Chapter 163: The Fall of the World's Majesty City

The first round of stone bullets in the Jin army hit the volley, and more than half of them directly hit the archers. One archer was unlucky and was directly hit in front of his chest by a stone bullet. Although he tried his best to push the stone bullet away with his hand, the stone bullet came fiercely. As soon as his hand was opened, the stone bullet had already plunged into his arms. There were only a burst of crisp sounds of broken sternum. The soldier flew up by the stone bullet. Then, the stone bullet rolled down several soldiers on the city wall in succession before he stopped obediently.

After the first round of attacks, there were screams on the walls of Qi State. The rolling of the stone bullets had not stopped yet. Zhao Wu slapped the students under the city to praise the students who held the archery ceremony: "It's very good, everyone is more accurate than me. People say that I am the number one general in the world, and I am not as good as you in my archery."

As soon as Zhao Wu finished speaking, the attendants had already run over to clean up the targets that the students shot. The targets were all named by the students. The attendants showed Zhao Wu the results on the targets one by one. When the first attendant ran to Zhao Wu with the target, the sound of the crossbow and the catapult cart coming forward sounded again. Zhao Wu was patrolling the students' achievements in archery with satisfaction in a squeaking sound.

Some students were dissatisfied with his humility. A student stepped forward and bowed to Zhao Wu. After three dances, he replied: "The teacher is too humble. Yang Youji is the number one archer in the world, but people never think he is the number one general in the world. This king underestimated the enemy and made great damage to the Chu army and failed to recover from the state. Although the teacher's archery level is not as good as Yang Youji..."

Zhao Wu quickly interrupted and said in a real way: "It's far worse than that, it's far worse. Yang Yuji penetrates the poplar with hundreds of steps, and I can't shoot the elephant within one hundred steps."

Zhao Wu said to the people of Jin, and everyone in Jin can understand it - because the Spring and Autumn Period is one of the five rare warm periods on the earth. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Henan was also the habitat of elephants. The abbreviation of the word "Yu" in Henan means "the person who leads (tamed) the elephant". The fable of blind people touching elephants in the Spring and Autumn Period also shows that in this era, elephants actively appear in the Central Plains.

Zhao Wu was humble and his student was unwilling to do so. The student who came forward to speak frowned and continued to add: "Yang Youji is just a reckless man. He does not know how to advance or retreat, does not know how to do the severity of the enemy, but only knows how to fight bravely. Since the teacher won the championship, he has experienced countless wars. He will defeat every battle and win the battle, but his own casualties are minimal. Such a general is not the best general in the world. Who is it? If Yang Youji stands in front of the teacher at this moment, compared with the teacher's record, he will probably be ashamed.

Moreover, facing the city of Linzi, the princes of all countries lingered and the kings of various countries were determined to retreat. Only teachers dared to fight and insisted on winning. Who can compare with such ambitions in the world?”

Next to Zhao Wu, Han Qi clapped his hands to agree: "It's OK. I was suspicious, but because of the friendship between Han and Zhao, I accompanied Zhao here to take risks. When this student said this, even I was full of confidence in victory..."

Han Qi's words finished, and the horn drum sounded the horn again. Suddenly, the sky darkened again, and stone bullets and crossbow arrows were flying all over the sky...

Amid the continuous sound of stone bombs falling to the ground, Zhao Wu looked at Linzi City casually and said with emotion: "The rammed earth in the Linzi City Wall is so strong - why can't the Manqi State find an official who likes tofu and shoddy projects? Why do they make their city walls so strong?"

Han Qi laughed and said, "It's wrong. It's not that the city walls of Qi are too strong, but your pottery bullets are too fragile. I've said that you want to burn the pottery bullets to be stronger, but you only care about cutting corners. Now, more than 40% of the stone bullets will break when they fly to the top of the city. If you listen to me, how many days will the pottery kiln be so fragile?"

Zhao Wu shook his head: "I think we are not cutting corners enough. The craftsmen are too serious in doing things. Only when the pottery bullets are broken can they hurt more people. But now, those bastards burn the pottery bullets like stones, and they jump on the ground for a few times without breaking them. In this way, we are not attacking the Qi people, but clearly sending ammunition to the Qi people. With these pottery bullets, they can just be used to smash our siege soldiers. These bastards are too serious in doing things. Look back and see if I deal with them well."

As Zhao Wu spoke, the catapult cart and the crossbow fired three times. Amid the thunderous thunder, Wu Feng carried several charcoal furnaces, Qi Ce led several singers, former traitor of Zheng State, and Zhao's vassal "Hou Jin" led a bunch of chefs, and walked over with a charming smile on his face.

Zhao Wu asked Qi Ce curiously: "There is a war at this moment, where did you collect so many female concubines?"

Qi Ce rolled his eyes, Han Qi hurriedly pulled Zhao Wu, Hou Jin looked up and came to Zhao Wu to explain: "The Lord, after the archery ceremony, it is a cemetery. The Lord wants to give wine to the winner of the archery ceremony. These female concubines are here to offer wine, and the lower ministers also brought the chef to the archery ceremony to perform the 'cemetery gift' for the archery ceremony."

The first month is the time of spring, and the first month of the lunar calendar is also the season when spring plowing begins. Zhao Wu, who was on the expedition, could not perform spring sacrifices. In this season, he reviewed his newly-grown warriors, accepted the ceasing gifts presented by vassals from all over the country, and rewarded excellent ministers. It is also normal Spring and Autumn etiquette. The appearance of the singular genius was to highlight Zhao Wu's identity - Zhao Wu is now the deputy marshal of Jin State, and a great nobleman who has the right to listen to music in Jinshi. The appearance of the singular genius symbolizes his identity in such occasions. Without the corresponding level, how could he be qualified to play music in this event and order the genius to dance?

Under the city of Linzi, Hou Jin ordered the chefs to ignite the fireworks in the oven, and the smoke from the cooking stove was swaying. The attack line of Jin State was full of spices. The music sounded like crying and complaining, and the sleeves of the geniuses were floating when dancing, making people indulge - at the same time, the head of Linzi city was hell.

The Jin army's catapult cart and bed crossbow were not stopped for a moment. From morning to noon, although the frequency of the catapult cart and bed crossbow was slow, the continuous attack made the Linzi city full of mountainous stone bombs, and the huge crossbow pole inserted on the city wall made the city wall more clothes. Under the continuous attack, the Qi State defenders suffered heavy casualties, and there was no one standing on the city. The eldest son of Qi State had to lead everyone to avoid the city, and listened to the buzzing sound of the pottery bullet falling to the ground and rolling outside the range of the catapult cart.

After a while, Qi soldiers rushed to report: "The Jin army was erecting wooden poles again, which seemed to be increasing the number of catapults."

The eldest son looked at Yan Ying and said weakly: "The outer city can't be defended... Why has Zhao Wuzi still not started to attack from the morning attack until now?"

Yan Ying gritted his teeth: "Zhao Wuzi underestimated our Qi State too much - he wanted to not hurt a soldier and drown the foreign lands of our Qi State by just long-range attacks..."

Dazi Guang cut off Yan Ying's words and asked: "The State of Jin is constantly increasing the catapults, how should we resist?"

Yan Ying thought for a moment and stomped his feet and said, "Zhao Wuzi is worthy of being the author of "Hundred Artifacts". The weapon he made has not yet come up with a solution to the problem... I remember that Zhao Wuzi had specially asked that fishing nets be included in one of the weapons and equipment before. Perhaps we set up fishing nets on the top of the city to intercept Wuzi's stone bombs to resist this attack. But I am worried that Zhao Wuzi used stone bombs to attack with bed crossbow attacks. I am afraid that we would use fishing nets to intercept stone bombs. Fishing nets can block stone bombs, but they cannot block bed crossbows..."

Daziguang said impatiently: "No matter what, you can try it first..."

The eldest son and Yan Ying did not stay in the attacked city wall. They didn't know how terrible the scene on the city wall was, nor did they know that although Zhao Wu was a top turtle when defended, once he decided to attack, it would not leave people breathe. It is precisely because of this that he gained the reputation of "assault master".

Linzi, the capital of Qi, is a famous metropolis in the Spring and Autumn Period. Modern archaeological excavations determined that the circumference of the Linzi city wall was 50 miles long and there were 13 city gates. In contrast, the total circumference of the ancient city wall in the Modern Xi'an was 11.9 kilometers, less than half of the Linzi city in the Spring and Autumn Period.

If you want to completely defend such a wide city wall, at least 200,000 defenders were needed. Zhao Wu used a thunderous catapult to suppress the defenders on the city wall, but he was not a dull person. The Zhao cavalry was marching around and found that the Qi people were drawing troops from other city gates - they were going to make fishing nets. The cavalry who got the gap immediately rushed to several city gates where the Qi army was neglecting to take care of them.

In the past, the warrior Zhou Chuo of Jin was able to swagger under the gate of Qi and count the nails on the gate because he had no choice but to the gate. But Zhao Bing was different. Zhao Bing, who had been prepared, carried the greasy firewood with him. Teams of cavalry ran past the gate. Under the sparse shadow of arrows on the city, they tried their best to throw the firewood to the gate, and then drove their horses to escape from the gate area.

The Qi soldiers on the city walls were not working hard. They were trying hard to shoot at the Jin people, but the armor of the Jin people was really perverted. A warrior did not have a set of plate-type copper armor on his body, so he was embarrassed to say hello to others when he went out. Even the auxiliary soldiers had a set of wooden armor made of willow branches. After drying this wooden armor, it was soaked with grease, and even an axe could not easily cut through them.

Qi soldiers were shooting hard on the city wall. The running Jin people moved very quickly. If they wanted to shoot the moving target with a simple weapon like a bow and arrow, the Qi people could not be as perverted as Yang Youji. Even if soldiers occasionally shot Zhao soldiers like winning a big prize, under the perverted defense of Zhao soldiers, the damage caused to Zhao soldiers by those bows and arrows was almost ignored.

In this way, the firewood piled up by several city gates became higher and higher, and the air gradually filled with the stench of grease. At this time, Qi Bing already knew what Zhao Bing was going to do. They shouted loudly, praying that the generals in the city could come up with a solution.

It was too late. When the firewood was piled up to a certain height, countless Zhao cavalry rushed over with torches. They were not close to the city gate, but far away, and threw the torches with the help of the horses.

Thick smoke is rising everywhere, and Linzi city is burning.

Ancient city gates were not as well-structured as modern city gates, with well-lubricated wheel axles and other systems. As the fire ran, the ropes that fixed the gate began to burn, and soon, several gates cracked...

The burning fire at the gate of the city stopped Zhao's soldiers from continuing to attack the city, but this was not important. What was important was that the Korean soldiers came on the field. When the Korean soldiers lined up to attack, Han Qi smiled and told his retainers: "Don't be stingy with the arrows. This time we are fighting side by side with the Zhao family. I, Han, are worried that the arrows are missing? Shoot, try to shoot. Zhao's craftsmen are constantly coming from the other side of the river. Wuzi told me that our supply of arrows will never be missing."

The Han family once showed off the Han family's arrow formation of civilized countries under the city of Zhengguo. With the help of crossbows, the Han family's arrow formation seemed even sharper. At the beginning, when Han Qi first went into battle, he completely suppressed the defenders of Zhengguo with crossbows. However, that time, because the amount of arrows consumed too much, Han's attack was forced to be interrupted. This time, Han Qi was determined to let the people of Qi take a look at what "continuous" means.

Han Qi was there to remind his family generals, and Zhao Wu kindly came over and asked: "I once told you about the five-stage shooting technique. Are your soldiers willing to shoot for me in segments?"

Han Qi nodded carelessly: "What else do you and my family have to do with each other? I know the little Zhao family's goods. After Tian Su came back, he personally trained them to perform five-stage shooting. Unfortunately, Tian Su stayed in China this time. If he was present now and personally commanded my archers, it might be better."

The effect was already very good. Han soldiers who set up Wuchexing to attack continuously splashed arrow feathers on the Qi State wall, and for an hour of continuous attack, the city wall of Qi State was top secret.

At this time, when the attack reached the next stage, Zhao Wu looked at the military information report conveyed in his hand in depressed manner and said to Han Qi: "The cavalry report that we have burned three city gates, and the people of Qi are desperately filling the burned city gates. They plan to completely close the three burned city gates... It would be great if the Wei family was in our hands. Only Wei family can attack with fireworks."

Han Qi thought for a moment and suggested: "If you don't plan to get the Han and Zhao soldiers to climb the city, then let the people of Xu go."

Zhao Wu frowned: "The people of Xu are bleeding, but what they still shed is Zhao's blood."

"Then let Rong and Di go..." Han Qi said disapprovingly: "The city wall has been cleared. Linzi City cannot take the initiative to lie down in front of us. If you want to capture this city, you will always bleed... Wu Zi, what I am most dissatisfied with is that you never shed your own blood."

Zhao Wu made Han Qi blush when he said it, and he gritted his teeth: "Then let's flow—In Linzi City, it is said that he sweats like rain and covers the clouds. The densely populated one is the best in the world, and they are all industrial workers. Those who enter the city first will be rewarded with ten servants."

At this time, in Linzi City, Yan Ying was organizing people to weave fishing nets with cloth ropes, intending to send them to the top of the city to cover the stones. He was discussing who would complete this difficult task. The Jin army's long-range attack paused for a moment, and the sound of the huge rock falling to the ground suddenly stopped, leaving only the sound of crossbow arrows falling to the ground... Yan Ying stomped his feet and shouted: "It's broken, the Jin army has begun to attack the city."

The eldest son was stunned and was about to sigh "It's so fast", the Qi army reported the scouts to the news and ran over in panic and reported: "The Rongdi cavalry broke into several burned city gates. Those people were like crazy, regardless of the soil we threw, and they opened a crack in the city gate hole and rushed in with sacrificing their own lives..."

Yan Ying was busy deploying people to the city wall to resist the Jin army's battle to climb the city. Hearing this, he waved his hand dejectedly: "There is no hope in the outer land. We have too few troops and cannot defend such a wide city wall. Let's retreat and withdraw the city and shrink the troops..."

Fan Yi was leading the army into Zhou territory at this time. The Jin people offered prisoners to the King of Zhou as usual and reported the results of their conquests, which delayed a few days' trip. When Fan Yi consolidated his army and walked out of Zhou territory, he received a good news from Zhao Wuzi: Zhao troops broke through the outer wall of Linzi City.

Fan Yi's son Fan Yang was shocked. He pinched his finger and calculated the date. He asked his father in shock: "How did Wu Zi do it? Our dozens of national coalition forces were wandering under the city of Linzi. They were helpless in the face of the city of Linzi. We had just evacuated for a few days. Wu Zi had already captured the outer land?"

Fan Yi was also surprised: "Linzi City is a big city with a dense population. According to legend, the world's wealth and goods gather in Linzi. The money there can be melted and flow into a river. Such a majestic city was easily conquered by Zhao Wu."

Fan Yang thought about it and asked unwillingly: "Father, I remember that we had also captured the third-story city walls of Zheng State, but in the end we had to withdraw our troops from the capital of Zheng State. Do you think that Zhao Wuzi would conquer Linzi after he captured the foreign capital of Qi State?"

Fan Yi thought about it, and he pursed his lips with his tongue thirsty and replied: "People say that Zhao Wuzi is good at siege. In the past, he succeeded in sneak attacks, so I underestimated his siege skills. Unexpectedly, this time when Linzi, which attacked Qi, head-on, would allow him to break the city in one day.

I know Wu Zi's methods. Linzi City is densely populated. Once he pried open the shell of Linzi, then Linzi City is just a pig and sheep that he can slaughter. He will use Linzi City's abundant manpower and material resources to completely pry open the hard shell of Linzi..."

Fan Yang wanted to say something, but when he saw Luan Ying, Wei Jiang rushed over. They also received the news and came to ask. From a distance, Wei Jiang shouted for confirmation: "I heard that Zhao Wuzi broke the city?"

Luan Ying did not speak. He widened his inquiring eyes and looked at Fan Yi. Fan Yi looked at his grandson Luan Ying with disgust. The son of Luan Yan had a opposite temper than his father. He had a calm personality and no impulse of his father at all. However, even if he was gentle, he was still not loved by the Fan family. Fan Yang thought about the suffering he suffered in Qin State and stared at Luan Ying hatred, as if he was blaming Luan Ying for why he left the army without authorization and fussed about some irrelevant trivial matters.

But Fan Yang forgot that Luan Ying was a subordinate of the army and one of the eight great ministers of Jin State, and Fan Yang was just a military sarcasm. According to the rules of the army, he needed to salute Luan Ying.

Even though Fan Yang did not salute his nephew Luan Ying, Luan Ying didn't care, but Fan Yi was a little unhappy and asked his son to greet his grandson. He felt a little uncomfortable when he thought of Fan Yi. In his opinion, Luan Ying appeared in front of his son purely to uphold his father's temper and deliberately embarrassed his son. He had a dark face and did not glance at Luan Ying at the corner of his eyes, and only replied to Wei Jiang: "The news came from ambiguously, Wu Zi only said that he had broken through the outer capital of Linzi."

Wei Jiang nodded and said with a memory look: "Since he has broken through the outer land of Linzi, the inner city of Linzi will not last long. When Wu Zi and I conquered Xu State, Wu Zi once demolished the beams and pillars of Xu State and made siege equipment... Linzi, Qi State, is a world-wide city, and the beams and pillars there are good wood. Since the Zhao army has entered the city, no matter how high the city wall is, it cannot stop them."

After a moment of pause, Wei Jiang asked: "In this situation, do you see if we need to increase troops to Linzi?"

Fan Yi hesitated for a moment: "The Marshal just passed away. What we need most now is to bury the Marshal immediately and then determine the position of the ministers... In fact, the order for the dissolution of the army has been issued, and the soldiers are determined to rush to Jimen. Although I am the acting Marshal, I can't collect much troops."

Wei Jiang's expression became serious: "The king is young, and now you are the biggest in the army. If you are in charge of the position of the ministers, you will be finished with just one word, why bother to delay?"

Fan Yi thought about it and asked tentatively: "Wuzi retained the new army, but the new army was incomplete, and Shifu could not take on heavy responsibilities. My Fan family was born in the Shifu family. My son Fan Yang fully demonstrated his ability in this battle. He will replace Shifu and serve as the new army general. What do you think?"

Wei Jiang shook his head: "No, the new army has always been under the supervision of Zhao Wu. Although Shifu is a new army general, if he retreats, Zhiying should be promoted to a new army general. Your son has passed the position of the new army master and went directly to Zhiying. Although Zhiying is young and cannot do anything, you forgot that tigress behind him - Ah Ye, hasn't your family owe Jiao's money?"

Fan Yi choked, he coughed, and asked after he took a breath, "What do you think in Wei Jun is thinking? You might as well say it."

Wei Jiang replied: "I don't think we can compete for any position. Zhiying is a child. He serves as the new army. Everyone is willing to allow it to do so for the sake of the marshal Zhiying. Your Ah Yi has gone to the new army, and whether it is the main general or the deputy general, he is probably the one in the new army. Let Zhao Wu give some face to let Zhiying be promoted to the new army general, and your Fan Yang serves as the new army. How about it?"

Fan Yi thought for a while and agreed readily: "That's it... Then, if Zhao Wuzi is promoted to rank of rank of rank, his Situ's position will inevitably be given up. Will Wei be willing to serve as Situ?"

Wei Jiang frowned: "Zhao Wuzi was promoted to the rank of the Central Army General. According to principles, he should take over the position of Sikong (Minister of Armed Forces). The position of Situ should be Han Qi, the general of the General of the Army. The first marshal designated the Central Army Wu to take over the Central Army before his death. Then the Superior should be the Central Army Wu, or Cheng Zheng, who came from the Xun family. This Situ position is not my turn, Wei Jiang."

Fan Yi was really unable to figure out Wei Jiang's thoughts. After Wei Jiang's repeated rejections, he couldn't think of how to reward Wei Jiang's support, so he had to ask: "The first official position Wu of the Bank of China should be the subordinate of the army - he should start with the subordinate of the army. This is the rule. Wei (referring to Wei Jiang) was promoted to the superior of the subordinate of the army... In addition, what official position does the Wei family want?"

Wei Jiang thought for a while and replied: "Since Zhao Wuzi is the deputy commander and Grand Sikong, the official title of the Wugong Guard must be given out - the Grand Sikong also leads the Wugong Guard, which is not in line with the rules. My son Wei Shu is familiar with Zhao Wuzi, and often walks in the Wugong Palace, and is also familiar with the group of soldiers in the Wugong..."
Chapter completed!