Guangwu Temple refers to the temple of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty Liu Xiu, located in the area of the temple of the Shenting Ridge Mountain Group, the location is relatively remote, and the terrain is also very narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops.

Because of that damn letter, Liu Miao personally ordered and secretly sent double scouts to strengthen the surveillance around Guangwu Temple, but to Liu Xiangjun's insiders, a whole night passed, and there was no accident on the side of Guangwu Temple, neither the Xuzhou team interspersed with a roundabout path, nor a large number of Xuzhou troops sneaked to Guangwu Temple to set up an ambush, which made Liu Xiang, Xu Shao and Fan Neng and other insiders both confused and nervous, and they all had a faint sense of foreboding.

When it was all dark, a scout on a horse rushed into the camp of Liu Xiang's army, dismounted in front of the Chinese military camp, checked his identity and stumbled into the big tent of the Chinese army, bringing an astonishing news to Liu Xuan, who was waiting anxiously-At dawn, about 2,000 Xuzhou infantry suddenly rushed to the area of Guangwu Temple, and then quickly ambushed to the dense grass and trees around the Guangwu Temple, as if they were going to ambush the enemy in Guangwu Temple!

"Sure enough, I did!" Liu Miao was furious, and asked Xu Shao and Fan Neng who were present: "The pottery thief really arranged an ambush in Guangwu Temple, what do you think is good?" ”

"Wait and see." Xu Shao suggested: "The lord should not go to the grass and scare the snake for the time being, just let the scout continue to monitor the movement of the pottery thief's ambush, since the pottery thief has arranged an ambush in the Guangwu Temple, there must be a bait to lure our army to send troops to the Guangwu Temple, the lord only needs to wait patiently until the pottery thief throws the bait, and then make a decision." ”

Liu Miao nodded, and ordered the scout who came to report the news: "Go back quickly and give the order, let the sentry continue to lurk, and never let the pottery thief team detect your existence." ”

"But my lord, the team of the pottery thieves has also sent men to search all the way along the road, and we have two teams lying in ambush around the road......

"Withdraw, withdraw!" Liu Xuan interrupted the scouts without even blinking his eyelids, and ordered: "Except for the scouts who are monitoring the pottery thief team on the high ground, the other scouts have withdrawn, but they are not allowed to take the small road to withdraw to the camp, they must be given me to walk back in the woods, I really can't retreat, just hide in a hidden place and not be exposed." "The messenger scout took the order and left.

After waiting patiently for a while, another messenger scout Pegasus came back to report, saying that the Xuzhou infantry paid special attention to searching the mountain road that went straight to Shenting Ridge, and also arranged for soldiers to ambush along the way, as if there were some important people who wanted to go to the top of Shenting Ridge. After hearing the news, Liu Miao asked Xu Shao for advice, and Xu Shao suggested: "The lord may wish to continue to wait and see, and then order the scouts to deliberately shout the enemy in the camp during the period when they find that the important ministers of Xuzhou have gone up to Shentingling to lure the enemy, and when they return to the camp to report the news, they will deliberately shout out the enemy situation in the camp, so that the officers and men of our army will know the enemy's situation, and then wait and see what happens." ”

Liu Miao once again accepted Xu Shao's suggestion, asked the messenger scout to go back to give orders, and then sat down and continued to wait patiently, while secretly speculating, analyzing and guessing what kind of important people the Xuzhou army would send to lure the enemy. However, no matter how much Liu Miao guessed, the important people in Xuzhou who finally came forward to act as bait still surprised Liu Xuan, Xu Shao, and Fan Neng, because ............ "The pottery thief is on the Shenting Ridge!" The pottery thief himself is on the top of the Divine Pavilion Ridge! Pottery thief! Tao Ying annihilated the thief and personally went to Shenting Ridge - ! ”

When noon was approaching, after confirming who the important minister of Xuzhou who came forward to lure the enemy, when the scout of Liu Xuanjun, who was also taken aback, returned to the camp to report the news, he kept in mind Liu Xuan's previous confession, and deliberately shouted as soon as he entered the camp gate to attract the attention of his own soldiers in the battalion, and also spread the news that Deputy Director Tao had personally gone to Shenting Ridge to his own army. And Liu Miao himself was even more shocked in disbelief, and asked the scout who reported to the account: "Do you see clearly?" Is it really a pottery thief? Confirmed to be a pottery thief?! ”

"Confirm!" The messenger scout wiped his sweat and replied excitedly: "The villain and others clearly saw that the group of thieves rode about twelve or three people, and the leader of the thieves would be wearing red robes, golden helmets, and gold chain mail, followed by the white-robed and silver-armored thief generals who fought with our army yesterday, and also followed by Xu Chu, a famous general in Xuzhou, except for the pottery thief himself, it is impossible to have such a pomp!" ”

Liu Miao opened his mouth and stammered, and suddenly regretted that he should not have sent only a small number of scouts to monitor the movements of the Xuzhou army, and even more regretted why he did not send some more troops to lurk in the hidden place on the south side of the Shenting Mountains. Xu Shao shook his head and said: "It may not be the pottery thief himself, judging from the face of the pottery thief, although this thief is dignified and handsome, but there is a deceit in his eyes, and he often observes others from the corner of his eyes. ”

Liu Miao thought about it, and when he nodded, Liu Xian's generals had already flocked to the outside of the Chinese army's big tent to ask for an audience, and under Xu Shao's whispered suggestion, Liu Miao simply personally led Xu Shao and Fan Neng out of the tent, and met with the generals in the open area in front of the Chinese army's big tent, and soon saw Tai Shici's figure in the crowd.

"Lord, I heard that the pottery thief is on the top of the Shenting Ridge? Is this true or false? Liu Xuanjun's generals asked one after another.

"It's not decided yet." Xu Shao said for Liu Xuan: "Our army scouts only found that the Xuzhou general who may be the pottery thief himself led more than ten to ride to the top of the Shenting Ridge, but whether it is the pottery thief himself is still uncertain." ”

"It must be the pottery thief himself, climbing to the top of the Shenting Ridge, just to peek into the whole picture of our army's camp, except for the pottery thief himself, who would be interested in the situation of our camp?" The generals of Liu Xuan's army shouted one after another, and some people shouted: "Lord, give the order to send troops, this is a rare opportunity to capture the pottery thief alive!" ”

"Lord, the last general is willing to lead a group of soldiers and horses to capture the pottery thief to meet!" Tai Shi Ci really stood up, clasped his fists and shouted: "Please allow the last general to lead the army into battle and capture the pottery thief to see the lord!" ”

"Sure enough!" Liu Xuan quietly clenched his teeth and said deliberately: "Mr. Zijiang has already said it, it may not be the pottery thief himself." Besides, even if it is the pottery thief himself, it must be the pottery thief's trick to lure the enemy. ”

After saying this, Liu Miao immediately stared at Tai Shi Ci's face, waiting for Tai Shi Ci's reaction, but Chen Heng next to him shouted: "Lord, whether it's true or not, catch it first, let's talk about it, just more than ten horses, the last general will lead a thousand soldiers, and guarantee that all the ten horsemen will be captured alive!" ”

Liu Miao almost wanted to kick Chen Heng to death, and simply shouted: "Shut up, I have already said that this must be Tao Ying's strategy to lure the enemy to annihilate the thief, and if anyone who speaks to fight, he will be killed immediately!" ”

Liu Xuan, who has always been gentle and elegant, rarely lost his temper in public, but it also frightened the generals present, the noisy voice suddenly disappeared, and Liu Miao also began to regret it, "Why am I talking so much?" If Tai Shi Ci is really a rebel in collusion with the pottery thief, how can he persuade me to send troops or personally lead the troops to hunt down the pottery thief? ”

Sure enough, seeing that Liu Miao was angry and said so desperately, the generals present, including Tai Shici, did not dare to say anything more, and Liu Xuan, who said the wrong thing, had no choice but to return to the big tent angrily, and the generals of Liu Miao's army also left one after another. However, just when Xu Shao and Fan Neng complained that Liu Miao was talking too much, another even more shocking news came - Tai Shi Ci actually led a cavalry alone, rode out of Liu Xiang's army camp, and went to Shenting Ridge to arrest Deputy Director Tao!

"One general and one pawn will go to the Shenting Ridge together? The pottery thief laid down the Shenting Ridge of the heaven and earth? Shocked, Liu Miao once had such a thought, "So bold, could it be that I misunderstood Tai Shi Ci?" ”

"I must have gone to report to the pottery thief!" Fan Neng exclaimed, "Tai Shi Ci saw that the lord refused to fall for the scheme, so he pretended to go to capture the pottery thief, and took the opportunity to go up the mountain to meet the pottery thief and contact him directly, and discuss other plans to kill our army!" Otherwise, Tai Shi Ci would dare to go to the Divine Pavilion Ridge to die?! ”

Liu Xuan's face was gloomy again, and after thinking about it carefully, he found that Fan Neng's shouting was indeed reasonable, if Tai Shici was not in Xuzhou, then dare the two of them to go to Shenting Ridge? Not to mention that there are two thousand Xuzhou ambush soldiers behind the more than ten horsemen, even if there are no Xuzhou ambush soldiers, Tai Shici and the two of them will go to Xuzhou with more than a dozen horsemen including Xu Chu, that is also to ask Huazi to carry a bowl into the toilet - looking for death, right? And Tai Shi Ci knew that the enemy was outnumbered, and he still disobeyed the general's order to forcibly go up the mountain to kill the enemy, didn't it just prove that Tai Shi Ci was annihilated in Xuzhou? The so-called going up the mountain to capture the pottery thief is just taking the opportunity to contact and negotiate with the enemy?

At this time, Xu Shao also asked the herald who came to report the news: "Whose corporal is the cavalry who went up the mountain with Tai Shici?" ”

"It's the cavalry under General Chen Heng, surnamed Ma Mingzhong." The herald replied truthfully, and added: "It was the pawn who went out to fight the enemy general without authorization with Tai Shici yesterday, and he became famous in our army because he was a cavalry pawn who rivaled the general of Xuzhou, so the villain knew his name." ”

"Bullshit enemy general, the Xuzhou thief army deliberately released water!" Fan Neng shouted angrily, and then bowed his hand to Liu Xuan and said: "Lord, the situation is already very clear, that pawn named Ma Zhong must be Tai Shici's comrade, these two thieves went up the mountain together, not only to contact the pottery thief, but also to cover each other's identities, maybe they still plan to escape to the pottery thief together." ”

"Two unrighteous people!" Liu Miao slapped the case again, and then shouted: "Fan Neng, you can lead three thousand infantry up the mountain and capture Tai Shici and that pawn to see me!" If you resist, kill them immediately! ”

…………………… At the same time, on the way up the mountain on the south side of the Shenting Mountains, Tai Shici was also sighing to Ma Zhong, the only one who dared to follow him to arrest Deputy Director Tao: "There are more than 15,000 troops in Qu'a, and I can't imagine that there are only two men, you and me, and the rest are women." ”

"The general has won the prize." Ma Zhong said shyly and modestly: "The general is a real man, a real hero, I am just a small pawn next to the general, because I admire the heroism of the general, so I am willing to help the general." ”

"Hugh wants to be too humble, whether you are a real man, a good man, I can still see it." Tai Shi Ci shook his head, laughed again and said: "But it's okay, you and I are two good men and ride up the mountain to capture the pottery thief, and we can just kill a good person, don't worry about those wastes getting in the way, let's go!" Catch the pottery thief! ”

After that, Tai Shi Ci slapped the war horse, and the fast horse galloped wildly, and Ma Zhong also patted the war horse under his crotch and shouted: "General Taishi, let's go together and catch the pottery thief!" ”

……………… At the same time, on the top of the Shenting Ridge, I saw Tai Shici and Ma Zhong riding up the mountain with the primitive telescope, although it was too far away to see who the enemy was, Deputy Director Tao still showed a smile on his handsome face, which had gradually faded away, and said: "Take the bait, let's go, go back to Guangwu Temple." ”

"Hooked? Only two enemy cavalry? Xu Chu next to him said in surprise: "We ambushed so many troops, and your lord, you still took the risk to go up the mountain to lure the enemy in person, just to ambush these two enemies?" ”

"That's right." Deputy Director Tao snapped his fingers, "In my eyes, all of Liu Xiang's fifteen thousand troops are not as valuable as any of these two enemies!" ”

After that, Deputy Director Tao took the lead in turning the war horse and began to retreat back and forth, although Xu Chu and the others were all inexplicable, they did not dare to disobey the order, they all followed the retreat honestly, only Zhao Yun said: "Lord, I don't know if you noticed?" Liu Xuan's army leaned on the mountain to build a camp, but did not set up a camp on the mountain, if our army divided into an army to seize the ...... on the mountain. ”

"Such a nice place, can I not pay attention?" Deputy Director Tao grinned and said, "Let's go back, we have more important things to do." ”

All the way back to Guangwu Temple, Deputy Director Tao first ordered the accompanying twelve horsemen to stop in the open space outside the temple, and then ordered the surrounding ambush soldiers to never attack without their own personal orders, and those who violated the order were killed! Although everyone in the entourage agreed, they also suspected that the two horseed enemies might not dare to chase here, and Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "Dare to come, must dare to come, if they dare not come, then they must not be Tai Shi Ci and Qu A junior generals." ”

After waiting for a while, in the surprised gaze of the twelve entourages and the smiling gaze of Deputy Director Tao, Tai Shi Ci and Ma Zhong really appeared on the Xialing Mountain Road, and they still rushed down the Shenting Ridge without hesitation, and rushed directly to the front of the lined up team of Deputy Director Tao, and at the same time, before the war horse was settled, Tai Shi Ci had already yelled first, "Who is Tao Ying?" I am Donglai Tai Shi Ci, and I have come to arrest you! ”

Xu Chu, Zhao Yun and other entourages were on full alert, Deputy Director Tao calmly clasped his fists on the horse, and said with a smile: "General Taishi Ziyi, we finally met, I am Tao Ying, I know that you are here to capture me, but before you start, please listen to me patiently." ”

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao was so calm and calm, Tai Shici was inevitably very surprised, so he carefully watched Deputy Director Tao's entourage and said, "Say it, I'll listen." ”

"Don't hide it from General Ziyi, in fact, as early as six years ago, I had already heard of the general's great name." Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "Six years ago, the Yellow Turban thief Guan Hai soldiers besieged Beihai, the general first entered the siege and met with Kong Wenju, in order to repay Kong Rong's kindness to the general's biological mother, and then killed out of the siege to the plain Liu Xuande for help, which solved the siege of Beihai, I was still studying in Xuzhou City, I heard the general's heroic spirit in the middle of thousands of horses and thousands of armies, and you are already full of admiration for the general, I just hope that one day I can meet with the general, see the general's majesty, and talk about the wish of comfort. ”

"It's a pity." Deputy Director Tao sighed and said helplessly: "Providence makes people, although the general's hometown Donglai is not far from Xuzhou, I and the general have always been inseparable. After I formed an alliance with Liu Miao to destroy Yuan, when Liyang met, the general was arranged by Liu Miao to stay in Niuzhu, and once again missed the opportunity to meet the general. During this period, I also met with Liu Xuanjun's team and envoys many times, but each time it happened that the general was not there, and it was not until yesterday that I met the general for the first time. ”

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao smiled again and sighed: "It's just that I didn't expect that the first meeting with the general was actually a life-and-death decisive battle on the battlefield of the two armies. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Tai Shi Ci asked suspiciously, and said angrily: "When we met on the battlefield of life and death, isn't it because you are insatiable and invade my Jiangdong land?" ”

"Invasion of Koto?" Deputy Director Tao smiled again and said: "General Ziyi, I guess Liu Miao didn't dare to tell you, in fact, as early as four years ago, in the second year of Jian'an, the imperial court had already named me the pastor of Xu Yangzhou, and my brother Tao Shang was named the assassin of Yangzhou, so the two brothers were in charge of Xu and Yangzhou, so the six counties of Jiangdong have long been my legal place, and he Liu Miao is the unsubordinate thief who is entrenched in the land of Jiangdong. ”

Tai Shi Ci really didn't know about this, and after hearing this, he was inevitably shocked, and exclaimed: "Is there really such a thing? ”

"When did my father-in-law tell a lie?" Xu Chu asked angrily, and shouted with a knife: "Tai Shici, aren't you here to capture my lord?" Come, if you want to capture the lord, pass me first! ”

"Zhong Kang, Zhong Kang, calm down." Deputy Director Tao hurriedly grabbed Xu Chu, turned to Ma Zhong next to Tai Shici, and said with the same smile: "Little cavalry brother over there, do you know who the person who fought with you yesterday has a surname?" ”

Ma Zhong looked up at Zhao Yun on the other side of Deputy Director Tao, shook his head to indicate that he didn't know, Deputy Director Tao smiled: "Then let me introduce to you, his surname is Zhao Mingyun, the word Zilong, Yuan Shaojun and Tian Kaijun fought for Qingzhou in the county war, he was in and out of the army of ten thousand horses, and he picked up twenty-six generals of Yuan Shaojun, and single-handedly rescued the old general Tian Kai who was besieged, and became famous and famous all over the world!" As an ordinary horseman, you were able to walk twenty-three times under his hands without dying, and finally shot him in the helmet with an arrow - to be honest, the whole of our Xuzhou army was taken aback by you! Amazing, you're amazing! ”

After hearing these words, Ma Zhong was both surprised and excited, and finally said shyly: "My lord has won the prize, in fact, I fell behind in the eleventh round, and the later twelve combinations were all parryed, and in the end I was picked off the weapon, if it wasn't for my war horse at that time, I would not have had a chance to escape from General Zhao's gun." ”

"I have this ability at a young age, and I can still be as humble as Zilong, not arrogant or impatient, which is rare." Deputy Director Tao praised it, and asked curiously: "By the way, little brother, I don't know your name yet, can you tell me your name?" ”

"Of course you can, my name is Ma Zhong, and I don't have a word." Ma Zhong replied honestly.

"Ma Zhong?" Deputy Director Tao smiled first, and then the smile immediately froze on his face, and he shouted, "You are Ma Zhong?" Koto Mazhong?! ”

"yes, what's wrong?" Ma Zhong asked suspiciously.

"No, nothing." Deputy Director Tao hurriedly shook his head, and rejoiced in his heart: "No wonder Lao Tzu can't remember his name for anything, it turned out to be this little monster, fortunately Zhao Yun was not as unlucky as Huang Zhong, otherwise, Lao Tzu would have lost a general." But why is this little monster's strength so high? ! Why did you forget that this little monster fought Guan Xing and Zhang Bao together, and they didn't die, and their strength could be lower?! ”

After muttering secretly, Deputy Director Tao showed a cordial smile again, and said with a smile: "General Ziyi, General Ma Zhong, I have said so much to you, I think you must have guessed my intention, right?" Liu Miao doesn't have the ability to know people, so letting the two of you generals succumb to the generals and soldiers is simply a tyrannical thing! If the two generals can abandon the darkness and turn to the light and serve me, I will definitely be reused! ”

Tai Shici and Ma Zhong were shocked, Deputy Director Tao put away his smile again, and said solemnly: "General Ziyi, General Ma Zhong, my words are by no means a joke, I really appreciate the heroes of the two of you, and I really want to recruit the two generals, I can even tell you now, if the two generals are willing to surrender, I will Feng Ziyi, you will be the captain of Zanyi, and the soldiers and horses of the Unification Department will be in charge alone!" As for General Ma Zhong, I can give you two choices, one is to command a thousand generals, but not an infantry general like General Ziyi, but a cavalry general, commanding a thousand iron cavalry! The second choice is to be the captain of my own soldiers! ”

Hearing Deputy Director Tao's solicitation conditions, not to mention that Tai Shi Ci and Ma Zhong were dumbfounded, even Deputy Director Tao's entourage was also dumbfounded, only Zhao Yun's face was calm, and he said for Deputy Director Tao: "General Taishi, General Ma, how much my lord attaches importance to and favors you, you definitely can't think of it!" Don't hide it from the two generals, the lord personally went to Shenting Ridge to lure the enemy this time, in fact, it was not to induce Liu Miao to send troops to chase after him, but just for the two of you! Because my lord knows that he personally climbed Shenting Ridge, Liu Miao will definitely suspect that this is our army's plan to lure the enemy, and among Liu Xiang's entire army, only the two of you have the courage to catch up with Shenting Ridge and meet my lord! ”

Tai Shi Ci was silent, and after a long time, Tai Shi Ci suddenly raised his head and smiled: "I didn't expect that Tao Envoy Jun would favor and attach so much importance to my Tai Shi Ci, and I am really honored." But it's a pity that the eldest husband was born between heaven and earth, and he should stand up to the heavens and the earth, and surrender to the enemy and rebel, which is a villain's behavior, how can I do it? ! ”

After finishing speaking, Tai Shici took the initiative to turn to Ma Zhong again and asked, "Ma Zhong, how are you?" ”

Ma Zhong hesitated for a moment, but still said shyly: "Although Zhong is from a humble background, he also knows that the eldest husband should do something and not do something, and he disdain to do such a villain as joining the enemy." ”

"Two generals......."

Zhao Yun originally wanted to persuade him, but Deputy Director Tao interrupted Zhao Yun with a wave of his hand, nodded and said: "The two generals are really real heroes, real heroes, I already understand your minds, vainly trying to buy you with high-ranking officials, and I also underestimated you, as an apology, I won't capture you today, you can go." ”

"Let's go?" Tai Shi Ci smiled and said, "I'm here to capture you today, and you want me to leave by myself?" ”

"General Ziyi, you can't capture me today, only I can capture you." Deputy Director Tao smiled slightly and said, "There are two reasons, one is that you are actually not the opponent of General Xu Chu and General Zhao Yun. This will also be hidden from you, Ziyi, you were able to fight Xu Chu for sixty rounds yesterday without defeat, because Xu Chu consumed a lot of physical strength when he rushed into battle, and because he hit the long shield with his body, he suffered some minor injuries to his right ribs, which affected his strength, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to last that long. ”

"As for General Ma Zhong, yesterday Zilong actually went to the battle on my order to inquire about General Taishi's name, and I ordered him not to join the battlefield, you took the initiative to challenge him, but he hesitated and didn't use all his strength."

Tai Shi Ci and Ma Zhong's faces changed, and then looked at Deputy Director Tao's expression as if it was fake, Tai Shi Ci suddenly believed seven points in his heart, and began to beat drums in his heart, Deputy Director Tao observed his words and looks, and said: "I won't talk about the second reason, in short, you go, I don't want to force you today, you can go back and think about it carefully, is it to stay with Liu Xiang for a lifetime, and finally give him a funeral?" Or come to me and join forces with me to create a great cause? ”

Tai Shi Ci hesitated for a moment, and finally arched his hand to Deputy Director Tao, and then turned the horse's head and walked the way he came, Ma Zhong also bowed to Deputy Director Tao, and then chased after Tai Shi Ci. Xu Chu next to him was anxious and asked, "Lord, we have been painstakingly arranging for so long, why are we letting them go like this now?" ”

"Don't worry, it's not over yet." Deputy Director Tao showed an unfathomable smile and said with a smile: "Let's wait a little longer, it won't be long before they will come back again." ”

(To be continued)