Chapter 156 The decisive battle between Cao and Yuan
By late September, Yuan Shao decided to launch a more powerful offensive.
In addition to the mighty Yuan army surrounding Cao Ying like an overwhelming force, he also sent people to receive troops from various parts of Henan who responded to the uprising and called on them to attack Xudu.
Xu was shocked for a while, and many surrounding counties and counties were breached, leaving Cao Hong to defend himself everywhere and was exhausted.
What's even more terrible is that although Kunyang is busy accepting refugees and has no intention of sending troops yet, their troops and horses are preparing in the camp outside the city all day long, training hard every day, and seem to always have the intention to go north, which makes Xu Du teetering on the edge of collapse.
, there are undercurrents inside and outside the city.
Ren Jun went north to transport grain and grass, and his troops were divided into ten groups. Although Yuan's army was defeated with difficulty, grain and grass were looted on several roads, causing heavy losses. By the time it was transported to Cao's camp, it could barely last for two months.
The morale of the entire Cao Cao camp was also in turmoil. It was miserable from top to bottom. A pessimistic mood permeated the camp. There were very few people who firmly believed that Cao Cao could win.
Under this situation, Yuan Shao decided to personally lead the army again and launch a strong attack on Cao Cao.
September 25th, early morning.
The autumn wind was bleak, Yuan Shao got up early, wearing armor and high spirits, and led many generals and counselors to the southeast of Cao's camp.
The Guandu River is a river that flows from northwest to southeast, so Yuan Jun's camp is located northeast of the river, and Cao Ying is southwest of the river. If you want to attack Cao Ying, you can only attack Cao Ying from the northwest, southeast, and due south.
The direction he attacked last time was the northwest, but Cao Jun's defense in the northwest was extremely tight and there were catapults, which caused heavy losses to his earthen mountain wall tower.
This time he rebuilt a large number of siege equipment, such as cloud towers, rams, wooden curtains, and equipped with crossbows, bows and arrows, just to break Cao's camp in one fell swoop, then rush into it and capture him alive.
Old friend "Cao Cao!"
However, due to the sedimentation around the Guandu River and poor roads, it was difficult to transport these siege equipment to the other side of the river. Now many pontoon bridges have been built to transport the equipment across.
A large number of Yuan's troops had already assembled in the southeast of Cao's Camp. The dense crowd seemed to submerge the wilderness southeast of Cao's Camp. Countless ladders were rushed over and they were less than 500 meters away from Cao's Camp. The soldiers were all
Stand in formation and wait for the order to attack.
Yuan Shao was standing on the Cloud Tower at this moment.
The Cloud Tower is not a ladder, but a huge war instrument. It is made of wood and has steps like a pyramid. Some are like a rectangular box, with long wooden boards pulling it underneath and relying on three wooden wheels on the left and right.
There are stairs and a high platform above, where archers can shoot arrows.
At the same time, the high platform can extend a hook and hook on the city wall. The soldiers can climb up from the bottom of the cloud tower. After reaching the high platform, they jump into the city wall to fight with the defenders in the city. This is the most common attack in ancient wars.
City equipment.
It's just that this kind of large-scale equipment is cumbersome and difficult to produce. It cannot be owned by large forces. Even Yuan Shao spent a lot of time to build it, so the number is not very large.
More than thirty or forty Yun Towers, as well as hundreds of rush cars, churning cars, crash cars, Linchong cars, nest cars and other equipment gathered outside the city.
Tens of thousands of troops passed by in a dense mass, with flags flying high in the sky, as if there was no end in sight.
Yuan Shao looked from a distance from Yun Tower and saw a large number of Cao's soldiers gathered at the entrance of the southeast camp, nervously carrying supplies. However, the number of soldiers, defensive equipment and baggage were all much less than him, so he smiled proudly.
.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha."
He laughed heartily and was overjoyed.
There were no generals on the left or right. The generals were commanding troops below, and there were only a few counselors around them.
As for several of his great advisers, Tian Feng was imprisoned by him, Shen Pei and Feng Ji were guarding Yecheng in the rear. Xun Chen was originally his mastermind of the Guandu War, but he died of illness when the war was about to begin. Xin Ping and Xin Bi were
In Qingzhou, he was assisting Yuan Tan, and Xu You was guarding Yuan Jun's camp, so there were only scribes such as Ju Shou, Guo Tu, and Chen Lin around him.
Seeing that he was happy, Guo Tu asked curiously: "Ming Gong, why are you laughing?"
Yuan Shao pointed forward and laughed and said: "Look at Cao Cao, he only has more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and his bows and arrows are far inferior to mine. He still pretends to be a god, but he is really hitting a stone with an egg. After all, he is my slave, why should he be afraid of Zai!"
Jushou said hurriedly: "You must not look down upon me."
"contempt?"
Yuan Shao raised his head, looked up at the sky, his eyes seemed to recall the past, and said softly: "In the past, Dong Zhuo disrupted the government, and his power was transferred to the government and the public. He made unreasonable proposals to abolish and establish the emperor and ministers. There were more than a hundred ministers in the court? Cao Mengde was here during this period, everyone.
So he dares to say a word?"
Everyone looked at each other. What happened that year indeed showed the majesty of the famous family of Yuan Shao IV and the Three Dukes.
Yuan Shao suddenly pulled out the sword from his waist and shouted: "Of all the mediocre ministers in the dynasty, I, Yuan Shao, angrily criticized the traitor Dong. He raised his sword and asked if his sword was sharp. He didn't know whether my sword was sharp or not! From then on, no one in the world knew it.
I'm Yuan Benchu?"
"Later, when the Han Dynasty declined, in order to revitalize the government, I ascended to the top and shouted, and all the princes in the world responded. I killed Dong Zhuo and fled in panic. He escaped to the pass and his reputation spread far and wide. He also conquered Gongsun Zan in the north and fought at Jieqiao to make him come back again.
It’s hard to compete with me for supremacy. Now that Jizhou, Youzhou, and Qingzhou are in your hands, and the hearts of the people in the world have returned, who is my opponent?”
"Back then, I was willing to bleed and behead myself for the purpose of reviving the great Han Dynasty. However, times have changed, and the laws of heaven have changed. This dilapidated Han Dynasty is no longer worthy of my service. Cao Cao and his ilk were able to defeat Mount Tai with the power of ants. How could it be so?
What a fool! Today, I will let him know what the number of days is!"
He raised his sword and looked around at everyone, and shouted sternly: "I, Yuan Benchu, destroyed Cao Cao in the name of the Yuan family and achieved the cause of kingship! Then the world will be peaceful, and we will share wealth and honor with all the princes. All officers and men, pass on my order and attack!"
"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
As the flag soldiers on the cloud tower waved the flag, countless trumpets sounded in the wilderness, as if the entire world was filled with only this terrifying sound wave.
Countless rushing cars, churning cars, crashing cars, impending charges, and nest cars slowly marched towards Cao Ying. Behind them were densely packed, countless Yuan soldiers, and dozens of ladders were also in the team, attacking the camp like giant beasts.
, before the people arrived, the bows and crossbows were already covering the sky and the sun.
The arrows from both sides seemed to flood the sky, like two dark clouds intertwined in the sky. A large number of arrows were shot at the enemy and our camp. Cao Jun was shot to death by arrows on the chariot, between the wooden curtains, and in the military formation.
and Yuan Jun are numerous.
"Prepare!"
In Cao's camp, dozens of catapults were ready. Almost as soon as Yuan Jun approached less than fifty feet away, with an order, countless huge rocks rose up and hit Yuan Jun.
Yuan Jun was not to be outdone. The buzzing sound of the crossbow was endless, making a sound like a ghost crying or a wolf howling in the air. It flew into Cao's camp during the rise and fall. The terrifying force even penetrated several beams of the archery tower, causing the archery tower to collapse suddenly.
, the archers above were knocked to the ground.
"Hurry up!"
Officers at all levels of Cao's army urged the soldiers to continuously fill the gaps hit by arrows. Everyone held a large shield and stood on top of the camp. The ladder slowly approached, condescendingly, and kept shooting, but several of them were destroyed by catapults.
The battle took place and a lot of men and horses were lost.
Yuan Shao suffered a loss because he did not prepare a catapult. Cao Cao's catapult was improved by counselor Liu Ye and was known as the "Thunderbolt Chariot". It had a long range and dealt a heavy blow to Yuan's army.
Fortunately, Yuan Shao planned to attack Cao Jun's camp today despite the attack of catapults. As long as he could enter the camp, no matter how big the sacrifice, it would be worth it.
Soon Yuan Jun overcame the catapult attack and reached outside the camp. The hooks on the ladders were connected to the camp. A large number of Yuan Jun climbed up the cloud tower, stepped on the wooden boards on the cloud tower, and fought their way to the camp of Cao Jun, fighting with Cao Jun.
Cao Jun launched a desperate struggle.
But Yuan Shao obviously also weakened Cao Cao's resilience. In order to repel Yuan's army, Cao Cao was sitting on the mountain behind him, less than a hundred meters away from the battlefield. He constantly commanded the soldiers and asked the flag bearers to wave the flags. The flags were called five-color flags, each with its own characteristics.
Useful, whenever there is a gap on the battlefield, Cao Jun can quickly fill it in time.
For this reason, the two sides were locked in a stalemate around the two to three mile long village wall, which was comparable to a city wall. There were corpses everywhere inside and outside the wall, broken arms, severed heads, tattered armors, and two
Broken weapons were everywhere, and broken arrows seemed to cover the entire camp wall.
The shouts of killing, screams, and the sound of handover of weapons were endless. Yuan Shao personally supervised the battle and beat drums to cheer up. The drums were loud and the horns were loud in the rear. Cao Cao was not to be outdone, playing gongs and drums to support the battle, and at the same time, he kept ordering reserve soldiers to come and go.
, fill the gaps.
This offensive and defensive battle was extremely fierce, and just when Yuan Shao was standing on the Yun Tower, nervously looking forward to the soldiers entering Cao's camp, someone suddenly climbed up to the Yun Tower and shouted to him: "I am here.
The beginning, the beginning!"
"Um?"
Yuan Shao was very dissatisfied and knew it was Xu You without looking back.
Because Xu You had known him since childhood, he never called him Ming Gong, but called him by his first name, which was unpleasant.
It's just that Yuan Shao never had an attack due to the friendship he had known Xu You since childhood.
Now is the critical moment of siege, and he is disturbing his mind again?
I didn't bother to pay attention at the moment and continued to watch the battle.
Xu You rushed over anxiously. After getting to the Yun Tower, he saw that Yuan Shao ignored him, so he quickly raised his hands and said, "Ming Gong!"
"Well."
Seeing that his attitude was slightly more respectful, Yuan Shaocai turned around and said, "Ziyuan, what's the matter?"
Xu You said hurriedly: "Please Ming Gong, please save my family. My family accidentally broke the law in Yecheng. Shen Pei captured them and they will be executed today. Ming Gong, please give the order immediately."
"snort."
Yuan Shao snorted coldly and said: "Why do you need me to interfere with such a trivial matter? Didn't you see that I was fighting Cao Cao?"
Xu You said anxiously: "Ming Gong, I can't do anything. If it's too late, the judge will kill someone."
Yuan Shao waved his hand impatiently: "Just kill him. Your family has already violated the law and the crime is unpardonable. How can you abolish public service for private reasons?"
"ah?"
Xu You was immediately dumbfounded.
He never expected that Yuan Shao would be so disregardful of his old feelings.
I had known him since childhood, and Cao Cao once invited him to help him, but in the end, I defected to you, Yuan Shao, without hesitation.
If it hadn't been for me, Xu Ziyuan, how could Yuan Benchu have obtained Jizhou's foundation?
Now that we are about to destroy Cao Cao and conquer the world, he is so ruthless and unjust, abandoning his past kindness!
good.
You Yuan Shao are ruthless, so don’t blame me for being ruthless!
A trace of resentment flashed in Xu You's eyes, and he immediately turned around and walked down the Yun Tower, leaving without looking back.
Let me report my results. I took one day off this month for 31 days and wrote 316,000 words. I was originally aiming for 350,000 words, but unfortunately I lacked the energy. I’m sorry everyone. I will continue my efforts next month and try to finish this book in the first half of next year.