After Dong Zhuo built the trench barracks, he did not immediately choose to attack.
His actual strength was only four thousand, which was pitifully small compared with the tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans in the city. However, he successfully made the Yellow Turbans in the city think that the main force of the Han army had arrived by using the old suspicion formation.
He secretly sneaked four thousand soldiers and horses out of the stronghold at night, and then returned at dawn. For three days, the Yellow Turban Army in the city saw thousands of soldiers and horses throwing themselves into the Han army's barrier outside the city every day.
With that dense forest of flags, who can say that the main force has not arrived?
When the Yellow Turbans were in a swaying mood in the city, a boat came up from the Zhang River. It was a visitor from Zhang Jiao, the great virtuous teacher, and brought the latest message from the good teacher.
After learning that the Han army was dispatched from Handan and heading towards the people on the Zhang River, Zhang Jiao wrote this letter to encourage all the Taoist disciples and officials of Qingzhou Yellow Turban. Under the protection of Huang Tian, you will be able to defend the city.
People, guard the gate of the heaven on earth in Hebei. The sky behind the Han army has died, and Huang Tian is covering the world. At this sacred moment when the sky changes, all soldiers go and fight to the death to prove your loyalty to Huang Tian.
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After reading this letter of apology, the visitor didn't even bother with lunch, so he hurriedly sailed southward. I don't know if he was worried that he wouldn't be able to leave if it was too late.
After all, spiritual encouragement is magical. With the blessing of the Great Master, Huang Tian's messenger in the world, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban's military spirit is growing visibly.
At the same time, Dong Zhuo laid out a suspicious formation and asked his soldiers to run back and forth for three days. It was not in vain. The reason why he pretended to be the main force was to cover the real main force's actions.
Not long after Dong Zhuo set out, Lu Zhi led his main force of 20,000 troops and directly attacked Quliang, the Yellow Turban Army stronghold northeast of Handan.
Quliang is a small city beside the ancient river channel of the river. It is garrisoned by Huang Long, the Yellow Turban commander from Hebei Province, who leads five thousand soldiers. The Yellow Turbans are stationed here to be at odds with the people to the east.
In other words, if the curved beam is not laid and the Han army directly attacks Liren, the food supply line will be directly exposed under the eyes of the Huanglong tribe.
Therefore, Lu Zhi planned to lure the snake out of the hole. He first asked Dong Zhuo to pretend to be the main force and go directly to the people to lure the Huanglong tribe in the north to go south. Then Lu Zhi would kill them all from behind and remove Quliang, a small town that threatened his supply line.
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But who would have thought that after being seduced for a long time, they pretended to be a blind man. The Huanglong Department didn't care about the life or death of the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans at all, and did not send out a single soldier, which only made the friendship of comrades a joke.
As a last resort, Lu Zhi could only attack Quliang directly.
When the Han army broke through Quliang City, Huang Long and other military officials were all very drunk. It had only been three months since the Yellow Turbans of Hebei entered the city, but it had already been corrupted to such an extent that the martyrs who died fighting for Huang Tian couldn't help but sigh.
After the city was broken, Huang Long and others were taken to Lu Zhi and surrendered before being tortured. He also told the truth about the Yellow Turbans in Hebei and Qingzhou.
It seems that if this yellow dragon is not a dragon, then forget it, it is still a python, a snake, right? Anyone who thinks of this integrity is just a worm.
Huang Long was the first senior Yellow Turban Army official captured by the Han army in Hebei. Thanks to Huang Long's intelligence, Lu Zhi soon learned that the Yellow Turban Army stationed in Liren at this time was the Yellow Turban Army heading north from Qingzhou, and its morale was low.
After knowing this information, Lu Zhi immediately led his army to join Dong Zhuo, and he decided to quickly attack the Yellow Turban Army in the city.
Dong Zhuo, who was outside the city, breathed a sigh of relief when Lu Zhi arrived. Although he was planning to increase his troops, it was okay for a short time. Over time, the Yellow Turban Army on the city only looked at the number of smokes.
We can roughly guess the actual number of Han troops.
And once the Yellow Turbans knew that there were only 4,000 Han troops outside the city, Dong Zhuo would be doomed. There were 50,000 Yellow Turbans in the city, and he had 4,000. How could he fight ten of them one by one?
As soon as Lu Zhi arrived, he didn't even have time to eat, so he took the senior military officials up to the slope behind the camp. This slope was also piled up by Dong Zhuo and the local tycoons, so that the commander-in-chief could observe the formation.
Lu Zhi watched for a while and then led his men down. He decided to launch an attack immediately. The military deputy Zhong Fu also agreed. He was the father of Zhong Shao who had fought with the Taishan Army in Puyangjin. His son was because of Lu Zhi.
He died in battle due to his decision, but Zhong Fu did not abandon public service for personal reasons, and still supported Lu Zhi with his public heart. This is a pure minister.
Lu Zhi nodded, and then signaled to Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan also suggested an immediate attack like Lu Zhi. The White Horse Colonel said loudly:
"Before, we were on the slope to observe the defenses of Lieren North City. The defense layout on the city was sparse and not tight. I saw that they were still reinforcing the fortifications and wanted to increase the height of the city wall. But now the height of Lieren North City is only the same as that of an ordinary city. Obviously
This military fortress has not been well repaired. So if we attack now and deploy our troops directly to the west of the North City, I am sure that we can capture the soldiers before sunset."
Although Lu Zhi, Zhong Fu, and Gongsun Zan all adopted the strategy of attacking quickly, Dong Zhuo did not agree.
What he means is that the enemy's morale is not weak now, and they have just besieged the city, so they must be in good condition. If they attack the city now, the Han army will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Therefore, Dong Zhuo's attitude is to surround the enemy first and consume the will and reserves of the enemy inside.
, and then attack again.
Dong Zhuo's attitude was supported by most people in the army. It would be good to have fewer dead people, but it would be better to surround them more. They had plenty of time.
It was also strange that Dong Zhuo, who had never paid much attention to casualties, actually cared about it now, and he didn't know what was going on behind the scenes.
Even though the siege theory was supported by the majority of the people in the army, Lu Zhi still insisted on his decision. He acted arbitrarily and used the power of the banner given to him by the Han Dynasty to order the entire army to light fires and cook, and to line up after an hour.
People attack.
An hour later, the first batch of people to be sent to the battlefield were the newly attached powerful tribes. They wanted to surrender their names with blood. They braved the rain of arrows on the city and rushed to the city with ladders on their shoulders. Then various
Gold juice, hot oil, and rolling stones continued to fall from the city head, and the powerful soldiers under the city suffered heavy losses.
This is the disastrous thing about the leading group. At this time, they have no vehicles to block the rain of arrows, and the Yellow Turban Army has the most abundant reserves. The only role of these powerful soldiers is to consume the reserves on the city, and no one thinks they can attack the city.
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The powerful soldiers struggled for a while, and could no longer bear the casualties, so they collapsed directly on the city wall. Then immediately a group of guards rushed out of the formation and directly beheaded the deserters. Their heads were hung on bamboo poles before being handed over to the entire army.
The Han army did not regard these powerful tribesmen who were ambiguous with the Yellow Turban Army as their own. If they died more now, they would be spared from killing them later.
After the powerful troops were exhausted in this way, the Han army came on the scene. They pushed the carts and drove to the city in an orderly manner, and then divided them into different areas according to their respective formations. The soldiers of the Han army went forward under the cover of their comrades.
Attack on the city.
But unfortunately, the outcome of the Han army is no different from that of the previous powerful soldiers. If the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans set up a formation to attack the Han army, it is unlikely to win. But if they defend the city like this and rely on personal bravery and morale, then
The Han army was not enough.
These Guizhou leaders from the northern area of Qingzhou were very powerful and kept pushing back the falling rocks, causing the Han army to complain endlessly. The armor could block the arrows, but it could not stop the falling rocks.
In this way, various units of the Han army took turns to attack. Even though one or two units rushed to the top of the city, they were still drowned in the sea of people from the Yellow Turban Army.
An hour later, the livid Lu Zhi ordered the troops to retreat.
Looking at the Han army fleeing in embarrassment, the crowds cheered at the top of the city.
…
The Han army adjusted its tactics quickly. After learning that it was no longer possible to attack the city quickly, Lu Zhi decisively ordered a siege of the city.
In the dark of night, eight hundred Han troops carrying hoes, shovels, and baskets sneaked out of the camp under the cover of darkness and began to dig trenches less than five hundred steps away from Liren City.
The military officials spread the line with lime, and then each soldier dug and pushed all the soil to the side of the Han army. At that time, if the Yellow Turbans in the city wanted to climb over the trench, they would have to be at the bottom of the trench and the soil on the other side would be high.
, can't climb over at all.
That night, the moon and stars were sparse, and the area surrounding the northern section of the procession was filled with the sound of digging trenches.
On the second day, when the Yellow Turban Army at the top of the city was drowsy, they saw a trench nearly a kilometer long falling from the sky and appearing outside the city.
In the following days, the Han army continued to dig despite the scattered arrows upstairs. In the next three days, they dug three trenches directly outside the north city of Lieren and tightly surrounded Lieren.
The Yellow Turban Army in the city organized several attacks in an attempt to fill in the ravine. However, the Yellow Turban Army had just filled in the ravine during the day, and the Han Army over there dug it out again at night.
Finally, Ji Sun also ordered the Yellow Turban Army to dig trenches out of the city and pile up the soil on his side. In this way, with trenches blocking the way and arrows harassing them, the Han army could not take the initiative to attack.
On October 4th, when the Han army besieged the city for three days, there were soldiers from Yuzhou in the army who presented stone chariot albums to help the army attack the city.
On October 12, the Han army dispatched eight built stone carts and began to bombard Lieren City.
Eight stone-laden chariots, carrying a huge force, hit the Leren City like thunder. The Han army was full of optimism. With such sharp weapons, the Lecheng City would inevitably be turned into powder.
They even started a bet before the war, betting on how long everyone could withstand this stone machine.
Gambling is always the best in the army. Any reason can become a game, including betting on dogs, chickens, and mice, let alone betting on whether the enemy will be destroyed. So as soon as this handicap was opened, the Han soldiers immediately heard the scenery and followed it.
.They gambled with their trophies and military pay, and even gambled with the severed left ear of the Yellow Turban Army, but they were immediately scolded back.
People scolded:
"Hot girl, how many days will this be available?"
From this we can see how confident the Han troops were in taking over the enemy city.
In fact, this is how it should be. The city walls handed down from the Spring and Autumn Period are all built with planks, and generally have a structure that is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. This kind of structure is very fragile in the face of inertial impact from top to bottom.
However, the Han army never expected that although several places in Lieren City collapsed due to the impact of stones, the entire city wall was still intact.
It turns out that Lieren, as the acropolis that guarded Handan, adopted a wide-thickness double-layer construction at the beginning of its construction. Stone-breaking machines had been used as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, and were used very frequently during the Warring States Period.
At that time, all the important military fortresses took into account the stone machine, so they would use double-layered buildings to build city walls.
The ancestral stone machine presented by the Han soldier from Yuzhou was left over from the Warring States period, so it would definitely not be able to hit anyone else.
In the end, the Han army could only look at the city of Lieren standing outside the Zhang River with disappointment and full of frustration.
Looking at the Yellow Turban Army in the opposite city, the situation was more difficult than the Han army thought.
When the early morning mist had just dissipated, the Yellow Turban Army on duty at the top of the city discovered eight strange things appearing on the Han Army's formation opposite. They did not dare to neglect and immediately called their officials, but the officials came to see
I can't figure out what this is.
While they were still discussing what these were, they saw the stones being carried by the Han army, and then somehow, these wooden machines sent the stones out.
This directly impacted the beliefs of the Yellow Turban Army officers, who all thought that the sky of the Han army was angry. The huge boulder was thrown to the top of the city, first screaming through the air, and then hitting the top of the city with a thunderous bang.
Roaring, isn't this the wrath of heaven?
So when the stone machine fired, everyone in the city knelt down.
This is religion. What makes you more courageous can also make you fear to the extreme. Although the stones did not collapse the walls of Qingzhou Huangjin, they have destroyed their mental defenses.
Because some stones traveled far away, they landed directly in Liren City, smashing a team that was supporting the city to pieces. This bloody and tragic scene was directly displayed in front of the Yellow Turbans, impacting their fragile nerves.
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Half of the team survived. The other half had his entire lower body smashed into mud. He was still alive for a while, but he still managed to claw his way to the ground and screamed for everyone to save him.
As for the one who survived intact, his entire face was covered with flesh and blood, and a bunch of flesh and blood of an unknown person spattered on his face. He looked at Pao Zecheng, who was talking and laughing with him just now, as if in despair.
There was a pile of flesh and blood, and the whole person collapsed.
He cried and howled:
"The sky is angry, it is thundering, and it wants to kill us Huangtian believers."
While shouting, he ran and kept saying:
"Cang Lei is coming, run quickly. Everyone is going to die, Jie Jie Jie, you are all going to die."
Then an arrow shot over and stuck in his neck. Finally, the man looked relieved and died.
The one who shot the arrow was the sacrificial grandson who came after hearing the news.
When Ji Sun shot the Taoist disciple who had gone crazy with fear, he felt only a burst of sadness in his heart. He was not sad that this person was weak-willed and talking nonsense, but sad that this person was so harmful to the military spirit that no one came to stop him.
Ji Sun looked at the people around him. Their eyes were filled with evasion, helplessness, fear, and no fighting spirit at all.
He knew what was going on. Jisun was originally a soldier of the Northern Army, and he knew that there was something called a stone machine. He had seen the picture in Lantai before. This thing had been lost for a long time, and he didn't expect to encounter it here.
Seeing the despairing expressions on everyone's faces, Jisun thought hard about how to appease them.
At the same time, the panic-stricken look of the Yellow Turban troops on the top of the city was also seen by Lu Zhi on the slope outside the city.
He was thoughtful and thought of a way to break the city.