Of course, if Cao Cao's troops chose to retreat, it would also be a good thing. After all, Zhao Yun's 100,000 cavalrymen were still active in the vicinity.
Yang Rui's slow attack on Xingyang City was not only to besiege the enemy's reinforcements, but also to wait for the other two armies to advance together.
However, Yang Rui soon discovered that his plan to besiege the enemy's reinforcements would most likely fail. Zhao Yun and his cavalrymen had spent two gaming days to clear out Cao Cao's forces. If Cao Cao wanted to reinforce Xingyang City, he would probably have to mobilize troops from the more distant Jing County or Mi County.
According to the original plan, Mi County would be assigned to Dian Wei's army, Yang Rui would be in charge of Jing County, and Gan Ning's army would be in charge of the Yellow River area.
Now that Dian Wei's army had taken Yuanling County and was advancing towards Mi County, Gan Ning's army had also caught up with Yang Rui's army on the western front. Yang Rui knew from the Ethereal Ninja and his flying pet that there would be no more reinforcements from Cao Cao's troops in Xingyang City. Besieging the enemy's stronghold would be meaningless. Therefore, he launched a strong attack on Xingyang City.
With the mobility of Zhao Yun's vanguard cavalry, Yang Rui still left the west gate of Xingyang County as an escape route. Using the remaining three gates, the long-range siege weapons continued to unleash their might and flattened all three gates. After that, the army was able to enter the city without any hindrance.
However, the situation after entering the city was slightly out of Yang Rui's expectations. He did not expect that Cao Cao's troops would engage in a fierce street battle with Yang Rui's troops after entering the city without any resistance.
Although Cao Cao's troops were no match for Yang Rui's superior forces, they still caused some losses to Yang Rui's troops. Moreover, after the street battle, Cao Cao's troops once again entered the inner city of Xingyang City to resist and did not collapse.
Yang Rui still underestimated the resistance of Cao Cao's troops. It was mainly because the other armies took down the cities too easily, which gave Yang Rui some misconceptions.
In reality, no matter if it was Cao Cao's troops in Juan County, Kaifeng County, or Yuanling County, none of them were Cao Cao's elite troops. This was because these few cities were difficult for Cao Cao to defend and their locations were also relatively remote. Therefore, the troops sent to defend these cities were only one level lower.
However, Xingyang City was different. This county, from its geographical location to its population, could not be compared to the other cities. It was Cao Cao's core city in the eastern part of Si Li Province. This was also the reason why Yang Rui faced such a situation when he attacked the city.
Even so, Xingyang City was only slightly difficult to take down. In the face of Yang Rui's series of siege weapons, whether it was the outer city or the inner city, it was only a matter of time before the city was completely flattened.
After more than 6 hours of fierce siege and defense, Xingyang City finally fell into the hands of Yang Rui. Only a small group of about 3,000 to 4,000 troops escaped from the west gate that Yang Rui had left empty. It was the same for both the inner and outer city. Yang Rui gave Cao Cao's troops a way out in order to lower their resistance.
Although it was an intense siege, most of the time it was just a large group of siege weapons roaring. The real battle only took up a small part of the entire siege process.
Especially after they suffered some losses in the outer city, Yang Rui's troops practically flattened half of the inner city before they were allowed to enter. Even if there were still street battles, Yang Rui's troops did not suffer many losses in the inner city.
As for the thousands of people that escaped, Yang Rui estimated that there was a Xingyang City Defender among them. According to the information provided by Yang Rui from the NPC in the city, this person was Cao Cao's main general — — Xiahou Dun.
This information was not discovered by the Ethereal Ninja and the flying pet unit. This also explained the relatively high combat power of the city defenders. However, this time, Xiahou Dun escaped again.
If Yang Rui had known this earlier, he might have considered surrounding the entire city to catch a turtle in a jar. Xiahou Dun was currently Cao Cao's right-hand man. If he could capture him, it would greatly reduce Cao Cao's strength and morale.
Since the city of Xingyang had fallen, the three main armies that Yang Rui had sent to attack the Cao Dynasty had already formed a momentum of advancing together. Yang Rui then ordered his troops to rest and reorganize in the city.
This rest and reorganization lasted for five or six game days. Dian Wei's army had also captured Mi County, which meant that half of Henan was now under Yang Rui's control. At the very least, all the cities had fallen into Yang Rui's hands.
However, these armies had been pursuing the speed of their advance. Yang Rui was afraid that Cao Cao's forces were still in the cities and territories. Therefore, Yang Rui specially ordered the armies to rest and reorganize for a few days. Dian Wei's army, in particular, had captured the most cities and traveled the longest distance. They had been on the road almost non-stop and had passed through several counties in ten game days. Therefore, they needed to rest and reorganize.
At the same time, Yang Rui also received some new information, including information from Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and the large player organizations.
Speaking of which, Yang Rui should be rejoicing. He had sent out troops to attack Cao Cao for close to 10 game days, but the troops of the nearby vassals had not really moved along the way. They had not formed any sort of alliance or cooperation with Cao Cao's troops.
Even Henei County, which Yang Rui thought was the most vulnerable to attack, did not show any abnormal movements. Also, with Yang Rui's current ability to obtain information, Yang Rui would be informed in time if the enemy took any action.
Logically speaking, this was not normal. As a vassal, he would not be so short-sighted as to consider the situation after Cao Cao was wiped out. Besides, a few vassals had joined Cao Cao in the Praises Meeting not long ago to deal with Yang Rui together.
It was safe to say that Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and the other vassals initiated the Praises Meeting in order to stop Yang Rui's development and strength. Now, they should have responded and joined forces to fight against Yang Rui together. However, almost all of them did nothing.
On the other hand, the party that was taking action was the large-scale player organization that had temporarily formed a unified front with Yang Rui. Under the guidance of the Tracing Dragon Soul, the various player organizations had already sent out quite a number of troops to infiltrate Cao Cao's territory along the eight cities that they occupied.
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