In the laughter of Wei Hou's dinner, the city of Handan was desolate, and the crying in the southern city was continuous, and I didn't know whether it was the soldiers who cried dead and wounded, or the civilians who were smashed to death. The city wall is full of lights, and the people are desperately repairing the city wall at night.

At this time, in the Wei Palace, in the candlelight.

"Do you want to go out of the city and attack tonight?" Zhao Hou's tone was quite angry.

As Zhao Hou's voice landed, several generals and doctors began to argue again. Zhao Hou reluctantly leaned on the low couch slowly, supporting his forehead with his hands, and he didn't know whether it was a headache or a drowsiness.

"The old man thinks that the Wei army must be on guard today, and it is better to hold on for a few more days." An old man said energetically.

Unexpectedly, at this time, there was a snoring sound, which seemed to be getting louder and louder. The old man was furious, and followed the snoring sound, but he saw that on the low couch that belonged to the king, Zhao Hou's head was already sleeping.

"Let's all disperse, let's stop here today." The old man waved his hand helplessly, and after another fight, everyone dispersed.

At this time, behind the south gate, Tai Wuwu also fell asleep on the small table. The real pillar of Zhao did not choose the palace, but insisted on supervising the repair of the city wall at the south gate, and used actions to explain his position, perhaps this is what Zhao Guo urgently needs at present.

The tense and busy night passed quickly, and when it was dawn, I saw Taiwuwu, who was neatly clothed, and a general, who had climbed the south gate and looked into the distance.

The generals were also majestic, and the flags were erected, but at this time the south gate was bare, the wooden castle tower that was smashed down yesterday was completely demolished, and all the building materials were cleaned up, and a small open space appeared on the south gate, revealing several round stone piers used to support the pillars of the castle tower. The generals stood neatly on the bare city gate, and it looked a little funny.

However, no one will discuss the matter of the castle tower at this time, because everyone is desperately looking to the south, which is the direction in which the Wei army may appear.

A cadre of people looked from the time of Mao to the time of Chen, and then from the time of Chen to the time of Si, but there was no trace of the Wei army. Why don't you come to attack the city today, don't the Wei people want to take advantage of the situation to expand the results of the battle? A group of people has no answers.

"Choose a few capable scouts, send them down to the city in hanging baskets, and go south to see the movements of the Wei army." Tai Wuwu frowned and said.

Immediately, a small school ran down. Tai Wuwu was very dissatisfied with this, he didn't remind him this morning, and there was no general who was waiting for him, even if he knew that the Wei army was coming to attack the city, he had to find out how many people were coming, which direction, and when he would arrive.

In fact, what Tai Wuwu was most worried about was whether the Wei army would have to shift the direction of the siege, after all, the city wall was dead, but the catapult was movable, and the Wei army could take care of the four city walls of Handan in a few days, so that for the defender of the city, it would be a big trouble.

An hour later, the first scout who ran back was seen from a distance, and as soon as he hung it on the city wall, he was immediately sent to Taiwuwu and the generals.

After a while, Tai Wuwu frowned, the Wei army did not leave the camp today, and there were still some people outside the camp who moved some stones from nowhere. Could it be that all the flying stones prepared by the Wei army were used up yesterday, and they had to prepare again today, so they didn't attack the city?

Came to this somewhat funny conclusion, but Tai Wuwu did not laugh, Wei Hou is menacing, he will never make such a low-level mistake, and even if the flying stones are used up, today it is just right to use soldiers to directly attach the city to attack, and at the same time the people go to collect stones, and then use the flying stones to attack the city wall tomorrow, and so on, day after day, the pressure of Handan will not stop day by day, and one day it will be difficult to hold.

What the hell was Wei Hou thinking?

The Zhao people were puzzled for several days, the Wei army only collected some stones every day, and there were fireworks rising in the camp, but unfortunately the Handan scouts couldn't see clearly in the distance, and the Zhao soldiers were relieved, after all, the flying stones in the sky that day were too terrifying, but people of insight such as Tai Wuwu were sad day by day.

On the fifth day after stopping the siege, the Wei army finally started a big move again, more than 100,000 soldiers came out of the camp together, approached a mile outside the southern city wall of Handan, and then the army set up a camp, set up a catapult, at the end of the hour, the first flying stone was accurately smashed on the city wall of Handan, causing an exclamation. This is a repeat of the first day of siege, but the next action of the Wei army made Tai Wuwu feel bad, only to see the Wei army in front of the foot soldiers, followed by the catapults, but in front of the catapults there are a group of people and miscellaneous servants struggling to dig a ditch, a closer look, it is actually digging a trench and building a stone wall.

No wonder a few days ago collected so many stones, but I am afraid that a lot of bricks were burned, the Wei army was actually going to build a city outside the city of Handan, completely blockading the south of Handan, so that the catapult does not have to worry about the Zhao soldiers raiding and transporting it every day, but under the protection of the walled wall, when to throw stones, if it is suddenly at night to throw stones, the foot soldiers in the back to take advantage of the night to touch the city wall, Taiwu Wu Wu thought about it and felt that the whole person was not good. The Wei people are really insidious, this is to destroy the Zhao State.

"If you hold this place well, you will definitely follow the strategy set the day before yesterday to reduce the casualties of our soldiers. I have something important to go to the palace to meet the king. After explaining a few words to the generals around him, Tai Wuwu turned around and ran towards Zhao Palace.

I didn't expect that as soon as I arrived at Zhao Palace, I got a good news that Le Zuo's army was rushing for days, and it would be possible to arrive in Handan the day after tomorrow. It's good news, I hope it's too late, Tai Wuwu grabbed the little colonel who reported the news, and ran to the main hall of Zhao Palace together.

At this time, Zhao Hou was naturally there, and there were a few nobles, and the Wei army was pressing the city, and they were also nervous.

It's just that after listening to what Tai Wuwu said, they are even more nervous.

"The Wei army wants to build a city outside the city and lock us up in Handan City?" Zhao Hou shouted, his home was locked up by others, and no one would be happy, especially when it came to life and death.

The aristocrats also danced in panic and shouted one after another.

"Don't worry, don't worry, the Wei army is just building a city outside the southern city." Tai Wuwu couldn't help but shout, his heart was naturally full of contempt, not for Zhao Hou, but for this nobleman. But also, the more capable ones are put on the battlefield, and they can do things to prepare troops or logistics, only these useless people will gather in front of the king all day long, and net out some crooked ideas, which seem to share the worries of the king, but in fact they are adding chaos, and the enemy is attacking the city, and they are still dangling in front of this king.

Zhao Hou also immediately came back to his senses, "Yes, only in the south, and the Wei people can't surround it." We can go out of the city and break it, by the way, where has Le Zuo's army gone? Yesterday's receipt said that it would arrive on or after tomorrow. ”

"Your Majesty, your subordinates are about to talk about this when they enter the palace, and it is reported that Le Zuo will arrive the day after tomorrow, and there is a former military colonel here." Tai Wuwu waved his hand, and the palace monarchs and ministers noticed the sergeant who was following behind Tai Wuwu, who thought it was just Tai Wuwu's follower, but he didn't think it was Le Zuo's person.

After listening to the report, Tai Wuwu waved his hand and let the little school go down to rest.

"The Lezuo army will arrive the day after tomorrow, and at this time, the wall of the Wei people has not yet been repaired, maybe this is our last chance." A young aristocrat's mind turned quickly, and while Zhao Hou and the others were still thinking about the relationship between the two, he actually said first.

Zhao Hou's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Ah, just let Le Zuo's army attack the Wei army and burn the catapults, won't the Wei army have no need to worry?" ”

"Wonderful, your lord is clever!" Immediately, someone in the hall congratulated him.

But I only heard Tai Wuwu hurriedly wave his hand and say, "Your Majesty, you must not!" The Lezuo army had been fighting for several months, and this time they rushed back day and night, and they were already exhausted, and if they immediately attacked the Wei army camp, they were afraid that they would be in the arms of the Marquis of Wei. If even Lezuo's army is defeated by the Wei army, or even the casualties are too large, it will not be conducive to my defense of Handan. ”

This is very reasonable, and besides, Zhao Hou is not a fool, I saw Zhao Hou wave his hand to signal those nobles not to speak, and then began to bow his head and ponder.

"Your Majesty, if the Dele Zuo army enters the city smoothly, rests for a few days, and waits to recover its combat strength, even if the Wei army surrounds Handan, my Handan City will not have to worry about it."

"If you are really surrounded, you will starve to death, how can you worry?" Someone immediately countered.

"Not to mention whether the Wei army can encircle Handan with only 200,000, even if it wants to encircle Handan, it is not a day and a month. The immediate urgency is to let the Le Zuo army enter the city smoothly, but I am afraid that the Wei army will intercept it halfway. Tai Wuwu replied calmly.

"Then how should the Wei army deal with building a city outside Handan City?" Zhao Hou asked.

"According to the minister's opinion, the Marquis of Wei will inevitably dispatch a large army to block Le Zuo, so that we can select 20,000 elite soldiers, and choose another 2,000 dead soldiers, and use 20,000 elite soldiers to cover the 2,000 dead soldiers to rush into the Wei camp with the things that cause fire, and desperately burn the catapults, then even if the Wei people build the city, there is no need to worry about the attack of flying stones." Tai Wuwu replied calmly, obviously after meeting the junior colonel who reported the news from Le Zuojun, he had thought of countermeasures in a short period of time.

There was silence in the hall, obviously thinking about Tai Wuwu's proposal.

"Two thousand dead soldiers are too few, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to rush close to the catapult, and there are not many things that one person can carry to ignite the fire, and I can't burn a few." A nobleman said that it seemed that they were still a little bit military, and as soon as they heard Tai Wuwu say it, they knew that the dead man was desperately approaching the catapult regardless of his life, and he did not plan to come back at all.

"Gather five thousand, and burn the Wei army's catapults desperately." Another nobleman said, obviously a little moved by Tai Wuwu's proposal, and even if there are many contradictions on weekdays, they have to work together at this time.

"Five thousand? How can it be so easy to gather? Or are you willing to sacrifice your house slaves? Another nobleman rolled his eyes.

"As long as everyone is out, why don't I come out? I'm just afraid that someone won't come out. "First a nobleman is in a hurry.

"That's it!" Zhao Hou roared, stopping the no-play dispute that was about to happen. "After all, there are still two days to set fire, success or failure in this move, Tai Wuqing quickly went to prepare some things to ignite the fire, as for the specific matters, after the Wei army stopped attacking the city, the widow will convene all the generals to discuss."

"No!"

Taiwu saw that Zhao Hou accepted his proposal so easily this time, so he didn't say anything more, briefly talked about his views on the current situation, and immediately returned to Nancheng.

The day's offensive soon passed, and as the sun fell, the Wei army's catapults stopped moving, the miscellaneous servants were still trying their best to build the wall, the soldiers took turns guarding the unfinished wall, and some of the craftsmen who accompanied the army began to inspect and repair the catapults.

The Wei army did not prohibit Zhou Bian and others to move around at will, while the sky was still bright, the royal family was accompanied by a team of Wei soldiers, first looked at the construction of the wall, a day is only enough to dig a small ditch, this ditch is actually a little wide, because the front of the trench, the back of the tamping and then with stones to build it, is the wall, although the shadow of the wall has not been seen, but as long as you are familiar with the building technology of this era, you know what the Wei army wants to do. And this also made Zhou Bian a little frightened, and even built the wall so carefully, which shows how determined Wei Hou was in order to capture Handan.

Then Zhou Bian looked at the catapult again, this is the first time Zhou Bian has close contact with the catapult of the Wei State, I don't think about it, I don't know it, I was shocked when I saw it, the production of the Wei catapult is still above what was made in Luoyang. I saw that each one was made of fine wood, the levers were straight, the base was stable, and the shafts were covered with copper to increase durability and lubrication. It turns out that Wei has studied catapults so deeply that there is already a certain plan for its use. This is nothing, and what surprised Zhou Bian the most was that there were some spare parts next to each catapult, such as bearings and copper sheets, which were obviously used for temporary replacement. I didn't think about this era, people have an understanding of spare parts. Zhou Bian couldn't help but think that if it was not the Qing Dynasty that the Western powers knocked on the door of the country, but this dynasty, with the spirit of learning and forging ahead with the spirit of learning and forging ahead of the Chinese people, perhaps China's achievements would be far more than today's Japan in later generations.

Just as he was thinking about something, he suddenly heard footsteps hurrying, and when he turned his head, he saw a middle-aged man who looked like a craftsman running over panting.

"Is this the capable person of the Zhou Room?" As soon as he got closer, before he could calm down his breath, the man called out.

Ning Yue frowned, and was about to scold, but Fan Yu jumped out, "Exactly, what's the matter?" ”

"A certain Liang Sikong Jiang Qi, I heard that this catapult was the first in Luoyang, and I was curious, so I came to see it." The somewhat reckless middle-aged man bent over his knees and said.

In this way, Zhou Bian was also a little curious, and he also wanted to know how they thought of the catapult and how they tested and produced it.

Unexpectedly, the young general of the Wei army who accompanied him at this time was not happy, and stepped forward to salute the Jiang Qi, and then whispered a few times, only to see the Lord Sikong bow goodbye helplessly.

It seems that the Wei people are still very taboo about their contact with people, which makes Zhou Bian a little regretful. After a casual turn, he returned to the camp, but the name Jiang Qi made Zhou Bian remember.

This was the case for two days, during the day, while flying stones bombarded Handan, while constantly building walls, I saw that the rammed earth was solid, and I saw that the stones were built up, and they were almost one person tall.

Finally, on the third day, the Wei army did not drop flying stones on this day, but the whole army was in a state of tension, and Zhou Bian could see that the craftsmen and miscellaneous servants also picked up weapons, but in the place where Zhou Bian could not see, team after team of Wei troops left the huge Wei army camp firmly blocked in the south of Handan City.

The depressing atmosphere made Zhou Bian a little nervous, could it be a big war? And how can Wei Hou confirm that it is today?