The next morning, the Liaodong Army arrived at the city again, and as expected, Liu Yi ordered his men to shout and curse again. Yesterday's casualties were heavy, so he had to change his tactics.
After scolding for a whole morning, Tian Yu still did not come out. Liu Yi became anxious and angry, so he mounted his horse himself and brought only ten guards to the city to challenge the enemy, mocking and insulting Cao's army.
The defenders on the city were not willing to be outdone. The two armies cursed at each other and spit flew everywhere. Liu Yi was getting anxious when he suddenly saw the city gate slowly open and Tian Yu rode out with his troops.
Liu Yi laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, I think all the civil and military officials in Zhongyuan are cowards, with only name but no substance. Tian Yu, do you dare to stand with me?"
Tian Yu rode forward and shouted coldly, "Gongsun Du ruled Liaodong, but he was not arrogant and conceited. He knew that the Central Plains was blessed with talented people! Gongsun Kang was arrogant and wanted to get involved in the Central Plains. This is the way to failure. Now that Your Majesty has appointed him as the Marquis of Liaodong, you did not obey the king's order and sent troops to resist. Are you planning a rebellion?"
Liu Yi laughed up to the sky and said, "Everyone in the world knows that Cao is called the Prime Minister of Han, but he is actually a traitor to Han. Everyone knows who wrote the imperial edict. Now that Cao's retribution has come, he can't take care of himself, but he still dares to command the princes? If you know what's good for you, you should go back to Youzhou and retire!"
"The traitor is so arrogant! You deserve to die!" Tian Yu was furious and urged his horse to go straight for Liu Yi.
This was exactly what Liu Yi wanted, so he stepped forward to fight with him. After fighting for more than ten rounds, there was no clear winner. Seeing that Tian Yu's moves were steady, he was unable to do anything for a while. Fearing that Tian Yu would retreat back to the city, Liu Yi pretended to be defeated and ran away.
Tian Yu stopped his horse and sneered, "I think the generals of Liaodong are just so-so!"
When Liu Yi circled his horse and turned back, he saw that Tian Yu had already withdrawn his troops back to the city. He could not help but get angry, and led his troops straight to the suspension bridge. Arrows rained down from the city and shot him back. Liu Yi was so angry that he roared continuously.
Although this was a fake defeat, his defeat against Tian Yu was seen by the soldiers of the three armies. They felt ashamed to challenge him again, so they had to retreat in disappointment and ordered the rear camp to make weapons overnight in preparation for another attack on Beihai.
Gongsun Yang advised: "Cheng Xi's army is fighting with Wu's army. General, you can just stand by and watch. Why do you have to act on impulse? If you forcefully attack Beihai, you will lose soldiers and generals. No matter whether Sun and Cao win or lose, you will not be able to clean up the mess. It will be too late to regret it!"
Liu Yi had made a promise, so he was unwilling to show weakness to Zhou Yu. He said angrily: "The main force of Qingzhou is fighting against the Wu army. If I can't take down the small Beihai, won't I be laughed at by the world? How can I compete with the heroes of the Central Plains in the future?"
Gongsun Yang sighed: "Tian Yu is both civil and military, and Beihai City is strong, what can we do?"
Liu Yi snorted coldly, "Once all the equipment is ready, I will have a plan to break into the city."
Tian Yu returned to the city and ordered his soldiers to guard the city carefully. Tian Pengzu asked, "Father, you just had a chance to kill Liu Yi and defeat the enemy. Why did you withdraw your troops and return to the city?"
Tian Yu sneered, "Liu Yi's moves are not messy, he is just pretending to be defeated, trying to lure me into the army to kill me. How can such a trick be hidden from me?"
Tian Pengzu was surprised and said, "I didn't expect this thief to be so cunning. Fortunately, my father is experienced."
Tian Yu sighed, "Liu Yi is quite good at commanding troops. The Liaodong army has many soldiers and it is difficult to defeat them at once. I think we can only wait until Cheng Xi is defeated before we can devise a plan to eliminate him and send more people to investigate the movements of the front army."
Tian Pengzu asked in confusion, "Cheng the governor has already conquered Anqiu and is now chasing the Wu army. Wouldn't it be better if we could destroy him? Why does father always say that he will be defeated? Could it be true, as the rumors in the army say, that there is a deep prejudice between you two?"
"What do you know at such a young age?" Tian Yu said angrily, "I serve my father and the country and never bear grudges. Cheng Xi overestimated his own abilities and refused to listen to good advice. He will surely fall into Zhou Yu's trap and lose. I just hope he doesn't suffer a tragic defeat."
Tian Pengzu was a little unconvinced: "Does Jiangdong Zhou Lang really have such ability?"
Tian Yu said sternly, "You are only in the north, how can you know the heroes of the world? Zhou Yu is well versed in military strategy. He was highly regarded by Sun Ce in the past, and was entrusted by Sun Quan with military affairs in Jiangdong. He is indeed a hero of the present time and should not be underestimated."
Tian Pengzu didn't believe it in his heart, but he didn't dare to refute Tian Yu. He thought that if Cheng Xi really defeated the Wu army, he and his son would lose face and might have no place to stand in Qingzhou.
…
Outside Anqiu City, Cheng Xi became more and more dissatisfied with Tian Yu after hearing what he said, thinking that Tian Yu was worried that he would make a contribution and that was why he was exaggerating.
The previous great victory blocked the Wu army in the city, which made Cheng Xi more confident. The Cao army attacked Anqiu city every day, and outside the city there were beacon fires and corpses everywhere.
The day before yesterday, the east corner of the city wall was breached. Commander Cheng Xi launched a fierce attack. The Wu army could not resist and retreated from Anqiu to Weishui. The Cao army chased them to the river. The Wu army had no way to retreat and fought hard to regain the city.
After a day of rest, Cheng Xi and Li Xue discussed with each other: "The Wu army is retreating. I think Zhou Yu has run out of tricks. We must not let him catch his breath. I want to take advantage of the unstable morale of his army and raid the camp tonight to wipe out the Wu army and kill Zhou Yu. What do you two generals think?"
Li Xue nodded and said, "What the Lord said is absolutely right. The morale of the Wu army is low, and it is a taboo to camp along the river. If we take the opportunity to raid the camp, the whole army will be annihilated. This battle will greatly enhance the reputation of the Lord."
Both of them were confident that the generals of Wu would be vulnerable to attack, and Wang Cheng also strongly agreed.
Cheng Xixi couldn't help but laughed and said, "Zhou Lang was just very successful in Jiangdong. When he came to the north, how could he allow the southerners to be so arrogant? This time, I will let him know how powerful the northern army is."
He then ordered the entire army to eat their fill, cook dinner at three o'clock in the morning, and set out at four o'clock, with Li Xue and Wang Cheng as the vanguards, each leading 5,000 elite soldiers, and they themselves led the main army to raid the camp.
Cheng Xi deployed troops in the government office, carefully inspected the surrounding terrain, and repeatedly rehearsed the battle with the two generals. Only when he believed that there was no risk of error did they prepare.
Looking at the starry sky, he couldn't help but feel excited. If he defeated Zhou Yu tonight, not only would his prestige increase greatly, but he would be able to humiliate Tian Yu when he returned. When Xiahou Dun's troops arrived, he would also be able to use them. Once Cao Pi was promoted to King of Wei, he would be able to enter the palace and rise to prominence from then on.
At around three o'clock in the night, Cao's army divided into three routes and marched out of Anqiu. The two vanguards marched east and west, while Cheng Xi led 10,000 elite troops to the south.
At four o'clock in the morning, he arrived at the bank of the Wei River. He saw that there were few torches in the Wu army camp and few people patrolling. He could not help but say with great joy: "Zhou Lang, Zhou Lang, everyone says that you are good at commanding troops, but it turns out that you are just a reputation. Today, you will become my stepping stone!"
Just as they were feeling proud, torches blared on the east and west banks, and rockets like thousands of red lights streaked across the night sky and fell into the Wu army camp. In an instant, fire broke out in the camp, flames danced, and thick smoke billowed.
"Capture Zhou Yu alive and get a reward of a thousand gold coins!" Cheng Xi drew his sword and shouted again.
Boom boom boom—
As the rapid drumbeats sounded, the soldiers behind them shouted in unison and rushed forward. Generals Li Xue and Wang Cheng heard the drumbeats and also rushed into the camp from the left and right.
Cao's army rushed forward bravely and rushed into the camp, but found it dead silent. Many soldiers rushed into the tents, but found it was pitch black and empty-handed.
Li Xuelian checked several large tents and found that there was no one there. He knew that the situation was not good and quickly ordered his troops to retreat.
At this moment, there was a sudden sound of drums on the bank of the Wei River, and torches were lit. Countless flames appeared behind Cao's army, and they were surrounding Cao's army and gathering quickly.