The afterglow of the setting sun wraps up the clouds on the horizon, forming gorgeous fire clouds.
The whirling dusk crows soared and fell into the forest a few miles northwest of the city. The waves of the Shu River were vast and rolled up with rushing waves.
On top of the Tan County City Pool, Tao Qian put up a pergola with his hands and looked out.
I saw that in the camp outside the city, soldiers from Cao Cao's army and Liu Bei's army had begun to return to the camp one after another to prepare for rest.
Some were leaning against the fence in twos and threes, chatting and joking with each other; some unorganized teams began to patrol outside, and the teams were listless; there were even some officers like Qu Changjun and Sima who actually took Cangtou to the forest in the distance.
During the hunting period, he came back happily dragging prey such as deer, hare, pheasant, etc.
When they first came here, their discipline was much better than it is now. They usually practiced a small drill a day and a big drill three days, and they often came to the city to yell at them.
But after more than two months, not only the discipline has deteriorated a lot, but the drills have also decreased a lot. It has become one drill every three days and one drill every five days. Moreover, the military capacity is much worse than it was at the beginning.
After being idle for a long time, not only ordinary soldiers, but also officers have begun to become lazy.
Night falls and the sun gradually sets.
The two armies of Cao and Liu were already very lazy during the day, and they became even more so at night.
Most of the soldiers who had gone out had returned to the camp. Apart from the sergeants on patrol, there were only soldiers on the tower sleeping soundly, leaning on the pillars.
The two camps were as quiet as any other day, with nothing out of the ordinary.
It was late September in late autumn, and the weather was gradually getting colder. The cool breeze at night blew the dead leaves, swirling them and falling outside the camp, fluttering like rain and snow.
The west gate of Xuzhou City quietly opened, and from the direction of Yushan, there was also a group of people, slowly approaching the outside of the city.
Tao Qian formulated a two-sided attack strategy. The main force of the city gate would first attack Cao Jun's camp, and let Cao Bao first hold off Chen Mu's Qingzhou army. After Cao Cao was eliminated, he would then turn around and attack Chen Mu.
There is no problem with this strategy, because Tao Qian deeply hated Cao Cao for attacking Xuzhou, so he made Cao Cao the main attack direction. Moreover, Yushan is located to the east of Tan County. If he cannot attack from both sides at the same time, he can only attack Chen in one place.
Dusk camp.
After all, Cao Bao's position would not allow him to make a large circle to the west first, but in that case, Cao Cao would be on alert immediately. In this way, even if Chen Mu's army was repelled, Cao Cao's army would still be there and he would not be able to complete the tactic of repelling him at the same time.
Task.
Therefore, Tao Qian thought that they should attack at the same time when both of them were unprepared. First, Cao Bao would hold Chen Mu down, and then Sun Guan would raid Cao Cao's camp. After repelling Cao Cao, he would then join forces with Cao Bao and Lu You to deal with Chen Mu.
.
Houqiu County, where Lu You is located, is located behind Tan County. Yesterday, people were sent there, and the army marched northward in a mighty manner. They were stationed twenty miles away, and when night fell, they finally started to enter the city.
In this way, Tao Qian's and Lu You's troops combined had 35,000 men. They might not be able to defeat Cao's army if they faced off head-on, but there would still be no problem in conducting a smooth battle such as a sneak attack.
In particular, Tao Qian actually had an elite force of 5,000 men. Although it was not as good as the trapped army, it was comparable to the ordinary soldiers of Cao Jun and Liu Jun.
You know, this is not a derogatory term. The elites in the world, the soldiers who fought in hundreds of battles, basically started by asking for the Yellow Turban.
Ranked in order, Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian have the most elites. They have fought countless tough battles in the melee between the Yellow Turbans, the battles against Dong Zhuo, and the powerful soldiers from all over the world. They have accumulated strong soldiers after many years of war.
Tao Qian has hardly fought in Xuzhou in recent years, and he has no military training personnel. The only old foundation is that the elite Danyang soldiers who followed him through the northwest were of great use.
The remaining soldiers and horses are all new soldiers recruited over the years. With little battlefield experience, Cao Cao's 40,000 to 50,000-strong army was suppressed by 20,000 elite troops. He lost Pengcheng and was beaten all the way to his hometown, Tan County. You can know that.
Who are his men?
Fortunately, it is not a tough battle now, and there should still be hope.
At night, Tao Qian walked to the city wall despite his sleepiness and watched Sun Guan lead the soldiers slowly out of the city.
This is already very difficult for an old man in his sixties.
But he had to come in person, because this was a matter of life and death for Xuzhou. If he failed today, there would be no Xuzhou anymore!
The army had no torches, and the moonless autumn day, coupled with the numerous torches in Cao's camp in the distance, gave them a bright target so that they would not lose their way in the dark night.
Sun Guan was not commanding from behind like a general, but was doing it himself, like a captain at the lowest level in the army, personally leading a group of troops to the outside of Cao's camp.
Outside Cao's camp is a sloping land with higher terrain, which makes it easier for the eagle-eyed archers on the watchtower to observe the distant city.
But in this case, the bottom of the slope becomes a blind spot for vision, and you have to walk in to see it.
In fact, the slope was not very high. It was only two or three meters up. Sun Guan led the soldiers to crawl on the ground and began to climb up the slope. When he climbed up the gentle slope and exposed his head, he could see that it was only a hundred feet away from the slope.
Cao Ying.
Immediately afterwards, groups of Tao Qian's soldiers emerged from the bottom of the slope, led by their respective officers.
Logically speaking, Cao Jun should have deployed a large number of scouts, secret sentries, and patrols within at least two to three miles around, and would issue warnings at any time if there was any movement.
But after these days of observation, Sun Guan found that Cao Jun's scouts and secret sentries were indeed very lax in patrolling, and some of the secret sentries were even sound asleep.
Even today, there are not even basic hidden sentries deployed near the outer camps.
It seems that all the soldiers also knew that this would be a protracted war, so they became a waste of time.
This is also the reason why Tao Qian is willing to send troops.
Otherwise, given his courage, he would rather remain trapped in the city than go out to fight the enemy to the death.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Time passed by, and in the darkness, in the wilderness down the slope outside Cao Jun's camp, the densely packed Xuzhou Army quietly approached here under the leadership of their respective officers.
Everyone was ready. Sun Guan raised his head and looked around. His vision was dark, and he could only vaguely see countless black shadows rising and falling.
"The time has come, kill!"
With a shout, there was like thunder on the ground in the silent night.
Then, like a gust of wind and rain, tens of thousands of shouts emerged, and countless figures emerged from the bottom of the slope, rushing towards Cao Ying like a mighty tide.
"Brother, they are really here."
In the rear camp of Cao's army, Cao Ren was pleasantly surprised when he heard the shouts of killing outside.
Chen Mu told them that the sky was loose outside and tight inside, and he told them that Tao Qian might attack the camp in the near future, and it seemed that this was the moment.
In fact, Chen Mu wanted to trick Cao Cao and deliberately did not tell him the truth, causing him to suffer heavy losses from Tao Qian's main army.
However, Cao Cao has been fighting in the north and south for many years. Although his commander's strength has not yet reached its peak, he already has the demeanor of the leader of the three armies. On weekdays, within a few miles of the camp, there are many open and secret sentries and even outposts. There have never been any
Relax your vigilance.
So Chen Mu couldn't trick him even if he wanted to.
At this time, Cao Cao was sitting cross-legged on the table playing Go with Guo Jia.
According to some historical records such as "Shishuoxinyu", his Go level is pretty good.
Hearing Cao Ren's words, Cao Cao squinted his eyes and said, "It seems that Chen Zigui really has an inside job."
"I just don't know if it's a family from Xuzhou or some generals in the army."
Cheng Yu thought.
Chen Gong said: "It should be some aristocratic families."
"Why is Brother Gongtai so sure?"
Guo Jia asked with a smile while writing the word.
"People from aristocratic families are the most fickle."
Chen Gong only said one sentence.
"But people from aristocratic families are also the least fickle."
Guo Jia shook his head.
Chen Gong asked in confusion: "Why?"
Guo Jia added another word and said casually: "How can people from aristocratic families dare to change before the results come out? If they change, their reputation will be ruined, so they will only do one thing."
"Whoever wins, who they help."
Cao Cao said calmly.
Being born into a noble family, Cao Cao naturally knew the virtues of the noble family.
They can be said to be the most fickle and the least fickle.
The fickle thing is that if they feel that you don't have the ability to become a hero, then they will abandon you without any hesitation.
The least fickle thing is that if you have certain abilities, they will never betray you before the outcome is determined.
Just like the Cao family decides the world, but after the Sima family gained power and won over various aristocratic families, it is reasonable for them to immediately forget about the Cao family and happily defect to the Sima family.
Who is the master of the world has never been a big deal to aristocratic families or even the common people.
"It seems that Chen Zigui has been planning Xuzhou many years ago."
Chen Gong sighed.
If it's not an aristocratic family, then it's just a military general.
A general who can serve as Tao Qian must be someone who is extremely trustworthy and will not betray easily.
And to be able to betray such a person can only mean one thing, that is, this person has been Chen Mu's person from the beginning.
This is undoubtedly a very scary thing, because even Tao Qian has such people under his command. Who can guarantee whether there will be undercover agents under his command in the future?
"Forget it, don't think about this anymore, Zixiao, how is the situation in the camp? Go and see."
Cao Cao put down another word, and when he heard the shouts of killing getting closer and closer outside, he gave Cao Ren an order.
Cao Ren accepted the order and left. If we were to talk about the best generals in the Three Kingdoms, he must be him.
Although he has not yet shown his talents at this time, he has already begun to show his talents, and he has a vague demeanor of a young general.
When Cao Ren arrived at the middle camp, he saw the sound of fighting all over the camp. Tao Qian's army also prepared fish paste and set fire to the front camp.
Fortunately, each camp is separated, and there is a large open space between the middle camp and the front camp as a school ground, which cannot be burned by fire.
The soldiers from the front camp had long since retreated to the middle camp, relying on the camp for defense. The archers stood on the ladders on the inner wall and kept shooting arrows from outside the outer wall. The arrows fell like raindrops, constantly repelling the momentum of Tao Qian's army.
No one in the rebellious army knew where Sun Guan had gone. Only Lu You from Houqiu was there to direct the entire battle.
When he saw that the front camp of Cao's army was defeated, he was overjoyed. He felt that the capture of Cao's camp was close at hand, and he immediately urged the soldiers to continue rushing forward.
The two sides soon fell into a fierce battle. Some people had begun to throw grease at the fence outside the central camp, preparing to set it on fire. Others continued to rush forward. The gate of the central camp was tightly closed, and arrows continued to rain down.
, causing wails all over the place.
While Tao Qian's army and Cao Cao's army were engaged in a fierce fight, the camp on Chen Mu's side was silent.
Cao Bao's army also launched an attack, but when he rushed into the front camp, he discovered that the Qingzhou Army's front camp, like Cao Cao's, was already empty, and the soldiers had already withdrawn to the middle camp.
This situation directly made Cao Bao a little creepy. If he were a capable general, he would probably feel that something was wrong immediately and order a retreat.
But Cao Bao's homonym is "idiot", which shows his ability, so he didn't react at the first time, but hesitated.
As a result, this hesitation was like hearing a cry like the earth was shaking.
"The will to be trapped will lead to death without a sound; the power to charge will never come back!"
The five thousand troops trapped in the formation broke out into an astonishing roar.
The gate of the Qingzhou Army Central Camp opened, and a heavily armed iron man army slowly walked out.
I saw that they were equipped with full-body armor, and the gun-shielders in the front row held shields and spears, like a moving torrent of steel, rushing towards them.
The most elite unit in the Qingzhou Army - the trapped army!
Although it is not as exaggerated as the Xuanjia Heavy Cavalry, which is composed of hundreds of generals, it was also trained by Gao Shun who selected the most elite soldiers from Qingzhou's armies. In the Battle of Geting, he was killed for repelling Yuan Shao's army.
Famous all over the world!
Seeing this scene, no matter how stupid Cao Bao was, he knew he had been fooled and quickly shouted: "Retreat!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Kill!"
For a moment, shouts of death rang out from all the surrounding camps.
In the darkness, countless enemies poured out, holding torches and ring-headed steel knives, and rushed like a tide toward the front camp of the Qingzhou Army where Cao Bao was. First there was a hail of arrows, and then the army pressed in. It seemed like there were enemies from all directions.
is the enemy.
Cao Bao was not like Lu You. Although Lu You only had 5,000 men, Sun Guan saw 25,000 men coming out, so the total strength was 30,000.
Cao Bao, on the other hand, only had 10,000 troops. His original order was to hold back the Qingzhou Army and create chaos.
Little did he know that the enemy was already on guard and was unable to compete, so he had no choice but to immediately order a retreat.
But at this moment, the two sides are so close, how can they escape?
Chen Mu also gave an order for the army to pursue them.
The trapped troops were definitely unable to catch up. Their armor was as heavy as a mountain. Gao Shun could only sigh as he watched the enemy retreat without even fighting.
However, Zang Ba and Huang Zhong were so happy that they immediately ordered their men and horses to chase them. The two of them were on horseback, driving Cao Bao's army away like gods of war. Because he was in a hurry, he actually ran towards the Tan County city. There were countless Cao Bao's troops in the wilderness.
I wish my parents had given birth to two legs and trampled countless people to death.
At this time, Tao Qian was still looking at Cao Ying from the west city gate. He was very happy to see Cao Ying in chaos from a distance.
The Qingzhou Army's camp was in the northeast of Tan County, so Tao Qian could only see Cao Bao's camp to the northwest, but could not see the Qingzhou Army's camp in the northeast. At this time, he did not know the situation on Cao Bao's side.
Cao Bao led his soldiers and horses to the north gate and shouted loudly to open the gate.
The person on duty today was Yin Li. Seeing this scene, he glanced at the Qingzhou Army chasing behind him and sneered: "General Cao, I can't open the city gate for you. If you open the city gate, Tan City will be lost. You
Let’s go to the east city gate.”
"What?"
Cao Bao was shocked and shouted angrily: "Shu Zi, you are looking for death!"
"Stop scolding me. If you don't run away, you will die."
Yili replied lazily.
"hateful!"
Cao Bao was so angry that he had no choice but to rein in his horse and head east.
However, he could escape on horseback, but how could his men escape? He was blocked outside the city and was quickly overtaken by his pursuers.
Zang Ba Huang Zhong slashed and killed dozens of people who were desperate for their lives, and shouted to surrender to avoid death.
For a time, countless people knelt down and surrendered outside the city.
When Yili saw this, he immediately said to his guards: "Quick, go and open the city gate."
"ah?"
The guards are all dumbfounded. The enemies are already at the city gates. Why are they still trying to open the city gate?
However, seeing the look in Yi Li's eyes, the guards suddenly woke up and a group of people hurriedly went to open the door.
It turns out that the leader of our family has already become their mole!