Just like Xin Bi said to Cao Boss, the trouble of the Quartet is no greater than Hebei, Hebei is peaceful, and hegemony can be achieved.

In terms of war potential alone, Jizhou's war potential is actually far above the five counties of Xuzhou, the old nest of Deputy Director Tao, and the population of Jizhou was as high as 5.77 million in the late Han Dynasty, while Xuzhou was only 2.79 million.

In addition, the degree of destruction in Jizhou is far smaller than that of Xu Yanyuqing and other states, although the Yellow Turban Rebellion was first broken out in Julu County, Jizhou, but the Yellow Turban in Jizhou was suppressed that year, Yanyuqing and other states were the hardest hit by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the worst Qingzhou was destroyed by the Yellow Turban War to only a handful of cities, Xuzhou was affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion even though it was relatively small, but it was Xuzhou's largest grain, salt and iron production underground Pi County, forcing Lao Tao Qian to rely on the promotion of Buddhism to fight against the Taiping.

The subsequent war of the Central Plains was further distanced, the Great Yuan Sangong was almost bloodless to capture Jizhou by trickery, and then there was almost no major war in Jizhou, Xu Yan Yuqing and other places broke out one after another cruel bloody battles, the population decline was far more than Jizhou, and the degree of economic destruction was also the same, forcing Cao Boss to have to use human flesh as military food, so Deputy Director Tao would lament that Xu Yanyu Qingyang only had one-third of the world's five states, and Jiyou and the three states had one of them. But in terms of overall strength. In the land of Jiyou and the three states, Jizhou has more than two-thirds of it!

In view of this situation, if Yuan Tan Gongzi can be given a little more time to integrate the interior, rely on the orthodox advantage of the successor designated by the Great Yuan Sangong to reunify the three states of Ji and You, and give full play to the advantages of the population and economy of the three states and the advantages of horse production and land, then it is difficult to conclude the world, at least the Xuzhou army is not so easy to form an overwhelming advantage over Yuan Tan army. But it's a pity that Yuan Tan Gongzi knows this, and the decision-makers of Xuzhou, who are full of bad seeds, know this even better, whether they are civilian officials or military generals of the Xuzhou Army. I don't want to go back to the days when I was slave to the Jizhou army in the past. Therefore, Yuan Tanjun, who finally recaptured Yecheng, not to mention that he had the opportunity to integrate the interior, did not even have a chance to breathe.

On October 24, the first Gaoshun team of Xuzhou reinforcements arrived at Baimadu, and the next day they launched a river crossing operation under the cover of Chen Zhijun. Yuan Tanjun, who confronted Chen Zhijun across the white ditch, was shocked and immediately decided. Immediately launched a strong attack on Chen Zhijun's troops. In a vain attempt to rush across the white ditch and attack the Gao Shun reinforcements halfway through, Chen Zhijun, who was guarding the river, fought hard, and the battle was extremely fierce and cruel. Yuan Tan's army, which had the advantage of local troops, firmly gained the upper hand, although Chen Zhijun also fought to the death, but Chen Zhijun did not have many elites in the army, and was never able to retreat Yuan Tan's elite team of 100 battles brought from Bingzhou, and the battle was stalemate until close to noon, and the Chen Zhijun, who was weak, suffered heavy casualties, and the Baigou River was red.

Fortunately, at noon, Gao Shun's army had already crossed two groups of teams totaling more than 4,000 people, and immediately rushed to the Baigou battlefield after gathering to help the crumbling Chen Zhi team stabilize the Baigou defense line, and then Gao Shun also personally led the trap camp to cross the Yellow River in the third team, and rushed to the battlefield to assist Chen Zhi in the battle, and personally led the trap camp to kill the Yuan Tan army that broke through the Baigou Jiao Touch team, and beheaded the Yuan army general Jiao Touch on the bank of the Baigou River, which brought the Baigou battlefield back to the balance of power, and the Yuan Tan army continued to storm until it was completely dark, confirming that Gao Shun's army crossed the river more than half, Only then did he have no choice but to collect his troops and return to the camp, Gao Shunjun took the opportunity to cross the river overnight, crossed the Yellow River on the morning of the 26th, and joined Chen Zhijun in Liyang.

Preventing Gao Shun's reinforcements from crossing the river failed, Yuan Tan's army actually had little hope of recapturing Liyang's important land, Yuan Jun's civil and military forces suggested that Yuan Tan retreat, preserve his strength and retreat to Yecheng, but Yuan Tan refused to give up, and insisted on launching an attack on Chen Zhi and Gao Shun's team, Chen Zhi and Gao Shun listened to Xun Chen's suggestion, and deliberately continued to take the momentum of holding on to the river, intending to drag Yuan Tan and consume the strength of Yuan Tan's army. Yuan Tan saw that the Xuzhou army was still helpless after receiving reinforcements, and his confidence was greatly increased, relying on his own rear road to be close, so he ordered Guo Tu, who stayed in Yecheng, to send reinforcements to the rear army, determined to repel the Xuzhou army and recapture Liyang.

Yuan Tan Gongzi dared to make such a determination, the biggest reason is, of course, that he had not received the news that the main force of Xuzhou had returned to the north, and Xun Chen, who was familiar with Yuan Tan's character, also ordered all passes in the northwest of Yanzhou to be tightly sealed, desperately delaying the speed of Yuan Tan's army to deliver the news, and luring Yuan Tan to continue to increase the number of troops in Liyang, Yuan Tan's army sent more than 10,000 troops to Liyang as a result, and desperately requisitioned troops from Handan, Julu and other places to the south, completely unaware that the main force of Xuzhou was already moving towards Jizhou, and the time of the fall of the army had begun to count down.

Paper can't hold the fire, on the fourth day of the first day of November, Deputy Director Tao personally led the army to attack Yuan Tan's army in three ways, and finally through the transmission of the Yellow River waterway, from Hanoi to Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan, who had just received reinforcements and was preparing to attack Liyang again, was shocked when he heard the news, and exclaimed why his brother-in-law would be so fast, but he could only quickly lead the army to retreat in the direction of Yecheng, Gao Shun decisively led the army to pursue, delayed Yuan Tan's retreat, and took advantage of the situation to take Dangyin, opening the way for the Xuzhou army to capture Yecheng, Yuan Tan did not even dare to defend Anyang, led the main force to retreat to Yecheng, and reorganized the city in Yecheng to prepare to meet the enemy.

At the same time, Lu You and Cao Bao and other Xuzhou veterans escorted grain and grass also arrived in Puyang and Liyang, and replaced Chen to defend these two important towns in the north, after Chen to the army freed up, Xun Chen immediately suggested that Chen to lead the army to attack Neihuang, Fanyang and Changle and other places, open up the white ditch to Yecheng water grain road, Chen Zhi immediately sent troops, only the township soldiers guarded Neihuang and Fanyang two cities knew that they were invincible, decisively opened the city gate to surrender to the Xuzhou army, only Changle small city relied on the city to be close to Yecheng, refused to surrender and stubbornly resisted, Chen Zhi waved his army to attack, and Changle had no choice but to open the city and surrender after asking for help from Yecheng to no avail, and the city of Jizhou south of Yecheng fell into the hands of the Xuzhou army.

Of course, Yuan Tan Gongzi didn't want to save Changle, but there was really no need to rescue. In the case that the main force of Xuzhou has gone north on three routes, even if he saves Changle with all his might, he will definitely be forced to give up his life in the future, and the small city of Changle, which lacks food and few people, is neither worth holding onto, nor is it destined to hold on for a long time, and more importantly, whether Yuan Tanjun is now fully committed to Yecheng is a huge controversial issue, so Yuan Tan Gongzi naturally has no interest in saving Changle.

Gao Gan and Fu Hu and other important generals of Yuan Tan's army were opposed to holding Yecheng, on the grounds that Yecheng's food stocks were not sufficient enough to support the main force for a long time. At the same time, it is too close to Liyang and Puyang, the northern expedition bases of the Xuzhou Army. It is too far away from the rear of Bingzhou, once the Xuzhou army cuts off the connection between Yecheng and the outside world, Yuan Tan's army will be destroyed on the Yecheng battlefield. Therefore, Gao Gan and Fu Hu and others suggested that Yuan Tan give up Yecheng, or leave only one army and horses to guard Yecheng. Yuan Tan himself led the main force north to the hinterland of Jizhou. Go to the central and northern parts of Jizhou, which the Xuzhou army cannot threaten for the time being, to regroup. Wait until you recover and come back to take revenge.

If Yuan Tan Gongzi listened to Gao Gan and Frustrated's advice, he should at least not lose too quickly, but it's okay. At the critical moment, Mr. Wumao Guotu, the enemy who brought his own dry food, jumped out in time and admonished in front of Yuan Tan Gongzi: "The lord must not abandon Yecheng lightly, Yecheng city is strong, it is a pity to abandon it, and get the benefit of the twelve canals of the West Gate, the grain is abundant, it is really the first place in Jizhou, if it falls into the hands of the pottery thief, it will become the foothold of the pottery thief to seize the three northern states, and our army will have no peace." ”

"One more point." Mr. Guo Tu hurriedly added: "Ye County Xitong Huguan Shangdang, north to Zhao State Julu and other densely populated places, if it falls into the hands of the pottery thief, not only the hinterland of Jizhou, where the lord raises food and recruits troops, will no longer be peaceful, but also the pottery thief will cut off the connection between the lord and the rear of the state, at this moment the pottery thief has another division has already entered Hanoi to attack the party, if our army is cut off from the rear of the state, and the whole territory of the state will be closed!" ”

"Don't worry." Gao Gan hurriedly said: "Bingzhou is vast and sparsely populated, dry in Bingzhou for many years, deep understanding of geography and people's feelings, as long as the lord sends cadres back to the state to command the army, will be able to block the invasion of the pottery thief's division, even if the main force of the pottery thief westward, the last general will also be able to contain his main force in the territory of Bingzhou, for the lord to buy time to regroup." ”

It's good that Gao Gan didn't say this, Yuan Tan Gongzi was still hesitating, but after Gao Gan opened his mouth and asked to return to the state to command the troops, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who deliberately brought Gao Gan to the Jizhou battlefield because Gao Gan was disobedient, immediately made up his mind, and said a few times: "The public rule is reasonable, Yecheng is important, and it must not be easily given up, our army should do its best to hold Yecheng, and if it can't be held, make another plan!" Mr. Gongze, in your opinion, how should our army hold on? ”

Gao Gan and Frustrated Hu sighed in despair, and Mr. Guo Tu was eyebrows fluttered, and hurriedly said: "Lord, Tu thinks that General Deng Sheng should lead an army of 5,000 Tunmao City, and Huguan should be used as horns to protect the grain road traffic in the state, and then please return to Handan to defend the city as soon as possible, and Yecheng will be horns for each other, and prepare grain and grass from Zhao Guojulu and other places, and quickly send a large number of grain and grass to Yecheng to listen to it." Our army is relying on the strong city of Yejun to compete with the main force of the pottery thief, and on the other hand, it is spread that the counties and counties of Jiyou are going to reinforce Yecheng, especially to summon Jiang Qi and the main force of Youzhou to go south to rescue, the pottery thief will come from afar to come to the grain and grass will be difficult to continue for a long time, and when the main force of Youzhou arrives, our army should also consume the grain and grass of the pottery thief. ”

"Jiang Qi and Zhao have not listened to the command, will they lead the army to rescue?" Yuan Tan Gongzi was a little worried.

"Jiang Qi and Zhao didn't listen to the command before because they opposed the lord and Yuan Shang meeting by force." Guo Tu said confidently: "But now it's different, the pottery thief invaded Jizhou, called revenge for his mother-in-law, but he was actually greedy for the land of Sanzhou, Jiang Lian and the two generals were loyal ministers of Jizhou, and they would definitely come to the rescue when they saw the book, and they would never hesitate!" ”

"Okay, that's it!" When Yuan Tan Gongzi heard the great joy, he immediately sent the general Deng Sheng to lead an army of 5,000 to defend Maocheng, and ordered Fu Hu to lead an army of 7,000 to defend Handan, prepare grain and grass and organize reinforcements, and Yecheng formed horns with each other, and sent a letter ordering the counties of Jiyou to send troops to rescue, and sent a letter to Jiang Qi and Zhao and other generals who supported the army for help. In the end, Yuan Tan Gongzi ordered Gao Gan, Lu Kuang and other generals to immediately lead the army to strengthen the city defense.

………………

At the same time that Chen Zhijun took Changle, the main force of the Northern Expedition led by Deputy Director Tao finally arrived in the area of Yanjin in Baima, relying on the results achieved by Gao Shun and Chen to the early stage, the main force of Xuzhou was very easy to cross the Yellow River in Yanjin and Baima in two ways, and the troops arrived at the city of Liyang. After crossing the river, he heard that Yuan Tanjun was making every effort to strengthen the city defense of Yecheng, and Deputy Director Tao, who was traveling north at a speed of fifty miles a day, first applauded and laughed, and then immediately ordered the whole army to stop marching and prepare to go north to Yecheng after resting for a few days in Liyang.

In this regard, the generals of Xuzhou who were anxious to clean up Yuan Tan's achievements asked the reason, and Deputy Director Tao replied very vaguely with a smile, and said: "I have to give Yuan Tan a little confidence, so that he thinks there is hope." The general of Xuzhou did not understand this reply, and asked the reason again. Deputy Director Tao refused to answer any more.

It's not just Xuzhou generals who ask for this reason. Yuan Shanggongzi also sent a messenger Li Fu to ask Deputy Director Tao when he would attack Yecheng, and Deputy Director Tao, who was forced to use Dong'e as the third grain land, replied: "There is not enough grain and grass, our army has just returned from the southern expedition, and the grain will not continue." You have to wait for the grain and grass to be transported into Baigou before you can go north. Yecheng is strong. Our army must be better prepared for a long and bitter battle. ”

After explaining the reason for this. Deputy Director Tao instructed Li Fu in a commanding tone: "Lord Li Bo can repay my wife and brother, saying that our army has a total of 120,000 people, and there is no need to ask him to send troops to help our army capture Yecheng. He can mention the soldiers of Qingheguan Tao to the north of Anping Bohai and other counties, eradicate the remnants of Yuan Tan there, organize the soldiers and horses to hoard grain and grass, and help me cut off Yuan Tan's northern reinforcements. As for the Ganling Beiqiu and other places in Qinghe County, they are temporarily borrowed by our army, and they will be returned after Yuan Tan is defeated. ”

Although he was very dissatisfied with Deputy Director Tao's tone and directly asked for Ganling and other places, Deputy Director Tao's arrangement was very satisfactory to Li Fu - he kept the most difficult things to himself, and handed over the easiest and easiest things to Yuan Shang, so Li Fu immediately thanked Deputy Director Tao and said that he would definitely bring the order to Yuan Shang. Deputy Director Tao took out another edict and said with a smile: "Bo Bo of the annoying Li Zhu brought this edict to his wife and brother by the way, and after my request, the Son of Heaven has issued an edict to entitle his wife and brother as the governor of Jiyou and Sanzhou, and his brother can hold this edict to cast a seal and pass on the edict, and order Jiyou and Sanzhou counties to submit to him, so as to weaken Yuan Tan's momentum." ”

"The official edict of canonizing the lord as the governor of Jiyou and the governor of the three states?" Li Fu was even more overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked him for his resignation and left, leaving Deputy Director Tao sneering slightly in the big tent of the Chinese army, scolding the third brother-in-law in his heart for his lack of greed, and at this point, he dared to covet the three northern states.

After resting for a few days, Gao Shun and Xun Chen sent someone to send a message, reporting on the mobilization of Yuan Tan's army, and concluded that Yuan Tan planned to hold Yecheng, and the overjoyed Deputy Director Tao led the main force to the north, taking Dangyin and Anyang directly north to Yecheng, and deliberately ordered the army to travel thirty miles a day to conserve physical strength, and also gave Yuan Tan's army a chance to strengthen the city defense and mobilize grain and grass by the way.

Nine days later, the main force of Xuzhou in Anyang and Gao Shun, Chen to join the division, from Yecheng is only 30 miles away, the camp is undecided, just in time to make an urgent report that Yuan Tanjun has military food from Bingzhou, sent to Yecheng from Zhangshui, Xuzhou generals were overjoyed when they heard the news, and they asked for orders to go upstream to rob grain, but Deputy Director Tao shook his head decisively, and said: "Don't rob, let these grains and grass into Yecheng, so that Yuan Tan has more confidence to defend the city!" ”

"Why?" The people of Xuzhou will continue to be puzzled, and Xun Chen, the old snake in Jizhou, was also surprised, and cautiously reminded Deputy Director Tao: "Lord, with all due respect, is this move too light?" Yecheng is strong, never under any strong city in the world, and our army's meticulous work has already been proven, although Yuan Shang set fire to the grain when he evacuated Yecheng, but not all of it was burned, Yuan Tan still has a lot of grain in Yecheng, if you deliberately indulge Yuan Tan to transport grain into the city, our army wants to capture Yecheng again, I am afraid it will not be so easy. ”

"Mr. Youruo, can you find out how many defenders there are in Yecheng?" Deputy Director Tao did not answer the rhetorical question.

"The details have not yet been discovered, but at least around 40,000." Xun Chen replied: "When Yuan Tan attacked Yuan Shang, he brought 50,000 troops from Bingzhou, and although there were many dead and wounded, Fu Hu, Gao Fan and others led the army to surrender successively, and then got some troops from Yuan Shang, plus some of Yuan Tan's newly recruited troops, so even if Yuan Tan divided his troops into two ways to defend Maocheng and Handan, there should be about 40,000 defenders inside and outside Yecheng. ”

"How's the armament? How many troops were placed outside the city? Deputy Director Tao asked again.

"About 20,000, outside the South Gate." Xun Chen replied, and added: "The leading general is Lu Kuang, and the deputy Ma Yan are both Jizhou veterans, and the camp is also quite strong. By the way, our scouts have stolen a picture of the enemy's camp, and Chen will let people take it for the lord to see. ”

"You don't have to take it right away, let's take a look at it slowly." Deputy Director Tao waved his hand to stop it, then turned to the generals and shouted, "Where is Qin Yi?" ”

"The end will be." General Qin Yi did not hesitate to come out of the ranks, and then took the initiative to ask: "Lord, but let the last general deceive and lure the enemy?" ”

The generals in Xuzhou laughed, and Deputy Director Tao also laughed, and said with embarrassment: "Oops, I forgot to promise you not to let you cheat, forget it, you must be true to your word, General Qin, you should step down." Wei Yan, tomorrow you take 5,000 troops to fight, remember that you are not allowed to win if you are defeated, and you will flee for your life after fighting for a while, and you will act like a point. ”

"No." Wei Yan reluctantly agreed, and then asked, "Lord, where are you luring the enemy to?" ”

"No, this time it's not a lure to the enemy, it's an arrogant enemy." Deputy Director Tao replied: "I have to defeat a few battles this time, strengthen Yuan Tan's determination to defend to the end, and then think about how to break the enemy." ”

The next day, Wei Yan was ordered to lead the army to the north, to the Yuan Tan military camp outside Yecheng City to fight, Yuan Tan saw that there were not many enemies, so he ordered Lu Kuang to lead the army to meet the battle, it was the middle of winter, the two armies braved the snow to set up a formation, Wei Yan slapped the horse out of the battle in the snowflakes and scolded, Lu Kuang was furious and came to fight with Wei Yan, fought for more than ten rounds, Wei Yan was defeated and left, Wei Yan's Danyang hooligan soldiers also took out a long-time escape stunt that had not been performed for a long time, shouting and rushing to turn around and run, although Yuan Tanjun also chased with all his might, but he could only see the snow and dust dragged up behind the buttocks of these Danyang soldiers, Yuan Tan was afraid that Wei Yan was deceitful and lured the enemy, so he quickly ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops and not allow Lu Kuang to pursue too much.

When Wei Yan's team returned to the Xuzhou camp, Deputy Director Tao was leading a cadre of civil and military personnel to inspect the camp defense, and personally urged the auxiliary team to build a strong camp to make a long-term plan, but to Deputy Director Tao's surprise, the progress of the construction of the camp was much slower than he estimated, although the fence had been set up two days ago, the trench around the camp was excavated very slowly, Deputy Director Tao was furious, and urgently called Fu Yang, who led the army to build the camp, to the front and asked why.

"Lord, you can't blame the last general." Fu Yang replied very aggrievedly: "Last night, the north wind rose strongly, the temperature dropped suddenly, and the dripping water could turn into ice, and the land was frozen. ”

"I see." Deputy Director Tao understood the reason and scolded the ghost, but Deputy Director Tao suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly asked, "What did you say?" The land is frozen hard? ”

"yes."

Before Fu Yang's answer could be spoken, Deputy Director Tao had already snatched a hoe from the auxiliary soldier next to him, raised it above his head, and smashed it to the ground, but as Fu Yang said, a hoe only smashed a white shallow pit less than an inch deep, and Deputy Director Tao also sat on the ground and muttered: "It's over, why did I forget to consider the temperature?" ”

"Lord, what's wrong?" Seeing Deputy Director Tao's appearance, the surrounding Xuzhou Wenwu was naturally shocked, and hurriedly came over to support Deputy Director Tao, knowing that Deputy Director Tao's original plan Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye were also shocked at first, and then turned pale together, and said secretly: "Oh no, why did we forget to consider the impact of temperature?" The weather is cold and the land is frozen, hard as iron, how to open a canal to divert the water of the Zhanghe River to trap Yuan Tan? ”

"The lord has always been unfazed, why is this the case today?" I don't know that Deputy Director Tao's original new plan Xun Chen is also a flute, but after looking at the shallow pit smashed out by Deputy Director Tao, and recalling Deputy Director Tao's previous arrangement, Xun Chen quickly came to his senses, and hurriedly leaned into Deputy Director Tao's ear and asked: "Lord, you plan to divert Zhangshui to trap Yuan Tan to death, but you found that the land is hard and can't open a canal, so you are so shocked?" ”

Deputy Director Tao hesitated, nodded, and replied in a low voice: "It was Ziyu who suggested that I try to kill Yuan Tan first, and then the three northern states can be determined, so I planned to lead the water of the Zhanghe River to trap Yuan Tan, but I missed the temperature." ”

"Why did Mr. Ziyu suggest killing Yuan Tan first, isn't that cheap Yuan Shang for nothing?" Xun Chen was a little surprised at first, and then said with a smile: "Lord, if you really plan to kill Yuan Tan first, this is actually not difficult, and there is no need to divert water to besiege the city and trap Yuan Tan so troublesomely, it is time-consuming and laborious and a waste of money and food. (To be continued......)