Fan Chou defeated Ma Teng's army, and then broke through Huaili, killing all Chong Shao and others. For a time, Fan Chou's prestige in the Xiliang army was in full swing.

After Li Wei heard his nephew's words, although he was suspicious of Fan Chou in his heart, he was still very friendly to Fan Chou on the surface.

Later, Li Dao and Guo Yan took Anji general Fan Chou as the right general, and opened the mansion such as the three dukes, which were combined into six mansions, and all participated in the election. Li Dao and others all wanted to promote their cronies and install them as officials in the imperial court. For this matter, even the talents recommended by the three princes have not been reused.

Rao is like this, and there are many contradictions between the three of them in order to install cronies.

There are two flowers, one on each branch.

However, it is said that Cao Cao led the army to attack Xuzhou, slaughtering the city along the way, and the Qingzhou assassin Shi Tian Kai, the Beihai Xiang Kong Rong, and the plain Xiang Liu Bei led the army to the rescue.

When the three-way soldiers and horses arrived in Xuzhou, Kong Rong said to Tian Kai and Liu Bei: "Cao's troops are strong, and they are good at using soldiers, so they can't fight lightly." Watch its movements, and then march into the army. ”

Liu Bei said: "But I'm afraid that there is no food in the city, and it is difficult to hold on for a long time." can make Yun Chang lead 4,000 troops and help each other under the public department; Bei and Yide killed Bentan County, and went to Xuzhou to meet Tao Envoy Jun to discuss the strategy of breaking the enemy. ”

Kong Rong was overjoyed when he heard this, and joined Tian Kai to fight the horns, and Guan Yu led the troops to respond on the side.

On that day, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei led a thousand men and horses to march to Tan County. In the middle of the line, a drum suddenly sounded, and a group of people appeared not far from Liu Beijun. The first general is forbidden.

Yu Ban pointed a gun at Zhang Fei and shouted: "Where do you want to go where do you want to go?" ”

When Zhang Fei saw it, he didn't say anything, and he patted the horse and took it straight to the ban. The two horses fought with each other, and Liu Bei led his troops to attack Cao's army with a double-strand sword, and Yu Ban was defeated. Zhang Fei was about to go forward to chase and kill, but Liu Bei was afraid that Cao's army would attack in a big way, so he drank Zhang Fei and led the army directly to Tan County.

Tan County is the capital of Xuzhou, the defender generals on the city wall, seeing the red flag and white characters, the big book 'Plain Liu Xuande' five big characters, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly flew to report to Tao Qian.

After Tao Qian confirmed that the person who came was not Xuzhou reinforcements, he urgently ordered the door to open the door to welcome Liu Bei into the city. Tao Qian followed Liu Bei, went to the mansion together, finished the ceremony, set up a banquet to treat each other, and sent people to treat Liu Beijun.

Tao Qian was overjoyed when he saw Xuande's lofty appearance and open-minded language, and when he heard that he was a member of the Han family.

He thought to himself, "I am now old, but my heirs are not the ones who can do anything." The front flip let people kill Cao Cao's father, and he has already formed a mortal enmity with Cao Cao. ”

"Throughout Cao Cao's command, there are many soldiers and generals, and the terrain is like splitting bamboos all the way to the city. Even if Liu Xuande and others came to the rescue, I am afraid that they are not Cao Cao's opponents. On the day the city is broken, my family's lives will be in danger. ”

"I look at Liu Xuande, who has great ambitions, and he is definitely not a thing in the pool. In this case, why not give up the position of Xuzhou pastor to Liu Xuande, but I myself took my family and fled back to my hometown to escape the war? ”

Since Cao Cao raised an army to attack Xuzhou, Tao Qian has been restless every day. He had the heart to abandon the city and flee, but he was afraid of being scolded by others, and his reputation would be lost.

If the position of Xuzhou pastor is given to Liu Bei, not only can he get a reputation as a virtuous man, but he can also get out of the quagmire of this war, why not?

Thinking of this, Tao Qian ordered Mi Zhu to take the Xuzhou brand seal and give it to Liu Bei. Liu Bei was stunned and asked, "What does the envoy mean?" ”

Tao Qian replied: "Today's disruption is unstable, and Wang Gang is sluggish; Gong is a clan member of the Han family, and it is appropriate to support the community. The old man is old and incompetent, and he is willing to give up Xuzhou, and the public should not refuse. Humility should write his own expression and play the imperial court. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, his heart was pounding.

Fortunately, over the years, Liu Bei, who has experienced a lot, already has a deep city government. After thinking for a while, he hurriedly left the table and said: "Although Liu Bei is a Miao descendant of the Han Dynasty, he has little merit and virtue, and he is afraid that he is incompetent for the plains. Now is the righteousness, so come to help. When the public said this, could it be that Liu Bei had the intention of annexing Xuzhou? If you think about it, the emperor will not bless you! ”

Tao Qian said: "The old man is sincere, and Xuan Dexiu has doubts. ”

After speaking, Tao Qian repeatedly gave in, but Liu Bei resolutely refused.

Mi Zhu secretly thought in his heart: "Liu Xuande is a hero. However, Tao Gongzu was cunning and cunning, and in order to avoid the war, he did not hesitate to give this hot potato to Liu Xuande. If Liu Xuande rashly catches it, Xuzhou will change the master, the people will definitely be unstable, and Cao Mengde will take the opportunity to break through the city again, and we will all rest! ”

He took a closer look at Liu Bei's expression and thought, "Could it be that Xuande knows Tao Gongzu's plan?" Liu Xuande is not a very human being, I will help him for the time being, if he has achieved something in the future, he will not forget today's grace. ”

Thinking of this, Mi Zhu hurriedly stepped forward and pressed Tao Qian's arm, and said, "Now Cao Mengde's soldiers are coming to the city, and they should discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy." When things are peaceful, then you can give in. ”

Liu Bei glanced at Mi Zhu gratefully, nodded hurriedly and said: "What Zizhong said is not bad, for the sake of today's plan, you should retreat from Cao Jun first, and then talk about other things." Bei is willing to send people to Cao Ying to persuade Cao Gong to withdraw from the army, if he doesn't listen, it's not too late to fight! ”

After speaking, Liu Bei hurriedly withdrew and walked out of the mansion, began to spread the word of Sanzhai, and did not move, and sent people to write a letter to Cao Cao.

Liu Bei led Zhang Fei back to the barracks, and Zhang Fei said suspiciously: "Brother, Tao Gong wants to let Xuzhou and you, why can't you refuse?" ”

Liu Bei looked around, and then whispered to Zhang Fei: "Yide, you should be Tao Gongzu to let Xuzhou and me, is it kind?" ”

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment and said, "Why did my brother say this? ”

Liu Bei sighed and asked rhetorically: "Yide thinks that even if we join forces, will we be able to repel the Cao army?" ”

Zhang Fei pondered for a long time, and then said: "Although I don't want to grow the ambition of others and destroy my own prestige, I also feel that if there is no accident, Xuzhou will be overcome by Cao Mengde sooner or later." ”

Liu Bei said earnestly: "If I take over the seal ribbon of Xuzhou, I will end up with a reputation of taking advantage of people's danger; Second, if the city of Xuzhou is broken, you and I will be captured by Cao Mengde! ”

"On the contrary, if Tao Gongzu abandons the position of Xuzhou pastor, he can get out smoothly with his family."

Liu Bei sneered twice and said: "Even if we can escape with our lives, but we can't protect the safety of the people under our rule, how will others think of us?" ”

Yes, if Liu Bei had just taken over Xuzhou, and Xuzhou was broken by Cao Cao, others might think that he Liu Bei couldn't even compare to Tao Qian.

When Zhang Fei heard this, he was convinced, and no longer thought about letting his brother lead the matter of Xuzhou Mu, but said angrily: "I waited for the kindness to come to save him, but I didn't show that Tao Qian's mind was so vicious!" ”

Liu Bei hurriedly covered Zhang Fei's mouth and said, "Yide said carefully, maybe Tao Gong didn't have this kind of mind at all, but he didn't think it through. ”

However, it was said that Cao Cao was in the army, discussing with the generals, and people reported that there was a war book in Xuzhou. Cao Cao was shocked, he knew that Liu Bei led troops to rescue Xuzhou, but he didn't expect the war book to come so soon.

Liu Bei's envoy handed the letter to Cao Cao, and after Cao Cao read it, he was furious and said: "Liu Bei is such a person, he actually wants to persuade me to withdraw from the army, it's a joke. Someone, drag Liu Bei's messenger out and behead him! ”

Liu Bei's envoy was shocked, and just as he wanted to speak, he heard a Cao army strategist say: "The lord can't!" Since ancient times, the two armies have fought without slashing, and if this person is killed, it will be a lack of grace in our army. ”

Cao Cao just said it casually, and he didn't really want to kill Liu Bei. He was about to speak, when suddenly someone entered the tent and presented an urgent letter.

Cao Cao opened the letter, read the contents of it, and was immediately shocked. He said to Liu Bei's envoy: "You have the right to go down and rest for a while, and I will discuss the matter of withdrawing from the army with the generals under my account." ”

After Liu Bei's envoy went down, Cao Cao sent a letter to others. When the Chinese Wu saw the contents of the letter, he was shocked.

Cao Cao's face sank like ice, clenched his fists tightly, and said: "Chen Liutai guards Zhang Miao, and while we are waiting to attack Xuzhou, lead Yuan Shu into Yanzhou." If Yanzhou is lost, I will definitely be homeless! ”

Guo Jia said: "Why don't you sell your personal favor to Liu Bei, but we will kill back to Yanzhou in the starry night and suppress the rebellion!" ”

Cao Cao thought so, and immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Liu Bei's envoy, but he hurriedly withdrew to Yanzhou with a large army.

However, it was said that in Tan County, Tao Qian was overjoyed when he heard that Cao Cao had withdrawn his troops. Liu Bei was worried that Cao Cao's withdrawal was fraudulent, so he sent people to investigate the intelligence, and it didn't take long for someone to hear that Zhang Miao had rebelled, and Yuan Shu did his best to attack Yanzhou.

Liu Bei secretly thought in his heart: "Cao Mengde was afraid that Yanzhou would lose, so he led his troops to retreat." From this point of view, the withdrawal of Cao's troops must be true. ”

Not only Liu Bei thought of this, but all the rest of Xuzhou also had such thoughts. For a while, the Xuzhou army, which had just experienced the flames of war, all relaxed.

After Cao Cao withdrew his troops, Tao Qian secretly thought in his heart: "Although Cao's army retreats, it will definitely come back in the future." Now that I'm old, it's hard for my two sons to grow up. If I give Xuzhou to Liu Xuande, I can also spend my old age in peace. ”

Thinking of this, Tao Qian wanted to give up the position of Xuzhou pastor to Liu Bei again.

Liu Bei secretly thought: "At the beginning, Xuzhou was in danger, I resigned from Tao Gongzu's concession, if I took over the position of Xuzhou Mu at this time, what would others think of me?" Do you want to report it? ”

Liu Bei knew that except for the title of a Han clan relative, his status was far from that of the princes. If you ruin your reputation for the position of Xuzhou pastor at this time, you will lose more than you gain.

Moreover, Xuzhou is a place of three wars, and there are powerful princes next to it. Even if he took over the position of Xuzhou pastor, he may not be able to hold Xuzhou.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei naturally refused. Tao Qian saw that Liu Bei didn't seem to be cheating, so he had no choice but to give up. He was afraid that Cao Cao would attack again, so he gave Xiao Pei to Liu Bei and asked him to station troops there.

Liu Bei had long wanted to get rid of Gongsun Zhan, so after seeing Tao Qian let him stay, he was overjoyed.