Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Liyang, Yuan Shang's military camp.

The sudden disadvantage made Yuan Shang look extremely anxious, and he spoke and acted with an air of hostility.

The deputy general who failed to move troops to Yecheng was beaten with fifty military sticks by Yuan Shang in public.

This poor general kept going to Yecheng day and night to move troops. After discovering that Yecheng had been captured by Liu Xuan, he
He rushed back to Liyang to report the news.
As a result, Yuan Shang vented his anger on the grounds that he was not doing things well.

The deputy general was running around for days and was tortured on the spot.
Gao Di couldn't carry it over and died in Yuan Shang's tent.

"It's all useless trash, throw it out."

Yuan Shang didn't care at all about the death of his lieutenant. Instead, he felt a little more comfortable after venting the violence in his heart.

"Everyone, the current situation is quite unfavorable to our side, so in the future, everyone needs to be more loyal to their duties and unite as one."

"Although Cao Cao surrendered to Liu Xuan, he is an ambitious man and will never stay here for a long time. Once the fighting on the front line slows down a bit, Cao Cao will definitely cause trouble. So as long as we can hold on, we still have a chance."

After Yuan Shang finished speaking, he glanced around the tent and found that the people below had their heads lowered and were silent, and he suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Then he said to Shen Pei: "Mr. Zhengnan, am I right?"

Shen Pei had been supporting Yuan Shang since the time when Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were fighting for inheritance. At this time, seeing Yuan Shang asking him by name, he had no choice but to stand up and say,
"My lord is right. Although Liu Xuan seems to be powerful, more than half of his troops are actually Cao Cao's old troops."

"If the battlefield is victorious, it will be the credit of Cao Cao's old troops. If the battlefield is unfavorable, Cao Cao's soldiers will definitely complain about being used as cannon fodder by Liu Xuan, so what the lord said is not unreasonable."

"The problem we need to solve now is how to sustain it. The longer we delay, the longer we have the chance to wait until Liu Xuan's civil strife."

"Um~" Yuan Shang was speechless for a moment. With his IQ, he certainly couldn't figure out how to delay the situation, so he had to say to the counselors, "If you have any good ideas, just tell us and discuss them."

After a long time, Tian Feng, the counselor Yuan Shao relied on most before, came out.

"Since we have decided to delay, our army must get out of the quagmire of Jizhou and cannot continue to be consumed by Liu Xuan."

Yuan Shang frowned and said, "You mean, Jizhou doesn't want it anymore?"

Tian Feng nodded slightly and analyzed calmly,
"The white horse has been recaptured by Liu Xuan. Our army's strength along the river is completely at a disadvantage. What's more, Yecheng has been lost. With Liu Xuan's character, Yecheng's troops and horses will definitely outflank him from behind."

"Now it's not a question of whether we want Jizhou, but whether we can escape from Jizhou alive."

After hearing Tian Feng's words, Yuan Shang's face became increasingly ugly.

Although Tian Feng did not deal with him and belonged to Yuan Tan's faction before, he was indeed talented and had always been loyal to the Yuan family.

Even though Yuan Tan and Yuan Shao were both dead, he did not leave, but chose to continue to contribute to the Yuan family. Therefore, when Yuan Shang heard what Tian Feng said, he knew that Tian Feng was not exaggerating.

"Is the situation already that serious?"

"Does Mr. Yuan Hao have a good plan to help our army escape from Jizhou?"

Tian Feng silently walked towards the map and pointed to the west of Yecheng.
"My lord, now mobilize all the troops in Jizhou and rush to Huguan as quickly as possible. Then the army will enter Bingzhou from Huguan to relieve the temporary crisis."

"Go to Bingzhou?" Yuan Shang looked very reluctant after hearing this. Although Bingzhou is also the territory of the Yuan family, Bingzhou is mountainous and barren. It is also close to the nomadic people in the north. They are often harassed. None of the three brothers of the Yuan family want to go to Bingzhou. So Yuan Shao sent his nephew, a senior official, to take charge of the internal affairs of Bingzhou.

"Why can't we go to Youzhou?"

Tian Feng raised his eyes and glanced at Yuan Shang, "Lord, have you forgotten? Youzhou was the territory of the Second Young Master before. If our army enters Youzhou now, it will probably cost a lot of troops just to suppress the civil strife."

When Yuan Shang saw Tian Feng talking about Yuan Xi, his eyes were a little dodgey and he did not dare to look at Tian Feng.

"Well, let's go to Bingzhou."

Yuan Shang waved his hand and said, "Without further delay, the generals quickly mobilize their troops and move to Bingzhou before Liu Xuan's army encircles them."

. . .

Because Yuan Shang's army abandoned the Liyang defense line and withdrew to Bingzhou with all its strength, the 20-strong army integrated by Liu Xuan and Cao Cao effortlessly regained the entire territory of Yanzhou. At the same time, they marched north to Yecheng and joined forces with the [-]-strong army led by Zhuge Liang. city.

When other commanders and commanders in Jizhou heard that Yuan Shang had led all his troops to flee to Bingzhou, they knew that Jizhou could no longer be defended, so they all gave up resistance and surrendered.

As the various counties and counties in Jizhou decided to send messages, various counties and counties in Youzhou also triggered a chain reaction.

Youzhou was originally Yuan Xi's territory. After Yuan Xi was killed by Yuan Shang on trumped-up charges, the people of Youzhou were moved.

Yuan Xi's old troops were even more unwilling to listen to Yuan Shang's command. Seeing that the Huaiyang King's army had taken control of Jizhou, they all took the initiative to surrender.

Liu Xuan captured Jizhou and Youzhou in a short period of time, but he couldn't digest it for a while, so he had to order the army to rest temporarily in Jizhou.

Anyway, Yuan Shang's army has entered Bingzhou. To the west of Bingzhou is Qianghu territory, to the north is Xianbei territory, to the south is blocked by rivers and natural moats, and to the east is Jizhou Liu Xuan's nearly 30-strong army.

It can be said that Yuan Shang has locked himself in a cage, and Liu Xuan is not in a hurry to attack Bingzhou.

Under Zhuge Liang's reasonable deployment, it only took Liu Xuan more than a month to sort out the military, political and defense matters of Jizhou and Youzhou.

Afterwards, they marched westward with all their troops and went straight to Huguan.

Huguan is located in the middle section of Taihang Mountain.The entire Taihang Mountains stretch from north to south, separating Jizhou and Bingzhou.
There is only a section with relatively gentle mountains, and there is an official road connecting Jizhou and Bingzhou.

Huguan is the largest pass on this official road.

If you want to enter Bingzhou from Jizhou, you must pass through Huguan unless you go over mountains and ridges.

Tian Feng chose to recommend Bingzhou instead of Youzhou because of the natural dangers of Huguan.

If Yuan Shang wants to hold off Liu Xuan with his remaining less than [-] troops and wait for Liu Xuan's civil strife, Hu Pass is undoubtedly the most suitable pass to delay time.

When Liu Xuan's army arrived at Huguan, his troops had been stretched for dozens of miles.

This official road across the Taihang Mountains was so narrow that Liu Xuan's more than 20 troops could not move along it.

There are not many soldiers who can enter the front of Huguan Pass.

Moreover, the terrain of Huguan is not suitable for large-scale siege warfare.

As soon as Yuan Shang arrived in Bingzhou, he took over the command from the senior officials without mercy.

He also transferred all the high-ranking Bingzhou troops to Huguan, preparing to compete with Liu Xuan in Huguan.

To the east of Huguan,

Liu Xuan's men and horses have set up camp. Facing such a dangerous pass, even Zhuge Liang has no tricks to use.Yuan Shang was determined to stay in Bingzhou and gathered almost all his troops near Huguan.

With the help of Huguan's natural dangers, even if Liu Xuan's troops were well-equipped, they would be burdened by the terrain and reduce their combat effectiveness.

Regarding this battle, Liu Xuan didn't have any tricks up his sleeve.

Yuan Shang is just struggling to his death. As long as he captures Bingzhou and solves the hidden dangers in the rear, most of the world will be in Liu Xuan's hands, and Liu Xuan can deal with Liu Bei calmly.

The army set up ladders, chariots, wells, flying towers and other siege equipment to continuously attack Huguan.

There is no skill in this battle, it is all a head-to-head battle of offense and defense.

Although Yuan Shang occupies a favorable geographical location, his troops are all defeated troops who escaped from Jizhou.

Although the troops in Bingzhou were under the control of Yuan Shang, they were all under the command of senior officials before and did not have much identification with Yuan Shang.

On Liu Xuan's side, the soldiers were all veterans who had rested for more than a year, and the swords in their hands were already hungry and thirsty.

Each legion was scrambling to go to the front line every day, which made Cao Cao's soldiers who had just surrendered feel incredible.

These days, most soldiers are just for pay, and for the sake of making a thousand bucks a month, they can do whatever they can, not to mention that withholding military pay is considered normal among most warlord armies.

Seeing Liu Xuan's troops working so hard, these Cao Cao veterans were secretly disdainful and secretly grateful at the same time.

Fortunately, they were not used as cannon fodder and driven to the front line.

According to past practice, if troops like them surrender, the most likely outcome is to be used as cannon fodder to lead the charge.

But here, Liu Xuan's commander just asked their troops if they wanted to go to the front line as usual. After receiving no reply, he ignored them and just placed them in peripheral defensive positions.

And soon, the spot in the lead was snatched away by a certain legion under Liu Xuan's command.

Then came the vigorous battle to tackle key problems.

The soldiers rushed towards the pass without fear of death and climbed up the ladder with the help of shields.

Rolling stones and logs fell like raindrops on the city, and towers on the ladders were knocked down from time to time. Fortunately, these soldiers were protected by full-body armor and had arm shields to remove the force of the rolling stones.

Therefore, most of the soldiers who were repelled had minor injuries.

Even some seriously injured soldiers could not tell how sad they were.

Cao Cao's soldiers felt strange, so they secretly asked the Yangzhou soldiers after the truce.

The result was that Liu Xuan's soldiers wanted to achieve military exploits from the bottom of their hearts, and they were sincerely fearless.

Because soldiers in Liu Xuan's army who have achieved military merit are very generously rewarded. At such an important pass, if which legion completes the climb first, the monetary reward for the soldiers of the entire legion will be worth nearly ten years of total military pay for each soldier.

Moreover, the pension subsidies for injured and dead soldiers allow soldiers to fight without any worries.

For the pensions of fallen soldiers, Liu Xuan will not only provide generous financial subsidies, but also properly settle the families of fallen soldiers.

If there are children in the family who are old enough to work in factories, most of them will find an iron rice bowl position with easy work and good pay.

After hearing the news, Cao Cao's soldiers were eye-opening and began to look forward to the future.

Because Liu Xuan had already announced that all soldiers who surrendered would be treated the same as other soldiers.

The siege battle lasted for more than half a month. During this more than half a month, Liu Xuan's army launched at least two large-scale charges every day.

And the troops charging are different every time.

Zhuge Liang divided Liu Xuan's more than 20 troops into thirty groups according to the number of soldiers that could be accommodated in front of Huguan Pass. Each time a group attacked, it would withdraw, allowing the injured soldiers to retreat to recuperate, and also let the tired soldiers retreat. Soldiers can rest and regain their strength.

Attacking in two groups every day can ensure that the soldiers in each attack are in full condition. After attacking once, there will be no chance to go into battle for the next half month.

This also caused the soldiers who had their turn to go into battle to exert their full combat power. They wanted to use their last strength, just to seize the opportunity to kill a few more enemies and gain some military merit.

After more than half a month, every soldier has almost had one round, but it will take half a month before the next round. In this way, each soldier has half a month of recovery period, which is enough to maintain the best condition for battle.

Above the checkpoint, Yuan Shang's eyes were bloodshot as he watched the soldiers who had locked up Liu Xuan rushing up in a steady stream.

The stones and wood near the checkpoint have long been used up, and the soldiers responsible for logistics need to transport stones from far away.

Although this Huguan is located in the Taihang Mountains and there are mountainous areas nearby, the surface of these mountains is mostly bare loess, and there are not many usable stones at all.

After half a month of accumulation, the rocks they smashed down have been spread four to five meters high under the checkpoint.

The height of Huguan was lowered by four to five meters.

Yuan Shang could no longer remember how many times Liu Xuan's soldiers had rushed to the city. Although each time they were repelled by the superior soldiers with superior force, the defenders' battle losses gradually increased.

In recent days, the casualty rate of the defenders has faintly exceeded that of the siege party.

Because the supplies for the defenders were no longer in supply, and ordinary bows and arrows had extremely limited damage to fully armored soldiers like Liu Xuan, they could only fight close to the enemy in the end.

"Damn it, are Liu Xuan's people so not afraid of death? It's been half a month, and they haven't stopped for a day."

Yuan Shang cursed at the checkpoint.

It was also in the past few days that Yuan Shang discovered some clues. It turned out that Liu Xuan's troops had already completed their formation, and they were all taking turns to attack.

As for the defenders on his side, although there were only so many soldiers who could go to the front line due to the narrow pass, Yuan Shang was afraid that Liu Xuan would use any unconventional means to attack the city, so he forced all the soldiers to wear armor and stand by.

Yuan Shang's nearly 10 troops, plus the high-ranking Bingzhou soldiers and horses, totaled nearly 15 troops. All of them were stationed near Huguan every day, consuming countless amounts of food and grass.

Bingzhou was not very wealthy, and Yuan Shang was already unable to bear the cost of food and clothing for the 10,000+ army after half a month.

"Tian Feng, didn't you say that Liu Xuan could be held back by relying on the dangerous terrain of Bingzhou? However, although the front line is held back, the food and grass are about to run out. Did you calculate this?"

When the war was not going well, Yuan Shang couldn't help but blame Tian Feng. It seemed that this would make him feel a little better.

Tian Feng lowered his eyebrows and said calmly: "If it weren't for the danger of Hu Pass, it would be impossible for Liu Xuan and his soldiers to delay the offensive for half a month. Although the front line looks dangerous now, if Liu Xuan only has this If we find some way, it would be no problem to delay it for another half month."

"As for food and grass, I suggest that from now on, our army will also be organized for defense. The legions participating in the checkpoint defense can be allocated sufficient military food. Other soldiers on standby under the city can reduce their military food as appropriate."

"In this case, we should be able to survive until the next batch of food requisition arrives." (End of Chapter)