Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1420 Broken City
Zhuge Liang now no longer needs any clever strategies. The experience he has gained from the battles over the past few years is that with the current strength of the Jin State, the most stable way to win is to give up all empty things, just consider filling the loopholes, and then push the army forward in an upright manner.

He placed tens of thousands of soldiers under his command outside the city of Chang'an, and set up trenches, camps, barriers and high towers. The fortification troops and the infantry and cavalry supported each other and pressed forward towards the city step by step. The entire army formation was seamlessly integrated, and there was no flaw at all.

Cao Hong and Yu Jin, who were standing on the top of the city wall, were watching from afar, and they knew clearly in their minds that the Wei army had no chance of turning the tables and winning.

Cao Hong sighed and said, "Wen Ze, there is really nothing we can do this time."

Yu Jin said in a deep voice: "Lord Cao, the Jin army has not blocked the passage to Hanzhong, you should go."

Cao Hong laughed and said, "Let's go?"

"I'll die if I go back."

"Wen Ze doesn't think I stayed here to monitor you, does he?"

"If the city is breached, I will sacrifice myself. Wen Ze should go and find a way to survive. Whether you return to Yizhou or surrender to the Jin army, you have done your duty to Cao Wei."

Yu Jin quickly said, "Lord Cao, you are joking. I have received the favor of the late emperor, how could I possibly betray the Wei Dynasty?"

"Jin will follow Cao Hou to the end."

Cao Hong looked at the Jin army surging in the distance, constantly digging trenches and advancing towards the Chang'an city wall, and said in a deep voice: "I heard that the fierce tiger of the Jin emperor tried to recruit Wen Ze several times, but was rejected by Wen Ze every time."

"Zhao Yun and Zhang He, who were once as famous as Wen Ze, are now both powerful in Jin State, while Wen Ze has experienced ups and downs. Do you regret it?"

Yu Jin was silent for a long time before he spoke: "It was Ming Gong, not Yuan Shi, whom Yu Jin first met."

"If Jin had surrendered to the Yuan family, he might have died in the battle of Yecheng."

"All I can say is that everyone has his own destiny. Since Jin has come this far, he will definitely not change his allegiance."

Cao Hong burst into laughter, patted Yu Jin on the shoulder and said, "Wen Ze said it well!"

"When you were captured by Guan Yu, the court said that you surrendered, but I didn't believe it. If you really defected to the other side, you would have been as eager to show off as Zhang Xiu did and followed the Jin army to attack Wei. How could you be imprisoned for so long?"

Yu Jin heard this and said with a wry smile: "Lord Cao, please don't mention this embarrassing past. To be honest, I was not as skilled as others, and Guan Yu didn't kill me, so I was lucky enough to save my life. I didn't expect to come back."

"Since Wei has given me a second chance, I will fight to the death."

Cao Hong shouted: "Good!"

"We will have to see the Jin army later. Our Wei Kingdom will not let them control us!"

"If you want to take Chang'an, you have to pay the corresponding price!"

In the following days, the two sides launched a series of offensive and defensive battles around Chang'an, which were extremely brutal at one point.

Although Wei State defended the city walls, many generals on the Jin side, especially the cavalry generals, knew that this might be their last chance to make merit, so they all personally led their soldiers to climb the city walls on foot, hoping to get the credit for being the first to reach the top.

Under such a fierce offensive, although Cao Hong and Yu Jin personally led soldiers to block the city walls, the walls of Chang'an were too long. If they wanted to occupy all the points, they would need at least 80,000 soldiers.

There were only 20,000 to 30,000 Cao troops left, most of whom were abandoned wounded soldiers. Together with the able-bodied men drafted from the city, there was still a large gap. So five days after the war started, many gaps in the outer wall were breached, and Cao's army was forced to retreat to the second wall to guard the inner city.

Although the second city wall was more convenient for mutual support, the Jin army had already set up siege equipment on the first city wall and took turns bombarding the second city wall, so the battle situation became even more tragic.

A Cao army soldier had just stabbed down a Jin army soldier who was climbing up in front of him, and then he was hit on the head by a watermelon-sized stone thrown from the first city wall in the distance, and died on the spot.

The stone's residual force was still there, and it bounced back and forth between the city walls, breaking the legs of several Wei soldiers. They immediately fell to the ground and howled in pain.

Soon, more stones flew over, covering the entire city wall, and knocking the Wei soldiers to the ground, forcing them to lie prone on the ground and not dare to look up.

The Jin army under the city had already taken shelter. Wei Yan and his soldiers hid under the flatbed cart and pointed at the soldier who had just fallen down and said to his subordinates, "He went up the city without following orders. This is what it means. He will be punished by military law whether he goes up or comes down!"

"Listen carefully, everyone. You must obey orders. You can only go up after hearing the order to attack the city. After that, it depends on your ability. Otherwise, those who disobey orders will be executed!"

The unlucky guy who fell to his death just now was a new recruit who climbed the wall and attacked without permission without hearing the order to attack. As a result, he was stabbed down and died by the Wei soldiers.

Even if he could get to the top of the city wall, he would be killed by the stones and bullets thrown by the subsequent Jin army, so Wei Yan issued a warning.

When the soldiers heard this, they responded with a loud roar. They held their breath, listened to the loud noise made by the huge stones hitting the top of the city, and tried their best to remain calm.

Because the two city walls were only a few dozen steps apart, the Jin army replaced the stones with larger ones to ensure damage to the enemy. Initially, the Wei army also used catapults to respond, but under the attack of the Jin army's catapults, which had a numerical advantage, the catapults installed on the second city wall were quickly dispersed.

Cao Hong and Yu Jin ordered their men to set up catapults behind the second city wall to avoid the Jin army's stone bombs, but the Jin army responded with fire bombs. These fire bombs hit the bottom of the city wall and quickly ignited the houses under the city, burning all the catapults.

The Wei army had no choice but to defend the second wall with their lives, which led to the current situation. The young and strong men in the city had been fully mobilized to fill this bottomless vortex of minced meat. A stone bullet had little force and hit the middle of the wall. The flying stone fragments hit Wei Yan's face, causing a dull pain. Wei Yan raised his shield to cover it slightly, cursing in his heart that the Wei army was too stubborn. What was the point of fighting like this?
During this period, Zhuge Liang also sent people to persuade Cao Hong to surrender, but they were all rejected. Although most of Cao's army were able-bodied men in the city, the number of people was still there. It was not easy for the Jin army to defeat these tens of thousands of people.

Wei Yan thought that the Wei army was preparing to take Chang'an City with them. If the enemy saw the city fall and set it on fire like they did in Yecheng, wouldn't that be a big trouble?

Zhao Yun, who was supervising the rear army, was now asking Zhuge Liang this question. Zhuge Liang said, "It's unlikely."

"When Cao Cao set fire to Yecheng, he wanted to destroy the main force of the Jin army. Even if Chang'an is burned to the ground today, it has nothing to do with the overall situation."

"Besides, the other side didn't kill our envoys, and it's obvious that they don't intend to perish together. The other side's commander is Cao Hong, and I'm afraid he wants to uphold the Cao family's face and dignity and fight us to the death."

Zhao Yun frowned and said, "Just for the dignity of a warrior, are we going to drive all the people in the city to the battlefield?"

"This kind of thing can't be called righteousness, right?"

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice: "If Cao had been kind and righteous, he would not have massacred Xuzhou."

"That's just their style of doing things. After all, when they're fighting for the world, they don't have the strength to pay attention to these things most of the time."

"So Liang is very grateful to His Majesty. Now that the Jin army has more cards to use in attacking cities and conquering territories than the Wei army."

Zhao Yun gripped his spear and was about to ride forward, but then he stopped and sighed, "Forget it, I won't compete with them for the credit."

Zhuge Liang laughed and said, "In fact, most of the titles of nobility nowadays are empty titles, and the actual salaries are not much different. The extra ones are just titles."

Zhao Yun sighed: "Even if it's just a title, there are still many people vying for it."

"If Cao Ren and Yu Jin had not cared about their reputation after death, would they have allowed tens of thousands of people to die on the city walls?"

"It's good for them to die with loyalty and leave behind a reputation of being loyal and righteous, but how will the families of these people cope with it?"

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty once said that when the country prospers, the people suffer, and when the country perishes, the people suffer."

"His Majesty said that he couldn't eliminate this possibility. All he could do was to try his best and leave no regrets. It would be a rare achievement if he could let as many people survive as possible."

He watched as the catapults on the top of the city wall had almost used up all the stones in reserve, so he waved his flag and said, "Blow the horn, stop throwing stones, and soldiers climb the city walls!"

The Jin army rushed to the top of the city like a tide and dispersed the Wei army, which had long lost its morale. For a moment, the flags of the Jin army were erected on the top of the city.

The Jin army soldiers did not delay. They attacked into the city along the steps of the city wall, killed the Cao soldiers guarding the city gate, and opened the city gate.

When the soldiers between the inner and outer walls saw the gate open, they rushed in. Zhang He, who was riding a horse behind them, saw this and shouted, "Spread out on both sides after entering the city and make way for the passage!"

Although this was an order that had been agreed upon long ago, some soldiers were still eager to make achievements and rushed directly onto the road, wanting to chase the fleeing Wei soldiers.

When Zhang He saw the attire of these soldiers, he realized that they should be the newly recruited soldiers from Jingzhou and Sili. He couldn't help but shake his head secretly, thinking that he was asking for trouble and he would regret it later.

Sure enough, after these new recruits chased for about a hundred steps, they heard the sound of horse hooves from the other side of the long street. Hundreds of cavalrymen rushed out and knocked down all the fleeing Cao army and the pursuing Jin army. The fallen soldiers were then trampled by the horses' hooves, and for a while there were all the sounds of the dying soldiers' wails.

Zhang He thought that the enemy had indeed left Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the city to fight back. He raised his crescent halberd and shouted, "Follow me and kill all the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry!"

Upon hearing this, his personal soldiers raised their weapons, roared, and followed Zhang Liao into the city like a whirlwind, heading straight for the Wei cavalry.

This time, the new recruits of the Jin army were all well behaved and quickly made way for their own cavalry. Zhang Liao took the lead and saw the opposing general also rushing towards him with a long sword in hand.

He recognized the man at a glance, thrust out with his halberd, and shouted, "Yu Jin!"

"The defeat of the Wei army is certain. What's the point of you being stubborn and refusing to change your ways?"

"Get off your horse and surrender immediately, there is still a chance to survive!"

Yu Jin brandished his sword and shouted, "Stop talking nonsense!"

"As a general of the Wei army, how can I live in disgrace?"

"Today, you and I, only one person can leave this street today!"

Zhang Liao also became angry and shouted, "Okay!"

"I will send you off to be buried with the State of Wei!"

(End of this chapter)