Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 134 128. Withdrawal
"Ahem...what's that smell!"

"Ugh... Why does it smell like boiled 'snow'?"

"how do you know?"

“I used to cook when I was a kid…”

Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even Xiahou Ba and Niu Jin are mortals. How could they possibly endure this disgusting smell?

"Ugh...what's that smell? Is the toilet clogged?"

Xiahou Ba was almost fainted by the smell. As the son of a general and a young man with good family education, how could he have experienced such a pungent odor?
"Sniff... this smell is quite strong. It reminds me of the smell of the night incense I picked for everyone back then."

Niu Jin was slightly better in comparison, but only to a limited extent. He just frowned a few times and held his breath through his nose.

"What happened? Why does the whole camp stink so bad?"

Niu Jin did not delay and directly captured the messenger to ask. The messenger did not know either, so he had to run to the front camp to ask.

Less than a few minutes later, the messenger came back and reported with his nose pinched:
"Report to General Niu and General Xiahou, it's the Shu army. They threw burning filth into our camp. Those things caught fire as soon as they hit the ground, so the smell is so strong."

"Where are the Shu troops?"

Niu Jin asked quickly.

“No… I didn’t see it. But similar filthy things kept being thrown into our stronghold. Captain Li didn’t dare to leave the stronghold and could only command his brothers to put out the fire in front, but there was no way to deal with this smell…”

Niu Jin was speechless. What the messenger said made sense. The Wei soldiers could put out the fire, but they couldn't restrict the air flow, right? The smell of burning filth would inevitably be smelled by himself and others. In addition, the wind was also in the other party's favor. It seemed that he really had no way out.

"General Xiahou, what do you think we should do now?"

Waving his hand to drive away the messenger, Niu Jin asked Xiahou Ba with a wry smile for his opinion. After all, Niu Jin only knew a few words, so it would be too difficult for him to come up with any solution. However, Xiahou Ba was the descendant of a famous general who was well-read in poetry and books, so he must have some ideas.

"Well... General Niu, why don't we let our army retreat in an orderly manner? Our main camp is too close to Fancheng, and it is easy for the Shu army to harass us. If we set up camp 20 miles back, the enemy will not be able to come and go freely like this."

Xiahou Ba thought about it and realized that there was no good solution at the moment. He was being harassed like this, and his combat effectiveness would be worrying if he could survive until daytime. It would be better to escape overnight while everyone was awake.

Niu Jin thought about it and felt that it was feasible, so he asked the soldiers to pack up overnight and prepare to retreat.

"Ah? Are you going to run away now?"

Feng Xi was still on the hillside watching the Wei army camp, and saw many soldiers simply getting up and dismantling their sleeping tents, with an attitude of "You win, let's go." "That's weird, shouldn't they let me harass them all night and fight me with panda eyes during the day? These Wei soldiers left so easily."

Feng Xi felt a little regretful. Tonight's strategy of wearing out the enemy did not go according to his ideas from beginning to end, but the inexplicable final result barely met his expectations, so it was a good thing all in all.

Feng Xi had no intention of pursuing the enemy at night. For one thing, the Han army was also resting. Feng Xi had come here with the purpose of harassing them. He expected that at most Xiahou Ba or Niu Jin would get anxious and chase them out. He would then burn the catapults and everyone would escape on horseback.

Therefore, Feng Xi was not prepared for the enemy to retreat overnight. After all, based on the stubborn appearance of Niu Jin and Xiahou Ba during the day, he thought that these two people would fight with him. He did not expect that they would retreat and set up camp again so quickly.

As for the second point, most of the Han army today have not been trained by himself. Although their combat effectiveness can be considered elite in this era, they are only about the same as the Wei army. They can only beat up the Eastern Wu, but it is still a bit unrealistic to expect them to fight a land battle like the battles in Jingzhou.

The night combat, reaction and discipline of the Shenwu Camp and Wu Ban's troops were not possessed by most of the Han army, so Feng Xi had no intention of pursuing the victory. Instead, he first drove away the Niu Jin and Xiahou Ba troops who were pressing forward, giving Fancheng enough strategic buffer space.

After all, Cao Ren, Xu Huang and other core generals from the Nanyang area of ​​Cao Wei have not arrived yet. The real highlight will come when they arrive.

Even the Battle of Yiling with Eastern Wu was not that thrilling, because realistically speaking, when Ji Han faced Eastern Wu, especially when Feng Xi knew Eastern Wu's tactics, Eastern Wu did not have much chance of turning the tables.

Feng Xi knew Lu Xun's weakness: he had just become the Grand Commander but lacked the support of the army, and the generals were dissatisfied... and Feng Xi attacked this weakness, forcing Lu Xun to take the risk of burning Yiling in order to prove himself.

Feng Xi had been guarding against this ever since he had memories of the future. With his deliberate plan, Lu Xun's defeat was not unfair.

As for the battle of Dongting Lake, it was just a last-ditch struggle of the Eastern Wu. Even if Feng Xi lost the battle, he could only be unable to advance eastward and could still retreat to Jingzhou, so the pressure was not too great. In addition, Feng Xi relied on his future memories to come up with many small props and tricks to target Jiangdong's water battle tactics, which made the situation even more one-sided.

However, this time facing Cao Wei, the situation was different. Cao Wei also had a luxurious lineup of famous generals, and the Cao Wei army was on par with the Han army. Even before the Battle of Hanzhong, the Han army generally had some fear towards the Wei army. Now they just won't be afraid subconsciously, but the level of both sides still has not widened the gap.

And Feng Xi has been busy putting out fires everywhere since the Eastern Expedition began, and has had no time to settle down and do something targeted. Now he only has a few secret weapons facing Cao's army, which are only enough for a while, but the pressure he faces will not be reduced much.

Feng Xi was confident that if he was given some time to develop steadily, the Han army would not be under too much pressure when facing Cao Wei's classic iron cavalry torrent.

Unfortunately, Feng Xi had just taken Jiangling when he went to Dongting to face the counterattack of Eastern Wu. Just after the Battle of Dongting Lake, Cao Wei came again, forcing Feng Xi to have no time to slowly farm and develop, and he could only continue to fight to support himself.

Fortunately, Feng Xi estimated that if the battle of Fancheng was fought well, Cao Wei would be able to remain stable for a while even if it was damaged. At that time, he would have more time to recruit talents, train troops, and invent things.

Of course, we still have to face Cao Ren's 100,000 troops first. Only after we win this battle can we make further arrangements.

The next day, Cao's army retreated 20 miles overnight and re-entered the camp. Feng Xi was not polite either, and personally led a group of generals and 30,000 troops to seize the old camp that Cao's army had not had time to completely dismantle, and re-fortified it, forming a pincer with Fancheng, ready to face Cao Ren's army.

At this point, Fancheng had nearly 30,000 people including Huang Quan's main force and the two subsequent reinforcements, and Feng Xi's large camp also had 30,000 people, and Cao Wei's 80,000-strong army would arrive soon.

(End of this chapter)