Thirty steps later, seven thousand Han troops were approaching the trench in the blink of an eye...
Jiang Qin showed no fear and only raised his whip and shouted: "The enemy and thieves are approaching, please show yourself to me, general."
The order was passed, the flag waved, and more than two thousand crossbowmen who had been crouching in the trench suddenly appeared.
Two thousand Yuanrong's crossbows, with their fierce arrows shining with cold light, all aimed at the onrushing Han army.
"Fire the arrows and let me shoot down the enemy thieves as much as I can!" Jiang Qin pointed his horsewhip and shouted loudly.
In an instant, when they broke through the sky, countless arrows were intertwined into a dense arrow net, and they rushed toward the enemy in an overwhelming manner.
Two thousand crossbowmen shot more than 20,000 sharp arrows in just a short time.
On the opposite side, Cao Renshang urged his troops to charge wildly, thinking that he had gained an advantage and could take the opportunity to kill.
When he was about thirty steps away, Cao Ren suddenly discovered that thousands of Chu troops emerged from the trenches and seemed to be aiming crossbows at them, as if they had been prepared.
Seeing this, Cao Ren suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart.
Just when he was doubtful, the arrows in the sky were coming like a heavy rain.
Liannu is the Liannu of the Chu army!
Cao Ren was shocked and turned pale. Only then did he know that the Chu army had been prepared. He was shocked and shouted: "Stop attacking, retreat, retreat quickly~~
It's too late.
Arrows all over the sky struck like a violent wind.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~
People were thrown onto their backs, blood was flying, and screams were heard like a tide.
The hundreds of Han cavalry running at the front were like fragile wheat poles, and were instantly nailed to the ground, while the Han infantry behind them were swept down in pieces.
In just a moment, the originally menacing Han army was shot to the point of howling like ghosts and wolves, and almost collapsed.
Cao Ren reined in his horse and danced his sword like a wheel, blocking the incoming arrows with great difficulty.
However, the power of the continuous crossbow was so great that even with Cao Ren's martial arts skills, he still could not completely prevent such a dense rain of arrows. A sharp arrow still penetrated the sword curtain and hit his arm.
Cao Ren grunted, and almost grasped the sword in his hand. The power of the sword slowed down for a moment. If the Chu army's arrow rain had not weakened, Cao Ren would have been killed by the random arrows.
Cao Ren, who had been hit by an arrow, gritted his teeth and looked into the distance, only to see the crossbowmen in the trench with their heads down and busy, probably changing their arrow cases.
Cao Ren raised his eyes and looked around, only to see dead and wounded soldiers on both sides. The formation had been completely broken. The morale of the army had been hit by this sudden blow and was on the verge of collapse.
With such a defeat, why fight again? If the Chu army replaces the crossbow arrows and there is another wave, I am afraid that Cao Ren will also die today.
Defeat is decided!
Cao Ren didn't have time to think too much and shouted hurriedly: "Everyone, please retreat to me, the whole army will retreat~~"
After drinking, Cao Ren endured the injury from the arrow, turned around and left first.
The remaining five or six thousand Han troops abandoned their helmets and armor, and did not even care about their injured comrades. They scrambled to flee towards Yecheng.
Not long after the Han army was defeated and fled, the Chu army's arrow boxes had been replaced. Following Jiang Qin's order, the second round of arrow rain swept away again like a violent storm.
The legs were not able to escape quickly enough, and the Han soldiers who fell behind were shot to the point of being knocked over, resulting in heavy casualties.
Cao Ren and his remnant soldiers did not dare to look back, but ran as fast as they could. After leaving nearly a thousand corpses behind, they finally escaped from the range of the Chu army's arrows and fled towards Yecheng in embarrassment.
go.
Seeing the defeated Han army, the soldiers of the Chu army jumped out of the ditch, raised their arms and shouted.
Jiang Qin sneered and said, "Come here, let us report the success to Your Majesty as soon as possible."
A scout on horseback galloped out and headed straight for the south gate. In a short time, he rushed to the imperial chariot and reported the success of Jiang Qin's defeat of the enemy's surprise attack.
After hearing the good news, all the generals on the left and right were in high spirits.
Zhao Yun was even more surprised and said: "It turns out that your majesty had already expected that the Han army would raid the southeast section. Your majesty really knows what to expect."
Yan Liang only smiled faintly: "I'm not a good at predicting things. In fact, the line in the southeast section was a bait I deliberately left. I didn't expect Zhuge Liang to be fooled."
Yan Liang revealed the truth, and Zhao Yun suddenly realized the truth and admired Yan Liang again.
When Zhao Yun served under Liu Bei, he personally witnessed Zhuge Liang's extraordinary wisdom. Now, after meeting Yan Liang and the exquisite layout of his counselors, Zhao Yun finally understood why Zhuge Liang's brilliant strategies were discovered one after another.
With this in mind, Zhao Yun truly admired Yan Liang.
Yan Liang looked at the enemy city from afar and sneered: "The plan has been completed. Send an order to Jiang Qin and order him to dig deep the southeast section for me and connect the trenches. It's time to encircle Ye City."
The morale of the Chu army was high and their fighting spirit was high.
At this time, Zhuge Liang on the South Gate City was still calm and waiting for news of Cao Ren's victory.
Not long after, heavy footsteps sounded, and Cao Ren, covered in blood, rushed to the top of the city with a livid face, covering his injured right arm.
Seeing Cao Ren like this, Zhuge Liang's heart skipped a beat.
"Prime Minister Zhuge, your judgment is really brilliant. I almost lost my life when I led the army to attack!" Cao Ren shouted at Zhuge Liang angrily.
Zhuge Liang frowned, suppressed his displeasure, and asked him what was going on.
Cao Ren knew that the Chu army had been well prepared and led his army to kill him. However, he said angrily that the Chu army was defeated by a crossbow ambush.
Zhuge Liang was frightened when he heard this. He didn't want to fall into Yan Liang's plan. It was just that he failed to destroy the trench in time, and now he fell into Yan Liang's ambush again.
From this point of view, every step he took seemed to be under Yan Liang's control.
Zhuge Liang rushed to the female wall and raised his eyes to look at the Chu army formation due south. He seemed to see Yan Liang standing there, looking at his joke with a look full of irony.
Zhuge Liang seemed to see that behind Yan Liang, Pang Tong, Jia Xu, Fazheng, Xu Shu, Xu You... pairs of wise eyes were also looking at him with a sneer.
Zhuge Liang felt a chill creeping up his back, and his slender body couldn't help but tremble.
"Prime Minister Zhuge, when things have reached this point, what should we do? You should just speak..."
Behind him, Cao Ren was still chattering to him, seemingly venting his dissatisfaction.
Of course Cao Ren was dissatisfied. From the moment the Chu army started digging trenches, Cao Ren advocated sending troops to destroy it, but his suggestions were rejected by Zhuge Liang time and time again.
Now the facts have proved that all of his judgments were correct. If Zhuge Liang could respect his opinions, how could he let the situation fall to this point, and he would not be defeated and injured.
Zhuge Liang was annoyed by Cao Ren's questioning. Suddenly his eyes widened and he said in a deep voice: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. How come General Cao is like a woman, losing a battle and complaining endlessly?"
Zhuge Liang said something and choked Cao Renlai back so hard that he looked shocked and looked sullen.
He, Cao Ren, was a famous general in the world, but he was called "like a woman" by Zhuge Liang. How could Cao Ren not feel angry at such a blatant insult?
Cao Ren wanted to explode on the spot, but when he was about to speak out his angry words, he still suppressed it.
There was no way, after all, he was a surrendered general of the Qin State, and he had been against Liu Bei for many years, but Zhuge Liang was Liu Bei's confidant and the prime minister of the dynasty, and his official position and status had to overwhelm him.
If you fall out with Zhuge Liang now, it will obviously not be a good thing for your future situation in the Han Dynasty.
In desperation, Cao Ren had no choice but to swallow a breath of anger.
Zhuge Liang suppressed Cao Ren, and with a good face, he waved his feather fan again, and said calmly: "So what if the Chu thieves isolate the city of Ye? The soldiers in my city are well-prepared and can defend themselves. Why should I be afraid of the Chu thieves?"
As ordered by the prime minister, all the officers and soldiers must be alert and guard the city with all their heart."
Zhuge Liang said a few words and coolly shook off the responsibility for his miscalculation.
He looked calm on the surface, but inside he was uneasy.
In this way, Zhuge Liang could only stand on the top of the city and watch helplessly as the Chu army penetrated the entire deep trench, forming a trench that was forty miles long and two feet deep.
At dusk, the Zhanghe River on the northwest side was drawn over, and soon the entire trench of more than 40 miles was filled.
That wide and deep canal finally closed Yecheng.
The Chu army's siege began here.
After the canal was filled, Yan Liang built a blockhouse every few miles at the outer end of the canal to monitor the siege canal day and night.
Once the canal was completed, it was naturally impossible for the Han army to leave or enter the city on a large scale, but small-scale floating water crossing the canal was still unstoppable. Yan Liang built bunkers to monitor them at all times.
After the bunker, there are various large camps built around Yecheng. Once the bunker is lit with beacon fire and the enemy is discovered, the camp will quickly send out rangers to intercept and kill small groups of enemies who have escaped through the canals.
The second line of defense.
After half a month of construction, the blockhouse group was completed. The two lines of defense of the Chu army could be said to have completely surrounded Yecheng.
Liu Bei from Handan in the north was naturally very anxious when he heard that Yecheng was besieged.
Although Liu Bei withdrew from Handan, it was only for the sake of safety. Liu Bei is no better than Cao Cao. He has never been the kind of person who dares to make a desperate move.
The fact that Liu Bei's people are not in Yecheng does not mean that he plans to abandon Yecheng. As the seat of the emperor, if Yecheng falls, Liu Bei certainly does not want to see the blow to the morale of the Han people.
Therefore, Liu Bei sent troops several times in an attempt to open up the food route to the south and alleviate Yecheng's predicament.
It's a pity that Liu Bei sent troops several times, but they were blocked by Wen Chou's 60,000 troops stationed in Linshui. His efforts were all in vain.
As the siege continued, autumn turned to winter before we knew it, and the weather became increasingly cold.
On this day, the weather suddenly increased and the temperature suddenly increased. When I woke up, the first snow of early winter came unexpectedly.
Zhuge Liang stood at the top of the city, looking up at the falling snowflakes, the gloom in his heart getting heavier.
After pondering for a long time, Zhuge Liang sighed secretly and said in a deep voice: "Send the order and order all the soldiers and civilians around the city wall to move in. The cold winter has arrived, and the Chu bandits' water cannon attack will come soon."
