Even the head of the land, Tian Kai, didn't know where the Cao army had found so much cannon fodder, in short, in front of the Cao army's formation, a pile in the east and a piece in the west, there were hungry people in ragged clothes and yellow muscles, men, women and children, holding all kinds of tattered farm tools and various weapons, shouting morale-boosting slogans weakly, waiting for the Cao army's order to attack the city, gambling on their humble surnames in exchange for the possible life-saving food.

None of these cannon fodder are strong, almost every one of them has thin hands and feet, hungry and swollen abdomen, high and bulging as if they were pregnant for ten months, the skin is pressed into a deep pit, the hair and teeth are already hair out and loose teeth because of the serious lack of nutrition, and the dirty cloth hanging on the body is also full of the smell of rotten corpses, so that people can know that they are tattered clothes taken from the dead corpses when they smell them, dirty and smelly like humanoid monsters, and the walking dead with hungry green light in their eyes.

The war drums sounded, and the Cao soldiers who were responsible for the cover task rushed forward with their shields, forming temporary fortifications on the side of the moat that had been completely filled with earth and stone corpses, and the crossbowmen hid behind the shields and released arrows to suppress the defenders in the city, and Yuan Shaojun's cannon fodder Cao army also urged the cannon fodder of the self-army to come forward to attack the city. Come on! Whoever is the first to storm the city wall will be rewarded with food! Break through the city, and each person will be rewarded with two pieces of food! Ten days of rice management! If you want to eat, if you want not to starve, give it to me! ”

With the survival of the **, the Cao Army cannon fodder team, which was composed of all the local hungry people in Qingzhou, moved, carrying a simple and crumbling heavy flying ladder, holding crude weapons such as wooden sticks, bamboo guns, hoes and wooden shovels, and shouted weakly to hear whether it was a slogan or a moan.

The county city wall that is ready to fight but hides life-saving rations is bright and warm but hides a murderous fire, the walking corpse-like Qingzhou starvation is a moth, this group of moths that are so hungry that they can't fly is also a group of poor moths, successive disasters, local greed, strong and lawless, warlord melee, agricultural waste, white bones are exposed in the wild, there is no rooster cry for thousands of miles, this group of moths that were originally good people are cannon fodder is of course death, and it is difficult to escape death if they are not cannon fodder, but it is better to die than to die, so even if you know that there is fire ahead, The desperate moths threw themselves into the flames without hesitation.

The end of the moths was doomed from the beginning, because they were facing the regular army of Qingzhou armed to the teeth, or the regular army with strong fortifications, so even if they struggled to the near of the city wall, there was almost no chance to touch the city wall, the arrows and flying stones on the city wall were as dense as a storm, and their team was so scattered, as soon as the arrow rain fell, their team had begun to collapse, and the team also sounded an earth-shattering cry, and behind them, There are also bare-chested soldiers of the Cao Army who are carrying snowy broadswords............ Of course, Tian Kai on the city wall knew that he was wasting not many arrows, and he also knew that these enemies under the city wall were actually the people of Qingzhou, but Tian Kai had no choice, because last time Tian Kai softened his heart a little, and wanted to save some precious arrows, so that these hungry people rushed to the city, but the regular army of the Cao army immediately launched a charge, mixed with the hungry people and rushed to the city, and rushed to the city wall with a strong flying ladder, so that Tian Kai spent a lot of hands and feet and sacrificed a lot of soldiers to defeat the Cao army, so from that time, Tian Kai no longer dared to be soft-hearted and thrifty, and every time he treated the cannon fodder team driven by Cao Jun as a real enemy.

Because of the ruthlessness of the Qingzhou coalition army, the first wave of attacks of the Cao army's cannon fodder team was quickly repulsed, but it didn't matter to Cao Ren, Cheng Yu, Liu Huangshu and others, because there were too many cannon fodder in the hands of the Cao army. But Cao Jun can not care, but the big Yuan Sangong, who is responsible for the logistics supply of the Cao Yuan coalition army, can't help but say something, the first wave of Cao Jun's cannon fodder attack was just killed, and the big Yuan Sangong immediately sent someone to call Cao Ren and Cheng Yu in front of him, and asked with a face: "Why didn't your army attack the city?" What is the use of sending these Qianshou people, who are about to starve to death, to attack the city except for wasting food and time? ”

"Then why didn't your Jizhou army launch a siege?" Cao Ren was angry in his heart, and replied stiffly: "Our army will launch a siege on itself, but not now, we must wait for the hungry people of Qingzhou to create an opportunity for our army to be annexed." ”

"Yuan Gong doesn't need to be anxious, and listen to the explanation." Cheng Yu was afraid that Cao Ren and Da Yuan Sangong would clash again, so he hurriedly nodded and explained: "According to the confession of the thief prisoners captured by our army, Tian Kai's thief army gave up a large number of non-essential baggage when they retreated from the Yellow River crossing, and there are not many feather arrows in the county, and Tian Kai's thieves have been collecting feather fans from house to house to make arrows, so as long as the hungry people consume the arrows of the thief army, it will be much easier for your two armies to join the city again." Please rest assured that when the arrows of Tian Kai's thief army are exhausted, our army will inevitably launch an ant annex to the city and take the county seat in one fell swoop. ”

"How long will it take?" Da Yuan Sangong asked angrily: "Do you know how much grain and grass my 60,000 army and your more than 20,000 troops consume in a day?" ”

"Yu knows that Yuan Gong's logistics are under a lot of pressure, but please rest assured that Yuan Gong will not be too long." Cheng Yu nodded and continued to perfunctory, and comforted: "Actually, Yuan Gong doesn't have to be so anxious, these days the county town is constantly deserting, presumably Yuan Gong has also learned from the captives that in fact, the grain and grass in the county town is by no means as sufficient as we expected, and there is also an outbreak of plague, the soldiers and the people have fallen ill countless times, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and the thieves have long had the idea of abandoning the city and breaking through, but they are afraid of the heavy siege of the two armies, and they are not sure that they dare not act rashly, Yuan Gong does not even need to attack the city, as long as he insists on besieging the city for a period of time, The small towns of the county can also be self-defeating. ”

"Where did the food and grass for the siege come from?" Da Yuan Sangong roared angrily: "More than 80,000 troops, plus war horses, not counting the road consumption, the consumption of grain and grass in a day is more than 6,000 hundred!" Your lord also used the excuse of the drought in northern Henan and the locust plague in Yanzhou, and asked me to bear the grain, grass and military supplies for you, and you used such words to perfunctory me?! ”

Cheng Yu closed his mouth with shame, and Yuan Tan next to him saw that the situation was not good, so he quickly opened his mouth to divert his father's attention, and said gloomily: "Father, in fact, the most hateful person is still the Tao Ying thief in Xuzhou, if he hadn't helped Tian Kai crack Uncle Cao's thunderbolt, the county town would have been taken down by Uncle Cao's team. Tian Kai's thief is the mortal enemy of our army, but Tao Ying's thief is ....... ”

"Shut up!" The eldest Yuan Sangong was furious and interrupted the eldest son's sowing discord, and shouted at Yuan Tan with a blue face: "Are you my son, or the son of Cao Apu?!" You scolded your brother-in-law for being a thief, and insisted on Cao Apu, saying that Tian Kai's thief cracked Cao Apu's thunderbolt was taught by your brother-in-law, so your mother asked you that day, where is your evidence? Why can't you say a word?! ”

"Lao Tzu threw his words here today, if you dare to slander your brother-in-law in front of Lao Tzu and provoke the relationship between Lao Tzu and your brother-in-law, then you don't have to be my son! Go to Xuchang and be Cao Apu's son! ”

Seeing that Da Yuan Sangong was so angry that he even said such a thing, Yuan Tan suddenly sweated like pulp, and his face suddenly turned like earth, and Cao Ren and Cheng Yu heard Da Yuan Sangong's insult to Cao Boss, they gritted their teeth and hated in their hearts, if it wasn't for Cheng Yu to pull it, Cao Ren would probably have to jump out again and fight hard with Da Yuan Sangong, who insulted his brother.

Fortunately, at this time, the people who broke the siege appeared, and the step-room of the great Yuan Sangong, who insisted on going out with the army to meet his daughter and son-in-law, and was hated by Cao Jun Wenwu and Yuan Tan to the marrow, suddenly came to the front of the battle in a carriage surrounded by Yuan Shaojun's soldiers in the brigade, and brought a middle-aged man with a strange face to the big Yuan Sangong, and before he got off the car, he couldn't wait to smile at the big Yuan Sangong: "Husband, good news, great news." ”

"What's the good news? Can you personally report the news before the battle? ”

The tense face of the eldest Yuan Sangong, who was in a rage, finally loosened a little, and Yuan Tan Gongzi, who was trembling, also found that his stepmother was still a little gentle for the first time, and Cheng Yu also quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but Liu's next words made Yuan Tan Gongzi and Cheng Yu's hearts suddenly rise to their throats again, "Of course, it is good news for our daughter and son-in-law, our filial son-in-law has sent a letter, and the content of the letter will definitely make you happy and know how filial our son-in-law is." ”

Laughing, Liu walked quickly to the front of the big Yuan Sangong, and couldn't wait to send an envelope to the big Yuan Sangong, the big Yuan Sangong who had suffered a loss first checked the seal and sealed it correctly, and then opened the envelope and took out the letter to watch, and the result was just as Liu said, when he saw the son-in-law first reported to him the date and route of the army, the face of the big Yuan Sangong who was still extremely green just now suddenly showed a relaxed smile, and then saw that the son-in-law took the initiative to offer himself 100,000 yuan of military food after the division to help him reduce the burden of logistics. Da Yuan Sangong was even more overjoyed, and said with a smile: "Yes, Ying'er is very filial, and I didn't recruit this son-in-law in vain." ”

"Yes, husband, do you see how considerate our Ying Er is, how much can he think about your difficulties?" Liu took the opportunity to say with a pun: "Compared with your young friend, is our son-in-law much stronger?" ”

"Yes, a son-in-law is half a son, after all, it is half of our son, and he is still reliable in his own family." Da Yuan Sangong agreed with his wife's words, and glared at Cao Ren and Cheng Yu viciously, and wanted to cut these two lackeys of Boss Cao with a thousand knives and execute Ling Chi! Cao Ren and Cheng Yu didn't know why, but they saw that Da Yuan Sangong's face was not good, and they couldn't help but be even more secretly worried.

"Lord, what's the good news?" Xun Chen leaned up and asked.

"I'll tell you later, I haven't finished reading it yet." Da Yuan Sangong shook his head, and quickly finished reading the rest of the content, and then Da Yuan Sangong's face suddenly became strange, and he also looked at Cao Ren and Cheng Yu in front of him, which made Cao Ren and Cheng Yu even more worried, and the bad premonition became stronger and stronger.

"Lord, is there something wrong?" Guo Tu, who was standing behind Yuan Tan, also found that the situation was a little bad, and hurriedly came up to inquire about the situation.

"Nothing." Considering that Cao Ren and Cheng Yu were in front of him, Da Yuan Sangong shook his head decisively and denied it, first put away his son-in-law's letter, and then turned to the middle-aged man brought by his wife and asked, "You are the messenger sent by my son-in-law?" ”

"Little envoy Song Kai, meet Yuan Gong." Song Kai hurriedly saluted, and took out a letter from his bosom, explaining: "The little envoy sent an envoy to Tian Kai's thief army on the order of the lord, and submitted a war report to Tian Kai's thief army in person, informing our army of the date and route of the army, in order to report Tian Kai's previous rescue of Xuzhou's grace. ”

Yuan Sangong, who is wide on the outside and narrow on the inside, was not polite, took the letter from Deputy Director Tao to Tian Kai and opened it first, and then handed the letter to Xun Chen and Guo Tu and other confidants and strategists, and asked them to read the staff officer, Yuan Tan also came up to read it together, but after only reading it in a hurry, Yuan Tan immediately shouted, "Ridiculous!" It's ridiculous! Since ancient times, someone has informed the enemy in advance of his troop strength, time and route of his troops? Tao Ying is ......, and his brother-in-law is simply ridiculous! ”

"Is that ridiculous?" Da Yuan Sangong said angrily: "My son-in-law has received Tian Kai's great favor, and he was ordered to send troops to Qingzhou to attack Tian Kai, and he met with the swords and soldiers of the former benefactor. Xiang Tian Kai informed the time and route of the army in advance, it is the style of a dignified gentleman, where is the absurdity? ”

Yuan Tan retreated with a shy face, but Cheng Yu panicked, and hurriedly persuaded: "Yuan Gong, you can't let the Xuzhou messenger send the letter into the city!" Yuan Gong, please think twice, although Tao Yuanjun's move is a gentleman's style, but if Tian Kai and Kong Rong and the two thieves know Tao Yuanjun's troop route and march route in advance, and make arrangements and preparations in advance, it will be very unfavorable to the next battle between your and our armies! ”

"It's not good for your Cao army's war, right?" Xun Chen muttered in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Lord, Chen thinks that the Xuzhou envoy should be allowed to enter the city with a book, firstly, in order to fulfill the gentlemanly style of the Tao envoy, and secondly, it can also let Tian Kai thieves know that his rear is about to catch fire, prompting Tian Kai thieves to abandon the county and break through to the hinterland, so as to facilitate our army to carry out field battles, and can also greatly shorten the time required for our army's siege and save our army's grain and grass expenses." ”

After finishing speaking, Xun Chen turned to Cheng Yu again and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhongde, if Tian Kai's thieves abandon the city and break through, although your army's camp will inevitably bear the brunt, but please rest assured that Mr. and Zixiao are allies, even if your army is tight, my lord will definitely not sit idly by-lord, right?" ”

"Ahh Oh, yes, yes. Da Yuan Sangong paused for a moment before he reacted, and then said with a smile: "If you are reasonable, Meng De is my brother, his team is in a tight war, and I will definitely send troops to rescue immediately like what happened to Yanzhou back then, so Mr. Zhongde doesn't have to worry." ”

After that, Da Yuan Sangong didn't give Cheng Yu and Cao Ren a chance to speak at all, and immediately turned to Song Kai and ordered: "You go, fly a white flag to the county seat, present the letter to Tian Kai in person, come on, prepare a white flag for Mr. Song." Song Kai bowed down to thank him, took the letter, and went down to the county seat with a small white flag, leaving Cao Ren and Cheng Yu gritting their teeth in place, hating and angry.

The matter was not over, after ordering Cao Ren and Cheng Yu to return to Cao's army to continue to lead the troops to prepare for the siege, Da Yuan Sangong took out the letter from his son-in-law to himself, handed it to Xun Chen and Guo Tu and said: "Let's take a look, my son-in-law came to write to introduce Zhang Ji to Wancheng, and begged me to look at his face, accept the attachment of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, and come forward to shelter Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew who has a foothold in Wancheng, what do you think?" ”

"Wancheng Zhang Ji?" Guo Tu, who belonged to the Dagongzi Party, changed his face on the spot, and he suddenly understood Deputy Director Tao's disgusting Boss Cao's evil intentions, and hurriedly opened his mouth to stop it: "Lord, this matter must not be allowed, Zhang Ji is Dong Zhuo's remnant, the sinner of the country, if the lord accepts Zhang Ji to be attached, the reputation of the lord will be greatly disadvantaged!" ”

"Father, Mr. Gongze is right, you must not accept Zhang Ji's attachment." Although Yuan Tan didn't understand Deputy Director Tao's intentions, since it was supported by Deputy Director Tao, Yuan Tan Gongzi naturally stood up against it, and said quickly: "Father, I, the fourth and third princes of the Yuan family, have a world-famous reputation, if I accept the attachment of rebellious ministers and thieves like Uncle Zhang Ji's nephew, the reputation of my father and my Yuan family will be greatly damaged!" ”

"Really?" Da Yuan Sangong was a little hesitant, Da Yuan Sangong was a little worried that accepting Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew would damage his reputation, and it would also worsen his relationship with Cao Boss, but considering that this was the introduction of a filial son-in-law, if he flatly refused, it would hurt his son-in-law's face too much.

"I think you're the rebels and thieves, right?" Seeing Guo Tu winceing at himself like killing a chicken and wiping his neck, begging for his help to speak, Xun Chen, a neutral faction who was quite loyal to the third prince of Da Yuan, was inevitably angry, and said secretly: "For the sake of your private affairs of fighting for power and profit, you completely ignore the interests of the lord and the interests of my Jizhou, and want me to ask me to help, leading the lord into the wrong way, dreaming!" ”

After muttering secretly, Xun Chen stood up without hesitation, and said to the third prince of Da Yuan: "Lord, according to the opinion of the next, accepting Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew to belong to him is actually beneficial and harmless to the lord and our army!" Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew are stationed in Wancheng, only five hundred miles away from Xuchang, and there is no danger to defend on the way, it is simply a sharp knife stabbed in Xuchang's vest! If the lord accepts the attachment of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, and lets the elite Xiliang soldiers under Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew be used by the lord, then ......at the critical moment, when the lord gives an order, wouldn't it be a strange soldier who goes straight to Xuchang and receives twice the result with half the effort? ! ”

"Mr. Youruo, Uncle Cao is my father's best friend and an ally of our army, how can you say such a thing?" Yuan Tan asked angrily.

"The eldest prince, the lord does regard Cao Mengde as a close friend, and Cao Jun as an ally, but Cao Mengde regards the lord as a close friend? Do you consider our army an ally again? Xun Chen asked rhetorically without fear, and then pointed to the Cao army team in the distance and said: "Eldest prince, please take a look, those hungry Qingzhou people are Cao Mengde's reward to the lord!" ”

"In the Lu Bu Rebellion of that year, in order to recapture Yanzhou for Cao Mengde, the lord successively dispatched more than 100,000 troops, spent countless money and food, sacrificed countless soldiers, and lent Cao Mengde more than 300,000 grains without discounting to help Cao Mengde survive the famine and turn the crisis into safety, and it is not an exaggeration to say that Cao Mengde has the grace of reconstruction!"

But how did Cao Mengde repay the lord? Let's not talk about him about the Son of Heaven before, now the lord wants him to send troops to help attack Qingzhou, Cao Mengde only sent 30,000 second-line troops perfunctory, and asked him to return 100,000 grains, Cao Mengde used all kinds of excuses to refuse, and these are not to be said! It was the lord who asked him Cao Ren Cheng Yu to send troops to attack a small county town, Cao Ren and Cheng Yu both summoned so many hungry people to take the lead, and refused to send their troops in every possible way, for what? It's not that I'm afraid that their casualties will be too great, and I don't want to work hard for the lord, let alone repay the lord's kindness for reconstruction! is so ungrateful, he Cao Mengde treats his lord as a close friend at that point, and treats our army as an ally at that point?! ”

Yuan Tan was speechless, and when he finally found a reason to quibble, he suddenly saw his father's extremely angry eyes, and saw the vicious sneer on his stepmother Liu's face, Yuan Tan's heart trembled, and he had to quickly shut his mouth. Over there, Guo Tu also lowered his head honestly, for fear that the third prince of Da Yuan would be angry and drive him to Xuchang, so that he could be a staff member of Boss Cao's advisers.

"Count you brat smart." Liu, who had been waiting for Yuan Tan Gongzi to speak, snorted coldly in his heart, and then pulled the sleeve of Da Yuan Sangong and said delicately: "Husband, do you still need to hesitate?" This is the introduction of our son-in-law, such a filial son-in-law, husband, you are willing to hurt his face? ”

"My lord, this is a godsend." Xun Chen also persuaded: "Although Tao Envoy Jun's move is also for his own sake, but the lord's acceptance of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew's attachment is also beneficial and harmless to our army." Moreover, Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew came thousands of miles to vote and voluntarily accepted the command and orders of the lord, doesn't it just prove that the lord of your majesty is in China, and as soon as the order is issued, the princes of the world have attached their heads? Your reputation is also beneficial and harmless! ”

Da Yuan Sangong finally nodded slowly, gritted his teeth and said: "Cao Agui, since you will take revenge for injustice first, then don't blame me for letting you be stabbed in your back and restless!" Mr. Youruo, make a book for me and Cao Mengde, tell him Cao Apu, and say that I have accepted Zhang Ji's attachment, and from today on, Zhang Ji will be my subordinate general! If he's smart, he'd better not bother with Zhang Ji's idea! ”

"My lord, is that too hostile?" Xun Chen hurriedly dissuaded: "It's best to inform Cao Mengde, just say that the lord accepted the attachment of Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, and asked Cao Mengde and Zhang Ji to get along amicably, not to violate each other, if there is a conflict, you can ask the lord to mediate." Cao Mengde is a smart person, so he will naturally understand the true intentions of the lord. ”

Looking at the outrageous Cao army cannon fodder team in the distance, and thinking about the various chicken and dog thieves of Boss Cao in the Qingzhou War, Da Yuan Sangong almost wanted to refuse Xun Chen's suggestion and maintain the previous decision, but considering that most of his main force had gone north, and he was still free to clean up the unkind and unjust Cao Boss, Da Yuan Sangong still nodded reluctantly and said: "According to Mr. Youruo's wishes, let's give Cao Ah a face again." ”

After finishing speaking, Yuan Sangong, who hated it to the extreme, couldn't help but gritted his teeth in his heart and added, "Give him face one last time!" ”

Although Da Yuan Sangong gritted his teeth and made a little concession, it was enough, when Da Yuan Sangong's letter of notification was delivered to Boss Cao, Boss Cao, who was already preparing to swear to send troops to attack Wancheng, suddenly went crazy, and tore Da Yuan Sangong's letter to shreds on the spot, and roared wildly with red eyes, "Yuan Shao Pifu!" I swear to kill you! I swear to kill you! ”

(To be continued)