MTL - Farmer of Shu Han-Chapter 1230 Battle of Xiangyang (2)

  Chapter 1230 The Battle of Xiangyang (2)

  As Zhu Ran launched a fierce offensive against Xiangyang in the southeast, Bu Zhi followed and launched an attack from the south.

  The news quickly reached Pu Zhonger, who was personally supervising the battle on the southeast wall.

   "It's okay, I have already made arrangements, and let the soldiers follow the orders."

  Pu Zhong forcibly controlled the expression changes on his face, pretending to be calm and ordered.

   But in fact, Pu Zhong had some fantasies in his heart before, that Wu Kou could not fight on land, let alone attack the city.

  Sun Quan, the thief leader, led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to attack Hefei repeatedly, but failed to take down.

   Therefore, facing such a big city as Xiangyang, it may make the other party fearful, and dare not let go of their hands and feet and attack the city with all their strength.

  Besides, Pu Zhong has been in Xiangyang for so many years, so he naturally knows what Wu Kou in the south looks like.

   There is still something to be said for defending the country, but to take the initiative to conquer foreign countries...

  The generals of the bandits crossed the border and robbed the people's wealth for their own, and they were really enthusiastic.

  But they are not very active in fighting tough battles and attacking fortified cities.

   It was precisely because he knew Wu Kou's habits that Pu Zhong immediately rejected Wu Kou's persuasion to surrender - between losing and defending, there is a 50-50 split, why not give it a shot?

   After all, his family members are in the north.

  If he surrenders without a fight, his wife, children and mother will be implicated.

   What he didn't expect was that just half a day later, the defenders of the southern city wall soon sent a message:

   "General, there are a large number of thieves in the south. Now a pontoon bridge has been built on the moat. The strength of the southern part of the city wall may be insufficient."

  The moat in the southeast of Xiangyang is connected with the Han River, so it is deep and wide.

  But the south side is different. That direction is close to Xianshan Mountain, and the terrain is not flat enough.

  So compared to other directions, the moat over there is shallower and narrower.

   But Wu Kou crossed the moat within half a day, which still surprised Pu Zhong:

   "How could this be?"

  As he spoke, he hurried towards the southern city wall.

   "The bandits are very powerful, and the attack is very fierce. The southern section of the city wall is not strong enough, so it is not enough to stop the bandits from crossing the river."

  Pu Zhong still wanted to focus his defenses on the southeast, but he didn't know when he went to the south to have a look.

   But see the rumbling of war drums under the city, and the sound of shouting and killing is loud.

  Countless thieves were carrying light ladders, pushing cloud ladders, braving arrow rain, advancing towards the city wall regardless of casualties.

  Seeing this, Pu Zhong finally couldn't help showing worry in public:

   "The thieves are so determined to attack the city!"

  He thought over and over again, and finally ordered:

   "Come here, give me an order to transfer the battalion from the west!"

   "Here!"

  Someone reminded Pu Zhongdao:

   "General, that battalion was set up just in case. If it is transferred here at this time, if something happens later, why should the general take it?"

  Pu Zhong smiled wryly, and pointed to the city:

   "If you don't transfer over, I'm afraid it will be unstoppable now."

   At this time, the last bit of luck in Pu Zhong's heart has disappeared.

   Thinking about it is right, this time it is Lu Xun who presides over the siege.

   As Wu Kou's best-known thief general, is Lu Xun easy to deal with?

   While talking, he saw that Wu Kou's light ladder had already reached the city wall.

  The long gun sticks out of the parapet, preventing the iron hook of the light ladder from hooking on the parapet.

  Wait until the Wu soldiers under the city had climbed halfway, and then gave an order, and the soldiers holding up their guns shouted in unison, and pushed the light ladder out of the city vigorously.

  As the light ladder overturned, Wu Jun on the light ladder fell to the ground screaming like falling dumplings.

   What's more, arrows rained down from the top of the city, and wood and rolling stones whizzed down, making the Wu army who attacked the city feel like hell.

   It's just all of this, and it didn't make Wu Jun retreat at all.

  They are still like the tide, wave after wave keep coming forward.

   Pu Zhong's eyelids twitched when he saw it.

  He found that he had really underestimated the strength of Wu Kou's siege this time.

  Even the left and right were silent for a while, and then they spoke again:

   "As the general said, the bandit army is very determined to attack the city, which is very different from the past."

   This is also where Pu Zhong has doubts.

  What he didn't know was that in order to capture Xiangyang City, Lu Xun not only issued strict military orders:

   Those who fail to attack the city this time will be killed!

   Moreover, the military order that "the first person to attack the city can give priority to the selection of women in the city" has long been spread throughout the Wu army.

  Heavy punishments are for relentless fighting, and heavy rewards are for brave men.

  Wu Jun this time is naturally quite different from the past.

   Not to mention, Wu Guo also received food aid from Ji Han and "rented" a batch of weapons for this battle.

  For Lu Xun, it is a pity that this batch of weapons from the Han Dynasty was used for siege rather than field battles.

  But as long as Xiangyang is taken down, the Hanshui defense line is built, and the southern county is protected, so that the south of the Hanshui will no longer be threatened by the Northern Army.

   Then this little regret is insignificant.

  Standing on the highest point of the building boat, Lu Xun looked at Xiangyang City in the south, with deep eyes, no one knew what he was thinking at this moment.

  The city wall of Xiangyang City is about ten feet high, less than eleven feet high.

  But for this era, this is already considered extremely tall.

   Chang'an City and Luoyang City are said to be only about twelve feet long.

  However, for cities like Chang'an City and Luoyang City, no matter how tall the city walls are, it is only to reflect its majesty and set off the majesty of the imperial power.

  In fact, no matter how tall the city walls are in Chang'an and Luoyang, it doesn't have much strengthening effect on defense.

  Because Chang'an and Luoyang are too big and occupy too much area.

  This will cause the defenders to not care at all.

  If you want to cover everything, you must deploy enough troops in the city.

   In this case, a large number of defenders will not only consume too much food and grass - of course you can save enough food and grass in advance.

   But what about the water supply?

  The water sources in the city are basically fixed.

   If the water source is cut off by the enemy digging outside the city, it will be even more uncomfortable.

   Also, there is no firewood for fire growing in the city.

   Especially the sudden addition of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of defenders is an extremely heavy burden for the city.

  Therefore, in history, it is not unreasonable that the city is prone to plagues after being besieged for a long time.

  Because even clean drinking water may not be available in the city.

   Without firewood, the house can only be demolished and burned with door panels, window frames, beams and columns.

  The common people in the city may not even have the qualifications to use their own houses for heating.

   At that time, there will be a small problem of headache and fever, which may easily evolve into a major plague that cannot be cured.

  So a city that is good for defense must either occupy a dangerous location, or be strong and deep.

  The depth of the city does not mean that the bigger the better, on the contrary, the scale of the city should not be too large—at least the places that need to be defended should not be too large.

  Xiangyang City perfectly meets this condition.

  Its walls are tall enough and strong.

   Its moat is wide enough and its pool is deep.

  Although it is considered a big city, because it is surrounded by water on three sides, there are not many places that really need to be defended.

  So even though Xiangyang City is besieged with ten times more troops, Lu Xun still has a serious face.

  By the force of the wind, a passing boat came under the boat where Lu Xun was.

   "Report to the General, General Zhu sent a military report, the commander-in-chief of the bandit army, has been staying in the southeast for the past few days, and has not left."

   "General Qibu also said that the main force of the bandit army in the city is now concentrated in the south and southeast."

  Hearing the report, Lu Xun's face did not change, but he nodded slowly, and ordered:

   "Pass our military order to the two generals Zhu Bu, let them continue to intensify their siege efforts and not relax."

   "Here!"

  Received the military order sent by the general, Bu Zhi couldn't help muttering:

   "With such an offensive, we have tried our best from the very beginning. As the saying goes, we will go all out in one go, and then weed out. If we continue to attack like this, the soldiers will probably become exhausted."

   "When the time comes, the city will not fall, but the morale of the soldiers will be hurt, and there will be no way to advance or retreat. Are you afraid that you will have to retreat again?"

   "The great general who knows the power of the army, how could he make such a decision?"

  It's just that since Bu Zhi agreed to Lu Xun and let the Jingzhou army fully cooperate to take Xiangyang, no matter how many doubts he had in his heart, he could only temporarily bury them in his heart.

   After a few more days like this, the Wu army did as Bu Zhi expected. After all the soldiers who attacked the city had their rounds, they suffered a lot of casualties.

   Coupled with the excitement, he finally calmed down.

   The offensive is no longer as reckless as it was at the beginning.

   Seeing this, Bu Zhi finally couldn't sit still anymore, and told Lu Xun his worries.

  Lu Xun heard the words and asked:

   "In the army today, do the soldiers fear fighting?"

   "No, but morale is not what it was before."

   "Then boost morale, motivate soldiers, and continue to attack the city!"

   "Here!"

   If so, a few more days passed.

  The Wu army has been attacking the city for more than half a month, and it has not stopped for a day.

  Even Zhu Ran couldn't help sending someone over to ask Lu Xun for instructions:

   "General, the soldiers have been attacking the city for a long time, and the casualties are too heavy. Can you suspend the siege for three days and fight again?"

  Lu Xun's face was not angry but happy, and he even smiled:

   "General Zhu has said so. The soldiers must be exhausted and have no intention of fighting again. Let the soldiers rest for three days."

  After the order was completed, he ordered his personal guards:

   "Go, you immediately take the people, run there yourself, tell General Ding, let him lead the army to come immediately!"

   "Here!"

  The so-called General Ding was none other than Ding Feng who was the partial general at the time.

  At this time, Ding Feng, under the order of Lu Xun from the beginning, has been leading the army to station on the Han River in Yicheng, downstream of Xiangyang City.

  After receiving Lu Xun's military order, he immediately set sail.

  The main force of the navy led by Ding Feng was only four ships.

  But these three ships may be the four largest warships in the world: Izumo, Feiyun, Gaihai, and Chang'an.

  These four big ships are all building ships.

   Among them, the largest ship "Chang'an" was the ship of Emperor Wu.

  There are five floors, each floor is surrounded by parapets, and there are a number of sword holes and spear holes on the parapets and battle grids, which can be used for long-distance attack and close-up defense.

  There is a lot of space on the ship, which can carry 3,000 soldiers, and the deck can drive horses and horses.

  The hull floating on the water is as high as thirteen or forty feet.

  Such a high-rise ship can float smoothly on the water without capsizing, because Wu Guo used a secret weapon: ship anchorage.

   are actually anchors and ballast stones.

   With the help of the wind, this kind of water fortress drove to the city of Xiangyang. The originally tall city wall of Xiangyang finally lost its height advantage in front of the five-story ship.

  Lu Xun moved to the Chang'an building ship, climbed up and looked at Xiangyang City, he could even see that the defenders of Xiangyang City were tense and had to transfer some defenders to guard the north of the city.

  Let Chang'an get as close as possible to Xiangyang City,

  Lu Xun showed a calm smile on his face, and ordered:

   "Pass my military order, shoot arrows!"

  The tall building boats, like chariots on the verge of attacking the city, shoot arrows at the head of Xiangyang City condescendingly.

  The defenders at the head of Xiangyang City had to hide behind the battlements one after another, holding up their cards and bending over.

  Wu Jun on the boat upstairs couldn't help laughing when he saw this.

  Pu Zhong got a respite in less than three days. He didn't expect such a big warship to appear in the north where there would be no problems.

  Hearing the reports from the soldiers below, he was so frightened that he hurriedly went to the northern section of the city wall to check in person.

  Looking at the warship of Wu Kingdom, which was nearly two feet higher than the city wall, his face was also a little pale:

   "Wu Kou Shuijun is the strongest in the world, it is worthy of the name!"

  Fortunately, such a large building ship cannot approach the city wall directly to attack the city like the car and the ladder. Otherwise, how can it be defended!

  The largest buildings and ships of the Wu Kingdom appeared on the Han River, not to mention Xiangyang City, even Fancheng on the north bank, were frightened into silence.

  Looking at the dark and overwhelming water fortress that seems to be towering into the sky, it is extremely oppressive.

  The soldiers of Wei State on both sides of the Han River couldn't help but think of the battle when hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers of Emperor Wu died in Chibi.

   "General, what shall we do?"

   asked with blank faces on the left and right.

   "Don't panic!" Pu Zhong forcibly calmed down, "Although the thief's warship is huge, it can only show its power on the water, and how can it attack the city?"

   "As long as the bandits on board can't get to the city by boat, why should they be afraid?"

   "Tell the soldiers at the top of the city not to fight back, so as not to waste the arrow feathers. It is more important to use these arrow feathers in the south."

  Hearing the words from left and right, I felt a little more at ease.

   It's just that Pu Zhong's face became uglier than half a month ago when no one was paying attention:

  Wu Kou is applying pressure!

   After all, if you want to defend the city, in addition to the depth of the city, you must also let the soldiers in the city have the heart to defend it.

  How to strengthen the hearts of the soldiers in the city?

   Naturally, they want to let them know that the imperial court will send reinforcements.

  Just based on the current situation, the reinforcements sent by the imperial court have arrived, but if they are always blocked in the north of the Han River, they will not be able to cross the water for a long time.

  Then the morale of the soldiers in the city will be even lower!

   Now that Wu Kou sent such a large ship to float on the Han River, it is clear that he wants to completely cut off the hope of coming from the north.

  Lu Xun saw the flag of Wei Zei Shuai appearing in the north, and ordered:

   "Order, starting tomorrow, let General Zhu and General Infantry continue to attack the city."

   "Here!"

  The Wu army resumed its offensive in the south, leaving Pu Zhong no time to stay on the northern wall near the Han River, and he hurried back to supervise the battle.

   Not to mention that he had no intention to think about what Lu Xun wanted to do with this posture.

  Even because of the urgency of the battle, he saw that the building boats on the Han River had no other threats except for the arrow feather suppression against the city head every day, so he transferred the defenders sent back to the south.

   Lu Xun was waiting for this moment.

  (end of this chapter)