Chapter 173: Let's Annoy the Enemy

Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and Chen Xi received the latest report from Jingzhou. He sighed, realizing that Yuan Shu could sometimes be overly confident to the point of absurdity. Even with his rear being attacked and forced into a defensive posture, Yuan Shu remained calm, continuing his southern campaign as if nothing was wrong. Such psychological resilience wasn’t something an ordinary person could possess.

However, from a purely objective standpoint, Chen Xi had to admit that Yuan Shu’s decision wasn’t entirely without merit. Whether it was Chen Xi besieging Pingyu, Liu Bei laying siege to Qiaojun, or Guan Yu attacking Chenguo, none of these strongholds could be taken down quickly. On the other hand, if Yuan Shu could capture Jiangling, he could return victorious and crush Liu Bei’s forces like bugs.

Of course, Chen Xi knew that Yuan Shu’s thought process was likely far less strategic. He was simply too tempted by the prospect of taking Jiangling and had chosen to ignore the threats posed by Liu Bei and Cao Cao. But sometimes, a gut instinct can be more effective at undermining an enemy’s plans than any calculated strategy.

“Strategist, what should we do now?” Hua Xiong asked, bowing. In fact, Hua Xiong was still technically Chen Xi’s personal guard, even though Chen Xi had never really given him any orders.

“We attack. Let’s give them some pressure,” Chen Xi said with resignation. “Since Yuan Shu is being so reckless, it’s time to show him some consequences. Have Yu Jin and the others build a mound and scout the situation. Also, bring in those craftsmen we brought along. Let’s set up a few trebuchets to apply some pressure.”

Yu Jin, accompanied by Xu Yi and Wu Dun, set to work on the mound. Fortunately, Chen Xi’s troops had arrived quickly, so Qiao Rui hadn’t had the chance to chop down all the trees in the vicinity of Pingyu. This made constructing the mound a relatively simple task.

In just two days, 7,000 men using giant logs, dirt, stones, and even debris, managed to create a mound over 100 meters tall. It turns out that when it comes to manual labor, having a lot of people really makes a difference.

More importantly, Qiao Rui had just stood there watching Chen Xi build the mound, doing nothing to stop him. Seeing this, Chen Xi could only lament, “Where’s the intelligence? War is about preventing the enemy from doing what they want. Yet here they are, just watching us play around without doing anything. This is asking for trouble.”

In two days, the craftsmen managed to cobble together six trebuchets. But these were just for show; they were never meant to actually breach the city walls. Attacking a city like Pingyu, with its six-zhang-thick stone walls, using these hastily made trebuchets was laughable. Even a sophisticated siege weapon like the Huihui cannon wouldn’t make a dent.

It’s worth noting that history records very few instances of trebuchets actually bringing down city walls, and when it did happen, it took years of sustained effort with siege engines far more advanced than anything available in 1417 AD.

“Are these things even usable?” Chen Xi asked skeptically, eyeing the roughly assembled trebuchets, each with components of varying sizes and no wheels in sight.

“Don’t worry, Strategist. We’ve tested these before, and they work. A 500-pound boulder can be thrown 150 meters with these,” Wu Dun assured him, pounding his chest in confidence.

Chen Xi scrutinized the devices with a doubtful gaze, thinking, Do I need to set up precision standards and an assembly line to whip these guys into shape?

“Fine, I’ll leave it at that. Fire a shot and let’s see if it works. If these don’t live up to their promise, you’ll have to answer for wasting these centuries-old logs,” Chen Xi said, waving his hand dismissively.

“Men, load the stones!” Wu Dun shouted.

A group of soldiers painstakingly adjusted the trebuchet’s arm, and then Wu Dun heaved a small millstone into the sling.

“Strategist, you might want to stand back a bit. This thing’s a little dangerous!” Wu Dun said, stretching his arms.

A dozen or so soldiers with internal energy released the arm simultaneously. With a loud “thwack,” the trebuchet flung the stone into the air, launching it over the wall, where it crashed into a house, collapsing it entirely. Debris from the shattered house even knocked down the back wall.

“Uh… that wasn’t quite right. Let’s try again,” Wu Dun said, embarrassed. The stone had overshot the target, likely because the mound was too high.

After five more tries, they finally hit a person. The sight was gruesome—a soldier was turned into a bloody pulp, his remains splattering across the ground and the walls.

Chen Xi turned away, unable to bear the sight. His enhanced senses made it impossible to ignore the horrifying details of a man being smashed into a gruesome mess.

“Strategist, this thing’s accuracy is a bit off…” Wu Dun started to explain, seeing Chen Xi’s reaction and fearing repercussions.

“Build a few more. Don’t worry about accuracy; just keep bombarding them. I never expected these things to take the city; we’re just using them to harass the enemy. You and Meng Kang (Xu Ding) will station troops at the base of the mound. In a few days, build another mound in front of this one to suppress the enemy archers on the walls,” Chen Xi instructed, signaling Wu Dun to stop fretting.

“Yes, sir!” Wu Dun replied, bowing. As long as Chen Xi was willing to continue with the plan, there was nothing to worry about. If Chen Xi had walked away without a word, that would have been a different story.

After leaving the mound, Chen Xi went to find Hua Xiong. Assaulting Pingyu head-on was out of the question. Even with the trebuchets and elevated archers lowering the enemy’s morale, as long as Qiao Rui refused to come out, there was little they could do.

“Zijian, how many grave robbers have you found?” Chen Xi asked Hua Xiong. With other methods proving too slow, their best bet was to dig tunnels. After all, in three years, the first recorded use of tunnel warfare in history would occur during Yuan Shao’s siege of Gongsun Zan at Yijing.

Right now, no one was guarding against underground attacks. Chen Xi estimated that with a hundred or so specialists, they could dig a tunnel of about 150 to 200 meters in a month. They needed to act fast before anyone else caught on. If they used this tactic, Yuan Shao wouldn’t be able to use it to trap Gongsun Zan later, giving Gongsun a bit more time.