The huge well has approached the city wall, Liu Beijun's ladder is also beginning to build the city wall, the siege battle has begun, the arrows are like flying locusts, and the soldiers on both sides have begun to fight fiercely up and down the city wall.

Don't let that well come close!

Zhang Ren could clearly feel that the morale of the defenders became low as the giant well became closer, although Zhang Ren couldn't figure out why the other party's well was so close, but for Zhang Ren, this was an opportunity!

"Oil, quick, shoot all at that well!" Zhang Ren looked around, and ordered someone to smash all the fire oil on the city wall into the well, which was originally used to burn the opponent's ladder, but now, it is better to burn the giant well first, and then say, with this thing, the pressure on the defenders is too great.

At that moment, there were Shu soldiers who loaded cans of fire oil on top of the stone machine, and continued to bombard the well, the viscous liquid hung all over the walls of the well, and a large number of rockets fell on the huge well under the command of Zhang Ren.

The flames spread to the entire well in an instant, standing on the city wall, it felt like a wall of fire was approaching this side, and the soldiers on the well did not care about shooting arrows again, and the scorching flames made them jump down from the well in a panic.

Did it fail?

Liu Yi frowned and looked at the giant well where the bamboo slips were engulfed in flames, and sighed, fire attack is indeed a disaster for wooden engineering equipment.

The worst thing is that with the burning of this huge well, the morale of the Shu army defending the city was greatly shaken, but the morale of Liu Beijun's side was affected a lot.

Blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, while enjoying the advantages brought by this giant well block, once the giant well is destroyed, the psychological advantage of the siege soldiers will also be gone, and the psychological gap is directly manifested, and the morale is greatly reduced.

This battle can't go on!

Liu Yi looked at Liu Bei, if he continued to fight, the casualties would increase, or the casualty ratio would increase greatly, so there was no need.

Liu Bei obviously saw it, so he had no choice but to order Mingjin to withdraw his troops.

On the city wall in the distance, the cheers and ridicule of the defenders sounded, Liu Yi didn't feel anything, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and this time the production of the well was originally an experiment.

"Bo Yuan, don't be discouraged." Liu Bei was worried that Liu Yi would be hit, so he patted Liu Yi's shoulder with relief and smiled: "This thing is wonderful, it's just ......"

It's just that it's too easy to be targeted, the size is too big, people want to burn it, and there's nowhere to hide.

Shaking his head, Liu Yi smiled and said, "Don't worry, this thing is just an experiment, but after this battle, Yi has a new idea!" ”

"Oh?" When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Liu Yi and said, "It's not just a strategy?" ”

"Yi doesn't know how to plan, please give Yi a few more days, and we will move the city wall to the battlefield!" Liu Yi smiled: "Ten days is enough!" ”

The previous siege warfare had inspired him a lot, but now he couldn't wait to go back and put his ideas into practice.

"There's no hurry." Liu Bei nodded and smiled when he heard this.

……

Thousands of miles away, Jingzhou, Jiangling.

Since Liu Bei led the army into Shu, Jiangdong attitude playful, Zhuge Liang after asking Liu Bei, then moved the governance office back from the public security back to Jiangling, Liu Bei has been in Shu for almost three years now, three years, Jingzhou has changed a lot.

"Military Division, this is the population statistics of Yueyang County last year." Ma Jian came to Zhuge Liang with a stack of bamboo slips, bowed down and said, before Liu Yi left, the position of the Taishou of Yueyang and Changsha counties was handed over, and now Ma Jian is the Taishou of Yueyang.

"Let's just say it." Zhuge Liang said with a smile, in the past three years, Jingzhou has changed a lot, especially in Changsha and Yueyang counties.

"Last year, Yueyang's population increased by thirty percent, but the tax ......" Ma Jian frowned a little when he said this, Liu Yi suggested that Liu Bei should give some preferential treatment in order to develop the population, such as learning from Goujian, the king of Yue, who gave birth to a son raised by the government.

"You don't have to think about that." Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "The lord is now fighting in Yizhou, and the grain and grass are all from Hanzhong, and my Jingzhou can develop steadily." ”

Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but squint his eyes, although the current situation is not friendly to Liu Bei, but internally, the development of Jingzhou is extremely gratifying, in the past three years, the population of the five counties of Jingnan alone, the population has increased by as much as 200,000, in order to keep these populations, Liu Bei did not accept some of the policies that benefit the people, Zhuge Liang weighed them and let them go, and now Jingzhou is not short of money, but there is a shortage of people.

Although the growth in the past three years is all immature, but according to this development, twenty years later, after the population balance is re-established, the land of Jingnan alone, when it comes to wartime, can raise 100,000 soldiers and horses, not to mention that Nanjun is a county with a large population, just a Jingzhou, with a population of more than five million, if you add Yizhou, Liu Bei's heritage will definitely be able to compete with Cao Cao in 20 years.

Ma Jian nodded, Liu Bei went on this expedition, the early stage was all from Liu Zhang, and the later stage was mobilized from Hanzhong, and there was no war pressure on the Jingzhou side, and a rare period of stable development was obtained.

"Yueyang County now has a population of nearly 50,000, but in terms of people's livelihood, there are still some hardships." Ma Jian sighed, this is also a helpless thing, even if the government now bears more than half of the cost of raising children, but since three years ago, the birth rate of babies in Jingzhou has been in a stage of terrifying growth, half of the couples have at least two children to support, and the survival pressure is very great, even if the government provides a lot of discounts, they are still living tightly.

It is worth mentioning that in the past three years, with the role of Yueyang in communicating both sides of the riverbank, Yueyang has become a core city in Jingnan, converging from south to north, making Yueyang's fixed population close to 50,000, and the daily floating population is even more difficult to measure.

"There are also difficulties in recruitment." When Ma Tan said this, he was also a little crying and laughing.

It's a good thing that there are more people, but now the men in Jingzhou have become timid, after all, a family needs to be fed, and when they become soldiers, they may die on the battlefield at any time, and the livelihood of that family is gone, so although the population has skyrocketed, it is more difficult to recruit soldiers than in the past.

Zhuge Liang was silent when he heard this, which is also an important reason why he strives for stability, and even does not hesitate to take the initiative to lower his posture in Jiangdong, Jingzhou is now in a state of rapid development, at this time, any war for Jingzhou, will slow down the pace of Jingzhou's development.

Zhuge Liang put down his pen, picked up the feather fan at hand, looked at Ma Jian with a smile and said: "This is not in a hurry, now our army has 100,000 troops, but it is enough to garrison Jingzhou, and the rest, just wait for the lord to seize Yizhou." ”

"Report~" A small colonel rushed to the door, bowed down and said, "Military advisor, the lord has sent a messenger back." ”

"Please!" Zhuge Liang and Ma Jian hurriedly stood up to greet them, and now they don't know how the battle of Yizhou is going.

Soon, a dusty messenger came in and saluted Zhuge Liang.

"Military advisor, this is written by the lord himself, and the humble position will be handed over to the military advisor himself!" The messenger presented the letter to Zhuge Liang with both hands and said respectfully.

"Oh?" Zhuge Liang's expression became solemn, and he hurriedly unfolded the letter and looked at it carefully.

His complexion sank little by little.

"Strategist?" Seeing that Zhuge Liang's face was wrong, Ma Tan hurriedly asked, "What happened?" ”

"Shiyuan was injured and the offensive was blocked, and the lord ordered Jingzhou to send a general to attack the north and south with the lord." Zhuge Liang groaned.

"Who do you want to send? How much do you want to move? Ma Jian hurriedly asked.

Shaking his head, Zhuge Liang knew that this was Liu Bei who gave him the right to decide, and the situation in Jingzhou was not good, Sun Quan was eyeing him, if he transferred too many troops, he was afraid that Sun Quan would covet him, but if he had to transfer too few troops, he would not be able to help much, Liu Bei gave Zhuge Liang the right to decide, which was a great trust.

Ma Jian also understood this truth, looked at Zhuge Liang and said: "Among the generals in Jingzhou now, I am afraid that only Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are two generals who can be adjusted, and one of these two people must be left to guard Jingzhou." ”

Although Liu Bei gave the right to decide, the person who guarded Jingzhou must be Liu Bei's henchmen, except for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the others, including Zhao Yun and Chen Zhi, are all of a little worse.

"I often thought, which general should I send?" Zhuge Liang didn't make a decision, but looked at Ma Yan and asked with a smile.

"General Guan has both wisdom and bravery, powerful in the world, can deter Xiaoxiao, although General Yide seems to be reckless, but I have heard Mr. Boyuan say that General Yide is thick and fine, if you talk about marching and fighting, it is not inferior to General Yunchang." Ma Jian did not answer directly, but analyzed the situation of the two.

It's not that Zhang Fei is inferior to Guan Yu, but in terms of reputation, Guan Yu's record is relatively strong, as a general, Guan Yu is obviously more suitable than Zhang Fei in terms of reputation.

And in terms of the degree of dependence, it is estimated that Liu Bei is also more at ease with Guan Yu.

As for how to choose, Ma Tan didn't say much, this kind of thing, Zhuge Liang asked him more of a kind of teaching, just stop at the point, if you say more, you will be a little confused.

Zhuge Liang nodded with a smile when he heard this, he had already made a decision in his heart, looked at Ma Jian with a little more appreciation, suddenly thought of some of Liu Yi's words, looked at Ma Jian and said: "This time to send troops, Liang can't follow him personally, you Chang is willing to assist Liang as the main general of this trip, and enter Shu?" ”

Liu Yi once said that no matter how powerful a genius is, he also needs experience to enrich it, and if he is given more opportunities to practice, he will definitely become the leader of Liu Beijun's next generation in the future.

Zhuge Liang still trusts his friend's ability to see people and similar arguments, and the more he gets along, the more Zhuge Liang likes Ma Tan, since he has this opportunity, it is better to let Ma Tan take the opportunity to enter the army to experience it.

Ma Yan naturally didn't know the deep meaning of this at the moment, and nodded with a smile when he heard the words: "Dare not obey your fate!" ”

"Go and ask the generals to come over." Zhuge Liang nodded and said to the guard.

"Whoa!"