Chapter 73 Weak countries without diplomacy

Standing in his palace, Wugui looked at the stars all over the sky and was speechless for a long time. Fan Man was not Fan Jun. He did nothing. Without waiting for the blameless response, he replaced the guard in the blameless palace, and Fan Man's confidant Li Yuan also became a blameless palace general. The blameless plan was naturally dead. At this point, he had no other choice but to follow Fan Man's instructions to lead Cui Qian into the city. It's possible.

He can't even show a trace of dissatisfaction, because he is very suspicious that the guards who are not far from him now are arranged by Fan Man.

Wugui's heart was extremely sad. He always thought that Jin Chenguo could exist until now because of his gentleness and his cleverness, but now he finds that those are all unreal illusions. There is only one reason why Jin Chenguo can exist until now: Fan Man needs him to exist. Once Fan Man feels that he doesn't need it, then Jin Chenguo can become a county in Funan at any time.

That's all.

Although Wu Gui was very ashamed, he had no other choice but to meet Cui Qian again according to Fan Man's requirements. He "sincerely" invited Cui Qian to enter Dunxun City to help him defend the city. Of course, it is inevitable to present Jin Chen's scepter and map.

Cui Qian sat proudly, sipping tea while staring at the blame. He touched the scepter and map on the case and smiled proudly: "King Jin Chen is sincere. If I don't accept it, King Jin Chen must not sleep peacefully. In this case, I will take care of it for a few days. When I get rid of the Funan people, I will care about it."

With a bitter smile, he could hear that Cui Qian, like Fan Man, did not intend to let Jin Chen exist again. They are all wolves. Only they are sheep. The law of the jungle is his fate. The difference is only to be eaten by which wolf.

"With the escort of a general, I, Jin Chen, will be safe." Wu Gui said gratefully, and his eyes were a little wet.

Cui Qian disdained it and went straight to the point: "How many troops the King of Funan have brought, how many people are Funan, and how many vassals are stationed there? Please ask King Jin Chen to explain in detail, so that we can be prepared."

"Dare not to obey." Wugui nodded repeatedly, raised his head, looked at Cui Qian with the eyes of inquiry, and signaled the map of Jin Chen in front of him. Cui Qian nodded proudly and smiled, "King Jin Chen, please speak closer. Come on, give the king a glass of stone honey wine."

Stone honey wine is not wine, but actually sugar cane juice. Sugar cane is a specialty of countries around Funan. Naturally, there are many Jin Chen. Cui Qian drinks the juice squeezed from sugar cane produced by Jin Chen, but now he uses flowers to present it to the Buddha to entertain King Jin Chen. No matter how poor Wu Gui is, he is also the king of a country. Naturally, he often drinks sugar cane juice. If someone else invites him to drink it, he will definitely be unhappy. But when Cui Qian invites him to drink it, he must drink it happily and show a very grateful look.

However, Wugui was shocked as soon as he received the cup. The porcelain cup with sugar cane juice was very cold. As soon as he started it, a cold air spread all over his body along his arm in an instant. There was a lot of dew on the outer wall of the cup. Wugui didn't grasp it firmly and almost slipped down from his hand. He took a surprised look at the sugar cane juice in his hand, looked at the familiar pale yellow **, and asked curiously, "Is this... really stone honey wine?"

"Of course." The corners of Cui Qian's mouth raised a touch of pride and reached out to signal Wugui to taste it quickly: "It's just a day in the ice. King Chen, take a sip. This is the best way to relieve summer heat.

He took a mouthful tentatively, and the cold sweet liquid slid into his abdomen. A cool air made him completely relieve his summer heat. He was indescribably happy. He hurriedly took another sip. This time, the cool breath was even more obvious. With a glass of stone honey wine, he couldn't help shivering, and then smiled, "Reasure, happy, dare to ask the general, what is this ice? What, why does ordinary stone honey wine become so sweet?

Cui Qian laughed, waved his hand, and a guard turned around and went out. He quickly brought up a basin with a few crystal clear pieces of ice. Wu Gui was born in Jin Chen and had never seen ice. At a glance, he didn't know what it was. He reached out and touched it tentatively and got a piece of coolness. He was full of praise, and the envy in his eyes was undisguised.

"What's the wonder of this ice?" Wu Gui looked at the water marks on his hand and twisted his fingers reluctantly.

"This is the thing of the North Sea. Our Vietnamese merchants came thousands of miles away to present it to my king. My king, General Nian, worked hard in the battle and rewarded a box." Lin Yizhi smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty, the general cherishes this thing, but he never shows it to others. Only King Jin Chen can have this blessing."

Without guilt, he smiled bitterly and remembered that Fan Man would use Cui Qian as bait to lure Yue Wang Sun Shao. He couldn't help admiring Fan Man's unique vision and was sure that King Yue would come to save Cui Qian. He thanked again and again. He hurried forward and pointed to the map to tell the position of the Funan people. Of course, in his mouth, although there are many people in Funan, in fact, they are vain. The soldiers are very war-weary. The indigenous soldiers of Funan are very reluctant to fight against the king of Yue. Even those vassal states are also divorced from morality. Therefore, as long as Cui Qian is willing to settle in Dunxun City, he will definitely block the king of Funan and let him return without success. The weight carried by the king of Funan is limited. Once he can't conquer Dunson to supplement it, he will be in trouble.

Cui Qian smiled and nodded repeatedly. He asked a few more questions. Finally, he patted his thigh and promised to enter the city immediately to help defend the city without charge. After listening to it, I was relieved. After thanking him again and again, I hurriedly went.

As soon as he left without blame, Cui Qian immediately summoned the general and left hundreds of people to guard the ship. He personally landed with the main force and went straight to Dunxun City. After entering Donson City, the first thing to do was to receive the city defense of Donson City, and then send people to receive Donson Harbor and the big city.

As soon as the Chinese merchants in the big city heard that the Yue [***] team was stationed in Dunxun City, they immediately rejoiced and congratulated each other. They have long heard the rumor that Cui Qian, the general of Yue, is negotiating with Jin Chen. Once successful, Jin Chen will be the same as the local of Yue, and the taxes will be greatly reduced. They can save a lot of costs and make more money. They had already pricked up their ears and paid attention to the progress of the matter. Unexpectedly, the matter lasted for two or three months. They all felt that there was little hope. Unexpectedly, the dream suddenly came true, and they couldn't help but be very unhappy. On that day, some Vietnamese businessmen hung up preferential rewards to celebrate the signboard of Jin Chen's alliance with Yue. In a short time, the news spread all over the city. Several merchants took the lead and rushed to the gate of Cui Qian's camp to ask for labor. There are many Han merchants in Dunxun, not only Yue merchants, but also Wei, Shu and Wu merchants. However, at this time, no one cares about those differences. Although everyone has different accents, they all speak Chinese. Naturally, they are a family.

Cui Qian was very happy. He went out to meet him in person, and then made a thank-you message, to the in the sense that Jin Chen formed an alliance with the State of Yue this time. We are here to help King Jin Chen defend the city to deal with the Funan people. As long as the city is guarded, everyone will have benefits in the future.

Long live everyone, and toasted some soldiers in front of the camp gate. Due to the military order, the soldiers did not dare to drink too much, so they could only taste it, but they were happy in their hearts. Most of them turned out to be pirates. They made a living by robbing merchants. When merchants saw them, they smiled with them, but they knew that there was a vicious curse behind the smile. When did they enjoy such heartfelt gratitude from the merchants? The so-called wine is not intoxicating. At that moment, they all straightened up and felt the glory and self-esteem of protecting God.

The soldiers of Jin Chen Guo and Li Yuan and others hiding in Jin Chen's soldiers felt a little uncomfortable when they saw this scene. Li Yuan felt that the burden on his shoulders was very heavy. If the attack was successful and the Vietnamese people were hit hard this time, then everything would be fine. If it failed, the Yue people would gain a foothold in Jin Chen. I'm afraid that Jin Chen would no longer be Funan. As long as these 5,000 sailors are in the town, these merchants will automatically consciously become a huge fleet to ensure the lifeline of these sailors.

Li Yuan did not dare to neglect. He immediately asked someone to send a letter to Fan Man. Cui Qian had already entered the city and asked Fan Man to immediately surround Dunxun City. At the same time, he reported Cui Qian's behavior after entering the city to Fan Man, reminding Fan Man not to ignore the financial and material resources behind these merchants. When Fan Man received the news, he raised a large army. On the one hand, he surrounded Dunson City and sent people to the seaside in an attempt to seize Cui Qian's fleet. When the left-behind Vietnamese army saw that the situation was not right, they immediately sailed into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

Although Fan Man felt a little sorry, he did not have much hope for capturing Cui Qian's warship. Cui Qian was a pirate and a general under Sun Shao. It was impossible for him not to leave a backhand and let people easily copy his back path. He left a vigilant force at the seaside, turned around and surrounded Dunson City, and built siege equipment outside the city, making a posture of never giving up without breaking the city.

The war is on the verge of breaking out.

Cui Qian arranged the task of defending the city in an orderly manner. He was originally a pirate and did not pay attention to defending the city, but there were many people under Sun Shao who were very experienced in defending the city. Under Sun Shao's arrangement, they often learned from each other's strengths and learned from each other. It was normal to hold an exercise at ordinary times. Moreover, when he was in Wancheng, he had already practiced the battle of attacking the city and defending the city. It's a small town. He is confident. Although his men are all sailors, after large and small battles, they are now qualified amphibious combat troops.

Although Dunxun is the royal city of the State of Jin and Chen, its scale is not much different from that of a county in the State of Wuyue. The radius is only seven miles, and the population is only more than ten thousand. Cui Qian brought 5,000 sailors, plus more than a thousand guards of the State of Jin and Chen, which is more than enough people. Cui Qian let no blame guard the south gate. Cui Yan led thousands of people to guard the east gate, Cui Wu led thousands of people to guard the west gate, and led 3,000 people to guard the north gate of Funan people. When they came, they removed the Thunderbolt and crossbow from the ship, brought a large number of cannon stones and crossbows, and installed them on the low wall as soon as they entered Dunxun City.

These sharp weapons have brought a lot of trouble to Fan Man. Although the purpose of Fan Man's siege of the city was to use Cui Qian as bait to lure Sun Shao, he also wanted to beat Cui Qian to death before Sun Shao arrived, so that he would not have the strength to go out of the city to attack after Sun Shao came, so the attack was not entirely a joke, and he still thought about it. It's just that the newly installed Thunderbolt cannons and crossbows at the head of the city surprised him. The message sent back by Li Yuan did not include these. As a result, as soon as he went into battle, the powerful war elephants had just stood firm in front of the battle. Before they could launch a demonstration, two spear-like crossbows roared from 200 steps away, and the accurate shot was in the middle. A war elephant, blood spewed out of the special arrow rod blood trough. The war elephant wailed twice, fell to the ground with a splash, twitched a few times, and soon died.

The soldier on the elephant's back was dizzy. They rolled and crawled to the side of the war elephant. Looking at the war elephant's eyes, they were inexplicably shocked. They all know that war elephants are large and easy to be hit by arrows, but war elephants have thick skins, and ordinary arrows will not be immediately fatal. Today's situation is beyond their imagination. Looking at the two iron crossbows more than ten feet long and a stream of blood ejaculated from it, they were caught off guard.

Fan Man was also shocked when he received the report. He looked up at Donson City, two hundred steps away, and shivered. He heard that the Han people had a strong crossbow, and the range was very long. It was said that the farthest one could be 300 steps, but he had never seen it with his own eyes or experienced it. Today, before the war began, he was beaten down by this legendary sharp weapon, which was really something he had never thought of.

"Remove the war elephant to the back." Fan Man's face was as cold as water, and he waved his hand: "Prepare some thick boards as shields to cover the war elephants from hitting the door. Let the soldiers be scattered and pay attention to the defense.

Fan Ru passed the order. The originally energetic battle array acted quickly, and more than a hundred war elephants were transferred to the back. Except for the commandos preparing to attack the gate, everyone else stood and loosened some to reduce the power of the crossbows of the Yue people. It's just that before the war was fought, the momentum was lost a little, and the morale was a little low.

Although Fan Man did not want to break the city immediately, he knew that he had missed the opportunity. If he could not get the upper hand immediately, this battle would be very difficult. He immediately ordered that those who broke the city first would have a heavy reward to arouse the murderous spirit of the soldiers.

After the first commando team was assembled, they unswervingly approached the gate under the cover of thick wooden boards carried by two war elephants.

Cui Qian stood upstairs, looked at the Funan soldiers in the distance, and curled his lips disdainfully: "War elephant? What a big meat."

"In the middle of construction, you can't be careless. Although the war elephants have a big goal, they are also strong. Now there are wooden boards as cover. Although our giant crossbows are powerful, they may not be able to shoot through such thick wooden boards. Even if they cross, they may not be able to hit the war elephants hard. The situation just now is unlikely to happen."

"It's okay." Cui Qian sniped his teeth and said, "Isn't there still a Thunderbolt car? Pass my order. The targets of all the crossbows and Thunderbolt cars are these war elephants. The rest are handed over to the crossbowmen to deal with. First, use the Thunderbolt car to bombard them, smash their boards, and then shoot with the city-holding crossbows. I don't believe it. Those rabbits practice every day and can't hit such a big one. It's meat."

Cui Wen nodded repeatedly with a smile. Cui Qian's method should be very effective in dealing with these war elephant commandos.

With an order, all the Thunderbolts and crossbows began to adjust their direction and aimed at the war elephants moving towards the city gate. The speed of war elephants is slow, which is far lower than the speed of the soldiers running, and they have to be consistent to cover the soldiers in the middle. The speed is even slower. For these gunners and crossbowmen who practice every day, if such a target can't be aimed, they will have no face to stand in the army in the future and spread out. I'm sure I'm going to be laughed to death by other camps.

The moat in front of Dunson City is about ten steps away from the city wall. If the war elephant wants to think about the river, it must either wade through the water or fill in this section of the moat first. Anyway, this section of the road is the most dangerous. In order to prevent the war elephant from wasting time when wading in the water, Fan Man first ordered people to fill the river.

Nearly a thousand Funan soldiers carried a bag of soil, rushed forward in a lazy line, ran to the moat, threw down the bag of soil and ran away. Cui Qian was not interested in these Monkey-fast Funan soldiers. He was not interested in wasting arrows. He even avoided blocking. He just watched Fan Man fill the ditch, which made Fan Man breathe a sigh of relief.

After half an hour, several earth piles of seven or eight feet wide were filled on the moat, and a few boards were thrown. The temporary bridge was completed. Fan Man sent ten commandos at the same time. Except for the war elephants facing the gate, the rest were all rushed down the gate by soldiers with boards. The city was not high, and the tower was only two feet. The ordinary city wall is about five feet, which can be climbed up with the help of a simple ladder.

Seeing that Funan's soldiers began to charge, Cui Qian put away his smile and ordered to prepare for a counterattack. The deep drum sounded at the head of the city. The soldiers of Yue, who had held their arms to watch the busy work of the Funan soldiers, also became serious. The archers stood behind the city wall, looking at the target and ready to shoot. The gunners and crossbowmen held their breath and looked at the dirt slope on the moat. The warrior with a knife and shield stood behind and was ready to fight at any time.

The war elephant roared. Driven by the soldiers, it slowly came to the gate with a huge shield composed of thick wooden boards on its back. Under the giant shield, dozens of soldiers pushed a siege mallet and carefully moved forward step by step with the footsteps of the war elephant. They just heard that the Vietnamese shot a war elephant from two hundred steps away. Although they did not see what it looked like with their own eyes, the war elephant was invincible in their minds. Today, they were easily shot to death by others. They were inevitably a little nervous, afraid that the indestructible arrow would fly over all of a sudden. The shield couldn't stop it and shot them directly.

Fortunately, they were not attacked all the way. Seeing the gate in front of them, their footsteps began to speed up. They encouraged each other one by one and pushed the siege mallet forward.

Fan Man looked at it from afar and felt very uneasy. After giving him a horse, the other party had no action, so he watched him fill the moat. If it had been in the past, he would have thought that the other party was a fool who didn't know anything. He didn't know the most favorable opportunity to attack, and let him fill the channel so smoothly, but now he dares not. Thinking so, the more Cui Qian ignored him, the more uneasy he was. He instinctively regarded this as Cui Qian's success.

The more relaxed the other party is, the more nervous he is. He knows that this mentality is very bad, but he still lingers. In a trance, Fan Man feels that he seems to be back to the first time of the war. He just stands for a little longer, and the soreness of his legs will remind him that he has Jing is no longer the brave teenager back then.

Fan Man leaned forward and almost fell on the elephant bar. He stared at the head of the city and looked at the commandos getting closer and closer to the moat. The commandos had already stepped on the dirt slope. At this time, there was a sudden drum sound at the head of the city, and several black spots flew out at the same time, hitting the commandos. Fan Man was surprised that those black spots were definitely not crossbow arrows. After a moment of thought, he remembered the stone ball that Fan Jinsheng had mentioned, and an ominous feeling suddenly surged to his mind.

"Boom!" A cannon stone hit the wooden shield fiercely, bounced up, and smashed into the soil behind. The earth trembled, but the soldiers under the wooden shield did not have time to experience it. The loud noise made when the wooden shield was hit by the cannon stone scared their hands and feet to stagnate, and the moan attracted everyone to look up at the wooden shield.

Then another cannon stone hit the side of the wooden shield. The wooden shield shook violently. The huge impact made even the elephants a little unstable. The bracket of the wooden shield shook and made an unpleasant squeak, which made the soldiers very worried about whether they could withstand the next blow.

"Quick! Run!" (Run!

The leading commando captain shouted loudly. They didn't care to look at the wooden shield above them, pushed the siege mallet, drove the war elephant, and approached the gate as fast as possible. Now it is only ten steps away from the gate. As long as it rushes under the gate, the other party will be out of reach. The soldiers who can enter the commandos are all experienced people. There is no need for a hundred people to remind them that they also know what to do. Then they shout and rush forward together.

After just two steps, their good luck came to an end. Eight thunderbolts aimed at the commando. The distance was close, and the attack point was fixed. They had been aiming for a long time. Now they were like thunder as soon as they launched. In one breath, eight gun stones flew one after another, and three of them hit the wooden shield. Although the wooden shield was not It was smashed, but it was crooked by the impact, revealing a protective gap.

And these gaps provide an excellent opportunity for the 20 crossbows that flew later.

Twenty giant crossbows like spears shot on the wooden shield one after another, shaking the wooden shield that had been hit hard. Three giant crossbows broke through the wooden shield one after another. Then, a huge crossbow passed through the gap, easily penetrated the thick skin of the war elephant, and stabbed into the body of the war elephant, and blood gushed out along the blood tank. The soldiers next to him were in pain, and they struggled violently. The wooden shield exposed a larger gap, and another huge crossbow passed through the gap and shot on the siege mallet. The arrow with barbs was shot into the siege mallet. The rest of the soldiers couldn't stand it and retreated two steps.

The soldiers were stunned when they looked at the trembling crossbow arrows, but the greater bad luck came one after another. The injured war elephant was cut off by the sharp edges of the arrows in his body. It was so painful that they rushed to the side regardless. The soldiers on the back of the elephant could not control them with all their strength. They looked at them and The two war elephants on their shoulders parted ways and smashed the huge wooden shield, and the soldiers hidden under the wooden shield were uncovered in front of the archers waiting on the head of the city.

"Shoot!" Cui Wen waved his hand with no expression on his face.

The Funan soldiers who pushed the siege mallet didn't even have time to be surprised. They were soon shot down by the roaring arrow rain. Only a few soldiers were scared to death. They threw down the siege mallet, cried, turned around and ran away. The arrows at the head of the city accompanied them like shadows and shot them down one by one. In a moment, dozens of corpses fell in front of the battle.

The wounded war elephants ran along the wall sadly, rushing to pieces of Funan soldiers who had just rushed across the moat and were about to set up a ladder to attack. The Funan soldiers were suddenly in chaos. Some climbed up and some ran back. No one dared to go crazy head-on with the war elephant, and those who could not dodged were either knocked to the ground by the war elephant, or pierced through the chest by ivory holes, or trampled on by the war elephant, which was terrible.

Cui Qian held the wall, poked out his head to look at the crazy war elephant, and curled his lips: "War elephant? It's just a whole of meat."

(to be continued)