Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 518 The first round of confrontation
At midnight, in Fanyang city.

Yuan Xi was drowsy when he suddenly heard a woman screaming beside him.

He woke up suddenly and saw a faint flicker of fire outside the screen window of the pavilion. The woman next to him was pinned down by another woman, with her mouth and nose covered, and was trembling.

Yuan Xi asked anxiously, "What's the matter?"

Before the two women on the bed could speak, they heard the general shouting from the corridor outside the pavilion: "My lord, the scouts encountered the enemy at night, and they all said that the enemy cavalry was unstoppable!"

"Got it. Let me put on my armor."

Yuan Xi responded in a deep voice and slapped the woman next to him on the butt: "Put on armor for me."

"Here."

The woman answered, then pulled up another woman who was still in shock. They both put on their robes and followed Yuan Xi out of the dormitory.

The armor parts in the outer room were placed on the table. Yuan Xi put on his inner garment as he walked, and then put on the wear-resistant and breathable short-sleeved armor garment made of ramie hanging near the door frame, and tied the laces as he walked.

He then put on a turban like a soft hat, and a silver-gilt chain mail woven soft armor to protect his head. He then spread his arms, and two concubines quickly put on a close-fitting silver-gilt chain mail for him, followed by a relatively loose and breathable leather armor with a breastplate inlaid on the chest.

After that are the shoulder armors on both sides, and the relatively cumbersome armpit guards that most officers and soldiers dislike.

Afterwards, Yuan Xi sat on the table and put on his arm guards by himself. Two concubines put on leggings and greaves and patent leather boots for him on his left and right.

Until now, Yuan Xi's brain has not been clear yet, and he is piercing the armor according to his instinct.

Afterwards, the two concubines connected the hanging part of the soft armor on his head to the buckle of the leather armor.

Finally, he put on a gilded helmet and tied it with its strap, while two concubines fastened the cloak to the rings on his shoulders.

When Yuan Xi stood up, the two concubines tied the armor belt around his shoulders and chest, and the belt around his waist.

Before going out, he hung his sword on the decorative strip on his belt. Carrying a weight of no less than 80 kilograms and wrapped in armor, Yuan Xi suddenly felt much safer.

He walked out the door with steady steps and asked the family commander, "What happened?"

"The enemy cavalry is so sharp that it is difficult to resist."

The general approached and said in a hurry: "According to the scouts, the enemy scouts came at night. We only heard the sound of horses but no fire. Any of our scouts who encounter them will find it very difficult to escape."

"So powerful?"

Yuan Xi was also puzzled. He knew the difficulty of night fighting, so he asked, "How many enemy cavalry are there?"

“It’s hard to count.”

The general replied, but then felt something was wrong: "Our scouts were defeated from north to south, and we have no idea of ​​the enemy's number."

"Well, gather the officers in the city and discuss the matter in the tent."

Yuan Xi gave an instruction, looked up at the slender crescent moon in the sky, squinted his eyes and thought of the legend about Tai Shi Wen Gong.

The enemy scouts are so powerful, it is very likely that Taishi Wengong is leading the charge personally.

The main purpose of scouts is reconnaissance, so they will try to hide from the enemy if possible.

As a result, even in such a situation, few scouts who had come into contact with the enemy came back, which speaks volumes.

In the main camp south of the city, the central army camp and the outer camps, spare campfires were lit one after another.

Yuan Shang, who was sleeping in his armor, sat upright in the big tent, listening to several scouts who had escaped and told about their experiences. These were people who had encountered the situation at close range and had escaped safely.

The general spirit suffered a severe blow. Although they were not incoherent, they looked panicked.

Looking at the appearance of these scouts, Yuan Shang felt a little depressed, and couldn't help but think of the scene that Chanyu Liu Bao experienced at that time.

He knew that Tai Shi Wen Gong was a good fighter, but he didn't expect that this time, he would defeat his own scouts as soon as the conflict broke out between the two sides.

This is also the case at night, when panic cannot be conveyed through sight. After the actual contact, the scout patrol lines were attacked at multiple points, and then retreated to the south layer by layer, and then retreated back to the camp.

After the scout finished speaking, Yuan Shang waved his hand to signal them to leave. Li Fu beside him suggested, "My lord, should we call all the generals together to discuss this matter?"

"No, this is a trick of the Grand Marshal to tire our army. Tonight is just the beginning. Order the scouts to retreat and let the enemy pass tomorrow night."

Yuan Shang said as he looked at the burning fire in the middle of the tent: "He won't come tonight. The more nervous we are, the more tired the officers and soldiers will be when they are on duty, and he will launch an attack."

He looked at the generals in the central army in the tent and said firmly: "We have no less than 40,000 troops inside and outside the city, and an additional 30,000 troops. He has only 6,000 to 7,000 men. What can he do if he attacks our camp?"

Looking around at everyone, his confidence infected everyone: "Now we must conserve the physical strength of the officers and soldiers. With sufficient physical strength, we will not be afraid of his strong attack and can fight him for a long time. If he fails to take the city after a long attack, my reinforcement army can arrive at any time. With the support of Youzhou, it will be difficult for him to last long if we attack from both sides. So if we don't give him a chance to fight, he will not stay with our army. After searching for a few days, he will go north and leave."

Seeing no one objecting, Yuan Shang raised his hand and said, "Everyone return to your camps, and the army will remain the same. Also, tomorrow morning, I will issue an order to all camps: anyone who discusses military affairs without authorization will be executed immediately, from generals down."

"Here!"

More than a dozen generals and captains bowed. Most of them were promoted by Yuan Shang after the decisive battle of Liyang.

Yuan Shao's old generals suffered heavy losses, so after Yuan Shang succeeded to the throne, in addition to the soldiers and retainers of the big families, he instead had a standing force that was highly controlled by him.

To the north of Fanyang City, Black Bear drove his horse closer and watched from afar the fires burning in various places on the city walls.

A layer of chevaux de frise and trenches were also built outside the city. Every few dozen steps there was a stronghold like a small courtyard. Campfires were burning outside the strongholds to provide vision for the defenders in the city.

He drove his horse around the city, and Lu Bu, Dian Wei and Gao Shun each led more than ten cavalrymen to assault and attack these strongholds, eliminating them one by one and setting fire to these small strongholds.

The flames grew brighter and more eye-catching, and by about four o'clock in the morning, more than twenty small strongholds in the north of the city had been completely eradicated and burned.

As a result, the defenders of the last few strongholds voluntarily evacuated, leaving behind empty strongholds.

Black Bear then commanded more than a hundred level four Taoist soldiers around him to move forward with shields and various weapons, destroy fences, fill ditches, and clear a road leading directly to the city.

Go near the city wall and command Lu Bu to ride forward.

When he was about twenty steps away from the city tower and blocked by the moat, Lu Bu suddenly threw out a short spear.

A shrill scream came from the top of the city wall. Black Bear saw the disturbance of the torches, so he turned his horse and headed towards Jixian County.

Near the city wall, a guard holding a torch was pierced through the shoulder blade by a powerful short spear and was nailed to a pillar.

Yuan Xi was seven or eight steps away from him, and was so frightened that he was like a wooden chicken.

Soon the guard fainted from the pain. The captain on duty took out the silk book from the short spear. The silk book was clean and had four golden characters with iron hooks and silver paintings on it: Fight again tomorrow night.

Yuan Xi held the silk book and read it for a while, then handed it to the family general: "Pass it to the general."

"Here."

The family general took it and folded it, leading a dozen people around the city to the south, where he would lower himself down from the city wall.

Yuan Xi was looking at the burning strongholds outside the city. His face was orange-red under the firelight and expressionless.

But there was a hint of depression in his eyes. Whether he mobilized troops for an ambush or passively resisted tomorrow night, it would arouse the attention and discussion of the entire army, and would greatly damage the hard-earned high morale.

When Black Bear returned, he recalled the soldiers on foot, with Lu Bu as the vanguard, and galloped quickly.

Battles would break out from time to time ahead, and there would be the sounds of horses neighing and shouting.

Seeing traces of fighting on the road, he reined in his horse, thought for a moment, then took out a black magic bullet and threw it between his eyebrows.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he saw that three scouts had died under the roadside forest, with their horses lingering behind them.

Black Bear drove his horse closer and found that these were scouts dressed similarly to the soldiers of Youzhou.

Without giving it much thought, he immediately turned his horse north and sent several knights to collect the horses.

(End of this chapter)