Although Fan County was a large city, the method used to attack Shouliang could still be shifted and used. It was just that it was more troublesome in comparison. Yang Rui's troops spent roughly four hours to gain control of Fan County.
In the process, Yang Rui had obtained more than 100,000 plot points and achievement points, as well as a small amount of food, gold coins, and other items from the Fan County warehouse.
At the same time, Yang Rui's side also lost some soldiers and a few chariots. One of the chariots was severely damaged and could not be used anymore. However, it was not a loss compared to the gains from attacking the city. The dead soldiers could be revived using the plot points.
Yang Rui noticed that apart from the plot points and merit points obtained from attacking Fan County, these two points had increased a few times not long ago. It was probably another group led by Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo that had made their move.
Currently, Yang Rui's communication methods were too monotonous. Ever since he received news from Gao Shun's group, there had not been a second message.
This made Yang Rui think of the carrier pigeons that Zhang Rang, He Jin, and the others used. If they had carrier pigeons, it would be much easier to send messages. At this time, Yang Rui could only send more messengers back and forth to get the latest news as quickly as possible.
However, Yang Rui still remembered the carrier pigeons and prepared to ask Zhang Rang for the carrier pigeons or related training methods the next time he saw him.
"Report! Jizhou Governor Han Fu replied. He said that he should have asked Ying Prefecture's Yuan Shao to send troops to Puyang, but the situation in Jizhou is unstable. Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao are fighting fiercely, and General Qu Yi has defected to the Bohai Sea. Governor Han Fu's forces are limited. Therefore, he did not dare to act rashly. He especially apologized to Lord Zhou.
However, Governor Han Fu also promised to strengthen the defenses of Li 'an, Neihuang, Fanyang, and Yin' an to cut off Liu Daibei's path … "
After the siege ended, after Yang Rui comforted the NPCs of Fan County, Han Fu from Hebei sent news. After replying, the messenger passed a letter personally written by Han Fu to Yang Rui.
At the time, Yang Rui had invited her to send troops together, but he didn't have much hope because the number of troops that Han Fu could control was limited. It was already not easy for her to maintain the situation in Ji Zhou. Back then, Yang Rui had only invited him to boost his reputation.
Moreover, Yang Rui had never thought that Qu Yi would betray Han Fu and join Yuan Shao. Thus, Han Fu would have no extra strength to send troops. This was clearly stated in the letter written by Qu Yi, who repeatedly apologized to Yang Rui.
Qu Yi could be considered as a powerful general that was hard to come by. He had even played a key role in the battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan. In the previous life, Qu Yi's Exclusive Special Unit, the Vanguard Death Soldier, had been exposed on the game's forums. It should be even stronger than the Vanguard Warriors that were leveled up through Skill Books!
Now that Qu Yi had betrayed Han Fu and joined Yuan Shao, it was the right time. It seemed that even though Yuan Shao had been weakened by Yang Rui, the result of the battle between him and Gongsun Zan was still hard to predict.
"Thou shalt make another trip to Ji Zhou. Tell Governor Han Fu not to worry too much about Qu Yi's matter. If something happens to Ji Zhou, Qing Zhou will not stand by and do nothing.
Moreover, although Ji Zhou doesn't have to send troops, you can have Li 'an, Neihuang, Fanyang, and Yin' an counties send out some information and actions to create momentum and pressure the East County. This will play a role in confusing Liu Dai's vision … "
Yang Rui gave some instructions to the messenger soldier, and also ordered him to go to Ji Zhou to deliver the message to Han Fu. Then he prepared the soldiers and weapons, and discussed with Zhang Ning and Guo Jia the next step of advancing the troops.
After taking down Fan County, Yang Rui's troops had already entered deep into the East County. They could advance in the northwest, west, and southwest directions.
If they went to the northwest, they could go straight to Dong 'a County and Dong Wu Yang and meet up with Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu' an Guo's troops. Although it was very stable, it was a bit of a detour, and they would be further and further away from Liu Dai's base in Puyang.
If they went west to Bing Guan County and Dun Qiu County, they would be gradually approaching Puyang City. They could also form an encirclement with Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu 'an Guo's troops. However, this would go against their original intention of intimidating Liu Dai.
After Yang Rui and the others discussed, they prepared to send troops to the southwest. They would enter Li County, pass through Ding Tao Commandery's Juancheng, and enter Puyang City. This way, the attack route would be close, and they would still be intimidating Liu Dai from many directions. Liu Dai would be unable to deal with it.
However, to be safe, Yang Rui decided to wait for a day. He would wait for news from Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu 'an Guo before making his next move. At the same time, he would let the soldiers rest for a day to recover their strength.
Just as the soldiers were resting for a day, Qiao Mao and Ding Yuan also sent in the latest news.
After Qiao Mao obtained the agreement with Yang Rui, he actively reorganized his troops and left Chang Yi three days ago. He crossed the Wen River's tributary, Si River, and directly surrounded Ding Tao City.
Ding Tao City was the easternmost county city under Liu Dai's control. It was a special-grade county city and even though it only had less than 20000 soldiers, Qiao Mao's 80,000 soldiers were unable to make any progress even after a few days of besieging the city!
When Yang Rui heard this news, he was not surprised. Qiao Mao was eager for revenge. It was already not easy for him to gather 80,000 soldiers, and it was difficult to guarantee that the soldiers' strength would be high.
Moreover, Ding Tao City's defense was too high. Even if Yang Rui's troops were to attack it, they would have to spend a lot of effort and it would be impossible to not lose a portion of the soldiers.
Not all prefectural cities had such high defenses. Among the prefectural cities that Yang Rui had seen, only Dingtao was a special-class city. Julu City was also a special-class city during the Yellow Turban Uprising, but it wasn't a prefectural city.
The other cities like Pingyuan City were mostly high grade cities and their defense was not much higher than a normal county city. Ding Tao City was a special case in this aspect.
Regarding this situation, Yang Rui only ordered the messenger to console Qiao Mao and inform him of the progress of his troops so that he would not be anxious. Yang Rui even suggested that they could surround Ding Tao City and not attack. They only needed to disperse Liu Dai's forces. When the time came for Puyang City, Ding Tao City would fall on its own.
Ding Yuan's situation along the way was much more relaxed. At this time, he had already organized sixty thousand troops and left Taishan County two days ago, following behind Yang Rui's troops and maintaining the stability of the cities under his command.
Yang Rui's Fuyang City had already been taken over by Ding Yuan's troops. When the messenger arrived, Ding Yuan had already led his troops to Wuyan City. Thus, Yang Rui did not have anything to worry about. He only ordered the messenger to return and urge Ding Yuan to station his troops in Fan County as soon as possible to deter Liu Dai.
A day passed quickly. When Yang Rui was ready to move out the next morning, the messenger finally caught up with Yang Rui's troops and reported the news of Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo's troops.
The good thing was that although the news came late, it was all good news. Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo had once again taken down Qing County, Faping, and Dong Ah. Furthermore, they did not spend much effort and lost even less soldiers than before!
Since Gao Shun and the other two received Yang Rui's orders, they were naturally more cautious. However, they did not let their hands and feet be tied. Especially when the scouts heard that Liu Dai's troops were retreating, Gao Shun and the other two decisively decided to continue advancing. They split their troops into three and quickly took down Qing County, Faping, and Dong Ah City.
Liu Dai should have also felt the pressure. Originally, with Yuan Shao suppressing him, he did not station many troops near Pingyuan County. Now that Puyang received news that troops were coming from all directions, he naturally chose to retreat. First, he withdrew a portion of his troops from the northern counties of the East County.
In Liu Dai's view, the northern part of the East County was already difficult to defend. It was not worth it to waste any more defensive forces. It was better to pull the troops back to Puyang as soon as possible. Thus, more than half of the high-ranking soldiers in the northern counties were withdrawn by Liu Dai. There were no more than two to three thousand soldiers defending the counties, and they were all low-ranking soldiers.
As a result, the difficulty of Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo attacking the city was greatly reduced. Furthermore, the siege weapons assigned to this side were already in place. Gao Shun and the other two could easily take down the city.
Moreover, the retreating Liu Dai's forces had clearly underestimated the reaction speed of Gao Shun and the others. They did not expect to be discovered by the scouts as soon as they left the city. They also did not expect to lose the city so quickly.
Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo had more than two thousand and five hundred Fifth Grade cavalry on their way. When the three of them first split up and advanced, Gao Shun gathered all the cavalry behind him and was prepared to chase after Liu Dai's retreating forces. Taking down Qing County was just a side project. Gao Shun's original plan was to surround the city and not attack. He would lead the cavalry to chase after Liu Dai's main force for a while before returning to attack the city.
However, when Gao Shun reached the vicinity of Qing County, the vanguard only launched a probing attack. Unexpectedly, the situation collapsed upon contact. The Qing County guards only symbolically resisted a few times before choosing to surrender. The entire process only took half an hour.
This was also the reason why Yang Rui did not kill any prisoners when he attacked Liu Dai. Gao Shun and the other two had done the same. Moreover, the news had already spread. Moreover, the soldiers that Liu Dai had left behind to defend the city were already resentful. This was not a small reason either.
It also created an opportunity for Gao Shun to lead the Fifth Grade cavalry in pursuit of the retreating soldiers. These soldiers numbered in the tens of thousands when combined. They were supposed to retreat to Yangping County to reorganize themselves before continuing their retreat. However, Gao Shun's cavalry caught up to them before they could even make it halfway!
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