Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao was very worried when he saw the Yuan brothers carrying it inside, and adjusted them, but unfortunately it was not successful.

On the other hand, after Cao Cao returned to the army, Yuan Shang once again sent troops to attack Yuan Tan, preparing to defeat his brother first, appointing judges and others to guard Yecheng, and Cao Cao was also ready, and soon sounded the clarion call for the third attack on the north.

【Liu Biao persuaded peace】

The contradiction between Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan became a good opportunity for Cao Cao to seize the north, but correspondingly, Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao was also very worried, Yuan Shao was originally an important ally of Liu Biao, and once Cao Cao eliminated Yuan, it is needless to say that the next target must be himself, so Liu Biao wrote a letter to Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan (Note 1), hoping that the two brothers could get back together.

At that time, Liu Biao said to Yuan Tan in a letter: "Even if a gentleman takes refuge, he will not flee to the enemy country; Even if you break off your relationship, you will not be abusive. Moreover, thou hast forgotten thy father's hatred, and hast forsaken thy brotherhood, and hast done such things which thou hast been a warning for all generations, and hast made all those who are allies ashamed of thee. If Yuan Shang has the arrogant behavior of disrespecting his brother, you should also compromise and focus on the overall situation. Wait until the overall situation has been decided, and then let the people of the world comment on Quzhi, isn't it also a high wind and bright festival? ”

Liu Biao wrote a letter to Yuan Shang, saying: "The four substances of metal, wood, water, and fire can complement each other and be used by people by matching them with rigidity and softness. Yuan Tan is impatient by nature, he can't distinguish between right and wrong, you are magnanimous, it is more than enough to tolerate him, you should tolerate the big with the small, and the good with the inferior, get rid of Cao Cao first, and then get rid of your father's resentment. Wait until the big thing is decided, and then comment on who is right and who is wrong, isn't it? If you don't come to your senses, the Huren people will laugh at you, not to mention that we, our allies, will we try our best to fight for you! This is the reproduction of the story of Han Lu Dog and Dongguo Rabbit chasing each other, trapping themselves first, and the old farmer who cultivated the land for nothing! ”

It's a pity that the two brothers have already killed their eyes, and no one listens to Liu Biao.

【Third Crusade to the North】

Cao Cao's second march was not prepared because he was in a hurry to relieve Yuan Tan's siege, and Cao Cao sent people to block Qishui in the first month of the spring of the ninth year of Jian'an (204) after his return, so that it could flow into Baigou in order to transport military rations and prepare for the next march.

In February and March, Yuan Shang's subordinates wrote a long letter to Yuan Tan (Note 2), hoping that Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang would reconcile.

According to the "Dictionary", Yuan Tan waited until the letter was reviewed and climbed the city wall to cry, but because he had already used Guo Tu's strategy and fought several battles with Yuan Shang, the hatred was deep, so he thought that the two sides could no longer reconcile, so he finally rejected the proposal of trial.

Yuan Shang then went to the plains to attack Yuan Tan, and the remaining generals were judged, and Su Youzhen guarded Yecheng, at that time Yuan Shang was ready to rely on the defense of Yecheng to resist Cao Cao's attack, and he was quick to fight and strive to eliminate Yuan Tan, of course, Cao Cao would be the best if he did not act.

It's a pity that Cao Cao is not Yuan Shao, and robbing by fire is Cao Agui's favorite, and Cao Cao quickly marched to Huanshui. And Su You originally planned to operate an internal response for Cao, but due to the leakage of the conspiracy, Su You went out of the city to join Cao Cao. After Cao Cao's army arrived at Yecheng, he built an earthen mountain and dug tunnels to launch an attack, but Yecheng was guarded by a judge, and Cao Cao failed to succeed at one time.

Later, Feng Li, the general of the trial, opened the small gate under the city, and let Cao Cao's more than 300 soldiers enter the city.

Yin Kai, the magistrate of Wu'an County, appointed by Yuan Shang, garrisoned Maocheng to protect the grain route leading to the party. In the summer of April, Cao Cao left Cao Hong to continue to attack Yecheng, personally led the army to attack Yin Kai, defeated Yin Kai and returned to the division. He also went to attack the general of Yuan Shang, who was defending Handan, but Fu Hu, the son of Fu Zhu, failed to stop Cao Cao, and Handan was also captured.

Seeing that Cao Cao was powerful and Yuan's army continued to lose, Yiyang County ordered Han Fan and Shexian County Magistrate Liang Qi to surrender their county seats and surrender to Cao Cao. Xu Huang said to Cao Cao: "The Yuan brothers have not been defeated, and the cities that have not yet surrendered are listening attentively, and the officials of these two counties should be commended and rewarded, and set an example for those cities." Cao Cao obeyed and made Han Fan and Liang Qi the Marquis of Guannei. Zhang Yan, the leader of the Montenegrin army, sent an envoy to Cao Cao and asked to send troops to assist Cao Cao in attacking the Yuan brothers, and Cao Cao appointed him as the general of Pingbei.

The war took a turn in May, when Cao Cao destroyed the earth mountains and tunnels, dug trenches, and surrounded Yecheng for 40 li. At first, Cao Cao had the soldiers dig very shallow, and it looked like they could get through. When he saw it in the city, he laughed loudly, thinking that Cao Cao was doing useless work again, so he didn't send troops out to sabotage.

But Cao Cao is a shrewd guy, he sent people to dredge at night after concealing the trial, and overnight, dug into a deep trench two zhang deep and two zhang wide, and then introduced the water of the Zhanghe River into the trench, completely cutting off the connection between the inside and outside of Yecheng.

Yecheng is a big city, the daily consumption is very terrifying, after not getting external support and supplies, the city is slowly short of materials, and most of the people in the city starved to death, at this moment Yecheng urgently needs Yuan Shang's support.

【Yuan Shang came to help】

Yuan Shang's crusade against Yuan Tan this time was not very smooth, the rear was attacked by Cao Cao, Yecheng had already shown a decline, and Yuan Tan relied on Cao Cao's support and it was not easy to attack, so Yuan Shang decided to give up on eliminating Yuan Tan again and first turn back to rescue Yecheng.

In the autumn and July of that year, Yuan Shang led an army of 10,000 people back to rescue Yecheng. Before he arrived, he wanted to let the judge understand the situation outside, so he first sent the chief bookkeeper and the giant deer man Li Fu into the city. Li Fu cut off a branch as a torture rod for beating people, tied it to his horse, put on a turban for military attachés, and led three cavalrymen to Yecheng at dusk. Li Fu proclaimed himself the governor of the city, entered the camp of the besieging Cao army from the north, followed the signs, patrolled to the east, and constantly reprimanded the soldiers guarding the siege along the way, and punished them according to the severity of the violation of the law and discipline in the army. In front of Cao Cao's camp, he inspected to the south of the city, and facing the Zhangmen in the south of Yecheng, Li Fu loudly scolded the soldiers guarding the siege and tied them up. Then, Li Fu took the opportunity to split the camp gate, galloped to the city, and shouted to the city, and the defenders of the city lowered their ropes and hung Li Fu and others up the city.

When the judges saw Li Fu, they were filled with joy and sorrow, and shouted "Long live"! Morale was boosted. The soldiers defending the city reported to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao smiled and said, "This person can not only enter the city, but also come out again." Li Fu knew that the siege outside was tighter and that he could no longer pretend to be Cao Jun out of the city, so he asked the judge to release all the old and weak in the city out of the city to save food. In the evening, thousands of old and weak people were selected, and they were all held with white flags and went out from the three city gates to surrender to Cao's army. Li Fu led the three cavalrymen to also dress up as surrenderers, mingle in the crowd, and break through the siege by night.

Yuan Shang learned of the news of Yecheng and began to lead the army to rescue.

Note 1: Liu Biao's words of admonishing the two Yuan brothers are recorded in more detail in the "Spring and Autumn Period of the Wei Family", which has been written in the relevant reading.

Note 2: The article is too long, so I put it in the relevant reading.