Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 239 Rescue Xuchang
Still a step too late.

On the night when Gan Ning sent someone to deliver the letter to Liu Bei, Cao Jun, who was on the opposite side of Guandu, suddenly crossed the river in a big way.Naturally, Gan Ning used soldiers to block them, cover them with water and soil, and personally led his people to fight, or to bully these Hebei landlubbers.

What Gan Ning never expected was that he hit the iron plate with this kick.As soon as the boat sailed out of the water village, Gan Ning was startled: the enemy's boats were connected together with iron chains, forming several huge water fortresses, slowly pressing towards the south bank.

Although surprised, Gan Ning had no choice, so he still had to face the opponent head-on.As a result, as soon as the battle started, their warships and battleships were all smashed into pieces by the opponent's serial warships.Gan Ning was in a hurry, so he dispatched the turtle boats to collide again. He didn't want the turtle boats to destroy one of the opponent's serial warships, but the turtle boats were also restrained by those chains. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the opponent went to Henan.

Then he became even more passive. After the enemy army landed, Gan Ning was forced to fight a decisive battle with them in the water village.After a scuffle, the [-] Jingxiang navy suffered more than [-] casualties, and Gan Ning was forced to take Songshan Avenue and retreat towards Wancheng.In fact, Cao Jun counted those who fell into the water and died, and the casualties would never be less than [-].But in any case, the Yellow River waterway has finally been completely opened up.After occupying Guandu, Cao Zhang immediately ordered people to seize the time to use these ships to build a pontoon bridge for the follow-up reinforcements to arrive.At the same time, they sent people to contact Cao Ren and Xu Huang, preparing to attack Xuchang and assist Cao Cao to withdraw from the encirclement.

"Third brother!" Just as Cao Zhang was in full swing, Cao Pi suddenly led his people to Guandu.

"Second brother, there is a lot of chaos here. If you didn't stay in Yecheng, why did you come here?" Cao Zhang was also surprised when he saw Cao Pi coming to Guandu.

"There is Mr. Gongda stationed in Yecheng, so I'm sorry. I discussed with Mr. Xuchang this time to save the father, so I led the last five thousand tigers and leopards to help the battle!" Cao Pi pointed out He pointed to the hulking tiger and leopard rider behind him and said with a smile.Cao Zhang nodded when he heard the words. He knew that with the tiger and leopard cavalry, the chances of rescuing Cao Cao would be greater.

"Swords have no eyes on the battlefield, the second brother needs to be careful!" Cao Zhang hesitated for a while, but still reminded.It is said that he is the younger brother, so it is inappropriate to speak to the elder brother like this.However, Cao Pi waved his hand and said: "Third brother, worry too much. Both of you and I have gone on an expedition to Xianbei with our father. We have seen many battles on this battlefield. Brother Yu will naturally understand."

"That's good!" Cao Zhang nodded.At this time, Xiahoudun's army had already crossed the river, and all of them merged into one place. Excluding those who fell into the water and drowned while crossing the river, there were 7 reinforcements, and there were about [-] people left.Following Xiahou Dun's suggestion, he first garrisoned in Chenliu, and then went to Xuchang to rescue Cao Cao after more than Liu Wan from Liang County had joined Cao Ren.

"Father still has tens of thousands of horses, including us and Uncle Ren, the three army and horse alliances together may not be less than 20, and they are all elite soldiers who are used to fighting. Man Shuo rescued the father, even if he took advantage of the situation to defeat Liu Bei , It’s no problem!" In Chen Liucheng, Cao Zhang said excitedly.

"Third brother, don't be careless!" Cao Pi signaled Cao Zhang to calm down, and then sighed: "I discussed it with Mr. Gongda before I came. He believes that Liu Bei can mobilize at least 40 troops in the Central Plains war."

"There will be so many?" Hearing Cao Pi's words, Cao Zhang was also a little stunned.Cao Pi nodded, and then explained in detail: "Liu Bei's old background is the Xuzhou Army. With the help of Mi Zhu and Chen Deng, he gathered more than 40 elite soldiers. After occupying Huainan, Jiangdong and Yuzhou, he gained more than [-] soldiers. Liu Biao sent Jingxiang to Liu Bei. Jingxiang had a large population and could raise more than [-] soldiers. Adding Jiaozhou and Qingzhou, Liu Bei could get another [-] soldiers. It is also heard that Liu Bei recruited Shanyue, Wuxi barbarians for There are a total of [-] to [-] troops. These foreign races are brave and good at fighting, and their combat power should not be underestimated! In addition to stationing in Qingzhou to guard against General Gongming's army and horses, and the defenders of Wancheng, Liu Bei can mobilize [-] troops to join us. Decisive battle." In fact, he also missed a calculation: the previous Jia Xu's poisonous plot plus Guan Yu and Zhang Liao's offensive, another [-] to [-] Cao troops were recruited by Liu Bei.

"That's it!" After hearing Cao Pi's words, everyone felt their scalps tingle.Xia Houba was stunned for a while, and finally asked weakly: "Since that's the case, why don't I wait to send out more troops?"

"I think so too, but the frontier army at General Qianshao's place in Bingzhou can't move. In addition, the previous conquest of Yuan Tan was smooth sailing, but it cost a lot of money and food. In this case, at most, we can only dispatch again There are [-] troops. Mr. Gongda said that even if the father is rescued, the battle must be ended as soon as possible. Otherwise, the army rations will definitely not be enough." Cao Pi sighed.

"So that's how it is!" Only then did everyone understand that they didn't have a lot of money to dispatch troops this time.At this moment, Ma Lai reported that Cao Ren's army had already left Liang County, and it was estimated that they would reach Chenliu in two days at most.Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiahou Dun breathed a sigh of relief, but Liu Bei felt a lot of pressure now.Under the city of Xuchang, Liu Bei has received news that Cao Zhang has successfully crossed the Yellow River with his army and settled in Chenliu. At the same time, Cao Jun in Liangjun also began to move to Chenliu.

Liu Bei understood that Cao Zhang and Cao Ren were going to join forces and came here to fight him.After thinking about this, Liu Bei also started to operate quickly.Withdrew all the troops from Guandu and even Xutian, and stayed in Xuchang to prepare for a showdown with Cao Jun.At the same time, the rest of the army and horses reserved for the reserve team were also mobilized, preparing to give Cao Cao a heavy blow under the city of Xuchang.

"King Wei, just now there was a fire in the north, it seems that Brother Ren and his reinforcements have arrived!" In Xuchang City, Cao Hong trotted over excitedly and said to Cao Cao.The latter was also taken aback when he heard the words, and then hurried up to the top of the city to look north, and it really was the agreed wolf smoke.

"Zi Lian, pass on the order, prepare the army for battle, and prepare to break through!" Cao Cao ordered in a deep voice, and Cao Hong flew away after hearing the words.Jia Xu on the side looked at the wolf smoke, thinking about the upcoming breakout battle, but he had no foundation in his heart, as if he still missed something, but after thinking about it, he couldn't think of it.

The offensive and defensive sides, who had been leisurely for several months, immediately began to operate, and the atmosphere in the entire city of Xuchang suddenly became tense.Three days later, Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun's army slowly appeared on the horizon east of Xuchang.

"Here we come!" On a hillside in the distance, Liu Bei and others were all lined up.Seeing Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun getting closer, the always noisy Zhang Fei also fell silent.At this time, after Liu Jun's hard work in the past few months, several defensive fronts have been built, and trenches and traps are all in front of Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun.

"Uncle Yuan Rang, let me lead the tiger and leopard riders to rush a bloody road to Xuchang City first, and rescue the father!" Seeing Xuchang City so close, Cao Zhang couldn't suppress his fighting spirit more and more.Before Xiahou Dun opened his mouth, Cao Ren said slowly, "No, Liu Bei has laid too many traps in front. If the tiger and leopard cavalry rushed directly into the battle, the casualties would be heavy. I think it's better to go to the infantry first, and then clear the road. , and then use tiger and leopard riders to reopen a bloody road and enter Xuchang to rescue the lord!"

"What Zixiao said is true!" Xia Houdun also agreed more with Cao Ren's prudent strategy.Under the command of Cao Ren, the Cao army consisted of 2000 people, and various infantry under the command of Du Bo and the head of the village began to slowly advance towards the city of Xuchang, and people fell into traps along the way.These traps are all inserted with sharpened and hard tree branches, and there is no possibility of survival after falling.

"Fire the arrows!" Seeing that Cao Jun bumped into the range of the bows and arrows, Chen Dao, who was in charge of the sniper, let out an angry roar, and all the long-awaited crossbows began to show their power.The most powerful bed crossbow was in the front row, followed by step crossbows and copper box crossbows.Next, there are all kinds of crossbows and ordinary crossbows.Using powerful crossbows to smash through the enemy's shields, and then using various other crossbows to snipe and kill Cao's infantry who lost their cover, this is what Chen Dao used.

"What a powerful arrow!" Cao Cao on the top of the city, Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun on the bottom of the city saw that under Liu Jun's angry crossbow arrows, their own pawns were shot down and pierced like pieces of paper in the wind.The big shield made by Sangmu was easily pierced by the opponent's bed crossbow, it was useless.As for the soldiers who lost the protection of their shields, they were nakedly reduced to living targets, and it was common for them to be shot into strings of candied haws.

The sniper battle under the city of Xuchang this time was different from Zhao Feng's sniper attack on Xia Houyuan at Jieting that day.Zhao Feng has only been stationed in Xichuan for more than a year. Although he has been rushing to build them day and night, the various crossbow equipment of the Sichuan Army is still much inferior to that of the Jingzhou Army and Xuzhou Army in the Central Plains, both in terms of quantity and power.Now Cao Ren and others have seen the power of real crossbow arrows, they are like killing machines.

"Zixiao, I'm afraid it won't work if this continues. Let's gather everyone and charge together!" Xiahou Dun looked at the 2000 people who hadn't walked more than a few dozen steps after entering the range, and now there are less than [-] left.If he continued to use the refueling tactic like this, unless the opponent ran out of arrows, he would never be able to get close to the city of Xuchang.

"That's right, I didn't expect Liu Bei's crossbow to be so powerful!" Xia Houdun also felt a chill on his back, even for a battle-tested general like them, he didn't expect such a powerful crossbow to exist in the world.At the moment, the two no longer sent people in waves one after another, but gathered all the infantry, completely dispersed the front line, and then rushed towards the opponent's sniper position.

"Cao Ren is going to do his best?" Liu Bei on the slope was shocked when he saw this scene.If the army charged together, due to the close relationship between the soldiers, the damage caused by the crossbow arrows would be much greater than before.Almost every step taken, hundreds of Cao Jun soldiers were shot to death.

"This is also a helpless way. Only when such a large army presses in and breaks through our army's position quickly can we reduce the casualties in the future. Otherwise, if it is delayed for a long time, it will rarely become more, and the casualties will only be heavier!" After seeing it, Lu Su said Yes sigh.Liu Bei nodded silently, at this time Pang Tong also said: "My lord, Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren have all come here now, we should follow the previous plan!"

"Exactly!" Liu Bei nodded, and then a semaphore soldier played the semaphore, commanding Chen Dao behind the crossbowman from a distance.After seeing the flag, the latter commanded the bow and crossbow to continue shooting, while ordering to go down and prepare the second battle plan.

(End of this chapter)