The endless torches outside the city are indeed a little trick of the Han army. Each soldier holds a piece of wood horizontally, with five torches stuck on each piece of wood. When the soldiers run, the five torches run together.

It's just that this kind of trick is easy for the opponent to see through, but the purpose of the Han army is not here, but has a deeper meaning. These torches can easily create another illusion, that is, the main force of the Han army is concentrated in Nancheng.

As the drums of the Han army urging the battle quickened, the torches outside the city gradually extinguished, and tens of thousands of soldiers ran towards the city in overwhelming numbers.

The moat was covered with pontoons, which lost its function of obstruction. Although the fire burned, thousands of Han troops still did not fear the fire.

Lifting siege ladders, they rushed across the moat and set them up on the city wall. Thousands of Han soldiers climbed up the ladders like a swarm of ants, climbing the ladder in one hand and holding a shield in the other, biting horizontal scrolls in their mouths.

Holding the knife, he struggled to climb up. Arrows rained down from the top of the city. Stones and rolling wood fell like hail. Soldiers were hit and shot one after another, and fell down the city screaming.

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The Wancheng city wall also has a horse-faced structure, which is a protruding piece of city wall. It is named because its shape resembles a horse's face. It usually protrudes outward by two feet. Its function is to enable the defenders to shoot arrows at the enemy from behind.

In this way, the siege soldiers turned their heads and ignored their backs, and their backs were exposed and became targets. Long arrows were shot out intensively, which brought serious danger to the Han army on the siege ladder. The casualties were extremely heavy, and most of the soldiers who fell were killed.

They were all shot in the back.

The dead bodies piled up quickly under the city wall, and blood flowed into the city river, seeping out from the piles of corpses, dyeing the water of the moat red.

The situation of the Han army began to turn unfavorable. The soldiers on the city used steel forks to hold up the siege ladders on both sides. The barbs at the top of the ladders creaked across the wall. It could no longer be supported and stabbed diagonally across the wall.

After falling down, a group of soldiers on the ladder let out a long scream. Many people jumped from the ladder, but they still could not escape death or injury.

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Just as the decisive battle of life and death began in Nancheng, Pang De led five hundred elite Han troops to gradually approach the moat. Each of them was holding a sheepskin raft about ten feet long. This was the 300 sheepskin rafts captured in the Han River.

, but was used by the Han army to cross the moat.

The attack from the south was just a false attack, and the so-called use of warships to cross the river was just a decoy. The real attack was from the north, and the real tool for crossing the river was a sheepskin raft.

Five hundred soldiers lay on the sheepskin rafts, slowly paddling forward with their hands, and there were five siege ladders floating on the river.

There were only about 700 defenders on the northern wall. Most of them were attracted by the battle in the south. No one realized that the threat below the northern wall was quietly coming.

Under the cover of thick darkness, five hundred Han troops came ashore one after another, and four siege aircraft quickly set up on the city wall. No one noticed. Pang De waved his hand and climbed to the top of the city first.

Five hundred elite soldiers followed him and quickly rushed up the ladder to the top of the city. They were the 500 elite soldiers selected by Wenpin from the 30,000 troops. They were all brave and good at fighting. If the sneak attack on the northern city wall succeeds today, Wancheng will definitely fall.

into the hands of the Han army.

Two hundred steps behind them, there were eight thousand Han soldiers carrying several huge sheepskin rafts. They rushed to the moat and quickly used the sheepskin rafts to build a pontoon bridge in the river.

At this time, a group of patrolling soldiers from Cao's army came from the direction of the east city. The leader suddenly noticed a man climbing up the city in the dark. He shouted, "Who is he?" and rushed up brandishing a spear.

The first one to come up was General Pound. He held a broadsword in his hand and shouted in a low voice: "Keep your head!"

I saw a flash of cold light, and the head of Cao Jun's camp commander was immediately chopped away. Pang De shouted loudly and swung his sword to kill him. Like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, the sword flew. In a moment, more than a dozen soldiers died tragically.

Under his knife, every body was broken into pieces and their flesh and blood were blurred.

The other soldiers were so frightened that they turned around and ran away, shouting, "There is an enemy situation! The enemy troops are coming to the city!"

The Han army's sneak attack finally alerted the defenders of Beicheng, and more than 700 Cao soldiers attacked from the east and west.

At this time, hundreds of Han soldiers had already entered the city. These more than a hundred soldiers were extremely ferocious and unstoppable. They broke out a bloody path among the defenders in an instant. One of the defenders was killed and suffered heavy casualties. They retreated one after another. As the five hundred soldiers rushed forward,

At the top of the city, Wancheng's situation suddenly reversed.

When the news that the Han army was attacking Beicheng reached Nancheng, Cao Hong turned pale with shock. He never expected that the enemy army would come from Beicheng. Only then did he suddenly realize that he had been fooled and that the real main force was in Beicheng.

At this moment, Pang De led 500 Han troops to attack from the west of the city, and the shouts of killing shook the sky.

"Press up! Annihilate them all..."

Cao Hong waved his sword and shouted loudly. Thousands of Cao soldiers rushed forward to resist desperately, fighting fiercely with the brave and capable Han army. In addition, hundreds of Cao soldiers rushed down to the city to guard the city gate to prevent the Han army from killing them outside the city.

Enter the city.

Cao Jun on the top of the city also knew that once the Han army broke through the city, it would mean that the entire Nanyang had fallen. Cao Jun had no choice but to fight to the death.

Although the 500 elite Han troops were fierce, they were not many in number. Faced with the dense siege of Cao Jun, they could not rush through for a while.

A fierce battle was still going on above and below the city. The ladders were overturned, and the siege soldiers were shot and fell into the city. Screams and roars were heard one after another. Arrows were also coming from the Han army below the city. Cao's troops continued to be hit by arrows and fell to the ground. The attack and defense of both sides were fierce.

The war has entered a fierce state.

The real threat was still in the north city. Hundreds of climbing ladders were built up to the city. A steady stream of Han troops climbed up the city from the north. Cao Hong's eyes were so anxious that his eyes were red. He turned around and shouted in hiss: "Use kerosene! Fire!"

Oil blocks the enemy's path!"

Hundreds of soldiers from Cao's army rushed forward with barrels containing kerosene in their arms, and threw the barrels onto the city. The barrels shattered, and black kerosene flowed all over the ground. At this time, rockets were fired, and the ground went 'boom!'

The ground burned, flames flew, and in just a moment, the raging fire engulfed the road leading to Nancheng.

But Cao Hong also knew that this was meaningless. The Han army ascending to the top of the city meant that Wancheng was lost. He saw the black soldiers of the Han army running towards the city along the corridor.

Knowing that the situation was over, he turned around and shouted: "Brothers, follow me and break out of the city!"

Cao Hong rushed down to the city, got on his horse, and rushed out of the east city with more than two thousand defeated soldiers. They escaped from Wancheng, flew all the way, and gradually left Wancheng.

As the south city gate slowly opened, the attacking Han troops rushed into the city like a tide, leaving behind corpses all over the ground and nearly a hundred broken siege ladders. The Han army's attack finally ended.

This battle lasted for nearly an hour and a half. The Han army destroyed seventy siege ladders and killed more than a thousand people. Cao's army also suffered nearly 3,000 casualties and countless surrenders.

The city began to get busy. Han soldiers quickly collected the bodies of the dead, carried the injured down on stretchers, and cleared the arrows on the city. Some soldiers repaired the city wall, escorted Cao's prisoners of war who had not escaped, and recovered the arrows.

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The bloody and tense battle was finally over. Wenpin felt that he was almost exhausted from exhaustion. Sweat soaked his inner and outer armor, and the armor became extremely heavy, hanging on his body like a big stone.

Wenpin sat on a big rock and looked far to the west with a focused expression. He didn't know whether Cao Jun's reinforcements would arrive at dawn.

At this time, Pound hurriedly walked to Wenpin and whispered a few words. Wenpin was startled, stood up and said in surprise: "Is it true?"

"It's true. He is in the city and has not escaped."

Wenpin couldn't help being surprised and happy. Regardless of his physical fatigue, he asked Pound to be responsible for arranging the city's defense. He walked quickly into the city. Several Han soldiers stood in front of Xun Yu's house and no one was allowed to approach.

This large house was also the residence of the Deng family in Nanyang, and Xun Yu lived in the east courtyard.

The door to the east courtyard was ajar, and an old housekeeper was poking his head to check the situation outside. At this time, Wenpin came galloping over on horseback, escorted by a group of soldiers.

This was a situation that Wenpin did not expect. Xun Yu was actually in Wancheng, which made him surprised and happy. If Zhou Mu got this news, he didn't know how happy he would be. Wenpin got off his horse in front of the gate, and several gatekeepers

The soldiers quickly came forward to salute.

Wenpin asked: "How is the situation in the mansion?"

"Reporting to the general, the mansion is very quiet, no one comes in or out."

Wenpin nodded, "You just need to guard the door, and you are not allowed to enter the house to harass me."

"As you command!"

Wenpin walked quickly towards the gate. At this time, the housekeeper quickly bowed and saluted: "My master is not in good health. I hope the general will not disturb him."

"I am Wenpin, the commander-in-chief of the Han army. I heard that Duke Xun was here and came here to pay me a visit. I have no other ill intentions."

"General, please wait a moment, I will report!"

The old housekeeper hurried away. After a while, a young scribe came quickly. It was Xun Jie, Xun Yu's youngest son, who was also Cao Hong's son-in-law. He had been with his father and stayed in Nanyang this time.

He walked to the door and saluted Wen Pin and said, "My father thanks General Wen for his concern. It's just that my father is not feeling well and cannot see General Wen. I hope General Wen will forgive me."

Wenpin nodded. Xun Yu refused to see him, which was also expected by him. He smiled and said: "Nanyang is very safe. Please rest in peace and recuperate. No one will come to harass him. If you need anything, just

Tell me, I will definitely make arrangements."

"Thank you, General!"

Wenpin turned to leave, but saw that Xunjie was about to speak but hesitated, so he asked, "Master, is there anything difficult that you can do?"

Xun Jie bit his lip and finally shook his head, "Nothing, General Wen, go slowly!"

He bowed and turned around to go back to his house. Wenpin watched him go away with some doubts in his heart. He felt that Xun Yu's son must have something to do with him.

At this moment, a middle-aged man who looked like a butler hurried over and saluted Wenpin, "General Wen, my master has invited you."

Wenpin was startled, "Who is your master?"

"My master is Deng Zhizhong from Jingzhou in the past. General Wen should know him."

Wenpin was overjoyed. It turned out to be Deng Yi. How could he have forgotten him? He secretly blamed himself and said quickly: "Take me to see your master quickly."

Wenpin knew that Deng Yi was a pro-Jiangxia faction and secretly helped Zhou Mu a lot. After Zhou Mu occupied Jingzhou, he invited him to come to Jingzhou several times to serve. Deng Yi never came because of a stroke, which made Zhou Mu feel quite disappointed.

Pity.

To capture Nanyang, he needed a prominent family like the Deng family in Nanyang to come forward for him to appease the people. Deng Yi was undoubtedly the best candidate, and Deng Yi was no less important than Xun Yu.
Chapter completed!