After preparing for more than ten days, Yuan Tan finally launched an attack.

At Xin Bi's suggestion, he ignored the fact that the rain was getting more and more and spring ploughing was imminent, and he devised a plan for a protracted war, and decided to follow the plan step by step, patiently fighting with Sun Jian. Sun Jian's position is very strong, Sun Jian's subordinates are very elite, and Sun Jian is also good at using troops, but Sun Jian does not have the support of the Yanzhou family, he does not have enough grain and grass to carry weight, and after a long time, he can only transfer from Yuzhou and Xuzhou, and the longer the time drags on, the more unfavorable it is for Sun Jian.

Yuan Tan arranged for those heroes who came to support him to go into battle first, and instead of them coming into contact with Sun Jian, they carried out earthwork work, filled in the trenches, built cofferdams, and prepared to divert water to pour water into Sun Jian's position. Not to be outdone, Sun Jian sent people to stand on the built high platform to shoot, and sent people out of the camp to assault, destroy the cofferdam built by Yuan Tan, and clean the trench again.

The battle between the two sides is not fierce, and even a little boring, but it hides a strong killing intention. At most, there were only two or three thousand soldiers participating in the battle, but there were many more who were secretly waiting for an opportunity, and no matter which side showed flaws, it could bring heavy casualties.

For Sun Jian, it seems that the battle is not fierce, the two sides only send crossbowmen to shoot at each other, and it is not a dense fire of thousands of people, but the consumption of arrows is still a problem that cannot be ignored. A few thousand arrows a day is a drop in the bucket for Yuan Tan, but for him, it adds up to a lot. Yuan Tan sent his powerful troops and even ordinary people into battle just to consume his arrows. He couldn't sit back and watch Yuan Tan destroy his position, knowing that this was Yuan Tan's trick, he had to accompany him, all he could do was to strictly control the consumption of arrows, send good archers with good archery skills into battle as much as possible, improve the hit rate, and collect the arrows shot by Yuan Tan's army for backup.

Sun Jian is like this, and so is Yuan Tan.

After Li Gan's father and son led their troops to arrive, Yuan Tan's total strength exceeded 70,000. This is the first time that Yuan Tan has commanded such a large number of troops to fight, and the composition of his subordinates is very complicated, not only the county soldiers of the counties of Yanzhou, but also the powerful private soldiers in the vicinity, all want to compete for merit, and they are always calculating the gains and losses, the conflicts in the open and the dark are all the time, and a large part of Yuan Tan's energy is spent on mediating internal relations.

Of course, there is also Sun Ce, who makes it difficult for him to sleep.

Yuan Tan has an absolute advantage in strength, but he himself knows that the comparison of combat power between the two sides is not as great as the comparison of strength, the three thousand cavalry led by Sun Ce may be the strongest force on the current battlefield, once he strikes, it must be a thunderous blow, whether he can turn these advantages into combat power advantages, trap Sun Ce, and finally kill him, he is not sure in his heart.

Not only that, but he also had to leave a flaw and reveal this flaw to Sun Ce in the most natural way, inducing Sun Ce to attack, and creating the possibility of achieving the goal of inflicting heavy damage or even killing Sun Ce.

Yuan Tan felt that he had never done such a complicated thing in his life, and if it wasn't for Xin Bi, he wouldn't dare to think about it.

Even Simbi put a lot of effort into it. He hardly stayed up late for a day, and hardly slept a peaceful night, and the lights in the big tent often stayed up all night, either analyzing the incoming intelligence or assisting Yuan Tan in mediating internal relations.

His face became more and more ugly, and his wounds became more and more painful, often so painful that he was covered in cold sweat.

"George, this may be the hardest fight of our lives." One night, after dealing with a bunch of affairs, Yuan Tan looked at the pale Xin Bi and said faintly: "If we can win this battle, we will not be afraid of any opponent in the future." If this battle ......"

"We will win." Xin Bi interrupted Yuan Tan very stiffly, gritted his teeth, and said word by word: "If you don't win, you will die." ”

Yuan Tan looked at Xin Bi and felt distressed. He knew what Simbi was talking about. If this battle is lost, no matter what he thinks, Simbi will definitely die, and even if he doesn't die, he can no longer help him. He was already desperate, and now all he was holding him was one breath, a belief in killing Sun Ce, defeating Guo Jia, and proving his own worth.

Looking at Xin Bi, a thought suddenly popped up in Yuan Tan's heart. If I don't win, then I will surrender to Sun Ce and take Xinbi to Nanyang. I heard that there are many famous doctors in Nanyang Materia Medica, as well as exotic medicines from the Western Regions, which will definitely cure Xin Bi's injuries. Living in seclusion in Nanyang, sitting and watching the world, and competing for the deer is also a good ending.

——

Sun Ce sat on horseback, looking at the faint firelight on the horizon, and was silent.

There had just been a light rain, and the ground was a little muddy, and the war horse carefully adjusted its posture, and the steps were very small to avoid slipping.

The battle had been going on for seven or eight days, and this was the third time he had appeared near the battlefield. Yuan Tan has a large number of troops, the large battalion stretches for more than ten miles, and the warning range is also very large, and every approach is an adventure. The last time I met the scouts, there was a fight. Despite this, he can only talk about his heart, and he can't see anything. It was too far away, he couldn't see anything at all, and the really useful information still came from the news that Sun Jian took the initiative to send.

Because Sun Ce's whereabouts were uncertain, it was difficult for Sun Jian to find him, so Sun Jian would send the news to Kang's father and Hulu, and Sun Ce would regularly send people there to get the news, and at the same time relay his information to Sun Jian. The news sent by Sun Jian is very simple, and the good news is not reported, which is obviously not the truth. Sun Ce speculated based on the meaning between the lines, coupled with the reasonable calculation of the data, he could vaguely guess the pressure Sun Jian was facing at the moment.

That's a kind of praying mantis facing the pressure of a big car, and a grasshopper facing the pressure of a big tree. The difference in strength between the two sides is so huge, no one will be calm, Sun Jian just pretended to be calm.

"General, let's go, it's too dangerous. It's too late to go back, and they'll be worried about the sacrificial wine. Guo Wu walked over and took Sun Ce's reins.

Sun Ce turned his horse's head and walked into the distance. Guo Yuan, Xie Guanglong and others, who were in charge of vigilance, got out of the grass in the distance, quickly followed the team, got on the horse, rushed behind Sun Ce, and consciously protected Sun Ce's back. They walked forward for more than a mile, met Ma Chao and Yi Congqi, joined forces, and walked forward for another three miles, meeting Guo Jia and Yan Xing.

Guo Jiazheng and Lu Yi play chess. He had been shaking the feather fan, looking relaxed, but the moment he saw Sun Ce, he still exhaled unconsciously.

"General, what's the situation?"

"Everything works." Sun Ce said, his face calm.

"It's still early, and it will be half a month before something happens." Guo Jia slowly shook the feather fan. "No matter who is in an unfamiliar environment, or something has just begun, he will be very careful, and after he gets used to the environment, he will relax and be negligent. And this time is usually about half a month to 20 days. ”

Sun Ce glanced at Guo Jia and nodded.

"It's like playing chess, it's the beginning now, and in two days, it's going to be in the middle game." Guo Jia laughed and pointed to the chessboard with a feather fan. "General, Tai Shici will be the first hand in our middle game, we will use him to tear off a piece of Yuan Tan's meat, Kang's father is still Nan Pingyang, and the general will choose a piece."

Sun Ce met Guo Jia's gaze. Guo Jia's eyes were a little red, but his eyes were still as sharp as knives, and he still showed a bit of indescribable cunning. Sun Ce smiled. "Father Kang, let's try your hand with the road first, and see if Yuan Tan can save it."