For the first attack, Cao Cao still chose to start the attack from the middle section of the city wall where the city gate was located.

The army of 40,000 was divided into two main parts, about 10,000 hoplites opened the way with large shields in front, and dozens of wooden ladders tied with trees and planks more than ten zhang long were laid on the moat.

The hoplites, holding large shields, advanced under the walls with arrows from the walls, and the distance from the walls to the moat was designed to be exactly eighty zhang, just to ensure that the bows and crossbows on the walls were covered.

What's more, as many as 200 large repeating crossbows have been placed on the head of the Tiger Prison Pass, and its coverage is close to a distance of 180 zhang due to the condescending reason.

Within a hundred zhang, its strength can even penetrate the large shield, and the ability to fire continuously ensures the continuity of firepower.

The trebuchet did not participate in the first wave of defense, and Lu Bu's requirement was that the trebuchet could only participate in the defense when it was extremely urgent or when the opponent also dispatched the trebuchet.

Cao Cao's siege was about five miles wide in the middle, and while the hoplites with large shields resisted and attracted long-range attacks from the city, a large group of light infantry wearing chain armor carried ladders and began to charge.

In order to increase the speed of the charge, these light infantry did not take shields, but relied entirely on the armor on their bodies to resist long-range attacks, and they quickly rushed out of the cover range of the large shield and rushed to the front of the whole army.

Later, a large number of crossbowmen followed behind the big shield, and began to suppress the city at a distance of eighty zhang.

Cao Cao revealed one of his secret weapons at this time, which was Cao Cao's repeater.

This kind of repeater is about the same as the first generation of repeater crossbows of the Central Army, one arrow at a time, ten bursts, the range is shorter, there are seventy or eighty zhang, and the weight is also a little heavier.

The appearance of Cao Cao's crossbows made it impossible for the central army on the city wall to lean out and shoot arrows as unscrupulously as at the beginning, but they had natural cover such as battlements, and the casualties were still much smaller than those of the attacking Cao army.

A large number of light infantry of the Cao army, under the cover of large shields, rushed to the moat and threw the sandbags they carried into the river.

The sandbag worked much better than the dirt alone, and soon several passages were filled in the moat.

In addition, there are a large number of infantry under the cover of the big shield, rushing to repair the wooden bridge, the structure of the wooden bridge is simple, the damage is not complete, the progress of the repair is still very fast.

Despite the rain of arrows, Cao's soldiers were still relatively brave, and soon repaired the wooden bridge to pass.

Five rushing trucks and ten ladder trucks that had been waiting for a long time all passed the bridge quickly.

Lu Bu, who personally commanded the defensive operations of the Central Army at the head of the city, saw at a glance the rushing cars and ladder vehicles that were mixed in the army and only stood out at this time.

It seems that there are still capable people among the Kwantung princes, and such advanced siege equipment has appeared in this era.

Fortunately, the 1st Guard Division responsible for the defense of the middle road and the attached Tuntian Army and Garrison Brigade have already been prepared, and they have also been prepared for the Tiger Prison Pass to deal with such siege weapons as ladders and rushing cars.

With the efforts of the light infantry, thirty simple ladders were successively moved to the bottom of the city, and then erected high and put on the top of the city with iron hooks.

Immediately afterwards, Le Jin, the general of the Cao army, personally led the brave men to climb the ladder and bravely go up, and the crossbowmen also desperately approached to cover.

The defenders at the head of the city finally showed off the two major defensive equipment that had been prepared long ago against the ladder.

The first is a crash, similar to a crash, in which a ramming log is tied to a wooden frame, the tip of the crash log is wrapped in an iron sheet, and it pokes out of the hole reserved under the battlements and hits the middle and upper part of the ladder, but the attack range is limited.

The second, more practical, is called a yaksha and is installed on the outside of the city wall, a stout log with iron nails, like a mace.

Two wooden wheels are placed at both ends of the log, and the connection between the wooden wheel and the log is tied with a rope or iron chain, twisted with a winch, and then smashed down to the enemy on the ladder, which can attack the enemy at the same time, damage the ladder, and then twist it with a winch, and the cycle repeats.

Cao's hoplites used their bodies against the ladder under the city, Le Jin protected his whole body with his shield, and climbed with all his strength with his other hand.

However, the strength of the Yaksha is too great, even a general like Le Jin does not carry it hard, and when the defenders above his head cast the Yaksha, Le Jin can only slide down the ladder to avoid it.

It didn't take much effort, and several simple ladders had been destroyed under the Yaksha.

However, after a while, eight ladder trucks and five rush carts also rushed under the city wall, and two ladder trucks were destroyed by large crossbow arrows fired by cannons.

The chariot began to ram the gates and walls, and the ladder cart also raised the upper half of the ladder to the city walls.

Because it is a cut above the city wall, and there is a heavy base underneath, it is much more stable than the simple ladder, and the collision and the yaksha have little effect on it.

Lejin climbed onto a ladder truck again, moving as agile as an ape, and approached the city in a few ups and downs.

The soldiers defending the city were already in battle, and a spear stabbed him in the chest, fast and fierce.

Le Jin judged that this should be a veteran of the Central Army, he used the shield in his hand to press down the spear, with the help of the power of the spear up, Le Jin stepped on the ladder, with a heavy armor, and actually rose into the air.

When the spear was withdrawn and stabbed out again, he had already landed firmly on the head of the city with both feet, and he drew the long knife behind his back with his backhand and blocked the spear that stabbed the second time, and fought with the surrounding central army.

The Kwantung coalition army, which was watching the battle from a distance, saw that someone on their side had successfully rushed to the top of the city, and broke out into huge cheers, and the morale of the Cao army who was charging was also greatly increased.

With Lejin taking the lead, some outlaws of the Cao army climbed to the top of the city, and the central army immediately organized people to besiege them.

Gao Shun was also in command at the head of the city, and when he saw that Cao Jun's ladder trucks and rushing cars had already rushed to the city, he immediately ordered in a loud voice, "Pour fire oil and burn them with rockets!" ”

Pots and barrels of oil poured down from the heads of the rushing carts and ladders, and then rockets roared in, turning the city into a sea of fire.

The warriors of the Cao army, who were still climbing on the ladder, immediately turned into burning people, howling and falling down the ladder, and died in the sea of fire, and the hoplites holding the ladder moved slowly and became burning people.

Although the base of the cart and the ladder cart were covered with cowhide to ward off arrows and fire, the other parts were still wooden, so they burned quickly, and the oil flowed.

The soldiers in charge of the carts, who were hiding in the carts and in the bases, were forced by the heat and poisonous smell of the fire to flee one after another, and many were immediately knocked down by the crossbow arrows in the city.

The protruding horse face on the city wall gave full play to the role of a three-sided attack at this time, and Cao's army needed to deal with crossbow arrows fired from three directions, and there was nowhere to dodge.

One of the great advantages of the repeater is that it is easy to operate, and the Tuntian army, which has received military training all year round, is no stranger to the use of repeater.

Although the accuracy is not as good as that of the main army, it is better than a large number of people, and under the rain of arrows, it will always shoot the enemy.

(End of chapter)