Zhu Huan and Lu Yi were reluctant to pay attention to the emperor's request and had no intention of leaving the city to fight. The emperor had no choice but to discuss the attack with Dong Zhao.

They decided to launch an attack in the north of the city.

Dong Zhao was a Dingtao man, and he had a clear understanding of the layout of Dingtao City. The south gate of Dingtao City was adjacent to the water, and there was a waterway leading into the city for merchant ships to enter and exit. When Li Jin defended the city, he filled the waterway to prevent warships from entering the city directly. After Zhu Huan took Dingtao City, he would not only restore the waterway, but also widen it so that warships carrying giant stone throwers could enter the city. Therefore, whether they were attacking the south gate or the east gate or the west gate, they would face the threat of giant stone throwers.

Only attacking the North Gate will not be possible. The north gate is the small town where the county seat is located. For safety, except for the two smaller city gates, there are no waterways to enter and exit, and the water is used to dig wells and does not connect with the outer city. If Zhu Huan wants to transport the giant stone thrower to the small city, it is not enough to dig a canal unless the city gates are demolished.

Of course, it is also difficult to attack the north gate. The walls of small cities are higher, stronger and more conducive to defense, and the cost of strong attack is quite high. But at this point, they can only take the light of the two evils. After all, the power of the giant stone thrower is too amazing. The iron bomb falls from the sky, and the scene of the middle-aged man standing servant is too amazing. Few soldiers have the courage to face such a powerful weapon.

Dong Zhao also had a selfish intention. He didn't realize that he could conquer Dingtao, so he had arranged for people to transfer the materials and personnel from Changyi City to Zhen City. The attack on Dingtao was just a formality. He fought for a few days, so that the emperor could see the heavy casualties and no chance of winning, so he naturally withdrew. As for the emperor's eager attack on Sun Ce, in Dong Zhao's opinion, the opportunity was very small. In the words of the emperor, it depends on whether the heaven was protected.

Liu Ye's thoughts were similar to Dong Zhao. He hit it off and suggested that the emperor arrange cavalry to protect the two wings. The emperor happily agreed that Lu Bu and Dong Yue would lead the headquarters to line up on Dong Zhao's left and right wings, and he led the Yulin Cavalry and the selected 1,000 Liang cavalry to take charge of the rear, raising their strength and waiting for the fighter jets to attack Sun Ce.

The battle began. Dong Zhao set up hundreds of stone throwers outside the north gate, including those giant stone throwers with only bases. Although these giant stone throwers do not have real tips, they are just semi-finished products. After all, they are much stronger than ordinary stone throwers. They really played a significant role without giant stone throwers in the city.

Zhu Huan and Lu Yi saw a giant stone thrower pushed into the formation at the top of the city, and could only express helplessness. This is a lesson. Never think too well about everything. Don’t take the blame for what is in control, otherwise you will backfire and suffer the consequences.

But Zhang Fen was not convinced. He decided to rely on his better operating skills without a giant stone thrower to start a technical competition with his opponents outside the city. Standing in front of nearly a thousand wooden school craftsmen and stone thrower operators, he said confidently, they all knew that our giant stone thrower was incomparable, but they didn't know that the real incomparable one was not the giant stone thrower itself, but us. Even without a giant stone thrower, we can still beat them to kneel down and surrender with ordinary stone throwers.

"Did we learn math in the past few years? Let them know what knowledge is power."

The craftsmen and operators burst into laughter and were full of energy. Then they started talking and talked about it in a while. In less than a moment, several plans were proposed. Zhang Fen prepared the blackboard and asked them to take turns to explain their plans to everyone, discussing, refuting, and using them with the best. At the beginning, there were many people who wanted to speak, but as the discussion deepened, the debate focused on several craftsmen with the highest level. They drew lines on the blackboard and calculated a bunch of data. Most operators and doctors, the craftsmen could no longer keep up with the pace and could only wait for the final discussion results.

Half an hour later, Zhang Fen personally chose several plans and refined them into operation regulations, and assigned different teams to implement them.

"It's time to show our true skills." Zhang Fen said passionately.

Everyone took the order and rushed to different operating positions to adjust the counterweight and projectiles of the stone thrower. Zhang Fen contacted the strong crossbow captain Xie Kuan and asked them to cooperate with the stone thrower to adjust the tactics and optimize the strike effect as much as possible.

Xie Kuan was ordered to call several commanders and military marquis to come and let them listen to Zhang Fen explain the tactical arrangements.

In order to have enough shocking effect, Zhang Fen and Xie Kuan did not immediately launch an attack after they were ready to block Dong Zhao's subordinates from deploying the formation. Instead, they patiently waited for Dong Zhao to complete the deployment. All the stone throwers were placed in place, and the operators were in place, and then they beat the drum and called the formation.

Amid the intense fighting drums, Zhang Fen shouted loudly and ordered an attack.

"Ignite! Launch!"

"Here!" The operator holding a torch lit the grease applied to the outside of the clay pot, and the clay pot burned instantly. The firing hand swung the wooden hammer in his hand and smashed the iron lock. The lock opened, the counterweight box sank, and the long tip rod raised, throwing the clay pot filled with black grease into the sky. The clay pot spread out in the air, and the flames on the surface were whistled by the strong wind, like a meteor flying, pounced on the position outside the city.

"Ba" A pottery jar fell to the ground, split into pieces, and the grease inside splashed, and then it was ignited by the fire on the jar body, and the fire rose into the sky.

"Bang! Bang!" Hundreds of clay pots landed continuously, most of which landed at the predetermined location, hitting more than a dozen sets of stone throwers closest to the city wall, and instantly ignited these stone throwers. The fire quickly formed a group and burned in front of the formation. The soldiers of Jizhou who were preparing to launch an attack were also burned by the fire. They shouted in horror, not caring about operating the stone thrower to counterattack, and desperately slapping the fire on their bodies. But the black oil was very sticky and it was difficult to get rid of it when it was stained. The armor became hot, and the flesh and blood were even louder, and there was a wailing on the position.

A burst of cheers came from the city wall, and the stone throwing machine immediately extended and attacked further away. At the same time, the powerful crossbowman launched a cover-type shooting at the panicked Jizhou army. The arrow rain fell from the sky, burned to death, and the Jizhou army, who were neglecting to guard, suffered heavy casualties, and even more panicked. They ignored the personal guard camps that were escorting the formation and fled one after another.

The Jizhou Army's position became a sea of ​​fire, with black smoke rolling and heat waves pressing. There was no one on the other side, and only the shrill cry in the sea of ​​fire, like a hundred ghosts crying at night, which was extremely terrifying.

With the cover of the fire, the city gate quietly opened a crack, and first rushed out hundreds of elite infantrymen, and then more than a hundred craftsmen holding axes. The craftsmen rushed to the giant stone throwers. Ding Ding dangdang knocked and quickly dismantled the bases of the stone throwers, then carried them, carried them back to the city.

In just half an hour, the first round of battle ended. Dong Zhao took a lot of effort to transport the hundreds of stone throwers under the city, most of which were destroyed, and the rest were too far from the city wall and could not play any role. When the flames gradually went out, facing the remains of the stone throwers burned in front of the battle and the corpses everywhere, Dong Zhao was in tears.

Then, he was surprised to find that the giant stone throwers were missing, and except for the tip rod, the entire base disappeared.

"This..." Dong Zhao rubbed his eyes hard, looked and then, and suddenly understood. He knew why he was so lucky that he picked up the base drawing of the giant stone thrower.

In the city, Zhang Fen looked at the base parts of the stone thrower that the craftsmen moved back from outside the city, and shook his head repeatedly. "It's too rough, too rough, and no size meets the requirements. Can't these people use snacks? They can't process according to the drawings well. What else can they do? It's really overestimated their ability to attack the city at this level."

Lu Yi saw Zhang Fen shaking his head and muttering in the city. He didn't know what he said, and asked loudly: "Zhang Jijiu, when will these stone throwers be assembled?"

Zhang Fen raised his head and said loudly: "No, these parts are too poor in workmanship and the size is not right. You have to reprocess it, at least one day, maybe two days."

"At most you can only give you one day."

"Okay, I'll do my best." Zhang Fen clapped his hands. "Everyone, get moving, start working."

The craftsmen laughed, despising the technical level of Yanzhou craftsmen, while lifting relevant components, scattering them everywhere, performing fine processing, and then cooperating with the prepared tip rods to assemble them for later use.

——

Before the formal battle began, the long-range attack was hit. Not only did Dong Zhao suffer a deep blow, but even the emperor was very surprised. They realized that the strength of both sides could not be measured by military strength. The Wood School in Yanzhou and the Wood School in Yuzhou were incomparable. The gap in the level of military weapons between the two sides was huge, so they had no chance at all. The emperor was in a complicated mood. He had known that Sun Ce had attached importance to craftsmen and had been in Nanyang Jianmu Academy very early. He also knew that Sun Ce had obvious advantages in military weapons. However, after seeing the stone throwing machine of both sides with his own eyes, he truly understood how great this advantage was.

Compared with the gap in strength between the two sides in the stone thrower, the gap in armor and swords and spears is not worth mentioning.

For a moment, the emperor was discouraged. The gap was so big, so why would he fight? They could not conquer Dingtao at all, so why did Sun Ce come? If Sun Ce didn't come, they would have no chance to win by surprise. If they continued to stalemate, they would just be humiliating themselves.

Forget it, it is better to go back to Guanzhong to stay in seclusion and find a way to explore the Western Regions.

The emperor summoned the generals to discuss matters and revealed his thoughts of withdrawing troops. Although Lu Bu and Ma Chao were unwilling to give up, they saw that Dong Zhao lost so badly in the head, and knew that the possibility of attacking Sun Ce was basically no longer there, and the stalemate was not helpful. It would be better to retreat early and take revenge when there was a chance in the future.

Dong Yue didn't say anything, standing in the corner like a little transparent, just his eyes wandered, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Just as they reached an agreement and were about to retreat, Zhu Huan's reply arrived.

I originally thought you had picked up the drawings of the stone thrower and had a certain ability to attack the city, so I waited in the city. I didn’t expect you to be so weak, which really disappointed me. In order to convince you of losing, know what the trend is, don’t have any more delusions, and to surrender to the King of Wu as soon as possible and achieve peace in the world, I decided to give you another chance to go out of the city to fight you, and compete with you in a dignified formation.
Chapter completed!