The Nameless of the Common Clans

"Hurry up!" In Xiangyang City, a large number of soldiers poured out of Xiangyang under the command of generals at all levels and rushed towards the Han River.

The news that a gap was opened by the enemy on the front line was unexpected even by Zhuge Liang. The Thousand Miles Embankment was destroyed in an ant nest. Zhuge Liang knew very well what this gap opened by Chen Mo meant. If Chen Mo was allowed to expand this gap, then Zhuge Liang had previously Many of the arrangements and even the copper pillars in the center of the river, which cost a lot of manpower and material resources to build, may have lost their meaning.

It is necessary to drive out the Ming army's troops who attacked the Han River before the gap grows larger.

"Yun Chang, this battle is related to the situation in Xiangyang. The enemy must be driven back!" Zhuge Liang looked at Guan Yu at the gate of the city and said solemnly.

In order to drive the Ming army back to the north of the Yangtze River, Zhuge Liang mobilized all the troops and horses he could mobilize. Nearly 10,000 troops and horses were already most of Xiangyang's strength. It was impossible to mobilize more troops. There were not many troops left in Xiangfan.

"Kong Ming, with so many soldiers and horses here, if the Ming army takes the opportunity to attack Fancheng at this time, how will they resist it?" Guan Yu looked at Zhuge Liang and asked.

Now that Xiangyang has sent a large army to seize the Jiangkou stronghold, Zhuge Liang can be sure that Chen Mo has probably issued an order to attack Fancheng at this time. For layout masters like them, once one point is successful, they will be linked together, and Chen Mo's biggest advantage is his military strength. , he has enough troops and horses to mobilize. It is not difficult for Chen Mo to fight on two fronts, but Xiangyang is different. In this way, there are not many resources that Zhuge Liang can mobilize. There are troops in Jiangdong, and the two sides are now allies, but those troops and horses are not controlled by Zhuge Liang. The two sides can negotiate, but at this time, time is of the essence. If the Jiangkou stronghold is not recaptured , then Xiangyang will probably be flooded with a large number of Ming troops immediately, and then Xiangyang and Fancheng will face the pressure of the Ming army at the same time.

"Liang has ordered someone to summon Governor Zhou Yu to lend me five thousand elite soldiers to help defend Fan City. Yun Chang will go on his own!" Zhuge Liang said solemnly.

Although today's Xiangyang is considered strong and is a battleground after all, it is not feasible to completely abandon the periphery and stick to Xiangyang. Without the cooperation of the peripheral terrain, Xiangyang is just a city. If Chen Mo really hits the door, then More dangerous.

Even if Zhou Yu didn't respond, Zhuge Liang still had to fight. Zhuge Liang was cautious in doing things. He rarely did such risky things, especially after the defeat of Nanyang. Zhuge Liang became more cautious in doing things because he knew whether Liu Bei would lose. But at this time, he couldn't help but take the risk.

"Come as soon as you go!" Guan Yu took the order and rushed to the mouth of the river with his troops.

The sky had just dawned, and Xiangyang was only twenty miles away from the river mouth. When Guan Yu and his troops arrived, Zhang He had already repelled the invading enemies from all sides, and the newly established camp was also being worked on by a group of craftsmen and soldiers. initially established.

The huge camp stretched for three miles, occupying almost the entire plain at the river mouth. Guan Yu looked at the camp in front of him and frowned.

"Father!" A general led a group of men and horses from the flank. When he saw Guan Yu bowing on his horse, he frowned and said, "The enemy has set up walls on both sides and is guarded by enemy troops. It is difficult to find any loopholes."

The person who came was none other than Guan Ping.

Guan Yu nodded, looked at the wall, thought for a while and said, "Shoot it with a ballista."

"Here!"

The so-called repeated crossbow cart, as the name suggests, is an enlarged version of the repeated crossbow, or the prototype of the Zhuge repeated crossbow. It is different from the repeated crossbow held by the infantry. This Yuanrong crossbow is a crossbow cart, and its range and power are far superior to the repeated crossbow. It is extremely powerful and easier to install than an ordinary bed crossbow. It is a weapon designed by Zhuge Liang in recent years to make up for the lack of combat power of the Jingzhou Army.

Soon, a serial ballista was pulled out from the army. Under the operation of a group of soldiers, the sound of the machine's collision was endless.

"Let go!" Following Guan Yu's order, rows of crossbow arrows shot out of the air with a harsh screeching sound, and fired fiercely at the wall.

"Bang bang bang bang~"

Amidst a series of dull sounds, many soldiers on the wall were hit by arrows that were blown away by the huge force. The eight-inch long iron arrows were enough to penetrate any armor within the range, including many places on the wall that had been reinforced with rammed earth. All shot through , although the repeating crossbow is powerful, in order to pursue range and penetration, it does not use thick giant arrows like ordinary bed crossbows, so the damage to the city wall is not good. Even if it can penetrate, it will be difficult to shake the stronghold. wall.

After a round of arrow rain, although the defenders were damaged, there was not much damage to the wall.

But despite this, the power of the crossbow still chills the hearts of the defenders. If they encounter this on the battlefield, they will not be able to withstand this round of arrow rain, even if they are protected by shields.

"What kind of crossbow is this? Is it so powerful?" Zhang He stood on the watchtower and witnessed this scene with his own eyes, looking at Ma Jun who was sent to supervise the construction of the military camp.

"This..." Ma Jun shook his head. The power of this weapon made his scalp numb just looking at it. Although the Army-breaking Crossbow was powerful and could fire continuously, it was only three rounds, far inferior to the opponent's. The repeating crossbow is very powerful, not to mention the other party has that kind of portable small repeating crossbow.

"I have never seen such a crossbow before." After a long time, Ma Jun sighed. The power of this repeating crossbow has exceeded his knowledge. If he can get one or two to study, he may be able to build a more powerful one. The crossbow equipment comes.

For a moment, Ma Jun felt a little eager.

On the other side, Guan Yu saw that the walls of the other side's stronghold were strong and said to Guan Ping beside him: "Tanzhi, go ahead and call the formation and ask the Ming army if they dare to go out to fight with a certain person?"

"Here!" Guan Ping agreed, rode his horse to the outside of the camp, and shouted loudly: "Who is the commander of the camp?"

"I am Zhang He." Zhang He came to the gate and looked at the army in the distance. He did not order Guan Ping to be shot. If it is not necessary, some rules should be followed. Of course, if Guan Yu or Zhuge Liang came to challenge them personally, it would be a different story.

"Your sneak attack is not a skill. Now that my army has arrived, do you dare to fight with us?" Guan Ping said loudly.

"Haven't you heard that war is not afraid of deception? When two armies fight, each relies on its own means. You have been defeated for a while. Now if you want to take back this place, you should use your skills to attack." Zhang He sneered when he heard this. The camp has been set up, but you want me to go out of the camp to fight with you? There is no such a cheap thing in the world.

Guan Ping snorted coldly, and without saying much, he turned his horse's head back to the army and informed Guan Yu.

Guan Yu looked at the enemy camp and said nothing, but ordered an attack. Although the attacking side would suffer huge losses, if this place was not taken back, the Ming army would most likely cross the river continuously from here, and most of the defenses south of the Han River would be abandoned, and Xiangyang would also be in danger.

Under the command of Guan Yu, the Jingzhou army launched attacks from both sides. Zhang He was also very clear. No matter how Guan Yu attacked, he had a countermeasure. The two sides fought for half a day. Although a section of the wall was destroyed, Zhang He quickly ordered people to push it up. There was another round of fighting. Guan Yu finally had difficulty in attacking the camp, so he had to withdraw his troops and set up a camp at the mountain pass to confront Zhang He. At the same time, he informed Zhuge Liang and asked him to think of a solution as soon as possible. If this continued, the Ming army would cross the river continuously.

In the evening, Zhuge Liang brought Zhang Fei to the front of the battle and observed the enemy camp. Seeing that Zhang He's battle formation was rigorous and the military camp was well-organized, it was difficult to break through. After thinking for a while, he asked someone to bring a catapult and learned from Chen Mo to throw oil bombs at the camp and set fire to the camp.

Seeing this, Zhang He knew that it was not good, and immediately led his troops out of the camp to destroy the enemy's catapult. However, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were on the left and right. The two sides fought fiercely on the Jiangkou Plain. Although Zhang He was brave, the camp in the rear was burned. The soldiers in the army panicked and were killed by the two together. When the camp was burned, Zhuge Liang received news that the upstream ferry was lost.

But Chen Mo, in order to completely tear apart the outer defense of Xiangyang, took advantage of Zhang He's attraction of the enemy's troops here, and ordered Zhang Xiu, Wei Yan, and Xu Huang to cross the river from the upstream to attack the enemy's ferry.

Although Zhuge Liang's deployment was good, the supporting forces were now attracted by Zhang He. There were only a few hundred people at the ferry, and three places were attacking at the same time. Although they attacked from the south, they were not impossible to attack. The three generals had also learned Chen Mo's water warfare strategy and trained the navy in the East China Sea for a period of time. Although they did not have talent in this area, the fierce generals were not the Yangtze River, let alone the East China Sea. The narrowest part of those ferry crossings was less than 60 steps. How could hundreds of people resist the attack of thousands of people without support? Just when Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu tried to break through Zhang He, the three ferry crossings were also lost one after another. Although Zhang He was defeated, the Ming army had indeed completely opened the river crossing barrier, and landed from upstream in an endless stream. The first line of defense that Zhuge Liang painstakingly arranged was broken by Chen Mo in this way.

Zhuge Liang's face changed drastically after hearing the news. At this time, Zhang He was still leading the remnants to resist stubbornly. It was difficult to completely wipe him out in a hurry. At this time, even if Zhang He was destroyed, it would be useless.

"How could this happen?" Zhang Fei looked at Zhuge Liang absentmindedly.

Zhuge Liang sighed and shook his head, saying, "The defense line along the Han River is too long, and the river is not wide. It is inevitable that it will be broken by the enemy."

Zhuge Liang had naturally thought of such a result, but he never thought that the result would come so quickly.

"Kong Ming, what should we do now?" Guan Yu rode his horse to Zhuge Liang and asked with a frown.

"Retreat to the second line of defense, this line of defense must be defended, Ji Ling!" Zhuge Liang looked at Ji Ling and said.

"I am here!" Ji Ling bowed.

"You are responsible for the defense line between Atou Mountain and Baizhang Mountain!" Zhuge Liang sighed.

"Yes!" Ji Ling agreed and took the order and left.

"Tan Zhi!" Zhuge Liang looked at Guan Ping again.

"I am here!" Guan Ping also saluted hurriedly.

"The copper pillar in the middle of the river must be defended. I have set up three forts here, and you need to defend these three forts." Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice.

"Yes!" Guan Ping nodded.

"Yunchang!" Zhuge Liang finally looked at Guan Yu and said.

"Yes!"

"The army is short of troops, Yunchang, go to Jiangling and recruit soldiers, the more the better!"

"Yes!"

Although he defeated Zhang He with all his strength, he was one step slower in the end, allowing Chen Mo to successfully cross the river. In the overall situation, Zhuge Liang still lost this step. He thought Chen Mo would take the opportunity to attack Fancheng, but he didn't expect that Chen Mo's real goal was still this line of defense. The opponent maximized the advantage in military strength, which made it difficult for Zhuge Liang to guess Chen Mo's true intentions. In this win or lose, he was eventually taken advantage of by Chen Mo.