Chapter 374: Desperate Breakout, Past Reappearance The fall of Wancheng was actually not something incredible. After all, Cao Ang and others had already been trapped in a desperate situation. The incident started at the end of April in the seventh year of Jian'an, when Cao Ang, after his defeat, retreated into Wancheng and defended the city. At this time, Cao Ren sent Zhu Ling to reinforce, so that the defenders in the city returned to more than 20,000 people, laying a foundation for holding out. By mid-June, Guan Yu had pacified Yingchuan and Chenliu counties, and Cao Ren had no choice but to retreat to Wancheng. At this time, Cao Ang had been holding out in Wancheng for two months, and Cao Ren was ambushed by Qin Zhen before he reached Wancheng. In this battle, Cao Ren was nearly captured by Taishi Ci and other generals. Fortunately, Cao Ang led his troops to break out from the city and rescued him, allowing him to enter the city safely. At this point, Cao Ren and Cao Ang had more than 40,000 men under their command, which was basically the same as Qin Zhen's troops. As soon as Cao Ren arrived, Xun You suggested that Cao Ang withdraw from Wancheng as soon as possible, not to fight any more, and to retreat directly to Guanzhong. After the fall of Yingchuan, Wancheng has now become an isolated city. Although they still have 40,000 troops, they have completely cut off contact with Guanzhong.

In such an extreme situation, they could not hold out for long, and only retreat could save these troops. But after hearing this, Cao Ren asked Xun You a question in return: Do they still have a chance to withdraw to Guanzhong now? The answer is yes. Qin Zhen would not give them any chance to escape. After Cao Chun was defeated, Xi County was captured by Qin Zhen. In other words, Qin Zhen firmly grasped the only way for them to enter Guanzhong from the west. As long as they moved, Qin Zhen would definitely hold them back. If they wanted to withdraw their troops from Wan County to Guanzhong, they would have to pass through the 800-li Qinchuan Pass. The road was full of mountains and it would take more than a month to walk, not to mention that there were pursuers behind them. So in Cao Ren's view, retreating was a dead end, and the only way to wait for Cao Cao's reinforcements was to defend the city. But how could Xun You not know this problem? The reason why he persuaded Cao Ang to station troops was because he judged that Cao Cao would definitely not be able to reinforce! Just like the reason why Cao Ren refused to withdraw his troops, Qinchuan is 800 miles long. How many troops would Cao Cao need to bring to provide reinforcements? How many civilians and food would be needed for these troops to march south? Cao Cao couldn't support an 800-li supply line! Therefore, in Xun You's opinion, even if Cao Cao returned to Chang'an, Wancheng would be abandoned by Cao Cao as a pawn. Their only way to survive was to break out as quickly as possible before Qin Zhen and Guan Yu could encircle them. As for the question of whether Qin Zhen would pursue him, Xun You also had a plan, which was to break out by splitting the whole into small groups and dividing the troops into ten teams. This would certainly result in the loss of a large number of troops, but compared to the annihilation of the entire army, even if only half of the troops could be brought back to Guanzhong, it would be a profit. What's more, Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang is still here. Anyone of them can stay, except Cao Ang. After all, from the perspective of a subject, Cao Cao is the lord and Cao Ang is the young master, and Xun You has the responsibility to ensure Cao Ang's safety. However, when Xun You expressed his thoughts to Cao Ang, Cao Ang resolutely refused. His original words were: "The teacher once told me that when accomplishing a great cause, people should be the most important. Since they are my soldiers, their lives should be protected." "How can you use the lives of others to exchange for Ang's own survival? Ang is a foolish man, so I wish to stay here. If you want to leave, you can go. Ang will do his best to help you." Cao Ang's statement naturally made all his soldiers grateful, and the delay of a few days also allowed Guan Yu to successfully join forces with Qin Zhen. The two armies gathered together with a total strength of more than 80,000. The soldiers and horses were everywhere and surrounded Wancheng. The retreat route of Cao's army was cut off and they had no chance of survival.

After several days of siege, Liu Bei's army launched an attack. In two months, Qin Zhen filled the moat and manufactured a large number of siege equipment. In contrast, the consumption of food and supplies in the city increased, and even the firewood for cooking was insufficient. This is also the biggest disadvantage of defending a city. It is impossible to obtain resources like the garrison outside. If there is no stockpiling in advance, the troops will be easily exhausted once they are in large numbers. Coincidentally, since Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao, although he was able to continue to guard Wancheng due to special circumstances, Cao Cao never relaxed his defenses. In order to prevent Zhang Xiu from rebelling again, he took certain restrictive measures on the supplies in Wancheng, making it difficult for Zhang Xiu to stockpile military supplies. Zhang Xiu knew Cao's intention, so he never deliberately stockpiled too much supplies, and only kept three months of grain in the city. Before this, neither Cao Cao nor Zhang Xiu thought there was anything unusual about this. After all, three months of holding out was enough time for Cao Cao to send reinforcements. Once Zhang Xiu rebelled, it would be difficult for him to last more than three months with the stored food, and Cao Cao could also quell the rebellion as quickly as possible. It was such a protective measure that put the city in a difficult situation. Faced with the attack of Liu Bei's army, the soldiers in the city had low morale. Liu Bei's army almost gained a foothold on the wall several times in one day. Fortunately, Li Dian, Cao Ren and other generals fought to the death and finally stopped the enemy. The war was finally stopped and Xun You persuaded Cao Ang to break out. This time, after witnessing the bravery of Liu Bei's soldiers, Cao Ang agreed to the suggestion. However, unlike Xun You's original plan of dividing his forces for a surprise attack, Cao Ang planned to concentrate his forces to break through a single point and try to attack into Yingchuan from the east gate. Cao Ang's idea was certainly not a snap decision. The reason he went east was because Liu Bei's army was surrounded on three sides and only the west gate was free of enemy troops. But since ancient times, there must be a gap in the siege, and outside the missing gate, there are often a large number of ambushes, so the west cannot be broken through. There are mountains to the north, and Qin Zhen’s main force is to the south. The only way out is to the east, which is under Guan Yu’s charge. Even if facing Guan Yu, once successful, they could penetrate deep into the enemy's heart and head north to Luoyang through Yingchuan. In comparison, Luoyang has fewer troops and can go directly west into Hongnong County, which is much more convenient than going north through Wuguan. Naturally, his proposal was approved by Xun You, but he also offered Cao Ang a plan, asking him to send a general to break out from the west to attract the enemy's attention. Then, while the enemy was besieging the breakout troops in the west, their main force launched a comprehensive breakthrough from the east. This will distract the enemy's attention and allow their main force to successfully break through. If they are lucky, their force will also be able to successfully break out to the west. Following this plan, Cao Ang ordered Li Dian to lead 5,000 troops to break out to the west, while he and Cao Ren and others broke out to the east. So on the night of June 28th, taking advantage of the quiet night, Wancheng was quietly opened, and 5,000 men under Li Dian charged into the darkness in the west. Anyone who has been a student knows what 5,000 people mean. If they were lined up on the playground, they would be a huge crowd! The gate of Wancheng was not wide, and could only accommodate six people standing side by side. The soldiers in front and behind were half a step apart. It was not until Li Dian's front army rushed out four hundred steps, or more than seven hundred meters, that the troops in the rear rushed out. At that time, it was exactly the second watch, and Li Dian's five thousand men were like adventurers, charging into the darkness without hesitation. Just two quarters of an hour had passed, or less than thirty minutes to be exact, when suddenly a burst of shouting and screaming was heard from the west. Li Dian had been ambushed. In the darkness, it was unclear how many soldiers were outside the city, and how many soldiers were surrounding Li Dian. In short, there were sounds of shouting and killing everywhere. Cao Ang was originally preparing to rush out directly, but Xun You asked him to wait for another three quarters of an hour. He must give Qin Zhen enough time to transfer troops to the west so that they could break out. In this way, after more than half an hour, Cao Ang, with Cao Ren as the vanguard, led 8,000 soldiers and horses to break out of Wancheng first.

Compared with Li Dian's 5,000 men, it would take several times longer for the 30,000-plus troops, excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled, to leave the city, so they had to be divided into three armies. When Cao Ang's main force had just left the city, they heard a fierce shout of killing in front of them. Cao Ang saw it and raised his sword and said: "If we succeed in breaking out now, we can all survive. If we fail, we will all die. Gentlemen, follow me and fight!" With a shout, Cao Ang led his troops into the night, ready to break through the blockade of Guan Yu's soldiers. Originally, Cao Ang thought that it was only Guan Yu's branch that was blocking the way ahead, and as long as they broke through, they would be able to escape. As a result, when he led the main force to the main road, he saw countless soldiers and horses lined up in the distance. Qin Zhen stood under an umbrella in the distance and shouted: "Zi Xiu, don't resist. It's not too late to surrender now. Why do you insist on resisting?" It is true that no one knows a son better than his father. Cao Ang almost grew up under Qin Zhen's care. No one knows better than Qin Zhen what he taught Cao Ang and what Cao Ang learned. Just as he knew that Cao Ang would help him, he could now predict what method and direction Cao Ang would choose to break out. So he had quietly moved his camp to the east and set up a large number of ambushes in the east, with his main force almost at the east gate. In other words, what Cao Ang faced this time when he broke out was not an ambush, but a large army that could surround him head-on. As the person who set up this big net, he knew that Cao Ang would be in danger of death if he went any further, so he had to step forward to dissuade him. But when Cao Ang heard this, he smiled knowingly, and looked at Qin Zhen in the distance with his eyes blurred: "Thank you for your advice, sir. I will repay you in my next life. I'm sorry I can't be polite. All troops, listen to my orders and break through!!!" His voice was very low at first, and even his left and right could hardly hear it. It was not until the whole army obeyed his orders that he shouted loudly. So in the eyes of the soldiers, Cao Ang gave an order to break out! Qin Zhen could only hear one order from a distance: break out! Without giving him any chance to react, Cao Ang led his troops and launched a desperate attack on the army formation ahead. There was not even time to give Qin Zhen the order to capture him alive. When Guan Yu saw the enemy attacking, he led his generals to meet the troops in front. Zhang Liao, Taishi Ci, Gao Shun, Xu Sheng, Xu Kun, Zhu Ran, Pan Zhang, Wei Xu, Huo Jun, Liao Chun, Jiang Qin, and Guan Yu. More than a dozen generals who were capable of fighting a large-scale battle led their troops into Cao Ang's army and launched a comprehensive attack. With tens of thousands of people mingling together, Qin Zhen almost lost sight of Cao Ang in an instant, and just as he was looking for him, Cao's army began to disintegrate. In a daze, he could only hear the enemy's shouts that the general was dead and those who surrendered would not be killed, and a sudden pain came over him. This went on for a long time. Listening to the shouting in the distance, Qin Zhen shed two lines of tears at the corners of his eyes and closed his eyes reluctantly. The bank of the Yu River was right in front of him, and the young man he had saved a few years ago was sent to his grave today. In a trance, he seemed to hear the sound of Zou's piano again, echoing on the Yushui River, accompanying the river slowly away, and lingering in his ears for a long time. PS: I was caught up on something so there is only one chapter today, I'm sorry (End of this chapter)