Han Xiang

Chapter 608 Everyone has his own plans and tricks

Guan Yu learned that Liu Ye was coming to help from Hanzhong, and he became more confident in defeating Cao's army.

Since they had to stay in Yin County to take over, they did not send troops to take the next step.

As for directly attacking Fancheng next, or rushing to Rang County to support Xu Shu, Guan Yu needs to wait for Cao Rengen to respond to the defeat before Guan Yu can adjust based on actual conditions.

With the telescope provided by Long Xiang, Cao Ren can fully control the actions of his troops.

If he led his troops to Yin County to avenge Niu Jin, Guan Yu would not mind ambushing him again.

However, as Cao Cao's most trusted general, Cao Ren would not let anger affect his judgment.

The news that Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu's troops had conquered Xi'e, Wancheng, Niyang, Anzhong and other cities was reported to Cao Ren in Fancheng by fast horse.

Although they lost their favorite general Niu Jin, Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu are progressing smoothly.

Cao Ren felt that he had seen through Guan Yu's plot, and believed that the opponent seemed to be resisting tenaciously, but in fact he was at the end of his strength.

Guan Yu evacuated soldiers and civilians from various places and moved them to the west of Nanyang to resist stubbornly. He had an obvious cowardly reaction. Such a deployment that could withdraw to Guanzhong at any time clearly showed that he was afraid of himself and Xu Du's army.

Gan Ning harassed the people on the waterway, Xu Shu resisted in Rang County, and Guan Yu ambushed in Yin and Xian counties.
Pieces of pieces, scattered battles.

In Cao Ren's opinion, it was all a small fight, nothing more than delaying time for Liu Bei to come to rescue.

Cao Ren was very satisfied with the current situation. He believed that occupying Fancheng and protecting the isolated city of Xiangyang, both Liu Bei and Guan Yu would try their best to save it.

Therefore, he neither sent troops to avenge Guan Yu, nor sent more troops to Rang County to help Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu.

During Guan Yu's campaign in eastern Han Dynasty and his garrison in Fancheng, Xu Shu not only firmly defended Wancheng and Xi'e, but later took the opportunity to seize places such as Bowang. There is no doubt about his military capabilities.

But what he is facing now is Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu, and the city wall of Rang County is not as strong and tall as Wancheng, and the defenders only have a few thousand people.

Cao Ren believed that Xu Shuhui, like Pei Yuanshao, could no longer hold on and continued to withdraw to the city farther west, and would not continue to fight in Rang County.

By then, the supply line from Wancheng to Fancheng will be completely connected.

Even if he knew the final outcome, Cao Ren didn't want to waste time in Rang County. After all, he really didn't have much military rations to bring to Fancheng.

Before Cao Ren buried Niu Jinlongzhong, he sent his own soldiers to secretly cross the river east to deliver the order.

He recalled Ma Yan and Zhang Wei who had conquered Huyang, Pingshi and other places, and ordered them to lead their troops to cross the river from Xinye waters and go to Rang County to help Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu break the city.

Since Guan Yu's main force is in the west of Nanyang, Cao Ren feels that there is no need to keep troops in the east of Feishui. 10 people still need to form a joint force to have an advantage.

Cai Mao helped transport grain and grass and civilians, and was often harassed by Gan Ning's fleet, which came and went like the wind. However, Ma Yan and Zhang Wei were fighting troops, and they did not gain much advantage by sending troops to harass them, so they were allowed to land on the west bank of the Feishui River.

The reason why Gan Ning was able to continue to harass was not only because the snails and clippers could advance and retreat freely, but also because with the newly acquired Xiangyang at his back, the city's treasury was not only full of grain and grass, but also had a huge stock of military supplies such as armor, bows and arrows.

Therefore, every time Gan Ning attacked, he would rain down arrows like locusts without hesitation. If he ran out of arrows, he would return to Xiangyang to replenish supplies.

This made Cai Mao very uncomfortable. If he resisted passively, he would have to bear various losses. If he resisted actively, arrows and other supplies would become less and less.

Even though Gan Ning kept scraping, Cai Mao was very passive. As military supplies, grain and other materials were consumed, he gradually lost his advantage in military strength.

If Gan Ning launches an attack regardless of the cost, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun's wealth of [-] navy troops will most likely be left in the water.

Cai Mao and Zhang Yun moved men, horses and food, and frequently fought with Gan Ning in the Xinye waters, which became the most stalemate part of the Nanyang War.

Cao Ren sat firmly in Fancheng and was in high spirits. His opponent Guan Yu was not so free. After explaining the defense of Yin and Xian to Liu Ye, he led less than [-] elite troops to Rang County.

The vast area of ​​nearly [-] miles from Fancheng to Rang County was frequently visited by sentinels from Guan Yu and Cao Ren. They delivered and spied on all kinds of intelligence for the war.

Cao Ren's riding sentry had good horses and superb riding skills, while Guan Yu's riding sentry was blessed with a telescope, and he firmly took the initiative in spying on intelligence.Ma Yan's and Zhang Wei's troops, with more than [-] troops, were ordered to go from the southeast of Nanyang to Rang County to support them. After several days of marching, they were already exhausted.

As a result, these two unlucky guys traveled thirty miles southeast of Rang County and "accidentally" ran into Guan Yu's team.

The two sides encountered a fierce battle, and Guan Yu used his almost overwhelming advantage to defeat the two supporting armies.

Half of the soldiers died or surrendered. Zhang Yi was shot in the face and died in the chaos, while Ma Yan led the remaining troops to flee to Fancheng in panic.

After the war, Guan Yu ordered his men to put on the enemy's armor and march towards Rangxian County under the banners of Ma Yan and Zhang Wei.

Rangxian County was besieged for many days by Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu. The two received orders from General Cao Ren to break through the city as soon as possible. The offensive and defensive sides fought extremely fiercely.

Zhang Ji was shot to death by a stray arrow in Rang County. Zhang Xiu hid in the rear and raided the formation with lingering fear. Xu Huang led the siege most of the time.

On the tenth day of October, the weather in Nanyang was fine.

Xu Huang and Xu Shu fought fiercely under the warm winter sun.

In the afternoon, the sun slowly set in the west, and an army was seen both above and below the city, slowly approaching from the south of Rang County.

Xu Shu held a telescope and looked around, and found that it was Cao Ren's reinforcements and banners. He thought that it had been several days since General Guan passed the message, why didn't he send troops to help?

If this support army joins Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu, it will form a huge army of [-] to [-] people. It will be too late for Guan Yu to come back by then.

The siege party was late in getting the information, but the alert rangers sent by Zhang Xiu were stationed ten miles away from Rang County, and he soon learned that his reinforcements had arrived.

The clothing, flags, and military strength are all consistent with those of Ma Yan and Zhang Wei.

After hearing the news, Zhang Xiu did not doubt that he was there. He sent someone to report the good news to Xu Huang and went out to greet him with his personal entourage.

Originally greeting the reinforcements with a smile, Zhang Xiu did not find Ma Yan and Zhang Wei in the front row when the distance between the two sides was only two or three feet.

What's the situation?
When Zhang Xiuzheng was confused, a round-faced and bearded general from the opposite side came to kill him fiercely with a big sword.

As he got closer, he saw that it was the sword bearer beside Guan Yu.

"Zhang Xiu, if you kill me, Paoze, you will die today!"

"How could this person be in Ma Yan and Zhang Wei's army?"

Zhang Xiu didn't react for a moment, but Zhou Cang was approaching with a sword on his horse. He raised his spear to block the opponent's charged slash, and then moved freely with the spear.

Zhou Cang was powerful but not as agile as Zhang Xiu in his spear skills. Every swing he made was cleverly avoided by his opponent, leaving flaws in his rapid attack.

Zhang Xiu pierced his armor twice, and his head and vest were suddenly covered in cold sweat.

Guan Yu hid behind the crowd to watch the battle. He saw the gap between Zhou Cang's martial arts and Zhang Xiu's, and thought he was not good enough to avenge Pei Yuanshao, so he pushed aside the crowd and rushed out with a sword.

"Zhou Cang get out of the way!"

Zhang Xiu and Zhou Cang fought several times, secretly thinking that the sword-carrying man was good at martial arts, but he was shocked by Guan Yu's shout.

Is Guan Yu really here?A touch of green appeared in the corner of Zhang Xiu's eyes.

He couldn't help but urge his horse to leave, but how could an ordinary war horse outrun a red rabbit?In the blink of an eye, Guan Yu caught up with his sword.

"Don't go, everyone!"

"Guan Yu, don't be arrogant!"

(End of this chapter)