In the Shenting area, facing the obstruction of a small number of soldiers and horses led by Yuan Shu's general Lejiu, Liu Bei dispatched General Peng and Army Sima Gao Shun to attack.
Gao Shun was very excited. He attacked for the first time. He was extremely cautious and led his troops to form a tight military formation and moved forward steadily. However, he fought hard and could not win. He was defeated by Gao Shun. Killed by an arrow.
Lejiu was defeated and the road to Pingyu County was clear. Liu Bei quickly led his troops forward and surrounded Pingyu County as quickly as possible.
Before the city was surrounded, Yuan Shu in the city hurriedly tried to recall all the dispersed troops to protect him, so he sent people to where Sun Jian, Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui and Liang Gang were, asking them to quickly return for reinforcements.
Of course, it is best if you have already eliminated the enemy troops and return reinforcements as soon as possible. If you have not eliminated the enemy troops, it does not matter. You can find a way to get rid of the enemy troops, or send the rear troops to continue to resist, and then lead the main force to return reinforcements as soon as possible.
Your hometown is about to be destroyed. No matter how well you fight on the front line, what's the point?
It takes time for the army to return reinforcements. What Yuan Shu needs most now is time. He can only send troops to defend the city and use various methods to delay time, such as writing to Liu Bei to request peace talks.
This was a strategy given to him by his counselor Yang Hong, who asked him to use various means to buy time for the army to return reinforcements. It would take one day to delay.
It was September 22nd in the sixth year of Zhongping, less than half a month before the war started, and Yuan Shu was already dying. This huge psychological gap made Yuan Shu almost collapse.
Faced with the fact that Liu Bei's army was besieging the city, no matter how unwilling he was to accept the reality, he had to accept it.
So he had no choice but to write to Liu Bei, trying to use peace talks to delay time, and then put forward conditions. On the premise that he recognized the Luoyang court and the young emperor Liu Xie, Liu Bei would withdraw from the army and recommend him as the prefect of Runan and the leftist. General.
The letter was quickly delivered to Liu Bei outside the city. After reading it, Liu Bei laughed loudly. He then handed the letter to the counselors and senior counselors around him to read. They also laughed after reading it.
"This Yuan Gongli is really on the verge of death without realizing it. He is already in this situation, and he still dreams of being a high-ranking official and rich in salary. You can only imagine how arrogant and domineering these bastards are in normal times!"
Cheng Li, who came from a poor family, was deeply resentful of Yuan Shu's demands and proposed to Liu Bei to attack the city immediately and never give Yuan Shu a chance to make a comeback.
Liu Bei accepted this suggestion and immediately ordered the trebuchets to make full arrangements. The army surrounded the city on all sides and attacked the city fiercely, never giving Yuan Shu a chance to stand up.
Liu Bei was not embarrassed about the messenger who sent the message and asked him to take the message to Yuan Shu.
[Tell Yuan Shu that he only has one way to die, but if Kaicheng surrenders, he can still choose a way to die. If he resists to the end, his car will be broken and his bones will be scattered. If he surrenders, he will be happily beheaded. Choose one of the two, choose.]
Liu Bei's attitude made Yuan Shu very angry, so the unlucky envoy did not die in Liu Bei's hands, but was killed by Yuan Shu to vent his anger because of this incident.
After killing the envoy, Yuan Shu became depressed, and Yang Hong had no choice. Yan Xiang was sick because of Yuan Shu's previous behavior, and was still lying in bed unable to make any suggestions, so the situation was frozen.
But soon, the fireball falling from the sky melted the frozen situation.
Liu Bei set up fifteen trebuchets outside the city and used a large number of rocks and fire oil tanks to carry out high-intensity bombardment of Pingyu County.
After rounds of bombardment, the defenders in the city suffered a serious blow. Liu Bei then dispatched siege troops, pushing a large number of siege equipment, and began to attack the city fully armed.
Despite the huge threat, Yang Hong went to observe the siege of Liu Bei's army. After returning, he persuaded Yuan Shu, who was in a depressed mood, to send enough troops to defend the city with Liu Bei's high-intensity siege efforts. , he was worried that the city would not be able to hold on.
"Liu Bei's army also has an instrument that can throw stones and terrible fireballs. It is quite similar to the siege equipment of the Warring States Period that my subordinates saw in ancient books. I don't know who made it. Its power is far more powerful than a crossbow. Very scary.
Moreover, the flames ignited by the fireball were difficult to extinguish with water, and once they stuck to the body, they were difficult to remove. Many soldiers were burned to death or seriously injured, and no medicine or stone could save them. The defenders on the city were very afraid and had low morale. If this continued, at most In seven or eight days, the city will be in danger! "
"Am I really going to die here?"
Yuan Shu looked at Yang Hong with absent-minded eyes: "I am the fourth generation and third prince of the Runan Yuan family. My disciples and former officials are all over the world. If I raise my arms and the world responds, this is the right thing, right? But why doesn't it happen? What? Why? Why didn’t anyone help me? Why did I fail?"
Until now, Yuan Shu still doesn't know where he lost.
Yang Hong knew, but Yang Hong also knew that even if he told the answer, Yuan Shu would not believe it or accept it.
Yuan Shu will only believe what he wants to believe, and he will not believe anything else, even if it is the truth.
Thinking of Yan Xiang who was so angry that he was lying on the bed and sick, and of the elders of the Yuan family who were so angry that Yuan Shu vomited blood, Yang Hong gave up the idea of telling Yuan Shu the truth.
He was a disciple of the Yuan family. He thought that he had no choice and that he had to stand with Yuan Shu. By the time he knew that he actually had a choice, it was already too late.
Therefore, he could only rack his brains to put forward some military suggestions for Yuan Shu, and let Yuan Shu adopt these suggestions and strengthen the city defense. As for higher-level suggestions, they were meaningless.
With the entire Han Kingdom on one side and three counties on the other, how can we fight this battle?
Or can Yuan Shu recreate the great battle between Liu Xiu and Wang Mang in Kunyang, where meteorites fell from the sky?
Something has indeed fallen from the sky, but the location of the landing is in Pingyu County. It is still a fire that is difficult to extinguish if it touches it. It is Yuan Shu who is dealing with it, not Liu Bei.
If they hadn't temporarily raised the height of the city wall in Pingyu County, Yang Hong suspected that Liu Bei's fierce Central Han army would have captured the city in less than two or three days.
Of course, Yuan Shu didn't want to die, so he accepted Yang Hong's suggestion and dispatched the most elite escorts to defend the city and fight with the siege troops. The two sides fought for three days, and the walls of Pingyu County were surrendered to Liu Bei. The fire turned black.
When Yuan Shu was dying, the last hope he longed for did not make good progress.
Liang Gang's rear troops were quickly overtaken by Lu Kang and defeated. Lu Kang then selected a lightly armed cavalry to pursue them, and soon caught up with Liang Gang's troops. In the chaos, Liang Gang fell off his horse and died. Thousands of people in his army dispersed and were completely defeated by Lu Kang.
Qiao Rui was somewhat capable and made some arrangements during the retreat. Yang Xu was not able to pursue him quickly, but because the retreat order came in such a hurry, he did not have time to prepare enough rations. Halfway through, the rations were gone.
So he had to plunder food everywhere, which caused widespread resentment among the people and chaos in the army. Finally, before Yang Xu could pursue him, the army collapsed on its own initiative.
Qiao Rui tried his best to stop him, but failed. In the end, he could only flee towards Pingyu County with his personal guards.
The troops led by Zhang Xun and Ji Ling were the worst off, because their retreat was threatened, and the front was entangled by the army. They could not fight or retreat. In the end, Zhang Xun and Ji Ling discussed it over and over again, and felt that Yuan Shu had nothing to do. Hope.
"Even if we withdraw, there won't be many troops left. Now Pingyu County is still surrounded by Liu Bei. If we go back, what use will we bring with a few troops? We will just die."
Zhang Xun said in a low voice: "In my opinion, we should surrender. If we surrender, we might still be able to live. If we carry on, we will definitely die. If we can live, why should we die? We still have hope if we keep our good bodies. Isn’t it?”
Ji Ling disagreed.
"We didn't do anything good before, and we scared King Pei to death. We are sinners of the Han Dynasty. If we are caught, we will definitely be killed. If we want to live, we will not be allowed."
"That……"
"Escape, to the ends of the earth, as big as a man, there is always a place for us to stay, and there is always a place where we will not be found. Pack up your belongings, take enough belongings, and escape at night. In this way, you will definitely survive, you said Woolen cloth?"
Ji Ling looked at Zhang Xun expectantly. Zhang Xun thought about it over and over, but still couldn't make up his mind.
"But our family members are all in Pingyu County. If we escape and the news spreads, General Yuan will not let our family go. They will die."
"As long as we are still here, even if our family is gone, we can still have it at any time!"
Ji Ling shook his head and said: "Although it is not a good thing to say this, it is the fact. As long as you survive, you can marry again and continue your relationship. If you die, you will really have nothing."
Zhang Xun thought about it and couldn't think of any better way. He had to admit that what Ji Ling said made sense.
In desperation, Zhang Xun could only nod, and the two discussed some details, found reliable personal guards, and asked them to help pack their bags.
Finally, the two men left the military camp at night with more than 20 reliable personal guards and quietly ran south, planning to go to Jingzhou first, then cross the river from Jingzhou, all the way south, and seek refuge in Jiaozhi.
They didn't believe that they would be found even if they fled to a place as far away as Jiaozhi.
Zhang Xun and Ji Ling's escape was very irresponsible. They were discovered quickly the next morning. The army was in chaos and out of control. In the end, there was even an internal attack, which made the army and Pei Guo Local militancy is very confusing.
Why did you start fighting on your own before we even made any efforts?
Of course, this army did not continue to make any resistance. It was quickly surrounded by the official army and local armed forces, and was defeated neatly. Most of them were taken prisoner, and a small number of them escaped.
In this way, only the last of Yuan Shu's four lines of reinforcements was left.
Sun Jian.
