mtl008 Chapter 466 Guan Xing Begins to Fight Desperately
Chapter 466 Guan Xing Begins to Fight Desperately
After seeing off Pan Zhu's messenger, Fei Yi asked worriedly, "General, isn't launching a general offensive against Yu Jin too hasty? Our strength is already inferior to Yu Jin's, and we haven't confirmed the authenticity of Pan Zhu's surrender. A rash attack might..."
Guan Xing shook his head and said, "The final offensive was something I decided on last night. I didn't count on Pan Zhu at all. Whether Pan Zhu rebels or not, I will launch the attack today. I don't want to delay any longer."
"As for your statement that our strength is inferior to Yu Jin's, that's not true. Don't we still have the people in the city? If we can mobilize all three or four hundred thousand people in the city, what are a mere thirty thousand Wei soldiers?"
"Immediately send messengers to Zhu Ran and Sun Huan, ordering them to abandon their attack on the supply lines and set up an ambush at Changban Slope to prevent the Wei army from escaping north. Then, have people make as many Guan-character banners as possible. Once the general offensive begins, I want these Guan-character banners to fly in every corner of the city, using them to rally the people to fight in my father's name."
"After the general offensive begins, you don't need to move with the main army. Instead, lead the intelligence personnel to encourage the people and call on them to charge with the main army. People are herd creatures; as long as there are people charging, there will naturally be others blindly following. If you can mobilize all the people in the city, you can drown Yu Jin's 30,000 Wei troops in the vast ocean of people's war in no time."
"Uh..." Fei Yi's mouth gaped open in shock, and she looked at Guan Xing with a blank expression.
Calling on the people to join the war, and having them take hoes and bamboo poles to fight the Wei army to the death?
General, you really have a wild idea!
But then again, it's better to fight to the death against the Wei army than to be massacred and killed by them.
Fei Yi hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. Guan Xing patted him on the shoulder and said, "You get ready first, I'll go and discuss it with Lord Wu and Elder Zhang."
What was called a discussion was actually a notification. After arriving in Jiangling, Guan Xing naturally took over command of the Wu army and became the commander of the Han-Wu allied forces. He went to the city wall and informed Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao of his plan, saying:
"Lord Wu, strategist, the war with the Wei army cannot be delayed any longer. If it drags on any longer, Yu Jin may really massacre the city. Since Yu Jin has abandoned his shackles and disregarded his future and posthumous reputation, he is very likely to sacrifice himself and kill Jiangling for Cao Cao, destroying Your Majesty's war potential. We must stop this."
"I will charge first after the general offensive begins. If the battle goes well, you will follow me. If the battle goes badly, you will immediately retreat to Gong'an. In short, regardless of victory or defeat, we must have a result with the Wei army today."
Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao both opposed the idea, thinking it was too reckless. However, seeing that Guan Xing was determined, they did not try to persuade him further, but only told him to be careful and to break out immediately if things went wrong, and not to get himself killed.
Guan Xing nodded and left, returning to the camp to begin preparations. Amidst the busy work of the Han army, three hours quickly passed.
Just after noon, a fire broke out at the encampment of the private soldiers of the Jingzhou gentry in the city. Amid the flames, the private soldiers, led by Pan Zhu and Huang Zhe, charged at the nearest Wei army, causing great commotion in the area.
Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao stood on the city wall, looking out into the distance. Upon seeing the commotion, they immediately sent someone to report to Guan Xing.
Guan Xing was already prepared. Upon hearing the news, he immediately led three thousand personal guards brought from Jiangdong as the vanguard to attack the city. Zhu Yi led several hundred followers and five thousand elite soldiers selected from the Huang family's private army to follow behind, while five thousand private soldiers assigned to logistics followed at the rear.
Since it was a general offensive, there was no reason to hold back. Guan Xing staked everything on everyone, even the cooks from the head cook's battalion charged forward with kitchen knives.
Guan Xing charged ahead, relentlessly attacking the Wei soldiers closest to him. However, before he could even get close, he was met with a merciless barrage of arrows from the Wei army, who had already formed a battle formation and were waiting for their attack.
You must know that Yu Jin massacred civilians to provoke Guan Xing and make him act rashly. Given that, how could he not have taken precautions?
Therefore, Guan Xing was met with a merciless attack from the Wei army as soon as he entered the city. Fortunately, Guan Xing had anticipated this and made many two-meter-high and half-meter-wide baffles with wheels at the bottom and handles in the middle before he set off. Pushing the baffles while charging could effectively block the Wei army's arrow rain and even catapults.
Dozens of shields were lined up in a row, braving the rain of arrows, and quickly rushed to the front of the Wei army. Then, they simultaneously raised their crossbows and pulled the triggers on the Wei soldiers in front of them.
These crossbows were not brought by Guan Xing from Jiangdong, but provided by Sun Quan. After using the crossbows to disrupt the Wei army's formation, the Han army immediately took down the simple benches made of four wooden planks that were hanging on the handles behind the shields and threw them in front of the Wei army's deer antlers. After the benches were in place, they quickly charged, stepping on the benches to jump over the deer antlers and rush into the Wei army's formation.
The antlers were only one meter high, and a person with strong jumping ability could jump over them in one sprint. Although the Han army led by Guan Xing was elite, they did not have the ability to jump over the antlers directly, and could only step on benches for leverage.
Guan Xing was the first to throw away the shield and charge forward. After a short run-up, he stepped on the bench and leaped over the deer antlers. He gripped his cleaver with both hands and charged into the enemy ranks to begin his slaughter. His martial arts skills may not be as good as Zhang Bao and Guan Ping, but he would not back down when facing Cao Wei's Five Elite Generals. He had even less pressure when facing this group of soldiers. He charged into the enemy ranks and quickly killed three people.
The remaining troops, stepping on benches, rushed into the gap torn open by Guan Xing and joined the battle. They quickly widened the gap, removed the deer antlers, and poured into the formation, attacking the Wei army.
Such a commotion naturally alerted Yu Jin. Upon hearing the noise, Yu Jin rushed up to the arrow tower of the general's mansion to investigate. Seeing the Han army surging in, he excitedly looked up to the sky and roared, "Hahaha, Guan Xing, you brat, you really couldn't stand being provoked and launched an attack on us! Guan Xing, you're hiding in your camp, and I can't do anything to you, but once you leave the camp, let's see what you can use to fight me! Pass on my order for a full-scale attack! Whoever kills Guan Xing will be promoted ten ranks."
This Wei army had followed Yu Jin in battle for many years. Yu Jin was very familiar with the Wei army's situation and confident in its combat strength. Moreover, they had a numerical advantage, so they really didn't feel any pressure facing Guan Xing.
As for Pan Zhu and Huang Zhe's rebel army, Yu Jin didn't take them seriously at all, and sending three to five thousand men to deal with them was enough.
Yu Jin jumped down from the arrow tower and rushed to the front line to command. At the same time, Fei Yi, led by a secret agent, entered the city through the east gate, carrying a bundle and disguised as a civilian to sneak into the city.
Guan Xing stormed in from the south gate, and the Wei army naturally converged on the south gate as well. Since the east gate was in Sun Quan's hands, the Wei army could not get close, so it was not difficult to sneak into the city if they were careful.
With the fighting already underway at the South Gate, who has the time or inclination to pay attention to the small fry coming in through the East Gate? Even if the Wei army did see them, they probably wouldn't bother to inquire or deal with them.
In this way, Fei Yi successfully infiltrated the city and followed the spies to encourage their relatives and friends. Most of the spies were locals, and those who were not locals had lived in the city for many years and settled down. Under such circumstances, which spies did not have a few relatives?
The spies encouraged their relatives, who then contacted other relatives, and with the added impetus of General Guan's name, many teenagers were swept up in the fervor and took up arms to join the ranks.
Using Guan Yu's name, Fei Yi quickly assembled a force of several hundred men. He then took out a large banner bearing the character "Guan" from his bundle, stuck it onto a bamboo pole he had found, and led his men in a rampage through the city, shouting as they ran: "General Guan is back! Take up your weapons and fight the Wei army to welcome the old general! General Guan is back..."
The slogan proved effective. People who heard the commotion peeked through the cracks in the door and saw familiar faces in the procession. Some continued to retreat and hide, while others chose to join.
Things became easier once people joined, and as time went on, Fei Yi's team grew stronger and stronger.
As the army grew, it naturally attracted the attention of the Wei army. Soon, a Wei army unit charged towards Fei Yi. Fei Yi had no intention of fighting the Wei army head-on. When he saw the Wei army coming, he decisively ran away. He led his spies to break up the army into smaller units, carrying large banners with the character "Guan" on them and running around to attract more people to join.
Fei Yi was like an inconspicuous troublemaker, taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Wei army was attracted by Guan Xing to stir up trouble in the city, leaving Sun Quan and Hu Zong, who were watching the battle from the city tower, dumbfounded.
Hu Zong stared at the dozens of large banners bearing the character "Guan" that had split off from the city and said, "My lord, Guan Xing and Fei Yi are fighting desperately, and even Pan Zhu and Huang Zhe are fighting desperately. What about us? Should we immediately commit all our forces?"