Although Liang Jun discovered the secrets of the new trebuchet tornado cannon and transformed two whirlwind cannons into use as quickly as possible, he was not able to grasp the essence of it immediately.

Xichuan City got a rare respite for a few days, not only recruited a large number of cottage elites from the west bank to transport them into the city to participate in the defense, but also urgently strengthened the precarious city wall.

After that, the two sides placed cyclone cannons inside and outside the city wall to bombard, and the defenders still had a clear advantage in a short time.

Not only did the auxiliary soldiers and civilians used by the Liang army suffer heavy casualties, but the new trebuchet tornado cannons were also smashed one after another because they were not covered by the city wall, so they could only continue to build new whirlwind cannons and put them into the battlefield for bombardment.

Of course, the main job of the defenders is to strengthen the city wall, or when the wall is smashed open a gap, desperately block the Liang army behind the gap, and drive the people to brave the arrows and stone bullets of the Liang army to fill the gap as quickly as possible.

Han Qian was on the inside of the city wall, and at the same time built a T-shaped low wall to strengthen the fragile part of the city wall.

Under the city of Xichuan, the offensive and defensive sides reverted to a protracted war of attrition.

Liang Jun transferred a large number of bed crossbows from Fan Xiang, and Han Qian also made more scorpion crossbows to put on the city.

There are a lot of timber reserves in the city, and Han Qian and Yang En also built nest cars and building cars, and built hook inlaid spears and spears three or four zhang long, waiting for the Liang army to rush to the city wall, so that more generals can assist the city wall defenders to attack the Liang army from the inside.

When defending against the attack and defense of the Liang army from the south and northeast, Han Qian also suggested that Guo Liang's department, which was defending Xicheng, push more than ten whirlwind cannons out of Xicheng, and build a trebuchet position near the wharf on the river bank to block the Xichuan River, which is less than 300 steps wide in the west, forcing the warships of the Liang army's water camp not to dare to enter this area, so as to facilitate the recruitment of troops from the cottages on the west bank, so that they could directly cross the Xichuan River and enter Xichuan City in a steady stream.

At this time, the Liang army had to resist the attack of the defenders' city walls in the southwest and northwest corners, and along the river bank, they could enter the open space outside the west city, attack the trebuchet positions of the defenders outside the city, and restore the blockade of the Xichuan River by their water camps.

Until the end of March, dozens of remnants of the Liang army, which had been trying to blockade the Xichuan River, suddenly retreated south.

Although the scouts had already risked their lives to break through the blockade of the Liang army the day before yesterday, and bravely cut off the iron cable pontoon bridge between the Liang army and Fancheng a few days ago, and entered the upper reaches of the Han River, but seeing this scene, Han Qian's tense nerves in March really relaxed.

Soon the Liang army retreated from the outpost formation city outside Xichuan City to the direction of the inner countryside city, and the city that was infected with flesh and blood broke out with earth-shattering cheers and roars at this time, but Han Qian saw the corpses under the city, and he felt stunned for a while.

Shen Yang and the others were so excited that they burst into tears, they couldn't imagine that if such a tragic war of attrition lasted for another three or four days, they would still have a little chance of holding Xichuan City, staggering to the town general's mansion, and sending the good news to the three princes that reinforcements were coming and the Liang army had withdrawn.

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Xinchang Marquis Li Pu led more than 5,000 generals of the second capital of the Longque Army, and the elite of the Louchuan Army and the elite of the Louchuan Army led by Yang Jian, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, successively cut off the blockade of the Liang army's iron cable pontoon bridges in Yingzhou and Fancheng, and was repeatedly attacked by the fireboat array of the Liang army's water camp, and the casualties were also heavy.

At the time of departure, less than half of the more than 60 large warships arrived at the mouth of the Xichuan River.

The second capital of the Dragon Bird Army and the elite of the naval division of the Louchuan Army, this way was either destroyed with the ship and drowned, or burned to death by fire, 20,000 soldiers and horses when they set off, and there were less than 15,000 people left at this time.

If they finally managed to reach the upper reaches of the Danjiang River, but Jingzikou and Xichuan had already fallen, it would be difficult for Li Pu, Marquis of Xinchang, to imagine that they would return to the lower reaches of the Han River from the beginning and meet with the main force of Jinling reinforcements, and a few people would survive in the end.

From a distance, seeing that the banner of General Longque, representing the third prince Yang Yuanpu, was still hanging high above the general's mansion in the remnant town, Xinchang Marquis Li Pu was also completely relieved.

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, who rushed to the head of Ezhou and took the initiative to follow the Louchuan Army and Navy Division to the north to reinforce Xichuan, have seen the danger along the way, and their intestines are about to regret it.

When the battle ship docked at the dock, they saw Han Qian wearing a green robe standing behind the three princes who looked a little pale but were in high spirits, and they were also so excited that they burst into tears and danced with their hands.

"You guys held it up! When we set off from Jiangxia, we pinned our heads to our belts, thinking that if we didn't come, we would be too unrighteous, if we rushed over, but you failed to defend Xichuan City, we would have to confess here! You really defended Xichuan City! ”

Shen Yang, Shen He, Yang En, Chen De, Chai Jian and others accompanied the third prince Yang Yuanpu to greet Yang Jian, Marquis of Zhenyuan, and Li Pu, Marquis of Xinchang, Han Qian fell behind, and didn't want to join in the excitement - Feng Yi and Kong Xirong had little qualifications, and they were not qualified to come to the front, and walked to Han Qian's side, Feng Yi's broken mouth was so excited that he chattered endlessly.

Han Qian just smiled slightly.

The three princes who accompanied the Marquis of Zhenyuan, the Marquis of Xinchang and others into the city beckoned him over at this time: "This is Han Qian." This time he was able to hold Xichuan, and Han Qian was the first to take credit! ”

Han Qian stepped forward, waved his hand to Yang Jian, Marquis of Zhenyuan, and Li Pu, Marquis of Xinchang, and said indifferently: "Han Qian has seen Marquis Zhenyuan and Marquis Xinchang. What His Royal Highness said, don't take it seriously the two marquis, Han Qian is also a few lucky people, and a few bad ideas happen to be useful......"

"Why can't I take my words seriously?" Yang Yuanpu asked with a smile.

Han Qian said: "If you want to talk about merit, Your Royal Highness has a body of ten thousand gold, is not afraid of the danger of the enemy, guards the mountains and rivers, sits in Xichuan to stimulate morale, and should be the first merit; Secondly, Li Du, Zheng Du, Guo Du, Zhou Sima, and Chai will lead the generals to use their lives, and secondly, Lord Shen, Yang Hou, and Shen Shaojian give advice to His Royal Highness and stabilize the morale of the army, which is also an indispensable achievement. After discussing them one by one, Han Qian's merits are really a little insignificant, and it is just icing on the cake......

Yang Jian, Marquis of Zhenyuan, is also a member of the clan, and his relationship with Emperor Tianyou is closer than Yang En, and he is also Emperor Tianyou's most trusted general of the clan, and he has always been the commander of the water division of Great Chu.

However, like the great ministers of the DPRK and China, Yang Jian had no intention of getting involved in the matter of competing for succession.

Even if the third prince got married, Yang Jian only sent his family to send congratulatory gifts, neither he nor his son showed up, and Han Qian had never had the opportunity to meet Yang Jian before.

Yang Jian was accompanying the three princes through the West City Gate at this time, and the West City Gate was almost attacked, naturally intact, and the trebuchet position outside the West City was fiercely attacked, leaving a pool of blood, but in the eyes of Yang Jian, who had been in the war for a long time, it was really ordinary.

When Yang Jian and Li Pu walked through the West City Gate and looked around, they were truly shocked by the tragedy of Xichuan's offensive and defensive battles in the past two months.

The crippled and collapsed city walls, large swaths were stained purple with blood.

The traces of the old and the new on the city wall, I don't know how many gaps have been opened, and they have been filled again.

Countless stumps and severed arms can even be seen embedded in the city wall, which is obviously a rush to repair the city wall during the fierce battle between the two sides, and many corpses have not had time to be removed from the sand, gravel and wood, and buried directly into the city wall.

Before arriving at Xichuan City, Yang Jian felt in his heart that the letters handed over by the Third Prince, Shen Yang and others were exaggerated, and he didn't believe that the Dragon Bird Army could support such a fierce offensive and defensive battle, and could defend such a ruined city as Xichuan in front of several times the elite of the Liang Army.

At this moment, he stood under the West City Gate, but he was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses, and then he looked at Han Qian seriously a few times and said:

"When Wang Xiang left Jinling, I drank a table of wine with him, and I heard Wang Xiang comment on the government and the opposition, saying that your father was talented in governing the place, but Wang Yuan obviously didn't see you at that time!"

Han Qian listened to Yang Jian's tone a little bland, thinking that he might not really appreciate himself, and seeing his expression was more of a fluke.

Han Qian couldn't see it, and said politely: "Yang Hou praised it!" ”

Yang Jian exhaled slightly at this time, his expression perked up, and he continued to accompany the Third Prince, Li Pu and others to the ruined city.

No matter how much Han Qian and the Three Princes had gone off the rails and how lucky they were in winning before, Yang Jian had to admit that the Dragon Bird Army had defended Xichuan City after all, which was the most critical turning point in Cheng's reversal of the Jingxiang battle.

The Lou Boat Army also risked breaking through the blockade of the Liang army and successfully joined forces with the Xichuan defenders, unless the Liang army forcibly captured Xiangzhou City in a very short period of time, otherwise, there was only a way to retreat.

In recent years, Da Chu has focused on operating Xiangzhou City in the west wing, and Du Chongtao has led more than 20,000 elites to garrison it, Yang Jian believes that Du Chongtao is incompetent, and the time to defend Xiangzhou City is longer than that of the three princes guarding Xichuan City.

If in such a situation, the Liang army dares to stay in the Jingxiang area for another two or three months, Yang Jian is confident that His Majesty has the ability to eat all the main forces of the Liang army that are heading south this time!

"What about Zhang Ping, Lord Zhang?" When Xinchang Hou Li Pu walked in the direction of the Zhenjiang Mansion, his mind calmed down, and he suddenly realized that he didn't see the figure of Zhang Ping, the supervisor of the Hou Mansion, and asked suspiciously.

The others were gone, Li Pu couldn't bear it and didn't ask, after all, in such a tragic battle, anyone could have an accident, but Zhang Ping, as the supervisor of the Hou Mansion, usually only needs to stay by the side of the three princes, and should not need to charge at the front line.

At this time, Zhang Ping was not seen, and Xinchang Hou Li Pu was quite puzzled.

"During the war, His Highness risked the enemy's arrows and stones to look at the army and boost morale. In order to save His Royal Highness, Lord Zhang Pingzhang smashed his left shoulder by a falling rock, and he had not woken up at this time. Chai Jian stood aside and said.

Li Pu landed with Yang Jian, the marquis of Zhenyuan, and saw that the three princes were not as cold as he expected, and thought that the three princes had arrived in time for reinforcements, but he didn't expect that it was Zhang Ping who risked his life to rescue him at the head of the city, and resolved some of the barriers between the three princes and them.

Li Pu's face was much softer at this time, and he reached out and stroked Li Zhihe's shoulder, as if he had no guilt in his heart about what Li Zhihe did that day.

Han Qian's expression darkened slightly, half a step behind, and he distanced himself slightly from the elated crowd.