Siege and land raiding are often linked. Siege refers to attacking the city, while plundering refers to controlling the surrounding area, collecting materials needed for the war, including food, forage, firewood, etc., and sometimes requisitioning the people as force, providing labor, and even forcing the local people to participate in the war.

These were originally the work of auxiliary troops, and the combat troops besieging the city were the core, so the distribution plan of Sun Jian's siege of the city and Sun Ce's land seizure did not seem to be a problem, at least it saved face for Sun Jian. But looking at the whole plan, attacking Rencheng is only one of the steps, and the real key is in Changyi, and Sun Ce has become the leader. Sun Jian took the initiative to ask for the siege of the city, that is, he regarded himself as a general and acted on his orders.

After two years of hard work, after several run-ins, the father and son tacitly completed the handover.

There are ten cities in Shanyang, but the scope of Shanyang is not large, compared with Wu County, the area is less than one-sixth of Wu County, but the population is almost the same, it is a typical densely populated place, the distance between counties is very close, the average is only fifty or sixty li.

Sun Ce's plan was very cautious, but his approach was very flamboyant, deliberately showing his ambition and luring Yuan Tan to attack. While Sun Jian led the main force of 20,000 people to attack Rencheng, he led 3,000 cavalry to advance all the way to Dongwei, and pocketed all the counties of Kangfu, Jinxiang, Fanghe, and Fangdong, and reconnoitred the rangers until the city of Changyi.

In the Han system, the ordinary county towns other than the county usually have no formal county soldiers to protect them, and the people in the county can only be recruited to defend the city in an emergency. In the Han Dynasty, the people could have weapons, and common weapons such as swords, shields, bows and arrows did not need to be said, as long as you wanted, every household could have them, even weapons such as light crossbows could not be held by the people, but there were restrictions on their strength, such as the three-stone crossbow was a military crossbow, and ordinary people could not hold it. The lieutenant chiefs and pavilion chiefs in charge of local security are also armed and are called up to act as guards in case of emergency.

But these people are not well-trained field troops after all, and after the Eastern Han Dynasty canceled the capital test system, the folk martial arts practice is not strong, and it is okay to deal with a few thieves occasionally, and when encountering such an elite of 3,000 foot cavalry led by Sun Ce, in addition to the fortresses such as Changyi or Hulu, ordinary county towns can only surrender, and resistance will only lead to cruel retaliation. The Sun family's father and son are notorious, and those who don't have the strength should not mess with them.

Everywhere he went, Sun Ce would visit the local Haoqiang, come to the door to turn his fate, ask for grain, grass, wine and meat, and send them to Rencheng in a steady stream to supply the army. The guests and hosts who knew each other enjoyed themselves, and those who did not know each other immediately ordered an attack, and the blows were broken, and the family property was confiscated, and the men and women were enslaved. In doing so, on the one hand, he realized the solution of material supply on the spot, reduced the burden of logistics supply, and on the other hand, increased the pressure of public opinion on Yuan Tan and Yuan Yi. As the Taishou of Shanyang, Yuan Yu had the responsibility to send troops to expel Sun Ce and protect the local people. As the assassin of Yanzhou, Yuan Tan was forced to go outside the state and did not dare to attack, not only the locals of Shanyang would be disappointed in him, but other counties would also lose confidence in him.

If the decree can't leave Changyi City, who still recognizes them as Shanyang Taishou and Yanzhou Thorn History? As a county governor, Shanyang is not in the center of Shanyang, but on the west side, and when Sun Ce entered Dongwei and Jinxiang, Changyi was isolated in a corner, and actually became a lonely city. In terms of the current situation, if Sun Ce did not leave, even if he did not take Changyi City, Yuan Tan would lose actual control of Shanyang and Rencheng.

Yuan Tan's pressure increased greatly, he not only had to face the actual pressure of Sun Ce who could attack the city at any time, but also the invisible mental pressure, the news came continuously, but none of them were good news. Either to ask him for help, or to tell him which house Sun Ce robbed again, or which family was eating pot pulp, and warmly welcomed Sun Ce.

The only thing that made Yuan Tan happy was that Cao Ang stuck to Rencheng and never asked him for help. He assured Yuan Tan that he would go all out and do everything possible to hold Ren Cheng and complete the task assigned to him by Yuan Tan.

Despite this, Yuan Tan was still very uneasy. Cao Ang has sufficient troops and enough motivation to defend Rencheng, but it does not mean that he will definitely be able to hold Rencheng. Sun Jian is a fierce general who has been famous for many years, and there are nearly 20,000 elites under his command, and Sun Ce is in the middle of the dispatch, with plenty of food and grass, once he launches an attack, Cao Ang may not be able to stop it.

Yuan Tan sent scouts out of the city to inquire about the situation, and on the other hand, he consulted with Xin Bi, Mao Jue and others. In the face of the aggressive Sun Ce, everyone was helpless, and finally Xin Bi made a suggestion, with Zhu Ling as the Taishou of Dongjun and Cheng Yu as the Minister of Dongping, to levy the county soldiers of Dongjun and Dongping, and to reinforce Shanyang with Yuan Xu, the Taishou of Jiyin, and asked Chen to stay too shou Zhang Miao to send troops to threaten Suiyang.

At the same time, Yuan Tan sent Lu Cui as an envoy to ask Yuan Shao for help.

——

Yuan Shao stood in front of the large map with his arms crossed, looking at Yanzhou for a while and Xuzhou for a while.

Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Fu Zhu, and Tian Feng stood aside, no one spoke, but intentionally or unintentionally, Guo Tu and Xin Ping stood together, and Fu Zhu and Tian Feng were relatively close, very close to each other, and there was almost no communication with the other two.

Yuan Shao looked at it for a while, turned around, rubbed his fingers against the hilt of the Sizhao knife at his waist, and said lightly: "Gentlemen, I invite you to come today to study the situation in Henan. Do not have scruples and speak freely. ”

Guo Tu and others responded one after another, but they refused to speak first. They all know that the situation in Henan is very complicated, Sun Jian, Sun Ce's father and son have all arrived in Yanzhou, and no one dares to say whether Yuan Tan can withstand it. If Shanyang is lost, and the Sun family father and son advance the defense line to the territory of Yanzhou, Yuan Shao's face will not look good.

"What's wrong?" Yuan Shao said with a smile: "Gentlemen, the war in Henan is fierce, Xian Sixin was defeated by Fang He, Sun Jian is storming Rencheng, I need your good strategy, now is not the time to be modest." ”

Guo Tu coughed: "My lord, the minister thinks that although the battle in Shanyang is fierce, the situation is very favorable to us. Si Xian is worthy of being taught by the lord single-handedly, and he fought against Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his son with his own strength, creating an opportunity for Xianyi and Zhengli, which is very rare. ”

Yuan Shao smiled. "Although Xiansi was a little embarrassed this time, he played well overall. Of course, he alone can't do it, George has merit. Nakaji, with such a younger brother, you are under a lot of pressure, right? Back then, Chen Taiqiu commented on his son, saying that Yuan Fang was difficult to be a brother, and Ji Fang was difficult to be a brother, and I think your brother is the same. ”

Xin commented on the body. "Lord, although George has a small merit, he is not as good as Xun Youruo. Chen thought that the current opportunity to break the situation was still in Xuzhou. If Liu Gongheng (Liu He) and Chun Yu Zhongjian (Chun Yu Qiong) can break through the East China Sea, attack Langya with Xianyi, and take Xuzhou all, even if Yanzhou has a small defeat, it is worth it. ”

Yuan Shao was a little surprised, glanced at Xin Ping, rolled his eyes, and then looked at Tian Feng and Fu Zhu. "Yuan Hao, Gonghe, what do you think?"

Fu Zhu echoed: "My lord, the minister agrees with Zhongzhi's suggestion. The lord launched the Henan offensive in order to make it impossible for Sun Ce to calmly capture Jiangnan. Now that their father and son have been attracted to Yanzhou, it is a good opportunity to encircle and annihilate them. The minister suggested that Liu Gongheng lead the history of the assassination of Yuzhou, and Chun Yuzhong Jian led the history of the assassination of Xuzhou, and let them cut off the back road of the Sun father and son, then the difficulties of Yanzhou will be solved, and the battle of Henan can be won. ”

Before the words fell, Guo Tu said: "Lord, the minister thinks it's inappropriate. ”