Chapter 770 The War Begins

During the period of mobilization and reorganization of Weijun troops, Yuan Shao also wanted to send cavalry to destroy them. However, after Hua Xiong's Xiliang Iron Cavalry arrived in Weijun, and although Zhang He had taken away 5,000 elite cavalrymen from Han Fu, there were still 15,000 cavalrymen.

The cavalrymen of Huang Zhong and Hua Xiong, plus these cavalrymen, added up to 25,000 cavalrymen. Yuan Shao's 20,000 cavalrymen could not take advantage of them at all, especially since there were 5,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalrymen and cavalry generals like Hua Xiong.

The two sides fought back and forth on the Hebei Plain, but in the cavalry battle, Yuan Shao's army still won less and lost more.

Time soon came to September, and the dark clouds of war slowly enveloped Sizhou.

On the sixth day of September, Cao Cao, the governor of Yanzhou and the general of Fenwei, issued a manifesto, saying that the general of Andong and the governor of Sizhou, Huangfu Chaobo, disregarded the court decree and blatantly placed the governor of Jizhou, Han Fu, and the prefect of Chenliu, Zhang Miao, under house arrest. Cao Cao called on the heroes of the world to raise troops to fight against them, in response to the will of heaven and the safety of the people.

Subsequently, Xiahou Yuan, the governor of Qingzhou, Yuan Shao, the general of the cavalry of Jizhou, Yuan Shu, the left general of Yangzhou, Lu Bu, the governor of Bingzhou, and Zhang Ji, the general of Zhendong and the prefect of Nanyang, successively raised troops to express their response.

On the eighth day of September, Cao Cao raised an army of 80,000, claiming to be 150,000, and attacked Huangfu Chaobo in two ways.

One of the ways was led by Cao Hong, the prefect of Qiao County, who led an army of 30,000, claiming to be 60,000, and attacked Chenliu Xiangyi from Liang State. The other way was led by Cao Cao himself, with Xiahou Dun, the prefect of Dongjun, as the vanguard, leading 50,000 troops, claiming to be 90,000 troops, to attack Puyang.

Two days later, General Yuan Shao raised an army of 100,000, claiming to have 200,000 troops, and attacked Weijun from three directions.

On the same day, Wenhou Lu Bu raised an army of 50,000, claiming to have 80,000 troops, and marched from Taiyuan to Hedong.

General Yuan Shu sent an army of 30,000, claiming to have 80,000 troops, and marched from Shouchun to Runan.

In Nanyang, General Zhang Ji raised an army of 30,000, claiming to have 50,000 troops, and marched to Duyang.

For a time, the war clouds were dense around Sizhou, and the war was about to break out.

On the contrary, Guo and Li from Yongzhou did not move for several days after the Guandong people raised their troops, as if they had forgotten the agreement with Cao Cao.

On the day Cao Cao published the manifesto, Huangfu Chaobo led his 10,000 personal guards to Chenliu in a hurry to assist Longxiangying and Chenliu garrison in defending Chenliu.

On September 12, Cao Cao's army arrived at the foot of Puyang City and set up camp five miles east of the city. Cao Cao's army totaled 50,000 soldiers, including 10,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, 10,000 Qingzhou soldiers, 5,000 heavy infantry, and the remaining 25,000 ordinary soldiers. Of course, the 50,000 troops, auxiliary soldiers, civilians and craftsmen who accompanied the army added up to more than 20,000.

After arriving at the foot of Puyang City and setting up camp, Cao Cao did not arrange for the army to attack the city immediately. Instead, he ordered the army to rest and prepare for tomorrow's attack, while he gathered everyone in the big tent to discuss matters.

After arranging the siege tomorrow, Cao Cao dismissed all the generals, but he kept Xiahou Dun.

"Yuan Rang, how are things arranged?" Cao Cao asked;

Xiahou Dun bowed and replied: "The other party has promised to open the city gate for us at the right time, but Zhao Yun is a general that Huangfu Chaobo values ​​very much. He is cautious and probably will have to wait patiently for a period of time."

Cao Cao nodded. He also knew that such things should not be rushed. A big city like Puyang cannot be captured in three or five days.

On the second day, just after dawn, the Cao army camp outside Puyang City began to bustle. The army began to have breakfast and then prepared to attack the city.

For this city, it can be said that it is a thorn in Xiahou Dun's heart. Twenty thousand troops defended such an important town, but it was captured by the Sizhou army. So this time, for him, it was a wise move.

With the sound of the drums, Cao Cao's army began to attack Puyang City. This time, Cao Cao's army only attacked the east and north walls.

Because the west of Puyang is the Baima City and Baima Port controlled by the Sizhou Army, and the south is the Pu River, so Cao Cao simply let go of the two walls and focused the attack on the east and north walls.

It was Xiahou Dun who was responsible for the attack on the north wall.

And on the east were two other generals under Cao Cao, Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang and nephew Cao Anmin.

Cao Cao, Cao Ren and Xiahou were all very satisfied with the two second-generations of the Cao family. They were the best in their generation in terms of combat power and command ability. In time, when they grow up, they will be of great help to Cao Cao's forces, especially since Cao Ang is Cao Cao's eldest son.

Perhaps Cao Cao wanted to get other forces to join the war as soon as possible, so the war was extremely fierce at the beginning. Because Xiahou Dun was holding his breath, he attacked very fiercely. Teams of soldiers were driven to the city wall and attacked the city head one after another.

On Cao Cao's side, because he had the idea of ​​training two young generals, Cao Cao did not interfere much with the use of the two soldiers. The two led the soldiers to attack the city head in turn.

In this way, the two armies fought desperately on the Puyang city head for two days, and each army suffered casualties. Cao Cao's army suffered 2,000 casualties, and Sizhou also suffered hundreds of casualties.

On the 14th, with the sound of Cao Cao's army outside the city, the day's battle ended again. After Zhao Yun arranged to replace the soldiers on the top of the city wall, he returned to the tower to eat. After eating, he had to lead his personal soldiers to inspect the defense on the city wall before returning to the tower to rest.

Zhao Yun was exhausted by the desperate attack of Cao Cao's army for two days. However, he was cautious by nature and stayed in the tower all the time. He had not left the city wall for two days.

After inspecting the city wall, Zhao Yun was about to rest in the tower. At this moment, the voice of the guards came from outside the tower: "General, the county magistrate Wei is here."

Zhao Yun was refreshed, thinking why the county magistrate came to the city wall so late. Although he was confused, he was not slow. He quickly equipped himself with weapons and walked up the tower. He saw Puyang County Magistrate Wei Zi leading dozens of guards to the tower.

"What is the matter with County Magistrate Wei going up to the tower late at night?"

"General Zhao, I have nothing else to do," Wei Zi stepped forward and bowed, "I just saw that Cao's army had been attacking the city for two days, and the general had not come down from the city wall, so I came up to the city to see if there was anything on the city wall that I could help with."

"Sir Wei is thoughtful. Everything is fine on the top of the city, but the people in the city still need your comfort. My army has 25,000 people, and Cao's army has only 50,000 or 60,000. It is not so easy to attack the city. But..." Zhao Yun suddenly said;

"But what?"

"Cao's army is out of character. They attacked the city with all their strength as soon as the war started. I suspect there must be a reason for this. Please be careful of changes in the city."