Li Tong obtained Yu Ban's consent, requisitioned 60,000 Wei soldiers from the 100,000 garrisons outside the city, and 20,000 from the defenders in the city, gathered 80,000 troops, and set out for Xuzhou.

Once this force joined Xuzhou, it significantly strengthened Xuzhou's defensive strength.

Han Hao followed Li Tong and left to block the Shu army.

In this way, Shouchun will not have many troops left. Yu Ban brought an army of 100,000 and cut 60,000, leaving only 40,000 soldiers stationed outside the city, and 10,000 defenders left in the city, adding up to only 50,000. Yu Ban thought that Shouchun's strength was weakening, and in order to strengthen Shouchun's defense, he transferred the 40,000 troops stationed outside the city into the city to defend Shouchun.

The strength of the soldiers in the city was strong, and Yu Ban was relieved.

Li Tong led the army to leave, and the news quickly reached Xu Shu's ears.

During this time, Xu Shu marched forward with 100,000 Shu troops, and had occupied the entire Guangling County, as well as most of Xiapi County, obtained half of Xuzhou, and confronted the Wei army in the north.

The Shu army was stationed in Guangling County, the county seat of Guangling County, and was ready to fight again.

The county guard's house, in the study.

Jiang Qin looked anxious, and hurried to Xu Shu's study to report the matter. Compared with Gan Ning and Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin's martial arts are far inferior to the two, and it is impossible to attack the city and plunder the land. But Jiang Qin also has an obvious point, he is good at sorting out government affairs, and Xu Shu asked Jiang Qin to sort out the news in all aspects, which can be regarded as useful.

"Bang! Bang!! ”

A soft knock on the door sounded outside the study.

"Come in!"

In the study, Xu Shu's voice came.

Jiang Qin hurriedly walked in, bowed respectfully to Xu Shu, and bowed: "My lord, Li Tong led an army of 80,000 to Xuzhou, and the defensive strength of Yangzhou weakened. Xu Shu led the army to attack Xuzhou, mainly Gan Ning and Zhou Tai, and did not appear Tai Shici.

Xu Shu wanted to take Yangzhou and Xuzhou at the same time, so he left Tai Shici in Yangzhou.

Xu Shu thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Let Tai Shici not worry, if he does it immediately, Yangzhou will be in danger, and Li Tong will definitely abandon Xuzhou and return to Yangzhou to help." You write back to Tai Shici and tell him that the condition for us to do it is that our army sticks to Li Tong's 80,000 Wei troops, so that Li Tong cannot lead the army back to help, and he can do it. ”

"Yes, the last general will arrange it."

Jiang Qin clenched his fists in response, turned around and was about to leave.

Just as Jiang Qin was about to leave, Xu Shu instructed again: "Remember to bring Gan Ning and Zhou Tai." ”

"No!"

Jiang Qin left the study, and not long after, Gan Ning and Zhou Tai came to the study.

Since the army went north to Xuzhou, there have been frequent battles, Gan Ning and Zhou Tai have been busy fighting on the battlefield, and they have enjoyed it, which can be regarded as an addiction and very refreshing.

Gan Ning clenched his fists and asked, "Sir, you brought me and Youping here, is there anything wrong?" ”

Xu Shu nodded and said, "Tai Shi Ci sent someone to deliver a message, he already wants to attack Shouchun." I ordered him to wait where he was, but the two of you must hurry up and capture Xiapi before Li Tong arrives with 80,000 Wei troops. Then entangle Li Tong, annihilate the 80,000 Wei army, and give Tai Shici a chance. ”

Zhou Tai saw that Xu Shu was about to speed up the pace of attacking the city, and said loudly: "Sir, don't worry, Lao Gan and I will win." ”

Xu Shu bowed slightly, expecting the two of them to capture Xiapi County.

……

Shouchun, Thorn Mansion.

Although Yu Ban did not send troops, he paid close attention to the movements in Xuzhou.

Zhou Tai and Gan Ning's soldiers were prosperous, and they captured Guangling County in a short time, and captured Xiapi County a few days ago, and even scared away the Xuzhou Assassin Shi who was sitting in Pengcheng, and took Pengcheng bloodlessly, which can be called a god speed.

Such a speed made Yu Ban feel a headache.

Even Yangzhou, which is forbidden to guard itself, feels a little bad.

It didn't take long for the front line to report back the news that Li Tong led the army and Gan Ning to fight, and the two sides were undefeated and did not distinguish the winner or loser. When Yu Ban got such news, his heart was much better, as long as Li Tong was undefeated, everything was easy to say.

Shi Jian looked in a hurry and hurried to the study.

Yu Ban saw Shi Lian's abnormal expression, and hurriedly asked, "Shi Lian, what's wrong?" ”

Shi Lian's face was solemn, and he said angrily: "General, now is the time to collect new grain, and the grain collected by various counties has been transported to Shouchun one after another. Yesterday, a batch of grain destined for Shouchun was looted. According to the reports of the soldiers who escorted the food, the people who robbed the food may have been a group of bandits."

"How much grain was robbed?"

Yu Ban didn't ask about the bandits, but instead asked about food.

Shi Jian said: "It's not a lot, only a few thousand stones of grain. ”

Yu Ban smiled, waved his hand and said, "It's just a few thousand stones of grain, don't take it to heart." At present, the war continues, many people have fallen into the grass, these bandits are short of food, and they will definitely not come again after robbing thousands of stones of food. The most important thing at the moment is to guard Shouchun, and not give the Shu army a chance to take advantage of it. Xu Shu is an important strategist under Wang Can, and he cannot be taken lightly. ”

Shi Jian opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but seeing Yu Ban's stubborn expression, he closed his mouth again.

A few thousand stones of grain is a lot, enough for the defenders to eat for a few days.

He sighed in his heart, and had to turn away and go about his business.

Three days later, another carriage appeared thirty miles southeast of Shouchun City. These carriages drove on the roads, all loaded with grain, and they were also a batch of new grain sent to Shouchun.

"Da! Da!! ”

As the carriage drove slowly, a group of people and horses quickly came out of the mountain forest. Some of the men and horses were dressed in coarse linen clothes, some were dressed in silk and satin, but they were all full of arrogance, they looked very vulgar, their hair was fluffy, their cheeks were dirty, and they were completely dressed as bandits, and they quickly surrounded the soldiers who were carrying food and launched an attack.

In less than an hour, the grain was removed by the bandits.

Fortunately, the bandits robbed the grain and did not rob their lives, and left with the grain in a swagger.

When the news reached Shi Lian's ears, Shi Lian sighed in his heart.

If Yu Ban had sent troops to exterminate the bandits last time, this would not have happened. A group of bandits can be exterminated with only a thousand soldiers, and it doesn't take much strength. As soon as Shi Jian thought of Yu Ban not sending troops, he despised Yu Ban's behavior, and even ordinary bandits were so scared that Yu Ban didn't dare to fight, if the Shu army really appeared, what should I do?

Shi Jian came to Yu Ban's study again and reported the news of the thieves' grain robbery.

Yu Ban asked, "Shi Lian, what are you going to do?" ”

Shi Jian said without hesitation: "General, these bandits are typical robbery while the fire is burning, and they must be exterminated." ”

Yu Ban also felt that he couldn't continue to let the bandits outside the city do trouble, so he rolled his eyes and said, "Come here with your ears, and I'll tell you how to punish the bandits outside the city." ”

Shi Jian leaned over suspiciously, listening to Yu Ban's plan.

After listening, Shi Jian said: "The general is wise, and the last general will go to prepare." ”

Yu Ban came up with a good solution, but Shi Jian thought that Yu Ban still lacked courage. If you have a plan, you should have said it directly and put it into action, so why wait until now?

However, we were finally able to send troops.

Shi Jian left Shouchun with hundreds of soldiers and went to prepare. In the blink of an eye, two days passed in a flash, and another group of soldiers appeared thirty miles southeast of Shouchun City. The soldiers were carrying a shipment of grain to Shouchun, each wagon was extremely heavy, and the wheels were pressed against the road, leaving a deep imprint.

Among them, the person who led the troops was Shi Lian.

This time, it was obviously a game set up by the thieves who robbed the grain.

PS: one of the three watches;