Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 582
Xia Houyuan took the lead in the team. He raised his hand to cover his forehead, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked at the outline of Yecheng in the distance with a solemn expression.

He thought that Dong Wuyang was besieged, the Yuan family's three sons could not rush back in time, and there was a shortage of major generals in Yecheng. This might be the best opportunity for him.

But precisely because of this, he is also under great psychological pressure, because every move on the battlefield today may affect the final outcome.

He said to Cao Chun beside him: "We are mainly cavalry and are not good at attacking cities. Since we arrived first, we should set up camp first to create opportunities for those behind."

Cao Chun looked in the direction of Yecheng, chewing grass roots in his mouth, and said, "Would you like to try a surprise attack?"

"Maybe I'm lucky and can break through their city gate!"

Xia Houyuan shook his head and said: "It's not that easy. Yecheng has at least three gates. Even if the cavalry can rush in, they will be dead or alive."

"You see, the fierce tiger's siege equipment is much better than ours, but when it attacked Shouchun, it was blocked for a long time."

Cao Chun then gave up the idea and said angrily: "I don't know what kind of luck the fierce tiger got, but someone opened the city and surrendered."

"Otherwise, how can we capture such a strong city by just facing the enemy head-on?"

"By the way, Duke Cao asked us to come and attack Yecheng. Are you serious?"

"Can this city really be conquered using normal methods?"

Xia Houyuan thought to himself, "If you ask me, who should I ask?"

Yecheng is a fortified city that Yuan has worked hard to manage. When he heard the order to go down to the city, his head was pounding!

The two of them had their own thoughts and silently led the troops forward. After a while, they remembered the warning chants ahead. When Xia Houyuan came to the front of the formation, he saw that there was a general from Ye City leading thousands of soldiers out of the city and heading towards Cao Ying. !

The general rushed to the front of the formation and shouted: "You young men, you betrayed your trust and attacked Yecheng secretly. You are simply asking for your own death!"

"Chun Yuqiong, under Yuan Shijun, is here to see you off!"

When Cao Chun saw it, he smiled at Xia Houyuan and said, "I was worried that I wouldn't come out to the other side, but this is exactly what I want!"

"Leave him to me!"

Xia Houyuan's arrow wound had not healed, so he could only say: "Be careful. That man is a general under Yuan Shao. He was once one of the eight captains of Xiyuan. He is the same generation as Cao Gong Yuan Shao. He is proud and has the ability to surpass others." Don’t be careless.”

Cao Chun smiled and said, "I know, but no matter how famous you are, your subordinates will eventually see the truth!"

He shouted loudly, rode out with his spear, and led his troops to rush towards Chunyu Qiong. Cao's army and Jizhou army screamed and rushed into each other, which kicked off a long-lasting battle that swept half of the world.

In Lijin, Qingzhou, the city guard ordered the soldiers to move out their siege equipment to block the Youzhou fleet arriving from a distance. He sneered and said, "Want to break in by force?"

"Even if we can't save them all, we still have to make them bleed!"

The general next to him whispered: "General, this is not good, the commander's order is to try his best to delay the time and not let us attack the fierce tiger fleet."

"This ferocious tiger and Shijun are both descendants of the Yuan family. If Shijun is blamed later, I'm afraid the general will not be able to bear the responsibility."

The guard glared, "What are you afraid of! You are so cowardly!"

"Isn't what we are doing just delaying time?"

"Guan Hai and Guan Cheng were friends with me, but he was trapped and killed by them. He died unjustly. If I don't speak ill of them now, how can I wait?"

After hearing this, the general knew that he could not dissuade him, so he simply kept silent. The reason why the general wanted to avenge Guan Hai and Guan Cheng, who had been a Yellow Turban thief, was because he had previously been Wu Dun, a subordinate of Zang Ba, the Taishan thief.

In Qingzhou, both the Yellow Turban Bandits and the Taishan Bandits were from the Yellow Turban Army. They had a close relationship, and there were many collusions among their generals. After Yuan Tan incorporated the Taishan Bandits, because he lacked generals, he accepted the fate of many of the previous Taishan Bandit leaders. Become a guard in each city to fill the vacancies.

Although this move made up for Yuan Tan's embarrassment of having no soldiers and generals, these Taishan bandit leaders were undisciplined, acted arbitrarily, and did some outrageous things to the local people, so Yuan Tan's reputation in Qingzhou plummeted.

This confirms the fact that people who do evil at will when they are in a low status will not become good people when they are in a high position, but will only become worse.

Only those who can uphold integrity in difficult situations will form the habit of self-discipline after they become successful. Therefore, Liu Bei in later generations said: "Don't do good deeds because they are small, and don't do evil because they are small."

Now Wu Dun controls the mouth of the Yellow River in Lijin City. He had previously collaborated with Guan Hai and Guan Chenghang, opening the door for him to go to sea for robbery. He then divided the spoils and made a lot of benefits from it.

But since Guan Hai and Guan Cheng were killed, Wu Dun had no benefits, so he felt resentful.

Now Yuan Xi's fleet sailed westward via the Yellow River and sent people to shoot the traffic letters into the city in advance. When Wu Dun saw it, he became interested. He naturally knew what Yuan Xi was doing and what Yuan Tan was thinking. If It must be a great achievement for him to stop Yuan Xi, and he can also vent his anger on Brother Guan Hai!
Lijin City was built along the banks of the Yellow River. The waterway is adjacent to one side of the city wall. Ships passing by must go along the city, exposing the entire hull of the ship to the city head. Therefore, Wu Dun worked hard to build a wall on one side of the sea entrance channel. , arranged a large number of rolling stones and wood, just waiting for Yuan Xi's fleet to pass by and make a sudden attack.When Taishi Ci saw the crowds of people on the top of the city, busy carrying something, he frowned and said, "Something's wrong."

"The other side has bad intentions, and I'm afraid they are going to take action."

Gao Shun said coldly: "These Qingzhou troops are really out of tune. At this time, they are still thinking about internal fighting!"

When Yuan Xi saw it, he raised his telescope and observed it carefully for a while, then his face turned cold and he said, "You are really brave."

He gave a few instructions to everyone, and everyone followed the order and left. Not long after, the fleet was approaching the head of Lijin City.

At this time, several large and sturdy ships accelerated their speed and tried to pass through the waterway. Seeing this, the defenders at the top of the city shouted, and the rolling stones came down. Even the deck of the leading ship was pierced by stones.

The defenders at the top of the city poured kerosene and burning straw down again. Smoke billowed from several large ships. They fell into chaos and were forced to retreat.

Taishi Ci stood on the bow and shouted: "Who dares to attack Yuan Xuzhou's ship!"

"Has Qingzhou changed its doors?"

The next moment, Wu Dun popped up from the top of the city and sneered: "You invaded my Qingzhou city, and I am defending the city under the orders of the envoy!"

"If you don't want to cause misunderstanding, retreat immediately!"

He was about to speak, but suddenly he found that Tai Shici had bent his bow and nocked an arrow. With a whoosh, a sharp arrow flew towards his face!

Wu Dun was shocked and threw himself on the ground. The arrow hit the hairpin on his helmet and sent him flying. Then the arrow plopped into the city wall behind him and hung on the wall with the iron helmet.

Wu Dun was bitten by the impact and his tongue was bitten. His mouth was filled with the taste of blood, and he couldn't help but said angrily: "Stop them, no one can get through today!"

Taishi Ci lowered his bow regretfully, thinking that he was in trouble now. Unless the general died, his own fleet of hundreds of ships would not be able to pass safely. If the delay lasted for a long time, the fleet might still have to detour from the port of Bohai County, but in that case First of all, the time of traveling by land is unpredictable.

Wu Dun took back his helmet belt and ordered the soldiers to smash the boats. He saw several large boats crashing into the shore at Lijin Pier. Planks were thrown from the boats. Suddenly, hundreds of elite soldiers in armor poured out of the boats and rushed towards the city gate. go.

Wu Dun was overjoyed. He wanted to attack the city without any siege equipment. Wasn't this looking for death?
The person on the other side has lost his mind. It only takes ten days and a half to attack the city. In this way, the envoy can easily complete the task assigned to him.

If you can't hold on after the fight is over, just abandon the city and run away!
He ordered the soldiers to turn to defend the city wall above the city gate, but saw that the soldiers on the opposite side were already rushing towards the city gate pushing a flat cart, and there seemed to be someone carrying something below.

Wu Dun didn't take it seriously and asked people to throw lighted firewood on a flat cart. For a while, the city was filled with clouds and fog.

Under the flat car, Xu Huang and Gao Shun personally held a strange and huge iron cylinder. It was three feet long and about one foot in diameter. It was thinner at the front and thicker at the rear. It looked a bit like the red-haired cannon of later generations.

But the difference is that there are multiple holes in the front section. The soldiers are driving iron nails into the holes and nailing the iron cylinder to the center of the city gate. This is the city-breaking cannon that Shouchun did not use before.

After the cannon body was firmly fixed, Gao Shun ordered the soldiers to place a bracket behind the iron barrel so that the iron barrel could be held firmly.The iron cylinder was tightly sealed, with only a small hole leading out a several-foot-long lead filled with kerosene.

Gao Shun said to Xu Huang: "After lighting it, let's evacuate the door immediately to avoid casualties."

Xu Huang listened and nodded, and saw Gao Shun lighting the fuse with a torch. When everyone saw it, they rushed out of the door and hid on both sides of the city wall.

When the defenders at the city gate saw that all the local soldiers inside the city gate ran out, arrows and rolling wood rained down on them. Gao Shun, Xu Huang and others were struggling to support themselves while carrying the flat cart.

Everyone waited for a long time, but did not hear any movement at the city gate. Xu Huang was confused, wondering if this thing didn't work?
Suddenly there was a deafening loud noise, like a thunderbolt in the sky and thunder on the ground. Everyone's ears were buzzing. Xu Huang had never heard such a loud noise before. While covering his ears, he was confused and confused. What on earth was this? Toy?
The iron cylinder flew backwards several feet away and bounced on the ground a dozen times, followed by strong white smoke and the pungent smell of sulfur, which spread out from the doorway.

Gao Shun and Xu Huang rushed in and took a look, and were surprised to find that a large circular hole had been blown out of the city gate.

Because the position was so accurate, even the log bolts behind the door were blown off. From time to time, the tragic cries of soldiers could be heard from behind the door. They must have been injured by the power of the explosion.

After the soldiers of Yuan Xi's army worked together to open the city gate, they saw the scene behind the door. They saw that there were stumps and broken arms behind the door. More than a dozen soldiers fell to the ground, blood flowing freely, and they did not know whether they were alive or dead.

Gao Shunxin said that this so-called city-breaking cannon used hundreds of bamboo tubes from the previous battle, and when they were put together, it was so powerful!
The two rushed out of the door and saw that the soldiers in the city were still confused. Gao Shun said to Xu Huang: "I will guard the passage under the city. General, hurry up to the city and capture the enemy general!"

Xu Huang knew that this was Gao Shun's surrender, and immediately said flatly: "Thank you, Brother Gao!"

He waved his hand, and hundreds of soldiers followed him and rushed up the city wall, slashing at the defenders at the top of the city. The city suddenly became chaotic.

On top of the city, Wu Dun didn't react for a moment. How come the city gate was broken down in the blink of an eye?
Seeing the opponent's general rushing over with a long ax in his hand, he had no choice but to bravely face him.

(End of this chapter)