Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 951 Winter Siege
Zhuge Liang guessed Cao Cao's thoughts without reading further. Sure enough, when he looked down, the letter said that Cao Cao proposed to join forces with Yuan Xi, and both sides would go south and divide the world equally.

Zhuge Liang thought that if they go south, wouldn't Cao Cao take Jingyi and Yuan Xi go to attack Jiangdong?
Is this really provoking Yuan Xi and Sun Quan to fight in a fight where both sides will lose? Cao Cao will make a lot of money by taking Jing Yi, and then turn around and reap the benefits to deal with the two disabled sides?
Only those with brain replacement would agree to such a proposal, right?

Zhuge Liang knew about this clumsy provocation strategy, and Yuan Xi must have noticed it too. The key is that Cao Cao behaved like this at this time, showing that he was confident and knew that Yuan Xi would not be able to deal with it at this time.

And even if Yuan Xi told Jiang Dong the inside story of Cao Cao's intention to provoke him, Sun Quan would definitely end up in trouble in his dizzy state. He was probably still thinking of relying on Cao Cao to become the king, so he would never do it at this time. Fall out with Cao Cao.

Zhuge Liang had to admit that Cao Cao was extremely sophisticated in political and psychological skills. He could fight him on the battlefield, but in a confrontation with Cao Cao who had the emperor as a tool, he was somewhat powerless in the court.

He thought about it for several days, and finally wrote a letter to Yuan Xi, saying that Yuan Xi should wait and see what happens at this time. Even if he could not change the result of Cao Cao's false claim that Yuan Xi accepted the canonization, he would still appeal to the emperor through legitimate channels to refuse. .

At the same time, Zhuge Liang reminded Yuan Xi to communicate well with the Gongsundu family. After all, everyone in the world knew that the emperor Liu Xie had promised that if the Gongsun family could capture Goguryeo, he would be crowned king. Now, under Cao Cao's control, the matter has gone nowhere. , but Yuan Xi was walking in front, which could easily arouse the suspicion of the Gongsun family.

After this letter arrived in Yuan Xi's hands, Yuan Xi realized that he had ignored the Gongsun Du family. If the Gongsun family was dissatisfied and colluded with Cao Cao, his own rear might be in trouble.

With this thought in mind, he discussed with his subordinates for several days, and finally wrote a letter to Jushou and asked Gao Lan to take it with him, asking him to pay close attention to the movements of the Gongsun Du family, and at the same time sell some benefits to the Gongsun family.

Before Gao Lan left, Yuan Xi held his hand and said, "I remember that Mrs. Zhen should have given birth too? My brother just happened to go back and take good care of her. At the same time, I will help Duke Xiang and my husband to prepare for Jicheng."

Yuan Xi said: "It's just a feint, but the show must be real so that the people inside think we are just unwilling."

Gao Lan understood that Yuan Xi was going back to help stabilize the relationship between the Wuhuan and Gongsundu families. He then bid farewell to Yuan Xi and led his troops back to Jicheng.

In fact, he quite agreed with Sun Li's words. Fighting in this weather was simply a matter of going up to the battlefield. If his feet were really frozen due to wading in the water, there would be no need to fight.

Sun Li wondered: "In this icy and snowy environment, straw sandals will definitely not be used. It is reasonable to give each person a pair of leather boots, but why don't you think they are hard to use?"

He had been following Yuan Xi for a long time and knew that Yuan Xi would never do anything useless, so he could only say: "Take it one step at a time, the weather will not let us go into the river to fight, but we must be prepared accordingly. "

Sun Li took people to the armory to check the weapons, and happened to meet Zhang Fang who had arrived one step ahead. Now the relationship between the two has greatly eased. The two squatted on the ground to inspect the weapons and armor while chatting.

Gao Lan smiled bitterly and said, "Lan's ability is limited and he can't help my lord in any way. I'm really ashamed."

Zhao Yun looked at the wind and snow in front of him and said worriedly: "In this weather, it will be difficult to climb up the city wall."

Yuan Xi returned to the camp and said to Tian Yu: "Send spies from the Procuratorate to find out what happened to the Gongsun family and why the pace of conquering Goguryeo seems to have stalled in the past two years."

"It's very troublesome if ice and snow get your shoes wet, but if you're just marching, there's still a way."

Sun Li hurriedly asked: "What can we do?"

"Although the moat is frozen, you still have to wade through it. I'm afraid your feet will freeze in less than half an hour. How can we fight?"

After hearing the news, Yuan Xijun became busy, but many people also didn't understand. The Chinese New Year is less than half a month away, and it's freezing and snowy. Attacking the city at this time?
At this time, Yuan Xi's army had gone through several expansions. Most of the previous personal guards led the army alone. The outstanding ones were Zhang Fang and Sun Li. After several army reorganizations, both of them were now Yuan Xi's generals, responsible for assaults at critical moments. Break the formation.

During this period of time, he made many military exploits by attacking the city and breaking the formation. However, when the weather got cold, his old injury recurred and he was no longer suitable for the military formation, so he was sent back, so he felt somewhat unwilling to do so. of.

Yuan Xi said: "Brother has conquered many cities in the past six months and has done a good job. Next, I will rely on my brother to take charge of the western Liaoning border."

Tian Yu took the order to arrange manpower, and Yuan Xi found Zhao Yun again and said: "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, let's launch the last attack on Jinyang."

Zhao Yun knew that Yuan Xi must have some ideas, so he immediately took the order and left. The military camps in each city received the order to assemble their troops and set off one day later. Five days later, they joined forces to attack the city in the Taiyuan Plain south of Jinyang.

Zhang Fang explained: "If there are wooden or bamboo boards, they can be perforated after being flattened and tied to the soles of the feet with hemp ropes, which can isolate most of the ice and snow."

"If they really don't want to attack Goguryeo, they won't force it. When the time comes, we will occupy the three Koreas of the Korean Peninsula from the sea as a springboard to the Wonu Kingdom, and then deal with Goguryeo later."

Zhang Fang picked up a pair of sheepskin boots and carefully counted them. These shoes are good shoes. They are sheep donated by the Southern Huns tribe. They are made by peeling and tanning them. They are also lined with linen. They are quite warm and light, but they are really good. The shoes are not durable enough to stand in the ice and snow.

"Of course, it will be inconvenient during combat. It is best to dismantle it."

Sun Li praised: "This method is good." Then his face turned bitter. In the ice and snow, how could he have time to cut down the wood?
Zhang Fang saw Sun Li's difficulty and said with a smile: "It's not like there is nothing to replace it. Either wrap it with a few more layers of straw, or wrap it with old clothes."

Sun Li sighed: "That's all we can do."

"But I can't figure out how to capture Jinyang in this situation." Zhang Xingxin said that he couldn't figure it out either, but he could only obey orders when the time came.

As Yuan Xi's army gathered in the south of Jinyang, the city of Jinyang soon learned that Yuan Xi's army was about to attack the city. King Gu Li immediately summoned the tribal generals to discuss countermeasures.

The current garrison in the city is headed by the chiefs of the Southern Xiongnu clans, and is assisted by some private soldiers of the Bingzhou Shang clan. However, the number of Bingzhou Shang clan is obviously much smaller.

The reason for this is that in the past few months, there have been several civil strife in the city, and the Bingzhou Shang clan was mostly involved. In order to calm down the situation in the city, King Gu Li went out of his way to kill a group of people, and the Bingzhou Shang clan was naturally the first to bear the brunt. .

For the Southern Xiongnu, they had long coveted the wealth of the Bingzhou Shang clan. After all, no matter how much money the Bingzhou Shang clan turned over to the Southern Xiongnu, it could not compare with the huge wealth of the Bingzhou Shang clan themselves.

So the Southern Xiongnu expanded the scope of their attack with ulterior motives, and adopted very ruthless measures against the Bingzhou Shang clan who were suspected or even apparently framed. They not only severely punished the suspected traitors, but also implicated some innocent families and confiscated their property. , in this series of blows, the heads of the various tribes of the Southern Xiongnu made a lot of money.

This has led to the current situation of cooperation between the two parties being completely unbalanced. The Bingzhou Shang Clan has been completely reduced to a vassal. There are still nearly 30,000 defenders in the city, and the Bingzhou Shang Clan’s private soldiers have only two to three thousand people, and they cannot cause any big trouble. .

Therefore, in the current hall, apart from the more than twenty generals of the Southern Huns, there are only three representatives of the Bingzhou Shang clan. They have almost no say now and just follow orders.

King Guli called out a Southern Huns general in front of him, who was specially responsible for intelligence spying. He told the news from the spies, and said: "It is estimated that the other party has gathered at least 20,000 people, and the number of people is still large." is increasing.”

A general said: "At this time of ice and snow, wouldn't attacking the city be courting death?"

"Are you trying to scare us with this siege?"

Someone agreed: "That's true. Didn't the fierce tiger let several generals leave a few days ago? If they were really attacking the city, how could they divide their troops at this time?"

Others nodded in agreement. Although they were besieged, the siege was not tight, so their spies were somewhat aware of Yuan Xijun's movements.

Someone reminded: "We must be careful. We are afraid of seeing the severe cold in winter. The moat outside the city is already frozen, so we want to take the opportunity to cross the moat and attack the city."

Someone immediately suggested: "This is not easy. Let's order people to leave the city now and smash the entire river surface!"

The generals all laughed and said, "What a great idea!"

"Let's see how they come over then!"

The left and right King Guli discussed it and called out the first representative of the Bingzhou Shang clan, saying: "You bring your family's private soldiers out, and you must break the entire moat today!"

After hearing this, the man cried bitterly: "I'd like to inform you two adults. The villain's family only has a few hundred private soldiers. It's too difficult to dig a moat of nearly a hundred miles in one day!"

After hearing this, King Yougu Li said displeasedly: "Why, you are trying to do things because of three obstacles. Do you want to surrender to the enemy?"

The man quickly knelt down and said he didn't dare. King Guli looked at each other and felt quite proud in his heart. Almost all the Bingzhou Shang clan had been wiped out by them, and they no longer had the strength or qualifications to talk to each other on an equal footing. Right now They give each other problems, and they just take the opportunity to beat each other.

But the weather was freezing, and King Guli would not be willing to let soldiers from his tribe do such dirty work, so the two discussed for a while and said, "That's it, you go back to find other families and send out all the troops." Private soldiers, give you a day and a night to dig out the river!"

"If you cannot complete it, you will be punished severely!"

After hearing this, several representatives of the Bingzhou Shang clan had no choice but to bow their heads and accept the order, while sighing and walking out.

After they left, the leader of the Southern Xiongnu clan said: "It's best to find someone to keep an eye on them."

"If they take the opportunity to escape and open the city gate saying they surrendered to the enemy, they will be in trouble."

After hearing this, King Yougu Li sneered and said: "It's easy to handle. After they go out, close the city gate first, wait for them to dig the moat, and then let them in."

"As for them daring to escape, that's an excuse to confiscate the rest of their property. Let's organize a gang. As long as one family commits crime, all the merchants will confiscate their homes together!"

"After all, those who are not ours will be exterminated sooner or later. No matter whether it is wealth or population, there is nothing better than keeping it safe for ourselves!"

Everyone laughed loudly after hearing this.

Soon after, more than two thousand private soldiers from the Bingzhou Shang clan filed out of the city carrying tools. As soon as the last of them walked out, the city gate slammed shut.

Several leading Bingzhou Shang clan leaders saw this and cursed in their hearts, but now they are like fish on a chopping board, what else can they do?
(End of this chapter)