At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 338: Capturing Xia Houyuan alive

Xia Houyuan listened to Wu Junhou's words and felt that they were very reasonable.

He has only three thousand cavalry under his command. If he cannot enter the city as soon as possible, kill the defenders near the city wall and occupy the streets in front.

When reinforcements led by Zhou Yu and Wei Yan arrived in the city, even if Xiahou Yuan could delay the arrival of Cao Cao's troops, he would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Now, due to the internal and external cooperation between Xia Houyuan and Wu Junhou, the city has become chaotic. It is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the victory and repel the defenders near the city gate.

Xia Houyuan was also a decisive man and immediately ordered all his cavalry to rush into the city.

When all the cavalry rushed across the suspension bridge and poured into the city, they began to attack fiercely. The Yizhou Army was caught off guard and began to retreat.

"Xia Houyuan is here. Anyone who surrenders will not be killed!"

Seeing that the block in front was about to be breached, Xia Houyuan couldn't help but be high-spirited, holding a long gun and leering on his horse.

"boom!"

What Xia Houyuan didn't expect was that just after all three thousand cavalry rushed into the city, the suspension bridge on the moat at the city gate was quietly pulled up.

"General, general, no good, someone has pulled up the suspension bridge on the moat!"

Xia Houyuan, who was in high spirits, had just looked shocked when he suddenly heard the loud beating of drums in the city, and saw densely packed and fully armed soldiers emerging in front of the originally noisy neighborhood.

The banner with the word "zhou" at the head was fluttering in the wind under the light of the fire.

"Crossbowmen, prepare!"

Wei Yan clapped his horse forward and shouted sharply at the houses near the street.

As Wei Yan finished speaking, densely packed crossbowmen suddenly appeared on top of the originally very clean residence.

"Crench!"

The cold arrows of the crossbowmen and the murderous intent revealed in the dark night made even a veteran on the battlefield like Xia Houyuan feel ice-cold in his heart.

He originally thought that he could attack Yangping Pass by relying on the internal forces in the city, and then quickly occupy the favorable terrain and delay it until Cao Cao led the army.

But the scene in front of him was clearly a trap set by the other party.

After the cavalry entered the city, their combat effectiveness was reduced by more than half. If they could not occupy the favorable terrain and use the narrow streets and houses in the city to block the Yizhou army, these three thousand cavalry would not be able to withstand it for long.

The most important thing is that now even the suspension bridge at the city gate has been pulled up, which is equivalent to cutting off Xia Houyuan's escape route.

If they cannot break out, these three thousand cavalry will either surrender or die in battle.

"Tap Tap!"

After all the crossbowmen aimed at Xiahou Yuan's cavalry, Zhou Yu immediately took two steps forward on his horse and shouted to Xiahou Yuan from a distance: "General Xiahou has fallen into my trap, why don't you dismount and accept the surrender? This will save the three thousand soldiers under his command from dying in battle. this!"

Xia Houyuan forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, suddenly turned his head to look at Wu Junhou, and said murderously: "Are you pretending to surrender?"

Wu Junhou said with a smile: "General, you have misunderstood. I did not pretend to surrender at all. He is not Wu Junhou, but Ma Zhong, the lieutenant of His Highness the King of Chu."

"As for your internal commander Wu Junhou, he was already killed when he rushed to the city gate."

In fact, this calculation against Cao Cao brought together the wisdom of Pang Tong, Zhou Yu, Lu Xun, and Zhang Song, as well as important intelligence provided by Chen Wen's subordinates.

Zhang Song's surrender to Ma Chaoyun was false.

At that time, Ma Chao was alone. Although the Yizhou army could not attack Baishui Pass in a short time, they were able to trap Ma Chao and Yu Jin here.

However, Pang Tong did not choose to do this for the sake of longer-term interests.

He asked Zhang Song to first use grain and grass to gain Ma Chao's trust, and then borrow a knife to kill people, using Ma Chao to kill all the Qiang in the Six Paths and return home defeated.

Doing this will not only make Ma Chao trust Zhang Song more, but also avenge the rebellion of the Qiang in the Six Paths.

In order not to force the Qiang people too much and to worry about them escaping back to the plateau, Zhou Ji had to accept the surrender of the Qiang people.

However, Zhou Ji has some of Zhou Qi's demeanor, and he is a person who must avenge his revenge. How could he allow the Qiang people to rebel whenever they want and surrender whenever they want?

Accepting the surrender of the Qiang people and promising to give them money and food was just to stabilize the Qiang people and prevent them from fleeing back to the plateau in panic.

After the Qiang people were stabilized, Zhou Ji could not break his promise and kill those who surrendered. Otherwise, who would dare to surrender easily in the future?

Ever since, Pang Tong came up with this strategy of killing someone with a borrowed knife.

As soon as this strategy came out, Zhang Song not only completely gained Ma Chao's trust, but also used Ma Chao's hands to teach the Qiang of the Six Paths a lesson. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.

Pang Tong's plan has come to this point, which is actually just the first step.

Cao Cao has attempted to seize Yizhou several times. If he cannot teach the other party a profound lesson, there will be no peace on the Yizhou border in the future.

Ever since, Pang Tong had the audacity to plot against Cao Cao.

He knew that Cao Cao was suspicious and had many talented men under his command. If he used ordinary tactics of false surrender, the probability of success would be very low and flaws would easily be revealed.

As a result, Pang Tong consulted Zhou Yu and Lu Xun for their opinions, combined with the intelligence provided by Chen Wen's subordinates, and finally decided to resort to a half-truth and half-false plan to invite the king into the urn.

It's half true, because whether Zhang Song secretly found the Yang family in Hanzhong, and Yang Wei was indeed eager for revenge and planned to surrender to Cao Cao, it was all true.

The reason why Yang Wei was chosen was because the other party had the experience of studying in Guanzhong. As long as Cao Cao found out about this, he would definitely believe Yang Wei's words.

If not, with the traffic isolated, once Cao Cao could not determine Yang Wei's identity, he might not have fallen into the trap.

Since Yang Wei really wants to rebel, then Wu Junhou, who is the opponent's inner support, naturally also really wants to rebel, otherwise it will be easy to reveal his flaws.

Zhou Yu used the help of Zhang Lu and the Hanzhong family to bring the Yang family to dust. The reason why he did not kill them all was probably because he had already thought about this day.

However, Zhou Yu also asked Chen Wen's spies to keep an eye on Yang's movements secretly.

At the beginning, Zhou Yu did not expect that Wu Junhou was a nail left by the Yang family. It was only discovered by chance when the spies were secretly investigating the Yang family.

After Zhou Yu learned of this, instead of identifying Wu Junhou, he promoted him to Junhou without any trace.

Otherwise, with Yang's current desolate appearance, how much energy can he have to control the promotion of a military prince in the army?

You know, these are troubled times, and Zhou Qi is extremely strict in supervising the official positions of generals. It is almost impossible to be promoted without solid military merit.

Of course, if he is a famous historical general who is valued by Zhou Qi, he will indeed receive such special treatment.

However, such people are only a handful after all.

After Wu Junhou was promoted to Junhou, the number of troops under his command gradually expanded to 300. Among them, many sophisticated spies were added, but they were deliberately bribed by Wu Junhou, showing their loyalty and willingness to go through fire and water for him.

In fact, they were secretly monitoring Wu Junhou's every move.

It was precisely because Cao Cao and his subordinates Yang Wei and Wu Junhou wanted to surrender that Cao Cao did not find any loopholes.

Half a lie, naturally Zhang Song's surrender was a lie, and his attempt to lure Cao Cao into Hanzhong with the Yang family was also a lie.

Pang Tong's main goal is to fool Cao Cao, but also to fool Yang Wei?

As long as Yang Wei feels that the chess pieces he has painstakingly placed can help Cao Cao seize Yangping Pass, and Zhang Song encourages Yang Wei to surrender to Cao Cao, then there will be no problems in the most critical part of the entire calculation.

The reason why Wu Junhou was allowed to live until the eve of the opening of the city gate was because Zhou Yu was worried about some unknown secret code between him and Yang Wei, so he did not dare to touch Yang Wei rashly. When Wu Junhou began to openly seize the door, and Xia Houyuan also began to lead his cavalry towards the city, it meant that Wu Junhou had lost all use value.

As a result, Wu Junhou was killed when he was trying to seize the door, and all his loyal men were also killed.

In the end, Ma Zhong, whose body was similar to that of Wu Junhou, covered in blood, pretended to be the opponent, opened the city gate, and lowered the suspension bridge of the moat.

Because it was dark and Xia Houyuan was not familiar with Wu Junhou, Ma Zhong's identity was not exposed.

The reason why Ma Zhong urged Xiahou Yuan to let all soldiers and horses enter the city was to close the door and beat the dogs.

Otherwise, once the strategy is exposed and Xiahou Yuan's cavalry really wants to leave, the Yizhou army will not be able to catch up.

This time the three top counselors joined forces to plot against Cao Cao, not only to make the other party's trip in vain, but also to cut off a piece of Cao Cao's flesh.

Xia Houyuan and his cavalry were the first pieces of meat to be cut off.

The soldiers who lowered the suspension bridge were also those who had made arrangements long ago.

Xia Houyuan knew that he had fallen into the trap, and he was so angry that he immediately raised his gun and took Ma Zhong's head directly.

As a veteran on the battlefield, Xia Houyuan quickly understood the current situation and knew that he was not completely in despair.

Although the suspension bridge has been pulled up, Zhou Yu did not dare to send troops to ambush near the suspension bridge in advance in order to deceive Wu Junhou.

Those who guarded the suspension bridge were just internal agents placed in Wu Junhou's headquarters. There were only about a hundred people.

Although the Yizhou army was strong and the crossbowmen were formidable, the streets were narrow and there were not many people standing in the houses on both sides.

At this time, the Yizhou Army's strength advantage could not be fully utilized.

As long as Xia Houyuan can kill all the Yizhou troops near the suspension bridge, most of his soldiers will be able to escape although they will be damaged.

He just secretly regretted that he was careless after all and did not send his own people to control the city gate and the suspension bridge as soon as he entered the city.

The only strange thing is that Xia Houyuan trusted Wu Junhou too much, and at the urging of Wu Junhou, he only wanted to defeat the Yizhou Army at the gate of the city as soon as possible, and then seize the streets and occupy favorable terrain.

That's how it is when profit makes one's mind faint.

If there is a next time, Xia Houyuan will definitely not fall for the same trick again.

"clang!"

Facing Xia Houyuan's angry blow, Ma Zhong hurriedly blocked it, but felt his arms were numb and almost couldn't hold the weapon in his hand.

Seeing that Xia Houyuan still refused to give up, he wanted to kill himself here in one go.

Ma Zhong knew that he was defeated by Xiahou Yuan, and most of the people around him were Cao Jun. He hurriedly shouted to the person next to him: "General, save me!"

"clang!"

Xia Houyuan's second stabbing shot was blocked by a broadsword thrust out from the side.

With Xia Houyuan's arm strength, he couldn't help but feel weak the moment he fought with the opponent, and almost couldn't hold on to the spear in his hand.

He looked intently and saw a tall, round-waisted man wearing ordinary soldier clothes coming towards him with a knife.

"Surrender or die!"

A thunderous sound exploded in the formation, frightening all the soldiers to take a few steps back.

Feeling the "buzzing" sound coming from his eardrums, Xia Houyuan was horrified and asked in a deep voice: "Who are you? Tell me your name!"

"Xu Chu from Qiao County!"

Xia Houyuan was even more shocked when he heard Xu Chu's name.

With the rise of Zhou Qi, the reputation of Dian Wei and Xu Chu for their bravery has long been spread throughout the world. Cao Cao couldn't help sighing every time he mentioned Xu Chu.

Although Cao Cao was a traitor, he also attached great importance to the friendship between his hometown and the party.

Both he and Xu Chu were from Qiao County, Pei State, and they were outright fellow townsmen. Logically speaking, Xu Chu should seek refuge with Cao Cao.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Qi kidnapped Xu Chu early, causing Cao Cao to miss Xu Chu, a fellow countryman.

Xia Houyuan was also a native of Qiao County, and he was extremely frightened by Xu Chu's name.

He said in a deep voice: "Zhongkang and I have the friendship of fellow villagers, so why bother to persecute him too much?"

When Xu Chu heard this, he said helplessly: "Everyone is his own master, general, don't blame me!"

Xia Houyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, knowing that things couldn't go well today, so he immediately ordered his soldiers to seize the suspension bridge, and at the same time braced himself to fight Xu Chu.

At this point, even if Xu Chu is famous, Xia Houyuan will never sit still and wait for death.

"what!"

Unexpectedly, just as Xia Houyuan was about to take action, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead, and then fell directly from the horse. However, Xu Chu used the skill of flying rocks to hit people, secretly hitting Xia Houyuan's forehead.

Fortunately, he restrained his strength, otherwise at such a close range, with Xu Chu's arm strength, the flying rocks could directly kill Xia Houyuan.

The reason why Xu Chu was here was that Zhou Ji was worried about the situation in Hanzhong and believed that Hanzhong lacked strong generals, so he asked Xu Chu to come to suppress the battle.

Xu Chu was ordered to protect Zhou Ji, so he naturally did not want to go to Hanzhong.

Zhou Jixiao was moved by emotion and reason, and temporarily transferred Yan Yanzheng to be the commander of his personal guards, and finally persuaded Xu Chu.

The reason why Xu Chu was sent to Hanzhong instead of Yan Yan was because Yan Yan was more famous and recognizable in Yizhou, and could easily arouse Cao Cao's vigilance.

Moreover, Yan Yan still has to lead the banzhen barbarians and cannot get away from him at all.

Xu Chu has been either protecting Zhou Qi or Zhou Ji these years, and rarely has the opportunity to go into battle to kill the enemy and make contributions.

Zhou Ji also knew that Xu Chu was aggrieved and wanted his uncle to make more military exploits, so he sent him to Hanzhong.

There is no doubt that Xu Chu made great achievements this time.

The reason why he was playing dirty tricks was because he was worried that the two men would be unable to stop fighting and behead Xia Houyuan from his horse, and he was also worried that Cao Jun would seize the suspension bridge and escape from the city.

Only by defeating Xia Houyuan as quickly as possible can the three thousand cavalry be forced to surrender.

Ma Zhong had quick eyesight and quick hands. When he saw Xia Houyuan fall, he planned to step forward and kill Xia Houyuan.

"Leave people under the knife!"

After all, Xu Chu still cared about the friendship with his fellow villagers and hurriedly spoke out at the critical moment.

Ma Zhong did not dare to disobey Xu Chu's order and stopped at the critical moment. Then he pulled up the dizzy Xia Houyuan and put the knife on his neck.

"Your generals have been captured alive. If we don't surrender now, how long will it take?"

Seeing this, Xu Chu roared loudly, and the thunderous sound exploded in the formation again!

(End of this chapter)