Chapter 380: Thousands of People Raid the Camp
In Mianchi, a light rain fell after nightfall.

In Cao's army camp south of the city, most soldiers were barely able to fall asleep after the rain.

Cao Cao had trouble falling asleep tonight. He knew well that the soldiers in the camp were most tired tonight, and the camp fortifications were not solid and complicated, so they were in a period of weakness.

As long as we can get through tonight, and after tomorrow's repairs and improvements, the pressure of staying overnight and guarding the camp will not be as great as it is now.

He stayed in the big tent by the fire. The night wind was blowing, and some cold wind seeped into the tent through the gaps.

Cao Cao pulled his robes tightly around him and gradually dozed off, falling into a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness.

He knew he was asleep, but he was conscious and knew he shouldn't sleep now. However, this state was too comfortable and he couldn't bear to open his eyes.

The footsteps of the night patrol officer were getting closer and closer, so Cao Cao immediately opened his eyes, took a deep breath, sat up straight, picked up the bamboo slips beside him, and placed them in front of him as if reading.

Soon the tent door was lifted by Xu Chu, and the commander Han Hao entered and bowed: "Mingsir, the officers and soldiers in the camp are stable."

Cao Cao then took a closer look at the bamboo slips in his hand. They were the reports of Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu's achievements and the documents of their inspections. They had respectively led their men to attack the garrisons and beacon towers outside Mianchi. Cao Zhen had the most captures, with a total of 174 levels.

Including the captures of Cao Xiu, Xiahou Shang and others, nearly five hundred people were beheaded last night.

After interrogating a small number of captured survivors, it was confirmed that they knew nothing and had not given any warnings before.

Everything was going on as usual, until they were attacked by Cao's army.

It went so smoothly that Cao Cao felt a little unreal. According to common sense, Gan Ning's beacon towers and scouts should have been able to detect something.

But the fact is that the outposts and beacon towers outside the entire Mianchi area have really failed.

Because these defenders were either busy building strongholds or chopping grass and firewood to prepare for the winter.

The continuous victories had made the Guanzhong soldiers complacent and they did not think that Xiahou Dun would dare to attack them.

It's not just here, it's basically like this everywhere in Guanzhong, where production is the main focus.

Given the current season and climate, everyone is busy looking for fuel for the winter.

There is insufficient firewood and straw reserves, and they are the ones who suffer from the cold in winter.

The confessions of some prisoners were even more difficult for Cao Cao to accept. Youxiu discovered the movement tracks of a small group of Cao's troops on a high beacon tower.

However, they thought they were captured Cao soldiers or Cao soldiers who came to surrender, so they did not report it or raise the alarm.

In short, beheading 500 people in the first battle was enough to boost morale.

Cao Cao closed the bamboo slips and told Han Hao: "Be sure to be vigilant against the enemy raiding the camp."

Rather than Gan Ning coming to raid the camp, they were more afraid that Gan Ning would break out and escape at night.

If Gan Ning broke through and fled westward to Shaanxi and Tianjin, the battle situation would become passive, and the conditions for encircling the point and attacking the reinforcements would become harsh.

Shanjin is a large ferry crossing and can also be considered a pass; Shanjin and Shanxian form a supporting role for each other and will limit the deployment of military forces during sieges.

Especially Shaanxi and Tianjin, which can continuously receive reinforcements from the north bank.

On the north bank are more than 10,000 households of Henei people led by Zhang Sheng. The people of Henei have a deep hatred for Cao's army and will naturally actively participate in the war.

If the war drags on and no effective breakthrough can be achieved, by the time a large number of reinforcements arrive, it will become more difficult to completely annihilate or severely damage the reinforcements.

If we wipe out all the reinforcements while suffering heavy casualties on our side, the consequences will be equally fatal.

Cao Cao dismissed Han Hao, wrapped himself in a cloak, lay on the couch, closed his eyes, and tried to find the feeling of being half awake and half asleep just now.

But I find it difficult to fall asleep. I am afraid that insomnia will cause me to be distracted and have poor judgment the next day. I can't help feeling a little anxious.

Almost soon, Cao Cao no longer needed to worry.

At this moment, Gan Ning's pair of patent leather shoes were soaked with mud and water.

He walked in front with a halberd in both hands, and on both sides were individual centuries of men advancing with their weapons held tight.

When they were about a hundred steps from the edge of Cao's camp, they found that due to the light rainfall in the first half of the night, much of the dry firewood collected in the camp was wet, so the campfire was not as dense and vigorous as they had imagined.

Gan Ning squatted on the ground and ate wheat cakes, then picked up the water bag and drank water.

Before the battle, each person only brought a rice ball made of minced goose meat. The goose meat was minced into meatballs, which were then wrapped with glutinous rice. This made a special military ration that could quickly heal injuries and restore strength on the battlefield.

As for other meats, except for air-dried meat which you can eat at any time, you should not eat oily meat for fear of causing diarrhea and physical weakness.

After drinking the coarse grains and water mixed with sweet rice wine, Gan Ning waited for a while before putting on the gilded face armor with the word "black" on it.

The 1,200 men who participated in the night attack all had a simple meal and replenished their water before wearing masks. The masks were cast, and except for some arrogant military officers and soldiers who were gilded with gold or silver, most of them were original gray iron color.

"Enemy night attack!"

When Gan Ning was leading the way with a halberd in hand, he heard someone screaming in the darkness ahead.

Without waiting for Gan Ning to react, the soldiers behind him quickened their pace and threw short spears at him, and immediately several screams were heard.

Almost at the same time, teams of hundreds of men everywhere accelerated their speed, shouts of killing echoed throughout the camp, faintly ringing in Cao Cao's ears.

At first Cao Cao thought it was an auditory hallucination and turned around to find a comfortable position.

At this time, Xu Chu's characteristic heavy footsteps came hurriedly. Cao Cao widened his eyes and rolled over, raising his hand to grab the sword hanging on the screen behind the couch.

The tent door was opened roughly by Xu Chu: "Mingsir! The enemy is raiding the camp!"

"It seems that Gan Ning is no more than that."

Cao Cao put on his golden helmet and said this as he walked outside the tent with Xu Chu. He saw some military officers and guards approaching the tent, and Cao Cao looked towards the north, a mile away.

There were few campfires to begin with, and Gan Ning didn't have a torch, so he couldn't see anything.

Soon, the tiger warriors gathered and formed a reliable shield wall with their shields. Cao Cao turned around and said, "Gan Ning is in charge of an important task, but he is brave and aggressive. It shows that he has no one to use."

As I was feeling emotional, I saw more and more tents in the northern camp being ignited, and the flames were becoming brighter and brighter.

Cao Cao was not in a hurry. He squinted his eyes and stared, pressing his left hand on the hilt of the sword, gradually exerting force.

Suddenly, a group of soldiers holding torches were seen marching on the flank of the camp. They quickly split into two. One group, which was slightly smaller in number, went around in an attempt to cut off the robbers' return route, while the other group advanced into the passage of the camp.

Seeing that Cao Ren's 3,000 fresh troops reacted so quickly, Cao Cao showed a slight smile at the corner of his eyes.

But soon, the fleeing Cao army came from the north. Some of the fleeing soldiers disobeyed orders and ran into the Tiger Warriors' formation. The Tiger Warriors could not stop them and immediately shot them with bows and crossbows. Anyone who dared to approach was stabbed to death with spears and halberds.

But the fleeing trend was unstoppable, and it washed over Cao Cao's tent like a black wave.

The fire in the tents spread faster and the northern defenders were completely defeated.

Cao Cao saw a group of heavy infantrymen wearing golden helmets and armor with white feathers on their heads, running straight into the Tiger Warriors formation. What made him even more unacceptable was that the Tiger Warriors formation was shaken, and soon more White Feather Soldiers attacked and surrounded the left and right sides.

Arrows from bows and crossbows, short spears and slingshots began to fall on Cao Cao's sides.

Xu Chu stood beside Cao Cao holding a large shield. At this time, Cao Cao turned around to see where Cao Ren was. As a result, Cao Ren's troops collided and entangled with the fleeing soldiers in the passage of the camp, and were blocked more than 200 steps away from him.

He suddenly turned his head to look at the troops moving around outside the camp, and felt a little relieved when he saw that they were moving smoothly.

The Tiger Soldiers were in good physical condition and high spirits. When they marched, they either rode in vehicles or on horses. If they were unlucky, they could take off their armor and walk.

Even so, they still couldn't hold out against the fanatical and fierce fighting of the golden-armored heavy infantry, and the spears and halberds of the front team only managed to hold out for a dozen breaths.

Then it was torn apart, and in an instant both sides mixed together and killed and hacked indiscriminately.

Fearless and brave, the golden-armored heavy infantrymen with better armor had no sense of defense and attacked with all their might. After the tiger warriors in the front team broke through the formation, they were chopped to the ground in less than ten breaths.

Many Tiger warriors were tripped and fell while retreating, and could never get up again. Once the trend of fleeing began, it was difficult to stop.

You can't exert only one-third of your strength out of ten. In this fight for your life, if you show any intention of retreating or retain some strength, you will be defeated immediately.

Your defeat will expose the flanks and weaknesses of at least two friendly troops around you!
Cao Cao squatted in the gap of the shield formation, looking at the fierce fighting sixty or seventy steps away. He didn't expect that the more than 300 tiger warriors in the front formation, who he had high hopes for, would be broken through so easily, and almost none of them could escape successfully!

When the remaining tiger warriors in the front formation retreated, the enemy continued to chase them and ran into the second formation of tiger warriors.

At this time, the weapons thrown randomly fell on the shield formation near Cao Cao. Cao Cao gritted his teeth and shouted to those around him: "Beat the drums! Call on the whole army to attack!"

After Xu Zhu passed the order to the drummer, the drums started beating loudly immediately.

The drumbeats boosted the soldiers' morale and quickened their heartbeats.

But this could not provide effective help to the second group of tiger soldiers. They gritted their teeth and held on, but were still torn open. The formation immediately became chaotic and fell into a melee.

The fearless golden-armored heavy infantry had an astonishing killing efficiency, and in the melee, the Tiger Soldiers soon could not bear the heavy casualties and disparity in casualties.

With the testimony of the tiger warriors in the previous group, the tiger warriors in the second group fled more decisively after realizing they could not hold off!

Seeing the tiger soldiers in front of him fleeing, Gan Ning put the hammer into his waist and hung it up, reached out to take the iron halberd handed to him by his personal soldier, and charged forward breathlessly.

There were no shouts of killing. No matter how loud their voices were, they were not as loud as the tragic wails and screams of Cao's soldiers who were killed and wounded, and they could not cover the drumbeats of Cao Cao's central army.

Soon, Gan Ning was the first to crash into the shield formation.

There was a row of spears behind the shield formation, and they all thrust forward together. Several spears pierced Gan Ning's chest and abdomen, pushing him back.

Gan Ning slipped and fell forward when he stepped on a pool of blood and mud. His left knee first fell on the stone, and the pain made Gan Ning immediately generate a lot of strength.

More than a dozen personal soldiers who followed him in the attack were pushed back, and some were injured. Those who were able to get up retreated voluntarily to eat rice balls, while those who could not get up were dragged back by their comrades.

Then a row of soldiers armed with long-handled wooden hammers, maces, and long flails came forward. After four or five breaths, a gap was smashed in the shield formation.

Before the tiger warriors could repair and fill this gap, a second gap was smashed open.

Cao Cao dodged quickly and jumped back to avoid the mace that was hitting his shield in front of him.

Xu Chu swung out his long sword and knocked back a golden-armored heavy infantryman who was trying to charge forward. Looking at the tiger soldiers who were killed and wounded on both sides, Xu Chu felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife and anger was burning in his chest.

Black Bear went on an expedition to Xihe, and actually left his elite golden-armored troops to Gan Ning!
These were the vanguard soldiers who were able to attack the city in the flames. How could ordinary soldiers resist them?
Xu Chu wanted to curse, but he didn't have time.

A crossbow arrow hit his chest but failed to penetrate the breastplate on his black light armor.

Xu Chu could only retreat and grab Cao Cao's cloak from behind: "Mingsir! Get out of the way of the enemy!"

"Can't retreat!"

Cao Cao suddenly raised his Heavenly Sword and knocked away a stray arrow: "We can't retreat! Zixiao is about to arrive!"

Seeing this, Xu Chu had no choice but to lead his clan members, the Tiger Warriors, forward to intercept with shields.

They were armed with swords and shields, which actually facilitated the melee and helped them block Gan Ning.

But Gan Ning's hundred-man teams on both wings advanced together, and many people had come here to reinforce and assist in the battle.

Inspired by the drumbeats from Cao Cao's central army, Cao Ren hacked and killed the fleeing soldiers in front of him, and managed to carve out a bloody path over a hundred steps long, successfully reinforcing the central army tent.

As Cao Ren arrived, Gan Ning, who had fought with Xu Chu for more than ten rounds, retreated, and the bells hanging on his body rang.

"Blow the whistle!"

Gan Ning shouted to the soldiers around him, and when they heard the voice, they immediately blew the bronze whistle, and in an instant the whistles echoed each other.

The night attack troops that were chasing and setting fire stopped chasing and started to withdraw instead.

Cao Ren was about to chase him, but was caught by Cao Cao.

Cao Ren was puzzled, so Cao Cao went to look at Xu Chu. Cao Ren followed him and saw that Xu Chu was shaking and obviously unable to stand steadily, and was just barely holding on.

Cao Cao did not try to dissuade them. Cao Ren saw the troops outside the camp making a detour and about to intercept and kill the enemy.

Without a second thought, he didn't want to abandon his troops, so he shouted to his men: "Follow me to kill the bandits!"

Cao Ren's troops immediately swarmed up to chase and kill him, but they didn't expect the whistle from the opposite side to suddenly sound again, short and rapid.

The night attack teams that had been retreating counterattacked again and fought with Cao Ren's troops. The fight was so fierce that it was difficult to separate them.

Less than thirty breaths into the battle, Cao Ren regretted his decision.

He had recognized Gan Ning and went forward to chase him, but Gan Ning came at him with a strange long-pole weapon.

Cao Ren instinctively raised his spear in front of his head and successfully blocked the attack... but the opponent's long pole weapon had no head. To be more precise, it was a mace head connected to an iron chain.

He swung the mace head and hit Cao Ren hard on the back of his spine, causing him to have difficulty breathing.

Fortunately, he was short and stout with short arms, otherwise the head of the mace would have most likely hit the back of his head.

Seeing that his sneak attack was successful, Gan Ning could not help but laugh heartily, but his laughter was drowned out by the sounds of fighting on both sides.

Gan Ning wanted to pursue the victory, but Cao Ren's personal soldiers risked their lives to protect him and dragged Cao Ren out.

Cao Ren was injured and could only watch Gan Ning break through the siege and escape.

Now that Gan Ning's team is about to run out of strength, it is a good opportunity to chase and intercept.

But there was really no way out. The enemy had excellent armor and generally gave up swords and used armor-piercing weapons such as short hammers and whip maces, which made Cao's army very helpless.

(End of this chapter)