Therefore, Cao Zhi temporarily decided to make a batch of catapults on the spot. Catapults are not a difficult task for those who know how to make them. There are many people in Cao Zhi's army who can build such catapults, and Cao Zhi has no intention of using catapults.
Apply for a "patent" and use it exclusively. This thing has been around since the Spring and Autumn Period. Now the princes may not have discovered the benefits of this weapon. When they discover it, they can also make it. Because the manufacturing principle and structure of the catapult are not complicated, and the technology
Although it has been lost, it can still be copied with a little effort.
The new batch of catapults were made in a hurry. The appearance of these catapults is beyond comparison. They are very rough. They cannot compare with the ten they brought from Danyang. But as long as they can be used, they look good and rough.
If it's not rough, Cao Zhi won't care, and no one will.
When Cao Zhi moved the catapult under Chenliu City, Zhang Miao called out that funny name. As a good brother of Cao Cao and Cao Zhi, Zhang Miao had heard that the Cao brothers had this kind of siege weapon.
A sharp weapon, he even saw Cao Cao order his subordinates to pull out one of these things once in Juancheng.
"As long as it's not that explosive thing!" Zhang Chao also lay on the top of the city, watching the movements of Cao's army below the city. He only knew that Cao Zhi had something very important called explosives, which could explode stubborn rocks.
His first weapon for attacking a city, what Cao Zhi brought out now was not this kind of thing, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"This catapult may not be inferior to explosives. I'm afraid we will be bombarded!"
When Zhang Miao expressed his concern, Zhang Chao still dismissed the catapult, thinking that such a stupid thing could be very lethal.
When the Zhang brothers were sizing up Cao's troops in the city, Cao Zhi was also standing on a watchtower, looking at the walls around the city gate with a curious expression. Looking outside the city at the head of the city gate, there were basically no wooden buildings such as towers.
This should be the case when you think about it. Wooden buildings are easy to burn and collapse. If there are siege equipment, such as bows and arrows with fire, they will have a burning effect. But Cao Zhi has a catapult that cannot be matched by others, and
It's another matter. No matter how strong the city defense is, if a stone bullet hits it, at least earth and rocks will be scattered. Although it is impossible to break through a strong city wall like Chenliu City by throwing stones alone, it can effectively kill and injure the enemy.
Killing and destroying their determination to defend the city has an unparalleled effect.
When Cao Zhi was about to order a catapult to attack, suddenly, Zhang Miao, who was almost at the same height and a hundred meters away, vaguely saw Cao Zhi's figure on a watchtower relatively behind the enemy.
During the past few days when the two armies were preparing for war, the exchanges of curses and sporadic exchanges of arrows had not stopped, but no large-scale attack and defense between the two armies had yet occurred. Everyone knew that the real war was not far away.
Before the start, Zhang Miao sent people to call the formation several times, asking Cao Zhi to come out and talk to him, but Cao Jun ignored Zhang Miao's request.
Zhang Miao was already angry at being treated as nothing. The reason why Jia Xu and Xun Yu asked Cao Zhi to adopt this attitude was because there were no woods around Chenliu City, and commanding heights such as hillsides could be used for their attack. This Chenliu City
It is also a large city with thick walls and deep ditches. There are no siege equipment like catapults. If more than 20,000 soldiers and horses want to attack an almost equal number of regular garrison troops, how can they easily defeat them? So they don’t want Cao Zhihe.
Zhang Miao held a pre-war meeting to ask the entire army to concentrate on preparing for war without being affected by any adverse public opinion, and then attack Chenliucheng with all their strength.
But today I was bumped into by Zhang Miao, and when I heard Zhang Miao shouting from the tower opposite, I wasn't too worried.
"Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi, you little thief, why do you come to attack my Chenliu County... You have forgotten how I helped you two brothers when they were in despair...
...You ungrateful fellows..."
Cao Zhi originally wanted to scold me, "Then why did you betray my eldest brother? I managed to save your life, but what you are doing now also disappoints me!"
But firstly, because they were too far away, the sound was not transmitted properly. Secondly, Cao Zhi didn’t want him and Zhang Miao to settle old scores and expose each other. Cao Zhi looked at the other side for a while and stretched his neck.
Zhang Miao was easily recognized because of Zhang Miao's bright armor and figure exposed on the open-air city wall. Cao Zhi was very sure that person was Zhang Miao, but after thinking about it, he didn't say anything, turned around and walked down the watchtower indifferently
, ready to command the siege.
Zhang Miao looked at the watchtower. Although there were many people there, they seemed to ignore them. After a while, they all left without even replying to him. After shouting a few more times, he had to retreat.
I wonder if I saw it wrong, alas! I don’t care, just scold him for a while before talking.
So, Zhang Miao, who was tired of shouting, quickly ordered the two hundred soldiers on the city wall to start today's scolding array. The two hundred or so Chen Liugong soldiers behind were already very angry, and there were all kinds of obscene words.
He was scolded, but it was of little use to Cao Jun under the city. During the daily training, he maintained his formation and acted according to the command. He had always been extremely calm. However, in the center of the city a hundred meters away from the city defense, dozens of Cao Jun
The heavy armored soldiers have already moved the attack points of the three catapults here.
"Brother, do you want me to scold them back, or shoot that Zhang Miao with an arrow to shut that kid up?" Xu Chu came in a hurry and asked Cao Zhi for his life.
"No need, prepare to launch the stone throwing, let them pay for our stone throwing, it is much better than talking nonsense!" Cao Zhi responded calmly and expressionlessly.
"Yes, obey!"
After Xu Chu took the order and left, Cao Jun took more actions.
Suddenly, on the wall of Chenliu City, where people were scolding and laughing happily, someone in the enemy formation at the bottom of the city shouted something loudly. However, because more than 200 people on our side were scolding and laughing happily, they did not hear the words clearly.
What are Cao's troops shouting?
The defenders on the city were a little confused as to what the enemy troops below the city had called just now, but they soon understood.
With roaring roars that broke through the sky, the first batch of stone hurling started.
"Whoosh!" In the sound, large rocks as big as millstones slammed into the east, south and west walls of Chenliu City.
With the saltpeter splashing, there was a sudden burst of chickens and dogs on the city wall, and smoke and dust filled the air. At this time, no one had the intention to curse anymore. Every mouth was full of gray stone, and even the walking posture had to change. These three city walls
, under the three-wheel bombardment of the catapults, no one on the city wall was walking straight up. Everyone was ducking and hiding to avoid being hit by the stones.
"Brother, let's... let's surrender? Cao Zhi has always had a good relationship with you, he will let us go!"
Zhang Chao, with a dusty face, was retreating to the city with Zhang Miao under the escort of several personal guards. He was naturally timid and fearful, and just now he was full of disdain for Cao's army's lack of movement for ten days. Now, now
After Cao Jun's first siege method was used, he couldn't stand it and shouted to surrender. Before he thought, Guan had already fulfilled the role of his eldest brother, and he and the Cao brothers grew up together.
They surrendered. Cao Cao and Cao Zhi shouldn't kill them, right?
"Fart, Zhang Chao, if you dare to talk nonsense again, I will kill you now to enforce military discipline! Humph! The fight has just started, and you are shouting to surrender, you loser, why did our Zhang family have a useless person like you?
thing!"
Zhang Miao stood up angrily as he spoke, and was about to stand still and scold his unfulfilled brother again when he heard a bang, and a stone was thrown from not far away and hit an arrow stack.
When the corner was shattered, earth and rocks flew into the air, and a stone the size of an egg flew past Zhang Miao's forehead.
"Ouch!" Zhang Miao screamed in pain and quickly restored his cat-waist suit, but his head was already bruised and bleeding. For a moment, Zhang Miao covered his bleeding head and did not bother to scold Zhang Chao anymore.
I saw that the stones flying in the sky at this time were obviously denser, and there was a banging sound everywhere when they hit. The entire city was filled with gravels of various sizes flying everywhere, and people were hit directly or indirectly from time to time.
Injuries like Zhang Miao's were considered a trivial matter. Some people were directly killed by this stone-throwing attack.
"Go up!" Cao Jun stood on the ground, already ready to attack. After Xu Chu, who was leaning on his upper body, raised his sword and shouted, the first batch of three thousand Cao Jun soldiers carried the ladders, rolled out the siege vehicles, and began the real battle.
Siege warfare.
For a time, everyone on and off the city were involved in the battle. Chenliucheng was such a big city and its defenses were so strong. Even if the people were defending the city, they couldn't capture it with just a few stone throws and a ladder siege team.
Cao Jun made three frontal attacks on this day, but all failed, and both the enemy and ourselves suffered casualties.
After nightfall, it is slightly colder here in Chenliu than in Danyang. Even if there is a charcoal brazier in the tent at night, it will not be of much use. However, everyone is not out to enjoy themselves when marching and fighting, except for the sentries and those in charge of catapults.
, the rest of the people went to bed as early as possible, and will continue to attack the city tomorrow.
In the past few days, we have been either cutting down trees outside the city, or tearing down houses, and building some simple siege equipment and catapults. The preliminary work of preparing for the siege made everyone feel very tired.
The troops on Cao Zhi's side were all silent. Most of the soldiers had finished the day's battle and could rest. But Cao Zhi had no intention of letting the defenders on Chenliu City rest.
At the moment, he is thinking about digging tunnels, using various methods in the sky and on the ground to attack Chenliucheng. However, since Li Hei is dead, it is difficult to dig the best tunnels. And in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, using tunnels to attack the city was nothing new.
Therefore, the troops defending the city usually send people to bury jars in key places in the city to listen. Therefore, this traditional method has a low chance of success, and it often ends in vain.
The night sky was dotted with stars and very quiet, but in the distance in the direction of Chenliu City, there was a faint rumbling sound of bombardment, which shook the Cao army camp several miles away. It can be seen that the catapults are still running fiercely. This is also the reason why Cao Zhi is intruding on Chenliu.
A means of military action.
Cao Zhi stood in the camp, looking at Chenliucheng a few miles away. He turned around and asked Zhao Yun what time it was. When he learned that it was already past three o'clock, Cao Zhi faced the direction of Chenliucheng and muttered to himself: "It should be
People on the night shift are going to the slingshot!"
Outsiders may not understand this sentence, but Zhao Yun behind Cao Zhi understands it. It was Cao Zhi's sudden idea to divide the heavy armored soldiers in charge of the trebuchets into three shifts in the morning, afternoon and evening, with five people per trebuchet.
, four operators, plus a team leader, are responsible for directing and troubleshooting some minor faults. Then, regardless of day or night, they take turns every four hours to fire stone bullets at Chenliucheng without interruption, preventing Chenliucheng's defenders from letting go.
Military safety.
The replaced team took the time to rest, and would be woken up by the general at one o'clock and assigned to perform the task of catapulting. Although it was still very tiring, the effectiveness of the catapult was maximized.
The defenders in Chenliu City were also complaining endlessly under Cao Jun's continuous stone-throwing attacks. Even though most of their soldiers had withdrawn from the city and were resting under the city, the sound of "bang, bang!" still could not let them sleep peacefully.
, many people suffer from convulsions while sleeping in the middle of the night.
Relatively speaking, Cao Jun camped two or three miles away from Chenliu City, and the sound could still be heard. But firstly, they were used to sleeping with this roaring sound, and secondly, they didn't have to worry about stone bullets hitting their heads.
Gravel splashes.
The night sky has always been quiet. Suddenly, a bright fire flashed across the sky. The speed was so fast that it was impossible to see what was caught in the stream of light. Then after a loud noise, sparks flew across the city defense of Chenliucheng.
Then another bright firelight passed through the night sky, looking so bright and dazzling in the night sky.
"The enemy used stone bullets coated with incendiary material!"
Zhang Miao's head was wrapped with a thick layer of gauze. He leaned on the balcony fence of his county mansion with one hand and held his swollen and painful temple with the other. He sighed that Cao Zhi had so many ways to attack the city. At the same time, he felt sorry for himself
I also lamented my fate, and I could hardly stand still.
Before Cao Zhibing surrounded Chenliu, he had already sent a letter for help to Lu Bu in Puyang and Chen Gong. In the letter, Zhang Miao humbly addressed Lu Bu as Lord Zhou Mu. This also showed that he was no longer competing with Lu Bu for the title of sharing Yanzhou.
Instead, he completely surrendered to him. His only request was that Lu Bu bring troops to help him and help him break the siege of Chenliu.
But it has been more than ten days since the war started, and Zhang Miao has not seen a single reinforcement. Zhang Miao knows in his heart that Lu Bu and Chen Gong may be having a fierce battle with Cao Cao at the moment, and who will care about him. But the least you can do is assign me to you.
The siege of Chenliu can be solved once the troops and horses are back. If you don't send a single soldier, you are really not being a friend.
"You are here today because of me, you ungrateful beasts!" Zhang Miao shouted to the sky, and in the end he could only lean against the fence of the terrace weakly, gasping angrily.
Zhang Chao arrived just in time. When he saw Zhang Miao lying on the terrace, he thought that Zhang Miao was having a stroke because of today's defeat. He rushed forward and helped Zhang Miao up with his sister-in-law and servants who came after hearing the news.