son-in-law would come to rob the camp at night, so Cao Boss still ordered the army to take turns on guard that night, and insisted on getting up at night to patrol the camp despite his illness and infirmity. But after a night, the Xuzhou army did not move, and Cao Boss and the soldiers of the Cao army also worked hard in vain.

The next morning, Deputy Director Tao sent Song Kai as an envoy to visit Boss Cao, and presented a letter of war to invite Boss Cao to fight in front of Cao's military camp the next day. After Song Kai left with Boss Cao's reply letter, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu immediately warned Boss Cao: "Lord, the pottery thief is treacherous, Jia Xu is resourceful, and sending a letter to fight is not in line with their military habits, and they need to be prevented from taking the opportunity to use fraud." ”

"Of course I know that." Boss Cao sneered and said: "The pottery thief just wants to deceive me and take me lightly, take the opportunity to rob the camp tonight, maybe he will divide his troops to rob the valley road, cut off the return route of our army, and annihilate the main force of our army outside the pass." ”

Considering Deputy Director Tao's always noble personality, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu also agreed with Cao Boss's analysis and judgment, and at the moment Cao Boss made a plan again, and decided to set up ambushes on both sides of the camp at night, waiting for the Xuzhou army to come to attack and die, and ordered Zhang Liao to lead an army to ambush in the north mountains, and saw that since the munition immediately attacked the Xuzhou camp, at the same time, Cao Boss had to follow the proud trick of his son-in-law, so that a team of Zhang Liao's team put on Xuzhou military uniforms, drove to the front, and tried to pretend to be the defeated soldiers of the Xuzhou army. Fraudulently opened the door of the Xuzhou military camp and entered the interior of the Xuzhou military camp at the minimum cost.

On that day, Cao Jun's scouts really found a few Xuzhou scouts dressed as ordinary people, secretly peeping into the remote road that went straight to Hangu Guangu Road, Cao Boss ordered the scouts not to rob and kill after hearing the report, and let the Xuzhou scouts explore the path, so they were unprepared, and they also believed in their hearts that their son-in-law would come to rob the camp tonight.

Prepare to catch the tiger with a bow, arrange bait to catch the fish, and everything is ready to be perfect. That night, Cao Boss and his own soldiers wore armor together, did not take off the saddle, did not leave the knife, always prepared for war, read and nourish the spirit just waiting for the Xuzhou army to come to rob the camp and send him to death, but from the beginning of the night to the third watch in the middle of the night, and then from the third watch in the middle of the night until the rooster crowed, the sky was white, but the shadow of half of the Xuzhou soldiers appeared in front of the military camp, and the Cao Boss, who had not slept all night, was also a little worse because of this.

"Hit the trick again!" When the sky is twilight, there is no possibility of a sneak attack. Boss Cao dared to confirm that he was a son-in-law again. He sighed and said: "Tao Ying traitor knows that I am suspicious, and I must suspect that he will take the opportunity to rob the village, and deliberately send a few small reconnaissance paths to make me believe that he is preparing to rob the camp, and deceive me and the soldiers of the whole army to work hard all night in vain." He took the opportunity to recuperate. Prepare for the decisive battle. He has deceived me, he has deceived me! ”

"My lord, we should immediately recall all the ambushes of our army. Assemble your team. Guo Jia reminded: "The pottery thief expected the action of our army, and the soldiers of our army were secretly in the wilderness, and they did not have a night of rest, which is difficult to conceal from the reconnaissance of the scouts under the command of the pottery thief, and the pottery thief will never miss the opportunity to take advantage of the enemy." ”

Boss Cao nodded weakly, coughed and issued an order to withdraw his troops, recalled all his own troops who were ambushed outside the camp, and assembled in front of the camp to prepare for the decisive battle of the Xuzhou army. However, this time Boss Cao, Guo Jia and others misestimated Deputy Director Tao's plan, when the Cao army team that had fed mosquitoes all night was assembled in front of the camp, Song Kai, a diplomatic liar under Deputy Director Tao, rode alone in front of Cao Jun's formation, handed a letter to Cao Boss, and then played to Cao Boss: "Meng Degong, my lord knows that you must have not slept all night last night, and the main soldiers under your command have also worked hard all night, my lord and your lord are fighting with you today, taking advantage of your danger, so my lord of my family sent a villain to report to you, Today's decisive battle has been changed to tomorrow, please Meng De'an will be able to raise your body and not worry about today's decisive battle. ”

"Won't take advantage of me?" Boss Cao, who was so tired that he didn't have the strength to speak loudly, laughed loudly, and said with a sneer: "If he really has such a good heart, then when he was in Xuchang, why didn't he give my army time to rest, as soon as Yuan Shao left, he immediately sent troops to attack Xuchang?" ”

Song Kai didn't dare to say anything, Boss Cao looked at the sealed envelope in his hand, and asked Song Kai a little strangely: "Since Tao Yingzhuzi has already sent you to explain that the decisive battle has been rescheduled, why do you want to write to me?" ”

"The villain doesn't know." Song Kai replied respectfully: "When the lord handed over the letter to the villain, he only said that it was dedicated to the Ming prince, but did not say the content and reason. ”

"This traitor, nine out of nine, is using fraud again?"

Boss Cao sneered very well at his son-in-law, so he opened the envelope and took out the white silk to watch, but when he took a closer look at the text on the silk, Boss Cao was stunned, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu saw that Boss Cao's expression was wrong, so they hurried over to look at it together, but after taking a closer look, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu couldn't help but be stunned. It turned out that Deputy Director Tao wrote a poem neatly on the white silk, and the content was:

Although the turtle is long-lived, there is still a time.

The beetle snake rides the fog and eventually turns into ash.

Lao Ji is in the woods, and his ambitions are thousands of miles.

The martyrs are in their twilight years, and their hearts are strong.

The period of profit and contraction is not only in the sky.

The blessing of recuperation can be eternal.

Fortunately, even ya, the song is a song.

After reading the song "Turtle Although Shou" came out two years in advance for a long time, Boss Cao's expression became more and more gloomy, and after a long time, he asked Song Kai: "Song Kai, your father-in-law, why is my style so similar?" ”

"This ......." Song Kai was a little embarrassed, and replied with a wry smile: "Duke Ming forgives sins, although the little envoy has been following the lord for a long time, but why the lord's style of writing is similar to that of Ming Gong, the little envoy really doesn't know." ”

After that, Song Kai hurriedly added, "However, the envoy privately speculated that perhaps because the lord admired Ming Gong's talent and was familiar with Ming Gong's poetry, it was similar to Ming Gong's literary style." ”

"The potter's thief admires my talent?" Boss Cao smiled a little bitterly, coughed weakly and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will kill you and deliberately flatter me?" ”

"No, no, no." Song Kai hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Ming Gong doesn't know, when the little envoy was by the lord's side, I heard the lord praise Ming Gong like this, my lord once said, Meng Degong You are the most outstanding politician, military strategist, writer and calligrapher in the world, he is actually far inferior to you in many places, so although the lord hates you, he also admires you very much. These words were spoken by my father-in-law, and the little envoy did not dare to lie. ”

Boss Cao's face showed some sickly flush, and he suddenly stopped coughing, and said to Song Kai with a smile: "Go back and tell your father-in-law, in fact, I also admire him very much, I lost in his hands, I am convinced." Besides, thank him for his kindness for me, and say that he has the kindness of fighting a decisive battle another day, and I understand it in my heart. Tomorrow this time, in this place, I will fight him again. ”

Song Kai agreed, quickly said goodbye and left, watching Song Kai go away, Cao Boss struggled to stand up, stood halfway through his legs and almost fell, fortunately, Guo Jia and Dian Wei next to him were fast, and hurriedly held on to greet, Cao Boss shook his head weakly, and said in a low voice: "Hold me back to the camp, let the whole army go back to the camp to rest." ”

Guo Jia and others tearfully agreed, and after ordering the soldiers of the whole army to withdraw to the camp, Guo Jia, who was also sick, and Dian Wei, who was injured on his foot, joined hands with Cao Boss, who was almost in prostration, and walked back to the camp slowly with difficulty, and on the way back to the camp, Cao Boss also kept muttering his son-in-law's plagiarized poems, "Although the turtle is long, there is still time." The beetle snake rides the fog and eventually turns into ash. Although the turtle is long-lived, there is still a time. The beetle snake rides the fog and eventually turns into ...... dust. ”

muttering these two lines of poetry repeatedly, Boss Cao suddenly opened his mouth and spurted out two mouthfuls of blood, which fell crookedly on Dian Wei's body, and he passed out on the spot without knowing it. (To be continued......)