Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 341: The fate star is dim, the real decisive battle
Liu Biao, who was stationed in Jingzhou, was extremely happy when he saw the endless stream of battle reports being sent to his desk. After carefully reviewing and annotating them one by one, he sent them back to the front line. Now Liu Biao realized that it was a waste of time to work hard in business and farming in the past. With the wealth and geographical location of Jingzhou, if he had vigorously improved his military strength from the beginning, he would now be the undisputed number one prince and there would be no need to join forces with others.

Thinking of this, Liu Biao couldn't help but sigh. In fact, when he first entered the game, he also had great talents and ambitions in his heart. However, his exclusive tasks were one after another related to business, farming, and controlling several major business families in Jingzhou. As time went by, the mentality he had when he first entered the game was slowly worn out. This is why he had the idea of ​​a businessman who refused to join forces and just wanted to reap the benefits.

However, the businessmen's ideas would not work in a place where many heroes were fighting for supremacy. Without rules to restrain them, force became the basis for their survival. It was not until this time that Liu Biao realized that his Jingzhou was just a piece of fat and juicy meat to those princes, and the owner of the meat had no fighting power.

Liu Biao, who was full of thoughts, was suddenly pulled back by an itch on his back. Liu Biao scratched his back, but it had no effect at all because of the thick and gorgeous clothes. Liu Biao couldn't help but miss scratching his back.

"Is it mites? It should be. I'm afraid there is no concept of mites in this era, and I don't think they know how to expel them."

Liu Biao whispered, then shouted.

"Someone, burn incense."

Then he looked at the battle report in his hand again, and at the same time, he reached his right hand to his back and scratched it twice.

It was already three minutes past midnight. If Zhuge Liang was observing the sky at this time, he would have seen that the star in the southwest representing Liu Biao had gradually become dim.

Huang Zhong, the Lieutenant General of Changsha, was a brave military commander. However, because his prefect and governor were both focused on maintaining the status quo and had no intention of pioneering and advancing, he had not yet made a name for himself on the battlefield.

He originally thought that he would spend the rest of his life like this, but who would have thought that he would suddenly receive the news of leading troops to attack Yangzhou. This news came unexpectedly, but Huang Zhong was a veteran, and even though he had been idle for a long time, his horsemanship skills had not fallen behind, so he was able to quickly adapt to the transition from rural life to the battlefield.

The Jiangdong army is now divided into four groups and began to besiege Jiujiang, Lujiang and Yuzhang counties. Except for some necessary soldiers who stayed behind in Yangzhou, the rest of the 250,000 troops in Yangzhou have been sent out. This is different from the previous alliance with Cao Cao against Liu Bei. This is a real fight to the death.

Two days later, Zhang He and Guan Yu successfully reunited in Jiujiang Chengde. Zhang Fei still had 1,600 Eighteen Riders of Yanyun and 2,400 elite cavalry under his command. These elite cavalry were able to transfer to become Eighteen Riders of Yanyun at any time, and were also the reserve forces prepared by Gu Rubing for Zhang Fei.

Not only Zhang Fei's Eighteen Riders of Yanyun, but also Guan Yu's Qinglong Swordmen and Gu Rubing's own Baili Soldiers all have their own reserves. When the establishment is insufficient, they can be transferred to special forces at any time.

But now that Gu Rubing is not around, there is no way to complete the job transfer.

Zhang He led an army of 100,000, including 30,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry. After the two sides joined forces, they immediately attacked Chengde. Chengde was the largest military town in Jiujiang besides Hefei. If they wanted to completely expand the battle line, they had to occupy military towns along the way, so that they could easily face the enemy camp.

Cavalry is more used to make the final blow, while sieges still rely more on infantry.

However, when they set out to provide assistance, they did not bring many large siege equipment, only a few ladders for attacking the city. If they wanted to capture a large military town like Chengde, they would suffer heavy losses.

Just when Zhang Fei and Zhang He were together worrying about the siege, Zhang Fei suddenly slapped his forehead and said as if he had suddenly realized something.

"I remember now. Before I came here, Zhuge Military Advisor gave me a golden bag, saying that I should open it when I encountered difficulties. Now we are in trouble, right?"

Zhang Fei looked at Zhang He, as if waiting for Zhang He's response. Zhang He was also a little unsure.

"Well... forget it. If we fail to take Chengde, we will probably lose all the small military towns in the north that we conquered before."

After hearing Zhang He's affirmation, Zhang Fei took out a brocade bag from the chest of his armor. After opening it, there was also a small note inside. The content of the note was even simpler, with only one sentence.

"We'll see tomorrow morning."

Zhang Fei was a little confused when he saw this sentence. What was going on? What did it mean to see the result tomorrow morning? Zhang He roughly understood what Zhuge Liang meant.

"Yide, I believe someone will come to help us solve this headache tomorrow morning, don't worry."

The next morning, before daybreak, a cavalryman broke into the camp. It was one of the eighteen riders of Yanyun that Zhang Fei had sent to monitor the vicinity.

"Report!"

Seeing his subordinates in such a panic, Zhang Fei thought that the enemy was attacking, so he picked up the Zhangba Snake Spear and walked out without putting on his armor.

"What's wrong? Why are you so flustered?"

Zhang Fei was putting on his armor while speaking, and the soldier dismounted and knelt on the ground, all in one go.

"General! General Zhao Zilong appeared five miles north of the barracks. He will surely be here soon!"

"Zilong is here? Hahahaha, let's go pick Zilong up."

Zhang Fei said with excitement on his face.

Outside the camp, Zhang Fei saw a white figure rushing towards them from a distance. When it came closer, Zhao Yun reined in his horse and stopped in front of the few people.

"elder brother."

"Brother Zilong, come on, come in and have a chat."

Zhang Fei was all smiles and welcomed Zhang Fei into the tent. The two hadn't seen each other for a few days and had countless words to say to each other.

In the tent, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and Zhang He sat opposite each other.

"Brother Zilong, why are you here? Didn't Military Advisor Zhuge send you to intercept the messenger from Sun? Why are you here?"

Zhang Fei asked with some doubt, while Zhao Yun smiled slightly. His handsome face made people feel friendly.

"Military Advisor Zhuge sent me to intercept the message from Sun's troops, and also sent me to deliver something for my brother."

"Send something, what is it?"

Zhang Fei was even more confused and didn't know what Zhao Yun meant. Zhao Yun smiled mysteriously.

"Don't worry, brother. You'll be able to see him after a while."

After a brief reunion, a man broke into the house.

"Report, three generals, a large number of unknown troops are rapidly approaching our military residence from the south."

"Don't panic, those are the reinforcements I invited."

Zhao Yun stood up and said, "Let's go, brothers, and see the surprise I have brought for you."

The three men walked side by side, with Zhang Fei in the middle. The invisible aura he exuded made the surrounding soldiers feel terrified. The three men came to the outside of the camp, only to see several huge monsters slowly approaching from the south. They were none other than the five catapults.

Behind the catapult, there were several horse-drawn carriages pulling several large boxes, but no one knew what they contained.

The two men who were worried about the lack of siege equipment, after seeing these five siege vehicles, their originally frowned brows finally relaxed.

"Hahahaha, great, great, Brother Zilong really helped me out of my urgent need."

Zhang Fei patted Zhao Yun excitedly, but he didn't control the strength of his hand well, and Zhao Yun almost staggered. If it weren't for Zhao Yun's strong physique, he would have been knocked down by Zhang Fei's slap.

"Don't worry, brother. Why don't you open the box and take a look first?"

Zhao Yun still had a sly smile on his face, and pretended to be mysterious as he asked Zhang Fei to open it and take a look.

"Oh, there's something else?"

Zhang Fei laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the air. He took two steps at a time and walked to the box. After opening it, four brand new giant crossbows appeared in front of Zhang Fei. They were the giant siege crossbows.

This giant crossbow is different from a bow and crossbow. It requires three people to use it at the same time to barely pull it open. All three people must have strong arms, otherwise they cannot pull it open at all. This giant crossbow is specially used for siege, and can even break down city gates and collapse city walls.

Compared to the catapult, this giant crossbow is easier to carry, can be used in any terrain, and is equally powerful.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Zhang Fei said "good" three times in a row. He was extremely surprised at this moment. They had been having a headache because of the siege, but with Zhao Yun's arrival, the difficulties were easily solved.

"Brother, the sooner the better. We'd better attack the city now. The sooner we take Chengde, the sooner we can gain a foothold in Yangzhou."

Zhao Yun's tone was serious. He went to Jingzhou to borrow these large siege equipment according to the instructions in Zhuge Liang's secret book. They were for Zhang Fei to use. Taking Chengde and then Hefei was one of the most important steps in conquering Yangzhou.

It is necessary to take over Jiujiang, Lujiang and Yuzhang counties, and then use the three counties to plot against Yangzhou.

"Okay, with the catapult and the giant crossbow, it will be easy to capture Chengde!"

Zhang Fei's tone was full of confidence. Cavalry were not good at attacking cities, but if there were large siege equipment, it would be a different concept. As long as they could break through the city gate, the city would be a huge target for the cavalry. Let the cavalry charge, and the infantry would not be able to stop the cavalry's charge and could only be slaughtered by the cavalry.

Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and Zhang He immediately gathered a large army and prepared to attack Chengde.

At noon, an army of one hundred thousand men approached Chengde, ready to defeat the enemy in one battle. Five catapults and twenty giant crossbows were ready for battle. The gates of Chengde were closed, and countless soldiers set up their bows and arrows on the city walls, waiting for Zhang Fei and his men to arrive.

The prefect of Chengde County had submitted a request for support to Sun Jian when Zhang Fei entered Jiujiang County, but until now, he has not waited for the arrival of support. In Chengde County, there are a total of 5,000 defenders, 3,000 archers, and 2,000 infantry. It is really a pipe dream to fight against an army of 100,000.

Even without large-scale siege equipment, attacking Chengde would only take a little more time and consume more manpower. Now with catapults and crossbows, it will be much simpler.

"kill!"

With a loud roar from Zhang Fei, the catapult started, carrying five flaming stones and bombarding the city wall. The wall of Chengde Military Town was not thickened, and the flaming stones hit the wall, splashing countless rubble and blasting away the defenders on the wall.

Countless pieces of gravel flew everywhere, leaving a bloody hole on the body and committing death on the head. The huge crossbows also bombarded the city wall and pierced into the stone wall.

The second wave of catapults was reloaded. This time they were no longer aiming at the city walls, but at the city gates. Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun were already on full alert, ready to launch a charge once the city gates were broken.

The flaming stone flew through the air, bringing up a long line of fire, and slammed hard into the city gate. The huge gate shook a bit but did not break.

Just as the defenders on the city wall were rejoicing that the city gate had not been broken, the other four flints followed. The heavy city gate could no longer withstand the fierce attack and fell heavily to the ground.

"rush!"

Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun rushed out at the same time, Wu Yun Treading Snow and Ye Zhao Yu Shi Zi drove side by side, clearing the way for the many cavalrymen behind them. On the city wall, the governor of Chengde County watched the cavalrymen enter the range of bows and arrows and immediately ordered them to shoot.

Countless arrows came towards him like rain.

"break!"

Zhang Fei roared angrily, and an invisible air wave spread out with Zhang Fei as the center. The arrows originally scattered in the air were all shaken away by Zhang Fei's roar, and no arrows could get close to the few people.

"kill!"

Zhao Yun tightened his grip on his horse and rushed into the city gate ahead of everyone else. At this moment, Zhao Yun's characteristics were fully utilized. Among the two thousand enemy infantry, it was like passing through an empty space. With the gun raised, the heads flew up.

Zhang Fei followed Zhao Yun into the city. Facing two thousand infantrymen, the two of them rushed into the battle formation without any hesitation and started an indiscriminate massacre.

The Eighteen Riders of Yanyun also charged into the city behind Zhang Fei. More than ten thousand cavalrymen poured into the city like a tide crossing a river. The Chengde defenders had only five thousand people and three thousand archers. How could they withstand the charge of ten thousand cavalrymen?

The cavalry rushed through the city like a tide, leaving only broken bodies and limbs of the defending soldiers. This was the huge gap in equipment and manpower.

Catapults, giant crossbows, and the charge of 10,000 cavalrymen, how could the small military town of Chengde withstand an attack of this scale?

The prefect of Chengde County was on the city wall at this moment, looking at everything in front of him in despair. He didn't know how to deal with it.

He had clearly sent a letter asking for help, but until now no reinforcements had arrived. The magistrate of Chengde County pulled out a dagger from his waist and stabbed it into his own neck, his eyes full of resentment.

On the second day after the capture of Chengde military town, Sun Jian led his army to the city. Zhao Yun had already sent out five hundred scouts, who had discovered the movements of Sun Jian's army when Sun Jian was still more than 20 miles away from Chengde. The scouts were monitoring them until they entered the territory of Chengde.

The battle between Sun Jian and Liu Bei was on the verge of breaking out again, and both sides started a battle in Yangzhou with all their might.

At this moment, Gu Rubing had returned to Qingzhou and assembled the Yellow Turban reserves, preparing to take over Yangzhou in one fell swoop. The situation this time was a real decisive battle.

(End of this chapter)