Chapter 21 Diao Chan, the system is required [Seeking follow-up reading and votes]

"News from other directions won't come so quickly."

The one who replied was Li Ru.

Luoyang has a total of twelve city gates, corresponding to the four directions of east, south, west and north.

Li Ru looked at Luoyang, which was illuminated by torches, and asked, "Have you thought about how to explain this to the Grand Tutor?"

Dong Zhuo laughed loudly, "He thought he had us all figured out. His own mistakes have nothing to do with me. In terms of strategy, you are far superior to him, and he deserved to be tricked. Have you brought all the people with you?"

Li Ru nodded, and Dong Zhuo smiled and said, "Once we take control of Luoyang, you will send the people to Yuan Wei.

Forget it, I'll go and deliver it myself, just to see his reaction."

Dong Zhuo climbed up the north gate tower and looked out over Luoyang.

Li Ru and other advisers made a lot of arrangements for tonight.

Li Ru's plans have always made Dong Zhuo feel at ease.

In addition, with such powerful troops at their disposal, how could Luoyang possibly defend against their offensive!

"Use all the people who were in ambush before, and fully control the defense of Luoyang City and the palace. There is no need to hide anymore."

Dong Zhuo's voice was hoarse, and the smile on his face disappeared, and he instantly became fierce and violent.

"I will follow your orders!" Li Ru bowed and replied.

East gate.

Cao Cao was sitting on the city wall. The summer night breeze blew, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves, shouts, and flickering flames in the city. The whole city was plunged into chaos.

Cao Cao untied his military wrist guard and revealed the cuffs tucked inside the wrist guard.

A little tiger's head popped out from the wide cuffs, sniffing and looking very alert.

"Come out and see the bloodshed. This world will become a cannibalistic place. You must also learn to be cautious."

Cao Cao carried the tiger cub out.

"General Cao!"

A stunning figure was brought up from the steps of the city wall by the imperial guards and looked at Cao Cao who was stroking the tiger.

It was actually Diao Chan.

Cao Cao received a report from his own army saying that Wang Yun had sent someone to ask for a meeting, but he did not expect it to be Diao Chan.

The girl was wearing a crimson Hanfu dress with a cinched waist. She approached with small nervous steps, her budding figure showing gracefully under the dress.

She came closer and saluted Cao Cao: "There was a disturbance in the city, my adoptive father left in a hurry and ordered me to find the general."

The beautiful girl was a little nervous:
"My foster father also said that the upper army commands the best troops in the Western Garden. If we can do our best to resist the enemy, we will be able to protect Luoyang. This will be a great blessing for the government and the people."

Cao Cao thought that Wang Yun asked you to come here to lure me with the beauty. This is Wang Yun's old trick and he is good at it.

"Come and sit down." Cao Cao said.

Inside the tower on one side, there was a house where the city defense troops were stationed. The guards had already brought a low mat over, and when Diao Chan arrived, Cao Cao sat on the top of the city wall.

"Diao Chan dare not sit in front of the general."

"come over!"

Cao Cao repeated it, and Diao Chan came and sat down opposite him. When she saw the little tiger cub in Cao Cao's arms, she looked at him with a scrutinizing look in her eyes.

"Something seems wrong with the changes in the city."

Diao Chan was unsure of Cao Cao's temper, so she picked up a small stone from the city wall and drew a square on the ground next to her, trying to persuade him.

"This is Luoyang. On the way here, I looked out from the car and saw four or five fires. The attendants who were protecting me encountered two attacks. The city was in chaos, as if the whole city was dragged into the war."

Looking at Luoyang from the top of the city wall, all you can see are tiny dots of fire.

In history, after Dong Zhuo took control of Luoyang, he allowed his troops to plunder more than once.

The reason is simple. Dong Zhuo's army needs supplies, and they solve the problem by looting.

"You mean to tell me that there are multiple fires. This means that the people attacking Luoyang are well-planned. They can launch attacks simultaneously in the city. The number of people may exceed our estimation."

Cao Cao thought that Diao Chan was not a simple person. If it were someone else, with the chaos in the city, even if there were people sent by Wang Yun to escort them, hiding in the car, with flames surging along the way and the sound of killing deafening, how could they observe calmly like her, and actually try to analyze the number and behavior of the enemy.

Then she felt relieved. It was as it should be. She was able to alienate Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, but that was not something she could do just by relying on her beauty.

Although her appearance is indeed a disaster for the country and the people.

Diao Chan acted as a lobbyist diligently: "These people set fire to the city, at most they just created chaos. There are so many people involved, and the palace, as the core, must have even more people.

There is also a fight over the twelve city gates. The scale of their attack is so large that I roughly calculated on the way here that at least a thousand people would be needed to bring chaos to most places in the city."

Cao Cao also discovered that Dong Zhuo's deployment and manpower in Luoyang were larger than expected.

The people who were seen sneaking into the city that day might just be the additional personnel Dong Zhuo wanted to send after coming to Luoyang. They must have planted spies and personnel in Luoyang earlier than expected, and launched the attack tonight.

Another thought came to Cao Cao's mind: Dong Zhuo's arrangements were meticulous, so he must have planted an accomplice in the city.

There will be people in the city who will support Dong Zhuo, and their number may be quite a lot.

Diao Chan asked: "The general doesn't seem to be worried about the incident in the city."

Cao Cao said frankly: "That's right, let Dong Zhuo arrange everything. As long as we occupy the city gate, he can't win." At this time, a large number of Xiyuan troops had arrived. Inside and outside the east gate, the soldiers were sharp and their armors clanged!
Thousands of soldiers climbed the city in an orderly manner!
"I led the troops to occupy the Dongyang Gate, which is also the east gate corresponding to the central axis of Luoyang. I sent a message to Ding Yuan, and just received the news from him that he successfully occupied the Kaiyang Gate.

He will send someone to take over the Dongyang Gate later."

Diao Chan looked focused, trying to understand what Cao Cao meant.

When Dong Zhuo came to Luoyang, no matter how he arranged things, in the end he could only truly control Luoyang if he occupied the city gates and the defenses of the palace.

The lives of everyone entering and leaving the city will be in his hands.

But Cao Cao occupied Dongyang Gate, and Ding Yuan occupied Kaiyang Gate facing south.

According to the layout of Luoyang, these two city gates are located in the east and southeast corners respectively.

The two are not far apart, forming an angle with each other, and there is a Qingyang Gate in between.

In other words, in the square-shaped Luoyang, the three adjacent city gates on the line from east to south are controlled by Cao Cao and Ding Yuan.

And because of their location, the three city gates can support each other.

As long as the city gate is not lost, Luoyang will have endless vitality.

No matter how hard Dong Zhuo tried, his plan would not be successful if Cao Cao and Ding Yuan were guarding the city gates.

Dong Zhuo might be able to achieve some of his goals through this, but it would be impossible for him to be as indulgent and do whatever he wants as he did in history.

No matter how strong he is, I just need to occupy the city gate and I can seize the initiative.

You should know that the southeast corner gate occupied by Ding Yuan is adjacent to the Luo River outside the city.

At worst there is still a way out.

No matter how you look at it, it is a key position that can activate the overall situation and be used for attack and retreat.

Diao Chan could roughly understand Cao Cao's intention and asked doubtfully, "Although the plan of Shangjun is good, if the palace defense is controlled by the invaders and the outer city gates are occupied, at most they will not be able to completely control Luoyang.

What's the point of us guarding the city gate?"

Cao Cao smiled and said, "With Minister Lu and others in the palace, it is not so easy to be captured given the preparedness. They are also doing their best. I can't handle everything by myself. We will know the result of what is happening in the palace tomorrow morning."

The night is long.

It was approaching midnight, and there were still constant shouting and screaming in the city.

At the north gate, Dong Zhuo received news one after another: "Many city gates have been captured one after another, but the east gate and the south gate have been captured by Cao Cao and Ding Yuan respectively, and are heavily guarded."

The South Gate controlled by Ding Yuan was adjacent to the Luo River and could not be blocked. It was the entrance to Luoyang.

The city gates controlled by Cao Cao and Ding Yuan made Dong Zhuo very uncomfortable.

He occupied most of Luoyang, but to say that he had controlled the overall situation was that there were still two extremely important city gates that were not in his hands. It was like a thorn in his throat, making it very uncomfortable for him to move forward or backward.

Seeing daybreak.

Dong Zhuo paced unwillingly at the north gate.

Li Ru's analysis showed that if they wanted to capture these two city gates, they would have to continuously deploy elite troops and attack day and night under the full defense of Ding Yuan's army. The consumption would be so great that it might exceed the critical point, and it could not be done in a short period of time.

Dong Zhuo was anxious to control Luoyang because he was afraid of a stalemate.

If generals like Huangfu Song led their troops back to support Dong Zhuo, his situation would become even more difficult.

Historically, he was able to control everyone because he had complete control over the palace defense and city defense, and the emperor's life was in his hands.

Generals outside the court, such as Huangfu Song, were loyal to the emperor, so naturally they had no power to fight back.

Therefore, Cao Cao's move to occupy the city gate was in line with the military strategy of "controlling the key points". It was equivalent to controlling the most important place in Luoyang with the least consumption, and preventing Dong Zhuo from fully controlling Luoyang.

He has now occupied Luoyang, but not all of it.

The whole plan was difficult to complete.

But he did control many places. The various forces in Luoyang had actually formed a strange balance, restraining each other, which was extremely delicate.

This is what Cao Cao said, even if Dong Zhuo comes, there is still room for mediation.

East Gate Tower.

After Cao Cao received the report from his own army, Ding Yuan sent Lu Bu to meet him.

Cao Cao glanced at Diao Chan and said, "It seems inappropriate for you to meet Lu Bu."

"Diao Chan, I have something to discuss with General Ding's men. Please go back to the car and wait. I will go back to the city with you later."

Diao Chan said, "Oh," and said, "The general is going back to the city too?" Seeing Cao Cao nod, she stood up and went back to the car under the leadership of her personal army to wait.

The sound of horseback riding outside the city was like thunder.

When Lu Bu arrived at the east gate with a group of soldiers under Ding Yuan's command, he saw a stunning figure getting on a carriage.

He withdrew his gaze and looked towards the top of the city.

Cao Cao put one hand on the battlement and looked at him, with an ambiguous smile on his face.

Lu Bu clasped his fists on his horse and said, "I greet General Cao! I am here on the orders of my adoptive father to listen to your instructions."

(End of this chapter)