In early February, the night sky in Nanyang was not as clear as in summer.
Although it can't be said that you can't see your fingers, the clouds blackened by the night will eventually cover the moon and plunge the earth into endless haze.
When Zhang Xiu raised his head and stared at the dark clouds that covered the moon, he gave the order for a general attack.
At this moment, the whole world seemed to be filled with the light of countless torches lit in Cao's camp.
"call out!"
Since it was a sneak attack, it was naturally impossible to rush straight into the camp first.
Zhang Xiu was well versed in the Xiliang people's sneak attack tactics. He first sent someone with excellent archery skills to slowly approach outside Cao's camp and shoot the guards on the tower to death with bows and arrows.
The operation of bows and arrows is far more troublesome than modern guns, but it is better to be quiet, especially at night in February, when there are many natural noises, including the hooves of insects and birds, which cover up the bow strings and arrows.
Soon, with the efforts of several sharpshooters, the guards standing on the tower at the entrance of the camp were shot to death one after another. Without even a warning being issued, they collapsed silently.
Without anyone outside to warn him, Zhang Xiu immediately led his team to the outside of Cao's camp and pulled out the antlers. Countless fire dragons surged toward them behind him.
"Kill!"
"Kill Cao Cao!"
"Come on!"
In an instant, the sky-shaking shouts resounded throughout Cao Ying.
Just as Jia Xu expected.
Today is indeed the time when Cao Ying relaxed his guard the most, just like Gan Ning's night attack on Cao Ying in history.
In the same way, he first shot the lookout guards to death with bows and arrows, then went to the gate of the camp to move away the horses, and then rushed into Cao's camp and hacked them randomly.
The only difference was that Gan Ning only brought a hundred people with him.
And what about Zhang Xiu?
He brought more than 8,000 Xiliang soldiers.
The soldiers behind him poured into Cao's camp like a tide.
At this time, most of Cao's soldiers were still sleeping and did not expect to be attacked.
The guards at the door were caught off guard and were immediately killed. The Xiliang army rushed into the tent like a tiger among sheep and kept killing them.
The swarming cavalry rushed into the camp and threw torches everywhere.
In an instant, the entire Cao camp was in chaos. Countless soldiers suddenly woke up from their sleep. In a hurry, they rushed to the weapon rack at the entrance of the tent to grab a weapon, but found that the weapon rack was empty.
It turned out that during this period, Cao Cao saw Zhang Xiu surrender and easily pacified Nanyang. Therefore, in order to prevent the soldiers from being overly nervous, he asked the soldiers to store their weapons while sleeping.
In ancient times, camp roaring was actually a very common thing. According to historical records, there were countless camp roaring incidents. Even in modern liberation battlefields, there were many camp roaring incidents.
Therefore, even the most experienced generals are prone to encounter difficulties when faced with how to deal with this matter.
If the soldiers are ordered to hand over their weapons to the armory of the military camp for uniform placement before going to bed, once the enemy launches a sudden attack and the soldiers have no weapons in their hands, they will be defeated.
But if weapons are placed in the tents where soldiers sleep, if the soldiers are under great pressure and a camp roar suddenly breaks out, it will easily cause a very terrible chain reaction.
At that time, the damage caused by a civil strife will be no less than a sudden attack by the enemy.
So this is actually a dilemma.
It's just that for most generals, they are more worried about being attacked by a sneak attack than being attacked.
Therefore, when there are enemies around, soldiers are often required to keep their armor and sword in their hands while sleeping to prevent being attacked by the enemy.
But this time Cao Cao was different.
Cao Cao had already pacified Nanyang and did not expect Zhang Xiu to dare to attack him. The main reason was that he did not know that his plan to plot to kill Zhang Xiu was leaked, so he felt that Zhang Xiu definitely did not have the courage.
So in order to prevent the soldiers from being over-stressed and accidentally erupting into a roar from the camp, Cao Cao asked the soldiers to store their weapons in the arsenal while ensuring that they were safe.
In fact, the weapons depot is not that kind of large warehouse, but a separate weapons tent that is divided according to each team and each song.
Cao Cao's army has neatly planned battalions and departments, and very strict discipline. Therefore, it has already had a complete set of procedures. The tents where each team sleeps are not far from the weapons depot, making it easier to collect them when gathering.
But no matter how close they are, after all, they are not by their side. There is still a certain distance from the sleeping tent, about tens of meters for each team.
Therefore, when the soldiers rushed out of the camp and quickly ran to the nearby tent where weapons were stored, countless Xiliang troops from around them had already rushed in and slaughtered them wantonly.
Most of Cao's troops were unarmed at this moment, and the sky was dark. They rushed around like headless flies after rushing out of the tent, and were quickly killed.
No one wanted to resist anymore, but ran away as hard as they could to the north, running in the opposite direction to the killing cries.
The chaotic scene in the south quickly alarmed the Zhongying camp.
Cao Cao's camps were naturally not gathered together, but were divided into three camps: the front, middle and back. Each camp was divided into some small camps, which were intricate and covered a large area.
However, there are currently almost no fortifications in Cao Ying's camp. Except for a few barricades at the entrance of the camp, no structure inside the camp has been built at all.
It's not that Cao Cao didn't have this awareness, but Nanyang has been occupied by him. What's the point of building fortifications now?
In history, when Zhang Xiu rebelled, the entire Cao camp was in chaos. Only Yujin camp, which was a little further away, did not cause chaos. Instead, it sent troops to fight with Zhang Xiu and then retreated. On the way, he punished some Qingzhou soldiers who looted the village and retreated.
We dug trenches to defend the village.
It can be seen that even Yu Jin did not build any fortifications. When he encountered Zhang Xiu's rebellion, he went to support Cao Cao's base camp and was repelled. After that, he ran back to his own camp and built temporary defense facilities to resist Zhang Xiu's army.
Without an internal defense structure, no matter how well-located the camp is, it is useless. The soldiers cannot use the terrain inside the camp to fight back and can only flee individually.
"what happened?"
The front camp is actually three or four miles away from the middle camp. It is normal for an army of more than 10,000 people to set up camp for more than ten miles.
Cao Cao came out of his camp. He was holding Mrs. Zou tenderly on the bed just now.
"Father, Zhang Xiu has rebelled again and has destroyed the front camp."
Cao Ang hurriedly came to report.
"What?"
Cao Cao was shocked and said quickly: "Quickly leave!"
The surrounding guards quickly fetched his horses. At this moment, they did not care about Mrs. Zou who was still in the camp. They were ruthless and only focused on escaping for their own lives.
Before riding on Jueying, Cao Cao suddenly remembered something and asked: "Where is Dian Wei?"
"Ming Gong!"
At this moment, Dian Wei stumbled out of a nearby tent.
He drank a lot of wine and was unconscious, but his vigilance was still there. When he heard the shouts of killing outside the camp, he was suddenly awakened and struggled to get up, just in time to see Cao Cao about to leave.
"Quick, help Dian Wei and go north!"
Cao Cao didn't care about anything else and ordered Su Wei to support Dian Wei and ride north.
A group of several hundred people, including Cao Cao's guards, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin and Dian Wei, hurriedly fled towards the north gate.
However, Jia Xu had long expected that once the fighting started at the South Gate, Cao Cao would flee from the North Gate, so he asked Zhang Xiu to set up an ambush here early.
Soon everyone came to the gate of the northern camp. At this moment, the front camp was destroyed, and the middle camp and the rear camp were also in chaos. Everyone was fleeing. No one could care about Cao Cao, they only ran for their lives.
Therefore, at this time, the gate of the rear camp was opened, and a large number of Cao's soldiers fled from inside. Some ran into the night and disappeared, some stayed and watched, and some simply became soldiers and went to the nearby countryside to rob homes and houses.
The discipline of the entire Cao camp was instantly shattered after being charged by Zhang Xiu's army. Tens of thousands of soldiers fled like birds and beasts, and the camp at the rear had been set ablaze by Zhang Xiu's army, and the fire spread to the entire army.
"Run quickly."
"The fire is coming, run quickly."
"Ahhhhh, save me."
"Let's go, let's go."
"It hurts me so much, please come quickly."
There was chaos in the camp, and countless Xiliang soldiers slashed and killed with swords. Cao Jun did not even have a chance to fight back.
Under the reflection of the fire, Cao Cao was sweating profusely and came to the gate of the rear camp.
"Fire the arrow!"
Almost as soon as he saw the cavalry of Cao's troops coming out, the ambush arranged by Zhang Xiu immediately started shooting with bows and arrows.
Countless arrows pierced the void like meteors and fell into Cao Cao's guards.
Suddenly, howls filled the land, and a large number of Cao Jun's guards were shot to the ground.
Pfft.
With the sound of penetration, Cao Cao suddenly fell down.
It turned out that he was hit by an arrow in Jueying's crotch, and also in his foot. The pain caused him to fall to the ground.
"Father, you are injured."
Cao Ang was very anxious when he saw this situation. He quickly got off his horse and came to his side to help him up.
Cao Cao was also hit by an arrow, hitting his right arm, but anyone who has fought in a war knows that when the spirit is highly tense, the body will not be aware of the injury.
In the later era of firearms, there were a large number of cases where gangsters continued to go on the rampage after being shot at close range with pistols. Only unlucky guys like Jueying were hit by an arrow in the head, which penetrated the skull and damaged the brain stem, and they died instantly on the spot.
After hearing Cao Ang's reminder, Cao Cao noticed that he had been hit by an arrow on his shoulder. He felt pain immediately and said, "My son, let's go quickly."
"Father, you go first."
Cao Ang hugged Cao Cao, pushed him on the back of his horse and said, "I will cut off the queen."
"Zixiu!"
Cao Cao's eyes widened and he wanted to pull Cao Ang with him, but he couldn't use his strength after being shot in his right arm, and he was pushed onto the horse's back.
Dian Wei staggered over and shouted: "Ming Gong, you go first, we will arrive soon."
The fire behind him shot into the sky, and Cao Cao was already sweating profusely.
"Father, let's go!"
Cao Ang pulled out the sword from his waist and stabbed the horse's butt. The horse felt pain and suddenly galloped away.
Fortunately, Cao Cao's equestrian skills were pretty good, otherwise he would have been overthrown.
"My son!"
Cao Cao's shrill screams streaked across the night sky.
Almost as soon as the horses carried him galloping away in the northwest direction, Zhang Xiu's ambush soldiers had already come to kill him.
Dian Wei couldn't find the halberd he had before anywhere, so now he could only grab a big ax casually, roared angrily, and rushed over with more than ten military schools behind him.
Soon the two sides were fighting, and more than ten spears were aimed at Dian Wei at the same time. Dian Wei swung his axe, cutting off the spears at once, and then suddenly turned around and chopped his opponent to the ground.
Several more Zhang Xiujun rushed forward from the right, also trying to pierce his back with their spears. Dian Wei's left and right school soldiers rushed over at the same time, blocked him behind Dian Wei, and fought fiercely with the enemy.
At this time, Dian Wei was too nervous and was stimulated by alcohol before, so he was actually in a very sluggish state. But there was also an advantage: he was not afraid of pain, and it was as if he had been injected with adrenaline, and his strength was a bit stronger than usual.
.
After the surrounding enemies rushed over, he immediately made a reverse charge, like a tiger entering the flock of sheep, wielding a big ax and killing them wantonly. In a short time, the surroundings were full of corpses, and he himself suffered more than ten wounds.
"Come on, come on!"
Dian Wei was breathing heavily. The liquor produced in Huangmenting was too strong. Under the influence of alcohol, he felt that his physical strength was rapidly declining.
So I picked up a long halberd from the ground after the handle of the ax broke due to a hard chop in my hand.
The soldiers of the Xiliang Army around him were all extremely timid, looking at him in fear and not daring to step forward.
In just a few minutes, Dian Wei had killed dozens of people.
If he hadn't been drunk, he might have killed more people.
At this moment, Zhang Xiu had already reached the entrance of the camp, and countless Xiliang troops were coming behind him like a tide.
Seeing Dian Wei standing like a god of war at the gate of Houyingzhai, Zhang Xiu said angrily: "Kill him!"
"Kill."
Immediately behind him were thousands of troops and countless people rushing toward Dian Wei.
Most of the guards around Dian Wei had died in the battle, and even Cao Ang and Cao Anmin had fallen into a pool of blood.
He raised his halberd angrily and swung it left and right, stabbing the first enemy who rushed towards him to death. Then he jumped up like a cannonball, jumped ten feet away, and slammed into the second enemy.
On an enemy.
The enemy was killed by him. Using the enemy's body as a shield, Dian Wei strangled him by the throat with one hand, and with a halberd in the other hand, he kept slashing at the crowd.
Until the end, the halberd in his hand also broke, and it was too late to find weapons from the ground. Dian Wei suffered dozens of wounds, took a few steps back, and stood leaning against the gate of the village.
He was covered in blood, like a demon on earth, baring his teeth and laughing: "Come on, let's die one by one!"
None of the surrounding soldiers dared to come near.
Zhang Xiu saw that there was no weapon in his hand and said, "Go and capture him alive."
At that moment, more than ten Xiliang warriors rushed out and rushed towards Dian Wei, trying to restrain him with their bare hands and pin him to the ground to capture him alive.
However, I saw Dian Wei's thick arm punching the first man in the face, knocking him several meters away, then grabbing the second man with his right hand, pressing him on the neck, and suddenly forcefully
Choke to death.
The third person was kicked away by him, the fourth person was punched to death by him, then the fifth, sixth, and finally two people were held by his left and right hands and strangled alive.
"Ha ha ha ha."
Dian Wei laughed and said: "The invincible Xiliang army is a bunch of trash."
"Shoot the arrow, shoot the arrow, shoot the arrow!"
Zhang Xiu saw that there were hundreds of Xiliang army corpses beside Dian Wei, and he couldn't help but became angry and shouted: "Shoot him to death."
"Boohoo!"
Countless arrows were shot at Dian Wei. He was already exhausted and no longer had the strength to pick up the corpses on the ground as a shield.
In an instant, arrows rained down, there was no scream or wailing, just a muffled groan, and blood flowed from the corner of the mouth.
At this moment, he seemed to have turned into a hedgehog, with arrows stuck everywhere on his body.
But even so, he still stood there, standing erect like a mountain. He raised his head, looked at Zhang Xiu with a contemptuous expression, and finally fell slowly.