I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 268 Rejecting a Zhuge Liang
Yuan Shao began his attack on the city.

The twelve methods of attacking a city are: approach, hook, rush, ladder, dam (******, hole, sudden, hollow, ant-like, chariot and carriage).

"Lin" refers to placing a makeshift arrow tower near the city wall so that soldiers can advance and fight against the defending troops.

However, the tall buildings in Yijing City were all built within the moat, at a great height above the ground, which effectively prevented Yuan's army from advancing like ants.

The hook was used to pry down the city wall, attempting to create a breach.

However, in Yijing City, the tall buildings were all built on high platforms, so majestic that they could not be climbed, which rendered the second method of attacking the city useless.

"冲" means battering ram; "梯" means ladder; "堙" means digging a tunnel.
Yuan Jun mainly used these three techniques to launch a fierce attack on Yi Jing!
Upon seeing this, Zhuge Liang, who was located on the Hundred-Foot Tower, immediately used the pulleys between the towers to move the Han crossbows from several other locations to the vicinity of the towers being attacked by Yuan's army in order to provide support.

The dense barrage of crossbow bolts suppressed Yuan's land offensive, allowing Zhuge Liang to confidently deploy his soldiers to the trenches to block Yuan's tunneling forces.

Once they heard a sound from below, they immediately ordered their soldiers to lift huge stones and smash them down, burying Yuan's army.

Yuan Jun then built wooden carts covered with iron sheets, intending to use chariots and carts to attack Zhuge Liang. However, Zhuge Liang, who was proficient in mechanical arts, immediately calmed down Gongsun Zan after seeing the structure of those large carts.

"Those kinds of weapons could not possibly cross the covered bridge."

Because Gongsun Zan's soldiers were all hidden in tall buildings, and these tall buildings were all built on high platforms, which were hidden within moats, Yuan's army had to build covered bridges to allow the soldiers to pass through when they wanted to attack these tall buildings.

These covered bridges were hastily built and certainly couldn't allow large siege weapons to cross, which is why Zhuge Liang reassured Gongsun Zan.

as predicted.

Just as these tanks were traveling on the covered bridge, several loud explosions rang out in succession, and they instantly crashed into the moat, kicking up clouds of dust!

Even if a tall building is occasionally breached, because there are pavilions connecting different tall buildings in various places and on different floors, reinforcements will quickly "fly" in from the sky and retake the tall building!
Zhuge Liang's arrival seemed to bring flesh and blood, and even divine essence, to the Yijing city built by Gongsun Zan!
Zhuge Liang was able to easily observe the military situation in various places from the central Hundred-Foot Tower simply by using the flag signals that had been agreed upon beforehand. He then calmly deployed the weapons and soldiers, which was simply turning the impossible into the possible!

Under Zhuge Liang's command, Yuan's army attacked hard for a day, but only managed to capture the outermost floor of the small building!
Gongsun Zan likely built well over a thousand tall buildings in Yijing City! How could such a victory not greatly boost the morale of Gongsun Zan's troops?
The generals congratulated Gongsun Zan, and it was at this moment that they realized that the one commanding them was actually Zhuge Liang, an envoy from Liu Miao's command.

"We are all seasoned veterans who have fought many battles. Why should we listen to an outsider's orders?"

Some of the generals, including Gongsun, were somewhat displeased with Zhuge Liang's sudden visit.

"I've heard that Zhuge Liang is barely twenty years old. Why should we listen to the orders of a greenhorn?"

It was only because Gongsun's generals were intimidated by Gongsun Zan's prestige that they dared not point it out to his face.

However, this news was discovered by Yuan Shao's scouts on the other side and reported to him.

When Yuan Shao's advisors, including Pang Ji and Guo Tu, heard that it was actually Liu Miao who had sent someone, they couldn't help but sigh, no wonder Yijing City was so easy to defend and difficult to attack today.

However, once the root cause was known, things became much easier to handle.

The very next day, rumors began to circulate in Yijing City, saying that Liu Miao coveted the land of Youzhou and wanted to kill Gongsun Zan so that Liu Bei, a member of the Han imperial family, could become the governor of Youzhou and a vassal.

As soon as the news came out, Zhuge Liang could clearly feel that the execution of military orders among the various units had become less decisive, and some soldiers even began to outwardly comply but inwardly disobey, ignoring Zhuge Liang.

Upon seeing this, Zhuge Liang went directly to Gongsun Zan and asked him to take charge of reorganizing the military affairs of Yijing City.

However, what Gongsun Zan was concerned about at this time was clearly not the military affairs of Yijing City.

Because Zhuge Liang had previously distributed the money and grain that Gongsun Zan had accumulated to the soldiers guarding the tower, some of Gongsun Zan's close associates and wives and concubines were already dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang. They deliberately whispered many things in Gongsun Zan's ear, causing Gongsun Zan to begin to suspect Zhuge Liang.

Upon seeing Zhuge Liang arrive, Gongsun Zan immediately glared at him and asked, "Has Liu Bei, Liu Xuande, already submitted to Yuan Shao?" Zhuge Liang calmly nodded.

"Why did he surrender to Yuan Shao? Didn't he know that Yuan Shao was my mortal enemy?"

Zhuge Liang explained to Liu Bei: "At that time, Liu Bei had nowhere else to go and had no choice but to go to Hebei."

"Moreover, I have come here for Liu Biaoqi, and my purpose is to stop Yuan Shao, isn't that right?"

Zhuge Liang always made people feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze when he was with them, but at this moment Gongsun Zan felt a chill to the bone!

"Hahaha! Even my classmate Xuande has abandoned me! Why would Liu Miao come to my aid?"

Zhuge Liang said solemnly, "What General Liu has done is naturally to restore the Han Dynasty and to serve the common people!"

"Don't try to fool me with those words!"

Gongsun Zan suddenly slammed his hand on the table!
"Liu Miao is a frivolous and greedy man! I've heard Shi Qi say so! He insisted that I offer him three thousand mares before agreeing to form an alliance with me, so why did he immediately send you here as soon as he heard that Yuan Shao was attacking?"

"I suppose he made a pact with my classmate to kill me so that he could become the governor of Youzhou?"

Zhuge Liang: ...

He couldn't understand why Gongsun Zan, who had regarded him as a lifeline just yesterday, had changed his attitude towards him so drastically overnight!

Not only that, Gongsun Zan even wanted to imprison Zhuge Liang in a dungeon. If Guan Jing hadn't argued against it, Zhuge Liang probably wouldn't have seen the sun rise the next day!
Even so, Zhuge Liang was driven away from Yijing by Gongsun Zan and returned to Qingzhou by boat.

After learning the whole story, even Liu Miao put his hand to his forehead and said, "Kongming...you've worked hard."

Zhuge Liang looked somber.

Clearly, he knew what the fate of the North would be once he left Youzhou.

When Liu Miao saw Zhuge Liang looking dejected, he did not offer direct comfort, but instead asked Zhuge Liang, "Kongming, have you lost hope in the world, in the Han Dynasty, and in the people?"

Although Zhuge Liang's nose tingled with emotion, he remained steadfast: "Never!"

"Liang always believed that there was still hope for this world! And that the Han Dynasty could be restored!"

"When the world is at peace and the Han dynasty is restored, the people will naturally live in peace and prosperity!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Miao couldn't help but burst into laughter again, pulling Zhuge Liang into his arms: "So, this is why I like Kongming and Xuande so much!"

"rest assured!"

"I will definitely seek justice for Kongming regarding the matter of Youzhou!"

"No need."

Zhuge Liang shook his head.

"Gongsun Zan... is finished."

"From this day forward, the land of Hebei will all belong to Yuan Shao!"

(End of this chapter)