It was dark at Gongsun Xu's camp. Gongsun's uncle and nephew and his confidant Shan Jing were secretly discussing military affairs.
"Second uncle, why do you call me gold? If we attack hard all night tonight, maybe Dingxiang can be broken. Then we can use the head of Tian Yu, the thief, to pay tribute to my father's spirit in heaven!" Gongsun Xu returned to the tent and asked Gongsun angrily. Fan.
Gongsun Fan looked depressed and said: "My nephew, you are too loyal. Zhang Yan wants to take the city of Dingxiang, but does not want to lose his troops. He is completely using us as spearmen. After a night of fierce attack, even if Dingxiang is defeated, our soldiers and horses We are going to lose everything. Without our troops, do you, my uncle and my nephew still have any value in this world? Any village commander can kill us!"
Shan Jing was also advising at the side: "Yes, Major General, General Gongsun and I both understand your intention to kill Wang Ling and Po Dingxiang, but we cannot let Zhang Yan take advantage of us. Now
Since we have besieged the city and we are wasting it, I don’t believe him. Zhang Yan can just sit there and watch the property in the city fall into his hands. How much food can a thousand people eat in a day? How much food did his Montenegrin army eat? I think it won't take a few days for him, Zhang Yan, to attack the city with all his strength. Then we can follow behind and enter the city to capture Tian Yu, and we can minimize the losses! "
Gongsun Xu punched the wooden stake with hatred, and said unwillingly: "The Art of War says that if you are ten times the enemy, you can attack by force! Today, our army and the Black Mountain Army are twelve times the defender, and they are unable to break through." Xiang, what kind of battle is this?"
"The Black Mountain Army is a mob. Although there are 60,000 to 70,000 people, if they really fight in formation, I'm afraid they won't be able to defeat even 20,000 officers and soldiers. Moreover, Zhang Yan is too selfish this time and is simply taking advantage of us. I should have known that Zhang Yan was not sincere. We were attacking the city, I shouldn't have let you be the vanguard, and many people were lost in vain!" Gongsun Fan picked up the water and wine on the table, took a sip, and said regretfully.
Gongsun Xu recalled it and felt that Zhang Yan had indeed deliberately conserved his troops this time. He asked doubtfully: "Zhang Yan has a fairly close relationship with my father. When he needed his help in the past, he didn't have so many tricks." , why have you become so tactful this time?”
Shan Jing's eyebrows almost twisted into knots, and he thought for a moment and said: "I think it was after reading Cao Cao's letter that Zhang Yan was preparing to surrender to Cao, so he deliberately conserved his troops. By then, his troops would The more horses you have, the greater the official position you will get in exchange. Perhaps this is the real reason why Zhang Yan secretly conserves his troops!"
"What General Shan said is absolutely true!" Gongsun Fan nodded in agreement with Shan Jing's analysis, and then asked, "If Zhang Yan surrenders to Cao, where will we go? He has a way out, what about us?"
After listening to Gongsun Fan's question, the three of them fell into deep thought and remained silent for a long time.
If Zhang Yan really led hundreds of thousands of Montenegrin troops to return to Cao Cao, he would definitely be granted the title of marquis and general in exchange for the title of a heavyweight general.
And with only the left and right troops in their hands, it would be difficult to find a position as a general, let alone others!
If the Black Mountain Army withdraws from Taihang, even if a few thousand of them stay, it will not make a difference. When the time comes, the Yuan Army enters the mountains to encircle and suppress them, but it is likely to be a dead end. It’s not okay to surrender to Cao Cao, and it’s not okay to stay in Taihang Mountain!
After a long time, Shan Jing sighed and said: "Zhang Yan can't break through Yuan Jun's blockade for a while, so we don't have to be in such a hurry. When Zhang Yan leads his tribe to surrender to Cao, we can go to Hanzhong to join Zhang Lu. He We are short of major generals, maybe we can be reused!"
Gongsun Fan nodded in agreement: "This is the only way!"
He then urged Gongsun to continue: "My nephew, now that things have come to this, you must see the situation clearly. We cannot squander all the remaining capital. When the time comes, there will be no way out, and a village chief can kill us." .As long as we can live and avenge our brother, isn’t it a matter of time?"
He who knows the current affairs is a hero, but his future is uncertain and his life and death are unpredictable. The full revenge in Gongsun Xu's heart suddenly disappeared, and he stopped talking.
The next day, Zhang Yan sent people to beat drums and form an array, tempting Gongsun Xu to lead his troops to attack the city, and let his troops follow behind to pick up the slack.
Unexpectedly, after knocking for a long time, I saw that Gongsun Xu's men kept shouting and shooting arrows at the city, but they no longer attacked the city desperately like yesterday. I couldn't help but feel disappointed.
I thought to myself that they probably knew what I was thinking. Since you don't attack the city, I won't work hard for you to capture Tian Yu. Let's forget it!
Then, a funny scene appeared. There were nearly 70,000 troops under Dingxiang City. They were all shouting and shouting, but they refused to move closer to the city. They roared all day long, and in the evening they all withdrew their troops and returned to their camps.
Two days later, when he heard that Dingxiang was in danger, the prefect of Yanmen recruited 4,000 people to guard Yanmen. He selected 3,000 elite soldiers and crossed the Hutuo River overnight to come to Wang Ling's rescue.
However, the Montenegrin Army was too large in number, with only 3,000 men and horses, and they did not dare to get too close. They chose a terrain that could be attacked if they advanced and defended if they retreated, and set up camp, bluffing and containing the Black Mountain bandits.
Seeing the arrival of reinforcements from the officers and soldiers, Zhang Yan detached 10,000 troops and sent general Sun Qing to meet the enemy and block the reinforcements. He also sent an order to the whole army to polish their weapons and prepare to attack Dingxiang within two days and seize food, money and women!
"Okay, Zhang Yan can't sit still anymore!" Gongsun Fan cursed secretly, "It's a pity that Yuan Jun's reinforcements have arrived. Fortunately, there are not many troops. If there is another city that cannot be taken, I'm afraid there will be no reinforcements." There will be more and more troops!"
The Montenegrin army had enough to eat and drink, and following Zhang Yan's order, they attacked the city with all their strength.
Accompanied by the thunderous sound of drums and horns, the Black Mountain Army and Gongsun Xu's soldiers launched a fierce attack on the city. For a moment, crossbows and arrows were flying, the sound of killing was loud, rivers of blood flowed above and below the city, and corpses were lying on the ground. heap.
The bright red blood dyed the water of the moat red, which was extremely charming and shocking. It was hard to bear to look at it!
Wang Ling has been in the army for many years, and has also served as a prefect in a county. He has fought no less than a dozen city defense battles. Facing the Black Mountain Army that was nearly ten times larger, he commanded calmly and repelled wave after wave of enemy attacks.
A fierce battle lasted from morning to dusk. The Black Mountain Army laid down the corpses of more than 6,000 people under Dingxiang City, and more than 800 soldiers and civilians defending the city lay in a pool of blood. The battle was unprecedentedly cruel.
On several occasions, the Black Mountain thieves who were the first to climb to the top of the city had climbed to the top of the city, and the situation was precarious. Wang Ling held a sharp blade and took the lead in a bloody battle. He cut down more than a dozen rebels with his own hands, which greatly inspired the morale of the army. The three armies sacrificed their lives to drive down the rebels who had climbed onto the city wall again and again...
During the melee, Wang Ling, who was the commander-in-chief of the three armies, was wounded on the shoulder, but he was slightly injured and could not leave the firing line. After a simple bandage, he climbed to the top of the city again to supervise the battle. The soldiers were deeply inspired and fought bravely, everyone vying for the lead. Although the thieves' The attacks came one after another, but Dingxiang City remained standing.
In the evening, there was a pattering of autumn rain in the sky, and the city wall became slippery, which made it more difficult for the Montenegrin army to attack the city.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark and the storm was getting worse, Zhang Yan had no choice but to order his troops to retreat. He didn't expect that Dingxiang City, which was not a tall city, would be so difficult to attack. It was not only impregnable, but also an iron wall. More than six thousand people have sacrificed their lives, but in vain!
At dawn the next day, a team of three thousand people came from the south under the banner of "Sun".
It turned out that Gao Rou received Wang Ling's request for help and knew that Dingxiang was in danger, so he gave Sun Li three thousand troops and ordered him to rush to Dingxiang to rescue day and night. After marching for four days in a hurry, they entered the territory of Dingxiang and responded to the defenders in the city.
When reinforcements came from the south, Zhang Yan had to divide his troops to attack again. He sent general Wang Dang and 10,000 people to stop the attack and prevent the reinforcements from getting close to Dingxiang City.
Although two reinforcements came, Zhang Yan didn't have any worries, but became more confident.
"Officers and soldiers came all the way from Yanmen and Jinyang, but each branch only had three to four thousand people. This is enough to show that Bingzhou is empty and there are no more extra troops to mobilize. Eighty percent of Yuan Xi's main force is fighting Cao Cao in Henan. This is right It is a good time for our army to use force. This time, more than 10,000 strong people have been killed under Dingxiang City. We must break the city no matter what! On the day when the city is broken, slaughter all the creatures in the city and kill them without leaving any chickens or dogs! "
Zhang Yan sat in the Chinese army's tent, eyes burning with flames, and swore an oath. The tenacity of the soldiers and people in Dingxiang City was beyond his expectation. This deeply stimulated the pride of the Black Mountain bandit leader, so he vowed to massacre the city!
"Pass my order and immediately summon other tribes from the Taihang Mountains to come and help us, and swear to defeat Dingxiang! Whoever dares not to come will be removed from the Black Mountain Army in the future!"
Following Zhang Yan's order, dozens of well-mounted scouts immediately galloped out of the Black Mountain Army camp and flew towards the nests of other tribes in the Black Mountains.
In the Taihang Mountains, except for the 60,000 to 70,000 people led by Zhang Yan,
, there are at least dozens of tribes, large and small, entrenched on various hills, varying in size, some with three or four thousand troops, and as few as a hundred. Zhang Yan issued such a stern order, and it was no problem to summon 30,000 to 40,000 Montenegrin troops to help.
In the next few days, it rained continuously over Dingxiang, which was very detrimental to the siege. Zhang Yan then stood still and surrounded Dingxiang City tightly, waiting for reinforcements from the various ministries in Heishan.
Yecheng, Jizhou, the General's Mansion.
It was already late at night when Yuan Xi received Wang Ling's eight-hundred-mile urgent letter. When he saw that Wang Ling said in the letter that the Black Mountain bandits had invaded Kou Dingxiang with a force of 70,000 people, he immediately sent people to attack all civil and military forces overnight. The staff were summoned to the mansion for discussion.
After a short time, Ju Shou, Tian Feng, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Sima Yi, Liu Ye and others came to Yuan Mansion to discuss countermeasures.
Among the generals, Zhang Xiu took the initiative to ask Ying: "Wang Ling's men only have a thousand troops, so it is really difficult to fight against the Black Mountain bandit army. Please give the general's order and allow Xiu to take a brigade and go north to relieve the siege of Dingxiang!"
"Need not!"
Yuan Xi raised his hand and categorically rejected Zhang Xiu's request: "Bowei, you should stay and assist Zhang He in guarding Liyang. Your cavalry is more useful here. This time I want to conquer Dingxiang myself and decide the outcome with Zhang Yan! Black Mountain The thief has been entrenched in the belly of my Yuan family for many years. It has been like a cancer. If it cannot be eradicated, it will be a serious problem. This time, even if Zhang Yan cannot be eliminated, he must be severely injured so that he does not dare to Act rashly again!”
Gu Yong suggested cautiously: "My lord, if I send someone to appease Zhang Yan, is it possible?"
Before Yuan Xi could speak, Jushou vetoed it: "This is simply impossible. It's just a futile effort. Don't let the envoy go to Zhang Yan to die in vain! As a general, the old master oversees Ji, Qing, You, and Bing." When the Four Prefectures Military had 300,000 troops under his command, Zhang Yan refused to submit. How could he submit now? If he had this intention, he would not act so unscrupulously!"
After hearing what Jushou said, the whole hall was speechless.
Yuan Xi agreed very much with Ju Shou's words, and the relationship between the Yuan family and the Black Mountain bandits was already on the same level. After years of confrontation, hundreds of battles, both large and small, with tens of thousands of people killed on both sides, it was decided that Zhang Yan would never surrender to the Yuan family again.
Later, Zhang Yan would rather form an alliance with Gongsun Zan than join the Yuan family, which further illustrates Zhang Yan's determination. The Yuan family and the Black Mountain bandits are already at odds with each other. Either you die or I die!
Jia Xu, who had been silent all this time, opened his mouth to analyze: "Since our army entered Henan, the Huns from the west and the Black Mountain bandits from the east have attacked hand in hand, and there is obviously an echo between them. According to Xu's inference, it is likely that they were influenced by It’s Cao Cao’s instruction, so we attack from both sides and attack together!”
"How could the Huns and Montenegrin rebels listen to Cao Cao's instructions? They can't fight with eight poles?" Tai Shici expressed doubts.
Taishi Ci has now been transferred back to Jizhou from Youzhou by Yuan Xi, so he also attended the meeting.
Yuan Xi nodded and agreed with Jia Xu's opinion: "Wen He is right. The Black Mountain Army and the Huns attacked at the same time. It was probably under Cao Cao's instructions. Cao Cao controlled the emperor and gave them casually in the name of the court. Confer an official position and ask them to send troops, Hu Chuquan and Zhang Yan will definitely obey orders!"
Jushou sighed again: "It's a pity that my lord didn't listen to my opinion and served the emperor as a reward for his disobedience. Instead, he listened to Xin Ping's words and thought that if he brought the emperor to his side, he would be restrained. As a result, Cao Cao acted first and brought the emperor to his side. When we get to Xuchang, we do everything in the name of the emperor, which greatly takes over morality and justice, which is really not good for us!"
"Yes, it's rare that Mr. and Duke knew this move in advance, but my father didn't make good use of it. Cao Cao used the emperor to control the princes and took the advantage. It's really sad!" Hearing Jushou mention this matter, Yuan Xi sighed. But that doesn't make sense, the times are different, the Cao family and the Yuan family need the emperor more, and for the Yuan family it is just the icing on the cake, but it is enough to disgust the Yuan family.
In the future confrontation with Cao Cao, he will inevitably use the name of the emperor to suppress himself, thereby occupying morality and putting himself in a position of disobedience. In the future, he must find a way to resolve this advantage of Cao Cao, otherwise it will be too much. Passive!
However, for a while, Yuan Xi did not have time to think about how to resolve it, so he could only put this idea aside for the time being. Let’s clear the siege of Dingxiang first!
After some time
After the military meeting, Yuan Xi decided on a plan to rescue Dingxiang.
Yecheng can currently mobilize a total of 30,000 troops, including 24,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. A few days ago, Guo Yuan sent the captured Huns horses to Jizhou, and Zhang Liao selected 2,000 from the infantry to expand the cavalry team. , so that the cavalry of Yecheng reached people.
At present, the war in Liyang and Yanjin has fallen into a state of strategic balance. Cao Jun should not have any extra troops to invade Hebei. Even if he invades, Liyang has Zhang He and Gao Lan in charge, and Hanoi has Ju Yi's Xianden and Xu Sheng's navy, so nothing will happen for the time being.
Therefore, Yuan Xi decided to personally conquer Dingxiang and fight the Black Mountain bandits. Taishi Ci was sent to lead two Wuhuan cavalry, plus a light cavalry, and set off northward overnight.
After dawn, he, Sima Yi, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun led the two armies to follow. Jushou, Tian Feng, and Liu Ye were left to guard Yecheng, Jia Xu flanked the Liyang battlefield, and Guo Jia flanked the Hanoi battlefield.
After the allocation was completed, everyone took their orders and went about their business. Yuan Xi asked Lu Zhu to pack his bags and prepare for the expedition.
