Chapter 589: Be the first to advance
It is said that Zhao Yun had no doubts about the appointment of Jin and Wang Ping, the two surrendered generals, and the two surrendered generals also knew everything about the situation of Cao's army. Both Yu Jin and Wang Ping were very familiar with Cao Cao and judged that although Cao Cao was still confronting Xi Zhicai and Huang Zhong in Jiangxia on the surface, he would actually lead the attack in person and vowed to capture Hefei City.
In this case, Zhao Yun's defenders would have to face not only the more than 200,000 Cao troops attacking Lujiang, but also the wrath of Cao Cao himself who came to attack, as well as the large troops of Xu Chu and Xiahou Dun around him.
The biggest problem for Cao Jun was the problem of food and grass. As expected, Cao Mengde left Li Dian to guard the Macheng Passage and Xiahou Yuan to guard the Liu'an Passage. He led Xu Chu, Xiahoudun, Cao Xiu and others to attack in person, intending to use heavy troops to suppress the enemy and capture the under-defended Hefei City in one fell swoop. Xi Zhicai's troops were blocked by Li Dian at the Macheng Passage and were unable to pursue Cao Cao in succession. They could only engage in small-scale harassment operations and focused their operations on Huang Zu's Queyue City.
Taking advantage of the emptiness of Queyue City, Huang Zu's son Huang She had secretly surrendered to Gan Ning. With the cooperation of Ling Tong's Jiangdong Army, Huang Zhong and Xi Zhi were able to capture Queyue City in one fell swoop. Huang Zu was determined not to surrender to Zhicai, so Huang She had no choice but to put his father under house arrest. He officially ordered the entire area and all the troops under Huang Zu's jurisdiction to be formally merged into the Qinglong Army.
At this point, Huang Zu, who had occupied Jiangxia for many years, was finally defeated by the Qinglong Army. The Qinglong Army continued to advance into Queyue City. When Sun Ce saw the success of the Qinglong Army, he felt like he had eaten sour grapes, but he had no choice but to do anything. In addition, the serious injury on his arm had not healed. Although he left some troops on duty in Lushan City, he returned to Lujiang by boat. In Lujiang, Zhou Yu informed Sun Ce that the Qinglong Army would only consider returning Feicheng to Jiangdong in exchange for the entire territory of Jiangxia. Sun Ce was so angry that he slapped the table and cursed, almost breaking out from arrow wounds. However, the siege of Hefei was not solved yet, but he did not dare to scold Zhuge Liang and Lu Su in person. He could only urge Zhou Yu to send troops to Hefei. He attacked several times, but was defeated by Xu Huang. Team interception.
The situation has developed to this point and entered a very delicate moment. Heavy troops have gathered outside Hefei City, and the flames of war are about to break out. Seeing that Xi Zhicai had quickly captured Jiangxia, Zhuge Liang ordered Xi Zhicai and Huang Zhong to attack in an all-out manner, severely defeating and breaking through Li Dian's troops. Cao Cao must feel the pressure behind him and be unable to besiege Hefei with all his strength.
Zhou Yu and Sun Ce also understood that the war situation had reached the most critical moment, and began to assemble all the field troops, including famous Jiangdong generals such as Ling Cao, Cheng Pu, Ding Feng, Dong Xi, Zhou Tai, Ling Tong, Jiang Qin, Chen Wu, etc. As well as Sun Jian's descendant Sun He, Sun Jian's nephew Xu Kun and other generals, they all began to gather in the north of the Lujiang River.
For Cao's army, which was extremely short of food, the more troops he had, the faster the food was consumed. If he could not capture Hefei quickly, he would have to withdraw his troops quickly and return to Xuzhou. We still need to be fully prepared to go to Jiangdong. We still don’t know what year or month it will be. Although Cao Cao was unwilling to give in, he naturally would not ignore the worst case scenario. Detective horses and messengers traveled between the Jianghuai and many important towns like a revolving door, bringing the news of the preparations to withdraw the troops.
The generals of Cao's army in the rear were fully prepared to respond with food and grass.
The whole army fought decisively, but although Xi Zhicai and Zhou Yu's troops gathered, Li Dian and Xu Huang took advantage of the terrain and had already set up an impenetrable camp. Breaking through did not happen overnight. Hefei is now an isolated city, and only the city can hold on until the day when Cao's army collapses without food.
Cao Cao led his army through Lu'an. All the villages and towns along the way were looted, and even the people's rations were used as military rations. The common people could not find a way to survive, so they had to rise up to resist. Cao Jun killed countless people along the way. Blood flowed like a river along the way, and Cao Cao was extremely angry and vowed to massacre Hefei City again.
Cao Cao had vaguely heard the news of Cao Ang's capture, but the details were not clear yet. He only knew that Zhao Yun did not kill him, but probably wanted to use him as a hostage. Therefore, Cao Mengde had already issued an order that the first person to climb the top of Hefei City would be rewarded with ten thousand gold and descendants of ten thousand marquises. The one who rescued his son Cao Ang would directly become the governor of the city.
Under the heavy reward, there must be brave men. Although Cao's army could only eat half full, their morale was still high. It was the vanguard general Le Jin who was the first to start the battle. He used improvised ladders and siege equipment to test the west gate several times, but was repelled by the well-prepared soldiers and civilians in the city.
Le Jin, named Wenqian, was a native of Weiguo, Yangping County. Although Le Jin was short in stature, he was a brave leader in all three armies and was famous for his bravery and valor. He had conquered south and north after Cao Cao and made countless military exploits. Because of his bravery in battle, he was always at the forefront and gained the reputation of being the first to reach the general. , in the official history, he attacked Yuan Shao in Guandu, fought bravely, and killed Yuan Shao's general Chunyu Qiong. Then he attacked Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang in Liyang and killed their general Yan Jing. Soon Lejin attacked Huangjin, Yongnu, and Guancheng, and defeated them all. From Ping Jingzhou, he stayed in Xiangyang. After Liu Bei entered Shu, Le Jin resisted Guan Yu at Qingni, repulsed Guan Yu and Su Fei, subdued the barbarians in the valleys of Nanjun, and defeated Liu Bei's Linju Chang and Jingyang Chang. Later, he conquered Sun Quan from Cao Cao and pretended to enter the festival. Cao Cao returned from Hefei, leaving Le Jin, Zhang Liao, and Li Dian stationed in Hefei. Later, Yi Lejinshu had military merit and was promoted to general on the right. He died in the 23rd year of Jian'an (218 AD), and his posthumous title was Weihou. Later generations will call him the "Five Good Generals" of Cao Wei along with Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, Zhang He, and Xu Huang.
At this moment, the short Le Jin was riding on his tall Western Region horse, waving his saber to direct the subsequent troops to replace the troops that attacked the city before. Looking from Lejin's position, on the tall Hefei city wall, behind every battlement stood the Qinglong Army, firing round after round of arrows, harvesting the lives of many of his men.
Le Jin gritted his teeth after seeing this, thrust his long knife into the ground, pulled out his saber, and bit a short knife in his mouth. He jumped off his horse, grabbed a wooden shield from the soldier who had just retreated, and began to charge towards Hefei City in person. . The guards next to him were startled, but they had already experienced Le Jin's courage to take the lead, and they quickly raised their bucklers and followed Le Jin to protect him.
Cold arrows whizzed past Le Jin. Le Jin didn't care and just rushed forward. The wooden shield was already filled with arrows. The moat was full of earth-moving trucks filling the river. Le Jin used his Qinggong and jumped up. He touched the earth-moving truck in the middle of the river and crossed the moat. After crossing the river, he didn't stop, and then climbed up the newly erected ladder in a smooth and flowing manner. He clicked three times in succession, and his body was shot towards the top of the city like a flag-flower cannon, showing excellent lightness skills.
Le Jin's martial arts skills are by no means unearned, and he is even more proficient in light kung fu. He flew to the top of the city many times to fight to the death with the enemy, and covered the city to fight, and finally achieved the reputation of being the first to ascend the city. This time Hefei City must be defeated quickly, and Le Jin can only move forward and use his special skills.
Le Jin connected his feet, and his body had already crossed the boundary of the battlements, and was about to board the city. The young Qinglong Army behind the battlements was obviously still a rookie. Unexpectedly, Le Jin came in so quickly, his eyes were full of fear, and he even forgot to let go arrow. The two looked at each other, Le Jin smiled evilly, and had already removed the dagger from his mouth with his left hand. He flipped his hand without hesitation, and the dagger came out of his hand, flying towards the throat of the Qinglong Army on the opposite side like lightning.
The Qinglong Army was completely sluggish. He only felt a stinging pain in his throat, and the fierce wind came out of his throat in the blink of an eye. Before the blood spurted out, the Qinglong Army had already fallen to the ground. Le Jin jumped up. Cao Jun behind him saw that General Le had opened a gap and had climbed up several ladders. Le Jin fought with a group of Qinglong troops, desperately protecting several ladders.
Seeing that Cao Jun's troops were about to enter the city, Le Jin's saber suddenly collided with a long sword and was immediately broken into two pieces. Le Jin was shocked. He instinctively performed a backflip and jumped onto the battlement, narrowly dodging the sharp sword in the waist.
Le Jin was surprised, knowing that he had met a master. He quickly focused his eyes to see his opponent clearly, and there was another flash of white light in front of his eyes. The extremely sharp long sword was already stabbing at his face. Le Jin felt his eyes blurred, and he was so energetic. The wind had already hit his face, and he shouted "No!" Instinctively did another backflip, but there was endless void behind him. Le Jin fell straight from the top of the city like a heavy lump of lead, and fell into the moat with a thud, as if ten meters. The platform jumper failed and fell into the water, causing a large splash of shiny water.
If you want to know what happens next, listen to the explanation next time.
