My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 682: People in the City Guo Fengxiao

After listening to Guo Jia's advice, Cao Ren decided to make preparations for both scenarios.

While continuing to fight to the death in Fancheng, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were exhausted.
While being prepared to be on standby at any time, when heavy snow fell and the temperature dropped sharply and the Baihe River froze, he led a part of Cao's elite troops to break out and counterattack in a desperate fight.

Of course, at this moment, Cao Ren's consideration of "breaking out with a desperate struggle" cannot be equated with "breaking out to escape". He still has a fantasy of being able to adapt to circumstances. If the opportunity to break out is really good enough and the enemy's defense is relaxed enough, he can also consider breaking out to defeat Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and win in defeat.

This is not wishful thinking. When Liu Bei and Guan Yu were besieged in Huaiyin City by Ji Ling and Liu Xun, Guan Yu broke out and counterattacked not with the intention of escaping, but with the real hope of defeating Liu Xun and Ji Ling.

If Guan Yu could be so ambitious, why couldn't Cao Ren be so ambitious? As long as the enemy was slack and there was an opportunity to take advantage of, everything was possible.

However, determination is determination.

In order to implement this plan, Cao Ren found many problems after just a brief thought.

So he didn't bother two masters with the same question, and took advantage of the fact that Guo Jia seemed to still have some energy to ask.

Cao Ren pointed out sharply: "If the snow really freezes the Baihe River, the river will be narrow and the road to break out will not be wide. It will be impossible for our army to break out in full force, right? And once the whole army breaks out, Fancheng will be lost immediately.

Guan Yu will be shocked and will immediately chase and kill us. If we are cut off by Guan Yu, we won’t be able to take care of both ends. I’m afraid it would be better for us to stay in Fancheng…”

Cao Ren's question was also very realistic. In this kind of battle where there are a lot of troops stationed in the city, it is rare for the whole army to abandon the city and break out. At least one blocking force should be left behind.

This can paralyze the enemy, so that even if the enemy finds the troops leaving the city, they cannot judge whether it is a breakout or a counterattack. Secondly, it can also cover the main force so that the city will not be lost immediately, and it will make it more difficult for the attackers to pursue, forcing them to spend their energy on capturing the city instead of chasing the enemy.

Therefore, Cao Ren had to keep a discarded pawn, and while he led the main elite troops to break through, he continued to use Fancheng as a magnet to firmly attract Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, so that they could not let go and chase.

However, the war situation has become so dangerous, who will be the abandoned pawn?

Cao Ren was sincerely wondering who was capable of taking on this task and ensuring that his acting skills were convincing enough to deceive the enemy while also ensuring that the morale of the troops could be stabilized so that the rearguard troops could continue to hold on.

Just as he was hesitating, Guo Jia took the initiative to speak.

"Zixiao, what are you still hesitating about? In the next few days, I will help you perfect the plan for the breakout. When the day comes... I am sick and destined to be unable to leave. I will just treat this as my last act of loyalty to the Prime Minister.

Although I am not talented, I do know some tricks of reducing troops and increasing stoves, as well as bluffing, which can at least delay Guan Yu and Zhang Fei for a while.

By then, Xu Gongming of Xinye can provide some support. As long as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei do not pursue us with all their forces, our main force should be able to break through the encirclement safely..."

I swear to God, at the beginning, Cao Ren never thought of Guo Jia as the candidate to stay behind.

He knew that Guo Jia was trusted by the prime minister, so how could he abandon him? If he sold Guo Jia out, even if he returned to Wancheng alive, he would definitely be punished by the prime minister.

So after hearing what Guo Jia said, Cao Ren was almost frightened and rejected it repeatedly:

"Feng Xiao, why do you say that? Don't we have any generals in our army who can take on the responsibility of staying behind to defend the retreat? Why would we let you take the risk?"

Guo Jia shook his head helplessly: "Zixiao, don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who wants to die for fame. I know my body well. I can't survive this cold winter. How many doctors have seen it and how many precious medicines have I used?

As for the Prime Minister, I will submit a final will in advance to make my intentions clear, and the Prime Minister will definitely not punish you..."

Cao Ren quickly clarified: "Why should I worry about punishment? Fengxiao, you are the Prime Minister's most trusted military advisor..."

Guo Jia: "I know you are not worried about punishment, so you can just let me gain a good reputation out of thin air, and let my descendants enjoy more protection, what's wrong with that? Do you want me to die on my sick bed, in obscurity?"

Cao Ren then stopped talking.

He also knew about Guo Jia's recent illness.

All the famous doctors found in the army have examined him, and they all said that his physical condition was completely weak and exhausted, and no medicine could save him.

Historically, Guo Jia died the year before Cao Cao's southern expedition. Now, in fact, he has lived half a year longer than the same period in history.

Moreover, Guo Jia's health condition in this life is not as good as that in the same period of history, but will only get worse. A few years ago, during the Battle of Pengcheng, he fell off his horse and broke his leg while following Zhang He's retreat. Later, he became more and more addicted to alcohol and relied on drugs to relieve pain, which made his health worse.

If Guo Jia had not had the opportunity to follow the northern expedition against the Wuhuan and had not experienced the severe cold and wind in Youzhou during the winter, he might have died more than a year ago.

It was precisely because the climate in the area where Guo Jia was stationed in this life was warmer and the environment was more friendly to patients with lung diseases that he was able to survive so long.

But he couldn't survive this cold winter no matter what.

Cao Ren knew that Guo Jia had made up his mind to ask for a good reputation before his death and leave more rewards and titles for his descendants, so he did not try to stop him.

It was just a euphemism to express that he hoped Guo Jia would not rush to seal it after writing his last will, but let him take a look at it first.

Guo Jia also knew that this was human nature, so he readily agreed.

The discussion on this matter has come to an end.

Cao Ren went back that night and decided on this strategy, which he never changed.

A day later, Guo Jia sent someone to invite him. Cao Ren came to visit him and then read the last will that Guo Jia had just written to Cao Cao.

The letter was written earnestly and was divided into two parts.

One is a public will that can be archived and recorded by the court.

The other was a personal letter to Cao Cao, containing some shameful private words, including Guo Jia's own selfish considerations.

Cao Ren also sighed after reading them. There was nothing wrong with these letters, and they would not implicate Cao Ren. Instead, they made Cao Ren feel the unfathomable mutual trust between Feng Xiao and the Prime Minister.

"It is a great achievement for the Prime Minister to have Feng Xiao. It is no less impressive than Liu Bei having two Zhuge Liangs."

After reading it, Cao Ren sighed, rolled up the silk again, stuffed it into the bamboo tube, and handed it back to Guo Jia.

……

While Cao Ren and Guo Jia were plotting their future, on the main battlefield of Fancheng, the attritional offensive launched by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei continued uninterruptedly.

The breakout plan that Guo Jia devised for Cao Ren required the cooperation of heavy snow and freezing weather.

And the process of waiting for the right time to come was undoubtedly a difficult experience for Cao Ren.

Within a few days thereafter, the heavy snow did not come, but Cao Ren first witnessed the intensification of the enemy's offensive and the escalation of its offensive means.

That day was approximately the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, two days after Cao Ren and Guo Jia completed their plan.

Cao Ren originally thought that this was just another ordinary day of a war of attrition, so he personally patrolled the city early in the morning to encourage his soldiers to defend the city bravely and not to slack off.

As the sun rose higher, the catapults of both sides began to hit each other again.

Guan Yu continuously sent out auxiliary troops with complete armor to fill the river and cause destruction. The archers on the city walls were completely helpless against the enemies who were carrying large rattan shields or pushing bulldozers with anti-arrow shields, and could only rely on catapults to risk firing in counterattack.

The rain of gravel hitting the rattan shields and bulldozers could completely smash and destroy the rattan or wooden mechanical structures. However, the exposure of the defenders' firepower points would also attract more counterattacks and retaliations as usual.

Cao Ren didn't feel anything was wrong at first, but after observing for a while, he found that the calibration efficiency of the enemy's catapults seemed to be unusually high today.

When Guan Yu's catapults were counterattacking Cao's army, even though the first round of shooting was not very accurate, the second and third rounds of bullets quickly approached the position of Cao's catapults.

You have to know that under normal circumstances, even if Guan Yu spent four or five rounds of calibration shooting, he might not be able to lock the position of Cao's catapult. Cao Ren and Guan Yu had fought for so long that they already had a good idea of the enemy's strength.

And ever since Cao Ren had used catapults to smash the enemy's siege towers and watchtowers, forcing the enemy to build their watchtowers farther away from the city walls with worse fields of view, the accuracy of the enemy's catapults had further declined, and sometimes even more than a dozen rounds of calibration could not significantly reduce the error.

How could Cao Ren not be shocked by the sudden contrast today and how powerful it became all of a sudden?

Just when Cao Ren was in doubt and seemed to be stunned, a general beside him with good eyes suddenly pointed to the sky in the distance and reminded him:
"General, look! Is that an enlarged Kongming lantern?"

Cao Ren looked in the direction of the other party's finger, and sure enough, he saw a floating bag made of thin silk leather floating in the air, with a faint glow of fire inside.

Moreover, the thing was still floating towards the wall of Fancheng, and seemed to be getting closer and closer. At the same time, its height was very high, more than two hundred steps.

Some grassroots Cao army officers and crossbowmen seemed to have discovered this thing as well. After the initial panic, some tried to shoot arrows at it, but the range was not enough and the arrows could not be shot that high.

As for the range of the crossbow, theoretically it is enough, but the crossbow is usually placed on a launching platform and cannot be temporarily adjusted to such a high upward shooting angle.

In the end, the Cao army soldiers could only watch this thing continue to spy on their own military situation from the upper left, and they could do nothing.

This kind of embarrassment of being beaten and watched unilaterally is so demoralizing and frustrating.

Fortunately, the "Kongming Lantern" has been around for nearly ten years. It was first used by the Zhuge brothers when they helped their uncle to pacify Yuzhang. It was also used several times afterwards to send messages, set fires, and create chaos.

Therefore, Cao's generals knew about the existence of Kongming lanterns, but they just didn't know how to make them. Today, when they saw this nearly spherical, enlarged version in front of them, they didn't just take it as a manifestation of the gods.

Otherwise, it would not just be a matter of frustration and damage to morale, but there is a possibility of a direct collapse of military morale.

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot that thing down at all costs!"

Cao Ren was unable to calm down for a moment. Seeing the enemy squeezing and rolling him into a ball in such a domineering manner, he was furious and shouted wildly, forcing his subordinates to shoot arrows continuously.

But after firing several shots without any results, he had to face reality.

Some of his generals gradually figured out what was going on. They knew that this strange large Kongming lantern was probably the main reason why the enemy's catapult could be calibrated so quickly.

Seeing that the frequency of loss of their own trebuchets was getting higher and higher, and some trebuchets did not even open fire or actively expose their positions, they were inevitably hit by the enemy's trebuchets.

The Cao army officer in charge of the catapult unit finally couldn't bear it anymore, and ran to Cao Ren to report the current situation, and requested to withdraw the catapults and completely withdraw them from the counterattack range of the catapults outside the city.

When Cao Ren heard this request, his face turned pale.

He certainly knew that this retreat meant that he would no longer be able to suppress Guan Yu's earth-carrying vehicles for filling the river, and would also find it difficult to suppress Guan Yu's Ge Gong vehicles and ladder vehicles in the future. The enemy's subsequent siege would also be smoother.

But did Cao Ren have any better choice? No, he could only choose to endure these disadvantages.

Cao Ren closed his eyes in pain, mourned for a while, then looked up to the sky and sighed, waving his hand decisively: "Retreat all the Thunderbolt Chariot positions! Push them to a place where Guan Yu's Thunderbolt Chariot cannot hit them! The rest of the soldiers must not move! Continue to hold your ground!"

After hearing Cao Ren's order, the officers in charge of the trebuchet unit were relieved and hurried to make arrangements. Cao's trebuchet unit was soon forced to deploy backwards and retreated in disgrace.

The Cao army's defending troops lost the direct fire support of the catapults, and their morale became increasingly low, and their defense became difficult to handle.

Guan Yu's side saw that the frequency and intensity of Cao's catapult harassment were decreasing.

Guan Yu also knew that it must be the new sighting equipment that Zi Yu had recently been tinkering with that had taken effect in suppressing Cao Cao, and he couldn't help but feel relieved.

Guan Yu was very good at boosting morale. With such good news, he would of course notify the entire army immediately so that the soldiers would no longer worry about the enemy's rain of gravel to stop them.

After all, ordinary grassroots soldiers cannot have such sharp observation skills. Even if their side has clearly gained some advantages, the grassroots soldiers may not be able to notice it immediately. At this time, the generals need to send people to publicize so that everyone can feel their advantages as soon as possible and thus boost their confidence.

Within a day, Guan Yu's troops attacked the city more fiercely.

……

The siege and attrition war that day ultimately went very smoothly, and the progress of destroying Cao's outer defenses was unprecedentedly accelerated.

When the troops were withdrawn at night, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei returned to their respective camps. When they saw Zhuge Jin, they were also very happy. Guan Yu could not help but admire him:

"Tzuyu is really... not only a genius, but also a master craftsman. In just one month, he was able to make a flying lantern that was originally used for communication and setting fires dozens of times larger, and even carry people into the sky.

In today's battle, the lookout on the flying lantern used the telescope to observe the enemy's situation in great detail. Cao's catapults and crossbow array were nowhere to be seen! "

As Guan Yu spoke, he personally poured wine to toast Zhuge Jin. Zhang Fei, who was standing by, couldn't help but hold a wine jar and said something similar to his second brother, while he drank first to show his respect.

Zhuge Jin smiled but said nothing, only occasionally acknowledging the offer, and then drank a few cups of wine. "It's just a little trick, not worth mentioning. This flying lantern is not new, it's been around for almost ten years.

Now I just want to enlarge it to observe the enemy. If I really want to look into it, it still has a big flaw. It can neither control the direction nor control the rise and fall by itself. If it weren't tied with a cable today, it would almost be impossible to retrieve it. "

The "lookout hot air balloon" used by Liu Bei's army today is undoubtedly a crude product that Zhuge Jin created by combining the ideas of later generations, by simply enlarging the previous Kongming lantern and making some minor additions. It still has many flaws.

He did not have enough time for research and development. The last time he saw the Cao army and his own catapults fighting each other, his own firepower observation was not smooth, and the watchtowers and wells were always bombarded and counterattacked by the enemy's catapults.

Zhuge Jin suddenly had an idea and thought of launching this project.

Generally speaking, in modern times, a hot air balloon that can be used stably by the military must at least be able to regulate the size of its firepower. After the hot air balloon ascends, if the heat is insufficient and the buoyancy decreases, it can continue to heat up in the air and continue to provide lift.

But the thing Zhuge Jin made was not much different from the traditional Kongming lantern except that the outer skin was a little stronger than the traditional small Kongming lantern, using a thin airtight leather and then painted with lacquer tree sap.

Therefore, the fuel carried is not much, and there is no way to control the fire switch. Basically, a fire is lit before flying into the sky, and it must be kept burning until the fuel is exhausted and the hot air gradually cools down, and the floating time ends, and it can be pulled back.

This crude and primitive version, which could not control the flame switch, also required a hemp rope to be tied to the hot air balloon to hold the ball and prevent it from flying away.

Because it was the first time the hot air balloon was manufactured and used in actual combat, its carrying capacity was relatively weak and it could only carry one lookout.

A simple test was conducted before the war, when Zhuge Jin required the selection of thin soldiers with light weight and height under six feet. With a telescope and a few colored flags for signaling, they could ascend to the sky to carry out their mission.

In order to save weight, the towing rope of the hot air balloon is relatively thin, only the thickness of a thumb. Just now, when we were finishing work in the evening, we almost failed to pull the hot air balloon back. If the rope breaks, the lookout on it will basically be in danger and can only wait for the balloon to fall naturally after the hot air cools down.

Any new technology or equipment is fraught with danger when it is first put into actual combat.

Zhuge Jin was very lucky that nothing serious happened to the thing he used today, and it was also thanks to him that he had someone test it step by step in advance.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei naturally could not fully understand these details.

Experts see the doorway, while laymen see the excitement. They only saw Zhuge Jin taking out a new weapon with ease, pushing the cause of rebellion to a climax, but they had no idea of the risks behind it.

Fortunately, the task was accomplished. In the future, this trick could speed up the consumption of Cao's army and accelerate the collapse of the Fancheng defenders.

……

With the addition of observation hot air balloons to the battlefield, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's siege progress was significantly accelerated in the next few days.

The efficiency of destroying Cao’s fortifications has also been comprehensively improved.

After suppressing Cao's catapults, the gaps in the moat that had been filled could no longer be suppressed by the enemy's stone bullets, and the ladders and Ge Gongche could finally be successfully pushed to the foot of the city.

On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Guan Yu organized an all-out attack on the city wall.

In the west of the city, there were seven or eight large ladders and four Ge buses that successfully reached the city.

The attack force in the north of the city was slightly smaller, but two of their troops successfully inserted iron spikes and planks onto the top of the city walls. Sword and shield soldiers and horse-sword soldiers wearing sophisticated armor swarmed onto the city walls, fighting frantically with Cao's army.

Guan Yu also sent Gao Shun's "New Formation" to take charge of the attack in one direction.

Gao Shun's participation put Cao's army under more pressure. In the end, Cao Ren led the most elite reserve troops to block the pass and barely resisted Gao Shun's crazy attack.

The casualties on both sides were quite heavy, which can be regarded as the peak of killing since the beginning of the Battle of Fancheng.

After the bloody battle ended that day, Cao Ren returned to his mansion. He felt overwhelmed and was looking forward to the heavy snow coming soon and the Baihe River being completely frozen as soon as possible.

Otherwise, he really didn't know how long he could hold Fancheng.

In addition, out of fear of Guan Yu's newly used observation balloon, Cao Ren could not help feeling uneasy. After dinner, he went to Guo Jia again to discuss with him and try to find a countermeasure.

Even if we cannot defeat Guan Yu, at least we can make the days ahead a little better.

Guo Jia, despite his illness, listened to Cao Ren's retelling and realized that Cao's army had been defending so hard in the past few days that even the catapults were completely suppressed by the enemy.

"Zhuge Jin could actually create a Kongming lantern that could fly hundreds of steps high and be able to carry people looking down? If there really is such a magical thing, it would be even more difficult to defend the city. How could it be so bad when it rains? Sigh..."

When Guo Jia first heard this, he found it unbelievable and had no idea how to deal with it.

The two could only look at each other in silence and sigh for a long time.

Finally, when Guo Jia was about to give up, he suddenly changed his perspective and stopped worrying about the tactical details. He suddenly thought of something.

Guo Jia quickly pulled himself together and panted to offer advice to Cao Ren: "Zixiao! The flying lanterns are already uncontrollable. Let's not worry about how to control them. Let's do the opposite and think about how to use the enemy's flying lanterns to pass on some false military intelligence to the enemy!"

Cao Ren was stunned and asked quickly: "How to pass on false military intelligence? Guan Yu can see at a glance how our catapults and crossbows are deployed in the city. The enemy also knows exactly how the soldiers guarding the wall are deployed. It is really difficult to deceive!"

Guo Jia said seriously: "The enemy is focused on these details, so it is naturally difficult for them to deceive Guan Yu on these issues. But the enemy uses flying lanterns to scout mainly to confirm the deployment of our thunder chariots, crossbows and ambush troops.

After all, it was only ordinary soldiers who went to heaven, not Zhuge Jin himself. These ordinary people only paid attention to the tasks they were assigned, but they were blinded by other major events.

When heavy snow suddenly falls and the Baihe River freezes over, our army's thunder chariots and crossbows in the city will not move, and all the tents will be hoisted with false flags, and the remaining soldiers will be sent out to continue patrolling.

The enemy, seeing this from the sky, would think that everything in the city was normal and would not be on guard against our splitting up and breaking out. This would give Zixiao a head start of several hours.

And when the enemy realizes that our army has divided its forces to break out, they will not be able to see any changes in the city from the sky. They will inevitably think that the soldiers defending the city are bluffing, and will inevitably underestimate the enemy and launch an all-out attack.

Perhaps, our army can still find victory in defeat, and in the final desperate struggle, we can drag a few more people down with us!"

(End of this chapter)