In the early winter, the land of Jizhou was full of cold winds and withering plants, and the inside and outside of Yecheng, which quickly calmed down after being occupied by the Qingzhou army, once again entered the tense atmosphere before the war.

Perhaps it was moved by the strict military discipline of the Qingzhou army soldiers who did not commit any crimes, perhaps it was the pacification policy of Liu Cun, who was appointed by the imperial court and was the prince of the Han Dynasty, and it was perhaps Liu Cun's noble character and demeanor of loving the people like a son spread everywhere, and the people of Yecheng began to open the closed doors of their homes and carefully look at the streets and alleys that were cleaned by the Qingzhou soldiers.

Some innocent children boldly surrounded the majestic and majestic Qingzhou soldiers guarding the street entrance, and asked curiously, those Qingzhou soldiers who looked fierce and vicious actually smiled, and many people also took out some sugar cubes or dried meat from the skin bags around their waists and distributed them to the children.

More and more civilians finally walked out of their homes with peace of mind, and soon learned that the Qingzhou army was recruiting people at a high price of 30 yuan a day, repairing the city walls, and transporting all kinds of supplies to various places outside the city. The overjoyed ordinary people immediately thought of the stable and wealthy life and good treatment of the people of Qingzhou, and they kept flocking to various recruitment points in the city to register.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians kept repairing the gaps in the east and west city walls that had been blown down day and night, and convoys full of food and weapons drove out of various city gates, and 50,000 Qingzhou soldiers with bright armor and murderous spirit drove to the north gate and the east gate one after another, and set up camp with the towering city walls and wide moats behind them to build defenses.

Numerous large ballista carts were pushed up to the city one after another, and the officers and men of the firearms battalion wearing fiery red robes and exquisite leather armor dragged one after another of the strangely shaped sturdy carriages to the city. Quickly unload the giant crossbow bolts and sealed wooden crates from the car. Intense pre-war training began.

More than a dozen generals and deputy generals, including Tai Shici, who were once again given the command of the Great War, have returned to their ministries. All the defenses in the city were handed over to Geng Wu, who commanded the elite Ninth Division, and Lu Jiu, who temporarily acted as the commander-in-chief of the internal guard, and only five civil and military officials accompanied Liu Cun to ascend the tower in the north of the city, except for the chief Shi Minchun and Zhao Yun, the new chief of the guard, who had successfully exercised their powers, and the other three were Yan Liang, Jiao Rong and Zhang Shuo, the generals of Jizhou who were captured and still unwilling to return.

Yan Liang and the others stood silently in front of the women's wall with Liu Cun, looking at the various battle flags that stretched for miles outside the city to hunt in the wind, as well as the slaughter scene of tens of thousands of Qingzhou soldiers building fortifications in an orderly manner, and couldn't help but sigh again.

Before seeing the amazing training intensity and strict military discipline of the Qingzhou Army, Yan Liang and the others thought that the 30,000 soldiers they led were already an elite and strong army to be proud of. However, after being defeated by the Qingzhou Army and personally feeling the strength of the Qingzhou Army in all aspects, Yan Liang and others knew what an elite and strong army was that was proud of the world, and gradually understood where the invincible strength of the Qingzhou Army came from.

Looking at the astounding efficiency and speed shown by the officers and men of the Qingzhou Army under the city, and seeing with his own eyes the two wide trenches gradually taking shape, with towers and square earthen platforms towering on the edge of the trenches, Yan Liang couldn't help but exclaim again with a convincing admiration: "We are not unjust at all when we lose!" ”

Although Yan Liang's exclamation was not loud, Jiao Rong and Zhang Shuo beside him heard it, and the two nodded silently, and looked at Liu Cun who was looking at him in the center, but Liu Cun turned around at this time.

Under embarrassment. Jiao Rong, who has always been bold and straightforward, asked humbly: "There is something unclear below, I wonder if the general is willing to guide the maze?" ”

"General Jiao, please speak." Liu Cun smiled kindly.

Jiao Rong took a deep breath. Raising his chin with a beard like a steel needle: "Since the Qingzhou army is so powerful, and the strength is as high as 120,000, why don't you take the initiative to attack, but instead trap yourself under the fortified city and launch an incomprehensible defensive posture?" Did the general have another plan? ”

Liu Cun smiled at the three of them, and explained frankly: "It's very simple, the initiative of the entire battle situation is already firmly in my hands, so even if I don't take the initiative to attack, General Yuan Benchu, who can't afford to lose anymore, will come to me to fight hard, in this case, why don't I save some effort and wait for work?" ”

"For General Yuan Benchu, there is an even more fatal crisis moment tormenting him, that is, General Gongsun Zhan's Youzhou Iron Cavalry! General Gongsun has defeated the Xianbei Zuoxian King who wanted to take advantage of the fire to rob, and achieved an excellent record of annihilating more than 5,000 Xianbei cavalry and shooting and wounding the Xianbei Zuoxian King, completely driving the Xianbei cavalry with heavy casualties and fears out of Youzhou. ”

"At this moment, the 20,000 cavalry led by General Gongsun has turned south and arrived in Anguo, and at noon tomorrow at the latest, it will converge with the two divisions of our northern front battlefield on the Anping line, and then the two coalition forces with a total of 35,000 elite cavalry will quickly move south to pursue the tens of thousands of troops of General Yuan Benchu."

"In this case, if General Yuan Benchu doesn't want to be routed on the way south, he can only speed up and rush to fight me to the death, otherwise he can only flee over the mountains and mountains to Bingzhou...... However, according to the character analysis of General Yuan Benchu, he would not choose to run away before he was completely desperate, so I had to stay in Yecheng and wait for him to come to the door, haha! ”

Yan Liang and Zhang Shuo, who had already foreseen that Yuan Shao would be defeated, were sad, and just as they were about to speak, Jiao Rong had already lamented bitterly: "How can you win the battle?" Hurrying for hundreds of miles, not to mention that the morale is long gone under successive defeats, even if the morale is still there, you will be exhausted when you run under Yecheng, how can this battle be fought? ”

Liu Cun raised his hand to signal a little restlessness, and said something that shocked Yan Liang and the others: "I admire the virtue of the three very much, and I cherish the ability of the three to lead the troops, to put it bluntly, I want to get the loyalty of the three very much, but after observing for several days, I find that I don't know how to convince you and how to impress you." ”

"Therefore, I have decided to give you a chance to choose, and at the same time give myself a chance, let you go to the prisoner camp outside the south gate, and bring back the remaining 10,000 soldiers who are willing to follow you, as well as all the soldiers of the Yuan army who have been captured and are still unwilling to return, to General Yuan Benchu, I will return all your weapons, and send enough food supplies for half a month, and respectfully send you out of the city."

"However, I want to ask you one thing here: if you are defeated by me again, I hope to be able to abandon all grievances, return to my Liu Cun, and fight the world with me Liu Cun to help the Han Dynasty, my Han people are becoming fewer and fewer, and they can no longer live in the endless war!"

Liu Cun's incomparably sincere words and incomparably generous broad-mindedness finally moved the deeply shocked Yan Liang and the three to tears.

Zhang Shuo, who had already intended to defect to Liu Cun, knelt on the ground with a "poof", shouted "Lord" with tears, and respectfully bowed to Liu Cun. Yan Liang and Jiao Rong, who were surging in their hearts, no longer had any selfish distractions, and they both prostrated on the ground, begging the lord to punish him. (To be continued......)