Chen Deng never expected that the pottery merchant's current thinking angle seemed to be superior to his.
Of course, Chen Deng thought that he was always unmatched in his ability to act as a gentleman in front of others and deceive others in secret.
At this point, people with the surname Tao are always the ancestors.
"Hmm..." Chen Deng hesitated for a moment and said, "But we have been attacking Puyang City for so long. It would be a pity if we just gave up."
The pottery merchant threw the information on the table, leaned back, and said: "There is no way to give up. After all, the situation is before us. For me, letting Xun Yu leave the Cao family is far more valuable than taking Puyang City."
important."
Having said this, Tao Shang turned to look at Chen Deng and said: "You know, getting Xun Yu alone means getting the support of the entire Yingchuan gentry. This is a level that Cao Hong has not thought of yet. I can't give up this opportunity."
.”
Chen Deng walked back and forth in the tent and said: "That's exactly what happened. It's just that Xuchang City is extremely strong. Now that Cao Hong has put Xun Yu in prison, he has gone all out to reinforce Xuchang City. Judging from the current situation,
I'm afraid this Xuchang City is difficult to attack... If we can't defeat Xuchang City, we can't save Xun Yu, and then the defense of Puyang City will be reinforced by Cao Ang and Hao Zhao. Our offensive against Puyang City during this period can be regarded as
It’s all in vain.”
The pottery merchant smiled and said: "You can rest assured of this. According to my guess, Xuchang City should be much easier to fight than Puyang City at the moment."
Chen Deng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then lowered his head and thought about it carefully, and suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, Xuchang now seems to be reinforced by Cao Hong, but in fact it is completely different from when Xun Yu presided over it. Xun Yu can
The reason why we were able to defend the city was entirely due to his reputation, which attracted the nobles and people of Xuchang City to help us with all their strength, and they worked together to stop our army's offensive. But now Xun Yu is imprisoned..."
Tao Shang said calmly: "I'm afraid that the people of Xuchang City will be unstable. Not to mention that everyone is united to fight against our army, there will definitely be people who admire Xun Yu or are grievances about his situation and come to secretly fight with us.
connect."
This time Chen Deng admired the pottery merchant from the bottom of his heart.
He cupped his hands and said, "What about Puyang?"
"I'll leave it to you and Qu Yi. On Cao Ren's side, I will also send Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and other troops to besiege the city. You guys bluff and cover for me. This time, I will capture Xuchang and Xun Yu!"
I think it’s a congratulations for settling in the Central Plains.”
…
Part of the pottery merchant's troops began to move towards Xuchang, and before going to Xuchang, he also sent members of the school affairs office to spread the news of Xun Yu's imprisonment around Xuchang City.
Just watch the fun and not be afraid of big trouble.
He wanted the broad masses of the people to know how wronged Xun Yu was.
The power of the masses is strong, and Cao Hong will suffer.
After Jinling's soldiers and horses arrived at Xuchang City, the pottery merchant personally inspected Xuchang City carefully.
He found that the city was indeed much stronger than when he first came. It seemed that Cao Hong's military skills were still superior to Xun Yu's.
It is a pity that what Cao Hong did not understand was that facing the army of Jinling City, to defend Xuchang City, the use of troops could only be secondary, accounting for at most 30%.
The reason why Xun Yu was able to defend the city in the first place was because of his popularity and popular support.
With him around, the gentry and people in Xuchang City would unite as one, and the army and the people would become one.
After he was imprisoned, this person who could unite the military and civilians was gone.
Even the public sentiment in Xuchang will change dramatically because of his imprisonment. This is an unfavorable factor that Cao Hong cannot eliminate with his army.
After the potter circled the city for a week, he had a general understanding of Xuchang's city defense. After returning to the commander's tent, he immediately called for Xu Rong, Huang Zhong, A Fei, Gao Shun and other generals, and asked them to divide their troops into four groups.
Lead the troops and attack the city of Xuchang.
After hearing Tao Shang's military order, Huang Zhong hesitated and said: "Prime Minister, you led your troops from Puyang to attack the city. I shouldn't say much, but Xuchang City is much stronger than when we first came.
The enemy's energy is at its peak. If we attack the city now, we will definitely not be able to capture it. On the contrary, it will easily lose the energy. It is better to postpone the siege for a few days and wait until some of the enemy's energy is consumed before attacking again.
Policy."
Huang Zhong was mature and prudent, and his opinions were affirmed by famous generals such as Xu Rong and Gao Shun.
Tao Shang smiled and said: "According to the normal arrangement, the old general's words are indeed high-minded. However, today's attack is not to capture the city, but to show the world and Cao Jun."
Ah Fei's habit of being a bitch came back again: "What else is the Prime Minister going to show off to Cao Jun?"
The potter sighed: "You kid, you really don't want to listen to me... What do you mean by showing off? I mean show it to Cao Jun!"
A Fei turned to look at Huang Zhong in confusion: "Father, is there a difference between these two words?"
Huang Zhong rolled his eyes: "The difference is huge... Shut up now."
Tao Shang continued: "What I want to show Cao Jun when I attack the city today is our eagerness and determination to attack the city and rescue Xun Yu. Even though we know that the city is stronger than before, our army must attack and rescue Xun Yu at all costs."
Determination."
Only then did Huang Zhong understand a little bit.
Tao Shang continued: "As the saying goes, attacking the city is the bottom, attacking the heart is the top, fighting with the heart is the top, and fighting with soldiers is the bottom!"
After listening to these sixteen words of mantra, several generals could not help but admire the pottery merchant deeply.
The Prime Minister's accomplishments and military skills are amazing. He has such profound military experience, and he actually comes up with it casually!
Tao Shang looked at them with a smile and said: "Of course, I also hope that you can help me carefully test the strength of Cao Jun in today's critical battle, so that I can have an idea... It's not about targeting
Their defensive capabilities are based on their long-term combat capabilities, do you understand?"
"promise!"
…
So, under the orders of Tao Shang, the Jinling Army was divided into four groups and began to violently attack Xuchang City.
Frankly speaking, Cao Hong did not expect that the Jinling Army would launch an offensive against Xuchang just after setting up camp.
This is completely unreasonable.
In Cao Hong's impression, Tao Shang was a man proficient in the art of war, and he would not have behaved like this.
But that's exactly what he did.
Cao Hong personally went to the front line and presided over the soldiers, horses and people in the city to jointly resist the Jinling Army.
After the battle lasted for two full hours, the Jinling Army finally retreated.
It can be said that this battle was a head-to-head battle, and the losses on both sides were not small. The city of Xuchang was bombarded by the potters' trebuchets and was completely changed beyond recognition. Countless soldiers were injured. The battle was extremely cruel.
But through this battle, the pottery merchants also tried out the current situation of Xuchang City.
According to the reports of Huang Zhong and Gao Shun, although the defenders of Xuchang City were tenacious, as expected by Tao Shang, they lacked the ability to fight for a long time. After an hour, both their fighting spirit and the speed of subsequent supply of defensive equipment fell.
It appears relatively weak and not as strong as when the Jinling Army first came to Xuchang.
Through Huang Zhong's narration, the potter's idea was confirmed.
At present, the people of Xuchang City are uneasy, and the ability of the nobles and common people to assist the city defense soldiers has been greatly reduced compared to the last time Xun Yu was in charge.
It seems that they have already separated from Cao Jun.