"My Lord, the enemy generals are too brave. Our side has the advantage in terms of military strength. Why don't we destroy this vanguard army outside the city in one go!”Advisor Xun Yu suggested from beside Cao Cao.
Cao Cao pondered for a moment and looked at the situation in front of him. He nodded and said,"Alright, this vanguard army is resisting here to hinder our morale and prevent us from taking down the city in one go. In that case, let's encircle and annihilate the enemy's living forces, especially that vanguard general!”
"Cao Hong, Zhang He, listen to my orders. Quickly lead ten thousand infantry and cavalry to charge out from the left path and enter the left rear of the enemy's vanguard.”
Cao Hong and Zhang He sat on horseback and cupped their hands.""I have received your order!" He immediately led 20,000 elite soldiers, including 1,000 cavalry, 15,000 infantry, and 4,000 archers, to charge out from the left flank.
Cao Cao then ordered," Xiahou Dun, listen up! Quickly lead 20,000 infantry and cavalry to attack from the right. Go around to the right of the enemy's vanguard and block their retreat. When the enemy's vanguard is defeated, surround and kill them!”
Xiahou Dun stepped forward and cupped his hands in obeisance. After counting his men, he charged out from the right wing and outflanked the enemy's right rear.
"Other generals, prepare to attack the city at any time!”
"Understood!" The surrounding generals agreed.
The battlefield on the first line of defense had already turned white. Both sides had sent 30,000 elite soldiers and 60,000 troops to fight. Now, there were less than 30,000 people left. More than 30,000 people had been killed or injured on the ground. Corpses were everywhere, and blood flowed like rivers. The smell of blood was nauseating. Half the sky seemed to be dyed red.
Without any archers to block them, Cao Hong and Zhang He's left army had arrived in an instant. The thousand cavalrymen in front of them were as fast as thunder as they swiftly stabbed into the enemy's left flank. Before the blood from the halberd fell to the ground, their hooves had already mercilessly trampled on the enemy soldiers who did not know that there was an ambush in the chaotic battle. There was another dull thud of spears piercing through armor and flesh, as well as the desperate cries of the soldiers.
Tao Qian and a group of generals stood on the city tower at the main gate of Peng City. Looking at the soaring killing intent outside the city, their expressions couldn't help but change.
Tao Qian looked at Guo Jia and saw that he was still smiling. He was puzzled and could not help but ask,"Now that the Cao army is launching a large-scale attack, do you have any good plans?”
Guo Jia laughed softly," Cao Cao has a strong army. He wants to exhaust us to death by attacking this city. He sent the vanguard to fight first to offset the enemy's strength. Similarly, the reduction in strength is very beneficial to the enemy. However, he is brave and has completely shifted the balance of victory to our side. "Secondly, after Cao Cao breaks through the first line of defense, his troops will be damaged. However, he will not retreat and reorganize his troops. Instead, he will take the opportunity to attack the city. This way, our army will be able to defend the city. If the battle continues, Cao Cao's troops will decrease sharply. If we hold on for today, when the other party comes to attack tomorrow, they will definitely mobilize all their troops, causing the rear to be empty. Our army only needs to send an elite soldier to sneak attack the rear camp and burn the rations. This will cause the morale of the army to be chaotic. They will retreat without fighting. At that time, we will send an army to ambush them in the valley on the right." We will definitely be able to wipe out Cao Cao's forces."
Tao Qian clapped his hands and said," This is a brilliant plan. Military Advisor is really a genius of the world. With such a master helping us in Xuzhou, we don't have to worry about not achieving great things!”
Guo Jia smiled and looked at the current situation, so he said,"Cao Cao has already sent out his two flanks to attack. It's time to order the troops to retreat and have the second wave of soldiers prepare to fight outside the city.”
"Alright, men, beat the retreat drum and withdraw the troops!”Tao Qian passed down the military order according to Guo Jia's words.
The drum was struck three times, and the gong sounded loudly. The herald outside the city rushed out to convey the order to withdraw the troops.
An order was like a mountain, and Ye Tian immediately whipped his horse and charged at the army behind him.
The Cao army at the front line, together with the troops that had been sent out, had already lost a small portion of their forces. Seeing the enemy soldiers retreat, they immediately pursued the victory and headed straight for Peng City.
Cao Cao saw that the time was ripe to attack the city, so he waved his arm and shouted,"" General Dian, listen up! Bring 20,000 soldiers to attack the city!"
The main wall of the city wall was three zhang tall. There were also auxiliary walls on the main wall. On the auxiliary walls, there were brick stacks. The crevices between the brick stacks were the observation holes and shooting holes for the defending soldiers. There were also majestic city towers, corner towers, and watchtowers on the city wall. They were arranged at intervals. The roof was double-eave and nine-ridge mountain-like. It was surrounded by pillars outside and faced the horse path.
These high and low buildings formed a three-dimensional defense line on the city wall. They could observe, hide, maneuver, shoot, coordinate, defend, and so on. The method of war was to surround the enemy with ten times the number of troops, attack with five times the number of troops, and divide with twice the number of troops. This meant that when the number of troops was ten times that of the enemy, they could surround the enemy completely. When the number of troops was five times the number of troops, they would take the initiative to attack, and when the number of troops was twice the number of troops, they would mobilize the enemy soldiers to scatter them so that they could concentrate their superior forces to destroy the enemy. Although Cao Cao's troops had the advantage now, they only had an additional 30,000 troops. Therefore, they could not surround the city at all. They could only attack head-on!
" Kill!" Cao Cao's army bellowed. The cavalrymen opened up a path, and siege chariots, towers, folding bridges, ladders, and charging chariots rushed up from behind. The archers and crossbowmen below kept firing at the top of the city wall, covering the tide of people carrying ladders and siege chariots. In an instant, they climbed up like ants. The black mass was filled with human heads and sharp silver weapons.
" Shoot them down, kill them!" General Zang Ba of the Xu Army hid behind the battlements of the city wall, waving his sword and ordering the counterattack to be intensified. He used throwing stones and crossbow bolts from afar, rolling wood, beating stones, and boiling oil from close range. He had the upper hand from above.
From afar, people who were climbing halfway fell from the city wall, turning into bloody corpses. Broken ladders and burning siege chariots were scattered everywhere.
Banners were flying above and below the city walls. Some of the Xu soldiers were busy carrying equipment, shooting arrows, holding scythes to push down scaling ladders, and throwing rolling wood and stones down the city walls. However, in such a dense and fierce attack and defense, there were still groups of fearless elite Cao soldiers who kept climbing up the city walls, and after a round of counterattack, they were turned into a pile of meat paste.
At the gate of the city, a large and sturdy door-ramming cart was pushed by dozens of Shu soldiers to the city gate. The sharp end of the cart, which was more than ten feet long, was exposed at the front end and rammed into the thick and sturdy city gate. The door-ramming cart was installed with a fan-shaped roof, so that even if stones were thrown at it, arrows would not hurt the soldiers below.
After a short moment of confrontation, the city walls were littered with corpses. Blood qi soared into the sky, and killing intent gathered. An intense masculine and bloody aura swept through the entire space within a radius of several miles. It was as if the entire sky above Peng City was filled with the roars of lonely souls, and the blood clouds were dyed red.
" Soldiers, be fiercer! Charge up!"
Cao Hong was in charge of leading troops to attack the left wall, Xiahou Dun was in charge of leading troops to attack the right wall, and Dian Wei and the others were in charge of leading troops to attack the city gate, and they organized archers to counterattack and protect them.
Cao Cao, Xun Yu, and the others were watching the battle from 300 steps away on their mounts. The fierce collisions of the chariots made the hearts of the people behind them tense up. As long as they could break through the city gate, they had a 100% chance of winning this battle.
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