Chapter 1187

First Volume, Chapter 1187: The Ancestor of Psychological Warfare

Although the atmosphere on the battlefield grew increasingly tense, no offensive action could be taken until Lin Wenwan gave the order.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng, seated atop his horse, could not suppress a faint sneer.

He could not easily breach Gusu City, but for this kind of siege warfare, he loved it dearly.

Besieging a lone city is like closing the door to beat a dog—just slowly consume them.

Heavy siege equipment such as catapults and bed crossbows are fundamental to military sieges; long before Qin Feng arrived at the Front Line, he had already ordered the Tianji Camp craftsmen to rush here.

Now, over a thousand craftsmen have reached the Front Line.

These craftsmen are divided into two battalions: one battalion heads to Lingzhou to assist in stronghold construction, while the other remains at the Front Line Garrison to build various siege weapons.

Moreover, this position backs onto the Central Plains' rear area, with materials and supplies flowing in continuously.

Within the Garrison Camp, twenty catapults have already been assembled.

These six, however, were deliberately constructed as "consumables" according to Qin Feng's instructions.

Qin Feng waved his hand grandly: "Push all the catapults forward. Once within range, no orders needed—just launch the pre-prepared rattan balls."

Five thousand cavalry remained stationary, while six catapults advanced recklessly—this was tantamount to leading sheep into the tiger's mouth.

Sun Bo, who accompanied him, could no longer hold back and shouted urgently.

"Your Majesty, this is far too risky—these are six entire catapults. Without soldiers to protect them, if the Enemy Army charges out of the City, they'll either be destroyed or captured."

"Even if the Tianji Camp has countless skilled artisans, the timber for building catapults and the rivets reinforcing them cannot be wasted recklessly."

Qin Feng smiled without replying; beside him, Liu Ming calmly explained.

"General Sun, there's no need to panic."

"These six catapults are all crude, defective products—after a few uses, the wood will crack, and even the rivets are terribly shoddy."

"Such consumables cost only a few dozen taels of silver each; with the Tianji Camp craftsmen's speed, they can build several per day."

Upon hearing this, Sun Bo was utterly stunned.

To treat catapults as consumables? Only Qin Feng would dare wage war this way.

And yet…

Even inferior catapults are still catapults—just pushing them forward like this, using them once and discarding them, still filled Sun Bo with unbearable regret.

The officers present exchanged uneasy glances.

They would never question Qin Feng's military expertise, but this way of fighting had shattered their understanding.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the catapults were slowly pushed to a position two hundred and fifty steps from Gusu City.

Six catapults, each operated by ten men, totaling sixty men—all lightly equipped.

They loaded the pre-prepared rattan balls into the sling pouches; at a single command, the balls arced through the air and landed squarely inside Gusu City.

At first, the Gusu City Garrison soldiers were terrified, believing the projectiles were massive rocks or iron balls.

But the outcome was unexpected—the round balls were woven from rattan, hollowed inside, and packed with countless sheets of paper.

When the balls slammed into the ground, the rattan shattered, and the paper inside spilled out instantly.

Some literate soldiers picked them up and read them—their faces turned instantly grim.

"What?! Our army slaughtered our own civilians?"

"Is this true?"

"This is too much—we're defending this city to protect Nan Jing, yet we're even turning on our own people—what's the point of fighting anymore?"

As the leaflets spread, the Supervisor of the Army immediately rushed one to Lin Wenwan.

Lin Wenwan let out a soft scoff.

"Qin Feng, Qin Feng—even now that you're the Northern Border King, you still haven't changed your old habits."

"Always playing these petty tricks."

Lin Wenwan tossed the leaflet aside coldly: "Send Supervisors to recover them. Inform the troops this is enemy slander, deliberately meant to undermine our morale—do not believe it."

Wang Keng, who had never wished to slaughter civilians, looked at the leaflet's contents and sighed inwardly.

Although public sentiment would surely be suppressed by the Supervisors, the seeds of doubt had already been sown in the soldiers' hearts.

Supervisors rushed to collect and destroy the leaflets, but the six catapults kept hurling rattan balls filled with leaflets into the City.

No matter how fast they moved, they couldn't outpace the catapults.

Leaflets fluttered everywhere, scattered across the entire City.

Since control was impossible, better to abandon control entirely—clean up the mess later.

Lin Wenwan utterly despised Qin Feng's "tricks."

But just then, the Sentry's cry rang out again: "N…no good—the projectiles have changed!"

Under the gaze of the defenders, a series of corpses flew overhead.

These corpses were all casualties from the New Year's Eve battle—specifically, bodies of Gusu City Garrison soldiers.

Due to the cold weather and being buried in soil, the corpses had not decayed severely—they still had limbs and eyes intact.

One by one, the corpses crashed into the City with a thud—psychologically, their impact far outweighed that of the leaflets.

Even Lin Wenwan frowned tightly, without a moment's hesitation: "Quickly collect the corpses and bury them together!"

"As the weather warms and temperatures rise daily, if the corpses rot and trigger plague, Gusu City will fall without a single attack."

Merely six inferior catapults had thrown Gusu City into utter chaos.

Qin Feng had never wished to hurl corpses inside; though Gusu City held almost no civilians—only Garrison troops—and theoretically could be harassed without restraint,

Jiangnan rains were heavy, and when spring arrived and blossoms bloomed, all canals would merge into one.

If plague broke out within the City, it would inevitably spread outward, causing widespread death—and even Qin Feng's own army might suffer.

This was a scorched-earth tactic: killing a thousand, losing eight hundred.

Precisely because of this, Qin Feng did not dump large numbers of corpses inside; a few corpses were enough to shake the enemy's morale and still give them time to deal with them.

Lin Wenwan glanced at the Catapult, then looked toward Qin Feng in the distance, and sighed helplessly.

"Enough, enough!"

"Send a vanguard to destroy the Catapult."

Wang Keng had already intended this; he immediately assembled Two Hundred Infantry, sent them out the City Gate, and charged toward the Catapult.

Everyone's attention was fixed on the distant Cavalry Army, yet they discovered the Cavalry had no intention of moving to reinforce.

Even the soldiers operating the Catapult ran off without looking back.

Lin Wenwan couldn't help but murmur to herself: "Strange, six Catapults, just abandoned like this?"

"What trick is that brat Qin Feng playing at?"