In addition to Tian Kai and Sun Jin's civil and military cooperation and their courage to suppress violently, the first and most important point is that Zhending City itself is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
In the late Xinmang Dynasty, Zhending City was the nest of the heroic King Zhending in the north, and it was second to none in terms of management. It was divided into three main fortresses: the Zhending Palace, the inner city, and the outer city. Each siege was steamed with glutinous water.
Even after two hundred years, the main structure remains impregnable.
In particular, the outermost Zhending outer wall is ten miles in circumference, three feet high, and four feet thick. It is actually a majestic city in the north. It is precisely because of this majestic city that Tian Kai is willing to go south and give it a try.
At this time, ten days had passed since the siege of the city, and Taishan's army still found nothing under the city.
The continuous firing of stone bullets only destroyed most of some oars on the city wall, and also destroyed several corners, but they were still repaired by the city.
Seeing the situation of the war, Zhang Chong ordered the siege of Zhending City instead of attacking it, thus consuming the food in the city.
Some fortresses are unbreakable. It doesn’t mean that you have a stone-shooting cart. Even if you have artillery, there will be a bastion in front of you. In fact, most sieges rely on sieges. Usually a fortress is surrounded by sieges.
Half a year and a year is very normal.
On the contrary, like Zhang Chong, who relied on advanced soldiers and equipment to conquer the city in ten days, this is an abnormal state.
Therefore, after Zhang Chong saw that the war was not progressing smoothly, he decisively chose to besiege the city.
However, Zhang Chong did not sit down and defend the city. Instead, he cleared the fences, antlers and other roadblocks set up by the Zhending Army in the open area outside the city, and ordered his cavalry to go out and clear the dock walls near the field.
However, Zhang Chong's real strategy is all about building giant nest carts. Now there are two of them. When six are built later, Zhending City will no longer be able to defend it.
Zhang Chong himself has calculated that relying on the troop deployment capability of the current chariot, one chariot can carry fifty soldiers. But now there are thousands of soldiers on the city on the opposite side. If you want to stand firm on the city,
At least three hundred are needed.
In other words, only six giant nest carts can arrive at the top of the city at the same time, allowing 300 soldiers to jump on top of the city immediately. Only in this way can they gain a firm foothold on the top of the city, and subsequent reinforcements can continuously support from the nest carts.
Go to the city so that the city can be destroyed.
Therefore, Zhang Chong is now urging the craftsman camp to make every effort to build the nest car.
Here, under Zhending City, the Taishan Army is fighting steadily. Over there, in Xiaquyang City, the rear army marshal is also holding a military meeting, with the theme of discussing the next stage of the war.
At this time, Marshal Dong Fan of the rear army was sitting in the hall, and on both sides were standing military generals.
At this moment, Tian Feng, the military aide, was explaining the current situation to the generals.
Since Tian Feng was defeated after the Battle of Handan, he was considered a semi-active surrender, so he was regarded as one of the first officials from Hebei to be appointed.
During this Northern Expedition, he was assigned to the shogunate of the rear marshal as the military counselor.
Tian Feng said with a serious expression:
"Now that we have been attacking for about 20 days, we have captured the city south of the Hutuo River. It can be said that our army now has the entire Julu County. In this battle, our rear army marshal's department has wiped out eight places in the north of the county.
We have captured and killed more than 20,000 people, and have handed over most of the prisoners to the rear. In this battle, our army suffered a total of 500 casualties. In addition, the former military academy captain was transferred to the Zhending battlefield. Now our army is ranked:
There are four captain divisions with a total of 7,500 troops."
Tian Feng briefly talked about the results of the previous battles, and the generals below did not show much surprise.
This is not to say that the results of the battle, which included five hundred casualties, six cities captured, and 20,000 prisoners and beheaded, were not amazing or brilliant. But to these people, these results were not considered a war.
From the time they set off from Julu City on June 10th to the end of June, they have basically been marching with arms. All the enemies they encountered were local tycoons and rural folk. Hundreds of people couldn't even muster a pair of armor. How could they stop them?
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So all the people who were destroyed along the way were this kind of stuff. How could we satisfy the proud officials of the rear army marshal?
But they also knew that this was a good thing. In the Battle of Handan, they wiped out all the main forces of the Han army in Zhongshan and Julu. How could they be as comfortable as they are now?
But even if comfort comes, soldiers still have to pursue honor, so they want greater results. This is also the main purpose of this military meeting.
Over there, after Tian Feng finished talking about the previous results, he started talking about the current situation:
"Now, the base camp has besieged Zhending City for ten days. The king's original suggestion was to block Hutuo Ferry in the north and cut off Jingxing Pass in the west, and then order our troops to establish a defense line in the Xiaquyang area. Then the base camp will attack Zhending City with all its strength.
But now the situation has changed."
After saying that, Tian Feng pointed at Jixian County on the map screen at the back and continued:
"The base camp of our army's Northern Expedition is aimed directly at Youji, and the Lu Zhi puppet tribe entrenched here is our army's biggest enemy in this battle. After their defeat last year, they returned north in a hurry, and then settled in Ji
The city has been repaired and it is said that its strength has been greatly restored and cannot be underestimated. Recently, a report from the north has sent military information, saying that Lu Zhi's puppet commander has sent 30,000 northern soldiers eastward and has moved his troops to the Changshan Pass area."
The generals had obviously never heard of this news, and they all whispered to each other to discuss the subsequent impact of this matter. Everyone was confused. Now that our army has arrived in the Hutuo River area, it can go north to Zhongshan Kingdom at any time and directly threaten Jixian. Could it be that Lu Zhi has already
Are you going to save Zhending regardless of the safety of Ji County?
Obviously, all generals have their own opinions and cannot agree on one.
In fact, Dong Fang was also wondering about this, so he called all the generals together to discuss the matter.
Not long after, a general came out. It was Lü Kuang, the captain of the Zuo Military Academy of the Marshal's Department of the rear army. He said carelessly:
"Commander Dong, what do you have in mind? Now that Yan soldiers are marching eastward, Jicheng is empty. It is the time for our army to make great achievements. Our army should immediately cross the Hutuo River and take advantage of the situation to capture Jicheng and cut off the other people's retreat."
Because Lu Kuang had made an outstanding contribution in defending Handan in the Battle of Handan, he was promoted to the rank of Zuojun Lieutenant in the Marshal's Department of the Rear Army after the war. It was a time when he was in high spirits, so he suggested to Dong Fang to go north across the river and go straight to Jicheng without thinking.
Lu Kuang joined the army in Dongping State, and he was also an old figure in the army. He was even a few months later than Dong Fan, and he was born in a better age than Dong Fan. After all, Dong Fan was born in the army, and Lu Kuang was born in the army.
Kuang is a knight-errant who surrenders to the army, which is different.
In addition, Lu Kuang fought bravely and made many meritorious deeds. He was a general in the rear army marshal's department, so when he impassionedly asked for a fight, several hot-blooded generals also got excited and asked for a fight one after another.
Compared to the past, Dong Fang was much more mature at this time. He stroked his well-groomed beard and replied lightly:
"I'm afraid this matter cannot be simplified. Who is Lu Zhi? He is the only pillar of the Han Dynasty in northern Xinjiang. Our army has been dealing with him for so long. Is he an ordinary person? So he rashly headed east to Changshan
Guan, there may be a conspiracy that we don't know about."
Originally, Dong Fang's words were just a cliche. He wanted the generals to discuss the pros and cons of going north.
But who would have thought that Lu Kuang’s younger brother Lu Xiang would pick up the topic and say:
"No matter what the conspiracy is, we have 10,000 elite soldiers and 1,000 cavalry. In addition to the 10,000 new vassal troops, there are more than 20,000 soldiers. In addition, there are 20,000 elite soldiers and cavalry at the base camp.
Three thousand, our army is twice as many as Yan's army, how can we be afraid of him? As long as our army rushes to Yanji City, will Lu Zhi be able to fly back even if he has the ability to fly?"
Lu Xiang was as young and energetic as his brother. When he refuted Dong Fan, he did not respect Dong Fan as the head coach of the team. He shouted and spat, as if there was no room for doubt.
How comfortable did this make Dong Fang feel? He was considered the master of evil spirits, otherwise he would not have beaten Li Qian in prison so badly, and then fled away to avoid trouble.
Although Zhang Chong has trained her a lot now and has a more stable temperament, to put it bluntly, Dong Fan is not a good mother-in-law.
But the Lu brothers were important generals in the army, and their opinions were also very important. So Dong Fan gave the Lu brothers face and explained coldly:
"The base camp is now firmly established and cannot move north in a short time. And the so-called new auxiliary army is a bunch of rabble, which will only lower our army's combat capability. So if we only rely on our ten thousand troops, we can directly cross the river and attack north.
In Jicheng, the risks are still very high."
But Dong Kan's explanation could not convince Lu Xiang, or in other words, Lu Xiang was not willing to listen at all, and he still looked high-spirited:
"Your Majesty's military skills have already reached the realm of transcendence and sainthood. Does Dong Shuai still doubt your Majesty? What's more, just one of our troops is enough to conquer Yan. How many soldiers can Lu Zhi have to take away three soldiers?"
Ten thousand, the rest are just chickens and dogs, our army will win with one blow."
After Lu Xiang said this, the whole audience gasped, never expecting that this man would dare to set a trap for Dong Fang and accuse him of being disrespectful to the king.
At this time, Dong Fan already had some murderous intent in his eyes, and he said calmly:
"Our army has been fighting for days and needs rest. In addition, the crossing to the north is too important, so we need to report to the base camp before making a decision."
Lu Xiang didn't notice that Dong Fang had murderous intentions, and still sarcastically said:
"Dong Shuai, the last general has been patrolling the camp for days. I have never seen the officials below showing signs of fatigue. On the contrary, I saw that everyone was happy to fight and invited to fight. Their morale was high. How come what Dong Shuai said was different from what the last general saw?
Huh? Isn’t it possible that Commander Dong hasn’t gone to the camps below to take a look?”
At this time, Dong Fang had a stern look on his face, slapped the case hard, and then angrily shouted:
"Lu Xiang, are you kissing me?"
At this time, Dong Fang had already made up his mind to use Lu Xiang as a chicken to calm down the morale of the army.
He did not expect that for the sake of the overall situation, he would tolerate the Lu brothers again and again, and in the end, they would become so arrogant. At this moment, Dong Fang felt that his authority had been threatened.
Dong Fan's feeling is not surprising. Although he is a commander-in-chief of the rear army marshal, with a total army of ten thousand elites, in terms of age, he is only about thirty, and most of the generals below are in age.
They are all bigger than him.
In addition, this was also the first time that Dong Fang led a large-scale army of ten thousand people on an expedition. Although he was also one of the marshals of the Five Armies, he actually had the least specific military experience.
Not mentioning that Guan Yu presided over the first Northern Expedition, nor Zhang Dan’s victory at Jize, nor Yu Jin’s victory at Handan, let’s just say that Ding Sheng, the most unruly man, also had a great victory in the Western Expedition, in Qi.
The main force of the Han soldiers in Henan, Shuihe, faced each other with gongs and drums, and they had touched each other.
But what does Dong Fan have? Apart from his previous responsibilities in the Heji area, most of the other time he spent most of his time accompanying Zhang Chong, acting as a general of the opposing army. Not to mention, later Dong Fan was also responsible for serving in the Heji area.
When he was presiding over Heji, he made a big mistake and was immediately deprived of his power.
So under such circumstances, how much prestige can Dong Fang have in an army that values military merit and seniority the most?
What even made Dong Fang uneasy was that the entire rear army was used to defend the inner lines and rarely participated in outer lines. Therefore, in this Northern Expedition, he set out from Julu and was responsible for presiding over the whole process, right?
Because the enemy forces in this area are weak, this arrangement was made.
But Dong Fang was a proud man and would never tolerate such provocations to his authority.
Moreover, the identities of the Lu brothers made his vigilance rise to a high point.
In the current sequence of the Rear Army Marshal Department, the former Military Academy Lieutenant Department was transferred to the Zhending battlefield in the west. Now they are Lu Kuang of the Left Military Academy Lieutenant Department, Zhang Nan of the Central Military Academy Lieutenant Department, Zhang Kai of the Right Military Academy Lieutenant Department, and Hou Military Academy Lieutenant Department.
Zhang Tai of Weibu and the two assault cavalry accompanying the army were Ma Baotian's German Army and Li Bi's Tianwu Army.
Here, Zhang Nan is an old brother of Yuancong, who is on good terms with Dong Fang. Zhang Kai is his old subordinate in the Heji area and is one of his own, while Zhang Tai is a strong general of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and has always followed him.
As for Ma Bao, who was his original cavalry commander, Li Bi also got along well with him, but the Lu brothers who were transferred from foreign armies had always been unruly.
Therefore, Dong Fang was already determined to use these two people to scare the monkeys. He suppressed his anger and said seductively:
"As a general, we will fight unless there is danger. Our army rushes northward. Once it is defeated, it will be a big defeat. No one can afford this responsibility."
Upon hearing such mature but obviously shrinking remarks, Lu Xiang fell into the trap. Not only did he not restrain himself, he also taught him a lesson:
"I didn't expect Commander Dong to be a mother-in-law. I'm afraid of danger when fighting, so it's better to transfer to the garrison. If all military affairs have to be decided by the base camp, what do you do as a commander? Why does the king want to divide the troops? Isn't it just hope?
How can a commander like you seize an opportunity at the last moment? The opportunity is fleeting, and if we wait for the response from the base camp, you won’t be able to catch up!"
As soon as these words came out, even Lu Kuang on Lu Xiang's side was dumbfounded and hurriedly pulled Lu Xiang.
Lu Xiang also knew that he had made a mistake, and his face turned pale, but because he was so angry, he still held on.
After Lu Xiang said this, Dong Fang exploded. He pointed his halberd at Lu Xiang and cursed angrily:
"What a arrogant and rebellious person. How dare he bark in the army, despise the superiors, and disturb the morale of the army. Someone comes, drag Lu Xiang down and behead him."
As soon as Dong Fan gave the order, the generals below were shocked. They didn't expect that Dong Fan was going to kill the general immediately! They all came up to plead for mercy.
Lu Xiang's brother Lu Kuang knelt down and begged Dong Fan for mercy, asking Dong Fan to let him go this time because his brother had shed blood when he was king.
When things came to a close, Lu Xiang also panicked, but he still said:
"I'm just stating the military strategy. When have we, the Taishan Army, been punished for what we say? Now, I am the deputy captain of the First Division. How can you kill me unless there is an order from the king?"
Unexpectedly, Dong Fan smiled ferociously, pointed at the Jiedu hanging behind him, and cursed at Lu Xiang:
"This is the rule given by the king. In wartime, two thousand stones can be cut!"
At this time, Lu Xiang was dumbfounded and did not dare to say anything more.
The system of the Jie Jie Yue began in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In this Dynasty, every general who went on an expedition would be given this item, which was also called the Jie Jie Yue. During the Northern Expedition, Zhang Chong, in order to strengthen the authority of all commanders, awarded them Jie Jie Yue.
The power of Jieyue.
Therefore, it was true that Dong Fan could kill Lu Xiang without any order, and Zhang Chong would not be blamed at all, because it was Lu Xiang who was defying Dong Fan's authority, and Dong Fan's authority was granted by superiors, so in fact
Lu Xiang is also showing contempt.
Therefore, based on what Lu Xiang just said, if placed in the hands of the Han army, he would be dead.
Lu Kuang was more savvy than his younger brother. He already felt that his younger brother's life depended on Dong Fan's thoughts, and he was worried that Lu Xiang would commit another crime again.
So, Lu Kuang jumped up and kicked Lu Xiang in the kneecap, knocking him to the ground, and then he also knelt down and begged for mercy:
"Commander, for the sake of seeing my two brothers risk their lives, please spare his life."
Lu Xiang was kicked down by his brother, so he knew not to commit violence, so he could only kneel down and kowtow.
Over there, Ma Wu, Li Bi and others also came to plead for mercy, especially Zhang Nan who also said that it was unjustifiable to kill the general before the battle, not to mention that Lu Xiang was also willing to fight.
At this time, other civil and military officials also reacted and begged for mercy.
Not to mention that the Lu brothers have a straightforward personality and are brave, so they are very popular in the army. Most of the old brothers in the army who were in the Taishan period basically have this character, so the Lu brothers are quite popular in the army.
At this meeting, Dong Fang really wanted to kill Lu Xiang. These people couldn't bear it, so they all begged for mercy.
As mentioned above, Dong Fang actually did not insist on killing Lu Xiang.
Because killing generals before battle can indeed improve military discipline and establish his authority as a commander. However, the Lu brothers are not people with bad reputations in the army. At this time, using Lu Xiang to sacrifice the flag may have the opposite effect in the end.
So Dong Fan weighed it again in his mind. Seeing that the Lu brothers had already given in, he stopped insisting and said coldly:
"I don't care what meritorious deeds you have performed in the past. I only pay attention to the execution of orders and prohibitions. Whoever dares to mess with my order will have his head chopped off. Today is a military meeting, so I won't behead you. But if you do it next time, I will chop your head off. I wish you could
?”
What else can Lu Xiang say next? He can only say that he is willing.
From here we can see Dong Fang's cunning and cunning.
He laid a hook here for Lu Xiang. In fact, if Lu Xiang made any disobedient behavior later, Dong Fang could kill him directly. Then others would find ways to intercede, because Lu Xiang agreed to it himself.
And once you grasp this point, you, Lu Xiang, are arranged to lure the enemy, go to the rear, and in short, the most dangerous jobs are arranged for you. How dare you, Lu Xiang, disagree?
So, after what happened, Dong Fang finally removed the thorn in the side of the Lu brothers.
Sure enough, different coaches have different styles. For example, Zhang Dan may not take it seriously, while Guan Yu may kill him with one blow. If Ding Sheng, he may kick Lu Xiang off the field and then forget about it.
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From this point of view, Dong Fang and Dong Zhao are indeed brothers.
Finally, Dong Fang ended the military discussion and just asked the general to send the report to the base camp, waiting for the base camp to make a decision.
But little did he know that this move really missed the winner for the first time in this battle.