"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and experienced it myself, I wouldn't have dared to imagine that there was such a cunning and vicious thief in the world! When Yuan Shao and I fought upside down, you lived and died, he hid behind and watched the excitement as the grass on the wall, and when Yuan Shao and I fought to the point of defeat, the injury could not be injured again, and the blood could not flow anymore, this thief immediately came to pick up the cheap, rushed faster than anyone else, and had the face to play the banner of avenging the father-in-law and the edict of Cao! I can't figure it out, what kind of environment can cultivate a super slippery head like Tao Ying? Super Thief?! - Cao Lao said.

"There are some of my colleagues who are more ruthless than me, some throw poisonous snakes at the nail households' homes, some hire energetic social organizations to entertain the nail households, and some dig pits and irrigate water next to the nail households' houses, soak in soft foundations and force the nail households to demolish and relocate, I am not as immoral as they are to the point of extinction of people's surnames, so I usually cut off water and electricity, and cut off the circuit, and arrange for developers, neighborhood committees and uniformed comrades to take turns to fight, fatigue bombing, and when the nail households are exhausted and have no strength to make any more trouble, I will come forward to demolish and relocate. However, my superiors also criticized me, saying that my methods are so weak and courageous, which will be very detrimental to my future, but I think that being a human being is still a bit of a bottom. ——Deputy Director Tao's words.

Whether Deputy Director Tao is an incompetent public servant whose conscience has not been eaten up by dogs, what kind of environment has cultivated Deputy Director Tao's bad surname, we will not study these issues in detail, in short, after taking Chen Liucheng, he only rested in the city for two days, as soon as the rear army brigade arrived in Chenliu, the forward army composed of the Junzi Army and Xu Huang's cavalry immediately marched to the southwest, taking Wei Shi and Yan Ling to smash Xuchang, and Deputy Director Tao himself personally led the main army to calmly go south, saying that he traveled fifty miles, Unhurriedly killed Xuchang.

The strength of the Xuzhou army to Xuchang this time is not too much, plus the rear army Chen to the team who escorted grain and grass, the total strength is just over 50,000, but in terms of the elite of the team, it is already the first in the world! Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Xu Huang, Chen Dao, Lu Yi, Tai Shici and Gao Shun and other world-class generals all participated in the battle, plus the most insidious Jiangdong assassin Ma Zhong, it can definitely be regarded as a gathering of stars and talents.

In terms of the army, the invincible gentleman's army is enough to make any enemy jump in the center of the field, trap the camp and attack everything, the first camp is invincible, the wind feather army can withstand the frontal impact of any enemy, the Xuzhou cavalry composed of the remnants of Jiyou, Bingzhou and Xiliang iron cavalry as the backbone of the core, has been able to compete with any cavalry on the battlefield, and finally plus the more and more terrifying old Tao family old ace gentleman army, as well as the brave and tenacious Langya Taishan soldiers, it is no exaggeration to say, In terms of combat effectiveness, these 50,000 Xuzhou troops are already on a par with the elite soldiers of the Cao army during the Battle of Guandu!

There must be an excellent commander to lead the elite generals, and there must be clever strategists and military advisors to give advice and formulate tactics, otherwise a sheep leading a group of lions may not be able to defeat a group of sheep led by a lion. But it's a pity that this aspect is precisely the strongest point of the Xuzhou army, starting with the army of eight hundred gentlemen, fighting in the east and west, conquering the north and south without tasting a defeat in a hundred battles, the army is getting stronger and stronger, the more and more you fight, the more you fight, the more you fight, the more you fight, the bigger the territory, if you dare to say that Deputy Director Tao is an incompetent leader of a violent organ, I am afraid that Deputy Director Tao's rival Cao Boss will be the first to spray him to death with saliva!

In terms of strategists, although the number of strategists in the Xuzhou army is not as good as that of Cao Jun, two of them, Chen Deng and Lu Su, who are both civil and military, have not yet come to the Xuchang battlefield to participate in the battle, but the remaining few are enough to make Cao Boss salivate and have a headache. Jia Lao's poison is a last resort, his strategy and tactics are first-class in the world, and he is especially good at winning by surprise, one person is enough to contend with the entire Cao army strategist group; Liu Ye is good at analysis and judgment and improvisation, and also has unique expertise in ordnance manufacturing; Xun Chen's reputation is not as good as that of the fourth brother Xun Yu, but he has never had the opportunity to perform, and his eloquence is very good, and he is the best at reversing black and white and believing in female yellow; Shiyi is even less famous, Boss Cao has not even heard of his name before, but Boss Cao firmly believes that with Deputy Director Tao's ability to recognize people, Shiyi can become one of the four major military advisors in Xuzhou as a demoted official, and he is definitely not a good person!

Oh, I almost forgot, there is another character who gives Boss Cao a little headache - our heartthrob Yang Hong Yang Changshi! Since Yang Changshi was in charge of Xuzhou's foreign affairs, the achievements of the Xuzhou army in foreign affairs are not inferior to the battlefield record by half a point, no matter how close Cao Boss's comrades-in-arms, as long as Yang Changshi goes to his territory, Cao Lao's own brother can also become an enemy who kills his father! Therefore, Boss Cao will inevitably be secretly worried, if it is really time for Cao Jun to ask for help from outsiders, and Deputy Director Tao also uses his diplomatic killer Yang Changshi, then how can Cao Jun's team defeat Yang Changshi, the number one diplomatic liar in Xuzhou, on the diplomatic battlefield? !

In the face of such a terrifying enemy, in the face of such an impeccable and dangerous enemy, no matter how heroic and good the Cao army team is, how resourceful and resourceful Cao Boss and his strategists are, genius, and clever calculations, to this point there is nothing to do, Cao Boss and a group of strategists racked their brains, and they couldn't think of any way to defeat Deputy Director Tao, a despicable enemy who was extremely evil, the only thing Cao Boss could do was to concentrate the last strength to defend the city of Xuchang and wait for change. At the same time, in order to give himself a little more usable soldiers, Cao Boss was also forced to recall the 3,000 main soldiers in Cao Ren's team, leaving only some old and weak soldiers to guard the black nest, and draw a paper tiger to intimidate the Jizhou army that may go and return.

The tragic open terrain in the east of Xuchang doomed the Xuzhou army not to be afraid of the ambush and sneak attack of the Cao army - with the world's first gentleman army in mobile ability in hand, the Xuzhou army did not sneak attack the Cao army did not have time to withdraw the team in Xuchang City, and the Cao boss should sing Amitabha. Because of this, Deputy Director Tao simply took only four days to lead the army from Chenliu to the Xuchang battlefield, although the granary was also placed in Yanling City, the main battalion was arrogantly arranged in the northeast position only ten miles away from Xuchang City, far closer to Xuchang City than the main camp of Yuan Sangong.

On the night when the Xuzhou army arrived at the Xuchang battlefield, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Xuzhou army to come to the village and not be stable, Cao Boss once sent the general Zhang Liao to lead the army of 3,000 to try to rob the camp at night, but unfortunately Zhang Liao's team had just left the city, and the dark place outside the city was full of gongs, and fireworks flew into the sky, and then, the Zhao Yun cavalry team that had been prepared for a long time swept to kill, and Zhang Liao's team fought in the night, and at the same time, Tai Shici's team also urgently got up and assembled, and went to the camp to prepare for battle, and the other Xuzhou troops continued to sleep heavily, Despised Cao's army to the extreme, Zhang Liao saw that the Xuzhou army was well prepared, so he had to quickly retreat, and went back to Xuchangcheng to scold Deputy Director Tao for being cunning with Cao Boss - why didn't he even give him a chance?

The next morning, the Xuzhou army continued to seize the time to cut down and build a village, Deputy Director Tao left Liu Ye, Shiyi and Gao Shun, Xu Huang and others in the camp to command the construction of the village, personally led Jia Lao poison, Xun Chen and a large number of elite soldiers, and took more than 1,000 Cao army prisoners who had been captured in Dingtao and Chen Liu, and swaggered to the east gate of Xuchang. The neat team is mighty, the swords and guns are like a forest, the flag is like the sea, the silver helmet and silver armor of Deputy Director Tao who sits on a horse and a big chariot are shining under the rising sun, and the bad taste of the military song of the Junzi Army and the "No Clothes" military song of the Danyang soldiers complement each other, one after another, the whole army is full of spirit to the extreme, and the morale is also high to the extreme.

When the news reached the Prime Minister's Mansion, although Boss Cao, who had a lot of gray hair in a few days, guessed that Deputy Director Tao wanted to answer with him, he did not dare to slack off, in addition to leading a group of henchmen and civil and military forces to hurry to the east gate, he also ordered the four gates of Xuchang to be fully guarded, so as not to take the opportunity to sneak attack the famous and shameless Deputy Director Tao.

After waiting for a long time in the east gate of Xuchang, Deputy Director Tao's army arrived at the city of Xuchang, set up a firm position three hundred steps away, and pushed more than 1,000 Cao army prisoners to the front of the formation, and then Deputy Director Tao's two horses came out of the battle, and Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and Tai Shici rode horses to follow, and a Xuzhou cavalry rode to the city, shouting that Cao Boss came out to answer. Boss Cao did not hesitate, immediately stood out of the city, pointed to Deputy Director Tao's two-horse cart, and scolded unbearably: "Tao Ying! You are the world's number one shameless thief, taking advantage of the fire to rob, despicable! You still have the face to see me?! ”

"Prime Minister Cao, my father-in-law is injured and can't speak loudly, so I'll answer you for him." Xu Chu, the number one voice in the Xuzhou army, opened his mouth and said loudly: "My lord asked the prime minister rhetorically, he sent troops to fight for thieves with his clothes and edicts, and also avenged his father-in-law's original communiqué, how can he be shameless?" So despicable again? ”

"Wounded?!" Boss Cao laughed angrily, laughed and said: "If you are injured, you can also lead your troops to travel thousands of miles, break my Dingtao and Chen Liu?" Why didn't you Tao Ying kill the thief without a ruptured wound and died? ”

"My lord's words." Xu Chu quickly said loudly: "Although he has injuries on his body, state affairs are bigger than private affairs, and national hatred is greater than family hatred, so he came with injuries, and the death date of your Cao thief has also arrived!" ”

"Shameless!" Boss Cao wanted to scold Deputy Director Tao for being just a fraud, but there was no evidence, and he didn't want to engage in a pointless battle of words, so he could only scold Deputy Director Tao for being shameless.

"Cao thief! Listen up! Xu Chu designated Cao Boss with a big knife, and shouted: "My lord said, he has already figured out your situation, the previous battle of Xuchang, although you won by trickery, but your accomplice lackeys also suffered heavy losses, the army in Xuchang City was sharply reduced to less than 35,000, and most of them were wounded, although our army did not want to take advantage of the danger of others, but the matter of King Qin's escort and edict to fight thieves was heavier than Mount Tai, and he couldn't care so much!" Today, my lord wants to ask you, what are your plans for my Xuzhou army to come to the city? ! ”

"The pottery thief's cheek is even thicker than me and the big-eared thief, and he has taken advantage of the danger of people to this point and said it so high-soundingly, justifiably." Boss Cao praised it, and sneered loudly: "Ask me what I plan?" He should be trying to kill the thief, right? ”

"You guessed it!" Xu Chu, who received the guidance of Deputy Director Tao, said loudly: "My family lord gives you two choices, one, you leave the Son of Heaven and the Chinese military officials, and my family lord's brother Tao Shang, get out of Xuchang with people who are willing to go with you, my family lord can not hunt you down, or let you and your team take away your family and all personal property!" Afterwards, my lord will also intercede for you in the Son of Heaven, asking the Son of Heaven to forgive you for your previous sins in the past few years, but whether the Son of Heaven agrees to forgive you or not depends on the Holy Judgment! My lord doesn't give you any guarantees! ”

Deputy Director Tao's consistent good credit has had an effect, because he knows that Deputy Director Tao likes to be a hypocrite and never breaks his word, after listening to Deputy Director Tao's condition, Boss Cao was inevitably a little hesitant for a while, and even a little tempted. But at this moment, an obscene voice sounded in the civil official team behind Deputy Director Tao, shouting: "Meng Degong, don't agree, don't agree!" ”

"Huh?" Everyone including Deputy Director Tao turned around in surprise, but saw that the person who shouted to persuade Boss Cao not to surrender turned out to be Yang Hong Yang Changshi, one of the most important ministers among the civil officials in Xuzhou, Yang Changshi's expression was nervous, and he shouted seriously: "Meng Degong, don't agree, I followed the lord to Xuchang, just to prepare to copy your home, if you agree, I won't have a chance to copy your home!" ”

The generals in Xuzhou burst into laughter, and Deputy Director Tao laughed dumbly, but he was not angry-because Yang Changshi's words also had the effect of demoralizing the enemy somewhat. And Boss Cao on the city wall was really angry and shouted: "If you want to raid my home, it depends on whether you have the ability to do it!" ”

"Whether we have the ability to do this, Meng Degong, you know very well in your heart." Deputy Director Tao finally spoke, and said loudly: "The first choice I gave to Meng Degong is just to repay Meng Degong for his life, if Meng Degong insists on rejecting my kindness, then I also have a second choice to Meng Degong - hand over my brother, and then I will attack the city, set foot in Xuchang, and completely annihilate your Meng Degong's last main force!" ”

"Fight, fight, I'm still afraid of you, a thief?" Boss Cao said angrily: "Hand over my son, I will exchange hostages with you, and then fight with peace of mind and fight to the death!" ”

"Master Cao Ang, I didn't bring it." Deputy Director Tao said calmly: "But I also have good intentions, Meng Degong, you hand over my brother now, after the city is broken, even if you Cao Mengde is buried on the battlefield, I will forgive your eldest son Cao Ang, give him a bite to eat, and leave a root for your Cao family." But of course, only if my brother's family is safe. ”

"The potter is safe now and will always be safe." Boss Cao said proudly: "You want to see him, if you break through this Xuchang City, your brothers will naturally be able to reunite, as long as you have the ability to break the city!" ”

"I took a look at it just now, Xuchang City is indeed very strong, but for me, it is not difficult to break the city." Deputy Director Tao said slowly: "And I also know a siege tactic that you have never seen before, if I show it, Meng Degong, you can't resist it at all." ”

"Oh, can you tell me about it?" Boss Cao sneered, his expression was very disdainful, but he was extremely vigilant in his heart - after all, Deputy Director Tao was not a master who liked to brag.

"Did you see those POWs?" Deputy Director Tao did not disappoint Boss Cao, and said directly: "Some of them were captured by our army in Changyi, and some were captured by our army in Dingtao and Chenliu, all of them were loyal to you Meng Degong and refused to surrender to join our army, and I didn't kill them, because I knew a siege tactic from ancient times - use knives, guns and leather whips to expel these prisoners, and all the Yanzhou people around Xuchang who could be caught, act as the vanguard for our army and attack the city. Break through Xuchang in one fell swoop! ”

Boss Cao's face turned pale, and the civil and military officers of Cao Jun's side next to Boss Cao also turned pale, Xun Yu simply stood up and scolded: "Tao thief, if you do this beast act, the sky will not spare you!" ”

"Mr. Wenruo, it seems that you are not qualified to scold me as a beast, right?" Deputy Director Tao sneered and said: "I'm just driving the captives to attack the city, compared to the atrocities you did in Xuzhou back then, who is more like a beast?!" ”

Xun Yu was speechless, Boss Cao's face became even darker, but Deputy Director Tao said: "But don't worry, there are also the big Han people in Xuchang City, you can also rest assured, although Cao Mengde has done beast acts, I will not follow him, so I will not slaughter the city, nor will I force those soldiers who refuse to surrender to attack the city, I brought them today to prepare to return them to you, and when our army withdraws, I will release them all and let them choose their own way." ”

"You thief, can you have such a good heart?" Boss Cao asked in disbelief.

"When did Xuzhou Tao Envoy Jun break his promise?"

Deputy Director Tao asked with a smile, and whispered a few words to Xu Chu next to him, Xu Chu immediately opened his loud voice, and roared like thunder: "Listen to the soldiers of the Cao Army in Xuchang City, my lord is benevolent and righteous, and now announce an order, in the event of a war, once you are captured by our army, no matter who it is, our army will treat it well, and let you choose your own way out after the war, those who are willing to surrender can be incorporated into our army, and those who are unwilling to surrender will be given dry food for the journey, so that you can go there if you are willing to go!" ”

The military order echoed, and the nervousness on the tired faces of the soldiers in Xuchang City suddenly slowed down a little, but Boss Cao, Xun Yu and others came to their senses and scolded together: "Destroy the thief, dare to slow down our army's heart?!" ”

"It's not that you're slowing down your military spirit, I really pity these soldiers in Xuchang City." Deputy Director Tao replied solemnly: "If I didn't guess wrong, with Meng Degong's temper, you should have spread rumors in the army a long time ago, saying that after our army broke the city, it would inevitably slaughter the city for revenge, and would also kill all the prisoners of war to avenge the Xuzhou soldiers and civilians back then." I announced this military order and immediately released these prisoners of war, just to tell all the big Han people in Xuchang City that I will never kill any big Han people at will, and there is only one enemy in Xuzhou, that is, you, who killed countless Xuzhou soldiers and civilians, Cao Mengde! ”

Boss Cao's face became more and more pale, knowing that Deputy Director Tao's move was to dissipate the morale of the army and prevent the last main force of the Cao army from fighting the trapped beasts, but he was helpless against Deputy Director Tao's heart-attacking tactics. At this time, Deputy Director Tao yawned and said: "If you are injured, you won't be accompanied, give Meng Degong a little time to think about it, our army will come to attack the city again, the first road I give Meng Degong, Meng Degong can go at any time, for the safety of the Son of Heaven, the door of our army will always be open to Meng Degong's peace messenger." ”

After saying that, Deputy Director Tao waved his hand and said, "Collect the troops and release all the Cao army prisoners." All the civil and military forces in Xuzhou sang a promise together, surrounded by Deputy Director Tao's carriage and turned around, and at the same time ordered the release of all the Cao army prisoners, so that the more than 1,000 Cao army prisoners could choose their own way out.

The Xuzhou army swaggered away, and the Cao army team that had been seriously injured did not dare to catch up, including Dian Wei and Xiahou Yuan, who were fierce generals, did not go to Cao Boss to ask for orders to fight, but just watched the Xuzhou army go away with different expressions, but those Cao army prisoners of war who had to get out of the cage quickly thundered with joy after the initial shock, and then most of the captives ran to the city of Xuchang, shouting and begging Cao Boss to open the city gate, so that they could enter the city and return to the banner of Cao Boss.

"Prime Minister, the released soldiers of our army ask to enter the city, is it allowed?" Cao Ren, who was guarding the east gate, asked.

"Prime Minister, be careful." Several Cao Jun civil and military officers reminded: "The pottery thieves are deceitful, and you need to be careful to take the opportunity to sneak into Xuzhou to make a fine work." ”

"Prime Minister, if these prisoners of war are allowed to enter the city and reorganized into the army, then our military morale will be in danger." Cheng Yu also reminded: "Now the strength of our army is already inferior to the pottery thieves, if these prisoners of war who were released by the pottery thieves are pretended to be benevolent and righteous into the city, and spread the pottery thieves' trick of buying the hearts and minds of the captives kindly, and weakening the morale of our army, then our army will have no chance to turn defeat into victory." ”

"They must be allowed into the city!" Xun Yu said loudly: "These prisoners of war are loyal to their lords, refuse to surrender to the pottery thieves, and after being released by the pottery thieves, they asked to return to our army but were refused, what will these prisoners of war think?" What will my sergeants in Xuchang City think? That is a fatal blow to the morale of our army! These captives must be brought back, and they all need to spend some time identifying them! ”

"Open the city, let these loyal soldiers of our army return to the city." Boss Cao said lightly: "After they enter the city, they don't have to be screened, and they are directly incorporated into our army to participate in the defense of the city." ”

"But if you don't screen it carefully, what if you get mixed up in Xuzhou Xizuo?" Xun Yu asked in surprise.

"It's better to mix in a few fine works than to lose the morale of the army." Boss Cao replied helplessly: "These soldiers are loyal to me, they refuse to surrender to the pottery thieves for their lives, and when they return to my banner, they have to be strictly screened, and interrogating whether they have secretly surrendered to the pottery thieves is not the biggest insult to these loyal and brave soldiers?" ”

Xun Yu and Cheng Yu and others were silent, Cao Ren also whispered his fists and sang a promise, and went down to the city to act according to the order, but Cao Boss hammered the arrow buttress with a heavy fist, hating and scolding: "Dog pottery thief, the conspiracy is simply out of the blue, knowing that he is straining the morale of our army and shaking my military heart, but I can't even refuse!" ”

"Actually, we should also be glad that if Yuan Shao had half the cunning of the pottery thief, then our army would have been finished a long time ago." Xun Yu smiled bitterly, and then wondered: "Huh? Why are there Xuzhou thieves coming over? ”

Cao Boss and the others looked up in surprise, and saw that there were two more Xuzhou cavalry flying horses in the distance, and before they could get close to the city wall, the two Xuzhou cavalrymen had already shouted one after another, "General Cao Hong, please General Cao Hong come out and answer!" "General Zilian, please ask General Cao Zilian to come out and answer."

"Why are you telling me to answer?" Cao Hong was confused, but he didn't know what was going on, so he had to stand out of the city with everyone's surprised eyes and say loudly: "I'm Cao Hong, what's the matter?" ”

"General Zilian, I was in a hurry just now, and my family forgot a major event." An obscene-looking Xuzhou cavalryman said loudly: "May I ask General Zilian, where is your mansion in Xuchang City?" ”

"Chengnan Xiejie, what's wrong?" Cao Hong replied even more confusedly and asked rhetorically.

"It turned out to be in the south of the city, thank you general." Another more obscene Xuzhou cavalry nodded, and explained: "That's the case, the villain's name is Li Lang, and he is the captain of the personal army of Lord Yang Hong, the governor of Xuzhou, and my lord asked us to ask about the location ............of your mansion, because we have heard that in addition to Prime Minister Cao Cheng in Xuchang City, your family is the richest in your family, so let's ask the location first, and after our army breaks through the city, my lord can also send someone to protect your home, so as not to be robbed by the rebels, and it will be convenient to raid it in the future." ”

Before Li Lang's words were finished, Cao Hong had already picked up the bow and arrow in anger, but Li Lang and Wang Wu, the two veterans, had already returned to their horses and ran, shouting as they ran, "General Zilian, don't worry, it will definitely be the two of us who will lead the team to raid your home, and we will definitely not intimidate your family members when the time comes." ”

The feather arrow was shot, and the force fell ten steps behind the running Li Lang, and the laughter of the soldiers of the Cao army also sounded up and down the city wall of Xuchang, and the number one iron rooster in the Cao army Cao Hong was embarrassed, scolding, and the haggard Cao Boss also showed a smile for the first time in a few days, and said secretly in his heart: "Even the two ordinary pottery thieves are so confident, in the pottery thief team, will there be a heart to underestimate the enemy, and give our army a chance?" ”

"Lord, the pottery thief team seems to be a little underestimated." Xun Yu also came up and said in a low voice: "Although the release of the captives is to dissipate the morale of our army, it is enough to prove that the pottery thief is full of confidence in this battle, and feels that this battle will be won. If our army wants to create a miracle and defeat the strong with the weak, I am afraid that it can only make a fuss about the lax thinking of the pottery thieves and the pottery thief team. ”

A cold light flashed in Boss Cao's eyes, and he nodded slowly.

(To be continued)