My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 820: Breaking through the Pass of Chen at night and entering Hedong County
At this moment, it was the second half of the night.

Although the Cao army on the Chenguan Pass had been repeatedly warned to be vigilant, it was difficult to restrain human physiological instincts.

The last one or two hours before dawn are always the time when people are most likely to feel sleepy.

Moreover, the quality of Cao's army at the Chenguan Pass today is completely incomparable to that of a month ago, or even just half a month ago. A large number of soldiers were new recruits who were temporarily conscripted after Cao Cao ascended the throne last year.

How much morale and combat effectiveness can these soldiers who were forcibly conscripted and unwillingly have?

Moreover, there are only thieves who can do things for a thousand days, but there are no thieves who can guard against thieves for a thousand days. If it was the first few days after Xiahou Dun had just withdrawn his troops from here, the soldiers here would still be worried about the enemy's attack and would be more vigilant. But after being vigilant for a while, nothing happened, and laxity would inevitably come back.

If we go back one month, there were at least 10,000 garrison troops stationed at Chenguanxing.

There are more than 10,000 reserve troops in the county town in the rear. Once a war breaks out on the front line or other unusual movements are discovered, the messenger can notify the rear within one hour and call for reinforcements within three hours.

There was a reason why Xiahou Dun stationed so many troops here before. Because this is the throat of crossing Zhongtiao Mountain, a low gap where Zhongtiao Mountain and Wangwu Mountain meet. The army can only go here if it wants to communicate between Hedong County and Henei County.

It was simply because the terrain of the pass was narrow and could not accommodate so many troops, and there was no space inside the pass to store so much rations and other military supplies. If all 20,000 people were deployed to the front line, the transportation losses would be too troublesome, so more than half of the people were placed in the county town, and only a small half were left at the front line.

Because Xiahou Dun felt that no matter how strong Liu Bei's army was, it would be impossible to break through the pass within a few hours, so the troops in the county town in the rear had enough time to be transferred over.

However, ever since Wang Ping and Gan Ning caused trouble in Longxi, the troops around Chenguanxing experienced their first weakening and withdrawal. At that time, at least half of the more than 10,000 troops in the county town in the rear were transferred away, leaving only 4,000 reserves.

Half a month ago, Zhang Fei began to attack Shangdang County, and Xiahou Dun went to stop Zhang Fei in person. After a series of bloody battles, Xiahou Dun's direct troops suffered heavy casualties and their numbers were sharply reduced. Xiahou Dun had to exhaust all resources and draw more troops from Hedong.

As a result, the last 4,000 reserve troops in the county behind Chenguanxing were almost completely drained, leaving only a few hundred people to guard the county, and thousands of soldiers had to be withdrawn from the guards of Chenguanxing to defend the rear. Xiahou Dun also took away an additional 3,000 people from the front-line guards of Chenguanxing.

After all the calculations, the total number of Cao's troops in the battle zone of Chenguanxing is only about 7,000 people, with 2,000 to 3,000 people guarding the county town in the rear and 4,000 to 5,000 people guarding the pass in the front. They are already so weak that they can't be any weaker. The total number is less than 40% of what it was a month ago.

The only guarantee Xiahou Dun could give to the generals defending Chenguanxing was: Once you are attacked and the situation is confirmed to be critical, you can immediately send scouts on fast horses to report the emergency. I promise to send reinforcements back to you from the front line of Shangdang County within two days, and they will arrive within five days.

This time was not agreed upon casually. It was arrived at after full consideration of the geographical terrain of Bingzhou and Hedong, and the distance between the two war zones. As long as Xiahou Dun's troops marched by force, they could arrive there in five days. Looking at the map, the straight-line distance between the two places was not far, but the key was to cross the mountains and take a detour. Everyone in the world knew how disgusting the terrain in Shanxi was.

Xiahou Dun felt that even if Liu Bei's army had some conspiracy or trickery, given the strategic location of the Chen Pass, they would not be able to hold it for five days, right?
……

"It's almost dawn. I finally made it through another night. The weather is getting warmer and there are more mosquitoes. Staying here is just feeding the mosquitoes."

On the city wall of Chenguanxing, most of the sentries had fallen asleep. Only a few diligent officers were patrolling with their personal soldiers, but they couldn't help yawning and slapping mosquitoes.

If they saw a soldier who was really behaving badly and sleeping on the ground, they would go over and kick him to give him a slight punishment.

"Get up! It's ok for you to take a nap on the battlement, but you dare to lie on the ground openly. If the general sees you, you will be punished with at least twenty military sticks!"

The soldiers who were beaten quickly struggled to their feet, half asleep, and admitted their mistakes, not daring to complain. The captain did this for their own good. If the commander or even the military commander saw it, it would not be so easy to get away with it.

Many officers below the rank of tunzhang had only recently joined the army, and some were even local tyrants who had been forcibly conscripted. Above the rank of quzhang, all were veteran soldiers, many of whom were from other places and had followed Cao's army all the way back from Guandong.

These two types of people have completely different attitudes towards the soldiers. Outsiders have no sense of hometown and only care about doing official business, so the locals don't put in much effort in the work.

It can only be said that by this point in the war, Cao Cao's internal organization had become so loose and rotten that all kinds of people were pulled into the army.

Just after the patrol passed by, they did not notice that several hooks had been thrown up and caught the edge of the battlement. The hooks caught the place where there was no torch on the wall. The light was dim and people could hardly see clearly after passing by.

When the hook was hooked, it would make a crisp sound, like metal piercing the soil and rocks. However, it was not obvious ten steps away under the cover of the sound of the wind and the burning torch. When the patrol team was patrolling, the armor and weapons on their bodies would also make a sound, which was enough to cover everything.

It was not until the patrol team came back that the Cao army commander who was leading the team vaguely saw that there seemed to be a few more dark shadows between the two torch positions in front.

"Which song are you guys from?"

The other party did not answer. The commander of Cao's army looked carefully for another two seconds and found that the dark shadows on the top of the city were increasing in number. In the blink of an eye, there were three more people.

Only then did he realize that something was wrong.

"Enemy attack! It's Liu Bei's men sneaking up the wall! Follow me! They don't have many people!"

The first reaction of the Cao army patrol commander was to take advantage of the fact that three or five enemies had just sneaked up and quickly push them down.

But just as they rushed over to engage in hand-to-hand combat, a few more people came up from the breakthrough position, and seven or eight of them had already gained a foothold.

The soldiers of Liu Bei's army who climbed the wall were the best of the best. They drew their weapons and got ready, and even took the initiative to counterattack, killing the nearest torch on the wall, killing Cao's soldiers guarding the torches, and then throwing the torches randomly. This not only sent a message of success, so that the brothers below could quickly attack, but also created a little chaos and fought in the dark.

Seeing the chaotic fire signals on the top of the city wall and a shout from below, dozens of simple flying ladders a hundred steps away were quickly carried by hundreds of soldiers and rushed over to the position where their elite hook-hooked soldiers had already established a foothold.

At the same time, the archers under Gao Shun, who were hiding in the distance, bravely rushed to a place only fifty steps away from the wall and shot arrows indiscriminately at the top of the city.

The archers under Gao Shun had no cover and were just standing on flat ground to shoot arrows, which was very dangerous.

In a normal siege, the attackers would use wooden planks to build a battle formation, or at least erect a large rattan shield to block arrows and protect their own crossbowmen. But Gao Shun was launching a surprise attack today, so there was no way he could prepare these clumsy things.

But he was sure of this because he had just observed that the torches on the city wall could not illuminate more than fifty steps below the city. In other words, if the archers of Cao's army wanted to counterattack, they could only "shoot with the sound", that is, listen to the sound and determine the position and shoot roughly.

In contrast, the attacking archers can shoot more accurately under the guidance of the torch light. The defenders' advantage lies only in cover, not accuracy.

But no matter what, Gao Shun's troops dared to stand in an open space with no cover and shoot at the enemy on the city wall. This courage and discipline were absolutely beyond doubt, and it required very strong psychological qualities.

Normal people would think that it is too disadvantageous to attack from a low position and the enemy has no cover, so they would not have the courage to stand still and shoot arrows. Without torches in the dark, the generals cannot see what the soldiers are doing. In the troops with low morale and poor military discipline, the crossbowmen will take advantage of the situation and stand dozens of steps back, or even leave the battlefield temporarily, and the generals will not know that you have become a deserter.

Therefore, this kind of bold tactic could only be used in the Xianzhen Camp. Gao Shun fully believed in the morale and discipline of his troops.

He also hoped that Cao's crossbowmen would shoot more at his archers, so that the long-range firepower of Cao's army could be attracted to their own long-range troops to the maximum extent, reducing the pressure on the melee warriors who were the first to climb the ladder.

In addition to sending archers forward to put pressure on the enemy, Gao Shun of course had a third backup plan that he needed to use urgently, which was to immediately set off fireworks to notify Guan Yu in the rear.

The mountain road at Chenguanxing was narrow. In order to ensure the suddenness and concealment of the sneak attack, Guan Yu only gave Gao Shun a vanguard of 1,000 people.

If there were more people, a forced march in the dark would easily cause chaos and noise, leading to them being discovered by the enemy, and they would also easily trample on each other on the mountain roads.

Gao Shun divided the thousand men into two hundred who would use grappling hooks when they got close, and another seven or eight hundred who would use bows and arrows and ladders. The two groups were only a few hundred steps apart.

Behind these 1,000 men, Guan Yu had a second group of 5,000 troops, deployed at least five miles behind Gao Shun. Once Gao Shun started fighting, the follow-up reinforcements could rush to the front of the pass within one to two quarters of an hour and reinforce the battle.

Further back, Guan Yu's main force of more than 20,000 troops was at least 30 miles behind the vanguard troops, and it would take them half a day to arrive. Such a gradient deployment was limited by the terrain and for the sake of secrecy.

At this moment, Gao Shun saw that the battle had officially begun, so of course he commanded his troops to fight hard and move forward, while he took out the gunpowder fireworks, lit the fuse, and shot them into the sky with a strong bow.

The arrows used to shoot fireworks were originally whistling arrows, which made a whistling sound when flying. And that kind of fireworks was also the fireworks used by Liu Bei's army for many years for sending messages. After several improvements, it has now been improved to the point where it can make a sharp whistling sound like a flying monkey.

The two sounds combined together were indescribably mournful. To the party being attacked, it was like the cry of death from the depths of the underworld.

Cao's troops on the wall were all horrified when they saw this scene, and they were discouraged. However, Guan Yu's reinforcements a few miles away were excited, knowing that the vanguard had succeeded, and began to rush closer.

……

"Kill! Brothers, charge up to the tower and hold on! General Guan's follow-up troops will soon come to reinforce!"

On the top of the city wall of Chenguanxing, the first batch of 200 hook-tapping soldiers under Gao Shun had all climbed onto the city wall.

Of course, during the whole process, dozens of people died in the battle, and only about 130 or 140 people survived. Even within these 130 or 140 miles, there were many seriously injured people.

There is no way. In any siege situation, the casualty rate of the first-line soldiers is always the most terrifying. Even if the sneak attack is successful, it is normal for 30% of them to be killed.

The troops led by Gao Shun were the elite among the elite in the Xianzhen Camp. Everyone's weapons and armor were of the highest quality, and their food and treatment were the best. They were also fed with gold and silver rewards before the expedition, which was why they had such an indomitable morale. Even after 30 of them died, the rest kept charging and fighting.

The Cao army soldiers who reacted quickly organized a counterattack like a tide. All the reserve troops in the rear woke up, and the defenders of the entire pass gathered and launched a counterattack.

On the city walls, horse-cutting swords, long spears and large halberds were stabbing and slashing randomly. The weapons were as dense as hedgehog feathers. Chopped-off limbs and arms were everywhere, and blood was flying everywhere.

"Shoot! Shoot at the crowd without distinguishing friend or foe! Hold off the enemy for two rounds, and then climb the city walls!"

After Gao Shun rushed to the foot of the city, he saw that the situation above was critical. Before he climbed up the ladder himself, he decisively asked his archers to shoot at the areas where the enemy and our side were most concentrated according to the plan.

It's not that Gao Shun didn't care about his soldiers, but he had told his soldiers that this time, the bows and arrows used by his archers were of relatively low power, and they did not use steel spikes to pierce armor, in order to make it impossible to penetrate the heavy steel armor of his own soldiers.

He had explained this to his own soldiers before going into battle, and even conducted an experiment in public, having people shoot ordinary bows and arrows at heavy steel armor at close range, but not once did they penetrate.

In order to reassure his death warriors, Gao Shun personally wore a heavy steel armor and let his men shoot at him to encourage them.

Seeing that the general dared to try on the armor himself, the soldiers were very well prepared mentally and were also prepared for the most difficult situation possible in today's battle.

At this moment, seeing that the situation was critical, this rain of arrows that did not distinguish between friend and foe finally began to take effect.

Hundreds of bows and arrows were fired crazily at the crowd gathered on the top of the city wall. The cast iron arrowheads of ordinary infantry bows shot into the crowd. Whenever they hit Gao Shun's own soldiers, they were deflected and bounced off. However, when they hit Cao's soldiers, perhaps some of their well-equipped soldiers could be bounced off, but a large number of Cao's spearmen, crossbowmen and other lightly armored soldiers were immediately shot down.

Cao's army was far less wealthy than Liu Bei's army, and they generally gave priority to equipping melee soldiers with short weapons or halberd soldiers with metal armor.

As for the spearmen, at most they would wear some lamellar armor with metal key protection on their chest and back, but metal would definitely not be able to protect parts like their arms, shoulders and neck.

Soldiers with this kind of defensive ability would naturally wail everywhere if they were surrounded and shot at.

"Liu Bei's soldiers are crazy! How could they shoot arrows without distinguishing between friend and foe? They are still shooting arrows desperately in a melee!" Some of Cao's soldiers who were shot and wounded were still in fear and retreated crying, and the momentum of the counterattack was also halted.

Gao Shun took advantage of this momentum and ordered the next few hundred soldiers who were climbing the ladders to climb up quickly. The more than one hundred soldiers who had already gained a foothold on the top of the city took the opportunity to advance, expand their foothold, and meet their comrades to come up and help.

As Gao Shun's soldiers with long spears also climbed onto the top of the city wall, formed two thin layers of military formations and began to advance steadily, it seemed unlikely that Cao's army would be able to drive him off the wall.

Gao Shun himself also rushed to the top of the wall, wielding a horse-cutting sword suitable for infantry combat, and killed five or six Cao soldiers with great swings, and also killed a Quchang and a Tunchang, firmly stabilizing his own position.

"The will to break through the enemy lines! Either death or life!"

"Conquer Hedong! Today only!"

"Kill! Kill them on the city wall! Seize the gate!"

Hundreds of elite soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp, led by Gao Shun, pushed forward towards the city wall.

The number of Cao's reinforcements was actually three or four times that of Gao Shun's troops, but they were completely unable to attack Gao Shun and were instead beaten back step by step by Gao Shun.

(End of this chapter)