Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 552 546. Sending a Message to Nanyang
The vanguards of Guan Xing and Zhang Bao were not far from Chang'an to begin with. Now they received orders from Zhuge Liang and hurried on their way. In just half a day they arrived at the outskirts of Chang'an.

The gates of this once important city were now wide open, without any defense at all. The Wei army soldiers who were supposed to be on high alert had long since disappeared, leaving only a few scattered civilians fleeing hastily from the city gates in disgrace.

"Woooooooo..."

The people who had escaped death by chance felt as if they had been released. After they fled to a safe place, they immediately sat on the ground and cried. Some of them lost their homes where they had lived all their lives, some lost their relatives, and everyone lost a lot.

But now they were so disheartened that even when they saw Guan Xing and his men coming, they remained indifferent. In the past, they were so greedy for life that they might have avoided the government troops and even complimented them.

But now that they have been caught in a sudden change, how can they have time to deal with the Han army? Fortunately, the Han army has good military discipline, and they came here specifically to rescue, so they did not care about the reactions of these people.

"Quick, Team One, take these people over there. It's not safe here yet. Team Two, search around to see if there are other people who didn't have time to escape. If there are any, bring them over to Team One. The rest of you, help me put out the fire."

Guan Xing saw this scene that was like hell on earth. Even though he was no longer a rookie on the battlefield, he felt suffocated.

When he was in Jingzhou, he had seen Feng Xi use a strategy to burn the Wei army. However, on the one hand, the Wei army was small at that time, with only nearly 20,000 soldiers. On the other hand, both sides were soldiers fighting for their lives on the battlefield, so they would naturally use every possible means.

Now, there are hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an City who are unarmed and displaced because of the disaster caused by Master Cao. Guan Xing has indeed never seen such a scene before.

Zhang Bao led two thousand-man Han troops outside the city to maintain order and ensure the safety of the people who had escaped, while Guan Xing personally led his troops into Chang'an to try to put out the fire that had engulfed most of Chang'an.

"Prepare more sandbags. I'm afraid the fire in the city cannot be put out with the current water resources. Wear your mask. If something happens, you should put your own safety first..."

Guan Xing called his generals together and taught them a lesson. After all, Guan Xing had spent some time with Feng Xi during the Eastern Expedition, and had learned a lot from Feng Xi's almost perverted methods of countering night raids and fire attacks.

Without saying too much, Guan Xing still understands methods such as fire scene protection and digging isolation zones to prevent the spread of fire.

When Guan Xing entered Chang'an, he immediately issued an order for the entire army to set up isolation zones based on streets and block by block to put out fires one by one, first putting out the blocks with lighter fires, and then concentrating troops to put out the blocks with heavier fires.

The Han army was busy from the afternoon until midnight, and the fire in the west city was finally under control to a certain extent. However, Chang'an was so large that it was difficult to completely extinguish the fire with Guan Xing's troops of more than 10,000. In addition, firefighting was a physically demanding job. Guan Xing had no choice but to let the soldiers go to a safe area to rest until dawn.

Zhuge Liang's main force of nearly 100,000 people also arrived at noon the next day. Even though Zhuge Liang had heard about the situation in Chang'an a long time ago, he couldn't help but sigh when he saw the tragic scene with his own eyes.

"Xingguo, Anguo, what's the situation now?"

Zhuge Liang felt sorry for Zhang Bao, who was so busy that he had no time to spare, and Guan Xing, whose armor was stained black by dust, so he asked the two of them to rest for a while. Since Zhuge Liang's main force had arrived, the pressure on them would naturally be less.

Guan Xing forced himself to tell Zhuge Liang about his current arrangements, which made Zhuge Liang nod his head repeatedly. If Guan Xing had not been so organized, I am afraid that Chang'an would have suffered even greater losses.

Zhuge Liang simply adopted Guan Xing's method and ordered the Han army to use blocks as blocks to gradually put out the fire in the city and rescue the people inside and outside the city.

"Pullingleng..."

A carrier pigeon flew into Feng Xi's camp, and it brought crucial military information. "This Cao Zhen is really brave... No, Cao Zhen probably doesn't have the guts, it's probably Sima Yi who instigated him. Someone, go and invite all the adults to come and discuss matters."

After reading Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter, Feng Xi was somewhat surprised that Cao Zhen actually burned down Chang'an. However, after a little thought, he knew that although Cao Zhen had great ability in commanding troops, he probably couldn't think of such a vicious plan. But Sima Yi was by his side, so it was not surprising.

"Grand Commander, you urgently summoned us here, but what happened?"

By now, Feng Xi's army had already marched northward and attacked Liang County. In front of them was Guangcheng Pass, one of the "Eight Passes of Luoyang" that guarded Luoyang.

Now the defenses of Guangcheng Pass are empty. It seems that the Wei army has withdrawn its forces inward and has no intention of defending this pass which is too close to Nanyang.

However, even so, after passing Guangcheng Pass, Feng Xi's army still needs to attack Dagu Pass or Yique Pass. These two places are more dangerous than Guangcheng Pass. I think this is the reason why Cao Wei is so confident.

"An urgent letter from the Prime Minister. Cao Zhen set fire to Chang'an City to prevent the Prime Minister's army from following him to the Luoyang battlefield. The Prime Minister wrote me a letter personally, telling me that he might be delayed for some time in order to provide disaster relief and would not be able to come to the Luoyang battlefield immediately."

Feng Xi waved the letter from Zhuge Liang in his hand and informed the generals of the situation.

"Even if the Wei army thinks they have the advantage of the pass, our gunpowder is sharp and ordinary bricks and stones cannot stop us. Whether the Prime Minister's army can arrive in time is not a big deal. But Cao Zhen is really unscrupulous. I didn't expect that in order to stop our Han army, he would burn Chang'an."

Ma Su shook his head and sighed as well.

"This may not be Cao Zhen's plan. I guess only Sima Yi could have done such a vicious plan."

Feng Xi drummed his fingers on the table and expressed his opinion.

"Grand Commander, there is one thing I don't understand. Why did Sima Yi do this? Even if Wei won by chance, the burning of Chang'an would definitely make Wei lose the support of the people. This is definitely not worth the loss. Why did he do this?"

In Ma Su's view, this was definitely a plan to hurt Cao Wei in any way. Was Sima Yi stupid or foolish? Why did he do this?

"Hmm...what if this is his plan?"

Feng Xi thought about it and then thought of a possibility.

"The decline of Wei is inevitable, and anyone can see it. Sima Yi is cunning and not very loyal to Cao Wei, so think about it, You Chang, if you were such a person, what would you do?"

Feng Xi looked at Ma Su with a smile on his face.

"If I were Sima Yi, in this situation...hiss...! Would he really dare...?!"

Ma Su widened his eyes and looked at Feng Xi in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)