Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 845 A desperate move

Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi fought at the border of Langya and lost more than half of their 50,000-strong army, forcing them to flee back to Beihai.

This news originally made the Jizhou counselor extremely happy, but what happened next made the Jizhou counselor unable to laugh anymore.

Yuan Tan did not stay in Beihai for long. He did not choose to stay and resist Yuan Xi. Instead, he gathered the remaining soldiers and took away all the garrison soldiers in Beihai. He regrouped the team and returned to the plain of the base camp.

Not to mention, they had already made preparations in Pingyuan. After the army was assembled, in just a few days, they gathered another 50,000 troops and rushed directly to Qinghe County in Jizhou at the border with Pingyuan County without stopping!

Wen Chou led 30,000 troops to garrison here, but he distributed his troops throughout several towns on the border of Qingzhou and Jizhou, led by several deputy generals. He only led half of the 10,000-plus troops.

It's not his fault, after all, he also has to guard against Lei Bo Chenlan, who is stationed in Jibei County, Yanzhou, in the southern part of Qinghe County.

As a result, Yuan Tan came over with 50,000 troops and fought bravely. Although Wen Chou was brave, he was defeated steadily due to his numerical disadvantage.

Even so, Wen Chou was not unable to support him. He issued an urgent order for the soldiers stationed in nearby cities to come together to resist Yuan Tan's army. At the same time, he sent a letter to Yecheng.

Just as the soldiers from each city were about to rendezvous, a Cao army that had returned from Taishan County to Jibei County to lurk finally moved.

Tian Feng waved his hand, "You don't have to worry. You can save your life by renewing old friendship with Cao Cao."

All the counselors looked very ugly. No one expected that Yuan Tan and Cao Cao would ignore the next year's harvest and gather an army to complete the battle. The two joined forces and mobilized forces in a short period of time, far exceeding the limit that Jizhou could handle!

"I'm afraid that the day he captures Yecheng will be the day when Cao Cao falls out with him!"

With Cao Ren Lejin as general, he teamed up with Lei Bo and Chen Lan, with about 20,000 people. Before Wen Chou's army was fully prepared, they launched a sneak attack!

Counting Yuan Tan's 50,000 troops attacking from both front and back, Wen Chou could no longer resist. After a fierce battle, only a few thousand of the 30,000 people who had joined forces escaped, and the rest were either killed in battle or captured.

"The most important thing is that our mobilization this time was not as sufficient as the other side."

Xu You sighed: "But when we capture Yecheng, it will also be our death."

Seeing that Tian Feng wanted to stir up trouble again, the judge said: "Stop arguing. The most important thing now is how to deal with the enemy."

Xun Chen rarely said, "It's dangerous this time."

Xu You's face turned red and he thought to himself, "I haven't voted for Cao Cao yet, but you are sarcastic to me. Do you really think I don't dare!"

Tian Feng sneered: "Do you still want to say that he did it on purpose? He first sat back and watched the battle in Jizhou, and then appeared at a critical moment?"

"There are two threats now. One is Cao's army who is digging the river, and the other is Yuan Tan and Cao Cao's coalition forces."

"They chose their timing well. It is now the time of summer harvest and autumn planting. Most of Jizhou's reserve soldiers are farming in various places. However, Yuan Tan and Cao Cao have obviously given up farming this season and are ready to make a desperate move!"

"There was news before that after the battle with Yuan Tan, the Youzhou army suffered a lot of damage and was repairing in Langya. I'm afraid they didn't expect that Yuan Tan would turn around and attack Jizhou directly. I'm afraid it was at least seven or eight days away. Even if I wanted to come, it would be too late.”

But it's normal to think about it. Qingzhou has been almost wiped out by him. If he can get Jizhou, it can be said that he will make a lot of money.

Tian Feng blew his beard and sneered: "He has a good idea. He is seeking the skin of a tiger. Can Cao Cao give Jizhou to him?"

Xinpi said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Shen Pei shouted: "Yuan Hao, be careful what you say!"

Moreover, Wen Chou's whereabouts were unknown during this battle. Although Yuan Tan and Cao Jun suffered heavy casualties, there were still more than 50,000 people after joining forces. They did not stop at all, but went straight to Yecheng!

"If Mr. Xian Yi doesn't intervene, I'm afraid it will be difficult to withstand this wave of attacks."

"Judging from the number of people, it is possible that the Dihe River was a guise and we were deceived."

After the Jizhou counselors heard the news, there was a huge commotion. No one expected that the situation would become like this. Yuan Tan actually came to capture Yecheng even if Qingzhou was not wanted!

He had a headache. Tian Feng was sometimes too arbitrary. Not to mention that Xin Pi might not necessarily have this idea. Even if he had no idea, he was forced out by Tian Feng's words!

He looked at the few counselors below and his head was going to explode. It was easy to say that the counselors would not fight, but it was too complicated at this time. Xu You was an old acquaintance of Cao Cao, all members of the Xun family where Xun Chen belonged surrendered to Cao, and Xin Ping, Xin Pi's brother, was in Yuan Dynasty. Tan's subordinate, it is said that the relationship between the two is still very good.

What is there to discuss? Who knows if these people have already prepared a retreat in private!

Yuan Shang only looked for himself and Tian Feng that day. Is he afraid that he doesn't trust anyone else?

He said aloud: "In this case, we must completely wipe out the Cao army digging the river before Yuan Tan arrives!"

"Otherwise, when it comes, it will be too late!" A group of counselors were about to speak, but they heard a commotion outside, and someone shouted, "The water is coming, the water is coming!"

The judge suddenly stood up, his face turned pale, "How could it be so fast!"

Digging the river is not something that happens overnight. They estimated that it would take at least ten days for Cao's army to dig the river channel and lead the Zhangshui into the moat of Yecheng. It is not normal to do it so quickly. Could it be that 100,000 civilians were recruited from the opposite side?

Shen Pei led everyone to the top of the city in a hurry. When he saw rivers sweeping over the mountains and plains outside the city, the people screamed and fled, scrambling to take shelter in higher places.

The turbid currents of the river wrapped up everything along the way, getting closer and closer to Yecheng, and the roaring sound of water gradually approached. Soon after, the river water poured into the moat, and the water level began to rise and began to overflow the city gate.

Seeing this, the judge quickly issued a series of orders, asking the soldiers and civilians in the city to transport earth and pile rocks. They piled the earth and rocks that had been prepared at city gates and other places where river water could easily penetrate to prevent river water from entering the city.

The city was in panic for a long time. Mounds of earth were piled up at every city gate to block the seeping river water.

Fortunately for everyone, the city was well prepared, and the river dug by Cao Jun this time was not very wide. The water level stopped rising after it was more than a foot above the bottom line of the city gate.

Seeing this, Xun Chen said in a deep voice: "If this is not a coincidence, it is calculated and prevents us from getting out."

"I'm afraid that Cao Jun also got the news and knew that we would stop them from continuing to dig before Yuan Tan arrived, so they kept doing nothing and rushed to cut off the inappropriate river mouth. Although they failed to fill the city with water, they prevented us from starting. It is enough for the city to send troops."

Tian Feng said coldly: "They may not continue to dig the river. In ten days, what may greet us may not be this kind of water!"

"If Zhangshui is completely dug out, it is possible that the water level will rise another ten feet!"

Everyone listened with heavy hearts. The key is that now that Yecheng has been destroyed by the river, they have no good way to deal with it!

The only good thing is that in the past seven or eight days, most of the old, young, women, and children in Yecheng have left. The remaining soldiers and able-bodied people are the soldiers who guard the city, and the food is enough for several months.

He can't get out here, and it's not easy to get in from the other side. As long as he defends Yecheng, Yuan Xi will definitely be able to come to the rescue.

But everyone was unsure. If Cao Jun and Yuan Tan did not attack at this time, but instead attacked and occupied other counties in Jizhou, then only Yecheng would be left in Jizhou. What would be the use of holding it?

Will Yuan Xi still come at that time?

At this time, Yuan Xi was no longer in Donglai, because even if he sent troops to attack from Donglai, he would have to pass through Le'an County to Jinan Kingdom before entering the plains.

So he simply used a fleet to transport troops, transporting most of the elite troops to Bohai County first, and then into Qinghe County.

In this way, the marching route will be much shorter, and it will be easier to mobilize the troops from Yuyang in Youzhou to go directly south to the neighboring Bohai County to join them.

Yuan Xi already understood that both Yuan Tan and Cao Cao mobilized a large number of troops without leaving any retreat, so he could not hold back this time, so he issued a mobilization order in Youzhou and mobilized all the forces he could. Including the Wuhuan Xianbei and other tribes in Youzhou.

These Hu people who have lived in the pass for hundreds of years responded enthusiastically. After all, Yuan Xi's previous actions were quite popular in Youzhou, and his governance skills were both benevolent and powerful, so many tribes sent young men to Following the Youzhou Army, they entered Yuyang.

The only thing that was unsatisfactory was that the Gongsundu family only sent some supplies on the pretext of being at war with Goguryeo. Yuan Xi didn't care much about this. After all, the cooperation between the two parties was not that close, but the Gongsundu family wanted to take it later. The good thing is, I'm afraid I won't even think about it.

In fact, Yuan Xi did not know that although the Gongsundu family was dealing with Goguryeo at this time, the real reason was that an accident was taking place, so it was really impossible to take action.

While Yuan Xi was waiting for all parties to join forces in Bohai County, news came from Qinghe County that Wen Chou's army was defeated by Yuan, Tan and Cao Cao's coalition forces. This made the atmosphere in Yuan Xi's camp suddenly tense.

Yuan Tan's desperate move was indeed beyond the expectations of Yuan Xi's counselors. When Yuan Xi gathered everyone, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun had been discussing the next response.

Guo Jia sighed: "I am indeed not as good as Gong Yu in predicting battle formations, but now that Black Mountain is containing Cao's army, it won't be possible for a while."

"This time, I didn't expect that Yuan Tan and Cao Cao would bet so crazy. It was really a mistake."

Lu Xun hurriedly said: "I never thought..."

Yuan Xi knew that he was trying to smooth things over and said, "You don't need to say anything. If you really want to say this, wouldn't it be the same for me as the coach?"

"Cao Cao and his men are not easy people, and Yuan Tan is not an ordinary person. What's more, we have pushed them into a hurry. They can do anything. Now we have to act cautiously."

"The most important thing now is how to respond next?"

At that time, everyone had not heard the news that Yecheng was flooded. After a while of discussion, Zhuge Liang suggested: "Now our soldiers are very tired after marching for days, and we have to wait for the soldiers from Yuyang to join forces."

"After the merger, the soldiers will be mixed. It will take at least a few days of observation and training to find the most suitable ratio of soldiers, otherwise the war will be a mess."

"It is best to inquire about information from several parties first, find out the marching routes of Yuan Tan's army and Cao Cao's army, and formulate countermeasures so that we can win with one blow."

(End of this chapter)