"Where is the hussar general, Yuan Shao is here, please show up!"

This was Yuan Shao's third shout, but the hundreds of defenders on the city did not move and turned a deaf ear.

This scene made Yuan Shao feel embarrassed, and the anger that had just dissipated appeared on his cheeks again, his brows were furrowed, his eyes were round and angry, and his eyes were full of anger, as if he was furious.

Annoyed and angry, Yuan Shao brazenly pulled out his sword and shouted: "All the soldiers listen to the order and attack the 、、、、、、."

"Wait!" Just as Yuan Shao was ordering the "siege of the city", Cao Cao suddenly interjected to stop it, and reached out to press Yuan Shao's right arm, which was about to be raised.

Immediately, without waiting for Yuan Shao to ask, Cao Cao hurriedly said: "The alliance leader is angry, there is no need to rush to order the siege of the city, the situation seems to be a little wrong!" ”

"Oh?" Yuan Shao's angry face changed slightly, turned his head to look at Cao Cao, and said in a deep voice: "What's wrong, Meng De just say it!" ”

Cao Cao nodded slightly, looked up at the South Gate Tower two hundred steps away, and said suspiciously: "It is the late autumn season, the days are short and the nights are long, and the house needs to be lit in the evening." But there is not a trace of fire on the tower in front of him, there are no torches at the head of the city, and there are no oil lamps in the tower, so there must be something strange about such an abnormal phenomenon! ”

"Huh?" Yuan Shao was stunned when he heard this, and after carefully watching, it was indeed as Cao Cao said.

The sky was gray, but the city was silent, neither fire nor sound, as if the whole city was a dead city, silent and frighteningly quiet.

After staring at it with wide eyes for a long time, Yuan Shao asked softly: "In Meng De's opinion, what if we don't attack the city?" ”

"Brother Ben, don't worry." Cao Cao stared at the city and muttered: "In another half an hour, the sky will be completely dark, and if there is still no movement on the city, we will storm the city and fight a battle." If the defenders light the torches. It shows that they have been prepared for a long time, and deliberately lead us to attack quickly, and in order to prevent accidents, our army will temporarily set up camp and wait for tomorrow to fight again. ”

"Half an hour? Meng De is too careful 、、、 this, right? Yuan Shao frowned, hesitating, willing to reject Cao Cao's words but worried about fraud. Then he hesitated: "According to the scout's report, there are only 30,000 people in Dongyuan City, and the city was not strong before, no more than two zhang high and no more than one zhang thick. The reason why it is now as high as three zhang and two zhang thick is that it was built by the Xiliang Army in recent months, and it is actually not solid. What's more, our allied army has more than 400,000 soldiers and horses, and even one person can spit on this small city. Therefore, half an hour is enough for us to take the city. Why wait until dark? ”

Cao Cao was slightly stunned when he heard this, and he was faintly moved. But look at the defenders on the head of the city without moving. He also felt very strange and should not be moved.

"Brother Benchu will listen to me for the time being, just in case, the army should be patient for the time being. It's only been half an hour, and in the blink of an eye, our allied forces have been marching for half a month. Can't you even bear this little bit of time? Cao Cao said stubbornly.

Yuan Shaozhi felt that it made sense, and said lightly: "Okay, according to what Meng De said, wait for another half an hour!" ”

Le Ma stopped behind Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Zhang Yan, Zhang Yang, Zhang Miao, and Sun Ce, who was wounded. Hearing the conversation between the two of them clearly, although he felt that Cao Cao was a little too cautious, he felt that it would not matter if he waited for another half an hour.

So none of the five of them interjected, and looked east and west without hurry, and swept over Sun Ce's face intentionally or unintentionally. Because four days ago was the current time, Sun Ce led 50,000 troops to attack Dongyuan City, and as a result, more than 30,000 Baibo troops were wiped out, but Sun Ce's headquarters did not lose a single soldier. Such a strange thing can't help but make Lu Bu, Zhang Yan and others suspect that there must be something wrong with it. However, Zu Mao died in front of the battle, which was also a big loss for Sun Ce, so the princes from all walks of life did not hold Sun Ce responsible for the defeat.

While the princes of the Seven Roads were waiting thoughtfully, time passed quickly, the sky gradually darkened, and the night slowly fell, and darkness enveloped the land.

"Not good!" It was dark in less than half an hour, and then Cao Cao suddenly shouted, stretched out his hand and pointed at the armor standing at the head of the city, and said angrily: "I'm waiting for the plan!" These armor soldiers are not real people at all, but straw men, the Xiliang army has long since evacuated the city, this is an empty city! ”

"Ahh The princes of the Six Routes, led by Yuan Shao, exclaimed in unison, their faces were full of astonishment, and their eyes were full of disbelief.

Yuan Shao was the first to wake up and ask urgently, "How can you see it?" Four days ago, the Xiliang Army was still here to annihilate the Baibo Army, how could they flee without a fight today? ”

Cao Cao shook his head in annoyance, and replied, "This time and that time." As far as the city in front of him is concerned, there are at most 40,000 garrisons, otherwise it is useless even if there are more soldiers and horses in the city, and the city is too small to accommodate 50,000 soldiers and horses. However, even if there are 50,000 Xiliang troops in the city to defend the city, they will definitely not be able to resist the strong attack of more than 400,000 troops such as us, and they will still not be able to defend the city. In this case, why should the Xiliang army defend it anymore, just give up the city and evacuate, there is no need to stay here to increase casualties.

In contrast, the situation four days ago is very different from now. At that time, General Sun Ce had less than 50,000 horses under his command, and the defenders in the city numbered more than 30,000 people, and there were 20,000 war horsemen. In this way, the combat power of the Xiliang Army does not seem to be inferior to our army, and even above our army, so they naturally will not let go of the opportunity to completely annihilate the White Polish Army. As for General Sun Ce's troops, they were very lucky to escape, otherwise, even if the strong combat power of the Xiliang War Cavalry could not completely annihilate our 50,000 former troops, they would still be able to kill our army in a big defeat, and the loss of men and horses would even far exceed 30,000. ”

"I see." Sun Ce said angrily with a face full of resentment: "Thief Li is really sinister and cunning, he will run away after taking advantage, it is really hateful!" ”

Yuan Shao was also angry at this time, looking at Cao Cao with a reproachful look in his eyes, and then said in a loud voice: "Meng De, then what do you say now?" ”

Noticing Yuan Shao's complaining eyes, Cao Cao Quan didn't see it, and then said: "Camp on the spot, the army will be stationed outside the city tonight, the city is too small, and it can't accommodate more than 400,000 troops such as us." But the city still has to be taken, by the way look at the situation in the city, if my expectation is correct, there is no one in the city at this time, there is no one! ”

Cao Cao's voice fell, and Han De, who was standing behind Yuan Shao, retorted with an indignant expression: "General Cao's words are too sensational!" At noon, I led the army to fight the defenders for nearly an hour, and then I didn't see anyone out of the city, but General Cao said that it was an empty city. Could it be that tens of thousands of Xiliang troops and tens of thousands of people in the city have put on their wings and flown out of the city? Otherwise, I have besieged the city, and how can they escape? ”

Seeing that Han De dared to speak to himself like this, Cao Cao's face instantly became gloomy, and he said in a deep voice: "Since General Han questioned Cao's judgment, then let me ask you, did you have firmly besieged the city when the battle was fought at noon?" ”

"Ugh! This 、、、 only surrounded the east gate, the south gate and the north gate, and the west gate led directly to Anyi, and at that time, thousands of Xiliang warriors went out of the city from the west gate to fight, so the west gate was not trapped. Han De was stunned. Tell the truth.

Cao Cao bowed slightly, and said coldly: "That's it." The west gate leads directly to the county seat of Anyi, and it is also the only way for the defenders in the city to withdraw to Anyi, so they will naturally not let you block the west gate. After you ordered the siege to stop, the defenders of the city quickly withdrew from the west gate. And you don't know it, and you're still standing outside the south gate. If General Han still doesn't believe it. Then please lead your troops into the city now. Let's see if there's anyone else in the city! ”

"Okay, I was just going to go into the city myself to see if that's what you said!" After speaking, Han De turned his head to look at Yuan Shao, hoping to get Yuan Shao's approval.

"Go ahead, be careful, search carefully. Don't fall for the tricks of the Li thief again! Yuan Shao ordered.

"No, please rest assured, the last general will definitely be trusted!" Han De received the order, and with a wave of his hand, he took his nephew Han Meng and thousands of soldiers and went straight to the city gate.

Immediately, the army set up camp according to the location of the previous camp. For a while, there was a lot of hustle and bustle outside Dongyuan City, and the birds and beasts within a radius of dozens of miles screamed in shock.

After another half an hour, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Lu Bu rode their horses into the city and went straight to the city guard.

After they entered the main hall and sat down, they found that Yuan Shao, who was sitting on the main seat on the steps, suddenly changed his expression for some reason, his eyes were round, his cheeks were red, and his snort was as heavy as a cow.

Just when everyone in the hall looked at Yuan Shao who was huffing in anger, they saw him suddenly grab something from the desk, throw it out hard, and shout angrily: "Ah! How can this be reasonable, Li Thief deceived me too much! ”

"Whoa!" As the thing thrown out by Yuan Shao in anger flew into the air, everyone in the hall saw clearly that the thing that made Yuan Shao angry like this turned out to be a roll of bamboo slips.

At this time, Zhang Yang was the first to get up and run over to pick up the bamboo slips, and said: "The Lord of the Yuan League is here, and the general is very honored, so I will lend you the Limu throne for the time being, and I hope that the Lord of the Yuan League will thank you with the throne of the Alliance Leader in the future." There is still a pot of hot tea on the stove in the side hall, if you enter the city when it is dark and drink it, it is not a respect, you try it. As the saying goes, come and don't be rude, in the future, the general will visit one by one, personally come to the door to disturb, and hope that you will make hot tea in advance, otherwise the general will be very unhappy, and the consequences will be very strict. Cut, be cautious, Li Wenchang! ”

When Zhang Yang finished reading, he suddenly saw that everyone in the hall looked sluggish, as if they had seen a ghost, and their faces were full of horror.

After half a ring, Cao Cao gently got up and walked into the side hall, and soon he held a tray with a steaming teapot and seven tea cups on it, and a fragrant fragrance that everyone had never smelled wafted into the lobby with the heat, filling the entire lobby in an instant.

At this time, Cao Ren hurriedly stepped forward to take the tray, but Cao Cao waved his hand to stop him, so that Cao Ren retreated to the side.

Immediately, Cao Cao poured seven cups of hot tea with his own hands, waved his hand and motioned to his soldiers to hand the teacup to the princes from all walks of life, and then he said calmly: "Come, you all taste the fragrant tea that Li Wenchang gave us, and see if the taste is the same as the fragrant tea in your house, so as not to be found by him in the future, and I can't bring good tea to entertain him!" ”

"Wait!" Yuan Shao hurriedly stopped Cao Cao, and said in a deep voice: "I can't drink it, if Li Thief poisons the tea cup, won't we be poisoned by him?" ”

Cao Cao smiled when he heard this: "The alliance leader is too worried. I have tried it with a silver hairpin just now, and the tea is non-toxic, but it doesn't hurt to drink it! ”

After speaking, Cao Cao picked up the teacup and blew lightly, and drank it all, while no one else in the hall dared to drink it.

―――――――――― (To be continued......)