Chapter 241: Xiahou Ba's Preparations

Zhang Fei and Pang Tong's army were unimpeded and soon came to the outside of Wancheng. Wancheng is not like those small county towns, it can be passed on, there are Xiahou Ba's men and horses, as well as the original defenders of Fancheng, plus the original people and horses of Wancheng, there are 100,000 people.

According to past experience, 100,000 elite soldiers relied on the fortified city to defend it, and it was quite easy to face the 200,000 siege troops. Siege of a city generally costs a lot of people more than defending a city, so there is no advantage of several times the number of troops, and there is no difference between you going to siege a city and looking for death. However, now everyone knows that the Shu army is not a force that can be measured by past experience.

Xiahou Ba has a special identity and deserves to be the leader of the current garrison. With his relationship with the Cao royal family, it is almost impossible to surrender, and he has retreated again and again, from Xiangyang to Fancheng, and then to Wancheng, if he retreats again, even if the emperor does not punish him, it is estimated that the soldiers will despise him, maybe he now has the title of Xiahou Runran.

Xiahou Ba is actually not a cowardly person, the disciple of the sect is still a little bloody, otherwise Cao Pi would not have handed over the 50,000-strong army to him, and the first two retreats were really a last resort. Therefore, at this point where there was no way to retreat, he didn't want to retreat, and decided to fight to the death with the Shu army here.

In the days when he retreated to Wancheng, he actively prepared for war, outside the city, the walls were cleared, the people were dispersed, materials and food were collected into the city, and even the nearby trees were cut down and dragged into the city.

In this way, the enemy could not find food from the people outside the city, and cutting down the trees would not only prevent the enemy from using them for siege equipment, but also use them to make wood or fuel.

Although the preparation time for the war was short, Xiahou Ba drew half of the 100,000 troops, plus requisitioned 50,000 people, gathered enough 100,000 people, and worked day and night, which still allowed him to achieve good results in a short period of time. Now within a radius of thirty miles, there are no homes, and there are no thick trees that can be used as stone throwers.

Of course, he didn't know that he was actually doing useless work, and that he was doing these things on the basis of previous war experience. The Shu army can be called a civilized army, everywhere it goes, there is no crime in autumn, there is a strong logistics system as a guarantee, and there is no need to get food from the local people.

The siege weapons of the Shu army are all made by the "Ministry of Industry", which belongs to the high-tech weapons of "Dog # Day" in this era, and they are not at all things that can be shoddy by temporarily cutting down a few trees.

In the city, he stepped up the training of soldiers, requisitioned people, strengthened the city defenses, and carried various materials for defending the city such as wood, rolling stones, oil, firewood and grass, and arrows to the designated location. Although the time was short, he handled the preparations for defending the city in an orderly manner, and even if Taizu Cao Cao came to the scene, it was estimated that his work would be impeccable.

Even if he did this, he still felt trepidation in his heart, he knew that the enemy he encountered this time was different from the previous one, and he found that no matter how much he prepared, he still had no certainty of victory. As a general of Wei and a relative of the emperor, he knew that the emperor had kidnapped some craftsmen from Shu and were also producing terrible weapons similar to Shu.

He knew the terrifying power of those weapons, and he longed for his own troops to be equipped with them one day, but the number of those weapons was so small that they were only allocated a small number of muskets and a few thunderbolts.

After the previous battles, that little thing has long been consumed. As for the fire # cannon to defend the city, don't even think about it, there were some when I was in Xiangyang, that was Sima Dadu Governor came out to face the emperor, in addition, only Xu Du had fire # cannons, and second-tier cities like Wancheng didn't have to think about artillery if they wanted artillery.

Without artillery, he had no hope of holding the city, and he was just doing his best. Fortunately, there are still more than 30 bed crossbows stored in Wancheng, which are still antiques left by Zhang Xiu. At that time, Zhang Xiu wanted to stand on his own in the Central Plains, where the heroes were watching, so he naturally prepared a lot of defensive equipment, and these thirty or so bed crossbows were purchased at that time.

Later, Zhang Xiu surrendered to Taizu, and these things were not moved, and no one in the treasury of the Zài Mansion has been touched. Now that the troops are in the city, this is not the time to preserve their strength, Xiahou Ba ordered people to move out these dusty antique killing weapons, summoned craftsmen to urgently overhaul them, and finally pieced together twelve pairs of bed crossbows that could still be used.

Xiahou Ba was overjoyed, and immediately ordered someone to move these repaired bed crossbows to the city and place them, with these long-range strike forces, he was somewhat relieved. When he saw the banner of the invading Shu army, he breathed a sigh of relief again. Because it was not the most feared Xiao Emperor of Shu who came to the army, but Zhang Fei and Pang Tong's army.

He had learned the horror of the Hong army, and he knew that he could not resist it, but he was not desperate for Zhang Fei and Pang Tong's army. After all, Cao Ren and they have been confronting Xincheng County for several years, and although they have been suppressed, they have always been able to hold on without collapsing.

Although his troops are much smaller than Cao Ren's, he relies on the fortified city to defend it, and Cao Ren can hold it, but he may not be able to hold it.

Xiahou Ba's wishful thinking was completely shattered after the Shu army launched an attack. He thought that he knew enough about the power of the weapons of the Shu army, but he didn't know that what he had seen before was not all the strength of the Shu army at all, or that the weapons of the Shu army were constantly innovating and becoming stronger and more powerful.

The attack of the Shu army was not at all as Xiahou Ba imagined, with countless people carrying a cloud ladder and swarming to climb the city, but with a thunderous momentum. The first to appear was undoubtedly the Keqiu Killing Army, which had the longest range and was the product of Liu Hou's use to replace the bulky artillery.

The overwhelming rockets flew towards the city in an instant, and the Wei army, including Xiahou Ba, was all stunned, how could they have never seen such a scene. The rockets were so far away at first that they looked like locusts, and they flew closer and closer, and flew closer and closer, until they were the size of eagles one by one.

After landing on the ground, the rockets exploded, and the inside and outside of the southern city wall of Wancheng were shrouded in thick gunsmoke. The accuracy of rocket artillery is too poor, so this kind of large-area covering strike is generally adopted.

Xiahou Ba originally wanted to order the bed crossbow and wait for the enemy to enter the range of 400 meters before striking first to frustrate the spirit of the Shu army. Who knows, the enemy preemptively started the attack from a distance of four hundred meters, and the attack was so fierce.

The Wei soldiers up and down the city wall were blown up, and the unlucky ones were directly killed and disabled, and those who were lucky enough to not get close to the landing point of the rockets were frightened and hugged their heads, and some of them were frightened and lay down on the ground tightly, holding their heads in their hands, shivering like quails in the cold wind.