What is the most arrogant gesture to lure the enemy over your tower?

It is a good choice to swing in front of a tower on your side, but it is not enough to reach the waves.

The most wavering choice should be to disdain not even defending one of your own towers, and directly rush up arrogantly to kill the enemy on the opposite line, pull out one of the enemy's towers, set up a solar disc on the ruins of the enemy's tower, and then defend the solar disk.

It's also best to allow the enemy to fill all the communication arteries leading to this solar disc with real eyes, and we don't have eyes, so we tell the enemy generously: I don't have any teammates nearby, hurry up and come to Yue Laozi!

And at this moment, the Xiling City in front of Guan Yu is a tower of the thieves of the Jingnan Sect.

The deeper Yiling City is the enemy's second tower.

Huarong thief Bei Yu is the enemy of the line of a tower.

Killing Bei Yu, pushing Xiling, and advancing to the waves near Yiling, he will definitely be able to force the main force of the enemy, who is still worried about "how many troops Guan Yu has, and whether there are reinforcements in ambush at the mouth of the Three Gorges Gorge in the future", to fight a quick battle.

Dafang tells you: I have 5,000 men, and there are no reinforcements.

……

Since the strategy was adjusted and it was decided to carry out a rapid attack on Xiling that showed its muscular nature, Guan Yujun's army also changed its previous posture of idle repair after leaving the gorge, and entered the sprint of attacking the city with all its might.

Fortunately, Guan Yu's stationing a few days ago was not idle, while recruiting talents, he was cutting wood to build siege weapons, so now he can do it at any time if he wants to.

After all, Xiling is only a county seat, although it is located in the strategic place of "the exit of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River", and its defense is much stronger than that of ordinary county seats, but it has reached the level of ordinary county governance.

The biggest advantage of defense here is still obtained by relying on the terrain of the mountain town.

Look at the map of Yichang in the later generations, you know that the southwest of this place is bordered by the Yangtze River, the north is the mountains of the Three Gorges, and there is a small river in the northeast, which flows into the Yangtze River from the south of the city, so the whole city is located on a peninsula where the rivers meet, only the sandbar on the south side is relatively soft, which is suitable for landing and arranging troops to attack the city.

(Note: The "Xiling" of the Han Dynasty was the Yichang Yiling District of the later generations, and the "Yiling" of the Han Dynasty was the Yidu City (county-level city) managed by Yichang in the later generations.)

However, it is precisely because of the complex terrain of the mountain city that the construction cost of building the city defense is also very high, and it is very laborious to transport the wood and stone to the heights, and the city wall is shorter than the ordinary county town, only one zhang and six feet, that is, three meters and five.

It is completely made of rammed earth, there is no brick and stone and there is no glutinous rice juice rammed triple soil, and even the female wall buttress is simply piled with soil. There is no slope, no perforation, and the tower has no roof, only a two-story platform, like a beacon tower.

Considering that there was a climb before approaching the city wall, and there were rocks on the mountain road that could not be pushed by carts, it was difficult to push all the heavy equipment that needed to rely on wheels, such as ladder trucks, wooden donkey carts, and siege vehicles, to the base of the city wall. The defenders had the confidence to count on the low walls of the city.

To deal with the flying ladder and the collision wood carried by manpower, this bit of city fortification is enough!

Bei Yu, the guard general of Xiling, also thought so.

Therefore, Guan Yu decided to get on the catapult directly: Anyway, those close-range heavy equipment can't be pushed, so they will be pushed.

Catapults can be driven at a distance of 200 paces without being pushed closer.

Of course, you still have to pay attention to confidentiality in the process of use.

Because the counterweight catapult and the traditional manpower pulling catapult are both lever principle. As long as the counterweight and firing parts of the power part are replaced with the traditional cannon tip, other warlords can imitate it. If it is clearly used on a large scale, it will not take a year or two for other warlords to copy it.

And now there is at least a few years of time lag between Liu Bei and Liu Bei's complete exit from the Guandong world, and it is obviously not good to expose the small town too early for such a small city.

Therefore, Guan Yu strictly controlled the scale of use, and only built two counterweight catapults, and the non-technically sensitive parts were still built according to the structure of the old catapults and local materials. Only the counterweight mechanism brought by the waterway warship was used to replace the gun tip, and then dismantled and transported back after it was used up.

The heavyweight of the catapult is only a traditional catapult with a counterweight of 1,400 catties and a simulation of 70 people dragging a cannon, firing a 50-pound stone projectile with a flat range of 300 steps, and Xiling, a battlefield that fights low and high, can shoot 200 steps.

……

The third day of November, the night.

The defenders at the head of Xiling City were very lax, because in the past few days since Guan Yu's army arrived, they had not launched a harassing attack, not even a move to suppress with bows and crossbows while destroying the outer city defense facilities.

Moreover, Xiling City was originally built on the high slope of the river, which brought advantages to the height, but also led to the fact that there was no moat outside the city on the south side, and there was no need for a moat, so the besieging side would not fill the river in advance.

Therefore, after the initial nervousness, the guard Bei Yu firmly felt that Guan Yu was here to besiege the city and needed to prepare slowly.

For ordinary generals, the rhythm of siege warfare in this era is either to launch a surprise attack as soon as they arrive, or to rely on simple knocking into wood and flying ladders to catch the defenders off guard, so as not to react to the reinforcements.

Or just stand up and build heavy equipment slowly.

It's rare for someone to come and stop you for three or four days and then suddenly exert your strength.

As a result, that night, Bei Yu was awakened by the roar of the city.

Bei Yu was not on the city tower at that time, but in the county office in the city, and when he heard the sound of the southern city, he hurriedly led his troops over to strengthen the defense. By the time he arrived, the roar had been going on for almost a quarter of an hour.

At a rate of 1.5 rounds per minute, the two catapults fired twenty or thirty rounds of stone bullets, each of which was forty or fifty pounds of stone bullets. At first, the range of three or five rounds was not calculated, and the stone bullets were far and near, but as the torches at the head of the city were lit and the defenders were strictly guarded against sneaking ants, the catapults had lighting guidelines, and they became more and more accurate.

The defenders didn't think there was anything wrong with "helping the enemy to provide lighting", because other catapults of the same era had a very random range and couldn't be precisely controlled, even if they gave you lighting, you could only aim in a general direction, but you couldn't control the distance -

The trebuchet launched by dragging the cannon tip with manpower has an error in the strength of the cannon arm each time, and the instantaneous simultaneity and explosion concentration of the force are different. Therefore, it is normal for a manpower to pull the cannon tip at a distance of 200 paces in front and only 150 paces away in the back.

After using the counterweight, labor-saving is one thing, and more importantly, "standardization, removal of errors", it is said that shooting 200 steps is 200 steps. If it is found that after firing 200 paces, it is observed that it has shot far away, and two or three weights of 20 catties each are removed from the counterweight basket during the next launch, and the range can be reduced.

Reduce the range as much as you take off the weight, and it is precise and controllable. Even if there is an error of more than a dozen steps, it is because of the irregular shape of the stone bullet itself and the slight difference in aerodynamic resistance, but the error is definitely an order of magnitude lower than that of its peers.

So, when Bei Yu came to the city, he saw a very strange scene.

The colonel guarding the city gate cried and complained: "Bei Shuai, Guan Yujun's trebuchet is too evil!" More than a dozen stone bullets have been smashed almost far in a row! They were all smashed exactly twenty or thirty feet west of the city gate, and the wall was about half to two-thirds high! This wall has collapsed hundreds of buckets of rammed earth! ”

Following the guidance of the little school, Bei Yu witnessed that the city wall had collapsed six or seven feet high, and the key was that the collapsed soil had also piled up a gentle slope of three or four feet high at the highest point outside the root of the wall.

Under the advantages of one or the other, the wall of one foot and six feet has only a relative effective height of seven or eight feet in that weak position, which is equal to the height of a strong man, and a few ladders can rush up.

Near the breach, there were a dozen bleeding corpses - soldiers had initially followed orders to plug the leak and reinforce the breaches in the wall with earth and stone. When the order was first given, morale was good, as the soldiers were told that "no two cannons will fall into the same pit, so it is safe to fill in the pit that has already been smashed".

But who knew that Guan Yu's catapult didn't talk about the rules at all! Even if it didn't fall into the same pit, at most it was only ten steps wrong, and it still killed a lot of emergency repairs, and as a result, morale was wild, and no one was willing to rush to repair anymore.

"Hold on! Resist! Don't let up! The more times like this, the more Guan Yu will send people to charge into the city! "Bei Yu is a thief and a handsome party, with a little battlefield experience, looking at his own decadence, he knows that things are going to be bad.

Sure enough, Guan Yu felt that it was perfect to smash the city wall into such a "three-stage" drop, and immediately launched a charge.

If you smash it again, you can smash the gap even lower, but if you want to climb from the gap to the normal wall next to it, the drop will also become larger.

The most perfect way to smash the wall is to smash a section of the city wall that is six feet high into three equal parts of the "steps" with a height of five or six feet!

The three lieutenant generals under Guan Yu's command were respectively strong and stubborn, and personally supervised the formation and rushed to the city.

Xu Huang was in charge of leading people to hit the city gate that had been hit by two stone bullets and was a little broken, and attracted the main firepower of the enemy.

The gaps in the two city walls on the left and right wings were respectively led by Zhou Tai and Gan Ning to lead people to set up flying ladders to impact.

Zhou Tai put on two large iron shields and ancient ingot knives as usual. Gan Ning held a shield in one hand, wielded a chain flail in the other, and carried an iron halberd on his back.

Guan Yu personally led a crossbow team, 1,000 crossbows to suppress the city, and the rest used bows and arrows.

The thieves of the Jingnan Sect have never seen the scene of a thousand crossbows firing a salvo, and in the first wave of arrow rain, many archers at the head of the city were caught off guard and fell to the ground, and the screams were endless. Then he was suppressed so much that he didn't dare to show his face to observe, and only dared to shoot blindly at will.

Xu Huang's goal-knocking team shouted again and again, very confusing in the dimness, attracting most of the firepower, and taking a look at the momentum of hitting the wooden hammer door, it was indeed very majestic. Eighty percent of the bows and arrows at the head of the city beckoned to Xu Huang's soldiers with big shields and iron armor, but with little effect.

In contrast, Zhou Tai and Gan Ning's attacks can be described as "silent hunting", and the Danyang soldiers under their command are also silent, just rushing up with cold eyes, in order to rush fast, they will not wear iron armor, in order to jump lightly. Twenty or thirty sets of ladders were erected at once, in order to distract the enemy's attention and prevent the enemy from blocking all the shortest gaps.

It's just such a little sluggishness, Gan Ning, who is eager for meritorious service, is the first to go to the city - Zhou Tai is more stable than Gan Ning, after all, it is not the first time he has made this kind of first achievement, he knows how difficult every wound on his body is, and he can be stable.

But Gan Ning, after joining Liu Bei's camp, has not yet won even one first breakthrough in the city, before only the water war merit, the young Gan Ning is very eager to prove himself.

He swung the meteor hammer at the head of the flail like the wind, swept away seven or eight arrows that were shot at him, and wore only a set of light leather armor used in water warfare, and jumped up the gap in the wall like a parkour master.

The spears of the two defenders stabbed towards Gan Ning, he swung the chain of the meteor hammer upward, and the iron chain wrapped around the spear shaft, Gan Ning used all his strength to drag the chain flail down, and the two defenders were unstable on their footing, and even people fell down the city wall with spears.

But Gan Ning had already taken advantage of the reaction force of kicking the enemy down, and completely stood firm on the high ground.

It's just that his chain flail was wrapped around the spear shaft of the fallen person, and he couldn't shake it off for a while, Gan Ning could only abandon the chain in order to prevent being dragged down, and instantly pulled out the iron halberd on his back with his backhand to continue fighting, killing more than ten thieves in succession.

Before Gan Ning landed in the city, Bei Yu noticed the crisis here, and hurriedly roared and brought his own soldiers over to plug the leak. When he was still dozens of steps away from the battlefield, he saw the scene of Gan Ning throwing down with an iron chain inertia lock weapon.

Although he was shocked by Gan Ning's agility and ferocity, Bei Yu was also happy in his heart: this enemy general should be a master who is good at using soft weapons! But his shackles were forced to give up! Now there is only one one-handed halberd.

Maybe this is not his most advantageous weapon, and it is more likely that he was originally a dual-wielding master, but now he can only use one hand!

When encountering this opportunity to pick up cheap, when will you not be able to do it at this time?

"Take advantage of the fact that you only have a one-handed halberd to kill you!" Bei Yu saw an opportunity and stabbed him with a spear.

Hmph, dual-wielding man, how can you fight against a long soldier with only one-handed short soldiers!

Gan Ning only felt that the strong wind was coming, and knew that he had encountered the enemy general, so he flashed violently to the side, and the iron halberd slashed horizontally and opened the spear, and then he saw the person who came.

Gan Ning made a decision immediately, abandoned the broken shield in his hand, picked up a ring-headed knife dropped by other soldiers who died in battle, and engaged Bei Yu with both hands.

Bei Yu was determined: "Hehe, people who use hammers and halberds will temporarily switch to knives?" The blade will not take advantage of it, kill you first, and then go to block the fierce general in the west who is biting the ring head knife and rushing to the city! ”

It's a pity that after only three or five moves, he became clumsy, and his heart was shocked: It's not right! This enemy general is obviously using a weapon that is not in hand! How could it be......

"Uhh......h

"Hmph, it's true that the short knife is not my best blade, but it is more than enough to kill you." Gan Ning made up for it, and at the same time said a hypnotic word to help Bei Yu bare as soon as possible.

The unwillingness in Bei Yu's eyes turned into godlessness at the last moment and closed his eyes.

Gan Ning shouted a fierce battle on one side, and the soldiers next to him also clamored for the thief to give the head, and soon swept the city, and picked up Zhou Tai on the other side. The remaining more than 3,000 thieves in Xiling City were soon completely killed and surrendered within half a stick of incense.

"In an hour, this is taken. Removed all the counterweights on the catapult, smashed them and threw them into the river. Guan Yu stroked his beard with satisfaction, and ordered the destruction of evidence, anyway, the catapult could not be used in the follow-up operation, otherwise there was really no way to keep it secret.

——

PS: It's already more than 4,000 words. There were revisions in the previous chapter, and Ma Liang's role was temporarily moved to Xiang Lang. The people who took refuge in Guan Yu also changed from Ma Liang to Ma Liang's eldest brother and second brother Ma Xuan Ma Kang, because Ma Liang is still young.

There is a third watch tonight.