The defenders on the city wall poured down boiling oil, sulfur and other substances, and threw down torches and straw, and most of the battering ram was burned.
The soldiers hiding below ran out screaming, and were either burned by the fire or shot to death by arrows from the city. The scene was extremely tragic.
Xu Huang sent out three more battering rams to ram the nearby wall, trying to tear down the entire iron gate.
More than a dozen battering rams were destroyed under the city and turned into charcoal, and the iron gate was dented with several dents.
Cao's army continued to fight forward, and corpses piled up like mountains at the foot of the city wall, with blood and flesh all over the place, but no one could climb up the tall Wuguan city wall.
The torches thrown down from the city ignited the corpses, forming a wall of fire, and the burnt stench made people cover their noses and feel nauseous.
Xu Huang held the axe, his face gloomy. He had expected the danger and solidity of Wuguan Pass. This was at the north gate. If he attacked the east gate, he would have no chance of winning.
Although the roads inside the pass are slightly flatter and wider, they are built on the mountain and have limited space, so they can only attack from the main gate, and the advantage of military strength cannot be brought into play at all.
The scene was extremely tragic, but Xu Huang could only grit his teeth and supervise the battle. The importance of Wuguan was self-evident. If Liu Qi took the opportunity to advance again, it would cause unrest in Guanzhong.
In this battle, we must advance and not retreat, even if it means destroying Wuguan. We must not let the Jingzhou army occupy Wuguan at any cost.
Cao's army attacked Wuguan day and night for three days. The defenders at the pass suffered casualties, but they were negligible compared to the losses outside the city.
Wei Yan and Fu Rong took turns guarding the city, and Pang Tong occasionally came to supervise the battle. Looking at the aggressive Cao army, he had a calm expression, standing on the city wall with his hands behind his back, as if he was admiring the scenery of the cliff.
After several days of hard fighting, the area under the city had turned into a quagmire of blood and flesh. Under the cover of catapults and siege towers, Cao's army finally set up ladders and climbed up the city walls like ants.
The boulders and wooden planks that had been prepared long ago fell down one after another and smashed towards the enemies who were climbing the city wall. Boiling water and boiling oil were also poured down. The shrill screams echoed in the mountain stream, and it was especially creepy to hear at night.
Despite heavy casualties, Cao's army began to climb the city wall, and some even climbed to the top of the city wall. Although they were killed by Wei Yan, the morale of the entire army was greatly boosted and they launched another fierce attack.
"Damn it!" Wei Yan retreated covered in blood, cursing, "Is Xu Huang going to be promoted? Cao Jun's life is even worse than that of an ant."
Pang Tong laughed and said, "If the general is grabbed by the throat, he will fight back to the death."
Wei Yan wiped his face and sighed, "I'm not afraid of fighting, but if we keep defending like this, when will it end? It's really not satisfying."
Pang Tong said: "General, you are so exhausted defending the city. You can imagine how exhausted Cao's army is. If we attack them head-on when their morale is at its peak, they will be defeated and their morale will be broken. That will be the time for you to strike back."
Wei Yan's eyes lit up, and he said hurriedly: "It turns out that the military advisor has a clever plan."
Pang Tong smiled and said, "When I came to Wuguan, Xiangyang was already rushing to make a powerful weapon. I believe they must have had a considerable number by now. Reinforcements will arrive soon."
"I hope they can come earlier!" Wei Yan ate two large bowls of rice, three chicken legs, and a bowl of mutton soup, then fell asleep.
In a blink of an eye, half a month passed. The city of Wuguan was filled with smoke and corpses. Purple-black blood soaked the ground, forming a waterfall on the cliff. The remains of corpses hung on the rocks and trees, attracting crows and eagles to circle around.
A reinforcement force of 3,000 men from Nanyang finally arrived at Wuguan. Wei Yan was supervising the battle and sent people to bring them into the city, urging them to deliver new weapons as soon as possible.
After waiting for half an hour and seeing no movement, he immediately became furious: "Who is leading the troops here and dares to delay the military plan? Don't you know how powerful my military law is?"
At this moment, a loud laugh came from behind: "Hahaha, Wen Chang's temper is getting more and more irritable, and he has even less patience than me."
Wei Yan turned his head and saw a tall man with a dark complexion, a chin like a swallow and a beard like a tiger, striding over from the covered bridge. He was surprised and asked, "Why is it General Zhang who is leading the troops?"
"I'm not the one leading the troops!" Zhang Fei pointed to the camp below, "General Liu has come in person and is assembling the weapons."
"Young Master?" Wei Yan was startled, and instead of being happy, he was worried: "Are you afraid that I can't defend Wuguan?"
"General, you have other plans!" Zhang Fei smiled, and with his hands behind his back, he inspected the pass and praised: "Wuguan is indeed worthy of its reputation. General Wei is guarding it well."
"Need I say more?" Wei Yan snorted in dissatisfaction.
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "If I were guarding the pass, I would have rushed out and taken Xu Huang's head long ago, and would have reached Chang'an by now."
"Tsk!" Wei Yan curled his lips and said disdainfully: "Yide can only drink more than me, but when it comes to charging into battle, I am no worse than you."
"What? You don't agree?" Zhang Fei glared at him and said, "How about we compete?"
Wei Yan grabbed the sword and said, "You and I will charge out of the pass now. Whoever kills Xu Huang first will win."
The two men were enthusiastic for three minutes when they met, but in the next moment they were like bullfighting. He left Fu Rong to guard the pass and angrily went down the city wall to the military camp to select soldiers for battle.
When they arrived at the military camp, they saw countless vehicles parked around. Soldiers gathered around them. There were craftsmen busy setting up wooden frames, and Pang Tong was chatting with Liu Qi.
The two were very curious and forgot to count the soldiers. They pushed through the crowd and came closer. They saw a row of vehicle-sized wooden frames on the field, with crossbows mounted on them.
Wei Yan forgot to greet him and went straight forward to ask, "What is this?"
Liu Qi laughed and said, "Crossbow!"
"Repeating crossbow?" Wei Yan frowned, and saw that each arrow groove on the crossbow cart was as wide as a thumb, with brass grooves lined up side by side, some with three, some with five.
Pang Tong said, "I have seen the Qin crossbow in ancient books. It is somewhat similar. When the Qin State swept across the Central Plains, it used bows and crossbows first. However, they were too heavy and inconvenient to load, so they were abandoned. Now that Kong Ming and his wife have brought them out again, they must have been improved."
Liu Qi nodded and said, "Not bad."
On the city wall, Zhuge Liang was introducing bows and crossbows to several generals. These devices were
Lu Xiang pointed at the mechanical crossbow and said, "This crossbow and mechanical crossbow are modified on the basis of the Qin crossbow. One crossbow can fire several times, which has the power to break through armor and drive the enemy away. It can not only be used for attacking cities, but also for defense, which is a powerful weapon that can defeat ten enemies with one."
"So amazing?" Wei Yan was surprised. He touched the crossbow with his hand and saw three crossbow arrows as thick as fingers embedded in the arrow groove that was as deep as a palm. He sighed again, "It's a pity that there are not enough of them."
Liu Qi smiled and said, "At present, the latest improved crossbow in Xiangyang can already fire eight rounds per crossbow. In the future, it may be increased to ten rounds per crossbow, or even twenty rounds per crossbow."
"Hiss--" Everyone was shocked and even found it unbelievable. If this crossbow was made, wouldn't one person be able to fight against ten archers? The power can be imagined.
"Technology is the most important combat force!" Liu Qi said generously: "When the crossbow is fully developed, the role of crossbowmen will be no less than that of cavalry."
Pang Tong's eyes showed a complicated expression, and he sighed, "I wonder how many tricks and tricks the Kongming couple have hidden."
Liu Qi smiled and said, "I will present this great gift tomorrow. Xu Gongming will be the first to witness it. He is lucky."
Wei Yan muttered: "Is this what you call lucky?"