For Ma Chao, the process of attacking Yangping Pass is not wonderful, Xiliang is sparsely populated, there are not many cities, and the opponents of the battle are either Qiang people or Hu people, if you talk about fighting in an open place, the Xiliang army can be called invincible, but if you talk about siege warfare, it is not the director of the Xiliang army, and after entering the Yangping Pass, Wei Yan's harassment has not stopped.

A large number of Shu troops were photographed by Wei Yan, a team of three or five people, in the surrounding mountains and forests against the Xiliang army to shoot back, want to fight back, but can not find anyone at all, do not fight back, these Shu army is as annoying as flies, if you ruthlessly send people to pursue, the Xiliang army enters the mountains to fight, which is the opponent of the Shu army who is accustomed to the mountains and rivers, three or five people, often can exchange the lives of more than a dozen Xiliang troops.

Not only that, the rear grain road is also seriously threatened, Ma Chao had to send heavy troops to maintain the grain road, so stumbling, half a day's journey, the army took three days to arrive at Yangping Pass, these three days, by those Shu army attack and reduce nearly 3,000 people, this loss, let Ma Chao a little frightened, if it is a frontal battle, so many battle losses, the troops can collapse directly, Rao is so, the morale of the army is low, it is impossible to immediately enter the battle.

Ma Chao is also ruthless enough, in order to avoid being harassed by the Shu army endlessly, he first pretended to be helpless, and then suddenly sent people to set fire to the mountain, and more than 1,000 soldiers sent by Wei Yan directly failed to come back.

This time, unlike the last time in Chuyang, Yangping Pass was reinforced by Liu Yi, and the troops were also very sufficient, although Ma Chao had many soldiers, but Yangping Pass was dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, no matter how many soldiers and horses Ma Chao had, he could not put it into the battlefield at one time.

It's just a pity that the thousand soldiers who died in the flames!

On Yangping Pass, seeing that Ma Chao had no intention of attacking, Wei Yan sighed, the things he did seemed to be a little redundant, just with this Yangping Pass, plus the ten broken crossbows that Liu Yi left in the city, no matter how many enemy troops there were, there was no need to send troops out of the city to fight.

Wei Yan stood on the enemy tower, silently looking at the military formation of the Xiliang army, and regretted his previous decision in his heart, the Xiliang army was obviously not good at siege warfare, which can be seen from the arrangement of troops.

However, when he saw an army in battle under the pass, he did not attack, but sent a general to shout and provoke the city, which can also be regarded as an invitation to battle.

"Invitation?" Wei Yan was a little speechless at the other party's provocation, at this time he gave up his advantage to use his shortcomings to collide with Xiliangjun, I was afraid that his head was not caught by the door.

"Bring the bow!" Wei Yan laughed, stretched out his hand, and handed Wei Yan a strong bow.

After taking the bow and arrow, Wei Yan was an arrow at the Xiliang army who came to shout, his archery skills were not as brilliant as Huang Zhong's, but it was not bad, an arrow was shot, hitting the forehead of the Xiliang army, passing through the road, and directly nailing the other party to the ground.

"Bastard!" Seeing this, Ma Chao was furious, and immediately waved his troops to attack the city, one after another catapults were pushed up from the rear, the archers began to advance towards the city wall under the protection of the infantry, and the three ladders also moved slowly in the direction of the city wall.

"Break the army and prepare for the crossbow!" Seeing this, the adjutant general immediately ordered the ten broken army crossbows to start adjusting their positions, and as long as the Xiliang army approached, they would give the other party a head-on attack.

"Slow, don't move the crossbow first!" Wei Yan waved his hand and motioned for the Broken Army Crossbow not to be used for now.

"General, there are enough arrows in our army, why don't you use them?" The deputy general was puzzled, how convenient is this broken army crossbow, once the ten broken army crossbows are launched, it will be difficult for the Xiliang army to get close to the city wall.

"Don't worry, now that Ma Chao is just trying to attack, if the broken crossbow is exposed at this time, he may be able to retreat from the enemy, but he can't get a serious sore, wait first, shoot with an ordinary bow and arrow." Wei Yan sneered: "Since you dare to come, don't think about retreating, the revenge of the more than a thousand soldiers has not been avenged!" ”

The adjutant general looked at Wei Yan's smiling face, shuddered, bowed down in agreement, stopped debugging the broken army crossbow, and instead commanded the archers to start shooting covering the Xiliang army.

Although the city wall has no buff effect, it is condescending, and it already has a range advantage, plus Wei Yan's side has a heavy burden and no shortage of manpower, with an order, rows of arrows swept the ground, crossed arcs in the air, and fell towards the Xiliang army with a scream of death.

The casualties were not large, under the protection of the shield hand in front, the enemy troops within the range did not suffer too much blow, and occasionally the unlucky arrow fell to the ground, which can only be said to be a matter of luck, and the trebuchet in the rear began to exert its might, but unfortunately for Wei Yan, who had seen the catapult made by Liu Yi, the catapult in front of him was a bit like a pediatric.

Watching Liu Yi try his best to improve before, Wei Yan didn't feel much of it, but when he saw the enemy's siege equipment appear in front of him, as soon as this contrast appeared, the gap came out, neither the weight of the stone nor the range of the catapult itself was above an order of magnitude, and Ma Chao used the equipment used by all the princes in the whole world except for Liu Beijun, which was not outdated, but at this moment, in Wei Yan's eyes, he couldn't bear to look at it directly.

"Fight back, let that Ma Chao know what a catapult is!" Shaking his head, Wei Yan looked at Xiliangjun with pity in his eyes.

His own generals left, and quickly instructed the catapults in the rear to turn around and fire stone projectiles at the Xiliang army.

If the stone bullet of the Xiliang Army is as big as a football, then the catapult on Yangping Pass is a whole piece the size of a grinding plate, but unfortunately the terrain of Yangping Pass can only place three such bulky instruments.

"Buzz~"

With the order of the general, three stone bullets the size of a grinding disc broke through the air, crossed an arc above Yangping Pass, and went directly to the crowd.

Stone bullets the size of a grinding disc fell from the sky, and the shield hand protecting the archers below was still dazed and ignorant, still running forward with the shield, and the next moment, three stone bullets fell like a meteorite falling from the sky, with a huge roar and might, in the dense formation, three potholes appeared, and the Xiliang soldiers under the stone had no chance to scream at all, and they were smashed into a puddle of flesh by the huge force.

The casualties were not large, but the deterrence caused by that moment was devastating to morale, the Xiliang army was harassed by Wei Yan all the way, and the morale was not high, now looking at such a natural disaster-like scene, the morale that had just been inspired collapsed instantly, and the soldiers in the back row had begun to retreat, and Ma Chao commanded the team to stop even cutting a few soldiers, and the soldiers in front were still rushing forward.

Seeing that the morale was not high, Ma Chao himself was a little frightened by the blow, and immediately ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops, first boost the morale, and then attack the city not too late.

"Then why is the catapult in Liu Bei's army so powerful?" With the sound of gold, the army retreated like a tide, and Ma Chao saw that the other party had no intention of going out of the city to pursue, so he put away the ambush and led the army back to the camp, causing the generals to frown.

"It is rumored that Liu Bei has a skilled craftsman under his command, and the things he makes have the power of ghosts and gods." One of the strategists frowned.

It has been three years since the end of the Battle of Chibi, and there is some information about Liu Yi in the hands of the princes, but this era does not attach too much importance to craftsmen, because for Liu Yi, the princes only know that there is a powerful craftsman under Liu Bei, but there are not many people who really care.

"Craftsman?" Ma Chaojian raised his eyebrows and said unhappily: "Just a craftsman, he made our army so embarrassed?" ”

Before this battle officially started, his army was frightened back by the enemy's garrison equipment, if it was because Wei Yan was too strong, Ma Chao also admitted it, but it was because of a craftsman, which made Ma Chao a little difficult to accept.

Everyone was speechless when they heard this, this is the case, think about it on the other hand, a craftsman can make the world know, Liu Bei is even more entrusted with a heavy responsibility, he has his own extraordinary, there is nothing to be surprised about, right?

Seeing that Ma Chao was depressed and indignant, Pang De changed the topic and frowned: "The terrain of this Yangping Pass is dangerous, if it is attacked, it will be captured, and our army will suffer huge losses, and I am afraid it will be difficult to occupy Hanzhong." ”

"But Wei Yan refuses to go out of the city to fight, judging by his attitude, I'm afraid it will be difficult to lure him out of the pass." Another general shook his head and sighed, this Yangping Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and whoever it is, I'm afraid he won't take the initiative to send troops.

Ma Chao knocked on the table, then looked at Pang De and said: "Just now I looked at the terrain of Pingguan in Yang, and found that the peak on the west side is quite steep, Ling Ming, you take a group of men and horses to see if you can find the path up the mountain, if you can find it, then go up the mountain to occupy the high ground, and when the war starts tomorrow, put arrows or throw stones from the mountain to that pass." ”

Hearing this, Pang De's eyes lit up, he thought about the mountains on both sides of Yangping Pass, nodded and said: "If you can find the path and occupy the high ground, then the movement of troops and horses in Yangping Pass will be in full view." ”

Ma Chao nodded, he has wolf-like sensitivity in this regard, but when he first came, he found the problem of Yangping Pass, or it can't be said to be a problem, Yangping Pass is built on the mountain, the cliffs on both sides are steep, and it is difficult for birds to cross, and it is also a natural barrier of Yangping Pass, even the locals don't know if there is a way up the mountain, so naturally it will not be a problem.

It's just that for Ma Chao, even if there is no road, in order to be able to break through Yangping Pass as soon as possible, he has to open a road.

"Besides......" hesitated for a moment, Ma Chao looked at Pang De and said, "Then Yang Ang has any abnormal movements?" ”

After all, he still felt a little uneasy, after all, Yang Ang should be with the army in this attack on Hanzhong, but he took the initiative to ask to guard the rear, and on the way to Hanzhong, Ma Chaoyue felt that something was wrong.

"Judging from the news from Bo Zhan, Yang Ang is quite peaceful, and even took the initiative to give the military power to Bo Zhan." Pound shook his head and said.

"Go ahead, break through this Yangping Pass as soon as possible, as long as you take Hanzhong, you are not afraid of his deception!" He waved his hand irritably, motioning for everyone to stand back.

After Pang De bowed to Ma Chao, he withdrew from the camp with the generals, leaving only Ma Chao sitting in his place, closing his eyes and not saying a word......