No matter how good the calculation is, no matter how precise the trap, the prey refuses to be trapped, and the initiative to decide the outcome is still in Yuan Shaojun's own hands.

If the Great Yuan Sangong can know the wishful thinking of the unworthy son-in-law and the boss of Fa Xiaocao, then the Great Yuan Sangong should definitely give up the plan of storming Puyang City, adopt the most secure siege without attacking tactics, and consume the Xiahoudun team in Puyang City, which is only enough to support the food and grass for January, and also kill the Cao Boss team that is in danger after the Cangting fiasco.

But it's a pity that the decision-makers in Jizhou, including Yuan Shaojun's think tank Fu Zhu and Cui Yan, do not have the keen judgment of Jia Lao Poison, and they also underestimated Cao Lao's courage to break the cauldron and make a desperate fight, and they were eager to take Puyang to open up direct contact with the rear of Jizhou, so Puyang City inevitably staged a cruel and bloody offensive and defensive battle, and the course of the war also developed in the direction expected by Cao Laoda.

In the midst of the thunderous war drums and shouts, another thousand-strong Yuan Shaojun infantry launched an assault on the Puyang city wall, and under their feet, there were already broken flags and broken siege weapons, the corpses of retreating soldiers whose heads were cut off by the warlords, and the Puyang moat that had been completely filled with corpses and earth and stone debris; In front of them was the Puyang city wall, which was already densely packed with Yuan Shaojun's soldiers, and large areas of the city wall were blackened by thick smoke, and there were traces of knives and axes everywhere, as well as blood stains left by the spraying of old and new blood.

The battle on the city wall has already entered the white heat, relying on the numerical advantage of the troops, Yuan Shaojun soldiers continue to climb the city, seize many city positions, but the Puyang defenders are still as stubborn resistance as ever, Xiahoudun and Liu Yan personally put on the battle, Yaqu Tun will take the lead one by one, inspiring the city defenders to fight bravely, so even if Yuan Shaojun attacked the city wall, he has occupied the city head position many times, but every time without exception was driven down the city wall by the Puyang defenders, and failed to go deep into the city.

This time it seems to be an exception, from the day of the siege of Puyang Lonely City, it has been twenty-six days now, Yuan Shaojun has launched a strong attack eight times, but the result is eight consecutive failures, the loss of troops more than 8,000, under the successive setbacks, the thunderous Yuan Sangong issued a death order, the ninth siege of the city does not break the city and will not collect troops, no matter who the generals and soldiers are, those who are afraid to take a step back are killed, and also sent their own personal soldiers to the city as a supervising team, from the early morning to attack the city, only to fight until about the afternoon Shen Shi, There was already a tooth general, three Qutun generals and dozens of soldiers who died tragically under the knife of Yuan Shaojun's military supervision team, Yuan Shaojun was horrified, and he could only move forward desperately, shouting and fighting in the city.

Yuan Shaojun's army is advancing or dying, retreating is also death, if you want to survive you can only attack the city, the Puyang defenders have no way to retreat, in order to survive can only desperately hold the city's head position, two armies with the determination to die collide on the narrow city's head position, the cruelty of the war in the city is naturally bloody to the point that it is unbearable to see. In the fierce battle, the soldiers of Yuan Cao's two armies seemed to be crazy, with red eyes brandishing knives, guns and axes to fight the enemy to the death, the flesh and flesh cut off by the iron knife rolled all over the ground, the spear pierced the body and sprayed blood flowers flying all over the sky, the axe cut the head, the white brain pulp cracked, the iron halberd cut the throat, the dark red blood gushed out from the trachea and esophagus, and people rolled on the ground like wild beasts and tore each other's throats, and it was not uncommon for people to roll down the city wall together and die together.

The city has long been covered with corpses and seriously wounded soldiers, and there are so many corpses on the city wall that both the attacker and the defender can not gain a foothold, so they can only fight desperately while throwing the corpses in the way off the city wall, and the blood flows slowly along the city wall, and converges into a stream at the gap smashed by the Xiangyang cannon, just like leaving a waterfall and blood waterfall from under the city wall.

Yuan Shao's army has sufficient troops in the end, although it has suffered heavy casualties in the previous eight offensive battles, but the total strength is still more than dozens of times that of the Puyang defenders, although the Puyang defenders have caused huge casualties to Yuan Shaojun, but they themselves have not suffered small casualties, the eight thousand defenders have only more than 3,000 people left, and most of them are wounded, the fire oil, rockets and swallowtail torches and other defensive weapons have long been consumed, even the ordinary feather arrows are also exhausted, and they can only collect feather fans from the homes of the residents in the city to catch up with new arrows, so the defense force has been greatly weakened, Therefore, even if Xiahoudun and Liu Yan had already led their own troops into battle to kill the enemy, they could not drive Yuan Shaojun off the city wall, and could only watch Yuan Shaojun's foothold on the city wall become more and more stable, and the casualties of Cao's army were getting bigger and bigger.

There are two huge siege ladders that are difficult to pass through the battlefield full of corpses and broken siege weapons, and slowly lean on the Puyang city wall where the fierce battle is in full swing, when Xiahoudun ordered the soldiers to set fire to it with red eyes, he learned that the defenders had even used up the swallowtail torch made with vegetable oil and clothes, and was forced to have no choice, Xiahoudun had to hurriedly organize a death squad to rush down the city to destroy the ladder car, but before Xiahoudun organized the death squad that was destined to not return, Liu Yan had already sent his own soldiers down the city wall, Dozens of Liu Yan's personal soldiers stepped on the steps of the ladder cart to go down the city, and while fighting bravely to kill the enemy, they used axes to chop the vulnerable parts of the ladder cart, and hundreds of Yuan Shaojun soldiers took the opportunity to surround more than 30 Liu Yan's personal soldiers, and soon chopped these personal soldiers into pieces.

The first wave of death squads were all killed, and Liu Yan, who was praised as a useless person by Guan Erye, once again organized more than 80 Cao army warriors, and personally rushed down the city with these warriors to destroy the ladder car, and at the same time, Liu Yan, who was already covered in bruises, also sent someone to Xiahoudun with a message, "Puyang City will ask the general, brother will go first." ”

Xiahou choked out tears in his eyes, Liu Yan's team was immediately surrounded by hundreds of Yuan soldiers after smashing a Yuan army ladder car, and they couldn't break through for a long time, and finally fought until Liu Yan was the only one left, Yuan Shaojun tried to capture Liu Yan wearing fish scale armor, but Liu Yan took the opportunity to hug a Yuan army general, biting the throat of the Yuan army general like crazy, until he was stabbed to death by a random gun, Liu Yan did not let go and shouted, and bit the throat of the Yuan Shao army general, and died with him. Seeing this scene, Xiahoudun, who was also hit by two arrows in his body, could no longer bear to cry loudly, beating his chest and crying, and everyone in Cao's army was crying like rain, crying silently.

The sun is gradually setting in the west, more ladder trucks and crashing cars are pushing, more Yuan soldiers are on the city wall, and the Cao army team, which has already been put into the battlefield in reserve, is unable to launch a counterattack, but it is still fighting with Yuan Shao's army for the city wall position inch by inch, and fighting for the city fortifications one by one, no matter how fierce the Yuan Shaojun offensive is, it cannot quickly defeat the defenders of the city and take the city wall position.

The collapse appeared when the sky was about to darken, some Cao soldiers who were greedy for life and afraid of death saw that the city wall position of the main battlefield of the south gate was almost completely occupied by Yuan Shaojun, and they were worried that Yuan Shao's army would slaughter the stubborn defenders in the city after the city was broken, so they opened the east gate of Puyang from the inside and surrendered out of the city, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was in charge of the battlefield of the east gate division, was overjoyed, and hurriedly waved his army into the city. Yuan Tan Gongzi's team took the captain to drive straight in, not only killing the Cao soldiers who blocked the city, but also completely seizing the east gate of Puyang, opening the way for Yuan Shao's army to enter the city.

The news of the loss of the east gate reached the south gate of the main battlefield, and Xiahoudun was shocked and had nothing to do, so he could only watch Yuan Shaojun rush into the interior of Puyang City, killing people everywhere and setting fires, followed by the West Gate and the North Gate also quickly fell, and the destruction of Puyang City was a foregone conclusion. Frightened, the helpless Xiahou saw that there were fewer and fewer soldiers around him, so he could only follow Liu Yan's example, leading the last dozen or so scarred soldiers around him to rush towards the enemy in the brigade, and shouted frantically, "Meng De, I'm sorry for you!" Four days to go! It's still four days away!! ”

After the war, when Yuan Shaojun finally found Xiahoudun from the pile of dead people, he found that Xiahoudun had more than 60 wounds on his body, and he was still holding the neck of a Yuan Shaojun soldier who was strangled to death by him............ No matter how big the casualties were, after taking Puyang City and annihilating the defenders in the city, Yuan Shaojun finally opened up a direct connection with the rear of Jizhou, so that the grain and grass in the rear of Jizhou could be safely sent to the front line for supply, so the great Yuan Sangong did not get angry because of the total number of tens of thousands of soldiers killed in the Battle of Puyang, and he was very happy to reward the eldest son Yuan Tan who took the lead in the city, and Yuan Tan Gongzi finally caught up with the third brother Yuan Shang in terms of military exploits, and was greatly glorious. Guo Tu and Xin Bi and other big princes cheered, Yuan Shang Gongzi and his party hung their heads, but Fu Zhu and Cui Yan and others were worried, worried that the future Guandu War would be more difficult to fight.

Fu Zhu and Cui Yan were obviously worried in vain, because after the news of the destruction of Puyang City reached Guandu, Cao Boss cried bitterly for Xiahoudun and Liu Yan, and immediately ordered to abandon Guandu, a general pass that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and led all the Guandu defenders to retreat to Xuchang, and handed over the Guandu Danger. When the news reached Yuan Shaojun, the great Yuan Sangong, who was still a little worried about the difficulty of Guandu, was overjoyed, and after laughing wildly at Cao Apu's timidity, he immediately sent his second son Yuan Xi to Guandu, seized the Guandu camp left by Cao Jun, and took this choke point for advancing to Xuchang.

The war has come to this point, Yuan Shaojun's victory or defeat is actually in the thought of Yuan Sangong, and it is already easy to steadily defeat and consume Cao Boss, but what was expected by Cao Boss and Jia Lao Poison is that Yuan Sangong does not want to adopt slow attrition tactics at all, and only wants to fight quickly and give Cao Boss a fatal blow to Cao Boss, who has no way to retreat. Therefore, as soon as it was confirmed that Yuan Xi had successfully taken the Guandu camp, the three dukes of Yuan immediately summoned the civil and military ministers to the big tent to announce the good news in public, and decided to immediately march to Xuchang and destroy Cao in a battle!

Knowing that the Cao army had abandoned the Guandu and retreated to the open terrain of Xuchang, Yuan Shaojun, who had a large number of cavalry in the team, was naturally overjoyed, and most of them agreed to immediately march into Xuchang to launch a decisive occupation, and many fierce generals shouted the slogan that Cao thieves would be captured in a battle. However, at the critical moment, there were still some people in Yuan Shaojun's team, at least Cui Yan stood up first, and said to the Great Yuan Sangong: "Lord, Your Majesty thinks that there is no need to rush into Xuchang, just ask the second prince to guard the official crossing, and within a few months, the Cao thief will be able to break himself." ”

"Will the thief break himself? What does this mean? Da Yuan Sangong asked suspiciously.

Cui Yan replied: "My lord, our army has already reported that after the defeat of Cao Thief Cangting, he successively ordered the troops of Chenliu, Runan, Guanzhong and Sili to rush to Xuchang to assemble, in a vain attempt to fight to the death with our army. However, although Cao Thief raised tens of thousands of troops with varying combat strength, he could not continue to control the place strongly, nor was he able to resist Xiliang Ma Teng's advance into Guanzhong, and Jingzhou Liu Biao counterattacked Nanyang. ”

"That being the case, the lord can in turn hold the official crossing, so that the Cao thief is unable to start a decisive battle with our army, and he does not dare to disperse the army to return to the garrison to guard the place, so that within March, the hinterland of Yuzhou, where there are many Yellow Turban remnants, will inevitably be in turmoil, and Xiliang Ma Teng will inevitably enter the Guanzhong, as well as Jizhou Liu Bei, Xinye Liu Bei and Yuxian Zhang Xiu and other generations, will also take the opportunity to launch a counterattack and recover the northern part of Nanyang that they were forcibly occupied by Cao thieves. Our army does not need to send a single soldier to make Cao thief destroy himself without a fight! ”

"The lord is clear, Cui Jiju's words are very good." Fu Zhu also stood up and said: "In the battle to destroy Cao, our army is already a sure chance of victory, and how to destroy Cao is only a difference in time and method. His Majesty suggested that the lord might as well hold the official crossing so that Cao Thief could not go north, and at the same time send envoys to contact Liu Biao, Ma Teng, Liu Bei, Zhang Xiu and others, and let them send troops to attack Cao with the land of the city and the official position of the court after the destruction of Cao, and then send people to contact the Xuzhou army, so that the Xuzhou army could send troops along Surabaya to the west to attack Jiyin and Chenliu, so that within a few months, it would be easy for our army to break the hand. ”

After tasting the sweetness of Cangting's insistence on killing Cao Boss, he will listen to the advice of Fu Zhu and Cui Yan, and the third prince of Da Yuan still has some temptation, but in this way, Yuan Tan Gongzi, who is eager to surpass the third brother of his rival in terms of military exploits, quit, and immediately jumped out and said: "Father, the child thinks that there is no need to waste time so much, Xuchang is not as good as Guandu and Puyang, the surrounding terrain is open and easy to attack and difficult to defend, and it is suitable for our army to show its strengths. Wasting countless military rations and grass? ”

"What the eldest prince said is extremely true."

Of course, Guo Tu and Xin Bi also jumped out, Guo Tu persuaded: "Although the words of Mr. Gonghe and Mr. Ji Qi are also reasonable, but with the help of outsiders to destroy King Cao Qin, even if it succeeds successfully, it will inevitably attract gossip, saying that our army has soldiers from four states, and it can only rely on the help of other princes to capture and kill the national thief Cao Ying, in addition, we must also abide by the promise to cede the land and city, the loss is too great, it is better for our army to break Cao alone, not only can block the world's mouth, but also can justifiably take over the land and city of Cao thief." ”

"My lord, my majesty thinks that Cao Thief must not be given a chance to breathe." Xin Bi also said with a heartfelt speech: "Our army Cangting victory, Cao thief team is already frightened, one after another to give up a number of important town passes, it is enough to prove that Cao thief team has no intention of fighting again, our army is very easy to break Cao, if the years are delayed, it will take time, Cao thief reorganize the team to regain morale, our army wants to break Cao again, it is bound to be difficult." ”

"The Cao thief team has no intention of fighting again?"

Frustrated with his eyebrows, he was about to refute Xin Bi's nonsense with the hard battle of Puyang, but Yuan Shanggongzi also jumped out, knelt down on one knee to the eldest Yuan Sangong and said: "Father, the child thinks that he should immediately march to Xuchang, and at this moment send troops to break Cao, which can not only win quickly, but also greatly boost the prestige of my Yuan clan, if the garrison waits and sees, not only will the fighter plane be missed, but the people of the world will inevitably laugh at our army for timidity, and dare not fight a life-and-death battle with Cao Thief, which will greatly disadvantage my father's reputation." Moreover, our army has a large number of soldiers, and we can't take grain on the spot for self-sufficiency, so we rely on the supply of grain and grass from the rear of Jizhou, and the expenses are too huge. ”

"Shang'er's words are exactly what I want."

The love of Yuan Sangong for Yuan Shanggongzi is well known, and when he heard his favorite son say the same, Da Yuan Sangong applauded, and was also ready to enter the army on the spot. And the frustration also couldn't bear to speak again: "The two sons can rest, our army has more food, only to delay the war, but the Cao thief retreated to Xuchang, there is no way back, the whole army will inevitably fight to the death, at this time send troops to fight with the Cao thief, and it is easy to break Cao?" What a joke! ”

Hearing these words, the faces of the three princes of Da Yuan and the brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang suddenly fell, and Cui Yan over there saw that the situation was not good, so he quickly stood up and said: "Lord, although Mr. Gong's words are excessive, they are also out of loyalty to the lord. Yan thinks that since our army has already sent troops for more than four months, why should we care about waiting for a few more months before sending troops to destroy Cao? Moreover, it is now August, the rice in Yejun County is ripe, and our army has no worries about food and grass, and Zhengli is holding on. ”

"The rice is ripe in August, and our army's grain and grass are indeed worry-free." Li Fu, one of Yuan Shanggongzi's henchmen, sneered and said: "But Mr. Ji Jue seems to have forgotten that if it drags on for another month, the land of the Central Plains will enter winter, and within two months, there will be ice and snow falling in the Central Plains. There are few trees in this area of Puyang, does Mr. still have to order people to transport coal (coal) for heating? ”

The big tent gradually began to be chaotic, Yuan Tan Gongzi and Yuan Shang Gongzi, who were eager to make meritorious contributions, unified a battle line for the first time, and joined forces to instigate the Great Yuan Sangong to immediately send troops to Xuchang, and destroyed Cao in a battle, and the two baby sons' big and small henchmen also fanned the flames, and the other neutral Jizhou civil and military forces were stubborn, or agreed to send troops to Xuchang immediately, or suggested that the army should rest for a while to see what would change, and the face of the Great Yuan Sangong was naturally becoming more and more ugly, Seeing that there is a tendency to go crazy immediately.

At the critical moment, the guards who suddenly entered the account to report interrupted the fierce debate of the civil and military, and it turned out that it was Deputy Director Tao, who was moved by our filial piety, and after gradually improving, he dictated a letter and sent someone to present it to the third prince of Yuan. Although the third prince of Yuan was very unhappy that his son-in-law did not die of serious injuries, he took the letter and opened it to read it carefully. ”

"My brother-in-law's filial piety to my father has always been no worse than that of a child." Yuan Shanggongzi was also overjoyed, and said with a smile: "But it is no longer possible to meet the teacher's official crossing, and it is a good idea to let my brother-in-law lead the army to join us in Xuchang." ””

"I will meet Xuchang, I'm afraid it's too late in time." Da Yuan Sangong smiled and said again, but when he looked down, Da Yuan Sangong's face changed again, and it turned out that Deputy Director Tao had this paragraph in the next content of the letter:

"The son-in-law bowed to the knees of the father-in-law again, although the father-in-law won a great victory in the Cangting, but the son-in-law still had the courage to implore the father-in-law not to enter the rapid battle, Cao Mengde was resourceful, the soldiers were more treacherous, the soldiers were elite, and one was ten, if the father-in-law was a light and rapid battle, he would be defeated by Cao Ying! Wanwang Yuezhang temporarily stationed the troops, and waited until the little son-in-law soldiers and horses met with the father-in-law, and attacked Cao together, and the father-in-law had a ...... chance of winning. ”

Seeing this passage, Da Yuan Sangong couldn't bear it anymore, slapped the letter on the table in front of him, and said angrily: "Tao Ying, dare to despise me so much?!" ”

Yuan Sangong, who was still smiling just now, suddenly turned his face and was angry, and the Jizhou civil and military in the big tent naturally looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, and Yuan Shanggongzi guessed that it must be his baby brother-in-law who had something to say to offend his father, and quickly closed his mouth to avoid being affected by the pond fish. But Yuan Tan Gongzi couldn't wait to stand up and asked, "Father, what's wrong?" Why did my father suddenly become angry? ”

"Tao Ying Xiao'er, dare to think that without him, I would not be Cao Apu's opponent?!"

Da Yuan Sangong threw the letter to Yuan Tan Gongzi, Yuan Tan Gongzi was overjoyed when he took a closer look, and hurriedly opened his mouth to fan the flames, accusing Deputy Director Tao of being disrespectful to Lord Yue, and after seeing this passage, he complained bitterly in his heart together, and said secretly: "Tao Yuanjun, you are doing bad things with good intentions, it is counterproductive, we know that you have good intentions, and we also know that you can play trickery with Cao Thief on the battlefield for a long time, but you said it so directly, how could the lord endure it?" ”

After secretly scolding Deputy Director Tao for doing bad things, Cui Yan had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "The lord forgives the sin, although Tao Yuanjun's words are rude, but please read the letter dictated by Tao Yuanjun when he was sick, and his words will inevitably be wrong, and forgive him for his gaffes." However, His Majesty believes that although Tao Yuanjun's words are excessive, they are not unreasonable, and the reason why our army can win a great victory in Cangting is also because Tao Yuanjun returned to the division in time to ....... ”

"How?" Da Yuan Sangong coldly interrupted Cui Yan's words, and asked with a hideous expression: "Could it be that you Cui Jiqi also think that without him Tao Ying Xiao'er, I wouldn't be able to win Cao A's thief?" Cangting's victory is all the work of Tao Ying's children? ! ”

Cui Yan didn't dare to speak, so he could only quickly kneel down on his knees, kowtow again and again: "Your Majesty's gaffe, Your Majesty's gaffe, your Lord's excuse for your sins, please forgive Your Majesty's sins." ”

"Humph!" Da Yuan Sangong snorted heavily, and he didn't bother to continue to worry about Cui Yan, but he slapped the case in front of him again, and roared with a hideous expression: "I have made up my mind, the army will go south to Xuchang, fight to the death with Cao thief, and break Cao in a battle!" If there is a persuader, it will not be forgiven!! ”

(To be continued)