Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

At nightfall, at the west gate of Jicheng.

Fifteen thousand Qin soldiers have assembled in the cold wind.

Yu Jin looked outside the city shrouded in darkness, but hesitation reappeared in his eyes.

"If we lose this battle and these 15,000 soldiers are killed, what will we do..."

Yu Jin gently hit the battlement with his fist and muttered to himself.

The arrow was already on the string, but he was still hesitant.

"General Yu, now that things have come to this, how can we continue to hesitate?"

"If we give it a try, we still have a chance to turn defeat into victory and achieve unprecedented success."

"If you do nothing, you will just wait to die."

"Have you forgotten the lesson from Lueyang City?"

Cheng Gongying was so anxious that his mouth was full of saliva. He clenched his fists and wished he could hit Yu Jin.

Zhao Ang's face also turned pale, and he said sternly:
"General Yu, the soldiers have assembled, the arrows are on the string, and we have to shoot!"

"If you change your mind now, the morale of the army will be broken, and our army will be in even greater trouble."

The two men's earnest persuasion once again dispelled Yu Jin's concerns.

After taking a deep breath, Yu Jin gritted his teeth and shouted:
"You are right. How can I sit here and wait for death and repeat the mistakes of the battle of Lueyang?"

"Cheng Gongying, Zhao Ang, listen to my orders, lead the army and set out immediately, and act according to the plan!"

The two generals looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately accepted the order.

The city gates opened and the drawbridge was lowered.

The two generals led 15,000 Qin soldiers and hurried out of Jicheng.

The men held their tongues in their mouths and the horses wrapped their hooves as they quietly moved towards the west of Jicheng.

"May God bless my Great Qin, may God bless my emperor, and let me win this battle..."

Yu Jin watched the 15,000 soldiers go away, praying silently in his heart.

...

North of Jicheng is the main camp of the Han army.

It was freezing cold outside the imperial tent, but warm as spring inside.

Liu Bei was drinking wine with his generals in his tent and discussing the battle against Qin.

"Cao Cao is now only two days away from Qishan. We are holding back the enemy troops in Jicheng and cannot pursue them in large numbers. Cao Cao will definitely not be able to catch up."

"Cao Cao's retreat to Yizhou should be a foregone conclusion. Our top priority now is to encircle and annihilate the 30,000 Qin troops in the city and prevent them from escaping to Yizhou."

"After we take over Jicheng, Tianshui County and even the entire Longxi will be conquered by issuing an order."

"Then your majesty will lead the army north again. After joining the General of the Cavalry, you can wipe out the remnants of Cao Zhang and bring all the counties in northern Liang under your control."

"In this way, the entire territory of Liangzhou will return to the Han Dynasty."

While sipping his wine, Fa Zheng analyzed the current battle situation and outlined the next strategic blueprint.

Liu Bei nodded repeatedly, agreeing with it, and said:

"Finally, Cao Cao couldn't hold on any longer and chose to flee to Shu. It's a pity that we couldn't defeat Cao Cao in this battle."

"But our goal before the war was to recover Longxi and Liangzhou. If we can achieve this goal, this Western Expedition will be a perfect ending."

Liu Bei was not too greedy and was obviously very satisfied with the current results.

"I don't know when your majesty plans to attack Jicheng. I am willing to unite the army and conquer Jicheng for your majesty!"

Yan Xingteng stood up and volunteered to fight.

As a newly surrendered general, merit is the foundation of his survival, and he is very clear about this.

What's more, now that Cao Cao has fled from Jicheng, he doesn't have to worry about anything and can attack Jicheng with all his might.

With Yan Xingyi taking the lead, the fighting spirit of the other generals was instantly ignited, and they all volunteered to take the lead in the attack.

Ma Chao was especially excited.

In Jicheng, the Ma family has two major enemies.

A Cheng Gongying planned the assassination of all the counties in Longxi.

Zhao Ang killed his wife and children, this hatred is irreconcilable. Ma Chao wanted to rush into Jicheng immediately and cut the two men into pieces to vent his hatred.

Liu Bei, however, was as calm as a mountain and only smiled faintly:
"Don't worry, my friends. The Prime Minister said that Yu Jin and his bandits won't be able to hold out for a few more days and will definitely abandon the city and flee south."

"I have followed the Prime Minister's plan and set up a heavy ambush in the south of Jicheng. None of them can escape."

The fighting spirit of Ma Chao and his men was slightly suppressed at this time.

At this moment, the scout reported:
Nearly 10,000 Qin soldiers left the city through the west gate at night and headed west.

The atmosphere in the tent immediately became boiling.

"Your Majesty, this must be because Yu Jin, that bastard, can't hold on any longer and wants to abandon the city and break out."

"Your Majesty, please give the order and we will send troops to intercept immediately."

Ma Chao jumped up and shouted excitedly.

The fighting spirit that the generals had just suppressed was ignited again.

Be it Yan Xing or Pang De, especially the surrendered generals from Liangzhou, they all volunteered to fight.

Liu Bei smiled heroically, stood up suddenly, and was about to give the order on the spot.

"Your Majesty, wait!"

Ma Su stood up and said with a suspicious look:
"I feel that the Qin army's actions this time are quite suspicious. I am afraid there is a trick."

The tent suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on Ma Su.

"You Chang, what's suspicious about the enemy's actions?"

Liu Bei sat down again.

Ma Su pointed toward the west of the city and said:

"If the enemy breaks out from Jicheng, they will definitely head towards Hanzhong, so they will naturally break out from the south. This is one option."

"If Yu Jin wants to break out, he should mobilize all 30,000 soldiers and march out in full force. But now he only has more than 10,000 soldiers, less than half of the total number."

"If we are trying to break out, why do we need to leave half of our troops behind? What's the point?"

“This is the second point of doubt.”

Hearing Ma Su express his doubts, Liu Bei also became alert.

Fa Zheng nodded slightly and said:

"I agree with the second doubt that You Chang mentioned. If we want to break out, we must mobilize the entire army to have a chance of winning."

"As for the first doubt, I think Cheng Gongying is quite smart. Could it be that he saw that I was setting up the encirclement in the south slowly and guessed that we deliberately left a gap to lure him to break out from the south gate, and then set an ambush on the way?"

"So, Yu Jin chose to break out from the west gate?"

Yu Jin shook his head and continued:

"That's what I said, but even if Yu Jin knew that there were ambushes to the south, it would take a long detour to break out from the west."

"After hearing the news, our army can calmly send troops to intercept him and prevent him from turning back to the south."

"In this case, the Qin army's breakout is still a dead end."

Fa Zheng frowned and remained silent, his thoughts racing.

"You all have a point."

Liu Bei's eyes were filled with doubts, and he stroked his thin beard and said:
"There are indeed many suspicious points in the enemy's breakout. What exactly are Yu Jin and Cheng Gongying trying to do?"

No one could guess, and everyone's eyes subconsciously focused on Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang was playing with the wine glass, pondering in silence.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew through the hall and lifted up the curtain.

Everyone shuddered and instinctively wrapped their clothes tightly.

Through the tent door blown by the wind, Xiao Fang glanced towards the north. The lights of the camp on the north bank of the Wei River were flickering faintly.

Xiao Fang's wine glass suddenly stopped moving.

After a moment, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The wine glass suddenly fell down, and Xiao Fang bowed:

"Your Majesty, please give orders immediately to mobilize all cavalry to cross the river on the ice and rush to the north bank to support us. We must annihilate all the Qin troops that attacked our granary!" (End of this chapter)