Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3544 Just Once

Although Liao Hua is young, he is already a veteran.

In his early years, he was even a refugee.

Liao Hua had quite complicated feelings towards the Han Dynasty.

In the camp outside Shunyang City, Liao Hua was sitting in the central military tent.

A bonfire was lit in the central army tent, and the flames jumped, bringing warmth and light.

For some reason, Liao Hua suddenly remembered that during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he escorted his mother all the way to Guanzhong, and witnessed the sunset of Jingzhou. He traveled from Jingnan to Jingbei, from Nanxiang to Lantian, through mountains and rivers, and now he was returning again.

A lot seems to have happened along the way, yet it seems like it happened just yesterday.

In the first year of Zhongping, when Zhang Jue raised his arms and shouted "The Heaven is dead", Liao Hua of Nanjun, Jingzhou, was fleeing to Xiangyang with his sick mother on his back. He originally thought that everything would be better after arriving in Xiangyang, after all, Xiangyang had soldiers, food and people, not to mention that he and his mother were the people of the Han Dynasty. When they encountered danger, it was reasonable for them to seek help from the court and local government.

However, what is reasonable often ends up being unexpected.

Liao Hua was only fifteen years old at that time.

It was during this wave of refugees that he first felt the decline of the Han Dynasty.

He saw the heads of counties and towns in Jingzhou abandoning the city and fleeing, and he also saw the closed gates of the powerful strongholds along the way.

He saw a woman selling herself for a pancake, and also witnessed two families exchanging children.

He had no intention of condemning those civilians who sold themselves for food, but he felt that things shouldn't be like this, and the Han people shouldn't be like this...

Outside the tightly closed gates of Xiangyang, Liao Hua's three views collapsed, and the big man in his mind revealed an ugly attitude.

For the first time, ideals were crushed by cruel reality, and faith in the Han people was abandoned on the road to escape.

After arriving in Guanzhong, he held a series of grand ceremonies in Qinglong Temple. The four words "seeking truth and justice" became a new spiritual support in Liao Hua's heart. On his desk was no longer "Lu Xiahou Shuo", but "Spring and Autumn Annals".

In the first year of Taixing, the joke that Emperor Liu Xie made at the Taimiao ceremony spread to Guanzhong, but Liao Hua could not laugh after hearing it. He witnessed the corruption of Shandong in the Han Dynasty, but he did not feel happy about it, but sad. Those nobles who once led the trend of the Han Dynasty in the Eastern Han Dynasty and their enterprising children have now become a series of political performances, just like the Nuo dance in the Taimiao.

In the fifth year of Taixing, when Fei Qian issued a new decree in Chang'an, he officially extended the tentacles of management to the countryside, and the three-horse team headed by the inspection team began to take shape. More stringent audits of reports began to be carried out. Amid the wailing of the children of the aristocracy, Liao Hua felt that he had smelled some fresh fragrance in the rotten and smelly air of the Han Dynasty.

Now, it has been ten years since Taixing. In the letters Liao Hua sent to Fei Qian, there has been no mention of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness for a long time. Instead, they detailed the training of soldiers, the consumption of food and grass, and the number of armors. The letters that have been placed on his desk for a long time have also added a report from the Military Academy.

In the Battle of Jingzhou, he became the commander of a small army. He was a little nervous, a little excited, but more cautious.

The victory at Danshui was not enough to make Liao Hua inflate himself. He also did not feel proud of Niu Jin's surrender letter. After all, there were many generals who had made great achievements under the Hussars...

"The captain thought there was a trick?"

The military school officer below asked.

Liao Hua nodded slightly.

Shunyang is not a very important node, at least not a point that will affect the entire Jingzhou battle situation, so for Cao's army, it is not very meaningful to defend it. So from this perspective, Niu Jin is not doomed to die, he can still retreat, but the cost is a bit high...

"Could it be that Cao's army discovered our actions and knew they couldn't escape?"

Another cadet asked.

In the past two days, Liao Hua seemed to be attacking the city in a methodical manner, but he actually sent a small team to take a detour to the south of Shunyang. If there was an opportunity, he would launch a surprise attack. If there was no opportunity, he would do some small actions on the road, such as digging traps to kill messengers, which could also cause panic in Shunyang.

Liao Hua still nodded slightly.

This is also possible, but the impact is not significant.

Several military academy students took turns speaking and expressing their opinions. Liao Hua listened and then made a decision.

……

……

Deep night.

Northern suburbs of Shunyang.

Liao Hua hid among the thatched grass, and along the river bank, he took a hastily made raft and paddled down under the cover of night.

Some military academies expressed their willingness to come on behalf of Liao Hua, but Liao Hua felt that only by going to Shunyang to conduct reconnaissance himself could he obtain the most authentic intelligence. Anyone's retelling and communication might lead to omissions, and if an omission was not noticed, it might lead to the failure of the entire battle.

The fishy smell of the Danshui River mixed with the night fog seemed to penetrate into the gaps in the iron armor.

In order to facilitate movement, Liao Hua and his soldiers did not wear heavy armor, but only the simplest two-leg armor. Although the protection was reduced, the flexibility was enhanced.

The Dan River gurgled down, and the simple raft did not raise the alarm of Cao's army.

On the one hand, Cao's army was now busy building a temporary city wall inside the city, and the clanging sound was much louder than the sound of flowing water. On the other hand, Liao Hua had been attacking from land in the past few days and had not made any use of the Dan River. As a result, the Cao army defenders in Shunyang gradually became less vigilant about the movements on the water.

Liao Hua and others quickly found a suitable landing site, then pushed the raft onto the shore and approached the flank of Shunyang City under the cover of night.

The Cao army soldiers on the city wall held torches and patrolled back and forth, but their eyes were often attracted to the city, and they spent more time looking inside the city than observing what was happening outside the city.

Liao Hua was also a little surprised at first, but when he led his men to gradually approach the Shunyang city wall, he heard various tiny noises coming from the city, and they were amplified in the night...

"What's that sound?" Liao Hua asked, "It doesn't sound like it's coming from around the gate, it seems more like it's coming from inside the city..."

The sounds of knocking, friction and collision are like a giant beast grinding its teeth in the dark.

However, further investigation is needed to find out what Niu Jin was doing in the city.

Liao Hua gestured, and three or five scouts immediately followed the shadows and moved towards the city wall...

These scouts are veterans and very shrewd.

They quickly took advantage of the war debris outside the city some time ago as cover, slid through the muddy ditch like water snakes, touched the foot of the city wall, entered the blind spot of Cao's army's vision, and put their ears to the foot of Shunyang's city.

"There was a wheel sound... What was it pulling?" A scout lowered his voice, "It fell down... Was it bricks or stones? And then it left with an empty cart?"

"This was not taken out from the city gate, but was transported from somewhere inside the city..." another scout added.

In the evening, Niu Jin claimed that he needed time to clean the doorway, but now not only has it not been cleaned, but stones and bricks have been transported from other places, and perhaps even wood or something...

The older scout looked up at the flickering fire on the city wall, silently estimated in his heart, and then whispered: "There is a lot of commotion in the city... It's a good time to use the grappling hook to climb up the wall to take a look... The Cao army patrol is coming... Wait and don't move... Okay, now! "

The grappling hook was thrown over the wall and stuck on the battlements.

The crisp sound of metal collision that should have been loud was drowned out by the sounds of materials being transported and dumped in the city.

The scout pulled the rope flexibly and climbed up to the corner of the city wall like a gecko.

Not far away, Liao Huamao watched quietly in the shadows, and his plan to deal with Niu Jin's false surrender gradually became clear...

……

……

Mao hour the next day.

There was a commotion in the cavalry camp, and the soldiers filed out of the camp in formation and headed straight for Shunyang City!

After receiving the news, Niu Jin was shocked. While cursing Liao Hua for being immoral, he hurriedly ordered people to climb the city wall to prepare for Liao Hua's siege.

But Niu Jin didn't expect that when Liao Hua's vanguard rushed halfway, he stopped outside the range of the crossbow!

"What...what is this for?"

Niu Jin’s eyes widened.

Including Niu Jin, everyone on the top of Shunyang City watched helplessly as the cavalry, who were out of range, began to form a team, then carried and pushed the battering rams and ladders and retreated...

“This…this…”

Niu Jin felt as if his head was stuffed with a bucket of paste.

The sun gradually rose higher, and the Cao army soldiers who were waiting nervously on the top of the city began to sweat.

Niu Jin didn't know what Liao Hua was going to do. He didn't dare to order the soldiers to withdraw, nor did he dare to take any other action. Just when he was hesitating, he heard the sudden sound of drums and gongs from the cavalry army in the distance. The cavalry soldiers pushed and carried ladders and battering rams again, and rushed towards the city again with murderous intent!

"Get ready! Get ready..."

Niu Jin shouted subconsciously, but he didn't know what he wanted his men to prepare. He saw the cavalry soldiers roaring and stopped halfway outside the range of the crossbow machine... "Liao Hua, you little brat!" Niu Jin understood this time, "How dare you tease me?!"

Niu Jin punched the parapet.

This is not a proper siege at all!

If you say that Liao Hua did not keep his promise, he did not really fight.

But if we just leave it alone, who knows if Liao Hua will lead his troops directly to attack the city wall next time? !

"Damn it, damn it!"

Niu Jin felt that his brain capacity was not enough.

Arranging soldiers to stand guard on the top of the city walls can indeed prevent Liao Hua from suddenly attacking the city, but there are not enough people to build the city walls inside the city!

Moreover, the soldiers guarding the city were already standing on the northern wall, all under Liao Hua's watch. If they withdrew openly like this, even a fool would know that something was wrong...

Moreover, Niu Jin couldn't guarantee that after withdrawing these soldiers, he would incite the cavalry to attack the city!

How to do?

Niu Jin gritted his teeth, and then thought of a way to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall, oh, tear down the south gate to repair the north gate, "Come here! Pass the order! Let the soldiers at the south gate go to the city to help build the city wall!"

As long as the city wall is built and firewood is laid out, all the efforts will be worth it!

Build a good city wall!

Niu Jin is like a gambler sitting at a gambling table, betting everything he has on the table. "If you die, your eggs will fall to the sky. If you live, you will live forever!"

Liao Hua bluffed at the north gate of Shunyang for a whole day, and then slowly withdrew his troops in the evening. He also gave Niu Jin a final ultimatum, requiring the city gate to be opened at 11:00 am tomorrow, otherwise he would be guilty of intentionally deceiving the cavalry, a crime that would be even more serious!

After hearing what the cavalry soldiers said, Niu Jin was not sure what Liao Hua was thinking...

But no matter what, things have come to this point, and Niu Jin can only grit his teeth and wait for the "opening" of the next day.

Anyway, it’s already T+1…

……

……

When the sun rose again, the atmosphere inside and outside Shunyang City suddenly became tense.

Niu Jin, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, stood nervously on the city wall of Shunyang, watching the soldiers in the cavalry camp in the distance slowly flowing out.

I don't know if it was Niu Jin's personal feeling or the Cavalry Army was really slow this time. The sun had already risen to the treetops and half of the Mao hour had passed when Liao Hua slowly arrived in front of the formation.

"If you don't open the door yet, when will you open it?"

Liao Hua ordered people to shout at the city wall.

Niu Jin felt that his palms were full of sweat, mixed with mud, dust and blood, and he couldn't help rubbing them on the battlements again and again, but it was obviously of no use, because the battlements were equally dirty.

"Open...open the gate!"

Niu Jin heard his own voice, which seemed a little hoarse, but he quickly encouraged himself or the soldiers around him.

"Get ready! As soon as that bastard enters the city, we'll take action!"

The surrounding soldiers responded sporadically.

Niu Jin thought that he was pretending to surrender, but not all of his soldiers thought so.

But Niu Jin didn't care. All his attention was focused on Liao Hua. "Come in, come in quickly... The door is open, it's so empty inside... Come in quickly..."

But for some reason, the cavalry seemed to be particularly slow today. Even the vanguard army that was preparing to line up to enter the city took most of the day to get ready. When the vanguard army was about to line up and prepare to enter the city, the guards beside Niu Jin suddenly shouted, "Oh no! The south gate seems to be flooded!"

"What?!" Niu Jin was stunned and turned around suddenly, only to see thick smoke billowing in the south of the city and the familiar and terrifying shouts of killing coming faintly!

Niu Jin's blood instantly solidified!

……

……

Captain Zhang, the cavalry scout, bit his sword and climbed up the last section of the city wall.

He was also only wearing two crotch pieces of armor, and his robe was stained with mud and water from passing through the Dan River and the trenches.

Behind Captain Zhang, there were about a hundred elite soldiers, who were climbing up along the rope of the five-claw hook!

Logically speaking, as long as the Cao army at the South Gate was a little more careful, Captain Zhang and his men would face heavy casualties. However, Niu Jin had transferred most of the soldiers at the South Gate to the North Gate to ambush Liao Hua. On the other hand, even the Cao army soldiers who remained at the South Gate had been busy all night last night and were now basically exhausted and had no intention of being on duty...

Two or three Cao army soldiers seemed to have heard some noise. They rushed out of the corner tower with all their might, and just as they appeared, they saw a flash of cold light and a bleeding head flying in the air, and fell into the moat under the city.

"Charge in!" Captain Zhang kicked open the half-closed door of the corner tower and rushed in first, hacking and killing the Cao army soldiers who were catching up on their sleep.

"Change armor!"

With a low shout, the hussars quickly put on Cao's army uniforms.

"Set fire! Signal the captain!"

Several hussars immediately broke up the bonfire in the corner tower and took burning sticks to light fires everywhere.

"The fire is coming! The fire is coming!"

Some hussars dressed up as Cao's soldiers and began to shout loudly, pretending to put out the fire, but in fact their eyes were fixed on the movements of other Cao's soldiers around them.

A squad of Cao's troops who were patrolling under the city heard shouts of a fire, and rushed over along the horse path. However, they were caught off guard and killed by the hussars who were ambushing on the top of the city wall!

The cavalry scout Zhang Dui-lui was hacking and killing Cao's soldiers while shouting in Nanyang accent: "The north gate has been breached! The cavalry has entered the city! Everyone, run away!"

The screams of fear suddenly spread like the flames on the corner tower.

……

……

When Niu Jin finally realized that he had fallen into a trap, the chaos caused by the south gate had already affected the soldiers' ranks in the north.

On the one hand, Niu Jin wanted to stop the fleeing soldiers at the South Gate from disrupting the defenses at the North Gate, and on the other hand, he had to guard against the cavalry troops in the north and prevent them from breaking through the newly built simple city wall. He was in a mess on both ends and couldn't take care of both!

The cavalry outside the city fired a lot of rockets, which ignited some firewood prepared by Niu Jin, causing the formation of Cao's soldiers who were trying to ambush Liao Hua to collapse.

"My Lord! Escape!"

The guard shouted, his face full of panic and fear.

When all your efforts are anticipated by the enemy, it feels like an insect caught in a spider web, struggling desperately but in vain.

Niu Jin's guards are like this, and ordinary Cao army soldiers are even more so!

Retreat?

Retreat again and again?

Niu Jin was also panicking. Just as he was hesitating, Cao's soldiers suddenly shouted in panic at the south gate, "The Cavalry! The Cavalry is coming again! We are surrounded! We are surrounded!"

The troops that were previously sent by Liao Hua to take a detour and try to disrupt the enemy's rear, when they saw the fire in Shunyang, they began to make a lot of fanfare, raised fake flags, and made noises in the mountains and forests, using both real and fake means to make the Cao army soldiers even more frightened.

"General! If we don't leave now, we will be surrounded!" the guard said urgently, "We can still go through the west gate!"

Niu Jin couldn't help but look down at the sword in his hand.

That was the sword that Cao Cao personally gave to Niu Jin when he was a captain.

"No!" Niu Jin pushed the guard away, "If you want to leave, go ahead! The lord has done me a favor! If I run away again today, how can I face the lord again in the future? ! "

This man who had not read many books and did not understand any classics, had neither a smart mind nor any decent strategy, but at this moment, this time, he did not choose to flee, but shouted wildly, and rushed towards the city wall, and rushed towards the fire burning at the city gate!

Niu Jin had run away, retreated, and been timid, but this time, he chose to charge forward to face death!

Laughing wildly, fighting in the flames.

Roaring, fighting in the sea of ​​blood.

His hair, skin, and armor exploded in the flames, but he was still waving his sword in the doorway!

"My lord! I will do my best to serve you!"

……

……

Liao Hua looked at the black smoke drifting over the city wall in silence.

"Report! The enemy's corpse was cleared out of the doorway..." Liao Hua's personal guard presented a half-melted general seal, "We also found this..."

Liao Hua reached out to take it. He seemed to be able to feel the blood and heat of the bronze seal. The words on the bronze seal button had been burned by the fire and were somewhat blurred and difficult to distinguish.

Liao Hua lifted up his cloak, wiped it for a long time, and suddenly raised his hand and threw it into the elixir water.

"Let him go with the water, it's better than burying him in a mass grave."

Liao Hua threw his cape and said, "Pass the order down, tidy up the battlefield, and issue a notice to reassure the people!"

(End of this chapter)