On the whole morning of February 2, Zhang Ji was like a headless fly, patrolling around the city walls of Chencang. After looking at the city tower in the west, he went to the city tower in the east.

It was obvious that the enemy had not reached the city and did not launch a tough attack, but Zhang Ji had already felt a huge encirclement net that was suffocating and surrounded him.

There are many people in the camps in Weibei, and Zhao Yun’s banner is everywhere.

The enemy camp in the west of the city is closest to it, because the west is the driest place in Chencang City, with no water accumulation at all. Guan Yu's banner is only two or three miles away from the city wall.

Further behind Guanyu camp, about ten miles away, it is the Wei Valley of Longshan. You can see the Han army cutting wooden stakes along the valley, ramming earth to build a trunk, and breaking the road. Of course, because it is too far, you can only vaguely see the camp and cannot see the flag, so Zhang Ji did not know that the guard there was Yan Yan.

After discovering the enemy situation, Zhang Ji immediately sent several scouts to try to break through and report the emergency. Unfortunately, he didn't know whether it was successful. If he broke through, Zhang Ji had to wait until reinforcements came to know. If he was blocked and defeated and fled back, he would know quickly.

But the problem is that all those who went west to contact Guo Si were killed or captured by Guan Yu and Yan Yan. No one of them broke through and could not escape back. They went north to Jieting and east to Mei County and Chang'an, and even more, Zhao Yun's cavalry was closely searched and killed.

On the evening of the second day of the lunar month, Zhang Ji's intuition told him that the probability of breaking through the brigade during the day was that he was over. He was still unwilling to give up and released a group of cavalry scouts in the middle of the night, including many warriors selected from the army to break through and deliver the letter.

Although this time, although it was not delivered, at least with the cover of night, the breakout cavalry could sneak back quickly when they found that the situation was wrong.

Before dawn, about three o'clock in the morning, seven or eight messengers and cavalrymen returned to the city. Zhang Xian, the commander in charge of patrolling the city, dared not open the door late at night, so he had to put down the basket and carry the people up, and the horses could only be thrown outside the city and released them.

After the messenger was brought back, Zhang Xian sent it to Zhang Ji's mansion as soon as possible. Zhang Ji had indeed suffered from insomnia all night and could not even sleep. He immediately received the messenger and learned that Zhao Yun was very tightly blocked, and because the road was blocked by the accumulated water, there were very few places to go and he could not break through at all.

Zhang Ji sent at least fifty scouts to deliver letters, and only seven or eight came back alive, which means that the rest were either killed or captured.

After confirming the bad news, Zhang Ji fell on the couch and murmured to himself: "I'm having trouble now. The reinforcements of General Chess and Cavalry Generals cannot come to Chencang to reinforce quickly. Even Lei Xu, who guards Mei County, may not be able to reinforce me.

Jia Xu misled me! Li Jue misled me! He kept saying that Liu Bei would have to go to the northern expedition in two or three months at the earliest, and he said, "According to the Digei grain tactics, Liu Bei's main attack direction would be in Mei County. Chen Cang was far from comparable to the early Han Dynasty because of its convenience of transportation, and no one would copy the story of Han Xin again."

Haha, where did the water that stretched for several miles outside the East City Wall flow out! Liu Bei used a boat to attack the city. This is not the story of Han Xin! If it is virtual, it is real, it is real. It is nothing! If it is copying, it will be tricked!"

Zhang Ji became more and more angry. He remembered the misjudgment of Jia Xu and Li Jue in the past few months, and was so angry that he smashed things. Because of regret, he called Li Jue and Jia Xu directly called him his name, and he was too lazy to even call him official positions and names.

The civil servants next to him did not dare to show off, but they were also mourning Jia Xu's misjudgment in their hearts: Who would have thought of this? The river on Sanguan Road seems to have dried up since ancient times, and only occasionally mentioned it in history books. There was a river here in ancient times. Who would have thought that the things from ancient times would be reviewed today? Even if Jia Xu was a god, he would not have thought of it.

The civil servants are sad about the death of rabbits and foxes, and they are inevitably hurt by the various kinds of things. They do not want to be regarded as the blame by the military commander.

The commander Zhang Xian and several civilian staff waited for a moment before he was angry for a while before he tactfully persuaded: "General, the important matter is the most important thing at the moment, how should this city be defended? You should think of some ways besides the war? If you encounter Liu Bei sending someone to persuade him to surrender, how should you deal with it?"

Zhang Ji was angry and said, "Can you still deal with it like this? Of course, you are guarding the city to the death! Holding on to wait for help! Even if you can't send the letter, you will delay the time at most. Waiting for three or five days. Li Jue will always know that Chen Cang was surrounded. I don't believe that he will not save him.

Liu Bei would not send an envoy, and even if he persuaded him to surrender, he would be a fool of himself. Give up the fantasy of both ends of the rat and defend the city!"

Several staff members next to them agreed on the surface, but actually muttered: Liu Bei would definitely not send someone to persuade him to surrender? Maybe...

It is very likely that he would not agree to Zhang Ji's good conditions. Although Zhang Ji was not Li Jue and Guo Si's thief leader, he was originally a threat that could be forgiven. However, Zhang Ji, his nephew Zhang Xiu, and Jia Xu killed Wu Lan and Cheng Ji in the Battle of Wuzhangyuan autumn last year, and shot Liu Bei with an arrow, which allowed Liu Bei to take care of his injuries for a long time. This revenge must be liquidated to a certain extent.

If Zhang Ji took the initiative to repent and surrendered to Liu Bei directly, perhaps Liu Bei could "only kill the traitors and not ask about personal grudges" in order to show his generosity, but as long as the fight starts, the dog's brain is out, and he wants to surrender because of his lack of combat power. That is definitely a good ending.

At most, it is "surrender early to avoid death, so as to prevent many innocent soldiers from being killed or injured", but it is a dream to save territory and wealth.

"I'm really unlucky. I followed a chief general who had a deep hatred with Liu Bei, but there was nothing I could do. If it weren't for this, how could General Cheqi feel assured that my general would stand alone and guard the right Fufeng?" Several active-minded aides had already begun to think about the problem like this.

Zhang Ji was able to stand out and was trusted by Li Jue for a long time to guard You Fufeng. Isn’t it because he has a grudge against Liu Bei, and he is the third highest hatred general in the Xiliang army, so he has to fight to the end even to save his life.

...

I spent the night in anxiety and rumors, and the people in the city were panicked, but they had not reached the point of morale being vented.

Because until now, the Xiliang army guarding the city did not know the reason for the rise in the east of the city, and had not been attacked. Many people thought it was a particularly big spring flood outbreak with abnormal weather conditions.

The next day, early on the third day of the lunar month, Guanyu camp in the west direction, flags were waving, and nearly 20,000 infantry troops were all arranged, and they were arranged to stop at the place where three arrows were below the city.

Then a camp broke into front with thousands of crossbowmen, and another engineer arranged a long shield to cover the arrows on the city, preparing to suppress the shooting.

As mentioned earlier, there are now a group of heavy crossbowmen in Liu Bei's army, wearing a whole piece of wrought iron breastplate and steel helmets, and the front armor is almost as thick as Zhao Yun's cavalry.

This kind of crossbowman is often used to fix firepower points, which is convenient when defending the city. It is even used to operate Zhuge crossbows. It is less used in field battles or siege battles, because it is too mobile in heavy armor and is easily destroyed by the team when it encounters melee rush.

But Guan Yu flexibly used it today and did the opposite. He put these iron-breasted heavy crossbowmen in front of the formation, which was also a deterrent to the defenders at the top of the city. At the same time, it showed that "our army is powerful and we are not afraid of the troops in the city going out of the city to charge forward. Even if Zhang Ji opened the door and came out, he would be sure to destroy them all."

Zhang Ji was indeed worried and did not consider sending a small number of cavalry suicide squads out of the city to kill these crossbowmen with inconvenient movement.

After a textbook-style fortification damage, a shield was set up in front of the front, and a crossbow arrow was suppressed, Guan Yu wore black armor and rode a tall war horse in pure black. He waved his hand and made a team of soldiers scolding the formation shout in unison.

"Listen to Zhang Ji, my son! You were chasing my king, killing Wu Lan and Cheng Ji. I remember that you had never been threatened for a long time. If you were willing to surrender today, I sincerely regret it and save the soldiers from innocent death and injury. I am still a rich man.

If you fight hard and stubbornly, the city will eventually be broken, and the whole family will not stay! The defenders in the city will listen, don’t miss it! The Hanzhong King’s army will be 100,000, and they will go out of the Sanguan Road one after another. This city will be just around the corner!"

Of course, Zhang Ji was stubborn on the front of the city and said some harsh words. Since the agreement could not be reached, he would attack the city. Guan Yu destroyed many walls of sheep and horses outside the city, resisted horses and trapped the deer antlers, and retreated before he could fill the moat.

After all, it was just the first day of siege, and the catapult cart could not be transported from the Sanguan Road. Guan Yu still needed some time to build siege weapons on the spot. It was impossible to attack hard until the equipment was complete.

After withdrawing the troops, Zhang Ji was also thinking in his mind: the east of the city was flooded, half a foot deep, several miles wide, and the southwest half was flooded, but the south gate had already entered water. Guan Yu's future siege direction would definitely attack Ximen with all his strength.

Therefore, Zhang Ji further adjusted the defensive soldiers and mobilized 8,000 defenders in the city, all of which were in the west of the city, three thousand were in the south of the city, and the remaining city went east and north of the city, leaving only two thousand people each.

After arranging the troops, Zhang Ji considered Guan Yu's daytime call to surrender and wanted to talk about the conditions, so he avoided the generals and civil servants and sent a family confidant as an envoy to go out of the city with a hanging basket and negotiate in Guan Yu camp.

To be honest, Zhang Ji knew Liu Bei's reputation of "being loyal and loving to avenge his brothers and friends". So he obviously couldn't believe his promise to "let him retain his official title and be a rich man."

Every ruler has his own characteristics. Cao Cao can be said to be "only talented". Then he accepted Zhang Xiu, who killed his son and Dian Wei, surrendered, and he survived until Cao Pi before taking revenge. That was Cao Cao's endurance.

Even if Liu Bei was persuaded by Li Su, he could do very well, but his loyalty to avenge his buddies could not be stopped. In history, Zhuge Liang did not persuade him (Fa Zheng may not be able to persuade him even if he is alive)

In addition, the strong army and horses are not necessary to destroy the internal cohesion and the character of the lord for a person like Zhang Ji.

Therefore, it can only be said that Liu Bei's loyal personality had a counterproductive effect on persuading efficiency reduction. After Zhang Ji's envoy arrived in Guanyu camp, the conditions for Zhang Ji's reposting were as follows:

"General Guan, my general is willing to negotiate peace with your army. If your army can suspend the attack on the city for a few days, and let our generals pass the direct troops north to cross the Wei River, and your army will withdraw Zhao Yun's cavalry and leave the Jieting Pass, let our army guard Jieting and retreat safely to Wuwei County.

Our general is willing to not be in the same heart as Li Jue and Guo Si, but leave You Fufeng and join forces with our major general Zhang Xiu and Xuanyi General Jia Xu, and no longer set foot in Guanzhong. I wonder if General Guan can agree to the King of Hanzhong. As long as we guard our army from leaving, Chen Cangcheng will naturally belong to your army."

Guan Yu touched his long beard without even opening his eyes: "Rareless! Zhang Ji killed my sister-in-law's cousin. If he wanted to survive, he had to hand over the military power and give him a free official with a rank of 2,000 stones. He was already the greatest gift. He still wanted to keep his troops and control the other side in the future and endanger the court?

What's more, our army was asked to give up the Jieting Pass. This was in name to ensure that Zhang Ji could cross Longshan and retreat to the northwest. But how could he know that he didn't want to take advantage of Zilong's siege and seize the dangerous situation and take Guo Si's troops in Longxi back to Guanzhong? There was no discussion on this condition. To preserve the rank, family wealth, and life, you must surrender immediately! Otherwise, when our army's siege equipment is complete, it will be time to break the city!"
Chapter completed!