Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 859 Quietly

The city wall was demolished very slowly at first, but then it became faster and faster, because the lower half of it was soaked in water and had become soft. The soldiers used tools to pry off a large piece.

Gradually the digging was more than a foot below the water level. When Zhang He saw the soldiers still digging, he said: "No, the raft can't take the water so deep. Go widen the gap while others dig the two outer walls!" "

The soldiers listened and acted separately. Soon two hours passed, and when the sky entered late night, gaps were finally dug out in the three walls leading to the outer city.

As the outermost city wall was dug through, the water level outside the city was already higher than inside the city. The flood poured in instantly, washing away several soldiers who could not dodge. The water level inside the city began to rise, and the two sides gradually became equal.

Seeing that the incoming flood began to subside, Zhang He quickly sent people to report to the judge. After hearing this, the judge sent people to pick up Yuan Shang and his family. On the other hand, he ordered Zhang He to send soldiers as the vanguard and ride on wooden boats to the north of the city. Find a place to go ashore.

Zhang He looked at the raft at his feet and sighed. He was not good at water. Now the raft was swaying and could fall apart at any time. If he fell into the water, his armor would instantly sink to the bottom without even a chance to save himself!

After hesitating for a long time, he bravely stepped onto the raft, took hundreds of soldiers on a dozen rafts, and rushed out of the city through the gap.

Along the way, the soldiers held up their bamboo pens and tried hard to identify the direction. Finally, after traveling for seven or eight miles, they found a high ground where they could land.

Zhang He was overjoyed and quickly ordered the soldiers to land, and at the same time asked the soldiers to hold the raft back to report the news.

As a result, a hail of arrows struck, and the soldiers on the rafts were hit by arrows one after another. Several rafts instantly lost control and floated randomly in the water.

Listening to Liu's endless scolding, Hong wanted to kick her into the water. Liu was right. Facing death at any time would indeed make people bolder and risk their lives. If it doesn’t fall off at any time, who cares about face?

With Yuan Shang's raft taking the lead, other members of the Yuan family also boarded the raft at the back. Behind them were the officials and nobles of Yecheng. Finally, most of the soldiers and civilians could only swim across the raft carrying wooden planks and firewood.

Hearing the approaching shouts of killing, Zhang He did not know that Cao Jun had already ambushed him, but his mission as a vanguard was to stop Cao Jun and allow more of his own people to escape.

He pulled off the big bow from his back and shouted: "Send the arrow!"

On the top of Yecheng City, Shen Pei heard the shouts of killing coming from far away, and immediately ordered Chun Yuqiong to set off with the second group of wooden platoons and rush to the direction of Zhang He.

"Send someone to pick up the envoy and leave the city immediately!"

The soldiers of Jizhou immediately formed a formation on the spot, and the soldiers of the wooden platoon panicked and fled towards Yecheng. Within half a moment, Zhang He saw a Cao army rushing towards them from a distance.

"And if Chunyu Qiong and the others fail, Cao Jun can enter the city through the gap, and the city wall will be meaningless."

When Tian Feng saw that all the soldiers who knew how to swim rushed over, and almost all of the remaining thousands of people did not know how to swim, he asked, "What should we do now?"

Shortly after Chunyu Qiong left with more than a thousand soldiers, the soldiers Zhang He asked for help came back in a wooden platoon and told the story of the enemy attack. Shen Pei listened, and Gao Lan, also known as Gao Lan, went to support with hundreds of remaining soldiers.

Yuan Shang was lying on the stretcher, and two guards were carrying the stretcher. Hong and Liu held on to both sides of the stretcher, and stepped onto the rickety raft in fear. Neither of them knew how to swim. If it capsized, they would be the same as Yuan Shang. It was over together, so my legs and feet were weak, and I struggled several times before I could get up.

The soldier held up his bamboo pole, and the raft immediately left the shore and turned and floated forward. Ms. Liu felt that the sewage instantly filled the raft and wet her skirt and shoes. She couldn't help but let out a scream of fear. .

Mrs. Liu gave Hong a fierce look and cursed, "Why, seeing Shang'er like this, do you want to overthrow her?"

At that moment, he shouted loudly: "Hold the shore and wait for reinforcements from the city to come!"

Shen Pei gritted his teeth and said, "It's too late. There's no point in waiting at this time. Maybe Cao Jun will have reinforcements."

Strings of wooden rafts floated out of the city wall, and accidents continued to occur along the way. Some rafts were tied with ropes that were unraveled, some lost their balance and capsized, some were too deep and sank, and some were too big and got stuck in the gap, and were directly hit by people behind. It was being demolished, and there were constant shouts and scolds.

Yuan Shang was almost unconscious and naturally could not control the Liu family. The Hong family was trembling and whispered: "Sir, if you speak too loudly, you may attract enemy troops."

"Wait until the three generals repel Cao's army, and then send the envoy out of the city?"

There was a big clan whose raft was stuck in the gap in the second city wall because it carried too many goods and the water was too deep. The elder of the clan asked his servants to go into the water to lift the raft. However, after trying several times, it was too heavy and could not be lifted. move.

The people behind him were already impatient and yelled and cursed, telling him to get away. The clan leader blushed, but these were all valuables, so he was reluctant to give them up and just gave orders.

As a result, more and more rafts were blocked behind, and the shouts and curses gradually increased. The elders saw that they were about to be outraged, but they still gritted their teeth and persisted. Unexpectedly, the rafts behind them suddenly bumped into each other, and several people took the opportunity to jump on. The wooden raft, fists and feet were used together to push the house slave who was still cleaning the gap into the water. The clan leader was furious and shouted: "Who is it?"

"You dare to touch my family"

Before he could say anything, a heavy punch hit him in the face, knocking him down hard. The person who punched him spat on him and cursed: "Why, you still have to punish me if you dare to punish me." Life?"

"Damn it, you are still harming people at this time, what the hell!"

After saying that, he kicked the clan elder into the water. The clan elder screamed and struggled in the water before disappearing into the water. He didn't know where he was washed away.

Several men threw all the goods on the raft into the water, pushed the raft away, jumped on the raft behind, and laughed: "Let's go!"

Seeing several men rushing through the gap with wooden rafts, the people behind quickly followed. Some were happy, and some were worried, because they all recognized that the clan just now was from the Shenpei clan. They had relied on the Shenpei clan before. , quite domineering, but unexpectedly he was thrown into the water and killed!

This also made the children of these aristocratic families wary. At this time, everyone is in danger, and the name of any aristocratic family is not useful. The aristocratic family is already hated by the common people, so it seems that it is better to keep a low profile!

On the wooden raft, the leading man smiled at a woman wearing a bamboo hat and said, "It's better to work with Commander Yang!"

That woman was Yang Feng, the reason why she came to Yecheng. One is to lead the Taiping Dao forces loyal to her to leave, and the other is to deliver news from inside and outside the city in accordance with Yuan Xi's requirements. Only with her skills can she freely come and go from Ye City, which is besieged by water.

Now the remaining task is to escort the Yuan family to break out of the encirclement. Of course, this is just incidental. Yang Feng also took the opportunity to escape. After all, there is no Jizhou army to break out of the encirclement. Yang Feng can protect himself alone, but he wants to lead out Taiping. The Taoist crowd is unable to catch up.

As the raft gradually approached the northern shore, the shouts of killing got closer and closer. Yang Feng squinted his eyes and found that the situation of the Jizhou soldiers on the shore was not optimistic.

Cao Jun dispatched cavalry to harass and rush into the formation. Facing the Jizhou soldiers, who only had less than 2,000 soldiers, they already had an advantage in numbers. Coupled with the convenient location, they took turns to launch offensives against Chunyu Qiong, Zhang He and others who were trapped on the shore. The rain of arrows forced the Jizhou soldiers to retreat steadily, and they were about to retreat into the water.

What's worse is that it seems that the Jizhou soldiers have lost their fighting spirit, the counselors and commanders seem to be sleepwalking, and the generals are hesitant. Yang Feng was surprised when he saw it, and wondered what happened?

As her raft approached the shore, she found Shen Pei and other counselors sitting solemnly around a stretcher. There were cries coming from inside. She saw it from a distance and became even more confused, so she shrank back. While no one was paying attention, she slowly approached the place, and the intermittent sounds reached her ears.

After listening to a few words, she finally understood what happened. It turned out that Yuan Shang's injury worsened and he died of illness on the raft!

Yang Feng found it ridiculous. Although Yuan Xi had also taken care of her and asked her to protect Yuan Shang from escaping while ensuring safety, Yang Feng never thought that Yuan Shang was not killed by Cao's army, but died at this time. , died so quietly, it is really unpredictable.

After Yuan Shang's death, the morale of the army was greatly shaken. There were originally surrender factions in Jizhou. Seeing that Yuan Shang was dead and the object of loyalty was gone, and Cao's army was attacking aggressively, many people immediately became interested.

The officials in Jizhou are making a lot of noise at the moment, and some people openly said that they would surrender. Gao Lan, who was guarding the formation at the rear, simply laughed in anger. I am still working hard, but you still have the nerve to say surrender?

In this situation, it is up to us, the generals with the troops, to decide whether we can surrender or not. It is not you, the civil servants, who are forced to count!

He was about to turn around and yell, but he heard a thud, and the head of the most ruthless official who shouted to surrender to the enemy was directly pierced by an iron spear, and he fell to the ground.

This scared everyone, but Yang Feng took back the gun head nonchalantly and stared at the officials lazily.

The people she glanced at didn't dare to look at them, wondering where did this fierce god with scars on his face come from?

Shen Pei, who had been watching with a cold eye, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it. He thought that this would save a lot of troubles. He said: "Cao Jun goes back on his words and may not let us go. Instead of pinning his hopes on them, we should work together." Go ahead and talk!"

Everyone listened and responded one after another. How dare they not listen? There were people staring at them with guns on the side!

Shen Pei looked into the distance and said loudly: "If you want to break out of the encirclement, you must act immediately. When daybreak, there will be nothing to hide from, and no one can escape!"

"After the soldiers and civilians come ashore, we will break out together under the leadership of the three generals. Whether we can escape depends on our luck!"

An hour passed. After Zhang He and others repelled two attacks by Cao Jun, tens of thousands of people fled from the city one after another. They were all crowded on the shore, and there was almost no place to stay.

Seeing that the time was ripe, the judge said: "As the soldiers in front advance to break through, whether you can escape or not depends on your destiny!"

With an order, Chunyu Qiong, Zhang He and Gao Lan each led hundreds of soldiers. They shouted at the Cao army's formation and rushed forward. Behind them were tens of thousands of people who could not conceal their panic.

Hong supported Mrs. Liu and hid in the crowd anxiously. Now that Yuan Shang was dead, not many people cared about them anymore. There were only a few guards. Apart from that, the only one who could rely on them was herself!

(End of this chapter)