Dragon of the Three Kingdoms

Today, with the mentality of making a final effort, Tao Qian once again dispatched messengers to persuade Cao Bao and other generals not to make mistakes. To make matters worse, some officials in the city who had responded to his orders also began to complain of illness and disappeared. In the end, there were only three people left in the huge lobby of the State Shepherd's Mansion, Tao Qian himself, Sun Qian, and Tao Qian's The eldest son of the potter.

Because of Li Yi's earlier assistance to Xuzhou, Tao Qian, who should have died of illness, lived two years longer, but also because of Li Yi, although Tao Qian's body has not shown any obvious symptoms recently, his overall condition has become worse At this time, facing Sun Qian and Tao Shang, Tao Qian couldn't even sit upright, so he could only lean on the soft back, which made Sun Qian and Tao Shang feel sad for a while.

Not reconciled, he waited for a while, Tao Qian knew that no one would come, Tao Qian couldn't help but sighed bitterly, with infinite loneliness and exhaustion in his voice, then looked at his eldest son, but only stayed for a short time , but set his sights on Sun Gan again.

"Gongyou?"

Tao Qian called softly, and Sun Gan hurriedly responded, "What orders does your envoy have?"

Tao Qian looked at it for a while, and then asked, "Why is Gongyou still here?"

Before Sun Qian could reply, the pottery merchant sitting on the other side hurriedly raised his head and looked at Tao Qian with an anxious expression on his face, hesitating to speak.

Seeing his son's impatient appearance, Tao Qian was stunned for a while, he couldn't understand how his son could be so stupid and so worthless, but if he had a little bit of promise, he could pave the way for him, but in the end It's mud that can't support the wall.

Resisting the urge to teach his son a lesson, Tao Qian continued to look at Sun Qian.

Sun Qian did not hypocritically say anything righteous, or express his loyalty to Tao Qian, but said bluntly: "Li Yi's actions are too unscrupulous, he is not a gentleman, Cao Bao, Chen Deng and others are afraid of his power, so they attach themselves to him, but although he is not talented , but in this life I only wish to serve a gentleman.”

After Sun Qian finished speaking, the face of the potter next to him suddenly softened. What he was worried about just now was that Sun Qian, the last remaining loyal minister, would also leave his father, and then his father would face the embarrassing situation that no one could use him.

But now Sun Qian has expressed his unwillingness to join forces with Li Yi, and praised his father as a gentleman. This result is obviously not bad.

However, Tao Qian's next sentence stunned the Tao merchant.

"Liu Bei?"

Tao Qian asked tentatively.

Sun Gan didn't make a sound, but nodded slightly, as a tacit agreement.

"Ugh."

Tao Qian sighed. There was an indescribable sadness in his heart. As early as when Li Yi supported Xuzhou, he found that Sun Qian was closer to Liu Bei. Walking too tight, so as not to offend Li Yi, but Sun Qian did his own way, and Tao Qian was very dissatisfied with this. Slowly, Sun Qian was pushed out to the periphery of Xuzhou's decision-making circle.

As a result, now, Tao Qian is able to command and control, that is, the peripheral member Sun Gan, and he is not loyal to him, but because he does not deal with Li Yi, this really makes Tao Qian do not know what to say, he dare I felt that I was too much of a failure, I struggled all my life, and in the end I didn't even have anyone who could use it.

The pottery merchant on the side listened to the conversation between Tao Qian and Chen Deng, and was a little confused. He somehow got involved with Liu Bei, and wanted to ask the reason, but he was not stupid enough. Although the question mark was already written on his face, but After all, he held back and didn't speak.

Tao Qian shook his head slightly, trying not to think about those meaningless things, and asked again: "Mi Zhu and Chen Deng are about to enter the city, and Li Yi will also arrive soon, so Xuzhou will definitely fall into Li Yi's hands. I?"

Sun Qian pursed his lips, and said slowly: "Either fight or surrender, the war will make the king mobilize the young and strong of the whole city now, and burn with Li Yi Yushi, surrender!"

Just as Sun Qian was about to continue, the potter beside him suddenly shouted in panic, "No!"

Tao Qian squinted at his eldest son with anger in his eyes. Although Tao Qian was old, his father's majesty was no less.

When Sun Qian saw the appearance of the pottery merchant, he felt a little pity for Tao Qian. Although Tao Qian did not have a good life in the cracks of this troubled world, he was still a big man for a while, but his son was too incompetent. No, no, no Wu, no guts, no measure, no city, this time Li Yi's soldiers have not arrived in Xuzhou, Xuzhou's Wu has not hesitated to fall to Li Yi, and Tao Qian has no successors. People's sake.

Sun Qian was in a daze, thinking of Liu Bei again inexplicably, but soon he shook his head lightly, and then continued the previous topic: "Also, if you surrender, Shijun and Li Yifei are enemies, as long as Shijun is willing to surrender, Li Yi will definitely not embarrass the king, and will treat the two young masters kindly. Moreover, although Li Yi's methods are a bit shady, he is really good to the people, and the people of Xuzhou will also be protected by Li Yi."

His tone lowered, and he was silent for a while, then Sun Qian added: "In war, you lose people and land, so you can leave your name in history. If you surrender, you can save everyone and land. It's just that we don't know how future generations will comment on Shijun." gone."

"Ugh."

Tao Qian closed his eyes. How could he not understand what Sun Qian said, but, it was really too difficult for him to face such a choice when he was old and had been a Hanchen all his life.

Under his son's eager gaze, Tao Qian was still unable to make a decision. Instead, he asked Chen Deng again: "Since Gongyou doesn't want to work for Li Yi, you can let go of your official seal at this time and leave with a flick of your sleeve. If you want to come to Li Yi, you won't be here." Will make things difficult on purpose, but why does Gongyou stay here?"

Sun Qian didn't hesitate, and replied directly: "There is no one else. It's just a good beginning and a good end. People in the city are in panic these days. If there are no officials to comfort them, it is inevitable that some villains will do evil and make the people suffer for no reason. Although they are not talented, they can't do it." Sit and watch."

"people"

Tao Qian murmured, then pondered for a while, and said: "I know, the old man's energy is low, and the affairs of the common people will be hard, Gongyou, step down."

"Take care of you."

Sun Gan got up and saluted Tao Qian, then left slowly, and then Tao Qian said to the potter, "You go down too."

The potter didn't move, and asked cautiously, "What is father's plan?"

Tao Qian didn't say a word, just waved his hands again and again, signaling the potter to get out of here.

The potter was aggrieved, Tao Qian asked him to come and listen, he felt that Tao Qian must have something to say later, but he sincerely listened and sent him back without explaining anything.

However, the pottery merchant was so depressed that he didn't dare to challenge his father, so he gave a salute honestly and left.

When the potter was gone, Tao Qian pressed the mat with one hand, sat up slowly, then opened the wooden box next to him, and took out a piece of paper. The unique texture of the paper made him rub it subconsciously a few times, even his old face He couldn't help showing a few smiles.

These papers were all given to him by Li Yi. Tao Qian liked them very much and was reluctant to use them at first, but Li Yi gave them to him twice. Tao Qian felt that the cost of the papers should not be as mysterious as rumored, so he began to write official papers. It was time to use high quality paper.

Flattening the paper, Tao Qian took a pen and dipped it in ink, and wrote: Chen, Tao Qian

As soon as he wrote a few words, Tao Qian's heart went up and down for a while, and the wolf hair in his hand seemed to be extremely heavy, making it difficult for him to continue.

"That's all, that's all"

Sighing, Tao Qian threw the paper with a few words aside, this was the first time he wasted paper like this, then Tao Qian took another piece of paper, picked up the pen and wanted to write the word Xianghou, but hesitated Again and again, in the end when the stroke of the pen falls, what appears on the paper is "The Great General"!

When Tao Qian was tangled in the choice, Yuan Tan and Yan Liang in Qingzhou were also caught in a dilemma.

At the beginning, Yuan Tan went to Qingzhou with high spirits, and he won the Pingyuan and Gaotang without any effort. Even the Yellow River, which was supposed to be a natural obstacle, was crushed by him like stepping on the ground, and then it was like a broken bamboo. , Siege the city and pull out the stronghold, Yuan Tan killed Linzi in one go, entered the hinterland of Qingzhou, and then temporarily stopped his eastward advance.

At first, Yuan Tan stopped because Tian Kai's resistance became fierce. Yuan Tan didn't pay attention to it. Anyway, given him time, Linzi would be able to take it sooner or later. Then there was a bad news that Xuzhou Zang Ba took several soldiers with him. Thousands of people crossed Taishan County and went straight to his back to kill.

This made Yuan Tan startled. He suspected that Zang Ba had conspired with Tian Kai and deliberately set up a plan to lure the enemy deep. Now he has begun to encircle him, intending to trap his main force under the city of Linzi. Therefore, Yuan Tan began to panic He withdrew his troops, even at the expense of himself, but two days later, Yuan Tan suddenly discovered that not only did Tian Kai not send out a pursuit, but Zang Ba's strange soldier did not see a drop of blood. And it was faster than he withdrew.

So Yuan Tan and Yan Liang suddenly realized that Zang Ba's dispatch of troops was mostly just a bluff, and even if there was a connection between Zang Ba and Tian Kai, the connection was definitely not deep, otherwise it would be impossible to miss such a good opportunity.

The facts are indeed true. If Zang Ba and Tian Kai cooperate well, they are fully capable of taking over Yuan Tan's team. Even if Yuan Shao urgently dispatches reinforcements, Yuan Tan, Yan Liang and Xu Xihong will inevitably be severely injured, and then they will be hit by a double blow to their strength and morale. Next, the Qingzhou Raiders will most likely be in vain.

After Yuan Shao sent troops to Qingzhou, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou also began to send troops southward. Under the premise of militarism, Gongsun Zan's troops were not weak, at least they did not look weak, so Yuan Shao did not dare to invest too much troops on the battlefield of Qingzhou, otherwise If there is a loss in Jizhou, it will be too late to regret.

In this way, Cang Ba and Tian Kai inadvertently formed a situation of shutting down Yuan Tan and beating dogs, and inadvertently let Yuan Tan go, wasting a great opportunity. However, they were not without gains. He became a lot more cautious in using troops, and started to fight steadily, and the speed of attack naturally slowed down.

Moreover, when Yuan Tan went to the city of Linzi again, he had to face a more troublesome question, whether to divide his troops to completely eliminate Zang Ba, the poisonous snake lurking around him, before taking Qingzhou, although Zang Ba always None of them directly conflicted with Yuan Tan, but Yuan Tan was almost disgusted to death by Zang Ba.

Zang Ba's harassment tactics are very pure. Several times Yuan Tan estimated that the design exposed gaps, and Zang Ba just wandered outside the battlefield without any serious intentions. It made Yuan Tan hate his teeth, but there was no good solution.

In this way, Yuan Tan was delayed in Linzi for several days because of Zang Ba's problem. Fortunately, Cao Cao was guarding Yanzhou, and Yuan Tan was not in a hurry, because although Cao Cao was weaker than Li Yi, the situation in Yanzhou was complicated, and Cao Cao was not mediocre. Yuan Tan felt that it was okay for Cao Cao to give Li Yicong two months.

It is still possible to delay Li Yi.

However, after another two days, Zang Ba's problem had not been resolved, and Yuan Tan ushered in even bigger troubles.

On this day, more than 100 defeated soldiers came from Yuan Tan's camp, claiming to be Cao Cao's troops. Yuan Tan was shocked, and came forward to inquire in person, and then got a news like a bolt from the blue.

Cao Cao was defeated in Yanzhou, and almost his entire army was wiped out. Only Xiahoudun's [-] troops survived. Cao Cao and Xiahoudun went to Jizhou to plead guilty to Yuan Shao, and ordered the remnant soldiers and generals to defect to Yuan Tan to contribute to the Qingzhou war.