The southern wall was full of activities, but the northern front of Pu Jing was also eventful .

  Upon settling his troops to siege to the city, Pu Jing detached a 1,000-man light cavalry unit to the north .

  By history in 198, Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought here at Xiapi . After the long battle, Cao Cao Army was exhausted and had low morale . On the verge of defeat and retreat, Xun You and Guo Jia suggested that Cao Cao should not give up and press on since Lu Bu’s men were tired as well . Encouraged by his advisors, Cao Cao sent his men to direct water from Si and Yi River, which flooded Xiapi afterward . The flood tactic caused Lu Bu to surrender and ended this god of war’s struggle .

  Planning to use a similar tactic from the start, Pu Jing ordered his men to find the river . Using his souls, both of his angelic spirits traveled along with the scout team .

  Pu Jing did not worry about this battle at all . As he could use his spirit to kill all natives with ease, his victory was guaranteed .

  Soon, Pu Jing and his scouts reached Si River . However, they also encountered Tian Feng’s men .

  Tian Feng’s soldiers detected the 1,000 horsemen . They shouted and warned their comrade, "ENEMY! THERE ARE ENEMIES!!"

  Two souls of Pu Jing grinned . They rushed toward Tian Feng troops without fear since none of them could harm their ethereal body .

  Just like how Tong and Khan massacred all opposition soldiers, the two ghosts slaughtered anyone that got in their way . They also summoned pets to fight against the soldiers .

  Each ghost summoned two bears, which was the limit of Pu Jing’s skills .

  Because he made the skill cheap, many limitations were placed in his ability . As Pu Jing could only maintain two bears at the maximum, the two spirits could also keep four bears at best .

  Tian Feng’s men adapted to the battlefield . When they realized that they could not harm the two spirits, they changed their targets to the bears .

  Unlike the two ghosts, Pu Jing’s bears had flesh and blood, so they were still vulnerable to arrows and spears . With the coordination of captains and elites, Pu Jing’s summoned bears were killed in a minute .

  The two souls resummoned the bears again, but the animals died in the next minute .

  Seeing that using the bears would be a waste of time, Pu Jing commanded his souls to attack directly .

  The one thousand scouts did not join the battle . They kept their distance from the army near the river and observed Tian Feng Army, accounting their number and their placement .

  One hour later, Pu Jing’s souls managed to kill a thousand of Tian Feng’s men . He could have used his other combat skills with his souls, but he chose not to use them . Since Lilim charged extra the amount of lifespans for each usage and Pu Jing was too busy to cultivate life essence, he became frugal with his remaining years .

  Unless it were necessary or life-threatening, Pu Jing would not use a skill .

  Meanwhile, his scouts had already completed mapping Tian Feng Army and returned to their main forces . They found out that Tian Feng was constructing a dam to collect the rainwater . Since this month was in a period of high tide and it often rained, river water filled the dam to the brim .

  This discovery alarmed the scouts . They rushed back to Pu Jing’s real body to report everything they found .

  Soon, the one thousand soldiers and Pu Jing’s souls returned to the main army . After getting the scout reports, the ex-premier reported the situation to Cao Cao in the clan chat right away .

  Pu Jing: "I found a hidden force at the north . They are gathering near Si River . "

  Cao Cao: "Are they trying to create a dam or digging a river? Did you find any construction?"

  Pu Jing: "That’s correct . Do you know about this?"

  Cao Cao: "Just a guess . I’m also planning to use flood tactic if I feel that I can’t win against Yuan Shao, but it seems that they have the same idea . "

  Pu Jing: "I’ll disengage from the siege and move north, then . "

  Cao Cao: "No, stay where you are . "

  \r \r \r

  Pu Jing: "What!? Do you want me to get flanked from behind? They’re behind me!"

  Cao Cao: "Nah, they won’t . Building a dam takes manpower and afford . Building one is easy, but making it applicable to military strategy is another story . Did you find a water path leading your troops or the city?"

  Pu Jing: "No . "

  Cao Cao: "Then, the dam hasn’t been completed yet . It will take a while before they can use a flooding tactic on your men . Since they aren’t finished with what they’re doing, they won’t attack you . "

  Pu Jing: "……"

  Pu Jing was surprised by Cao Cao’s calmness and his insight . For some reason, he felt a threatening aura coming from Cao Cao even though they were far apart . This warlord did not have wing power as Pu Jing had, but Cao Cao seemed smarter and bolder than the past .

  ’Did something happen to him? Odd . ’ .

  In the end, Pu Jing ignored Tian Feng Army behind him and continued the siege . He followed Cao Cao’s initial instruction and bombarded the garrison forces with ballistae and trebuchet’s boulders .

  The defending forces of 10,000 men in front of the wall charged forward, beelining toward Pu Jing’s siege weapon crews .

  Among Pu Jing’s battalions, 15,000 archers readied their repeating crossbows and rained their arrows at the charging men .

  Years ago, Cao Cao had stolen a blueprint of these crossbows from Julu . Later on, these repeating crossbows were crafted in Xuchang, and they became Cao Cao’s standard weapons .

  Upon facing the endless arrows from Pu Jing’s forces, the ground force was in a panic . One-third of the charging men fell from the first volley .

  Still, the remaining men got through the hail of arrows and faced with Pu Jing’s frontline battalions, consisted of 8,000 armored spearmen .

  Two forces collided against the other . Clashing sounds of metallic weapons and death throe resonated throughout the battlefield .

  Two thousand light cavalries of Pu Jing spread to both wings and pincered the remaining defending ground forces . By using teamwork, Yuan Shao’s men were routed after two hours of fighting .

  Pu Jing Army survived with 3,500 spearmen, 1,500 horsemen, and 15,000 archers . He had 20,000 soldiers remaining to fight against Yuan Shao’s 15,000 archers on the wall and 24,000 Tian Feng’s ambush soldiers .

  A heavy responsibility fell upon Pu Jing . Tomorrow, he might have to fight 39,000 soldiers with only 20,000 men .

  ’Damn it, Mengde!’ .

  At night, Yuan Shao obtained the result of the first-day siege battle . When he heard about the combat at the south gate where Yan Liang protected, he was at a loss of words .

  The south wall was in ruin, and it would not be suitable to defend .

  Yuan Shao called over the secondary strategists for their opinion, Guo Tu and Shen Pei .

  "What do you think of today’s battle?"

  Shen Pei stepped forward, "My lord, it’s obvious that all of our cannon crews were spies of Cao Cao! We should kill all of them and replace with new crew members!"

  Guo Tu also agreed, "Indeed! I found out during the fight that they didn’t use the correct gunpowder to shoot any cannon . Sir Yan Liang managed to counter-attack after he had replaced the entire crews . I think we have to get rid of all threats within our ranks first!"

  Listened to his advisors, Yuan Shao made up his mind, "Hear my order! I want all cannon battalion soldiers dead! Tell the commanders that they are Cao Cao’s spies, and I want to see their heads on sunrise tomorrow!" .

  5 AM, the next morning, one thousand heads were piled before each gate . They were the dead cannon crews that Xiahou Yuan had bribed .

  Because of such action, all garrisoning troops lost 4,000 soldiers from the execution .

  Xiahou Yuan broke a cold sweat when he heard the news . As he was afraid that Yuan Shao and the others might find out about their status, he messaged Cao Cao in the clan chat .

  Xiahou Yuan: "Mengde! They have started killing our men this morning!"

  Cao Cao: "I know . I can see the heads . "

  Xiahou Yuan: "Isn’t it the time for me to break out!? We need to get out of here before someone rats us!"

  Cao Cao: "I know . I’m sure one of them will . "

  Xiahou Yuan: "Then, help me get us out of here!"

  Cao Cao: "Nah . Be patient and stay there . If you’re captured or they come for you, do not resist and keep refusing their accusation . "

  Xiahou Yuan: "WHAT!?"

  Cao Cao: "Tell Xu Chu and Guo Jia about this too . Do what I said . Don’t question me . "

  Xiahou Yuan: "……"

  The archer general was helpless . Since Cao Cao wanted him to remain inside Xiapi, he turned to Guo Jia, hoping for his opinion .

  "Oh, did our lord tell us to wait inside the city?"

  "Yes . What do you think?"

  "No problem! Actually, I have the same idea . "

  "What!?"

  "They’re going to come and arrest all of us soon, so we should tell our men not to resist . Also, whatever they ask you, do not confess that we’re Cao Cao’s men . "

  "Are you nuts!? We’re going to get executed! Let’s break out of here!"

  "That would make things harder for everyone . I’m sorry, Sir Xiahou . For the sake of outsmarting Tian Feng, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Tong, our future ploy is going to be very risky and unpredictable from now on . "

  "We can just blast them with our cannons! What’s the point of this complicated stratagem!?"

  Guo Jia sighed, "Destroying walls will damage this city’s economic power and people’s trust after we took it . People treat county walls as a symbol of security and prosperity . High wall counties usually had more merchants visiting than the smaller size ones . "

  When Guo Jia reminded him about the relativity of wall height and city economy, Xiahou Yuan recalled that Xuchang also had higher walls than other Cao Cao’s affiliate cities . Also, Xuchang was more prosper than the other cities with smaller walls .

  "I-It relates?"

  "Yes . It has been like this since the age of the Warring States . We have to do this because we’re falling behind Zhang Tong’s forces by a large margin . To catch up with Zhang Tong’s military power, we have to expand fast and efficient . We can’t keep stopping our unification campaign to develop our damaged cities all the times . Before Zhang Tong can solve the barbarian invasion issues, we have to grow stronger as fast as possible . We need more soldiers and resources, Sir Xiahou . "

  "……"

  "Well, for now, leave the long-term plans to our lord and me . Let’s get ready to surrender . " .

  One hour later, Xiahou Yuan’s bad dream came true as Yuan Shao’s 10,000 men surrounded his camp . They found out about their relationship with the cannon crews .

  "Miao Cai! I know that you’re in there! Surrender now, or we’ll kill all of you!"

  Guo Jia shrugged, "Let’s go . Just keep refusing their claim, and let me do the rest . "

  Xiahou Yuan was still nervous . His hands and legs could not stop shaking, "Fine . "