In addition to needing to be wary of Boss Cao's main force chasing him, the road for Quyi's team to march eastward to Changyi to meet Deputy Director Tao was relatively smooth. On the way, only Liu Dai's team from Dingtao blocked the way, and General Liu Dai's team blocked the way.

Friends of Chengse also know that they are all second-line auxiliary soldiers of Cao's army. Whether it is Quyi's team or Xuzhou's team, just pulling out a few elite soldiers can easily take down the poor General Liu Dai, so the influence of Quyi's team can be formed

The threat is almost negligible.

But even so, after receiving the good news letter from Yang Changshi, in order to show his importance and respect for General Qu Yi, Deputy Director Tao personally led an army of 20,000 to the west to meet General Qu Yi's surrender team and intimidate him.

Liu Dai's troops in Dingtao City were wary of the possible pursuit by Boss Cao, and also tried to cover up their own scandal - their 50,000 main force was blocked for half a year by an auxiliary force of Cao's army. At the same time, he wrote to Qu Yi and repeatedly warned him.

Quyi's team must be careful of Boss Cao's sneak attack.

Deputy Director Tao's worry about the main force of Cao's army was not unreasonable. With Cao's character, he was naturally not willing to let Qu Yi, the Jizhou elite, fall into the hands of his potential mortal enemy, Deputy Director Tao. In fact, this was exactly the case, and he left Jizhou in embarrassment.

After Yang went to the north to meet up with the main force, the angry Boss Cao was indeed determined to pursue Qu Yi's troops with all his strength. He even considered taking advantage of the situation to launch a decisive battle with the main force of the Xuzhou army. He consulted his subordinates for their opinions and asked them to analyze the current situation of his army.

The prospect of victory or defeat in the decisive battle with Xuzhou's main force.

In view of the current situation of Cao's army, Boss Cao's plan for a decisive battle was unanimously opposed by his counselors, because although Cao's army's current morale is strong, the army is too exhausted, and the follow-up food and grass are seriously insufficient. At the same time, the main soldiers of Cao's army are also wounded.

There were so many, the overall combat effectiveness was greatly affected; the main force in Xuzhou had been recuperating for a long time, waiting for work and had sufficient food and grass, and Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao were also the kind of traitors who were cunning and rarely made mistakes. At this time, Cao initiated

Not only is the chance of victory in the Tao decisive battle slim, but there is also the possibility of a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Xuzhou army.

Boss Cao is a hero who listens to advice. He felt that what Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others said was reasonable, so he immediately changed his mind and decided to pursue Qu Yi instead of provoking Deputy Director Tao. But just when Boss Cao was about to send troops.

At that time, a new trouble came - Cao Hong, the general of Cao's army who was guarding Sili in Nanyang, came to report on horseback. He said that Liu Huangshu took advantage of Cao's army's northward march to Xuchang and colluded with Zhuge Xuan, the minister of Jingzhou, to persuade Liu Biao to send troops to attack Xuchang. Liu Biao reported to Cao.

The boss fought against each other several times, and agreed to the suggestions of Liu Bei and Zhuge Xuan, sending Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu troops northward in two groups to attack Xuchang. At present, Cao Hong's main force in Nanyang has been pinned down by Zhang Xiu in Wancheng, while Liu Huangshu is advancing all the way.

We have now arrived in Duyang, less than three hundred miles away from Xuchang.

"The big-eared thief raised by dogs!" Boss Cao cursed and said angrily: "This shameless big-eared thief must have not received the news that our army has won a great victory in Guandu. Otherwise, lend him a

No one with a hundred nerves would dare to march northward!"

"Prime Minister, it's better to return to Xuchang as soon as possible. As long as Xuchang is empty, Liu Bei will not retreat."

The main forces in Xuzhou are in full conflict, and Liu Bei is the real threat to Xuchang. Unless we get rid of this hypocrite who claims to be a relative of the emperor, our army will never have peace in the rear."

After grinding his teeth and weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Boss Cao finally waved his hand helplessly to stop the marching team, and then issued an order with a straight face to mobilize troops and generals, ordering Xiahou Yuan to lead an army of 10,000 to follow Qu Yi's team to a certain point.

Tao was stationed and commanded Yanzhou's southern front troops, but was not allowed to start a war with the Xuzhou army at will. He also ordered Mao Jie as an envoy to rush to Changyi to negotiate with Deputy Director Tao, demanding that the Xuzhou army fulfill its pre-war promise of Guandu and withdraw from Yanzhou immediately and asked Deputy Director Tao

The director reopened the border market; finally he ordered the army to turn around and return to Xuchang to deal with Uncle Liu Huang who had taken advantage of the situation and disgusted him!

Boss Cao, who had been implicated by Uncle Liu, did not dare to continue causing trouble, and Qu Yi's team was naturally able to successfully meet up with Deputy Director Tao in the Dingtao area. During the meeting, Deputy Director Tao shamelessly surrendered to Qu Yi, Ju Shou, Zhao Yun and other Jizhou civil and military officials in public.

He bowed to Qu Yi and others, and even pretended that the generals from far away came to join me. It was like a small boy going to Yin, and Han Xin returning to Han. However, the proud and arrogant Qu Yi saw the salute of Deputy Director Tao.

After being satisfied, he also led his generals to kneel down in front of Deputy Director Tao. Deputy Director Tao personally helped everyone up one by one, rewarded Qu Yi with a set of golden chainmail, and also used the excuse to thank Zhao Yun for rescuing Yang Changshi.

Well, he took off the bright silver armor he was wearing and put it on Zhao Yun. The other generals also got their rewards. The drama of winning people's hearts was played for more than an hour.

When it was Ju Shou's turn, Ju Shou not only firmly declined Deputy Director Tao's reward, but also told Deputy Director Tao straight to the point, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for granting permission to follow General Quyi. They came to join you, not because they wanted to serve your Majesty, but because they came to join you."

I want to use the Xuzhou road to return to Jizhou. Please keep your promise and let me leave."

Deputy Director Tao, who had been mentally prepared for a long time, smiled, returned the gift to Jushou, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Gong and Mr. Ying. Although Ying really hopes that Mr. Ying can stay in Xuzhou, a gentleman does not force others to do anything. If Mr. Gong and Mr. Ying want to leave, they can leave at any time."

leave."

Speaking of this, Deputy Director Tao added with a smile, "But it's definitely not possible today. Firstly, there should be no banquet for Mr. to cleanse him from the dust. Secondly, I still have a letter that I would like to ask Mr. to take to Jizhou for delivery."

With my father-in-law, I must not leave today."

Jushou laughed, and the surrounding civil and military officials from Xu and Jizhou also laughed in agreement. Deputy Director Tao smiled and said in his heart: "Mr. Gongyu, if you know, I want you to bring back a declaration of war against Jizhou.

I really don’t know if you can still laugh.”

Of course, given that Duke Yuan Sangong had killed Xuzhou envoys twice, Jushou was also worried that Deputy Director Tao would add insult to injury and start a war against Jizhou at this critical moment, so on the way back to Changyi, Jushou often stood up for this deputy director in front of Deputy Director Tao.

To explain the incident, it was said that Mr. Yuan Sangong did the stupid thing after listening to Yuan Tan and Guo Tu's slander. Afterwards, Mr. Yuan Sangong also regretted it very much. Of course, this sentence was pure nonsense. He asked Deputy Director Tao to consider Weng's son-in-law.

For his sake, he sent an envoy north to restore old friendship with Sangong of Yuan Dynasty and join forces to defeat the Cao traitors.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao, who had long been fed up and wanted to take advantage of the situation, would not listen to Jushou's nonsense, let alone miss such a great opportunity to carve out meat from the stingy father-in-law. Therefore, Deputy Director Tao kept insisting only on Wang Gu.

No matter how anxious he and Ju Shou were, Deputy Director Tao would just say "I'll tell you later." Although Ju Shou was worried about this, there was nothing he could do about it.

Two days after returning to Changyi, accurate news finally came from the north, confirming that Sangong Yuan was not killed in the rebellion, but led some Qingqi to escape back to Liyang to join Jiang Yiqu's troops of the Jizhou Army. At the same time, there were also

A large number of Jizhou soldiers escaped across the Yellow River and returned to Dayuan Sangong. The Jizhou army's military strength recovered slightly, and they luckily survived the crisis of defeat after the Guandu defeat.

After confirming the news, Jushou was overjoyed and hurriedly bid farewell to Deputy Director Tao. At the same time, nearly 10,000 of the 30,000 Yuan Shao troops surrendered because they missed their relatives in their hometown and asked to return to Jizhou with Jushou. Fortunately, Tuoqu Yizhi

Thanks to the strict cohesion of the army, only about 30 of the 800 people who first arrived at the camp expressed their intention to leave, and only more than 500 of the more than 3,000 Jizhou cavalry asked to leave. The rest were mostly older second-line auxiliary soldiers, because their wives, children, and children all

I have to go back to Jizhou, and leaving will not cause much loss to Deputy Director Tao.

Deputy Director Tao did not break his promise. After handing the sealed letter to Jushou, he immediately arranged for Liu Ye to lead two thousand troops to escort these Jizhou soldiers back to Jizhou via Taishan County. He also specifically ordered the Xuzhou government along the way to use treasury grains to supply Jushou's troops.

Xuzhou Civil and Military Affairs also had some opinions on this, because the cost of traveling for nearly 10,000 people was really not a small amount. Deputy Director Tao disagreed and said with a smile: "Don't worry, even if it costs 10,000 people on the way back to Jizhou

Take away 30,000 hu of grain, and in the future, when the battlefield comes, I can recover 300,000 hu of grain!"

After saying this with a smile, Deputy Director Tao immediately sent an order to Taishan Zang Ba and Langya Sun Guan, asking Zang Ba and Sun Guan to immediately divide their troops into two groups to attack after confirming that Jushou's team had left the Xuzhou controlled area.

The two counties of Qi and Beihai in Qingzhou sent troops to avenge the two beheadings of Sangong Yuan!

After sending away Jushou's team, Deputy Director Tao finally took the time to meet with Mao Jie, the secret envoy sent by Boss Cao, and then told Mao Jie: "Of course I will return Changyi City to you, but it will take a while. In addition, I will also give it back to you.

We must borrow from you the road from Rencheng and Lu State to Taishan County. When my team completes this road, our army will immediately return to Xuzhou. As for the purpose of our army borrowing the road, given Mr. Xiaoxian's cleverness, I believe it will be

No need for me to explain, right?"

There really was no need to explain. Just by listening to the place names mentioned by Deputy Director Tao, Mao Jie knew that Deputy Director Tao was planning to attack Qingzhou, so Mao Jie didn't even blink an eyelid and immediately patted his chest and promised to do it immediately.

Returning to Dingtao, he contacted Xia Houyuan, the governor of the southern line of Yanzhou, and persuaded Xia Houyuan to order the release. Then Mao Jie took the opportunity to propose to Deputy Director Tao that he reopen the border market and carry out grain trade. Deputy Director Tao, who was still unsure about the situation of Cao's army, did not

He refused and did not agree, but just said that he would discuss the matter in the future. Although Mao Jie understood that Deputy Director Tao was still sitting on the fence, he had no choice but to temporarily tolerate and agree to discuss the issue in the future, leaving some ideas for reopening the border market.

hope.

More than twenty days later, on the tenth day of August, after it was confirmed that Jushou's team, which had been traveling hundreds of miles a day, had left Taishan County and entered Qingzhou, Xuzhou General Zang Ba, who had long been secretly named the governor of Qingzhou by Deputy Director Tao, came to

The county magistrate of Taishan County raised troops under the banner of sacrifice outside the city. On the pretext that Duke Yuan Sangong killed the Xuzhou envoy twice and was unjust, he sent 20,000 troops north to attack Qiguo County in Qingzhou!

Two days later, Sun Guan, the prefect of Xuzhou Langya, also sent troops from Ju County, leading an army of 15,000 to the north to attack Beihai County of Qingzhou!

Deputy Director Tao, who was good at calculations, did not waste time. As early as the fifth day of August, Deputy Director Tao had sent generals Chen Dao, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji, leading 20,000 infantry and cavalry and the Junzi Army, to the Lu State.

He and Rencheng rushed to Mount Tai to meet up with Zang Ba's team and coordinate with Zang Ba and Sun Guan to attack Qingzhou. At the same time, Deputy Director Tao asked Chen Dao, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji's team to accept Zang Ba's command and entrust all the Qingzhou war to Qingzhou.

The prestigious general Zang Ba enlisted Liu Ye, who had previously escorted Jushou's troops north, to join the army in Qingzhou to assist Zang Ba in conquering Qingzhou.

On the 23rd, after it was confirmed that the teams of Chen Dao and Tao Ji had successfully passed through Rencheng and Lu State at a speed of fifty miles a day, Deputy Director Tao, who had been stationed in Yanzhou for more than half a year, finally withdrew his troops and headed south, setting off back to Xuzhou.

On the same day that Deputy Director Tao arrived in Xiaopei, Deputy Director Tao received another express delivery letter from Zang Ba, saying that Sangong of Yuan Dynasty sent Chen Zhen as an envoy to send thousands of war horses to the Xuzhou army in an attempt to fight with Xuzhou

The army has restored its old friendship. Now Zang Ba has detained Chen Zhen and his men and horses in the army, and asked Deputy Director Tao how to deal with it.

"Now that I think of my son-in-law, it's too late!" Deputy Director Tao sneered and ordered Chen Ying next to him: "Yuan Fang, reply to Zang Xuangao and ask Zang Xuangao to drive Chen Zhen back with his men and horses. Yuan Shao next time

The same goes for sending envoys to contact me. Gifts and letters will not be accepted and will be returned intact! Yuan Shao sent envoys for the third time to contact me, and then asked Yuan Shao's envoys to meet me in Xuzhou."

"No." Chen Ying agreed and then reminded: "My lord, we are only eighty miles away from Pengcheng. My lord must be prepared to explain to my wife."

Thinking of his virtuous wife, Deputy Director Tao, who had always been thick-skinned and dark-hearted, felt a rare sense of guilt and sighed: "It's useless no matter how hard you prepare, I know Fang'er won't make trouble with me, but the more she doesn't make trouble with me,

The more trouble I make, the more guilty I feel."

Just as Deputy Director Tao had guessed, when the Xuzhou army returned to Pengcheng and Deputy Director Tao met Yuan Fang and his wife, Yuan Fang, a typical good wife and loving mother, did not turn against Deputy Director Tao even though she already knew that her husband and father had turned against each other.

She complained even half a sentence, and did not even accuse Deputy Director Tao of her mother's family. Tao Lue, the eldest son of Deputy Director Tao, just cried silently while hugging Deputy Director Tao. But the more Yuan Fang acted like this, she would have stabbed him in the back.

Deputy Director Tao, whose father-in-law was a knife, felt even more guilty. Under the shame, Deputy Director Tao could only hug his good wife and said: "Fang'er, don't worry, as long as your father-in-law admits his mistake and gives the two innocent envoys in Xuzhou a

Tell me, I will make a truce with my father-in-law."

Yuan Fang spoke, choking and asked, "But it's not like you don't know my father's temper. How could he admit his mistake?"

"It's not like I want him to kowtow, just say a few soft words." Deputy Director Tao continued to persuade, and said softly: "Fang'er, don't blame me, it's hard for me to do it, and the two countries are still fighting.

My envoy, my father-in-law killed two of my envoys in a row. If I don't give an explanation to my subordinates, how can I convince the public in the future?"

Yuan Fang burst into tears again. When Deputy Director Tao was about to persuade her again, Yuan Fang, who was already crying like pear blossoms and raining rain, took the initiative to stop crying. She choked with sobs and said to Deputy Director Tao: "Husband, I have a request, please.

You must agree."

"Madam, please tell me, I will definitely agree." Deputy Director Tao replied hurriedly.

"Please allow me to visit the families of the two envoys." Yuan Fang choked and said, "I have some private rooms, and I want to give them to the families of the two envoys to atone for the sins of my father.

, please husband, please agree."

"Madam." Deputy Director Tao was so moved that he hugged his beloved wife tightly and said softly: "Good madam, how can I use your private room again? In fact, I have known for a long time that most of your dowry has been stolen.

You use it to supplement your family's expenses and reward my subordinates' wives. You can keep the rest, and I will use a sum of money and food to support the families of the two envoys for you."

"No, no, I can't ask for your husband's money and food. This is my atonement for my father, so I can only take my private house." Yuan Fang, who has always been as gentle as water, was stubborn for once. After shaking her head firmly, Yuan Fang shouted out the door: "Ah

Huan, come in and take care of me for a while."

"No." With a sweet promise, a thin maid walked in from the door. Deputy Director Tao glanced at it casually, but his triangular eyes suddenly became rounder than a bull's eye. It turned out that although the maid who came in was no older than
To be continued...