The siege of Yecheng began in May.
Shen Pei strictly ordered the city to be guarded, and the Wei army was never allowed to enter the city. Yuan Shang came from the boundary of Fu River and went east to Yangping Pavilion. He set up camp with his back on Fu River, more than 20 miles away from Yecheng.
That night, Yuan Shang ordered his sergeants to pile up mountains of firewood and burn the mountains of firewood in the middle of the night. The fire rose into the sky, attracting the attention of Cao Jun. He secretly sent Li Yu, the chief secretary, to pretend to be the governor of Cao Jun and go to Yecheng.
The fire attracted Cao's army's attention, but Li prisoners were able to sneak through and came to the gate of Ye city.
Shen Pei had seen the fire in Yangping Pavilion early and stood at the top of the city to watch it. However, he heard someone calling the door from below the city. When he saw it was prisoner Li, he immediately ordered the people to lower the drawbridge and greeted prisoner Li. He asked urgently: "Is the king at Yangping Pavilion?"
Li Piao said: "Your Majesty has sent troops to Yangping Pavilion, waiting for the response. If the soldiers from the city come out, raise fire as a signal, and attack them from both inside and outside, the Wei army will be defeated."
The judge nodded: "That's very good!"
He immediately ordered people to pile firewood in the city to communicate with him.
Shen Pei thought for a while and said: "I have thought about it and come up with a plan. If we attack with the king's troops and horses again, Cao Wei will definitely be born."
Li Piao asked: "What's the plan?"
Shen Pei said: "There is not much food and grass in the city. We can let the old, weak, remnant soldiers and women in the city go out of the city, and hang up the slogan 'The people of Jizhou surrender'. Then Chen Bing and the people will come out after them. The king will attack at the same time. Cao's army will be defenseless and the battle will be fought." It must be defeated.”
Li Piao said: "This is a wonderful plan!"
Early next morning.
Tens of thousands of people in Yecheng marched toward the Wei camp in a mighty manner, holding the words "People of Jizhou Surrender". After Cao Cao learned about it, he immediately led the civil and military forces to the arrow tower to watch.
Standing on the arrow tower and looking towards Yecheng, I saw a dense crowd of people walking towards this side. Because the distance was too far, I couldn't see clearly the slogans held high.
Cao Cao asked the people around him: "Do you think this is true or false?"
Guo Jia said with a smile: "This must be a stratagem. The surrender of the people is false, but hiding the troops behind the people is true. Last night, Yuan Shang and Chen soldiers in Yangping Pavilion, using the fire as a guide, must secretly send people to Yecheng to prepare internal and external preparations. It’s also a flanking attack.”
Cao Cao nodded.
Immediately he said: "Zhang He and Gao Lan listen to the order! Let you each lead three thousand troops and lie down on both sides. Wait for the Jin army to appear and kill them!"
Zhang He and Gao Lan: "Here!"
Cao Cao ordered here: "Cao Hong, Cao Zhang, Xiahou Chun, and Xiahou Yuan listen to the order! I order you to lead 20,000 troops to attack Yuan Shang's army camp without making any mistakes!"
Generals: "Here!"
Later, Cao Cao personally rode on horseback and led Xu Chu and Li Dian to three miles away from Yecheng. As expected, he saw the east gate of Yecheng opened wide, and countless people came out with their young and old in their arms, each holding a white flag.
Cao Cao sneered and ordered everyone to be on guard.
On the top of the city, when the judge saw Cao Cao coming in person, he immediately ordered the army to fight out. At the same time, the firewood at the top of the city was lit, and thick smoke billowed upwards, which could be seen clearly from thirty miles away.
Then, before all the people at the city entrance had left, the roar of horse hooves sounded like thunder. As the ground shook, countless cavalry rushed out from the city entrance and headed straight for Cao Cao.
Upon seeing this, Cao Cao calmly waved his flag.
Immediately, Zhang He and Gao Lan led their troops to charge out, while Xu Chu and Li Dian in front rushed out, forming a three-sided pincer attack on the Jin army rushing out of the city gate.
The Jin army was surrounded and had to return in a hurry.
Seeing that the army was strong, Cao Cao hurriedly rode in, preparing to take the opportunity to enter the city and capture Ye City. But as soon as he arrived under the suspension bridge, he heard Shen Peili shouting from the top of the city: "Fire the arrow!"
In an instant, arrows rained down.
Cao Cao couldn't dodge, and an arrow hit his helmet. Fortunately, Cao Cao's helmets were made of high-quality iron. Even so, it was almost shot through. Cao Cao was so frightened that he flew out of the sky. Under the protection of Xu Chu and Li Dian, he evacuated the city.
Yuan Shang's side.
Seeing the thick smoke in Yecheng mixed with scattered firelight, Yuan Shang immediately ordered the three armies to kill the Wei army camp. Halfway through the journey, he suddenly encountered Cao Jun. Yuan Shang gave an order and all the troops and horses came out in unison.
There was a melee between the two armies, and Yuan Shang was defeated and fled.
Xia Houyuan and others pursued and fought fiercely. They first retreated to the Xishan stronghold, but before the stronghold was established, Cao's army came to kill him overnight. In order to escape for his life, Yuan Shang threw away his seals, ribbons, knotted axes, clothes and armor, baggage and other items and headed for Zhongshan.
Cao's army besieged the city again and attacked.
However, under Shen Pei's strict defense, Yecheng could not leave for a long time. After three months, without Jingguo's supply of food and grass, Cao's army was about to run out of food and grass.
Can't wait any longer.
Cao Cao summoned the civil servants and generals and gave a stern order: "If we cannot capture Ye City in three days, you will all be beheaded!"
Xu You suggested: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. It's August and the rain will increase. Why not cut off the water in the Zhang River to flood it?"
Cao Cao frowned and said, "How can we not know how to dig trenches outside the city?"
Guo Jiadao: "When digging trenches during the day, we only dig a few feet deep. At night, we add ten times more troops to dig deeper, and then divert water to flood the city."
Cao Cao nodded: "Just follow the words of filial piety."
So he ordered people to dig trenches forty miles outside the city.
After the judge learned about this, he came to the city to check. Sure enough, he saw Cao Jun digging trenches, but the trenches were very shallow. He sneered disdainfully: "This must be Guo Fengxiao digging water from the Zhang River to irrigate the city. The trenches are deep and irrigated." It's okay, it's so shallow, what's the use?" He shook his head with a sneer and ignored it.
That night, Cao Cao invested ten times his troops and dug trenches overnight.
By daybreak, the trench was more than two feet wide and deep, and water from the Zhang River was diverted into Yecheng. The city was completely defenseless, and by daybreak it was flooded with water that was several feet deep.
The city was flooded, even more food and grass were depleted, and countless people died of starvation and drowning.
When the water receded, Cao Cao ordered his army to attack the city.
Shenpei was unable to resist Cao Wei's army. First, the east gate was broken, and soon, the entire Ye city was captured. After the fighting in the city subsided, Cao Cao led the civil and military forces into the city slowly.
At this time, Xu Chu pressed Shen Pei to the city gate to see Cao Cao.
Cao Cao looked deeply at Shen Pei and asked, "I came to the city a few months ago. Why are there so many crossbows in the city?"
Shen Pei glared at Cao Cao and gritted his teeth: "I only hate him for being so young! He is no better than Jingguo's arrows and crossbows. I hate that I didn't shoot the traitor to death!"
When mentioning Jingguo's crossbows, Cao Cao immediately thought of his beloved general Xu Huang.
Xu Huang died under the crossbow of Jingguo.
Cao Cao took pity on the talent of the judge, suppressed the anger in his heart, stared at him and asked: "You are loyal to the Yuan family and cannot tolerate this. But today, I am cheating, are you willing to surrender?"
Shen Pei gritted his teeth and said firmly: "A certain person is a minister of the Yuan clan and will die as a ghost of the Yuan clan! I would rather die... than surrender!"
Cao Cao's face turned cold, and there was a murderous look between his teeth: "Behead!"
Shen Pei shouted: "My lord is in the north, don't let me die facing south!" After shouting, he knelt down to the north, closed his eyes and drew his neck to kill me.
Cao Cao's face was filled with anger.
However, he admired and pitied Shen Pei very much. After the knife and ax hand killed Shen Pei, Cao Cao looked up and sighed: "There are so many righteous men in Hebei! It's a pity that the Yuan family can't use them! If they can use them, I will be safe." Don’t you dare to look at this place seriously!”
After sighing, people will give Shen a rich burial.
Immediately, he prepared to lead the generals into Jizhou City. As soon as they arrived at the city entrance, Xu You rode his horse and pointed at the city gate with his riding whip and called Cao Cao: "Aman! How can I enter this gate if you don't allow me?"
When all the generals saw that Xu You showed no respect, they were all furious.
Cao Cao didn't answer, just laughed loudly and rode into the city. The generals behind him glared at Xu You, wanting to kill him.
Xu You raised his head with a proud look on his face.
