Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 92 Fierce Battle
"Your Majesty, they are here." Zhao Guang, the Dragon Guard, said in a stern voice.

The Han emperor, who had not taken off his armor for half a day, sat upright on a Hu chair, motionless with a stern expression.

When the Wei army attacked in the early morning, they retreated ten miles to the east and held their ground after failing to find a loophole.

That was the low plateau where Cao Zhen set up his camp during the Battle of Xieshui.

When Wen Qin led the cavalry to retreat, the large group of Wei army infantry was still five or six miles away from Xieshui, and the visibility was poor and the enemy situation was unclear, so the Han army did not dare to pursue them further.

When the sun rose in the east and the sky became bright, they discovered that thousands of Wei troops were following behind, driving various pack animals and transporting food and fodder.

After half a day's rest, the Wei army finally launched another attack at 3:00 p.m.

A legion of more than 10,000 people, in some neat and some loose formations, pressed westward.

Every few hundred steps, they would beat the drums to reorganize the formation, and the sound shook the valley.

Nearly two thousand cavalrymen were arranged on the left and right sides of the legion, which made the Han officials on Wuzhangyuan quite fearful. It was difficult for them to guess how many Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen had come this time and how many were miscellaneous cavalrymen who were there to conceal their presence.

Since the probability of the Wei army attacking Wuzhangyuan in a rapid manner was almost zero, the emperor of the Han Dynasty moved to the south of the plateau, which was closer to the entrance of Xiegu Valley.

That is, near the narrow corridor connecting the Qinling Mountains and Wuzhangyuan, which is only five meters wide at its narrowest point.

Of the 4,000 defenders on the plateau, 3,000 were brought here by Liu Chan so that they could provide support if the Xiagukou could no longer withstand the pressure.

Zhou Tai, a military officer of the Cavalry Palace, reined in his horse and came to the bank of the Xieshui River.

He turned his head to look at the Wuzhangyuan that was as high as a cliff, and couldn't help but curl his lips, then turned around and looked towards the entrance of the valley.

After observing for a while, my confidence increased.

It’s nothing, the entrance to the valley is not easy to defend.

A stream slanted through the middle of the pass, and the Shu army's defense line could not be connected and was divided into two parts, east and west, by the stream.

The low slopes on both sides of the valley entrance occupied the commanding heights, and the Shu army had to divide its troops to guard them.

Although Zhou Tai could not see how many Shu troops were behind the barrier, from what he had observed, the Shu army had been divided into four groups due to the unfavorable terrain.

If you defend the left, the right will be weak; if you defend the front, the rear will be weak.

Nothing is lacking, nothing is lacking.

As the attacking party, he only needed to attack one point with all his strength to mobilize the Shu army and make them run around in a hurry.

More than a thousand Wei cavalrymen were the first to cross the sloping water and cleared a piece of open space.

"Hedong Commander Linghu Yu, lead your 3,000 men, along with 3,000 laborers and slaves, to fill the horse pit on the other side of the river.

“After filling it up, attack the barrier.

"Those who do not advance will be killed, and those who retreat without permission will be killed."

Zhou Tai issued the military order calmly.

Military orders were as heavy as a mountain. Although Linghu Yu was extremely reluctant, he had no choice but to lead the troops of the Xue and Liu families and the Hedong County soldiers, a total of 3,000 people, and use swords and guns to drive 3,000 laborers and slaves across the river.

The Xue and Liu families were just powerful families in Hedong. They came here only to protect the grain and make meritorious deeds. They never expected to meet with such an unexpected disaster and lose their lives here.

Sima Yi kept the three families of Pei, Jia and Wei, who also came from Hedong, in Chang'an because some of their relatives held high positions in the court.

After Linghu Yu and several thousand of his men had crossed the Xieshui River, Zhou Tai gave another order.

Upon receiving the order, Xiahou Bao ordered his lieutenant Zhang Can to drive two thousand Chang'an guards and two thousand laborers and slaves across the Xieshui River.

But the team did not attack the pass, but climbed up the hillside.

There was already a Shu army defending the hillside. If they could capture this gentle slope, the Shu army's defense line at the entrance of the valley would be broken.

Wait until all the 4,000 men under Zhang Can's command have waded through the water.

Zhou Tai ordered his men to dig the ground on the spot, and soon they built a two-meter-high platform.

Standing up, although I couldn't see the whole picture, at least I could see the troops of Linghu Yu and Zhang Shen.

Only then did he see that there was a wooden bridge over the sloping water, connecting the Shu army on the east and west sides of the water.

The bridge was over a hundred steps long, with over a hundred men standing on it. There was a wooden fence in front of the bridge, apparently to prevent the Wei army from advancing from the water and encircling it.

The drums of attack began to sound.

The west bank of the slanting water began to become noisy.

The laborers dug the soil on the spot. Some put the soil into the sacks distributed by their superiors, while others who did not receive sacks rolled the soil into balls and pushed them towards the pass where the Shu army was.

The pass set up by the Han army on the west bank of Xieshui was nestled against the mountains and beside the water. It was very narrow, only a hundred feet wide.

The horse traps a little further away from the pass were quickly filled up.

The laborers and slaves continued to carry soil and roll balls forward.

When they entered the shooting range of the Shu army, dense arrows were shot out from the earth wall behind the deer horns.

Nearly a hundred emaciated and half-naked laborers and slaves fell to the ground immediately.

The screams and wails merged into one.

In troubled times, human life is so worthless. It is either you die or I die. The Han army did not hesitate, and the laborers and slaves were helpless.

The six hundred or so survivors continued to carry soil forward in pain, fear and numbness, and another round of arrows rained down.

Nearly a hundred people fell.

The 200 supervising soldiers following behind them didn't even think of firing a few arrows as cover fire, and just watched silently.

The screams and cries of the laborers and slaves became louder and louder. Finally, some of them could not bear it anymore and began to abandon their sandbags and mud balls and retreat.

Linghu Yu's Hedong Supervisory Team immediately opened fire and swept down all the fleeing people. Although many people did not flee, they were innocently caught in the crossfire and were shot by stray arrows and died on the spot.

When only 400 of the first batch of laborers and convicts were left to fill the pit, Linghu Yu finally raised a black flag and waved it three times.

The supervising team shouted orders one after another, ordering all the laborers and slaves who were carrying soil to fill the pit in front to retreat.

However, some people were blind and did not retreat from both sides, but instead attacked the army formation, so more than a dozen people were directly killed by the supervising team.

Soon, the second team of 600 laborers who were filling the trench came forward carrying soil and mud from both sides.

Behind the barrier, the rain of arrows came again.

By the time the second group of people filled the pit to within thirty or forty steps of the deer horns, half of the six hundred people had fallen again.

The air was filled with yellow dust and blood mist.

The foul smell produced by the laborers' urination and defecation mixed with the smell of earth and blood, and was extremely unpleasant, but no one cared.

Linghu Yu waved the black flag again, and the survivors retreated again.

Always give people some hope.

After a brief reorganization, these survivors will be able to continue fighting on the battlefield.

The third team of 600 people followed.

This time, all the horse traps were finally filled and they successfully rushed to the Han army's earthen wall.

However, this does not mean victory.

In front of the hundred-foot-long earth wall, there is a row of hundred-foot-long deer antlers.

In front of the deer horns, there is a trench that is a hundred feet long, three feet wide, and one foot deep.

Oblique water is introduced into it.

The convicts received orders to carry the bodies off the ground and throw them into the trench.

At this time, the Han army finally moved.

More than a hundred soldiers wearing armor with sleeves suddenly emerged from behind the barrier and rushed forward across the wooden bridge that could only accommodate five people.

"kill!"

The roar was deafening and full of murderous intent.

The civilians were suddenly terrified and rushed towards the main camp of the Wei army in panic.

Linghu Yu froze when he saw this, and quickly ordered his men to shoot arrows, killing and scattering the group of fleeing civilians who were being driven to attack the main camp.

Many fleeing civilians withdrew from the left and right wings of the Wei army, but many still rushed to the front of the supervisory team and were finally hacked to death by the supervisory team. He brought the last 1,200 civilians to the front of the battle.

Some carried corpses, some carried sandbags, some held mud balls, and half of the people simply went forward empty-handed.

On the east bank of Xieshui, military officer Zhou Tai saw that Linghu Yu's side had already rushed to the trench, so he waved the command flag and beat the war drum.

At the same time, Sima Yi's two thousand highly motivated elite soldiers, led by General Zhou Dang, crossed the Xieshui River and pressed behind Linghu Yu's three thousand Hedong Qu.

Now, it was Linghu Yu's Hedong Qu's turn to be supervised by the rear army.

Linghu Yu's face turned a little pale.

After this battle, he could no longer stay in Hedong.

The noise and cries on the battlefield continued.

"Deng Yangwu, we've used up half of our arrows. My captain asked if we should save some?"

Zong Qian's personal guards ran to the Han army's platform on the plateau and asked loudly.

Deng Zhi, looking down from his high position at the Wei army below, said, "Keep shooting! I'll have the arrows from the eastern enclosure brought here!"

"Yes!" Zongqian's personal soldiers quickly ran down the plateau.

It seemed that there were still six or seven thousand Wei troops waiting in formation east of Xieshui.

I don’t know how many of them are elite soldiers and how many are miscellaneous soldiers.

Once the arrows from Dongwei were taken, they would need to cross the wooden bridge. If the Wei generals were more alert, they would send people to attack Dongwei.

The Xiegu plank road is behind the West Encirclement, so the elite troops are all in the West Encirclement, while the East Encirclement is poorly defended. Once attacked, it will not last long.

Deng Zhi first glanced at Dongwei on the other side of the water where no fighting was happening, then lowered his head and looked at the Zongqian tribe right under his feet.

More than a hundred Han soldiers wearing armor with tube sleeves, holding long spears, emerged from behind the trench and rushed forward in a cone formation.

The trench could be said to be the last line of defense. Once it was safely filled by the laborers and slaves, the Wei army would drive them out to pluck deer antlers.

When their corpses piled up as high as the wall, the Han army would start hand-to-hand combat with the Wei army.

The civilians who were forced to fill the trenches with their lives were huddled together.

The people behind kept pushing forward, making it impossible for the people in front to retreat or move forward, and in the end they were completely pushed forward by the people behind.

"kill!"

"Kill the thief!"

"Die!"

The Han soldiers formed a cone formation and rushed forward with all their might.

Blood splattered everywhere and screams were heard.

A gap more than 20 steps wide was quickly opened up among the laborers, and it continued to spread to both sides under the killing of the Han army.

Behind the Han army, inside the earthen wall as high as a man, a rain of arrows continued to pour down on the crowd.

Due to the narrow roads and crowded crowds, many people were killed or injured.

But it would take time for the Han army to stab and poke.

It was also impossible to form a thin long formation and guard in front of the trench.

This makes it easy for the enemy to squeeze into the trench.

As a result, more and more laborers and slaves successfully rushed to the front of the trench and threw the sandbags, mud balls and corpses in their hands into the trench.

The trenches in many places were filled in and the deer antlers were pulled out, leaving only the last earth wall in the Han army's defense line.

Linghu Yu's 1,000 Hedong Qu were now pushed into the range of the Han army by General Zhou Ping's supervising team.

"Raise!" Linghu Yu roared and ordered.

As he gave the order, more than a hundred wooden boards over ten feet long were lifted high by the Hedong soldiers and formed a wooden wall.

It can not only protect against arrows, but also be placed on the Han army's earthen wall that is only one person high, and directly kill into the encirclement.

The Wei army soldiers advanced.

The arrows hit the wooden boards, making bursts of thuds, and soon they reached twenty or thirty steps in front of the Han army's earthen wall.

Linghu Yu was feeling that his method was feasible.

In an instant, hundreds of people suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood on the edge of the earthen plateau which was more than 20 feet high on his right.

Some people bent their bows and shot arrows downwards, while others pushed rolling logs and stones downwards.

The rain of arrows is as follows!

Rolling logs and stones rolled down the smooth plateau wall, rumbling and raising a cloud of dust.

The Wei army soldiers near the plateau had almost no place to hide, and a large number of them were killed or wounded in an instant.

Linghu Yu frowned and said, "Why hasn't the state commander sent anyone to capture this plateau yet?!"

On this earthen plateau is the general platform of the Han army.

It just happened to form a three-dimensional defense with the barrier built by Zong Qian at the foot of the plateau.

Although Linghu Yu was unwilling to charge forward, he had no choice but to order his soldiers to stay away from the plateau and continue to charge forward as Zhou Tai's army did not issue orders.

Obviously, his troops were bait to lure the Han army on the plateau.

On the east bank of Xieshui River, military officer Zhou Tai looked toward the earthen plateau that was most likely hiding the Han army's general platform.

Zhang Shen's two thousand soldiers and two thousand laborers had been exhausted, with only four or five hundred left, but they had managed to hold back the defenders on the plateau.

General Wei Ping led two thousand elite soldiers and took advantage of the opportunity when the Han army had no troops to deploy. They had already taken a detour and climbed a small hill next to the plateau, and were forming a battle formation to attack the plateau.

It is estimated that there are at most two thousand Han troops on the plateau.

Even if they are all elites, we can still defeat him by piling up lives!
With this thought in mind, he looked again at Wuzhangyuan, ten miles away.

Even if the Shu invaders came down from the plateau to support, it would take at least quarter of an hour for them to reach the battlefield.

Besides, how many people can he have on the plateau?

If he dares to come down, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry will directly defeat him!
Zhou Tai issued another order:

"The Shu invaders' general's platform is right on that plateau!
"Order Jia Xu to lead another thousand soldiers to seize the plateau, and have Linghu Yu send another thousand men to follow!"

The personal guards reined in their horses and crossed the river.

At the same time, a thousand miscellaneous soldiers received an order and escorted a thousand laborers to the low hill that Wen Qin had tried to capture early this morning.

Zhou Tai wanted to see if he could use this to delay time and lure the enemy general into not daring to mobilize the Han army in the east to cross the river to support the earthen plateau.

Then he looked towards Linghu Yu's tribe at the foot of the plateau.

I saw Linghu Yu's Hedong Qu was slowly moving away from the loess plateau.

Even a few soldiers had already fought their way into the Han army's earthen wall.

Behind Linghu Yu's troops, General Zhou Dang's two thousand elite soldiers were still recuperating.

As soon as Linghu Yu's troops retreat, they can connect up and give the Shu invaders no breathing time.

The general's platform on the plateau.

Deng Zhi's personal guards came to report: "Deng Yangwu, another two to three thousand Wei invaders have come up the slope of the mountain!"

Deng Zhi nodded and stood up.

While observing the battle situation below the plateau, he walked towards the sloping mountain.

The mountain originally had no name, and was called Xieshan only because it had a long slope three miles long.

The Han army was short of troops, so they could only withdraw to the plateau and the entrance of the sloping valley.

However, there was a deep ditch between the sloping mountain and the earthen plateau. The Wei army thought that if they crossed the earthen plateau, they would have to endure the attack from the Han army from a high position.

One hundred heavy armored soldiers, two thousand tube-sleeved armored soldiers, carrying twelve hundred Yuanrong crossbows, were all deployed there waiting.

(End of this chapter)