Although he was still a little worried, seeing that Xu Shu was so confident and so serious, Boss Cao, who was eager to retreat to Sili and Guanzhong, decided to give Xu Shu another chance and allowed Xu Shu to go to Yexian to contact Liu Pan and Pang Tong and persuade Liu Pan to get out of the way. However, for the sake of insurance, Boss Cao proposed to let his henchman Mao Jue serve as Xu Shu's deputy and send an envoy to Ye County together, Xu Shu knew Boss Cao's intentions but did not refuse, and agreed.

So, Xu Shu and Mao Jue set off immediately with rich gifts, and arrived in Ye County in the afternoon of the same day, and entered Ye County very smoothly, but Xu Shu did not directly go to Liu Pan, the commander of the Jingzhou army stationed here, but bribed to open the way, and asked to meet his Jingzhou officials to introduce Liu Pan's team to join the army Pang Tong. Coming forward to receive Jingzhou Gongcao, he was first surprised, and then a little embarrassed, and said: "Don't blame sir, if Mr. wants to see someone else, it must be no problem, but Pang joins the army, ......, the villain really doesn't have this certainty?" ”

"Why?" Xu Shu asked curiously.

"Pang is not a big director in the army." Gong Cao replied honestly: "Since Pang joined the army with Lord Duwei, he said that he took drinking as a pleasure, and he was only in the drunken country at night and night, and almost never paid attention to official business, and every official business was thrown to his subordinates to act on his behalf, except for Liu Duwei, almost no one could see him, Mr. was an envoy from a foreign army, and Pang Senjun would not see Mr. if he wanted to come." ”

Mao Jue was surprised when he heard this, and said that there is still such a person in the world to join the army? Xu Shu laughed out loud and said: "Feng Chick is really Feng Chick, his temper has not changed at all, it is rare that he Liu Pan can tolerate it so much, it is also rare." ”

After laughing, Xu Shu smiled at the Gong Cao official again: "It's okay, the noble official just go to report it, just say that Yingchuan Xu Yuanzhi is here, tell him Pang Shiyuan to get out to meet me immediately, delay for a moment, next time he goes to Shuijingzhuang, he doesn't want to please him, and he won my urn of good wine last time in chess, he doesn't want to collect debts anymore." ”

"Get out of here to see sir?" The Gong Cao official was taken aback at first, but seeing that Xu Shu was serious and his tone was very familiar with Pang Tong, he also suspiciously led Xu Shu and Mao Yu to the side gate of the Chengzhong County Ya, and went inside to report to Xu Shu.

To the great surprise of that Gong Cao, after he truthfully conveyed Xu Shu's wild words, Pang Tong, who was already drunk and blushing and thick-necked, couldn't even wear shoes, jumped off the desk barefoot, strode out of the door to greet Xu Shu in person, and didn't salute after seeing Xu Shu, he grabbed Xu Shu's sleeve and yelled, "Okay, you Xu Yuanzhi, you lost to me for the good wine, I want to rely on it, I'm here to welcome you now, I owe me an urn of good wine, bring it, bring it." ”

"Of course I will give you the wine, but not now, you have to help me settle the errand first, and then I can give it." Xu Shu smiled and said: "Otherwise, the messenger can't do it, not only will I not be able to receive Lu rice, but I will have to fall to the ground, what will I buy wine for you?" ”

"Fool again! The people who come and go in Shuijingzhuang are counted as the most reliant skin of your Xu Yuanzhi! Pang Tong said dissatisfiedly, and then said with a smile: "But don't think about Laipi this time, I'll help you finish the mission today, and then you have to send the good wine you owe me tonight, let's drink a drunk party!" After that, Pang Tong and Xu Shu looked at each other and laughed, looking so affectionate.

Seeing that Xu Shu and Pang Tong were actually very familiar with each other, and the friendship was obviously excellent, Mao Jue, who accompanied Xu Shu on the mission, was somewhat relieved, so he took a closer look at Pang Tong's appearance, and found that Pang Tong was about twenty-one or two years old, with thick eyebrows and nose, black face and short sideburns, and his appearance was very ugly. Unexpectedly, when Xu Shu introduced Mao Jie to Pang Tong, Pang Tong made Mao Jue's face change with one sentence, and Pang Tong said unceremoniously: "Yuan Zhi, it seems that Cao Thief still refuses to trust you, and for such a trivial matter as contacting Liu Pan, he even has to send a lackey to follow and keep an eye on it." ”

Glancing at Mao Jue, who was embarrassed, sympathetically, Xu Shu smiled and said: "Shiyuan misunderstood, Mr. Xiaoxian is the deputy arranged for me by the lord to help me send an envoy to your army, not to monitor." ”

Mao Jue's face finally looked better, but Pang Tong snorted coldly, and then he didn't pay attention to Mao Jue anymore, just pulled Xu Shu all the way to the signing room full of wine pots and wine jars, invited Xu Shu to the upper seat, and then personally served wine to Xu Shu, Xu Shu thanked him with a smile, and then looked around the drunken office, and then said with a smile: "I didn't expect the rumors to be true, Shi Yuan is entertaining himself with fine wine every day, look at this room full of wine jars, I'm afraid that Shi Yuan has been like this since he arrived in Yecheng, right?" ”

"There are more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, some small military affairs, what's the use?" Pang Tong replied arrogantly: "In this case, if Tong every time he says that he does not drink for pleasure, what else can he do? ”

"Shiyuan is a great talent, and you know it." Xu Shu said with a smile: "It's rare that Liu Pan can tolerate Shi Yuan acting like this, and he still obeys Shi Yuan's words, let's say, how did Shi Yuan subdue that Liu Pan?" ”

"I can't talk about subduing, it's just a small favor for him." Pang Tong replied frankly: "When Liu Pan led the army to set off, Liu Biao ordered him to march slowly to Bowang to watch the wind, Cai Mao cut off Liu Qi's foreign aid, and secretly ordered Liu Pan to provoke the Jingxu war, Liu Qi in order to keep the strong reinforcements, and secretly ordered Liu Pan not to clash with the Xuzhou army, Liu Pan was in a dilemma, and no one dared to offend, so he gave him an idea, let him ask for a secret order in front of Liu Surface, and allow Liu Xuande to lead the army north to reinforce Yuan Tan. As a result, Liu Pan's move was greatly appreciated by Liu Biao, and Cai Mao and Liu Qi couldn't say anything more, and then no matter how much they behaved, Liu Pan pretended not to see it. ”

"It turned out that Xuande Gong was able to lead the army north alone, and it was Shiyuan who secretly helped." Xu Shu smiled and said: "I'll just say, Liu Pan has such courage to dare to let Xuande Gong's team go north to Xuchang alone to join forces with Yuan Tan, it turned out to be Shiyuan's clever plan." However, Shi Yuan let Liu Pan choke Ye County's throat This hand is even better, not only can he respond at any time, but also inadvertently choke the throat of the lord of the house, forcing the lord to bow his head to Liu Pan, a real windfall. ”

"It's not unintentional, it's intentional." Pang Tong smiled and said: "I have long expected that Cao Mengde will inevitably take the opportunity to break through, flee to Sili to avoid the edge of the pottery thief, and seek a comeback, so I suggested that Liu Pan choke Ye County and choke Cao Mengde's throat to the north." Otherwise, Liu Jingsheng and Liu Pan originally planned to be stationed in Bowang and take water to transport grain. ”

Mao Jue's face changed suddenly, and Xu Shu was also a little surprised, and said, "Shiyuan persuaded Liu Pan to act like this, did he want to be an enemy of Meng Degong?" ”

"Definitely." Pang Tong shook his head and said with a smile: "Don't hide it from Yuan Zhi, Tong still wants to wait and see the situation, and then decide whether to let Meng Degong go." If Kong Ming can really block the pottery thief and choke Cao Mengde's throat, he can also be one less strong enemy for Jingzhou - Tong is now a rice worm under Liu Jingsheng, so he has to do something serious, right? ”

"I see." Xu Shu nodded, and suddenly asked, "Then Shiyuan, do you know that you have to make a decision now?" ”

"Just knew." Pang Tong replied with a smile: "Shicaitong received the news that Tao Ying sent Jiang Gan, a famous man from Jiujiang, as an envoy, has entered Yecheng, and is currently negotiating with Liu Pan, although Tong did not go to meet with Jiang Ziyi, but it can also be concluded that Guandu must have been broken by Tao thieves, so he came to ask Liu Pan to intercept Yuan Zhi's current lord." ”

"The messenger of the pottery thief has arrived in Yecheng?" Mao Jue was shocked and blurted out: "You still want to use Liu Pan's hand to block the road for our army to break through?" ”

"Borrow Liu Pan's hand to block the road for our army to break through?" Xu Shu was also a little surprised, and then after thinking about it carefully, he smiled again: "It's really whimsical, but as long as he is willing to pay the price, he may not have no hope of success." How about it, Shi Yuan, do me a favor, don't let the pottery thief succeed? ”

"Since Yuan Zhi has spoken, Tong naturally can't refuse." Pang Tong smiled and said, "But Yuanzhi, have you made up your mind?" If I help you with this, you won't have a chance to get rid of Cao Mengde's control in the future. ”

Xu Shu was silent, and only replied after a while: "The lord treats Shu well, the previous Changyi incident, the lord could have taken the opportunity to execute Shu, but the lord rewards and punishments are clear, knowing that Shu may not be without fault, but because Xiahou Yuan has a word to take responsibility for the past, he is not to blame for the past." In this regard, although Shu is not grateful, he also admits that if he does not return this matter, he will be laughed at by the world. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Shu paused for a moment, and then said: "Besides, this matter has come to this point, if Shu does not go all out to help the lord break through the siege, and go to Sili Guan to make a comeback in the middle of the mountain, there will be another person in the world who can restrain the Tao thief, in order to make the Han thousands of miles of rivers and mountains fall into the hands of Tao Ying's hypocrites and true thieves, hundreds of millions of Han people will not be poisoned by this thief, and Shu must ask Shiyuan to help with this." ”

"But the Han Dynasty fell into the hands of the Cao thief, and hundreds of millions of Han people were not poisoned by the thieves?"

Pang Tong asked with a wry smile, Xu Shu was silent, speechless, Mao Jue wanted to open his mouth to say some nonsense such as Cao Laoda's diligence and love for the people, but he saw that with Pang Tong's ability, he said these clichés of nonsense except to make Pang Tong more disgusted with himself, but it did not play any role, so he also closed the mouth that had just opened. Fortunately, Pang Tong quickly stood up and said: "Okay, it's still the same sentence, forget about others, since it is Yuan Zhi who you are here to speak, then I have to help to the end." Let's go, I'll take you to see Liu Pan and persuade Liu Pan to make way for you. ”

Mao Jue was overjoyed, and quickly got up to thank Pang Tong again and again, but Xu Shu got up slowly and bowed deeply to Pang Tong.

……………… When Pang led Xu Shu and Mao Jue to the back hall where Liu Pan received Jiang Gan, the envoy of Xuzhou, the meeting between Liu Pan and Jiang Gan was nearing the end, and the rich gifts brought by Deputy Director Tao to Jiang Gan had been placed in front of Liu Pan, and the purpose had been made clear to Liu Pan - he was ready to negotiate with Liu Biao by going south to discuss the friendship between Tao and Liu's armies after the border on the Central Plains, and at the same time asked Liu Pan to abide by the professional ethics of military generals and ministers, and make every effort to block the breakthrough road of Cao's army, and promised Liu Pan that once Liu Pan succeeded in blocking Cao's army in Runan, Persist until the Xuzhou army arrives at the interception battlefield, and the Xuzhou army will definitely be grateful.

In addition, Jiang Gan also proposed to Liu Pan that as long as Liu Pan promised to get along with the Xuzhou army, then as long as Liu Pan insisted on six or seven days, a Xuzhou army would rush to the Yexian battlefield to take over the mission to block Cao Laoda's breakthrough, and Liu Pan's team would not be damaged too much. At the same time, Jiang Gan also frankly told Liu Pan that the reason why the Xuzhou army did not immediately divide its troops to come to the Yexian battlefield was not because the Xuzhou army was insufficient and could not continue to have a strong future, but because he was worried that provoking the Jingxu war would not be conducive to the friendly coexistence of the Tao and Liu families in the future, so before getting Liu Pan's permission, the Xuzhou army would definitely not rush into the army.

Accompanying Liu Pan to meet Jiang Gan, there was only one Jingzhou veteran with white hair, standing behind Liu Pan without saying a word, Liu Pan didn't say much, just smiled while admiring the expensive gifts sent by the Xuzhou army, while listening to Jiang Gan's bitter words, and in his heart he was thinking about how to send Jiang Gan, and then asked Pang Tong for advice, let Jiang Gan's saliva be dry, and his voice was hoarse, but he refused to let go and agree to the request of the Xuzhou army. And when Pang led Xu Shu and Mao Jue into the back hall, Liu Pan was stunned at first, and then said with a smile: "Mr. Shiyuan is actually here, it shouldn't be that he has drunk all the wine, right?" But it came just in time, as you estimated, the envoy of Xuzhou Tao Envoy Jun really came. ”

"I've heard about it." Pang Tong smiled, then turned to Jiang Gan, and said directly: "Mr. Ziyi, you don't have to waste your strength, go back and tell the pottery thief that he wants to borrow a knife to kill people, no way, we will definitely not be fooled." ”

"Huh?" Jiang Gan and Liu Pan were both in the same place, and then Jiang Gan quickly turned his gaze to Liu Pan and asked suspiciously: "General Liu, this gentleman is ......." ”

"It doesn't matter who I am." Pang Tong didn't give Liu Pan a chance to speak at all, and said to Jiang Gan: "Mr. Ziyi, I know very well your intentions, and I know better the purpose of the pottery thief, but we won't be fooled, Cao Jun is my enemy in Jingzhou, and we will try our best to intercept his way north, but if we can't stop it, no one can blame us, including our lord Liu Jingsheng." ”

Jiang Gan's face finally changed, he quickly jumped up, and said to Liu Pan: "General Liu, what is the reason for this gentleman?" Why did you sabotage the reconciliation negotiations between your and our armies as soon as you entered the hall, and after hearing for a long time, the general was strict in governing the army, and this gentleman was so rude and rude, didn't the general care? ”

"It's ......." Liu Pan also felt that Pang Tong's attitude was a little rough, but it was not easy to open his mouth to accuse directly, so he just looked up at Pang Tong, and his face was full of desire to speak.

"General, you know what you want." Pang Tong said quickly: "But Tong only wants to ask the general one question now, if the general makes peace with the Tao thief privately, blocks the Cao thief in Runan at any cost, and even allows the Xuzhou thief army to pass through our army's checkpoint, enter our army's defense area, and block the Cao thief's team from going north, then in the future, the lord and General Cai Mao and General Huang Zu will blame them, how will the general bear it?" ”

"This ......." Liu Pan was moved by Pang Tong's words, and began to calculate the consequences of making peace with the Xuzhou army - in the current Jingzhou army, only Liu Qi resolutely advocates friendly relations with the Xuzhou army, but Liu Biao is obviously very vigilant against the Xuzhou army, Cai Mao and Huang Zu, the real power figures in Jingzhou, hate the Xuzhou army to the core, although he can get some benefits from helping the Xuzhou army this time, but once Liu Biao, Cai Mao and Huang Zu are held accountable in the future, won't they have to eat and go around?

Seeing Liu Pan's hesitation, Pang Tong took the opportunity to walk in front of Liu Pan again, and whispered in Liu Pan's ear: "Besides, no matter how high the price of the pottery thief is, can it be higher than the Cao thief who is about to be cornered?" Tong brought these two people, one is called Xu Shu Xu Yuanzhi, and the other is called Mao Yu Mao Xiaoxian, both of whom are important ministers under the command of Cao Thief, and they have agreed to the conditions set by the general on behalf of Cao Thief - if the general is released, Cao Thief will use half of his property in his team as road money to buy money and give it to the general. ”

Many friends may not know Liu Pan's surname, the disputable General Liu Pan's favorite thing in his life is money, in order to get more money, in history, Liu Pan in the case of Jingzhou official army, still many times also took on the work of bandits and robbers, robbed the county seat adjacent to the station to fill his own pockets, and finally ran into Tai Shici, a big hard nail and suffered a big loss, so he did not dare to continue to work as a part-time bandit.

Greedy to this point, now that Boss Cao is willing to spend such a large price to buy General Liu Pan, Liu Pan is of course overjoyed, so after the secret joy, Liu Pan immediately nodded, turned to Jiang Gan and said: "Mr. Ziyi, I have made up my mind, although your two armies have not yet been at war, but the lord sent me to rescue Yuan Tan, which is equivalent to having fought against your army, so your army asked our army to intercept the Cao thief on his behalf, and I can't agree, please take away the gift brought by Mr." ”

Jiang Gan's face was gloomy, and he turned his head and glanced at Mao Ji behind Xu Shu viciously, Mao Jue, who was already in a mood, smiled slightly, glared back at Jiang Gan unceremoniously, and his murderous eyes intersected, as if a little spark was bumped out. - By the way, when Mr. Mao Jue sent an envoy to the Xuzhou army, he met Mr. Jiang Gan more than once.

Liu Pan didn't pay attention to Jiang Gan and Mao Jue's small actions, but continued to smile: "But the two countries are fighting, and if they don't kill them, I won't embarrass Mr., isn't Mr. going south to visit the lord of Pan?" Cheng, Mr. Ziyi can live in Ye County first, and when I report to the lord, and when the lord allows, Pan will immediately arrange for people to protect Mr. South. Come, please ask Mr. Ziyi to go to the pavilion to rest, so that he can be entertained. ”

The guards outside the door sang a promise, strode in and walked in front of Jiang Gan, and invited Jiang Gan to go to the post house to rest, but Jiang Gan sat still, the muscles on his face twitched, and when the guards urged again, Jiang Gan slowly shook his head, and said in a helpless tone: "I was said by Mr. Zhong Ming, and sure enough, Mr. Zhong Ming said it, my undefeated record in Xuzhou for foreign affairs was finally broken in my hands." ”

"What do you mean?" Pang Tong was a little curious and asked, "Who is Mr. Zhongming?" ”

"Yang Hong, Yang Zhongming." Xu Shu replied on his behalf: "The long history of Xuzhou, who is both greedy and lustful, likes sycophants the most, squeezes out his colleagues, frames Zhongliang, and is responsible for foreign affairs for the Tao thief. ”

"Mr. Zhongming is an incompetent rat?"

Jiang Gan smiled, Mr. Jiang Gan is indeed mediocre and incapacitated, but he has an advantage that even Deputy Director Tao, Jia Lao Poison and Yang Changshi and others are beyond their reach - never afraid of death! So Mr. Jiang Gan immediately sneered at each other: "If Mr. Zhongming is an incompetent rat? So what kind of rats are the civil servants in your Cao thief team? Back then, the important minister of your Cao thief team, Man Chong, went to Xiangyang with Mr. Zhong Ming, why was your Mr. Man Chong thrown into a prison car and escorted back to Xuchang, not Mr. Zhong Ming who was loaded into a prison car and escorted back to Xuzhou? ”

"It was just a fluke." Xu Shu sneered.

"Once it's a fluke, what about twice?" Jiang Gan sneered again and said: "Back then, in Jiyang, Cao Thief himself took the power of Guandu's great victory and led tens of thousands of troops to surrender in front of General Luyi's camp, Mr. Zhongming only brought two entourages, and he also surrendered in front of General Luyi's formation at the same time, and in the end, who took General Luyi's 30,000 troops?" If Mr. Zhong Ming is an incompetent rat, then what is your lord Cao thief? ”

Xu Shu was speechless, but Mr. Jiang Gan said with a painful expression: "In fact, when he went on an envoy this time, Mr. Zhong Ming had already said that it was impossible to succeed in this mission, and he didn't believe it yet, but Gan believes it now, Mr. Zhong Ming, he is really a clever and unpredictable prophet!" ”

"So powerful?" Pang Tong was even more curious, and hurriedly asked: "Mr. Ziyi, how can your boss Yang Changshi conclude that your mission is unlikely to succeed this time?" ”

"It's very simple, no matter how high the price we offer, it is impossible to be higher than the price of Cao Thief." Jiang Gan replied calmly: "The Cao thief is short of food and soldiers, but he is not short of money, especially the rare treasures he stole from the tombs of the ancients, so Mr. Zhong Ming has long asserted that no matter how high the price is publicly offered by the lord, the Cao thief will offer a higher price, and even take out half of the property of his Cao thief team to buy General Liu Pan in exchange for General Liu Pan to make way for him to let him go!" Therefore, it is impossible to succeed in this mission! ”

Liu Pan and Pang Tong glanced at each other in surprise, they were both extremely surprised by Yang Changshi's unpredictable prophet, who was like a god! Then Pang Tong asked more curiously: "Mr. Ziyi, since you know that you will lose, why do you still come?" ”

"We didn't lose! It's just me who loses! Mr. Jiang Gan was furious and shouted hysterically: "It's just me who loses!" It was I who disgraced the Xuzhou team to the lord, and our Xuzhou team did not lose! I dare to assert that if Mr. Zhong Ming is here, no matter how much gold, silver and jewelry Cao Thief promised to bribe General Liu, Mr. Zhong Ming will be able to turn the tide and turn defeat into victory! This time, you just won against the useless me, and you won't be able to win! ”

(To be continued)