My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Ye City, early morning.

The sound of gongs as a warning echoed throughout the city.

Cao Chong, who was still asleep, was soon awakened by the sound of the gong. He rushed out of his bedroom without even having time to put on his clothes properly.

"Young Master Cangshu, the guards at the four gates report that the Chu army has suddenly gathered outside the four gates, seemingly poised to launch a full-scale attack on Ye City."

Xin Pi approached, his face solemn as he reported to the general.

Cao Chong frowned, and while putting on his armor, he gave instructions:
"Immediately issue an order to Chen Tai and other generals to lead their troops to the city walls and prepare for a desperate battle to repel the enemy."

"Also, carry all the gold and silver from the treasury to the city wall and tell the soldiers that anyone who bravely defends the city will be richly rewarded!"

Xinpi, who was following closely behind, suddenly stopped and looked troubled, saying:

"Young Master Cangshu, without the King's permission, wouldn't it be a bit...?"

"At a time like this, what's the point of worrying about these things?"

Cao Chong interrupted Xin Pi's reminder, a hint of helplessness flashing across his brow:

"Now that things have come to this, it is impossible for my father and me to motivate our soldiers to fight to the death for Cao Wei with slogans like 'loyalty to the country.' We can only use money to lure them in."

"I believe my father understands this principle and will never have any objections to my decision."

Xin Pi was shocked, and immediately understood Cao Chong's predicament. He couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Cao Cao's various atrocities in Henan, Cao Ren's cannibalistic behavior, and Cao Wei's exorbitant taxes and levies in Hebei to compensate for its weakened state...

All his actions have alienated the people.

Apart from the powerful clans and gentry of Hebei, there were very few ordinary people who were truly willing to support the Cao Wei regime.

The will of the people is the will of the army.

With the people's hearts lost, the army's morale will surely collapse. In the face of danger, how can the soldiers still fight to the death for the Cao Wei state and the Cao family's empire?

If we cannot inspire our soldiers with righteousness, then we can only use money to win their hearts and minds and induce the Wei soldiers to fight to the death.

Having understood Cao Chong's predicament, Xin Pi had no choice but to accept the order.

As they spoke, the two had already left the residence.

Cao Chong mounted his horse and was about to head straight for the city gate when he suddenly remembered something.

"Zuozhi, order Xiahou Chong and Xu Yi to each lead 5,000 troops to remain inside the city and not to climb the city walls."

"Xiahou Chong's troops remained stationed in the camp, while Xu Yi led his troops to patrol the city, paying particular attention to the security of the granaries."

"Liu Bei has captured cities several times with the help of inside agents. There are quite a few people in Ye City who intend to betray Wei and surrender to Chu. I don't want to give them an opportunity."

"Do you get me?"

Xinpi understood and immediately became alert.

With the nation in such a precarious state, any dynasty or country would have seen a surge of rebellious elements.

Especially given the bloody lesson of Liyang being besieged for six months, there must have been many high-ranking officials and nobles in Yecheng who, out of fear, intended to secretly communicate with the State of Chu.

These people secretly gathered a private army and, taking advantage of the Chu army's attack on the city from all sides, launched a mutiny. Whether they seized the city gates or attacked key locations such as granaries, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Those who harbor rebellious intentions in the city must indeed be guarded against. I will issue the order now.”

Xinpi nodded repeatedly, then cupped his hands in praise and said:

"Young Master Cang Shu is a man of profound wisdom and meticulous planning. With you leading us in defending the city, we will surely be able to keep Ye City from falling and ultimately defeat Liu Bei, thus turning our Great Wei from danger to safety!"

Clearly, Cao Chong's series of plans greatly boosted Xin Pi's confidence.

Cao Chong showed no arrogance, only sighed softly:

"No matter how far I plan, I fear that with Xiao He around, sooner or later there will be times when even the most meticulous plans will have oversights."

“I can’t do it alone. You all need to pool your wisdom and efforts to find out as many flaws as possible and think of every possible weakness that Xiao might exploit.”

"Only in this way can we break the myth of Liu Bei's invincibility and find a glimmer of hope!"

Xin Pi felt a chill run down his spine, and the confidence that had been surging in his eyes faded slightly.

Cao Chong said no more, spurred his horse, and headed straight for the south gate.

On the south gate tower, nearly 10,000 Wei soldiers had already climbed the city wall and taken their positions.

Chen Tai ran back and forth, shouting at the Wei soldiers to prepare for battle.

Cao Chong looked around at the Chu army outside the city and saw that dozens of military formations had been set up, covering the sky and creating a powerful and imposing sight.

"Something's not right, the Chu army is acting strangely..."

Cao Chong narrowed his eyes, a hint of suspicion flashing in them.

Xinpi looked blankly at him and asked what was wrong.

"If the Chu army wants to attack the city, they will have to use their divine thunder cannons to bombard the city first. Even if they cannot destroy our city walls, they will certainly shock our army and weaken our morale."

"But the Divine Thunder Cannon is not seen in the Chu army's formation at present."

"Furthermore, there are no siege ladders visible inside the Chu army's formation, and all the Chu soldiers are armed with shields, with so many horse-drawn carriages and mule carts in the rear."

"This formation doesn't look like they're about to attack a city at all."

Cao Chong pointed to the Chu army outside the city and pointed out the suspicious points one by one.

Xin Pi, Chen Tai, and the others nodded, but doubts were also evident in their eyes.

"So what's the big-eared thief up to by setting up this formation?"

The group exchanged glances, none of them able to guess what Liu Bei was up to.

"Boom-boom-boom!"

Suddenly, the war drums sounded in the Chu army formation.

Dozens of military formations suddenly sprang into action and began to slowly advance towards the city wall.

Cao Chong had no choice but to put aside his speculations, take up his sword, and prepare to lead the Wei army to repel the enemy.

A battle of offense and defense thus began. The beginning was all the same old routine, nothing new.

As the Chu army approached within an arrow's reach, a dense rain of arrows, like locusts, began to rain down on the Wei troops on the city walls.

Cao Chong was unwilling to back down and immediately ordered the Wei archers to counterattack.

The arrows rained down from both sides, quickly weaving into a net across the sky and on the ground.

Relying on its numerical superiority, with ten times as many archers as the Wei army, the Chu army quickly gained the upper hand and suppressed the Wei army's arrow barrage.

Cao Chong was merely going through the motions. To avoid excessive casualties among his soldiers, he could only order his archers to primarily take cover and then hastily fire a few arrows when an opening appeared.

The Chu army advanced smoothly to the moat without any pressure.

According to the usual procedure, the next step should be to build trench bridges and fill in the moat so that the attacking troops can smoothly advance to the city.

But from this moment on, the Chu army started to act unpredictably.

Central Army Department.

Liu Bei pointed his whip and shouted:
"By my order, the mule and horse caravans shall immediately move forward with earth and stones to build an earthen mound for me to force my way into the city!"

The order was passed down.

Thousands of mule carts and horse-drawn carriages immediately set off, hauling loads of earth and stones, and rushed toward the moat.

"Bowen, you should all stay here and watch the spectacle of the lone fire burning down Ye City."

Liu Bei let out a hearty laugh and spurred his horse forward.

Chen Dao and his group of white-feathered guards escorted Liu Bei straight to the front of the army.

One after another, mule carts and horse-drawn carriages arrived at the moat and dumped the earth and stones at the designated location according to the pre-arranged plan.

In the blink of an eye, a dozen or so mounds of earth began to take shape.

This scene left the Wei army on the city wall completely bewildered.

Cao Chong narrowed his eyes, his gaze revealing deep confusion.

He originally thought that when the Chu army's mule carts and horse-drawn carriages rushed down, they would dump earth and stones into the moat to fill in a road.

Unexpectedly, the Chu army dumped earth and stones in front of the moat, creating more than a dozen mounds.

What kind of show is this going to be?
Cao Chong, Xin Pi, and the others were all completely baffled.

"Oh no! That big-eared bandit is going to build an earthen mound to force our city into a corner, so he can see all the strengths and weaknesses of our city from above, and also deploy his cannons and crossbowmen on the mound to attack us!"

Chen Tai pointed at the Chu army outside the city, his voice trembling with excitement as he revealed the truth.

Cao Chong's expression changed drastically.

Xinpi and the others were also taken aback, and a look of horror suddenly flashed across their faces.

The scene of Yuan Shao crushing Cao Cao's army with earthen mounds during the Battle of Guandu instantly flashed into my memory.

The earthen mound was so powerful that it almost crushed the morale of Cao Cao's army!

Fortunately, Liu Ye built the trebuchet and broke through Yuan's earthen mound; otherwise, the Cao family might have been the ones to suffer defeat in the Battle of Guandu.

"Liu Bei, so you wanted to emulate Yuan Shao? This must be another of Xiao He's treacherous schemes..."

Cao Chong gritted his teeth and shouted urgently:
"Where are our trebuchets? Quickly pull them up to the city wall and bombard the Chu army! We must not let Liu Bei build an earthen mound!"

Xinpi, however, wore a bitter expression and sighed helplessly:
“Young Master Cangshu, we did not expect that the big-eared bandit would build an earthen mound without first preparing the trebuchets.”

"Furthermore, the big-eared thief already has the Divine Thunder Cannon, which can bombard my Ye City without the need for earthen mounds. Who would have thought he would go to such lengths?"

Cao Cang felt a chill run down his spine, suddenly realizing that he had made a mistake despite his meticulous planning.

"boom!"

Cao Chong punched the battlement, momentarily at a loss.

Chen Tai rolled his eyes a few times, but then comforted her:
"Young Master Cangshu, don't panic. Minister Xin is right. It's obvious that the big-eared thief's construction of this earthen hill is unnecessary."

"His Divine Thunder Cannon already has a range advantage, so there's no need to use earthen mounds; it can still bombard my Ye City."

"Let him build the earthen mound if he wants to. Once it's finished, he'll just bombard us with the Divine Thunder Cannon, only with a longer range."

"Our city walls were already reinforced and thickened to defend against their divine thunder cannons, so what is there to fear?"

Chen Tai's reminder was like a sudden awakening for Cao Chong.

Yes, it's just a small hill, what's there to be afraid of?

Anyway, they'll be bombarded by the divine thunder cannon, so at worst they'll just feel a bit worse, but it won't be a fatal threat.

If that's the case, why worry so much and get anxious?

Thinking of this, Cao Chong's tightly furrowed brows immediately relaxed, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking again at the Chu army outside the city, Cao Chong's eyes no longer showed fear, and he nodded slightly, saying:
“You are right. Liu Bei’s mobilization of such a large army is unnecessary and not worth worrying about.”

"Pass down the order: tell the soldiers not to panic and to prepare to avoid the enemy's divine thunder cannon bombardment."

As orders were passed down through the ranks, the tension among the Wei soldiers eased slightly.

So the 10,000 Wei soldiers could only watch helplessly as the Chu army pushed up one earthen mound after another right under their noses.

Central Army Department.

Xiao He was dozing off, watching the earthen mound rise up in front of Ye City.

One after another, the divine thunder cannons were pushed out of the camp and began to be deployed to the various earthen hills.

Da da da~~
The sound of hooves rang out, and a rider galloped in, delivering an urgent report from Xuchang to Xiao He.

"An urgent report from Xuchang?"

Xiao He suddenly had a bad feeling, and his drowsiness vanished instantly. He took the secret report.

Upon opening it, Xiao He's eyes widened in surprise.

The eldest son, Liu Shan, recently fell into the lake while boating. Although he was rescued and his life was not in danger, he suffered a severe shock that caused him to become mentally unstable. (End of Chapter)