After Cao Cao arrived near Yecheng, he did not immediately attack the city, and Chen Mo's troops and horses were quite sufficient, so he did not defend the city as the original high-ranking cadres and judges, and directly abandoned various important places outside the city.

The establishment of this city usually has several necessary factors, such as geographical advantages, the place where the city is built, most of them are accessible in all directions, especially Yecheng can be selected as the capital of the place, followed by the water source, this can actually be put in the first place, people will die without water, this is a thing that everyone knows, but this place in Hebei, not to mention the waterway, but also the water network is dense, this is not a problem, the moat of Yecheng is directly connected to the turbid water.

In many cases, siege warfare is the last step, and there are usually many important transportation points or dangerous places around the city that can be garrisoned, and these places can be uprooted, and then the water and food can really be cut off.

Therefore, in the case of sufficient troops, the defenders will choose to fortify in various important places, Chen Mo also chose this way of defending the city this time, and did not directly confront the main force of Cao Cao's army, but took the opportunity of Yuan Shang's defeat and retreat, and set up a key village everywhere, in order to block the attack of Cao's army, and at the same time not to be cut off by Cao Cao Yecheng and Hanoi, the large and small camps set up, from Yecheng to Chaoge, a total of 128 large and small camps, faintly arranged in the position of Zhou Tian between each other.

If Cao Cao concentrates his forces to attack a few villages, Chen Mo's main army will quickly assist, if Cao Cao divides his troops to attack, these villages support each other, plus the main force responds from time to time, although the Cao army is not bad, but there is no way to take Chen Mo for a while, the scouts and small elites on both sides will meet every day, forming a small battlefield, and the sky is dark for both sides to kill.

"Yuan Shang still refuses to come?" Cao Cao's camp, looking at the battle damage in the past few days, Cao Cao was a little helpless, after the Guanzhong army broke through Yecheng, the momentum was flourishing, these days the two sides fought like this, although each had its own victory and defeat, but from the final casualty count, it was still him Cao Cao suffered a little, mainly because Chen Mo used the mobility of the cavalry to rush to the aid of all parties, and the scale of Chen Mo's cavalry is the largest among the three princes.

The five thousand cavalry lost a lot in the process of fighting with the Yuan army, but then they quickly replenished it with the war horses captured in Yecheng, and there was no shortage of warriors who were good at riding in the Xiliang army, and with a little training and cooperation, they could quickly form cavalry combat power, and therefore, on Chen Mo's side, the cavalry not only did not decrease, but increased by a thousand, and the six thousand cavalry did not sound much, but in the battle situation of tens of thousands of people, especially when it was necessary to gallop to all sides, the mobility of the six thousand cavalry was exerted by Chen Mo in this way.

Cao Cao naturally also has cavalry under his command, especially the tiger and leopard cavalry, which is a strong soldier selected after training by imitating the trapped camp, led by Cao Chun, a member of the Cao Cao clan, but this kind of elite is not as good as the light cavalry led by Ma Chao, Pang De and Zhang Xiu.

The tigers and leopards have special horse armor, and the cavalry also has excellent armor, which gives them an advantage when charging, but also takes away the staying power of the cavalry, which is suitable for short charges, but it is difficult to continue to fight and run like this.

Therefore, Cao Cao pinned his hopes on Yuan Shang, the Yuan family controlled Youzhou, there was no shortage of horses, and even many of the war horses on Cao Cao's side were Wuhuan horses or Xianbei horses purchased from the Yuan family, and now the only one who can contain Chen Mo in the cavalry is Yuan Shang.

"Tai Shi Ci successively captured Changshan and Zhongshan two counties, threatening Yuan Shang's rear, and now Yuan Shang has sent a summon to Julu to block Tai Shi Ci, and Yuan Shang also led his troops to camp in Handan, unwilling to move lightly." Cheng Yu nodded helplessly, most of the current predicament of the Yuan family was caused by them, and it was a bit too much to run to scold at this moment, and Yuan Shang blocked Tai Shi Ci and prevented Tai Shi Ci from meeting with Chen Mo, which could be regarded as sharing the pressure of Cao Jun.

"Tell him that I need cavalry to contain Chen Mo's cavalry, and ask him to support some." Cao Cao rubbed his temples and said helplessly: "I didn't expect Chen Mo to transfer Tai Shici away from the border, isn't he afraid of Xianbei people?" ”

"That Chen Mo is too guarded by Guo Yi in the clouds, and in recent years, Tai Shici has killed the Xianbei people in the border area too ruthlessly, and the Xianbei people are shocked by their prestige, and they dare not go south easily, and now even the transaction is discussed before the border generals, and after getting permission, the caravan can enter the customs." Guo Jia shook his head, looking listless.

"If Fengxiao is unwell, you might as well go and rest first." Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia with some concern and said, "That cold food is scattered, Fengxiao still doesn't want to eat." ”

Guo Jia's health has been bad recently, especially if he refuses to follow the doctor's advice, he broke off the cold food, according to the doctor, Guo Jia goes on like this, I am afraid that within ten years, his body will be eroded by the cold food, and then Bian Que will be resurrected, and he will be powerless to return to heaven.

"Don't worry, don't you have ten years left, just quit during this period." Guo Jia waved his hand, he didn't really want to mention this topic, and looked at everyone: "Now that Chen Mo is fortified, he is quite meticulous, and the lord needs to prepare for the worst." ”

"What's the worst?" Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia and frowned.

"Not bad." Guo Jia nodded and said: "It's not the first time that our army has confronted Chen Mo, it's not easy to get cheap from him, the most important thing is that Chen Mo got the grain and grass in Yecheng, even if we cut off its grain route, with the abundance of grain stored in Yecheng, we won't worry about running out of grain in the short term, not to mention that there is Wuyi guarding Yanjin, how easy it is to cut off its grain channel."

For the rest, needless to say, Cao Cao also understood.

The strength of the two sides is about the same, Chen Mo has no worries about grain and grass, but Cao Cao has, before seizing Qingzhou, Yuan Tan transported all the grain and grass to the plain, and now although Yuan Tan has surrendered, but that batch of grain and grass is almost used, and then Cao Cao has to transport grain and grass from the rear.

Just one Yecheng can make Chen Mo have no grain and grass, and there is no need to send a large number of people to transport grain, but Cao Cao needs to draw more grain and grass from the Central Plains, and the people on the road alone eat more than the grain and grass supplied to the army.

Chen Mo took the advantage of taking the lead in Yecheng, which showed that the two families were competing here, and they couldn't tell the winner in a short time, so the next thing was the consumption of grain and grass.

In this regard, it has always been Cao Cao's shortcomings, these years of fighting everywhere, with the Central Plains on all sides of the enemy, the two princes who are now standing side by side with Chen Mo, but these years have hardly stopped, but also make Cao Cao's side, very short of food, protracted war This kind of thing, Chen Mo can afford it, but Cao Cao can't, if this stalemate is not broken, the final loss must be Cao Cao.

And Guo Jia also believes that this shortcoming will definitely not be able to hide Chen Mo, and the other party is likely to avoid a decisive battle with Cao Cao, concentrate on consuming his grain and grass, and finally force Cao Cao to retreat.

This is also the reason why Guo Jia persuaded Cao Cao to plan for the worst, unless he can win in a short time, he will either be defeated or consumed to death in the end.

Cao Cao naturally understood what Guo Jia meant, groped his chin and said, "With the plan of filial piety, what should we do?" ”

"Our army has occupied the plains, and now the four counties of Dongjun, Qinghe, Anping, and Bohai should be quickly and practically occupied, so that our army only needs to hold these four counties, and he will compete with Chen Mo for Jizhou in the future, so he does not need to worry about the danger of the Yellow River."

If there was only Chen Mo, Guo Jia would suggest that Cao Cao and Yuan Shang join forces to capture Yecheng, no matter how strong the Guanzhong army is, but the two families are superior to Chen Mo in terms of strength and strength.

But Tai Shi Ci won the two counties of Changshan and Zhongshan so quickly, which made the situation become delicate all of a sudden, Tai Shi Ci must be ready to join Chen Mo, so that the current situation is that Chen Mo occupies Wei County, Zhongshan, and Changshan, and may occupy Julu in the future, and aside from the counties that Cao Cao now occupies, after Chen Mo occupies Zhongshan Changshan, Yuan Shang is afraid that it will be difficult to even raise military rations, and defeat is almost certain.

Since Jizhou can't be exhausted, Guo Jia suggested choosing the safest way to do it, sharing Jizhou with Chen Mo equally, thinking that he would take the initiative and take the lead in the next fight.

Of course, it's not that you can't fight, but Guo Jia feels that he can't take Yecheng, and it's in vain to fight.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and looked at the other strategists, although what Guo Jia said was safe, but this time Cao Cao came to Jizhou to rob Jizhou, such a result was not what Cao Cao wanted.

"Meng De, although our army is in a stalemate with Chen Mo at the moment, how does Guo Jia know that Yuan Shang will definitely be defeated? Although Tai Shi Ci is a general under Chen Mo, Gao Lan, Han Meng, Guo Yuan and other generals Meng De have not seen it, plus the people of Jizhou, they are quite disgusted with Chen Mo, that Tai Shi Ci is to capture Changshan, Zhongshan two counties, but it is also unpopular, over time, it will be defeated! Xu Yu said categorically.

"As for the matter of grain and grass, Meng De doesn't have to worry, now that Yuan Tan has voted for Meng De, there are still some old people in Jizhou, I will go with Gongze and Zhongzhi to persuade the wealthy families of these counties and ask them to support some grain and grass for Meng De's use." Xu You stood up and said loudly.

He worked hard to get today's situation for Cao Cao, if he let go and only take half or even half of Jizhou, how can he show his merits?

"This ......" Cao Cao hesitated: "Will the gentry of Jizhou help me wait?" ”

"Meng De rest assured, now that the defeat of the Yuan clan has been decided, and the Jizhou scholars are quite dissatisfied with Chen Mo, with a little persuasion, they will definitely help." Xu You said confidently: "Don't worry about Meng De, I will set off now to raise food and grass for Meng De." ”

Guo Jia and Cao Cao vaguely changed their eyes, and the problem of grain and grass was solved.

Guo Jia's elbow pushed against Cheng Yu, Cheng Yu looked at Guo Jia suspiciously, seeing Guo Jia nodding, Cheng Yu understood in seconds, and nodded immediately: "What Mr. Ziyuan said is good, and you can also take this opportunity to get the support of the gentry in Jizhou." ”

Xu Yu twisted his beard and smiled, he was Cao Cao's henchman, and he had to call himself as a gentleman, if this matter can be successful, his position as the first mastermind will be stable!