Chapter 223: The feeling of disobedience [two in one]
"How is that possible?!"
On the tower of the south gate of Linzi City, King Lu Bai of Qi opened his eyes wide in shock.
The entire confrontation between the Fei Xiong Army outside the city and the Huling Navy Army of Wei State on the Zi River was watched by the monarch of Qi from the tower.
He originally thought that the Flying Bear Army could easily drive back the Wei army outside the city, or even defeat it, but he never expected that the fact was exactly the opposite of what he had guessed. In just one battle, the Flying Bear Army lost nearly
There were 1,400 to 5,000 soldiers. If we add the crossbowmen who were shot to death by the Wei army's crossbowmen, the number of casualties would probably have exceeded 2,000.
Beside them, Right Prime Minister Tian Tao, Shang Qing Gao Xiu and others even frowned with solemn expressions on their faces.
They didn't pay much attention to it before. It wasn't until the arrows fired by the crossbowmen of the Flying Bear Army at the Wei warships were bounced away that they discovered that the key parts of the hulls of the twelve giant warships seemed to be wrapped in iron sheets.
, the defensive performance is simply extraordinary.
But soon, their attention was attracted by the Wei Liannu on the Wei warship.
Wei Liennu, a war weapon, is now familiar to all countries in the Central Plains. Even though the Wei State is very strict in this regard, in some hidden and unknown channels, Wei Liennu, such as the first generation Wei Liennu, the second generation Wei Liennu, etc.
War weapons that have been obsolete for nearly ten years are actually still in circulation.
It is said that the thieves who caused trouble in the Weilu area a few years ago obtained two first-generation Wei Liannu and defeated the Weiguo County soldiers who went to collect them.
Of course, this is just a rumor. After all, one or two Wei Liannu does not have the ability to reverse victory or defeat, let alone the first generation Wei Liannu which seems to be quite crude today.
At least this is what Qi and Lu think.
I still remember that a few years ago, before the "Four Kingdoms Alliance of Wei, Qin, Wei, and Chu" and the "Five Kingdoms Alliance of Han, Qi, Song, Lu, and Yue" started the unprecedented decisive battle that shocked the Central Plains, Qi State had tried to get Wei Liannu from Wei State.
There is nothing that can be done about it, even though the Wei State has very strict control over Wei Liannu - in fact, as long as it is a war weapon forged by the Wei State Smelting Bureau, the supervision is quite strict in this regard. Not only is every war weapon inscribed with
It has a number, and its whereabouts will be recorded in detail. Even if it is eliminated by the regular army and assigned to local county soldiers, or even if it is sold privately to Qin or Chu in the form of smuggling, it will be recorded.
But even so, it still could not prevent these war weapons from falling into the hands of Wei's enemies.
At that time, Qi State tried to get a few of them and tried to dismantle them for research, but unfortunately the results were not very good.
It’s no wonder, after all, the first-generation Wei Liannu was the technology of Wei State around the time of Hongde’s 16th or 17th year. At that time, Wei State had already entered the Xing’an period, and the time gap was as long as more than ten years. Even though Qi State had found a way to obtain those first-generation Wei Liannu and the second-generation Wei Liannu
What significance does Wei Liannu have? After all, the Qi State itself also has similar war weapons such as bed crossbows and ship-borne fire crossbows used in siege warfare.
Because of the age difference, the craftsmen of Qi State did not gain much after dismantling the first generation Wei Liannu. In their opinion, this so-called Wei Liannu was not as good as their Qi State bed crossbows and ship-borne fire crossbows.
Therefore, Qi State did not pay attention to it at that time.
Of course, the more important reason is that Qi has never fought against Wei before. Even in the war that affected the entire Central Plains a few years ago, Qi's opponent was only Chu, not Wei.
The armies have competed - the only exception was the confrontation between Wei Gongzi Run and Qi General Tian Dan in Ningyang. However, because Wei Gongzi Run's heart was not here, the two armies did not have a chance to compete.
Because of this, Qi State is not very clear about Wei State's technological strength, but blindly believes that Wei State's technological craftsmanship is probably still at a level of "slightly weaker than Lu State".
But in fact, in the "Battle of Song County" during the Wei Civil War a few years ago, the leader of the Beibo Army at the time, Xiang Ding, had already realized this problem: the weapons and equipment forged by the Lu State were not as good as those forged by the Wei State.
Easy to use.
Perhaps the world still thinks that Lu is still the country with the best technology and craftsmanship, but in fact, Wei has already quietly caught up with Lu, just like the "Daliang Alliance" a few years ago, Wei used it to intimidate other countries.
The ballistas, trebuchets, etc. of the Central Plains countries were actually inconceivable even to the representative of the Lu State, Gong Zixing and the Minister Ji Ping.
Since then, various countries in the Central Plains have gradually realized that Wei's craftsmanship may have surpassed Lu's, but to what extent is unknown. Just like Wei's fourth-generation Wei Liannu, how many people only know his name
, but I have seen it with my own eyes.
But now, after seeing with their own eyes that the repeating crossbows on the Wei warships outside the city easily penetrated the shields and armor of the Flying Bear Army, Qi King Lu Bai, Tian Bao, Gao Xi and other ministers realized that the Wei State's cutting-edge
How terrible are the weapons of war?
You must know that the Flying Bear Army has just replaced its weapons and equipment. As the most trusted garrison of Qi State, this army has always had the highest replacement of weapons and equipment among all the armies of Qi State, even if its number of dispatches is pitiful.
The people who forged these weapons and equipment were also selected from experienced craftsmen in Qi and Lu.
But even so, the new equipment of the Flying Bear soldiers were still as fragile as paper in front of the Wei Liannu carried on the Wei warships.
Is it because the craftsmanship of Qi and Lu is too backward?
Not really.
After all, Wei's Wei Liennu, especially the fourth-generation Wei Liennu carried on the Huling Navy's Tiger warships, can actually easily penetrate the latest shields or armors of Wei, let alone one, no matter how many.
With a few shields and a few more sets of armor, it can still penetrate easily.
The Smelting Bureau has conducted tests on this, using the latest iron shield from Wei State, a knuckle-thick iron shield, as a reference object.
At a distance of about three hundred feet, the fourth generation Wei Liannu could only leave an obvious indentation on the iron shield made in Wei.
At a distance of about two hundred feet, the fourth-generation Wei Liannu has the ability to shoot through an iron shield and produce an obvious indentation on the second iron shield.
At a distance of one hundred feet, the fourth-generation Wei Liannu can shoot through three iron shields at once.
The most terrifying thing is that at a distance of about forty feet, the fourth generation Wei Liannu can shoot through up to six iron shields at once.
In the current world, there is no machine crossbow with such powerful lethality.
Even the iron shield forged during the Xing'an period of the Wei state was still unable to stop the fourth-generation Wei Liannu forged by his own country. How could the Feixiong Army resist it?
Just like Li Huo, the general of the Huling Navy, said, the Flying Bear Army thought that they were holding a shield and the Wei Army on the opposite side was helpless. This was very stupid.
This is Wei Jun!
Not the Chu army!
Is it really possible for Wei's army to be the same as Chu's army, armed with weapons and equipment far behind those of Qi?
It has to be said that the Qi army's concept of war needs to be corrected. Maybe the opponent they once encountered, Chu, allowed them to gain an advantage by relying on the gap in equipment, but this will not work for the Wei army.
The weapons and equipment of Wei's army are no worse than those of Qi, in fact, worse than those of Qi.
No, Lu Sheng, the commander-in-chief of the Flying Bear Army, committed this mistake. He believed that the Wei army did not have the ability to harm his infantry of the Flying Bear Army holding strong iron shields, so he ordered the infantry to be orderly.
They advanced towards the shore, attracting the attention of the Wei army and creating powerful combat conditions for the crossbowmen in the army. Unexpectedly, these three thousand Feixiong army infantry became a living target of the Wei fleet. In just a few
In the blink of an eye, most of them were shot to death.
Fortunately, Wei general Li Huo considered that the number of repeating crossbow bolts in the fleet's cabin was not very large, and he was relatively restrained when he ordered the shooting. It was just a volley. Otherwise, if the Wei army poured out the crossbow bolts regardless of consumption, others would
Regardless of the situation, at least none of the three thousand "living targets" on the river bank will survive.
"Withdraw! Withdraw!"
I don’t know whether he was frightened away by the terrifying lethality of the Wei army or because the Feixiong army suffered huge losses. The commander of the Feixiong army, Lu Sheng, panicked and ordered a retreat. He planned to retreat a few miles to regroup and then fight with Wei general Li Huo.
clash of armies.
In the second round of confrontation, Lu Sheng, the leader of the Flying Bear Army, became more cautious than in the first time.
But unfortunately, as an army, the Flying Bear Army lacks effective means of restraint against a navy parked on the river, unless it brings in war weapons such as crossbows and catapults.
As a result, the Wei army repelled the second offensive of the Fei Xiong Army without any surprise.
Both attacks were repelled by the Wei army. Not to mention the morale of the Feixiong army plummeted, even the city of Linzi was at a loss.
At least King Lu Bai of Qi was no longer as arrogant as he was a moment ago, and was brought back to the palace by the ministers in a daze.
"Is the Wei army... actually so powerful?"
In the main hall of the Qi Palace, Qi King Lu Bai looked at several ministers sitting in the palace and said rather bitterly.
He still remembered that a moment ago, he had ambitiously wanted to imitate his father Lu Xi's feat of expelling the Korean army and expel or defeat the Wei army outside the city. However, he did not expect that the elite flying bears that Qi was proud of would
The army was defeated twice by the Wei army outside the city.
Damn it!
This is just an army of Wei State!
After taking a long breath, King Qi Lu Bai asked worriedly: "What do you think we should do now?"
At this time, the Right Prime Minister Tian Tao was frowning and thinking about something, as if he had not heard what King Qi Lu Bai said, while Gao Xi, Uncle Bao, Guan Zhong, and several others looked at each other in confusion.
Among them, the scholar-officials kept moving their lips slightly, as if they wanted to say something.
Seeing this, Qi King Lu Bai immediately asked: "Lian Chen, do you have any great ideas?"
"Ah? Yes, uh..."
Lian Chen said a few words vaguely, which made Qi Wang Lu Bai, who was already anxious, even more unhappy. He frowned and scolded: "I asked you what countermeasures you have, what are you hesitating about?"
Seeing King Qi's anger, Lian Chen was shocked and said quickly: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I have a plan, but..."
"Speak quickly if you have anything to say!" King Lu Bai of Qi urged.
Seeing this, Lian Chen hesitated and said: "I think it might as well ask Mr. Zuo Xiang to intervene. That... Mr. Zuo Xiang is, well, he is from Wei and is the brother of the King of Wei. If he is willing to come forward and say
Xiang, the Wei army outside the city may..."
"absurd!"
Before Lian Chen could finish speaking, Uncle Bao frowned and interrupted the former, and said righteously: "It is true that Mr. Zuo Xiang is from Wei, and it is true that he and the King of Wei are brothers. However, this is
The war between Da Qi and Wei is a battle between countries. How can it be confused with a personal relationship?!... What's more, the Wei general Li Huo outside the city is not related to the left prime minister, and he serves Wei
The king ordered us to attack our country, how can we withdraw our troops just because of a few words from Mr. Zuo Xiang?"
"What's the harm in trying?" Lian Chen's momentum was a little weak at first, but then he didn't know if he thought of some powerful words, and his voice suddenly became louder: "Why don't you just do nothing? Mr. Bao also sees it.
The tragic situation in the city just now, how many people's houses were burned down, how many people died in the chaos?!... As the Prime Minister of our country, Mr. Zuo Xiang tried to persuade the Wei army outside the city, what can he do? Success or failure...
…”
"Shut up!" Before Lian Chen could finish speaking, Shang Qing Gao Xi scolded him with his eyes wide open, sternly interrupting Lian Chen's words.
He was seen glaring at Lian Chen angrily and said angrily: "I thought you had some clever plan, but it turned out to be a foolish argument. Even if it is as you said, the left prime minister came forward to persuade the Wei army to retreat. We are united and united in the future.
What kind of dignity do you have in this world?!"
It must be said that Gao Xi's prestige was something that Uncle Bao could never match. No, after being scolded by Gao Xi, Lian Chen immediately lowered his head and did not dare to say anything more.
It must be admitted that interpersonal relationships in this era are sometimes quite special.
For example, when Wei State was at war with South Korea and Chu State, they were fighting to the death. However, if Zhao Hongrun's sixth uncle, King Yi Wang Zhao Yuanli, went to South Korea, he would still be regarded as a guest of honor by the Koreans and would not be harmed because of the hostility between the two countries.
Personal relationships remain personal relationships, and public affairs remain public affairs. Most of the people in power in various countries in this era understand this very clearly.
Because of this, it is common for people who are acquaintances and close friends to meet on the battlefield because of their different positions.
For example, Shen Yu, the governor of Shangshui County in Wei State, and Xiong Hu, the king of Pingyu of Chu who was leading an army to attack Shangshui. These two have known each other for more than ten or twenty years, and in the past few years, Wei and Chu were in harmony.
When they were intimate, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu often drank with Shen Yu and other Wei generals, but now when they meet on the battlefield, they still do as they should and will not show mercy because of this - even if the two of them are captured alive by the other party.
, just to take care of him a little based on his past friendship, such as choosing a prison with a better environment and taking care of him three times a day.
That's all.
This is the "loyalty" that is prevalent in this era. It does not prohibit you from interacting with people from other countries, but the premise is that you must not harm the interests of your own country, not even the slightest bit.
Of course, this is not absolute, but one thing is certain, if someone does something personal and neglects public affairs, then this person will definitely be despised by the world.
Take Lian Chen's proposal to ask Zhao Zhao, the left prime minister, to come forward to persuade the Wei army to retreat. If Zhao Zhao came forward as the left prime minister of Qi, there would be no problem. Of course, Wei general Li Huo would not give Zhao Zhao a favor because of this.
But if Zhao Zhao dares to negotiate with Wei general Li Huo as "the son of Wei State" and "the brother of Wei King Zhao Run", let's not say whether Li Huo will have any scruples about it, but Zhao Zhao will definitely get into trouble because of it.
To get a reputation.
This is exactly why Uncle Bao interrupted Lian Chen just now.
As for Shangqing Gao Xi's scolding of Lian Chen, this was partly due to this, but mostly because he felt ashamed: When did he, who was a great leader of the country, fall to the point where he needed to rely on personal friendship to restore the country's disadvantage?
Gao Xi was not only a very arrogant person, but also took the country and the royal family very seriously. To put it harshly, he would rather watch the fall of Qi than allow Zhao Zhao to come forward for him as "Wei Gongzi".
Qi State saved the bad situation.
This is probably the so-called "it is better to be broken than to be ruined" integrity.
"What Gao Qing said makes sense."
King Lu Bai of Qi nodded and agreed with Shang Qing Gao Xi's words.
He also felt that if his brother-in-law Zhao Zhao came forward to negotiate with the Wei army outside the city as "Wei Gongzi", even if the crisis in Qi was finally resolved, he would definitely be looked down upon by the world.
People of this era still attach great importance to integrity and reputation.
However, if Lian Chen's proposal is rejected, how to solve the crisis in Linzi?
King Lu Bai of Qi was in trouble again.
Suddenly, he saw Right Prime Minister Tian Bao, who was frowning in thought, and asked: "Right Prime Minister, if you have any high opinions, you might as well say it directly."
"Huh?"
Right Xiangtian raised his head subconsciously after hearing the words, a trace of confusion and a trace of bewilderment flashed across his face.
Obviously, he was distracted just now.
Seeing this, the monarch could not avoid being angry. Uncle Bao quickly came to the rescue and said, "I wonder what your right prime minister has to do to deal with the Wei army outside the city?"
Hearing that this was the case, Tian Tao suddenly understood. After looking at Uncle Bao gratefully, he raised his hands and said to Qi Wang Lu Bai: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Although the Fei Xiong Army was defeated by the Wei Army twice just now, it was only because of that.
On the river, while the Flying Bear Army is only on land, if the Wei army dares to disembark and land, they may not be our opponents... Our Linzi city wall is high and thick. Even if the Wei army has sharp weapons such as trebuchets, it will not be able to destroy the city wall in a short time. At most
It is just to use fire arrows to create some chaos in our Linzi city. Your Majesty can order the soldiers in the city to deploy in the streets and alleys to appease the people. Wait until the Northern Navy arrives in Linzi tomorrow, and we will take action soon... As for the harassment of our Linzi by Wei warships,
Looking at the huge amount of crossbow arrows consumed today, it won't last long even if you think about it, so don't worry too much."
After hearing the words of Right Prime Minister Tian Bao, King Lu Bai of Qi felt his eyes light up and his heart became cheerful.
He nodded and praised: "As expected of the Right Prime Minister, he has a clear eye for fire!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Right Prime Minister Tian Bao smiled slightly, but there was a trace of worry in his eyes.
As Tian Tao asserted, on that day, although Wei general Li Huo outside the city still ordered his crossbowmen to shoot several rounds of fire arrows at Linzi City from time to time, the number of times was not intensive, apparently because of the crossbow arrow reserves in the cabin.
Not enough to keep him shooting at Linzi endlessly.
Only this is naturally not enough to capture Linzi. After all, Linzi is the capital of Qi State and is far from being so fragile.
The next morning, the Northern Navy arrived in Linzi.
This Northern Navy is not the Northern Navy led by Qi general "Zhongsun Sheng", but the Northern Navy trained by South Korea's general Bao Yuan who was stationed in Qi for Qi. It is just under the name of Northern Navy.
That’s it, it’s just like the relationship between Wei’s original “Shangshui Army” and the “Shangshui Reserve Army”.
The army's establishment is 20,000, and its weapons and equipment are all based on the Flying Bear Army. The training adopts Korean training methods. Although there is no actual combat experience, in terms of daily drills, it is better than most of Qi's troops.
The army is incredibly strong.
The main difference is in momentum.
Most of Qi's armies generally have a soft fighting style. This may be related to the fact that Qi has been at peace for a long time, causing most of the Qi people to lose their blood. Unlike Qin, Wei, and South Korea, they are often treated lightly by foreigners, or are in a
In the place where the Fourth War was fought, not only were the people tough and tough, but the soldiers were also tough and fearless of death.
When Bao Yuan trained this army, the first thing he did was to arouse the bloodiness of the new recruits in this army.
The method is very simple, but also very cruel: let two soldiers punch each other with one punch each.
At first, the recruits were still wary and had strength in their hands, but gradually, when he felt his body, the hatred in his heart was gradually lifted.
Maybe they are thinking: I have obviously saved most of my strength, why do you hit me so hard?
In view of the dissatisfaction in his heart, the recruit unknowingly increased the force in his hands.
The recruit on the opposite side thought exactly the same.
So as time passed, the two recruits no longer retained their strength. In order to retaliate against each other, they used all their strength every time they punched, hoping to punch the other party to death.
This is the initial bloody nature: dare to fight back and retaliate against the opponent, no matter how powerful the opponent is.
To put it bluntly, it's just that Qi Ren is not ruthless enough.
But after three months of relevant training at Baoyuan, the demeanor and appearance of these recruits have changed. To put it mildly, they have acquired a brave demeanor, but to put it harshly, they have gradually become fierce.
After that, Bao Yuan began to teach these recruits how to effectively kill the enemy with the weapons in their hands instead of resorting to war weapons.
After arriving in Linzi that day, Bao Yuan left his army outside the city and went into the city in person to report back to King Lu Bai of Qi.
After Qi Wang Lu Bai praised Bao Yuan, he implored Bao Yuan to help Tian Bao, the right minister, to expel the Wei army outside the city.
Bao Yuan accepted the offer gladly, came to the tower near the east gate of Linzi, met Tian Bao, the right minister, and relayed the order of King Lu Bai of Qi.
During this period, Bao Yuan noticed that Tian Tabu's face seemed to be worried, so he comforted him and said: "Don't worry, Prime Minister, by gathering Fei Xiong's army and our Northern Navy, we will definitely defeat this Wei army and relieve Linzi's danger."
After hearing this, Tian Tao smiled slightly, then shook his head and explained: "General Baoyuan misunderstood. Tian is not worried because of this matter. I just think...the actions of this Wei army are very strange."
"Weird?" Bao Yuan was puzzled.
Seeing this, Tian Tabu raised his finger and pointed at the Huling navy army on the Zi River outside the city, frowned and said: "I originally thought that this Wei army came to capture Linzi and force Qi to surrender, but in the past two days,
Here, I observed carefully and found that these Wei soldiers, apart from using the trebuchets on the ship to attack Linzi, and asking the crossbowmen on the ship to shoot at my Linzi city with fire arrows, they almost never disembarked from the ship and landed... If he really wanted to "capture the city"
If you want to attack Linzi, you must disembark from the ship and go ashore to try to attack the city. Is this true? But the Wei army outside the city didn't even bother to attack "Anping" on the other side..."
Having said this, he took a long breath.
"This makes me very suspicious of the true intention of this Wei army. Maybe they didn't come to capture Linzi at all..."