That night, Guan Cheng, Li Bo and Wang Dan met secretly.
In the camp, the three people frowned and looked ugly.
Li Bo was the first to break the silence and said: "What do you think about this matter?"
After Zhou Tao collapsed, Zhang Rao immediately sent troops to gather his scattered troops.
Although most of Zhou Tao's soldiers had no will to fight and just wanted to go home and farm, they fled one after another.
However, Zhang Rao intercepted more than 20,000 people and expanded them to his own subordinates.
Today Zhang Rao sent people over again, asking them to join forces with him and gather them all under his command.
Wang Dan clenched his fists: "That Zhang Rao is really abominable. He annexed Zhou Tao's men and then set his sights on us."
Li Bo said: "What's the use of talking about it now? If we don't find a way, we will be swallowed up by him one by one."
"It's better to just get angry with him."
Wang Dan said angrily: "If you force us to do this, we might as well die."
Guan Cheng frowned: "The officers and soldiers are in the city. If we have internal strife, the officers and soldiers will probably laugh their heads off."
"Then tell me what to do."
Wang Dan looked at him, spread his hands and said: "The army has cavalry and they harass us every day. Soon, my troops will collapse like Liu Tao."
Guan Cheng thought for a while and said: "For the present plan, we can only attack the city and fight decisively as soon as possible, and we cannot delay it any longer."
Li Bo shook his head and said, "You're talking lightly. There are also 50,000 troops in the army. The city towers are densely packed with people. You have also seen the results of the siege in the past few days. It is impossible to break the city in a short time."
Three hundred thousand besieging fifty thousand and thirty thousand besieging five thousand are two different concepts.
If the city's defenders only have 5,000 men, it means that the city's defense strength is insufficient. If 30,000 men are forced to attack, it is not impossible to break through.
But there are fifty thousand people in Pingshou City.
As an ordinary county town in Beihai Kingdom, the city wall of Pingshou City is two feet six feet high, which is six meters. It is not as high as five or six feet high like Luoyang Chang'an.
The length of each section of the city wall is about two miles, which is certainly incomparable to the seven or eight miles of the Chang'an and Luoyang section of the city wall.
But precisely because the city is not large, it means that the city has sufficient defensive power and is not afraid of a strong attack at all.
Thousands of people can be deployed on a two-mile-long city wall.
Even if the entire Yellow Turban army, 300,000 strong, attacks the city with ladders from all directions, the number of people who can attack the four walls at a time is only a few tens of thousands.
One side defends the city, and the other side attacks the city. The officers and soldiers do not have to worry about being overwhelmed due to the small number of people.
Therefore, after several days of attacking, the Yellow Turbans lost troops and generals, but made no progress at all.
And Li Bo and Wang Dan don't want to continue like this.
Because Guan Cheng is the largest Yellow Turban force in Donglai, he can withdraw to Donglai County at any time without worrying about being annexed by Zhang Rao's troops nearby.
Li Bo and Wang Dan had to be on guard against Zhang Rao, so every time they lost troops during an attack on the city, they felt distressed for a long time.
"Then just keep waiting like this?"
Guan Cheng asked rhetorically.
Li Bo sneered and said: "If you want to attack, then attack. Anyway, I won't continue to attack forcefully."
Wang Dan nodded: "Yes, continuing the stalemate now will not benefit anyone. If there is no progress in a few days, I will withdraw our troops."
Guan Cheng was also angry and said coldly: "If you want to withdraw, then withdraw. Anyway, Guan Yu is attacking Beihai and it has nothing to do with me. When you are swept away, I will occupy Donglai alone. Don't come to beg me then."
"
The meeting broke up unhappily. Although the three men temporarily united to fight against Zhang Rao, with the collapse of Zhou Tao himself, not only was the strength of the three-man alliance at a disadvantage compared to Zhang Rao, but internal differences also emerged.
A few days later, Jushou stood on the tower and watched. He found that Wang Dan's tribe and Li Bo's tribe had been calm for a few days. Except for Zhang Rao who divided his troops at the north gate and occupied Zhou Tao's original position and continued to attack, the other two tribes remained unchanged.
Not sending troops.
This was a very good phenomenon. That night, Jushou asked Guan Yu to send Guan Hai and a lobbyist out of the city and into Li Bo's camp. The reason why Guan Hai was sent was because Guan Hai had always had prestige among the Yellow Turbans and could win over Li Bo.
Pull connections.
The reason why he chose Li Bo was because Jushou heard that Wang Dan was impulsive and had a bad temper. Guan Cheng was not from Beihai and did not face the threat of the army directly. Only Li Bo was unjust and was in danger of being annexed by Zhang Rao.
, and there is the danger of an attack by the army, so it is a suitable breakthrough point.
Guan Hai reported his name and came outside the tent. Li Bo came out with his troops. He had dealt with Guan Hai before. When he was in Jizhou, Guan Hai was under Zhang Liang's tent. Li Bo was just a small fangqu commander at that time.
In terms of status among the Yellow Turbans, Guan Hai was one level higher than him.
Seeing Guan Hai coming, Li Bo asked, "Guan Hai, what are you doing here?"
If it were Wang Dan, he would have drawn his sword now.
But Li Bo's personality was not as impulsive as Wang Dan's, and he already had the idea of two sides: he was afraid of Zhang Rao's annexation, and he was also afraid of being attacked by the army, so he did not dare to do anything to Guan Hai.
Guan Hai laughed and said: "Li Bo, you and I are old acquaintances. We served together under General Ren Gong's account many years ago. Can't I come to see you and reminisce about old times?"
"oh?"
Li Bo's heart moved and he said: "Since we are old acquaintances, please come into camp and talk about it."
There are so many people out there and it’s really hard to talk.
The group of people entered the camp and walked into the tent.
Li Bo left several close followers to protect him. He knew that Guan Hai was brave and he could not defeat him, so he had to take precautions.
Guan Hai sat down with the lobbyist, glanced at the guards beside Li Bo, and said teasingly: "Brother Li, now that I have entered your camp, are you still afraid that I will escape?"
Li Bo smiled and didn't care that he was making fun of him, and said: "When we were in Jizhou, who didn't know that you Guan Hai was the bravest of the three armies and the most powerful general in Taiping Road? How could I not bring more people?"
Champion the three armies?
Remembering that he could only stand up to thirty moves in front of Guan Yu, Guan Hai smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Li, don't make fun of me. General Guan Yu is the real invincible warrior."
"That's...okay."
Li Bo then remembered that Guan Hai was easily defeated by Guan Yu and finally surrendered to the army. He lost a lot of thoughts about reminiscing about the past and said calmly: "By the way, I wonder what Brother Guan wants to say when he comes here?"
Guan Hai looked at the lobbyist beside him.
This lobbyist was the chief bookkeeper of Guan Yu's account. His name was Xu Shuo. He was known to be eloquent. He looked at Li Bo and said with a smile: "General Li, I would like to ask how much food and grass the army has?"
Li Bo was unhappy and snorted: "Sir, do you want to know the secrets of our army?"
"No?"
Xu Shuo smiled and said: "I want to tell the general that General Guan has captured Pingshou County. There are hundreds of thousands of stones of food and grass in the city. In addition, the army has brought hundreds of thousands more, totaling more than one million stones. It can still last for half a year."
More than enough."
"Millions of stones?"
Li Bo's face changed drastically. He had more than 30,000 people and consumed 4,000 shi of food every day. However, the army only had more than 100,000 shi of food. The food would be eaten up in a month at most. How could we continue to fight this war?
"good."
Xu Shuo nodded: "So for this battle, General Guan has already made up his mind to defend the city. When you run out of food, your troops will inevitably collapse. If you go out of the city to pursue them, you can decide the outcome in one battle.
.”
Guan Hai spoke up and said, "Yes, Brother Li and I have an old relationship. After knowing General Guan's plan, I was worried that Brother Li was in danger, so I went out of the city to help a group of brothers."
Li Bo's face turned blue and white and said: "I know you are here to persuade me to surrender, but if there is no food, the worst I can do is withdraw my troops. I now occupy a county seat and am happy and free. I don't want to follow the army and beg for mercy."
"Hahahahahaha."
Xu Shuo laughed.
If Chen Mu were here, he would definitely complain.
I don’t know why, but the lobbyists during the Three Kingdoms period liked to laugh.
Not only do lobbyists like this, but so do people who are about to be executed.
certainly.
This is all based on evidence, so it is convenient to lead to the following.
As expected, Li Bo asked in confusion: "Why are you laughing?"
Xu Shuo laughed loudly: "I'm laughing at the fact that the general is about to die and doesn't know yet."
"you!"
Li Bo was furious and stood up to draw his sword.
Guan Hai was startled and quickly stood up and drew his sword.
Seeing that a fight was imminent, Xu Shuocai said calmly: "General, does he know why his death is imminent?"
Li Bo's expression changed, and he shouted: "Then tell me, if it's not right, I'll chop your head off."
Xu Shuo said: "General, does he know who Zhang Rao is?"
Li Bo and Zhang Rao were fighting against each other, so of course he knew who Zhang Rao was, so he sneered: "Zhang Rao is a jackal."
"good."
Xu Shuo said: "Zhang Rao has always wanted to annex the general and occupy Beihai. If the general withdraws his troops without food, what do you think Zhang Rao will do?"
What will happen to Zhang Rao?
Li Bo was stunned.
After being reminded by Xu Shuo, I remembered that Zhang Rao was not a partner, but an enemy who had always wanted to annex him.
Once he has no food and withdraws his troops, Zhang Rao will definitely attack him.
He only had 30,000 men and horses, while Zhang Rao had 150,000 or 60,000.
When the time comes, your troops will be demoralized due to lack of food, and they may easily be annexed by Zhang Rao. At that time, it will be dangerous.
Thinking of this, Li Bo shuddered and said: "Then I will ask Wang Dan to withdraw the troops together. We have 70,000 to 80,000 people. I don't believe that Zhang Rao dares to come and attack us."
"I really don't dare, but general, don't forget that once you withdraw your troops, Zhang Rao will be unable to fight alone, his strength will be even weaker, and he will not be able to defeat the general."
Xu Shuo said slowly and calmly: "Once Zhang Rao is defeated by General Guan or runs out of food and grass, then no one in Beihai will be able to compete with General Guan. When he frees up his hands and kills them one by one, the general will not be happy for long."
Li Bo sat down slumped. When Xu Shuo said this, he suddenly felt that his future was bleak and his hope was slim.
His troops were originally small, but the reason why he was able to fight Zhang Rao until now was because the place he occupied was Jiaodong County, which was only a few dozen miles away from Jimo County occupied by Wang Dan, and they were at the horns of each other.
Zhang Rao, on the other hand, occupied five counties including Duchang, Yingling, Zhuxu, Chang'an, and Anqiu. He was so powerful that even without Guan Yu, he would definitely be annexed by Zhang Rao in the future.
In fact, when Kong Rong came to Beihai in a few years, Zhang Rao was indeed the most powerful Yellow Turban Army. Apart from Guan Hai and Guan Cheng, he had the largest number of troops, with more than 200,000 troops. Kong Rong was defeated.
The fight was so miserable that they couldn't even save the prison.
It is conceivable that at that time, Li Bo, Wang Dan and others had already been annexed by Zhang Rao.
When he thought that whether he continued to fight or withdrew, the future result might not be that strong, Li Bo said sadly: "Am I destined to be defeated?"
"No?"
Xu Shuo smiled and said, "Aren't General Guan and I just here to show the general a clear path?"
Li Bo couldn't say he was overjoyed. He knew that Guan Hai was here to persuade him to surrender, so he mocked himself slightly and said: "Ming Lu? Become a hawk for the court?"
Xu Shuo advised: "General, don't you hear the benevolence and righteousness of Liu Bei and Prime Minister Liu? If you surrender to General Guan, you will serve as an official under Prime Minister Liu in the future, and you will not treat the general badly."
"I see."
Li Bo weighed the pros and cons and nodded: "I am willing to surrender."
He was by no means a smart man, but Zhang Rao's increasing pressure had made it difficult for Li Bo to resist.
Now that Guan Yu came to Beihai again, he couldn't stand it anymore and finally chose to surrender.
This is inevitable. As long as you are not a fool, you will choose this way.