Just when Shen Chen and Ren Jun were fighting at Bali Bridge, the surroundings of Xu Du were alarmed at this time.

Cao Cao didn't know the news yet, he was on the front line of Guandu, Guandu was ninety kilometers away from Xudu, unless the scout cavalry sent out by Xun Yu drove a sports car, it was impossible to deliver the news so quickly.

But Han Hao, Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian, Cai Yang and others already knew.

Han Hao is in Yanling, and Yanling is twenty kilometers away from Xudu.

Xiahou Yuan is in Liqiang, more than 30 kilometers away from Xudu.

Judging from the timeline, Shen Chen set out from Yingyang in the morning and arrived in Yingyin at noon, and the team rested a little, and killed Zaoyi at about one o'clock in the afternoon, and rested in the city.

Then set off again at more than two o'clock, and at five o'clock, when it was close to six o'clock, they went to the area of Bali Bridge, began to line up the line, and launched an attack on Ren Jun.

That is to say, Zao only sent people to Pegasus to report to Xun Yu in Xu Du at about one o'clock at noon, Xun Yu got the letter at two o'clock, and then sent people to Yanling, 20 kilometers away, and more than 30 kilometers away to ask for reinforcements.

As for Yanling and Yanqiang, even if the horses are advancing at full speed, it will take between an hour and an hour and a half, respectively.

So according to the time, basically it didn't take long for Shen Chenjun to set off for Xu, that is, at more than three o'clock in the afternoon, Han Hao had already gotten the news, and then immediately summoned the troops to start the rescue.

And Xiahou Yuan and them were a little farther away, almost when Shen Chenjun was about to arrive at Bali Bridge, it was probably about four o'clock that Xiahou Yuan and they knew about it.

But what they could get was that the scout was galloping at full speed on horseback, if it was a foot soldier, based on four or five kilometers per hour, it would take four or five hours for Han Hao to come over, and it would take six or seven hours for Xiahou Yuan and them to come over, basically it was a matter of night.

Even this is the ideal state.

For example, when Han Hao was in Yanling, the Diannong army was also scattered, and it took time to convene temporarily, and it also took time to bring weapons and equipment, so if there was a delay, it might take six or seven hours to call.

Xiahou Yuan's side is even worse, he is confronting Liu Bei's main army, once Liu Bei delays a little, he may not be able to come tomorrow morning.

Therefore, to a certain extent, Xu Du's safety at this time really depends on how long Ren Jun can last.

Once he was attacked by Shen Chen before dusk, then Shen Chen would have at least seven or eight hours to do whatever he wanted in Xu Capital.

And now, the entire Xu capital is almost out of troops.

However, let's not talk about how Han Hao of Yanling immediately summoned the peasant army and went to Xudu to rescue after getting the news.

Speaking of Liqiang County at this time, the battle has already entered the white heat.

Liu Bei according to the agreement, and Shen Chen separated two days after the siege of the city, today is the third day, he from the early morning, the army will be out of the camp, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yuntai, Shi Ci and other troops led the generals, divided into three ways to surround the strong.

The source of his soldiers and horses is very complicated, and a small number of them are elite soldiers given by Yuan Shao, about two or three thousand. The other part is the remnants of the Yuan clan recruited in Yuzhou, about seven or eight thousand.

Then when Manzhong first defended the city, 500 elites were killed in battle, and more than 2,000 miscellaneous troops surrendered.

Finally, there was Li Tong's 3,000 surrendered army.

Although it is a rabble, it can't stand the crowd. Along the way, some remnants of Yuan Shao came to vote, and now the total strength is close to 17,800.

On the other hand, Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian have very few people, Xiahou Yuan only has 3,000, and Li Dian only has 2,000.

Even if you count Cai Yang's 3,000 men later, the total strength is only 8,000.

Therefore, Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian were stationed in the city for several days, while Cai Yang came from the north, and Cao Cao was transferred to the rear from the front line of Guandu to defend Liu Bei's soldiers and horses. At that time, he did not enter the city, so he was stationed on the north bank of Yingshui, the south bank of Lishui, at the confluence of two rivers.

On the south bank of Yingshui is Liqiang County, where Cao Hong also defeated a rebel leader in the early years.

Cai Yang and Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian and others guarded across the river, and they were horns of each other, and to some extent, this could be regarded as a way out.

Liu Bei's main army besieged the Tuantuan of Liqiang County, but only because the north side was the Yingshui River, the river was wide and the water flow speed was fast, so it was not suitable to attack, so it was not surrounded.

In the past few days, Cao's army has successively transported a lot of grain and grass from the north gate into the city, apparently intending to fight a war of attrition with Liu Bei.

After all, Liu Bei only brought two or three thousand men and horses to the south alone, and his sources of grain and grass were actually supported by the remnants of Yuan Shao who were originally in Runan, and these remnants of Yuan Shao were defeated by Manzhong, and there was not much grain in stock, with Liu Bei's 17,000 or eight thousand men and horses now, the grain and grass could not last long.

But they never expected that Liu Bei didn't even plan to build more siege equipment or rest for two more days, but on the second day after arriving in Liqiang, he launched a strong attack.

In the case of besieging the city on three sides, under the supervision of Liu Guan, Zhang Zhao, Taishi and others, Liu Beijun launched several attacks on the city like ants, but because the soldiers were not high in combat effectiveness and not brave enough, they were easily repelled by the two several times.

In the afternoon, Liu Bei saw that the soldiers under his command were quite afraid of battle, and did not dare to rush to the city wall in the face of rolling stones and trees, knowing that it would be difficult to attack, so he withdrew his troops.

Soon Liu Bei's army receded like a tide, leaving hundreds of corpses at the city gates, and they hurriedly evacuated.

Even because of the low quality of the soldiers, they were scattered when they retreated, as if they had been defeated, they dropped the ladder and began to run to the rear almost without formation.

What I knew was that they were withdrawing troops, and what I didn't know thought they were being chased and killed.

If this is replaced by Zhang Liao, the height will have to bring eight hundred, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yuntai, and Shi Ci are all here, so they can't be killed.

It was the end of the day, close to five o'clock in the afternoon.

Xiahou Yuan stood at the head of the strong city, panting and looking at Liu Beijun retreating outside the city, and said angrily: "Damn, that Liu Da'er is really disgusting, I really want to kill him and his third brother." ”

"The general has a grudge against Zhang Fei?"

Li Dian also walked over and asked curiously.

Xiahou Yuan didn't seem to want to mention that his niece Xiahou Juan was kidnapped by Zhang Fei at the beginning of this year, but said: "These two thieves have repeatedly ignored Sikong's kindness, and I can't wait to kill them as soon as possible." ”

"They have quite a lot of troops."

Li Dian licked his tongue: "But their morale and fighting spirit are not strong, if they can attack at night, they may be able to defeat that Liu Bei." ”

Xiahou Yuan pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "Well, maybe something can be done, but he will definitely be very vigilant a few days ago, we are holding on for a few days, find a suitable time, and it is best to attack Liu Bei's camp at night to kill that Zhang Yide." ”

General Miaocai seems to be very resentful of Zhang Yide.

Li Dian said in his heart.

However, he was not a man of many tongues, so he did not continue to ask.

And just when Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian were resting and preparing to arrange for the soldiers to carry out today's city defense work, someone suddenly hurried up to the city wall and shouted: "General, something is wrong. ”

The soldiers around him went back and forth, some were resting, some were patrolling, and some were carrying supplies, preparing for tomorrow's war, when they suddenly heard this voice, they all looked over, and saw that it was a scout who was so tired that he crawled to the top of the city covered in sweat.

Li Dian frowned, and the big guy repelled Liu Beijun, at this time, something happened, and the army's heart was so unstable.

But apparently this is only the case for big things.

Could it be that Xu Du was attacked?

This thought came to him coldly in his heart, and then he saw that Xiahou Yuan had already walked over and dragged the scout over like a dead dog, slapped him twice and shouted, "What nonsense, what's wrong?" ”

The scout galloped all the way from Xudu, more than 30 kilometers away, people and horses were tired and half dead, and wailed: "Yingyin City is broken, someone is attacking Xudu, Xun Lingjun asks the general to come back for help." ”

"What?"

Xiahou Yuan was shocked, and hurriedly asked, "How many people are here?" ”

"Say three or four thousand."

"When was Yingyin broken?"

"Afternoon."

The scout's nose was spurting blood.

"Blow the trumpet!"

Xiahou Yuan did not feel sorry for the soldier, but threw him to the ground, and immediately made people blow the horn and prepare to gather all the men and horses to return to Xu Du.

Li Dian hurriedly came up and said: "General, if we go out of the city, it will be more dangerous for Liu Beijun to go north to Xudu, so we must not go back with a large number of troops and horses, and we can only send a small group of men and horses." ”

"A small group of people?"

Xiahou Yuan calmed down, thought for a while, and immediately said to the left and right: "Go, send an order to Cai Yang, let him go north to Xudu overnight, and defend Xudu thoroughly." ”

"Yui!"

Left and right immediately out of the city to report the news.

Cai Yang was on the other side of the Yingshui River, Liu Bei lacked boats and means to cross the river, and the bridge was north of the city, so his position was very safe.

At this moment, when he heard the news of Xudu, Xiahou Yuan asked him to set off to Xudu immediately to rescue, and Cai Yang set off immediately, and he didn't even have time to clean up the camp, so he immediately gathered the whole army and rushed to the north at the speed of a rapid march.

By the evening, when it was close to dusk, Han Hao was only more than ten kilometers away from Xu Du, and Cai Yang was still more than twenty kilometers away.

And Shen Chen's Huangmen Pavilion army broke through the second wall and was almost exhausted.

He didn't expect Ren Jun to be so difficult to deal with, a general who was just a flash in the pan in history, and he was still the second- and third-line troops he led, he didn't expect to be able to hold out for so long.

Every time Shen Chen was about to break the last fortress, he would shoot back with a bow and crossbow, and then personally go into battle to launch a counterattack.

The casualty ratio of both sides reached 0.6 to 1.1, that is, Shen Chen's army's current casualties were about more than 600 people, while Ren Jun's army only suffered more than 1,100 casualties.

Although it doesn't seem to be, because Shen Chen is more than 3,000 people and 5,000 people, it is normal for Ren Jun to defeat Shen Chen.

But the problem is that these 5,000 people do not have bows and crossbows, and they are also second- and third-line troops with poor military quality.

You must know that the strength of Shen Chen's army is about 3,200 people, and there are six or seven hundred crossbowmen in the team, and there are more than 10,000 arrows, which can almost suppress Ren Jun.

But taking advantage of the location of the wall, Ren Jun worked hard to hold on, from the evening to dusk, and it took nearly two hours for Shen Chen to break through the two walls and block Ren Jun in the last fortress.

At this time, Gan Ning and Shen Chen were already injured, the leather chain mail on their bodies was soaked with sweat, because of the lack of water and salt supplies in a short period of time, everyone's lips were slightly pale, and the soldiers were gathered together, surrounded by corpses.

Ren Jun stood behind the high wall, his current situation was not good, he did not personally participate in the first two rounds, and this time he had to go into battle to kill the enemy, and even was almost killed by Gan Ning, if it wasn't for the bow and crossbow to save him, I'm afraid he would have died.

And more importantly, there are not many of his arrows, the original role of arrows is to cover a wide range of kills, the single-shot hit rate is limited by the battlefield moving target plus the influence of the wind, it is easy to miss the shot and cause an empty shot, coupled with the battlefield stalemate The two sides are entangled, and the hit rate is even lower.

Therefore, every time Ren Jun was after his own soldiers were cut and killed, at the moment when he saw that the camp gate was about to be lost, he first used a bow and crossbow to force the other party to retreat, and then let the soldiers fill it up again, so that he reluctantly repelled them.

This has happened many times now, and the bow and crossbow are almost exhausted. It is estimated that in the end, there will be another wave, and all their stored crossbow arrows will be used up, which can be regarded as running out of ammunition and food.

Therefore, Ren Jun's mood at this time also sank to the bottom.

But what he didn't know was that because he didn't expect Ren Jun to be unexpectedly difficult, Shen Chenjun's side was already at the end of the crossbow.

For an army, physical strength is important, and willpower is even more important.

If this place is full of Huangmenting soldiers, it may still be able to fight, but half of it is Gan Ning's army.

These soldiers are inferior to the soldiers of Huangmenting in terms of physical strength and willpower, and coupled with the lack of training, they are the ones who suffer the greatest casualties, so the morale and physical strength of the army have fallen to the bottom.

Shen Chen looked around, the fierce battle lasted for more than an hour, the faces of the soldiers were full of exhaustion, blood and sweat soaked their clothes, and the road to attack Xu Du was even more difficult than imagined.

Damn it!

Seeing this situation, Shen Chen also felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart, he could guess that attacking Xu was not so simple, but who would have thought that it was already a stone's throw away from Xu Du, but it still couldn't be surpassed.

Gan Ning was also wet, his lips were slightly white, and he said beside Shen Chen: "Ah Chen. Soldiers, I'm afraid."

"Let's do it one last time."

Shen Chen smiled bitterly: "Originally, I thought that this Ren Jun should not be such a powerful person, we can enter Xu Du, welcome the Son of Heaven back to Nanyang, and let Cao Cao and Yuan Shao eat dogs in the north, but now it seems that it is indeed my whimsy, this Ren Jun alone, it is not easy to match." ”

No wonder people can give Cao Cao food and defeat Yuan Shao's cavalry at the same time, how dare they go to Liangshan without three thirds. This Ren Jun's status is still above Han Hao and Zaoyi, which obviously shows that people have real skills, but they died too early in history.

"Okay, then one last rush!"

Gan Ning was also ruthless, spitting and foaming at the palm of his hand was considered to wash his hands, wiping the blood and sweat on his body to prevent the handle from slipping, and his ring-headed knife didn't know how many enemies he had killed, and it was almost soaked with blood.

"Kill!"

With this thunderous explosion, Cao Jun heard a series of dense and urgent bowstring crossbow arms trembling, and dozens of arrows and crossbows smashed over his head and face.

It was the old routine again, first suppressing the Cao army on the wall with bows and crossbows, and then the infantry took advantage of the situation to cover the wall and began to attack head-on.

Cao Jun almost instinctively began to crouch down and climb on the cloud platform to avoid the baptism of arrows.

Immediately afterwards, Shen Chenjun sounded the bone whistle of the attack, and when they rushed to kill, they would shout and shout in their mouths to cover up, but now they don't even have the strength to shout, and their running speed is also several points slower.

Fortunately, the distance between the two sides was only more than 20 steps, and in an instant they arrived under the wall, and Hulala began to build a human ladder to rush to the wall.

The previous two times they rushed to kill like this, and they can be considered experienced.

At this time, Ren Jun raised his head and looked at the sky, which was about to darken, so he shouted: "Release the arrow!" ”

The remaining one or two hundred arrows were shot out in just two rounds, killing and wounding more than a dozen Shen Chenjun, and then the archers threw down their crossbows one after another, drew their knives and slashed, and poked with their guns.

The two sides fought fiercely around the wall again, and the roars, echoes, weapons blocking, and muffled howls on the wall almost never stopped.

From the beginning of the day to the time when it is now close to three o'clock in the evening, a full hour and a half, that is, three hours, the front of Ren Jun's camp is being tested at any time, and there is no end in sight to the tragic battle.

A section of the wall, which was less than 180 paces, was sprayed with the blood of soldiers on both sides, and in many places the yellow-brown rammed earth was completely soaked with blood, turning a blackened crimson.

Cast iron helmets and leather hats were visible on the walls, and bald tails and feathered arrows and broken weapons were thrown to the ground.

In the corners on both sides of the wall, the corpses of soldiers killed on both sides were piled up indiscriminately, and some of the corpses had no time to be carried, so they were kicked and trampled under the feet of the people, and the battle was too tight to be fought so tightly that no one could spare the manpower to clean up the battlefield.

The Zhaimen changed hands several times, and every time Shen Chen and Gan Ning went in, they were personally led by Ren Jun to take them back.

The two sides had already pressed all their forces, and even the crossbowmen of Shen Chenjun's army threw down their crossbows and crossbows, pulled out the ring-headed knives at their waists and joined the battlefield, obviously everyone knew that this was a life-and-death moment.

In the end, with a bang, the gate of the village collapsed, and the Cao army fought and retreated, and the three walls of the camp were all peripheries, and the inside was a tent camp and a baggage warehouse.

Ren Jun obviously did not intend to surrender, but continued to use the tents and baggage warehouses in the camp for defense.

The sky darkened, and the sun set.

After three quarters of dusk, the world finally seemed to be gray and dark.

But then the Cao army's tent was lit on fire, and Shen Chenjun brought a fire sickle with him, just in time to use the enemy's internal camp tent burning to carry out a night battle.

At the end of dusk, that is, at nine o'clock in the evening, Ren Jun took the remnants of more than 2,600 people and retreated to the east gate of the wall.

Shen Chen was attacking the east from the west, which meant that the first place he attacked was the west gate of the wall. Now Ren Jun has almost no way to retreat, and the loss of the last gate has completely announced the loss of Xu Du.

And seeing that Ren Jun was struggling to support, the army was about to collapse.

"Woooooooooooo

The sound of a loud horn suddenly came from the north.

Han Hao's reinforcements took five hours to finally arrive at the battlefield!

(End of chapter)