……

Outside the city of Xiapi, the camp of the Cao army.

On the temporarily arranged mourning hall, Xiahoudun was wrapped in a white cloth and lay quietly on the door panel.

Next to him, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were lying straight and motionless wrapped in white cloths.

The generals knelt on the ground with a sad look and cried, among which the generals cried the loudest, followed by Xiahou Yuan and Liu Bei again.

Liu Bei was very sad.

In the first battle of Xiapi, the second brother and the third brother were killed, which made him feel that the sky had fallen. The relationship between him and Guan Zhang... Not a biological brother, but more like a biological brother!

Xiahou Yuan was even more sad.

Because Xiahoudun is his own brother. As Liu Bei said when he lost Xuzhou in the past: Brothers are like siblings, women are like clothes, clothes are torn, they can still be sewn, hands and feet are broken, and Anke continues?

So he cried a lot.

But it was still the generals who cried louder, and there was a faint momentum of dominating the guests.

Xiahoudun's death made it difficult for them to let go, and they suddenly felt sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox.

Although Xiahoudun only has one eye, he is not very good at fighting, and he will lose every battle, but he is brave, he is not afraid of death in battle, and he is also bold, righteous and squandering money. The generals are with him, and as long as they win the battle, they will definitely get the greatest share of the credit, because Xiahoudun can't fight;

In the same way, if you lose a battle, you will never have to worry about being punished by the lord, because everyone knows that Xiahoudun can't fight, and it must be Xiahoudun's problem if he loses.

Xiahoudun himself knows this, coupled with his righteous personality, so after every defeat, he will take all the blame on himself.

In this way, the generals who are in the team with Xiahoudun will only be promoted and make a fortune, and will never bear any responsibility for their mistakes.

Therefore, Xiahoudun was very popular in Cao's camp, and all the generals rushed to partner with him.

But now, such a good partner, two... Both eyes were closed.

How can this not be so sad!!

The generals beat their chests and cried non-stop.

"Brother Yuanrang, God is jealous of talents!"

"My heart aches for the loss of my best friend Yuan Rang! It hurts!! ”

"Brother Yuanrang, wake up~wake up~!!"

“……”

……

"Lord, lord..."

Cao Cao stood outside the shed, looking up at the sky, trying to keep his eyes wide so that tears did not roll out of his sockets.

Xiahoudun is not only his brother, but also a loyal subordinate, more loyal than Cao Hong.

Unexpectedly, just participated in a battle that won the battle, and Xiahoudun was gone.

War is impermanent, and generals will inevitably die in battle...!

Cao Cao sighed, looked down, and found that it was the grain and grass official Wang Gao calling him, who rubbed his hands and stopped talking with a look of desire.

Cao Cao nodded, raised his feet and walked towards the tent of the commander of the Chinese army, and Wang Yuan followed behind.

On the way, Cao Cao pondered the situation in the world.

It is now January of the fourth year of Jian'an (199), and according to reliable information, Yuan Shao has besieged Gongsun Chan in Yijing, which is as short as January and February, and as long as March and May, and Gongsun Chan will die.

Once Gongsun Chan is defeated, Yuan Shao will inevitably wave his army to the south, step on the Central Plains, and point his sword at the world.

There is not much time left for him Cao Cao!

One month.

You can stay in Xuzhou for up to a month.

If Lu Bu can't be broken within a month, the army will have to be withdrawn no matter what.

Moreover, in the next month, Cao Jun could no longer have a large-scale battle with Lu Bu, and could only use the word "sleepy" to trap Lu Bu to death. There are so many elites of the Cao army, once the damage here is too great, when Yuan Shaonan Gu, what will he use to resist?

Yuan Shao had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao sighed again.

He originally thought that leading the troops to defeat Lu Bu, who had lost his spirit, was not a piece of cake, and he could capture it?

The battle situation at the beginning was indeed as he expected, the army broke Xiaopei, leveled Pengcheng, and hit the base camp of Xuzhou in one go.

Lu Bu was defeated and retreated, knowing that he was invincible, relying on the high walls of Xiapi City, with sufficient grain and grass, and a strong wall to clear the wilderness.

100,000 Cao troops surrounded Xiapi, intending to fight quickly.

But unexpectedly, four months later, the city walls of Xiapi have collapsed, and Cao's army has killed a total of 40,000 soldiers, but Lu Bu is still strong!

Now, the difficulties in front of the 60,000 Cao troops are not only the cold weather and the freezing people, but also the food and grass that make the soldiers hungry.

It was a cold winter, and Xiapi was thousands of miles away from Yanzhou, so it was extremely difficult to transport grain and grass, and the loss on the way was also large. Moreover, even if the weather is suitable, Yanzhou may not have any surplus food.

The surrounding counties are also in drought, and there is no grain or grass to save the emergency, Pengcheng and Xiaopei, which are closest to Xiapi, have some grain, but if they are sent to the people, the grain will be eaten by the people on the way.

Cao Cao wanted to fight quickly, but the prerequisite for the outbreak of a war was that both sides were willing to fight, and once one side was unwilling, the other side would have to take a lot of trouble if they wanted the overlord to take the bow.

Lu Bu saw the weakness of Cao Jun's weak supply in away battles, and closed his door, intending to spend it until he was old.

In fact, as early as the siege of the city for two months, Cao Jun's food was eaten up.

After that, I kept tightening my belt in a hard brace.

Half a month ago, Cao Cao borrowed 100,000 grains from Sun Ce in the name of Emperor Liu Xie, but it was still not enough, far from enough! If it weren't for the fact that 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers were killed in the later battle with Lianfan, and some grain that was not flooded or burned by fire was looted when breaking through the outer city, Cao's army would have run out of food by now.

The grain and grass official Wang Yuan couldn't bear it anymore, so he had to come to Cao Cao hard.

Inside the tent.

Wang Yuan stood in an orderly manner, and said cautiously: "Lord, the grain and grass can support fifteen days at most..."

Cao Cao glanced at Wang Yuan, groaned slightly, and had a clever plan in his mind, "Change it to Xiao Hu to send food, each soldier eats a little less every day, and when Lu Bu is broken, he will reward the soldiers and reward the three armies!" ”

"Lord, if the soldiers don't have enough to eat, I'm afraid they will make trouble."

Wang Yuan said with an embarrassed face.

The fact that he deducted military rations made his scalp tingle just thinking about it.

Cao Cao waved his hand, "When that time comes, I have my own plan." ”

Wang Yuan opened his mouth, but in the end, he gave up his promise and retreated, and according to Cao Cao's instructions, he distributed it in Xiaohu to reduce the daily rations of the soldiers.

Seven or eight days have passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Cao Cao was not idle, while leading the army to continue to hold on to Lu Bu, he secretly sent people to various camps to listen to the rumors.

The soldiers were really complaining, saying that "Sikong deceived everyone", "this battle cannot be fought", "the head is pinned to the waistband of the trousers, but it can't be exchanged for a bite to eat", and so on.

Depending on the situation, it is estimated that as long as there is a little spark, these soldiers will mutiny.

Cao Cao felt that the situation was serious, so at dusk, he secretly summoned Wang Yuan to meet him.

As soon as Wang Yuan entered the tent, he saw Cao Cao bowing his hand to him.

Wang Gao was suddenly frightened and at a loss, and his words were incoherent.

"Lord... Host... Lord, what is this...? ”

Cao Cao straightened up and looked at him with a sincere expression, "I want to borrow something from you to solve this crisis, don't be reluctant." ”

As soon as he heard that it was a borrowed thing, Wang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

To tell the truth, he was very scared in the past two days, and after he started to distribute the grain, the eyes of the soldiers of the whole army looked at him wrongly, and the eyes seemed to be able to eat people.

Then he patted his chest and said, "Whatever the lord wants to borrow, you can take whatever you have." ”

"I want to borrow your head and show it to the public."

What? Head?!

Wang Yu was taken aback and was stunned, "Lord, I'm really innocent." ”

Cao Cao sighed and said, "I also know that you are not guilty, but if I don't kill you, the sergeant will definitely mutiny." After you die, I will take good care of your wife and children, and you don't have to worry. ”

Hearing this, Wang Yuan didn't say anything, and knelt down silently and kowtowed to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao called out the knife and axeman, pushed Wang Yuan out of the tent, slashed him with a knife, hung Wang Yuan's head high on the flagpole, and posted a notice:

The grain and grass official Wang Yuan deliberately used Xiaohu to distribute grain and rice, deducted official food, filled his private pockets, and beheaded him in accordance with military law. From today onwards, the grain will still be distributed according to Da Hu.

As soon as this notice came out, there were grain and grass officials who sacrificed their heads to the sky, and the resentment of the Cao soldiers gradually eased.

After the situation calmed down, Cao Cao sent people across the river again to borrow grain from Sun Ce.

It's just that I don't know if Sun Ce is willing to borrow food this time to help him through this crisis.

At this time, it was January 15 of the fourth year of Jian'an.

……

At the same time, on the other side, in the middle of the city.

Lu Bu also faced the same problem.

Seeing that the soldiers gathered outside the mansion because of Xiao Hu's food distribution, they complained and mutinied.

Lu Bu knew that he couldn't wait any longer.

So he sent someone to summon the grain and grass officer to come and question him.