Sima Yi's face was gloomy, and he tapped Puyang on the map heavily, and said to everyone: "What is deeply disturbing is that Gao Gan's army is in Puyang, and if he repeatedly attacks our grain route, things will be in trouble. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Guan Yu glanced at Puyang on the map, his thick eyebrows were deep, and he said: "Li Jing has to drag down the army of high-ranking cadres and protect the grain route to Dingtao, with his current strength, he is indeed a little stretched. It seems that in order to take Puyang and ensure the safety of this grain route, the only way to count on Yide's army to retreat to Hanoi and then attack from the direction of Liyang. ”

"Can you temporarily dispatch an iron cavalry to patrol back and forth along the Gouzi River to protect this grain road?" Sima Yi asked.

Guan Yu thought for a moment, nodded and said, "After taking Juyang, I will give you two thousand iron horses." ”

………………

Yanzhou Dongping country, no salt city.

The general Li Yi commanded the army to roar down and kill Wuyan City. Cai Yang led the army all the way to run wildly, and as soon as he withdrew into the city, he was surrounded by the Hu iron cavalry. Zhang Yan, Bian Xi, Mu Shun and others each led a large army to arrive.

Li Yi immediately divided his troops into three routes, one led by Zhang Yan and Bian Xi, commanding the infantry army to attack Wuyan City, one under the command of Zhai Ya and Zhai Yu, quickly crossing the Wenshui River and attacking Dongpinglu, and one under the command of Li Yi and Li E, attacking Shouzhangcheng on the south bank of the Wenshui River.

The three cities of Wuyan, Shouzhang and Dongpinglu are located on the north and south banks of the Wenshui River, and the distance between the three cities is only about 50 miles, which can be used as horns to support each other. Crossing the river to attack the Shouzhang River and Dongpinglu is equivalent to breaking this cone-shaped formation, cutting off the two horns of Wuyan City and cutting off the back road of Wuyan City.

That night, Li Yi and Zhai Yacob led a large army to cross the river to the south, one to attack Dongpinglu in the east, and the other to attack Shouzhang in the west. Zhuge Liang followed with 50,000 people and a large number of siege equipment.

Wuyan originally had a thousand defenders, and after Cai Yang withdrew to Wuyan with more than 2,000 people, the defensive strength of Wuyan City was strengthened, plus the defenders of Wuyan City got the news of the Northern Xinjiang Army's southward attack in advance, and got two days to prepare, so the strong attack momentum of the Northern Xinjiang Army was contained.

Zhang Yan was worried that Cai Yang would retreat ahead of schedule and sabotage the plan of the lord Li Yi to encircle and annihilate, so the attack on the first day was quite uneventful, deliberately creating the illusion that the army was exhausted and underarmed, and induced Cai Yang to continue to hold on to Wuyan City.

The next day, Zhang Yan received an urgent report that the lord Li Yi was attacking Shou Zhang, and Zhai Ya took Dongping Lucheng with lightning speed.

Before Cai Yang could withdraw, the defenders of Dongping followed the orders of the prime minister of Dongping to reinforce Wuyan, but they were surrounded and had no time to return to Dongpinglu.

When Zhai Ya attacked Dongpinglu, there were only 400 Yiqu troops in the city, and they had no power to parry, and they were swallowed up by the Northern Xinjiang Army in a blink of an eye.

Dongping was conquered by land, and Cai Yang's retreat was cut off immediately, and Cao's army was in a desperate situation.

Zhang Yan was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered Bian Xi to lead 3,000 foot soldiers to make a diversion attack in Dongcheng, and the remaining 13,000 foot soldiers to attack in Beicheng. Now even if Cai Yang wants to retreat from the west and south cities, it will be a dead end.

The Northern Xinjiang Army gathered more than 1,000 crossbow trucks and more than 50 catapults to bombard indiscriminately, and the soldiers attacked in turn, and the battle was very fierce.

Cai Yang commanded Cao's army to fight hard, and until noon, he did not let the northern Xinjiang soldiers climb the city tower. The siege battle fell into a stalemate of mutual attrition, and Zhang Yan and Bian Xi were anxious and at a loss.

In the afternoon, Chen Gongdu transported grain, grass and ordnance to Wuyan City.

When Chen Gong asked about the siege, Zhang Yan frowned and explained in detail the difficulties encountered by the army.

The army has fewer foot soldiers and a little less siege force, which is the main reason for the delay in taking Wuyan City. If the army is delayed in Wuyan City for too long, it will seriously affect the speed of the army's capture of Changyi.

"If there is no breakthrough, I plan to recruit the Iron Knights to attack the city." Zhang Yan said helplessly, "Although this will increase the casualties of the army, I can only do this." ”

Chen Gong pondered for a long time and thought of several ways to siege the city, but it all took time, and the Northern Frontier Army was now short of time.

"Cai Yang knows that Dongping Lu has been lost?" Chen Gong asked, "If he doesn't know that his back road has been cut off, he may abandon the city and flee." ”

"After receiving the news that Mrs. Zhai Ya captured Dongpinglu, we have withdrawn the troops surrounding the west and south gates and concentrated on the north city to attack, the purpose is also to let Cai Yang abandon the city as soon as possible, but now it seems that Cai Yang obviously knows that his back road is blocked, so he simply gave up the idea of fleeing, and instead wants to live and die with the city."

"Gongtai, you have been in Yanzhou for many years in the past, and you know the Saltless City very well, do you know if there are any damages to the walls of the Saltless City?" Bian Xi asked.

"I haven't heard of any damage to the walls of Saltless City." Chen Gong shook his head and said, "Even if there is damage, it will be repaired quickly." The construction of the city wall in the Central Plains is very different from the construction of the city wall in the northern Xinjiang. The walls of the northern Xinjiang are all made of stones, thick and wide, and it is very difficult to repair once damaged, while the walls of the Central Plains are earthy inside, and the outside is built with bricks and stones, although they are not as strong as the walls of the northern Xinjiang, but it is easy to repair. ”

Chen Gong suddenly remembered something as he spoke, stood up suddenly, waved his hand excitedly and said, "There is a way, dig a tunnel, dig a tunnel and enter the city." ”

Zhang Yan and Bian Xi glanced at each other, smiling bitterly and speechless. What kind of solution is this? It takes a long time to dig tunnels, so how can there be so much time now?

Chen Gong saw the disappointed expressions of the two and hurriedly explained: "When the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army attacked Wuyan City, they dug more than a dozen tunnels outside the city. After we recaptured Saltless City, we blocked all these tunnels, but because the conditions were very poor at that time, we couldn't completely seal the tunnels, so we only used dirt to tamp the ends of the tunnels. ”

Zhang Yan and Bian Xi looked at Chen Gong in surprise and asked in unison, "So, the tunnel is still there?" ”

"Of course it's still there." Chen Gong said, "It's been a long time, Cao Cao has long forgotten about it, and he won't spend manpower and material resources to reseal it." All we need to do is find the entrance to the tunnel, dig up the earth that seals the entrance to the tunnel, and then we can enter the city along the tunnel......"

"Let's dig up the dirt at the exit of the tunnel, and the soldiers will be able to fight into the city." Bian Xi stood up excitedly, grabbed Chen Gong's arm, and asked loudly, "Mr. Gongtai, do you remember the entrances to these tunnels?" ”

"I should still be able to find it." Chen Gong said with a smile, "Although I wasn't the one who sealed the tunnels back then, I knew that there were several tunnel exits leading to the vital parts of the city. From the location of these exits, it is not difficult to judge the entrance to the tunnels excavated by the Yellow Turban Army. ”

Zhang Yan jumped up, pulled Chen Gong and walked out, and said with some eagerness: "Quick, find the entrance to the tunnel first, as long as we can find the entrance of the tunnel, we can take the Saltless City tonight." ”

"Lao Bian, go and gather a thousand strong people, ...... quickly"

………………

Cai Yang leaned against the cold city wall, holding a black cloth and slowly wiping the blood from his hands, deaf to the fierce fighting around him.

The speed of the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry was too fast, and although he escaped the Jishui River, he could not escape the Wenshui River. I can't escape, I can only fight to the death, and I hope that the lives of myself and thousands of soldiers can help save the precarious situation in the Central Plains.

The drums in the city burst out, so fast and violent that people were almost out of breath.

Cai Yang turned abruptly and looked into the city. The sound of killing in the dark city was everywhere, and the government in the city was being engulfed by a blazing flame, and the fire rose to the sky. Cai Yang felt a chill in his heart, he never expected that there would be a rebellion in the city at this time.

Cai Yang did not hesitate at all, waved his hand and ordered loudly: "Order all departments to defend the city." ”

"Defend Tun, kill with me. Whoever rebels will be killed. ”

Cai Yang had just rushed down the city wall with a group of men and horses, and he met the prime minister of Dongping head-on. The minister was sweating profusely and terrified.

As soon as he saw Cai Yang, it was like he had met a savior, and shouted loudly: "General Cai, the Northern Xinjiang Army has entered the city and is burning and killing ...... everywhere."

Cai Yang's scalp was numb, and he blurted out: "The Northern Xinjiang Army has entered the city?" Do you see clearly? ”

The minister replied: "It is indeed the Northern Xinjiang Army. They killed them from the tunnel, and they appeared directly in the garden of the mansion, and first burned the mansion. ”

Cai Yang was incredulous. What method did the Northern Xinjiang military use to dig a tunnel that was nearly 1,000 steps long in just two days?

The shouts from the streets in the distance became clearer and clearer, making Cai Yang have to believe even if he didn't believe it.

"Withdraw ......" Cai Yang raised his hand and shouted, "Order all departments, withdraw quickly, break through from the direction of the West City Gate, quickly, quickly ......"

………………

Yanzhou Dongping Kingdom, Shou Zhangcheng.

The general Li Yi led his army to besiege Shouzhang. The number of defenders in Shouzhang City was very small, only 400 people, and they were very frightened when they saw the Northern Xinjiang army killing, but they immediately found that the people surrounding Shouzhang were all Hu people with scattered heads, which immediately aroused the hatred in their hearts. The Shouzhang County Order urgently told the people in the city that all men, women, and children, would participate in the battle to defend the city. All the men between the ages of 14 and 60 took up arms and went up to the walls.

Li Yi did not attack, but only let 20,000 Jiankun iron cavalry line up under the city, fired several rounds of long arrows into the city, and then shot a letter of persuasion into the city.

The defenders of the city knew that they were outnumbered, but they still refused to surrender.

Li E demanded an attack. Although the city outside the fortress is not as large as the city of the Central Plains, it is far taller and stronger than the city of the Central Plains.

Li Yi didn't agree, and refused his request. Let the Jiankun people attack the city, the people in the city are bound to suffer, once the Jiankun people smell the blood and see the treasure, no one can stop them from burning and plundering.

Although Li E's prestige among the Jiankun people is very high, at that time, Li E's dissuasion will not have any effect.

Therefore, until the critical moment, Li Yi will never release the fierce wolf of the Hu clan iron rider out of the cage. (To be continued.) )