Ten days later, ten miles outside Yuzhong City, Han and Sui allied troops camped.
This time Han Sui learned the lesson from the previous defeat, and with the help of military advisor Cheng Gongying, he immediately set up camp with an army of 250,000 troops.
It must be said that Cheng Gongying had a unique vision in occupying strategic locations. The entire coalition camp was in a dangerous position, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and could very effectively contain the Yizhou Army's sneak attack.
It's a pity that Cheng Gongying's efforts were almost in vain. Liu Zhang's entire army had no intention of leaving the city!
The 250,000 troops settled in for a whole day. After Han Sui made sure that there were no problems or hidden dangers in the camp, he personally led the army to attack Yuzhong.
Having once again learned the lesson from the previous defeat, Han Sui led only 50,000 troops this time, including 10,000 cavalry, to ensure that he could effectively deal with Liu Zhang's deception.
Regardless of whether the siege went smoothly or not, Han Sui had to ensure that the last scene of the entire army's retreat would never happen again.
Facts have proved that Han Sui's prevention was very successful. Ten thousand cavalry were watching the battlefield at all times, and the gate of Yuzhong City was not opened at all.
Unfortunately, things did not go exactly as Han Sui wanted. Han Sui, who believed in victory and intended to eliminate the Yizhou Army and Liu Zhang, encountered another setback.
After nine days of siege, the coalition forces suffered more than 20,000 casualties, and in the end they could not even climb the city wall!
The main reason here is not the quality of Han Sui's command or the Qiang soldiers, but the lack of effective siege equipment.
Han Sui's army still used so-called ladders when attacking the city. Liu Zhang had ten thousand ways to kill the Qiang soldiers on the ladders.
Whether it's burning, shooting arrows, throwing stones, or even knocking down ladders!
The Qiang soldiers will always suffer heavy casualties under the endless defensive methods of the Yuzhong defenders!
After the defeat in the first battle, morale was slightly low. With successive battles and victories, the entire coalition army was in a dead silence.
Under the influence of the increasingly cold weather, the combat effectiveness of the Qiang people is getting lower and lower, and they have no clothing to keep out the cold.
As long as the wounded in the siege battle are injured, it is almost difficult to survive.
In nearly ten days, nearly four to five thousand people froze to death!
This was despite the fact that the Qiang people were accustomed to severe cold in winter. In fact, the Yizhou Army was still miserable despite such perfect logistical support.
In this era, there is no cotton to keep out the cold. If you want to resist the cold, you can only wear as many clothes as possible and eat more high-calorie foods such as meat.
The Yizhou Army naturally has this condition, and the food in Yuzhong City is piled up like a mountain.
However, Han Sui's army did not have such good conditions, and there were even problems with food and other supplies.
According to the original plan, we should continue to lead the army to attack today to maintain the pressure of the coalition forces on Yuzhong City.
Unfortunately, due to many problems, Han Sui had to give up the plan to send troops.
At this moment, a fierce quarrel was breaking out in the Chinese army commander's tent.
"Prince Han, we Qiang people are here to help you, not to die! We, the Gui Qiang tribe, are small and have few people, so we cannot bear such losses!"
The Guiqiang clan only had five thousand warriors. Four thousand were sent to this battle, and three thousand were killed or injured in ten days!
"The same goes for us Jianqiang! But I heard that our Jianqiang warriors did not die in battle, but all froze to death under Yuzhong City?"
"We are Qiqiang..."
"..."
For a time, the tent was filled with denunciations of Han Sui, all accusing him of ignoring the lives of the Qiang people.
It was not the original intention of these small Qiang people to send troops. If it were not for the coercion and inducement of the five major Qiang people, they would not have come out to die in winter.
Now, the attack lasted only ten days and caused more than 20,000 casualties. How could these small tribes accept this kind of loss?
"Patriarchs, calm down! Listen to my explanation!"
Han Sui smiled apologetically, hoping to appease the angry clan leaders, but it had little effect.
"Heads of the clan, please listen to me! I..."
Unfortunately, the clan leaders did not listen to Han Sui's excuse, and the leader of the Guiqiang clan even interrupted him directly.
"Prince Han! You don't need to say more. The future attack on Yuzhong has nothing to do with us Guiqiang!"
"So are we Jianqiang!"
"We Qiqiang won't participate anymore!"
"us..."
"..."
There was a lot of noise in the handsome tent, with all kinds of people arguing with each other, but they all had the same purpose.
No longer obey Han Sui's orders.
It's okay to let these Qiang people help and guard the camp. If we attack, haha, don't even think about it!
Even though Han Sui was a wise man, he could only shake his head and sigh when faced with this situation.
He, who prides himself on being extremely intelligent, now has to admit that he is helpless in dealing with this mess.
Because of their previous losses, the five major Qiang tribes were unwilling to spend their troops on siege.
Especially now that it is winter, siege warfare will inevitably cause more casualties under the influence of weather.
This situation was not only known to the chiefs of the five major Qiang tribes, but also to the chiefs of the small tribes who were coerced into joining the coalition.
Who is willing to waste the lives of soldiers?
But 250,000 troops have already arrived at Yuzhong City. We can't just waste money and food and do nothing, right?
The Qiang people were unwilling to take the risk of attacking, so the task of attacking the city could only fall on Han Sui and Ma Chao.
Now the combined strength of the two men has just reached 20,000, and they are regarded as their last support, and they are even more reluctant to die.
Finally, after repeated negotiations, it was finally decided that the coalition of small tribes would take the lead for the time being, and the five major Qiang tribes would send cavalry to hold down the formation for the first round of attack.
Under pressure from all parties, these small tribes could only break their teeth and swallow it in their stomachs, agreeing to let their soldiers follow Han Sui to attack the city.
There has been no attack for four days until today, and more than half of the 40,000-strong army has been lost!
This casualty made the already weak tribe even weaker, and even made them feel the crisis of genocide.
Today's scene in the commander's tent has long been discussed by these small tribes.
Instead of being exhausted by Han Sui, they were eventually annexed by the five major tribes and perished.
You still don't know how to stand up and resist, try to retain the strength you have now, even if you break your face, you won't have no power to resist.
The chiefs of these small tribes have already prepared for the worst.
Anyway, it's a dead end. At worst, the fish will die and the net will be broken!
A dog can jump over a wall when cornered, let alone these patriarchs who hold military power.
Did Han Suigang break up with them?
the answer is negative!
Ten miles away from the coalition camp, in Yuzhong City, there was Liu Zhang, Han Sui's lifelong enemy!
Once civil strife broke out in the coalition camp, Han Sui would never expect Liu Zhang not to take advantage of it.
Being able to gather an army of 250,000 this time was Han Sui's last trump card.
If it collapses again, Han Sui will completely lose the strength to fight against Liu Zhang, and all that awaits for him is to be eliminated.
Ever since Han Sui destroyed Xiao Pass and colluded with the Xianbei people, he completely put himself on the opposite side of Liu Zhang.
It has long been impossible to surrender to Liu Zhang like Ma Teng.
In other words, if Han Sui wanted to live, he had no other way to survive except defeating Liu Zhang!