Siege and plundering are usually linked. Siege refers to attacking cities, and plundering is to control surrounding areas and collect materials needed for combat, including food, forage, firewood, etc. Sometimes people have to be recruited as power, provide labor, and even force local people to participate in the war.

These were originally the work of auxiliary troops, and the combat troops that siege the city were the core, so there seemed to be no problem with Sun Jian's allocation plan for siege and Sun Ce to siege the city, at least it retained his face for Sun Jian. However, with the overall plan, attacking Rencheng was only one of the steps, and the real key was Changyi, and Sun Ce became the leader. Sun Jian took the initiative to siege the city, which was to regard himself as a general in his side and acted under his command.

After working hard for two years, after several running-in, the father and son completed the handover tacitly.

There are ten cities in Shanyang, but the scope of Shanyang is not large. Compared with Wujun, the area is less than one-sixth of Wujun, but the population is almost the same. It is a typical densely populated place. The distance between counties is very close, with an average of only fifty or sixty miles.

Sun Ce's plan was very cautious, but his approach was very ostentatious, deliberately showing his satisfaction in his ambitions and lured Yuan Tan to attack. While Sun Jian led the main force to attack Rencheng, he led 3,000 infantry and cavalry all the way to Dongchang, taking all Kangfu, Jinxiang, Fanghe and Dong counties into his caps, and reconnaissance cavalry to the foot of Changyi City.

In the Han system, the prefect commanded the soldiers. In ordinary counties except the county government, there were usually no formal county soldiers to protect them. In case of emergency, the people in the county could only be summoned to guard the city. In the Han Dynasty, the people could own weapons, such as swords, shields, bows and arrows. It is not necessary to say that every household could own them as long as you want. Even weapons like light crossbows cannot be held by the people, but the strength was limited. For example, even if the three-stone crossbow is a military crossbow, ordinary people could not hold them. The village chief responsible for local security guards also had weapons. In case of emergency, they would be summoned to act as guardians.

But these people were not well-trained field troops after all. In addition, after the Eastern Han Dynasty abolished the capital test system, the folk martial arts practice was not strong, and it was okay to deal with a few thieves occasionally. When encountering elite troops like the three thousand infantry and cavalry led by Sun Ce, in addition to the county seat Changyi or Hulu, ordinary county towns could only surrender, and resistance would only lead to cruel revenge. The Sun family's father and son are notorious, so it is better not to mess with people without strength.

Whenever he arrived at a place, Sun Ce would visit local tyrants, beg for alms, sought food, wine and meat, and sent them to Rencheng continuously to supply the army. The guests and guests who knew each other were happy and ordered attacks without knowing each other immediately, and they would destroy them, confiscate their property, and enslave men and women. On the one hand, he achieved the on-site solution to the supply of materials, reduced the burden of logistics supplies, and on the other hand, increased the pressure on public opinion for Yuan Tan and Yuan Yi. As the prefect of Shanyang, Yuan Yi had the responsibility to send troops to expel Sun Ce and protect the local people. As the governor of Yanzhou, Yuan Tan was forced outside the prefecture and did not dare to attack. Not only the locals in Shanyang would be disappointed in him, but other counties and countries would also lose confidence in him.

If the government order cannot leave Changyi City, who would recognize them as the prefect of Shanyang and the governor of Yanzhou? As the county governor of Shanyang, Shanyang is not in the center of Shanyang, but on the west side. When Sun Ce entered Dongzhang and Jinxiang, Changyi was separated in a corner and actually became an isolated city. In terms of the current situation, if Sun Ce did not leave, even if Changyi City was not taken, Yuan Tan would lose his actual control over Shanyang and Rencheng.

Yuan Tan's pressure increased greatly. He not only had to face the actual pressure that Sun Ce could conquer the city at any time, but also had to face invisible mental pressure. The news came continuously, but none of them were good news. Either they asked for help or told him which Sun Ce had robbed, or which one had slaughtered, and warmly welcomed Sun Ce.

The only thing that made Yuan Tan happy was that Cao Ang stayed in Rencheng and never asked him for help. He promised Yuan Tan that he would do his best to defend Rencheng and complete the task assigned by Yuan Tan to him.

Despite this, Yuan Tan was still very uneasy. Cao Ang had sufficient troops and had enough motivation to defend Rencheng, but it did not mean that he could defend Rencheng. Sun Jian was a powerful general who had been famous for many years, and had nearly 20,000 elite troops under his command. Sun Ce was in the middle and had sufficient food and supplies. Once an attack was launched, Cao Ang might not be able to stop it.

While sending scouts out of the city to investigate the situation, Yuan Tan discussed with Xin Pi, Mao Jie and others. Faced with the aggressive Sun Ce, everyone was helpless. Finally, Xin Pi made a suggestion to use Zhu Ling as the prefect of Dongjun and Cheng Yu as the prime minister of Dongping, and to recruit troops from Dongjun and Dongping, and together with Jiyin Prefect Yuan Xu, the prefect of Jiliu, Zhang Miao, and asked Chenliu Prefect Zhang Miao to send troops to threaten Suiyang.

At the same time, Yuan Tan sent Lu Cui to seek help from Yuan Shao as an envoy.

——

Yuan Shao stood in front of a large map with his arms in his arms, looking at Yanzhou and Xuzhou at a while.

Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Ju Su, and Tian Feng stood aside, no one spoke, but intentionally or unintentionally, Guo Tu and Xin Ping stood together, Ju Su and Tian Feng were closer, very close to each other, and had almost no communication with the other two.

Yuan Shao looked at it for a while, turned around, stroked the handle of Sizhao's knife around his waist, and said lightly: "You guys, please come today to study the situation in Henan. Don't be scruples and speak freely."

Guo Tu and others agreed, but refused to speak first. They all knew that the situation in Henan was very complicated. Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his son all arrived in Yanzhou. No one dared to say whether Yuan Tan could withstand it. If Shanyang fell and the Sun family and his son pushed the defense line into Yanzhou, Yuan Shao's face would be bad.

"What's wrong?" Yuan Shao smiled and said, "You guys, the war in Henan is fierce, Xian Sixin is defeated by Fang Yu, Sun Jian is attacking Rencheng fiercely. I need your good plans. Now is not the time to be humble."

Guo Tu coughed: "Lord, I think that although the war in Shanyang is fierce, the situation is very beneficial to us. Sixian is worthy of being taught by the lord. It is rare to use one's own strength to fight against Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his son to create opportunities for Xianyi and Zhengli."

Yuan Shao smiled. "Although Xiansi was a little embarrassed this time, he was generally good. Of course, it would not work for him alone. George has made contributions. Zhongzhi, if you have such a younger brother, are you under great pressure? Chen Taiqiu commented on his son, saying that Yuan Fang was hard to be brother and Ji Fang was hard to be brother. I think your brothers are the same."

Xin Ping bowed. "Lord, although George has made small achievements, he is not as good as Xun Youruo. I think that the current opportunity to break the situation is still in Xuzhou. If Liu Gongheng (Liu He), Chunyu Zhongjian (Chunyu Qiong) can break through the East China Sea and attack Langya with Xianyi, and take Xuzhou all of them. Even if Yanzhou has a small defeat, it is worth it."

Yuan Shao was a little surprised. He looked at Xin Ping, rolled his eyes, and looked at Tian Feng again, Ju Su. "Yuan Hao, Gong, what do you think?"

Ju Su echoed: "Lord, I agree with Zhongzhi's suggestion. The lord launched the Henan offensive to make Sun Ce unable to conquer Jiangnan calmly. Now they are both attracted to Yanzhou, which is a good opportunity to encircle and annihilate them. I suggest that Liu Gongheng leads the governor of Yuzhou and Chunyu Zhongjian leads the governor of Xuzhou, so that they can cut off the retreat of Sun's father and son, and then the difficulties of Yanzhou will be solved and the battle in Henan can be defeated."

Before Ju Su finished speaking, Guo Tu said, "Lord, I think it's inappropriate."
Chapter completed!