Deputy Director Tao's slap can be regarded as slapping Zhuge Liang hard, Guo Suo and Shi Yunfeng, who were tattooed on their chests and backs, were put back to the Yuan Tan army camp shirtless, Zhuge Liang suddenly became the number one laughing stock of the Yuan army camp, and Zhuge Liang and Deputy Director Tao because of the woman's holiday, it also spread throughout the entire Yuan army camp at once, so that countless Yuan Tan army civil and military generals and ordinary soldiers both despised Zhuge Liang and hated it to the bone, and they all thought that the fiasco of the self-army was all caused by Zhuge Liang, and the self-army suffered from the pond fish.

Humiliation and ridicule are just a trivial matter, for Zhuge Liang, the more serious is the blow to his prestige, prestige and self-confidence, when he learned about the whole incident from the mouths of Guo Suo and Shi Yunfeng, Zhuge Liang, who has always been calm and composed, stayed for a long time, and then muttered in despair: "It turns out that the truth of this matter is so simple? ”

"Such a simple thing, analyzed so complicated by your horseman, and finally joined my army of more than 10,000, you still have the fucking face to call yourself a military advisor?" This is the roar of Yuan Tan Gongzi after learning the truth.

"Kong Ming, this time you are smart but you were mistaken by being smart." This is a long sigh from Uncle Liu Huang.

Cui Yan is a loyal gentleman and did not accuse Zhuge Liang, but when he looked at Zhuge Liang, his eyes contained that deep loss, which made Zhuge Liang feel that maybe it would be better to be scolded by Cui Yan for a bloody dog. And Mr. Guo Tu was not so polite, and said directly to Yuan Tan in front of Zhuge Liang: "Lord, we must find a culprit in this matter and give an explanation to the soldiers, otherwise, once the officers and men of our army know the truth and know that our army's fiasco is all because of the self-made cleverness of a fool, the blow to the morale of our army will be very huge." ”

Yuan Tan, who was holding back the fire in his belly, nodded, turned to Uncle Liu Huang and asked, "Xuande Gong, this time your army's military advisor Kong Ming made improper suggestions, which led to the fiasco of our army, I don't know what Xuande Gong plans to do about this?" How do I give an explanation to my soldiers? ”

Uncle Liu Huang was in great difficulty, but Zhuge Liang took the initiative to give up his hand and said: "Ji Hou, Liang's improper advice this time led to the fiasco of the coalition army, and he should be engaged in military law, and Liang is willing to accept military law!" ”

"Very well, you can be convicted of your own sin." Yuan Tan snorted coldly, and then shouted: "Come on, push Zhuge Liang out and behead him in public!" ”

"Wait!" Uncle Liu Huang and Cui Yan were shocked, and hurriedly stopped them in unison, and then Uncle Liu Huang bowed his hand to Yuan Tan and said: "Hou Ji, Kong Ming is indeed guilty this time, but the crime is not to death, and there is no provision in military law that if you don't give advice, you should be beheaded, and please ask Ji Hou Nian to spare Kong Ming's life for the sake of Kong Ming's good intentions, and also for the sake of the thin noodles prepared." ”

"Lord, you can't kill Zhuge Liang." Cui Yan also whispered in Yuan Tan's ear: "Although Zhuge Liang deserves to die, he is Xuande Gong's military advisor after all, Xuande Gong has Jingzhou Liu Biao behind him, if the lord kills Zhuge Liang, it will be hopeless to ask Liu Biao for help, it is better to sell Xuande Gong's favor, and leave Zhuge Liang's head, so that he can ask Liu Biao for help and borrow troops in the future." ”

Yuan Tan pondered for a moment with a gloomy face, nodded very reluctantly, and said: "Okay, for the sake of Xuande Gong, I can not kill Zhuge Liang, but the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime cannot be escaped!" Push Zhuge Liang out and beat the thirty military sticks! ”

"Ji Hou ......." Uncle Liu Huang originally wanted to intercede, but Zhuge Liang had already limped out of the big tent with his head held high and was tortured, Uncle Liu Huang had no choice but to shut up, watching Zhuge Liang be beaten to the skin, blood bursting out, fainting in pain several times, and finally survived until the end of the thirty military sticks, Uncle Liu Huang hurriedly went over to pick up Zhuge Liang in person, and loudly ordered someone to carry Zhuge Liang back to the village for treatment.

Before fainting in pain, Zhuge Liang couldn't bear to point at Shi Yunfeng, who was also outside the tent and had not yet put on his clothes, gritted his teeth and said with difficulty: "Lord, Liang begs you, don't kill him, Liang wants him to continue to be Liang's personal soldier, Liang will ...... every morning and evening from today on, and he will read the words tattooed on his body once, remember the ......, and remember the humiliation of today." Before the words fell, Zhuge Liang had already fainted again.

Seeing that Zhuge Liang, whose buttocks were beaten to a bloody pulp, was carried down, Yuan Tan Gongzi's anger subsided slightly, and then he asked Uncle Liu Huang: "Xuande Gong, Jingsheng Gong's rescuers have been in Ye County for a long time, and they have never taken a step north, I wonder if Xuande Gong has a way to urge them to go north as soon as possible and come to Guandu to rescue our army?" ”

"Ji Hou, I'm afraid you can't count on Jingshenggong's rescuers." Uncle Liu Huang, who was angry in his heart, replied calmly: "Let's not say that the 10,000 Jingzhou soldiers in Ye County are just a drop in the bucket, and it is difficult to help the big thing, even if they go north immediately, I am afraid it will be too late, the front camp of the Guandu camp has been broken, and the defense force has been greatly reduced. ”

Although he was also a little mentally prepared for Uncle Liu's analysis, but when he really heard these words from Uncle Liu's mouth, the faces of Yuan Tan, Guo Tu and Cui Yan and other decision-makers of Yuan Tanjun were still gloomy, but Hao Zhao, who was not of high grade, did not lose his confidence, and came out of the column to clasp his fists and said: "Don't worry, my lord, although the front camp of our army is lost, but the fortifications of the Chinese army camp are equally strong. ”

Yuan Tan hesitated, and Guo Tu, who had regained his trust, stood up and suggested: "My lord, in the battle last night, our army suffered heavy casualties, and it is meaningless for Guandu to hold on, it is better to take advantage of the opportunity of our army's strength to make another plan as soon as possible, and wait until the troops and horses are regrouped and the army is revitalized, and then it is not too late to take revenge." ”

"Give up Guandu?" Yuan Tan was a little unwilling, and said: "Guandu is the throat of Xuchang, and if you lose Guandu, Xuchang will be difficult to protect, and you can't give it up, there are still 50,000 soldiers and horses at Puyang Gaogan and Jiang Yiqu, I intend to transfer Puyang soldiers and horses to fight to the death with the pottery thief in Guandu, what do you think?" ”

"Never!" Guo Tu hurriedly objected: "Although our army still has less than 50,000 soldiers and horses in Puyang, this team is being pinned down by the 30,000 troops of the pottery thief general Chen Zhi and Yuan Shang's 20,000 rebels. If there are any more losses in this army and horses, then our army should not say that it is a comeback, but it is to quell Yuan Shang's rebellion and recapture the foundation of Jizhou, which will be as difficult as climbing to the sky. ”

Yuan Tan hesitated again, so he had to turn his gaze to Cui Yan, who was currently the most trusted, and after Cui Yan hesitated for a long time, he finally nodded and said: "Lord, Mr. Gong Ze is reasonable this time, the Puyang soldiers and horses who have been attacked by the enemy before and after cannot be moved lightly now, otherwise once they lose the protection of the city, they will be chased by the Xuzhou division and Yuan Shang's rebels, and the losses will be heavy, and it will also give the main force of the Xuzhou army a chance to break us." ”

"Since we can't mobilize the Puyang rescue officer, what should our army do now?" Yuan Tan Gongzi asked.

"Three choices." Cui Yan replied: "One, give up Guandu and retreat to Xuchang, two, while continuing to hold on to Guandu, and then ask Liu Biao for help, third, give up Guandu and withdraw to Bingzhou." ”

"Also, you can ask Tao Ying for peace." Guo Tu added: "The lord may wish to send an envoy to sue for peace, temporarily accept the humiliation of his crotch and cede the land of Yanzhou, in exchange for Tao Ying to allow our army to withdraw to Bingzhou, so that the Tao thief will borrow the hand of our army to contain Yuan Shang, and he will inevitably agree that our army will protect the troops and horses and withdraw to Bingzhou, which can not only avoid the edge of the Tao thief army, but also continue to maintain the advantage of soldiers and horses over Yuan Shang's rebels, which is conducive to our army's next counterinsurgency war." ”

Cui Yan glanced at Guo Tu, and said in his heart that Guo Gong seemed to have become a little smarter, although this idea was ranciful and humiliating, it was also very suitable for the situation, but unfortunately, the lord might not listen.

Sure enough, after listening to Guo Tu's bad idea, the arrogant Yuan Tan really showed anger on his face, and Uncle Liu Huang, who had been observing his words, took the opportunity to say: "If the Marquis of Ji intends to give up the official crossing to Bingzhou, Bei will not object, but Bei thinks that the Marquis of Ji may not need to give up Yanzhou, although Bei is not talented, he is also willing to lead the second brother of Guan Zhang to Xuchang with him, join forces with Xin Ping and Cen Bi to stick to Xuchang, and wait for the Marquis of Ji to make a comeback after reorganizing his troops and horses." ”

If Uncle Liu's army was intact, perhaps Uncle Liu's suggestion of harboring evil intentions would be adopted by Yuan Tan Gongzi, but unfortunately, Uncle Liu Huang had only more than 800 remnants of the defeated army left in his hands, and it would be a drop in the bucket when he arrived in Xuchang, so Yuan Tan was just moved, and then said: "The matter is big, whether to give up Guandu, let me think about it carefully, and then make a decision." ”

The saliva is about to dry up and Yuan Tan has not made up his mind, Uncle Liu Huang and Guo Tu are inevitably a little disappointed, but it doesn't matter, the person who helped Yuan Tan Gongzi make the decision soon came, the next morning, after a little rest, the Xuzhou army really came to strike while the iron was hot, Deputy Director Tao personally led an army of 40,000 to knock on the front of the Guandu camp, Yuan Tan Gongzi was forced to be helpless, so he had to command the soldiers and horses to defend the camp, and stubbornly resisted to see the after-effects.

This is a completely one-sided offensive and defensive battle, the Xuzhou army has been pressing the Yuan Tan army from beginning to end, and also took a similar siege method to storm the Yuan army camp, first suppressed the Yuan Tan defenders with Xiangyang cannons, and then used a long shield to form temporary fortifications outside the camp, and continued to suppress the enemy with bows and crossbows and poisonous arrows, and finally the wheelbarrow stepped forward, carrying earth and stone to fill the trench in front of the camp dug by the Yuan Tan army, although the progress of the camp was not fast, but it was better than the thick, forcing the Yuan Tan army to lose the benefit of a large number of fortifications could only desperately put arrows and throw stones to resist, Fight against the consumption of soldiers and bows and arrows with the Xuzhou army with a large waist.

After fighting hard until the evening when the sky was about to dark, the outer trenches of the camp of Yuan Tan's army had been basically filled, seeing that the tactical goal was reached, Deputy Director Tao finally ordered the troops to return to the camp, heard the sound of the Xuzhou army's golden gong, and saw the Xuzhou army outside the camp The tide generally receded, and the Yuan Tan army, who had been nervous for a day, breathed a sigh of relief, and many Yuan army archers with sore arms also collapsed on the ground. But at this moment, a Xuzhou cavalryman with a white flag and torches in his hand rushed to the front of Yuan's camp and shouted: "The Jizhou soldiers on the other side, you all heard clearly!" ”

"What's wrong again?" Yuan Tan Gongzi, Guo Tu and others all pricked up their ears, listened carefully to the shouts of the Xuzhou envoy, and vaguely looked forward to it in their hearts: "I hope I came to persuade him to surrender." ”

Yuan Tan, Guo Tu and the others were soon disappointed, only to hear the Xuzhou cavalry shouting in a loud voice: "Jizhou soldiers, you have all heard clearly, my lord Tao envoy is related to your lord Yuan Tan, and he is still the son-in-law of your old lord, so even if the two armies are fighting, my lord does not want you to poison you, and has always wanted to give you a way to live!" But your lord Yuan Tan killed himself, and at the instigation of the traitors Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, he shot and killed the soldiers of our army with poisonous arrows, which was unkind and unrighteous first! Since you can do the first year of junior high school, don't blame us for doing fifteen, don't blame us, if you want to blame, blame your lord, it is he himself willing to be used by the big-eared thief Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang Villager, and he will bring you trouble! ”

After roaring, the Xuzhou cavalry turned around and left, and when the officers and soldiers of Yuan Tan looked at each other and didn't know why, the Xiangyang cannon suddenly sounded in the Xuzhou army formation on the opposite side, and dozens of black objects flew towards the Yuan Tan military camp, straight over the fence, some smashed into the dense place of the defenders, and some smashed into no one's place, but there was no huge sound of stone bullets falling to the ground, only some cracking sounds were faintly heard, so that the soldiers of Yuan Tan Army, who were already basically familiar with the situation of the Xiangyang cannon, were inexplicable and did not know what had happened. Yuan Tan Gongzihe, Cui Yan, Guo Tu and others were even more confused, and they wondered together: "What did the pottery thief smash in?" ”

"Snakes! Mother! What a lot of snakes! The sudden heart-rending roar made Yuan Tan, Cui Yan and the others change their faces all of a sudden, and then several places where soldiers were densely populated also sounded screams, "Snake! Snake snake! Xuzhou soldiers threw the snake in! Viper! It's all poisonous snakes! ”

Immediately afterwards, the screams of the soldiers who were bitten by the poisonous snake also rose one after another, and the soldiers of Yuan Tanjun who were not bitten were also in a big mess, and they scattered to avoid the snake, but after the clay pot used by the Xuzhou soldiers to hold the poisonous snake and the non-poisonous snake landed, the clay pot had already been shattered, and all kinds of snakes in the jar also crawled everywhere, and the sky was basically completely black and the vision was not clear, many Yuan Tanjun soldiers stepped on the poisonous snake in the run, which attracted the poisonous snake to turn back and back, which also caused more Yuan Tanjun soldiers to be bitten by the poisonous snake, fell to the ground and rolled and screamed, He cried for help, but no one dared to go to the rescue immediately.

"Pottery thief, you are really ruthless!" Yuan Tan Gongzi was about to cry, and scolded: "Throw the poisonous snake into our camp, you can do such a shameless thing, and you still have the face to claim to be related to our Yuan family." ”

"My lord, we are the first to be unkind." Cui Yan said helplessly: "When Zhuge Liang proposed to use the aconitum poison arrow, Yan resolutely opposed it, but if you didn't listen, the lord, it really attracted Xuzhou's revenge." ”

"Don't talk about that." Yuan Tan Gongzi hurriedly said: "Quick, quick, quickly surround a fire in front of me, don't let the poisonous snake crawl over." ”

"Lord, you can't light a fire!" Mr. Guo Tu, a native of Yingchuan, was shocked and hurriedly screamed: "Don't light a fire, the most venomous snake in this area is the fire snake (pit viper), the more fire there is, the more they like to crawl over!" ”

"Don't, don't light the fire! Peng An, Hao Zhao, I'll leave it to you here, kill all the poisonous snakes, and I'll go back to the big tent! Realgar, send the realgar to the big tent quickly. ”

Although because of the lack of ammunition, the Xuzhou army only threw a round of poisonous snake bullets and withdrew from the battlefield, but this is enough, after thousands of poisonous snakes were thrown into the Yuan Tan army camp, or let the Yuan Tan army team drink a pot solidly, one is that it is not easy to catch and eliminate so many poisonous snakes in the dark night, and the other is that the frightened poisonous snakes are running around, constantly biting the soldiers of Yuan Tan army, and many poisonous snakes crawled into the military tent or debris pile, which naturally increased the difficulty of Yuan Tanjun's extermination of poisonous snakes, Third, as Mr. Guo Tu said, many poisonous snakes and non-venomous snakes are sensitive to heat sources, which led to many Yuan soldiers being attacked by the most venomous pit viper five-step snake in this area when they caught and killed poisonous snakes with torches, and their deaths were even more miserable.

In the face of this unheard-of vicious means, there is nothing to be done about guarding such as Hao Zhao, so he can only hurriedly organize soldiers who are familiar with the surname of the snake to capture and kill the poisoned snake in the battalion, almost turning half of the battalion upside down, but there are still soldiers who are constantly bitten by poisonous snakes and non-poisonous snakes, not only free up their hands to repair the fortifications destroyed by the Xuzhou army, but also inevitably greatly dampen morale and affect the morale of the army.

Of course, in view of the fact that the Xuzhou army had stated the reason for the poison in advance, the Yuan Tan army camp naturally scolded Liu Huangshu and Zhuge Liang, scolding Liu Huangshu and Zhuge Liang for exterminating people's surnames and taking the lead in shamelessness, attracting the originally friendly Xuzhou army to retaliate with all their might, and many grumpy Yuan Tanjun soldiers simply used the Huangshu soldiers as punching bags, punching and kicking and scolding, and when the Huangshu soldiers fought back, they provoked a brawl and group fighting, and the contradiction between the two armies immediately appeared.

In addition, there was another strange thing that attracted the attention of Yuan generals such as Hao Zhao and Tian Chou, that is, in addition to throwing a lot of poisonous snakes into the camp of the army with Xiangyang cannons, the Xuzhou army also threw more than a dozen corpses that had rotted into the camp of the army. Although Tian Chou, Hao Zhao and others did not know the true purpose of Deputy Director Tao, they still sent messengers to the big tent of the Chinese army, which had already surrounded Xionghuang, to report the matter to Yuan Tan, Guo Tu, Cui Yan and others.

When the herald entered the big tent of the Chinese army, he was just in time for Yuan Tan Gongzi to scold the three brothers of Uncle Liu, and the angry Yuan Tan Gongzi scolded Uncle Liu for having a bad idea, and suggested that the army use poisoned arrows to provoke Deputy Director Tao, which attracted more vicious retaliation from Deputy Director Tao. Hurry up, you still have the face to blame my brother-in-law for being vicious, my brother-in-law used poisoned arrows in Guangling seven years ago, but when he was fighting with me, he never used it, and he has always shown mercy to our army! It was you, the big-eared thief, who took the lead in using poisoned arrows to provoke my brother-in-law, otherwise how could my brother-in-law have done such a heavy poison to me?! ”

"Piff! Dare to scold my big brother! Hearing Yuan Tan Gongzi scolding Uncle Liu Huang as a big-eared thief, Zhang Fei, who had long been angry, couldn't bear it, and immediately pulled out his sword to kill Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan's guards in the tent were shocked, and quickly drew their swords and came up to surround the three brothers of Uncle Liu, fortunately Cui Yan and Uncle Liu Huang calmed down and shouted together, and then Cui Yan stopped the guards, and Uncle Liu Huang also pulled Zhang Fei to death, and the head of the Yuan-Liu coalition army did not fire on the spot.

However, the matter has come to this point, and Uncle Liu Huang has no face to stay in Yuan Tan's army anymore, so he has to bow his hand to Yuan Tan Gongzi and say: "Ji Hou, the matter of poisonous arrows, it is true that Bei's team used poisonous arrows first, but the two armies are deceitful on the battlefield, and Bei is not the first person to use poisonous arrows, Tao Ying also shot Sun Ce with poisonous arrows in Guangling, Bei did not feel that he had done anything wrong there, since Ji Hou was willing to be separated by Tao thieves, then Bei had nothing to say, Bei led the army to leave your army camp and return to Jingzhou overnight." Leave. ”

After that, Uncle Liu Huang gave his hand to Yuan Tan, and then led Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to leave, Yuan Tan's guards came up to stop him, and they were also kicked away by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Seeing this scene, Yuan Tan Gongzi inevitably regretted a little, Cui Yan also persuaded Yuan Tan to stop Uncle Liu Huang and comfort him with kind words, but Mr. Guo Tu next to him ran out to do Xuzhou dry five cents, and persuaded in a low voice: "Lord, let them go, anyway, Liu Bei only has more than 800 soldiers left, and it's useless to stay, it's better to let them go, one less stop our army from asking for peace with the pottery thief." ”

After hearing Guo Tu's bad idea, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who had been frightened by Deputy Director Tao, also closed his mouth, but Uncle Liu Huang, who had already been out of the account, quietly looked back and said secretly in his heart: "Why hasn't Yuan Tan Pifu chased him out?" If you don't chase it out and keep it, Uncle Huang will really leave. ”

(To be continued)