Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 105
Listening to the generals and counselors expressing their opinions in turn, Yuan Tan spread out a huge silk map and carefully checked the terrain on it.

Yuan Xi looked from the side and saw the winding river terrain above, and realized that he had made a big mistake in his preconceived notion.

Next to the Yellow River, there is not only the Huaihe River, but also the Jishui River.

Jishui originated from Taiyi Pool on Wangwu Mountain in Jiyuan City, Henan Province, and flowed into the Bohai Sea from the Daqing River in Hebei Province today. According to the "Shui Jing Zhu", Jishui, together with the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Huaihe River, is listed as one of the four duns, and it is one of the famous mountains of the Five Sacred Mountains. Together they are called the Five Sacred Mountains and the Four Sacred Mountains.

The Yellow River has undergone six large-scale diversions. The first time was during the Spring and Autumn Period, the second time was during the Wang Mang New Dynasty, and then the Huaihe River was seized into the sea during the Jin Dynasty. The last time it broke through in Lanyang, Henan Province in 1855. Underwater into the Bohai Sea.

The terrain of later generations is completely different from the present.

At this time, the three waterways of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Jishui coexisted, making the water system near the plain extremely complicated. Once Yuan Jun wiped out the few remaining towns on the north bank of the Yellow River, he had to find a way to cross the three major rivers of the Yellow River, Huaihe, and Jishui before he could capture Qingzhou!
On the contrary, it is very easy to go from Yanzhou and Xuzhou to Qingzhou, and the difficulty of transporting troops is much lower.

But now that Yanzhou is fighting, Xuzhou is not in Yuan's hands, so fighting across the river has become Yuan Jun's only choice.

This is also the reason why we chose to send troops in October.

Most of the time, except for spring floods and summer floods, the flow of water in the river is very large. Only in the dry season in late autumn and winter, the water level drops, and the riverbed is even exposed in some places, so that the army can easily cross the river.

The three rivers undoubtedly made the attack extremely difficult, and made Yuan Xi realize that the battle of Qingzhou was not easy.

But now the Pingyuan county to be fought is on the north bank of the Yellow River, isolated and helpless, it shouldn't be too difficult, right?
Yuan Xi's idea was completely overturned on the battlefield a few days later.

Yuan Tan completed the arrangements for the siege and planned to attack the city in three days.

This is because the siege equipment in the baggage car that Yuan Xi brought over took time to assemble.

Hundreds of craftsmen began to take out the materials in the truck and assemble the siege equipment. The soldiers began to cut down the forest, collect stones, and make wooden stakes and stone bombs for the siege.

For three days in a row, Yuan Tan continued to gather staff and generals, changing the deployment according to the actual situation at all times, and even lighting up lights at night to command.

Yuan Xi understood very well that for an army of tens of thousands of people, the daily consumption of military rations is a huge figure. If it is delayed for a long time, it will be detrimental to morale.

During these three days, Yuan Jun's camp advanced more than ten miles every day. On the last day, he had reached a place five or six miles away from Pingyuan City, and began to form a village. Clearly.

The two armies entered a state of confrontation, and the Qingzhou army might attack the camp at any time. Yuan Xi picked up the binoculars and looked at the shadowy soldiers on the top of the city in the distance, feeling nervous for no reason.

He said to Zhao Yun who was beside him: "That day you brought several hundred troops to Beixin City, did you have any clever plan?"

Zhao Yun smiled bitterly and said: "There is no clever strategy. With my hundreds of people, a strong attack will definitely not work."

"The only way is to lure the young master out of the city and kill him, or seize the opportunity to rush into the city when the city gate is opened, so as to have a chance of victory."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to get in at all. I even thought about trying to shoot you to death at the top of the city, thinking that if you died, the defenders in the city might open the door and surrender for fear of Yuan Zhoumu's punishment."

Yuan Xi was afraid for a while, but fortunately he was very timid and didn't give Zhao Yun a chance!
He said, "Gongsun Zan wants to borrow a knife to kill someone?"

Zhao Yun's eyes dimmed a little: "That day, Lord Xuande took Gongsun Zan's troops to Qingzhou to help Tian Kai defend against General Yuan Tan. Afterwards, General Yuan Tan withdrew his troops, but Lord Xuande did not return to Youzhou, but went directly to Xuzhou."

"That day I took the rest of the soldiers and horses back to return to the delivery. I was hesitant for a while. Because of Liu Yu's murder, both Xuande Lord and I were dissatisfied with Gongsun Zan. Many officials and generals from Hebei were killed by Gongsun Zan. kill."

"Gongsun Zan asked me to take the hundreds of soldiers and horses that Duke Xuande left behind in Youzhou to attack the city. Obviously he wanted to take the opportunity to send these hundreds of people away, and then punish me."

"I also wanted to understand this at the time, so I accepted the bet with the young master with some self-deprecation."

Yuan Xi nodded secretly, this is right, the desired result was achieved by chance and coincidence, otherwise, it would be really difficult to subdue Zhao Yun.

He didn't ask Zhao Yun why he didn't regret leaving Liu Bei. This kind of talk was purely self-inflicted. He believed that Zhao Yun had the ability to find the answer during the time he stayed in Beixin City and in the days he followed him in the future.

Early the next morning, the siege began.

The front wave is the lowest level of soldiers. They cover the soil with their clothes, hold simple wooden shields in their hands, and run forward with arrows.

It is said to be a shield, but most of it is actually made of branches, and a simple wooden ring is added to carry it, which can cover the body.

Among these people, some are gray-haired, some are underage, some have mutilated limbs, and even peasant women.

They are all running towards the city wall, towards death.

Yuan Xi's heart was heavy, human life was worthless in troubled times, and most of them just wanted to have something to eat.

For this meal, you have to work hard, otherwise you won't even have this meal.

Arrows rained down from the top of the city, and people fell to the ground from time to time, but they didn't run away, they just screamed, put wooden shields on their heads, and crawled forward desperately.

Only when you are within ten steps of the city wall and sprinkle the soil, this trip will count, otherwise you will be punished by military law when you go back!
They approached the city wall and sprinkled the soil, and the mound began to rise slowly, like a mound slowly rising.

The soldiers who had finished spreading the soil began to run back desperately. Some of them forgot to cover their bodies with wooden shields, and were shot in the vest and died on the ground.

Some wounded soldiers, after approaching the city wall, found that the arrows they shot were sparse, so they wanted to lean against the city wall to rest for a while, but the stones on it fell down from the top of the city wall with a splash of hot oil, and the screams rang out again.

Yuan Xi looked through the binoculars and saw the scorched bodies rolling around at the bottom of the city wall. Some people were smashed to the point of bleeding, and some were out of shape, struggling and gradually becoming immobile.

Then their bodies were covered with soil by the later people and became part of the mound that was piled higher and higher.

For two whole hours, the soil under the city wall slowly rose, reaching a small half of the city wall, and the attack of the defenders in the city gradually weakened.

Yuan Tan rode on a horse, holding a binoculars in front of the battle, observing the situation on the opposite side. The gadget invented by the second brother Xindao is too powerful, and it can definitely reduce the casualties of many soldiers.

Seeing that the arrows on the top of the wall became sparse, he immediately raised his hand and shouted: "Rush!"

"Cloud ladder!"

"Arrow Tower!"

"catapult!"

"Advance sequentially!"

The front of the rows of siege equipment is covered with cowhide for defense, and there are soldiers holding shields beside them to defend against arrows.

Behind the equipment is the archer, who uses the cover of the equipment to continuously shoot arrows towards the sky and suppress the city.

The last trebuchet took the opportunity to be pushed forward, stopped when it was still tens of feet away from the city wall, and unfolded on the spot. The craftsman nailed the wooden stakes at the base of the trebuchet into the ground for fixation.

A soldier came up with a cart next to him, took off the stone bullets on it, and put it on the catapult.

After a while, live ammunition on dozens of catapults roared and flew towards the city.

The two stones hit the top of the city evenly, but most of them missed, either falling into the city or hitting the city wall.

However, several trebuchets were not adjusted properly, and the stone bullets fell into the formation of our own army that was rushing to the bottom of the city wall, causing the soldiers to curse.

The craftsmen hurriedly adjusted the position of the weight lever, but they were obviously used to it.

The two tall archery towers had also been pushed close to the city wall. The archers above shot arrows condescendingly.

After a while, flying stones were also thrown out from behind the city wall and fell into Yuan Jun's crowd, but the launch was obviously hasty and there was no time to aim at the trebuchet here.

With a loud bang, the chariot reached the bottom of the city gate, and the soldiers pushed the ram and hit the city gate forcefully.

The defenders at the top of the city were in a hurry. This time the siege was very organized. The previous consumption made the defenders enter a period of fatigue, and the ensuing full-force attack made them extremely uncomfortable!

Yuan Tan sneered in his heart, defending the city and not fighting in the field was tantamount to handing over the initiative to himself.

When the two armies confronted each other two years ago, as soon as Yuan Tan attacked the city, Liu Bei, Prime Minister of Pingyuan, rushed out to harass him with his soldiers and horses. There is no good way to deal with it.

But the opportunity finally came, Liu Bei could not get out in Xuzhou now, there was only one Tian Kai left in Qingzhou, and the defenders were all huddled in the city.

Yuan Tan mobilized a large number of siege equipment this time, preparing to take all the cities in the plains in one fell swoop!
He saw that the ladder had already reached the top of the city, and the soldiers began to swarm up the city. The defenders at the top of the city were exhausted and shouted, "The whole army is attacking!"

Following Yuan Tan's order, all the soldiers on the battlefield began to move.

Armed and unarmed, they rushed under the city wall with a bag of soil on their backs, and the mound rose again.

The defenders of Pingyuan City panicked. They never expected that soon after the battle, tens of thousands of people from Yuan Jun's side would be thrown into the battlefield, so that a war of attrition would be impossible!

Yuan Xi was about to lead the army, but was stopped by Yuan Tan, and said with a smile: "Second brother, go up first and hand it over to the generals below. Let me lead the cavalry to ambush outside the city gate to prevent the enemy from breaking out."

Yuan Jun attacked the city with all his strength, and the Qingzhou Army supported it for more than an hour, and finally all the top of the city fell.

At this time, the three gates of Pingyuan County were opened, and Qingzhou soldiers fled one after another.

Only then did Yuan Tan feel relieved, and ordered: "The cavalry should divide into three groups to pursue the enemy!"

Yuan Xi took Zhao Yun and Zhang He, and led hundreds of cavalry and thousands of infantry, waiting in the woods beside the road to the west of Pingyuan City.

The city gate was wide open, and a stream of enemy troops fled out on horseback, followed by infantry.

Yuan Xi was overjoyed, as expected the siege did not attack, the enemy would choose this side to flee.

He waited for the enemy to run for a few miles, and there were still a few miles to go into the woods, and then he raised his hand, "Kill! Don't let anyone run away!"

Seeing the enemy army rushing out of the woods, the Qingzhou defeated army knew that they had been ambushed and it was too late to return to the city, so they rushed up with roars.

The two army horses collided fiercely, the broken arms and stumps splashed, and as the weapons slashed across the body, hot blood splashed in the air, and was immediately cooled by the coolness of late autumn. Eye-catching imprint.

As night fell, thousands of soldiers from the Qingzhou Army died and fell, and the area was covered with corpses for several miles. The smell of blood mixed with the stench filled the air, making people sick.

Yuan Xi emptied several pots of arrows and couldn't even lift his arm.

He saw that Zhao Yun and Zhang He were still galloping across the battlefield alive and well, and the gap between people in their minds was really big.

(End of this chapter)