Five days later, Li Dian completed the construction of siege equipment on time.
With the help of Huang Zu's navy, Cao Cao began to lead the remaining 190,000 troops across the river.
Before capturing Nanjun Jiangling, Cao Cao will still use infantry to attack the city and take out the stronghold.
At present, there will be no water stronghold near Xinye, and Cao Cao has not trained soldiers for Huang Zu.
Furthermore, the decisive battle with Sun Quan on the Yangtze River will definitely take place on the Yangtze River in the future.
Everything must be based on Nanjun.
The 190,000-strong army crossed the river. The scale was extremely large. It was no longer as simple as using the navy.
It is necessary to build a pontoon bridge at the gentle part of the Han River to ensure passage.
Even so, from the time they started crossing the river at dark, until it got dark again, Cao's army did not have 100,000 people on the land of Nanjun.
If this situation continues, it will take at least five hours to transport all the soldiers across the shore.
This does not include a series of logistics personnel and siege equipment such as grain, grass and baggage.
It is impossible for Cao Cao to sleep in the wilderness with an army of 100,000, which would increase the danger for himself.
At that moment, he handed over the rear army to Cao Ren, and he and Guo Jia led the army to Xiangyang first.
When Xiangyang was mentioned, Cao Cao couldn't help but show the corners of his mouth turning up.
As expected of a clan brother, worthy of being the most trusted general!
Xiahou Dun realized his shame and became brave. He successfully captured the important town of Xiangyang with only 20,000 people.
Although Cao Cao didn't know what happened, it didn't matter.
Cao Cao, who would rather betray me than others, always values results!
The journey was very smooth, and the 100,000-strong army arrived in Xiangyang smoothly.
But after entering the city, Cao Cao was immediately dumbfounded.
Where does Xiangyang City look like a major town on the south bank of the Han River?
The whole city smelled like being burned.
What I saw was completely like ruins!
This scene is exactly the same as the one where Luoyang was burned down by Dong Zhuo in the past.
If it weren't for the four city walls that remain standing, no one would be able to believe that this was once the important town of Xiangyang!
Going all the way deep into the city, there was not a single perfect house in sight.
What's the difference between being stationed here and sleeping in the wilderness?
"Where is Xiahou Dun! What is he doing? Let him come to see Gu!"
Cao Cao finally couldn't restrain his anger and shouted desperately.
Thinking that he and Guo Jia had boasted about Xiahou Dun for so many days, Cao Cao wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl in.
Since his birth, has Cao Cao been embarrassed over and over again?
Unexpectedly, Xiahou Dun would embarrass him this time!
Not long after, Xiahou Dun and Zhang He came quickly with their troops and horses.
The two of them trotted forward and knelt down at Cao Cao's feet.
"King Wei..."
"Xiahou Dun, Zhang He, you...!"
Cao Cao pointed at the two of them and almost fainted from anger.
How can these two people still have the heroic spirit when they led the army on an expedition?
All of them were in a state of despair, their clothes and armor in disarray.
Especially Xiahou Dun, who actually returned to his previous abject appearance!
Cao Cao became angrier as he watched, and his anger spread throughout his body.
"Xiahou Dun, what's going on!"
"Didn't you tell Gu that Xiangyang City was captured? Are you going to give Gu a Xiangyang like this?"
Xiahou Dun knelt on the ground, not daring to say a word.
Zhang He had no choice but to report to Cao Cao personally.
"Reporting to the King of Wei, this is what happened..."
It turned out that Xiahou Dun and Zhang He fell into Zhuge Liang's plan again.
After entering Nanjun, the two of them were absolutely cautious. They only dared to act after the scouts reported the situation along the way.
It took a full day to walk from Han River to Xiangyang City.
Flags were placed all over the walls of Xiangyang City, looking like they were ready to attack, and Xiahou Dun and his two men did not dare to make too many mistakes.
The purpose this time is very clear, just provide cover for Cao Cao's army to cross the river.
Don’t ask for merit, but ask for no faults!
Xiahou Dun and Zhang He hit it off immediately, and neither of them had any intention of attacking.
Since Cao Cao gave the two of them 20,000 men, he had no hope that they could capture Xiangyang.
Wait!
Anyway, their mission is to monitor the defenders of Xiangyang City.
After a day of confrontation, Xiahou Dun discovered something strange in Xiangyang City.
The defenders on the city were actually able to monitor Cao's army below the city without moving!
Forget it, Xiahou Dun could only attribute it to the fact that Liu Bei's soldiers were relatively elite.
But at night, there was no light on the city wall.
The entire Xiangyang City is hidden in darkness!
If we were not sure that there was a city in front of us, we would have crashed to death!
As a result, the soldiers on the city remained motionless.
Xiahou Dun could no longer sit still and quickly sent his dead soldiers to investigate.
You won’t know until you see it, but you will be shocked when you see it!
It turns out that the city walls are full of dummies!
Even so, Xiahou Dun was not careless, but sent several teams to sneak into the city to investigate.
Soon, as the gate of Xiangyang was opened by Cao Jun from the inside, Xiahou Dun knew that he had been fooled.
An empty Xiangyang City frightened him for two days!
Liu Bei must have been so frightened that he abandoned the city and fled after hearing that Cao Cao's army had arrived.
Xiahou Dun was furious. On the one hand, he sent people to report the good news to Cao Cao, and on the other hand, he led his army into the city.
The result was exactly as Xiahou Dun expected, the city was already deserted!
Cao's army had been outside the city for two nights and was already tired from outside and exhausted from inside.
Xiahou Dun also felt very sorry for the soldiers. He only left a small number of guards and ordered the entire army to rest.
But the accident happened that night.
At midnight, when Cao Jun was sleeping soundly, a fire suddenly broke out in the city.
The fire intensified and spread unbridled throughout the city.
For a time, the entire Xiangyang City turned into a sea of fire.
Cao Jun was awakened from his sleep by the blazing heat. Seeing this, he thought it was an enemy attack and immediately blew up the camp.
Twenty thousand troops were running around in the city, but they were surrounded by fire.
The more you run around, the easier it is to get burned to death.
Once someone was burned, they would bump into each other in the city, causing countless soldiers to suffer.
In just a short period of time, Cao Jun's soldiers were panicked, crowded, trampled, burned, and internally strangled. Thousands of soldiers were killed or injured!
As the main generals, Xiahou Dun and Zhang He were also in an extremely embarrassed state.
After seeing the fire, he immediately ran away for his life.
The fire was too strong, and if you were a little late, you would probably be buried in the flames.
And no one believes that the fire came out of thin air, and no one doubts that Liu Beijun came back!
If you stay in the city, you will either be burned to death or killed by Liu Bei's army.
Xiahou Dun and Zhang He gathered their own soldiers and quickly broke out from the west gate, finally escaping with their lives.
However, the two people who escaped from the city found that there were no enemy troops anywhere. Apart from the screams and the sound of fire, there was no movement at all!
The two immediately dispatched soldiers to the four gates of Xiangyang City to rescue soldiers trapped in the layers and lost.
It can only be said that fortunately Xiahou Dun and Zhang He were not frightened and abandoned their soldiers to escape alone.
Otherwise, the 20,000-strong army would have been almost completely wiped out again!
After dawn, the fire gradually subsided.
Xiahou Dun hurriedly restrained the fleeing soldiers. After counting, he found that there were less than 10,000 soldiers!
Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang didn't even meet, and they defeated Xiahou Dun once again.
A fire almost killed Xiahou Dun!
