Chapter 36 Coincidentally

When Cao Cao sent an order to flood Xiapi, he didn't know that the siege of Yijing, Hebei was also at a critical moment. Yuan Shao gathered troops from the four prefectures of Hebei, surrounded Yijing Fortress, and built a one-foot-high platform in the south.Yuan Shao was wearing armor and commanding personally, but even sitting on the platform, the terrifying buildings in the distance still made people dizzy. As early as Dong Zhuo's rebellion period, there was a nursery rhyme among the children in Youzhou, "Yan Nanchui, Zhao Beiji, the central disagreement is as big as a mill, and the only way to escape from the world." It is thought that Yanzhao in the Warring States Period used Yishui as the boundary.Gongsun Zan searched according to the prophecy, and finally found a huge and flat mountain four miles upstream of Yishui.So Guan Jing, a cruel official under the account, was dispatched to forcefully conscript Yuyang and other county officials, frightened innocent people with whips and sticks, and built Yijing Castle.

The city of Yijing has a radius of six li, and the city wall is six to seven feet high.Dozens of deep trenches were dug outside the city wall, and between the trenches there were antlers and branches blocking the road, and rolling stones protruding through the gates to block the fortress. The defenders could come out under cover to guard, but it was difficult for the attacker to step forward. Even if they get to the bottom of the city, more difficult troubles are yet to come.Mozi said, "The gate of Beicheng is a building with a hundred steps, and a building with two hundred steps." Gongsun Zan really followed the tactics of the sages, and built hundreds of archery towers in the city, no matter from which direction he approached the city. Accumulate the enemy's random arrows.The main building where he lived with his wife and concubines was more than ten feet high, with rocks as the material and cast iron doors, and three million hu of grain stored inside, enough to last for several years.

A strong castle is the easiest to breach from the inside, so Gongsun Zan paid extra attention to his own safety.He will never step out of the building without important military affairs.The iron gate is tightly closed, and there are confidant warriors guarding both inside and outside. Anyone who has military reports is not allowed to open the door to submit, and all are delivered by rope hanging baskets.In addition, Gongsun Zan specially trained a group of servants with loud voices, and whenever he wanted to issue military orders to the soldiers, they would stand on a ten-foot-high building and shout to convey them.This kind of deployment is comprehensive, and it can be said that the soldiers are besieging the city and it is difficult to destroy it.

Yuan Shao is sitting on the commander's platform right now, accompanied by four wise men, Shenpei, Guo Tu, Tian Feng, and Jushou, and the scouts in the audience come and go like flowing water.For more than two months of continuous fighting, not to mention breaking through the city, even a few ditches were unable to break through, and the dead soldiers almost filled the outermost ditches.Yuan Shao was burning with anxiety, but he still tried his best not to get angry. At this time, Chunyu Qiong came on horseback from the enemy in front, and before he got close, he threw his stirrups and left the saddle, and knelt down beside the commander's platform in three steps: "General, I have a detailed report. The son of Gongsun Zan has arrived in Montenegro. Zhang Yan has summoned everyone to rescue Yi Jing!" At this time, Chun Yuqiong was no longer the captain of Xiyuan, who was equal to Yuan Shaoping, but had become a subordinate of Yuan Shao's account.

"What can the mob do!" Yuan Shao laughed and said, "Quickly adjust Gaolan, Zhang He led his troops to the west, and beat these stinking thieves back to Montenegro!" "No!" Chunyu Qiong took the order and left. Standing beside Yuan Shao, Ju Shou, the director of the three armies, took a step forward and saluted: "The second general will surely win if he goes here! However, the soldiers have been exhausted by the continuous assault for several months, and can no longer fight like this." Yuan Shao frowned, and looked exhausted: "Then what should we do? If we don't get rid of Gongsun Zan, the root cause of the disaster, the war in Youzhou will never end. Do you have any other solutions?"

Tian Feng always stood beside Ju Shou silently.He was quite unhappy because Yuan Shao did not adopt the strategy of surprise attacking Xudu, so he didn't make any suggestions for several days.But now that Yuan Shao was in distress, he couldn't help but said, "Dong Zhuo built Heiwu in the past, thinking he could stick to it and wait for the world to be stable. Didn't he die in Chang'an by negligence in the end? This shows that virtue is not enough. Gongsun Zan The tyranny and unprovoked cruelty to the Li people, all the officials and people in Hebei hate it. Since we can't use our troops, we might as well go back and cultivate benevolence to comfort the people. It’s going to end in ruins.”

Yuan Shao smiled wryly for a while: "Yuan Hao's words are reasonable, but how long will it take? Three to five years or ten to eight years? Do you want Gongsun Zan to linger on for so long?" "I don't want to wait so long!" Perhaps it was because Yuan Shao was in his fifties, and Yuan Shao felt much less energetic these days.Destroying Gongsun Zan can certainly unify Hebei, but there are still many days to come. He hopes that he can unify China in his lifetime, and he can't afford to waste time. Seeing that his proposal was rejected again, Tian Feng remonstrated: "Forgive me for speaking bluntly, the general is eager to destroy Gongsun, don't you hear that haste makes waste? Even if you can achieve great success, you are afraid that the soldiers will be exhausted. complained."

"Don't talk about such nonsense anymore!" Yuan Shao was very displeased, and his tone was cold, "If Gongsun Zan is not destroyed, there will always be a fetter behind him, how can he cross the river and go down to destroy Cao Cao?" He added, "The current emperor is under the control of Cao Cao. If you don't try to save him, how can you feel at ease as a courtier?" He set the tone so high, who could argue with that?Guo Tu stepped forward with a serious face and said, "I have an immature suggestion about the siege." "Oh?" Yuan Shao was taken aback, "But it doesn't matter."

"The terrain around Yijing is low, can we start digging a few tunnels and attack the fortress from the ground?" "Underground...underground..." Yuan Shao thought for a while, "But how do those ditches get through?" "When digging a ditch, fill it with soil underground, and the enemy cannot see it from above." Guo Tu pointed to the front and explained, "As long as the tunnel is dug into Yijing City, even if the soldiers cannot protrude from the inside, the foundation can be loosened. Let those archery towers collapse and be damaged. We might as well start from all directions at the same time, while digging and using wooden pillars to top the foundation of the entire Yijing city, and then cut off all the wooden pillars, then the castle will be over immediately!"

"This method is so stupid!" Ju Shou taunted, "We have to dig from several miles away, and we have to fill in the ravines and erect wooden pillars. The whole project is time-consuming and laborious. Digging one is enough. It’s troublesome, if you attack from all directions at the same time, wouldn’t it exhaust the soldiers of the three armies?” Guo Tu didn't argue with Ju Shou, he looked around silently and asked: "Although this plan is clumsy, is there a better way?" One sentence stopped everyone.Yuan Shao kept thinking in his mind: Yes, this idea is clumsy, but there is really no other way to try.Although time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is better than a strong attack to destroy the army... More importantly, only by eradicating Gongsun Zan can we spare the power to eliminate the confidant Cao Cao, no matter how hard it is or how tiring it is, we must take this castle away!

Thinking of this, Yuan Shao gritted his teeth, stood up abruptly, and waved his hands resolutely: "Just follow the rules of the public! Tell Yan Liang and Wen Chou to lead troops to investigate immediately, and dig the place for me immediately after choosing a place! Conquer the castle in the shortest possible time! Tell everyone, don't report their difficulties to me, I will not listen to complaints, no matter the price! As long as Yi Jingcheng!" "No." Guo Tu took the order to step down. Tian Feng and Ju Shou couldn't help frowning seeing him so stubborn.The military counselor came out of the squad and asked, "General, what will happen to Yan Rou and Xian Yufu, the old Youzhou generals, after Yi Jing is defeated?" Yuan Shao squinted his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly smiled: "What should I do? So it doesn't matter what it is! Those who care about big things don't care about the trivial, isn't it just a few counties in Youzhou? Continue to ask them to garrison, as long as they don't make trouble, and Let them listen to the instructions and not to listen to the announcement." Yuan Benchu ​​and Cao Mengde really have the same heart, for the future decisive battle, even the attitude of dealing with small local separatists is exactly the same! After saying this, Yuan Shao turned around and looked at the vast south - Cao Mengde, former friend, today's enemy, I have made a plan to destroy Yi Jing, how are you doing in Xiapi?In just ten years, I have witnessed your rise with my own eyes.Watching you change from a general who has no place to stand in the Dong Dajun to the ruler of the court, you are definitely the biggest obstacle to my unification of the world!So I won't wait anymore, we must come to a decisive battle as soon as possible!In terms of military talent, I don't think I can match you; the matter of catering to the emperor has made you one step ahead.But it doesn't matter, I used my perseverance to annex the four states of Ji, Qing, You, and Bing. There are no less than 100,000 armored men, and the strength is still much stronger than you!Old friend, you have your ambitions, and I have mine, and I can't tell who is right and who is wrong. In the face of major events, the old friendship can only be reluctantly let go.You stay here for a while, I'm coming... Yuan Benchu ​​stood on the commander's platform, watching the soldiers below lined up like a colony of ants, his face was expressionless and reserved! In the winter of the third year of Jian'an (AD 198), Yuan Shao besieged Gongsun Zan in Yijing, and Cao Cao besieged Lu Bu in Xiapi. Both battles entered the final stage.Although Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were separated by thousands of miles, they had a good understanding. They both regarded each other as their next target. Whoever could destroy the enemy before him first would be able to preemptively strike in the duel. In the Yellow River Basin of the northern land, a thrilling battle has begun...