At that time, it was a very hot time, epidemic diseases, and a large number of people suffering from diarrhea and beriberi, which seriously affected the combat effectiveness.

The generals of each battalion reported the injuries to Zhuge Ke, and they all believed that the situation was serious now, and it would be very unfavorable for the Wu army if the battle continued like this.

Zhuge Ke was furious, thinking that these generals and colonels were deliberately snubbing the morale of the army, although there was an epidemic, it was far less serious than them, and these generals and colonels deliberately exaggerated, just to shirk their responsibility for the disadvantage of attacking the city.

Therefore, Zhuge Ke ordered that those who dare to lie about the epidemic will be severely punished.

The officers of the battalions were afraid, and no one dared to report to Zhuge Ke anymore.

Zhuge Ke was secretly proud, how could he not see the tricks of these officers, and they all wanted to find excuses to shirk their responsibilities, so that no one would have the courage to lie about the military situation anymore.

At this moment, Zhuge Ke is worried, or has not taken the new city, now the air is hot, it is indeed not conducive to the battle, but the conditions are equal, the Wu army is affected, is the Wei army not affected, you must know that the defenders in the city are only more than 3,000 people, and there are also casualties and attrition, in contrast, the Wu army is more powerful, and it should be less affected, but the siege battle has been fought from May to August, and it has been attacking for almost three months, but it has never been able to take the new city, which does not make Zhuge Ke worried.

Zhuge thought about it for a long time, and thought that the main reason why he couldn't take the new city was not because the city was strong and the defenders were stubborn, but because the generals and colonels of the Wu army did not do their best.

It seems that he is still too benevolent and conniving, and it is impossible to take the new city at all if he looks like this.

So Zhuge Ke gathered the generals and captains of each battalion and gave them a death order.

All the generals of the Wu army have a bitter face, it is not that they do not do their best, but now the Wu army has too many injuries, the soldiers are tired, the army is discouraged, and the combat effectiveness is greatly reduced.

However, Zhuge Ke's order could not be disobeyed, and the generals could only select soldiers who had not been sick from each battalion to form a death squad and launch a new round of assault on Xincheng.

The battle was quite fierce, the city wall of the new city was seriously damaged, the Wu army struggled to attack, the defenders gradually weakened, seeing that the city was about to fall, the defender Zhang Te had a plan, so he threw a letter from the city and asked the Wu army for peace.

After the soldiers of the Wu army picked up the letter, they quickly handed the letter to Zhuge Ke, who looked at it after opening the letter, and laughed and said: "The Wei army is at the end of the crossbow, and now it can't hold on, if you want to surrender, it's so good, pass the order, suspend the attack, and allow Zhang Te to go out of the city and surrender." ”

Zhang Te did not come out in person, but sent a messenger to meet Zhuge Ke, and said to Zhuge Ke: "General Zhang is not unwilling to surrender, but General Zhang's relatives are in Luoyang, if General Zhang surrenders, then the family will be punished, according to the law of Wei, besieged the city for 100 days and the rescue has not arrived, although the defenders surrendered, but the family members are not punished, so General Zhang has insisted so far." Now the army of Wu has besieged the city for more than 90 days, and most of the soldiers in the city have died, and they have long been unable to hold on, but if Taifu insists on continuing to attack, in order to protect his family, the soldiers of the defending army can only fight to the end. If Taifu is willing to suspend the attack, when it comes to the 100-day period, General Zhang will personally open the city gate and welcome Taifu into the city. This is General Zhang's seal, and he is willing to hand it over to Taifu as a basis. ”

Wei Lu also does have a rule that those who surrender without help for 100 days are not guilty, Zhuge Ke did not doubt Zhang Te's sincerity, anyway, the Wu army has besieged the new city for more than 90 years, and it is not worse than the three or five, if Zhang Te can really raise the city and surrender, it will save trouble.

So Zhuge Ke said to the envoy: "You go back and tell General Zhang that he has asked Ben Taifu to approve, and after a hundred days, Ben Taifu will go to the new city in person to welcome General Zhang to surrender." So he did not accept Zhang Te's seal, and let the messenger go back to the new city.

After the envoy went back, he reported to Zhang Te, and Zhang Teh laughed and said: "Zhuge Kezhong is also scheming!" ”

What Zhang Te made was indeed a strategy to delay the army, and after more than 90 consecutive battles, the situation of the new city was indeed not optimistic, the casualties of the fighters were halved, and the defense facilities of the city were broken.

Therefore, Zhang Te thought of this method, using the fact that it took 100 days to surrender to confuse Zhuge Ke and make him suspend the attack, while Zhang Te used this time to repair the city and strengthen the defense.

The materials were insufficient, so Zhang Te ordered the houses in the city to be demolished, and the demolished bricks and stones were used to fill the gaps in the city, and the surplus materials could also be used as rolling logs and stones.

In order to prevent the Wu army from discovering it, Zhang Te ordered to repair the city wall only every night, and Bai Ze died down, so as to confuse the Wu army to the greatest extent.

In the blink of an eye, the period of 100 days has arrived, Zhuge Ke personally led the troops to the city of Xincheng, I thought that Zhang Te would open the city gate, go out of the city and surrender, but waited for half a while, but found that there was no movement Zhuge Ke was just about to send someone to negotiate, but he didn't expect a shout in the city, the Wei army rushed to the city, Zhang Te shouted at Zhuge Ke in the city: "A certain life is a Wei person, death is a Wei ghost, how can you descend to Wu dog?" ”

Zhuge Ke only found out about the plan at this time, and immediately became angry, and ordered the Wu army to launch a strong attack, vowing to break Zhang Te's body into ten thousand pieces.

Zhang Te ordered the arrows to be released, and suddenly the arrows rained down on the city, and the Wu army suffered heavy casualties.

Several truces gave the Wei army a full chance to breathe, not only the damaged city defense of the new city was repaired, but also the tired soldiers also recovered their fighting spirit, although the defenders were halved, but they were united as one, and they hated the enemy, even if the offensive of the Wu army was fierce, it was never able to break through the city defense of the new city and attack the city.

Zhuge Ke was so angry that his lungs exploded, he boasted that he was smart and world-beating, and his strategy was unparalleled, but he was pecked by the geese all his life, Zhang Te made it clear that it was a plan to delay the army, but he didn't notice it for a while, and he was fooled, the new city was already at his fingertips, but he paused a few times, giving Zhang Te a chance to breathe, and now the fortifications of the new city are reconstructed, won't the Wu army have to start again, with the current tired state of the Wu army, if you want to take the new city, how difficult is it?

And just when the battle situation in Xincheng fell into a stalemate, Sima Shi had already deployed a counterattack plan, he sent Sima Zhao to lead the Chinese army of 50,000 to Huainan in the south, and ordered Wang Chang, the general of Zhengnan, to go out of Lu'an, and the Wei army rushed to Xincheng from the north and west.