The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 149 Enemy Attack

However, the distance from Pengcheng to the moat is not wide; through my binoculars, it appears to be only about three meters wide. Our army only needs to prepare some long ladders to cross the river smoothly.

“About three meters is indeed not very wide. Immediately have the brothers in the supply battalion cut down trees nearby to make long ladders. If there is bamboo, that would be even better!” Li Ji said.

Upon hearing Li Ji's words, Li Lin immediately ran to the supply battalion to issue orders and also assigned an infantry battalion to assist the supply battalion in speeding up their work. Tonight was their best opportunity to attack. After dawn, the possibility of them being exposed would greatly increase, and it would be difficult to launch such a sudden attack then.

Li Lin is a historical figure.

Fortunately, the area around the water was well-watered, and the brothers in the supply battalion found a small bamboo grove after walking in the dark for a short distance. This was truly a stroke of luck. In less than an hour, the supply battalion had prepared over a hundred long ladders. Well, all the preparations were complete, and now they were just waiting for the midnight raid.

Li Ji ordered the entire army to launch an attack, marching covertly towards Pengcheng, trying not to expose themselves. They didn't even light torches, because it would be easy to spot a large army from a distance if they lit torches.

Secondly, who knows if some madman might not have made it back to the city so late at night? So it's best not to expose ourselves if possible.

"Commander, look, that's Pengcheng." An hour later, the army arrived at the back of a grove of trees outside the northwest city of Pengcheng. Li Ji, along with a few attendants, followed the reconnaissance platoon out of the grove to observe the situation in Pengcheng.

"Yeah, that's what I expected."

Li Ji asked Li Lin to bring him the binoculars. He saw that the situation on the city wall was indeed as described. The sentries on the city wall were scattered in twos and threes, and some sentries were even gathered around the fire, roasting a chicken in their hands.

"This is hardly an army," Li Ji exclaimed. Seeing his opponent's army, Li Ji felt much more at ease. He could tell from the sentries that the army stationed in Pengcheng was truly uninteresting to him.

"Attack in ten minutes," Li Ji said to Li Lin.

"Yes, General."

Ten minutes later, outside Pengcheng, there was no sound. Only countless dark figures suddenly appeared in the northwest direction, and more figures circled around in other directions. At this time, the navy also began to move from upstream to the Sishui River east of Pengcheng, preparing to control the ferry crossing in Pengcheng.

"attack!"

With a cannon shot, a large number of soldiers carrying simple siege ladders appeared around Pengcheng and began to charge towards Pengcheng in an attack!

The moment they heard the cannon fire, the Yuan soldiers on the city wall had no time to react. Their first thought was that it was thunder, and they never imagined that it would be an enemy attack. The enemy had begun their attack!

It wasn't until several hundred soldiers of the 22nd Division had crossed the moat that a few sentries on the city wall noticed something was wrong below, with the sound of soft ropes coming from outside the city walls.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

It's the enemy!

The Yuan army sentries on the city wall immediately rushed to the large bell on the city tower and vigorously rang the warning bell.

"Full speed ahead!"

Upon hearing the alarm bell, Li Ji immediately ordered a full-scale assault. Since the city had already been exposed, they rushed up the city wall and opened the city gate before the enemy's main force could react.

"Have the assault team open the city gates as soon as possible," Li Ji ordered Li Lin.

"Charge! Charge!"

They don't have much time left and need to attack as soon as possible.

Fifteen minutes later, the west gate fell. Before the defenders of Pengcheng could react, the soldiers of the 22nd Division assault team climbed the city wall, lowered the drawbridge, and opened the city gate.

A small number of sentry patrols on the city wall were wiped out, but most of them were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the autonomous region's army and laid down their weapons to give up resistance.

When Pengcheng's garrison commander He Yuan heard the news of the enemy attack, most of the 22nd Division had already entered the city through the city gates, captured most of the strategic locations, and Red Army soldiers blocked all the key routes.

He Yuan hadn't even assembled his own troops. He put up a token resistance in his own residence, and after only a few shots were fired, he ordered a surrender.

Pengcheng was occupied by the Red Army.

When Ji Ling received the news, it was already the third day since Pengcheng fell. Because Li Ji's attack was very sudden, and it was nighttime, everyone in Pengcheng was trapped inside the city.

No one was able to run out and inform Ji Ling at the front. If a transport team from the front hadn't returned to Pengcheng and discovered the autonomous region's naval fleet on the Sishui River, Ji Ling might have learned of the fall of Pengcheng a few days later.

"What! You're saying Pengcheng is lost!"

Ji Ling pushed away the beauty in his arms and looked at the supply battalion captain in front of him, asking, "General, when I returned to Pengcheng to escort the grain, I saw that the entire Sishui River was full of Chen family army warships. I sent people to cross the river quietly to investigate, and the flags of the Autonomous Region Army were already on the walls of Pengcheng. All this evidence shows that Pengcheng has been lost."

"It's over! Pengcheng is lost! What should I do?!"

Ji Ling plopped down on the ground. Just moments before, he had thought victory was in sight, but now he suddenly realized he had been tricked and made a huge mistake: he had left too few troops in Pengcheng.

Moreover, how could He Yuan, that sycophantic fellow, be a general left behind to guard the rear? Ji Ling regretted it, but it was too late for him to regret it. The most important thing now was to figure out how to retreat safely!

"Let's go find Mr. Yang!" Ji Ling suddenly stood up and said to the guard beside her.

"Mr. Yang should be at the front lines supervising the battle right now."

"Hurry and lead the way, the lives of our army depend on you, sir," Ji Ling said. He urged his guards to lead the way quickly, as he needed to inform Yang Hong of the loss of Pengcheng as soon as possible. Every minute that was wasted reduced his chances of returning to Shouchun alive.

When Yang Hong learned that Pengcheng had fallen and that a large number of the autonomous region's navy had appeared, he finally understood the source of his unease these past few days. It wasn't just because the autonomous region's army in Xiapi was behaving abnormally.

There was also the unease coming from Pengcheng! But now it all seemed too late, because even someone as wise as him had overlooked the enormous role of the navy!

The enemy must have used their navy to cross the vicinity of Xiapi under cover of darkness, sailed down the river, and landed directly at Pengcheng! If that's the case, the enemy's naval power must be very strong. How will he deal with that?

Meanwhile, in Gao Shun's strategic plan, Pei County would also become the area that the First Army Corps would control after the war. In this way, the two important cities on the south bank of the Sishui River, Pengcheng and Pei, would be controlled by the autonomous region's army.