Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1230 Accident
Just before the explosion at the north gate, several generals from both sides were fighting on the field.

On the Cao army side, except Xiahou Shang who was good at military strategy and was roaming in the back, the other three people, Cao Zhen and Ma Chao, were all standing in the front to fight against the Jin army generals.

On the Jin army side, four great generals went out together. Zhang He faced Cao Zhen, Xu Huang faced Yu Jin, and Ma Chao was the most unlucky, as he faced Wei Yan and Huang Zhong.

Everyone knew that Ma Chao was the strongest among Cao's troops, so Tian Feng sent out Wei Yan and Huang Zhong, a combination of one close and one far.

The two of them had also followed Yuan Xi from Jingzhou all the way north to conquer Yuzhou and Yanzhou. They were in high spirits. Now they were facing Ma Chao alone, and they were already holding back some anger, so they attacked with all their might right from the start.

Ma Chao was also in bad luck. Since he came to Jizhou, he had suffered repeated setbacks. First, he was surrounded and defeated by Zhao Yun and was injured. Later, the Jin army would send a general to contain Ma Chao in every battle, making Ma Chao unable to do anything on the western front. Finally, when it came to the Battle of Yecheng, he was able to act together with other Cao generals, but the Jin army directly sent two first-class generals to deal with him!

As soon as Ma Chao started fighting with the two men, he knew he was in trouble. Ma Chao thought that if he fought Wei Yan with a broadsword in close combat, he would definitely be able to defeat him in a hundred or two hundred moves.

But the one who was good at long-range archery was very troublesome. Not only was his shooting extremely accurate, but he also always shot at the gaps in Ma Chao's moves, so that Ma Chao could not display even 70% of his abilities. He was so frustrated that he wanted to vomit blood.

After dozens of moves, Wei Yan also became very alert, thinking that the tiger general of Xiliang should not be underestimated. No wonder the military advisor emphasized several times before the battle that he must be careful with Ma Chao. If he fought him one-on-one, he would be defeated and killed if he was not careful!

But now with Huang Zhong's help, Wei Yan would of course not show mercy to his opponent. He raised his sword and fought Ma Chao head-on, hoping to drain Ma Chao's strength.

Although Ma Chao was an outstanding spearman, he was forced to fight against Wei Yan due to Huang Zhong's interference. In this respect, the gap between the two was much smaller. Wei Yan, who was naturally strong, even took advantage of him.

Ma Dai, who was supporting the battle, saw that Ma Chao was entangled, so he immediately rode out and rushed towards Wei Yan with a long sword in hand. He mixed in with the crowd of cavalry and waited until he was about ten steps behind Wei Yan before he stood out from the crowd and slashed at Wei Yan's back with his sword.

Huang Zhong on the other side had already been keeping an eye on all directions. He immediately pulled the bow twice, and the two arrows flew around Wei Yan's head, one on the left and one on the right, towards Ma Dai.

At this time, Ma Dai was about to chop Wei Yan from behind, but he was not prepared for such a tricky arrow. He just barely dodged one arrow by turning sideways, but was hit in the shoulder by another arrow. He screamed miserably and his body was shaking.

Wei Yan had already seen Ma Dai before, and when he saw him being shot by an arrow, he would not miss this opportunity. He immediately swung his sword and slashed at Ma Dai's side, knocking him off his horse.

Ma Dai's side was cut open, and he fell off his horse with a scream. Wei Yan wanted to attack him with another knife, but Ma Chao took the opportunity to stab him in the breastplate. The huge impact force made Wei Yan lean back and almost fall off his horse.

Ma Chao took the opportunity to draw his gun again and stabbed Wei Yan in the throat. Wei Yan was also filled with hatred and used his free hand to grab the gun. He was willing to pierce his palm and cooperate with Huang Zhong to kill Ma Chao!
At this moment, a loud bang was heard, and the North City Gate was immediately covered by huge smoke.

Then there was a loud shaking of the ground. All the horses on the field ran around in panic. The cavalrymen could not control them at all. The same was true for the generals of both sides. Thousands of horses were running around in all directions, and the whole scene was suddenly in chaos.

The incident happened suddenly. When the generals on the field controlled their horses, they had already moved away from the opponents they had just fought. They no longer had the heart to fight each other, but ran towards the north gate at the same time.

Because no matter what happens at the North Gate, we must rush there to avoid missing out on unknown opportunities!
The first to arrive was Xiahou Shang, the commander of the rear army. He rushed into the gradually dissipating smoke and saw the situation at the north gate. He immediately cried out in pain.

The gates of Yecheng City are extremely heavy. An outer gate weighs over a thousand pounds and is one foot thick. It is almost carved from a whole piece of thousand-year-old wood. It has experienced the impact of battering rams in several major wars, but it still remains motionless.

At this moment, a big hole was blown out under the city gate. The impact force burst out from the bottom of the city gate and transmitted to the entire city gate, causing several extremely deep cracks to appear on the city gate.

When the pungent smell of gunpowder came, Xiahou Shang immediately realized that the Jin army had dug a tunnel and buried their so-called gunpowder under the city gate, hoping to blow up the gate and break into the city in one fell swoop!
However, the enemy still underestimated the strength of the city gate and failed to blow it up. However, if the front of the city gate was lost, the Jin army would bring in battering rams to continue attacking the city gate, and by then the damaged city gate would be unable to withstand the attack!
He immediately ordered his soldiers to form a battle array and block the city gate to prevent the Jin army from attacking. Cao Zhen also tried to break away from Zhang He's entanglement and was anxious to lead his troops back to defend, making the scene even more chaotic.

However, the person who suffered the most from the explosion was someone else.

On the top of the city wall above the city gate, Sima Yi was bleeding from his mouth and nose, and was crawling on the ground in a panic, trying to find a safe place.

As luck would have it, he was supervising the battle above the city gate at the time. He was completely unprepared for the sudden explosion and suffered an extremely violent shock wave. As a result, he was knocked to the ground with his heavy armor on, and was hit hard on the mouth.

After a brief dizziness, Sima Yi came to his senses and saw that the soldiers around him were swaying and unable to tell east from west, so he lay on the ground and fled to the cave in the east of the city to avoid a second explosion.

Sima Yi was extremely depressed because the Jin army at the north gate had been digging tunnels to attack the city, so he was transferred here to defend.

Facing the digging behavior of the Jin army, Sima Yi did not doubt whether the Jin army was making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, so he also guessed the real intention of the Jin army in advance, including the possible destruction of the city gate. Sima Yi also took some precautions against this. He did not think that the Jin army had a plan to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy the city gate, so he had people dig a deep trench behind the city gate in advance to prevent the Jin army from digging.

But what he never expected was that the other side blew up the city gate at the beginning of the war. The outcome of the field battle in front was clearly not yet decided, and the Jin army had not suppressed the Wei army. What was the point of blowing up the city gate at this time? They couldn't defeat them anyway!

That was why Sima Yi was so depressed. His advance was unconventional and he was almost blown to death. Did the enemy expect that he was on the city wall?
On the Jin army side, Tian Feng was stunned and numb.

The plan to blow up the city gate was naturally discussed by him and Zhuge Liang beforehand, but the timing of the explosion was indeed as Sima Yi expected. It was not the first day of the siege, but three days after the battle went smoothly, Cao's army was repelled, and the periphery of the city gate was controlled!

Tian Feng knew that there must have been an accident underground. Either the excavation team encountered the enemy and were forced to detonate, or the gunpowder was accidentally ignited. No matter which day it was, the plan along the way was disrupted!

Thinking of this, Tian Feng became even more depressed. He had no choice but to order the entire army to advance and launch a full-scale attack on Cao's army. After all, his intention was exposed and he had no other good choice.

So Zhang He, Wei Yan and others led the troops and launched a fierce attack on the Cao army that was huddled in front of the city gate. Cao Zhen and others naturally refused to be outdone, and immediately led the Wei soldiers and the Jin army in a desperate fight. The intensity of the battle suddenly escalated to the highest level.

The news of the explosion was immediately transmitted to the central army where Yuan Xi was. He said to Lu Xun: "There is an accident at the north gate. We can only make the best of it."

"Mobilize the remaining reserves to prevent Cao's troops at the east gate from escaping."

At the same time, Zhuge Liang, who was at the South Gate, also saw the smoke coming out of the North Gate from the tower car he was standing on. He roughly guessed what was going on and thought to himself that such a war was bound to be without accidents.

The city gate area beneath his feet was also in chaos, and Zhuge Liang's group was under the most pressure among the three parties.

The Wei army not only had Cao Hong and Cao Zhang stationed in the rear, but also Le Jin and Li Dian who came with reinforcements from the direction of Dongwuyang. This group of Cao's generals was the strongest overall, so they launched a full-scale offensive as soon as the war started.

Although Le Jin was seriously injured, his soldiers were all infantry and there was no need for him to fight in person, so he wanted to cut into Zhuge Liang's flank and use the infantry formation to break through the Jin army's formation.

But Le Jin was soon interfered by Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu. The light cavalry of the Jin army kept shooting arrows at the Jin army's formation, making it impossible for them to form a battle formation. When Cao Zhang saw this, he immediately led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry forward, but was blocked by Wen Pin.

Upon seeing this, Cao Hong also went out in person. Zhang Liao immediately led his cavalry to stop them. For a while, both sides invested a large number of soldiers and the number of casualties increased rapidly.

At the east gate, facing the increasingly dense arrows and stones, Xiahou Dun and the other generals urged Cao Cao to leave the city as soon as possible. Cao Cao also knew that he was now facing siege equipment on the top of the city wall and could not think of a way to break the deadlock. He could only retreat a little to the bottom of the city wall and said to Xiahou Dun: "Ask what's going on at the north gate."

After a while, a spy came and told Cao Cao about the bombing of the north gate. Cao Cao thought about it and realized that the other party used their trump card at the first move. Was this for a quick victory or was there some other reason?
He thought for a moment and said to Xiahou Dun, "Yuan Chang, how much do you know about the Four Friends and the Xionghu spy in the city?"

Xiahou Dun was stunned, and subconsciously said: "There are seven or eight suspicious places, most of which are related to officials, but due to the stability of the situation before the war, they were not investigated at the time."

Cao Cao said decisively: "There should be no trouble at the three gates today. Take your men to investigate now. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

Xiahou Dun was stunned and asked in a lost voice: "Now?"

Cao Cao sneered, "That's right. This incident at the city gate, whether it was an accident or premeditated, there must be some action in the city tonight. How could I give them this opportunity!"

"Take people to investigate. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy. It's better to kill someone by mistake than to let him go!"

After hearing this, Xiahou Dun suddenly realized what was going on and immediately led his troops there.

But Cao Cao did not go back. He climbed up the city wall again and looked at Yuan Xi's flag in the distance below the city.

His head hurt more and more, and he knew that he would not live long, but he was unwilling to give up. He wanted to have one last fight with the fierce tiger!

The key is, how to force the other party to give up the siege equipment and have a king-to-king duel with you?

(End of this chapter)