Delayed by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty for more than twenty days, when Tao Ying decided to continue southward to pursue Xiao Yuan Sangong, Xiao Yuan Sangong's Huainan army had also taken the time to make adjustments and redeployed and arranged Yuan Shu's army.

Southern Line and Defensive Battle

He decided to use space in exchange for time to gain time for Da Yuan Sangong to come forward to mediate. Unfortunately, little Yuan Sangong did not know that he was also innocently shot in the Han Xian Emperor incident. Da Yuan Sangong no longer has much interest in disciplining his unworthy son-in-law.

The situation of the southern defense line redeployed by Xiao Yuan Sangong is roughly as follows: Due to the restrictions of terrain and road traffic, Xiao Yuan Sangong no longer dares to disperse his troops and competes with the Xuzhou army, which has stronger combat effectiveness and likes to defeat them one by one, to compete for every Huainan city.

, abandoned many insignificant counties and towns in the north in one fell swoop, and concentrated the main army in

The three cities of Hefei, Liyang and Lujiang are horns with each other. The important town of Hefei is the first buffer line of defense, covering the two most important cities of Liyang and Lujiang in Huainan. Xiao Yuan Sangong personally sits in Lujiang, and General Zhang Xunhe

Chen Fen defended Liyang, all determined to defend to the end, and tried his best to drag the war into a war of attrition situation that was unfavorable to Xuzhou, which was fighting away from home.

At the same time, Little Yuan Sangong also waited for the long-awaited good news, that is, Sun Bi, the old general stationed in Danyang, Wu Jing finally agreed to send troops to rescue Huainan, and by the way avenge their cousin and nephew Sun Ce, and started

The two conditions for joining forces are not too harsh. One is that the food and grass will be supplied by Xiao Yuan Sangong, and the other is to rehabilitate Sun Ce.

Restoring their reputations also eliminated Sun Ben and Wu Jing's crimes of being implicated by Sun Ce. Xiao Yuan Sangong, who was in a hurry and sought medical treatment, also agreed to all Sun Ben and Wu Jing's requests. At present, Sun Ben and Wu Jing have also

More than 10,000 troops arrived at the Spring Valley Ferry, and began to prepare ships to cross the Yangtze River to the north, and may be sent to the Huainan battlefield for reinforcements at any time.

By the way, a funny thing is that among the more than 12,000 troops under the command of Sun Ben and Wu Jing, a large number of soldiers are none other than Danyang soldiers, the former number one ace of the Xuzhou army. Not only are their individual combat capabilities relatively strong, they are also

There are quite a few people who are related to the Danyang soldiers in the Xuzhou army. Once the official war with the Xuzhou army begins, it will immediately start a great civil strife between the same hometown and the same clan.

Let me briefly introduce the situation around Huainan. After listening to Lord Bo Yanxiang’s hard persuasion, the arrogant little Yuan Sangong rarely put down his arrogance and sent envoys to Jingzhou and Niuzhu to contact Liu.

Biao and Liu Yao. Xu asked Liu Biao to send troops to rescue him with money, grain, cloth and silk. He also persuaded Liu Yao to retreat with the coldest gift of lips and teeth, so as not to destroy the northern barrier by himself and attract Tao Ying, the more dangerous plague god of Xuzhou.

Unfortunately, the road to Jingzhou is far away, and there is no news yet whether Liu Biao will send troops. Liu Yao set out harsh conditions for Xiao Yuan Sangong to cede all the land and cities south of the Yangtze River. Naturally, Xiao Yuan Sangong could not

Being able to accept such harsh conditions, Liu Yao unceremoniously continued to confront the Liyang Huainan Army across the river in Niuzhu, and pinned down the elite Liyang Huainan troops led by Zhang Xun and Chen Fen for the Xuzhou army.

The Xuzhou Army's scouting and detailed operations were quite effective, and all of the above situations were gathered in front of Tao Ying. This allowed the decision-makers of the Xuzhou Army to basically know themselves and the enemy, and formulate and adjust the southern invasion plan according to local conditions. But basically

There is nothing that can be adjusted. If the Xuzhou army wants to continue to move south, the first target is Hefei City, the important town in Huainan. If this nail is not removed,

.The Xuzhou army simply had no way to go south to attack Liyang and Lujiang County and Shu County, so Tao Ying quickly decided to lead his army south to attack Hefei City, leaving Zang Ba, Song Xian, Xie Yan and others to guard Shouchun and Quyang.

While waiting for new territory to be occupied, at the same time use a partial force to capture the northern city of Lujiang that had been abandoned by Sangong Xiao Yuan, expand the control area in Huainan, and also gain experience points for the new soldiers recruited in Huainan for future use.

Three days after Tao Ying personally led his army southward from Shouchun, 40,000 Xuzhou troops had already approached within a hundred miles of Hefei City. The scouts from the front sent another report, saying that Qiao Rui, the Hefei guard general appointed by Xiao Yuan Sangong, was desperately fighting.

Strengthen the city defense and move all the people outside the city into the city to help defend it. It seems that they want to give up the field battle again.

Defend the city and delay as much time as possible. After hearing the news, Tao Ying was extremely helpless and sighed: "Qiao Rui, this mangy dog ​​is really an invincible little strongman. He has been defeated from Zhongli to Hefei and has not been beaten yet."

Even though he was beaten to death, he still put up a defensive posture, it looks like there will be another hard battle to siege the city."

Lu Su also smiled bitterly and nodded. Jia Xu, who had already taken up the post of offering sacrifices to the Xuzhou army, did not agree. He just said slowly: "I wonder if my lord feels that one of the things is strange? Xu has been reading the records of the Huainan war in the past few days and found that

Since the Huainan War started, this bridge has been guarded.

The main force of our army is currently heading south with its blade pointed directly at Hefei City. It is inevitable that Hefei City will be won. Why is there still a bridge?

Repeat the same mistakes? Continuing to adopt a perseverance trend that is destined to fail?”

"What do Mr. Wenhe mean by this?" Lu Su, whose official position was higher than that of Jia Xu, was a humble man. He did not dare to put on airs in front of the famous Jia Xu, nor did he dare to ask whether Jia Xu was suspicious. He just said cautiously: "Yuan Shujun

The field battle is no match for our army. Qiao Rui gave up the field battle and held on to the city. Is there anything wrong with his choice?"

Because he was accustomed to Qiao Rui only being able to stand firm and not dare to fight in the field, and worried that Jia Xu would be eager to make meritorious deeds when he joined the army, Tao Ying was also very careful in his tone, reminding him: "Mr. Wen He, Qiao Rui has always been good at defending, as early as in the Battle of Zhuyi

At that time, the Gaohuangshan camp established by Qiao Rui caused countless troubles for our army. Now, abandoning the field battle and only defending the city is also Qiao Rui's consistent tactic."

"My lord and the military advisor have misunderstood. I am not saying that Qiao Rui's tactics are wrong." Jia Xu shook his head and said: "Judging from the current strength comparison between the two armies, even if Xu were in Hefei City, he would still agree with Qiao Rui."

Rui foothold

The only thing Yi Shou and Xu are confused about now is that since Qiao Rui has been defeated again and again in the battle and has done nothing, why does he continue to choose to hold on without fighting? Does he think he is sure to hold on until Yuan Shao comes to mediate? "

"What does Mr. Wenhe mean? Is it possible that Qiao Rui is on guard and suddenly attacks?" Tao Ying, who had been thinking up conspiracies on his own before, carefully calculated and heard the implication of Jia Xu's words.

"Xu thinks that this possibility cannot be ruled out." Jia Xu nodded and said: "Although I am not sure that Qiao Rui will definitely do this. But among ten lies, one truth suddenly appears, which is also the principle of the military. Qiao Rui has always stood firm in front of our army.

, has made the entire army of our army full of underestimation of the enemy, and we must prevent the unexpected troops from standing out from the bridge and dampening the vigor of our army."

Although Deputy Director Tao felt that it was unlikely that Qiao Rui would stand out from the crowd, he still felt that Jia Xu's words made sense - if Qiao Rui took advantage of his own mindset towards him and suddenly went against the grain, he would do it to himself.

Seriously. Then I would have to walk away without being able to eat. So after thinking about it for a while,

Tao Ying still nodded and said: "Mr. Wenhe is right. Even if we are not sure that Qiaorui will definitely choose to highlight the surprise soldiers, we can't be cautious. Fortunately, the terrain in Hefei is flat and there is no advantageous location for Qiaorui.

Even if you are an outstanding force, the only option is to rob the camp at night."

After talking to Jia Xu, Tao Ying sent word to generals Chen Dao and Hou Cheng, and ordered them to each lead three thousand troops to ambush in the dark places on the left and right sides of the camp at night. As soon as there was an enemy attack, they would immediately attack from a pincer attack.

He ordered the entire army to strengthen patrols at night, and to shoot with bows and crossbows whenever necessary to prevent the enemy from approaching the camp. After the arrangements were made, Tao Ying continued to lead his army southward.

That night, they camped seventy miles due north of Hefei. Seeing Tao Ying's arrangement, Lu Su couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart, thinking, well, my lord is already suspicious enough, and now there is Mr. Wen He who is even more suspicious. What will happen in the future?

The military intelligence meeting was very lively. I was afraid that the lord would not dare to make a decision without analyzing all possible hidden dangers.

It was an uneventful night, and Chen Dao and Hou Cheng's team also spent the night feeding mosquitoes outside the camp. However, considering the inconvenience of robbing the camp at Qiao Rui, which was far away from Hefei, Deputy Director Tao, who was even more cunning than a greased loach, decided to

He did not take it lightly. The next day he marched another fifty miles to Hefei.

Setting up camp twenty miles due north, Tao Ying made the same arrangements as the previous day, letting Gao Shun and General Cao Xing each lead 3,000 infantry to ambush outside the camp, and also ordered the soldiers to strengthen night patrols to guard against bridges.

They sent out troops to rob the camp. As a result, the night of waiting was not in vain.

It was the second watch of the night. Huainan General Liu Kai led his five thousand troops out of the city. All of them were wearing horse collars. They rushed at night to the Xuzhou camp for a sneak attack. As a result, they were discovered by the Xuzhou Army sentry with a primitive telescope before they even got close to the camp gate.

, Xuzhou Fengyu slept with his clothes on when the gong sounded and the alarm was sounded.

The army immediately mobilized and rushed to the camp gate to welcome them with a hail of arrows. Although Liu Kai urged the sergeants to rush and kill them, they could not withstand the powerful crossbow arrows of Feng Fei Arrow. He was shot back again and again, suffering heavy casualties. He was ambushed in the big

Generals Gao Shun and Cao Xing outside the camp were also around.

He rushed out and attacked Liu Kai's troops from both sides. Liu Kai was defeated and retreated. Gao Shun and Cao Xing pursued them all the way. To everyone's surprise, Liu Kai's army was defeated by seven soldiers.

After eight miles, another army suddenly appeared on the way, and it was Qiao Rui himself.

The main force of the Hefei garrison he led met Liu Kai and rushed south. It was too dark to know how many soldiers and horses were on the bridge. Gao Shun, who was cautious, was afraid of an ambush at the bridge, so he had to quickly grab Cao Xing and stop the pursuit.

Withdrew the troops and returned to the camp, allowing Qiao Rui and Liu Kai to escape back to Hefei city.

Qiao Rui, who was accustomed to being a tortoise, made an unprecedented move and was actually caught in the mouth of Jia Xu's crow. Lu Su, who was stationed in the rear camp to protect the food and grass supplies, admired him, but he also inevitably felt that he had secretly done it the day before.

He laughed deeply and felt ashamed. After the fighting stopped, Lu Su hurried to the Chinese army's tent to express his admiration to Jia Xu. However, when he entered the tent, he saw Tao Ying and Jia Xu, two men with similar odors.

The little fox had already begun to interrogate the prisoners, and a wounded Huainan Qu general was still reporting to Tao Ying: "I heard that sending troops to rob the camp was the initiative of Liu Ye, the prime minister of Lujiang County. General Qiao originally did not agree, but Liu Ye

The general and General Deng insisted on sending troops to rob the camp, but General Qiao couldn't stop it, and that's what happened tonight. But the villain only heard about it, and I don't know whether it is true or not."

"Liu Ye Liu Ziyang? He hasn't left Hefei and returned to Shu County yet?" Tao Ying asked calmly.

Na Qujiang shook his head and said: "No, I heard that the lord lost his temper and asked the reinforcements from Liyang and Lujiang not to take a step back. No matter whether they were civil or military, they stayed in Hefei to defend the city. If the city is alive and the people are alive, the people will die if the city dies.

, so Liu Juncheng stayed in the city of Hefei, and the villain followed General Hui to Hefei, but he was unable to withdraw to Liyang."

After finishing speaking, Naqujiang kowtowed again, saying that everything he said was true, and begged Tao Ying for the sake of his sixty-year-old mother and three children. He begged Tao Ying in tears to spare his life. Tao Ying smiled and said: "

Don't worry, except for those who actually do

You are a prisoner with many evil deeds, and I will never kill other prisoners indiscriminately. I will ask you a final question. After you answer it, you can go down to treat your wounds and eat. There is a reinforcement force behind your camp hijacking team. You

Did you know that when you set out?"

"I don't know." Na Qujiang shook his head quickly and said quickly: "When the villain set out, the higher-ups didn't say that there was a team behind us to support us. If the villain knew about it, he would definitely escape with us..."

Speaking of this, the Huainan Qu general who was captured near the gate of the camp in Xuzhou quickly shut up. In his heart, he was just annoyed that he was quick to talk and confessed his unwillingness to surrender to the Xuzhou army. But fortunately, Tao Ying didn't care about it.

It was such a small thing, I just waved my hand and asked the soldiers to take all the prisoners away.

He came to treat his injuries and eat, and then smiled at Lu Su who had just entered the tent and said: "It seems that you and I were not wrong about Qiao Rui's humble character. It's just that you and I underestimated that there is Liu Ye in Hefei City.

Liu Ziyang. Fortunately, Mr. Wenhe is here, otherwise we would have suffered a bit tonight."

"Mr. Wenhe is a master of calculations, and Su himself can't help but sigh." The humble Lu Su saluted Jia Xu with sincere admiration. He also began to think about when to give up his incompetent military advisor position to Jia Xu until he liked it more.

He took up the position of naval commander and showed his talents.

"Mr. Zijing, thank you for the award. This time, Xu really got it by mistake." Jia Xu didn't want to be greedy for his merits. He returned the courtesy and said honestly: "Xu really underestimated the ability of my lord and Mr. Zijing to recognize people."

, overestimating Qiao Rui's courage in using troops. But he accidentally fell into Liu Ye's plan to rob the camp - this time Xu should have been getting along with Mr. Zhong Ming for a long time, and infected Mr. Zhong Ming with some good luck. "

Lu Suhe and Tao Ying, who already knew about Yang Changshi's incredible good fortune, laughed together, saying that it should be like this. The kind of luck Yang Changshi had was really not something ordinary people could have. After laughing.

Tao Ying sighed again and said, "It's a pity that our

Mr. Ziyang is not the commander-in-chief of the Hefei garrison. This time he failed to rob the camp again. Qiao Rui will not listen to Liu Ye's advice easily in the future. Otherwise..., hum! Although Mr. Ziyang is resourceful, our army just

Don’t be afraid of battlefield tactics!”

"What the lord said is absolutely true." Lu Su agreed: "With the lord and Mr. Wen He here, no matter how many plots and tricks the enemy has, it will be in vain. On the contrary, it will give our army a chance to seize the opportunity to take the city. It is a pity that Hefei

The guard general is Qiao Rui. Although Qiao Rui uses troops conservatively, he always considers defeat before victory in every war. He does not seek merit but only no fault. For our army who is good at winning by surprise, it happens to be the most difficult to deal with.

opponent."

Lu Su's words are on point. Before the large-scale deployment of hot weapons, all generals in the era of cold weapons had a headache. This was especially true for Deputy Director Tao, who was cunning and opportunistic. What he hated most was head-on confrontation.

In frontal battles, what I like most is winning by surprise and being able to move a thousand pounds. What I am not afraid of the most is that the enemy will use tricks against me. I have the confidence to use the tricks to make the enemy steal the chicken without losing the rice! But there is no way. Although Xiao Yuan Sangong did not
To be continued...