Yi Jing was already in a state of turmoil at this time.

At the end of April, this was nearly a month after the defeat of Laishui.

The food and fodder problems faced by the nomads when they carried out long-distance attacks were fully exposed at this moment.

The first ones to leave were actually the central Xianbei tribes in Huaitou and Suli. They had to go back after helping Gongsun Zan defeat Cui Juye in the Battle of Jumashui.

The Nanlou and Pufulu tribes were slightly closer and held out for half a month longer, but by mid-April, they had to evacuate.

They need to go back to replenish food and prepare new dry food before they can continue to help Gongsun Zan in the battle.

This period of time can be as short as ten days or as long as one month.

So Gao Lan finally waited for the best time - Gongsun Zan had no reinforcements in a short period of time.

After the heavy rain a few days ago, Youzhou ushered in a higher temperature than the same period in recent years. The sun was scorching, the rivers evaporated rapidly, the earth gradually cracked, and the space seemed to begin to distort.

In the Gaolan Camp, he was discussing with Zhang He, Cui Juye, Zhu Shang, Bu Dugen, Qian Man, Tadun, Hu Chuquan and others on whether to start a formal attack on Yijing City.

They have been making preparations for some time, and the siege equipment is almost complete.

However, the increasingly high temperatures have made people worry about the impact of weather on military operations, because there is almost no need for strenuous exercise. People can just take a few steps outside and stand in the sun for a while, and they will be sweating profusely.

There are countless soldiers suffering from heatstroke in the military camp. I don’t know how many trucks of medicinal materials were sent from Jizhou to treat heatstroke. Many soldiers are afraid of the scorching sun, and even daily drills have been cancelled.

For this reason, Gao Lan, Zhang He and others had to start to slow down the workload of the soldiers when arranging daytime patrol missions and sentry missions outside. Even when patrolling the camp, they only went out at night, and sentry boxes were built for soldiers who were on sentry duty outside.

It provides shade and at the same time shrinks the perimeter cordon back.

When most soldiers had nothing to do during the day, they would basically go to the river to swim and soak in the water to cool off. Because the tent was like a sauna and could not block the high temperature. The soldiers would be suspicious if they stayed in the tent any longer.

Will you be steamed?

Under such circumstances, let alone attack Yijing. Even Gongsun Zan in the city was considering whether to launch a sudden attack towards the river while the enemy was so hot that he doubted his life and was not alert at all.

Everyone gathered together, and Gao Lan muttered: "Everyone, the weather has been very abnormal recently. It's obviously only the end of April, but the temperature is higher than the heat of June. It's really strange."

Bu Dugen also said: "The weather in the grassland has been the same in the past two years. Summer has become hotter and winter has become colder. What is the reason for this?"

"If you say that, it's true."

Huchuquan was reminded by Bu Dugen, and then he thought about the past few years in the northern grassland of Bingzhou. It was indeed as he said, the summers were hotter, the winters were colder, and the climate was extremely abnormal.

Of course they don't know now that this is what the Little Ice Age was doing, they just think God's climate changes are so weird.

Zhang He said: "It is God's business that the weather is getting hotter. The most important thing now is whether to take advantage of this opportunity to attack the city. Gongsun Zan has been operating in Youzhou for many years, and Xianbei in the central part and Wuhuan in the west have very good relations with him. If

After they go back and prepare dry food, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to win if they come back."

Cui Juye asked: "In that case, why didn't we choose to attack Nanlou and Pufulu?"

Hearing this sentence, several people rolled their eyes.

Attack Nanlou and Pfulu?

Fortunately he could figure it out.

Any fool should understand that the Nanlou tribe is the strongest among Wuhuan's five tribes. The number of tribesmen is equivalent to that of the entire central Xianbei. The number of troops he can dispatch is also equivalent to that of the central Xianbei, with a crowd of 50,000 or 60,000.

Although he only dispatched 20,000 to 30,000 people this time, just like Kuitou Budugen and the others, it is impossible for all the troops to be dispatched. There must be a large number of left-behind troops in the tribe. Together with the Pfulu tribe, together,

There must be nearly a hundred thousand troops.

The Wuhuan Nanlou tribe came to help Gongsun Zan, but they did not necessarily have to sacrifice their lives for Gongsun Zan.

No matter how much money Gongsun Zan gave, Nanlou would contribute as much effort as he could.

Now there are only 20,000 to 30,000 people dispatched, so the pressure on them is not great. If Gao Lan and the others attack Nanlou's headquarters, it will cost Nanlou's life, and they will definitely fight you tooth and nail.

When the Nanlou and Pufulu tribes come out in full force, plus the Xianbei and Gongsun Zan from the east, a war that was supposed to be about invading Youzhou and annihilating Youzhou Mu Gongsun Zan ended up being a battle to defend Jizhou. Then

That's outrageous.

Gao Lan wanted to punch Cui Juye, but unfortunately, Cui Juye was not only from a famous family, the Cui Lie family, but also a favorite of Yuan Shao. Therefore, he could only patiently explain: "Nan Loubu is not Gongsun Zan."

He is a die-hard loyalist. He only accepted Gongsun Zan’s employment because he had a good relationship with Gongsun Zan. If he attacks him, it will be an all-out war with Nanlou, which will outweigh the gains and losses.”

Cui Juye wondered again: "In that case, why don't we hire Nanlou?"

"Ming Gong tried it, but he rejected it."

Gao Lan has a good temper. If it were Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Yuan Shao's favorite, coupled with his bad temper, he would probably have punched Cui Juye in the face.

It is not an exception for the Han people to hire ethnic minorities as thugs, it is the norm in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liangzhou hired Qiang people, and Youzhou hired Xianbei people. They would listen to whoever paid more. Even the Eastern Han Dynasty court

Do this.

Of course, Yuan Shao never thought about spending money to solve the problem, but who allowed Gongsun Zan to maintain good relations with Nanlou Pufulu and other tribes over the years?

Business is not shabby.

Therefore, it is not that Yuan Shao's advisers have not thought about these possibilities, but they just have no way. Otherwise, they would not go to people like Tadun and Gongsundu.

However, although Cui Juye's idea was naive, it still gave Zhang He some inspiration. A strange idea came to his mind, and he turned to Gao Lan and said, "General, I have an idea."

"oh?"

Gao Lan quickly said: "Jun Yi, tell me quickly."

Zhang He said: "It is definitely not possible to attack Nanlou. Our mission is to eliminate Gongsun Zan, and we must not create any extraneous problems. But if we surround Yi Jing, pretend to attack the city, lure them to come to support, and then ambush midway, what will the general think?"

"Um......"

Gao Lan thought for a moment and muttered: "This is a good idea. Previously, the soldiers and horses of Nanlou Pufulu, Huaitou Suli and others were all cavalry, and they came and went like the wind. We couldn't attack them. But since they are

Gongsun Zan's reinforcements will inevitably come to the city if the city is besieged, so we will set up an ambush to defeat them, and then slowly deal with Gongsun Zan in the city!"

Zhang He said with a smile: "Yes, that's right. The weather is too hot now, and a forced attack on the city may demoralize the city, but a feigned attack is different. Tomorrow, the general can strictly organize his troops, display his banners, and pretend to attack the city in an all-out manner. Then let

The stone carts kept hitting the city wall, causing commotion."

"But haven't Nanlou and Pfulu left now?"

Gao Lan was puzzled.

What's the point of launching an attack when everyone else is gone?

Zhang He then explained: "This is to create pressure in the city and create the appearance that we are ready to attack in a large scale. Gongsun Zan will definitely contact the enemies outside the city, and when the right opportunity comes, he will give an order for them to attack. If we wait for the enemy

If we come and fight again, they will have doubts. Only by attacking in advance can Gongsun Zan think that we are conducting a preliminary test. After the test is over, we will prepare the entire army to attack."

Gao Lan nodded: "I see, this is a good idea. What do you think?"

Everyone looked at each other, and Tadun first said: "I think it's okay."

"Then do as you wish."

"As long as the share I deserve is large, it doesn't matter."

Several tribal leaders thought it was okay.

They are not good men and women. Being able to come over was not only a matter of enmity with Gongsun Zan, but also a matter of interests.

Some people got Yuan Shao's promise, some got his benefits, and some had other agendas.

For example, people like the Xianbei people in central China, the winter climate of the northern grassland is getting colder and colder, which is becoming more and more unfavorable to the development of the tribe, so they agreed to cooperate with Yuan Shao. In addition to earning their share of the money, Yuan Shao also agreed to help them open up a place in Youzhou.

New pasture.

Therefore, whether Gongsun Zan died or not actually had little to do with them. Except for Tadun, no one else had any grudge against Gongsun Zan for killing his father or seizing his wife. They were more concerned about their own interests.

Even Tadun was motivated by his deep hatred for Gongsun Zan's retaliatory actions over the years when he often ran against them, Wuhuan in western Liaoning.

There is no eternal friendship in this world, only eternal interests.

If Gongsun Zan is willing to pay a higher price than Yuan Shao, such as commodity trading, border market trade, grain, oil, salt and spirits trading, giving them a share of the pie, and at the same time promises not to run against Wuhuan in Liaoxi in the future, maybe Tadun can become the leader the next day.

Maybe Gongsun Zan's closest friend.

It's just that Gongsun Zan's character was too strong and he had no such intention. It was a pity that Tadun had to agree to Yuan Shao's conditions and chose to overthrow Gongsun Zan.

Everyone discussed the countermeasures and soon began to implement them.

The next day, Gao Lan ordered the soldiers to start organizing troops and horses outside the city to prepare for a feint attack on the city. Groups of soldiers outside the city were exposed to the scorching sun, and catapults began to be pushed out one after another. Yuan Shao's catapult

The technology is much inferior to that of Qingzhou, and the distance is also close, but it cannot support the large number.

Yuan Shao experienced the Battle of Hulao Pass and realized the importance of catapults in attacking fortified cities, so he vigorously developed them. It is estimated that if there is another Battle of Guandu in the future, Cao Jun's catapults will not appear again to smash Yuan Jun's camp.

It's such a shocking thing.

Facing Yijing's copper and iron walls these days, Gao Lan also mobilized a large number of catapult parts from the rear for assembly. The catapults approached the outside of the city under the protection of wooden curtains, and then bombarded the city over and over again, destroying the city wall.

It made a loud banging sound.

Gongsun Zan and others in the city were quite surprised that Yuan Jun would choose to attack in such a hot summer, but since Yuan Jun wanted to seek death like this, they could just let them do whatever they wanted. Anyway, Yi Jing was very strong and could not be broken down so quickly.

You must know that when it was first built, Gongsun Zan treated this place as a frontline fortress with Jizhou. Not only were there a large number of trenches, moats, and horse pits on the outside, but there were also several mounds of soil two to three feet high blocking the outside of the city wall, which gave the city wall

Great protection. If a catapult hits the mound, it will only throw up a lot of dust and not damage the city wall at all.

Countless stones were thrown at the city like hailstones, but most of them did not even fall on the city wall. They were all smashed into the mounds outside. The city also built mountains of hills, five or six feet high, on which camps were built.

Bing. The central hill is ten feet high, and a building is built on it. Gongsun Zan is watching the situation outside from the building.

Seeing that Yuan Jun outside the city couldn't even touch the city wall, Gongsun Zan burst out laughing: "Look, gentlemen, Yuan Shao's catapults can't destroy my city wall at all. We will hold on for a while longer, and wait for Nanlou and the others and Xuan

The day when De sends troops is the day when Yuan Shao will be destroyed."
To be continued...