Chapter 863 The prime minister of a country, this is the case!
"It's almost time to put out all these fires." Yan Liang ordered with a whip.
Yan Liang estimated that the sky was getting brighter and the "fake fire" situation in the camp could already be seen from Yecheng, so there was no need to continue the show.
Moreover, judging by the time, if Zhuge Liang really sent troops to destroy the east gate wall, Zhao Yun should also succeed in the ambush.
After the decree was passed down, the soldiers on the left and right took action and quickly put out the piles of burning bonfires with snow.
Dozens of fires extinguished in an instant, leaving only wisps of unburned smoke.
As soon as the fire in the Chu camp was extinguished, the Han troops on top of the city could see clearly.
A moment ago there was a raging fire, but in the blink of an eye, dozens of raging fires were all extinguished. What other explanation can there be for such a strange thing except that the fire was deliberately lit by the Chu army.
At this moment, Zhuge Liang was completely desperate.
He originally thought that Niu Jin's troops were wiped out just by chance, and it was not because Yan Liang had figured out his plan. However, the changes that happened in the Chu camp completely shattered his last glimmer of hope.
The Han soldiers on the left and right looked gloomy, feeling sad for the loss of the five thousand brothers.
Although Cao Ren no longer complained to Zhuge Liang, he kept sighing, and his sense of blame was self-evident.
Zhuge Liang was ashamed, annoyed and frightened. He clenched his fists tightly and stared at Chu Ying with gritted teeth. He cursed Yan Liang thousands of times in his heart.
In the Chu camp, a group of scouts galloped into the camp and arrived directly in front of Yan Liang's chariot.
"Your Majesty, General Zhao has wiped out 5,000 enemy bandits and killed the enemy general Niu Jin. I will now offer his head to Your Majesty.
The scout reported the victory and presented the bloody head with both hands.
The news of this victory made the Chu army soldiers present all excited and excited.
Yan Liang was calm, this victory was within his expectation.
"Where's Hu Che'er?" Yan Liang asked loudly.
"Che'er is here." Hu Che'er rode forward.
Yan Liang pointed his riding whip at the head: "Throw this golden head into Ye City. I will scare Zhuge Liang out of his wits."
"No." Hu Che'er accepted the order, took the bloody head, rode out of the camp, and headed straight for the south gate of Ye City.
At this time, at the top of Yecheng, the Han army from Zhuge Liang on down was still immersed in panic.
Hu Che'er rode his horse through the snow. Although he was riding alone, he caused a commotion among the Han army.
Hu Che'er reined up his horse just a stone's throw away, held up the head in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Zhuge Liang, this is a gift from my emperor to you, accept it, haha——"
Amidst the wild laughter, Hu Cheer violently swung his thick arm and threw the head in his hand.
Under the action of the strange force, the bloody head drew a wonderful arc, crossed a distance of more than a hundred steps, and headed straight for the city.
On the top of the city, Zhuge Liang was frightened. His face turned pale with fright, and he quickly retreated back.
Unexpectedly, the man's head came very quickly, and in the blink of an eye, he hit the tower heavily with a "bang".
At this time, Zhuge Liang just retreated to the bottom of the city tower, and the head fell down. It happened to fall on Zhuge Liang's body.
"Ah~~" Zhuge Liang screamed, as if he had stepped on dog poop, he jumped out of the way.
The head fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and stopped a few steps in front of Zhuge Liang.
Niu Jin's blood-stained face was frozen in fear, and he looked straight at Zhuge Liang, at Cao Ren, and at the frightened soldiers.
Zhuge Liang was so frightened that he did not dare to look at the dead man's face, so he quickly moved his eyes away.
However, Cao Ren's face was ashen as he stepped forward with difficulty and picked up Niu Jin's head.
Seeing the tragic death of his beloved general, Cao Ren's indignation surged in his chest like a river bursting its banks.
"Yan Thief, Yan Thief, you destroy my Cao family and kill my beloved general. If I, Cao Ren, don't cut off your head with my own hands, I will not be a human being!"
Cao Ren once again accused Yan Liang of his crimes and swore angrily.
Seeing this, Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes, waved his feather fan, and shouted angrily: "Soldiers of the Han Dynasty, the traitor killed my comrades and destroyed my home. It is really an unforgivable crime. Let us muster up our spirits and fight to the death.
Fight and avenge my dead relatives and friends."
Zhuge Liang cannot absolve himself of the blame for today's defeat. He naturally wanted to transfer everyone's blame for him to their resentment towards Yan Liang.
Zhuge Liang raised his arms and called out, thinking that everyone would rise up and respond, but unexpectedly there were only a few people who responded.
Those sporadic responses seemed deserted, making Zhuge Liang even more embarrassed.
Cold sweat broke out on Zhuge Liang's back, so he had to force himself to calm down and comforted Cao Ren: "Zi Xiao, General Niu died in the battle because he sacrificed his life for the country, and it can be considered a heroic death. Don't be too sad and cheer up."
, fight for the country and avenge General Niu."
It sounds nice to say that all this tragedy has nothing to do with you, Zhuge Liang.
Cao Ren suddenly raised his head and glared at Zhuge Liang, his eyes full of resentment.
Zhuge Liang felt cold in his heart, but he could only pretend not to know and continued to comfort Cao Ren.
After taking a few deep breaths, Cao Ren reluctantly suppressed his anger. The matter had come to this, what else could he do.
After all, Zhuge Liang was a senior official. For the sake of the overall situation, even if Cao Ren had all kinds of resentment towards Zhuge Liang, he could only endure it.
Zhuge Liang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, pretended to be calm and said a few encouraging words, and then left Cao Ren to clean up the mess while he made an excuse to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
After experiencing a series of missteps and losing troops, Zhuge Liang lost his prestige, and the trust of the Han officers and soldiers in Yecheng fell to the bottom.
Zhuge Liang also knew that he had lost his prestige. In desperation, he had to hand over all the important tasks of defending the city to Cao Ren, and tactfully promised Cao Ren that he would retreat to the second line and never give directions to Cao Ren again.
Zhuge Liang took the initiative to give in to the military power, and Cao Ren's dissatisfaction with him was slightly relieved. Therefore, all matters in the army will not be reported to Zhuge Liang from now on, and he will only act arbitrarily and do things on his own.
On the surface, the conflict between Cao Ren and Zhuge Liang was greatly alleviated by Zhuge Liang's concession, but the split among the Han army was a foregone conclusion.
After the victory that day, Yan Liang once again ordered a water cannon attack on Yecheng day and night.
This high-intensity saturation attack lasted for more than a month. From the sky, the entire Ye City seemed to have turned into a frozen tomb, shaped like a dead city.
In order to keep warm, the Chu army's consumption of wood also increased sharply. As the siege continued, the Chu army's firewood supply fell into a shortage again.
At this time, the Chu army's siege and attack began to intensify.
Four hundred improved city-breaking artillery pieces were smoothly transported to the front line of Yecheng. Following the water dragon cannons, they also joined the array that destroyed Yecheng.
Although the weight of the stone projectiles thrown by this improved city-breaking cannon has not increased, its range has been greatly improved.
Although Zhuge Liang evacuated the buildings on the outskirts of Ye City, except for the garrison at the top of the city, all the people and horses took refuge in the inner city line. He thought that the Chu army, whether it was water dragon cannons or city-breaking artillery, could not threaten his army.
But this improved city-breaking cannon shot huge stone projectiles mercilessly into farther parts of the city.
On that day, the stone cannons attacked the city. The Han army was unprepared and suffered heavy losses. More than a thousand soldiers were killed or wounded.
Such a terrifying and sudden attack naturally frightened the troops in the city even more, and a defeatist mood spread among the Han troops like a plague.
In order to avoid the Chu army's stone bullets, the shocked Cao Ren had to order the relocation of the barracks to the central area of Yecheng.
There was a shortage of firewood, grain and grass were about to be exhausted, and water dragons and stone bullets attacked the city day and night. The Han army's body and mind were undergoing unprecedented torture, and the soldiers' endurance was close to the limit of collapse.
Zhuge Liang retreated to the second line. For more than ten days in a row, he hid in the Prime Minister's Mansion. He could not leave the front door and did not see any visitors. He seemed not to care about the situation outside the Prime Minister's Mansion.
With Zhuge Liang letting go, all the pressure naturally fell on Cao Ren. The former top general of the Cao family, faced with such a predicament, gradually became unable to cope with the situation and showed signs of being unable to sustain himself.
That day, Cao Ren really couldn't stand it anymore, so he had to bite the bullet and go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to see Zhuge Liang.
After a long while, the servant replied and asked Cao Ren to come in.
When Cao Ren entered the main hall of the Prime Minister's Mansion, he saw Zhuge Liang sitting upright, drinking good wine and reading a book leisurely.
Zhuge Liang's leisurely attitude was in sharp contrast to Cao Ren's anxiety, which made Cao Ren feel very uncomfortable.
"Prime Minister." Cao Ren stepped forward reluctantly and bowed his hands.
Zhuge Liang was startled for a moment, then looked down and pretended to be surprised when he saw Cao Ren in front of him.
"Zixiao, you are responsible for guarding the city, how can you still have time to see an idle guy like me?" There was a hint of irony in Zhuge Liang's words.
Cao Ren frowned slightly and said displeasedly: "The situation in the city is extremely critical, but the Prime Minister still has the leisure to drink and read here. It's really leisurely and relaxing."
Cao Ren was also satirizing Zhuge Liang for staying out of the matter and countering Zhuge Liang's sarcasm just now.
"Alas~~" Zhuge Liang sighed, "How can I be leisurely and relaxed here? Just because I made several mistakes in the past, I felt that I was not resourceful, so I could only read more and practice my resourcefulness."
Although Zhuge Liang was mocking himself, Cao Ren sounded extremely harsh.
Cao Ren knew that Zhuge Liang's words were all secretly blaming himself for not giving him face when he was at the top of the city.
"The Prime Minister of a country is so narrow-minded, alas..."
After Cao Ren sighed in his heart, he took a deep breath, raised his hands and said seriously: "Former Ren was impulsive and was indeed disrespectful to the Prime Minister. Ren apologizes to the Prime Minister here. The situation in Yecheng is now extremely critical. It can be said that it is a matter of life and death."
At the last moment, Ren hopes that the Prime Minister can put aside the past grudges and help Ren think of countermeasures for the sake of the overall interests of the country."
Cao Ren had already apologized, and Zhuge Liang's dissatisfaction was somewhat relieved.
As for the danger of Ye City, although Zhuge Liang avoided it, how could he not know that once the city was destroyed, the most unlucky person would probably be Zhuge Liang, who had a deep hatred for Yan Liang.
In this way, how could Zhuge Liang stay out of the matter?
After letting out a long sigh, Zhuge Liang said slowly: "At this point, I'm afraid there is no other option but to abandon the city and break out of the siege."