As soon as Zhou Yu was defeated, the impact was huge. First of all, Cao Cao, who was closest to him, didn't say a word after getting the news, and immediately withdrew from the army. I didn't want any of the land I had obtained before, and I didn't want to retreat until Xiao Pei stabilized his position. And Sun Ce, who was attacking Shouchun, heard that Zhou Yu had an accident, and even if he was in a hurry, he attacked Shouchun desperately, trying to open the road to the Central Plains, but Shouchun, which Zhang Ren had worked hard for five or six years, was not so easy to break, and it was useless to be anxious, although Sun Ce did not count the casualties, but Shouchun was still under the control of the Han army. However, due to Sun Ce's playfulness, the Tabai army guarding Shouchun also began to suffer casualties.

In addition to Sun Ce and Cao Cao's reaction, Yuan Xi of Hebei and Liu Bei of Jingnan did not seem to be affected by Zhou Yu's defeat, and still maintained their rhythm unhurriedly.

The road is far away, Liu Xie has not had time to find trouble with Yuan Xi or Liu Bei for the time being, and the object he can attack is either Sun Ce or Cao Cao. Killed the combined army commanded by Zhou Yu, the soldiers and horses in Liu Xie's hands were suddenly surplus, although Shouchun had Zhang Ren staring, but Liu Xie was still a little worried that Zhang Ren would not be able to bear it, after careful consideration, Liu Xie adopted Jia Xu's opinion, and Jia Xu took Pang De's cavalry army to Shouchun to reinforce, and Shouchun's Tabai army was each other's horns, and jointly dealt with Sun Ce, while Cao Cao was dealt with by Liu Xie personally with the army of the Son of Heaven and Ma Chao's Fubo army.

As soon as the Han army was divided, the most nervous was Cao Cao, who knew his own affairs, don't look at the Cao army at this time there were 100,000 horses, but the combat power was really worrying. The tiger and leopard cavalry is elite, but the number is too small, and it is impossible to open the situation in the face of the Han army.

Previously, it was the Han army defending and the Cao army attacking, but now the roles are reversed, and it is the turn of the Han army to attack. However, the Han army would not be as "polite" as Cao Jun had before, and would not attack the city with restraint, and when he learned that Liu Xie personally led his troops to come, Cao Cao had to convene the generals to discuss countermeasures.

With the defeat of the combined forces, the scales of victory began to tilt in favor of the Han army, and Cao Cao was the first to sense that the situation was not good. Now that Liu Xie is attacking in person, Cao Cao has to be vigilant.

Cao Cao was reluctant to surrender, on the one hand, because he couldn't get over his face, and on the other hand, it was difficult to explain to those who still followed him without regrets. People rebelled with you, but you surrendered in the end, which is not good to say.

Xiaopei is not a big city that is conducive to defense, after Cao Cao sent troops, it became a material transit station for Cao's army, and a lot of grain and grass were hoarded. But after the defeat of the combined army, Cao Cao, who did not want to be cut off from the grain route, ordered Xiahou Yuan to rush to Lingbi first, and he himself took people to Xiaopei, as for Xiaoguan, an important military location, it was entrusted to Cao Ren by Cao Cao.

Seeing that Cao's soldiers were divided into three routes, Liu Xie did not learn from Cao Cao's soldiers to divide into three routes. There's no need for that, I'm now the main attacker, of course I have to concentrate on attacking one point, why divide my troops? As for worrying about the safety of his back road, Liu Xie didn't have that need, and seized a large number of materials from the United Army, which was enough for Liu Xie's men and horses for two months, plus the grain and grass he originally brought, Liu Xie could not worry about food and grass for three months.

If Xiao Guan or Xiao Pei can't be captured for three months in a row, then Liu Xie simply withdrew his troops and handed over the Central Plains to others. Liu Xie's Han army was not like Cao Cao and Sun Ce, with only a few old-fashioned siege equipment. After the status of craftsmen was promoted, countless skilled craftsmen were working for Liu Xie, and a variety of siege equipment with different uses could make people dazzled.

Before, the Han army was on the defensive, and those siege equipment suitable for siege warfare were useless, but now, the switch between attack and defense, it is the turn of the Han army to exert its might, and those siege equipment are also placed in front of the Han army.

To the west of Xiao Pass, Cao Ren looked at the dense Han army outside the pass, especially when he saw those huge catapults and wells, his scalp couldn't help but tingle. Although he had also considered in advance the problem of unfavorable warfare and turning from offensive to defensive, the preparation was still insufficient, and there were not many reserves of boiling oil and gravel, but there were a lot of bows and crossbows, but seeing those wells at the end of the high wall, Cao Ren couldn't help but worry about who would suffer greater casualties when the two armies fired at each other.

He had the intention of leading people out of the pass to destroy the siege equipment that posed a huge threat to Xiao Pass, but when he saw the Han army guarding near those catapults and wells, Cao Ren immediately dispelled his thoughts.

Trapped, first, that group of men and horses can not be easily provoked, with fewer people can not break through the opponent's defense line, bring more people, in case the Han army directly attacks the city, then Xiao Pass can not be defended?

"General, it's better to send the last general out of the customs and destroy those catapults." Niu Jin on the side opened his mouth to ask Cao Ren for battle.

Niu Jin is Cao Ren's confidant, who has followed him for many years, is brave and good at fighting, and is more loyal, although his brain is a little not bright enough, but what Cao Ren values is Niu Jin's loyalty.

"No, the Han army is prepared, if you go, I'm afraid there will be no return." Cao Ren shook his head and replied.

"But the general, you can't just do it. The Han army's catapults are very powerful, we learned a few years ago, in the past few years, will those catapults become more powerful than before. Niu Jin said hurriedly when he heard this.

"Shut up, if you really want to go, then go, but if you can't do anything, don't delay outside the customs, I will order someone to accept you into the customs."

"The last will be ordered." Niu Jin was overjoyed, and immediately clenched his fists and led his life.

Cao Ren looked at Niu Jin's back as he rushed away, and suddenly had a premonition that Niu Jin would never return.

"Phew~ It's really a crow's mouth." Cao Ren scolded himself secretly, and then went down to the city to send Niu Jin out of the city. When Niu Jin went out of the city, Cao Ren was not idle, and immediately ordered the assembly of soldiers and horses, no matter whether Niu Jin could successfully destroy those headache catapults for a while, Cao Ren planned to personally pick up Niu Jin and return to the city.

The drums of war outside the city sounded, Niu Jin led a thousand people out of the gate, and rushed straight to the camp where the Han army placed the catapults, and Ju Yi, who was in charge of guarding the catapults, saw that Cao Jun was killed, and couldn't help sneering, and ordered left and right: "Set up a row of ballistas and entertain those Cao troops who don't know whether they are alive or dead." ”

The crossbow cart was developed by Ma Jun, the general of the DPRK and the chief eunuch, and the skilled craftsmen, which was originally intended to be used to deal with the barbarians of the grassland, but the Xianbei people were beaten away, and now the people on the grassland are expanding their power, and they have no time to find trouble with the Han for the time being. In order to test the actual effect of the ballista car, he was brought over by Liu Xie.

Since it is called a row of ballistas, the arrows shot are naturally not one by one, but one by one. Ten rows of ballistas were lined up, and when Niu Jin led his troops to rush to more than 100 meters, with the order of the starting officer, hundreds of powerful arrows flew out.

Niu Jin was riding on a horse, and he had already seen the ancient monsters blocking his way and the others, and he was ready to block the arrows. But he didn't expect that Han Jun was not shooting him at all, but the horse under his crotch. Capture the thief first capture the king, shoot the man first shoot the horse, even if someone helps the war horse dodge the arrows, but how to dodge the arrows shot in a line?

The people on the horses were fine, but the horses neighed and fell to the ground. The cavalry was infantry, and Niu Jin was thrown very lightly, but he still didn't want to give up, and immediately shouted to Cao Bing, who had nothing to do, to move closer to him, ready to charge again. But the Han army is not stupid, and there is no need to engage in hand-to-hand combat with you with a good crossbow and arrow.

Although Niu Jin shouted hard, wanting to fight the Han army, the Han army who was called by him ignored him at all, and kept the bow and crossbow in his hand.

"Guts and bandits! Bandits! Dare not ......" Niu Jin saw that there were fewer and fewer people around him, and he couldn't help but scold in a hurry, but when he found that there seemed to be a dark cloud overhead, and when he looked up to see that it was a rain of arrows, he hurriedly raised a shield in each hand, squatted on the ground to protect his vital point,

The rain of arrows fell, except for a limited number of people, none of the Cao troops who came out of the customs to destroy the Han army's catapults were spared, and all of them were buried under the arrow array of the Han army. Niu Jin's life was big, and he reacted in time to protect the vital point, but his arms and legs were still inevitably hit by arrows, and he lay in a pool of blood without speaking.

Cao Ren, who was watching the battle, couldn't help but be anxious, he didn't expect Niu Jin to be defeated so quickly, the Han army didn't send someone to stop Niu Jin at all, but directly greeted him with an arrow array. I heard that in the past, Qiang Qin would destroy the enemy with an arrow array before attacking the city, but I didn't expect that I would be fortunate to see it today.

Looking at the Han army who was cleaning the battlefield outside the gate, Cao Ren frowned tightly, and ordered left and right: "If there are any more people who speak lightly, cut them!" ”

In fact, there is no need for Cao Ren's special warning, seeing Niu Jin's miserable end, the generals around Cao Ren have already understood that it is definitely not the best strategy to go out of the customs and fight.

The Han army began to attack the city, there were no ladders, no wells, only stone balls that kept whistling from the sky and smashed at the juncture of Xiao Pass. It's no longer possible to stay on the shut, and no one has the confidence to resist the stone ball falling from the sky. In order to preserve his strength, Cao Ren only left a few people in the pass to monitor the movements of the Han army outside the city, and the rest were taken to the pass to hide. Just wait for the Han army to send people to attack the city, and then order the Cao army to defend the pass.

Bursts of stone rain "fell" from noon to night, during which the Han army did not attack the city once, but continued to use stone balls to "baptize" Xiao Pass, as if Xiao Pass would be buried with stones.

After being beaten passively for half a day, although the casualties were not very large, Cao Ren saw the opportunity quickly, and when he saw that the Han army used catapults first, he immediately ordered the whole army to go down to the pass to take refuge. But the blow to the morale of the army is inevitable, those fatal stone balls, the power of falling from the sky is huge, one falls and smashes a pit, and then rolls out for a few meters before stopping, it is scary to watch. The solid land is all smashed into a pit, and if this falls on people, then how can there be a good one?

Towards evening, the Han army stopped the attack, collected the troops and returned to the camp, before leaving, the Han army sent someone to warn the Cao army in Xiao Pass, "Quickly switch and surrender, otherwise tomorrow will not be as easy as today." ”

After a long time of worrying, this is still an easy time? Cao Jun's people were panicked. When Cao Ren saw that it was not good, he immediately couldn't care about frugality, and ordered to reward the three armies, and he personally boosted the morale of the army, and was busy until the middle of the night before he had the opportunity to rest.

It's just that the Han army outside the gate did not stop, and just when Cao Ren was about to sleep, the Han army outside the gate played singing. This is a nuisance to the people! Cao Ren was extremely dissatisfied, turned over and got up, looking at the Han army who was playing and singing outside the pass, and wanted to immediately lead people out of the pass to destroy the bastards who disturbed people and cleanliness.

It's just that night fell, and the ghost knew if there was an ambush near the Han army that was playing and singing and waiting for the Cao army in Xiaoguan to go out of the city, just in case, Cao Ren could only endure it, and told the Cao army who was on vigil to pay attention to vigilance and go back to the camp to rest.

It is impossible to get a good night's sleep, and Cao Ren doesn't dare to cover his ears and cover his head to sleep, what if the Han army attacks the city at night? He could only move to a place far away from the city gate to rest, where the sound heard was quieter, and even if the Han army attacked the city, he could rush to the gate in time to take command.

The idea is good, but once people have something on their mind, it is not easy to fall asleep. Scolding the Han army who were making trouble outside the city, Cao Ren couldn't fall asleep over and over again, until the sky was already dark, and Cao Ren finally fell asleep. It's just that he didn't sleep for long, Cao Ren was woken up by the guards in a whisper, and reported that the Han army was preparing to tackle the problem.

I barely slept all night, and Cao Ren's spirit was naturally not much better, and he hurried to the juncture with two panda eyes. When I got to the moment, I found that the generals under my hands were not in good spirits, yawning for a long time, and it looked like they hadn't slept well last night. Cao Ren understood what was going on in his heart, but he didn't want to talk about it now, he looked at the Han army that was preparing under the pass, and ordered in a deep voice: "I think the Han army will be the same today as yesterday...... Take turns resting. Cao Ren dropped a sentence and sent the generals to stand by.

The generals didn't hear anything else, but the last sentence was heard clearly. I slept late last night, and the Han army outside the gate made a fuss all night, and everyone hardly had any rest. Hearing that Cao Ren allowed them to take turns to rest, it can be regarded as saving them all, so he immediately discussed the order of rest and went to rest in the next pass.

Seeing that the Han army rushed out of the camp and rushed to the pass, Cao Ren frowned, knowing that he would not drive the generals out of the city, so that they could also listen to what the Han army was going to say.

"General Cao Ren, how did you rest last night?"

"Who are you? To be common name. Cao Ren frowned and looked at the person who was closed, calculating the effective range of the bow and crossbow in his heart, and couldn't help but curse in his depressed heart, the place where the guy was standing happened to be not within the range of the bow and crossbow.

"In Xiaguanping, I came to greet General Cao Ren on the order of the lord, how did you rest last night? If you don't rest, our Han army can allow you to rest for a while before attacking the city. ”

Cao Ren couldn't help but scold in his heart when he heard these seemingly concerned words, "If it weren't for your group of grandsons who made trouble last night, Lao Tzu wouldn't have slept well?" ”

"Thank you for your kindness, Cao had a good rest last night and slept until dawn." Cao Ren gritted his teeth and shouted at Guan Ping, who was under the pass.

"In that case, then General Cao Ren should take care." After Guan Ping finished speaking, he was ready to leave.

Seeing this, Cao Ren shouted: "Wait, this little general Guan is still asking you to bring a message to your father-in-law, a manly husband, do things above board, and play some shady tricks that cannot be put on the table, you are not a good man." ”

“…… Okay, I'll bring that next. ”

Cao Ren said this firstly to be angry for himself, and secondly, he hoped that he could use this to provoke Liu Xie, so that Liu Xie could concentrate on attacking the city, instead of thinking of some bad moves to deal with himself.

……

"Ha~ that's what he said." After listening to Guan Ping's retelling, Liu Xie couldn't help but ask with a smile.

"Yes, that's what Cao Ren said to the last general."

"Hey...... It looks like he's about to be cornered. Liu Xie laughed a few times, and said to Fa Zheng on the side: "Xiaozhi, it seems that we have to work harder, and let people make the movement bigger tonight." ”

"Okay." Fa Zheng smiled and nodded to the order.

Guan Ping opened his mouth and said to Liu Xie at this time: "...... The lord, the last general feels that what Cao Ren said also has some truth. ”

"Dingguo, soldiers, and treacherous. You don't care if it's damaged or not, it's good to be useful. If you think about it, if it is a strong attack, it is true that with the preparation of our Han army, it will not be a problem to take Xiaoguan, but casualties are inevitable. But at present, we are implementing the strategy of exhausting the troops, constantly attacking the morale of the Cao army, the will to resist, and then we will attack the city again, and we will reduce a lot of casualties. ”

"Just doing this, it is inevitable that it will be bad for the reputation of the lord."

"Hi ~ reputation and human life are important, everyone in the army has their own parents and relatives, although I don't dare to guarantee that each of them will be brought back alive, but in order to minimize their casualties, this reputation is not good. Dingguo, once the success of ten thousand bones withered, on the battlefield life and death have their own destiny, but if more people can go back alive to reunite with their relatives, personal reputation is really not something to cherish. ”

Guan Ping has followed Guan Yu for many years, and under hearing and seeing, he attaches great importance to his reputation, just as Guan Yu values the word righteousness, Guan Ping cares more about his reputation than his subordinates. It was the first time he had heard what Liu Xie said, for the sake of the lives of ordinary soldiers, he could regard his reputation as dung.

"It's okay if you don't understand, if you can't figure it out, think slowly, but for now, do what you have to do. Since Cao Ren doesn't accept my kindness, then we don't have to be polite to him and give the order to attack the city. Liu Xie's voice sounded in his ears, and Guan Ping hurriedly responded and withdrew from the camp.

As yesterday, the catapults of the Han army poured stone rain towards the juncture of Xiao Pass and inside the pass. Cao Ren had the foresight to take his men down the city after Guan Ping left, leaving only some soldiers in the corner who were responsible for monitoring the movements of the Han army outside Guan. At the beginning of the Han army's attack, Cao Ren had already shrunk under the pass and found a relatively safe place to close his eyes and recuperate, only waiting for the Han army to send people to attack the pass to defend the pass.

From early morning to noon, Cao Jun, who constantly had stone balls hit to dodge, could arouse exclamations every time something happened, and when the Han army finally stopped attacking, it should be time to have lunch when the sun looked.

"Quickly count the casualties, arrange for people to eat, and the others will follow me to the city to have a look." Cao Ren ordered a few people to carry out the task, and took the people who had not been assigned the task to the pass.