Li Dian returned to the camp and reported to Cao Cao truthfully with some frustration, not hiding the fact that he had been defeated by a guy with an unknown surname in the city.

Cao Cao's character can tolerate the mistakes of his subordinates, or have some faults of this or that, and he didn't hope to send someone to shout a few words to take Tancheng, so he didn't blame Li Dian, but comforted and said: "Mancheng doesn't have to blame himself, the defenders in the city have the upper hand, but it's fast for a while, and when our army attacks the city, there will be times when they complain!" ”

Military Xun Yu said: "Lord, sent out to investigate the fine work has returned, according to their inquiry, Tancheng was closed from the inside four days ago, no one in the city came out, only yesterday Mi Zhu's brother Mi Fang was hung up from the east gate, it seems that Mi Zhu has let people block the city gate hole from the inside. This attack on Tancheng is only afraid that it will not be as smooth as before. ”

Cao Cao nodded and agreed with Xun You's analysis, he said: "Mi Fang's move seems to be a self-defeating retreat, but in fact, it is to force the soldiers and civilians in the city to resist to the end, and to prevent us from sending a fine work to infiltrate the city to destroy, which is indeed a bit ruthless." Since our army set out to conquer Xuzhou, it has not encountered decent resistance, and this time it has fought a tough battle in Tancheng, which is just right to sharpen the soldiers! In your opinion, how should we deal with Mi Zhu's blockade plan? ”

Liu Ye, the military advisor, said: "The soldiers of Xuzhou in the city do not know the means of our army's siege, and after tomorrow dawn, they can push 300 thunderbolt carts outside the west gate and project them violently at the defenders of the city, which will surely make them lose their souls and flee one after another." After the launch is completed, the moat is covered with a ladder cart and soldiers are sent to the city. Once our army occupies the head of the West Gate City, the follow-up army will continue to go up to the city, so that Tancheng can be defeated in one battle! ”

The military advisor Xi Zhicai added: "In tomorrow's battle, the first task is to make the defenders fearless, regardless of whether the landing is successful or not, in the face of such heavy pressure, the forces of all parties in the city will definitely cause disputes, and then there will be an opportunity." In addition, our army has now penetrated deep into the hinterland of Xuzhou and stationed troops in Zang Ba of Kaiyang. It is only more than 200 miles away. Beware of this wingman leading an attack on the rear of our flank! ”

Cao Cao listened to the opinions of several military advisors and said: "Continue to send fine scouts to reconnoiter along the surroundings of Tancheng, and order them to pay close attention to the movements on the gates of each city, once there are debris and the like left in the city." Be sure to find a way to get your hands on it. Tomorrow, Zixiao will command the front army to attack Ximen. The thunderbolts carried this time were used intensively. Be sure to show the defenders of the city! Yuan Rang led his troops and horses to garrison on the west bank of Yishui to closely guard against Zang Ba's army. ”

The generals received the order and prepared separately. A pitched battle looms.

In the governor's mansion, Tai Shici said to Mi Fang: "I heard that Cao Jun's thunderbolt is very powerful, and the defense of the West Gate will be extremely hard tomorrow, and there is only one way to deal with the long-range projection weapon of the thunderbolt, and that is to hide!" Now you immediately take someone to collect all the extra bedding and straw mats in the city, and wait until nightfall, and send them to the city to spread out and stack them neatly! In addition, the stone bullets fired by the thunderbolt will cross the city and fall into the city, so when you go to collect the bedding and straw mats, you must go door to door to remind the people that they should not wander around the city during the day, and hide all in their homes. After the enemy's stone bullets were fired, the people whose houses were damaged were asked to collect all the stone bullets and hand them in, saying that the government could pay for the purchases, which was regarded as a little compensation for everyone. ”

Mi Fang was a little puzzled and asked Tai Shici: "What is the use of spending money to buy those stone bullets from the people?" ”

Tai Shici replied: "These stone bullets are ready-made rolling stones, and Cao Jun gave them to us for nothing, of course, to send them to the city, so that our soldiers can throw them again!" ”

Mi Fang now worships Tai Shi Ci to the level of a mad demon, and he is obedient to what Tai Shi Ci explains, and sometimes it is better than his brother Mi Zhu to speak. Mi Fang received the task assigned by Tai Shici, and hurriedly led the soldiers to collect all kinds of items that could be used to resist and slow down the impact of stone bullets from house to house.

In the early morning of the next day, after having breakfast, the former soldiers led by Cao Ren pushed out all kinds of equipment needed for siege from the barracks, and then arranged them neatly in front and back. I can only hear "Knock-knock!" The drums sounded like muffled thunder, and the Cao soldiers let out a neat shout from their mouths, slowly approaching the moat outside the west gate.

Mi Fang, as the nominal guard of the West Gate, went to the city early in the morning, and when he heard the drums in Cao's military camp, he immediately ordered the heralds around him: "Ring the bronze bell hanging at the head of the city to warn the whole city!" ”

Immediately, "when the ...... The bell rang at the head of the city, reminding the soldiers and civilians in the city, that the Cao army had begun to attack the city.

Cao Ren personally commanded 300 thunderbolt chariots divided into two rows, front and rear, facing the west wall of Tancheng, and began a fierce stone throwing attack.

I saw that round stone bullets the size of a human head, like oversized hailstones, made a "whoosh" whistling sound, and fell on the top of the city wall in an instant, hit the façade of the city wall, or fell over the city wall into the city.

On the city wall, without waiting for the Cao army's thunderbolt to launch, Tai Shici asked Mi Fang to give an order to dodge, and the soldiers all bent down and hid behind the female wall, and covered their bodies with straw mats and bedding near their bodies.

Because the plane between the female wall and the top of the city wall formed a vertical shooting blind angle, and Cao Jun's stone projectiles flew along the parabolic trajectory by inertia, so they either smashed on the female wall or crossed the female wall, and it was impossible to hit the soldiers who were leaning down and hiding behind the female wall.

Many stone bullets will jump up and roll around after hitting the blue brick plane at the head of the city, but the energy has been greatly weakened, when these stone bullets roll to the vicinity where the soldiers are hiding, they are blocked by straw mats and bedding, and then they will stop immediately, and although the soldiers hiding below are still a few injured, they are all minor injuries, which do not affect the defense of the city.

The most destructive are the stone bullets that cross the city and smash into the city, because the speed of the stone bullets will get faster and faster in the process of falling, so the energy they carry will be stronger, and many houses close to the west wall will only hear a violent impact overhead, followed by the crisp sound of rafters and roof beams being smashed, and then a large round stone will fall into the inside of the house.

Although Mi Fang had asked the soldiers to remind them door to door yesterday, there were still people who didn't know the depth of the people who had luck after hearing the alarm bell ringing in the city, and did not hurry to find a solid and hidden corner to hide, and as a result, they were hit by flying stones and their brains burst and their stomachs were sparse......

Mi Zhu and the others were originally going to climb to the top of the city to watch the battle, but they were driven into the corridor in the middle of the city wall by Mi Fang, and they heard the dull sound of heavy objects smashing the top above their heads from time to time.

Zhao Yu asked with some concern: "Cao Jun's fierce stone-throwing attack, I wonder if the soldiers at the head of the city can dodge?" ”

Mi Zhu didn't see it with his own eyes, and said worriedly: "The city is under the personal command of my second brother, even if there are heavy casualties, Mi Jiaerlang will never let Cao Jun climb to the top of the city!" ”

After ten rounds of fierce projectiles, the two towers on the head of the western wall were smashed to pieces by stone bullets, one of the beams was broken, the roof collapsed, and the other revealed several huge holes, which looked extremely miserable. Most of the flags that were originally planted neatly at the head of the city were also broken by stone bullets, and they fell crookedly, and some of them had fallen outside the city.

Seeing that the attack of the thunderbolt cart had worked, Cao Ren immediately ordered the ladder cart to move forward, preparing to build hundreds of temporary bridges over the moat, and then let the follow-up soldiers carry simple long ladders to the base of the city wall, erect ladders several zhang long, and then began the thrilling ant siege of the city.

The so-called "ant possession" can be imagined from the literal meaning alone, the scene of hundreds or thousands of soldiers climbing towards the towering city like ants climbing trees......

Seeing that Cao Jun's catapult had stopped shooting, and nearly a hundred ladder trucks began to approach, Tai Shi Ci immediately said to Mi Fang: "Order the drums to be beaten, let the soldiers prepare weapons, and as soon as Cao Jun's ladder cart approaches the other side of the moat, immediately launch rockets with all their might!" ”

Mi Fang has now completely entered the state, although Cao Jun's stone bullet just now looked scary, but it didn't even touch half of his hair, but made him feel that the more fierce the attack, the more exciting it became. Mi Fang jumped up from the corner of the wall, didn't care about slapping off the grass clippings and dust on her body, and shouted: "Beat the drum!" Engage! ”

"Knock-knock!" The fierce drumming sounded at the head of the city, and because it was higher, it spread farther.

The private soldiers of the Mi family, who were leaning down behind the women's wall, hurriedly turned over from behind the straw mats and bedding, and they were about to shoot with bows and arrows, but they heard a scolding sound nearby: "You bastards! Hurry up and put away the straw mats and bedding and stack them neatly, don't throw them indiscriminately at the head of the city, affecting the advance and retreat of your feet! ”

"Stupid birds, don't rush to shoot arrows now, everyone finds their own target, shoot an arrow out of the arc to see the distance, wait for the enemy's ladder car to reach the range, and then follow my order to shoot arrows together!"

The people in the city who shouted and scolded were the team leaders and military marquis brought by Tai Shici from Jizhou, don't look at them It has only been a few days since they entered the ranks of the Mi family's private soldiers, but they have already opened up the situation. With their great skills and rich experience, the soldiers of the Mi family who have never fought a big battle are admired and envious when they see it.

When Cao Ren heard the steady rhythm of the drums at the head of the city, he couldn't help frowning. "Which army is defending the city, and why is it so calm?"

When the ladder cart finally approached the moat, the soldiers who had been prepared at the head of the city began to shoot wildly, and they kept "splashing" arrows stained with fire oil on the Cao army who were pushing the cart, and soon set some wooden ladder carts on fire.

In the face of such a frantic counterattack, Cao's army showed strict battlefield discipline, with soldiers with shields rushing forward to block arrows for the soldiers pushing carts, and soldiers hurriedly carrying their comrades who were hit by arrows back to the rear......

In just a moment, dozens of ladder trucks were firmly across the moat, and the Cao soldiers who were about to ascend the city in the rear rushed to the root of Tancheng along these temporary "bridges". (To be continued......)