Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Liu Xuan looked up at Liu Bei with a complicated expression in his eyes.

I think outside Shouchun City, Liu Xuan designed Liu Bei to become the Lord of Shouchun. Although it was a last resort, Liu Xuan obviously did not expect that Liu Bei would succeed in such adversity.

After that, he was saved from desperate situations again and again, and lotus blossomed step by step.

Today, Liu Bei has become the actual head of Jingzhou, and this situation is actually much better than in the original history.

After all, in Liu Xuan's memory, in the original history, Liu Bei did not acquire the counties of Jingzhou one after another until after the Battle of Chibi in 208 AD.

Moreover, Liu Bei and Cao Cao were mortal enemies at that time.

Now the two have become allies. If Liu Xuan is really defeated by Liu Bei and Cao Cao, then Liu Bei can definitely take advantage of the situation to annex Yangzhou, and then follow the historical trajectory to march westward to Yizhou, and truly control half of the country from then on.

So it is still unclear who will win in the world.

At this moment, Liu Bei's always calm expression seemed a bit dazzling to Liu Xuan.

Liu Xuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the battlefield beside the moat.

This wave of powerful crossbow attacks directly killed and injured 300 Liu Xuan people, while the defenders on the city wall were still unscathed.

Throughout the history of Liu Xuan's rise, he has never suffered such a big loss in any battle.

However, Liu Xuan knew that this casualty was inevitable.

After all, Cao Cao and Liu Bei had made up their minds to defend the city, and they did have an advantage.

Liu Xuan's shield soldiers quickly stepped forward, holding high shields to protect the soldiers who were transporting sand and gravel to fill the moat.

Although this can protect soldiers from bows and crossbows, the movement speed of the shield soldiers is too slow, and the efficiency of filling the moat suddenly slows down.

Liu Xuan was not in a hurry, preserving his vitality was the top priority.Therefore, more shield soldiers were ordered to come forward to help the soldiers fill in the moat.

When Liu Bei on the city wall saw that the crossbow was ineffective, he waved his hand to make the crossbowmen stop shooting.

But then his eyes turned cold, a hint of viciousness flashed at the corner of his mouth, and he whispered to the bodyguard behind him,
The bodyguard took the order and left.

Soon, another group of soldiers came to the city wall carrying hundreds of equipment, and this time, Liu Beijun followed suit and set up all the equipment behind the city wall.

The soldiers below the city looked up at the top of the city and could not see these newly erected equipment at all.

Soon hundreds of equipment had been installed. This was an equipment similar to a trebuchet. The front end of the thick wooden throwing rod was a pot-shaped container.

The throwing pole was pulled with extremely elastic beef tendons. The soldiers pulled the throwing pole back until the tendons were tight, and then they used a mechanism to buckle it.

The soldier next to him picked up a heavy stone ball and put it into a pot-shaped container.

Liu Bei looked at the densely packed shield soldiers below, with a fierce look in his eyes.
"put!"

The soldiers behind him immediately knocked on the mechanism, and the throwing pole stretched by the tendon instantly bounced forward, throwing the stone ball fiercely down the city.

"defense!"

The soldiers below the city looked at the stone balls that were shot at high speed. They only had time to roar before they saw hundreds of stone balls slamming into the shield soldiers below the city.

"Bang bang bang bang~"

"Ah uh uh uh~"

Shields can protect against sharp weapons such as bows, arrows and crossbows, but they are useless against heavy blunt weapons such as stone balls.

What's more, the stone ball was shot from behind the city wall, and the soldiers below had no time to defend themselves.

The wide shield increased the hit rate of the stone balls. Hundreds of shield soldiers were hit by the stone balls and rolled back screaming.

Many soldiers were directly shocked by the impact of the stone ball and vomited blood and fell to the ground dead.

The huge stone ball rolled forward again due to the force of inertia. Many soldiers in the rear who had no time to escape were also affected. There was a big commotion in the team below the city.

However, how could Liu Bei miss such a good opportunity? The crossbow that had stopped shooting just now was fully loaded again, and rows of crossbow arrows roared down, killing Liu Xuan's soldiers who had lost the protection of their shields to the ground.

Not only Liu Xuan below the city was a little dumbfounded, but Cao Cao on the city wall was also a little dumbfounded.

This multi-shot crossbow and this trebuchet that can be temporarily installed are both new gadgets.

Even Cao Cao had never heard of it. This was the first time Liu Bei used this kind of weapon in a battle. Unexpectedly, it was so lethal.

As soon as the battle began, Liu Xuan's soldiers suffered thousands of casualties.

Cao Cao turned his head to look at Liu Bei thoughtfully, only to see that Liu Bei's face was still as grave as water.

I can't help but think silently in my heart,
"Liu Bei is a man who hides his secrets and must be on guard."

At this time, Liu Bei was also a little surprised by the lethality of these two defensive equipment, but he did not show it.

But behind him, there was a strange-looking man. Although this man was wearing a Liu Bei military-style helmet, he had a huge nose under his sunken eye sockets, which made him look very different from other soldiers.

The man spoke in difficult to understand Chinese and said with a somewhat proud tone:
"Uncle Liu Huang, what do you think? The weapons invented by our wise Yousi people are enough to make you invincible in this battle to defend the city."

Liu Bei nodded noncommittally, "I hope so."

The man behind him kept asking,

"Uncle Liu Huang, we have proven our sincerity with excellent weapons, so you have no objection to what we are discussing, right?"

Liu Bei showed a trace of imperceptible boredom, but he quickly hid it and put on a gentle smile and said: "Mr. Moss, the war is urgent now. Let's discuss this later."

The man named Moss curled his lips and saw that Liu Bei ignored him, so he had to give up temporarily.

Under the city, Liu Xuan's army has withdrawn.
After counting the casualties, it was found that after these waves of attacks, the number of dead and injured soldiers was close to 500.

These were [-] well-armed veterans, but they died on the way to fill in the moat before they could even touch the city wall.

Fortunately, Liu Bei's army on the city wall did not use any new tricks after two waves of attacks with crossbows and trebuchets.

Liu Xuan's soldiers remained vigilant and once again picked up bags of sand and gravel and threw them towards the moat.

The attack frequency of the catapults on the city wall is not high. When Liu Xuan's soldiers are prepared, the subsequent boulder attacks will be much less lethal.

After a whole day of filling the river, Liu Xuanzai finally filled in dozens of meters of the moat at the east gate of Xuchang at the cost of more than 2000 casualties.

At this time, the sky was getting dark. Liu Xuan asked the soldiers who filled the river to withdraw. The leading soldiers in the rear had already prepared dinner.

The soldiers camped under the city and had dinner, and it was completely dark.

Cao Cao on the tower also breathed a sigh of relief.

The first day finally passed. Apart from the loss of some arrows, there were no casualties among our soldiers.

Instead, thousands of Liu Xuan's soldiers were killed and injured.

It seems that Liu Bei is right. Relying on the Xuchang city wall and slowly wearing down Liu Xuan's soldiers is indeed a good strategy.

Because it was the first day of the war, Cao Cao was afraid that Liu Xuan would make any unexpected moves, so he did not leave the tower all day.

At this time, people were also a little tired, and they saw Liu Xuan's army under the city burying pots and making rice. The smell of meat and vegetables floated to the top of the city. He walked to Liu Bei and said with a smile: "Mr. Xuande, it's getting late. There must be no fighting tonight. How about you and I go down and have a drink together?"

Liu Bei squinted his eyes and took advantage of the twilight to scan Liu Xuan's army under the city. He found nothing unusual, so he nodded and said:
"That's fine, but there's no need to drink. Just eat something to satisfy your hunger."

Seeing that Liu Bei was so cautious, Cao Cao felt a little relieved, so he and Liu Bei went down to the tower, ordered his servants to cook food, and the two of them had dinner together.

When the meal was half full, Cao Cao pretended to be casual and tried:
"Xuande, why didn't you tell me earlier when you had such a powerful weapon to defend the city? I was worried for a long time."

Liu Bei quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks, cupped his hands towards Cao Cao and said, "Mr. Cao misunderstood. Bei only learned about the making method of this sharp weapon not long ago. Currently, hundreds of the instruments have been shipped to Xuchang."

"Oh? I think these two instruments are extremely exquisitely made. Who created them?"

Liu Bei said vaguely: "It's just a strange person I met by chance in Jingzhou. This person knows some ingenious tools, so I asked him to make some combat equipment for me."

Cao Cao's eyes lit up, and he asked further, "The strange person Xuande mentioned is the strange-looking person behind you today? What is this person's name?"

Seeing the strange expression on Liu Bei's face, Cao Cao quickly added: "Oh haha, don't think too much about Xuande. I just admire his talent and want to meet him."

Liu Bei chuckled, picked up the bowl and chopsticks again, and said, "Haha, they are just barbarians from outside the region, not worth Duke Cao's trouble. The final success or failure of this battle is still Duke Cao's determination to resist."

"Liu Xuan's army is approaching with great momentum. I'm afraid that Liu Xuan may launch a sneak attack tonight, so I'd better finish my dinner quickly and I'll go to the top of the city to have a look."

Liu Bei successfully changed the subject and drew Cao Cao's attention to the battle to defend the city.

Cao Cao laughed: "Hey, Mr. Xuande is still too cautious. Today is the third day of the Lunar New Year. The moonlight is weak and it's pitch black outside. How can I make a sneak attack?"

"Even if there is a night battle, by the time Liu Xuan's army lights the torches, the defenders on the tower will have already noticed it, and it will be too late to organize a defense by then."

Cao Cao's words are not unreasonable.

People in this era are generally malnourished and eat a single diet. Basically all people have more or less glaucoma and night blindness.

If the light is dim, you can't see clearly at all, so ordinary moonlight is of no use at all. You must use torches to illuminate your activities at night, otherwise you will be like a blind man.

But Liu Bei didn't know whether he was really worried about the battle on the city wall, or he was afraid that Cao Cao would continue to inquire about the situation. He quickly finished his meal and went up to the city wall.

As night fell, Liu Xuan's army had finished dinner and rested.

But all the soldiers still wore armor and held guns, waiting quietly for orders.

Liu Xuan scanned the city wall with his keen eagle eyes and saw that although the defenders on the wall were still on duty, they were obviously not as cautious as during the day.

After all, in this pitch-black night, nothing could be seen under the city except for the dots of torches.

Liu Xuan calmly ordered: "Extinguish the torch!"

The torches under the city were extinguished and it suddenly became pitch black.

The defenders on the city wall looked at each other, with more relaxed expressions on their faces. It was obvious that the army below was ready to rest, and there was no fighting tonight.

However, in the darkness below, tens of thousands of soldiers had already assembled, waiting for Liu Xuan's order.

The quality of Liu Xuan's military food has already exceeded that of any army in the Han Dynasty.

What's more, endless rice is rich in nutrients and has the effect of strengthening the body.

Although this endless rice has a cooling time and cannot be produced to supply all the soldiers,
But there is no problem in letting every soldier eat a meal of rice every now and then.

Those veterans who often ate rice did not suffer from night blindness or other diseases, so they were able to move freely with the help of the weak moonlight.

How could Liu Xuan sleep at night after suffering such a big loss during the day?

Pointing his spear at the city head, the tens of thousands of soldiers in front immediately pushed the well rails, rushed the chariots, and siege equipment such as ladders quickly crossed the moat and rushed under the city wall.

At this time, the defenders on the city wall heard the movement below, and the more alert soldiers quickly said: "There seems to be movement below!"

Hearing this, the centurion next to him also pricked up his ears and listened carefully, then picked up a torch behind him and threw it down towards the city.

The torch drew a dark red curve in the air and landed under the city wall. In the light of the fire, densely packed Liu Xuan soldiers had already crossed the river, and the ladders were about to climb up the city wall.

"puff!"

A sharp arrow shot through the centurion's neck,

"Uh~" Cao Jun raised his head with difficulty while covering his neck, only to see dozens of wells in place by the moat below the city. The archers at the top of the wells finished shooting arrows at him, and other archers also launched attacks.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," sharp arrows shot towards the city head like rain.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The alert soldier just now saw the centurion fall to the ground and roared at the top of his lungs.

But the next second, his voice was drowned in the rain of arrows.

"Kill!!!"

The attack has begun, and Liu Xuan's soldiers no longer need to move covertly. They hang the ladder on the city wall, and the soldiers begin to climb crazily.

The defenders on the city wall were instantly stunned.

There was a heavy rain of arrows on the opposite side, and the shouts of killing were loud in the city.

But no movement could be seen below, because Liu Xuan's troops extinguished all the torches, and there were torches behind the defenders on the city wall.

As we all know, it is difficult to see clearly when standing in a bright place and looking into a dark place.

At this time, Cao Cao's defenders were in this situation. The soldiers under the city and the archers on the well could see them clearly, but they could not see the attackers clearly.

He could only rely on the direction of the sound to blindly smash down the rolling stone.

This hit rate can be imagined. The siege soldiers on the ladder quickly climbed over half the height and were about to attack the city head.

With the combat effectiveness of Liu Xuan's veterans, as long as they gain a foothold at the top of the city, they can open an opening for more and more companions to come and kill.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Liu Bei rushed up with a team of troops.

After observing for a few seconds, Liu Bei immediately made a judgment and ordered to the guards around him:

"Throw the torch down, quickly."

A group of guards immediately ran, took off all the torches on the city wall, and threw them down the city.

Another part of the bodyguard ran to the place where the torches were stored, lit the torches, and threw them down as well.

At this time, the strange-looking man behind Liu Bei also said,

"Keep some torches, tie them with ropes and throw them down, like this."

After the man finished speaking, he quickly picked up a torch, tied the tail of the torch with a rope tied to the wood, lit the torch and threw it down the city.

The torch fell to half the height and was hung in mid-air by the rope. The light of the torch completely exposed the figures of Liu Xuan's soldiers on the ladder. (End of chapter)