Han officials

As the Wei army's offensive in Shouchun continued unabated, reports of victories were also frequently reported in other areas.

Needless to say, after Zhang Liao quelled the Yellow Turban Rebellion and Yuan Shao's army in Runan, he left a portion of his men to assist Zhang Zhao in governing the region, while the rest were taken south by Zhang Liao to assist Wei Zhe in attacking Shouchun.

As for Danyang County, although it was a bit slower, it was understandable.

It should be known that the people of Danyang are known for their fierce and valiant nature; the local strongmen and their private armies are even stronger than the regular soldiers of Yuan's army.

Therefore, after occupying Wuhu and severing the connection between Danyang County and Jiujiang County, Taishi Ci did not advance any further.

After so many years in the military, Taishi Ci was no longer the naive young man he once was.

Besides direct combat, he also knows how to use the tactic of appeasement.

After demonstrating the formidable fighting power of the Wei army, Taishi Ci sent envoys to Yuan's army in Danyang to persuade them to surrender.

It should be noted that Wu Jing, the governor of Danyang, was Sun Jian's brother-in-law, and much of Sun Jian's inheritance was in his possession.

After Sun Jian died in battle, Yuan Shu absorbed some of Sun's elite troops and then assigned the remaining unruly ones to Wu Jing to lead.

He was able to secure his position as the governor of Danyang largely thanks to Sun Jian.

So when Wu Jing saw Sun Jing and Sun Ben in the prefect's mansion, he immediately felt a pang of anxiety.

Because Sun Jing was Sun Jian's younger brother, and Sun Ben was Sun Jian's nephew.

Before Sun Ce and Sun Quan came of age, it was actually these two who were supporting the Sun family.

Therefore, even though the two of them didn't say anything, Wu Jing was already starting to feel uneasy.

Of course, Sun Jing and the other person did not ask for the debt, but instead talked about justice and morality.

He started by praising Wei Gong's benevolence and ended by saying Yuan Shu was guilty, directly giving Wu Jing a moral excuse so that he wouldn't be burdened with the crime of betraying his former master.

After all, what crime is there in punishing the wicked and executing the tyrant?
A moment later, when he saw all his generals looking at him expectantly, Wu Jing finally sighed softly:
"Never mind, it was my short-sightedness that prevented me from distinguishing between good and evil."

"Youtai, Boyang, I'll leave this place to you. I'll go to Shouchun now to apologize to Lord Wei!"

Upon hearing Wu Jing's words, Sun Jing and the other woman immediately smiled.

With this achievement, the Sun family's position in the Wei state will be even more secure!
……

"Whoosh!"

At the foot of Shouchun City, as Zhao Yun fired an arrow, a Yuan soldier on the city wall immediately fell to the ground.

However, in the chaos of the battlefield, such an event did not cause much of a stir.

The noisy environment prevented many of Yuan's troops from paying attention to the changing situation; all they could hear were the sounds of drums and gongs.

If they hadn't been surrounded and had no way out, probably few of Yuan's soldiers on the walls of Shouchun would have been willing to fight to the death.

However, even with Yuan Shu watching from behind and Ji Ling leading the supervisory team on the city walls, the morale of the defending troops on the city walls continued to decline day by day.

Especially after Wei Zhe had the prisoners loudly recount the atrocities Yuan Shu had committed over the years outside the city every morning, the morale of Yuan's troops on the city walls was no longer just low; many chose to desert in the face of battle.

From the day the Wei army attacked the city, every night there were Yuan soldiers who slid down the city walls to join the Wei army.

Wei Zhe did not use these people as cannon fodder. Instead, he ordered them to be well cared for and to give a public demonstration every morning, with rosy complexions and strong voices, to disrupt the morale of the defenders.

Therefore, even though less than half of them managed to escape to the Wei army's position alive, deserters continued to flock to the front lines.

The more deserters there were, the stricter Ji Ling, who was in charge of guarding the city, became, and the more people the supervisory team killed.

This cycle continues, and the morale of the defending troops decreases further.

Thus, in less than three days, the Wei army repeatedly approached the city gates and launched offensives.

This forced Ji Ling to order all four city gates to be sealed with boulders and sand, which finally made the battering rams return empty-handed.

However, this put even more pressure on the defenders on the city walls.

If the Wei army wanted to capture Shouchun, they would have to first storm and seize the city.

……

Afternoon, above the cloud car.

"Bring over some more catapults!"

Looking at the battle situation ahead, Wei Zhe gave the order:
"Also, prepare fireballs!"

Soon after, a series of trebuchets were pushed over, squatting in front of Shouchun City like prehistoric behemoths, and were quickly put into operation.

In fact, ever since the siege began, the artisans in the supply corps had been working non-stop to build catapults.

The rate at which the catapults broke down couldn't keep up with the rate at which they were built, resulting in a terrifying scale of over a hundred catapults. The real obstacle to progress, however, was the existence of the stone projectiles themselves.

Because stones that are not heavy enough will cause a large deviation in range, the supply battalion can only try to find usable stones and then sort them.

However, the supply battalion has already started trying to make round clay pellets using brick kilns. Although the cracking problem has not been solved for a long time, a batch of small clay pellets has been successfully produced.

For example, the fireballs that the supply battalion is currently preparing are like this.

All that's needed is to slightly improve the craftsmanship of the pottery jars and greatly increase the thickness of the pottery walls.

They took out clay pellets about the size of a human head, then used bamboo tubes to continuously pour in flammable oil, finally sealed them tightly with wooden plugs, and then placed them on the iron mesh at the end of the catapult to ignite them.

The so-called "fire oil" is actually an extract of some kind of petroleum.

As for the source of the oil, that's actually the simplest thing.

Even Wei Zhe's father, Wei Xuan, knew that there was a type of water in the former Xuan Tu County of the Former Han Dynasty that could be burned.

Later, after Wei Zhe became the governor of Liaodong, he specifically investigated this matter and finally found a record of it in an archive:
-
In the south of Yanshou County, Xuantu Prefecture, there is a mountain where spring water flows from rocks. These rocks are as large as a person, and when burned, they burn extremely brightly. They are inedible, and the people of the county call them "stone lacquer."
-
Of course, the Yanshou County mentioned in the notes was under the jurisdiction of Xuantu Commandery during the Former Han Dynasty, and was later occupied by Goguryeo.

Therefore, after destroying Goguryeo, Wei Zhe specifically ordered the search for this place and then fenced it off.

The iron and coal officials in Liaodong spent several years researching before they finally managed to produce this kind of powerful fire oil.

Before this, there had never been kerosene that could be ignited so easily.

Soon, at Wei Zhe's command, fireballs flew towards the walls of Shouchun like shooting stars.

Then, with a series of crisp cracking sounds, most of the fireballs hit their targets, and in an instant, flames shot up from the city walls, turning the once bustling city walls into a sea of ​​fire.

Meanwhile, Ji Ling was fortunate enough to escape this calamity because she was inside the city wall.

However, looking at the shrill cries of the fire-breathing figures amidst the flames atop the city walls, Ji Ling felt a chill in her heart.

He didn't understand why the war had become like this.
He couldn't even comprehend how Wei Jun managed to do that.

This is simply supernatural, beyond human capability!
In fact, many new things bring similar shock to the world when they first appear.

If Ji Ling had seen this kind of scene many times, she probably wouldn't be so desperate.

In fact, catapults had already appeared during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. In the Northern Zhou period (578 AD), the garrison of Jiuquan used "petroleum water" (oil) to burn the Turkic siege equipment.

By the late Five Dynasties and early Northern Song Dynasty, fire oil had become commonplace in warfare, and various warlords during the Five Dynasties period had developed their own methods for dealing with fire attacks.

Wei Zhe merely brought the combination of the catapult and the fierce oil to life three hundred years ahead of schedule.

If Ji Ling calms down, she might be able to resolve this crisis based on her past experience.

Ji Ling was under immense pressure, and he had already lost all hope of winning.

Looking at the city walls before him, which resembled a living hell, Ji Ling couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Tell my lord that Ji Ling is incompetent and must take her leave now!"

Having said that, Ji Ling did not hesitate and suddenly jumped off the city wall, hitting his head on the ground and dying.

Upon seeing this, a cry of grief erupted from inside the city gate tower.

However, apart from a very small number of Ji Ling's personal guards who descended from the city wall with sorrowful faces and were ordered to rush towards the palace, the other military officers had completely lost the will to resist.

It is important to understand that water and fire are merciless, and fire attacks are equally harmful to both sides.

When the Wei army set fire to the city walls, their offensive had already effectively ceased.

Whether it's using a ladder or climbing first, it's all in vain at this point.

If Yuan Jun had been able to extinguish the fire with soil in time, they might have been able to withstand this offensive.

However, the defending troops, having lost their commander, had lost all will to resist. The charred corpses in the sea of ​​fire utterly shattered the courage of all the Yuan soldiers who had managed to survive.

Before the Wei army could launch a new wave of attacks, the defenders on the city walls began to abandon their armor and weapons and scatter in all directions.

Several wise military officers even took the initiative to cut down the Yuan army's flags on the city wall, indicating their surrender.

Then something funny happened: after the Wei army climbed the city first, their biggest trouble turned out to be caused by their own people.

Because they needed to put out the fire first before they could go down the passageway on the city wall.

However, by this time, there was little resistance left in Shouchun City.

The fire caused by the fireballs plunged the entire city of Shouchun into panic. During this time, some soldiers took advantage of the chaos to loot and plunder, and the vast city of Shouchun was completely out of control.

Yuan Shu's control over Shouchun was now like a paper tiger, burned to ashes in a single fire... (End of Chapter)