Nanyang County, Wancheng.
Cao Cao's 100,000-strong army surrounded Wancheng and attacked the city frantically. In order to defeat Wancheng in the shortest time, Cao Cao personally supervised the battle, which greatly boosted the morale of Cao's army.
Wei Yan cut off Cao's army's food and grass outside Duyang City. Cao Cao sent Dian Wei to lead the cavalry to intercept and kill Wei Yan's cavalry, but the cavalry led by Wei Yan were like loaches. Dian Wei led the army to attack, but Wei Yan ran away, and the food and grass were sent from Xudu. While transporting back and forth, the cavalry led by Wei Yanyou suddenly rushed out and burned the grain and grass.
As a result, Cao Cao's army was cut off from the food and grass from Xudu, and Cao Cao had to seize food from the powerful hands of Nanyang.
The Nanyang heroes knew very well that after they surrendered to Cao Cao, they had to ensure that Nanyang was captured, otherwise the consequences would be serious. Faced with Cao Cao's food requisition, they did their best to satisfy Cao Cao.
But their food and grass had been collected by Zhang Xiu many times, and there was not much leftover food. When Jia Xu was clearing the countryside, he collected a lot of food and grass from them; now the powerful Nanyang people who support Cao Cao have no more food and grass in their hands. If there are too many, they will not be able to support Cao Cao's army of 100,000.
Cao Cao naturally knew the consequences of insufficient food and grass, so he wanted to personally supervise the battle and break Wancheng as soon as possible.
Jia Xu sat firmly on the top of the city, looking calm and confident.
Because the catapults Zhang Xiu asked the carpenters to develop have been successfully tested and eight of them have been made. They are lying under the city. It is not time yet, so there is no rush to use them.
In order to defend the city, Jia Xu made sufficient preparations.
All kinds of fortification stones, rolling logs, gold juice, and kerosene are all available, and the quantity is very sufficient. Wancheng also has 10,000 elite soldiers and enough food and grass.
We have enough troops and food to defend the city. Even if Cao Cao goes to the city in person, he will not be able to easily attack Wancheng. He only needs to hold on to the city and exhaust Cao Cao's food and grass. Furthermore, the 10,000 infantrymen led by Zhang Xiu have already counterattacked. Jiang is here.
Cao Cao also learned from the secret message reported by Zhang Xiu that the 20,000-strong coalition of Zhang and Liu led by Zhang Xiu went up the river and would reach the Fancheng ferry in up to five days.
At Fancheng Ferry, Li Tong led a battalion of 10,000 Suzaku cavalry stationed here. They stood firm and did not leave the camp. No matter how many 8,000 cavalry led by Xu Chu yelled and cursed outside, Li Tong refused to go out.
He knew that his task was not to fight, but to hold the ferry and wait for Zhang Xiu to come ashore after coming up the river. His mission was to ensure that Zhang Xiu came ashore safely. In Li Tong's opinion, this mission was as big as the sky. He would not go out even if Xu Chu scolded him to death from exhaustion.
If he was too tough, Cao Cao would be soft and asked his subordinate Xun You to bring a large amount of treasures to persuade Li Tong to surrender.
Li Tong collected the treasure and detained Xun You.
Cao Cao was so angry that he wanted to fight Li Tong, but Guo Jia persuaded him: "My lord, the army is short of food and grass. The most important thing is to conquer Wancheng. Once Wancheng is defeated, Nanyang will be worry-free. Li Tong and the others will be defeated if they don't attack."
Cao Cao gritted his teeth in hatred. "The whole army will attack the city with all their strength without making any mistakes. The generals of the army will lead their personal guards and ascend the city without making any mistakes. If Wancheng cannot be captured within three days, they will all be killed!"
The soldiers led by Yu Jin, Xia Houchun, and Cao Ang began to violently attack Wancheng. The morale of Cao's army was greatly boosted, and they roared and began to climb up the city.
Jia Xu in the city saw that Cao Cao was really going to spend all his money, so he sneered at the corner of his mouth and said to Hu Che'er next to him: "Order the Che Corps to prepare to throw stones."
Hu Che'er chuckled. He had already seen that huge guy three to four feet tall and wanted to test the power of this guy. Now he could finally see it.
The so-called chariot corps is infantry specially trained to operate trebuchets.
After receiving Hu Che'er's order, the trebuchet was aimed at Cao Cao's position outside the city, loaded up the stones, coated with kerosene, adjusted the position, pulled up the counterweight, and then the men from the Che Corps lit it with torches. A stone coated with kerosene was placed inside the ammunition pouch, ready to go.
Hu Cheer ordered: "Let go -!"
"boom!"
The soldier swung the sledgehammer and suddenly smashed the latch, and a heavy and dull wood impact was heard, followed by the deafening roar of the counterweight hitting the ground. The long end rose instantly, ejecting the flint in the ammunition bag.
The huge sound made Hu Cheer deaf. He watched in horror as the flint was thrown out, carrying a roaring whistle, and was thrown out of the city. His eyes widened.
He has also seen trebuchets, but compared to the one he developed himself, they pale into insignificance. Compared with the trebuchets used by Cao Cao outside the city, they were inferior to those inside the city.
The eight flints roared and roared across a perfect parabola, crossed the city wall of Wancheng, and smashed towards Cao Cao's camp outside the city. One of the flints was specifically aimed at Cao Cao's Dao flag.
Standing on the battle supervising platform, Cao Cao looked solemn, looking at the soldiers who were about to attack the city, with a smile on his face like a blooming iron tree. As long as Wancheng is defeated, other cities will not be a concern. After Zhang Xiu loses his foothold, no one behind him can threaten him anymore.
Now Yuan Shao is fighting Gongsun Zan, and it seems that Gongsun Zan can't hold on for long. When Gongsun Zan is eliminated, Yuan Shao will probably have his hands free to attack him. Yuan Shao occupies the land of four states, has abundant troops and food, and the four generations and three princes of the Yuan family, and many noble families support him. He is far from Yuan Shao's opponent. He must pull out the thorns behind him before Yuan Shao can finish Gongsun Zan.
But now Liu Bei stabbed Yuan Shao in the back and took Qingzhou away from Yuan Tan's hands, leaving him vulnerable from both sides. This gave him enough time to deal with the affairs of Xuzhou and Nanyang.
Seeing the soldiers attacking desperately, Cao Cao's eyes flashed a little.
At this moment, a heavy whistling sound came, and then everyone inside and outside the city suddenly looked up, and saw seven or eight fireballs streaking above their heads, hitting Cao Jun's position.
Cao Jun looked shocked.
Cao Cao stood there in a daze, watching helplessly as a flint was thrown towards his head. The flint reflected in his eyeballs magnified rapidly, and it came towards him accurately. A suffocating sense of oppression scared him to the point of losing the ability to move. He felt that his legs and arms were weak and weak, as if all his strength had been drained away.
"Prime Minister——!"
At the critical moment, Cao Anmin galloped over on his horse. With the help of the huge momentum of the horse, he threw his body onto the two-meter-high battle supervising platform and threw Cao Cao down.
The next second.
"boom--!"
The battle supervising platform was smashed into pieces by flint, and debris flew everywhere. The flints smashed through the battle supervising platform, cracking the ground and creating a deep crater. Several Cao soldiers who could not escape were smashed into pieces. The large banner was ignited by the flints and burned fiercely.
The severe shock and pain made Cao Cao wake up. After he woke up, he felt a numbing cold on his scalp. This coldness climbed from the tailbone along the back to the top of the head, and the hairs stood on end.
Cao Jun on the top of the city was shocked, and the Nanyang soldiers were morale-boosted. They roared and raised their swords and began to fight back fearlessly.
General Cao's army saw that the war supervising platform was smashed to pieces. Cao Cao's life or death was uncertain. How could he have the intention to fight again? He hurriedly retreated to the city. Guo Jia was so frightened that his eyebrows almost rose into hair, his mouth almost fell to the ground, and he shouted in a panic: "Ming Jin! Ming Jin withdraws his troops——!"
Cao Jun hurriedly withdrew and retreated to the west bank of the Feishui River to build a stronghold.
