Cao Cao had a headache for the current situation, he was reluctant to give up Xuzhou to Yuan Shao, and it was impossible for him to give up the Han Emperor under his control.

However, if you don't make a decision sooner, I'm afraid that the hegemony I have worked hard for so long will come to an end.

And Sun Jian, who was marching and arranging outside Xuchang City, would not care about Cao Cao's dilemma, and was now attacking Xuchang City with all his might.

Sun Jian's army divided the 60,000 troops into four divisions, each with 15,000 men, and besieged the four gates of Xuchang.

And the defenders also saw the move, Cao Ren at the east gate, Yu Ban at the west gate, Li Dian at the south gate, and Xu Rong at the north gate, each leading 5,000 people to defend to the death.

Bows and arrows, sasswood, falling rocks, and boiling oil, facing Sun Jian's army that came up from under the ladder, the defenders of the city did everything to prevent the enemy from climbing to the top of the city.

The screams and shouts of killing were endless.

Although the defense of Xuchang City is not particularly strong, and the number of defenders in the city is not very large, Sun Jian also knows that it will not take two or three days to conquer Xuchang City.

However, Sun Jian is not in a hurry, time is for him.

It is impossible for Cao Cao to come back to help, this is not to say that he doesn't want to go back, it's just that Yuan Shao's army is on the side, and if Cao Cao doesn't want to end up with the annihilation of the whole army, he has no possibility of withdrawing his troops to rescue Xuchang.

In the absence of reinforcements, Xuchang City will eventually have a moment when it can't be supported.

Therefore, in the face of the Xuchang City in front of him, although Sun Jian was very excited, he was also very calm.

The excitement was because at this time, Sun Jian's mind had already launched various fantasies. After breaking through Xuchang City, he will have the opportunity to compete in the world, and then he will gather the power of the Central Plains and Eastern Wu, even if he is as strong as Yuan Shao in the north, I am afraid that he may not be his opponent. It is possible to dominate the world! With such a beautiful situation, how can Sun Jian not feel excited?

Calm because Sun Jian has full confidence that he can take the Xuchang City in front of him, it will take five or six days if he can't conquer it in two or three days, and seven or eight days if he can't conquer it in five or six days, in short, Sun Jian has regarded this Xuchang City as his own bag, and it is only a matter of time before he takes it.

After attacking for a day, after throwing about a thousand corpses at each of the four gates, Sun Jian ordered Mingjin to collect his troops and return to the camp.

At night, Zhou Yu came to Sun Jian and offered him advice.

"If the lord attacks the city tomorrow, he can choose three of the four gates to attack with a majority of troops, leaving the other gate to attack with a small number of troops. In this way, in the past few days, the enemy's defense against that gate will inevitably be weakened, and then our army will concentrate its forces in one fell swoop and storm this gate, and the enemy will be unprepared, and Xuchang will be at his fingertips. ”

Zhou Yu is not only handsome to the extreme, but also generous, and his tone between his words is also calm and elegant, worthy of being a first-class beautiful man in the Three Kingdoms period.

"Is there a must?" Hearing Zhou Yu's strategy, his elder brother Sun Ce said very casually, "Capturing Xuchang City is just around the corner, so why bother?" ”

Sun Ce's eyebrows exuded a heroic spirit, and his behavior was chic and free. Compared with Zhou Yu, Sun Ce is not far behind, and he is a rare handsome man in the world.

Having said that, according to Yu's point of view, although Xuchang City is not a strong city, the Cao army in the city is very determined to defend the city. If our army wants to break through the city by force, it will take at least ten days, and within these ten days, the losses of our army will not be small, not to mention 20,000 casualties. Although 20,000 casualties are not unbearable for our army, they are quite a lot, and if some casualties can be reduced, it is better to reduce them as much as possible. Zhou Yu knew Sun Ce's temperament very well, and he also expected him to say such things, so he explained.

"What Gong Jin said is very good." When Sun Jian heard this, he said with his beard, obviously agreeing with Zhou Yu's point of view.

Yes, after capturing Xuchang, Cao Cao will probably be finished, and I am afraid that he will have to face Yuan Shao at that time. In order to better deal with Yuan Shao, if the casualties of his own army can be avoided, it is better to avoid them as much as possible.

Seeing that his father had spoken, Sun Ce had no opinion. In fact, he just said it casually out of confidence in Sun Jianjun, Sun Ce was very convinced of Zhou Yu's strategy, and he would never really question the other party.

"But with this arrangement, will Cao Jun be tricked?" After affirming Zhou Yu's idea of wanting to reduce casualties, Sun Jian questioned the possibility of his plan succeeding, after all, the signs of wanting to get in the way of a sudden relaxation of the attack on a certain door were too obvious, and it might easily arouse the suspicion of the other party.

"Siege three is missing one, it has been the method of siege since ancient times, and it is not surprising that our army suddenly withdrew its attack on a certain gate, and it is not too strange for the enemy army." With a confident smile on his face, Zhou Yu said slowly, "And even if the enemy army has suspicions, it's nothing." When the pressure on the other three gates is increasing, they will eventually be unable to resist and withdraw the defense of that gate. ”

"Father, the camp posts have been arranged, and the defenses are very thorough, and there will never be a danger of being robbed by the enemy." While everyone was deliberating, a young man entered the tent, saluted Sun Jian, and said loudly.

I saw that this young man had brown hair and blue eyes, although his appearance was quite handsome, but under the background of this kind of hair color and pupil color, his appearance also looked a little weird.

This teenager is Sun Jian's second son, Sun Quan. Sun Quan is also fifteen years old this year, and he is not too young at the end of the Han Dynasty, so Sun Jian also brought Sun Quan with him on this march, in order to let him receive training.

Looking at the two sons in front of him and Zhou Yu standing aside, Sun Jian was in a good mood for a while.

His eldest son, Sun Ce, was brave and good at fighting, although dozens of people could not defeat him; His brother-in-law Zhou Yu is resourceful and has the talent to command the army; Although his second son Sun Quan is still young, he has already shown some good talents.

These young people with a bright future are the future of Jiangdong, and even the future of this world is unknown.

Thinking of Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, who have followed him for a long time, as well as Tai Shici, Zhou Tai, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, etc., who have voted in recent years, Sun Jian is full of spirits. My Sun Jian's subordinates are all capable people in the world! I think that my Sun Jian's command is full of talents, and Jiangdong now has enough food and grass for soldiers and horses, and those who will win the world in the future, if it are not for my Sun Wentai, who can let him!

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The next day, Sun Jian's army continued to attack the city.

However, unlike yesterday, the offensive of the western, southern, and northern cities was still fierce, and about 17,000 to 18,000 troops were invested in each gate to attack the city. However, the pressure on the east gate guarded by Cao Ren suddenly decreased, and the number of troops attacking the east gate was only about 3,000.

"Is there a lack of one in the siege of the three......" Looking at the city that was not violent, and could even be said to be a somewhat sparse offensive, Cao Ren frowned, contemplating whether to mobilize the troops of the East Gate to help the other three gates defend the city.

After all, the scarcity of troops attacking their own gate means that the pressure on the other three will increase.

The enemy army gathered forces to attack the other three gates, and their own forces were evenly divided to defend the four directions, so that their east gate was as stable as Mount Tai, but the other three gates were not easy to say.

Today, the guard force of the East Gate is about 4,500 people, which is one and a half times that of Sun Jian's army under the city. In the siege war, the besieging side is destined to be at a disadvantage, and at present, Sun Jian's army is only two-thirds of the East Gate defenders, and the East Gate can be said to be worry-free.

Do you want to draw 3,000 men from the defenders of the East Gate, and then send 1,000 of them to support the other three? Cao Ren fell into deep thought.

If you want to do that, there are still 1,500 people left in the defenders of the East Gate, and in the defense of the city, 1,500 against 3,000 can also support it for a long time.

But Cao Rennai is the first general surnamed Cao, and his knowledge is also good, if it is really the enemy's encirclement of three missing one, it would be fine, but in case this is the enemy's strategy to lure the enemy, the purpose is to let himself lead the guardian force of the east gate away, and then take advantage of the weak guardian force of the east gate, quickly deploy troops to attack the east gate, then how is it good?

Cao Ren could not determine whether the weakness of the offensive at the East Gate was a trick of the enemy army to lure the enemy, or whether the enemy army really implemented the siege method of encircling the city without one. For a while, Cao Ren was undecided about whether to send troops to the other three gates.