Outside the bamboo gate, before dawn in the past, the riverside market was already lively, but today it is quiet.

The people already felt that the atmosphere was not right, and they closed their stalls in the middle of the night, and they did not dare to open the doors during the day, and some of them came from afar by rowing boats, but they were not stopped by the officials and soldiers from afar, and they were so frightened that they left, and the shops by the wharf were all closed, and the residents either fled or dared to look out through the cracks in the doors, and the boatmen and fishermen who used to live by the wharf did not dare to stay here, and rowed away the small boats that settled down.

"This Cao family is really a traitor, a traitor! It deserves to be slaughtered! ”

Zhang Shiyi retracted his neck from behind the crack in the door, there was no one on the street, it seemed that the chaos outside was not over. Even if Zhang Shiyi is not afraid to go out with a stall, no one outside buys it. On this day, the business seems to have been delayed, the Zhang family's soup and tea stall is a small business, and if it doesn't go out of the stall for a day, it is just to sit and eat empty, Zhang Shiyi turned his head and looked at the Hun family with two children in his arms, and his heart was anxious, and he scolded in a low voice: "The scholar is good, Cao Di's father and son are traitors, why didn't God accept this traitor!" ”

"Is the world going to be chaotic again?"

"Alas, we have to work hard, and if we don't work hard for a day, we won't have to eat for a day."

"I don't know which traitor is rebelling, it's really a traitor!"

"Alas, Zhao Xianggong, when Yue Dashuai is here, how can these thieves be rampant!"

Not only is this the case with the bamboo gate, but inside and outside the city of Ezhou, the original peaceful scene has become loud and quiet in an instant, and the grass and trees are all up. Originally, the city gates should have been opened after the rooster crowed, before sunrise, but today the rooster crows for a long time, and the city gates are still closed. According to word of mouth, those who were ready to enter the city in the morning rushed back to their homes, and people were frightened, and the trade was delayed, and everyone was helpless, or sighed, or scolded, hoping that the officials and soldiers would put down the thieves as soon as possible, reopen the market, and talk to make a living.

............

"Young Marshal Bing, Qingyuan Gate is closed to the city gate."

"There is no movement at Wangzemen, and the guards insist on seeing the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Military Department Token."

"The defenders of Hanyang Gate not only did not open the city gate, but instead fired arrows at us!"

On the dock of Zhuyanmen, Cao Gu's face became more and more gloomy, and the generals sent to check the city gates everywhere returned one after another, but there was no good news, and in the entire Ezhou City, there was not a single city gate opened for him. "Is it really out of the way to attack the city? Liu Guangguo, did he do anything? There was a deep suspicion in his eyes, "Or is it a trick?" Cao Gu looked up at the Zhuyanmen Tower, but found that above the tower, a piece of fish belly white appeared in the eastern sky, twenty-four miles around Ezhou City, privately investigated and returned, coupled with hesitation everywhere, unconsciously, it had been delayed until dawn.

"Siege, or ......"

When the troops just came to the city, Cao Gu was still full of ambition, thinking that the defenders of Ezhou were unprepared, and Liu Guangguo was in trouble in the city, as long as the army arrived, he would naturally control the overall situation. However, he tossed and turned outside the city all night, not only did he not control a single gate, but the noise inside the city gradually subsided. If there is no cooperation from Liu Guangguo, with an army of less than 20,000 people under Cao Gu's command, to conquer Ezhou City, he not only did not grasp it, but also lost the opportunity to take it by surprise, and may be besieged by the imperial reinforcements that came one after another.

"Fuck it, young marshal, tell the ship's artillery to attack the city!" Tooth general Xu Zhen persuaded loudly.

"Yes, young marshal, don't we know the foundation of this city guard?" The other tooth general Zhang Yuan also said.

"They are all young people who have never been in battle, as long as they get to the city, they only have the ability to cry their father and call their mother." "Young marshal, make up your mind!" "Siege the city!" "When the interruption continues, it will be chaotic!" Several other generals persuaded one after another, the reinforcement army returned thousands of miles to the division, tossed under the city of Ezhou for half the night, the city gates everywhere hit the wall, and were ridiculed by the defenders of the city head and even arrows.

"Slowly, slowly......" Cao Gu sweated slightly on his forehead, "and slowly......"

Cao Di has always regarded himself as a Confucian general, Cao Gu is also quite fatherly, and the father and son also have the same habit, in addition to the civilian staff in the army, they like to be rude and unliterate, and there are brave and unscrupulous generals. Since the return of the Guangzhou Army, with the support of these confidant officers, Cao Gu put the commander Lin Shiyi under house arrest, and detained all the civilian officials and military envoys with half-hearted intentions, however, at this time, Cao Gu found that there were few people around him who could give advice. Frustrated outside the city, he was already a little timid in his heart, none of these teeth generals could be seen, but he had the courage to ask for battle to attack the city gate, even if Cao Gu wanted to think about it in the long run, he couldn't talk about it, he frowned, looked around at the generals, and hesitated.

"Young marshal, the soldiers are fast!"

"Young marshal, please make a decision quickly!"

The urging from the left and right not only did not make Cao Gu make up his mind, but his face became more and more gloomy. When he was hesitating, a small knife boat sailed into the dock in the gap between the warships, and before he could get on the trestle, a scout officer jumped ashore, ran to Cao Gu, and reported breathlessly: "Young marshal, the big thing is not good, the insidious villain of Ezhou has sunk the iron rope in the Han River, and now it has been pulled up." ”

"What iron cable?"

"There is a wire rope in the upper reaches of the Han River, and I have been stationed for a long time, so why don't I know?"

The generals were in an uproar, the reinforcement army was drawn from Xiangyang's elite, now it is the season of the Han River dry, the channel is narrow, the reinforcement army from the upstream down the river to take Ezhou, but if the war is unfavorable to return to Xiangyang, even if there is a suitable wind direction, the boat against the water is also very slow, it is conceivable that if you are not careful, you will be chased by the imperial army Wen Gong. Now the iron cable crosses the river, and it has blocked the retreat of the reinforcement army, just waiting for the imperial court to mobilize the army to come up, but I am afraid that I will be caught in the urn. As soon as the news came, the generals who were still aggressively attacking the Zhuyan Gate just now suddenly looked at each other, and some people's eyes showed a trace of timidity.

"Young marshal, what should I do?" At this time, the beads of sweat on Cao Gu's forehead became even greater.

"What the hell is going on with the Wire? Where did it come from? He snapped.

"This, it seems," said the scout, "it seems that the iron cable used to stop the Liao thieves in the past, although it was burned by the Liao thieves with fire attack ships, but the fort at both ends of the stakes and iron cables are still there, I don't know when, the iron ropes were not only reconnected, but also sunk to the bottom of the river, these sinister fellows," he said indignantly, "when they marched in, they were silent, and only after our warships had passed through, did they pull up the iron ropes at the bottom of the river." Not only that, but soldiers and horses were also stationed in the forts on both sides of the river, and it seemed that there were heavy artillery facing the river. In addition, on the Yuezhou side, there seems to be movement in the Dongting Sailor. ”

"His grandmother's, insidious villain!" Some people cursed, and more generals were silent.

Trap, the thought popped into place. Who is the hunter and who is the prey?

Cao Gu's face turned pale, and he secretly thought, could it be that Deng Su had expected that today, and even if he agreed to lead the reinforcement army by himself, it was all premeditated, which side of the Liu family was on? His mind was like electricity, and many thoughts flashed through him, but none of them could be confirmed, and the confidence that he had been in the city with a large army in his hands suddenly disappeared, and all that was left was panic. Although the Cao family has many generals, but stationed in Luoyang all the year round, is not good at water warfare, although the southward reinforcement army takes a warship, but ninety percent of the army is a cavalry army, most of them are northerners, the river is unimpeded and nothing, now Ezhou has laid down the iron chain of blocking the river in the upper reaches, and the Dongting Sailor can go down the river as long as one day, although they have few boats and few soldiers, but as long as they cooperate with the iron cable and the artillery on the shore to drag Cao Gu, this lone army, the imperial court from all directions to send troops to besiege, only afraid that the reinforcements from the direction of Xiangyang can not wait for the reinforcements to arrive, It's going to be annihilated.

There is a white mist floating on the river, and it is impossible to see clearly from a distance, but in Cao Gu's eyes, there seems to be a lot of danger hidden in the river fog.

Regret gnawed deeply at his heart. "I despise Deng Su too much, this villain who relies on conspiracy to get Chen Dong down, how can he hand over the military power to me with peace of mind, he is not afraid of me stabbing me in the back, he is afraid that I will not stab him! This villain. Cao Gu was silent for a long time, and finally sighed, and said in a deep voice: "When the interruption continues, it will be chaotic, Ezhou City is high and deep, since the treacherous person is prepared, we don't have to force him to come." I will order all the camps to land and return to Xiangyang by land. He gritted his teeth and ordered, while looking at the Ezhou City Tower unwillingly. The generals were worried in their hearts, and no one objected, so after receiving the order, they each called their subordinates, and a battalion of soldiers got off the ship and prepared to withdraw to Xiangyang by land.

The Xiangyang battalion to aid the Guangzhou army came violently, tossed for most of the night, and went away with a disgraced face, and the morale had fallen to the bottom, Cao Gu planned to take advantage of the Ezhou army when it was still on the defensive, and hurriedly retreated to the north, however, not long after the march ashore, there was a large army in front of him to block the way back to the north, and the front looked at the flag, first of all, it was the banner of Yue Yun, one of the commanders of the eight battalions outside Ezhou City, the two armies just contacted, Yue Yun personally rushed into battle with five hundred elite cavalry, and actually broke Cao Gu's front army in one breath, he easily stabilized his position, However, it was found that it was not only a few cavalry blocking the road in front, but an infantry army with banners covering the sky, and the Chinese military played the banner of Wang Gui.

"Ten swings and ten decisions, the thieves have no courage to fight again, and the secretary bravely crowns the three armies, living up to the name of winning officials."

Wang Gui immediately stepped forward with the two armies, and while carefully watching the morale of the Xiangyang army, he said to the side unhurriedly. He squinted his eyes slightly, his gaze was like a knife, and he had the demeanor of a general, without the slightest sense of decadence that had been idle for many years. Beside him, the eight battalions outside Ezhou City were all in command, and in addition to Cao Gu and Liu Guangguo, there were six battalions of commanders who were all in line behind Wang Gui.