Chapter 773: Puyang City Falls
Soon, the captain of Nanmen sent someone to ask Zhao Yun for instructions on how to act.
At this time, Zhao Yun, although furious that Wei Zi surrendered to the enemy, was not panicked in his heart. In a flash, he made up his mind. Since the city could no longer be saved, he must save as many troops as possible for Huangfu Chaobo.
"Come here, give orders to the generals of each gate. Leave some soldiers to stop Cao's army. The other troops will retreat to the west gate. All injured soldiers and those who can retreat on their own will retreat to the west gate. We will retreat to Baima City. Others with limited mobility will hide in the city. Come down and wait for the army to counterattack."
As Zhao Yun's order was conveyed, the various units of the Sizhou Army began to withdraw to the west gate in an orderly manner. Zhao Yun himself led thousands of white horse Yicon and Long Xiangying soldiers to block Cao's army from behind.
With the withdrawal of most of Zhao Yun's troops, Cao Cao's army quickly took control of the two northeastern gates. However, the vanguard of Cao Cao's army who entered the city was quickly ambushed by Zhao Yun, and less than a hundred of the two thousand troops escaped. After receiving this news, Cao's army after entering the city slowed down their attack speed and gradually controlled all parts of the city.
Zhao Yun used this time to gather the army that had retreated to the west gate, then opened the west gate and retreated towards Baima City dozens of miles away under the cover of night.
Cao Ang and Cao Anmin were very excited when they entered the city. After meeting up with Cao Cao, they heard that Zhao Yun had led the remaining troops to evacuate from the west gate. They asked Cao Cao for orders to lead troops to pursue them, but Cao Cao refused.
Zhao Yun is a veteran of Huangfu Chaobo's subordinates, his status is only lower than Huang Zhong, and he is unprepared for the meeting. If the two of them gave chase rashly, they might just fall into his ambush.
You know, when he entered the city, he almost wiped out two thousand soldiers and horses in one battle. How could Cao Cao make such a mistake. If it weren't for Wei Zi's internal response this time, Puyang City Qi would have been captured so easily.
When the sky was dimming, Zhao Yun had already led the army back to Baima City.
On the 15th, Wei Zi, the magistrate of Puyang County, surrendered to Cao Cao. Puyang City, captured by the Sizhou Army at the cost of more than 20,000 casualties, changed hands again. In desperation, Zhao Yun led the white horse Yi Cong to guard the 10,000 dragon camp troops. He and the six thousand defenders retreated to Baima City.
Of the 35,000 troops in Puyang City, only about 20,000 were able to safely retreat to Baima.
After leaving the infantry behind in the city, Zhao Yun arranged for his left colonel to reinforce the city defense and reorganize his troops, and at the same time sent someone to report the detailed battle situation in Puyang to Huangfu Chaobo who was in Chenliu.
After Huangfu Chaobo, who stayed behind in Chenliu, received the news that Weizi opened the city gate and surrendered to Cao Cao before the battle, he ignored the objections of Dong Zhao, the prefect of Chenliu, and took into custody all the more than 360 relatives of the Wei family in Chenliu.
After learning the details, Huangfu Chaobo ordered more than 40 of Wei Zi's immediate family members to be beheaded in public. At the same time, he ordered the governor of Hedong to take into custody all the more than 400 members of the Wei family in Hedong. Huangfu Chaobo planned to kill all of them. Take him to the salt pond in Hedong to dry the salt. This method made Chen Liu's officers and soldiers feel energetic.
At the same time, Huangfu Chaobo left the Yuanrong crossbowmen in Chenliu to assist the Zaozhi people in defending the city. He personally led other guards battalions to Baima to assist Zhao Yun in defending Baima City and Baima Port.
On the day that Cao Cao captured Puyang City, Yuan Shao's army arrived at Ganling City. At this time, Ganling City was defended by Min Chun's 20,000 troops, and the war in Jizhou finally ignited.
Under the fierce attack of Yuan Shao's 50,000-strong army, Minchun's 20,000-strong army only lasted for two days before being captured into the city. Min Chun led 10,000 defeated troops and escaped from Ganling City in embarrassment, and was subsequently pursued by Yuan Shao's cavalry. Fortunately, Huang Zhong led the Hu and Ben cavalry to quickly arrive to respond. Finally,
Only more than 6,000 people from the 20,000-strong army retreated into Qingyuan City.
Almost at the same time, Zhao Guoxiang County, Julu Ren County and Guangzong City were also attacked by Yuan Shao's army. The three cities held out for several days and were captured by Yuan Shao's army one after another.
Huang Zhong, Hua Xiong and Zhang He each led 10,000 cavalry like fire brigade, running between the cities to respond to the defeated troops. In just ten days, the Jizhou army retreated to several cities in Handan and Kuqiu.
The two cities of Qingyuan and Taoguan on the southern line were even more disappointed. After withdrawing from Taoguan, Huang Zhong's cavalry still had 8,000, but Min Chun's infantry had gathered up and had reached 10,000. More than five thousand.
After the two men retreated to Wei County, in order to prevent things like Taoguan and Qingyuan from happening, Huang Zhong and Min Chun discussed and brought in the 10,000 defenders of Wei County and the 15,000 troops brought back by Min Chun. Reorganize.
Because Huang Zhong's five thousand tiger and sharp cavalry were intimidating, even though they were reorganized before the battle, there were still no major changes. Two days later, Yuan Shao's 60,000-strong army appeared in front of everyone again.
After capturing several cities in Ganling Pottery Hall, Yuan Shao also reorganized the surrendered and captured soldiers and horses, and then marched with the army, preparing to drive Han Fu's army, or Sizhou army, out of Jizhou in one fell swoop.
It was precisely because of the reorganization of these troops and the support of Li Li and other local families in Taoguan that Yuan Shao slowed down the pace of his attack. What he didn't expect was that Huang Zhong and Min Chun would be given the time to reorganize Wei County's troops.
A few days later, Zhang He led his troops into Handan, and Hua Xiong and Zhao Fu led their troops into Kuqiu County. By this time, the war in Jizhou finally entered the area of full defense discussed by Huangfu Chaobo and his advisers.
According to what Huangfu Chaobo had discussed with Pang Tong, Tian Feng, and Jushou beforehand, the nearly twenty cities on the periphery would definitely not be defendable under Yuan Shaojun's full attack, so everyone agreed to exchange space for time. Use those twenty cities to buy time. Preparations for war were stepped up in the three cities of Handan, Kuiqiu and Wei County, but no one expected that Li Li would suddenly unite with the aristocratic families to surrender.
Fortunately, Yuan Shao was very ambitious. When he saw that the Jizhou nobles wanted to surrender, he was overjoyed. He stopped his offensive to appease the nobles despite everyone's opposition, which gave Huang Zhong and Min Chun time.
If these three cities could not be defended, Huangfu Chaobo might have to consider giving up Jizhou and retreating to Hanoi.
Facing the fierce attack of Yuan Shao's army, Huangfu Chaobo realized that he had underestimated the combat effectiveness of Yuan Shao's army. Fortunately, Pang Tong and others suggested that Huang Xu lead the cavalry of the Control Crane Camp in Longhua to Jixian County and ask Gongsun Zan to send troops for support. Of course, they did not expect Gongsun Zan to send a large army to attack Jizhou directly. They just wanted him to send one or two cavalry schools to enter the hinterland of Jizhou with Huang Xu to harass the Jizhou army, so as to distract some of Yuan Shao's attention.
Now more than ten days have passed, and Huangfu Chaobo estimates that Huang Xu has entered the hinterland of Jizhou. According to the news sent back by Shadow, Gongsun Zan was quite loyal. After meeting Huang Xu, he immediately agreed to his request and sent his younger brother Gongsun Yue to lead 5,000 white horse volunteers to fight with Huang Xu.
Ten thousand cavalry and 20,000 war horses are nothing if they are put into the war on both sides of the Yellow River, but if they are in the heart of Jizhou, they can do a lot.