Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 354 500 Years of Weapon Generation Difference

In the battle against the camp of the Western Chu army, when only 12 troops were dispatched, the main force of the Han army defeated more with less, and smashed Xiang Yu, leaving the [-] Western Chu army guarding Puyang, and captured more than [-] enemy heads. Nearly [-] people killed Gong Ao and Zhong Gong, generals of the Western Chu Army, and captured Xiang Han, the acting commander of the Western Chu Army, forcing Cao Jiu, the acting commander of the Western Chu Army, to commit suicide. A large amount of food, grass and military supplies have won a big victory.

Of course, after all, it was a tough battle that did not take advantage of the geographical advantages. Coupled with the tenacious resistance of the Western Chu army, the Han army also paid a considerable price for it. After a big battle, there were still more than 140 loyal and brave Han troops. The soldiers closed their eyes forever on the battlefield. Nearly [-] people were severely injured or disabled, and there were countless minor injuries. Even the ace heavy armor soldiers of the Han army were killed or seriously injured because of continuous heavy-duty fighting. More than [-] people were killed, and the loss was also very large.

In addition, there is another situation that is also very unfavorable to the Han army, that is, because Cao Jiu adopted the correct suggestion put forward by the famous counselor Kuai Che at the last moment, Xiao Gongjiao, the general of the Western Chu Army, led the rear battalion defenders to withdraw in advance. In Puyang City, the defeat of the Western Chu Army was fixed afterwards, and another general of the Western Chu Army, Huan Chu, decisively led his troops back to the city. In addition, there were still many defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army who also fled into the city in disorder, so the front and back After the general attack, nearly [-] soldiers of the Western Chu Army retreated into Puyang City, leaving an absolutely sufficient number of defenders for the notoriously strong and difficult town of Puyang. , but it is absolutely more than enough to defend the city.

This is not counting, because the Western Chu Army had hoarded a large amount of military supplies and food in Puyang City before. The Western Chu Army who was defeated and returned to the city did not have to worry about logistics at all.Another point is that after the deaths of both Cao Jiu and Gong Ao, none of the generals of the Western Chu Army could catch up with Huan Chu, the Western Chu Army who had followed Xiang Liang's uncle and nephew when he raised troops from Wu County. It was just then that the battle was basically over, but at noon, when the defeated and fled back to the west of the city, the generals of the Chu army unanimously elected Huan Chu as the acting commander, and continued to hold on to Puyang with the remnants of the western Chu army, waiting for Xiang Yu's return. There was no personnel dispute because of Cao Jiu's suicide. In terms of power struggle, the cohesion of the army is still guaranteed.

After a few words of resignation, and officially taking the position of the temporary chief general of the Western Chu Army, Huan Chu's first order was to reorganize the army in the city, and reorganize the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army who were scattered like sand into an army at the fastest speed. , in order to command the rest of the Western Chu Army to guard Puyang City like an arm and a finger.The second order is to send a messenger to Pengcheng at full speed to ask Xiang Yu for help, report the current situation in Puyang to Xiang Yu, and ask Xiang Yu to lead his army back to rescue as soon as possible.

The third order was of course to prepare all the supplies and equipment for the defense of the city, but Huan Chu was quietly relieved that Cao Jiu still left him a rather rich inheritance, the feathers, arrows and kerosene necessary for the defense of the city. There are enough items such as sacks, sacks, sheep's head stones, and gray bottles. In addition, there are also a large number of defensive equipment such as bumpers, yakshas, ​​stones, and gate knife carts. If Huanchu is willing, the Western Chu army can even quickly build New defensive weapons such as fire curtains and trebuchets are enough to attack the Han army head-on.

But there is also a troublesome problem. Although Puyang, the county seat of Dongjun, is a big city, after nearly [-] Western Chu troops suddenly withdrew to garrison the city, the space in the city immediately became obviously insufficient, and the streets and alleys were crowded with disheveled people The defeated troops of the Western Chu army had no way to rest well, and also seriously affected the traffic order in the city, which was not conducive to the mobilization of troops and orderly battles in the city, and would definitely affect the handling of supplies for the city defense during fierce battles.

Fortunately, such a problem must be very difficult for the Han army, but it is irrelevant to the Western Chu army brought out by Xiang Yu. Huan Chu just gave an order, and the wolf-like soldiers of the Western Chu army were immediately killed. They rushed into the houses of the residents and forced the people in the city to live in the designated area in the northwest corner of the city. They didn't bother to care about whether the narrow area could accommodate so many Puyang people, and how to solve the food and clothing problems of the Puyang people. All good houses and mansions are temporarily owned by the warriors of the Western Chu Army, and those who dare to resist will be killed. During this period, soldiers took the opportunity to plunder people's property and insult women. Huan Chu and other generals of the Western Chu Army who have long been accustomed to this did not One is not pretending not to see or hear.

Don't say that the author is slandering or exaggerating. The Western Chu Army led by Xiang Yu is famous in history for its brutality. They robbed money, robbed food, robbed women, buried prisoners alive and killed innocent people indiscriminately. So in history, The people of Qidi rebelled against Western Chu several times, and the old Qin people in Guanzhong also wholeheartedly helped Liu Laosan and Xiang Yu desperately.

When all this was basically coming to an end, it was already the evening after the defeat of the Western Chu Army outside the city. The headquarters held a banquet in the Dongjun County Sheriff's Mansion, and called the Western Chu Army to discuss strategies.

The situation has initially stabilized. Even though they suffered a big defeat last night, the atmosphere of the banquet was still good. Under the leadership of Huan Chu, the military and civil servants of the Western Chu Army first set up wine to pay homage to Cao Jiu and Gong Ao, who had died in battle. They swear to the sky again, vowing to stick to the city of Puyang with all their strength, and work together to never make any compromises to the hateful and hateful traitors. Huan Chu, who is quite familiar with Xiang Kangbing's nature, also ordered in public that all the Western Chu Army departments should immediately Beheading the envoys of the Han army who tried to contact the self-army, and not giving the shameless Xiang Kang any chance to drive a wedge against the Western Chu army, the generals of the Western Chu army sang promises in unison, and all of them thought it should be so.

Seeing that the army's morale was stable and unified, Huan Chu felt even more determined, and hurriedly cheered up the civil and military members of the Western Chu army: "Don't worry, everyone, although that traitor Xiang Kang is treacherous and cunning, he is also afraid of siege and tough battles. The strength of Puyang's city is not inferior to that of Pengcheng, the capital of Western Chu. As long as we work together and defend the city with all our strength, we will be able to repel all attacks of the Han bandit army and persist until our king leads his army back to help!"

"Also." Huan Chu hurriedly added: "Our king once said that he can quell the rebellion in our rear in a month at most, and bring back the main elite to reinforce Puyang. Today is already the No. 16 after our king left. It's been [-] days, we just need to hold on for less than half a month, and when our king returns to rescue Puyang, we can not only survive the current critical situation, but also turn defeat into victory and avenge our great Sima and the Communist general!"

All the civil and military personnel of the Western Chu Army applauded loudly, and they were all full of confidence in defending the strong city of Puyang. Xiao Gongjiao couldn't wait to say: "In the current situation, it is already difficult for us to defeat the main force of the Han thieves from the front, but the defense of the city is different. The Han thieves As long as we dare to send troops to attack the city, we will be able to rely on the advantage of the city wall to kill the Han thieves with heavy casualties, so that even if the Han thieves have a mouth full of teeth, there is no way for a single soldier to break into the city!"

The military and civil forces of the Western Chu army all agreed, and Cheng Qi, the former defender of Puyang, uttered wild words, hoping that the Han army would send troops to attack the city immediately, and show the Han army a little color in the defense, so that the Han army would not dare to look at Puyang half-eyed.Huan Chu waved his hand and said, "It definitely won't be so fast. The Han bandits suffered a lot of losses last night. The army is very tired, and it must be too late to prepare siege weapons that can threaten the defense of Puyang city. If I don't expect If it is worse, it will take three days at the earliest before the Han bandit army can launch an attack on Puyang City."

"This is a good thing." Kuai Che took over the conversation and said: "The later the Han bandits attack the city, the more sure we will persist until the king leads the army back to aid Puyang, so we should not be greedy for merit, it is best to hope that the Han bandits will attack the city." The sooner the thieves send troops to attack the city, the better."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and even Li Zuoche, who made Han Xin fear three points, turned to Sima Ang and said, "Don't worry, my lord, the morale and fighting spirit of our Western Chu allies are still there, and Puyang City is so strong and difficult to attack. When the King of Western Chu leads his army back to aid, we are at least [-]% sure!"

With a generally very optimistic mood, the remaining troops of the Western Chu Army rested in Puyang City for a night without worry, but the sky was just dawn the next day, and Huan Chu, Kuai Che and others were still having breakfast in the county guard's mansion. At that time, Puyang suddenly heard the sound of gongs and alarms, and was so shocked that the chopsticks in Huan Chu's hands fell directly, and he blurted out: "The Han bandits sent troops to attack the city? How is it possible? They took our camp yesterday morning. There is no time to prepare siege weapons, how could you send troops to attack Puyang City so quickly?"

The cruel facts quickly proved that Huan Chu was completely wishful thinking. Not long after, the soldiers outside the gate reported to the court that the Han army had dispatched no less than [-] troops to kill Puyang City.Huan Chu was even more shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly led Kuai Che and others to the city to check the situation. Sima Ang and Li Zuoche who heard the alarm also followed by themselves, and together with Huan Chu, they went up to the Puyang city wall to watch the Han army's movements .

At this time, the former army of the Han army had arrived near the west gate of Puyang, and immediately began to fill the trenches dug by the Western Chu army. Because the distance was too far, the bows and crossbows of the Western Chu army could not threaten the Han who were filling the trenches. The soldiers of the army did not dare to directly send troops to stop them, so they could only ignore them. They just observed the situation of the Han army brigade patiently, and quickly confirmed that it was Zheng Bu, a famous general in the Han army, who was leading the army this time. I saw that the Han army brought a total of twenty huge trebuchets that smashed open the gate of the Western Chu barracks the day before yesterday.

"The Chinese bandits want to use that weird trebuchet to smash open the city gate of Puyang?"

Huan Chu, Kuai Che and others were suspicious together, but they quickly dispelled the suspicion - the gate of the city is no better than the gate of the camp, and it is protected by rammed earth walls and towers above. Unless the gate is hit directly from the front, the Han army will throw stones Even if the boulder thrown by the machine hits the top of Puyang City Gate, it is absolutely impossible to threaten the safety of Puyang City Gate.However, even so, for the sake of prudence, Huan Chu adopted Kuai Che's suggestion and asked the soldiers of the Western Chu Army to prepare enough sandbags early in order to block the city gate corridors at any time, lest the Han army's catapults get lucky, and really from the front. The West Gate of Puyang was smashed open.

With a large number of people and strength, and enough equipment prepared early, the soldiers of the Han army quickly filled a large section of the trenches dug by the soldiers of the Western Chu Army in just over half an hour, surrounded by [-] counterweights. The trebuchets approached under the west gate of Puyang, and they lined up outside the range of the defenders' crossbows. Then, while building temporary fortifications to prevent the Western Chu army from attacking suddenly, they quickly lined up twenty catapults and adjusted the firing range. Corner fixtures are a lot of work.During the period, Huan Chu and others of course also tried their best to keep their eyes open to see the situation of the Han army's trebuchet. They wanted to understand why the Han army's new trebuchet could throw heavy stones and hit it so far. Not very clear.

It was only halfway through the time, and the Han army had already made pre-war arrangements, and then Zheng Bu just gave an order, and the twenty Han army catapults that had already loaded the shells cut off the ropes together, and weighed 20 yuan into one. Huge stone bullets weighing more than one hundred and five kilograms hit the west gate of Puyang, and the boulder flew into the air. Huan Chu, Kuai Che and the others quickly hid in the blind spot behind the arrow stack, lest they hit their backs and be smashed into pieces by a huge boulder falling from the sky. Bolognese.

Boom!

When the dull impact sounded, something happened that stunned the Western Chu army. The first stone bomb thrown by the Han army hit the tower of the West Gate of Puyang, and the heavy boulder fell from the sky broke the roof and pierced the tiles. , unstoppably smashed directly into the inside of the tower, and directly smashed through the third floor of the tower from top to bottom. Dust and smoke filled the air, and the rubble flew across the sky. Break away from the position and escape from the tower.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The matter was not over yet, when more dull impact sounds came one after another, something happened that made the Western Chu army even more frightened. If the huge stone bomb hit the Puyang city wall, it would immediately be able to rammed the Puyang city wall. It left a huge deep pit several feet deep, and the stone bullets hitting the arrow stack were even more powerful. In addition to smashing the arrow stack and disappearing out of thin air, it also left a deep pit on the city wall under the arrow stack. There is a deep scratch.

The stone bullets that flew directly into Puyang City also made the Western Chu army's scalp numb, and their hairs stood on end. They hit the roofs of houses, breaking tiles and beams. Among the soldiers of the Western Chu Army who lined up to prepare for the battle, the blood could fly several feet high. Even if the soldiers of the Western Chu Army were only slightly taken by the stone bullets, they would immediately end up with broken tendons and bones. The soldiers of the Western Chu Army screamed in fright. Constantly, rolling and crawling, he rushed to the shooting dead end under the city wall and evaded.

Regardless of the obstruction of the soldiers, he insisted on rushing to a place where the stone bullets of the Han army had just hit the city wall in front of him to check the situation. Seeing that the stone bullets of the Han army had left a big hole no less than five feet on the rammed earth wall, and at the same time Huan Chu's complexion immediately turned paler than paper, and Kuai Che, who was following up, saw him and also screamed, "The trebuchet of the Han thief can directly destroy the city wall?!"

Li Zuoche behind was also pale, and Sima Ang who was next to him also quietly tugged at him, and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Guangwu, do you still dare to say that you are more than [-]% sure?"

Li Zuoche didn't answer, and after a little calculation, he said to Huan Chu: "Don't worry, general. Although the trebuchets of the Han thieves are powerful and can directly damage our city walls, they don't have many trebuchets. Even if it is smashed, our city wall cannot really collapse, at most it can only form a slope, and we are still sure to defend Puyang City!"

Huan Chu nodded hastily, wishing that the situation would be like this, but at this moment, the guard next to him suddenly yelled, "General, be careful! The big stone of the bandit army is coming again!"

Lives and lives are at stake, whether it is Huan Chu, who has just become the temporary chief general of the Western Chu Army, or Kuai Che and Li Zuoche, who are usually gentle and polite, at this moment, they don't care about their image, they all rush to the arrow As a result, the Han army's stone bullets fell again and again. In addition to hitting the Puyang West Gate Tower that had been smashed into a big hole again, it left several big holes on the Puyang city wall.

Several soldiers of the Western Chu Army, including a Wubaizhu, were particularly unlucky. The arrow stack they were hiding in happened to be hit by a boulder. Meat sauce, splashed blood sprayed all over the surrounding comrades, and also scared the surrounding soldiers of the Western Chu Army to scream, "It's too powerful!"

call!call!call!call!The sound of boulders breaking through the sky kept coming, like a giant's iron fist, hitting the upper and lower walls of the west gate of Puyang one after another, leaving huge deep pits on the wall of the west gate of Puyang, and being hit by several stones one after another. After the bullet hit, the overwhelmed Puyang West Gate Tower collapsed and turned into rubble and ruins, completely losing its defensive function of covering the archers' arrows.

The boulders thrown by the Han army were still coming continuously, like a thunderstorm and a thunderbolt, smashing the originally strong and towering Puyang city wall to be riddled with holes and deep pits everywhere, and flying into the city from time to time, or killing the soldiers of the Western Chu army who could not escape. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, screams shook the sky, or smashed and collapsed the houses near the city wall, or even directly broke the beams of the houses, and the roofs fell to the ground, which also frightened the soldiers of the Western Chu Army. Dare to shiver in the open space, ready to escape and dodge bullets at any time.

For their own safety, after entrusting Gong Ao's son Gong Wei with the important task of protecting the west gate of Puyang, Huan Chu and others withdrew to the depths of the city early, discussing countermeasures with a pale face.It's a pity to discuss and discuss. Even with the help of Li Zuoche and Kuai Che, the two major military advisers in this era, Huan Chu and others only discussed three solutions that are not the solution. One is to send troops to raid and destroy the Han Dynasty. The second is to quickly imitate similar trebuchets and return the Han army's trebuchets to bombard them;

Huan Chu really wanted to use the second method, and immediately rushed to build a trebuchet like the Han army to launch a counterattack, and immediately asked Li Zuoche, whose ancestor was a famous general in the world, "Mr. They are all famous generals of Zhao, is there a way to build a trebuchet like the Han thieves?"

"It would be great if there was one." Li Zuoche replied with a rare weeping expression, "If the ancestors of the foreign ministers could also build such a trebuchet, then the Tyrant Qin army should have lost the Battle of Changping. As long as Zhao Guo’s army takes out dozens of such trebuchets, it can immediately smash the barracks of the Tyrant Qin army, go in and capture Bai Qi alive, and there will be a place for him to kill our 40 Zhao soldiers later. Chance?"

Huan Chu had no choice but to turn his gaze to Kuai Che. Kuai Che answered more directly, and immediately shook his head and replied: "General Huan, I can't do anything about it. If I have a way to build such a trebuchet, it will be in the In Xingyang, it was built long ago for our king to capture the camp of the Han bandits."

Huan Chu stomped his feet in disappointment, and cursed: "Xiang Kang, a traitor, how come there are so many capable and wise people under his command to help the evildoers, and he can actually build such a terrible trebuchet."

"General, this is not the way to go. If it doesn't work, send people out of the city to attack." Xiao Gongjiao suggested: "Choose a group of dead soldiers, bring more arson objects, and suddenly go out of the city to attack the Han bandit's position, and try to destroy the Han bandit's trebuchets." It was all burned."

"It's useless." Kuai Che shook his head in pain, and said: "The [-] troops sent by the Han thieves are clearly to prevent us from going out of the city to make a surprise attack. If we send fewer soldiers, it will not be effective. If we send more soldiers, it will only be effective." Give the Chinese thieves a chance to eat us one by one. And none of us can guarantee that the Chinese thieves can build more of these trebuchets to attack our city, so even if the Chinese thieves are burned at any cost I'm afraid the trebuchet is of little use."

Huan Chu nodded feebly, and after a while he said weakly, "Suffer it, at all costs, until our king leads his army back to help."

On that day, the counterweight trebuchets of the Han army kept throwing stones at the city wall of the west gate of Puyang from morning to night, forcibly smashing many gaps in the rammed earth city wall of Puyang that were easy to climb, and also opened the inside of the west gate of Puyang. Most of the nearby civilian houses were destroyed, causing quite a lot of casualties to the defenders in the city and the enemies on the city wall without any casualties.During this period, the Han army also allocated manpower to continuously fill the moat at the west gate of Puyang with soil and rocks, paving the way for the next real siege.

It was hard to persist until the sun went down. Just when the generals of the Western Chu Army thought that the Han Army should withdraw and return to the camp to rest, something happened that made them want to cry without tears. Under the leadership of another general of the Han Army, Ding Ji, another The [-] Han troops came out of the camp to take turns to replace Zheng Bu's troops. They also brought with them a lot of siege ladders that were obviously just built in a rush. De Huanchu could only quickly rotate the army and continue to guard the west gate against the boulders that the Han army kept throwing.

When it was getting dark, the Han army's rotation was over, but the Han army's trebuchets temporarily stopped their stone-throwing attack for some unknown reason.But what no one expected was that after the sky was completely dark, the trebuchets of the Han army suddenly opened fire again, launching another catapult attack.

"Huh? How did you fly so far this time?"

There are also many smart people among the soldiers of the Western Chu Army. The catapults of the Han Army have just resumed their stone-throwing attacks. It flew over the Puyang city wall in the air, and flew directly into the depths of Puyang city.

Then, another situation that caught the soldiers of the Western Chu Army by surprise happened again. The stone bombs thrown by the Han army this time flew into the city and landed. Countless bright sparks, the streets of Puyang, where houses in this era are generally made of wood, soon caught fire, and countless soldiers of the Western Chu Army began to panic and shout in the city, "Fire! Heavenly fire is here! Fire is here, Han bandits It was Tianhuo!"

"Hahahaha! Well done, keep throwing incendiary bombs for me, set me on fire in the whole of Puyang!"

The general of the Han army, Ding Ji, laughed wildly and gave the order. The gunners of the Han army were also smiling, and quickly put a large urn filled with red charcoal instead of stone bombs, placed it on the catapult, cut off the rope and threw it out. , and because the incendiary bombs are much lighter than the boulders, the incendiary bombs thrown by the soldiers of the Han army naturally flew farther and deeper, and at the same time the bombing speed of the Han army was also greatly accelerated.

The large urn made of coarse pottery shattered when it fell to the ground. Affected by inertia, the red charcoal in the urn also splattered in all directions as if it had exploded, igniting all ignitable objects around it. Soon, fires broke out everywhere, and you could see the flames and smoke everywhere, as well as the soldiers of the Western Chu army who were running out of the room. The soldiers tried their best to fight the fire, lest the original incendiary bombs of the Han army really set the whole city of Puyang on fire.

Standing in the courtyard and seeing such a scene, and hearing the screams and screams of the soldiers of the Western Chu Army coming from the street outside the courtyard, Sima Ang was in a daze, and after a while he asked Li Zuoche, who was also in a daze, "Mr. Guangwu?" , do you think we are sure to keep Puyang?"

It was only when Sima Ang questioned him again that Li Zuoche slowly came back to his senses, and replied bitterly: "It used to be more than [-]%, but now, it may be less than [-]%. Also, who dares to talk about Xiang Kang again in the future?" Rebels are not good at attacking cities, and the ministers are the first to laugh at his nonsense."

(End of this chapter)