Three Kingdoms

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

Have Jiangdong bandits really infiltrated here?

These are simply walking achievements!

 But Zhu Ran quickly slapped Wu Ban on the face.

The Sichuan and Shu 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 and 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 fought 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 we capture this Jiangdong general, the dark clouds hanging over Wu's head should 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.

This Jiangdong general’s martial arts are obviously extraordinary.

Wu Ban saw that when the Jiangdong general was shooting just now, he shot a total of 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.

 Bow and arrow are the skills of water milling.

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 **** bows and arrows. Generally speaking, martial arts are not bad.

Of course, it does not rule out that some people are inherently resistant to melee combat...

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

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

These Sichuan and Sichuan soldiers were not elite, so when Jiangdong general led his men to charge, the array shook a little.

　　　『General, it’s time to attack! ”The guard reminded Wu Ban.

Wu Ban shook his head and said, "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 them to save their lives. Are they going to use them now?

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

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

These days, it's not easy to get along. Even catching a Jiangdong general has to be fought over.

 Hence, the Jiangdong generals must be separated from the Jiangdong soldiers behind them.

The shield formation of the Sichuan and Shu soldiers gradually dispersed, and the 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 moment, 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 huge sound, splashing the iron pieces on the body and surrounding gravel and other items outwards.

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

 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 it’s just placed close to the face…

Hence, 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 had a tragic appearance.

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

This sudden blow caused Jiangdong's troops 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 the sharp roaring aftertaste was still 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.

 That guard had fought **** battles and traveled thousands of miles, and now he simply fell in front of Zhu Ran, so weak, so powerless...

 What he saw 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 being set off 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 also other Jiangdong soldiers around him were also hit hard by the explosion of the grenade, and the array had come to a standstill.

 The ones who were more confused and frightened than Zhu Ran and Jiangdong soldiers were naturally the 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!

This is like being at a fire scene and being forced to jump downstairs by the thick smoke. Perhaps it’s not that you don’t know that you will die if you jump like this, but that you suddenly become dizzy.

 Then a few more grenades were thrown down.

In fact, the number of casualties this time has 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.

Perhaps it was Wu Ban's order that caused people to 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...Quickly retreat! Zhu Ran trembled and suddenly reacted. He kicked the guard lying aside, and then grabbed another Jiangdong soldier, "Retreat!" Retreat first! 』

 Faced with things that are unknown and beyond their control, people are mostly afraid.

If Zhu Ran could carefully take stock of the surrounding situation, he would find that in fact the number of direct deaths was not many, and the injured soldiers may not all be unable to fight...

 Or to put it another way, if we fight with swords and guns, wouldn’t there 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.

Perhaps he thought he could adapt...

 No matter what, escaping 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 saw a duck that had already been cooked, 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 scouting by 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, crossbows, and stones at random. Gan Ning also led the navy to guard around the pontoon, brutally hitting and intercepting the Jiangdong navy.

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

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

These cockroaches and walking boats jumped, slid and swam on the river like swimming 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.

 It’s not just low water temperature that can cause hypothermia. 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 one of the fulcrums of the pontoon bridge.

Jiangdong soldiers cheered again, as if they had destroyed one fulcrum of the pontoon bridge, they had already conquered half of the fish.

Zhu Zhi did not dare to neglect. After a short period of joy, he immediately ordered to continue the attack. At the same time, he also asked the Jiangdong soldiers who landed to increase their attack on Yufushan 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 it was a "staged" victory, and Jiangdong's morale continued to rise.

The sun is gradually setting 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 stable and allowed the ships 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 dome-shaped ships rushed towards the pontoon, dragging their scarred bodies.

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

 But overall, Jiangdong Army actually suffered the greater disadvantage.

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 tower 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.

　　　beat the drum! 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 bridge!

If on land, cavalry used war horses to break a **** 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 **** 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, you can march south along the river to Jiangzhou, invade Nanzhong, and raid the chrysanthemums in Sichuan and Shu. On the other hand, you 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 grain, grass, soldiers, transport materials, etc. in the future.

Moreover, there is not much time window left for Zhu Zhi...

 The spring floods of big rivers come earlier and are more severe 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…

 Must do it 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 splayed out, 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 wooden 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 dome-shaped ship that hit the pontoon was not happy.

 Because on the pontoon, 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 a 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 planks were broken, and the deck of the pontoon bridge was almost destroyed. The wooden piles connected by iron chains and nails under the bridge deck 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...