Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 81 The Yuan Family, a Powerful Family, Uses Money to Smash the City

For Yuan Shu, was it Cao Cao or Liu Bei? It was just a matter of order.

He did want to attack Cao Cao first, but Cao Cao's strategists couldn't defeat him in terms of direct military strength, so they tried every means to make Liu Bei rush to his death first in order to buy him a chance to catch his breath.

He wouldn't mind eliminating Liu Bei first, in order to swallow up Yuzhou.

However, Xu County, this thorn in the side of Yingchuan that was blocking his advance into the heart of Yanzhou, still had to be removed before he left.

As for Liu Bei's attack?

With Ji Ling around, there's nothing to worry about!
As the top general under the original owner, facing Liu Bei's army, which at this time lacked strategists and was extremely straightforward and honest in battle, holding the city and defending it should be able to hold out for a while. Do not disappoint me.

Not to mention that Ji Ling heard about Yuan Shu's letter, in which he was entrusted with an important task and asked to guard against Guan Yu alone, it's hard to know whether he was happy or worried.

Outside of Xu County, Yuan Shu once again mounted the six-horse-drawn chariot, brandished his sword, and ordered an attack. Le Jin also organized the defense from the city wall.

Originally, Yue Jin thought this was just Yuan Jun's routine siege. Although he had been exhausted by Yuan Jun's feints and real attacks, he was also feeling listless.

He still dared not be careless, and was always prepared for every attack, whether real or feigned.

Furthermore, Xun You had previously brought 20,000 fresh troops to reinforce the area, so the situation was always fraught with danger but ultimately safe. Despite repeated devastation, Xu County remained standing.

Even today, when he deployed his troops to defend the city based on past experience, he saw one massive, mountain-like structure after another being pushed out of Yuan's camp.

Three Lu Gong carts in total!
Legend has it that it was designed by Lü Wang during his conquest of King Zhou, hence it was called Lü Gongche. Although Yuan Shu did not know the specific design and structure, it was still feasible to order craftsmen to design a similar siege fortress.

The vehicle was several meters high and tens of meters long, resembling a mobile bunker. It had five levels and carried hundreds of soldiers.

The exterior of the vehicle was covered with thick leather and soaked in water, which could not only protect against enemy arrows and stones, but also provide some protection against rockets and oil.

The vehicle was equipped with weapons such as bows and arrows, spears, halberds, and lances, as well as instruments for destroying city wall facilities. It was even equipped with giant battering rams to ram the city walls.

Le Jin had never seen Lü Gongche before. He was shocked to see such a huge object that was even taller than the city gate. He was also terrified by the terrifying sight of it covered with swords, spears, and halberds. How much more so would ordinary soldiers be terrified?

With the aid of this massive weapon, Yuan's army gained immense momentum, and Le Jin could only force himself to remain calm and reorganize his troops.

He ordered his soldiers to first meet the chariot with rockets, and then, once the chariot got close, to smash it with rolling logs and rocks, and pour molten gold and oil to break it apart.

However, Yuan Jun was prepared. The outer leather of Lü Gongche had been soaked in water, so how could it be ignited by rockets alone?

Cao's soldiers could only stand on the city wall, desperately shooting arrows as the enormous creature drew ever closer.

Finally, when Lu Gong's chariot reached the city wall of Xu County, Le Jin was about to order his soldiers to destroy the chariot with rolling logs and stones, but how could the Yuan army soldiers, who had been waiting inside the chariot, sit idly by?
Armed with swords, spears, and halberds, they surged up the stairs inside the carriages, pouring out in droves to directly reach the city walls and engage the defending army in close combat. How could they possibly allow themselves to calmly sabotage the defenses? From the very beginning, this siege battle descended into a fierce and bloody struggle for control of the city walls!

Fortunately, the defending side had the advantage of manpower and terrain on the city walls, and Le Jin took the lead and fought desperately to kill the enemy.

Finally, a great fire broke out, and a carriage belonging to Lü Gong was turned into a burning torch by being doused with oil. Inside, Yuan's soldiers screamed and fled.

Seeing that such a colossal creature could be defeated, the Cao army defending the city was greatly encouraged!

Yuan Jun's morale plummeted as he gazed at the blazing torch, but before Yue Jin could even rejoice, Cao Jun's excitement was short-lived.

With a loud rumble and cheers from Yuan's camp, three more brand-new Lu Gong chariots were pushed to the front line.

At this moment, not to mention the ordinary Cao army, even Yue Jin couldn't help but feel despair.

Originally, there were three vehicles attacking, and they fought desperately and managed to destroy one. However, the enemy's offensive not only did not weaken, but instead increased to five vehicles.

That's incredibly arrogant!
Who would smash super-large siege weapons for free?
Such weapons of war require a great deal of manpower and resources to make each one, not to mention the transportation costs of such a huge object to the front lines.

However, for Yuan Shu, this thing was truly free.

The people of Yingchuan used work as a form of relief, and under the guidance of craftsmen, they produced similar items that were already in overproduction.

He could imagine that even if he withdrew his troops, Taishi Ci would defeat all invaders in Yingchuan, a city full of bunkers, large siege and defense equipment, and popular support.

If these large machines weren't so difficult to move and could only be used around Yingchuan, he could have used them to conquer cities and territories.

The Battle of Xu County lasted from day to night. The five Lu Gong chariots caused Le Jin a great deal of trouble, and in the end, Cao Cao's army paid an unprecedented price in casualties.

They practically had to sacrifice lives to burn or smash the five Lu Gong carts, sparing no effort to destroy them and save Xu County from devastation.

However, at dawn the next day, the bugle call of Yuan's army to attack the city was heard again. Yue Jin, who had hurriedly climbed the city wall to reorganize his troops and defend the city, was filled with despair at the sight.

He watched as ten more well-towers were erected in Yuan's camp.

They were even taller than Lü Gongche, towering far above the city walls, allowing soldiers to stand on them and shoot arrows down at the enemy troops on the walls.

On this day, for the first time while defending the city, Le Jin stood on the city wall and experienced the terror of being suppressed by the enemy's barrage of arrows and firepower.

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(End of this chapter)