Three Kingdoms

When he saw General Jiangdong on the opposite side actually appearing, Wu Ban's heart suddenly started beating wildly.

Are Jiangdong bandits really infiltrating here?

These are simply walking achievements!

But Zhu Ran quickly slapped Wu Ban on the face.

The Sichuan and Sichuan archers, who were caught off guard by Zhu Ran's sudden counterattack, scattered and retreated, giving the unarmored and thin-armored Ba men following Jiangdong soldiers an excellent opportunity to attack.

Wu Ban poked his head out from behind the shield. He had a good view in front. He stared at the Jiangdong soldiers and the Ba people attacking the shield line of his Sichuan and Shu soldiers. He felt that he should try again...

The one who was fighting silently was Jiang Dongbing.

Those Ba people with various patterns painted on their faces were howling and screaming.

Wu Ban swallowed hard and moistened his dry throat. He still didn't know what his brother had done in Sichuan, he just knew that he had to do something to prove himself.

For example, not only to block the Jiangdong soldiers in front of you, but also to capture the Jiangdong generals in front of you...

That's right, as long as this Jiangdong general is captured, the dark clouds hanging over Wu's head will disappear!

Wu Ban licked his mouth.

He subconsciously ignored a problem. It was more difficult to catch than to stop or kill.

Wu Ban's breathing was slightly heavy.

The martial arts of this Jiangdong general were obviously extraordinary.

Wu Ban saw that when the Jiangdong general was shooting just now, he shot more than ten arrows, killing and wounding at least seven or eight people. This phenomenon should have alerted Wu Ban, but Wu Ban did not react in time.

Perhaps this kind of performance is indeed worse than those of those marksmen who are always accurate, but the problem is that in actual combat, the wind speed, terrain, position, etc. are different from those in daily training. In addition, the target you are aiming at may be lower. He was shot by others in a moment, so the skill of this Jiangdong general in bow and arrow can be seen.

Bows and arrows are water-milling skills.

Picking up a stick, even a monkey knows how to do it, but if you want to achieve a certain level of success in bows and arrows, you can't shoot well without years of hard work, so you have to work hard on bows and arrows. Generally speaking, martial arts are not bad.

Of course, it does not rule out that some people are naturally repelled by melee combat...

But soon, when the Jiangdong general dropped his bow, picked up his sword and started chopping, he gave up Wu Ban's thoughts.

Wu Ban set his sights on the shield wall array of Sichuan and Shu soldiers in front.

These Sichuan and Sichuan soldiers were not elite, so when they were charged by Jiangdong generals, the array began to shake.

"General, it's time to attack!" ”The guard reminded Wu Ban.

Wu Ban shook his head, "Wait a moment..."

"Wait a moment? 』The guard was a little hard to understand.

The front line is about to collapse.

"Prepare the Five Elements Thunder..." Wu Ban whispered to the guards around him.

"What? 』The guard was a little surprised.

Although they have Five Elements Thunder, they don't have many, and they are prepared to use it to save their lives. Are they going to use it now?

Wu Ban waved his hand impatiently, "Prepare the Five Elements Thunder!" 』

Wu Ban felt that if he wanted to capture Jiangdong general, he must first reduce the strength of Jiangdong general, but he could not reduce it too much, otherwise he would be taken advantage of by Yan Yan who came from behind...

It's not easy to mess around these days. Even catching a Jiangdong general has to be fought for.

Therefore, the Jiangdong general must be separated from the Jiangdong soldiers behind him.

The shield formation of Sichuan and Sichuan soldiers gradually dispersed, and Jiangdong soldiers mixed with the howling Ba people, pressing forward...

"Get ready to light the fire..." Wu Ban ordered, "throw a little behind..."

Some faint white smoke rose.

After a while, several grenades were thrown out and fell into the Jiangdong soldiers...

"boom! Boom boom! 』

The gunpowder filled in the grenade turned into bright flames and thick smoke, and made a loud noise, splashing the iron pieces on the body and surrounding gravel and other items outwards.

The upper and lower limits of the power of black powder often vary greatly.

The lower limit is like setting off firecrackers, with a burst of crackling and a lot of choking smoke, but there is nothing wrong with people.

As for the upper limit, it's like setting off firecrackers, but just close to your face...

Therefore, the lethality of black powder is extremely unstable. If the body happens to be hit by fragments produced by the explosion, such as iron pieces or gravel, it will really feel like being slashed with a knife or stabbed by a spear. If it were closer and the explosion hit the weak link of the limb, it would tear the muscles and bones and tear the torso.

But if it's a little further away...

Even in later generations of grenades, well, offensive grenades, the killing radius was often only about five meters.

Therefore, the center point of the explosion did indeed kill and injure many Jiangdong soldiers and Ba people, but the Jiangdong soldiers and Ba people who were slightly farther away were also thrown down like grass blown by strong winds. It was probably not a physical effect. It's a psychological effect.

The Jiangdong soldiers and Ba people who were killed in the bombing looked tragic.

Blood spurted out from the wounds on these people, and their dying screams or wounded groans were irritating the Jiangdong soldiers and Ba people.

This sudden blow caused Jiangdong soldiers to fall into chaos, and the attack momentum originally formed under Zhu Ran's leadership was completely cut off.

Zhu Ran opened his mouth wide, and there was still a sharp roar in his ears, making it difficult for him to hear clearly the panic howling around him. He looked at the Jiangdong armored soldier struggling in a pool of blood in front of him with fear. That was someone he knew, his bodyguard.

The guard was bloody in hundreds of battles and came across thousands of miles. Now he fell in front of Zhu Ran so simply, so weak, so powerless...

Everything in front of him had shattered all the concepts he had established before and completely crushed them into the soil.

It's not that Zhu Ran has never seen grenades before, but they were far away before. It was like standing upstairs watching fireworks in the square. Would he feel scared? Now I am standing inside the firecrackers in the square, and the feeling is immediately different...

Not only Zhu Ran, but other Jiangdong armored soldiers around him were also hit hard by the grenade explosion, and the array had come to a standstill.

Those who were more confused and frightened than Zhu Ran and Jiangdong soldiers were naturally those Ba people.

Before the roaring echoed in the valley, the Ba people were already like frightened rabbits, running out in all directions without thinking, and some even jumped directly off the cliff!

It was like being at a fire scene and being forced to jump downstairs by the thick smoke. Perhaps it wasn't because he didn't know that he would die if he jumped like this, but because he suddenly lost his head.

Then several more grenades were thrown down.

This time, the number of casualties has actually been greatly reduced, because most of the Jiangdong soldiers were scattered, and many people subconsciously fell to the ground because of the first wave of explosions...

Zhu Ran was very lucky and was not injured twice.

Maybe it was Wu Ban's order that made people avoid Zhu Ran's position intentionally, or maybe Zhu Ran was lucky and no grenades fell around him.

But the tragic situation around him was enough to horrify Zhu Ran.

The blood splattered by Jiang Song's soldiers was stained on Zhu Ran's face. He didn't have time to wipe it off. His mind was still blank. Through the rising smoke, he saw the figure on the opposite side shaking, seemingly moving towards Come here.

"Withdraw... withdraw quickly!" Zhu Ran trembled and suddenly reacted. He kicked the guard lying aside, and then grabbed another Jiangdong soldier, "Retreat!" Retreat first! 』

Most of the time, people are afraid when facing things that are unknown and beyond their control.

If Zhu Ran could carefully take stock of the surrounding situation, he would find that there were not many people who died directly, and not all injured soldiers were necessarily unable to fight...

Or from another perspective, if you fight with swords and guns, there will be no casualties?

But Zhu Ran didn't care about the casualties caused by swords and guns, but he was at a loss what to do about the casualties caused by grenades.

Maybe he thought he could adapt...

No matter what, running for one's life is still one of human instincts.

When Wu Ban and his men approached Zhu Ran, Zhu Ran jumped up and ran away with some guards...

"No! Don't run! return! 』

Wu Ban yelled frantically, as if he had seen a duck that was already in the pot, but it fluttered away, and the direction of escape turned out to be Yan Yan's side...

…

…

Zhu Ran fled in the mountains, but Zhu Zhi still felt comfortable.

The next day, Zhu Zhi continued his efforts and after removing most of the underwater hidden piles in front of the pontoon bridge, he sent more than 20 stern boats towards the pontoon bridge between the two cities, the island city, and Sichuan and Shu. Shuizhai launched a tentative attack.

It's like reconnaissance fire.

Zhu Zhi must test out all the kerosene and other consumables here.

Of course, the Sichuan-Shu Army would not let Zhu Zhi's side succeed easily. They fired bows, arrows, crossbow bolts, and hurled stones at random. Gan Ning also led the navy to guard around the pontoon, and arbitrarily collided with and intercepted the Jiangdong navy.

For the flying boats and walking boats sent by Jiangdong this time, the crossbow arrows and stone bullets were beyond their ability to withstand, so they could only use their own flexible movement to avoid them.

In terms of boat driving operation, the advantages of Jiangdong Navy were fully demonstrated.

These cockroaches and walking boats jumped, slid and swam on the river like fish. It is so flexible that every piece of wood on the ship is transformed from the fish in the water.

It's just that the skins of the cockroaches and the beasts were too brittle, and their health bars were too short. Under the intensive firepower of the Sichuan-Shu Army, they also paid a heavy price. In just half a day, many ships and corpses were floating on the water. of the wreckage.

Despite this, Zhu Zhi continued to order attacks one after another, attacking the Sichuan-Shu Army's positions again and again.

The impact of the impact is gradually reflected.

Although Gan Ning was brave and powerful in water battles, not all of his men could be as fierce as Gan Ning. With an overall numerical disadvantage, although Gan Ning repelled Zhu Zhi's attacks several times in a row, his troops' physical endurance and so on also suffered a sharp decline.

Especially in the current warm and cold weather, hypothermia caused by exposure to river water will quickly consume people's physical strength, and a little carelessness can cause hypothermia. When people are extremely excited or nervous, they often don't notice the early signs of hypothermia. As a result, when they step down to rest, their spirits relax and they lie down on the ground unable to get up.

Not only does low water temperature cause hypothermia, but even in summer, when the temperature difference between morning and evening is large, hypothermia can easily occur outdoors.

For example, those who like to exercise on the balcony in the middle of the night, sweating and blowing in the night breeze...

In addition to the consumption of Gan Ning's side, the Jiangdong Army's continuous small-unit attacks also made the Sichuan-Shu Army's firepower projection appear somewhat tired. The stone bullets of the catapults and the crossbow bolts of the ballistas are both consumables. Under constant fighting, the frequency and accuracy of shooting decreased.

As the battle approached evening, Jiangdong's army broke into the defense line of the pontoon bridge and successfully destroyed a fulcrum of the pontoon bridge.

Jiang Dongbing cheered again, as if they had destroyed the fulcrum of the pontoon bridge, they had already conquered half of Yufu.

Zhu Zhi did not dare to neglect. After a brief moment of joy, he immediately ordered the attack to continue. At the same time, he also asked the Jiangdong soldiers who landed to increase their attack on Yufu Mountain City. Because if the pontoon bridge is not destroyed in one go, or if the pressure on the Yufu defenders is not enough, then even if Zhu Zhi destroys part of the pontoon bridge's supports, it may be repaired again overnight...

Perhaps because of the "staged" victory, Koto's morale continued to rise.

The sun gradually sets in the west.

The sunset reflected on the river surface seemed to be intertwined with the blood in the river, turning into a bright red brocade that slowly fluttered in the mountains.

The Jiangdong Army's fleet was large and mighty, forming a very large array that occupied almost half of the river surface.

Huang Gai's experience and lessons also led Zhu Zhi to specially arrange a circle of scorpions in front of the Jiangdong navy, equipped with fishing nets to intercept kerosene and bamboo claw rakes. If Zhuge Liang repeats his old trick and wants to lower the kerosene jars from upstream to sneak attack the Jiangdong navy, these fishing nets and claw rakes can easily isolate the kerosene jars, and even collect the kerosene and use it in turn On the Yufu defenders.

But for some reason, Zhuge Liang has always adopted the conventional battle mode and has no intention of using kerosene...

Before night fell, Jiangdong Army finally cleared a safe attack channel that was relatively safe and allowed the building and ship to join the battle. Under this situation, Zhu Zhi thought about it and quickly gave up his original idea of ​​repairing and fighting again the next day. He ordered a night battle and ordered the dome-shaped ship to attack again in an attempt to destroy Sichuan as quickly as possible. The Shu army restored the pontoon bridge between the two cities.

Zhu Zhi gave an order, and the five Qiongjialou boats, dragging their scarred bodies, rushed towards the pontoon one after another.

After days of fighting, both the Sichuan-Shu Army and the Jiangdong Army were relatively exhausted.

But overall, it was Jiang Dongjun who suffered the greater loss.

Although the Yufu defenders in Sichuan and Sichuan did consume a lot of crossbow arrows and stone bullets, and some crossbows and catapults were damaged under high-intensity fighting, after all, these losses were all items and equipment, and they were all considered small. Components can be replenished in time as long as there are materials and time, but the Jiangdong Army lost its ships and soldiers.

It's just that Zhu Zhi didn't think this was a big problem at the moment, or he thought these were normal battle losses.

The building ship is a huge surface combat platform, like a combination of a ladder truck and an arrow tower on land. When Jiangdong Louchuan approached the pontoon bridge between the two cities on the water, Jiangdong Louchuan could rely on his condescending advantage to let the archers in the tower boat, behind the windows and parapets, attack the people on the pontoon. The defenders fired.

At the same time, there are also ballistas, catapults, and racquet poles on the building ships.

and, collision angle.

Yufu's defenders seemed to feel the huge threat from the dome-shaped ships in Jiangdong, and began to pour stone bullets and crossbow bolts at these dome-shaped ships.

Unfortunately, the dome-shaped ship at the front was hit by two stone bullets one after another. A huge depression was formed on the bow, and the river water poured into the cabin. The entire ship was suddenly top-heavy and had its buttocks lifted. Towards the sky. The Jiangdong soldiers on the ship were unsteady, like chestnuts on a dustpan, rolling down the deck.

"Drumming!" March on! Zhu Zhi shouted, "Success or failure depends on this one move!" Can't stop! March on! 』

Even if he hits it with a boat, Zhu Zhi will break Yufu's pontoon!

If on land, cavalry used war horses to break a bloody path when attacking the enemy's array, then Zhu Zhi's current tactic was to use building ships as heavily armored war horses in an attempt to recover the defenders' array. Hit the bloody road, cut off the connection between the mountain city and the island city, and then further invade the island city, using it as a stable focus of operations, and then capture Yufu.

Yufucheng can be said to be the gateway barrier to Sichuan and Sichuan.

After Yufu, on the one hand, we can march south along the river to Jiangzhou, invade Nanzhong, and raid the chrysanthemums in Sichuan and Shu. On the other hand, we can also use the army to further threaten Chengdu in central Sichuan.

At the same time, capturing Yufu is equivalent to capturing the water transportation channel from Yufu to the Jiangling area, which will also help Jiangdong to replenish food, soldiers, transport materials, etc. in the future.

Moreover, the time window left for Zhu Zhi is running out...

The spring floods of big rivers come earlier and are more fierce than those of big rivers.

Once the flood season comes, it will undoubtedly be more difficult for the downstream to attack the upper reaches.

so……

It must be done at any cost, especially now, when Zhu Zhi sees a glimmer of hope of victory.

He was like a red-eyed gambler at the gambling table, his face flushed, his hair and beard growing red, and he pushed up the chips...

Under the urging of war drums and orders, the remaining Jiangdong Qiongjialou ships did not extend a helping hand to those comrades who fell into the water, but continued to move forward crazily, rushing towards the pontoon bridge.

The sky is dark and the river is red.

"boom! 』

The collision angle of a dome-shaped ship hit the pontoon, making a huge noise.

Although the interconnected iron chains on the pontoon bridge were not broken during this impact, the planks of the pontoon bridge deck and some wooden structures were shaken violently by the impact.

The broken pieces of the board fell into the water, and the Sichuan and Shu soldiers who were still fighting on the pontoon lost their footing amid the violent shock and fell into the water.

"good! Zhu Zhi clapped his hands fiercely and shouted excitedly, "Yes!" That's it! 』

Zhu Zhi was happy, but the Qiongjialou boat that hit the pontoon was not happy.

Because on the pontoon bridge, there are not only wooden boards and wooden posts, but also iron chains and nails.

It's easy to hit a collision, but it's not that simple to reverse the boat and hit it again...

"Can't pour it out!" 』

Jiang Dongbing raised the flag at the stern of the building ship.

If there is time to slowly separate the nails stuck in the hull and separate the pontoon piles from the hull, then of course it can be poured out, but the problem now is that no one will give these Jiangdong soldiers time to do this.

Zhu Zhi was stunned, and immediately ordered the subsequent Qiongjialou ships to change locations and collide again.

The brave Jiangdong soldiers carried out Zhu Zhi's order again regardless of life and death.

"boom! 』

There was another loud noise, and the pontoon shook violently again.

The wooden boards were cracked, and almost all of the pontoon bridge deck was destroyed. The wooden piles under the bridge deck that were connected by iron chains and nails were also pulled up from the water and swayed in the air.

The entire pontoon was crumbling.

The soldiers in Jiangdong couldn't help but let out earth-shattering cheers, as if they saw the dawn of hope coming over their heads, but they didn't notice that beyond the light, there was darkness...