Tao Qian was trapped in Langya County, unable to advance or retreat. There were wolves in front of him and tigers in the back. Now Lu Bu openly entered Langya County and surrounded Kaiyang. This was a disaster!
Zang Ba, Zhao Yu wanted to defend the city, but there were few soldiers and food in the city, and there were no reinforcements outside. They faced Lu Bu's 20,000 troops, how could they defend it?
Zang Ba and Zhao Yu were discussing countermeasures, but Lu Bu outside the city couldn't wait any longer.
He looked at Gao Shun and others beside him and said loudly: "How can a mere Kaiyang County stop me, Lu Bu? Gao Shun, prepare to attack the city!"
"Yes!" Gao Shun raised his hand and said. He has always been taciturn, and he values his superiors' orders most. After receiving the order, he began to mobilize his troops.
Gao Shun was a battle-hardened man. He surrounded three men but only one was missing. He focused on attacking the south gate. He had five thousand men and prepared in an orderly manner.
Cheng Lian came to Lu Bu and said, "My lord, I think that in half a day at most, I can persuade you to surrender."
Lu Bu looked proud and said, "I don't need them to surrender, I need Tao Qian's head!"
Cheng Lian was startled and said, "What do you mean, my lord?"
Lu Bu laughed heartily and said: "The Han Dynasty is about to end, which is where heroes come into play. How can I, Lu Bu, stay under others for a long time!"
Cheng Lian looked at Lu Bu, his heart was suddenly shocked, and he immediately raised his hand and said loudly: "I am willing to follow my lord and achieve great achievements!"
Cheng Lian also realized later that when Lu Bu asked them to change their titles to 'Lord', it actually indicated that Lu Bu was no longer a 'servant'.
Lu Bu laughed even louder, and the white horse under him roared even louder, as if feeling his master's emotions, he couldn't help but charge into the battle.
Not long after, Gao Shun was ready. With an order, thousands of people rushed towards Yangnan Gate.
Kaiyang is just a small county town with insufficient city walls and small city gates. Thousands of people attacked the city and it immediately seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Zang Ba was at the top of the city, waving his sword and shouting at the top of his lungs: "Kill them! Kill them!"
There were less than a thousand soldiers on the city gate, and they all knew the consequences of the city's defeat. No one backed down and defended with all their might.
At the other three gates, Lu Bu's troops did not attack, but they were in full siege posture. The soldiers at the gates were very nervous and did not dare to breathe.
Zhao Yu looked gloomy and patrolled the city back and forth, not daring to be careless.
The fighting at the south gate became increasingly fierce. Lu Bu's troops had already entered the city and started fighting for it.
At the gate of the city, there was a group of people holding door hammers and banging them one after another.
The gate trembled and the ground shook endlessly. Inside the city gate, officers and soldiers pressed against the long logs and blocked the gate.
Zang Ba shouted angrily from the top of the city, hacked to death a man who retreated, and shouted: "Get in my way, once the rebels enter the city, everyone will die!"
The officers and soldiers desperately shouted to kill and resisted with all their strength.
But after all, the enemy is outnumbered and we are in danger of falling at the top of Kaiyang City in less than half an hour.
Not far away, Lu Bu was riding a horse back and forth, with an arrogant and disdainful expression on his face, saying: "How can a mere sunny day stop me, Lu Bu!"
Cheng Lian did not ride a horse, but stood aside and said: "Master, I will take people to the north gate to prevent them from escaping!"
Lu Bu nodded indifferently and said: "I ordered Gao Shun to step up the attack. We will break through Kaiyang today!"
"yes!"
The soldiers who delivered the order responded and rushed to deliver the order.
After Gao Shun received the order, he immediately increased his troops and stormed the south gate.
On the city tower, more than half of the few soldiers had been lost. The young men in the city picked up the weapons on the ground and hacked clumsily, but they fell to the ground one by one.
Zang Ba's eyes were red, he was roaring angrily, his body was covered in blood, and he still refused to retreat.
Zhao Yu rushed over with his men, fought with Lu Bu's troops and horses, and tried his best to hold on.
"Why are you here!?" Zang Ba yelled.
Although Zhao Yu was a civil servant, he also picked up the knife at this moment, resisted with difficulty, and said loudly: "We can't defend anymore!"
Zang Ba's face was ferocious, and he continued to kill without saying any more nonsense.
Zhao Yu's words are very simple. If the south gate cannot be defended, the city will be destroyed. Deploying troops and horses from the other three gates is a desperate solution.
"Your Majesty!"
Suddenly, Zhao Yu saw it from the corner of his eye and lost his voice in surprise.
Tao Qian, who was pale and extremely ill, slowly climbed up to the city gate with the help of soldiers.
Tao Qian came to Arrow Pavilion with a bitter look on his face, and said to Zhao Yu who was coming over: "Tao Qian is incompetent and the whole army has been exhausted."
Zhao Yu originally wanted to persuade Tao Qian to leave, but he was speechless and didn't know what to say.
Tao Qian was a man of "benevolent official", "honest official" and "honorable virtue", but for Xuzhou now, he had no achievements and was even incompetent.
If only he had some courage, he wouldn't be where he is today.
Outside the city, Lu Bu rode his horse and slowly walked towards the south gate.
In a moment and a half at most, the Kaiyang South Gate will be breached.
Bang
The city gate, which had been damaged for a long time, was suddenly knocked open. The city gate fell to the ground in pieces, stirring up countless dust.
"Come on!"
Lu Bu's army was so powerful that they fought desperately at the city gate and rushed into Kaiyang City.
"kill!"
Lu Bu patted his horse and led his army straight to the city gate.
When Tao Qian in the Arrow Pavilion saw this, his face instantly turned extremely pale and he couldn't stand firmly. He called Zang Ba and Zhao Yu and held on, saying: "That's it, you chop off my head and offer it to Lu Bu to protect you." life, and try to save the lives of as many people in the city as possible."
Zang Ba cursed angrily: "Fart, how can I, Zang Ba, be the one who sells his goods to survive!"
Zhao Yu also had a stern face and said: "Your Majesty, Zhao Yu has no virtue, but if he doesn't want to be a scumbag, he would rather die by Lu Bu's sword than surrender to a thief!"
Tao Qian looked at the two of them and became more and more bitter. He could only sigh helplessly, looked up at the sky, and said sadly: "I am a virtuous and powerful man, why did I end up in this situation..."
"kill!"
Lu Bu had already entered the city, taking the lead and charging in without anyone taking advantage of him.
Zang Ba had no time to pay attention to Tao Qian's self-pity and self-repression. He held a big sword and walked towards the entrance of the city tower with a ferocious face, preparing for a bloody battle with Lu Bu.
Zhao Yu also knew that now was not the time to express emotion, so he held the knife and guarded Tao Qian.
Lu Bu did not kill, but just ordered Gao Shun. Cheng Lian and others continued to kill and made a forced landing, with no intention of taking action themselves.
At the same time, in a dense forest not far outside Kaiyang County, there were no birds and no sound.
Next to a big tree, Zhang Chao, the former prefect of Xiapi and Guangling, stood looking towards Kaiyang.
Beside him stood the tall, majestic and majestic Guangling Gong Cao Zang Hong.
Zang Hong looked solemn and said: "Prefect, Lu Bu has captured the city."
Zhang Chao was not tall, and his face was wide and long, like a simple and honest rich man. At this time, his face was filled with chills, and he said: "Zang Hong obeys your order!"
"The official is here!" Zang Hong immediately raised his hand and said.
Zhang Chao pulled his horse, stood up, and said: "I order you to lead two thousand troops to attack Lu Bu's camp and burn Lu Bu's grain and grass. The others will follow me to rescue Commander Xu!"
"I'll take the order!" Zang Hong said in a deep voice.
Before Zang Hong could finish his words, Zhang Chao held a long sword and shouted: "Kill the traitor!"
"Kill!" The army behind Zhang Chao followed him like a tide and rushed towards Kaiyang City.
Zang Hong did not delay and led two thousand troops straight to the direction of Lu Bu's camp.
At this time, Gao Shun, Cheng Lian and others had already reached the top of the city and surrounded Tao Qian, Zang Ba, Zhao Yu and others in Arrow Pavilion, and they were about to die.
A sudden shout from the east of the city startled everyone.
Gao Shun quickly looked around and saw officers and soldiers all over the mountains and plains, rushing out of the woods. He couldn't see the head at a glance and couldn't estimate the number of people.
"Lord, some of them are running towards the camp!" Cheng Lian suddenly said urgently.
Food and grass are more precious than gold to the current army. Probably except for the Han court and Zhou Mu, who had the support of a large family, almost everyone obtained their food and grass through robbery.
Among them are Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao!
Lu Bu stood at the top of the city, grabbed his long hair fiercely, got off the tower, and shouted: "Watch them, wait until I kill them before making a decision!"
Tao Qian, after all, was the governor of Xuzhou and had many uses, so Lu Bu didn't want to kill him.
Lu Bu's troops responded and surrounded Arrow Pavilion.
Tao Qian watched Lu Bu leave. He turned around and saw no reinforcements. He coughed and asked in confusion, "Have you found reinforcements?"
Zhao Yu was also puzzled and said: "I wrote the letter, but it shouldn't be so fast."
Zang Ba shook his head. With his background as a bandit, he didn't have any official friends.
Tao Qian leaned on a crutch and looked eastward. Although he was confused, he was even more excited.
'The people in the city may be saved. '
Lu Buyi, an expert in art, was brave and led his troops out of the city to directly meet Zhang Chao.
"Zhang Chao? Leave no one alive, kill them all!"
Lu Bu and Zhang Chao were also old acquaintances, and Xiapi was snatched from Zhang Chao.
He rides a tall horse and holds a spear. He is majestic and moves like thunder and wind.
Zhang Chao did not expect that Lu Bu would be so bold. He looked back, took a deep breath, and shouted: "Kill the thief!"
Zhang Chao's troops were brought from Xiapi to Guangling and then to Langya County, totaling 15,000 men. Although they had not experienced any major battles, there were some newborn calves who were not afraid of tigers. In the blink of an eye, they would fight Lu Bu. together.
"Lord, Okura is on fire!" Suddenly, Cao Xing behind Lu Bu shouted urgently.
Lu Bu, who was galloping on his horse, turned around and saw thick smoke billowing in the direction of Okura. Even in the daytime, he could see the light of fire reaching into the sky.
"Impossible! Why so fast!"
Lu Bu reined in his horse, his face full of shock and disbelief.
Calculating the distance, Tao Qian's reinforcements were not halfway through the journey to his granary. Why was the granary on fire?
Zhang Chao also saw it, but he was overjoyed. Regardless of the reason, he raised his sword and shouted: "The rebels' food and grass have been burned, soldiers, kill the thieves!"
"kill!"
The morale of Zhang Chao's soldiers and horses was greatly boosted, and their charging pace became much faster.
The so-called one after another, Zhang Chao's military morale was high, and Lu Bu's army, whose food and grass had been burned, suddenly became chaotic and noisy.
Cao Xing was even more panicked and said, "Lord, what should I do?"
The granary was on fire and the morale of the army was in chaos. How could the war continue?
Lu Bu was confident of defeating the unknown Zhang Chao, but the morale of the army was already in chaos. No matter how confident he was, there was nothing he could do, so he had to order: "Withdraw!"
Cao Xing left a thousand men to block the advancing Zhang Chao, while Lu Bu led more than ten thousand people and ran towards Xiapi without looking back.
Zhang Chaozhou would not let go of such a good opportunity and pursued him with thunderous killing sounds.
Gao Shun and others at the top of Kaiyang City wanted to kill Tao Qian and others. After a while of charging and seeing no effect, they had to lead their troops and retreat.
Tao Qian and others were freed, and then came to the city gate to look out.
"It's Zhang Chao, why is he here?" Zhao Yu asked in surprise.
After Tao Qian passed this wave, his cough became more serious. He looked at the direction of Zhang Chao's pursuit and said, "I remember that he should be in Guangling, under Ding Shijun..."
Until now, Tao Qian still doesn't know that Ding Yuan died in Lu Bu's hands.
Zang Ba didn't care about this. He looked at the flames of Lu Bu's camp in the distance and said in surprise: "This really good trick can actually burn down Lu Bu's granary? How long has he been lying in wait?"
Zhao Yu frowned and said, "It shouldn't be. We didn't notice it. How could Lu Bu not notice it? Unless he just arrived not long ago."
Tao Qian coughed repeatedly, holding one hand on the city wall, and said, "How did he suddenly appear in Langya County?"
Zang Ba and Zhao Yu turned to Tao Qian. This question reached a critical point.
When they were wondering, they were not far to the south of Lu Bu's granary.
Huangfu Jianchang, Cheng Yu, and Shi A were sitting on a big tree, admiring the fire.
Huangfu Jianchang smacked his mouth with a look of pity on his face and said, "If I hadn't come in such a hurry, if you had given me half a day, these grains and grass would have been mine..."
Cheng Yu carefully grabbed a branch and said with an admiring smile: "Second Young Master, Sima had the foresight to bury Zhang Chao's extraordinary army, otherwise Tao Shijun and others would have died today. "
Huangfu Jianchang nodded and said: "It's just that you told me a little late. If you had told me a long time ago, these grains and grass would be mine..."
Shi A stood with his sword in his arms, glanced at him, and said, "My benefactor's letter ordered you to escort Tao Shijun and others to the capital. What are your plans?"
Huangfu Jianchang coughed, straightened his back, and said: "My Imperial City Mansion is not affiliated with Tai Pavilion. The Grand Sima Mansion cannot control me. At most, I can send someone to escort me."
Shi A ignored him, knowing that he was still competing.
When Huangfu Jian saw that Lu Bu had been defeated and the siege of Kaiyang was resolved, he asked Cheng Yu, "Sir, what should we do now?"
Cheng Yu kept staring at the direction in which Lu Bu was escaping and said: "Second Young Master, Lu Bu's direction is Xiapi County. He must either stand on his own or join Dong Zhuo. Now that Langya County has been saved, there is no chance that the imperial court will send troops to conquer Lu Bu. From Langya County and Guangling direction , Lu Bu was attacked from both sides, so he had no choice but to defect to Dong Zhuo or Yuan Shu."
"Dong Zhuo is more likely!"
Huangfu Jian's eyes became sharp and he said, "Shall we go to Xiangxian County?"
Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Second Young Master, why don't you go to Yangzhou?"
Huangfu Jian said: "In the past, the court had no choice but to use Dong Zhuo and others to resist Yuan Shu and delay time. Now the court has calmed down and has enough strength to conquer Yuan Shu. Didn't Sir, the layout of the court is tighter than before? , Li Qiu, Yuan Shu millions, in the next two years? Then what do we care about him? Naturally, we have to deal with the more troublesome Dong Zhuo first. "
Cheng Yu saw that Huangfu Jianchang was thinking so clearly and asked, "Second Young Master, is this Chao trustworthy?"
Zhang Chao is Zhang Miao's younger brother. Zhang Miao rebelled the year before and took refuge with Yuan Shu, but was later killed by Zhao Yun. On the contrary, Zhang Miao's younger brother Zhang Chao vowed to draw a clear line with Zhang Miao and never participate in the rebellion. He blocked Yuan Shu from entering Xuzhou and was able to Pardoned by the court.
Huangfu Jianchang also hesitated, thought for a while, and said: "If sir, you want to use troops, Guan Yunchang can do it."
"How many troops and horses?" Cheng Yu asked.
Huangfu Jian said: "Three thousand, sir, what do you want to do?"
Cheng Yu was silent for a while, then shook his head and said, "It's hard to say for now, but it's always more convenient to have a troop of soldiers and horses by your side."
Huangfu Jianchang raised his head and looked to the north, and suddenly said excitedly: "What big thing are you going to do, sir? I can transfer 10,000 from Yanzhou, 10,000 from Jizhou, plus those from other places, the total is 30,000!"
Cheng Yu looked at Huangfu Jianchang with some surprise.
You know, an army of 30,000 is not a small number!
Although Yuan Shu was so powerful and claimed to have an army of 300,000 men, looking at it in detail, he only had 20,000 to 30,000 elite troops.
This is even more true for Dong Zhuo. The only ones with real combat power are Xiliang soldiers and horses, with a total of no more than 20,000!
The official number of troops in the imperial court was only over 100,000, but Huangfu Jianchang said it was 30,000, which may account for nearly 40% of the imperial army!
Not to mention that Huangfu Jianchang was just a school captain, even the Grand Sima Huangfu Song had to ask for an order if he wanted to mobilize an army of 30,000, right?
At least, they won't be like Huangfu Jianchang who can mobilize an army of 30,000 at will!
I fell asleep for a long time, and when I woke up, I saw the management said that the cute host was here. I thought she was lying to me, and I was half-believed, but I didn't expect it to be true!
Thanks to the boss of 'Book Friends 20230722131032567' for the generous reward~ Ahem, that, I have already washed it.
PS: I will add an update for the boss tomorrow.
(End of chapter)
