Chapter 323 Loyal and Brave Ji Ling
The Cao army that rushed up the city wall immediately retreated a few steps, leaned against the city wall, formed a circle, and stared at the group of yellow-armored soldiers vigilantly.
The surrounding Yuan Shu troops were extremely excited, their morale was immediately boosted, and they rushed forward to kill one after another.
"kill!"
The Tiger Guards in yellow armor looked at the group of enemies in front of them and rushed forward with fanaticism in their eyes.
"Block! Block!"
Cao Hong personally stood in the front and led the charge against this elite force, but it was just a drop in the bucket.
The strength of the two sides seemed to be not even on the same level, which made Cao Hong recall the feeling of facing Le Jinjun under Tian Ze.
At first, they at least had the advantage in military strength, but now they are far inferior to the enemy in terms of military strength.
After several attacks, he killed the enemy in front of him with a single blow. However, Cao Hong, who was out of breath, found that most of the soldiers on both sides had been killed, and several more soldiers rushed towards him, so he quickly retreated a few steps.
Dozens of soldiers were killed in just a few moments. The enemy pressed forward step by step without stopping, and Cao Hong's army could only retreat and shrink its defense line.
Seeing his guards falling one by one, Cao Hong knew that he could not do anything, so he said without hesitation: "Retreat!"
Several soldiers rushed forward voluntarily, risking their lives to cover the rear. Cao Hong and the rest of the men climbed down the city wall using the ladders without hesitation.
On the high platform, Zhou Yu saw this scene, frowned slightly, and muttered to himself: "The Tiger Guards are really difficult to deal with!"
Under Yuan Shu's command were the former Han Dynasty's Tiger Guards.
This elite force, which at its peak was able to raid the 150,000-strong Hun army with only 3,000 men and win a great victory, was weakened a lot at the end of the Han Dynasty, but it is still an elite force that should not be underestimated.
Zhou Yu had always known that Yuan Shu had such an elite force around him, but he seldom saw them participating in battles. They usually stayed close to Yuan Shu. He never expected to see it under such circumstances.
This group of soldiers is truly elite. Although there are only three thousand of them, each of them is worth ten. They are simply not something ordinary soldiers can contend with, especially in a battle to defend the city like today.
He commanded his army to charge onto the city walls several times, but was driven back by this army every time.
After several attempts, Zhou Yu now understood that if he did not deal with this elite force, it would take several months to force his way into Shouchun City.
"What's the situation of the attack on the east city wall?" Zhou Yu asked.
"Commander-in-chief, General Yide just launched a surprise attack and led his troops to the city wall, but they were also driven back by the Huben Army." said Lu Meng, the Sima of the other department who was responsible for delivering messages beside Zhou Yu.
Zhou Yu frowned slightly: "How many soldiers are there in that Tiger Guards?"
"There are only about two hundred of them. But with the support of so many soldiers defending the city, it is indeed difficult to break through."
"Ji Ling is really prudent in using troops. I'm afraid he has deployed Tiger Guards on all four sides of the city walls just in case." Zhou Yu murmured.
"In this case, it will be difficult to attack Shouchun by force."
Another day of fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses and neither side gained any advantage.
"If we continue like this, I'm afraid it's not a solution." After hearing the casualties statistics, Cao Cao looked at Yuan Shao and others with a serious expression.
"You should have seen what happened today. Gongjin's command was perfect, but because of the presence of the Tiger Guards, Shouchun City never showed any signs of being breached."
"If we continue to fight like this, even if we can capture Shouchun City, it will take a long time, and we will lose a lot of troops."
“We must find another way.”
After hearing what Cao Cao said, Yuan Shao and others were all worried and thoughtful.
They knew that what Cao Cao said was right.
There was nothing wrong with Zhou Yu's command. If they or anyone under them were to command the siege, they would never achieve such an effect. However, the difficulty of the city defense troops led by Ji Ling was completely beyond their imagination.
Although the combat effectiveness of the other soldiers defending the city except for the Huben Army was not very strong, they were quite formidable. Their morale and will were a little too tenacious, as if Yuan Shao had a natural talent.
"Is it possible to incite some of the generals to rebel? We should have placed a lot of people among them, right?" Shen Pei asked.
Xi Zhicai shook his head: "Yuan Shu is a man of character. When he realized that many of his men had been infiltrated by us, he immediately cleaned up all the generals and adopted the method of collective responsibility."
"All the generals with more than 1,000 men in the city are his trusted aides who have been trained since childhood. Although their abilities are somewhat inferior, their loyalty is absolutely unquestionable."
"What about destroying the morale of the soldiers in the city? Surrounded by enemies, I don't believe those soldiers are still willing to work for Yuan Shu." Shen Pei asked unwillingly again.
Zhou Yu paused for a moment and said, "During the past few days of siege, I have carefully observed the status of the soldiers in the city, and found that they are a little unusual."
"Yu suspects that this may be the effect of Ji Ling's talent."
"The effect shown seems to be to enhance the loyalty and will of the soldiers."
After hearing this, Shen Pei completely gave up.
"I never thought that Yuan Gonglu would become so difficult to deal with when he reached the end of his rope."
Looking at the intensity of Yuan Shu's desperate resistance, Shen Pei doubted how Cao Cao and Liu Bei had defeated this guy before. It was totally unreasonable!
As if seeing Shen Pei's doubt, Cao Cao shook his head gently and said, "Although Ji Ling's innate power is strong, I'm afraid there are significant limitations. Otherwise, he would be almost as good as Brother Benchu."
Cao Cao was the one who felt most deeply how powerful Yuan Shao's talent was.
If he wants to confront Tian Ze head-on, the only way to achieve it is to rely on Yuan Shao's talent and forcibly raise his will.
Currently, Cao Cao only knew of Yuan Shao, a person with talent that could achieve such a miraculous effect, but he never thought that the unknown Ji Ling could also do it.
At this time, Cao Cao suddenly regretted that he had rashly agreed to Yuan Shao's request to spare Yuan Shu's life.
This time it's not just Yuan Shu who is being sent out, I'm afraid Ji Ling and many Tiger Guards will also have to be sacrificed.
But it was too late to regret, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Since Ji Ling had such ability, Cao Cao and others did not want him to die young.
In future wars, it is possible that Ji Ling and this Tiger Guard Army may become their trump card.
"Brother Benchu, with such a good general and strong army, if we go to war in the future, I'm afraid you will have to spend more time and effort."
Hearing Cao Cao's deep words, Yuan Shao smiled indifferently.
How could he not know Ji Ling's abilities?
He had already considered this when he begged for mercy for Yuan Shu.
"Don't worry, Shao will take care of it."
Fighting Tian Ze was a life-and-death battle, regardless of whether or not he could take advantage of this. In this case, why shouldn't Yuan Shao take advantage of this first?
After hearing this, Cao Cao and others felt a little relieved.
However, when they calmed down and thought about it, they found that they were obviously tricked by Yuan Shao, but there was nothing they could do about it, because they were brothers after all.
When it comes to begging for mercy for Yuan Shu, even Sun Ce, his old subordinate, would not be as convincing as Yuan Shao.
After going around in circles, the two Yuans finally got together.
(End of this chapter)
