In the end, under great pressure, Mi Zhu adopted Chen Deng's suggestion and sent someone to Kaiyang to give Zang Ba an order, ordering him to send 10,000 soldiers and horses to Lanling to defend Cao's army, and ordered Liu Bei, who was stationed in Yinping, to block the first round of attacks from Cao's army. In order to show his support for Mi Zhu, Cao Bao also led 10,000 soldiers and horses to leave Tancheng and enter Xiangben County to build the last line of defense.

After Chen Deng returned to his residence, he said to Jian Yong, who came to visit: "I can only help Xuande Gong to this point." You immediately return to Yinping now, tell Xuande Gongtan City about the incident, and ask him to find a way to delay the time of Cao's army's attack and win some more fame and hearts on the front line. After he retreated to Lanling, if the garrison was under the command of Zang Ba, he would find a way to win it over, and if it was the private soldiers of the Mi family, he would let him consume more. The key step is to retreat to the third line of defense in Xiangben County, and be sure to get rid of Cao Bao and take all the Danyang soldiers under his command. If you can do this, Xuzhou will naturally belong to Xuande Gong! ”

Jian Yong clasped his fists and saluted Chen Deng, and said: "Jian has thanked Yuanlong for Xuande's help, and after the matter is completed in the coming day, he will be grateful!" ”

Chen Deng asked Jian Yong: "Can you tell me now, who else should be in Xuzhou besides Sun Qian?" ”

Jian Yong hesitated slightly, and replied: "Zhao Beijia and Zhang Min are friends with Xuande. ”

Chen Deng nodded, and Jian Yong hurriedly left Tancheng and hurried back to Yinping.

A few days later, Zang Ba, who was stationed in Kaiyang, received an order from the direction of Tancheng, and he gathered several henchmen such as Sun Guan, Wu Dun, and Yin Li to discuss countermeasures together.

Zang Ba, also known as Nu Kou, the word Xuangao, is a native of Huaxian County, Taishan. In historical records, he was a famous general of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, and Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", commented on him: "Li Tong, Zang Ba, Wen Ping, Lu Qian Zhen Weizhou County, and Weihui." In other words, Zang Ba's ability and merits are on a par with the famous generals Wen Ping, Lu Qian and Li Tong.

When Zang Ba was young. His father, Zang Jie, was a prisoner in Fei County, because he obeyed the law and did not obey Taishou, and only killed prisoners based on his personal likes and dislikes, which caused Taishou to be angry, and this Taishou found a crime and put Zang Jie in prison.

Zang Ba was eighteen years old at the time, and after he learned that his father was framed and imprisoned, he gathered more than a dozen diners to go to Xishan in Fei County to wait on the side of the road to escort Zang Jie, and then ambushed the escort team, rescued his father, and killed this Taishou on the spot. At that time, there were more than 100 guards escorted, and they all fled because they were afraid of Zang Ba's ferocity. After that, Zang Ba fled to Donghai County with his father, and after this incident, Zang Ba's reputation for filial piety and courage spread throughout Xuzhou and Yanzhou.

During the Yellow Turban Uprising, Zang Ba was subordinate to Tao Qian, defeated the thieves, and worshiped as a cavalry captain. Later, Zang Ba collected troops in Xuzhou, and gathered troops with Sun Guan, Wu Dun, Yin Li, etc., and Zang Ba was the commander, stationed in the Kaiyang area. Self-contained.

Zang Ba saw that several of his henchmen had arrived, so he said: "Tao Envoy Jun has just passed away, and Cao Cao led the army to attack, although Zhang Min did not do it properly to attack and kill Cao Song's family. But Cao Cao's plot against Xuzhou is also well known. If Cao Cao successfully captures Tancheng, we will also face the danger of destruction next, so I think we should follow Mi Zhu's order to send troops to Lanling to defend against Cao's army. ”

Sun Guan Zi Zhongtai. He is a native of Taishan, Yanzhou, and when he was young, he traveled with Zang Ba to the state and county, and he was Zang Ba's most trusted brother. He is also the first fierce general under Zang Ba, he saw that Zang Ba intended to resist the Cao army, and immediately echoed: "What the general said is very true, although the Cao army is powerful, we are not alone, as long as we work together, we will definitely let the Cao army have no return, and hate Xuzhou!" Sun is not talented, he is willing to be the vanguard and lead the soldiers and horses to Lanling to resist the Cao army! ”

Wu Dun and Yin Li saw that Zang Ba and Sun Guan had a resolute attitude towards the battle, and they did not say anything against it, and expressed their willingness to follow Zang Ba to meet Cao Cao.

Zang Ba had 25,000 soldiers and horses under his command, in addition to garrisoning several county towns near Kaiyang, there were 10,000 troops that could be drawn, so he appointed Sun Guan as the main general, Yin Li as the deputy, and rushed to Lanling County with 10,000 soldiers to defend urgently.

At the same time as Zang Ba sent troops, Jian Yong, who returned to Yinping, brought good news and bad news to Liu Bei. For Liu Bei, the good news is naturally that the three-line defense line countermeasures proposed by Chen Deng have been adopted by Mi Zhu, and the bad news is that Liu Bei has to rely on his 5,000 soldiers and horses to support Yinping for at least half a month to more than a month, and he can't retreat in the direction of Lanling immediately.

Liu Bei came to Xuzhou, and he fought the idea of taking over Xuzhou, but after he reached the worst, he was calculated by the old thief Tao Qian, and now there are only two ways in front of Liu Bei: either hurry up and continue to flee to the south with the soldiers and horses, or stay and gamble. In the face of the huge temptation, Liu Bei finally chose to stick to Yinping and start a war with the powerful Cao Cao!

Liu Bei is mixed up until now, in addition to the two brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, there are Jian Yong, Liu Deran, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping are available, Tian Yu was originally working in front of Liu Bei's account, but some time ago he was replaced by his own Liu He with Liu Deran. In addition to these big fish and small shrimp, Zhao Yu, Sun Qian and Chen Deng in Tancheng are not his subordinates, at most they are political partners.

In fact, in history, Liu Bei really started after he took refuge in Liu Biao in Jingzhou and stationed in Xinye. Before that, Liu Bei was like a wandering hyena, with a few loyal subordinates everywhere, looking for one backer after another, from Youzhou, Hebei Province all the way to the south......

Liu Bei said to a few of his subordinates with a worried face: "The Cao army came prepared this time, our army only has 5,000 numbers, but the other side has 50,000 numbers, with the defense situation of Yinping City, this battle is really dangerous!" ”

Guan Yu is known to be resourceful and proficient in the way of using troops, he carefully observed the topographic map near Yinping for a while, raised his head and said to Liu Bei: "The Cao army has been converging in Xue County, and it will arrive in Yinping in five days at the latest, and on the way from Xue County to Yinping, Cao Jun needs to pass through Qi County and Changxi County, in order to delay the movement of Cao Jun, you can send people to these two counties to spread rumors, saying that wherever Cao Jun passes, there are no chickens and dogs, so that the people will flee eastward, block the road, and can buy a few more days." After the people of the two counties fled to Yinping, we organized them and took them to Qixian County, which is located between Yinping and Lanling, and organized them to dig trenches outside Qixian County and dig hidden tunnels in the city. On the day when Cao's army arrived in Yinping, after a little resistance, our army immediately withdrew to Qixian and blocked the pursuing Cao's army in Qixian. ”

Zhang Fei understood Guan Yu's intentions, nodded and said: "Second brother means to deliberately show weakness to Cao Jun first, so that Cao Jun thinks that we dare not confront head-on, fuel Cao Jun's arrogance, and then fight back with all his might in Yu County, so that Cao Jun can't figure out our reality and reality?" ”

Guan Yu said: "That's exactly what it means. The first battle of the Cao army must be very cautious, we are weak and invincible, so we deliberately show the enemy weakness and paralyze the Cao army. Moreover, Qixian is closer to Lanling, the second line of defense, and if it is critical, our army can quickly get rid of Cao's pursuit. ”

Liu Bei then adopted Guan Yu's strategy and immediately sent people to Qi County and Chang Xi to spread rumors, and at the same time transferred the valuable belongings in Yinping City to Qi County overnight.

In Xue County, which is 100 miles away from Yinping, at this time, the flags are dense, the army is gathered, and there is a busy and tense atmosphere. Cao Cao's 50,000-strong army for the eastern expedition to Xuzhou had been assembled a few days ago, and preparations were underway for the next few days before the battle against Xuzhou.

Outside the tent of the Chinese army, a large banner of "General Cao of the Eastern Expedition" was hung high on the towering flagpole, showing that the commander who led the army on this expedition was Cao Cao, the general of the Eastern Expedition.

"General Qiyu, the 20,000 soldiers of the front army are ready for battle, and they can be pulled out immediately!" The vanguard general Cao Ren reported loudly to Cao Cao, who was sitting on the main seat.

"General Qiyu, the 10,000 soldiers of the left army have finished preparing for battle...... "Xiahoudun, the commander of the left army, and Cao Zhen, the commander of the right army, reported to Cao Cao in turn.

Cao's army dispatched 50,000 people this time, known as 100,000 troops to the outside world, including 20,000 forward troops, led by the general Cao Ren; The Left Route Army was 10,000 men, led by the general Xiahoudun; The Right Route Army was 10,000 men, led by General Cao Zhen; The Chinese army was 10,000 men, under the direct command of Cao Cao. The military advisor Xi Zhicai went to Cao Ren's camp to temporarily assist Cao Ren, Xiao gave Li Dian and Lu Qian to Cao Ren as deputy generals, Cao Hong and Xiahou Shang were on Cao Cao's side, and military advisors Xun You and Liu Ye remained as staff officers of the Chinese army.

Cao Cao saw that the armies of all walks of life were ready, so he said in a deep voice: "Everyone, Tao Qian's old thief killed my parents and brothers, this hatred is not shared, even if he dies because of fear, this general will crush his bones and scatter ashes, and destroy the Tao family, so as to vent the hatred in his heart!" ”

The generals then shouted together: "Wash Xuzhou with blood, destroy Tao!" ”

The military advisor Xun You then said: "I have just received a secret report that Mi Zhu, the current person in charge of Xuzhou, has mobilized soldiers and horses to build three lines of defense west of Tancheng, of which the first line of defense is led by Liu Bei's three brothers to garrison Yinping County with 5,000 soldiers and horses, the second line of defense is led by Sun Guan and Yin Li in the 'Taishan Four Kou' and Mi Zhu's brother Mi Fang to lead 15,000 soldiers and horses to defend Lanling County, and the third line of defense is led by Cao Bao to defend Xiangben County with 10,000 soldiers and horses. In addition to these three lines of defense, there were still 10,000 horses left in Tancheng, led by Cao Bao's brother Cao Hong. ”

After Cao Cao listened, Da Lu smiled and said: "What Mi Zhu Xiao'er can do is just this little carving insect skill!" The three lines of defense he built this time seem to have a large number of soldiers and horses, and they are on a par with our army, but in fact, they have their own thoughts, and they are not able to confront our army head-on! ”

Xi Zhicai suggested: "In my opinion, Liu Bei's garrison of Yinping City has limited troops, as long as our army attacks in a big way, it can be taken down in one drum, and the first line of defense in Xuzhou is not enough to worry about." What may hinder our army is the second line of defense garrisoned by Sun Guan and Mi Fang, because after Liu Bei retreats, he will inevitably enter Lanling, and the defenders of Lanling will have nearly 20,000 at that time, and our army should not be careless. The lord might as well send someone to Kaiyang to recruit Zang Ba, and promise Zang Ba heavy benefits, even if this matter fails, it can also separate the relationship between Sun Guan, the general of Lanling, and Liu Bei and Mi Fang. ”

Cao Cao adopted Xi Zhicai's suggestion and ordered the vanguard general Cao Ren to immediately lead an army to attack Yinping City, and at the same time sent an envoy to Kaiyang to win over Zang Ba. (To be continued......)