As Liu Yi was worried, Cao Ren and Cao Hong had a brief discussion after meeting in Zhuyang.

"Now Hanzhong has received the news." Cao Hong frowned when he saw Cao Ren, "I'm afraid this battle is not easy to fight."

"Zhuyang is three hundred miles away from Shangyong, but less than two hundred miles away from Fangling." Cao Ren said in a deep voice: "The road is difficult to move. If you march normally, you may have to walk ten days. It is better to send a light cavalry to go all night long and rush to Fangling. Before the enemy is ready, take down Fangling first. If you can occupy this city, you will have a foundation in Hanzhong. Liu Bei has only been in Hanchuan for a few months, and people are not stable. At this moment, you will catch the enemy off guard and then not take Shangyong. You will take Xixian first. With these two cities in your hands, Shangyong will be unable to roar!"

Although Shangyong, Fangling and Xixian belong to Hanzhong, the nearest Shangyong is three or four hundred miles away from Hanzhong, which is farther from Nanyang to Shangyong. Although the Shangyong position is more important, if Cao's army first takes Xixian and Fangling, even if Shangyong's position is to be rescued, it will be difficult for Hanzhong to rescue. If Cao's army has enough troops, it can easily cut off the road between Shangyong and Hanzhong.

"Good, since that's the case, I will be the pioneer?" Cao Hong thought for a moment when he heard this, and also felt that Cao Ren's plan was good. If he could win a city first, it would be a big advantage for Cao's army.

The two had decided to make up their plans. Cao Hong picked out three thousand elite soldiers as vanguards and rushed to Fangling at night. As for the military power in his hand to Cao Ren to command the commander, he did not hesitate at all.

But he was less than a hundred miles away, but he was blocked by a level. The level was not majestic and not many people. Judging from the scale, there were at most a hundred people, but the location was extremely disgusting. He was stuck in a dangerous place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The worst thing was that after discovering the traces of Cao's army, the beacon had already been lit.

"When will there be a level here?" Looking at the wooden level in front of you, Cao Hong's face looked a little ugly. Before he could use the surprise attack plan, he was stuck by this damn level.

As for what the beacon tower is for, Cao Hong is not a novice, so he naturally knows that Fang Ling will be prepared soon after the beacon fire.

"General, what should I do now?" The deputy general came to Cao Hong and asked with a bow.

"What else can I do? Break through this level first!" Cao Hong said a little depressedly. He had known the terrain in Hanzhong before, but he didn't remember that there was such a level. It seemed that it should have been newly built.

Although the plan failed, this level must be broken. Since the surprise attack cannot be completed, then attack forcefully.

Although there was no rest along the way, the left and right were just a small level of about a hundred people. The height of the wooden wall was not even two feet long. Although the location of this level was a bit disgusting, it was not difficult to break it.

Three thousand people were unable to enter the battlefield at one time, so Cao Hong divided his troops into six teams, one team for every five hundred people, and took turns to attack.

It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so it requires sufficient manpower. Cao Ren is confident that he can conquer such fragile levels in less than an hour.

But the next siege was somewhat beyond Cao Hong's expectations. Not only was the basic wooden level quite solid, but the soldiers in the level had a long range of bows and arrows. The level that they thought could be captured in one hour took a day to break through. When the soldiers guarding the level could not be blocked, they actually threw away the level without hesitation and escaped.

In this battle, Cao Hong lost more than 200 soldiers, and the enemy had already escaped except for more than 30 corpses.

Seeing that the sky was dark and its whereabouts had been exposed, and the plan failed, Cao Hong had to set up a camp here first and ordered people to go to inform Cao Ren, and he took the lead and continued to move forward.

The next morning, Cao Hong led his troops to set off again. What made him feel aggrieved was that after walking thirty miles, another level appeared. It was also a wooden structure, but it was obviously much taller than the previous one, and there seemed to be more soldiers guarding the pass. The Shu army, who fled back yesterday, should have escaped back to this level.

The beacon fire broke out, and Cao Hong was so angry that he felt itchy. In this way, even if he broke through, the other party would know his position well, and there was no secret at all.

"attack!"

This time, Cao Hong was too lazy to even talk nonsense. This time, the other party had sufficient staff, and the reason why Guancheng was stronger than the previous one, it took two days to break through, and this time, more than 400 people were lost.

After repairing overnight, he set out again. Unexpectedly, after marching for fifty miles, another checkpoint was blocking the road. What made Cao Hong feel a little uncomfortable was that this checkpoint was actually made of stone, three zhang high and fifteen zhang wide. There were many figures above the city of the gate, and there were so many people that there were no less than eight hundred people!

Cao Hong took out the map and looked at it. After passing this Guancheng, Fangling would be a few miles away. Fangling's soldiers could support this place at any time, which was equivalent to pushing Fangling's wall forward a few miles. Looking at the defense of this Guancheng, if you want to break through this level, you may not be able to capture it even if you use up your troops.

"General, what should I do?" Cao Hong's deputy general looked at Cao Hong with a wry smile. Will he still fight?

Cao Hong said with a depressed look on his face: "Get out of the village first!"

The soldiers were trapped and the horses were too scarce, and they were prepared for it. Moreover, the city wall looked quite solid and even fart.

Seeing that Cao Hong did not attack the city immediately, but began to set up camps and camps. Meng Da, who was standing next to Liu Yi, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Liu Yi beside him and said with admiration: "Sir, I finally scared these Cao troops."

As he spoke, he secretly broke out in a cold sweat. If Liu Yi hadn't insisted on setting up more checkpoints along the way, with the speed of these Cao's army, they would have reacted to Fangling.

I heard that Cao Cao mobilized 400,000 troops from Nanyang, Chang'an, Luoyang and Xiliang to attack from two groups. Although he knew that there was an exaggeration in this, even if he was to make a half or half, the troops would be quite strong. In the whole Hanzhong, Liu Bei had only 50,000 troops left by him, and he had to defend everywhere. He would definitely not be able to fight Cao Cao. If he missed the opportunity and let the opponent attack directly under Fangling City, how could he defend this city?

Liu Yi was also slightly relieved and didn't give himself much time. The first level of these three levels was built the day before Cao's army arrived. It was used for emergency purposes. He bought him a day and spent two days to build the second level.

This third and last one were specially set up at the entrance of this valley. Although there was not enough time, Liu Yi still insisted on using cement. Until now, the city wall looks strong, but in fact the cement has not dried yet. It was a hole when you poked it with one finger. If Cao's army really attacked directly, Liu Yi would have to escape back to Fangling and resist the city and defend it.

Fortunately, the two previous levels brought a lot of psychological hints to Cao Hong. The small levels made of wood are so strong. Isn’t this stone level even more difficult to deal with?

Therefore, he chose to wait until Cao Ren's army arrived before attacking together.

In order to prevent the soldiers from stepping on the cement, Liu Yi laid a layer of wooden boards on the city wall. At this moment, everyone was standing on the wooden boards. Although Cao's army went to set up camp, Liu Yi did not dare to take it lightly. He always paid attention to the movements of Cao's army. The cement was initially dry, and it would take at least four or five hours. If it was to completely dry, it would take longer.

"Sir, please be careful and always prepare. If Cao's army comes to attack, we will withdraw back to Fangling immediately!" Liu Yi looked at Meng Da and asked.

Meng Da was shocked. Shouldn’t he persist at this time?

"Sir." Meng Da looked at Liu Yi, hesitated for a moment and said, "Even if we take advantage of this location, we can hold on for a while, so why bother to withdraw easily?"

Meng Da was also worried about being exposed, but he couldn't bear to leave this level. A level was established here, and the location was so good. If he could be kept, he would not have to worry about the threat from Nanyang in the future.

Liu Yi pointed at his feet after hearing this: "It's hollow. If Cao's army attacks the city tomorrow, it will collapse with a hammer. Do you think such a large city would be so easy to build a solid city?"

Of course, if you can delay for three or five days, you will not have this worry, but now, this level is completely a paper tiger, which can scare people, but it will be extremely difficult to rely on this place to defend it.

Anyway, Liu Yi would never take this risk. Fang Ling has made sufficient preparations, and even if this level is demolished, it will be fine.

Meng Da: “…”

Until nightfall, Cao's army did not take any further action. Liu Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief and sent people to put a large area in front of the pass overnight. He dug three trenches outside the pass, covered with barbs and made some disguises on it. Finally, he led his people to make two broken crossbows on the city wall. At a distance of fifteen meters, the two broken crossbows took turns to release them, which should be enough to shock the enemy.

The next morning, when Cao Hong came to observe the enemy situation with his men, he looked at the dense antlers in front of the city wall, and then looked at the rows of soldiers wearing brightly-clad armor on the top of the city, and felt speechless.

Where did those deer antlers and horse-repellent stakes come from?

However, in this case, his troops of more than two thousand might not be able to take over, but if he had not fired a single arrow, it would be unreasonable. Cao Ren thought for a while and was about to shock the enemy. He ordered people to bring a bow and arrow, and went outside the gate to open an arrow, pull the strong bow and shoot it out with one arrow.

The arrow cluster roared through the air, and with a puff, it penetrated into the female wall, and the arrow tail couldn't help but tremble.

Seeing this, Cao Jun around him cheered loudly: "General is brave!"

A hundred steps away, although there was no enemy shot, an arrow shot into the stone city wall. This force alone was enough to have grain morale.

Cao Hong looked at the strong bow in his hand in a daze, then at the arrow cluster inserted on the city wall, and was a little confused. When did his archery skills become so powerful?

"Let's go!" Naturally, I couldn't show it. I took my personal guards calmly and turned my horse back to the camp.

Liu Yi stood on the city wall and saw Cao Jun leaving. He came to the female wall. He raised his waist and pulled the arrow cluster out of the wall. There was still an undried cement on the arrow cluster. He turned his head to look at Meng Da: "Why are they happy?"

"I guess I'm taking this city wall as real." Meng Da thought for a moment and sighed.
Chapter completed!