The first battle of the Yizhou East Route Army on Shangguo City ended in the victory of the defending side.

Although he paid more than 3,000 lives and more than 2,000 soldiers were disabled under the city, Sima Yi did not care, he felt that he had seen clearly the Achilles' heel of the defending troops, and the two hole cards that he was currently holding tightly in the palm of his hand had not yet been opened.

In the following days, the Yizhou army under the city completely stopped attacking, and they seemed to be waiting for something, which made Cao Xing at the head of the city very puzzled.

Although the first formation withstood the siege of the Yizhou army, Cao Xing did not dare to take it lightly, and he still reported the grim situation facing Shangguo City to the direction of Gaoping as quickly as possible. With his experience of fighting for so many years, Cao Xing had an ominous premonition in his heart, this time Shangguo City was only afraid that it would eventually be captured, because the young commander who commanded the Yizhou army under the city was really too dangerous.

At the cost of Guo Sheng and the identity of the fifth prince Liu Khotan, the Sima family of Yizhou had obtained a complete gunpowder formula from the imperial court, and made a batch of gunpowder very easily by using the rich minerals near Yizhou. When the Sima family saw the gunpowder formula provided by the national teacher Yu Ji, the first thing they did was to completely cut off the sulfur and saltpeter trade with the direction of Liangguo, and send all the large sulfur and saltpeter minerals in Yizhou to guard them heavily.

Although Yuan Shao was self-defeating in using gunpowder and Zhang Fei suffered a big loss on the bank of the Qin River, Sima Yi still discovered some tricks and rules for the use of gunpowder through the previous successful use of gunpowder in the Jin state.

Sima Yi first discovered that gunpowder was very afraid of moisture, and it was almost impossible for gunpowder to function normally in rainy weather; secondly, he found that the stability of gunpowder was actually very good, as long as it was sealed and strong when sealed, it was difficult to cause sudden explosion and fire. Finally, Sima Yi also discovered a flammable black oil (actually oil) from Yizhou, which was purified to a certain extent and then mixed with black powder to make a very useful fuse rope.

Mastering the recipe for making gunpowder and mastering some of the characteristics and rules of gunpowder use is only the first card in Sima Yi's hand.

Another card in Sima Yi's hand was really surprising.

Some time ago, when Zhang Ren was attacking the Nanban tribe, he encountered a very difficult rattan armor soldier, and after some fighting, he finally caught the vulture bone, the leader of this tribe, and then completely mastered the method of making rattan armor.

This kind of rattan armor is made of wild rattan born in the wilderness of the southwest as raw material, processed by skilled craftsmen to make rattan armor, and soaked in tung oil, and only made after 7749 days. This armor is light and strong, good at preventing arrows, invulnerable to slashing and spears, unsinkable in water, and almost invincible on the battlefield.

Before this northern expedition, the Sima family not only purchased all the ready-made rattan armor in the territory of Ugo Kingdom, but also let the local people produce and produce this rattan armor armor in large quantities.

The second card in Sima Yi's hand is the tens of thousands of sets of rattan armor he brought with him. The bed crossbows and longbows of the Jin Kingdom are indeed powerful, and the firearms of the Jin Kingdom are also unique in the world, but if it encounters rainy weather at the turn of spring and summer, and then the Yizhou soldiers wear rattan armor that is not afraid of water to attack the city, I am afraid that Cao Xing will end in tragedy.

Cao Xuan didn't know that the Yizhou army under the city was actually waiting for a rainy good weather, but he knew that there would definitely be big trouble if it dragged on like this, so he hurriedly sent an urgent report in the direction of Gaoping, reporting this strange situation to Jia Xu and Zhang He.

When Jia Xu received Cao Xing's first emergency secret guarantee, he had already predicted the crisis in Shangguo City, but he was still waiting for a news at the moment, so he didn't take any measures to deal with it. Jia Xu thought that the news he was waiting for was even more important than the entire Hanyang County and the Qingbu First Division combined.

Jia Xu was waiting for the news that Zhao Xing had led his army to Wuwei. According to the plan agreed in advance, once the 50,000 troops posing as Hu cavalry arrived at Gaoping City, the 1st Heavy Division and the 1st Light Infantry Division stationed near Gaoping would withdraw to other places in advance, that is, they would surrender Gaoping City to the Hu people.

Sima Yi was waiting for God to hurry up and it rained, and Jia Xu was waiting for Zhao Xing to hurry up and lead the army to Wuwei. In the process of waiting, Cao Xing's second urgent superstition followed. Jia Xu realized that Shangguo Cheng was only afraid that he was really going to be in trouble this time, so he immediately made a decision, no longer waiting for news from the west, but personally led the first heavy division and 10,000 soldiers of the light step, and quickly approached Yixian in Hanyang County.

During the march, Jia Xu ordered Cao Xing, who was stationed in Shangguo, to prepare to abandon the city, and once he found that something could not be done, he immediately led the army to retreat upstream along the Weishui River and retreat in the direction of Yixian, and Jia Xu would come to meet him in person.

The day after Jia Xu left Gaoping, the cavalry led by Ma Chao had already crossed Wuwei, and they rushed towards Gaoping City without stopping. After receiving the news, Zhang He, who had stayed in Gaoping, immediately left Gaoping with the 40,000 reserve soldiers he had personally trained in the past two months. The direction of Zhang He's march was Huo Ran, which was in the Sili region, and although he was only leading the reserve of the Liang State, this group of soldiers who had undergone a short period of intensive training each held a halberd shaped like a sickle in their hands.

Finally, the thunder of early summer pierced the dark clouds that shrouded the head of Shangguo City, and the pouring rain instantly poured the city head and the soldiers under the city into groups of chickens.

"Knock, knock, knock......" In the roaring thunder, the Yizhou army, which had been motionless, suddenly poured out like crazy, and they braved the heavy rain to launch a huge attack on Shangguo Cheng!

This time, the "swarm of bees" at the head of the city could not play a role at all, and the arrows shot by the soldiers of the Longbow Regiment at the Yizhou army that were charging under the city were like encountering an invisible barrier, and they could not achieve the due penetration effect at all.

Looking at the Yizhou army that was gradually approaching the city wall, Cao Xing immediately ordered a part of the soldiers to destroy the 100 "swarm" launch bases at the head of the city, remove all the launch tubes made of pure steel and tie them to the backs of these soldiers respectively, and then let them retreat at full speed immediately, and be sure to rush to Yixian County to hand over these launch tubes to the hands of the army division.

Cao Xing, who personally urged the soldiers to do these things, smashed the telescope hanging on his chest, and then threw all the broken lenses into the city.

In the midst of the raging storm, Cao Xuan issued a final order: "Brothers, the vanguard army never produces a bad seed, let us meet again in the Taihang Martyrs' Garden!" After saying this, Cao Xuan pulled out the wide-mouthed broadsword behind his back and slashed at a Yizhou army soldier who had climbed up to the top of the city.

On April 15 of the sixth year of Guangxi, Shangguo City was lost. Of the 5,000 soldiers of the vanguard army stationed in the city, except for 1,000 soldiers who were evacuated from Shangguo alive to escort a swarm of soldiers who launched steel pipes and the flag of the 1st Light Infantry Division, all 4,000 soldiers below the division commander Cao Xing died at the head of the city......