frightfiction Chapter 775 Three Strongholds Conquered in Succession
Chapter 775 Three Strongholds Conquered in Succession
Since it is a camp, it is necessary to build houses for living, otherwise wouldn't the soldiers in the camp be miserable when it rains?
Therefore, the Wei army built many thatched huts in the camp. At night, except for the sentries on night watch, most of them lived in the huts. However, the sentries on night watch had been rendered incapable of fighting by the previous wave of arrows and posed no threat to Zhang Bao and E Huan.
Zhang Bao and E Huan rushed towards the thatched hut built against the cliff face on the opposite side, intending to block the Wei army's gate, but things were not that simple.
Although the Wei soldiers were fast asleep, they were all sleeping fully clothed and ready for battle. Upon hearing the noise, they almost reflexively got up and rushed out of their rooms. By the time Zhang Bao arrived, two Wei soldiers had already left.
Zhang Bao, however, was completely unafraid and suddenly jumped up, kicking down two Wei soldiers and knocking down the Wei soldiers behind them at the same time. Taking advantage of the opportunity, E Huan rushed forward and slashed with his sword.
Zhang Bao also got up and rushed into the house with E Huan to attack the Wei army.
Both he and E Huan were top-notch generals. Although the Wei army had a large number of troops, the space inside the room was too small, so they could not make use of their numerical advantage. Zhang Bao and E Huan could knock down several of them as soon as they cut down one of them.
The Wei soldiers in the distance, fearing they might harm their own troops, dared not fire arrows. They could only rush out from other doors, intending to circle around behind the two men, or use arrows to attack the Han soldiers who were climbing down the cliff to provide support. But...
The Han soldiers who had previously fired arrows from the cliff top did not all get up. Instead, they switched to a full casket of Zhuge Repeating Crossbows and continued to wait. When the Wei soldiers rushed out of the house, they decisively pulled the trigger. After firing, they switched to another Zhuge Repeating Crossbow.
Zhang Bao and E Huan entered the house, and without any restraint, they began to act recklessly.
The poor Wei army was unable to raise their heads due to the dense firepower from Zhuge's repeating crossbows, and could only watch helplessly as more than a dozen Han soldiers successfully climbed to the bottom of the cliff by grabbing ropes.
After landing and assembling, the dozen or so Han soldiers did not go to support Zhang Bao and E Huan. Instead, they rushed to the front, opened the gate, and carried out the wooden planks that were standing behind the gate to place on the trench built by the Wei army. Then they blew the charge horn at their waists.
Having arrived nearby and heard the bugle call to charge, Jiang Wei rushed over and charged into the camp, stepping on the wooden planks.
The rest was simple. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the Wei army had almost no chance against the well-prepared and superior Han army. They were forced to surrender after only a quarter of an hour.
The Wei army lost, and lost utterly. What's even more tragic is that they took advantage of the chaos before Jiang Wei arrived to light the beacon fires signaling for reinforcements. It's estimated that the Wei troops from the other two camps are already heading this way.
After Jiang Wei ordered his army to confiscate the weapons of the Wei army, he went to find Zhang Bao and E Huan. Seeing the two covered in blood, he couldn't help but ask with concern, "How are you? Are you badly injured?"
It was impossible for them not to get injured in this situation, and since neither of them was wearing armor for ease of movement, Jiang Wei was quite worried about the extent of their injuries.
Zhang Bao patted his chest and laughed, "It's all enemy blood. I only got a small cut on my arm, it's nothing. What about you, E Huan?"
E Huan replied in a similarly muffled voice, "It's just a superficial injury, nothing serious. I must say, the young general's martial arts are truly amazing, I'm impressed."
E Huan was recognized as the number one expert in the south, and he used to be very proud of this. However, after arriving at the front line, he realized that he had underestimated the heroes of the world. It seemed that there were more than two hands in the Han army who could defeat him, such as Jiang Wei and Zhang Bao.
He had sparred with Zhang Bao several times in the past few days, only to find, to his dismay, that he was no match for him at all.
Jiang Wei laughed and said, "That's good. The Wei reinforcements should be here. Send someone to take the prisoners back first, then notify the blocking army to fight and retreat, and lure the Wei reinforcements here so we can harvest another wave."
They devised two plans for this raid. If the battle at the main camp was at a stalemate, they would have the blocking army hold the line and block the reinforcements to buy them time. If the battle went smoothly, they would fight and retreat, luring the Wei reinforcements to this side to deal with them all at once.
At Jiang Wei's command, two nimble soldiers quickly left the camp to deliver a message to the blocking army.
It takes time for Wei reinforcements to see the distress signal, assemble their forces, and arrive at the blocking position. Jiang Wei acted too quickly, resulting in the main battle being over before the blocking force even saw the Wei army.
As a result, both blocking armies received Jiang Wei's latest orders but still hadn't seen the Wei army. Upon receiving the news, the blocking army decisively adopted the second plan, sending half of the soldiers to climb back up the mountain with ropes, leaving only the other half to block the Wei army.
After completing their deployment, the Wei reinforcements arrived in a panic. Seeing that the road was blocked by the Han army, they immediately launched an attack. The Han army fought and retreated, pretending to be no match for the Wei army but desperately trying to buy time for Jiang Wei to deceive the Wei army.
Jiang Wei also ordered his troops to raise their swords and clash with each other in the camp, shouting loudly to create the illusion that the Wei army in the camp was putting up a desperate resistance, urging the Wei army reinforcements to hurry up.
Urged on by the sounds of battle, the Wei reinforcements continued to advance, quickly pushing back the Han army that was blocking their path for several miles.
As soon as they retreated, the Han soldiers who had climbed back up the mountain climbed down the mountain again using ropes, blocking their retreat route.
Half an hour later, the blocking army finally retreated to its camp under the attack of the Wei reinforcements. Jiang Wei, who was performing in the camp, immediately called a halt and stepped forward to shout to the Wei reinforcements: "Wei brothers, you have been tricked, surrender!"
Upon hearing this, the two Wei army commanders who had come to provide support from their respective camps and successfully met up outside the camps changed their expressions drastically. They exchanged a glance and decisively chose to retreat.
Jiang Wei and Zhang Bao each led an army in full pursuit, and then the two Wei armies were blocked in the valley where they had previously encountered the Han army's blocking force, and were trapped in a desperate situation with encirclement in front, pursuit behind, and cliffs on both sides.
Jiang Wei and Zhang Bao, who were in charge of the pursuit, stepped forward to persuade the two Wei army commanders to surrender. They appealed to their emotions and reasoned with them, and after being given enough leeway, the two Wei army commanders had no choice but to surrender.
Jiang Wei and Zhang Bao did not withdraw their troops, but left some soldiers to guard the prisoners, and then led the Wei army commanders to their respective camps.
Each Wei army camp only had two or three hundred men, and the supreme commander was Qu Chang, who led the rescue team. Now Qu Chang has surrendered, and the camp's garrison has lost less than half of its strength due to the rescue. The Han army is attacking from the rear of the camp. Under these circumstances, how can the Wei army inside the camp resist?
Therefore, the Wei troops in the two camps had no choice but to surrender after being persuaded by their respective commanders, and the Han army successfully took over the three Wei camps.
Time quickly passed to late afternoon, and Sun Lang led his troops to arrive, taking over the garrison rights of the three Wei fortresses from Jiang Wei.
This was a pre-arranged plan: the Wudang Flying Army would only be responsible for offense, not defense. After taking Wei Village, Sun Lang would lead his troops to take over, so that the Wudang Flying Army could free up its resources to attack the next camp.
After successfully completing the handover with Sun Lang, Jiang Wei, Zhang Bao, and E Huan met up at the main camp. They put their arms around each other and said, "Let's go back and report to the Third General. He's waiting for us."
The three men led their troops back to the county town with the prisoners. When they saw Zhang Fei waiting outside the city, they quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Reporting to the Third General, I have successfully completed my mission last night. I captured three Wei army camps, captured 543 Wei soldiers, and killed 86 Wei soldiers."
Zhang Fei patted Jiang Wei on the shoulder and laughed loudly: "Well done! At this rate, I believe it won't be long before we can wipe out the Wei army's spies in the mountains. The banquet is ready, brothers, come with me into the city and have a good meal."
After working so hard all night, how can you not have a good meal?
Jiang Wei then pointed to the prisoners behind him and asked, "What about these Wei soldiers?"
Zhang Fei waved his hand and said, "Let Shen Yi handle it; it's his responsibility."