When Yuan Shao went south, Dongjun was the first to bear the brunt.
As the administrative seat of Dongjun, Puyang's city walls are not comparable to those of a small city like Baima, both in height and width.
Moreover, Puyang City has been in the process of expansion and reinforcement since Manchong took over.
Later, the prefect was replaced by Chen Deng. Chen Deng not only did not abolish the policy of Manchu Chong, but instead paid more attention to the defense of Puyang City.
After careful construction by two prefects,
Today's Puyang City wall is ten meters high and more than six meters wide.
Outside the city wall, a moat was dug based on the diversion of the Pu River in the north of the city. Moreover, this moat not only protected the walled city, but also provided daily drinking water for the residents in the city.
Puyang City had already stocked up a large amount of grain, grass, arrows and various defensive materials. This time the Battle of White Horse also captured a lot of goods. In addition, Chen Deng Yujin had nearly 50,000 defenders. In fact, they were not afraid of Yuan Shao's attack at all.
city, or a long-term siege of a city.
Chen Deng dared to cause trouble under Yuan Shao's nose because he relied on the impregnable Puyang City. He was even sure that he could sustain Yuan Shao's attack until the decisive battle between Cao and Yuan was over.
When Wen Chou took the lead in crossing the Yellow River, he was not even interested in taking a look eastward at Puyang City. He directly followed Yuan Shao's order and marched westward to Yanjin Port.
There are not many places in Yanjin that can be used as defenses.
After Li Dian completed the task of pretending to attack Yanjin and lure the enemy to divide his troops, and after receiving the news of Yan Liang's white horse victory, he immediately led his army to retreat towards Yuanwu.
...
Cao Jun's camp, the Chinese army's tent, the atmosphere in the tent seemed a bit solemn.
A few days ago, although Zhao Yun and others killed Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang, Chen Deng and Yu Jin annihilated nearly 20,000 Yuan Shao's troops. However, this loss basically did not cause much harm to Yuan Shao who had many generals and soldiers.
Hearing that the civil servants led an army of 100,000 people to the south again, Lu Yan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "This Yuan Shao is really arrogant, with an army of 100,000 people at every turn..."
"The white horse has been lost. Wen Chou led an army of 100,000 to cross the Yellow River again..." Cao Cao said here, looked at his think tanks and asked: "Gentlemen, do you have any countermeasures?"
Guo Jia was the first to stand up and said: "My lord, my subordinates have received the exact news that Wen Chou went straight to Yanjin after crossing the Yellow River.
Judging from his posture, Yuan Shao probably wants to occupy Yanjin, the white horse, to cut off our way to the north. Only after he has established a firm foothold on the south bank of the Yellow River, will he send troops to seek a decisive battle with us."
Lu Yan was startled when he heard this and felt bad: "Historically, Yuan Shao did not adopt the strategy of his counselors to stick to Yanjin and fight steadily. Instead, he sent Wen Chou straight to the south with the intention of killing Cao Cao who was reinforcing Baima... This also directly led to Wen Chou falling into the trap.
He was hacked to death by Cao Cao's soldiers."
But after thinking about it, Lu Yan felt that it was only natural for Yuan Shao to make the choice he made now.
First of all, the current governor of Dongjun is not the Liu Yan in history. Moreover, there are still 50,000 troops in Dongjun, which can threaten Yuan Shao's back at any time.
In addition, in the Battle of White Horse, Cao Cao did not personally lead the army to rescue. Yuan Shao could not see the chance to kill Cao Cao with one blow, so it was reasonable to choose to fight slowly and steadily.
"Oh! I really should have asked Lao Cao to seduce Yuan Shao himself... This would at least kill one of Yuan Shao's generals!" Lu Yan suddenly felt regretful...
Lao Cao hasn't seen any advanced information in Lu Yan's diary recently. To be honest, he feels very unsure now.
Seeing Lu Yan's thoughtful look, Cao Cao waited for him to come to his senses and asked quickly: "Mr. Lu, what did you think of?"
"I want you to seduce Yuan Shao..." Lu Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and thought to himself.
But now that the opportunity has been missed, there is no point in talking about it.
Lu Yan gathered his thoughts and responded to Cao Cao: "Mr. Cao, I'm afraid Yuan Shao will choose to fight slowly. But we have enough food and grass, and we are not afraid of fighting a war of attrition with him."
Cao Cao nodded. Although Lu Yan didn't make any constructive suggestions, he at least told Cao Cao that they could afford it.
Historically, Cao Cao was extremely short of food during the Battle of Guandu, but this no longer exists.
Yuanwu, Guandu, and Cao Jun have set up many defenses. As long as Yuan Shao is held back and slowly consumed, Yuan Shao and his hundreds of thousands of troops will definitely be very uncomfortable.
"Then we can only give up on Yanjin for the time being. I hope Miaocai's camp has been set up..."
As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, Xiahou Yuan's messengers came back from outside and reported: "Report! Prime Minister! General Xiahou has completed the construction of eight camps. I have ordered the young man to come back and report!"
"Eight...eight seats?!" Cao Cao was startled by the number reported by the ordering soldier, "Didn't I say four seats before? Miaocai actually completed the task more than double the amount?!"
The messenger was very surprised to see Cao Cao, so he explained: "General Xiahou led his troops and horses to march quickly to the location of the first camp. His civilian men, led by the deputy general, started building it thirty miles outside the original military base.
Camp.
Two groups of soldiers and horses, one at one end and the other at the end, worked in three shifts day and night, each building four large camps, for a total of eight camps!"
When Cao Cao heard this, he nodded with satisfaction and said, "Excellent talents always make me worry-free when doing things!"
Each of the eight camps was ten miles apart. After they were all built, Xiahou Yuan stationed his troops in the first camp to wait for Yuan Shao's vanguard army.
However, before Xia Houyuan could wait for Wen Chou's army, he first waited for Li Dian who had withdrawn.
It turned out that Li Dian also received the news that Zhao Yun defeated and killed Yan Liang. Li Dian judged that Yuan Shao would definitely not let Yanjin go, so he sent messengers to explain the situation to Cao Cao and evacuated Yanjin first.
Xia Houyuan's current 20,000 troops plus Li Dian's 5,000 regular troops (Li Dian's 10,000 are field soldiers), already have 25,000 troops garrisoning the camp.
They were not idle either. All kinds of trenches outside the camp were put in place to resist the horses. It seemed that they had already made up their mind to defend the camp.
The original county seat of Wu County was not strong enough to defend, so Cao Cao's final defensive point was Guandu.
However, before retreating to Guandu, Cao Cao still hoped to consume as much of Yuan Shao's soldiers and morale as possible.
Cao Cao received Xia Houyuan's return, so he began to think about who to send to support Xia Houyuan.
Since we are holding on, it would be overkill to send cavalry troops like Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, and Xia Houlan to take command.
Moreover, they have just made great achievements, so they should give some opportunities to others.
The best general under Cao Cao at present is Cao Ren, and then there is Man Chong who has not yet shown his talent.
But now Cao Ren is still staying in Hanoi County, and Man Chong's military ability has not been discovered yet. To be honest, Cao Cao doesn't have many people at his disposal at the moment.
Looking at Lu Yan, Cao Cao thought that he could only ask Lu Yan for help.
However, Cao Cao did not directly ask for help, but asked Lu Yan tactfully: "Mr. Lu, who do you think is better to support Miaocai?"
Seeing Lao Cao asking the question, Lu Yan immediately thought of Dian Wei and Tai Shi Ci... They are both strong generals who are good at attacking and defending, but it is best to reserve special units for use at critical moments.
So, Lu Yan said: "Han Sheng is a great archer, and the five thousand long archers trained by him have begun to show results. They can be used in this reinforcement!"
However, Lu Yan didn't seem too satisfied when he saw Cao Cao's expression.
While Lu Yan was confused, Cao Cao began to wink at Lu Yan frequently.
Lu Yan was confused and followed Cao Cao's gaze, only to realize that this guy was actually signaling to Guan Yu!
Sure enough, Lao Cao is still coveting Brother Guan!