When Yuan Xi's army arrived, Zhang Jaw looked dejected, Yuan Xi already knew the result, and comforted: "Just let General Zhang test Chen Liu's defense, it seems that it is really as I expected, Cao Pi wants to block our army in Chen Liu." It's a pity that Cao Pi underestimated the strength of our army too much, Chen left a maximum of 100,000 troops, but our army is a real army of 500,000, and there will be no falsehood. ”

Yuan Xi ordered Zhang Jaw to continue to attack the north gate of Chenliu, Sima Yi to attack the east gate, Gao Shun to attack the west gate, and personally led an army of 200,000 people, with Zhao Yun and Pang De as the vanguard, and directly took Xuchang. Hebei's 300,000 troops besieged Chen Liu on three sides, deliberately leaving the south gate unattacked, just to give Cao Ren a way back, and Chen Liu's soldiers would not resist desperately.

Chen Liu was well prepared, and there were more than 100,000 troops, even if the Hebei army was several times larger than Chen Liu, more than ten days had passed, and the Hebei army still did not climb the Chen Liu city wall. Cao Ren did not relax because of this, there was always an ominous premonition in his heart, but he didn't know what the problem was.

Repelled the offensive of the Hebei army again, Mao Jie breathed a sigh of relief, and finally could rest, and also signaled Cao Ren to pay attention to rest, the Hebei army had retreated. Yu Ban also came over to rest and asked: "Although I repelled the Hebei army, I haven't seen Yuan Xi, with Yuan Xi's way of using troops, I like to attack the heart and disintegrate the opponent's fighting spirit, this time the leader is Gao Shun, Zhang Jaw, Sima Yi, but I don't see Yuan Xi, it is very suspicious." ”

Cao Ren finally understood what he was worried about, Yuan Xi was very likely to bypass Chen Liu and take Xuchang directly, once Xuchang fell, not to mention Chen Liu's soldiers, even the entire Central Plains soldiers would be powerless to resist, Cao Ren wanted to return to the army to rescue Xuchang.

Although Yu Ban supported Cao Ren's idea, he still dissuaded: "General Cao is slow, there are still 300,000 Hebei troops outside Chen Liucheng, and the strength is far stronger than mine, even if you support Xuchang, it will not help." Xuchang has 100,000 defenders, and the eldest prince is in charge, with Cheng Yu and Liu Ye to help, maybe the situation is even better than Chen Liu. Once our army retreats, not to mention whether there is an ambush on the way, Chen Liu will definitely fall, and the 500,000 troops in Hebei will besiege Xuchang, even if Xuchang is strong, it will be razed to the ground. ”

Mao Jie also persuaded him, believing that the eldest prince could understand our situation and would definitely stick to Xuchang. After the persuasion of the two, Cao Ren's brain also calmed down, and he no longer talked about rescuing Xuchang, and concentrated on defending Chen Liu.

Yuan Xi led a large army to Xuchang secretly, and also sent people to closely monitor Cao Ren's every move to prevent Cao Ren from sending people to attack him. When Yuan Xi's 200,000 army arrived at the city of Xuchang, Cao Pi no longer had the previous calmness, and secretly scolded Cao Ren for being useless, and the 150,000 army couldn't resist the Hebei army for a month, and in just 20 days, the army had already arrived in the city.

Cheng Yu advised Cao Pi not to panic, to look at the Hebei Army first, and then make a decision. Cao Pi walked on the city wall of Xuchang, facing the 200,000 neat troops and the Hebei army full of fighting spirit, he kept reminding himself not to be nervous, and still asked a little weakly: "The general already has the land of four states, why is he not satisfied, and he still wants to covet the Central Plains?" ”

Yuan Xi laughed and asked rhetorically: "This general came to pacify the Central Plains on the order of the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty, how can he be greedy?" If you talk about greed, Cao Cao has already occupied the Central Plains and Guanzhong, and he still has to look at Shu, so he has to make inches, and the general can only do the right thing for the sky. Cao Pi, now that I personally command an army of 500,000 to surround Xuchang, even if Cao Cao comes back, it will be too late, so it is better to surrender early, so as not to destroy the lives of the people. ”

Cao Pi was also out of the ordinary, at least in terms of morale, he couldn't lose, and said resolutely: "Yuan Xi, don't talk about persuasion, even if you come, my Cao clan will definitely not bow to Hebei." Yuan Xi saw that Cao Pi had a hard mouth, and he was not ready to spend time with him, now that Xuchang has no son of heaven, naturally there is no need to have too many scruples, Yuan Xi led an army of 100,000 to attack the east gate of Xuchang, Zhao Yun led 50,000 troops to attack the north gate, and Pang De led the troops to attack the west gate.

Cao Cao has been operating Xuchang for many years, not to mention that the city wall of Xuchang is strong, that is, the moat in front of Xuchang City, the Hebei Army has to spend a lot of effort to get through. Yuan Xi commanded the army, braved the feather arrows shot down from the Xuchang city wall, and built the pontoon bridge on the moat, but the Yuan army still could not cross the moat, and the rolling stones and giant trees that kept falling on the city wall blocked the way for the Hebei army to advance, and more fell directly into the moat and drowned directly. Yuan Xi led the Hebei elite, and this kind of strong attack made Yuan Xi feel painful, and soon stopped the attack, ordered the withdrawal of the army, and then discussed.

Compared with the tentative attack at the beginning of Xuchang, Chen Liu's engagement has entered the white heat, in the face of the 300,000 army of continuous attack, Chen Liu's city wall has been stained with blood, the originally reinforced city wall has also been dilapidated, Cao Ren is also with a strong will to grit his teeth and insist, as long as there is a trace of slackness, the Hebei army may break into the city.

The Hebei army outside the city is not much better, the strong attack for several days, nearly 50,000 soldiers have been injured and sacrificed, and the living soldiers are also exhausted, they didn't expect the enemy in Chen Liucheng to be so strong, they really want to rest.

Gao Shun, Zhang Jaw, and Sima Yi were also very helpless in the face of Cao Ren's defense, and they were always a little bit away from capturing Chenliu.

Gao Shun is usually not good at words, and he can't capture Chen Liu after sacrificing so many soldiers, so he feels guilty in his heart, and asks: "Such a strong attack, the casualties are too great, and the general often praises Zhongda for his wit, I don't know if there is a clever plan?" ”

Sima Yi thought for a while and said: "Actually, we are a little in a hurry, the general has already led his troops to besiege Xuchang, and Chen Liu is also under the heavy siege of our army, as long as the news that Xuchang has fallen is falsely spread, and then go to persuade Chen Liu's soldiers to surrender." Most of Chen Liu's army came from Xuchang, and if he was concerned about his relatives in Xuchang, he would definitely lose the idea of stubborn resistance, and acting in this way should reduce the casualties of our army. ”

Gao Shun followed Sima Yi's suggestion and asked people to write an announcement of the fall of Xuchang, and took advantage of the darkness to put the announcement into Chen Liucheng, deliberately letting the people of Chen Liu know. In the past few days, the Hebei army's offensive has also eased a lot, and more of it has taken the heart of attack, publicizing that Xuchang has fallen and the Cao clan has surrendered, so that Chen Liu's soldiers will not make useless resistance.

This method of the Hebei army naturally could not escape Cao Ren, and Yu Ban's judgment believed that this was the enemy's strategy to attack the heart and deliberately disturb his fighting spirit. However, rumors spread everywhere, one spread ten, ten spread hundreds, and the more they spread, the more realistic they became, and the soldiers below also began to believe the rumors. Even if Cao Ren, Yu Ban, Mao Jie, and others appeased the soldiers in time and arrested the rumor-mongers, some soldiers still began to flee and wanted to see the situation in Xuchang.

The situation of Chen Liu's situation became more and more chaotic, and the morale was getting lower and lower, but the Hebei army did not attack, so that the Chen Liu's garrison could not find an opportunity to unify with the outside world, divert the attention of the soldiers, and ease the contradictions. Faced with this passive situation, Cao Ren discussed with Yu Ban: "The soldiers are worried about the comfort of Xuchang's family, and they have no fighting spirit, and if they stay here, the whole army will be wiped out sooner or later, so it is better to retreat to Guanzhong and retain their strength." ”

Yu Ban thought for a while and hesitated: "I can't know the situation in Xuchang now, if it really falls, our army will directly retreat to Wancheng, and it will be ambushed by Yuan Xi halfway, I'm afraid something will not be good." If Xuchang is still in our hands, with Chen's remaining troops and Xuchang's troops, it is enough to surround Yuan Xi's army, and maybe Yuan Xi can be captured alive. ”

Mao Jie shook his head and said to Cao Ren: "Xuchang should not be captured by the Hebei army, if Xuchang is lost, with Yuan Xi's knowledge, he will definitely let the prisoners return to Chenliu." As for the encirclement of Yuan Xi, it may not work, Yuan Xi will definitely guard against the sneak attack of Chen Liu's army, and once the 300,000 troops outside Chen Liu's city come, they will counter-encircle, and they still can't escape the end of the annihilation of the whole army. So, we returned to Runan from the south gate, and then returned to Xuchang from Runan. ”

The three of them decided to give up Chen Liu, and took advantage of the night to directly lead more than 100,000 Cao troops to break through from the south gate. Sima Yi expected that Cao's army would abandon Chenliu in the near future, so Gao Shun continued to lead his troops to attack Chenliu, and he and Zhang Jaw laid an ambush on the road to Runan and the road to Xuchang respectively.

Cao Ren's army did not encounter an ambush at the beginning, and retreated all the way to Runan, and Cao Ren was already extremely tired, so he immediately relaxed his vigilance, even the commander Cao Ren was also a little exhausted. Sima Yi's grasp of the timing of the attack was very accurate, and when Cao's army was most trapped, he launched a fierce attack.

In the face of the enemy's ambush, the Cao army was suddenly in chaos, and some did not want to run anymore, so they directly chose to surrender. Cao Ren didn't know the enemy's situation and didn't dare to fight easily, so he could only retreat from the side battle, Sima Yi chased and killed all the way, capturing tens of thousands of prisoners. By the time Cao's army fled into Runan, most of the 100,000 Cao troops had already been lost.

Sima Yi returned victoriously, Gao Shun also began to attack Chen Liu, Chen Liu did not have Cao Ren's defense, and the rest were old, weak, sick and disabled, and they could not stop the Hebei army at all. After Gao Shun and Sima Yi captured Chenliu, they left Gao Ran to guard Chenliu and guard the prisoners, and then led a large army to join Zhang Jaw to help Yuan Xi attack Xuchang.