Chapter 267: United We Stand, Strong Wealth Facing Qin Zhen who suddenly appeared behind him, Lu Bu looked back at Shouchun with a hint of unwillingness in his eyes. The time goes back to more than ten days ago, when Zang Ba and Lei Xu had not yet been convinced. However, Qin Zhen and Chen Deng conspired against Lu Bu, and the two of them deliberately let Lu Bu advance alone. As a result, although Qin Zhen had the advantage, he did not move his troops. Seeing that Qin Zhen did not take any action, Lu Bu became very angry and led his troops to attack Shouchun. His actions were certainly taboo in military strategy, but they were also understandable. Because from a God's perspective, Lu Bu was seeking death by advancing alone, but this was not the case from Lu Bu's perspective! Just as Chen Deng judged in the previous article, from Lu Bu's perspective, there were not many troops in Jiujiang. As long as the more than 10,000 garrison troops under Qin Zhen are defeated, a series of cities north of Jiujiang will be in a state of shortage of soldiers and generals. Although Qin Zhen defeated Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, he had lost soldiers and had to guard the prisoners, so he was unable to stop their troops. This was a good opportunity to capture Jiujiang County.

Similarly, there was no danger in Xuzhou at all. Neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao went south, and the only one, Zang Ba, was still their ally. The only uncontrollable existence is Lei Xu's troops in Guangling. Because Chen Deng mentioned it, Qin Song became concerned about Lei Xu's reaction. But since Yuan Shu's death, Lei Xu has been hiding in the southern part of Guangling and has not taken any action at all. Therefore, both Lu Bu and Qin Song felt that they had no worries and there was no risk of their retreat being cut off. So under Qin Song's persuasion, Lu Bu made the stupidest decision in his life - to take Shouchun directly. Under the situation deliberately created by Qin Zhen, Shouchun became the exposed heart of Liu Bei's army. The situation could be reversed with just one piercing of the sword! Under this great attraction, Lu Bu's main force of more than 20,000 soldiers and horses pounced on Shouchun like a tiger pouncing on its prey. It has to be said that Qin Zhen's move was indeed a big gamble, because there were indeed less than 5,000 soldiers in Shouchun City, and the only general leading the army was Guan Ping! It is basically difficult to defend such a city in the face of the experienced Lu Bu and the enemy forces that are several times larger than his number. But Shouchun has an advantage, that is, the huge group of workers and civil servants! After receiving the news that Lu Bu was heading towards Shouchun, Liu Fu and Yuan Huan took a series of actions. All the craftsmen were gathered together and began to work day and night to make a new type of repeating crossbow. At the same time, he gathered the refugees in the city, announced that Lu Bu would arrive soon, and recruited temporary soldiers. If other princes encountered this situation, I'm afraid the only way out would be to conscript men. But Liu Bei's army was different. When Huainan was in the most difficult time, it was Liu Bei's army that entered Huainan and with great courage purchased one million shi of grain to provide relief to the victims in Huainan. It was also Liu Bei's army that adopted the method of work-for-relief when they were displaced, so that they could get land and jobs to support themselves. Therefore, in the eyes of the people, Liu Bei was almost like the savior of the entire Huainan. With the restoration of order around Shouchun, Shouchun became increasingly prosperous and has become a paradise in troubled times. Under such circumstances, when the people heard that Lu Bu, who had come to Jiujiang to plunder, was coming to kill them, they instantly became angry. Not only did the refugees outside the city spontaneously join the army, but even the wealthy families and residents within the city began to contribute their own strength. In less than a day, more than 20,000 people signed up to join the army to resist Lu Bu.

Faced with this situation, Liu Fu, Yuan Huan and others were deeply moved. They quickly persuaded the old, weak, sick and disabled to go back and only recruited the young and strong among them, totaling 4,000 people. Even so, there were a large number of injured and retired veterans who begged to join the war, ranging from those in their fifties and sixties to teenagers, the elderly, the weak, women and children. Seeing this scene, Liu Fu was so moved that he cried several times. It had been a long time since he saw such a united scene since the disbandment. Before they came to power, at a glance, the people were numb, but now, their efforts over the past year have paid off. Seeing the people so enthusiastic, he had no choice but to arrange for them to join in the defensive preparations. Those who were dexterous helped to weave weapons, those who were strong helped to prepare battering rams and rolling stones, the elderly were responsible for cooking, and the young were responsible for chopping wood. With such an arrangement, Shouchun became a huge war machine, and tens of thousands of people spontaneously joined in the labor. The result was that as soon as Lu Bu arrived in Shouchun, he hit a wall. Seeing that the city was heavily guarded, Lu Bu ordered his soldiers to cut down trees to build the most basic wooden ladders and prepare grappling hooks. After three days of preparation, they launched the first exploratory attack on Shouchun, using 4,000 people as the vanguard to attempt to storm the east and west gates. Originally, Lu Bu had expected that Shouchun had only a few thousand soldiers and horses. He could use 4,000 people to attack Shouchun and test its weaknesses. And things happened just as he expected. As the soldiers on both sides charged towards the city wall, a rain of arrows began to be released from the city wall. Thousands of arrows were shot sparsely, and before the second wave was fired, his soldiers had already rushed to the city. Seeing this, Lu Bu stroked his beard and smiled with satisfaction, as if he could already see the city falling. But as the soldiers began to swarm forward, the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse, and hundreds of archers and crossbowmen appeared from nowhere on the city wall. As soon as the order was given from the city, the archers began to shoot at the soldiers climbing the city wall, and then his troops began to move continuously up the stairs. In this era, crossbows are actually not as useful as bows and arrows. On the one hand, the range is not enough, and on the other hand, it is difficult to operate. As long as you can hold on through this first wave, there will be a gap to climb the city! When Lu Bu saw the scene on the city wall, although he felt a little painful, he had no intention of retreating. Until the second wave of crossbow arrows were shot, the third wave, and the fourth wave, all without any loading operation, Lu Bu was shocked! It was as if a person from the cold weapon era saw a Gatling gun for the first time. He simply could not imagine that there would be a crossbow in this world that did not require arrows to be loaded! It took a long time to react. When one third of the attacking troops were lost, Lu Bu finally ordered a withdrawal. At the end of the first day of the siege, Lu Bu suffered more than a thousand casualties and saw the tight defenses in Shouchun City! Faced with this situation, Lu Bu gathered Qin Song and Chen Deng together to ask for advice: "Now there is a strange crossbow in the city, and our army can hardly catch up with it. How can we get it?" Qin Song naturally also noticed the unusual situation on the city wall, and quickly gave Lu Bu a solution: "I see that the enemy's crossbows are good, but not as powerful as ordinary bows and crossbows. Maybe we can raise our shields and attack them!" This is also a flaw of the repeating crossbow. Although the attack frequency has increased, the power is much smaller. Upon seeing this, Chen Deng came up with another idea for Lu Bu. Since there were not many soldiers in the city, they could build siege vehicles and force their way into the city! Following their advice, Lu Bu began to build siege vehicles and continued his fierce attack the next day. Qin Song's method did achieve some breakthrough. At least this time, with the appearance of the crossbow team, Lu Bu's military losses were less than last time. However, because they were carrying shields, the soldiers' speed in climbing up the city was slowed down, resulting in a large number of ladders being knocked down. This continued on the fifth and sixth days. As the attack and defense became more intense, Lu Bu's troops climbed the city wall for the first time.

But at this moment, a team suddenly rushed out and drove his troops off the city wall. On the seventh day, the siege vehicle was completed. In order to open up a passage, Lu Bu ordered the soldiers to carry the door panels and fill the moat. As a result, when they were halfway there, the city gate suddenly opened, and a group of people rushed out and directly defeated their ditch-filling team. On the eighth day, the ninth day, and the tenth day, the siege vehicle's route was finally blocked. Lu Bu gradually became angry and started an all-out attack. Pushed by a group of soldiers, the siege vehicle came all the way to the city gate and began to ram it violently. But suddenly, a large amount of tung oil fell from the city wall. As the torches fell, the entire siege vehicle was engulfed in a sea of ​​fire! Seeing that eight days' hard work was wasted in one day, Lu Bu finally couldn't hold it anymore and rode to the city to supervise the battle. As the two retreating generals were beheaded, the two armies began hand-to-hand combat! On that day, Shouchun City was littered with corpses, and blood flowed along the uneven city walls into the moat. At the cost of thousands of soldiers, Lu Bu killed almost half of the enemy troops in the city. Seeing that the defense in the city had hardly weakened at all, Lu Bu took out his anger on Chen Deng and Qin Song. Didn't you say Shouchun was empty? How come there are so many soldiers in the city? Even if the ratio is two to one, he has 6,000 casualties, and the number of casualties in the city should be at least 3,000! But the reality is that the more they kill, the more soldiers appear on the city! Facing Lu Bu's questioning, Qin Song keenly sensed something was wrong. Simply put, the problem is not Shouchun, but that Qin Zhen's reaction was too bland! You must know that they are not attacking other cities now, but Shouchun, the base of Liu Bei's army. But so much time has passed, even if Qin Zhen doesn't dare to mobilize troops, he will not sit idly by. Qin Zhen’s attitude now seems to be saying that Shouchun doesn’t matter, you can attack as you like! There are only two possibilities for this attitude. One is that Shouchun City is well prepared and is not afraid of Lü Bu's attack at all. The other is that Qin Zhen has other strategic intentions, but they have not discovered them yet. Of these two possibilities, Qin Song is more inclined to the latter. Qin Zhen definitely has other plans! Therefore, in the face of Lu Bu's questioning, Qin Song directly persuaded Lu Bu to withdraw his troops first to see Qin Zhen's reaction. When Chen Deng saw this, he told Lu Bu that more than half of the people in the city had been killed or injured, and that the people now were helping to defend the city. As long as they could hold on for a few more days, Shouchun would surely be captured! After listening to the two people's completely opposite opinions, Lu Bu decisively chose the latter and continued the attack! The reason is very straightforward. He has lost more than 10,000 soldiers in this expedition! If he retreats now, he will get nothing, but if he captures Shouchun, his trip will not be in vain. This led to the situation where Lu Bu continued to attack Shouchun fiercely under the city of Shouchun. What was Qin Zhen doing during these ten days? Of course, he was deploying troops! After Zhang Liao surrendered, his military strength increased instead of decreased. Faced with Lu Bu's lone army advancing deep into the enemy's territory, he chose to keep his troops in place first and then follow up quietly! In order to prevent Lu Bu from discovering, Qin Zhen continued to use the Huai River as a cover and first led more than 8,000 soldiers and horses across the river with Xu Sheng, Zhang Liao, and Xiahou Lan. Then he went around to Xiang County in the northwest and quietly came to Xiacai City. So when Lu Bu was attacking Shouchun, Qin Zhen was waiting for news in Xiacai. It was not until news arrived from the east that he led his troops south overnight and set up an ambush outside Shouchun City. Seeing that Lu Bu was fighting for another day, as the sun was setting, Qin Zhen gave an order and more than 8,000 soldiers and horses attacked Lu Bu's retreat. When Hou Cheng in the rear army saw this, he was shocked and hurried to Lu Bu to report the news. Hearing the news of Qin Zhen's sudden appearance, Lu Bu turned around and glanced at Shouchun unwillingly, then he picked up his halberd and said: "If we don't fight now, we will die. If we can win in battle, Bu will go first. Everyone, follow me to defeat the enemy!" After he finished speaking, he jumped on his horse and rode Red Hare towards the rear with his troops.

Upon seeing this, the soldiers under his command also raised their weapons and followed Lu Bu's steps. As soon as the siege was called off, Lu Bu led his troops and started a battle with Qin Zhen. (End of this chapter)