The focus of the negotiations has been completed, and there are a few small issues left, and the negotiations are much simpler.

Liu Tao had already entrusted someone to send a letter to Lu Zhi on the front line, and was ready to go south at any time. It is impossible to stay in Zhongshan County and help Zang Min slowly recover the cities.

Zhongshan County has thirteen counties under its jurisdiction, with Lunu as the center, surrounded by a circle in the southeast, northwest and southwest. Even if the two counties of Puyin and Wangdu are deducted, and all of them are defeated, it will not be possible to do it in more than a month, and this is still a situation where the offensive is going smoothly.

Fortunately, Zang Min was also prepared, and immediately replied: "This is nothing, maybe it is because I know the relationship between Puyin County and Wangdu County that has been restored, and the county orders of Tang County, Beiping County and Shangquyang County have sent people to report that the three cities have not yet fallen." ”

Which door has not yet fallen, at most it is the same as Puyin County, seeing that the situation is not good, surrender first, so as not to be liquidated. It's just that at this time, it seems that even Zang Min plans to pretend to be confused.

After a pause, he continued: "In other words, there is no need to go to the north, and the focus is on the six cities in the southeast and southwest...... You can go downstream, attack Anxi County first, and then take Liwu County. After crossing the river, take Anguo County, go west and then take Hanchang, turn to attack Xinshi County, and finally go south to Wuji County, you can be done! ”

Liu Tao has also probably seen the map of Zhongshan County, and he also admires Zang Min's skill in this stroke.

Looking at Lu Yan covertly, the latter nodded imperceptibly. This time, he looked at Zang Min and replied, "I still need to stay in Lunu for three or five days, and then I will go on the expedition, can I?" ”

"Good!" Of course, Zang Min will not refuse, and it is a good thing that more than 2,000 people help defend the city.

"Brother, the county order made us go around like this, when will these counties be hit?" When leaving, Zhang Fei had no choice but to step forward and asked in a low voice.

"It's about 300 miles up, and if you only march, you can complete it in six days......" Lu Yan is already very familiar with the map of Zhongshan County, and he also has a rough understanding of the distance between the counties. At that time, after Zang Min finished speaking, he had already roughly calculated the distance.

After a pause, he added: "The counties of Hanzhi have a hundred li under their jurisdiction as the upper county, seventy-five li in the middle county, and fifty li in the lower county. Excluding the border army, the local county garrisons are all villagers who serve in the military, so the combat effectiveness can basically not be counted on.

Therefore, the garrisons of each county, deducting Puyin, Wangdu and Anxi, at most include Wuji County, the number of garrisons in these four counties exceeds 1,000 people, and the number of defenders in the rest of the counties does not exceed 200! ”

"Two hundred people is still a bit much, most of the people who have been coerced have been taken to the front line, and in the local county, there are at most 100 people guarding the town, which is already considered to be the top of the sky." Liu Tao is more optimistic.

"If it's only a hundred people, not to mention the siege equipment, if you attack it directly, you can take down the city." Guan Yu nodded thoughtfully.

The city in Xia County is about three to four meters up, and you can climb it with a long ladder, and you are not so easy to get injured if you fall. It's just that the stones and logs thrown by the other party, and even boiling soup (boiling water) and gold juice (boiling dung water) are more troublesome.

Even the most primitive Sanhe soil would not be invented until more than 200 years later. However, in this era, it was not so easy to destroy the castle walls, which were built with rammed earth by mixing wood and stone with earth.

Before the development of the Thunderbolt, siege was mainly based on two methods: hitting the city gate and climbing the city wall. It's just that the city gate is usually sealed in advance, so how to climb the city wall is a technical job.

"How long will it take to build ladder trucks, shaft trucks, and catapult trucks?" Liu Tao had to ask.

"You have to ask the craftsman about this, but I'm afraid the time will not be short, the fastest, sure enough, is still the city hammer and the long ladder!" Lu Yan shook his head, there were no craftsmen in their army who could build siege equipment, which was also the biggest shortcoming of the army.

The city hammer, to put it mildly, can be made into a city hammer with the trunk of a tree, and there is only one way to use it, that is, to hit the opponent's city wall or city gate; A long ladder is a long ladder of four or five meters, or even seven meters, with hooks and claws attached to the top, to build a city wall, and then the soldiers climb from the bottom up, which is often seen in many movies and TV series.

Generally attacking Xiaxian, these two siege weapons are actually enough. It's just that in a central county like Anxi County, if there are no ladder trucks and well trucks, or even catapults, the casualties will increase rapidly.

"First of all, since they know how to build siege weapons, they probably know when to build them." Liu Tao felt that it was not a way to stay like this, so he looked at Lu Yan.

"I'll ask later." Lu Yan nodded. Siege is no better than field warfare, so naturally the more cautious the better.

The next day, the Zhang, Su and Zhen clans were active and sent 3,000 soldiers and horses directly to the barracks. A thousand of them were all members of the three families, who had already undergone a certain amount of training, and their discipline and obedience were very good. Naturally, the officers in charge are also from these three families.

The other 2,000 people were young men gathered by the three families in Lunu, and the 2,000 people, many of whom were tenants of the three families. In addition, there are some craftsmen, and in this regard, the Su family can be said to be bleeding heavily.

At the same time, there are several children from the three families, saying that they help with paperwork, baggage, logistics and other trivial matters. Liu Tao also accepted it all, and then handed it over to Lu Yan for arrangement. The latter is also relieved, he is short of manpower!

"These two hundred and fifty people here are all in the Zhang family's best at equestrianism." Zhang Shiping stepped forward and pointed to the cavalry troops around him and introduced, "There are two other ones, the Zhang family's worship, they admire Liu Sima very much and are willing to come and defect." ”

To put it bluntly, it is the existence of some rangers and the like, who are just recruited by local giants and become doormen, and to put it bluntly, they are high-level bodyguards. Help train and control the family as a protective force for the family.

These two people reported their names, and among the more famous people in the Three Kingdoms in Liu Tao's memory, there were no names of these two people, and they should not be historical celebrities, but they still pretended to be enthusiastic and stepped forward to say hello.

The Su family's family members have great strength, and Liu Tao selected a hundred people to come out and incorporate them into the crossbow army.

In the end, there were 1,500 pikemen, who were under the command of Liu Tao and Liu Ge respectively; two hundred crossbowmen, commanded by Shangguan Yu; 300 cavalry troops, commanded by Zhang Fei; Three hundred sword and shield soldiers, commanded by Guan Yu.

There were 3,000 baggage, firehead and craftsman troops, and this part was handed over to Lu Yan to be responsible, and the establishment was directly dispersed, mixed with the original baggage troops, and Liu Tao's old department was strived to serve as an officer. In the final analysis, it is necessary to strengthen the control of this army.

"Unexpectedly, just a few days after going south from Zhuo County, the troops under my command already have 5,300 people." Liu Tao sighed.

"Still, there were only two thousand three hundred soldiers...... Moreover, after the dismantling and mixed formation, the combat effectiveness of the troops has declined somewhat. Lu Yan had to be reminded. The baggage troops also had some combat effectiveness, but after the soldiers were killed, they basically did not expect the baggage troops to resist to the end.

"Then fight a few more battles, get used to it, and your combat effectiveness will go up!" Liu Tao was not so worried.

"Yes!" Thinking back on everything during this time, Lu Yan nodded in agreement.