In the late autumn of August and September, the north wind howled continuously, and the heavy rain that was blown sideways in the wind hit Cao Jun's soldiers on Fancheng.
But the heavy raindrops can no longer give them heavy pressure.
Because on the flood plane in the distance, those undulating ships are the things that kill people.
Some of the Cao Jun soldiers on the city wall had indifferent expressions. They just glanced into the distance and silently squatted down to wipe their blades. Some had frightened eyes and trembled slightly. Some simply took a few steps back and stood behind their comrades.
.
The heavy rains in recent days have knocked their military morale into the dust. Many of the people here were Cao Hong's soldiers stationed in Yingchuan, and most of them had even experienced that battle in person.
Maybe Yu Jin is the next Cao Hong, maybe Cao Hong is the previous Yu Jin, who knows? The rain in Jingzhou has been so heavy that it is enough to drown everyone here.
Soon, amidst the turbulence of wind and rain, the Jingzhou Army's fleet was getting closer and closer to the east gate. They lined up one after another about a mile away from the east gate. This used to be the ground, but now it is an above-ground river, and the boats were walking on it.
Heaven.
The two sides faced each other one mile apart, and the Jingzhou army did nothing. But it was precisely their failure to do anything that gave Cao's army a great sense of oppression, which was already at a huge disadvantage in terms of morale, psychology, and numbers.
Silence and uneasiness quickly spread among the army. Many people looked at each other and stood behind the parapet, anxiously and fearfully looking at the fleet outside the city wall, with depressed emotions.
"They. Why don't they seem to be moving?"
"I don't know. Let's take a look."
"Is it possible to prepare for a surprise attack?"
"Everyone, look over there."
Cao Jun's soldiers were whispering, and suddenly someone pointed to the north.
Many people saw another fleet of boats appear on the turbulent river in the north, and then slowly headed towards the north gate.
Immediately afterwards, a fleet of boats also appeared from the south, swaggering past the city and sailing towards the south gate.
"Surround three buildings and one!"
Yu Jin almost squeezed out these words from between his teeth.
Lieutenant General He Mao said: "General, the enemy is so powerful that we may not be able to resist it."
"Tell Niugai and Haozhou to block it with all their strength."
Yu Jin had followed Cao Cao in the north and south for many years, so he naturally knew the situation and said: "The enemy will definitely set up an ambush at the west gate, so be careful. General Zhengxi is now collecting ships, and reinforcements will come soon."
"yes."
He Mao hurriedly went to convey the military order.
By noon, the three fleets were already in position, and then as the melodious sound of horns spread in all directions, Huang Zhong's troops took the lead in launching the attack.
Countless ships began to set sail, and the sailors rowing in the cabin shouted rhythmic chants. They paddled with their hands and boarded the ship with their feet. They were shirtless and exposed their knotted muscles, providing a steady stream of power for the ships.
The paddles on both sides of the battleships rotated wildly, splashing waves in the already rolling flood. The scattered fleet slowly approached the city wall, then lined up in three rows, rushing towards the city.
The front of their boat was covered with wooden planks. When they approached the city wall of Fan City, they began to slow down, then slowly approached the city, less than ten feet away, and then continued to move forward.
This is a technical job. No matter in ancient times or later generations, when a ship is parked at a normal pier, due to the inertia of the water surface, the ship is often likely to hit the pier if it does not stop in time.
However, in later generations, many tires were installed at the docks to prevent ships from colliding, so this rarely happened.
In ancient times, although there were no rubber tires for buffering, a lot of hay was usually spread on the dock, and the ships were either allowed to dock on the hay, or the ships were dragged by manpower to the dock and tied up.
It's just that Yu Jin in Fancheng can't help Jingzhou Navy spread hay or drag it manually. He just wants all the enemy ships to crash into it and smash it to pieces.
It is a pity that Huang Zhong's fleet was obviously not so technically advanced. They used hooks and anchors to gradually fix the ships, and then began to move forward.
Yu Jin then issued the order to release arrows.
The planks on the ship were standing upright, and the jingling arrows were fired over, turning the planks into hedgehogs, but causing no damage to the enemy behind.
When they were less than two feet away from the city, which was four meters away, an unknown number of crossbowmen appeared on the deck of the second floor of the Jingzhou Navy fleet and began shooting arrows into the city wall below.
Because the water level rose, the first deck of the ship was almost flush with the city wall, and the second deck was even higher than the city wall. Huang Zhong's crossbowmen shot arrows from a high position, taking advantage of the location.
In the past, siege battles were all about them shooting arrows from the city wall. They were at a high place and bullied others at a low place. As a result, now the two levels have been reversed, and the offense and defense have changed.
Cao Jun on the city wall was shot so hard that the crossbowmen were almost unable to fight back. They could only huddle up behind their shields with their shields erect, trembling while listening to the clanging noises outside.
The eastern section of the city wall, which is three to four miles long, is densely packed with Cao's troops. Outside the city wall, there is an endless fleet of boats. Huang Zhong's ships not only crowd the entire section of the city wall, but also line up in three rows at the rear, with the bows and
The sterns of the boats are connected together and built with planks to form a moving castle.
Now it's like two cities colliding together, with arrows flying everywhere. From the beginning, Cao Jun still had some ability to resist, but in the end, through the advantage of being condescending, Huang Zhong's troops had already occupied the long-range offensive, and even Huang Zhong himself stood on the bow of the ship and shot
Several people.
Cao Jun's city wall was already in chaos, and taking this opportunity, the wooden planks on the ship fell down one after another and were erected on the ship and the city wall. At the same time, a large number of ladders and hooks were also thrown up, and the hooks and claws clung to the female wall and began to climb the city.
.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The Jingzhou army shouted slogans of charging and killing, with a loud voice. They rushed directly to the city wall along the wooden planks and ladders, and began to fight fiercely with Cao's army on the wall.
The roars, echoes, weapons blocking, and pitiful howls and groans on the wall almost never stopped.
I don't know how many Jingzhou troops rushed to the city wall to fight with Cao Jun, not just here, but also in the south city and the north city. Huang Zhong went into battle in person, beheaded Yu Jin's deputy general He Mao, and then continued to march.
Cao's army was retreating steadily. From the end of the afternoon to the beginning of the afternoon, the two sides were fighting around three sections of the city wall for the whole noon. There was no end in sight to the fierce fight.
The section of city wall less than 180 steps away from the city tower in the center of the east city gate was the focus of the battle between the two sides. The blood of soldiers from both sides was splattered everywhere. In many places, the yellow-brown rammed earth was completely soaked with blood and became
Into a dark red color.
Cast iron helmets and flip-leather hats can be seen everywhere on the wall, and bald and clustered arrows and broken weapons are scattered on the floor. The corpses of soldiers who died in the battle from both sides are piled randomly in the corners on both sides of the wall. Some corpses have severed limbs and cannot be moved in time.
, being kicked and trampled under people's feet - the battle was fought so hard that no one could spare the manpower to clear the battlefield.
Yu Jin had already retreated to the section of the city wall in the northeast corner. The densely packed Jingzhou army surged up like a tide. Cao's army, which was already low in military morale, was almost unable to stop it. In less than an hour, a large section of the east city wall had been seized by the enemy. Arrows
Swords and halberds flew everywhere, and corpses piled up like mountains.
Even in the end, Cao Jun could no longer stand on the city wall and was forced to retreat step by step. Many people jumped directly into the water in the city at the rear. Those who could not swim were drowned, and those who knew how to swim reluctantly climbed to the nearby rooftops to take refuge. Inside the city
The rooftops were full of fleeing Cao soldiers.
Niu Gai was killed among the rebels, and Yu Jin retreated to the North City Gate area, and evacuated to the West City Gate with his general Hao Zhou. At present, the defenders at the West City Gate were safe and sound, but the problem was that after the East City Gate was defeated, the north and south city gates and
The city wall could not withstand it for long. Sooner or later, the flames of war began to burn towards the west gate, making the guard of the west gate, Hu Xiu, frightened and uneasy.
The rain was still falling, and under the erosion of the water, the blood on the city wall gradually soaked into the rammed earth of the city wall. Bodies were floating everywhere in the floods inside and outside the city, most of them were soldiers of Cao's army, and a few of them died in battle.
More often than not, they failed to escape in time and fell into the water and drowned.
However, Yu Jin could not resist the front. After retreating to the west city, the remaining Cao troops who resisted at the east city gate had basically surrendered. This trend also infected the entire Fancheng. The surrendered Cao troops, from officers to lower-level soldiers, fell to their knees.
Blockbuster.
During the storm, the situation in Fancheng was basically settled. Huang Zhong, Lu Chang and Wenpin ordered the soldiers to escort the prisoners back to the ship, and led a group of soldiers to the west gate from two directions at the same time.
Yu Jin hurriedly ran to the wall of the west city gate. What he saw was that the soldiers were in chaos. Many people were snatching the boats used to transport supplies, dragging the boats from the city to the city wall, and then pulling the boats from the city wall to the west gate.
Extrapolation - the city was flooded and there was really no way to open the city gate and escape.
Seeing this scene, Yu Jin was furious and said: "What's going on? Where is Hu Xiu?"
"General Hu has already run away, General Zuo, please run away too. There are too many enemies, and the soldiers cannot resist them at all."
A captain shouted at the ban while towing the boat.
There were no big ships in Yujin, only small ones, and Fancheng itself was a dock and ferry on the Han River. Those who were snatched from the dock when the storm came, could not escape more than 30,000 people.
Now the army is on the verge of defeat. The soldiers must either escape by boat, surrender, die in battle or drown. There is no other way to choose.
Although Liu Beijun has no records or rumors of abusing or killing prisoners of war, the problem is that they are northern soldiers. Who wants to leave their families and stay in the south as prisoners?
Therefore, in order to escape for their lives, many soldiers chose to use the supply boats in the city to escape.
Even because there were not enough boats, the soldiers fought fiercely to survive. Former comrades now became enemies, fighting each other in small units, no longer caring about the friendship of comrades.
Seeing such a scene, Yu Jin felt extremely sad.
As the leader of the generals with a foreign surname in Cao Wei, he followed Cao Cao in the north and south for many years. He was always known for his strict military discipline, and the soldiers he trained were also elites in the north.
But a military defeat actually led to infighting among his colleagues, and a lifetime of heroic reputation was ruined. How could Yu Jin not feel despair?
However, this was no longer the time for him to feel sad and angry.
There were only two ways before him, one was to follow the captain to escape, and the other was to scold and stop the soldiers.
Take a look at the chaos around you.
The army was defeated like a mountain, and his army only had 30,000 soldiers who were disorganized and had low morale.
The enemy army numbered more than 40,000, and their morale was high. Just by shooting arrows outside the city, no one dared to stand on the city wall. They were no match for Huang Zhong, Lu Changwen and others.
The soldiers crowded inside and outside the city walls did not even care about the approaching enemy in order to seize a ship. Who would listen to his orders again?
Thinking of this, Yu Jin could only sigh and said painfully: "Let's get on the boat and go."
At that moment, Yu Jin's personal guards also immediately joined the queue to seize the boats. They helped Yu Jin and Hao Zhou seize the two boats, pushed them into the flood outside with difficulty, and jumped onto the boats to escape.
There is also chaos outside the city. There are dozens of small boats in the entire city. The small ones can only carry four or five people, and the large ones can only carry more than ten people.
But now these boats are basically overloaded. The small boats can seat more than ten or nearly twenty people, and some of the larger ones can actually carry thirty or forty people. The boats are swaying in the wind and rain, capsizing, capsizing, and even killing people to reduce the burden.
Countless colleagues threw their bodies away.
In the midst of this chaotic scene, Yu Jin and Haozhou's ships were also loaded, and their personal guards could not sit still when they came up. Yu Jin could not bear to let his personal guards who had been with him for many years die in Fancheng.
In this way, the two lonely boats drifted in the flood with difficulty. After only rowing for a hundred feet, they were overturned by a large wave of the rolling flood tide.
Fortunately, there was a hillside in that area, and the boat happened to be floating at the bottom of the hillside. After the boat capsized, Yu Jin was fished out to the hillside by his guards, almost rolling and crawling, covered in mud, and extremely embarrassed.
Climbed up the slope.
Looking at Fancheng in the distance, the Jingzhou army has already reached the wall of the west city. A large number of Cao's troops who had no time to escape either fell into the flood, were submerged by the waves, were killed by the enemy, or knelt down and chose to surrender.
Only a few lucky people escaped by boat, and the entire Fancheng fell into the hands of the Jingzhou army.
Yu Jin's hair was disheveled and his eyes were dull as he watched all this.
He knows.
Even if he returns alive, he is finished.
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"Report!"
Just when Huang Zhongwen hired Lu Chang to capture Fancheng, Yu Jin was trapped on the hillside outside the city.
In the Lingyang Slope area, about ten miles away from the northwest corner of Fancheng, Shen Chen was standing on a boat and looking into the distance.
The floodwaters spread for dozens of miles on both sides, but the water became shallower as you went north. After reaching Lingyang Slope, the water level dropped to less than three feet.
Therefore, Shen Chen's fleet had to stay two miles away from Lingyang Slope and cruise in the water.
To the north of Lingyang Slope is Yancheng. At this moment, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang's troops were dragging a large number of ships and were hesitant on the slope, not daring to enter the water at all.
Their boats are all small boats collected nearby and belong to the fishing boat category, while Shen Chen's boats are small and medium-sized boats specially used for fighting, such as stern boats, fighting ships, sudden attacks, exposed rafts, walking boats, first boarding, etc.
It's a warship.
Not to mention that the number of their fishing boats is not enough. In just two days, they only found hundreds of small fishing boats. Simply speaking, even if the number is sufficient, going into the water to fight the enemy is a dead end.
Therefore, even if they actually received the news that Yu Jin was sent to ask for help at noon, they would not dare to go into the water to rescue Fancheng.
Shen Chen blocked them.
Hundreds of warships cruised back and forth in the flood. Although due to the width problem, the enemy ships were sometimes seen scattered, but everyone knew that once they rushed up to start a battle, they would only be seeking death.
Therefore, both Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang were afraid to move forward and only dared to wait and see from a distance.
At this time, behind Shen Chen's main ship, a small scout boat rowed on the water like an arrow, and soon arrived at Shen Chen's main ship. The scouts got on the boat and came to Shen Chen, knelt down on one knee and said: "Huang Generals, General Lu, and General Wen have captured Fancheng, a large number of Cao's troops have surrendered, enemy generals Niu Gai and He Mao have been beheaded, and the commander-in-chief Yu Jin has disappeared."
"oh?"
After receiving this news, Shen Chen nodded, waved and said, "Return."
"Return!"
As the order was given, the soldiers on the ship's pole waved flags and issued retreat instructions to other warships cruising in the distance.
Hundreds of warships turned their bows one after another and headed towards Fancheng behind.
In the distance, Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang stood on the top of Lingyang Slope and watched. Seeing this scene, Xia Houyuan said anxiously: "What's going on? Why did they leave?"
Xu Huang let out a long sigh and said, "Then Shen Chen came to intercept us. Now there is only one possibility for them to retreat."
"What's possible?"
"Fan City. I'm afraid Fan City is no longer safe."
"What?"
Xia Houyuan was so angry that he struck hard at the rocks on the ground with his knife, roaring: "God, why is it raining so heavily? Why!"
Boom!
As if following his curse, a thunderbolt fell from the sky and hit the foot of the hillside not far away. Many Cao soldiers around him were startled and ran away in a hurry.
Only Xia Houyuan didn't seem to care. His scarlet eyes looked towards the south where Shen Chen's warship was evacuating, and his eyes seemed to be bleeding.
The King of Wei ordered him to rush to Xiangfan's aid. He marched for four days and finally reached the battlefield, but he could not gain any victory.
Now if Fancheng is lost, how can he explain it to the King of Wei?
．
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The war in Fancheng has been decided, and Shen Chen returns to his destination.
Hundreds of ships, large and small, set off and headed towards Fancheng.
After approaching Fancheng, Shan Yi, a disciple and general, pointed into the distance and said: "General, there are many Cao troops over there."
Shen Chen looked over.
I saw that there are still many hills and slopes around Fancheng.
After Fancheng was captured, some people fled in boats, while others used wooden boards as lifebuoys and floated in the water.
Some people were floating on the flood, some were hit by the waves to the hillside, and some boats were drifting with the waves. Cao Jun was everywhere on the river, as dense as ants.
Many people were almost drowned by the floods.
Seeing this scene, Shen Chen waved his hand and said: "Save people, capture all the prisoners."
"only!"
Shan Yi should be handed over.
After the military order was issued, hundreds of warships sailed to the distance near the west gate of Fancheng.
Cao's troops from Luoshui were everywhere within a few miles.
I'm afraid there are no less than a few thousand people.
Shen Chen's fleet went up, constantly rescuing people and capturing prisoners on the spot.
When his ship passed by a small hill, he saw dozens of Cao's troops in ragged clothes and in a state of disarray on the hill.
In order to facilitate their escape, most of them had taken off their armor and were either shirtless or wearing tattered clothes.
Only one person was in a sorry state, but he was actually wearing a smaller chainmail armor on his upper body.
Ring chain armor is a bit like chain mail, and it appeared in the late Han Dynasty. Cao Zhi also wrote "The Table of Armors Given to Ministers by the First Emperor" to record this kind of armor. It is a relatively lightweight light armor, which is not available to senior generals of Cao Wei.
Shen Chen was a knowledgeable person. Although the man looked haggard, covered in mud, and very old, he stood on the boat and asked tentatively: "Yu Jin?"
Yu Jin looked at Shen Chen's familiar but unfamiliar face, and was extremely desperate. He knew that it was Shen Chen, and the battle had been lost. He knelt down with his knees weak, raised his hand and offered the sword given by Cao Cao, and said sadly : "I am willing to surrender!"