Qiao Rui was leading his army to Hefei with all his might. He had received news before that Pei Qing's army immediately led the main force to chase Yuan Shu into Lujiang after occupying Hefei. This would mean that the troops in Hefei were empty, and he also inquired that there were only three thousand troops there, which was not scary at all.

"I attacked Pei Qing's Hefei with ten times the force. This was simply easy. Once I broke through Hefei, I could form a front-and-back attack with my lord's army. In that case, how could Pei Qing be undefeated? At that time, the first achievement of defeating Pei Qing this time will be mine."

The more Qiao Rui thought about it, the more excited he became. He seemed to have seen the scene of his success and fame. He believed that with this battle alone, he would become a famous general for all time and become famous in history. At the same time, he would also be rewarded by his lord. With such merits, it would not be difficult to be called a general.

So Qiao Rui led the army to the city of Hefei decisively, and immediately ordered the soldiers under his command to shout loudly: "Listen to the soldiers on the city, you are surrounded now, I know that there are only three thousand soldiers in your city. Today I brought 30,000 troops to conquer. With your little force to resist, it would be like hitting a stone with eggs, so I advise you to open the city and surrender quickly, so that you can save your life. Otherwise, today will be your death!"

Qiao Rui felt that he was crushing with absolute advantage, so he looked very proud in his heart, feeling that allowing the other party to surrender was already giving them great face.

After a while, a general came over the top of the city and laughed loudly at Qiao Rui: "Qiao Rui, please stop being intimidated here. Let me tell you the truth. There are 30,000 troops in our city, and they are all elites. With your strength, you can't have hope of defeat. If you don't believe it, I will order the city gate to open and let you attack the city."

"Oh? It's time for you to deceive me with the empty city strategy? Do you think I'll be fooled by you?" Since Pei Qing became famous, many of his battle examples have been recorded and become the subject of the princes' scrambling to study. Among them, there are the battle examples of the empty city strategy. Qiao Rui happened to have heard of such battle examples, so he laughed at him: "Since that's the case, please open the city gate and see if I dare to launch an attack?"

The general at the top of the city did not care at all. He waved his hand and ordered the city gate to open. He smiled at Qiao Rui and said, "I have opened the city gate, but you are attacking."

"This..." Qiao Rui saw that the other party had really opened the city gate and looked fearless, and suddenly became a little timid. He was afraid that the other party would really have an ambush in the city. If this was the case, he would suffer a loss today.

However, he then thought of the farmers he met on the road with a certain expression on his face, and felt that his source of information was reliable. If Pei Qing's army was still in the city, why didn't he directly launch the army to fight outside the city, but instead hide in the city and sneak in?

So Qiao Rui thought that there was only one such ending, that is, the guard in the city was lying, and he was now using the empty city strategy to deceive himself.

"You cannot be indecisive in life. Many times opportunities are missed in hesitation." Qiao Rui immediately made up his mind when he thought of this, waved the flag, and shouted loudly: "Tell me the order, and the whole army will attack the city!"

Then all the war drums sounded, and the soldiers of the entire army rushed over like a tide.

At this time, the general on the top of the city suddenly changed his expression. He quickly ordered the city gate to be closed and shouted: "Why is my plan useless?"

Qiao Rui immediately felt extremely happy when he saw this scene, and said with a big laugh: "I have already grasped the information in your city. Do you think such a clumsy strategy can hide it from me?"

Then Qiao Rui felt more at ease. In order to show himself, he personally stepped forward to supervise the battle and urged the team to enter the city through the city gate from the end.

However, not long after he entered the city gate, he heard a creaking sound coming from behind.

Qiao Rui was very surprised and quickly looked back and found that the suspension bridge outside the city gate had been hung up for some reason.

与此同时只听得城内突然传来了惊天动地的喊杀声,随后不久就见城门洞子内闹闹哄哄,秩序迅速大乱了起来.

"What's going on? What happened?" Qiao Rui was panicked, but he still pretended to be calm and asked in a deep voice.

After a while, a personal general in front of him said, "Okay, there are so many people, the enemy is shooting arrows down the city, and an army blocks our road to the city. Now our soldiers are trapped at the city and have become living targets for the enemy. Many soldiers die under the rain of arrows, and the soldiers retreat desperately, so this makes us look particularly crowded."

"What?" Qiao Rui felt cold from the beginning to the end when he heard this. It seemed that he had really fallen into a trap this time. The enemy was really ambushing the heavy troops in the city.

So in this case, Qiao Rui quickly withdrew from the city gate. Fortunately, the city gate was not closed yet, at least he could come outside the city gate to avoid the crowding. Otherwise, as long as everyone squeezed in, they would be able to squeeze them to death soon.

However, even if it is withdrawn, it is useless, because the suspension bridges of the four city gates have been lifted, Qiao Rui and his soldiers can only hide in the narrow area near the base of the city wall. On the top of the city, there are defenders constantly firing bows and arrows, throwing down wooden, rocks and other objects, and screams are heard in their ears continuously.

And this is not the most terrifying thing. What is terrible is the shortage of food. Because these people are eager to attack the city, their food and supplies are all behind. Most of them are lightly siege and they don’t even bring food. They are now trapped at the base of the city wall and have no food. They also have to be prepared for the feather arrows and rolling stones on the top of the city at any time. They are all scared and their morale is gone. I don’t know when such a day will come.

What made them even more desperate was that not long after, an army came from the other side of the moat. The army quickly killed the soldiers guarding the baggage. Originally, these soldiers were slowly filling the river with soil. If time allowed, they could fill a road in half a day. But now the last hope was cut off, and their food and supplies were gone. The enemy soldiers on the other side of the river used the crossbow arrows they left behind to deal with them.

"How could this happen? How did things turn out like this?" Qiao Rui's heart gradually collapsed. Now the soldiers on his side no longer had any desire to resist. Hunger and fatigue were tormenting them all the time. Many of the soldiers shrank together and looked at him with malicious intentions. It was obvious that these people wanted to be detrimental to him.

"Things have reached this point, so I'd better surrender quickly, otherwise I will not even be able to save my life. It doesn't matter if I die. By then, my daughters will have no hope from now on."
Chapter completed!