Chapter 47: The Battle for Unification (5)
PS: The full moon Mid-Autumn Festival, the pure wolf is here to wish all friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and all the best. )
"You mean, Yellow River?" Cao Cao asked tremblingly, the nightmare in the third year of Chuping seems to be vivid, the once prosperous Cao Cao army declined because of that tragic disaster, it was the turning point of Cao Cao's army from prosperity to decline, and it was also from that day on, Dong Zhuojun ran rampant all over the world, and no one could restrain it.
"The timing of that disaster is too coincidental, the second anti-Dong alliance you worked so hard to form, your king, was about to succeed, but it was destroyed by a sudden disaster." Guo Jia said in a deep voice: "Although everyone said that it was the king that you snatched the divine seed and caused the heavens to be angry, and the thunder from the heavens split the Yellow River and flooded Yanzhou, but Guo Jia didn't believe it, Dong Zhuo was such a cruel and wolfish person, and the heavens didn't punish you, but came to punish you, the king who is dedicated to the country?" The last time the Yellow River broke out, it was a good thing that Dong Zhuo did. ”
Cao Cao stopped talking, the light in his eyes flickered, obviously hesitating, after all, it was not only Kang Peng's army that was hurt by the Yellow River, but also the innocent people of Yanzhou who were hurt more, and even Cao Cao's army in Dongjun will inevitably be affected. Guo Jia saw Cao Cao's thoughts, and said anxiously: "King, you can't hesitate, you can rebuild Yanzhou if you drown, if you can't get rid of Dong Zhuo, you will have nothing." ”
Cao Cao still hesitated, kept tiptoeing in the room, unable to choose, at this time, a person suddenly rushed in from outside the door, knelt down in front of Cao Cao, kowtowed: "Father, let the child do this, let the child bear any infamy." Cao Cao and Guo Jia looked at each other and saw that the person who came turned out to be Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang.
Cao Ang kowtowed and bleed, crying: "Father, Dong thief and soldier pressed the border, the child can't be safe, the military can't determine the country, can't share the worries for his father, and the Yellow River is such a thing that has caused infamy through the ages, let the child do it, after the incident, the child said that it was the child's own idea, and killed himself to thank the people." Cao Cao picked up his eldest son with tears streaming down his eyes and clasped his beloved son's hands......
On Dong Zhuojun's side, after dawn, Kang Peng was about to lead the army to attack Dongjun, but received an urgent letter from Dong Chong, it turned out that Dong Erye heard that the sacrificed Dong Erjun deputy general Ai Jin had an elder brother, and Ma Zhuang had several cousins, in order to avenge his younger brother and cousin, he also led a group of family members and men to join Dong Zhuojun, Dong Erye didn't say anything to his friends, and immediately pleaded with the eldest brother, hoping that the eldest brother would transfer this army to him, and Dong Erye would take care of them. Dong Chong also reported the battle of the White Horse to Kang Peng, as well as Tian Feng's strategy, Dong Chong also reported to Kang Peng as it was.
"King, Hao Zhao is good at defending the city, Wen Hao's plan is afraid that he will see through it." After reading Dong Chong's letter, Jia Xu muttered: "If Hao Zhao digs deep trenches all over the city, our army will dig tunnels in vain, and we need to find another good way to break the enemy." ”
Kang Peng didn't answer Jia Xu's words, just silently looked at the terrain around the white horse on the sand table, of course Kang Peng knew how powerful Hao Zhao defended the city, history he used 3,000 soldiers to block Zhuge Liang's 200,000 army for more than a month, Zhuge Liang used every possible means including digging tunnels, and never broke through the Chencang City guarded by Hao Zhao, not to mention Dong Er, a drunken man. Suddenly, Kang Peng's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and said, "There is a way, there is a way to break through White Horse City." ”
"What's the king's plan?" Jia Xu hurriedly asked.
"Wen and you see, although this White Horse City is on high ground, it is flat all around, and it is a gentle slope, which is conducive to the operation of the army." Kang Peng pointed to the sand table and explained: "If our army uses sacks to hold the soil, and concentrates catapults to put them under the city to form steps, the army can easily enter the city. Although this method is stupid, for a general like Hao Zhao who defends the city, the stupid method is the most difficult to crack. In the face of Kang Peng's rapid progress, what else can Jia Xu say, he can only bow down and admire.
Using sacks to hold soil to siege the city, there are thousands of sacks used, but for Dong Zhuojun, who has plenty of money and materials, it is just a drizzle, not to mention using sacks to hold soil to siege the city, that is, using sacks to pack grain and copper coins to siege the city, Kang Peng can definitely afford it. It's just that Kang Peng was worried that Dong Chong, a stupid pig, didn't bring enough sacks in the army, and it happened that Dong Chong asked Kang Peng in the letter for the newly formed Dong Second Army, so Kang Peng asked Ai Yu and the three brothers of the Ma family to lead the new Dong Second Army, which had been expanded to more than 4,000 people, and sent 30,000 sacks north to Baima.
Being put on hold by Dong Chong's affairs a little, when Dong Zhuojun's Yongzhou legion set off to the city of Dongjun again, it was already a long time later, and Dong Zhuojun's vanguard iron cavalry was patrolling back and forth around Dongjun, not letting anyone enter and leave the city, Cao Cao knew that the decisive battle with Dong Zhuojun in the field was just to touch the stone with eggs, and did not send troops out of the city to meet the battle, but let the main force of Dong Zhuojun's army surround the Dongjun city, preparing to attack and defend the city with Dong Zhuojun. From the perspective of Dongjun City, Dong Zhuojun's army is full of mountains and wilderness, boundless, and the camps are endless, and the momentum is really terrifying.
Dong Zhuo's army set up camp, and all the generals of Dong Zhuo's army went to Kang Peng to ask for battle together, and they all wanted to be the vanguard generals of the attack on Dongjun, and the generals were so enthusiastic, Kang Peng naturally couldn't help but be overjoyed, and immediately called up Li and Guo Yan, who were good at siege, and asked them to lead the Flying Bear Army to be the vanguard of the siege. At this time, the herald suddenly came to report, "Report to the king, a person came out of the north gate of Dongjun, holding a white flag, calling himself Cao Cao's messenger, hoping that the king can meet him." ”
"Cao Cao wants to come and surrender?" Kang Peng was overjoyed and said, "Hurry up and pick it up." "To be honest, after ten years of fighting with Cao Cao, Kang Peng has more and more respect for Cao Cao, who is known as the capable minister of the world and the traitor of the troubled times, if Cao Cao is really willing to surrender, Kang Peng will definitely keep his promise to crown Cao Cao as the king of prison, as for the hypocrite Liu Bei who was blown to the sky, even if he comes to surrender, Kang Peng will not let Liu Bei go.
In a short time, Cao Cao's envoy was accepted into Dong Zhuo's army camp, and Cao Cao's handwritten letter was presented with both hands, to Kang Peng's great disappointment, Cao Cao's letter still did not have the slightest intention of surrendering, but only made a request to Kang Peng, because there were still many innocent people in Dongjun who had not had time to evacuate the city, Cao Cao hoped that Kang Peng could open the net and let these innocent people leave the battlefield, so as not to be affected by the war.
"Okay, Lone gives the people of Dongjun an hour to leave, and after an hour, Lone will attack the city again." Kang Peng said helplessly. Despite the disappointment, Kang Peng generously agreed to Cao Cao's request, first, Kang Peng also sympathized with these innocent people, and second, Cao Cao's refusal to serve Liu Bei as emperor Kang Peng also knew, and Kang Peng had to return Cao Cao's favor.
Cao Cao's envoy thanked him and left, and after a short time, the north gate of Dongjun was really opened, and thousands of ragged people went out of the city with white flag fish, helping the old and the young, pushing large carts and small carts, carrying farm tools and wooden forks, full of sadness, and from time to time there were crying voices from the team. Kang Peng, who was checking the situation from a distance, had a rare feeling of distress, and urgently ordered the grain supervisor to distribute food to these people, and told these poor people to go to the rear of Dong Zhuo's army, so that they could have a chance to live.
On the city wall, Cao Cao and Guo Jia burst into tears, especially Cao Cao's clothes were wet with tears, and in the hazy eyes of tears, Cao Cao's eyes were just staring at a young man mixed in the crowd......
The time of an hour was soon up, and the north gate of Dongjun had already been closed before the half-pillar incense time, and at this moment, I don't know how many Cao Cao soldiers were carrying boulders in the north gate to block the north gate, so as not to be exploded by Dong Zhuojun's gunpowder. In the next half an hour, Dong Zhuojun's feet and his catapult frantically poured arrow rain and stone rain and even powder kegs at the head of Dongjun City, and after giving Cao Cao's army a dismount, Kang Peng pulled out a big knife and pointed at the city with a knife and shouted: "For the sake of reunification, step on the Dongjun City!" ”
"Unification!" Li Dao waved his sword and roared, and was the first to rush to the city wall, and behind him, there were countless Dong Zhuojun soldiers carrying ladders and pushing cloud platforms, shouting "Unification!" Unification! "Swarming up, flocking to the eastern county town from all sides.
"It is better to die standing than to live on your knees." Cao Cao, who hurriedly caught up with the city wall from the tunnel, shouted, and the Xiahou Dun, Zhang He, Xu Zhen, Yu Ban, Li Dian and others next to him shouted in unison, the arrows on the city were as dense as rain, and the thunderbolt car made by Dong Zhuojun also began to exert its might, pouring the rain of arrows and stones on Dong Zhuojun's head, and an extremely tragic offensive and defensive battle began.
The rain of arrows flying above and below the city seemed to cover the sky, and the blood-red-eyed Cao Cao Jun desperately smashed the boulders, rolling logs and ash bottles down the city wall, and smashed on the head of Dong Zhuojun, who was overwhelmingly pouring in, while Dong Zhuojun, whose eyes were red, bit the weapon in his mouth, and with the threat of death that might come at any time on his head, he climbed the ladder along the ladder with his hands and feet to the city wall, shouting and screaming loudly throughout the night, and from time to time there were soldiers on both sides entangled and falling down from the city wall, and more were the corpses of soldiers on both sides, less than half an hour, The blood stained the walls of Dongjun red.
It was evening, the battle has entered the white-hot stage, the position at the head of the city has changed hands several times, Dong Zhuojun's general Li Dao, Guo Yan, Zhao Cen, Li Meng and Wang Fang and others have been injured in the attack on the city wall, Li Su was hit on the top of the head by the boulder in the first round of charge, ** cracked and died, the casualties of the soldiers were even greater, the wounded soldiers were sent back to the rear in an endless stream, more than 1,000 Dong Zhuojun military doctors and thousands of nurses led by Hua Tuo personally rescued and bandaged, and the barracks specially used to treat the wounded soldiers were busy, Everywhere are mountains of medicinal herb packets and the hard work of military doctors and nurses.
As a modern person, Kang Peng from the day he took over Dong Zhuojun, has been paying attention to the training and protection of military doctors, and the introduction of the nurse system, ten years, the official fan Hua Tuo led a group of disciples for Kang Peng to train tens of thousands of qualified doctors and nurses, fighting in the war field and the people, and made great contributions to the reunification of the Xiliang Army. The fruit of a tree, of course, is sweet and sour, at least Hua Tuo's personal disciple unscrupulous military doctor Mo does not have a good reputation among the people.
Dong Zhuo's side suffered huge casualties, and Cao Cao's side was not easy, despite occupying the advantageous position of the city wall, Cao Cao's army still suffered heavy casualties in the face of Dong Zhuo's army, which was several times his own and well-equipped, except for the casualties under Dong Zhuo's army's foot bow, catapult and powder barrel attack, Cao Cao's army and Dong Zhuo's army reached a one-to-one casualty ratio, which was a very amazing ratio for the defender. Although Cao Cao also had a miracle doctor like Zhang Zhongjing under him, there was a shortage of medicine in the hands of the miracle doctor, and it was difficult for Cao Cao's wounded soldiers to receive effective treatment, making Cao Cao's army, which was scarce, even more overstretched in terms of deploying troops.
"Report to the king, emergency statistics have come out, so far, more than 4,000 soldiers of our army have been killed and nearly 10,000 have been wounded." A staff officer of the army reported to Kang Peng. It has only been two hours since the start of the war, and Dong Zhuojun has killed more than 4,000 soldiers.
"Good." Kang Peng nodded expressionlessly, stood up and shouted: "Pass the order, send another 50,000 troops up, replace the first round of troops with large casualties, and cooperate with the second round of troops to continue to attack the city." This is already Kang Peng's second increase in troops to attack the city, although the casualties are huge, but Kang Peng does not even frown, because Kang Peng knows that Dong Zhuo's army sacrifices one soldier in front of him, and he can add two from the rear, while Cao Cao's army is one less dead and one person is missing, and there is no way to replenish.
According to the information that Kang Peng had, Cao Cao concentrated all the remaining forces in Dong Zhuo's army to march into Qingzhou's fortress Dongjun, and the small number of troops deployed in Baima was just to prevent Dong Zhuo's army from meeting with the Jizhou Army and the Yongzhou Army, in Cao Cao's rear Qingzhou, there was no decent army, as long as Dong Zhuo's army annihilated the main force of Cao Cao's army in Dongjun, the march into Qingzhou would be a horse Pingchuan, and there would be no obstruction, if Cao Cao fled back to Qingzhou and then wanted to eliminate Cao Cao, it would take much time and energy, so Kang Peng would not hesitate to attack Dongjun, In order to reduce the consumption of military power in Qingzhou in the future.
"King, please let the last general also go into battle in this round of siege." Kang Peng stood up beside him, with a heavy face and a resolute face, but it was Gao Shun, the main general of the trapping camp, Kang Peng nodded slightly, Gao Shun immediately organized eight hundred trapping camps, and ordered: "All go to the armor!" The soldiers of the Eight Hundred Trap Camp immediately took off their armor and stood shirtless with a knife, Gao Shun grabbed the bright steel knife with his right hand, grabbed the round shield with his left hand, and shouted: "Siege!" The eight hundred elite warriors of the camp roared in unison, lined up in a neat array, and quickly approached the city wall.
"The camp is coming." Cao Cao saw this group of unarmored enemies from the telescope captured by Dong Zhuojun, and immediately understood who it was - the only ones who dared to charge without armor in the siege battle were the group of madmen trapped in the camp. Cao Cao shouted: "Concentrate all the bows and arrows to meet the trapped camp, Xu Zhen, you bring Lone's own soldiers to prepare, and don't let an enemy trapped in the camp go to the city!" ”
"Flutter!" The sound of bowstrings was endless, and almost all the bows and arrows at the west gate of Dongjun were aimed at the trapped camp to dump feather arrows, but the attackers of Dong Zhuo's army under the city frantically shot feather arrows onto the city wall, suppressing the attackers of Cao Cao's army, and buying time for the trapped camp to charge. The biggest advantage of not wearing armor is that the movements are flexible and fast, the archers of Cao Cao's army have not released a few rounds of arrows, and the trapped camp has rushed to the city wall at an incredible speed - naturally he drank the stimulant refined by Wenhua Hou, Gao Shun took the lead and rushed up the city wall, the bottom of the towering cloud ladder has been buried in the corpses of the soldiers on both sides and the rolling stones and falling trees, and the soldiers in the trapped camp can even step on the cloud ladder to rush to the city wall without helping, which greatly facilitates the siege.
"Traitor! Death! Gao Shun shouted, the steel knife in his hand swung out, and the two Cao Cao soldiers who stopped in front of him were cut into four pieces at an incredible speed, and the Cao Cao army next to him had seen such speed and divine power, and was frightened, and one of Gao Shun's legs had already stepped on the city wall. At this time, a giant axe came to the side, Gao Shun returned to the knife frame axe at the last moment, the knife and axe intersected, and a string of sparks and a loud noise were collided, Gao Shun's steel knife almost got out of his hand, and a rough voice sounded, "Good boy, there is a set, which can actually hold my Xu Yan's full strength of an axe." It turned out that Xu Yan had been staring at Gao Shun, Gao Shun's leg had just gone up the city wall, Xu Yan immediately made a move, and almost succeeded in a sneak attack, Gao Shun didn't say a word, and waved a knife to fight with Xu Yan across the battlements.
Here Xu Yang can defeat Gao Shun, who drank stimulants, but Cao Cao's soldiers next to him are not the opponents of other trapped camp soldiers, the shirtless trapped camp soldiers are far superior to Cao Cao's personal soldiers in terms of speed and strength, killing Cao Cao's personal soldiers and ordinary soldiers of Cao Cao's army across the city, blood flowed into streams, many trapped camp soldiers have rushed to the city, and the morale of the Dong Zhuojun soldiers behind them was greatly boosted, and they roared and rushed up, and in an instant, more than five hundred Dong Zhuojun soldiers had rushed up on the city wall.
"Pour fire oil!" Cao Cao shouted, seeing that the trapped camp was too powerful, and his own battle-hardened soldiers were far from being opponents, Cao Cao had no choice but to take out the last move to defend the city.
A large amount of fire oil was poured down from the city wall, and the torches were thrown down immediately, and the city was suddenly on fire, scorching and stinking, Dong Zhuojun under the city panicked and retreated, and Gao Shun on the city saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly shouted: "Withdraw!" Remove! "Kicked the city wall with one leg, dodged the axe swung by Xu Zhen and jumped backwards in the air, although the city wall was high, but the flexible Gao Shun landed unharmed, and the soldiers in the trapped camp on the city jumped off the city wall one after another to escape, but the other Dong Zhuojun soldiers who rushed to the city wall were quickly divided by dozens of times the enemy's knives.
The raging fire was churning under the Dongjun city, the smell of the meat was burning and disgusting, Dong Zhuojun's crazy siege was temporarily repelled by Cao Cao's army, but Kang Peng was also a veteran of the army, during this period of flames, Dong Zhuojun began to pour long-range weapons such as special long arrows and gunpowder kegs against the city, not giving Cao Cao's army the opportunity to repair the city defense, and outside the range of Dongjun City, more Dong Zhuojun was seizing the time to bandage his wounds, replenish food, water and weapons, and the experienced generals of Dong Zhuojun were trying their best to boost morale," Brothers, when the fire is extinguished, we will continue to attack, who can take Cao Cao's head, reward a thousand gold, and seal the marquis! Get Guo Jia's head, Dongjun Taishou! ”
After being put into the tunnels of the city by several personal soldiers to avoid Dong Zhuojun's long-range killing weapons, Cao Cao remained silent and silently listened to the casualty reports counted by his subordinates, "Our army has more than 7,000 dead soldiers, countless wounded, less than 80,000 arrows left, there are not many rolling stones and fallen wood, and the fire oil is enough to be used twice......"
"Treacherous Dong thief!" Guo Jia slammed his fist on the tunnel wall and said fiercely: "If we find that we are short of materials, we don't need to throw catapults and boulders, only powder kegs that we can't use repeatedly." ”
Cao Cao was expressionless, as if he hadn't heard Guo Jia's complaint to Kang Peng, but silently said in his heart: "Ang'er, now, only you can save the situation, and only you can decide the outcome of this battle......
At the same moment, another person who can change the situation on the battlefield - Dong Erye is drinking with a beautiful maid in his arms in the camp, no one in the Jizhou Legion of Dong Zhuo's army complains about Dong Erye's behavior, and Zhang Liao and Xu Huang naturally arrange the excavation of tunnels and siege of the city, and Tian Feng will do the other affairs in the army, and Dong Erye can delegate power and not blindly command, which is already the greatest contribution to the Jizhou Legion. However, doing so is also Dong Erye's favorite.
"Second master, the king is in a hurry." A herald rushed into the big tent and delivered Kang Peng's letter to Dong Chong, Dong Chong hurriedly pushed away the maid, stood up and solemnly accepted the letter from the eldest brother with both hands, opened it respectfully and only looked at it a few times, Dong Chong laughed, "Good big brother, good big brother, finally returned my new Dong Erjun to me." ”
Dong Chong thought for a while, handed the letter to the herald and said: "Send this letter to Mr. Wen Hao, ask Mr. Wen Hao to organize an attack on White Horse City according to my eldest brother's method, and then ask Wen Yuan and Gongming to stop digging tunnels, just say that my eldest brother said that the tunnels cannot break the White Horse City guarded by Hao Zhao." ”
"Listen to the others, bring good wine and food, bring Pai Jiu Se, and the second master and my maid, and catch one or two hundred luxury carriages." Dong Chong shouted in high spirits: "Accompany the second master and me to the Yellow River ferry to welcome the second master and my new second master army!" ”