Chapter 22 Whack Yuan Shang

At midnight on the second day of Yuan Shang's garrison in Xishan, the defenders of Yecheng, encouraged by the judge, made preparations for a full-scale battle with internal and external cooperation. Thousands of soldiers gathered in the empty field in the south of the city, wrapping their heads in uniform white cloth to distinguish ourselves from the enemy.The daredevils in the first few rows wore heavy armor and pushed shaft carts, tug carts, and flatbed carts in order to fill up trenches and build temporary bridges.In order to prepare these materials, they demolished all the houses in the city, and were ready to fight to the death.Listed in the middle are the carefully trained crossbowmen. They have set up their bows and arrows and riveted enough energy. As long as they rush out of the city gate, they will give Cao Jun a blow.In addition to the troops left by Yuan Shang, the large team at the back also included tribal family soldiers who were assigned, and even many common people voluntarily joined.No matter what spears, spears, halberds, hoes and sticks, axes and sickles, as long as they can kill people, they will be picked up.

Everyone stood quietly, and all kinds of weapons gleamed eeriely under the light of the faint fire.The war has not yet started, but the soldiers are already fighting against the enemy, with a murderous look and a little horror and tragedy.The judge stood standing on the top of the city. He was also wearing a soft armor wrapped in white cloth, and he was holding a saber tightly in his hand.For this battle, he rewarded the soldiers with treasures, goods and even concubines. As the number one wealthy family in Jizhou, he vowed to defend Yuan's rule to the death.The cool autumn wind was blowing, his slightly purple face flickered in the firelight, but he stared out of the city motionless.

Cao Jun's company camp was dark and quiet, revealing a trace of unfathomable silence. It seemed that Cao Cao and his group of generals had already fallen asleep, and only guards were left at the gate of the trench to patrol.Those torches planted by the walls of the village have only one every ten or so steps, intermittently forming a large circle of forty miles along the ditch, quite like a fire dragon sleeping with its head and tail tied together, it looks very warm from the tower of.But the judge knew in his heart that everything was an illusion, and Cao Cao would never be so slack in his calculations. How many ambushes were hidden in the calm darkness!What is coming must be a tough battle...Suddenly, a few sparks flashed faintly on the abrupt mountain shadow, and then disappeared in a flash.

The judge had been waiting for this moment for more than five months, and he didn't have any pretentious rhetoric when it happened, he just turned around and muttered to the soldiers: "The time has come, let's act." Rumbling... The sound of the city gate opening was like thunder breaking the tranquility of the night, and then the cry of the Hebei Army was like a torrential rain, and daredevils and archers poured out from the south gate, rushing like crazy. To the defense of Cao Jun.But just as the examiner had expected, the dark company on the opposite side immediately boiled over. In the blink of an eye, countless torches shot up to the sky, illuminating the surroundings of Yecheng like daylight. To the side of the trench, the stream is like swarms of ants.

The archers from Hebei released their strings at the same time, and a rain of arrows like locusts flew towards the wall of Cao Jun's stronghold immediately.The daredevils didn't care how many enemies there were in front of them, they just pushed their carts and rushed forward with their heads lowered. Some of them simply roared and jumped into the ditch with their carts to pave the way for the people behind.A large group of soldiers rushed forward, but only a few of them could cross the temporary bridge. Others who knew how to water and those who couldn't, jumped into the ditch, stepping on the stuffing and the dead.

"Hold on! Hold on!" General Cao's shrill yell seemed to be squeezed out from the back of his head. Under the cover of bows and arrows, the soldiers held up the long-armed halberds and stuck them to the wall of the village. I couldn't see clearly, so I just stuck the guy out of the fence and gestured; he was stabbed to death by Yuan Jun's arrows in the city in a few strokes, and the soldiers in the back row quickly took the guy from the dead man, stepped on the corpse and charged— —Whether it is breaking through or defending, it is crazy at the moment. Cao Cao had already left the camp of the Chinese army, and was watching from a distance of several feet away from the battlefield. Even though he couldn't see clearly from such a distance, he could hear the sound of clanging arrows mixed with shouts of killing.With the lesson from last time, he can be considered to understand how powerful the bows and arrows are, so he didn't dare to take half a step forward, and just listened to the scouting reports from the guards on the spot.Even so, the generals were still very worried about his safety. On the outside, Cao Chundu led the tiger and leopard cavalry to surround a large circle, and inside, there were Xu Chu, Deng Zhan and others holding shields in front of him.Xun You, Guo Jia and others were also wearing armor, but they were holding their shields, their palms were sweating.

While watching anxiously, Wang Xuan, the supervisor under Zhang Xiu's command, came with his own soldiers: "Yuan Shangjun attacked our camp from the south." Cao Cao didn't even turn his head: "Tell him to attack, he can't chew Zhang Xiu's hard bone." "My lord, won't you send troops to resist?" Wang Xuan was a little surprised. "Don't worry, Yuan Shang's army will not be able to fight in if they are not in the same spirit." Cao Cao said while poking his head, "You will send orders everywhere for the old man. Except for the outermost village to keep people, other soldiers will be transferred here to defend. Tonight, regardless of Yuan Shang, we will fight. Trial!"

Wang Xuan was dumbfounded: "This, isn't this too risky?" Guo Jia glanced at him: "If you are told to go, you can go, what are you talking about!" Wang Xuan retreated in dismay, and everyone continued to stare at the battlefield.After fighting for about half an hour, the trial and distribution army was still brave. Cao Jun had a stronghold wall as a basis, and the archers in Yecheng erected their chariots as a cover, hiding behind and firing cold arrows; Liu Ya fought fiercely with Cao Jun.Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the entire gate of the village on the South Road was overturned by the Hebei army. Cao Jun was surrounded and couldn't help but retreat.

Seeing the urgency of the battle, Cao Cao drew out his sword and shouted: "Those who retreat will be cut!" The herald shouted, and the soldiers pushed and pushed the enemy back again and again.But the battle was still stalemate. Yuan Jun, who had jumped over the ravine, had already started a hand-to-hand fight with Cao Bing, with blood springs pierced by spears and spears, and his arms were cut off with big knives.Cao Bing took care of his companions and dared not shoot any more arrows, but the soldiers who broke through the siege of Yecheng came with the heart of death, and the archers in the city just kept shooting regardless of the enemy or us.

Some soldiers came back to report that the southern wall of the village had collapsed.Cao Cao clicked his tongue again and again: "What a judge Zhengnan, I really want to fight my life with this old man!" Xun You reminded: "Use offense as defense to force the enemy to retreat." "Okay! Anyway, this battle has been fought so hard, I don't think he will be able to do it again." Cao Cao issued an order loudly, "Tell the whole army to tear down the wall and attack the city together!" The herald passed ten or ten to a hundred, and in a short time all the 40 inner walls of Yecheng Zhouza were knocked down by Cao Jun himself, and the soldiers used them as bridges to climb across the trench and rush inward.Some people with quick eyesight and quick hands climbed up the ladder. Although the siege force could not be dispersed in this way, it disrupted the plan of breaking out of the encirclement.For a while, the east, west, and north were in a hurry, but only the south was still fighting.

At this time, another small team came from the west, and the leader was Hao Zhou: "My lord, Yuan Shang's army could not attack Zhang Xiu, so he moved west to attack the forbidden general's camp." "Hmph!" Cao Cao couldn't help sneering, "You tell Yu Jin to guard the gate of the village and fight steadily. Just let Yuan Shang hang around outside, he won't be able to enter from east, west, north, south." "No." Hao Zhou took the order and left. The situation on the battlefield gradually changed. Under Cao Cao's tactics of using offense as defense, the Hebei army was finally forced to retreat.Cao soldiers on the east and west sides waded through the trenches and came to the south for reinforcements. Although the Hebei army's fighting spirit was not weakened by the enemy on three sides, they were unable to turn the situation around.The soldiers of the two armies who killed the regime stabbed, slashed, and split each other. Under the light of the fire, everyone seemed to be bloody and terrifying.Suddenly there was a muffled sound of gongs from above the head—the judge was finally forced to call for gold. But for this sake, how can you retreat if you want to?It seemed that a torch had ignited the chariot, and thick black smoke rose in front of Fengyang Gate. In the middle of nowhere, soldiers waved their weapons indiscriminately in order to protect themselves. All enemy companions fell in a pool of blood, and everyone was killed. They squinted, squeezed into a pile, rolled into a ball... There was another loud bang, and the Fengyang Gate was closed.Cao Bing couldn't get in, but more than a hundred Hebei warriors were also turned away. Then there was a sound of clappers, and countless rolling logs and stones fell from the city, and a burst of smoke and dust rose. No more—all the soldiers of the two armies fighting in front of the city gate are gone. Cao Cao looked around the fiery battlefield, and the siege from the east and west sides was still going on fiercely.He rubbed his shoulders and said, "Let's stop here, don't hit me anymore..." "Report!" Wu Zhou, the superintendent, came humming again, "Yuan Shang was unable to attack the forbidden camp, and then attacked our camp. Zhang Liao didn't obey the order of the lord, and opened the gate of the camp to go out to fight!" "Hey hey..." Cao Cao laughed instead, "Bonan, you are wrong this time. There is a saying that goes 'one effort, then decline, and three exhaustion', Yuan Shangjun can't attack the camp twice, how much trouble can it cause? Just wait and see, Wen Yuan will have good news in a while." The noise of the battlefield gradually subsided, and everyone protected Cao Cao and came carefully to the overturned wall—there were countless corpses of soldiers from the two armies, and the ditch had been filled up.The tragic scene in front of the gate of Yecheng was even more shocking. All kinds of corpses shot to death, smashed to death, and killed in battle were crushed to pieces by rolling logs and rocks, and the ground was covered with blood and brains. Against the backdrop of the faint fire, it looks like a hell in a ghost mansion. Cao Cao was about to order the corpses to be collected when he heard the sound of clappers and arrows were about to be released from the city again, so he hurried back to the company camp: "Jinpei is really a tough guy, and he will continue to resist until now. It's a pity that his master is useless, even the old man's stockade If you can’t even get in, it’s useless to tell him to fight all night.” Sure enough, Wu Zhou came back with a happy expression on his face: "My lord, Yuan Shang has already retreated. They saw the crowd, and Zhang Liao went out to fight, but they retreated instead!" Cao Cao nodded happily: "Yuan Shang's rescue was not effective. Since then, the army's morale has been shaken, and they can't fight any longer. Order the whole army to return to the camp to rest for a while. After dawn, divide half of the troops and follow me to fight Yuan Shang. I want to beat the dog in the water!" Yuan Shang originally wanted to cooperate with the outside world, but he was frustrated inside and outside, and fled back to Yangpingting in desperation. Fearing that Cao's army would pursue him overnight and set up camp, he retreated to the village along the Zhang River, wanting to discuss the next step.Unexpectedly, Cao Cao pressed on with every move and did not give him any room to breathe. At noon the next day, he led his troops to chase to the bank of the Zhang River, set up a camp and began to call for battle. Yuan Shangjun circled around Cao Ying for half a night and couldn't attack, and then retreated to set up the village to show his weakness. At this moment, it can't raise morale.But Cao Cao couldn't provoke or hide, and Yuan Shang ordered the whole army to attack the village before he came out.Cao's soldiers were all in high spirits, each of them rushed in with their arrows and shot inward, beating Yuan Shang to the point where he could only parry and had no power to fight back.From noon to evening, the most annoying thing is that Cao Cao brought dozens of war drums to beat endlessly, and claimed to surround Yuan Shang's camp, scaring the Hebei soldiers into danger. If this continues, they will not even be able to defend Living.Yuan Shang was forced by Cao Cao in front of him, not only could Yecheng not be rescued, but also Yuan Tan attacked other areas. In desperation, he had no choice but to plead for a truce. "It was Yuan Tan who asked to surrender before, and now Yuan Shang has come to ask for surrender again. How can you believe me?" Cao Cao squinted his eyes and looked at the two people who had passed the camp and asked to surrender. Yin Kui is a cowardly person, he can't even say a whole sentence when he sees Cao Cao, he just trembles.Chen Lin was much more promising than him, and held out a scroll of bamboo slips with both hands: "This is a letter of submission from my lord, please accept it, Mr. Cao." Xu Chu snatched the letter of surrender and handed it to Shuai Shuai, but Cao Cao didn't even read it, and threw it into the charcoal brazier: "Don't read it, he is not allowed to surrender!" Chen Lin stomped her feet anxiously: "It was written by my general..." "Handwritten?" Cao Cao laughed loudly, "Yuan Shao's campaign against me was also written by himself?" Chen Lin was so frightened that half of her body was numb——During the Battle of Guandu, he was ordered by Yuan Shao to draft a campaign against Cao Cao, scolding three generations of the Cao family.It is said that Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, was a treacherous eunuch, and he colluded with the five princes to persecute Zhongliang; that Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was a bastard raised by beggars, and that he was a corrupt eunuch; There is no evil in the tomb... This hatred is not over yet. Chen Lin used to be a subordinate of He Jin's mansion, and she was an old acquaintance with Cao Cao. She knew a little bit about his temper. , but I am here for military and national affairs. I also hope that Cao Gong will spare my lord with generosity." "Why should I spare him?" Cao Cao stared at Chen Lin like a cat playing a mouse. "The Yuan family has occupied Hebei for ten years, and has always been respected by scholars. If Cao Gong can forgive my lord regardless of the past, all the people in Hebei will be grateful. The world's separatist regimes will follow suit, and the great cause of unification can be achieved!" Chen Lin's words are purely arrogant. How can it be so easy to unify the world with the whole family?If it is true that the world can be conquered only by benevolence and righteousness, many heroes in ancient and modern times would have lived in vain. Cao Cao just wanted to tease him, and said grimly: "The Yuan family is ruthless and ungrateful. Brothers can't get along with each other, so how can we have a heart-to-heart relationship with this old man. Today's surrender will be reversed tomorrow." Chen Lin cupped her hands and said, "Hasn't my lord already been defeated by you?" "Yuan Shang camped on the mountain, and I knew he would be defeated!" Cao Cao suddenly changed his face, "If he camped on the main road, he would have the root of salvation. The commander does not care about life and death, and the soldiers will naturally die. But Yuan Shang came along the mountain, and he died before the battle. If he wants to protect himself from danger, he will be damned if he wins! Yuan Shao left him a big Jizhou, and he couldn’t inspire his soldiers to fight desperately when he was in danger. What use would I have for such a useless person? Incompetent master, I feel chilling for the judge, and for the soldiers who broke out from the encirclement who died in vain last night!" How could Chen Lin herself not be chilled?Hearing such words from the enemy's mouth, I really want to find a crack in the ground and sneak in.But with his duty in mind, he could only beg again: "It's not that my general is unwilling to fight, but it's because the soldiers are separated and unable to gather together, so..." "So you want to put on a posture to scare the old man and tell me to retreat?" Cao Cao sneered, "It's a pity that I, Cao, was not frightened, but rolled over on the tip of a knife! How can a soldier be willing to sacrifice his life for them?" Chen Lin sighed, and kowtowed again and again: "Ming Gong, please allow me to surrender, and allow my general to surrender, even for the sake of my ancestor." "No!" Cao Cao said ferociously, "Did you, Chen Kongzhang, ever give me face when you drafted the proclamation?" This question made Chen Lin speechless. "Go back and tell Yuan Shang, tell him to wash his neck and wait for death. I will clean up the unworthy son for his father, this is the greatest face!" Cao Cao waved his sleeves, "I, Cao, can only say Forget it, the Yuan brothers must not stay, if I want them to die, they will die! There is nothing to say, let's go!" This is clearly showing the old bottom out, and there is no room for redemption. Yin Kui fell on the ground and burst into tears: "Yuan Benchu! The former lord, the great general... The subordinates are incompetent and cannot save the young master. I have failed your deathbed entrustment... woo woo woo..." Seeing him crying miserably, Cao Cao was also moved: "Although he is cowardly, he is still a loyal minister. If you are loyal, I will not harm you. I will send someone to send you back to the camp safely. Continue to attack, you have no eyes, you can do it yourself!" After saying that, he waved his hand, and some soldiers rushed up to set up the two of them, and then pushed them away. "Wait a minute!" Yu Jin took a step forward, "Yin can be let go, but Chen Lin can't go. How could he be taken advantage of when he was drafted to insult the three generations of the lord's grandfather!" "Yes! Yes! Cut him to pieces!" the generals shouted sharply. Cao Cao raised his hand to stop him: "The two armies are fighting without beheading the envoy, let alone today he is the one who is begging to surrender? Just wait and see, Yuan Shangzhi's defeat is close at hand, and the old man will meet him again soon, and then we will count the sum of the call to arms Account." Chen Lin was terrified when she heard that, and she was pushed out together with Yin Kui before she could say anything more.As soon as the two of them went out, Cao Cao quickly ordered: "Tell the former soldiers, as long as the two of them enter the camp, continue to beat the drums for me, beat him hard all night, and scare Yuan Shang out of his courage!" At this moment, Hua Tuo cooked a bowl of medicine, and held it in front of Cao Cao with his own hands: "My lord, I haven't taken the medicine well these days. Now that the battle has been won, drink the medicine while it's hot." Cao Cao didn't care at all, and boasted to the generals: "This old man threatened Yuan Shang to surrender, so he must flee overnight. As long as the fleeing heart breaks down and escapes separately, they will not be able to gather troops if they want to gather in the future." Patting Hua Tuo on the shoulder, "The so-called disease lies in the marrow of the bone, and it belongs to the fate, so there is nothing to do!" Hua Tuo trembled, the bowl fell to the ground and shattered, half a day's hard work wasted again.Cao Cao was immersed in his own joy, no matter how much other people thought about it, seeing Hua Tuo's helpless embarrassment, he burst out laughing...