On October 25, Shen Chen went south to occupy Yanling.

In this way, Guan Yu of Yulin Pavilion and Liu Bei of Wangtian Pavilion, plus he was in Yanling, showed a situation of encirclement of Xudu.

The Cao army around Xudu was also intertwined with them, with Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong around Yulin Pavilion, and Li Dian and Han Hao around Wangtian Pavilion, and the two sides formed a confrontation.

The fire burned for a day and a night, and the surrounding square kilometers of land turned into scorched earth and dust, which could be seen even from a distance of more than ten miles.

Soon, Xu Du, who traveled to and from Weichuan, and the messengers on the front line of Guandu discovered this situation, and hurriedly turned back to report to Xun Yu and Cao Cao respectively.

Xun Yu was shocked that night, this time was no longer something he could face alone, and hurriedly sent someone to Guandu to inform Cao Cao of the current predicament faced by Xu Du.

At the same time, he also contacted the powerful families in the city, hoping to make up private troops to stop Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army.

By the 26th, the news of Shen Chen's third army coming to Xudu had already spread all over the streets and alleys, and there were rumors and gossip everywhere.

This kind of thing can't be hidden, and the news is already full of wind and rain.

In the city of Xudu, the city wall is still not built, Cao Cao is still fighting on the front line, and there is not so much money and population to repair the city in the rear, so the planning of the entire city is a bit like Luoyang.

Luoyang has a city wall, but the city wall is the imperial palace and the inner city, mainly inhabited by the emperor and the ministers, and the outer city is not protected by the city wall, and is inhabited by the people.

The streets are criss-crossed, the houses are lined up one after another, the outer city in the south of the city is more than five times the size of the inner city, and as far as the eye can see, there are continuous shops, large and small signboards are hung all over the market.

Even in times of war, due to the capital of a country, coupled with a large number of ministers and officials, families and powerful families gathered, it also attracted hundreds of people.

It's like during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, people everywhere in the world will instinctively run to Luoyang, causing Luoyang's population to exceed 2 million.

Although the current Xudu did not have the grand occasion of Luoyang with a population of more than one million during the Zhongping period of Emperor Ling, it already had a population of two or three hundred thousand, and more than 100,000 people lived in the outer city.

Some of these people were slaves brought by wealthy families, some were ordinary people who served these people, and a large number of merchants engaged in commerce and handicrafts, which together led to the short-lived commercial prosperity of Xudu in the late Han Dynasty.

In a tavern on the cross street, there is a little surplus of money, and some businessmen who can afford to drink wine, middle and lower-level officials, and the middle class composed of small families are drinking.

Recently, martial law has actually been imposed in the city, and people are not allowed to move around at will, but due to the shortage of materials, if they don't go to the street to buy food, they will starve to death, so Xun Yu still stipulates that people can go to the street during some special periods.

Taking advantage of this time, everyone gathered in the tavern to relieve their addiction, and now there is a shortage of food everywhere, and the imperial court does not allow the use of grain to make wine, so it can only be purchased from the land of Jingzhou, so the price is expensive, and it can only be bought bowl by bowl.

The people at the bottom can't get enough to eat, and these middle-class people don't have a good time. Everyone gathered in the tavern, and the previous casual booze had become a small sip, and they didn't dare to buy the most expensive spirits in Nanyang now, but only dared to buy some rice wine and millet wine, and tasted it carefully.

"Did you hear that?"

The people in the tavern were not loud, because from time to time there were Cao Jun in black armor passing by in neat steps on the street outside the door, so they could only whisper to their friends at their own tables.

Among them, there is a table with the largest number of people, more than a dozen people gathered together, and it is the bureau of several family children's groups, and unlike the people, they are the most well-informed.

Many people don't even know about Liu Beijun's arrival in Fenqiu now, and only vaguely hear that Nanyang's army has arrived in Yucheng.

And most of the children of these families already know that Liu Beijun has passed to Fenqiu, arrived in Yulin and Wangtian, and now the news of the court is tightly hidden, and other circumstances are not known.

There were a few children of middle-level officials in the Xudu Imperial Court, and one of them was the son of Rong Shao, who was not a big celebrity in history, but his official position was very important, and he was Xun Yu's deputy.

Rong Shao's son is named Rong Bin, and he mysteriously said to many friends: "That Shen Chen is here again. ”

"You just know?"

Someone pouted: "I knew yesterday that General Zuo is now in Yulin." ”

Rong Bin said: "It's not this, this morning I vaguely heard my father discussing with friends in the hall, saying that Shen Chen had arrived in Yanling. ”

"What?"

Everyone was amazed and said, "How is that possible? ”

"How could it be?"

Rong Bin said: "I heard it with my own ears. ”

Someone said suspiciously: "It's not that you are listening, or what kind of joke are you talking about, spreading rumors, and your father can't save him." ”

"It's not a joke, and I haven't listened to it."

Rong Bin frowned and said, "What's more, how do you know that this matter can't be faked?" ”

The man hesitated.

He is the youngest son of Guanglu Xun Huandian, Huan Kang, the younger brother of Cao Shuang's think tank Huan Fan, although his father has no real power, but he now happens to be the history of Shangshu Lingshi, Xun Yu every time he writes a letter, as long as he is on duty, the letter must be passed through his hands, and he knows some inside information.

So Huan Kang knew that Xun Yu had transferred Ren Jun to Yanling.

However, these people also know what news to say and what not to say, it is all circulated in their own small circle, and it is all something that everyone knows, and even if they know confidential things, they will not publicize them in a big way.

So he was hesitant to say it.

Someone said: "Ji Ning, you were on duty two days ago, could it be that there is any news?" ”

"I'm not on duty today, so I don't know what's going on."

Huan Kang smiled bitterly and said: "And there are some words, you also know that you can't just talk nonsense, and the above will blame." ”

"It's all my own people, in private"

A few friends are persuading.

Someone suddenly said at the next table: "Do you know about the fire yesterday?" ”

"What fire?"

"The fire in Weichuan, I just came back from Yanling last night, and I saw a fire in the direction of Weichuan in the north."

"Really, fake."

The people at the table were all muttering quietly.

But Huan Kang was already shocked, turned around and found the man, walked over and grabbed him, and said, "When did it happen?" ”

The man was startled, and saw that the other party was gorgeously dressed and had a copper seal hanging on his waist with an ink ribbon, and knew that he was a petty official under 600 stones, and he couldn't afford to provoke him, so he hurriedly told the matter again.

It turned out that this person was a businessman, running around to sell goods, the recent war, the price of grain was in short supply, there were a large number of tuntian households around Yanling, at that time Cao Cao's exploitation of the tuntian households was not serious, the two sides were five or five to distribute grain, and the people of Tuntian still had a little surplus grain after harvesting.

So this person went to Yanling to buy some grain and returned it to Xu to sell it to make a little difference. Unexpectedly, on the way back yesterday, I saw a monstrous fire in the distance, and the flames in the sky almost stained the entire sky.

Mountain fires and forest fires in the Han Dynasty were very common, and there were more than 100 recorded fires in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, and there were countless unrecorded ones, and people were accustomed to it.

Although I don't know the cause of the fire, it didn't burn to myself after all, so this businessman should be a conversation after dinner.

At this moment, Huan Kang heard it and got the news, and when he returned to his desk, his whole face was already pale, Rong Bin and the others were surprised, and asked, "Ji Ning, what happened?" ”

Huan Kang said in a deep voice: "It seems that the news that Jun Qian said is true. I was on duty the day before yesterday, and Ling Jun wrote a letter to General Ren to transfer Xu Du, yesterday there was a fire in Weichuan, and there was news that Shen Chen had arrived in Yanling, I am afraid that General Ren has been wiped out by the whole army, then Shen Chen, three Lin Xu Du! ”

The crowd opened their mouths wide and were already at a loss.

．

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On October 27, Guandu front.

Cao Cao didn't know the news yet, because Xu Du was nearly a hundred kilometers away from Guandu, and even fast horses had to be resupplied halfway.

Previously, the communication between Xu Du and Guandu was Xu Du - Yan Ling - Wei Shi - Guandu.

You can change horses and people on the way, and you can pass the book in one day.

But as I said before, a horse can only run at full speed for a few minutes, and even if you rest your horsepower, you have to run for a while and rest for a while. And you have to bring a lot of legume fine feed to feed, to be sustainable.

But now that the Wei defenders have been completely annihilated, and Shen Chen has occupied Yanling, there is no supply point on the way, so even if he rides a horse, he can't report to Guandu in the first place.

This led to Cao Cao not knowing about Ren Jun's accident until now.

He was proud of the spring breeze at this time.

Because Yuan's army surrendered.

Early this morning, Zhang He Gao saw that the grain and grass were about to run out, and Yuan Shao asked for the guilt, and in a hurry, he sent someone to write a letter to Cao Cao, hoping to accept their surrender.

Knowing this, Cao Cao immediately agreed, and then the two led the people from the headquarters to vote.

When they arrived, Cao Cao immediately led his elite troops to attack Yuan Shao's camp.

When the news reached Yuan Ying, Yuan's army was caught off guard, and it was in chaos in an instant, and it collapsed all at once.

Cao's army took advantage of the situation to attack several camps, and everywhere they went, Yuan's army surrendered one after another, with 80,000 elites, and almost no one resisted.

Only Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan fled alone in a hurry, and ran back to Hebei in a panic.

By the evening, Cao Cao had already captured all the Yuan troops, and the momentum of the entire Guandu Cao army had reached its peak, and his smile did not stop.

"Hahahaha."

Cao Cao stood on top of the earthen hill south of Cao's camp, and saw his soldiers in the distance escorting all the captured Yuan troops to his camp, with a smile on his face and a sense of pride.

This battle wiped out a large number of Yuan Shao's living forces, and the previous haze was swept away, which was indeed a proud thing for Cao Cao.

And when he was happy, the quartermaster hurriedly came to report and said to Cao Cao: "Report, Sikong." ”

"What's the matter?"

Cao Cao asked.

The quartermaster said: "There is not much food and grass in the army, and now there are 80,000 more, and the grain and grass are not enough for one meal." ”

"Huh?"

Cao Cao frowned.

Yuan Shao's grain storage was burned in Wuchao, but his grain and grass really couldn't stand it.

Now there are 80,000 more mouths, and I can't eat a single meal with that little bit of food.

The most important thing is that these Yuan soldiers are all from Hebei, and even if they surrender to him, their loyalty may not be too high.

So Cao Cao thought for a moment, and a touch of murderous intent flashed in his eyes: "Fengxiao." ”

"Ka Zai."

Guo Jia stood behind him like a ghost in the shadows.

"Let people dig holes and kill all the captives."

Cao Cao said lightly.

"Yui."

Guo Jia gave orders to Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Xu Chu and others.

After a while, he came back and said, "Ming Gong, I have already told the soldiers." ”

"Okay."

Cao Cao grinned: "Lone defeated Yuan Shao today, sweeping Hebei, just around the corner, hahahahaha!" ”

"Report! Xu is in danger! ”

At this moment, the messenger came on horseback, arrived at the foot of the earth mountain, knelt down on one knee and said: "Shen Chen ambushed and killed General Ren, and the army surrounded Xu Du!" ”

Cao Cao's smile suddenly froze, and the air around him seemed to freeze.

(End of chapter)