After Cao Cao defeated Yongqiu and destroyed Zhang Chao's three clans, he marched to Wuping, the state of Chen. Yuan Si, the prime minister of Chen appointed by Yuan Shu, asked for surrender.
When they learned that Liu Bei had sent troops to attack Yuan Shu, Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan came together to persuade him.
"General, Liu Bei has led his troops to leave. Xuzhou is now empty. We can take the opportunity to take Xuzhou."
Although they and Cao Cao are brothers, they are both called generals in the army.
At this time, Cao Hong had been ordered to lead troops to meet the emperor, but he would be rejected by Dong Cheng in Hanoi and could not reach Anyi, so he had to return without success.
Dong Cheng and Han Xian attacked each other. After their defeat, they surrendered to Zhang Yang and are now in Hanoi County.
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile: "Hey, don't worry, Liu Bei is determined to capture Yangzhou. He will not be able to return quickly this time when he sends troops. Let's wait."
"What are you waiting for? If Liu Bei is allowed to take Yangzhou, his power will become even stronger, and I'm afraid he won't have a chance by then." Cao Ren advised again.
"Haha, don't be afraid. Liu Bei may be able to defeat Yuan Shu easily, but Sun Ce is very brave and the river is dangerous. It will not be easy for Liu Bei to seize the land east of the river. When he and Sun Ce are inextricably linked to each other,
After Zi Lian welcomes the emperor, we will send out troops again, and then Xuzhou will be in my hands. Alas, it is a pity that Zhicai is no longer here. If he were here, I would have someone with whom we can discuss these things!"
Xi Zhicai died of illness two months ago, and Cao Cao was very sad about this.
Cao Ren said happily: "It is true. If we go to capture Xuzhou now, Liu Bei will be able to quickly return his troops to rescue him. When we send troops when he fights with Sun Ce, he will not be able to return his troops so quickly. The general is thoughtful."
"
For Cao Cao, Xuzhou was of course important, but the Emperor was more important than Xuzhou.
The most important thing now is to welcome the emperor. As long as the emperor is in hand, he can issue any edicts he wants and beat anyone he wants.
Cao Cao was preparing to welcome the emperor to Xu County as his capital. To do this, he needed to clear out the bandits near Xu County. He led his troops into Yingchuan and Runan to suppress He Yi, Liu Pi and other Yellow Turbans.
Yuan Shu had received news from Sun Ce and had found out that Tai Shici had indeed led his troops across the river to camp in the Chaohu area. However, Yuan Shu didn't quite believe Liu Bei's claim that he was going to lead his troops to attack Shouchun.
He didn't believe that it was always his responsibility to lead troops to attack others, so how could anyone dare to lead troops to attack him.
Besides, he currently has 40,000 troops in Shouchun. How many troops can Liu Bei bring?
Therefore, Yuan Shu did not take Sun Ce's words to heart. He did not believe it until news came from Xuzhou that Liu Bei had left Xiapi with 30,000 troops and was preparing to attack Shouchun.
"Hmph, Liu Bei, a man who weaves mats and sells shoes, once he succeeds, is so rampant and only brings 30,000 troops to attack. He really underestimates me."
Having said this, Yuan Shu was still satisfied. The fewer troops Liu Bei led, the greater his chance of victory.
He ordered Li Feng and Liang Gang to lead five thousand soldiers to guard Yinling, and Liu Xiang and Qin Yi to lead five thousand soldiers to guard Xiquyang. He himself commanded thirty thousand soldiers and horses to garrison Shouchun.
With the first two lines of defense, as long as they insist on defending the city and not fighting, it will be difficult for Liu Bei to capture the city.
If Liu Bei had not captured those two cities, his troops and horses could bypass them directly, but it would be difficult for him to transport food and grass there.
If a large number of soldiers and horses are sent to escort the food and grass, Liu Bei's soldiers and horses may not be enough.
Therefore, Yuan Shu felt that if Liu Bei wanted to attack Shouchun, it would take at least more than half a year, and Liu Bei would be killed just by the consumption of food.
He was defeated by food and grass in the first place, and now he is letting Liu Bei taste the feeling of lack of food.
He had many concubines in Shouchun, drinking and having fun, without worrying about Liu Bei coming to attack.
Zhang Fei led three thousand soldiers as the vanguard. After leaving Huailing, he urged his troops to march quickly to clear the obstacles in front of Liu Bei's army.
When we arrived at Zhongli, there were no soldiers and horses garrisoning the city, only county officials and soldiers.
They knew that they would not be able to defend this small city, and they also heard that Liu Bei was a kind and righteous man who would not kill the people, so the county magistrate led all the officials out of the city to ask for surrender.
This made Zhang Fei very happy. The first city was easily accessible, and the subsequent ones were even easier.
He led his troops into the city and ordered the soldiers not to harm or plunder the people. This was something Liu Bei had always told him.
However, he asked the county magistrate to get him dozens of jars of wine, and even praised the county magistrate for this, which made the county magistrate truly feel the benevolence and righteousness of Liu Bei's soldiers.
When Liu Bei led the army to Zhongli, Zhang Fei led his troops ahead and arrived at Yinling City.
This time, Zhang Fei was rejected.
Not only were the city gates closed, but there were also soldiers all over the city, who seemed not to be ready to open the gates and surrender.
Zhang Fei couldn't help being furious, thinking that wherever his troops came, everyone would surrender, but he didn't expect that there would be people who dared to refuse to surrender.
He rode his horse to the bottom of the city and shouted to the city: "Listen to the guards on the city. Zhang Fei is here. Get out of the city quickly and ask for surrender. This will save you from death. Otherwise, I will behead your dogs with my own hands when the city is broken."
"
The guards of Yin Ling are Li Feng and Liang Gang.
Liang Gang fought in Xuyi and saw Zhang Fei kill Ji Ling with his own eyes, so he knew how powerful this man was.
But Li Feng was in Huailing at that time and only heard about Zhang Fei's bravery but did not see it with his own eyes.
Now, seeing that Zhang Fei only had 3,000 troops and 5,000 men in his own city, he thought of going out of the city to fight Zhang Fei.
"Zhang Fei, others are afraid of you, but I, Li Feng, am not afraid." Li Feng shouted to the people in the city.
"Then do you dare to lead the troops out of the city to fight me?"
Since they refused to leave the city and ask for surrender, the only option was to fight.
"Hahaha...that's exactly what I meant."
Liang Gang, who was next to him, said anxiously: "General Li, no, General Yuan asked us to garrison this city, but he also ordered us to stand firm and not go into battle. Besides, this Zhang Fei is extremely powerful, I'm afraid..."
Li Feng said angrily: "Huh, you are afraid of me, but you are not afraid of me. Zhang Fei only has 3,000 soldiers and we have 5,000 soldiers and horses. If we go out of the city to defeat the enemy and kill Zhang Fei, won't General Yuan reward us? Maybe we will be rewarded."
You can make Liu Bei retreat because of this!"
"But……"
"Don't worry, if you are afraid, how about you lead a thousand soldiers to defend the city, and I will lead four thousand soldiers to fight?"
When Yuan Shu asked them to guard the Yin Mausoleum, he did not say who would be the commander, but just asked them to discuss the matter.
Liang Gang knew how fierce Zhang Fei was, so he naturally didn't want to go out and die, but when Li Feng came to this point, he didn't want to dissuade him anymore, and maybe this Li Feng could really kill Zhang Fei, so he had to say: "Since you are determined to fight,
, Okay, I will take a thousand soldiers to defend the city, and I can also take you back to the city when the time comes."
"Okay, it's settled."
Li Feng knew that Zhang Fei stabbed Ji Ling to death, and his force was naturally not weak, but now instead of going out to fight with him, he was fighting in a formation, and the main battle was with the soldiers, not just the general, so he felt that he
There will be a chance of winning.
He descended the city wall, ordered four thousand soldiers and horses, and prepared to go out of the city to fight.
Zhang Fei returned to the formation, and not long after, he saw the city gate opened wide, and a group of soldiers and horses rushed out from the city, setting up their formation.
Looking at the troops and horses on the opposite side, Zhang Fei didn't take the opponent seriously at all. Not to mention that the opponent's troops and horses only had one thousand more troops than his own, but he was not afraid even if there were three thousand more troops.
Ever since his eldest brother became the shepherd of Xuzhou, Zhang Fei has never been defeated in a battle, which can be said to be the shame of Yixue's frequent defeats before.
Now it is very easy to defeat Yuan Shu's soldiers on the opposite side.
Zhang Fei thought of Zhou Ping again. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was only after meeting Mr. Wen An that he had always been victorious and undefeated.
At this time, Li Feng, who was on the opposite side, stood behind the military formation. With a wave of his spear, he ordered his troops to advance together and charge towards Zhang Fei.
