Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 810 Focus on the heart

Zhang Xun was at the foot of Boyang City and asked his soldiers to shout at the top of the city to persuade Lei Bo and Chen Lan to surrender, but the other party remained unmoved.

When Lei Bo and Chen Lan learned about Yuan Xi's arrival, they immediately gave up attacking Zhang Xun and fled into the city to defend him.

In fact, Zhang Xun didn't quite understand why Lei Bo and Chen Lan ran away with his soldiers when Yuan Shu was not completely defeated that day, but later it turned out that the two of them had really good vision.

If they had left half a month later, the two of them would probably have died in battle, or become prisoners. It would not be as comfortable as occupying the mountain as king now, sandwiched between Cao Cao and Yuan Tan.

But for now, it seems that they can only stop here. They have not completely surrendered to a certain force. The end result is that when they encounter danger, no force will do their best to rescue them.

This is the case now. Whether it is Yuan Tan or Cao Cao, there is no movement to help this isolated city guarded by Lei Bo and Chen Lan, and they have obviously given up on it.

After all, Yuan Xi's reputation has become too famous in recent years. Anyone who wants to fight a fierce tiger on the battlefield must think carefully, lest he encircles the point for reinforcements and even the reinforcements are trapped.

Zhang Xun waited for another two days, and Yuan Xi finally arrived from Langya County, along with Zang Ba and other Taishan bandit generals.

As soon as Zang Ba arrived, just like Yuan Xi asked for a battle to attack the city, Yuan Xi thought about it and said: "Lei Bo and Chen Lan are also famous generals under Yuan Shu. If the general is unfavorable, he can retreat quickly."

Zang Ba said confidently: "Don't worry, I am more familiar with a place like Taishan County than they are!"

Zhuge Liang said from the side: "The general should remember that the commander-in-chief at this time is the envoy. If the envoy has orders to move on the battlefield, the general must obey the military order."

After hearing this, Zang Ba cupped his fists and said, "The last general will naturally be spared."

Yuan Xi watched Zang Ba go out and said to Zhuge Liang: "It's not that easy to attack the city. I think he is still a little careless and underestimates the enemy."

"That's all in normal times. It would be a pity if the thousands of soldiers I sent over died in vain below the city."

Zhuge Liang heard this and said: "Lord, don't worry, Liang knew what he was doing, so he warned him before."

"Zang Ba is not someone who doesn't know how to advance or retreat, but if he really gets the upper hand, Liang will have his own countermeasures."

Yuan Xi felt relieved after hearing this.

Early the next morning, Zang Ba led his soldiers to attack Boyang City Wall under the cover of siege equipment.

Thanks to Zhuge Liang's improvements, Yuan Xi's current siege equipment has changed to a lightweight type. The most basic requirement is that it can meet the requirements of marching.

Prior to this, most of the siege equipment was not transported, but key troops were prepared in advance. Other heavy and long objects, such as the base and pole of the catapult, were only transported near the city. Made from local logging.

The advantage of using a siege catapult is that it can do a lot and is more powerful. The disadvantage is that such large wood can only be transported a short distance and assembled, which is time-consuming and laborious. It often takes at least ten and a half days to assemble it. Tool.

The battle situation is changing rapidly. During this period, the battlefield situation may have changed long ago. If the enemy comes out of the city to make a surprise attack, or reinforcements arrive to harass the catapult and destroy it, then everything done before will be in vain.

This is also the reason why cavalry is so popular. Its bows and arrows are not as good as those of infantry, and its formation is not as good as that of heavy infantry. Just one quick word is enough to turn the tide of the battle.

Therefore, Yuan Xi and Zhuge Liang set out to transform the heavy and laborious catapult into a combined chariot that could be pulled by mules. It could be stowed away on a wooden cart during normal times, and deployed to the front line in wartime. It only took less than half a day. It can be completed, greatly shortening the siege preparation time.

Zhuge Liang, who was obsessed with machinery, actually got a lot of inspiration from Yuan Xi.

Although Yuan Xi was not good at carpentry mechanisms, he had many ideas for later generations. The two hit it off and made some modifications to the siege equipment. Because they did not overthrow the principle structure, Yuan Xi soon came from the prosperous Jianghuai area. Hundreds of sets of lightweight siege equipment were produced.

Of course, these things cost a lot of money, and they were all obtained by Yuan Xi's family members from the Jianghuai gentry landowners.

Dozens of small catapults fired stone bombs and fire bombs at extremely fast speeds, covering the top of Boyang City. The defenders at the top of the city were unable to raise their heads. Seeing this, Zang Ba took the opportunity to let his soldiers carry ladders to attack.

Although Boyang City has a moat, the water is not deep. Moreover, Yuan Xi's army engineers dug several gaps the day before yesterday and released most of the water. The water level dropped again. The soldiers of the Tibetan Overlord Army waded in knee-deep water. One foot is shallow and the other foot is struggling to move forward in the mud.

The defenders at the top of the city saw this and stood up, drew their bows and fired. How could Zhuge Liang, who was in charge of supervising the formation, let them do so? He stood on a high wooden building and waved his flag in his hand. Yuan Xi's catapults and archers immediately began to suppress the city. Head, cover your own soldiers.

The soldiers of the Tibetan Overlord Army finally reached the bottom of the city. The soldiers set up ladders one after another to attack the city. The soldiers climbed up. When they climbed to the center of the ladder, the defenders at the top of the city braved the stone bullets and arrows and tried their best to jump out. The rolling stone and the wood were pushed down.

This time, the Tibetan Overlords were caught off guard. Many people were knocked to the ground, and for a while, wailing sounds could be heard one after another.

Zang Ba was furious when he saw it, and immediately wanted to go to the city in person. Sun Guan, who was standing next to him, saw it and said hurriedly: "No, the general is in charge of the overall situation. I'll come up."

Sun Guan was always the first to attack the Taishan bandits. After hearing this, Zang Ba nodded in agreement, and Sun Guan led hundreds of people to attack the city.

Not long after, Sun Guan led dozens of people to the top of the city, and shouts of killing broke out. Zang Ba was overjoyed when he saw this. The gate of Boyang City suddenly opened, and Lei Bo and Chen Lan led thousands of sergeants to attack. The Zangba under the city rushed over!

This was beyond Zangba's expectation, and he laughed angrily, "They are quite courageous, do they think I am a soft persimmon?"

He immediately ordered Yin Li to lead troops to fight, but as soon as the two sides engaged in battle, Yin Li's side suddenly became unstoppable! Zang Ba was so surprised that he personally led his troops to the rescue. When the two sides fought, he suddenly discovered that the morale of the soldiers on the opposite side seemed to be very high, and their eyes were red, like wild beasts!

When he saw this, he also aroused his fierceness and shouted: "Fight to the death, kill them all!"

The soldiers on both sides roared and slashed at each other with their swords desperately. Some people kept falling down covered in blood, and the battlefield seemed to have turned into a Shura hell.

However, the terrain of Zangba was unfavorable. While he had to deal with Lei Bo and Chen Lan, he also had to be wary of arrows from the defenders at the top of the city. He was anxious, why hadn't Sun Guan captured the top of the city yet?

Unexpectedly, the arrows fired from the top of the city became more dense. Zang Ba knew that Sun Li had failed without even looking. Sure enough, he looked towards the top of the city and saw that his own soldiers retreated one after another.

Not long after, Sun Li, who had been hit by several arrows, was subdued. After his explanation, the Zangba learned that after Sun Guan ascended the city, he fought in a melee with the defenders in the city and gradually gained the upper hand.

However, the defenders in the city seemed to be crazy. They did not care about the lives of their own people. They mobilized a large number of archers to shoot at both warring parties without any scruples. As a result, Sun Guanhe's men were hit by arrows one after another, and the plan to seize the city head failed.

Before Zang Ba could say anything, Yin Li was also wounded and returned, but he was attacked and slashed by Lei Bo and Chen Lan together. When Zang Ba saw this, his expression became even more disgusting. Thanks to him, he also suffered a loss in Haikou, and ended up like this. Look!

He immediately raised his knife and shouted: "Fight them!"

Under his leadership, the soldiers roared and charged forward again. Regardless of their injuries, Sun Guan and Yin Li followed Zang Ba to guard on both sides, and the battle line slowly pushed towards the city gate.

Soldiers on both sides continued to fall. Lei Bo and Chen Lan saw that the situation was not good and retreated behind the city gate. Zang Ba was about to rush in when he suddenly heard the sound of Ming Jin withdrawing his troops from behind.

He hesitated for a moment, then withdrew with aggrieved heart, and the two sides then paid their dues and withdrew their troops.

Zang Ba returned to the camp and became more and more angry as he thought about it. Hearing Yuan Xi's summons, he rushed over angrily. When he saw all the generals arriving, he came out and said, "The last general is unknown. Today we are about to break the city. Why did we withdraw our troops before the battle?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "It just so happened that we captured a few surrendered soldiers today. We will know after the first trial."

Immediately, several Lei Bo Army soldiers were pressed up, and Zhuge Liang interrogated them for a few words. Only then did Zang Ba realize that the other party had set up strong bows and crossbows behind the city gate, waiting for his general to enter and shoot him!

Hearing this, Zang Ba broke into a cold sweat and said, "They are very brave!"

Zhuge Liang said: "It's more than that."

He asked a few questions again, and Zang Ba finally understood why the defenders were acting like madmen. It turned out that their families had been taken away to the hinterland of Yanzhou.

Although he was nominally allowed to live in the farmland, he was actually no different from a hostage. If he lost the battle, his family would definitely end up miserable, which is why the Boyang defenders were so crazy.

After hearing this, Zang Ba was extremely depressed and cursed: "Damn it, this piece of shit like Cao Cao knows how to play this trick. That's why I was reluctant to surrender. Maybe one day I will be caught."

He also had a headache. Facing such a defender, this battle was really difficult to fight!

Seeing that he was depressed, Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Don't worry, general, I have a clever plan."

That night, hundreds of letters were fired into the city, there was no fighting the next day, and rumors quickly spread.

The letter said that the families of the soldiers had been betrothed to others by Cao Cao, and the defenders of Boyang City had been abandoned!

As the rumors spread, the morale of the defenders of Boyang City dropped sharply. On the third day, Zhuge Liang left the west gate alone, and then ordered Yuan Xi's army to attack the city in three groups.

Yuan Xi's army encountered much less resistance this time. Under the fierce attack, the three gates were broken. Lei Bo and Chen Lan led the army to escape from the west gate and headed for Taishan County.

The Tibetan tyrant on the top of the city was puzzled and asked, "Why do people believe this rumor?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Because this kind of thing must have happened before."

"Otherwise, how could he have wavered so quickly?"

Zang Ba then suddenly realized, nodded and sighed: "That's true."

Zhuge Liang immediately ordered Zhang Liao and Xu Huang to lead the cavalry in pursuit. The two generals followed the order and left, wondering if they could catch up?

I'm afraid the other party has already run away, right?

As a result, half a day later, the two of them really caught up.

Because Lei Bo and Chen Lan were stopped by an ambush that was laid out in advance.

Changxi.

(End of this chapter)