Early the next morning, Han Zhan hurriedly led the army to set off towards Guantao. Due to the advance of the time of the pull, the grain and grass needed by the army and the crossbow arrows required by the strong crossbow soldiers had not been prepared, so Han Zhan left Xiahou Lan to be in charge of logistics, and once the materials were prepared, they would immediately send them to the Pavilion Taocheng.

Guo Jia asked Han Zhan curiously: "Lord, didn't you say that you would leave in two days, why did you leave in such a hurry?" ”

Han Zhan naturally wouldn't tell Guo Jia that he had temporarily changed his mind and let the army set off in order to avoid Pear Blossom. Instead, he put on an anxious look and said: "Fengxiao, Benhou thought about it carefully, Yuan thieves have 100,000 people, and the high school lieutenant only has 5,000 soldiers and horses, if you want to stop them, you can't do it." Even with the addition of Huang Hansheng's 3,000 cavalry, we are still at a disadvantage in terms of troops. ”

Guo Jia, who was good at observing words and feelings, could see at a glance that Han Zhan was not telling the truth, because even if all the people here were counted, his strength was far inferior to Yuan Shao. However, he didn't immediately dismantle Han Zhan, but asked rhetorically: "Lord, what should we do if we can't stop Yuan Shao in the pavilion?" You must know that he can not only mobilize the soldiers and horses of Wei County, but also the soldiers and horses of Bohai County, Yangping County, and Pingyuan County. Even if we destroy their 100,000 soldiers, he will soon be able to gather 100,000 or more troops to attack us. As for us, there are only more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in total, and now half of them are going with you to reinforce the pavilion pottery, which is a loss of one less and one less, and there is no replenishment at all, and the prospects are worrying! ”

Guo Jia's words suddenly scared Han Zhan out of a cold sweat. He thought that he would join forces with Gongsun Zan to drive Yuan Shao away from the boundary bridge, and most of Jizhou would fall into his hands, but now he realized that he had thought about the problem too simply. After all, Yuan Shao has the aura of the fourth world and the third duke, even if he is defeated, he is a hundred-legged insect that dies without stiffening, and has the ability to make a comeback at any time.

Seeing Han Zhan's solemn expression, Guo Jia hurriedly said: "Although our army has few soldiers and horses, it is not impossible to retreat with all of them. ”

Han Zhan knew that Guo Jia was resourceful, and since he said so, he must have thought of a wonderful countermeasure, so he arched his hand at him, and said with a respectful attitude: "Ben Hou is willing to hear about it!" ”

"Send someone to negotiate with Yuan Shao and return the captured Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi and Chun Yuqiong." Guo Jia looked at Han Zhan and said, "Presumably, in this case, Yuan Shao will definitely agree to fight with us, so we can use this time to recuperate and enhance our strength." ”

Han Zhan thought to himself: Guo Jia's suggestion could make the relationship between himself and Yuan Shao relatively relaxed, but his plan to occupy Yecheng would fail. Once he can't get Yecheng, it will inevitably affect his plan to control the surroundings of the northern border and coerce the Son of Heaven to order the world. Therefore, after pondering for a long time, he shook his head and said: "Fengxiao, don't see that Yuan Shao can mobilize the soldiers and horses of the four counties, but because Gongsun Zan occupies the boundary bridge, Yuan Shao and Bohai County cannot communicate with each other at all, and this army can be ignored." As for the soldiers and horses in Pingyuan County and Yangping County, they are not really attached to him, and if Benhou sends someone to lobby, he may be able to help us. ”

When he said this, he paused for a moment, and suddenly put forward a bold hypothesis: "Fengxiao, my father fled from Jizhou alone, and he didn't go anywhere, but went to Chenliu. Tell me, does he have the idea of relying on the soldiers and horses of these two counties to expel Yuan Shao? ”

Guo Jia looked surprised, he was stunned by Han Zhan's whimsy. After thinking for a while, he nodded slowly and said, "What the lord said is very true, when Han Fujun went to Chenliu alone, it is indeed possible that it was for the soldiers and horses of these two counties. ”

"Feng Xiao," Han Zhan Zhengse said, "If you want to achieve great things, you need to take big risks. I'm going to send someone to contact the two county guards, hoping that they can send troops to help, I don't know what Feng Xiao thinks? ”

Guo Jia looked at Han Zhan intently, only to feel that he suddenly became full of confidence at this moment, and couldn't help but be affected. He gritted his teeth and decided to let go: "Since the lord has this plan, Jia wants to repair two letters, send someone to send them to the two Taishou quickly, and implore them to help." ”

As soon as the two of them finished discussing the matter of sending people to contact the Taishou of Pingyuan and Yangping counties, Zhao Yun rode over and walked side by side with Han Zhan, and asked: "Second brother, we only have more than 10,000 people, can we defeat Yuan Shao's 100,000 people?" ”

"Big brother, have you forgotten what you said in the council hall yesterday, although the Yuan army is numerous, it is not as brave as our army. When the two armies face each other, the officers and men of our army will definitely be able to use one as ten. After Han Zhan finished speaking, he suddenly changed the topic and asked Zhao Yun: "Big brother, if we want to recruit new soldiers, what do you think is the best type of troops?" ”

"Needless to say, of course it's cavalry." Zhao Yun said without hesitation: "The horses in the north are easy to replenish, and it is extremely convenient to train cavalry. And on the battlefield, a thousand cavalry is enough to defeat five thousand foot soldiers. ”

"It's not easy for cavalry to become an army, we only need 5,000 cavalry." Han Zhan said thoughtfully, "I think we should first expand the crossbowmen and pikemen. ”

The expansion of strong crossbow soldiers, whether it is Zhao Yun or Guo Jia, is very much in agreement, everyone knows that when Yuan Shao and Gongsun Chan fought at the boundary bridge, Lu Yi relied on a thousand strong crossbowmen to defeat Gongsun Zhan's tens of thousands of cavalry. If you have tens of thousands of strong crossbowmen, it is not a problem to defeat 100,000 Yuan troops.

However, regarding Han Zhan's desire to expand the pikemen, Zhao Yun couldn't help frowning and said, "Second brother, the combat effectiveness of the pikemen is far inferior to the sword and shield hand, and it is the most consumed class of troops on the battlefield. ”

"My lord, General Zilong is right." Guo Jia waited for Zhao Yun to finish speaking, and then said puzzledly: "Even if we train one or two thousand pikemen, after a fierce battle, it may disappear completely." Even if we can't replenish a large number of cavalry for the time being, in my opinion, it is a good choice to replenish more sword and shield men. ”

"I once read a military book, which says this," Han Zhan's mind suddenly popped up Qi Jiguang's "Minutes of Military Training", and he said casually: "Open a big formation, against the big enemy." Compete in the field, capture the thief, thousands of people in different dignified formations line up, the brave are not allowed to go first, and the cowardly are not allowed to lag behind; The cluster of guns poked, the cluster of guns poked, the knives slashed, and the indiscriminate killing returned him, but they all rushed in together, and it was difficult to change hands, how could they tolerate moving left and right? …… He is very martial arts on weekdays, and if he uses it temporarily, he can also succeed; With eight points, the world is invincible. ”

Guo Jia thought that he was familiar with military books, but when he heard what Han Zhan read out, he was still dumbfounded. He thought hard for a long time, but he didn't remember which book of war, he bowed to Han Zhan on horseback: "Lord, I'm ashamed, I don't know which book of war the lord is talking about?" ”

Of course, Han Zhan would not tell him that this was a military book made by people more than a thousand years later, so he could only say vaguely: "When Ben Hou was a child, he was in his father's study, and he casually found a bundle of bamboo slips, and what he just said was seen on it. As for who wrote it, Ben Hou was young at the time and couldn't remember it anymore. ”

Han Zhan's words aroused Guo Jia's great interest, and he hurriedly made a request to Han Zhan: "Lord, after we return to Jizhou, I wonder if we can let Jia go to the study to read this book?" ”

"No problem, no problem." Han Zhan readily agreed to Guo Jia's request, and at the same time gave him a preventive shot: "However, Yuan Shao once occupied Jizhou, whether this bamboo slip is still in the study of the Prefecture Pastoral Mansion, Ben Hou does not know." ”

Guo Jia saw that Han Zhan agreed to his request, and said with some excitement: "As long as the lord is willing to let Jia enter the study to find it, even if he can't find it, Jia has nothing to do with this book." But Jia will still be grateful. ”

…………

The army walked on the road for a day, and arrived at the north gate of the pavilion at noon the next day. Gao Ran and Huang Zhong, who got the news, hurriedly rushed to greet Han Zhan outside the north gate.

Seeing Han Zhan coming over on horseback, Huang Zhong hurriedly pulled up his gaze and said, "The last general will participate in the lord!" ”

Without waiting for the two to bow down, Han Zhan had already dismounted first and stepped forward to support the two. He stared at Gao Ran and said, "Captain Gao, you have worked really hard to resist Yuan Shao's 100,000 army with 5,000 soldiers and horses. ”

Gao Ran heard Han Zhan's praise for himself, and hurriedly humbly said: "The lord has won the award, the last general is the general of the pavilion, and defending the city and retreating from the enemy is originally a matter of the last general, where is there any hard work at all." ”

Han Zhan didn't have any srest, holding Gao Ran and Huang Zhong in his left and right hands respectively, and walked towards the military camp in the city. On the way, he asked Gao Ran with a sideways face: "Captain Gao, I don't know how many soldiers there are in the city?" ”

"Enlighten the Lord." Hearing Han Zhan asking himself, Gao Ran, who was in an excited mood, hurriedly replied: "Yuan's army has been attacking the city very quickly for three consecutive days, and the soldiers under the last general have not been damaged except for the five hundred people guarding the north; The soldiers of the other three gates all suffered heavy losses, adding up to only 17,800 men. ”

Hearing that Gao Ran's 5,000 soldiers and horses were now less than 2,000 left, Han Zhan could imagine in his heart how fierce the battle was. He turned his head again and asked Huang Zhong, "Han Sheng, what about the losses of your department?" ”

"Back to the lord," Huang Zhong hurriedly replied, "Our army suffered no more than 400 casualties, of which more than 100 were killed. ”

Don't see that the cavalry only lost more than 100 people, but among the remaining more than 300 wounded, there will definitely be wounded who will die one after another because of poor medical conditions. Han Zhan now has less than 4,000 cavalry under his command, and now he has lost 10% of his life, which still makes him feel a burst of pain.

After listening to the report of the two, Han Zhan's eyes widened: "Yuan Shao's dog thief actually injured so many soldiers and horses of Benhou, and Benhou and him are incompatible." ”

"My lord, there will be something to report at the end." Gao Ran waited for Han Zhan to finish speaking, and then continued: "Today, the Yuan army did not continue to attack the city, and the last general was worried that they had a conspiracy. ”

"There's a conspiracy, what conspiracy?" Huang Zhong on the side said disapprerovingly: "It must have been Huang's cavalry yesterday that scared them out of their courage, so they cowered in the camp and didn't dare to fight." ”

"Captain Huang," Gao Lan, who had more combat experience than Huang Zhong, said with a solemn expression, "Although your cavalry inflicted heavy losses on Yuan's army yesterday, the number of people was too small, and the damage caused to them was limited. I estimate that in the end, most of the Yuan troops who escaped returned to the camp. ”

Regarding the different opinions of Gao Ran and Huang Zhong, Han Zhan did not immediately express his opinion, but turned his head and asked Guo Jia: "Fengxiao, what do you think about this matter?" ”

"My lord, I think we should go to the city and have a look." Guo Jia suggested to Han Zhan: "Maybe you can see some clues. ”

"Okay, let's go to the city wall and have a look." Han Zhan also specifically asked Gao Lan: "Captain Gao, I don't know which city gate Yuan's heavy troops are attacking?" ”

"South Gate." Gao Ran replied briefly.

"We'll go to the South Gate now." After speaking, Han Zhan asked Gao Ran to be the guide and took Guo Jia, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and others to the South City Gate.

Still far away, Han Zhan smelled the strong smell of blood and corpses. With a frown, he walked up the stairs to the gatehouse. Although he had been prepared for a long time, when he really looked down, he was still stunned by that kind of scene: under the city wall, there were dense corpses, both Yuan Jun's and Gao Lan's subordinates; There are also numerous broken siege engines. Although the city wall has been cleaned, large clumps of coagulated blood can be seen everywhere. It can be seen from this how tragic the siege war was.

"My lord, there will be something to report at the end." Gao Ran waited for Han Zhan to finish speaking, and then continued: "Today, the Yuan army did not continue to attack the city, and the last general was worried that they had a conspiracy. ”

"There's a conspiracy, what conspiracy?" Huang Zhong on the side said disapprerovingly: "It must have been Huang's cavalry yesterday that scared them out of their courage, so they cowered in the camp and didn't dare to fight." ”

"Captain Huang," Gao Lan, who had more combat experience than Huang Zhong, said with a solemn expression, "Although your cavalry inflicted heavy losses on Yuan's army yesterday, the number of people was too small, and the damage caused to them was limited. I estimate that in the end, most of the Yuan troops who escaped returned to the camp. ”

Regarding the different opinions of Gao Ran and Huang Zhong, Han Zhan did not immediately express his opinion, but turned his head and asked Guo Jia: "Fengxiao, what do you think about this matter?" ”

"My lord, I think we should go to the city and have a look." Guo Jia suggested to Han Zhan: "Maybe you can see some clues. ”

"Okay, let's go to the city wall and have a look." Han Zhan also specifically asked Gao Lan: "Captain Gao, I don't know which city gate Yuan's heavy troops are attacking?" ”

"South Gate." Gao Ran replied briefly.

"We'll go to the South Gate now." After speaking, Han Zhan asked Gao Ran to be the guide and took Guo Jia, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and others to the South City Gate.

Still far away, Han Zhan smelled the strong smell of blood and corpses. With a frown, he walked up the stairs to the gatehouse. Although he had been prepared for a long time, when he really looked down, he was still stunned by that kind of scene: under the city wall, there were dense corpses, both Yuan Jun's and Gao Lan's subordinates; There are also numerous broken siege engines. Although the city wall has been cleaned, large clumps of coagulated blood can be seen everywhere. It can be seen from this how tragic the siege war was.