On October 7, Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army set up camp and headed for Xiangcheng.

There were a small number of Cao army scouts in Xiangcheng, and when they learned the news, Pegasus reported it.

In the afternoon, Xiahou Yuan, who was stationed in Yingyin, and Cao Hong, who was stationed in Linying, learned about it.

They also immediately reported the news to Xun Yu.

In the city of Xudu, Shang Shuling's mansion, Xun Yu looked at the official document in his hand and fell into deep thought.

There was also Situ Peng Chen Qun sitting on the side.

After Chen Qun left Liu Bei, he took refuge in Xuzhou with his father, and later Cao Cao broke Lu Bu, and he traveled to many places in Henan as a county commander.

In June last year, his father Chen Ji died of illness, so he resigned and went home to keep his filial piety.

In the Han Dynasty, the rule of filial piety was generally three years, but due to the uncertain situation, sometimes the emperor would take revenge or Mo Xuan from Rong, and change the filial piety to 36 days.

And the era of war is especially many, the style of filial piety in the late Han Dynasty is relatively popular, but Cao Cao did not give his father much filial piety, Chen Qun only kept filial piety for Chen Ji for a year, and now Cao Cao has been recruited as Situ Peng.

Seeing Xun Yu frowning at the official document at this moment, Chen Qun asked curiously, "Ling Jun, what happened?" ”

"Ugh."

Xun Yu sighed and said, "Shen Chen is here again, he and General Zuo Liu Bei have joined forces to Xiangcheng. ”

Chen Qun said: "Uncle Huang is also here? What is their troop? ”

"There are more than 10,000 people."

Xun Yu groaned: "Shen Chen is used to the trick of attacking the east and the west, I am afraid that he will enter Fenqiu again, and then make a detour to Yanqiang or Yanling Kou." ”

Chen Qun smiled: "Ling Jun, this is not simple? The art of war is real and false, but no matter how many suspicious soldiers he is, I will not move, does he really dare to travel long distances, and he will not succeed in attacking Xu without food and grass? ”

The routine can be repeated repeatedly, everyone is not stupid, Cao Hong didn't want to fall for that sound at the beginning, but Xu Du was the top priority, and there was really no way, so he was defeated by Shen Chen when he was already very cautious.

Now that Cao Cao has burned Yuan Shao's grain and grass in Guandu, which has greatly boosted their Cao Cao forces in the rear, they only need to hold on for a while longer, and when Cao Cao's main force returns to help, Shen Chen and they will naturally retreat.

Therefore, for the defenders of Xudu, as long as it is not the most urgent thing such as the destruction of Xudu's city, then they can ignore it and stick to it, so that they can go to victory!

Xun Yu nodded: "What you say is reasonable, I also think so, there are General Li and General Han camps outside the city, Linying and Yingyin can be reached in just one day, if he divides the army, it will be a dead end." It's just that this man is like a god, and I'm afraid he has other plans. ”

Chen Qun shrugged: "What can he do, he can't go north to Guandu." ”

"Hahahaha."

Xun Yu laughed and said, "It would be good if he really went to Guandu, but it's a pity that Shen Chen won't be so stupid." However, this matter could not be reported to Cao Gong, Yuan Shao's grain and grass were destroyed, either he made a desperate bet and stormed Cao Gong's camp, or he withdrew his troops back to the north, Cao Gong would inevitably pursue, no matter what, he would not be distracted. ”

"I know."

Chen Qun nodded, now the situation is not so critical, reporting to Cao Cao is to add to the blockage, it is better to hide the news and face it alone.

A few days later, on October 11, Shen Chen's army began to march into Fenqiu.

Fenqiu is located on the south bank of Yingshui, to the north is located on the east bank of Yingyin is only 20 kilometers away, to the southeast is located on the east bank of Yingshui Linying is also less than 20 kilometers, and after Weishui, the Xudu in the middle of the two cities is only 40 kilometers away.

It can be said that Fenqiu-Yingyin-Xudu-Linying-Fenqiu actually built an irregular diamond shape, and the distance between the two sides was very close, and they could even cross the water directly to Xudu.

It's just that Cao's army is stationed in two places, and he has arranged troops and horses on the periphery of Xudu, and once it penetrates through the middle, it will be besieged from all sides, so Shen Chen did not rush in.

On October 16, Xu Du got the news again that Shen Chen and Liu Beijun had appeared north of Miqiang, and they were attacking north.

These arrangements were all expected by Xun Yu and Chen Qun, so they only prepared Li Dian and Han Hao, who were guarding the perimeter of Xudu, to be attacked, and at the same time asked Cao Hong to keep a close eye on this army, and once they showed signs of going straight to Xudu, they would immediately come to intercept it.

However, the strong army and horses went north to the Pingning Pavilion on the south bank of the water and stopped, here is about more than ten kilometers away from Linying, and less than thirty kilometers away from Fenqiu.

Cao Hong got the news and immediately defended the city, although he was relatively safe in the city, but the defenders in the city were only more than 3,000 people, and the troops were not much, if they were suddenly attacked by tens of thousands of troops, I am afraid they would not be able to resist.

Therefore, he was doubly careful.

The two sides have been at peace with each other in this way, and when Shen Chen and Liu Bei went north, the Yuan army on the front line of Guandu was exhausted, and the fierce attack in the past few days had already made the remaining grain and grass of the Yuan army less than ten days to consume, and Zhang He and Gao Ran were still attacking.

But Cao Cao is like a stubborn rock in the sea, let the waves wash you, even if it is a storm and a constant attack, he still does not move, and does not show any flaws.

Yuan Shao, who was still in high spirits a few days ago and planned to capture Cao Cao alive, was about to go crazy, and was so angry that he almost fell ill, and issued an order that if Cao's camp was not broken within ten days, he would let Zhang He Gaolan come to see him, and for a while the two were frightened and had to continue to attack.

At this moment, in the Cao army camp, although the Yuan army is constantly offensive, because the morale of the army has dropped significantly, the degree is far less than the horror when Yuan Shao personally marched in the first few days, and even Cao Cao rarely has a little spare time.

He stood on top of a dirt mountain, overlooking the flawed attack of the Yuan army in the distance, and smiled contemptuously, if it weren't for his own small number of soldiers, looking at the posture of the Yuan army, he would have wanted to personally lead the troops out of the camp for a decisive battle.

At this moment, Guo Jia came to the top of the earth mountain and bowed his hand to him: "Ming Gong." ”

"Bonghyo is here."

Cao Cao stroked his beard and smiled: "Look at the Yuan army outside the camp, the offensive is extremely tired, and there is not much food and grass in the army, and in a few days, they will collapse on their own." ”

Guo Jia smiled and flattered: "This is nature, Ming Gong is wise and martial, and he has his own heavenly blessing." Yuan Shao was stubborn for his own use, and it was only a matter of time before he was defeated. ”

In later generations, if you say that the success of someone else depends on God's blessing, that person will definitely be angry, because this negates his personal efforts.

However, in the Han Dynasty, there was a so-called theory of the number of days, and success or failure had its own heavenly theory. And this will add an extremely mysterious destiny color to the individual, so Cao Cao is not only angry, but also very happy.

He laughed and said: "This is natural, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu and the like, but the dry bones in the tomb are also worthy of vainly claiming the number of days?" Destiny belongs to me, and I can prosper the Han! ”

Guo Jia said: "Although this is the case, don't be careless, don't forget that there are still people in Kunyang who are eyeing us behind." ”

"Shen Chen and Liu Bei?"

Cao Cao frowned and said: "Recently, in the official documents of Xu Du, I haven't seen any mention of it. ”

Guo Jia smiled bitterly: "It is precisely because of this that I want to talk to Ming Gong." I also read those official documents, in the past, Ling Jun would write to inform Cao Gong of the movements of Kunyang, but the recent official documents did not mention it at all. ”

"Wen Ruo is hiding something!"

Cao Cao was suddenly shocked, Guo Jia did remind him that no matter what happened in the past, Xun Yu would tell him in the official document that there was no movement in Kunyang, and asked Cao Ren to be careful.

But now he didn't even say these words, it was obvious that Xun Yu had secretly concealed something, maybe Shen Chen and Liu Bei had already begun to attack Xu Du.

Guo Jia said: "Ling Jun is also afraid that Ming Gong will worry, maybe the rear is not too dangerous at this time, so he did not report it. Ran Jia thought that Shen Chen was used to being unexpected, unpredictable, and had the style of Sun Wu, I was afraid that if Xu was in danger, Ling Jun would want to report it again, and we would send reinforcements, I am afraid it would be too late. ”

Cao Cao groaned, "What do you mean? ”

Guo Jia said: "Someone should be sent to Xudu to see the situation." Ren Junshang stationed troops in the Wei clan, because of the rapid offensive of the Yuan army, he did not dare to transport grain and grass to Guandu. If the situation is critical, he can be sent to the rescue. ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded: "Yes, this is the old opinion, so I will follow what Feng Xiao said." ”

At that moment, Cao Cao asked people to ride a horse from the direction where Yuan's army did not attack to go south to the Wei clan, and ordered Ren Jun to immediately send people to Xu Capital to check the situation.

In fact, Guo Jia's worries and strategies are correct, but the art of war used by Shen Chen is not the ancient art of war, but the art of war of the great men of later generations.

Therefore, he would never have thought that Shen Chen's purpose was not to break into Xu Capital at all and welcome away Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty, but to gain time for the future pattern of the world.

By the time of October 18, Ren Jun had already detected the news, and at this time, Shen Chen and Liu Bei each led thousands of soldiers and horses, hoarding in Fenqiu and Liqiang counties, and were in a confrontation stage with Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian, Han Hao and others.

After getting the news, Ren Jun did not leave easily, but sent someone to Xu Du to ask Xun Yu, asking him if he needed to lead his troops south and return to the periphery of Xu Du?

Xun Yu's reply to him was to act at the opportune moment, not to be reckless, and to come to the rescue when the situation was critical.

So Ren Jun continued to stand still.

In fact, he did not have too many soldiers and horses at this time, the last battle of Bali Bridge, he lost a large number of soldiers and horses, last month for Cao Cao to transport grain and grass, Yuan army continued to attack, and he lost a lot.

So that Ren Jun's troops are now no more than 4,000 people, compared with the earliest tens of thousands of peasant troops, his strength has lost too much.

On October 21, Liu Bei sent people to find Yuan Shao to inquire about the situation.

Since Liu Bei was sent by Yuan Shao to Cao Cao's rear to cause sabotage, it was reasonable for Liu Bei to send someone to find Yuan Shao after the Wuchao incident, and by the way, it was also to investigate the details of Yuan's army and wait and see the situation of Cao's army.

The envoy was none other than Sun Qian.

After Sun Qian came back, he told him that although he didn't know how much grain Yuan Shao still had, the soldiers of Yuan's army were all depressed, and their morale had fallen to the bottom, and they might not be able to support it for long.

After getting the news, Shen Chen immediately consulted with Liu Bei and acted according to the plan.

In addition to the main force of more than 9,000 people, their army also has a part of the people, that is, the three or four thousand defeated soldiers of the old Yuan clan, plus more than 1,000 people of Zhou Cang Pei Yuanshao, there are almost 5,000 troops.

These people can't fight, but they don't need to fight, just let them be stationed in Fenqiu and pretend to be part of the main force of Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army.

And Pingning Pavilion is the real main force of Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army, a total of 9,000 troops, on October 23, suddenly went north, to the area of Wangtian Pavilion, less than 20 kilometers away from Xudu.

The west of this place is Linying, due north is Xudu, the five thousand people and horses of Fenqiu, also suddenly crossed the river, under the leadership of Guan Yu, arrived at Yulin Pavilion, the north of this place is Yingyin, due south is Linying, and the soldiers and horses of Wangtian Pavilion gather more than ten kilometers, and are also less than 20 kilometers away from Xudu.

At the same time, the main force of Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army divided their troops again, with 3,000 people going north to Woting, and Han Hao had more than 2,000 people stationed here, and the two sides fell into a standoff.

For a while, Xu was shocked.

However, no one expected that Shen Chen led 3,000 soldiers and horses, and took Zhang Fei Ganning with him, and when he was in Pingning Pavilion, he had already gone west.

So at that time, Liu Beijun only had 6,000 people, and the Yulin Pavilion was a rabble led by Guan Yu, and the real most elite 3,000 soldiers went west to Chenting, day and night, and traveled dozens of miles overnight, going north to the Weichuan Pavilion in the north of Yanling.

This is the only way for Ren Jun to go south from the Wei clan.

Seeing that Shen Chen and Liu Bei's coalition army of tens of thousands of people surrounded Xudu, on October 24, Ren Jun did not hesitate to gather troops and horses and prepare to support Xudu in the south!

(End of chapter)