The next day, the drums and horns sounded, and the siege of Dongpingling began.

Guan Yu carefully observed the city defense of Dongpingling the day before and realized that today's Dongpingling is not better than in the past under the management of Cao Jun.

But even so, Guan Yu still decided to take Dongpingling.

In fact, after Guan Yu's previous offensive and defensive battles against Xiangguo, he had a very clear understanding of the bloodshed and cruelty of the siege, so he had a very detailed arrangement for the attack on Dongpingling.

In order to pull out the stronghold on the periphery of Dongpingling first, Guan Yu ordered all troops to carry out a diversionary attack on Dongpingling from all sides. Since July 11, the Taishan army has carried out nine tentative attacks on Dongpingling, all of which were defeated by Xun Yu in the city.

However, Guan Yu's real intention was to establish the Zhangcheng and other pavilion acropolis around Dongpingling, and without the support of Dongpingling, these outlying strongholds were captured one after another.

After that, Guan Yu personally supervised the main force to assemble and arrange it on the east line of Dongping Ling City.

At the same time, Cao's army from Jinan and Nanzou also successively crossed the Jishui south and began to support the northeast of Dongpingling.

However, the fighting will of these county soldiers was not high, and after crossing the Jishui, they had been patrolling nearby, and then the Tianxiong Army Assault Cavalry Regiment under Guan Yu's tent under the leadership of the military lord Li Fu rushed for hundreds of miles and defeated the reinforcements on the north bank of the south bank of Jishui.

At the same time, Guo Mo, who was in charge of the siege of the city, also dispatched Li Jing and Guo Yu to repel the Cao army who went out of the city from the east and north gates respectively.

For a time, Cao Jun was completely at a disadvantage by Guan Yu.

After that, Zhang Nan, who was previously responsible for attacking Taixian, also made great contributions.

After Zhang Nan received Guan Yu's military order the day before, after taking an emergency rest, he sneaked to the area of Taixian County and carried out a fire attack that night.

Because the Cao army was tired and slackened, Zhang Nan made a meritorious service, not only burning most of the grain and grass in the city, but also capturing two generals and colonels of the Cao army.

But soon, bad news came.

The earth drum guards who were originally arranged in the southeast were too stretched because the front line was too long, and Bian Bing, who was going north, seized the opportunity and broke it in one fell swoop.

By the time the news of the withdrawal of the Tugu Guards to the rear reached Guan Yu, the support forces of the Cao army had already arrived.

Here, Guan Yu made an empirical mistake.

Before setting out on the expedition, he learned from the intelligence that the distribution of Cao's army was mainly in the area of Pingyuanjin and Jinan, and the Qi State did have a little strength, but as far as Guan Yu knew, he did not know much. Therefore, the focus of his reconnaissance is on the northern area, and there are fewer sentinels on the southern side.

But the change in the situation far exceeded the intelligence detected by the Taishan army, who would have thought that Cao Jun would take Beihai Kingdom so easily, and who would have thought that Guan Hai here would give up his business so easily?

Bian Bing, who had obtained the military resources of the Beihai State, soon became a variable in this war.

After defeating the field guards in the north, they quickly rushed to the aid of Dongpingling, and at dawn on July 13, they led their army to appear less than five miles south of Dongpingling.

After getting the news, Guan Yu made up for the vacancy in time, and he ordered the captain Gao Ya to take 2,000 people to set up a defense and encircle, but Bian Bing's army was obviously full of spirit and chose to take the initiative to take the battle, but in the elegant covering arrow rain and the hand-to-hand combat of the ironclad soldiers, he still suffered a big loss.

These officials from the Beihai Kingdom obviously thought that the Taishan Army was the same as those Yellow Turban Army.

Fortunately, the number of Bian Bing's army was large enough, and the old pawns could fight to the death, so the rear responded to the front, and in the end they retreated safely into the camp wall.

That night, Gao Ya also received follow-up reinforcements from Guan Yu, and also began to build camps in the area of Geqiu and Luqiu south of Dongpingling.

In the early morning, after Gao Ya had eaten enough, he attacked the camp of Bian Bing's army again. On the same day, three Cao army camps were set in a row.

But that night, Cao's army launched a counteroffensive, and the Gao Ya troops had to withdraw from the camp wall because of their small numbers.

As a result, within one day, the three camps of Cao's army changed hands, and the fierceness of the battle can be seen.

Then in the early morning of the next day, Cao Jun's Bian Bing's corps began to take the initiative to attack the elegant Luqiu defense line, attacking for a morning, but could not get a single card.

The gap between the combat strength of the Taishan army and the Cao army is fully revealed.

It wasn't until a little later that Bian Bing, who had lost face, personally went to the front of the battle to supervise the army, and sent 500 armor under his tent to finally take down a camp wall.

But in the back, no matter how fierce Bian Bing's army attacked, it was destroyed by the ballista of the Taishan army.

The offensive on Bian Bing's side was blocked.

But Guan Yu's army is advancing here.

Two days ago, the Cao army in the city still went out of the city and camped, although they could not fight in the field, but they still tried in vain to resist in the camp.

But all hope was destroyed in just one morning by the Marshal of the Left Army of the Taishan Army.

These elite soldiers from the Taishan region are brave and brave, and it is a bit laborious to climb those city walls several feet high, but for those logs, it is like walking on the ground.

These Cao Jun were also here, and they were a little shocked by the combat power from the old area of Mount Tai.

It turns out that elite soldiers can be fierce to this extent.

At this time, Xun Yu finally gave up all the so-called tactics of war, what to defend the city must be defended, and he has now given up all of them.

At this time, he will leave all his troops in the city, that is, to defend to the death.

But it's also a pity for Xun Yu, at this time he is still a political talent with an excellent top-level perspective, and Guan Yu on the opposite side has already become a commander at the peak after several years of experience.

This is not destined to be a one-level showdown.

For Guan Yu, the defenders in the city will be much inferior to the previous frustration of guarding the Xiangguo.

After that, Guan Yu counted the numbers.

First, he ordered the spies of the foreign army of the Fei Army to infiltrate Dongpingling, set fire to the grain depot at night. The defenders on the four walls were terrified, thinking that there was chaos in the city.

And the Taishan army, which had been arranged on all sides of the outer city early, took the opportunity to move out and encircle the city walls.

Among them, Guo Yu attacked the east gate, Li Jing attacked the west gate, Zhu Ying attacked the south gate, and Chen Guang attacked the north gate.

Because there were spies in the city who should set fire to the city gates, Cao Jun was very panicked.

Of course, they knew the mass base of the Taishan Army in Dongpingling, so they directly thought that these people had all risen up and defected to the corresponding Taishan Army.

But Xun Yu soon discovered that this was just a small number of spies, and the people in the city were almost closed.

Obviously, Cao Cao's governance in Jinan still had some success, at least so that the power family of Dongpingling chose not to help each other.

But it was still too late, the Taishan army entered the city one after another, and the sentry walls along the street were like powder, and they were broken when they were touched.

As a last resort, Xun Yu retreated into the inner city with part of the defenders.

This inner city was built by Cao Cao after he entered Jinan, because he learned the lesson of the previous Taishan army to lightly descend to Dongpingling, and deliberately built an inner city with bricks and stones, and moved most of Jinan's arsenals, grain and yashuang into it.

Why spend a huge amount of money to build a masonry?

Don't you see the finger prints on the walls of the earthen city outside? He Cao Cao didn't want to fall asleep, and was taken off by an inhuman presence who passed through the inner city at night.

It is such a brick and stone inner city that has become the last shelter of the Cao army in Dongpingling.

The Taishan army, which had successfully entered Dongpingling, had a blue nose and swollen face under this small brick and stone city.

Because of the city, there are all houses outside, and the large-scale engineering equipment of the Taishan army cannot be used at all, and in the end the Taishan army can only choose to attack.

However, the attack continued until noon the next day, but there was no progress, and even the officials of the Taishan army suffered a lot of damage.

After Guan Yu, who had been paying attention to the war in the city, learned the news, he knew that the small city was strong and difficult to rush down, so he gave up the attack and turned to the siege.

On the second day of digging the trench, Guan Yu, who had not yet entered the city, got a second message, which was sent from Gao Ya in the direction of Luqiu in the south.

According to Gao Ya's report, they saw the banner of the Xuzhou Army in the Bian Bing army on the opposite side.

At that time, Gao Ya couldn't believe it, and it wasn't until the offensive and defensive battle on the second day that they did capture a group of Danyang soldiers from Xuzhou, and they were really sure that Tao Qian from Xuzhou had entered the Qingzhou battlefield.

Why did Tao Qian take the initiative to enter Qingzhou and help Cao Cao?

Although on the bright side, he has enough reasons to help, such as the truth that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold. But for Tao Qian, it doesn't make sense to do it.

What really promoted this matter was a group of Qingzhou scholars who lived in Xuzhou, among which Zheng Xuan was the leader.

Zheng Xuan's reputation is too high, even if he arrives in Xuzhou, he is still in the center of the Xuzhou scholar circle, such as Chen, Wang, Xiao and other public surnames are around Zheng Xuan.

They pushed the will of Xuzhou and decided the operation of this northward rescue.

And the reason why Zheng Xuan did this was that his protégés had a very high evaluation of Cao Cao after they successively joined Cao Cao's shogunate, and they all thought that he had the courage to save the sky.

So, Zheng Xuan decided to raise his bet on Cao Cao.

In this way, with Wang Lang as the left army and Zang Ba as the right army, a total of 20,000 officials and soldiers from Langya Ju County set off to aid Jinan.

……

Guan Yu, who learned of this major change in military intelligence, was very heavy in his heart.

But he still maintained his composure, and he summoned the main generals of the various lines back to the big tent and decided to convene a military meeting.

When the generals who came back from the previous days, such as Zhang Nan, Guo Mo, Guo Yu and others, heard the news, everyone was silent.

The first to speak was Zhang Nan.

Zhang Nan is the closest general to Zhang Chong among these people, and he is an old man who has followed Zhang Chong since he practiced the shift.

In addition, he is known as a wise general in the army and often has courage, so his prestige in the army is very deep. He also became the most important lieutenant in the army after Li Damu stepped down.

That is, his words and attitude are very important at this time.

But the first thing Zhang Nan said was three words:

"I'm in trouble."

Guan Yu's heart tightened, knowing that Zhang Nan might not want to fight. He twisted his long hair and asked:

"Oh, why? Just because the Xuzhou army came to those 20,000 people? ”

Zhang Nan nodded, and finally shook his head again, he clenched his fists and said to Guan Yu:

"Dashuai, the current situation has been clearly seen. At this stage, the most advantageous thing for our army is the withdrawal of troops. ”

Even though the other generals vaguely meant this, everyone was still surprised when they heard Zhang Nan say the word retreat.

Especially Guo Mo, he retorted as soon as he opened his mouth:

"Retreat? We have all laid down Dongping Tomb, why do we want to withdraw? I still say the same thing, as long as Guan Shuai and my 5,000 soldiers, I will drive those Xuzhou soldiers for Dashuai. ”

Of course, Zhang Nan knew the hidden meaning behind Guo Mo's words, that is, military merit.

The first merit of this battle must be Guo Mo's, but if this first merit is a failed retreat, then the military merit will be overshadowed even if there is.

So Guo Mo must have wanted to rely on the results of the battle.

But alas......

Zhang Nan replied lightly:

"Lay down the Dongping Tomb? I don't think the inner city is still in Cao Jun's hands? ”

At this moment, Zhang Nan's words stabbed Guo Mo's lungs, because he was the one who was responsible for attacking the inner city.

But Zhang Nan's identity and qualifications were there, Guo Mo's face could only turn the color of pig liver, and finally he muttered:

"Give me one more day, and I will surely plant the banner in the inner city."

But Zhang Nan didn't pay attention to Guo Mo, he shook his head, and said to Guan Yu, who had been pondering:

"Marshal, am I worried because of the 20,000 Xuzhou troops? Last year, our army broke the Xuzhou soldiers in the Langya area, and our army's soldiers pointed directly at the East China Sea. I'm worried about Cao Cao in Pingyuanjin. ”

It was only at this time that Guan Yu opened his mouth:

"Cao Cao? Isn't he in Hiraharatsu? Previously, I had already passed on the actions of our army to Ding Daqi, and asked him to contain Cao Cao and prevent him from going south. With Ding Daqi here, Cao Cao has the heart to go south, and he can't catch it. ”

Hearing Guan Yu's words, Zhang Nan sighed in his heart, he heard that Guan Yu didn't want to retreat in his heart.

This is also human nature, Guan Yu has fought for so many years, only the enemy looks at him and flees, he has not yet run.

But Guan Yu entrusted Cao Cao to Ding Sheng to go south, which made Zhang Nan unacceptable. It's not that Zhang Nan looks down on Ding Sheng, but in terms of facts, Ding Sheng's ability is definitely stronger than himself.

But the current situation is not Ding Sheng's advantage, how can he leave Cao Cao behind?

However, Zhang Nan did not say what he really thought, but said something like this:

"Dashuai, I have been guarding Taixian County in the north before, and every time I look north, I have a chill, and I always feel that Cao Jun is hidden somewhere on the other side of Jishui. Now our army is trapped under the inner city, there is Cao Tao's coalition army in the south, and Cao Cao's southward army may be faced in the north. ”

Finally, Zhang Nan solemnly suggested to Guan Yu:

"Marshal, I ask for the rear of the army to cover the withdrawal of the whole army to Mount Tai."

In fact, if it were ordinary literati who heard Zhang Nan's words, they would definitely scoff at it, thinking that Zhang Nan said something foolish, do you see that there is Cao Jun in the dark night? Is such a major decision based on your Zhang Nan's personal experience? Funny or not?

But the warriors who had come out of the sea of blood were silent.

Until now, they also had to seriously consider Zhang Nan's suggestion.

And among them, Zhang Nan's words just now are an important reason, these people all have more or less intuition, after being on the battlefield for a long time, no one will not believe this.

On the other hand, everyone also knows that although the battle has not been completed so far, the original goal of sharing the pressure of the Pingyuanjin battlefield has been achieved.

Retreating at this time, although unwilling, is also acceptable.

But will the marshal, who is known for his perseverance and bravery, care?

So at this time, everyone else in the tent focused on Guan Yu at the top, and everything depended on his decision.

Brothers, withdraw or not withdraw. You are Guan Yu, how do you do it.