Yuan Tan's troops followed Yuan Tan for less than ten miles. When a cannon was fired, the ambushing troops on both sides came out. Lu Kuang on the left and Lu Xiang on the right. The two brothers intercepted Yuan Tan. After they were separated, they knew that Yuan Tan must have something. Action, so lie in ambush on both sides of the road.
Yuan Tan told the two men: "When my father was still alive, I did not neglect you two generals. Why do you follow my brother to persecute me now?"
After hearing this, the two men dismounted and surrendered.
Yuan Tan said: "You don't need to surrender to me, go and surrender to Prime Minister Cao."
So the two followed Yuan Tan back to the camp. Yuan Tan waited for Cao Jun and took two generals to see Cao Cao.
Cao Cao was very happy and married his daughter to Yuan Tan as his wife, with Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang as matchmakers.
After the ceremony, Yuan Tan asked Cao Cao to attack Jizhou immediately. Cao Cao said: "I can't keep up with the grain and grass now. The quartermaster is working very hard during the transportation. I will build a bridge on the river first to clear the channel for us to transport grain and grass, and then March towards Jizhou."
So Yuan Tan was assigned to guard the plains, and Cao Cao himself retreated to Liyang with his troops and horses, and named Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang as marquises to accompany the army.
Guo Tu saw Cao Cao's intention and advised Yuan Tan: "I'm afraid Cao Cao didn't really mean it when he betrothed his daughter to his daughter. Now he has rewarded Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang and brought them to his army. This is to win over Hebei." Generals will definitely become our trouble in the future. My lord can send people to print two military seals and secretly send them to them so that they can serve as our internal agents. When Cao Cao defeats Yuan Shang, we will take the opportunity to plot against Cao Cao."
Yuan Tan followed his advice, got two general seals, and secretly gave them to Er Lu. The two of them were not under Yuan Tan's control at all. They secretly went to see Cao Cao and told the story at the same time.
Cao Cao laughed and said: "Yuan Tan secretly gave you the General's Seal in order to use you as an internal agent. After I defeat Yuan Shang, he will turn against me. You can accept it first. I have my own opinion." The two left. , Cao Cao thought for a moment, changed his original mind, and became murderous towards Yuan Tan.
Yuan Shang discussed with Shen Pei and said, "Now that Cao Cao has transported grain to Baigou, he will definitely come to attack Jizhou. What should we do?"
The judge offered advice: "We can issue an order to have Yin Kai, the commander of Wu'an, station in Maocheng, open the food channel to Shangdang, and let Ju Hu, the son of Ju Shou, guard Handan as our support. The lord will march into the plains and quickly attack Yuan Tan. , defeat them, and then attack Cao’s army again.”
Yuan Shang was very happy and left Shen Pei and Chen Lin to guard Jizhou. He sent two generals, Ma Yan and Zhang Wei, as vanguards to attack Pingyuan County overnight.
Yuan Tan learned that Yuan Shang's troops were very close, so he sent as many people as possible to report to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao said: "I will definitely win Jizhou this time!"
While they were talking, Xu You came from Xuchang. Hearing that Yuan Shang was attacking Yuan Tan, he went to see Cao Cao and said, "The prime minister is guarding here and has not taken any action. Are you preparing to wait for the thunder to kill Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang?" ?”
Cao Cao was confident and said with a smile: "I already have a plan." So he sent Cao Hongxian to lead troops to attack Yecheng, and Cao Cao himself led a group of troops to attack Yin Kai.
When the troops approached the city, Yin Kai led his troops out to fight. Cao Cao pointed at Yin Kai and said, "Where is Xu Chu?"
He responded and rode his horse straight towards Yin Kai. Yin Kai was caught off guard and was cut off by Xu Chu's sword, and the rest of the people fled in all directions.
Cao Cao directly surrendered, strengthened his troops, and then attacked Handan with his troops and horses. Ju Hu marched in to meet Zhang Liao, and Zhang Liao came out to fight. The two fought. In less than three rounds, Ju Hu couldn't stand it anymore and retreated quickly.
The distance between the two horses was not very far. Zhang Liao quickly took out his bow and arrow and shot. Ju Hu fell off his horse in response.
Cao Cao ordered others to cover up and kill him. The opponent was defeated and scattered in all directions.
After getting rid of the foreign aid, Cao Cao led his army to the city of Jizhou. Cao Hong was already at the city. Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to surround the city, build mountains of earth, and then secretly dig some tunnels into the city to attack.
Shen Pei guarded the city and his laws were very strict. Feng Li, the guard at the east gate, made a joke while patrolling after drinking. He was severely scolded by Shen Pei. So Feng Li held a grudge and secretly ran outside the city to surrender to Cao Cao. .
Cao Cao asked if he had any strategies to break the city, and Feng Li replied: "The soil inside the Tumen is thick, so you can dig a tunnel to get in."
So Cao Cao ordered Feng Li to lead three hundred warriors to dig tunnels into Jizhou City overnight.
After Feng Li surrendered to Cao Cao, Shen Pei personally went to various places in the city to count the troops and horses every day. That night at Tumen Pavilion, he saw that there were no lights outside the city. Shen Pei speculated: "Feng Li will definitely bring troops and horses from Dig a tunnel into this place." They quickly sent elite soldiers to transport stones to hit the gate. When the gate was closed, Feng Li and the three hundred warriors died in the tunnel.
Cao Cao suffered a loss and no longer thought of attacking through the tunnel. He retreated his army to the Huan River and waited for Yuan Shang to return with his troops.
Yuan Shang was attacking Pingyuan at this time. He heard that Cao Cao had defeated Yin Kai and Ju Hu, and that the army had besieged Jizhou, so he took his troops and horses to prepare to go back for rescue.
General Ma Yan said: "If we go back by the main road, Cao Cao will definitely have his troops ambushing him. We can go from the small road and leave Fushuikou from the Western Mountains to rob Cao Cao's camp. We will definitely be able to relieve Jizhou's predicament."
Yuan Shang followed this suggestion and led his army ahead, leaving Ma Yan and Zhang Wei behind.
I had time to report the situation to Cao Cao. Cao Cao smiled and said, "If he comes back directly from the main road, I may have to hide for a while. If he comes back from the west mountain path, I can capture him in one fight. I expect Yuan Shanghe to set fire to the city." Call me, let the city come out to support you, and I can divide the troops to attack." After saying this, he separated the troops and made a battle plan.
Yuan Shang left the boundary of Fushui and went east to Yangping, where he stationed troops at Yangping Pavilion, which was only seventeen miles away from Jizhou.
Yuan Shang asked his sergeants to pile up some firewood and prepare to burn it at night as a signal. He sent the chief secretary Li Fu to pretend to be the commander of Cao's army and went to Jizhou City to call the door.
Shen Pei recognized the man from the voice as Li Fu, put him into the city, and said, "Yuan Shang is now at Yangping Pavilion with his troops waiting to be received. If soldiers and horses from the city come out, raise the torch as a command." Shen Pei nodded and let him know. The city also went to prepare some hay to prepare for fire prevention and maintain communications.
Li Fu said: "There is no food in the city. We can send the old, weak, sick and disabled people outside the city to surrender. Cao's army will definitely be ill-prepared. At this time, we will follow the people out of the city to attack Cao's army."
The reviewer thought the idea was good and decided to implement it.
So the two parties determined the communication code and prepared enough firewood. Shen Pei sent people to organize the old, weak, sick and disabled people, and began to implement the plan in detail, with Li Fu assisting.
