At this moment, Xiangyang City has turned into a huge meat grinder.

After the defeat and death of Phags-pa, Kublai Khan, although extremely angry, saw that the morale of his generals had plummeted, and he had to withdraw his troops and return to the camp. After all, he was a hero of a generation, and after returning to the camp, he used the death of Phag Si Pa to arouse the anger of the whole army and reinvigorate the morale.

In the past three days, the Mongol army launched a completely costless offensive against Xiangyang City, sending batches of brave and fearless soldiers to the city wall, and attacking the city head with the help of siege equipment such as ladders and tower vehicles.

The Great Song Dynasty soldiers at the head of the city fired their bows and crossbows in unison, and threw extremely vicious large-scale weapons such as rolling wood, stones, and boiling oil in turn, killing the vast majority of the Mongolian soldiers under the city. There were also a small number of master warriors in the Mongolian army who broke into the city, but they were all killed on the spot by more than a dozen sniper teams composed of people in the rivers and lakes of the city.

The long-range attack of the Mongol army under the city also caused huge casualties to the defending side, especially the "return cannon" that can throw hundreds of pounds of stone projectiles is the most terrifying. Every stone bullet that fell would cause a large part of the city wall to be destroyed and dozens of casualties.

In an open space behind the city wall, a full hundred and ten trebuchets that were six or seven points similar to the "return cannon" but had some changes were arranged in an orderly array, and Yu Tianlai, Xuzhenxi, Tianbao, and Zhang Junbao stood aside, watching many soldiers and craftsmen busy around the trebuchets.

Tianbao smiled at Yu Tianlai and Xuzhenxi: "The two senior brothers really had a foresight, as early as three years ago, when they saw the Mongols' 'return cannon' during the battle of the 'Island of No Return', they expected today's scene, so they asked the junior brother to secretly recruit craftsmen early in the morning to build this 'thunderbolt' with a longer range and greater power." Otherwise, we will only be beaten passively in the city at this moment, and we will have no power to fight back. ”

Yu Tianlai's face was still a little pale, apparently because the internal injuries he had suffered in the battle with Pasipa had not yet healed. He shook his head and laughed, and threw a piece of paper full of words in his hand: "Don't just worry about patting on the back. After this period of observation, Brother Zhuxi and I have calculated the location of those 'return artillery' in the Mongolian army. You instructed the soldiers operating the 'Thunderbolt' to adjust their firing range according to these data, and strive to destroy all the 'return cannons' outside the city in one fell swoop!"

Tianbao beckoned to suck the piece of paper that flew towards him into his palm, looked down for a moment, smiled, and waved his hand towards Yu Tianlai and Xuzhenxi, and said: "The two senior brothers work hard!" and then ran to arrange.

After about half an hour, all the "Thunderbolts" were commissioned. As a result of Yu Tianlai's suggestion, the craftsmen installed a ruler when making the "Thunderbolt Car", which could adjust the shooting direction and distance relatively accurately without the need for a test shot. At this moment, it is not a stone bullet that is filled in the net pocket at the end of the bullet arm, but a huge sealed clay pot. The inside of these pots is filled with oil, and the outside is wrapped with a layer of straw rope soaked in oil.

Seeing that everything was ready, Tianbao immediately shouted and ordered: "Ignition, three salvos!"

The fighters in control of the "Thunderbolt" first lit the straw rope wrapped around the clay pot with torches, and then raised their mallets to strike the bracket hard. With the swing of the long bullet arm, all the "thunderbolts" let out a huge roar, and a hundred and ten flames dragging long black smoke flew into the air from the inside of the city wall, and crossed a long arc-shaped trajectory in the air, like a meteor rain of fire falling down, completely enveloping the Mongolian army's position of "return artillery".

With the deafening explosion and the splashing of flames in all directions, the entire position suddenly turned into a sea of fire. The officers and men of the Mongol army with a large canopy of flames rushed in the firelight, and almost all the "return cannons" were swallowed up by the rapidly spreading flames.

Immediately afterwards, two more meteor showers flew out of Xiangyang City one after another, maintaining their original accuracy for a long time, and fell into the sea of fire that had spread wildly, making the flames more and more blazing high, completely devouring all the people and things in this area.

"Collect the troops!"

Seeing that the "return cannon" that he was preparing to use as a siege weapon was burned in an instant, and the meteor fire rain in Xiangyang City did not stop there, and instead focused on the Mongolian warriors who were charging towards the city wall. Strike after blow of incomparable precision fell on the warriors, engulfing them along with the heavy siege equipment they carried. Kublai Khan, who was heavily guarded, knew that today's battle could not continue, and he gave the order with a blue face.

That night, after Tianbao celebrated with the soldiers in the barracks, he set up a banquet in his own mansion and had a small gathering with Yu Tianlai, Zhang Junbao and Xuzhenxi.

Now that it is wartime, alcohol is banned in the whole city, and Tianbao, the general in the army, has to lead by example, so the four of them just eat and talk while eating a few side dishes and replacing wine with water.

The topic they talked about was naturally inseparable from the battle in front of them, and Tianbao's face did not have the slightest joy of victory, but rather a heavy and worried face.

"Although we have a small victory over the Mongol army today, we are only relying on the enemy to know the existence of the sharp weapon of 'Thunderbolt'. Today's situation is still under siege, supported by the power of the whole country, and there is an endless stream of support. And we are trapped in the lonely city, not to mention whether the small imperial court controlled by Jia Nidao can send reinforcements, even if reinforcements come, they will inevitably be eaten by the Mongolian army outside.

"If we just hold on, even if we can repel and even defeat the Mongol army again and again, we will inevitably suffer casualties every time. People can constantly replenish the power consumed, and our strength is a little bit less when we lose a little. As time goes by, it will inevitably end up being consumed by life and death. ”

Yu Tianlai nodded and smiled: "Tianbao can see the situation in front of him quite clearly, the disparity between the strength of the enemy and us is too great, and it is no longer a victory on the local battlefield that can be reversed." If you want to turn things around, you can only win by surprise!"

The eyes of the three of them immediately fell on him, knowing that since he said such a thing, he must already have an opinion in his heart.

Tianbao couldn't wait to ask, "Senior Brother Tianlai?"

Yu Tianlai gently spit out two words: "Beheaded!"

Xuzhuxi asked uncertainly: "Brother Tianlai plans to assassinate Kublai Khan? Even if Brother Tianlai's martial arts are the best in the world, I am afraid that it will be difficult to break through the heavy guards of hundreds of thousands of horses and rush in front of Kublai Khan?"

Yu Tianlai seemed to be confident: "In the past three years, in addition to cultivating martial arts, I have also asked someone to make some things. With these things, I have a great deal of confidence that I will reach Kublai Khan's Golden Horde, which is located in the heart of the Mongol army's camp. As long as I get within 100 steps of Kublai Khan, his life will be in my hands! As long as Kublai Khan is eliminated, the Mongol army will be in chaos without a leader. How far things can be done after that depends on Tianbao's means. ”

Zhang Junbao frowned: "Senior Brother Tianlai, even if you can succeed in assassinating as you said, how can you get out of the thousands of troops?"

"Don't you think I'm going to get a jade stone to burn?" Yu Tianlai smiled dumbly, got up and came to the window, looking at the endless star dome and said leisurely, "Although rest assured, I will have my own way out of it then......"