My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 683 Zhang Yide chases Cao Ren on a snowy night, Guan Yu attacks Guo Fengxiao

After Guan Yu and Zhang Fei received Zhuge Jin's technical support, the progress of the attack on Fancheng was greatly accelerated.

Cao Ren had to pay a heavy price for fighting and defending every day.

Not only were the casualties of Cao's army increasing day by day, but the speed at which their morale was declining was also visibly accelerating.

After entering the middle of the twelfth lunar month, Guan Yu's side not only sent troops to attack the city every day, but also launched a continuous attack on the morale of Cao's army.

When each group of soldiers charged up the city, there were soldiers with sharp tongues and loud voices in the crowd. While they followed their comrades up the city, they took advantage of the opportunity before they came into contact with the enemy to shout various slogans:

"Zhuge Qian and Cai Mao have been annihilated!"

"General Lu's navy has cut off the Baihe River route! Sooner or later, Fancheng will run out of food and aid!"

"Following Cao Ren will only lead to death! Don't let Cao Ren kill you in vain!"

"The Taiwei's anti-rebellion army has a steady supply of reinforcements! Every one of you dead is one less! We have no way to replenish our arrows and food supplies when they are all used up, so why don't you surrender now!"

Due to various calls, the middle and lower-level officers and ordinary soldiers in Cao's army gradually realized that they had indeed been cut off from external aid.

No matter how high-ranking generals such as Cao Ren tried to block the news, it was completely ineffective.

Originally, Cao's army could still rely on the geographical advantage of defending the city, and the fact that Cao Ren's troops were well-equipped and had good quality weapons and armor, and they were able to barely resist Guan Yu.

Now that the fighting spirit has been extinguished, the casualty exchange ratio has risen sharply.

Whenever Guan Yu and Gao Shun's troops climbed up the wall, Cao's army on the wall fell into chaos and fought each other.

The organization and strength of the counterattack were greatly reduced, so that in the hand-to-hand combat of the city defense battle, the defenders could not even gain an advantage in the casualty exchange ratio. The situation was really bad to the point where it couldn't get any worse.

Although Cao's army had not really started to run out of food and arrows, their morale and fighting spirit showed as if they were already short of food and arrows.

It can be said that Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin's propaganda offensive had already aroused Cao Jun's inner panic two or three months in advance, and it had fermented to a climax.

Cao Ren struggled to hold on, and by the middle of the twelfth lunar month, he felt that he could not hold on any longer.

It is impossible to lead a force with such low morale and weak fighting spirit. This army can only be put into the battlefield again after breaking out of danger, getting enough rest and replenishment, and recovering its status. Otherwise, it will be a waste.

Time flies and it is the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Guan Yu's all-out offensive has entered its seventh day.

Early that morning, Cao Ren was feeling numb, and even his will to survive was numb.

But after washing and dressing, just as he was about to walk into the yard to stretch his muscles, Cao Ren was stunned.

Because he saw that several inches of snow had accumulated in the yard overnight.

And looking up at the sky, heavy snow was still falling, like flying salt catkins.

Judging from the situation, the heavy snow not only did not stop overnight, but it may continue for the whole day today.

"Finally, it snows so heavily... It's so cold! So cold!" Cao Ren shivered, which was an instinctive reaction to the chill.

But at this moment, he was not unhappy about the coldness at all, but was extremely looking forward to it.

"Pass on my order, and have the soldiers of the central army and the left and right camps prepare to march lightly immediately! No need to bring baggage carts, staffs, tents, or anything else! Each archer should bring three pots of arrows, and all soldiers should bring a bag of dry food.

Make sure that all sergeants and above have fur coats, and ordinary soldiers also have reed coats! Each person can bring a felt blanket! Get ready before noon today, then rest and recuperate. At midnight, have a snack and leave the city, and follow me to fight back against Guan Yu! "

Until this moment, when Cao Ren issued the order to prepare for war, he still did not mention the need to break out to Xinye in the rear. He only told his subordinates that they wanted to take advantage of Guan Yu's unpreparedness and Guan Yu's complacency after many days of siege and launch a surprise counterattack outside the city.

Therefore, the subordinate generals and officers were confused and prepared according to the plan of raiding the camp at night. They did not think it necessary to bring tents, carts and baggage.

However, some generals still expressed doubts about the need for every soldier to carry a felt blanket with them when leaving the city for a surprise attack.

Cao Ren had no intention of clearing up these details for them, so they had no choice but to keep it to themselves and just follow his orders.

As for the fact that everyone should try to make sure they have thick clothes to wear, no one found it strange. After all, in snowy and freezing weather, if people don't dress warmly, they will have no fighting power at all.

There were no cotton-padded jackets in this era, so the warmest winter clothing was fur jackets, especially those with fur.

Ordinary soldiers did not have fur coats to wear, so they usually wore coarse cloth clothes. Then they stuffed white reed flowers and other fillings between two layers of coarse cloth to keep warm and slow down the flow of heat.

If it was difficult to find enough reed flowers, many impoverished soldiers would stuff rice straw or wheat straw, or even ordinary dry grass, into the space between two layers of coarse cloth.

All the Cao army officers and soldiers who received the order strictly carried out Cao Ren's request. At the same time, they tried to do everything carefully and low-key, without making too much noise.

Cao Ren had specially instructed several of his trusted generals: Now Guan Yu had a flying lantern to observe the defenses in the city. Although Guan Yu did not let the flying lantern fly directly over Fancheng for safety reasons, but only let it fly from outside the city wall to overlook the city, it should not be underestimated.

All the actions of Cao's army must be done to avoid being detected by Guan Yu in advance, so as to avoid arousing the vigilance and ambush of Guan Yu's army.

……

After a morning of preparation, the tasks assigned by Cao Ren were finally arranged smoothly and low-key.

The well-prepared breakout troops took advantage of the time to sleep for half a day in the afternoon, and they also got a rare extra meal. They had a good meal before going to bed and another good meal after getting up.

Especially the meal after getting up, there was actually a little bit of meat - Cao Ren asked people to take out the remaining meat in the city, and distributed it all to the breakout troops, and cooked it into a thin meat soup in advance.

Every soldier could at least have a bowl of hot soup with meat and salt in the middle of winter, which temporarily boosted the originally low morale.

After making all the preparations, Cao Ren took advantage of the night and personally led the breakout troops. He quietly opened the sluice gate on the east side of Fancheng and headed directly north along the newly frozen Baihe River.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had indeed completely surrounded Fancheng from both land directions, mainly from the north and west. If Cao Ren had directly opened the north gate to break out, he would have definitely run into Zhang Fei's encirclement.

But in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Fancheng was bordered by the Han River to the south and the Baihe River to the east. The city was located right at the confluence of the two rivers, so it was impossible to surround it from the land on the southeast sides.

On weekdays, if the Baihe River is not frozen, Guan Yu can rely on Lu Yi's warships to patrol the Baihe River and search and detect enemy movements.

But now that the ice has just frozen, Lu Yi’s warships are all stuck at their berths upstream and cannot move.

So we can only say that Cao Ren chose a very rare juncture, when the enemy's land and sea forces were not connected, leaving him with a loophole that allowed him to grab a few hours and escape.

In order to better buy time, the specific escape route was also carefully designed, especially Guo Jia spent a lot of brain cells.

"After you leave the city, General, you must not just go north along the Baihe River. Guan Yu has been besieging the city for many days, so he will definitely set up beacon towers along the Baihe River.

If you want to avoid Guan Yu's eyes and ears, after leaving Fancheng, you should immediately cross the ice to the east and continue north along the wilderness east of the river, bypassing the enemy's heavily patrolled areas, which may delay more time. "

When Cao Ren heard this detailed suggestion, he thought it made sense, so he strictly implemented it. The breakout route chosen at this moment was completely copied from Guo Jia's suggestion.

Because before the White River froze, Guan Yu did not set up camp on the east bank of the White River to besiege Fancheng, and Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin did not think it was necessary. Cao Ren's sudden crossing of the river to the east bank was an emergency, and the enemy could not be on guard immediately.

On the contrary, it is easy to find beacon towers along the river to provide warnings and send messages - in fact, this is also a characteristic of Guan Yu's use of troops in water battles, and he often did so. In history, when Guan Yu was fighting in Xiang and Fan, in order to prevent sneak attacks from the Eastern Wu, he set up many beacon towers along the Han River and Xiang River to prevent the enemy's water march and infiltration. It was only because he was tricked that it did not work.

Although the battlefield has changed in this life, Guan Yu had besieged Fancheng for many days and had long thought of building beacon towers every ten miles along the banks of the Baihe River to transmit messages and report enemy movements. Although Guo Jia had never seen it with his own eyes, based on his years of research on Guan Yu's style, it was not outrageous to guess this.

Cao Cao also had some wise men under his command who were good at understanding the enemy's generals.

All of this allowed Cao Ren to temporarily gain a little time advantage in his first sneak attack.

Of course, Cao Ren also knew that no matter how well he did, no matter how ingenious the details Guo Jia provided, he could not keep it secret for long. It would only take an hour or two, and at the latest by daybreak, it would be completely exposed.

From Fancheng to Xinye, there were more than a hundred miles to go. How could one finish the journey by running a few hours ahead of time? Even if Guan Yu lagged behind him for half a night, he could still catch up.

Cao Ren could only guarantee that the cavalry that broke through would be able to escape safely. But if Guan Yu also sent out cavalry to pursue, it was unknown how many of Cao Ren's infantry would be able to escape.

Cao Ren could choose to be stubborn, turn around and fight to the death with the cavalry pursuing Guan Yu with the entire army, and try to defeat the small number of pure cavalry pursuing Guan Yu with the combined strength of infantry and cavalry.

You can also choose to abandon part of the infantry units to cover the retreat of other friendly forces.

In fact, until this moment, Cao Ren still had no idea what to do in the end.

He could only act according to the development of the subsequent battle situation, and first worry about how long he could gain a head start. …

While Cao Ren was escaping, in the siege camp west of Fancheng.

According to Guan Yu's recent work and rest habits, he should have gone to bed at this time.

He had been besieging Fancheng for nearly three months, cutting off the enemy's water supply routes and launching a full-scale offensive war of attrition for more than half a month.

Cao Ren always chose to defend firmly and did not try any counterattacks, sneak attacks, or raids, which more or less paralyzed Guan Yu.

Every night Guan Yu could only order his soldiers to take turns on night duty and stay alert to prevent the camp from being raided, and there was nothing else he could do.

Since ancient times, there are only thieves who can thieves for a thousand days, but no one can guard against thieves for a thousand days. If the thief is not coming, how can the owner of the house stay up all night because of worrying about the thief?
So tonight, it was completely reasonable for Guan Yu to feel sleepy and want to rest normally. After all, he was a middle-aged man of 47 years old, and his energy could not be as good as when he was young.

However, just as Guan Yu felt at ease, Zhuge Jin, who had been relatively calm and well-eating and sleeping recently, suddenly became a little irritable. He found Guan Yu in the middle of the night and wanted to invite him to have a few drinks and a midnight snack.

Guan Yu was very surprised when he saw Zhuge Jin coming to visit.

But he knew that Ziyu must have his reasons for doing things, so he did not refuse the hard work. He immediately ordered the servants in the tent to set up a stove at the door to warm the wine, and to cut the venison leg that was stewed on the charcoal basin.

In the cold winter, when the army camped, they would place a charcoal basin in the tent of the senior generals for heating. The charcoal fire would burn slowly all night, and it would not be good to waste the heat, so they would usually stew some meat, which was not afraid of being boiled and could be stewed all night.

Especially in the camp where Zhuge Jin was stationed, Zhuge Jin had more knowledge of chemistry than ordinary people, and he would always instruct his attendants to choose good silver frost charcoal.

This type of charcoal burns more completely and is less likely to cause carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition, the tents of the Han Dynasty were not well sealed, and the door curtains were leaky and breathable, so there was no need to worry about accidents.

Although Guan Yu and Zhang Fei did not understand the principle, they also knew that as long as it was something that Ziyu advocated, they should just learn it. It would definitely be beneficial and not harmful. Gradually, they developed the same living habits in the barracks.

Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu sat down as host and guest. Guan Yu personally took the knife to tear the stewed deer leg into pieces and divided it between the two plates. He then brought up the hot wine and asked Zhuge Jin about his purpose of visit.

Zhuge Jin picked up a piece of venison, dipped it in salty bean sauce, chewed it carefully, and then said anxiously:
"It snowed heavily today, and the weather suddenly became much colder. I'm a little worried, but I can't tell why. It's not good to let the soldiers patrol out of the camp for no reason on a snowy night."

After he finished speaking, he chewed carefully. There was silence in the big tent for a moment. The special taste of the salty bean paste, which was between fermented black beans and soy sauce, seemed to become more distinct.

Guan Yu also drank a few cups to warm himself up, then stroked his beautiful beard and analyzed: "Zi Yu is worried... Cao thieves will suddenly launch a counterattack and take advantage of the snow to rob the camp?"

Zhuge Jin swallowed the venison and took a sip of wine to moisten his throat. "It may not be a raid, it may also be a breakout to report the situation. Things are unpredictable. Who can guarantee such an unexpected situation? We can only try to be alert and respond to changes with the same attitude."

Guan Yu thought about it and agreed with Zhuge Jin's caution: "Well, fortunately, I have time to rest during the day these days, and it's not a big deal if I occasionally stay up all night. I am also aware of these, so if there is any situation, I can lead the troops to fight immediately."

The two of them drank some wine to refresh themselves, while discussing some of their experiences in attacking and fighting, and talking about what they had seen and heard recently, just as a review of the battle and deduction of the follow-up. Guan Yu also temporarily ordered that the night patrol scouts tonight should be spread out further and more carefully to search for the enemy.

It was already midnight after three quarters past midnight. Zhuge Jin originally thought that he might have been worrying too much, and that was for the best.

But just as it was approaching the hour of Chou, scouts suddenly returned to the camp outside the tent, making quite a commotion. From the shouting and greetings, it seemed that they had discovered the enemy.

Guan Yu's eyes, which were originally narrowed, suddenly became focused.

The whole person immediately became swift and resolute, stood up abruptly, his figure as majestic as a mountain.

A scout officer got permission and rushed into the tent. When he saw Guan Yu, he bowed and reported: "General! Twenty miles north of the city, on the east bank of the Baihe River, we found a large group of Cao's troops marching at night! Because it is dark, we can't tell how many enemy troops there are!"

The leather armor of the man was covered in blood. It seemed that he had engaged in a skirmish with the enemy. It was probably taken off in a bloody battle.

Guan Yu's expression turned cold. He first praised the other party and ordered his attendants to arrange for him to go down to recuperate, eat and rest. Then he turned to Zhuge Jin and said solemnly:
"Could it be that Cao Ren wanted to break out and abandon the city to Xinye? How could he abandon Fancheng so decisively? Or did he just send part of his forces to break out and contact Xinye for help?"

Zhuge Jin was rarely stumped by a question and was unable to give a direct answer.

But this can't be blamed on him, everything happened too hastily and was unpredictable.

"In theory, Fancheng still has the strength to hold on, so Cao Ren would not abandon the city now. And if 30,000 or 40,000 people leave the city, how much noise would that make? Can it be concealed?
In my opinion, he will definitely leave some troops behind to delay our pursuit and hope that Fancheng can hold us back for a few more months."

Guan Yu paced back and forth nervously for a while, his eyes becoming increasingly stern. "Cao Ren must have left behind some abandoned pawns, but does he think he can hold them off for a few months? If our army speeds up the attack, is it possible to quickly capture Fancheng?"

Zhuge Jin's brain was also calculating rapidly. He soon discovered that Guan Yu had wanted too much in a hurry and had not grasped the main contradiction, so he reminded him:
"Yun Chang, the most urgent decision right now is not this matter - Fancheng is right there, and we can't escape. Cao Ren divided his troops to break out, and the remaining troops in the city must be demoralized. Our army can storm the city at any time.

But if we don’t chase and intercept this troop that has broken through, we will be out of reach. So the most urgent task now is to decide whether to chase them, not whether to attack the city.”

Guan Yu was also confused at first because of his concern, but after being reminded by Zhuge Jin, he quickly realized the crux of the problem.

Fancheng was right there, and they couldn't escape. But the troops that broke through the encirclement could possibly escape.

Time waits for no one, decisions must be made immediately.

Guan Yu paced back and forth nervously twice, trying to make a decision as soon as possible.

"Cao Ren fled overnight, and I don't know how he suddenly crossed the Baihe River... Could he have walked on ice? Anyway, he had already run for several hours. Can our army catch up with him if we chase him with infantry? We can only chase him with cavalry.

But if the enemy is strong, relying solely on cavalry pursuit may not be able to defeat Cao Ren even if he is caught up. In order to avoid danger, we can only follow the enemy and not expect to intercept him. This is the only way to prevent the enemy from being trapped and fighting to the death.

In this case, our heavy infantry can’t catch up with the enemy anyway, so why not attack Fancheng at the same time, maybe we can take advantage of the chaos…”

Zhuge Jin couldn't help but remind him: "Fancheng can't escape, is it necessary to fight for this little time?"

Guan Yu thought for a moment and pointed to the east: "Zi Yu, although you are a brilliant man, sometimes you cannot fully understand the thoughts of the lowest soldiers. Since Cao Ren was able to split his troops and escape, he must have taken advantage of the sudden freezing of the Baihe River.

Since we have judged this, we can take advantage of it if we attack immediately. We can have the heavy infantry attack the city overnight and attack before dawn. At the same time, we can urgently summon officers at all levels before the battle and tell them how the soldiers should shout when they attack.

For example, they could spread the word that "Cao Ren has already escaped on the ice along the Baihe River and abandoned you all." They could also tell Cao's soldiers that the Baihe River was frozen over and the situation was urgent, and the Taiwei's anti-rebel army had not had time to block the east bank of the Baihe River, so if they opened the east gate and escaped on the ice now, they could also withdraw smoothly.

It can also be said that the main force of the Taiwei's cavalry has already gone to chase Cao Ren. Now they are running away, and our army is unable to divide its troops to chase them. In short, we must cause the enemy's morale to collapse instantly! Make them want to escape as soon as possible. Only in this way can we be sure to break the city in one day!
Just imagine, if we delay for another day or two, chasing Cao Ren to Xinye, regardless of whether we can catch him or not, and then coming back to attack Fancheng, will the people of Fancheng still be as unstable as they are now?

By then, the enemy might think that our army has learned its lesson and set up a siege camp on the east bank of the Baihe River, and they will have no chance of escaping. Even when the Baihe River thaws, they will not be able to walk on the ice, as Lu Boyan's navy will block the river again.

Ordinary Cao's soldiers may not be able to think of this immediately, but if our soldiers continue to shout during the attack to shake the enemy and remind them, it may not be without effect. "

Guan Yu spoke so many radical ideas in one breath to quickly capture Fancheng. This made Zhuge Jin, who was originally cautious and wanted to do everything, fall into deep thought.

Indeed, Zhuge Jin was too cautious in doing things. He wanted to take things one bite at a time, no matter what he could eat, he would eat it all up.

Guan Yu was more responsive to the situation. Although he knew military affairs and was sometimes cautious, he also had a violent temper. This was the inevitable impulse of a general who had been on the brink of death for decades.

Guan Yu believed that this was acceptable if it meant breaking Fancheng as quickly as possible and allowing more enemies to escape.

Of course, there was another important reason that prompted him to think so. He felt that since the enemy had been running away for who knows how long, his heavy infantry might not be able to catch up even if they wanted to pursue them.

The heavy infantry used by Liu Bei's army for attacking strongholds, especially those responsible for the first assault, all started with steel lamellar armor, and some even had whole-piece water-forged breastplates.

Wearing such heavy armor, they are very advantageous in positional warfare and siege warfare with Cao's army. But if you expect such heavy armored soldiers to compete with speed and chase the enemy in the snow at night, it will be too difficult.

Since so many troops are destined to be unable to respond quickly and engage in mobile warfare, why not just sit there and give it a try in Fancheng at the same time and see if you can take the city in one fell swoop while the enemy's morale is most shaken during the chaos?

Whether Fancheng was captured one or two months earlier or later would make a huge difference. Its importance is no less than whether one can annihilate 10,000 or 20,000 more enemies in a field battle.

After all, Zhuge Jin was only giving guidance to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and it was Guan Yu who actually directly commanded the battle.

Since Guan Yu had this ability to judge the battlefield, Zhuge Jin would not stop him. He just used his brain to help Guan Yu plan some details on the spot.

Zhuge Jin only thought about it for a moment before coming up with a new plan for Guan Yu to discuss:

"In that case, Yunchang, I think it would be better to do this. Your camp is in the west of the city, far from the direction where Cao Ren broke out, while Yide's camp is in the north of the city, close to the Baihe River.

It is better to gather all the cavalry of the army and give them to Yide, and let Yide pursue the enemy who breaks through the encirclement. In order to avoid being outnumbered by the enemy, just chase them from behind and cause them to break up, but do not cut off their heads or waists.

You should lead the entire army's heavy infantry and launch a night attack as soon as possible to see if you can seize the opportunity to quickly break Fancheng - but you still have to be careful. I think Cao Ren will definitely not completely abandon Fancheng now, he still has confidence in the soldiers he left behind. "

Guan Yu nodded. He had no objection to Zhuge Jin's deployment suggestions. He immediately ordered all units to reorganize their troops and prepare for the attack.

It seemed like they talked a lot during the decision-making process, but in fact, they were just trying to save time. They spoke very quickly and didn't think much about it. In total, it took less than a quarter of an hour to make the decision.

In order to save time, many unexpected opportunities will not allow you to sit down and plan slowly before taking action.

(End of this chapter)