With the support of Xuzhou's financial resources, Xiaopei's moat was very abnormally built by Qiao Rui, a famous defender in the city. The widest point was a hundred steps away, and the water flowed was not only difficult to fill and cross, but also could not even shoot the river embankment between the moat and the city wall on the Xiaopei city wall. Therefore, after careful discussion with the counselors, Cao still had no choice but to give up the plan to fill the river slowly, and decided to directly break through the solid stone bridge two and a half meters wide on the Xiaopei moat, and then launch the siege.

Fortunately, Mr. Cao also had some siege weapons that could be used. In addition to the Xiangyang cannons seized on the Guandu battlefield that could threaten the Xiaopei defenders on the city wall, Mr. Cao also built a large number of siege ladders, rushing the city cars and countless simple flight ladders. In addition, he also built some floating bases to prepare for building floating bridges, which were very well prepared. At the same time, Mr. Cao also believed that as long as his army ants were attached to the city, he would be able to easily attack Xiaopei city and wipe out the Xiaopei defenders who were far less powerful than his own army.

The Cao army's siege war began with the destruction of fortifications outside the city of Xiaopei. In order to open the way for the Yijia Army, Cao Laoda concentrated more than sixty Xiangyang cannons and blew the sheep and horse wall made of red-horned antlers under the Xiaopei city wall. However, like Guandu, the fortification destruction war quickly evolved into the bombardment of the two sides of the war. The Xiaopei defenders also dispatched a large number of Xiangyang cannons to bombard the stone-throwing positions of Cao's army. The stones and bullets were bombarded for three days, and both sides lost quite a lot of expensive Xiangyang cannons. However, because the Xuzhou army's Xiangyang cannons were hiding inside the city wall to set off fire, the losses were much smaller than that of the Cao army.

Of course, Boss Cao did not hang himself on a tree, and placed all the hope of destroying the fortifications on the slow-fired Xiangyang cannon. While throwing stone weapons to bombard him, Boss Cao also sent infantry to cross the river to destroy the fortifications of the defenders. The Xiaopei defenders were not polite. Once they found that Cao's army crossed the river, they immediately treated them with countless strong bows and crossbows, and lit the Jue hole under the city wall at night. A large number of troops were arranged to take turns to serve the night without giving Cao's army any chance to attack. As a result, after paying a considerable price, the Cao army took five days to barely destroy some of the fortifications of Xiaopei, opening a way forward for the Yifu attack.

The sixth day, also the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, Cao's army, who had been prepared, finally launched a formal siege. Xiaopei defenders, who were ordered to defend the lonely city for 30 days, were on high alert and went all out to meet the challenge.

This is a fierce and bloody battle that is extremely difficult for both the offensive and defensive sides. Although the Xuzhou army has a strong city to rely on and takes advantage of it from a high position, most of the Cao army's soldiers are elite soldiers who have fought in the south and north for many years. They are experienced and have high morale. They continue to attack Xiaopei City one after another. It took only more than an hour to rush up to the city wall. This creates huge pressure and panic for the Xuzhou army.

The Cao army was even more uncomfortable. Although the team was elite, but Xiaopei city was too strong and the city was prepared to defend the city was very sufficient. The Cao army lost countless soldiers just during the river crossing. When they rushed to the bottom of the city wall, countless sheep-headed stones and lime bottles fell on the city wall. When they were about to climb to the top, they had to face the threat of flails and hook guns. From time to time, a huge yaksha roared and smashed, and all those who were hit were killed immediately. Therefore, although the Cao army's offensive was fierce, the more they rushed, the more they were, the more they were, and they could not rush up to the city wall quickly. Even if several soldiers could occasionally rush up to the city wall, they were soon chopped into pieces by the defending reserves and could not occupy and expand the city wall positions.

The battle entered a white-hot stage when Cao's army invested in large-scale siege weapons to siege the city. When he saw that his soldiers had gradually restrained the defenders on the city, Cao decisively ordered the city rushing cars, ladder trucks and hook trucks to attack. Dozens of soldiers pushed a large weapon. It was easy to pass through the solid and flat stone bridge. However, when he was struggling to bypass the bridge at the end of the stone bridge, countless swallowtail torches and oil-filled grass flew out from the city wall. After fire prevention treatment such as smearing mud, Cao's army could not withstand so many torches and grass burning. Soon, a huge fire was ignited. Not only could he rush to the city to siege the city, but he also burned a large number of his own soldiers and blocked the siege weapon road behind.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to block Cao's subsequent reinforcements, Xiaopei generals Cao Xing and Yin Li, who were also experienced, also took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. The stones, gray bottles and gold juice were smashed down like money, and they also put down twenty or thirty fire curtains. Although this kind of city defense weapon invented by Mo Zi was a bit old and outdated, it was very effective in killing ants and attaching to the enemy. It fell on the heads of Cao's soldiers like huge fire tents. The Cao's soldiers who were climbing the ladder were crying and howling, and fell from the ladder like hail and raindrops. As the fire curtain swung again, the Cao's soldiers on the surrounding ladder also began to be unlucky. They were either ignited for clothes or ignited for their hair and eyebrows, screamed and fell down the ladder, either dead or injured.

The headache for Cao's army was also the yak hanging on the top of the city wall. This kind of wood with sharp iron spikes was extremely heavy. It was usually hung on the top of the city wall with hemp rope. Once it was put down, it would be bloody and bloody. If it was hung to the end, it would have to fall off the stairs. Once it was smashed, it would either be broken or the brain would be broken, and even the stairs would be smashed directly. At the same time, what made the Cao army soldiers cry and cry without tears was that because Xiao Pei was the only dangerous pass for the Xuzhou army to resist the Cao army and its importance was unparalleled, so the wealthy Xuzhou army arranged more than 300 expensive yaks on the city wall, which smashed the Cao army into pieces with flesh and blood, and corpses were piled up like mountains.

Boss Cao is a good boss with a very determined will. Although he saw the heavy casualties of the self-siege siege, Boss Cao still refused to order the gold medal. He also invested 3,000 troops to cross the river. While continuing to attack the city, he scrambled to build a floating bridge and destroyed the remaining fortifications outside the city. At the same time, he personally committed suicide by killing a self-sie general who had crossed the river and beheaded and punished more than a dozen soldiers who had escaped in the battle, forcing the soldiers of the self-siege to continue to attack Xiaopei City.

Sometimes those who are determined may not be a good thing. At least, this time, the Cao army soldiers who are afraid of Cao are as strong as tigers are all brave enough to compete for the first place. However, the strength of the Xuzhou army has increased greatly. Cao Xing, who has experienced, has also commanded very well and guarded properly. In addition, Qiao Rui left the abnormal city defense for Xiaopei, so no matter how fierce the Cao army attacked the city, it was impossible to rush up to the city wall to occupy the city wall position. Instead, they were killed and injured by the condescending defenders. A thick layer of Cao army's corpses were laid under the city wall.

The siege war started in the early morning and fought fiercely until after Shen Shi after Shen Shi. Seeing that his soldiers were suffering heavy casualties, Boss Cao finally ordered the Mingjin to withdraw his troops. In this battle, Cao's army suffered more than 2,000 casualties. More than 20 large-scale siege weapons were burned, with extremely heavy losses, but the results achieved were minimal. Only five floating bridges that could be destroyed at any time were built. Although the number of soldiers killed and killed was not counted, there were definitely not many. So after returning to the camp to count the casualties, Boss Cao sighed, "I didn't expect that Xiaopei City is so difficult to attack, and I underestimate the enemy."

"Xiao Pei is the only dangerous pass that the pottery thieves resisted our army, and he has been here for many years. It is not surprising that the city is built to be extremely solid." Guo Jia coughed and said, "If such a strong city is attacked for forcibly, it will inevitably lead to huge casualties, which will take a long time. The Prime Minister might as well try to get ahead of his wisdom."

Boss Cao nodded and turned to the counselors and asked, "How to get smart? Can you please help me break the city?"

The Cao army's advisers, who had always been resourceful, were silent. They all took out the city to fight against the Xiaopei defenders who refused to fight. Only Xu Shu bowed and said, "Prime Minister, when Shu was under Liu Bei's tent, he had heard Liu Bei introduce the situation of Xiaopei. Although Xiaopei was surrounded by water on three sides, the groundwater veins were not rich and the soil was extremely thick. In this way, the sheep and horse walls outside Xiaopei were destroyed by our army. Why didn't our army use soil and stone to fill Xiaopei's moat first, and then attacked head-on, or entered the city with acupuncture points."

"Don't make this idea, I can't afford so much time." Boss Cao shook his head and said gritting his teeth: "The Taoist thief dug Xiaopei's moat nearly a hundred steps wide. When will such a wide river be filled?"

"If it wasn't for the time-consuming and labor-consuming, why would I give you this idea?" Xu Shu snorted coldly in his heart, but his face remained silent.

At this time, Xun You also made a suggestion to Boss Cao, saying that since Xiaopei is strong and difficult to get out, why not leave an army to monitor Xiaopei, and then the main force goes south to attack Liuxian, which is far less powerful than Xiaopei? Boss Cao was once very moved, but after careful calculation, Boss Cao changed his mind and said, "Follow Mr. Yuanzhi's plan, he will first carry the soil and fill the river, and then break the city."

Xu Shu, who had just been rejected but was immediately accepted, looked up in surprise. Xun You was also extremely surprised and said, "Prime Minister, our army is coming far away, with more soldiers and less food, so we can only fight quickly. Why did the Prime Minister adopt such a slow method?"

"It doesn't matter, we still have some time. The autumn harvest of Xuchang military farm this year is pretty good. Apart from the necessary expenses and spare grain, it is not a big problem to support our army in two months." Boss Cao smiled and said, "Besides, our army has a population of 70,000, and a moat worth a hundred steps wide can be filled in at most ten days."

"But Prime Minister, there are only 7,000 defenders in Xiaopei City. Is it worth spending so much precious time for these 7,000 defenders?" Xun You was still a little worried.

"If the Taoist thief imagines that Gongsun Zan is losing all his heart, then he will just sit idly by the seven thousand defenders. I will accept it with a smile." Boss Cao smiled even more relaxedly and snorted again: "Besides, my goal is not only these seven thousand defenders! It's decided that the mission to fill the river will be handed over to Liu Dai and his team, so that Yu Jin and Li Dian will take turns to lead their troops to protect him. I also want to use the waste like the Taoist thief who uses Yang Hong, no matter how much the waste is."

……………………

So, under the order of Boss Cao, poor General Liu Dai and his team all used it. They began to carry soil and rocks day and night to fill the moat, but no toad carts were invented for river filling. Although Cao Xingyin Li in Xiaopei City had the opportunity to attack and destroy Cao's army's river filling work, because the elite Cao army was protecting him and Deputy Director Tao also ordered that he not be allowed to fight, Cao Xing and Yin Li had to continue to defend the city honestly, and at the same time sent a messenger to report Xiaopei's battle situation to Deputy Director Tao and ask for countermeasures.

When the news was delivered to Pengcheng, Deputy Director Tao applauded and laughed, saying: "It turns out that as Mr. Wenhe expected, Cao Zhe really targeted our army of return to aid, so he refused to move his troops to Liuxian, attack Liuxian, which had a weaker defense, and dispersed the elite teams in his hands."

After laughing, Deputy Director Tao quickly asked Lao Jia next to him: "Mr. Wenhe, you already know the situation of Xiaopei. According to Mr., will I give you an order to let Cao Xing and Yin Li attack appropriately to block Cao's thief from filling the river?"

"No!" Jia Lao's poisonous substance decisively rejected it and explained: "Cao Cao was treacherous and suspicious. Seeing that General Cao Xing and others dared to go out of the city to fight, he would inevitably doubt the true purpose of our army's layer-by-layer defense. It would also expose our army's current combat power. Only by allowing Cao Xing and Yin Li to continue to defend the city can Cao Cao believe that our army is buying time for reinforcements and consuming his food and grass. At the same time, it will not expose our army's current combat power, which will affect the effect of our army's third step of action."

Deputy Director Tao followed the advice and immediately ordered Chen Ying to reply to Cao Xing, so that Cao Xing would continue to defend the city and not go out to fight. Then he said: "When will the news of Chen Dao and Hou Cheng return to the army be delivered to Cao Zhe? I can't wait."

……………………

"Why hasn't the news of the reinforcements from the Tao thief Qingzhou been sent yet? Xu Yuanzhi's analysis must not be wrong. If the Tao thief reinforcements were in Langya and detoured back to Xuzhou in the East China Sea, my precious time these days would be wasted."

With a little understanding, Deputy Director Tao strongly hoped that the news of Chen's team's return to the army would be delivered to Boss Cao as soon as possible. At the same time, Boss Cao himself was also looking forward to the news to him as soon as possible. He was also worried that Xu Shu had made a mistake in his judgment and wasting his precious time. Fortunately, during this period, the Xiaopei defenders did not leave the city to destroy the speed of Cao's river-filling speed with stone catapults and bows. Therefore, Boss Cao, who was expected to have no courage to fight with him, could also be a little relieved, and continued to wait patiently with the mentality of sharpening the knife and chopping wood.

The sky pays off. Seven days later, the Luguo County of Yanzhou finally came with a 100,000 fast horse news. Under the leadership of Xuzhou General Chen Dao, Hou Cheng and Tao Ji, the 20,000 Xuzhou Army advanced quickly into Luguo County. They did not attack the city but went south quickly. However, it was not possible to tell whether this Xuzhou army would go back to Xiaopei directly or to capture Rencheng and threaten Cao's army behind Cao's army! After hearing this news, the boss Cao, who had already untied his clothes and went to bed, jumped up barefoot and laughed wildly for the third time: "Okay, Tao Ying traitor, he is indeed the idea of ​​attacking the reinforcements in Qingzhou! It's good, it's good, I accept these 20,000 troops!"

After laughing wildly, Boss Cao immediately promoted the tent overnight and summoned his civil and military personnel to discuss military affairs. After the Cao army arrived, Boss Cao first announced to everyone that the reinforcements in Xuzhou had returned to the aid, and then said straight to the point: "This is a god-given opportunity for our army to defeat the main forces of the Tao thieves. Chen Dao and Hou Cheng and other bandits led their troops back to the army. Whether they were directly returning to Xiaopei or taking a foothold in Rencheng and threatening the food road behind our army, they would inevitably pass through Nanpingyang. I would lead the elite troops north overnight to set up an ambush in Nanpingyang, and wipe out the 20,000 Xuzhou thieves!"

"You secretly think that the Prime Minister should not go in person, just appoint a general to lead the army north." Xun You stood up and said, "The Taoist thief is treacherous. Xiaopei is only 120 miles away from Pengcheng. If the enemy finds that the Prime Minister leads his army north, the Taoist thief will definitely take advantage of the opportunity to attack. Only by appointing a general to ambush the north, the Prime Minister will sit in the army, and then the Prime Minister appears outside Xiaopei City every day, making the Taoist thief afraid of the Prime Minister's power and dare not act rashly, can we avoid our army being attacked by the main force of the Taoist thief after the division of troops."

Considering the cunning and cunning of Deputy Director Tao, after a little calculation, Cao accepted Xun You's proposal. Then Cao asked again: "Who is willing to lead the army north to ambush the Tao bandit reinforcements?"

"I'm willing to go!"

Almost all the generals of Cao's army stood up and asked to hold their fists. Seeing that the generals had a strong desire to fight, the boss Cao was also very satisfied. He nodded first, and then called out: "Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, Le Jin, and Ru led 20,000 troops from his headquarters to the north to Pingyang, and ambushed the Taoist thieves' return troops, Xiahou Yuan was the main general. In addition, the five thousand elite cavalry of our army will also follow you north." The four generals were overjoyed and quickly bowed to agree.

"Prime Minister, is it too much to divide the troops?" Cheng Yu was a little worried. "The teams under the four generals are the front-line soldiers of our army. If we send out the five thousand most elite light cavalry of our army, we will not have many elite soldiers in our army's camp."

"It doesn't matter, our army's ordinary combat soldiers are enough to resist the elite pottery thieves." Boss Cao answered proudly, and ordered Xun You again: "Mr. Gongda, you are the wise ruler of our army. This time you also follow the army north to help Miaocai annihilate the pottery thieves' return troops. Miaocai, although you are brave on the battlefield, you lack wisdom and strategy. You must listen to Gongda's advice more and never act impulsively."

Xiahou Yuan and Xun You clasped their fists together, but Xu Shu stood up and said, "Prime Minister, after our army divided its troops overnight, we should erect more flags in the empty camps and lit smoke every day as usual. It is best to build another camp so that even if the stolen team noticed that our army was moving at night, they mistakenly thought that our army had gone to the front line and increased their troops, and they did not dare to act rashly."

Boss Cao laughed again and made the decision to accept Xu Shu's suggestion on the spot. He also praised Xu Shu with encouragement. Xu Shu bowed his hands and said modestly, but he hummed in his heart: "Don't think I'm just giving advice for you Cao thief. The more tragic you Cao thief and Tao thief fight, the greater the death and injury, the more satisfied I will be."

Xu Shu's trick was obviously in vain, and Cao's army was destined to have a lot of trouble. Because when Cao made the decision to divide the troops, Bo Sima Lang, the confidential secretary of Boss Cao, was in the tent, and listened to Cao's tactical arrangements without missing a trace. So before dawn the next day, a carrier pigeon had already flew out of Cao's army camp, spread its wings and soared, and flew towards Pengcheng south...

By the way, let’s expose the insidious and terrifying aspects of the Xuzhou spy team. In addition to a pigeon flying out of Cao’s camp, when the army led by Xiahou Yuan and others hurriedly passed by Hulu, a gray-white pigeon also flew out of a small village next to the road leading to Nanpingyang. First, it flew into Xiaopei City, and then it also flew out of Xiaopei City, spreading its wings and heading south to Xuzhou. So, the matter of Cao’s division of troops could not be hidden from Deputy Director Tao, even the defenders in Xiaopei City could not be hidden from...

The next evening, the carrier pigeon released by Sima Lang brothers flew to Pengcheng first and received the news that Cao Laoda had divided his troops. Deputy Director Tao slapped the table on the spot and laughed wildly: "You Cao thief, you are treacherous. This time, I finally ate Mr. Wenhe's foot washing water! I sent the order and sent troops north overnight to Xiaopei to fight Cao thief to the death!"

"Lord, let the soldiers rest for a night." Jia Lao Poison said calmly: "It's cold and it's too hard to travel all night. It's better to let the soldiers rest for another night, and let Cao Cao's elite team go a little further. It's not too late to set off tomorrow morning."

Deputy Director Tao smiled again and nodded, "Okay, then let the soldiers rest for a night, and set off north again tomorrow, so that Cao Zhe would laugh a little happier."

Another night passed quickly. On the second day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Jian'an, after spending the New Year with peace of mind, more than 35,000 main force in Xuzhou, who had been in Pengcheng for many days, suddenly went out without any warning. Under the personal leadership of Deputy Director Tao, he rushed north to rush to Xiaopei, 120 miles away, to fight against Cao's army, which had already divided his troops!

This is also the full dispatch of the elite troops of the Xuzhou army. The generals participating in the battle include Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Xu Huang, Wei Yan, Gao Shun and Que Yi. The famous teams in the army are the Danyang soldiers, Feng Yu soldiers, trapped the camp, first entered the camp, and there are more than 9,000 Qingji Iron Cavalry! These elite troops in Xuzhou, which have no shadow in their hearts, have only one common slogan, "Step the Cao army! Capture the Cao thief alive!"

On that day, the main force of Xuzhou reached 80 miles. In the evening, he arrived in Liuxian County to meet with Gaoshun's team, gathering more than 40,000 troops. It was just when the third update of the night, and he received the news from the main force of Xuzhou. After hearing this news, the elite team had already gone north for two days. After a minute, Cao Cao was stunned for a minute, and then he started hysterically.
Chapter completed!