Today, Cao's army has not been able to attack the city for a long time, and the people in the city look down, but they find that there are friendly troops in the east of the city who are arranging a formation, but the formation is quite huge.

Yuan Tan and several strategists were in the main formation, and Yuan Tan was talking and laughing at Cao Jun.

"Everyone thought I had 5,000 men, but they didn't know that I had brought 10,000 with me. The other 5,000 were the elite of the Qingzhou army. ”

After Guo Tu was defeated by Guandu, he was squeezed out by Yuan Shangfengji, and he was angry and simply ran to Yuan Tan's side. Another middle-aged scribe had a bitter and bitter face, often wrinkled, and his skin was like the skin of an orange.

This middle-aged scribe surnamed Xin, a single name and a comment, is a talented son of the Xin family in Jizhou, when he was young, his behavior was a little out of line, known as a madman, after he was invited to Yuan Shao's array, but he was often estranged by Xu Yu and others in the discipline trial, and simply defected to Yuan Tan, which can be regarded as speculative standing. Now it is relied on by Yuan Tan.

Xin commented: "Although the Cao army has no food and grass, according to the battle situation in Qingzhou, its elite combat effectiveness cannot be ignored. My lord, I'm afraid we're a little reckless when we attack so easily. ”

Yuan Tan said with a smile: "Mr. Xin, don't worry, the performance of Cao Jun under Yecheng City in the past two days shows that he is now also at the end of the crossbow." The second brother advised me to wait a few more days until the morale of Cao Jun weakened before attacking him, and he was right on this point. However, there was one thing that he thought of, and I thought of it too. ”

"What is it?" Guo Tu asked.

Yuan Tan said: "Anyone has to pinch the soft persimmon, the second child wants to take credit for himself, how can I give him all the credit, naturally I have to be one step ahead of him." ”

Guo Tu was stunned and said, "What if Cao Jun is just showing weakness?" ”

Yuan Tan said: "Naturally, there is also this possibility. But if you don't take the chance, how can you grow a face before my dad recovers? ”

"IMHO." Xin commented: "Fighting a war is not for the sake of face, you have to pay attention to a good word." If there is no real benefit, it is really not advisable to take risks. ”

Yuan Tan was stunned for a moment and said, "Mr. Xin, it's not so serious, is it?" Now, in addition to Cao Jun in front of him, there are two brothers competing for the throne, and they are in trouble both internally and externally, so they can't be too weak. ”

Xin Ping sighed secretly and said no more.

The sound of drums gradually drowned out everyone's voices and resounded in the sky. Cao's army stopped the siege of the city, so they also set up a military formation against Yuan Tan's troops.

Cao Cao was still standing on the high platform, pointed to the Yuan Tan array in the distance, and said to the strategists beside him: "Gongda, what do you think of Yuan Tan Xiao'er's level of formation?" ”

Xun You said: "Yuan Tan and General Zhang Liao confronted each other in Qingzhou for a year, and they won and lost each other. ”

Cao Cao smiled dumbly and said, "Wenyuan is bringing all the old and weak soldiers, and you don't know it." ”

Xun You also laughed.

It was almost noon, Yuan Tan's side finally launched a full-scale attack, shouting for a while, and the sergeants in the formation shouted the trumpet, constantly pressing forward. Then a full-scale charge was launched, and for a time the main formation of the Cao army was defeated, the frontal formation collapsed, and the generals retreated one after another.

Yuan Shang's eyes at the head of the city widened, and he clapped his hands again and again: "Cao Jun is really weak. ”

The judge said, "Why did you lose so easily? Is there a fraud? ”

Yuan Shangdao: "On the huge battlefield, once the army is defeated, it is like a rotten sore on the skin, and it is out of control. How can it be faked? Now that the eldest brother has pressed the past, if he really wins, I'm afraid I won't be able to stand on this. No, we have to fight together, and we can't let him benefit alone. ”

When the judge wanted to say "wait a little longer", Yuan Shang had already walked down the city wall and gave orders.

The south gate of Yecheng suddenly opened, and the army in the city swarmed out, fighting bravely towards the defeated Cao army, and for a while, the drums beat loudly. At this time, of course, it was a beating of the water dogs, and the troops in the city did not have time to form a tight formation, anyway, they just held their knives and killed them.

The wind was blowing on the high platform, Cao Cao squinted his eyes, and smiled left and right: "Look, the city can't wait to chase it out, and it is as Gongda expected." ”

Xun You said: "I don't dare to take credit, it's really a plan for filial piety." ”

Cao Cao said: "I'm just wondering, did Feng Xiao expect Yuan Shao to fall ill?" If this friend of mine were in charge, he would never have left the city so easily. ”

Xun Yu said: "Feng Xiao once said that if Yuan Shao was in charge in person, he would definitely not cage the city to garrison, and there would inevitably be two strong troops outside the city, which would be horns for each other. Yuan Benchu was not a small person. ”

Cao Cao said: "I originally thought there was something wrong, but after you said it, I understood." Gongda and filial piety to me, such as Chen Ping and Zhang Liang. ”

"The lord has a good reputation."

They say that there is a change down there. It was all arranged in advance, and as soon as Yuan Tan's men and horses were killed, two bangs sounded immediately, and the left and right military horses were killed at once, separating the defeated soldiers and stabilizing their positions.

Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang's soldiers and horses chased after them from two places, and as soon as the front was cut off, the people behind were immediately crowded together, and there was friction between each other, and the scene was extremely chaotic for a while.

But he never thought that two armies and horses suddenly came around from the west of the city and killed them towards the south gate of Yecheng that was opened.

Yuan Shang returned to the city wall at this time, saw these two soldiers and horses, and couldn't help shouting: "Where are the troops?" ”

The judge said: "Third son, there may be fraud." Quickly order someone to close the gates? ”

"How's that going to work? Our people are still outside? ”

"Third son, make a decision early."

The banners of the two men sent by Cao Cao, one side of which had the word "Hou" written on it, and the other side written the word "Wei", but they were two of Lu Bu's generals, Hou Cheng and Wei Xu. The two defected during the Battle of Xiapi, which directly led to a reversal of the situation. In addition, there is also a Song Xian, but he has been taken the head by Yuan Xi a few days ago.

These two men also crossed the river with their old troops, and they were few in number, only five hundred troops each, but they were very mobile, and often acted as a strategy for the partial army. At this time, in Cao Cao's arrangement, as the main force, sneak attack on the city gate, as long as the city gate is occupied, let the follow-up reinforcements enter in an endless stream, even if it is a first-class merit, as a general, to stand still, this is a good opportunity.

"Cao Gong is not thin on my brothers, and this time he will definitely leak face!"

The two teams of soldiers and horses, one on the left and one on the right, had already reached the bottom of the city gate in an instant, and the trial had already ordered the city gate to be closed, but because Yuan Shang hesitated, he was late.

On the high platform, Cao Cao and the left and right strikes celebrated each other, celebrating the success of the strategy. That is, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shangcai thought that Cao Jun was weak, and they took the initiative to attack. In Cao Cao's case, if he wasn't showing weakness, how could he win the city gate. Yuan Shao has been operating here for many years, how can he be defeated in a day or two.

Now that Guandu has been defeated, the vitality of the Yuan army has been greatly damaged, if you don't take Yecheng at this time and use it as a fulcrum to attack Hebei, it will be difficult to fight again in the future.

However, they were not happy for long, only to see that behind the two generals of Hou Wei, there was an additional cavalry of 300 people, and this army was like a whirlwind, blocking this group of troops from Bingzhou under the city. Tian Yu, the mustachioed general at the head, sealed his throat with an arrow, and directly shot Hou Cheng off his horse.

Cao Cao's face changed, and he hurriedly said, "Where is the Tiger Guard Camp?" Reinforcements are swift and the gates must be controlled. ”

The waist of Xu Chu, the commander of the Tiger Guard Battalion, is like a big bucket, eight feet tall, like a small mountain, and the eight hundred warriors he leads, all of whom can crack the tiger, are known as the Tiger Guard Battalion, although the number is scarce, but one is ten, enough to turn the situation around. When Cao Cao gave the order, he was already ready.

However, someone immediately handed over Guo Jia's note, and after Cao Cao glanced at it, he thought about it and sighed: "Let them go first." ”