Chapter 382 Battle of Xiapi – Part 2 (2/2)
Pu Jing Army survived with 3,500 spearmen, 1,500 horsemen, and 15,000 archers. He had 20,000 soldiers remaining to fight against Yuan Shao's 15,000 archers on the wall and 24,000 Tian Feng's ambush soldiers.
A heavy responsibility fell upon Pu Jing. Tomorrow, he might have to fight 39,000 soldiers with only 20,000 men.
'Damn it, Mengde!'
.
At night, Yuan Shao obtained the result of the first-day siege battle. When he heard about the combat at the south gate where Yan Liang protected, he was at a loss of words.
The south wall was in ruin, and it would not be suitable to defend.
Yuan Shao called over the secondary strategists for their opinion, Guo Tu and Shen Pei.
”What do you think of today's battle?”
Shen Pei stepped forward, ”My lord, it's obvious that all of our cannon crews were spies of Cao Cao! We should kill all of them and replace with new crew members!”
Guo Tu also agreed, ”Indeed! I found out during the fight that they didn't use the correct gunpowder to shoot any cannon. Sir Yan Liang managed to counter-attack after he had replaced the entire crews. I think we have to get rid of all threats within our ranks first!”
Listened to his advisors, Yuan Shao made up his mind, ”Hear my order! I want all cannon battalion soldiers dead! Tell the commanders that they are Cao Cao's spies, and I want to see their heads on sunrise tomorrow!”
.
5 AM, the next morning, one thousand heads were piled before each gate. They were the dead cannon crews that Xiahou Yuan had bribed.
Because of such action, all garrisoning troops lost 4,000 soldiers from the execution.
Xiahou Yuan broke a cold sweat when he heard the news. As he was afraid that Yuan Shao and the others might find out about their status, he messaged Cao Cao in the clan chat.
Xiahou Yuan: ”Mengde! They have started killing our men this morning!”
Cao Cao: ”I know. I can see the heads.”
Xiahou Yuan: ”Isn't it the time for me to break out!? We need to get out of here before someone rats us!”
Cao Cao: ”I know. I'm sure one of them will.”
Xiahou Yuan: ”Then, help me get us out of here!”
Cao Cao: ”Nah. Be patient and stay there. If you're captured or they come for you, do not resist and keep refusing their accusation.”
Xiahou Yuan: ”WHAT!?”
Cao Cao: ”Tell Xu Chu and Guo Jia about this too. Do what I said. Don't question me.”
Xiahou Yuan: ”…”
The archer general was helpless. Since Cao Cao wanted him to remain inside Xiapi, he turned to Guo Jia, hoping for his opinion.
”Oh, did our lord tell us to wait inside the city?”
”Yes. What do you think?”
”No problem! Actually, I have the same idea.”
”What!?”
”They're going to come and arrest all of us soon, so we should tell our men not to resist. Also, whatever they ask you, do not confess that we're Cao Cao's men.”
”Are you nuts!? We're going to get executed! Let's break out of here!”
”That would make things harder for everyone. I'm sorry, Sir Xiahou. For the sake of outsmarting Tian Feng, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Tong, our future ploy is going to be very risky and unpredictable from now on.”
”We can just blast them with our cannons! What's the point of this complicated stratagem!?”
Guo Jia sighed, ”Destroying walls will damage this city's economic power and people's trust after we took it. People treat county walls as a symbol of security and prosperity. High wall counties usually had more merchants visiting than the smaller size ones.”
When Guo Jia reminded him about the relativity of wall height and city economy, Xiahou Yuan recalled that Xuchang also had higher walls than other Cao Cao's affiliate cities. Also, Xuchang was more prosper than the other cities with smaller walls.
”I-It relates?”
”Yes. It has been like this since the age of the Warring States. We have to do this because we're falling behind Zhang Tong's forces by a large margin. To catch up with Zhang Tong's military power, we have to expand fast and efficient. We can't keep stopping our unification campaign to develop our damaged cities all the times. Before Zhang Tong can solve the barbarian invasion issues, we have to grow stronger as fast as possible. We need more soldiers and resources, Sir Xiahou.”
”…”
”Well, for now, leave the long-term plans to our lord and me. Let's get ready to surrender.”
.
One hour later, Xiahou Yuan's bad dream came true as Yuan Shao's 10,000 men surrounded his camp. They found out about their relationship with the cannon crews.
”Miao Cai! I know that you're in there! Surrender now, or we'll kill all of you!”
Guo Jia shrugged, ”Let's go. Just keep refusing their claim, and let me do the rest.”
Xiahou Yuan was still nervous. His hands and legs could not stop shaking, ”Fine.”