However, one thing Li Li is certain, that is, Tao Qian and Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan form an alliance, and they must have been cheating and cheating, and they do not work hard. Therefore, both Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan have fought with Yuan Cao's alliance for several times, and the troops suffered losses, but Tao Qian's soldiers and horses suffered little losses, so Xuzhou did not suffer much impact.

However, Tao Qian failed to steal the chicken and lost all the rice. Seeing that the alliance was about to collapse, he wanted to make friends with Cao Cao and flatter Cao Cao's father Cao Song, but he killed Cao Song and attracted Cao Cao's army.

From November last year to the present, Cao Cao sent troops to Xuzhou twice and captured most of Xuzhou counties. As a result, the wealthy land of Xuzhou, which Tao Qian had worked hard for many years, was destroyed. Several counties were slaughtered by Cao Cao's army, with wars everywhere and corpses everywhere.

How could the word "miserable" be so good!

"Lord, the last general thinks what the military advisor says is reasonable." Just when Li Li remembered Tao Qian in Xuzhou, Teng Xiao suddenly spoke: "At present, our army does not have the conditions to launch a large number of troops. The government is in a state and county to recuperate. The treasury is limited in money and food, which is not enough to supply the army to capture the Central Plains. Therefore, the military advisor's strategy is very comprehensive. Based on the principle of being careful and no big mistakes, General Xu Rong's troops and the last general should be more vigilant here, and the defense lines of Hangu Pass and Tongguan should also be ready for war at any time to make sure they are fully prepared."

"Hahaha!" Li Li smiled happily and nodded and said, "What Fengxiao said is actually a solution to the country and should be adopted. However, I still have some doubts. According to Fengxiao's opinion, when will Yuan Shao choose to fight against our company?"

"Huh?" Guo Jia pondered for a moment, and then said with certainty: "As early as July, September at the latest, Yuan Shao will definitely join forces with the princes of the Central Plains to advance to the Sili!"

"In this way, it will be at least more than three months later." Li Li nodded and thought.

Then he stood up and ordered: "The two generals Bocai and Xu Rong will be ordered to strengthen their vigilance from now on, train soldiers, prepare for the army, and actively prepare for the war. He ordered Gao Shun's troops to return to Hangu Pass within one month, and Wuwei Camp reduced its troops to Hedong County. Be prepared to respond at any time. The generals obeyed the order, Xu Chu, Chen Da, and He Man temporarily returned to Li Xuan's dispatch, Duan Wei led the personal guards to escort Li Xuan, Yunluo, Zhen's and the Zhen family caravan back to Chang'an, rested for half a month and returned to the Huben Camp's base!

In addition, the Sili counties will pay taxes once a month starting this month, and the treasury of money and grain will be temporarily requisitioned. It will be distributed to the guards of Anyi, Xingyang and Hangu Pass as soon as possible!"

"I hope, the last general (under) obeyed the order!" The civil and military officials of the commander stood up and responded respectfully.

"Well, the discussion is over. It's late at night. Let's go and rest." Li Li nodded slightly and raised his hand to signal everyone to disperse.

After everyone left the tent one after another, he walked to Teng Xiao and whispered: "Don't worry about Hanoi County for the time being, let it go. It is not advisable to force too much at the moment, so as not to rush to the storm and completely surrender to Yuan Shao."

After saying that, Li Li waved his hand and signaled that Ma Yunluo and Zhen did not have to wait and would go back first.

Watching the two daughters leave, Li Li slowly walked to the door of the coach's tent, looking up at the stars in the sky, as if thinking. Then he turned around and whispered to Teng Xiao: "There are many powerful gentry in Sili, and there will be some damage in the war. They are all a hundred-year-old prominent family, which is different from us, the common people! However, the soldiers under our tent are all common people. The targets we want to protect are also poor people, but they do not see whether he is a hundred-year-old prominent family. What should we do specifically? You can discuss with Xu Rong, do things cleanly and neatly, and don't leave any handles to avoid criticism. Okay, it's getting late. You go down and rest."

After saying something inexplicably, Li Li strode down the steps and walked straight to the tent behind the coach's tent.

"A hundred-year-old prominent family is different from our common people?" Teng Xiao stood at the door of the tent and muttered to himself, thinking repeatedly about Li Li's words.

After a while, a murderous aura flashed through his eyes. While walking down the steps, he said to himself: "Since we are not the same as us, there is no need to exist,,,,,,,,"

—————————————————————

Xuzhou, Tancheng.

Xi Yuyu!

"Bang bang bang-swish swish swish swish swish!"

"ah---"

Under the city of Tancheng, war horses were neighing. Tens of thousands of Cao soldiers carried cloud ladders on their shoulders, pushed the carts in the city, raised the well railings, and attacked the city of Tan County. On the top of the city, huge rocks rolled and fell, dense arrows roared and shuttled, flying like rain. Cao soldiers who tried to climb the city were hit by the rolling stones across the city. They screamed and rolled and fell. After landing, they fell, and blood splashed everywhere. Under the base of the wall, they were piled with broken arms and broken arms, and blood flowed into a river.

“Huhuhuhu——Bang!”

At the same time, the Cao army soldiers who were siegeing the city under the city pushed out catapults and placed tinsel oil tiles. After igniting them, hundreds of catapults were thrown out at the same time, and rushed straight to the top of the city. In an instant, the burning clay pots filled with tiny oil roared in the sky and fell straight to the top of the city. With loud bangs, countless iron pieces flew out of the clay pots, piercing into the bodies of the soldiers guarding the city at a speed that was unattainable to the naked eye, causing the defenders to scream in pain, and then they lost their combat power, curled up in the corner of the wall, wailing and wiping tears.

"Kill! Hurry up, hurry up, climb up to the top of the city, capture the big-eared thief alive, and cut off the old thief Tao Qian alive!"

A hundred steps away from the city gate, a strong and burly general of Cao's army stood up and stared at the figures on the city tower who were rushing to supervise the battle. He wished he could rush up to the city and swallow it alive. However, the waves on the city head were like rain, and the woods and stones were flying. If he was not careful, he would be shot by the waves. So he waved his sword and shot down the arrows, and shouted loudly, inspiring the siege soldiers to attack the city head in one go, and vowed to seize Tancheng.

Such a fierce, fierce, cruel and bloody city offensive and defensive battle in front of us was the battle of Cao Cao leading his troops to attack Xuzhou.

In November last year, Cao Cao avenged his father for the first time and led his troops to attack Xuzhou. The entire army wrapped in white silk on his head and wore filial clothes. His morale was high and he shared the same hatred for the enemy. After attacking Xuzhou, Cao's army was unstoppable and brave. He attacked cities and villages along the north bank of Sishui. Within two months, he captured more than half of Xuzhou counties.

Whenever a city is captured, Cao Cao explicitly ordered the entire army to plunder money, food, property, slaughter the people of the city, and destroy the government and the city. The places where Cao's army passed by burned, killed, looted, and corpses were everywhere, and finally burned and turned into naked land. Until Cao's army had to temporarily withdraw its troops, most counties in Xuzhou had been burned, killed, and looted by Cao's army. After Cao's army withdrew, only a devastated piece of land and countless ruins were left.

After the war, only a few people escaped this disaster by chance and survived death. Most of the people were either killed or forced back to Yanzhou by Cao's army. Two of them were truly evaded by the killing.

Three months later, Cao Cao's army made a comeback again, and 100,000 Qingzhou soldiers, known as elite in a hundred battles, rushed to Xuzhou in a mighty manner. At the beginning of the war, less than ten days before, the Cao army once again occupied the city captured last year. Then, they continued to attack cities and land along the previous footprints, and their combat power was still fierce and powerful, and unstoppable.

Half a month later, Cao Cao's army had already attacked the city of Tancheng, Xuzhou Prefecture, and the attack and defense of Xuzhou began. Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou who had been defeated again and again, had no choice but to fight to the death to protect Tancheng.

If Tancheng is in a trap, Tao Qian will have no chance of going to the point and can only retreat to Haixi and flee to other prefectures and counties to take refuge.

Therefore, Tancheng is the location of Xuzhou Prefecture, which is important to the size of the body and cannot be lost. The most important thing is that this is the foundation for Tao Qian's hard work for many years. For a person like him who had worked hard for many years, the Taiping Land, which he had worked hard for many years, has become like this, which has made him feel heartbroken, heartbroken and regretful. If Cao Cao refused to give up, he could only survive and die with Tancheng, and he would not hesitate to keep the Prefecture even if he died, otherwise he would not die.

At the end of last year, Tao Qian asked Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Gongsun Zan of Youzhou for help. Because Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were friends and alliances, Yuan Shao refused to send troops to rescue Xuzhou and watched the success or failure of Xuzhou. Fortunately, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou and Tao Qian had always had a good relationship. At the critical moment, his Pingyuan Prime Minister Liu Bei led his troops to support Xuzhou and save Tao Qian from danger. After the war, Cao's army withdrew, but Liu Bei and his five thousand troops did not leave and remained in Xuzhou to support Tao Qian until now.

Today is the fifth day after Cao Cao personally led his army to attack Tancheng.

Now the moat under the city has long been filled, the originally clear river water has been dyed bright red, and there are broken bodies and arms floating in the Broken River canal, as well as countless white flesh and bloody clothes and broken armor.

After five consecutive days of siege in the city, Cao's army paid a heavy price of 8,000 soldiers. Tao Qian's troops, who were guarding the city, also suffered huge casualties, and the number of casualties was comparable to that of Cao's army.

With the benefits of the city, the Xuzhou army under Tao Qian still paid a price of casualties that was similar to that of the Cao army in the siege. It can be seen that the elite soldiers under Cao Cao were good at fighting, and Tao Qian was defeated again and again was definitely not without reason. The low combat power of the Xuzhou army was the key factor in his defeat by Cao Cao.

The reason is that it has been six years since Tao Qian was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou. In the past, the princes joined forces to attack Dong Zhuo, and Tao Qian only provided food and grass support, and did not dispatch a large army to join the war. After that, he appointed Zang Ba to lead troops to wipe out the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Langya County, and then drove the Yellow Turbans in Xuzhou to Qingzhou. Since then, there has been no war in Xuzhou and it is so peaceful.

During the six years when the situation in the world was the most chaotic and complex, the Xuzhou army under Tao Qian had almost never participated in any war. In addition, the world had not had a great chaos six years ago, and it was just the Yellow Turban riot that was short-lived in the pan of the Jiazi year. Apart from this, there had almost never been a war in the six counties of Xuzhou. Apart from the Yellow Turban riot, there was no war after criticizing it again, because Xuzhou is an important center in the heart of the Central Plains, and the border war will not extend to Xuzhou at all.

In this way, it is self-evident how powerful the Xuzhou army is.

After a long period of disagreement in the war, this sentence is most appropriate to use on Xuzhou soldiers and horses.

There has been no war in a century. Isn’t it considered a long time to quit the war?

Perhaps the reason why Cao Cao wanted to conquer Xuzhou so resolutely was to see the weakness of Xuzhou's troops and horses for a long time. In the troubled times, Cao Cao's move was by no means bullying the weak, but was wise, keen eyes, and extremely accurate in his actions.

—————————————— (To be continued)
Chapter completed!