The Three Kingdoms: Hindsight is 20/20, and the Three Revivals of the Han Dynasty

"Meng Da, you stupid thief, you've ruined my plans!"

Upon learning that Meng Da had been killed by Guan Yu in a surprise attack, Xiahou Yuan was furious: "I personally repaired the deer antlers and was ambushed by Huang Zhong, but I only lost an eye. You led the troops to face the enemy head-on and were beheaded by Guan Yu like a target."

For Xiahou Yuan, Meng Da's death was a minor matter; the major issue was the blow to his own morale. He already had little chance of winning against Guan Yu, and with his morale dampened, his chances of victory were even lower.

After ordering Yu Jin to lead his troops back into the city, Xiahou Yuan ignored the fleeing soldiers below the city who were crying and begging for the gates to be opened.

It wasn't that Xiahou Yuan was abandoning them; the faster-running routs had already entered the city, while this group of routs who had just arrived at the city walls were too slow.

If the city gates were opened without authorization for the sake of a small number of defeated soldiers, Guan Yu would very likely seize the opportunity to capture them. If the city gates were lost, Xiahou Yuan would not be confident in engaging Guan Yu in street fighting.

Seeing that Xiahou Yuan would not come to their aid, the routed soldiers, with nowhere else to turn, had no choice but to surrender to Guan Yu.

The soldiers from Dongzhou were almost all young and strong refugees from the Yongliang area. Guan Yu even found more than a dozen people from Hedong among the Dongzhou soldiers who surrendered. No matter the era, people from the same hometown always have a sense of closeness.

Guan Yu treated these dozens of fellow villagers with great courtesy, providing them with food and drink to comfort them, and also learned some information from them.

Because Cao Cao seized Yizhou through deception, many powerful clans in Yizhou outwardly obeyed Cao Cao but inwardly defied him. For example, Yan Yan, a general of Xichuan and a local powerful clan, obeyed Cao Cao's orders but not his commands.

Cao Cao's truly capable men were mostly Dongzhou soldiers like Meng Da, who had fared poorly under Liu Zhang and wanted to follow Cao Cao for wealth and power. However, Dongzhou soldiers were considered inferior under Cao Cao, and their treatment was far lower than that of the more than 20,000 loyal soldiers he brought to Yizhou.

With this in mind, Guan Yu came up with another plan.

After stripping hundreds of defeated soldiers of their armor and weapons, they drove them to the city of Fangling, while the dozen or so people from Hedong were released.

Subsequently, Guan Yu broke camp and retreated ten miles.

Exhausted and starving, the routed soldiers could only weep and beg Xiahou Yuan to open the gate once again beneath the city walls.

"That scoundrel Guan Yu actually resorted to such a trick!"

Seeing the routed soldiers below the city, Xiahou Yuan was even more furious.

If the door is opened, it will be difficult to determine whether Guan Yu's spies are hiding among the fleeing soldiers.

If the gates are not opened, the morale of Cao Cao's soldiers inside the city will suffer: Guan Yu has already withdrawn his troops but he still refuses to open the gates, so who will be willing to risk their lives in the future?
Despite his resentment, Gongsun Zan, who had previously refused to save his soldiers, eventually faced widespread betrayal and alienation. Xiahou Yuan often took this as a warning and always treated his soldiers well.

Therefore, despite his grumbling and cursing, Xiahou Yuan ultimately chose to let the defeated soldiers outside the city into the city.

Although these defeated soldiers had been stripped of their armor and weapons, making them easy to suppress even if they wanted to cause trouble, Xiahou Yuan still selected a hundred elite soldiers to guard these hundreds of defeated soldiers in order to prevent any accidents.

Xiahou Yuan entrusted Yu Jin with the task of appeasing the people and officials within the city.

Cao Cao's army had a rule: those who surrounded the enemy and refused to surrender would be slaughtered.

Therefore, all the soldiers and officers who followed Kuai Qi in resisting Cao Cao's army in Fangling City were killed after Xiahou Yuan entered the city. Xiahou Yuan also robbed all the civilians in the city who helped Kuai Qi defend the city, and allowed the soldiers to vent their anger at will.

After venting their anger, they would send people to appease the people, thus completing the taming of the people and soldiers of the occupied cities.

Kuai Qi's sorrow at the people of Fangling taking the blame for him stemmed from his understanding of the moral character of Cao Cao's army.

However, war is merciless. No matter how grieved Kuai Qi was, his failure to defend Fangling City meant that the people and officials within the city would suffer as a result.

Cao Bing's reputation has always been like this; he never talks about benevolence or righteousness.

Even if the commander was Yu Jin, who always emphasized military discipline, he could only restrain his soldiers during wartime, but could not continue to restrain them after the city was breached.

The following day, Guan Yu returned. This time, he brought not only five hundred swordsmen, but also Guan Yu's main force, totaling approximately five thousand men.

Aside from Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were transferred to Liu Bei's side, Guan Yu had many other valiant generals under his command, including Zhang Yan, Guan Ping, Lei Gong, Fu Yun, Da Mu, Bai Que, and Wu Lu.

In terms of having more soldiers and generals, Guan Yu was already superior to Xiahou Yuan.

In terms of morale, Guan Yu's army, having killed Meng Da, was even more motivated than Xiahou Yuan's army.

Furthermore, Xiahou Yuan had just acquired Fangling, and the people's hearts were not yet with him. Meanwhile, Kuai Qi was openly calling on the people inside the city to rebel, and this psychological warfare made Xiahou Yuan even more uneasy.

“The people are not of one mind with us, the soldiers have just lost their fighting spirit, and Fangling City is not a strong city. I am afraid it will be difficult to defend.” Yu Jin was also very worried.

Guan Yu not only arrived quickly, but was also extremely skilled in warfare, leaving Yu Jin feeling helpless: "His bravery is already awe-inspiring, but his military strategy is also so sophisticated. Does he even allow us to survive?"
Before Xiahou Yuan and Yu Jin could come up with a plan, Guan Yu had already launched a strong attack on Fangling City.

When Fangling City was attacked by Meng Da, the narrow moat had already been filled in, and the city towers were damaged in many places. This was one of the reasons why Guan Yu launched a strong attack.

With Fangling City yet to be repaired and the morale of Cao Cao's troops still low after their recent defeat, now is the perfect time for a strong attack.

To make up for his mistake of not being able to help Kuai Qi defend Fangling City, Guan Ping took the lead, donned three layers of armor, and was the first to climb the ladder to scale the wall.

Zhang Yan, Lei Gong, and other valiant generals also donned armor and launched a fierce attack.

"General, the north gate is about to fall! Request reinforcements!" A soldier from the north gate rushed to Xiahou Yuan.

When attacking a city, in order to prevent the enemy soldiers inside from fighting to the death, the city is usually surrounded on three sides with one side open, deliberately leaving a way for the enemy soldiers inside to escape.

However, this time the situation was different. Guan Yu had the advantage in both troop strength and morale.

Having the advantage of superior numbers in the first battle, Guan Yu employed a four-pronged attack tactic this time to besiege the city.

Once a city gate is breached, they can advance unimpeded, and this fierce attack tactic terrifies Cao Cao's troops, whose morale has already been low.

From morning till night, Xiahou Yuan was either busy reinforcing the north gate, defending the west gate, or personally supervising the battle at the south gate. He was exhausted from running back and forth.

It was thought that Guan Yu would stop there, but unexpectedly, Guan Yu lit a large number of torches outside the city.

"That Guan Yu is determined to conquer Fangling!"

Seeing Guan Yu preparing for a night battle, Xiahou Yuan could only drag his weary body and order his generals to defend.

It wasn't until midnight that Guan Yu stopped his fierce attack and slowly retreated.

Just when Xiahou Yuan thought Guan Yu would not come again tonight, an urgent report came from the west gate, saying that Guan Yu's army had entered the city.

Xiahou Yuan was shocked: "How did Guan Yu get into the city?"

Because Guan Yu attacked the city too hastily during the day, Xiahou Yuan's forces were insufficient. Therefore, when Guan Yu fought at night, Xiahou Yuan could only send the defeated soldiers from Dongzhou, whose weapons and armor had been confiscated by Guan Yu, to reinforce the four gate walls.

Meanwhile, at the North Gate were a dozen or so people from Hedong who had been treated well by Guan Yu. After exchanging secret signals with Guan Yu's spies below the city, these dozen or so people from Hedong took advantage of the soldiers' fatigue and negligence at the North Gate to secretly open the city gate.

But the messenger was unaware of these details, and Xiahou Yuan could not guess them either.

As Guan Yu's army entered, the battle between Cao Cao and Liu Bei within Fangling City resumed. (End of Chapter)