Three Kingdoms: Fusion of Entries, Change of Destiny

Chapter 224 Fortresses always crumble from within.

"To conquer a city is the inferior strategy; to conquer a mind is the superior strategy. Zian is indeed well-versed in military strategy." Cao Cao coughed twice to cover his embarrassment.

Immediately, his expression turned serious, and he asked, "So, how do you plan to implement your psychological warfare strategy?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Yan slowly shook his head and said, "I'm not quite sure how to proceed yet; we'll have to wait for the Eagle Guard's scouts to send back a message."

"Now that the four gates of Shouchun City are tightly closed, how will the Eagle Guards inside the city get the message out?" Jia Xu couldn't help but ask curiously.

Cao Yan's lips curled slightly, and he finally uttered two words: "Confidential!"

"..."

……

The following morning, bugles sounded throughout Cao Cao's camp, and the army marched out one after another.

Cao Cao's army, plus Liu Bei's 3,000 men, numbered nearly 60,000. The extra troops mainly came from Yuan Shu's surrendered troops and garrison troops drawn from various regions.

Sun Ce from the south also brought 50,000 troops, who split into two groups in the southeast and each besieged one side of the city wall of Shouchun.

The allied forces, numbering 110,000, were arrayed in a grand procession beneath the walls of Shouchun.

The soldiers were in good military formation, and shouts could be heard from the ranks from time to time, which made them look quite imposing.

On the other hand, the city walls of Shouchun were completely silent. The soldiers guarding the city seemed to have vanished without a trace, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Cao Yan sat on a chestnut horse, with Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan following closely behind.

Dian Wei then personally held up Cao Yan's banner and became the flag bearer.

Cao Ang originally wanted to join in the fun, but Old Cao caught him and brought him back. He was afraid that his son would act rashly and rush to attack the city, and if something went wrong, he would cry himself to death.

Cao Cao had already discussed this with Sun Ce beforehand; if he wanted to receive a formal investiture from the imperial court, he had to show sincerity.

Supplies are just an appetizer; the siege is the main course.

However, Cao Cao was not one to play tricks on children. They agreed that there would be no need for any charades today. When the appointed time arrived, the army would directly attack the city. Regardless of whether they could capture Shouchun, they could not afford to lose in terms of momentum.

Cao Yan looked up at the sky and, seeing that the time had come, waved his hand and shouted, "Attack the city!"

"Siege!"

"Dong Dong Dong!!!"

With the commander-in-chief's order, war drums sounded in the army, and the Cao army and the Jiangdong army, positioned on both sides of Shouchun City, began to enter battle mode.

Cao Cao himself was in charge of directing the attack on Cao Jun's side.

Because Cao Yan's troops were all elite, he was reluctant to throw them into this siege battle, so Cao chose to use those new recruits to wear them down...

Cao Cao also understood that it was basically impossible to take Shouchun in one battle.

However, it's always good to try to find out the enemy's true strength before launching a full-scale attack.

"Catapult, fire!"

"Archers, shoot!"

Under Cao Cao's command, the newly joined soldiers were relatively calm, although they were somewhat stiff, but they were able to act according to military orders.

At the same time that Cao Cao's army launched its attack on the city, Jiangdong's army also launched its attack.

At this moment, some movement finally broke out on the city wall of Shouchun, which had been silent all along.

Yuan Jun's officers and soldiers shouted loudly and began to organize the defense.

The archers on the city wall drew their bows and nocked their arrows, ready to fire.

Once the Allied soldiers were within firing range, the Yuan army junior officer decisively gave the order.

"Fire arrows!"

In an instant, countless arrows shot out like locusts, whistling through the air, and fell into the allied army's formation.

After the battle officially began, Cao Cao's army did not rush to approach the city wall, but instead used shield soldiers to wear down the arrows on the city wall.

After attracting their attention for a few rounds, the defenders on the city wall learned their lesson and stopped firing arrows indiscriminately.

At this point, Old Cao sent the laborers up the moat. They carried timber and straw bags and headed towards the moat. The moat was thirty or forty meters wide, so it was obviously impossible to build ladders. They had to fill it in by hand to create a passage.

Cao's army was divided into four or five sections, and under the cover of shield soldiers, they filled the river at the same time. The progress looked quite promising, and it was estimated that it would be completed smoothly in just eight or nine days.

But Ji Ling obviously wouldn't just watch the passage be filled in.

As soon as it got dark, they took the opportunity to leave the city and then destroyed the passage that had been painstakingly filled in.

After repeated back and forth, pulling and tugging, it wasn't until mid-December that Cao Cao's army and Sun Ce's army finally completed two passages that allowed them to cross the moat.

With the passage secured, the next step was the siege.

During this period, both Cao Cao's army and Jiangdong's army manufactured a number of large siege weapons.

This time, Cao Cao secretly sent Liu Bei's army out to lead the charge.

Most of the soldiers in Liu Bei's and Sun Ce's armies wore leather armor, and some of the lowest-ranking soldiers even wore cloth armor.

In addition, the formations during a siege are inevitably quite dense. When Yuan's army unleashed a barrage of arrows, both armies were hit one after another, and instantly fell like wheat being harvested.

However, for Sun Ce's large army, the death of a hundred or so people was not a big deal.

But it was a different story for Liu Bei.

He only had about three thousand men to begin with, and now every fallen soldier felt like a piece of his heart being torn away. Watching his soldiers suffer continuous casualties, Liu Bei felt as if his heart was bleeding.

Looking at Cao Cao's army, even the worst soldiers wore iron armor, while the Qingzhou army was entirely covered in fish-scale armor.

Moreover, most of them were equipped with at least one wooden shield, which limited the effectiveness of Yuan's arrows against Cao's army.

After a volley of arrows, only a few dozen people were hit and fell to the ground, and most of them were only injured and not in mortal danger.

Yuan Jun paid no attention to the casualties of the allied forces. His archers fired arrows methodically, trying to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible.

On the allied side, the archers were not to be outdone and returned fire one after another. Although the damage they caused to Yuan's army was limited, they at least provided some cover.

But what truly terrified Yuan's soldiers were the stone projectiles, each weighing over a hundred pounds, that came whistling through Cao's lines!
At least five hundred catapults have been erected in Cao Cao's army camp, and the number is steadily increasing every day.

Countless stone projectiles, launched from catapults, streaked across the sky, carrying immense kinetic energy as they hurtled towards Shouchun City and its walls.

Some of the stones landed in the city, destroying countless houses.

Some of the stones smashed into the city wall, creating large craters, and the soldiers guarding the city turned pale with fright.

Some even struck directly at the watchtowers and watchtowers, collapsing amidst the desperate screams of Yuan's soldiers inside.

In Yuan Shu's army, those soldiers who had never experienced the catapult baptism before finally understood Ji Ling's feelings.

The catapults put immense psychological pressure on them, forcing them to constantly look up at the sky, fearing that a stone might suddenly fall and take their lives.

Ji Ling personally commanded his soldiers at the eastern wall to resist Cao Cao's attack.

However, he had already realized that Cao Cao's attack was more of a probing move, all bark and no bite, and that they were mainly relying on long-range attacks from catapults.

Cao Jun's ranged attacks were quite effective.

Under the intense bombardment of more than 500 catapults, almost all the watchtowers on the east city wall were destroyed, the watchtowers were all destroyed, and the defensive works on the city wall were almost completely paralyzed.

The scouts sent by Sun Ce to observe the battle were so shocked that their jaws nearly dropped to the ground.

The city of Shouchun suffered even greater losses, with countless houses destroyed and many soldiers who were resting or waiting to go to the battlefield in the city also suffering an undeserved disaster.

In this state of panic, dominated by catapults, the already low morale of Yuan's army began to decline even further.

Finally, the sun slowly set, and the agonizing day was finally over.

Lei Bo and Chen Lan were still inspecting the extent of the damage in the city.

Lei Bo had long been dissatisfied with Yuan Shu's exorbitant taxes and levies.

Seeing the people of the city displaced and their families in disarray, the soldiers were filled with fear and anxiety.

Yuan Shu, however, fled first with his high-ranking officials, wealth, wives, and concubines, and his dissatisfaction gradually turned into resentment.

Just as Lei Bo was filled with resentment, Chen Lan, who had always been on good terms with him, suddenly asked, "Old Lei, do you think His Majesty is really worth dying for?"

(End of this chapter)