Full of confusion and unwillingness, Gongsun Zan fled back to Yijing City.
He left the city with thousands of cavalry, but when he came back there were less than a thousand.
But the most fatal thing was that in order to welcome them, the city gate was opened wide, and Yuan Jun, who was well prepared, followed them in desperately and breached the city gate!
What the two sides are facing now is a street battle over every inch of land!
Gongsun Zan looked down from the watchtower and saw the dark Yuan army at the city gate in the distance rushing in, which made his face become even more ugly.
He hasn't recovered from last night's defeat, but the opponent obviously won't wait for him.
At this critical moment of life and death, a trace of sternness appeared on his face and he began to issue orders one after another.
After receiving the order, Gongsun Zan's soldiers rushed into the watchtower to defend.
Yuan Shaojun's soldiers poured into the city and were shocked by the sight before them.
Guarding dozens of huge watchtowers are hundreds of small buildings several feet high. This is the watchtower array specially built by Yi Jing for defense!
While Yuan Jun was stunned for a moment, archers from Gongsun Zan's army emerged from the top of hundreds of watchtowers, tightened their bows, and fired arrows at Yuan Jun in the open space below. Arrows rained down for a while.
Yuan Jun, who was crowded together, was caught off guard and fell to the ground one after another after being hit by arrows. The remaining people quickly raised their wooden shields to block their heads.
The soldier wounded by the arrow could only scream and crawl on the ground desperately, trying to find a place to cover his body.
Some people looked at the soldiers blocking the shield and wanted to crawl under the opponent's body to avoid the arrows. As a result, the standing and lying soldiers became a mess, the formation was chaotic, and they were unable to lift their heads under the weight of the arrow rain above their heads.
Come.
Zhang He had already followed him into the city gate. When he saw this, he shouted loudly: "Break into the other side's watchtower, don't stop!"
The soldiers suddenly woke up from a dream and rushed to the nearest watchtower with shouts.
As soon as a Yuan Army soldier rushed in with a knife, he let out a scream. The people nearby watched as he stepped back with several spears stuck in his body, and the spearheads penetrated deeply into his body.
Several Gongsun Zan soldiers held long spears and pushed him out with all their strength. The soldier's screams became weaker and weaker, and he fell to the ground and died.
Everyone was shocked. There were soldiers specially guarded below the watchtower!
In this moment of confusion, the above began to shoot arrows downward again, and Yuan Jun was caught in a dilemma.
The city that Yuan Jun attacked before was full of low-rise flat houses. He had never encountered such high-rise watchtowers, and he was helpless for a while.
Zhang He led his troops into a watchtower and several spears were fired at him. Zhang He dodged and shot a soldier who wanted to sneak attack him to death.
He led everyone in a bloody fight, and finally rushed to the top of the watchtower, killing all the archers above.
He looked from the top of the building and saw soldiers, led by various generals, fighting the enemy inside the watchtower. The most conspicuous one was another fierce general, Wen Chou.
He rode a horse and was fully clothed. He actually rushed directly into the watchtower, used the momentum to knock away all the soldiers inside, and then slashed with a long knife in his hand, killing all the enemy soldiers.
Seeing the small watchtowers fall one after another, the dozens of tall watchtowers in the center finally started to take action.
Gongsun Zan's soldiers tightened the crossbow plate and rolled out the huge crossbow cart, pointing at the small watchtower below!
Zhang He looked up and saw it, yelled and hurriedly hid in the building. As soon as he left, a huge crossbow arrow shot down from above and penetrated the floor next to him, making Zhang He break out in a cold sweat.
With the help of the ballista, Gongsun Zan's army suppressed Yuan's army outside dozens of tall watchtowers. Seeing that the offensive was blocked, Ju Suo, who was holding the formation behind, ordered everyone to temporarily retreat and look for obstacles to hide and avoid.
Jushu stood at the gate of the city and ordered his soldiers to push in rams and other siege equipment. However, the city was narrow and the siege equipment could not move easily, so it blocked the way of his own soldiers.
The most effective weapon for breaking down tall watchtowers is the Cloud Tower. Although this thing is not as tall as the watchtower, it can still allow soldiers to shoot at each other. If they get close, they can also take the opportunity to jump onto the opponent's watchtower.
However, due to the blockage of the city gate, Yun Tower cannot be pushed in, unless a section of the city wall is completely demolished.
Either the components of the cloud building are transported to the city and assembled on site, but I don’t know how long it will take to install them.
The only way to teach the way of the heart is to dig a hole.
Thinking of this, he was still surprised that Yuan Xi was thinking of him together. Why had he changed so much in the past three years?
You know, three years ago, no one would think highly of this weak-tempered concubine!
Jushu asked Zhang He to supervise the soldiers and steadily advance the construction of fortifications, while he himself withdrew from the city and returned to Yuan Shao's tent.
At this time, there were only a few people in the camp, and most of the generals and counselors were supervising the battle. This battle of Yijing was the largest troop dispatch in the past few years. Afterwards, merits would be rewarded, and no one wanted to be second to others.
Yuan Xi was talking to Yuan Shao when he saw Jushou coming in. He turned around and said, "I have seen Mr. Gongyu."
Jushu nodded, and first said to Yuan Shao: "I have met my lord." Then he said to Yuan Xi: "I have met your lord."
When Yuan Xi saw Jushou take a few steps back and stand aside, he came back with a war in his heart. It seemed that Jushou had begun to distance himself from Yuan Shao at this time.
Compared with Tian Feng, Ju Shou was actually more awkward. Tian Feng just had a bad temper, while Ju Shou almost completely broke up with Yuan Shao in the later stages.
Yuan Xi speculated that this might be related to the fact that when Ju Shou was under Han Fu, he offered a plan and refused to hand over Jizhou to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao is a grudge-bearing person, and this incident may very well make him hold a grudge.
And from the perspective of later generations, although Jushou was proficient in battle formations, the strategies he proposed were rarely adopted.
This is because Jushou's plans are all based on calculating defeat.
Whether it was his proposal to welcome Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, or his opposition to the separation of Yuan Shao's three sons, or his strategy of weakening the Cao Cao, or his slow advance tactics in the Battle of Guandu, they were all considered with the Yuan family in a disadvantaged position.
However, the situation at that time was that the Yuan family was at the peak of its power and could seize the world at any time. Jushou's ideas were just like looking for a way out, and of course they were not accepted by Yuan Shao and his counselors and generals who wanted to ascend to high positions as soon as possible.
In fact, Yuan Xi had just returned, and it was Yuan Xi's soldiers pretending to be the Montenegrin army who set fire to the city as a warning to lure Gongsun Zan's army out of the city.
In fact, he arrived with his troops the day before yesterday. He asked the soldiers to change into the clothes of the defeated Montenegrin army in Beixin City, and had several hundred cavalry appear first to confuse Gongsun Zan in the city.
As expected, Gongsun Zan fell into the trap and escaped from the city, but was ambushed and eventually fled back to Yi Jing, causing the city gate to be lost.
Yuan Shao looked pleased at this moment: "Xian Yi has made great achievements again this time. If we capture Yi Jing this time, you will definitely be the first to take the lead."
"But you were able to guess the content of Gongsun Zan's secret message, which really surprised me."
Yuan Xiqian said: "It's all thanks to the work of my father's spies in the city. I just guessed it by luck."
What he said was true. He only knew that in his previous life, Gongsun Zan was lured out of the city, but he had no clue as to how Yuan Shao succeeded in doing so in this life.
So after he caught the spies and found the secret letter with the code, he was very confused.
How do you guess this?
Based on the records of his previous life, he roughly knew that this letter was for the Black Mountain Army to ambush and respond in the northern mountain col, but the key question was, he didn't know which night it was.
He and Guo Jia discussed it for a long time and came to the conclusion that it couldn't be that night in the first place because the time was too hasty.
Secondly, it is unlikely to take more than three days. If things change later, the Black Mountain Army will probably be surrounded and destroyed by the Yuan Army.
In this way, the most likely ones are the second and third days.
But even if there are two options, it is difficult to choose. If you make a mistake, you will be alerted.
In the end, Yuan Xi went to see Yuan Shao and said that he had already interrogated some of the contents of the secret message, but could not determine the time.
When Yuan Shao heard this, he called Xun Chen and asked him to contact the spies in the city.
The next night, a secret letter was sent from the city, saying that Gongsun Zan was dressed in armor and seemed to be taking action.
After Yuan Shao and Yuan Xi received the news, they knew that it was most likely tonight!
Yuan Jun immediately raised fire and issued a signal. As expected, Gongsun Zan was fooled and led his cavalry out of the city. He was defeated and fled back to Yi Jing.
After Yuan Shao and Yuan Xi finished talking, they turned to Jushou and asked, "How is the situation in the city?"
After hearing this, Jushou immediately stepped forward and told him what had happened when he was blocked by the watchtower in the city.
At the end, he held up his hands and said: "In the current situation, if we want to achieve a quick victory, we can only adopt the strategy of digging holes and attacking with fire as proposed by the young master earlier."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi felt a little moved in his heart. When he proposed this strategy that day, Yuan Shao told him privately afterwards that Ju Shou had also made similar suggestions.
Jushou now attributes all the credit to himself. Does he not want to compete with himself, or is he frustrated with Yuan Shao?
It can be imagined that Yuan Shao likes to kill heroes who can't be killed when he has a big advantage. Yuan Xi guessed that Ju Shou's good days are coming to an end.
Yuan Shao said at this time: "In this case, according to the previous strategy, let all the civilians enter the city and dig out the city quickly."
"Within three days, all watchtowers must be destroyed!"
Yuan Shao was also a little anxious at this time, because except for Yuan Xi who rushed back earlier than expected, there were changes in the other two routes.
Yuan Tan blocked Zhang Yan's most elite mid lane all the way, blocking the main lane, but the fight was quite hard.
Yuan Shang's road to Ye City was even more embarrassing. The Black Mountain Army looted around Ye City. Yuan Shang sent Gao Lan out of the city to intercept, but with little effect.
Now both sides are waiting for Yuan Shao's army to return for reinforcements. Thinking of this, Yuan Shao is a little lucky that Yuan Xi, who was the least optimistic beforehand, was the first to come back and changed the situation of the battle!
Gongsun Zan stood on the watchtower, watching Yuan Shaojun's soldiers and civilians rush into the city under the cover of the charging chariot and push the flat cart to the edge of the mound below the watchtower.
Then these people started digging the earth like they were digging a city wall.
Tian Kai said: "They want to dig down the watchtower!"
A general heard this and said, "If this is true, wouldn't they also be crushed to death?"
"I don't believe they dare to risk their lives. It's actually not easy to dig out the foundation of the watchtower. There are deep piles underneath."
Everyone listened and nodded one after another. Suddenly someone noticed that black smoke began to come out from the bottom of a tall watchtower.