After listening to Xu Sheng's analysis, Mi Zhu's eyes lit up, and then he realized that the small and medium-sized official in the state pastoral mansion in front of Lu Dao, who was usually not good at speaking, turned out to be a talent.

Mi Zhu asked Xu Sheng: "What Wen Xiang said is reasonable, in your opinion, how should we organize all the soldiers and horses in the city to resist the Cao army?" ”

Xu Sheng pondered for a moment and replied: "In the city, Cao Bao's side is now the strongest, and all the soldiers and horses want to resist the Cao army together. It is necessary to strictly investigate suspicious people who enter and leave Tancheng to prevent rumors from spreading and causing trouble to people's hearts......"

Xu Sheng had never led the soldiers and horses to fight, and now he was chased and questioned by Mi Zhu, and he couldn't talk casually, so he had to say some of his opinions according to the content of the military book. After Mi Zhu heard this, he hesitated a little in his heart, feeling that with Cao Bao's ability, it may not be a good thing to concentrate military power in his hands.

"This matter will only be decided after I have consulted with several adults in the city. Since Wen Xiang knows the art of war, then stay and help me first, if you can't do anything, you can take your family with the Mi family to Yuzhou Mountain in Qu County to avoid trouble. ”

"Thank you for your kindness!"

In the evening, a group of hurried men came from outside the north gate of Tancheng and were stopped by the soldiers guarding the door.

The colonel guarding the city gate looked at this group of suspicious people vigilantly, and asked sternly: "Who are you waiting for, what is the so-called thing in Tancheng?" Why do you carry a sword with you? ”

Tai Shi Ci took off the sword from his waist and handed it to the person behind him, then took a few steps forward and took out two pure gold tokens from his arms. lit up in front of the little colonel guarding the door, and then said in a deep voice: "Do you see clearly?" This is the identity token of the Tancheng Liu family and the Donghai Mi family! ”

The little colonel guarding the city gate was a person from the Mi family in the East China Sea, who couldn't recognize the token in Tai Shici's hand, and hurriedly said with a flattering face: "The strong man is not strange to be rude, I will let the brothers let him go!" ”

A moment later, Tai Shi Ci entered Tancheng with dozens of followers.

Under the dim oil lamp, Mi Zhu grew out like pins and needles, and he still didn't know how to fight against Cao Cao's army that was gradually approaching Tancheng.

"My lord, there is a strong man from outside the house. Holding the first-class token of the Mi family and asking to see! The guards outside the door reported to Mi Zhu.

"Hmm. A first-class token? Invite someone into the living room, and the official will go to meet him. ”

Tai Shici followed the Mi family guards to the living room, and stood in the hall with extraordinary momentum, quietly waiting for Mi Zhu's arrival.

Less. A scribe in his early thirties and a long stature. Walked in with a haggard look on his face. He looked at Tai Shi Ci and asked, "Contemptible Mi Zizhong." I don't know where this strong man came from, how can he have a first-class token of my Mi family in his hand? ”

Tai Shi Ci clasped his fists and saluted Mi Zhu, and said: "Commander Tai Shi Ci in the Shenwei Camp in Xia Ji Prefecture." On the order of Liu Shiren's son, he came to Xuzhou to assist Mi Daren against Cao Jun! ”

"What, Tai Shi Ci? You are Taishi Ziyi, who defeated Yuan Shaojun in Jizhou? Mi Zhu was a little silent.

"It's down there!"

"Good! That's great! General Taishi came at a very timely time! Mi Zhu was so excited that he forgot to return the salute to Tai Shici, stepped forward and took Tai Shici's hand, refusing to let go.

After greeting the guest and host, Mi Zhu took Tai Shici to his study, explained to the guards outside the door, and then closed the door from the inside and never came out for a long time.

In the study, Mi Zhu carefully explained the changes in the situation in Xuzhou after Tao Qian's death to Tai Shici, and he was not obscure about the various forces in Xuzhou, and all of them were handed over. After Mi Zhu finished speaking, he looked at Tai Shici helplessly and asked, "The situation has deteriorated to this point, can it be reversed?" ”

Tai Shici nodded, and said confidently: "In the short term, I am afraid that it will not be possible to recover the Xuzhou County occupied by the Cao army, but it should not be a problem to hold Tancheng!" ”

When Mi Zhu heard this, his face softened slightly: "As long as Tancheng is held, the foundation of Xuzhou is still there, and the Cao army will loot near Pengcheng, Xiapi and Peiguo at most, and most of Donghai County and Langya County and Guangling County are still there, and there is still the possibility of competing with Cao Jun in the future." Now that time is pressing, I also ask General Taishi to give me advice and prepare to defend Tancheng as soon as possible! ”

Tai Shici nodded and said: "When I entered the city today, I carefully observed the walls and moats of Tancheng, which should be regarded as strong and precipitous, the Cao army has 50,000 soldiers and horses to besiege the city, and there are more than 30,000 defenders in the city, the comparison of the strength of the two sides is not huge, as long as the city is defended, the Cao army will not want to break through the city within half a year." At the moment, the biggest problem in defending Tancheng is not outside, but inside! Because the internal people are unstable, they will have no will to fight, and the soldiers will have no fighting spirit; Because the internal orders are not aligned, they do their own thing and hinder each other; Because of the internal intrigue, they calculate each other and are used by others! ”

There were no outsiders indoors, and Mi Zhu nodded and admitted the problems that Tai Shici pointed out unceremoniously, and did not explain the prevarication, with an expression of humility asking for advice on his face.

Tai Shici continued: "My coming to Xuzhou is not suitable for the time being, if you want to hold Tancheng, the private soldiers of the Mi family must be handed over to me to command, and on the surface, they will be commanded by the second son of Mi. The dozens of brothers who came with me are now hidden in the Liu family's mansion in the city, all of them are the battle-hardened captains and marquis of the Youyan Army and the Zhenwei Battalion, and I will place all of them in the Mi family's private soldiers, each commanding two or three hundred people. Your Excellency can rest assured that when this matter is over, these people I brought will return to Jizhou, and it will not affect the internal affairs of the Mi family. ”

Mi Zhu said without hesitation: "The Mi family has a total of 15,000 private soldiers, of which 10,000 are left in Tancheng and 5,000 are left in Qu County. ”

Tai Shici also said: "In my estimation, Cao Jun will arrive outside Tancheng within five days at the latest, Cao Jun is good at using divisive tactics, and is good at spreading all kinds of rumors, so from tomorrow, the city gate must be closed, and anyone who is idle must be prohibited from entering and leaving Tancheng, once rumors are found somewhere in the city, immediately mobilize troops and horses to arrest suspicious people!" ”

Mi Zhu looked embarrassed, hesitated and said: "There are six gates on all sides of Tancheng, including two gates in the east and west, and one in the north and south, and now the soldiers under Cao Bao are defending the two gates in the west, and the soldiers of my Mi family are defending the three gates in the north and east, and the soldiers of the Chen family are defending the south gate. ”

"It's easy! Tomorrow, my lord will gather in the state pastor's mansion to discuss matters, and then I will take my brothers to ambush in the back hall, if anyone does not agree to close the city, they will be directly detained on the spot and detained in the state pastor's mansion! ”

"What if Cao Bao doesn't agree?" Mi Zhu is a little weak-hearted.

Tai Shi Ci's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he said in a deep voice: "Hold it the same!" If he dares to resist, teach him to splash blood on the spot, and there will be no return! ”

"What else do you need to do after the lockdown?"

"Is Zhang Min, the one who attacked and killed Cao Song's family, still in the city?"

"Zhang Min is hiding in Cao Hongjun's army, and he has not dared to show up for half a month."

"Be sure to keep this person, I'll be of great use! In addition, to solve the danger of Tancheng, you need to spend some money on the Mi family, and please don't be stingy! ”

"If Tancheng can't hold it, no matter how much property in the city is, it won't fall into Cao Cao's hands in the end. If the general needs it, just ask me! Mi Zhu is very open-minded about giving up money to avoid disasters, and he is not ambiguous at all.

After a secret discussion between Tai Shici and Mi Zhu, a specific action plan was set, and when Mi Zhu came to open the door of the study, the expression on his face had already faintly revealed a little excited.

On the morning of the second day, Mi Zhu gathered to discuss the matter of resisting Cao, and all the civil and military officials in Tancheng were invited. Of course, participating in such a high-level meeting is not something that cats and dogs can come in casually, for example, the three brothers of Peach are barely qualified to enter the state pastoral mansion and sit at the bottom of the seat, while his two brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are turned away.

Zhang Fei wanted to go crazy in front of the gate of the State Governor's Mansion, but the soldiers guarding the gate of the Mansion were not afraid of him at all, and the soldiers were all holding crossbow machines at Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, with an expression that whoever dared to shoot would be killed. Guan Yu's eyes were sharp, and he could see at a glance that the crossbows in the hands of these soldiers were produced in the Youzhou Weapons Workshop, which not only had a fast rate of fire, but also had strong penetrating power, if he really forced the guards to be in a hurry, although Zhang Fei could kill a few people, he also had to leave a few holes in his body. The hero didn't eat the loss in front of him, Guan Yu dragged Zhang Fei and returned to the camp very depressed.

In the governor's mansion, civil and military officials have arrived. On the civilian side, Mi Zhu was the leader, with Zhao Yu, Wang Lang, Chen Deng, Sun Gan and others participating, and on the military general's side, there were Cao Bao, Zhang Min, and Liu Bei, and Cao Hong was left in the barracks by Cao Bao.

Mi Zhu first admitted with a guilty face that his younger brother Mi Fang made a serious mistake of leaving without a fight, and said that in order to make up for this mistake, the Mi family was willing to donate 50 million money to fund soldiers from all walks of life to defend Tancheng. Everyone saw that Mi Zhu's attitude was sincere, and there were benefits for nothing, so they were not embarrassed to attack Mi Zhu with Mi Fang's return without a fight.

After Mi Zhu took the initiative to admit his mistake, he suddenly changed his words, and Liu Bei and Cao Bao, who also abandoned the city and fled, were also severely criticized and merciless. Cao Bao and Liu Bei's faces were very ugly, but seeing that several civil officials in the hall were glaring at them very dissatisfied, they had to hold back and keep silent.

After Mi Zhu analyzed the painful lessons of the three lines of defense that collapsed at the touch or even without touch, he finally shifted the topic to how to defend Tancheng.

Mi Zhu said with a dark face: "It can be seen from the loss of Lanling that the Cao army is good at using the space, and every time before the siege of the city, he will send a fine work to infiltrate our city and spread all kinds of rumors. For this reason, this official ordered that from today onwards, all gates of Tancheng should be immediately closed, and personnel were strictly prohibited from entering and leaving the city. ”

"No! If the city gates are closed, the people in the city cannot retreat elsewhere, and what will happen if there is a disturbance? Chen Deng immediately objected.

"Closing the city gate is equivalent to cutting off the connection with the outside of the city, if the Cao army turns to attack other places in Xuzhou, dare to ask if the lord will send troops to rescue?" Liu Bei asked a very tricky question.

Cao Bao also shook his head and said: "Once the city gate is closed, Tancheng will become a lonely city, I am afraid that as time goes by, the soldiers and civilians in the city will have a rebellious heart." (To be continued......)