"What are they doing here?" Zhang Fei looked at the artillery platform that was gradually being built up from a distance, and looked at Zhuge Liang beside him in confusion, this distance is too far, even if you want to build a cannon platform, so far, I'm afraid you can't even hit the city wall, is Chen Mo stupid?

Zhuge Liang looked at the artillery platform that had gradually formed in the distance, and had a bad feeling in his heart, what the artillery platform was doing, he naturally knew it, but this distance was really a bit exaggerated, it was impossible to attack the city wall, but if not, what was the point of Chen Mo doing this?

But at the moment, there is no other way except waiting, if you go out of the city, the Jingzhou army and the Ming army are not opponents at all when they fight outside the city, and Chen Mo in order to prevent them from destroying, there are two teams of men and horses guarding around, and they can fight at any time, and even if the opponent's artillery is leveled at a huge cost, the other party can still build it again, but the Jingzhou army is a little loss.

Time continues to flow in this uneasy mood, the Ming army has not attacked the city in the past few days, but the Jingzhou army has a feeling of living like a year, and the depressed atmosphere continues to spread in the army.

Three days later, 40 artillery platforms with a height of 2 zhang and a length and width of 5 zhang were set up outside Fancheng, and after another 5 days, 40 catapults more than twice the size of ordinary catapults were built under the noses of the Jingzhou army.

The exaggerated volume, even if viewed from a hundred and forty steps, was still shocking, like a wild beast ready to choose a person to devour.

On the ninth day, everything was ready, an altar of fire oil was moved to the front line, Chen Mo stood on a built tower, watching the actions of the head of Fancheng from a distance, under his feet, around each catapult, there were ten wrestlers under the command of the generals, triggering the gear, on the huge net pocket, a jar of fire oil was sent up to ignite.

Ma Jun gave an order, and in an instant, those wrestlers who pulled the winch let go at the same time, and the iron cable on the gallows was contracted under the drag of the machine and gravity, and the sound was like a thunderbolt, only to see the burning oil tank of the altar flying into the air, falling towards the head of Fancheng like a meteor, and some even directly crossed the city wall and fell towards the city.

At the moment when the oil tank fell and ruptured, the nightmare of the Jingzhou army also came, the scattered fire oil quickly shrouded a large area of the city wall, the towering enemy tower was swallowed by the flames in an instant, hundreds of soldiers defending the city were covered by the flames at that moment, but they did not die, screaming and rolling around, some simply jumped directly from the city and fell to their deaths, for a time, the sound of miserable screams, angry scolding, and wailing sounded in the head of Fancheng City.

The soldier in charge of controlling the ballista instinctively launched a crossbow attack, but unfortunately the distance of the fort had exceeded the range of the ballista and did not hurt the Ming army at all.

Zhuge Liang looked at this scene with a pale face, not afraid, but knowing that he had lost, even if he wanted to go out of the city and destroy these artillery platforms at this moment, it would be too late.

The catapults of the Ming army were still ringing, and soon, the second round of attacks arrived, most of the city was covered with flames, the defenders had no place to stand, and many soldiers began to flee desperately.

Zhang Fei didn't ask Zhuge Liang, and went out of the city directly with his foot cavalry, wanting to destroy these catapults before the next round of artillery strikes.

Seeing this, Ma Chao, who was in charge of cruising around, didn't say a word, drove his troops to kill Zhang Fei, and the two teams of men and horses hedged under the city like two torrents, and at the same time, Pang De and Zhang Xiu also outflanked Zhang Fei's back road one left and one right.

Although Zhang Fei was brave, he was outnumbered, roaring in and out of the chaotic army, but after all, he could not hide his decline, and was defeated by Ma Chao, Pang De, and Zhang Xiu, so he had to retreat back to the city in defeat, and when Ma Chao and they chased into the city gate, they desperately blocked the city gate.

At this moment, most of the third round of fire bombs had fallen on the head of the city, and the northern city wall had been reduced to a sea of fire, and it was difficult to gain a foothold.

Chen Mo took the opportunity to command the soldiers and horses to launch a fierce attack on the city gate, without the support of the soldiers and horses at the head of the city, he only needed to break the city gate to attack Fancheng, as long as the city gate was broken, Fancheng would be half broken.

Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei in the city naturally understood this truth, on the one hand, they blocked the city gate, and on the other hand, they quickly sounded the horn and asked Jiangdong for help, they knew very well that even if all the soldiers and horses in Xiangyang were transferred at this moment, it would be difficult to defeat Chen Mo, and Jiangdong must make a move at this moment to stop Chen Mo.

On the other side, Cao Ang had also noticed the situation here, the fire on the north gate of Fancheng could be seen from miles away, and he didn't expect this northern city to be breached so easily, so he didn't dare to slack off, and immediately ordered Cao Zhang, Cao Xiu and Xiahou Ba to lead a team of men and horses to kill Fancheng to support Zhuge Liang.

But here, Chen Mo has long been prepared for the arrival of the Jiangdong Army, Zhang Liao and Xu Huang personally went into battle, led the troops to block the Jiangdong Army in the east of the city, and the two sides were for a while, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhang and Xiahou Ba were all leaders in the younger generation of the Cao family, but compared to Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and others after all, they were a little less old and spicy, the two sides fought in the east of the city for half a day, but the Jiangdong Army was defeated and retreated, and on the main battlefield, Wei Yan had already led the men and horses to open the city gate and bring the men and horses into the city.

Zhuge Liang's repeater crossbow played a huge role here, dozens of people could form a dense arrow array, and the first batch of soldiers who attacked the city were beaten in embarrassment.

Wei Yan immediately adjusted the soldiers and horses, so that the shield soldiers formed a shield array to move forward, the advantage of the Yuan Rong crossbow is that the attack speed is fast, but the disadvantage is that the power is insufficient, and it is not as strong as the crossbow car, but there is no way to face the shield array of the Ming army, Zhuge Liang commanded the men and horses to fight and retreat, relying on the siege weapons of the Ming army can not enter the city, in the city with the familiarity of the terrain with the Ming army to fight a street battle, although the Ming army is brave, but for a time in the face of these defenders are also difficult to quickly take.

On the battlefield outside the city, Cao Ang and Zhou Yu came, looking at the battlefield being defeated and retreating, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhang and Xiahou Ba, who were already about to be unable to resist the enemy, Cao Ang ordered Cao Zhen and Lu Meng to send troops to attack Zhang Liao and Xu Huang from the flanks, but Ma Chao, Pang De, and Zhang Xiu are now vacant.

The Jiangdong infantry army has indeed grown in recent years after the addition of Cao's generals, but compared with the elite of the Ming army that has been in battle for a long time, it is obviously not enough.

"Governor ......" Cao Ang looked at the army in front of him that was gradually at a disadvantage, and sighed helplessly: "Retreat, Fancheng has been broken, and the next incident in Xiangyang, our army is no longer enough to rescue, it is better to prepare for a decisive battle with the Ming army as soon as possible." ”

As soon as Fancheng is broken, only the lonely city of Xiangyang remains, it is impossible for Liu Bei to stop Chen Mo from staying in Jingzhou, although Sun Liu is an alliance, it is impossible to lose all the infantry troops that Jiangdong has trained hard over the years for Jingzhou, and according to Chen Mo's current momentum, even if he loses all the 50,000 troops, it will be difficult to compete with Chen Mo without geographical advantages.

Jingzhou's background is too shallow after all, and Liu Bei is still dividing his troops at this time, although this is also Liu Bei's only chance to expand, it can't be wrong, but judging from the current results, Liu Bei is defeated this time, and he can only hope that he will successfully take Shuchuan, in that way, the alliance between Jiangdong and Liu Bei can be renewed, otherwise, Liu Bei is basically abolished.

Zhou Yu nodded, they have fulfilled their obligations as allies, and they have not been able to protect Fancheng without losing their efforts, it is really Chen Mo who came with the general trend, too strong, and now it is impossible to fight Chen Mo on land, and the only thing that can be relied on now is to use the terrain of the Yangtze River to compete with Chen Mo.

Cao Ang's judgment was roughly the same as Zhou Yu's, and at that moment, Cao Ang Mingjin asked Cao Xiu and the three of them to withdraw to the camp.

Chen Mo is now mainly based on Xiangfan, Jiangdong is willing to withdraw from the army, Chen Mo is not dead chasing after him, first gnaw off the bones that have been gnawed in Jingzhou, and then eat Jiangdong, this meal has to be eaten step by step.

And lost the support of Jiangdong, Chen Mo's main force began to enter the city, Zhuge Liang is another ability, at this moment also realized what is called the power of the sky, under the protection of Zhang Fei and others, with the remnants of the army and fight and retreat, through the pontoon bridge all the way back to Xiangyang, Zhuge Liang did not destroy the pontoon bridge, this pontoon bridge Chen Mo is not easy to burn, but as the construction of the pontoon bridge Zhuge Liang wants to destroy the same is not easy, he set up three crossbow cars around the pontoon bridge, as long as the Ming army dares to go on the bridge, it will be immediately attacked by the ballista car, it is considered to have saved the back road, but after this battle, Fancheng has been lost, Hanshui has been uncontrollable, and Xiangyang has also become a lonely city, fortunately, Zhuge Liang has a large number of arrangements around Xiangyang, so that Chen Mo will not even break through Xiangyang in one go.

"Your Majesty, Jiangdong has withdrawn!"

After Chen Mo and Xun You and others came to Fancheng, they quickly ordered Zhang Liao to prepare to attack the Liqiu camp, without the constraints of Fancheng, now whether it is terrain or troops, Liqiu is no longer enough to continue to fight against Chen Mo, if left alone, it will be difficult for Chen Mo to attack Xiangyang with all his strength, so Chen Mo decided to pull out the nail behind him first.

It's just that what Chen Mo didn't expect was that Jiangdong actually withdrew first, although it saved a lot of effort, but it also made Chen Mo a little regretful, if Jiangdong, an army that can conduct land warfare, can be left behind at this time, it will be of great benefit to capture Jiangdong in the future.

It's a pity that Jiangdong retreated in time, and in the silence, Fancheng has been broken, and continuing to stay here is not any benefit to Jiangdong except for the loss of troops and generals, and it is the wisest choice to withdraw troops and redeploy in time.

"Summoned Zhang He, ordered him to attack in the direction of Xiangyang, remove all obstacles, and the army will cross the river to join it as soon as possible." Chen Mo looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Today's battle, thanks to the soldiers' lives, pass on our military orders, open the Fancheng granary, reward the meritorious soldiers, and put up a list of people, no one, must not disturb the people, violators, no matter who it is, will be dealt with by military law!" ”

When the generals heard this, they hurriedly intervened to receive orders, and they couldn't disturb the people, which was not a rare rule for the Ming army, starting from Chen Mo's rise in Hedong, this is the first purpose of not disturbing the people, even if Chen Mo didn't say it, the generals would follow.