Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 986 Strange Order

Near noon the next day, Cai Mao was still drunk and asleep when he was suddenly awakened by a loud sound of fighting.

He opened his eyes impatiently and rubbed his still dizzy head: "Someone come..."

Two soldiers quickly ran in: "General, are you awake?"

Cai Mao said, "What happened outside? Why are you making so much noise? You disturbed my sweet dream."

"General, it was the enemy troops in the city. Seeing that our army had not fought for the whole morning, they marched out of the city and tried to raid our camp."

"What? Raiding the camp?" Cai Mao woke up instantly and jumped up from the bed.

"Such an important event, why didn't you report it earlier? Quick, bring me my armor and weapons."

The soldier said, "General, don't worry. The enemy has only sent out about 10,000 men. General Wen Pin said that they were just testing us, and he has already led his army to resist them."

After hearing this, Cai Mao relaxed again: "That's good, that's good."

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and his whole body tensed up again: "What did you just say? The whole morning? What time is it now?"

"General, it is now a quarter past one in the morning."

"One quarter after noon?" Cai Mao shuddered. "Where are Mr. Pang Degong and his men now?"

"Pang Degong and his four disciples got up this morning. Seeing that the general was still asleep, they said that the general was busy with military affairs and they would not disturb him too much. They said that they would come to visit the general again when he returned to Xiangyang with the general after his victory."

Upon hearing this, Cai Mao's face once again showed a proud smile: "Great, it seems that Pang Degong has really returned to our army, which is great, great. When I capture this city, I will have two contributions. By then, I will be on par with Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. The strength of my Jingzhou troops should not be weaker than those of the people in Yanzhou and Yuzhou."

As they were talking, the sounds of fighting outside gradually died down. Not long after, Wen Pin, exhausted, opened the curtain and walked in.

"I greet the general."

Cai Mao hurriedly asked him to sit down. Wen Pin thanked him and sat aside.

"How is General Wen's injury?"

Wen Pin was stunned, but soon realized what he was asking: "General, it's just a few dozen military sticks, a common occurrence, it's nothing. Thank you for your concern."

"Well, that's good. General Wen is the backbone of our Jingzhou army, and nothing can happen to him."

Wen Pin felt very uncomfortable with Cai Mao's flattery, and he quickly changed the subject.

"General, the enemy came to investigate our camp just now. I fought and defeated them. I came to inform you."

Cai Mao was so happy that his eyes narrowed into slits: "Okay, okay, I am relieved that General Wen is here. I will have someone record the merit for the general later."

"Thank you, General." Although Wen Pin was a little curious about Cai Mao's sudden change of attitude, he naturally would not refuse the credit.

"I would like to ask the general, shall our army continue to attack the city today?"

After hearing his question, Cai Mao thought about it for a while, and then asked, "Is there any movement from Zhang Yong?"

Wen Pin shook his head: "Zhang Yong is still stationed at the Ru River with his troops. He is just training as usual every day. There is no sign that he will come to fight with our army."

"Wow... this is strange. What is Zhang Yong up to?"

Cai Mao was very puzzled: "If he can't come up, won't all the methods that this general has carefully planned be in vain?"

"Could it be..." Wen Pin tried to guess, "Could it be that Zhang Yong has seen that you, General, are prepared, so he is stationed here and not moving his troops to avoid falling into a trap?"

Cai Mao nodded slightly: "Well, it is possible."

"I think that since Zhang Yong is not coming, our army should just attack the city with all its strength, take Shangcai County, and then turn around to deal with Zhang Yong. With our army's strength, we still have a great chance of winning."

Cai Mao thought about it, then nodded and said, "General Wen's words make sense. Pass the order down, and assemble the entire army. In half an hour, we will attack the city again."

"As you command, I will prepare it now."

Wen Pin turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by Cai Mao.

Cai Mao looked at him kindly, which made Wen Pin get goose bumps all over his body.

"Zhongye, if you think about it carefully, you and I have known each other for more than ten years."

Wen Pin didn't know why he suddenly brought this up, but he still answered, "Yes, twelve years ago, I was promoted by the then Jingzhou governor to serve in Xiangyang. At that time, General Cai was already a lieutenant. Later, not long after Liu Biao came to Jingzhou, he transferred me to your command."

"Well, how has this general treated you over the years?"

Wen Pin was a little puzzled, and felt that Cai Mao was a little strange today, but he still said: "I am where I am today, thanks to the general's promotion. I will never forget your great kindness."

"I can't say that I'm doing you a great favor, but you and I are both from Jingzhou, we are both comrades and fellow townsmen, so we should support each other. Don't worry, when I get promoted, I will definitely promote you and other old Jingzhou people, and I will never forget my roots."

Cai Mao spoke with great confidence, and no matter how stupid Wen Pin was, he should have understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

Although he had never thought highly of Cai Mao, he was his superior after all, and Wen Pin was not someone who was ignorant of the current situation, so he bowed to him in return.

"In that case, I would like to thank the general in advance."

"Okay, okay, you go down and prepare for the battle first." Cai Mao waved his hand, and Wen Pin bowed and retreated.

Cai Mao looked at his back, a smile appeared on his lips: "Although Wen Pin's temper is not pleasing, his ability is extraordinary. I have to win him over. There are also many soldiers in the army. I should also pull them under my command. Otherwise, how can we compete with the generals of the Xiahou family and the Cao family when we are alone and weak? Well, this matter should be planned carefully..."

More than 100,000 troops from Jingzhou fiercely attacked the four gates of Shangcai County.

Such a small city, facing such a fierce attack, was already a little shaky yesterday, and now it is even more difficult to hold on.

Teams of Jingzhou soldiers climbed up the city walls and began a fierce battle with the defenders.

Although the commander defending the city had been in the army for many years and rose from a small soldier to a general in his current position, how could he withstand such a big battle?

Although Cai Mao's ability to command troops is not as good as that of Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and others, he is by no means an ordinary person.

Under his personal command, the army of more than 100,000 was divided into three groups, and they attacked the city walls and gates in turns.

"Hold on...Hold on..."

"Hurry, archers, go to the south to provide support, go quickly..."

"Where are the rolling stones? There are also rolling logs. At worst, we can just tear down the county government and hold off this wave of attacks first..."

The defending general was so anxious that he was jumping up and down, and was sweating profusely from exhaustion, but even so, he saw more and more enemy soldiers climbing up the city wall.

Cai Mao was not in a hurry, as he had a huge advantage in military strength, and even if he just kept wasting time, he could still wear down the defenders in the city.

"Hmm... almost done. Let the second team take over and the first team take a half hour break."

Following his order, a group of soldiers resting in the rear quickly rushed to the city wall, and the soldiers who were climbing the wall and hitting the city gate were quickly replaced by them and ran back to the rear, eating dry food and drinking water, feeling very comfortable. The battle lasted from the afternoon until the night fell and the sun set.

At this time, the walls of Shangcai County were in ruins, and the ground beneath the walls was littered with corpses of soldiers from both sides. It could be said that the blood flowed like a river and the corpses piled up like a mountain.

The tens of thousands of defenders on the city wall were now exhausted. Although their physical fitness and fighting spirit were much stronger than the enemy, facing the fierce attack that lasted for several hours, even strong generals like Zhu Ye might not be able to hold on.

"Whirring whirring……"

"Cough cough cough..."

The soldiers were panting heavily, but the enemy's offensive did not weaken at all.

Just when the defender was extremely anxious, a soldier from the south came running over in a hurry, covered in dust.

"General...something bad has happened, something bad has happened..."

When the guard heard this, his expression changed immediately: "What happened at the South Gate?"

The soldier knelt down with a plop, his face full of tears, crying bitterly: "General, the South Gate... the South Gate has been lost..."

"What?" The guard was so frightened that he staggered and almost fell.

"General... be careful." The soldier next to him hurriedly supported him.

The guard's face was pale, his eyes looked up to the sky, and he was so sad that he could not even cry.

"General Zhang... Your Majesty, I... I'm sorry for you..."

After saying this, he suddenly stood up, wiped the blood off his face, and pounded the spear in his hand into the ground.

"Brothers, after today's battle, this city will be hard to defend. We were all promoted by His Majesty and General Zhang, and only then did we get to where we are today. Otherwise, I'm afraid we would have died in the wilderness, and how could we have the glory today? Now that the battle has been lost and the city has been destroyed, we can only die to serve our country."

"Follow the general and die for the country!"

"Follow the general and die for the country!"

Many soldiers shouted in unison. Such powerful force frightened Cao's soldiers who were about to climb up the city wall.

A general smiled flatteringly at Cai Mao, "General, the South Gate has been breached. It will only take a snap to capture Shangcai City. You are truly mighty and unrivaled."

"Haha, it's all thanks to the soldiers who risked their lives. How dare I take credit for it?" Cai Mao said this, but his expression was extremely proud. He smiled so hard that his eyes almost narrowed into slits.

"Da da da……"

The sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly reached his ears. Cai Mao felt a little surprised. After all, there were only a few thousand cavalrymen in his army, and they were all his personal guards standing around him. Where did the sound of horse hooves come from?
But he was in a good mood at the moment and didn't care too much.

But soon, the general who had just flattered him pulled the collar of his armor and said, "General Cai, look, that person is..."

Cai Mao was a little impatient: "Who is it? What's so interesting? Can't you see that I'm busy commanding a war?"

The general became anxious: "No, look, that man... the horse he's riding and the armor he's wearing look like... the lord's personal cavalry."

When Cai Mao heard this, he was so shocked that he almost fell off his horse: "My lord's personal guards? Where are they? Where are they?"

The general hurriedly supported him and pointed in a certain direction. Cai Mao looked in the direction and saw a man on a horse, wearing special armor and with a flag with the word "Cao" on its back.

"It is indeed the lord's personal cavalry. How did he get here?"

Cai Mao was extremely confused, but he did not have time to think too much. On the battlefield, Cao Cao suddenly sent his own cavalry guards. That must be an important order to be conveyed. How dare he neglect it?

Cai Mao quickly rode his horse forward and took the initiative to meet them.

He clasped his fists in greeting to the cavalry guard, and just as he was about to say hello, the other party shouted coldly, "Who is Cai Mao?"

Cai Mao was immediately displeased. After all, he was a general commanding an army. Although the other party was Cao Cao's personal guard, he was just a soldier. How could he dare to call him by his name?

Although he thought so in his heart, Cai Mao did not dare to show it on his face. He still smiled and said to the man, "I am Cai Mao. May I ask if you are here because the lord wants an important military order?"

"It's natural."

The guard had a cold face, took the command flag from behind, and placed it in front of his chest: "Cai Mao, obey my orders."

Cai Mao hurriedly said in a serious tone: "General Cai Mao obeys your orders."

"Gao Shun is leading his army to besiege Ancheng now. The battle in Ancheng is urgent. I order Cai Mao to lead 50,000 troops to Ancheng to help after receiving the order. After repelling Gao Shun, we will discuss the reward."

"Ah?" Cai Mao was stunned for a moment.

"But...but Shangcai County is about to be captured. If I lead my troops away at this time, wouldn't all my efforts be wasted?"

He had a total of 150,000 troops, a group of whom were killed by Zhang Yong, and many more died in the siege in the past two days. Now, including the dead and the wounded, there are a total of more than 30,000 people who cannot fight. Now that victory is in sight, he suddenly stopped the war. He took away 50,000 people at one time, and the remaining 70,000 troops would not be able to re-enter the city.

"General, can you allow me to capture Shangcai County and then set out for Ancheng tomorrow morning?"

"No." The man refused. "Which is more important, the life of the lord or your military exploits? How can you be a general if you can't even tell the priorities?"

"You..." Cai Mao was so angry that he almost smoked: "You are just..."

He wanted to refute a few words, but the other party waved the flag in his hand three times. Cai Mao immediately lost his temper and could only suppress all his anger.

"My lord is wise and brave. How could Gao Shun, with only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers, capture Ancheng so quickly? We finally managed to capture the gate of Shangcai County. If we just give up like this, wouldn't that be..."

He wanted to fight for it, but the cavalryman didn't intend to continue listening: "Okay, you go and gather the troops immediately, and hand over the military power here to Wen Pin. In a quarter of an hour, follow me to Ancheng. Don't delay, otherwise it will be regarded as treason."

"You..." Cai Mao became furious again, but was stopped by the general beside him.

"General Cai, please calm down. Since the lord wants us to help, the war must be very critical. Saving the lord and relieving the danger of Ancheng will be a great achievement. You can't contradict this guard for this, otherwise he will say something bad about you when he goes back, and you will..."

After hearing the general's reminder, Cai Mao finally came to his senses.

He forced a smile and said, "Since the lord has given the order, I dare not refuse. I will go and recruit the troops right away. I will go right away..."

After saying that, he turned around and took the general a few steps away: "You stay in the army and monitor Wen Pin's every move for me."

"The general means..."

"Hehe, my lord has suddenly issued such an order this time, asking me to hand over the military power to Wen Pin. I am afraid that someone is playing tricks on me. Wen Pin seems to be honest, but he may be a treacherous person who pretends to be loyal. You keep an eye on him and report to me immediately if he makes any unusual movements."

"As you command, General, rest assured."

Cai Mao's eyes sparkled with brilliance: "Wen Pin... Humph, if it is really you who is behind this, then don't blame me for not remembering our friendship..."

(End of this chapter)