Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 351 Two-pronged approach
Hearing that the situation was not good, Cao Jiu hurriedly handed over the command to Gong Ao temporarily before the Han army outside the camp officially launched an attack, and personally led a group of Western Chu troops to dispatch in a hurry to the outer camp to check the situation and understand the situation. The reason why soldiers of the Western Chu Army suddenly contracted sudden illnesses.

The situation was more serious than what Xiang Han described. When we arrived at the field where the Wounded Soldiers were rescued and treated, the scene was already full of soldiers from the Western Chu Army, many of whom were vomiting, and many of them were squatting on the ground Clutching their stomachs and groaning in pain, some people staggered as if they were drunk, unable to stand steadily, and some people lay half-lying and shouted long and short, begging the medical staff to see a doctor quickly, and some even vomited out Blood, or lying still, in short, there are all kinds of diseases, and the scene is like a sudden outbreak of plague.

What made Cao Jiu and the others even more frightening was that while they were quickly checking the situation on the scene, there were still many sick patients from the Western Chu Army who either stumbled or relied on the support of their companions and kept coming from all directions. It was obvious that they had suddenly contracted the disease. The number of soldiers of the Western Chu Army is still increasing.

"What happened? What happened? How could such a person suddenly fall ill? Is he infected with the plague?!"

In desperation, Cao Jiu rushed forward in a hurry, grabbed the chief medical engineer who came to greet him and questioned him, the chief medical engineer was sweating profusely, and replied with a mournful face: "Forgive me, sir. It’s not that the plague can still be confirmed now, but the little ones have to spend time seeing more patients to know.”

"Trash!" Cao Jiu angrily pushed the chief medical engineer onto the ground, looked around the scene anxiously, and said nervously with his fists clenched, "Why did something go wrong at this time? We Why is it so unlucky that so many soldiers suddenly fell ill when the traitors were about to attack the camp?"

Kuai Che was more patient, stepped forward to help the chief medical engineer himself, and asked kindly: "Medical workers, you are still not sure that it is a plague, so in your opinion, what should be the situation? Why do we get sick all of a sudden? Falling so many soldiers?"

"My lord, I suspect poisoning." The chief medical engineer replied tremblingly: "We suddenly fell ill these soldiers, it seems that they ate something poisonous, that's why so many people fell ill all at once. "

"Poisoned?!"

Both Kuai Che and Li Zuoche's expressions changed, Cao Jiu quickly grabbed the chief medical officer again, and asked nervously, "Are you sure it was poisoned? What kind of poison did our soldiers eat?" Poison in things?"

"Master, please forgive me. The little ones are just skeptical, not sure yet." The chief medical officer's expression became more and more mournful, and he replied: "Because you have asked carefully, our soldiers who suddenly fell ill were all with other people. Eating in a big cauldron, the others are fine, but they suddenly fell ill, so the young ones are not sure. Also, our soldiers have all kinds of symptoms, and the young ones have no way to determine what kind of poison they have. "

"Trash! Useless things!"

Cao Jiu was so angry that he threw the unlucky medical foreman to the ground again, Kuai Che also frowned, he couldn't understand why this happened suddenly, at this moment, a man not far away vomited his jaundice The Xichu army patient who came out struggled for help, moaning and begging: "Water, water, please, give me some water to drink."

Moaning is useless, all the medical workers present are so busy that they don't have time to feed him water, but Cao Jiu, who likes to say that he loves soldiers like a son, is really good to the soldiers, so he immediately asked his relatives The soldier pursed his mouth, and his own soldiers understood, and immediately went to find water for the sick man from the Western Chu Army.Seeing this scene, Li Zuoche, who had been frowning and thinking all this time, suddenly felt moved, and hurriedly asked Kuai Che: "Doctor Kuai, have you ever read the part about the War of Delay in the history books?"

"The War of Yanyan?" Kuai Che was stunned, and it took a lot of effort to recall the period of the War of Yanyan from the vast history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States. His expression immediately changed, and he blurted out: "Guangwu Jun, do you suspect that someone poisoned the water?"

"This may be the biggest." Li Zuoche replied in a deep voice: "Most of the water in our camp is drawn from the big river in the camp ditch. It is very easy for the Han thieves to poison the upper reaches, and our soldiers have just At the beginning of a large number of poisoning, the Han bandits suddenly sent troops to attack the city, this is really a coincidence, and it is too suspicious."

"Xiang Kang's traitor! You are too ruthless!" Kuai Che beat his chest and stomped his feet, and roared angrily: "It's thanks to you that you can use such a vicious method!"

"What are you talking about? What is the protracted war? What is poisoning upstream? Tell me clearly!"

Cao Jiu roared angrily, Li Zuoche and Kuai Che had no choice but to quickly tell Cao Jiu about the history of the Qin army poisoning the allied forces of the princes, Cao Jiu almost exploded with anger, and roared again: : "Since you know there is such a thing, why didn't you say it before? Why didn't you remind me?!"

Kuai Che and Li Zuoche were speechless, and they had to admit that they were indeed somewhat responsible for this matter. Why didn't they think that the Han army might poison the water intake ditch of the Western Chu army?Fortunately, Cao Jiu didn't continue to get angry at them, he just yelled quickly: "Quickly, send an order to the whole army and tell everyone that the water in the ditch outside has been poisoned by the Han thieves. All the water that was fetched was poured out, from now on, no one is allowed to drink the water that was fetched from outside!"

Some of Cao Jiu's soldiers hurriedly scattered to deliver the order, and another orderly rushed over from the camp of the Chinese army, and came to Cao Jiu to salute and said, "Commander, please go back immediately. There are abnormal behaviors on the side of the traitors!"

It was a matter of military affairs, so Cao Jiu didn't dare to be negligent, so he could only hastily ordered the medical staff of the Western Chu Army to treat the poisoned soldiers with all their strength, and then hurriedly led the Western Chu Army's civil and military personnel back to the camp of the Chinese Army. In front of the big tent, Gong Ao immediately came up to greet him, and before he had time to salute, he pointed to the outside of the camp and said: "Look, commander, there are some strange wooden carts dispatched by the Han thieves, the last one we have never seen before." .”

Cao Jiu hurriedly turned his head, but saw that the Han army indeed dispatched fifteen huge wooden carts, advancing to the vicinity of the Western Chu army's camp, and stopped quite far away from the Western Chu army's bows and arrows. They lined up in a row, and there were more heavy-duty vehicles behind the vehicles. Many Han soldiers were busy carrying things from the vehicles and getting off the vehicles.When Cao Jiu took a closer look at the fifteen huge wooden carts, he saw that they all had a thick and long throwing arm, which was quite similar to the common human-pulled trebuchets of this era, but he did not see the pulling arm. Throwing arm rope.

"What's that?" Kuai Che who was next to him also asked in surprise, "A trebuchet? It looks like an elephant, but why isn't there a rope? Also, how much manpower are the Chinese thieves going to use to pull such a big trebuchet?"

This time even the well-informed Li Zuoche shook his head together, but Cao Jiu didn't take it very seriously, and said, "Whatever he is, we'll know when the traitors use it. The key now is Stabilize the morale of the army, and don't affect the morale of our army because of the fact that the Han bandits poisoned the water."

Facts proved that Cao Jiu's worry was quite correct. After the news spread that the Han army might poison the ditches, there was a great uproar among the Western Chu army. None of the Western Chu army clans who drank this kind of water did not worry that they were also poisoned. In addition, the toxicity of the poisonous mushrooms gradually broke out, and poisoned soldiers continued to appear in the Western Chu army. The morale of the soldiers of the Western Chu army was even worse It has been greatly affected, and everyone is worried that under such circumstances, whether the self-army can still stop the fierce attack of the Han army?

Shenshi will be out of date, and those strange trebuchets of the Han army seem to be ready for the battle, and the vehicles that follow them quickly withdraw from the position, so as not to affect the Han army's advance to fight. It seemed that they were going to help those strange trebuchets throw stones, but Cao Jiu, Kuai Che, Gong Ao and others were puzzled that after four thousand soldiers of the Han army stepped forward, they were arranged on the two wings of the strange trebuchets of the Han army. , Pretending to be ready to protect those weird trebuchets at any time, but not a single soldier approached those weird trebuchets. Next to each weird trebuchet, only a dozen Han soldiers were operating.

"With such a small number of people, can they pull such a big trebuchet?"

When all the generals of the Western Chu army were suspicious, the Han army was already ready. With a flag waving, and without knowing what the Han soldiers did, the throwing arms of those strange trebuchets suddenly stood upright in an instant. , fifteen huge stone bombs suddenly flew into the air again, roaring and drawing huge parabolas in the sky, smashing towards the camp of the Western Chu Army in the north, and directly crossing the wall of the Western Chu Army's large camp, smashing into the sky. into the camp of the Western Chu Army.

The boulder landed!Make a sound like thunder!Cao Jiu's eyes widened, Kuai Che and Li Zuoche's mouths opened wide together, and the Western Chu Army's civil and military soldiers next to them all had similar expressions of disbelief.

Because the power of these boulders is really terrifying, a few boulders directly hit several military tents of the Western Chu Army. The remaining momentum disappeared, and he sank into the ground again, pressing the collapsed military tent deeply into the pit.

Several boulders fell directly into the crowd of the Western Chu Army waiting outside the tent. Several Western Chu Army soldiers didn't even have time to scream. They were smashed to pieces and their brains shot out. Even if the soldiers were only brought by the stones, their tendons were broken immediately, and they fell to the ground and screamed like pigs. Two huge boulders bounced off the ground and killed several soldiers of the Western Chu army who could not escape. The soldiers of the Western Chu army were in chaos, screaming and running around.

A few boulders fell on the open space in the camp, and at the same time as they made a terrifying noise, they left a two-three-foot-deep crater on the ground, and then continued to bounce and roll, leaving a deep scratch on the ground.Two huge boulders hit the vehicles in the camp, directly smashing the vehicles of the Western Chu Army into sawdust, and frightened the soldiers of the Western Chu Army next to them, screaming and turning pale.

The most frightening thing for the Western Chu Army was a boulder that hit the Western Chu Army sentry tower directly. It fell down in the Western Chu army camp and made a loud noise again, splashing a large cloud of dust and smoke, and also smashed several soldiers of the Western Chu army who couldn't escape in time.

Seeing this scene, the Han army cheered like thunder, and their morale was greatly boosted, but the Western Chu army was all frightened and screamed, "What is that? How can a Han thief's trebuchet be thrown?" With such a big stone, can you still hit it so far?"

Cao Jiu had already rushed to the edge of the high ground in the camp, nervously looking around at the destruction in the camp, seeing the shocking big pits left by the Han army's catapults in the camp, Cao Jiu's expression became even more serious. Tie Qing turned black, gritted his teeth and said: "As expected of a traitor, he really has tricks!"

"Don't worry, Da Sima." Kuai Che comforted with a strong smile: "Although the strange trebuchets of the Han thieves are powerful, they are too few in number, and our camp is so big. hurt our fur."

Cao Jiu reluctantly nodded, and said to himself, "I hope so."

Fortunately, the situation was as Kuai Che expected. Next, although the counterweight trebuchets of the Han army threw two rounds of stone bombs into the camp of the Western Chu Army, after the 30 yuan boulder fell into the camp of the Western Chu Army, It is indeed astonishingly powerful, knocking down many Western Chu army tents, killing and wounding many Western Chu army soldiers who could not escape, and causing great damage to the interior of the Western Chu army camp, but for the huge area of ​​​​Xichu army As far as the Chu army camp is concerned, it can only be regarded as a superficial wound and cannot play a decisive role. Cao Jiu, Gong Ao and others who have been worried all the time are quietly relieved. It's not that I can't handle it.

Kuai Che felt much more relaxed because of this, but Li Zuoche, who had received military education since he was a child, frowned and said in his heart: "If the Han thieves just smashed into our camp, it would be easy to deal with. But the Han thieves If it's just for the sake of standing up, first hit our army's morale, and then..., then we will be in trouble."

Li Zuoche was right to be worried. After the three rounds of stone bombs were thrown, the Han army first dispatched another [-] troops to line up at the Han army's catapult formation and wait for orders. Then the Han army's catapults slowly adjusted. After changing the angle, suddenly there was another round of salvo!But this time, the fifteen rounds thrown by the trebuchets of the Han army were all aimed at the central gate of the third south gate of the Western Chu army's camp!

Boom!Boom!Boom!

With loud noises one after another, the boulders thrown by the Han army seemed to have eyes, and most of them fell near the front and rear of the Western Chu army camp gate. Those that hit the front of the camp gate were nothing, and had no effect on the Western Chu army. It hit the huge stone on the wall, but it directly smashed down the strong camp wall of the Western Chu Army, leaving huge gaps in the wall of the Western Chu Army camp built with rammed earth, and also smashed those who could not escape on the camp. The soldiers of the Western Chu Army smashed their flesh and blood, screaming in despair.

Not only that, because the gate of the camp is too important, of course the West Chu army deployed heavy guards behind the gate of the camp, so those stone bullets that hit the Han army behind the gate of the camp of the West Chu army were immediately surrounded by the soldiers of the West Chu army. Huge sprays of blood splashed out from the crowd, and the soldiers of the Xichu Army screamed and scattered in all directions, immediately turning into a mess.

Seeing this scene, Cao Jiu, who had been gradually relieved, immediately turned pale and clenched his fists again. Kuai Che also exclaimed, "The Chinese thief's stone-throwing machine is so terrifying? Can you directly smash down our walls?"

"The target of the traitors is our camp gate, but we were lucky this time, and no big stone hit our camp gate."

Li Zuoche's words made Cao Jiu, Kuai Che and the others pale as paper, and then Li Zuoche said expressionlessly: "It is impossible for us to have such good luck every time. With the power of the Han thief's catapult , as long as a stone bullet hits our camp gate, our camp gate will immediately be shattered. So Da Sima, get ready for a hard fight. Whether we can keep our camp today depends on our camp gate being destroyed. After the Chinese bandit trebuchet is smashed, can it block the Chinese bandit army that directly hits the gate of our camp?"

Cao Jiu was startled when he heard the words, and hurriedly deployed troops to make preparations to intercept the Han army's attack when the gate of the camp was breached, while Kuai Che who was standing next to him hurriedly asked, "Mr. This weird trebuchet used by Chinese thieves?"

"It's good if there is a way." Li Zuoche replied with a wry smile: "Although the ancestors of the foreign ministers have been generals for generations, our Li family has never come across such a trebuchet for so many years. There is no precedent for throwing such a large stone, so how can you tell the foreign ministers to come up with a way to break this weird trebuchet of the Han bandits?"

When Li Zuoche smiled wryly, the Han army's catapults had thrown boulders once again, and they all came towards the gate of the Western Chu army's camp again. As a result, this time, the Western Chu army did not have such good luck. Well, the first boulder that whizzed down hit the archery tower above the gate of the West Chu Army camp, and the West Chu Army archery tower also shattered like paper, and the archers upstairs were either dead or injured, screaming The sound can be heard from afar.

Then, before Cao Jiu and the others could make a new reaction, two huge boulders fell on the gate of the Western Chu army's camp one after another. It was directly fragmented, and there was no way to stop the soldiers of the Han army from rushing directly into the Western Chu barracks.Most of the remaining stone bullets of the Han army were not wasted. They either smashed down the wall next to the camp gate, or hit the soldiers of the Western Chu army behind the gate, causing considerable damage to the Western Chu army again.

Seeing this scene, there was of course an uproar in the Western Chu army camp. As long as the soldiers of the Western Chu army saw the situation at the camp gate, there was no one who didn't know in their hearts that their own army was about to face a brutal bloody battle of death or life.Xiang Kang, who was sitting cross-legged and naked under the banner of the Han army, smiled slightly, and ordered: "Show the flag, tell our former army to charge, and directly attack the gate of the camp of the Western Chu bandit army! Give Yang Bu an order and tell him to concentrate Firepower, smash down the right gate of the southern camp of the Western Chu bandit army, and open a way for us to enter as soon as possible!"

After all, Xiang Kang first arranged for another [-] troops to carry trench bridge vehicles to help the former army of the Han army attack the gate of the South Camp of the Western Chu Army, and lay more roads to cross the trenches by the way.Then also arrange [-] troops to wait for orders beyond the bow and arrow range of the right gate of the Western Chu Army's camp, and wait for the counterweight trebuchet of the Han Army to break through the gate before advancing.Finally, Xiang Kang called Zhang Zhong again and told him: "General Zhang Zhong, take our heavy armored soldiers to the front and wait for orders. You will follow orders later. I will tell you to attack the camp of the Western Chu bandit army." door, you will attack there with all your strength!"

"In short, remember that the heavy armored soldiers under your command are our real pioneers, and your attack direction is our main attack direction! So you must fight to the death with all your strength and open the way for our main force to advance!"

PS: By the way, popularize a piece of historical knowledge about the counterweight trebuchet. The author read the "History of Science and Technology in China" compiled by the famous British scholar Joseph Needham. In fact, the counterweight trebuchet was probably invented by the Chinese first. During the Battle of Luoyang in [-] A.D., a general of the Jin Kingdom named Qiang Shen invented a counterweight trebuchet that could be operated by only a few people to resist the attack of the Mongolian army.It’s just that Qiang Shen died on the battlefield the following year, and the counterweight trebuchet he invented was also lost and failed to spread to the Southern Song Army. This caused the Song Army to be passive in the subsequent Battle of Xiangfan beaten position.

(End of this chapter)