Chapter 51 Attacking Xiangfan

It was mid-May, 14th year of Jian'an

Gan Ning, the commander-in-chief of the Taiping Army, swore an oath to set out in Jiangling, and almost all came out to lead an army of 100,000 north to attack Xiangfan, leaving only Pang Tong and Jiang Qin in charge in Jiangling.

This arrangement is in line with the Taiping Army's always marching deployment, and there must be a steadfast person in the rear.

Guo Jia went to war with Xi Zhicai in the rear. Zhang Liao from Guanzhong went to Hangu Pass to fight, Xu Shu in Chang'an, and now Ganning attacked Xiangfan in the north, and Pang Tong in the rear.

The sun shines brightly and the wind is gentle. Outside Fancheng is a scene of a murderous army coming to the city.

The Taiping Army safely passed the Han River and came to Fancheng outside, besieging the city on three sides, but there were no soldiers and horses going north of Fancheng.

Riding his horse and head up, Gan Ning was majestic. He looked up at the city of Fancheng and shouted loudly: "Cao Zixiao, do you dare to go to war?"

Cao Ren, who was covered in armor, held the barriers on the city, and looked down at the outside of the city with anger aroused from his heart.

Many years ago, Cao Ren met with Gan Ning, and the location was in Guanzhong. That time, Gan Ning led the Silver Feather Flying Cavalry, Cao Ren led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and the two sides confronted each other. Cao Ren successfully rescued Cao Cao, which was also the only knot in Gan Ning's military for 20 years.

Cao Ren's strength is to lead the cavalry to and from the wind to fight quickly. Often, Cao Cao was stalemate on the front battlefield and Cao Ren accidentally opened the door to victory on the second battlefield. However, now facing a 100,000 Taiping Army army, Cao Ren has no generals except a strong city and 70,000 defenders around him, and no cavalry can perform miraculous results.

"Cao Zixiao, where did the fierce general who led thousands of tiger and leopard cavalry to attack thousands of miles away? Why can you only be a turtle now? Go out of the city to fight a certain battle!"

Gan Ning was proud and arrogant in front of the formation. Seeing that Fan Cheng still had no reaction, Gan Ning sneered, took his longbow, and took the arrow, and his eyes suddenly became sharp.

Smack

Arrows break through the sky, like lightning.

Cao Ren, who was standing at the top of the city, remained calm, while the guards beside him held up shields from the front.

Buzz

一支箭矢将城头曹仁旗帜射落,扎在屋檐上铮铮作响.

The defenders on the top of the city hurriedly shot arrows at Gan Ning, but the arrows fell twenty or thirty steps in front of Gan Ning.

How can the range of an ordinary archer be compared with that of Gan Ning?

Gan Ning had already calculated the range of the enemy's troops, and the skilled man was brave enough to ride his horse in front of the formation without fear.

The flag was shot down, and Cao Ren's suppressed anger wanted to burst out and planned to leave the city to stand, but Man Chong stopped him.

"General, this is the other party's method of provoking the general."

Man Chong didn't want to say that, but on the battlefield, the provocation seemed superficial, and most of the bloody and brave generals still took this trick.

Cao Ren struggled all over his head and smashed his fist against the wall.

He also knew that this was an aggressive general, but the enemy's clamor made him angry.

Fancheng is the most critical link in the Central Plains defense line of Cao Wei. If Fancheng is lost, it will cause a chain reaction. The most fatal thing is the fall of the entire Central Plains.

Therefore, Cao Ren tried his best to maintain his rationality and obeyed Man Chong's advice, neither paying attention to Gan Ning's provocation nor considering taking risks to attack the enemy, and defending the enemy honestly.

"Ganning led 100,000 troops, and our army defended the city by 70,000. The Taiping Army's battle against the enemy will inevitably lose a large number of soldiers. If the Taiping Army has no support, Fancheng will be in danger."

Man Chong told Cao Ren everything he should say, so that he could understand that although there were many enemies in this battle, the chances of winning were not necessarily high. As long as he defended his life, Fancheng could still be saved.

After hearing this, Cao Ren asked back: "What if the enemy army has reinforcements?"

Cao Ren followed Cao Cao to fight a lot of this kind of siege. Now there is plenty of food and grass in Fancheng, and there is no possibility of exhausting the food and grass after being besieged. After all, when Cao Cao captured Jingzhou, all the military supplies in Xiangyang fell into Cao's army's bag.

If Gan Ning wants to destroy Fancheng, a strong attack will inevitably lead to a loss of war than the Cao Wei side. However, considering the importance of Fancheng, it is difficult to ensure whether Gan Ning's 100,000 troops will be the first wave of troops, and whether there will be reinforcements in the future will be expected.

Man Chong said bitterly, and said lightly: "Let's watch the change. If the enemy army has reinforcements, then he can only ask the King of Wei for help."

Gan Ning called for a fight outside the city for an hour, but Cao Ren from Fancheng did not respond in a single sentence.

With a relaxed mood, Gan Ning ordered Zhou Tai and Mengda, who were on the left and right, "Let's start siege according to the previous plan."

Zhou Taimengda held his fists and took the order, one headed west and the other headed east, and the other headed for a horse and left.

The city was besieged on three sides, Gan Ning personally presided over the siege on the south side of Fancheng, Zhou Tai commanded the west side, and handed over the east side to Meng Da.

The order flag was waving, and the military order spread. The Taiping Army had a majestic formation. First, the soldiers holding the shield stepped forward, followed by a row of archers, and the third row was more than a dozen catapults.

When Gan Ning gave the order, the Taiping troops on three sides launched one after another.

In this battle, Gan Ning did not arrange for the troops to board the first, because Fancheng City has high walls and strong guard power, so it is a death to go to board the first.

The initial confrontation was consumption and temptation.

The rain of arrows shot from the tower of Fancheng covers the sky, and the Taiping Army advancing towards Fancheng holds shields to block the sky. When the archers reach the limit range, the entire army stops. The soldiers hold their shields in front to block the rain. When the gaps are handed over, the archers shoot arrows and kill the defenders at the top of the city.

Behind the archers, side by side casting cars were neatly launched to throw huge rocks at Fancheng, some hitting the wall, some hitting the top of the city, and some flew into the city.

Cao Ren, who was standing at the top of the city to command the war, listened to the rewards from all parties, and felt heavy in his heart.

Screaming, wailing, shouting and killing, turning a deaf ear.

Cao Ren stared at the Ganzi flag fluttering in the wind outside the city.

What does Gan Ning want to do?

The Taiping Army shot and killed the defenders at the city from a distance in the rain of arrows. The two sides injured the Taiping Army even more severely, but because of the sword and shield soldiers blocking them with shields, the Taiping Army may not have much casualties.

But the Taiping Army did not even have the troops to board the first, or did not appear, nor did it appear, nor did it rush the city troops carrying ladders or pushing chariots. It was too incredible.

Just by such a long-distance confrontation, can we break through Fancheng?

Such casualties and injuries may be consumed by one year.

The siege lasted only two hours, and the Taiping Army stopped.

After withdrawing the troops, the Taiping Army returned to the camp outside the city. The camp was built very firmly, with solid walls on the outside, echoing each other inside, combining virtual and real, and connoting the mystery at a glance.

Cao Ren returned to the army in confusion and observed the soldiers. Man Chong ran over and pulled Cao Ren aside.

"Did the general think of Gan Ning's strategy?"

Man Chong asked tentatively.

Cao Ren scratched his head and shook his head honestly.

Man Chong had a heavy expression and whispered: "Gan Ning is most likely trying to exhaust our army's arrows."

When Cao Ren heard this, he was shocked and suspicious.

Although defending the city can use many ways to prevent the enemy from climbing to the top of the city, such as boiling oil, falling rocks, etc., it is undoubtedly the most effective to shoot the enemy from a long distance with a bow and arrow.

The war consumption of more than 150,000 troops on both sides is unimaginable.

Like today, the Taiping Army fired arrows under the city under the rain of arrows, and Cao's soldiers fired arrows at the top of the city, and consumed at least tens of thousands of arrows.

Even if the battlefield is cleaned and recycled, the arrows outside the city will definitely be more than those inside the city. In other words, the Taiping Army consumes less arrows than Cao's soldiers.

The more serious situation is that it is not easy to build the right arrow. In terms of material selection and fine workmanship, there is no military mill in Fancheng. When the arrows in Fancheng are exhausted, the Taiping Army will use the troops to attack the city first, and the casualties will be reduced a lot.

Will the Taiping Army's arrows be used up? Yes, but the Taiping Army's subsequent war materials can be transported at any time. It is hard to say that Fancheng is surrounded, especially if there is no enemy army in the north, who can guarantee that Gan Ning was not deliberately staying and waiting to ambush?

Cao Ren gritted his teeth. After Man Chong said this, he suddenly realized that the food and supplies in Fancheng were sufficient, and even if the city was closed, it could support more than a year, but the war equipment might not last long.

Based on today's situation, Fancheng will lose the ability to defend against enemies in a long range within two months.

Silently sighed, Cao Ren said, "Let's see if it changes later."

Today's situation is just a guess. Whether it will be confirmed is hard to say. If the Taiping Army has been fighting with the Fancheng Defense Army in the future, it can prove Gan Ning's plan.

The Taiping Army besieged Fancheng, and after the news spread, the world was shocked!

When the war report reached Yecheng, Cao Pi was having a headache about another thing.

In the simple and elegant palace of the King of Wei, Cao Pi often paced and thought deeply in his study.

Since successfully succeeding to the throne and stabilize the situation in Cao Wei six months ago, Cao Pi is not very worried about military affairs now. After all, Cao, Guo, and Sun are in a delicate balance. Although Cao Pi hated Liu Bei, who captured Hefei, he did not take it seriously. With Liu Bei's 20,000 troops, it is not worth mentioning.

When he took office, Cao Wei was in danger. If Cao Wei fell, the gentry in Central Plains and Hebei would probably be sieged by the Taiping Army, so the gentry supported Cao Pi at that moment.

But now that the peace and stability have entered a period of peace, the gentry became restless.

In terms of power and tricks, Cao Pi was self-aware. He was not as good as his father Cao Cao. Cao Cao's political line of struggle throughout his life was to suppress the gentry. In the era of Cao Pi, the gentry began to rebound.

Some people even dared to secretly report Cheng Yu to rebel!

An old minister in his seventies, Cheng Yu worked hard and made great contributions to Cao Wei. He has been following him since Cao Cao started his army. He rebelled? Not to mention that he has no military power, even if he is given military power, Cao Pi is still one hundred at ease!

But some people dare to point the finger at Cheng Yu. This matter is obviously a political struggle, and they want to overthrow Cheng Yu and then divide power.

After thinking about it, Cao Pi could not suppress the gentry and could not control the imperial party. His prestige was not as good as Cao Cao, so the situation after he took office was that Liu Xie's emperor's flag might have caused more harm than good.

How to get the gentry to support themselves and the Cao family was a difficult problem for Cao Pi to rack his brains day and night.

People outside the power of Cao Wei do not recognize that Cao Wei is now holding the emperor to command the princes, and Liu Xie's value is far less dazzling than Cao Cao was in the era when there were many princes.

Under the rule of Cao Wei, everyone knew who was the real master of this land.

Cao Pi dared to abolish Liu Xie, but he was afraid that he would face the gentry and oppose him together!

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Chapter completed!