Shamo Ke glared at him and said unhappily, "Gan Xingba, how can you talk to your brother-in-law like that?"
Gan Ning chuckled and ordered, "Act according to the second plan immediately. I'll go meet Xiang Cun."
Su Fei called on Shamoke to retreat and hide in the woods. Gan Ning also ordered his men to send a signal, but he lay in the woods for a long time without moving.
Xiang Cun waited for a while, but there was no movement. He was secretly anxious. He wanted to make a contribution on his own, so he sounded the fire signal again. After waiting for a while, he saw hundreds of people coming in from outside the city.
One of them came to the drawbridge and asked loudly, "Is that General Xiang on the city wall?"
"Stupid pig!" Xiang Cun was so angry that he jumped up and down and cursed. He ordered his men to open the city gates and came to the bridgehead and asked, "Where is General Gan?"
The man replied: "General Gan is on his way and will be here soon."
Xiang Cun's face was gloomy, and he cursed Gan Ning inwardly for being a bad person who could not change. He was slow in doing things and had lax military discipline. They were surrendering the city, but he was still so lazy. If things went wrong, someone might die.
Just when he was getting impatient, there was suddenly a noise in the city. Someone was shouting loudly, alarming the ambush troops.
Xiang Cun was furious and went back to the city to yell, "Who is making such a loud noise and dares to disobey my military orders?"
"General Xiang, it's a dark and windy night, why are you opening the city gates?" Under the firelight, Liu Qi walked out with a gloomy face.
Xiang Cun was shocked and hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "General Liu, you... why did you come out?"
Liu Qi smiled coldly: "Xiang Cun, it was you who led the enemy troops here?"
Just now, Liu Gui was awakened from his sleep. It turned out that several deserters who had escaped from the city during the day came to inform him that Xiang Cun was captured and released, and decided to surrender the city. He was meeting Gan Ning in Xicheng.
Liu Gui was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly put on his armor and called for his troops to rush over. Sure enough, he saw that the city gate was wide open and there were soldiers all around. He was immediately shocked and angry.
Xiang Cun hurried forward to explain: "General, you misunderstood. I have set up an ambush and am just waiting for Gan Ning to arrive..."
"How dare you, traitor, do this so brazenly!" Liu Qi was furious. He drew his sword and stabbed Xiang Cun to death, shouting, "Close the city gates!"
Boom—
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the city. The soldiers of Jingzhou approached, but saw the drawbridge slowly rising and the city gate closed.
Gan Ning shouted, "Open the city, open the city quickly, I am Gan Ning!"
Liu Qi came to the top of the city wall, ordered people to light torches, and laughed: "Gan Ning, my boy, Xiang Cun has been killed by me. If you want to enter Wuyang, you have to wait until your next life!"
Gan Ning was furious and asked, "Liu Qi, you are so ignorant of the current situation. Do you dare to come out of the city and fight me?"
Liu Qi waved his hand and said, "The enemy comes out at night, I will only fight them in the daytime!"
Gan Ning was furious: "You son of a bitch, I'm going to chop off your dog head and use it as a chamber pot."
Liu Qi was laughing triumphantly when suddenly there were urgent drum beats and shouts of killing coming from the north gate. He turned around abruptly and saw a big fire there.
Immediately, the defenders came to report that the north gate had been captured by the Jingzhou army, and Zhang He had led his troops in to attack, and the defenders could not resist.
"I've fallen into a trap!" Liu Qi was shocked and realized that Gan Ning was deliberately delaying time here. He turned around and fled to the city.
At this time, the North Gate had been controlled by Su Fei. Zhang He led the cavalry to charge in from the North Gate to the South Gate. The horses galloped and the patrolling soldiers dodged one after another, and they could move freely on the empty streets.
Shamoke also rushed towards the west gate from the north gate wall, waving his mace. Then a figure was seen flying up and falling from the top of the city wall with a scream. The Shu army was terrified and fled all the way.
By the time Gan Ning entered the city, Liu Gui had already fled with his remaining troops. In less than half an hour, they easily captured Wuyang. The prefect Zhang Yi knelt in the hall trembling with fear, sweating profusely.
Gan Ning knew that he had no choice and did not blame him. He ordered him to issue a notice to reassure the people, saying that it was important to stabilize people's hearts first.
Shamoko was still puzzled: "How did Xingba know that there was an ambush at the west gate?"
Gan Ning pulled Zhang Yi over and laughed, "I already had an insider in the city. If Xiang Cunruo had honestly opened the city gates, he would have made a contribution. But he wanted to seek his own death, so I had no choice but to help him."
Su Fei asked: "Even if there is a change in the city, but the four gates are closed and time is tight, how can we give a timely warning?"
Gan Ning smiled and said, "I went to the workshop once and saw Wolong tinkering with a small lamp. After it was lit, it could actually fly into the air. So I asked for a few small ones to take on the boat to send signals."
Zhang Yi was surprised and said, "So this was actually written by Zhuge Wulong. It really lives up to its reputation."
It turned out that the two had already discussed a contingency plan before entering the city last night. Seeing that Xiang Cun had no intention of surrendering, Zhang Yi gave a signal. He lit the lamp with his own hands and naturally knew the magic of it.
Shamoko asked anxiously, "Do you have any more? Give me one?"
Zhang Yi sighed, "I brought two with me, but I was in such a hurry on my way home that I crushed one."
"What a shame!" Shamoke was so curious that he rubbed his hands anxiously.
Gan Ning said to everyone: "General Zhang deserves the most credit for taking the city. It may seem easy, but it is actually very dangerous. If we are not careful, our people will be in trouble."
Zhang Yi returned home and asked his clansmen to bring wine and food, and go to the north gate in the name of Liu Gui to reward the defenders, attract their attention, and make it easier for Shamoke to climb the city.
The Wuxi barbarians grew up in the mountains and could travel through rivers as if they were walking on flat ground. As long as they were not disturbed, climbing the city walls was easy for them.
Afterwards, Zhang Yi took several injured deserters to the government office to inform on the matter and gain merit. At this time, Liu Qi was busy settling accounts with Xiang Cun and killing each other, so he had no time to take care of the matter of the North Gate.
All these actions may seem easy, but in fact they require careful planning and timing. If you make a mistake, you will lose everything.
…
When Liu Qi received Fei Guan's letter of surrender in Fucheng, he immediately led his troops to Mianzhu. But when he arrived in the territory, the reinforcements of the Shu army had arrived.
According to the scouts, Liu Zhang heard that Fushui Pass had been lost, so he sent an additional 30,000 troops to defend Mianzhu, and the general in charge was none other than Zhang Ren.
Pang Xi said: "Zhang Ren is the best general in Shu, he is a man of both civil and military talents, he is in charge of the troops of the prefectures and counties, and he is highly valued by Liu Zhang. I am afraid Fei Guan is also powerless."
Liu Qi sighed: "Zhang Ren is finally on stage!"
Zhang Fei said with a smile: "Don't worry, my dear master. People in my Zhang family are all sensible and reasonable. I will go and capture him!"
Liu Qi said to his generals: "Although Zhang Ren is on par with Deng Xian and others, he is much stronger. We must not be careless in this advance."
Among all the generals in Shu, Liu Qi valued Zhang Ren the most, a rare general with both wisdom and courage. If Zhang Fei had not arrived so quickly, Liu Bei's journey to Shu might have stopped with this person.
According to the strength assessment, Zhang Ren is stronger than Jiang Wei in the early stage. He may not be as good as Jiang Wei after he became his apprentice in terms of military strategy. His strength is probably equivalent to Deng Ai.
It is a pity that this man was too loyal and brave, and was eventually beheaded. He had no record of fighting against famous generals, and his achievements were not as good as those of later Shu generals such as Zhang Yi and Ma Zhong.
In fact, from the moment he planned to shoot Pang Tong, his fate was already determined. Perhaps Zhang Ren also understood this, which is why he went to his death bravely.
Otherwise, how could Liu Bei, who was always known for his benevolence, and Zhuge Liang, who valued talents, have the heart to kill such a promising general at the very moment when they needed him
If Liu Bei did not avenge Pang Tong, he would not be able to explain to the Jingzhou Group, and Zhuge Liang would also be sorry for his dead friend.
In this regard, their character is not as good as Cao Cao's. A hero is a hero, and Zhang Xiu will be accepted as one!