At first, Yuan Xi saw that his own forces were superior and that he had three generals: Taishi Ci, Xu Huang, Gao Shun. He was quite relieved at first, but when he heard the enemy general announce his name, his expression suddenly changed. It turned out to be Xu Chu!
He quickly shouted: "Ziyi, be careful!"
Over there, Tai Shi Ci was already competing with Xu Chu in terms of strength. He hooked his halberds on the opponent's long sword and took it back.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a moment. Tai Shi Ci felt the force coming from the opposite sword getting stronger and stronger. He clamped his legs and urged the horse under his crotch, hoping to use the power to pull the opponent. When Xu Chu saw it, he did the same thing, and the two surrounded him. The hooked weapon actually spun in circles.
Later, the two of them turned faster and faster. Xu Chu saw that they were deadlocked, so he exerted force on his wrist, causing the long knife to shake.
This time, Taishi Ci was immediately at a disadvantage. There was not much difference in strength between him and Xu Chu, but he could not withstand the long handle of Xu Chu's sword, so if Taishi Ci wanted to use the short halberd to offset the power from the opponent, he would have to spend more energy!
He regretted that he had entrusted his strength and insisted on using short soldiers to fight long soldiers. Now he was unable to advance or retreat, and was gradually at a disadvantage!
Yuan Xi saw him from a distance and thought that Xu Chu was indeed not an ordinary person. Although he was called a tiger idiot, he was actually a rare sophisticated person. According to later records, Xu Chu saw through the assassins who wanted to kill Cao Cao several times. How could he be so simple-minded? ?
He immediately shouted: "Come together and kill him!"
At this time, Gao Shun was surrounded by the trapped camp. He was a rare infantry general, so he arrived a little later. When he heard Yuan Xi's order, he immediately drew his Huanshou sword and ran towards Xu Chu with great strides.
When Yuan Xi saw him, he felt a little relieved, but his eyes blurred. Lu Lingqi saw that Xu Chu could suppress even Taishi Ci, and she became eager to win. She patted her horse and rushed over. Yuan Xi couldn't stop her and shouted: "Come back quickly!"
He thought to himself that he asked Xu Huanggao to come along, why are you going to get involved?
Lu Lingqi pulled out her halberd, and in just a few blinks, she was already approaching Xu Chu. She raised her halberd and slashed the branch straight towards the opponent's neck. Xu Chu heard the wind behind his ears and shouted, "Well done!"
The next moment, he loosened his hands and the long knife flew out!
This was beyond Taishi Ci's expectation, and he involuntarily used his arms to pull the long knife over. When he saw the shining blade, he quickly turned his head to let it go, and the long knife flew out grazing his cheek.
After this delay, Xu Chu had already taken advantage of the situation and rushed out. He pulled out the ring-shou knife from his waist with his backhand and thrust it out suddenly!
There was a soft ding sound, and Lu Lingqi's wrist was shaken violently. She could not hold the handle of the halberd, and the halberd was knocked into the sky.
She subconsciously raised another short halberd to protect her vital points, but found that Xu Chu didn't care about her at all, but went straight to Yuan Xi!
Lu Lingqi shouted to Yuan Xi: "Be careful, his target is you!"
She felt extremely regretful now. The opponent's strength was much higher than hers, and his real target was Yuan Xi. He had no time to take care of herself. Otherwise, she might have died!
Yuan Xi saw Xu Chu rushing towards him on horseback, and the soldiers around him raised their shields to help him block the arrows. He knew that the other party was prepared and wanted to kill him from the beginning!
In the distance, Taishi Ci Gaoshun Lu Lingqi was rushing back, but there was no trace of panic on Yuan Xi's face, and he shouted to the guards around him: "Get ready!"
Xu Chu had already raised his horse speed to the extreme, but saw the calm face of the coach on the opposite side. A dozen guards in front of him had put up shields for protection. He sneered in his heart. With these shields, he wanted to block him?
As a result, when he was about ten steps away from the charge, several bamboo tubes were thrown from behind the shield on the opposite side, and were thrown in front of Xu Chu's horse. Xu Chu could not stop his horse and rushed forward. At this moment, there were several loud noises, and the bamboo tubes were thrown in front of Xu Chu's horse. Exploded!
A bamboo tube exploded just under the horse's belly. Xu Chu felt his limbs shake, and the horse fell forward under his crotch. He reacted very quickly, jumped up, fell heavily to the ground, and ran for seven or eight steps. Barely not falling.
When he looked out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his horse's belly was covered with numerous wounds, and blood was gushing out, causing him to feel palpitations for no apparent reason.
As a fierce general, he is not afraid of the enemy's generals, because he can predict the opponent's moves and pressure.
But the thing in front of him was different. He had long heard that Yuan Xijun had a very harmful bamboo tube. Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he realized that he was not completely sure of how to deal with it. This was the most terrifying blow to the confidence of a warrior!
When Xu Chu was stunned, Yuan Xi's personal guards had already surrounded him. More than a dozen shields blocked Xu Chu's path. Seven or eight spears stretched out from the gaps in the shields and stabbed Xu Chu.
Xu Chu subconsciously slashed at the shaft of a long gun with his knife, and sparks flew out. Only then did he realize that the barrel of the gun opposite was covered with iron sheets, and it might even be a whole iron gun!
At this time, seven or eight more halberds poked out and hooked Xu Chu's ankles. At the same time, someone took out a short crossbow and fired at Xu Chu. Most of them hit Xu Chu's armor, making a clanking sound. Xu Chu's face darkened, Youzhou The military guards cooperated extremely well, and he couldn't handle it at all!
Yuan Xi saw that in response to this fierce general's method of assassinating the enemy coach, he also wanted to thank Yang Feng. If Yang Feng hadn't assassinated him again and again, he would not have perfected the protective formation to such an extent.
Xu Chu didn't know the details and thought that this was the era when generals rode alone into battle. Unfortunately, he didn't know the power of the explosive bamboo tube mixed with iron nails. He lost the opportunity and was surrounded.
The next moment, Xu Chuhu roared, held his long knife in front of him, turned around suddenly, and hit the shield-wielding guard at the rear who had not yet surrounded him, knocking the guard to the ground.
Xu Chu ran away in large strides and faced the soldiers who came to meet him on horseback. The soldiers galloped in front of him, stretched out their arms, and pulled Xu Chu onto the horse.
Then, in order to reduce the weight of the horse, the guard jumped out of the horse and fell heavily to the ground. Xu Chu made a circle with his horse and fled back to the formation. At the same time, he shouted: "I will do it someday." You will take revenge!"
The soldier who responded to him looked at the surrounding Youzhou soldiers and committed suicide on the spot with his sword.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Chu had already fled far away on horseback, and no one could catch up with him. Taishi Ci rushed to Yuan Xi and said with a look of shame on his face: "If you are careless, please punish me."
Yuan Xi waved his hand and said: "Ziyi doesn't need to blame himself. That man is a rare fierce general in Cao's camp. Next time we see him, just shoot him to death with random arrows."
Over there, Xu Huang and Li Dian fought for hundreds of rounds with no outcome, but Xu Huang's breath was long, and when Li Dian was about to lose his strength, he heard the sound of horse hooves behind him, and Xu Chu returned with his men.
Xu Huang was afraid of being attacked by the two men, so he led his troops to retreat and defend, but Li Dian took the opportunity to escape. He secretly said that he was lucky, knowing that if he continued to fight, he would definitely lose.
He and Xu Chu did not take the opportunity to attack Xu Huang, but returned to the camp because they had bought enough time, and Xiahou Dun had already withdrawn almost all the soldiers from the rear camp.
The two of them retreated without any delay. Xu Huang still wanted to pursue him, but Yuan Xi had already ordered him to return to the formation. Seeing that Cao's army had retreated, Jushou said, "Young Master, are you not going to pursue me anymore?"
Yuan Xi shook his head and said: "It's not necessary. We will first gather the fleeing civilians and let them reinforce the river bank."
"This embankment is already very dangerous. In another day and a half, the water will accumulate and the Zhang River will burst, and we will be in real trouble."
Strictly speaking, Xiahou Dun did not dig the river embankment here, but blocked the river to store water. When the water accumulated, he dug an opening near Yecheng and poured it into the city. Now what Yuan Xi has to do is to block the weak spot again. , to restore the riverbank to its original appearance.
Not long after, thousands of people were driven back again. They all knelt down in fear and begged for mercy, saying that they were all Jizhou people, but they were coerced by Cao's army, and they were helpless.
They were extremely scared, because helping the enemy could result in death on the spot!
Yuan Xi heard this and shouted: "I know your difficulties!"
"So I'll give you a chance to repair the river embankment and dredge the river channel, so you can go home!"
After everyone heard this, they felt relieved.
Yuan Xi left hundreds of soldiers to occupy Cao's army camp and urged the civilians to build dikes. He took all his men and hurried to Yecheng. When he left, he looked at Zhangshui and felt a little awkward in his heart. A question slowly emerged.
Why did Cao Jun choose this time to dig rivers and flood the city?
You must know that this is the dry season in autumn, and the water flow is slow. Even if the Zhangshui River is dug, the water that can be poured into the city is very limited. Can this really put Yecheng into a desperate situation?
He told this question to Jushou, who replied: "Young Master's suspicion is indeed very reasonable."
“Although autumn is not as effective as water attack in summer, it is relatively easy to cross the river.”
"Otherwise, it will be difficult for tens of thousands of Cao's troops to cross the Yellow River. Even if they cross, it will be very difficult to supply supplies."
Yuan Xi listened and nodded slightly. This was indeed a reasonable reason.
Jushuo added: "When we dig rivers to flood the city, we can tell the thoughts of the attackers based on the amount of water released."
"Like the last time Cao Cao flooded Puyang, he wanted to kill Brother Zhang Miao and all the soldiers and people in the city."
"This is because people in the city are unable to resist, but that is not the case in Yecheng."
"There is a large population in Yecheng. If the floods are too severe and the people are forced into a desperate situation, they may have to fight to the death with Cao's army. In this way, even if Cao's army wins, their vitality will be severely damaged."
"So now the water flow in Zhangshui is just right. It may be just over a foot deep. This will make people in the city feel that they can still escape, which will make people's hearts wander."
"As long as people's hearts are in chaos, Yecheng will definitely be difficult to defend. If a large number of people flee, the Yuan family will have no choice but to abandon Yecheng. Cao's army can take the opportunity to enter the city and then block the Zhang River."
"This is similar to the principle of surrounding three and missing one in the art of war."
"So when using water attacks, it doesn't mean that the more powerful the better, there is more truth in using more, and there are advantages in using less."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "That's it, I've learned a lesson!"
Everyone walked north along the Zhang River for more than ten miles, and saw the outline of Yecheng from a distance, but no trace of the enemy was found.
Everyone was a little puzzled. Logically speaking, if Cao Jun was besieging the city, there would be at least two teams of more than 10,000 people around Yecheng. How come they haven't encountered them until now, and even the spies sent out have not found any trace of the enemy?
(End of chapter)
