Tiger Owl

Chapter 264 The War Begins Again
In early February, the air was still chilly, and the atmosphere of spring in Jingzhou carried a hint of war.

After nearly half a year of waiting, Cao Ren's army finally began to move.

Cao Ren still stationed his troops in Xiling County of Jiangxia Commandery, but for the past six months, he has never stopped preparing for war. He has been constantly deploying troops, accumulating food, stockpiling oil and other supplies, and manufacturing a large number of siege weapons.

Cao Cao did not blame him, but simply said that victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. He then appointed Xun You as the front-line military advisor and added 50,000 troops to his army, bringing Cao Ren's forces in Xiling County to 90,000.

Just as February began, Cao Ren, who had been preparing for a long time, led an army of 80,000 men, along with 30,000 carts loaded with various supplies, and once again marched in a mighty force towards Queyue City.

This time he was determined to win; he wanted to completely wash away the shame of his two crushing defeats.

The commander of Queyue City was still the veteran Huang Zhong, but the deputy commanders were not only Fu Tong, but also Wang Ping. Gan Ning ordered Wang Ping to lead 10,000 troops to support Huang Zhong, bringing the total number of troops stationed in the city to 30,000.

Gan Ning was well aware that Cao Ren was preparing for another major battle in Xiling City, and he also knew what Queyue City meant. It meant that it was a sharp dagger held against the back of Cao Cao's neck. As long as Cao Cao dared to cross the river, this sharp dagger would not hesitate to cut down, cutting not only the 30,000 troops of Queyue City, but also the Western Chu army's full-scale counterattack on the north bank of the river, and the navy would also cut off Cao's army's retreat.

It can be said that Queyue City represents Gan Ning's attitude and his will. As long as his will is not broken, Cao Cao will never win this southern campaign.

By this time, Huang Zhong had received news that Cao Ren's army had once again set out, and he patiently waited for Cao's army to arrive.

That morning, a dense array of large tents appeared three miles away, as if they had appeared overnight.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The drums summoning the army sounded, and squads of Western Chu soldiers rushed out of their camps and quickly gathered on the city walls. Wang Ping led 10,000 new recruits as reinforcements and also rushed up the city walls. The ten-mile-long city walls were densely packed with Western Chu soldiers, their swords and spears gleaming, their bows and arrows flying everywhere, and the Western Chu army's red banners fluttering in the sunlight.

Outside the city, the overwhelming Cao army had already formed ranks. The shadow of the first failed siege last year still lingered, and all the soldiers lacked confidence. However, Cao Ren was forced into a corner, and this was his last chance. If he failed to take Queyue City, it would directly affect his position and future in Cao's army.

A mile away, Cao's army built a five-zhang-high observation platform. At this time, Cao Ren and his strategist Xun You stood on the platform and, for the first time, had a comprehensive view of the moat below the city and the layout on the city wall. They could even see the huge catapults inside the city.

"Hiss—" Cao Ren gasped. Only now did he realize how impregnable Queyue City was, how wide the moat was, and how it was connected to the Han River. He had known none of this before, no wonder he had failed so miserably.

Xun You calmly said, "General, do you understand now? What you are facing is not just a city, but the entire Western Chu. They can continuously support the city through waterways. This is the real reason for your failure: knowing yourself but not your enemy."

Xun You was always very frank, and he bluntly exposed Cao Ren's sore spot. Knowing himself but not his enemy, Cao Ren's face turned red, and after a long while he sighed and said, "The strategist is right. I really didn't expect that Queyue City was never an isolated city."

After a pause, Cao Ren asked again, "Strategist, can we take this city?"

Xun You remained silent for a long while before sighing and saying, "I don't know either. This is a dangerous situation I've never seen before. It's really difficult, but we have to try no matter how difficult it is. We'll fill the moat with sandbags to create a road."

Xun You whispered a few words to Cao Ren, who nodded repeatedly. Xun You was indeed a master tactician. He ordered his soldiers to dig nine interconnected trenches, each leading to the moat. The trenches were covered with wooden planks, and tens of thousands of soldiers ran through them, throwing bags of sand and gravel into the moat.

Inside the city, massive catapults hurled oil canisters into the open fields, where they burst into flames and billowed thick smoke. Some canisters struck wooden planks, setting them ablaze, and the burning oil flowed into the trenches. Cao Cao's soldiers immediately rushed to extinguish the fires and smother them with mud. These were firefighting methods that Cao Cao's army had developed. Other soldiers quickly moved to other trenches.

At night, Huang Zhong used his clairvoyance to watch Cao Cao's army lay out a muddy road. The night was too dark for his clairvoyance to see clearly, but he felt that something was wrong with Cao Cao's army, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

One after another, incendiary bombs soared into the air, tracing bright arcs, and 'bang!' crashed onto the muddy road, quickly igniting a fire. Immediately, Cao Cao's soldiers rushed up to extinguish the flames, scattering bags of incendiary bombs onto the burning fire. The fierce fire gradually weakened and eventually went out.

More than twenty Western Chu warships also appeared, and arrows rained down on the Cao army soldiers who were throwing sandbags. But strangely, it had little effect, and very few soldiers fell to the ground.

It turned out that the Cao army soldiers who threw the sandbags into the water were all wearing iron armor and were not afraid of arrows at all. The fire was useless, and the arrows were useless.

They watched as Cao Cao's army filled in the river and laid out a muddy road, which was gradually advancing forward.

Three days later, a mud and sand road, fifteen feet long and five feet wide, appeared in the thirty-foot-wide moat, and it was already half-paved.

Despite the thousands of soldiers who were shot and burned to death while paving this muddy road, Cao Cao's army still worked hard to pave the road and advance little by little.

But what was truly shocking was that a fixed bridge, also five zhang wide, was suddenly completed. It appeared unexpectedly and abruptly, right next to the dirt road, which took the city guards by surprise.

This was no ordinary pontoon bridge. Cao Cao's army had driven thousands of piles under the pontoon bridge, and laid thick wooden beams and planks on top. The bridge was very sturdy, and even ships could not destroy it.

This was the masterpiece of the tactical master Xun You: two bridges were laid out at the same time, one wooden bridge and one mud road, using the mud road to cover the construction of the wooden bridge.

The most difficult part of building a wooden bridge was driving in the wooden stakes. In order to avoid being discovered by the garrison, Xun You used mud and sand to fill the river as a cover and drove the stakes at night, successfully deceiving the garrison on the city wall.

On the city wall, Huang Zhong looked at the suddenly appearing wooden bridge with a complicated expression. He realized that he had encountered a tactical master who had used mud and sand to fill the river to cover up the construction of the wooden bridge.

This wooden bridge is so wide and flat that it can easily accommodate large siege weapons. What's troublesome is that it's covered with leather, so even burning it wouldn't be effective.

"General, we've met our match!" Fu Tong said in a deep voice beside him.

Huang Zhong nodded slowly, "It's probably one of Cao Cao's top strategists. He breached our moat, but we not only have a moat, we also have city walls. Order the army to prepare for a great battle!"

(End of this chapter)