"Arrow!"

"Open the string"

"put!"

Amid Li Yanchen's powerful roar, 2,000 Zhang Zhang's strong crossbow (stepped crossbow) completed another volley.

"Yeye yeye..." With an extremely sharp whistling sound, 2,000 powerful crossbow arrows drew a wonderful arc in the air, like a dark cloud of death covering the city walls in the distance.

.

When the defenders on the city saw this "dark cloud" flying out, they did not respond to the order from Shangguan. They immediately raised their shields in tacit understanding, or simply bent over and hid under the female wall.

During the attack and defense battle in Pengcheng in the past two days, the Cao army defending the city suffered enough of the opponent's strong crossbow. The range of the strong crossbow of Juezhang exceeds 600 steps. Even if he shoots the city tower upward, he can maintain an effective killing distance of more than 450 steps.

In contrast, the range of bows and arrows of the defenders on the city is much inferior, and they cannot pose any threat to the opponent's crossbow.

Moreover, driven by the powerful force of the crossbow, the penetration of the arrows was so strong that it was abnormal, and ordinary leather shields played a protective role. Later, the prefect of Pengcheng Mao Jie had to order his soldiers to hold a heavy iron shield to block the flying arrows.

In order to curb the opponent's strength, Mao Jie also thought of many ways——

Move the Thunderbolt car to the city tower and smash the enemy! The maximum range of the Thunderbolt car can reach 300 steps on the flat ground. With the help of the height of the city tower, it can be increased to about 350 steps. However, even so, it is still not as good as the range of the opponent's powerful crossbow.

Moreover, because the space on the city tower was too small, the soldiers operating the thunder chariot did not have effective protection, and instead were shot and killed by the enemy's powerful crossbow. As a last resort, this method was quickly abandoned.

Mao Jie also wanted to send elite troops out of the city to raid, but after carefully observing the enemy's defensive formation against the powerful crossbowmen, he had to give up his thoughts.

...

In every way, the most passive and negative method - passive shrinking defense has become the most effective method.

.

The snare drum is like thunder, and the horn is thundering in the sky!

"Kill!" Under the cover of locust-like flying arrows, a group of soldiers pushed a chariot made of simple nails, supported by several layers of thick cowhide, and came to the city, and hit the city gate and the city wall.

The rumbling sound of impact pushed the horn and snare drum over.

The moat surrounding Pengcheng, which was more than two meters wide, was filled in countless sections as early as the first day of the siege, and the suspension bridges hanging high were completely decorated.

"Hurry! Pour all the oil!"

"Take the torch!"

The shouts of the city towers are coming one after another!

In the gap between the arrows, the guards hurriedly poured the boiling oil from the city tower. Before some soldiers with slow hands and feet could pour the oil down, they were shot by the attacking feather arrows and fell to the ground in waves of wail.

The boiling oil originally used to attack the enemy army unfortunately became a "weapon" to kill oneself. Many people were even burned by their own boiling oil and burned to death.

The siege troops under the city did not suffer much damage, and the cowhide covered on the rushing car effectively blocked the boiling oil.

But the torch that fell immediately worked. The flammable oil, after being touched by the torch, immediately started to burn, turning the city into a sea of ​​fire.

The agile siege soldiers rolled and crawled away from the sea of ​​fire. With the cover of a powerful crossbow, they fled back to the formation in a hurry.

.

At this time, the sun had already set in the west, and the sky on the west was covered with blood-red color. It was reflected in the burning city walls.

"Dangdangdang..." The rapid sound of gold sounds sounded from the siege army formation.

The terrifying arrow formation stopped, and then the siege army began to retreat slowly.

"Huh~~!" The Cao army soldiers on the city tower breathed a long sigh of relief, with a hint of relaxation on their faces. Some people could not even bear the physical and mental fatigue and collapsed on the ground.

More people cleaned up a messy city tower under Shangguan's command.

Surrounded by several generals and school officials, Mao Jie slowly walked to the city, looking at the direction of the enemy's retreat, with a very solemn expression.

"How many people have been lost today?" Turning his head, Mao Jie said to the captain Mu Shi beside him.

"More than 1,300 people were killed in battle, and more than 1,000 people were shot and injured!" Master Mu replied with a solemn expression, "Their powerful crossbows are so powerful!"

"What's the point of just being beaten and not fighting back!" Another school captain, Cen Cong, said angrily. "Sir, please leave the city to attack the camp tonight."

"Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are both famous generals of the world, and Zhang Fei is even more cunning. Even the Prime Minister dares not underestimate them.

How could they be unprepared for the night attack?" Mao Jie refused without hesitation, "If our army leaves the city, it will be exactly what the enemy wants. Moreover, the Prime Minister has given instructions that we just need to guard the city carefully. No need to speak out to fight anymore!"

Hearing Mao Jie moved Cao Cao out, several generals, including Cen Cong, who were eager to ask for battle, dared not say anything.

"Another group of people come up to defend the city, be cautious at night. Don't give the enemy an opportunity!" After giving the order, Mao Jie slowly walked to the edge of the city and stared at the direction of the extreme east, with a complicated expression.

…………………………………………..

Central Army Commander's Account

"Zhengfang, Wenxiang, Zilie, thank you for your hard work, go down and rest first!"

"Yes!" Li Yan, Xu Sheng and Chen Wu, who were responsible for today's siege, bowed to me, then turned around and left the tent.

"There were more than 500 casualties today, which was less than yesterday..." Pang Tong said to me with the casualties just presented by the military notes, "The strength of the attack is much stronger than yesterday. He used 80,000 arrows alone, and more than 50 crashes were destroyed..."

"The enemy's casualties are probably no less than 2,000. They can bear it even if they are beaten and don't fight back!" After a pause, Pang Tong laughed, "I deliberately acted like I was powerless to fight back, and wanted to fish our army in Pengcheng all the time.

Cao Cao is too underestimating people…”

"Have the scout detected an abnormal situation?" I nodded.

"Although there have not been any enemy troops gathering here, the Fengqi scout just reported a situation, which is interesting..." Pang Tong smiled. He turned around and spoke a few words at the door of the reconciliation.

Soon, Zhang Yi, the chief commander of the Fengqi First Song, entered the tent and bowed to me. Zhang Yi was sent by Zhao Yun to me to search for the enemy situation and hunt down the Cao army's scouts.

The first song of the cavalry, who is good at riding and shooting, is the best candidate for hunting enemy scouts.

"Emperor Zhang Du, report the situation you just said to the general!" Pang Tong said to Zhang Yi.

"Yes!" Zhang Yi nodded and said respectfully. "General, today, three teams of people were hunted by the enemy's troops, six brothers were killed, and more than 10 others were injured!"

Resistance to hunt down?!!! It has always been the wind cavalry to hunt enemy scouts, but today it turned around!

There is something strange inside this!

I frowned slightly and asked Zhang Yi in a deep voice: "Where is it? How did I be hunted?"

"The two teams were in the direction leading to Xia Pi, and the other team was in the direction leading to Xiao Pei. The enemy set up many traps. He deliberately used people to lure them. The brothers of the three teams were unprepared for a while and fell into the trap.

Moreover, there are some enemies who are good at hiding whereabouts lurking near the trap. These people are very good..." Zhang Yi's expression was a little solemn, "The last general almost fell into the trap. But those traps were not hidden from me.

"Zhang Yi has lived in the grasslands in the northern Xinjiang for more than ten years. In his long-term harsh living environment, he has developed a unique skill - being able to sense dangerous existences in advance, as sharp as a wild beast.

After pondering for a moment, I turned to Pang Tong and said, "Shi Yuan, what do you think?"

"Cao Cao is probably going to do it!" Pang Tong grinned.

"How did the military advisor know that Cao Cao was going to take action?" Chen Dao asked in confusion.

"If Cao Cao wants to attack our army, what is the most feared thing?" Pang Tong did not answer directly, but asked with a smile.

"The whereabouts were revealed!" Zhu Ran, the captain of the Polu, said with an expression.

"Yes, it's the whereabouts are revealed!" Pang Tong nodded at Zhu Ran with praise, "Cao Cao tried his best to lure our army to Pengcheng, so he naturally had the idea of ​​annihilation of our army. However.

As long as our army knew about Cao's army's march towards Pengcheng, Cao Cao's trick would be gone. If our army retreated immediately, the current defenders in Pengcheng City would have no power to stop it. Therefore, Cao Cao must blind our army's eyes first.

Not even good, we must shorten the distance we can ‘see’ by half…”

"Yeah..." I nodded and responded softly.

Pang Tong’s analysis is basically the same as what I think.

"If Cao Cao didn't expect that, within one or two days, he would take action..." Pang Tong said with confidence with a confident smile.

"I'm afraid there has been some movement on my second brother..." If it were really the same as Pang Tong's idea, Cao Cao would definitely cut off my retreat. I just don't know if the Cao army, who cut off my retreat, would pass through the ambush place where my second brother set up.

"With Kong Ming as the military officer, the general, don't worry!" Pang Tong guessed what I was thinking. He smiled and comforted, "At present, our army still needs to 'cooperate' Cao Cao and continue 'acting'!"

"Yeah!" nodded and said to Zhang Yi, "German side, you will narrow the scout search area to 30 miles, be careful to guard against enemy hunting!"

"Xu Mu, tonight, you can send three people to disguise themselves as civilians, and sneak towards the east, west and north in the night. After reaching 60 miles, you can scatter and lurk closely. Pay close attention to all abnormal movements!" I turned my head and ordered Zhu Huan, the commander of the Wolf Tooth Camp.

Shortening the search distance of the Fengqi scout can play a role in confusing the enemy, and then allowing the wolf-toothed soldiers who are good at hiding secretly to a longer distance, which should not be easily noticed by the enemy. This will form a bright and dark scout network.

.

The next day, our army still launched a "sharp attack" on Pengcheng.

By midnight that day, scouts from the east and north simultaneously sent emergency information back to the east and north. The brigade Cao army sailed toward Pengcheng from Xia Pi and Xiaopei respectively in the dark.
Chapter completed!