My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 637 Two Reinforcements
The situation was urgent. A quarter of an hour later, the military order was sent from Cao Ang's general's mansion to Guandi by fast horse. It was expected to arrive by evening at the latest, and Cao Ren would have one night to make preparations. At the same time, a messenger was sent to Fancheng to report the situation.

The next morning, after the troops sent by Cao Ren to take over the defense arrived in Fancheng, Cao Chun and Cao Xiu were able to set off immediately.

In this way, reinforcements could arrive outside Fucheng in as little as three days. Given Li Zheng's abilities and the fighting strength of the Li family's troops, they would certainly not lose the city within two or three days.

Even with Sima Yi, Yang Xiu, and others taking turns to appease him, Cao Ang remained unsettled and could only shift his attention to the matter of withdrawing his troops.

Fortunately, Cao Cao had already made all the necessary preparations for the withdrawal of his troops, and had drafted several plans to deal with different situations. At this point, all he needed to do was follow the plan step by step.

Sima Yi, on the other hand, still needs to make adjustments due to the haste.

Setting fire in a big city like Chengdu could easily have collateral damage. If things go wrong, the entire city could be burned to the ground, and it's hard to say how many of the city's residents would survive.

Sima Yi wasn't actually compassionate towards the common people; he was ruthless at heart and held strong aristocratic values, treating ordinary people as beasts of burden rather than fellow citizens. However, he was now forced to consider these issues, primarily due to the presence of the Shu army within the allied forces.

At least half of these Shu troops came from Shu Commandery, and these people had close ties with the people of Chengdu, some even being natives of Chengdu. Add to that the 20,000 to 30,000 able-bodied men from Chengdu, and that brings the total to 40,000 to 50,000 young and strong men.

If Chengdu were truly burned down, causing a large number of civilian deaths, the Shu troops and able-bodied men in the allied forces would likely rebel before the Zuo Mu army even caught up to cause trouble.

Moreover, Sima Yi was merely cold-blooded, not a bloodthirsty maniac; he would disdain killing without any benefit.

Historically, he massacred cities in Liaodong, partly because the soldiers were suffering greatly, and partly because the Wei state could not gain a foothold in Liaodong.

The Gongsun family had been cultivating this land for hundreds of years since the end of the Han Dynasty. Starting with Gongsun Du, they became the veritable King of Liaodong, and by the time of Gongsun Yuan, three generations had passed.

The entire Liaodong region had an extremely high level of identification with the Gongsun family, with their protégés and former officials everywhere, and their loyal followers willing to die for them. Under such circumstances, it would have been impossible for the Wei state to truly rule Liaodong without several decades and numerous suppressions of rebellions.

Who can guarantee that the next Gongsun family rebel will make the same mistake as Gongsun Yuan, or that the next Northern Expedition will have the military strategy of Sima Yi?

It should be noted that Guanqiu Jian, who was Cao Rui's favorite, had also campaigned against Liaodong, but he couldn't conquer it.

This allowed Sima Yi to go north to take over the post, leading Guanqiu Jian to fight this battle.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Sima Yi did not hesitate to ruthlessly massacre the city and kill the prisoners. He even built three or four mounds of corpses, each with a scale of 10,000 people.

Although this method is extremely cruel, it is very effective.

The Gongsun family's power in the area was almost completely wiped out. The central area of ​​Liaodong was razed to the ground, cities were demolished, and the population was wiped out. There was no more rebellion.

Therefore, although Sima Yi did not care about the lives of the people of Chengdu, it was more beneficial for him to live than to die, so he had to seriously consider the strategy and scale of the burning.

These warehouses are relatively independent and there are no residential buildings around them.

However, there are simply too many materials to burn, so the fire will inevitably be very large and last a long time, which means that things are very likely to go wrong.

Sima Yi had no choice but to carefully consider the matter.

**
Li Zheng stood on the city wall, watching the smoke rising from the camps outside the city, a faint look of weariness on his face.

Last night, Li Zheng carefully selected eight hundred elite warriors and secretly left the city under cover of night, intending to attack the Zuo Mu army before it could establish a firm foothold.

Unexpectedly, the enemy was prepared and instead lured him in, intending to wipe out Li Zheng's elite force in one fell swoop. Fortunately, Li Zheng saw through their scheme in time and had prepared a backup plan, thus managing to escape by sheer luck.

In this battle, both sides suffered a hundred casualties. Li Zheng's side suffered a slight loss, but the wounded were all brought back to the city.

The Left Army is really troublesome.

A sense of worry flashed through Li Zheng's mind. The Left Army was powerful, yet so cautious. He feared that this battle would be extremely difficult.

Although he had already sent a request for reinforcements to Chengdu, Li Zheng did not dare to have too much hope for reinforcements.

The plan for transporting supplies by Cao Ang, Cao Ren, and Sima Yi was also communicated to Li Zheng's troops, who were then instructed to send troops to Mianzhu and Shifang to support Cao Chun and Cao Xiu, while also consolidating the communication channels between the two sides.

It was precisely for this reason that Li Zheng's troops in the city were reduced to only six thousand. Moreover, although Fucheng was also a fortified city, it was not as treacherous as Zitong. The hilly terrain outside the city was flat, making it extremely easy to deploy siege weapons.

The thought of the rumors about the Left Army's counterweight catapults chilled Li Zheng to the bone.

Li Zheng stood on the city wall, gazing at the distant Left Army camp, lost in thought.

After a long while, a close attendant approached him and asked in a low voice, "General, the food is ready. Shall we go down into the city and have some?"

Li Zheng then snapped out of his daze, immediately wiped his face hard, and turned to leave the city.

The food in the city was good; in addition to unlimited rice, there were even fresh wild vegetables, and Li Zheng, as a military officer, was also given a fresh fish.

Most importantly, Fucheng had ample supplies, and the meals were made with high-quality ingredients. The dishes were salty and the soup was oily, and the rice was fresh and white. The soldiers ate with smiles on their faces.

Seeing that his soldiers were not concerned about the powerful enemy outside the city, Li Zheng smiled and began to eat.

However, he was destined not to eat his meal properly. He had only taken a few bites when an alarm bell suddenly rang on the city wall, its piercing sound echoing throughout the city.

"Don't panic!"

Li Zheng put down his rice bowl, stood up, shouted a reprimand, and then walked towards the city wall.

Once they reached the city wall, the general had already explained the situation.

A large cloud of dust rose from the northwest of Fucheng, indicating that another large army had arrived.

Normally, this would be good news, as the force coming from the west would surely be friendly.

Now that Luocheng has fallen, although Mianzhu serves as a barrier to the west, the area around Mianzhu is all plains with no natural defenses. If the Left Guard Army of Luocheng wants to bypass it, Cao Cao's army simply cannot stop them.

Although Li Zheng's expression remained calm, his palms were sweating profusely.

Li Zheng was far less calm about the origins of this army than he appeared. The Left Guard outside the city already numbered 30,000; if another large army arrived, Fucheng would be truly in danger. Especially since this army was coming from the west, it would create the illusion of encirclement within the city, making the soldiers feel isolated and helpless, thus causing a sharp drop in morale. Indeed, at this moment, Fucheng was not only surrounded by Zhou Yu's 20,000 men, but also by He Qi's 10,000 reinforcements, making a total of 30,000 troops.

He Qi left only 10,000 men to guard Zitong and protect the rear of Jiange, ready to reinforce Jianmen Pass at any time. The remaining 10,000 troops all headed west to join Zhou Yu and take Fucheng first.

Accompanying this large army were not only ten thousand brave Yue warriors, but also hundreds of military machines of various sizes and functions.

These siege weapons were all forged by He Qi at the foot of Zitong City, originally intended as a test. Now that Fucheng was clearly a better option, He Qi simply ordered his soldiers to bring these siege weapons along. It was precisely because of the burden of these weapons that He Qi's army did not arrive at the outskirts of Fucheng until noon yesterday.

It was also the arrival of these siege weapons that made Li Zheng determined to select elite troops for a night raid.

Li Zheng's goal was not to use these 800 men to repel Zhou Yu and He Qi's 30,000-strong army, but to take advantage of the night raid to burn all the siege equipment, or at least most of it. The counterweight catapults, in particular, were of paramount importance and had to be burned.

Only in this way could Li Zheng have the confidence to hold on, but the result of last night's raid was a great disappointment.

"It's the Cao banner!"

Suddenly, a close aide shouted, "General Cao has come to our rescue!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng was greatly encouraged and immediately began to examine the object carefully.

Just as the general had said, the incoming soldiers were all dressed in black, which was completely different from the red uniforms of the Left Army. This was the color of their comrades' uniforms.

Li Zheng was overjoyed and even somewhat incredulous.

It's no wonder Li Zheng acted this way. Li Dian had been besieged for several months, and he had repeatedly written to Chengdu seeking help to relieve Li Dian's siege.

But until yesterday, not a single soldier came to our aid.

Li Zheng also had a good sense of the big picture. He knew that Cao Ang in the west was also facing difficulties, and that transporting supplies was indeed more important. He could only grit his teeth and persevere.

His previous night raid was a desperate measure, as he knew he couldn't hold out for long under the enemy's siege.

Ultimately, it was because he lacked confidence in Cao Ang's arrival as reinforcements.

But who could have imagined that just a few days after the letter requesting reinforcements was sent, Cao Ang's reinforcements had already arrived outside Fucheng.

"Quickly! Gather the troops and assemble them in the north of the city. Also, send another 500 archers to the east of the city."

Li Zheng immediately mobilized his troops. The forces in the north of the city were prepared to go out of the city to meet the reinforcements, while the forces in the east of the city were to contain the Left Army's northward advance and flanking attack.

Fucheng has a relatively flat terrain. Although it is surrounded by hills, they are not high and the tops of the hills are flat with gentle slopes, similar to plains. This allows for the deployment of large armies and also enables them to bypass Fucheng.

Fucheng's terrain slopes from east to west. To the east, two hills flank the East Gate, while to the west, the city is bordered by water, with the Fu River flowing around it.

Previously, Zhou Yu's army had marched north along the Fu River from the south and stationed itself ten miles south of the city. Meanwhile, He Qi's troops from Zitong had also advanced westward from the east and joined Zhou Yu south of Fucheng.

Cao's reinforcements came from the west, so it was impossible for them to cross the river to the south, thus giving the Left Guard Army an opportunity to attack while they were crossing.

Therefore, Cao Cao's army could only cross the river north of the city, which is why Li Zheng concentrated his elite troops there. At the same time, while Fucheng could not stop the Left Guard Army from advancing north, it could threaten their flank and force them to take a detour.

The Zuo Mu army wanted to detour around the north of Fucheng, but with the threat of crossbows from the east of the city, they would have to travel an extra three to five miles. At this critical moment, this extra time might be enough to reverse the situation.

Li Zheng's troops were highly trained, especially since they were composed of people from the same hometown who knew each other well. They quickly assembled three thousand men north of the city. Just as Li Zheng had predicted, Cao Cao's army, after arriving in the suburbs, indeed chose to cross the river north of Fucheng.

The Left Guard Army also received news of reinforcements arriving from Fucheng and immediately mobilized in large numbers. A force of four thousand men emerged from the main camp in the east of the city and charged straight towards the north of Fucheng. Meanwhile, another force of four thousand men also set out from the main camp in the south of the city, taking a detour to the north. At the wide-open camp gates, elite troops were constantly gathering, preparing to leave the camp and provide further reinforcements.

The originally peaceful afternoon became tense due to the arrival of Cao Cao's reinforcements, and a major battle was likely to break out in the north of the city.

The Cao army that came to their aid was naturally a massive force of ten thousand men led by Cao Chun and Cao Xiu.

Originally, the combined forces of the two Caos numbered only eight thousand, but Cao Ren, worried that they would not have enough troops, squeezed out another two thousand from his own forces for them. One thousand of them were Liangzhou cavalry under Zhang Xiu, and the other one thousand were Cao Ren's own troops.

Although the two Caos currently command only ten thousand men, half of them are elite cavalry, and the other half are also of superior combat strength. In open field battles, they are far superior to ordinary ten thousand infantrymen.

Before crossing the river, Cao Chun and Cao Xiu rode their horses up a hill and gazed into the distance.

The city of Fucheng was bustling with activity, clearly indicating that Li Zheng did not intend to remain in the city and wanted to send troops to meet them.

Upon hearing this, a hint of approval flashed across Cao Chun's stern face, while Cao Xiu chuckled and praised, "Li Gangji is quick-witted, decisive, and brave in battle. I knew he would come out of the city to provide support."

Cao Chun slowly nodded, continuing to gaze at the Left Army camp in the distance, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Cao Xiu asked curiously, "Uncle, have you noticed something?"

A hint of seriousness flashed across Cao Chun's brow: "The Left Army has also left the camp."

Although the full view was not clearly visible from where the two Caos stood, several thousand soldiers of the Left Guard Army could still be seen leaving their camp and heading north.

Cao Xiu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Is the Left Guard so arrogant? They've only sent a few thousand men to stop me?"

Cao Chun slowly shook his head and pointed out, "I'm afraid the Left Guard Army also has a large camp in the east of the city."

Cao Xiu suddenly realized and agreed repeatedly: "So that's how it is. If several thousand more troops are sent from the east of the city, there will be a total of ten thousand men. Moreover, they have a strong camp as a base and more than ten thousand troops as backup. The commander of the Left Army is a person who can manage troops."

Cao Chun continued to look at the Left Army camp, lost in thought, ignoring Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu was not a good-tempered person. He was resolute, stubborn and decisive. He once repaid kindness with enmity because he hated Jia Kui. He wrote to Cao Rui requesting that Jia Kui be punished, which shows his narrow-mindedness.

However, he showed a completely different side in front of Cao Chun, and did not show the slightest dissatisfaction because of Cao Chun's disdain.

The reason is simple: it's not because of talent or anything else, but because of kinship.

(End of this chapter)