Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1235 Fire
In the front hall of the mansion, Cao Zhi knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe in front of Cao Cao. Cao Cao's face had a very complicated expression. After a long while, he finally said, "I'm glad you're back. Where's your elder sister?"

Cao Zhi gave a location and whispered, "I was afraid that my elder sister would not agree, so I slipped out first. I hope that my father will send someone to pick her up..."

Cao Cao heard this and said, "Don't worry about this. Follow the others out of the city now."

He turned to Ding Yi who was standing behind Cao Zhi and said, "I will send someone to bring them back with you."

After hearing this, Ding Yi heaved a sigh of relief and bowed quickly, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Cao Zhi felt relieved after hearing this, and went to the back house to find Madam Bian. Cao Cao gave a few instructions to Xun You beside him, then stood up and said, "Everyone follow me to withdraw from Yecheng. I will lead the rear army to stop the Jin army!"

Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun and others heard this and hurriedly urged Cao Cao to leave first. Cao Cao snorted coldly: "If I leave first, how many soldiers in the city will surrender on the spot?"

Everyone in Cao's camp was speechless. Zhong Yao stepped out to smooth things over, saying, "Military Advisor Sima will be back soon. He is very capable. Why don't we let him stay behind and follow you?"

Cao Cao listened, nodded slightly, and said, "Yes."

After hearing this, everyone started to get busy. Xun You took Ding Yi out and found Xu Chu, who was riding on a horse and had bandaged his wound in the backyard. He said, "Ming Gong, ask the general to escort Jing Li to find the princess and Zheng Li."

Ding Yi was furious when he saw that it was Xu Chu, but he was eager to make a contribution, so he held his breath and said, "Thank you, General."

Xu Chu noticed that Xun You was trying to cover his hand by stuffing a piece of cloth into his hand, so he took it without making a sound, rode his horse towards Ding Yi, and asked, "Is Minister Ding going to ride in a carriage or on horseback?"

Ding Yi saw the expressions of Cao Bing present and gritted his teeth and said, "Let's ride horses."

The group prepared their horses and were about to leave the palace when they met Cao Cao leading his generals out.

Cao Cao saw Xu Chu at this time and said, "Come up with me as soon as you finish your work."

Xu Chu responded quickly, and Cao Cao did not say anything, but led everyone to the west gate. At this time, the street was in chaos, with sounds of fighting and shouting everywhere, corpses everywhere on the ground, and occasional soldiers and mobs running by.

At this time, Cao's army rushed to the west gate, and the people in the city knew that Cao's army was going to abandon Yecheng.

However, unlike the scenes in most cities when they were lost, where the people in the city fled with their elderly and children, there were almost no people fleeing on the streets of Yecheng, as if everyone in the city had died.

Cao Cao looked extremely unhappy when he saw this scene, and he could not help but snorted coldly. Xiahou Dun beside him understood and said quickly: "The people of Yecheng are cold-hearted and do not know the grace of your protection. They will just seek their own death from now on!"

Except for Cao Ren and a few others, all the Cao generals present at this time did not know about the plan to burn Ye City. After hearing Xiahou Dun's words, they all echoed him and denounced the people of Ye City for being cold and indifferent and failing to meet Cao Cao's expectations.

Cao Cao said calmly: "Forget it. This is not the first time that I have been let down by the people of the world."

"Let's talk about it when we get back to Luoyang."

He had already started to kill, so he turned sideways and said to Xiahou Dun in a low voice, "Order all the death squads to lead the Jin army into the city and light as many fires as possible. It would be best if the entire city of Ye was burned down!"

Xiahou Dun received the order and said, "The people from the north and south outside the city..."

Cao Cao snorted coldly, "Let them retreat a little first, and when the Jin army enters the city, we will block the city gates at all costs and let the Jin army burn to death in the city!"

Xiahou Dun said: "But I'm afraid the Jin army will attack from the east gate..."

Cao Cao said, "It's impossible for a plan to be perfect. If there are ambushes at all four gates, the fierce tiger will be alert."

“Just let the camera do its thing.”

After hearing this, Xiahou Dun quickly found a few trusted men and arranged for them to deliver the message.

Xu Chu, Ding Yi and others waited until Cao Cao left the mansion, then they rode their horses towards the mansion where Ding Yi had been hiding before. They arrived at the place in a short while, but after they went in and searched everywhere, they found that the house was empty.

Ding Yi had expected this, because according to Cao Qing's character, he would not stay where he was after he found out that he and Cao Zhi had escaped. He said to Xu Chu, "They have already left. Should we go back and chase Ming Gong now?"

Xu Chu, with the help of the light, had already seen the words on the cloth clearly. A strange smile appeared on his face, and he said, "As expected of you, sir. You have anticipated everything."

He rode his horse towards Ding Yi, and when he got close, he drew out his ring-handled sword with a swish and stabbed it into Ding Yi's stomach.

This was completely beyond Ding Yi's expectations. He looked down at the blood pouring out of his stomach, with an expression of disbelief on his face. He screamed, "Why?"

Xu Chu said calmly: "I don't know, I am just following orders."

He drew out his knife, slashed it horizontally, and chopped off Ding Yi's head, sending it flying.

Ding Yi's headless body shook, then fell off the horse, still twitching a few times.

Xu Chu shook off the blood on his sword and was about to lead his troops back when he heard shouts from afar, "The city gate is broken!"

"The city gate is broken!" With a rumbling sound, the Jin army broke through three gates almost at the same time and rushed into the city.

Half an hour ago, Yuan Xi was leading his soldiers to attack the city, when suddenly Cao's army on the city wall could not hold on any longer. The Jin army took the opportunity to break into the bottom of the city gate and destroyed it with a saw. When Gao Lan, who was supervising the battle, saw this, he immediately ordered his men to launch rockets.

When Yuan Xi saw the rockets rising, he narrowed his eyes and wondered if Cao's army had suddenly abandoned their defenses?
Otherwise, how could the city gate be broken so easily?
He was about to lead his troops into the city, but Zhao Yun beside him advised: "My lord, do not rashly enter a dangerous place, or you may be ambushed by Cao's army."

"We should get information from the other two sects before we can take action."

Yuan Xi said: "We must not miss this opportunity. If the other two sects are still fighting hard and we don't respond in time, I'm afraid many people will die."

Zhao Yun said, "I will lead the troops in first to clear the area near the city gate. Before that, please take charge of the central army."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and agreed, saying, "Warn the soldiers not to rob or harass the civilians after entering the city."

Zhao Yun immediately took the order and led his troops into the city. Soon, shouts of killing were heard.

Yuan Xi waited patiently for half a quarter of an hour, but saw fireworks rising from the north and south gates at the same time. Zhao Yun rode over at full speed and said, "The north and south gates have also been breached!"

Yuan Xi said, "Let's go into the city together!"

As the Jin army continued to pour in, the area east of Yecheng was almost occupied by the Jin army, and news came out that Cao Cao had not had time to leave the city, and his convoy was now near the west gate!

Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu, who were near the South Gate, heard this and immediately wanted to lead the light cavalry to chase towards the West Gate. At this time, Zhuge Liang said, "The cavalry should not enter the city. It is dark inside the city and it will be difficult to deal with the ambush."

"You two can go around the outside of the city. It's also suitable for horse racing, and it's more likely to stop Cao Cao."

After hearing this, the two men looked at each other and led their troops away.

Zhang Liao, who was standing by, waited for the other two to leave and asked, "Are you afraid that their Hu cavalry will take the opportunity to rob the people?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Wenyuan does see it clearly, but the most crucial point is that Cao's army is too deliberate in luring us into the city. If everyone enters the city, I'm afraid there will be some trouble."

"But if I transfer them both to outside the city, I don't know if Cao's army will still act as usual."

"However, Cao's army has been planning this for a long time, and I'm afraid they won't give up. Besides, it's difficult to stop them completely. I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties in the city."

Zhang Liao was puzzled and asked, "If that's the case, why do we still want to enter the city?"

Zhuge Liang sighed, "There is no other way. The Lord is trying to recover Yecheng and rescue the people. We can't just sit back and do nothing."

"The Wei Kingdom also saw this clearly, so they made this plan, right?"

Zhang Liao heard this and said, "Since the city gate is broken, I will go into the city to clean up the remaining Cao troops. This will reduce the threat to some extent. I don't have many people with me, so I can respond flexibly."

Zhuge Liang thought about it and nodded, "Okay, I'll trouble you, General."

On the north gate, Tian Feng looked towards the city with surprise. The gate here was the hardest hit and already had many cracks. It quickly broke and collapsed under the impact of the battering ram.

But to Tian Feng's surprise, there were no Wei soldiers guarding behind the city gate. When the Wei soldiers on the top of the city saw the city gate fall, they retreated in a hurry.

Tian Feng discussed with Zhang He and others and decided to send Zhang He to lead Huang Zhong and Wei Yan into the city, while he and Xu Huang guarded the city gate to prevent Cao's army from attacking from outside the city.

Most of the soldiers he left behind were wounded and sick, and he was ordering people to set up camps and vehicles under the city. As a result, he saw four fireworks rising simultaneously in the sky in the distance.

Tian Feng was stunned. What was this signal?
You should know that among the Jin army, the most fireworks used to send signals were one or two. In cases where the battlefield situation was complicated, three would be used, but how could four be used at the same time?
Soon his question was answered. Soon, fires broke out in more than a hundred places in Yecheng. The fires spread very quickly. In some places, the fire was so severe that the flames even reached several feet high.

The flames connected together, illuminating the entire sky of Yecheng. Suddenly, cries and shouts were heard everywhere, and the people fled, running towards the four gates, blocking the streets.

When Tian Feng saw this, his face became serious. He guessed that the rockets were captured by the Wei army and were used at this time to inform everyone in the city to set fire together!
When the Jin army's advisers discussed before the battle, they guessed that Cao's army might use fire attack when abandoning Yecheng, and they also made corresponding response plans. However, the ferocity of the fire before them still exceeded Tian Feng's expectations.

Moreover, the difficulty in dealing with this fire attack is that the fire will cause chaos in the city and the fleeing people will block the streets, which will make it extremely difficult for the Jin army in the city to advance or retreat, unless they are ruthless enough to kill the people blocking the road.

This was the problem Cao Cao posed to Yuan Xi. The fire was so big that, let alone saving people, you had to kill civilians to clear the way if you wanted to escape!

How do you choose?

Tian Feng quickly ordered his men to clear the road in front of the city gate so that the fleeing people would not be crowded. However, at this time, shouts of killing were heard from afar outside the city. It turned out that Cao's army was attacking!
Tian Feng thought that this was the strategy that Cao Cao could come up with. He was using the common people to trap his men in the city!

He said to Xu Huang, "It is up to the general to meet the enemy. I will send someone to call General Zhang out as soon as possible."

Xu Huang immediately took the order and went to meet the attacking Cao's army. As the enemy approached, after seeing their movements clearly, both he and Tian Feng's faces changed.

The enemy was divided into two groups, one attacked the north gate, and the other went straight to the east gate!
(End of this chapter)