Summary of the previous chapter: At the same time that Cao Cao taught Liu Biao, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi's two stupid brothers fought among themselves, Yuan Tan couldn't beat Yuan Shang, and had no choice but to take refuge in Cao Cao, Cao Cao subdued Yuan Tan, but he didn't expect Yuan Tan to secretly win over Yuan Shang's general, Cao Cao was very angry about this, but he didn't show it too much, although the invitation to the immortal Lord Ma Xiaoquan was unsuccessful, but Ma Xiaoquan gave Cao Cao a very simple letter, the content of the letter was: Take Yecheng

+++++++++++++++++++++ Suyou secretly wrote a letter to Cao Cao as an internal response, and asked his henchmen to send it out, although the letter was delivered, but the henchmen were caught by the trial.

During the interrogation, the interrogator was taken aback and arrested Su You overnight.

Su You had already prepared, and before his henchmen sent the letter, he had already fled Yecheng and defected to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao led the army to approach Yecheng, and when he made a final rest, Cao Cao took out a silk letter and read it.

Guo Jia was curious and asked Cao Cao: "Lord, this letter"

Cao Cao smiled and said, "Oh, hehe, this letter is another letter from Lord Shangxian to me, if Lord Shangxian doesn't go out in the future, I will communicate with him by letter."

Guo Jia was overjoyed when he heard it: "Lord Shangxian is really careful"

Cao Cao nodded, unfolded the silk letter and looked at it a few times, pouted and said: "This demon way, I didn't write any important information in this letter, I thought he had calculated something, hey~~"

Guo Jia took the silk letter from Cao Cao's hand, read it, and said with a smile: "The lord should not complain about the Immortal Lord, the Immortal Lord must also be counted as the Lord Guild soldiers are coming to the city, so he will tell the lord not to be rash, he should fight steadily."

Cao Cao waved his hand: "What are you doing with these things, now that I have hit Yecheng, why don't you quickly wash your neck and wait to be slaughtered?" ”

After speaking, Cao Cao snatched the silk letter from Guo Jia's hand with disdain, and burned it with a fire.

The troops continued to advance, and the troops reached the foot of Yecheng, and Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to dig tunnels in the mountains and mountains, intending to attack.

Guo Jia and others couldn't persuade Cao Cao, so they had to do it at will.

Yecheng is a strong city, and the trial of guarding Yecheng is also a ruthless role, Cao Cao piled up the mountain, and the trial ordered someone to release rockets to disrupt Cao Cao's progress, Cao Cao dug tunnels, and the trial simply dug a ravine horizontally in Yecheng to prevent Cao Cao's tunnel from forming.

Cao Cao saw that the Tushan strategy did not work, and angrily scolded the cunning of the trial.

In desperation, Cao Cao had to temporarily leave a part of his men and horses to Cao Hong, and Cao Hong continued to attack the city, while he himself personally pacified the periphery of Yecheng.

The periphery of Yecheng is the main food and military supply area of Yecheng, and Cao Cao knows that if he attacks Yecheng to the death, not only will he not be able to defeat it, but he will make his own soldiers tired and sleepy.

Sitting on the war horse, Cao Cao pursed his lips, took out a silk letter from his arms, and told Guo Jia: "This demon road is really interesting, the last time I wrote didn't say anything, this time, I was asked to pacify the periphery of Yecheng, interesting." ”

In fact, the periphery of pacification was first thought up by Guo Jia, and the last time he saw the lord Cao Cao and Shangxian exchanging letters, Guo Jia also decided to secretly communicate with Ma Xiaoquan.

In a letter to Ma Xiaoquan, Guo Jia briefly talked about the current war situation, and told Ma Xiaoquan that he wanted to build the lord Cao Cao to pacify the outskirts of Yecheng first.

Ma Xiaoquan of Xuchang saw what Guo Jiaxin said, shouted that Guo Jia was smart and strategic, and hurriedly replied to the letter and ordered his subordinates to send it to Guo Jia quickly to express his approval.

After Guo Jia received Ma Xiaoquan's letter, he was very happy, and immediately built yì Cao Cao to pacify the periphery of Yecheng first, and as for attacking Yecheng, it could be handed over to a large future.

After Cao Cao thought about it, he didn't know who to send, and at this moment, Ma Xiaoquan's fast letter came.

Unfolded it, Cao Cao smiled.

The content of Ma Xiaoquan's letter not only coincides with Guo Jiati's Jianyì, but also strongly recommends Cao Hong.

Cao Cao did not hesitate, and immediately ordered Cao Hong to serve as the main general of the siege, while he personally went to pacify the outskirts of Yecheng.

Cao Cao personally handled the knife, and it must be twice the result with half the effort to do things, and when the counties and counties outside Yecheng heard that Cao Cao was coming, they were so frightened that they either surrendered or ran, and those who couldn't run simply committed suicide.

Of course, not all counties are afraid of Cao Cao, and there are so many counties that really give Cao Cao a headache.

At the end of April of the ninth year of Jian'an (204 AD), Cao Cao finally pacified the periphery of Yecheng, and since then, Yecheng's foreign aid, including the grain route, has been successfully cut off by Cao Cao.

At the beginning of May, Cao Cao and Cao Hong met and saw that Cao Hong could not capture Yecheng, so they discussed changing their strategy again.

At this time, another letter from Ma Xiaoquan arrived in time.

Cao Cao unfolded it and laughed.

Guo Jia asked Cao Cao: "Why does the lord laugh?" ”

Cao Cao nodded: "This demon Dao simply knows me too well, Feng Xiao, you see, this demon Dao has hit my heart"

Guo Jia took a look at the letter, although he was surprised by Ma Xiaoquan's "clever calculation", but just like the last sentence in Ma Xiaoquan's letter, Guo Jia's mood suddenly became heavy.

"Don't hurt the common people too much, they are the fundamentals" Guo Jia repeatedly read the last sentence in Ma Xiaoquan's letter, and shook his head helplessly.

Guo Jia knows that the lord Cao Cao has never cared about the life and death of others for his own interests, although Lord Shangxian calculated the next plan of Lord Cao Cao in the letter, and Lord Cao Cao will definitely implement it, however, Lord Cao Cao will not change his plan because of Lord Shangxian's words, he is a lord who "would rather bear others".

In mid-May, Cao Cao ordered his subordinates to stop the offensive of the Tushan tunnel and dig a long trench instead.

This long trench is as deep as two zhang, and during the construction at night, looking down from above, there is a trace of cold wind. [Ahem, the Han ruler is slightly smaller than the modern ruler, Xiao Jue roughly calculated, the distance between these two zhang, I dare not say that it is 6 meters deep, at least 5 meters is over] From the beginning of construction to the excavation of the long trench, it took more than a month.

In June, Cao Cao led the Zhanghe River to flood the city, and there was an ocean inside and outside the city.

In the face of the absence of foreign aid and the embarrassment of internal emptiness, the trial in Yecheng was finally afraid.

In early July, Yuan Shang saw that his lair could not hold on, so he led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses back to Yecheng.

At this time, Cao Cao had been besieging Yecheng for three months.

Yuan Shang wanted to send someone into the city to communicate with the trial, and the chief bookkeeper Li Fu volunteered.

However, Yecheng was surrounded by Cao Cao at this time, and he couldn't even fly in, so where could Li Fu get in.

Li Fu thought about it for a long time and decided to dress himself up as Cao Jun's prosecutor

On this day, the well-dressed Li Fu led a few henchmen to a partial military camp of Cao Cao with a swagger, claiming to be the captain.

Under normal circumstances, this partial military camp has always obeyed orders, and where have I seen a "big official" at the rank of captain, how dare the officers and men in the battalion slack off when they look at the inspection, and they are waiting for the review one by one in high spirits.

Li Fu saw it in his eyes and sighed in his heart, although he didn't say it in his heart, Li Fu already understood that Yuan Shang's failure was inevitable.

With a task in his body, Li Fu didn't dare to delay, so he scolded all the way and walked quickly through the Cao Jun camp and came to the first line of the Cao Jun camp at the foot of Yecheng.

Seeing that Yecheng was in front of him, Li Fu found fault and scolded fiercely.

Where did the soldiers of the Cao Army on the front line know Li Fu, just when they were scolded and dizzy, Li Fu rushed into Yecheng quickly

Not far away, Cao Cao stood on a chariot, laughing non-stop.

Guo Jia was beside Cao Cao and asked puzzledly: "Lord, that person has already been exposed, why didn't you order someone to come forward and catch him, but let him in?" ”

Cao Cao has a problem - pride, very proud. Especially now that he is still in the strong stage, Cao Cao is even more proud.

The proud Cao Cao knew that it was the person Yuan Shang arranged to enter Yecheng, but no matter what, Yuan Shang was already a guy who was powerless at the end of the crossbow, and Cao Cao would definitely disdain such an opponent.

However, pride is pride, this time Cao Cao was not complacent because of pride, on the contrary, he ordered his subordinates: "It's not a big deal, he will come out after he goes in, you guys be careful, see how he can get out!" ”

Li Fu ran into Yecheng and exchanged views with the judge, and the two decided to let the old and weak people in the city go out of the city for only one purpose - to save grain and grass.

Just do it, Li Fu blended in with the old and weak people, and went out with everyone under the white flag.

When Cao Cao learned about it, he was happy: "This guy has a bit of a brain, hehe, don't care about him." ”

After the old and weak people of Yecheng ran out, the grain and grass materials in the city were much easier than before, and after reading the inventory list, they nodded firmly, determined to continue to fight Cao Cao to the end.

On the other hand, the news of Yuan Shang's return to rescue reached Cao Cao's ears, and some of his subordinates advised Cao Cao to avoid it for the time being, Cao Cao took out another letter, put it twice in front of everyone, and said: "You have said these words, this demon Dao has already told me, but I will not listen."

It turned out that Ma Xiaoquan wrote a third letter to Cao Cao, the content of which was to persuade Cao Cao to avoid Yuan Shang.

The purpose of Ma Xiaoquan's letter is not true persuasion, but false persuasion.

After Cao Cao read the letter, he immediately understood what he meant, but in front of everyone, Cao Cao still told a small lie.

Cao Cao said: "Yuan Shang's stinky boy is coming from the main road, of course I will back down, but if he comes from the road in the West Mountain, then don't blame me for being unkind, I have to beat Yuan Shang's kid and can't pull out the."

Cao Cao rarely swears, this time, he not only said, but also said a lot, and when everyone heard it, they said in their hearts: It seems that the lord has already made up his mind, hey, forget it, let's still act as ordered.