What Yang Yi was most puzzled about was when and how Sun Deng ran behind him.

The answer is, I went by boat last night.

The location of Liao Tunnel City is very special, it is sandwiched by the Great Liao Water and the Great Liang Water, and there is a long strip in the middle, which is more than 50 miles long from east to west, and more than 20 miles wide from north to south. The Liao Tunnel City and Xiangping are separated by the Daliang water, and the water can be crossed in a place called Mengliangjin, which is not suitable for other places. The Jiangdong Naval Division led by Sun Deng now cut off Meng Liangjin and blocked Yangyi's 40,000 horses between Daliangshui and Daliaoshui, while Cao Zhang and Tian Yu relieved the siege of the Liao Tunnel and blocked Yangyi's hope of crossing the water to the west.

Then Yang Yi is not worried about himself, Cao Zhang has less than 20,000 people, and he has nearly 40,000 people, twice as many as Cao Zhang, enough to be invincible, what he is worried about is where Sun Shao went? If Sun Shao is also on the other side of the Daliang River, waiting for the half-crossing to attack, then he really has no way to live.

Fortunately, he soon knew Sun Shao's whereabouts, and Sun Shao led more than 20,000 people to surround Xiangping City.

When Yang Yi heard the news, she was shocked at first, and then laughed dumbly. Xiangping City is so easy to attack? Not only is the city strong, but there are also 20,000 defenders in the city, and Sun Shao attacked the city with 20,000 sailors, which is tantamount to a fool's dream. In any case, the most appropriate way now should be for Sun Shao and Cao Zhang to join forces and eat him Yangyi first. Sun Shao's current actions can only make people feel that he is stupid and arrogant to the point of no return.

Not only Yang Yi thinks so, but even Cao Zhang thinks so, can your 20,000 sailors capture Xiangping City? If you want to fight for credit, you want to go crazy. After discussing with Tian Yu, Cao Zhang decided to stop the offensive for the time being, and to defend instead of attacking, just block Yangyi here, he wanted to see how Sun Shao attacked Xiangping City.

Yang Yi and Cao Zhang coincidentally made the same decision, they kept their distance after a little contact, and the two sides tacitly confronted each other, waiting for news from Xiangping City, ready for the final battle.

Xiangping City is on the west bank of Daliang Water, although the water surface is also very wide, but the building ship can not pass smoothly, so Sun Shao gave up the building ship, only used small and medium-sized warships and merchant ships to transport troops and grain, after arriving at Xiangping City, he did not surround or surround three sides as usual, but only surrounded the east gate and the west gate. Zang Ba and Sun Guan led more than 10,000 Qingxu sailors to set up camp at the West Gate, and Sun Shao himself led more than 15,000 Aurora sailors at the East Gate, and they didn't even need to set up the village, and lived directly on the boat. Gongsun Gong also had some boats, but these ships were negligible in front of the Aurora Sailors, as long as they looked at the battle flags of the Aurora Sailors, they scattered in a hurry, and they couldn't find a shadow.

Sun Shao sent people into the city again to persuade him to surrender, he said to Gongsun Gong, the 10,000 horses of Fuyu Wangwei Qiutai have been wiped out by Cao Zhang, Yangyi's army is surrounded, sit and wait to be killed, you have no other reinforcements, just capture it, the conditions I promised you before can still be fulfilled now, if you still don't know what to do, don't blame me for being polite.

Gongsun Gong is just weak, not mentally retarded, in the face of the arrogance of Sun Shao's envoy, he was not angry, he was too lazy to talk to him, and directly sent someone to blast the envoy out, he let out wild words, Sun Shao, if you have the ability, attack the city, I want to see how you attack the city. 20,000 people attacked, 20,000 people defended, you and I Liaodong City are paper paste, and the Liaodong army is all women without eggs?

From Gongsun Gong and Liu Yi to the soldiers watching the city gate, they all felt that Sun Shao was crazy, and they discussed the youngest king with a different surname in the Han Kingdom in a tone full of disdain, and said in unison, God is really blind, the Han deserves to die, and he actually let such a madman be the king, is there still heavenly reason if he does not die?

Gongsun Yuan also thought so, and the first thing he said when he saw Zhou Yi was: "King Yue is crazy, right?" ”

Gongsun Yuanzi Wenyi, 23 years old this year, is the grandson of Gongsun Du, the second son of Gongsun Kang, and his brother Gongsun Huang has been hostage in Yecheng for several years. When Gongsun Kang died of illness, their brothers were still young, Liu Yi, Yangyi and others felt that they were not capable of being Liaodong Taishou, so they recommended Gongsun Gong to succeed them, and in order to prevent Gongsun Huang from having opinions, they sent Gongsun Huang to Yecheng as a proton.

The so-called nothing new under the sun, the situation of the Gongsun family is very similar to the situation of the Sun family, but Gongsun Gong is relatively stupid, not as sober as Sun Quan, the power of Liaodong is all in the hands of Liu Yi, Yang Yi and others, and the benefits of Liu Yi and they have it, but the notoriety is borne by his Gongsun Gong.

Gongsun Huang has an opinion, but he can't help it now, and Gongsun Gong thinks that Gongsun Yuan is the second son, no matter what, he doesn't have a chance, so he doesn't have much defense against him. Gongsun Yuan is now a general in Xiangping City, with more than 3,000 men under his command, and is responsible for the security of the east gate. Outside the east gate is Sun Shao's Aurora Naval Division, and the dense warships cover the entire Daliang water surface, which looks terrifying, but Gongsun Yuan does not think that Sun Shao has the ability to capture Xiangping City, the reason is very simple, his troops are seriously insufficient.

The art of war is cloudy, ten are encircled, and multiple are battles, Sun Shao's troops are almost the same as the troops in the city, how to fight?

Zhou Yi smiled silently and asked rhetorically, "What do you think?" ”

Gongsun Yuan didn't say anything, he was calmly reminded by Zhou Yi, judging from Sun Shao's record, he has turned danger into disaster many times, and within four or five years of his debut, he single-handedly contributed to the Soldier Killing Conference and became the youngest king with a different surname in the Han Dynasty, how can he be a madman with such a record?

"How is he attacking?" Gongsun Yuan blinked his slender eyes, his eyes wandering.

"There are many ways to siege a city." Zhou Yi said calmly: "Attack the heart first, attack the city first." The general must also know that the fiefdom of my Yue country is the sea, excluding Liaodong County, and the reason why the king of my family came to attack Xiangping City was because someone disobeyed the edict of the Son of Heaven. General, you have to know that Brother Ling is not having a good time in Luoyang. ”

Gongsun Yuan pursed his lips inadvertently, he and his brother Gongsun Huang did not have any feelings, Gongsun Huang's life and death were not in his consideration, and Zhou Yi's rhetoric had no effect on him.

"It's a pity that the general is in danger and doesn't know it." Zhou Yi shook his head and said regretfully: "Uncle Zun is weak and incompetent, he is not a qualified lord of Liaodong. The general is young and promising, wise and brave, and the king of my family admires the general very much, and he is willing to help the general become the lord of Liaodong. ”

Gongsun Yuan's heart was moved, as he grew older over the years, he was already thinking about this matter, Liaodong should be his, not the cowardly and incompetent Gongsun Gong, this incompetent uncle only knows how to play with women, but he has not even given birth to a man and a woman, and is obviously not a suitable heir. But he is not in a hurry, Gongsun Gong can't have children, isn't it just to create opportunities for him? If it weren't for Gongsun Gong inheriting the position of his father Gongsun Kang and sending his brother Gongsun Huang to Luoyang as a hostage, and now he has no heirs, how could he, the second son, have a chance? It's heaven's arrangement.

In that case, why did he risk cooperating with Sun Shao?

"What are the conditions of King Yue?" Gongsun Yuan showed a warm smile, as if he was moved by Zhou Yi's words.

"King Yue doesn't want an inch of land in Liaodong." Zhou Yi first calmed Gongsun Yuan's heart, "He hopes that after the general becomes the lord of Liaodong, he will abide by the decree of the Son of Heaven, provide the port where our Yue country's naval division is stationed, trade with our Yue country, and respect the territorial waters of my Yue country." Then, the general can enjoy the same preferential treatment as Zang Ba of Xuzhou and Sun Guan of Qingzhou. ”

"That's all?" Gongsun Yuan was a little disappointed.

"The king of my family is not a man of his word, and if he can't do it, he won't accept it casually." Zhou Yi said lightly: "The general might as well ask the merchants of my Yue Kingdom to see how the king of my family treats his subjects." My king doesn't like to fight, he likes to do business, and the reason why his business is getting bigger and bigger is only because he adheres to one belief, that is, win-win. ”

Gongsun Yuan rolled his eyes and didn't say a word. He is no stranger to the merchants of the Yue country, Xiangping City is in the southeast corner of his jurisdiction, and many things in his house are obtained through the hands of the merchants of the Yue country, of course, he also has a lot of goods resold by the merchants of the Yue country. The merchants of the Yue Kingdom are unique in Xiangping City, they do business honestly, they would rather make less money than be cheated, plus the quality of their goods is high-level, and the price is also fair, so they occupy nearly half of the market share in Xiangping City, and those barbarians such as Fuyu and Goguryeo people like to trade with them the most.

"I don't need to cooperate with His Royal Highness King Yue to get these." Gongsun Yuan smiled and raised the teacup and gestured to Zhou Yi: "Oh, isn't this the tea sold by your Yue merchants?" ”

Zhou Yi glanced at him meaningfully: "It's a pity, I thought the general was a smart man, but I didn't expect the general to play with fire on top of his salary, but he still didn't realize that a catastrophe was coming." In that case, the general should be ready for destruction. With that, he turned around and took his leave.

Gongsun Yuan watched Zhou Yi go out with a smile, and then smiled disdainfully: "What danger can I have, this shaft is too alarmist, right?" ”

"I also feel that the general is in danger." Gongsun Yuan's cronies, Yang Zuo, said suddenly.

"Oh?" Gongsun Yuan sank his face and looked at Yang Zuo unhappily: "Tell me, what danger do I have." ”

"General, since you don't want to have anything to do with King Yue, you shouldn't let this person enter the mansion, since you let him enter the mansion and didn't talk about it, you can't let him go out of the mansion like this, this is the danger."

Gongsun Yuan was stunned for a moment, and was taken aback, he understood what Yang Zuo meant. If Gongsun Gong knew that Zhou Yi had come to his mansion, he would definitely interrogate him, would he believe that there was no agreement between him and Zhou Yi? He stood up and said with a blushing face, "Arrest that person immediately." ”

"Can't catch him." Yang Zuo shook his head regretfully: "Does the general know where he came from?" Xiangping City has been closed for nearly half a month, he still comes and goes freely, and the general has let him out, how can he still catch him? From the minister's point of view, the general should find a way to deal with the inquiries of the pastoral government. ”

Gongsun Yuan was stunned, he only then figured out why he couldn't talk about a word, Zhou Yi was not even interested in bargaining, and got up and left. He didn't come to bargain with him at all, he came to plant a false accusation at all, and it wouldn't be long before Gongsun Gong would get the news.

Quiet as a virgin, moving like a rabbit, this envoy of the Yue Kingdom deserved such a comment, and he disappeared in time before he could make the right reaction.

Gongsun Yuan was very depressed, he was unwilling to let people chase him out, sure enough, just as Yang Zuo expected, he couldn't find Zhou Yi's shadow at all, he seemed to have never appeared in Xiangping City, Gongsun Yuan was thinking about whether to ask for a search of Xiangping City, Gongsun Gong sent someone to summon him into the palace to discuss matters.

Gongsun Yuan was helpless, and went to see Gongsun Gong, as expected, no matter how he explained and showed loyalty, Gongsun Gong, Liu Yi and others always couldn't erase the look of doubt in their eyes. Gongsun Gong immediately adjusted the defense of the east of the city, and transferred Liu Xiang, the son of Liu Yi, who was originally in charge of the south gate, to the east gate, saying that he was assisting Gongsun Yuan, but in fact he was monitoring Gongsun Yuan, and the meaning was very clear, if Sun Shao broke through the east gate, you would die.

Gongsun Yuan didn't dare to have any objections, he knew that Gongsun Gong took the opportunity to get rid of him, as the Yue envoy said, he was sitting on top of the salary and playing with fire without knowing it, but what made him angry was that this fire was stuffed into his hands by the Yue envoy. Attacking the city is the bottom, attacking the heart is the top, attacking the hearts of him and Gongsun Gong, a small move pushed him into a dangerous situation.

Gongsun Yuan began to wonder if his decision was a little hasty, although it seemed that the whole battle situation had not changed much, but King Yue's unexpected move made his belief shaken, and he could hit the opponent's weakness with every move, such an opponent was difficult to guard against, and the same strength could exert an amazing effect in his hands.

Gongsun Yuan was careful to be on guard, he not only wanted to avoid arousing Liu Xiang's suspicion, but also to prepare for Sun Shao's strong attack, and did not dare to slack off. After Sun Shao successfully provoked the mutual suspicion of their uncle and nephew, he would definitely seize the opportunity to storm the east gate.

As Gongsun Yuan expected, after two days of preparation, Sun Shao drove the warship to the moat in front of Xiangping City, and hundreds of crossbows and thunderbolts launched a fierce attack on the east gate. The crossbow and thunderbolt have a range of more than 100 paces and can directly attack the city wall from the moat, while the wooden wall is planted on the warship, and the crossbow on the city wall cannot hurt the Yue sailors hiding behind the wooden wall.

Sun Shao's offensive put a lot of pressure on Gongsun Yuan from the beginning, but these were still secondary, and he resorted to more insidious tricks. Liu Xiang soon discovered that when Gongsun Yuan's battle flag appeared on the city wall, although the war drums of the Yue State Naval Division were beating loudly, the offensive was thunderous and rainy, and when his battle flag appeared on the city wall, the attack effect of the Yue National Naval Division was obviously much greater, and the crossbow arrows and artillery were smashed like raindrops.

Liu Xiang was so angry that he immediately reported this abnormal situation to his father Liu Yi, and Liu Yi naturally immediately relayed it to Gongsun Gong, and he was accustomed to adding oil and vinegar to his surname, in his mouth, Gongsun Yuan was already a quasi-collaborator. No matter how Gongsun Yuan swore and swore by him, Gongsun Gong still transferred him out of the east gate, and he was in charge of the south gate. There are no enemies at the south gate, so stay there in peace.

The next development confirmed Gongsun Gong's guess, after Gongsun Yuan's battle flag disappeared from the east gate, Sun Shao launched a fierce attack, and his three generals personally led their subordinates to take turns to fight, under the cover of the warship, they attacked the east gate again and again, and one day down, the east gate was full of stones and rolling wood thrown from the city, and the rammed earth city wall was full of pits and crossbow arrows made of artillery, although the city gate was still intact, but it was also scarred under the fierce attack of the Yue Guo sailors.

Liu Xiang suffered heavy losses, and more than half of the more than 3,000 people he brought with him lost more than half of them in just one day, and most of them died under the thunderbolt of the Yue Guo Naval Division. The cannons from the thunderbolt flew more than a hundred and ten paces, and they were aimed at the crowds, and each hit caused a series of screams, and its deterrent power was far less than that of a strong crossbow that could shoot through two or three people with a single arrow. What made Liu Xiang even more angry was that among these artillery stones were also cannons tied up with bricks, and the Yue Guo sailors poured oil on them, ignited them and then launched them, and the bricks flew out in the air, and when they flew to the city, they had become a rain of bricks, which made the defenders cry wolves. There were not many killed, but the wounded abounded, morale plummeted, many soldiers did not dare to go to the city, it was useless to use whips to catch up, Liu Xiang was forced to be helpless, and in a fit of rage killed more than a dozen cowering, which brought the situation under control.

At the same time, Zang Ba also launched an attack at the West Gate, and like Sun Shao, he was not in a hurry to attack the city, but used the thunderbolt and crossbow to shoot the covering fire first, and at the same time lined up the siege troops with bright armor behind the thunderbolt to put psychological pressure on the soldiers defending the city. Now the Qingxu Sailor is rich, and the two rows of soldiers standing in the front are all in iron armor, and the swords and spears and halberds in their hands are shining with cold light, shining in the sun, dazzling, attracting enough eyeballs.

After a day of fierce fighting, Gongsun Yuan thought that Sun Shao and the others would rest for the night and fight again tomorrow, but they didn't expect that just after dinner, the roar of the thunderbolt and the roar of the crossbow sounded again at the east gate and the west gate, and what shocked them even more was that the thunderbolt adjusted its range and shot burning fireballs into the depths of Xiangping City. It was dark early in Liaodong, although it was only unitary time, the sky was already dark, and nothing could be seen in the night sky, only fireballs roared by, drawing a deadly arc and falling into the city. The houses in Xiangping City are mainly wooden structures, and in a short period of time, the city was full of fires and chaos.

The thunderbolt caused great fear among the defenders of Xiangping City, and as soon as they heard the roar of the thunderbolt as it was launched, they were terrified, and then stared at the frightened eyes as one fireball after another turned into countless sparks in the air and fell into Xiangping City.

Gongsun Gong jumped like thunder, his face was trembling, he pointed at Liu Yi and the others with ugly faces, his fingers trembled, and the words of scolding were swirling in his mouth, and he could burst out at any time.

"Don't worry." Liu Yi was confident and calm: "The reason why Sun Shao attacked at any cost was to put pressure on us and force us to surrender. But what could he do, though he had been storming for a day? It's just that the sharpness of the thunderbolt has caused us some trouble, and both the east gate and the west gate are safe and sound. And how many guns and bolts can he have if he fights like this? The minister estimated that he would attack tomorrow for two or three days at most, and he would be able to account for it here. ”

"Really?" Gongsun Gong was skeptical.

"The ministers dare to deceive the king." Liu Yi became more and more calm: "Chen, I still consider that he has a ship to transport, if there is no ship, he may not even be able to support today." Fighting a war is to settle accounts, whether it is artillery or crossbow arrows, they will not fall out of thin air, the cost of long-distance transportation is very staggering, and he attacks with all his strength, it is precisely out of the consideration of wanting a quick victory. ”

"That's right." Gongsun Gong finally calmed down, flicked his sleeves, thought about it and said, "Can the Yue merchants in the city be controlled?" Don't let them do what they want, and spoil our big business. ”

"Rest assured, ten days ago, we closed Xiangping City, and all the merchants of the Yue Kingdom were controlled." Liu Yi was very excited when he thought of this. After this battle, just find an excuse to confiscate the goods of the Vietnamese merchants, and you can make a windfall again. The merchants of the Yue Kingdom have money, they take a big ship, a shipload of goods transported over, and they earn Liaodong I don't know how much money, and now all this money will fall into his pocket.

Is it easiest to get rich in business? No, the easiest thing to get rich is robbery, which is the one who has no money, whether it is confiscation in the capacity of the government or robbers who do business with knives.

Liu Yi's eyebrows fluttered, his heart was happy, what he was thinking about most now was not the goods of Yueguo, but the Kabuki of Yue, just half a month ago, Yueguo merchants shipped a large number of beautiful Kabuki, the number of more than 500 people, it is said that more than 200 people have been sold, and more than 300 are hoarded in Xiangping City because the price is too expensive. As soon as this battle was fought, he could pocket those Kabuki without spending a single penny.

The Kabuki of the Yue Kingdom is good, not only are the people beautiful, the songs and dances are good, but also there are many tricks, not only the Wuyue women with black hair and black eyes, who are as tender as water, but also the blonde and blue-eyed Xiyi, those Xiyi women have a bewitching body, and their tastes are very different from those of the Central Plains women, they are very popular, and they are sold out quickly when they arrive in Xiangping. Liu Yi's son Liu Xiang because of the border between the defense area and Xiangping City, in order to please him, those Yue merchants also flattered him, and specially sent two to him, Liu Xiang did not dare to enjoy it alone, and transferred one of them to Lao Tzu. Liu Yi is very satisfied, these barbarians are open, more open than the Central Plains women, all kinds of unheard of fancy tricks make Liu Yi tired, the only regret is that he is really old, although the absurd words of the past few days are like a fairy, but the problem of back pain also broke out together, and even when he went to court, he couldn't help yawning.

Just when Liu Yi walked into the house thinking nonsense, the eldest grandson Liu Yuan hurriedly walked in, with a frightened face, and fell to his knees as soon as he saw Liu Yi, and burst into tears before he could speak: "Father, Daddy is dead!" ”

"What?" Liu Yi didn't come back to his senses for a while: "Your father died in battle?" ”

"It's not." Yanagihara's head shook like a rattle, and he couldn't cry: "He was assassinated in the bedroom." ”

(To be continued)