"Why did the lord repeatedly interrogate the events of that night?" It has been a few days and Liu Qi suddenly brought it up again, Gan Ning, who was born as a water thief, was inevitably a little angry, and said angrily: "That night, the Xuzhou thief army did open the city gate in the middle of the night, but opening the city late at night is a taboo to defend the city, the Xuzhou thief army dared to do this, they must have been carefully prepared in the urn city, and the last general will not let the army take the opportunity to attack the city, but also for the sake of the lives of the soldiers!" ”

Liu Qi carefully observed Gan Ning's expression, and suddenly raised a question that had been hidden in his heart for a long time, and asked: "Xingba, have you considered this question, if there is really an ambush in Chaisang's urn city, then what about their defeated army?" If you don't let those defeated soldiers pass through the urn city, you can only die with our team entering the city, let them pass through the urn city, and our team can also follow into the city, is it possible that the Xuzhou thief army can bear to let their hundreds of elite soldiers and a small number of our troops die together in order to eliminate some of our teams? ”

"It's ......." Gan Ning really never thought about this problem, after thinking and recalling for a long time, Gan Ning suddenly came to his senses and said busily: "The Xuzhou thief army may be aimed at the last general, when the last general led the army to rush to the front, the Xuzhou thief army may want to lure the last general into the urn city to kill him, so he did not hesitate to sacrifice the remaining more than 100 defeated soldiers." ”

Of course, what Gan Ning said was the correct answer, in fact, after seeing Gan Ning's bravery that day, Yang Zheng, who was as black as his father, immediately made up his mind to kill Gan Ning at the expense of the remaining more than 100 elite soldiers, so he ventured to open the city gate at night. Unfortunately, this answer is extremely correct. But it was also an almost absurd answer, so Liu Qi immediately laughed and said, "Xingba, it's too exaggerated, right?" In order to kill you, can the Xuzhou thief army sacrifice hundreds of elite soldiers? ”

The arrogant Gan Ning's face immediately changed, clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and asked, "Lord, in this way, do you suspect that the last general deliberately indulged the fighter planes and deliberately refused to take the opportunity to attack Chaisang City?" ”

Liu Qi was speechless, but he was even more suspicious in his heart, and the situation was not good. Hurriedly stood up and played a round. said: "General Xingba, don't misunderstand, Gongzi is not suspicious of you, but someone in the army has spread rumors recently. Say that you deliberately refused to seize the opportunity to attack Chaisan City that night. The eldest prince summoned you to ask for an understanding. is also to refute the rumors for you and clear your innocence, don't misunderstand the good intentions of the lord. ”

"There are such rumors in the army? Why haven't I heard of it? Gan Ning asked unrelentingly.

"Xingba. Why don't you want to think about it, how dare others spread rumors that are not good for you to reach your ears? Kuai Yue asked with a smile.

Kuai Yue This can be regarded as a reasonable explanation, so after thinking about it carefully, Gan Ning reluctantly slowed down a little, and asked with a straight face: "Lord, Mr. Xenodu, what do you say?" Either believe my words, or let me go, lest you be afraid and suspect me of colluding with the Xuzhou thief army! ”

What else can Liu Qi and Kuai Yue say, there is no real evidence of Gan Ning's collaboration with the enemy in their hands, and now the battlefield of Chaisang is tight, and they need a fierce general like Gan Ning to help charge into battle and lead the army to kill the enemy, so Kuai Yue can only say good things, Liu Qi can only be comforted with a smile, and repeatedly emphasized that he absolutely believes in Gan Ning, and has no doubts about Gan Ning.

Gan Ning's heart was uncomfortable, and Liu Qi and Kuai Yue's hearts were even more uncomfortable, so as soon as Gan Ning's front foot came out of the sleeping tent, Kuai Yue's back foot scolded, "The gangster still exists!" Liu Qi immediately called his henchman Han Xi and ordered in a low voice in his ear: "Send more eyeliner and secretly keep an eye on this Jinfan thief, especially pay attention to his conversations with others and correspondence!" If there is any abnormality, report it to me immediately! ”

In a depressed mood, but also because there are some large siege weapons in hand, on the morning of the fourteenth day of the winter month, Liu Qi sent an army to attack Chaisang City again, but the result was worse than the previous day, from morning to evening stormed for most of the day, lost more than 1,000 troops, and no soldier could rush to the city wall, and the large siege weapons such as ladder cars, rushing cars, pointed wooden donkeys and trench bridge carts that had been built with great difficulty for more than ten days were all burned by the Chaisang defenders, forcing the Jingyuan coalition army to withdraw their troops. Liu Qi was furious but helpless, so he had to order the army to continue to build siege weapons and prepare to fight again another day.

In this siege, there was also an accident, Yuan Yaojun Yuan Yin and Liu Xun's team, who were responsible for attacking the south gate of Chaisang, refused to sell their lives in order to preserve their strength, and Yuan Yin and Liu Xun, who were barely united, only launched an attack each, and then no one refused to let the precious troops be wasted, and refused to send troops to each other, Liu Qi heard the report and came to the South Gate battlefield to ask Yuan Yin and Liu Xun to send troops to share the pressure for the main battlefield of Ximen, Liu Xun and Yuan Yin were very reluctant to send troops to attack the city, They only sent some old and weak soldiers to the city to perfunctory, rushing slower than anyone else, escaping faster than anyone else, symbolically playing a little role in the Jingzhou army.

Of course, these small actions of Yuan Yaojun did not hide the eyes of the Chaisang defenders, and found that the shouting of killing at the south gate was wrong, and after personally going to the south gate battlefield to observe the siege of Yuan Yaojun, Yang Zheng was immediately overjoyed, the Chaisang defenders had just repelled the Jing Yuan coalition army, and when the defenders were still cleaning the battlefield, Yang Zheng ran to the front of Qiao Rui, and said in a mysterious whisper: "Uncle, the little nephew has a plan, which can make Yuan Yin and Liu Xun retreat without a fight in a few days, give up joining forces with the Jingzhou army to attack Chaisang, and even turn against the Jingzhou army, It's not impossible! ”

"What is the letter of the virtuous nephew? Come on! Qiao Rui was also overjoyed, and said: "Uncle doesn't dare to expect Yuan Yin, Liu Xun and Liu Qi to turn against each other, just let them lead the army to retreat first!" If the allies leave without a fight, the morale of the Jingzhou army will be hit hard! ”

"How to do it, the little nephew will tell the uncle slowly." Yang Zheng said quickly: "Now please ask my uncle to start writing immediately and send a letter to Yuan Yin and Liu Xun." ”

"Bring me a silk pen." Qiao Rui did not hesitate, and asked again: "Virtuous nephew, how to write a letter?" ”

"The content is very simple, that is, to ask my uncle to persuade Yuan Yin and Liu Xun to withdraw from the army as old friends." Yang Zheng smiled and said, "Uncle can talk about the old days in the letter. Then pointed out to Yuan Yin and Liu Xun that the Jingzhou army was uneasy and kind, in addition to coveting Jiangdong and Huainan, but also coveting Yuzhang County, which Yuan Yaojun currently controlled, and then pointed out that in front of the Jingzhou army, Chai Sang and Yu Zhang were actually in a relationship of lip and tooth cold, and Chaisang was in Yuzhang to be protected, and Chaisang was dead and Yuzhang would be lost, and persuaded them to surrender Hailun and Nanchang, and not to give Liu Qi their lives again. ”

"Of course the content of the book is fine." Qiao Rui wondered, "But is it useful to do this?" With the personalities of Yuan Yin and Liu Xun, at most, they will be shaken. It's impossible to really retire? ”

"Uncle, don't worry. And that's just the first step. Yang Zheng replied: "In addition to these two letters, the little nephew also wants to ask his uncle to send Liu Qi a letter ......." But forget it, the letter to Liu Qi is more important, if the uncle doesn't mind. The little nephew is willing to ghostwrite for his uncle. Of course. After the book is completed, the little nephew will ask his uncle to look at it. ”

"What's the use of minding? Anyway, I don't have to listen to your kid's arrangement. Qiao Rui smiled bitterly. Nodding his head, he said, "You should be prepared too, act as soon as possible." ”

Without Qiao Rui's instructions, Yang Zheng will act as soon as possible, that night. Yang Zheng asked Qiao Rui to come forward to meet with the two seriously injured Yuan Yaojun soldiers who had been rescued before, and after giving the reward, he ordered the two to go out of the city with books and send them to Yuan Yin and Liu Xun's army respectively, but as Qiao Rui expected, Liu Xun and Yuan Yin only wavered slightly after seeing the letter, and did not decide to retreat. At the same time, the two soldiers of the Yuan army who sent the letter were also more lucky, and they were not punished to death by Liu Qi like Wang Qinian, Liu Xun and Yuan Yin did not blame them after they were captured because of serious injuries, but they just stayed in the army and continued to listen to them, and as a result, the fact that the Xuzhou army treated Yuan Yaojun's soldiers well also passed into Yuan Yao's army through the mouths of the two.

The matter is not over, the next day on the fifteenth day of the winter month, because of the exhaustion of large-scale siege weapons, the Jingyuan coalition army did not launch another siege, Yang Zheng seized this opportunity, at noon let Qiao Rui send his subordinate Cao Taoshao out of the city, under the pretext of negotiating peace with Liu Qi, out of the city to meet Liu Qi in the Jingzhou military camp with great fanfare. As a result, in order to understand the situation in Chaisang City and Qiao Rui's attitude, Liu Qi immediately met with Tao Shao as Yang Zheng expected, and after the meeting, Tao Shao solemnly saluted and presented Qiao Rui's handwritten letter to Liu Qi with both hands, but Liu Qi was dumbfounded when he opened the letter and looked at it carefully.

"Tao Gongcao, what does this mean?"

Liu Qi held up the letter and asked Tao Shao, Tao Shao was a little dumbfounded when he looked closely, it turned out that Qiao Rui's letter had been smeared in many places, and many words and sentences were painted with a brush to make it unrecognizable, which also made the whole letter impossible to read. Surprised, Tao Shao thought about it a little more, and soon understood the reason, and hurriedly apologized to Liu Qi: "Childe forgives his sins, I think it was Qiao Taishou who was negligent for a while and mistakenly put the draft in the envelope. Don't blame the son, fortunately, it is not far from the city, so the little envoy will go back to the city to get the original letter. ”

"Forget it, don't worry." Liu Qi put aside the waste letter, and then asked with a smile: "Tao Gongcao, if I'm not mistaken, you seem to be Xunyang Tao, right?" Qiao Rui was unjust, abandoned Xunyang and only guarded Chaisang, I don't know that the heirs of Gongcao's family also went to Chaisang City to avoid the military disaster? If not, Gong Cao can rest assured, I will send someone to take care of them, and I will also send someone to send them grain and rice ............ every month. ”

Pretending to talk to the local Tao Shao for a long time, Liu Qi talked with Tao Shao for a long time, and was about to turn his words to the topic, but there were soldiers outside the tent to report, saying that Yuan Yin and Liu Xun jointly asked to see, Liu Qi first ordered a meeting, and then instructed Tao Shao: "Tao Gongcao go back to get the original letter, by the way, tell Qiao Rui, I want to ask and can, his surrender is my only condition, he surrenders in Kaicheng, I guarantee his satisfaction, if he continues to be obsessed, refuse to surrender, After I break the city, don't blame me for being ruthless! ”

Tao Shao thanked him again and again, but Liu Xun and Yuan Yin jointly entered Liu Qi's account, it turned out that the two heard that Qiao Rui sent an envoy to negotiate peace, so they came to inquire about the situation, Liu Qi said with a wry smile: "Don't mention it, Qiao Rui is that old fool, he actually sent me the draft, so it was not negotiated at all." ”

"Qiao Rui is an old fool?" Yuan Yin and Liu Xun, who have worked with Qiao Rui for many years, glanced at each other, both of them were puzzled, and then Yuan Yin said: "Eldest son, we have worked with Qiao Rui for many years, and we know that he is a meticulous and cautious person, how could we send the draft by mistake?" ”

"I don't believe you." Liu Qi picked up the waste manuscript with a smile and handed it to Yuan Yin and Liu Xun to read, but it didn't matter if they looked at it carefully, after taking a closer look at the content, Yuan Yin and Liu Xun were immediately shocked - because of the smearing on the letter. In fact, most of the words involving Yuzhang and Yuan Yaojun, especially the words and sentences on how to deal with the land and city of Yuzhang, were smeared cleanly!

Yuan Yin and Liu Xun are not stupid, they are in the Jingzhou army, or in the most tightly guarded Liu Qi's Chinese army tent, Yuan Yin and Liu Xun are no longer suspicious in their hearts, naturally they don't dare to show it in person, they just return the letter to Liu Qi, and then say a few words of gossip and leave, Liu Qi is waiting in the camp for Tao Shao to send a letter to negotiate. As a result, Tao Shao never returned. Liu Qi expected that Qiao Rui would not accept his conditions for surrendering to Kaejo, so he refused to contact him again, although he hated it in his heart, he was helpless.

Night. Yang Zheng used the third step of his serial plan. Two messengers were sent out of the city overnight. First, send a messenger with a book to go out of the city from the north gate at night, carry gifts to the Jingzhou Navy Camp Village, and meet Zhang Yun and the Cai brothers, who are estimated to have recovered from their injuries. After the second watch, a messenger was sent out of the city from the south gate with a book. sneaked to Yuan Yaojun's camp to meet Yuan Yin, first of all, the content of the letters............

Let's take a look at Yuan Yaojun's side first, after the messenger sent by Qiao Rui arrived in Yuan Yin's camp, Yuan Yin, who was worried about the mysterious letter during the day, heard that Qiao Rui had another book, so he immediately met with Qiao Rui's messenger without hesitation, and asked with a broken face: "Why did Qiao Rui send you here?" ”

"Taishou ordered the villain to present the letter to the general, and there was no other explanation, only that the general would know it when he read the letter." Qiao Rui's messenger saluted, then held Qiao Rui's letter bag with both hands, and said: "General, the villain's mission has been completed, in order to prevent others from noticing, please also ask the general to allow the villain to leave immediately." ”

"Go ahead." For the sake of working with Qiao Rui for many years, Yuan Yin did not embarrass Qiao Rui's messenger, and let Qiao Rui's messenger leave with a wave of his hand, but when he opened it again and read Qiao Rui's letter, Yuan Yin's face suddenly changed, it turned out that this letter was not written by Qiao Rui, but a handwritten letter written by Liu Qi to Qiao Rui! After taking a closer look at the content, Yuan Yin not only changed his face greatly, but scolded loudly, "Liu Qi Pifu!" I'll fuck your mother's eighteenth generation ancestor! ”

Yuan Yin had no way not to be angry, on this 'handwritten' letter from Liu Qi, Liu Qi's armistice conditions to Qiao Rui were to ask Qiao Rui to hand over Chaisang City and withdraw from Yuzhang, and also to ask the Xuzhou Army to recognize the whole county of Yuzhang as owned by Jingzhou! This means that Liu Qi is ready to annex Yuan Yaojun, who has only Yuzhang County, left by force, or to swallow nothing of the belt bones! In a fit of rage, Yuan Yin immediately ordered: "Quick, immediately send someone to see Liu Xun and ask him to come here to see me overnight, I have a matter of life and death to discuss with him!" Also, bring me the handwritten letter that Liu Qi gave me! ”

The messenger who went to contact Liu Xun was sent out, and Liu Qi's previous secret correspondence with Yuan Yin was also found, and under careful comparison of the handwriting, Yuan Yin was even more angry, because the handwriting of the two letters was exactly the same, and it was definitely from Liu Qi's own handwriting! After confirming this, Yuan Yin was even more furious and scolded: "No wonder I want to deliberately smear the letter today, it turns out that it is for this matter!" ”

Yuan Yin's anger and helplessness were still behind, and he kindly sent someone to contact Liu Xun, but Liu Xun didn't trust Yuan Yin at all, and was unwilling to risk going to Yuan Yin's army in the middle of the night, and said that if he wanted to meet, Yuan Yin would have to go to Liu Xun's camp by himself. Yuan Yin had no choice but to go to Liu Xun's camp overnight. And Liu Xun was inevitably taken aback when he saw that Yuan Yin was really here, and hurriedly asked Yuan Yin what was going on, Yuan Yin didn't speak, and immediately handed Liu Qi's handwritten letter to Liu Xun, saying, "See for yourself!" “

"Liu Qi'er! I'll fuck your mother's eighteenth generation ancestor! After seeing the letter and carefully comparing the handwriting, Liu Xun's reaction was more intense than Yuan Yin's, and he immediately stomped his feet and scolded, and then immediately asked Yuan Yin: "Old Yuan, what should I do?" ”

"I've thought about it on the way to you." Yuan Yin replied in a low voice: "There are two ways, one is to immediately return to Haiyang and Nanchang, let Qiao Rui and Liu Qi Xiao'er fight, and keep our existing land and city." ”

Speaking of this, Yuan Yin simply attached to Liu Xun's ear and whispered: "Another way, just don't do it and keep going, set up a banquet in your and my camp tomorrow, lure Liu Qi to our camp, and sit on the map!" Then join forces with Qiao Rui to break the Jingzhou army, which can not only keep our land and city, but also exchange for the position of feudal marquis in the imperial court. ”

Things are too risky, Liu Xun hesitated a little, and hesitated: "Immediately retreat to Haiduan and Nanchang, Liu Qi will definitely not agree, his army strength is far above you and me, in case ......." The second method is more risky, if it fails, we ......, we ....... ”

At this time, a scout suddenly came in hurriedly outside the tent, knelt down on one knee in front of Liu Xun, and played with his fists: "General, villains and others were ordered to secretly monitor the camp of the Jingzhou Army and Naval Division. ”

"Went to the south of Poyang Lake?!" Liu Xun and Yuan Yin's faces turned white, because the south of Poyang Lake is the mouth of the Ganjiang River, and if the Jingzhou sailors take advantage of the favorable wind to go up the Shuojiang River, they can reach the city of Nanchang within two days! ——That is, to reach the city of Nanchang, Yuan Yaojun's old nest, which is already very empty!

"Fuck it!" Liu Xun kicked over the desk in front of him, turned to Yuan Yin and said, "Old Yuan, just do the second method you said!" You and I jointly made a book to contact Qiao Rui, asked him to act tomorrow, pinched Liu Qi'er, and you and I jointly invited Liu Qi to me for a banquet at noon tomorrow, and then acted according to the plan! ”

Here is a general introduction to the situation of the Xuzhou military envoy's contact with Zhang Yun and others, this time when contacting Zhang Yun and the Cai family brothers, Yang Zheng finally used his reputation, personally wrote a book to greet Zhang Yun's brother and the two Cai uncles, and presented valuable gifts in exchange for their favor, and then Yang Zheng pointed out to Zhang Yun and the Cai brothers in the letter that once Liu Qi succeeded in attacking Chaisang this time, then Liu Qi's position as the son of Jingzhou will be unshakable, and Liu Cong's succession will no longer be possible, and once Liu Qi becomes the lord of Jingzhou, Even if the Cai family and Zhang Yun can save their lives, their powerful position and glory and wealth will be gone forever!

After telling the Cai brothers and Cai's son-in-law about the danger, Yang Zheng saw the intimate relationship between the old Yang family and the old Cai family, and took the initiative to give Zhang Yun and the Cai brothers a foolproof good idea, that is, let Zhang Yun and the Cai brothers send a fleet to patrol the Ganjiang River Estuary under the pretext of discovering the enemy situation in the southern part of Poyang Lake. The Jingzhou army, whose morale was hit, had no hope of taking Chaisang, and Liu Qi, who dispatched most of the main force of Jingzhou and still couldn't take a small city of Chaisang, of course, never hoped to become the lord of Jingzhou.

Looking at the expensive gifts sent by Young Master Yang Zheng, and touching the buttocks that were still swollen and painful, Zhang Yun and the Cai family brothers, who hated Liu Qi so much, naturally made the smartest choice, and immediately led a fleet of sailors by Cai Zhong to the south, and set off for the south of Poyang Lake overnight. (To be continued......)