With that in mind, the girl would not foolishly choose to assassinate Xiang Yu this time. However, this did not mean that she had given up. That's right, aside from direct assassination, there was also poison!
All she had to do was observe Fangzheng's meals carefully and find an opportunity to poison him!
Of course, this was not something that could be done in a single night. She would need to spend a long time observing him. Fortunately, in the next two days, Xiangyu did not launch another attack on Hangu Pass, which made things more convenient for the girl. She observed him a few times and found that Fangzheng's diet was no different from the other soldiers.
Generally speaking, based on her experience, there would always be someone specifically in charge of the food and lodging. One reason was that he was a general, after all, and the other was to prevent him from being poisoned.
However, Fangzheng was not so particular. His meals were no different from the other soldiers, except that he would add some meat and wine and bring them to his room.
In that case, the best way was to poison Fangzheng's food on the way to his room. However, although the girl in charge of delivering the food looked weak and weak, and seemed to be about the same age as her, the girl could sense that the other party's strength was not inferior to hers. Acting rashly might alert the other party instead.
But no matter what, she was a 'professional assassin' and naturally knew that the opportunity had to wait. So, the girl would come here every day and wait until night fell and Fangzheng went to bed. Her goal was to find an opportunity to poison him to death. However, it seemed that this opportunity was not so easy to find.
During this period of time, Xiangyu had not been idle either. He had been thinking of ways to neutralize Fangzheng's strange weapons, and it had to be said that he had come up with some ideas. After a discussion with Fan Zeng, Xiangyu decided to move the existing catapults back again. They would no longer try to destroy the city walls, but instead use the catapults to launch rocks to 'bombard' the ground outside Hangu Pass. According to the results of their research, these so-called 'Earth Fires' should have some kind of intricate mechanism that would explode the moment someone stepped on it.
Since that was the case, he might as well detonate it in advance. Wouldn't that be fine?
Other than that, Xiangyu had also found a way to deal with the strange weapons on the wall. He ordered his men to modify the assault vehicle, adding a thick wooden wall in front of it. From afar, it looked like a forklift. Xiangyu's plan was simple and straightforward. The enemy was mainly relying on the strange black cylinders and the earth fire. Therefore, as long as they could destroy the earth fire and rush to the bottom of the city as fast as they could while staring at the explosion, they could climb up the city walls and engage in a chaotic battle. The black cylinders would be rendered useless, and by then, he could press forward with his army and win for sure!
After deciding on the plan, Xiangyu did not attack immediately. Instead, he ordered his men to prepare the weapons. After all, he knew that the army would be exhausted after a spurt of energy. The first time, it could be said that the other party caught him off guard, and it wasn't his fault. However, the second time had clearly lowered the army's morale. If the third time still didn't work, Xiangyu felt that there was really no hope.
This time, the preparations took half a month. After that, Xiang Yu gathered his army again and launched another attack on Hangu Pass.
"Boom boom!! Boom boom boom!!! "
The flying stones smashed into the ground, triggering round after round of explosions. Fangzheng stood on the city wall and watched the scene. He was not surprised at all.
"Hmm, Xiangyu is indeed Xiangyu. I knew he'd have some skill."
For Fangzheng, the landmine array was not difficult to break. After all, the biggest function of landmines was not to kill, but to deter. It was precisely because the enemy did not know how much danger lay ahead that they would naturally retreat in fear. However, this kind of crude and direct method was only useful now. After all, when landmines became common in history, catapults had long since retired from the stage of history.
But now … Fangzheng had to admit that the catapults were quite useful as mine dispellers.
Most of the stones thrown by the catapults were large in size, which could easily trigger the landmines. At the same time, these large stones could be used as walls to block the attacks of cannons.
"Kill them all!!!"
Amidst the explosions of the cannons and landmines, the soldiers shouted and charged forward. They bent down and carried ladders used to climb the city wall. They rushed through the broken landmine array as fast as they could and headed straight for the city wall.
"Not bad, not bad, not bad at all."
Looking at the soldiers below, Fangzheng nodded in satisfaction. The creativity of the working people was indeed endless. Frankly speaking, if he had only built landmines and cannons, he would probably be in for a tough battle. Fortunately, Fangzheng was prepared for this.
"Release the signal."
With that in mind, Fangzheng gave an order to the general beside him. The latter immediately obeyed the order and left. A moment later, a firework suddenly flew into the sky and exploded with a bang.
"What's that?"
Xiang Yu frowned slightly when he saw the firework flying into the sky. Of course he could guess that it was some kind of signal, but … what kind of signal could it be?
Was Fang Zhengzhi going to attack? Or was there an ambush? But an ambush? No matter what, Xiang Yu was a famous general. He would definitely send scouts to keep a close watch on the surroundings before he attacked Hangu Pass. It would be a joke if someone really went around and attacked him. He was sure that the scouts had reported that there were no ambushes around!
It couldn't have come from the sky, right …
Boom!!!
However, this time, before Xiang Yu could finish lamenting in his heart, there was a sudden explosion. Then, he saw his army exploding everywhere!
That's right, it was the army at the front that was being bombarded previously, so Xiang Yu could still accept it. But now, the army at the back was also being attacked at the same time. What was going on? Xiang Yu had specially investigated before and knew that the range of those "weapons" was very long, so he had deliberately moved his army further away. But why were they still being bombed?
It couldn't have come from the sky … Huh?
At this thought, Xiang Yu shuddered. He hurriedly raised his head and looked at the sky. Then, his eyes widened in surprise.
In the clear blue sky, Xiang Yu could see a few dark shadows floating around. Due to the bright sunlight, Xiang Yu could not see clearly what they were, but he was sure that they were not clouds or birds!
"W-what are those?!"
This time, not only Xiang Yu, but the other soldiers also saw the strange shadows in the sky. They immediately tensed up, but what made them even more nervous was yet to come. Small black dots fell from the black shadows. These small black dots whizzed down and smashed into the army formation. Then …..
Boom!!!
Another wave of explosions was triggered.
"It's an immortal! It's an immortal! "
"It's an immortal spell! Run!!"
This time, the soldiers could no longer remain calm. The people of this era were still more superstitious. They did not know what the things flying in the sky were, but they knew that they were definitely not ordinary!
That's right, this was Fangzheng's third hidden trump card — the hot air balloon!
With the technology of this era, it was, of course, impossible to make a particularly high quality hot air balloon. In fact, it took Fangzheng a long time to make these few hot air balloons. After all, the only material that could be used to make hot air balloons in this era was animal skin, and sewing such a large hot air balloon with animal skin took a lot of time and energy!
The next step was simple. Taking advantage of the lack of anti-air equipment in this era, Fangzheng sent people to ride the hot air balloon into the sky, then throw a bunch of land mines down. There was no need for accuracy … Gravity would solve the problem on its own.
"Retreat! Retreat now!!"
At that moment, Xiangyu could no longer remain calm. Although Fangzheng's hot air balloon had certain limitations, he couldn't see it clearly from high up in the sky. Now that he saw Fangzheng in the sky, he naturally knew that it was Fangzheng's handiwork. Under such circumstances, there was no way he could continue fighting!
There was no other way but to retreat!
But to Xiang Yu's surprise, Fangzheng's signal this time was not just for the hot air balloon.
Aerial bombardment and the coordination of the armored troops on the ground was the only way to win!
"General!!"
Just as Xiang Yu was about to retreat, a scout from the rear suddenly came with news.
"We're under attack!"
Was there really an ambush?!
Xiang Yu's face darkened when he heard this.
"How many people do they have?"
"I … I don't know, but they have at least a thousand chariots!"
"Chariots?"
Xiang Yu was really stunned by this unexpected answer. Ever since King Wuling of Zhao Wuling started to wear horseback riding and archery, chariots had slowly faded from the stage of history. But now, chariots had appeared again?
But what puzzled Xiang Yu even more was …
"Can a mere thousand chariots not be enough to destroy them?"
That's right. Xiang Yu had brought thousands of chariots and tens of thousands of cavalry to Hangu Pass this time. How could they not take down a mere thousand chariots?
"Those chariots are different, my lord!!"
"I'll go take a look myself!"
Hearing the other party's tearful reply, Xiang Yu knew that the situation was not good. He hurriedly whipped his horse and advanced to the rear. When he reached the rear, Xiang Yu immediately understood why the enemy's thousand chariots made his subordinates so nervous.
In the past, chariots were pulled by four horses to a carriage, with three soldiers standing on it. One of them was in charge of driving the horse, while the other two were armed with swords, spears, and bows to attack. However, the chariots that appeared in front of them were completely different. They were huge, enclosed wooden carriages, and there were eight horses pulling them in two rows. These chariots had four wheels and were huge in size. They were also equipped with some kind of crossbow.
These crossbows were also unusual objects. They could fire thirty bolts in a row, and a thousand chariots could shoot almost any enemy to the ground at the same time. Although Xiang Yu's side retaliated, the bolts landed on the chariots, unable to deal any effective damage to the enemies inside.
This was also Fangzheng's design. Of course, according to his original plan, it would have been best if he could make a tank out of it. Unfortunately, this was too difficult to achieve. There were no engines in this era, so they had to rely on horses. Not to mention whether horses could pull the heavy cannons, just the sound of the cannons exploding was enough to scare the horses away. Therefore, Fangzheng had no choice but to design the most famous crossbow in ancient times. After all, it could be used as an armored vehicle.
Although there was no rubber, the wooden wheels were naturally bumpy on the plains, and there was no riding experience, it was not like Fangzheng was the one riding it, so the riding experience did not really matter.
There was an air raid from above, and these strange chariots with great destructive power at the rear. This time, Xiang Yu's army completely collapsed. Xiang Yu's cavalry and chariots launched counterattacks again and again. But the enemy's crossbow was ingeniously designed. Although its firing speed could not be compared to machine guns, it was enough to deal with the galloping cavalry.
Moreover, the enemy had eight horses pulling the chariots. In terms of "horsepower", they were a little stronger than Xiang Yu's side. When they saw Xiang Yu's army charging at them, they immediately turned and ran, then fired another volley. Xiang Yu was so angry that he almost vomited blood!
Was his 400,000 strong army really going to be buried here by the enemy's 40,000 strong army?
This scene was naturally seen by Little Ying. She gritted her teeth and wished that she could immediately rush out of her hiding spot to kill Fangzheng. However, the girl knew that she had to wait for an opportunity. It did not matter if her brother lost this time. As long as she could kill this murderer, her brother would definitely be able to deal with them easily!
At this moment, the young lady saw a few maids hurriedly walking out from the back with plates of food in their hands.
"How's the front? Does Lord Fangzheng want to have a meal? "
"Lord Fangzheng said to put the food on the stove in his room first. The battle will be over soon, so he'll go back and have a meal after the battle."
"Alright, I understand."
Hearing the messenger's words,
The maid nodded and carried the tray into Fangzheng's room to place it down. However, just as she finished preparing, she heard a sudden shout from behind.
"Sister Huan, there's a problem over here...."
"What problem? Let me take a look. "
The maidservant turned around and left Fangzheng's room. She didn't forget to lock the door carefully. Looking at this scene, the young lady's eyes lit up.
An opportunity!
While the maid was gone, Little Ying hurriedly flipped over from the eaves and jumped into the room from the open window. Then, she hurriedly took out the poison in her arms, opened the lid of the wine pot and poured it in, then stirred it a few times.
Heh heh heh, you're dead for sure this time!
Just as Little Ying was about to leave, a series of footsteps came from outside.
(End of Chapter)
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