At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 241 March offensive and defensive battle, the public overthrew and rushed to Yuan Yingzhai
Looking at Liu Bei who was full of loss and grief, Zhou Qi didn't know how to comfort him.

In the final analysis, Liu Bei placed too much emphasis on love and justice.

Otherwise, according to the original strategy, after using Zhang Fei as bait to detect that Yuan Jun really has an ambush, he should decisively lead his troops to retreat.

In this way, even if Zhang Fei and his 800 men were completely destroyed, they would not be injured.

The only strange thing is that the relationship between Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei was so deep that even though Liu Bei knew that Yuan Jun might have set up an ambush, he still led his troops to the rescue without hesitation.

At this point, I have to admire Xun You's wisdom for being able to take advantage of Liu Bei's weakness and use Zhang Fei as bait to lure him into his trap.

"This defeat is not due to the fault of the battle. Xuande Gong still needs to cheer up his troops and prepare for war. I believe that after last night's battle, the morale of Yuan's army will be greatly boosted."

"Next, we will face a very serious battle to defend the city."

"If Tan County is destroyed, all the people in the city will become homeless dogs!"

Liu Bei forced a smile on his face and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Thank you, General, for saving your life. Even if you want to live up to Yide and live up to the people in the city, Bei will never dare to let down his guard."

As expected, it was not what Zhou Qi expected.

In the following time, Yuan Jun maintained a high-intensity attack on Tan County, relying on his superior strength to attack the city almost day and night.

Yuan Jun built a ladder and rushed his chariots to attack the city. Zhou Qi fired rockets at the ladder, burning everyone on the ladder to death. Several batches of ladders built by Yuan Jun were all burned to the ground.

Zhou Qi also ordered people to use ropes and stone mills to crush the ram. The ram was smashed and Yuan's army was not allowed to enter.

Yuan Shao saw that ordinary siege methods were not effective, so he asked Xun You for advice. Xun You said: "The defenders of Tan County rely on the advantage of the city wall, and the crossbowmen can shoot from high places, so they naturally have a range advantage. Our army sieges the city and is killed by crossbows." There are countless of them.”

"The king can order people to build a well railing as high as the city wall, install wheels under the well railing, and set up crossbowmen to cover the army's attack on the city."

Yuan Shao followed his advice and ordered his people to build many wells overnight. When the army attacked the city, these moving arrow towers caused great casualties to the defenders in the city.

With the cover of the crossbowmen above the well, more of Yuan's soldiers climbed onto the city wall. The two sides launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle on the city wall, causing casualties on each other.

Zhou Qi knew that the wells were too heavy and inconvenient to move. When Yuan's army withdrew after the siege, he sent elite soldiers to rush out of the city and was caught off guard and destroyed all the wells.

Zhou Qi knew that Yuan Shao would definitely order the construction of a well. In order to prevent the crossbowmen from shooting at the well, he hurriedly ordered people to build shields overnight.

Sure enough, Yuan Shao saw that although the well was destroyed, it had achieved good results, so he ordered people to build it overnight.

After the well was built, Yuan Shao prepared to repeat his old tricks and attack the city again.

With the experience and lessons learned from the previous destruction of the Jinglan, Yuan Shao sent many soldiers and horses to guard the Jinglan. As long as the soldiers and horses of Tan County dared to leave the city, Yuan's army would get what they wanted thanks to their large number of soldiers and generals.

But this time, because the city was equipped with many shields, the effectiveness of the wells was greatly reduced.

On the other hand, Yuan Jun had to climb the city wall and hold weapons, so he could not spare his hands to carry a shield. Naturally, he suffered heavy casualties.
Seeing that this plan failed, Xun You planned to adopt the stupidest method of siege with the lowest success rate, which was to use the well gate as a cover and let Yuan's soldiers carry earth, stone and mud balls to fill the trench, hoping to pave a road directly to the top of the city wall.

The reason why this strategy is said to be the stupidest tactic with the lowest success rate is because it takes a long time and requires many soldiers and horses. Moreover, the opponent will definitely be on guard and there will be countless people in the process. Died by random arrows.

Sure enough, Zhou Qi saw that he could not stop Yuan Jun from filling the city wall with earth and rocks, so he ordered his men to build the wall inside the city again at night.

Yuan Jun paid a heavy price and finally climbed onto the city wall, only to find that he could not make any achievements at all.

Xun You once again proposed a plan, asking Yuan Shao to attack the city with great fanfare, but secretly dig tunnels in the dense forest outside the city, hoping to send surprise troops into the city from underground.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Qi had already been on guard. He used Weng Ting's method to find out the direction of Yuan Jun's tunnel, and then cut through the ground in the city. After the tunnel was dug, he poured water into it.

All those who entered the tunnel by Yuan's army were drowned.

In this way, Yuan Shao tried his best to attack Tan County for a hundred days, but Tan County was still impregnable.

As time passed, the casualties of Yuan's army on the siege side were significantly higher, and the soldiers gradually showed fatigue and fear of war.

Looking back at the city.

Liu Bei patrolled the city every day to boost morale. The people of Tan County, who were originally frightened by the previous defeat, gradually calmed down and their fear of Yuan Jun was not as strong as before.

Yuan Shao was upset when he saw that Tan County could not be conquered for a long time, and that the food supply for the army's expedition was gradually declining.

Yuan Shaonan's expedition this time was indeed too hasty and the accumulation was not deep enough.

You know, when Gongsun Zan was still alive, Yuan Shao almost never went to war, and almost all the grain and grass he collected every year was exhausted.

After finally killing Gongsun Zan and defeating the Black Mountain Army, he had to place nearly a million Black Mountain bandits, during which he also spent countless money and food.

Moreover, when Cao Cao surrendered Yanzhou, Yuan Shao also suffered a lot of bleeding and gave Cao Cao a lot of money and food.

It is precisely for this reason that despite the fact that Yuan Shao occupies five states and has countless people under his jurisdiction, he actually does not have much food and grass to mobilize.

Now that the army has been fighting hard for more than three months, and the supply line is relatively long, Yuan Shao also feels a little weak.

On top of that, the weather is getting colder as the days go by.

If Tan County cannot be conquered before the blizzard comes, the cost of the army's expedition may increase several times after the temperature drops.

Even if enough clothes and quilts are prepared, there may be many non-combat casualties.

Yuan Shao was unwilling to start a war in winter unless he had no choice.

Just when Yuan Shao was feeling depressed and wanted to withdraw his troops but was unwilling to do so, he saw his eldest son Yuan Tan walking in with a man full of joy.

When Yuan Shao saw his eldest son Yuan Tan, he couldn't help but frown slightly and asked, "If you don't go to the army to take charge, why are you doing this?"

As the eldest son of Yuan Shao, Yuan Tan now serves as the governor of Qingzhou. He is the one with the most war experience among his sons and is also the closest to Xuzhou.

It was for this reason that when Yuan Shao attacked Xuzhou, he brought Yuan Tan over.

However, Yuan Shao still loved his third son Yuan Shang more after all.

In fact, in order to pass the position to Yuan Shang in the future, Yuan Shao planned to adopt him to his late brother Yuan Ji.

From this we can also see how partial Yuan Shao is.

Logically speaking, even if you want to give your deceased brother an adopted heir, you should adopt a concubine or younger son.

Yuan Shao did the opposite and directly adopted his eldest son to Yuan Ji. Yuan Shao did this deliberately because of Yuan Tan's achievements and his status as the eldest son.Didn't Yuan Shu remove Yuan Shao from the Yuan family in Runan now?
As the elder brother of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, and the eldest son of Yuan Feng, Yuan Ji actually has the right to inherit the Yuan family in Runan.

Unfortunately, when Yuan Shao launched an army to attack Dong Zhuo, Yuan Ji and many Yuan clan members were killed by Dong Zhuo.

As the adopted concubine of the Yuan family to Yuan Feng, Yuan Shao's status was naturally not as good as that of Yuan Shu, so he was manipulated by him at every turn.

Now, Yuan Shao adopts his eldest son to his deceased brother Yuan Ji, which can not only make him the legal heir of the Yuan family in Runan, but also avoid Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang from competing for inheritance rights. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.

In this way, Yuan Shao can regain control over the Yuan family in Runan reasonably and legally, and relieve himself of his worries. Why not?
Yuan Tan saw his father's face and knew that he was acting like this because of the difficulty in attacking the city. He immediately smiled and said: "Father, let's see who the child brought here?"

Yuan Shao raised his head and looked at the strong man following Yuan Tan. He frowned slightly and said, "Who is this?"

Yuan Tan did not dare to betray himself and said hurriedly: "This is Sun Wentai's old army, which was succeeded by Lingling Huanggong. Now he is the general under the command of Sun Wentai's son Sun Bofu."

Yuan Shao's expression moved slightly and he said: "Didn't Sun Bofu defect to Liu Xuande? Why did Huang Gongfu appear in our army?"

Yuan Tan said: "Let General Huang tell his father personally about the reason."

When Huang Gai saw Yuan Shao's gaze, he immediately took off his shirt and turned around.

Yuan Shao looked up and saw that Huang Gai's back was covered with whip marks. Although he had been given medicine, he was still dripping with blood.

Yuan Shao asked in surprise: "Where did these injuries come from?"

When Huang Gai heard this, he couldn't help but feel sad. After putting on his clothes, he knelt on the ground and said bitterly: "Before, the young general thought Liu Bei was a hero, and his old master, General Sun, was killed by Yuan Shu, so he took us to Xuzhou." .”

"I never thought that after I surrendered to Liu Bei, I wouldn't be able to use him again."

"The thing that makes us most dissatisfied is that Liu Bei colluded with Yuan Shuhang, who killed General Sun. This move made both the Major General and us dissatisfied."

"Before, I just drank too much and talked about Liu Bei. I said that he did not know his own strength and rashly resisted the king's heavenly soldiers, thus losing the army and generals. Even his third brother Zhang Fei, who was as close as a brother, died in the battle."

"I never thought that these words would reach Liu Bei's ears, causing him to become furious, and he would have people beat me like this."

"If the young general had not repeatedly begged for mercy, I would have ordered Liu Bei to kill him."

At this point, Huang Gai's face became more resentful and he said: "The young general and our old subordinates, General Sun, know that Liu Bei is a rebellious minister and a traitor, so they are willing to surrender to the king of Zhao. Please accept it."

Hearing this, Yuan Shao's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he hurriedly stepped forward to help Huang Gai up, then turned to Yuan Tan and scolded: "The Duke was so seriously injured, why aren't you the best among the generals?" Invite a military doctor?"

Yuan Shao knew Liu Bei's character, but Yuan Shao didn't believe him if he ordered his generals to be whipped without any reason.

It's just that Zhang Fei can be regarded as Liu Bei's inverse scale, and Huang Gai happened to be Liu Bei's bad luck.

What's more, the defenders in the city are under great pressure to defend the city. If someone were to deceive the people and disrupt the morale of the army at this time, even Yuan Shao would never tolerate it.

Therefore, Yuan Shao did not become suspicious.

Yuan Tan was overjoyed when he heard this and knew that he was right to bring people here this time, so he hurried out to summon the military doctor.

Yuan Shao helped Huang Gai sit down and sighed: "In the past, I had a close relationship with Sun Wentai for a long time. I respected him as a hero of the world. However, he was confused by Yuan Shu, so he and I were always on the opposite side."

"I learned that Sun Wentai was harmed by Yuan Shu. I don't know how long he was injured."

"Today I can see his old department, naturally I feel happy."

"His descendant Sun Bofu is also considered an orphan nephew. If he is willing to lead the people to surrender, it is no problem to be made a marquis and a general!"

Huang Gai was moved to tears and worshiped again: "Your Majesty is so kind, and we are willing to die in repayment."

Yuan Shao smiled and said: "There is no need to retaliate with death. As long as Sun Bofu is willing to lead his troops and open the city gate to help Gu Gu capture Tan County, it will be a great achievement."

"At that time, Gu Bing will report to the Emperor to show you that you have made the first contribution to this battle!"

Huang Gai said: "It is said that a good bird chooses a tree to roost in, and a wise minister chooses his master to serve. Liu Bei is not a master of the Ming Dynasty, and he cannot avenge his old master. Naturally, we are willing to abandon the dark side and join the bright side, and die for your great king!"

At this moment, Yuan Tan had arrived with the best military doctor in the army.

Yuan Shao first asked the military doctor to treat Huang Gai's injuries, but he hurriedly summoned his subordinates and civil servants to tell them all about Sun Ce's surrender.

Hearing this, everyone had different expressions

Most people were delighted after hearing the news.

Yuan's army had been attacking Tan County for several months without defeat, and had reached a dilemma. At this time, Sun Ce led his troops to surrender. It can only be said that God bless Yuan Shao.

Once Sun Ce opens the city gate and welcomes Yuan's army into the city, the Zhou and Liu coalition forces will inevitably be defeated, and Yuan Shao will be able to capture the entire Xuzhou even if he doesn't help.

Among the people, only Jushou and Xunyou looked thoughtful.

Especially Xun You, his brows furrowed slightly, obviously thinking about the problem.

"Sun Ce led the crowd to surrender. God bless the king. Congratulations!"

Feng Ji, Shen Pei and others all expressed their congratulations. Yuan Shao stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes slightly, and had a slight smile on his face.

However, when Yuan Shao saw the silent Ju Shou and the frowning Xun You, he felt a thump in his heart and asked them, "Why didn't you two say a word?"

Jushou and Xunyou looked at each other, and finally Jusuke was the first to speak, saying: "Your Majesty, you still need to be cautious. Please allow me to go and check what Huang Gong said to prevent any fraud."

Xun You also said: "Sun Ce didn't surrender sooner or later. It would be too much of a coincidence that he surrendered when we were in a dilemma and urgently needed a force to break the deadlock."

"What General Ju said is true. Huang Gongfu should indeed be scrutinized."

Yuan Shao frowned slightly, obviously a little unhappy, but out of trust in the two people's wisdom, he finally decided to follow their words.

In this way, Yuan Shao and others hid behind the screen. Jushou and Xun You summoned Huang Gai and took turns talking to them. They asked many questions about the military situation in the city, and Huang Gai told them everything.

Even though there were many traps in the words between the two of them, Huang Gai always answered fluently and could not see any flaws at all.

After the inquiry, Yuan Shao first asked Huang Gai to stay down to rest, then looked at the two of them and said with a smile: "How, can you see something is wrong?"

Ju Shou and Xun You looked at each other and said, "Looking at his indignation, it doesn't look like he's faking it. His injuries are quite serious, and there are no loopholes in his words. There is no doubt that he really wants to surrender."

　The title has an extra twist and is asymmetrical. The writer can't change it, so let's leave it at that.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)