Yiling City South Gate,
Thick smoke filled the entire sky, and the air was filled with the stench of blood, which was pungent and difficult to breathe.
"boom!"
"boom!"
The Shu army's trebuchets continued to throw out the huge stones, forming an arc, falling from the sky with a harsh sound of breaking wind, and fell directly into the Yiling city wall. After a violent sound, dust flew up and became thick. The city wall was smashed by the powerful force of the boulder, creating a large hole as wide as a person.
Faced with such a powerful impact, the Wu soldiers standing on the city wall seemed to feel that the earth was shaking, their bodies swayed, and they almost fell.
This was lucky. Some Wu Army soldiers were hit by huge rocks and had no chance to react. They instantly turned into a pool of bloody corpses.
As for the Shu Army, things were not much better. The three thousand New Army soldiers sent before suffered heavy casualties. Now, there are only less than two thousand left.
At this time, in less than two hours, nearly a thousand casualties had been paid. Moreover, the south gate of Yiling remained strong and showed no signs of being breached.
Liu Bei's indifferent expression turned solemn. If this continues, three thousand new troops will be killed. Then, it will be the turn of his main force to go into battle. At the beginning of the war between Shu and Wu, Liu Bei led an army of fifty thousand to defeat Wu and attack the city. They plundered the land and captured two cities, Zigui and Yidao. However, they paid a huge price and lost nearly 10,000 soldiers. In Yiling Road, the Wu army even burned the company camp and captured forty camps. , the food and grass supplies were heavy, and almost suffered heavy losses.
For Liu Bei, conquering Yiling has become the most critical moment since the defeat of Wu.
And today's battle has become the only battle that will determine the direction of the war.
If it succeeds, the Shu army will be victorious, and they can capture Yiling City and obtain all the materials and troops in Yiling City.
If defeated, the Shu army will return with a great defeat, or even the entire Shu army will be annihilated, and Liu Bei will not be able to retreat intact, and his life may be at stake here.
"Your Majesty, if we continue to fight like this, sooner or later the new army will be exhausted. Although the new army is the Wu army that surrendered before, it has surrendered after all and has become the army of our Han Dynasty. If it is abandoned like this, it may attract soldiers from the army. Suspicion affects the morale of our army. In my opinion, it is better to order them to retreat and let our main force attack the city."
As a counselor, Ma Liang finally couldn't help the anxiety in his heart, and with a heavy face, he persuaded Liu Bei,
Liu Bei raised his brows, thought for a moment, and sighed helplessly, "Okay, Ji Chang, tell me my decree, order the entire army to cease drumming and call for a truce, and the new army to withdraw and rest."
Ma Liang was overjoyed and said quickly, "Your Majesty is wise!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Among the Shu army, there was a heavy and resonant drum sound, which drowned out all the bloody fighting.
When the New Army soldiers heard the drums, their faces were overjoyed and their eyes shone with joy.
"Brothers, this is the drumbeat for retreat, retreat quickly!"
Among the new troops attacking the city, no one knew who it was. Hearing the sound of drums, he shouted excitedly to the crowd.
Following his voice, the New Army soldiers all retreated in the direction of the Shu army outside the city.
The Wu army on the city wall also looked surprised when they saw the new army retreating. A Wu army soldier pointed out happily and shouted, "The Shu army has retreated! We have defeated the Shu army."
Although the Shu army retreated, the city had a high gate.
The horror of war still lingers, making people suffocate.
The Shu army retreated, and Lu Xun didn't feel any joy. Looking at the shattered, bloody and terrifying scenes around him, his deep eyes began to change slightly, his thick eyebrows trembled slightly, and his face became extremely solemn.
There was always an ominous premonition in Lu Xun's heart, which made him feel uncomfortable.
"Grand Commander, the Shu army has retreated. It seems that Liu Bei will return without success today." Zhuge Jin breathed a long sigh of relief, with lingering fear in his heart.
Obviously, the brutality of today's battle also shocked Zhuge Jin.
Lu Xun sneered a few times and said, "Tzuyu, don't be too happy too early. You haven't noticed that the soldiers of the Shu army attacking the city today are attacking the city in a different way from the usual Shu army."
"After the Commander-in-Chief reminded me, I remembered a problem. Although these soldiers attacking the city were attacking, they were hesitant and timid. They were not as violent as the previous Shu army." Zhuge Jin frowned, and after thinking for a moment , suddenly a trace of surprise flashed across his eyes.
"In my opinion, these siege Shu troops are either Wuling barbarians recruited by Liu Bei in Wuling County, or Wu troops who surrendered." Lu Xun sneered, "This is just Liu Bei's strategy to consume our army. With such strength, we can attack the city without losing our main force, killing two birds with one stone."
"That's it." Zhuge Jin was shocked when he heard this, "I didn't expect that Liu Bei, who has a reputation for being righteous and kind, would be so scheming and vicious. It's really eye-opening."
Lu Xun smiled noncommittally, "When a person stands at the pinnacle of power, he will be blinded by the desire for power and lose his true heart. Or maybe Liu Bei is a hypocrite to begin with, just a person who is just trying to gain fame."
"Perhaps, this is the human heart." Zhuge Jin sighed deeply.
At this moment,
Under the tower, there was a rush of panicked horse hooves.
Immediately afterwards,
A Wu soldier with wounds all over his body and his face stained with blood climbed onto the tower. When he saw Lu Xun, he suddenly threw himself over and cried bitterly, "Captain Governor, something bad has happened. The west gate has been breached by the Shu army."
"What?"
"The west gate was captured by the Shu army?"
The expressions of the Soochow generals standing next to Lu Xun changed drastically and they looked at each other.
Lu Xun's eyes opened slightly and his lips trembled slightly, "How is General Zhou Yin?"
"This...General Zhou Yin..." The Wu soldier who reported the news looked embarrassed and hesitated for a while, "I don't know much about it. I only know that Zhang Yuan, the deputy general of the Ximen garrison, was hacked to death by a black-faced man from the Shu army in the rebel army. Among them, he died heroically for his country.”
A trace of surprise flashed across Lu Xun's stern face, "The west gate is close to the river, and the terrain is dangerous. Even with thousands of troops, it is difficult to break through. Where did these Shu troops come from?"
"Grand Governor, the Shu army is so treacherous that they actually sneaked into Yiling City and disguised themselves as our army. Our Ximen defenders were suddenly attacked from behind by them. We were caught off guard and were all killed by them. If it hadn't been for the defenders, My brother tried his best to save me, but I'm afraid I won't be able to escape with my life to report the news." The Wu Jun soldier who reported the news looked pale and his eyes were full of fear. The tragic and bloody scene at the west gate just now seemed to appear before his eyes, which frightened him.
"Grand Governor, what should I do?" Zhuge Jin asked in shock.
Lu Xun also felt uneasy and even a little bit of fear in his heart at this moment.
Lu Xun glanced sideways at Xu Sheng beside him, with a gloomy look in his eyes filled with resentment.
Xu Sheng was shocked and took a few steps back, "Grand Governor, what's wrong?"
