It's all abstract destiny, you're one emperor through the ages

Chapter 274: If Your Majesty doesn’t believe it, why not try it yourself?
real or fake?

Attack Xiangyang City for one thousand?
Is it obvious to send it away?

Can you cross the moat?

Xiutu Bi had a thousand words in his mind, but for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

He just hesitated and uttered a few syllables of unknown meaning, as if he no longer knew how to speak Chinese.

"His Majesty!"

After a long time, Xiutu Bi kowtowed again, then raised his head and said sincerely:
"The general is by no means a half-hearted person. Based on his background, the general knows that every good outcome in this life is likely to be good."

"But now that I have surrendered to the Han Dynasty, I should act according to the king's orders."

"Don't say a thousand people, just a hundred people. As long as His Majesty gives the order, the general will have nothing to say!"

Liu Ke laughed loudly:
"Then why are you still kneeling and talking? You haven't gotten up yet!"

He stepped forward again to help Xiutu Bi up and said:

"I know that you are just a straightforward person, not a disloyal person. When you surrendered to the Han, you were ordered by your old master and had no choice but to protect Jiangling."

"Although I have issued this military order, if you have anything to say, you can just say it according to your original temperament."

Xiu Tu Bi didn't waste any time. Originally, the emperor would not let him speak, but he would speak. Now that he is allowed to speak freely, he naturally can't shut up:
"Your Majesty, to be honest, even if you lead the troops yourself, you may not be able to capture Xiangyang City."

"This is not a place for trivial fights. What is needed is real strength, not just relying on the name of the Emperor of Han to make people look forward to it."

"The general is from the bottom and knows the cruelty of the battlefield. With just 1000 men, we can't even cross the moat. Your Majesty must understand that this is no joke and requires real ability."

"Even if you cross the moat, let alone attack the city, I'm afraid you won't even be able to climb the city wall. If your Majesty doesn't believe it, why not try it yourself?"

Liu Ke quickly interrupted Xiu Tu Bi. This guy was really straightforward and really ugly in his words. He didn't hide anything and said whatever came to his mind.

He has turned against being a guest and wants him to try it himself?

If he is gone, who will ruin the city?
Liu Ke comforted him with kind words:
"I know that it is difficult for ordinary people to attack the city."

"But General Xiutu is a very human being, so naturally he can do it."

"Besides, I only asked you to attack the city, not destroy it."

"Could it be that even the general can't do it?"

Ok?
Just siege the city instead of destroying it?

Xiutu Bi immediately understood that the emperor wanted to use him to attack the city as a cover.

but.
What's the use of a pretense?

How many troops can 1000 people contain Da Helu?
What impact can it have on Xiangyang City?
Will there be a large army to attack the city from other places in the future, or will they attract attention by attacking the city, digging tunnels from the alleys, and conducting hole attacks?

None of it works!

Only one wall of Xiangyang City can be attacked, and the other walls are separated by the Han River.

Hole attack is out of the question. Even if it can be done, if there are 2000 soldiers and horses, 1000 people attack the city, and the remaining 1000 people can attack the hole, what can be achieved?

Acupoint attack does not mean that there is no need for attack and defense. Once discovered, the attack and defense battle in the tunnel is also very important!
Unless those 1000 people could fly directly into the city and open the city gate, it would be absolutely impossible.

Liu Ke said again:

"Don't worry, General Xiutu. At this time, it's time for those letters to come into play."

"letter?"

If Xiu Tu Bi had any idea, would he have asked him to pretend to be a traitor, enter Xiangyang City, and then secretly open the city gate?

There is a possibility of success. After all, he and Da He Lu have been fighting for nearly a year. Even if he cannot completely win Da He Lu's trust, he may still enter the city.

After all, a thousand soldiers and horses attacked Xiangyang City, and it seemed that they were all sent to die. It was normal for them to surrender directly under an extreme emotion.

But in fact, it still didn't help much in conquering Xiangyang City.

Xiutu Bi didn't think that Dahelu would directly let him take charge of the army or give him the opportunity to open the city gate.

He will definitely investigate before trusting him. With his temperament, it is difficult not to expose him.

But the emperor has given the order, so let’s give it a try.

In this way, Xiutu Bi followed Liu Ke's arrangement and started to attack the city with a thousand soldiers.

These thousand soldiers were all from the Guiyi Army. Although they were considered elite soldiers, they were just the tallest among the shortest, and their combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the elite Han troops who had been fighting for many years.

Compared with Xiutu Bi's personal soldiers in Jiangling, they were much worse.

Let's say that after Xiutu Bi finished preparing and started to attack the city, Da Helu went to the top of the city himself.

According to the information from the soldiers at the top of the city, there were only a thousand Han troops.

They said they were here to attack the city, but more like they were here to gather information.

But Da Helu was also extremely cautious. At the age of 77, he personally wore armor and went into battle. He also had people push out the [-]-piece catapult in the city.

Among the fifty catapults, three were of the old style that had been left in Xiangyang City earlier.

The remaining 47 are made of Oga wood, which is good at craftsmanship. In the past nearly a year, the craftsmen have worked hard to make them.

This is what Dahe Timber believes it can rely on to defend the city.

As for whether it will take one year to produce 47 catapults in one city, with a large amount of materials lacking, and other city defense equipment needed to be built, there will be no quality problems at all. Wood is being considered.

Something happened, and the unlucky one was the soldier who activated the catapult. The one who was held responsible was the craftsman who made the catapult. What does it have to do with him?
What, your father is also a county guard?

All in all, the catapults are still enough to intimidate people. The formation alone can give the soldiers in the city more confidence.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers immediately understood the reason why Da Helu mobilized his troops in such a way.

Although the Han Emperor and the Han Army were famous, everyone knew the situation in Xiangyang City.

But Da Helu was also determined to defend the city.

unwilling?
The catapult doesn't throw stones at all. It's thrown directly at you and your mother.

And while the Donghu soldiers were thinking wildly, a harsh sound of armor leaves rubbing came from behind.

The armored Dahelu waved, and Dahe Timber immediately shouted:

"The general has orders, slingshots, prepare to fire!"

"As ordered!"

The principal agreed and hurriedly waved the flag to everyone:
"Quick, get into position and prepare to shoot!"

45 catapults were lined up behind the city wall, twenty steps apart from each other. Each was operated by ten people, commanded by the corps commander and the chief.

They held various tools used to operate the catapult, such as wooden hammers, crowbars, hemp ropes, and long hooks, and quietly waited for the next order.

Many people’s nervous palms are filled with sweat, and their ears are filled with the sound of their own heartbeats.

Dahe Timber knew that the accuracy of the catapult he rushed to make was very poor, so he deliberately put more effort into other aspects.

He found another way and selected soldiers with broad vision and excellent eyes from some vulture shooters who were skilled in shooting to serve as "observation posts."

These people do not need to know how to operate catapults, nor do they need to manage soldiers. They only need to be proficient in mathematics and visually measure distances, which is enough.

Equivalent to a human-sized rangefinder.Dahe Timber has spent a lot of effort to train this group of people.

Fortunately, the preparation time was long enough, and these people finally figured out the trick by stumbling.

If the Han army had attacked a few months earlier, these people would not have been prepared!

"Measure the distance!"

As Oga Timber waved the flag on the tower, several eagle shooters opened their bows like the full moon, stretched out their bodies and shot several feather arrows diagonally into the air.

The vulture shooters are the elite among the Donghu, and their shooting skills are excellent. These feather arrows can be said to hit wherever they are without interference.

And soon this group of eagle shooters, who were trained as observation posts, measured the distance.

Within the distance of one arrow is the strike range of the crossbow, and beyond the range of one arrow is the strike range of the catapult.

The more specific scope will be refined step by step in the future.

However, facing these thousand Han troops, Dahe Timber really didn't want to worry too much.

Moreover, the leader seems to be Xiu Tu Bi, who is a potential undercover agent and can be won over, so there is no need to kill him.

"Directly 250 to [-] steps ahead, the enemy's formation has a flag with the word "Xiutu" in it. Turn to the right and fire a single salvo of stone cannons.

Oga Timber waved the order flag, and the observation posts quickly conveyed the content of the order flag and the distance measurement results to the soldiers operating the catapults below the city.

The knockoff version of the catapult that cut corners is slightly smaller than the original catapult.

But the height is almost the same as the walls of a strong city like Xiangyang City, so it can only be placed behind the city wall.

"Hey, it doesn't matter."

Dahe Timber also wanted to make some more detailed adjustments, but looking at the sparse Han troops outside the city and the difficulty of crossing the transnational moat, he really had no idea.

"preparation--"

"put!"

Boom, boom, boom
The 45 catapults dropped counterweight stones almost at the same time, throwing the projectiles weighing nearly a hundred kilograms high into the air.

"Look, what is that in the sky?"

The sharp-eyed Han soldiers happened to look up and saw a group of black dots in the sky, approaching rapidly, and couldn't help but be shocked.

Xiutu Bi, who had always been wary, immediately raised his head and gave the order:
"Quickly go and give the order, let the troops separate here, don't fight with each other, be careful of slinging cannons!"

Xiu Tu Bi secretly cursed, these projectiles that splashed into the sky were not as big as the three or four catapults in Xiangyang City that he had originally known!
Looking at the number, there are at least more than thirty or forty catapults!
Can this horse-riding horse be productive?

While Xiutu Bi was extremely nervous, he was also a little lucky.

His Majesty probably expected that there would be a large number of catapults in the city, so he only used a small group of troops to test them.

Facts have proved that as long as a small group of soldiers and horses is sent out, even if there is a rain of bullets, the loss will not be too much because the number of soldiers and horses is small and the team is dispersed.

If, as he takes it for granted, he leads an army of tens of thousands to attack the city, and if he fails to pay attention to the missiles all over the sky, he will surely suffer heavy losses!

At this time, the projectiles were getting closer and closer, and soldiers with sharp eyes could clearly see the size of the projectiles. They were actually not much smaller than a millstone, and probably weighed more than a hundred kilograms.

If this hits someone, how can I still get it?

Thinking of the scene of being hit by projectiles, many Han soldiers could not help but feel chills standing on end.

They had encountered a thunderbolt car in Runan City!

At that time, limited by time and terrain, the Donghu people only had ten Pili chariots.

And they still have the city wall to rely on for defense and avoidance.

Now it's raining bullets almost all over the sky, and there's no cover at all!

"Get out of the way!"

It's not Pikachu. Just shouting to avoid it will definitely not be able to avoid it.

At this time, in order to reduce the battle losses, Xiutu Bi simply let the soldiers flee.

He is not a person who can't lose face. At worst, he will just be defeated for a while.

Anyway, the Donghu people didn't leave the city. The worst they could do was to gather the remaining soldiers after running away.

I am just the vanguard of the siege, not the nominal commander, and there is an emperor behind me to ensure the bottom line and stabilize morale!

At most, it means that the reputation of losing the battle is not good.

But there is someone at the bottom of the army after all.

Here, you can see how good Li Jingji is.

Brother Li has suffered too many defeats. No matter how defeated other generals in the army are, he will always feel in his heart that there is someone at the bottom.

Some arrogant people like Xiu Tubi and Hou Junyan may not be arrogant when they win, but at least they won't be discouraged when they lose.

In a few years, I'm afraid everyone will be able to pull the wool over their faces and complete a tactical retreat.

When they first entered the battle formation, they suffered a defeat. They didn't even touch the moat, and the soldiers were completely defeated.

By the time Xiutu Bi gathered his soldiers, the sky was getting a little dark, and it started to rain lightly again during the Grain Rain season.

"General Xiutu is indeed a famous general!"

As soon as Xiutu Bi entered the tent and wanted to apologize, he saw the emperor praising him fiercely.

He is a straight person, and he really can't bear this situation. It's okay if he doesn't get punished for a big defeat, how can he not be able to hold back his praise?

Then he sincerely sighed:
"Your Majesty just punishes the general, and there is no need to show mercy. Today's catapult in Xiangyang City, the general did not expect..."

"Is that right?"

Liu Ke said:
"I have been reading the letters between you and Da Helu in the account today, trying to find out some of them to see if Da Helu would unintentionally reveal some information. I did not watch the battle, but only listened to the situation on the battlefield."

"Is this slingshot really that terrifying?"

Xiutu Bi opened his mouth, with his front teeth exposed. He opened and closed it several times, paused for a while, and then responded:

"If there are only three or five catapults, they really won't have much power, but at the end of the day, we will see that there are at least [-] catapults in Xiangyang City, and they seem to have been improved and are somewhat accurate."

"There is nothing the general can do... I was really frightened today, and I really can't bear the name of a famous general."

"I say you can afford it, so you can afford it."

Liu Ke was rummaging through a pile of letters and suddenly pulled out one and read softly:

"I want to return to the tribe, so I made an appointment to raise a fire at midnight as a signal."

When Xiutu Bi heard this, he knelt down quickly, opened his eyes wide, and dug into the ground with his head:
"Your Majesty, the general never meant this. This letter is definitely a fake and was definitely not written by the general!!"

Liu Ke raised his hand:

"Get up first and look at this handwriting."

Xiutu Bi stood up upright and put his head straight towards the letter:
"This is not the general's handwriting! You can tell by comparing it with other letters. I wonder how your Majesty could be so confused!"

Liu Ke burst out laughing after hearing this. He dipped his pen in some ink and wrote a few strokes on the paper:
"So what?"

(End of this chapter)