After Jiang Qi's death, the remaining soldiers of Yuan Army, led by other generals, could only barely resist Cao Jun's attack.
However, in the face of Cao's army's front and rear attacks, coupled with the low morale of the general's death in battle, the situation was finally over.
There was a soldier who was on the edge, and when Cao Jun and his general were not paying attention, he threw away his weapon and ran away.
Someone took the lead, just like knocking down dominoes, and then more and more people began to escape from this position.
The general died in battle, and now some soldiers began to flee. Under the double influence, the other soldiers could no longer hold on and simply started to flee for their lives.
However, compared to those who fled, many people chose to lay down their weapons and surrender to Cao's army.
Those soldiers who chose to surrender not only had no baggage in their hearts, but also felt a sense of relief.
Without it, Cao Ying treated the prisoners preferentially!
Before the war began, the Shadow Guards began to move around early.
Not only did they spy on intelligence, they also secretly promoted Cao Jun's positive policies everywhere.
One of them is preferential treatment for prisoners. It is said that prisoners who are willing to surrender to Cao's army will not only have food, drink and medical care, but also be given several acres of fertile land, be exempted from taxes for several years, and even receive military pay. That is real and heavy.
The golden copper coin!
These soldiers of the Yuan Army were already satisfied if they had enough to eat on weekdays. It was unimaginable that the army could still distribute money.
Now that they had the opportunity to join Cao's army and "enjoy" the preferential treatment, a sense of expectation naturally arose in their hearts.
As Yuan's soldiers fled and surrendered, the battle soon came to an end.
Cao's army beheaded Yuan's general Jiang Qi, killed four thousand enemies, and captured more than a thousand, achieving a complete victory.
However, Jiang Qi's partial force actually did not have much impact on the entire battle situation.
Inside Cao Jun's camp.
The prime minister's chief secretary, Jiang Ji, stood up and said to Cao Cao: "My lord, the scouts came to report today that Gao Gan and Yuan Xi's army are only ten days away from us, and Yuan Tan's army from Qinghe County has also arrived.
Wei County boundary.
If our army cannot capture Yecheng, we should make plans to withdraw from here as soon as possible... Otherwise, if we are restrained by the enemy, we may be in a dilemma and be unable to leave even if we want to."
The armies of Gao Gan, Yuan Xi, Wu Huan and Yuan Tan totaled 170,000 to 80,000, plus the main force of 70,000 to 80,000 in Ye City, the total strength was especially higher than that of Cao's army.
Although the overall quality of Yuan's soldiers is not as good as that of Cao's army, they are fighting at home and it is easy to supply supplies.
Although Cao Jun's supply line took the Baigou Waterway, which saved a lot of trouble, the food road was still very long and could easily be robbed by Yuan Jun. Once the food and grass were intercepted, Cao Jun would not be much better than Yuan Jun at Guandu.
It's also going to hurt your muscles and bones.
"Retreat?" Cao Cao was very unwilling.
They have already reached the gates of Ye City and surrounded Yuan Shao. If they retreat like this, no one would be willing to do it.
But if you don't withdraw, if your entire family fortune is destroyed here, I'm afraid there won't be anywhere to cry.
But Ye City is indeed too strong and difficult to chew down in a short time.
In the absence of weapons that can destroy the city wall, the soldiers can only use their flesh and blood to grind it down and fill it with their lives. There are many examples of siege battles in history that lasted for a year and a half...
Lao Cao was now in a dilemma, but he still asked unwillingly: "Everyone, is there really no way to conquer Ye City?"
Seeing Cao Cao's unwillingness, Lu Yan hesitated in his heart: "Should we use gunpowder to attack the city at this time?"
Gunpowder! Yes! The general has experimented with gunpowder!
Originally, the midfielder is not a complicated thing. As long as you experiment more, the optimal ratio is actually easy to find.
But Lu Yan was still a little hesitant about whether to use gunpowder to attack the city.
Among them, the biggest doubt is what they should do after conquering Yecheng?
If gunpowder is used to attack the city, the city wall will definitely collapse... If the city wall collapses, then the city will be undefendable.
After you and others rush in and kill Yuan Shao, what will happen next?
Yuan Shao died at the hands of Cao Cao, and Yuan Jun, led by Yuan Shao's son and nephew, would definitely go crazy.
When the time comes, how will Cao Cao be able to defend Ye City with its collapsed walls when faced with more than 100,000 or 200,000 soldiers from Yuan who are crazy?
Even if he could defeat Yuan Jun, his casualties would probably be very heavy, and the gains would outweigh the losses...
Yecheng was captured, but Yuan Shao escaped?
Then he led an army of more than 100 to 200,000 people to fight back. Yecheng, which was also no longer safe to defend, was useless. And if his main force had been dragged here, if Sun Quan, Liu Biao and others took the opportunity to invade, then
Wouldn't it be like falling into a dilemma again?
Conquer Yecheng, kill Yuan Shao, and then retreat immediately?
Then Yuan Shao was already about to die, so why did he bother to do anything more and expose his trump card?
After thinking about it, Lu Yan was always wavering, and his expression was caught by Guo Jia beside him.
Guo Jia lightly touched Lu Yan's arm, tilted his head and asked, "Chang Sheng, is there anything you can do?"
Guo Jia's voice was not loud, but his actions were clearly seen by Cao Cao who was standing in the main position.
As Guo Jia tilted his head, Cao Cao also focused his attention on Lu Yan. Seeing Lu Yan's hesitant expression on Guo Jia, Cao Cao immediately knew what Lu Yan must be thinking!
"Sir, do you have a plan in mind to break the city?" Cao Cao asked expectantly.
Lu Yan hesitated for a while, then answered: "Mr. Cao, I have a question... If we break Yecheng and face Yuan's army of hundreds of thousands, how should we deal with it?"
Cao Cao was stunned and blurted out: "In a frontal battle, when have we ever been afraid of Yuan Shao?"
"If Yuan Shao dies, Yuan's army will definitely attack our army crazily... Even if they can win, it will be a miserable victory."
"But if Yuan Shao survives and leads an army of hundreds of thousands, he never engages in a decisive battle with us and just drags our main force in Hebei... At this time, what if other princes take the opportunity to send troops to attack our backs?"
"This..." Hearing this, Lao Cao was speechless for a moment.
At this time, Xi Zhicai suddenly said: "If we can conquer Yecheng and kill Yuan Shao, this matter will turn around!"
After thinking for a moment, Guo Jia added: "When Yuan Shao dies, who has the best hope of inheriting Yuan Shao's legacy?"
When Lu Yan heard this, an idea suddenly flashed in his mind. He slapped his thigh with a "pop" sound and said, "I thought of it! I thought of it! Hahaha!"
"Hiss!!!" Guo Jia gasped and grinned at Lu Yan and said, "I said Changsheng...can you pat your own thigh next time?"
Lu Yan looked back at Guo Jia's wrinkled face and apologized quickly: "Sorry, sorry, my hand slipped just now..."
Cao Cao couldn't wait to ask: "Mr. Lu, what did you think of?"
After Lu Yan organized his speech for a while, he replied: "Yuan Shao has always loved his youngest son Yuan Shang! Before Yuan Shao dies, he will definitely appoint Yuan Shang to inherit his inheritance.
As the eldest son, Yuan Tan was definitely not convinced.
After Yuan Shang succeeded to the throne, he would definitely not be at ease with Yuan Tan.
If we continue to exert pressure, the two of them may temporarily put aside their cooperation in order to resist foreign enemies.
But if we suddenly leave at this time, the two brothers will definitely fight because of their fear of each other without external interference!"
Zhuge Liang, Fazheng and Yang Xiu were startled, and secretly said: "Can it be like this?!"
