In the early summer, many days of war were prepared and the war began according to the original plan.

Liu Ming did not choose any moral commanding heights. In fact, Sun Quan's position has never been recognized by Liu Xie. I don't know if it was forgotten or Cao Cao did it on purpose. Anyway, Sun Quan's several times of writing, it was all the time.

Perhaps, Cao Cao also planned to use this as a measure to let Sun Quan cooperate with his plan to attack Liu Ming, but it has not been implemented yet, but Liu Ming attacked Sun Quan first.

The reason is very simple. The Sun family killed the officials of Yangzhou counties, separatist and even proclaimed themselves officials, which was like a rebellion. Just one excuse: Sun Quan's arrest was at least the result of the three tribes of Yi.

However, Sun Jian and Liu Ming were a bit of a friendship in the past. Both sides were heroes and cherished heroes. Perhaps they still had the chance to become a bunch of real good friends, but they didn't expect that Liu Ming would be enemies with his son now.

Cao Cao only received the news that Liu Ming's army had crossed the border and launched an attack on the Yangzhou area. The Jinyiwei's ability was still very good. Cao Cao's secret spies could not pass on the news that Liu Ming was able to dispatch troops until the war began.

However, Cao Cao was Cao Cao after all. After confirming that Liu Ming launched an attack, he decisively organized his troops to attack Xuzhou.

This is his sad place and the logistics supply base he needs the most. It not only produces grain, but also the Danyang soldiers are strong soldiers in the world. They are naturally good at fighting and are strong soldiers. They are a little training.

Only a few soldiers were left on the border. As a perfunctory approach to resist Liu's army, they concentrated 70% of their troops outside Pei County. After trying their best to break through the obstacles, they would defeat Xuzhou in one go. If there was plenty of time, they could still defeat Huainan or Qingzhou. Of course, Cao Cao actually did not have any hope for the latter.

Cao Cao directly allocated 200,000 troops, all of which were the main forces, without any auxiliary troops. He was in the border of Pei County. As soon as the army arrived, he even launched an attack without waiting for the military rations to be delivered.

On the other side of him, Zhang Liao and Pang De, led three people here to guard the battle. The number was not large, but more than 10,000 were the real ace army under Liu Ming's command; the remaining 20,000 were also the elite soldiers trained by Lu Bu over the years.

"Xuzhou has no danger to defend, and it's all flat. Now we can definitely cut off their ties with Qingzhou before Liu Ming's army has time to return to defense. At that time, they are just a lonely army. We only need to join forces with Sun Quan, and there is a high chance of eating this team. At worst, the territory will be divided equally at that time.

The only pity is that Liu Ming was not in this expedition team, so even if we win a great victory, he would only hurt his vitality, but he still couldn't hold his vital points..." On the way, Xun You, who was a military advisor, analyzed to Cao Cao.

"Not to mention those that have not happened yet, the so-called 'the winner first loses', and talk about the specific risks of this action, and where we should pay attention to." Cao Cao first signaled him not to continue, and then asked a very critical question.

"This is a big bet, so we must advance to the Guangling area within one month and completely block the route of Xuzhou's north return. Only in this way can the guards achieve the hard-won results. At the same time, we will join forces with Sun Quan to attack the expedition team from north to south to ensure that the opponent is eliminated as soon as possible and return to defense quickly.

If we cannot fight anywhere within one month, it will be a pity that we must retreat in full. After all, at that time, Liu Ming will launch a general attack on Yanzhou." Xun You replied in fact.

"Our soldiers are really so embarrassed." Cao Cao smiled bitterly.

"We are in Yanzhou and Runan. This place should have been the most populous place, but after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population reduction in these two places was the fastest. I won't say much about the reasons. Anyway, the population base of these two places is smaller than that of other prefectures and counties, only slightly more than Yizhou, Yangzhou and Liangzhou.

In this case, we have fought for so long. Even after nearly ten years of rest and recuperation, the new generation of young men has not grown much. Even if they grow up, they still have the mission of making our jurisdiction prosperous. After all, the few can join the army.

Thanks to the emergence of martial arts, our time to be strong has been delayed a lot, so many veterans can continue to fight instead of being forced to retire. It is precisely because of such a difficult environment that we must get Xuzhou, especially Huainan, two prefectures and counties with large populations after resting and recuperation, to make up for our population shortage..." Xun You reluctantly admitted this statement.

Cao Cao's territory was originally in the four battles. Without his powerful abilities and charm, he would definitely not reach the level he is today. Not to mention that the gentry in the Central Plains had a stronger influence on the local areas than other places. Therefore, it is necessary to manage these places well and avoid becoming puppets of the gentry. Cao Cao was under a lot of pressure.

"Forget it, let's not worry about it so much. We have now entered the Pei County boundary. In other words, we have reached the enemy's territory. From now on, we must be strong and twelve points. God knows that the enemy will attack us in the situation and occasion in order to intercept or ambush us." Cao Cao smiled, as if he had agreed to the statement, and then announced to everyone around him.

"Here." The civil and military ministers around the army bowed and shouted.

I passed by several villages and towns in a row, but there were no people inside. It seemed that something unexpected happened. All the residents inside were exposed. Not only that, the city gates were all destroyed, there were a lot of feces and dirt in the well, and some animals were also floating in the river.

It can be said that there is basically nothing to eat and drink water along the way.

Of course, if you ignore the danger of the plague, you can try it. In the face of illness, I am afraid that even a practitioner will have to surrender.

"Lord, until the place where Pei County is visible to the naked eye, it is completely cleared by the strong walls and cleared. I can't get any supplies. The worst thing is that I'm afraid I can't get the water for cooking tonight." Xiahou Dun stepped forward and reported to Cao Cao.

"This is a very normal behavior. Even if Pei County has developed for a period of time, its population base is still the smallest place in Xuzhou. Therefore, it is the wisest way to concentrate all population resources." Cao Cao also had to admit that at this stage this is the best way to deal with him.

The baggage force is behind. Obviously, if the army does not wait for them, I am afraid there will be no food tonight. This is nothing. The most important thing is that the water source is polluted, so even if there is food to eat, there is no water to drink. If a person does not drink water, he will die of thirst in a few days.

"Arriving at the foot of Pei County today, and conquering him before the night is completely in full swing, otherwise everyone will have no food tonight." Cao Cao decisively issued a very dangerous order.

However, under such circumstances, no one will have any objection. Everyone knows that conquering Pei County is everyone's greatest hope at this stage, and they are also sure that they can defeat a city within today.

After all, the war model of this era has begun to change slowly. The traditional city defense war will inevitably be eliminated bit by bit. It doesn’t matter whether the city walls will exist or not.

The army entered the stage of rapid marching. At this stage, the team would be very scattered. After discovering the enemy, it was naturally impossible to take effective defense measures immediately. The most important thing was that after a period of rapid marching, the soldiers would be exhausted and their combat effectiveness would drop by 30%.

Generally speaking, this is the case.

Cao Cao's large army may have practiced this operation again and again a few years ago. What's amazing is that when the large army marched rapidly, the team was not messy at all, and the speed was accelerated, but the soldiers' expressions were not too painful. They were obviously used to long journeys wearing armor.

Maybe it really corresponds to the saying, "God only favors those who are prepared at all times."

It was around 5 pm, or maybe it was summer, and the sun was still very bright, and under such circumstances, Pei County had already appeared within Cao Jun's sight.

"Grenadiers, immediately cover the Pancheng troops, the blasters, and immediately go and blow up the city gate for me under the cover of the Grenadiers." As soon as he arrived at the front line, Cao Ren immediately issued an order.

About 5,000 soldiers quickly came to the front line, holding a wire grenade. After igniting it, they accurately threw the grenade onto the city wall with their excellent throwing ability, or in other words, some places behind the city wall, ensuring that the front was affected by the storm at most, but not too severely damaged.

Cao Cao finally made this portable grenade when he got the formula for gunpowder. The shells were naturally developed, and the artillery production process was also done, even if it was a garbage cannon made of mud molds.

Artillery is naturally a killer weapon, but it seems very burdensome in the case of quick battles and decisive decisives. Therefore, the best choice is to use grenades and blasting troops to attack the city.

After all, the grenade is calculated accurately and explodes almost the moment it is thrown up.

However, Zhang Liao was prepared for it and asked his soldiers to use their net bags to hit them as fast as possible before the grenade exploded. Cao Cao had reported the news of the grenades, and he had already reported it to Zhang Liao through the Jinyiwei.

However, even though he was prepared, the grenades threw out by the grenades still killed many soldiers. They were obviously the lowest-level black gunpowder, but they still had a considerable lethality.

As for those who were hit back by the net bag, they exploded in the air almost one or two seconds later, causing no harm to Cao's army. At the same time, the acquaintance carried a large bag of things and had already begun to rush towards the city gate. At the same time, more than 3,000 Pancheng troops holding flying claws were rushed over.

"Open the city gate." Zhang Liao smiled and issued an order.

The gate opened instantly, but it surprised Cao's army for a while. However, as the gate opened, the black-hole guns of the four cannons had already aimed at the blasters who were rushing towards the city gate.

"Shoot." With the commander's order, the four artillery fired countless shots, forming a sieve of the blasting soldiers and the explosive pack. The gunpowder in the explosive pack suddenly spilled all over the ground.

Except for an observation port behind the cannon, the iron shields were tightly guarded by the iron shield, so it was obviously impossible to hit the gunner with arrows.

These cannons by Liu Ming are the first generation of breech guns, and the reloading and cleaning of residues can be carried out later.

In other words, if you want to get close to the city gate, unless the cannon explodes, judging by the situation where four cannons fire shots in turn, I am afraid no one can come here.

At the same time, grenades began to be dropped on the top of the city wall.

Compared to Cao Cao's garbage goods, Liu Ming's side was even more powerful. The soldiers who dared to approach the city wall were immediately greeted by these grenades.

For a moment, broken limbs and broken Huan were everywhere, and the city walls were filled with the strong smell of gunpowder and blood.

"I said father-in-law, can't you go directly to attack Jingzhou?" But at this moment, a lazy voice came out.

Liu Ming appeared on the left side of Cao Cao with 50,000 troops; at the same time, Huang Zhong appeared on the right side of Cao's army with 100,000 troops, and directly in front, as the artillery retreated, Pang De's 10,000 cavalrymen came out of Pei County.

"You..." Cao Cao was a little surprised at why Liu Ming appeared here, and was stunned.
Chapter completed!