After first receiving the news of Wang Zheng's uprising, Xu He and Sima Ju discussed how to capture Linzi if their families rebelled at the same time.
They didn't have a good idea on the moat, but they had an idea to deal with Linzi's second line of defense.
For a city wall that is more than ten meters high, one cannot simply rely on means such as ladders.
It would be too difficult to capture the city in that way. Even if you open a gap, you may not be able to hold it.
After all, this requires some elite men, whose individual and small team combat capabilities far exceed those of the official army.
It can't be done...
So after discussion, Sima Ju came up with a way.
build a wall!
Use soil, gravel, and even the corpses of refugees to forcibly pile up a slope!
This is actually a stupid way, the kind that gets twice the result with half the effort.
Because the effort required is truly astonishing.
The defenders will not just watch you build a wall and ignore it.
That means that in order to build a slope that is long enough to overcome the high wall and reach the top of the city, it would take a huge amount of lives!
Therefore, although this method will invalidate most of the largest directions in the fortified city, very few adopt it.
Although this strategy involved a lot of investment, in the end Xu He believed that it was very feasible.
Because if it is really fortified, then the siege team can almost say that they can march straight into it.
A mound with a suitable slope can even directly dispatch cavalry to charge!
This method actually did not appear very frequently in siege battles in the past dynasties.
The first priority is of course human life. Most of the regular troops are basically auxiliary troops besides fighting. How could it be so wasteful?
It is good to be kind but not in charge of the troops, but a general who does not care about his soldiers will not achieve much.
The second is that there are actually many ways to attack a city, whether it is digging tunnels, encircling a point to bring reinforcements, or even instigating rebellion, etc...
A forced siege would have been a failure.
The third is that most of the cities themselves can be breached by using ladders, rushing cars, and some brave vanguards.
Even if it is the same stupid method, it is more cost-effective than this method to encircle without attacking and use up the food and water sources in the city.
Therefore, unless the siege party really does not take human lives seriously, and at the same time must break a certain fortified city, but has no other solution, they will consider building a wall and attacking the city as the last resort.
However, at this time, the rebel alliance under Linzi City perfectly met all the requirements and conditions.
Linzi is a big city, with abundant food, equipment, and water.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees are completely worthless.
Due to its richness and resources, it must be conquered!
Especially Wang Zheng's previous actions awakened Xu He, and he suddenly discovered a better way to drive the refugees.
It was simply the last push, greatly improving the operability of the fortress wall siege.
....
Amidst the shrill sound of the trumpet.
The siege began.
The first people to rush forward were naturally the refugees.
Many of them had just survived yesterday, and now their faces were full of fear of death.
However, under the threat of the swords of the supervising team behind them, even though they were uneasy, they rushed forward again.
The ranks of officers and soldiers at the top of the city actually also changed.
While the bandits were overcoming difficulties step by step on the road to siege the city, Li Jiayuan was also making limited efforts to strengthen the city's defense power.
The focus is on the military.
When we were in charge of the attack in the first three days, in order to ensure the range, we basically used the local city defense troops of Linzi City.
Today, it was replaced by more than half of the militia and soldiers from the two counties rushing to rescue.
Such a rotation is, on the one hand, to allow the officers and soldiers who fought hard in the past to recharge their batteries and get enough rest, so that they can go all out in the more intense situations later.
On the other hand, Li Jiayuan also wanted to take the opportunity to quickly train the new recruits.
Reinforcements from the two counties, powerful servants, militia...
Under Li Jiayuan's inspection, the strength of these three groups was much worse than the local army in Linzi.
Therefore, he guessed that today's enemy would be led by refugees, and Li Jiayuan also took the opportunity to let these people go up to familiarize themselves with the fighting atmosphere, and learn how to follow orders, form formations, and other combat methods.
In particular, the servants and soldiers dispatched by various noble families can be said to be no less inferior to the officers and soldiers in terms of physique and equipment, or even better.
Li Jiayuan believed that as long as they trained themselves in the first few waves of offensives when they were not fierce, they would be able to gain a lot of help in defending the city later.
Because they have a fortified city to rely on and are facing refugees with extremely poor combat capabilities, the militiamen who have just entered the battlefield are not performing too badly and seem to be quite calm.
While Li Jiayuan was patrolling back and forth, he was always reminding these newcomers, appeasing their emotions while imparting some experience and insights on defending the city.
Although these things have been discussed before during military training, now that they are on the battlefield in person, it is obviously easier for people to understand.
As time passed by, the atmosphere became more solemn.
The war is coming!
The first batch of figures have already appeared in the shooting range!
I don't know whether it was Xu He's request or the madness when facing life and death.
The refugees were all yelling, as if to embolden themselves, and they began to run and sprint towards the city.
"Aimed!"
"Prepare!"
Li Jiayuan shouted loudly, staring down, and raised his right hand high.
next moment...
"Hit me!"
The adjusted trebuchet, bed crossbow and other equipment responded to the sound and opened fire one after another!
With broken limbs all over the ground and defeated heads, the remaining bandits continued to approach crazily...
Another rain of arrows!
The most violent attack has not yet been launched.
When the last remaining thieves finally rushed to the bottom of the city wall and set up a ladder, the officers and soldiers who had been waiting for a long time moved up rolling logs and stones.
Most of the refugees had just climbed halfway when they were smashed and screamed, falling down and turning into a puddle of flesh.
At this close range, the wooden shield held high has no effect.
At this time, the Linzi city wall seemed to have turned into the bloody mouth of a giant beast, constantly devouring everything.
There are human lives that are as worthless as a piece of grass, as well as countless bows, arrows, rocks and other equipment.
As waves of refugees come one after another...
The resources of both the offensive and defensive sides are being consumed fiercely.
As the number of corpses increases.
Dozens of people...
Hundreds of people...
Over a thousand people...
A mound slowly rose up.
...
Li Jiayuan was speechless.
This group of refugees charging towards the city had to be killed, but now this situation seemed to be adding more bricks and stones to the bandit's "wall".
When most of the firepower of the official army was attracted by the charging refugees.
Another group of refugees, urged by the Taiping Army Supervisory Team, rushed to the city wall one after another, throwing down their earth bags one by one.
Then I ran back quickly...
Most of this group of people also dumped the bodies where they were forever.
As time went by, the height of the soil slope under the city wall began to change significantly.
And when Li Jiayuan was struggling secretly, the wooden wheelbarrow also made its debut.
This time it was the Taiping troops who pushed them frantically towards the city wall.
Countless wheels carrying hundreds of kilograms of sandbags rolled crazily.
This tool that appeared in the Western Han Dynasty was originally used for farm work in the field passes, but it has already appeared more on the battlefield.
Now they come with the purpose of destroying Linzi.
"Smash them for me!"
After seeing this thing appear, the changes in the mounds under the city became more and more obvious. Li Jiyuan knew that this was the biggest threat.
The efficiency of this thing is amazing!
As the order spread, the crossbows and trebuchets on the city walls quickly made corresponding adjustments.
It did have an immediate effect.
Many Taiping soldiers were either directly smashed to death and shot through while pushing the carts, or they were too panicked when evading, causing the wooden carts to be overturned...
But when Xu He saw this, he decisively increased the investment of manpower and material resources.
So, throughout the day, hundreds of wheelbarrows appeared back and forth under the city wall.
As dusk grew darker, the sound of retreating troops finally sounded.
At this time, the soil slope was nearly three meters high!
Li Jiayuan looked a little pale when he saw this scene.