When Yuan Xi learned that Cao Cao had taken action before Yuan Shao and crossed the Yellow River directly into Wei County, he couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment.
I have worked so hard to reverse the direction of history, but in the end it has reached a critical node.
Moreover, Cao Cao seized this opportunity very well!
Yuan Xi now occupies Huainan and cuts directly into Cao Cao's rear. As long as he and Liu Bei slowly encroach on Yuzhou, Cao Cao will be besieged on all sides.
He and Liu Bei are in the south, Yuan Tan is in the east, Yuan Shang in Montenegro is in the west, and Yecheng is in the north where Yuan Shao is in charge. In this way, Cao Cao cannot expand outward at all and can only be squeezed to death little by little.
Yuan Xi once asked himself, how would he face this worst situation?
But now Cao Cao gave a completely different answer, as the most intense and direct response.
While the three sons of the Yuan family were away, they brazenly mobilized troops from Yanzhou and marched directly to Yecheng, which was empty of defenses, intending to fight Yuan Shao to the death before Yuan Xi and others rushed back to rescue him!
But this is also a huge gamble. If Cao Cao loses the bet, he will lose everything and his family will be destroyed.
Yuan Xi couldn't help but tremble slightly. If it were him, would he have such courage?
But now the situation has reached its most critical moment, because the details of Jizhou may have been leaked.
Previously, Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou and wanted to kill Yuan Xi. In retaliation, Yuan Xi naturally wrote a letter to encourage Jizhou to send troops. However, Jizhou's counselors debated for a long time and finally did not send troops to attack Cao Cao. This made Yuan Xi very angry and at the same time felt sad in his heart. A question arises.
The situation is like this, why doesn't Jizhou break up with Cao Cao?
Is it because Cao Cao is still useful, or is there a faction close to Cao Cao among the counselors in Jizhou, or is it due to other reasons?
Later, Yuan Xi discussed with Jushu and others, and after analyzing the military losses in Jizhou in recent years, they finally came to a conclusion.
It is very likely that Jizhou's current strength is not sure to defeat Cao Cao.
It's not that Yuan Shao doesn't want to, it's that he can't because Jizhou has not yet recovered from several battles.
Of course, even so, Jizhou's army is still stronger than Cao Cao's army, and the two sides are separated by the Yellow River, so it is difficult for anyone to fight. Therefore, Yuan Xi's idea before the war was to attack Yuan Shu first and then take Cao Cao's retreat.
However, no one would have thought that Cao Cao invested tens of thousands of troops to fight Yuan Shu on the battlefield in Yuzhou. His ultimate goal was to feint a shot and attack the east and the west!
Yuan Xi thought that he had already won a round by attacking Shouchun before Cao Cao, but he did not expect that Cao Cao's purpose was not at all. He chose to retreat on his own initiative, allowing Yuan Tan and Yuan Shu's army to be consumed.
While Yuan Xi captured Shouchun and was doing chores in the city, the main force of Cao Cao's army had returned to Yanzhou and was ready to attack Jizhou!
Yuan Xi became impatient and uneasy. Now he didn't understand the situation inside Yecheng. If Cao Cao's spies cooperated with each other inside and outside, the isolated and helpless Yecheng would probably have problems!
Thinking that it would take at least half a month for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang to lead their troops to the place where the two armies were fighting, and that Shouchun, who was in the rear area, would only be slower. Yuan Xi could not help but walk around the room anxiously. .
If he wanted to rush back, he could only take a boat from the Huai River to the sea and go north, bypass Qingzhou, then land in Bohai County in Jizhou, and then rush to Wei County.
But after all, even if all ships are mobilized to transport troops, Yuan Xi's tens of thousands of troops will have to be transported several times. It will take at least twenty days for the fastest vanguard to reach Yecheng!
During this period of time, anything can happen in Yecheng, even being breached is not impossible!
The reason why Yuan Xi was so panicked was because there were not only Yuan Shao and others in Yecheng, but also Yuan Xing and the Zhen family. If something happened to them.
Jushou Lu Xun on the side saw Yuan Xi uneasy and unable to speak, but he saw Yuan Xi stood up suddenly and said to the two of them: "Let's set off immediately and rush to Yecheng by water!"
"At the same time, send a letter to Zilong in Xiapi and the generals in Jicheng of Youzhou, asking them to mobilize their troops immediately. Zilong rushes to Dongwuyang, and the Youzhou army rushes to Yecheng!"
"In Shouchun City, the two have arranged for suitable officials to stay behind."
After Jushou and Lu Xun heard this, they quickly summoned the officials and generals, thinking that they might not be able to sleep for the next two days.
Yuan Xi looked out the window, doubts lingering in his heart. Yecheng is a fortified city in the world, and it is not that easy to break. Where does Cao Cao have the confidence to dare to confront Yuan Shao?
Is he the kind of person who would risk everything even if the odds are against him?
Shouchun began to get busy. On the dock, carts of grain and grass were pushed onto the warship. Lu Xun said to Yuan Xi, "Brother, please go back and rest first."
Yuan Xi waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, it's not too late to sleep on the boat."
Lu Xun hesitated for a moment, "Sister-in-law, are you really that worried about Yuan Tan?"
"If we disembark from Qingzhou, it would be faster to rush to Yecheng, right?"
Yuan Xi was silent for a while and then said: "Yuan Tan's desire for the head of the Yuan family may far exceed Boyan's expectations."
Seeing Yuan Xi's determination, Lu Xun said, "Brother-in-law, do you think Yuan Tan might betray the Yuan family and side with Cao Cao?"
"But he won't do this unless everything is over, right?"
Yuan Xi thought that this was indeed the case, but he did not dare to gamble now. If Yuan Tan fell out with him, the loss would be secondary, but if Yecheng fell into Cao Cao's hands, it would be a bad thing.
So now he can't think too much about anything. The top priority is to rush back to Yecheng.
Soon, the first batch of nearly a hundred large and small ships was completed. In addition to half of the soldiers, there were also horses and baggage and a large amount of food and grass. After all, the food consumption in such a large circle from Shouchun was not a small amount.
Liu, Guan, and Zhang came to the dock to see Yuan Xi off. Liu Bei took Yuan Xi's hand and said, "Don't worry, Yuan. I will lead my troops across the Huai River tomorrow, march from Runan to the direction of Chen State, and attack Yanzhou Chen State." Stay and let Cao Cao focus on one thing and lose another."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi felt much relieved. He also held Liu Bei's hand and said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Xuande."
With Liu Bei's help this time, as long as Yecheng can hold on until he and Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang arrive, Cao Cao will be surrounded!
Even with so much insurance, Yuan Xi still felt uneasy. After sending Liu, Guan, and Zhang away, he said to Lu Xun: "Immediately send a secret agent to Yecheng with an urgent message."
"Let the Zhen family and Mrs. Zilong be ready to leave Yecheng and go north to Youzhou for refuge."
Lu Xun wondered why Yuan Xi was so nervous. Was he so unsure of Yecheng?
But since Yuan Xi had the order, he did not dare to neglect it. He immediately mobilized his spies and rushed to Yecheng day and night.
Thousands of miles away, on the battlefield at the junction of Jizhou and Yanzhou, the war has begun.
Tian Feng stood at the top of Yecheng City and cursed: "A bunch of idiots, they don't listen to me, they must be passive now!"
"Master Xianfu is also very powerful. He led most of the soldiers in the city out, and he still ran so far!"
After hearing this, the judge on the side couldn't help but advise: "Just mind your mouth. If your slander reaches Yuan Shijun's ears, do you still want to live?"
Tian Feng scratched his neck, "Why, you can't say anything anymore? I want to see who dares to kill me!"
When the judge saw it, he shook his head and walked away, thinking that you want to die, so don't involve me.
He was also a little depressed. Cao Cao's brazen attack this time was indeed beyond the expectations of most Jizhou counselors. It can be said that he gave everyone a slap in the face.
But that's all. The key is that everyone knows that Ye City is empty. Now the city's defenders are only close to ten thousand people. According to intelligence, Cao Cao has at least twenty to thirty thousand people across the Yellow River. Even if Jizhou recruits troops temporarily, it will be too late. Got it!
What makes people vomit blood even more is that the first thing Cao Cao's soldiers did after crossing the river was to harvest grain on the Jizhou Plain!
This move really disgusted everyone, because there was a locust plague this year. Although Jizhou was less affected, it was not much better than Yanzhou. They were just waiting for the autumn harvest to recover, but unexpectedly Cao Cao took action first!
This was an obvious plan to draw fire from the cauldron. After thinking about it, several counselors in Jizhou discovered that from the beginning of the attack on Yuan Shu, Cao Cao came for the autumn harvest food from the beginning!
Because of the latitude, crops in the south mature earlier than those in the north. Cao Cao previously attacked Yuzhou in Yuzhou while grabbing grain from Yuzhou. Now that Yuan Shu was defeated, Cao Cao immediately set his sights on grain in Jizhou and it can be said that he has been saving grain. !
With food, he is qualified to fight a protracted war. If Cao Cao relied on his superior troops to besiege Yecheng and cut off food supplies, the hundreds of thousands of mouths in Yecheng would consume a huge amount of food every day, and he might not be able to hold on for half of it. In a few months, the city will run out of food!
Therefore, Tian Feng suggested that if you passively defend, you will definitely be seeking death. You should mobilize the troops in the city and attack with the whole army while the strength is still there to prevent Cao's army from going north and fight around the Yellow River ferry.
But this idea is rather risky. If Cao Jun bypasses it, Yecheng will be in an undefended situation, which many Yecheng officials cannot accept.
Finally, after deliberation for a long time, Gao Lan, the only general left to guard Yecheng, went south with three thousand troops to stop Cao's army in Dongwuyang.
When Tian Feng saw the result at the end, he couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, what's the use of this?
But he also understood that if he wanted to completely defeat Cao Jun, he could only hold on until Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang came back.
Yuan Tan has about 40,000 soldiers and horses, and Yuan Shang has 20,000 soldiers and horses. Together, they will definitely be able to repel Cao Cao.
But Tian Feng raised a question mark in his heart, did things really go so smoothly?
In East County of Yanzhou, people from all walks of life, led by General Cao Jun, rushed to various river crossing docks one after another.
Due to various previous reasons, most of the Yellow River docks were controlled by Cao Jun. Jizhou's stronghold on the south bank was only a large city in Dongwuyang.
But after Zang Hong's incident, many people left Dongwuyang, and the city defense has not yet been restored. There are only two generals and thousands of soldiers stationed in the city. Now Le Jin Yujin has led the attack.
Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Chun, and Xiahou Dun Li Dian each led their armies and crossed the river in several ways. While grabbing grain, they occupied villages and towns and advanced toward Yecheng.
They got the order and must capture Yecheng before Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang's army came back!
(End of chapter)
