Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 14: Courageous and heroic
After noon.

Qishan.

More than 40,000 Han troops surrounded the Qishan Fort that rose abruptly in the middle of the valley, but did not attack.

Wu Yi, the uncle of the emperor and the general on the left, rushed towards Wei Yan, who was surrounded in the north, and asked:

"Wen Chang, why are you holding your ground and not attacking?

"Didn't you tell the Prime Minister yesterday that Gao Gang had intended to surrender, but he still hadn't done so because we had so few soldiers and surrounded him without attacking, so he had no fear of death.

"Now they are still besieging it but not attacking it. Doesn't Wen Chang want to take Qishan Fort anymore?
"If we can't take it by noon tomorrow, we will retreat!"

Veteran generals such as Wu Yi were also radicals and agreed with Wei Yan's plan to nail him to death in Qishan Fort.

They all felt that the Han would fight back soon.

Wei Yan was assigned to guard Qishan Fort, and the army generally believed that he could hold it for one to two years.

If they could hold out for long, the people of Longxi would be few in number and short of food, and would not be able to support Zhang He's 50,000 to 60,000 troops. Transporting food from Luoyang and Hedong over thousands of miles would greatly deplete Cao Wei's national strength.

By then, Zhang He's soldiers will be tired and old, and the Prime Minister will lead the army back, and Wei Yan will support them behind the enemy lines. It may not be impossible to defeat and annihilate them!
"Ziyuan, it's not that I don't want to attack.

“But if we attack hastily, the Wei invaders in the fort might see our weakness and suspect we are being pursued.

"Wait a little longer. I see the people patrolling the fort are like ants on a hot pot. It will be over soon."

Wei Yan was also anxious, but there was nothing he could do.

The cliffs of Qishan Fort are high and steep, making it a treasure land that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It cannot be captured by a brute force attack in one or two days. We can only take advantage of the enemy's ignorance of our army's strength to lure and intimidate them.

But the prime minister only gave him one day.

The best way is to attack the heart, and the worst way is to attack the city.

...

South enclosure.

Gao Gang, the defending general on the fort tower, looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers below the fort as well as the siege towers and ladders. He felt so uneasy that he couldn't even sit still for a moment.

Especially when the left and right Sima, military officers and others were whispering, he would unconsciously look over with suspicion and panic.

I always felt that they were going to chop me to death at the next moment, so I had to leave the castle and surrender to save my life.

The sun gradually sets in the west.

The only two military commanders in the fort approached Gao Gang with panicked expressions. Without even a military salute, they said directly:

"Captain, just now Wei Yan, the Northern Wei Shu general, announced that they only have three days of patience left.

“If they do not surrender in one day, I will kill five hundred.

“If you don’t surrender in two days, I will kill one thousand.

"If you don't surrender within three days, everyone in the fort will be slaughtered!"

Gao Gang looked at the military commander's expression, which was not sure whether it was fear or intimidation, and his whole body began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.

Could it be that the Shu invaders have really conquered Longyou?

Yesterday, when we saw the Han army returning to this place from the south, the guards in the fort were all in an uproar. They all said that Longyou had been completely taken over by the Shu invaders, so they should surrender quickly.

Although Gao Gang was afraid and wanted to surrender, his entire family was held hostage in Yecheng, Luoyang. How could he dare to surrender easily? How could he be willing to surrender?
And he did have his doubts.

He told the guards in the fort that these were the Shu bandits who had been defeated by the imperial reinforcements and were coming here to deceive them. The imperial reinforcements must be chasing them now, and they might flee south tomorrow.

If this is true, you and I will all be granted titles of nobility in the near future!
However, when he saw that the Han army had set up camp in a proper manner yesterday and showed no signs of panic, he began to waver.

And when the Shu invaders really came to besiege the fort today and set up siege weapons, he began to panic.

Now, if they don't surrender within three days, they will massacre the entire fort, which has completely broken his psychological defenses.

The guards in the fort were different from him. They were from Longyou County and had no hostages in the hands of the imperial court. They could surrender if they wanted to. Why should they die for the Wei Dynasty?

After a long silence, Gao Gang said:

"If the imperial reinforcements don't arrive by tomorrow, you can just tie me up and surrender!"

The military commander bowed and then retreated.

Gao Gang walked to the edge of the fortress and sighed softly at the several hundred-foot wells not far away.

Shanggui is only two days' journey away from here. If the imperial reinforcements do not arrive tomorrow, it will prove that Longyou has indeed been taken over by the Shu army.

I was captured by the guards in the fort, so I should be able to get some mercy from the court, right?

...

...

The entrance to the Xie Valley. The Han army camp.

A golden guard flag with a pointed yak tail and gold plating was erected in the central army commander's tent.

no doubt.

The Emperor of Han is here.

In the tent, dozens of officers of all ranks were sitting.

These are the 3,000 elite soldiers who went to the Xiegu Pass to welcome the emperor yesterday. All of them, from the Dubo to the Xiaowei, are here.

Regardless of the emperor's reputation among the people, these warriors were more or less excited and thrilled that the emperor could condescend to come and personally host a banquet in their tent to receive them.

Since the death of the previous emperor, they have never seen the emperor of the Han Dynasty again.

Dish after dish was brought into the tent. Although not luxurious, it was a rare delicacy in the army.

However, since the emperor didn't move his chopsticks, they could only watch and swallow their saliva.

When Liu Chan saw that all the dishes were served, he looked around at the generals in the tent and raised the wine in the jug:

"I inherited the throne at a young age and have lived in the inner palace for five years. I have never met with any of you, the pillars of the Han Dynasty. This is my sin, and I sincerely apologize to you with this bottle of wine."

After Liu Chan finished speaking, he drank the wine in the jug and gestured that the cup was empty. His words and actions were neither timid nor arrogant, and he showed a bit of imperial majesty.

No matter whether Adou is dignified in his daily life or not, no matter whether Adou looks ridiculous when he pretends to be dignified.

You are called a waste in the eyes of others on a daily basis. If you don't pretend to be useless in the military camp, the soldiers will think that you are really a waste.

"Your Majesty is busy with all sorts of affairs in Chengdu, and we are training troops and garrisoning on the front lines, each doing our part. Why should Your Majesty thank you?"

A young general sitting in the upper left seat was the first to express his opinion, offering the wine in his glass from afar and drinking it all in one gulp.

Liu Chan looked over.

This is Captain Fu Qian, who commands half a battalion of 3,000 elite soldiers.

His father was Fu Rong (róng).

During the Battle of Yiling, Fu Rong was the rearguard for Zhaolie. All his soldiers died except one.

When the Wu bandits ordered him to surrender, Zhuo cursed, "You Wu dog! How could a Han general surrender?"

He died in battle.

Just as Liu Chan was looking deeply at the son of the martyr, thinking about what to say, the young general on the other side and on the upper right spoke before him.

"Your Majesty, I have always been straightforward and speak my mind.

"I have also heard some rumors that Your Majesty is cautious and incompetent, and is not familiar with military affairs. I have doubts about this.

"Since seeing it yesterday, I realized that the rumors were all bullshit!

"Regardless of whether it was the Prime Minister who invited His Majesty here, or Your Majesty himself who wanted to lead the expedition, both are sufficient to prove that Your Majesty's courage and strategy are no less than anyone else's!

"He is truly bold and courageous, with a heroic demeanor, and embodies the legacy of the late emperor!"

After saying this, Feng Hu, the son of General Feng Xi, also drank the wine in one gulp.

"Your Majesty is bold and heroic!"

"Your Majesty is bold and heroic!"

Soon, everyone in the tent followed Feng Hu and shouted.

Liu Chan was stunned for a moment.

We don’t know how bad Adou’s original reputation was in the army, nor do we know whether these officers really think so at this moment, or are just flattering him?

In fact, Feng Hu and Fu Qian led a total of 3,000 elite soldiers under Zhao Yun.

The two of them knew that the camp here was fake and was just a decoy, and they were also the few people in the army who knew the strategy of attacking when the enemy was halfway across the river.

Regardless of whether this battle was a win or a loss, the emperor's courage to come to the front line was enough to give them a bit more courage and make them forget all the rumors they had heard before.

Young soldiers are always eager to achieve great achievements.

When the equally young emperor really appeared on the battlefield, drank with them at the same table and slept with them in the same camp, they did not think about what to do if the emperor was in danger.

That is the business of the court officials.

They just thought that the young emperor seemed willing to join them in avenging his father's death, redeeming the previous humiliation, and recovering the Central Plains and returning to the old capital.

However, they were indeed unaware that the Prime Minister's army had suffered a defeat in Longyou.

(End of this chapter)