Yuan Shao asked people to take the letter sent by Mao Jue, and after opening it, he hurriedly looked at it, raised his eyebrows slightly, and then when he raised his head, he inadvertently glanced at the matching.

The judge immediately understood what Yuan Shao meant, and immediately said to Mao Jue: "Mr. Mao came from afar, and he has worked hard all the way, shall I take Mr. Mao to rest first?" ”

When Mao Jue heard this, he immediately understood the meaning of Yuan Shao and the trial. Although he was in a hurry, when he got here, he still had to ask Yuan Shao whether he could send troops or not, and he always had to let them discuss it.

So, Mao Jue respectfully bowed his hand to the trial and said, "There is Mr. Labor Trial." ”

Then, Mao Jue said to Yuan Shao: "General Yuan, this matter is very important, whether the general can send troops to rescue him is directly related to the survival of my lord, I hope General Yuan can consider it carefully!" ”

After speaking, Mao Jue followed the judge out of the hall, and the judge took Mao Jie to the guest room to rest, and arranged for someone to serve tea and dinner, and after settling everything, the judge returned to the hall.

Today's hall is already full of people, including Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Xiao Ji, Xun Chen, and Xin Ping, all of whom are here, and they are circulating Cao Cao's letters.

You don't need to look at Cao Cao's letter, just from what Mao Jue said to Yuan Shao just now, it is not difficult to guess that Mao Jue's trip and Cao Cao's letter are all indicating a message, that is, he came to ask for help!

As soon as he entered the hall, he asked: "Lord, in the past, Cao Cao's letters to the lord were delivered by scouts, but this time he asked his subordinates to personally deliver them, which shows the urgency of the matter." Cao Cao was alone in Puyang, and now he was besieged by Zhang Yan, and if our army did not come to the rescue, Cao Cao could be destroyed by Zhang Yan at any time. The lips and teeth are cold, and it will be very disadvantageous to our army at that time. I thought that the lord should quickly send an elite army to Puyang to help Cao Cao tide over this difficult time. ”

As soon as the words fell, Yuan Shao had not yet spoken, and he listened to Xin's comment: "Cao Cao is quite eloquent, and has always refused to live under the lord, the lord is generous, does not care so much, three or four times to aid Cao Cao, first sent troops to help, and then aided in money and food, then Cao Cao is not under the lord's account, what is the purpose of our army's assistance?" What's more, now that Zang Hong is rebelling, Gongsun Zhan is leading the crowd south, and Jizhou is fighting one after another, how can there be more soldiers and horses to come to the rescue? Even if you save Cao Cao for a while, you can't save Cao Cao I, and for a person who has nothing to do with our army, is it worth it to lose your troops and generals? ”

Guo Tu hurriedly echoed: "Lord Qiqi, I think what Zhongzhi said is reasonable, now Jizhou is in an eventful autumn, the south must quell Zang Hong's rebellion, the north must resist Gongsun Zhan's south, and the west must prevent the Black Mountain thief Zhang Yan and others, every soldier and pawn are used on the blade, and there are really no remaining soldiers available." Moreover, going to rescue Cao Cao is not beneficial to our army, so why lose our troops? ”

"Don't you know the truth of cold lips and teeth?" When the judge heard the blatant opposition of Xin Ping and Xiao Ji, he immediately retorted.

"Judge, in front of the lord, how can you be so presumptuous? Our army takes the Yellow River as a natural danger, as long as we guard this natural danger, we can resist all threats from the south, Cao Cao's survival is no longer relevant to our army, where does the lips come from and the teeth are cold? Guo Tu retorted.

The trial was lonely, so he glanced at Xiao Ji, who understood and was about to speak, but heard Yuan Shao say: "Okay, okay, don't quarrel, now our army is in an eventful season, and there are really no soldiers to send." However, Cao Mengde is my old friend, and I can't see death without saving ......"

When he said this, he turned his head to look at Tian Feng and asked, "Sir, does he have a good solution to these two dilemmas?" ”

Tian Feng thought for a moment, and then said: "The lord can write a reply letter to Cao Cao to tell Cao Cao the current situation of our army, but at the same time inform Cao Cao that if Cao Cao cannot hold Puyang, let him lead his army to the north, and our army will meet him on the north bank." As long as Cao Cao arrives in Hebei, even if he no longer wants to live under the lord, he can't help it. At that time, Cao Cao will naturally become the general of the lord, and he can also be used by the lord. In this way, the lord does not have to offend Cao Cao, but also allows Cao Cao to inherit the friendship of the lord, which is a plan to kill two birds with one stone. ”

The judge sneered and said, "Although Tian Bei's strategy is good, but Cao Cao is not a fool, how can you not see what is hidden behind this?" What if he doesn't want to come? ”

"If Cao Cao is willing to lead the crowd to attach, he can use it for the lord, if Cao Cao is not willing to cross north, then what awaits him can only be destruction." Tian Feng said.

Yuan Shao said: "Just do it!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Yuan Shao wrote a letter in his own hand, and then asked the judge to take it and ask him to hand it over to Mao Jue, who would bring it back to Puyang, but he was unwilling to zaijian Mao Jue, but was ready to deploy how to resist Gongsun Zhan.

The judge took Yuan Shao's letter and handed the letter to Mao Jue, who asked Yuan Shao if he was willing to send troops, and the judge sighed lightly, and then told Mao Jue about the difficulties encountered in Jizhou.

After hearing this, Mao Jue's brows furrowed, knowing that Yuan Shao had no intention of sending troops to help, he bid farewell to the trial and immediately rushed back to Puyang.

Mao Jue rode on a fast horse, galloped, walked more smoothly during the day, and arrived at Liyang in the evening of the same day, the general stationed in Liyang was Han Meng, Han Meng sent a boat to ferry Mao Jue to the other side.

On the other side is the white horse, it happened that Mi Fang arrived here with the crowd yesterday, responsible for defending the ferry, saw a leaf boat coming from the north bank, immediately led people to ambush on the river bank, and when the ferry docked, they swarmed up, and directly caught Mao Jue and the ferry.

Mi Fang searched out a letter from Mao Jue's body again, and after opening it, she glanced at it hurriedly, and her face was suddenly overjoyed.

So, Mi Fang sent someone to escort Mao Jue, along with the letter, to Xiancheng.

Zhang Yan's troops were in Xiancheng, resting for a whole day and night, and got some news about the north bank of the Yellow River from the scouts, knowing that Zang Hong occupied Dongwuyang to rebel and was fighting fiercely with Yuan Shao's army, and Cao Cao was shrinking his forces and actively preparing for war, wanting to start a fierce battle with Zhang Yan's army in Puyang City.

During the day, Bao Shao brought grain and grass, as well as weapons and siege equipment from Changyi, and Zhang Yan also launched an attack on Puyang in Jihua, but he was worried that Yuan Shao of Jizhou would send troops to help, so he did not give a battle order for a long time.

That night, Mao Jue was sent to Xiancheng by the soldiers, and brought to Zhang Yan along with the letters.

Zhang Yan first looked at the letter, and when he saw that the signature was Yuan Shao, he hahadaxiao and said happily: "God really helps me!" ”

Zhang Yan glanced at Mao Jue, who was tied up with five flowers, and saw that although Mao Jue was dusty and tired, he had clear eyebrows, so he asked, "What's your name?" ”

"The eldest husband will not change his name, and he will not change his surname, Mao Jue is also!" Mao Jue replied loudly.

Zhang Yan knew that Mao Jue was also a famous courtier of Cao Wei, so he asked: "Now that Cao Cao is about to perish, I think you are also a talent, why don't you abandon the darkness and surrender to me?" ”

Mao Jue snorted coldly and glanced at Zhang Yan, and there was even a contempt in his eyes.

Zhang Yan didn't have time to waste words with Mao Jue, so he immediately asked Mao Jue to be temporarily imprisoned, and after defeating Cao Cao, he would come back to ask.

After Mao Jue was escorted away, Zhang Yan immediately summoned the civil and military generals and discussed in the hall how to attack the city tomorrow.

As soon as they heard the news of the siege, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, Wei Xu, Cao Xing and others were excited, and in the hall, Zhang Yan personally asked Gao Shun about the situation in Puyang City.

Gao Shun knew Puyang City well, and told the situation inside and outside Puyang City in 1510.

Zhang Yan then made a model of Puyang City out of sand, put it on a table, let all the generals gather around, and then used stones as an army.

Puyang City is a big city, not only the inner city and the outer city, but also the urn city. There were four gates, and there was a moat at the gates. Now that the moat has dried up, and the last time Lu Bu led the army to attack Puyang, Chen Gong asked the soldiers to carry soil to fill in several sections of the moat, so it is not difficult to cross the moat, the difficulty is how to break through the city gate, and how to break through the urn city.

As long as you break through the city gate and break through the urn city, you can enter the outer city, and once you enter the outer city, it can basically indicate that Puyang City has been captured.

Today, Zhang Yan has more than 26,000 people, minus the 2,000 soldiers brought by Mi Fang to Baima, there are still more than 24,000 people in Xiancheng.

According to unreliable information, Cao Cao had about 7,000 people, that is, Cao Cao's soldiers and horses were only one-third of Zhang Yan's.

In the art of war, when you are ten times the enemy, you can attack when you are surrounded and annihilated, when you are five times the enemy, and when you are twice as strong as the enemy, you must try to defeat the enemy.

In other words, with Zhang Yan's current strength, he does not have the advantage of encircling and annihilating Cao's army. Moreover, this time it is still a siege battle, to a certain extent, the Cao army has a place to defend, and can use the female wall as a cover, and on the contrary, the besieging side will suffer a lot, they are completely exposed to the defenders' goals, without any cover, and they have to desperately Xiangshang climb.

Therefore, in ancient times, siege warfare was often a war that could create miracles, there were thousands of people in the city, if the defending side knew how to use troops, even in the face of 100,000 troops, it could hold out for ten days and half a month.

And it just so happens that Cao Cao in Puyang City is a person who knows how to use troops very well, which undoubtedly adds difficulty to this siege battle.

For this reason, Zhang Yan was also prepared early, so he was willing to wait here for a day, and he was willing to wait for Bao Shao to transport the siege equipment before he was willing to attack Puyang.

In addition, in order to siege the city, Zhang Yan also made a secret weapon, ready to be put into tomorrow's siege battle.

Zhang Yan and the others discussed late in the hall, and Zhang Yan gave a clear division of labor, so that the generals were dismissed, so that they could recuperate and prepare to conquer Puyang City in one fell swoop tomorrow and completely eliminate Cao Cao......