After Cao Cao learned that Yu Jin had been defeated by Guan Yu, he sent Xu Huang with an army of 20,000 to support him.
However, after Xu Huang arrived at Rangcheng, he was blocked by floods and unable to contact Cao Hong's troops in Xiangyang.
They had to temporarily station troops in Rangcheng and wait for the flood to recede.
Hundreds of miles away in Xiangyang City, Cao Hong was extremely anxious.
Fancheng was flooded, all reinforcements were lost, and the morale of the officers and soldiers defending the city was low.
Moreover, there is not much food in the two cities.
If the passage between Xiangyang and Rangcheng and Wancheng in the north cannot be opened within ten days, the Cao army defending the city will face a situation of running out of food.
At this time, Guan Yu in Yicheng was gearing up to advance by land and water and capture Xiangyang and Fancheng in one fell swoop.
Guan Yu had calculated that Cao's army in Fancheng, Xiangyang, was about to run out of food.
He sat in the large tent of the Chinese army and assigned tasks to the generals one by one.
A soldier hurriedly entered the tent and reported urgently: "General, something bad is going on.
The Jiangdong Army has attacked our Nanjun County and has now occupied Xiakou.
The Public Security Bureau is heading towards Jiangling."
When Guan Yu heard this, his face turned pale.
He quickly asked: "Who is coming and how many soldiers and horses he has brought with him?"
The soldier showed a look of embarrassment on his face and responded: "The messenger who came to report the news came in a hurry.
He didn't know the details of the situation."
At this time, another scout came to report: "Report to the general, the grain and grass transported from Jiangling behind me were robbed by a military brigade under the banner of Jiangdong.
The opposing general is Jiangdong Zhonglang General Lu Meng."
Guan Yu immediately said to the generals in the big tent: "The children of Jiangdong have betrayed their faith and attacked our hinterland of Jingzhou.
Now we can only give up the attack on Xiangyang for the time being and return to Jiangling."
After saying this, he hurriedly broke up the camp and raised his troops and headed towards Jiangling.
Many days later, Xu Huang asked someone to drive a boat into the flooded Fancheng area and contacted Cao Hong in Xiangfan.
Only then did he learn about Guan Yu's withdrawal.
But now Xiangyang was in urgent need of supplies of food and grass, so Xu Huang had no choice but to meander toward Fancheng with a large amount of luggage along the muddy road formed by the land that first emerged from the water before the floods receded.
Xu Huang's army marched for half a day when they suddenly saw a large forest of sails appearing on the nearby water.
Under the sails were strangely shaped boats, with more than twenty people on each boat.
Whining warning horns sounded one after another in Xu Huang's team, and soon spread throughout the army.
The soldiers began to line up to defend against the enemy, and the crossbowmen opened their bowstrings.
It was Zhang Liaojun who came on a Viking longship.
Taking advantage of the wind, the long boat was very fast and quickly approached Xu Huang's army.
Before Xu Huang's soldiers could arrange their formation, arrows fell from the sky like a sudden storm, and the crossbowmen on the longboat began to use Lu Bu's continuous crossbows to hurl Cao's troops on the land bridge.
At this time, Cao's army was surrounded by water on both sides and people or baggage in front and behind.
Except for the shield-bearer who could hold up his shield to defend himself, others had no way to defend or evade.
The dense soldiers of Cao's army fell to the ground after being hit by arrows, and Cao's archers also began to fire back with their bows.
However, Zhang Liao's army's long boats were widely spread out on the water, and the soldiers on board were protected by large shields, so the casualties caused by arrows were much less than those of Cao's army.
This exchange of fire did not last long before Cao Jun was completely suppressed.
The large number of casualties greatly demoralized Cao's soldiers.
The long ship traveling at the front was already very close to the "land bridge" where Cao Jun was walking, and it would run aground if it went further.
Many infantry jumped into the water and waded towards the "land bridge" to attack.
These soldiers include sword and shield heavy infantry, Mo sword soldiers, and ordinary county sword players.
The archers on the ship continued to attack Cao Jun's soldiers, and the arrows fired from repeating crossbows and recurve bows rushed towards Cao Jun with fierce momentum.
The sailors of the Viking longships also began to throw throwing axes to kill Cao's soldiers on the "land bridge" from a distance.
Before the heavy infantry with swords and shields came ashore, they threw a round of javelins like a torrential rain, knocking down Cao's soldiers leaning against the water bank in droves.
Then he started to charge forward.
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On the muddy ground that had just emerged from the water, the two armies were fighting each other, with the sound of weapons clashing and shouts of killing filling the sky.
Xu Huang held a spear in his hand and galloped on both sides of the horse, shouting and commanding, hoping to hold down his side's position and protect his side's morale.
A general of Lu Bu's army jumped off a long boat with a sword in hand and rode a horse, wading ashore.
The horse's hooves made splashes of water and rushed towards Xu Huang.
The general who came was Zhang Liao's general Yan Liang.
He rode up to Xu Huang and without saying a word, he slashed at Xu Huang with his sword.
Xu Huang did not dare to neglect and quickly raised his sword to parry.
Yan Liang's subordinate soldiers fought with Xu Huang's deputy general's soldiers.
Xu Huangyanliang and Xu Huangyanliang fought for less than three or four rounds.
Another general arrived, it was Zhang Liao himself.
Xu Huang tried his best and was able to fight to a draw with Yan Liang.
After Zhang Liao entered the battle, he could no longer resist, so he feinted with his sword and turned his horse away.
Several of Yan Liang's subordinates stepped forward to hug him.
Xu Huang struck him with a knife on each side, killing two people in a row.
But at the same moment, Yan Liang's knife also arrived, slashing Huashan with one force, cutting off the head of the bag, splitting Xu Huang's head and head in two lengthwise, and the body fell to the ground.
Cao's army suffered heavy casualties at this time, and their general was killed.
Their already low morale could no longer hold on, and they were instantly defeated.
The remaining soldiers of Cao's army rushed forward or backward to avoid the attack of Zhang Liao's army from the side.
This kind of winding and muddy road was not suitable for running at all.
Coupled with the obstruction of baggage, it soon caused a stampede effect.
Many people were crushed to death after being squeezed down.
Zhang Liao's army continued to attack from behind and from the sides of the defeated troops, which worsened the situation.
Cao's army suffered numerous casualties, and the water near the shore was stained red with blood.
Except for a small number of Xu Huang's Cao army who fled back to Rangcheng and Fancheng, the rest of the army was wiped out and either died or captured by Zhang Liao.
All the food and supplies were also captured by Zhang Liao.
Cao Ren was dumbfounded when he heard the news of Xu Huang's defeat.
The food in the city was only enough for three days.
He had no choice but to ask Cao Cao for urgent help again.
Cao Cao was also very helpless.
He sent two supporting armies to Xiangyang in succession, and both of them were destroyed.
But Xiangyang's strategic position is too important to be lost.
He spent several days piecing together a 20,000-man army near Xudu, led by Xiahou Dun, and rushed to Cao Hong's aid.
But at this time, Zhang Liao had captured Rangcheng and regained Zancheng, which had been lost for many years, completely blocking the way of Cao Jun's reinforcements.
Many days after Xiahou Dunton attacked Rangcheng, Cao's troops in Xiangyang and Fancheng mutinied due to lack of food for many days.
The defender Cao Ren was killed, and the defenders surrendered to Zhang Liao.
A few days later, Zhang Liao abandoned Fancheng, Rangcheng and Zancheng, and only defended Xiangyang.
Xiahou Dun entered the empty city of Fancheng, facing Xiangyang across the water, and gave Cao Cao an explanation.
Zhang Liao did this because he received instructions from Lu Bu.
The reason why Lu Bu only wanted Xiangyang and not a city or a pond on the east bank of the Han River was that he did not want to act as a separation board between Cao Cao and Liu Bei or Sun Quan who might later occupy Jingzhou: