In the battle of Hangu Pass, Cao Jun's team was extremely aggrieved and depressed. The losses were far greater than Cao Jun's decision-makers imagined, because the terrain of Hangu Pass was placed here, and the widest part was only more than ten meters. The valley road is more than ten miles long, and there is basically no space or room for detours in the valley. As long as Cao Jun's troops do not take the risk of rushing out of the valley road, the Xuzhou army has almost no chance to surround and annihilate a large number of Cao Jun troops.
So before that, Cao Jun's decision-makers unanimously determined that even the treacherous Deputy Director Tao suspected that Boss Cao was faking his death to lure the enemy, and deployed a large army to support the surprise attack on the army. It is difficult for Guan's soldiers to cause big losses to Cao's army. When fighting out of the pass, as long as Cao's army does not chase after the valley road and penetrates into the open area east of the narrow valley, no matter how many ambushes the Xuzhou army deploys or how many elite troops are dispatched, Cao's army can calmly return to Hangu Pass by virtue of the terrain advantage. No big losses will be incurred.
But what poor Boss Cao, Guo Jia, and Cheng Yu never dreamed of was that Deputy Director Tao would be so vicious and sinister that he would let all his sneak attack teams wear Cao army uniforms and hide under the cover of night and thick smoke. Entering the ranks of Cao's army leaving the Pass, Cao Cao was so coerced that he did not dare to let the troops leaving the Pass return to Guancheng and escape for their lives!
As a result, all of Boss Cao's wishful thinking was completely in vain. Since the strength of the troops was far inferior to that of the Xuzhou Army, he was forced to let Zhang Liao's team start a field battle with the main force of Xuzhou, or within Zhang Liao's team. With a large number of Xuzhou troops mixed in, a decisive battle outside the pass was launched with the main force of the Xuzhou Army. After a great battle, nearly 7,000 Cao's troops left the pass to fight, but less than 1,500 were able to escape back to Hangu Pass. The rest were either captured or annihilated by the Xuzhou army. Among the casualties were a large number of the main combatants of Zhang Liao's troops. , and Zhang Liao's deputy Feng Kai.
Fortunately for Mr. Cao, whose talents were declining day by day, two generals, Xiahou Shang and Niu Gai, successfully escaped back to Hangu Pass. General Zhang Liao was behind them with the help of ropes. Fortunately, he escaped back to the pass wall - at the cost of the death of all the dozen soldiers who covered Zhang Liao's retreat. At the same time, Zhang Liao, who was tied to a rope by his soldiers, was also shot by the Xuzhou army's bows and arrows when he went up the pass. , with quite a few injuries.
" About one-fifth of the team was lost in one breath. Boss Cao, whose vitality had been severely damaged, no matter how optimistic and free-spirited he was, was inevitably so angry that he coughed up blood on the spot. His condition worsened and he almost fainted on the wall. In addition to the grief, anger and pain, Boss Cao was inevitably a little suspicious and surprised. He was not sure where he had exposed his flaw, so that the unscrupulous son-in-law completely concluded before the war that he was just cheating his death to lure the enemy? Arranged such a shameless and vicious plan to harm yourself?
Killing one thousand enemies and damaging eight hundred, the Xuzhou Army had the upper hand from beginning to end during this battle. , but because Zhang Liao's team fought desperately to resist, the Xuzhou army also paid a heavy price in this battle. More than 1,800 soldiers were killed, and only 500 elite soldiers who wore Cao's uniform and infiltrated into the enemy group. Less than two hundred people returned to the main force - among the more than three hundred internal soldiers who died, quite a few died under the swords and arrows of Xuzhou Army officers and soldiers themselves. With complete control over the situation. The casualty ratio compared to the weaker enemy was barely one to three, which was definitely a tragic victory.
Whether it is a big victory or a tragic victory, it is always a happy event to be able to win a battle. Therefore, after the war, when the Xuzhou army was cleaning the battlefield, the team was still filled with a festive atmosphere, and many Xuzhou soldiers used their taunting skills. Outside the range of the pass, they shouted and cursed, provoking Cao Jun's troops who were hiding in the pass and did not dare to show their faces. There were also some reckless Xuzhou soldiers who dug out a Cao soldier who was hiding in a pile of corpses and pretended to be dead and pulled him to the foot of the pass. He was beaten, kicked, tortured and humiliated to punish him for hiding. By the way, he vigorously provoked Cao's army on the wall.
The reckless behavior of these Xuzhou soldiers was quickly stopped by Deputy Director Tao himself. After drinking down these reckless Xuzhou soldiers, Deputy Director Tao personally helped the Cao soldier who had been beaten with a bruised nose and face. He apologized to him in person, saying that he had not considered it carefully and had forgotten to tell him that he was prohibited from abusing prisoners, which made him feel wronged. The Cao soldier burst into tears of gratitude and hurriedly kowtowed to Deputy Director Tao in public and expressed his willingness to surrender.
Immediately afterwards, Deputy Director Tao ordered the entire army to strictly prohibit his own troops from abusing and humiliating captured or surrendering enemies, and announced that surrendered and captured Cao Jun soldiers would be treated the same as his own soldiers. Then Deputy Director Tao ordered the guards to go to Hangu Pass with white flags in their hands, and loudly explained that the torture of prisoners just committed by the Xuzhou Army officers was just a personal act, and was not directed by the Xuzhou Army decision-makers and Tao Taiwei, who loved the people like a son, and promoted Tao The deputy director treated Cao Jun's prisoners of war's orders well in order to restore the influence, win over people's hearts and shake the enemy's determination to resist.
After personally whipping the Xuzhou commander who took the lead in abusing the prisoners five times in public, Deputy Director Tao returned to the command podium and did not rush to order the withdrawal of troops. He just asked the guards to take the prisoner who had been tortured before.He brought the soldier of Cao's army who he had personally rescued to him. He first comforted him with kind words, then asked the guards to bandage his wounds, and then asked about his name, place of origin and team he belonged to. The Cao Army soldier thanked Deputy Director Tao for his rescue, and answered the questions truthfully, saying that his surname was Chen Mingtie, who was from Fufeng, Liangzhou. He had only joined the Cao Army for less than three years and was under the command of Zhang Liao's deputy Feng Kai. .
"So you are a soldier of General Zhang Wenyuan." Deputy Director Tao nodded, and suddenly asked the Cao soldier named Chen Tie: "This time you are out fighting, will General Zhang He's troops participate?"
"Um, it seems not." Chen Tie replied honestly: "Thank you, Mr. Taiwei, I am just a pawn. I don't know and I don't know if there are any troops under General Zhang He participating in the battle, but there should not be. General Zhang He is In charge of the rear army, his team usually does not come to the east gate of Hangu Pass."
"No wonder I can't find Zhang Junyi's soldiers among the prisoners." Deputy Director Tao said suddenly, and then Deputy Director Tao thought about it for a moment, and then asked Chen Tie: "Chen Tie, are you willing to surrender to our army?" ?¡±
"Yes, yes, I am willing." Chen Tie quickly knelt down on his knees, kowtowed and said, "If it hadn't been for the Taiwei to save his life just now, I might have been beaten to death by several generals. I'm so kind to you. People will never forget it in this life. If the villain is willing to surrender, the villain will do whatever the master wants him to do."
"Very good." Deputy Director Tao nodded with satisfaction, and suddenly said: "Chen Tie. From now on, you will be a member of the imperial court. I will reward you with two kilograms of gold and silver each, and thirty acres of fertile land. If you want to continue to serve as a soldier. , I will make you Du Bo. If you don¡¯t want to be a soldier, I will make you a county gate supervisor and tax collector, so that you will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of your life."
"Master Taiwei, are you serious?" Chen Tie was so surprised that he thought he must have heard wrong, and asked tremblingly: "Master, do you really want to be so nice to this villain?"
"Of course." Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "Of course. It's certainly not for nothing that I reward you so highly. You have to do something for me. Only after you do it can I give you these. Reward."
"Ah?" Chen Tie's surprise froze on his face. It took him a while to come back to his senses, and he hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Okay, sir, I am the villain's savior. Don't say that I still have a big reward, but there is no reward. , Whatever the master wants the villain to do, the villain will do it.¡±
"That's enough." Deputy Director Tao was still satisfied with Chen Tie's reaction. He first asked the guard to take a small gold cake and reward it to Chen Tie, and then said: "This is for you first, and it does not count as my promise to you." I¡¯m going to reward you, and what I want you to do won¡¯t be difficult. You¡¯ve heard that¡¡±
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After cleaning the battlefield, Deputy Director Tao finally ordered the withdrawal of the troops. He also arranged for Wei Yan to lead the elite troops to the rear, take all the wounded soldiers and prisoners, and carefully withdraw from the narrow Hangu Pass Road. Cao's troops did not dare to pursue them. Just sent some scouts out. Monitor the retreat of the Xuzhou army from a distance, and be on guard against a surprise attack by the Xuzhou army. Fortunately, nothing like this happened, and it also surprised Cao Jun's team. Chen Tie, one of his own soldiers who had been dragged to the pass and beaten and tortured by the Xuzhou soldiers, was left at the scene by Deputy Director Tao, with a letter saying that Deputy Director Tao wanted to give it to Boss Cao himself.
The news was sent back to the pass. Boss Cao, who had just personally inspected the rescue of wounded soldiers, did not refuse. Regardless of his worsening condition and the fact that he had not slept for the past day and night, he asked the soldiers to escort Chen Tie back to the Hanguguan Gate Tower and asked Chen Tie face to face. . Chen Tie followed Deputy Director Tao's instructions and replied: "My lord, after the villain was rescued by Master Tao, Master Tao had someone deliver medicine to the villain, and also rewarded the villain with a golden cake, so that the villain could start again. Come back and send him a letter, so the villain is back again." After saying that, Chen Tie quickly picked up the letter in his hand.
After coughing and thinking for a while, Boss Cao still couldn't suppress the curiosity in his heart. He asked the guard to forward the letter to him. He opened the unsealed envelope and took out the letter. He saw Deputy Director Tao writing crooked words in vernacular on the letter. He wrote: "My lord-in-law is here, my son-in-law kowtows to you. My lord-in-law, although your plan of pretending to be dead is wonderful, you seem to have forgotten one thing. My son-in-law's medical skills are even better than those of Nanyang's genius doctor Zhang Ji, Zhang Zhongjing and Pei Guo." The famous doctor Hua Tuo and Hua Yuanhua admire him very much. Is it possible that you died of illness suddenly and my son-in-law couldn't tell? Eat more fish, shrimp and crabs, it will be good for your health. I'll pay you my respects to my son-in-law again. I don't know you."
After reading the autographed letter from his unscrupulous son-in-law, Mr. Cao's already ugly face inevitably became even uglier. He cursed, "Traitor! Are you bullying me for not knowing medical skills? Fish, shrimp, and crabs are all animals. The more you eat, the more seriously ill you become. Please advise me to eat more, because if my daughter marries you, it will be really bad luck for eight lifetimes!"
"Lord, what did the letter say?" Guo Jia asked curiously. Boss Cao threw the letter to Guo Jia angrily and said bitterly: "It's all nonsense., just to show off his superb medical skills of Tao Ying, a traitor. "
Guo Jia picked up the letter that fell on the case, coughed and read it carefully. Cheng Yu also came over to read it together. After reading it, Cheng Yu sighed quietly, and some believed that Deputy Director Tao had noticed Boss Cao's condition. Whether it was true or not, Guo Jia looked suspicious. After some calculation, he coughed and said to Boss Cao: "My lord, do you feel that Tao Ying's letter from the traitor seems to be a bit cover-up and superfluous?"
"How can you cover up the truth? Add superfluous things?" Mr. Cao asked hurriedly.
"Although Jia is not proficient in medicine, he also knows how to check the condition. You need to see, hear and ask everything to know the seriousness of the condition." Guo Jia replied: "The day before yesterday, my lord and Tao Ying were talking in battle. They were more than 20 steps apart. At that time, lord, you deliberately pretended Your condition is extremely serious, and no matter how proficient Tao Ying is in medical skills, how can he determine your condition, my lord, just by observing from twenty steps away?"
After raising this question, Guo Jia coughed and added: "To put it bluntly, even if Tao Ying really had this wonderful medical skill, why would he bother to write a letter to show off to his lord? He also released a prisoner of war from our army and rewarded him for this. Give our prisoners of war a gold cake? Is Tao Thief just going to such great lengths to tell the lord about his medical skills?"
Boss Cao also became suspicious. After thinking for a long time, Boss Cao suddenly remembered a big question and blurted out: "Could it be that Thief Tao is covering up for his traitor? He deliberately falsely claimed that he discovered that I could not suddenly die of illness. Misled me into not suspecting that there was a traitor hiding in the army?!"
"It's possible!" Cheng Yu also came to his senses and hurriedly said: "Master, whether Tao is deliberately showing off or trying to cover up, this matter should be investigated carefully to see if someone reported your situation to Master Tao. thief."
Boss Cao nodded. He immediately made up his mind to investigate the matter in detail. Then Boss Cao glanced at Chen Tie, who was still kneeling in front, and ordered: "Go down and return to the army to serve as a soldier. The Tao thief will reward you with the piece of gold cake. You stay carefully too. Being captured this time is none of your business. I don¡¯t blame you."
"Thank you, Lord." Chen Tie kowtowed and was about to leave the Guanlou, but Cheng Yu warned him uneasily: "Wait a minute. Remember, the Tao thief rewarded you with gold. You must not publicize it to the outside world. Also, you must tell others The soldiers said that Tao was hypocritically treating you because he wanted to send you to deliver a message. In fact, Tao's team was desperately abusing and bullying our prisoners, do you hear that?"
Chen Tie agreed, and then followed Cao's guards out of the gate. When he asked guard Cao about the location of his team, the guards told Chen Tie that Zhang Liao's team, which had suffered heavy casualties, had withdrawn to the interior of Guancheng to rest. Let Chen Tie go to the city to find his team. Chen Tie thanked him, but hesitantly refused to go down the wall, because when Chen Tie was being escorted up the wall just now, he had already seen that the defenders at the east gate of Hangu Pass had been rotated into the troops of the partial general Zhang He. It was obvious that Zhang He had already Taking over the defense of the east gate of Hangu Pass in place of the injured Zhang Liao, Chen Tie, a pawn who was not affiliated with Zhang He's team, once entered the pass wall. It would be even harder to climb up to the barrier again than to climb to the sky. Once Zhang He climbed the barrier, he would definitely not leave it easily without orders. It would be extremely difficult for Chen Tie to meet him again.
"Why don't you leave?" Guard Cao Laodao asked strangely.
"This" Chen Tie hesitated. Finally, he couldn't resist the temptation of the huge reward promised by Deputy Director Tao, so he said: "General, I was originally on guard duty at the gate. There is a change of clothes on the wall of the gate. I want to get it."
"Okay, where is it? I'll take you to get it." Cao Jun's guard said casually.
"No, I can just go get it myself. There is no need to bother the general." Chen Tie quickly declined.
"No, the ground is locked behind a wall and no one is allowed to move around." Cao Jun's guard made a serious face.
"Then, forget it." Chen Tie didn't dare to persist, so he walked down the pass and said, "There's no need to take it, I don't want that piece of clothing anymore."
Of course, those who can serve as Cao Lao's guards are not ordinary soldiers. In this era of backward productivity, a piece of clothing is not an ordinary item that can be dispensed with. Therefore, Cao Lao's guard quickly discovered that something was wrong and shouted: "Stop, where are your clothes? Show me!"
"General, no, I don't want it." Chen Tie's words were trembling.
"I don't care if you want it or not!" Guard Cao Lao David shouted: "Tell me, where did you put your clothes?"
"Little, I forgot."
Chen Tie had no choice but to cover up the last lie with another lie. As a result, Boss Cao's guards did not hesitate and immediately grabbed Chen Tie and said with a sinister smile: "You want to stay on the wall, but you want to get your clothes?" , or what do you want to do? Tell me!"
Chen Tie's face became even more panicked, and his answers became even more erroneous. He also secretly took the things hidden in his waist, and he was sureHe threw down the wall to destroy the evidence, but as soon as he moved his hand, Boss Cao's guards immediately grabbed his hand, twisted his arm and held him down, and then quickly touched Chen Tie's belt, and the result was soon Chen Tie felt a hard object in his belt. When he took out the hard object, Boss Cao's guards were immediately surprised to find that the hard object turned out to be a sealing wax pill!
The next thing was simple. Chen Tie, who had just been sent out of the prison, was immediately escorted back to the prison. Boss Cao, who was analyzing with Guo Jia and others whether there might be a traitor, was shocked when he heard the report and became furious. Pai Ben yelled at Chen Tie: "How dare you, a little pawn, commit fraud on behalf of Tao Ying, a traitor, and say, what on earth is going on? Otherwise, I will be punished severely!"
"My lord, have mercy on me, my lord, have mercy on me." Chen Tie quickly kowtowed and said with tears, "I don't dare. It was Master Tao who forced me to do this. If I don't do this, he will kill me." You villain!"
Crying, Chen Tie quickly and obediently reported the truth to Boss Cao, introduced the huge reward that Deputy Director Tao had promised to him, and admitted that he was greedy for these rewards and promised to serve as an internal agent of the Xuzhou Army, and risked returning to Hangu Pass to deliver the message. Boss Cao was shocked and angry when he heard this, and cursed loudly: "You son of a bitch, you fell into the trap again, pretending to write a letter to humiliate me, and then took advantage of the opportunity to use the courier to send another letter! He said, Thief Tao wants you to take this heart." Who should give the wax pill to?!"
"Leave it to General Zhang He." Chen Tie replied tremblingly.
"Zhang Junyi?!" Boss Cao was startled. He quickly crushed the wax pills he found on Chen Tie's body and took out the small cloth strip hidden in the wax pills. He saw a sentence written in small letters on the cloth strips, " Contact the courier, who unfortunately died in the rebel army last night, and send another courier. Furthermore, Zhang Liao is injured, and we strive to take over the defense of the east gate."
After looking over and over the three-inch strip of cloth for a long time, and thinking about it for a long time with a livid face, Boss Cao suddenly slapped the table and roared: "A plan to divorce! Damn traitor, you are using a plan within a plan! If you want to get divorced, Kill my beloved general Zhang Junyi!"
"It's a pity that it was exposed too early." Sima Lang, the boss next to him, remained calm and thought to himself: "It would be best if Chen Tiefu was discovered by Cao's spy when he was sending a letter to Zhang He. But that's fine. , at least I don¡¯t have to worry about being immediately suspected.¡± (To be continued.)