The battlefield's sudden twist sent a shockwave of terror through Yu Du,so intense that he nearly lost his balance and tumbled from his steed.He recalled with stark clarity the orders he had given prior to the siege:to blockade the other three city gates with sandbags,leaving only the front gate as their assault route.By all accounts,the Cao forces within should have been trapped,with no avenue of escape.So,where had these unexpected Cao soldiers emerged from?
“Secret…secret doors…”Huang Silang stammered,his finger trembling as he pointed towards the city wall,his voice choked with disbelief.
All eyes followed the direction of his gesture.On the city walls flanking the gate,two concealed secret doors had somehow been opened,and the Cao soldiers were pouring out like an unrelenting tide.Yu Du’s face blanched in an instant.His heart felt ensnared by an invisible,vice-like grip.His entire body went rigid,paralyzed with shock.Secret doors!The Cao troops within the city were far more cunning than he had imagined,having dug not one,but two secret passages.Lin Yu,that sagacious mind with vision surpassing the ordinary,knew full well that a purely defensive stance would only render them passive.He had informed Dian Wei that only by seizing the initiative to attack could Puyang County truly be safeguarded.
Thus,among the three strategies Lin Yu had bestowed upon Dian Wei,defending the city with fecal matter and setting the deep-pit trap were but ruses to feign weakness before the enemy and lull the Black Mountain Bandits into a false sense of security.When the Black Mountain Bandits finally let down their guard,the final,decisive surprise attack—through the secret doors—would be launched,dealing a crushing blow.
“Where is the villain Yu Du?Come and meet your doom!”Dian Wei bellowed,his double halberds whirling in his hands,carving a path through the enemy ranks,a maelstrom of blood and carnage.Wherever he tread,none of the Black Mountain Bandits could withstand his onslaught.
Yu Du’s heart plummeted.Before he could gather his wits,a clear,cold shout pierced the air from the other side,“I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan!”A young general in a pristine white robe,brandishing a bright silver spear,charged forward with an irresistible force,leading the Cao troops into the fray with great valor.
From the leaders down to the rank-and-file soldiers of the Black Mountain Army,they had all been convinced that Puyang City was within their grasp.That was why they had surged forward en masse,eager to flood into the city and plunder.None had anticipated that the Cao troops had prepared secret doors and would launch a sudden counter-attack at this very moment.At this time,the Black Mountain Bandits were a chaotic mass,bottlenecked at the city gate.Dian Wei and Zhao Yun’s assault at this opportune moment was nothing short of a death knell.
Most critically,Yu Du,Bai Rao,Sui Gu,and the other leaders of the Black Mountain Army were also at the city gate.“Zilong,remember Big Brother’s instructions!To vanquish the enemy,first strike at their leaders!”Dian Wei cleaved a Black Mountain Army soldier in two with a single sweep of his halberd and roared,pointing at Yu Du’s yak-tail flag.
“Little brother understands!”Zhao Yun replied with firm resolve.Then,the two of them charged simultaneously towards Yu Du’s position,their momentum like a raging tempest,unstoppable by any means.
This was bad!Yu Du’s heart sank.Witnessing the ferocity of Dian Wei and Zhao Yun,his courage drained away.He yanked on the reins,attempting to flee.Alas,at this moment,the Black Mountain Army soldiers were packed together like sardines.Before Yu Du could make his escape,Dian Wei and Zhao Yun were hot on his heels.
“Stop them!”Yu Du shrieked in panic.His personal guards sprang into action without hesitation,hurtling towards Dian Wei and Zhao Yun.However,their strength was but a pittance compared to Dian Wei’s might.With his two short halberds slicing through the air,two of the guards were slain instantly,their brains splattered.
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Before Dian Wei could retrieve his weapons,several more of Yu Du’s personal guards rushed at him.Relying on the protection of his armor,Dian Wei stood his ground,unfazed.“Clang clang!”The weapons clashed against his armor,sending sparks flying.Dian Wei sneered,dropped the long halberd in his hand,and delivered a powerful punch.This blow,accompanied by a howling wind,landed squarely on one of the guards’faces.The man’s face caved in under the impact,and he dropped dead without even a chance to scream.
Dian Wei then seized the corpse and swung it around like a giant windmill.The surrounding Black Mountain Bandits were sent flying in all directions.On the other side,Zhao Yun was equally formidable.His spear flashed with countless silver glints,and in the blink of an eye,several more Black Mountain Bandits fell beneath its lethal tip.
Even the most elite of regular armies would struggle to resist such a valiant pair,let alone the Black Mountain Bandits,a motley crew of bandits.They all froze in their tracks,trembling with fear as they attempted to retreat.Yu Du,Bai Rao,and the others whipped their mounts frantically,desperate to escape.
But how could Dian Wei let them slip away?He let out a primal roar like a maddened beast and charged forward with wild abandon.“Boom!”Dian Wei crashed into Yu Du’s horse with such force that the warhorse let out a pitiful neigh and crashed to the ground.Yu Du was thrown from the saddle and was dazed from the fall.
Before he could regain his senses,Dian Wei approached with a sneer.Yu Du,still attempting to resist,drew the sword at his waist and lunged at Dian Wei.But Dian Wei simply swatted it aside with disdain,sending the long sword clattering to the ground.Then,with one hand,he hoisted Yu Du into the air.“I surrender…”Yu Du’s plea was cut short as Dian Wei snapped his neck with a quick,brutal twist.
On the other side,Zhao Yun had caught up with the other leaders of the Black Mountain Bandits.These men were no match for Zhao Yun and were dispatched with ease.On the front battlefield,the defenders within the city,being mostly new recruits,had combat effectiveness only marginally better than that of the Black Mountain Bandits.After the initial shock,the Black Mountain Bandits had managed to steady their nerves and were gradually wearing down the Cao troops with their superior numbers.
However,at this crucial moment,Dian Wei and Zhao Yun,astride Yu Du’s and the other leaders’mounts,thundered back onto the battlefield like a whirlwind.“Yu Du is dead.Surrender now,all of you!”The shout rang out like thunder,reverberating across the entire battlefield.The Black Mountain Bandits instinctively turned their eyes towards Dian Wei and Zhao Yun.What they saw were the severed heads of Yu Du and the other leaders,held aloft in their hands and on the tips of their spears.
Seeing their leaders slain,the morale of the Black Mountain Bandits crumbled.In contrast,the Cao troops’spirits soared.With Dian Wei and Zhao Yun rejoining the fray,the situation was reversed in an instant.The Black Mountain Bandits began to abandon the fight,dropping their weapons and fleeing towards the rear.Dian Wei and Zhao Yun,of course,would not let such a golden opportunity pass.They led the soldiers in hot pursuit.
On the vast expanse of the plain,tens of thousands of Black Mountain Bandits were now in a panicked rout,chased by a mere three thousand.On the city wall,Xun Yu witnessed this scene,his excitement boiling over.Just moments ago,he had feared that the city would fall to the Black Mountain Bandits,and he had steeled himself to sacrifice his life to repay Cao Cao for recognizing his talent.He had not expected that Dian Wei had prepared the secret exits in the city wall in advance,waiting until the Black Mountain Bandits were in disarray and their leaders like Yu Du were near the city gate to unleash this thunderous strike.
On the city wall not far from Xun Yu,Lin Yu watched as Dian Wei and Zhao Yun reaped the rewards of the battlefield.A great weight lifted from his heart.Although he had been confident,this was,after all,his first real foray into war.Seeing the city successfully defended,he,too,felt a sense of relief wash over him.
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Dian Wei and Zhao Yun led the soldiers in pursuit of the Black Mountain Bandits all the way.Along the path,the bodies of the Black Mountain Bandits littered the ground,along with the supplies they had discarded in their haste.They chased the fleeing bandits until they were twenty miles outside the city.As the sky gradually darkened,they finally sounded the gong to signal the retreat.