Three Kingdoms

Taixing six years.

summer.

The temperature gradually rose.

Historically, there have been battles involving tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. However, when it comes to actual battles, there are not many people who are actually on the fighting line.

Take this battle between Cao Cao and Sun Quan as an example. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians dispatched by both sides. Then can we say that these hundreds of thousands of people stood in one place and beat each other face to face every day? Woolen cloth?

Obviously not.

Generally speaking, if there are more than tens of thousands of troops, the troops need to be divided. In an era like the Han Dynasty when instant communication was underdeveloped, it was undoubtedly very difficult for one person to directly command more than tens of thousands of people.

Sun Quan attacked in three ways, and Cao Cao also responded in three ways. Cao Cao only sent troops accordingly after determining that the Guangling-Xuzhou line was Sun Quan's main line of attack.

This is the best way to deal with it besides opening a God’s perspective.

On this day, Cao Jun's sentry cavalry roared back and forth, occupying a huge area of ​​​​the battlefield. People in each camp were shouting and neighing, and drums and trumpets were playing incessantly. After the soldiers had eaten the preserved meat early, they began to line up in large numbers. The civilian husband and auxiliary soldiers rolled out the siege equipment from the construction site and placed them in a safe area two miles away from Ling County, waiting for orders.

The Jiangdong Army in Ling County did not attack, and seemed to be just waiting for it. The Jiangdong soldiers on the city wall were shouting loudly, and some people were urging some civilians to carry rolling stones and logs.

At the starting position, Cao Jun's first wave of soldiers all sat on the ground. On the one hand, it is to maintain physical strength, and on the other hand, it is also to control order. The various corps commanders are loudly preaching in the queue what to pay attention to during the battle. No matter how much you can listen, if you listen to at least one more sentence, you may live an extra three points by then.

On both sides of Cao's vanguard array were archers. These archers are checking the bow strings and arrows, rearranging the arrow feathers one by one, and then inserting them neatly into the quivers. The bow strings and bow arms also need to be tested to eliminate certain hidden dangers. Even so, in addition to relatively normal injuries, archers often encounter situations where their own bowstrings break, and then they accidentally injure themselves or others.

Beyond the archers, there is the cavalry array. As the most flexible mobile force on both wings, it does not engage in direct siege battles, but it is not easy either. In addition to having to detect Lingxian and Lingxian at all times before the war. In addition to the surrounding developments, we must also be responsible for responding to emergencies, such as Lingxian opening the city gate for a sneak attack, etc.

After the front line formation, there are various siege equipment.

Cao's army had enough manpower, and there were many craftsmen accompanying the army. There was no ambiguity in building these siege equipment. There were a large number of hoists, ladders, crash carts, etc. on display in a large row.

Behind the siege equipment is Cao Cao's central army.

The Chinese army also has various arrangements. Those responsible for guarding, deploying, transporting, and serving as reserves all act according to the flag orders on the high platform of the Chinese army.

The responsibilities of the rear army are relatively simple. One is to take care of some wounded soldiers and separate them into serious ones. The other is to protect Cao Jun's camp from being attacked by a small group of Jiangdong troops who are surrounding them.

In addition to the flags and golden drums on the high platform of the Chinese army as a means of transmitting command orders, there are also order soldiers holding small order flags high in the array, who are responsible for transmitting orders to the outside world. Whenever Cao Cao issues an order, the flags on the high platform waver and the golden drums roar. These messengers will immediately rush to the corresponding troops to double-check whether the order has been reached.

The complexity of a battle formation may not be truly simulated by any later games in the name of simulation. At most, it can only simulate one-tenth of the complexity.

The more people there are in the battle formation and the more complex the arms are, the more experience and keen view of the overall situation a commander needs. To give a simple example, just like the coordination of tanks and infantry in later tactics, sieges also require the coordination of infantry and siege equipment. However, it seems simple to say, but it is often not so easy to do in practice. Yes, either the infantry moved too quickly, the siege equipment was not in place yet, and the infantry's charge momentum had been defeated. Then did the siege equipment halfway up the road advance or retreat?

Good commanders coordinate like clouds and flowing water, and cooperate smoothly with each other. Poor commanders have their left leg tripping over their right leg, and their back bumps into their front. There are problems on one side and lags on the other.

Cao Cao was sitting on a high platform, with flags fluttering around him. He looked forward, and there were some auxiliary soldiers and civilians over there, holding wooden shovels and shovels.

Of course, instead of using wooden spades and shovels to attack the city, we should fill in some potholes on the road ahead so that the siege equipment would not cause unnecessary trouble due to bumps when moving forward.

This is the detail processing before the battle. Some generals may not care about this, but Cao Cao is different. These details on the battlefield, in turn, can be used to infer the style and preferences of the commander-in-chief.

Cao Jun is making a lot of preparations before attacking here, but where is the Jiangdong Army in Ling County?

There seems to be no commendable response, just a routine and passive response.

So why?

Man Chong stood behind Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's sharp eyes seemed to have penetrated the city wall of Ling County. As expected, Sun's son was deceitful.

Manchong was silent and didn't say anything. He has achieved certain merits in the early stage. Cao Cao's previous words can be regarded as the final word and the end of Man Chong's mission. Unless otherwise dispatched, Man Chong is basically equivalent to having his military power taken back. By Cao Cao's side Become a staff officer.

After all, one person can’t be favored all the time, right?

Right now?

So what if it's a fraud?

Cao Cao smiled slightly, then waved his arm, making the stone cannon move forward to test fire! The soldiers in the front line protect it! Be alert on both sides!

Golden drums roared and flags flew.

Amidst the sound of chants, the auxiliary craftsmen and others began to push the catapult forward. The soldiers in the front line also lined up in front of the planned stone-throwing place and took a defensive posture.

Cao Cao's face was calm, but there was some turmoil in his heart.

General Fei Qian quickly pushed towards Hanzhong, and when the news of Lian Keyang Pingguan and Nanzheng reached Cao Cao, Cao Cao was also frightened.

Back then, Zang Hong claimed that Yuan Shao was incompetent, morally disloyal and unjust, and then rebelled against Yuan Shao. Then Yuan Benchu ​​laid siege to the city. How long did it take? Going a little further, when Suanzao made an alliance, there were enough soldiers, but they still didn't dare to act rashly when they faced Luoyang City and Hulao and other passes.

Siege warfare should originally be the most difficult part of cold weapon warfare.

But now the Cavalry General Fei Qian seems to have changed something, making everything different.

Nanzheng

yangpingguan

Perhaps there may be internal agents who have been ambushed by the Hussar in advance, but how could the pass and the city, which had been operated for many years and had a complete defense system, be captured so easily?

Later, based on some more detailed information passed overtly and covertly, Cao Cao learned that during the siege of Hanzhong, catapults became the main means of breaking the city, which also stimulated Cao Cao's research and development of siege engines.

People, aren’t they just forced out?

This time when he went south to fight, Cao Cao brought craftsmen with him, and wanted to test the changes in combat patterns brought about by this technology.

What? Why not use it when attacking Changxi? Haha, isn’t that obvious? Everyone who understands understands it.

Cao Cao had a catapult before, and he didn't know anything about this kind of equipment, but using a catapult to throw kerosene was indeed a brand new idea and combat mode for Cao Cao.

The Jiangdong garrison in Ling County seemed to have no intention of leaving the city to fight or destroy the catapult.

As the catapult was set up, a stone bullet whizzed through the air, then crossed the moat and hit the root of the Lingxian city wall, causing dust to fall from the city wall.

The soldiers of Cao's army shouted in unison, obviously excited that they could hit directly with one shot, even if the shot was somewhat reluctant.

The Jiangdong soldiers on the city wall exclaimed loudly.

Cao Cao stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes slightly.

After the test firing, the remaining catapults also began to be loaded.

With the sound of a drum, catapults began to throw kerosene bombs towards Ling County.

There is nothing secret about kerosene bombs. Even if you don't understand, you can generally know what it is through a simple description.

Because the overall weight of the kerosene bombs is much lighter than the stone bullets, if the stone bullets are shot under the wall, the kerosene bombs can almost hit the city wall, or fly directly into the city wall.

Of course, the deviation of the catapult is still quite large, and the accuracy is impressive. If the impact points of the two stone bombs or kerosene bombs are within ten meters, you have won the lottery. In most cases, one flies to the southeast and hangs on a branch, and the other flies to the northwest. Nothing could be further from the norm.

The kerosene bombs hit the city wall of Lingxian County, and many of them flew into the county. The kerosene sprayed out was ignited, and a raging fire burned. The Jiangdong soldiers who were contaminated by the kerosene howled and screamed. human voice

The fire was raging and black smoke was rising.

The soldiers of Cao's army shouted one after another, some rested their spear handles on the ground, and some slapped their shields with their sabers. They felt their own strength and the weakness of their opponents, so they cheered involuntarily and their confidence doubled.

The horses of Cao Jun's cavalry on both wings were also a little uncomfortable because of the sudden agitation. Although the horses were all short-sighted, their sharp instincts as animals still allowed these horses to detect some abnormalities on the battlefield, and the fire was steaming from the top of Lingxian City. , the heat wave is rolling, even if there is some distance, it still makes these war horses uncomfortable.

Although it is only the prototype of the extremely crude God of War, it still makes people feel shocked.

Cao Cao looked at it, but his smile was slightly stiff.

Bonin

I am here.

Cao Cao pointed at Ling County in the distance. Do you think the power of this bullet is comparable to that of Hussar?

Man Chong remained silent.

Um? Cao Cao turned his head slightly and looked sideways at him.

Man Chong lowered his head and said, maybe a little less

Cao Cao laughed, Boning was indeed upright and kind! Someone also thinks so

Smiling, Cao Cao seemed still cheerful on the surface, but there was a trace of worry and helplessness in his eyes.

On the surface, it seems that everyone has kerosene, which is almost the same, but in fact

Most of Feiqian's kerosene raw materials are petroleum.

The earliest record of the discovery of oil in China comes from the Book of Changes. It is said that there is fire in the lake, and there is fire in the lake, which means there is fire burning on the water. It may be ordinary grease, or it may be oil and gas burning on the water. The record that can be clearly identified as oil is the Han Dynasty Geography written by Ban Gu.

His book stated that there was flammable water in Gaonu County. Gaonu County refers to the current Yan'an area of ​​Shaanxi Province, and Jishui River is a tributary of Yanhe River. The origin of oil is clearly recorded here, and it is explained that oil is a liquid like water and can be burned.

Later, traces of oil were also discovered in Jiuquan and Yumen areas.

Therefore, it was more convenient in the Han Dynasty, and the oil that could be collected directly was basically concentrated in the northwest. That is, in Fei Qian's hands, this made Cao Cao feel itchy at the base of his teeth just thinking about it. Why does this guy always find great places?

So what are the raw materials of kerosene for Cao Cao and Sun Quan?

Vegetable and animal oils.

These vegetable oils and animal oils were originally edible. In other words, Fei Qian's use of kerosene bombs was limited by the production of oil, while Cao Cao's kerosene bombs were dug out from between his teeth, which made the already not very wealthy dining table under Cao Cao's rule even worse.

In addition, because Fei Qian's fire oil bombs contain petroleum, and petroleum itself is adhesive, its burning effect and lethality are naturally more ferocious and terrifying than the burning of ordinary plant and animal oils.

The painter of Fei Qian's kerosene bombs said it was the falling sun, but Cao Cao's current kerosene bombs didn't look like the scorching sun. To put it simply, it is the difference between small fireball and large fireball in magic games. The napalm bomb of later generations is probably the meteorite technique.

On the other side of the city wall of Ling County, amid the flames and black smoke, screams continued to be heard, as well as the sound of bricks and tiles collapsing from some houses. In the face of the power of water and fire, personal bravery was nothing to mention.

After several rounds of projection, Cao Cao ran out of kerosene bullets and had to change them to stone bullets.

no way.

That's all. Even vegetable and animal oils have limits. After all, Fei Qian still accounts for the majority of livestock, while Cao Cao has fewer of them.

Although magic attacks are more terrifying, the damage value of physical attacks is not low either.

It's just that the quality of Cao Cao's catapults was obviously not very good. In just a short time, two of them had their long arms broken, one had its fixed structure falling apart, and another was stuck for unknown reasons and could not rotate.

There were a total of twelve catapults, and four of them broke down within an hour after being put into actual combat. I don’t know whether they should be considered good or terrible.

Even so, under the attack of the catapult, Lingxian was like a ragged man in the cold wind and heavy snow. The few remaining rags could cover the top but not the bottom, so he could only huddle up. In one place, trembling.

Yin Li, who was waiting for the order to attack at the forward position of Ling County, couldn't help but take out his wine gourd from his arms and took a sip to calm down. Then he felt that the dryness of his throat was a little better. He coughed twice and looked at the person beside him. Xia Houjie asked: Colonel Xiahou, when will we go?

Cao Cao's messenger bowed to Xia Houjie and then turned away. I don't know if it was because the battlefield was too noisy, but Cao Cao's messengers delivered the orders close to Xia Houjie's ears, which was slightly different from the previous shouting at the neck.

Although Yin Li felt a little strange, he didn't care about it.

Xia Houjie glanced at Yin Li with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Yin Li thought Xia Houjie was looking at the gourd in his hand, so he smiled and handed over his wine gourd.

Drinking is not allowed in the military.

This is a military regulation, but Yin Li himself is from Mount Tai, and there were no decent regulations before. In addition, Yin Li also likes to drink, so he secretly hid a pot of wine. He didn't want to expose it, but he was caught in front of him. The scene was so shocking that he forgot about the question for a moment. Xia Houjie was standing aside, and Yin Li opened his mouth to ask, and the smell of alcohol was naturally smelled.

Xia Houjie was stunned for a moment, then smiled, took the gourd of wine, raised his head and took a sip, then returned it to Yin Li and said, "Be careful, you get caught. Thirty military sticks are no joke."

Yin Li chuckled and hid the wine gourd, because such a sip of wine made Yin Li feel closer to Xia Houjie. In Yin Li's view, if they can drink together, they are naturally brothers.

Xia Houjie looked at Ling County. When the fire is about to die, it will be your and my turn.

This was the first time Xia Houjie had seen this scene before him.

Yin Li was a little shocked. Why wasn't Xia Houjie so?

The Jiangdong soldiers in Ling County have never seen such a scene. Most of their kerosene is used in battleship battles, and on top of the city wall, the city will be attacked by fire. It is simply It was completely beyond their expectation that they were now in the midst of a raging fire, with stone bullets whizzing towards them, miserable howls, and their morale plummeting.

Fortunately, because Cao Cao's kerosene bombs did not have strong adhesion and burning ability, the burning time was relatively short. After some utensils were ignited, some smaller fires were extinguished.

As for the buildings that had been set on fire, Jiang Dongjun had no choice but to watch them burn. At most, he could try his best to grab some items and create a fire barrier.

In the panic, Jiang Dongbing ran back and forth like ants on a hot pot. Fang felt that the fire seemed to have dimmed a little. After taking a breath, he heard Cao Jun's drums roaring outside the city gate!

Cao Jun's infantry began to attack!

The non-commissioned officer of Jiangdong Army howled, warned and organized, and then became more and more chaotic.

As the war drums roared, the first wave of Cao's soldiers, about 2,000 strong, rushed toward the foot of Lingxian County, pushing a dozen or so vehicles used to fill the moats and trenches.

The chariot has four wheels, on which wooden planks can be erected and soldiers can be hidden. Ordinary arrows, wood and stones cannot cause any harm to the soldiers inside.

These carriages would place the wooden planks they carried on the moats and trenches, and use them as pillars to build passages, which would facilitate subsequent soldiers to attack the city.

Jiang Dongbing at the head of Lingxian City began to fight back, but I don't know why. Maybe it was because the chaos caused by the previous fireball technique had not subsided, or maybe for some other reason. Jiangdong Army's counterattack was somewhat weak, and Jiang Dongbing was good at bows and crossbows. The situation does not seem to match well, and the arrows shot seem a bit scattered and sparse. The lethality of Cao's soldiers is indeed not worth mentioning.