Farmer of Shu Han

As Zhu Ran launched a fierce offensive against Xiangyang in the southeast, Bu Zhi followed suit and also launched an attack from the south.

The news soon reached Pu Zhong'er, who was personally supervising the battle on the southeast wall.

"It doesn't matter, I have already made arrangements, and let the soldiers follow orders."

Pu Zhong forcibly controlled the expression changes on his face, pretending to be calm and ordered.

But in fact, Pu Zhong had some fantasies in his heart before, that Wu Kou could not fight on land, let alone attack the city.

Sun Quan, the bandit leader, repeatedly led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Hefei, but failed to take them down.

Therefore, facing such a big city as Xiangyang, it might make the other party fearful and dare not let go of their hands and feet and attack the city with all their strength.

Moreover, Pu Zhong has been in Xiangyang for so many years, so he naturally knows what Wu Kou in the south looks like.

There is still something to be said for guarding the country, let's talk about taking the initiative to conquer foreign countries...

The generals of the thieves crossed the border and plundered the people's wealth for themselves, and they were really enthusiastic.

But if they are really asked to fight tough battles and attack fortified cities, they are not very active.

It was precisely because he knew Wu Kou's habits that Pu Zhong immediately rejected Wu Kou's persuasion to surrender - between losing and defending, there is a 50-50 split, why not give it a shot?

After all, his family members are in the north.

If he surrenders without a fight, his wife, children and mother will be implicated.

What he didn't expect was that just half a day later, the defenders of the southern city wall soon sent a message:

"General, there are a large number of thieves in the south, and now a pontoon bridge has been built on the moat. The strength of the southern part of the city wall may be insufficient."

The moat in the southeast of Xiangyang is connected with the Han River, so it is deep and wide.

But the south side is different, that direction is close to Xianshan Mountain, and the terrain is not flat enough.

So compared to other directions, the moat over there is shallower and narrower.

But Wu Kou crossed the moat within half a day, which still surprised Pu Zhong:

"How could this be?"

As he spoke, he hurried towards the southern city wall.

"The thieves are very powerful, and the attack is very fierce. The southern part of the city wall is not strong enough, so it is not enough to stop the thieves from crossing the river."

Pu Zhong still wanted to focus his defenses on the southeast, but he didn't know when he went to the south to have a look.

But seeing the drums of war in the city rumbling, the sound of shouting and killing shook the sky.

Countless thieves were carrying light ladders, pushing cloud ladders, braving the rain of arrows, advancing towards the city wall regardless of casualties.

Seeing this, Pu Zhong finally couldn't help showing worry in public:

"The thieves are so determined to attack the city!"

He thought over and over again, and finally ordered:

"Come here, send me an order to transfer the battalion from the west!"

"Here!"

Someone around him reminded Pu Zhong:

"General, that battalion was set up just in case, if it is transferred here at this time, if there is any accident later, why should the general take it?"

Pu Zhong smiled wryly, and pointed to the city:

"If you don't transfer over, I'm afraid it will be unstoppable now."

At this time, the last bit of luck in Pu Zhong's heart has disappeared.

Thinking about it, it was Lu Xun who presided over the siege this time.

As Wu Kou's most knowledgeable general, is Lu Xun easy to deal with?

While talking, he saw that Wu Kou's light ladder had already reached the city wall.

The long refusal gun sticks out of the parapet, preventing the iron hook of the light ladder from hooking on the parapet.

When the Wu soldiers under the city climbed halfway, they gave an order, and the soldiers holding up their guns shouted in unison, and pushed the light ladder out of the city vigorously.

With the overturning of the light ladder, Wu Jun on the light ladder fell to the ground screaming like falling dumplings.

What's more, the arrows rained down from the top of the city, and the rolling stones whizzed down, making the Wu army who attacked the city feel like hell.

It's just that all of this didn't make Wu Jun retreat at all.

They are still like the tide, wave after wave keep coming forward.

Pu Zhong's eyelids twitched when he saw it.

He found that he had really underestimated the strength of Wu Kou's siege this time.

Even the left and right were silent for a while, and then they spoke again:

"As the general said, the bandit army's ambition to attack the city is very strong, which is very different from the past."

This is also where Pu Zhong has doubts.

What he didn't know was that in order to capture Xiangyang City, Lu Xun not only issued strict military orders:

Those who fail to attack the city this time will be beheaded!

Moreover, the military order that "the first to attack the city can give priority to women in the city" has long been spread throughout the Wu army.

Heavily punished for relentless fighting, and heavily rewarded for courageous men.

This time Wu Jun was naturally very different from the past.

Not to mention, Wu Guo also received food aid from Ji Han and "rented" a batch of weapons for this battle.

For Lu Xun, it was a pity that this batch of weapons from the Han Dynasty was used for siege instead of field battle.

But as long as Xiangyang is taken down, the Hanshui line of defense will be built, and the southern county will be protected, so that the south of the Hanshui will no longer be threatened by the Northern Army.

So this little regret is insignificant.

Standing on the highest point of the building boat, Lu Xun looked at Xiangyang City in the south, with deep eyes, no one knew what he was thinking at this moment.

The city wall of Xiangyang City is about ten feet high, less than eleven feet high.

But for this era, this is already considered extremely tall.

Chang'an City and Luoyang City are said to be only about twelve feet long.

But for cities like Chang'an City and Luoyang City, no matter how tall the city walls were, it was only to reflect their majesty and set off the majesty of the imperial power.

In fact, even if Chang'an and Luoyang had taller city walls, they would not have much strengthening effect on defense.

Because Chang'an and Luoyang are too big and occupy too much area.

This will cause the defenders to be unable to take care of them at all.

If you want to cover everything, you must deploy enough troops in the city.

And in this case, a large number of defenders will not only consume too much food and grass - of course you can save enough food and grass in advance.

But what about the water supply?

The water sources in the city are basically fixed.

It will be even more uncomfortable if the water source is cut off by the enemy digging outside the city.

In addition, there is no firewood for fire in the city.

Especially the sudden addition of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of defenders is an extremely heavy burden for the city.

Therefore, in history, it is not unreasonable that the city is prone to plagues after being besieged for a long time.

Because even clean drinking water may not be available in the city.

Without firewood, the house can only be demolished and burned with door panels, window frames, beams and columns.

The common people in the city may not even have the qualifications to use their own houses for heating.

At that time, a small problem of headache and fever appears, and it is likely to easily evolve into a major plague that cannot be cured.

Therefore, a city that is conducive to defense must either occupy a dangerous location, or have a strong city and a deep pool.

The depth of the city does not mean that the bigger the better, on the contrary, the scale of the city should not be too large - at least the place that needs to be defended should not be too large.

Xiangyang City perfectly meets this condition.

Its walls are tall enough and strong.

Its moat is wide enough and its pool is deep.

Although it is considered a big city, because it is surrounded by water on three sides, there are not many places that really need to be defended.

So even if Xiangyang City is besieged with ten times more troops, Lu Xun still has a serious expression on his face.

With the help of the wind, a passing boat came under the boat where Lu Xun was.

"Report to the general, General Zhu sent the military report, the commander-in-chief of the bandit army, has been staying in the southeast for the past few days, and has not left."

"General Qibu also said that the main force of the bandit army in the city is now concentrated in the south and southeast."

Hearing the report, Lu Xun's expression did not change, but he nodded slowly, and ordered:

"Pass our military order to the two generals Zhu Bu, let them continue to intensify their attack on the city, and don't relax."

"Here!"

After receiving the military order sent by the general, Bu Zhi couldn't help muttering in his heart:

"With such an offensive, we have tried our best from the very beginning. As the saying goes, we will go all out, then weed out, and we will be exhausted. If we continue to attack like this, the soldiers will probably become exhausted."

"At that time, the city will not fall, but it will hurt the morale of the soldiers in the army, and they will be unable to advance or retreat. Are they afraid that they will have to retreat again?"

"How can someone who knows the power of the army like the great general make such a decision?"

It's just that since Bu Zhi agreed to Lu Xun and asked the Jingzhou Army to fully cooperate in taking Xiangyang, no matter how many doubts he had in his heart, he could only temporarily bury them in his heart.

After a few more days like this, the Wu army did as Bu Zhi expected. After all the soldiers who attacked the city had their rounds, they suffered a lot of casualties.

Coupled with the heat, he finally calmed down.

The offensive is no longer as lifeless as it was at the beginning.

Seeing this, Bu Zhi couldn't sit still anymore, and told Lu Xun his worries.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xun asked:

"Now in the army, do the soldiers fear fighting?"

"Never, but morale is not as good as it was before."

"Then boost morale, motivate soldiers, and continue to attack the city!"

"Here!"

If so, a few more days passed.

Wu's army has been attacking the city for more than half a month, and it has not stopped for a day.

Even Zhu Ran couldn't help sending someone over to ask Lu Xun for instructions:

"General, the soldiers have been attacking the city for a long time, and the casualties are too heavy. Can you suspend the siege for three days and fight again?"

Lu Xun's face was not angry but happy, and he even smiled:

"General Zhu has said so, the soldiers must be exhausted and have no intention of fighting again, and let the soldiers rest for three days first."

After the order was finished, he ordered his personal guards:

"Go, take your people and run there yourself, tell General Ding, let him lead the army here immediately!"

"Here!"

The so-called General Ding was none other than Ding Feng who was the partial general at the time.

At this time, Ding Feng had been ordered by Lu Xun from the very beginning to lead the army to station on the Han River in Yicheng, downstream of Xiangyang City.

After receiving Lu Xun's military order, he immediately set sail.

The main force of Ding Feng's navy is only four ships.

But these three ships may be the four largest warships in the world: Izumo, Feiyun, Gaihai, and Chang'an.

These four big ships are all building ships.

The largest of them, the "Chang'an", was the ship of Emperor Wu.

There are five floors in total, and parapet walls are set around each floor. There are a number of sword holes and spear holes on the parapet walls and battle grids, which can be used for long-distance attack and close-up defense.

There is a lot of space on the ship, which can carry 3,000 soldiers, and the deck can drive horses and horses.

The hull floating on the water is as high as thirteen or forty feet.

Such a high-rise ship can float on the water smoothly without capsizing, because Wu Guo used a secret weapon: ship anchorage.

They are actually anchors and ballast stones.

With the help of the wind, this kind of water fortress drove to the city of Xiangyang. The originally tall city wall of Xiangyang finally lost its height advantage in front of the five-story ship.

Lu Xun moved to the ship Chang'an, climbed up and looked at Xiangyang City. He could even see that the defenders of Xiangyang City were tense and had to transfer some defenders to guard the north of the city.

Let the Chang'an approach as close as possible to the head of Xiangyang City,

With a calm smile on Lu Xun's face, he ordered:

"Pass me the military order, shoot arrows!"

The tall building boats, like chariots on the verge of attacking the city, shoot arrows at the head of Xiangyang City condescendingly.

The guards at the head of Xiangyang City had to hide behind the battlements one after another, holding up their cards and bending over.

Seeing this, Wu Jun on the upstairs boat couldn't help laughing.

Only then did Pu Zhong get a respite for less than three days. He didn't expect such a large warship to appear in the north where there was the least problem.

Hearing the reports from the soldiers below, he was so frightened that he hurriedly went to the northern section of the city wall to check in person.

Looking at the warship of Wu Kingdom, which was more than two feet higher than the city wall, his face turned pale:

"Wu Kou Shuijun is the strongest in the world, it is worthy of the name!"

Fortunately, such a large building ship can't directly approach the city wall to attack the city like Linche and Yunladder. Otherwise, how can it be defended!

Several of Wu's largest buildings and ships all appeared on the Han River, not to mention Xiangyang City, even Fancheng on the north bank were frightened into silence.

Looking at the blackness that can't be seen to the top, it seems to be towering into the sky, an extremely oppressive water fortress.

The soldiers of Wei State on both sides of the Han River couldn't help but think of the battle where Emperor Wu lost hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in Chibi.

"General, what should we do?"

Asked blankly on the left and right.

"Don't panic!" Pu Zhong forcibly calmed down, "Although the thief's warship is huge, it can only show its power on the water, and how can it attack the city?"

"As long as the thieves on board can't get to the city by boat, what's there to be afraid of?"

"Tell the soldiers at the top of the city not to fight back, so as not to waste the arrow feathers. It is a matter of business to use these arrow feathers for the south."

After hearing the words from left and right, I felt a little more at ease.

It's just that Pu Zhong's face became uglier than half a month ago when no one was paying attention:

Wu Kou is exerting pressure!

After all, if you want to defend the city, in addition to the depth of the city, you must also let the soldiers in the city have the heart to defend it.

How to strengthen the heart of the soldiers in the city?

Naturally, they wanted to let them know that the imperial court would send reinforcements over.

It's just that in the current situation, the reinforcements sent by the imperial court have arrived, but if they are always blocked in the north of the Han River, they will not be able to cross the water for a long time.

Then the morale of the soldiers in the city will be even lower!

Now that Wu Kou sent such a large ship to float on the Han River, it was clear that he wanted to completely cut off the hope of coming from the north.

Lu Xun saw Wei Zei Shuai's flag appearing in the north, and ordered:

"Order, let General Zhu and General Bu continue to attack the city from tomorrow."

"Here!"

The Wu army resumed its offensive in the south, so that Pu Zhong had no time to stay on the northern wall near the Han River, and he hurried back to supervise the battle.

Not to mention that he had no intention to think about what Lu Xun wanted to do with this posture.

Even because of the urgency of the battle, he saw that the building boats on the Han River had no other threats except for the arrow feather suppression against the city head every day, so he transferred the defenders sent back to the south.

Lu Xun, on the other hand, was waiting for this moment.