Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 955 The army sieges the city
"My lord..." Cao Ren walked into the hall quickly, and said with a heavy face: "Zhang Yong and Gao Shun have raised their troops again, and they are less than 20 miles away from here. And Xu Huang has also led the coalition forces and has invaded Lujiang County."

After hearing this report, Cao Cao just frowned slightly and did not react much, as if this was all within his expectations.

Xiahou Dun became a little impatient: "Meng De, we have retreated to Ancheng, which is the last territory of Yuzhou. If we lose this city, Liu He's army will be able to march straight into Jingzhou, and then we will be finished."

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, glanced at the generals, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, which made everyone even more puzzled.

At this time, Cao Cao asked, "What's going on in Yangzhou and Xuzhou?"

Xi Zhong stepped forward and said, "My lord, Sun Jian has agreed to form an alliance with our army, but he has put forward two conditions."

"I knew this guy would take advantage of the situation. Tell me."

"First, he demands that Jingzhou be ceded to him. Also, before the formal alliance is formed, Jiangxia County must be ceded first."

Cao Cao smiled faintly: "This Sun Jian is really good at choosing the right time to speak. Jiangxia is adjacent to Lujiang, so it's good to give it to him. I agree to this. What about the second one?"

"Second, the court must enfeoff the three states of Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Jiaozhou to the Sun family, and the title will be hereditary. All military and political affairs of the three states will be decided by the Sun family, and they will only pay tribute to the court and pledge their loyalty every year. The court may not interfere in the affairs of the three states."

As soon as Xi Zhong finished speaking, Xiahou Dun almost jumped up: "What a thief, you are going too far!"

"Sit down." Cao Cao shouted at him, and although Xiahou Dun was furious, he had no choice but to sit back.

Cao Cao played with a bronze wine jar on the table and spoke slowly, "Sun Jian clearly wants to split the land and be crowned king. Do you think we should agree?"

Guo Jia stepped forward and replied, "I think we should agree to it."

"Oh? Tell me the reason."

"If our army cannot defeat Liu He, then we will be wiped out in an instant, and this promise will naturally be invalid. If our army is able to win and conquer the Central Plains, then by then, whether Sun Jian can take these three states will not be up to him to decide."

Guo Jia's few words made Cao Cao smile: "Not bad, not bad, Feng Xiao's words make sense. Okay, I agree to both of these."

"Yes, sir. I will report to Sun Jian right away." Xi Zhong was about to turn around and leave when Cao Cao asked again.

"What's the situation with Liu Bei?"

Xi Zhong hurriedly responded, "My lord, according to Mr. Changwen's report, Liu Bei flatly rejected our army's intention to form an alliance, but he did not embarrass Changwen. Instead, he said that when he was traveling around to study, he had received guidance from his father Chen Ji, so he asked him to stay in Donghai County for a few days, hoping to persuade him to stay in Xuzhou and serve."

"Oh? This is interesting. He pretends to be loyal to Liu He, but treats the envoy sent by me, the so-called rebellious son, with great courtesy..." There was a gleam in Cao Cao's eyes.

Cheng Yu said, "Liu Bei was a student of Lu Zhi in his early years, and I have never heard of any contact with Chen Ji. Even if there was, I think it was only a one-time encounter, and there is no mention of any gratitude. Liu Bei's behavior is a bit abnormal."

Cao Cao nodded slightly, expressing his deep agreement with this statement.

"What was Liu Bei's reason for refusing?"

"My lord, he said that the emperor is wise and benevolent, and has not committed any serious mistakes. As a minister and the emperor's brother, how could he do something rebellious?"

Cao Cao frowned and fell into deep thought, but soon relaxed.

"Hahahaha... Liu Bei, ah Liu Bei... Everyone says that I, Cao Cao, am a treacherous hero, but now it seems that Liu Bei is no less cunning than I am..."

After saying this, he straightened his expression and said, "Since Liu He is not at fault, then why don't we create one for him?"

As they were talking, a soldier hurried into the lobby.

"Report... The enemy general Cheng Liang suddenly led 20,000 soldiers and horses and appeared outside Shenyang City..."

"Shua..." Cao Cao's face changed drastically: "Cheng Liang? Why did he suddenly come here?"

Xiahou Yuan hurriedly said, "Meng De, Shenyang City is the only way for our army to go from Ancheng to Jingzhou. If it is occupied by Cheng Liang, our army will certainly be unstable, especially the soldiers from Jingzhou in the army. They will no longer have the will to fight. I request that you lead the troops to resist Cheng Liang immediately."

Although Cao Cao was shocked, he did not panic. He immediately rejected Xiahou Yuan's proposal.

"Miaocai has just recovered from his injuries. Although Cheng Liang is not as good as Guan Yu and others, he is also a famous general under Liu He. The Divine Tiger Cavalry he leads is extremely powerful and is the nemesis of cavalry."

Then, without waiting for Xiahou Yuan to speak, Cao Cao looked at Dian Wei and said, "Dian Wei, you will lead 20,000 soldiers and 5,000 rattan shield soldiers to fight immediately."

Dian Wei turned and left. Xiahou Dun was puzzled: "Meng De, Dian Wei and Cheng Liang's stupid deputy general are very close. Even though Miao Cai is injured, there are still many generals in the army. Why did you send him alone?"

Cao Cao shook his head. "Cheng Liang and the man called Da Meng are both powerful generals. The only ones who can beat them are you two brothers, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Huang Zhong. Miao Cai and Xu Chu have just recovered from serious injuries and are not suitable for expeditions. You have the highest prestige in the army. Now that you are about to face the invasion of Zhang Yong and Gao Shun, it is not convenient for you to leave. As for Han Sheng, he is an extraordinary archer, even better than Miao Cai. Now that Miao Cai is injured, the responsibility of commanding the crossbow team will naturally fall on Han Sheng. When defending the city, the crossbow team is particularly important and cannot be slack. Therefore, apart from Dian Wei, there is no other choice."

After hearing this, Xiahou Dun couldn't think of another person suitable to fight for a moment, so he stopped talking.

Cao Cao saw his expression and knew that he was still a little worried, so he said, "Although Dian Wei and that stupid Da Meng have known each other since childhood, he is a loyal person and will never neglect public affairs for personal feelings. I trust him. Well, the enemy is coming soon, let's discuss the defense of the city. If we want to hold out for a city like Ancheng until the Sun and Liu families counterattack, we must make many arrangements."

Everyone immediately started talking to each other, with all kinds of suggestions coming out of their mouths.

The discussion lasted until noon. Cao Cao had just ordered his servants to bring some wine and meat, and was about to have a big meal when he suddenly heard shouting and killing coming from outside the city.

Cao Cao suddenly raised his head: "We're here..."

Zhang Yong and Gao Shun, with a total of 200,000 troops, rushed over from different directions in a mighty force. Two hundred thousand people shouted in unison, and the deafening shouts almost blew away the tiles on the city wall. The birds in the surrounding woods were also frightened and fled in all directions.

Before long, the army had surrounded Ancheng completely.

Zhang Yong and Gao Shun arrived at the east and north gates of the city respectively, and without any delay, they immediately ordered an attack on the city.

"Whoosh..."

"Crash..."

Ladders, siege chariots, fire beasts, stone-breaking heavy crossbows, thunder chariots, and many other siege weapons were put into battle.

All of a sudden, crossbow arrows and flints flew towards the city walls, and the fire beasts also spewed out huge flames, burning the four city gates, while constantly attacking the city gates.

"Hurry...get on the boulder..."

At Cao Cao's command, the soldiers lifted up the huge stones that had been prepared long ago and quickly blocked the city gate tightly.

The city gate was originally rebuilt by Cao Cao and made of pure iron. It was very hard and not afraid of fire. In addition, the huge stones blocked it. Although the fire beast was ferocious, it could not do anything to it for a while. On the city wall, huge cowhides were spread out at the same time. Each of these cowhides was made of multiple layers of fur folded and sewn together. The surface was polished and coated with fireproof paint. No matter how the crossbows shot at it, no matter how powerful the flint of the Thunderbolt Chariot was, it was all blocked.

After each wave of crossbow and flint attacks, the cowhides would be instantly put away. The Cao soldiers hiding behind them had already put their bows on the bowstrings. After the cowhides were put away, thousands of arrows would be fired at the same time.

"Wow..."

Screams kept coming from the bottom of the city wall. The Han soldiers attacking the city were hit by arrows and fell off the ladders one by one.

Zhang Yong frowned slightly. "Cao Cao is indeed well prepared. But our army is here with the determination to win. Send out the shield soldiers."

Gao Shun also issued the same order at almost the same time.

At the city gates on all four sides, teams of soldiers holding shields appeared. These shields were not as heavy as the Han Wu soldiers' shields. They were made of hard wood and stood on the ground, only reaching the waist of the people. They were much lighter than the heavy shields.

Teams of shield soldiers held their shields on their heads with one hand and quickly grabbed the ladders with the other hand. Even though they only had one hand, their speed in climbing the ladders was not slow at all, which showed that they were well-trained.

Cao Cao was not panicked at all. He just snorted coldly and waved his hand behind him: "Add boiling oil."

Groups of soldiers quickly set up huge iron pots beside the city wall. The fire under the pot was raging, and soon the oil in the pot was boiling.

"fall……"

As soon as Cao Cao gave the order, all the oil pots were lifted up by the soldiers, and then all the boiling oil was poured out towards the outside of the city wall.

"Bah..."

As the aroma of barbecue wafted around, the Han soldiers who were drenched in boiling oil screamed in agony.

Although the shield could block arrow attacks, there were several soldiers climbing each ladder at the same time, and there were tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground under the city wall, ready to serve at any time. After the boiling oil was poured, it spread along the shields and inevitably splashed onto the soldiers below or on the ladders next to them, and most of the boiling oil poured onto the Han army under the city.

"The logs again, the rolling stones."

Cao Cao remained calm and commanded the city well. After two waves of counterattacks, the rain of arrows and the boiling oil, the shield soldiers on the ladders were beaten to pieces, and the Han soldiers under the city were also terrified.

At this time, boulders and logs were thrown down from the city walls one after another.

Rolling stones and logs are heavy to begin with, and when they fall from great heights, they carry with them a tremendous force. How could a mere shield be able to withstand them?
After several attacks, the shield soldiers on the ladders were either killed or injured, and the rest were ordered to withdraw by Zhang Yong and Gao Shun.

"Cao Cao, you defended this city like an iron barrel. You are really powerful. But you have many tricks. Bo Ping and I have been preparing for this battle for a long time. How can we have fewer tricks? Release the carrier pigeon..."

"Flutter..." Dozens of pigeons took off into the air at the same time.

Cao Cao's expression changed: "This is..."

Just as he was wondering, a burst of shouting and killing suddenly came from the city behind him.

"Kill..."

"Capture Cao the thief..."

Cao Cao hurriedly turned around and went to the inside of the city wall, looking towards the city.

Suddenly, dozens of fires appeared in the city, and even the county government where he was temporarily living was engulfed by the raging flames.

People in all kinds of clothes suddenly rushed out from all corners of the city. Some of them were beggars, some were merchants, some were farmers, and some were even servants in the various mansions in the city, and even servants in the county government.

However, no matter what their identities were in the city before, after seeing the carrier pigeons, all of them became soldiers of the Han army. There were as many as a thousand of them, all holding weapons, and charging in one direction.

"Liu He is so good, he actually planted so many spies in this city without anyone noticing..."

Cao Cao just felt a headache.

Cao Ren suddenly pointed in a direction and exclaimed: "Oh no, my lord, they are going to burn our granary!"

Cao Cao was startled and looked in the direction he pointed. Sure enough, the direction the thousand people were running towards was exactly where he had stored military supplies in the city.

"Quick, stop them..."

Several generals hurriedly led their soldiers and rushed towards the granary through the city gate.

However, they were already a step slower. As the saying goes, "unintentional actions may lead to deliberate actions", those spies had planned carefully and had already figured out the topography of the city clearly. How could Cao's army catch up with them if they chased them from the city gate?

Soon, these spies arrived in front of a huge granary.

There were also many buildings on fire around the granary, and the soldiers guarding the granary inevitably sent a lot of people to put out the fire. In this case, how could the few guards left at the door be a match for these Flying Eagle Guards?
"Pfft..."

The leader of this group of Flying Eagle Guards spies was none other than Fang Mu and Fang Gongze, one of the two Flying Eagle Guards Liu He had sent to present his military token to Dong Zhuo in order to gain his trust.

He used the same life-hunting knife as the You brothers. Every time he swung the knife, a soldier of Cao's army died.

Soon, these more than a thousand Flying Eagle Guards broke into the granary.

"Great, it's effortless. Let's burn the food quickly and see how Cao Cao can fight on an empty stomach."

Fang Mu was surprised and delighted, and rushed into the granary with a torch in hand. The other Flying Eagle Guards were also not polite, and each of them held a torch and scattered around the granary.

Soon, flames shot up into the sky from the granary.

"It's done, brothers, let's go to the east gate together, open the city gate, and welcome the general into the city..."

Fang Mu shouted and released a carrier pigeon. Then he led more than a thousand Flying Eagle Guards and rushed towards the east gate.

Zhang Yong and Gao Shun were delighted when they saw the carrier pigeons flying up in the city.

"Okay, it's done. Soldiers, attack the city with all your strength..."

(End of this chapter)