In Rangcheng, in a second-level mansion, Jia Xu, who is slightly bloated and wearing a plain Confucian robe, is examining the letter in his hand with a pair of sinister eyes.
After a long time, he slowly put down the silk cloth and sneered, "It's a blessing to be repaired on horseback and in a sedan chair, and it's a destiny to carry a heavy load on a cart. Everything comes from fate, but in the end you can't escape or hide."
Who would have thought that Lu Fengxian, a warrior under Dong Zhuo in the past and reviled by the princes, would today be in two states and control seven counties. "
It is said that one knows destiny at fifty. As he grows older, Jia Xu becomes more and more aware of destiny, which makes it extremely futile for people to try to change their destiny.
Either Cao Cao or Liu Bei might think that Lu Bu found a good son-in-law, which saved him from a desperate situation.
But in Jia Xu's opinion, this is the noble person his Lu family should be destined to be.
Today, he is already stronger than the once unparalleled Dong Zhuo.
He stood up from the couch, then walked to the window sill, looking at the willow leaves blowing in the wind outside the window and lost in thought, "Lu Bu, Lu Fengxian, I think this game is worse than Cao Mengde."
Liu Biao has only a false reputation. He has been ignored by the four major families in Jingzhou. Rangcheng is not a place where he can stay for a long time. He cannot be a watchdog for a lifetime.
Judging from the situation, Jia Xu was already biased towards Cao Cao, but the humiliation of Wancheng happened not long ago, so he thought that he would wait until Zhang Xiu suffered a defeat in Jingzhou before suggesting him to surrender to Cao Cao, and he would have completed his identity change.
Now it seems that he may have to think about this differently.
Yu Zi still has some friendship with Lu Bu, and he also knows Cao Cao, but the friendship is obviously not as good as Lu Bu's.
When Yu Gong goes to Cao Ying, he has to wear the hat of a surrender on his head. When he goes to Lu Ying, he invited me to go. The difference is not small.
A war between the two families is imminent, and the smoke can be smelled from more than 800 miles away.
But even if Lu Bu is really defeated, he will not be buried in the grave.
"Sir, sir!"
A sergeant ran in, bowed and said, "My Lord, please come to the school grounds!"
"I know." Jia Xu waved his hand and put the silk cloth under his clothes.
Jia's Mansion is not far from the General's Mansion where Zhang Xiu lives, just a street apart, but to get to the school grounds, you have to ride a horse faster.
When they arrived at the school grounds, the soldiers were carrying bags of grain bags from the carriages into the camp.
"General, it seems that Liu Biao didn't want to delay the food supply this season. The portion seems to be quite large." After dismounting, Jia Xu walked to Zhang Xiu's side.
"Lu Bu sent me a total of thirty thousand dan. He wrote to me, praising our old friendship and not being able to bear the cold shoulder of me living under someone else's roof, he sent me this food and grass. If you are willing, you can go to Xuzhou to work together with him in the great cause."
Zhang Xiu sighed lightly and said with some shame: "When we were in Luoyang, we really shouldn't have deceived him about his identity as an enemy general."
The war in Guanzhong has been going on for many years, and the people's livelihood has been in decline. The brothers are so poor that they can hardly take the blame, otherwise they would not come to Jingzhou to plunder.
The food and grass that Liu Biao sent last time was only 5,000 shi, which was not enough for the brothers to last for a season.
At this time, the 30,000 stones of food and grass sent by Lu Bu was like a help in a timely need for Zhang Xiu, and it was hard not to feel grateful.
Jia Xu squinted his eyes and twirled his gray beard, and both sides attacked at the same time. It seemed that Lu Bu was really prepared and determined to win.
"What does the general think?" Jia Xu took the initiative to open the topic.
"Although there was some rift with him in the past, now he takes the initiative to send food. He clearly wants to clear up the past feud."
A look of appreciation appeared on Zhang Xiu's face, and then his eyes darkened, "And he is right, he and I both have a common mortal enemy, which is Cao Cao. If we don't join hands, we will be annexed by Cao Cao sooner or later."
After saying that, he looked at Jia Xu, obviously asking for advice.
Jia Xu held his hands in front of him and did not answer immediately. After thinking for a long time, he breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: "What the general said is reasonable. In Jingzhou, Liu Biao was not even willing to allocate food and grass. If Cao Jun comes to invade, I will wait for him." He must be the first to bear the brunt, and it is wise for a gentleman not to stand behind a dangerous wall and leave as soon as possible.”
I didn't say anything. It's a fact that life here in Jingzhou is difficult. As for whether to go or not, you can make your own decision. I have no objection.
Zhang Xiu thought about it carefully, Jingzhou is really not worth staying, go and find Lu Bu. I only have seven or eight thousand men left, and he doesn't look down on me. He treats me like a brother. He is much better than Liu Biao.
Regardless of his intentions, the thirty thousand stones of food and grass were not part of the holiday.
With such a mind and structure, you can't go wrong if you are on the same page.
"Let's go to Geyang and Anfeng. I heard that Yuan Shu has been indulging in singing and arrogance there. There have been several mutinies among his subordinates. He has too much time to take care of himself. We should not be in trouble if we take the road there."
"Very good, very good." Jia Xu still held his hands and nodded in agreement.
"Okay, then let's reply to the letter and choose a day to go east." Zhang Xiu was in a good mood. He didn't want to look at people's faces here for a long time. When he went to Xuzhou, even if he wanted to serve Lu Bu as his master, this guy wouldn't humiliate him like Cao Cao did. .
Moreover, brothers no longer have to go hungry.
No matter how you calculate it, this transaction is not a loss.
In Guangling City, Sun Ce, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Tai Shici and others did not sleep a wink all night and stayed with the soldiers in the school grounds.
Help bandage the injured, comfort them if they are still fearful, and encourage them if they are timid and trembling. In short, it is to stabilize the morale of the soldiers.
At the same time, Zhou Yu summoned the sergeants who were going to defend the city tomorrow for pre-war mobilization.
"The Thunderbolt Chariot is indeed powerful, but it is far from being able to destroy the Guangling city defense. When they throw boulders, we can hide behind the city wall, which means Tung Oil will be more troublesome.
But tung oil is not a stone that can be obtained everywhere. In an attack like today, the tung oil in the bandit army will definitely not last for two days. "
In this era, tung oil is an important material for both military and civilian use, but the output is not high enough to be purchased everywhere. In addition, with the wars in recent years, the procurement of tung oil by all parties has become even tighter. Even if Lu Bu came prepared, he would not be able to withstand it. Eight Pili cars were built like this.
After hearing this, the soldiers felt that it made sense, and suddenly they were no longer so panicked.
"There is another thing that I don't want to reveal, but after thinking about it, we are all brothers who share the same fate, so it doesn't hurt to talk about it. According to the frontline military report, Cao Cao is already dispatching troops and preparing food and fodder. He will soon use troops against Pengcheng. At that time, Lu Bu will die without a burial place."
Sometimes, in order to appease the sergeant and boost morale, lying is a normal method.
Not very ethical, but you have to admit, it works.
As soon as the soldiers heard that Cao Cao was going to stab Lu Bu in the back, their hearts, which had calmed down a little from their fear of war, immediately became excited.
It's a good thing. As soon as Cao's army arrives, Lu Bu will definitely come back for reinforcements. Even if he doesn't go after him, he can still get some money for his contribution to defending the city.
Zhou Yu let out a long breath. The lie was of course a lie, but he believed that as long as Lu Bujun ran out of tung oil, they could do nothing but curse at the city gate.
storm?
Not to mention the four-foot-high city wall of Guangling City, the moat at the entrance is not just a decoration.
When the sky turned white, Lu Bu and his men started to set off. Today's morale was obviously higher than yesterday. Many soldiers who stayed behind in the camp wanted to see the power of the Thunderbolt Chariot.
The soldiers seemed to be willing to believe that they could attack Guangling City with eight Thunderbolt Chariots.
After a night's rest, Lin Mo recovered a lot and was ready to continue to conquer his psychological limits.
When they arrived at the front line, the soldiers had already pushed the thunder carts to the gate.
The old rule is that the messengers should run to the city gates with flags and make a noise first. After half an hour, they will think about it. If they don’t open the city, they will beat you.
It's still the same old routine as yesterday, first use the boulder to greet you.
But today, the defenders at the city gate were obviously on guard. When they saw the thunderbolt cart being loaded with boulders, they immediately moved under the city wall. Even the soldiers and war drums were placed inside to ensure that they would not be hit so easily.
Seven or eight rounds of boulders flew up, smashing holes in the edges of some city walls and kicking up a lot of dust, but other than that, there was not much gained.
"Use tung oil, use tung oil to burn!" Lu Bu shouted impatiently.
Then, the tung oil fire began.
This method is indeed very effective. As long as the tung oil altar is thrown into the city gate, once it explodes, heart-rending screams can always be heard, and people can be seen jumping from the city gate from time to time.
However, the opponent seems to have a way to deal with it. Once the oil is splashed on the body, the surrounding defenders will cover the prepared sand and soil on the person on fire. As long as they can resist moving, they will soon die due to the isolation of the air. extinguished.
Of course, serious injuries are inevitable.
In this era when medical conditions are not up to standard, there is no concept of sterility. People who are burned and bruised will be infected and doomed even if they don't die on the spot.
The one with minor burns was fine, and there was a chance he could save his life.
In any case, after using sand and soil to extinguish the fire, it seemed that we had a countermeasure, and the soldiers would not be as panicked as they were on the first day.
Not long after, the thunderbolt car that originally threw the tung oil jar changed to throwing boulders.
"What's going on? Use tung oil!" Lu Bu yelled.
"Marquis Wen, this tung oil is limited. There isn't much left. You have to use it sparingly."
Liu Ye swallowed in embarrassment, then raised his eyebrows and said, "But don't worry, Marquis Wen, I have a backup plan."
Then, Liu Ye's backhand gave Lu Bu a black line.
I saw the Thunderbolt Chariot throwing eight jars again. This time, after they were smashed open at the city gate, there was no tongue of fire, but sticky substances splashing everywhere.
A soldier who was splashed all over grabbed a handful and smelled it, his face suddenly filled with pain.
"What is it?"
"If I guess correctly, it should be golden juice."
"Damn these bastards!"
Even Cheng Pu, who was supervising the battle on the side, was splashed half of his body, and he was so angry that he cursed.
It's not very harmful, but it's extremely insulting.
Lu Lingqi shook her head and looked at Lin Mo, "You are right. It seems that this Thunderbolt Car is not as powerful as I thought."
Lin Mo sneered and sighed: "I hope I guessed wrong, but the Jiangdong soldiers on the opposite side are extremely tough. The Thunderbolt Chariot can scare them for a while, but it is impossible to make them surrender."
Liu Ye didn't seem to think deeply about the effectiveness of it, and happily shouted for people to continue pouring gold juice on it. Lu Bu felt that this approach was a bit unsatisfactory, so he turned around and walked away.
This descendant of the Han Dynasty empress was also a bit shameless in what he did.
In the afternoon, even the gold juice was used up, and Liu Ye sent people to collect stones. Anyway, he couldn't do nothing when he came.
When I came back, I brought several wasp nests wrapped in cloth.
When the hornet's nest was thrown into the city gate, there was a burst of screams, which caused everyone to laugh and ridicule.
Golden juice is insulting at best, but wasps can really kill people. Unfortunately, the number is limited, and only three were found, but they have already caused a commotion in the city gate.
When the army retreated at dusk, every one of the defenders at the gate had their noses bruised and their faces swollen.
"There is no way to go on like this. They can't defend, and they have run out of tung oil. What should we do?" Lu Bu paced back and forth in the Chinese army's tent, anxiety evident on his face.
When I came here, I wanted to use a thunderbolt car to penetrate the Guangling city defense, so I didn't bring many people. It was useless to attack by force.
After all, procrastinating like this is not an option. He can't afford to spend so many people's food and grass. If Sun Ce, like Ji Ling, doesn't come out for half a year, there's no way he can wait here for half a year.
"Why don't we let the last general lead his troops to challenge again and try to lure Sun Ce out!" Xu Sheng was anxious to make a contribution but didn't know what to do. He seemed a little sick and rushed to seek medical treatment.
Lu Bu glanced at him and ignored him.
If they were willing to come out, they would have come out long ago, why wait until today.
Liu Ye also realized the seriousness of the matter and put away his playful attitude during the day to think seriously.
After a moment, he concentrated and said: "For the current plan, we can only find a severely damaged city wall, and concentrate eight Thunderbolt Chariots to smash it. Maybe we can open a gap and allow the army to enter and exit freely."
Hearing this, Lu Bu stopped pacing, lowered his head and thought, and felt that this method was worth a try.
Although the city wall of Guangling City is made of blue bricks piled on the surface of rammed earth, there will always be weak points after being exposed to wind, sun and rain for so many years.
"What did Yunwen say?" At critical moments, Lu Bu would always look at Lin Mo subconsciously.
Even if everyone has no idea, he still believes that his son-in-law will point out a clear way.
"You can try Ziyang's method. If it doesn't work, I will try to lure Sun Ce out. As long as I succeed all the way, I can go to Guangling."
Lu Bu was startled for a moment, and then sighed with some disappointment: "They are unwilling to leave the city with such a fierce attack by the Thunderbolt Chariot. It is impossible to lure them out."
"Then it depends on how to lead." Lin Mo smiled calmly.
"Do you already have a way?" Lu Bu raised his sword eyebrows. He thought that what he just said was a helpless sigh, but it turned out that it was well-targeted. "Tell me quickly, how to lure the enemy!"
Lu Bu was gearing up excitedly, while Gao Shun, Xu Sheng and others also looked at Lin Mo expectantly.
If this allows them to come out, they will definitely not be given the chance to go back.
Liu Ye tilted his head slightly and stared at Lin Mo. He didn't think of any way to fish out the people in the city.
The methods of luring the enemy out of the city are generally the same, such as deliberately exposing weaknesses, pretending to be reinforcements, or using food and grass as a lure, but these are probably of little use.
"My son-in-law has arranged this matter yesterday. As soon as Zuo Rong arrives from Haixi, Sun Ce will be unable to bear the urge to leave the city."
After Lin Mo finished speaking, the corners of Lu Bu's eyes twitched twice, it was Zuo Rong again. This is a name that makes me sick.
"This is a serious matter, so don't let it slip. How can Zuo Rong be so capable? What on earth do you want to do?"
Seeing that Lu Bu was a little impatient, Lin Mo didn't hide anything and was about to tell the whole plan.
After hearing Lin Mo's deployment, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help laughing.
After Lu Bu laughed twice, he licked the corner of his mouth and said, "Okay, Yunwen, when it comes to calculating people's hearts, you have to be the one. As long as Sun Ce dares to leave the city, he will be allowed to reunite with Sun Jian!"
Sure enough, I have to take my son-in-law with me wherever we go. We are about to reach a deadlock. In an instant, you can take advantage of our shortcomings and seduce Sun Ce.
Thinking about it seriously, it seems that apart from this method, there is really no other way to break the city.
Alas, although Ziyang's Thunderbolt Car is extremely powerful, Yunwen still has to shoulder the heavy burden.
"Wonderful, wonderful! Yunwen's plan is as good as the one used when the Lujiang River was flooded that day. It's a good method and a good calculation to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron.
What's even more valuable is that Yunwen has already understood today's predicament and made arrangements in advance, which I admire. "Liu Ye laughed.
He was not someone who would be jealous of other people's talents, and in the final analysis, Lin Mo's method relied on his Thunderbolt Car. Thinking about it this way, he felt particularly comfortable.
Because after the incident spreads, people will definitely say that it was Liu Ye and Lin Mo who teamed up to defeat Sun Ce. Hehe, so my Thunderbolt Car can still be famous all over the world.
"Where, if it weren't for Ziyang's thunderbolt chariot, this scheming would be difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. In the final analysis, Ziyang deserves more credit."
"Yunwen is so humble." Liu Ye smiled even happier.
Lu Bu was also very satisfied, well, it should be like this, because he was afraid that you two would compete for credit. Yunwen's words made him happy as a father, and he understood that he was a member of the Lu family, not an adviser.
Not bad, not bad, it is slowly taking over.
As for the next step, let's see his father Fang Tian draw a halberd and teach Sun Ce how to behave.
(End of chapter)
