Chapter 13, The Tactic of Weakening the Enemy

  With Xue Cheng's reminder, Xu Feng was enlightened and learned quickly. Originally agile, he mastered the basics in less than a day and had confidence to control it easily within three to five days. As the sky approached dusk, the sun in the west was like a peony, with residual sunlight as red as blood, shining brightly. Xu Feng hastily summoned the high-ranking officials of the army to discuss matters.

  "General Xu, what are your orders? Just give them directly." Everyone looked up to Xu Feng and asked him to issue commands directly.

  "Thanks to your support, I, Xu, bid you farewell. Time is pressing, so let's get straight to the point. I hope you can all work together and help our army defeat the defenders in the city, capture it as soon as possible. I have decided to divide our troops into five units, each with 5,000 soldiers, taking turns attacking the city day and night without stopping. The defenders in the city are only a little over 2,000 people, as long as we don't give them time to breathe, I believe it won't take many days for us to easily capture Weijun."

  "In the first division, Xue Cheng listens to orders, giving you 5,000 troops and horses. At noon, prepare food, at dusk, attack the city. If you encounter Liu, Guan, or Zhang, do not engage in a fierce battle, just constantly harass them. When dealing with these three people, don't worry about wasting arrows, try to avoid close combat."

  "The rest of the departments, respectively led by Zeng Shan, Hou Tai, Ma Yuan and Zhang Ba, will take turns every four hours. If it's not your time, you can rest assured, but if it is, you absolutely cannot slack off. Did everyone understand?"

  "General, but once the city is attacked, swords and spears will clash, people will shout and horses will neigh, how can we rest?" asked Zeng Shan, who was under General Cheng's command in the past.

  "It's just a bit noisy, isn't it? Just plug your ears and that's it." Xu Feng took out two cloth strips from his pocket, stuffed them into his ears, and demonstrated in front of everyone.

  "Don't worry, you all have plenty of time to rest. But the defending soldiers in this Zhuo County city don't even have a moment to catch their breath. When the time comes, facing a group of exhausted and weak residual soldiers, don't you still have confidence in winning? Just thinking about how the defending army will be like a few days later, each with panda eyes, feeble and powerless like a soft-shelled shrimp, Xu Feng couldn't help but reveal a triumphant smile."

  "General Gao is brilliant, we admire him."

  "Hurry up and get ready, I'll lead a team to coordinate in the middle, respond to you at any time. Remember, these few days I don't ask you to break through the city, just need to hold back this group of defenders tightly, not let them rest is enough." Xu Feng reminded again.

  "We understand, General, rest assured that we will complete the task." The crowd clasped their fists and bowed in unison, responding in chorus.

  Next, it's not hard to imagine the tragic fate of Liu, Guan and Zhang...

  Liu Guanzhang had just finished dinner and hadn't even rested yet when he heard the earth-shaking gongs and drums outside the city, followed by shouts of killing, cannon fire, and 5,000 people shouting in unison. The momentum was shocking, the sound shook the sky, and the entire Gaoyi City was shaking with the earth. The chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs in the city were even more flapping and barking, making a loud noise, and the guards who had just fallen asleep were suddenly awakened.

  "The bandits are attacking the city, hurry up and defend it." Liu Bei hastily gave a loud order, and the three of them led the hastily risen defending soldiers to rush up to the city wall to resist the Yellow Turbans.

  East, south, north and west, outside the city walls on all four sides, there were thousands of soldiers attacking the city at the same time. These people shouted as they carried ladders to climb up. Liu Bei and others secretly felt shocked, what was going on? They actually launched a night attack.

  However, there was no way out. Since the enemy was attacking the city, they had to hold on tight to defend it. Nevertheless, as long as Liu, Guan, and Zhang appeared in any place, the attack in that area would weaken. Nobody dared to engage in close combat with these three men; instead, archers constantly shot arrows at them from a distance. Even if the three of them were assigned to different city walls, there was still one wall that they couldn't take care of. Wherever Liu, Guan, and Zhang were not present, the enemy's attack would be like a broken bamboo, swift and fierce. The three of them ran around, exhausted from responding to the attacks, without stopping for several hours. However, after several hours, the enemy surprisingly retreated with drums beating.

  "Grandma's, it's finally over, can go back to sleep for a while." Zhang Fei cursed and turned around, just about to walk down the city wall, but in a short while, the horn outside the city blew again, the drums sounded, and the Yellow Turban Army attacked the city again.

  "What the...! What's going on here?!" Zhang Fei cursed in annoyance.

  Liu Bei took a glance at the opponent's neat and orderly formation, and his eyes flashed with insight, as if he had understood something. These Yellow Turbans were indeed cunning, relying on their numerical superiority to launch a rotating attack, leaving us no time to breathe. If that was truly the case, then the person who devised this strategy must have been ruthless.

  "Ah-choo!" Xu Feng was watching from a distance, suddenly let out a loud sneeze, and grumbled to himself "Who's talking behind my back?"

  This night, the Yellow Turbans attacked the city three times in a row. Liu, Guan and Zhang were busy all night long. When the sky was brightening at dawn, with the eastern horizon showing a fish-belly white color, the soldiers defending the city, although not suffering heavy casualties, were exhausted and sleepy, their eyes red and swollen, their eyebrows black as coal, like giant pandas, stumbling about, unable to stand upright.

  "Continue the siege!" Xu Feng waved his flag, and he would not show any mercy or sympathy to the officials and soldiers in the city. This is war, not a child's play, having compassion for the weak is foolish!

  "Haha, Brother Xufeng, what a great tactic to exhaust the enemy! It's truly brilliant. Within three to five days, it seems that this Zhuo County will fall without a fight." Knowing Xu Feng's plan to break the city, Zhou Cang repeatedly praised him, saying that Xu Feng was both brave and strategic, and indeed a lucky general.

  "Big brother, when will this end? Don't they ever rest?" Zhang Fei, who had been fighting for a day and a night, had eyes that were half-open and half-closed, almost like dead fish eyes. Even opening his eyes was a problem now. His whole body was exhausted, he hated to fall asleep immediately, but even this simplest request had become a luxury now.

  "The enemy is numerous and powerful, taking turns attacking the city, and rotating shifts to rest. We can't do that. After several battles, the defending soldiers are already less than a thousand. Even if the enemy uses cunning tactics, we can only respond. Do you think I don't want to sleep well?" Liu Bei leaned against the wall weakly, scolding in dissatisfaction.

  "The enemy is now getting tired and slack, tighten the siege, fight them with real swords and guns, don't hide anymore." Two days later, Xu Feng decisively adjusted the battle plan, this time not to disturb the enemy, but to truly attack the city. In order to prevent the enemy from escaping, Xu Feng had people set up traps outside all four gates, filling them with thorny pits to prevent the bandits from fleeing.

  "This is infuriating! These Yellow Turbans are getting more and more ferocious!" Zhang Fei cursed loudly as he gazed out at the Yellow Turban army surging up to the city walls like a tidal wave. He raised his long spear, ready to defend himself, but the several dozen kilograms of the zhangba snake spear now felt like a thousand kilograms in his hands. Having not had a good rest for several days, he was exhausted and didn't have the strength to fight on.

  "Wow, I'm so angry! It's like waiting for me to eat my fill and sleep well, then fighting with the Third Master again in 300 rounds. The Third Master will not retreat half a step, using such sinister plots and tricks, what kind of hero is this?" Zhang Fei gritted his teeth and pushed back several soldiers, leaning weakly against the city wall, panting heavily and scolding angrily.