Chapter 355: Two Frauds, Jiangling Falls On the other side, in Jiangling City, it is said that Cai Mao received a reply from Cai Feng and was ready to use the same trick against him. He first followed Huo Jun's advice and asked him to take a detour to launch a surprise attack on Qin Zhen's camp, and then ordered the soldiers to guard the camp strictly. He then personally went to the city wall to patrol, to guard against Qin Zhen's troops from launching a surprise attack on the city. In April, the climate in Jingzhou has just warmed up. As it was in the Little Ice Age, the winters were cold and the summers were extremely hot. The time of spring and autumn between winter and summer is greatly shortened, resulting in huge temperature differences within a day. There was still a light breeze during the day, but at night, a strong wind suddenly came, making the trees outside the city rustle. Cai Mao listened to the wind outside the city and couldn't help but start thinking about how Qin Zhen would move and how he should respond. While thinking about this, he discovered another problem. It seemed that Qin Zhen released the vague information intentionally! Because if he was prepared to cooperate according to Qin Zhen's words, then no matter how Qin Zhen attacked, he could respond to all changes with the same attitude.

It's just a matter of losing the city. As long as he cooperates with the information outside the city, he can help them take the city. But if he was going to turn against them, he wouldn't know how to deal with it because he didn't know Qin Zhen's arrangements! In other words, when Qin Zhen met him today, he spoke nicely, but his actions were actually intended to prevent him from turning against him! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look towards the night sky in the east, and Qin Zhen's face appeared in front of him. There is no doubt that Qin Zhen is the most difficult person he has ever met in his life, no doubt about it! I just wonder if his fire attack will work tonight? Can he repel Qin Zhen this time? While he was thinking, a gust of east wind blew again, blinding his eyes and making him rub them. Seeing the wind was getting stronger, he was about to go down to the city to rest, but he saw a soldier walking quickly towards him and said: "My Lord, a troop of soldiers is coming through the north gate, saying that they are sent by the Lord to reinforce Jiangling, and they request that our army open the gate!" Cai Mao's eyes were rubbed until some tears came out, but the stinging feeling made him more awake, and he asked hurriedly: "How many soldiers are there outside the city? Whose flag are they fighting under? Do they have the lord's order?" He was almost certain that the soldiers outside the city were the team sent by Qin Zhen to seize the city, but out of caution, he still asked a few more questions. The soldiers quickly replied that Han Xi's troops numbered about several thousand, and the commander said they came in a hurry and had not received any orders to transfer them. "Who is Han Xi? Is he qualified to lead 5,000 soldiers? If he is coming to help, he must be accompanied by Liu Hu!" When Cai Mao heard this, he sneered. Han Xi was a minor general under Liu Biao and often served as Liu Hu's deputy. Judging from the current situation, if Liu Biao really wants to reinforce Jiangling, he must send his nephew Liu Hu to fight. The general outside the city called himself Han Xi, most likely he had only a vague understanding of the generals under his command and was ordered to come and deceive the city. After thinking everything through, he went down the east gate and headed towards the north gate. When he reached the city gate, he called Han Xi out to see him. Taishi Ci was still unsure of what Cai Mao was thinking, so he had to order his young generals to go forward and talk to him, hoping to trick the city gatekeepers into opening. Unexpectedly, the young general was in a hurry, and a long arrow was shot towards the city, hitting the young general in the chest. Then Cai Mao poked his head out and said:

"How dare you, a cowardly rat, come and attack the city! Go back and tell Qin Zhen that I, Cai Mao, will never surrender even to my death!" After shouting, he ordered his archers to shoot towards the city. Taishi Ci was shocked when he saw this and urged his horse to retreat. When he was within an arrow's reach of the city, he pointed at the city wall and cursed Cai Mao for being unfaithful and having no intention of attacking. Then he immediately ordered his troops to attack. But before he could launch a feint attack, he heard a soldier come to report that a fire had broken out in the southeast, so Qin Zhen ordered a retreat. Taishi Ci had heard Qin Zhen's orders before he arrived, and when he heard the fire, he had to order the entire army to retreat in panic. Cai Mao heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Taishi Ci retreat, but then he heard a young general beside him say happily: "Look, my lord. There is already a fire in the east. The enemy camp is on fire. Our army's plan must have worked!" Upon hearing this, Cai Mao squinted his eyes and saw that there was indeed a fire in the forest in the southeast direction, and the fire was extremely raging. Seeing this, he was overjoyed, thinking that Qin Zhen had finally fallen into the trap, no wonder Taishi Ci retreated in a hurry. In his joy, he thought that this plan was suggested by Huo Jun, and couldn't help thinking that this boy had extraordinary talent, and perhaps he could be won over in the future. While he was thinking about it, he saw another soldier coming over and reporting that there was a fleet coming upstream from the south gate in the distance. Upon hearing this, Cai Mao headed towards the South Gate again, and suddenly saw a fleet of ships with lights on, moving quickly in the distance. Seeing the fleet approaching, he knew that Huo Jun had returned from a surprise attack, and without waiting for the fleet to get closer, he smiled and said: "Zhong Miao's burning of the enemy camp today can drive Qin Zhen away, which will be a great achievement. I will personally report the achievement to Zhong Miao!" Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw the fleet stop at the shore, and when they reached the city gate, they shouted: "My Lord, please open the city gate quickly. We are being chased by the enemy. The general has been injured by the enemy and is no longer able to fight!" The moonlight was bright at this time. Cai Mao squinted his eyes and looked down, only to see a group of people carrying a person to the foot of the city. In the distance, a large number of ships could be seen chasing on the river, and there was also dust rising in the distance to the east. Seeing this, he did not suspect anything and quickly ordered his soldiers to open the city gates and let the troops outside the city in. After the soldiers entered the city, pursuers came from a distance, and he hurriedly ordered his soldiers to shoot and stop them. But suddenly there was a commotion outside the city, followed by a loud shout: "Fight for me!" As soon as the voice rang out, Cai Mao was confused and had no idea what was going on. But at this moment, the enemy outside the city saw that they were advancing again, and one general hurriedly shouted: "General Xu has captured the city gate. My men, hurry up and capture Jiangling and capture Cai Mao alive!" As soon as he shouted, his subordinates shouted to capture Cai Mao alive and rushed towards the city. Suddenly, shouts and cries of killing rose from below the city, and soon the drawbridge fell down, and the city gate was blocked by Xu Sheng. Seeing this, Cai Mao knew that he had fallen into Qin Zhen's trap, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers in the city to resist the enemy. There were more than 15,000 people in Jiangling City. After Huo Jun took away 3,000 people, there were still 12,000. In order to guard against Qin Zhen's surprise attack, Cai Mao arranged a total of 4,000 people to guard the four gates and be on guard inside the city. Although the city gate was open at this time, Cai Mao had no intention of abandoning the city, and hurriedly led his men to charge down the city. But at this time, Xu Sheng had already stood in the city. Seeing the soldiers and horses pouring in from the city, he ordered his men to form a formation and block the way for the soldiers and horses to go down the city.

The city stairs were not narrow, but now they were filled with soldiers from both armies, who tried to get down but could not move. Cai Mao, who was on the city wall, turned around and saw that the enemy soldiers were only a hundred steps away. He ordered everyone to fetch battering rams and rolling stones and smash them down along the city wall. Xu Sheng was caught off guard and was scratched on the chest by the rolling stones. Blood was gushing out. Seeing this, his personal guards rushed forward to support him. But Xu Sheng pushed everyone away and shouted, "Don't retreat! Anyone who retreats even half a step will be killed immediately!" As soon as he called for unity, all his men held their shields high and stood in front of them. When one person retreated, another stepped forward. After a short delay, Li Yi, Bao Long and others had already led their troops to the foot of Jiangling City, crossed the suspension bridge and entered the city. As reinforcements from outside the city arrived, reinforcements from inside the city also came up here, and the two armies continued to fight. Cai Mao was watching the battle situation on the city wall and frowned for a moment, but then he heard a burst of shouting and killing coming from the direction of the north gate. It turned out that Taishi Ci's attempt to defraud the city failed, so he retreated, but on the way he received an order from Qin Zhen to attack. Although Taishi Ci did not know why, he still followed the order and launched another surprise attack on the north gate. At this time, because of attacks from the north and south, the reserve troops and soldiers in the city were all tied up by the battle situation at the south gate, and the north gate was empty. Upon seeing this, Taishi Ci ordered the main force to contain the enemy at the main gate, while he led 300 soldiers to climb up the city wall with grappling hooks. By the time the soldiers in the city discovered him, he had already climbed onto the city wall. With this small breakthrough, his men used grappling hooks to climb up the city wall. As more and more soldiers entered the city, the north gate was eventually lost, allowing Taishi Ci to enter the city. When Cai Mao learned of the breakthrough at the north gate, he slapped the parapet and sighed: "The loss of Jiangling today is not because I did not try my best, but because God wanted me to lose this city!" Now that the two gates were broken and all the generals under Qin Zhen's command had entered the city, he knew that Jiangling could no longer be defended. Thinking about how he defended the city with all his might but still let Qin Zhen take it, he felt sad. He no longer ordered resistance and led the remaining troops under his command to break out through the west gate. As Cai Mao broke through, the people in the city naturally had no power to resist, and in less than half an hour, it was taken by Qin Zhen. In this battle, Qin Zhen captured the fortified city of Jiangling in Nanjun at the cost of thousands of tents and more than two thousand soldiers and horses. In one battle, more than 3,000 enemies were killed and more than 6,000 soldiers were captured. The rest were scattered, and only more than 1,000 soldiers left with Cai Mao. After capturing the city, Qin Zhen moved into Jiangling City under the protection of everyone. Thanks to Cai Mao's hasty departure, the supplies in the city's treasury were intact, not to mention tents, there were even countless swords, spears, and halberds. He also had millions of dan of grain and hundreds of millions of gold, silver and other valuables, making him extremely wealthy. Liu Biao was a frugal person. After entering Jingzhou for many years, he stockpiled countless strategic materials of all kinds. These supplies should have been used to support Cao Cao in launching the Battle of Red Cliffs when he went south, but now they have been taken advantage of by Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen made a quick inventory and took out some to supplement the army, and sealed the rest first. After checking the supplies, he met with Huo Jun, the captive, overnight and asked directly: "The general and I had some friendship in the past. If the situation were not like this, I would not want to fight!" "I only ask whether the general is willing to surrender. If he is willing to surrender, I will keep him. If he is not willing to surrender, I will let him go!"

He also admired Huo Jun very much and couldn't bear to treat him like other prisoners of war. If Huo Jun really refused to surrender, he would let Huo Jun leave first and recruit him later. But when Huo Jun saw Jiangling fall, he knew that Liu Biao's luck had run out. In addition, Liu Biao was ungrateful and ungrateful, so he spoke directly: "I was defeated and knew I should die. Sir, remembering our old friendship, you advised me to surrender!" He immediately cupped his hands and bowed towards Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen was overjoyed and hurriedly helped him up. He was just supporting Huo Jun when he saw Xu Sheng walking into the hall with his upper body wrapped in bandages. He hurriedly asked: "What's wrong with Wen Xiang? Did he get stabbed? If he is injured, why doesn't he take a good rest?" Xu Sheng is now one of their generals. If he is really seriously injured, he must not show off his strength under any circumstances. After all, tetanus is an incurable disease in this era, and if you are cut by a knife, you must take it seriously. However, when Xu Sheng saw him like this, he smiled and explained that it was not a knife wound, but a scratch caused by stone fragments. Then he brought another person to Qin Zhen. This person was none other than Wang Wei, a scribe under Cai Mao, who was specifically responsible for delivering military orders. Wang Wei was originally a county official. He proposed matters that were in line with the times and was appointed as a state official. He was sent to hold the seal and convey military orders. Originally, Wang Wei held an important position and should have been taken away with Cai Mao when he left, but because Cai Mao left in a hurry, only Wang Wei was left behind. After knowing Qin Zhen's position, Xu Sheng guessed that Qin Zhen must be useful, so he hurriedly brought Qin Zhen over. When Qin Zhen heard that Wang Wei was in charge of the paperwork, he was immediately overjoyed. He stepped forward and patted Xu Sheng on the shoulder and said: "If I get this man, I can defeat Liu Pan. Now that we can clear the southern border, Wen Xiang should be the first to achieve the credit!" Having said this, he once again deployed his troops and began to plan against Liu Pan and Huang Zhong who were in the south of Jiangling. (End of this chapter)