What Chang Yu didn't know was that when he led his troops to look around by the riverside lake, Bai Wang, an earthen high platform outside the opposite side of the river, was holding a clairvoyant mirror and looking at them viciously, although he didn't know that it was the little eunuch who came, but according to the spy report, it should be an elite of officers and soldiers from the war horse and battle armor.

Two days ago, there were only a few scattered officers and soldiers scouting around, but today an elite cavalry was suddenly sent to the front to kill the rebels' horses, which was a very obvious signal that the storm was coming again.

Bai Wang looked around on the high platform, there were thousands of people around him who were busy building defense lines, most of these people were cannon fodder and people in the city, all of them were requisitioned as coolies at this time, although there were complaints in their hearts, no one dared to say anything, because the end would be miserable.

In such a grim situation, it is impossible for Bai Wang to continue to maintain a hypocritical face as before, the top priority is to resist the enemy going south, and what he lacks most is manpower and food and grass, so at this time, the people in the city must be absolutely obedient, let you contribute, you have to work, let you pay for food, you have to go bankrupt, if you dare to say a word, your family will be ruined.

Chizhou City is panicked under this white terror, but the efficiency is surprisingly high, the general mobilization obeys Bai Wang's command and mobilization, transports earth and stone to the city, goes out of the city to dig ditches, digs soil and builds walls, and in less than three days, the superior terrain of Chizhou City has been used to create a natural danger defense line.

Bai Wang is still very satisfied with this line of defense, to be precise, he is satisfied with the natural geographical advantages of Chizhou, the vast and boundless lake of the north of the city will block Chizhou tightly, the northernmost such as the bottleneck slender is called Chaoyang Lake and Qingxi River, Qiupu River converges on the riverside three waters, less than 100 meters away from the Yangtze River, the water system is complex and dazzling, if it is not easy to travel to and from merchants on weekdays, it is the best line of defense at this time.

There are no roads in the mountains in the south, the lakes in the east are vast, and the rivers in the north are rolling (the Yangtze River runs northeast and southwest in Chizhou), and there are only two ways for officers and soldiers to come here, and they can fly with their wings or fill the pits with the lives of tens of millions of people.

It is impossible to grow wings, so if the officers and soldiers want to come over, they must pay a heavy price and lose the ability to continue to go south, and Bai Wang has been mentally prepared, even if the officers and soldiers break through this line of defense, he will retreat to Chizhou City, although the city wall of Chizhou is not tall, but it is surrounded by water, yes, Chizhou City is just surrounded by Qiupu and Qingxi River, and it has become a natural moat.

With such a natural barrier, the officers and men had to pay a painful price again if they wanted to break the city.

Let's fight, even if this Chizhou city is turned into ruins and becomes a hell on earth, as long as it can stop the officers and soldiers from going south, everything is worth it, Bai Wang looked up at the sun, it was the hottest time at noon, but he didn't have the slightest intention of letting the people around him who were busy building fortifications to rest, and he didn't even plan to give them a gang, now that there is a shortage of food, just give one meal a day and hang on to his life.

"Is there any news from Anqing?" After getting off the high platform, Bai Wang walked to the shade of the tree next to him, scooped a scoop of cold water, filled it and asked the soldiers around him.

The day before yesterday, he had learned that the officers and soldiers had surrounded Anqing but had not yet begun to attack, to be honest, he was not particularly worried about the officers and soldiers attacking the city, because the high walls of Anqing City were thick and there was almost no possibility of breaking the city in one fell swoop, he was worried that the army in the city was unstable, and even a little worried that Cheng Niandong would not see him come to his aid for a long time and had the intention of surrendering under his thoughts, so he sent people to cross the river to Anqing to collect intelligence for several days, but he went more and came back less.

The soldiers around him shook their heads: "Marshal, I am going to Anqing for hundreds of miles, the mountain roads are difficult to travel, the rivers are turbulent, and the officers and soldiers are tightly blocked, and our people are not so fast."

Bai Wang didn't speak with a dark face, a few days ago, his original intention was to first attack the morale of the other party with the strength of the young man and the little eunuch, and then take advantage of the victory to break through Tongling City, so that the siege of Anqing could be relieved, even if the officers and soldiers over there gritted their teeth and did not retreat, but the righteous army in the city would definitely have a morale boost after hearing the news and defend Anqing City.

Can ...... now Stealing chickens and rice did not lead to a beating, but he was beaten and retreated for more than 100 miles, and Anqing also broke the news, which of course made him panic very much.

"Da Shuai, Da Shuai" The high platform lookout post shouted from above, and Bai Wang, who was squinting and taking a nap under the shade of the tree, turned over and stood up: "What's wrong?" ”

"Officers and soldiers...... Coming" The lookout post swallowed his saliva and looked very nervous, Bai Wang climbed up the high platform with a gloomy face and looked east with a clairglass holding a telescope, there were several groups of people and horses scurrying everywhere within ten miles, and he saw a black line winding in the sky by the riverside, so he couldn't help but take a long breath, he knew that the main force of the officers and soldiers was coming.

"After the war, I was in a hurry to chase after it in just two days, and this dog eunuch was not afraid to knock his teeth" Bai Wang's heart was a little confused, looking at the officers and soldiers in the distance in a daze, and he didn't even know when Yuan Sanzhong came to his side, he sighed when he heard the words, and then sneered: "He is also in a hurry, and he can't afford it!" ”

Is Chang Yu in a hurry?

At this time, he was resting with his subordinates under the shade of a tree by the lake, and he was barbecuing with some wild game on the lake, Chang Yu leaned against the big tree and looked at the lake and laughed with Li Muxian, looking more like he was coming for an outing.

At noon, when the weather was at its hottest, the army behind looked for a shady place to rest on the spot, making a fire to make food, mowing grass and feeding horses, and there was no trace of impatience.

It was not until near dusk that the army of officers and soldiers pressed the border, advancing to camp on the shore of Pingtian Lake, or wandering along the river or looking at the lakeside, which made the thief army very nervous.

Lu Daqi, Wu Sangui and other generals went to the Pingtian Lake Break to watch, and when they saw the turbulent water like ten thousand horses galloping, they couldn't help frowning, and when they saw the complete fortifications of the thief army opposite, they each had a gloomy face and did not speak.

However, when everyone was watching, the thief army on the other side launched a sneak attack, and a burst of random arrows shot to startle everyone to retreat again and again, how could the firepower be so fierce when the heart was more than 100 meters apart, and after a careful look, it was found that the thief army was actually a strong crossbow, Lu Daqi was well-informed and thought that the thief army was very likely to be a foot crossbow or a divine arm bow, with a range of up to three or four hundred steps, and even farther than the range of the tiger squat cannon.

When did the thief army get this domineering thing, the news quickly spread to Chang Yu's ears, which aroused his curiosity, so he studied it with the generals.

The crossbow is actually a strengthened version of the bow, which has been there since the Qin period, and Zhuge Liang also got a Zhuge crossbow during the Three Kingdoms, but at that time it was only a little stronger than the bow and arrow, and even the range of the bow and arrow in the Ming Dynasty, but in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the king of the strong crossbow was finally summoned, and that was the bed crossbow!

The bed crossbow is a great weapon comparable to artillery, and the huge javelin fired is not only as simple as killing the enemy, it can directly attack the city, and has great destructive power on the city tower and city wall, and its range can be as far as three miles!

In the Tang Dynasty, it changed manpower to ox power, improving flexibility and speed, until the Song Dynasty ushered in a peak, in order to cope with the cavalry of the northern nomads, the invention of the foot crossbow and the god arm bow (crossbow), bed crossbow also has many more models, both range and lethality have reached the peak.

In the Yuan Dynasty, it may be that the Yuan people were too confident in their own riding and shooting, and they did not dare to be interested in these things at all, so the crossbow began to decline, and with the development of firearms almost withdrew from the stage of history, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was replaced by firearms, and the regular army did not use this thing at all, leaving only some hand crossbows and a few improved crossbows, just like with airplanes and cannons, who still has millet plus rifles, yes, some people are using it.

As long as this craft is still there, there is still a place to use, Li Zicheng and others also relied on millet plus rifles in the early days of the rebellion, and the melee relied on the bow and crossbow to attack from a distance, but later it got better and better, and the muskets and cannons that the officers and soldiers had also have, and those backward long-range attack weapons such as bed crossbows were also retired, but now they are seen again.

"This is not a bed crossbow, it should be a divine arm bow, which was popular in the Song Dynasty for a while" Lu Daqi had encountered it when he fought with Bai Wang in previous years, so he was no stranger: "This thing has a far range than a bow and arrow, if the thief army is prolific, it will not be effective for us!" ”

Chang Yu just smiled, this year just to make a decent bow has to take three or five months, the process of this kind of strong crossbow is even more complex and time-consuming, Chang Yu has also heard of the divine arm bow, using synthetic materials, because the bow body of a single wood can't withstand so much strength, compared to mulberry wood, even the Zhemu bow in his hand can't do it!

Therefore, he concluded that there were only a few of the thieves' armies, even if they had this kind of divine arm bow, but if they were foot crossbows, they would ...... It's a bit of a hassle.

However, although the pedal crossbow is powerful, its range is not as good as that of the Divine Arm Bow.

But the long-range suppression firepower is more than the range, so ......

came and did not be rude, Chang Yu immediately ordered Wu Weiying to let him fire a few cannons at the opposite bank, first, to try to adjust the range, and second, to extinguish the other party's prestige.

&&&&&&&&&&

Correct the geographical location, Chizhou is not due south in the southwest of Tongling, the Yangtze River is north-south in Tongling, and Chizhou is northeast and southwest, so the Yangtze River is in the north of Chizhou, and Pingtian Lake is in the east of Chizhou.