Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 144 138. Battle of Fancheng (IX)

"Reporting to the Grand Commander, our army lost more than 3,000 soldiers last night, most of whom were brothers guarding the shore. After counting the battlefield, the enemy's casualties should be more than 10,000."

In the early morning, Feng Xi and the Han soldiers had already retreated to Fancheng by water. Feng Xi sat quietly in the first seat and listened to the generals below report on the gains and losses of the previous night.

"Well, you've worked hard. Let the brothers have a good rest in the city."

Feng Xi nodded, but his face did not look too happy.

After the general left, Guan Xing in the hall noticed that Feng Xi did not seem happy, and could not help but bow and ask.

"Grand Commander, our army defeated the Wei army last night and blunted their edge. Why are you so unhappy?"

In Guan Xing's opinion, last night's battle was a great victory no matter how you look at it. The Wei army suffered huge losses, while the Han army's losses were only one-third of the enemy's. They should be happy, but why did Feng Xi act like this?
"Alas, this old man Cao Ren is still too steady. He's so steady that it makes me feel sick."

Feng Xi shook his head.

In fact, although the ambush last night was effective, it did not meet Feng Xi's expectations. Feng Xi thought that Cao Ren knew that he was in a hurry to retreat last night, and if he did not send out the entire army, he should have dispatched most of his manpower to eat the bait he deliberately put out.

However, Cao Ren only sent 30,000 people symbolically. Because he was worried that Cao Ren had a backup plan, he could only hold on to the reserve troops and dared not go out. As a result, the two sides only had a small-scale battle last night.

Feng Xi set up the plan in advance. He first deliberately laid down smoke bombs to gradually reduce the smoke from the army's cooking. The remaining food was prepared by Xiangyang and secretly transported to Xiang Chong, creating the illusion that the number of soldiers in the camp was decreasing.

Then came the fake book that combined a counter-espionage plan with a strategy to lure the enemy. To be honest, Wen Qin's death was purely an accident. Although Feng Xi knew that Wen Qin was a violent and unruly person, he did not expect to really do anything to Wen Qin. At most, he just laid a trap.

Unexpectedly, Wen Qin's anger and Cao Ren's willingness to kill someone by mistake actually led to Wen Qin's death on the spot. This was a pleasant surprise.

However, Feng Xi's original intention was to use the news of his own withdrawal to lure out the enemy, and cooperate with his fire attack and ambush to directly defeat Cao Ren's main force, forcing him to retreat to Wancheng after suffering heavy losses.

As a result, not only were there only 30,000 Wei troops that arrived last night, but even they were led by small and medium-sized soldiers like Niu Jin, Xu Shang, and Lu Jian. None of the big generals like Cao Zhen, Cao Ren, Xu Huang, and Wen Pin showed up. As a result, although Feng Xi had reserve troops, he did not dare to send all of them forward.

If I put all my forces on to eat up these 30,000 people, what if Cao Ren leads his army to counter-encircle them? I can't guarantee that Cao Ren won't have a backup plan.

Therefore, Feng Xi had no choice but to keep silent. The first wave of ambush troops of nearly 20,000 people wiped out most of Niu Jin's troops. The remaining 10,000 people plus the 20,000 reserve troops temporarily transferred from Xiangyang and Fancheng did not dare to go out at all.

The result was that although the Han army won a small victory last night, the Wei army was not seriously injured and its total strength was still slightly larger than that of the Han army.

In order to realize this plan, Feng Xi had already burned down the large camp outside Fancheng, but in return he only suffered a minor defeat for the Wei army, which gave him a headache.

Cao Ren was a veteran who had fought on the battlefield since the beginning of Dong Zhuo's rebellion and followed Cao Cao in starting his army. He was so steady, as steady as a turtle, that no matter how many flaws Feng Xi showed off, he would not be fooled, which made Feng Xi very uncomfortable.

"Let Gong Heng come. It seems that we can only gamble on the last insurance plan."

Feng Xi sighed. Fortunately, he had asked Huang Quan to prepare in advance and made the worst-case scenario. Now he had to rely entirely on this trump card.

"Grand Governor."

Not long after receiving the order, Huang Quan hurried to the governor's mansion in Fancheng to meet Feng Xi. "Gongheng, there's no need to be polite. How is the arrangement I asked you to make going?"

Feng Xi waved his hands and asked repeatedly.

"Grand Commander, most of the peripheral preparations have been completed and have officially begun use as you requested. However, the largest one may take another five days. After all, the space is huge and it needs to be connected to other places, so the workload is quite large."

Huang Quan thought about it and gave a conservative answer.

"Well, you don't have to worry about the city defense during this period. Complete this plan as soon as possible. I will allocate another 2,000 soldiers to you. Let the soldiers take turns to rest and work in more shifts to complete it as soon as possible."

Feng Xi nodded. If things went well, it would probably be done in three or four days. Then he could give up Fancheng with peace of mind.

But before that, he still had to hold on for a few days and face the pressure from the Wei army.

……

"Have all the Shu troops retreated back to Fancheng? It seems they want to defend the city to the death..."

After Cao Ren learned the scout's report, he sat in the main seat and pondered.

Although Feng Xi withdrew to Fancheng, the Wei army was actually unable to besiege Fancheng like they did other cities, because Fancheng was close to the confluence of two rivers. Although the Wei army was the overlord on land, it was helpless in the water.

The Han army's navy patrolled the Han River and Tangbai River every day in a show of force, and the Wei army had no better solution.

"Order Gongming and Boren to lead an army of 30,000 to station in the upper reaches of the Han River and south of Deng County to prevent the Shu army from crossing the river and attacking our rear. The remaining 50,000 troops are ready to attack Fancheng."

The surrounding terrain flashed through Cao Ren's mind. Part of the Han army's reserve troops were in Xiangyang City across the Han River, so the Han army had the ability to go upstream and launch a surprise attack on Deng County at any time. This had to be prevented.

Xu Huang was a brave and resourceful general. Last year, when Guan Yu was heading north, he flooded seven armies and besieged Cao Ren in Fancheng. Xu Huang went south from the Mian River to rescue him. He pretended to build a long trench to cut off Guan Yu's retreat and forced Guan Yu to evacuate Yancheng and give it to Xu Huang through psychological warfare.

Finally, under the siege of Wu and Wei, Guan Yu was defeated. Among them, Xu Huang's rescue in the Mian River was a great achievement, because he successfully stopped Guan Yu's offensive momentum and frustrated Guan Yu's edge.

Now Cao Ren has re-employed Xu Huang to guard the Han River. Perhaps he hopes that Xu Huang can repeat his brilliant performance from last year and protect his rear. At the same time, he can come to the rescue if he is really in danger.

After the troops were divided, two groups of Wei troops set out in a mighty force, one heading southwest and the other heading southeast towards Fancheng.

"Report! Commander-in-Chief, the Wei army has arrived at the city and is preparing to set up camp. It seems that they want to besiege us for a long time."

As Cao Ren's army moved, scouts arrived to report to Feng Xi.

"No problem, let's go out of the city and challenge them first to dampen the morale of the Wei army."

Feng Xi thought about it and decided that it would be in his favor to go out of the city and invite a fight. On the Han side, he, Guan Xing, Bao Feng, and Bao Yi were all fierce generals, while on the Wei side, Xiahou Ba was seriously injured and Niu Jin was not a good match. Only generals like Wen Pin and Xu Huang could personally fight back.

(End of this chapter)