Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 988 Whose Reinforcements
After a fierce battle yesterday, when they were finally about to succeed, the commander-in-chief Cai Mao was suddenly transferred away, taking away 50,000 troops, forcing Cao's offensive to be suspended.

After a night's rest, the defenders in the city had gained a respite. Wen Pin tried to attack the city several times, but each time failed.

"Oh, this is really annoying. Yesterday I saw... Never mind, it's useless to say this."

Several generals spoke indignantly.

Wen Pin scolded, "Shut up, the battle of Ancheng concerns the safety of our lord. If you miss out on this achievement, you will have plenty to make up for it in the future. How dare you complain here?"

"Yes, yes, I was just talking nonsense. Please don't blame me, General."

Wen Pin's expression eased. "The remaining forces of our army are not enough to capture Shangcai City. Do you have any good plans?"

The generals thought for a while and said, "General, in my opinion, the only way now is to surround the city without attacking it. After the lord wins in Ancheng, we will lead the army to attack the city."

"Not bad, not bad. Given the current situation, a hasty attack on the city will only increase the damage. It is better to play it safe."

Seeing that everyone agreed, Wen Pin had no good ideas for the moment and could only nod in agreement.

"Well... that's fine. Gao Shun only has 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers and horses. Although they are extremely powerful elites, they still have no chance of winning against the nearly 80,000 troops commanded by the lord himself. After the lord drives Gao Shun away, he can join us and defeat Zhang Yong without any problem."

At this point, he glanced at the generals and said, "Then you will naturally have a chance to make contributions."

When the generals heard this, they were delighted and said, "We will just follow the general's orders."

Suddenly, bursts of noisy sounds came from outside.

"What's going on?" Wen Pin lifted the curtain and shouted to the soldiers outside.

Soon, a soldier came running over in panic: "General, the enemy... the enemy has launched a surprise attack..."

"A surprise attack? How is that possible? How could the defenders in the city have such courage?"

Wen Pin looked incredulous. Although it was difficult for them to attack the city, their military strength was still superior to that of the enemy. How could the enemy give up the advantage of defending the city and go out of the city to seek death?

Unexpectedly, the soldier said: "It's not the defenders in the city, but... it's Zhang Yong who led the army personally..."

"What?" Wen Pin suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

"Kill it..."

Zhang Yong, who had disappeared for a few days, suddenly led a large army and appeared outside Shangcai County like a god descending from the sky, and rushed towards Cao's army.

The Cao army had just experienced a change of leading generals and a failed siege, so their morale was already somewhat low. Suddenly they suffered such an attack, and in a blink of an eye, the barracks were in chaos.

On the contrary, the defenders in the city were all very excited.

"It's General Zhang, General Zhang is here!"

"I knew that General Zhang would never give up on us!"

"That's right. Cai Mao suddenly led his troops to withdraw. It must be General Zhang's secret trick. Haha, the general is really a god."

"Brothers, we have had enough of those traitorous birdmen these days. Today we should avenge our past humiliation. Follow me and charge out!"

The tens of thousands of soldiers in the city, led by the defending general, roared and charged towards Cao's army like tigers out of their cages.

In Ancheng, Cao Cao looked at the latest military report, but his face remained calm.

Seeing that no one was talking, Cai Mao seemed to be getting anxious. "My lord, Zhang Yong has been hiding by the Ru River for many days. I prepared many traps to deal with him, but he never mobilized a single soldier. Now, as soon as I left, he launched a surprise attack and severely damaged my Jingzhou troops. This..."

Before he could finish, Cao Cao glanced at him and said, "Why, are you blaming me for transferring you here?"

"Ah... I dare not. I have absolutely no such intention." Cai Mao was sweating profusely after seeing this.

Cao Ren stepped out and said, "Although our army suffered a crushing defeat in this battle, General Wen Pin was able to remain calm despite the collapse of Mount Tai. He personally led his troops to charge and blocked the enemy's offensive, restored our army's morale, and thus enabled us to retreat safely. Even though we suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, we did not suffer too much loss. I think General Wen should be rewarded for his merits."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Well, Zixiao's words make sense. I will immediately submit a petition to the Emperor to appoint you as the governor of Jiangxia and the general who smothers bandits, and give you an additional reward of 500 gold and 300 pieces of silk."

"As ordered."

Upon hearing this, Cai Mao's expression suddenly changed. One could almost hear the sound of him gritting his teeth: "Wen Pin...it really is you..."

"Report..." A soldier ran over and said, "My lord, the enemy has launched another offensive and is storming the east gate of the city."

Cao Cao didn't seem surprised at all. Instead, he looked a little pleased: "Well, you're just in time. All the generals, listen to my orders and follow me to kill the enemy."

He brought Cao Ren, Cai Mao, Cheng Yu and others and soon arrived at the city wall.

Three hundred steps outside the city, Gao Shun and Xun You were seen standing on horseback, giving orders with confidence.

Tens of thousands of Han troops, with a well-organized formation and shouting loudly, rushed straight towards the city wall.

"My lord, the enemy's offensive this time is even stronger than in the past few days. It seems that Gao Shun has decided to fight to the death and will not stop until he captures the city."

Cheng Yu said.

Cao Cao said slowly, "It would be best if you never give up. This is the day I've been waiting for."

Xi Zhong looked at the battle situation and frowned slightly: "My lord, the enemy is focusing on one thing, which is to make it difficult for our army to play out its numerical advantage. And under the enemy's offensive, I am afraid that our army will not be able to hold out for long."

As he spoke, the first team of Han soldiers had already climbed up the city wall. They leaped over and landed on the tower. Then they formed a formation of three or five and started fighting with Cao's army.

"Good guy, watch me." Dian Wei shouted and wielded his two iron halberds to fight.

But before he could lead his men to kill all the Han soldiers who had climbed up the city wall, the second, third, and fourth teams of Han soldiers climbed up one after another.

They combined shield soldiers, sword soldiers, and spear soldiers and fought in formation. The Cao army soldiers defending the city were no match at all. Often, even though they had two or three times their number, they still died at the hands of the Han army.

Fierce generals such as Dian Wei and Xu Chu rushed forward. With their help, the Han army's attempt to occupy the city wall was gradually stopped.

"Meng De, if this continues, I'm afraid the city may not be able to hold out for too long."

Cao Ren looked worried.

"Yes, father. The enemy's three or five-man battle formation is really powerful. If we continue to fight like this, even if our army can hold on to the city today, our losses will certainly be several times greater than the enemy's. If this continues, if we don't take the city today, I'm afraid we will take it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Cao Ang also looked worried.

Cao Cao looked at them and suddenly laughed: "Do you think I am the kind of person who will sit there and wait for death?"

Cao Ren and others hurriedly shook their heads: "Of course not."

"That's it." Cao Cao smiled confidently, "Don't worry, it won't be long before reinforcements arrive. By then, Gao Shun will surely be defeated."

"Reinforcements? General Cai Mao has already entered the city, how can there be any reinforcements?"

Cao Cao's words made Cao Ren, Cao Ang and others even more confused.

At this time, Guo Jia said, "Why don't you think about it? Leaving General Cai Mao outside the city could have coordinated with our army inside and outside to attack Gao Shun. Why did the lord go out of the city in person to bring him in? Isn't this just adding fuel to the fire?"

"Ah... yes, then... why is that?" Cao Ang asked impatiently.

Guo Jia smiled and said, "If we hadn't acted this way, how could we have provoked Gao Shun to mobilize all his strength and attack the city?"

Cao Ren was the first to understand: "I see. If we allow General Cai Mao to lead his troops outside the city to coordinate, Gao Shun will definitely send troops to contain them, and thus we will not be able to attack the city with all our strength, and may even suspend the siege."

But he quickly regained his doubtful look: "But what's the benefit of attracting him to attack the city with all his strength?"

"Haha, General Cao Ren is both wise and brave, how could he not think of this? If Gao Shun had not put all his troops into this siege, how could we have caught him off guard when our reinforcements arrived?"

"This..." Cao Ren and others finally understood what was happening.

"It's just...the reinforcements..."

Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "Don't worry. If I say there will be reinforcements, there will be." The two sides in the siege battle soon fought until the afternoon.

Cao Cao stared at the Han army attacking the city, and after a while, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"It's time."

Cao Ren and others had no idea what he meant by "timing", but they saw Cheng Yu and others also glanced at the Han army.

"Well, the enemy's offensive is gradually weakening, and it is obvious that they are exhausted. We have more soldiers, and it is more convenient for us to guard the city in turns. Now that the enemy is weak, we can defeat them with one blow."

Cheng Yu said happily.

"Okay, ride out of the city immediately and execute the plan."

Cao Cao shouted with some excitement in his tone, and Cheng Yu immediately took the order. Not long after, he saw dozens of people riding on fast horses and galloping out from the other three gates of the city.

Although the Han army only attacked the east gate, they also deployed a group of scouts at the other three gates. However, the appearance of these dozens of riders was too sudden. After all, the battle took place at the east gate, and no one would have thought that anyone would come out from the other three gates. In addition, after the dozens of riders left the city, they dispersed and ran quickly. Therefore, the scouts ambushed outside the city could hardly catch up with them.

After they left, Cao Cao kept looking towards the northeast with expectant eyes.

The momentum of Gao Shun's army's siege was getting weaker and weaker, and the number of soldiers able to climb onto the city walls was also decreasing.

Gao Shun showed hesitation on his face: "Gongda, attacking the city is difficult, should we withdraw our troops?"

Xun You thought about it and was about to answer when he heard someone in front of him shouting, "The city gate is loose, the city gate is loose..."

The two men hurriedly took a hundred steps forward. Even from a great distance, they could still see that the city gate seemed to be on the verge of crumbling due to the repeated attacks of the fire beast.

Gao Shun then said, "It seems that I am asking unnecessary questions."

On the tower, Cao Cao praised Cheng Yu highly: "Zhongde's plan is brilliant. It makes the enemy think that the city gate is about to be breached. Even if they are now in a stalemate and it is difficult to succeed, they will not withdraw their troops. Instead, they will muster up their last bit of strength and continue to charge."

"Haha, my lord, thank you for your compliment." Cheng Yu said in a very humble tone.

As expected, the offensive that had just weakened suddenly strengthened again at this moment. Teams of Han soldiers, regardless of the sweat dripping from their bodies and seemingly forgetting the aches and pains in their bodies, roared and rushed onto the city wall.

Cao Cao looked at all this with great satisfaction: "Good, good, Gao Shun deserves this defeat today."

The battle lasted from 10:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in a blink of an eye.

After several hours, the Han soldiers were exhausted, and many of them had almost used up their last bit of strength. When climbing the ladders, many soldiers' hands and feet were shaking, and they slipped off the ladders.

Faced with this situation, Cao Cao, Cheng Yu and others became more and more excited, which made Cao Ren and others look puzzled.

However, not long after, a group of soldiers suddenly appeared on the northeast horizon.

"That is..." Cao Ren exclaimed.

When Cao Cao saw this, he felt relieved: "Here it comes, Gao Shun's death is coming."

I saw that the army was carrying the flag with the word "Wei" on it, and the soldiers were wearing Cao's armor.

"Could it be... ah, I remember now, it was Wei Yan who fled to Xincai County after being defeated by Gao Shun not long ago. How could I have forgotten him? Damn it."

Cao Ren slapped his thigh, extremely excited.

"Kill... Kill all the enemy troops... Make achievements..."

The 30,000 Cao troops led by Wei Yan had shouts of killing that resounded through the sky, and their morale was as high as a rainbow.

The Cao army soldiers in the city, who were defending the city with great difficulty, were immediately boosted in morale when they saw the reinforcements arriving.

At the same time, Gao Shun's army was in a state of chaos. Gao Shun himself ran to the northeast for a distance, observed for a while, and looked very panicked.

"Okay!" Cao Cao drew out the Heavenly Sword: "Where are Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Cao Ren, Cao Ang, Cao Shu, Huang Zhong, and Cai Mao!"

"The general is here!"

Cao Cao pointed the Heavenly Sword forward and said, "Follow me and charge out of the city. Together with General Wei Yan, we will attack Gao Shun from both sides and annihilate the enemy army in one fell swoop. Anyone who captures Gao Shun or Xun You will be rewarded with ten thousand gold coins and be granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

"Kill it..."

Cao Cao and many generals led tens of thousands of troops in the city and rushed out of the city gate in a mighty force.

"There is an ambush, retreat quickly..."

Gao Shun hurriedly sounded the call to retreat and led the army to retreat quickly southward.

At this time, Jia Xu, who was following Cao Cao, suddenly spoke up and reminded him: "My lord, Gao Shun retreated in an orderly manner without any disorder. Be careful of a trick."

Cao Cao didn't care: "No, this man is a master at using troops, and he is also calm and thoughtful. If his army was in chaos during his retreat, I would have suspected him of cheating. But now this formation is exactly Gao Shun's style, so what's so strange about it?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu lowered his head and remained silent and stopped talking.

Gao Shun retreated to the south, and Cao Cao led his troops out of the city. Wei Yan's troops in the north quickly caught up and followed Cao Cao closely.

Cao Cao was delighted. As long as he could defeat Gao Shun here, or even capture him alive, he could then march westwards and order Wen Pin to gather up the defeated troops and attack Zhang Yong from both sides. In this way, he could defeat these two top generals under Liu He one after another.

In this way, not only will his reputation and strength increase, but he can also use it to intimidate Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Shi Xie and others, making them firm in their confidence and ally with him, instead of being like now, where they send troops to help but have not taken any actual action and are sitting on the fence and watching.

When he thought of this, even with Cao Cao's temperament, he couldn't help but feel a little elated.

"To defeat the strong with the weak, to turn the tide, to revive the country, to go down in history, I, Cao Cao, will establish the foundation that will last forever today."

He was immersed in that wonderful fantasy when he suddenly heard Cheng Yu beside him shout, "That's not right."

Cao Cao looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Cheng Yu pointed to the "Wei Yan army" two or three miles behind him and said, "My lord, look, the general in the lead seems to be... seems to be holding a two-handed weapon."

Cao Cao was startled and looked carefully. As expected, although they were far away, Cao Cao could not see the man's appearance clearly, nor could he tell what weapon he was using. However, he could vaguely see a huge black spot on each side of his horse's back. They were not noticeable at first, but after Cheng Yu said that, Cao Cao felt that they were two weapons, and they were obviously not spears or halberds.

He made a prompt decision and shouted, "Where is Cao Ang?"

"The end will be here."

"Go and pass on my military order. Order Wei Yan to lead his troops to bypass the enemy from the left and intercept them."

"As ordered."

After receiving the order, Cao Ang patted his horse hard and galloped towards "Wei Yan".

As soon as he ran to a few hundred steps away from Wei Yan's army, he waved his whip and shouted loudly: "I am Cao Ang, where is General Wei Yan?"

One of the other people responded: "Wei is here."

Cao Ang looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but for a moment, he could not find it.

However, during this process, he did not stop, but continued to move forward. The two sides walked towards each other, and in a blink of an eye, the distance between them naturally shortened rapidly.

"Hahaha...are you looking for me, your young master?"

An extremely wild voice suddenly sounded, and it sounded like it came from the same person as the previous voice.

At this time, Cao Ang finally saw this "Wei Yan", which frightened him so much that he almost lost his soul.

"Zhu...Zhu...Zhu Ye..."

"It's me, you're Cao Cao's son? Hehe, just in time, I'll lend you my head to claim the credit."

Zhu Ye squeezed the silver-armored beast under his crotch and galloped towards Cao Ang.

(End of this chapter)