Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 604: Grain Cart Robbed
Xu You walked over, picked up the secret letter, and read it with everyone. What was said in the letter was exactly as Yuan Shao had said.

But after reading it, Xu You was not angry. Instead, he suddenly bowed to Yuan Shao.

"Congratulations, my lord. Congratulations, my lord, on capturing Liu He alive. I am writing this letter."

Yuan Shao was extremely puzzled: "What does Ziyuan mean by this? If Cao Aman hadn't sent us food and grass, Liu He would have been defeated without a fight in a few days. Now that the food and grass crisis has been resolved, what is there to be happy about?"

Xu You smiled and said, "Although the food and grass have been shipped out, the letter clearly states that they will be delivered in two days. But now the letter has not reached Liu He. If our army sends a troop and pretends to be sent by Liu He to meet them, they can seize the food and grass..."

At this point, Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Not bad, not bad. Why didn't I think of that? How could Liu He not be defeated if he intercepted the food supplies?"

"That's not all." Xu You continued, "The fact that Liu He's army is short of food must be kept very secret. Two days later, when our army gets the food carts from Yanzhou, we will spread the news that his army has run out of food. In addition, the siege has not been going well for several days, so his army must have lost all morale. Then our army will take the initiative to charge out of the city, and Liu He, Cheng Liang and others will be captured in one fell swoop."

"A good plan, indeed a good plan. If this is successful, I will make Ziyuan the deputy governor of Jizhou and he will be my right-hand man from now on."

Xu You was overjoyed and kept thanking him, but when Guo Tu and others heard this, they all looked at him with jealousy.

As the saying goes, "strike while the iron is hot", Xu You seemed to think that this was not enough, so he stepped forward and said, "The Art of War says 'the first attack is powerful, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted'. In order to ensure that we can deal the heaviest blow to Liu He's siege in the next two days, I think we should concentrate all the arrows, rolling logs, hot oil and other things in the city, and launch a fierce counterattack tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. After three days of disastrous defeat, the enemy will surely suffer heavy losses. By then, we can use the news that the food supply has run out to achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Yuan Shao clapped his hands in joy when he heard this.

"Okay, Ziyuan, I'll do it. Liu He must die this time. Pass the order down, gather all the siege defense materials in the city in one place, divide them into two batches, and let Ziyuan be in charge."

"Thank you for your trust, my lord!" Xu You was so happy that his face was dancing with joy.

On the second day, the attack resumed outside the city gate. However, this time, the counterattack from the city wall was much more intense than yesterday.

The Han Wuzu soldiers took the lead in the charge, carrying shields and climbing up the ladders. However, despite the protection of the shields, the rolling logs, boulders, arrows and boiling oil that kept falling from the city walls made the siege very difficult, and the Han Wuzu soldiers suffered heavy losses.

In a blink of an eye, another day of bloody fighting had passed. Apart from a pile of corpses under the city wall, there was still no progress.

"Is Yuan Shao crazy? Why is today's counterattack several times more fierce than yesterday's? Does he want to use up all the defensive supplies and equipment in the city at once? It's abnormal, very abnormal."

Cheng Liang was in a bad mood. Even though there was food on the table in front of him, he had no appetite at all.

Not only him, but all the generals around him had solemn expressions, including Gao Shun. Today, nearly three thousand of his Han Wu soldiers were killed or wounded. This was the largest number of casualties since the formation of the Han Wu soldiers, which made him very depressed.

Zhu Ye looked at Liu He, the only one still eating in the military tent, and couldn't help but said, "Brother, why are you still thinking about eating? The siege is not going well, don't you want to think of a solution?"

Liu He raised his eyebrows. "The siege was not going well. This was expected in advance. It is not unexpected. How can you lose sleep and forget about food because of this? We are all commanders. If we lose our physical strength, how can we fight in the future? You are all experienced warriors. How can you not even bear such a small defeat? It is unworthy of a great general."

The generals were all very surprised when they heard this. Cheng Liang couldn't help but shout, "But the second brother hasn't come to Yecheng yet. Isn't the eldest brother worried?"

Liu He said calmly, "My second brother is both wise and brave, and he has the assistance of Wenyuan, Boqing and others. How can there be any loss of 40,000 elite troops? They will arrive sooner or later. There are also the armies led by Gongming and Zijing. Now that Zhongshan County has been opened up, they will come to reinforce at any time. As long as the two armies arrive together, it will be just around the corner to capture the city."

"But..." Cheng Liang wanted to say something, but was stopped by Zhang Yong.

Zhang Yong shook his head and winked at him. Although Cheng Liang was a little puzzled, he finally held back because he believed in his brother.

Everyone took a few bites of the food, then left the tent and went back to the camp to rest. Suddenly, Liu He shouted.

"Zilong, please stay."

This night seemed particularly peaceful. Zhongshan County, Handan City, and Ye City were all unchanged. It seemed that even the wind had stopped. At dawn, 20,000 Baibo troops launched a fierce attack outside Handan City.

The defenders in the city, who were still half asleep, were instantly awakened by the huge sound of the siege and hurried to guard and fight back.

"What's going on? Don't these guys need to sleep? They fought until nearly the hour of the dog last night, and they came again before daybreak. I didn't even have time to enjoy the beauty I just found in the city."

A man who looked like a military general was yawning and complaining.

Another general stretched his back and came over: "Come on, we are lucky to be sent to Handan. Guan Yu is mostly cavalry and not good at attacking cities. I think the battle in Yecheng will be much more brutal than here."

As he spoke, his eyes were already looking outside the city.

"Hey, why didn't Guan Yu come to supervise the battle in person today?"

"Hey, he's the commander-in-chief, so of course he needs to sleep a little longer. What's the big deal? Look, there are two people supervising the battle in the rear. Well, they can't attack us anyway, so you command here, and I'll go back and spend some time with that pretty girl."

After saying this, the general turned around and left.

"Hey, you..."

After another half day of fierce attack, Yecheng still showed no signs of being breached. The ground under the city gate was covered with oil stains, countless arrows, stones and rolling logs, all of which were stained with blood. A lot of blood had seeped into the ground, making it extremely scarlet and frightening.

In a wilderness far away outside Yecheng City, a group of convoys were anxiously traveling.

This convoy consisted of more than a thousand vehicles, and on each vehicle were piled sacks of things. No one knew what was inside. The few people leading the team in the front looked very anxious and kept urging the drivers to speed up.

Not long after, one of the leaders looked up at the sun.

"Hurry up, it's almost past noon, and we still have about 20 miles to go. If we don't hurry, it will be dark by the time we reach our destination. Hurry up, hurry up!"

Another team leader wiped the sweat from his forehead, took out his water bag, and drank a few gulps. His Adam's apple moved, and the man who spoke before suddenly felt thirsty, so he quickly took out his own water bag.

"Hey, this is a really difficult job. We are already short of food in Yanzhou, and now we are fighting on two fronts with Yuan Shu. We also have to provide food to Bingzhou, and you and I have to be responsible for the transportation. How come this hard work has to fall on you and me? It's unlucky, really unlucky."

"Okay, stop complaining. We only have a short distance left. Let's get there early and finish our work early. I heard that the general governed Bingzhou and Guanzhong area and they are very prosperous. He is also generous and magnanimous. After you and I finish our work, who knows, he might give us some rewards."

After he said this, the man who had complained before also changed his worry into joy: "The general's reward must be extraordinary. Hehe, who knows, maybe this time you and I will get rich..."

"Wait, don't talk." The man before suddenly interrupted him, his brows furrowed and his expression serious.

"what happened?"

"Listen, there seems to be some sound coming, as if... it seems to be the sound of a large group of soldiers on the road."

As soon as he finished speaking, figures suddenly appeared on the official road ahead.

The leading few men were riding horses and holding knives, charging towards the grain carts.

"Don't let the food carts ahead go. I am Jiang Qi, the general of Jizhou. Leave the food and grass behind and I will spare your lives!"

The two team leaders immediately changed color: "Oh no, it's Yuan Shao's troops, it's over, we are all finished..."

(End of this chapter)