Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Whenever the enemy attacks, horns are blown during the day and drums are beaten at night.

With the army engaged in battle on all sides, a unit under attack could only beat a small drum to avoid disrupting the battlefield. This was a detailed rule published in the Privy Council's Infantry Combat Orders.

Cao Shuang was immediately startled and stood up from the low stool, looking eastward. Before he could figure out what was going on, the shouts of battle from Ding Feng's troops came from the east.

"Get up immediately and turn around!" Cao Shuang drew his sword and shouted, "Don't panic! This is just a small group of Wu soldiers harassing us. Hold out for a quarter of an hour, and reinforcements will arrive!"

These infantrymen were all from Yingzhou. Since they moved to the Central Plains with the army in the fourth year of the Taihe era, their families were also gradually moved by the court to the three prefectures of Qiao, Liang, and Chen in Yuzhou.

Loyalty was not an issue, but being attacked at night, especially from behind, still caused some panic among the soldiers.

These infantrymen had long understood that their unit's fighting strength was not among the best in the army, assuming that the Wuwei Army would handle everything. They had also been working tirelessly for several days operating the catapults—a very strenuous task. Exhausted, they were actually able to force a large breach in their formation by Ding Feng's elite lightly armored infantry!
Ding Feng, confident in his bravery and knowing that visibility was limited during night battles, specially made a torch as tall as a person, which was carried in turns by two of his tall and strong subordinates.

Ding Feng's position was too conspicuous, so Cao Shuang disregarded the prohibition against blowing horns at night and ordered his guards to blow horns to make the scattered soldiers move closer to him. He also grabbed the nearest hundred-man squad and joined forces with more than twenty of his personal guards. They charged like a sharp blade towards the brightest spot in the Wu army's formation.

Ding Feng had more troops than Cao Shuang.

Cao Shuang's troops, which were initially on the verge of collapse, gradually stabilized after Cao Shuang rallied his forces and led his personal guards to meet the Wu army's sharp edge against the tide. They even began to show signs of holding their own against Ding Feng's troops.

Ding Feng, who was in the formation, was also somewhat surprised.

They had clearly attacked the trebuchet positions, and logically, the Wei Kingdom's elite troops should have been defending against Zhu Chariots' invasion from the front, while the troops here should have been the weaker ones!
"General, look over there!" A close aide pointed to a spot to the side and whispered to Ding Feng.

Soldiers fighting on all sides held torches. Wu soldiers wore only light armor, while Wei soldiers wore full armor. In the melee at night, when close combat was the time to show off one's skills, Wei soldiers' armor did not have much of an advantage.

And in the direction he had just followed, there was a small squad of elite Wei soldiers dressed in gleaming armor!
Needless to say, there must be a Wei general of considerable rank stationed there. The value of the Bright Light Armor is self-evident; one glance is enough to know its exorbitant price. What ordinary general could possibly be worthy of such a personal guard?
Without a doubt, Cao Zhen still cared for his son, and this squad of twenty armored soldiers was enough to save Cao Shuang's life in the chaos of battle.

Ding Feng glanced around and said to one of his personal guard officers, "Qi Da, take the torches and head towards the group of Wei soldiers with their brightly armored soldiers. The Wei soldiers are cumbersome; you don't need to fight them. Just lure them over!"

Qi Da replied, "Yes, sir! Where has the general gone? How shall I protect the general?"

"Don't worry about me, do your thing. I'll take Qi Er and flank them!" Ding Feng said casually, patting Qi Da on the chest before leading Qi Da's younger brother, Qi Er, and twenty elite soldiers forward. Cao Shuang was fully armored; though not the Radiant Armor, it was sufficient for everyday combat. Seeing the Wu army's torches getting closer, Cao Shuang ordered his personal guards to act as the vanguard, striking at the brightest point of the flame.

Caught off guard, Cao Shuang found that there were more Wu infantrymen on his left. Cao Shuang glanced at them and saw that their clothing and appearance were no different from ordinary Wu soldiers.

Cao Shuang initially didn't want to pay any attention and continued to retreat behind the armored soldiers. However, unexpectedly, this group of Wu soldiers seemed to have realized that he was the commander-in-chief and charged towards him recklessly!
It was only four or five steps away, and it happened in the blink of an eye.

In the chaos of battle, two armored soldiers in bright armor on Cao Shuang's left had just swept past two men with halberds when Wu soldiers wielding ring-pommel swords suddenly appeared beside them. These Wu soldiers seemed extremely well-trained; they didn't even swing their swords, but several of them rushed forward and pulled the armored soldiers down in just a couple of seconds. Then one of them, wielding a dagger, fiercely stabbed at the face exposed through the helmet.

Cao Shuang shouted loudly, but before the armored soldiers in front could turn around, Ding Feng rushed in front of Cao Shuang.

Ding Feng was seven feet tall and robust. From before he was twenty, he had been leading siege warfare, often serving as the vanguard of the army, slaying enemy generals and capturing flags. He served under Gan Ning, Lu Xun, Pan Zhang, and others, gaining extensive experience in chaotic battlefield combat; he was a seasoned veteran. In the midst of the chaos, Ding Feng dressed exactly like the other soldiers, making him indistinguishable from the crowd.

Among the armored soldiers clad in bright armor was a man wearing the helmet of a Wei general. If not him, who should be killed?
The distant firelight had dimmed somewhat by this point. From a distance of less than two steps, Cao Shuang could roughly make out the somewhat fierce faces of the Wu soldiers in front of him. He was greatly alarmed. After only a moment's hesitation, he immediately abandoned his halberd and drew his sword from his waist.

The sword had just been drawn, and before it could even be brought forward to meet the attack, the Wu soldier didn't approach. Instead, he took a blue stone from his waist pouch, raised his hand, and flicked it towards Cao Shuang's face. Caught off guard, Cao Shuang ducked slightly, and the stone struck his helmet.

Ding Feng closed in at this moment, and Cao Shuang raised his sword to parry while hurriedly retreating. Just as he blocked the attack with his sword, Ding Feng suddenly drew a dagger from its sheath at his waist with his left hand, pressed the sword against Cao Shuang's blade with his right hand, and thrust the dagger straight at Cao Shuang's face.

Cao Shuang was proficient in riding, archery, swordsmanship, and halberd fighting; all his years of hard work in the army had paid off. However, this was the first time Cao Shuang had experienced such a chaotic night battle, and he had never expected the Wu people on the other side to be so treacherous.

Cao Shuang instinctively dodged backward, lost his balance, and fell to the ground. Ding Feng's left-hand dagger also changed course, slashing diagonally forward and instantly slicing off half of Cao Shuang's left hand!
Cao Shuang also had a hidden trick up his sleeve. As he leaned back, he mimicked the sword techniques he had learned from practicing with the emperor in the palace, and swung his sword at Ding Feng's head. Ding Feng managed to dodge by turning his head, but he was still caught off guard and Cao Shuang's sword tip sliced ​​off his entire right ear at the root.

The battle had only lasted a few breaths when Cao Shuang's armored soldiers turned back to reinforce him, their halberds no more than three or four steps away from Ding Feng.

Ding Feng's attack failed, so he had no choice but to retreat and hide among the majority of Wu soldiers. After continuing to fight for a short while, he saw that more and more Wei troops were coming, so he ordered his personal guards to sound the horn to withdraw the troops.

Cao Shuang was still in shock. Surrounded by armored soldiers, he stood up, trembling with fear. Blood gushed from his wound, and the guards beside him hurriedly tied his wrist to prevent excessive bleeding.

With Ding Feng's troops returning empty-handed, the Wu army on three sides gradually began to retreat. (End of Chapter)