Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 163 Xu Capital City, Burning

By October 29, after noon, Shen Chen had already gone south and joined Liu Bei and Guan Yu in Zhile Township.

At this time, Cao Jun did not take the initiative to attack when the two were marching.

Because Cao Jun's strength is too small.

The number of elites is no more than three or four thousand, and the remaining seven or eight thousand are second- and third-line troops, and some of them are even temporarily transferred soldiers from the auxiliary soldiers, both old and weak.

Therefore, even when Liu Bei and Guan Yu were on the march and looked quite weak, they did not dare to attack.

The most important thing is that Yingchuan has a smooth road. Due to Cao Cao's relocation and development, Xudu is surrounded by fields and rivers, and there are few forests. Unable to storm.

So the armies of the three parties merged together smoothly in this way. Since the second-line troops defending the city were also mobilized, their troops seemed to be quite strong at this moment, with a strength of nearly [-] troops, sweeping across Xudu in a mighty manner.

Zhile Township is located in the east of Xudu City, less than ten miles away from the city. On October 29, the three of them were stationed here. In the evening, they had a small meeting to discuss how to take the next road.

Inside the camp, Shen Chen pointed to the map and said: "Everyone, the scouts just got the news today that Cao Cao has released the Yuan Jun captives and went south in person. With his footsteps, he will be able to return to Xudu a few days ago, so at least tomorrow we will go to Xudu." We must evacuate, but before we evacuate, Cao Cao must not make it easy."

Liu Bei suddenly thought: "Sir, I sent someone into the city to contact Wen Jugong, and he told me that the city is extremely empty now. If we attack the city by force, it is very likely that we will burn Cao Cao's food and grass and welcome the emperor away. Isn't Cao Cao like this?" Doomed to perish?"

"Yes."

Mi Zhu was also surprised and said: "Yuan Shao's vitality has been seriously injured. We will withdraw to Nanyang immediately after we win the emperor. After Cao Cao is destroyed by himself, we will send troops to the north to sweep Yingchuan and recover the whole of Henan."

Shen Chen smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Xuande, you have been dealing with Cao Cao for so many years, so you don't know who he is. There are so many farm households around Xudu. If he burns his food, he dares Take away all the food and grass from the farm households, no matter how bad it is, you can still eat human dried meat."

Hearing this sentence, everyone's complexion changed, and Liu Bei's complexion was actually not good-looking, because he remembered the most embarrassing part of the past.

It is true that Cao Cao cannibalized human flesh, but he was also in dire straits when he was in Xiapi. His soldiers once ate the corpses of starved people. Although what they ate were not living people but dead corpses, letting soldiers eat human flesh itself is a moral corruption Therefore, this is already the greatest regret and guilt in his heart.

Thinking about it now, with Cao Cao's disposition, he could indeed do it, and it would be the people of Yingchuan who will suffer.

"Oh, I am well aware of Cao Cao's cruelty."

Liu Bei sighed.

Shen Chen said: "Not only that, but the Yingchuan family must also have surplus food. If we welcome the emperor away, plus the officials and officials, it will be inconvenient to move. Cao Cao has replenished food and grass in Xudu. He will definitely pursue him. I'm afraid we won't be able to reach Xiangcheng. , we will be caught up by him."

"I see, Mr. Xiao is right, so what should we do now?"

Liu Bei asked.

Shen Chen said: "I want to evacuate, but I can't let Cao Cao chase after me, so I plan to burn Xudu! But I must not implicate the innocent people of Xudu, Xuande Lord, please evacuate the residents of Dongcheng when I attack the city." , give them a certain amount of grain and coins as compensation.”

"Oh?"

Liu Bei was surprised and said, "Xiao Mister is really righteous."

Shen Chen smiled wryly and said: "It's just a helpless move. Fortunately, we have a lot of food and grass, and we have harvested a lot these days. We have plundered many assets of the Yingchuan family, so we are not short of money."

Now Shen Chen has reached the northwest of Yingchuan, almost half of Yingchuan has been captured by him, Xiangcheng, Yingyang, Yangdi, Dingling, Liqiang, Zhaoling and so on.

They have never done anything wrong to the people, and they will not be soft on those Yingchuan clans who support Cao Cao, and they have plundered many powerful families in many places.

There is not much food and grass, but the money is countless.

In troubled times, there are too many coins that are difficult to transport, so it is better to distribute them to the people and buy people's hearts.

Therefore, most of the five baht coins along the way were given to the poor people in Guishou, and only the precious silk, gold, silver and jewelry remained.

Now is the time to use them.

Burning Xudu will definitely hurt the innocent, so Shen Chen decided to ask Liu Bei to dismiss the people and give them money, so that he can get a good reputation.

Fame seems to be a false thing, but once it is used, it is very useful.

For example, Cao Cao was such a brutal person, the people in Xuzhou were shocked when they heard about it, but after he welcomed the emperor, he had a righteous name, and his reputation improved a lot.

That's what fame brings.

It's just that Cao Cao's reputation was borrowed from Liu Xie, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and what was overdrawn was the reputation of the Han Dynasty over the past 400 years.

But Liu Bei and Shen Chen have to rely on their own efforts to achieve the goal of being famous all over the world.

Just like Shen Chen returned pigs and coins in Longzhong Township before.

The melon field does not accept the shoes, and the Li Xia does not complete the title.

A gentleman of integrity must not do things that make the world doubt.

Attacking Xudu at this moment can't make the people feel that they are doing harm to the world in the name of flattering the emperor.

So before Shen Chen left, he asked for his name!
And to be famous all over the world.

He aimed his spearhead at the Yingchuan family, and he was extremely friendly to all the officials and officials in Xudu City.

Kong Rong and he have a very good relationship with Liu Bei, and they all hate Cao Cao.

Although Yang Biao was suppressed by Cao Cao, he resented Cao Cao's arrogance and domineering in his heart. In addition to torturing himself, he also imprisoned the emperor.

The royalists still have a certain right to speak. If they can win the fame of the people in Henan, then Shen Chen's strategy of occupying Nanyang in the south and Yuzhou in the north will really be realized in the future.

At that moment, Shen Chen began to arrange according to the plan, and reported according to the detailed work in the city. Xun Yu had already summoned many Cao troops outside the city to the city, and defended it with the inner city as the foundation.

So Shen Chen is going to personally lead the army, attack Cao Jun's many strongholds in the east city, suppress Cao Jun back to the imperial city, and then surround Xudu together with Liu Bei. leave.

Normally, this work would take a long time, but now it is a war, and there are not many people in the city. Most of them are nobles, powerful merchants and their servants. Most of the ordinary people are farming outside the city, so there are only a few people in the city. Thousands of people, and fear of war, will definitely be obedient.

After the matter is arranged, everyone should act without delay.Shen Chen, Gan Ning and Zhang Fei personally led 5000 troops and began to settle in the streets of Dongcheng.

There are not many Cao Jun strongholds outside the city, and they were quickly cleared.At that time, there was a moat in the inner city of Xudu, but not in the outer city, so the soldiers could only line up outside the moat.

Behind him, Liu Bei personally led the army and knocked on every door.

Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, Mi Fang, Shi Ren, Liu Yan, Yuan Wei, Xia Houzuan, Deng Zhao, Shen Tao and other generals and advisers in the army also led their soldiers and pushed for The carts for distributing money and food went deep into the south city of Xudu, and began to do the work of demobilizing the people.

Of course, they couldn't say that they were going to burn Xudu, but they were saying slogans that they were going to attack the palace and save the emperor. They were afraid that the fire would kill the people and hurt innocent people, so they gave money and food to let the people go out of the city to take refuge.

For a while, all the noble families and powerful merchants didn't even want Liu Bei and Shen Chenjun's money. Driven by the army, they all drove out of the city in horse-drawn carriages.The common people helped the old and the young, carried the food, grass and property given by Shen Chenjun, and brought all the valuables at home, and fled in a hurry.

In fact, when Liu Bei and Shen Chen's army arrived in Zhile Township, the news that the enemy had attacked outside Xudu City could no longer be concealed.Since yesterday, a large number of dignitaries and dignitaries have fled Xudu. It is only today that the common people know the news, and they are all very panicked.

Fortunately, after Shen Chen's army entered the city, Qiu did not commit any crimes. Instead, he shouted slogans, saying that he wanted to flatter the emperor, fearing that the people would be hurt, persuaded the people to leave the city for refuge, and gave money and food.

Although many people don't want to leave their homes, no matter how kind their army is, they will knock on the door with shining knives and guns in their hands, and they will be given a considerable amount of living expenses. I can only live under the eaves and have to bow my head.

So from the noon of October 29th until the morning of October [-]th, the evacuation of the people in Xudu City was like a torrent, chaos mixed with order, and slowly poured out of the city.

Fortunately for the common people, because there is no city wall in the outer city of Xudu, and most of Cao's troops were forced into the inner city palace, no one stopped them.

After they took the things, they immediately left the city under the urging of Liu Bei and Shen Chenjun.

But for Cao Jun in the city, it was a kind of torment.

They are so short of supplies.

There is no shortage of food, but there is a shortage of equipment for defending the city.

In order to fight the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao almost moved more than 90.00% of his supplies to the front line of Guandu. Now there are very few defensive equipment in the city.

There is no bed crossbow, the number of arrows is less than [-], and there are only a small amount of rolling stones and some lime. There are no such things as golden cupping pots.

Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the two sides can hardly be compared. This is why no one dared to intercept Guan Yu and Liu Bei during the march.

At noon on October [-]th, after a day and night of evacuation, Xu Du was close to an empty city. From noon onwards, Shen Chen officially prepared to attack the city.

From yesterday to now, of course, he did not do nothing. Instead, he sent people outside the east city gate to build earthen mountains and build wall towers. With enough arrows, he almost suppressed Cao Jun at the top of the city with bows and arrows. I can't lift my head up.

In the afternoon, we started to prepare to cross the river with the trench bridge we made.

However, the moat of Xudu is still relatively wide. Although it is not as exaggerated as Xiangyang, it is more than 30 meters long, but it is more than [-] meters long.

As a result, the first meal of rolling stones and wood smashed the trench bridge a lot, and they had no choice but to retreat.

In the evening, Shen Chen continued to attack from the east and south gates. The resistance on the top of the city was extremely fierce. Relying on the haste of Shen Chen's army, unlike Yuan Shao who had a large number of siege equipment, the two sides fought fiercely around the city.

At the most critical moment, seeing that Shen Chen's army was about to rush up from the east gate under the cover of arrows, Cao Hong had no choice but to order to use the fish paste stored in the palace to pour it down and set fire to the ladder.

Seeing this scene in the distance, Shen Chen immediately had an idea, so he immediately ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops, and asked the soldiers not to retract the trench bridge when they retreated.

Soon a large number of ladders were burned, and the flames spread to the moat bridge built under the city, and spread to the east of the city.

Shen Chen deliberately did nothing to put out the fire, but pretended to be defeated and retreated.

Soon the fire spread rapidly in the east city, thick smoke filled the air, and flames soared into the sky.At night, the fire ignited the houses near the city, and then burned in all directions, encircling the south city and the north city.

On the contrary, the inner city is almost safe because of the natural isolation zone of the moat, and the city walls are made of earth, stone and bricks, with very few wooden utensils, and Cao Jun's defense against the flames.

"Ming Jin, withdraw troops!"

Seeing that Cao Jun helped him complete the task of burning Xudu, Shen Chen didn't have any intention of staying. After the fire was raging, he ordered to ignite other places in the city while withdrawing from the city.

Shen Chen didn't retreat his troops until midnight, when the fire in Xudu almost reached the point where it could not be extinguished.

To make matters worse, he also sent people more than ten kilometers south of Xudu City to tell the people who hadn't run far, saying that Cao Jun set fire to the city, they were unable to attack the city and were forced to retreat, and they would come back in the future to please the emperor and save the people.

Anyway, Cao Hong ordered to burn Shen Chen's moat, bridge and ladder with fish oil. Tens of thousands of soldiers around us saw it. The families of these soldiers were all outside the city. It would be impossible to hide so many eyes. Cao Hong is the best.

At the same time, Cao Cao's army had actually reached the Weichuan Pavilion in the north of Yanling, which was less than [-] kilometers away from Xudu.

The fire at Weichuan Pavilion has been burning for four or five days, and the fire has been gradually extinguished because the surrounding vegetation has been burned out.The original mountain forest was pitch black, and the ashes filled the sky were still mixed with the residual heat of the flames.

Cao Cao had to choose to take a detour because his feet were hot on the ground.But looking at the Weichuan Pavilion from a distance, he still sent someone to check on Ren Jun and the others.

At night, the scouts who went to investigate reported that more than 4000 of Ren Jun's troops had been burned to death. Jun.

Cao Cao could only sigh, and sent people to hurry up and return to Xudu before the next morning.

On October 31st, at the third quarter of Pingdan, that is, around four o'clock in the morning, the sky is not yet bright, and today is another dry day.

When Cao Jun passed through Yanling, Cao Cao was about to send scouts to investigate the news, but before the scouts went to investigate, and went forward, he saw the flames reaching the sky.

Cao Cao was riding on horseback, standing by the post road leading to Xudu, his eyes were wide open, and his face was full of disbelief.

He saw that the sky was covered with black smoke, and the flames seemed to dye half of the sky red. Even if it was more than ten kilometers away, it seemed that he could smell the smell of paste in the air.

Xu capital city.

It's actually burning!
(End of this chapter)