Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 223: Tie up the spear and roll up the armor
"Boom bang bang-"

July 5th, 2:45 am.

As the whistle sounded, the ten catapults in the first row took the lead in attacking.

Ten thirty-jin heavy stones flew across the sky, and most of them crashed into the pass.

Fortunately, Tuoba Huaiguang had made arrangements in advance, and the catapults inside the pass had retreated a hundred steps and were not hit.

"Change it to 40 catapult stones!"

On the battlefield, Zhang Chang gave orders calmly. His target was the pass, not the catapults inside the pass.

In other words, he didn't think that Tuoba Huaiguang would leave the catapult there and wait for him to destroy it.

In this case, we might as well focus on attacking the pass.

"Boom bang bang-"

Forty kilograms of heavy stones were thrown out, and this time most of them hit the pass.

The thrown stones were smashed to pieces, and many of the stones on the stone wall also broke and shook off the debris.

"continue!"

Seeing that the effect was good, Zhang Chang continued to order his troops to take turns to attack the pass.

At the same time, Tuoba Huaiguang, who was awakened by the sound of stone throwing, also saw the stones thrown by the Longyou army.

"They are farther away than us, at least thirty steps further, and the stones weigh more than ten kilograms."

Jie'er reported to Tuoba Huaiguang in the wooden house that this place was 200 steps away from the pass and there was no need to worry about being hit by stones.

Tuoba Huaiguang looked at the stone that was much larger than his own and said, "It is indeed powerful, but it is still far from enough to break through the pass with just this!"

"Let them fight. We have already collected all the river stones along the Huangshui River. They can only go to further places to collect them."

"Once all the river rocks within a radius of more than ten miles have been destroyed, it will be time for us to fight back."

Stones are inexhaustible, but stones suitable for throwing are not.

Round river rocks are the best, as they cause the least wear and tear on the leather belt of the catapult. Polished open-air rocks are second, and stones mined from the mountains are the last.

Mining stones using the traditional method is not only inefficient, but also causes great wear and tear on leather belts.

The leather belts of the trebuchet are basically made of cowhide, and if one is damaged, it will be gone.

Even in the north where there are many herdsmen, it is not possible to damage the leather belt without any burden.

"Boom bang bang-"

The dull sound of stones hurled continued as forty trebuchets attacked in a staggered manner.

Compared with the bulky manual catapult, the counterweighted winch catapult is undoubtedly more labor-saving.

Forty capstan-counterweighted catapults, operated by more than two thousand laborers, could fire two rounds every quarter of an hour. The speed was slower than on the plains, but frequent enough.

Because of this, the stones were consumed much faster than Zhang Chang and his men had imagined.

"Brother, all the rocks along the ten-mile river have been mined out!"

At noon, Cao Mao came riding from the rear and told Zhang Chang about the situation of the laborers digging river stones.

The relationship between the two can be traced back to the Jiuquan period, when Cao Mao addressed Ma Cheng, Zhang Chang, Li Ji and others from the third group as "Brother".

Zhang Chang frowned when he heard this, but still said, "Continue the attack. You and Li Ji search eastward along the river tonight. We have plenty of time, so don't worry."

"Yes!" Cao Mao bowed, turned his horse around and left.

Looking at his departing figure, Zhang Chang chuckled to Chen Ying beside him, "In the past, this guy was just a servant in charge of the general's food, but six years have passed in a flash, and he has become a military recorder now."

Chen Ying is not much older than Cao Mao and is only in his early twenties. It has been almost four years since his last battle, so he is now learning how to fight again.

Facing Zhang Chang's words, Chen Ying also said modestly: "We have many shortcomings and need to learn more from you."

"Hahaha..." Zhang Chang was very pleased with his words, but he did not blindly believe them and said:

"All of our skills were learned from Marshal Jie."

"If there were no Jieshuai, Li Ji and I would probably be no more than captains at best, and your Chen Shijun would be no more than a general at best."

"Yes." Chen Ying did not defend Chen Jingchong just because he was his former superior, because Chen Jingchong often expressed his gratitude to Liu Jilong.

If there were no Liu Jilian, Chen Jingchong and his men would most likely still be captains serving Zhang Huaishen, not even being able to become generals.

To put it bluntly, their status as servants means that their upper limit is limited.

Unless they meet someone like Liu Jilong, their ultimate goal in this life is to become a general.

But he finally met the right person, and at the age of 37 he went from being a family servant to becoming a provincial governor.

Thinking of Chen Jingchong's old bearded face, Zhang Chang couldn't help but touch the short mustache around his mouth.

He is only 25 years old now. If it were someone else of his age, he might not even have been promoted to the rank of captain, but he is already a governor.

All of this comes from following the right person.

Lamenting his own choice, he looked towards the pass in the distance.

After four hours of heavy bombardment, there was no large-scale collapse of the pass, which was obviously the result of Tuoba Huaiguang's careful efforts.

At this rate, it would take at least half a month to break through this pass.

"The trebuchets are not stopping, and the soldiers and civilians in the front are taking turns to eat lunch."

Zhang Chang gave some instructions, turned his horse around and went to the central army to look for Liu Jilian.

After a cup of tea, he walked into the central military tent and met Liu Jilian who was writing a book.

"General Jie, if we continue to fight like this, it will take at least half a month to capture the pass. Should we try gunpowder?"

As soon as Zhang Chang finished speaking, Liu Jilong refused without even looking up, saying, "No hurry, it's still early for the autumn harvest, so take your time."

"But..." Zhang Chang hesitated for a moment, but continued:
"But if the crops turn yellow in the fall, they will be easily burned."

"If Tuoba Huaiguang is defeated and retreats back to Huangshui, I'm worried that he will burn the food outside the city."

Zhang Chang was eager to show off, which Liu Jilong could understand, so he comforted him:
"You can't be impatient in a war. If the enemy is strong and we are weak, it is understandable that the army will take risky moves, like a lion fighting a rabbit."

"But the current situation is that we are strong and the enemy is weak. In addition, our elite cavalry is several times more than the enemy. Even if they want to burn the food outside the city, we can easily put out the fire. Therefore, the right way is to use the troops steadily."

He told Zhang Chang his usual method of deploying troops, and he gradually calmed down after hearing it: "I will obey your orders."

"Yeah," Liu Jilong nodded, and at the same time reminded: "You and I are still young, it's normal to be eager to show off, but don't act on impulse."

"A good warrior does not have to achieve great success. What we need to think about is to put ourselves in an invincible position first."

"Don't forget, our family background is very limited and we can't afford to suffer any hardship."

"Yes, I will accept your advice." Zhang Chang bowed sincerely. Liu Jilong also instructed:
"Go to the front army and fight slowly. It's not us who are in a hurry now, but they are."

"Yes!" Zhang Chang slowly walked out of the tent, and soon mounted his horse and returned to the front army.

In the next three days, Zhang Chang calmly used the catapult to attack, and did not even move his position.

His fighting style gave Tuoba Huaiguang, who was trying to launch a sneak attack, a headache.

"Liu Jilong, this pig-dog guy, was so timid in his fight that I couldn't use all my tricks."

Looking at the pass in the distance that was being attacked by stone throwers, Tuoba Huaiguang couldn't help but complain.

The two guards standing behind him didn't dare to talk to him. After he felt bored, he asked, "They have been attacking for so many days, how is the situation at the pass?"

"The city wall has suffered considerable damage, but it is still strong. Qiliben does not need to worry." Ji'er responded with a salute.

Hearing this, Tuoba Huaiguang returned to his wooden house and quietly waited for his opportunity.

This opportunity came on the ninth day of July because of a large-scale collapse in a corner of the pass.

"Move the trebuchet forward eighty steps, and prepare to switch to fifty pounds of stone!"

"Set up forty trebuchets at the original position, exchange them for thirty catapults and wait for the military order!"

On the battlefield, Liu Jilong issued a military order and reminded Zhang Chang:
"Our army's catapults have begun to move forward. Tuoba Huaiguang will definitely not miss this opportunity, but at the same time, this is also our opportunity."

"Whether we can knock down the trebuchet in his hand depends on who has more tricks."

Liu Jilian prepared to move forward to confuse Tuoba Huaiguang. When Tuoba Huaiguang used the trebuchet to counterattack, he would immediately use the trebuchet in the original position to attack the trebuchet in Tuoba Huaiguang's hand.

Zhang Chang naturally understood this tactic, so he nodded quickly: "Don't worry, General Jie, I know what to do!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Chang shook the reins of his horse, withdrew the civilians from the position, and replaced them with armored soldiers and went forward.

The armored soldiers protected the forty catapults as they moved forward, and the front army's camp also began to move forward.

However, after the camp moved forward, Zhang Chang ordered people to build tents first, and then build catapults in each tent.

Such actions indeed attracted Tuoba Huaiguang's attention.

Tuoba Huaiguang ordered the catapults to be pushed behind the pass, preparing to attack Liu Jilong by surprise.

Since rolling logs were placed under the trebuchet, they omitted the step of dismantling and rebuilding the trebuchet.

When the 40 trebuchets of the Longyou Army were dismantled and moved forward, Tuoba Huaiguang had already arrived at the horse trail, and the 30 trebuchets in the back were also pushed behind the city wall by the barbarians, who removed the rolling logs and fixed the trebuchets.

"Wait a little longer, their camp has also moved forward!"

Ji'er asked tentatively, but Tuoba Huaiguang remained silent, waiting for the best opportunity.

But while he was waiting, Liu Jilong and others were also waiting.

"This guy is very patient. I think he wants to inflict the greatest casualties on us."

As Liu Jilong commented, he could hear knocking sounds from various tents.

At this time, the forty catapults that had moved forward also began to be stationed and fixed, so it was difficult for Tuoba Huaiguang to know that the Longyou Army was building a double catapult position.

"Do it!"

"Beep--"

When Tuoba Huaiguang shouted these two words, Jie'er next to him immediately blew the whistle.

At the same time, the three thousand people began to pull the catapults and throw the stones hard.

Almost at the moment when their whistles sounded, nearly a thousand armored soldiers in the front line of the Longyou Army dropped their tools and hid behind the catapults.

Many of the stones flying out from the pass hit the catapults in Longyou, and several of them were hit, with their main beams cracked and damaged.

"Fight back!"

"Beep--"

After the attack by the foreign army, the armored soldiers in the front line of the Longyou army immediately came out to check the catapults that their team was responsible for, and then operated the undamaged catapults to counterattack.

"Okay, fight back."

In the camp, Liu Jilong spoke slowly, and Zhang Chang also signaled with his eyes to Chen Ying and Cao Mao beside him.

The tents were rolled up one by one, revealing forty newly built catapults.

The catapults in the front row used stones weighing fifty kilograms, while the forty catapults in the back row used stones weighing thirty kilograms.

With the joint efforts of the armored soldiers and civilians, the catapults of Longyou finally caught up with the catapults of the foreign army and counterattacked at a speed higher than the enemy's efficiency.

"Escape!!"

"Boom bang bang-"

As soon as Tuoba Huaiguang realized that he had fallen into a trap, he quickly lay down behind the solid stone parapet.

Most of the seventy-odd stones that fell from the sky smashed into the pass.

Most of the thirty catapults in Tuoba Huaiguang's hands were hit, the main beam was directly broken, and many of the foreign troops were killed or injured.

"Retreat! Take away the trebuchets!"

Tuoba Huaiguang was too weak to recall how he fell into the trap. He just gave orders loudly, and the tribesmen, in fear, began to pull out the wooden stakes used to fix the catapults.

"Boom bang bang-"

Before they could finish their operation, the Longyou Army's stones started to rain down again.

The catapults that had escaped the disaster last time were not so lucky this time, and many of them were hit.

The exploding wood chips took the lives of more than a dozen members of the tribe, causing the rest of the tribe to flee in fear.

"No escape! Take away the trebuchets!"

The supervision team arranged by Tuoba Huaiguang worked. They used sharp weapons to contain the fleeing tribes and then forced them to go back and evacuate the catapults.

Under the threat of the supervisory team, this group of panicked people finally calmed down.

With trembling hands, they pulled out the wooden stakes and dismantled the catapults one by one and evacuated them.

"Boom bang bang-"

When the third round of stones hit the city, the foreign people barely managed to rescue twelve catapults. The remaining eighteen were either seriously damaged or could not be rescued in time and fell under the third round of stones.

Tuoba Huaiguang evacuated the pass with a grim face, leaving the catapults from Longyou to continue bombarding.

After four rounds of this, Zhang Chang looked at Liu Jilong happily and said, "General Jie, it seems they have fallen into our trap."

"Well, the catapults continue to move forward and build two lines of defense at one hundred and one hundred and fifty steps away respectively."

Liu Jilong raised the corner of his mouth slightly and arranged the tactics slowly and leisurely.

As long as the catapults of the first line of defense are attacked by the catapults inside the city, the catapults of the second line of defense can counterattack the catapults inside the city.

Under his command, the catapults on both lines of defense began to move forward.

After they were fixed, Liu Jilong asked them to test shoot first to ensure that the first trebuchet could hit the city wall and the second trebuchet could hit the trebuchet inside the city.

After this confirmation, the 32 trebuchets in the first layer began to continue bombing, while the eight damaged trebuchets were brought back to the camp and replaced with parts before being sent to the front line.

"The barbarians took their catapults and retreated to Huangshui City, leaving the draft horses for the infantry to ride on."

Tuoba Huaiguang, who returned to the rear, immediately gave orders, apparently no longer counting on the catapult attack on the Longyou army.

He now prefers to use the pass and infantry to consume Liu Jilian. Once the pass cannot be defended, he will let the elite cavalry and infantry retreat back to Huangshui on horseback.

Hearing this, Jie'er couldn't help but bow and ask, "Should we withdraw the people from Huangshui to Shancheng first?"

Tuoba Huaiguang was silent for a moment. Although he was somewhat unwilling, he had to admit that it might not be possible to defend the Huangshui River.

"I'll leave this matter to you. Relocate the people of Huangshui and take away all the crops outside the city if you can. If you can't take them away, let the herds eat them."

"Yes!"

Jie'er left the wooden house and began to arrange the retreat of Huangshui to Shancheng.

"Boom bang bang-"

The dull sound of stones continued, and this time the catapult was equipped with heavier stones.

From July 9th to July 15th, a full six days, the pass was subjected to a one-sided stone-throwing attack.

Liu Jilian had no intention of sending soldiers to attack, but instead made a gesture to destroy the pass with catapults.

His attitude shattered Tuoba Huaiguang's idea of consuming the Longyou army in the offensive and defensive battles.

He also didn't expect that Liu Jilong would be more difficult to deal with than Lun Kongre. After so many days of fierce fighting, he couldn't help feeling guilty, so he had other ideas.

At dusk, he summoned two Jie'er and fourteen centurions to discuss the matter.

"What do you think? Should we surrender to Liu Jilong?"

At the beginning of the meeting, no one expected Tuoba Huaiguang to say such a thing. For a moment, everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.

"Qiliben, but even if we surrender, Liu Jilong will not leave Shanzhou to us."

"The Han Chinese surnamed Cui said before that Liu Jilong wanted us to take our people and leave Shanzhou."

"If we leave Shanzhou, what will the 20,000 people eat and drink?"

"Yes! Without Shanzhou, we will go to Tuyuhun. Don't we have to start all over again?"

Everyone is reluctant to leave Shanzhou. After all, there are more than 200,000 acres of cultivated land in the two counties of Shanzhou.

After leaving Shanzhou, even with Liu Jilian's help, it would take them several years to open up more than 200,000 acres of arable land, not to mention the harsh environment of Tuyuhun. Not only would they have to face harassment from various tribes, but they would also have to be wary of natural disasters.

How could they be willing to give up Shanzhou when they were used to living a comfortable life in Shanzhou?

Tuoba Huaiguang knew what they were thinking, so he was extremely conflicted.

He didn't want to surrender either, but the problem was that Liu Jilian's military power was too strong.

If he surrendered now, he could preserve more than 2,000 elite cavalrymen and 20,000 troops under his command, and then go to Tuyuhun to compete for territory.

If he tried to defend Shancheng but failed and had to flee to Tuyuhun, any few small tribes along the way would be able to deal with him.

Between the two options, Tuoba Huaiguang was still willing to surrender.

"The pass will be lost in the next few days. If we can't defend the pass, we may not be able to defend the Huangshui River either. In the end, we can only retreat to Shancheng."

"If Shancheng cannot be defended, we will still have to retreat to Tuyuhun, so we might as well agree to it now."

He put forward the problem, and the generals looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Tuoba Huaiguang was right, but they just couldn't bear to give up the land of Shanzhou.

"If Liu Jilong asks us to harvest the autumn crops, we will surrender."

"Correct!"

"Let us stay until the autumn harvest and gather the autumn crops!"

They thought about it for a long time and finally decided to take the autumn grain to Tuyuhun.

With the output of Shanzhou, they could bring at least 180,000 to 190,000 shi of autumn grain to Tuyuhun, enough to feed everyone for a whole year.

Seeing this, Tuoba Huaiguang gritted his teeth and said, "Send someone to negotiate with Liu Jilong and see if he agrees!"

　There will be more chapters at 6pm, please support me by voting for the minimum monthly ticket at the beginning of the month!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)