My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 698: Quickly conquer Rangcheng and kill the chicken to scare the monkey

April 28th, in the camp west of Wancheng.

Wancheng is located on the north bank of Baihe River and on the south side of the river. Liu Bei's army attacked from southwest to northeast, so after arriving at Wancheng, they first surrounded the west side of the city, leaving the east and north sides unattacked for the time being.

It took Liu Bei's army nearly a month to march from Xiangyang to the city of Wancheng.

When he attacked, Guan Yu had already spent three months recovering from his arrow wound and having his bone scraped. Naturally, it had been more than a hundred days now and he had completely recovered as normal, swinging his sword without any hindrance.

After arriving at Wancheng, they hastily set up camp and rested for the night. The next morning, Guan Yu personally led the cavalry to patrol around the city, trying to find flaws in Cao Ren's defense.

Wancheng is worthy of being the capital of Nanyang County. It was also the ruling core of Jingzhou in those days. The height and thickness of the city walls and the scale of the city are not inferior to Xiangyang.

However, after many years of governance by Liu Biao, Xiangyang became much more prosperous economically. There were many wealthy manors outside the city, and the development of the surrounding Lin County was better than that of Wancheng.

Wancheng was a politically outdated city that had been ravaged by Yuan Shu and other vassal states for many years. Even though the main city structure remained intact, the surrounding counties had completely withered, turning it into a lonely and lifeless city.

Guan Yu looked around the city. The city was heavily guarded and flags were flying everywhere. But as long as Guan Yu's cavalry did not approach the city wall, there would be no shouting or noise on the wall. He just looked at the city with cold eyes, and the crossbows and step-through crossbows turned coldly towards the angle where the siege troops were.

"If Cao Ren wants to hold the city to the death, I'm afraid he can only hold out for more than half a year. As expected, we still need to surround the enemy on three sides and force them to retreat."

Guan Yu was experienced and could quickly determine the strength of the enemy city’s defenses, and he couldn’t help but sigh.

After making a detour and returning to the camp, he told Zhuge Jin what he had seen and heard, wanting to discuss the matter with him and see if Zhuge Jin had any improvisations or tricks to come up with.

Zhuge Jin thought about it carefully and felt that the intelligence he had collected was not sufficient to support the decision, so he carefully asked a few additional questions:
"Today, when patrolling the city, how many enemy flags did you see on the top of Wancheng? In addition to Cao Ren, are Xu Huang and Cai Mao also in Wancheng? When attacking Xinye before, Cao Ren knew to let Xu Huang set up another camp on the west bank of the Baihe River, facing Xinye City across the river, to prevent our army from taking the Baihe waterway to bypass us.

Now that they have retreated to Wancheng, there is no waterway directly connecting them to Henan Yin and Yingchuan Prefectures. Whether they retreat to Luoyang or Xudu, they have to cross a mountain road.

Given the current state of Cao's army, Cao Ren must have considered defeat before he could win. It is impossible for him not to consider protecting his retreat route in advance."

Guan Yu was reminded by Zhuge Jin and quickly recalled it. Then he stroked his beautiful beard and said uncertainly: "When I was patrolling the city today, it seems that I really only saw Cao Ren's flag and some unknown generals who I was not familiar with, but I did not see Xu Huang and Cai Mao's flags. As for Jia Xu, he was just a civil servant and did not have a flag, so it was impossible to tell."

After hearing these not very accurate news, Zhuge Jin was not in a hurry to express his opinion and continued to wave his folding fan calmly.

Guan Yu also seemed to realize that his investigation of the enemy situation before the battle was not sufficient. He secretly reflected on himself and quickly ordered his attendants to call in all the scouts sent out yesterday for questioning.

Since Guan Yu arrived at Wancheng yesterday, he has been setting up camp to prepare for siege and attack, while sending out scouts to investigate the enemy's movements in the surrounding counties.

Judging from the time, some of these people should have returned, but Guan Yu was busy just now and had no time to summon them for questioning.

Soon, several scout officers were brought into the tent. Guan Yu questioned them carefully one by one, and finally he actually got some useful information.

"In Luyang County, north of Wancheng, did you see Xu Huang's flag? In Bowang County, did you see Cai Mao's flag? In this case, Cao Ren had divided his troops before retreating to Wancheng, and used two groups of troops to protect his retreat. He was ready at any time, and if the battle was unfavorable, he would continue to retreat step by step."

When Guan Yu first heard the news, he was a little surprised, but he quickly reacted and analyzed it to himself for a while. He felt that he had roughly figured out Cao Ren's mentality.

Zhuge Jin, who was standing by, finally showed a hint of enlightenment when he heard this. He waved his hand and asked someone to bring a map. Then he pointed with the ribs of his folding fan and analyzed the map with Guan Yu:

"If the signals from Xu Huang and Cai Mao are true, then it is enough to show that Cao Ren is still timid. From Fancheng to Xinye, and from Xinye to Wancheng, he has retreated again and again, becoming a frightened bird.

Yunchang, please look at the picture. After the Baihe River flows through Wancheng, it goes upstream and first extends northeast to Bowang County. Then it is blocked by Tongbai Mountain and has to go northwest along the southern foot of Tongbai Mountain-Funiu Mountain to trace its source. Near the source is Luyang County.

If the enemy abandoned their ships and went ashore near Bowang County and took the land route, crossing the pass of Tongbai Mountain near Fang County, they would enter Ye County, which borders Yingchuan County, and further north would be Kunyang, which belonged to Yingchuan County.

And if the enemy army went all the way to the vicinity of Luyang County, and then went north by land and crossed the Funiushan Mountains, they would be able to reach Liangxian and Yangren in the territory of Henan Yin.

Therefore, Bowang and Luyang counties controlled the main roads for the enemy troops in Wancheng to retreat to Xudu in Yingchuan or Yinluoyang in Henan. Cao Ren deployed Xu Huang to Luyang and Cai Mao to Bowang, in order to ensure that he had two routes to retreat at any time.

Therefore, he could be fearless and hold Wancheng for a long time to tire out the enemy. After our army was exhausted, he could withdraw calmly because it was impossible for our army to bypass Wancheng and capture Bowang and Luyang at the same time.

As long as any of the retreat routes is threatened, Cao Ren can consider immediately using another retreat route to retreat in an orderly manner, and it will be impossible for us to detain him.

This place is only a day's journey from Bowang. He can escape at a time when we are least prepared, just like he did in Xinye, with light equipment and a forced march overnight. This place is a little far from Luyang, but there is a county town Dongwu halfway that can serve as a relay. We also cannot catch up with Cao Ren who wants to retreat with our main force."

While Zhuge Jin was explaining, he drew two lines on the map, one heading northeast, passing through Bowang County, pointing directly to Ye County, Kunyang, and finally to Xuchang.

The other road goes due north, passing through Dongwu, Luyang, Liangxian, Yangren, and finally crossing Shaoshi Mountain in Songshan, pointing to Huanyuan Pass, one of the three passes in southern Luo.

Zhuge Jin has already seen clearly what Cao Ren's possible escape route might be if he was defeated in the future.

Guan Yu stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then nodded and discussed: "So, our army does not need to try to attack Wancheng by force. As long as we wait for Yide's move to work, Cao's army will be forced to withdraw its main force because Yingchuan is threatened by Runan, and we can easily capture Wancheng directly?

Or, even if Yide has not worked yet, as long as we take the lead and use a small force to threaten Bowang or Luyang from behind, and let Cao Ren see that we are indeed capable of breaking through one of them, Cao Ren will have to consider the problem of retreat?"

Zhuge Jin nodded decisively, approving this deduction: "That's right, there is no need to attack Wancheng by force. We only need to take down one of Cao Ren's two retreat routes.

Of course, this trick can only be used against the enemy forces in Nanyang County and Wancheng. It has no effect on the enemy forces in the northwest direction of Rangcheng.

Even if the enemy troops in Rangcheng want to withdraw in the future, they will withdraw from Wuguan Road to Shangluo and Lantian and head to Guanzhong. Therefore, our army can consider launching a strong attack on Rangcheng, or a comprehensive siege. There are not many soldiers and horses there, and if our army takes it with thunder and lightning, it can also further deter the others. "

Although Guan Yu's army had captured several counties along the way, the enemy retreated smoothly thanks to the smooth water transportation of the Baihe River system and the close distances between the counties.

Therefore, Guan Yu was unable to launch any decent annihilation campaign against Cao's army's manpower.

This certainly made it easier for Guan Yu to advance faster, scaring the enemy into not daring to hold out for long for fear of being surrounded, but it also reduced the deterrent effect on the enemy.

As a result, the enemy would always think, "Anyway, the enemy dare not surround us, attack us and fight to the death, for fear that our army will fight like a trapped beast." Then they dared to set up defenses in every county town and delay Guan Yu for a few days whether or not there was anything wrong.

Now, it's time to strike a balance and establish your authority.

Zhuge Jin's idea is similar to that during the battles of Xiang and Fan, or to the battles of Ping and Tianjin in later generations. It is an old routine that has been tried and tested.

Among the two twin city defense systems of similar importance, we should pick a relatively weak target and attack it with thundering means, and actually annihilate a part of the enemy forces, thereby deterring the remaining enemy forces in the entire war zone and accelerating the total collapse of the enemy forces.

Guan Yu followed Zhuge Jin's advice and completely straightened out his thoughts, and then he officially decided to follow this plan:
We will temporarily surround Wancheng but not attack it, and launch a fierce attack on Rangcheng.

At the same time, look in the direction of Luyang or Bowang to see if there is any opportunity to go around. If you can threaten one of Cao Ren's retreat routes, then try it decisively.

If you can't find the flaw for the time being, it won't be too late to wait for news from Zhang Fei.

Anyway, Liu Bei's camp now has a very high tolerance rate and can make many attempts. Just make sure that each attempt controls the cost and avoids obvious losses.

In this way, even if one or two of the attempts do not work, as long as the cost is within an acceptable range, there is still room for alternatives - this is the advantage of fighting for wealth.

……

After Guan Yu decided on the strategy, he quickly carried out the plan.

As mentioned before, in addition to Guan Yu himself as the commander-in-chief, Huang Zhong also served as the vanguard and deputy general. Now that the troops needed to be divided into two groups and the main attack was launched in the direction of Rangcheng, Guan Yu naturally sent Huang Zhong over.

Huang Zhong was very excited when he heard that he finally had a chance to show his ability. He said that he would fight to show the power of our army and make Cao Cao dare not defend one county after another.

Before going to the battle, Zhuge Jin also took the opportunity to take care of Huang Zhong: "I have something to say, which may not have a chance to work, but Han Sheng might as well listen to it and act accordingly."

When Huang Zhong heard that Si Tu had given him instructions, he immediately perked up and sincerely asked for his advice: "Since Si Tu has given me instructions, what I said must be right."

Zhuge Jin waved his folding fan, signaling the other party not to have too high expectations: "When we were in Xiangyang before, we didn't know how evil Cao thief was in Nanyang.

Since we captured Xinye at the beginning of the month, we learned that before the spring plowing, the Cao bandits had relocated a large number of people from Nanyang to Xudu and Luoyang, and had also requisitioned and transported as much money and grain as possible from the people. It can be seen that the Cao bandits had long known that Nanyang would be lost sooner or later.

This kind of migration and conscription has always been the most hated by the people since ancient times. When Dong Zhuo abducted the emperor and forced the people of Luoyang to migrate west, how much resistance and hatred did he encounter? Cao Cao is doing this now, and the soldiers and civilians in the counties of Nanyang must also be resentful.

Therefore, when we attack Rangcheng, we should pay attention to the surrounding counties to see if there are people willing to respond to the rebellion and welcome the royal army with food and drink. Once there is a move, our army must respond immediately and we must not let these potential heroes be wiped out by Cao Cao. "

Zhuge Jin's advice seemed to be just a matter of factual deduction, but in fact, it also included some use of historical foresight.

Historically, during the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Cao forced a large number of people from Wan and Luo to perform labor service to transport grain to Guanzhong, which led to repeated civil unrest in Nanyang. Wancheng was also affected, and it took Cao Ren three months to quell the rebellion.

Although the situation has changed a lot in this life, it has been several years since the expedition to Hanzhong. However, Cao Cao had to relocate the soldiers and civilians of Nanyang and evacuate them to other places, and the corvée transportation task was also very heavy.

In addition, the ancients were attached to their land and reluctant to move, so Zhuge Jin did not believe that there would be no resistance from the people. Especially now that Guan Yu had fought to the doorstep and the royal army was right in front of them, would the soldiers and civilians who hated Cao Cao not have any ideas?
Therefore, Zhuge Jin felt that this possibility was by no means a low-probability event. Even if it had not happened before, as long as the external conditions were ripe, it could be induced to happen at any time and anywhere. Huang Zhong must be fully prepared to respond and not waste these opportunities.

Of course, the Battle of Xiangfan in history was now a full ten years earlier. So Zhuge Jin was not so arrogant as to directly name Huang Zhong and ask him to pay attention to those instigators who were recorded in history books as "remotely receiving Guan Yu's seal and ribbon".

Firstly, it was a long time ago, and it was unknown whether those people had the intention to rebel against Cao. Secondly, it was ten years earlier, and those local officers who had rebelled against Cao Cao in history must not have climbed to high positions, and there might be someone else who could really control the situation.

Finally, if Zhuge Jin rashly reported the name, it would be difficult to explain the reason for his judgment. In this case, it would be better to say it in a general and vague way and let Huang Zhong respond on his own.

Huang Zhong naturally believed in what Zhuge Situ said and kept it in mind. He also thought that Situ had made arrangements in advance and developed a lot of internal supporters.

……

Two days later, Huang Zhong arrived at the front line of Rangcheng, and indeed began preparations for the siege of Rangcheng in accordance with Guan Yu's orders and the ideas provided by Zhuge Jin.

Rangcheng is quite strong, but it is definitely not as strong as Wancheng.

The city area is much smaller, and the height of the city wall is not much different. However, because it is located in a relatively mountainous area, the terrain of the entire city is rugged and uneven, and even a moat surrounding the entire city cannot be built.

If a moat is dug by force, the northwest of the city will be high and the southeast will be low, and the moat water on the northwest side will definitely flow to the southeast side.

Therefore, the actual layout of the outer defense fortifications of Rangcheng could only be made into a water trench on the southeast side of the city, and only a dry trench on the northwest side. In order to improve the defensive power of the dry trench, some extra deep pits were dug at the bottom of the trench, or bitter bamboo sticks were laid.

Such a defensive layout meant that Huang Zhong would definitely launch the main attack from the northwest.

After observing the situation, Huang Zhong organized the soldiers to use bulldozers with anti-arrow shields to transport earth and fill several holes in the dry trench.

As usual, the defenders on the city wall used bows and crossbows to suppress the enemy. Huang Zhong also ordered his crossbowmen to push their rattan shields forward and shoot back. There is nothing much to elaborate on the whole process.

Unlike other siege strategies, Huang Zhong was a famous archer, so in this situation, he personally controlled a powerful crossbow to supervise the battle. When Cao army officers supervised the battle and urged the crossbowmen to shoot arrows, Huang Zhong would suddenly shoot an arrow to the top of the city wall, and he would always kill a Cao army officer.

After this happened three or five times, the officers of Cao's army no longer dared to rush around to supervise the battle with high spirits. They could only hide behind the bunkers and give commands like turtles.

Although this had no substantial impact on the combat effectiveness of Cao's army, the morale of Cao's archers was greatly reduced.

Especially when Huang Zhong couldn't find a big fish to shoot, he would look for relatively worthless small fish and shrimp. When the military commander was hiding and didn't dare to show up, Huang Zhong would look for the captain to shoot. If the captain also cowered, he would look for the captain to shoot.

The final result was that the Cao army's archers, from the captain to the garrison commander, dared not show their heads. The officers were so afraid of death, and it was not just one or two, but a large area. How much fighting spirit could the ordinary soldiers have left? The battle lasted for three days. Because the dry trenches were easier to destroy, Huang Zhong successfully filled several sections of the dry trenches, destroyed the bitter bamboo sticks and deer horn chevaux de frise, and then began to roll out the ladder to attack the city.

The only disadvantage of the geographical environment of the Battle of Rangcheng to Liu Bei's camp was that because the terrain of the city on the edge of the mountainous area was rugged, Liu Bei's camp could not use the city climbing artifact Ge Gongche on a large scale.

The Ge Bus needs a flatter environment to be pushed slowly to the base of the city wall. Once the terrain outside the city wall is rugged or sloping, the Ge Bus is too heavy and has a high center of gravity. It is either impossible to push or it is easy to overturn by itself, so we have to rely on traditional ladders.

But this is not a big problem. After all, the main strong cities in the world are all large cities on the plains. How many of them will appear as mountain cities?
This kind of small difficulty won't occur too often, so just deal with it with special measures each time.

After Huang Zhong opened up the siege passage, he began the ladder attack early the next morning.

The ladders were hastily built recently, so they are relatively small in size and not very protective, but it’s not a big problem.

The two sides fought for half a day, and the city wall had been in danger twice. It was only when the defenders tried their best to pull up the reserve troops to block the gap that the situation was maintained.

Huang Zhong also knew that the attack on the first day was just a test, and they needed to find out the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, so it would be difficult to break the city in one fell swoop.

And his goal was achieved, because after this round of offensive, he had seen the potential of the enemy. He knew that next time, as long as he added a few more attack points and advanced simultaneously, he would be able to overwhelm the enemy and expose their flaws.

The enemy's troops were not numerous, and elite troops were even scarcer. However, the troops Guan Yu assigned to Huang Zhong were sufficient, and he could easily pull the defenders to the point of losing sight of one thing while focusing on another.

After the first day of attack, Huang Zhong urged to speed up the construction of more ladders and also rushed to build more simple flying ladders.

This decision made the general in charge of craftsmanship in the army think that he had heard it wrong, so he went to Huang Zhong to ask for instructions again.

Because in the past two years, Liu Bei's camp has hardly used simple bamboo ladders to attack the city.

The siege weapon was so poorly protected that even the soldiers standing at the bottom of the ladder had no cover at all and could not avoid arrows.

In comparison, the ladder at least has a base. Although the soldiers climbing the ladder still have no cover, at least the soldiers pushing the cart below can dodge arrows like the soldiers on Ge Gongche.

Liu Bei has always cherished the lives of his soldiers, and in recent years, Liu Bei's camp has rarely fought quick attacks to capture cities, so why bother building flying ladders?

However, after the military commander in charge of craftsmanship asked for instructions, he received an affirmative answer from Huang Zhong.

"That's right. We need to build flying ladders as fast as possible. Our army doesn't really need to rely on these flying ladders to approach the city. We just want to bluff the enemy and make them set up defenses everywhere on the city wall, thus diluting their defensive forces. Then, this effort won't be in vain.

The number of elite soldiers guarding Rangcheng is too small. Once the defense line is long, there will not be enough to share. When the time comes, we can gather our strength and attack fiercely. We will definitely be able to break the city!"

Huang Zhong gave a brief explanation, and the military commander in charge of the craftsmanship understood the reason. Naturally, he no longer questioned it and immediately did as he was told.

Huang Zhong calculated the progress. At this rate, he would have enough siege weapons in two or three days at most to launch a second wave of general attack.

While Huang Zhong was planning, an unexpected factor soon fueled the flames and made Huang Zhong's siege operation go more smoothly.

……

May 6th, night.

It was also the sixth day after Huang Zhong arrived in Rangcheng and the day after the first round of siege.

According to Huang Zhong's plan, he would launch the general attack in two days at most.

However, an unexpected change forced Huang Zhong to speed up his plan.

At the second watch of the night, a Cao army officer suddenly quietly descended from the city wall in the south of Rangcheng, swam across the moat, and then took a detour to the vicinity of Huang Zhong's camp.

Huang Zhong had led troops for many years, so he was very strict in military discipline. There were many scouts patrolling the periphery of the camp, and they quickly captured the Cao army officer. The other party did not resist, but revealed his identity in advance, saying that he was here to surrender and had something important to tell him.

After the scout searched the man's body and made sure all his weapons were taken away, he let him go to see the military commander on duty at night, who reported the matter up the chain of command and eventually brought him to Huang Zhong.

Huang Zhong was old after all, and not as energetic as the young, so he went to bed early. When he was woken up in the middle of the night and put on his robe to meet the visitor, there was still a trace of fatigue in his eyes, but the old general's imposing aura was still intact.

"Who are you? Why are you surrendering here?" Huang Zhong asked in a dignified manner without getting angry.

The man replied respectfully: "I am Wei Kai, a native of Rangcheng. I am a member of a branch of a noble family in this town. A few months ago, I was recruited as an auxiliary soldier and served as a garrison commander to assist in transportation and migration.

The elders of this village have all suffered from the relocation of the people and the robbery of their property by the Cao thieves. Fortunately, the old general has led the army to defend the king. We are willing to be the internal supporters to help the old general eliminate this traitor and prevent the remaining elders from being forcibly relocated by the Cao thieves. "

Huang Zhong asked for more details. He learned that the other party was a descendant of a local noble family. Because there were many young and strong people in the family, Cao Ren had originally won over and temporarily entrusted him with important tasks. He also recruited his brothers and uncles as auxiliary soldiers and temporarily served as officers.

Responsible for escorting and transporting other relatively poor local people to Shangluo County in Wuguan Road.

Since Cao Cao did not have so many professional regular army soldiers to do this kind of thing, he must have relied on some of the powerful people among the people to lend a hand and help transport the elderly, the weak and the poor among the people.

And these powerful tribesmen can stay until the end and serve as auxiliary troops for the army. When necessary, they can help defend the city, help repair the city walls and transport logs and stones. In short, they are very useful.

But Cao Cao's perverse actions had already angered the local people, so when Huang Zhong attacked and showed an attitude of attacking with all his might, these people became interested and took the initiative to surrender and become his internal supporters.

However, Huang Zhong was not a time traveler after all, so he had no way of knowing that people like "Hou Yin and Wei Kai" in history were the righteous men who started an uprising in the rear of Cao Ren in response to Guan Yu.

What's more, there is a time difference of ten years. Hou Yin, Wei Kai and others have not yet climbed to the position of generals. The Wei family in Rangcheng is no longer controlled by Wei Kai, but by one of his uncles, who was also temporarily appointed by Cao Ren as the military commander of the auxiliary troops.

And now Wei Kai is just a captain among the auxiliary troops.

Huang Zhong didn't want to spend too much time to identify the other party's authenticity, so he asked him roughly what he could do for the army.

Wei Kai quickly said that his uncles and aunts had already discussed it. If General Huang could launch a strong attack on the South City as well, they would be willing to take the opportunity to open the city gates, lower the drawbridge, and welcome the army into the city, cooperating from both inside and outside.

Huang Zhong was stunned and subconsciously asked why it was Nancheng.

Wei Kai did not hide anything and narrated the matter truthfully, saying that the defender of Rangcheng knew that the terrain on the northwest side was higher and there was no moat, only dry trenches, so he knew that Liu Bei's army would definitely attack these two sides, so he moved all the main combat troops here.

In contrast, the southeast sides were protected by moats, and Huang Zhong had spent no effort to destroy or fill the river sections on the southeast sides for six or seven days after arriving at the city. The defenders of Rangcheng were certain that Huang Zhong would not be able to change his mind immediately and launch an attack on the south city.

So after the fierce attack the day before, the defending general felt that his troops were increasingly stretched thin, so he completely handed over the defense of the South City to the auxiliary troops who were responsible for filling the line.

Wei Kailai had already made an appointment before, so he didn't need to go back to the city to report. As long as Huang Zhong launched an attack on the South City and rushed to the moat outside the city gate, they could capture the gatekeeper, lower the drawbridge and open the city gate. Moreover, the South City of Rangcheng didn't even have a urn, so as long as the gate was opened, they could just charge in.

After hearing this, Huang Zhong was a little skeptical for a moment, not knowing whether he should believe it or not.

So he just collected sufficient intelligence, and then asked people to treat Wei Kai with good wine and food, and let him go down to eat, drink and rest.

Huang Zhong himself quickly asked someone to wake up the soldier who had joined the army, wanting to discuss military strategies with him and see how to seize this opportunity.

After the other party briefly listened to the situation, he decisively helped Huang Zhong make a decision:
"Rangcheng doesn't have a moat, so we don't need to worry about the enemy using it as an ambush. At most, after the city gate is opened, there are gates inside that can be lowered. But as long as the drawbridge is lowered, the siege troops can directly cross the river to the city. Why should we be afraid of a mere gate?
The old general has built a lot of flying ladders in the past few days. As long as they can quickly pass through the moat and spread out the flying ladders in the south city like ants everywhere, they can definitely break into the city.

Moreover, our army is already preparing for the next round of strong attacks. At worst, we can advance the attack by three sides one day. Even if we cannot break through the south of the city directly, as long as the south of the city is in chaos, the enemy's determination to hold on in other directions will be shaken, and then we will be able to annihilate the enemy completely!"

Huang Zhong thought about it and realized that this was indeed the truth. No matter whether Wei Kai was pretending to surrender or not, he had the absolute strength to launch a full-scale attack.

In this case, we should allocate some more manpower and flying ladders, and then launch an attack on the south of the city at the same time. If we attack everywhere, there will be no point for Cao's army to defend.

……

Huang Zhong's temper can be said to be decisive and resolute.

So just one day later, at another dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten at four o'clock in the morning.

Huang Zhong led 30,000 soldiers and launched a general attack on Rangcheng in three directions.

Dozens of ladders and hundreds of simple flying ladders stood like a forest and were pushed across the moat by countless soldiers.

The archers on both sides tried their best to shoot arrows continuously. The soldiers under Huang Zhong's command, because they used a large number of flying ladders that lacked cover, were naturally threatened by the rain of arrows much more seriously than usual.

But no one hesitated, no one delayed, all the soldiers ran as hard as they could, carrying the ladders to the city as quickly as possible. At most, they relied on the small round shield hanging on their other arms to block a few attacks and protect their vital parts.

As one ladder after another was placed on the top of the city wall, except for a few that were pushed away by the defenders with push rods and fell to the ground, most of the others were successfully inserted into the rammed earth on the top of the city wall.

Rows of soldiers swarmed up, and their weight and heavy armor, combined with the original slope of the ladder, soon crushed the ladder to the point where it could no longer be pushed down by brute force.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Destroy Rangcheng! Destroy Cao the thief!"

"Cao Ren has already abandoned you! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

The deafening shouts brought a strong offensive momentum. After the initial hundred men were injured and knocked down by rolling logs, rocks and arrows, the brave warriors under Huang Zhong's command had already gained a firm foothold on the top of the wall again.

The two sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat, with spears, swords and shields clashing against each other, and the whole place was in chaos.

While fierce fighting began in the west and north of the city, hundreds of flying ladders were deployed across the moat in the south of the city as a decoy. The earth-moving vehicles of Huang Zhong's troops, which had been operating in the west and north of the city a few days ago, were also temporarily transferred to the south of the city.

In a moment, hundreds of earth-moving trucks quickly rushed to the riverside and piled earth into the river, as if they were going to temporarily fill in a few gaps across the river. It seemed that the hundreds of flying ladders behind them, as long as there was a gap, they could rush to the base of the city wall from there and then spread out like ants.

Cao's army in the south of the city was also facing a formidable enemy, and the defending general was forced to temporarily mobilize a part of the veteran reserve troops to watch in that direction.

However, all this was doomed to be meaningless, because not long after, the city wall of Rangcheng's south gate suddenly became chaotic. In less than half a cup of tea, the drawbridge of the city gate fell down with a loud bang, and then the chaotic soldiers rushed to open the gate.

When the general Huang Zhong sent to the South Gate saw that the defenders' conspiracy was indeed true, he immediately urged hundreds of cavalry to rush across the suspension bridge and into the gate, followed by the infantry.

Wei Kai's surrender was indeed sincere, so there were no surprises during the whole process.

As thousands of Huang Zhong's troops rushed into the city, the Battle of Rangcheng had completely lost its suspense.

The battle was raging on the walls to the west and north of the city, but when the Cao army defenders looked back in panic, they saw that the city near the south gate had caught fire and cavalry were charging along the long street, which meant that everything was over.

The Cao troops in the north and west of the city collapsed one after another within a short period of time. They completely lost their will to fight and surrendered to Huang Zhong in large numbers.

Within two hours, Huang Zhong completely controlled Rangcheng. The remaining enemy troops did not even have time to break out, and most of the soldiers were surrounded and annihilated.

Only a very small number of people who happened to be near the east gate at the time managed to escape by chance, but this group of people accounted for less than 20% of the size of the Rangcheng garrison.

Therefore, at least 70% to 80% of the defenders were wiped out, either killed or wounded in the chaos or forced to surrender.

(End of this chapter)