When the news of Cao Cao's eastward expedition to Xuzhou came, Tancheng was in a panic, and the forces of all roads in Xuzhou escalated from a secret struggle to an open struggle after Tao Qian's death, which further deteriorated the situation in Tancheng.

When Tao Qian was there, Xuzhou had the Danyang faction headed by Cao Bao, the Guangling faction headed by Chen Deng's father and son, the Taishan faction headed by Zang Ba, the Donghai local faction headed by Mi Zhu, the Langya faction headed by Xiao Jian, and the Xiapi faction headed by Di Rong, and later added a peach three brothers.

According to Tao Qian's instructions before his death, Cao Bao, who held the main military power in Tancheng, clearly supported Mi Zhu, while Chen Deng's father and son thought that Mi Zhu's ability could not control the situation in Xuzhou at all, so it was better to welcome Liu Bei to Tancheng to preside over the overall situation, and Zang Ba, who was stationed near Kaiyang, had a gloomy attitude and seemed to support Mi Zhu and Liu Bei. In addition to these three biggest forces, Langya Xiang Xiao Jian plotted against him and wanted to take the opportunity to proclaim himself the king of Langya, while Xiapi Xiang Rong was busy doing big things, building temples, and accumulating money.

Mi Zhu, who temporarily acted as the agent of Xuzhou, was overwhelmed by such a chaotic situation in the state, and wanted to resign from this thankless errand several times, but was persuaded by his younger brother Mi Fang. Mi Fang said to her brother, "Why is the eldest brother so flustered? Even if Xuzhou is not guaranteed in the future, as long as we rely closely on Lord Taifu and the eldest prince, Cao Cao will not dare to attack Tancheng and Qu County, and it is not Cao Bao and the Chen family who are unlucky in the end? ”

Mi Zhu thought carefully about his brother's words, and felt that it was not unreasonable, it was a big deal that a dead horse was treated as a live horse doctor, as long as Tancheng and Qu County were guarded, the Mi family's industry would not be damaged, and after this difficulty, maybe the Mi family would become the first wealthy family in Xuzhou.

Tancheng is the hometown of Taifu Liu Yu, the city still lives in the city with hundreds of Liu Yu's own family, and outside the city is buried from the East China Sea Gong King Liu Qiang below the ancestors of the Liu family, even if Cao Cao wants to let the entire Xuzhou people accompany his father to bury, but he does not dare to turn Tancheng into a dead city, otherwise it is equivalent to an irresolvable blood feud with Liu Yu's father and son.

Qu County is in the easternmost part of Xuzhou, close to the East China Sea. There is also a large island that can accommodate tens of thousands of people near the coast, called Yuzhou Mountain, the Mi family has already turned this island into their private property, and when the situation is really critical, all the clansmen and tribesmen can be transferred to the island, and then leave Xuzhou by boat. Besides, it has been more than a year since the news of the Mi family's desire to marry the Liu family in Tancheng has been released, and all parties have to weigh the attitude of the Liu family and his son in Youzhou when they fight the Mi family's idea.

Mi Zhu invited the celebrities Zhao Yu and Wang Lang to ask them to help him with advice. Resolve the current crisis in Xuzhou.

Zhao Yu said: "Cao Cao has been plotting Xuzhou for a long time, and now he is leading the army to conquer in person as the general of Zhengdong, and he is fighting under the banner of avenging his father, so he occupies a position and righteousness, and it is only impossible to avoid this war." ”

Wang Lang also said: "When Tao Envoy Jun was here, there was no harmony within Xuzhou, and all parties were fighting to and fro, and everyone was afraid of Tao Envoy Jun's reputation and did not dare to make some things bigger. Now Tao Envoy Jun is gone. But it left a mess, if there is no strong person to come out to preside over the overall situation, the split in Xuzhou is only afraid that it will be inevitable. ”

Mi Zhu said to the two of them with a melancholy face: "I also know the current situation in Xuzhou, but even if there are thousands of difficulties. Our generation can't sit idly by and watch the people of Xuzhou counties suffer misery and become the soul of Cao Jun's sword. I invite you two gentlemen here today, not to listen to your complaints and complaints, but to hear what else can be saved! ”

Zhao Yu pondered for a moment. replied: "With Xuzhou's current strength, it is impossible to defend against the enemy, so it can only choose some important cities for defense. You can send someone to order Yin Ping Liu Bei. Ordered him to lead the army to retreat into Lanling County, and ordered Pengcheng Prime Minister Xue Li to lead his troops into Wuyuan County, so that there was Zang Ba's army to cover the north of Tancheng, Liu Bei's army to protect it in the east, and Xue Li to defend it in the south, so Cao Bao could lead his troops and horses to defend Tancheng and reinforce the other three roads as appropriate. ”

Zhao Yu's proposition, to put it bluntly, is to sacrifice some places in Xuzhou close to Yanzhou, use space for time, take Tancheng as the center, shrink the defense line, build a ring defense system, and form an effective resistance to the Cao army attacking Xuzhou. There is nothing wrong with such a deployment, but the premise is that the troops acting as outposts must remain calm and composed, dare to fight hard with the menacing main force of the Cao Army with a small number of troops, and cannot be frightened by the momentum of the other side, let alone flee without waiting for reinforcements from the rear to arrive.

Judging from the current troops on the periphery of Tancheng, I am afraid that Zhao Yu's idea is a bit suspenseful......

Wang Lang suggested Mi Zhu and said: "Although Zang Ba is ambitious, his soldiers and horses are strong, and if he can win him over, he can provide reinforcements for Tancheng." It's better to send someone to make contact, and say that after this battle, we can jointly recommend him to the imperial court as the general of Pingdong, and he will be in charge of the military and political affairs of the entire Langya County! ”

Mi Zhu asked Wang Lang rhetorically: "If you promise Zang Ba a Pingdong general, what should you do with Cao Bao?" What about Liu Xuande? If Langya is returned to Zang Ba, where is Langya Xiangxiao built? ”

Wang Lang was speechless by Mi Zhu's question, and he didn't know how to answer.

When several people were frowning, Cao Hong rushed in, and he said loudly to Mi Zhu: "Brother Zizhong, something is wrong, Xia Pi Xiangzhu set up a banquet to kill Pengcheng Xiang Xue Li, and then fled from Xiapi with tens of thousands of people and more than 4,000 horses, and now he goes straight to Guangling!" ”

"What? There is such a thing! Mi Zhu was shocked when he heard this, and his heart was half cold. The two county ministers, one was killed, the other fled, and the southwest of Xuzhou was suddenly leaderless, and the situation of Tancheng became more dangerous.

Zhao Yu hurriedly said to Cao Hong: "Hurry up and inform Chen Yuanlong to come, Zhenrong fled to Guangling, and he had to rely on the Chen family to suppress it." ”

Historically, when Zheng Rong coerced the crowd to flee to Guangling, the Guangling Xiang at that time was Zhao Yu, he entertained Zhen Rong very kindly, but was killed on the spot by Zhen Rong pretending to be drunk.

When it comes to Rongrong, it's really a big scourge. As a native of Danyang, he and Tao Qian are authentic fellows, but none of the things that can be done are worthy of Tao Qian. At the beginning, Zhenrong gathered hundreds of people to come to Tao Qian, and Tao Qian appointed him as the minister of Xiapi, and also served as an important errand for transporting grain to Tancheng in the three counties of Guangling, Xiapi and Pengcheng.

After Zhenrong received the grain from the three counties and the tribute items from the feudal state, he did not send them to Tancheng, but filled his own pockets and took them for his own use. He asked people to build Buddhist temples everywhere in Xiapi County, and asked the people of Xiapi to chant Buddhist scriptures day and night, so that monks and Buddhists from nearby counties moved into Xiapi County, and there were more than 5,000 households. Every time the Buddha is born, Zhenrong will hold a "Buddha bathing meeting" to pave dozens of miles of road with cloth, spending hundreds of millions of yuan.

In history, the Taishou-level officials who were killed by the god stick of Zhenrong included Zhao Yu, Xue Li and Zhu Hao, and Tao Qian and Liu Xuan were also pitted by him.

Not long after, Chen Deng heard the news and came, and he had learned about the Zhenrong rebellion, so his face was very ugly when he came in. In history, even if Tao Qian, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao entered Xuzhou one after another, they never really controlled Guangling County, the reason is that the Guangling Chen clan is very strong in the local area, and outsiders cannot get involved at all. Now that Zhenrong has coerced tens of thousands of people and thousands of soldiers to break into Guangling, this is naturally a big trouble for the Chen family, and it is at a critical juncture in Xuzhou.

Chen Deng said to Mi Zhu: "Brother Zizhong doesn't have to worry about the matter of Zhenrong, I have sent someone to rush back to Guangling to report the news, with the strength of my Chen family in Guangling, I will never sit idly by and watch the scourge of Zhenrong run rampant!" ”

Mi Zhu listened to Chen Deng's words, and his heart was very uncomfortable, he wanted to tell Chen Deng that in fact, the Mi family's private soldiers in the East China Sea also had 10,000 or 20,000, and they would not necessarily lose to the Guangling Chen family, so he couldn't say such big things to scare people.

Zhao Yu said to Chen Deng: "I have heard that Yuanlong is very witty, I don't know what countermeasures can be taken against Cao's army to attack Xuzhou this time?" ”

Chen Deng thought to himself that you guys were discussing countermeasures behind my back, but now I heard that Zhen Rong ran away and Xue Li was killed, so he thought of me when he had no idea, what did he do earlier?

Chen Deng frowned and thought for a moment, and said: "The only plan for today is naturally to unite all kinds of soldiers and horses, build several lines of defense west of Tancheng, implement the strategy of clearing the wilderness, and consume the strength and morale of the Cao army layer by layer, and when the Cao army attacks under Tancheng, it will not be able to continue the attack." ”

"Yuanlong, can you elaborate on that?" Mi Zhu asked.

Chen Deng continued: "Specifically, let Liu Xuande's soldiers and horses be stationed in Yinping as the first line of defense; Let Zang Ba send his subordinates Sun Guan and Wu Dun to Lanling County as the second line of defense; Let Cao Bao lead the army into Xiangben County as the third line of defense. After the front line of defense was defeated, he quickly withdrew to the back line of defense, and when all three lines of defense were breached, General Cao could lead the three remaining troops and horses to withdraw to Tancheng, and use the cover of Tancheng to hold on! ”

Mi Zhu listened for a long time and figured out one thing, that is, the Guangling Chen clan would not send a single soldier this time, but Mi Zhu couldn't blame Chen Deng, because the Chen family now has to deal with the defector Zhenrong......

Zhao Yu asked Chen Deng: "What if Zang Ba doesn't listen to the dispatch and refuses to send troops?" ”

Chen Deng looked at Mi Zhu and said indifferently: "I heard that Mi Da has more than 100 million people, and there are tens of thousands of private soldiers in Qu County, and the second son Mi Zifang is both civil and military. ”

Mi Zhu was expressionless, sneering in his heart, and finally saw Chen Deng's intentions clearly.

Because of the urgency of the situation, Mi Zhu could not tolerate too much hesitation, although he knew that this time he was calculated by Chen Deng, Mi Zhu still stubbornly said: "Yuanlong's proposal is very good, in order to defend Xuzhou, my Mi family is willing to make sacrifices!" (To be continued......)