Cao Ang’s mission is to guard the west gate, cover Zhu Ling’s right wing while preventing the Black Mountain Army from breaking through in the city. Considering the actual terrain, Yuan Tan and others estimated that Zhu Jun would arrange for Sun Ce to attack the west gate, so he specially arranged for Cao Ang to station here. From the moment he received the task, Cao Ang was considering how to deal with the battle.

The one who lost the worst since their father and son debuted was not the Battle of Xingshui, but the several battles between Nanyang and Sun Ce. The Battle of Xingyang faced the Xiliang soldiers, which were known for their elites. The strength was disparate and the troops were severely insufficient, so they were defeated. It would be different when they fought with Sun Ce. They were defeated by Sun Ce several times with few defeats, Cao Chun and Cao Ang were even seriously injured. Cao Cao was finally beaten to the point of destroying the entire army. He had no face to see Yuan Shao again and went to Guanzhong, and his confidence was seriously damaged.

Half a year later, Sun Ce's strength became stronger, but Cao Ang lost the protection of his father Cao Cao and had to face Sun Ce alone. The pressure was very high. He repeatedly discussed with Chen Gong, Cao Ren and others, and prepared a variety of response plans, including how to argue with Sun Ce.

Facing Sun Ce's invitation, Cao Ang shook his head and shouted: "General Sun has Meng Ben and Xia Yu's courage. Ang was ashamed of himself and did not dare to let the general go against him. He would do his best to do so. He would do his best to win the battle with the general, and he would never refuse to die."

Sun Ce praised: "Cao Ang is very cunning. He obviously dared not meet me, but he just said it so well and implied that I am a brave man. This must be taught by Chen Gong, and it has the sour smell of a scholar."

Zhang Hong smiled and said, "I also have a sour advice. Even if Cao Ang is willing, I don't agree with the general meeting alone with him."

Sun Ce laughed. "Don't worry, sir, I'm teasing him." He paused and said, "Zhu Ling is at the south gate, Cao Ang is at the west gate, and Liu Bei's situation is unknown. Who is at the east gate? Could it be that Yuan Tan is going to fight in person?"

"It shouldn't be." Guo Jia shook his head and said, "For us, the condescending cooperation of the Heishan Army in the East Gate is most conducive to defense, but for Yuan Tan, it is difficult to defend the East Gate, and he will not go into battle personally. The son of a thousand gold medals never bows to the hall, not to mention that the Yuan family has billions of wealth and ambition to establish a new dynasty."

"Send someone to see." Sun Ce patted his stomach, feeling a little resentful. "I am the fate of a general, but I am fucking the heart of the general."

Zhang Hong couldn't help laughing. "If Mr. Zhu can defend Luoyang, the general will benefit the most, and it is worth it to give more."

Several people laughed out loud. Guo Jia called Xu Huang and asked him to arrange someone to go to the east gate to investigate the situation. Cao Ang had already set up defenses on the other side, and it was no longer realistic to cross the river secretly. There was only one way to attack. Judging from this situation, it was probably not possible to solve it in a day or a day. Sun Ce prepared for the war honestly, first letting Zhang Hong be responsible for establishing a camp, taking measures to prevent heavy rains and floods, and then set up a position by the river, ordering the baggage battalion to prepare for setting up a command platform, logging wood to build an archery building.

Sun Ce was busy here, and Cao Ang was not idle either. He prepared to block the position on the other side, even more serious than Sun Ce. Facing Sun Ce, he did not dare to be careless at all. Fortunately, Sun Ce was the offensive side and he was the defensive side, and the task was relatively simple. Everyone was a clear move, and there was nothing to hide. It was a complete competition of strength. It depends on who was well prepared, who was well-trained and well-equipped.

Two hours later, King Chen arrived with three thousand powerful crossbow soldiers. Sun Ce stepped forward and saluted, climbed the command platform that had just been raised with King Chen, looking at the situation on the other side. Only then did he find that Cao Ang's formation was actually preparing a stone throwing machine, and some craftsmen were assembling and about to take shape.

"This kid learns very quickly." Sun Ce praised.

King Chen was puzzled. Sun Ce pointed to the stone thrower opposite and asked King Chen to see. King Chen glanced at it and saw that the stone thrower was different from the original style. It changed from human pull to counterweight. He couldn't help but praise it. He felt that this small change was very useful, saving manpower and ensuring the stability of each launch. When he learned that it was improved by a little girl Huang Yueying, he sighed with a touch of his palm.

"A general can use people, even women can play such a big role."

"Your Majesty, don't envy your daughter. When you return from studying in Wancheng, you will find that women are not only not worse than men, but even stronger than men in many aspects. It's a pity to make them satisfied with taking care of their husbands and children. If you have talent and have nowhere to play, how can you not cause trouble?"

King Chen laughed and then sighed: "Everyone is like this, not only women, but men are the same."

Seeing that Cao Ang had a stone throwing machine, Sun Ce did not dare to neglect it, so he invited the craftsmen from the baggage battalion to discuss. After some discussion, the craftsmen of the baggage battalion did not agree to build a stone throwing machine to fight back. The stone throwing machine was easy to build, but the materials used for throwing were difficult to find. The water from the Yellow River comes from the Yellow River, with a very high sand content. It has to be cleared every time. Sometimes the Yellow River will break, so there is a large amount of sand accumulation on both sides of the bunker, but there is no stone. If you use the sand accumulation as throwing objects, you have to pack it in straw bags, which is limited in weight and not enough lethality. Moreover, our army is the attacking party. After crossing the river, these stone throwing machines cannot be transported across the river, so it becomes waste and a major waste of manpower and material resources.

After repeated weighing, Sun Ce felt that the craftsmen had a professional opinion, so he canceled the plan to build a stone throwing machine to counterattack. The combat consumption was huge, and the stone throwing machine had no decisive role and the input-output was not proportional, so there was no need to waste energy.

However, Sun Ce did not take Cao Angjian's stone throwing machine lightly. According to the size of the stone throwing machine built by Cao Ang, the range is about 200 steps, which is equivalent to the four-stone crossbow. Sun Ce asked King Chen to arrange some six-stone crossbows that shoot more than 24 steps on the shooting tower to specifically deal with these stone throwing machines. One watchtower can stand two to three crossbowmen, which is enough to suppress two to three stone throwing machines. The people who operate the stone throwing machine are Min Ji. These people do not have iron armor protection. If they are shot by the crossbow, they will be almost 100% injured.

King Chen agreed immediately and personally selected crossbowmen with excellent shooting skills to prepare six-stone crossbows, and prepared some oil-soaked cloth, tied to the arrow shaft to burn stone throwing machines.

After a day of preparation, neither side launched an attack. After arranging the alert personnel, they returned to the camp to rest, regain their energy, and prepared for the war the next day. Sun Ce and King Chen had dinner while discussing tomorrow's war. Xu Huang came back. Not only did he go to the central army, but he also went outside the east gate to check in person and ambushed two scouts on the other side. After interrogation, he confirmed that the person arranged by Yuan Tan at the east gate was Cheng Yu from Dongjun.

When Sun Ce heard the name of Cheng Yu, he did not dare to be careless. Cheng Yu was a strategist in history books and was passed down by Guo Jia, but he was not a full-time strategist like Guo Jia. He could actually command troops and become a general. Of course, what later generations know most was the human jerky incident. This is a cruel man. Cao Bao and Xu Jian knew nothing about him, and if they were not careful, they would suffer his losses.

Sun Ce found Jiang Gan and asked him to remind Cao Bao to be careful of Cheng Yu.

Of course, what Sun Ce is most concerned about is Liu Bei. Liu Bei's whereabouts are unknown has always been a thorn in his heart. Liu Bei's ability to command the army is average, but his subordinates are related. Zhang's two powerful generals are the most suitable for charging into the battlefield. If he suddenly rushed out when the two armies were in a stalemate, it would not be good news for him.

He called Mi Fang and told him not to care about the war near Junyi and to send people to expand the search range to hundreds of miles to ensure that Liu Bei could not appear suddenly.

Mi Fang took the order and left.

Seeing Sun Ce constantly arranging tasks, King Chen didn't say anything, but his eyes were full of appreciation.
Chapter completed!