Survival Three Kingdoms

Chapter 555 Wine Is Not Just For Drinking
"Tell me about the conditions of the Marquis of Liao." Sun Quan said, in his mind, Zhou Cang would never be so enthusiastic, and would definitely reap some benefits.

Yang Rui was stunned for a moment, it seemed that he didn't explain this point, Zhou Cang said the conditions, but since Sun Quan asked, don't ask for nothing. "Naturally, there are conditions. For one thing, this expedition will not be under the banner of our army." Yang Rui said, thinking over and over again.

Sun Quan nodded. "Can."

"Secondly, our army is also attrition during this expedition, and we need to compensate our army for attrition after taking the Lujiang River."

Sun Quan nodded again. "Reasonable, yes."

"Gone."

"Ah?" Sun Quan's eyes widened, he couldn't believe it, it's gone, this is not Zhou Cang's style.

"It's gone." Yang Rui didn't dare to put forward too many conditions without authority. "The Marquis of Liao only wants to promote the friendship between the two countries and benefit each other."

"That's good, you reply to Liaohou. After Xu Gai crosses the river in a month, I will send someone to meet him." Sun Quan nodded. "However, if Cao Cao's army goes south again in the future, Marquis Liao can't just sit back and watch."

"That's natural, the Marquis of Liao has always been trustworthy."

Sending Yang Rui away, Jiangdong Wenwu still didn't quite believe Zhou Cang's kindness, and finally agreed that Zhou Cang did it to relieve the pressure on the north.And doing so is good for Jiangdong, and it can be regarded as mutual benefit. The matter of Jingzhou can be put aside for a while, and we can talk about it after taking back the princess.

Lu Meng came here again to invite Ying, and Sun Quan made Lu Meng the general, Pan Zhang and Ma Zhong the lieutenants, and sent [-] troops to attack Lujiang, and at the same time sent people to Lujiang to investigate the military situation.When the spies reported back, the general Cao Xiu was ordered to go north, and the prefect of Lujiang was replaced by Zhu Guang. The biggest obstacle was removed, and Jiangdong civil and military all jumped for joy.

These days Xu Gai trains recruits during the day and asks his father for advice at night. Although this has long been a daily homework for father and son, Xu Huang still explains it repeatedly, and explains in detail the terrain and weak points of the city in Lujiang County.But for Lujiang City, Xu Huang warned Xu Gai that the only way to attack by force is to rely on courage and morale.Out of love for his son, Xu Huang lost [-] new recruits to fill his battalion, and transferred [-] veterans from the Zhiyan Camp under his command to Xu Gai.These old soldiers have experienced fierce battles, but they can be dead soldiers and are familiar with Lujiang city defense, so they can be used at critical times.

When Cao Cao's letter of war was sent to Zhongshan, Xu Shu only replied with four words: Come as you come.The ancient country of Zhongshan had a strong city, so Xu Shu ordered the trenches to be dug deeper and wider.Liaodong sent countless cattle, sheep, food and grass, so you don’t have to worry about eating; there are even more arrows. Thanks to the rich iron ore and timber in Liaodong, Zhongshan hoarded as many as 30 arrows; drinking is prohibited in the army, so All the sent spirits were loaded into crocks and wine jars. Xu Shu found that the fire of spirits was no less than that of kerosene, and it was a great weapon for defending the city.Xu Shu also sent people to Hejian and Nanpi to send letters, asking the two places to take precautions to prevent Cao Cao from attacking the west. Zhongshan is too defensive and does not need reinforcements.

Regarding Xu Shu's general order not to fight, Guan Hai had some criticisms, and often whispered in Han Long's ear: Liaodong cavalry is number one in the world, tiger and leopard cavalry are no opponents, so why stick to it and fight timidly.Han Long persuaded Guan Hai that General Xu had his own plan, and as a general, following the general's orders was his top priority, and when it was time to fight, he would naturally have a chance.When Chen Dao heard about this, he also tried to persuade Guan Hai, but Guan Hai said Weiwei, but he was not reconciled.

On February [-]th, Cao Cao led [-] troops into Zhongshan County. Facing the impregnable city, Cao Cao sent people to challenge him several times, but Xu Shu ignored them.Cao Cao ordered to attack the city, but before the soldiers approached, arrows rained down from the top of the city, and it was equipped with a powerful crossbow with a very long range.

Cao Cao was furious when he failed to attack for two consecutive days, and ordered to dig a tunnel with the intention of sneaking into the city.Xu Shu had already found out Cao Cao's various combat powers and prepared various precautions. There were more than ten large urns buried along the city wall, and he sent people to monitor day and night every day.When Cao Jun broke through the ground at night, he fired random arrows and threw prepared wine jars and dry firewood into the tunnel.After spending more than ten days, Cao Cao lost more than a thousand elites again.

Liu Ye offered advice to Cao Cao, cutting down giant trees to build an arrow tower to line up with the top of the city and shoot at the inside of the city.The order to wrap the rapier with a strip of cloth soaked in strong wine, and then surrender the arrow tower. The arrow tower that Cao Jun had worked so hard to build in the past ten days was burned in one day.

When two consecutive plans failed, Cao Cao was anxious. Xun You offered a plan. In order to resist the arrows, he could use the giant trees felled above the soldiers' heads as a cover, and the soldiers hid under them. Then the giant logs were used to fill the frozen moat, and then the giant logs were used to hit the city gate. .

Cao Cao praised again and again, and once again ordered people to cut down trees. The giant trees were not enough, so they were tied together with several trunks, so Cao Jun became a lumberjack.Fortunately, there were a lot of people, and it only took five or six days to cut down two thousand giant trees. Thousands of soldiers lined up in a tight formation, lifted the giant trees above their heads, and pushed them to Zhongshan City in a mighty manner.

Thousands of arrows fired from the city were all blocked by giant trees, and Cao Jun was getting closer and closer to the moat.Cao Cao twirled his beard proudly, Xu Shu, you must be out of action now.It didn't take long for him to be proud, dozens of simple catapults appeared at the top of the city, and what fell were not stones, but lit wine jars and lamp oil.

The wine jar shattered immediately when it fell on the big tree, the wine splashed everywhere, and the fire spread quickly, and burned along the gaps in the giant tree to the soldiers whose bodies were splashed with wine.At this moment, Cao Jun blew up the camp, and the soldiers abandoned the giant tree and fled back to the camp with their lives.Without the protection of the giant tree, another round of arrows rained down on the top of the city, and Cao Jun dropped another two thousand corpses.

After attacking for a month, Cao Cao lost more than [-] men and almost all the surrounding trees were cut down. Cao Cao was furious, but there was nothing he could do.He once sent tiger and leopard cavalry to ambush the main road from Hejian to Zhongshan, intending to encircle the reinforcements, but Hejian did not send troops at all; The two places were unprepared to launch a surprise attack. As a result, the two places were closely guarded and there was no opportunity to take advantage of it.

Successive victories boosted the morale of the army in Zhongshan City, and the generals admired Xu Shu's wonderful use of troops. It turns out that wine is not only for drinking, but also has such a magical effect. Keeping it like this is enough to drag Cao Cao down.Only Guan Hai, lamenting his uselessness, stole a lot of wine and hid in his tent to drink alone.

In April of the 18th year of Jian'an, the weather turned warm and the moat was unsealed. Seeing that the siege of the city was getting more and more difficult, Cao Cao started to retreat, and two news from the Northwest and Lujiang strengthened his thoughts.

First of all, in the northwest, Xia Houyuan beat Han Sui hard, Han Sui fled far away, and had already regained most of Liangzhou, so Xia Houyuan used Yan Xing to guard Liangzhou, and he and Zhao Yan returned to Chang'an. This is good news.

But the Lujiang side is downright bad news, Sun Quan suddenly raised troops to raid Lujiang, Lujiang fell, the new prefect Zhu Guang and the army Dong were captured, life and death are unknown!
(End of this chapter)