The letter that was shot on the city wall with a bow and arrow was, of course, the so-called handwritten letter of Jiang Qi forged by Chen Ying, and as a result, this letter sent to the city wall by the Youzhou cavalry 'risking death' in front of everyone's eyes also received a miraculous effect at once.

After reading the letter, seeing that Jiang Qi said that the casualties of the Youzhou reinforcements were not large, and there was still the strength of a battle, and it was verified that the agreement was correct and not a forgery, Yuan Tan Gongzi was overjoyed, in addition to scolding the frustrated thief for being shameless and despicable and selling for glory, and then immediately dispelled the idea of breaking through, and decided to continue to hold on to Yecheng Jiancheng, waiting for Jiang Qi to make a comeback, and then decide whether to continue to hold on, or break through with Jiang Qi. Mr. Guo Tu was full of praise for Yuan Tan Gongzi's decision, and even called the lord wise and clever, unmatched in the world.

Because the information channels are not smooth enough, and there is a trust in the ability of the veteran Jiang Qi, Gao Gan also believes that the main force of Youzhou will never be defeated by the Xuzhou army, and feels that Jiang Qi will inevitably have the strength to fight even if he suffers a defeat, so Gao Gan also gave up the plan to persuade Yuan Tan Gongzi to immediately lead the army to break through, and only suggested to Yuan Tan Gongzi: "My lord, the current plan is that our army should get in direct contact with Jiang Tingshi, confirm his current details, and make an appointment with him, and then our army will send troops to break through to the north, and he will send troops to the south to respond, In this way, our army will be able to successfully break through with minimal losses and reduce losses during the breakout. ”

"My lord, whether to give up Yecheng or not still needs to be discussed." Mr. Guo Tu habitually came out to raise the bar and said: "If it is confirmed that Jiang Yihan can still help me defend Yecheng and defend the southern part of Jizhou, our army may not need to break through." ”

"Our army has only enough food and grass for more than two months. In addition, the support time of Jiang Qi's team will only be shorter, and the grain route has been cut off by all the pottery thieves, how can our army still hold Yecheng? Gao Gan asked angrily.

Hearing Gao Gan's unkind tone, Mr. Guo Tu was also furious, and was about to argue with Gao Gan, but Yuan Tan Gongzi rarely opened his mouth sensibly and said: "Okay, don't argue, whether to give up Yecheng, wait until our army has made direct contact with Jiang Qi and understands his current situation." Yecheng Town. It's not easy to give up. But if you can't hold on, you have to give up. Only then did Guo Tu and Gao Gan give up the argument, and discussed with Yuan Tan how to send a messenger to contact Jiang Qi without mentioning it.

Here is a general introduction to the current situation in Yecheng, after Deputy Director Tao led half of the main force to the north. The Yecheng garrison led by Yuan Tan Gongzi attacked twice. Launch a tentative attack on the Xuzhou army led by Gao Shun and Xu Huang. As a result, they were resolutely repelled by the Xuzhou army twice, and they did not take advantage, but they did not suffer any losses. Therefore, there are still about 30,000 defenders in Yecheng City, and the strength to defend the city is more than enough, and the breakthrough is quite certain - of course, if you want to break through, Yuan Tan Gongzi must also be mentally prepared to chase down the heavy losses after the Xuzhou army.

In terms of the Xuzhou army, there are nearly 50,000 main forces in Xuzhou on the Yecheng battlefield, headed by Gao Shun, supplemented by Xu Huang and Liu Ye, and it is somewhat difficult for the force to forcibly capture Yecheng, and there is no way to completely block the breakthrough road of Yuan Tan Gongzi, even if a siege fortification composed of fences and trenches has been built, it is not sure to cut off all the breakthrough roads of Yuan Tan's army - after all, this defense line is too long, the total length has reached an astonishing forty miles, and it takes half an hour for a fast horse to run from one end to the other at full speed, half a zhang deep, The four-foot-wide trench could not play much of an interception role, and Yuan Tan's army could break through everywhere, but the Xuzhou army could not do everything.

So in general, the Xuzhou army has a certain advantage on the Yecheng battlefield, but the advantage is not obvious, it is very difficult to achieve the established goal of trapping the remnants of Yuan Tan, and the initiative of the war is still in the hands of Yuan Tan Jun, whether to hold on or break through is also between Yuan Tan Gongzi's thoughts, whether Deputy Director Tao's sinister intentions can succeed must also depend on Yuan Tan Gongzi's choice to decide.

But fortunately, although the strength is not enough to trap Yuan Tan Gongzi, in terms of cheap moves to interfere with the enemy's decision-making, the decision-making level of Xuzhou, which is full of bad seeds, threw off Yuan Tanjun's decision-making layer eight streets from the beginning. No, on the evening of the day when the arrow book entered the city, the cheap trick of the Xuzhou army came again, a messenger disguised as a Xuzhou soldier took advantage of the cover of the night, and suddenly mixed into the city of Yecheng to show his identity, saying that he was a subordinate of Yuzhou Thorn Shi Yin Kui, and was ordered to come to send a letter to contact, Yuan Tan army soldiers dragged him up to the city wall with a hanging basket, and the messenger presented a letter of Yin Kui Yin Thorn Shi to Yuan Tan Gongzi.

In this letter, Yin Kui told Yuan Tan Gongzi that it was the Youzhou army that suffered a decisive defeat in Handan, and it was no longer possible to have the spare strength to go south to rescue Yecheng, so the Youzhou army decided to temporarily station in Pingxiang, and remotely contain the main force of the Xuzhou army on the Handan battlefield, covering Yuan Tan Gongzi to lead the army to break through to the north, and then Yin Kui suggested that Yuan Tan Gongzi immediately send troops to break through, taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Xuzhou army had not yet returned from Handan, he hurriedly broke through to the direction of the Qiuqiu east of Yecheng, and then went north to Pingxiang from the Qiuqiu to join the Youzhou army. Go to the north of Jizhou and Youzhou to make a comeback!

The content of the epistle is true, and the proposed route to break out is correct, but alas, the epistle itself is fake! Yuan Tan Gongzi, who knew that Deputy Director Tao liked to use fraud, only read the letter once, and found that the handwriting of this letter was only similar to Yin Kui's handwriting, and it was probably not from Yin Kui's own handwriting, and at the same time, there was no secret mark of his agreement with Yin Kui! Therefore, Yuan Tan Gongzi also immediately asked the person who delivered the book to be taken down, tortured and interrogated about his true intentions, but the unlucky guy couldn't stand the torture, and made an honest confession, admitting that he was originally a soldier of the Fanyang garrison of Yuan Tan's army, and after surrendering to the Xuzhou army with the guards, because he was greedy for the heavy reward promised by the Xuzhou army, he came to Yecheng with a fake book to deceive Yuan Tan to abandon the city and break through.

"Shameless traitor, dare to betray the lord and seek glory to come and deceive me?!" Three times and two times tore the Yin Kui fake book to shreds, Yuan Tan Gongzi immediately shouted: "Push out this traitor's spy who seeks glory, and then send someone out of the city to explore the east to see if the Xuzhou thief army has arranged an ambush in the east!" ”

The result of the investigation was that the Xuzhou army did have an ambush in the east of Yecheng, and two unknown numbers of Xuzhou troops were ambushed behind Lin Zhongshan, and at the same time, the Xuzhou army in the east was also on full alert, ready to fight at any time, and waited for Yuan Tan Gongzi to go out of the city to die. After confirming this news, Yuan Tan Gongzi immediately understood his brother-in-law's malicious intentions. Not only deceived himself into giving up the strong Yecheng, but also wanted to trick himself into the ambush circle to die, so while scolding his brother-in-law for being treacherous and vicious, Yuan Tan Gongzi also made up his mind and decided to say that he would not make a risk attack at all, and that he would wait until he got in direct contact with Jiang Qi, and then decide whether and when to break through!

The Xuzhou army's cheap tricks were not over, and at dawn the next day, there was another middle-aged man dressed as a common man. Pursued by dozens of Xuzhou soldiers, they rushed to the west gate of Yecheng. Before he got close to the moat, he had already yelled to identify himself, saying that he was a messenger sent by Lord Kuiyin, the assassin of Yuzhou, and asked the defenders to immediately send troops to meet him. However, the defenders, who had been ordered not to open the door lightly, did not even dare to lower the drawbridge. Just fly to the city gate guard to ask for orders. After such a delay, the messenger who rushed to the city under the cover of sacrifice by two companions was also hacked to death by the Xuzhou soldiers by the moat. The Yin Kui letter he was carrying was also taken away by the Xuzhou scout along with the corpse.

The letter brought by the messenger may have been a life-saving letter for Yuan Tanjun, in which Yin Kui reported in detail the losses of the Youzhou army, and also reported that Jiang Qi and Lianjia had disappeared in the melee and were likely to have been captured by the Xuzhou army. But it's a pity, because of Yuan Tangongzi's own order not to open the city easily, this life-saving letter was intercepted by the Xuzhou army at the last moment. Knowing this situation, Yuan Tan Gongzi was both worried and a little regretful, but he said that he did not have the idea of breaking through immediately.

In this way, it was more than a day of precious time was wasted, in the afternoon of the third day, a Xuzhou army of about 5,000 people, suddenly appeared on the north bank of Zhangshui outside the north gate of Yecheng, and began to set up camp for a long time. But the scale was very large, Yuan Tan Gongzi was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly led everyone to the east gate of Yecheng and personally climbed the city wall to check the situation.

When Yuan Tan Gongzi and Mr. Guo Tu and others boarded the east gate, the Xuzhou army from afar had already entered the camp one after another, and the number of troops was unknown, but the Xuzhou army outside the west gate of Yecheng was definitely not stationed, and a large number of Xuzhou troops could only follow the siege fortifications, and went around to the main camp outside the south gate of Yecheng and the other village outside the west gate, just like a huge yellow torrent, flowing from east to west to draw an arc, and gradually surrounded Yecheng to the point of impassability.

"So many Xuzhou thieves are here?" Yuan Tan Gongzi asked tremblingly - in fact, Yuan Tan Gongzi already had an answer, but he didn't dare to say this answer himself.

"Lord, look, Tao Ying's traitor's handsome banner!"

The exclamation of the veteran Ma Yan shattered the last luck in Yuan Tan Gongzi's heart, Yuan Tan Gongzi trembled and turned his head, looked in the direction of Ma Yan's finger, and sure enough, he saw the extremely evil handsome flag of his brother-in-law Deputy Director Tao, which was fluttering in the wind in the new Xuzhou team, as if he was demonstrating to the defenders of Yecheng. Then Yuan Tan Gongzi stumbled and almost fell on the city wall, and after quickly holding on to the arrow stack and standing firmly, the first thing Yuan Tan Gongzi did was to yell and ask: "Why did the pottery thief return to Shiye City?" Jiang Qi's team is still reorganizing in Pingxiang, how dare he return to the battlefield of Yecheng? ”

No one could understand the answer to this question, and after a long time, Mr. Guo Tu said timidly: "Maybe the pottery thief wants to break us all, first Yecheng, and then Jiang Yihan, so he returned to the division." ”

"Mr. Gongze, you didn't wake up and talk in your sleep, did you?" Gao Gan said angrily: "Even if the pottery thief wants to defeat our army, he must defeat Jiang Qi first, how can it be us?" Are you so easy to break through Yecheng? ”

Mr. Guo Tu, who likes to lift the bar, stopped raising the bar this time, and he didn't even dare to look at Gao Gan with his habitual vicious gaze, and lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking. Gao Gan ignored him, just turned to Yuan Tan and arched his hand, and said quickly: "Lord, according to Gan's opinion, our army should immediately start preparing for a breakthrough, and the camp is not stable after returning to the division with the main force of the pottery thief, tomorrow, no, break through overnight tonight!" Once it's late, it's too late to regret it! ”

Yuan Tan's face was blue and he was thinking quickly, but at this moment, the defenders of the city reported again: "Lord, there is a Xuzhou cavalryman who came with a white flag, it seems that he has something to say!" ”

Yuan Tan hurriedly looked up again, and saw a Xuzhou cavalryman waving a white flag, and sure enough, he was coming towards the east gate where he was. Yuan Tan Gongzi subconsciously ordered not to release the arrows, let the Xuzhou cavalry come over to talk, who knew that the Xuzhou soldier did not speak after arriving at the city, just pulled the bow and arrows, and shot a feather arrow on the city wall, immediately turned around and returned to his own team, Yuan Tan Gongzi knew that there was something wrong with the arrow, and hurriedly ordered: "Quickly, pick up that arrow." ”

The feather arrow was quickly picked up and presented to Yuan Tan, and the arrow was indeed tied with a letter. Yuan Tan hurriedly opened the letter and read it carefully. But I saw that the letter was actually written by my brother-in-law, Deputy Director Tao, and wrote crookedly in the vernacular: "Brother-in-law, do you want to negotiate peace with me?" If you want me to negotiate peace and retirement, there are three conditions. One. I want Hanoi and Bingzhou. Second, pay me a tribute of 1 million pieces of military rations every year, and three. He knelt before my mother-in-law's spirit for a day and apologized to her. If you wish, you can always send an emissary to contact me. ”

"The pottery thief is willing to make peace with me?" Yuan Tan Gongzi was a little surprised and couldn't believe it.

"The pottery thief has the upper hand, why do you still take the initiative to propose peace talks?" Mr. Guo Tu couldn't believe it either.

"The pottery thief is treacherous, don't be gullible!" This was the first reaction of Gao Gan and several Jizhou civil and military officers.

"Lord, could it be that there is a problem in the rear of the pottery thief?" Mr. Guo Tu suddenly came to his senses and said in surprise: "Could it be that there is a problem with the southern line of the pottery thief?" Jingzhou sailors attacked Jiangdong and attacked Xuchang? Or did the Cao thief also take the opportunity to attack Xuchang, so the Tao thief had to prepare to return to the southern line of the division, so he took the initiative to propose peace talks? ”

"Is this possible?" Yuan Tan asked in surprise.

"Quite possibly!" Guo Tu analyzed: "Please think about it, Jiang Tingshi still has the strength to fight, and it is possible to go south again at any time to save Yecheng, in this case, the pottery thief hurriedly returned to Yecheng from Handan, and offered to negotiate peace with our army, in addition to the changes in his rear, what else can be explained?" ”

"That's right." Yuan Tan was overjoyed, and hurriedly asked, "Then how should we deal with this matter?" ”

"Someone should be sent to contact the pottery thief, pretending to make peace with the pottery thief, but in fact spying on the reason why the pottery thief is asking for peace talks." Guo Tu suggested: "Then see the opportunity to act, if the pottery thief really wants to negotiate a truce with our army, it is nothing for our army to cede one or two counties to him, as long as the pottery thief no longer enters the army, our army can take the opportunity to free up his hands to destroy Yuan Shang, first inside and then outside!" ”

"Okay." Yuan Tan Daxi said: "You can send Xin Bi as an envoy to immediately go out of the city to contact the pottery thief, under the pretext of making peace with him, take the opportunity to spy on the reason why the pottery thief asked for peace talks, and then act at the opportunity." ”

"Don't be anxious, lord." Guo Tu also suggested: "If you send an envoy to contact the pottery thief immediately, it will be too weak, and the enemy's morale will destroy the prestige of our army, you should wait for the night, and then send Xin Bi out of the city to contact the pottery thief tomorrow." ”

Yuan Tan, who loves face like his father, immediately nodded in agreement, but Gao Gan was furious, slammed his fist on the arrow battlement, and roared: "Wait another night? Did You Know? Now, with every hour of delay, we have one less hope of breaking through! You even have to wait another night, if the pottery thief traps us to death overnight, then I see you go up there to find regret medicine?! ”

"Cousin, don't worry, you have time to escape!" Yuan Tan Gongzi finally couldn't bear it anymore, and said coldly: "If you really have to break through, I will let you escape to the front, if you are so scared, you can also escape now, I won't stop you!" ”

After that, Yuan Tan Gongzi brushed his sleeves away, and Guo Tu also glanced at Gao Gan with disdain, and said: "Gao Thorn Shi, how can your courage not even be as good as my powerless civil official?" After finishing speaking, Guo Tu also followed Yuan Tan Gongzi, leaving Gao Gan in place with a blue face and an extremely difficult expression.

But then again, in addition to his blue face, Gao Gan was also faintly red, because Gao Gan was indeed a little greedy for life and afraid of death, afraid that after being completely surrounded by the Xuzhou army, he would be blocked and starved to death in Yecheng City.

………………

Almost at the same time in the main camp of Xuzhou, Deputy Director Tao also led the Northern Expedition Wenwu into the Chinese army's big tent, and met with Gao Shun, Xu Huang and Liu Ye who stayed on the Yecheng battlefield. ”

"It's all in place!" Liu Ye replied: "40,000 hoes, 20,000 baskets, 300,000 torches, and more than 20,000 people and local people are stationed outside the camp, waiting for orders at any time. In addition, when our army was digging the trench around the city, it had secretly surveyed the terrain and marked the underground boulders that could not be excavated, so as not to delay our army's excavation of the river. ”

"Good." Deputy Director Tao nodded with satisfaction, and then said to the tent Chinese Wu: "Dukes, what our army is going to do next, I will not hide it from you here, I am ready to dig a trench forty miles long and two feet wide and deep overnight!" Introduce Zhangshui and completely trap the remnants of Yuan Tan in Ye City! So tonight, whether it is the army that stayed behind on the Yecheng battlefield or the team we just returned from Handan, we have no time to rest tonight, and we must all devote ourselves to the work of trench excavation! I hope that all the princes will work hard and dig with all their might tonight! Completely trap Yuan Tan and prevent him from having a chance to escape north! ”

"Obey the Lord's orders!" Xuzhou Zhongwen and Wu neatly hugged their fists and agreed.

"Zhao Yun, Xu Chu, Wei Yan!" Deputy Director Tao connected the three generals in one breath, and the three generals came out together to hug their fists, and Deputy Director Tao commanded: "Tonight, you each lead 5,000 elite soldiers, Zhao Yun is in charge of the East Gate, Wei Yan is in charge of the West Gate, Xu Chu is in charge of the South Gate, on guard all night, ready for war at any time, if Yuan Tanjun breaks through overnight, be sure to meet the head-on attack, go all out, and beat the enemy back into the city!" If anyone fails to resist and let Yuan Tan escape, or let him sabotage our excavation work, so that our soldiers will work hard all night in vain, no matter who it is, no matter how much merit he has made before, he will be engaged in military law! ”

"No!" The three generals sang the promise neatly. Deputy Director Tao nodded, and then ordered: "The rest of the generals, follow me to command the whole army to dig the trench, now is more than half of the time, let the army rest for an hour and a half, send troops to start digging, within five hours, be sure to complete the trench!" Snuckers, slash! ”

Xuzhou Wenwu sang together again, and Deputy Director Tao told again: "Princess, remember one thing, we only have one night!" If it can't be completed tonight, Yuan Tan will inevitably go all out to break through tomorrow, and Mr. Wenhe and Mr. Youruo will watch astronomy at night, within a day or two, there will be a large-scale cooling in the north, once the land is frozen by the spring cold again, we will no longer have the opportunity to divert water to trap Yuan Tan, I hope that the princes will make a living for the world and millions of people in the three northern states, and we must do our best tonight! If this trench is dug up, the people of the three states of Hebei can enjoy peace at least a year in advance! ”

"Please rest assured, I will dig a trench with all our strength tonight, so that the people of Hebei can enjoy peace as soon as possible!" All the civil and military forces in Xuzhou knelt down together and replied in unison.

"Then please leave it to the princes." Deputy Director Tao returned the salute with his fists, and ordered Ma Zhong who was standing behind: "Ma Zhong, prepare hoes for me and the pro-soldier team you bring, one for each person, and tonight, I will personally participate in the excavation!" (To be continued......)