Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 453: Fortified City and Siege

The flood broke out, bringing with it the power of heaven and earth. It not only submerged the seven army camps, but even soaked Fancheng in the Han River.

Since yesterday, Zhu Zhi has led the sergeants in the city to carry earth bags and sandbags to fill in dangerous places to prevent the important areas of grain, grass and ordnance from being flooded by the Han River.

Even though he was old, Zhu Zhi still kept his spirits up and directed his left and right officials to try to control the floods pouring into the city. He was busy until the rain stopped that night.

During this period, when Zhu Zhi was tired, he would make do with the sergeant at a high place, and when there was a flood danger, he would work busy with the sergeant.

As the rain gradually subsided in the early morning, Zhu Zhi got up again to check the water conditions in the city.

Rolling up the storage pipe, Zhu Zhi walked with his legs in the flood. The water level in the city has reached his thighs. It is difficult to drain the water. Moreover, the flood is pouring into the city through the gap in the city gate. It is not known when the water will recede.

"Most of the firewood in the warehouse was wet by water. Now we can dismantle the houses in the city to make firewood. Then put the wet firewood on the city to expose in the sun for future use," Zhu Zhi said.

"promise!"

Zhu Zhi followed the Sun family for three generations and served Cao Cao for many years. This means that he has rich experience in battles and experienced many ups and downs. His tenacity far exceeds that of Cao Ren.

Cao Ren faced a flood yesterday and besieged the city. The Seventh Army of the Bans were unable to escape the flood, and his mental state often collapsed. Yesterday, Cao Ren reluctantly arranged the layout of the city, and then handed over the affairs of the city to Zhu Zhi, the prefect of Xiangyang.

While talking, the Han soldiers on the boat waved the flags of Wei army generals with various characters, such as "Yu", "Yan", "Hao", "Dong", "Cheng", "Qin" and other seven flags. The Wei soldiers on the tower pointed at the boat. There are many discussions about the flags on the boat.

The attendant pointed to the swollen corpse not far away from being soaked in Han water and said.

In Zhu Zhi's roar, the Fancheng defenders seemed to react and shot out the arrows in their hands, trying to kill Fei Yi and the Han soldiers who were trying to persuade him to surrender.

Just as the soldier Cao Ren was brainstorming, Zhu Zhi appeared on the tower and shouted: "Arrow!"

Seeing that what they didn't want to face yesterday happened, Yu Jin and Yan Xing annihilated all seven armies. Cao Ren's face suddenly turned pale, his hands and feet were cold, and his whole body was almost stiff.

"promise!"

Fortunately, Fei Yi was prepared in advance and retreated to the cabin with everyone to avoid the arrows, and the boat also moved away from Fancheng.

You must never surrender if you surrender. If His Majesty finds out about your surrender, he will probably be furious and your face will be lost. The only feasible way now is to abandon Fancheng and escape from the city in a small boat.

Zhu Zhi encouraged everyone with his high-pitched and eager tone and said: "Guan Yu is advancing by the force of the water. When the water is shallow in late autumn, he will not be able to hold on for long and will inevitably retreat. Although the Han River floods the city, he must retreat sooner or later. Today, the city's grain supply can be After half a year, we have thousands of soldiers and many weapons to defend the city. Can we safely defend the city?"

With a worried expression, Cao Ren walked to Zhu Zhi and said: "The Han River besieged the city and destroyed the seven armies. Guan Yu's army has entered the siege. We can no longer defend it. But before Guan Yu's troops can encircle them, you can I traveled at night in a light boat, and although I might have lost the city, I could still be of use."

Zhu Zhi raised his head and looked around at everyone, seeming to feel everyone's confusion.

"Your Majesty is in Luoyang. He has millions of soldiers, and there will be thousands of them. Now Cao Chaqi is your Majesty's clan. Your Majesty will definitely send troops to the south to rescue me and relieve the siege of Fancheng. Then I and you can gain wealth and honor together." also!"

After saying this, Zhu Zhi warned the people around him, saying: "When a corpse is soaked in water and its face becomes white and swollen, it is because evil spirits have entered the body. If it stays in the city for a long time, a serious epidemic will occur. Now you all disperse and search for the corpses of humans and animals in the city. Anyone who died due to the water was thrown outside the city.”

While everyone was responding, a Cao official asked nervously: "Master Fu, the city of Han is flooded by water and there are bandits outside. Can we keep it for a long time?"

After these words came out, everyone was excited and took action.

On the fighting boat, Fei Yi was surrounded by Han soldiers and shouted: "Yu Jin, Dong Heng, Haozhou and other generals have been captured by Guan Junhou, and the 30,000 men of the Seventh Army have been burned to the ground. There is a flood in Fancheng today. We are in danger, there is the danger of a large army encircling us outside, and the city will be broken sooner or later, why don't we surrender as soon as possible."

"Master Fu, someone drowned last night!"

The elite of the seven armies were captured by Guan Yu. Now Fancheng was in a torrential flood and surrounded by enemy troops. Thinking that there were only a few thousand soldiers in the city, Cao Ren felt panic in his heart.

Zhu Zhi had been the prefect of Xiangyang for many years. Although his hair was gray and his body was thin, his years of benevolence and power had long made the soldiers and civilians in the city rely on him spiritually. If Zhu Zhi collapses now, unless Cao Ren steps up and inspires everyone, Fancheng will not be able to hold on.

At this time, Guan Yu sent an envoy to come by boat and loudly persuaded the Fancheng defenders to surrender outside the city. When Zhu Zhi heard the news, he handed over the affairs of the city to everyone and hurried upstairs.

Zhu Zhi looked serious, pointed at the two young sergeants, and said: "Throw this body outside the city and do not allow it to be left in the city."

When Zhu Zhi heard this, he almost fainted from anger. If Cao Ren was not a clan general, he would immediately teach Cao Ren a lesson.

Holding back his anger, Zhu Zhi patiently said: "The mountain torrent is so fast that it will not last long. I heard that Guan Yu has sent his soldiers out of Nanxiang. Since the people south of Xu and Wan, the people are in chaos. Now the general has left Fancheng. , then the whole territory of Jingxiang will no longer belong to the Wei Dynasty!"

With that said, in order to prevent Cao Ren from abandoning the city, Zhu Zhi continued to exaggerate the threat of the Southern Han Dynasty, saying: "Not only that, Liu Bei marched north to the Central Plains, Huo Jun came out of Huainan, Guan Yu came out of Xu and Wan, and the land of Henan was shaken and shaken. . The reason why thieves dare not enter today is because the general guards Fancheng. If Fancheng is not abandoned, Xiangyang will not be lost; if Xiangfan is not lost, Henan will be safe!"

"Guan Yu sent envoys to disturb our army because he thought it would be difficult to get to Fancheng. Sun Tzu said: 'The way to attack a city is as a last resort. It takes three months to repair the oars and the equipment, and then it will be completed. It will be three months away from the ridge... and kill three points of the soldiers. If the city cannot be taken out, this attack will cause disaster. 'Besieging the city by the Han River is a worry for our army, and it is also a difficulty for the enemy!"

"The general is your majesty's royal family. I hope you understand the importance of Fan City and never say anything about leaving Fan City lightly. When your majesty hears that the seven forbidden armies have been destroyed, he will raise a large army and go south to relieve the siege of Fan City and save the general from fire and water!"

Zhu Zhi is really confident to defend Fancheng. Although Fancheng is not as strong as Xiangyang, there are a lot of military supplies, grain and grass reserves in the city.

Although Fancheng is now surrounded by the Han River, Guan Yu's siege of Fancheng has been temporarily relieved. When the Han River receded, the land outside Fancheng became muddy, which could delay Guan Yu's attack on the city, enough to hold up the reinforcements until they moved south.

Even when winter comes, the Han River dries up, and the power of the navy gradually weakens, it may not be possible to break the siege of Xiangyang. After Zhu Zhi said this, although Cao Ren was panicking, he forced himself to calm down. What Zhu Zhi said is not unreasonable. If Fancheng is not lost and Xiangyang can be defended, then Guan Yu's army will always be stuck in Xiangfan and will be difficult to penetrate into Nanyang.

As a clan general, he was tied to the fate of Wei. This meant that he was highly valued by Cao Cao and could never abandon Fancheng easily. If we abandon Fancheng, we will not be sorry to Cao Cao, but also to the Cao family.

"good!"

Cao Ren pounded the city wall with his fist, gritted his teeth and said, "As Jun Li said, Fan City must not be lost. Now Jun Li and I will guard Fan City together to stop Guan Yu from Xiangfan."

"The general is wise!" Zhu Zhi praised loudly.

Although Cao Ren was brave but cunning, he was promoted by Cao Cao to a position that did not belong to him because of his clan status. However, in critical moments, his personal bravery and clan status also became his reliance on holding on to Fancheng.

Not to mention that Cao Ren was determined to defend the city with Zhu Zhi. Guan Yu, who had surrendered the seven armies, was in high spirits and gathered in the tent with his generals.

Liao Hua counted the roster and said with a smile: "For your information, in today's battle, our army captured Yu Jin, Haozhou, Dong Heng, Dong Chao, Qin Lu, and hundreds of enemy soldiers, both large and small, both civil and military, and killed the enemy generals Yan Xing and Cheng He, etc. There were about 28,000 captured soldiers, and all seven enemy soldiers and horses were killed, and no one was spared."

After saying that, Liao Hua raised his hands towards Guan Yu and said: "The Lord took advantage of the power of the Han River to overthrow the seven armies of the bandits. This was his first achievement since the founding of the country. His Majesty must have been very happy to hear it. The Lord first defeated Cao Ren at Zhushui, and later Surrender the seven armies to Fancheng. I will congratulate you and your nobles for this unparalleled achievement!"

"Congratulations, lord!" The generals stood up and celebrated.

"Ha ha!"

Guan Yu stroked his long beard and found it difficult to lower the raised corners of his mouth. Even though he had been a general for thirty years and had fought countless battles, it was also the first time for Guan Yu to achieve such great military exploits.

Guan Yu's two battles coincided and he captured more than 40,000 Wei troops. For the Southern Han Dynasty, it was a rare victory except for the Battle of Jinkou.

Among the many battles led by Huo Jun such as Wankou, Huaiyin, Jinkou, Hefei, and Hanshan, Jinkou had the most casualties, Wankou, Hefei, and Hanshan were in different positions, and Huaiyin was the last.

In this current plane, Guan Yu defeated Cheng Pu, destroyed Er Sun, defeated Wu Ju, killed Le Jin, defeated Zhang Liao, went to Jiangzhou, and besieged Chengdu. Although he had great military exploits, he lacked the military exploits to win against Wei. The current flooding of the Seventh Army was enough to help Guan Yu make up for his lack of military exploits.

Even from the perspective of prophecy and auspiciousness, in the past Liu Xiu dropped a meteorite to defeat the Xinmang army, and later Guan Yu used the Han River to drop a meteorite on the Seven Forbidden Army.

In particular, the flooding of the Seventh Army occurred shortly after Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, which further illustrates the legitimacy of Liu Bei's proclaimed emperor.

Guan Yu laughed a little, put his hands down, and said: "Fan City is not conquered now, please don't let down your guard!"

"Please rest assured, sir!" the generals responded with cupped hands.

Guan Yu stroked his beard with a smile, looked at Fei Yi in the corner, and asked, "Fei joined the army and persuaded him to surrender to Fancheng, but I don't know what the situation is?"

Fei Yi stood up from his seat, raised his hands and said: "To inform the prince, you persuaded the princes to surrender with words, and the soldiers of Fancheng shot them with arrows. According to what Yi saw, the thieves in Fancheng were on guard, and they were very determined to defend!"

"Humph!"

Guan Yu snorted coldly and said: "Yu Jin was captured, Yan Xing was beheaded, and the seven armies were wiped out. Cao Ren, a rat, will be captured by me sooner or later!"

Lu Meng pondered for a while, then raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, although the seven armies have been destroyed, our army must not relax until Fancheng surrenders. Yimeng's prediction is correct, Cao Cao has heard of Yu Jin's failure, and will send reinforcements southward for rescue in the near future. "

As he spoke, Lu Meng emphasized his tone and said: "Perhaps Cao Cao will go south in person to break the siege of Fancheng. Our army should defend it deeply. It is difficult to attack Fancheng in a hurry at the moment. The princes may build a heavy siege to surround Fancheng." Soldiers, to stop the enemy's army from outside."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and smiled lightly, and said: "Your Majesty has long had thoughts of the Northern Expedition. Now that I heard that the seven armies have been destroyed, your Majesty will raise troops to coordinate our army's campaign against Fan."

After a pause, Guan Yu said: "Ziming's words of building a tight siege are probably a good strategy. Now we can wait for the Han River to retreat and order all the soldiers to build forts."

"promise!"

Liao Hua held up the roster and said: "Your Majesty, our army does not have much food. Today, 30,000 surrendered soldiers have returned, and we can provide food and grass for less than a month. I thought it would be better to order someone to escort the surrendered soldiers across the river, and let Your Majesty and the Prime Minister arrange the surrender. Wherever the soldiers go, transport grain to the country and join the army."

Guan Yu thought for a moment and said: "There is a risk of an uprising if the surrendered soldiers are left in Dazhai. The army currently has insufficient food and grass, so it is a safe move to send the surrendered soldiers to Wuhan and leave them to Your Majesty to make arrangements."

Then, Guan Yu looked at Ma Liang with his red phoenix eyes and said, "I wonder if I can trouble my horse servant to escort Yu Jin and his soldiers to the capital, and report to your majesty the current situation of the war in Xiangfan!"

Ma Liang sat on the side couch and said with a smile: "Since it is the king's order, how dare Liang disobey it!"

"good!"

Guan Yu ordered: "Ping'er, gather three thousand soldiers and escort Ma Shizhong back to the capital. If there are any unruly soldiers on the way, they must be killed. Don't be lenient."

"I will obey my father's military orders!"

(End of this chapter)