Liya suddenly lowered her voice and said: "Both of them are covered in injuries!"
There is only so much hot water for bathing. If it is allocated to three people, there will not be enough for anyone to wash. Liya was injured and she is a princess. Sister Klea was very sensible and gave her the hot water first and helped her.
He helped her wash her body. After all, she was injured and her mobility was not very convenient.
Hu people have an open temperament, and it doesn't matter if they expose some of their limbs in front of men, let alone in front of women. The three women have become familiar with each other in the past few days, and there is nothing embarrassing about taking off their clothes and treating each other "honestly".
Therefore, the scars on Sister Cleia's bodies were an "eye-opener" for Liya.
To be honest, the two sisters are both good-looking. They usually wear long skirts and can’t see it. But when they took off their clothes, they revealed countless scars on their bodies. There were knife wounds, sword wounds, and whip wounds.
There were injuries and even bites, and the wounds were caused by the bites of wild animals. Liya was shocked to see them, and she is still frightened now.
Liu Xin smiled and said: "This is not a secret. The two of them are gladiators. Regardless of their usual training, any duel is not a life and death contest. It is a miracle that they can survive to this day. How many scars are there?
What does it matter?"
There are a few women in this world who don't care about their bodies, especially beautiful women. Seeing Liu Xin's understatement, Liya felt a little unhappy and pouted.
Liu Xin laughed and said: "But I am true to my word and will tell you a secret. According to reliable information, this trip to Kangju is likely to encounter a black whirlwind!"
"Black whirlwind?" Liya didn't expect that Liu Xin would mention this name. Suddenly her eyes widened and she screamed, "What did you say? Black whirlwind!"
Liu Xin nodded and said: "I just said it's possible, but I can't be sure yet. However, if you want to see her, you have to get well soon."
When Liya saw that her thoughts were exposed by Liu Xin, she blushed and ran back to her room. Sister Cleia, who was taking a bath in the room, obviously didn't expect Liya to leave and return, thinking that an outsider had intruded.
They couldn't help but scream in unison. Then, the sound of girls fighting could be heard in the room. Although these three girls had rich experience, in Liu Xin's eyes, they were just three children.
Early the next morning, Liu Xin received another battle report from Chang'an.
Xu Huang had already dispatched the armored cavalry to go south, but Yuan Jun dug many pits in the camp, hindering the movement of the armored cavalry. The armored cavalry failed to charge, but instead lost more than 300 cavalry. Seeing this, Liu Xin had to admit,
Qu Yi definitely has the talent of a general capable of leading troops. However, Xu Huang has mobilized a large army to surround them. As long as they leave the camp, Yuan's army will be dead. And without food and grass, they will die trapped here sooner or later.
matter.
The offensive and defensive battle at Hulao Pass is still going on. With Wenpin taking command, Cao Jun's momentum has been slightly curbed, and the casualties of the defenders have also been greatly reduced compared with the previous two days. What reassures Liu Xin is that,
Huang Zhong and Wei Yan led the 100,000-strong Fifth Army Corps from Runan and captured Qiao County within one day. If all goes well, they will arrive at Puyang City in two days.
Although the dissemination of news in this era is blocked, it is impossible to cover up such a large-scale military operation. Moreover, Huang Zhong intends to attack with great fanfare. Cao Cao must have known the news of the fall of Qiaojun. There will be two roads in front of him.
The options are: one is to continue to attack Hulao Pass with all strength and have a race against time with the Han army; the other is to withdraw troops and return to Puyang to aid.
Although Liu Xin didn't know what choice Cao Cao made, he knew that Cao Cao was a man of great talent and strategy, and he also had many talented people under his command. With Cao Cao's character, he would definitely choose to continue attacking Hulao Pass. Because if at this time
Return aid
In Puyang's case, the three consecutive days of strong attack on Hulao Pass was a waste of all previous efforts, and it was very likely that Yuan's army would repeat the same mistake and fall into the Han army's conspiracy to encircle the point for reinforcements. Even if Cao Cao did not see this, Xun Yu, Xun You and others
He will also be reminded.
However, Liu Xin was beyond the reach of the battle situation there. According to the time calculation, it should have been clear by this time that either Huang Zhong conquered Puyang or Cao Cao captured Hulao Pass.
Things were indeed as Liu Xin expected. Cao Cao did not withdraw his troops and return reinforcements, but chose to continue to attack Hulao Pass day and night. Nearly a hundred copycat trebuchets took turns throwing boulders at the pass, many of which
The trebuchet fell apart due to the continuous work. The city head of Hulao Pass was riddled with holes, but Wenpin still commanded decisively.
In addition to the First Division of the Fourth Army Corps, there are also many engineers guarding Hulao Pass. These engineers also usually undergo some military training, but what they are better at is carrying out various engineering constructions. Repairing the damaged city walls is completely impossible for them.
It's a piece of cake. The city wall here has just
A section of the cave was collapsed by Cao Jun's boulders. Before Cao Jun could climb up, the engineers there had quickly repaired it and it was even stronger than before. It was thanks to these skilled engineers that Hulao was able to withstand Cao Jun's stone rain.
, despite suffering heavy casualties, they still stood tall.
Huang Zhong's side was unstoppable. The main force of Cao's army had been transferred to Hulao Pass. The counties in the rear were empty of troops and full of old and weak soldiers. They could not stop the Han army's thunderous strike. The reborn cannon fodder Jiu Fujin set out.
They captured Qiaojun on the first day, Dingtao on the second day, Juyang, Chengyang, Lihu and Juancheng counties overnight, and surrounded Puyang City on the morning of the third day.
The reason why Cao Cao decided not to return to Puyang was due to Liu Xin's analysis. The ones who stayed behind in Puyang were his general, General Jin, and his advisors, Xun You and Chen Qun. Each of these three people had their own strengths, but they were all skilled.
Yu Taolue is especially good at guarding. And in recent years,
He has been working hard in Puyang, especially after his failed sneak attack on Xiangyang. He followed the model of Xiangyang and carried out a large-scale reconstruction of Puyang City. The strength was no longer what it used to be. Cao Cao believed that no matter how powerful the Han army was, they could attack it within ten days and a half.
No less than Puyang City.
However, Cao Cao miscalculated. When he attacked Xiangyang, he was a light force and did not carry siege weapons. Although the troops of the Fifth Army set out from different stations, they all carried a large number of siege weapons.
, several troops even attacked the city and captured the territory all the way to Puyang City.
Although a wide and deep moat was dug outside Puyang City, it was much smaller than the moat in Xiangyang City. Many houses were even built beside the moat. The moat is also one of the most beautiful sights in Puyang, as it can surround the houses.
Built on the moat
The people around were all high-ranking officials and dignitaries under Cao Cao. Although they had learned the news of the Han army's attack, these high-ranking officials and dignitaries had withdrawn their families into Puyang City, leaving only a few domestic slaves to guard the house, but the house did not care.
It can't be moved no matter what.
Huang Zhong besieged Puyang City at the time of the siege. After the siege, he did not immediately order the siege. Instead, he made some preparations and set up positions along the perimeter of Puyang City to prevent the defenders in the city from breaking out, and then ordered the demolition of the moat. All the houses nearby.
These houses were built by the nobles in the city with a lot of manpower and material resources. They were extremely luxurious. Now, under Huang Zhong's order, they turned into piles of ruins in an instant. After destroying these houses, the soldiers did nothing. On the second day of rest, he pushed all the broken bricks, rubble, rotten wood, and a bunch of furniture into the moat. The defenders on the top of the city were dumbfounded.
This action alone filled half of the moat, but it saved the Han army a lot of effort. At noon, the moat had been cleared. At this time, the Han army's trebuchets began to show their power. To the surprise of the defenders, The target of the trebuchet's attack was not the city wall, but the moat! Countless large and small stones fell from the sky and clattered into the moat. The river slowly rose, overflowed the river bank, and poured into the city. Fortunately, the moat It is not connected to other rivers, and the water capacity of the river is always limited. There is no fear that the Han army will flood Puyang.
However, the Han army's stone rain continued for three hours and finally stopped at dusk. The first barrier outside Puyang City, the wide moat, was finally completely filled in.
The aggressive Han army did not launch an attack immediately, but withdrew its troops back to the camp and began to bury pots to make rice. Looking down from the top of Puyang City, the Han army barracks stretching for several miles outside the city were empty, with wisps of smoke rising.
In Huang Zhong's view, Puyang is already in the Han army's possession. If he attacks one day later, the result will be the same. What's more, an important purpose of his action is to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, attract Cao's army to return for reinforcements, and break Hulao Passing the crisis, encircling the city without attacking, can also achieve the goal, and can also reduce the casualties of soldiers. Of course, there is another important reason. If you want to attack the city, you cannot do without the trebuchets to open the way and cover. The trebuchets of the Han army Although the machine is exquisite, it is still a primitive machine after all. After being used for several hours, some parts will inevitably be worn and need to be repaired and replaced to maintain accuracy and aggressiveness.
Seeing that the Han army had breached the moat in one day, Xun You, Yu Jin, and Chen Qun were all worried. Yu Jin advocated breaking out of the encirclement, first retreating to the neighboring Liaocheng, and then diverting to Jibei and other places. Chen Qun advocated holding on, after all. He was responsible for collecting intelligence and knew that the Han cavalry was very brave, but the Puyang garrison only had more than 300 horses and had to escort a large number of family members. To escape from the swords of the Han cavalry was more difficult than climbing to the sky.
Xun You thought for a while and said: "Looking at the camp where the Han army has set up, there are a hundred thousand people. It may not be easy to break out. And the Han army's thunderbolt chariots are so powerful that it will be difficult to hold on for a long time. We need to take the initiative to seek changes!" Xun thought he could rob the camp at night!"
Because the trebuchets made a thunderous noise when they attacked, they were all called "thunderbolt chariots" among Cao's troops. Today on the top of the city, Xun You could see clearly that the Han army's trebuchets were very far away, and the stone However, the block accurately fell into the moat, which shows that the range is far, and the city wall of Puyang may not be able to support it for a few days. Moreover, this afternoon, the Han army's trebuchets almost did not stop attacking. There are only two explanations for this. One is that the Han army's There are countless trebuchets. Secondly, the Han army's trebuchets are easy to operate and the time between two attacks is very short. No matter which explanation is used, it is a huge threat to Puyang City. The purpose of Xun You's proposed hijacking camp is to Destroy the Han army's trebuchets!