Water Margin people

Puzhou, Zhencheng.

"Report! The enemy is twenty miles away from the city!"

A soldier hurriedly ran into the Chinese army's tent to report.

"Probe again and report again!"

Tong Guan said with a gloomy face.

"The enemy is attacking, what are your strategies to defeat them?"

Tong Guan looked at the generals. He thought the war would be temporarily suspended, but the Liangshan army rested for a few days and headed directly towards Zhencheng.

"Tongxiang, Zhencheng is strong and has sufficient equipment. It can completely stop the enemy!"

Wang Chen reported to Tong Guan.

"How sure are you of guarding Zhencheng?"

Tong Guan looked at Wang Chen and asked, Zhencheng is now the seat of Puzhou's state government.

"The last general...will defend the city with all his strength."

Just when Wang Zhen was about to take over, he could see Tong Guan's glare, but he didn't give a clear answer.

"What about you? Who can retreat from the enemy?"

Tong Guan asked, looking at the others.

"Tong Xiang, the enemy came from Huhe Town. I'm afraid it would be a bit inappropriate to just defend Zhencheng. Why don't we split our troops and go to Linpu County in the east? The two cities are like horns!"

Seeing that no one spoke, Han Shizhong stepped forward and cupped his fists.

"This is not a bad idea!"

Tong Guan's face was slightly happy when he heard that Linpu County is thirty miles southwest of Zhen City. It's really good for the two cities to face each other.

"Yang Weizhong, Wang Yuan, Han Shizhong, Zhao Ming, Li Ming, you lead an army of 50,000 to Linpu County."

"Yang Keshi, Wang Zhen, Zhong Shizhong, Liu Guangguo, Jiao Anjie, Liu Guangshi, Wang Huan and others led one hundred thousand troops to garrison Zhencheng."

"I will lead the others to Fan County!"

Tong Guan looked at everyone and ordered.

Everyone had different expressions and left after receiving their orders. This time, almost all the generals named were the generals of the Western Army. It seemed that Tong Guan also knew who was the main combat force in the army.

As for Tong Guan going to Fan County, no one in the Western Army was surprised. Tong Guan's habit has always been to command from the rear and rarely on the front line. Fan County is in the northernmost part of Puzhou, fifty miles away from Zhencheng, and is considered quite safe.

In Zhen City, the army quickly mobilized, and Tong Guan led the army north.

"We're finally gone, it's up to us next!"

Wang Zhen said in a low voice that everyone in the Western Army disliked the commander-in-chief Tong Guan. His military ability was average but he was very fond of achievements. He often gave random orders and did not care about the life and death of his soldiers. Sometimes he really caused chaos.

"Oh, it's a pity that Commander-in-Chief is not here, otherwise it wouldn't be like this!"

Yang Keshi sighed helplessly and said that Zhong Shidao was the soul of the Western Army. Now that Zhong Shidao has been framed for rebellion, this is a serious blow to the morale of the Western Army.

"I wonder how Commander-in-Chief is doing in Tokyo!"

The rest of the generals also looked worried, worried about the situation of cultivating teachers. Treason is a serious crime.

"There is no use in discussing this now. As long as we repel the enemy and make military exploits, we can naturally help Commander Zhong get off the hook."

Wang Zhen looked at the crowd and said, what they can do now is to use their military exploits to help Zhongshi Dao get away with it.

"Not bad!"

Everyone said in unison, and their morale was ignited at this moment.

"General Wang, you are the best at defending the city. How should we deal with the enemy?"

Liu Guangguo looked at Wang Zhen and asked. Among the people, Wang Zhen was the best at defending the city.

"The people of Liangshan are well-trained and well-equipped, and they even have artillery to help them. We have to change the city wall defense!"

Wang Zhen pointed to the arrangement on the city wall and said.

"How to change this?" Yang Keshi and others looked at the king's report. The layout of the city was arranged in accordance with the art of war. This has been the case with city defense since ancient times.

"The Liangshan army is different from previous enemies. They won't attack with the tactics of a sea of ​​people, let alone use ladders and vehicles to attack recklessly. Sun Lei doesn't like casualties, so he will definitely use artillery to attack the city, even if it means turning Zhen City into rubble. No matter what.”

Wang Zhen opened his mouth and said that he had carefully analyzed the details of all Sun Lei's past battles since the last failure to defend the city. Sun Lei never suffered too many casualties in battle.

"What should we do? We don't have many artillery!"

Liu Guangshi said, they also brought crossbows and artillery this time, but the number and power were not as good as Liangshan.

"Tie the ramparts guarding the city with thick straw, hang them up with ropes on the edge of the city wall, and use the ramparts and stones to build sloping sheds on the city!"

Wang Zhen pointed to the rolling stones and ramparts stacked on the city. These things must be put to another use.

"I'm afraid it's not enough!"

Zhongshi looked at the city wall and said.

"If you don't have enough, just collect them in the city. There's nothing you can do about it!"

Wang Zhen said helplessly.

"This will arouse public anger! Puzhou is close to Jeju, and the people of Puzhou are very aware of the changes in Jeju. Liangshan treats the people well, treats corvee lightly, and encourages farming and commerce. The people of Puzhou have long been interested. Now if we go to conquer by force, if the people in the city are unstable, how can we defend the city?"

Wang Huan said, he has been here in Puzhou for a long time, and he has seen the changes in the attitude of the people in Puzhou. From the initial fear of Liangshan to the current desire to drag his family to join, the people's hearts have changed.

"Then let's dismantle the military camp first. There's no need for it anyway!"

After hearing this, Wang Zhen could only shake his head. Now that half of the army has gone, the rest have to defend the city day and night. There is no need for the military camp to exist.

It took an hour for the Liangshan army to slowly approach Zhencheng.

"Looks like you're well prepared!"

Sun Lei looked at the logs hanging from the city wall and the sloping sheds built on the city. These were obviously designed to deal with artillery.

"Your Majesty, I'm going to try it!"

Ling Zhen was eager to try, and finally met someone who knew how to defend the city, so he could try out the power of artillery.

"Go!"

Sun Lei nodded. He was also curious about whether the artillery could break through the defense.

Rows of artillery were pushed out, their muzzles pointed at Zhencheng.

Bursts of roars of artillery sounded, and the shells hit Zhencheng.

When the cannonball hit the city wall, it first hit the logs. The logs were smashed against the city wall, and a burst of sawdust flew. The hit log only had a hole, as if it had been bitten by a beast.

Most of the cannonballs that hit the sloping sheds turned into stray bullets and flew into the city. These stray bullets had little lethality. A few shells directly hit the sloping sheds, but the damage was limited.

After fighting for a long time, except for sawdust flying, several sloping sheds on the city collapsed, and the artillery had no effect at all.

"Replace with bombs!"

Upon seeing this, Ling Zhen knew that solid projectiles could not break through the enemy's defense, so he immediately replaced them with blooming projectiles.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was another roar of artillery.

The power of the blooming bullets was obviously stronger than the solid cannonballs. Zhencheng instantly burst into flames, and more wood chips flew up in the firelight and thick smoke.

"Well, no fire?"

Ling Zhen was surprised for a while. A burst of artillery bombardment did not turn the city wall into a sea of ​​flames. This city was full of wood.

"Waterlogged!"

Sun Lei said lightly. From the telescope, it could be clearly seen that the wood was very moist. It should have been sprinkled with water before, so it would not be so easy to ignite.

However, the effect of such a dozen blast bombs was still very obvious. Many of the sloping sheds collapsed, and many of the ropes hanging from the timbers were broken.

Ling Zhen did not hesitate and continued to order the bombardment. Just when the sloping shed collapsed, a bunker made of logs, sand bags and earth bags was revealed behind it. (End of chapter)