The Three Kingdoms: Home Travel

Fang Yue looked Gou Huo up and down in astonishment, wondering why Pao Gu Sima looked so much like the gentleman. Could it be that all the people of Da You look like this?

"General Fang?" Gou Huo, unable to bear Fang Yue's gaze—a mixture of surprise, doubt, and disbelief—coughed and said, "General, please don't look at me like that anymore. That fellow is coming!"

Fang Yue admired Gou Huo's foresight beyond measure and held him in even higher esteem. Upon hearing Gou Huo's words, she immediately resumed her guardly stance, waiting for Yang Feng to come forward.

Yang Feng laughed loudly as he strode up the city wall, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Gou Huo, and said, "I have ultimately fulfilled my mission! It's just a pity that the scoundrel escaped, and I failed to achieve complete success." "General, please don't say that!" Although he sneered inwardly, Gou Huo still feigned gratitude. He cupped his hands and said, "General, you were able to defeat the enemy general and enhance our army's prestige; this is a tremendous achievement. If you say such a thing, I would have no face to answer your words."

Yang Feng was quite pleased with himself. Seeing that Yuan Shu seemed about to launch an attack on the city, he said, "Minister Gou, look, Yuan Shu is furious and wants to attack the city. How about I send my generals to assist you?"

"Hehe, so be it!" Yang Feng shook his head. He said with a smile, "I had forgotten what Commander Gou said earlier. Since that's the case, I won't get in the way here. I'll return to my Imperial Guard and await orders. However, if there's a crisis, Commander, you can send someone to inform me, and I will certainly provide archer assistance! What do you say?" Gou smiled slightly and gave a deep bow. "Thank you for your consideration, General Yang!"

"No need, no need!" Yang Feng thought Gou Huowu had seen through him, and was quite pleased with himself, laughing as he walked away. He secretly thought to himself, "All six of Dao Ying's friends are supposed to be capable of being kings, but in my opinion, they're nothing special. Even Jiang Zhe is just a smooth talker, a person with a hollow reputation." "This Gou Huowu is really something else!"

"Pah!" Fang Yue spat in disgust as Yang Feng walked away, then looked at Gou Huo and hesitated before saying, "Yuan Shu intends to attack the city; please give the order, Sima!"

"General Fang, do not be impatient!" Gou Huo smiled faintly and said softly, "Yuan Shu's attack this time is merely a feint. If he were to kill two generals, his subsequent strategies would be ineffective."

"Hmm?" Fang Yue asked, looking puzzled. Even Gao Shun opened his eyes slightly, his gaze also showing a hint of doubt.

"Hehe!" Gou Huo chuckled slightly. Pointing at Yuan Shu's army, he said, "They originally came to challenge us and attack the city. Now, having received a secret message from Yang Feng, if they retreat now, wouldn't that arouse suspicion? But if they truly attack Yao, perhaps they won't believe Yuan Shu knows the true situation in the city and will still intend to launch a strong attack on Xuchang. Wouldn't a surprise attack be better? In this way, I dare to conclude that Yuan Shu's attack is a feint!"

"Sima is truly a genius," Fang Yue said with admiration, and even Gao Shun secretly praised him in his heart.

"Not at all!" Gou Huo waved his hand to stop Fang Yue's praise, looked around, and said seriously, "In my humble opinion, Yuan Shu's feigned attack this time is a ploy to make us relax our guard, so we can launch a night attack on Xuchang! As you think, Yuan Shu's intention in this attack is to kidnap the emperor and take him back. If we delay for a while, and our lord learns of this and leads his army back, he will lose the initiative. Therefore, it is clear that a night attack will happen either today or tomorrow. In that case, I will have to trouble the two generals." "No, no!" Fang Yue was already full of admiration and quickly returned the salute with clasped hands. He thought to himself, "Master's close friend, Gou Sima, is truly extraordinary. He knows so much from just a few words. It's terrifying. He's exactly like Master from back then."

Compared to Fang Yue, Gao Shun simply clasped his hands and said lightly, "We are here on the orders of the two mistresses, under Sima's command. Sima, there's no need for such formalities." "Hmm, I must thank Sima for his many acts of kindness towards the Trapped Camp." "That was forced upon us by Shouyi..." Hearing this, Gou Huo's face flushed slightly, and he coughed, saying, "Let's observe the battle!"

As Gou Huo predicted, Yuan Shu ordered Chen Lan to lead 5,000 troops to test the South Gate. He didn't care anyway; if they could take it, all the better. But how could that be! If they couldn't take it, it would suit Chief Clerk Yang Ping's wishes even better, to embolden Cao Cao's troops in Xuchang.

This treacherous enemy, however, would not be so polite. Seeing that Yuan Shushi had led his troops into range, he ordered his archers to fire arrows to repel the enemy.

During this time, Fang Yue and Gao Shun stayed by each other's side without leaving for a moment. They pretended to be ordinary guards. Xu Chang had been expanded twice by Jiang Zhe, and because he didn't spend his own money, Jiang Zhe even installed many inexplicable things on the city walls.

For example, every twenty zhang (approximately 10 meters) along the city wall, there was an arrow tower shaped like a house, somewhat similar to a later-day fortress. The front, left, right, and top sides were all made of piled stones, leaving only the back for the passage of carts. The front, left, and right sides each had a lookout point, covered with wooden planks and iron plates. When needed, the planks were pulled out, and arrows could be fired through the lookout point. When not in use, the planks were used to block the view, making it impossible for ordinary arrows to penetrate. The only drawback was that if the enemy reached the city walls, the archers in the arrow towers, positioned in blind spots, would be unable to shoot them.

Gou Huo naturally saw the advantages and disadvantages of this substance, so he prepared a lot of stone and wood, as well as countless amounts of oil and gold syrup. "Jiang Zhe never used gold syrup, ever since he learned what it was..."

Besides these, Jiang Zhe originally wanted to dig a moat, but the project was too massive and would cost countless sums of money, so Gou Huo, who was in charge of finances that day, rejected it outright. However, today Gou Huo was vaguely regretting it. "Yuan Shu's general Chen Lan led five thousand soldiers, holding shields high. Braving the rain of arrows shot by Xuchang archers, they pushed ladders slowly towards the Xuchang city wall, with more than twenty siege towers behind them, each filled with archers."

However, these well-towers, barely close to the city wall of Xuchang, were ignited by crossbows and fire arrows from the Xuchang sailors. The Cao soldiers inside the fortresses were completely outnumbered. Hidden within their tortoise-shell-like structures, they fired deadly arrows from their observation ports. But the arrows fired back by Yuan Shu's army could only reach the stone-built "fortresses."

If the arrows were too powerful, Cao's soldiers could simply block the slits with wooden boards covered with iron plates and find another opening. It was really easy!

However, the archers of Yuan Shu's army suffered the consequences; all twenty-odd siege towers were set ablaze by fire arrows. The archers on them were either burned to death or fell to their deaths, with very few survivors.

Yuan Shu was so angry that his face turned ashen. Although his original intention was to first inflict a defeat on Cao Cao's troops in Xuchang, this was not the way to lose!

Compared to the heavily fortified siege towers, Yuan Shu's infantry was clearly much luckier; many of their siege ladders were already mounted on the walls of Xuchang. Unfortunately, Gou Huo casually remarked, "Dump them with oil!"

The screaming Yuan Shushi's chariots fell to the ground one after another. If they fell to the ground, they would die instantly. If they fell into the crowd, they would be trampled to death by the turbulent current. In the end, they could not escape the word "death"!

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"Sound the retreat!" Yuan Shu shouted, barely suppressing his anger. One of his guards immediately ran to give the order.

Chief Clerk Yang Hong frowned and glanced at the distant walls of Xuchang, sighing inwardly. He had heard that Jiang Zhe, at such a young age, had taken command of Xuchang, and thought Cao Cao had no one else to rely on. But seeing how, in just over a year, he had built Xuchang to such a state, and the fortifications on the walls were unlike anything he had ever heard of or seen before. This Jiang Zhe truly possessed remarkable abilities. As the sound of the retreat signal rang out from Yuan Shu's central army, Chen Lan, standing beneath the walls of Xuchang, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This battle had been incredibly frustrating for him, and he shared Yuan Shu's sentiment: even if defeat was inevitable, it shouldn't have been suffered in this manner!

"Hehe!" Gou Huo watched the defeated army flee in panic with a calm expression, smiled and glanced at Jiang Zhe's masterpieces, and nodded inwardly. He said, "Shouyi's words and deeds are very unusual. His actions are often incomprehensible. However, at the critical moment, I was fortunate that I did not stop Shouyi from supervising the construction of this city wall. Fortunately!"

Yuan Shu's 5,000 soldiers suffered over 3,000 casualties, and almost all of the survivors were wounded. The heavy price paid only resulted in the loss of two or three hundred Cao soldiers. As for the Cao soldiers trapped in the tortoise shell, only a few extremely unlucky ones were killed by stray arrows shot into the lookout post. That was all. How hateful! How hateful! Back in his camp, Yuan Shu slammed his fist on the table to vent his anger.

Yang Hong, the chief clerk by his side, advised, "My lord, why must you do this? We were only seeking a defeat, and now we have merely fulfilled our wish..."

"Absurd!" Yuan Shu roared at Yang Hong. "I intended to embolden him with a defeat. But how can such a defeat be justified? Over three thousand soldiers! My lord!" Yang Hong smiled slightly and gently advised, "I know you are kind-hearted and cannot bear to do this. But in my opinion, it is not necessarily a bad thing. I only hate that three thousand soldiers died in vain. If I could exchange them for half of Cao Cao's troops, why would I have done this!" Yuan Shu calmed himself and said angrily, "Why do you say that? My lord, you are wise. The more we suffer, the less suspicious Gou Huo, who is guarding Xuchang, will be. I have long heard of his name. He and Jiang Zhe and the other four are known as the Six Friends of Ying. We must be careful!"

"Jiang Zhe?" Yuan Shu asked in confusion. "I know this Jiang Zhe. I heard about him a few times from my half-brother. Back then, he was an idle scholar in Luoyang. If it weren't for his uncle's reputation, he would have been able to get by."

"My lord, you are greatly mistaken!" Yang Hong said solemnly. "Does my lord know what position Jiang Zhe (Jiang Shouyi) holds under Cao Cao?"

"The Prefect of Xuchang! He also holds the positions of Governor of Chongzhou and Governor of Yuzhou, truly second only to the Emperor. Faced with this, Hong had to express his admiration for Cao Cao. He had entrusted his entire fortune to this man. 'The city wall defenses that just thwarted our plans must have been the work of Jiang Zhe; he is truly a remarkable man!'"

"Hmph! Ridiculous!" Yuan Shu thought Yang Hong was going to say something else, but he didn't expect this. He sneered and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Tell me how to take Xuchang!"

"Yes!" Yang Hong frowned slightly and sighed inwardly. He slowly said, "I found the words of General Yang Feng, a close advisor to the Emperor, quite inappropriate. Who is Gou Wenruo? Does Yang Feng intend to collude with him from within? I advise my lord not to place his hopes on this man..."

"Hmm?" Yuan Shu asked doubtfully. "Then, in your opinion, my lord, it seems you mean we should ignore Yang Feng's life or death. He's close to the emperor, and keeping him around will only cause trouble in the future. Why not take this opportunity to eliminate him? Didn't he say he'd cooperate from within and without? After we easily enter Xuchang, we can ignore him and directly take the emperor back to Runan! Let Yang Feng shield us from disaster. Isn't that wonderful?"

Yuan Shu, whose ambition far surpassed his brother's, was overjoyed upon hearing this. "Indeed," he thought, "that Yang Feng will only bring trouble in the future. With the Imperial Guards eliminated, what will the Emperor do without a single soldier?"

"I just don't know how Yang Feng plans to trick the city gate guards into letting us in!"

Frowning, Yang Hong hesitated and said, "To be honest, even I am not entirely confident in dealing with Yang Fenghong. Perhaps we should divide our forces into two groups, sending one army first. If he succeeds, we can then enter the city. We just need to hold the city gates firmly. However, this will likely result in many casualties among our soldiers."

"Very well!" Yuan Shu, the eldest son of the Yuan family, a family that had produced four generations of high-ranking officials, didn't care about the lives of his soldiers. He said in a deep voice, "That's settled!"

As night deepened, a faint hint of ** was revealed.

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