Jia Kui believed that Zigui was too far away from Yufu, and reinforcements might not be able to win. If they failed but were wiped out, the Shu army might not come from afar. It is obvious that it would be more beneficial to Shu. Defending Wu County and guarding Kuimen, blocking the Wu army from the three gorges, which is four or five hundred miles long, is obviously more beneficial to Shu.

In other words, Zigui's mission is at most to delay the attack of the Wu army and consume the morale and strength of the Wu army, rather than to block the Wu army outside the gate. This can be seen from the fact that the generals in several cities were old subordinates of the Liu Zhang era, and they are not popular in Shu.

According to the military practice, after being besieged for three months, if the strength is insufficient and there are no reinforcements outside, the soldiers in the city can surrender, and their family and wives will not be implicated. Even if these people surrender, Cao Cao will have no reason to kill their family members.

Therefore, the Shu army soldiers in the city did not have the intention to fight to the death. If they were not in a hurry, they would siege the city for three months and attack the city again. If they didn't want to waste these three months, they would force the city to attack. The soldiers in the city naturally had to fight back, but the degree of determination they could be limited.

Of course, there will be casualties in the siege, at least much greater than the casualties in the attack three months later. Perhaps Cao Cao and Fa Zheng saw through this point, so they arranged such a game to exchange for the greatest profit at the smallest price.

After hearing Jia Kui's analysis, Sun Ce did not comment.

However, he learned from Jia Kui's explanation that not only the guardian in the small town in Jiangnan was Shen Mi, but also the guardian in Danyang City Lou Fa, but also the guardian in Zigui City was Wenbu and Deng Kai, the guardian in Zigui, were both marginal figures of Shu Kingdom. Not only Jia Kui knew about these, but others also knew that the news was originally found by Chen Jiao from the people of Zigui.

Jia Kui had the same information as others, but he could see the intentions of Cao Cao and Fa Zheng from these personnel arrangements.

Others may not have seen it, or they may have seen it, but they just have no chance to say it.

Sun Ce looked at several camps one after another. Although everyone knew that he was coming and had some preparations in advance, the gap was still there. Among the several camps, Sun Quan and Jia Kui's camps were the most strict, while Sun Guan's one was slightly inferior and not much different from other generals. However, although the Taishan soldiers under Sun Guan's command were a little loose, their morale was very strong, and they were a little proud that veterans should have.

——

Sun Quan stood by the river and waited for the boat that Ju Su, Guo Jia and others were riding on the dock.

He looked at the boat in the river, but his mind floated to the small town opposite the river. Sun Ce's words kept circling in his mind, lingering, making him inexplicably panic, and always felt that he had missed something important.

The boat leaned against the shore and put down the springboard. Sun Quan put away his mind and greeted him with a gentle but sensible smile on his face.

Ju Su and others did not dare to neglect them, so they all returned the greetings. Guo Jia even joked with him, and then walked forward while talking to Ju Su.

Liu Ye finally got off the boat and finished the ceremony with Sun Quan. He looked back. "Does the king look at the small town opposite the river?"

Sun Quan's eyes flashed slightly, and then he laughed. "Mu She has such a good eye. What can I see Gu at such a distance?"

Liu Ye shook his head. "Although I am a push, I am not a saber. How can I have such good eyesight? But when I think about it from the perspective of the king, it will be not difficult to guess."

Sun Quan smiled slightly, reached out to signal Liu Ye, and took the opportunity to turn around and looked around. Ju Su and Guo Jia had already walked more than a dozen steps and were talking again, noticing them. Some of the others looked at Zigui City not far away, some were busy picking things from the boat, and no one cared about them.

"Pu She also asks for advice."

"What do the king want to do the most now?"

Sun Quan hesitated for a moment, and the smile on his face was a little unnatural. "Make a meritorious service."

"How can such a dangerous terrain be successful? Naturally, with several times or even dozens of times the force, attacking with the force of Mount Tai. The three cities in Jiangbei are not small, and they also support each other. When the head is attacked, the tail is responding, and when the tail is attacked, the head is responding, and the soldiers are rarely defeated. Only a city in Jiangnan is isolated and has no help, and the city is small, less than a thousand people, and may even be only three or five hundred. If a large army surrounds it, it will definitely defeat it if it attacks."

"What Pushe said is naturally the most reasonable. But will the casualties be too great? The casualties of the siege are usually one to four, and our army will naturally have fewer elites. However, this city is solid and cannot be underestimated. Taking one to four, even if there are only five hundred people in the city, our army will lose two thousand people." Sun Quan smiled bitterly. "Pushe also knows that Gu has only one thousand five hundred people under his command, so it is not enough to die."

Liu Ye smiled slightly, walked forward with a smile.

Sun Quan waited for the following text, but saw that Liu Ye stopped talking, so he rushed up and bowed, "I hope that Master She will not give up, and I will give you another tip."

Liu Ye looked back at Sun Quan and raised his lips slightly. "What the king said is common sense. But Shen Mi is not common sense here? Will he fight bloody battles with the king until his death and die to sacrifice his life to the city?"

Sun Quan woke up like a dream and was overjoyed. He bowed his hands repeatedly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

——

After watching the camp, Sun Ce had a meal in the camp, while discussing military affairs with the generals.

After several humility, Sun Quan put forward a similar view to Jia Kui and proposed to take the small town in Jiangnan first to relieve the attacks of being attacked from both sides.

On the contrary, Jia Kui, who had already made suggestions, said nothing, his face calmly, as if he had said nothing.

Sun Ce consulted the opinions of others. After listening to the relevant reports, Ju Su and Guo Jia agreed in principle. The suggestion was proposed by Sun Quan and Jia Kui. The main attack task naturally fell on Zhu Huan. Lou Gui led his troops to support him, while Mi Fang commanded the navy to defend the river surface to prevent the two cities of Zigui and Danyang from sending troops to respond.

Zhu Huan immediately assembled the generals and formulated a combat plan.

Huang Yueying and Qin Luo were also busy implementing plans, building large winches on the reefs and dragging large warships upwards.

At the same time, Sun Ce ordered the guards to enter the city, and explained them to reason and moved them to their emotions, and persuaded Shen Mi to surrender.

Shen Mi did not reply. According to Wei Ji, Shen Mi was very confused. He did not have the will to fight to the death, but his family would not surrender easily in Chengdu. He was also worried that the situation of surrendering generals was difficult, especially those who surrendered after the troops were at the city, so he was very worried.

Sun Ce did not continue to persuade him to surrender, and it was enough to know that Shen Mi did not have the will to fight to the death.

The Wu army prepared for the battle in great enthusiasm, and sent scouts to clean up, expelled nearby Shu army's efforts, and the battle was about to break out.

——

Chisai City.

Peng Yi quickly walked up the city wall and came to Cao Cao who was discussing the matter. He bowed and bowed to Fa Zheng.

Fa Zheng didn't say much, and handed over a piece of paper, drawing a picture on it. Peng Yi took it and thought for a while, then understood and praised, "Wonderful! Those who can come up with this method are really geniuses."

Cao Cao laughed. "Only heroes know heroes, Yongnian, do you know who came up with this solution?"

Peng Ying shook his head repeatedly, but turned his gaze to Fazheng. Although the picture is simple, the conception is extremely clever. He could almost conclude that it was not the design of Fazheng. Fazheng is proficient in human mind calculations, but is not very good at this kind of practical learning, and even a little disagreeable. His previous praise, which he pointed to was only to safeguard Fazheng's face.

After the lessons learned last time, he knew that it was not appropriate to have conflicts with Fa Zheng for the time being. The King of Shu is now inseparable from Fa Zheng.

"It's not me." Fa Zheng was helpless, but he had to pretend that he couldn't see Peng's demonstration. "This is the design of the two masters of Wu, Huang Yueying and Qin Luo. Yongnian, do you think it can be used?"

Peng Yi carefully considered it carefully. "It should be useful. In fact, this is the same as the principle of fibre pulling, but it uses reefs as the basis and replaces manpower with hydraulic power, which is more economical and has room for expansion. As long as the number and size of the winch are increased, a larger ship can be pulled." He frowned immediately. "So, does Wu Jun want to pull a large warship up?"

Fa Zheng raised his hand and scratched his eyebrows. When he received the news from Zigui, he felt that something was wrong. If the Wu army could tow a large warship to Zigui, the three cities of Zigui would face the attack of Wu's superior military weapons, and the time would be short of their ability to hold on. More importantly, the premise of the agreement with Wen Bu and others for three months was that the large warship of Wu's army could not go upstream, but now the expectations were broken, and the agreement might not be able to be followed.

Chen Mi, Lou Fa and others may hesitate. The possibility of Wen Bu and Deng Kai changing their flags has increased greatly, and they are already under little constraints.

If Zigui holds on for less than three months, Sun Ce will arrive in Wu County before the flood season, which will directly put pressure on the Shu army.

Fa Zheng and Cao Cao discussed that on the one hand, they should find ways to reinforce Zigui and delay the speed of the Wu army's attack; on the other hand, they should speed up the preparations for war. Judging from various signs, direct confrontation may come earlier than expected.

Cao Cao did not dare to neglect and asked Peng Yi to come up with a solution as soon as possible, preferably to create a few powerful weapons to pose a threat to the Wu army. The Wu army repeatedly used the advantages of technology to solve problems. If the Shu army did not return, it would inevitably have an impact on morale.

Peng Yi agreed, but he was reluctant. He knew it himself, and it would be fine to ask him to copy or make some minor improvements, but it was really difficult to create some weapons that he had never had before.

Fa Zheng saw Peng Yi's embarrassment from the corner of his eyes and sneered.

Cao Cao lowered his eyebrows and sighed quietly. The situation was so critical that the internal struggle was still endless, and the country was about to perish.

——

After more than a dozen debugging, Wu Jun's craftsmen built more than a dozen large winches on the reef and sent more than a dozen large building ships to the city of Zigui.

Immediately afterwards, the stone-throwing machine and heavy crossbow were loaded onto the ship and several test shots were carried out. The ten-pound iron ball fell from the sky like raindrops, smashing the south gate tower of Zigui City to pieces. After making a series of wails, half of the roof was overturned, wood and tiles poured out from the top of the city, and smoke and dust filled.

The city wall was smashed by iron balls, like an earthquake.

The Shu army soldiers on the city were stunned and sweaty.

Wenbu sat in a corner of the city wall, looking at the wreckage of the city tower gradually exposed from the smoke and dust, his mouth wide open, and he had a mouth full of ashes, but he felt nothing. His overall body was numb, his face was covered with blood. Just now, an iron bullet flew over his head, smashed the tassels, buckled it on his face with the helmet, scraping a hole, and blood flowed.

I have long heard that the Wu army's military is the best in the world, and they are always strong and urged. In the past, they just thought it was just a joke, but today I really experienced it.

Although these iron balls failed to directly destroy Zigui City, the terrible situation in the city still gave him a head-on blow. Several personal guards were hit by iron bullets and died on the spot, without even having time to scream. One of them lay not far from him, half of his head was gone, red blood and white brain mixed together, and slowly flowed on the city wall.

Wenbu's legs and feet were numb, and he couldn't get up for a long time, so he didn't dare to get up. Wu Jun's shooting was directed at him this time. His armor was different from ordinary soldiers, and he was surrounded by a group of brightly dressed guards, which was not difficult to identify.

He escaped this time, but he dared not say whether he could have such good luck next time.

As long as you get such an iron ball, you will be disabled even if you don’t die. Is it worth it for Cao Cao and the marquis named by Cao Cao?

Wenbu felt it was necessary to rethink this issue.

Wenbu sat leaning against the battlements for a while, but he didn't hear the sound of Tiewan hitting the city anymore. He felt strange and quietly poked his head out to look. Then he found that the Wu army warship was sailing away from Zigui City and leaning towards the small town in Jiangnan. In the distance, he saw that there were two tower ships slowly sailing towards Jiangnan on the south side of Danyang City.

Wenbu turned his head and looked at Danyang City. Unexpectedly, he found that the west city tower of Danyang City was missing. After careful identification, he saw a little residue. It seemed that the loss of Danyang City was much greater than that of Zigui City. I don’t know if Lou Fa was beaten to death.

In Zigui City, under the gaze of Shu soldiers in Danyang City, dozens of Wu army warships sailed towards Jiangnan. As long as they were not stupid, they knew that the Wu army was going to attack the small city in Jiangnan.

According to common sense, whether it is Wenbu or Lou Fa, warships should be sent to reinforce at this time, at least to harass the Wu army, and not to sit idly by them to siege Shen Mi. But looking at the size of the warships on both sides, and then looking at the city towers that were smashed into ruins behind him, Wenbu and Lou Fa chose to close the city and silently pray for Shen Mi, hoping that his city would still be alive when it was broken.

Persevere? That is impossible.

——

Mi Fang commanded the central navy to cross the vast river to block the Shu army that might have come from the north of the Yangtze River.

Shen Mi on the city saw it clearly, but there was no reaction. He sent someone to shake flags and drums to convey the message to the detailed works outside the city, and at the same time asked Jiangbei for help. Regardless of whether the city could be kept in the end, he still had to do what he should do, after all, his family was still in Chengdu.

The battle started outside the city first. Sun Guan and Lou Gui landed on the shore respectively, cleared the Shu army scouts outside the city, and fought for some commanding heights. The battle was not fierce. The soldiers of the Shu army were neither opponents of the Wu army nor had the interest in fighting to the death. They often retreated as soon as they contacted, and even had no contact at all. They ran away when they saw the Wu army's battle flag. However, it lasted for a long time. It took more than three days before the encirclement was finally completed.

Finally, an army controversy was initiated and reported to Sun Ce, who reported the end to Jiangbei Camp. Sun Ce took a tower ship to the battle formation and ordered Mi Fang, Zhu Huan, and Lou Gui to start the attack. Zhu Huan and Lou Gui commanded the soldiers of the headquarters to enter the river surface on both sides of the small city and surrounded the small city on three sides. Sun Guan attacked the left, Pan Hua attacked the right, Sun Quan, and Jia Kui as the main force of the siege, attacked from the front. Zhu Huan and Lou Gui led the personal guard camp and were ready to support at any time.

In the morning light, eight tower ships surrounded the small town on three sides, sixteen stone throwers began to fire, and long poles rose and fell one after another, throwing balls of iron balls into the sky and hitting the small town. The small town was smashed so hard that it was so heavy, especially the north gate, which was the main target. In the first wave of attack, the city tower was destroyed and disappeared into the soaring smoke.

With the attack of the stone thrower, the powerful crossbows on the ship also began to shoot together, further killing in large quantities.

The stone thrower and the crossbow are both very powerful. Even if the city is located on a hill, the height difference seriously affects the impact force, and it is still not something that human flesh and blood can resist. After witnessing the tragic situation of his companions, the soldiers under Shen Mi gave up the idea of ​​defending the city and hid under the city wall.

At this time, only the thick city walls could give them a little sense of security, and even battlements were not good.

Chen Mi is no exception. In the name of guarding the city gate, he hid in the city gate with his personal guards early in the morning. He heard the city wall being smashed by iron balls and the screams of the soldiers on the city, his expression was obviously particularly calm, and he even had a hint of self-deprecation.

A quarter of an hour later, the stone thrower and powerful crossbow stopped shooting, and the Wu army infantry launched an attack from three sides. Under the strict protection of dozens of personal guards, Sun Quan led the way and rushed to the city gate on the hillside.

On the boat in the river, Sun Ce looked at the noisy battlefield in the distance and smacked his lips.

"It's all money."

Ju Su and Guo Jia looked at each other and smiled. They also knew how much the price the Wu army paid to take over this small city. The casualties of the soldiers might not be too great - if Chen Mi did not have the will to fight to the death - but thousands of iron balls and tens of thousands of crossbows were all costs.

The iron ball may also be able to recover most of the fire, but the consumption of crossbow arrows is inevitable. After the arrow hits a stone, most of the fire will be damaged. Either the arrow breaks or the shaft is injured. It must be recasted before it can be used again.

The strong combat effectiveness of the Wu army not only comes from training, but also from well-made ordnance, which all require money.

Is it worth it to spend such a large price for such a small city? Everyone has a calculation in their hearts. For Sun Ce, attacking this city has another meaning. Whether he wants it or not, Sun Quan fulfilled his promise and made a contribution in the first battle.

Unless he dies under a cold arrow or falls into the river.

This possibility is too small and there is almost no need to consider it. Sun Ce does not want such a situation, so the personal guards around Sun Quan are carefully selected and well-equipped, and have a lot of experience in protecting generals. Unless Sun Quan is killed by a stone falling from the sky, the possibility of death is extremely low.

What should I do after Sun Quan made meritorious service? This is a problem that Sun Ce had to face.

At this time, the passionate victory drum sounded on the battlefield ahead. Sun Ce and others looked up and saw that the Shu army battle flag at the top of the city was torn off, the Wu army battle flag was raised, and the soldiers on the top of the city were cheering and thunderous.

Not long after, a fast ship sailed into the central army, came under the tower ship, and reported to Sun Ce.

Sun Quan first arrived, and Shen Mi was captured alive.

After hearing the good news, Sun Ce turned around and exchanged glances with Ju Su, Guo Jia and smiled and said, "This Chen Mi is not dead, he is really lucky."
Chapter completed!