Tang Yuan finally expanded the Flying Tiger Army to fifteen divisions, and Zhao Guangxun, Ma Ben, Zhang Nu and others were all temporarily appointed as Zhonglang generals.

It turned out that there were only 20,000 people left in the Flying Tiger Army, and Tang Yuan used these 20,000 veterans to bring 30,000 prisoners and 100,000 recruits.

Basically, the 20,000 men did not need to charge, just for the purpose of command and supervision, and it can be said that the combat effectiveness of the army can be basically guaranteed. For example, when setting up a formation, a veteran can easily complete it with ten recruits.

Although it is much weaker than before, it is many times stronger than the ordinary recruit team.

The troops were marching towards Xuzhou, and it was impossible for Tang Yuan to divide his troops to save Bianzhou. Both states are surrounded by 150,000 people, and if they divide their troops to fight, both sides will lose, so it is better to grab one and fight to the death, as long as the other side does not support in time, this battle has an eighty percent chance of winning.

Cao Sheng, the king of Huainan, is in Xuzhou, he is the leader of the Tiger Ben Army and the soul of the army, so it is not appropriate to save him but to save Cao Dingbang. Cao Dingbang is dead, but the soul of the Tiger Ben Army is still there; If Cao Sheng died, the Tiger Ben Army would lose its morale, and it would take a long time to recover.

That breath is gone, and it's really hard to make up for it.

Suddenly, it rained heavily, and the march was difficult, and Tang Yuan had the heart to drop his baggage. I thought to myself, the people in the Central Plains were gone, and even if they threw their baggage on the ground, no one would steal it. As long as the grain is taken away, everything is easy to say, and when you arrive in Xuzhou, defeat the enemy army and rob them of their baggage.

This doubles the speed of marching.

"Throw! Throw them all at me! Traveling lightly, you must arrive in Xuzhou within three days! ”

Tang Dashuai began to die again, but every time he did this, the result was okay, so the morale was not affected much, and the troops lost their burdens and went to move forward.

Three days later, I saw Xuzhou City from afar, and the artillery fire was fierce.

The tall city was full of black smoke, and the hard walls were nailed by the enemy to countless climbing piles, and the city was full of corpses and burned siege equipment, and the miserable situation was indescribable.

"First of all, we must cut off the connection between Hong Mingshan and Tang Yan, and when we fight Tang Yan, we must block Hong Mingshan's support troops. But we don't have many soldiers, I can only send 30,000 people, who wants to go? Tang Yuan asked.

In the face of this arduous task, everyone was noisy and said that they were willing to go. Among them, Chen Bao was the most excited. Looking at him like that, it was as if no one else could carry it except him.

Tang Yuan waved his hand and said: "Chen Bao, Zhao Guangxun, You Gaoyi, you three lead the second, fourteenth, and fifteenth divisions to garrison the front line of Changge, Xuchang, and Yanling. ”

The three of them expressed their positions separately, and Tang Yuan said: "The three of you, the first army of the temporary Flying Tiger, and Chen Bao as the general of Yunlu, have a disagreement, with Chen Bao as the head of the horse." ”

Chen Bao left with 30,000 men, and Tang Yuan's scouts began to be distributed back, drawing Tang Yan's troops on the map.

Secretary Lang hurriedly set out a sand table for the marshal to use, Tang Yuan stood at the front, and General Staff General Nalan Xin, Staff General Kong Xian and others stood on both sides.

"At that time, Tang Yan was known as a young genius in the military world, the hope of the future of the Shence Army, although his combat power was not high, but the arrangement of troops was really very orderly, such an arrangement was interlocking, and there would be two divisions near each division that could support at any time, looking at this formation, how did it remind me of the spider web array placed by Wanyan Da Trout during the Northern Expedition." Tang Yuan pressed his hands on the case, looked at the enemy's deployment and said.

Nalan said: "The enemy army is deployed on all sides, in fact, it is also leaking everywhere, we have 120,000 troops left, of which 100,000 will attack in four directions to disrupt the overall defense of the enemy army, and the remaining 20,000 will look for Tang Yan and kill him." "Colorful Chinese

Kong said: "I don't think it needs to be so troublesome. Find Tang Yan first, and the 120,000 troops rush over together, behead the anti-thief, and the enemy army can be broken. ”

"Since the two of you both said that you want to find Tang Yan, let's do this first. Tell Feng Feima and Zhao Feixiao to send out all the scouts, be sure to find Tang Yan, and remember not to fall for the enemy's tricks. Be sure to see it. ”

Hearing this, Tang Yuan still supported Kong Xie's statement, Nalan Xin remained silent, but Kong Xi smiled slightly.

His smile was very bad.

Tang Yuan lowered his face and said: "The army speaks freely, but what is said is also responsible, and you can't talk about it, let alone be aggressive." Compared with military deployment, it is more important whether the will to fight is resolute. Both of you can say that it is feasible, but as for which one is better, it cannot pass the actual combat test, because my soldiers, no matter which way of playing, can win. ”

——

Cao Sheng couldn't get up from his illness, Cao Bao stood on the lookout in the city, watching the tiger soldiers guarding the city, and the fight was so miserable that he was shocked.

The scale of this defense of the city is not a grade compared to the defense of Luoyang back then, Luoyang is huge, but Xuzhou is very small. The city was difficult to defend, but the small and high city was relatively easy to defend, and most of the enemy's besieging soldiers were wiped out in the process of climbing.

However, the density of the enemy's attack was amazing, and the attack continued for almost twelve hours, which could make the tiger soldiers tired.

If you continue to fight like this, you will be trapped and the tiger soldiers will be trapped to death.

Occupying the absolute geographical advantage, Su Li made a shift rest plan, Fang Jin and Yuan Hong alternately ascended the city, and the soldiers at the head of the city also changed their guards every four hours, although each change of guard was impacted by the enemy, which seemed to be dangerous, but under Su Li's arrangement, they all survived, and the soldiers got enough rest.

If it weren't for that, they would definitely not hold out for the eighth day.

On this day, there were less than 8,000 of the 20,000 Tiger Ben army left, the morale was getting lower and lower, and the food in the city was almost exhausted.

Seeing the reinforcements coming from afar, the soldiers defending the city cheered, thinking that this was all right, and finally relieved the predicament, but at this time they found that the reinforcements were not moving, and they did not hurry to support, but watched outside.

At this time, I can already identify the flag of the reinforcements, it is the Tang character eagle flag, it is Tang Yuan, what is this kid doing all the way here? Watching the excitement come?

Another day passed, and Tang Yuan's troops finally began to move.

At the same time, the battle on Chen Bao's side had begun.

After Tang Yuan came to Xuzhou, the experienced Hong Mingshan immediately gave up attacking Bianzhou, and the whole army went south to aid Tang Yan. He knew that Bianzhou was not in a hurry to fight, but if Tang Yan was eliminated, the problem would be serious.

When Tang Yuan saw Tang Yuan coming, he also began to change his formation, no longer gnawing at the hard bone of Xuzhou City, but shrinking rapidly.

As soon as he shrank his troops, his position was immediately revealed, and now there was nothing more to say, the decisive battle was just around the corner.

In the vast plains east of Xuzhou City, the 120,000 Flying Tiger Army and the Jin Army of the same strength launched a big battle.