Vol 2 Chapter 2856: The Battle of Dingtao, the power of killing gods (Part 1)

Chapter 2852: Battle of Dingtao, the power of killing gods (Part 1)

When Deng Jiugong returned to Dingtao, Deng Xiu not only put out the fire at the east gate, but also cleaned the battlefield. After counting the casualties, he comforted the surrendering troops, which could be regarded as helping Deng Jiugong share a lot of affairs.

According to statistics, in the battle against Dingtao, the Qin army killed a total of 700 Cao troops and captured 1,600 prisoners. Seven hundred Cao troops returned from the battle with Liu Tichun.

As for the casualties of the Qin army in this battle, they reached nearly 500 men and horses, and nearly 300 people were killed directly in the battle, half of which were killed by Cao Ning alone.

 For the Qin army, if they could successfully capture Dingtao City, such losses would naturally not be huge.

After all, if Liu Tichun hadn't rebelled against the enemy and opened the city gates to let the Qin army into the city, even if the three thousand Qin troops were defeated until the entire army was annihilated, it would have been impossible to capture Dingtao City.

Not to mention that the Cao army who surrendered with Liu Tichun could also make up for the losses of the Qin army to a certain extent.

Deng Jiugong didn't care about the casualties. His current focus was on the incoming Cao Wei reinforcements, so he immediately approached Liu Tichun as soon as he returned, preparing to inquire specifically about the information about the reinforcements to Cao Wei.

The previous situation was too urgent. After Deng Jiugong learned that there were reinforcements from Cao's army, in order to reduce the pressure on the subsequent defense, he led his army in pursuit without much hesitation.

Now that the purpose of severely injuring Cao Ning has been achieved, Deng Jiugong still has enough time to prepare, so he wants to learn more about the intelligence coming to aid Cao Ning.

Liu Tichun naturally knew everything and told Deng Jiugong all the information he had obtained from Cao Ning.

Cao Ning was also very arrogant. Liu Tichun killed Ma Shouying with his own hands. After gaining his trust, in order to strengthen the defender's confidence in holding Dingtao, he told all the information he knew about the reinforcements, but nothing happened. Thinking that Liu Tichun was just confusing him.

After listening to Liu Tichun's story, Deng Jiugong's eyes were full of solemnity, and Deng Xiu was even more anxious to pace back and forth.

"Now the trouble is big. In order to keep Dingtao, Cao Cao not only mobilized all the cavalry of Chen Liu, but also the cavalry of Yan County and Yin Shou. In other words, both Yin Shou and Tantai Yu were among the reinforcements. ,This is how to do ah?"

Looking at his impatient son, Deng Jiugong reprimanded him: "Why are you so anxious? How many times have I told you as a general that your face will not change even if Mount Tai collapses in front of you."

“But Dad, neither Yin Shou nor Tantai Yu can be dealt with by our father and son, let alone the two of us coming together this time.”

Deng Jiugong knew that his son was right. After all, Cao Ning alone, together with his father and son, were almost defeated, let alone the stronger Yin Shou and Tan Taiyu.

With the right combination of time and people, we finally won Dingtao. If we just gave up, let alone Deng Xiu, even Deng Jiugong would be reluctant to part with it.

 First of all, taking Dingtao and holding on until the main army arrived was a considerable feat, even enough to grant a title to one of the father and his son.

Secondly, the Qin army has been planning for so long, and it only needs to complete the last step to completely annihilate Chen Liucao's army, and then establish an absolute advantage on the battlefield in the Central Plains.

How could Deng Jiugong hold back the entire army at this time?

 Therefore, it was impossible for Deng Jiugong to give up Dingtao until the last step.

But what to do?

After Deng Jiugong pondered for a while, his eyes flashed with a gleam, and he sneered: "Since Cao Jun's troops are all cavalry this time, they must not carry heavy siege equipment like our army, so as long as they can destroy all Cao Jun's ladders, they will not give it to Yin If Shou and Tantaiyu get the chance to climb the tower, they will definitely defend the city."

“But given the strength of Yin Shou and Tantai Yu, if we give them a ladder, they will be able to climb the tower in a short time, so how can they not be able to climb up?”

Liu Tichun asked with a puzzled look on his face, while Deng Xiu also nodded in agreement.

Deng Jiugong asked, "Do you know about the Battle of Huangping?"

 “The Battle of Yuping?”

Deng Xiu was stunned for a moment, and then said: "What my father is talking about is the battle in Youzhou when our army attacked Yuyang Pingping City during the conquest of Hebei?"

 “That’s right.”

Deng Jiugong nodded, while Liu Tichun on the side said: "I also know about this battle. Li Ling defended the city with 3,000 defenders, while Sun Lingming led 5,000 elite troops to attack, but in the end Sun Lingming failed to break the city. "

There were many well-known battles in the Hebei Campaign, and the reason why the Battle of Zhangping was so famous was not because of its scale, intensity and brutality, but because it was one of the few defeats of the Qin army and was Sun Lingming's most famous battle. A battle that shouldn't be lost.

There shouldn't be any suspense in the battle of Guangping. After all, the gap between Li Ling and Sun Lingming is too big. One is unknown, and the other is a strong general at the top of the list. In addition, the strength of the two sides is also nearly doubled. Logically speaking, It should be said that the city should be broken easily.

 But the final result was exactly the opposite. Sun Lingming failed to break the city after ten days of strong attack. Instead, he lost only 2,000 troops and returned in disastrous defeat.

As Sun Lingming's fame grows, the Battle of Guangping will naturally be mentioned by more and more people. Who knows that this is the worst defeat for Sun Lingming, the general of Qitian, so this battle is like this? famous.

"During the Battle of Kuangping, General Sun Lingming was traveling lightly and without heavy siege equipment, so he was targeted by Li Ling with a catapult crossbow. As a result, he was unable to climb the tower, so he failed to break the city. Our situation now It’s very similar to the Battle of Guangping.”

Deng Jiugong's eyes flashed, and he said solemnly: "Cao Wei's reinforcements do not have heavy siege equipment. As for the invading Yin Shou and Tantai Yu, although they are brave, they cannot be more brave than General Sun Lingming.

As long as our army follows Li Ling's example, concentrates its firepower, destroys Cao Jun's ladder, and does not give Yin Shou and Tantai Yu a chance to climb the tower, not to mention holding on for ten days like Li Ling, one or two days is still possible. General Shi's reinforcements must have arrived. "

As soon as these words came out, both Deng Xiu and Liu Tichun were shocked. After all, Dingtao was also a fortified city, and there was already a case like Li Ling's. There was no reason why they couldn't follow suit.

The only thing that needs to be considered now is that the fire that Cao Ning set before leaving was put out in time by Deng Xiu, but it also burned a lot of equipment in the east gate, so now the east gate has become a weak point in Dingtao's defense and will definitely be destroyed. Cao Wei's reinforcements targeted him.

"General Deng, there are still sixteen crossbows and some catapult parts in the treasury. We should be able to assemble five catapults." Hearing what Liu Tichun said, Deng Jiugong was overjoyed and said quickly: "That's enough. , We don’t have to defend for ten days and a half, as long as we persist for one or two days, the general’s reinforcements will arrive, and by then we will be the major contributors to the destruction of Cao Wei.”

 Subsequently, the three of them divided their work.

Deng Jiugong was responsible for rearranging the defenses and sending letters to Feige, informing Bai Qi of the situation in Dingtao and urging Bai Qi to speed up his march.

Deng Xiu was responsible for moving the crossbows and catapults from the treasury and transporting them to the city tower for assembly.

Liu Ti was responsible for recruiting prisoners of war and selecting soldiers who could control catapult crossbows among the prisoners of war, so that they could also participate in the defense of the city.

 Catapult soldiers and bed crossbowmen are both technical units. Ordinary soldiers who have never used them before will definitely not be able to use them when they first get started. Even if they can be used, they are basically inaccurate.

Anyway, among the 3,000 cavalry led by Deng Jiugong, few of them could control the technical arms of catapults and crossbows, so they could only rely on surrendered troops and prisoners of war.

 For Liu Tichun's surrender, surprisingly few prisoners of war were selected to respond to Cao's army.

 At other times, the prisoners of war of Cao's army would naturally be eager to surrender. After all, the treatment of Qin's army was much better than that of Cao's army. At least Cao's army did not have such a pension.

But after former Cao Ning took power, the first thing he did was to notify the whole city that Yin Shou Tan Taiyu would arrive with reinforcements soon.

They surrender at this time, which means that they will soon go to war with Cao Jun, Yin Shou and Tantai Yu.

The invincible images of Yin Shou and Tantai Yu have long been deeply imprinted in the hearts of the Cao Wei soldiers at the bottom. Going to war with these two men is no different from seeking death in the minds of some Cao Jun soldiers. Naturally, they are unwilling to submit due to fear in their hearts.

Deng Jiugong saw that the effect of recruiting prisoners of war was not satisfactory, so he stood up and promised to surrender prisoners of war. As long as he helped the Qin army fight and defend Dingtao, those who did not want to be soldiers after the war could receive the Qin army's retirement pay, and those who wanted to continue to serve as soldiers. You can have the official establishment of the Qin Army, and you can also enjoy the Qin Army's retirement pay and pensions even if you are disabled or killed in battle.

 After that, Deng Jiugong informed a group of prisoners of war about the welfare benefits of serving as soldiers in Daqin, as well as the specific amounts of pensions and retirement benefits. After listening to this, all the prisoners of war's eyes glowed green.

Hey, this is too extravagant.

 One month's military pay for soldiers of the Qin Army is equivalent to two months' worth of military pay, and they also have extremely high disability and retirement pensions, as well as war death pensions.

That's nothing to think about. If this job is done, you will have no worries about food and drink in the future.

Although Wei is getting better and better under Cao Cao's governance, it is at the expense of squeezing the people at the bottom, who generally do not live a good life for a few days.

As for the situation of Cao’s soldiers, although they are much better, they are not that rich.

 So, attracted by the huge benefits, the prisoners of war fantasized about the good days in the future, so much so that they forgot the fears of Yin Shou and Dan Taiyu.

At this moment, in their hearts, anyone who dared to stop them from living a good life, let alone Yin Shou and Tantai Yu, even Li Cunxiao would do it.

When Deng Jiugong saw that the prisoners of war were surrendering one after another, he was secretly relieved. He actually did not recruit the prisoners of war and gave the Qin army the authority to organize them, but the establishment of Tao was too important. In addition, the situation was urgent and the number of prisoners of war was not large. , he believed that General Bai Qi would definitely be willing to help him take responsibility.

Just when Deng Jiugong deployed all his strength to deal with Cao Wei's reinforcements, Cao Ning also returned to his own formation and told Cao Cao exactly what happened to him.

 When he learned that Cao Ning had been deceived by Liu Tichun and had no intention of killing him, so that when Dingtao fell into the hands of Deng Jiugong, Cao Cao suddenly turned livid with anger.

"Cao Ning, before you left, I gave you many warnings and told you not to be careless, but you still missed important things because of your soft heart. How do you think I should punish you?"

After hearing Cao Cao's words, Cao Ning was even more ashamed. He made a decision under the shame in his heart, so he said solemnly: "Cao Ning knows that his sin is unforgivable, and he is willing to die to apologize."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cao Ning pulled out the knife from his waist and was about to kill himself, but was caught by Cao Cao, who had quick eyes and quick hands.

Cao Cao was also frightened by Cao Ning's behavior of committing suicide if he disagreed. Although he was extremely angry at Cao Ning's behavior of losing Dingtao because of his soft heart, Cao Ning was the strongest person in the Cao family after all, and he still counted on Cao Ning. Ning would continue to work hard for himself, and it would not go to the point of killing him.

Moreover, the loss of Dingtao was not entirely Cao Ning's responsibility. Liu Tichun was really good at pretending. He did not expect that Liu Tichun, who had always been honest, would use such extreme behavior to gain sympathy. If it had been anyone else, he would have been betrayed by others. Be deceived and deceived.

When Cao Ning saw that Cao Cao's hand was cut because of holding the knife, he quickly abandoned the knife and asked the military doctor to come and bandage it, but Cao Cao waved his hand indifferently and said: "It's a small scar, don't cause trouble.

 Cao Ning, please remember to me that life is the most precious thing for a person. Everyone has only one life, so do not give up your life under any circumstances. "

 “…Promise.” Cao Ning responded with a moved face.

At this moment, Fan Li stood up and said: "My lord, although Dingtao has been lost, the Qin troops who entered the city are all cavalry and are not good at defending the city. Moreover, General Cao Ning set fire to the east gate before abandoning the city. Even if he later After being defeated by the Qin army, the defense of the east gate will definitely be worse than before. "

Hearing Fan Li's words, Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up and he said excitedly: "So, do we still have hope of recapturing Dingtao?"

Fan Li nodded with a serious face and said: "Yes, and I have great hopes. The Qin generals Deng Jiugong and his son who captured Dingtao are not very strong. Together, father and son are no match for General Cao Ning, let alone Yin Shou and Dan. General Taiyu."

“Immediately send an order to Yin Shou and Tantai Yu to lead five thousand light cavalry in the front and rush to Dingtao as quickly as possible. We must recapture Dingtao for my king at all costs.”

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