"Big brother! Are you really? Wow......"

Cao Jie saw Cao Ang in Cao's Mansion, and was pleasantly surprised, but he cried out again.

Cao Mansion, naturally the original Cao Mansion, has undergone changes, although it is no longer the property of the original Cao family, but its basic buildings have not been destroyed. Liu Yi asked Mrs. Ding to come forward and buy back the main mansion that originally belonged to the Cao family and return it to Cao Ang. Of course, it turned out that when Cao Cao was still in Luoyang, his Cao Mansion was very large and covered a wide area, and now, it is impossible to be so big. Now, only the original main residence of Cao Mansion, its gatehouse and the three-entry courtyard inside are preserved. The rest of the place, which has been carved out, has long been distributed or sold to others.

However, Liu Yi was able to allow the Cao family to officially hang up the door number and save it in Luoyang, which already made Mrs. Ding and Cao Ang grateful. Especially Cao Ang, his life was saved by Liu Yi, don't be able to return his original Cao family's old mansion to him, even if he can be placed casually, so that he can have a place to settle in Luoyang, he is satisfied.

In the current Cao Mansion, Cao Ang is naturally the head of the family, and under the auspices of Mrs. Ding, he has already become a parent, and his sons are almost a year old. He himself had already served in a government department of the imperial court, mainly responsible for some clerical statistics.

Cao Ang was originally a loyal person, and he was usually quite low-key in Luoyang.

At the beginning, Mrs. Ding would help Cao Ang take care of this Cao Mansion, but after Cao Ang became a parent, Mrs. Ding rarely asked Cao Ang about family affairs. Even, if it's okay, she won't go to Cao's house too closely. This, Mrs. Ding also knows in her heart, she is now. In fact, it doesn't have much to do with the Cao family, she is now. It was Lewy's wife. Leo Yi was able to do so much for her, and she felt content. Therefore, she believes that she still has to focus on her own and Liu Yi's family, and usually, most of them will help manage the affairs of the family at home.

The current Liu Mansion, that is, the original Zhenfeng Grain Mansion, is no longer the same as in the past, in the past, there were only so few people. Just a little thing, Zhang Shao is a woman, and she can barely get busy. But now, not anymore. There are too many affairs that they need to help deal with, especially when Liu Yi is not at home, they have to be more careful in handling housework.

Lewy has dozens of women, dozens of children, and the family's expenses. They need to help deal with all kinds of things.

There are some things that Lewi rarely asks, but. It really belongs to Liu's own industry, but there are still a lot of them. For example, Huaichun wine. This is the profit from brewing to sales. Now it all belongs to the Liu family. Usually the degree of use at home, many aspects. All of them have to be paid for from this. In this regard, the women of the Guò family will consult together and select several women to be in charge of this matter.

In addition to the wine industry, there is also the pharmaceutical industry, which is mainly in charge of the female doctor Zhang Shao.

There are also industries such as the musical instrument industry, the paper industry, the hotel shop, etc., as well as some factories, work workshops, rice and grain industries in which Liu Yi has shares, and so on. Someone must be responsible for all of these things that involve money transactions. This responsibility does not mean to participate in it, but to mean that someone must always supervise the expenditure and income of money, and someone must always count it. Even when money and goods are received, someone has to be responsible, right?

Liu Yi is rarely at home, and as Liu Yi's big family has more and more people, bigger and bigger, and the expenses are also huge, so someone needs to be responsible for handling all aspects. The women at home, not all of them are idle at home, each of them has their own responsibilities. It's not what the world thinks, they just have nothing to do at home, they just sleep and eat at home every day, waiting for Liu Yi to come home and love them. Hehe, people can't live like this. This is also the reason why Queen He Wan has repeatedly proposed to let Liu Yi's women move into the palace, but most women are unwilling. Unless Lewi asks for it, they won't move into the palace. In Liu's Mansion, they feel that even if Liu Yi is not at home, their lives are very fulfilling, every woman, they have what they need to be responsible for, and everyone is doing what they think is interesting, which makes them feel that they have also contributed to this big family, and it is not all for Liu Yi to take care of this family alone.

Although Liu Yi cherishes them and hopes that they will live a leisurely and comfortable life, but a family is not unilaterally paid, and when the men are not at home, they all feel that they have taken on the responsibility of running this big family, so that everyone will feel more meaningful when they live together. Didn't Lewy spend the night in the palace? The queen mentioned that Liu Yi didn't seem to pay enough attention to Concubine De and Concubine She, and seemed to be alienated from them. Actually, Liu Yi didn't have that kind of thought, and it wasn't the case, this was mainly because they stayed in the deep palace, and only Liu Yi went to find them to get together with them. In this way, it made them feel that in this way, there was not much difference from the concubine of the first emperor back then, and the difference was just a change of man. Even if they really like this more handsome and heroic man in their hearts, but they live in the deep palace, have nothing to do, and are looking forward to their men every day, waiting for their men to come to them for favor, so how can they be really happy?

Liu Yi stayed with them in the second half of the night, and talked with them heart-to-heart for most of the night, and they heard Liu Yi say that they could take them to live in Liu's mansion, and they didn't know how happy they were. Among them, Concubine Yan, she is from a silk family in the south of the Yangtze River, and she wants to use the skills she is familiar with to open a silk weaving workshop and weave more beautiful and fine silk. Liu Yi naturally had no opinion, and after letting her move to Liu's mansion, she discussed with the sisters who were in charge of the family's money and asked them to give her the capital. They have their own strengths and advantages, and Liu Yi has fulfilled their wishes one by one. In this way, everyone is happy, and the faint diaphragm is also dispersed, and there is no zài at all.

Speaking of the distance, let's talk about Mrs. Ding, the aspect she is responsible for is the care and education of Liu Yi's children. Like Liu Yang, the son of Wannian is also the eldest son of Liu Yi. Now, I'm seven or eight years old. It is the time of enlightenment, the time of learning. And the princess of ten thousand years. She is equivalent to Liu Yi's wife, and she usually has many things at home. has to go through her eyes, and she can't teach Liu Yang all the time. Therefore, there are several women together, such as Bian Yu, Gan Qian, Mrs. Wu and other women, who teach Liu Yi's children together.

These are all made by Liu Yi's women who have their own opinions and ideas, and Liu Yi has never asked. In this regard, Liu Yi is very satisfied. Because. Historically, Mrs. Ding, Mrs. Bian Yubian, etc., respectively taught Cao Ang, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Sun Ce, Sun Quan and other famous historical cattle. Now, they and their children are being nurtured by them, and the achievements of their children will not be too low in the future. At least, they can cultivate children with brighter temperaments for Liu Yi. Of course, Liu Yi naturally didn't want them to cultivate a Cao Pi, it was really terrifying.

Cao Ang was saved by Liu Yi and did not die. Liu Yi told Cao Jie, but Cao Xianxian and Cao Hua didn't know yet. They followed Liu Yi to Luoyang, and then followed Yuan Qing, Yin Xiao and other women back to Liu's mansion. The woman of the family. Arrange their own and independent lofts for the three daughters. That night, Cao Jie couldn't help but want to go to see his eldest brother Cao Ang, and they saw Mrs. Ding. was also quite surprised, and got together with their former aunt for a night. This one. Mrs. Ding considered that the three daughters of them would go to see Cao Ang. It's better to ask Liu Yi for instructions first. It's okay to say that Liu Yi is not at home, if Liu Yi is at home, then he has to rely on his own man's opinion. Therefore, Mrs. Ding persuaded Cao Jie, and it was not until Liu Yi returned home from the palace that she got Liu Yi's consent, and Mrs. Ding took the three daughters to their old residence in Luoyang, Cao Mansion, to meet Cao Ang.

If you want to talk about surprises, Cao Xian's surprise is the biggest. For Cao Hua, he was a little heartless. After all, although Cao Ang is their eldest brother, there are also close and distant brothers and sisters. Cao Hua is the youngest and the most naughty, so she rarely has too much intersection with Cao Ang, Cao Xian, etc. at home, and she rarely gets together. And Cao Xian is different, she is the eldest brother's follower, she has been playing with the eldest brother since she was a child, and she also has a certain affection for Mrs. Ding. Therefore, when I saw Mrs. Ding and my eldest brother Cao Xian one after another, the feeling of surprise and joy really can't be described in words.

Really, in her heart, the eldest brother, who has been dead for many years, is actually alive in front of her, how can she not be surprised? The moment she saw Cao Ang, she even thought she was in a dream, a little dizzy, and couldn't believe it.

Mrs. Ding, Cao Xian, Cao Jie, Cao Hua, Cao Ang. Their brother and sister, "mother and daughter" got together, but Liu Yi did not follow them, so as not to affect their feelings of life and death parting with each other. Himself, when Liu Yi went home, a group of women were affectionate to him, and a group of children, this one was called dad and that one was called dad, and Liu Yi himself was a little too busy.

The joy of family made Liu Yi's heart full of warmth.

For a few days, Liu Yi was happy at home, completely ignoring political affairs.

However, the war reports from all over the country still flew to Luoyang like snowflakes. At the same time, the news that Liu Yi had returned to Luoyang was basically sent everywhere in the past few days, so that the generals and soldiers of the New Han Army were all at ease.

Jizhou, Maocheng, Guangping, Yangping, the three-way New Han Army has already arrived in the city. At the beginning, when he learned that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao joined forces to ambush Liu Yi and shoot Liu Yi down in the Yellow River, his life and death were unknown. The New Han Army of the three armies was extremely sad and angry, bursting out with extremely strong combat power, and everyone's hearts were full of hatred for the Yuan family. The soldiers of the three-way army, they frantically counterattacked the Yuan army, and even, individual generals, when they encountered the soldiers of the Yuan army, no matter how many soldiers and horses the Yuan family had, they only rushed to kill with enthusiasm, and often received gratifying results. There was no way, the Yuan army did not dare to disperse its forces anymore, and used a small Yuan army to contain and block the attack of the New Han army. The whole army withdrew to their defensive lines and held the town to the death.

At that time, the three-way Xinhan army had already attacked Maocheng, Yangping, Guangping and Yuan Shao's main defense towns in one go. If Xun Yu hadn't sent Liu Yi and his plan to them in time, explaining to them that Liu Yi had deliberately "ambushed" into the Yellow River, but it was in the plan, Liu Yi might not have taken it seriously. In this way, Xi Zhicai, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, Gongsun Zan and others suspended the onslaught on the Yuan family. Otherwise, if the Xinhan army would attack with all its might, regardless of its own casualties, it would now be afraid that Yuan Shaodu would have been defeated.

Of course, postponing the assault does not mean not attacking. The New Han Army has always maintained pressure on the Yuan Army's defensive line. And then. Speed up the delivery of siege equipment and prepare for the final onslaught.

North of Yuan's defensive line. The vast area, all the towns, are now in the hands of the New Han Army, which has completely blocked the possibility of them sending troops to infiltrate the north-central region of Jizhou. Checkpoints were set up on every road, forcing the Yuan army to either defend their defensive line or withdraw to the area around Yecheng.

And Yuan Shao knew. If all his troops were withdrawn to Yecheng to defend them, at that time, his hundreds of thousands of troops would be crowded together, not only losing the room for strategic maneuver, but also greatly increasing the pressure on his army, horses, and grass. When the time comes, they will really have to be trapped in a lonely city. Therefore, Yuan Shao was determined to block the southern invasion of the New Han army according to the last line of defense in the north.

After almost a month of escorting, the siege equipment of the three generals Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, and Gongsun Zhan. It is basically in place, and it can launch a strong attack on Yuan's army at any time.

Now, after receiving the news that Liu Yi has returned to Luoyang safely, they are overjoyed. After announcing this to the whole army, the whole army of the new Han army cheered, and at the same time. The army is also determined.

Xi Zhicai met with Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, and Gongsun Zhan to discuss the final attack. As long as the line of defense is breached, then. The three-way army can be directly killed under Yecheng.

In the end, the generals agreed that they would still fight separately, and there was no need to agree on a time to attack together, after all, Yuan Shao's defense line was hundreds of miles away from west to east, and it was difficult for them to act synchronously.

What's more, the terrain of the defensive line they face is different, so it is difficult to synchronize. In addition, the current Yuan army has been demoralized by the Xinhan army, and they no longer dare to go out of the city to fight except for daring to defend the fortified city. At this time, no matter who it is, if it can break through a gap in Yuan Shao's defense line, it will inevitably shake the heart of Yuan Shao's entire army, and at that time, Yuan Shao will definitely have to transfer back the Yuan army guarding the defense line and transfer it back to Yecheng to defend it.

However, the only thing that makes people a little difficult is that he is afraid that Yuan Shao will see that the situation is not right and withdraw his military horse to Yecheng. At that time, there will be hundreds of thousands of Yuan troops in Yecheng. In any case, a city is guarded by hundreds of thousands of troops, and it is a bit difficult to capture it. At least, I am afraid that it will not be possible in a short period of time.

The reason why Xi Zhicai wanted to summon Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, Gongsun Zhan and others to discuss in the future was because he considered that such a situation would happen. He wanted to avoid that from happening.

The city guarded by hundreds of thousands of troops, if there is enough food and grass in the city, it is not a problem to defend it for a year and a half, or even for several years. Historically, many siege battles have been fought for months and years. Obviously, the New Han Dynasty did not allow such a thing to happen, and Liu Yi did not want to fight like this.

Xi Zhicai's meaning is to destroy most of the Yuan army, so that even if Yuan Shao finally defends Yecheng, he can only be the remnants of ten or two hundred thousand horses, so that it will be more beneficial to destroy Yuan Shao in the future. Xi Zhicai has received some information, Yuan Shao has secretly transferred a part of the military horses back to Yecheng, at this moment, is requisitioning people, vigorously repairing the city defense of Yecheng, reinforcing or adding some urn cities, and adding some acropolis. Therefore, Xi Zhicai hoped that the three armies of Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, and Gongsun Zan would do their best to break through Yuan Shao's defense line and eliminate Yuan Shao's living force as much as possible.

After receiving instructions, the three generals returned to their respective headquarters and made their own attack plans.

As mentioned before, Maocheng is actually a mountain city, and the surrounding geographical environment is relatively much more complicated.

Zhao Yun cleared some passes and obstacles in the north of Maocheng, and spent a lot of effort.

To the west of Maocheng is the continuous Taihang Mountains, and to the east, it is a hilly area with several rivers blocking it. Every short distance, there are some military villages built by Yuan Jun. The New Han army came from the north, and it was a little difficult to bypass and surround Maocheng. The only way to do this is to attack from the north.

However, to the north of Maocheng, it is built on the mountain, or rather, on the other hill of the two mountains, and under the city wall, there is a relatively steep slope, more than a mile long.

If the New Han army attacked from the direction of the city, trebuchets, bed crossbows, bows and arrows, building troopers, etc., would all be useless. Because on the north wall of Maocheng, rolling stones and sassal trees can be pushed down from a high place, and the siege equipment of the New Han Army can be directly destroyed. In addition, it is not feasible to use the original soil method, even the method of using the pile, because the slope in the north of Maocheng is rocky and rocky, not the ordinary loess, and it is difficult to lay the wooden pile.

However, Maocheng is also a lonely city, once the military horses from the north cross the rivers to the east of the city and go around to the south, then Maocheng can basically be isolated. Once Maocheng is besieged, even if it does not break through its city in the end, it is equivalent to breaking Yuan Shao's defense line. At that time, the military horses of the New Han Army can bypass Maocheng and directly kill Handan City, which is thirty or forty miles away after Maocheng.

Zhao Yun's plan is also like this, he does not plan to forcibly capture Maocheng, but plans to bypass Maocheng and directly capture Handan.

There are still about 100,000 Yuan troops in Maocheng, and the strength is nearly half less than Zhao Yun's current strength. Zhao Yun planned to open a passage around Maocheng, and then leave a small number of elite troops to contain the Yuan army in Maocheng and take Handan directly.

Xin Ping and Han Meng and Mao Cheng, their total strength was originally as much as 170,000, but when they sent troops to harass the New Han Army and attacked the rear of the New Han Army, they were wiped out by the counterattack of the New Han Army, and now, their total strength is actually less than 100,000 horses.

However, they forcibly conscripted nearly 30,000 recruits from among the more than 100,000 or 200,000 people in Maocheng.

Xin Ping knows the importance of Maocheng, he believes that if he holds Maocheng, he can at least hold Handan City and the north of Yecheng, even if Guangping and Yangping are lost, when the time comes, Yecheng can still echo Handan City and be horns for each other. After defending Yecheng and Handan City, Yuan Shao at least still had Hanoi County in the southeast as his rear, so that he would not be completely destroyed.

Xin Ping also saw that it was impossible to defend to the death, and it was necessary to lead the army out of the city to attack the New Han army when necessary. After all, the defense line built by Yuan Shao to resist the New Han Army to protect Yecheng was not the Great Wall-style defense line built by Liu Biao in Jingzhou at the beginning. Now, they are relying on the terrain advantage to defend various dangerous towns to resist the New Han army. If one of the cities was attacked by the New Han Army, and the nearby towns did not send troops to help, then it would be equivalent to lonely cities, waiting to be taken by the New Han Army one by one.

Therefore, Xin Ping used the 30,000 recruits, as well as about 30,000 elite soldiers of the original Yuan Shaojun to guard Maocheng, and the other 20,000 military horses, respectively, were transferred out of the city to build defensive checkpoints in some dangerous areas and mountains, one was used as a warning, and the other could resist the offensive momentum of the New Han Army a little. The remaining 50,000 horses were all formed into cavalry armies, led by Han Meng. Once it was discovered that the New Han Army had bypassed Maocheng from the east, the 50,000 cavalry immediately launched a seizure attack on the New Han Army, and when the New Han Army crossed the river, they launched an attack on the New Han Army and resolutely resisted the attack of the New Han Army.

The spies of the New Han Army had already told Zhao Yun about the situation of the Yuan army in Maocheng.

After Zhao Yun thought about it carefully, he found a situation, that is, to the west of Maocheng, that is almost connected to Maocheng, the Yuan army of Maocheng seems to have been negligent, and the defense is slightly looser.

Zhao Yun and Tai Shi Ci exchanged the mixed army of the army, still under the account, Zhao Yun felt that if he could lead this army from the Taihang Mountains to the back of Maocheng, then it would definitely make Maocheng Yuan's army feel very confused. Of course, the most important thing is that the 50,000 cavalry led by Han Meng was not stationed in Maocheng City, and Yuan's army was stationed about four or five miles south of Maocheng about four or five miles south of Maocheng in order to facilitate the reception of other military villages and to facilitate the attack on the New Han Army. If he can lead an army to bypass Maocheng, sneak attack the barracks of the 50,000 cavalry of the Yuan army, and eliminate the 50,000 cavalry of the Yuan army in one fell swoop, then Maocheng will no longer be a threat to the New Han Army.

With this thought in his heart, Zhao Yun was ready to move, and immediately summoned the generals below to discuss together. The generals and soldiers thought that it was feasible, although there was a certain danger in sneaking up on the barracks of Yuan's 50,000 cavalry army with more than 20,000 soldiers of the first army, but where would there be no danger in a war? Wealth and danger are sought, if this can destroy the 50,000 cavalry of the Yuan army in one fell swoop, it will also be a great achievement. (To be continued......)