Chapter 52, Siege on all sides

Ji Ling snorted, pulled up the mount and slowly galloped back. Zu Zhao looked at it in the camp and couldn't help praising him: "Zhao Meng is really a loyal and brave man and doesn't want to take advantage of people's danger."

Su De shook his head and said, "Zhao Mengzhen is also a warrior. The general has him. If he can be reused in the future, he will definitely be able to be alone."

Zu Zhao smiled and said, "This is inevitable. Naturally, I make full use of things, such as Zhao Meng's people, who gets it will be reused. If such people are not reused, then it can be seen how mediocre his master is. Su De laughed and agreed with Zu Zhao's statement. He knew that Zu Zhao could do it. Before, he was just a wanderer. He accidentally met Zu Zhao in Luoyang. Now he worships himself as a military teacher. It can be seen that Zu Zhao loves talents very much.

As he was talking, Ji Ling changed his horse and rushed out. Su De asked, "General, who do you think will be slightly better in the end if Ji Ling and Zhao Meng continue to fight like this?"

Zui Zhao said, "The two of them have comparable abilities. There is no room for any flaws in the battlefield, otherwise they will be defeated. It depends on which of them can calm down. The impetuous side must first reveal the flaws and then defeat."

Su De said, "I think Ji Ling is very calm. He didn't seem to care about the scolding of our soldiers before, but focused on fighting with Zhao Meng. Zhao Ci has such a person around him. No wonder he was like a broken bamboo before."

Zu Zhao sighed, "Unfortunately, Zhao Ci is eager to achieve success. If the foundation is unstable, he will go deep alone. The most important thing is that his soldiers have entered my jurisdiction, which determines his short life."

Su De laughed and praised Zu Zhao for his self-confidence and strength. In this way, no one dares to harass Liaodong in the future. Even if there is, it can only make Zu Zhao stronger and not weaken his strength at all.

At this moment, Ji Ling and Zhao Meng have fought for hundreds of rounds, and the soldiers of the two armies are exclaiming and cheering for their main generals. The two of them have also sweated profusely and moved quickly, but they are still good at attacking and defending, relaxed and moderately, and do not give each other any flaws.

Zhao Meng fought for a while and thought to himself: If it goes on like this, we must not take advantage of him. It's better to pretend to be defeated, attract him to chase him, and then work together to capture him. Thinking of this, Zhao Meng sold a flaw and let Ji Ling attack. After blocking for a while, he ran away.

When Ji Ling saw that Zhao Meng was defeated and chased him alone, he shouted, "Zhao Mengxiu, go, look at me taking your head."

Zhao Meng turned around and replied, "If you are a good man, you can come after him."

Ji Ling received the stimulation and chased him quickly. After chasing for a while, he had come to the front of Zhao Meng's army. Zhao Meng was about to turn back, but he heard a drum of retreat. Ji Ling had no choice but to abandon Zhao Meng and return. Zhao Meng saw the situation and commanded the soldiers to rush to kill until he was under the city.

Now that Ji Ling entered the city, he angrily asked Zhao Ci why he had withdrawn his troops. Zhao Ci said, "Today, you have fought for a long time and can't win. Now you chase him alone for fear that the enemy will cunningly hurt you, so you withdraw your troops. When there is another battle tomorrow, you will take one more general out and lead Zhao Meng to chase him. At that time, you will definitely capture him. If he wants to escape, you will shoot him with one arrow. Zhao Ci said and ordered people to bring a bow and a few arrows and said, "This arrow is coated with the poison of blood. As long as you shoot Zhao Meng's skin, he will definitely die. When Zhao Meng dies, Zu Zhao's army will be in chaos. At that time, I will command the army out of the city and defeat them all."

Ji Ling looked at the bow and arrow. Although he felt that such a sneak attack was not victorious, but for the sake of the great cause of the country, he felt that this was also a wonderful plan and agreed to come down. Tomorrow, after more than 100 rounds of the war, he would definitely pretend to be defeated, and then attract Zhao Meng to chase him, and then he would be surprised. Zhao Meng didn't expect to shoot back, and he was bound to die. At that time, if the army goes out of the city, even if it can't kill Zu Zhao's whole army, it can destroy half of the army they took out to fight.

At night, in Zu Zhao's camp, the torches were everywhere, as bright as the day.

Zu Zhao squatted in the camp, with a kind of civilian general standing on both sides, who were discussing a plan to defeat the enemy. There is a map of Xinchang City on the table. This Xinchang City is an important city in Liaodong. Its moat is wider and deeper than any other city. If you want to break through the city, you must attack the gate. However, the four gates in the city are extremely strong, and the walls are also overhauled every year. It is really not easy to attack.

"If you can get an internal response, it will be much easier to do. No matter which side of the city gate, as long as it can be broken, it is the best." Zu Zhao said.

Su De said, "It's a pity that there are no people from our army in the city. How can we respond internally? The only plan is to let the soldiers project letters into the city tonight, and when Jiling returns to the city tomorrow, it is the time for us to work together.

"Please elaborate on the military." Zu Zhao said.

"Tomorrow, we will fight at the East Gate, and General Zhao Meng will be responsible for the battle, while General Ma Yuan will attack the West Gate with an army. At that time, General Zhao Meng is bound to attack Ji Ling with all his strength, so that Ji Ling must go back to the city to defend, and then our army will quickly follow up. And tonight, our army has an important thing, that is, to project letters from their city and tell the guards above that when Ji Ling returns to the city tomorrow, when our army attacks, tell them that General Ji Ling has defected to our army. When he returns to the city tomorrow, he will definitely control the gate and lead our army into the city. Whether the soldiers believe it or not, this will definitely reach Zhao Ci's ears, so he has to guard against it. Sud said.

Zu Zhao claps his hands and praised: "This plan is very good. Even if Zhao Ci is not fooled, it can aggravate his suspicion. Next, we will continue to alienate him and Ji Ling, and we will continue to choose to attack tactically. At that time, we will not be afraid that Zhao Ci will not be fooled."

All the generals said it was very good. Tomorrow, Ma Yuan led a heavy army and attacked the west gate with siege equipment. Zhao Qi led the army to wave the flag and drums at the north gate, shouting but not to attack, while Han Ye was responsible for the south gate, who still only shouted and did not attack to disturb the enemy's heart.

Everything was arranged. At night, Ma Yuan quietly came to the city with a group of soldiers and shot arrows with letters into the city one after another. The guard opened the letter and immediately shocked and hurriedly presented his heart to Zhao Ci. Zhao Ci saw that all the books on the siege of the city tomorrow, and Ji Ling was angry and anxious. He hurriedly found a counselor and asked what to do.

The counselor said that if Ji Ling kills the enemy general who came to fight tomorrow, whether it is Zhao Meng or Ma Yuan, he must kill him, then Ji Ling can return to the city. If he does not kill anyone and wants to return to the city, he must not open the gate, just in case. When Ji Ling wants to come back, he must get rid of the pursuit of Zu Zhao's army and enter from the other three gates.

Zhao Ci agreed to replace the soldiers guarding the city with his own trusted troops overnight. All those who used to serve as soldiers under Ji Ling withdrew and were not allowed to defend the gate.

The next day, Zhao Meng really led his army to the East Gate to fight. Zhao Ci ordered Ji Ling to go to war, telling him that he must kill Zhao Meng. He could not be killed by force, so he shot him with poison arrows. Ji Ling took the order and led the army to fight.

When they came out of the city gate, the two did not talk and fought directly. In less than a hundred rounds of battle, suddenly a soldier reported Zhao Ci, who was watching the battle at the east gate, and a large army at the west gate attacked the city and asked for support. Zhao Ci was shocked. How could anyone attack the city at the west gate? It was the strongest place for the defense of Xinchang City, so there were relatively fewer defenders there.

Zhao Cigang was about to send people to transfer the rest of the troops to defend the west gate, but the south gate was also reported by someone that there was a large army stationed at the two gates, and the drums were shocking and ready to attack the city at any time. Zhao Cijing firmly believes that this must be done deliberately by the enemy. At that time, as long as the east gate is broken and the enemy should combine inside and outside. Is this to make himself have no way to escape?

He ordered people to guard the west gate, and he continued to monitor the battle at the east gate. I want to see what Ji Ling is doing. As long as the east gate is not broken, the west gate is safe. Seeing that Zhao Meng and Ji Ling had fought for hundreds of rounds, Zhao Ci became more and more anxious. At this time, Ji Ling sold his flaws and pretended to be defeated. Zhao Meng really chased after him with a knife. Ji Ling quietly took out his bow and arrow and pulled the bow. When he was about to turn around, he remembered that Zhao Meng refused to kill himself in danger yesterday, and this kindness must be reciated, so he turned around and shot an arrow, shooting Zhao Mengdou and shooting him to the ground.

Zhao Meng was shocked and knew that Ji Ling was grateful for not killing yesterday, and today he deliberately shot away. Zhao Meng also had the skill of penetrating Yang in a hundred steps. He also took an arrow to pull the bow and shot three arrows in a row. The first arrow also shot off Ji Ling's pocket, and the other two arrows were shot on the horse's leg.

Ji Ling's mount fell down. He flew off the horse and turned around with two arrows. He also shot Zhao Meng's front hoof of the mount. The mount fell down and died of breath. Zhao Mengjing knew that there was blood poison on Ji Ling's arrow. When Ji Ling's army saw Ji Ling's mount fall to the ground, they rushed forward one after another to save him. Taking advantage of the chaos of the enemy, Zhao Meng chased and killed him, and Zu Zhao also led a large army to follow.

Zhao Ci saw the strong momentum of Zu Zhao's army at the gate. He was afraid that as soon as the gate opened, Ji Lingzhen controlled the gate to let Zu Zhao's army come in, so he ordered to close the gate and not let Ji Ling in. Ji Ling's army rushed to the moat and was about to cross the bridge, but they saw the suspension bridge rise and prevented them from passing through.

"Why is this?" Ji Ling shouted under the city.

Zhao Ci said on the tower, "You Ji Ling have the desire to join the enemy. How can I let you in?"

"How do you say this?" Ji Ling asked.

"I ordered you to kill Zhao Meng, but you only shot him in the horseshoe, but you didn't shoot him in the face. He only shot you in the horse, and didn't shoot you. What else can you say?" Zhao Ci roared and said.

Ji Ling still argued, but saw that Zhao Meng had already waved his army and had no choice but to take his subordinates around the moat and fled to the south. Zhao Meng commanded the army and followed closely.

I fled to the south gate, but I saw that there was already an army there. The leader was the 2,000 army led by Han Ye. I have been waiting here for a long time. Han Ye shouted and rushed over with a double picture axe.

Ji Ling rushed to fight with him for more than 20 rounds in the last period. Seeing that Zhao Meng and Zu Zhao waved their troops to chase after him, they dared not fight, killed out of the siege, looked at the west gate and fled. The cook met the Ma Yuan troops who attacked the city at the west gate. He rushed with Ma Yuan for a while. He didn't fight for 20 rounds. There was Zu Zhao's army on all sides. He rushed left and killed hundreds of enemies. After all, he couldn't break through. More than half of his soldiers were killed or wounded, and the rest were captured.

Zu Zhao came to the array at this moment and said, "General Ji Ling, you are a rare fierce general. Why don't you obey me and capture Zhao Ci together?"

Ji Ling scolded, "I won't surrender to you even if I die in battle. Today, I was besieged by you and knew it was difficult to break through, so I also pulled some cushions.

Z Zhao mourned, "What's wrong with you? Zhao Ci was mediocre and couldn't make good use of you. If you returned to me, wouldn't it be better for me to report to the court to show your credit, and then glory and wealth to calm down the world?

"Stop talking nonsense, you and I have different ideas, and I won't surrender. If you have the ability, just kill me." Ji Ling said.

Ma Yuan listened, unconvinced and shouted, "Then I will meet you." With that, he waved his axe and was about to rush over.

Ji Ling said coldly, "Although you are brave, you can't catch me for 70 rounds. Don't show your strength and keep your life to chase."

"What about adding me?" Han Ye rushed out with a pair of axes.

"And me." Zhao Qi also shot out. Ji Ling gave them a cold look and said to Zhao Meng, "Do you want to come with them?"

Zhao Meng didn't say anything and looked at Zu Zhao. Zu Zhao smiled bitterly, sighed, waved his hand to let Ma Yuan and others retreat, and said to Ji Ling, "You are a loyal and brave person. If I kill you today, it seems that I am unrighteous. It's okay, you go away. Zhao Ci is not the person you should follow. Go back to Shandong and rely on Yuan Shu. It may be your good destination.

Everyone frowned, and Ji Ling was also puzzled and asked, "Do you really let me go?"

Z Zhao said, "If I don't kill you, then I won't kill you. You go, but remember that you should be careful of a Yan named Zhang Fei in the future.

Ji Ling was stunned for a moment and said coldly, "Even if you don't kill me today, I won't be grateful to you. I'm like this now, thanks to you.

Zu Zhao said, "I don't need your gratitude. I like your loyalty and courage to let you go. If you are an ordinary villain, I will kill you directly, and I won't recruit you, let alone let you go." After saying that, Zu Zhao waved his hand to let the soldiers give way. The soldiers got orders and slowly gave way.

Ji Ling snorted, looked at the crowd, rode the horse and raised the whip, and his head would not look northeast.

The generals watched Ji Ling leave and were very puzzled. They asked Zu Zhao why he did this and let him go. In the future, no matter who he was with, he would be a strong enemy. Zu Zhao sighed, "People have their own aspirations. At present, it's enough for me to have you. I can't force him to leave. Next, our task is to capture the Xinchang City and catch Zhao Ci.

"General, take the liberty to say that you won't let Zhao Ci go, will you?" Ma Yuan asked.

Zuzu Zhao looked up to the sky and roared and said, "Zhao Ci, you must die. He slaughtered the people and slaughtered the creatures. It's a sin to keep it."

Hearing this, all the generals nodded and shouted that they must kill Zhao Ci. Then he followed Zu Zhao to lead the crowd back to the camp, and the army was powerful and retreated slowly, with a great momentum of triumph.

When Zhao Ci learned that Zu Zhao's army had retreated, his nervousness finally eased, but when he thought of the troops coming to the city the next day, he felt restless. Thinking about Zu Zhaojun's arrival in Xinchang, he had sent people to various places to ask for help, but half a month later, why there was no information, not even a detective heard from him. The Yellow Turban Yu Party also did not listen to the situation for a long time, which made Zhao Ci even more panicked, and the previous king's momentum disappeared.

After Zu Zhao's army returned to the camp, Zhao Ci's army finally had a chance to breathe. One of them, a young general, usually had a good relationship with Ji Gang. Later, when he learned that Ji Gang was in prison, he was very discordant. Now that he heard that Ji Ling has left, he thought to himself that now there is no one around Zhao Ci who can fight except Wang Qing and Xu Ping, and the ability of these two generals is far less than Ji Ling, so the new Changcheng will be captured sooner or later. After thinking for a long time, he came to prison and played a fight against the jailer. Finally, he met Ji Gang and Zhong Yang and told him about Zhao Ci forcing Ji Ling away.

When they heard this, they couldn't help looking at each other and said that Zhao Ci was over. After long discussion, they decided to escape from prison. The young general was quite eloquous. He recruited jailers and analyzed the current trend, believing that Zhao Ci would be defeated and the reinforcements would not arrive. It would be better to escape together and join Zu Zhao's army. Maybe he could save his life. Otherwise, on the day the army broke the city, who knew whether Zu Zhao would come to a big purge and kill the whole army.

Several jailers were also quite shocked when they heard it, and many of them wanted to follow the escapees. That night, a group of people quietly escaped from prison, came to the gate, killed the soldiers guarding the gate, escaped from the city, and looked at Zuzhao's camp.

When he went outside Zu Zhao's camp, some soldiers had already caught several people and escorted them to see Zu Zhao. After seeing Zu Zhao, Ji Gang, Zhong Yang and others talked about the surrender and told Zu Zhao about the strategy suggested by Ji Ling. Zu Zhao was extremely stunned by the people present? Why, because after the return of today's army, Chen Youzhi in the county expected that Zu Zhao's army would have no food and fodder, so he sent people to transport a batch of grain and fodder, and there were not many people to escort them. As long as 500 light soldiers were sent, they would be able to easily take away the food and fod and fodder transported this time.

"If Zhao Ci adopts Ji Ling's plan, our army will definitely be defeated." Zu Zhao couldn't help sighing.

"It's a pity that Zhao Ci has no fighting spirit now, is greedy for pleasure, waiting for reinforcements, and refuses to listen to Brother Ji's words. Previously, I was beaten to prison to help Brother Ji plead for mercy, so I escaped and defected to the general. Please don't give up and take us in. Ji Gang said.

Zui Zhao helped them up and said, "I'm naturally happy that you come to vote. Now, you tell us about the situation in the city.

Ji Gang and others were grateful for Zu Zhao's kindness and talked about the situation in the city. There are not many grains and grass in the city. There are only two generals who can fight, Wang Qing and Xu Ping, who are not as capable as Ji Ling, and most of the soldiers have no intention of fighting. However, Zhao Ci is violent and no one dares to say anything and can only obey their orders.

Z Zhao finished listening. He immediately decided to send Ma Yuan to the East Gate to fight the next day to see if Wang Qing and Xu Ping dared to come out to fight. If not, then take the southeast and west sides to attack the city at the same time and stay at the north gate. At that time, they can ambush a team of people on the outskirts of the city and wait for Zhao Ci to escape and catch them.

It was arranged together. The next morning, Ma Yuan came to the East Gate with his army to fight and scolded Zhao Ci. The soldiers in the city reported the situation to Zhao Ci. Wang Qing and Xu Ping asked to go to war, but Zhao Ci did not allow it. He said that if he was defeated in the battle now, it would shake the heart of the army, and he was afraid that even the city could not stand it.

Ma Yuan shouted at the city with his soldiers, saying that the yellow scarf thief had been destroyed by Zhang Yu's army on the border of Youzhou and failed to enter Liaodong County. As for Zhao Ci's troops in the descent, Nanyang and Jizhou, Huangfu Song had already sent people to wipe them out. Now Zhao Ci is fighting alone and advised him to surrender earlier and not be meaningless. Resistance.

Hearing this, the soldiers of the city tower were all panicked, and there were many people who wanted to defect. However, Wang Qing and Xu Ping will personally command in the tower, and no one dares to rebel directly. Ma Yuan led the crowd to scold under the city all morning, but Zhao Cijun did not leave the city.

After breakfast, Zu Zhao ordered the army to bring all the siege equipment and attack Xinchang City on three sides. They built bridges on the moat and attacked the city with siege ladders. The soldiers in the city resisted each other, flying arrows like rain, and stones rolling down, bringing great obstacles to Zu Zhao's army's siege of the city.