More than 5,000 heavy infantry of the Cao army held large shields and short spears, and advanced towards the Xiaopei city wall in a tight formation.

Thousands of archers hid in the middle of the heavy infantry array, one by one, cats on their waists, advancing with the heavy infantry array.

In the array of heavy infantry, every five or six columns of soldiers, there will be several ladders in between.

The Cao army had already launched an attack on the city, and the Xuzhou army at the head of the city also opened their longbows, buckled their feather arrows to the bowstring, and aimed at the Cao army, which was slowly advancing towards the city wall.

Cao's army, which was advancing towards the city wall, was getting closer and closer, and he saw that he was about to approach only fifty or sixty steps away from the city wall.

On the city wall, an officer of the Xuzhou Army raised his arms high, staring at Cao Jun who was advancing towards the Xiaopei City Wall without blinking.

"Shoot the arrows!" When the Cao army advanced to a distance where the bow and arrow could shoot a large area, the officer of the Xuzhou army at the head of the city suddenly pressed his hand to Lu and gave a loud order to release the arrow.

With the officer's order, all the Xuzhou soldiers who had buckled the arrows on the bowstring let go of their hands.

There was a burst of bowstrings, and a puff of arrows flew towards the Cao army approaching the city with a strong wind.

The big shield in Cao Jun's hand was like a solid wall, shielding the Cao soldiers who were hiding behind it from a rain of arrows.

The feather arrows landed on the shield with a crisp crashing sound, and the hard shield blocked the sharp arrows, and as Cao Jun moved forward, countless broken feather arrows were left on the ground.

Although the feathered arrows shot by the Xuzhou army on the city wall did not cause too many casualties to the Cao army hiding behind the big shield, after all, the Cao army was advancing in the rain of arrows, and occasionally one or two arrows would hit the Cao soldiers in the array.

Most of the soldiers of the Cao army who were shot by the arrows fell to the ground with a muffled grunt, and a small number of Cao soldiers with hard teeth were shot by the arrows to the arms or shoulders, and they did not stop, but gritted their teeth and continued to follow the array towards the city wall.

"Shoot the arrows!" Advancing to a place only twenty or thirty steps away from the city wall, a loud roar suddenly came from the Cao army's array.

As soon as this roar fell, the Cao Jun shield array immediately stopped its pace, and the archers who were hiding in the array and advancing with the array stopped at the same time as the column stopped, raised the longbow that had been opened, and fired a puff of feathered arrows towards the city.

The feathered arrows fired by Cao's archers flew towards the city walls in the face of the arrows flying from the city's head.

A few Xuzhou troops hiding behind the battlements were not very lucky, just when they were about to shoot arrows at Cao Jun, they were shot right by arrows flying up from the city, and they fell to the ground.

Compared with the condescending Xuzhou army, the Cao army, which could only rely on the army to block the arrows, suffered much greater casualties.

Earlier they had taken refuge behind large shields, which had shields to shield them from their arrows, and the feathered arrows shot from the city could not do them much damage.

Advancing to the bottom of the city, they had to stand up and spread their longbows in order to be able to shoot arrows up the walls.

In this way, in front of the Xuzhou army at the head of the city, the archers of the Cao army were like a herd of pigs that had been stripped of their skins, and it was much easier to shoot them.

Patches of Cao army archers fell in the rain of arrows fired by the Xuzhou army, but at the same time, the arrows they shot also effectively suppressed the Xuzhou army on the city.

"Siege!" If the two sides maintain this state of firing, although the archers of the Cao army under the city can suppress the Xuzhou army on the city, they will be shot and killed by the Xuzhou army sooner or later.

Just as the feather arrows of the two sides were flying back and forth, a loud roar came from the Cao Jun array.

As soon as the roar passed, the heavy infantry of the Cao army holding the big shield immediately let out a shout, and the formation quickly expanded and scattered, rushing towards the Xiaopei city wall like a tide.

Cao's officers and soldiers carried fifty or sixty ladders, braved the rain of arrows and rushed to the city wall, and when they arrived at the city wall, the soldiers pushed up the ladders and set them up at the head of the city.

As soon as the ladder was erected, a soldier climbed up and climbed the ladder to the wall.

While the Cao army was attacking the city, the Xuzhou army on the city wall also increased the speed of arrow launches.

The soldiers of the Xuzhou army no longer follow the rules and regulations for firing arrows, as long as the arrows are put on the bowstring, they will shoot towards the Cao army under the city.

The Cao army under the city is also firing arrows at the city, and every time more than a dozen Cao army archers fall, there will also be one or two Xuzhou army arrows on the city wall that are releasing arrows.

The siege ladder was erected on the city wall, and the soldiers of the Cao army holding a large shield blocked the shield above their heads and quickly climbed towards the city.

The Xuzhou army on the city wall struggled to push the ladder that had been erected outward.

The siege ladders were pushed away from the city by the Xuzhou army and fell towards the Cao army crowded under the city wall.

Every time a siege ladder falls, another ladder is placed on the wall.

"Throw stones!" The Chao army struggled to climb towards the top of the city, and when they saw that Cao Jun was about to rush up the city wall, Wei Xu, who was in charge of guarding Xiao Pei, shouted.

Many soldiers of the Xuzhou army picked up the big stones that had been prepared for a long time, ran to the battlements, and braved the arrows shot from under the city to smash the stones at the Cao army who was climbing the ladder.

When climbing the ladder, it is very inconvenient to climb with a shield in one hand, and many Cao Jun are holding the ladder with both hands when climbing, and the shield is placed at the side.

Stones fell on the city, and some Cao Jun who reacted quickly avoided it sideways, while more Cao Jun did not react so quickly and were hit by the stones, and their brains suddenly burst and fell down the ladder.

There are also some Cao soldiers who are climbing, in order to block the arrows shot from above, the shield is always on top.

Although they held shields in their hands, the shields also increased the area of force for them.

Dozens of catties of large stones fell from the city, plus gravity is not only hundreds of catties!

smashed on Cao Jun's shield, and those Cao Jun who put the shield on top of their heads only felt that their arms were numb and they were thrown down the ladder by stones.

On the city wall, arrows and stones kept falling, and the archers of the Cao army under the city were also firing arrows at the head of the city, and the Cao army crowded at the foot of the city wall pushed and climbed up the ladder.

"Oil!" The siege momentum of Cao's army became more and more fierce, and Wei Xu on the city wall shouted again.

Before Cao's army launched the siege of the city, a large cauldron was erected on the city wall, and a simple pot stove was built with stones under the cauldron.

The fire in the pot stove was blazing, and the oil burning in the cauldron was already boiling.

As soon as Wei Xu's order was issued, many soldiers of the Xuzhou army immediately ran to the cauldron, wrapped the ears on both sides of the cauldron with sackcloth, and the two soldiers carried a pot to the battlements.

A pot of hot oil poured down the city, and Cao Jun at the foot of the city wall suddenly let out a miserable howl.

Cao Jun, who was doused with hot oil, must have turned over and fell to the ground, even those Cao Jun who were not directly poured by the hot oil, but only splashed with oil, were also screaming miserably to cover the burned parts.

In the Cao army's large array, Xiahou Dun, who was watching the siege from afar, tightly frowned.

Siege warfare has always been a tactic that leading generals are reluctant to choose.

Whenever a city is attacked, the side under the city must have great casualties, and even if the city is breached in the last place, the casualties suffered are difficult for many generals to accept.

But Xiahoudun had no choice at the moment, the army was short of grain and grass, the soldiers were thin, and the Xuchang area could not transport the grain and grass to Xiaopei City without loss.

The army led by him has only one way to live, that is, to break through Xiaopei City, collect grain, grass and winter clothes in the city, and then march to Xuzhou!

At the same time that Cao's army attacked Xiaopei, in Xuzhou City, Lu Bu was also preparing soldiers and horses.

There are only more than 30,000 soldiers in Xuzhou City, and there are many old and weak among them, and the odds of winning against 50,000 elite Cao troops are not very good.

Chen Gong meant to let Xiao Pei hold out for more than ten days and then go to the rescue, when the Cao army besieging the city was exhausted, and once the army in Xuzhou City pounced on the Cao army, it would definitely make the Cao army chaotic.

However, Lu Bu thought that Xiaopei's city was low and difficult to hold on for more than ten days, so he made the decision to lead the soldiers and horses in the city to rescue Xiaopei.

There were 10,000 Xuzhou troops left in the city, led by Chen Gong to guard Xuzhou, and 20,000 soldiers and horses followed Lu Bu out of the city.

Out of Xuzhou, Lu Bu led the army all the way to Xiaopei.

Xiaopei is only a few hours away from Xuzhou, if he rides a horse, although Liu Wei ordered people to send many military horses, it is impossible for Lu Bu to equip the whole army into cavalry.

On the way of the 20,000 army out of the city and marching towards Xiaopei, Lu Bu did not delay even a moment, urging the army to advance quickly all the way.

While Lu Bu led the army to march towards Xiaopei, on the city wall of Xuzhou, Chen Gong looked at the wilderness outside the city, and sighed incessantly.

Since Lu Bu made the decision to rescue Xiao Pei immediately, Chen Gong already knew that Cao Jun had entered Xuzhou, and in the end, Lu Bu was afraid that he would be defeated and killed.

Although he has not had much time to serve Lu Bu, and in front of the world, Lu Bu has always been rumored to be a slave with three surnames.

But in the days when Chen Gong assisted Lu Bu, he clearly felt that Lu Bu was not as discredited as the world rumored.

The decision to rescue Xiao Pei had already been made, Chen Gong was powerless to change anything, the only thing he could do was to grasp the details in the specific battle and try to reverse the consequences of Lu Bu's wrong decision.

After Xiao Pei endured a whole day's siege, there were thousands of corpses of Cao soldiers lying under the city, and dozens of casualties of the Xuzhou army on the city wall.

The battle was fought fiercely, but the soldiers on both sides knew that this was just the beginning.

Dusk is quietly approaching, and the Cao army under the city has given up continuing to attack the city, while the Xuzhou army at the head of the city is constantly moving stones from the city to the city wall.

A large pot filled with hot oil was placed on the simple stove, and the flames jumping in the stove kept **** the bottom of the pot.

Hot oil doesn't steam like hot water, but rather a thin cloud of green smoke lingers over the cauldron.

Holding the battlements with both hands, Wei Xu was looking at the Cao army camp outside the city, and a soldier behind him suddenly shouted: "General, another army is coming outside the city!" ”

Hearing the soldier's shout, Wei Xu hurriedly looked out of the city, and sure enough, he saw that under the reflection of the setting sun, a fluttering battle flag was heading in the direction of Xiaopei City.