Ji Han Liu Zhang

Hedong, Anyi.

During the Xia Dynasty, Xia Yu divided the country into nine states, and Anyi belonged to Jizhou. Later, Xia Yu's son Qi abandoned Yangdi and moved west to Dayi, where he built Anyi. In later generations, the State of Wei established its capital in Anyi.

For this reason, since the Xia Dynasty, Anyi has been either a capital or an important place for many generations. Today, Anyi City is still an important city, that is, the county seat of Hedong County.

As the governor of Hedong, Fa Zheng was currently stationed in Anyi City, the county seat. Since Hedong was adjacent to Shangdang and Henei, it was the front line of the confrontation with Hebei.

Therefore, Fa Zheng had a very heavy burden on his shoulders. On the one hand, he had to govern the country and ensure the safety of the people, and govern the local area. On the other hand, he had to always pay attention to the developments in Hebei so as to be prepared and avoid being killed by Yuan Shao by surprise.

Before the summer harvest this year, Fa Zheng learned from spies sent to Hebei that Yuan Shao intended to invade Hedong. As time passed, when the summer harvest was over and Hebei troops had a large-scale westward movement, Fa Zheng confirmed that Yuan Shao wanted to take Hedong and advance to Guanzhong.

Fa Zheng was neither panicked nor hurried about such a major event, because in order to resist the attack of Yuan's army, Hedong had already made preparations for one or two years and had made three or four defense plans, just waiting for Yuan's army to arrive.

Now that Yuan's army was on the scene, Fa Zheng came up with a corresponding defense plan based on the situation that Yuan's army was coming from Taiyuan, Shangdang and Henei. Lou Fa was stationed in Yubi to resist the troops from Taiyuan and Shangdang, while Wen Pin and Yin Pu were stationed in Jiangyi and Dongyuan respectively to resist the troops from Henei.

As for Fa Zheng himself, he was stationed in Anyi, managing the situation from the center and controlling the four directions, and taking corresponding measures based on the development of the situation.

Also accompanying Fa Zheng stationed in Anyi City were two great generals, Gan Ning and Zhang Ren. Gan Ning and Zhang Ren had marched into Taiyuan last year, but after retreating to Hedong due to rain and snow, they did not return to Guanzhong, but stayed in Hedong and stationed in Anyi City for repairs.

As the situation developed, Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, who were recuperating in Anyi City, changed their position from recuperating temporarily to stationing in Hedong to resist Yuan's army in Hebei because of Yuan's large-scale invasion of Hedong.

At that moment, after Fa Zheng finished reading the military order document handed over by Chang'an, he looked up at Gan Ning and Zhang Ren.

Gan Ning looked at Fa Zheng with a slightly anxious expression. He hoped to get news about the military order from Fa Zheng. Now that Yuan's army was advancing in a large scale, he intended to fight against Yuan's army and kill their morale.

As for Zhang Ren, his expression was calm as he waited quietly for Fa Zheng to finish reading the document and read out its contents. At the moment, whether it was to fight or defend, he only followed orders and did not think about anything else.

Fa Zheng spread the document on the table and read the contents to Gan Ning and Zhang Ren: "Your Excellency's intention is to use the jade disc to hold back the troops from Taiyuan and Shangdang, and to use Jiangyi and Dongyuan to hold back the troops from Henei. We will stay here for the time being and not do anything else."

Gan Ning looked a little disappointed when he heard this, but he dared not and was unwilling to disobey Liu Zhang's order. Zhang Ren on the side nodded and said, "Even if you asked us to defend Yubi, Jiangyi, and Dongyuan, you should read this order to all the places."

Fa Zheng nodded, and soon, several fast horses galloped out of Anyi City and headed towards Yubi, Jiangyi, Dongyuan and other cities.

into the night.

Fa Zheng summoned Gan Ning and said to him, "I saw Xingba's expression this morning and he seemed unhappy with just defending and wanted to go to war."

Fa Zheng knew Gan Ning's temperament as a brave general who was a former general. He knew that Gan Ning preferred attacking to defending and would not obey the orders from Chang'an to hold on. Therefore, he planned to persuade Gan Ning to give him some advice and unify the opinions and views of the generals in Anyi City.

Gan Ning nodded and said frankly: "As you said, I do want to go to the battle, but..." Gan Ning changed the subject and smiled helplessly: "But you have ordered us to hold the position, and I will obey your orders."

"Besides." Before Fa Zheng could say anything to comfort Gan Ning, Gan Ning continued, "I know that the original intention of your order is to block Yuan's army with several strong cities and wear down Yuan's fighting spirit, while our army can conserve its strength and wait until the time is right and the opportunity to fight emerges, and then we can defeat Yuan's army in one fell swoop."

"Xingba understood, so it seems unnecessary for me to invite Xingba to meet him at night." Fa Zheng laughed at himself, and then he said, "Your Excellency built the jade disk and repaired the cities of Jiangyi and Dongyuan. You wanted to use strong cities to stop the enemy and avoid fighting. Xingba is right."

Gan Ning responded with a smile, "Don't worry, my lord. Your plan is sound and I have no objection. But I have more than 10,000 soldiers stationed here. I have nothing to do and I am resting here for nothing. Some of my bones are getting loose."

After saying this, Gan Ning clenched his fists and pointed them upwards, while stretching his arms behind him to loosen his muscles. His neck also swayed left and right, making a few crisp sounds from the friction of his bones and joints.

"Xingba, take a short break. This is just the beginning of the snack. The main course is still to come." Fa Zhengyan laughed and said, "In a month or two, when Military Advisor Yuan is old and has become a jade-like figure, the opportunity we have been waiting for will come. Now we should conserve our energy and wait for the opportunity to fight."

……

Yubi City.

Yubi City, built on the bank of the Fen River, controlled the Fen River channel, preventing Yuan's army from wantonly transporting troops through the Fen River and advancing towards the Yellow River to enter Guanzhong. They could only pull out Yubi, the iron nail stuck in the Fen River, and then plan their advance.

Now Yuan Shao had joined forces with the troops from Taiyuan, with a force of 60,000 to 70,000, claiming to have 600,000 troops. They had set up camps all around Yubi City and surrounded it completely. Looking from the starry sky at night, Yubi City seemed like a small boat in a sea of ​​bonfires in Yuan’s camps, as if it would be capsized by the sea at any moment.

At night, the moon was bright in the sky, but the stars were dim. Yuan Shao, who led the army in Hebei, did not sleep. He looked out at Yubi City from afar on a hill. He saw Yubi City lying on a high platform like a crouching tiger.

After observing for a while, Yuan Shao frowned and asked the counselors behind him: "Gentlemen, Lou Fa is ignorant of the current situation and is determined to compete with me. Do you have a good plan to help me capture Yubi City and kill this rebellious villain?"

Yuan Shao was always furious with Lou Fa, the defender of Yubi City. He sent envoys many times to persuade Lou Fa to surrender, bringing valuable gifts and promising him wealth and honor. His intentions could not be more sincere.

However, Lou Fa actually played a trick on him. He first swindled three boxes of wealth from him, and then swindled ten boxes of gold and silver. Such treachery and hypocrisy would have been fine, but he also whipped the envoy he sent dozens of times and then expelled him from the city.

When beating a dog, one must look at the owner first. Just like the envoy who was whipped said, Lou Fa didn't hit the envoy's buttocks, but Yuan Shao's face. He was slapping him in the face. At the same time, the envoy brought back Lou Fa's response: "The one I serve is a wise master. For example, Yuan Shao, Han Fu gave up Jizhou in the past, which made him successful. However, Yuan Shao indulged his followers and humiliated Han Fu. Fu had no choice but to serve Zhang Miao. Shao still didn't stop and sent an envoy to order Zhang Miao to kill Han Fu. Such a heartless and ungrateful person is not worth serving."

'The messenger reported back, vowing to die as a subordinate of the Grand Marshal, rather than seek life under Yuan Shao.'

Thinking about what Lou Fa had asked the envoy to bring back, the veins on Yuan Shao's handsome and graceful forehead began to throb slightly. The matter of Han Fu was a sore spot in his heart. After all, Han Fu had given Jizhou to him and was indebted to him, and Han Fu's death was more or less related to him. People could not help but regard him as ungrateful and trample on his reputation.

Lou Fa's straightforward message naturally made Yuan Shao feel murderous. He wished he could capture Yubi City right now, capture Lou Fa, and punish him by being torn apart by five horses to vent his hatred.

When Ju Su, Feng Ji, Guo Tu and others heard Yuan Shao asking for advice, Ju Su stood up first and said, "Mr. Mingshou, we can build a hill of earth, look down from a high place, shoot arrows at the top of the city wall, so that the Shu army dare not defend it. Then we can order the fierce soldiers to move forward and take advantage of the opportunity to attack."

After Ju Su finished speaking, Feng Ji was unwilling to be left behind, so he stepped forward and said, "Mingsir, you can dig a tunnel, wait for an opportunity to sneak into the city, and then cooperate with the inside and outside to capture Yubi City in one fell swoop."

Ju Su and Feng Ji suggested the best strategy of building earthen hills and digging tunnels. Guo Tu had no choice but to follow the usual siege tactics and said, "Mr. Mingshou, we should build battering rams and attack the walls of Yubi City. The city will collapse and the walls will break. The city will be undefendable and will surely be taken by our army."

Yuan Shao nodded repeatedly. Building earthen hills and digging tunnels were both good strategies for attacking the city. Of course, building battering rams as Guo Tu mentioned was also a good idea. He might as well give it a try.

As for the strategy of choosing that counselor, after thinking for a while, Yuan Shao turned to his counselors and said, "The earthen hills must be built, the tunnels must be dug, and the battering rams must be constructed. I think within ten days, we should capture the jade disk and make a great splash in Guanzhong."

Yuan Shao listened to the advice of his advisers. He planned to rely on the advantage of numbers and use all means to capture Yubi City in the shortest possible time and behead Lou Fa, the despicable and lowly bandit, to wash away the humiliation brought to him by Lou Fa.

Day two.

When the sky just got light, Yubi's main general Lou Fa saw a large number of Yuan troops gathered in the south of Yubi City. Some of them were holding shovels, while others were holding bamboo baskets. At a glance, Lou Fa understood Yuan's intention - to build a hill.

Due to the large number of Yuan's troops, a hill of earth quickly appeared in front of Lou Fa's eyes like a tall building rising from the ground. By noon, the height of the hill was even as high as the city wall of Yubi.

"There is strength in numbers, and the earthen hill can be built so quickly." Seeing the extraordinary progress of Yuan's army, Lou Fa sighed in his heart. Judging from the current situation, the earthen hill may exceed the height of Yubi City's tower tomorrow. By then, Yuan's army can set up crossbows on the earthen hill and shoot arrows.

Faced with the rapidly rising earthen hills of Yuan's army, Lou Fa thought for a moment, and ordered his men to fetch the wood piled in the city, and ordered his soldiers to start raising the height of the city walls to avoid being dominated by Yuan's army.

Time passed quickly and another day passed. When Yan Liang, who was supervising the construction of the earthen hill, came to the south of Yubi City, he suddenly discovered that the two city towers in the south of Yubi City seemed to be taller than yesterday.

After wiping his sleepy eyes, Yan Liang took a deep breath. The city wall was not just seemingly higher, but was indeed higher than yesterday.

"The Shu army is causing trouble." Yan Liang pointed at the Yubi city tower and cursed loudly. Then he ordered the soldiers to speed up the progress and pile the earthen hill higher in order to surpass the Yubi city tower so that they could attack Yubi city from a high position.

However, when Yan Liang, who had personally supervised the soldiers to raise the earthen hill, climbed up the hill at dusk, he found that his earthen hill was still ten feet shorter than the Yubi city tower. The current height of the earthen hill was calculated by him based on the height of the Yubi city tower in the morning. His earthen hill should have been ten feet higher than the Yubi city.

Without much thought, Yan Liang came up with an answer, that is, Lou Fa was not idle either. While he was raising the earthen hill today, Lou Fa was also raising the height of Yubi's tower.

Looking at the Yubi city tower that was always ten feet higher than the earthen hill, Yan Liang looked somewhat depressed and frustrated. He glanced at the setting sun in the west and the weary birds returning to the forest, then reluctantly went down the earthen hill and walked towards the center of the camp.

On the way, Yan Liang ran into Zhang He, who was in charge of digging the tunnel. He asked Zhang He about the progress of the tunnel digging.

Zhang He, who had a square face and very straight eyebrows, replied: "It is not easy to dig the tunnel. Although He urged the soldiers to dig day and night, it will take some time to dig it through...but..."

Zhang He said with a worried look, "Lou Fa is not a mediocre general. I am worried that the Shu army will find out about the tunnel we dug. They will dig trenches in the city as a warning. By then, even if we dig a tunnel, we will fall into the Shu army's trap."

"Of course not." Yan Liang said disapprovingly, "Our army dug the tunnel in the camp during the day, so how could the Shu army see it? And we only carried out the soil at night when the lights were dim. Even if the Shu army did not have razor-sharp eyes, how could they have known it?"

Zhang He nodded slightly in relief, and asked Yan Liang, "General Yan, how is the earthen hill going now?"

Yan Liang sighed when he heard this: "I raise the earthen hill by one foot, and the Shu army raises the tower by ten feet. Until now, the earthen hill is still ten feet lower than the Shu army's tower, so we can't get the advantage of being high above. I can only hope that the tunnel can have some miraculous effect and help our army break through the jade disk."

In the next few days, Yuan's army attacked the city day and night, and at the same time continued to raise the earthen hill in an attempt to compete with the Shu army's city tower. At the same time, Yuan's army dug a tunnel under the Yubi City Tower and was about to dig into the Yubi City.

That night, more than a hundred elite soldiers of Yuan's army went down the tunnel and moved towards Yubi City from the tunnel. They waited for the last few meters of the tunnel to be dug through before they could jump out of the tunnel and charge towards the city gate. They would then open the city gate to welcome the army in and seize the credit for being the first to reach the city.

However, when Yuan's army began to dig, the earth and rocks in front of them collapsed with a shovel. He stuck his head out and found a ditch suddenly appeared in front of him. At the same time, he exchanged glances with the Shu army guarding the edge of the deep ditch.

"We've fallen into a trap." The Yuan soldier passed the message to his brothers behind him. The Shu army had already dug deep trenches in the city, so their unique strategy of underground tunnels was useless.

Knowing that they had fallen into a trap, Yuan's army began to evacuate. However, the Shu army would not let Yuan's army evacuate so easily. Instead, the Shu army did not go into the tunnel to chase and kill them. Instead, they threw firewood into the tunnel, poured tung oil on it, and set it on fire. Then they used cowhide bags to blow air into the tunnel.

Instantly, the thick smoke and fire blew into the tunnel, blowing towards the fleeing Yuan army in the tunnel. (End of this chapter)