After Zhang Ren was attacked by Tao Shang Chengye once, although there was no particularly huge loss, he almost died at the hands of A Fei, which made him extremely depressed.
This anger was not directed at Ah Fei, let alone the pottery merchant he had never met, but at his ally Liu Biao.
After fighting all night, Zhang Ren did not even see the shadow of Liu Biao's soldiers and horses, and not a single soldier came to support him.
Who else would it be, who would not be angry?
After cleaning the battlefield, Zhang Ren asked Yan Yan to guard Dazhai instead of him. He led Wu Yi, Wu Lan, Lei Tong and other generals to the Hanzhai where Liu Biao was to meet him.
When he heard that Zhang Ren was coming, Liu Biao sent someone to summon Zhang Ren.
In Liu Biao's view, since the death of Liu Yan and Liu Yu, among the Han clan clansmen in the world, he has been the big brother. Not to mention Zhang Ren, even if his master Liu Zhang came, he should be the same.
To respect yourself, nod, bow and grovel.
What's more, Liu Biao had never heard of the name Zhang Ren, and since he was not very old, Liu Biao naturally wouldn't take him seriously.
The problem is that when Zhang Ren came this time, he didn't give Liu any face at all, and directly gave the hussar general a blow.
"At the end of the night before, when the general was fighting fiercely with the Tao Army's sneak attack, may I ask what Liu Qiaoqi did? Why didn't Zhang see any soldiers of the Jingzhou Army?"
Liu Biao was very unhappy when he heard Zhang Ren's direct question!
What is my status? The current hussar general, the lord of Jingzhou, the minister of Conglong who supports the emperor, what kind of dog are you, you dare to ask me?
If it weren't for Liu Zhang's sake, I would kill you first.
"General Zhang, please be patient. What happened the night before was not that I didn't want to save you on purpose, but that I actually had other plans that night." After all, Liu Biao was still very deep in the city. Although there was fire in his heart, he still had other plans.
He didn't show it on the surface, he stroked his beard and explained the matter to Zhang Ren with a smile.
It is a pity that Zhang Ren has a very stubborn temperament. Moreover, this time he came with the intention of raising an army to punish the perpetrators, so he did not give in.
"Then I dare to ask the Hussars General, what exactly was the calculation the night before?"
At this time, not to mention Liu Biao, but also Cai Mao, Wenpin and other generals around him were all surprised, and there was a hint of anger in their surprise.
What a Zhang Ren, how dare you speak to Liu Qiaoqi like this? What is your identity? Are you allowed to ask about the decisions Liu Qiaoqi made?
Liu Biao wished he could press Zhang Ren to the ground and rub him.
However, they were allies after all, and they had come all the way from Xichuan. Liu Biao was too embarrassed to deal with him, so he immediately explained: "That night, the pottery merchant sent troops to rob the camp. I thought that since he sent troops to rob the camp, how could the people in his own village
It must be empty, just like the ancient sages besieging the Wei State to relieve the Zhao State's danger, so I sent Cai Mao to command the navy to attack the pottery merchant's water stronghold."
A sarcastic smile appeared on Zhang Ren's face: "How dare I ask Liu Jingzhou, what was the result of this sneak attack on the pottery merchant's camp?"
Liu Biao's face suddenly turned red.
He really underestimated the pottery merchant this time. The pottery merchant attacked Zhang Ren's dry stronghold without bringing many soldiers and horses. The main force of the army and his generals basically stayed in the water stronghold and waited for Liu Biao.
Take the bait.
Liu Biao asked Cai Mao to attack the pottery merchant's water village, but of course he would not get any good results.
Liu Biao is an old rogue politician. In terms of experience in battle, he is indeed not as rich as a junior like Tao Shang.
"General Hussar, Tao Shang has been in battle for a long time, has good strength, and has studied the art of war. He will deal with it at the end. It is best for us to be less cunning in front of him, so as not to be counterattacked by him without knowing it.
You will be the laughingstock of the world by yourself."
This is a bit too much. Doesn’t it make it clear that Liu Biao is inferior to the pottery merchant?
Huang Zu stood up first and yelled at Zhang Ren: "Zhang Ren, what kind of status do you have, and you dare to disrespect Liu Qiaoqi? General Qiaoqi respects you as a guest from afar, so he tolerates you again and again. Why are you here?"
Show off? Do you really think that our Jingzhou army cannot win over the potters without you?"
Zhang Ren's face darkened: "You don't care about the life and death of your allies, and you receive such a pretentious reception, but you still dare to be a guest? Hey, Jingzhou has a vast land, rich resources, dense population, and elite soldiers. Without me, Zhang Ren, I would naturally be able to win against the pottery merchants...
…General Hussars, Zhang Ren takes his leave.”
After that, he cupped his hands and turned to leave.
Huang Zu turned to Liu Biao and said, "General Hussar, he is so annoying!"
Liu Biao sighed and said: "I was angry just now, but it's not unreasonable to think about Zhang Ren's anger. His camp was robbed, and we were the ones who invited him to support us. On the contrary, we didn't take any action. No matter how you say it, it was nothing."
It’s unjustifiable.”
Huang Zu laughed when he heard this and said: "However, we won't need these Sichuan troops to support us soon. The equipment on our warships is all ready. As long as we wait for a while, the whole fleet can be launched to defeat the Taoshang navy and drive them back."
Go to my hometown in Jinling."
Liu Biao nodded, turned to look at Cai Hao, and said, "How are things prepared?"
Cai Mao smiled and said: "Don't worry, General Hussars, everything is basically ready. The equipment for all the warships has arrived. Once the installation is completed, the pottery can be broken."
Liu Biao smiled when he heard this and nodded with satisfaction.
…
Liu Biao was busy in his water stronghold, and the pottery merchants were not idle either. During this time, his naval forces had been building a new type of water warfare equipment on the warships.
Lu Lingqi had never seen a water battle, especially the year before last when her father Lu Bu and Sun Ce came to attack Jiangxia County, but they failed. Their defeat was due to the disadvantage of the water battle.
So she is really very curious about the way of water fighting.
"What is this? It's so spectacular. Is it a trebuchet?" Lu Lingqi looked at the Jinling navy with her mouth open, as they installed and nailed the huge equipment to the deck.
The pottery merchant smiled and said: "According to the report from the school affairs office, Liu Biao's navy is building trebuchets on a large scale during this period and installing these giant machines on their main battleships."
Lu Lingqi suddenly said: "So, are you also following the example of Liu Biao and others, building a trebuchet and installing it on your own warship? In order to avoid being at a disadvantage in the battle?"
The potter shook his head and said: "No, although the weapons are arranged in the same way, the weapons made by Tao are different from his. This thing of mine is called a racket."
"Racket stick?" Lu Lingqi has a lot of research on Wuyi, but she doesn't know much about weapons. In her opinion, trebuchets and racket sticks are basically the same thing.
The potter explained to her: "Liu Biao equipped the trebuchet on the ship. The huge rocks thrown were very destructive to the warship. It was indeed a weapon in water warfare, but the trebuchet was used in water warfare.
, there are also many shortcomings. In land battles, trebuchets are mainly used to attack and defend cities. When attacking cities, the target of trebuchets is the stationary city wall, but in water battles, warships are flexible, and
Above the river, as far as the eye can see, the target is relatively small, so it is difficult for the trebuchet to hit it, so it cannot exert its power."
Lu Lingqi looked at the pottery merchant with a different kind of appreciation in her eyes.
"You know so much... Then is your racket better than a trebuchet?"
The potter nodded and said: "Although the shape of this racket pole is similar to a trebuchet, that is, a long wooden stick is set up on both sides or the head and tail of the warship. One end of the wooden stick is tied with a big stone, and the other end is
There are several ropes. When using it, pull the rope so that the end with the boulder is raised high, then the warship approaches the enemy ship, and then relax the rope. The boulder will hit the enemy ship hard under the action of gravity, which can completely destroy the wooden
The hull and racket of the warship can be said to be a trebuchet used for long-distance combat converted into a close-combat weapon."