"Kill!"
"Sou sou sou..."
"..."
"Uh... retreat..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Below the city walls of Faping County, a group of about forty to fifty thousand soldiers under Yuan Shao's command launched a wave of attacks towards the city. However, what greeted them was a dense rain of arrows from the city walls. Their attacks were quickly suppressed.
Looking at the people on the city walls, the number of soldiers defending the city was no less than the number of Yuan Shao's soldiers attacking the city. Therefore, after one wave of attacks, Yuan Shao's soldiers chose to leave after some hesitation.
Yuan Shao's army had split into nine groups to cross the Yellow River and Ji River. Yuan Shao himself was the last group to hold the line. It could be said that he had come with an aggressive aura.
Each group had a general and famous strategist in the front, including the Four Pillars of Hebei, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Zhang He (Gao Lan had already been killed by Dian Wei).
There were also Great General Ji Yi, who had made many contributions, and the strategists Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and Feng Ji who had directly pushed for this attack.
This was especially so for Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and Feng Ji. This time, their opinions were completely unified. They all recognized the huge threat from Yang Rui and worked together to push Yuan Shao to send troops to participate in the [Battle of Xuzhou].
Before the various groups of troops split up to cross the river, Yuan Shao had sent out an order. He had agreed that Gaotang, Liaocheng, and Yangping County would be the gathering point for the troops. Along the way, each group of troops could freely attack the cities and villages along the way. He had also set generous rewards.
Therefore, Yuan Shao's troops were all full of energy. Wherever they passed, they tried to attack as much as possible in order to make a name for themselves.
However, situations like Faping County were not uncommon. Whether Yuan Shao's troops were scattered or gathered together, the number of territories they could attack was limited. Not to mention county level territories, they had even suffered losses in towns and villages.
The main reason was that the local forces in Yang Rui's territory were more abundant. In order to avoid being attacked by Taishi Ci's ships on the Ji River and the Yellow River, Yuan Shao's forces had chosen the Yellow River and the Ji River, the longest stretch of the river. This strategy caused Yuan Shao's troops to be too spread out. Even when they crossed the river together, the distance between them was very large.
As a result, there was a situation where Yuan Shao's forces could not even compare to Yang Rui's forces in some areas. Yuan Shao's subordinates didn't even need to talk about accomplishing anything. Instead, as soon as they crossed the river, they were attacked head-on and suffered considerable losses.
Of course, this kind of situation was rare. Yuan Shao's troops had the initiative more often than not. It was just that this initiative did not bring many results.
However, in terms of results, Yuan Shao's troops were not without any achievements. In terms of cities, Yuan Shao's troops took down Liaocheng County at lightning speed.
At that time, Sun Qian's order to strengthen the defenses and clear out the wilderness had only reached halfway. The officials of Liaocheng County Town had neglected their defenses and did not even receive any news of Yuan Shao's troops heading south.
Speaking of which, there were some historical reasons. When Guan Yu was the county magistrate of Liaocheng, Yang Rui had strictly controlled the situation of the troops in Liaocheng. Yang Rui naturally would not give Guan Yu a single soldier. At the same time, he had always paid attention to Guan Yu's troops.
Especially after Liu, Guan, and Zhang left Yang Rui's territory, the defense of Liaocheng County became empty. Even though Yang Rui had made some adjustments, whether it was in terms of officials or soldiers, it could not compare to other cities.
The key was that the one who took down Liaocheng County was none other than the number one scholar of Ji Province, Tian Feng!
Although the process was influenced by certain factors, and Tian Feng was able to take down the city by surprise, no matter what, to be able to control Liaocheng County was enough to show Tian Feng's ability to command troops.
Out of the three gathering points that Yuan Shao had set, only Liaocheng County was taken by Tian Feng. The other two counties, Gaotang and Yangping, were still under the control of Yang Rui's troops. Yuan Shao's troops were also gathering at those two places. After a few rounds of sieges without success, Yuan Shao's troops, who arrived first, only surrounded and did not attack. They settled down on the spot.
Especially Yuan Shao's troops who were crossing the river near Gaotang, they appeared to be much more scattered and tired. This was because a group of troops led by Yan Liang had coincidentally encountered the obstruction of Taishi Ci's fleet while crossing the river. It could be said that they had suffered heavy losses.
Previously, when Taishi Ci's ship was equipped with a small catapult, it was against the troops led by Yan Liang. Although Taishi Ci and Yang Rui's troops did not pay much attention to it, the truth was that the ship that Yan Liang was on was the first to be sunk!
It was indeed sunk! However, at the last moment, Yan Liang was dragged onto a small boat by the soldiers and was quickly dragged to the north bank!
That was to say, Yuan Shao's troops that had successfully crossed the river were only the eight armies in front and Yuan Shao's own troops. Yan Liang's army had only managed to cross a small portion of the troops to the south bank. Furthermore, due to the lack of a commander, they could only be considered as disbanded troops.
In the six hours after Yuan Shao's troops had crossed the river, the battle had spread on a large scale. Furthermore, as Yuan Shao's troops gathered, the scales of fortune seemed to be gradually tilting towards Yuan Shao's side!
In the end, Yuan Shao, who had successfully crossed the Yellow River near Liancheng County, also had the same thought. Right now, Liancheng County was already controlled by his troops. Yuan Shao could almost see the scene of the entire Qingzhou and Yanzhou being conquered …
…
The situation near Gaotang County was far from what Yuan Shao had expected. Originally, most of Yan Liang's troops were missing from the north. Gaotang County's assembly point was not far from Pingyuan County City. It was the area where Yang Rui's troops were the most concentrated.
At this time, Sun Qian, Zhang Ning, Han Dai, and Ding Yao's 400,000 troops were on their way to reinforce Pingyuan County. If Yuan Shao's troops continued to gather near Gaotang County, it would be very difficult for them to break through the situation.
The situation near Yangping County City was originally much better. As the soldiers continued to gather, Yuan Shao's troops could even see the light of success in taking down the city.
！
This was especially so when they realized that even though there were quite a number of soldiers defending Yangping County, there were no generals stationed there. Under such circumstances, if they were to attack at all costs, it was only a matter of time before they were able to take down the city.
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