Xuande

Chapter 543 Yuan Shu still doesn't know where he lost

In the Shenting area, in the face of a small number of soldiers and horses led by Yuan Shu's general Lejiu, Liu Bei dispatched the general and the army Sima Gaoshun to attack.

Gao Shun was very excited. For the first time to attack, he was extremely cautious and led the army to form a tight formation to move forward steadily. Le Jiu fought hard and couldn't win. He was defeated by Gao Shun. Arrow shot to death.

Lejiu was defeated, and the road to Pingyu County was unimpeded. Liu Bei quickly led his troops forward and surrounded Pingyu County with the fastest speed.

Before the city was surrounded, Yuan Shu in the city hurriedly tried to call back all the scattered troops to protect him, so he sent people to the place where Sun Jian, Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui and Liang Gang were, and asked them to come back to help as soon as possible.

Of course, the ones who have already dealt with the enemy army are the best, so hurry back to help. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t dealt with the enemy army. Find a way to get rid of the enemy army, or send the rear troops to continue to resist, and bring the main force back to help as soon as possible.

Your hometown is going to be taken away. No matter how well you fight on the front line, what's the point?

It takes time for the army to return to reinforcements. What Yuan Shu needs most now is time. He can only bite the bullet and send troops to defend the city, and use various methods to delay the time, such as writing a letter to Liu Bei asking for peace talks and the like.

This is the strategy given to him by his adviser Yang Hong, asking him to use various means to buy time for the army to return to aid, and it can be delayed for a day.

At this time, it was September 22nd of the sixth year of Zhongping, and it was less than half a month before the start of the war, and Yuan Shu was no longer able to cope. This huge psychological gap almost caused Yuan Shu to collapse.

Facing the fact that Liu Bei's army besieged the city, no matter how unwilling he was to accept the reality, he must accept the reality.

So he had no choice but to write a letter to Liu Bei, trying to delay the time with peace talks, and then put forward conditions, on the premise that he recognized the Luoyang court and the little emperor Liu Xie. General.

The letter was quickly delivered to Liu Bei outside the city. After Liu Bei read it, he laughed, and then handed the letter to the counselors around him. They also laughed when they read it.

"This Yuan Gonglu is really dying without knowing it. He is already in this situation, and he is still dreaming of being a high-ranking official and rich salary. One can imagine how arrogant and domineering these bastards are in normal times!"

Cheng Li, who came from a poor family, was deeply resentful of Yuan Shu's request, and proposed to Liu Bei to attack the city immediately, and never give Yuan Shu the slightest chance to stand up.

Liu Bei accepted this suggestion, and immediately ordered the catapult crews to be fully deployed, and the army besieged the city on all sides, attacking the city fiercely, and never gave Yuan Shu the slightest chance to stand up.

For the messenger who sent the letter, Liu Bei didn't feel embarrassed, and asked him to bring a message to Yuan Shu.

[Tell Yuan Shu that he has only one way to die, but if he surrenders in Kaesong, he can still choose to die. If he resists to the end, he will be smashed and his bones scattered. If he takes the initiative to surrender, he will have a good time. Behead him, choose one of the two, choose it]

Liu Bei's attitude made Yuan Shu angry, so the unlucky emissary did not die in Liu Bei's hands, but was killed by Yuan Shu to vent his anger because of this incident.

After killing the envoy, Yuan Shu became depressed, and Yang Hong had nothing to do. Yan Xiang became ill because of Yuan Shu's previous behavior, and now he was still lying on the bed, unable to make suggestions, so the situation froze.

But soon, the fireball that fell from the sky melted the frozen situation.

Liu Bei set up fifteen trebuchets outside the city, using a large number of stones and heavy fire oil tanks to bombard Pingyu County with high intensity.

After round after round of bombardment, the defenders in the city suffered a relatively serious blow. Liu Bei then dispatched the siege troops, pushing a large number of siege equipment, and began to attack the city fully armed.

Yang Hong went to observe the siege of Liu Bei's army under the great threat. After returning, he persuaded Yuan Shu, who was in a depressed mood, to send enough troops to defend the city. , he was very worried that the city would not be able to hold on.

"There is also a device in Liu Bei's army that can throw stones and terrible fireballs. It is quite similar to the siege devices of the Warring States Period that my subordinates have seen in ancient books. I don't know who made it. Its power far exceeds that of bows and crossbows. Very scary.

Moreover, the flames ignited by the fireball are difficult to extinguish with water, and once they stick to the body, it is difficult to get rid of them. Many soldiers were burned to death or seriously injured. Seven or eight days, the city will be in danger! "

"Could it be that I really want to die here?"

Yuan Shu looked at Yang Hong with absent-minded eyes: "I am the suzerain of the Yuan family in Runan, the fourth generation and the third lord. My family's disciples and old officials are all over the world. With a shout, the world responds. This is the right thing, right? But why didn't it happen? What? Why? Why is no one helping me? Why am I failing?"

Even now, Yuan Shu still doesn't know where he lost.

Yang Hong knew, but Yang Hong also knew that even if he told the answer, Yuan Shu would not believe it or accept it.

Yuan Shu will only believe what he wants to believe, and he will not believe anything else, even if it is the truth.

Thinking of Yan Xiang who was sick in bed lying on the bed, and Yuan Shu's seniors vomiting blood, Yang Hong gave up the idea of ​​telling Yuan Shu the truth.

He was a student of the Yuan family, he thought he had no choice, he had to stand with Yuan Shu, and by the time he knew that he actually had a choice, it was already too late.

So he could only rack his brains to put forward some military suggestions for Yuan Shu, let Yuan Shu adopt these suggestions, and make some reinforcements for the city defense. As for the higher-level suggestions, it was meaningless.

One side is the entire Han Dynasty, and the other side is the three counties. How will this battle be fought?
Or is it possible that Yuan Shu can reenact the Kunyang battle between Liu Xiu and Wang Mang, and the meteorite fell from the sky?

There is indeed something falling from the sky now, but the location where it landed is in Pingyu County, and it is still a fire, the kind that is difficult to extinguish if it is touched, and it is Yuan Shu, not Liu Bei.

If they hadn't temporarily raised the height of the city wall of Pingyu County, Yang Hong doubted that within two or three days, the fierce Central Han army under Liu Bei's command would have captured the city.

Of course, Yuan Shu didn't want to die, so he still accepted Yang Hong's suggestion. He dispatched the most elite guards to defend the city, and fought with the siege troops. The two sides fought for three days, and the city walls of Pingyu County were given to Liu Bei. It was blackened by the fire.

When Yuan Shu died, the last hope he longed for did not make good progress.

Liang Gang's rear troops were quickly overtaken by Lu Kang and defeated, and then Lu Kang selected a cavalry lightly armed to pursue them, and soon caught up with Liang Gang's troops. In the chaos, Liang Gang fell off his horse and died. Thousands of people scattered like birds and beasts, and were completely defeated by Lu Kang.

Qiao Rui was quite capable. He made some arrangements during the retreat, and Yang Xu was not able to pursue him quickly, but because the retreat order came too hastily, he did not have time to prepare enough rations. Halfway through, the rations were gone.

So he had to plunder food everywhere, causing public dissatisfaction and confusion in the army. Finally, before Yang Xu could pursue him, the army collapsed on its own initiative.

Qiao Rui tried his best to block it, but failed. In the end, he had to flee in the direction of Pingyu County with his personal guards.

Zhang Xun and Ji Ling's troops were the worst, because the rear was threatened, and the front was entangled by the officers and soldiers. They couldn't fight, and they couldn't withdraw. In the end, Zhang Xun and Ji Ling discussed and discussed, and felt that Yuan Shu was nothing. hoped.

"Even if we withdraw, there won't be many troops left. Now Pingyu County is still surrounded by Liu Bei. If we go back, what use will it be with a little army? It's just to die."

Zhang Xun said in a low voice: "In my opinion, let's surrender. If we surrender, we may still live. If we carry it to death, we will definitely die. If we can live, why should we die? With a healthy body, we still have hope. Isn't it?"

Ji Ling disagreed with this.

"We didn't do anything good before. We scared King Pei to death. We are sinners of the Han family. If we are caught, we will definitely be killed. If we want to live, we will not be allowed."

"That……"

"Run away, the ends of the earth, the big man, there is always a place for us to shelter, there is always a place that will not be found by others, pack up your belongings, take enough belongings, and sneak away at night, so we will definitely survive, you say Woolen cloth?"

Ji Ling looked at Zhang Xun expectantly. Zhang Xun thought about it, but still couldn't make up his mind.

"But our family members are all in Pingyu County. If we escape and the news spreads, General Yuan will definitely not let our family members go. They will die."

"As long as we are still here, our family members are gone, we can still have them at any time!"

Ji Ling shook his head and said: "Although it's not very good to say this, the fact is that as long as you survive, you can marry again and continue the incense. If you die, you really have nothing."

After thinking about it, Zhang Xun couldn't think of any better way, so he had to admit that what Ji Ling said made sense.

In desperation, Zhang Xun could only nod his head, and the two discussed some details, and found reliable guards, and asked them to help pack their bags together.

In the end, the two left the barracks at night with more than 20 reliable guards, and ran south quietly, planning to go to Jingzhou first, and then cross the river from Jingzhou, all the way south, and seek refuge in Jiaozhi.

They didn't believe that they would be found if they escaped to a place as remote as Cochin.

The escape of Zhang Xun and Ji Ling was very irresponsible. They were discovered very quickly the next morning. The local armed forces are very puzzling.

We haven't made much effort yet, why did you fight on your own?
Of course, this army did not continue to do any resistance, and was soon surrounded by the government army and local armed forces, and was defeated simply and neatly. Most of them were captured, and a small number of them fled.

In this way, only the last of Yuan Shu's four reinforcements remained.

Sun Jian.

(End of this chapter)