Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 85 Let’s go!
"Envoy Guo, judging by the situation, the Shu invaders are planning a strong attack today."

Tianshui prefect Ma Zun looked at the tens of thousands of Shu troops calmly lined up under the city, his face slightly pleased.

Although siege equipment such as ladders and battering rams were placed under the city, the defenders were not afraid of the Shu army's strong attack, but they were afraid that the Shu army would surround the city without attacking.

After all, Wei Yan's breakout from Lincheng was too sudden, and the city was almost unprepared. There was less than two months' worth of food, less than ten days' worth of arrows, and even insufficient firewood.

At this moment, the Wei army in the city was dismantling houses for firewood, and gathering craftsmen to carve wood into arrows and melt copper into arrowheads. Morale was becoming weaker day by day.

Not noticing the gloomy expression on Guo Huai's face, Ma Zun suddenly said happily:

"The Art of War says that the best strategy is to attack a city, while attacking a city wall is the worst. If the general is unable to control his anger and his troops attack the city wall like ants, this is the disaster of the attack.

"The Shu invaders have been harassing us day and night for the past ten days, but they haven't yet attacked the city. I previously thought they had cut off the Long Road and had something to rely on.

"Today they suddenly led their army to the city, so I think there must be something fishy going on.

"Envoy Guo, do you think it's possible that the Right General has returned to provide reinforcements?"

Guo Huai nodded slowly after hearing this and looked at the other person beside him: "According to the Tao, this may not be impossible.

"Go tell the soldiers that the Right General has led his troops to Long, which is why the Shu invaders want a quick victory. We only need to hold out for another half a month, and the siege will be lifted!"

"Yes!" Hu Zun, the deputy governor of Yongzhou, nodded and turned to leave.

Whether it is or not, it is necessary to boost morale.

After he left, Guo Huai began to patrol the city wall, urging the soldiers to cheer up, and passionately told them what he had just said to Hu Zun.

It is said that a general is the courage of his soldiers. Seeing Envoy Guo's powerful and powerful speech, the slightly sluggish morale of the defenders on the city wall was indeed boosted a lot.

Hundreds of Guo Huai's personal soldiers began to take the lead in shouting to kill the bandits. Soon, the top of the city was filled with waves of voices saying that they were willing to kill the bandits for the Wei Dynasty and were willing to die for the envoy.

However, the Shu army still did not attack the city at noon, and the high morale gradually subsided in the long silent confrontation.

"It's just bluffing again!" Hu Zun, the deputy governor of Yongzhou, felt helpless.

"But making such a big fuss but not attacking will also damage the morale of the Shu invaders. Don't be complacent, maybe they have a backup plan." Guo Huai couldn't figure out what the Han army's tricks were.

While Guo Huai, Hu Zun and others were puzzled, they suddenly saw dozens of Han army cavalrymen riding their horses towards them.

The leading cavalryman held a long pole.

There is an object on the pole, which looks quite like a human figure.

When he looked again, he found that there were more than ten unarmored people following the dozens of riders.

Seeing this situation, Guo Huai suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart.

While everyone was in shock, the leading cavalry general had already arrived at the foot of the city on horseback. He was wearing heavy armor and looked very powerful and majestic. He must be a fierce general without a doubt.

"Those of you on the city wall, come and see whose head this is!!"

The voice of the tiger general below the city suddenly exploded, and all the guards on the city were shocked.

At the same time, a dozen unarmored men passed through the gaps between the riders.

The leader took the long pole from the tiger general and walked forward holding it, and the others followed.

The archer on the city wall drew his bow and was about to shoot, but was stopped by the horrified Guo Huai.

As the long pole, which was almost as high as the city wall, got closer, the head on the pole became clearer and clearer in everyone's sight.

Guo Huai's hair stood on end.

Beside him, Ma Zun, the governor of Tianshui, You Chu, the governor of Longxi, and Hu Zun, the deputy governor of Yongzhou, were all horrified and unable to control themselves.

"Envoy Guo, Lord You, Zhang He led 40,000 soldiers to Wuzhangyuan to die, only to be defeated by the Emperor of Han!"

Lieutenant General Lu Pan, who was still a powerful figure in Liang Province last year and had suppressed the Qu Yan Rebellion together with Hao Zhao, shouted loudly.

"We have no place to retreat. We will join 30,000 soldiers to kill Zhang He and surrender!
"Niu Jin, Yin Damu, Du Xi and others have also withdrawn their troops from Meiwu!

"Guanzhong has been taken over by the Han Dynasty. You can't go back!"

There was an uproar on the city wall.

"The Right General is dead?!"

"That head... is it really the Right General?"

"Isn't that General Lu Pan at the gate?! Why would he surrender to Shu?!"

Many of Guo Huai's personal guards had met Zhang He, Lu Pan, and even several of the other dozen or so captains and Sima officers under the city.

Looking at the expressions of Guo Huai, You Chu and others at this moment, none of them doubted the truthfulness of Lu Pan's words anymore.

"Shut up, everyone! This is just a trick by the Shu invaders to shake the morale of the army. Anyone who dares to speak again will be killed!" Guo Huai pulled himself out of his panic, glared and drew his sword.

"But lord, that's clearly..." A personal soldier who had served Guo Huai for more than ten years suddenly spoke stubbornly.

Without waiting for the man to finish speaking, Guo Huai strode forward, stabbed him in the throat with a knife, and then chopped off his head with several more blows.

Holding the head, which still held an expression of disbelief, Guo Huai roared, "Whoever dares to speak nonsense again will be killed like this!"

There was a moment of silence on the city wall.

The people around him were all Guo Huai's personal soldiers, who had been cared for by him for dozens of years, and most of them were still able to maintain order.

"Envoy Guo, Ji County cannot be defended!" Lu Pan continued to persuade the city to surrender.

"The Emperor of the Han Dynasty is benevolent and magnanimous. He shows no disdain for surrendering generals like us. Your family background and abilities are superior to ours. If you open the city walls and surrender, you will surely be treated with respect by the Emperor!"

Guo Huai glanced at Lu Pan with hatred, then threw the still bleeding head in his hand down fiercely:
"Lu Pan, you have fought for the Great Wei on the battlefield for so many years and have made countless contributions, but you never expected to do such a despicable thing in the end, using the head of someone you don't know to cheat?!

"Let alone the fact that he is not the Right General, even if he is, what can he do?!
"Don't you know the Wei family's laws?!

"You have received so much from the country and your family is so important, yet you betrayed Wei and defected to Shu, regardless of your family's implicated and annihilation. Will you have the dignity to face your clan members after your death?!
"Go back and tell Zhuge Liang that I, Guo Huai, will die. Let him attack!"

"Shoot!" Guo Huai gave the order and then snatched the bow and arrow from a personal guard. He bent the bow and shot the arrow at Lu Pan.

Arrows rained down.

Fortunately, Lu Pan and more than ten others had already retreated in panic when they saw the guards on the city wall drawing their bows, and they barely escaped death.

"Envoy Guo...what should we do?" You Chu's face turned pale. He never expected that after Cao Zhen's head was sent to Longyou, Zhang He's head would also follow.

"Let's go." Guo Huai said firmly.

"Go?" You Chu was stunned. He didn't expect Guo Huai to be so decisive.

Guo Huai nodded directly: "Since the Shu invaders have failed to persuade us to surrender this time, they will definitely use other means to let the city guards know that the Right General is dead.

"Within a day, the army's morale will surely waver. Has Lord You forgotten what happened with Guo Gang at Qishan?
"While morale in the city remains high, lead your troops north across the Wei River to break out."

While You Chu was still hesitating, his deputy Hu Zun nodded and asked, "Sir, could it be that the Shu invaders have already set up an ambush in the north?"

"I can't care less. Didn't you hear what Lu Pan said? Thirty thousand soldiers have nowhere to retreat, so they surrendered!

"Waiting in the city means death, but breaking out still offers a glimmer of hope!
"The families of the soldiers are all in the east. At this moment, the Shu invaders have not yet surrounded us. For the sake of their families, they will definitely break out with us."

You Chu finally came to his senses and said, "But...if we abandon the city and flee, it's against the laws of the Wei Dynasty. Isn't that also inevitable death?"

Guo Huai frowned and said hurriedly:
"Lord You is too pedantic!

"Even the Right General was killed by the Shu invaders, and all the generals including Lu Pan have surrendered. How can we still defend Longyou?!
"You and I are working for the benefit of the Great Wei. If we leave our bodies useful to His Majesty, His Majesty will not blame us. Otherwise, how can we reassure the people of the world?!"

outside the city.

Lu Pan and other surrendered generals returned to Wei Yan and told him Guo Huai's response.

Wei Yan was furious. A certain unlucky guy was closest to Wei Yan and was severely whipped by Wei Yan, causing him to scream in pain.

Ignoring the retreating surrendered generals, Wei Yan addressed his personal guards, "You will circle the city walls holding Zhang He's head, shouting that Zhang He is dead. Anyone who opens the city walls and surrenders will be spared."

Dozens of personal cavalrymen quickly received the order and rode away with Zhang He's head in their hands.

South enclosure.

Chinese army.

The Prime Minister sat on the platform as Wei Yan strode forward. "Prime Minister, over an hour has passed. The people in the city must be getting restless. We can now attack!"

The Prime Minister stood with his hands behind his back, looking towards the city wall. After a moment, he shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer."

"What are you waiting for?!" Wei Yan was puzzled. Yesterday he had clearly said that he would attack the city at any cost, and just now Guo Huai said that he would die, which showed that he was determined to resist to the end.

The Prime Minister said calmly, "Throw Zhang He's head into the city."

Wei Yan paused for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Yes!"

The west gate of Ji County.

Hundreds of fully armed Wei soldiers received orders and gathered thousands of slaves near the west gate under the city wall to await orders.

Suddenly, something passed over the city wall, which was four meters high and thick, and finally landed in the inner city.

The closest slave soon discovered that what was wrapped in the rag was indeed a head dried with lime.

The military commander who was in charge of maintaining order here strode forward and quickly snatched the head and the piece of rag with words written on it from the accompanying slave's hands.

"Sima, what does it say?"

The military commander was so shocked that he dared not say a word.

However, there were other people who could read and said the words "Zhang He's head".

"Zhang He's head?!"

"What the Shu bandits outside the city said is actually true?!"

"Sima! Is this really the Right General?!"

"Who has seen the Right General?!"

The Wei soldiers were in an uproar.

Among the more than a thousand soldiers, some were fortunate enough to have seen Zhang He. Soon, more than twenty people came forward to identify the head, and in the end they all recognized that the head was indeed Zhang He's.

Guo Huai, who was already in the northwest corner of the city, noticed the commotion here and rushed over with nearly a hundred personal soldiers.

"Envoy Guo!"

The panicked soldiers gathered around Guo Huai, led by the military commander who was carrying Zhang He's head. "Was the Right General really killed by the Shu invaders?!"

Guo Huai had anticipated this moment and nodded helplessly:

“It is indeed the Right General.

"Have the soldiers prepare to break out with me later. General Xu of Liang Province has over a thousand cavalrymen to support us in the north."

This is indeed true. Ji County is a large city, and the Shu army arrived at the city less than ten days ago. At the beginning, they even camped six or seven miles away. It took them two days to get close to the city, so they were unable to encircle it.

Xu Miao of Liangzhou has been trying to come to the rescue. In the past few days, hundreds of cavalry have appeared from time to time more than ten miles to the north.

The Shu army naturally knew that there were light cavalry cruising in the north, but they did not block the north with heavy troops, which was obviously giving them the opportunity to abandon the city and flee.

After all, the Wei River is to the north of the city, and the shallow water can be waded across, which is equivalent to leaving them several narrow escape routes.

"Envoy, another three to four thousand Shu invaders are forming a battle formation and heading towards the north of the city!" Hu Zun came behind Guo Huai.

Guo Huai frowned and sighed, "Pass the order down. Tell the soldiers to prepare to break out. I will lead the rearguard."

If possible, he would certainly like to wait for the Shu army to attack the city first, consume some of the Shu army's physical strength and energy, and then take the opportunity to break out at night, which would have a higher success rate.

But the current situation is that the Shu army seems to have anticipated that he would abandon the city and began to block the city from the north.

It was obvious that they were forcing him to make a quick decision. Otherwise, if they blocked the city gate but did not attack it, the city would be in chaos and it would be very difficult to withdraw calmly.

There are still more than a dozen powerful families in the city who are eyeing him covetously. They may not take action because of their past friendship, but he does not dare to bet on the people's hearts.

A quarter of an hour passed.

The west gate and the north gate were wide open.

Each of them had about one to two thousand slaves who were driven out of the city.

As the accompanying slaves fled in panic, a cloud of dust soon rose near the city gate.

Wu Yi, who was guarding the west perimeter, immediately ordered his troops to advance slowly.

For a moment, there were loud drum sounds inside and outside the city.

At the Nanwei General's Platform, Fei Yi heard the continuous drumbeats coming from the west and was immediately overjoyed: "Prime Minister, the Wei invaders have truly broken through!"

I thought there would be a fierce battle today, but I didn't expect it to be so smooth!

At this moment, the south gate of Ji County was also wide open.

Hundreds of slaves filed out, and the defenders on the city began to shoot arrows at them, driving them towards the Han army.

After a while, the defenders withdrew from the city wall. There was no one left on the city wall, but the city gate was not closed.

"Prime Minister, could there be an ambush?" Fei Yi could see clearly from the platform, and suddenly felt a little uneasy when he saw this situation.

However, as soon as Fei Yi finished speaking and the Prime Minister had not yet opened his mouth, Wei Yan led his troops and rushed in.

In the northwest corner of the city wall, Guo Huai, who was observing the situation, looking for a breakout point, and waiting for his personal soldiers to arrive from the south, was slightly startled.

Unexpectedly, the Shu army in the south was so decisive and entered the city without any hesitation.

"Envoy, let's go! The northwest of the Shu army is empty, we can break through directly!" Deputy Driver Hu Zun found that there were not many Shu cavalry, and there were only more than a hundred cavalrymen on the battlefield.

Guo Huai hesitated for a moment, and realized that he really couldn't wait for the people from the south of the city to arrive. Finally, he nodded and walked down the city wall helplessly.

More than forty riders rushed out from the west gate.

The Han army in the west encirclement and the Wei army that broke out were stuck together and fighting.

There was a lot of dust.

However, after Guo Huai led forty riders out of the city, he still did not abandon his army and flee.

Instead, he found a safe open space, climbed onto the drum cart himself and beat the drum to cheer himself up.

The military strategy of "Do not stop a retreating army" does make sense. Since there was still a way to survive and he had family in the east, Guo Huai stayed behind to command the rear.

The Wei army that broke through did not collapse at the first blow, but maintained a considerable order and fought while retreating, heading towards the Wei River in the northwest direction.

Of course, this situation did not last long.

When the four or five thousand Wei troops were pressed back to the front of the Wei River by tens of thousands of Han troops, Guo Huai finally retreated to the other side of the Wei River with more than thirty cavalrymen.

Since Guo Huai left, there were not many places where the Wei River could be crossed, and many Wei soldiers began to lose order in the fight for the right path.

Killing the enemy to survive can still retain some passion, but when your comrades become unreliable, the scene finally becomes chaotic, and people begin to push, kill and trample each other.

Many people fled directly to deep water, but their bodies floated in the Wei River because they could not swim.

The more than 400 cavalrymen sent by Xu Miao to scout the north of Ji County learned the news and quickly rushed to support and take away Guo Huai, Hu Zun and others.

In the end, more than a thousand Wei troops successfully crossed the river.

The Wei army that escaped from the north gate was not so lucky.

Without Guo Huai's command, the Wei army retreating from the north gate failed to maintain its formation and was defeated after two charges by Wei Yan's troops.

Ma Zun, the prefect of Tianshui who thought it would be easier to escape through the north gate and refused to withdraw from the west gate with Guo Huai, was beheaded by a Sima in Wei Yan's army.

into the night.

Tianshui Dading.

Before the generals had time to celebrate this great victory that decided the fate of Longyou, another letter from the emperor arrived.

"That kid An Guo has actually captured Xiliu and Gaoling?!" Fei Yi was stunned.

I just sent a message to Guanzhong last night, hoping that Your Majesty and General Zhao could quickly lead the troops to seize Xiliu. The Prime Minister who was stationed at Chang'an was also encouraged.

(End of this chapter)