Hebei giant crocodile Yuan Shao's contest with Gongsun Zan at this time has also reached the final moment, and Yuan Shao is flawless at all. Even if Yuan Shao eats Gongsun Zhan, his biggest opponent is naturally Cao Cao, who lives in Yanyu and Yanyu Prefectures in Henan, even if Yuan Shao has the ambition to swallow Xuzhou, then he has to eliminate Cao Cao and occupy Henan before he can take action. Even if Yuan Shao had no brains, he would not have made a detour to Qingzhou to attack Xuzhou in the south, but exposed all the flanks and rear to his biggest rival, Cao Cao.

In fact, the most potential enemy of Xuzhou is Sun Ce in Jiangdong, but Sun Ce is a little rich and peaceful, and after taking Wancheng and other places, he will not want to make progress in Huainan, let alone plot against Xuzhou. This is not to say that Sun Ce has no ambitions, but every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, Jiangdong was initially decided, and the remnants of the original old forces still created a little trouble for Sun Ce in Jiangdong from time to time, Yuzhang has not yet succeeded, Jiangdong is now suffering from internal and external troubles, and it is undoubtedly the most unwise to start a war with Xuzhou. Therefore, Sun Ce settled the matter, gave up fighting for Huainan with Liu Ze, ordered Jiang Qin to guard the city of Anhui, Zhou Tai to guard the beard, and went south to pacify Yuzhang.

Therefore, Liu Ze also judged the situation, judging that although Xuzhou was surrounded by enemies on all sides, it was as stable as a mountain, and he went to the army to attack the city, since he could solve Yuan Shu with a bloodless formula, Liu Ze did not need to fight with Yuan Shu. Now it was Yuan Shu who wanted to fight hard, but Liu Ze's deep trench made him have nowhere to exert his strength, and Yuan Shu fell into the quagmire step by step, unable to pull himself away.

The defeat of Qiao Rui completely sank the hawkish forces in the main battle, and the fourth faction appeared on the scene.

Shouchun fell into a desperate situation, and the people, who were unwilling to starve to death, began to flee out. At the beginning, Yuan Shu forbade the people to go out of the city, but later, the ban did not stop, more and more people fled, and the army was unable to suppress it. Although the Xuzhou army is an impregnable wall. The siege of Shouchun City is impassable. But for the people who fled out of the city, the net was open, not only allowed to be released, but also gave money and food, which made the people trapped in Shouchun City see more hope for survival. More people are joining the ranks of the flives. When it came to the spring famine in February and March of the third year of Jian'an. The inhabitants of Shouchun City have already fled.

The flight of the common people naturally shook the morale of Yuan's army. The army of Shouchun City was short of food, and the soldiers defending the city could not eat a full meal for several months, and hunger and despair spread among the soldiers of Yuan's army. Ordinary soldiers had absolutely no intention of dying for the Yuan Chen Dynasty. At this time, news about the soldiers captured in the battles of Yicheng and Yinling was widely circulated in the city of Shouchun. According to Da Chen's official statement, after these soldiers were captured, they were all brutally abused and killed, but now the news is that these soldiers are not only alive and well, but also well-fed and warmly dressed, and treated with the same treatment as those soldiers who are struggling to stay in Shouchun City and lack food and clothing.

So, some brave soldiers began to defect out of the city, the military law of the Yuan army is quite strict, all the deserters who are captured back, will be beheaded and executed on the spot, but it is such a harsh punishment law, can not stop the determination of the defector, rather than staying in Shouchun City and waiting for death, it is better to fight, as long as you can run out of the city, you can escape. It was impossible for the deserters to go through the city gate, so in the middle of the night, many soldiers hung ropes from the city wall in groups of three or five, hung down the hanging baskets, and went down at night, under the cover of night, to the Xuzhou military camp.

The Xuzhou army welcomed these defectors without exception, and entertained them with good food and drink, and the Yuan army deserters could not eat a full meal for many days, all of them were yellow, hungry and thin, and when they saw the Xuzhou soldiers bring up the rice and braised pork, all of them had green light in their eyes, and they swallowed the whole bowl of rice into their stomachs until they ate until the belly was swollen and could no longer hold anything before they stopped.

The Xuzhou Army's policy towards Yuan Jun's deserters was quite relaxed, and those who were willing to stay could stay in the barracks, take care of three meals a day, and wait for the future reorganization.

For many Yuan soldiers, being a soldier is to fill their bellies, to survive and sell their lives, as for who to serve and who to work for, they don't care at all, there is milk is the mother, not to mention that the Xuzhou army's milk is sufficient, eat three meals a day, that is the life of the aristocratic lord, the soldier can't even think of it, but in the Xuzhou military camp, even if it is an ordinary soldier, he can eat three meals, and the quality of the food is quite high, there are rice, meat and vegetables. Why can the Xuzhou soldiers always win the battle, now these soldiers finally understand, they are well fed, their bodies are guaranteed, and they have the fighting spirit to fight. Therefore, many of the Yuan army deserters did not want to leave, and stayed in the Xuzhou military camp, waiting for reorganization.

After the news reached Shouchun, more soldiers were moved, and the wind of fleeing prevailed, at the beginning they still fled in groups of three or five, and later, the whole team of soldiers went out of the city to join Cheng. From the initial big-headed soldiers, to the later low-level officers, until finally there was a large number of desertions from the Dubo military marquis-level officers. The entire Shouchun army was disheartened, and the people were panicked.

In the court, the voice of surrender is also endless, and the fourth faction is born. Although this fourth faction cannot see the light and can only operate in the shadows, due to the large number of forces on this side, they are connected with each other, and they have the same momentum, which is already far superior to the other three factions, and occupies an overwhelming advantage in Shouchun City. The surrender faction was led by the former generals Chen Ji, Taichang Li Feng, Shaofu Liang Gang, Tingwei Lejiao, and Dasi Nong Han Yin, and they had already sent envoys to contact Liu Ze and bargain, preparing to sacrifice Shouchun City.

Yuan Shuzhong betrayed his relatives and left, and he was already in the twilight of his life. By April, the weather was getting hotter, and Yuan Shu was so angry that he couldn't afford to get sick. When the near served meal, only brown rice without meat and vegetables, Yuan Shu was afraid that the rice was coarse and could not swallow, so he ordered the servant to take honey to quench his thirst.

The attendant replied, "There is no honey, only blood!" ”

Yuan Shu was furious, and he pulled his sword to cut off the people who were close to him, but it happened that Yang Hong came into the palace, and hurriedly grabbed Yuan Shu's wrist and said, "Your Majesty is angry!" Majesty xià sighs of anger! ”

Yuan Shu threw the sword, coughed and gasped a few times, and sighed dejectedly: "Why is this for my Yuan Shu!" ”

Yang Hong comforted: "Don't worry, don't worry, it's important to take care of the dragon's body." ”

Yuan Shu shook his head and said gloomily: "Yang Aiqing doesn't need to comfort me anymore, I know that the destiny of heaven is not far away, and it can be recovered without manpower." Yang Aiqing, what's the situation outside? ”

Yang Hong also said with a gloomy face: "Liu Zebing has been besieging Shouchun for a year, the grain and grass in Shouchun City have been exhausted, the people's hearts are floating, the defectors are flourishing day by day, Shouchun may be difficult to keep for a long time, Your Majesty should make plans early." ”

Yuan Shu sighed: "I regretted that I shouldn't have listened to Yang Aiqing's words, so I have today's situation, and now that Lujiang has been obtained by Sun Ce's erection son, there is no inch of land in Huainan to accommodate me, the world is so big, and there is no place for me to stand on the cone, is it true that I am going to die at the hands of Liu Ze?" ”

Yang Hong said: "Your Majesty, the minister has a plan, but he can ensure that His Majesty survives this catastrophe." ”

Yuan Shu was overjoyed and said, "What is Yang Aiqing's clever plan?" ”

Yang Hong said: "Your Majesty, today under a few points, and its most powerful person, such as Hebei's original duke, His Majesty xià and the original duke are the same lineage, flesh and blood affection, now Huainan is in trouble, Majesty Xià is better to abandon Shouchun and go to Hebei, now let the nephew Yuan Tan has won Qingzhou, His Majesty xià can quickly go to it." ”

As soon as Yuan Shu heard that Yang Hongjian was going to defect to Yuan Shao, he was immediately a little discouraged, and shook his head helplessly: "Yang Aiqing, don't you know that although Yuan Shao and I are brothers born of the same father, they are strangers, and they have a deep grudge against each other, and there are many grievances. ”

Yang Hong said: "Your Majesty's words are wrong, after all, Your Majesty and Ben Chugong are from the same door, blood is thicker than water, how can you write two Yuan characters in this pen?" His Majesty folds each other, and the original public is determined to think of brotherhood and brotherhood, and will treat each other with courtesy. If His Majesty is willing to let the emperor be named in the original duke, and present the jade seal of the country, the original duke will be overjoyed, and he will definitely give up his previous suspicions and treat His Majesty well. ”

Yuan Shu hesitated for a moment, even if he got to this step of the field, let him give up the throne and the jade seal of the country, it was still painful.

Yang Hong also sighed secretly in his heart, he had fallen to this point, Yuan Shu was still holding the jade seal tightly and refused to let go, how big should this greed be. But this is just thinking about it in his heart, and he comforted him bitterly: "Your Majesty, Shouchun is no longer able to be kept, if you hesitate, the day the city is broken, I am afraid it will be too late to leave." Even if Liu Ze got the heirloom jade seal, he might not be able to spare His Majesty's life. The first duke and His Majesty have a blood relationship, His Majesty Xià such as the heirloom jade seal to the original duke, the first duke is grateful, how dare he snub His Majesty, although the throne of His Majesty can no longer be guaranteed, but in the future it will still be a town of princes and kings, glory and wealth to enjoy the old age, is not a hundred times stronger than losing his life in this Shouchun. ”

Yuan Shu pondered for a long time, Yang Hong said very reasonably, although the emperor is good, but it is impossible to be nostalgic today, it is better to use the emperor's name and jade seal from Yuan Shao to exchange for half a life of leisurely happiness. So Yuan Shu also secretly made up his mind, ready to listen to Yang Hong's Jianyì and go to Qingzhou to join his nephew Yuan Tan.

But the problem is still in front of us, the Xuzhou army besieged Shouchun, and if they really want to fight a bloody way to Qingzhou, it is not easy to do.

"Don't worry, the minister has his own plan to protect His Majesty from the city!" Yang Hong is confident. (To be continued......)