Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 148 142. Battle of Fancheng (Thirteen)
"Hmm..."

It was not known whether Cao Ren was worried about military affairs or because he was old, but he woke up before dawn and sat alone in his tent, deep in thought.

Cao Ren felt that his mood now was the same as Cao Cao's during the Battle of Hanzhong.

The original strategy formulated by Cao Pi and implemented by Cao Ren was to take over the two cities of Xiangfan while Sun and Liu were fighting fiercely and had no time to look north. However, the current situation is far from what was expected at that time.

Who could have imagined that Jiangdong was so weak that it was defeated by the Han army in Dongting Lake in less than ten days, resulting in the Han army coming to support them before they could capture Fancheng.

Now Cao Ren also knew that let alone attacking Jiangxia or Jiangling as originally planned, even taking Xiangyang was now a luxury.

Cao's army has no navy available now, so using small rafts to force a crossing of the Han River would be giving credit to the Han navy. Although the Han army has fewer people than theirs, Fancheng is also famously easy to defend and difficult to attack. Cao Ren knows this better than anyone else.

"Alas, chicken ribs, chicken ribs, tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away."

Cao Ren couldn't help but repeat what Meng De had said twice. Fancheng was useless to him now. He couldn't advance, but he was unwilling to retreat. He could only hold on like this.

Cao Ren thought that he had to at least capture Fancheng. He did not dare to hope for Xiangyang. However, if he left Fancheng to the Han army, it would be like giving the Han army a nail to wedge into Nanyang County.

If the Han army wants to march north at that time, they can use Fancheng as a springboard and quickly radiate to the surrounding counties. Their momentum will be far greater than when Guan Yu marched north.

Thinking of this, Cao Ren couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. If he had known earlier, he should have argued for reason a few months ago and not given up Xiangfan. If he had done so, it would be the Han army that would be giving him a headache now.

The Han army's occupation of Fancheng was like a nail wedged into Nanyang County. Conversely, the Wei army's occupation of Xiangyang could also threaten Nan County at any time and could attack in all directions with Xiangyang as the center at any time.

Fortunately, Cao Ren was only upset for a moment and then focused his attention on the current war.

I have allocated nearly 30,000 troops to Xu Huang, and now the siege force is only 50,000. The Han army, including Feng Xi's reinforcements, is now about the same size as my own, and I am afraid that I will suffer heavy losses if I force the siege.

But now that things have come to this, if he retreats like this, he will definitely not feel happy. So after weighing the pros and cons, Cao Ren decided to bite his teeth and take Fancheng and leave, at least he couldn't leave Fancheng to the Han army.

In the early morning, with a breeze blowing, the generals of the Wei army woke up from their sleep, washed up, had breakfast, and came to Cao Ren's tent to wait for the general's orders.

Cao Ren tapped his legs unconsciously, lost in thought. Fancheng was not easy to attack, and he could not blindly sacrifice the lives of Wei soldiers. If he did not have a plan, even if he used all his 50,000 men, he would not be able to capture Fancheng.

"It's a pity that Liu Ziyang is not here, otherwise the Thunderbolt Chariot's ability would definitely reduce our losses... Well, today each unit will conduct a tentative attack on the city to see how capable the Shu general is. Niu Jin, gather some soldiers who are familiar with tomb-robbing and prepare for the digging attack."

Cao Ren immediately issued several instructions, and while conducting firepower tests, he also did not forget to use the old tradition of the Wei army, fighting underground. After all, the Wei army had a custom of stealing gold from top to bottom, and there were more or less "skilled" soldiers.

Less than half an hour later, the Wei army assembled 10,000 men as the vanguard and 10,000 men as the reserve, and carried ladders towards Fancheng.

Feng Xi had anticipated the Wei army's siege. White smoke was billowing above the city walls, and several large pots were burning brightly, with boiling water filling the pots.

Fancheng also has no shortage of water, so as long as the speed of transporting and boiling water can keep up, the boiling water is theoretically unlimited. Of course, how can it be perfectly operated in practice? And it takes a long time to boil water. Isn't consumption just playing this time difference?

“Ss ...

The scalding hot water made a hissing sound when it was poured on people, and the Wei army that was attached to them also made a hissing sound.

There were some men with backbone who held on to the ladder tightly and dared not let go, silently blocking a lot of hot water for their comrades below, but the boiling water penetrated through their leather armor and into their clothes, coming into close contact with their skin.

The high temperature directly caused blood blisters on his skin, and many places even swelled up. This was caused by the increased permeability of damaged capillaries.

Of course, there were even more Wei soldiers who could not bear it at all. They unconsciously loosened their hands of the ladders due to the severe pain, and fell directly from the ladders, hitting the ground heavily, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. Some of them fell backwards on their backs, like a wheel, taking many Wei soldiers behind them with them.

However, the hot water on the city wall is limited after all. Even if there are soldiers below constantly supplying it, it still takes some time to boil the water. Even if it is boiled to 60 or 70 degrees, it will take a long time.

This gap is the most comfortable gap for the Wei army. After all, the rain of arrows can occasionally be blocked by armor and shields, but water is difficult to block with the current level of technology, and even if there is, it is impossible to distribute it to ordinary soldiers on a large scale.

"Let the logs and rocks fall!"

The Han army responsible for guarding the city wall today were Guan Xing and Fu Rong. Seeing that the boiling water had run out, they simply ordered the soldiers to throw down the wood and stones taken down from the ruins in the city.

When Cao Ren abandoned Fancheng earlier, he followed Cao Wei's usual practice and moved all the civilians in the villages and counties around Fancheng to the north. As a result, there is no one else in Fancheng except the Han soldiers, and there are innumerable houses and ruins in the city.

Huge wooden stakes were thrown down from the top of the city wall and placed on the ladders like trams, directly running over a group of Wei soldiers.

The Han army hurled down stones of all sizes like rain, knocking the Wei army to the ground.

"Boom!"

With the sound of a few gongs, the Wei army's offensive today came to an end. However, the Wei army was not without gain. Several sections of the moat were blocked by soldiers carrying sandbags during the Wei army's fierce attack. These things would definitely not be cleared during the war.

The next time the Wei army attacks from here, it will be twice as effective with half the effort.

Feng Xi did not appear on the city wall today because he had more important things to do.

In an unknown place, many Han soldiers were digging something in the darkness by the light of kerosene lamps.

"Remember, when you come back to arrange it, you must not use open flames. Even if you dig in the dark, you can't do that. Otherwise, by the time the plan is not completed, we will be gone first."

Feng Xi gave Huang Quan many instructions, and Huang Quan could only nod repeatedly. The only thing that made Feng Xi feel relieved was that Huang Quan was quite efficient. Although there were several cases of soldiers being short of oxygen, the excavation progress did not fall too far behind.

(End of this chapter)