"Kill——!"

In the hoarse shouts, the soldiers of the Cao army armed with knives and guns lined up in a dense queue for attacking, pushing all kinds of siege equipment, carrying countless rough but sturdy ant ladders, and launched another round of new impact towards the towering Changyi city wall, like a torrent of steel and flesh and blood, roaring, rolling, shouting, and unstoppably rushing towards the Changyi city wall that was already full of flesh and blood.

The wide and deep moat has long been filled with stones, mud, weapon wreckage and soldiers' corpses, and siege weapons such as ladder cars and ramming vehicles have reached the city of Changyi, and more Cao soldiers are stepping on flying ladders to climb the city, and the dense flying ladders are full of dense soldiers, just like a piece of honey cake crawling with ants, and on the edge of the original moat, there are countless temporary simple fortifications composed of long shields and chariots, and the archers of the Cao army hide behind the shields and desperately throw at the top of the city wall to suppress the defenders. Arrows came and went in the sky like locusts, and the ground was full of people, and the sound of killing was like thunder.

And at a position about 100 steps away from the city wall, Cao Jun also arranged no less than 30 improvised primitive thunderbolt cars, Cao Jun soldiers sweated like rain, constantly dragging the rope under the throwing arm, and also kept throwing stones weighing 100 catties onto the city wall, splashing patches of bright blood up and down the city wall.

The Cao army attacked fiercely, and the Lu Bu army also defended tenaciously, the city wall poured arrow rain down all the time, the hot gold juice continued to spill, five or six pounds of hard sheep's head stone and quicklime bottle raindrops and hail smashed down fiercely, almost every arrow buttress poked out of a flail, Lu Bujun soldiers frantically shook the tail of the flail, and hit the Cao soldiers attached to the ants with the hard wooden sticks at the top of the flail, and the wood also continued to hit the Cao army's simple flying ladder, and the flying ladder was constantly knocked over, and the Cao soldiers on the flying ladder screamed and fell down the flying ladder, Countless people have been killed and injured in falls.

There are also rockets and dovetail torches, rockets soaked with fire oil continue to fly to the slow-moving siege ladder trucks, and the dovetail torches also soaked in fire oil are also thrown at the ladder cars and city vehicles without money, once the tail capture dovetail torch with barbs is smashed on the wooden siege vehicle, even if it slides down, the tail barb can also hook the structural part of the siege vehicle, and continue to play the role of incinerating the enemy's weapons. It also turned Cao's siege weapons into huge fires.

Even if there were a few relatively short crash trucks that occasionally escaped the fire attack and were lucky enough to get close to the Changyi city wall, but without waiting for these crash cars to hit a few times, and without the command of the defending generals such as Lu Bu or Chen Gong, the soldiers of the Lu Bu army, who were experienced in the battlefield, had already thrown down the huge bluestone grinding disc wearing iron chains, and smashed the crash cars to pieces in three or two blows, and also smashed the Cao soldiers who had no time to dodge into meat sauce.

There were also some Cao soldiers who rushed to the city wall of Changyi, but before they could stand firm, countless blood-red soldiers of the Lu Bu army rushed up, slashed with knives, stabbed with guns, and smashed with stones, chopping these Cao soldiers into pieces, stabbing into honeycombs, and smashing them into meat sauce, and the corpses continued to fly down from the air one after another, and the Cao army suffered heavy casualties, but they were never able to open up a forward position on the city wall.

Under the heavy casualties, the attack wave of the Cao army team inevitably appeared a little bit of a cohesive situation, although the flaw was small, the trapped camp that had long been lined up for standby suddenly opened the city gate, and fought out of the city without hesitation, and rushed to the thunderbolt car that posed the greatest threat to the defenders of Changyi with red eyes, and the Cao army team stepped forward to block it, but was killed by the soldiers of the trapped camp who had already held the heart of death. At the cost of sacrificing hundreds of people, these damn thunderbolts were basically destroyed.

The newly made thunderbolt was basically destroyed, and the only siege weapon that could form an advantage over the defenders was lost, and the morale of the Cao army team was inevitably greatly discharged, seeing that the army was depressed, and seeing that the casualties of his own team were too heavy, Cao Boss could only helplessly issue a Ming Jin order, when the gong sounded, the soldiers of the Cao army who could not advance or retreat under the city wall were like being amnestied, and quickly threw down all kinds of siege weapons that could not be used anymore, and fled to their own camp in the distance of the city wall in embarrassment, leaving corpses everywhere and countless seriously injured soldiers who rolled and moaned in the sea of corpses and bloodThe soldiers of the Lu Bu army on the city wall didn't even have the strength to cheer, and countless soldiers threw down their weapons and lay down on the blood-stained city wall, snoring like thunder and falling asleep.

This battle lasted for a day and a night, and the Cao army that besieged the city suffered more than 6,000 casualties because it did not occupy the land and the defenders defended well, accounting for more than one-tenth of the total strength of the Cao army, in addition to the 10,000 troops arranged on the southern front, almost all the 40,000 Cao troops under the city of Changyi took turns to fight, and every battalion and every song had casualties, and every battalion was exhausted, and the combat effectiveness was sharply reduced, and it was difficult to launch a large-scale siege war in a short period of time. And after listening to the casualty statistics, Boss Cao immediately ordered with a blushing face, "Let the soldiers rest for two days, and within two days, build 150 thunderbolts for me!" I'd like to see if he can destroy my thunderbolt car in the next siege! ”

"Lord, I'm really sorry, I can't do it." Xun Yu replied helplessly: "A few years ago, there were few people in the Changyi area, the land was over-cultivated, and there were not many forests left, in order to build these siege weapons, our soldiers have cut down all the available trees within forty miles around, and the thunderbolt car has high requirements for timber, if you want to build more thunderbolt vehicles, you can only let the rear transport." ”

Boss Cao's black face was a little pale with anger, but he was even more helpless than Xun Yu, what could he do to make a thunderbolt without materials? Xiahoudun next to him muttered, "How can the thunderbolt cars gather together to attack the city? If the siege is scattered, how easy can it be for Lü Bupifu to destroy our Thunderbolt convoy? ”

"Fart!" When Boss Cao heard Xiahou Dun's muttering, he was also rarely angry at this clan brother who followed him first, and roared: "Your thunderbolt car is the same as Tao Ying'er's thunderbolt car, can you throw a three-hundred-pound stone three or four hundred steps away at a time?" Our thunderbolts can only be about 100 catties of stone bullets, and they can only be thrown less than 100 paces away, how much threat can dispersed use pose to the city wall? What's the difference between useless and useless? ”

Seeing that Boss Cao was angry and didn't laugh, Xiahoudun hurriedly closed his mouth, fortunately, Boss Cao didn't continue to pursue Xiahoudun's meaning, but just turned to Xun Yu and asked: "Yuan Shaojun is responsible for attacking the West Gate, what is the situation on the West Gate?" Did Yan Liangwen chou steal and play tricks? Can't work? ”

"That's not true, Yan Liangwen is still kind, and he has always restrained the defenders of the West Gate for us, that is, the soldiers of Yuan Shaojun are not as desperate as the soldiers of our army, and the battle situation is far less fierce than the main battlefield of the South Gate." Xun Yu replied: "As for the east gate, although Liu Bei attacked very fiercely, his team also participated in the siege - but neither himself, Guan Yu, nor Zhang Fei participated in the siege of the ant. ”

"His team was originally given by me, of course he doesn't feel distressed." Boss Cao's face was even more gloomy, but he didn't care about Uncle Liu's slippery head - the ant-attached siege was the most dangerous and suffered the largest casualties, in order to avoid needless loss of generals, Boss Cao did not let his generals participate in the ant-attached siege.

"Lord, otherwise, let's continue to besiege the city and consume food." Cheng Yu suggested: "There are at least more than 8,000 defenders of Lu Bu's army in Changyi City, and it is not only difficult to succeed in a frontal attack, but also has huge casualties. ”

"You think I'm trying to attack head-on? How could I not know that Lu Bu definitely didn't have much grain and grass? Boss Cao smiled bitterly, pouted to Nunu in the south, and said bitterly: "But on the side of Tao Ying's thief, what about the thief's hypocrite army?" Lu Bu and I are consuming grain and grass, how can he keep my grain channel? ”

Cheng Yu sighed, and also knew the pain in Boss Cao's heart now, originally the defenders in Changyi City did not have much food and grass, as long as the city was besieged, Lu Bu's army could be destroyed by itself, but the appearance of the Junzi Army completely disrupted Boss Cao's wishful thinking, in the tragic terrain of the North China Plain, Tao Ying's hypocrite army is simply a hooligan and scoundrel-like existence, they can fight when they want, run if they want to, and they can't make Cao Boss unguarded, but Cao Boss can't fight if he wants to, can't catch up if he wants to, can't prevent if he wants to, There's nothing you can do about these leper hypocrites.

What's even more tragic is that even if the Junzi Army can't attack the fortifications, they don't dare to rush into battle, and they are even more afraid of confronting the strong crossbow and bow head-on, and they don't even like hand-to-hand combat with Cao Jun, but Cao Boss's team can't be ready to be in formation all the time, right? Even if the main team has a camp to defend, what should the baggage grain transport team do? You can't divide tens of thousands of troops, gather the grain and grass in the array, and keep walking slowly in the phalanx, right? When the grain and grass are sent to the front line, I am afraid that the main force of the Cao army will already start eating people.

At this time, after the Liu Bei brothers, who were responsible for attacking the east gate, received the order to withdraw the army, they had already come to Cao Boss to give the order, because Liu Bei had basically completed the task of containing the defenders at the east gate, although Cao Boss was dissatisfied, but he did not care too much, and after comforting Liu Bei for a few words, he ordered the whole army to return to the camp to rest. But at this moment, Xiahou Dun, who was not very convinced by Boss Cao's scolding, suddenly shouted again: "Lord, since the lord is worried that Tao Ying'er will cut off my army's food supply? Then there will be a plan to make Tao Yingxiaoer retreat to Xuzhou and no longer interfere with our army's siege? ”

Xun Yu, Cheng Yu and other Cao military strategists all widened their eyes in surprise, it was really the first time that they found that they could use tricks better than themselves, and Boss Cao was also overjoyed, and said: "I can't imagine that Yuan will let the virtuous brother also use tricks, what a clever plan, tell me quickly." ”

"My lord, I will often hear you say that Lu Bu is a capricious person, who forgets the righteousness when he sees small profits, and is the most righteous and untrustworthy person in the world!" Xiahoudun said triumphantly: "In this case, why didn't the lord forge a letter from Lu Bu, let Lu Bu ask our army for peace in the letter, and said that as long as our army let him live, he would take the opportunity of Tao Ying's thief to answer him to break through, and stabbed Tao Ying's thief to death with a halberd when they met, and announced the revenge of killing his father for the lord!" Then we sent this letter to Tao Ying Xiao'er, Tao Ying Xiao'er was absolutely furious when she saw it, and no longer rescued Lu Bu ....... ”

Before Xiahoudun's clever plan was finished, Cheng Yu and the other Cao military strategists had already laughed out loud, and Boss Cao was angry and funny, roaring: "Shut up!" You idiot! You are as stupid as Tao Ying's thief as you, would you believe that Lu Bu would dare to act ill towards Tao Ying'er in such a desperate situation? Get lost! Go down and return to the camp to command! ”

Seeing that Boss Cao seemed to be really angry, Xiahou Tang didn't dare to continue to show ugliness, and honestly went down to lead the troops, Liu Bei, who had never thought that he was always silent, suddenly opened his mouth and said to Boss Cao: "Duke Ming, in fact, General Yuanrang's proposal, as long as it is slightly changed, is not without hope of success." Lu Bu is capricious, and he has long coveted the five counties of Xuzhou, Tao Ying thief is cunning and suspicious, and he has long been aware of Lu Bu's greed. ”

"Xuande Gong, don't laugh with my clan brother, Tao Ying thief is so deceitful, how can he fall for this carving insect trick?"

Boss Cao was a little angry at Xiahoudun and Uncle Liu's nonsense, turned his horse and took the lead, and the generals and strategists of the Cao army hurriedly led the army to follow, but Uncle Liu Huang didn't follow immediately, but just pondered in his heart: "Although it is a trick of carving insects, will the thief of Tao Ying definitely not fall for the trick?" This thief is incomparably deceitful, he has hardly trusted anyone, and he has always been vigilant and wary of Lu Bu, how can he not prevent Lu Bu from betraying him again? Besides, even if this plan fails, what will be the loss? ”

At the same time, in the ranks of the Cao army, Xun Yu, who was most trusted by Cao Boss and did not laugh at Xiahou Dun, came to Cao Boss's side, and said in a low voice: "Lord, although General Yuanrang's strategy is absurd, but his strategy is very reasonable, why did Tao Ying thief come to rescue Lu Bu, we all know this very well in our hearts, if we can do enough at this point and break up the Tao Lu Alliance, it is not impossible for our army to break through Changyi with peace of mind." ”

Boss Cao's triangular eyes flashed, and he asked in a low voice, "Mr. Wenruo, what should I do with this article?" ”

…………………… Because of the idea of riding the wall to wait and see, Tao Ying did not have many troops in Yanzhou this time, except for the 1,500 aces of the Junzi Army, he only brought a team of about 10,000 infantry cavalry, which is not much, but it is not enough to defeat the Cao Yuan coalition army head-on, but it is not a big problem to retreat with the support of the Junzi Army. At the same time, in order to avoid unnecessary consumption, Tao Ying simply arranged the camp in Fanghe County, a hundred miles away from the battlefield, and resolutely refused to go to the battlefield to fight hard with Cao Boss near the battlefield.

At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, Tao Ying had to send a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the movement in the north, and the news that Cao Boss was attacking Changyi City head-on at any cost had already been reported to Tao Ying by the scouts, but Tao Ying rejected Lu Su's suggestion to send the Junzi Army to the battlefield to deter Cao Boss a little, and ordered the whole army to continue to stand still and wait and see what happened - Cao Boss This is only the first time to attack the fortified positions head-on, and the city defense materials and city defense troops in Changyi City must be very sufficient, It is also in Tao Ying's interests to let Lu Bujun, who is experienced in the battlefield, worry too much, and let Lu Bujun let Cao Yuan's coalition army further consume some strength from each other, and the calculating Deputy Director Tao is not so stupid to stop such a good thing.

In his spare time, the busy man Tao Ying also rarely played Go with Lu Su next time, and cultivated his own definitely not noble feelings, but Deputy Director Tao was a stinky chess basket, and after talking about it, he was soon killed by Lu Su and was embarrassed, and when Deputy Director Tao, who had a despicable character, was about to steal chess and change his son, a herald came in outside the tent, hugged his fists and said: "Lord Qi, there is a Cao army envoy who came to my military camp with a white flag in his hand, and asked the lord to summon him, how to deal with it?" ”

"It seems that in the offensive and defensive battle of Changyi City the day before yesterday, Lu Bu finally fought for it, which made Cao Thief suffer a little, and Cao Thief finally couldn't hold his breath." Tao Ying smiled without raising his head: "Treat each other politely, but let him wait for a while, and wait until I turn this game of chess into a victory." ”

"My lord, let's summon it right away." Lu Su said with a smile: "Don't say that you are stealing a piece in this game of chess, even if Duling Dufuzi (the first Go player in the Han Dynasty) comes, he will not be able to return to the sky." By the way, did the messenger declare his name? ”

"Reported." The herald replied respectfully: "The envoy of the Cao army claims to be surnamed Xun Mingyu, and the words are ruo. ”

"Xun Yu?!" Tao Ying and Lu Su blurted out exclamations at the same time, and after looking at each other again, then Tao Ying threw out the white seeds used by Lu Su hidden in his hand, and Lu Su fell out of the sleeve A few sunspots jumped up from the couch together, rushed out of the big tent with bare feet, and rushed out of the camp to meet the famous Xun Yu Xun Wenruo - just kidding, Yingyin Xun is the number one family in the whole world, there are many talented and famous people in the clan, and there are countless people who are famous all over the world, it is no exaggeration to say that the old Xun family stomped a foot and the whole world of the scholars also trembled, In the late Han Dynasty when the support of the scholars represented the aspirations of the people, the ambitious Deputy Director Tao did not dare to treat Xun Yu slowly even if he ate the gall of the leopard.

Xun Yu is about in his early thirties this year, slender and graceful, he can be regarded as a rare beautiful man, although Xun Yu and Tao Ying have never met, but seeing Tao Ying and Lu Su running barefoot in disheveled clothes, and seeing the surrounding Xuzhou soldiers standing and saluting, Xun Yu still immediately guessed the identity of Tao Ying and Lu Su, and smiled at Tao Ying and Lu Su: "If Yu guessed correctly, depending on the age, the two must be the famous Tao Ying Tao Envoy Jun and Lu Su Lu Zijing, right?" Annoying Tao made Jun and Mr. Zijing stumble out of the camp, Yu is really ashamed. ”

"Mr. Wen Ruo is too modest." Tao Ying smiled embarrassedly, bowed to Xun Yu to the ground, and said respectfully: "Tao Ying has heard Mr. Wenruo's name for a long time, and he only hates not having the opportunity to meet. ”

"Sue too." Lu Su also saluted respectfully, and said: "Lu Su has long admired Mr. Wenruo's name when he was in Jiujiang, and he admired Mr. Wen Ruo so much. ”

Stretch out his hand and don't hit the smiling person, although Xun Yu is currently hostile to Tao Ying and Lu Su, but seeing Tao Ying as the pastor of a state and Lu Su as the military advisor of Xuzhou are so respectful and polite to him, Xun Yu still has a good impression of Tao Ying and Lu Su, and finally understands why Boss Cao didn't cut Tao Ying with a knife back then - if you don't know Tao Ying's surname in advance, just looking at Tao Ying's harmless and respectful appearance, it is really difficult for strangers to have hatred for Tao Ying. Therefore, Xun Yu also hurriedly bowed and returned the salute, and said with a smile: "Tao Envoy Jun and Mr. Zijing are too famous, Yu is not an adjutant under the princes' account, how can Tao Envoy Jun and Mr. Zijing be so praised?" ”

"Deserved, deserved." Tao Ying hurriedly picked up Xun Yu in person and greeted: "This is not the place to speak, Mr. Wenruo, please come to the camp." Come on, quickly arrange the best banquet in the handsome tent, I want to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Mr. Wen Ruo, and Mr. Wen Ruo's entourage, also treat with good wine and meat, and don't slack off. Xun Yu was humble again, but Tao Ying really wanted to please Xun Yu, but he insisted, first respectfully invited Xun Yu to sit in the big tent of the Chinese army, and then went to change clothes with Lu Su, and then came to the handsome tent to meet Xun Yu again.

After sitting down with Xun Yu's guests, he said a lot of nonsense such as admiring the name for a long time, until after the third round of drinking, Tao Ying asked with a smile: "Since Mr. Wen Ruo has served under the account of Meng De, now he should confront the two armies of Meng De, and Mr. Wen Ruo came to the Xuzhou military camp, there must be some advice, Mr. is not polite, please speak up." ”

"Tao Yuanjun is really a cheerful person, so he will be blunt in the future." Xun Yu smiled heartily and said straight to the point: "Don't hide it from the envoy, in the next envoy to your army, just to make the envoy rescue Wenhou, my lord Cao Gong wants to ask the envoy to withdraw the army, don't save Lu Bu again." ”

"Do you want me to retire and not save Lu Bu?" Tao Ying was a little surprised, and thought of the previous Boss Cao's frontal attack at any cost, Tao Ying immediately woke up - Yan Liangwen Chou in order to take revenge on the yin behind Boss Cao, he must not have told Boss Cao about the envoy he sent to Yuan Shao to ask for peace and alliance, so Boss Cao must have misunderstood the purpose of his dispatch this time - otherwise, with Boss Cao's deception and Xun Yu's cleverness, he must have understood that he was waiting and waiting for the price to sell.

Guessing this, Tao Ying was secretly happy in his heart, and his face was fake hesitation, and he said insincerely: "Mr. Wenruo, you are too embarrassed for Tao Ying, Wen Hou is my future father-in-law, and he has a covenant with me, if Tao Ying abandons him and collects his troops and returns, wouldn't it be against the way of filial piety?" ”

"Tao Envoy Jun, don't say dark words in front of the Ming people, what is the purpose of the envoy to save Wen Hou, so that Jun is clear in his heart, clear in his heart, clear in his heart, clear in my lord Meng Degong's heart, and Wen Hou in Changyi City is even clearer." Xun Yu said with a smile: "The reason why the envoy came to save Wen Hou is not for Wen Hou, but for my lord Meng Degong!" If the Marquis of Wen dies, Xuzhou will immediately face the enemy of our lord, so that the king is worried that it is not my lord's opponent, so the king must leave Lu Bu and use his hand to contain our lord's army. ”

Tao Ying smiled, and liked Xun Yu's frank attitude very much, so Tao Yingsuo's surname also confessed: "What Mr. Wenruo said is extremely true, Cao Gong believes that Tao is the enemy who killed his father, and he hates him to the bone in the bottom, and he is plotting revenge all the time, and he really needs the northern barrier of Wenhou in Xia. ”

"Mrs. Cao died at the hands of Zhang Min, but my lord insisted that his father was killed by the father of the king, what is the reason, the king is a smart person, and he must know very well in his heart." Xun Yu said unabashedly: "But the envoy, does the envoy think that my lord still has the strength to annex the five counties of Xuzhou?" ”

"It's because Meng De is publicly owned, so I don't dare not save Wen Hou." Tao Ying said with a smile: "Meng Degong's soldiers are strong and strong, with tens of thousands of armor, there are countless people who can recruit good fighters and strategize well, and there is Yuan Benchu's strong reinforcement, with Meng Degong by his side, how dare he take it lightly?" ”

Speaking of this, Tao Ying added: "The only person in Xuzhou who can make Meng Degong scruple is only a team of the Junzi Army, but in order to restrain the Junzi Army, in the past year, even if more than 30 elite soldiers have been killed in training and hundreds of elite cavalry have been injured and disabled, he still refuses to give up the plan of imitating the Junzi Army. ”

"The envoy is so aware of the situation of my lord's imitation of the Junzi Army, it seems that Xuzhou has made great progress under the control of Tao Zhijun." Xun Yu smiled.

"Each other, your army's meticulous work is also very powerful." Tao Ying said with a smile: "In order to get close to the soldiers of the Junzi Army, Guijun did not hesitate to send out his wife with both hands, if it weren't for the fact that the internal guards under General Cao Hong were still effective, I am afraid that the secret of the Junzi Army would have been known by Meng Degong." ”

"It's a pity that it fell short." Xun Yu smiled and said: "Dare to ask the envoy, how was the soldier of the gentleman's army named Zhang Ping disposed of by the envoy?" ”

"For the sake of his past contributions, I wanted him to kill himself." Tao Ying replied casually: "It's a pity that the herald moved a step slower, and when he arrived at the Junzi Army camp, the soldier named Zhang Ping had already been cut by my grumpy third brother in front of the Junzi Army soldiers. ”

"It's a pity, it's a pity, my lord sacrificed no less than thirty fine workers, and it was not easy to find such a chance to succeed." Xun Yu shook his head and sighed, and then Xun Yu asked with a smile: "Dare to ask the envoy, I don't know if the envoy hopes that such a thing will never happen in the future?" I don't know if the envoy is willing to turn war with my lord into a jade silk, no longer hostile to each other, and never offend each other in the future? ”

"When Mr. Wen Ruo said this, could it be said that Meng Degong intends to make an alliance with our army?" Tao Ying asked tentatively.

"You're only half right." Xun Yu took out a letter from his sleeve, gently placed it on the table in front of him, and said with a smile: "My lord Cao Gong not only wants to make an alliance with the envoy, but also wants to help the envoy and help the envoy to conclude an alliance with Yuan Benchu, and the three families will join forces to fight against the traitors in the world?" ”

Speaking of this, Xun Yu smiled slightly again, and said: "Make Jun and Gongsun Zan turn against each other, and this time he will not kill Yan Liangwen and ugly, I must have the intention of being good with Yuan Shao, my lord Cao Gong and Yuan Gong are friends of the general horn, which can match the bridge between the envoy and Yuan Gong, help the envoy and Yuan Gong turn enemies into friends, and promote the alliance of the three families." ”

Tao Ying and Lu Su glanced at each other, and said together: "Boss Cao is really not simple, he actually guessed that we want to make an alliance with Yuan Shao and use Yuan Shao's hand to protect the safety of Xuzhou." ”

"Tao Envoy Jun, you don't have to believe in my lord's sincerity." Xun Yu observed the words, and said with a smile: "But it doesn't matter, this time our army can pay first, and then collect the trouble, as long as the envoy nods, my lord can first promote the alliance of the three families, and then destroy Lu Bu - with the protection of the original prince, do you still have to worry about my lord snatching the five counties of Xuzhou?" ”

(To be continued)