"Tell me the order and launch the winch crossbow!"

"Prepare the winch crossbow, and the winch crossbow is prepared!"

When the Han army stopped attacking and slowly retreated back to the formation, Liu Chuang ordered the launch of the winch crossbow.

Three hundred winch crossbows were ready, and three hundred strong men held wooden hammers and knocked on the squad at the same time amid the neat commands. Nine hundred large crossbows roared out of the string and shot towards Hulao Pass. After finally repelling the Han army, the Cao army soldiers on Hulao Pass were shouting excitedly. Several Cao army soldiers stood on the female wall and danced, expressing the joy after victory.

But before they could celebrate, the Han army's winch crossbow began to attack.

A Cao army soldier was shot by a crossbow that was attacked, and his body was carried by huge inertia. The bloated soldier flew up from the female wall and was nailed to the flagpole of the big crow.

Cao Peng was stunned at first, and then shouted loudly: "Doop, dodge!"

The Cao army soldiers hurriedly hid behind the female wall, but saw the crossbow passing by the sky above their heads.

There was also a crossbow that was as thick as a child's arm, hitting a flagpole that was as thick as a bowl. The flagpole was broken by a huge impact force and collapsed. Two Cao soldiers hiding behind the female wall could not dodge, and were hit by the flagpole, and fell to the ground and screamed.

"What kind of weapon is this?"

Xiahou Dun couldn't help but curse.

He had never experienced the Han army's winch crossbow, but Cao Peng had seen it with his own eyes.

He turned pale and said softly: "Uncle, this is the Han army winch crossbow... Last year, we saw the power of this crossbow arrow in Jizhou. It is very powerful, covering a range of 700 steps. Moreover, within 300 steps, it can penetrate iron armor and cannot defend at all... When we were in Liaodong last year, we also thought about stealing the secret of this winch crossbow, but unfortunately, Liu Chuang later discovered it and failed."

Within three hundred steps, through the iron armor?

Xiahou Dun's face changed slightly. He couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Where did Chuang'er come from so many strange weapons?"

"It is said that these things are all from Liu Chuang's hands, and for this reason he has also trained a large number of craftsmen with ingenious skills... I also heard at that time that Liu Chuang was designing a weapon called "Eight Niu Crossbow", which is more powerful than a winch crossbow, and can penetrate three layers of iron armor within 500 steps, with a range of 1,000 steps... They did not use the Eight Niu Crossbow this time. I think it has not been developed successfully."

"One Thousand Steps..."

Xiahou Dun was stunned for a long time and said softly: "If so, why are you going to beat me?

If he created a thousand eight-ox crossbows, just shooting arrows, I'm afraid not many people can resist him. Isn't Liu Chuang invincible?"

Cao Peng did not express his opinion. Because he didn't know how to express his opinion.

What Xiahou Dun said was a bit exaggerated, but it might be a possibility... If the power of the Eight Niu Crossbow is so huge, what else can I do? The two armies lined up, and the distance of one thousand steps was nearly 700 meters. When they shot down in these rounds, they would probably be killed or injured when they approached the opponent's military formation.

Thinking of this, Cao Peng couldn't help but shook his head hard and threw away this negative thought.

"Why should uncle increase the ambition of others and destroy his own prestige?

The Hulao Pass City is high and thick. Not to mention his 8-ox crossbow, even if it is a ten-ox crossbow, the hundred-ox crossbow can't be broken... We just need to defend Hulao to death, and Liu Chuang will not do anything to us. The most urgent task is to appease the morale of the men and prevent Liu Chuang from attacking."

Xiahou Dun also woke up at this time and nodded repeatedly.

Yes, how can I express my timidity at this time?

Thinking of this, he waved his hand to Cao Peng, secretly poked his head out from behind the female wall and looked outside, and then exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Winch crossbow three-wheeled shooting. A total of nearly three thousand guns and crossbows were fired.

Some of them shot to the city, but more guns and crossbows were buried in the Hulao Pass walls.

After seeing the three-wheeled shooting, Liu Chuang ordered a charge again... This time, more than a dozen well railings accompanied him and slowly moved closer to Hulao Pass. When Cao Peng saw it, he quickly ordered the Cao army to use bows and arrows to stop the Han army's charge. At the same time, the catapult cart in the city also shot out huge rocks, trying to stop the well railing from approaching.

The second round of offensive of the Han army began...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The battle at Huzhu continued from noon until dark.

Seeing that it was getting late, Liu Chuang ordered the troops to withdraw.

Today's fierce battle, both sides suffered heavy casualties... The three thousand heavenly thunder fires transferred from Jizhou consumed nearly two-thirds of them, and the winch crossbows also damaged more than twenty due to continuous launches. However, it was precisely because of the continuous use of these weapons that the Han army was repelled several times, but the casualties were less than the soldiers guarding the city. But even so, the Han army lost nearly a thousand people. At the same time, the three well railings were completely destroyed and could not be repaired at all, let alone continued to be put into the battlefield.

After nightfall, there was a bonfire in the Han army camp.

The medical soldiers ran around the back camp to treat the wounded soldiers.

Liu Chuang summoned all the generals to discuss military information in the big tent... From this fierce battle in the daytime, everyone was basically clear about the situation in Hulao.

"There is too much casualties in such a strong attack."

Fa Zheng said in a deep voice: "There are Cao Peng and Xiahou Dun at Hulao Pass, both generals who are proficient in military tactics and have been through battle formations for a long time.

If the lord attacks like this, he may not be able to continue to move south even if he conquers the Huzhu... For the lord, it would be more than worth the loss."

"But if you can't break through the Huzhu, why go south?"

Gao Shun couldn't help speaking, and his face showed an unhappiness.

Fa Zheng smiled and said, "General Xiaogong, don't be angry. Zheng is not saying that he will not go to Huzhu, but that he should try his best to defeat Huzhu as much as possible to reduce casualties."

"How can you get the tiger prison in a wise way?"

Fa Zheng hesitated and said softly: "There is now 20,000 soldiers in Hulao Pass, and there are generals like Cao Peng and Xiahou Dun in charge. It is not easy to attack. However, since Cao's army has been in Hulao, he believes that Xingyang's troops will be empty. If Xingyang can be captured, Hulao will inevitably be in turmoil. The most important thing is that if Xingyang can be conquered, it can avoid the worries of the lord's flanks and avoid the attack of Cao's army."

All of us here are those who know the soldiers.

Zhang He and Gao Shun are also familiar with military strategy...

They immediately woke up. If they could not occupy Xingyang, once the Cao army arrived, they would inevitably attack Liu Chuang.

"That……"

Liu Chuang hesitated and said softly: "It's not that I don't want to seize Xingyang. But the governor of Xingyang Xu Huang is not an ordinary person. It may not be easy to take Xingyang."

Fa Zheng immediately stood up and said, "Since he surrendered to the lord, he has been highly valued by the lord, but he has no achievements.

I am willing to issue a military order to seek Xingyang. I will resist the enemy in the east for the lord... I also ask the lord to agree."

To be honest, Liu Chuang started a war against Hulao, and he was indeed a little worried about the enemy in Xingyang.

Now Fa Zheng is willing to go, and after hesitating for a while, Liu Chuang also agreed happily. Liu Chuang knew very well about Fa Zheng's talent. Perhaps Fa Zheng had not reached the point in history when he welcomed Liu Bei into Sichuan. But it should not be underestimated.

Fazheng is a very calm person!

Since he said he wanted to seek Xingyang, he must have had a complete solution.

Since this is the case, Liu Chuang certainly would not stop him. Instead, he said with interest: "But he doesn't know how many troops and horses he needs to be filial piety, who will help him?"

"I only need five thousand soldiers and horses, please follow Junyi."

Zhang He suddenly raised his head and looked at Fa Zheng in shock.

He didn't expect that Fa Zheng would choose him as his deputy... You know, although Zhang He was appointed as one of the top ten generals by Liu Chuang, his merits were far from enough to lead the army alone. In fact, Zhang He is the kind of person who is late to become a great man and becomes more and more demonic as he grows older.

In history, Zhang He did not have many outstanding achievements when he was young except for being one of the four pillars of Hebei under Yuan Shao's commandments.

After surrendering to Cao Cao, he suffered many defeats at the beginning. But this person is good at learning and can learn lessons. From the beginning, he is just a general, but in the end, he becomes a general that even Zhuge Liang has to fear. This is a growth process.

If you say that you are fighting in front of the two armies and charging into the battle, Zhang He is a good player.

But he didn't understand why Fa Zheng chose him...

"Junyi is wise, but he has few opportunities to display it.

This time, Junyi is the key to winning Xingyang... With Junyi helping me, I will definitely be able to seize Xingyang."

Seeing Fa Zheng's swearing, Liu Chuang did not refuse, so he looked at Zhang He, "Junyi, but I don't know if you are willing to go?"

"The last one will obey the lord's orders."

"Since Kojima looks up to you so much, please come with you."

Liu Chuang thought about it and agreed to Fazheng's request.

Then, he reminded Zhang He a few more words and let everyone disperse... Liu Chuang had a habit of inspecting the barracks after a big battle. This time he crossed the river to attack Hulao Pass, and his opponent was even more like Cao Peng and Xiahou Dun, so Liu Chuang would not take it lightly.

He took Dong Qi to patrol the camp for a while, and visited the wounded in the back camp before returning to the tent to rest.

As soon as he took off his armor, he heard from the personal soldiers outside the tent report: "Mr. Fazheng asked for a meeting."

Liu Chuang was also stunned when he heard this. Not long after the meeting ended, why did Fa Zheng come back? However, he did not neglect and hurriedly said, "Please invite him in."

After a while, Fazheng walked into the big tent.

He bowed to Liu Chuang, "It's time to come late at night. There is really something that must be discussed with the lord.

Before, there were too many people and it was difficult for Zheng to speak. Now only the Lord and Zheng are two people. Zheng has a question in his heart, so please ask the Lord to explain his doubts.”

After hearing this, Liu Chuang felt a sudden slap in his heart.

He signaled Fa Zheng to sit down, then walked to the door of the big tent, and said to Dong Qi, who was planning to enter the big tent to rest, "A Chou, I have something to discuss with Mr. Xiaozhi. Take someone outside and wait within thirty steps, no idle people should approach. If you don't have my orders, no one will come in."

"knew!"

Dong Qi was a little stupid, but he was indeed very thorough in executing Liu Chuang's orders.

After Liu Chuang gave orders to Dong Qi, he returned to the tent.

He got a glass of water for Fazheng, and then sat down himself, looked at Fazheng with a smile and asked, "Xiaozhi said so seriously, even I was a little nervous... Okay, now we can speak freely, but I don't know what questions are there in Xiaozhi's heart?"
Chapter completed!