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

South of the pontoon bridge, the sounds of battle roared like thunder across the sky, and the drumbeats echoed like rolling, muffled thunder.

Countless Wei soldiers, like a surging tide, launched a frenzied attack on the Han camp from all directions.

Dust billowed at their feet, obscuring the sky.

Cao Cao sat high on his warhorse, his face as gloomy as cold iron, cold and murderous.

He raised his riding whip high, like a sharp blade, pointing it directly at the Han camp, and shouted:
"Attack the enemy camp fiercely! Whoever is the first to scale the walls will be ennobled! Whoever slays Zhang Fei will be ennobled as a duke!"

Cao Cao once again promised a generous reward.

At this moment, he knew that apart from the lure of this great reward, he had no other means to motivate people.

Most of these Wei soldiers were fighting for fame and fortune. At this critical moment, only high-ranking positions and generous rewards could ignite their fighting spirit.

When the Wei soldiers heard about Cao Cao's generous reward, their fighting spirit was finally aroused.

They were like a pack of wild beasts injected with stimulants, instantly going berserk and surging towards the Han camp like a tidal wave.

Inside the camp gate, Zhang Fei stood on his horse, spear held horizontally, like a majestic mountain peak.

He coldly watched the Wei army surging in like a tide with disdain, a slight mocking smile playing on his lips.

"The Grand Marshal is right. Cao Cao is indeed stubborn and unwilling to give up until he hits a brick wall. He still wants to make a last-ditch effort!"

He gave a cold laugh, his laughter filled with disdain and contempt for Cao Cao.

Then Zhang Fei suddenly raised his spear and shouted:
"Repeating crossbow battalion, fire! Shoot them to death!"

The war drums sounded suddenly like thunder, their rhythm stirring and urging the soldiers to fight bravely against the enemy.

More than two thousand crossbowmen were already neatly arrayed along the camp wall, their gazes resolute, the crossbows in their hands gleaming with a cold light.

Upon hearing Zhang Fei's command, Liao Hua swung his longsword down fiercely, giving the order:
"Fire arrows!"

The crossbow bolts fired instantly!

"Uuuuuu——"

The deafening roar, like the flapping of wings of ten thousand birds, instantly echoed across the battlefield, making people's ears ache.

The ten arrows fired in quick succession were incredibly powerful.

In the blink of an eye, nearly 20,000 arrows rained down like locusts.

The dense rain of arrows, like a black storm carrying an endless aura of death, swept towards the Wei army.

As Xu Huang charged forward, a sudden jolt went through him, and an ominous premonition surged into his heart.

Without thinking twice, he shouted in a panic:

"Raise shields! The entire army, raise your shields to block the arrows!"

The Wei soldiers at the front hurriedly raised their shields, trying to block the tidal wave of arrows.

The Wei army was clearly prepared, as they had brought shields in advance.

However, the Wei army's preparedness proved insignificant in the face of the repeating crossbows.

The crossbows fired so many arrows that more than 30,000 arrows were shot in the blink of an eye over a width of less than fifty paces. What a terrifying density that was!

It was as if the entire sky was shrouded in this rain of arrows, without a single gap.

In an instant, arrows pierced through every gap in the shields, like sharp daggers, rushing towards the Wei soldiers in the back ranks.

A scream rang out instantly, a shrill and tragic sound, as if it were a wail from hell.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of Wei soldiers were felled by the rain of crossbow bolts.

Blood stained the fields.

The Wei soldiers who survived the fall cried out in agony.

The Wei army's charge speed noticeably slowed down.

They started to get scared.

The power of the repeating crossbows far exceeded their expectations; they didn't know if they would be swallowed up by the relentless rain of arrows in the next second.

Xu Huang frowned, his face showing anger, and shouted sharply:

"Don't stop, keep charging, keep charging!"

Urged on by his shouts, the Wei soldiers had no choice but to suppress their fear and continue charging forward. They knew in their hearts that retreat meant certain death, and only by charging forward could they have a chance of survival.

The Han army's arrows rained down wave after wave, seemingly without end.

The Wei army fell one after another in the rain of arrows, and after paying a heavy price, they finally broke through the camp walls.

They chopped off the deer's antlers, their sharp knives flashing as they hacked the antlers to pieces.

After filling in the trenches, they brandished their broadswords and hacked at the camp like madmen.

One after another, large spears pierced the Han soldiers in the camp.

Large shields crashed into the camp walls with loud "bangs".

At this point, the repeating crossbow had become useless.

Zhang Fei swung his spear again and shouted:
"Spearmen, shieldmen, charge!"

"Hold the camp walls to the death, and never retreat a single step!"

The crossbowmen retreated, and the seven thousand infantrymen lined up behind them marched forward with earth-shaking steps.

Its momentum was overwhelming.

A fierce battle of attack and defense began along the camp wall.

The Wei army was truly fighting desperately. They rushed towards the camp walls one after another, with one batch dying only to be replaced by another.

At this moment, the Wei army had unleashed a fighting force beyond its limits, all for that sliver of hope in their hearts.

The sky above the south bank of the Wei River was shrouded in a bloody mist.

The Wei army's offensive was undeniably fierce, and the Wei soldiers fought with all their might.

However, despite a full half-day of relentless attacks, they failed to break through the Han camp's defenses. They couldn't even create a single breach.

Seeing the stalemate that had persisted for so long, Cao Cao's confidence was gradually fading away.

He never expected that the Han army's defenses would be so strong and the Wei army's attack so difficult.

The despair in his eyes grew stronger and stronger.

Suddenly, Cao Cao dismounted and stumbled to the drum platform. He threw down his cane and snatched the drumsticks from the drummer's hands.

After taking a deep breath, Cao Cao beat the drum with all his might.

The drumbeats were both stirring and tragic.

The emperor, despite his weakened state, personally beat the drums to cheer on the Wei army!

This scene moved everyone present.

The Wei soldiers were once again inspired when they saw Cao Cao personally beating the drums.

The Wei soldiers, already at their limit, unleashed a new and fierce attack on the Han camp, displaying combat power beyond their limits.

Cao Cao beat the drums desperately, and seeing his soldiers regain their morale, a glimmer of hope rekindled in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, please don't overwork yourself. Let me do it!"

Seeing Cao Cao sweating profusely, Xu Chu nervously tried to snatch the drumstick.

If this continues, Cao Cao will surely be exhausted.

"Get out of the way, I can hold on!"

Cao Cao pushed Xu Chu aside and continued to beat the war drums with all his might.

"As long as we can capture the enemy camp and destroy the pontoon bridge, it would be worth it even if I died here!"

Just then, Cao Cao's body suddenly froze, and the drumsticks hung in mid-air, unable to fall.

His eyes widened as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

The hope that had just been ignited was quickly replaced by despair.

He saw the opposite bank of the river, where an endless expanse of more than 100,000 Han troops had arrived on the north bank and were rushing to cross the pontoon bridge.

"Clang!"

Cao Cao's drumstick slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. (End of Chapter)