Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1443 Returning Together
Guan Ping saw Pang Tong trembling, and hurried forward to support him, saying, "Military Advisor, please take care of yourself."

Pang Tong closed his eyes in pain, "My body is already like this, why should I take care of myself?"

"This time it was my poor planning that resulted in the general not achieving any success. I am truly ashamed."

Guan Ping said quickly: "Military Advisor, what are you talking about? The two generals of Wei State personally supervised the battle, but they failed to capture Fangling. This is all thanks to the military advisor. Otherwise, this road would have been unstoppable long ago."

"Besides, the soldiers' food and fodder have already reached their limit. The Prime Minister asked us to withdraw in order to preserve our manpower and fight against Wei next year."

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "There is no chance."

"I can guess what Xu Yuanzhi is thinking. He wants to release the Wei army and let Jin send troops to stop them. We will stay in Xiangyang and stay out of the situation."

Guan Ping opened his eyes wide in surprise, "Jin State has provided us with a lot of equipment and food. If we give them up like this, the Wei army can enter Jianghuai from several routes, causing considerable trouble to Jin State."

“Isn’t this betraying our allies?”

Pang Tong coughed a few times and slowly sat up straight, "But for Hannan Country, it is the best choice."

"I, Pang Tong, have always been conceited. In fact, I am too obsessed with the gains and losses on the battlefield. I am not as clear as Xu Yuanzhi in terms of domestic affairs."

"He is paving the way for Hannan's future after the fall of Wei. Although he may be criticized, this is the best way to make Hannan and Jin compete with each other."

"But the problem is that if we take the initiative to withdraw from Fangling, we must give an explanation to Jin. If we do it too obviously, Jin will question our intentions and even suspect that we have joined forces with Wei."

Guan Ping said, "My former king of Hannan and Cao Cao have a deep hatred. Both sides want to destroy him as soon as possible. How can we join forces?"

"I will write to Jin personally to explain this matter."

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "No, the more we talk about this, the worse it gets. Our relationship with Jin is very delicate now. If we offend them again, they will have an excuse to send troops to Hannan in the future. We must not give them this excuse."

Guan Ping was entangled and said, "But the order to withdraw has been issued. We can't disobey the order, right?"

Pang Tong sighed, "It is difficult to disobey military orders, but we still need to do our best to ensure that Jin cannot find fault with us."

"I have already thought about this."

When Pang Tong finished speaking, Guan Ping's face changed drastically and he said, "No!"

"The military advisor is the late king's right-hand man. His status in Hannan is only below the prime minister and my father. You must not do this!"

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "General, there is no need to persuade me. I have made up my mind. I must give an explanation to the State of Jin."

"Besides, the doctors have already examined my condition. They said that I was lucky to be saved because of my brain injury. Now that I have survived for a few years, it is already a miracle."

"But recently my headaches have become more severe, and I often can't see, let alone walk, sit or lie down."

"Let me stay here, use myself as bait, lure the Wei army into a trap, and give them a surprise attack. This will also be an explanation to the Jin State."

Guan Ping gritted his teeth, his face uncertain. Pang Tong saw this and shouted, "General, you are still young and have to protect Hannan. Now you are hesitant and want to disobey military orders and ignore national affairs?"

After hearing this, Guan Ping had no choice but to bow three times to Pang Tong and leave.

The late autumn wind blew in through the crack in the door, and Pang Tong felt increasingly cold. He could not help but wrap himself in the quilt, thinking that in the battle of Chaisang a few years ago, it was because of his incompetence that Liu Bei was injured and eventually died, while he was lucky enough to survive.

Now it’s time to pay off this debt. I wonder how I will face Lord Xuande when I meet him in the afterlife?
In the Wei army camp, Cao Zhen and Xiahou Shang were discussing matters, but they received an urgent report from a spy saying that the Hannan army was withdrawing from Fangling!

Both of them stood up in surprise. By now in this battle, Wei's logistics had almost reached the limit, and winter was about to come in less than a month. They did not expect Hannan to withdraw at all.

But this news surprised them greatly, because if Wei State took Fangling, it would be able to re-enter the heartland of Jingzhou, advance to Nanyang in the north, attack Fancheng in the west, and go south to Xiangyang, thus revitalizing the entire situation!
Xiahou Shang was the first to speak up: "That doesn't make sense. If they keep defending for more than half a month, we won't be able to attack the city. Why should we withdraw now?"

Cao Zhen smiled and said, "It's simple. Compared to us, they can't hold on any longer!"

"The Hannan army is weaker than the Wei army, and they have to deal with attacks from two directions. Even with the support of the Jin State, they have already reached their limit!"

"Previously, there was news that they only had a few days' supply of food and were forced to collect food from nearby villages and towns. They didn't know the strength of our army, so they retreated at this time to avoid being annihilated by us!" Xiahou Shang frowned and said, "That being said, we still have to be careful that they may ambush us and lure us into a trap."

Cao Zhen nodded and said, "Of course I won't. I will send two thousand soldiers and horses into Fangling first. After we check the safety of the city, we will lead the army into the city."

"At the same time, send out scouts to check if there are any ambushes around Fangling. Once discovered, you and I will each lead an army to attack and destroy them from both sides."

Xiahou Shang thought about it and said, "That's a good idea. For safety reasons, I..."

He originally wanted to say that he would serve as Cao Zhen's vanguard, but when he thought of the great contribution he had made in capturing Fangling, he swallowed the words back.

Cao Zhen did not take it seriously. He and Xiahou Shang immediately gathered the troops and led the army towards Fangling, which was dozens of miles away.

When the two men arrived near Fangling, they saw the Hannan Army hastily retreating on a mountain road in the distance. Because they left in such a hurry, their flags and baggage were scattered all over the mountain road. The soldiers fled in all directions in a hurry, and the four gates of the city were filled with civilians fleeing.

When Cao Zhen saw this, he put most of his worries to rest. He sent troops into the city to investigate, and at the same time sent spies to search the direction in which the Hannan army fled.

Soon, the soldiers and horses in the city reported back that the Hannan Army in the city had already fled, and the spies over there also came back and said that the Hannan Army was fleeing, but a dozen miles to the east, there was still a rear army of several thousand people retreating.

After hearing this, Cao Zhen said to Xiahou Shang: "You go into the city first and organize the troops. I will lead my men to pursue them!"

After hearing this, Xiahou Shang said, "The enemy's situation is hard to predict. Why don't I join forces with the general to attack them?"

Cao Zhen smiled and said, "There are only a few thousand people. If we don't occupy the mausoleum first, and there are other enemy troops lying in ambush waiting for you and me to enter the city, it will be troublesome."

After hearing this, Xiahou Shang could only say, "Then General, be careful."

Cao Zhen laughed loudly, "Don't worry, we have been fighting for a year. If I let them withdraw like this, I won't be able to rest in peace even in my dreams!"

"Now I will lead the army in pursuit and make sure none of them can escape!"

He immediately mobilized 10,000 soldiers and rushed in the direction of the Hannan Army's retreat.

After Xiahou Shang entered the city, he found that there was indeed no one in the city. He climbed to the top of the city wall and looked in the direction where Cao Zhen left. He always felt vaguely uneasy in his heart, so after some thought, he sent another 3,000 soldiers to chase Cao Zhen.

Cao Zhen was also cautious. He sent out 5,000 vanguard troops to chase after them, while he himself followed carefully in the central army, always on guard against surprise attacks.

As a result, after chasing for more than thirty miles, they heard shouts and screams from the front. The spies reported that the front army had already engaged in battle with the Hannan army, and the other side was retreating rapidly.

After hearing this, Cao Zhen immediately ordered the entire army to speed up and rush to the battlefield. As a result, when they were passing through a dense forest, shouts of killing were heard from both sides and fire was set in the forest.

At this time, the autumn wind was strong and the fire spread very quickly. The flames and smoke quickly approached Cao Zhen's team. Cao Zhen knew that he had been fooled. He thought about it and immediately made a decision to retreat the entire army.

He guessed at this time that the other side wanted to take advantage of his eagerness to attack and ambush him in front. However, he did the opposite. He withdrew one after another and then tried to bypass the dense forest to catch the other side off guard!
However, with a few loud bangs from behind, more than a dozen crossbow carts were pushed out from the dense forest, and arrows rained down on the retreating Wei army.

Although these crossbow carts were not steam-driven, Pang Tong had improved them by using several wheels that turned simultaneously, greatly increasing the shooting speed and number of crossbow arrows. Now, they could fire at the same time and penetrate the flank of Cao Zhen's central army in one fell swoop.

Cao Zhen quickly sent people to hold the line, but the Hannan Army had already set fire everywhere, covering the entire battlefield of both sides. Cao Zhen almost vomited blood when he saw this. Was the Hannan Army preparing to die with him?
However, the current situation has made him unable to back down, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and send all his soldiers into the battlefield. As the fire spread, large clouds of smoke completely covered the battlefield, completely blocking the soldiers' vision.

The soldiers coughed and used their clothes to block out the smoke, while waving their swords to defend against arrows flying from unknown directions. People kept falling down with screams. As the fire spread to every corner of the battlefield, the two sides could not distinguish between friend and foe, and could not even find a way out.

In this situation, the soldiers on both sides fell into madness. They roared and stabbed their weapons at every target that appeared, and then were killed by the weapons stabbed by others. Their bodies fell on the scorched ground and then burned.

When the rear troops sent by Xiahou Shang arrived, they saw a scene that looked like hell. The entire hill was engulfed in flames. The pungent smell of corpses and thick smoke swirled and evaporated, covering the entire hill. From a distance, it looked like a deadly poisonous mushroom.

Xiahou Shang, who rushed over after hearing the news, could not help but beat his chest and squat. He could not get close to the fire at all and could only wait for the flames to go out.

The fire burned for a whole day and night, and the entire mountain was turned black. Xiahou Shang personally led the soldiers and walked on the scorching ground to search. What he saw were tens of thousands of charred corpses, and almost no one came out alive.

Seeing this scene, Xiahou Shang felt dizzy and almost fainted.

After several days of cleaning the battlefield, the Wei army finally found the body of Cao Zhen who was burned to death. At the same time, they also found the body of Pang Tong, the general of the Hannan Army.

But Xiahou Shang couldn't be happy at all. Is all this worth it?
(End of this chapter)