Chapter 245: Fame, Dust and Earth

Cao Hong's head was taken back by Guan Yu.

Zhang Fei took it personally, climbed up to the well, looked in the right direction and threw it in.

Then he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Your reinforcements have been defeated! Cao Hong's head is here!"

Wancheng didn't react at all. In fact, Zhang Fei also knew that after being besieged for so many days and being shot in the face by Jingqi without the ability to fight back, Wancheng's morale had already dropped to the point of no return.

Although Cao Cao firmly believed that he would win, his soldiers couldn't see the long term. After all, Prime Minister Cao didn't have to stand on top of the city.

The young men who were conscripted to the top of the city no longer had the energy to think so much. Under the scolding and sticks, they had to pick up weapons and face dangerous positions even if they were unwilling.

Hou Yin watched all this with cold eyes. Wei Kai next to him had angry eyes every time he saw this kind of scene, and every time he got a stern warning look from Hou Yin.

Cao Hong's head was picked up, and Cao Cao mourned and buried it with his own hands. He then gave Cao Hong a sincere promise, and at the same time encouraged the people around him:

I will kill Zhang Fei to sacrifice you!

And Cao Cao’s guarantee was also very concise and powerful:

"Cao Zixiao still has 50,000 troops. Regardless of whether he can defeat Fancheng or not, his return north is not far away!"

Fifty thousand troops! It may be a bit difficult to defeat Fancheng, but it is more than enough to rescue the siege.

Cao Cao secretly hoped that Cao Ren could conquer Fancheng and then lead his elite troops northward.

But what others were thinking was: General Cao Zixiao, leave Fancheng alone! Look at your food and grass, look at Wancheng!

They knew better that what Cao Hong was escorting was life-saving food and grass. If Guan Yu cruelly burned the food and grass, General Cao Ren's army would cause a disaster in an instant.

The news that the 50,000-strong army was about to return spread throughout Wancheng, and even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei heard about it while they were under the city.

"Second brother, it seems that Wancheng is still difficult to attack after all."

Guan Yu didn't speak, just looked at Wancheng quietly, as if he could feel the pulse and breathing of the city.

"The day when the city will be destroyed is not far away."

Guan Yu suddenly said, after all, this strong man has never been a man who can endure his temper.

At the end of another day, Hou Yin threw himself on the bed, so tired that he didn't even want to take off his armor.

But he couldn't just rest like this. Hou Yin took off his leather armor, then walked lightly to the low wall, turned over, and then climbed over another courtyard wall to the south. What he saw was a dilapidated courtyard.

This courtyard changed hands several times. The original owner was said to have gone to Luoyang and was sold to a wealthy family named Li who escaped from Yanzhou. However, this wealthy family later also fled south.

Later residents did not stay here long, and it was eventually abandoned. At this moment, Wei Kai in the courtyard was already waiting here.

"Brother!" Wei Kai whispered.

"Then Cao Bing said that 50,000 troops will return soon, and General Guan's defeat is not far away."

Seeing his adopted brother's anxious look, Hou Yin shouted in a low voice:

"How could General Guan be defeated? If the Cao thieves were really powerful, General Guan could just escape by boat."

Both of them are natives of Jingzhou. After Jingzhou suffered great changes, they followed Uncle Liu's example and became sworn brothers.

Uncle Liu Huang had great ambitions, but Hou Yin thought he was not up to it, so he made an agreement with his adopted brother to protect the safety of the village. However, when Cao Jun came, he found that this wish was difficult.

But now... Hou Yin thought about it and made up his mind:

"You must help General Guan to break the city!"

Wei Kai's face was full of eagerness to try:

"Brother, do what you said! Do it!"

The moonlight was bright and the insects chirped loudly, covering up the whispers in the yard.

The next day Hou Yin and Wei Kai took the initiative to transfer to the south of the city. There were two wells standing outside the city wall. There was nothing the city could do about it, so Cao Cao didn't come here very often, let alone the nobles.

The only person who was loyal to his duty was Prime Minister Cao's personal guard. He was tall and round, but he could always make the hearts of those who looked at him jump.

It's hard to do anything with him around, but fortunately Cao Bing doesn't eat food from Guizhou.

Cao Cao understood that young people were needed to defend the city, so he ordered that the Guizhou leaders be given a meal every day, but he didn't make it too clear, so what he gave to Hou Yin and others was a coarse steamed cake.

It tastes too luxurious, but at least it's edible.

After receiving the steamed cake, the Guizhou leaders huddled in the corner, because they often had some work to do after eating.

What was different today was that Hou Yin and Wei Kai squeezed past with steamed cakes in their hands.

Send out half a steamed cake, complain a few words, say it in a joking tone, you might as well help General Guan outside the city, and recall what Jingzhou was like before Cao Jun came.

And among this group of young men, there are two whose family origins are in Xinye, which makes it even easier to say.

Hou Yin didn't know whether he was talented in this area, or whether Cao Jun's nature had caused too much anger in the village.

After only two meals, the anger of the young men was a bit uncontrollable, and the look in their eyes towards Cao Bing made Hou Yin even a little frightened.

Hou Yin did not expect that the situation would progress so quickly. After another day, a young man dared to talk back to Cao Bing, and was eventually thrown off the city wall by two Cao soldiers laughing and joking.

This young man's hometown is in Fuxian County, which is a large county. There are several fellow villagers here, and they stood up with grief and indignation in their eyes.

Hou Yin remembered clearly that among the people who stood up, one had an old father who died on the road and saw his father's ears cut off with his own eyes, and another was happily married to his wife. However, after Prime Minister Cao took Jingzhou, his wife was " "Zheng" left.

The eyes of Cao's soldiers became more serious, and their sabers were drawn out.

Hou Yin felt that if he didn't stand up, the situation might not be settled, so he stood behind the Cao soldier, put on a flattering look, and bent his waist.

The Cao soldier just wanted to say a few words to Hou Yin, but he felt as if his body was leaking air.

He looked down and saw that Hou Yin had drawn a short knife at some point and accurately stabbed it from his armpit.

Wei Kai was very excited. With a "clang", he pulled out the city defense weapon equipped by the Cao army and shouted:

"Done!"

These two simple words had great power, so the top of the city was in chaos, which of course could not be hidden from Liu Bei's soldiers on the well.

Zhang Fei climbed up in two steps and immediately shouted orders to the people below.

The soldiers below the well did not hesitate. Two axes broke the wheel of the well close to the city wall, and then the two teams of soldiers pulled the hemp rope tied to the waist of the well and exerted force together.

The soldiers on the well hugged the pillars beside them with horror, only Zhang Fei looked bloodthirsty, calculated the distance of the well, and had the leisure to leap:

"Zhang Yide is here!"

At the same time, he made a precise move and swung away the sharp blade that was about to kill Hou Yin.

The owner of this sharp blade was Xu Chu, and Zhang Fei was not afraid, and could even be said to be very interested.

With the knife in hand, he rushed forward.

But Xu Chu took a step back, looked at Zhang Fei, and the well that was pulled down and stuck on the edge of the city wall as a ladder, and then turned around and ran away.

With Zhang Fei joining and Xu Chu's escape, the top of the city was quickly cleared, and then Zhang Fei took the lead to kill under the city.

The well ladder can only be said to be barely usable. The opportunity to break the city is hard-won, and it is more important to seize the south gate.

The fleeing Xu Chu once again brought Cao Cao news that made him want to vomit blood.

But these are no longer important. The only urgent thing is to break out!

After hearing the news about his third brother, Guan Yu did not hesitate and led his troops to the west of the city.

The south was seizing the gate, and if they wanted to escape from the east gate, they would have to go north or south. Therefore, the most foolproof way was to increase the troops in the west of the city and then go to the south.

But compared to taking a detour in the outer city, it was obviously faster to go straight in the city.

So when Guan Yu rushed to the west of the city, he saw the backs of more than a thousand riders fleeing.

There was no need for Guan Yu to remind them, everyone knew that the one who was running away was a mobile meritorious person who was worthy of being made a marquis and a prime minister, so they only heard a simple word "chase" from their general.

Thousands of riders rolled up the dust, and a group of Jingzhou soldiers with red eyes drove their mounts with all their strength and chased after them.

It seemed that it would be better to say something to anger Prime Minister Cao at this time, but Guan Yu racked his brains and finally only said one sentence:

"Prime Minister Cao, don't you want to know why your sons die so often?"

At this time, Guan Yu secretly hated his third brother for not coming together. If he was there, he might have scolded Cao Cao to turn his horse to fight.

Guan Yu's words were useless, but they reminded Cao Cao of Cao Ang and Dian Wei who died in Wancheng, and he fled even more anxiously.

Watching Cao's soldiers change direction little by little and finally head south, Guan Yu also figured out Cao Cao's thoughts and went to find Cao Ren and his 100,000 troops.

Guan Yu was also very anxious for a while, because he had just received a secret report from Xu Junshi yesterday morning, saying that Fancheng had been relieved.

Cao Ren could appear in front at any time!

For a while, Guan Yu was three points faster again, but soon a Cao's guards turned around and killed him.

The opponent's body and head were separated with a swing of the crescent blade, but the speed was still a bit slower.

In this way, after Guan Yu killed more than ten riders in a row, both sides had already fled south for more than a hundred miles.

The incident happened suddenly, and Guan Yu drove the horse hard, leaving only a few dozen riders behind him, and there were very few Cao riders who fell behind in front.

Moreover, Cao Jun scouts could be seen coming from south to north ahead. Guan Yu was still unwilling to give up, so he drew his short sword and threw it vigorously.

The accuracy was a little off, and it just hit the horse's butt, making Cao Cao's speed a little faster.

So Guan Yu could only stop regretfully. He could feel that his mount was also a little weak. If he ran into Cao Ren's army again, it would be too late to regret.

And now that Wancheng had fallen, the encirclement originally planned by Cao Jun could now be regarded as the host and the guest. There was still a chance to capture Prime Minister Cao.

So Guan Yu's personal guards could only look back every step of the way under the general's laughter and scolding, and reluctantly left this sad place.

Everyone was disappointed, and even when they went back and saw the Guan character flag on the top of Wancheng, they couldn't lift their spirits.

Zhang Fei was a little strange. It was obviously a great victory, but why did it seem like a defeat?

After listening to his second brother's story, Zhang Fei looked disdainful:

"If we were busy catching Cao Cao and lost Wancheng, it would be a case of losing the big for the small."

That's what he said, but Guan Yu looked at the expressions of his guards and might be upset for a long time.

On the other hand, Cao Ren felt a little bit of pain when listening to the people around the prime minister:

Again? First Fancheng, then Wancheng, how come it's always two days away?

I'm so frustrated. I tried my best to write it. I'm ashamed.