Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 575: Battle of Luoyang (I)

In the end, most of the Wei army generals were relatively reserved, unwilling to die in vain or surrender to the Han army, so Xu Shu ordered them to be sent to Jiangling for observation. Cao Xiu, on the other hand, asked Xu Shu for a pot of poisoned wine to end his life.

He was trusted by Cao Cao and Cao Pi and was in charge of the military affairs of Huainan. Now that his troops had been badly damaged and Huainan had been officially declared fallen, he was unwilling to continue living in the world and be blamed by others, so he drank a cup of poisoned wine. From then on, everything in the world had nothing to do with him anymore.

After dealing with Hefei, Xu Shu also led this Han army detachment to march northwest. The mission of this detachment was to march north from Hefei and Shouchun, and attack Xuchang via Yuzhou.

The main force of the Yangzhou Army led by Deng Ai had an unimpeded journey and had now reached Shanyang County. They were preparing to attack the east of Luoyang directly from Chenliu County, which was the route that the eighteen princes took when they fought against Dong Zhuo.

From then on, the entire Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou and Qingzhou were basically invincible, and the Han army no longer had any opponents in Henan.

As for Guanzhong, after Zhuge Liang sent out Jiang Wei and his three generals, he spent a few more days and finally arranged the situation in Chang'an. The only thing left was to rebuild the houses, which could be handled by the local government.

Zhuge Liang did not delay and immediately led the Sichuan Army to follow Cao Zhen's direction of departure and head towards Luoyang.

Now the three armies of the Han army have reached the same destination, and the three arrows representing the advance of the troops have all landed on the heart of Cao Wei, the city of Luoyang.

The Jingzhou army, which was closest to Luoyang, had already begun to semi-surround the city of Luoyang from the south and west. However, because Cao Zhen was about to return from Hangu Pass, Feng Xi's attitude towards Luoyang was still to surround it but not attack it. He sent out scouts everywhere to guard against Cao Zhen's arrival and prevent anyone from escaping from the other two city gates.

"Xiahou Mao, is this the military order you issued to me?! Now that the Han army has arrived outside Luoyang City, what else do you have to say?!"

The most angry person in Luoyang City was naturally Cao Li. Xiahou Mao had previously sworn to him that Luoyang would be safe and sound, but now Cao Li could confront the Han army by just taking a walk through the south gate of Luoyang. Wasn't this a blatant deception of the emperor?

"Ahem, Your Majesty, please calm down. After the defeat in Wancheng, there were not many soldiers available in Luoyang. Now, our Wei soldiers are not afraid of death and have fought against the Han army step by step. However, Luoyang is a strong city. It is wishful thinking for the Han army to capture Luoyang in a hurry. Moreover, the general has passed Hangu Pass. As long as the general attracts the attention of the Han army, we will seize the opportunity to attack from Luoyang City and attack from both sides. The Han army will definitely be defeated!
As long as the Han army in Jingzhou is defeated, the Sichuan and Yangzhou armies won't be a problem!"

Cao Li was originally extremely panicked because the Han army was at the gates of the city, and he did not consider other details at all. Now, after hearing what Xiahou Mao said, he seemed to think there was some truth in it, and nodded involuntarily, as if he was convinced by Xiahou Mao.

"So, my dear, what plans do you have now?"

Cao Li is simply a dog-faced man. He was scolding Xiahou Mao with a gloomy face just now, but now that he has been appeased, he immediately asks Xiahou Mao about his plan with a friendly look.

"Yes. I hope you will not be stingy. Now I only have more than 10,000 soldiers available in Luoyang. It is not enough to take care of the defense of Luoyang City, so I hope you can help me."

Xiahou Mao was very confident about this, because there were nearly a thousand veterans, guards, household servants, and private soldiers in his Xiahou family alone, and there were definitely many more from other officials in the court.

"Since Commander Xiahou said so, I will provide eight hundred servants to assist Commander Xiahou in guarding Chang'an."

"My family can provide 500 people."

The officials in the court quickly gathered another 20,000 people for Xiahou Mao, but there was no need to expect the level of these 20,000 people. Although some of them were veterans who had retired to the second line due to injuries, it was still unknown how much of their actual combat effectiveness was left after a long period of no training. Secondly, there were not many people of this status, only a few thousand, accounting for less than 10%.

The others were mostly servants and housemen. They might be good at bullying men and women and flattering the emperor, but if they were asked to fight against the Han army, they could only play a role in defending the city, and they could not even engage in close combat.

But simply shooting arrows, throwing stones, and pouring boiling water on the city walls could still make a contribution.

"Thank you for your help, gentlemen. Please send the person to the southwest camp in Luoyang city later." Seeing that the gentlemen gave him such face, Xiahou Mi smiled and thanked them one by one.

……

"General, the situation is not good. The Han army has already reached the city of Luoyang. According to the scouts, the Han army is now besieging the west and south gates of Luoyang. Moreover, the Han army has deployed scouts widely, and our army has been discovered by them."

Guo Huai rode over and informed Cao Zhen, who was in charge of the central army, of what the scouts had found out.

"The Han army is really fast. It has only been a dozen days since our army returned from Jieting, but the Han army has broken through the passes and is approaching Luoyang. Have you seen whether the Han army is attacking the city now?"

Although Cao Zhen had expected the Han army to appear here, he still couldn't help but sigh after hearing Guo Huai's report. This was already a bad situation.

The worst case scenario was naturally that Luoyang City had been breached, and the best case scenario was that the Han army did not even enter Guangcheng Pass.

"I haven't seen it. The Han army is just besieging, it seems..."

"It seems that they are waiting for our troops to return."

A man at the side took over the conversation, it was Zhang He.

"General Zhang is right. I think so too."

When Guo Huai saw the veteran general Zhang He speak, he nodded and agreed with Zhang He's idea.

"Humph. The Han army has a big appetite. Our army has 70,000 people, and his Han army is probably about the same number. He actually wants to eat us?"

Cao Zhen snorted in dissatisfaction, as if he was a little angry because the Han army underestimated him.

"General, don't underestimate the Han army. In the Battle of Wancheng, our Wei army had 110,000 soldiers and horses, which was even more than the Han army. Among them were 30,000 elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, but they were still completely annihilated. This time, our army has to act with caution."

Zhang He reminded Cao Zhen that the soldiers in Nanyang were the best in Wei. Now they were gone. Although his Guanzhong army was strong, he had to take precautions against the lessons of the past.

"What good plan do you have?"

Cao Zhen was silent for a moment, then asked Zhang He. Now that Sima Yi was not around, although Cao Zhen thought he was as capable as Zhang He, one person's wisdom was inferior to another's, so he also wanted to hear if Zhang He had any good strategies.

"General, from what I heard, the reason why the Han army in Jingzhou completely wiped out the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of Wei was because they used powerful long-range weapons, including crossbows that could fire dozens of arrows at a time and arrows that could spray flames. If that's the case, why don't our army do the opposite?"

Zhang He stroked his beard and actually came up with a solution.

(End of this chapter)