After Zhuge Liang failed to fish in troubled waters, Liu Bei adopted Pang Tong's strategy of exhausting his troops and attacked directly.

The soldiers and horses participating in the siege were divided into several groups and took turns to attack day and night.

This high-intensity suppression caused great pain to the defenders of Luocheng. Many of the soldiers who defended the city suffered from mental trance due to excessive exhaustion.

During this period of time, the supplies that continued to arrive from Jingzhou were the reason why Liu Bei had sufficient confidence, and the Yangtze River Newspaper also arrived with the supplies.

Since the seventh issue of the 18th Jian'an Period, in addition to describing the beautiful life in Jingzhou, the Changjiang Daily's external content has been all about Yizhou affairs.

Comparisons will be harmful. As described by the pen knife of the Press and Publication Department, Yizhou lived a miserable life under the rule of Liu Zhang and his son.

The newspaper not only dug up Liu Yan's past of killing local nobles, but also recorded Liu Zhang's suppression of the Dongzhou faction after he succeeded to the throne. The people at the bottom of Yizhou were excessively exploited, leading to frequent civil commotions.

On the contrary, in the counties and counties that Liu Bei now occupied, the people enjoyed the policy of exempting them from paying taxes and recuperating, and they were already living a promising life.

Liao Li, the governor of Changsha, was on full fire. He criticized Liu Zhang in the Yangtze River Commentary, saying that he was unable to fulfill his duties in his position. As a state pastor, he was unable to shepherd the people for the Han Dynasty. He was in the court, in the army, and in the humble house.

Everyone is looking forward to a new owner.

Fa Zheng read the Yangtze River Newspaper and praised the case. Then he used Lantian's idea of ​​​​attacking the heart and ordered many arrows to be shot into the city. He used the current real situation in Yizhou to disintegrate the fighting will of the defenders through public opinion and weaken the people of Luocheng to assist the defenders.

city ​​confidence.

Under the double blow of physical (armed siege) and mental (public opinion attack), Luocheng's defense changed from tenacious to mediocre and weak. The residents in the city hid and could not go out. In the end, there were no more people to send supplies or move stones...

In September of the 18th year of Jian'an, there were less than 5,000 defenders left in Luocheng. The city walls were severely damaged by the continuous impact of siege equipment, especially the north wall, which was mainly attacked by Zhang Fei.

As midnight approached at night, the shouts on the city walls gradually subsided. This time was a gap in the battle for Liu Bei to retreat and resupply, and to replace his troops with others for the attack, which would last for about an hour.

Liu Quan routinely came back from the front to report on the battle situation. Tonight, Liu Yi's situation was a little different. He stood in the courtyard looking at the stars in the sky, holding two pieces of paper in his hands behind his back.

"My lord, the enemies in the first half of the night have withdrawn. There is still a while before the attack in the second half of the night. The attack at night is relatively weak. Why don't you go and rest first?" Liu Sui suggested.

Liu Wei turned around and asked: "There is one thing I really don't understand. It stands to reason that defending the city has a huge advantage. Now that we have lost 70% of our troops, why can Liu Bei maintain this kind of offensive? How many men does he have?"

Liu Quan said solemnly: "After my careful observation, although Liu Bei's army has been damaged, there are still about 30,000..."

"Our battle losses are more than twice as high as his? This is simply unreasonable..." Liu Wei was very confused.

Liu Huang smiled bitterly: "In fact, only three to four thousand of our soldiers died directly from swords, and the rest of the dead were injured without medicine.

The climate is now very easy to spread the plague, so I will deal with the injured who are in worse condition in advance..."

Liu Wei frowned, "How to deal with it? Why didn't I know?"

"It can only be buried. There is an abandoned garden in the southwest of Luocheng. It usually happens late at night..." Liu Sui did not continue.

Before the popularity of surgery in ancient times, injuries on the battlefield could not be treated in time. Minor injuries would become aggravated by wound infection, and eventually they would become abandoned objects.

Abandoning the wounded not only prevents the spread of disease, but also saves manpower to take care of them and saves precious food rations.

"We have so many wounded, does it mean that Liu Bei doesn't have any wounded soldiers?" Liu Yi looked puzzled.

"Rumors...just rumors. There are many arrows shot under the city and are recorded in books. They are all rumors that affect the morale of the army. Some of them say that there are thousands of men in Liu Bei's army..." Liu Quan subjectively believed that it was a rumor.

.

"Thousands of doctors? We don't have that many in Yizhou, right?" Although Liu Wei didn't believe it, he couldn't explain the opponent's battle losses.

Liu Huang nodded: "So it's not very credible..."

Liu Wei closed his eyes and meditated, then asked solemnly with empty eyes: "Tell me honestly, how long can this Luocheng be defended?"

"It can take as little as three to five days, or as long as more than ten days. The eldest son will make plans early..." Liu Quan answered truthfully.

Liu Wei nodded helplessly. The weather in September was sultry in the golden autumn, but his mood was as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

I thought I could defeat Liu Bei in Luocheng by defending vigorously, but I didn't expect that I couldn't defend it even after half a year.

Just when the two of them were silent, the guards outside the courtyard suddenly rushed in, accompanied by loud shouts: "Report...report urgent military situation..."

Liu Wei and Liu Huang shuddered at the same time. Liu Huang asked first: "What is the military situation? Could it be that Liu Bei started to attack the city in advance?"

The guard shook his head and gasped: "The reinforcements from Chengdu have arrived ten miles away from the south of the city. Lieutenant Lu from Nancheng sent someone to ask questions. Do you want to open the city gate directly later?"

"How many troops and horses are there? Who will lead the troops?" Liu Suanxi said.

The guard clasped his fists and replied: "It is said that there are five thousand cavalry on foot, led by the chief clerk Huang Gongheng."

Liu Huang sighed: "Huang Gongheng is a loyal man, but there are too few reinforcements..."

Liu Wei shook his head and said: "It is not easy for my father to mobilize five thousand soldiers, but Luocheng is already a pool of stagnant water. There is no point in Huang Gongheng filling it again."

"Young Master means..."

"It seems that Luocheng cannot be defended anymore, why not retreat through the south gate now?"

Liu Huang asked in surprise: "If we give up Luocheng now, won't Liu Bei point directly at Chengdu?"

Liu Wei smiled bitterly: "It's all a matter of time. Chengdu's city is stronger than Luocheng, so it's best to preserve our strength."

"Young Master is right. Let me go and prepare now. With Huang Gongheng's reinforcements at our disposal, we are not afraid of Liu Bei's pursuit." Liu Quan clasped his fists and walked out of the courtyard.

At three o'clock in the morning, a fire broke out in Luocheng.

Liu Bei and Pang Tong walked to the camp gate to wait and see. They saw a raging fire in the city. The scouts outside the south gate urgently sent news that Liu Yi and Liu Wei were secretly evacuating Luocheng.

Pang Tong smiled and said: "Kong Ming's plan to fish in troubled waters failed, and Xiaozhi's fake news actually succeeded. Then Liu Yi and Liu Sui are not clever people."

Liu Bei was about to express his opinion when he saw Zhuge Liang approaching with a feather fan. He obviously heard Pang Tong's words, but with a smile on his face: "You are such a scholar, how dare you ridicule me in front of my lord."

"Haha, Kong Ming, are you still asleep?" Pang Tong responded with a smile.

"Liu Wei and Liu Quan set fire before abandoning the city. They must have burned down the treasury and granary. They are really two ruthless characters." Zhuge Liang said to himself.

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Please ask the military advisor to mobilize troops and horses to attack the city immediately. It doesn't matter if the food in the treasury is burned. It will be troublesome if it involves the burning of people's houses. At this time, it is very easy to cause continuous fires."

Zhuge Liang nodded, "I have just made arrangements. Two old generals will attack the west gate, Zhengfang (Li Yan), Ziyuan (Wu Yi) will attack the north gate, Wenchang (Wei Yan), and Nanhe (Liu Yong) will attack the east gate.

After the city was broken, the people were pacified and the fire was put out at the same time."
Chapter completed!