Chapter 105 Attack the city with all your strength
Author: Glorious Little Rabbit
Chapter 105 Attack the city with all your strength
Listening to the generals and counselors taking turns to express their opinions, Yuan Tan spread out a huge silk map and carefully examined the terrain on it.
Yuan Xi looked from the side and saw the winding river terrain above, and realized that he had made a big mistake by prejudging it.
Next to the Yellow River, there is not only the Huaihe River, but also a Jishui River.
Jishui originates from Taiyi Pool on Wangwu Mountain in Jiyuan City, Henan Province, and flows into the Bohai Sea from the Daqing River in present-day Hebei Province. According to the "Shui Jing Zhu" records, Jishui, along with the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Huaihe River, is listed as one of the four rivers, together with the Five Famous Mountains
Together they are called the Five Sacred Mountains and the Four Sacred Mountains.
There have been six large-scale diversions of the Yellow River. The first time was during the Spring and Autumn Period, the second time was during the Wang Mang New Dynasty, and then during the Jin Dynasty when the Huaihe River was diverted into the sea. The last time it broke through in Lanyang, Henan Province in 1855 was to use the waterway to save water.
Swim underwater into the Bohai Sea.
The terrain in later generations was completely different from now.
At this time, the three waterways of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Jishui coexisted, making the water system near the plain extremely complicated. Once Yuan Jun wiped out the few remaining towns on the north bank of the Yellow River, he would have to find a way to cross the three major rivers of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Jishui before he could capture Qingzhou!
On the other hand, it is very easy to go from Yanzhou and Xuzhou to Qingzhou. It is a flat road and the difficulty of transporting troops is much lower.
But now there is a melee in Yanzhou and Xuzhou is no longer in Yuan's hands, so fighting across the river has become Yuan's army's only option.
This is also the reason why we chose to send troops in October.
Most of the time, except for spring floods and summer floods, the water flow in the river is very large. Only during the dry season in late autumn and winter, the water level drops and the river bed is even exposed in some places, so the army can easily cross the river.
The three rivers undoubtedly made the attack extremely difficult, making Yuan Xi realize that this battle of Qingzhou was not simple.
But the Pingyuan County we want to attack now is on the north bank of the Yellow River and is isolated and helpless. It shouldn't be too difficult, right?
Yuan Xi's idea was completely overturned on the battlefield a few days later.
Yuan Tan completed the arrangements for the siege and scheduled the siege in three days.
This is because the siege equipment in the baggage train brought by Yuan Xi requires time to assemble.
Hundreds of craftsmen began to take out the materials from the baggage carts and assemble siege equipment. The soldiers began to cut down the woods, collect stones, and make wooden stakes and stone bullets for siege.
For three consecutive days, Yuan Tan continued to summon men and generals, constantly changing the deployment according to the actual situation, and even lighting up the command overnight.
Yuan Xi understood very well that an army of tens of thousands would consume a huge amount of military rations every day. The longer it was delayed, the more detrimental it would be to morale.
In the past three days, Yuan Jun's camp advanced more than ten miles every day. On the last day, it had arrived five or six miles near Pingyuan City and began to form a stronghold. The defenders on the city in the distance could also be seen.
Clearly.
The two armies entered into a confrontation, and the Qingzhou Army might attack the camp at any time. Yuan Xi picked up his binoculars and looked at the shadowy soldiers on the city wall in the distance, feeling nervous for no reason.
He said to Zhao Yun beside him: "That day you brought hundreds of troops and horses to Beixin City. Do you have any clever ideas?"
Zhao Yun smiled bitterly and said: "There is no clever strategy. With my hundreds of people, a forceful attack will definitely fail."
"The only way is to lure the young master out of the city and kill him, or seize the opportunity to rush into the city when the city gate is opened, so as to have a chance of victory."
"Otherwise, I won't be able to get in at all. I even thought about trying to shoot you to death on the top of the city. I thought that if you died, the defenders in the city might open the door and surrender out of fear that Yuan Zhoumu would be punished."
Yuan Xi was frightened for a while, but luckily he was very timid and didn't give Zhao Yun a chance!
He said: "Is Gongsun Zan trying to borrow a knife to kill someone?"
Zhao Yun's eyes dimmed a bit: "On that day, Duke Xuande took Gongsun Zan's soldiers and horses to Qingzhou to help Tian Kai resist General Yuan Tan. After that, General Yuan Tan retreated, but Duke Xuande did not return to Youzhou and went directly to Xuzhou."
"That day, I took the remaining troops and horses back to resume delivery. I was hesitant about what to do. At that time, because of the murder of Liu Yu, both Xuande Gong and I were dissatisfied with Gongsun Zan. Many officials and generals from Hebei were betrayed by Gongsun Zan. Kill."
"Gongsun Zan asked me to take the hundreds of troops and horses left by Duke Xuande in Youzhou to attack the city. Apparently he wanted to take the opportunity to send these hundreds of people away and then punish me for my crime."
"I also wanted to understand this at the time, so I accepted the bet with the young master with some abandonment."
Yuan Xi nodded secretly, that's right. It was a coincidence that the ideal result was achieved. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to conquer Zhao Yun.
He did not ask Zhao Yun why he did not regret leaving Liu Bei. Such words were purely asking for boredom. He believed that Zhao Yun would be able to find the answer during the time he stayed in Beixin City and when he followed him in the future.
Early the next morning, the siege began.
The first wave was composed of the lowest level soldiers. They carried earth on their clothes, held simple wooden shields in their hands, and ran forward, braving arrows.
It is said to be a shield, but in fact most of it is made of branches. With a simple wooden ring to carry it, it can cover the body.
Among these people, some have gray hair, some are underage, some have mutilated limbs, and there are even farm wives.
They are all running towards the city wall and towards death.
Yuan Xi felt heavy. In this troubled world, human life was not valuable. Most of them just wanted to have food to eat.
You have to work hard for this meal, otherwise you won't even be able to eat it.
Arrows rained down from the top of the city. From time to time, people were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. However, they did not run away. They just screamed, put wooden shields on their heads, and crawled forward desperately.
Only when you reach within ten steps of the city wall and sprinkle the soil down will the trip count, otherwise you will be subject to military law when you return!
They approached the city wall and sprinkled the soil down, and the mound began to rise slowly, like a mound slowly rising.
After scattering the soil, the soldiers began to run back as hard as they could. Some of them forgot to use wooden shields to cover their bodies. They were shot in the vest and died on the ground.
Some injured soldiers, after approaching the city wall, found that the arrows fired were sparse, so they wanted to rest against the city wall for a while. As a result, the hot oil on the stone fell from the top of the city wall, and the screams suddenly sounded again.
Yuan Xi looked through the telescope and saw charred human bodies tumbling randomly under the city wall. Some had their heads smashed and bleeding, and some were inhuman shape, struggling and gradually becoming motionless.
Later, their bodies were covered with soil by later people and became part of the mounds that piled higher and higher.
For two hours, the soil under the city wall slowly rose and reached less than half of the city wall, and the attacks of the city defenders gradually weakened.
Yuan Tan was riding on his horse, holding a telescope in front of the formation, observing the situation on the opposite side. The gadget invented by his second brother Xindao was so powerful that it could definitely reduce the casualties of many soldiers.
Seeing that the arrows hitting the wood on the top of the city became sparse, he raised his hands and shouted: "Charge the car!"
"Ladder!"
"Arrow Tower!"
"catapult!"
"Go forward in order!"
The fronts of the rows of siege equipment were covered with cowhide for defense, and there were soldiers holding shields beside them to defend against stray arrows.
Behind the equipment is the archer, using the equipment to block the situation, he keeps shooting arrows into the sky to suppress the city.
The trebuchet at the rear took the opportunity to be pushed forward. When it was still dozens of feet away from the city wall, it stopped and unfolded on the spot. The craftsmen drove the wooden stakes of the trebuchet base into the ground to fix it.
There were soldiers pushing the cart up nearby, taking off the stone bullets and placing them on the trebuchet.
After a while, live ammunition from dozens of trebuchets roared towards the city.
Two stones hit the city head without any deviation, but most of them missed, either into the city or on the city wall.
Several trebuchets were not adjusted properly, and the stone bullets fell into our own army formation that was about to rush under the city wall, causing the soldiers to curse loudly.
The craftsmen quickly adjusted the position of the counterweight rod, but they were obviously used to it.
Two tall archery vehicles have also been pushed close to the city wall. The archers on them are shooting arrows from a high position. The enemy troops on the top of the city are hiding one after another, not daring to show their heads.
After a while, flying rocks were also thrown out from behind the city wall and fell into the crowd of Yuan Jun. However, it was obviously launched in a hurry and there was no time to aim the trebuchet here.
As loud noises were heard, the ramming car arrived under the city gate, and the soldiers pushed the battering ram and hit the city gate hard.
The soldiers guarding the city were in a hurry. This attack was very organized. The previous consumption had made the defenders enter a period of exhaustion. The all-out attack that followed made them extremely uncomfortable!
Yuan Tan sneered in his heart, defending the city without engaging in field battles was tantamount to giving the initiative to himself.
During the confrontation between the two armies in the past two years, as soon as Yuan Tan attacked the city, Pingyuan Prime Minister Liu Bei rushed out with his troops to harass. While attacking Yuan Tan's formation, he demolished the siege equipment, which made Yuan Tan miserable.
There is no good way to deal with it.
But the opportunity finally came. Liu Bei was now unable to escape in Xuzhou. There was only one Tian Kai left in Qingzhou, and the defenders were all huddled in the city.
Yuan Tan mobilized a large number of siege equipment this time, preparing to take down the cities in the plains in one fell swoop!
He saw that the ladders had been set up on the top of the city, and the soldiers began to climb up the city. The defenders on the top of the city were exhausted and shouted, "All troops attack!"
As Yuan Tan issued the order, all the soldiers on the battlefield began to move.
Those with weapons and those without weapons all rushed under the city wall with a bag of earth on their backs, and the mound rose again.
The defenders of Pingyuan City panicked. They did not expect that not long after the battle, tens of thousands of people from Yuan's army threw themselves into the battlefield, making it impossible for them to fight a war of attrition!
Yuan Xi was about to lead the army forward, but was stopped by Yuan Tan, who said with a smile: "Second brother, please hand it over to the generals below first, and I will lead the cavalry to ambush outside the city gate to prevent the enemy from breaking out."
Yuan's army attacked the city with all its strength, and Qingzhou's army held on for more than an hour. Finally, all the city walls were lost.
At this time, the three gates of Pingyuan County were opened, and the Qingzhou soldiers fled one after another.
Yuan Tan felt relieved and ordered: "The cavalry divided into three groups to pursue the enemy!"
Yuan Xi led Zhao Yun and Zhang He, hundreds of cavalry and thousands of infantry, waiting in the woods beside the road to the west of Pingyuan City.
The city gate was opened wide, and a group of enemy troops escaped on horseback, followed by numerous infantry.
Yuan Xi was overjoyed. As expected, the enemy troops would choose this side to flee.
He waited for the enemy to run out for several miles and was about to enter the woods in a few miles. He immediately raised his hand and said, "Kill! Don't let any of them escape!"
When Qingzhou's defeated army saw the enemy troops rushing out of the woods, they knew they had been ambushed and it was too late to return to the city, so they rushed forward with roars.
The two army horses collided fiercely, with broken arms and limbs flying. As the weapons passed across the body, hot blood sprayed in the air, and was immediately cooled by the coolness of late autumn. When it fell to the ground, it had turned into a piece of water.
An eye-catching mark.
As night fell, thousands of defeated soldiers of the Qingzhou Army died one after another. Corpses were spread out for miles around, and the smell of blood mixed with the stench filled the air, making people sick.
Yuan Xi shot several pots of arrows empty and could not even lift his arms.
When he saw Zhao Yun and Zhang He still galloping around the battlefield in full vigor, he felt that the gap between Taoist and human beings was really huge.