Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 139. Battle of Fancheng (IV)

"kill!"

On the morning of the second day, when the fog in the dense bushes near Fancheng had not yet dissipated and dewdrops were still hanging on the leaves and grass, the Wei army launched the first offensive of the new day.

Just as Feng Xi had expected, the Wei army had cut down trees today to make a lot of heavy wooden shields, which could effectively block the long-range firepower of the Han army and offset the advantage of the Han army's powerful bows and crossbows.

Today, there is no cavalry in the Wei army's offensive formation, only infantry, which is not much different from the infantrymen who walked through minefields two thousand years later.

"Ow!"

From time to time, the Wei army screamed because of stepping on caltrops, but compared to yesterday, the Wei army today was obviously more prepared, and the frequency of being hurt by caltrops was significantly lower.

Feng Xi also stood on the wall of the stronghold, watching with interest as the infantry phalanx of the Wei army slowly advanced towards the stronghold.

Although the Han soldiers kept bending their bows and shooting arrows, today's Wei army was almost entirely composed of large shield soldiers and sword and shield soldiers, so the damage caused was very limited.

"Heh, using a wooden shield, that's a good idea. Throw it!"

Feng Xi saw that the Wei army had already rushed into the area within a hundred steps of the big camp. Many Wei soldiers had already begun to cross the uneven trenches on the ground and rushed towards the big camp.

Under Feng Xi's command, the first wave of projectiles was thrown out. They were Feng Xi's favorite golden water bottles. Although they were not hot, their power was equally not to be underestimated.

"Ugh, vomit, vomit..."

Many unlucky guys in the Wei army were covered in gold water. The fishy smell hit their nostrils, making them lose their fighting ability in an instant and start retching on the spot.

"Damn it, was this Han Jun a night-scented girl? He can even resort to such despicable means..."

Wen Pin and Niu Jin who were in charge of the command were speechless. Feng Xi had no sense of cleanliness and dirtiness and even played with manure and mud.

But Jinshui is just Jinshui after all. It has no actual killing ability other than disgusting people. So the Wei army was only disgusted for a while, but the offensive did not slow down much.

Many Wei soldiers had already arrived under the wall of the stockade, but the wall was made of wood on the outside and a thick earth wall on the inside. It was a bit unrealistic to think that they could break through it with manpower. In addition, there was a trench outside the stockade wall, making it even more difficult for the Wei soldiers to exert force.

"There's a roar!"

When the Wei army soldiers approached, the boiling gold juice and hot water on the wall were poured down. Now the Han River is to the southwest of Fengxi's camp, so there is plenty of water. It's no big deal to pour water casually.

Some Han soldiers even poured the water directly, covering a wider area. In addition, the trenches under the village wall severely divided the Wei soldiers, so many of them could only squeeze on one piece of ground. The boiling water scalded their faces with blisters on the spot, and many of them even died from the pain.

Wen Pin and Niu Jin were not too surprised to see this scene. After all, these were common tricks when defending a city, and it was normal for the Han army to use them.

The first few waves of charge were meant to consume the enemy's defensive equipment. After all, you always have time to boil water, right? You always have a certain amount of gold juice, right? These things are not endless.

After a morning, the Han army suffered hundreds of casualties, most of them were injured by the Wei army's archers. The Wei army's casualties approached 3,000 people, and it was obvious that Niu Jin and Wen Pin did not care about this loss.

The number of Wei troops was nearly twice that of Han troops, and the number of Feng Xi troops alone was three to one. As long as Feng Xi's isolated army was defeated, Fancheng would be nothing more than an isolated city.

When the Wei army attacked Feng Xi, they did not abandon Fancheng. General Xiahou Shang, who was in charge of the Southern Expedition, led an army of 10,000 and intercepted Fu Rong's troops who were coming out of Fancheng to support them. Both sides suffered more than a thousand casualties, but Fu Rong returned empty-handed. Xiahou Shang had successfully achieved his tactical goal.

The morning battle came to an end, and both sides were resting and waiting for the other side's move in the afternoon. Feng Xi was quite relaxed. Although his toilet was almost cleaned out, who doesn't know how to boil water?

Moreover, he didn't use much of his trump cards and was still using conventional means to resist Cao Ren's attack.

Wen Pin and Niu Jin on the other side also felt good. At the end of the morning, the Han army was already a little exhausted, and the gold juice seemed to have run out. If the same offensive force was used up, it would probably be easier to fight in the afternoon.

In addition, Cao Ren was personally in charge of the camp in the rear, and newly made large wooden shields were continuously delivered to the front line. In fact, the Wei army did not suffer too many losses except for a few deaths.

When the soldiers started to eat, Wen Pin looked towards the Han army camp and saw many Han soldiers coming out and kicking the corpses of the Wei soldiers piled outside the camp gate into the trench nearby. He couldn't help but smile. As the general expected, in the fierce battle, the Han army had no time to deal with the corpses and could only throw them into the trench.

So when the Wei army attacked in the afternoon, the role of these trenches could be said to be minimal.

"Boom-thump-thump-"

As the drums sounded, the Wei army rushed towards the Han army's main camp again. Although the Han army used the noon time to re-lay some caltrops and clean up the ground in front of the main camp, the defense was still not as sharp as the initial one due to the rush.

It took the Wei army even less time to reach the dense network of trenches.

"throw!"

Feng Xi lazily watched the Wei army rush to the trench filled with the corpses of Wei soldiers, and gave an order.

“Crack—boom!”

Several Molotov cocktails were thrown down, and the target was not the middle of the Wei army's ranks, but the trenches on the ground.

As the Molotov cocktails exploded, countless flames were generated. The trenches originally filled with corpses were actually ignited by these flames, and the flames continued. In less than a few breaths, they turned into countless walls of fire.

"Uhhhhhh!"

Many Wei soldiers standing on it were unable to dodge and were directly burned by the flames. They rolled on the ground in the hope of putting out the fire.

However, these trenches were quite dense, and if you were not careful you would roll from one section of the fire wall to another, resulting in not being able to put out the fire, but instead jumping into the oven.

For a moment, the smell of meat and burnt carbon wafted from Feng Xi's camp. Human corpses would ooze out fat under high temperatures, which is called corpse oil. And this corpse oil would add fuel to the flames in the trenches and help them burn.

For a moment, Feng Xi’s stronghold seemed to be protected by a dense wall of flames, and the Wei army had no way to deal with it in a short period of time.

"Idiot! Cover it with dirt! Cover these ditches with dirt and put out the fire!"

Wen Pin shouted and cursed loudly. After being passed on from layer to layer, the soldiers in the front finally woke up as if from their dreams and tried to dig soil into the fire pits.

But the Wei army came to attack, not to learn how to use an excavator, so how could they have any convenient tools to dig the soil? In desperation, many people even used their own weapons or shields as shovels.

But the Han army was not immune. Seeing the Wei army doing this, the Han army's rain of arrows rang out again, shooting down a group of Wei soldiers close to the fire wall. Many Wei soldiers were even pushed directly by their companions into the fire wall, and died after a few screams.

(End of this chapter)