Chapter 246 Gan Xingba bravely breaks into the enemy camp
At night, near midnight.
Gan Ning took a hundred selected soldiers and guarded the city gate, waiting for the hour to come and immediately leave the city to charge into the camp.
Guan Yu led a hundred men behind him, preparing to be responsible for responding to Gan Ning after he left the city.
Zhang Fei was originally asked to take over, but Liu Bei decided to let him escort Zhou Ping to Yecheng, so he had to let Guan Yu take the lead instead.
Zhang Fei heard that he could break out of the siege with Zhou Ping. He was so happy that he wished he could break out of the city tonight.
Liu Bei and Zhou Ping stood in front of Gan Ning.
"Xingba, remember, don't be too lazy to fight. Your goal is to wake up the enemies so that they can't sleep peacefully. Don't stay too long just to kill more enemies." Liu Bei instructed.
"Don't worry, my lord, Ning understands."
"Although this time is just to disturb the enemy, the risk of rushing into the enemy camp is extremely high. You must be careful in everything. Remember to retreat early. My lord and I will wait for your return in the city." Zhou Ping followed suit.
Gan Ning cupped his hands and said, "No."
Liu Bei took Zhou Ping, Zhang Fei, Xu Chu and Zhang Wu to the top of the city gate, looking at the enemy camp that was no longer visible in the distance outside the city.
They need to observe the reaction of the enemy soldiers so that they can better respond when they break out of the city.
"Sir, I have thought about it. There are many enemy soldiers outside the city. Only Zhongkang and Ziwei will escort you out of the city. I don't feel reassured. Therefore, I want Yide to protect you and go to Yecheng with you. When you go, you will take the people with you.
The hope of everyone!"
Liu Bei said softly.
Only then did Zhou Ping understand why Guan Yu led the troops to join Gan Ning instead.
It would of course be better to have Zhang Fei and Xu Chu and Zhang Wu escort them together. I had previously wanted Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to stay in Xiapi to guard the city, but now Liu Bei took the initiative and I couldn't refuse.
After all, Zhou Ping wanted to take the Imperial Seal out. Regardless of whether Liu Bei would think too much about it, if he refused to let Zhang Fei follow him, Liu Bei would definitely think too much about it.
"If you have virtue together, it will be easier to break through. Thank you, lord!"
"Haha, there is no need to say thank you between us. I know you didn't consider letting Yide go with you. You want him to stay to defend the city, right?"
Liu Bei seemed to have read Zhou Ping's thoughts.
"Yes." Zhou Ping replied slightly surprised.
"Sir, you can rest assured. With Yunchang and Xingba, Uncle Zhiboping, Wen Xiang and others here, are you still afraid that we won't be able to defend Xiapi City? I only hope that you, sir, will arrive at Yecheng as soon as possible and let Jizhou troops and horses
Retreat as soon as possible so that Xuzhou can be at peace!"
Liu Bei thought of seeing people fleeing on the road, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.
"My lord, although Kong Ming is young, he is very wise and resourceful. If there is anything urgent and difficult to decide, you can ask Kong Ming."
Zhou Ping once again recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei.
"okay."
"Brother, it's midnight and Xingba is out of the city."
Zhang Fei pointed to the bottom of the city, where a group of figures were slowly moving outside the city.
Yan Liang's camp was five miles away from the city. After Gan Ning and others left the city, they had no choice but to advance in the dark. If they lighted torches now, Yan Liang's people would definitely discover them immediately.
After Gan Ning led his men out of the city, Guan Yu and a hundred men also went to squat outside the city gate, waiting for Gan Ning to take cover when he led his men back.
Xu Sheng led a thousand men and horses to guard the city. If the enemy soldiers took the opportunity to pursue them, they could go out of the city to resist the enemy, or they could guard the city gate.
Liu Bei and Zhou Ping watched from the city. Soon Gan Ning and others could no longer be seen. There was only darkness outside the city.
"Step softly."
Gan Ning whispered, and led everyone to bend their waists, slowly touching the north step by step, and then slowly moving forward again.
They all had weapons in their hands, some wielding bows and crossbows, some wielding swords and shields, some wielding spears and halberds.
After about three miles of ground, we are now closer to the enemy camp and we need to be more careful.
"Shh, be gentle."
Gan Ning whispered again, making everyone step more lightly.
After a while, they looked at the enemy camp and were a hundred steps away.
"Strange, didn't the enemy general set up a hidden sentry outside the camp? Why didn't anyone notice it?" Gan Ning thought to himself.
According to his understanding, hidden sentries are usually left outside the camp to prevent enemy soldiers from attacking the camp.
It seems that the enemy general is very confident and thinks that the people in the city dare not come out to attack the camp!
This just allowed Gan Ning and others to get closer to the camp.
There is no moon in the sky.
Gan Ning led the people and continued to touch forward lightly.
He did not go directly to the camp gate, but to a place between the camp gate and the passage.
There are usually many soldiers stationed at the camp gate, making it difficult to rush in.
He led his men all the way to the edge of the camp without being discovered by the enemy soldiers.
Gan Ning was overjoyed, thinking that this Yan Liang was said to be Yuan Shao's top general, but he didn't expect that he was such a capable soldier. This time, he was going to show off his power.
The things to resist the enemy outside the camp were first ten or several weights of antlers, then trenches and ramparts.
If Gan Ning and others want to break into the enemy camp, they must first pull out the antlers, then cross the ditch and climb over the wall.
Liu Bei and Zhou Pingping stood on the city and looked from a distance, but they couldn't see anything or hear a sound.
This made them very worried, wondering what was happening to Gan Ning and others now.
"Sir, can Xingba rush into the enemy camp? Since we are disturbing the enemy, why not just let them shout outside the camp?"
Liu Bei knew that Gan Ning was brave enough, but he only led a hundred men into the enemy camp of 20,000 people. Even if he could rush in, whether he could retreat was still a question.
"Lord, don't worry, Xingba has this ability, and they will come back safely."
If Zhou Ping had known that Yan Liang had not set up sentries outside the camp, he might have asked Gan Ning to bring not a hundred men, but a thousand or thousands of men.
However, if you bring too many people with you, you will easily be discovered by people on the watchtower of the enemy camp.
Gan Ning waited until everyone was in place and shouted softly: "Pull the antlers."
Fifty soldiers with spears and halberds put down their weapons and hurried forward to remove the scattered antlers. A small section of these antlers was buried in the ground, so it took several people to work together to pull them out.
Yan Liang did not set up a sentry outside the camp, but he placed ten layers of antlers outside the camp. When Gan Ning's men moved to the fifth layer, the enemy soldiers on the watchtower seemed to hear the movement and shouted from a distance: "Who are you?"
?”
The soldiers who were removing the antlers were startled and stopped, squatting and not daring to move.
Gan Ning said anxiously: "Move quickly."
The fifty soldiers had no choice but to get up and move the antlers away.
At this time, due to panic, the noise became even greater.
Although the enemy soldiers on the watchtower could not see anyone, they heard the sound getting louder and louder, and quickly shouted to the people below: "There is a sound over there, go and have a look."
"Crossbowmen prepare."
Gan Ning ordered.
The crossbowmen all pricked up their ears, listening to the chaotic footsteps coming from a distance, while they cocked their arrows and prepared to shoot at the enemy.
"Captain Gan, the antlers have been pulled out."
"Quick, enter the camp."
Gan Ning said, he rushed forward first, crossed the ditch, climbed over the fortress wall, and jumped into the enemy camp.
The soldiers followed and turned over into the camp.
Only half of the people followed them into the camp. A group of enemy soldiers who had just heard the sound and came to check arrived with torches. From a distance, they saw a group of figures in front of them and hurriedly shouted: "Who are those in front of you?"
They didn't expect that enemy soldiers would come to steal the camp. They thought they were brothers in their own camp.
"kill!"
Gan Ning, regardless of whether all his men had entered, shouted and took the lead in charging towards the enemy soldiers.
The crossbowmen raised their arrows and shot directly at the enemy soldiers.
"ah……"
With several screams, several enemy soldiers fell down.
There were fifty enemy soldiers on patrol in this group. When they saw people around them being shot to death, they were sure that the enemy soldiers had come to steal the camp.
"Attack the camp! Enemy soldiers are attacking the camp!"
They quickly shouted loudly and raised their weapons to greet Gan Ning and others.
"General Gan Ning is here. He who is not afraid of death is coming!"
Gan Ning shouted his name loudly, rushed forward and started slashing at the enemy soldiers.
His soldiers rushed forward.
The patrolling enemy soldiers were obviously frightened and were holding torches in the open. However, Gan Ning and others were in the dark. They rushed forward and quickly cut down a dozen of them.
At this time, the emergency horn sounded from the watchtower, and the whole Beiying suddenly became lively.
People screamed one after another, and torches were lit all over the camp.
They were just woken up now and don't know how they came back.
Even if we knew that enemy soldiers were attacking the camp, we still couldn't figure out how many enemy soldiers were attacking, let alone whether the enemy soldiers only attacked the northern camp or whether all three battalions were attacked at the same time.
"Hahaha... Xingba really broke into the enemy camp. This man is so fierce. When he comes back, I will treat him to a drink." Zhang Fei laughed.
"The entire enemy camp is in a state of alarm. Sir, look quickly. The middle camp has also begun to move."
Liu Bei was also overjoyed. He was lucky to have such a strong general.
Of course Zhou Ping also saw it. Except for the North Camp, the whole camp was awake and the fire illuminated the whole camp. At this time, the middle camp was also filled with people and the fires were lighting up one by one.
Gradually, the southern camp also began to light up with fire.
However, apart from the firelight and the sound of people, no soldiers and horses from the middle camp and the south camp were seen dispatched.
On the contrary, the soldiers and horses of the North Camp seemed to have become a mess, shouting for kill and running back and forth in the camp.
"If you, sir, leave the city tonight, you will be able to break out easily. If there is a commotion now, I'm afraid the enemy soldiers will step up their defenses."
Liu Bei felt it was a pity that he missed a good opportunity to break out of the encirclement.
Zhou Ping said with a smile: "My lord, if we guard the camp like this, we can easily break out at any time. If we make such a fuss tonight, we can not only enhance the lord's authority and boost the morale of the soldiers and people, but also make it easier for me to persuade Yuan Benchu when I see him."
.”
"Haha, it's true."
"The enemy camp is fully mobilized. I wonder if Xingba has retreated?" Zhang Fei asked worriedly.
"Look, Xingba has already returned."
Zhou Ping pointed to the distance and saw many torches gathered in one place, gradually moving westward, obviously chasing Gan Ning and others.
However, the torches only moved for a while and then stopped. They did not dare to pursue them for fear of being ambushed.
"Hurry and prepare wine. I want to honor Xingba and all the warriors."
Liu Bei turned around and ordered, and some soldiers obeyed and left.
Guan Yu led a hundred people outside the city gate and saw torches moving in the distance. He expected that Gan Ning and others were retreating and being chased, so he sent people to the front to investigate the situation.
Soon, the people who were sent came back and reported: "General Guan, Captain Gan and the others are back."
Guan Yu quickly led his men to meet them. Fortunately, the torches in the distance stopped and stopped moving forward. It seemed that they did not dare to pursue them to the bottom of the city.
"Yun Chang, I'm back!"
When Gan Ning saw Guan Yu, he shouted with joy.
Guan Yu took a closer look and saw that Gan Ning was holding a human head in his hand, and there were many others behind him, all carrying heads in their hands.
"you……"
Guan Yu was surprised and asked them to rush to camp, but why did they come back one by one carrying their heads?
"Haha, this is the head of an enemy soldier. If you chop it back, you can hang it on the city wall so that the enemy soldiers don't dare to look down on us."
Gan Ning actually wanted to bring him back to receive merit and at the same time prove his bravery and courage.
"Quick, go back to the city."
Guan Yu and Gan Ning led everyone into the city, and Xu Sheng ordered people to close the city gate.
Liu Bei and Zhou Ping were still watching from the city and saw the soldiers and horses from the middle camp gathering out of the camp, but they quickly returned to the camp.
Perhaps Yan Liang initially thought that a large number of soldiers and horses were sent from the city to attack the camp, so he did not dare to rush out of the camp to rescue him. After gathering the troops and horses, he led the troops and horses to prepare for the rescue.
Then, when he heard that only a small group of enemy soldiers were attacking and that the enemy soldiers had fled, he led his troops back to camp.
The men and horses in the southern camp did not leave the camp.
"My lord, seeing how slowly the enemy general reacted, did you become more confident in defending the city?" Zhou Ping asked with a smile.
"Haha, compared with Cao Cao, Yan Liang is so far apart. Yuan Benchu has elite soldiers but no good generals!" Liu Bei said with emotion.
Zhou Ping said: "This is exactly why I advised my lord to destroy Cao Cao first and then follow Yuan Shao's plan. Although Yuan Benchu had two brave generals, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, but in terms of military prowess, they were far inferior to Yunchang Yide. However, Jizhou generals
One of them is named Zhang He, but he is a rare general. Fortunately, he has not been put into great use by General Yuan."
"Zhang He? I have never heard of it."
Liu Bei had never heard of Zhang He because he was not currently in Yuan Shao's important position.
"Lord, lord, we are back!"
Gan Ning came up to the city with his troops and came to report Liu Bei's orders in person.
Liu Bei looked over with great joy, only to see that many of these soldiers were carrying heads in their hands and covered in blood.
"You also brought back the heads of the enemy soldiers? What are our casualties?"
Liu Bei went up to him and asked.
"Lord, we injured five people, beheaded thirty-five enemy heads, and several enemy soldiers were cut down."
"How are the injuries? Let the doctors treat them quickly." Liu Bei asked with concern.
"They are all minor injuries, nothing serious."
Zhou Ping laughed and said: "Hahaha... Gan Xingba bravely broke into the enemy camp, his reputation will spread far and wide!"
Gan Ning then laughed and said: "Sir, you don't know, these enemy soldiers are too easy to kill. If the lord hadn't ordered us to leave early, we could have killed more!"
"Hey, killing thirty-five is almost the same as killing three hundred and five. You can rush into the enemy camp and behead the enemy, which is enough to shock and frighten the enemy soldiers. Our goal has been achieved, how can we risk staying in the enemy camp for a long time!"
"Come, come, Xingba, all warriors, let me offer you a glass of wine!"
The soldiers brought wine, first poured a bowl for Liu Bei, then poured a bowl for each of Gan Ning and the hundred soldiers, and handed it to them.
Liu Bei raised his wine bowl and said loudly: "You bravely rush into the enemy camp and are invincible. Please boost the power of our army. Liu Bei respects you!"
After speaking, drink it all in one gulp.
Gan Ning and all the soldiers shouted in unison: "Thank you, Lord!"
Let's drink the wine in the bowl together.
"Xingba, take your brothers back and rest quickly. Let's record tonight's achievements for now. We may have to break into the camp again tomorrow. When you come back tomorrow, I will reward you."
"promise."
Gan Ning accepted the promise and retreated with all the soldiers, placing all the heads he brought back on the ground.
