Just as the so-called opportunity cannot be lost, it will not come again, just when Deputy Director Tao personally led the army to attack Wancheng, Yuan Tan Gongzi in the north firmly seized this opportunity, taking advantage of the emptiness of the northern line of Yanzhou of the Xuzhou Army, temporarily unable to provide strong assistance to his rival brother Yuan Shang, and personally led an army of 50,000 troops out of the pot pass to kill into Jizhou, and the blade pointed directly at the former base camp of the Yuan family, the essence of Jiyou and Sanzhou, and the current nest of Yuan Shangjun's - Yecheng!

This is a rather bleak expedition for the Yuan family, not to mention that the object of the crusade is his own siblings, not to mention the 50,000 troops led by Yuan Tan Gongzi, which is even more sad and pitiful, this number may be a lot for the second- and third-rate princes, but for the Yuan family, which has sent hundreds of thousands of troops at every turn, this amount of troops is really a bit embarrassing. But even so, these 50,000 troops are already the largest force that Yuan Tan Gongzi can dispatch at present.

After Yuan Tan Gongzi took away the 50,000 troops, there were actually only more than 20,000 troops left in Bingzhou, and he had to guard against the Xuzhou army from Hanoi to attack Bingzhou, so he had to give up the northern front to defend it.

But fortunately, there are not many troops that Yuan Shanggongzi can directly control in his hands, and at the same time, the main force of Yuan Tan Gongzi's team is also the Jizhou veteran who was preserved by Gao Gan and Jiang Yiqu during the Xuchang War, and his combat effectiveness is relatively strong, so Yuan Tan Gongzi still has the upper hand.

There are also many people who resolutely oppose Yuan Tan's crusade and Yuan Shang's fratricidal confrontation, Jiang Qi of Youzhou and Daijun have written to oppose Yuan Tan's self-mutilation, and Jiang Qi also expressed his willingness to provide Youzhou as a neutral place. Let Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang brothers sit down and talk carefully, Yuan Tan's cousin Gao Gan also resolutely opposed, but Yuan Tan Gongzi, who hated his brother so much, resolutely refused to listen - not only did he not listen, but also deliberately brought Gao cadres to the army to crusade against Yuan Shang together, leaving Jiang Yiqu, who was more supportive of his Eastern Crusade, to guard the annexed state, so as not to make a fool of the logistics of the senior cadres who were quite authoritative in the merge and forced him to give up the Eastern Crusade.

Of course, Yuan Tan Gongzi said that he wanted to meet the third brother with the sword soldiers, and he also had his own reasons and hardships, because Yuan Tan knew it very well. Talk to Yuan Shang no matter what. It is absolutely impossible for Yuan Shang to hand over the essence of Jizhou, which has the largest population, the best economy and the most abundant grain production among the three northern states, and once Yuan Tan makes concessions on the Jizhou issue, he will have to face the dilemma of having no money and no food to raise troops and prepare for war, and then let alone fight for hegemony in the world to regain his prestige. Even self-protection is even more difficult.

So there is no way. Even if he knew that the persuasion of Gao Gan and Jiang Qi and others was loyal and kind. also understood that going to war with his younger brother was fratricidal, and Yuan Tan could only forcibly decide to send troops, taking advantage of the strength he still had to fight. has not been completely dragged down by economic money and food, and also took advantage of the most insidious jackal, the most vicious pit viper, and his brother-in-law Deputy Director Tao to go south, temporarily unable to interfere in the war in Jizhou, and hurriedly sent troops to recapture Jizhou.

Hearing that his brother's soldiers were out of the pot, Yuan Shanggongzi did not consider what to return to his brother and brother, and he was not willing to sit still, relying on the support of the Jizhou gate lord family headed by the trial, while sending an envoy again to ask for help from his brother-in-law Deputy Director Tao, he personally led 30,000 troops to meet his brother, and Yuan Tan's army fought in Jiuhou City west of Yecheng, which also pushed the dispute between the Yuan brothers to the climax.

The battle of Jiuhou City was extremely tragic, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were the two brothers who personally went into battle, personally clashed in front of the battle, and also risked the conflict of arrows and stones together to cover up and kill, and the soldiers of the two armies, who were originally the same towns, the same county and even the same clan, were also forced to raise their swords and guns, and fought bloodily for the power struggle of the Yuan brothers. On the day of the first battle, the sky of Jizhou, which had been clear for a long time, suddenly turned from sunny to cloudy, and went down to be drizzled, like tears in the drizzle, the corpses on the battlefield of Jiuhou City were all over the field, the blood flowed like a river, and the neighboring Zhangshui was pink.

In history, Yuan Shang Gongzi is a typical representative of the civil war and the foreign war, every time he meets Cao Boss, he loses his armor and collapses the army, and every time he meets his brother, he is high-spirited and unstoppable, this time is no exception, in the case that the strength of the army is not as good as the brother, Yuan Shang Gongzi Leng withstood the first onslaught of his brother, and fought evenly with Yuan Tan in the first battle, which also made both armies suffer heavy casualties and lose both.

The first onslaught of Yuan Tan's army was withstood with weak forces, and the morale of Yuan Shang's army was boosted, while Yuan Tan's army was demoralized, and when they fought again the next day, Yuan Shang still did not defeat Yuan Shang. However, at this time, Ye County, who was stationed in Wei County, was too guarded by Gao Fan, because he was dissatisfied with Yuan Shang's forgery of the will of the third duke of the Great Yuan Dynasty, which led to the split of the Yuan family, and took the opportunity of Yuan Tan to send troops to Yecheng, and suddenly raised troops to rebel, and led the army to kill Yuan Tan from Wei County, attacking the back of Yuan Shang's army, Yuan Shang received the news that he was afraid of being attacked by the enemy, and had to quickly retreat to Yecheng, Yuan Tan's army took the opportunity to advance to Yecheng City, and Yuan Shang once again fought in Yecheng City, which had been rich in the world by relying on the twelve canals of the West Gate, and countless rice that could be ripened and harvested turned into silt. Countless markets outside the city were destroyed, including the Zhangshui Wharf settlement where Deputy Director Tao's concubine Guo Huan and her family once lived, and tens of thousands of people in Jizhou were displaced and starved.

Even if he advanced to the city of Yecheng, Yuan Tan Gongzi actually did not have the certainty of victory, because the city of Yecheng was too strong, and the food was relatively sufficient, and at the same time, Yuan Shang also had more than 30,000 armored soldiers in his hands, and even if Yuan Tan's army received reinforcements from Gaofan's army, it was still unable to form an overwhelming advantage over Yuan Shang in terms of troops, and it was far inferior to Yuan Shang's army in terms of food. As a last resort, Yuan Tan could only play the trick of forcible expropriation on his own territory, forcibly seizing the people's food for military use, and Yuan Shanghe grasped the weakness of Yuan Tan's army's lack of food and grass, and continued to ask for help from the Xuzhou army, while only holding on without fighting and Yuan Tan's army dragged on time, intending to survive until Yuan Tan's army was exhausted and retreated.

At the critical moment, luck stood on the side of Yuan Tangongzi, the orthodox successor of the Yuan family, and the frustrated son of the old Yuan family, after the Jizhou army entered Xuchang, because he was sent back to Jizhou by the Great Yuan Sangong to assist Yuan Shang and judge the relocation of the capital, he happened to catch up with Yuan Shang's rebellion, and had to bend down to serve Yuan Shang. Suddenly launched a mutiny in Handan City, killed Yuan Shang's henchman Zhao Guoxiang Li Yan, led the army to Yecheng to surrender Yuan Tan, and brought a large amount of military food to Yuan Tan.

With the rebellion of the frustrated Hu, the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to Yuan Shangjun, because Yuan Shang's Jizhou was originally not right, and the counties of Jizhou were only reluctant to surrender to Yuan Shang because Yuan Tan was not angry, and now Yuan Tan has killed the city of Yecheng. The rescue troops in Xuzhou have also been slow to hear from them. If this stalemate continues, there will definitely be more and more counties in Jizhou that rebel against Yuan Shang and submit to Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan's army will become stronger and stronger, and Yuan Shangjun will only become more and more isolated. Forced into desperation. Yuan Shang could only carefully consider the insidious proposal of his black-hearted brother-in-law. Abandon Yecheng and go to Qinghe or Liyang to seek refuge from the Xuzhou army.

By the way. When he received this letter from Deputy Director Tao, Yuan Shanggongzi flipped the table and scolded his mother, and Yuan Shanggongzi's biological mother Liu did not scold her son-in-law for being vicious. only cares about himself and ignores his mother-in-law, but now there is no way, Yuan Shanggongzi is dissatisfied with his brother-in-law's death and does not save him, so he will have to consider the so-called kind proposal of the black-hearted brother-in-law.

Yuan Shang's consideration was resolutely opposed by the trial, because the trial was very clear that once Yuan Shangjun gave up Yecheng, even if the Xuzhou army recaptured Yecheng in the future, it would never return Yecheng to Yuan Shang, so the trial repeatedly persuaded Yuan Shang to defend Yecheng, and pointed out that in the past two years, Jizhou has not been in the right season, the grain harvest in each county has been serious, and most of the grain stocks in various places have been collected in Yecheng, so even if the counties in the south of Jizhou have fallen to Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan's army can not consume the army of its own army, and it takes the risk to break through. It is better to stick to the fortified city of Yecheng, and wait until Yuan Tan's army runs out of food and grass, and the siege of Yecheng will be lifted.

Considering that it was a pity to give up the important town of Yecheng, Yuan Shang finally temporarily dispelled the idea of giving up Yecheng, and listened to the advice of the judge, took back all the troops outside the city, and expelled a large number of old and weak women and children from the city to save food expenses, not only freed up the houses and garrisons, but also increased the time of holding on, and also threw tens of thousands of old and weak women and children to Yuan Tan as packages - and also used a good excuse to save the people from fire and water to avoid the people from being burned by the war and release the families of Yuan Tan's soldiers.

In this way, Yuan Tan Gongzi was also dumbfounded, Yuan Tanjun's food and grass were not enough, and he had to bear the rations of so many old and weak women and children, and he had to die of old age? So there was no way, Yuan Tan Gongzi could only ignore the resolute opposition of the frustrated birds, only send a little ration to the families of his own soldiers, let them find a way out on their own, and then return to Yecheng after the war, and the old and weak women and children who were not the families of the self-army ignored them at all and left them to fend for themselves. As a result, it was the ordinary people who suffered in the end, countless people died of starvation, and a large number of people went south to Yanzhou, which was controlled by the Xuzhou army, and the Yuan brothers lost their hearts together.

………………

At the same time, after confirming that the sworn enemy Deputy Director Tao had been extremely powerful to contain Liu Biao's team for himself, Cao Boss also began his own rejuvenation plan, personally led the rebuilt 40,000 troops from Chencang to the south, preparing to attack the Yangping Pass controlled by Zhang Lujun into Hanzhong, seize the Hanzhong granary known as the small Jiangnan, and realize his comeback plan faster and more powerfully, and also took the two cities of Huixian and Fengxian north of Yangping Pass controlled by Zhang Lujun. had to immediately send troops to reinforce the throat of Yangping Pass, and began a large-scale expansion of the army, preparing for war, in case of the jackal Cao Boss from the Central Plains.

According to common sense, the Hanzhong army, which has been sparse for a long time, can only compete with the Cao army by virtue of its geographical advantages and natural dangers, and the Cao army, which has preserved a part of the elite soldiers of a hundred battles, is also very promising to capture Hanzhong, but what Cao Boss never dreamed of is that as early as more than a year ago, someone had already seen that after he set his footsteps in Guanzhong, the first target of the army must be Hanzhong! And according to this judgment, taking precautions has set a clever plan for the self-army team to make a comeback, so ............

So Uncle Liu Huang had the opportunity to make a comeback, after more than half a year of lurking under the command of Zhang Lu, the brother of Shangyong Taishou Zhang Lu, he just received the news that Cao Jun had entered Kou Hanzhong, Uncle Liu Huang immediately sent Sun Qian to Zhengcheng, south of Hanzhong County, with heavy gifts, and bribed Yang Song, a well-known money-hungry Zhang Lu's strategist, Yang Song, so that Yang Song could use himself in front of Zhang Lu. And Yang Song is worthy of the same surname Yang as Yang Changshi, and immediately saw Qian Yankai running to Zhang Lu to make a speech, and suggested that Zhang Lu use Uncle Liu Huang as a general to lead the army to resist the attack of Boss Cao.

is still the same sentence, Uncle Liu Huang still earned some reputation for being good at fighting when he was running around a few years ago. The Wudou Mi Sect, who has some connections with Taiping Dao, has long heard of Uncle Liu's great name, and now he is facing the frontal threat of the boss Cao in troubled times, and Zhang Lu, who is in urgent need of generals, also immediately adopted the suggestion of Yang Changshi's brother Yang Song, and urgently ordered Uncle Liu Huang to come to Hanzhong to meet. Although Yan Pu, another of Zhang Lu's advisers, objected, and kindly reminded Zhang Lu that Uncle Liu Huang looked down on wolves and could not be given military power, but Zhang Lu did not listen at all.

As a result, Uncle Liu Huang, who only brought more than ten people to Longlong, relied on tears, eloquence and fame, and soon became a lieutenant in Hanzhong, and led an army of 3,000 to Yangping Pass to assist Zhang Wei in guarding the pass. Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Zhang Fei and Guan Ping, who followed Uncle Liu into Long, also had a place to play. Yangping off. Zhang Fei suddenly flew out of the customs, and killed the Cao general Niu Jin who was fighting with one shot, and roared that Zhang Yide, a Yanren, was here, and Cao Ren, who led the army to fight, hugged his head and ran away. Sergeants scrambled for it. Uncle Liu Huang led the army to chase and kill. Zhang He led the army to respond, but was also killed and retreated by Zhang Feili, and Zhang Lujun finally reversed the dilemma of being beaten passively. Slightly reversed some of the combat power gap.

"Big-eared thief! I'll fuck your mother's eighteenth generation ancestor! After probably learning about Uncle Liu's appearance in Yangping Pass, the first thing Boss Cao did was to greet Uncle Liu's relatives with a scolding, and roared: "You want to fish in troubled waters and make a comeback, no one will stop you, but what are you doing in Hanzhong?" Do you know that you and I waste time and consume strength for a Hanzhong County, and who will benefit in the end? It's your nemesis, Tao Ying, a traitor! ”

It was not enough to scold Uncle Liu Huang, and Boss Cao scolded his de facto son-in-law, Deputy Director Tao, again, "God kill your Tao Ying traitor!" Don't count forcibly marrying my eldest daughter, leave my youngest daughter in Xuchang, I won't talk about you, why didn't you kill Liu Bei, a traitor? If you kill this traitor and take advantage of your plot against Hebei Sanzhou, won't Hanzhong and Xichuan be mine?! ”

……………………

Restricted by distance and roads, of course, Deputy Director Tao can't quickly know what happened above, and at the same time, Deputy Director Tao doesn't have the strength to interfere with these things for the time being, so Deputy Director Tao didn't spend much energy to pay attention to the movements of these enemies, and just took the poor General Huang Zu to train his troops, exercise his army's ability to attack fortifications, and lay some foundations for the future war in Hebei - opportunism may be able to win ten or eight fortified cities, but it is destined to be impossible to win all the fortified cities. Deputy Director Tao no matter how much he doesn't like a frontal attack, he also understands this truth.

The battle went on for two days, and it was estimated that the defenders of Wancheng had consumed more than half of the feather arrows, so Deputy Director Tao immediately started overnight, and sent the general Xu Huang to lead an army of 20,000 troops to suddenly go south to the area of Nan Juju, where a water fence was built overnight to block the channel, and a camp was established to defend the water fence and cut off the connection between the north and south of the water. When the defenders of Wancheng and the Jingzhou Army and the Wenzhi Department stationed in Yuyang found out about this situation, it was already too late, and the well-prepared Xuzhou army had already built the first water fence and the first pontoon bridge in the slow water of the water, and the second water gate and more pontoon bridges were being built at a rapid pace!

Huang Zu, who understood the plan, was shocked, and urgently ordered his henchman Su Fei to lead the army to destroy the water gate, but as soon as the army left the city, it was immediately attacked by the cavalry of Zhao Yun, the general of the Xuzhou army. And Wen Ping also rushed to lead the land and water army north to attack the water gate, Xu Huang ordered his deputy Fan Yi to lead the Xiangyang artillery team to attack the Jingzhou Navy fleet, since the leader and Wen Ping fought on land, and the Xuzhou Army was most afraid of the land field battle with the Jingzhou Army, although Wen Ping was very cautious did not fight with Xu Huang, he was still not an opponent when fighting with Xu Huang, several times the impact of Xu Huang's battle array was killed, Xu Huang then attacked the front of the Wen Ping army with infantry, and led the cavalry to knock on the back of the Wen Ping team, and the Wen Ping army was quickly defeated and was killed by Xu Huang's army. The fleet of the naval division was also smashed by the Xiangyang artillery of the Xuzhou army in the narrow water, and the water and land were both defeated, and they were forced to retreat to Yuyang to ask Liu Biao for help, while Xu Huangjun took the opportunity to continue to strengthen the water fence.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of Wancheng being completely isolated and demoralized, Deputy Director Tao also stepped up the battle to attack Wancheng, urging the infantry to completely fill in the northwest two moats of Wancheng, and after opening the siege road, Deputy Director Tao immediately arranged for the infantry team to take turns to go into battle. Close the stable door after the horse has bolted.

The ants of the real sword and real gun have been attacking the city for seven or eight days, the infantry team of the Xuzhou army has taken turns to fight once, and at the same time has caused huge casualties and losses to the defenders, when Deputy Director Tao is about to take Wancheng in one fell swoop, after the second watch that night, Lu Su, who is in charge of the battlefield on the southern front, sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that the little Yuan Sangong has died of illness, and his son Yuan Yao succeeded to the throne, Yuan Shujun is facing a critical situation of uneasy people in the old and new alternates, so Lu Su, who has learned badly, plans to take advantage of the fire to rob and take the opportunity to eradicate Yuan Shu's forces, Please ask Deputy Director Tao if he will allow it.

"Reply to Lu Su and don't start the Jiangdong war for the time being." Deputy Director Tao, who got up to read the letter, only thought for a moment, and did not summon Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye to discuss, and immediately ordered Chen Ying: "By the way, tell Lu Su that he will send someone to pay homage to Yuan Shu's spirit in my honor, and let our messenger tell Yuan Yao that if he wants to bury Yuan Shu in his hometown in Runan, we can do our best to assist and facilitate it, and there is also the ancestral cemetery of the Yuan family, I have also ordered only to protect and not destroy, and now it is safe and sound." ”

"No." Chen Ying sang a promise, and said: "Lord, allow Yuan Shu to be buried back to the ancestral tomb of Runan, which His Majesty understands, but Yuan Shu has just died, Yuan Yao has a new successor, and the old and the new are alternate, and the people are uncertain, it is a great opportunity for our army to take Wanling and Yuzhang in one fell swoop. ”

"Because our strategic focus is still on the northern front." Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "The world is divided into three parts, Xu Yanqing and Yu occupy one of them, Ji You and one of them, and the rest of them have a total of one, how can we spend a lot of money and food in vain for a fraction of Yangzhou, and miss the great opportunity to occupy Ji You and the three states?" Our army has been fighting for many years, and the money and food are not very sufficient, so we must use the money and food in restraint and use it on the blade. ”

"Understood." Chen Ying nodded and asked again, "Lord, should we speed up our movements?" It should be believed that only by taking Wancheng as soon as possible and grasping the initiative on the Nanyang battlefield, so that we can withdraw from the southern front at any time and return to the north to take Jiyou and Sanzhou. ”

"You're right, that's the truth." Deputy Director Tao said with a smile: "I also have this plan, and I am going to let the team rest ...... first." ”

"Report ————!"

Before Deputy Director Tao's words were finished, a guard had already rushed outside the tent, knelt down on one knee in front of the tent door, and clenched his fists and said: "Lord Qi, at the second watch, Huang Zu suddenly opened the second gate in the northwest of Wancheng, led the army out of the city, and fled in the direction of Nanyang in the southwest!" ”

Deputy Director Tao first smiled at Chen, and then asked the guard, "Is there a fire in Wancheng?" ”

"Nope." The guard replied.

"The old thing is quite smart, if he dares to set fire to the city, Captain Ben will kill his whole family!" Deputy Director Tao, who had already been to Huang Zu's niece, snorted, and then ordered: "Quickly go and give Zhao Yun an order, so that he will immediately lead the cavalry of his headquarters to pursue, and by the way, he will order to blow the trumpet and raise the account, and I will send follow-up troops and horses to Zhao Yun." (To be continued......)