The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 680 Extinguishing Madness
Standing on the watchtower, watching the Suliye army circling around the camp on both sides, Liu Fan smiled coldly.

"Innocent!"

He brought a full 100,000 troops with him on this trip.

The hundreds of catapults and ballistae that were just used, along with five thousand crossbowmen and other soldiers, plus the supply troops to protect the crossbow bolts and catapults, totaled less than twenty thousand men.

He had already arranged this formation on all four sides of the city wall, and had also left nearly 30,000 troops in the central army as a reserve.

The corresponding crossbow bolts and catapults were well stockpiled, and even with the current intensity of the attack, they could sustain the attack for half a month without any problem.

With ample chariots and war elephants to assist, not only was the army's ability to attack fortified positions and its combat power greatly enhanced, but the daily transportation of military supplies and provisions was also greatly improved.

"You think you can use sheer numbers against me? You need at least 300,000 troops!"

Upon hearing Liu Fan's "arrogant words," Huang Quan sighed softly.

"My lord, such tactics are indeed powerful, but they are too wasteful. I fear that in the future..."

Throwing stones was one thing, but it consumed even more manpower. However, in Huang Quan's eyes, each and every crossbow bolt was money!

The sound of the ballista's arrow brings in a fortune.

The volley of arrows just now cost tens of thousands of coins, and in half an hour of fighting, the crossbow bolts alone were worth over a hundred million coins.

This doesn't even include the damage to the ballista and crossbow mechanism.

You should know that hundreds of millions of coins are enough to arm thousands of soldiers.

In Huang Quan's eyes, this victory was entirely won by throwing money at the problem.

If this becomes a habit, even the largest family fortune will be squandered.

Upon hearing this, Liu Fan replied nonchalantly, "Are we short of money right now?"

Huang Quan gently shook his head.

Using captured foreign people to pay off debts is an extremely lucrative business.

Tianze offered very reasonable prices and accepted all comers.

In particular, they have successively devoured two huge territories, the Southeast Asian Peninsula and India, making them incredibly wealthy.

Even Chen Gong was extremely troubled by this, and even had to pawn a lot of their valuables at the money shop.

The three kings of the south and the four kings of the north were completely opposite.

The former was incredibly wealthy, while the latter was heavily in debt.

The richest of them all was Liu Fan.

“Since we don’t lack money now, why should we save?” Liu Fan said calmly.

"This money is useless just sitting there. It's better to exchange it for more soldiers' lives and the fruits of victory. It's a win no matter what."

"With this battle alone, I can extract at least several hundred thousand more people from Liu Bei and Sun Ce. Based on this alone, we will definitely not lose out."

"And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We will absolutely reap huge profits from my prestige, our country's status, and the morale of our army," Liu Fan said without any hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Huang Quan was slightly taken aback.

It was as if I was seeing Liu Fan clearly for the first time.

Don't treat each other with admiration for three days.

He truly hadn't expected that his lord's plans were far more shrewd than he had imagined.

"Your Majesty is truly talented; I admire you greatly!" Huang Quan exclaimed.

Liu Fan smiled slightly: "My abilities are indeed a bit weak. If I want to be on par with Liu Bei and Sun Ce, I have to use some clever tricks."

“Weakness can sometimes be an advantage. Liu Bei and Sun Ce have fully developed their own styles, but I am different; I have nothing.”

"Therefore, I have been learning from Tian Chengshou and the Kushans, and I can fully adopt their strengths to form my own style." Liu Fan's gaze was fixed on the Kushan army in the distance, and the corners of his mouth were slightly pursed.

"Tian Chengshou was able to establish the Great Qi, and the Kushan Empire was able to rank among the four great empires. Their strengths were absolutely no less than those of the other six kings, and were even superior."

"If I can learn even a fraction of their skills, I will not be inferior to them."

Upon hearing this, Huang Quan looked at the confidence in Liu Fan's eyes and couldn't help but feel a little lost.

At that moment, he felt as if he were truly seeing his ancestor.

Determined to fight back, Surya abandoned all hope and launched a massive attack from all sides, attempting to carve out a path to survival with the lives of his soldiers.

He saw through Liu Fan's tactics very clearly.

They rely on their powerful long-range firepower. Once they get close, the five layers of shield soldiers and a few sword and shield soldiers alone will not be enough to hold them off for long.

However, Liu Fan's preparations only made him despair.

No matter how many soldiers he sent, they all disappeared without a trace, unable to even cross the trenches, let alone reach the enemy.

"Move all the cavalry, elephants, and chariots in and launch an attack from the right flank of the camp!" Suriya said resolutely.

At this point, he had staked everything.

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead replied, "Yes, sir!"

In this situation, they had no choice but to fight desperately.

Put all your cards on the line; it's a last resort.

The advance of the chariots and elephants drew most of Liu Fanjun's attention.

Although they still couldn't stop the crossbow bolts, they could withstand a few more hits.

This gave the cavalry an opportunity.

Their superior mobility allowed the cavalry, under the cover of chariots and elephants, to charge forward fearlessly and break through the trenches for the first time.

Faced with deep trenches, heavy chevaux-de-frise, and barbed wire everywhere, the Kushan cavalry charged through them with their lives on the line.

The bodies of thousands of cavalrymen filled the trenches, smashed the chevaux-de-frise, and trampled the barbed wire, finally clearing a barely passable road.

However, Wu Yi had already noticed this and smiled faintly.

"Come on, the crazier the better!"

What he feared most, now that he was pinned down here, was not the Kushans's fierce attack, but that the Kushans would flee without a fight.

Liu Fan's combat style meant that his mobile warfare capabilities would be significantly affected. Although he could still maintain most of his combat strength, he was prone to revealing weaknesses and suffering heavy losses.

Whether it's catapults, ballistae, or crossbowmen, they are all extremely valuable, and Liu Fan would find it difficult to bear heavy losses in battle.

While holding their ground might be able to stop some of the Kushan army, they wouldn't be able to stop the majority of them.

In this battle, Liu Fan wanted not only victory, but also to inflict maximum casualties on the enemy and solidify his own dominant position.

Therefore, before the battle, Liu Fan's order to Wu Yi was not to hold the line, but to control the pace of the counterattack, to lure the enemy into attacking as much as possible, and to restrain and kill the enemy to the greatest extent.

Wu Yi, as Liu Fan's top general, was not particularly strong in ability, but he had extremely rich combat experience and was especially outstanding in terms of overall situation and execution.

A glance swept over the group of catapults, and it became clear that the boulders on them had been replaced with jars tied together.

Wu Yi waved his command flag.

The soldiers slowly lit the fuse with torches.

Countless cans were thrown out.

Under the horrified gaze of the Kushan cavalry, some of the bound earthenware jars exploded in the air, while others crashed to the ground, gushing out thick black oil like a waterfall, accompanied by an endless sea of ​​fire.

(End of this chapter)