There was no time to ask Deputy Director Tao for orders, and when Wei Yan decisively led the army to appear under the city of Xixian on the second morning, he scattered the souls of Kong Rangli and the soldiers and civilians of Xixian County, but when he found that the number of troops brought by Wei Yan was not much, and he saw that Wei Yanjun was just resting outside the city, making fires and making food, and there was no sign of immediately attacking the city of Xixian County, Kong Rangli, who had already changed the banner of Cao Boss, also understood that Wei Yan was scrupling about the Cao Jun banner at the head of Xixian County, and the arrogant self-confidence hidden deep in his heart inevitably swelled up again.

Wei Yan is indeed scrupling about the banner of Cao Jun in the county town of the drama, because Wei Yan is not the kind of reckless man who blindly works hard, and knows what the consequences will be if he launches an attack on the city without authorization at this time, Wei Yan, who has a firm foothold in the Xuzhou army, naturally does not dare to act indiscriminately, and misses his glorious future under Deputy Director Tao - Deputy Director Tao does not appreciate Wei Yan ordinarily. Therefore, Wei Yan could only wait for Deputy Director Tao's order, while asking his three thousand soldiers to seize the time to rest, explore the terrain and reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and sort out the few siege weapons brought by the army, so as to launch a siege at any time.

Wei Yan, who was born with the arrogant surname, was able to maintain his calm and rational mind at the critical moment, but Kong Rangli, who was also born with the arrogant surname, liked to be hot-headed at the critical moment, said a few shocking words, and did so many things with his head in water. No, as soon as he found that the Xuzhou army did not have the courage to attack the city that had surrendered to the friendly army, Kong Rangli sent his cronies Bo Wang Xiu out of the city, with five slaughtered mutton that had already stinky and smelly, and Shi Hu didn't know that he had found the moldy old grain from the horns, saying that he wanted to reward the Xuzhou army and thank Deputy Director Tao for his kindness.

As mentioned earlier, after Wei Yan joined the Xuzhou army, all the commanders were Deputy Director Tao's cheap fellow Danyang soldiers, all of whom were arrogant and unruly, and their ability to cause trouble and pick quarrels and provoke troubles made Deputy Director Tao often have a big head like a fight, and it has always become a habit to bully friendly troops. Therefore, after seeing the rotten meat and rotten grain brought by Wang Xiu, Wei Yan's team was suddenly confused, and countless soldiers scolded and surrounded Wang Xiu and more than ten others, and some people moved their fists and feet and pulled out knives.

"Stop!" Fortunately, Wei Yan, who had always been more arrogant and unruly than the Danyang soldiers, suddenly went against the norm, opened his mouth to stop the movement of the soldiers under his command, and personally led the team of pro-soldiers to separate the people, walked to Wang Xiu and the others with an expressionless face, and looked at the rancid grain and meat sent by Kong Rangli, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.

"General, the dogs are too deceitful and slaughter them! Slaughter them! Countless Danyang soldiers brandished their weapons and roared, frightening the poor Wang Xiu Master Bo and his party to the point that their faces were pale, and they trembled like leaves in the wind.

"Shut up!" Wei Yan suddenly opened his mouth and drank again, and slammed the forty-nine-pound long-handled broadsword in his hand to the ground, smashing a piece of bluestone on the ground, and among the sparks, poor Wang Xiu Master Bo sat on the ground, and the Danyang soldiers who had already suffered countless hardships also quickly shut their mouths, and the crowd finally quieted down.

In front of everyone's eyes, holding the hilt of the knife and glaring at Wang Xiu viciously for a long time, Wei Yan suddenly slowed down his face, and suddenly bowed his hand to Wang Xiu, and said angrily: "There is labor, please return to the courtesy, just say that Wei Yan is very grateful, and I also accept his intentions." ”

As soon as Wei Yan said this, the Danyang soldiers who were watching suddenly made a big uproar, and Wei Yan's deputy, Zhou Hui, a Danyang general who was somewhat related to the old Tao family, even exclaimed, "Brother Wen, I heard you right, right?" Kong Rong has humiliated us so much, how can you still bear it? Isn't this like you? ”

"That's wrong, Wen Jugong is sending people to give gifts, not to humiliate us." Wei Yan shook his head, and then bowed his hand to the Lord of the North Sea, Bo Wang Xiu, and said: "Don't blame Lord Bo, Lord Bo is in a hurry, and he has not prepared a decent gift, so he can only change the thank you gift to be presented, and please Lord Bo must apologize to Wen Jugong on behalf of the last general." ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, Xiu must explain it to the general in front of the lord." Wang Xiu, who had already been frightened, nodded in agreement, and hurriedly said, "General Wei, if there is nothing else, then I will leave first." ”

"Your Excellency, please." Wei Yan nodded in agreement with Wang Xiu leaving, Wang Xiu was like an amnesty, and hurriedly led a dozen or so followers who had already suffered a lot of punches and kicks to turn around and leave, and the Danyang soldiers who surrounded them also helplessly gave way under Wei Yan's shout, gritting their teeth and letting Wang Xiu and his party leave. But when Wang Xiu was about to walk out of the crowd, Wei Yan suddenly asked loudly again, "Oh, by the way, Lord Bo, since your army has surrendered to Cao Gong of Yanzhou, why don't you see the generals and officials under Cao Gong go out of the city to negotiate with the last general?" ”

"Cao Gong's team hasn't arrived yet." Wang Xiu blurted out and explained: "My lord accepted the persuasion of Duke Cao's envoy to surrender, but Duke Cao's team has not yet arrived in the drama city, so there is no official envoy from Duke Cao who can go out of the city to negotiate with the general. ”

"Oh, when will Cao Gong's team arrive in the drama city?" Wei Yan asked casually again.

"No......." Wang Xiu almost blurted out the truth again, but fortunately he held back in time, played a cautious eye again, and said nonsense: "Soon, today at the earliest, and the day after tomorrow at the latest, after Cao Gong's team arrives in the drama city, my lord will definitely go out of the city to meet with the general, and have a banquet with the general and the generals under Cao Gong." ”

"Then thank you Wen Jugong." Wei Yan thanked him again, and didn't ask anything anymore, Wang Xiu was overjoyed, and hurriedly led his entourage to rush away, and returned to the city of Juxian County, which was waiting for him, to hand over to Kong Rangli.

"General, how can you let this rat go like this?"

As soon as Wang Xiu left, the Danyang soldiers led by Zhou Hui naturally rushed to Wei Yan to question, asking why Wei Yan let Wang Xiu, who humiliated his own army, leave, Wei Yan asked quietly: "What can I do if I don't let him go?" Although this thief is hateful and hateful, he has now surrendered to Cao Thief, that is, Cao Thief's people, and Cao Thief is now our ally, if I kill him without authorization, the lord will ask him, who will bear the consequences? ”

Zhou Hui and the other Danyang soldiers were speechless, but Wei Yan muttered to himself: "It will arrive today at the earliest, and the day after tomorrow at the latest?" With such a vague time, could it be said that Kong Rong's old puppet didn't know when Cao Thief's team would arrive in the drama city? Otherwise, he should have told me the time of the arrival of the Cao thief team and warned me not to act rashly? ”

After muttering, Wei Yan, who was definitely a great general, only thought for a moment, and immediately made two arrangements, one was to arrange for more than 100 soldiers to prepare more war drums and horns, and beat the drums and trumpets every half an hour; He also arranged for his deputy Zhou Hui to lead fifty elite experts to ambush on the official road east of the drama county, and captured Kong Rangli to definitely send a messenger from the drama city to contact Cao Jun.

"The messenger sent by Kong Rong Lao'er to the city?" Zhou Hui asked in surprise, "Brother Wen, are you sure that Old Man Kong Rong will send a messenger out of the city?" ”

"Definitely sent!" Wei Yan nodded categorically, and explained: "Cao Thief's army has not yet arrived in the drama city, although Kong Rong Lao'er is hiding in the drama city for a while, but his heart must be very timid, hearing our army beating drums and horns to attack, he will definitely worry that our army will attack the city, for the sake of safety, he naturally has to send a messenger to the west to contact the Cao thief, and then as long as you catch Kong Rong Lao'er's messenger, we can know the exact location of the Cao thief, and we can also know the situation of the defenders in the drama county." ”

"Senior Brother Wen is talented, no wonder my distant cousin appreciates you so much!"

Zhou Hui suddenly realized, and quickly led more than fifty good soldiers in the army to the west gate of the drama city happily, and Wei Yan turned to the generals under his command and ordered: "What are you still doing?" Go back to me and take time to rest, beat the drum and trumpet every half an hour, reinforce the thirty flying ladders I brought, and hurry up to build some more four-zhang long pontoon bridges, and prepare for the siege! Our lord is not the kind of person who likes to suffer, and there will definitely be orders to send it! ”

After Wei Yan's team followed the order, Wei Yan's hand of striking the grass and scaring the snake quickly received the effect. At the beginning, after Wang Xiu returned to the city of Xixian County, he saw that the Xuzhou army swallowed his humiliation and accepted his humiliation, and hated Deputy Director Tao's ungrateful behavior to the bone, Kong Rangli was inevitably proud and thought he had a plan, but when the Xuzhou army suddenly shook the sky and the horn sounded, he had already returned to his own Xinglin Garden and was so frightened that the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground, and he quickly rushed to the head of the city of Xixian again, until it was confirmed that the Xuzhou army was just bluffing.

"National thief, what kind of fame?" Kong Rangli is also a very cautious minister, and immediately after scolding, he wrote a book, wrote a letter about the situation of the Xuzhou army's divine soldiers descending from heaven and appeared under the city of Xixian County, and sent his henchmen to ride a fast horse out of the west gate and out of the city, and rushed to the area of Xi'an County, Qiguo County to contact Cao Jun - Kong Rangli only knew that Cao Jun was probably in this position, and begged Cao Ren to send troops to the drama city as soon as possible to prevent accidents.

Kong Rangli's move of course hit Wei Yan's hands, and the messenger sent by Kong Rangli was naturally captured by the ambush soldiers sent by Wei Yan, and then the situation of Cao's army and the defenders in the city of Drama County were also exposed to Wei Yan, although the Cao army was probably in the area of Xi'an in one hundred and fifty miles, which made Wei Yan very worried, but the specific situation of the defenders in the city of Drama County made Wei Yan overjoyed, although it turned out that there were more than 12,000 defenders in the city of Drama County, However, there are more than 8,000 defenders who are all recruits recently recruited by Kong Rangli, and their combat effectiveness is pitifully weak, and their combat experience is almost none, even if Wei Yan only uses the only 3,000 Danyang infantry in his hands to attack the city, it is not hopeless.

Of course, although he basically grasped the enemy's situation, it was still quite difficult to make Wei Yan immediately make up his mind to attack the city, because Wei Yan knew that attacking the city of Xixian County, which had already surrendered to the Cao army, at this time, attacking the city of Xixian County, which had surrendered to the Cao army, was equivalent to waging war against the ally team, not to mention that Wei Yan, a lieutenant of Xuzhou who had not yet been officially canonized by the imperial court, could not afford such a crime, I am afraid that even Deputy Director Tao would have to weigh it for a long time, so after hesitating for a long time, Wei Yan still gritted his teeth and ordered: "Kill the messenger and kill the mouth, The body is buried deep and continues to wait for the lord's order! ”

During the period of patiently waiting for Deputy Director Tao's order and preparing for the siege of the city, Wei Yan did not stop his action of fighting grass and scaring snakes, on the contrary, he was even more aggressive, sending 300 people to the south gate of Xixian County every half an hour to beat gongs and drums, shouting and roaring, alarming the defenders in the city, and every time he scared the rookie defenders in Xixian County to shout and scream, running like a pig, and even more frightened Kong Rangli didn't even have the mind to chant poetry, so he simply moved to live in the city tower at the south gate, so as to command the army to guard the city at any time. The defenders in the city of Drama County also gathered at the south gate under the orders of Kong Rangli, ready to enter the battlefield at any time.

Of course, during this period, Kong Rangli had to send an envoy out of the city to negotiate with Wei Yan to inquire about the purpose of Wei Yan's move, and Wei Yan told Kong Rangli's envoy very frankly, "There is no purpose, it is to let the brothers move their muscles and bones, please rest assured that Wen Jugong is now a friendly army, and we will not mess around." And Wei Yan's answer naturally not only did not reassure Kong Rangli, but also became more and more worried.

The sun is gradually moving westward, seeing that Shen Shi is about to pass out, the Qingzhou sky, which has been clear for a long time, suddenly became overcast, the dark clouds gradually thickened, and there was a heavy rain falling, looking up to see such a scene, Wei Yan was inevitably a little worried, because the most feared thing in siege warfare was to encounter rain, not to mention that the rain would make the bow and crossbow weapons lose their effect, not to mention, it would also make the land muddy and difficult to walk, which was not conducive to the mobilization of the attacking army's army and the march of siege weapons, and the defender stood on the top of the tall and hard city wall, and the rain not only could not affect the transfer of the defenders. It can't affect the effect of defending the city, and the difficulty of attacking the city will increase the strength of the other.

In addition, once the heavy rain falls, it will also affect the speed of reinforcement of the follow-up army in Xuzhou, and the Xuzhou army encounters such an unfortunate thing in the case of urgently needing time to quickly break through the county, which is obviously God's punishment for the revenge of Deputy Director Tao.

Contrary to the worried Wei Yan, Kong Rangli, who had fought some battles with the Yellow Turban Thief, saw that it was going to rain, and it was inevitable that he raised his arms and cheered with joy, "God bless the big man!" God bless the man! Heavens, make it rain! ”

"Forget it." At the same time, Wei Yan shook his head, and secretly comforted himself: "Anyway, I don't have a heavy ladder car or a city crash car in my hand, and the flying ladder is not too heavy, it doesn't make much difference whether it rains or not, the key is the lord's order, what kind of order the lord gives!" ”

Just after the unitary time, the sky in the drama city in June flashed and thundered, and finally it rained heavily, which suddenly extinguished the countless torches and bonfires that the Xuzhou army and Kong Rongjun had just lit, and also forced the Xuzhou army that did not even bring a marching tent into the woods for the sake of the rapid march.

At the beginning of the shift, the rain weakened slightly, but it was still very heavy, and the messenger of Deputy Director Tao still did not arrive in the drama city, Wei Yan continued to send drum and trumpeters to the city of drama again with a straight face to disturb the city, but unfortunately this time the defenders of the drama city were no longer fooled, most of the defenders hid in the city tower to avoid the rain, and only a very small number of soldiers braved the wind and rain to stay by the arrow battlements to monitor the movements of the Xuzhou army.

Halfway through the hour, halfway through the first shift, the rain increased again, and the sky was completely dark, almost to the point where he couldn't see his fingers, but the messenger still didn't arrive in the county. Wei Yantie issued two orders with a blushing face, the first was that the three hundred drummers continued to disturb the city, and the second order was that the army used the cover of night to move to the north gate of the drama city with horses and horses, leaving the drummers to bluff at the south gate, and continue to come forward every half an hour to disturb the defenders.

In the rainy night, carrying flying ladders and improvised rough pontoon bridges to march, how difficult it is can not be described with pen and ink, in short, one foot deep and one shallow foot stepped on the muddy water and detoured half a circle down the city of the city, even if they were brave and good at fighting - at least the Danyang soldiers who were known for their individual combat bravery, they were all tired and panting like cattle, and walked for more than half an hour for more than ten miles.

It was also at this time that the lame deputy director Tao's messenger was finally brought to Wei Yan by the sentry, and as soon as they met, the herald explained in a loud voice: "General, it's not that the villain deliberately neglects military law, it's because it suddenly rained heavily, and the villain's horse lost its hoof, and the villain fell down with the horse, and both the person and the horse were injured, so ......." ”

"Don't be wordy." Wei Yan interrupted the herald's explanation and said coldly, "Just announce the lord's order." ”

"No." The lame herald hurriedly stood upright, took out the order of Deputy Director Tao wrapped in oilcloth, and said in a positive voice: "Wei Yan, the commander of the Xuzhou cavalry, listens to the order, the lord has an order, and orders you to immediately attack the drama city, and take the city at any cost before the Cao thief army arrives in the drama city!" ”

"Order!" Wei Yan agreed loudly, took the official document brought by the herald, and checked it by the occasional flash of lightning in the sky, so that the personal soldiers took the herald down to rest, and then ordered the team to assemble and announce Deputy Director Tao's order in public.

In the wind and rain, more than 2,000 Xuzhou soldiers who were ready to participate in the war were assembled in front of Wei Yan, but Wei Yan did not immediately announce the order of Deputy Director Tao, but said loudly in a serious and heavy tone: "Soldiers, you may all know that I, Wei Yan, am an enemy general captured by the lord, and I was replaced from the team in Jingzhou, and the lord promised in public at that time that he would hand over the Danyang elite soldiers under his command, that is, you, to me under his command. Later, the lord made good on his promise. ”

"To be honest, I'm curious why the lord made such a promise and fulfilled such a promise? Someone told me that the lord was playing tricks on me, and even harming me, because whether it was Cao Mengde, the sworn enemy of our Xuzhou army, or our lord Tao Envoy, they had never really used you Danyang soldiers, let alone really brought them well! ”

"Why? Because you are too unruly and undisciplined, you are a well-known individual soldier and a dragon, a group of insects collectively, usually either bullying friendly troops, or fighting, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, it is simply a group of brave and ruthless rabble! Because of these surnames of yours, your fellow villagers have mutinied in the camp of Cao thieves, the main force of Huainan who has pitted Yuan Shupifu in Hefei City, and they are also hated by friendly troops in the five counties of Xuzhou, just because you are the same townsmen of the lord, I dare not do anything to you! In the entire Xuzhou, only Cao Bao, Xu Tan and Zhang Xu, a few old generals from Danyang, can control you, and they only barely control you. ”

"In fact, after I took over the Danyang soldiers, you usually didn't make trouble for me, and you didn't find a way to drive me away, the Yiyang villagers I brought from Jingzhou were killed by you, two were killed by you, one was disabled, and six were scared to become deserters, in order to make you obedient, I also fought with more than 20 warriors among you, and because of violating military law, cut off the heads of five of your companions, and finally used force to subdue you, so that you were barely obedient, and reluctantly obeyed me, a captain who is more ruthless and crazy than you."

Speaking of this, Wei Yan paused for a moment, and said loudly: "I won't hide it from you, because you are difficult to command, I also thought about giving up, and I once doubted the lord's intention to let me take you." But the lord seemed to have discovered this, and took time to talk to me all night, in the conversation, the lord told me straight to the point that the reason why he used me to take you is because I am more arrogant and unruly than you, so he named me to command the Danyang soldiers with poison and poison! ”

"Soldiers, the lord has high hopes for you, in terms of individual combat effectiveness, I am afraid that none of you are weaker than the world-famous trapped camp, and the murderous spirit of fighting is far better than the trapped camp, but why has the reputation of your Danyang soldiers not been able to catch up with the trapped camp? Why do you, including your fellow townsman, have to be as big as a bucket when they hear the name of your Danyang soldiers? There is only one reason, that is, you have no discipline, an undisciplined army, one against the other, can fight again, and if you meet the enemy's array, you will die in vain, and raising you is also a waste of food! ”

"The lord told me that his greatest wish is that the Danyang soldiers, under my leadership, can become an organized and disciplined army, a team that can win battles and conquer battles, and can make the princes of the world change their style! Therefore the lord has handed you over to me, so that I can spoil you for him, protect you, and take care of you for him! But the effect, you are just barely obedient, barely able to fight collectively, but you still make your allies look down on you, thinking that you are still a rabble, and you can't do anything except fight with the wind and bully your allies! ”

"Soldiers, tell me, do you want to go on like this?" Wei Yan suddenly raised his voice and asked loudly, "Tell me, do you still want to be looked down upon?" ”

"No!" More than 2,000 Danyang soldiers replied with a jagged roar.

"Then tell me again, do you still want to continue to carry the laughing stock of a single soldier and a dragon, a group of insects, and be ridiculed by others forever?"

"No!" The answer is still a bit messy.

"Didn't you eat? Answer louder and neatly! ”

"No!" A thunderous roar rang out in unison, almost muffling the sound of thunder in the sky.

"Then tell me, all over the world! Is Danyang Bing the strongest? ”

"Danyang soldiers are the strongest!"

"Tell me! Are Danyang soldiers the most sophisticated?! ”

"Danyang soldiers are the best!"

"Excellent! Tell me! Danyang soldiers are the strongest! Danyang soldiers are the best! ”

"Danyang soldiers are the strongest! Danyang soldiers are the best! Danyang soldiers are the strongest! Danyang soldiers are the best! Danyang soldiers are the strongest! Danyang soldiers are the best! Danyang soldiers are the strongest! Danyang soldiers are the most fine---! ”

.................. "What's the noise out there?" ”

Hearing the faint shouts in the wilderness outside the city, several defenders of the north gate of the drama city lifted their hats to block the rain on their heads, yawned and looked in the direction where the sound came from, but they couldn't see anything except the dense raindrops and the occasional flash of thunder and lightning, and at the same time, the noisy sound disappeared, so these guards yawned and put on their hats again, and continued to fall asleep little by little.

I don't know how long it took, the noise that came again disturbed the sweet dreams of these defender soldiers, and when these defender soldiers lifted their hats again and listened attentively, they found that these noises seemed to be neat singing, but the thunder was too loud to hear what song it was, and after trying to keep their eyes open for a long time, as the song became louder and clearer, and with a huge lightning bolt crossing the sky, more and more defender soldiers who were awakened and looked at suddenly widened their eyes together............ In the wind and rain, in the light of electricity, groups of tiger and wolf warriors with their heads scattered, hoarse throats, fierce eyes, naked upper bodies, transverse blood vessels, axe chisel scars, all over the body, daunting, they sang generously, raised their shields forward, moved step by step, their steps were like a person, every step forward, the earth shook, as if there were countless thunderbolts gathered at their feet, the sound of loud and neat military songs resounded in the sky, even the thunder that exploded on their heads, was also covered by their neat songs...... ...... "How can you say that you have no clothes?" with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear. Enmity with the Son!

How can you say that you have no clothes? With the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear halberd. Work with the son!

How can you say that you have no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my armor soldiers. Walk with the son! ”

More than an hour later, when Gao Shun led the eight hundred trapped camps to the city of Drama County braved the wind and rain, without waiting for the exhausted soldiers of the trapping camp to take such a breath, all the trapping camp soldiers were already stunned to see that the area around the north city of Drama County was already blazing, shouting to kill the sky, and the three gates of the east, west and south of the drama city had also been opened, and countless defender soldiers cried and shouted, and rushed out of the city gate to flee for their lives, and the hysterical crying voice that was terrified to the extreme, could be heard clearly from more than half a mile away, "Crazy!" Run! They're all crazy! Run! The army of madmen and thieves has entered the city! ”

(To be continued)