For a city, the moat is not only a physical line of defense, but also a psychological line of defense. Cao Jun dug earth and opened a ditch in front of thousands of defenders at the head of the city, and led the water in the moat outside Tancheng to Yishui, which not only broke the first line of defense of Tancheng, but also ruthlessly tore open the defensive line of defense in the psychology of the defenders, causing huge deterrence and pressure to the defending soldiers.

When the water level in the river had almost dropped, Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to carry the soil dug up by digging the ditch a few days ago to the moat, and then threw it all into the river, apparently to fill the entire moat, which made the defenders of the city feel even more frightened after seeing it, but they were helpless.

The city gates on all sides have been blocked, and the effect of shooting arrows from the city to Luxia is not ideal because of the impact of the range, not to mention that the Cao army has also prepared a large number of cave vehicles to cover the infantry, so the defenders at the head of the city can only watch the Cao army move outside the city. Mi Fang originally wanted to use the bed crossbow to carry out a long-range attack on the Cao army that was filling the earth outside the city, but was stopped by Tai Shici. Tai Shi Ci told Mi Fang: "The bed crossbow is mainly used to deal with the large siege equipment of the Cao army, if it is used to shoot people at this time, the crossbow arrows stored in the city cannot withstand consumption at all, even if it can cause certain casualties to the Cao army, but when the Cao army attacks the city from all sides, it will pay a heavy price!" ”

Mi Fang was a little anxious, and always felt that sitting still was not the way, so she asked Tai Shici: "Can we just watch Cao Jun do whatever he wants outside the city?" ”

Tai Shici shook his head and said: "Naturally, you can't sit idly by, and you can make some preparations before the Cao army attacks the city." ”

"What do I need to prepare?"

"Collect all the medicinal materials for stopping bleeding and healing wounds in the city, and distribute the hemostatic bandages purchased from Youzhou to the four armies. The organization teaches soldiers how to use bandages correctly; Collect all the copper kettles and iron pots that are not used in the people's homes, place them on all sides of the city, set up fire pits below, prepare firewood, grease and dung, etc., and once the enemy army attacks the city, boil the gold juice, sprinkle it under the city, and burn the enemy's ......."

Tai Shi Ci told Mi Fang many ways to defend the city in one breath, some of which sounded incredible, such as the method of boiling fecal water in a cauldron and then splashing it on the enemy. It's disgusting. Nauseating. Tai Shici told Mi Fang that the boiled dung water could not only burn the Cao army besieging the city, but also hide many viruses inside. Cao Jun, whose wounds were splashed. will be infected with epidemics. It caused a serious burden on Cao Jun.

Mi Fang was dumbfounded when she heard this, and hurriedly prepared according to Tai Shici's explanation, secretly praying that Tancheng would be able to hold on this time.

Two more days passed. The moat on the periphery of Tancheng disappeared, and Cao's large-scale siege operation finally arrived.

It was a sunny morning, and Cao's army was divided into three formations outside the north, west and south gates of Tancheng, and set up a formation of three missing one, leaving only the east gate for the defenders in the city to escape and retreat.

Cao Cao allocated 10,000 soldiers and horses to Cao Zhen and asked Cao Zhen to take the north gate of Tancheng in one go. Cao Cao also allocated 10,000 soldiers and horses to him, and asked Cao Ren to break through the south gate as soon as possible and behead the guard Zhang Min. There were 20,000 soldiers and horses left on the west gate, and this time Cao Cao personally commanded them, and Cao Hong and Xiahou Shang each led a team to attack a city gate. Xiahoudun still led 10,000 soldiers and horses to be stationed on the west bank of Yishui to guard against Zang Ba in the direction of Kaiyang.

Cao Jun's three-way siege army beat the war drums at the same time according to the established time, followed by 300 catapults from the north, west and south directions to the defenders of the city head to carry out a fierce projectile, and wait until the gate of the city head and the corner tower were beaten into a sieve by stone bullets, Cao Jun pushed the well railing, the cart slowly approached the city wall.

In the North Gate camp, Chen Deng and Liu Bei had already returned two days ago, and their two families had the weakest troops in Tancheng, so they were mixed together to defend the north gate. Now everyone is a grasshopper on a rope, and the damned Mi Fang has hung the list of all the soldiers who have shared the Cao family's money in the city, if the Cao army enters the city, everyone will not have good fruits to eat, so Chen Deng and Liu Bei don't dare to have any other thoughts now, so they can only stubbornly defend the north gate.

Fortunately, Liu Bei had two good brothers with outstanding abilities, so when Cao Zhen commanded the army to attack the city, the soldiers at the head of the city did not panic, and under the command of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, they held the city to the death.

I saw Guan Yu holding a broadsword with a long handle, wearing heavy armor, pacing back and forth around the city, and from time to time he slashed forward fiercely, splitting the brains of the Cao army's siege vanguard soldiers who had just exposed half of their heads.

"Brothers, don't be timid and retreat today, for the sake of hundreds of thousands of people in the city and your and my lives, we must drive down all the Cao troops who climbed to the top of the city!" Guan Yu's strong and powerful voice sounded from time to time in the city.

On the other side, Zhang Fei was holding the long-handled snake spear with both hands, his face was fierce, and his body was splashed with blood, and he was working with the soldiers to surround and kill the Cao army that had just rushed to the city.

"Brothers see it or not, Cao Jun is nothing to be afraid of! The same is raised by his father and mother, and when he is hit by a knife, axe, spear, and halberd, there will be holes in his body, and he will bleed! Kill me hard! Zhang Fei looks like a scholar, but when he kills people, he looks like a butcher, and there are dozens of Cao soldiers who have died under him, and they are all the kind of small leaders who are not afraid of death.

Cao Zhen watched the soldiers who risked their lives to attack the city head be surrounded and killed by the defenders of the city one after another, and then threw the corpses off the city, so angry that his pupils were bloody, and he wanted to lead the siege of the city in person.

At the head of the south gate, Zhang Min, who was hit by an arrow in his left arm, did not dare to retreat, and was directing his soldiers to fight to the death with the Cao army attacking the city.

"Brothers, everyone participated in the action of besieging and attacking Cao Song's old thief, if we can't defend this gate today, not only will we not be spared when the Cao army enters the city, but even our parents, wives and children will be slaughtered by the Cao army! For the sake of Tancheng, for our own sake, even if we take out more than 100 catties today, as long as Tancheng is not lost, there will still be people to take care of your parents, wives and children when you go back! ”

When the soldiers who followed Zhang Min heard these words, they were forced to burst out with a desperate force, violently shooting arrows at Cao Bing, stabbing their spears at Cao Bing, and greeting Cao Bing with knives and axes and various weapons attached to the ladder.

Cao Ren had already expected that the defenders might resist stubbornly, but he still didn't expect Zhang Min's subordinates to be so unafraid of death, he had just seen a few soldiers on the south gate fall from the city with his own soldiers in their arms, which was really moving.

In addition to the north gate and the south gate, the most difficult defense is the west gate, because the west gate is personally commanded by Cao Cao, and the siege force has 20,000 people, and the defense force is now less than 8,000, and it has to guard two gates.

Tai Shici is no longer hiding behind the scenes today, he asked Mi Fang to make a big flag embroidered with the word "Zhenwei" for himself, and planted it high next to the half-collapsed Guan Tower, which can be regarded as a complete revelation of his identity to all the soldiers and horses inside and outside the city.

Mi Fang was wearing the same Mingguang armor as Tai Shici today, holding a six-edged spear in his hand, and kept shuttling above the two city gate holes, directing and dispatching the Mi family's private soldiers to confront the Cao army besieging the city.

"Don't be afraid, sons and daughters of the Mi family, a few days ago we let Cao Jun lead the lesson, today there is Zhenwei General Taishi Ziyi at the West Gate to personally supervise the battle, even if Cao Jun comes, it will also make them have no return!"

The private soldiers of the Mi family learned that the Zhenwei general Tai Shici who was awarded by the imperial court actually accompanied them to defend the city, and their confidence was greatly increased, so they followed the dozens of subordinates brought by Tai Shici and shouted loudly: "General Zhenwei, majestic and mighty, stick to Tancheng, and swear to retire Cao Bing!" ”

I don't know whether the Mi family secretly made a special arrangement, or the soldiers and civilians in the city really need a hero to stand up and boost their confidence at this critical juncture, the call of the west gate city head quickly blew to the north gate, south gate, and east gate like a gust of wind, until the women and children in the streets and alleys heard it, and people began to chant rhythmically in unison: "General Zhenwei, majestic and mighty, stick to Tancheng, and swear to retire Cao Bing!" ”

Or, there are many people who don't know who General Lu Dao Zhenwei is, but when they shout along, they feel more secure and safe in their hearts. Perhaps, some soldiers had heard of General Zhenwei's title, and they also knew that this title should have appeared north of the Yellow River, but they didn't bother to ask why General Zhenwei appeared in Tancheng, Xuzhou.

With the majestic shouts of 10,000 people roaring in unison, the morale of the other three walls of Tancheng except the east gate was high, although these soldiers had different points of strength, but in the face of a powerful enemy, they finally threw away the intrigue and jealousy of the past, and completely ignited the dignity and tenacity in their bones.

Fierce battles and struggles were going on all the time, and the three walls were covered with soldiers belonging to Cao Cao, the general of the Eastern Expedition, who from a distance looked like countless ants attached to the cold and steep city walls, using their blood and lives to realize their loyalty to Cao Cao. After several years of training by Cao Cao, many of these soldiers were Yellow Turban refugees who had invaded Yanzhou from Qingzhou, and now they have not only become organized and disciplined, but also have very strong combat effectiveness, and have become the main force in attacking the fortifications.

If the Cao army on the façade of the city wall is a group of ants eager to enter the nest, then the Xuzhou soldiers defending the city head are another group of ants who occupy the favorable terrain, they have a solemn expression, they splash many arrows, rolling stones, wood, boiling oil and dung water downward, and then watch many lives be taken away by death in a miserable and painful howl.

War is not a game, it always kills people......

The tragic siege battle began in the early morning and lasted until the evening, on which day Cao's army paid more than 6,000 lives, as well as many wounded soldiers, adding up to at least 10,000. The Xuzhou soldiers defending the city also had more than 5,000 dead and wounded, which was more than half less than 10,000 compared to Cao's army, but it was also a terrifying number.

Because it was late, the Cao army, which was surging up like a tide, receded like a falling tide, and the difficult day finally passed. (To be continued......)