With the arrival of Cao Wei's army, there were crowds of people outside Duyang City, and the flags covered the sky and the sun. Standing on the top of Duyang City and looking out, it was all black and full of human heads, like a sea of people, with no end in sight.
“It’s so crowded!”
Zhang Xiu looked at the countless heads outside and thought of the brutal battle that would follow. He couldn't help but sigh, "Don't talk about the matter of making a marquis. One general will make all the bones dry!"
Going south from here, Zhuge Liang fought with Zhang Liao, and Pang Tong and Fazheng followed Zhang Xiu to Nanyang.
Seeing Zhang Xiu sighing with emotion at this moment, Pang Tong said: "Although one general has achieved thousands of withered graves, the emperor's heart for the people is known to the whole world. Using thousands of withered graves to exchange for peace in the world is a blessing for billions of living beings in the world!"
Zhang Xiu smiled and said, "Shi Yuan, there is no need to comfort me. After many years of fighting, how can I be kind to a woman? I still know that kindness is not enough to control the army. Let me tell you, what are your thoughts on this battle?"
Fazheng: "The water of the Yellow River has cut off the grain road from Jizhou to the Central Plains. With the power of the Central Plains and the disaster of the Yellow River, Cao Wei's grain may not last long. Therefore, I think that we should stick to Duyang City until Cao Wei's grain is exhausted." Then we can win in one battle.”
As Fazheng said, without the supply of grain and grass from Jizhou, it would be difficult to feed an army of 180,000 from the Central Plains alone. Coupled with the disaster of the Yellow River, there is also Soochow who is ready to move behind. As long as the war begins in Duyang City, Sun Ce will definitely send troops. , when the time comes, Cao Wei's situation will definitely get worse.
Pang Tong agreed: "As long as our army holds on to the city, Cao Wei will be defeated without a fight."
"Yes!" Zhang Xiu nodded, "Delay Cao Cao and buy Zhang Liao and the others enough time. The water in the Yellow River will not be able to sustain it for long. By then, Cao Cao will inevitably divide his troops and go north. At that time, it will be our opportunity to send troops."
After the Wei army arrived outside Duyang City, they set up camp ten miles away.
The next day.
The sun is shining brightly and the sky is blue.
But in front of the two armies, a sense of solemnity filled the air, piercing the warm heat.
Cao Cao rode a tall horse and came to Duyang City with a few guards. Three hundred steps away, Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhang Xiu's figure on the top of the city and asked: "Zhang Boyuan! I made an alliance with you at Songshan to capture the land of Wu and Chu. Why did you attack Jingxingkou now while our army is moving south?"
Zhang Xiu sneered: "Cao Aman! Have you heard of this sentence?"
Cao Cao frowned: "What are you talking about?"
Zhang Xiu: "If you throw a stone into a doghouse, the one who screams the most fiercely will definitely be the one who is hit. My Dajing soldiers and horses are training in Bingzhou. Unexpectedly, your Wei army came out from the Taihang Mountains, so I had to take countermeasures." measure."
Being scolded like a dog by Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao became angry and said: "Zhang Boyuan, are you going to break the alliance and become an enemy of the Wei Dynasty?"
Zhang Xiu said bluntly: "Why do you need to act if you already have a plan?"
"Okay! Okay!" Cao Cao was so angry that he yelled "ok" twice and his face turned red. "In that case, I will fight with you, Zhang Boyuan! Do you dare to go out of the city and fight me?"
Zhang Xiu looked at Cao Cao and sneered: "People of the Ming Dynasty do not speak secretly. When it comes to martial arts, are you, Cao Aman, my opponent?"
Cao Cao stared at Zhang Xiu coldly.
Not to be outdone, Zhang Xiu also stared at Cao Cao coldly.
After a while, Cao Cao calmed down and said with a sneer: "Haha ~ Boyuan! I know that now you are benefiting from the war in the north. With the help of Jingguo's secret weapon, the sky-shattering artillery truck, you quickly captured Jingxingkou, and the attack on Yejing is just around the corner. , so now you have nothing to fear, right?"
Zhang Xiu said nothing and looked at Cao Cao coldly.
Cao Cao looked up and laughed and said: "You in Jingguo have 500,000 soldiers and horses, but the Wei Dynasty only has 180,000 soldiers and horses in the Central Plains? Xuzhou only has 50,000 soldiers and horses to defend Soochow. Do you know that Jizhou has 50,000 soldiers and horses?" , How many soldiers and horses do we, the Wei Dynasty, have in Youzhou?"
Zhang Xiu's face darkened and he stared at Cao Cao sinisterly.
After Cao Cao said this, Zhang Xiu suddenly remembered as if he was awakened, how could Cao Wei only have 230,000 soldiers and horses. I am afraid there are tens of thousands of horses hidden in Youzhou to protect the capital. Zhang Liao, who attacked Ye Jing, only had 60,000 troops. If Youzhou had more than 150,000 troops, it would be difficult to capture Jizhou in this battle, and even Zhang Liao's 60,000 troops would be lost in Jizhou.
If Zhang Liao's 60,000 troops were lost, Bingzhou would be empty.
At that time, if the Wei army takes advantage of the victory and enters Bingzhou, and Lingshikou is occupied by the Wei army again, then Bingzhou and Chang'an will be in danger.
Fa Zheng, who was standing next to him, saw Zhang Xiu deep in thought and whispered: "Your Majesty, there are no more than 100,000 troops hidden in Jizhou. If Cao Wei hides his troops in Youzhou, it will take a month for the troops from Youzhou to arrive in Yejing. In one month, there are With the help of magical weapons, we can defeat Ye Jing. If Ye Jing is defeated and Cao Pi is captured alive, the overall situation in Jizhou will be decided!"
In fact, Zhang Xiu was not distracted by Cao Cao's words, but was quietly thinking about the deployment of his own troops. There are 20,000 cavalry led by Lebat in Beizhou, preparing to attack the northern part of Jizhou from Yanmen Pass. Zhang Liao's 60,000-strong army marches straight into Yejing from the middle of the Taihang Mountains, and Zhang Xian's 50,000-strong army blocks the Yellow River.
Summarizing the troops and horses, Jizhou currently has a total of 130,000 troops.
If Youzhou and Jizhou really had hundreds of thousands of troops to rescue Ye Jing, then there would be no need for Zhang Xian to blockade the Yellow River and directly lead his troops north to take Beihai, ready to meet Youzhou cavalry at any time and reduce the strength gap between the two sides. If Cao Cao dares to divide his troops and go north, he can unite with Soochow and kill Cao Cao directly.
After thinking quickly for a moment, Zhang Xiu nodded.
He smiled calmly at Cao Cao and said, "Mr. Cao is truly worthy of being Gong Cao. He has so many tricks that people can't see them all. If that's the case, how about we wait and see?"
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhang Xiu coldly.
After many years of fighting with Zhang Xiu, he had no victory and was completely defeated.
This battle was related to the survival of the Wei State. Cao Cao did not dare to be careless. Seeing Zhang Xiu's confident look, he felt uneasy. He always felt that Zhang Xiu had some tricks up his sleeve.
Of course, Cao Cao is not a soft persimmon. Since Zhang Xiu has said everything, how can he show weakness? He smiled calmly and said: "Since Boyuan wants to wait and see, then I will wait and see!" Then he pointed at Duyang City and said, "I want to see whether Ye Jing is broken first or Duyang City is broken first!"
After that, Cao Cao reined in his horse and went back.
Then, the Wei army began to agitate. The uniformly marched infantrymen held shields, followed closely by archers. Every few columns there were tall heavy ballistas, trebuchets, ladders, and arrow towers.
The heavy ballistae is a new weapon developed by Wei State, with a range of 350 steps.
The trebuchet has also been improved. Although it is not as terrifying as Jingguo's power, it is still very powerful.
It can be seen that in order to quickly attack Duyang City, Cao Cao was fully prepared, but Zhang Xiu had nothing but five heavy crossbows to defeat the city and thirty armor-piercing crossbows with flower blades.
In this battle, regardless of Jing Wei.
It's going to be very difficult.
