Chapter 106: Siege Accident

The young couple were overjoyed. Turning their heads, they saw a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a sallow complexion, emaciated and looking exhausted.

The boy was wearing ragged linen clothes and was barefoot, his feet covered in bloody cuts that were already beginning to fester.

His eyes were bloodshot but shone with an unreadable light.

The young woman said, "Judging from your accent, you're from the Taishan Commandery area?"

"How did you end up wandering to Pingyuan?"

The boy's eyes dimmed. "The city was massacred. I ran away."

The young man sighed. "Indeed, Cao Cao's army is too ruthless. Now the Yuan army is colluding with them, attacking our Pingyuan. Your luck is really bad."

The boy lowered his head, then raised it again, resolutely saying, "Including me, there will be two men."

He pointed to the girl. "That way, you can bring her into the city."

The young couple exchanged a glance, their faces showing joy. The young woman said, "But if that's the case, you'll be pulled in to defend the city."

The boy said, "Once inside the city, no one can escape, can they?"

The young man said, "Since that's the case, then thank you, young brother."

As the group moved, the four of them successfully entered the city. As the young woman led the girl through the city gate, she looked back and saw the previous couple sadly leaving with their two girls.

As soon as they entered the city, the young man and the boy, along with a dozen others, were immediately taken to the city wall.

The girl held by the woman started crying. The young man came over and whispered a few words to the mother and daughter. The soldiers then began shouting, and the man had to follow them.

Seeing that the boy was also about to leave, the young woman quickly went over and handed him a piece of cornbread from her arms, saying, "Keep it for yourself."

The boy squeezed the cornbread, waved his hand, and turned to follow the soldiers towards the city wall.

He put the still-warm cornbread in his arms and followed the soldiers onto the cold bluestone steps. The pain in his feet became more and more obvious.

The soldiers led the dozen or so people to the city wall. Several squad leaders came over and took people away one after another. The previous young man was also taken away.

When the last elderly squad leader came over, only a few men, including the boy, were left, all of whom had been passed over. The old squad leader looked at them and sighed, "It'll have to do. Follow me."

The boy walked on the cold city wall, his feet becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and his posture became more and more limping. The old soldier led them to a part of the city wall, turned his head, saw the boy's appearance, and snorted, "You don't even have shoes?"

"If your feet freeze off tonight, will you be able to walk on your hands?"

He looked around, walked to a wounded soldier, tore off half of his shirt with a 'rip', and found a hemp rope to hand to the boy, saying, "Wrap your feet."

The wounded soldier cursed, "Old Wu, do you want to freeze me to death?"

The old squad leader retorted, "You're already like this, still sponging for food here. Hurry up and get down yourself, don't cause me any trouble."

The wounded soldier cursed, but didn't dare to talk back. He was no longer suitable for guarding the city, but only to be able to eat two meals, he was clinging to the city wall. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to earn a living in the city in his condition.

The boy tore the hemp rope into two strands and wrapped his feet with rags, only then did he feel much more comfortable.

The old squad leader looked at the five or six people standing crookedly in front of him, sighed, and said, "What you have to do is push the enemies down when they attack the city."

Someone spoke up, "Are there any weapons?"

The old squad leader snorted, "Even if there were, would you know how to use them if I gave them to you?"

"When people come to the city wall, just grab theirs."

That person cried out, "How can we grab them with our bare hands?"

The old squad leader pointed to a few bamboo poles on the ground. "Find a way to sharpen them and stab people with them."

"Guard the city wall well tonight, and you'll have food to eat tomorrow morning."

After saying that, he ignored everyone, found a sheltered place, and curled up to doze off.

The others had no choice but to stand on the city wall and mutter in the wind. The boy walked to the edge of the city wall and, using the afterglow of the setting sun, saw a thin line across the sky, which should be the Ji River.

He vaguely saw that there seemed to be many ants wriggling on that thin line, and thought that perhaps someone was crossing the river?

Now that the Yellow River and the Ji River are in their dry season, many parts of the riverbed are exposed. It seems that the Yuan Shao army will definitely attack this place after crossing the Ji River.

When queuing to enter the city just now, the boy heard others say that these days the army occupied Pingyuan City, crossed the Yellow River, and occupied several cities between the Yellow River and the Ji River.

Now they are about to cross the Ji River and attack the counties south of the Ji River!

Thinking of his parents who were killed in Fei County, he couldn't help but clench his fists.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

The boy had adapted to life on the city wall. Although there were two meals a day, each meal consisted of half-cooked dough made from wild vegetables and coarse grains, it was still much better than the days when he had been eating wild fruits and grass roots while fleeing.

But such good days came to an abrupt end one early morning.

The man who was guarding the city wall with him had just straightened up and stretched when an arrow pierced his neck.

The boy saw the arrow drill out from the back of the man's neck, bringing out a stream of blood. The man fell to the ground, his limbs twitching a few times before he stopped breathing.

He shouted 'Ah!', and several dozing soldiers woke up, only to be covered by a blanket of arrows.

The warning drums immediately sounded on the city wall.

The boy lay behind the city wall, watching several people who were unable to dodge being shot through by the arrows. At this time, the old squad leader rolled over, dodged to the boy's side, and cursed, "Why attack the city at this time? Can't a person get a good sleep?!"

The boy propped himself up, wanting to look at the situation outside through the arrow slits, but the old squad leader pressed his head down and roared, "Are you crazy?!"

Before he finished speaking, there was a loud noise behind them, and something hit the city wall. Stone chips flew and shot into the air, then fell to the ground, covering the city wall with rubble.

Old Man Wu cursed, "Damn it, they even have catapults!"

The sound of stones and arrows whistling through the air continued for a good quarter of an hour before gradually slowing down and then stopping.

A loud voice from below the city then rang out, roughly saying that the Yuan clan, in the name of the Han Dynasty, had come to rescue the people of Yu Ling. If the people inside the city surrendered immediately, they would be safe and sound.

Old Man Wu sighed upon hearing this, "It seems the county magistrate is going to surrender."

The young man asked strangely, "Why?"

Old Man Wu sneered, "Don't you see? Up until now, apart from you cannon fodder, where have any regular soldiers appeared? They're all hiding below the city."

The young man was dumbfounded, "We're cannon fodder?"

Old Man Wu said disdainfully, "What else would you be?"

"The money for the city's defense equipment has probably been embezzled. They can't even put together a few hundred well-equipped soldiers. Otherwise, why would they trick you into going to the city walls to defend the city?"

The young man was even more shocked, "Then why are you still here, old man?"

Old Man Wu sighed, "Isn't it because there are people at home who need to eat? Who would come here to die otherwise?"

The young man was speechless.

Yuan Xi was currently below Yu Ling City.

He waited on horseback on the left flank, with Zhang He on his left and Zhao Yun on his right.

For the past half month, Yuan Tan had successively conquered five or six counties, rushing and galloping all the way, crossing the Yellow River, crossing the Ji River, and leading his army to press upon Yu Ling County.

Yuan Tan, after seeing the scouts' report, felt that this county was vulnerable. Therefore, he didn't even advance step by step, setting up camp, but instead, taking advantage of the dark, he raided a dozen miles, directly attacking the city, thinking of capturing Yu Ling directly and then having the army enter the city to rest.

Yuan Xi had learned a lot these days, but he vaguely felt that things were going too smoothly.

These five or six counties, the largest of which had only a few thousand people, added up to no more than ten thousand, and that didn't even include the many civilians.

But what about Tian Kai's soldiers?

As a dignified Governor of Qing Province, he was able to bring out tens of thousands of people to confront them before, but now he wasn't defending the city?

He mentioned it to Yuan Tan last night, but Yuan Tan simply dismissed it, saying, "Even if Tian Kai brings out his entire army, I'm not afraid of him. There's nothing to worry about."

Yuan Xi felt a faint unease in his heart, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Wasn't anyone really coming from Xu Province?

And wasn't Yuan Tan being too smooth? Wasn't it a bit too rash to not set up camp after crossing the Ji River?

Yuan Xi understood that Yuan Tan wanted to seize the time. This time was even smoother than expected, but the army's food supply had already been consumed by more than half.

It was laughable that it was precisely because the war was going too smoothly, fewer people were dying, and more people were left to eat the food, that the food and grass were being consumed faster than expected.

According to the original estimate, at least ten thousand people should have died by now, but only a thousand or so had died, although there were many wounded.

When Ju Shou mentioned this problem last night, he also shook his head repeatedly. He had no good solution to this situation and could only send people to Ye City to transfer food, but with the Yellow River and Ji River in the way, it was impossible to transport it in a short time.

Yuan Tan saw that the soldiers had been shouting below the city for a long time, but there was no response from inside the city. Suddenly, the city gate opened wide, and a force of a hundred or so soldiers rushed out, heading straight for Yuan Tan's main camp!

Leading the charge was a lieutenant, who charged straight towards Yuan Tan with his spear raised!

The Yuan army did not expect the enemy to have such courage and was immediately in an uproar. Just then, a general rushed out from Yuan Tan's main camp.

Everyone looked closely and saw that it was Yan Liang!

He dragged his twelve-foot broadsword on the ground, creating sparks, and directly met the enemy general!

The lieutenant, upon seeing this, also shouted loudly and charged straight ahead. The two riders grew closer and closer, and when they were still several feet apart, the lieutenant flicked his wrist and thrust his spear towards Yan Liang's face!

In the next moment, Yan Liang shouted, and his arm instantly swelled several times in size. The long saber sprang up from the ground like lightning and slammed heavily into the enemy general's waist. The lieutenant was cut so hard by this saber that his body flew up, his armor shattered, and blood spurted wildly from his waist. He was already dead when he landed.

Cheers erupted from the Yuan army. Yuan Xi sighed inwardly. This was the number one fierce general of Ji Province. The generals who dared to challenge them in the previous few cities were all instantly killed by Yan Liang!

Yan Liang charged into the enemy formation as if entering an uninhabited land. The Qing Province soldiers wanted to escape back to the city, but the city gate had already been closed, and curses rang out endlessly.

On the city wall, Old Man Wu sighed to the young man, "See? The honest people are the first to die."

Yuan Tan, seeing this, shouted loudly, "The whole army attacks the city!"

Tens of thousands of people, carrying earth bags, surged towards the city walls.

Teams marched out, surrounding the various city gates. Yuan Xi also led Zhao Yun to block the east gate.

He had just arrived at the place when the urgent sound of gongs for retreat rang out from the main camp.

Something had happened!

Yuan Xi immediately ordered the troops to change formation back and forth, slowly retreating towards the main camp.

Along the way, he saw the attacking soldiers running back in a chaotic manner. The various generals tried hard to stop them, and it took a lot of effort to prevent a rout.

Yuan Xi breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. If they really collapsed and trampled on each other, they would be defeated before even fighting, which would be a great joke.

This was the difference between leading a few hundred or a thousand people and tens of thousands of people. The more people you lead, the more the difficulty of commanding increases exponentially, and the more serious the consequences are if problems arise.

He had Zhao Yun reorganize the troops and rode his horse to Yuan Tan's side, asking, "What happened?"

Yuan Tan's face was gloomy, "Enemy reinforcements are here!"

"Three routes at once!"

The generals discussed among themselves. Yuan Xi listened for a while before understanding. The scouts reported that three armies were coming this way, forming an encirclement of the Yuan army!

One route was Tian Kai's Qing Province soldiers, at least ten thousand people.

One route was Kong Rong of Beihai, with at least three thousand people.

The last route bore the banner of Liu Bei of Xu Province, with at least five or six thousand people!