"Young General, does Mr. Gongtai have any clever ideas to defeat the enemy?" Ma Chao returned to the Juyongguan camp. Dong Chao quickly came up to greet him and smiled at Ma Chao.
Ma Chao glanced at him, sighed, shook his head and said, "No."
"Even Mr. Gongtai can't do anything?" Dong Chao asked in surprise.
That's probably the case, what about a half-month appointment?
Ma Chao cursed in his heart, then shook his head and said: "Sir gave me a half-month deadline. If I can break the city during this half-month, then I will be counted as one. If not, then he will take action to break the city."
"Young General, we only have 3,000 troops, and we have lost more than a hundred people in the past few days. Juyong Pass is so strong, and the opponent is so determined to defend the city, it will not be easy for us to break the city." Dong Chao smiled bitterly.
road.
Three thousand men broke through the city garrisoned by 30,000 men within half a month, and the opponent only defended but did not attack. If these numbers were exchanged, they might not be able to succeed.
"It's just not easy, but it's not impossible!" Ma Chao snorted coldly.
"Has the young general come up with a good strategy to defeat the enemy?" Dong Chao asked.
"..." Ma Chao was silent for a moment and then shook his head and said: "No, but we have to fight. Tomorrow we will send some soldiers with flexible hands and feet to climb up the mountain and shoot arrows into Naguan City from both sides of the mountain to cover our army's attack on the city!"
Ma Chao has already climbed this mountain. The mountain is steep and not suitable for a large army to march. Otherwise, he really wants to take a group of troops to go around to the rear of Juyong Pass to attack the city.
However, a large group of people can't get through, so some skilled people should be able to climb up and shoot arrows into the city.
That’s a way!
Dong Chao looked at the direction of the mountain and nodded silently.
Early the next morning, Ma Chao personally selected 400 capable soldiers, divided them into two teams, climbed to the top of the mountains on both sides of Juyong Pass, and fired arrows towards Juyong Pass, while Ma Chao led his troops to attack the city.
After seeing the sealed city gate, Ma Chao gave up all thoughts of breaking through the gate and focused on how to attack the city. As long as he was allowed to gain a foothold on the city, he believed he could break the city in one fell swoop.
But Yuan Xi's side was obviously fully prepared to defend the city. The siege team rushed to the bottom of the city despite the rain of arrows. They were greeted by kerosene, falling rocks, and the ladders were burned down. Ma Chao had to lead his troops to withdraw.
As for the two teams of troops on the top of the mountain, they did play a certain role, but not much. They could cause a certain amount of harassment. Yuan Jun couldn't find a position to counterattack if he wanted to. He wanted to send people to climb up. The soldiers on the mountain were condescending and didn't even use it.
When it comes to archery, rolling a few rocks down can kill one of them. Even if they get to the top, they will be ready, and Yuan Jun may be cut down before he can stand firm.
At the end of the day, Yuan Xi probably realized that the cliffs on both sides were difficult to attack and had little impact on him, so he simply ignored them.
Ma Chao returned to the camp, sat down a little depressed and said: "Who built this Juyong Pass? It's really uncomfortable. Our army's siege equipment can't be of much use at all!"
Generally, at least dozens of catapults, ladders, etc. are needed to pose a threat to the defenders.
However, the terrain of Juyongguan obviously does not allow this. Although the catapult has a long range, it is blocked by the mountain. Even if it is pushed away, it cannot be hit at all. In the end, only three or five of them can be effective, especially the ladders.
The attack cannot threaten Juyongguan at all.
Dong Chao didn't dare to reply. They built this Guancheng. They chose this place to be easy to defend and difficult to attack. Whether it's a city or a Guancheng, who did it to make it easier for the enemy to attack the city?
"Don't say we don't have many soldiers now. Even if we have ten times more troops, we can only go into battle with hundreds or hundreds of troops. How can we fight?" Ma Chao was a little irritated and wanted to hit someone.
Dong Chao listened silently to Ma Chao's complaints for a long time. Seeing that he stopped talking, Dong Chao couldn't help but whispered: "Young general, why don't you rest for a day and then think about countermeasures?"
"No, we only have fifteen days." Ma Chao flatly refused: "I don't want to be looked down upon by Chen Gongtai."
"But now it is difficult to conquer Juyong Pass, and the morale of the soldiers has begun to decline. If it continues like this, it will not be good for our army." Dong Chao said with a wry smile. He knew that his young general was stronger, but anyone with a discerning eye could see this situation now.
, this Juyong Pass is difficult to break, so it is better to admit defeat and see if Chen Gong has any clever ideas.
"I saw today that the soldiers on the city's attack on Juyong Pass was effective. The defenders were just as helpless as we were on Juyong Pass. They also had nothing to do against the soldiers on the top of the mountain. Why not send more people to the city tomorrow and take turns shooting arrows into the city!"
Ma Chao thought about it and thought that the soldiers sent to the mountain today had indeed played a great role.
"Major General, there are only 800 archers in our army." Dong Chao reminded that although they only have 3,000 troops, Chen Gong has fully equipped him with 800 archers, 700 swords, shields, and spears.
In addition, there are 400 cavalry and 400 guard battalions. Now after several sieges, nearly 200 people have been lost. The archers have not suffered any losses, but we can't send all 800 archers to the mountains.
, the arrow losses brought about are not enough.
After hearing this, Ma Chao thought for a while and said: "Send them all up the mountain. The archers on the front battlefield are useless here. In addition, we should equip a hundred sword and shield men and a hundred spearmen."
Dong Chao was speechless when he heard this. As a result, there were only more than 1,800 soldiers responsible for attacking the city. The troops were already insufficient. With such a division, there were even fewer people.
"Tomorrow, the soldiers on the mountain will shoot arrows into the city. We will watch from the sidelines and attack the city if there is a chance!" Ma Chao said, "If there are not enough arrows, I will send people to Juyong City to call them."
Dong Chao sighed and said: "Young General, when I come here this time, I am going deep alone, and I am lacking in logistics and equipment. Even Marquis Wen and the others probably didn't lose many arrows. If I give them to the soldiers, I will get them."
It’s just that the arrows brought back from the battlefield were lost.”
"Brought back from the battlefield?" Ma Chao looked at Dong Chao puzzled.
"It's the arrows nailed to the shield. Some arrow clusters are blunt, but some are still usable. I will pick some out, but there are not too many. If all the archers are sent to the top of the mountain tomorrow, these arrows will be lost.
I'm afraid it's not enough for half a day." Dong Chao said with a wry smile.
When Ma Chao heard this, his eyes lit up and he looked at Dong Chao and said, "I do have a plan, maybe I can get some missing arrows."
Upon hearing this, Dong Chao looked at Ma Chao and said, "What's your clever plan, young general?"
"You go and collect more straw. The rebels in the pass do not dare to leave the pass, and they only dare to attack with missing arrows. Tonight, under the cover of darkness, let the soldiers push carts filled with straw and go to the pass.
You should be able to get a lot of arrows!" Ma Chao groped his chin and said, "But we need to guard against thieves using rockets. If we use rockets to shoot, it won't work. I don't know who the guard at the gate is. How come there are so many arrows?
lose?"
Dong Chao smiled and said: "This fire is inaccurate, has a short range, consumes kerosene, and is troublesome. It is unlikely to be used. This is a good plan for the Major General. I will give it a try tonight."
"Go, go!" Ma Chao was blocked by a Juyong Pass for several days and felt irritable, so he immediately waved his hand and said.
Dong Chao resigned and left.
That night, the Juyongguan garrison experienced a supernatural event.
At night, there was a faint sound coming from outside the pass. Someone was shooting fire. When I saw it, there seemed to be a figure under the pass, so I quickly reported it to Yuan Xi.
Yuan Xi was afraid that this was a ploy, so he ordered people to shoot with arrows outside the pass. Anyway, there was such a big place outside Juyong Pass. If the enemy attacked, he could shoot the enemy with his eyes closed.
At that time, arrows were raining down from above the Guan City, and screams were heard from time to time below the Guan City, which lasted until midnight before disappearing. However, all night long, the soldiers guarding the city did not dare to neglect.
At dawn, a strange scene happened. I thought that there must be corpses everywhere under Guancheng. But when Yuan Xi took Zhang Nan to the city to check, all he saw was arrows all over the ground. Not to mention corpses on the ground, there were even
There are no blood stains at all.
What the hell?
Yuan Xi looked at this scene and was a little confused. He didn't know what happened. It was all in the dark. Even if the other party wanted to move the body, they shouldn't have moved it so cleanly, right?
"Lord, most of the arrows in the city have been used up. If this continues, I'm afraid our army will run out of arrows in less than five days!" Zhang Nan looked at Yuan Yuan who was feeling a little distressed when he looked at the arrows scattered all over the city.
Xi, these arrows were not created out of thin air. With Yuan Xi's method of use, even if all the arrows under Yuan Shao's rule were used, I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough for a year.
Yuan Xi nodded silently, indicating that he knew, pointed to the city and said: "What happened last night? Why is it so clean?"
Zhang Nan ordered people to go down to the city to collect useful arrows. Hearing this, he explained to Yuan Xi: "Maybe it's just some enemy scouts who wanted to sneak into the city at night, but they were mistaken for an incoming army. However,
My lord, what I did was right. Under such circumstances, it is not advisable to fight rashly. It is best to use an arrow formation to repel the enemy."
Yuan Xi nodded and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. How many days has it been? Ma Chao is not that invincible anyway. Now the fear in his heart of Ma Chao has dissipated a lot with Ma Chao's incompetence and rage in the past few days.
Just as I was thinking about it, sharp arrows suddenly fell from the sky.
Zhang Nan was the first to react, took a shield from his general, blocked it on Yuan Xi's head, and shouted at the same time: "Form up, stay motionless like a mountain!"
A series of air shields rose up, blocking the incoming arrows. Zhang Nan frowned and looked up the mountain. Yuan Xi on the side spoke first: "Why do you feel that there are more people on the other side of the mountain than yesterday?"
There are indeed many!
Zhang Nan looked around and could clearly feel that the arrows shot from the sky were much denser than yesterday. He thought in his heart: "Master, as far as I know, there are not many people around Ma Chao, only three thousand.
Since there are many enemy troops on the top of the mountain, wouldn’t it mean that the troops around Ma Chao are weak? If our army leaves the city at this time..."
"No!" Yuan Xi heard this and refused directly like a conditioned reflex: "Father just asked us to guard this city and not to do anything unnecessary. There is no room for failure in this Juyong Pass!"
When it comes to defending the city, Yuan Xi is no longer afraid of Ma Chao, and even thinks that Ma Chao is nothing more than that. But if he goes out to fight in the city, the experiences of Ma Cheng and Guangning will involuntarily flood into his mind, and the fear of being dominated by Ma Chao appears again.
Zhang Nan could only nod with a wry smile when he heard this, and gave up the idea...