Yuan Tan and Ju Su were surprised to see Guan Yu withdraw from the city.

Gao Lan is all elite soldiers in the central army, and they are elite soldiers who spent several years of hard work after Yuan Tan took office. Gao Lan is also a good general who showed his strength in the Battle of Guandu. He is usually very careful in training, but today, the gap between the two sides is too big. Even if Gao Lan was not killed unexpectedly and the two sides fought in a formation, Gao Lan may not be Guan Yu's opponent, at most it will only support it for a longer time.

If we consider that Guan Yu came from a rush to march a hundred miles, the gap between the two sides might be even bigger.

"This is the method of King Wu's military training." Yuan Tan turned his head and looked at Ju Shu, meaningful. "We only learned the superficial, but Guan Yu learned the essence."

Ju Su was puzzled. "I am ignorant, please give me some advice on the subtlety of it."

"The King of Wu practiced military training day by day, and often took exams. Those with the best rewards and those with the worst were punished. How could the soldiers persevere? They were rewarded with great rewards. The soldiers had land and houses in their families, and they could reduce taxes when joining the army, and those who made meritorious service were rewarded. Those who wished to be officials could go to the martial arts lecture hall to study. These were not something we could learn, so we only learned the basics and did not learn the essence."

Ju Xue's eyebrows trembled slightly. He understood what Yuan Tan meant. The reason why Sun Ce was able to give generous gifts to his soldiers was because he took the land from the aristocratic family, which was something that Jizhou could not imitate. Those with constant property had perseverance. Only with land did the people willing to join the army, protect their own industries, and were willing to endure hardships and train and fight bravely. The most typical example was the Yanzhou soldiers. Those Yanzhou people who fled to Yuzhou learned that they could divide the land and join the army actively. The 200,000 army was obtained in a few days, and they still had room for picky choices.

The Jizhou soldiers did not have such conditions. Most of them were a tribe of aristocratic families. No matter how hard they trained and made many contributions, most of them were vassals of aristocratic families. Most of the credits and interests belonged to the aristocratic families. The rewards they could get were extremely limited. Except for the children of aristocratic families, the chances of promotion were also very slim. In contrast, they naturally had no combat power.

"Guan Yu is also led by him as the Jizhou Army."

Yuan Tan said: "Although Guan Yu is conceited, he cherishes his soldiers. None of the generals in our army can treat ordinary soldiers like him. Of course, if he meets the generals of Jiangdong, he will have no advantage."

Ju Su was speechless. Yuan Tan really had no fighting spirit. He listened to his tone and wanted to surrender now if possible. He admitted that Yuan Tan was right. Compared to him as a counselor, Yuan Tan had personally visited the battlefield, fought with Sun Ce, and lived in Pingyu for half a year. He had a personal experience of Sun Ce's training methods. The subtleties were indeed not something he could understand.

When the strength gap reaches a certain point, it is not something that can be compensated by wisdom. Whether the soldiers are well-trained has always been the foundation of military strategy. He knows this, but he is powerless to do so. He cannot make the Jizhou family give up their vested interests and follow Sun Ce to implement the new policy.

"King, Xiang Tian has discussed this matter with other families, but..." Ju Su smacked his lips and did not continue.

Yuan Tan didn't say anything, just nodded. He knew about this, and as soon as Tian Feng spoke, he was blocked by the aristocratic family. Those people said it very directly that their own property was not lost from heaven, but accumulated by ancestors of all generations. Why should they be given up? If they wanted to give it up, why should they be given up to Yuan Tan and directly to Sun Ce? The reason why the Jizhou family spared no effort to support the Yuan family is because they can represent the interests of our scholars. If they want to be identities and ally with farmers and craftsmen, why should they support Yuan?

Tian Feng did not report what the aristocratic family said, but Yuan Tan could guess that the Yuan family was not without white jade and flawless in terms of morality, and there were many criticisms. In desperation, it was inevitable that he would say some unpleasant and angry words. He did not care about the attitudes of those people, but he no longer hoped that the Jizhou family could support him in negotiations with Sun Ce. He was not like Cao Ang and there was Yizhou to go, and all he could choose was to retire.

The war drums were passed one after another, and Ju Hu led Lang Wei to form a formation and face Guan Yu. Gao Lan's subordinates finally showed some of the qualities of elite soldiers, retreated to both sides of the formation, re-arranged the formation, and concealed Ju Hu's wings. On a rough look, there were more than 3,000 people, who were combined with Lang Wei led by Ju Hu, and had a slight advantage in terms of force.

Yuan Tan was slightly convinced. Unless Guan Yu went crazy, there was little chance that he would continue to attack.

At this time, someone lifted Gao Lan's body up, and several surviving guards knelt down in front of Yuan Tan, crying bitterly, asking Yuan Tan to avenge Gao Lan. Yuan Tan looked at Gao Lan's headless body and was frightened. There was a huge wound under Gao Lan's ribs, almost cutting Gao Lan in half. Even if he was not beheaded, Gao Lan would not be able to survive, and no one could sew such a wound.

"Is it Guan Yu injured?"

"Yes, that... the Qinglong Sword." When talking about the Qinglong Sword, the Knight of the Personal Guards couldn't help but chill. He went to fight with Gao Lan and witnessed Guan Yu's fast horse long sword, killing him all the way, like a war god descending to earth, no one could stop him.

"What a fast knife, so much strength." Ju Su murmured, enduring the dizziness and urge to vomit, Gao Lan was a general, wearing the essence armor he bought from the black market in Nanyang. It cost nearly a hundred gold, but it was still cut by Guan Yu with one knife. The sharpness of Guan Yu's Qinglong sword can be imagined.

Yuan Tan's face was as cold as ice, reminding him: "Sacrificial wine, you are right. Guan Yu fights like an assassination, and he cannot be defended. Remind Zhang He to be careful. Guan Yu has a good horse, and no one can defeat him in the battle. Gao Lan was not careless, he just underestimated Guan Yu's martial arts." He paused and said: "Let Bo Zhi be careful, use more powerful crossbows and shields, and guard them strictly, and do not attack easily."

Ju Su deeply agreed and did not dare to neglect it. He immediately sent someone to send a message to his son Ju Hu at the city. He did not want Ju Hu to be in a different position like Gao Lan. When Ju Hu received the news, he was frightened and ordered Wu Gang's car to push him to the formation, form a convoy, equipped with a strong bow and crossbow, and guard the city gate.

Seeing Juhu's formation, Guan Yu knew that there was no possibility of a surprise attack and the loss of a strong attack was too great, so he gave up his plan to fight again. Taking advantage of the opportunity to confront Juhu, he sent people to Gaolan Camp to loot some food and supplies, retreated calmly, and set up a camp on the slopes in the south of the city.

The next day, Xiahou Lan returned to the camp, and he successfully completed the task assigned by Guan Yu, destroyed the bridges and ships at the mouth of Lishuijin, and blocked Zhang He's reinforcements. Guan Yu was very satisfied and sent him to Zhongqiu with Gao Lan's head to persuade him to surrender. Zhongqiu did not have heavy troops to guard him and was unable to stop Guan Yu's attack. Seeing Gao Lan's head, Zhongqiu Ling wisely chose to surrender, opened the city gate, and asked Guan Yu to enter the city.

Guan Yu took over Zhongqiu and immediately sent someone to report to Liu Bei. This was a trap. Yuan Tan's main force did not follow Yuan Xi to the north at all. I need a reasonable explanation whether it was an intelligence error or another reason.

At the same time, Yuan Tan ignored Ju Su's dissuasion and waited for Zhang He to arrive, and led his troops to retreat south. Guan Yu had limited troops and was unable to stop Yuan Tan, so he could only send Xiahou Lan and his men to follow him to reconnaissance.

——

When Yuan Tan learned that the ambush failed to be carried out, he led his troops to retreat. Yuan Xi was shocked and retreated for more than a hundred miles overnight with five or six thousand people and entered the Taoist temple.

When the matter was rushed, Liu Bei didn't have time to react. He thought that Yuan Xi was really leading the main force, and was discussing with Feng Ji how to encircle and annihilate Yuan Xi. Unexpectedly, Yuan Xi suddenly withdrew and could not figure out the truth for a while. When he sent a scout to figure out the situation, Yuan Xi had already entered Taocheng. Then, Guan Yu's army arrived. He learned that Gao Lan and Zhang He were all ambushing Guan Yu in the cypress people. Liu Bei and Feng Ji realized that they were deceived by Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi. Both sides wanted to play tricks, but in the end they were defeated by Guan Yu. Guan Yu defeated the tricks with his strength, killed Gao Lan in the face of the battle, and made great contributions.

Liu Bei did not care about the trouble of how to reward Guan Yu, so he led his troops to the Tao and sent people to the city to persuade him to surrender.

Yuan Xi was already in trouble. No one dared to believe it now. Yuan Tan retreated to Handan in one breath and threw the responsibility of guarding Tao to him. To put it nicely, this is a test of his ability and a chance to make contributions so that he can be recognized by the Jizhou family. In the future, it is natural to take over the King of Wei. To put it nicely, this is a killing person with a knife, and he wants to kill him with Liu Bei's knife. Whether he surrendered to Liu Bei or was defeated, he could not gain a foothold in Jizhou, let alone take over the King of Wei.

Liu Bei and Feng Ji could not believe it. They had been in contact for so long, and Guan Yu had been lurking near the Bairen. Liu Bei and Feng Ji did not tell him. If Guan Yu succeeded in a sneak attack, when the news of Liu Bei was announced again, he would become a villain who killed the king and brother, and he would be a king and no one else could have the face to be the king. Even if Liu Bei concealed it for him, and had this handle in the hands of Liu Bei, he could only be a puppet for his whole life.

Even Yuan Shang could not believe it. Yuan Shang said it nicely and did not want to be the King of Wei, so he had to give it to him. But as far as the current situation is concerned, if something happened to him, the one who benefited the most was Yuan Shang, and Yuan Shang was also very suspicious.

Yuan Xi didn't know who he could believe. He refused Liu Bei's persuasion to surrender and defended the city to the death for one day. For him, death in battle might be his best destination.

Liu Bei was anxious. Although Taocheng in Guanyao was not very big, it was very strong. It was also a place where all the waters gathered, which was not conducive to the development of the army. If the siege was siege, it would have been prolonged, and what he lacked the most was time. Once Taishi Ci received the news and learned that he was attacking Jizhou, he would have taken advantage of the situation. At that time, he was in a dilemma, and no matter how he looked at it, he would be dead.

Feng Ji was also a little anxious. He wanted to make a mistake, but he was trapped. If Guan Yu had not been cautious, he would have really lost this time. Of course, the situation is not good now. Guan Yu wanted to make an argument, Liu Bei wanted to attack Tao, and more importantly, he needed a victory to prove his value.

The Tao of Wu is not an ordinary county town, but a county government. It has perfect city defense. Not only does it require sufficient troops to attack the city, but it also requires siege equipment. The casualties of Yifu climbing the city are unbearable. Although Liu Bei had more than 40,000 infantry and cavalry, he mainly used Hu cavalry. It is not impossible to use cavalry to attack the city, but the cost is too high, and it is very easy to arouse opposition from the Hu people and even turn against each other. Last year, the grassland was defeated and Liu Bei's prestige plummeted. The more than 10,000 Hu cavalry were among the few who were willing to support Liu Bei. Once the casualties increased, it would be difficult for Liu Bei to supplement it.
Chapter completed!