Ji Han Liu Zhang

Day two.

When Ma Teng and Han Sui led their troops to Lueyang City and prepared to try to capture the city again, they heard a chorus of shouts coming from the top of Lueyang City from afar.

"Thank you General Ma for the arrow."

"Thank you General Han for the arrow."

Although the shouts from the Shu army on the top of Lueyang City were meant to express gratitude, Ma Teng and Han Sui knew that they were mocking and ridiculing what happened last night.

Yesterday, Cheng Gongying made a plan that the Shu army would definitely go out of the city to pick up the scattered arrows outside the city, and they could take the opportunity to kill a wave of Shu soldiers. So Ma Teng and Han Sui planned to let Yan Xing ambush outside Lueyang City at night, waiting for the Shu army to leave the city, and seize the opportunity to kill the Shu army.

However, Gan Ning, the commander of the Shu army in Lueyang City, guessed their intention and hung straw men outside the city at night to lure them away with a large number of arrows. Today, the Shu army thanked them on the top of the city, which was of course ironic.

Listening to the Shu army's thanks, Han Sui's face was as gloomy as water, and Ma Teng's face was as black as a casserole. It was obvious that the two heroes of Liang Province were not in a good mood.

As for Yan Xing, the executor who set up the ambush last night, his face was filled with anger that could not be concealed. The Shu army's thanks were not thanks, but a slap in the face.

"Let the Qiang and Hu come forward." Han Sui gave the order with a stern face.

Neither Han Sui nor Ma Teng had any intention of sending their soldiers to attack the fortified city of Lueyang.

After all, as warlords of Liang Province, they relied on their elite soldiers. If all of their elite soldiers were killed in front of Lueyang City, even if they captured Lueyang City, they would find it difficult to resist the subsequent attack from Grand Marshal Liu Zhang.

Therefore, Ma Teng and Han Sui agreed early on that they would let the Qiang and Hu troops move forward in the next few days, while their own troops would provide the support and minimize the losses of their own troops.

As heroes who had been in Liangzhou for many years, Ma Teng and Han Sui had many contacts with the Qiang and Hu people in Liangzhou. They showed favors to the Qiang and Hu people and won their support.

This time they led their troops to capture Lueyang, recruited four Qiang and Hu troops, and more than 6,000 Qiang and Hu troops to help. Shaodang's troops that attacked the city yesterday were one of them.

However, the situation of the Qiang and Hu troops marching into battle today was very different from that of the Qiang and Hu troops led by Shao Ge yesterday.

The first is the conditions for the appearance of Qiang and Hu. Yesterday, Shao Ge's troops did not receive any payment in advance, because Ma Teng and Han Sui promised Shao Ge that after capturing Lueyang City, Shao Ge's troops would first clean the city for three days as a reward.

But today, when the Qiang and Hu appeared, Ma Teng and Han Sui shed a lot of blood.

This was due to the failure of Shao Ge's troops yesterday. The other three Qiang and Hu tribes realized that the Shu army in Lueyang City was not easy to deal with and there was a high probability that the city could not be taken, so the Qiang and Hu demanded to be paid first.

The second is the morale of the Qiang and Hu troops. Yesterday, Shao Ge's troops did not know the Shu army well, so they looked down on the Shu army from a remote place and did not take the Shu army in Lueyang City seriously. They charged towards Lueyang City with high morale.

However, today's Qiang and Hu people had learned their lesson from yesterday. They carefully held up their shields, carried siege equipment, and slowly and leisurely approached Lueyang City step by step. They stopped from time to time to reorganize their formation to avoid a loose formation.

However, when Ma Teng saw the Qiang and Hu advancing slowly, he became unhappy: "Oh, are they traveling in spring? They take five steps instead of two steps, and stop and go. When can they reach the city of Lueyang and start the siege?" "Mi Dang is known for his prudence. It is normal for him to behave like this. Besides, the Shu army in Lueyang are all elite soldiers. It makes sense for them to be careful." Han Sui defended Mi Dang and his troops.

"Let's see how Midang attacks the city."

Hearing Han Sui's comforting words, Ma Teng suppressed his impatience and continued to observe the situation of Mi Dang's troops siege the city.

At this moment, in front of Lueyang City, although the pace of Mi Dang's troops was slow, they had advanced to a distance of eighty steps in front of Lueyang City and entered the attack range of the Shu army's bows and arrows on the top of Lueyang City.

After entering the attack range of the Shu army's arrows, Mi Dang became more cautious. He ordered his soldiers to hold their wooden round shields up at an angle to provide protection, and then kept the formation stable and continued to advance towards Lueyang City.

Just as Han Sui said, Qiang Hu leader Midang has always been cautious, and because of the heavy losses suffered by Shao Ge's tribe yesterday, Midang would definitely not march towards Lueyang City without good protection.

Seventy steps, Mi Dang's troops carefully advanced to a distance of seventy steps from Lueyang City. At this time, the Shu army on the top of Lueyang City did not make any movement, and no arrows were shot from the top of Lueyang City.

Mi Dang concluded that the calm attitude of the Shu army should be just like the one shown by Shao Ge's troops yesterday when they advanced to twenty steps before Lueyang City. The Shu army was waiting for them to get closer and the arrows to become more powerful before they would rain down arrows to attack them.

"Slow down and be steady." Standing in the formation of his troops, Mi Dang issued an order. At the same time, Mi Dang, who was of outstanding height, looked back.

Looking past the Qiang and Hu people under his command, he saw a team of archers coming out from Ma Teng and Han Sui's main camp and heading towards Lueyang City.

Seeing this, Mi Dang felt a little more at ease. Ma Teng and Han Sui did what they promised him - they sent archers to suppress the Shu army on the top of Lueyang City so that his troops could attack the city.

"Forward." Mi Dang urged his troops to advance, and behind him, the archers sent by Ma Teng and Han Sui were rushing to Lueyang City, preparing to shoot arrows at the top of Lueyang City when Mi Dang's troops approached the city wall to suppress the Shu army in Lueyang City.

At this moment, on the top of Lueyang City, Gan Ning was putting his thumb into his mouth and chewing it out of boredom. No matter what actions the bandits in front of Lueyang City made, he watched calmly but did not give any orders.

When Mi Dang's troops were about sixty steps away from Lueyang City, Gan Ning stopped chewing his thumb and raised his eyebrows at Gan Shisan: "Shisan, it's up to you."

"Yes." Gan Shisan nodded in response, and then urged his soldiers to operate a series of small Thunderbolt chariots.

Unlike the Thunderbolt Chariots made by the Shu Army for siege warfare, the Thunderbolt Chariots currently used by Gan Shisan's troops are more sophisticated and smaller.

As for these exquisite and small Thunderbolt chariots, they were built by the master craftsman Pu Yuan for the purpose of defending the city. The large Thunderbolt chariots were not easy to transport and were too large to be placed on the top of the city wall, so this scaled-down version of the Thunderbolt chariot for defending the city was created.

As the chief engineer under Gan Ning, Gan Shisan's troops were very familiar with the operation of the Thunderbolt Chariot. In a short time, they had loaded the artillery shells and were waiting for Gan Ning's order.

Gan Ning did not delay. After all, he saw that the Qiang and Hu were already fifty steps away from the city wall, so he shouted an order.

"Fire." (End of this chapter)