Tian Kai saw the first city wall collapse, and countless Yuan Jun soldiers poured in from the gap. The civilians behind took the opportunity to clean up the collapsed bricks and rubble, widening the gap to form a passage.
Knowing that this was a life-and-death situation, he immediately ordered all the defenders on the walls behind to mount the top of the second wall to guard.
He himself risked the arrows, took out his strong bow, and shot repeatedly at the soldiers below.
Inspired by this, the morale of Gongsun Zan's soldiers was greatly shaken, and they fired back with their bows. Arrows rained down like rain for a while, and many of Yuan's soldiers were shot to death.
At this time, Taishi Ci led an army to the gap. Seeing the fierce counterattack of the opponent, he immediately took off the big bow from his back, looked at Tian Kai, and shot an arrow.
The arrow moved very quickly. It was almost before Tian Kai's door that Tian Kai reacted. He quickly tilted his head and hit his iron helmet squarely on his shoulder. The huge impact drove him back and fell to the ground.
On the ground.
The soldiers of Yuan's army below the city saw this and shouted: "The enemy general is dead!"
"The enemy general is dead!"
Gongsun Zan's army on the top of the city suddenly became panicked, and the counterattack was much weaker. Yuan's army took the opportunity to attack the city.
Tian Kai's personal guard saw him lying on the ground with his eyes closed tightly. He was panicking and had no time to wait. Tian Kai suddenly opened his eyes, turned over and sat up.
He gasped for air, then reluctantly stood up holding on to the city wall, feeling that his mouth was full of blood foam.
He drew out the ring-shou sword, raised it high, and shouted in a hissing voice: "Everyone, listen to the order, and you will not retreat today!"
After hearing this, Gongsun Zan's army gradually recovered from the chaos and shouted in unison.
The attack and defense lasted for more than an hour. On Yuan Shao's side, Jushou saw that the defense of the second city wall was very strong and that his own army suffered a lot of casualties. After talking to Yuan Tan, he ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops.
Yuan Xi hasn't rushed to the front in person for a long time. Now he is at the gate of his camp, greeting the returning soldiers, and the familiar feeling from before has returned to his body.
The one who broke into the gap this time was an infantry led by Taishi Ci. There were five hundred men when they went there. When they came back, there were less than three hundred men who could stand.
Even among the remaining people, most of them were injured and barely managed to come back by supporting each other. Those who were unable to move were carried back by others, or even dragged back.
Some had several arrows stuck in their bodies and were rolling and wailing on the stretchers. Some had a hole in their bodies and blood was spraying out. Some were clutching their abdomens tightly and staggering around before falling down.
On the ground, intestines flowed all over the place.
The pungent smell of blood hit Yuan Xi's nose, and he quickly called for the doctors to rescue the wounded soldiers.
Taishi Ci had a few arrows stuck in his armor. He stepped forward with a guilty look on his face and said, "Ci is not in a good position to fight. I feel ashamed of you, sir."
Yuan Xi waved his hand and said: "Just come back. Is my brother injured? What happened inside?"
Because he was on the outside and blocked by the first city wall, he didn't know what was happening.
Taishi Ci pulled out the arrow from his armor and said, "Fortunately, the armor blocked it, but the counterattack of Gongsun Zan's army inside was a bit unexpected."
After Tai Shici's explanation, Yuan Xi understood that the Yuan army that had invaded the city wall had been ambushed.
The one who took action was Baima Yicong.
They took advantage of Yuan's army to attack the second city wall and launched a charge from the empty area between the first and second city walls.
The White Horse Yi Cong are mostly light cavalry. If they rush into the infantry formation like this, they will basically die. However, they are not afraid of death. They use the lives of hundreds of cavalry to kill thousands of Yuan Jun infantry crowded between one and two city walls.
All scattered.
It was this wave of assault that took away the lives of hundreds of people under Taishi Ci's command.
Although these hundred and ten cavalrymen fell into the enemy formation and were all pulled down and killed by Yuan's infantry, the defenders on the city took the opportunity to counterattack and completely defeated Yuan's siege.
After Taishi Ci shot several cavalrymen to death with his archery skills, he led his men to support them until he called for gold and retreated.
Yuan Xi was also quite heartbroken. These infantrymen had been carefully trained by Qu Yi for a long time, but so many of them died in one attack!
However, in comparison, other Yuan Jun infantry suffered greater casualties. According to Tai Shici, it seems that Zhang He was also slightly injured and was rescued.
Yuan Xi shook his head. Because his sight was blocked by the city wall, Yuan Jun's response was a little slow. This was also the helplessness on the battlefield.
When fighting in this era, for most commanders, the battlefield is shrouded in fog, and they can only rely on predictions to judge battlefield trends.
Yuan Jun tried to attack again, but found that he still could not attack the city, so he had to withdraw his troops again and continued to dig tunnels under the first wall.
That night, Yuan Shao summoned his generals to discuss the offensive in the next few days. The counselors talked for a long time, but could not come up with any good methods.
Guo Jia proposed to divert Yishui from the upper reaches and flood Yijing, which was quite favored by several counselors.
However, Yuan Shao rejected it after considering it because flooding and tunnel digging were in conflict and would affect the next plan.
In the end, Yuan Shao decided to expand the gap in the first city wall to assist the tunnel siege and prevent the enemy from escaping.
In the next few days, Yuan Shao's army relied on the first city wall to counterattack and cover the civilians who were digging tunnels, but did not get close to the second city wall. Gongsun Zan's army stared at them from behind and did not dare to go out of the city to counterattack. The situation fell into a stalemate.
Yuan Shao convened everyone every night, but no one could think of any good solution for a while. The deeper the tunnel was dug, the slower it became, so they could only trade time for space.
At this time, in the tallest watchtower in Yijing City, several generals were arguing about something in front of Gongsun Zan.
Tian Kai had a cloth band tied on his head. Although Tai Shici's arrow hit the iron helmet a few days ago, it still cracked Tian Kai's forehead. The injury has not healed yet.
He said aloud: "In such a situation, Baima Yicong cannot function at all."
"We also ask Jihou to personally command the cavalry, break out from the west gate, and go to the west mountain to join the Black Mountain Army."
A general shook his head and said: "Even if we join forces with the Black Mountain Army, we will still have to face Yuan's army, which will not change the situation in Yijing."
Tian Kai said: "It's not to come back to counterattack, but to surround Wei and save Zhao!"
"Jihou can then join the Black Mountain Army to march south to Jizhou, cut off both sides of Yuan's Army, and even threaten Yecheng!"
"And we people are holding on in Yijing. When Yuan Shao's army is cut off from food and grass, the offensive and defensive momentum will be easy!"
When the generals heard this, their eyes lit up. This was an excellent idea.
Gongsun Zan was very moved after hearing this. He stood up and looked at the city wall in the distance.
Over there, Yuan Jun's Lou Chong chariots were densely packed, and the archers on the Lou Chong were constantly firing arrows to suppress the defenders of Gongsun Zan's city wall.
Under the carts below, civilians kept digging soil all night long, making the defenders in the city panic and unable to rest at all.
In the final analysis, Yuan's army had too great an advantage and managed to encircle ten to one. As a result, the defenders in Yijing City were suppressed in several places and were unable to exert their full strength.
If this situation does not change, sooner or later it will be dragged to death!
He was about to speak when his general Guan Jing spoke.
"Ji Hou, this plan is impossible."
Tian Kai heard this and said angrily: "Why?"
Guan Jing said: "People in the city are already in panic. If Jihou leaves, people will be even more dispersed. They will feel that Jihou has abandoned them."
Everyone was silent. What Guan Jing said was true. For more than a year, Gongsun Zan's friendly forces in Youzhou and Qingzhou were attacked. Gongsun Zan never sent troops to rescue them. He had already made his soldiers feel cold.
Now that Gongsun Zan has left Yi Jing, who will believe that he will come back again?
Gongsun Zan said: "Tian Kai has been fighting bravely these days. Is it possible that he can't stabilize people's hearts in the city?"
Guan Jing shook his head and said: "Forgive me, General Tian was defeated by Yuan Shao's army in Qingzhou. There were not even one soldier left in ten, so it is difficult to convince the crowd."
Tian Kai blushed. What Guan Jing said was true. He did not expect to lose so miserably in Qingzhou, which indirectly caused Yi Jing to fall into the current unfavorable situation. He cannot escape the blame.
Guan Jing said: "Besides, calculating the distance, the Black Mountain Army will have to prepare for at least half a month to leave the Taihang Mountains. It is still early. When we leave the city at this time, we are still half a month away from the Black Mountain Army, so it is extremely easy to be ambushed."
"If Jihou really wants to strike back in one fell swoop, he still has to wait half a month to see. By then, something might change that changes the situation."
After listening to this, everyone couldn't help but admit that what Guan Jing said did make sense.
Gongsun Zan waved his hand and said: "In that case, you all should defend the city first!"
Here Yi Jing starts fighting, and the princes from all sides are already getting ready to make a move.
At this time, at the ferry on the south bank of the Yellow River, thousands of Cao's troops were taking advantage of the darkness to cross the Yellow River one after another and board the north bank.
The leader was Cao Jun's general Xia Houyuan. He led the exhausted Cao Jun to the river bank. After marching for more than ten miles, he saw thousands of cavalry troops rolling in.
Xia Houyuan took a closer look and was shocked. The opponent was using the banner of Yuan Jun!
At that moment, a general came out and shouted: "I am Gao Lan, who is coming, and why are you violating our Jizhou border?"
Xia Houyuan cursed in his heart. He was discovered so quickly. It was obvious that the other party was on guard and had deployed scouts in advance!
At this time, the others were too tired to fight with the other side, so they could only say: "I am the general of the Caozhou Mu family, I just used the road to pass, and I had no other intention."
Gao Lan sneered: "Nonsense!"
"You must retreat quickly, otherwise I will not be polite!"
The cavalry behind him shouted, and all raised their spears high.
Seeing this, Xia Houyuan had no choice but to retreat and return to the south bank of the Yellow River overnight.
The news soon spread to Cao Cao in Juancheng. Everyone in Cao camp sighed slightly. Although it was a test this time, they were discovered by the other party so quickly. Was it possible that they had a traitor, or had Yecheng guessed it long ago?
Cao Cao also looked gloomy. It was too obvious to take the road across the Yellow River.
Moreover, Xia Houyuan also made him a little disappointed. If it were Cao Ren, he might just fight with the opponent first and make excuses later.
Moreover, according to Cao Cao's expectation, he should first capture Hanoi, connect with the Black Mountain Army, and threaten the western part of Jizhou. At this time, it would be safe to send troops to attack Yecheng.
But the two things that made Cao Cao wrong were that Lu Bu had not been killed so far. The opponent seemed to be predicting the unknown, blocking Chenliu County and even expanding into Hanoi, as if he knew what he was thinking!
Another point is that Yuan Shaojun attacked Gongsun Zan so quickly and decisively that Cao Cao had no extra troops.
Because Cao Ren is currently leading the main force of Cao's army to attack Chen State. Although it is about to be captured, it will take several months to stabilize after the capture, which means that the best opportunity for a sneak attack on Ye City has been missed.
In Cao Cao's expectation, the best scenario is that Gongsun Zan and the Black Mountain Army hold back Yuan Shao's army, and then they sneak attack Yecheng and cut off Yuan Shao's food route.
As long as he holds Yecheng for a few months with the support of Yanzhou, Yuan Shao's army will be defeated, and then the most prosperous state in the world will fall into his hands.
However, at this time, it seems that this plan has failed, and we can only settle for the next best thing.