However, Li Li can be sure of one thing, that is, Tao Qian, Yuan Shu, and Gongsun Zhan formed an alliance, and they must have often cheated and played tricks, and they did not contribute to their work. Therefore, Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan have fought several battles with the Yuan Cao Alliance, and the soldiers and horses have suffered losses to each other, but Tao Qian's soldiers and horses have not suffered much loss, and Xuzhou has not been greatly impacted.

However, Tao Qian was stealing chickens and rice, and when he saw that the alliance was about to collapse, he wanted to befriend Cao Cao and flatter Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, but he killed Cao Song and attracted Cao Cao's army.

Since November last year, Cao Cao has sent troops to Xuzhou twice, and has captured most of the counties and counties of Xuzhou, so that the rich land of Xuzhou, which Tao Qian has worked hard to manage for many years, has been destroyed, and several counties have been slaughtered by Cao Cao's army.

What a "miserable" word!

"My lord, the last general thinks that what the military advisor said is reasonable." Just when Li Li thought of Tao Qian in Xuzhou, Teng Xiao suddenly said: "At present, our army does not have the conditions to send troops on a large scale, and the prefectures and counties are recuperating and recuperating, and the government treasury has limited money and grain, which is not enough to supply the army to capture the Central Plains. Therefore, the strategy of the military division is very comprehensive, in line with the principle of caution and no big mistakes, General Xu Rong's headquarters and the last general should be on guard here, and the defense lines of Hangu Pass and Tongguan should also be prepared for battle at any time to make sure that the strategy is perfect. ”

"Hehehe!" Li Li smiled happily, and said with his chin bowed: "What Feng Xiao said is actually a strategy for the country, and it should be adopted." However, I still have some doubts, according to Feng Xiao's opinion, when will Yuan Shao choose to use troops against our company? ”

"Huh?" Guo Jia pondered for a moment, and then said with certainty: "In July at the earliest, and in September at the latest, Yuan Shao will definitely unite the princes of the Central Plains to march into the army!" ”

"So it's at least more than three months away." Li Li said thoughtfully.

Then he got up and ordered: "Order the two generals Bocai and Xu Rong to strengthen vigilance and train soldiers from now on." Armament and active preparation for war. Ordered Gao Shun's troops to return to Hangu Pass within a month to trap the camp, and the Wuwei battalion shrank its forces to the territory of Hedong County, ready to fight at any time. The generals listened to the order, Xu Chu, Chen Dao, and He Man were temporarily dispatched by Li Xuan, and Duan Xuan led the personal guards to escort Li Xuan, Yun Luo, Zhen and the Zhen family caravan back to Chang'an, and returned to the Tiger Camp after resting for half a month!

In addition, starting from this month, all counties under the division will pay taxes once a month, and the money and grain of the county government will be temporarily requisitioned. Distribute it to the defenders of Anyi, Xingyang, and Hangu Pass! ”

"No, the last general (subordinate) obeys!" The handsome tent and the civil and military stood up and lined up, and responded respectfully.

"Well, it's over, it's late at night. Go and rest, all of you. Li Li bowed slightly, raised his hand and signaled everyone to disperse.

After everyone left the tent one after another. He walked up to Teng Xiao. He said in a low voice: "Hanoi County doesn't have to worry about it for the time being, let it go, it is not appropriate to persecute it too much at the moment, lest Zhang Yanggou jump over the wall in a hurry and completely throw himself at Yuan Shao." ”

After speaking, Li Li waved his hand to signal that Ma Yunluo and Zhen did not have to wait. Go back first.

Seeing the second daughter leave, Li Li slowly walked to the door of the handsome tent, looking up at the starry sky, as if thinking. Then he turned to Teng Xiao and whispered: "There are many powerful clans in Sili. It is inevitable that there will be some damage in the war, they are all century-old families, different from us ordinary people! However, the soldiers under our account are all ordinary people, and the objects we want to protect are also poor people, but we don't look at whether he is a century-old family. What to do, you can discuss it with Xu Rong, do things cleanly and neatly, and don't leave a handle to avoid being criticized. Okay, it's getting late, you go down and rest. ”

After inexplicably speaking, Li Li strode down the steps and walked straight to the camp behind the tent.

"The hundred-year-old Wang clan is different from our common people?" It wasn't until the figures of Li Li and Li Zhi completely disappeared that Teng Xiao stood at the door of the big tent and muttered to himself, thinking about Li Li's words repeatedly.

After a while, a murderous aura flashed in his eyes, and as he walked down the steps, he said to himself: "Since you are not a person with us, there is no need to save zài、、、、、、"

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Xuzhou, Tancheng.

Sigh!

"Bang bang bang - bang!"

"Ahh

Under the city of Tancheng, the war horses neighed, and tens of thousands of soldiers of the Cao army carried cloud ladders on their shoulders, pushed the city carts, set up well railings, and stormed the city of Tanxian County. On the head of the city, the boulder rolling wood tumbled and fell, the dense arrows whistling and shuttling, flying like rain, one by one trying to climb the head of the city Cao Bing was hit by the horizontal wooden rolling stone, screaming and rolling and falling, after falling to the ground, the blood was splashed, and the broken arm and body of several feet high were piled up under the root of the wall, and the blood flowed like a river.

"Hoohoo-hoo-bang!"

At the same time, the soldiers of the Cao army besieging the city launched a series of catapults, placed oil clay pots, and after igniting, hundreds of catapults were thrown and flew out at the same time, and went straight to the city and galloped away. Suddenly, one by one, the burning clay pots filled with fire oil roared into the sky, and fell unstoppably on the top of the city. With a loud bang, countless pieces of iron flew out of the clay pot, piercing into the bodies of the defenders at a speed that was difficult for the naked eye to see, causing the defenders to scream in pain, and then lose their combat effectiveness, curled up in the corner of the wall and wailed and wiped their tears.

"Kill! Quick, quick, hurry up to the top of the city, capture the big-eared thief alive, and kill the old thief Tao Qian alive! ”

A hundred steps away from the city gate, a sturdy and burly general of the Cao army immediately stabbed his sword, staring angrily at several figures on the city tower who were sweeping the battle and supervising the battle, eager to rush to the city to devour them alive. How could he be like rain of arrows on the head of the city, rolling wood and flying stones, and the slightest carelessness would be shot by the arrows, so he waved his sword to shoot down the arrows, and shouted loudly, inspiring the siege soldiers to attack the city with all their might, and vowed to seize Tancheng.

The fierce and ferocious, cruel and bloody city attack and defense battle in front of him was the battle of Xuzhou led by Cao Cao.

In November last year, Cao Cao avenged his father for the first time and led his troops to attack Xuzhou. After attacking the territory of Xuzhou, Cao's army was unstoppable, attacking the city along the north bank of Surabaya, and captured more than half of the counties of Xuzhou in just two months.

Whenever a city was captured, Cao Cao ordered the whole army to loot money, food and property, slaughter the people of the city, destroy the government and the city, burn and loot the places where Cao's army passed, and the corpses were everywhere, and finally burned to the ground. Until the Cao army ran out of food and grass and had to temporarily retreat, most of the counties and counties of Xuzhou had been burned and looted by the Cao army, and after the Cao army withdrew, only a piece of devastated red land and countless ruins were left.

After the war, only a few people were lucky enough to escape the catastrophe and survived, while most of the people were either killed or forcibly taken back to Yanzhou by Cao's army, and there were only two out of ten people who really escaped the killing.

After three months, Cao Cao's army made a comeback again, and the 100,000 Qingzhou soldiers, known as the elite of a hundred battles, rushed to Xuzhou. At the beginning of the war, less than ten days before and after, Cao's army once again occupied the city that had been captured last year, and continued to attack the city and plunder the land along the previous footprints, and the combat power was still fierce and strong, and it was unstoppable.

Half a month later, Cao Cao's army has attacked the city of Tancheng in Xuzhou Prefecture, and the offensive and defensive battle of Xuzhou has begun, and the defeated Xuzhou Mu Taoqian has no way to retreat, and only by fighting to the death can Tancheng be kept.

If Tancheng falls, then Tao Qian will have gone to the general trend, and he can only retreat to Haixi and flee to other states and counties for refuge.

Therefore, Tancheng is the capital of Xuzhou, which is a big matter and must not be lost. The most important thing is that this is the foundation of Tao Qian's painstaking management for many years, and for a person like him, the Taiping Paradise that he has worked hard for many years has become what it is now, which has made him heartbroken, heartbroken, and remorseful. If Cao Cao still refuses to give up, he can only live and die with Tancheng, and keep the state capital at the expense of dying, otherwise he will not be blind to death.

At the end of last year, Tao Qian asked Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Gongsun Zan of Youzhou for help. Because Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were friends and allies, Yuan Shao refused to send troops to rescue Xuzhou and watched Xuzhou's success or failure. Fortunately, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou and Tao Qian have always been good friends, and at the critical moment, Liu Bei, the plain minister under him, led his troops to help Xuzhou and save Tao Qian from danger. After the war, Cao's army withdrew, but Liu Bei and his 5,000 soldiers and horses never left, and still stayed in Xuzhou to support Tao Qian until now.

Today is the fifth day that Cao Cao personally led his army to attack Tancheng.

Now the moat under the city has long been filled, the originally clear river water has been dyed bright red, and there are endless broken bodies and broken arms floating in the broken canal, as well as countless soaked white flesh and bloody clothes.

After five consecutive days of siege, Cao's army paid a heavy price of 8,000 casualties, while Tao Qian's troops defending the city also suffered huge casualties, and the number of casualties was comparable to Cao's army.

With the advantage of the city, the Xuzhou army under Tao Qian still paid a similar price of casualties as the besieging Cao army. It can be seen that the elite soldiers under Cao Cao's command are good at fighting, and Tao Qian is by no means defeated again and again, and the low combat strength of the Xuzhou army is the key factor in his defeat to Cao Cao.

The reason for this is that it has been six years since Tao Qian brought out the history of Xuzhou Thorn, and the former alliance of princes crusaded against Dong Zhuo, and Tao Qian only provided grain and grass support, and did not send a large army to participate in the war. After that, he appointed Zang Ba to lead the troops to exterminate the remnants of the Yellow Turban in Langya County, and then drove the Xuzhou Yellow Turban thieves to Qingzhou.

In the six years when the situation in the world was the most chaotic and complex and changeable, the Xuzhou army under Tao Qian almost did not participate in any major wars, and six years ago, there was no great chaos in the world, it was only a short-lived Yellow Turban riot in the year of Jiazi, and in addition, there was almost no major war in the six counties of Xuzhou. Except for the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there will be no more wars after a few more falls, because Xuzhou is an important town in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and the border war will not spread to Xuzhou at all.

In this way, the combat strength of the Xuzhou army is self-evident.

has been in the war for a long time, and this sentence is very suitable for Xuzhou soldiers and horses.

There has not been a major war for 100 years, isn't it still a long-lost war?

Perhaps the reason why Cao Cao wanted to capture Xuzhou so resolutely was precisely because he saw the weakness of Xuzhou's soldiers and horses for a long time. In the troubled times, Cao Cao's move was by no means a bully, but a wise and wise man, with a keen eye and an extremely accurate attack.

―――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......