Ji Han Liu Zhang

Jade bi.

The two ingenious strategies used by Yuan's army against Yubi City were resolved one by one under the defense of Yubi City's defender Lou Fa. At the same time, Yuan's army suffered heavy losses. First, building the earthen hill consumed a lot of manpower, and second, more than a hundred elite soldiers in the tunnel were killed by the fireworks fired by the Shu soldiers into the tunnel.

At that moment, Yuan Shao's banner stood in front of the south of Yubi City. He looked at the Yubi City, which seemed like an insurmountable barrier. His expression was no longer as graceful as before, but half worried and half angry.

"Gong Ze, order the battering rams to move forward." Yuan Shao gave the order loudly, ordering Guo Tu, who proposed the battering ram siege plan, to implement the plan. He wanted to use the battering rams to crash into the walls of Yubi City so that the army could charge into the city.

"Yes." Guo Tu responded loudly, waving the red flag in his hand and waving it forward.

Immediately, after the troops in the front saw the flag of the central army, more than ten battering rams were pushed from the middle of the formation to the front. Then, the exciting drum beats sounded, and the battering rams began to move, rushing forward towards the wall of Yubi City.

Yuan Shao and Guo Tu stared at the battering ram closely, their eyes following it as it moved forward. Guo Tu, who had proposed the battering ram plan, was particularly nervous. After the strategies of building hills and digging tunnels had failed, if his battering ram could achieve some success, he would be the first to have made a contribution in this battle, and his status and position would be incomparable to before.

However, the ram continued to move forward, and when it approached the Yubi city wall, a curtain made of cloth was lowered from the top of the city wall, causing the tip of the ram to hit the soft curtain. The impact force was slowed and eliminated, and no damage was caused to the Yubi city wall.

When Guo Tu saw this, he jumped up and shouted, "Fire, fire, fire, attack with fire." In order to avoid losing face, Guo Tu was quick-witted and immediately came up with a corresponding strategy for the Shu army's clever strategy to deal with the battering rams.

"Use fire to burn the Shu army's tents." Yuan Shao first saw that the battering ram was blocked by the tent and looked surprised. Then he heard Guo Tu's plan of fire attack. He nodded in agreement instantly and ordered a fire attack.

Under Yuan Shao's instructions, Yan Liang, who was in charge of the attack and command in the front, immediately dispatched more people, collected dry pine branches, poured oil on them, and then tied the pine branches to hemp poles, lit them on fire, and stretched them towards the tents of the Shu army.

Yuan Shao and Guo Tu now regained their expectant expressions. They stared intently at the Ma Gan, wanting to see the beautiful sight of the Shu army's tents being set on fire and burned to ashes.

However, this time, Yuan Shao and Guo Tu's expectations were once again dashed. They saw a long pole extending from the top of the Yubi City with a sharp hook tied to the head of the long pole. When the hook moved, the blazing pine branches on the head of the Yuan army's pole were cut off. They failed to successfully ignite the Shu army's tent and died halfway.

"Attack the city, attack the city with me." Yuan Shao was displeased upon seeing this, and issued the order to attack the city like ants. That is, the methods of building earthen hills, digging tunnels, and sending battering rams were all ineffective. He planned to rely on his large numbers of men and soldiers to attack Yubi City day and night.

This went on for more than ten days. In the south of Yubi City, the sounds of attacking and fighting never stopped day and night. The fires at night were as bright as day. The Shu army and the Yuan army fought back and forth, and a shocking attack and defense unfolded in front of the south of Yubi City.

However, although Yan Liang, Zhang He, Qu Yi and other famous generals took to the battlefield one after another, one was tired and another took over, the soldiers fought to the death, but when the sun rose, Yubi City still stood silently in front of Yuan's soldiers.

Another night of attack passed. Qu Yi, with a tired face and blood all over his body, withdrew from the front line. He said angrily to Zhang He who was handing over the battle: "If it was a face-to-face fight, with only 800 of me, even if the Shu army had thousands, I would destroy them in one fell swoop. It's a pity that the Shu army is cowardly and only dares to hide in the fortified city and dare not go out of the city to fight a few times."

Zhang He remained silent upon hearing this. He was thinking the same thing. If the two armies were to set up their battle formations and engage in a full-scale battle, the soldiers wielding halberds under his command could certainly teach the Shu army a lesson. However, as the Shu army was defending a strong city, the halberds would be of no use.

Zhang He did not respond to Qu Yi's angry words. He just took over the baton of attacking Yubi City and said, "General Qu, please take a rest. I will take the lead."

"Go, General Zhang, and be careful. That villain Lou Fa never misses his arrows and can shoot an arrow through an arrowhead from a hundred steps away. Even if you are wearing armor, your arrows may penetrate through the gaps in your armor." Qu Yi nodded, and then he reminded Zhang He.

Zhang He smiled faintly and replied, "I have reflected on myself. During the previous attacks, I have witnessed Lou Fa's archery skills."

Talking about Lou Fa's archery skills, Qu Yi and Zhang He's eyes darkened. They had known about Lou Fa's extraordinary archery skills through military intelligence documents passed by spies, and they were prepared.

But when they faced each other and truly witnessed Lou Fa's archery skills, they could not help but feel surprised and even horrified. There was actually such a good archer in the world. Moreover, they saw that Lou Fa could not miss a target even at a distance of 100 steps. Even at a distance of 120 steps, Lou Fa's arrows never missed the target. It seemed that the former great archer Yang Youji was no more than this.

Zhang He stepped forward and commanded the fresh troops he brought to replace the soldiers who had attacked last night and continued the task of siege the city. However, this forced the defenders of Yubi City not to rest for a moment and they were always in a tense state, which could reveal one or two flaws.

From morning to noon, and from noon to dusk, the sun set, and tired birds flapped their wings and returned to their nests. Yuan's army's attack lasted from morning to night for another day.

It's a pity that Zhang He worked hard all day without taking off his armor to command the troops, but he still made little progress. In the end, he did not reach the top of the Yubi City and failed to capture Yubi.

As night fell and the last rays of sunset disappeared, Yan Liang came to the front. He was about to take over the baton from Zhang He and urge the soldiers to attack Yubi City after nightfall.

On the second day, when Qu Yi arrived at the front line for the handover, Yubi City under the morning light still stood before him as before, like an insurmountable chasm.

Yan Liang's all-night attack the previous night only added a lot of Yuan army corpses under the walls of Yubi City. There were also many arrows stuck in the walls, many knife marks, and marks of fire.

"If we continue to attack in this way, we will not be able to capture the jade disk even in a year." After a sleepless night, Yan Liang, who was supervising the siege, looked depressed. He gave Qu Yi a discouraging inference.

Qu Yi nodded, and he smiled helplessly: "The Art of War says that the way to use troops is to attack the city, the second best, to attack the enemy's heart, the best. We are using the lowest method of attacking the city, and it may be difficult to capture Yubi City. We should think of other ways."

At this moment, in the central camp of Yuan's army, a new strategy for attacking the city was given by Xu You, who was in charge of transporting food and grass. Facing the current situation where the army was blocked by the jade disk, Xu You just smiled calmly and said, "The jade disk is easy to take down. We can ask people to dig a tunnel..."

Feng Ji, who had previously proposed the strategy of digging a tunnel to attack the city, coughed lightly and reminded Xu You, "Ziyuan, the strategy of digging a tunnel has been implemented. The Shu army has dug a deep trench in the city. When the tunnel is dug into the deep trench, it will be discovered by the Shu army..." Ignoring the fact that many elite soldiers had died as a result, Feng Ji refuted Xu You's strategy of digging a tunnel.

Yuan Shao, who was at the top of the group, first heard Xu You say that the jade disc could be taken down easily, and his eyes lit up. But when he heard Xu You say that it meant digging a tunnel, his eyes dimmed again in an instant.

Xu You smiled faintly and shook his head, saying: "It's not about digging a tunnel into the city, but digging a tunnel to the bottom of the Yubi city wall, and then setting up pillars to support it, and then pouring strong oil on the pillars..."

"Then set fire to the wooden pillars. When the wooden pillars break, the city walls will collapse and Yubi City can be taken." Guo Tu said in line with Xu You's plan.

"That's right." Looking at Guo Tu, Xu You smiled confidently. Yuan Shao, who was at the top, clapped his hands and said, "Great, great, this is the way to go. This is the strategy to be implemented."

Yuan's army had a large number of soldiers and horses, numbering tens of thousands. Within a day or two, a cave appeared under the Yubi city wall. There were many wooden pillars in the cave, and it was because of these wooden pillars that the Yubi city wall above was still standing steadily.

After the excavation of the cave was completed, on a clear morning, Yuan's army, which had been preparing breakfast at five o'clock in the morning, gathered in front of the south of Yubi City. Yuan Shao also stood before the battlefield, raising a large banner with gold and silver threads, to encourage the soldiers who were exhausted after attacking for many days to boost their morale.

The rumbling sound of drums rang out, and after a round of beatings, Yuan's soldiers, under the command of Zhang He, who was commanding the front line, started a new round of siege on Yubi City.

The sounds of fighting on the ground resounded through the sky. Below, a small group of Yuan army soldiers tiptoed with kerosene and poured it on the wooden pillars in the cave, pouring them all over without missing a single one.

When everything was ready, the team leader led his team out of the cave and came to a tent through the tunnel. Then he lit the fire starter at the entrance of the tunnel, and then a line of fire ran towards the cave deep in the tunnel.

With the addition of fuel, a raging fire suddenly broke out in the cave. The wooden pillars that served as support columns began to burn and gradually carbonized, losing the toughness and straightness that hardwood should have.

At this moment, on the top of Yubi City, Lou Fa carefully watched the wave after wave of attacks from Yuan army. Although he had repelled Yuan army's attacks every day for more than ten days, his nerves were still tens of thousands. After all, with only three thousand people against tens of thousands of enemies, if there was even the slightest mistake, the result would be disastrous.

"General, there is smoke on the ground under the city wall, but we don't know why?" A soldier came to report the detected military intelligence.

"Smoke?" Lou Fa didn't react for a moment, but suddenly his eyes widened, as if he understood something. He gave a stern order, "Order Lou Qi to prepare the wood for building a fence, and to stand guard behind the wall where the smoke is coming from. If there is any problem with the wall, immediately block the gap with the fence."

"Yes." The soldier hurried to convey the order.

Looking at the soldiers' departing backs, Lou Fa became worried. After thinking for a while, he handed over the power of command on the city wall to Gan Jiu, the captain whom Gan Ning had lent him to help him defend the jade disk, and asked Gan Jiu to command on the city wall in his place.

In front of the city wall, at the center of Yuan's army, Xu You, after hearing a soldier's report, pointed to a certain spot on the Yubi city wall and said to Yuan Shao, "Mingsir, this is the place where the sky will collapse and the earth will collapse soon."

"Yeah." Yuan Shao looked pleased. He was waiting for the moment when the Yubi city wall would collapse. And in the front, Qu Yi, leading more than a hundred brave soldiers, was also waiting for the moment when the Yubi city wall would collapse.

At this time, in the cave under the city wall, the wooden pillars that were originally used as pillars were burned and broken one by one by the fire, and lost their function as pillars. As the wooden pillars continued to fall, the earth and rocks above the cave began to collapse under the action of gravity.

"Boom..."

With a sound of ground collapse comparable to thunder, a small section of the wall of Yubi City, which had been like a natural moat blocking the soldiers of Yuan's army, suddenly collapsed, and a gap appeared in the defense of Yubi City.

"My men, follow me and kill." Qu Yi was overjoyed when he saw this. He led his elite soldiers and charged forward, ignoring the fact that the smoke and dust from the collapsed city wall had not yet dissipated, in order to gain the credit of being the first to reach the city.

Qu Yi, wearing heavy armor and holding a long sword, was carrying a weight of no less than ten pounds, but his steps were light and brisk, his movements were agile, and he was not affected by the armor at all.

Going up the slope formed by the collapsed city wall, Qu Yi seemed to have seen a huge achievement come to him. However, at this moment, his keen hearing detected the sound of a powerful crossbow trigger being pulled coming from the front.

Qu Yi first crouched down, then looked up. Through the dust and mist from the collapsed city wall that had not yet dissipated, he saw a series of black figures.

"Shu army!" Qu Yi's figure fell even lower, while the sharp soldiers behind him were still charging forward, trying to gain the credit of being the first to reach the summit and get the honor of being awarded a title to his wife and children.

"Swoosh... swoosh..." The sound of crossbow arrows breaking through the air was heard. At this time, the charging Yuan army soldiers found that something was wrong in front of them. As Qu Yi's subordinates, they had been in battle for a long time and were familiar with strong crossbows. They were also good at practicing crossbows. In the past, when they defeated Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao, they relied on the powerful crossbows to defeat the White Horse Volunteers.

Therefore, although they were wearing armor, the soldiers under Qu Yi crouched down one by one. After all, the power of the crossbow and the close distance made armor not enough to cope with it.

However, the crossbow arrows were fired instantly, and although Qu Yi's soldiers reacted quickly, many of them were still hit by the crossbow arrows and lost their footing. Also, because they were on the slope formed by the collapse of the city wall, the soldiers who were hit by the arrows lost their balance and inevitably rolled down the slope.

When the soldiers who were shot by arrows rolled down, they were like bowling balls, carrying the soldiers who were shot and those who were not shot down with them down the slope.

As a result, Qu Yi led more than a hundred brave soldiers, intending to take advantage of the collapse of the Yubi city wall to break into the city. However, this unparalleled opportunity was missed by the crossbows of the Shu army.

As a general, Qu Yi thought about how he had finally snatched the mission of being the first to break into the city from Yan Liang, Zhang He and others, but now it seemed that he would fail. A fierce look appeared in his eyes, and he was ready to risk his life to continue charging forward and set an example for his elite soldiers.

"My men, follow me and kill." Qu Yi roared, and taking advantage of the gap when the Shu army's crossbows fired a round, he rushed towards the Shu army that appeared at the gap in the city wall.

Inspired by Qu Yi's leading role, his troops regained their momentum and continued to charge towards the gap in the city wall. However, at this moment, several sounds of string pulling rang out almost at the same time and fell into Qu Yi's ears.

Qu Yi became alert. He leaned sideways and put out his hands to cover his head. Soon, the piercing pain in his arms told Qu Yi that his alertness was an extremely correct decision.

I saw an arrow piercing into Qu Yi's left arm. The arrow's power did not decrease after entering the arm, and the force shook Qu Yi so much that he lost his balance and fell down the slope.

Along with Qu Yi, several elite soldiers who were charging with Qu Yi were also hit by arrows. They were at the front, and the arrows from General Lou Fa, who was guarding the jade disk, were naturally aimed at them.

Seeing this scene, Lou Qi exclaimed: "General Qu is a master archer. He fired several arrows in an instant, and none of them missed. It can be said that he is beyond the reach of heaven."

"Don't talk nonsense, quickly repair the gap in the city wall." Lou Fa gave the order calmly. First, a group of Yuan's soldiers were shot dead by crossbows, and then the soldiers who continued to charge were repelled by his arrows. Now that they are weak and have no energy to charge, it is a good time for them to repair the gap and set up fences. (End of this chapter)