Xuzhou.
Xiapi.
A few days later Zhou Yu's remains were transported to Jiangdong.
In the government office, Xu Shu, Lu Su, Zhang Zhao, Pang Tong, Zhao Yun, Zhang Xiu and others gathered at the sand table to analyze the strategy of taking the initiative to attack Yuan Shao's army outside the city.
In the days after Zhou Yu's death, Yuan Shao's army did not launch another attack.
They press forward step by step!
Because it was already winter and it was freezing cold.
Therefore, Yuan Shao's army used frozen soil to build a mud wall outside the city step by step, and then watered it with water before nightfall.
After a night of freezing.
At dawn the next day, the mud wall will become extremely hard.
Xu Shu and others were a little worried.
If this continues, the north gate of the city will be completely blocked!
At that time, Yuan Shao's army can send some troops to sit on the earth wall, thus freeing up more troops to attack other gates of Xiapi.
In order to prevent the other gates of Xiapi from being raided, their defenders had to deploy heavy troops at the east gate and west gate of the city.
There is only one such result.
That is, if the troops of the Xiapi garrison are dispersed, they will be dragged to death, exhausted from running between the three city gates.
Lu Su said: "Faced with this situation, the enemy obviously wants to force us out of the city for a decisive battle."
"Besides, the sooner we leave the city for a decisive battle, the better."
"Once the earth wall in the north of the city is completely built, they can move to the two gates in the west and east of the city, and follow the same pattern in these two places."
"At that time, if they simply give up the attack on Xiapi and only send a few troops to defend the mud wall, and their army abandons Xiapi and instead marches south from Xiaopei to Shouchun, it will be a headache."
"Cao Cao is currently stationing troops at Guandu, Shouchun has designated that there are not many troops."
"How can you stop it?"
"It's not possible to go south from Shouchun to Hefei."
"Marquis Wu said that we are now fully entering the stage of recuperation and recuperation, and we are only allowed to open up a front in Xuzhou."
"Also, even if we block the enemy's route south to Hefei, when the time comes, they will turn to attack Xudu——"
Lu Su glanced at everyone and said with a serious face: "If Xu is attacked, Cao Cao will really be dead."
"Once Cao Cao surrenders to Yuan Shao, it won't be a question of whether we are willing to open a few fronts, but that we will collapse completely."
"We in Jiangdong are different from Yuan Shao in Hebei."
"Hebei Yuan Shao occupies four states, and Jizhou has already been pacified. There is no pressure on logistical support and the soldiers are strong."
"We in Jiangdong have been fighting for these years. Although the states and counties have been conquered, they have only experienced the baptism of war. The people have not yet returned, the land is barren, and the soldiers are tired."
"It is almost impossible to deal with Yuan Shao's army alone."
Xu Shu had a gloomy face.
If he takes the initiative now, he has absolutely no chance of winning.
The number of enemy soldiers is tens of thousands more than our own.
Moreover, there are also those ten thousand powerful cavalry.
Taking the initiative to fight out of the city on this flat ground is exactly the advantage of the cavalry.
Xu Shu remained silent and did not reply.
All other civil and military officials also fell silent.
As long as there is some hope that they can win by taking the initiative, they will persist.
There is no problem now.
They originally thought that after the death of the other party's mastermind Zhou Yu, there would be big changes.
Now it seems that it is still people like me who are in a difficult situation.
After a long time, Xu Shu felt so depressed that he couldn't breathe, so he was ready to go out for some air.
But a soldier hurriedly ran in and said: "Report! We caught a man coming in from outside the city. He claims to be Zang Ba's envoy Sun Guan!"
All the civil and military officials looked at each other in confusion.
"Zang Ba? Who is Zang Ba?"
"Who is Sun Guan?"
"What are they going to do here?"
Xuzhou Mu Zhang Zhao looked a little ugly and said: "Young masters don't know that this Zang Ba is excusable."
Looking at Zhao Yun, Zhang Zhao said: "This Zang Ba was originally the last Cavalry Commander in Xuzhou."
"During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Tao Qian was transferred to Xuzhou by the imperial court to serve as Xuzhou Shepherd because of his military exploits."
"At that time, Zang Ba was a native of Taishan County. He was very brave and had a group of brothers under his command."
"When he was young, his father committed a crime, and he and his father were arrested and imprisoned by the prefect. His brothers directly robbed the prison, killed the prefect, and took the land as king."
"After Tao Qian became the shepherd of Xuzhou, he sent someone to recruit him as a cavalry captain, and gave him a large number of soldiers to help guard Xuzhou."
"But this man is self-respecting with his troops——"
Zhang Zhao glanced at Chen Jiao, the governor of Pengcheng County.
Chen Jiao coughed dryly and said: "The former Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian was slowly emptied of power because of his military power."
"Especially when Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou to avenge his father, Zang Ba, the former Cavalry Commander of Xuzhou, was so afraid that he directly gave up his post as Cavalry Commander. He led a large number of soldiers to abandon Xuzhou, occupied the mountains and became king, plundered women and children everywhere, and sold them. The major families in the prefecture and county are full of complaints."
"The former Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian was hated by all the major families because of Zang Ba's betrayal, and was deprived of power."
"Faced with Cao Cao's second expedition to Xuzhou, he could only lead everyone to retreat to Tancheng."
After a pause, Chen Jiao glanced at the crowd and said, "Speaking of which, this is also the first time that Xuzhou and Wu Hou have become acquainted."
"At that time, Tancheng was also in danger. Yuan Pingyuan ordered Liu Bei and Wu Hou to come to aid Xuzhou and defended Tancheng from Cao Cao's second attack."
Chen Jiao laughed and said: "Wuhou was serving as the Sima of Lujiang at that time, but he has already shown extraordinary insight."
"He speculated that Cao Cao was attacking Xuzhou with all his strength, that the supply of food and grass would be insufficient, and that there would even be betrayal in the rear, so he asked everyone to fight to the death to defend Tancheng."
"Unexpectedly, it finally became a reality."
"Cao Cao not only encountered a food and grass crisis, Yanzhou was also betrayed by his subordinates, leading Lu Bu to take over. Cao Cao had to abandon Tancheng and Xuzhou and return to Yanzhou to fight."
Chen Jiao looked at Lu Bu.
Lu Bu seemed not to hear.
Zhang Zhao nodded and took over the words: "I am from Pengcheng. I had to flee south to Jiangdong because Zang Ba, a scumbag, led his soldiers to occupy the mountain and become the king."
"At that time, when Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou, Zang Ba was the Xuzhou people's greatest hope."
"Who knew that he would lead his soldiers to occupy the mountain and become king and abandon Xuzhou!"
"At that time, the entire people of Xuzhou were in panic."
"Without the soldiers to protect Xuzhou, is Xuzhou still in ruins?"
"Small families and people in various counties are heading south to seek refuge."
"And our original Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian fled to Tancheng for refuge with only his extended family and his tribe."
"As for us small families and common people, we don't care."
"My wife, son and daughter were also separated on the road and have not been found yet."
Looking at Xu Shu, Zhang Zhao said: "The eldest lady and the second lady were also separated from their families during this escape. However, they were lucky. After being robbed by bandits, they were bought by others and given to Wu Hou."
"But many other children are not so lucky."
"You haven't seen the escape scene."
"Some plump and beautiful women were caught by bandits, stripped naked on the spot and ruined. Those heart-rending cries still scare me awake sometimes in my dreams at night."
All the civil and military officials were stunned.
Unexpectedly, this Zang Ba turned out to be the former Cavalry Commander of Xuzhou.
Moreover, the dignified cavalry captain could actually do such an unfashionable thing.
Facing Cao Cao's attack, he actually abandoned the city and fled, occupying the mountain as king!
Gao Shun, who had been silent, said, "I also know Zang Ba."
Looking at Lu Bu, Gao Shun said: "We had dealings with him when we were in Xuzhou. This person does have no integrity, but he is very cunning and knows how to follow the trend."
"Besides, he is indeed very powerful."
"He sent someone here this time, so you might as well listen to what he has to say."
"If we exclude him directly because of his past behavior, and if he unites with Yuan Shao's army, it will do us no good at all."
When Xu Shu heard what Gao Shun said, he nodded and said to the soldiers: "Bring the people here."
The soldier responded and hurried out.
Zhang Zhao asked Xu Shu tentatively: "Commander President, if Marquis Wu finds out about this, Lei Lei will be furious——"
Lu Su said: "Don't worry, Mr. Wu, Marquis Wu is not that impulsive person. If Marquis Wu is really furious, I, Lu Su, am willing to bear the responsibility."
Zhang Zhao didn't speak anymore.
After a while, several soldiers came in pressing a thin middle-aged man.
Xu Shu signaled the soldiers to untie them.
The soldier untied the rope from the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man loosened his limbs, smiled and hugged Gao Shun and Lu Bu, saying, "General Gao, Flying General, it's been a long time!"
Lu Bu snorted heavily.
Gao Shun ignored him and said to everyone: "This man's name is Sun Guan. He is also from Taishan. He is one of Zang Ba's brothers. He once robbed a prison together to save Zang Ba and his father and killed the Taishan prefect."
Sun Guanpei laughed and said: "These are old things that cannot be looked back on. Why would General Gao expose people's scars?"
Xu Shu asked expressionlessly: "Why are you here?"
Sun Guan suppressed his smile, took out a bamboo tube from his sleeve, handed it to Xu Shu solemnly, and said: "This time, on the order of our commander-in-chief, I came to discuss with your army. We now have fifteen thousand soldiers. , including three thousand soldiers."
"We are willing to cooperate with your army in attacking from the rear of Yuan Shao's army."
"But we also have a request."
All civil and military officials suddenly became noisy.
This bandit Zang Ba actually has so many soldiers!
He also has three thousand soldiers!
Really strong.
It seems that Zhang Zhao, the pastor of Xuzhou, was right. When Cao Cao conquered Xuzhou in the south, Zang Ba took away most of Xuzhou's troops. Instead of serving as an official, he became a bandit!
However, if they attack the rear of Yuan Shao's army, it will really be worth leaving the city to fight!
Xu Shu did not answer directly, but asked: "You group of bandits, why should we believe you?"
Sun Guan smiled and said: "If you don't believe it, you are in danger now."
"We both benefit from working together."
Xu Shu asked again: "Request?"
Sun Guandao: "After defeating Yuan Shao's army, our commander hopes that your army will cooperate with us to capture Qingzhou and let our commander serve as the herdsman of Qingzhou."
After a pause, Sun Guan continued: "Of course, your army can rest assured. Our commander has also said so. If you agree, then he will also belong to Jiangdong and will be willing to defend Qingzhou for Jiangdong, and will always cooperate with Xuzhou to fight against Yuan Shao's march south."
"It's just that our commander-in-chief has the final say in all affairs in Qingzhou."
"include--"
Sun Guan said in a deep voice: "Army recruitment and official appointment."
(End of chapter)
