"Ziyang, what is this thunderbolt?" Even though Cao Ying is arrogant, but these mechanism manufacturing techniques are outright laymen, and he didn't see a name for himself after looking at the schematic diagram for a long time.

"Prime Minister, this thunderbolt is one zhang high, two zhang long, and made of rough wood, which was developed by the minister to deal with Yuan Shao's crossbowmen. I have ordered the craftsmen in the army to build one, which can throw more than 100 catties of stones dozens of feet away! Liu Ye said quite confidently.

"How can that?" Cao Ying listened okay at first, but finally heard Liu Ye say that this thunderbolt could throw stones dozens of feet away, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Where's the thunderbolt? Take me to see it! ”

"It's in the rear army, Prime Minister, please!" At that moment, Cao Ying and Liu Ye were surrounded by a bunch of guards with shields and walked towards the rear army, until they walked out of the range of Yuan Shaojun's bow and crossbow, and then they dared to move forward in a "normal" way of walking. "That's it?" Cao Ying looked at a rough-made wooden shelf in front of him, a little incredulous.

"It's exactly this, Prime Minister, please take a look." Liu Ye instructed someone to fill it with stones while introducing it, and adjusted the cantilever. When the other end of the cantilever could not be higher, he ordered to loosen the section where the stones were placed, and suddenly the large stones weighing more than 100 catties were thrown out with a "hula" sound, and they fell until they were dozens of zhang away, and a half-foot-deep pit was smashed out of the ground.

Shocked, absolutely shocked. Cao Ying looked at it in a daze for a long time, and then smacked his mouth. Although his martial arts skills are not particularly high, Cao Ying also knows that even Xu Chu, a rare male-type general with strange strength in the world, would throw such a heavy stone a few zhang away if he died, which would never be possible for dozens of zhang.

"Ziyang, you want to use this thunderbolt to deal with Yuan Shao's crossbowmen on the earth mountain." After Cao Ying reacted, he sighed and asked.

"That's right, lord, just a hundred and ten of these thunderbolts can definitely make Yuan Shao's crossbowmen tremble!" Liu Ye said with confidence. Cao Ying didn't deny it, after all, a bunch of stones smashed on his head and face were far more terrifying than random arrows. Random arrows can still be resisted with a shield, even if you use a shield to block this kind of stone, but as long as it hits, you can't eat and walk around. "Ziyang, the speedy craftsman will build this thunderbolt as soon as possible!" Cao Ying recovered from the shock at the beginning, and suddenly returned to his usual vigorous and resolute style.

"Lord, there are not many craftsmen in our army, and we need to go to Yanzhou to recruit as soon as possible!" Liu Ye heard that he had another opinion, and Cao Ying did not delay, and immediately nodded in agreement, and let people start to deal with this matter.

So in the next few days, Cao's army, which was not too affected by Yuan Shaojun's arrow rain, began to be lively. Groups of sergeants went out to cut down the thick towering trees, and then craftsmen from the vicinity of Yanzhou were also recruited into the army. The sound of saws and chisels could be heard everywhere throughout the rear army, and Cao Jun seemed to have started a large carpenter's workshop. Among the busy workers, there was a thin carpenter who was digging holes while watching the process of making them.

"How are Cao Apu doing these days?" In Yuan Shao's military camp opposite Guandu, Boss Yuan asked with some pride. "Back to the lord, since our army started shooting arrows at their heads, Cao Jun almost didn't dare to move!" The strategist Feng Ji on the side said with a smile. As the same as the trial and matching, Yuan Shang is the same party, and it is appropriate to applaud the same party when it comes to discipline.

"Hmm!" Yuan Shao also nodded with satisfaction, and he also sighed: "The clever plan of judging Zhengnan is really good, although it is simple, but it is directly aimed at the key point of Cao Ying, I estimate that if it lasts like this for another half a month, Cao Ying will be exhausted!" ”

"The lord is wise!" A group of Hebei strategists praised in unison, and the atmosphere of the Hebei army was also extremely harmonious for a while.

"Lord, more than 60 Thunderbolts have been built in the past few days, you can try it first!" On this day, Liu Ye came to Cao Ying's big tent and said. Cao Ying was also slightly surprised when he heard this, but then understood what Liu Ye meant: Yuan Shao's arrow rain had too much impact on the morale of the soldiers, and it was better to solve it one day earlier. Originally, I was going to build a hundred and ten crosses, but now it seems that it is better to act sooner.

"That's very good, transfer 3,000 sword and shield soldiers, cover the thunderbolt cart to come forward, and smash it hard for me!" has been shot for a month and can't move freely, even Cao Ying can't be aggrieved. Under his order, three thousand sword and shield soldiers immediately assembled and escorted sixty trebuchets to slowly advance.

"Hey, Cao Jun moved, what is that?" The crossbowmen of the Hebei Army on the dirt mountain outside the camp gate couldn't help but be puzzled when they saw the Cao army, which had been shrinking for a month, suddenly attacked. When they saw clearly that it was still a large group of sword and shield soldiers dispatched, and dozens of wooden shelves were carried in the middle, they suddenly scratched.

"Don't panic, the crossbowmen continue to release their arrows, and the rest are ready to fight!" A lieutenant of the Hebei Army, who was still a little smart, saw that the sergeants were a little flustered, and hurriedly commanded loudly. At his instigation, a dense rain of arrows began to shoot at Cao's slowly advancing army.

"Didi Bell" arrows hit the shield and made a series of sounds. Although most of the arrows were blocked, there were still a few soldiers who stabbed Cao Jun through the gaps, and those who were lucky enough to be hit by the arrows could continue to hold on, and those who were unlucky were killed...... Finally, after paying the price of more than 100 casualties, these 3,000 people and more than 60 thunderbolts finally advanced to a place only a hundred steps away from the Tushan of the Hebei Army.

"Put!" As Cao Ren, who personally led the team, broke off with a shout, sixty thunderbolts at the same time, and sixty boulders of more than 100 catties flew into the sky together, and after crossing a beautiful arc, they smashed on the position of the Hebei army, smashing the stunned Hebei soldiers into an insincere and benevolent shape.

"Mother!" I don't know who was the first to let out a shout, but this fear quickly spread to the entire Hebei army on the mountain. At that moment, everyone shouted, and they all dropped their weapons and ran back. Although it was not the first time that these soldiers had gone to the battlefield, let alone experienced death, it was the first time they had encountered such a horrific death. Have you ever seen a comrade-in-arms smashed into a pile of meat sauce by stones falling from his head? No, so this fear is not something that words can describe.

"Don't panic, resist and shoot!" The lieutenant was still trying to stabilize the morale of the troops, but more and more people were running back. At the same time, Cao Ren didn't expect that a round of stones would have such a big effect, but as a general who had experienced a hundred battles, Cao Ren was keenly aware of the fighters, and immediately ordered the soldiers to pursue the victory. Those who did not have time to get on board were either killed or captured.

"Prime Minister, as soon as the thunderbolt started, Yuan Shao's crossbowmen were frightened. The last general took advantage of the victory to pursue, killing 2,000 enemies and capturing 3,000! In Cao Jun's big tent, Cao Ren reported to Cao Yingyu happily.!

"Zixiao has worked hard!" Cao Ying was also smiling, not only him, but the entire Yanzhou Army was full of momentum. Without that annoying rain of arrows, how beautiful life is! "Reward the craftsmen, from tomorrow onwards, I will order them to build more thunderbolts, and I Cao Mengde is not too much!" Cao Ying finally added this sentence, and Liu Ye hurriedly gave the order.

On that night, however, almost all the craftsmen were put down by the bounty of the wine, and the thin craftsman had found an opportunity to leave the camp of Cao's army, and then went north, where several fast horses had already been prepared to meet him.

"Lu Junhou, thank you for your hard work. The general said that he is in Lujiang now, and he ordered you to go quickly! The person in charge of answering saw this thin craftsman and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

"I understand!" The man mounted his horse and galloped quickly north. On the way, he suddenly remembered something, and asked the person who came to answer him, "Why do you call me a military marquis?" ”

"The general said that the military marquis has made this great achievement, so the official has been promoted to one level." The visitor happily explained. "I see!" Lu Hao also nodded when he heard this, but there was still a trace of doubt in his heart: How did the general know that Cao Jun was going to build a thunderbolt?

At this time, in Lujiang City, the arrival of the Xuzhou Army did not cause any panic, most of them were stationed outside the city with strict military discipline, and there were only direct troops of Zhao Feng and others in the city. "General, less than 2,000 of the more than 10,000 soldiers in this Lujiang county can be incorporated into the front-line troops of our army, and the remaining more than 8,000 people, at most, only 3,000 can be used as county soldiers, and the rest can only be used as Tuntian soldiers!" In the nominal county guard of Lujiang, Li Tong reported to Zhao Feng with some disbelief the situation of all the soldiers who had been surrendered this time. The rest of the generals were also dumbfounded when they heard this, they didn't expect Sun Quan to play so desperately, and directly gave them a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled.

"General Guoyi, why did Brother Ling give you these old, weak, sick and disabled?" Zhao Feng also said to Sun Fu with some tears and laughter. This is the second day that he has occupied the Lujiang River, and now the infantry is all in place, and he is now waiting for Ganning's sailors to come and converge. Fortunately, there was originally a water village in Lujiang, but there was no place to station. It's just that the Jiangdong Navy and Sun Quansuo's surname didn't give him this cousin.

"General, this matter is really chilling!" Sun Fu only shook his head when he heard this. Since he was sent here, he understood that Sun Quan wanted to kill people with a knife, so he simply surrendered. The only thing that talks about masturbation is that Zhao Feng treats him well. Of course, this is also because Zhao Feng wants to know more information from him.

"Since this pawn is so useless, Wenda, select a thousand to be included in our army. The rest were transferred back to Xuzhou to be used as county soldiers or Tuntian soldiers, and then county soldiers were transferred from Xuzhou to take over the city. Zhao Feng thought about it, and it could only be like this. This is also one of the benefits of the last Xuzhou military reform: in the past, the division of labor between the county soldiers and the Tuntian soldiers in Xuzhou's Yuzhou was not clear, but now under Zhao Feng's suggestion, each performs its own duties, requiring the county soldiers to have a certain combat effectiveness. At the same time, the original front-line combat troops under Liu Bei's rule were nearly 400,000, but under Zhao Feng's suggestion, they were reduced to no more than 200,000, including 80,000 in Yuzhou and 150,000 in Xuzhou. The advantage of this is that the rear defense is stronger, and the forward combat units are more elite. And every time it is laid, the national soldiers of Xuzhou County will take over the city defense, and at the same time, the soldiers and prisoners will be reorganized and trained. For example, Zhang Fei attacked Qingzhou a few times ago, and the 100,000 troops dispatched at the beginning were all front-line combat troops, and later after conquering the three counties, he recovered Pingyuan County, and began to allocate long garrisons to guard the city defense. At this time, the front-line combat troops in the four counties of Qingzhou were only 50,000.

Of course, the soldiers trained by Zhao Feng and Gao Shun, even if they are county soldiers, should not be underestimated in combat effectiveness. Even if there is a gap with Cao Ying's front-line combat troops, Zhao Feng estimates that its combat effectiveness should not be inferior to the Jingzhou Army or the Yizhou Army.

At this time, the Malay newspaper reported that Ganning's Huai River sailor was expected to arrive at the Lujiang River tonight. At the same time, a naval army of about 8,000 people in Jiangdong had just left Sanshan Port and was heading for Lujiang to kill.

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