Soldiers come to the world

Xuzhou is a relatively small state in the east of the Central Plains. It governs the four prefectures of Langya, Donghai, Pengcheng, and Xiapi. During the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, Xuzhou also experienced disasters and suffered huge population losses. A large number of people fled to Jiangdong and Jingzhou, so that There is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles in Xuzhou, and there are hundreds of people left behind.

However, after Cao Cao unified the north, Xuzhou also settled down. Over the past ten years, the population has grown, the wasteland has been reclaimed, and its vitality has gradually recovered.

Xuzhou was the residence of Cao Ren. At most, Xuzhou had 30 troops stationed and [-] shi of military rations. With the protracted war in Hefei, Xuzhou was also greatly affected. All the troops were transferred to Shouchun, and the military rations were also emptied. Fifty thousand civilian husbands were conscripted successively, and the whole Xuzhou was in fear of war.

At present, there are only [-] garrisons in the entire Xuzhou area, and the defense is very empty. At this time, the focus of the Han and Cao armies is on Shouchun and Hefei. Except for the [-] garrisons of Xiahou Dun in Xuchang, the rest of the counties and counties in the Central Plains have no troops garrisoned. , only some county soldiers are responsible for maintaining order.

This afternoon, in Zhuyi County at the junction of Qiao County and Pengcheng County, an army of about [-] people was marching rapidly northward on the official road. Xuzhou.

This sneak attack on Xuzhou was exactly Jia Xu's strategy in his bag, using Xuzhou in exchange for Cao Jun's maximum peace negotiation concession.

Jia Xu knew that Cao Cao could only survive until January at most. After the New Year, food was needed in all aspects, and the Cao Wei crisis would break out at this time. Cao Cao could not survive anyway, so he had to seek peace to end the battle of Hefei.

Of course, the Han army can also force Cao Jun to make concessions by refusing peace talks and continuing to attack, but if they can capture Xuzhou, it will add an important weight to the Han army's negotiations, and it will not be as simple as giving up the city of Hefei .

Moreover, by capturing Xuzhou, the Han army will have room for strategic choices in the next step, making Cao Jun dare not easily support Jiangdong. This is Jia Xu's plan to kill two birds with one stone.

Wei Yan looked at the sky, and there was at least one hour before dark, so he immediately ordered: "Quicken up, camp after dark!"

The [-] Han troops accelerated and marched towards Pengcheng County.

The prefecture of Xuzhou is Pengcheng County, which is today's Xuzhou. Since Lv Bu was attacked by Cao Cao, Pengcheng County was also destroyed by the rebellious army. Later, the city was rebuilt and the county was restored.

Cao Ren later stationed in Pengcheng. He also felt that the city was too low and not conducive to defense, so he ordered [-] civilians to be recruited to increase the height and width of the city wall. Despite these two overhauls, compared with Pengcheng in Lu Bu's time, the current city is still not enough. Tall and broad, of course, it is enough to deal with bandits.

The current commander of the garrison in Pengcheng is named Zhou Liang, who is Cao Ren's subordinate. He was originally Yuan Shao's subordinate. After the Guandu War, he surrendered to Cao Cao and was assigned to Cao Ren as a subordinate.

After Cao Ren's army went to Hefei, there were only [-] troops left in Pengcheng. Zhou Liang was also worried that Xuzhou's defenses were empty. Once the Han army attacked Xuzhou, his army might be difficult to resist.

However, as time went by, his worries faded away day by day. After the New Year, he had no worries at all, and indulged in drinking and sex all day long, rarely bothering with the city defense.

Now that he is the chief general of Pengcheng, if he doesn't take the time to enjoy the taste of this general, once Cao Ren comes back, he will have to wince again.

That night, Zhou Liang came to Bifenglou, the largest brothel in Xuzhou, to drink and buy spring as usual. The Bifenglou was full of singing and dancing, and it was very lively.

Time gradually arrived at one o'clock, in a magnificent dormitory, there was constant laughter, Zhou Liang was very drunk, and several prostitutes were taking turns sleeping with him. At this moment, a soldier rushed over, and he was about to He broke into the room, but was stopped by several of Zhou Liang's personal soldiers, who angrily scolded him: "I don't understand the rules, can I go in at this time?"

The soldier said anxiously: "There is an abnormal situation outside the city, and it must be reported to the general immediately."

"Anything unusual?"

"The scouts who went out to patrol in the morning haven't come back yet. General Li is worried that something will happen, so he asked me to report to General Zhou."

"What's all the fuss about? The scouts encountered something, such as going to a farther place to patrol, so it's too late to come back, so there shouldn't be any problem."

"But General Li said that he must report to General Zhou."

General Li is Li Qin, who is on duty tonight, and the soldiers did not dare to be hasty, so they could only say outside the room: "General, general!"

"What's the matter?" Zhou Liang's impatient voice came from the room.

"General Li said that the scouts who went out on patrol today have not returned,"

"Understood, let's talk about it tomorrow!"

The soldiers helplessly spread their hands to the reporter, saying that he had no choice but to turn around and leave, rushing back to the city to report.

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Although the main general Zhou Liang is addicted to drinking and sex, it does not mean that all the guards are as relaxed as he is. Li Qin is one of them. Li Qin is one of the three generals under Zhou Liang. He is a native of Xuzhou. He was not worried that the Han army would attack Xuzhou for thousands of miles, but that the bandits would attack Xuzhou City.

After the Chibi War, Xuzhou was also greatly affected. The number of conscripts has changed from the original five households to one to the current three households to one ding. A large number of young and strong people have been lost, which has affected agricultural production. The heavy burden made the people of Xuzhou complain and overwhelmed, and the banditry that had disappeared for many years also rose again.

Since last year, there have been two groups of bandits in the area of ​​Xuzhou successively, with hundreds of people in number. It also had to be postponed.

As a local, Li Qin hated banditry very much. Although he didn't get a military order to suppress the bandits, protecting Pengcheng and preventing the bandits from attacking the city became the top priority of Li Qin's defense.

Today he discovered something unusual. Only two of the three patrol teams that went out early in the morning came back, and a patrol team of 20 people did not come back. If they encounter bandits, it means that the bandits who were active in Xiapi area have moved to the boundary of Pengcheng County.

After a while, the subordinate who ran to report the letter came back, bowed and said: "General, General Zhou Liang said that he knows, we will discuss this matter next year!"

Li Qin frowned and asked, "Is he in Bifeng Tower now?"

"Exactly, it's inconvenient for him now, and some of his personal soldiers are not allowed to enter the room to report."

"Damn!"

Li Qin cursed in a low voice, and slammed his fist on the city wall. He hated Zhou Liang's debauchery and shamelessness. He was a fatuous and incompetent person who was promoted because he was Cao Ren's confidant. People are suppressed and have no future.

Hatred turned to hate, but he didn't dare to reveal it too much. Zhou Liang had a very serious grudge. Once he knew that he was dissatisfied with him, he would definitely wear small shoes for himself. This was not the first time.

Helpless, Li Qin had no choice but to hold back his anger, and said to the surrounding soldiers: "Be on guard tonight, don't be careless."

As soon as the words fell, there was a sound of horseshoes under the city, which attracted the attention of all the defenders at the top of the city. A cavalryman galloped towards the city, and shouted, "Who is the general on duty?"

Li Qin recognized that this person was one of the patrolling scouts, and he lifted his spirits immediately, and said loudly: "I will be the commander-in-chief, what happened?"

"General Li, we were ambushed by bandits. Eight of our brothers died, and the rest of us are being pursued. I beg the general to help."

Li Qin was startled, and asked anxiously, "How many bandits have you been chasing?"

"About a hundred people!"

Li Qin was anxious, and said without hesitation: "Five hundred brothers from the front battalion defend the city, brothers from the back battalion follow me to rescue!"

The city gate opened, Li Qin ran out of the city first, followed by five hundred soldiers, Li Qin asked loudly, "Where are you now?"

"In Monkey Mountain Nest!"

Monkey Mountain Nest is in the north of Yunlong Mountain, about [-] miles away from the city. Li Qin was worried that the soldiers might be wrong, so he didn't have time to ask, so he urged his horse and ran to the south.

Hundreds of officers and soldiers rushed along the official road for nearly twenty miles, and gradually approached Yunlong Mountain. At this moment, Li Qin suddenly became suspicious, and the patrol soldiers were also retreating. silhouette?

He reined in his horse, turned his head and asked the soldier who reported the news sharply, "What happened and where is he?"

The soldier who reported the message seemed very flustered, and suddenly turned his horse's head and fled, running towards the depths of the forest. Li Qin was taken aback. Surrounded by soldiers of the Cao army, the soldiers of the Cao army were stunned, holding spears and knives, looking back to back in panic, trying to find a way to break through.

Li Qin calmed down instead. He found that there were at least [-] people surrounding them, with spears like forests, battle flags like clouds, and armor gleaming coldly under the bleak moonlight.

"Who are you?" Li Qin shouted loudly

At this time, hundreds of torches were lit, and Cao Jun's soldiers were in an uproar. A dense army appeared in front of them, layer upon layer, and surrounded them. I am Wei Yan, the general of the Han Dynasty, so why don't you surrender sooner?"

Li Qin was stunned, it turned out to be the Han army, he turned his head slowly for a while, and saw that the soldiers under his command put down their weapons one after another, and some soldiers took off their armor, obviously they were about to surrender, and when he thought of Zhou Liang's incompetence and stupidity, he couldn't help sighing, He got off his horse and knelt down and said, "General Li Qin is willing to surrender to the Han army, and only begs General Wei to treat the people of Xuzhou kindly."

Wei Yan was overjoyed.He quickly stepped forward to help him up, and said with a smile: "The Han army has strict military discipline and will never disturb the people. His Royal Highness the King of Han treats the people of the world kindly. It is wise for the general to be loyal to the great man!"

Half an hour later, Li Qin led [-] soldiers back to Pengcheng County. The [-] soldiers behind him were disguised as Han soldiers. In the darkness one mile away, Wei Yan led [-] Han soldiers ready to attack at any time. .

Li Qin ran to the bottom of the city and shouted, "Open the gates of the city quickly!"

The soldiers guarding the city were all his subordinates. Seeing the return of the lord, he quickly lowered the drawbridge and opened the city gate. Li Qin urged his horses to enter the city. The soldiers of the Han army immediately controlled the city gate and lit a big fire at the gate. , hurriedly shouted: "Let all the brothers guarding the city come to see me!"

After a while, two hundred soldiers guarding the south gate rushed down from the top of the city. Li Qin said loudly, "I came here to save everyone's life. I have surrendered to the Han army. If you want to survive, put down your weapons immediately. Otherwise, your life will be lost." "

All the soldiers looked at each other, not knowing what to do. At this moment, they saw black shadows appearing outside the city, and the overwhelming number of Han soldiers rushed towards the city gate. Wei Yan took the lead and rushed into the city first. Throw down your weapons, kneel down and surrender.

Ten thousand Han troops marched into Pengcheng silently, crowding the streets and alleys near Nancheng. Wei Yan asked loudly, "General Li, where is the barracks?"

"General Wei, please follow me!"

Li Qin got on his horse and ran towards the barracks in the city with Wei Yan and the soldiers of the Han army.