Hearing that the situation was not good, taking advantage of the fact that the Han army outside the camp had not officially launched an attack, Cao Ji hurriedly handed over the command to Gongao, and personally led a group of Western Chu troops to hurriedly dispatch to the outer camp to check the situation on the spot and understand the reason why the soldiers of Western Chu suddenly contracted a sudden illness.

The situation is more serious than what Xiang Han introduced, when he arrived at the site of the foreign camp to treat the wounded soldiers, the scene was already full of many soldiers of the Western Chu Army, many of whom were vomiting, and many of them were squatting on the ground and moaning in pain and holding their stomachs, and some people were staggering like drunk, standing unsteadily, and some people were half-lying and shouting for a long time, begging the medical workers to hurry up and see a doctor, and even some serious ones vomited blood directly, or lay motionless, in short, the symptoms were varied, The scene was like a sudden outbreak of the plague.

What made Cao Ji and the others even more shocking was that during the period when they quickly checked the situation at the scene, there were still many Western Chu soldiers who were sick or stumbling, or relying on the support of their companions, constantly coming from all directions, and it was obvious that the number of Western Chu soldiers who were suddenly infected was still increasing.

"What the hell is going on? What happened? How could such a person suddenly fall ill all of a sudden? Is it the plague?! ”

In a hurry, Cao Ji was so anxious that he rushed forward in person, grabbed the chief medical engineer who came to greet him and asked, the chief medical engineer was sweating profusely, and replied with a sad face: "The handsome forgiveness, whether it is the plague can still be confirmed now, and the little ones will have to spend time to see more patients to know." ”

"Rubbish!" Cao Zhi angrily pushed the chief medical engineer to the sky, looked around the scene very anxiously, clenched his fists and said nervously: "Why did something go wrong at this time?" Why are we so unlucky, but when the Han thieves are about to attack the camp, we suddenly fall ill with so many soldiers? ”

Kui Che was more patient, and personally stepped forward to pick up the chief medical engineer, and asked kindly: "Medical worker, you are still not sure of the plague, so in your opinion, what should be the situation?" Why do we fall ill so many soldiers at once? ”

"Adults, the little ones are a little suspicious of poisoning." The chief medical engineer replied tremblingly, "We suddenly fell ill with these soldiers, as if they had eaten something poisonous, which is why so many people fell ill at once. ”

"Poisoning?!"

Kuaiche and Li Zuoche both changed their faces, and Cao Zhi also quickly grabbed the medical engineer again, and asked nervously, "Are you sure it's poisoning?" What poison is it? What poison did our soldiers eat? ”

"The big handsome spares his life, and the small ones are just suspicious, not sure yet." The chief medical engineer looked more and more sad and replied: "Because the little ones asked carefully, our soldiers who suddenly fell ill were all eating with others in a big cauldron, and the others were fine, but they suddenly fell ill, so the little ones are not sure." Also, our soldiers have all kinds of diseases, and the little ones can't determine what kind of poison they have. ”

"Rubbish! Useless stuff! ”

Cao was so angry that he threw the unlucky medical engineer to the ground again, and Kui Che also frowned, and couldn't understand why such a situation suddenly appeared, just at this moment, not far away, a sick man of the Western Chu Army who vomited out the jaundice struggled for help, moaning and begging: "Water, water, please, give me some water to drink." ”

Moaning was useless, and the medical workers present were all so busy that their feet didn't touch the ground, of course, they couldn't spare time to feed him water, but fortunately, Cao Ji, who likes to boast of loving soldiers like a son, is indeed good to the soldiers, and immediately snorted to his own soldiers, and the soldiers understood, and immediately went to find water to feed the sick number of the Western Chu army. Seeing this scene, Li Zuoche, who had been frowning and calculating, suddenly moved in his heart, and hurriedly asked Kui Che: "Doctor Kuai, have you ever read the part of the battle of Tun Chuan in the history books?" ”

"The War of Delay?" It took a lot of effort to recall the part of the War of Relocation from the vast history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and his face immediately changed, and he blurted out: "Guangwujun, do you suspect that someone has poisoned the water?" ”

"This one is probably the biggest." Li Zuoche replied in a deep voice: "Most of the water in our camp is the river water drawn from the big river in the ditch to protect the camp, and it is very easy for the Han thieves to poison the upstream, and our soldiers have just begun to be poisoned in large quantities, and the Han thieves suddenly sent troops to attack the city, which is really too coincidental and too suspicious." ”

"Xiang Kang is a traitor! You're so ruthless! Kui Che beat his chest and shouted angrily: "You can use such a vicious method!" ”

"What the hell are you talking about? What postponement battle? What poisons upstream? Let me be clear! ”

Cao Zhi roared angrily, Li Zuoche and Kuaiche were helpless, so they had to quickly tell Cao Zhi about the example of the Qin army poisoning the princes' coalition army in history, Cao Zhi almost blew up his chest when he heard it, and roared again: "Since you know that there is such a thing, why didn't you say it before?" Why don't you remind me?! ”

Kuaiche and Li Zuoche were speechless, and they had to admit that they were indeed a little responsible in this matter, why didn't they think that the Han army might poison the water intake ditch of the Western Chu army? Fortunately, Cao Ji didn't continue to get angry at them, but hurriedly shouted: "Quick, send an order to the whole army, tell everyone that the water in the trench outside has been poisoned by the thieves, hurry up and pour all the water from the camp trench, from now on, no one is allowed to drink a sip of water from outside!" ”

Some of Cao Ji's own soldiers hurriedly rushed to scatter to give orders, and a herald rushed quickly from the Chinese army camp, came to Cao Ji's front and saluted and said: "Marshal, the communist general asks you to go back immediately, there is an abnormal behavior on the side of the Han thief!" ”

It was about the military aircraft, Cao Zhi did not dare to slack off, so he could only hurriedly order the Western Chu army medical workers to treat the poisoned soldiers with all their might, and then quickly led the Western Chu army to return to the Chinese army camp, and when he came to the front of the Chinese army's big tent in the high ground of the camp, Gong Ao immediately greeted him, and immediately pointed to the outside of the camp before he had time to salute and said: "Look, big handsome, the Han thieves have sent out some strange wooden carts, and we have never seen the general." ”

Cao Ji hurriedly turned around, but saw that fifteen wooden carts with a very large volume were indeed dispatched in the Han army's array, advancing to the vicinity of the Western Chu army's camp, stopping at a considerable distance beyond the bow and arrow range of the Western Chu army, lined up, and more heavy vehicles were followed behind the car, and many Han soldiers were busy carrying things from the car and getting off. When Cao Ji looked closely at the fifteen huge wooden carts, he saw that they all had a thick and long throwing arm, which was quite similar to the common human-dragged trebuchet of this era, but he did not see the rope that pulled the throwing arm.

"What's that?" Kui Che next to him was also surprised and said, "Trebuchet? It's like an elephant, but why isn't there a rope? Also, with such a large trebuchet, how much manpower is the thief prepared to use to pull it? ”

This time, even the well-informed Li Zuoche shook his head together, but Cao Zhi didn't take it very seriously, and said: "No matter what he is, we will know when the thieves use it in a while, and now the key is to stabilize the morale of the army, don't affect the morale of our army because of the poisoning of the thief in the water." ”

Facts have proved that Cao's worries are very correct, after the news that the Han army may have poisoned the ditch spread, there was really a big uproar in the ranks of the Western Chu army, in addition to quickly pouring out all the water from the ditch, none of the clans of the Western Chu army who had drunk this water did not worry that they were also poisoned, coupled with the gradual onset of the toxicity of the mushroom, poisoned soldiers continued to appear in the ranks of the Western Chu army, and the morale of the soldiers of the Western Chu army was greatly affected, and they were all worried that in such a situation, Will the self-army still be able to withstand the fierce attack of the Han army?

Shen Shi will be outdated, the strange trebuchets of the Han army seem to be ready for the war, and the vehicles that follow quickly withdrew from the position, so as not to affect the Han army's entry into the battle, and at the same time, there are four Han army thousand teams trotting forward, as if they are ready to help those strange trebuchets throwing stones, but what makes Cao Qi, Kuai Che and Gongao and others puzzled is that after the four thousand Han soldiers stepped forward, they actually arranged the two wings of the Han army's strange trebuchets, and posed as ready to protect those strange trebuchets at any time. But not a single soldier approached those strange trebuchets, and next to each strange trebuchet, there were only a dozen Han soldiers operating them.

"Can such a large trebuchet be pulled by such a small person?"

When the generals of the Western Chu army were suspicious, the Han army was already ready, with the wave of a flag, and I didn't know what the Han soldiers had done, the throwing arms of those strange trebuchets suddenly stood upright in an instant, and fifteen huge stone bullets suddenly flew up in the air, whistling and drawing huge parabolas in the sky, smashing into the camp of the Western Chu army in the north, and directly crossing the camp wall of the Western Chu army, and smashing into the camp of the Western Chu army.

Boulders landing! It sounded like thunder! Cao Ji's eyes widened, Kuaiche and Li Zuoche opened their mouths wide, and the civil and military forces of the Western Chu Army next to him all had similar expressions of disbelief.

Because the power of these boulders is so terrifying, a few boulders directly hit several military tents of the Western Chu army, and those military tents did not even have the strength to resist the rebound a little, and they were directly smashed to the ground.

Several boulders smashed directly into the crowd of the Western Chu army who were waiting outside the tent, several soldiers of the Western Chu army didn't even have time to scream, they were directly smashed to the ground, their brains burst out, and several soldiers even if they were only brought by stones, they immediately broke their tendons and fractures, fell to the ground and howled like killing pigs, and two boulders bounced up after they landed, and smashed a few soldiers who could not avoid the West Chu soldiers to death directly, and the West Chu soldiers at the scene were in chaos, screaming and running around.

Several boulders smashed into the open space in the camp, making a terrifying noise, leaving a large pit two or three feet deep in the ground, and then continued to bounce and roll, leaving a deep scratch on the ground. There were also two boulders that hit the vehicles in the camp, directly smashing the vehicles of the Western Chu Army into a state of sawdust, and also frightened the soldiers of the Western Chu Army next to them into screams, and everyone turned pale.

The most distracted thing for the Western Chu army was a boulder that directly hit the sentry tower of the Western Chu army, after being hit by the boulder in the waist, the sturdy sentry tower was directly broken at the waist, and the sentry of the Western Chu army on the tower fell to the ground with a bang, and fell into the Western Chu military camp with a loud noise again, splashing a large amount of dust and smoke, and also smashed several soldiers of the Western Chu army who could not avoid the blood and flesh into a blur.

Seeing this scene, of course, the Han army was cheering like thunder, and their morale was greatly boosted, but the Western Chu army was all frightened and screamed, "What is that?" How can a thief's trebuchet throw such a big stone and hit it so far? ”

Cao Ji had already rushed to the edge of the high ground in the camp, nervously looking around at the destruction in the camp, and after seeing the shocking pits left by the Han army's trebuchets in the camp, Cao Ji's face was even more iron-blue and black, and he gritted his teeth and said: "He is worthy of being a Han thief, and sure enough, he has a trick!" ”

"Da Sima doesn't have to worry." Kuai Cheqiang smiled and comforted: "Although the strange trebuchets of the Han thieves are very powerful, the number is too small, and our camp is so large, the Han thieves are constantly throwing stones, and at most they can only hurt our fur." ”

Cao Zhi nodded reluctantly, and said secretly: "I hope so." ”

Fortunately, the situation was as Kuaicher expected, and then next, although the counterweight trebuchet of the Han army threw two rounds of stone bullets into the interior of the Western Chu army camp one after another, after thirty boulders smashed into the camp of the Western Chu army, it was indeed amazing, smashing down many Western Chu army camp tents, killing and injuring many Western Chu soldiers who could not dodge, causing great damage to the interior of the Western Chu army camp, but for the huge area of the Western Chu army camp, it can only be regarded as a skin wound, which cannot play a decisive role. Cao Ji and Gong Ao, who had always been worried, quietly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that although this strange weapon of the Han army was terrifying, it was not impossible to deal with.

Kui Che also looked much more relaxed because of this, but Li Zuoche, who had received military education since he was a child, frowned, and said secretly in his heart: "If the thieves just smash at our camp, it will not be difficult to deal with." But if the thieves are just to establish their prestige, first blow the morale of our army, and then ......, then we will be in trouble. ”

Li Zuoche's worry was right, after the three rounds of stone bombs were dropped, the Han army first dispatched another 3,000 troops, and the queue came to the Han army's trebuchet array to wait for orders, and then the Han army's trebuchet slowly adjusted the angle, and suddenly there was another round of salvo! And this time, the fifteen stone bullets smashed by the trebuchet of the Han army were all aimed at the central gate of the South Third Gate of the Western Chu Army Camp!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One after another, the boulders thrown by the Han army seemed to have eyes, and most of them fell near the front and back of the West Chu military camp gate, and it was nothing that smashed in front of the big camp gate, and it had no impact on the Western Chu army, but those boulders that smashed into the wall directly smashed the strong camp wall of the Western Chu army, leaving huge gaps in the wall of the Western Chu military camp built of rammed earth, and also smashed the Western Chu soldiers who could not avoid the camp to the flesh and blood, and the desperate screams continued.

Not only that, because the camp gate is too important, of course, the Western Chu army deployed heavy guards behind the camp gate, so those stone bullets that smashed into the Han army behind the camp gate of the Western Chu army also immediately smashed a huge wave of blood in the dense crowd of the soldiers and soldiers of the Western Chu army, and the soldiers of the Western Chu army scattered in shock, and suddenly became a mess.

Seeing this scene, Cao Ji, who had gradually relaxed his heart, immediately turned pale, clenched his fists again, and Kuaiche also exclaimed: "The thief's stone machine is so terrifying? The stone bullets thrown can directly collapse our wall? ”

"The target of the thieves is our camp gate, but we are lucky this time, and not a big stone hit our camp gate."

Li Zuoche's words made Cao Ji and Kui Che and the others even more pale as paper, and then Li Zuoche said expressionlessly: "We can't have such good luck every time, with the power of the thief's trebuchet, as long as a stone bullet hits our camp gate, our camp gate will immediately turn into pieces." So Da Sima, prepare for a hard battle, whether we can keep our camp today depends on whether we can block the Han thief army that directly attacks our camp gate after it is smashed by the thief trebuchet. ”

Cao Zhi was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly arranged the army to prepare to intercept the impact of the Han army when the camp gate was broken, and Kuai Che next to him hurriedly asked: "Guangwujun, your family is from a family, can you have a way to block this strange trebuchet of the Han thief?" ”

"It would be nice to have a way." Kuaiche replied with a wry smile: "Although the ancestors of the foreign minister have been generals for generations, but for so many years, our Li family has never encountered such a trebuchet, can throw so far, and can also throw such a large stone, there is no precedent to follow, what can you ask the foreign minister to come up with in a hurry to crack this strange trebuchet of the Han thief?" ”

When Li Zuoche smiled bitterly, the Han army's trebuchet had once again thrown a boulder, and it was indeed all coming towards the camp gate of the Western Chu army again, but this time, the Western Chu army no longer had such good luck directly, and the first boulder that fell with a roar happened to hit the arrow tower on the head of the camp of the Western Chu army, and the arrow tower of the Western Chu army was also broken like a papier-mâché, and the archers upstairs were either killed or injured, and the screams could be heard from afar.

Then, before Cao Ji and the others could make a new reaction, two more boulders smashed into the camp gate of the Western Chu army one after another, and the camp gate, which was originally so strong that it was difficult to cut open with an axe, also broke in response to the sound and was directly shattered, and there was no way to stop the soldiers of the Han army from rushing directly into the Western Chu military camp. Most of the remaining stone bullets of the Han army were not wasted, either smashing down the wall next to the camp gate, or hitting the Western Chu soldiers behind the door, causing a lot of damage to the Western Chu army again.

Seeing this scene, of course, there was an uproar in the Western Chu military camp, as long as the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu army saw the situation at the camp gate, there was no one who did not understand in their hearts that the self-army was about to face a cruel bloody battle of death or life. Xiang Kang, who was sitting cross-legged under the banner of the Han army, smiled slightly, and ordered: "Raise the flag, tell our front army to charge, and directly attack the gate of the camp of the Western Chu thief army!" Give Yang Bu an order, tell him to concentrate his firepower, smash the right gate of the southern camp of the Western Chu thief army for me, and open another way for us to enter the army as soon as possible! ”

After that, Xiang Kang first arranged for 3,000 troops to carry the trench bridge car forward to help the Han army's front army storm the southern camp gate of the Western Chu army, and paved more trench roads by the way. Then he also arranged 3,000 troops to go to the right gate of the Western Chu army's camp to wait for his orders, and wait for the Han army's counterweight trebuchet to smash open the gate and march in. In the end, Xiang Kang called Zhang Zhong again and instructed him: "General Zhang Zhong, take our heavy armor soldiers to come forward and wait for orders, and act according to orders in a while, I will ask you to attack the camp gate of the Western Chu thief army, and you will attack there with all your strength!" ”

"In short, you remember, the heavy armor soldiers under your command are our real pioneers, and your offensive direction is our main offensive direction! Therefore, you must give me all the strength to fight to the death and open the way for our main force to enter the army! ”

PS: By the way, popularize a historical knowledge about the counterweight trebuchet, the author read the famous British scholar Joseph Needham's "History of Chinese Science and Technology" to know that in fact, the counterweight trebuchet is likely to be first invented by the Chinese, in the Battle of Luoyang in 1232 AD, a general of the Jin State called Qiang Shen invented a counterweight trebuchet that only a few people can operate to resist the attack of the Mongol army. It's just that Qiang Shen died on the battlefield the following year, and the counterweight trebuchet he invented was also lost and failed to spread to the Southern Song army, which led to the Song army being in a passive position in the later Battle of Xiangfan.