Of course, this was because the city was not an important location and Yuan's army had an absolute advantage in numbers compared to the defenders. It also had a lot to do with Yuan Tan's command.
He first used a large number of migrant workers to carry the soil, regardless of losses, and consumed the number of arrows, wood and other weapons of the defenders. Then he showed fatigue on the opposite side. Before the defense could be changed, the entire army pressed forward and defeated the opponent in one wave.
Yuan Xi thought to himself, is his eldest brother so strong?
If this were the case, would he still be unable to defeat the Yellow River and be forced to confront Tian Kai for two years?
When Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun escorted the prisoners back, they discussed this idea with Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun thought for a moment and said, "Master Yuan Tan, he must have changed."
Yuan Xi felt strange, "Why has it changed?"
Zhao Yun talked about what Yuan Tan did in Beixin City for more than a month, including how he suffered at the hands of Tian Yu.
Yuan Xi has been busy with the layout of Yecheng. Because Zhao Yun is in Beixin City, he is very relieved and has not paid much attention to the affairs there.
After listening to Zhao Yun's words, he learned that Tian Yu had returned after he left.
Yuan Xi was glad that he ran in time, because Tian Yu was not an ordinary person!
In the history of later generations, Tian Yu drove Wuhuan Xianbei far away from the Great Wall, shocked the northern Xinjiang, defeated and suppressed Gongsun Yuan, and defeated Sun Quan's 100,000 troops in Hefei New City.
Later, he led General Zhonglang to protect the Huns and the governor of Bingzhou. The Hu people inside and outside the fortress were frightened by him and came to pay tribute one after another. From then on, the territory of Bingzhou was peaceful and the people were happy.
Moreover, Tian Yu was highly regarded by Liu Bei. In addition to being brave in battle, he was also good at using strategies and rarely failed in his life. Yuan Xi did not want to face such a person now. He did not expect that Yuan Tan would be unlucky, but he would meet him instead.
At first, Yuan Tan wanted to have a fair fight with Tian Yu, but he suffered a loss when they met. Later, Yuan Tan thought Zhao Yun humbly asked for advice, and felt that he was ready, so he went out to the city to fight again, but he still couldn't beat Tian Yu.
After Yuan Tan was depressed for a few days, he suddenly figured it out one day.
The art of war is to use all the advantages of one's own side. Why can't I think about it so hard?
After Yuan Tan realized what he was doing, he immediately transferred 5,000 soldiers from the plains hundreds of miles away to face Tian Yu for the third time.
When Tian Yu saw what was going on, he immediately ran away with several hundred white horses.
So Yuan Tan took advantage of the situation and captured two cities, which was regarded as revenge for one stone.
After hearing what Zhao Yun said, Yuan Xi was a little speechless. Co-author Yuan Tan grew up in the process of playing against Tian Yu?
No wonder Yuan Tan attacked Pingyuan City with his entire army, and it seemed that he had reaped the benefits!
However, defeating the few with more is indeed the kingly way on the battlefield. There is no way to defeat the many with less, so it is a last resort.
Although it is easy for the opponent to find a flaw when attacking with all his strength, it is enough to deal with Tian Kai without the help of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan.
Yuan Xi thought to himself that if he were Tian Kai, he would be scolding her too.
Several allies have problems.
Gongsun Zan returned to Yijing and no longer cared about the affairs of Qingzhou.
Liu Bei was in Xuzhou, and the situation was unstable and he couldn't catch up.
Behind the scenes, Kong Rong of the Beihai Kingdom was only good at talking but not fighting.
There are still hundreds of thousands of remnants of the Yellow Turban Army rebelling in Qingzhou.
Yuan Xi took Tian Kai's perspective and thought about it, and his head suddenly felt dizzy.
Seeing that all the city gates here had been cleared, he just wanted to go back to the camp to deliver hundreds of Xuzhou soldiers prisoners and have a good meal and sleep, so he asked Zhao Yun to lead his troops to block the city gate and stand by. He and Zhang He returned to the camp.
When we entered the camp, we saw the generals arguing about something.
The one who spoke was Jushou. There was a lot of blood on his armor, so he obviously went into battle himself.
Jushou said in a deep voice: "Young master will govern Qingzhou in the future. If we massacre the city, I'm afraid the remaining counties will resist wholeheartedly."
Yuan Tan walked around the camp and said, "Tan doesn't agree with what Mr. Tan said."
"I thought that when Cao Cao went to the city, he would massacre him. When he attacked Xuzhou, the resistance of the city behind him became weaker, and there were deserters from time to time. Doesn't this mean that massacre can reduce losses?"
When Ju Shou heard Yuan Tan talk about Cao Cao, his face was full of disapproval, "I want to teach you a lesson, but Cao Cao massacred the city just for temporary personal gain."
"What he did was mostly to weaken Tao Qian. He didn't even think about how to govern in the future. He just took advantage of the situation. Although he could suppress the resistance for a while, it would lead to chaos later."
"And the young master is attacking Qingzhou to take it for his own use. The people's support is unanimous, and the young master cannot ignore it."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan hesitated: "But if this is the case, there will be no benefit to the soldiers. How can morale be maintained?"
Jushou also began to ponder. Although he opposed the massacre of the city, he really had no good way to reward soldiers.
Yuan Xi blurted out: "Divide the rich households in the city?"
Everyone looked over and thought, only your second son can do that, we still want to be famous!
Everyone in the Yuan family knew that Yuan Xi made the head of the noble family stand at the city wall as a punishment, but they really couldn't learn from it.
Yuan Xi saw the weird looks everyone was staring at him and thought to himself, you guys don't have the consciousness to betray your own class.
Do you know why you like Zhen Mi? She knew how to open a granary and distribute grain to the poor at the age of ten!
Landlords who can reflect on themselves are rare in this era!
However, Yuan Xi also said that if you want to rule a place, you cannot do without the support of the nobles. Cao Cao was first supported and then betrayed by the Yanzhou nobles, because he did not get enough cakes for him.
No good, who will support you?
In the end, Yuan Tan decided to enter the city and plunder for a day tomorrow.
Yuan Tan is the commander-in-chief, and Yuan Xi can't interfere with what he says. At any rate, this leaves a way for the people in the city to survive.
As for what happened on this day, he was powerless.
As for the captured Qingzhou soldiers, they were all sent to the army. Except for a few strong soldiers who were scattered and organized into various ministries, the others were made into the lowest level civilian soldiers.
The next time they attack a city, they will be the ones at the forefront carrying the soil.
Of course, it is easy to stand up if you want to stand up. You can become a formal soldier by following the first troops to the top of the city.
After working until midnight, everyone had time to light a fire to cook. By this time, Yuan Xi was so hungry that his heart was in front of his heart and his heart was in his back.
Yuan Tan left the generals in the camp and asked his soldiers to get some rice and noodles and boil them in a pot.
Everyone sat in a circle around the pot and drank a few bowls of miso. There was another commotion in Pingyuan City in the distance. It turned out that several troops had rushed into the city in advance.
Yuan Tan stood up, looked at it for a few times, and said nonchalantly: "Forget it, let's talk after eating."
Everyone also looked as if they were not surprised.
After dinner, Zhang He followed Yuan Xi out. When Yuan Xi asked, Zhang He explained a few words, and Yuan Xi gradually understood.
Yuan Tan's army has not been very disciplined in the past two years. Although Jushou has been working hard to manage the army, people will be hungry.
Yuan Tan led tens of thousands of people to confront Tian Kai. Jizhou could not supply food at all, so he often sent troops to grab food.
As time passed, the soldiers tasted the sweetness and always tried to find ways to cheat on others. This situation may not be reversed in a while.
The law does not punish the masses. If a few soldiers can be punished, but thousands of soldiers cannot be killed, right?
After hearing what Zhang He said, Yuan Xi felt alert.
The situation Yuan Tan faced at this time was very similar to the one he faced in Beixin City, but at that time Yuan Xi had few soldiers and could tighten his belt to save some food.
What should you do if you lead an army of tens of thousands and run out of food?
There is no other way but to rob. How can I just let the soldiers starve to death?
The cruelty of troubled times is that it forces people to make difficult choices. Each choice is related to the survival of different lives.
If you want to end the troubled times, you have to face such choices countless times.
Yuan Xi knew that sooner or later he would face the same problem as Yuan Tan and Cao Cao.
The cruel thing about the dilemma is that no matter what choice you make, it will never be perfect.
But its most significant point is that it allows people to know the cruelty of choice in advance, so as to try their best to avoid the possibility of facing such problems in the future.
Although it is difficult, no one has done it.
In the long history of thousands of years of feudal society, at least Yue Fei did it.
This alone gave Yuan Xi confidence.
After a day of looting, Yuan Shao's army left hundreds of garrison troops behind and left Pingyuan City to cross the Yellow River.
As for the cries that filled the city, how many people died during the looting, how many people were displaced, and how many people lost their loved ones, not many people cared.
In fact, compared to other princes, except for Liu Bei, Yuan is already the tallest among the dwarfs.
During the Yuan family period, they studied "Mencius' Book of Changes", which advocated cultivating moral character, restraining words and deeds, obeying the laws of heaven, and respecting the way of heaven. This is one of the important reasons why the Yuan family is famous among the clan and has achieved four generations and three righteousness.
Now, in order to win the reputation of benevolence and righteousness, the Yuan family did not dare to massacre the city like Cao Cao, but the news of looting Pingyuan City still spread throughout Qingzhou, and everyone in the counties south of Jishui of the Yellow River began to panic.
At the gate of Yuling County on the south bank of Jishui River, people from surrounding villages fled to the city to escape. There was a long queue, including a family of three waiting to enter the city.
The couple are both in their twenties, and they have a seven or eight-year-old girl with them.
The young woman wondered: "When we enter the city, we will be forced to defend the city and fight. Why don't we escape to Donghai Kingdom?"
The male host said disdainfully: "What do you know about women's opinions!"
"No matter how fast you run on two legs, can you outrun a horse with four legs?"
"Besides, if you encounter the Yellow Turban bandits, will you survive?"
"At least Yuan Jun won't massacre the city!"
It is true that a woman's heart is not to massacre the city, but it is hard to say whether to rob things or not, and whether to use women or not.
She pulled the girl and became more and more sad.
There was a faint commotion in the front team. A man and a woman with two girls started arguing with the city guards.
The man said angrily: "We are all from the plains, why aren't we allowed into the city?"
The city guard sneered and said: "Now there is a shortage of men in the city to guard the city. It is impossible for everyone to have food to eat!"
"A man can only bring one woman in!"
"If you want to go in, you must leave those two girls behind!"
"Of course, I don't have any objection if you want to bring your children in."
The man was furious and wanted to speak, but was pushed and staggered to the ground. The woman quickly took the girl up to check and started crying.
The city guards had a look of disdain on their faces. They refused to enter, but some people did.
The young couple behind were panicked. They also had a girl with them!
As the team slowly moved forward, the two of them were panicking and running out of time. A young man's voice sounded from behind: "I am alone. If you are willing, you can pretend to be your children and enter the city together."