I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 321 Fishing from the Lake
Wancheng.

Liu Miao and Yuan Shao have been locked in a standoff here for many days.

Yuan Shao built a watchtower on the opposite bank with a rammed earth base, reaching a height of over three zhang (approximately 10 meters), and piled up earth like a mountain, so that he could shoot at Wancheng across the Baishui River.

Liu Miao, on the other hand, used the trebuchet invented by Liu Ye to launch a large number of head-sized stone projectiles at the tower, causing it to collapse and become unusable.

Yuan Shao ordered his soldiers to go north of Wancheng to dig a tunnel to reach Wancheng. Liu Miao then dug trenches all around Wancheng. As soon as there was any movement, he ordered his soldiers to use long forks and spears to kill Yuan's soldiers.

Yuan Shao then ordered his soldiers to go upstream of the Baishui River (Yushui River) to cut off the river, attempting to drown Liu Miao. However, Wen Ping and Huang Zhong, two men from Nanyang, quickly came up with a solution: they could dig wells inside the city to fetch water, which would be safer for Liu Miao's soldiers as they would not have to leave the city.

Yuan Shao then ordered light cavalry to harass the grain supply routes from Jingzhou and Guanzhong to Wancheng. Liu Miao appointed Li Yan as the grain transport officer. Li Yan had heard that Liu Miao had once used chariots to cross the river in Guanzhong, so he thought of the similarity between chariots and grain carts. He then deployed a thousand chariots as a unit, advancing along ten grain supply routes, forming a chariot formation to protect the grain supplies. This prevented the light cavalry sent by Yuan Shao from advancing recklessly, and the plan naturally failed.

Yuan Shao's schemes weren't over yet!

He ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge across the Yu River and transported his self-made chariots to the city gate of Wancheng.

This chariot was sturdy and sharp; wherever it went, nothing was spared from destruction.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu requested Liu Miao to collect all the silk in the city, sew it into cloth, and set it up wherever the carriage went. With the cloth suspended in the air, the carriage remained intact, causing Yuan Shao to return empty-handed once again.

Yuan Shao became ruthless.

They tied pine resin to tall poles outside the city, poured oil into them, and set them on fire, intending to burn the cloth and the building.

They also dug more than twenty tunnels around the city, using beams and pillars to hold them up. They then added oil and water to the tunnels and set fire to the pillars, hoping that when the beams and pillars collapsed, the city wall would also fall down with a crash.

Taishi Ci personally led his soldiers, each wielding a long-handled iron hook, to cut the poles, thus removing both pine and hemp fibers.

Zhou Tai and Chen Wu placed wooden pallets at the entrance of the passage when the beams and pillars burned down to prevent Yuan's army from entering.

Yuan Shao was at his wit's end.

Helpless, he could only shout at Wancheng: "Liu Miao! You invited me to fight here, but why did you become a coward?"

"Yuan Shao, you know perfectly well who exactly is hiding behind the scenes!"

Liu Miao also shouted at Yuan Shao.

"Yuan Shao! I was also sent to attack Cao Cao by imperial decree, which was written in blood on his belt! You attacked me without asking any questions. What are your true intentions?"

Yuan Shao: ?
He looked at the Wancheng city wall, which he had tried every possible means to breach but still couldn't, and finally smiled.

wry smile!

"No wonder he's been so quiet lately; he was hoping to use righteousness to blackmail me?"

childish!

"Liu Miao, you want to use the righteousness of the Han Dynasty to suppress me, but little do you know that I, Yuan Shao, am the embodiment of righteousness!"

As Yuan Shao narrowed his eyes, about to devise another way to attack Wancheng, a series of letters from Hebei made him frown.

Among the letter writers were many renowned scholars and prominent figures from Hebei.

Even Tian Feng, who was imprisoned, wrote him another letter.

"Now, Lord Yuan is going to the Central Plains to punish traitors like Cao Cao. It is precisely because of this that all ambitious people in the world are convinced of Lord Yuan's authority, making his army invincible wherever it goes."

"But now Lord Yuan is ignoring the emperor and his officials in Xuchang and instead going to Nanyang to confront Liu Miao. Doesn't this confuse the people of the world, making them wonder whether Lord Yuan wants to support the Han dynasty or to contend for supremacy?"

"I advise Lord Yuan not to continue this pointless entanglement with Liu Miao in Nanyang, but instead to heed the will of the people and welcome the Emperor and his officials back to Hebei as soon as possible!"

Upon seeing these letters, Yuan Shao's lips twitched, but he still did not issue the order to withdraw his troops.

"I'd like to see how long Liu Miao can hold out!"

------

Xiao Pei.

When the generals saw that Zhang He and Gao Lan had not retreated, they guessed Yuan Shao's intentions.

"Yuan Shao wants to continue this unjust war."

Seeing Yuan Shao's behavior, the generals were not worried at all; on the contrary, they were delighted.

"Without a strong sense of righteousness, generals will become confused, morale will plummet, sharp swords will become dull, and sturdy armor will become thin."

"Now is the time to take the initiative and fight Yuan's army!"

"Proactive combat?"

Xu Sheng frowned: "Indeed, our army's morale is probably higher than Yuan's army, but Yuan's army is still well-equipped and has cavalry as support. If we launch a rash attack, I'm afraid we will not be able to win!"

"Wenxiang, don't worry."

Zhuge Liang informed Xu Sheng of the intelligence he had previously received.

"After Yuan Shao entered Nanyang, Zhongda and Sun Ce's troops had no use for their own purposes and they chose to retreat to Xiaopei."

"Furthermore, is Wenxiang aware that the lord previously received a batch of female rams from Gongsun Zan?"

"Of course!"

Liu Miao even set up a horse farm in Langya specifically to use these mares to breed warhorses, so that the soldiers in the south would have a stable source of warhorses.

"General Zang Ba and Gongsun Xu are driving those warhorses over here to serve as warhorses."

"The warhorses under General Sun Ce's command, plus the warhorses from Langya Horse Ranch, are enough to form a cavalry force of more than five thousand men."

"Although their numbers are still fewer than those of Yuan Shao's warhorses, they are more than enough to defeat Zhang He and Gao Lan!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Sheng was taken aback: "But... wouldn't this be like draining the pond to catch all the fish? Would our lord agree to this?"

"Draining the pond to catch all the fish is certainly unacceptable." "But if people are starving to death, what difference does it make whether the pond is drained or not?"

It is better to believe in books than to have no books.

"Moreover, Wenxiang believes that our lord would not be stingy with a few warhorses and give up the increased chance of victory in the battle against Yuan Shao."

Although Zhuge Liang was the youngest among these people, even Lu Kang, an old man in his seventies, trusted him to handle all affairs.

All of this was not only because Zhuge Liang was highly valued by Liu Miao, but also because Zhuge Liang's conduct and interpersonal skills were truly convincing to everyone!

After hearing this, Xu Sheng no longer insisted, but nodded emphatically, expressing his trust in his fellow townsman Zhuge Liang!

Three days later, Sima Yi and Sun Ce arrived.

Upon seeing Xu Sheng, the two men praised him for his hard-fought battle in the past few days.

When Sun Ce saw Xu Sheng's already dulled sword, he exclaimed, "Seeing this sword, I realize how fierce the battle was!"

After some hesitation.

Sun Ce took off his sword and handed it to Xu Sheng.

"This is the sword my father left me, named Gu Ding. If you, Wen Xiang, do not mind, you may accept this sword!"

Xu Sheng had met Sun Ce before and knew what this knife meant to Sun Ce, so he quickly waved his hand and said, "This is a relic of the Marquis of Wucheng. How could this humble general be qualified to use it?"

"Take it!"

Sun Ce once again thrust the ancient sword into Xu Sheng's arms.

“In the past, I used this knife to cut off Huang Zu’s head, and my great hatred was avenged.”

"Now that I am a cavalry general, I rarely lead my soldiers into close combat. As a result, this sword has been unable to be drawn for a long time. Why not give it to Wenruo and let it regain its former glory!"

Xu Sheng looked at the ancient sword with longing, and upon hearing Sun Ce's words, he immediately abandoned his girlish manners and accepted the sword with both hands: "Thank you for the sword, General!"

"I assure the general that I will absolutely not tarnish the reputation of the general and the Marquis of Wucheng!"

"good!"

Several days later, Zang Ba and Gongsun Xu also arrived from Langya.

Those mares, who were originally given endless hope, were also saddled, had bits attached, and became warhorses.

"Except for the few hundred that are still nursing foals, we brought the rest."

Zang Ba and Gongsun Xu were also somewhat reluctant to part with these warhorses.

But as Zhuge Liang said before.

If people are going to starve to death, then draining the pond to catch all the fish is not foolish, but wise!

By integrating them into one place, Xiaopei's army reached an astonishing 20,000 infantrymen and 5,000 cavalrymen!
These cavalrymen were almost the total number of cavalrymen in Liu Miao's forces!

Those warhorses were obtained by Liu Miao over the years through constant questioning and extortion from various warlords, including Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, and Gongsun Du.
Therefore, when Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi saw that Liu Miao had managed to gather such a large cavalry force without them even realizing it, they were quite impressed.

"Everyone laughs at our lord for being greedy and calculating..."

"But if it weren't for our lord's continuous efforts to find warhorses from all over the years, how could we have assembled such a large force of warhorses?"

Liu Miao's behavior among the various warlords over the years has been undeniably disgraceful.

But when everyone actually saw this cavalry force that was already capable of competing with Yuan Shao in the Central Plains, they truly understood Liu Miao's good intentions.

"Therefore, we absolutely cannot lose this battle!"

Deploy troops.

The vanguard was handed over to Jiang Qin and Xu Sheng.

The central army was commanded by Lu Kang, the most senior officer, to reassure the troops.

The cavalry on the left and right flanks were commanded by Sun Ce and Zang Ba respectively.

On the Central Plains battlefield, on this boundless plain, the value of tactics was reduced to the minimum.

Contending for supremacy in the Central Plains!

Only the strongest soldiers will receive it!
Without any fancy arrangements, once everything was ready, a large army was simply and neatly brought to the front of Zhang He and Gao Lan's formation to confront them!

Zhang He and Gao Lan were initially pleased that Liu Miao's army was finally no longer hiding in Xiaopei.

But just as the two were about to try it out, they suddenly realized something was wrong!
"Liu Miao, where did all these cavalrymen come from?"

Zhang He and Gao Lan's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets!
Even Yuan Shao only deployed 10,000 cavalry in this campaign to attack the Central Plains.

Of these 10,000 cavalry, several thousand were left for Yuan Shao's main force, and another thousand were allocated to Chunyu Qiong's side. Zhang He and Gao Lan would then have no more than 2,000 cavalry.

Even so, no one believed that anyone on the eastern battlefield could withstand the onslaught of these two thousand Hebei cavalry.

Who would have thought that Liu Miao would be able to muster a cavalry force of five thousand men from the east?
Zhang He and Gao Lan looked at each other in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Sun Ce on the other side was already eager to try.

"You Hebei army, you had a lot of fun relying on your cavalry advantage before!"

Sun Ce glanced back at the seemingly endless cavalry behind him and revealed a childlike smile.

"Now, it's time to have some fun!"

(End of this chapter)