Chapter 303: Sudden Attack Cao Xiu Abandons the City
It is true that the current defeat of the Wei army is the best opportunity for the Han army to capture Fancheng.
But Fancheng is not an ordinary city, its city defense is very complete.
Even from the mouths of Wei prisoners, Mi Yang learned that the Wei general guarding Fancheng this time was Zhao Yan.
As an important senior minister of Cao Wei, Zhao Yan was well-known even by Wei Yan who was far away in Hanzhong.
Fancheng was strong, and Zhao Yan was not an ordinary Wei general.
Since most of the Han army had just experienced a fierce battle, Mi Yang could not spare many troops to attack Fancheng.
Under such circumstances, it was not easy for Mi Yang to successfully capture Fancheng.
In view of this situation, Mi Yang's think tank Deng Ai came up with a plan for him.
That is, before most of the defeated Wei army entered Fancheng, Mi Yang personally selected some elite soldiers, put on the uniforms and flags of the Wei army, and pretended to be a defeated Wei army approaching Fancheng.
As long as Zhao Yanhui opened the city to accept the defeated Wei army, Mi Yang could take the Han army by surprise and lead an elite Han army to attack from behind.
This method can take Fancheng when Zhao Yan is unprepared.
Deng Ai came up with this strategy based on the incident when Zhang Ni led the Han army to take advantage of the chaos and enter the city when Mi Yang was attacking Shen Yi.
You don’t have to worry about old age when it comes to strategies, as long as you can make them work according to the circumstances.
After Wei Yan heard Deng Ai's suggestion, he came up with a more radical strategy.
He suggested that Mi Yang lead 3,000 Han troops to disguise themselves as Wei troops and sneak into Fan City, so that once the Fan City defender Zhao Yan relaxed his vigilance, the Han army could take advantage of the situation and break through Fan City's defenses from the inside.
Compared with Deng Ai's strategy, Wei Yan's strategy has a higher probability of success on the surface. However, this strategy is too risky and completely relies on the enemy's negligence.
It was broad daylight now, and Zhao Yan was a former guard.
Once all the defeated Wei troops entered the city, he would definitely disrupt and reorganize many of the defeated Wei troops in order to prevent the defeated troops from causing chaos in the city.
This is what he did when the mutiny broke out in Guanzhong.
Once Zhao Yan did this, the Han army led by Mi Yang could pretend to be the Wei army in appearance, but the accent alone would probably reveal their secrets in an instant.
Therefore, Wei Yan's strategy was too risky, while Deng Ai's strategy was safer in comparison.
Even if Zhao Yan did not open the gates of Fancheng to admit the defeated Wei army as Deng Ai expected, Mi Yang could still lead the Han army to retreat temporarily.
So after weighing the pros and cons, Mi Yang decisively adopted Deng Ai's method.
Since the defeated Wei army was only focused on escaping for their lives, when Mi Yang led 3,000 elite Han soldiers to blend into their mass escape, they had no intention of detecting any anomalies.
Because of the sudden defeat of the Wei army, Mi Yang's three thousand Han troops were able to sneak through and arrive near Fancheng.
After arriving near Fancheng, the Wei army outside Fancheng was not defeated for a while.
In addition, Zhao Yan in Fan City had no intention of opening the city gate at that time, so Mi Yang led 3,000 Han troops to hide in the mountains and forests outside Fan City.
In the hour just now, Mi Yang asked the three thousand Han troops to step up their repairs, while at the same time paying attention to the changes in Fancheng.
When Mi Yang saw the suspension bridge outside Fancheng being slowly lowered, he knew that Deng Ai's plan was already half successful.
After seeing this, Mi Yang led three thousand Han troops out of the mountains and forests without hesitation and rushed towards the back of the defeated Wei army of tens of thousands.
When Mi Yang asked the three thousand Han troops behind him to form a formation and march towards Fancheng, many people among the tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops began to notice something strange.
Because according to common sense, everyone is defeated and in a state of panic. It should not be said whether the formation is scattered, it should be that there is no formation at all.
Although the three thousand Han troops led by Mi Yang were no different from them in appearance, the way they formed a formation and advanced rapidly towards Fancheng was very different from the vast majority of the defeated Wei troops.
However, although some Wei soldiers noticed something strange, most of their thoughts were on escaping for their lives and they would not think deeply about this question at all.
What's more, even if he thinks deeply about it, an explanation will naturally emerge in Wei Jun's mind.
Among the tens of thousands of Wei troops, there were hundreds of generals and commanders, and it was not surprising that one or two of them were as strict in running the army as Yu Jin.
I recall that when Emperor Wu of Wei Dynasty defeated Wancheng, all the armies were defeated and the situation was no less favorable than today.
And at that time, in such a chaotic army, wasn't it true that Yu Jin and other generals restrained their subordinates and led the army to retreat slowly?
At the beginning, Yu Jin was even able to build trenches among tens of thousands of defeated troops. Today, this "Wei general" is far worse than Yu Jin.
When Mi Yang led three thousand Han troops out of the mountains and forests and quickly came to the back of tens of thousands of Wei troops who were defeated.
When the defeated Wei army nearby thought that the soldiers led by this "Wei general" were competing with them for hope of survival, Mi Yang immediately ordered three thousand Han troops to attack the Wei army ahead.
Because they believed that the three thousand Han troops led by Mi Yang were their own comrades, and the tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops were now thinking about how to quickly cross the suspension bridge, they did not pay attention to what was behind them at all.
When the first unsuspecting Wei army was cut down by the "friendly troops" behind him, more and more defeated Wei troops were caught off guard and fell under the sword of the Han army.
In an instant, thousands of shrill wails rang out from behind the defeated tens of thousands of Wei troops.
These thousands of wailing sounds moved forward at an extremely fast speed, and when the defeated Wei army further ahead heard the wailing sounds and looked back, the scene in their eyes instantly frightened them out of their wits.
I saw thousands of Han troops armed with sharp blades frantically slashing and killing their own people, and they were moving towards me at extremely fast speeds.
Now any normal person can guess that the thousands of "friendly troops" who are killing their own comrades are actually Han troops in disguise.
As the distance continued to approach, the bloodthirsty looks on the faces of the thousands of Han troops became more and more clear to the defeated Wei army.
After seeing this scene, the tens of thousands of Wei troops who had hoped to restore some order were defeated, and instantly fell into great panic.
What kind of situations can cause a person to feel hopeless?
That is, just when he thought he could grasp hope, all the hope in his heart was taken away.
Originally, the tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops thought they had fled to Fan City, but they finally gained a chance for themselves.
Even in order to fight for this glimmer of hope, in the process just now, they abandoned their past glory and betrayed their former comrades.
But what they never expected was that after they had paid so much, thousands of enemy troops would suddenly attack them again in the place they thought was the safest.
The appearance of thousands of Han troops meant that they were once again facing a huge death threat.
Facing the Han army's pressing step by step, Wei Jun would not have felt despair.
In desperation, the crowd of tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops exploded instantly like a mirror smashed by a boulder.
Countless Wei soldiers looked away in panic, and then they desperately pushed their comrades in front of them.
Many defeated Wei troops were already crossing the suspension bridge, and they fell from the suspension bridge into the cold moat one after another, pushed by their comrades behind them, and even pushed by their comrades beside them.
As the numerous defeated Wei troops began to push their comrades in front of them, more and more Wei troops fell from the suspension bridge, and the dense crowd of defeated Wei troops became more disorderly.
The most important thing is that all the defeated Wei troops are pushing forward with all their strength at this moment, and some of the defeated Wei troops have already begun to enter the city gate.
This made Zhao Yan in Fan City almost jump off the city wall in a hurry.
Zhao Yan, who was condescending, realized something was wrong with his rich experience when the three thousand Han troops led by Mi Yang approached the defeated tens of thousands Wei troops in a neat formation.
But before Zhao Yan could give the order, three thousand Han troops led by Mi Yang had already launched an attack on the defeated Wei army of tens of thousands.
Everything happened too fast, and there was almost no time for Zhao Yan to react.
And even if Zhao Yan successfully issued an order for the entire army to stop entering the city, how many people would listen to his order given the strong desire for survival of the tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops?
Therefore, Zhao Yan could only watch the thousands of Han troops under Fan City, killing his own army unscrupulously.
Seeing the thousands of Han troops below the city slashing and killing his own army from the rear and approaching the city gate, it was not difficult for Zhao Yan to guess the intentions of those thousands of Han troops.
But even if he guessed it, there was nothing he could do now.
At present, the best way to prevent the Han army from entering the city is to pull up the suspension bridge in time to block the Han army from crossing the moat.
However, although the current suspension bridges already use part of the mechanical structure, to successfully pull up the suspension bridge, you must rely on human assistance.
The suspension bridge in Fancheng is very wide. It takes a lot of manpower to pull up such a huge suspension bridge.
What's more, the suspension bridge is now filled with many soldiers.
The most terrible thing is that the two large iron chains that fix the suspension bridge are integrated with the city gate.
This led to the fact that if Zhao Yan wanted to successfully pull up the suspension bridge quickly, he had to let the soldiers in the cave pull the mechanism.
But now because of the Han army's surprise attack, the Wei army at the city gate was in chaos. Under such circumstances, Zhao Yan could not pull up the suspension bridge in a short time.
It was precisely because he was worried about a similar situation happening that Zhao Yancai had serious concerns about lowering the suspension bridge just now.
The situation that Zhao Yan is currently facing is that the defeated Wei army that is crossing the drawbridge and city gates has become like solid rocks, blocking the drawbridges and city caves of Fancheng firmly.
This is tantamount to exposing the heart of Fancheng naked to the sharp blade of the Han army.
How could this situation not make Zhao Yan anxious?
Zhao Yan also tried to send some Wei troops down the city tower to drive away the defeated Wei troops crowded at the city gate.
But now that the Wei army was so frightened by the Han army behind them that they were defeated, how could they pay any attention to the expulsion of their comrades?
There was only one thought in their minds now, and that was to rush into the city to avoid the Han troops who were constantly killing them behind them.
Under this idea, the crowding and commotion at the city gate became more and more serious.
At this time, three thousand Han troops, led by Mi Yang, had already hacked their way to the suspension bridge.
The tens of thousands of defeated Wei troops were now only thinking about escaping, and most of them did not have armored soldiers on them, so their current combat effectiveness was about the same as that of ordinary people.
Such a Wei army could not stop the 3,000 Han troops charging in formation.
After leading three thousand Han troops onto the suspension bridge and seeing the city cave not far away, Mi Yang's face showed joy.
If you want to break a fortified city, you must first seize the city gate!
Seeing that victory was just ahead, Mi Yang stepped up and led the three thousand Han troops towards the cave of Fancheng.
At this time, as the three thousand Han troops advanced, many corpses of Wei troops had fallen around their formation.
After more defeated Wei troops saw the Han troops coming all the way, they felt that there was no hope of entering the city. They quickly fled in all directions with the suspension bridge in Fancheng as the center point.
If we compare the defeated Wei army on the suspension bridge to rocks that refuse to give up the hope of life easily.
The three thousand Han troops led by Mi Yang were like the fierce Han River.
This stream of Han River continued to wash away the blood-stained rocks until their bodies were crushed, and then continued to rush towards their destination from their broken limbs.
Under the continuous advance of three thousand Han troops, the leading troops of the Han army were already approaching the gate of Fancheng.
With Ding Feng injured, Wei Yan is currently the only one who can take on the critical task for Mi Yang.
In the battle just now, Wei Yan's whole body was covered in blood, but on his blood-stained face, his excitement became stronger and stronger.
Once a general accomplishes his feats, thousands of bones will wither, and now he will use the bones of the Wei army to pave the way for his achievements in Wei Yan.
Wei Yan, who was extraordinarily brave, was like a hungry tiger that never gets tired. He kept waving the sword in his hand to harvest the lives of the Wei troops in front of him.
As waves of wailing sounded, the Han army, led by Wei Yan, had already reached the caves of Fancheng.
There is an organized Wei army in Fancheng, with more than 3,000 troops.
However, the more than 3,000 Wei troops are scattered at the four city gates, and there are currently many defeated Wei troops in the city cave, so there is no way for the organized Wei troops to line up to meet the enemy.
As a result, the city cave was instantly soaked with blood.
Waves of wailing sounds rang out from the city cave, and then reached the ears of Zhao Yan, Cao Xiu and others who had already come down from the city tower.
Cao Xiu and other Wei generals had high status, so they were naturally among the first to enter the city.
Precisely because they entered the city early, they escaped this disaster.
Listening to the wailing sounds of the troops under his command, not only Zhao Yan's face showed an unbearable look, but also Cao Xiu, who had always had a strong temperament, also showed a look of defeat on his face.
The current scene brought him back to the scene he had just experienced on the battlefield.
It's so tragic.
Cao Xiu, who has experienced many battles, now doesn't even want to recall what happened on the battlefield just now.
It's just that as the highest commander of the Wei army currently present, he must shoulder some responsibilities and issue some orders in a timely manner.
For example:
"Send the order and all the troops will withdraw from Fancheng."
When Cao Xiu's order was heard by the Wei generals beside him, the faces of all the Wei generals showed shock.
This is Fancheng!
Facing the shocked expressions of the generals, Cao Xiu looked at the figure who was constantly directing the Han army to kill the enemy, and said with a determined tone in his mouth:
"The deer is here, how can the tiger be far away?"
Cao Xiu's judgment made all the Wei generals become extremely sober, as if they had been poured into a basin of cold water.
Yes, a Mi Yang has forced them to this point.
If three tigers gather together, how can they fight against three tigers and one deer with the thousands of demoralized soldiers they have now?
After realizing this, all the Wei generals no longer had any objections to Cao Xiu's decision.