Seeing Yuan Shao's big flag retreating, and the cavalry of the Han family army was rushing to the battlefield again, the troops siege were suddenly in chaos, and everyone rushed to the camp far away. Yan Liang killed several deserters in succession, trying to stabilize his position, but he could not hold back more and more deserters. Their escape led to a greater escape, and Yan Liang was swept away by the crowd.

After Huang Zhong defeated the Yuan army in the south of the city, he led his army to the west of the city to attack the Wen Chou army to break the siege of Guantao. Gao Lan on the top of the city saw that the Yuan army siege had retreated like a tide, leaving behind a hundred soldiers and many powerful people, and he led the remaining people to the west of the city to rescue.

After Huang Zhong's cavalry arrived in the west of the city, they rushed the Wen Chou's army into pieces. When Wen Chou met a hiding place in the canyon last time, he had fought with Huang Zhong. He fought for a long time but did not decide the outcome, but also lost the eldest son Yuan Tan, so he still didn't know his life and death. At this moment, the enemy was extremely jealous. He roared, waved the spear in his hand and rushed over.

Although Wen Chou consumed a lot of his physical strength when he was sieging the city, Huang Zhong was not much better. He led his men to attack for a long distance and then rushed from the east of the city clockwise to the west of the city. His physical strength was also insufficient. Therefore, when the two stood together, they still couldn't decide the winner.

Standing at the top of the city, Gao Lan saw Huang Zhong and Wen Chou fighting hard at the city. He was afraid that Yuan’s army would make a comeback again, so he hurriedly took people out of the city to help the battle. However, after walking a few steps, the big knife in his hand was now curled in the bloody battle for several days and could not be used. He threw the big knife to the ground and ordered the personal soldiers next to him: "Come on, lift my gun and prepare horses for me, I want to go out of the city to help the battle."

The hanging suspension bridge was put down, and the closed city gate was opened. Gao Lan led more than 500 soldiers out of the city. The Wen Chou army outside the city had long been at the end of its strength under the repeated rush of the cavalry. Gao Lan, who rushed out of the city, became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Seeing that his subordinates were defeated, Wen Chou had no desire to fight. After wielding his gun, he forced Huang Zhong to retreat and fled in panic. Huang Zhong and Gao Lan joined forces and reentered Guantao and the like.

On the way back to the city, Gao Lan asked Huang Zhong curiously: "Person Huang, I wonder when the lord's army will arrive?"

"The lord's army will only leave tomorrow morning, and it will take as early as three days before it can arrive at Guantao." Huang Zhong replied: "He was worried that Guantao's soldiers would be unable to resist Yuan Shao's 100,000 troops, so he ordered me to lead the cavalry to support him all night."

Gao Lan asked with a smile: "Person Huang, I wonder how many people the lord brought this time?"

"Ten thousand infantrymen, three thousand crossbowmen, and three thousand my three thousand cavalry." Huang Zhong stroked his beard and said, "There are 16,000 horse and infantry troops in total."

After hearing what Huang Zhong said, Gao Lan's smile froze on his face. Although Yuan Shao has lost a lot of troops recently, there are at least 80,000 soldiers and horses everywhere, and there are only 16,000 reinforcements, which is equivalent to one to five.

When Huang Zhong saw Gao Lan's expression, he immediately guessed what he was worried about and quickly said to him: "Don't worry, college lieutenant, don't look at the lord's young soldiers, but to defeat Yuan Shao, according to Huang's speculation, it should not be difficult."

"That's good, that's good!" Gao Lan immediately recalled the past when he was leading three thousand soldiers to fight on the way to attack Guangping City. Since he dared to use three thousand to fight ten thousand at that time, what's impossible now to use six thousand to fight eighty thousand? Thinking of this, Gao Lan's heart, which was in his throat, finally fell back into his stomach.

Yuan Shao's troops who attacked the city were attacked by Huang Zhong and were beaten to flee. However, because Huang Zhong had too few troops and had to fight at different locations, the killing and injury of the Yuan army was limited. Yuan Shao was in charge of defeated soldiers, and more than 21,000 troops who attacked the city actually came back.

Seeing that the troops who went to fight only lost 30%, everyone was relieved. Feng Ji said to Yuan Shao: "Lord, don't see that we were caught off guard by the reinforcements of the Han family's children today, but if Ji did not make any mistakes in the estimate, the number of reinforcements was too small and he would not dare to fight our army head-on, so he could only retreat to the city. We can divide our troops into three groups tomorrow and attack the east, south and north sides of Guantao at the same time. Their troops were limited and they would not be able to stop our army's strong attack. The city was just around the corner."

"Let's wait!" Xun Chen saw that Yuan Shao was moved by Feng Ji, and hurriedly persuaded him: "Although our army is numerous, most of the soldiers have not returned. When they are sieging cities and plundering the land, they can't even exert half of their combat power. Later, General Yuan Gonglu has many soldiers and a wide range of generals, so we might as well ask him for help and ask him to send troops to reinforce us!"

Although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were brothers, after Yuan Shao seized Jizhou, he sent someone to ask him for a thousand good horses, but Yuan Shao refused. For this matter, the two brothers turned against each other. Xun Chen believed that this was the best time to let the two brothers rebuild the old ones, so he made this suggestion to Yuan Shao.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Yuan Shao snorted heavily, and then said, "I have broken up my kindness with him. You can't mention the matter of asking for help from him." He turned his head and asked Feng Ji, "Yuantu, where else can we mobilize our troops?"

"Return to the lord," Feng Ji hurriedly bowed and replied: "Bohai County can now piece together 80,000 troops under the control of the young master and Xu You and Xu Ziyuan. However, the road to there has been cut off by Gongsun Zan, so we cannot send people to contact them."

"Damn Gongsun Zan." Yuan Shao punched heavily on the table in front of him and said hatefully: "If it weren't for his attack, how could the Han family's children take advantage of the situation and take over my Jizhou and kill my two sons?" When he was in the fire, he seemed to have forgotten that if he hadn't been treacherous and refused to share the land of Jizhou to Gongsun Zan, and sent someone to kill Gongsun Yue who came to contact him, how could Gongsun Zan have started a war with him?

Xin Ping listened for a long time and interrupted, "Lord, my subordinates have observed the war in the past few days. It is not that our army has been unable to attack Guantao for a long time, but that the soldiers are unwilling to use their lives, but that the siege equipment is insufficient."

When Feng Ji heard this, he immediately retorted: "Zhongzhi's words are wrong. Our army has used ladders and rushing cars in the past few days, but they were all broken by Gao Lan. What other siege equipment is available?"

"Today I and my lord are watching the battle under the city," Xin Ping continued: "It is now that our army had suppressed the defenders on the city with bows and arrows at the beginning of the attack. If our army uses the well railing to suppress the defenders on the city wall when attacking tomorrow, then our soldiers will definitely be able to climb the city smoothly."

"Zhongzhi, don't forget that there is also a moat outside Guantao City." Feng Ji frowned and said, "Every time we cross the moat, there will be many soldiers who will suffer."

Shen Pei suggested: "We can send people to carry soil to fill the river. As long as we fill the moat, our soldiers can rush directly under the city wall."

"It takes time to carry soil and fill the river, and the bows and arrows on the city, and the stones on the rolling wood can cause considerable casualties to our soldiers." Xin Ping shook his head and said, "Do you still remember that when Gongsun Zan's army attacked the village, they used the fly bridge. This kind of fly bridge is simple to make. Two long logs, nailed wooden boards on top, and two wheels on the bottom. When used, they are placed on the moat, which is a simple trench bridge."

"Mr. Zhongzhi." Although Yan Liang was brave but not resourceful, he heard Xin Ping introduce these siege equipment very carefully. After Xin Ping finished speaking, he quickly asked, "Is there any other siege equipment?"

"There are also catapults." Xin Pingshen was afraid that Yan Liang would not know what the catapults looked like, so he specifically introduced to him: "The structure is also very simple. A huge long wood is fixed on a shelf. The long end is a stone loaded with a leather hood or a wooden basket, and dozens of ropes are tied to the short end. However, when the order was issued, dozens of people pulled the rope at the same time and threw the stones out..."

After listening to Xin Ping's introduction, Yan Liang's muscles on his face couldn't help but twitch violently. He asked with some amusement and tears: "Mr. Zhongzhi, a catapult secret requires dozens of soldiers to operate. I wonder what it can be used when siegeing the city?"

Xin Ping hesitated for a moment when he heard Yan Liang's question, and then said: "The Qin general Li Xin attacked Chu. The Chu army secretly prepared a large number of catapults. When the Qin army crossed the river, it suddenly shot at the same time, and countless sharp stones hit the Qin army like dark clouds, resulting in the complete defeat of 200,000 Qin troops."

"Zhongzhi," Yuan Shao suddenly realized this and said with a sudden enlightenment: "I understand that if we use a catapult to shoot at the city wall when siege, we will definitely have nowhere to hide in the defenders; with the cooperation of the well railing, we will definitely be able to conquer Guantao."

Although Xin Ping's ability is slightly inferior to Ju Su, his political wisdom is extremely high. He has not explained the use of catapults to Yan Liang for a long time, but he deliberately mentioned the old past of the Chu army defeating the Qin army, just to attract Yuan Shao's attention. The same thing, which Yuan Shao said in person, is much better than the suggestions he made.

"The lord is wise." Xin Ping quickly bowed and bowed: "I just thought of this tactic, but I didn't expect that the lord was already in his heart. It seems that it is just around the corner to seize the pottery."

Hearing Xin Ping's flattery, Yuan Shao couldn't help but smile. He thought for a while and continued to attack Guantao when the equipment was incomplete, which would only increase casualties. Therefore, he announced: "Tomorrow, the attack on Guantao will be suspended. The battalions will hurry up and make various siege equipment. After the equipment is complete, they will seize Guantao in one fell swoop."

…………

Han Zhan's time to send troops was one day earlier than the scheduled time, while the cavalry left that day.

The reason why he sent troops in advance was that he had an unspeakable hidden secret. Since Li Hua, Han Yan, Han Bing and others came to Jizhou, he has felt the feeling of being restless.

When Lihua saw two stunning singers in the provincial palace, her face looked particularly ugly. Especially since Jade was no longer perfect, and Han Zhan was taught, her attitude became even worse. The tea he gave Han Zhan every day was cold; the food he ate was either too salty or too light; as for the warm quilt, after she came to Jizhou, Jade and A Nuan could not step into Han Zhan's room half a step.

Han Zhan knew that Lihua was targeting her everywhere, but she had no choice but to deal with her. After all, others were the old people who had served her for many years. From the eve of the sending troops in Sheguo County, others got into their beds and had nothing to do. Not long after he arrived in Jizhou, he actually took two stunning singers into the room, and even enjoyed the joy of fish and water with one of them. Lihua was not a wooden man, so it would be strange if she was not angry with herself in this situation.

Han Zhan originally wanted to send troops in two days, but as soon as he entered the backyard, he saw Lihua training Jade and A Nuan in the yard, saying that the young master was still filial and you dared to dress happily. Do you want to make the young master unfaithful and unfilial?

Jade and A Nuan were frightened and quickly knelt in front of Lihua with a loud noise and kowtowed repeatedly. Jade, especially Jade, said repeatedly: "Pei Hua girl calms down and don't be as good as me. I will go back to my room to change my clothes."

Han Zhan hid aside without saying a word. After Jade and A Nuan left, he tiptoed to Lihua's side, raised his hand and patted her shoulder, and called out: "Lihua!"

Lihua was startled and turned her head to see clearly that it was Han Zhan. A hint of joy flashed across her face, but soon she said with a stern face: "Young Master, you are back!"

"Yes, yes, I'm back." Han Zhan said with concern: "Lihua, the yard is too cold, be careful not to get cold, so go back to the house as soon as possible."

Li Hua is also a smart person. She judged from the time when Han Zhan appeared and guessed that he must have seen the scene just now: "Young master, have you seen it?"

"What did you see?" Han Zhan deliberately pretended to be confused: "I saw nothing except the beautiful pear blossoms of the country?"

Lihua was amused by Han Zhan's exaggerated expression. She chuckled and then asked back: "Young Master, do you think I'm too strict with them?"

"No," Han Zhan immediately shook his head and said, "It's not strict at all. They are not right at all. Everyone is covered in slap clothes. Why do they dress so well? Should they scold me?"

"Young Master, are you telling the truth?" Li Hua asked with a clever smile.

"That's right, the truth," Han Zhan patted his chest and said, "In front of Lihua, I have always only told the truth and never told lies."

"Since the young master said that he never tells lies in front of Lihua." A blush flew on Lihua's face: "But I wonder when will the young master be able to reunite with Lihua? Will it be fine tonight?"

After hearing this, Han Zhan almost fell to the ground. If it were a few months ago, it would be fine if he had completed the house with Lihua a few months ago. But this girl has never given him a good look in the past few days. If he had completed the house with her tonight, she would have to be squeezed dry. Thinking of this, he quickly coughed heavily and said, "I suddenly remembered that there is still government affairs that have not been handled. Lihua, please go back to the room first." After that, he left as if he ran away.

Looking at Han Zhan's hurriedly leaving, Li Hua felt a little disappointed. She said angrily: "Hmph, coward!" After that, she turned around and returned to the room.

When Han Zhan returned to the hall, all the civil and military officials had left, only Luo Bu was left. He quickly called Luo Bu to the front and ordered: "Robu, go to the military camp and tell Captain Huang immediately, and let his cavalry rush to Guantao overnight; and, tell General Zhao again that the army will leave one day in advance."
Chapter completed!