Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 122 All Win
Chang'an City.

Sima Yi led his generals Zhou Tai, Wei Ping, and Zhou Dang into the city through the southwest gate, Zhangcheng Gate.

First, he issued military orders to generals Guanqiu Jian, Xiahou Mao, and Qin Lang, ordering the 20,000 soldiers and 20,000 laborers in the city to complete their preparations for battle within half an hour.

He then led his generals to the northeast corner of Chang'an, climbed the city tower of Luocheng Gate, and looked north to see the three camps of the Han army.

Then he shifted his gaze to the right, looking towards Baqiao, more than 20 miles away, where he could vaguely see scattered flickering lights.

"Lord Sima, I just checked the condition of the garrison in Chang'an. I'm afraid they are not up to the task of fighting at night." Zhou Tai was worried and his expression was conflicted.

Sima Yi nodded without saying a word.

The poor condition of the garrison in Chang'an was the result of a combination of complex factors.

The morale plummeted due to a series of defeats, the fear caused by the Shu army's advance on Chang'an, and the incompetent Xiahou Mao's mishandling of the plague, which led to infection and non-combat casualties.

But none of that matters anymore. Regardless of the condition of the garrison in Chang'an, the situation has now reached a point where a battle is inevitable.

"We need to find out how many Shu bandits are stationed in the northern camp and what their fighting strength is before we can decide what to do next."

Now, Sima Yi no longer possessed the composure he had when he first entered Chang'an.

The idea that "it will surely be defeated" has long been forgotten.

He initially had the initiative, but because Zhuge Liang did not launch a direct attack from the Jing River—the most fatal decoy—he repeatedly misjudged Zhuge Liang.

Ultimately, after Zhuge Liang demonstrated incredible skill in breaking through the camp overnight, they completely lost the initiative.

Now, Sima Yi only has one thing in mind.

Zhuge Liang led the main force to Baqiao, leaving the three camps north of Chang'an with empty troops.

But reason tells him that this possibility is not high.

After some visual inspection and estimation, it was estimated that these three camps still had about 20,000 soldiers.

The number of soldiers fighting in Chang'an was also 20,000.

Sending Chang'an's garrison soldiers, who are in poor condition, to challenge three camps of equal strength, high morale, and mutually supporting forces will almost certainly result in a defeat.

But as he had just told Zhou Tai, it was necessary to test the waters. What if he guessed wrong? What if it was another empty camp ploy?

If we find that the three northern strongholds are not a threat, then tomorrow we can leave some people to guard Chang'an, send others to cut off Zhuge Liang's connection with the three strongholds, and the main force can advance eastward to fight Zhuge Liang in a decisive battle west of the Ba River.

If Zhuge Liang cannot conquer the Ba River.

If the situation truly develops to this point, then it will descend into a chaotic battle where the Shu army, Wei army, Shu army, and Wei army are all entangled and surrounded.

Regardless of how agitated Sima Yi was, it didn't take half an hour for the garrison in Chang'an to complete their preparations for battle.

Sima Yi delegated command to Zhou Tai and ordered Wei Ping, Zhou Dang, Jia Xu, and other generals to lead 15,000 troops under Guanqiu Jian, Xiahou Mao, and others into battle.

After the military orders were issued, Sima Yi personally led 5,000 soldiers to defend the city and sat atop the city wall to observe the situation from a high vantage point.

The Hengmen Gate in the northwest of Chang'an City, the Chucheng Gate in the north, and the Luocheng Gate in the northeast corner were all opened.

Fifteen thousand fully armed soldiers filed out of Chang'an, quickly crossed the canal, and then formed ranks with their backs to the water.

Fifteen minutes later, the formation was complete.

The drumbeats of the march rose and fell, resounding throughout the heavens and earth. The Wei soldiers and civilians carried torches and marched in a mighty procession toward the northwest.

at the same time.

The Han army, which had already formed ranks outside the camp when the Wei army opened the city gates, was now also in formation outside the three camps.

Although the Wei army did not show which of the three camps they intended to attack when they formed their ranks.

But as a veteran general, Zhao Yun instinctively deduced without even thinking that Sima Yi would definitely attack the camp in the northwest corner of Chang'an.

if not?
The defeated soldiers in Chang'an were barely able to defend the city, let alone launch a night attack.

If they attack Weiqiao Village in the middle or Caoqu Village in the northeast corner, they will be attacked from three sides. If they dare to do so, then the Han Dynasty may recapture Chang'an tonight.

Attacking the camp in the northwest corner, which was guarded by Wang Ping's 5,000 soldiers, would allow for both advance and retreat, as well as the strategy of besieging the point and attacking reinforcements. Relatively speaking, it would also allow them to wait in comfort for the enemy to tire themselves out.

Before Sima Yi's army could move, Zhao Yun's three colonels, Fu Qian, Feng Hu, and Yang Qun, had already received orders to lead six thousand armored soldiers toward the camp eight miles away.

At Weiqiao Village, only three miles from Wang Ping's camp, General Deng Zhi, having received orders from Zhao Yun, remained inactive.

Before the two armies even clashed, Sima Yi, standing atop the walls of Chang'an, sensed the tense atmosphere emanating from the Han army's composure and immediately became somewhat uneasy.

His original intention was to act swiftly, strike the smallest camp in the northwest corner, and retreat as a unit before reinforcements from the other two camps arrived.

But now all the garrison troops in the three camps of the Shu army have come out of the camp and formed ranks. Not only that, the Shu army in the northeast corner is moving even faster than him.

"Father, is it absolutely necessary to test him?"

Sima Shi looked apprehensive.

During this period, his father was on the defensive and at a disadvantage in every battle with the Shu army, whether in visible or invisible ways, which made his father's image in his mind less lofty and dignified.

Sima Yi remained silent for a moment, then met him with a solemn expression:

"A test is necessary."

"Why?" Sima Shi asked, puzzled.

"In my opinion, the garrison in Chang'an is filled with fear and has no will to fight."

"Whether in formation or in marching, they are far inferior to the Jingyu army under your command; in fact, they can be described as somewhat disorganized and chaotic."

"How can such an army fight at night? I'm afraid many of them can't even see where they're going."
"What if the main force of the Shu army is not at Ba River, but in these three camps? Wouldn't these 10,000 men suffer a great defeat?"

"Should we let them into the village? If we do, what if the Shu bandits infiltrate among them?"
"If we don't release them, won't we be slaughtered outside the city by the Shu bandits?"

Sima Yi remained silent and continued to observe.

Although judging the size of an army by the number of torches is easy to be misled, Sima Yi trusted his judgment at this moment.

The number of Shu troops who marched out of the camp and formed ranks was indeed around 20,000.

If the estimate is correct, then there should be around 30,000 soldiers on the banks of the Ba River.

He could probably guess why the Shu army in front of him was not defending their camps but instead taking the initiative to come out of their camps to meet the attack; there were probably two reasons for this.

One reason is that the Shu army had some understanding of the strength of the garrison in Chang'an, and the entire army could leave the camp and form ranks, which would help to expand the gains.

Another possibility is that the Shu army probably doesn't have any crossbows here. If they don't leave the camp, they might be continuously worn down by the Wei's crossbows.

The crossbow was the Shu army's trump card for defeating the enemy. Since there was no crossbow here, the Shu army on the banks of the Ba River was undoubtedly the main force.

Thinking of this, Sima Yi's mind went blank.

If the Shu army launches a strong attack overnight and Wang Chang cannot hold out, then the Shu army may march towards Xinfeng.

At that point, Chang'an will truly be beyond saving.

Sima Yi summoned a personal guard and gave the order:
"Order Wang Chang to send 4,000 men back to reinforce Xinfeng, and order Wen Qin to lead 3,000 cavalry as guards. The rest must hold out until dawn tomorrow!"

Then he summoned a personal guard and ordered, "Order Chen Gui and Sun Li to hurry to Chang'an!"

At the city gates, Zhou Tai received no new orders and continued to urge his generals to march westward.

Fifteen minutes later, fifteen thousand Wei soldiers arrived at the northwestern corner of the Shu army's camp.

Since both armies have already deployed their troops, war is inevitable.

The biggest problem with night battles is that it is difficult to see flags, and you can only rely on drums to command. Moreover, night blindness is common, and a careless mistake can cause harm to friendly forces.

But as the fifteenth approached, the moon was bright and the wind was gentle, and the roaring campfire provided a fairly good view for both sides.

Without the slightest hesitation or delay, both armies began to beat their war drums wildly.

The Wei army's thousand archers fired only one arrow before the Han army rushed forward, and the two sides instantly became entangled in a fierce battle.

The first battle in the struggle for Chang'an began in such an unremarkable manner.

The Shu army probably consisted of only two square formations, totaling more than four thousand men.

Instead of sending all 15,000 men, Zhou Tai used three square formations with a force of 6,000 men to press forward.

In addition, 6,000 men were arranged to rest in formation on the east side, awaiting the arrival of Shu reinforcements.

Finally, three thousand men were reserved as the general reserve force.

Despite having few soldiers and generals, Wang Ping, who was cautious and good at defense, was the first to be hit by the Wei army and was surrounded by the Wei army with superior forces, but he was not afraid at all.

He calmly directed his troops to extend the battle line, preventing the Wei army from breaking through from the flanks. Although the battle formation was thin, the Wei army could not break through any point in a short time, and the Han army's battle line advanced instead of retreating.

Seeing this, Zhou Tai ordered a thousand reserve troops to drive four thousand civilian laborers who were with the army to rush into the camp and burn it down.

However, there were still more than two thousand soldiers and more than two thousand laborers in the Han army camp. When they saw the Wei army coming with fire, the soldiers immediately took up their swords and spears and defended behind the only moat and deer antlers.

The torches were thrown into the village by the Wei soldiers and laborers. The villagers immediately fetched sand and water, or used wet blankets to put out the fire.

The fire was extinguished before it even got going.

Seeing this, Zhou Tai knew that the plan to burn the camp would not succeed, so he immediately ordered the men who had stormed the camp to retreat. The two thousand Han soldiers guarding the camp then launched attacks in all directions, pursuing the fleeing enemy. After advancing more than a hundred paces and beheading two or three hundred enemies, they retreated back into the camp and continued to hold their ground.

The two sides fought for less than 15 minutes.

Feng Hu, Fu Qian, and Yang Qun led six thousand armored soldiers to the battlefield.

With several continuous beats of war drums, three unremarkable square formations composed of six thousand armored soldiers pressed towards the Wei army.

The six thousand soldiers led by Wei Ping, Zhou Dang, and Jia Xu were also entangled with the Han army's armored soldiers.

Feng Hu's more than a thousand elite troops had been idle at Jieting for almost two months since the battle with Cao Zhen.

Then they kept hearing that the emperor was winning one victory after another in Guanzhong, and everyone was so eager that their eyes turned red. As the saying goes, they were happy to hear about war, and everyone volunteered to fight.

Now that they finally had a real fight with Wei Kou, they were like tigers descending the mountain, hungry tigers pouncing on sheep.

In an instant, it tore a gap more than a hundred paces wide in the middle of the three square formations of the Wei army, which were a total length of one and a half miles and wide.

A depression immediately appeared in the Wei army's formation.

Feng Hu's elite troops did not choose to tear their formation to the left or right, but instead continued to dig deep and launch a fierce attack.

"Ha!" Feng Hu, clad in heavy armor with a basin-shaped collar, roared fiercely and charged forward with his spear.

Like slicing melons and cutting vegetables, they thinned out the Wei army's formation layer by layer.

On the opposite side, a trusted strategist of Xiahou Mao, also wearing heavy armor with a basin collar, saw that his most elite hundred or so troops had been wiped out in less than a quarter of an hour. He was both afraid and angry. Seeing that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Zhou Tai and others was behind him, he could only shout with tears in his eyes that there was no way to retreat.

The tall and strong Feng Hu immediately noticed the enemy general in heavy armor rushing towards him. Without hesitation, he charged forward with his spear and thrust it forward with incredible accuracy, striking the enemy general in the face. The spearhead protruded more than a foot from the back of the man's head, and the helmet was completely knocked off.

The surrounding Wei soldiers were immediately terrified and fled in fear, while some turned back to charge into the enemy lines.

Regardless of how brave and fierce Feng Hu's main force was, Fu Qian's main force, which was located on the right flank of the Han army, was also launching an offensive like a storm.

When they were besieged in Chencang, Wang Ping and Yang Tiao came to relieve the siege, but they were unable to fight the Wei army.

After being cooped up in Xiliu Camp for more than a month, he was already incredibly hungry for sex.

In an instant, those who were reckless and fearless fought without hesitation, while those who fled in terror were terrified.

However, after only a quarter of an hour of fighting, the Wei army was already showing signs of collapse.

On the walls of Chang'an, Sima Yi had already probed out the information he wanted. Seeing that the Wei army was in a state of great collapse, and that Chen Gui, Sun Li and others had led their troops to the southwest corner of Chang'an, he began to order the retreat.

He then ordered the men led by Zhou Tai to retreat south continuously, not to enter the city, until the main force of the army came to their aid.

The guards rushed out.

The generals, including Zhou Tai and Wei Ping, who were already on the verge of collapse, soon received orders.

Finally, the last three thousand reserves, under the supervision of the generals' personal guards, stepped forward to cover the advance troops as they fought and retreated.

Driven by a frenzy of bloodlust, the Han army launched a relentless attack. Naturally, many Wei soldiers began to trample each other in the process, and many others abandoned their armor and weapons and fled.

Half an hour later, the Wei army that had gone out to fight retreated to the northwest corner of Chang'an City. The Han army also pursued them to the northwest corner of Chang'an City, but the troops that Chen Gui and Sun Li were waiting to meet them were still three or four miles away.

The Han army's war drums never ceased, and their pursuit continued relentlessly.

Not a single person sought personal glory or offered up their head.

They just relentlessly pursued and killed him.

With Chang'an right before their eyes, the fighting spirit of all the Han troops was amplified to the extreme.

A crow flew from west to east over the battlefield. The sound of drums boomed, metal clanged, and battle cries shook the heavens. Looking down, he saw humans fighting and killing each other under the raging flames.

As if sensing the rising scent of blood, it cried out twice and then took flight.

A black feather detached from its body, fluttering down in the wind, finally landing on the blood-stained cheek of a corpse, before being blown away by a gust of wind and flying off to who knows where.

The crows continued flying east, and soon they saw another group of humans quietly gazing at each other across the river.

It landed on a withered willow tree that had been burned to charcoal to rest, tilting its head and watching with great interest the show that humans were about to put on for it.

"Boom-"

"Boom-"

"Boom-"

A moment later, a continuous drumbeat suddenly resounded through the night sky, startling the crow into taking flight.

After flapping its wings a few times, it landed back on the withered branch and tilted its head to look at it.

As the war drums sounded, the 30,000 Han soldiers, arrayed in nine formations on the west bank of the Ba River, moved into action almost simultaneously.

The bamboo bridge, which was three zhang long and three zhang wide, was pushed from the bank into the Ba River by the auxiliary soldiers.

The Shu people, skilled in water management, jumped into the Ba River and quickly joined the mortise and tenon joints at both ends of the bamboo bridge, then bound it with hemp rope.

Three feet.

Six zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Nine zhang (approximately 33 meters).

In just a few dozen breaths, a small section of the pontoon bridge was successfully built, covering one-tenth of the river surface.

The same scene occurred simultaneously on eight sections of water within a ten-mile radius.

It was only a little over fifteen minutes.

The Han army's bamboo bridge had been successfully built in the middle of the Ba River.

On the bamboo bridge, more than 6,000 crossbows and horn crossbows, and more than 6,000 horn bows, went forward one after another, taking turns to relentlessly unleash their firepower on the Wei army on the opposite bank of the Ba River, completely overwhelming them.

On the opposite bank of the Wei River, Wang Chang, Niu Jin, and other generals were stunned by what they were seeing.

After Hao Zhao led four thousand men away, they had only six thousand soldiers left, and more than three thousand of them were assigned to guard the stone bridge.

The remaining 3,200 soldiers and 3,000 laborers were evenly distributed and arranged in four places within the ten-mile stretch of water.

They thought the Shu army would build at most three or four pontoon bridges, and the rest would be a decoy.

We will then provide support wherever the Shu army builds bridges or launches attacks.

Who would have thought that the Shu army could build bridges everywhere and launch attacks from every direction?!
They only have two thousand crossbows; how could they possibly defend against that?!

On the stone bridge over the Ba River, Wei Yan also commanded his elite troops to launch the fiercest attack on the three thousand Wei soldiers guarding the bridge.

Wang Chang's mind was in complete disarray. He was unsure whether to continue his futile obstruction or abandon the Shu army before they could cross the river and return to Baling City to preserve his strength.

However, things quickly spiraled out of his control. Before he could make a decision, some soldiers, unable to withstand the Shu army's firepower and fearing that the Shu army would have nowhere to escape after successfully crossing the river, abandoned their positions and fled to Baling City.

Fortunately, Wang Changping was good at training his soldiers and still had some prestige.

Many soldiers abandoned the land and fled, but ended up at Ba Bridge, where they stayed with Wang Chang.

Taking advantage of the final moments of the Han army's pontoon bridge construction, Wang Chang continued his tenacious resistance on the stone bridge.

More than half an hour passed.

With no enemy forces blocking their path, the two Han army units successfully constructed two pontoon bridges and were the first to land.

After gathering three thousand men, they charged towards the Wei army that was still blocking the way on Ba Bridge without saying a word.

Subsequent troops continued to cross the river and gather on its banks. After assembling four thousand men, they marched straight towards Xinfeng.

Half an hour later, the entire Han army had crossed the Ba River.

Wang Chang, Niu Jin, and other generals led more than two thousand men who were still holding their ground to flee to Baling.

...

Changan.

Sima Yi, having suffered another defeat at the hands of the Han army, stood atop the city wall, watching the slowly retreating Han troops in silence.

One of Wang Chang's personal guards came to deliver the message.

"General of the Flying Cavalry, something terrible has happened!"

"The Shu bandits have successfully crossed the Ba River and are heading towards Xinfeng!"

"Wang Yanglie has retreated into Baling City!"

"Wh...what?" Sima Yi was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, muttering to himself, and then felt a chill run down his spine.

"How...how could it be so fast?" Sima Shi was also as if he had lost his parents, while Sima Zhao was even more frightened, and his body began to tremble.

On the other hand, Guanqiu Jian, Xiahou Mao, Qin Lang, and other generals were all in the same boat.

P.S.: The exact structure of the bamboo cart bridge, like the wooden ox and flowing horse, has not been passed down. However, historically, the Wugong River swelled, isolating Meng Yan on the east side of the river. Sima Yi took the opportunity to besiege Meng Yan. The prime minister then built the bamboo cart bridge and used crossbows to shoot at the enemy from the bridge, quickly crossing the swollen Wugong River and repelling Sima Yi.

(End of this chapter)