Just as the heroes in Liangzhou were discussing their plans, Liu Bei stepped up his attack on Linzi. In the fifth month of summer, Cao Cao's siege of Fenggao gradually came to an end.
Fenggao is the county seat of Taishan County and the most important fortified city in the county. Even though all the other cities in the county have fallen, and the isolated city has not surrendered for two months, it is enough to prove its danger. But if we look closely at the reason why it is so durable, it still has to be attributed to its unique terrain.
The Taishan Mountains are dozens of miles to the southeast and the Nishan Mountains are dozens of miles to the northwest. It is originally a gentle and vast valley. But looking from the south of the valley, you can see that two mountains suddenly rise up on the east and west sides, crisscrossing each other, and the terrain is steep. They seem to fly overhead. A cliff like an eaves is built to cover the sky and the sun. When pedestrians pass by, they will feel that the sky and the earth are wrong in the south, so this place is called Jiaoyu. Fenggao built the city here, which isolated most of the enemies in the south. There was only one mountain path that could lead in and out. In addition, it is adjacent to Wenshui River in the north, forming a situation of "climbing south to crossing north".
Under such circumstances, Cao Jun encountered great difficulties in the initial siege of the city. The Fenggao defenders built many mountain camps between the Jiao Valley and stationed nearly a thousand scattered soldiers. Whenever Cao Jun tried to build a camp in the south of the city and besiege the city, people would often rush out from the cliffs and join forces with the defenders inside and outside to attack Cao Jun. Cao Cao was overwhelmed by the disturbance, and it took him nearly twenty years to finally completely encircle Fenggao, and he has fought hard to this day.
On April 27th, the weather was sunny and the sunshine was clear. Looking around, I could only see one or two traces of clouds. In such brightness, Cao Cao woke up from his tent very early. He opened the curtain and felt the breeze blowing by, making him feel refreshed and his consciousness sharp. It could be seen that the wind had gotten much better in recent days, and with it came the ever-expanding ambition in his heart.
After washing his face with water, Cao Cao quickly had his breakfast. Nowadays, Cao Cao's daily breakfast is very simple, which is just a pancake and a bowl of broth. When he finished eating, it was just past midnight, the sun had not yet appeared on the top of Mount Tai, and there was still a while before the military meeting, so he called Dian Wei and other guards to patrol the camp together to encourage the soldiers.
Gradually, the time came to Chen time, and all the officials and senior generals from Yanzhou Prefecture arrived. After the epidemic the year before last, many key figures in the Prefecture got infected and died. Cao Cao was deeply saddened, but he did not get depressed because of this, and He continued to promote new people from the army and localities, such as Guo Jia, a military advisor, Han Hao, a military commander, Yuan Huan, a southern captain, and Zheng Hun, a literature researcher. They all took this opportunity to join the state capital. Cao Cao had a unique vision and was willing to recruit talents. For a time, , the strength of the Yanzhou capital is actually better than before the epidemic.
After they all arrived, Cao Cao came back from patrolling the camp. While taking off his armor, he apologized to everyone: "The three armies will have to sacrifice their lives in these two days. I really couldn't worry about it, so I walked two more times to give you a long wait." waited."
Everyone said they didn't dare, but Guo Jia took the opportunity to come forward and said with a smile: "Ming Gong has been close to the people and loved his soldiers for the past two years. He lives a simple life and eats only a piece of cake and soup every day. He is no different from an ordinary officer and does everything himself. . The army has seen it, and the court has also seen it. Let me tell you, it is our great fortune to be able to work together under the command of Ming Gong, so what can we complain about?"
Cao Cao couldn't help laughing when he heard this and said: "Ha, being filial is too much! Eat the emperor's salary and share the emperor's worries. Working for the court is our duty as a minister, so what is there to praise?"
Guo Jia refused to give up and continued: "What Ming Gong said is certainly true, but nothing is more difficult than to be consistent in words and deeds. If the government and the public are as consistent as Ming Gong, why is the world so uncertain? What Guo Jia said is nothing more than a reiterated statement. It’s just a courtesy.”
"Fengxiao is well said!" Cao Cao couldn't help but admired it, and said to everyone: "Fengxiao's words are deeply in my heart. If Mr. He (He Jin) listened to my words in the past, why would there be disaster in Luoyang? If it was Sour Dates How can we allow Dong Zhuo to be arrogant if we are united as one? Although you are under my command today, you must not forget your public heart and loyalty. Otherwise, if the divine weapon is turned upside down and the villain is turned upside down, you will not know how many disasters will happen."
What he said was impeccable, but everyone could hear some ambiguity. Now that the imperial court is becoming more and more stable, why is the artifact turned upside down? Who is the upside-down villain? Everyone bowed their heads in agreement, and as their eyes exchanged, everything was unspoken.
The military discussion then got down to business. Cao Cao asked Cao Ren: "Zixiao, I have just seen two stone carts. They look really good. But can they hit the city and go up to the watchtower? Have you tried it?"
The so-called catapult is a catapult. A few days ago, Cao Jun attacked the city. Although there were many warriors who could attack the city wall, they were immediately attacked by the rain of arrows from the watchtowers. Several upward attacks were ineffective. Cao Cao simply asked someone to design a stone cart. One end was slender, with a rope tied to the leather sheath that held the stone bullets, and the other end was wide, with multiple ropes attached. With fifty people pulling the wooden tip at the same time, a hundred kilograms of stone could be moved. The block was thrown a hundred paces away.
Cao Ren was the supervisor in charge of the stone chariot. He had led the soldiers to practice the stone chariot day and night, and he had gained a lot. He immediately agreed: "Please don't worry, Ming Gong. If you don't make meritorious deeds, I will die to repay your kindness."
Cao Cao nodded slightly, then asked about the situation of the other ministries. All the generals reported one by one, and then Cao Cao ordered each ministries to carry out their offensive tasks. With nearly 40,000 general offensive troops, Cao Cao did not look at the map, but arranged them in an orderly and detailed manner. After thinking about it, there were not many omissions, which had to be admired by everyone. There was only one strange preparation. When it was his turn to talk to Cheng Yu, Cao Cao didn't wait for him to speak first and asked, "Have you done what I asked you to do?"
Cheng Yu immediately showed an understanding expression and whispered: "It's all done. Those rebels must not have anticipated Duke Ming's plan!"
Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It's not really a strategy, it's just a heart attack."
The arrangements were completed, and Cao Cao waved everyone away to prepare for tomorrow's general attack. He himself had a day of free time and had nothing to do, so he simply started reading poetry and books. As he grew older, his interest in reading gradually changed. At this time, he was confident and no longer relied on reading history to increase his experience. Instead, he loved reading poetry more. In the past, when he read poetry, he often felt that the poetry was bland. Now when he reads poetry, Cao Cao can appreciate some of its true meaning.
He chanted silently: "The grass beside the river is green, and I think about the distant road."
The next day, when the weather became a little gloomy, all the soldiers in Cao's army left the camp and rushed to a place one mile in front of the city. The Qi defenders on the city saw this and immediately beat drums to warn. The only remaining soldiers in the city rushed to the city. The shouts and shouts were loud and the atmosphere was as loud as a cloud, but it was quite lively. But Cao Jun under the city wall was unmoved and looked at them coldly. Under the influence of the commander, their eyes were full of murderous intent.
With a "boom" sound, one of Cao Jun's big drums sounded, followed by dozens of drums. Although not as urgent as the drums on the city, each sound was extremely heavy, as if rocks fell from the sky, knocking out the enemy's drums. The sounds and human voices were suppressed.
Then the sound of Qi people stopped. This is not because the drum sound is at a disadvantage. But with the sound of drums, they saw changes in Cao Jun's military formation to the south. In the commotion, the soldiers took the initiative to clear the way to the left and right, and twenty five-foot-tall carts slowly advanced through them. The crowd seemed extremely dwarfed in front of them. Even the high city wall could only stand side by side with it, and in this wooden Behind and behind the giant beast, there were nearly a hundred people pulling the ropes. Even though the road ahead had been smoothed, the wheels still made a "squeaking" noise.
The people of Qi saw at a glance that this was a stone-throwing cart, and they were greatly frightened. When the cart reached two hundred steps away from the city, rounds of rockets were thrown from the wall, but these stone-throwing carts The front end of it was wrapped in cowhide, and Song Ming could not ignite it, leaving only black carbon dots one after another.
The wooden cart finally stopped a hundred steps in front of the city. The moment they stopped, not only Cao Jun, but also the people of Qi breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that if the cart moved forward a hundred steps, even the city wall would be hit by it. collapse.
But how to counter it? The horses in the city were not even enough to carry people up to the city. The Qi people had long lost the ability to leave the city to fight back. Even if they were only a hundred steps apart, they could only watch in vain as Cao's troops loaded stones in front of the city and let thousands of people pull them. Hold the brake rope.
With a trumpet sound, twenty stone-shooting carts were launched together, and the boulders drew a short arc in the air and smashed straight into the city wall. Just like ripples after hitting the lake, smoke and dust were also splashed on the city wall, but before the smoke and dust dispersed, there were already people exclaiming, watching the watchtower on the wall shake for a moment, and then plummet into the city.
The first round of stone throwing destroyed 30% of the watchtowers on the wall. Even if the remaining stones missed, they all hit the city wall. The Qi people who were hit were killed on the spot, while the good soldiers around them were completely at a loss. When Cao Jun saw this, the mountain shouted "Ten Thousand Victories", and his momentum was like boiling or steaming. From this, the stone cart fired another three stones, and the watchtower on the city was damaged from this, nine out of ten times.
Seeing this great situation, Cao Jun's drum beat became more urgent. With three trumpets, Cao Jun launched a general attack from Tushan like a swarm of ants. The leader was Shi Huan, the lieutenant of the Central Military Academy. When the Qi army was at a loss, he relied on the cover of the mountains to grope to a place fifty steps away from the city. After making an appointment for the fourth round of firing, he suddenly charged upward and used his long sword to attack the enemy. He hooked onto the female wall, and with a little help, he jumped onto the city wall. At this time, the people of Qi saw that he was only one person, so they surrounded him with seven or eight people. However, Shi Huan held a double halberd and waved it left and right like the wind. The people of Qi could do nothing for a while. The Cao army under the wall was about to follow Shi Huan. The road climbed up.
At this time, there was suddenly another horn sound, which was the sound of the engine of the stone-moving car. But strangely, there was no sound of huge rocks scratching through the sky. People looked up to the sky, and there were masses of rocks flying through the sky. The black thing fell from the sky and hit the wall in the city. It was as big as a wine pot and had little lethality, but when you look closely, it makes people feel terrified. These things were actually pickled human heads. Cao Cao specially ordered Cheng Yu to make them after wiping out the mountain camp. At this time, nearly a thousand heads were thrown into the city, like unwilling ghosts shrouding the surroundings. It was far more terrifying than the capital.
"Gene Era"
The morale of the Qi people was suddenly low, but Shi Huan took advantage of this opportunity to fight hard, clear a way, and successfully welcomed Yu Jin, Xia Houyuan and other troops to the city. Under this pressure, the Qi people gradually lost their advantage in military strength, and their resistance was also lost. Without order, no matter how determined they are, they can only face failure under such circumstances.
All this changed in just one hour, and Cao Cao witnessed the entire process from the city walls. He knew that the city had fallen into his hands and that he no longer had the need to supervise the battle. He laughed twice at this, as if he had drank a cup of old wine.
He turned to summon Xiahou Dun, and after telling him to leave no one alive in the city, he returned to his tent and continued studying.
