Fenghou

Chapter 333
In the first tentative attack, the Song army suffered more than [-] casualties, seven heavy siege ladders were burned, and two pontoon bridges were also burned. The attacking Song army retreated in embarrassment, and the defenders at the top of the city cheered.

Although it was only a tentative attack, Li Gang retreated so embarrassingly, his face was also very ugly, he snorted dissatisfiedly, turned and went back to the camp.

At this moment, a soldier ran up to Chen Qing and said, "Chen Dutong, the envoy Xuanfu invites you to command the tent!"

Chen Qing nodded, and said to his opponent: "You go back to the camp first, pay attention to your vigilance, I'll go see the Xuanfu envoy!"

The generals saluted and left, and then Chen Qing followed the soldiers to the main camp.

In the commander's tent, Li Gang paced back and forth distractedly, when a sergeant reported, "Chen Dutong is here!"

"Let him in!"

Li Gang sighed in his heart, he found himself relying more and more on Chen Qing, the success or failure of this battle against Xiangyang rested on Chen Qing.

After a while, Chen Qing opened the curtain and walked in, bowed and said, "See Xuanfu envoy!"

Li Gang waved his hands and said helplessly, "How is Chen Dutong doing in today's battle?"

"Today's battle situation is as expected by the humble official. The Song army is tenacious, but tenacity alone cannot attack Xiangyang. The opponent is also tenacious and good at fighting. Relying on the tall and strong city and advanced weapons, if you don't use more powerful siege weapons , it is impossible to capture Xiangyang City."

At this time, Zhe Yanzhi and Xie Qian also walked into the handsome tent. They did not disturb the conversation between Chen Qing and Li Gang, but stood aside and listened carefully.

"What is the most powerful siege weapon?" Li Gang asked.

Chen Qing said calmly: "The most impressive siege weapon in the humble position is the nest cart. It is the most powerful siege weapon so far. Even if you use fire oil, you can't do anything about it."

Xie Qian next to him couldn't help but said, "But with such a wide moat, what's the point of talking about nest cars?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly, "The nest car doesn't have to be on land!"

Orihiko immediately came to his senses, "Chen Dutong refers to the boat?"

Chen Qing nodded, "If you build a ship into a nest ship, it will be a sharp weapon for attacking the city. I transferred twenty large ships from Baling County, and with a little modification, they can be used as nest ships to attack the city."

Li Gang, who was originally depressed, was full of emotions again. He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "How much time does Chen Dutong need to reform?"

Chen Qing raised three fingers, "It takes three days for a humble job!"

"Okay! Three days later, we will wait and see."

Chen Qing resigned and left, Li Gang asked Xie Qian and Zheyan, "Chen Dutong said that Xiangyang can be taken in three days, what do you think?"

Xie Qian shook his head, "Nest carts are not omnipotent, and nest boats are the same, not to mention that the city wall of Xiangyang is still one foot away from the moat, and soldiers must rush across the footbridge. As long as the opponent uses a powerful crossbow to block it, this It is very difficult to rush across the one-foot-long bridge, even with a shield, not to mention that the opponent has heavy kerosene and firearms, and I am not optimistic about Chen Dutong's nest car battle."

"Where is Zhe Yanzhi?" Li Gang turned to Zhe Yanzhi.

Orihiko pondered for a while and said: "There are not many battles in the history of using boats to attack the city. This is also because few cities have a moat as wide as Xiangyang. Before Chen Qing successfully attacked the city with boats in Changde Mansion. There is a precedent, but there is no comparison between Xiangyang and Changde County. Once Xiangyang is fully prepared, it will not be easy to attack the city with warships."

"Will the defenders of Xiangyang guess that we will use warships to attack the city?" Li Gang asked puzzled.

Orihiko nodded, "Before Kong Yanzhou attacked Jiangling, he followed suit and used warships to attack the city. Although he failed, it at least shows that the puppet Qi army knew that Chen Qinghui would use warships to attack the city. Xiangyang's moat is similar to Jiangling. Dong How can we not guard against it first?"

Li Gang's confidence was a bit lacking, he stood there for a while and said: "Anyway, let Chen Qing try it first!"

On the head of Beicheng, Dong Xian took all the generals to observe the situation behind the baffle. Song Jun had already shown his clues. Four thick pillars appeared above the baffle. Dong Xian said to the generals: "As expected, the opponent Either building a large gazebo, or assembling a very large trebuchet."

"If it's a super-large trebuchet, wouldn't it be better to put it outside the South City?" A general asked puzzled.

"That's why you don't understand. How do you think Chen Qing will attack the city? He will definitely use ships to attack the city like he attacked Changde City."

Speaking of this, Dong Xian pointed to a row of large ships on the western river and said: "There are dozens of three thousand stone large ships over there. If I guess correctly, they are Chen Qing's siege weapons."

The faces of several generals became serious, and they all commanded Wang Feng and said: "Marshal, if the opponent uses a warship to attack the city, the power is no less than that of a nest cart, and the opponent's soldiers can easily kill the top of the city, and Xiangyang City will be in danger of falling. There must be countermeasures.”

Dong Xian nodded, "I've thought about this question a long time ago. I didn't move out the bed crossbow before, just to keep it for dealing with Chen Qing. Not only the bed crossbow, but also I want him to taste the fire oil ball.

At night, Chen Qing came to the construction site outside the North City, and the tall baffle blocked his figure. It has been really busy here for the past few days, with a thousand soldiers digging three tunnels day and night.

There are dozens of thick giant logs and even four tall wooden pillars stacked behind the baffle. It looks like a few super trebuchets are being installed. In fact, this is just a deceptive tactic. For Chen Qing's real purpose, his real purpose is to dig a hundred-foot-long river, but digging the river clearly will let Dong Xian see his intention at a glance.

Therefore, Chen Qing dug three tunnels first, and completed more than half of the excavation of the river channel. In the last night, he changed the three tunnels into a river channel, which could be completed overnight. Even if the enemy discovered his intention, it would be too late.

Commander Wang Tai stepped forward to pay respects, "See Du Tong for humble posts!"

"How is the excavation going?"

"Reporting to Dutong, most of the work has been completed, and the excavation of the three tunnels will be completed tomorrow afternoon!"

"Is the direction correct?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Absolutely no problem, aim at the Cao River entering the city!"

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "Tomorrow put a few throwing poles on the baffle, don't let the city leaders always guess what we are doing? Give them a reassurance!"

"Humble job understands!"

Chen Qing looked at the river in the distance again, and thought to himself: "I'm afraid no one would have thought that straightening the river is the key to breaking the city!" '

Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and the soldiers in Beicheng had already seen the prototypes of several large trebuchets. They were familiar with them, but the soldiers didn't notice that the baffle was raised by at least one foot without knowing it. , beyond the baffle, only the river in the distance can be seen.

In the main tent of the West Day Camp, more than a dozen generals gathered together, and the main general Chen Qing was making the final deployment.

The carpenter used wood to make a simple model of Xiangyang City, and Hu Yanlei was telling everyone about the layout of the city.

Some time ago, when the puppet Qi army aggressively attacked Hanyang, Xiangyang had no external threats, and once relaxed for a while, Hu Yanlei and his men were recruited as civilian husbands to quarry and log outside the city, and escaped.

"The military camp is in the southeast corner, occupying [-]% of the area of ​​Xiangyang City together with Cangcheng. There is an upper city corridor in the military camp. Once the alarm bell rings at the top of the city, the alarm bells in the military camp will also ring at the same time, and the soldiers will go directly from the military camp. There are about [-] troops in the city. I have seen them train this army. Frankly speaking, it is much stronger than the Forbidden Army in Bianliang, Tokyo. Its morale is relatively high, and the training is also very serious. It is not like the Forbidden Army in Tokyo. Lazy."

Hu Yanlei is from Bianliang, Tokyo. He was a gangster on the streets of Bianliang when he was young, and later he entered Huyan Mansion to become a servant, so he knows the forbidden army in Tokyo very well.

"Talk about Caohe and Water Gate!" Chen Qing reminded again.

Hu Yanlei pointed to the water gate with a wooden pole and said: "The water gate is two feet high and one foot and five feet wide. There are two water gates at the front and back, both of which are controlled by the city head. The water gate is relatively wide. If it is not a building ship, the mast can also be lowered." Basically, ships with two thousand shi can sail in. From the Shuicheng Gate, there are two Caohe Rivers, one directly leading to Cangcheng in the southeast corner. This Caohe River can only be used by the military, and the other Caohe River runs westward. There is basically no garrison at the city gate, and there are no ships in the city, basically in an abandoned state."

Chen Qing nodded, and said to the generals: "We will launch an attack at the fourth watch tonight, divided into two lines, light and dark. We will build plank roads in the open and cross Chencang secretly. We must take Xiangyang City before dawn."

(End of this chapter)