My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 490: Stepping into the same trap twice in a row
Yang Ang was forced by Gao Zuo, and although he felt weak in his heart, he was helpless. He could only bite the bullet and lead 500 cavalrymen to charge at the wide-open gate and make a tentative attack.

The 500 cavalrymen he led were not Cao's cavalry, but his old subordinates under Zhang Lu when they were in Hanzhong.

Although Zhang Lu lived in a mountainous area and had relatively few cavalry, he could still gather thousands of people. After all, Hanzhong was across the Qinling Mountains from Liangzhou. Before, there was a great chaos in Guanzhong, and batches of Guanzhong people who were forced to survive by the attacks and killings by the Western Liang army fled south to Hanzhong, and they also brought some horses.

Gao Zuo wanted to test the waters, so of course he would let the cavalry of Zhang Lu's former subordinates go first. This way, if they fell into a trap, they would not have to feel as bad as Cao's direct troops.

Wei Yan could also see clearly from the top of the city wall. He saw that the enemy had nearly two thousand cavalrymen, but only five hundred of them were sent to the front to test the enemy. He couldn't help feeling a little regretful, but at the same time a little relieved. In short, his mood was very complicated.

It is a pity, of course, that there is no chance to inflict heavy damage to all enemy forces at once. Once the enemy finds out that the soldiers in the city are well prepared and united, the subsequent cavalry will not fall into the trap again.

Fortunately, the enemy troops were few in number, so he was very confident that he could inflict heavy damage on the 500 men in the vanguard.

Seeing the enemy rushing over, Wei Yan suddenly had an idea and ordered: "Those earthen loads piled on the tower are not allowed to be pushed down for the time being! Do not block the gate! Just use bows and crossbows and close combat to repel these 500 enemy cavalry! Such a small number of people are not worthy of my full strength!"

Wei Yan himself was standing on the city wall, so he had extremely strict control over the guards on the city wall. He could control the situation with just a few words and ensure that all the soldiers obeyed his orders strictly.

Yang Ang's 500 cavalrymen finally rushed into the range of the crossbows, and the archers on the city wall immediately shot arrows at the enemy.

However, the cavalry charged very fast, and they reached the gate after only two rounds of arrow rain. The first round of arrow rain only shot down five or six people, but the second round had a much higher hit rate, and more than a dozen riders fell off their horses.

However, because the city gate was narrow, Yang Ang's 500 cavalry could not advance in unison, but had to form a long snake formation, with only three or five cavalry able to gallop through the gate at the same time. They also had to keep a distance from each other to avoid collisions, and it would take more than a few minutes for all 500 cavalry to enter the city.

During this period of time, as long as Wei Yan ensured that the newly rammed earth "inner city" was not lost, he could continue to use bows and crossbows to kill the enemy cavalry below from the top of the city.

Yang Ang was smart enough not to charge in front himself. There were more than a hundred riders ahead of him, serving as initial pathfinders.

As soon as these cavalrymen rushed into the gate, they found that something was wrong. In front of them was a simple earth wall in the shape of an inverted trapezoid, blocking the road inside the city gate.

Fortunately, the earth wall was not strong or high, and was piled up in scattered pieces - because the wall was built casually by sweeping together the construction waste left over from the demolished houses, and it had not even been compacted.

Those cavalrymen who were once under Zhang Lu's command felt that there was an opportunity, so they gritted their teeth and charged desperately, trying to rush up the slope and directly break through the enemy's encirclement.

Along the way, Wei Yan's troops threw countless construction waste, which naturally formed deer horns and chevaux de frise, causing the enemy cavalry in the front row to pay dozens of casualties before they could barely clear the obstacles. But at this time, the archers behind the earth wall of the "Inner City" also began to shoot at the entrance.

Wei Yan even concentrated the only four crossbows in the city, adjusted the shooting angle in advance and made sure they were aimed at the doorway. At this time, the four crossbows took turns shooting arrows. Every six or seven-foot-long iron-rod crossbow arrow would leave a blood groove in the densely packed crowd of cavalry.

The soldiers on the city wall stopped shooting arrows and instead picked up rolling logs and stones and threw them down. The enemy cavalry crowded at the gate were knocked off their horses from time to time, with their heads broken and bleeding.

"Don't panic! The enemy just piled up a mud wall to block the way. As long as we break through a hole, the mob under Liu Zhang will run away!"

Yang Ang also rushed into the city gate with his soldiers. Seeing the road paved by hundreds of comrades in front of him with their lives, he was unwilling to give up, his eyes were bloodshot. But he knew that at this time, the bravest would win. If he couldn't hold on, all his previous efforts would be wasted.

Yang Ang's cavalry quickly rushed to the earthen rampart and engaged in close combat with Wei Yan's soldiers.

Fortunately, Wei Yan's military strength was originally greater than that of Gao Zuo and Yang Ang. He had three to four thousand men in Dianjiang City. Moreover, since he had already assumed that the east of the city would be the main battlefield, he concentrated nearly three thousand men in this pocket formation.

There were only a few hundred people on guard on the other western and northern walls, and there was almost no need to defend the area along the south river. The entire section of the south city did not require more than 200 people.

As soon as Yang Ang's cavalry rushed to the edge of the earthen rampart for hand-to-hand combat, they saw steel-forged halberds stabbing towards them, and armored soldiers holding steel-forged horse-cutting swords patrolling and plugging leaks, and they would rush to fight hand-to-hand combat on whichever side the situation was most critical.

Although Yang Ang had the advantage of cavalry, the earthen ramparts could offset most of the kinetic energy of the cavalry's charge. The cavalry did not dare to rush up at full speed, so they could only slow down, get closer and then engage in hand-to-hand combat, otherwise they would be directly crashed into the earthen wall and thrown to the ground.

When the cavalry slowed down and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, the infantry, equipped with iron armor and steel-filled long weapons, were naturally not at a disadvantage. Moreover, they had a three or four times greater number of people and were standing on a high ground, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

After a long period of bloody hand-to-hand fighting, Yang Ang's troops were unable to make a breakthrough despite charging left and right, and they still had to endure the rolling logs, rocks and arrows thrown by Wei Yan's soldiers on the city wall.

Cao's casualties grew, and they finally could not hold on. As Cao's cavalry became fewer and fewer, Wei Yan also located an enemy general with relatively distinct armor in the crowd, and quickly directed the archers on the wall to shoot arrows in that direction:

"Shoot at the enemy general wearing fish-scale armor! No need to aim! The faster the better!"

At once, more than a hundred archers shot in that direction.

After a few rounds of arrow rain, the personal cavalry around Yang Ang became increasingly sparse. Although Yang Ang himself wore an iron helmet and fish-scale armor, which could block most of the arrows, his mount was hit by four or five arrows in a row, and fell to the ground with a scream, throwing Yang Ang off.

There were several arrows stuck in Yang Ang's back. Although only two of them shot through the narrow gap and penetrated his muscles and bones, the hedgehog-like appearance was really scary.

In addition, he fell off his horse and broke one arm and thigh, and was unable to support his body for a while. The other Cao cavalry thought that their commander was killed, and their morale collapsed further.

Wei Yan quickly seized the opportunity and had his men shout in unison: "Dismount and abandon your weapons. Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Cao's cavalry was shaken, and those at the rear fled in disarray, fleeing back through the city gate, only to be shot at by two more rounds of arrows. Those who were already caught in a hand-to-hand fight and could not escape had no choice but to dismount and surrender, and were soon disarmed.

Of the 500 cavalrymen brought by Yang Ang, at least 300 were killed, and only more than 100 of the rear army escaped. Of the more than 300 killed, a small half were trapped in the city and had to surrender to save their lives. In order to prevent them from rebelling, Wei Yan's army simply tied up the captives after they surrendered and put them under centralized custody, so as to prevent the captives from causing unrest when the enemy attacked again.

……

"Captain Gao, Sima Yang was killed! The enemy built a mud wall inside the city gate, and the number of guards is greater than ours! They also have a lot of bows and crossbows!"

As the defeated soldiers fled out of the city, they were gathered by Gao Zuo, who was naturally furious and wanted to torture them severely to find out why they refused to fight to the death. But when he heard that Yang Ang was dead, he had nowhere to vent his anger for the time being, so he could only ask for details in detail.

The defeated soldier emphasized the approximate height, thickness and thickness of Wei Yan's earth wall fortification, and also talked about the chevaux de frise, deer horns and other obstacles scattered by the enemy along the way.

Gao Ze asked very carefully, and after listening, he thought to himself: It seems that Yang Ang's temporary failure is just because of his lack of troops, which are much smaller than the enemy. In addition, the enemy's endless resistance methods also caught Yang Ang off guard.

However, Yang Ang's troops have already cleared all the traps along the way, so I won't have to pay the price again if I attack again. If I choose to stop now, Yang Ang's casualties will all be in vain. Giving the enemy time to redeploy the antlers, there will be many more casualties next time I charge...

After thinking this through, Gao Zuo decided to attack again.

This time he was going to go all out, and he was using Cao's cavalry, who had been with Xiahou Yuan for many years. Not only were their numbers three times greater than Yang Ang's, but their soldiers were also more elite, more powerful, and had better weapons and equipment.

Moreover, Yang Ang had already helped him find a way out. He was confident that he could capture Dianjiang and kill the enemy captain who was hiding his true intentions!
……

Gao Zuo did not give Wei Yan time to catch his breath, and soon launched another desperate offensive, rushing directly towards the empty city gate with all his fighting force.

Wei Yan watched coldly and confirmed that all the enemy troops had been dispatched. He also decided to show no mercy this time and play all his cards.

"All the bulldozers on the city walls, get ready. Listen to my command and push all the earth down the city gate. Try to block as much of the gate as possible! Even if you can't block it completely, you can at least slow down the enemy's speed of entering the city and temporarily cut off the front and rear armies!"

After Wei Yan gave his final instructions, Gao Zuo's cavalry rushed into the range of the crossbows. Wei Yan's archers once again fired arrows to consume and suppress the enemy. Everything seemed to be a replica of the previous tactics.

The only difference was that the antlers on the inner side of the city gate had been destroyed, so Cao's army could rush in more easily, and the strength of Cao's army was more than three times stronger than the first time. But Wei Yan on the top of the city was ready to go all out and would not hold back.

With rain of arrows, rolling logs, and rocks, and continuous consumption, rows of cavalry rushed to the earthen rampart shaped like an "inner city", killed the archers who were shooting arrows from the earthen rampart, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the infantry of Liu Bei's army who were using long spears and horse-cutting swords.

After a while, the number of Cao's cavalry rushing into the city exceeded that of the first round. There were 1,500 cavalrymen, and at least 300 to 500 cavalrymen had already entered the city, and more were being deployed outside the city gate.

Seeing that the pressure on the front line was increasing, Wei Yan finally made up his mind. With a loud shout, he ordered the soldiers on the city wall to dump all the earth piled on the top of the gate into the city wall one load at a time.

In an instant, hundreds of baskets of soil smashed directly into the gate, not only burying alive several enemy soldiers who were just entering the city, but also blocking the gate with a "threshold" more than two feet high.

Wei Yan's troops continued to pile up earth from the top of the wall. Although they failed to completely block the road, they greatly slowed down the speed of subsequent enemy troops entering the city.

This was also thanks to Wei Yan's troops who had been frantically demolishing houses in the city these days to collect wood and stone building materials. There wasn't much else, but there was so much waste earth that there was no place to pile it. Before the battle, the extra earth was transported to the city wall with shoulder poles and large frames, and now it was directly pushed down to block the door, which was very convenient.

This move really caused chaos in Cao's cavalry. The key was that many soldiers didn't know whether to continue charging in or retreat temporarily. What if the commander felt that something was wrong and wanted to retreat? If they rushed in now, wouldn't they have to suffer a second punishment when they rushed out later?

If the attackers have an absolute numerical advantage over the defenders and have siege weapons, then there is no need to hesitate and just push all of them forward.

However, Gao Zuo's troops were even smaller than Wei Yan's, and they were all cavalry. On the first day, they had no siege weapons at all. Under these three unfavorable factors, it was inevitable that the troops would waver.

Gao Zuo finally realized that something was wrong, and how could Wei Yan give him a chance to regret it?
When Wei Yan ordered the bulldozers to block the gate, he had already noticed Gao Zuo's flag coming into the city. At this moment, he saw that the enemy's offensive slowed down, and knew that success or failure depended on this one move, so he personally went down the city wall, mounted his horse and led the only cavalry in the army to prepare to cross the earthen ramparts to launch a counterattack.

"Soldiers, follow me! Cao's rear troops have been blocked by earthworks and can't get in! Kill all those who have already entered!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the halberd soldiers and horse-slashing swordmen were holding off Gao Zuo's frontal attack, Wei Yan promptly stopped his own archers from continuing to shoot arrows to avoid accidental injuries.
Then he led the cavalry, jumped out of the earthen rampart from a relatively flat slope that had been charged, and launched a charge.

This move really caught Gao Zuo off guard. In addition, Wei Yan had observed Gao Zuo's position in advance and chose a weak position to attack. After Wei Yan killed five or six Cao cavalrymen, he arrived in front of Gao Zuo.

Gao Zuo also saw that the other party was a military general. His eyes were wide open with anger, and he brandished his spear like a gust of wind: "Death, thief! I am Gao Zuo, the commander of the left wing under General Xiahou! Zhang Wei died in my hands! Today I will kill you, a nameless rat!"

Wei Yan was too lazy to pay attention to this kind of person. He just brandished his sword and attacked fiercely, soon overwhelming the opponent and making him unable to resist.

"This evil general looks young, but he is so swift and powerful. He is not easy to deal with." Gao Zuo secretly groaned in his heart. He still couldn't believe that he was tricked by the enemy's previous deliberate show of weakness.

At this moment, the surrounding cavalry was also getting more and more crowded, and Wei Yan's halberd soldiers also jumped out of the earth fort and began to counterattack. Both sides were squeezed into an increasingly tight formation, unable to sprint anymore, and almost all of them were fighting hand-to-hand.

Wei Yan fought hard for more than ten rounds, and finally found the right opportunity. He knocked the opponent's weapon away with one sword, and then stabbed Gao Zuo off his horse.

Wei Yan's blade was not narrow enough to penetrate as deeply as a spear, but it didn't matter anymore. Gao Zuo, who was stabbed off his horse, was quickly beaten up, and was attacked by spears and swords, leaving countless wounds all over his body.

"The enemy general is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!" Wei Yan shouted and fought fiercely, while cutting off Gao Zuo's head. The soldiers around him also shouted and fought hard to kill the remaining enemy soldiers who had entered the city.

Another two hundred or so riders, unable to bear the heavy pressure, dismounted, threw down their weapons and surrendered, only hoping to save their lives.

There were nearly a thousand cavalry outside the city, but they were blocked by the earthworks at the gate and could not get in. Seeing that the comrades who had already entered the city had collapsed and surrendered because their commander was killed, the rear army could only decisively stop the loss and retreat under the leadership of a military commander.

Wei Yan still wanted to chase and kill him, but unfortunately the entrance to the city gate was blocked by the earth that had been pushed down, making it difficult to pass through, so Wei Yan had to give up.

In today's battle, they set traps twice and wiped out more than half of Xiahou Yuan's pioneer cavalry. It was also a blow to Xiahou Yuan's arrogance of winning battles and occupying all of Brazil.

When Xiahou Yuan finds out, he will certainly come to take revenge in anger, but Wei Yan will definitely not wait for him in the dilapidated and defenseless old city of Dianjiang County.

(End of this chapter)