By September, the Yuan army camp had been completely built, and the camp, which was several times larger than the Cao camp, gave the Cao army a great shock.

In the early morning of this day, the gates of most of the camps of the Yuan army were all opened, densely packed, and countless soldiers of the Yuan army came out of the battalions, and under the command of generals at all levels, they began to assemble on the north bank of the Guandu River.

The camp structure of both sides is built by relying on the Guandu River, three or four miles away, there is a huge open space in front of the Yuan military camp, tens of thousands of Yuan troops are arrayed, crowded with people, boundless and boundless.

Yuan Shao personally led the troops to the expedition, and their diagonal opposite bank was the Cao army camp, so naturally they could not forcibly cross the river to fight the Cao army camp, under the command of Yuan Shao, the army went west along the Guandu River, crossed the river in the upper reaches of the river, and launched an attack from the northwest of the Cao army.

Cao Cao also led his troops out of the camp to defend, originally hoping to use some fortifications built outside the camp in the north to counterattack, but the difference in strength between the two sides was too large, and soon after the battle, Cao's army was defeated and had to retreat to the camp.

On the camp, Cao's army repelled Yuan's army with bows and arrows, and Yuan Shao ordered people to build a wall outside the camp, pile up a mountain of earth, and shoot Cao's camp with arrows from a high place. Arrows rained down, covering the sky and the sun, almost submerging the entire northeast camp of Cao Ying, and the soldiers in Cao Ying had to walk under shields, and the morale of the army was very low.

This situation lasted for several days, until Cao Cao used a catapult to destroy Yuan Jun's walls and mountains, which can be regarded as recovering the decline. Yuan Shao secretly dug a tunnel to Cao's camp, and Cao's army dug a long ditch in the camp for defense, and the two sides went back and forth for seven or eight days.

"Bang bang bang!"

In the Cao military camp three or four miles long, a dirt mountain was built, and there were catapults on the soil mountain, constantly projecting huge stones, and dozens of kilograms of stones crossed a brilliant arc in the sky, and then smashed on the earth mountain and the wall tower.

Suddenly, sawdust flew everywhere and screamed again and again. Many archers couldn't even make a muffled grunt, so they were smashed to pieces by stones and torn apart, and many more jumped off the dirt mountain wall when they saw that the situation was not good.

However, the height of this kind of building is often several zhang or even more than ten zhang high, jumping from it, breaking the leg at the lightest, and killing the dead, so Yuan Jun suffered heavy casualties.

"Mingjin!"

Fifty-year-old Yuan Shao frowned, and looked at Cao Ying with a deep gaze, a trace of solemnity and worry flashed in his eyes.

When he was in Yangwu, Fu Zhu once said that there were many northern soldiers, but they were not as brave and good at fighting as the southern army; The southern army had little food, and its material reserves were not as good as those of the northern army. The southern army is conducive to a quick battle, and the northern army is conducive to delaying the army. Therefore, our army should fight a protracted war and delay time.

At that time, Yuan Shao thought that he had a large number of soldiers and horses, and his power was strong, and he could completely sweep Cao Cao all the way, and he should not be timid, so he did not follow the advice of Fu Zhi, and the army marched south.

It was only a few days of fierce attack, and the tenacity of Cao's army was beyond imagination, and he sent a large number of soldiers and horses to besiege Cao's camp from three sides, and even one of Cao's camps was not broken.

Obviously, Yuan Shao's vain attempt to annihilate Cao Cao in one fell swoop in a short period of time was shattered, and it would be just a waste of troops and horses to fight any longer.

So he had to choose Mingjin to withdraw his troops, withdraw the army to the camp, and then think of other ways.

As for the soldiers returning to Yangwu, it is absolutely impossible.

Just as Yuan Shao didn't listen to Tian Feng's words later, he was prophesied by Tian Feng, but when he went back, he didn't reuse Tian Feng, but killed him.

Now he has spoken out of his rhetoric, saying that Cao Mengde is just a mantis arm as a car, and he can't do anything about himself, but now he has not been able to overcome it, and it is difficult to ride a tiger, and he Yuan Benchu can't afford to lose this person.

Soon the soldiers of the Yuan army retreated like a tide, and after they retreated, Cao Cao, who was watching the situation of the Yuan army from the distant dirt mountain, also breathed a sigh of relief, and said in a deep voice: "Order, collect the enemy's arrow clusters, and dig the ravine deeper." ”

"Report!"

When Cao Cao went down to Tushan, the scouts came to report: "We found that Yuan's army has a large number of grain and grass vehicles sent to Yuan's camp at Yanjin Ferry!" ”

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "Okay, explore again." ”

Then he turned and left.

That night, Yuan Shao's grain trucks were attacked by Cao Cao, but fortunately, there were countless vehicles in his army, and there were countless Yuan army grain trucks that crossed the river from ferries such as Yanjin, Liyang, and Juan County, and only lost a small part, which did not cause much damage.

On the second day, Yuan Shao also learned the news that the grain truck was attacked, and in the main general's tent, Yuan Shao looked at the official document and said to the people under his command: "The trial and distribution mobilized a new wave of grain and grass, which was destroyed by the Cao army when it was transported to the front line, and there is a large amount of grain and grass in the follow-up, and the grain road must not be cut off, Chun Yuqiong." ”

"The end will be."

Chun Yuqiong stood up and arched his hand and said.

Yuan Shao said: "I ordered you to lead an army of 10,000 to the north to escort the grain truck, and first put the grain and grass in Wuchao." ”

"Yui!"

Chun Yuqiong took the order and left.

On the side, he hurriedly persuaded: "Duke Ming, you can send Jiang Qi to lead an additional group of men and horses outside Chun Yuqiong to prevent Cao Cao from sneaking up." ”

"No."

Chun Yuqiong hadn't gone far yet, and when she heard this, she hurriedly said: "The last general will be able to protect the grain and grass thoroughly." ”

"yes, okay."

Yuan Shao nodded: "Go ahead." ”

"Obey."

Chun Yuqiong left happily.

At this time, Xu You stood up again and said: "At the beginning, Cao Cao had few soldiers, and concentrated all his strength to resist our army, Xu Du was guarded by the rest of the people, guarding against emptiness, if you send a team to advance lightly and attack overnight, you can capture Xu Du." After occupying Xudu, he welcomed the Son of Heaven to crusade against Cao Cao, and he would definitely be able to capture Cao Cao. If he hadn't broken up at once, he would have been able to defeat him if he had been exhausted and exhausted. ”

"Hahaha."

Yuan Shao laughed conceitedly and said: "Ziyuan, have you forgotten that Cao Cao is just a fool after the eunuch." Back then, he was like a servant who followed me, but he was also worthy of competing with me in the north? Now that Xu Du has sent countless letters to me, I know that there is not much grain and grass in his army, and then I will send someone to cut off his grain route, and in less than a month, I will be able to capture Cao Cao and humiliate him in front of him, so why should I divide my troops to attack Xu Du? ”

Xu You thought about it, and said with a smile: "What I said at the beginning is very true, Cao Cao and we were friends when we were young, and if he is captured by him one day, when we meet again, it must be extremely interesting." ”

"It's nature."

Yuan Shao nodded proudly and said, "Send the order to send cavalry south to plunder Cao Cao's grain road." ”

"Yui."

The soldiers agreed.

The entire Guandu seemed to have been surrounded by Yuan's army at this time.

Yuan Shao's earth mountains and barracks were almost repaired to the gate of Cao's military camp, and the banner covering the sky and the sun seemed to have no end in sight.

There are 80,000 elites under his command, and there are more than 20 or 30 generals above the captain level, among which Gao Lan, Zhang Hechun, Yu Qiong and others are the main generals, and they densely set up a formation outside the Cao army camp to besiege the Cao camp.

At the same time, a large number of cavalry and foot soldiers went south, invading the cities of Weishi and Yuanling, and even reached the area of Yanling, constantly plundering Cao Cao's grain road and harassing the rear cities.

In addition, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yanzhou were all disturbed by small units of Yuan's army, and the entire land of Henan was in flames.

Xu Du has three princes and nine kings, and the letters sent to Yuan Shao's camp are as many as snowflakes, piled up like mountains.

If it weren't for the Yingchuan clan led by the Xun clan to gather private soldiers and try to maintain order in Xudu, I am afraid that the clans in other places would have rebelled in the rear and caught fire in the backyard.

The Battle of Guandu was not only a war between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but also a dispute between the Yingchuan family and other foreign families.

The Xun family, the Guo family, the Chen family, the Zhong family, the Yu family, the Han family, and the large and small Yingchuan Haoqiang all supported Cao Cao, so Cao Cao moved the national capital to Xudu, bringing great political benefits to the Yingchuan family.

But the foreign family naturally does not allow the Yingchuan family to dominate, for them, there is no difference between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and there are many Yuan protégés and former officials, climbing the high branches of the Yuan family, which is more beneficial to the family, so they are more willing to stand on the side of Yuan Shao.

It's just that the foreign families don't have enough roots in Yingchuan, their property, fields, and population are all elsewhere, and they don't have local advantages over the Yingchuan family, so most of the rebellions like this have been suppressed and have not caused too many waves.

But even so, it also dealt a great blow to Cao Cao's rule, and the foundation was turbulent, like a lonely boat in the sea, stormy, and could capsize at any time.

By mid-September, the situation was even more unfavorable for Cao Cao. It is the late autumn season, the autumn wind kills, and everything withers.

Yuan's prestige is extremely high, the mighty army is like a huge net into the river, the Henan region seems to be wiped out by him, the two sides from July Yuan Shaobing into Guandu, to September stalemate for more than two months and 60 days, resulting in the people withering, the people's livelihood is difficult, from Henan to the north to Hebei people are countless.

The wolf smoke is in flames, and the war is endless. A large number of people from Yingchuan, Chenliu, Chen, Liang, Runan and other places migrated to Nanyang and even Jiangdong because of the fighting between Yuan and Cao's armies in these places, causing the population of Henan to decline sharply again.

These days, in Guangwuyang, Kunyang and other places, Liu Bei and Shen Chen have accepted tens of thousands of people, and groups of people in the north have helped the old and the young, and fled to the south.

In just one month, a large number of people moved south and were resettled in Wancheng, Xi'e, Bowang, Pheasant County, Duyang and other places, and there are still unknown how many refugees are migrating in the rear.

The migration of the people in ancient times was actually an extremely terrifying thing, and it was organized and disciplined like Huangmenting, gathering the grain of the entire clan, and redistributing it to a small number after all.

When most of the people fled, they didn't have time to bring much food, dragged their families with them, and they didn't have much property, and many people starved to death on the way, even if they were big families, there would be losses, diseases, hunger, military disasters, and plagues were destroying people's lives all the time, and people's lives fell like dust.

For this reason, Shen Chen asked the Huangmen Pavilion in the rear to transport a few more batches of the grain accumulated in the past few years, his grain and grass have always been enough, there were six million stone of grain stored before the army, and it has been almost a year since the army was dispatched, and it has only consumed less than 500,000 stone.

Most of them still lack meat, and they have to sell some old grain and exchange it for a large amount of dried pork, beef, and chicken from Xiangyang to send to the front line to supplement the nutrition of the soldiers, which is why it consumes so much.

Otherwise, according to the calculation that he sent 10,000 troops, he would consume less than 300,000 stone grain and grass at most in a year, and it would be more than enough to fight for another 20 years.

Now there are tens of thousands of refugees to be helped, and although there is a surplus of military food in the city, it cannot be replenished with military food all the time, so Shen Chen asked the rear to urgently transport another 500,000 stone to Duyang to settle the people, so that the people can re-establish villages in the north of Nanyang, take root and sprout, and increase the population.

It's just that there are a lot of displaced people, and it's always accompanied by all kinds of things. Most of the people are still extremely simple and kind, but when queuing, it is inevitable that it will be messy, it happens that Zhang Fei is in charge on this day, seeing that everyone is not in good order, close to robbing, and raised the horsewhip in anger.

On September 21, outside the city of Kunyang, starting from last month, Liu Bei and Shen Chen ordered the soldiers to open porridge shops to help the people, and asked the officials in Bowang, Duyang and other places in the rear to recruit people to build homes for the fleeing people.

Zhang Fei and Gan Ning are like-minded, both of them are indifferent, too lazy to care about the lives of refugees, either hunting in the mountains all day long, or leading the cavalry north to reconnoiter in the name of guarding against Cao's army.

On weekdays, these things are Liu Bei and Shen Chen, Guan Yu, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, Sun Qian and others are busy, but today everyone happens to have something to do, because not only Kunyang, Wuyang Ye County is dealing with the affairs of the displaced people, and the work of relocating the displaced people in the rear must also continue, so Kunyang is short of manpower, so let Zhang Fei take care of it for a day.

Unexpectedly, he has never been very in charge of things, and when others are busy, they are in order, but when he is there, he knows that he is drinking on the side, and the soldiers in the city have not come out to maintain order, and they need to guard against the Cao army that may come.

Therefore, the personnel in charge of distributing food at that time were all temporarily recruited from the refugees, and some of them were military logistics clerks and other small officials, which caused chaos on the scene, and the hungry people surrounded the porridge stalls and looted.

"Damn, these pariahs."

Zhang Fei was furious when he heard this, and rushed over with dozens of guards, raising his horsewhip and whipping indiscriminately.

But the hungry people were in a mess, some had been hungry for days, and the queue did not know when it would be their turn, so they were hungry and went crazy to snatch it, and now they were beaten again, and they did not care about the pain, and even the food that had been spilled on the ground had to be licked clean.

At this time, Liu Bei happened to come back with Shen Chen Guan Yu from the situation of the displaced people who had been settled in Wuyang, seeing this situation, Liu Bei said angrily: "Yide, stop!" ”

Seeing Liu Bei coming back, the surrounding soldiers also hurriedly went up to stop Zhang Fei, who was still scolding.

The surrounding people saw that Liu Bei was still with a group of troops, and their faces suddenly showed a look of fear, and they didn't dare to line up anymore, dragging their families and standing far away, the danger of the army to them in the troubled times had hurt them deep enough, making them instinctively fearful.

"Yide, what are you doing?"

Liu Bei rushed over, snatched Zhang Fei's horsewhip, pushed him, glared at him angrily, and said: "We are the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, but we are here to save the people of Li, and we are not cruel, but you beat the people, do you want to trap me in injustice?" ”

Zhang Fei defended: "Big brother, how can I want to trap my brother in injustice. But these people let them line up to receive it, but they robbed one by one, how different from the mob? If you don't whip it, I'm afraid that what you are robbing is porridge now, and the food in the city will be emptied by them later. ”

Looting?

Liu Bei frowned.

It's one thing to give to the people.

But the people looted, and it was a mob.

Not to mention Liu Bei, a benevolent and righteous person, is not a virgin.

Even Our Lady doesn't want to be robbed of all her food.

Therefore, he also changed color, looked at the people who were beaten, and asked sternly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I gave you food for the sake of morality, and I also placed land for you in Nanyang, so that you and others can have a home to cultivate the land, why do you want to rob the grain?" ”

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy who had been beaten and bleeding and had thin yellow muscles knelt on his knees and kowtowed and cried: "General, we also know that the general is benevolent and righteous, but we have been hungry for several days, and we are all about to starve to death."

"Winged?"

Liu Bei was furious, turned to look at Zhang Fei and said, "Didn't I ask you to give food to those who need it the most?" Why can't they get it first? ”

"Amount"

Zhang Fei is resigned, looking left and right.

As soon as Liu Bei saw him like this, he knew that he had made a mistake again, so angry that he raised his horsewhip and wanted to smoke it, but Zhang Fei dodged his eyes and lowered his head and didn't dare to hide.

Seeing this situation, Liu Bei couldn't bear it, so he threw away the horsewhip, his mood was already very bad, and he hated iron and said: "Yide, you mistook me again!" ”

"Brother me"

Zhang Fei showed a look of shame.

He can ignore the people and soldiers, but he can't ignore his brotherhood with Liu Bei and Guan Yu.

At this time, Shen Chen had already arranged for Sun Qian and others to reorganize the disaster victims to line up, let the hungry people eat first, and then let people bandage the wounds of the hungry people who Zhang Fei beat and bring them porridge and food.

After things were in order, he came over and said solemnly: "General Zhang, I know that you don't love the people and don't care for your subordinates. But when you were in Xuzhou, you had already missed the Xuande Gong event because of these, is it going to be repeated today? ”

"Me"

Zhang Fei lowered his head and was reprimanded so much that he didn't dare to make a sound.

Shen Chen said again: "All the people and soldiers are willing to come to join because they trust Xuande Gong, but you treat him roughly, doesn't it embarrass Xuande Gong?" At that time, everyone will be separated from morality, who will come to serve Xuande Gong again, and support the Han family with the Gong? ”

Zhang Fei's face was red and speechless.

Shen Chen continued: "Your matter, if it is small, it is cruel, and if it is big, it is to hinder Xuande's benevolence and righteousness, and to uphold righteousness in the world. In the long run, the reputation of Xuande Gong and the great cause of saving the Han family will be destroyed by you! ”

This is moral kidnapping.

Zhang Fei had a rough temper, he didn't use his brain in the early days, and was killed by his subordinates because of this incident in his later years. Now wake him up as soon as possible, and kidnap him with the righteousness of Liu Bei and his brothers, which will save his life in the future.

"Ah Chen."

Seeing that Shen Chen trained Zhang Fei like his grandson, Gan Ning, who has been a good brother with Zhang Fei these days, said: "The matter is not so serious, we are now relieving the victims, but there are countless victims in the world, how much can Xuande Gong save?" Now that the victims are looting, Yide has no choice but to do it, and no one will feel that Xuande is unkind because of this. ”

"No!"

Shen Chen's voice was raised countless times, he looked around, walked in front of the hungry people who had been injured by Zhang Fei and had just been bandaged and were devouring, pointed at them and said: "They will feel that Xuande Gong is not benevolent and righteous, obviously Xuande Gong and I promised to give them food, but they almost starved to death in a long line, and they were beaten for no reason, is this a matter of benevolence and righteousness?" ”

The hungry people were startled, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "We all know the name of Uncle Liu Huang's benevolence and righteousness, and we don't have such a heart." ”

"I know you don't have the heart."

Shen Chen said, "But is this the way to help the world?" If you want to help the world, you must be generous, how can you be whipped with a whip? When this matter spreads, what will the world think of Uncle Huang? ”

As he spoke, his voice was getting louder and louder, and the people around him, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others all looked at him.

"The people of the world are all born because of the hardships of the princes everywhere to compete for hegemony, if we don't love it, who else will love it? Today, if you fight the hungry people, the world will feel that Xuande Gong is not benevolent and righteous. Tomorrow, if General Zhang makes some more mistakes, no one will follow Uncle Huang to establish a great cause, and the country of the Han Dynasty will collapse. ”

Shen Chen gave a passionate speech, and the voice spread, and hundreds of people slowly gathered.

He simply stood on the board of a carriage used to store corn next to him, looked down at the crowd and said loudly: "So that you know that Uncle Liu Huang is not only for the Han Dynasty, but also for the people of the Han Dynasty." Although I am not talented, I am willing to pour food and grass to save it. But if you want to win the hearts and minds of the people, how can you not treat the people with sincerity? Today's incident is our negligence, and I apologize to everyone! ”

Let's talk about it.

He stooped down and saluted to all the peoples.

Liu Bei was also moved, jumped into the carriage, and said to everyone: "It's me who didn't discipline my brother, and I also apologize to everyone!" ”

It didn't matter if Shen Chen bowed and saluted, Liu Bei bowed and saluted, which scared hundreds of people.

The surrounding people suddenly fell to their knees and shouted: "Please don't blame Uncle Huang, it's me who was rude and rushed into the porridge shop to rob, and I will never do this in the future." ”

"Everyone, please get up."

Liu Bei hurriedly got out of the carriage to help many people.

Zhang Fei blamed himself for being embarrassed, and Guan Yu urged him to go up and apologize, and he sincerely apologized to the hungry people who were injured by him.

For a time, many people praised Liu Bei and Shen Chen's benevolence.

You must know that although Shen Chen was famous in Jingzhou, his fame at that time was spread from north to south, and few spread from south to north.

Except for a few examples like Gan Ning, most of them are like Zhang Liaozhi's children's cry, Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, and Guan Zhang's courage of ten thousand enemies, all of which are their fame in the north, rather than spreading in the south.

The reason why Liu Bei went to Nanyang to get Liu Biao's courtesy and was supported by all the people was because of the fame foundation he laid in Pingyuan, Xuzhou, Yuzhou and other places.

Therefore, Shen Chen's fame in Jingzhou could not spread to the north at all.

Even if he fought Xu Du twice, it was only in Yingchuan and Runan that the people knew that there was such a powerful general in Nanyang who hit outside the city of Xu Du.

But his talents, poems, and achievements in the art of war, the northerners know very little.

Even north of the Yellow River, few people know his name.

But after today, the people who fled in the north praised each other, and the reputation of being anxious for justice and righteousness naturally spread.

What's more.

Shen Chen not only spread his fame, but also taught Zhang Fei a lesson, so that he would not dare to easily beat the soldiers and people in the future, coupled with the support of Liu Bei and Guan Yu, this also laid the foundation for him to command Liu Bei's military horses in the future.

(End of chapter)