Chapter 33 The Strategy of Yao Shouxin

As time passed, the Wei army did not launch a second attack.

The fire outside the city soared to the sky, yet they remained still.

This made Hamhen suspicious. What tricks were the Wei army up to?

Could it be that they were already intimidated after failing in one attack?

Situ Quan quickly agreed with this idea.

Hamhen was overjoyed and relaxed.

The Mengmu soldiers in the city also gradually relaxed as time went on, and many even dozed off.

Outside the city, Yao Shouxin sat in the central army, watching the distant city wall with a calm heart.

Since the attack two hours ago, he had not ordered the army to attack a second time.

Through the probing of the first attack, he had a general idea of the combat effectiveness of the Mengmu army holding Nanzhao Prefecture City.

It could be described in four words.

Paper tigers!

While Yao Shouxin came to this conclusion, the generals in the army also came to the same conclusion, and then excitedly requested to fight.

But Yao Shouxin rejected them all, only telling them to wait for his orders.

The generals returned with doubts, but Yao Shouxin knew very well in his heart.

The reason he did this was because of what Jiang Chen had said to him before the battle.

War, of course, should take victory as the primary task.

But with absolute certainty, being able to achieve the greatest victory with the least amount of casualties is what a great general should do.

Yao Shouxin kept these words firmly in his mind, so he was waiting for the best opportunity.

When the time came to mao shi three ke (5:45 AM), Yao Shouxin suddenly summoned his generals, his face full of murderous intent.

"Attack in a quarter of an hour!"

"At the first drumbeat, scale the city wall!"

"At the second drumbeat, charge the gate!"

"At the third drumbeat, kill the enemy!"

With Yao Shouxin's cold orders, the generals were both surprised and delighted.

This elegant Minister of War was an extremely calm strategist.

As the generals went out to arrange their forces, Yao Shouxin personally picked up the drumsticks and looked in the direction of the city wall.

A quarter of an hour later, Yao Shouxin raised the drumsticks and slammed them on the drum surface.

Dong!

A loud noise spread throughout the Wei army and woke up Hamhen, who had already begun to doze off.

"What's going on?"

Hamhen was so frightened that he quickly looked around, but found nothing unusual.

Many of the Mengmu soldiers in the city were also awakened by the sound of the drum, their faces blank.

Just as the Mengmu generals thought they were hallucinating, shouts of killing suddenly came from outside the city.

Hamhen was shocked and quickly shouted, "Defend! Defend!"

However, the soldiers who had just been dozing off were extremely flustered. After rushing to the city wall, they found that some Wei soldiers had already climbed the city wall using siege ladders.

The Wei soldiers who climbed the city wall were full of murderous intent, wielding their weapons and slashing without hesitation.

The Mengmu soldiers were shocked. They had lost the courage to resist the moment the Wei soldiers climbed the city wall and instantly collapsed.

After seeing this scene, Yao Shouxin heavily struck the second drum.

Bang!

The generals who had been waiting at the bottom of the city wall heard the sound of the drum and waved their sabers forward.

"Charge the city gate!"

The Wei soldiers who had prepared the logs roared and crashed open the city gate.

Then, the soldiers poured in.

At this time, the third drum sounded, and the generals roared, "Kill the enemy! Kill the enemy!"

The Wei soldiers were unstoppable, wiping out all the Mengmu soldiers who tried to resist, and then headed straight for the Prefectural Office.

Inside the Prefectural Office, Hamhen, with a panicked expression, led a few guards and Situ Quan, changed their clothes, and retreated through the back door.

As for the treasures he had packed, he couldn't care less about them at this moment.

After seeing the Wei soldiers climb the city wall, Hamhen knew that the situation was over, so he quickly took his personal soldiers and retreated.

After escaping from the Prefectural Office, Hamhen didn't look back and hurried out of Nanzhao City.

It wasn't until dawn that Hamhen dared to stop and rest for a while.

After taking a sip of water, Hamhen suddenly rushed to Situ Quan, grabbed him, and lifted him up with a fierce expression.

"Didn't you say that the Wei army would never be able to capture it?"

Hamhen hated Situ Quan to death. If it weren't for Situ Quan's words that made him careless, how could he have failed so easily?

Situ Quan's heart pounded. He didn't expect the Wei army's combat effectiveness and tactics to be completely different from what he had imagined.

Faced with a life-threatening crisis, he quickly found an excuse.

"General, you can't blame me for this!" Situ Quan said.

Hamhen glared at Situ Quan and shouted, "If I don't blame you, who am I supposed to blame? You don't think I should blame myself, do you?"

Situ Quan quickly shook his head, "Of course the General is not at fault. I think the soldiers were too lax!"

"The Wei army is right outside the city, but the soldiers still dare to sleep. General, do you think we could have avoided failure under those circumstances?"

Hamhen's anger subsided a little after hearing this.

But he was still very annoyed by this failure and shouted, "If I don't kill you, how am I supposed to explain this to the King?"

That was more than 40,000 soldiers!

They had collapsed like that!

If there wasn't a scapegoat, he wouldn't be able to get away with it when he returned to Mengmu.

Situ Quan was startled and quickly said, "General, this failure was clearly due to the negligence of some of the generals, and has nothing to do with you or me!"

"The General can gather the soldiers who escaped and retreat all the way back. With me leading the way, we will definitely be able to return to Mengmu safely."

Hamhen's expression softened a lot, and he let go of Situ Quan, "What you said makes sense. If you do this again, don't blame me for being rude!"

After Yao Shouxin recaptured Nanzhao Prefecture City, he immediately began to post notices.

The content, of course, was a hefty reward for Hamhen.

However, the reward did not describe Hamhen's appearance in detail.

This loophole was soon discovered by Zhu Zhenghong, the general commander of the Western Military Camp.

Zhu Zhenghong found Yao Shouxin, pointed out the loophole, and said, "Lord, I have already asked the Mengmu soldiers about Hamhen's appearance. Please rewrite the notice!"

Yao Shouxin smiled faintly, "General Zhu, there is no need for that."

Zhu Zhenghong was puzzled and asked, "Why?"

How could they catch the target with a vague notice?

"Because this notice is not for catching Hamhen," Yao Shouxin said.

"What?" Zhu Zhenghong's eyes widened, completely unable to understand Yao Shouxin's meaning.

If it wasn't for catching Hamhen, then what was the point of posting the notice?

Yao Shouxin explained, "Hamhen is still within our Great Wei territory. If we search for him extensively, it will inevitably make him desperate and do something that will harm our Great Wei's people."

"But with this notice, Hamhen will realize that we don't know what he looks like, and he will definitely be like a frightened bird, afraid to do anything unusual."

Zhu Zhenghong understood, but then he discovered another loophole.

"Lord, what if Hamhen doesn't realize this? What should we do then?"