The most arrogant in history

Chapter 393: Better than guns.

Xiahou Chang opened the secret letter and saw that it said:

"I attacked Luoyang in order to confuse Xiao Dequan. Now Xiao Dequan has been fooled and is leading the army to attack Hefei. I will take this opportunity to attack Jiangnan. I hope you can watch the fire from the other side of the river and do not act rashly!

You sent a spy to impersonate Xiao Dequan and assassinate Yan Liuhai. Don't think I don't know. This account will be settled sooner or later!"

Xiahou Chang was still confused and asked his adviser, "What does Ye Kun mean by this?"

The counselors discussed it and said, "It should be the literal meaning. Ye Kun used his troops against us before to confuse Xiao Dequan. Now attacking Jiangdong is his real intention."

"Ye Kun means to take Jiangdong first and then attack the Central Plains?"

"From the current perspective, this is the only way."

"Then how should we respond? Should we sit back and do nothing, or should we seize the opportunity to unite with Jiangdong and fight a decisive battle with Ye Kun?" Xiahou Chang asked again.

Everyone was talking endlessly.

Some people say that you can’t beat it, so why not take a look first.

Some people say that this is the last chance. Once Jiangdong falls into Ye Kun's hands and becomes a situation of dividing the river and governing separately, there will be no hope for the Central Plains.

Xiahou Chang was still a hero after all. After thinking for a long time, he suddenly slammed the table and said:

"A real man would rather die in battle than sit and wait for death. I cannot watch Ye Kun annex Jiangdong and then attack the Central Plains. Pass on my order and write a letter to make peace with Jiangdong. At the same time, attack Nanyang, Xinye, Xiangyang, and Fancheng fiercely. Attack Chang'an with all your strength and advance westward.

Life or death depends on this one move!"

Xiahou Chang annexed Liaodong, and together with his original team, he still had an army of 500,000.

It’s a fight to the death, and it’s still unknown who will win.

If he doesn't fight harder, Xiahou Chang will really have no chance.

The counselors discussed again and suggested:

"Since it is a decisive battle, we must determine the priorities. We can make a feint attack in the direction of Chang'an, and attack Xiangfan with the main force. Ye Kun's army is heading east, and there should not be many troops in the Xiangfan area."

Xiahou Chang nodded, ordered an attack, and mobilized troops overnight to attack Nanyang with an advantage of 200,000 troops.

Nanyang has three lines of defense, including bunkers, a simple Great Wall, a moat and wire trenches.

If Xiahou Chang's troops wanted to attack, they had to first fill the river, then face the wire trenches, and then climb over the high walls before they could start fighting.

If you take a detour, there is Phoenix Mountain to the west and Han River to the east.

Xue Changfeng and Ma Botao were well prepared.

When they saw the enemy troops gathering on the opposite bank, they opened fire and artillery and attacked from a distance.

Xiahou Chang had no long-range attack weapons and could only watch helplessly as he was attacked. Because he was afraid of the enemy's artillery, his troops could not gather together and could only charge in a scattered manner, making it difficult to organize an effective attack.

After three days of continuous fighting, Xiahou Chang suffered tens of thousands of casualties before he took down the first line of defense.

On Ma Botao's side, there were almost no casualties.

Xiahou Chang's army of 200,000 was blocked by Ma Botao and Xue Changfeng's 20,000 soldiers and horses, and was at a loss.

The counselors offered advice to Xiahou Chang:

"If we continue to fight like this, the enemy will waste their guns, cannons and gunpowder, but we will lose our brothers' lives. It is better to build a sturdy shield car and charge forward. At the same time, dig more tunnels and get behind the enemy!"

The plains around Nanyang provide conditions for digging tunnels.

Xiahou Chang agreed to this plan and built a steel shield cart overnight in the hope of resisting artillery and muskets.

But when the steel shield car moved forward, Ma Botao released a napalm bomb, directly setting the shield car on fire.

The soldiers behind the shield cart were burned so badly that they ran away in panic.

The tunnel digging was also discovered, so people set it on fire, poured lead powder and chili powder into it, and then used a blower to blast air into it, suffocating the soldiers who approached.

Xiahou Chang was furious and scolded the counselor who suggested digging a tunnel.

Another counselor said: "Why not plunder the people of Luoyang and drive them to the front line to consume the enemy's bows and arrows and guns and ammunition. After the enemy's weapons are greatly consumed, we can attack in one fell swoop and push them all the way to the river!"

Xiahou Chang was cruel and ruthless to begin with, and he didn't care about the lives of the people, so he immediately agreed to this evil plan.

The next night, tens of thousands of Luoyang citizens, driven by the Xia army, came from all over the mountains and plains, crying and rushing towards the Nanyang defense line.

Ma Botao was considered Ye Kun's most proud disciple, but he had never seen such a situation before. He was immediately at a loss as to whether he should fight or not.

Using ordinary people as a shield is so shameless!

When Ye Kun was teaching in the Military Affairs Hall and the Military Academy, he always emphasized the need to protect the people and not to implicate the innocent.

So Ma Botao didn't dare to do it, nor did he have the heart to do it.

Xue Changfeng was originally a subordinate of Xiahou Chang, and he knew how despicable Xiahou Chang was, so he shouted:

"This is Xiahou Chang's trick. We must not be soft-hearted. Once those people get close to the defense line, they will be our enemies and must be killed without mercy! If we are soft-hearted for a moment, Xiahou Chang's army will surely follow and kill us!"

Zhuge Feng stayed at the front line in Nanyang and hurriedly stopped Xue Changfeng: "General Xue, don't act recklessly. Hold the line tightly and attack Xiahou Chang's rear army!"

If these tens of thousands of civilians were killed, Ye Kun would definitely not spare Zhuge Feng and the others when he returned.

Xue Changfeng had no choice but to order his troops to hold on while making plans for evacuation.

Ma Botao thought of a solution in a hurry and shouted, "Send out two heavily armored troops to form a passage to help the people come over."

Zhuge Feng also thought that this method was feasible and asked Ma Botao to arrange it immediately.

Soon, tens of thousands of people arrived at the front line and began to cross the river using wooden planks.

There were also tens of thousands of enemy troops mixed in with the civilians.

Xue Changfeng ordered: "Musketeers, crossbowmen, get ready, aim at the enemy soldiers in armor, and shoot. It is not a crime to accidentally injure civilians!"

Ma Boyong personally led a thousand heavily armored infantrymen, divided them into two teams, formed a long corridor, and shouted loudly:

"Everyone come here, I will help you through the checkpoint, don't panic, line up and leave!"

But the common people were driven away by the Xia army, and they were terrified and swarmed in without any order.

Ma Botao held on and ordered his spearmen to kill the enemy soldiers who were among the people, while shouting:

"Listen, people of Luoyang. Xiahou Chang wants to kill you. Why don't you pick up your swords and guns and go back to fight Xiahou Chang!"

In the chaos of war, such propaganda and agitation have little effect.

Ma Botao soon could not hold on and sacrificed hundreds of his brothers. He had to retreat, leaving all the civilians outside his defense line.

Zhuge Feng saw that the situation was not good, and shouted: "Use chili powder and chili water to force the people to retreat!"

In the past two years, Ye Kun has deliberately expanded the planting area of ​​chili peppers and stockpiled enough chili powder.

This thing is not valuable, but it is very powerful when used in certain places.

Following Zhuge Feng's order, the soldiers picked up water ladles and poured the pepper water down.

"Oh, oh... my eyes are blind, what is this..."

The people of Luoyang and Xiahou Chang's soldiers all screamed and retreated like headless flies.

"Keep pouring water, and then kill them!"

Xue Changfeng saw the fighter plane and gave the order decisively.

Soldiers at various checkpoints rushed out, killing the enemy troops who had lost their resistance, and at the same time helped the civilians enter the defense line.

Xiahou Chang's evil plan failed again.

Zhuge Feng laughed and said, "Send a message to the rear to send us more chili powder and water guns!"

In ancient times, there was a kind of fire hose with a very simple structure. It was composed of several hollow bamboo tubes of different thicknesses. It used air pressure and water pressure to spray water more than three meters high.

Of course, the water flow is relatively thin.

In ancient times, important departments had large water tanks in front of their doors and in their courtyards, and were also equipped with fire hoses to prevent fires.

Ye Kun improved the fire hose and made it into a handle like a water pressure well, which could apply great pressure and spray water more than four meters high.

Xue Changfeng was also very happy and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that chili powder is more useful than guns and cannons!"

Only Ma Botao was unhappy because more than a hundred of his brothers died, all of them elite soldiers.

This was also the heaviest loss Ma Botao had suffered since the war began.