Xiaoqi

Li Li nodded slightly, waved his hand and said: "It's too early to say at this time, and we will see the outcome in the future. Let's go, I will invite Feng Xiao to have breakfast together today. Then we will return to Anyi together."

After finishing speaking, Li Li turned and left the gate tower and walked towards the city guard's mansion. Guo Jia followed and said as he walked, "I don't know anything about my minister. Please make it clear, my lord. The leaders of Baibo, Han Xian and Yang Feng, are both cunning My lord, why didn't my lord behead them and show them to the public, but instead accepted their begging and bestowed him with the position of General Zhonglang? These days, the generals in the army have been talking about it, and they are quite upset about this, but they dare not disobey the lord's golden words."

Li Li stopped slowly when he heard the words, turned to look at Guo Jia, and said softly with a calm expression: "It is not a pity for Han Xian and Yang Feng to die, but now is not the best time to kill them. After all, there are still 2 prisoners in the camp. Many Baibo surrendered soldiers. Once I behead Han and Yang, these surrendered soldiers must be sad for rabbits and foxes. I am worried that I will kill them together; What's the use?"

"I understand." Guo Jia said happily: "My lord means to save the lives of Han Xian and Yang Feng and give them official positions. In fact, it is not because of their talents, but to establish The benchmark, let many Baibo soldiers see the hope of survival, and quickly win people's hearts. However,,,"

Guo Jia hesitated to speak, and then said frankly under Li Li's gaze: "However, forgive me, Han Xian and Yang Feng are both snobs, greedy and cunning. Even if the lord favors them, I am afraid that these two people will not be grateful, let alone serve loyally; once they encounter something profitable, they will definitely surrender and rebel. Therefore, I think the lord gave them the position of Zhonglang and General is really too flattering to them And it is extremely inappropriate to send them to the Chang'an County Army. I am worried that these two people are not law-abiding people after all, and they will definitely make trouble in Chang'an. If so, troubles will happen!"

Li Li smiled slightly, and said in a low voice: "Feng Xiao once said that the conferment of Sun Ce was tantamount to breeding tigers, and now he is worried that Han Xian and Yang Feng have two ambitions, and troubles will happen in the future. From this point of view, is Feng Xiao right?" Do you think my rewards to Han and Yang are also raising tigers?"

"This,,, I don't dare!" Guo Jia's expression changed drastically when he heard the words, and he hastily bowed to salute, pleading guilty: "I shouldn't speak rashly of the lord's decision, it's a failure of my duty, my lord, please punish me!"

"Hehehe! Fengxiao doesn't have to be like this, I don't mean to blame you." Li Li stretched out his hand to support Guo Jia, and said with a smile: "Perhaps Fengxiao doesn't know yet, I like to discuss things with you the most, because you have a free and easy personality Straightforward, dare to speak out. So, from now on, you don't have to be restrained, just say what you want to say, I, Li Li, have my words first, and I will never punish you for this!"

"Ugh! I'm terrified, thank you, my lord, for your generosity." Guo Jia said in a respectful voice with a look of astonishment.

Li Li shook his head with a smile, and said: "It seems that if I don't tell you the truth, you may find it difficult to let go. Anyway, since you want to know the reason, I will tell you. The arrangement for Han Xian and Yang Feng is exactly as you said Say, I’m feeding tigers!”

"Ah! What, why?" Guo Jia exclaimed in shock.

Li Li turned his head to look around, and then pretended to be mysterious and whispered: "You know from Fengxiao, anyone who dares to raise a tiger is usually not afraid of tigers. Subdue it, even get rid of it. In addition, every person who raises a tiger must have a purpose, otherwise who would feed the tiger for no reason? Hahaha!"

After speaking, Li Li turned around and left, laughing heartily as he walked, seeming to be in a good mood.

"Would it be possible to subdue a tiger by raising a tiger? It seems reasonable?" Guo Jia pondered, then looked at Li Li's tall and straight back, and said to himself: "My lord is becoming more and more unpredictable, it seems that everything is under control. But this is better, only such a hero is worthy of my Guo Fengxiao's swearing to follow!"

After speaking, Guo Jia hurried to catch up, and followed Li Li's pace to the city guard's mansion.

blah blah blah!

"Boom!"

The sound of huge and rumbling horseshoes came overwhelmingly, shaking the earth and shaking the mountains, and the entire Dongyuan City seemed to be shaken slightly.

At this moment, the sun was setting and it was evening. The entire Dongyuan City was surrounded by [-] troops led by Han De and Han Meng's uncle and nephew as early as noon. At this time, Yuan Shao led hundreds of thousands of troops to the city.Immediately, the barren hills outside the city, which was originally very spacious, suddenly became overcrowded, with a sea of ​​people, voices of people, horse neighing resounding into the sky, and the entire area of ​​tens of miles was shrouded in noise.

"Drive da da da!" Seeing Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and various princes rushing to the south gate, Han De and Han Meng rushed to meet them.

"The last general pays his respects to the lord!"

"Well, that's all, let's get up." After reining in his horse and stopping, Yuan Shao waved his hands to signal Han De and Han Meng to get up, and then looked up at Dongyuan City, where the gates were closed.

Immediately, Yuan Shao frowned slightly, looked at Han De with displeasure, and said in a deep voice: "What's going on? There are [-] troops in the whole afternoon. Could it be that you can't even take down this tiny city?"

"This,,, my lord, calm down." Under Yuan Shao's angry reprimand, the veteran Han De's burly body with a height of eight feet and seven inches instantly became rickety, and he hurriedly confessed his crime, and then said respectfully: "My lord, let me tell you, it will be noon." He led the army to the city and attacked the city immediately. However, there were many defenders on the top of the city, at least [-] defenders, and a large amount of defensive objects such as rolling logs, stones and fire oil were prepared, so that our army attacked the city For half an hour, he still didn't set foot on the top of the city. In order to avoid too many casualties, and fearing that there might be an ambush in the city, the last general immediately ordered the army to temporarily stop attacking the city, and wait for the arrival of the lord before making a decision. The last general failed to break through the city , the guilt cannot be escaped, my lord, please punish me!"

"Humph!" After a cold snort, Yuan Shao's anger softened slightly, and he waved his hand to signal Han De to step aside, and immediately rode forward, shouting sharply: "Where is General Hussars, Yuan Shao is here, please show up and tell me!"

Chapter 640

"Where is General Hussars, Yuan Shao is here, please show up and tell me!"

This was the third time Yuan Shao shouted, but the hundreds of guards on the top of the city did not move at all, turning a deaf ear to them.

This scene made Yuan Shao suddenly feel ashamed, the anger that had just dissipated reappeared on his cheeks again, his brows were tightly wrinkled, his eyes were round and round, and the sockets of his eyes were full of anger, as if he was out of control.

Furious, Yuan Shao pulled out his sword brazenly, and shouted sharply: "All officers and men obey orders, attack..."

"Wait a minute!" Just as Yuan Shao gave the order to "siege the city", Cao Cao suddenly interjected to stop it, and stretched out his hand to press Yuan Shao's right arm that was about to be raised.

Immediately without waiting for Yuan Shao to ask, Cao Cao hurriedly said: "Leader calm down, don't rush to order the siege, the situation seems to be a bit wrong!"

"Oh?" Yuan Shao's anger changed slightly, he turned his head to look at Cao Cao, and said in a deep voice, "What's wrong, Meng De just tell me!"

Cao Cao nodded slightly, looked up at the South Gate Tower two hundred paces away, and said doubtfully, "It's late autumn now, the days are short and the nights are long, and we need to light lamps in the house at dusk. But there is no fire on the tower in front of me. There are no torches on the head, and there are no oil lamps in the tower, so there must be something strange about such an abnormal appearance!"

"Huh?" Yuan Shao was stunned when he heard the words, and after careful observation, it was exactly as Cao Cao said.

The sky was already dark, but there was silence on the top of the city, neither fire nor sound, as if the whole city was a dead city, silent and frighteningly quiet.

After staring at it for a while, Yuan Shao asked softly, "In Meng De's view, what should we do if we don't attack the city?"

"Brother Benchu, don't worry." Cao Cao looked at the top of the city intently, and said in a deep voice, "The sky will be completely dark in half an hour. If there is still no movement on the top of the city by then, I will attack the city by force, and we will be defeated in a single battle." If the defenders light the torches, it means that they have been prepared and deliberately led us to attack quickly. In order to prevent accidents, our army will set up camp for the time being and fight again tomorrow."

"Wait for half an hour? Isn't Meng De too careful?" Yuan Shao frowned, hesitating, intending to reject Cao Cao's words but worried about deceit.Then he hesitated and said: "According to scout reports, there are only [-] people in Dongyuan City. Before that, the city was not strong. It was no more than two feet high and one foot thick. Now it is three feet high and two feet thick. The Xiliang army has been built in recent months, but it is actually not strong. What's more, our allied army has more than [-] troops. Even if one person spits, it can flood this small city. Therefore, half an hour is enough for us Take this city. Why wait until dark?"

Cao Cao was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and was slightly moved.But looking at the defense soldiers who were motionless on the top of the city.He also felt very weird and couldn't move lightly.

"Brother Ben Chu, listen to me for the time being. Just in case, the army should be patient for a while. It's only half an hour. In the blink of an eye, our allied army has marched for half a month. Could it be that we can't bear this time?" Cao Cao said stubbornly.

Yuan Shao heard that it made sense, nodded lightly and said: "Okay, just as Mengde said, wait another half an hour!"

Reining in their horses, Lu Bu, Zhang Yan, Zhang Yang, Zhang Miao, and Sun Ce, who were wounded, set off behind Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.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 another half an hour.

So none of the five of them interrupted, just looked around in a calm and unhurried manner, brushing across Sun Ce's face intentionally or unintentionally.Because it was this time four days ago, Sun Ce led [-] former troops to attack Dongyuan City. As a result, more than [-] Baibo troops were wiped out, but Sun Ce's troops did not lose a single soldier.With such a strange incident, Lu Bu, Zhang Yan and others cannot help but suspect that there must be something tricky in it.However, Zu Mao's death before the battle was a great loss to Sun Ce, so the princes did not hold Sun Ce accountable for his defeat.

While the princes of the seven routes were waiting for each other, time passed quickly, the sky gradually darkened, night fell slowly, and darkness enveloped the earth.

"Not good!" It was dark in less than half an hour. At this time, Cao Cao suddenly yelled, pointed at the soldiers standing on the top of the wall, and said angrily, "I've been tricked! These soldiers are not real people at all. , but a straw man, the Xiliang army has long since evacuated the city, this is an empty city!"

"Ah!" The princes of the six routes headed by Yuan Shao exclaimed in unison, their faces were stunned, and their eyes were full of disbelief.

Yuan Shao was the first to wake up, and asked anxiously, "Why did you see it? Four days ago, the Xiliang army was still here to wipe out the Baibo army. How could they escape today without a fight?"

Cao Cao shook his head annoyedly, and replied, "One moment and another moment. As far as the city in front of us is concerned, there are at most [-] troops stationed in the city, otherwise no matter how many troops there are in the city, it will be useless. The city is too small to accommodate [-] troops. Soldiers and horses. However, even if there are [-] Xiliang troops defending the city, they will definitely not be able to stop the strong attack of our army of more than [-] troops, and still cannot defend the city. If this is the case, why should the Xiliang army keep defending the city and just give up the city Just evacuate, there is no need to stay here to increase casualties.

In contrast, the situation was very different four days ago.At that time, General Sun Ce had less than 5 horses under his command, while there were more than [-] defenders in the city, and [-] of them were cavalry.In this way, the combat power of the Xiliang army seems to be not inferior to our army, or even higher than our army, so they will naturally not let go of the opportunity to wipe out the Baibo army.As for General Sun Ce's troops, they were very lucky to have escaped. Otherwise, with the strong combat power of Xiliang war cavalry, even if we could not wipe out our [-] former army, we would still be able to defeat our army and return with a loss of troops. Even far more than [-]. "

"So that's how it is." Sun Ce said angrily, "Li Bandit is really insidious and cunning. He took advantage and ran away. It's really abhorrent!"

Yuan Shao was also full of anger at this time, looking at Cao Cao with a look of reproach in his eyes, and said in a low voice: "Meng De, what do you think should be done now?"

Noticing Yuan Shao's complaining eyes, Cao Cao pretended he didn't see it, and then said: "Set up camp on the spot. The army will be stationed outside the city tonight. The city is too small to accommodate our 40-strong army. But the city still has to be taken. By the way, let’s take a look at the situation in the city, if what I expected is correct, there is no one in the city right now, it’s empty!”

As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, Han De, who reined in his horse and stood behind Yuan Shao, retorted without anger: "General Cao's words are too sensational! At noon, I led the army to fight fiercely with the defenders for nearly an hour. Someone went out of the city, but General Cao said it was an empty city. Could it be that tens of thousands of Xiliang troops and tens of thousands of people in the city had put on their wings and flew out of the city? Otherwise, I have already surrounded the city, how could they escape?"

Seeing that Han De dared to speak to him like this, Cao Cao's face darkened instantly, and he said in a deep voice: "Since General Han questioned Cao's judgment, let me ask you, did you have a firm siege of the city when the battle stopped at noon?"

"Uh! This,,, only surrounds the east gate, south gate and north gate, and the west gate leads directly to Anyi. At that time, thousands of Xiliang war cavalry came out of the city from the west gate to fight, so the west gate was not trapped." Hande responded in astonishment.Tell the truth.

Cao Cao nodded slightly, and said coldly: "That's it. The west gate leads directly to the city of Anyi, and it is also the only way for the defenders in the city to retreat to Anyi. Naturally, they will not let you block the west gate. Wait for your order to stop the siege. Afterwards, the defenders in the city quickly withdrew from the west gate. But you didn’t know it, and you were still guarding outside the south gate. If General Han still doesn’t believe it, then please lead your troops into the city now. See if there are still people in the city!”

"Okay, I'm just going to go to the city to see if it's what you said!" After speaking, Han De turned to look at Yuan Shao, hoping to get Yuan Shao's approval.

"Go, be more careful and search carefully. Don't fall into Thief Li's tricks again!" Yuan Shao nodded and ordered.

"No, my lord, please don't worry, the general will definitely entrust you!" Han De respectfully accepted 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.