The battle at Junshan was not going smoothly, the local bandits under his command were unwilling to fight, and Wei Shi was a hard nut to crack.

After besieging Junshan for three days, Cao's army bluffed and led troops to attack again. However, after a slight contact, he led his own thousand cavalry to break camp and turn around to Neixiang County.

Lieutenant General Hou Cheng was still in the city, and Xia Houlan wanted to hear his advice.

After hitting a wall with Wei Shi, he finally realized what he was capable of. Instead of holding on, why not put down his body and make a good plan with Hou Cheng, what to do next?

Neixiang County Government.

It was rare for the two generals of Cao's army to sit together calmly.

In order to appease Hou Cheng's heart, Xiahou Lan also specially ordered his soldiers to bring fine wine and roasted wild animals, so that they could drink and eat richly together with Hou Cheng.

After a bout of wine, jealousy, and jealousy, Hou Cheng's head began to heat up, and his pent-up unhappiness dissipated. Faced with the current predicament of Cao's army, Hou Cheng proposed a new military strategy to Xia Houlan.

"General Xiahou and General Jianwu sent our partial division south to cut off Liu Bei's army's food route. Judging from the current situation, Liu Bei's rear supplies are mainly in Xinye, not in the inner countryside..."

"So, our next focus is not to continue to besiege Junshan and tangle with Wei Shi and other rural officials, but to turn eastward and attack the new fields."

"If we capture Xinye City, it will be equivalent to us occupying Wuchao. The general will definitely know the credit we have achieved at that time. Even if we cannot defeat it, we can still loot the surrounding areas of Xinye to support the war and replenish supplies."

Ginger is old and spicy.

Hou Cheng followed Lu Bu all the way to fight, and experienced countless battles, large and small.

His words of advice made Xiahoulan's depressed mood brighten up again.

Liu Bei's army passed Wancheng and advanced to Bowang. All his generals and counselors went into battle.

Originally, the rear cover should have been protected by Cai Mao's army that followed up and set out from Fancheng. However, due to Liu Biao's negative attitude towards the Northern Expedition, Cai Mao's army huddled in Xiangcheng and Fancheng for a month without moving a step.

There is a disconnect between front and back, and the new field is empty.

Except for a small number of garrison troops and Wei Shi, a group of Neixiang soldiers who unexpectedly joined the battle group, there were no other reinforcements.

"General Hou, I have been negligent in the past. Please forgive me. General Jianwu asked the general to be his deputy. He must be aware of the general's abilities. Now that the war is imminent, our army cannot stay in the countryside for a long time and must immediately move to new fields.

"

"Now, I order, General Hou Cheng, that you lead eight hundred elite cavalry to set off quickly and attack Xinye City. After that, I will lead the rest of the troops to protect your retreat."

Xia Houlan laughed and raised the wine bottle towards Hou Cheng.

At this time, he finally understood why Xiahou Dun asked Hou Cheng to accompany him when he sent him to the expedition. Judging from the strategic planning ability just advised, Hou Cheng was obviously much better than Wang Xian and others.

After serving in Lu Bu's army for many years, the style of the Bingzhou cavalry that roamed the Central Plains was deeply rooted in the bones of Hou Cheng and other capable generals.

"Brothers, I, Hou Cheng, am a surrendered general. You may look down on me, but what I want to say is that you are not qualified. Think about it when Hou followed Wen Hou and marched thousands of miles across the Central Plains. Where were you?"

"In front of Hulao Pass, the heroes of Guandong attacked Dong Zhuo. Marquis Wen had a red rabbit horse and Fang Tian painted a halberd. No one could defeat him. I, Hou Cheng, am a strong general behind him..."

"Now, our opportunity has come to make meritorious deeds. As long as we break Xinye City, we will be heroes in the army. When we go back, General Jianwu will definitely ask for merit for us."

Hou Cheng rode on a black horse, holding an iron gun and loudly encouraging morale.

Take the experience of following Lu Bu as an example, because Hou Cheng believed that although he betrayed Lu Bu in the end, at that time, he was already trapped in Pigu City and had no room for maneuver. He was choosing his master, and it was not a betrayal.

host.

Moreover, after surrendering to Cao Cao, Hou Cheng had no achievements to boast about. It would be better to talk about Wen Hou Lu Bu to cheer up these Cao soldiers who are eager to kill all sides.

Advance quickly!

Fast forward!

March on regardless.

Hou Cheng, who had held back his breath and wanted to prove himself, led Cao's army with light cavalry to charge straight into the new countryside from Neixiang.

Along the way, although Wei Yan carried out layers of resistance, the infantry resisted the cavalry head-on, with poor results.

In fact, in terms of the overall ability of generals, Hou Cheng and Wei Yan are almost the same.

From the perspective of future growth, Wei Yan will be even more powerful, but the problem is, that is in the future, not now.

In the vast plains of Xinye, there were insufficient troops, the speed of movement could not keep up, and there were also gaps in armor and weapons. These unfavorable factors made it very difficult for Wei Yan to deal with it.

In just two days, half of Wei Yan's 500 soldiers were lost.

If it weren't for the fact that they met Fu Shu's reinforcements halfway along the road, it's hard to guess how many people Wei Yan would have left in his small army.

Fu Xu led General Liu Bei and led more than 2,000 people, including the elderly and weak, auxiliary soldiers and government officials, to garrison Xinye.

These two thousand people were quite large, more than Wei Yandu.

But the real combat power is that even Yu Jun and Fei Jun can't beat a song.

Generals Wei and Fu fought hard, and finally relied on their own fighting strength to get into Xinye City before Hou Cheng entered the city.

Subsequently, Hou Cheng used cavalry to block traffic outside the city, and sent a messenger to report to Xiahou Lan. After the two Cao armies met in Xinye, they sent out fine cavalry to start sweeping the perimeter.

Before Liu Bei settled in Xinye, it was just a county town with a small scale.

Therefore, when Liu Bei organized his army for the Northern Expedition, there were quite a few settlements outside Xinye City such as Yushu Bay and Hanjiawan.

In times of peace, the existence of these villages was not a cause for concern, but when war came, without the protection of city walls, they immediately became the target of Cao Jun's anger.

Yushu Bay was looted, and the remaining villagers, the strong ones were conscripted into Cao's camp as coolies, while the old and weak were either killed or robbed, and died of hunger and wailing.

Han's parents-in-law, who had persuaded Aunt Han to stay in the village, also lost their lives in this disaster.

Only the fifth aunt and her son Han Jin were left behind, and they were escorted to the rear camp of Hou Chengjun. One acted as a strong woman, and the other acted as cannon fodder for the siege.

At this time, the people in Yushuwan Village who had insisted on staying finally began to regret it.

If they had followed Wei Shi, they might not have suffered this bad fate.

The outside of the city was looted by a partial force of Cao's army. Liu Beijun's family members in the city were also in chaos at this time. They were all panic-stricken. Mrs. Gan was a small family and had never seen much of the world. She was so frightened that she fainted after hearing the news.

In comparison, Mi Zhen and Xia Houjuan's reactions were better.

One of them is from the Mi family, and the other is a branch of the Xiahou family. They have seen too many scuffles like this.

When Xiahou Juan heard that the man leading the troops outside the city was a general with the same surname as Xiahou, he volunteered to write a letter and sent his trusted servants to deliver it outside the city.

Mi Zhen was Liu Bei's wife and sat in the Zuo General's Mansion to listen to reports from Wei Yan, Fu Wei and others.
Chapter completed!