The Lujiang reinforcements led by Liu Kai left Hefei City and walked away from the city. They walked less than sixty miles away like a turtle. They immediately fled back to Hefei City like a rabbit. The Gentleman Army, who was fighting the vanguard, sent the news back to Tao Ying. Deputy Director Tao, who was leading the main force in Xuzhou, was stunned. The main force in Xuzhou came to seek a decisive battle with the Lujiang reinforcements of Xiao Yuan Sangong. Now that the Lujiang reinforcements have fled back to Hefei City, how can the main force in Xuzhou fight? We can't attack Hefei City to fight a time-consuming and labor-intensive battle?

At the same time, in order not to waste his energy, Tao Ying could only let the main team of Xuzhou set up camp fifty miles north of Hefei, stop and rest, and ordered the Gentleman Army not to attack Hefei, and retreat twenty miles to set up camp, and always reconnaissance the movements of the enemy in Hefei city. At the same time, Tao Yingshao, who was cautious and suspicious, was not allowed to interrogate the prisoners in person and understand the reasons why Liu Kai suddenly retreated.

The captives of Yuan Shu army that the main force in Xuzhou were of course the escaped fish of Zheng Bao's team who were killed by the Gentleman Army. Unfortunately, these little fish and shrimps didn't even know why Liu Xie's main force abandoned them, let alone explain to Tao Ying the reason why Liu Xie suddenly withdrew from Hefei City. So after Tao Ying interrogated, he only learned that these prisoners came from Zheng Bao's team of Sima of the Lujiang Army. When Liu Xie led the main force to retreat, he did not order Zheng Bao's vanguard team to retreat. No one knew the real reason why Liu Xie's main force suddenly retreated.

"Is Liu Kai scared by our army? Through the scouts and horses, he discovered the news that our army's main force was heading for the south. He did not dare to confront our army's main force, so he quickly escaped?"

This is the preliminary conclusion drawn by Deputy Director Tao, but this cannot be blamed for Deputy Director Tao’s arrogance. The key is that in the memory of Deputy Director Tao, there is no such person as Liu Kai. Naturally, he will not treat Liu Kai as a dangerous opponent to be vigilant and guard against it. The accomplices and lackeys under Tao Ying almost all think so. Especially Hou Cheng, who recently joined the Xuzhou army, and the former generals of Lu Bu army, were even publicly clamoring, "Liu Kai must be afraid. Yuan Shu’s Jiujiang Army and Liyang Army have been defeated by us. The Lujiang Army is not even as good as the Liyang Army. Do you have the courage to confront the main force of our Xuzhou army?"

The Lujiang reinforcements led by Liu Kai were definitely not the opponent of Xuzhou's main force. Tao Ying believed this, but the main force of the Lujiang army withdrew from Hefei City, which made Tao Ying very embarrassed. He wanted to attack Hefei City, but he was afraid that it would take time to change in the future. If he did not attack Hefei City, he would directly withdraw from Quyang. Then the tactics of defeating Yuan Shu's reinforcements would go bankrupt. In a dilemma, Deputy Director Tao, who has always been resourceful, could not help but feel that he could not make a choice.

Of course, as the saying goes, good people don’t live long. Bad guys live for thousands of years, and the sky doesn’t open their eyes. Just when Deputy Director Tao was hesitating and difficult to break, more than ten Yuan Shu soldiers came from outside the camp. They took the initiative to hand over weapons to the Xuzhou army and begged Tao Ying to receive him, saying that there was a secret report. Tao Ying knew that there was something wrong with him and immediately met him. Only then did he realize that all the surrendered soldiers were servants of Zheng Bao, a wealthy family in Lujiang, and the leader was Zheng Jie, the eldest son of Zheng Bao, the steward of Zheng Bao. Zheng Jie’s purpose of seeking Tao Ying was not other. He was secretly requesting surrender for Lujiang generals Zheng Bao and Deng Dang. At the same time, it was to be an insider to assist the Xuzhou army in taking over Hefei.

How suspicious our Deputy Director Tao is, there is no need to talk about it here. In short, after hearing Zheng Bao's confidant Zheng Jie's intention to come, Deputy Director Tao's first reaction was not to be ecstatic, but to be careful and stare at Zheng Jie's face and asked: "Your master Zheng Bao and I have never known each other, and there is no kindness and affection. Why do you want to take this strange risk for me? As an insider?"

Zheng Jie was stared at by Deputy Director Tao's sharp eyes and replied tremblingly: "I don't know that my master Zheng was a wealthy family in Lujiang. Because he was dissatisfied with Yuan Shu's thief to impose a heavy tax on his own, he intends to lead his old family to move to Jiangnan. Unexpectedly, the news leaked. Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, personally led his troops to surround our master's manor, wanted to arrest and imprison, and disband the Zheng family's private soldiers. Fortunately, Mr. Liu Ye, a famous Huainan scholar, had a good friend to our master, and arrived in time to mediate, persuaded our master to lead his family soldiers to submit to Liu Xun's common man, and was granted the title of Sima of the Lujiang Army. Our master had no intention of rebelling. Who would have thought that Liu Xun's common man was uneasy and wanted to get rid of my master with the help of the envoy..."

After briefly introducing Zheng Bao's background, Zheng Jie introduced the story of Liu Kai's murder with a knife in detail, which showed that Zheng Bao was forced to surrender when he was desperate. Finally, he kowtowed and said, "Encourt, every word that Caomin said is true. If the envoy does not believe it, you can ask the prisoners captured by the army. The Lujiang teams that had fought with the army before were all private soldiers of my lord Zheng Bao, and they all knew the causes and consequences of my lord Zheng Gong being forced to surrender to Liu Xun's husband. Please check carefully. If the villain said half a lie, he would rather receive the punishment of the car splitting."

Seeing that Zheng Jie's expression was not deceitful except for being nervous, and when he heard Zheng Jie's boldness to boast about such a whim, Tao Ying had already believed it in his heart. However, out of suspicion, Tao Ying couldn't help asking again, "It's all Zheng Bao's original private soldiers? After Liu Xun took over your team, did he not reorganize it? After breaking up, it was reorganized?"

"Report to the envoy, no." Zheng Jie replied honestly: "My lord Zheng Baogong accepted Liu Xun's official position. The prerequisite is that he could not reorganize or reorganize the team under his command. Liu Xun's common man refused to agree. Thanks to Mr. Liu Ye's strong mediation, he persuaded Liu Xun's common man to accept this condition. At that time, Mr. Liu Ye was in front of the two armies. Everyone in the private army of our lord saw this with his own eyes, and the envoy could also ask others."

"It seems to be true." Tao Ying murmured in his heart, and asked curiously: "Mr. Liu Ye? Who is this Mr. Liu Ye? Who is this Mr. Liu Ye? Such a powerful person, can he convince Liu Xun to accept such conditions?"

"Report to the envoy, this Mr. Liu Ye is not an ordinary person." Zheng Jie replied proudly: "Mr. Liu Ye is a royal family member of the descendant of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty! His poems, songs, astronomy, geography, medicine, fortune-telling, and astrology are all familiar with each other. He is famous in Huainan area and has extraordinary prestige. He will shake if he stomps his foot on Lujiang! Mr. Liu Ye came forward to persuade and mediate, and Liu Xun dared not to give him face. He also hired Mr. Liu Ye as the governor of Lujiang County. This time, Liu and his husband led their troops to fight, and Mr. Liu Ye also served as the military officer!"

"So amazing? Liu Ye? Why have I never heard of it?" Tao Ying was a little strange, but considering the great skill of the Liu family in making man-creating kung fu, it was not surprising that there were some outstanding talents among the descendants whom he had never heard of. So Tao Ying quickly put this question aside for a while. After careful consideration, Tao Ying ordered Zheng Jie, "You go down and rest first, wait for me to discuss with the generals, and then give you a reply. Come. Please ask General Zheng Jie to rest, have good wine and food to entertain."

Seeing that Tao Ying was friendly and nervous, Zheng Jie was of course overjoyed. He quickly kowtowed to Tao Ying and went to the back tent to rest without mentioning it. As soon as Zheng Jie left, Tao Ying immediately sent the army leader Bo Chen Ying to interrogate the prisoners, interrogated the prisoners of war that Yuan Shu army had caught before, and verified whether Zheng Jie's words were false. The result was natural. All the prisoners' confessions proved that Zheng Jie did not say a lie. After confirming that what Zheng Jie said was true, Tao Ying no longer hesitated. He immediately ordered the entire army to continue south and head straight to Hefei City, and asked Zheng Jie to lead more than a dozen defeated soldiers to return to Hefei City overnight to contact Zheng Bao. He expressed his willingness to accept Zheng Bao's surrender. After breaking through Hefei City, he would definitely reward Zheng Bao.

It was also out of caution. When handing the letter to Zheng Jie, Tao Ying explained with concern, "When you go back, tell General Zheng Bao that you must be cautious in your actions, and never let the news leak out and cause disaster for the family to be destroyed! Even Mr. Liu Ye, who is a friend of your family, must not let him know about this in advance, be careful of the people's hearts and stomachs. But don't hurt Mr. Liu Ye. Since Mr. Liu Ye is a famous scholar in Huainan, if he can surrender to our army after the city is broken, it will be a blessing for our army." Zheng Jie agreed respectfully, carefully hid Tao Ying's secret letter in close proximity, and led more than a dozen Zheng Bao's absolute confidants to bid farewell overnight.

After seeing off Zheng Jie and his group of leaders, the next morning, the main force of Xuzhou set off and continued to move south. He arrived at the suburbs of Hefei around Shenshi in the afternoon. At the same time, Tao Ji also led the Gentleman Army to join Tao Ying and reported that Zheng Jie and his group had successfully returned to Hefei City. Tao Ying was even more happy after hearing this, and quickly ordered the army to set up a camp ten miles outside the north gate of Hefei. While preparing siege equipment, he was patiently waiting for Zheng Bao's reply.

There was an unexpected situation. Just when the main force of Xuzhou was preparing to attack Hefei City, Lu Su, who was staying in Quyang, suddenly sent a quick horse to send a letter of emergency, saying that it was the enemy of Xuzhou army, Liu Huangshu, who made a comeback. He organized more than 20,000 mobs in Runan and crossed the river from Xiacai area to south. However, Yuan Shujun did not stop at all and sent a large number of food, grass and weapons to Uncle Liu, which seemed to be inclined to join forces. As soon as this letter was read, Lu Su's new urgent letter had been delivered to Tao Ying, saying that Uncle Liu's team had crossed the Feishui camped on the east bank, and was only about thirty miles away from Quyang!

"The big-eared thief is not dead? He has even brought up so many teams?"

After more than half a year, he finally received the news from Uncle Liu. Tao Ying was of course very surprised. The Lord Bo Chen Ying, who was beside him, said anxiously: "Lord, the team of the big-eared thieves is 20,000, and our army has only 6,000 defenders in Quyang City. Should we go back to Quyang immediately to prevent it?"

"No hurry." Tao Ying shook his head and said confidently: "Although the Da'er bandits have a large number of troops, the city of Quyang is quite strong. Zi Jing and Wen Xiang are also very capable of commanding troops. In a short period of time, it is unlikely that the Da'er bandits will break through Quyang. Moreover, Zang Ba is also stationed outside the neighboring Yinling City. Even if Quyang is in a hurry, Zang Ba can return to Quyang to assist in the battle within half a day."

"But both generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are brave enough to be unstoppable. Generals Zang Ba and Xu Sheng are afraid that they are not their opponents." Chen Ying reminded with confidence: "And there are Yuan Shu's main force in Shouchun and Yinling's Qiao Rui's team around Quyang, and they may also be involved in the battle to attack Quyang at any time. The pressure on the military advisors and the others will inevitably be greater. If Quyang makes any mistakes, our main force will become an isolated army without food and assistance."

It is said that Tao Ying was not worried that this was fake, but the attack on Hefei is about to be attacked. Not only will the retreat be wasted, but the Lujiang reinforcements led by Liu Kai would also take the opportunity to go north and join forces with the main force of the northern line of Yuan Shu army, so that the Xuzhou army would lose the opportunity to defeat each team of Yuan Shu army forever. So after thinking about it for a while, Tao Ying still gritted the bullet and said, "Do this happen, send a letter to Lu Su and Zang Ba each, so that Zang Ba immediately gave up the task of restraining Qiao Rui and withdrawing Qu Yang to help guard and prevent the situation; let Lu Su stick to Qu Yang, only guard the city and not fight, persist for seven days. Within seven days, our main force of the army will definitely return to Qu Yang to rescue!"

Chen Ying agreed and quickly picked up his pen to make a book. Tao Yingze got up and walked to the door of the big tent. Looking into the direction of Hefei in the distance, he muttered in his heart, "The journey from Hefei to help Quyang is 220 miles, and the soldiers must retain their physical strength to fight. At least three days to complete these 220 miles, which means I only have four days to take Hefei City, Zheng Bao and Deng Dang, your movements must be fast."

………………………………………

Let’s take a look at the situation of General Zheng Bao. After General Zheng Bao and Deng Dang fled back to Hefei City at night, Liu Kai opened the door to accept the defeated troops of Zheng Bao and Deng Dang, but abandoned Zheng Bao. Deng Dang was not guilty of anything, and even turned around and insisted that he sent a messenger to order Zheng Bao to withdraw his troops, asking Zheng Bao why he did not execute the order immediately after receiving the order, resulting in a great defeat in the vanguard? Poor General Zheng Bao was full of anger. He almost fought with Liu Kai on the spot. Fortunately, Liu Ye and Deng Dang held it tightly, and persuaded and explained it. Liu Kai changed his words and believed that his messenger was robbed and killed by the scouts of the Xuzhou army. He no longer pursued Zheng Bao's crime of delaying the military opportunity. Zheng Bao was thinking about leading the way. He temporarily accepted this conclusion, but he hated Liu Kai even more.

Immediately afterwards, Zheng Jie brought Tao Ying's secret letter back to Hefei City. Seeing that Tao Ying accepted his surrender, Zheng Bao was of course very happy and quickly asked Deng Dang to discuss how to sacrifice the city. Deng Dang secretly said to Zheng Bao: "We have to contact Tao Envoy again for this matter, and agreed on time and secret code for sacrifice, and then act on schedule. Otherwise, we will take action in the city, and Tao Envoy was rushed outside the city. If the time cannot be caught up, your and my head will be on the ground."

"Then why should I contact Tao Envoy from the city?" Zheng Bao asked worriedly: "Now the defenses of the four gates of Hefei are all in the hands of Liu Qi's husband's confidants. Can't my people go out of the city?"

"It's okay, I have a way." Deng Dang whispered: "My team happened to be on duty by Liu Kai on the North Gate City. You and I can prepare for the reception first. When it's my team's turn to be on duty at night, we can use a rope to secretly put the messenger down the city and let him contact Tao Jun."

"Okay, when will it be my turn to be on duty at night?" Zheng Bao asked happily.

"Tomorrow night." Deng Dang replied: "Brother, please write a reply to the envoy Tao first. We agreed to call the gong at the third day after tomorrow night with a gong. We will open the city gate together and connect the envoy Tao's team into the city. Tomorrow evening, let Zheng Jie disguise himself as my soldiers and go to the city and deliver letters to the city at night."

Zheng Bao was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly picked up his pen to write a letter, and agreed to contact Tao Ying with a secret code and time to do it. Deng Dang said with concern: "Brother, Tao Jun is a suspicious person and may not necessarily trust you and me. Therefore, in your letter, it is best to introduce the grievances you and my brothers suffered after returning to the city to Tao Jun in detail, so that Tao Jun will believe in your and my sincerity in surrender."

Thinking of the anger when Liu Kai turned his head down, Zheng Bao was full of anger, and immediately nodded in agreement, and then picked up a pen to tell him about the unfair treatment he received after returning to the city. At the same time, Zheng Bao remembered Tao Ying's advice brought back by Zheng Jie, and introduced Liu Ye again to reconcile the conflict between him and Liu Kai. After the city was broken, he would definitely persuade Liu Ye to surrender to the Xuzhou army. Deng Dang had also heard of Tao Ying's advice brought back by Zheng Jie. Seeing Zheng Bao writing in this way, he did not agree. He just laughed at Zheng Bao's nagging and wasting his pen.

The Huainan Party led by Zheng Bao was very smooth. On the evening of the next day, and on the evening of the second day when Xuzhou's main force arrived in the suburbs of Hefei, Zheng Bao's absolute confidant Zheng Jie first sneaked into Deng Dang's team, and then climbed the North Gate Wall of Hefei under the guidance of Deng Dang. Then, when it was late at night, Zheng Jie secretly slipped down the Hefei wall with the help of Deng Dang's brother-in-law, swam across the moat, and disappeared into the night outside the North Gate City of Hefei under the cover of night. However, Yuan Shu's guards in Hefei were unaware of this...

………………………………………

Looking forward to the stars and moon, he finally waited for the news of the party leading the way. Tao Ying, who was secretly anxious about Qu Yang's safety, was of course relieved. He ignored the fourth update of the night and immediately put on his clothes and got up in the big tent to meet Zheng Jie who risked his life to deliver the letter. After meeting, Tao Ying didn't even have time to open the letter of Zheng Bao sealed with wax oil, and couldn't wait to ask Zheng Jie: "How is it? Are General Zheng Bao and General Deng Dang confident that they will accept our army into the city?"

"Reporting to the envoy, I dare not say that I am 100% sure, but at least 70% to 80% sure." Zheng Jie replied honestly: "My lord Zheng Baogong still has 729 people in Hefei city, and General Deng Dang has about 400 people. It may be difficult for more than a thousand troops to cut off Liu Xie's head, but if the city gate is just opened, it should not be a big problem."

"Very good." Tao Ying nodded with satisfaction and asked worriedly: "So how many people know about this? Did General Zheng Bao keep it secret?"

"Please rest assured, my lord Zheng Baogong is also a very cautious person." Zheng Jie replied confidently, "In order to prevent the leak of rumors, my lord Zheng Baogong has not yet explained this to his private soldiers, and is preparing to make a move and announce it temporarily. At present, less than twenty people in my main team, including villains, know the inside story. On General Deng Dang, only General Deng Dang and his brother-in-law Amon, know the inside story."

"Okay, okay." Tao Ying was even more happy. He quickly pinched the wax balls brought by Zheng Jie, took out Zheng Bao's handwritten letter from it, opened it and read it roughly. Tao Ying, who was anxious to break through Hefei City and killed Lujiang reinforcements, was even more ecstatic and couldn't help but mutter in his heart: "Okay, it seems that I will have good luck when I hit Xiao Yuan Sangong. Last time it was Yang Hong, this time it was Zheng Bao, and the eldest Yuan Sangong also helped me a lot. It seems that the old Yuan family is really my lucky star."

He was worried and carefully read Zheng Bao's handwritten letter again. When he saw Liu Ye appearing to reconcile the conflict between Zheng Bao and Liu Kai again, Tao Ying, who had not paid attention to the typo before, jumped up suddenly. His movements were so fierce that everyone present was shocked. Xu Chu, who was in charge of Tao Ying's safety, quickly pressed the handle of the knife and asked quickly: "Master, what's wrong?"
Chapter completed!