After joining up with the cavalry led by Chen Zhi, Qin Feng continued to pursue Cao's army.

This time, Qin Feng was much more cautious, no longer pursuing unsuspectingly, but sent a vanguard of 1,000 people to keep a distance of five or six miles from the brigade in front to open the way, and arranged reconnaissance cavalry five or six miles in front of the advance to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, but if something suspicious was found, he immediately sent someone back to report.

When I went to Ye County, there was no place to ambush along the way, Cao Jun ran fast, and the Flame Army pursued all the way, but failed to catch up.

But Qin Feng will not stop there, the grain and grass camp of the Cao army is set up in Ye County, and the Cao army will be driven out of Nanyang no matter what.

Ye.

Cao Cao was really tired of escaping all the way, when chasing Qin Feng and leading the troops to chase and kill, the surrounding soldiers and generals all ran away, and in the end, if it wasn't for Xu Huang leading people to block Qin Feng, I was afraid that his head would be cut off.

He didn't even eat a meal for a few days, and when he was thirsty, he went to the ditch to drink to his heart's content, and when he was hungry, he dug wild vegetables and gnawed the bark of trees, trying to stop and go to the nearby people to grab some food to satisfy his hunger, but the Flame Army pursued and killed him again, and finally fled back to Ye County with less than 2,000 sergeants, plus the 3,000 people who stayed in Ye County to guard this grain and grass hoarding point, and the chief engineer was less than 5,000.

After arriving in Ye County, Cao Cao had a full meal, but before he put down his chopsticks, a sergeant hurriedly ran to report: "Prime Minister Qi, the Flame Army is chasing after you, less than twenty miles away from Ye County!" ”

Cao Cao was frightened, and immediately beckoned Xun You, Cheng Yu, Xiahou Dan, Xu Huang and other strategists and generals to evacuate immediately with their men and horses, and ordered Li Tong to lead 3,000 men to garrison Yecheng to defend this bridgehead into Nanyang.

Li Tong has 3,000 men and horses in his hands, although his morale is low, he is still confident that he will defend Yecheng, after all, as a place for Cao's army to store grain, not only has enough grain and grass, but also has a large number of ordnance reserves, as long as the city defense is properly deployed and not careless.

Under normal circumstances, if you want to capture Yecheng, the Flame Army doesn't want to send 20,000 people, and the Flame Army can't send 20,000 people at the moment, so Li Tong is confident.

Cao Cao ran away with a group of strategists and generals and two thousand remnants of the defeated army when Qin Feng led the army to Yexian City, if he didn't run, he couldn't do it, if he stayed here, he would only attract Qin Feng's hatred and attract all the flame army, and he might not be able to run away if he wanted to.

It was too dangerous to stay in Yecheng, so thirty-six plans were taken as the best plan.

Qin Feng had just led the army to the city of Yexian, and the sentry who had come here to reconnoiter first came to report to him: "Lord Qiqi, Cao Cao ran east with his advisers and generals, with 2,000 men and horses around him, and the defender in the city is Li Tong, with 3,000 defenders, sufficient grain, grass and materials to defend the city, and complete equipment!" ”

Qin Feng listened to the report and said to Huang Yi and Chen Zhi: "Everyone, follow me to the city to meet Li Tong!" ”

"No!"

Seven or eight thousand men and horses waved their banners and slaughtered to the city of Yexian.

Qin Feng came to the city alone, raised his head and shouted: "The guard in the city is Li Tong? Do you dare to come out and answer? ”

Li Tong's voice was revealed at a battlement on the city tower, and he shouted loudly: "General Qin has something to say, Li can hear it clearly here!" ”

Qin Feng scolded: "You have the courage to violate my borders, but you don't dare to come out to answer, and now you are cowering in the city, don't you feel embarrassed?" ”

Li Tong was not angry, and said with a smile: "The general is powerful, Li is deeply trusted by the prime minister, and he does not dare to show a moment of blood and courage regardless of the safety of the city!" If the general wants to attack the city, he will let the horses come, if he does not dare to attack the city, why not retreat? ”

Qin Feng was not carried away by Li Tong's divine might, he said coldly: "Yecheng is the jurisdiction of Nanyang, and now you occupy the city, and you still expect me to retreat?" I will tell you and the others that if you don't take back Yecheng, you will not give up! ”

"If you don't retreat, then prepare to die in Ye City! The defenders in the city listened, I only punished Li Tong, the lackey of the thief, and had nothing to do with the others, you can open the city gate and leave, and I and my soldiers will not be left in trouble; If you insist on going your own way, you will inevitably be buried here with Li Tong, and you will have a day to think about it, and after a day, I will wave my army to attack the city! ”

These words carried an extremely severe threat, which shook the morale of Cao Jun to a certain extent.

After Li Tong heard what Qin Feng said, he turned his head and saw that many of the defenders on the left and right city walls had changed their expressions, and he knew that something was wrong.

If Ye County belongs to Yingchuan County, it would be fine, and Cao Jun is responsible for guarding the land here, but Yecheng is under the jurisdiction of Nanyang County, it is really true, Cao Jun is an invasion, these Cao Jun are already demoralized, plus the confidence in their hearts is a little insufficient, and Qin Feng's words just now treat Li Tong separately from ordinary Cao Jun sergeants, these Cao Jun do not want to stay here.

Li Tong immediately shouted: "All the soldiers should not be bewitched by this person, Qin Feng is a traitor, how can he believe what he says?" The city has plenty of food and grass, and the equipment is complete, even if they die, it is impossible to attack it! ”

Qin Feng didn't expect his words to make the defenders in the city surrender after killing Li Tong, his purpose was nothing more than to create internal contradictions among the defenders, so that their generals, officers and ordinary sergeants would be suspicious and wary of each other.

Although there were only a few words, it could greatly reduce the comprehensive combat capability of the defenders, and Li Tong had to guard against the surrender of the soldiers under his command after cutting off his head, but those soldiers had other thoughts, so that the strength could not be used in one place, and the comprehensive combat strength would naturally decline seriously.

Qin Feng beat his horse and returned to his own camp and ordered: "Retreat for ten miles and set up camp; sent 200 cavalry to block Yecheng and contact with the outside world; sent someone to urge Xi Ji to transport the siege equipment as soon as possible; Recruit nearby villagers to serve in the conscription, quarrying, and logging! ”

At this time, the height of the city wall is not as exaggerated as in the film and television dramas of later generations, the height of the city walls of Chang'an City and Luoyang City is only 12 meters, and in ancient times, it was very important to pay attention to the etiquette system, and the height of the city walls in various places was clearly stipulated in the left biography: "Most of them are only one of the three of the country, one of the middle five, and one of the small nine"

That is to say, the height of the walls of a large city cannot exceed one-third of the height of the national capital, the height of the wall of a mid-city city cannot exceed one-fifth of the national capital, and the height of a small city cannot exceed one-ninth of the national capital.

In the Han Dynasty, although it may not completely continue the etiquette regulations of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it will not be too outrageous, and the height of the county town will not exceed five or six meters at most, and the height of the city wall of the small county town will reach three or four meters.

On the wall of Yecheng, the defenders saw that the Flame Army did not completely retreat, but left hundreds of cavalry to roam around the outside of the city, and they knew that they were in trouble, and a captain said to Li Tong: "General, it seems that the Flame Army is really planning to attack the city!" ”

Li Tong snorted coldly: "What about the siege?" He didn't kill 10,000 horses, and he didn't want to break through the city! ”

Another lieutenant said: "General, if they break the city, we will not be able to live, and this Yecheng is not our army's territory, why do you want to stay here?" The general might as well surrender early, so that the brothers can follow the general to save their lives! ”

When Li Tong heard this, his face changed, and he shouted: "Bold, the enemy is pressing the border, you dare to disturb the hearts of our army?" Where is the left and right? Drag him down the tower and behead him as an example! ”