The day after receiving the news from Zhao Yun, Gongsun Du received another message from Zhang Liao and Yan Liang.

Zhang Liao took Exian County, arranged the defense of Oyexian County, and rested for a while, before continuing to go south, and was ambushed by Cao's army in Guishan in the north of Bo County, but because he was reminded by the Tancai in advance, the anti-ambush defeated Cao's army, and then attacked Bo County, and went down in a battle.

However, Cao Jun was unwilling to fail, and actually poisoned all the wells in the city, without any regard for the people in the city, and in the end, almost everyone of the 20,000 horses was poisoned. Before this, Cao's army, which had been almost deliberately "dispersed", made a comeback, but fortunately Zhang Liao was cautious, and he and about 3,000 soldiers did not drink much water or eat much boiled food in the city, but ate dry food, which was only slightly poisoned.

Subsequently, Zhang Liao rose up bravely and led 3,000 cavalry to kill and retreat the Cao army, and then worried that the Cao army would come again, and the remnants of the army could not resist, so he looted the pharmacy in the city, and then went out of the city, hid in the turtle mountain, and asked Gongsun Du for help.

Gongsun Du didn't expect Cao Cao to be so ruthless, but thinking about the fact that when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou in order to take revenge, he ordered the slaughter of the city, so he didn't think it was strange, but this gradually changed his opinion of Cao Cao and his future disposition.

On the other hand, Yan Liang was even more miserable, after he took Laiwu, he attacked Gaixian, a city built on the bank of the Yishui River.

Yan Liang came from the east bank of Yishui, but Gai County was on the west bank of Yishui. Because Cao Jun directly demolished the only bridge hundreds of miles up and down Gai County, Yan Liang was intercepted and killed, if it weren't for the fact that the Yishui River was not wide, the loss would be more than 1,000. Yan Liang was angry and attacked the city, and the battle was immediately defeated.

But at night, someone dug the river embankment upstream, and a big water directly covered Gai County, if it weren't for the fact that Gongsun Du had naval warships under him, which led to many people learning to swim, the whole army might be wiped out in World War I. Rao is like this, counting the number of people after dawn, it is enough to have 5,000 people drowned, 3,000 missing, and more than 40% of the combat strength has been lost.

The worst losses were the people in the city, thirty percent of them were drowned, and one and a half percent were missing, and there were more than 20,000 people, so not to mention the injured, everyone was soaked in cold water for half a night, and the weak had already fallen ill.

"Mengde, Mengde, I wanted to compare with you on the battlefield and fight in a dignified manner, but I didn't expect you to use this as a means, don't blame me for using unconventional means to deal with you."

As a descendant, if Gongsun Du wants to talk about means, it is definitely much more than Cao Cao's people, after all, what he knows is more than 2,000 years ahead. In the past two thousand years, cold weapon warfare has not been static, and all kinds of siege and major war weapons have also been changed from generation to generation, and updated from generation to generation.

Just like the ladder, which was later called the staircase, it can be carried by several people. In the Tang Dynasty, the ladder body was fixed on the chassis at a certain angle; In addition to the main ladder, there is a "secondary ladder" that can be moved, that is, the ladder to the city, the top of which is equipped with a pair of wheels, and can slide up and down along the city wall when ascending the city, which is called the flying cloud ladder; At the bottom of the ladder, "a large wooden bed with six wheels underneath". Because the main ladder adopts a fixed device, the procedure of erecting the ladder is simplified, and the time for erecting the ladder is lightly shortened, and the design of the movable ladder to the city greatly reduces the height of the ladder before engaging the enemy

In addition, the ladder to the city, that is, the auxiliary ladder can also have a variety of forms, including flying ladders, bamboo flying ladders, tiptoe flying ladders and so on. All in all, this improvement made the siege easy and fast.

Another example is rocket and stone artillery vehicles. Ballistas, etc., are much more powerful than bed crossbows, but they are much smaller in size and much lighter in weight, and can be used in field battles, with extremely lethality and a decisive role.

However, Gongsun Du still had a trace of luck in his heart, so he ......

"Someone!"

"Ming Gong!"

"Go and invite Cao Xiu." Gongsun Du still has a trace of respect for Cao Cao and his people.

"Yes, Ming Gong."

It didn't take long for the soldiers to bring back Cao Xiu.

"Wen Lie, please take a seat!" Gongsun Du said expressionlessly.

"Thank you Ming Gong!" Cao Xiu's face froze, arched his hand, and sat down immediately.

Gongsun Du stared at Cao Xiu for a long time, and when he felt uneasy and wanted to speak, he said slowly: "I have known Meng De for more than 20 years, and in the past, we talked about what each other's greatest wishes were. ”

"How?" Cao Xiu was aroused, and his heart was a little calmer.

Yuan Benchu was already the heir to the head of the Yuan family at that time, so his greatest wish was to make the Yuan family go to the next level, so that all Han people could know the prestige of the Yuan family in Runan. Now it seems that it has almost been done, and it is impossible to do it completely. ”

Gongsun Du's eyes flashed with memories, as if he had returned to twenty years ago.

"Yuan Highway is a guy whose heart is higher than the sky, and he threatens to leave a name in history, heh, now it seems that he has completed the first half of the sentence, and the name is left, but it is not a good reputation."

"So-and-so, there is only one wish, I only hope that the people will live and work in peace and contentment, have food and clothing, and do not have to worry about being starved to death one day. So far, it hasn't been possible. ”

"Ming Gong is really a saint!"

Cao Xiu praised it with respect, and then said: "Under the rule of the Ming Duke, it has reached what the Ming Duke wants, and at the beginning of this year, he sent a message to the Quartet, and if he wants to implement it in the states of Dahan, it will take less than two years, and the wish of the Ming Duke will be completely realized." ”

Gongsun Du smiled noncommittally, but did not answer, but said: "The three of us, except for ourselves, are fake and empty, only Meng De is the only loyal minister, because of what he said, I hope that after his death, the tombstone can be engraved with the words 'The tomb of the late general of the Han Dynasty conquering the west'." ”

It shows Mengde's loyalty to the imperial court! Perhaps this is also the reason why Meng De will send troops to rescue His Majesty in a time of crisis! ”

Cao Xiu smiled when he heard this, as if he was the one who was praised.

Gongsun Dumeng's voice changed, and he said hatefully: "It's just that Meng De doesn't even care about the lives of the people for this?" ”

"Poisoning all the water sources in the city? Burst the embankment and flood the city? Causing countless deaths and injuries to the people? ”

The smile on Cao Xiu's face retracted, and there was no expression at all.

Gongsun Du still looked at him and said, "The people of the Han Dynasty, is it really so unimportant? Or is it necessary to do whatever it takes to achieve an end? ”

Cao Xiu was stunned when he heard this, but he just looked at the distance fixedly, but he didn't look at Gongsun Du. Gongsun Du kept his eyes on Cao Xiu, as if he wanted to find out.

After a long time, Gongsun Du took the lead in breaking the silence and said quietly: "The poison in Zhao Yun has been stabilized, and it will be cured in a short time." ”

Cao Xiu's body trembled, but he was still silent, but his sinking brow already said everything.

"I wanted to let you live, but I didn't ...... Oh no! ”

Hearing this, Cao Xiu's eyes shrank, and he finally turned his head to look at Gongsun Du. Gongsun Du had already retracted his gaze and looked at the desk in front of him.

"Wen Lie, do you have any last words that need to be relayed to Meng De?"

Cao Xiu knew Gongsun Du's determination and wanted to survive if he was soft, but the pride of the Cao family made him bite his lip tightly and didn't say half a word.

"Hey!" Gongsun Du sighed and said, "That's it! ”

"Someone!"

With a "creak", the door opened, and a personal soldier stepped in, and said respectfully: "Ming Gong." ”

"Send him on his way!" Gongsun Du instructed, "Someone builds a good coffin, and bury it underground, without sending it to Xuchang." ”

"Yes, Ming Gong!"

Under the conversation between the two, Cao Xiu calmed down, lost those strange thoughts in his heart, stood up, and said calmly: "Ming Gong, this is just the beginning!" ”

Gongsun Du was suddenly stunned, his heart was furious, and he replied: "This is just the beginning!" ”

Cao Xiu's heart was suddenly full of worries about the future of the Cao family, and he wanted to ask for mercy, but he opened his mouth and finally gave up.

Gongsun Du did not have the idea of trampling on the corpses of others, and Cao Xiu was immediately put into a coffin after being beheaded and buried on a hill west of the city. It's just that there is no one to see him off, and it is a little bleak.

Two days later, Gongsun Du received news from Gao Lan, Wen Chou and Tai Shici, all of whom were plotted by Cao Jun, either poisoning the water source in the city, or setting fire to the city at a sky-high price, or digging down the city wall during the siege! In short, the losses are not small, they are all more than 1,000 people.