In fact, the defenders of Wancheng definitely still have the strength of a battle, there are enough grain and grass, materials and garrison strength in the city, the city fortifications in addition to the moat being filled and the sheep and horse wall being destroyed, the most important city wall has not suffered much damage, and the city tower protected by the guard fence also maintains the basic functional integrity, the overall loss is completely within the bearable range, and it is not without hope to hold Wancheng if it continues to fight, at least it can cause a lot of losses to the Xuzhou army, forcing the Xuzhou army to waste a lot of time on the Wancheng battlefield.

It's a pity, the battle is fought by people, no matter how good the city defense must be defended by the defenders to defend the city, no matter how much the defenders have no morale and fighting spirit is also empty, because the water is cut off by the Xuzhou army, the defenders of Wancheng have already been greatly affected, although the Xuzhou army has not made a breakthrough in attacking the city for more than ten days, but it has also laid the foundation for breaking the city steadily, which has seriously worn down the morale and fighting spirit of the defenders, from top to bottom there is not much hope for the final defense of Wancheng, and there are many people who are purely completely desperate, just looking forward to abandoning the city and fleeing for their lives earlier.

In addition, there are two reasons that also contributed to the final abandonment of the city by Huang Zu's team, one is that on the first day of the siege of the Xuzhou army, Chen was ordered to lead the army out of the city to assault, but was attacked by the Wei Yan team of the Xuzhou army, and the general Chen was also captured alive by Wei Yan's team on the battlefield, and Wei Yan was also quite angry, did not forget Chen Zhi's kindness in persuading him to defect to Xuzhou, and personally led Chen to the front of Deputy Director Tao to intercede, Deputy Director Tao also gave Wei Yan face, and let Chen decide to stay on the spot, and if he wanted to surrender, he would be retained, and if he was unwilling to surrender, he would be released on the spot.

Considering his family in Jingzhou, Chen chose to ask Deputy Director Tao to release him and return to the team. Wei Yan personally sent Chen to the city of Wancheng, and Chen said goodbye in tears, but Chen returned to the city smoothly, but the morale of the defenders of Wancheng was hit hard, and no one was willing to resist in vain, Huang Zu was also very difficult, and he couldn't make up his mind how to deal with Chen, and finally although he listened to Kuai Yue's persuasion not to pursue Chen's capture, and did not reward Chen for refusing to surrender to the enemy, but the fighting spirit of the Wancheng defenders was still greatly reduced. The defenders spread the benevolence and righteousness of the Xuzhou army. The morale of the army was shaken.

The second reason is more critical, General Huang Zu has never been an old stubborn who likes to fight to the death, what he is best at is repeated defeats, and Kuai Yue is not as good as his brother Kuai Liang in terms of bone hardness. My favorite thing is to be strong. Together, it was determined that Wancheng was a lonely city and difficult to defend. In the case of the waterway being blocked, no matter how many reinforcements came on land, they were also besieged by the Xuzhou army, and they stubbornly resisted to the end in vain. It is better to take a step back and open the sky, abandon Wancheng and retreat to the south, which not only retains the vital force, but also keeps Liu Biao from being passive in tactics, and sacrifices his strengths and weaknesses in order to save Wancheng, and sends reinforcements to fight with the main land of Xuzhou. As a result, even the decision-makers of the defenders thought so, and it was natural for the defenders of Wancheng to abandon the city and leave.

Deputy Director Tao did not miss the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the enemy, as soon as he found that the defenders of Wancheng had broken through, he immediately dispatched two waves of soldiers and horses to pursue, and the two powerful generals under the command of Huang Zu, Su Fei and Chen fought to the death, after losing a lot of soldiers and horses, they finally retreated to Xiangyang, and regained their foothold in the area of Xiangyang, Anzhong and Suixian, and finally reversed the passive situation of fighting alone. The Xuzhou army successfully captured the important town of Wancheng and captured a large amount of grain and grass left by Huang Zujun.

At this point, in fact, the Xuzhou army did not attach great importance to the Nanyang war came to an end, the Xuzhou army in this period of war, in general, although the annihilation of the enemy is not too much, but successively won Wancheng, Bowang, Xi'e and Pheasant County and other northern cities in Nanyang, control a large area of land in the northeast of Nanyang, won a large buffer area for the capital of Xuchang, and won the initiative of the Nanyang battlefield, into the Wancheng town as the basis, wanton attack other cities in the hinterland of Nanyang, retreat can defend Wancheng to choke the water to prevent the Jingzhou army from going north, The Jingzhou army was in a passive situation, either guarding the cities in the hinterland of Nanyang with heavy troops, or going all out to recapture Wancheng and expel the Xuzhou army back to the northeast corner of Nanyang, with an offensive and defensive dilemma, completely passive.

The day after taking Wancheng, he ordered the whole army to stop marching, and the troops recuperated in the area of Wancheng, treated the wounded soldiers, and also started the repair of the city wall and agricultural reclamation, preparing to build Wancheng into an advance base for the capture of Jingzhou, and the accumulation of grain in the fields and the construction of boats necessary for the southern expedition to Jingzhou, so as to prepare for the future southern expedition to Xiangyang, and at the same time patiently wait for the news of the Jizhou war.

Deputy Director Tao did this, of course, in order to save military strength and grain and grass, and prepare to deal with the more important battle on the northern front, but Jia Lao Poison had different opinions on this, the army had just rested for a few days, and after carefully collecting and summarizing the Jingzhou military situation in the Xiangyang area, Jia Lao Poison ran to Deputy Director Tao, who was fooling around with Guo Huan all day long, and pointed out: "Lord, the situation is not right, I think that our army should have to fight with the Jingzhou Army again, and hit the Jingzhou team again, and then we can return to the northern line with confidence." ”

"Why?" Deputy Director Tao asked.

"Our army sent a report to visit, and Liu Biao dispatched troops from all over Jingzhou to gather more than 70,000 land and water troops in Xiangyang and Xinye, ready to be used to rescue Nanyang and resist our army's southward advance." Jia Lao Poison replied: "Coupled with the more than 30,000 Nanyang troops in Huang Zu's hands, as well as nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses hired by Yuyang Wen, Liu Biao's actual strength on the northern front of Jingzhou has reached 120,000, which is a big threat to our army. ”

"Mr. Wenhe is too worried, right?" Deputy Director Tao smiled confidently: "No matter how many soldiers and horses Liu Biao has, it is just a group of labble who are negligent in training and demoralized, the water war is really good, and everything on land is sparse, after the main force of our army goes north, as long as one or two thousand troops are left in the Wancheng area, plus the defenders of Xuchang, it is enough to deal with Liu Biao's northward movement." ”

"Lord, there are more ants biting elephants, and good tigers are no better than wolves, so I don't say these words." Jia Lao Poison shook his head, and suddenly asked: "What if Liu Biao takes the opportunity of our army's main force going north and sends troops to Jiangdong by water?" ”

"It's ......." Deputy Director Tao was most afraid of a water war with Liu Biao, and naturally he was speechless when asked by Jia Lao Poison.

"My lord. For Liu Biaojun, the Jiangdong battlefield is the biggest weakness of our army. Jia Lao Poison said again: "According to Xu estimates, if our army does not take action now and does not weaken Liu Biao again and completely defeat him, then when the main force of our army goes north to the Jizhou battlefield, Liu Biao is sixty percent likely to send troops to Jiangdong." ”

"Sixty percent likely, this is still the most conservative estimate of Xu." Jia Lao Poison continued to warn: "There are three reasons, Liu Biao not only has a deep enmity with our army, but also is the leader of the anti-Tao Hui Alliance, taking the opportunity of our army's main force to go north to Jizhou to send troops to Jiangdong. It can take revenge on our army. can also surround Wei to save Zhao and protect allies, this is one of them. ”

Second, Liu Biao gathered a large army in Xiangyang, and 70,000 troops were ready for battle. There is a waterway from Xiangyang to Jiangdong. From Hanshui all the way down the river. It will take less than half a month to reach Chaisang, and the speed is much faster than our army's land march, and it is very convenient to send troops. Therefore, it must not be ruled out that Liu Biao will send troops to retaliate against our army. ”

"The third point is the most critical, Yuan Shu is dead, Yuan Yaogang succeeded to the throne, Yuan Shujun is uncertain, it is a rare opportunity for Liu Biao to take the opportunity to swallow Yuzhang and other places and Yuan Shujun's team, although Liu Biao has always protected himself, but in the face of such a good opportunity, he may not be tempted, and after taking Jiangdong, Liu Biao will have more safety rear, and it will be more difficult to exterminate Liu Biao."

"Please think about it, if such a situation really happens, what will we do then?" Jia Lao's face was a little grim, and he analyzed: "At that time, if our army returns to save Jiangdong, it will miss the best opportunity to take Jizhou and give Yuan Tan a chance to breathe." If our army does not return to the southern front, then the weakest naval division of our army will miss a little in the water battle of the Yangtze River, and the two Jiangdong soldiers and horses of Lusu and Qiaorui will become alone. ”

Deputy Director Tao's face, who had a relaxed expression before, gradually began to become grim, and after careful thinking for a long time, Deputy Director Tao said hesitantly: "Although Mr. Wenhe is reasonable, but the war in Jizhou has started, if our army continues to march south, I am afraid that the army will be too tired and affect the ............ of the war on the northern front." ”

"It doesn't matter, if we fight another battle, our army will increase casualties and fatigue, but our next enemy, Yuan Tan, will only be more serious in this regard." Jia Xu replied: "Judging from Miss Guo's description, the tactics designed by the lord for Yuan Tan to quickly break through Yecheng cannot be implemented, and the battle of Yecheng will definitely be protracted, and when Yuan Tan takes Yecheng, he will definitely be exhausted to the point of a strong crossbow." At that time, our army can rotate troops and horses in Xuchang, and there are new troops under the command of Chen Zhi and General Zang Ba available, which can still form an absolute advantage over Yuan Tan. ”

"Strategist's clever calculation, it is true!" Deputy Director Tao nodded vigorously, and said a few times: "I immediately ordered the army to pull out the camp and march westward, go to annihilate the Huang Zu team in Nieyang, and hit Jingzhou's vitality hard!" ”

"No, the next target of our army can't be Huang Zu." Jia Lao Poison hurriedly shook his head and said: "Although Huang Zu's troops have many soldiers, but there are three cities and two big rivers to defend in Nieyang, our army will only fall into a hard battle to attack Nieyang, and we are not sure to annihilate Huang Zu with heavy losses." ”

"Then you should attack there?" Deputy Director Tao asked.

"Yuyang! Hit the paperwork! Jia Lao Poison replied.

"Wen Ping has less than 10,000 troops under his command, and there are cities to defend, so it seems that it is even more ineffective to fight there, right?" Deputy Director Tao asked in surprise.

"Don't worry, the lord has already thought of a plan." Jia Lao Poison replied with a smile: "It can not only avoid a hard battle, but also get the opportunity to severely damage the Jingzhou army......." ”

………………

After a few days, after a period of rest, the Xuzhou army finally had another move, the troops went south in two ways, one was led by the general Zhao Yun, sent 15,000 troops to attack Nieyang, and the other was led by the general Tai Shici, sent 25,000 troops to attack Yuyang directly, and the deputy director Tao, who was full of warm thoughts and lust, personally led the army to stay in Wancheng, while fooling around with Guo Huan all day long, while patiently waiting for the good news of the partial division entering the army. Jingzhou, who closely monitored the movements of the Xuzhou army, found out the news and immediately reported to Liu Biao, Huang Zu, Wen Ping and others.

By the way, on the same day that Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison finalized the decision to continue the army, there was already a Xuzhou messenger who went south with a book, and went south by boat from Lishui day and night, and it only took a little more than a day to send Deputy Director Tao's negotiation letter into Xiangyang City, and Liu Biao, who was angry and worried about Huang Zu's successive defeats, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly summoned the messenger and took over Deputy Director Tao's negotiation letter, but after opening Deputy Director Tao's letter and taking a closer look, Liu Biao had a feeling of elevated blood pressure - pay attention to the increased blood pressure, It's not like a thunderstorm.

The content of the letter that can make Liu Biao almost have a stroke is also very simple. In addition to threatening to set foot in Xiangyang and snatching Liu Biao's daughter as a concubine, Deputy Director Tao also issued three armistice conditions to Liu Biao, one is to withdraw and dissolve the anti-Tao alliance, which is not unacceptable to Liu Biao; The second is to return the detained Xuzhou envoy Jiang Gan and his party, and send Deputy Director Tao's concubine Huang Shuo to the north, which Liu Biao can agree to without even thinking about it. The third condition made Liu Biao's mood very complicated, Deputy Director Tao asked Liu Biao to clearly appoint his eldest son Liu Qi as his son-in-law, and send his second son Liu Cong to Xuchang to serve - that is, to deprive him of inheritance.

The third condition, Liu Biao wanted to accept it from the bottom of his heart, but he didn't have the courage to agree immediately.

It is conceivable that the Cai Mao brothers reacted after seeing Deputy Director Tao's letter. It was simply angry and the bull's eyes were blood-red. Without saying a word, Liu Biao and Deputy Director Tao fought to the death, and Liu Biao's favored wife Cai Shi also cried, made trouble, and hanged herself, forcing Liu Biao and Deputy Director Tao to fight to the death to defend Jingzhou. But he didn't have the courage to open his mouth to persuade Liu Biao to accept it. As a result, it turned out to be. Originally, there was some hesitation at the Jingzhou decision-making level. also quickly finalized the decision to increase the troops in Nanyang, and increased the troops to Xinye, which already had more than 10,000 garrisons, by 30,000 in one go, and it was Cai Mao, the governor of the Jingzhou Naval Division, who led the army north. Layers of fortifications were set up to intercept the southward movement of the Xuzhou army.

When General Cai Mao, who was full of anger, led the army north to Xinye, he was catching up with the Xuzhou army to divide his troops to attack Nieyang and Yuyang, and as a result, Cai Mao, who also read some military books, suddenly found that his own army had an opportunity to take advantage of, because the Xuzhou army was obviously a little too big this time, and the troops on both roads were obviously insufficient, especially on the way of Yuyang, the 25,000 Xuzhou army not only had to face the counterattack of the soldiers and horses of Jianyang, Yuyang and Xinye, and Tai Shici, who led the troops south, was still a name that he had never heard of. At least so far, I haven't heard of any particularly outstanding results from him.

More importantly, Xinye is only fifty miles away from Yuyang, and there is a waterway, Yuyang is eighty miles away from Wancheng, and it is difficult for the main force of the Xuzhou army to provide strong rescue for Yuyang in time, although the Nieyang battlefield in the west is close, but Huang Zu's army is enough to contain Zhao Yun's army, and can also quickly reinforce the Yuyang battlefield. Considering these favorable conditions, General Cai Mao also had the courage to lead the army north to reinforce the Yuyang battlefield, and gathered about 50,000 soldiers and horses on the Yuyang battlefield to fight a good battle with the Xuzhou army.

A day later, more than 30,000 reinforcements led by Cai Mao arrived outside Yuyang City, and Wen Ping was a teacher, for the arrival of Cai Mao's army, in the Jingzhou army is also relatively combative, Wen Ping is very welcome, and quickly reported to Cai Mao, saying that he had done a battle in the west of Yuyang City and Tai Shi Ci's army in the morning, won the Xuzhou veteran Qin Yi for a while, forcing the Xuzhou army to retreat to the camp to hold on, Cai Mao was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately decided to personally go to the Xuzhou military camp the next day to fight, while the iron was hot and win again, and boost the morale and fighting spirit of the army.

Early the next morning, after Cai Mao left his second brother Cai Cheng to guard the ships of the sailors and the city of Yuyang, he personally led 30,000 troops to fight in front of the Xuzhou military camp ten miles northwest of Yuyang, and the Xuzhou army was not affected by the adverse impact of the first day's fighting, and soon opened the camp gate and sent more than 10,000 troops to meet Cai Mao, but the two armies had not yet established a firm foothold in the circle, and the scout flew to report that a Xuzhou cavalry went out of the camp from the back door of the camp and detoured back to the direction of Yuyang. Cai Mao was not worried when he heard the news, and sneered and said that whether your cavalry is attacking the city or attacking my sailor fleet, they don't want to have the slightest chance of succeeding.

General Cai Mao soon couldn't sneer, after the Xuzhou army lined up in formation, the flag gate opened, a young man with oil hair and pink face in white robe and silver armor, surrounded by a large group of heavily armed Xuzhou generals, patted his horse out of battle, and at the same time, the Taishi Ci lord standing in the center also moved the flag to the side, replaced by a majestic and tall flag, with a white background and red edge, with a huge pottery character written on it! On both sides of the Xuzhou flag, many Xuzhou flags were also set up at the same time.

"Tao Ying's traitor's handsome banner?!"

Cai Mao, Wen Ping and other Jingzhou generals shouted dumbfounded at the same time, and the oily head and powder face in the white robe and silver armor on the opposite side also laughed, and said: "Cai Mao Pifu, General Wen Ping, do you know the great Han Taiwei Tao?" Thou shalt wait for my plan to lure the enemy, and if you don't get off your horse and surrender quickly, how long will you wait? ”

"Is it really Tao Ying's traitor?" Cai Mao and Wen Ping, who had never seen what Deputy Director Tao looked like, were even more shocked, and when Wen Ping came out of the battle, they asked suspiciously: "Are you really Tao Ying?" Since you personally went south to attack Yuyang, why didn't you use your banner? The banner of the anti-fight general? ”

"If Captain Ben had played his own banner, would Cai Mao still dare to lead the army north to land and die?" Deputy Director Tao laughed and said: "By the way, I will tell you one more thing, General Lu Burma, the general of our army, has already led the cavalry to attack your fleet, and it is difficult for you to escape to the water again." ”

Cai Mao's face was a little ugly, Wen Ping was suspicious, and after obtaining Cai Mao's consent, he slapped his horse into the middle of the formation, pointed a spear at Deputy Director Tao and shouted: "Okay, since you are Tao Ying, Jingzhou General Wen Ping is here, who dares to come to send him to death?!" ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled, and did not arrange for the generals to go out to fight, but just turned back and explained a few words, when Wen Ping shouted violently again, but he was stunned to see that the Xuzhou generals on both sides of Deputy Director Tao actually shouted at the battle and guessed the boxing, and these Xuzhou generals who regarded Wen Ping as nothing, were called Xu Chu, Wei Yan, Zhang Xiu and Tai Shici, as well as Ma Zhong and Cao Xing, who also ran out to join in the fun.

"Piff, Ann dares to despise me so much!"

Wen Ping was furious, and the gun came directly to Deputy Director Tao, but before the person rushed to within thirty steps in front of Deputy Director Tao, Tai Shici, Ma Zhong and Cao Sex, who were guessing boxing, had already pulled their bows and arrows together, instigating three arrows, like the disease of calcium carbide, an arrow pierced Wen Ping's helmet, and immediately shot Wen Ping's helmet flying far away, one arrow shot the forehead of the Chinese war horse, and the other arrow directly hit Wen Ping's left eye, Wen Ping was shocked and barely pushed away this arrow, but he was already frightened with a blue face and a white mouth, and cold sweat rolled.

"What's the noise?" The three generals shouted together: "If you want to be reincarnated and wait, do you know how difficult it is for us to have a chance to fight?" ”

"Wen Pingfu, don't think that I was really defeated yesterday!" Qin Yi also shouted: "If it weren't for the fact that the lord never allowed me to win, you might not be my opponent!" (To be continued......)