Outside the city of Shouchun.

Although there are enemies on all sides, the only ones that can really attack the city are the north and the east.

And the west of Shouchun City, is the Li River water, and there are no soldiers and horses here, so Yuan Shu can display troops in the city, and there is a steady stream of spare soldiers in the city, which can be replenished at any time.

After a few months, the strong men he forcibly recruited had already been exhausted under the countless battles of the Cao army, and the people in Shouchun City hated them to the core, but the remaining people were either old and disabled, or women, children and children.

There is no power to resist.

The streets and alleys of the city are full of people, all of them rely on the streets and alleys, begging for food, only one dry food a day, the lifeblood needs to be held in the hands of Yuan Jun, and the war is not smooth, most of the Yuan Jun are irritable, and if they are slightly dissatisfied, they will kill people on the street.

Military discipline is no longer unrestrained, resulting in public resentment hidden in the heart, women and children are bullied, but they dare not cry.

But recently, Cao Cao sent out to investigate the city defenses, as if there were many fewer soldiers in the city.

So, Cao Cao, Guo Jia, and Xun You went to check in person, and sure enough, there were still many flags, but the soldiers stationed in the city had decreased a lot.

"Why is this happening?"

"Could it be that Yuan Shu's soldiers and horses are already insufficient?"

When he got off the high platform, Cao Cao muttered to himself, thinking deeply about this situation.

Xun Yu beside him wanted to speak and stopped, his expression was a little strange, he was going to speak first, but seeing Guo Jia beside him, he smiled and stepped back a little, let him speak first.

Guo Jia approached Cao Cao and said: "Yuan Shu has enough soldiers and horses, more than 200,000 troops are stationed in Gaocheng, and he used strong men to block the city first, so I don't think it will be at this time, and the city defense ...... be withdrawn."

"The next guess should be that the division of elite troops and battalions and the defense in batches can allow some troops to rest and make our army more tired."

Xun You was about to speak again, but after thinking about it, he still stood back and bowed his head with a smile.

Cao Cao captured this scene, turned his head slightly and asked, "What does Gongda think?" ”

"Haha," Xun You smiled awkwardly and arched his hand: "Yuan Shu's temperament, hmm...... I have heard that he was born in a family of gold and jade, even if he has a very good reputation and has had political achievements spread to the world, but he is actually not a benevolent and virtuous person, and he is not worthy of his name. ”

"Yes, the battle situation is like this, and a lot of troops have been withdrawn, in the next opinion, I am afraid that the city has been empty, the army is unpredictable, and Yuan Shu has been disheartened, the money, food, baggage, rich products have been moved to his palace, in the palace wall to build its tall city wall protection."

"The sergeants are outside to resist the foreign enemy, and there is a wall of troops in the inner city, so it is recommended to immediately send troops to attack fiercely, without stopping, and attack the north and east within a few days, as for the south, as long as the battle is chaotic and the manpower cannot be supported, perhaps the prince and marquis of Bochang can build a wooden bridge to pass through and cross the moat."

The moat in the south is several zhang wide, and the flow of boats leads to the canal, and the people originally lived along the river and survived.

Later, after the war, all the houses were destroyed, and all the food stored in the family was looted to Shouchun City.

Although the city in the south is blocked by land hazards, if Zhang Han wants to cross the river, he only needs to hold on to a stick of incense and half an hour, and he may be able to pass.

"Bonghyo, what do you think?"

Guo Jia was thinking about it, and when he heard Cao Cao's urging, he immediately said: "Fang is what I thought was wrong, for Yuan's habits, naturally I don't know as well as Gongda, and it should be as he said." ”

"The sacrificial wine is falsely praised, the husband's art of war says, ten sieges, and now we are short of troops, it seems difficult to capture, but we can still surround Shouzhang? This is very reasonable. ”

"Why?"

"The reason is that the enemy army is declining and my elite is strong, so that the Shouchun defenders dare not attack, because from the beginning, they just planned to hold on and defend to the death, but they didn't know the truth that if they held for a long time, they would lose."

"It can be seen that Sikong is righteous in hand, and he has raised elite soldiers to come, marching secretly across hundreds of miles in winter, and after hardships, the achievements have shocked the military and people of Jiujiang."

"Yuan Shu, don't dare to be an enemy of the sky."

"I think that after a few days of rest, let the soldiers be full, reward and exalt, and reward the gold and silver of the palace of the Shouchun rebels, and then take advantage of this opportunity to chisel open the gate of Shouchun City."

"Under the order, seconded." Guo Jia thought about it and gave up his doubts.

He felt that Xun You could see more clearly, and Yuan Shu was approaching autumn here, which was the time when the hope was the most slim, and the soldiers and horses were quite tired.

Thinking of this, Guo Jia chuckled and said: "Heh, if Yuan Shu is really like the first emperor, Dong thief, and Gongsun Zhan, he collects wealth and takes care of himself, builds the West Garden, the lintel, and Yijing to protect the surroundings, and completely treats other people's lives as mustard, then ...... The day the city was broken, it was the time when Yuan Shu's troops fell. ”

"Well said," Cao Cao walked on the battlefield of the military camp with his hands behind his back, flying flags and going back and forth on the left and right.

After thinking about ten steps, Cao Cao pinched the hand behind his back, and said with a long sigh of relief: "Give orders to Bochang and Xuande, and after three days, there is no need to leave Shouchun behind." ”

"At the time of the autumn harvest, it is the time when the people of Shouchun are most panicked, and if it is delayed until the winter, it will definitely regain the morale of the army."

"That being the case, there is no need to give Yuan Shu this opportunity, Xu Du's side, I'm afraid he is also waiting for this news, no...... The whole day has been waiting for this news. ”

……

On the third day, Cao Cao launched another general attack on the eve of dawn, and the defenders of the city faintly saw crowds of people when the sky was not bright.

When he got closer, he raised a torch and shouted to kill, and the dead man at the head of the line carried the ladder and escorted the ship to the door.

There was only a moment of silence before dawn, and then the arrows rained down, and they raised their hands and fired, and the soldiers of the city rushed to call out to their comrades who were sleeping and resting.

The battle came to a fever pitch in an instant.

At the same time, the east gate stormed, and a general with extremely dark skin and a thunderous roar held a snake spear and shouted orders.

Countless soldiers marched in front of him, escorting him straight to the city gate, under the rain of arrows, shielding him in front of him, and within a hundred paces began to charge in formation, staring at the rain of arrows and implementation, and pushing the battering ram over.

"Let's go!! Break the city!! ”

Zhang Fei tore through his throat and shouted, and Chen Zhi led countless dead soldiers to kill like crazy, with a monstrous momentum, and went straight to the city.

The shouts of killing obscured all the orders of the defenders of the city, and this army was like a pack of wolves and tigers, fearless and bloody, rushing like rolling thunder.

Guan Yu and Liu Bei were all in the rear sweeping formation, constantly sending more elites, and they were all people who knew the soldiers, knowing that in such a big battle, there must not be one side who was lazy and lost the opportunity.

"Brother, I'm going to help the third brother!"

"Yun Chang, be careful, we have attacked the East Gate dozens of times, and the casualties are heavy, and now the elites are all here, and we can't take it lightly."

"Yes!"

Guan Yu slapped his horse and left, first detoured, disturbing the bows and arrows of the soldiers in the city, and used this to sweep Zhang Fei and others to meet them.

At the same time, the swordsmen he led all abandoned the long soldiers and held large shields, pulling their horses from both sides to the inside at the same time, and could raise their shields to resist arrows, and even roll down stones.

For a time, the battle was very fierce, so that the defenders on the city gate were exhausted.

In the past few days, how can they resist this more fierce attack than usual.

"Tonight, I'm afraid something big can happen," Liu Bei watched from a distance, his eyes flickering, his posture standing tall on horseback, and muttering to himself.

……

South of Shouchun.

In the quiet night, they also traveled at night, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Han each led their troops to cross the river, and there was a camp outside the south gate.

Earlier investigators learned that there were about 5,000 men in the battalion, guarding the main river routes and guarding the bridges and boats.

The river is not deep, about one person is high, but the war horses are not allowed to pass, and the armor of the sergeant is also heavy, and the robe will add weight when entering the river, and it is difficult to walk an inch.

Therefore, this place is a difficult situation in front of them, and the fire in Shouchun City is everywhere, and with the light of day, the defenders on the other side have also risen to the alert.

Zhang Hanke saw from a distance that there were sentinels riding back and forth in and out of the camp, and they must be delivering messages.

"I don't know what the battle is going on, but we can cross the river unless we have something to do and transfer the soldiers and horses from this riverside camp."

In advance, Cao Ang and Zhang Han received Cao Cao's flying horse order two days ago, knowing that today's time had come to attack the outer city of Shouchun.

He immediately cut down the nearby bamboo forest, made it into a raft, and distributed a single knife to the elite guards, and organized the cavalry under Zhang Liao and Gao Shun.

Tonight, take advantage of the chaos to carry the bamboo raft and cross the river briskly, so that these swords can be sent over first.

But now, they had waited until dawn, and in the dark vision, they did not see any movement from this camp.

"Junhou, the armament of this battalion is not excellent, and the defenders of Nancheng should not be much," Yang Xiu had previously been in the northern camp of Shouchun and had consulted a lot of military newspapers.

In my memory, there are not many defenders at the south gate, and the military camp guarding this ferry is not elite, that is, the soldiers and horses who have retreated from the city are garrisoned at the ferry outside the city.

In order to attract people, the bridge is set up at night to guard against the attack.

"If the north and east can mobilize the defenders of the south gate, we will be able to take advantage of it, if it is still impossible, then we can only garrison here and hold Huainan tightly."

"Well, go and order, hide the bamboo raft, it's almost dawn, don't show a clue, wait for the opportunity."

"Only," Yang Xiu immediately turned around to give the order, and after a while, the bamboo raft lay on the ground and hid behind the woods.

The birds in the forest were driven away early, and there were no hidden dangers.

Zhang Han waited at the ferry for about four or five hours, and was already disappointed, thinking that the attack was not going well, and suddenly a cavalry entered the camp.

At this moment, the entire camp on the other side of the river seemed to move, and Zhang Han immediately called Gao Shun and Dian Wei to prepare.

When the people in the camp visually measured the number of three thousand, Zhang Han knew that the time had come.

"Get out of the raft and cross the river immediately!"

Immediately, the black-robed armor rode without the war horse, and the speed was still very fast, and the four of them dragged out of the forest in a raft and galloped to the bank of the river.

Groups began to cross the river, and when the sentinels on the other side of the river found out and began to fire arrows to block, Zhang Han stood on a raft and ordered a round shield to be raised.

For a while, the black-robed armor who brushed together raised their shields to resist, and the rain of arrows could not hurt them in the slightest.

About half a pillar of incense time, just stuck when the opponent's spearmen and cavalry were gathered.

There were only a hundred cavalry, one or two thousand spearmen, Zhang Han rushed directly to the shore with a spear in his hand, and the black robes behind him followed, Gao Shun and Dian Wei were all behind.

Without the war horse, the halberd soldiers led by Dian Wei were particularly outstanding, and even Ji Boxiao charged forward with a halberd.

After approaching the cavalry, he threw his halberd, which was much more powerful than an arrow, and under the first round of throwing, rows of bright silver and snow-white luster swept by, disturbing the cavalry in the front row.

Killed more than a dozen people and dismounted, and then the formation was chaotic, Zhang Han immediately entered the enemy formation and strode forward.

The enemy in front of him could not stop him, and when Gao Shun and others followed, there were soldiers who went to capture the sentry points at the drawbridge and the long bridge.

After breaking through the enemy line in a narrower place and lowering two drawbridges, the cavalry charged across the bridge, waded through the river and stream, and rolled away.

Half an hour later, Zhang Han took the south and stationed, the whole army waited for the large army to assemble, Zhang Xiu and Cao Ang led the troops and horses to pass slowly, it would take at least half an hour to cross the river, and at the same time, it was necessary to strictly prevent the enemy from raiding nearby.

"Junhou," while waiting, Jia Xu came to Zhang Han first, his face was as usual: "At this time, since Yuan Shu has transferred the soldiers and horses of this large camp in the south, it means that there is a que in the city, and I don't know whether it is the east gate or the north gate." ”

"The defenders of the south gate are weak, it is not advisable to delay any longer, if the city is attacked now, it can crush the hearts of the enemy!"

The implication of this statement is to continue the slow attack, fearing that the enemy army will gather in the south to break through.

Zhang Han thought for a while and sighed: "My soldiers and horses are not suitable for attacking, let Zhang Youwei lead the army first, I will welcome the son here, and then come!" ”

"Okay, the prince is righteous!" Jia Xu bowed his hand, at this time he was still willing to give up the credit of the first to the young general, although the prince and the marquis looked small on the surface, but it was only the surface.

In fact, he is never ambiguous in the face of righteousness, open-minded, and does not mess with major events based on personal likes and dislikes.

True temperament too.

After a short time, Zhang Xiu's soldiers and horses went first, and soon rushed to the south city to attack, but the siege equipment was still slowly transported in the rear, and he could only attack it with manpower first.

"As soon as the heavy troops at the south gate arrive, the defenders will definitely be unstable, maybe we don't have to arrive, he can still take it," Zhang Han said in a deep voice.

Jia Xu nodded again and again: "That's the reason, if there is a delay now, the defenders of the south gate may be transferred to the north and east to garrison, and the military strength of those two sides will be added." ”

"However, if the south gate is also attacked, it is not only that the soldiers in the city are tired of running for their lives, but that the army is discouraged and has no intention of resisting."

……

Shou Chun.

Since the early morning, the shouting of killing has not stopped, and the soldiers in the whole city always feel that the enemy army is attacking the city everywhere.

In the previous battle, it was clear that the number of people was inferior to the defenders in the city, but now they shouted hundreds of thousands of movements.

The east gate was broken, the north gate was climbed first, and the south gate was also guarded, you must know that there is a river at the south gate separated by people, and they were all crossed by people and killed here.

Ji Ling, who was guarding the city, was on the north gate tower at this time to resist the Cao army who kept climbing up to the top of the city, and when he took a break, he got the news from the guards.

His heart tightened, he gasped heavily, his scarred face turned slightly, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Who is leading the troops?" ”

"Zhang Xiu, it was Zhang Ji's old department, there may be 30,000 soldiers and horses here, and the defenders of the south gate are weak, and they will be lost soon."

"Alas!!" Ji Ling sighed and looked up at the sky, he didn't know how to hold it, at the time of the war, it was so critical, the soldiers were like tight strings, and they would break at any time.

At this time, Yuan Gong actually took away most of the elite people to defend the imperial city.

He also collected money in the inner city and set up high walls to defend it, which was tantamount to abandoning the soldiers of the outer city and the thousands of people who were waiting in the streets and alleys for the end of the war.

Hundreds of thousands of lives outside seemed nothing to him.

Could such a person be His Majesty the Son of Heaven who descended from heaven to the world and acted on behalf of the Son of Heaven?

They don't know if the Han is dead or not, but the next Son of Heaven must not be such a person, let alone this kind of person.

"I can't hold it," Ji Ling threw the big knife in his hand, it was too heavy for him to hold.

The morale of the Beicheng army fell to the bottom for a while, and it was difficult to hold the east gate after that.

There are still tens of thousands of soldiers in the outer city, and they are unwilling to go up the tower to fight again.

Shouchun, the siege of the city for more than five months, there are Cao troops on all sides, although the number of soldiers on both sides, the number of military horses and armaments are still almost the same.

But still one side of the city surrendered, both sides were broken by the enemy, Cao's army entered the city, and saw a scene that made people not afford to loot.

Although the outside of the city is full of corpses and the water does not flow, but inside the city, there is a miasma of mosquitoes and insects, and the road does not bury bones.

Many people in the streets and alleys have long been rancid, crying and screaming, and wailing everywhere.

After Zhang Xiu broke through the city, he did not rush in to make a name for himself, but waited for Zhang Han at the door.

The two led the crowd into the city together, and naturally saw this scene, and they were speechless for a while.

"I'm afraid that's the case with the whole city."

"Although Wancheng was ...... back then, Treat the people like slaves, but never come to such a scene. "Zhang Xiu is good at martial arts, has been fighting for many years, and has long been accustomed to life and death.

But at this time, it is still shocking.

(End of chapter)