After preparing for more than ten days, Yuan Tan finally launched an attack.

At Xin Pi's suggestion, he designed a plan for a protracted war despite the fact that the rain is increasing and spring plowing is imminent, and decided to follow the steps and fight with Sun Jian to consume. Sun Jian's position is very strong, Sun Jian's subordinates are very elite, and Sun Jian is also good at using troops, but Sun Jian does not have the support of the powerful families in Yanzhou, and he does not have enough food and supplies. Over time, he can only transfer from Yuzhou and Xuzhou. The longer the time is, the more unfavorable it is for Sun Jian.

Yuan Tan arranged for the powerful men who came to support him to go to battle first, and they did not need to contact Sun Jian, but instead carried out earthwork, filled trenches, built cofferdams, and prepared to divert water back into Sun Jian's position. Sun Jian was not willing to be outdone and sent people to stand on the built high platform to shoot, send people to camp to attack, destroy the cofferdam built by Yuan Tan, and clear the trenches again.

The battle between the two sides was not fierce, and it was even a little boring, but it was hidden with a strong murderous intent. At the most, there were only two or three thousand soldiers participating in the war, but more people were waiting for opportunities in secret. No matter which side exposed a flaw, it could cause major casualties.

For Sun Jian, the battle seemed to be not fierce. Both sides just sent crossbowmen to shoot, and it was not intensive shooting of thousands or thousands of people. However, the consumption of arrows was still a problem that cannot be ignored. Thousands of arrows were a drop in the bucket for Yuan Tan, but for him, it was a small amount. The Yuan Tan sent the powerful troops and even ordinary people to fight in order to consume his arrows. He could not sit idly by and watch Yuan Tan destroy his position. Knowing that this was Yuan Tan's trick, he had to accompany him. All he could do was strictly control the consumption of arrows, sending archers with good archery skills to the battlefield as much as possible, improve the hit rate, and collect the arrows shot by Yuan Tan's army for spare.

This is true for Sun Jian and so is Yuan Tan.

After Li Qian and his son led their troops to arrive, Yuan Tan's total strength exceeded 70,000. This was the first time that Yuan Tan commanded such a large number of troops to fight, and the subordinates were very complex. Not only were the county and state soldiers of the counties and states in Yanzhou, but also the private soldiers of the nearby powerful troops, they all wanted to compete for merit, and they were always calculating gains and losses, conflicts between the open and the dark conflicts, and Yuan Tan spent a lot of energy on mediating internal relations.

Of course, there is Sun Ce who makes him feel uneasy.

Yuan Tan has an absolute advantage in military strength, but he himself knew that the combat power comparison between the two sides was not as great as the difference in military strength. The three thousand infantry and cavalry led by Sun Ce may be the strongest force on the battlefield at present. Once it takes action, it will inevitably be a thunder strike. He was not sure whether he could turn these advantages into combat power advantages, trap Sun Ce, and eventually kill him.

Not only that, he also had to leave a flaw and reveal this flaw to Sun Ce in the most natural way, luring Sun Ce to attack and create possibilities for achieving the goal of severely damaging or even killing Sun Ce.

Yuan Tan felt that he had never done such a complicated thing in his life. If it weren't for Xinpi, he wouldn't dare to think about it.

Even Xinpi put in great effort for this. He almost never stayed up late for a day, nor had he slept peacefully. The lights in the tent often ran all night long, either analyzing the information coming like a tide or assisting Yuan Tan in mediating internal relations.

His face became increasingly ugly, and his wounds were getting more and more painful, which often made him sweat all over his body.

"George, this may be the most difficult battle in our life." One night, after dealing with a lot of affairs, Yuan Tan looked at Xinpi, who was pale and said quietly: "If we can win this battle, we will not be afraid of any opponents in the future. If this battle..."

"We will win." Xinpi interrupted Yuan Tan with a stiff heart, gritted his teeth, and said word by word: "If you don't win, you will die."

Yuan Tan looked at Xinpi and felt very distressed. He knew what Xinpi was talking about. If he was defeated in this battle, no matter what he would think, Xinpi would definitely die. Even if he didn't die, he could no longer work for him. He was already fighting hard, and now he was only one breath to support him, killing Sun Ce, defeating Guo Jia, and proving his own belief in his own value.

Looking at Xin Pi, Yuan Tan suddenly had an idea in his mind. If I couldn't win, I surrendered to Sun Ce and took Xin Pi to Nanyang. I heard that Nanyang Bencaotang gathered with famous doctors and foreign medicines from the Western Regions, which would definitely cure Xin Pi's injuries. Living in seclusion in Nanyang, watching the world's storm and heroes competed, was also a good ending.

Sun Ce sat on the horse's back, looking at the faint light of fire on the horizon, pondering without saying a word.

It had just rained lightly and the ground was muddy. The horse carefully adjusted its posture and took very small steps to avoid slipping.

The battle has been in seven or eight days, and this is the third time he has appeared near the battlefield. Yuan Tan has a large army, the camp is more than ten miles in a row, and the warning range is also very large. Every time he approaches, he is an adventure. He met the scout last time and fought. Despite this, he can only express his feelings and cannot see anything. He is too far away and he can't see anything. The real useful information comes from the message sent by Sun Jian on his own initiative.

Because Sun Ce's whereabouts were uncertain, it was difficult for Sun Jian to find him, so Sun Jian would send the news to Kangfu and Hulu. Sun Ce would send someone there to get the news and at the same time pass on his information to Sun Jian. The news sent by Sun Jian was very simple, and it was obviously not the truth. Sun Ce speculated based on the meaning between the lines and the reasonable calculation of the data, and could vaguely guess the pressure Sun Jian was facing at this moment.

It was a kind of mantis facing the pressure of a big cart, and a slut facing the pressure of a big tree. The strength gap between the two sides was so huge that no one would be calm, and Sun Jian just pretended to be calm.

"General, let's go, it's too dangerous. I'm late to go back, and they will be worried about sacrificing wine." Guo Wu walked over and held Sun Ce's reins.

Sun Ce turned his horse's head and walked towards the distance. Guo Yuan, Xie Guanglong and others, who were in charge of the alert, crawled out of the grass in the distance, quickly followed the team, got on the horse, rushed behind Sun Ce, and consciously protected Sun Ce's back. They walked forward for more than a mile, met Ma Chao and Yi Congqi, joined forces, and walked forward three miles to meet Guo Jia and Yan Xing.

Guo Jiazheng and Lu Yi played chess. He kept shaking the feather fan, looking relaxed and at ease, but when he saw Sun Ce, he still breathed unconsciously.

"General, what's the situation?"

"Everything is normal." Sun Ce said, his face calm.

"It's still early, and it will take half a month to make an accident." Guo Jia slowly shook the feather fan. "No matter who is in a strange environment or something just beginning, he will be very careful. Only after he gets used to this environment will he relax and neglect. This time usually takes about half a month to twenty days."

Sun Ce glanced at Guo Jia and nodded.

"It's just like playing chess. Now is the beginning. In two days, we will enter the middle plate." Guo Jia laughed and pointed at the chessboard with a feather fan. "General, Taishi Ci is the first mover in our middle plate. We will use him to tear off a piece of Yuan Tan's meat. Kang's father is still Nanpingyang, and the general will choose one."

Sun Ce met Guo Jia's gaze. Guo Jia's eyes were a little red, but his eyes were still as sharp as a knife, and there was still some indescribable cunning. Sun Ce smiled. "Father Kang, try it out with the road trick first, and see if Yuan Tan can save it."
Chapter completed!