The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

"What can you do? Say it bluntly, if you can really deal with Liu Zheng, I will credit you for your first contribution, and it will not be a problem to be promoted in the future!"

At this time, Liu Biao didn't know what to do with Liu Zheng. Suddenly, Cai Zhong said that he had a way to deal with Liu Zheng. It was like a life-saving straw, and Liu Biao seized the opportunity at once.

"Your Excellency, please be admitted to the hospital for a detailed discussion."

Cai Zhong made a gesture of invitation, inviting Liu Biao to enter the backyard of the Cai Mansion. Cai He wanted to say something, but when he saw Liu Biao, he walked over and didn't say what was on his lips. He could only look at it. Cai Zhong led Liu Biao into the backyard of Cai Mansion.

Cai Zhong led Liu Biao and walked towards the courtyard. Along the way, Liu Biao also paid close attention to this Cai Mansion. Although the Cai Mansion occupies a large area in Xiangyang City, it seems a bit depressed at this time. Apart from some servants, there were really no guards in sight.

Only then did Liu Biao believe what Cai He said just now that he didn't have enough manpower.

"You said you have a way to deal with that Liu Zheng, but is it true?"

On the way, Liu Biao still couldn't bear it, and seeing that Cai Zhong didn't take the initiative to mention it, he asked again.

Cai Zhong still didn't say it clearly, but told Liu Biao with a smile, to go to a place first, Liu Biao saw that Cai Zhong didn't say anything, although Liu Biao was not slow in his heart, but the answer was still very tempting after all, so Liu Biao followed Cai Zhong patiently. Zhong has been going in.

After walking a few corridors, Cai Zhong turned into a relatively remote courtyard, where Cai Yao lived.

Cai Zhong didn't go in, but walked to the door, and he could see from a distance, under the scorching sun, Cai Yao in the yard was playing with a baby.

Cai Zhong made a silence gesture, and then signaled Liu Biao to look towards the courtyard.

Liu Biao glanced at the courtyard, and soon saw Cai Yao. He was startled by Cai Yao's beauty, he hesitated for a moment, and then saw the doll beside Cai Yao. At first glance, Liu Biao thought This guy Cai Zhong wants to use a beauty trick to confuse Liu Zheng.

"what do you mean?"

"My lord, look at my sister, isn't she pretty?"

Liu Biao's expression began to turn gloomy.

"My sister, there is nothing else but beautiful. If she is not my sister, I really want to marry her home and take good care of her."

Cai Zhong was immersed in his obsession, unaware that Liu Biao, who was beside him, had already turned ugly.

"What exactly do you want to say, you brought me here to see a woman, don't you want to say that if you give this woman to Liu Zheng, Liu Zheng won't be able to attack the city?"

At this point, Liu Biao finally couldn't take it anymore, couldn't contain his anger, and stared at Cai Zhong. Obviously, if Cai Zhong couldn't give him a satisfactory answer, Liu Biao would definitely get angry and offend him.

As soon as Cai Zhong saw Liu Biao's expression, he didn't dare to delay and answered hastily.

"My lord, we are not going to give my sister to Liu Zheng, on the contrary, as long as we hold her in our hands, Liu Zheng will throw a mouse."

"What do you mean by that?"

After hearing Cai Zhong's words, Liu Biao calmed down his anger a little, and hurriedly asked another question.

Cai Zhong knew he couldn't hide anything, so he immediately revealed the relationship between Cai Yao and Liu Zheng, gave Liu Biao a brief description, and told Liu Biao that the doll next to Cai Yao was Liu Zheng's son.

As soon as these words were said, Liu Biao immediately looked surprised.

Chapter 5 and Nine Launch the Attack

After Cai Zhong finished talking about the tortuous process, Liu Biao calmed down and looked at Cai Zhong with a slightly suspicious look.

"What you just said, is it true?"

"Back to my lord, what the villain said just now is absolutely true, without any adulteration. If your lord doesn't believe it, you can ask any servant of Cai's mansion to ask, and you will know."

Cai Zhong immediately assured Liu Biao that what he said was true.

"This little baby is really Liu Zheng's son. If it is true, then we do have the capital to blackmail Liu Zheng."

"That's right, as long as we threaten my sister and his son, Liu Zheng will definitely give in. Let alone attacking the city, it is even possible to surrender directly!"

Cai Zhong obsequiously courted Liu Biao, amplifying Cai Yao's role infinitely.

However, Liu Biao was not convinced by what Cai Zhong said in a few words, and he still maintained a skeptical attitude towards Cai Yao's role in his heart.

However, as long as the relationship between Cai Yao and Liu Zheng is true, then even if Liu Zheng cannot be made to surrender directly, he can still make him cast a trap.

As long as he can hold on for a few days, when the reinforcements from Changsha arrive, Liu Biao will not be afraid at that time.

With this trump card in Cai Zhong's hand, Liu Biao's mood improved a lot, but he still didn't relax. First, he comforted Cai Zhong and asked Cai Zhong to watch Cai Yao carefully. order to take Cai Yao up the tower.

Naturally, Cai Zhong agreed repeatedly, as soon as Liu Biao asked for power, Liu Biao was also happy, and immediately promoted Cai Zhong to be the head of the county.

The so-called Zhu Bo is actually not an official of the imperial court, but an official appointed by the local governor or the state shepherd himself. Generally, they are not held by cronies. The official position of Zhu Bo has no fixed responsibilities.

Cai Zhong was able to take care of Cai Yao, and it was normal for him to be promoted to a master in this matter. Anyway, he was only the master of Jingzhou Mu's subordinates. For such an official position, Liu Biao could confer many titles.

But after Cai Zhong heard it, he was very happy, and he was ordered to take care of Cai Yao at home happily.

Liu Biao left the Cai Mansion, and the rest went smoothly. He went door-to-door and visited the Kuai family, Zhang family, Huang family and other families, all of which were patronized by Liu Biao one by one.

The members of these families are different from the Cai family. They will have some private soldiers in their hands. After Liu Biao's visit, they dare not lose face. Some of them handed over dozens of people, and some of them , For example, the Kuai family fully supported Liu Biao, and directly pulled out 3000 people, so that Liu Biao, in the homes of these big families, quickly pulled out a [-]-strong army.

In addition to some township braves recruited temporarily and urgently, 5000 people were quickly assembled by Liu Biao. Without any training, these people were dragged up to the tower by Liu Biao and handed over to Li Yan.

Li Yan originally had [-] troops stationed in Xiangyang, and now he has [-] new troops sent by Liu Biao. Naturally, he immediately thanked Liu Biao and expressed his confidence to Liu Biao, claiming that with him, the city of Xiangyang , absolutely foolproof.

With Li Yan's guarantee, and the [-] soldiers stationed on the tower, Liu Biao calmed down a lot, and he left behind. Once he found that the situation was wrong, he would pull Cai Yao out. At that time, Don't be afraid that Liu Zheng won't submit, he can still live on for a few days.

Only then did Liu Biao return to his mansion with peace of mind.

On the second day of Liu Zheng's siege, there was no battle between the two sides. Liu Zheng was rushing to manufacture siege equipment and had no time to attack Xiangyang.

On the Xiangyang side, they were even happier if Liu Zheng didn't attack the city. After all, if this delay continued, they would have hope only when their reinforcements from Changsha came.

But on the third day, Liu Zheng was no longer so at ease. One after another, some small groups of soldiers from the surrounding areas rushed over from the small counties around Xiangyang. These people were the first wave Liu Biao sent out to ask for help. Soldiers and horses, on their way to Changsha, they asked nearby counties to send troops to support Xiangyang along the way.

Although there are not many soldiers and horses that can be mobilized in these small counties, at best they are hundreds or 1000 people, but their arrival, after arriving near Xiangyang, will still cause some unnecessary troubles for Liu Zheng and others. Part of the manpower was allocated to clean up these reinforcements.

On the fourth day, Liu Zheng's siege equipment was finally manufactured. At the same time, Liu Zheng reckoned that the reinforcements sent by Liu Biao had already arrived in Changsha.

Liu Zheng can't wait here anymore, he needs to break Xiangyang City as soon as possible.

On the evening of the fourth day, the sun had not yet set, and the blood-colored sunset dyed half of the sky red. It was already summer in Xiangyang in June, and the temperature was not too high, but it was hot enough to make people feel hot.

At noon, the sun is too high, so it is not suitable for siege. Only in the evening, when people wake up from the most sleepy time, and they have just eaten, it is the time when the energy and spirit are at their best. After a full meal, Liu Then Tai Shici was asked to lead the army and prepare to attack the city.

More than a dozen trebuchets for siege were all rushed out in the past three days, but because there were no huge stones, this time Liu Zheng did not intend to use stones to break the gate of Xiangyang City, but to use The huge arrows made of tree poles harassed the enemy troops on the city tower, and let the people below the city break open the city gate of Xiangyang with a huge hammer.

As long as the city gate is broken, enter the city, and fight hand-to-hand with the enemy troops in the city, then Liu Zheng will have great confidence in defeating thousands of enemy troops in the city.

Otherwise, fighting a war of attrition outside the city, Liu Zheng doesn't have much time to spend with them.

Oh oh oh!

The trumpets sounded, the battle flags fluttered, and ten square formations of soldiers and horses began to appear outside Xiangyang City.

A phalanx of 1000 people, the front three phalanxes, use archers, ready to use the arrows that smash the sky and cover the earth, to shoot intensively at the city gates, the middle ones are the main force of the siege, and the rear ones are to control the siege equipment people.

Everyone has their own job, and everyone has corresponding responsibilities. The drums sounded to guide the blood of these soldiers. A big battle began to break out in Xiangyang City.

Zu Lang and Tai Shici were on the left and the right. One personally commanded the siege, and the other mobilized some soldiers and horses to pay close attention to the dynamics of the other three city gates.

"Fire arrows!"

"The people in the first phalanx retreat, and the people in the second phalanx step forward!"

"The trebuchet is ready."

"The second round of arrows keeps up!"

"The person in the middle, push me up, pay attention to the city gate!"

"Trebuchet, trebuchet, don't stop, keep shooting!"

5 Chapter [-] Stalemate

Tai Shici was outside Xiangyang City, commanding the battle with all his might.

This is the first time for Tai Shici to act as the commander-in-chief, leading an army of [-] to fight. Although he is a bit unfamiliar, the command is indeed smooth and smooth, and he is not procrastinating at all. He has experienced under the account for a year, and he is working hard to learn what he should learn.

Now is the time to test his academic achievements. Naturally, he has to do his best to perform in front of Liu Zheng, and at the same time let his [-] soldiers know that he is a general who is not in vain.

A fierce siege battle intensified. On Liu Zheng's side, under the order of attacking the city with all his strength regardless of the cost, the indestructible Xiangyang City finally began to shake.

In fact, the defenders on the city tower have never been idle. When Liu Zheng's men launched the siege, Li Yan, who had been watching Liu Zheng closely for several days, also discovered the actions of Liu Zheng and others at the first time. He immediately arranged manpower to resist.

Counting the troops arranged one after another later, there are a total of 8000 people garrisoned on this city tower, and the rest were dispatched by Li Yan to other city gates, although Liu Zheng and others have been only paying attention to this city these days. It is difficult to guarantee that one city gate is not a trick of suspicious soldiers, and the other several city gates still need to send hundreds of troops to garrison.

If there are at least a few hundred people stationed, once the enemy is found, they can temporarily resist one or two, delay for a while, and wait for support. If no one is sent to guard at all, once the enemy appears, they may collapse, and they will come from those few cities. door begins.

Eight thousand soldiers and horses were stationed at the city gate. When Liu Zheng's soldiers and horses began to attack the city, Li Yan had already figured out all the countermeasures a few days ago. A large number of defensive equipment were placed on the city tower.

All kinds of straw, kerosene, ropes to prevent ladders, rolling logs and so on.

However, no matter how well prepared Li Yan was, he never expected that Liu Zheng would actually set up a weapon like a trebuchet.

This made the defensive equipment prepared by Li Yan useless for a while. Liu Zheng's men did not use ladders to climb the city at all, but used trebuchets and arrow rain to suppress firepower on the battlefield and then cover the infantry below the city. , Use the city hammer to storm the city gate.

Although the gate under the city had already been sealed by Li Yan with a boulder, once the gate was broken, it was only a matter of time before Liu Zheng's men removed the boulder.

After realizing that this defensive battle is not easy to fight, Li Yan thought that he would guard Zai and Xiangyang City without damaging the soldiers and horses. , Let the people under him risk their lives to go up and use fire oil to prevent Liu Zhengjun from breaking the city.

At the same time, some archers were ordered to counterattack, not to kill Liu Zheng's men, but to prevent the attacks of some enemy catapults and arrow rain, so that the defending soldiers had enough time to counterattack.

It's just that, from time to time, soldiers on the city tower were killed in battle, shot by arrows, hit by huge logs projected by trebuchets, and so on.

The first round of attack quickly passed under the strict defense on the tower.

The city tower has not been broken, not because Liu Zheng's people can't open it, but because the defense of Xiangyang City is too strong, and now it is nightfall, the sun has completely set, and there is only a rainbow in the sky. In a few minutes, the sky will be completely dark. At that time, there is no point in attacking the city. On the contrary, it is not conducive to Liu Zheng's troops.

However, although the city tower was not taken down, the defenders on the tower lost a lot, and the fear of the siege would only continue to increase. Many defenders in the city knew that Xiangyang City was difficult to defend.

If Liu Zheng continues to attack the city tomorrow, I am afraid that the city will probably not be able to defend, and this kind of panic will continue to increase.Spreading to the entire Xiangyang City, there will definitely be deserters in the city, and even the people fleeing. Liu Zheng deliberately let this kind of panic spread, which will only make the soldiers in the city unstable.

It is beneficial for Liu Zheng to continue to attack Xiangyang City.

Now these defenders can still guard Xiangyang so tenaciously. Firstly, they feel that Liu Zheng's troops cannot break through Xiangyang City in just a few days. Secondly, they believe that they can rely on reinforcements and only need to wait a few days. With a few days of effort, you can wait for the reinforcements from Changsha County, and then you don't need to be afraid of people like Liu Zheng.

And Liu Zheng knew what they were thinking, and deliberately delayed the battle until the fifth day, because according to Liu Zheng's speculation, the fifth day was the day when Changsha's reinforcements arrived.

If on the fifth day, Changsha's reinforcements have not yet appeared, and the situation in Xiangyang becomes more and more anxious, it will only make the defenders in the city more afraid.

After a night of nothing to say, Liu Zheng let his men rest after collecting the soldiers and horses in the evening. After counting the battle damage, Liu Zheng discovered that there were only more than 2000 casualties in this fierce battle.

Although the siege seems to be very powerful, most of them are shot by trebuchets and archers. The infantry who rushed to the city was only 4000 people, and they continued to send up after some casualties, so it is normal that only more than 2000 people were killed or injured. . ,

Presumably, the defenders also lost about 1000 people, or even less than 1000 people, but the biggest blow to the defenders should be Liu Zheng's method of attacking the city, which made it very difficult for them to defend.

If casualties are not counted, it will still be delayed for a while. This night, Li Yan on the city tower stayed up all night.

Thinking that tomorrow's attack might be even more ferocious, he couldn't sleep at all, and he didn't even know how to defend, but what supported him was the reinforcements from Changsha County that would arrive soon.

As long as he persisted for a day or two, he believed that reinforcements from Changsha County would arrive, and his pressure would be much less.

With this goal in mind, he forcibly cheered himself up and let himself continue to defend here.

On the second day, Liu Zheng did not continue to launch a large-scale attack. In the previous attack, the first was to conduct a tentative siege drill, and the second was to show the defenders in the city some seriousness and tell them that Liu Zheng was capable. Siege of strength.Cause some panic in them.

His real goal has already been achieved, so he is not in a hurry to attack at all, but Liu Zheng is not idle either. He asked Tai Shici to dispatch his men to carry out a round of feint attacks every half an hour. Blow the horn, take thousands of people, and go outside the city.

Let the defenders in the city not be idle, blow their spirits, and keep them in high tension at all times.

Chapter 511 The Wolf Comes

When Liu Zheng really wanted to launch an attack, those soldiers with high spirits were more prone to mental breakdown.

On the fifth day, for a whole day, Liu Zheng did not launch a decent attack, but the horns outside the city and the roar of the soldiers did not stop for a moment.

The soldiers on duty in Xiangyang City did not dare to take their guard lightly, especially Li Yan, who had not slept all night, had to cheer up and prepare to defend against the stormy attack of Liu Zheng's army. It's loud thunder and little rain.

Thousands of soldiers and horses, waving flags and shouting from outside the city, rushed to the gate of the city, but halfway through, they retreated on their own initiative.

Only the catapult set up in the distance will throw a few giant arrows at the menacing tower.

This kind of attack made Liu Biao's soldiers, who were ready to shoot their bows and arrows on the tower, lose their temper.

He was obviously ready for a tough battle, but nothing happened at all, and watching the enemy troops retreat outside the city, they came again not long after.

Such a wolf game made the defenders on the city know that it was Liu Zheng's strategy, but they didn't dare to take it lightly, because they didn't know which time Liu Zheng's attack would be a real attack. If he was not prepared and the city gate was breached, Li Yan's crime would be serious.

So every time the horn sounded outside the city, Li Yan was always the first to rush forward, commanding his troops, and always ready to meet the enemy.

Returning without success the previous few times made Li Yan look exhausted, and he could barely support it, but after a whole day, he kept feinting like this, even if he was an iron man, he would not be able to bear it. Li Yan's face was full of exhaustion, but Still guarding on the tower.

The guard beside him approached Li Yan, wanting Li Yan to go down and rest.

"My lord, you haven't rested all day, go down and rest for a while, if you continue like this, you will be overwhelmed."