End of May.

Si Li, Huai County, Hanoi County.

"Why?! Why hasn't Yuan Shao's Yuan Jun come yet?! Ding Yuan kept walking back and forth in the hall, his expression full of impatience and panic.

He couldn't help but be in a hurry, after all, the reason why he dared to refuse Li Yi and even kill the envoy he sent was because Yuan Shao promised that if Li Yi sent troops to attack Hanoi, he would send Yuan Jun to support, and even sent people to attack Bingzhou to contain Li Yi.

Ding Yuan did not doubt this, because he knew very well that Yuan Shao would never let Li Yi take Hanoi. Moreover, Yuan Shao's strength is something he has experienced himself, otherwise he would not betray Dong Zhuo and join Yuan Shao. In addition, Yuan Shao has now won Jizhou, and his strength will definitely be stronger.

It's just that now, the troops sent by Li Yi have not only invaded Hanoi County, but also broken through two cities in a few days, all the way south to attack Yewang City, but the reinforcements promised by Yuan Shao are completely gone.

In the face of Ding Yuan's anxiety, the people next to him just lowered their heads and stood in place with their bodies a little cowering, without the slightest intention of accosting.

Speaking of which, since being listed by Yuan Shao as the county guard of Hanoi and the governor of Jinwu, Ding Yuan has changed, and I don't know if it was because of the betrayal of Dong Zhuo and his defection to Yuan Shao that opened a certain switch in Ding Yuan's body, or because of the sudden rise in status, he changed from a martial arts lieutenant to a county guard who controlled the life and death of the people in a county.

But whatever the reason, in short, in less than a year, Ding Yuan's personality has become more arrogant and his temper has become more irritable. At the same time, he has become fond of enjoying a luxurious life, and is no longer as sympathetic to his subordinates as before, and is willing to share their ups and downs.

Even, in order to better enjoy a luxurious life, he also ordered the increase of many harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes in order to obtain a large amount of money. Although some people persuaded him, he was thrown directly into prison by Ding Yuan, and even if it wasn't for his subordinates pleading hard, many people would even be directly executed by Ding Yuan.

In this case, who would dare to take the lead when Ding Yuan was angry? It's just that they don't take the lead, it doesn't mean that Ding Yuan won't name him, after all, for Ding Yuan, who hasn't read much, this kind of brain-consuming thing is really not what he is good at.

After stopping and glancing around at everyone, Ding Yuan asked in a deep voice to one of the young men, "Boda, what do you think?!" Although Ding Yuan's tone was still angry, it was much better than just now. It was not that he was angry, but he was forced to suppress him, because the young man in front of him, even if he was as arrogant as Ding Yuan, did not dare to offend easily.

The young man's name was Sima Lang, and he was the eldest son of the Sima family in Wen County, Hanoi. And the Sima family is a famous family in Hanoi County! Of course, Ding Yuan is so tolerant not only because he is a member of the Sima family, but also because he is really talented and learned! At the age of twelve, he entered the Tongzi Department, but when Dong Zhuo moved west, his father, Sima Fang, asked him to take his family back to his hometown Wenxian.

Not long after he came back, he was forcibly invited by Ding Yuan to serve as a staff member, and after the crown ceremony this year, he was asked to serve as the chief bookkeeper. Even if Sima Lang's attitude towards him was very indifferent, Ding Yuan didn't care. After all, in his heart, Sima Lang is a great talent, as the county guard of Hanoi County, there is no great talent under his command, is it like words?!

Well, you can't blame Ding Yuan, because he is also very helpless. Although it stretched out of Hanoi, because of the great war between Dong Zhuo and the coalition army, as well as Ding Yuan's uncontrollable identity, there were no scholars willing to serve him at all. Even Ding Yuan knew that many local county orders were very disdainful of Ding Yuan, but they didn't dare to say it because of his military might.

Facing Ding Yuan's news, Sima Lang said lightly, "General Hui, the lower officials think that there must be some reason why Yuan Cheqi was restrained. ”

Hearing Sima Lang's words, Ding Yuan immediately wanted to get angry, because does this kind of answer still need Sima Lang to say? Just thinking of his identity and talents, and thinking of the group of wastes under his command who only know how to fight, Ding Yuan had to suppress his anger and ask a little flatteringly, "What does Boda think I should do now?" ”

Hearing this, although Sima Lang was unwilling, when he saw Ding Yuan's appearance, he could only speak, "General, there are only more than 30,000 Li soldiers who have invaded Hanoi now, so the lower officials think that they only need to gather the surrounding troops to defend and wait for reinforcements from Yuan Cheqi's side." ”

Hearing Sima Lang's words, Ding Yuan was not very satisfied, because this passive defensive situation was not what he wanted at all. It's just that Sima Lang only looks like this, and he can't think of any good ideas himself, so he has to agree to Sima Lang's proposal.

It's just that although Sima Lang only said that he would gather troops near Huai County, Ding Yuan, who has long been worn out of his sharpness in nearly a year of luxurious and erosive life, still feels very unsafe. Therefore, he ordered again to forcibly recruit men over the age of 18 from the surrounding counties and townships to join the army, and at the same time forcibly collected a large amount of money, grain, and grass on the pretext of resisting foreign enemies and protecting the locality.

Although Sima Lang took the lead in opposition, they didn't have much to do in the face of Ding Yuan's insistence.

"Alas, if this continues, won't it hurt the local people? I have to think of a way......" Sima Lang thought to himself, frowning.

Just when Ding Yuan was about to defend Huai County, outside Yewang City.

At the East Gate, North Gate, and South Gate, Tong Fei, Guan Yu, and Xu Huang each led an army to continuously attack Yewang City, and countless soldiers crossed the moat under the cover of boulders and arrows, and stepped on the ladder car to continuously charge the city wall.

In the face of the offensive of the Li army, this city, which had blocked Yuan Shao's tens of thousands of troops in the past, could not be defended for even half a day. But it's no wonder, after all, the defenders of Yewang City at this time are neither Ma Teng and the resourceful Jia Xu who fought countless words with the official army in Liangzhou, nor the 40,000 army.

Before dusk, the gates were breached. In the face of the swarming Li army, the defenders of Yewang City did not choose to fight to the death, but quickly led the army to surrender.

"The war is going more smoothly than expected, could it be Ding Yuan's trick?" Faced with such a smooth situation, Tong Fei seemed a little hard to believe. Although they fought all the way, the number of troops in the city was only a few thousand at most, and the level of the guards was average, but each city was captured in half a day, how could Tong Fei not doubt this smooth situation?

"Haha! General Tong thinks too highly of Na Ding Yuan! And the last general thinks that it is not that the enemy has any tricks, but that our army is too strong! Hearing Tong Fei's words, Guan Yu on the side couldn't help but smile and said with a smile in his tone, full of disdain for Ding Yuan.