Chapter 222: Fighting spirit

At the end of October, the second year of Wude in the New Xia (the eleventh year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty), Shouchun, the capital of Jiujiang County.

After the Northern Expedition, Jiujiang County was in ruins. With the restoration of the county officials working hard for a year, the once miserable clouds and mists finally left the people's eyebrows again. When news of Cao Cao's intention to send troops to Huaibei came, both the guards and the ordinary people were all excited.

People are selfish. When the refugees who had nothing in the past finally accumulated some property, their only wish was to protect their fruits well. For the enemies who came to destroy their homes, these people carrying hoes would want to wear their skins and break their bones.

The economy in the south is developing little by little. After the Northern Expedition that was eager to achieve success, Gao Chong learned his lesson. Before he gained an overwhelming advantage, he decided to supervise the defensive gullies on the two Huai lines to resist Cao Cao's attack in the autumn and winter seasons.

On this day, Gao Chong, accompanied by Zhang Liao, Wenpin, Liu Fu, Xu Yi and other major civil and military officials of Jiujiang County, inspected the construction of moats on the Huaihe River line. Winter is also the golden season for the renovation of canals. Only when the agricultural war does not delay can a solid foundation be laid for the coming year.

"Pamperor, if the thief Cao dares to come, I will keep him and kill him without leaving any armor, and the man will turn over his horse. " Zhang Liao tightened his belt around his waist and said confidently. After experiencing the fierce battle of Gaixia, Zhang Liao finally matured. During this year, thanks to his plan, the defense in Huaibei won the morale of the army after the failure.

"Wen Yuan was so happy too early. Who is Cao Cao? How could he jump inside even though he knew the trap?!" Gao Chong touched his slightly hard beard under his chin and said thoughtfully.

Unconsciously, Gao Chong was always a little uneasy these days. He attacked and defended north and south. Every spring and summer, the rivers surged, and boats could go upstream. This was the best time to exert the combat power of the southern navy. In autumn and winter, rivers were exhausted and the northern cavalry were fat and strong. This was the perfect time to rush to the south. With Cao Cao's vision and ability, he would never miss this opportunity.

Going to the north of Huaibei, it is the shortest route to the south. According to common sense, it is inferred that Cao Cao is most likely to take this line. According to the information found by the scouts who sneaked into the northern border, Cao Cao was indeed likely to launch an attack on a large scale on the Xuyu border. However, facing the defensive position that Gao Chong had been prepared, Gao Chong could not be sure whether Cao Cao would still run into it.

"Pamperor, if the thief Cao doesn't come to attack our Huaibei, why is he mobilizing so many troops?" Xu Yi asked.

"Charge troops in Yuzhou and do not attack Huaibei, is it--!" Wen Pin hesitated and thought, the two words he did not say afterwards were Jingbei.

Just as he was talking, dust was rising not far away, and a scout who reported the news came on a horse.

"People coach, General Wei Wen, is urgently convinced-!" Before the horse could approach Gao Chong, the scout jumped off the horse desperately and shouted in a hurry.

Liu Fu took a few steps and took the letter from the scout. The letter was actually a thin piece of soap silk. After Liu Fu glanced at the line of words on the letter, his face changed drastically.

"Yuanying, what did the letter say?" Gao Chong asked when he saw Liu Fu's expression was abnormal.

While handing the soap silk to Gao Chong, Liu Fu said tremblingly: "General Wei's letter said---Cao Cao's attack direction is not us, but Jingbei."

Liu Fu's words were shocked, and everyone heard the audience. Zhou Yu was in charge in Jingbei, and with Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong, Xu Sheng and other generals, the elite of nearly 45,000 people was also the most powerful force under Gao Chong's command. However, it is conceivable that he had to resist Cao Cao's attack of three times his strength.

"Is this news reliable?" Zhang Liao asked.

In one corner of the soap silk in Gao Chong's hand, there was a hook-shaped embroidery. This was the secret identification that Gao Chong and Xu Wuming had agreed earlier. Except for the contact point personnel of the two of them and Yecheng, no one else knew about it.

This message was sent by Xu Wuming. After the process of traveling to Yecheng and then sending it to the south through Wei Wen, Xu Wuming may have been in danger after sending this information, because the contact point in Yecheng will not be activated until the most critical pass, and once it is used, all contact characters will disappear.

"Zhongye, immediately turn back to the army's assembly headquarters and follow me to reinforce Jingxiang, Wenyuan, Yuanying, and Huaibei's defense will be handed over to you two." Thinking of this, Gao Chong did not hesitate any longer, he ordered in a deep voice.

The Jiangling Army, Wenpin, currently has 9,000 elite soldiers, most of whom are the children of Jingxiang. They are familiar with the terrain and water battles, which are the best force to reinforce Zhou Yu.

"Don't worry, if I, Zhang Liao, have me, in Huaibei, one day, Cao's soldiers will not even be able to cross the Huaihe River. As long as the coach and Zhongye win in Jingxiang, Liao will lead Yanbei cavalry to Xuyu north. At that time, the two armies will meet in Xudu, and the Cao thieves will have nowhere to escape." Zhang Liao replied loudly. If this situation was a year ago, Zhang Liao would have volunteered to Gao Chong to reinforce Jingxiang. Now, he already knows the heavy responsibility of his body, and knows what to do.

On the morning of October 31, Huyang County, Nanyang County.

From the first ray of sunshine at dawn, Xu Huang and Cao Hong's vanguard troops launched a fierce siege against the small city. The cavalry was Cao Cao's field aces for traversing the Central Plains. Xu Huang, the elite infantry soldiers, did not have much less achievements in the siege.

In the third year of Jian'an, Cao Hong was the first to climb the city wall and defeated Yuan Shu's 100,000 guards; in the fourth year of Jian'an, Xia Pi besieged Lu Bu, and Xu Huang's troops took the lead in attacking the West Gate and captured the defending general Chen Gong alive. With Shouchun, Xia Pi's strength could not resist the sharpness of Cao's soldiers, let alone the small Huyang City.

The order of "Kill!" of the attack spread throughout the army.

The war drums urged to promote the attack and the flags were hunting. The Cao soldiers who were swarming up, led by Sima and Duwei, began to attack and advance in an orderly manner towards the city gate. Behind them, a rain of arrows quickly covered the city's heads, and the intensity of the guards could not lift their heads.

Fortunately, such a backfire cannot cause much lethality to the guards hiding behind battlements and shields, but they can effectively prevent the defenders from counterattacking the siege infantry.

The marching footsteps of "Sharsha——!" are getting closer and closer.

There was still no movement in the city, as if there were no guards at all. Seeing this situation, Cao Hong, who was supervising the formation behind, showed a relaxed expression on his face.

"Gongming, it seems that Taishi Ci has been so scared that she has been pissed off. Your soldiers won't have to go into battle later!" Cao Hong laughed.

Xu Huang stared at Huyang City without turning his eyes. His eyes were closely watching the flag on the city tower with the words "Taishi" written on it. According to the information obtained in advance, the guarding of Huyang City was the most elite Danyang soldiers under Gao Chong's command, Taishi Ci's army, about 6,000 people. This is a guy that is not easy to deal with. Xu Huang, who knows the strength of both sides, dares not have the slightest idea of ​​underestimating the enemy.

"Zi Lian, don't say too early, look ahead--!" Xu Huang's face changed and suddenly pointed to the front.

Cao Hong followed the gesture and saw the sudden change of the storm in Huyang City. The city that was still silent just now suddenly surged out of countless soldiers holding crossbows. They all rely on the cover of battlements to shoot at Cao soldiers who had rushed within a range of nearly a hundred steps. Under the care of precise arrows, Cao soldiers who were not mentally prepared were swept down like mowing grass. The injured soldiers were wailing on the ground without any obstacles, struggling and crawling. The scene was terrible.

"Arrowman--!" Cao Hong roared angrily, and was about to order the Archery Battalion to launch a counterattack, but who knew that the overwhelming falling rocks suddenly shot out from Huyang City, smashing the Cao Army's Archery Battalion, who was shooting his head up, and suddenly broke into a defeat.

"Pili Car!" After being in a daze for a moment, Xu Huang, who was knowledgeable, immediately realized that the defenders in the city were using the Pili Car to counterattack with a longer range than bows and arrows.

"I don't care what kind of car he is, I will rush up. Whoever retreats will be killed without mercy!" Cao Hong roared constantly. After losing such a big fall in front of Xu Huang, Cao Hong's face was really unbearable. Relying on his advantage in numbers, he continued to order the soldiers to attack wildly without hesitation.

In Huyang City, Taishici calmly commanded the lieutenant, and the lieutenant counterattacked the Cao army outside the city. The Danyang army rebuilt by him did not win by number, but was of essence and courage. It was obvious that Taishici learned the lesson of traitors in the Battle of Shiyin Mountain. Therefore, when the news of Cao's army attacking Huyang came, the six thousand soldiers did not feel panic at all.

"Notify the Pili Camp to hide in the houses scattered in the city, and don't let the enemy guess the direction!" After the first wave of counterattack successfully achieved its goal, Taishi Ci calmly gave the next order.

The Pili Car, also known as the siege car, was first used on the battlefield by Gao Chong, but it was not unique to Gao Chong. When Cao Cao fought against Yuan Shao in the Guandu War, he built the same function of the siege car to destroy the Gaolu of the Yuan army. This time, the Cao army was preparing for the momentum. As a powerful siege and defense equipment, they could not have no way to deal with it.

Sure enough, shortly after Taishici issued a hidden order, Cao's army outside the city also transferred chariot troops from the rear camp, and the siege chariots loaded with huge rocks were looking for the trajectory of the object, and they all fell into the city.

The war is getting more and more stalemate.

After a fierce battle of 31 days and one day, Cao Hong's troops lost more than 3,000 troops. In desperation, he had to hand over the task of siege to Xu Huang.

Xu Huang's attack reached its peak at dusk and sunset. Xu Huang, who was watching the night of cold eyes, deserved to be a general who had been on the battlefield for a long time. In this death zone where Cao Hong's troops were blocked, Xu Huang personally led the dead soldiers to find the weak zone in the city with a knife. After repeated assaults, the reserve troops in Taishici's hands were almost exhausted. As expected, it was not the arrival of night. Xu Huang's fierce attack might immediately tear open the hole and break into the city.

As night fell, the fierce siege stopped temporarily. Several jackdaws in the sky flew across the sky, overlooking the vast battlefield, and making wails from time to time.

One day, Taishi Ci's army defeated Cao's troops and attacked more than twenty times. More than 4,000 enemy soldiers buried in the trenches outside the city, and the losses of the guards were equally heavy. Despite the cover of the city walls, there were still 1,151 Danyang children who paid their young lives.

Facing the cold bodies of the soldiers who were together day and night, Taishici seemed to have returned to the passionate night on the stone seal mountain. Huang Yue and Huang Chu, the lives of living by his side, appeared clearly in front of him. They seemed not dead, they were fighting side by side with him.

On the stone seal mountain, the smoke pillar soaring into the sky was Huang Yue who used his life to remind himself not to be fooled.

"A real man promises a thousand gold. I have to lose it once, and I will never let it go the second time. Even if I try my best, I will let the general stand out, ah!" This was Huang Chu's last cry. In front of Zhou Tai's violent and sharp axe, Huang Chu looked at death without fear. It was his desperate entanglement that gave Taishi Ci, who was seriously injured, a chance to escape.

"None of the Danyang children is a cowardly coward. There was no one before and there will be no one in the future!" Looking at the Cao Jun camp outside the city, Taishi Ci was full of fighting spirit.

On November 1st, the moats in Huyang, which were as corpses as mountains, were completely covered with Huyang's moat. The morning frost dyed the corpses under the city into white cocoons. Unfortunately, the people in the cocoon would never wake up again.

Stimulated by the glory of hegemony, no one will take the life and death of a humble man seriously.

"Woo--!" The sound of the trumpet echoed in the military tent, and another day of killing and being killed was about to begin. No one could predict whether he could still live at sunset.

Three days, Cao Cao left Cao Hong and Xu Huang with only three days. After these three days, the central army arrived at the city of Huyang. If the city had not been captured yet, how could Cao Hong and Xu Huang have the face to see Cao Cao?

After seeing the tenacity of the Huyang defenders, Cao Hong and Xu Huang no longer argued about who would take the city first. They used the most elite army in their hands without reservation and started a new wave of crazy attacks one after another.

"Boom--!" After the siege cars continued to hit hard, a gap appeared in the city wall.

"Roar in!" Cao Hong pulled off his helmet, lifted his sword and led the death soldiers to rush into the dusty gap.

At the same time, Taishici, who was commanding the battle on the city tower, also saw the emergency of the battle situation. He ignored his own safety and grabbed the two halberds and blocked them head-on.
Chapter completed!