When Cao's army approached the Tushan fortress to the Nanyang Army's military village, more than a dozen well railings were lined up in the Nanyang Army, and the height was comparable to that of Yuan Cao's allied army. As long as the archers of the Yuan Cao coalition army climbed the Tushan Mountain, before they could be launched, thousands of Lian Lu from the Jinglan side of the Nanyang army fired suppressively. On top of the dirt mountain, there is nothing to hide, and even if you bring a shield, you can't effectively counterattack. After losing hundreds of archers, the combined forces of Yuan and Cao did not dare to shoot from the heights again.

After the failure of the plan to build a mountain of soil, Xi Zhicai offered a plan: to order the soldiers to use shovels to secretly dig tunnels and penetrate the Nanyang Army camp, called the "digging army".

The Nanyang crossbowman on the well fence saw that Yuan Cao's allied forces were digging a dirt pit behind the dirt mountain, and he didn't know what they were doing, so he hurriedly told He Xian. After He Xian led Ma Jun to climb a well fence to observe in person, Ma Jun said: "It seems that the Yuan Cao coalition army failed to attack from the air and turned to the underground. They want to dig a secret tunnel and drill into our camp from the ground to launch a surprise attack! ”

He Xian asked, "How can I resist it?" ”

Ma Jun asked He Xian rhetorically: "Does the lord want to plan and kill the Yuan Cao coalition army, or do he want to defend in a down-to-earth manner and make the enemy army useless and return?" “

He Xian was curious: "What about the plan?" What about the return of nothing? “

Ma Jundao: "If the princess wants to make a plan, she needs to insert copper pipes all over the ground around the camp, and send sergeants to listen day and night, so that she can find out the direction of the tunnel dug by the enemy and arrange an ambush in advance." Once the enemy army enters the village, our army can catch turtles in the urn. If the lord just wants to defend against a sneak attack in the dark tunnel, he only needs to dig a deep trench around the perimeter of the camp to break through the enemy's digger army.

After thinking about it for a while, He Xian felt that there were too many variables in the method of calculating the plan, and there were some unknown risks, which was not suitable for such a big war. Therefore, he still chose to be safe, and ordered the engineering army to rush to work overnight, and dug a deep trench outside the Nanyang camp. When the digging army of Yuan Cao's coalition army dug to the edge of the ditch, the tunnel collapsed, and it was difficult to continue, and Ma Jun's words were fulfilled and returned in vain.

The Battle of Zhongmu lasted from March to the end of May, and there were dozens of small battles between the Nanyang Army and the Yuan Cao coalition army, and there were few major battles. The Yuan and Cao coalition forces tacitly chose a protracted war. Cao Cao was backed by Yan and Qingzhou, and Yuan Shao was backed by Jizhou, and the allied army had no worries about food and grass in a short period of time. And the Nanyang Army fought on four fronts, and the pressure was huge.

Although Ganning's Nanyang naval army was supported by the two northern counties of Yangzhou and Xuzhou, Zhu Jun's Xiliang army was supported by Zhong Xuan's Jing Zhaoyin, and Xu Shu's Nanyang and Hanzhong coalition forces had Hanzhong as a base and Jingzhou as a support, there was no problem of grain and grass in a short period of time, but this was not a long-term solution after all. In the main battlefield, He Xian must find a way to defeat the Yuan-Cao coalition army as soon as possible.

"Lord, two months have passed, and the consumption of grain and grass is quite heavy, it's time to carry out the plan to lure the enemy to counterattack!" In the Nanyang army camp, Jia Xu said to He Xianjin.

He Xian nodded and said: "The key to this battle is a fast word!" This general intends to personally lead the elite of the flying cavalry army of 5,000 and the Nanyang infantry of 5,000 soldiers. Zhao Yun and Tai Shici are deputy generals. ”

"Lord..."Zhang Liao was in a hurry, He Xian personally led the flying cavalry out of the station, how could he leave him, the chief general of the flying cavalry army.

He Xian raised his hand and interrupted Zhang Liao: "In order to gain as much time as possible, Wen Yuan needs to sit in Zhongmu to confuse the enemy army, and not let the enemy army detect our intention to send troops to raid." ”

Hearing this, Zhang Liao hugged his fists and said: "The last general understands!" ”

He Xian continued: "The Mask Armor Army also stayed, holding my flag in the camp to confuse the enemy, and it is also a guard division. After learning of the division of our army, the Yuan Cao coalition army may recklessly storm the camp, and the generals must obey the military division to guard the camp! ”

The generals clenched their fists to receive their orders, Zhang Liao was discouraged, Zhao Yun and Wen Ping were expressionless, and Tai Shici was excited.

"Lord, although this chain plan is wonderful, Zexu has never understood how you concluded that Yuan Jun's grain and grass camp is near Wuchao?" Jia Xu now has all the documents in the Nanyang army, and all the information must pass through his hands, and he can determine that the details of the Nanyang army placed in Yuan Cao's army have not yet determined the exact location of the Yuan army's grain and grass camp. When the war started, He Xian mentioned that Yuan Shao might place the grain and grass camp in Wuchao, so there were only two possibilities: first, He Xian had installed a very high-level fine work within Yuan's army, so high that he could directly know the strategic layout of Yuan's army. And this fine work, a single line is connected with He Xian. Second, He Xian guessed. Shan Fan is an excellent commander who has a keen sense of smell for the battlefield. In cases where intelligence information is not sufficient to determine the facts, the manager's own judgment can only be added. In fact, according to Jia Xu's own speculation, he also thought that Yuan's grain and grass camp should be in the Baima, Wuchao, and Yanjin areas, but he didn't dare to go to He Xian and concluded that it was in Wuchao.

Faced with Jia Xu's question, He Xian was stunned, he really guessed. In history, when Yuan Cao Guandu fought the war, the grain storage place of the Yuan army was left in Wuchao, so there was a battle of Wuchao that has been passed down for thousands of years. Now that Yuan Shao is also stationed in the army, He Xian takes it for granted that Yuan Shao will put the grain in the black nest. The problem is that Yuan Shao's current enemy is not Cao Cao, but He Xian. The enemy has changed, and the battlefield has advanced a hundred miles to the south, will Yuan Shao continue to store grain in Wuchao as always?

Thinking of this, He Xian suddenly had a feeling of trepidation in his heart, this feeling should not arise when the big war is coming.

"In fact, Ben will also be a kind of speculation, and the success rate is between five and five. Wen He can have a clever plan to teach me? “

Hearing He Xian's explanation, Jia Xu nodded. This coincides with the second assumption in Jia Xu's heart.

"If that's the case, Xu does have a plan to offer to the lord." Jia Xu ordered his guards to spread out the map and draw a circle in the areas of Baima, Wuchao, and Yanjin: "If the lord can't find a place to store grain for reinforcements in the meantime, don't hesitate, immediately lead the troops southeast and enter the hinterland of Yanzhou!" Jia Xu said while drawing a straight line in Jiyin, Dingtao, and Guide in Yanzhou, Shangqiu, and Liang, and finally entered Yuzhou and returned to Yingchuan from Qiaoxian.

He Xian was shocked when he heard this, if it weren't for Jia Xu's loyalty to him, such a plan would simply be a pit master.

"A lone army goes deep into the enemy's rear, no supplies, no reinforcements, this seems to be a taboo for soldiers?" He Xian said bluntly.

Jia Xu smiled and said: "The only way for a lone army to go deep is to fight and raise the war!" The 10,000 people under the command of the lord are elite light horses, and it is not a problem to crisscross the hinterland of Yanzhou. The goal of this plan is to destroy Cao Cao's Yanzhou base as much as possible! To put it simply, it was burning, killing, plundering, and destroying everything possible, forcing Cao Cao to withdraw his troops and return to help. Yanzhou is the foundation of Cao's army, and Cao Cao cannot abandon it. “

He Xian shuddered at the thought of Cao Cao when he learned that the hinterland of Yanzhou had been destroyed by the Flying Cavalry.

He Xian continued to ask: "There are two questions: first, if Cao Cao is ruthless, fights with our army, and storms the camp desperately, can the military division have the confidence to hold it? Second, our army is killing too much in Yanzhou, will the process of recovery be more difficult in the future? “