Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 33 Nothing can be done
The west bank of the sloping water.

Liu Chan looked far to the east.

A Wei cavalry column numbering about one or two thousand has appeared in the northeast direction of Cao's camp, only seven or eight kilometers away.

"Your Majesty, most of the arrowheads on General Mi's body have been removed, except for one... which is lodged in his leg bone and cannot be removed.

"And the arrowhead is already on the edge of a major vein. I dare not go any further..."

The old doctor who had removed the arrow for Mi Wei had blood dripping from his bloody hands, and his voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

I think it was the first time he had seen such a horrifying scene, or perhaps he was afraid of being punished by the emperor for killing the general with his medicine.

Liu Chan turned around.

On the stretcher, the royal relative, who was in shock and unconsciousness due to excessive blood loss or the pain of having the arrow pulled out, was almost naked. His slightly pale and plump back was so bloody that it was a horrible sight.

Pieces of armor that had been carefully cut into pieces and stained with blood were scattered around randomly, and a broken arrow still remained on the back of the man's thigh.

The heavy arrows of Cao Wei's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had extremely long, diamond-shaped arrowheads, which were best at penetrating armor. Once they penetrated the armor and into the flesh, they were extremely difficult to remove.

If the arrow is pulled out forcibly, it will further tear the tissues near the wound, causing the wound to expand, and may even tear off a large piece of flesh, leading to more severe bleeding.

Mi Wei was covered in double armor and looked quite noble. The fat on his body was only slightly less than that of Cao Wei's general Cao Zhen, so the enemy cavalry's arrows unfortunately failed to cause fatal damage to him.

The silk lining worn innermost by the person also played an important role. It first wrapped around the tip of the heavy arrow, slowing down the arrow's penetration into the body, and then entered the body along with the arrow.

The doctor who was responsible for treating Mi Wei just pulled out most of the arrows slowly by gently pulling out the silk, avoiding secondary damage caused by directly pulling out the arrows.

Squatting down, Liu Chan looked at the last broken arrow on the side of Mi Wei's thigh.

The doctor had actually cut open some of the flesh that wrapped the arrowhead, but because the half-palm-long diamond-shaped arrowhead was almost completely embedded in the thigh, close to the major vein and embedded in the leg bone, even the most experienced doctor did not dare to pull it out easily, and Liu Chan, a layman, did not know what to do.

"Your Majesty... there's no need to hesitate. Just call a strong man to pull it out. I've always had good luck and have plenty of flesh on my body. Losing a piece of flesh won't kill me."

Mi Wei woke up from shock at some point, probably because he heard the doctor's words.

"Okay, stop talking!" Liu Chan cursed.

The wound on his back could barely be considered a minor one, but the broken leg was shocking enough, and now the arrowhead embedded in the leg bone, which was difficult to remove, was a constant threat to his life.

Liu Chan couldn't understand what on earth could support this man to joke with him and show off his power at such a time.

"Is there any reliable way?" Liu Chan asked the old doctor.

The old doctor didn't dare to speak for a moment.

Liu Chan frowned slightly.

However, at this moment, Mi Wei, who had been lying motionless on the ground, suddenly moved, and then let out a loud roar.

When Liu Chan came to his senses, he saw that the man had gritting his teeth and holding a bloody arrowhead in his hand, with a piece of flesh weighing almost half an ounce hanging at the end of the arrowhead.

Before anyone around him could react, Mi Wei, with beads of sweat on his forehead and a pale face, spoke weakly, "Your Majesty, it's okay, your servant..."

Before he could finish his words, the man went into shock again due to the pain. If Liu Chan had not rescued him in time, he would have almost fallen to the ground.

Without Liu Chan's order, the military doctor rushed over to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound.

Liu Chan pulled out the broken arrow with a piece of flesh and blood from Mi Wei's hand and remained silent for a long time.

...

...

East of Xieshui.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were still four or five miles away from the Han village.

Cao Zhen had now received accurate information that Shu troops were indeed blocking the water and building a dam upstream of Xieshui River.

The dam is shaped like a golden character, thick at the bottom and thin at the top. It is more than ten feet high and more than half a mile long. It is surrounded by thick boards and supported by large wooden beams. Water flows slowly down from the dam.

The Shu people built ladders from the plank road to the river. There were dozens of Shu people on the dam and nearly a hundred Shu people on the plank road. They were all holding on to large logs with ropes, as if ready to break the dam at any time.

Although Cao Zhen had never used water attack and had never seen it with his own eyes, the story of Emperor Taizu Wu flooding Taishou, Xia Pi and Yecheng was well known to everyone.

For this kind of dam, you only need to dig a small gap and remove a small part of the wooden fence, and the subsequent flood will continue to flow into the gap.

Just by relying on the continuous impact of the water, the flood can actively disperse the dam soil on both sides of the gap, causing the gap to continue to expand.

In the end, the entire dam was destroyed and the water rushed down in just a quarter of an hour.

Although a dam ten feet high and half a mile long doesn't sound very high or very long, and is far smaller than the dam built by Emperor Taizu, if the water behind the dam stretches for dozens or even hundreds of miles, it will probably take at least two or three hours to drain out.

He now faces a choice.

After more than an hour of orderly evacuation, the Shu army on the opposite side had almost all of its laborers and auxiliary soldiers retreated back to the plank road.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had obviously appeared in the sight of the Shu army.

Will the Shu army dig a dam and retreat directly?
Or will he continue to lure his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to cross the river, and then break the dam in order to attack them when they are halfway across?

Cao Zhen, Du Xi and others could not reach a conclusion through discussion and could only continue to wait.

Just when Cao Zhen and others were lost in thought, the Shu army on the opposite bank suddenly blew a series of horns.

Then the sound of the horn spread from near to far, all the way to the invisible valley, and echoed in the valley.

"General, this should be the signal from the Shu invaders to break the dike upstream." Military advisor Du Xi said with a serious expression.

Cao Zhen had no time to think about it at this moment. He quickly called his personal guards and said, "Order the 6,000 soldiers and horses downstream to wade across the river!"

The six thousand people had naturally received the order long ago.

If the Shu invaders advance, we retreat; if the Shu invaders retreat, we pursue them.

There is only one goal: to chase the Shu army closely, not letting them retreat safely, and not giving them time to destroy the plank road.

The personal guards received the order and quickly waved the military flag.

The signal was received immediately downstream, and at the first moment, 6,000 infantrymen a few miles downstream began to walk down the river and wade through the water.

The Han army on the opposite side was still on high alert and seemed to have no intention of withdrawing, which made Cao Zhen frown.

He couldn't predict when the flood would come.

Crossing the river by wading is not fast. If the flood is fierce and these 6,000 infantrymen are unable to cross the river, it will be very bad.

About half a quarter of an hour later, when the front of the 6,000 infantry had landed hundreds downstream and the rear had all stepped into the Xieshui River, a thin muddy current began to appear in Cao Zhen's sight.

After a while, when more than 2,000 people had landed in the front and the rear had all reached the center of the Xieshui River, the turbid water happened to flow through the river in front of Cao Zhen.

The water is not thick, it can even be called a trickle, and apart from being a little turbid, it does not seem to be dangerous at all.

But at this moment, the Shu army, which had been on high alert on the opposite side, finally moved.

The Shu army closest to the plank road began to disperse their formation and retreated towards the plank road in a fairly orderly formation.

The clear water in the river, which was only two or three feet deep, was soon covered by the muddy water that followed, and the water level rose slowly at a speed that was not fast but visible to the naked eye.

Dead branches and leaves began to flow along the muddy current towards the river in front of Cao Zhen.

There were still hundreds of infantrymen downstream who had not yet come ashore. The water that had not reached their thighs had now reached their waists.

However, due to the faster flow of the water, some people could no longer stand and out of panic, they accelerated towards the river bank.

But the resistance of water is not affected by human will. On the contrary, the faster you want to walk, the slower you walk.

Many people slipped and were swept away by the muddy current, which was not very turbulent. The depth of the river was obviously not enough to drown a person, but it was obvious that they were almost certain to die.

Cao Zhen withdrew his gaze from downstream, only to find that the river in front of him was already turbid and the waves were roaring.

However, the water flow rate is still accelerating and the water level in the river is still rising.

The Shu army on the other side of the river formed a battle formation and retreated.

The Wei soldiers followed closely behind.

Cao Zhen was frightened and annoyed.

What frightened him was that if his military advisor Du Xi had not reminded him, he would have led all his troops to pursue the victory and cross the river at the beginning. He was afraid that he would have been attacked by the false emperor halfway across the river.

Under the mighty force of nature, if the soldiers crossing the river had not been mentally prepared in advance, their morale might have collapsed when the Shu invaders surrounded them.

The trouble was that if the 2,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry successfully crossed the Weishui River, then even if they were attacked by Liu Chan halfway across the river, it would be impossible for the Shu invaders to withdraw so calmly at this moment. What's more, he had already prepared for the so-called attack halfway across the river.

"Is Liu Adou at his wit's end?"

A voice that was quite imperial yet seemed bored suddenly sounded in Cao Zhen's ears.

Cao Zhen was suddenly shocked.

(End of this chapter)