Chapter 155 Fame spread far and wide

By September, Yuan's army's camp had been completely built. The camp was several times larger than Cao's camp, which greatly shocked Cao's army.

In the early morning of this day, the gates of most of the Yuan Army's camps were opened, and countless Yuan Army soldiers came out of each camp. Under the command of generals at all levels, they began to assemble on the north bank of the Guandu River.

The camps of both sides were built on the Guandu River, three or four miles apart. There was a huge open space in front of Yuan's camp, with tens of thousands of Yuan's troops arrayed and crowded, boundless.

Yuan Shao personally led the troops to the expedition. The opposite bank of them was Cao Jun's camp, so naturally they could not forcefully cross the river to attack Cao Jun's camp. Under Yuan Shao's command, the army went west along the Guandu River, crossed the river in the upper reaches of the river, and launched an attack from the northwest of Cao Jun.

Cao Cao also led his troops out of the camp for defense. He originally wanted to use some fortifications built outside the camp in the north to counterattack. However, the strength gap between the two sides was too large. Cao Cao's army was defeated soon after the battle and had to retreat to the camp.

At the camp, Cao Jun used bows and arrows to repel Yuan Jun. Yuan Shao ordered his people to build towers outside the camp, pile up mountains of earth, and shoot arrows at Cao Ying from high places. The arrows rained down like rain, blocking out the sky and the sun, almost covering the entire northeastern part of Cao Ying.

The camp was flooded, and the soldiers in Cao's camp had to walk with their shields covered. The morale of the soldiers was very low.

This situation lasted for several days, until Cao Cao used catapults to destroy Yuan Jun's wall towers and earthen mountains, which restored the decline. Yuan Shao secretly dug a tunnel leading to Cao's camp, and Cao Cao dug long trenches in the camp for defense.

Both sides went back and forth and fought for seven or eight days.

"Bang bang bang!"

Inside Cao Jun's camp, which was three to four miles long, earth mountains were built. There were catapults on the earth mountains, which continuously projected huge rocks. Stones weighing tens of kilograms drew a gorgeous arc in the sky, and then crashed onto the earth mountains and walls.

Above the stairs.

Suddenly sawdust flew everywhere, and screams were repeated. Many archers could not even utter a groan, and were smashed into pieces by stones and torn apart. Many more saw that the situation was not good and jumped off the earthen mountain wall.

However, the height of such buildings is often several feet or even more than ten feet high. If you jump from it, you may have your legs broken, or you may lose your life. Therefore, Yuan Jun suffered heavy casualties.

"Mingjin!"

Fifty-year-old Yuan Shao frowned and looked at Cao Ying with a deep gaze, a trace of solemnity and worry flashing in his eyes.

When he was in Yangwu, Jushu once said that the Northern Army had more soldiers, but they were not as brave and good at fighting as the Southern Army; the Southern Army had less food and material reserves than the Northern Army. The Southern Army was good at fighting quickly, while the Northern Army was good at slowing down the troops. Therefore, our army should fight for a long time

Fight and delay.

At that time, Yuan Shao believed that he had many soldiers and horses and was powerful, so he could wipe out Cao Cao along the way, and he should not be timid. Therefore, he did not follow Ju Shou's advice and marched south in a mighty manner.

After several days of fierce attack, Cao Jun's tenacity was beyond imagination. He sent a large number of soldiers and horses to besiege Cao Jun's camp from three sides, and not even one of Cao Jun's camps was broken.

Obviously Yuan Shao's attempt to annihilate Cao Cao in a short period of time was shattered, and any further fight would be nothing more than a waste of troops.

Therefore, he had to choose to withdraw his troops, withdraw the army to the camp, and then think of other methods.

As for returning troops to Yangwu, that is absolutely impossible.

Just like later Yuan Shao did not listen to Tian Feng's words and was predicted by Tian Feng. When he returned, he did not reuse Tian Feng and instead killed him.

Now the heroic words have been spoken, saying that Cao Mengde is just a mantis using his arms as a chariot, and he does not know his own strength. Now he has not been able to conquer it. He is riding a tiger and it is difficult to dismount. He, Yuan Benchu, cannot afford to lose this person.

Soon the soldiers of Yuan's army retreated like a tide. After they retreated, Cao Cao, who was watching the situation of Yuan's army on the mountains in the distance, breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice: "Send the order, collect the enemy's arrow clusters, and dig the gully deeper.

.”

"Report!"

When Cao Cao came down from Tushan, the scouts came to report: "We found that Yuan Jun had a large number of grain and grass vehicles at Yanjin Ferry to be sent to Yuan Camp!"

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "Okay, let's explore again."

After saying that, he turned and left.

That night, Yuan Shao's grain truck was attacked by Cao Cao, but fortunately, he had countless vehicles. There were countless grain trucks of Yuan's army crossing the river from Yanjin, Liyang, Juan County and other ferries. Only a small part was lost.

How much damage will it cause.

On the second day, Yuan Shao also learned about the attack on the grain transport truck. In the general's camp, Yuan Shao looked at the official document and said to his subordinates: "The review and distribution has mobilized a new wave of grain and grass. When it was transported to the front line, it was

Cao's army has been destroyed, but there is still a large amount of food and grass to follow. The food route must not be cut off, Chunyu Qiong."

"The end will be here."

Chunyu Qiong stood up and said with cupped hands.

Yuan Shao said: "I order you to lead an army of ten thousand, go north to escort the grain trucks, and first store the grain and grass in Wuchao."

"only!"

Chunyu Qiong took the order and left.

Jushou on the side quickly advised: "Ming Gong, you can send an additional force of Jiang Qi to the outside of Chunyu Qiong to prevent Cao Cao from sneak attack."

"No need."

Before Chunyu Qiong had gone far, when he heard this, he quickly said: "The last general will be able to protect the food and grass."

"okay."

Yuan Shao nodded: "Go."

"Follow orders."

Chunyu Qiong left happily.

At this time, Xu You stood up again and said: "At first, Cao Cao had few troops and concentrated all his strength to resist our army. Xu Du was guarded by the remaining people and the defense was empty. If he sent a team to advance lightly and attacked overnight, he could capture it.

Xudu. After occupying Xudu, we will welcome the emperor to attack Cao Cao, and we will definitely be able to capture Cao Cao. If he does not break up immediately, he will be unable to take care of both ends, and will be exhausted, and we will definitely defeat him."

"Hahahahaha."

Yuan Shao laughed arrogantly and said: "Ziyuan, have you forgotten that Cao Cao is just a clumsy man after an eunuch. Back then, he followed me like a servant boy, but he only kept his voice and was worthy of competing with me for the northern hegemony? Now Xu

They all sent me countless letters. I know that his army does not have much food and grass. I will send people to cut off his food routes at that time. In less than a month, I will be able to capture Cao Cao and humiliate him in front of him. Why bother?

How about dividing your troops to attack Xudu?"

Xu You thought about it and said with a smile: "What I said in the beginning is absolutely true. Cao Cao and we have been friends since we were young. He was captured alive by Sun Ruogong. It will definitely be very interesting when we meet again."

"It's natural."

Yuan Shao nodded proudly and said: "Give me the order to send cavalry south to plunder Cao Cao's grain road."

"only."

All the soldiers agreed with a roar.

The entire Guandu seemed to have been surrounded by Yuan's army at this time.

Yuan Shao's earthen mountains and fortresses were built almost to the entrance of Cao Jun's camp, and the flags covering the sky and the sun seemed to have no end at a glance.

There were 80,000 elite men under his command, and there were more than 20 or 30 generals above the rank of lieutenant. Among them, Gao Lan, Zhang He, Chun Yuqiong and others were the main generals. They formed a dense formation outside Cao Jun's camp and surrounded Cao's camp.

At the same time, a large number of cavalry and infantry went south, invading cities such as Weishi and Yuanling, and even reached the Yanling area, constantly plundering Cao Cao's grain roads and harassing the cities in the rear.

In addition, small groups of Yuan's troops attacked Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yanzhou, and the entire Henan area was in flames of war.

There were three nobles and nine ministers in Xudu, and there were aristocratic families. The letters sent to Yuan Shao's camp were as numerous as snowflakes and piled up like mountains.

If the Yingchuan family headed by the Xun family had not gathered private soldiers and worked hard to maintain order in Xudu, I am afraid that the families in other places would have rebelled in the rear and started a fire in the backyard.

The Battle of Guandu was not only a war between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but also a dispute between the Yingchuan family and foreign families.

The Xun family, the Guo family, the Chen family, the Zhong family, the Yu family, the Han family, and the Yingchuan tycoons of all sizes all supported Cao Cao, so Cao Cao moved the capital to Xudu, which brought great political influence to the Yingchuan family.

Benefit.

But the foreign aristocratic families naturally do not allow the Yingchuan family to dominate. For them, there is no difference between Cao Cao's power and Yuan Shao's power. Moreover, there are many former disciples of the Yuan family who have climbed to the top of the Yuan family, which is of greater benefit to the family.

, so he is more willing to side with Yuan Shao.

It's just that the foreign aristocratic families don't have enough foundation in Yingchuan. Their property, fields, and population are all located elsewhere, and they don't have the local advantages compared to the Yingchuan aristocratic family. Therefore, most rebellions like this are suppressed and do not cause much trouble.

But even so, it dealt a huge blow to Cao Cao's rule. The foundation was in turmoil, like a lonely boat in the vast sea, which might capsize at any time due to violent storms.

By mid-September, the situation became even more unfavorable for Cao Cao. It was the late autumn, the autumn wind was killing everything, and everything was withering.

Yuan's reputation was extremely high, and the mighty army entered the river like a giant net. It seemed that he had captured all the Henan area. From July when Yuan Shao's troops entered Guandu, to September, the two sides were in a stalemate for two months and more than 60 days, causing the people to wither.

People's livelihood was difficult, and countless people moved from Henan to Hebei.

There were raging wars and endless wars. A large number of people from Yingchuan, Chenliu, Chen State, Liang State, Runan and other places migrated to Nanyang and even Jiangdong because of the fighting between Yuan Jun and Cao Jun in these places, causing the population of Henan to drop sharply again.

In these days, Liu Bei and Shen Chen accepted tens of thousands of people in Wuyang, Kunyang and other places. Groups of people from the north supported the elderly and young and fled to the south.

They accepted all the people who came from Henan. In just one month, a large number of people moved south and were settled in Wancheng, Xi'e, Bowang, Zhixian, Duyang and other places, and in the rear areas

An unknown number of refugees are still migrating one after another.

The migration of people in ancient times was actually an extremely terrifying event. People like Huangmenting, who were organized and disciplined, gathered the food of the entire clan and redistributed it, after all, only a few.

When most people fled, they didn't have time to bring much food, they had to take care of their families, and they didn't have much property. Many people starved to death on the way. Even wealthy families would suffer losses from diseases, hunger, military disasters, and plagues.

It is destroying people's lives every moment, making their lives fall like dust.

For this reason, Shen Chen asked Huangmenting from the rear to transport a few more batches of grain that had been accumulated in the past few years. In fact, he had always had enough grain. Before the army was sent out, he had 6 million shi in stock. It has been almost a year since the army was sent out.

Of time, it only consumed less than half a million stones.

Most of them still lacked meat. They had to sell some old grains in exchange for a large amount of dried pork, beef, and chicken from Xiangyang and send them to the front line to supplement the nutrition of the soldiers. This was how much was consumed.

Otherwise, based on the calculation of his sending 10,000 troops, he would consume less than 300,000 stones of food and grass in one year at most, which would be more than enough for another twenty years of fighting.

Now there are suddenly tens of thousands more refugees to assist, and although the city has enough military rations, it cannot be replenished with military rations all the time. Therefore, Shen Chen asked the rear to urgently transport another 500,000 shi to Duyang to resettle the people and allow them to live in Duyang. Villages were re-established in the north of Nanyang, taking root and increasing the population.
To be continued...