Tiger Owl

Chapter 265 Bloodbath at Queyue

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Several miles away, Cao Cao's army sounded drums and horns.

Cao Ren deployed 50,000 troops to attack the city, along with hundreds of siege ladders and twenty siege towers.

He gritted his teeth, his cruel gaze fixed on the high city wall, and roared, "Attack!" Cao Ren brandished his sword.

The drums of Cao Cao's army began to beat more rapidly; these were the drums of attack. Fifty thousand Cao Cao's troops, accompanied by hundreds of siege ladders and twenty siege towers, surged toward Queyue City like a tidal wave, resembling a huge black carpet covering the entire plain.

But this only represents 40,000 soldiers. Another 10,000 soldiers will run from the trenches and reach the wide wooden bridge first, launching a preemptive attack on the city.

The number of giant catapults in the city has increased to as many as five hundred. Their long arms launch hundreds of boulders and oil canisters in turn, crashing down on the enemy horde, which is as dense as an ant colony. Every time a boulder hits, a gap is created, mud and smoke fill the air, blood spurts out, and screams echo across the plains. But the gap closes in an instant, and is then overwhelmed by the attacking enemy horde.

With a loud 'boom!', a nesting vehicle was struck by a boulder, splinters flew everywhere, the giant wood collapsed, and dozens of soldiers on the nesting vehicle screamed as they fell to the ground.

The towering chariot was custom-made for Queyue City. It was two zhang long and two zhang wide, and six zhang high. It was made of huge logs and covered with cowhide. The structure was very simple. The chariot was hollow and had a staircase leading to the top. At the top was a wooden platform where forty or fifty Cao soldiers stood. The front of the platform was covered with thick wooden planks covered with cowhide, which could withstand the crossbow bolts and oil from the Western Chu army.

Equipped with four wooden wheels, it was pulled by fifty warhorses and propelled by hundreds of soldiers on the left, right, and rear. As long as it was not hit by a boulder, this siege tower could carry soldiers to the top of the city wall, making it even more effective than siege ladders.

Another nesting vehicle was hit on the bottom, a wooden wheel came off, and the nesting vehicle immediately tilted and swayed, gradually losing its center of gravity. Soldiers on both sides shouted and ran away. Amid the shouts, the nesting vehicle crashed to the ground.

The 50,000-strong Cao army launched an attack like a tidal wave. The boulders and oil canisters they hurled were like waves splashing in the ocean, instantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. The enemy army, like a raging tide, finally approached the city walls.

Ten thousand Cao soldiers emerged from the trenches, with two thousand vanguard soldiers at the front. They carried siege ladders and rushed onto the wooden bridge, swarming across like ants and heading towards the city wall.

The siege had begun. Arrows rained down from both the city walls and the surrounding area, and soldiers fell one after another. Siege ladders were erected on the walls, and Cao Cao's soldiers climbed upwards like madmen. They fought fiercely with the Western Chu army, holding shields in one hand and spears and swords in the other. Huge rocks rained down from above, and several soldiers would fall down the siege ladders with screams, but others would immediately rush up to them.

The Western Chu soldiers fired arrows from both sides. The arrows were sharp and pierced through leather armor. Strings of soldiers on the siege ladders were hit and fell down. But soon, the Cao soldiers stopped paying attention to the huge rocks above them and used their shields to protect their sides. The number of Cao soldiers hit by arrows gradually decreased.

On the city walls, dozens of Western Chu soldiers were fighting fiercely with the enemy in front of each siege ladder. In front of a siege ladder on the north side, a general was already bloodthirsty. He led fifty Western Chu soldiers in a fierce battle against the surging enemy. They were facing the elite soldiers of Cao Cao's army, each of them tall and strong as oxen, holding shields and wielding long swords and sharp spears.

Spears charged, swords slashed, the battle was bloody. A Western Chu soldier was slashed in the forehead in front of the siege ladder, blood gushing out, and he fell backward. Another Western Chu soldier swung his spear and charged up, the spear piercing the enemy soldier's chest and throwing him off the city wall, where it once again held the breach.

A strong Cao army soldier used his shield to deflect the attack of the Western Chu army and was the first to leap onto the city wall. In an instant, dozens of Western Chu army spears came from all sides, piercing through his body. The Cao army soldier screamed and rolled down.

However, it was this enemy soldier who rushed onto the city wall that created a brief gap in the siege ladder defenses. The Cao army soldiers who were pinned down on the siege ladders seized the opportunity, and in an instant, more than a dozen fierce Cao army soldiers rushed onto the city wall again.
"Plug the breach, follow me!"

General Wang Ping led several hundred soldiers to charge up the wall. In one go, Wang Ping killed seven or eight fierce Cao army soldiers who had climbed the wall first. Then, in one fell swoop, he killed all twenty or so Cao army soldiers who had already climbed the wall, finally blocking the breach.

The bloody battle continued, with Cao Cao's soldiers constantly scaling the city walls only to be quickly killed. The corpses of both sides piled up, resulting in heavy casualties.

By this time, the five large nest-like vehicles had been pushed across the bridge and were approaching the city wall. "Burn them!"

Huang Zhong, who had been patiently waiting for this moment, gave the order.

On the city walls, thousands of soldiers began pouring barrels of oil down the wall, directly onto the siege ladders and the attacking soldiers. All the attacking soldiers were terrified; their worst fear had come true.

Chaisang delivered a total of 20,000 jars of kerosene and 300,000 dan of rice straw, enough for the Western Chu army to defend Queyue City with raging fire.

"Boom!" The thousands of cans of oil poured on the city were ignited, and countless siege ladders burst into flames. The attacking soldiers were also engulfed in flames, screaming as they fell off the ladders.

Thousands of soldiers began throwing bundles of rice stalks down, a total of 30,000 bundles were thrown down, turning the area below the city into a sea of ​​fire, and even five siege towers were engulfed in flames.

Despair filled Cao Ren's eyes. It was happening again, the same scene again. The Western Chu army had once again unleashed a fiery hell.

Xun You was equally shocked; this was something he hadn't expected either. He suddenly turned his head and coldly asked Cao Ren, "Has this kind of fire tactic been used before?"

Cao Ren was speechless for a moment, as he seemed to have omitted this part from his report.

"The military report was indeed not comprehensive enough, but I reported it to the Prime Minister separately."

Xun You sighed, "Let's withdraw the troops!"

He turned and walked down from the platform. Cao Ren's face flushed red and then turned pale. He had no choice but to order, "Withdraw the troops!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The bells rang urgently, and the attacking army retreated like a tide. Fortunately, they had built sturdy bridges, so their retreat was not cut off as before, and the retreating soldiers did not drown in the moat.

Even so, the attacking army of 50,000 suffered more than 15,000 casualties, including 11,000 killed in action and more than 4,000 burned and rendered incapable of fighting.

The wooden bridge that Xun You had painstakingly built was finally completely engulfed by the raging fire.

Inside the main tent, Xun You stared blankly at a wooden Queyue City. He thought of all sorts of methods and all sorts of schemes that he thought were brilliant, but they were no match for absolute power.

At this moment, Cao Ren slowly stepped forward, his heart heavy, and said, "We have suffered two defeats and lost 40,000 men. Morale is very low. What should we do?"

Xun You pondered for a moment and said, "To be frank, I don't have a good way to counter their arson tactics for the time being. Let's use ranged attacks for now! We'll discuss countermeasures properly once the Prime Minister has gone south."

Cao Ren nodded; ranged attacks were currently the only option.

(End of this chapter)