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Chapter 2742 Cutting Off Reinforcements at the River of Calamity!

As the cavalrymen slashed and shouted, the fleeing Cao Wei soldiers immediately dropped their weapons and tentatively ran towards the Han army.

When they discovered that the Wei deserters had dropped their weapons and were running towards the Han army, they were relieved to find that they had not been attacked by cavalry.

The Wei soldiers, who had been struggling against the rain of arrows and stones, discovered that these people had not been killed after surrendering, so more soldiers risked their lives to escape.

Thus, after losing several thousand men, Le Jin's more than ten thousand soldiers could no longer hold out and had no choice but to retreat in the direction of Chao Zhen.

At this time, Cao Pi also received news that Cao Zhen was trapped on the south bank of the Yellow River, and immediately dispatched a large army to prepare to rescue him.

Sima Yi, the old minister whom Cao Pi had always been wary of, was also dispatched this time, in order to ensure that Cao Zhen could be rescued without any mishap.

Sima Yi led his army to the Yellow River and, seeing the situation on the other side, immediately prepared to build a pontoon bridge.

But before the soldiers could even put the trees they had collected into the river to build a pontoon bridge, they were shot down by archers from the ships of the Han navy that rushed in.

Seeing this situation, even the resourceful Sima Yi couldn't think of a solution for the time being, so he could only have his men hold up shields to protect the soldiers as they continued building the pontoon bridge.

At the same time, shield bearers were arranged to protect the archers as they fired at the ships. Sima Yi also specifically deployed fire arrows to annihilate these ships. The plan was to clear the way for the construction of the pontoon bridge after the ships were destroyed.

But the most bizarre thing happened at this moment.

As the archers dipped the cloth strips of their arrowheads in oil in preparation for firing, a number of huge stones were suddenly launched from the ship.

The stones landed right near the archers, instantly knocking them off their feet.

Meanwhile, the Wei archers, in their panic, fired their arrows aimlessly, causing little to no impact on the ships.

This wasn't the worst of it. The most crucial thing was that some archers who were preparing to use their bows and arrows to fight were just starting to light the fire when they discovered that several large fireballs had been thrown from the ship, which ignited the oil barrels as they landed.

As a result, a series of explosions caused sparks to fly everywhere, which instantly knocked over all the oil that Sima Yi had prepared, creating a large sea of ​​fire.

The inferno cut Sima Yi's camp into several sections, causing the vanguard to lose command and be easily killed by the navy's archers.

Under normal circumstances, after Sima Yi's attempt to cross the river failed, he could simply have crossed in several separate groups.

However, the scouts sent by Sima Yi quickly received news that the entire Yellow River, from Pingyuan County to Luoyang, was filled with Han Dynasty ships, making it impossible for them to cross the river easily.

Sima Yi thought for a long time and finally came up with a solution: to organize river crossings at two locations not far apart, attract all the nearby boats, and then take the opportunity to use catapults to smash one or two boats, temporarily blocking the waterway.

Then, unexpectedly, quickly build a pontoon bridge between the two sections. This way, you can build the pontoon bridge and rescue Cao Zhen.

Unfortunately, Sima Yi's plan was excellent, but because of this delay, three days had already passed. By this time, Cao Zhen, Zang Ba, Zhang He, and Yue Jin were all huddled together, facing the encirclement of Wang Yue's army, which had suffered almost no losses. Cao Zhen's 50,000-strong army had already been tormented by Wang Yue's tactics over the past three days, with more than 10,000 killed in battle and more than half surrendering. Only about 10,000 men remained, gathered on the riverbank, and were in a panic, not knowing how to cross the river.

Of course, they also saw Sima Yi's army on the other side of the river, but the Han navy in the middle of the river kept shuttling back and forth, making it impossible for them to cross.

Meanwhile, Wei's small naval force was trapped in its camp and unable to leave.

Therefore, while Sima Yi was making final preparations for his operation, Wang Yue was also wrapping up his work.

The Han army's combination of archers and catapults, a combination of close and long-range attacks, directly squeezed Cao Zhen's army's living space smaller and smaller.

When Zang Ba, Le Jin, and Zhang He encountered this situation, the three of them discussed it and said to Cao Zhen, "General, the soldiers can't be protected, and there's not enough food. The three of us will lead the soldiers to help you cut a way out. You should escape as soon as possible."

Cao Zhen knew that if he were captured, it would have a huge impact on Cao Wei, so he could only bow to Zang Ba and the other two, and then said with tears in his eyes, "In that case, thank you very much, Generals!"

They were all decisive people. After making their decision, they headed directly west. They wanted to fight their way through and find a way to meet them once they reached the Hulao Pass area.

As for why they didn't wait for Sima Yi, it was because Cao Zhen didn't believe that Sima Yi's army had been there for so long and the Han army would have no response and would only rely on the navy to block them.

In fact, Cao Zhen was right about this, and Sima Yi had also thought of it. Wang Yue really arranged for Zhou Tai to lead 1 Jiangdong soldiers to land in Pingyuan County under the cover of the navy and then march on Pingyuan City.

There were only a thousand garrison soldiers and several hundred yamen runners in Pingyuan County. It was impossible to defend the city with just these people, so they immediately began to ask for help, and the news quickly reached Sima Yi.

Sima Yi was in a very difficult position at this time, because if the Han army took Pingyuan County, Qinghe, a large and volatile prefecture, would definitely surrender directly.

By then, they would only be able to fight one more battle to defend Ye City, and they wouldn't even be able to achieve the level of defense that Yuan Shao had initially implemented.

However, Sima Yi also knew that his important task was to rescue Cao Zhen, so he could only send several thousand soldiers to the rescue.

Although Zhou Tai and his Jiangdong soldiers had fought a bloody battle, they were still quite incompetent; despite having ten times the number of soldiers, they failed to capture Pingyuan.

They even lost hundreds of men during the pursuit by the Wei army. If it weren't for the timely rescue by the Han navy, they might all have perished in the river.

However, this division of troops left Sima Yi with insufficient forces to carry out his plan.

Sima Yi had a total of more than 2 men, but only three or four thousand were deployed at the two attack points that drew the attention of the water.

Braving the obstacles of water, stones, and arrows, they lost most of their boats before even reaching the riverbank. Although they managed to sink three boats in a desperate struggle, it did not hinder water traffic.

(End of this chapter)