The left and right didn't dare to persuade again, but they heard Zhang Liao shouting loudly: "Someone! Beat the drums! ”

The drums of war sounded again, and the soldiers of the Han army carried the long ladder and rushed to the city of Qixian. Just when everyone's attention was focused on Qi County, a tall figure suddenly appeared in the crowd - Zhang Liao rushed into the team with a big knife in his hand!

Seeing that his main general took the lead, the morale of the Han army, which had been hit by the continuous failure to attack the city, was boosted again, and the shouts were higher than the others, but the generals and colonels in the Han army were sweating for Zhang Liao.

At this time, the defenders at the head of the city also seemed to have discovered this situation, and arrows were fired at Zhang Liao one after another. Zhang Liao's big sword danced wildly, and the feather arrows were dropped one after another, but there was no pause under his feet, and in a blink of an eye, he rushed through the long ladder erected on the moat. Zhang Liao's bravery made the defenders at the head of the city stunned.

In fact, after several hours of fierce fighting, the defenders at the head of the city were also very tired at this time, the archers' arms were numb, and the feathered arrows they shot were also powerless, and they lost their accuracy, which also made Zhang Liao's charge much easier.

Just when the defenders at the head of the city were stunned, two Han soldiers had already erected the long ladder on the city wall. Zhang Liao held the big knife in one hand and the long ladder in the other, and climbed up quickly. When Zhang Liao climbed halfway, the defenders of the city came back to their senses, and someone pushed down a log on the head.

Zhang Liao's climbing speed did not decrease at all, he shouted, the back of the knife was slamming on the wood, and with a muffled sound, the wood flew up in the air, turned over, and landed on the city, and actually knocked down the defenders on the city, and the city and the city shouted in unison.

Taking advantage of this gap, Zhang Liao flew up and down on the city, flying up and down with a knife, and was invincible. Ji Ke guarded the city for a few hours, and he didn't bother to take a sip of water, and he was waiting for the Han army to retreat to be able to breathe a sigh of relief, but he didn't expect a killing god to rush up. Ji Ke pulled out the sword at his waist, but he was only a scribe after all, and that sword was just a decoration, could he still expect it to be able to fight against Zhang Liao?

Seeing that the gap in the city was getting bigger and bigger, Ji Ke understood that the general trend had gone, looked up to the sky and sighed, suddenly put the saber on his neck, and with both hands together, the blood soared, and slowly fell on the city.

To Zhang Liao's surprise, Ji Ke committed suicide, and the defenders did not give up resistance, but became more intense. Zhang Liao slashed and rushed over one after another, and more than a dozen defender soldiers and civilians rushed over, waved his big knife, and shouted violently: "Stop it!" ”

Both sides of the fierce battle were stopped by him. Zhang Liao said in a deep voice: "Ji Ke is dead, those who lay down their weapons will not be killed!" ”

One of the defenders shouted, "No! We want to avenge Lord Ji! ”

Although this Qi county town is strong, it is not as good as the training center on the western outskirts of Xiangyang City, but the Han army attacked so hard. This is the strongest of the several cities that Liu Xin planned to capture, and Zhang Liao did not use some heavy siege equipment to keep the city intact as much as possible, which is of course an important reason. However, the more important reason is that Ji Ke usually wins the hearts of the people, and the soldiers and civilians of Qi County are willing to fight to the death, which Zhang Liao has already seen.

Zhang Liao knew that now was not the time to reason with those defender soldiers and people, so he slammed the big knife in his hand on the ground, turned his head and ordered: "Although each is its own master, Lord Ji's loyalty and courage are admirable!" Come and carry Master Ji down to the city, so that he can restrain himself. In addition, bereavement pensions will be issued to the family members of Lord Ji, no one is allowed to harass, and those who violate the order will not be killed! ”

In this siege battle, the Han army suffered heavy casualties, and the soldiers were resentful, if the defenders did not dare to surrender, they could take the opportunity to kill and avenge the dead comrades. Without the support of the city wall, no matter how fierce these defender soldiers and people are not afraid of death, they are just a group of lambs to be slaughtered in front of the powerful Han army.

Listening to Zhang Liao's words, the soldiers became anxious and discussed.

Zhang Liao's face sank, and he shouted: "Execute the order!" ”

The military order was like a mountain, no matter how unwilling the soldiers were, they didn't dare to say more, and a few people went up to carry Ji Ke's body down. The soldiers and people of the Yuan army who were defending the city saw that the Han army general had a lot of respect for Ji Ke, and the army's heart suddenly collapsed, and they threw away their weapons one after another, prostrate and surrendered, and Qixian Suike.

Zhang Liao didn't want to kill a big fight, but Yuan Jun who was defending the city didn't care, there were still many people here, and these people were Ding Zhuang of this county, if all these people were killed, they would lose the hearts of the people of Qi County. He captured Qi County to use this place as a base to resist the Xianbei cavalry going south, if he lost the support of the people, it would be difficult to defend the city, let alone use it as a base to carry out counterattacks.

After the soldiers and civilians defending the city surrendered, Zhang Liao did not break his promise, pardoned everyone, and those who were willing to stay to fight against the Xianbei cavalry together were incorporated into the Minzhuang team, and those who were unwilling to stay were given travel expenses to be dismissed.

In the past few days, people from the north who have fled from the north have passed by, and the county commander Ji Ke is kind-hearted and promised to let the people here into the city. It's just that these people are worried that Qi County is too close to the Xianbei people's camp, and most of them just stop for a while and continue south. And because of Yuan Shao's orders, Ji Ke did not dare to openly preach against Xianbei, which was the only place that made the soldiers and civilians in the city dissatisfied. Now, the soldiers and civilians in the city found that this new army was genuinely prepared to fight the Xianbei people, and those who were willing to stay and join the Minzhuang accounted for the majority.

Zhang Liao saw that Qi County had been decided, leaving some men and horses to defend the city, and he took 5,000 cavalry overnight to reinforce Daling. Halfway to the road, I saw a long line of torches on the opposite side, and a group of men and horses came towards us, but the leader was Hou Qinu.

It turned out that Ji Ke was loyal to the Yuan family, and after learning that the Han army had attacked and occupied the central capital, he strengthened the city defense and sent Pegasus to the Taiyuan to be anxious, but on the other hand, he notified the neighboring counties to strengthen their vigilance. He didn't know that in the early hours of the morning, Daling had already fallen into the hands of the Han army, and the messenger who delivered the letter was even detained by Han Yong. Later, the men and horses who reinforced Daling from both land and water had arrived, and Hou Qinu discussed with Han Yong to make another contribution, so he divided his troops to 1,500 people to attack Qi County. It is also thanks to Zhang Liao that he has conquered Qi County overnight, otherwise it may be difficult for him to succeed with 1,500 people.

Soon, there was also good news from Gao Shun's side, his men and horses had conquered the Zi clan, and now except for Pingtao County, which is twenty miles southwest of Daling, all the other cities have been taken. In view of the lessons learned from the attack on Qi County, Zhang Liao did not order an immediate attack on Pingtao, but sent several envoys to persuade him to surrender.

At dawn, the Pingtao County Commander came to surrender with a cadre of subordinate officials. And this night, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were not idle, and after discussing all night, the two basically determined the way to defend this area and prevent the Xianbei cavalry from going south.

Liu Xin has always disliked disturbing the people, especially at the critical moment when the autumn harvest is approaching. However, the focus now is on how to build a defensive line, and the people of the nine counties have been mobilized. In fact, even if they didn't disturb the people, when the Xianbei people came over, there would be very little crop left in the field. Although the Xianbei people do not eat grain as a staple food, their war horses will definitely nibble the wheat in the field as pasture. Therefore, the first thing Zhang Liao did was to clear the wilderness.

The fortified Qingye here is not simply to collect the surplus grain in the people's homes, but to move all the people into the nearby county seat, of course, all the grain is also taken away, whether the crops in the field are ripe or not, they are all harvested, and those who have no time to harvest will be burned with fire, in short, they cannot be left to the Xianbei people.

The Han army was short of food, and even if the crops in these counties were not harvested, it would not have much impact. Although the dispatch of troops this time was a bit hasty, Liu Xin had already stored a large amount of grain and grass in Hedong County, and now, these grains and grasses are being transported in a steady stream, and the line of Yong'an, Mianshangju and then Jiexiu has become a huge supply base. Not only grain and grass, but also various equipment to defend the city, as well as a large number of war horses.

While sending people to persuade the people in the countryside to take refuge in the city, the Han army was also nervously carrying out various preparations before the battle. The cities of the counties had to be repaired and fortified, and many pits and ditches were dug in the outskirts and in the fields, and many hidden obstacles were erected, all of which were effective means of blocking the cavalry charge.

Zhang Liao's preparation for racing against time is very necessary, Taiyuan's Bingzhou Assassin Shi ** should have gotten the news at this time, maybe Yuan Shao of Yecheng has also known the situation here. Yuan Shao's army and Xianbei cavalry will soon appear here, and he must make all preparations before the enemy arrives, otherwise it will not only be the 70,000 soldiers of the Fourth Legion led by him who will face difficulties, but also countless local people.

Yuan Shao of Yecheng really got the news that the Han army was attacking Taiyuan County, but Yuan Shao was not in a hurry. The Xianbei army outside Taiyuan has reached the size of 210,000 people, and there are still a variety of Xianbei cavalry marching south through Yanmen every day. With such a strong force as the support, it was not easy for the Han army to continue to go north to conquer Taiyuan.

In Yuan Shao's view, the reason why the Han army suddenly launched this war was because they learned the news that the Xianbei cavalry was about to go south and wanted to strike first. And the Han army was able to conquer nine cities in a row in two or three days, indicating that Liu Xin had dispatched the main force. Although the Xianbei people have been holding their ground, Liu Xin was still successfully attracted by them, which is the effect that Yuan Shao wanted.

What Yuan Shao hopes most now is for the Han army to continue to move north, and start a big battle with the Xianbei people near Taiyuan, killing both sides. If this big war happens, the talented people of Taiyuan will definitely suffer great damage, but Yuan Shao thinks that he is a person who does great things, so how can the safety of these small people be in his heart?

In the Xianbei tent outside Taiyuan City, the leader met with Yuan Shao's envoy again. This time, Yuan Shao's envoy did not urge them to go south immediately, but hoped that they would set up a position south of Taiyuan to assist ** in preventing the Han army from moving north.

The leader came this time to establish his prestige in the clan, and he didn't want his army of more than 200,000 to become the shield of Taiyuan City. After listening to the words of Yuan Shao's envoy, Kuitou sneered: "We Xianbei men are all heroes who stand up to the sky, how can we be a turtle with a shrunken head like you Han people!" Passing my order, the army immediately went south, recovering the lost territory for General Yuan, and on the day of breaking the city, the army was in charge for three days! ”